Thursday, November 28, 2019

Is Love Worth Preserving free essay sample

Is love Worth Preserving Love is a universal feeling or emotion and every human on earth throughout history has experienced in one form or the other. Many plays, drama or stories are surrounded by betrayal, hurt; pain, trials, triumphs, wars, passion, forgiveness, commitment and romance. However In the play â€Å"Sakuntala and The Ring of Recollection† this is a perfect example of what seems to be a more dramatic courtship tragedy. The story portrays romance between king Dusyanta and a sages daughter Sakuntala both strive to meet and reconcile the conflicting objectives of Indian life; the struggle to balance the need for power and hierarchy with undeniable feelings of passion. King Dusyanta while hunting in forest happens meet the most perfect and organic of all women his ever seen; Sakuntala a beautiful young lady living in a hermitage in the forest. King Dusyanta overwhelmed with Feelings and love, so strong that he desired sakuntala as a wife immediately ignoring his royal duties as king. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Love Worth Preserving or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The king courts her and marries her in a simple ceremony witnessed only by sakuntala’s friends. The king promised to return by offering a ring to signify his commitment. Then Dusyanta leaves for his capital to attend to his royal duties, with the understanding that he will soon return to and take Sakuntala with him for a proper ceremony. Unfortunately, Sakuntala, lost in thoughts of king Dusyanta fails to take notice of Sage Durvasa who comes visiting the hermitage. Angered by this, Durvasa puts a curse on sakuntala that the person she is thinking about will forget her completely. The only remedy to make Dusyanta remember Sakuntala and their marriage is to show him the ring that he had given to Sakuntala. Sakuntala now must go to Dusyanta and show him the ring so that he will again remember her. But unfortunately the ring she is carrying with her fall into a river on her way to Dusyanta and cannot be retrieved. Thus when Sakuntala faces Dusyanta he is unable to recall her. All her pleadings with Dusyanta and efforts to remind him are ineffective in bringing back memories of his commitment. Sakuntala has no alternative but to return. By series of chances the ring that fell in river was found by a fisherman and then presented to Dusyanta, through these he remembers all the past event forgotten. But it is too late by then. Dusyanta is not able to find Sakuntala, who has moved to some other place and has given birth in the meantime to a son, who is named Bharat. Many years later when Bharat is still a child, Dusyanta happens to firs see Bharat playing with a lion cob and then meets Sakuntala and reunited Sakuntala ring of recollection presents the audience with two characters who begin as reasonably autonomous beings but who gradually compromise aspects of their identities in order to complement one another. In doing so, the author suggests that every individual is incomplete without a partner, and he depicts the ideal male and female characters during Indias classical age. Works Cited David, Damrosch, and David L. Pike. The longman Anthopology of world literature, volume A; Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection. The Ancient world, second edition.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Free Essays on Japans Trade Surplus

I. Issue or problem This article states that Japan is in the middle of a trade surplus gaining 95.6 percent from last year to 902.0 yen (7.33 billion). Economists believe that because of September 11th, shutdowns of key ports especially in the U.S. have caused major contributions shrinking the trade gap. II. Summary The article goes on state that because of these key ports closing, billions of dollars of trade were lost, and a major trade surplus has occurred. It states that exports were up to 14.3 percent from a year earlier, and imports were up to 3.9 percent. This shows clearly the gap between Japans exports and imports. Forecasters are hoping that a slow U.S. economy, and a stronger yen point to a weaker surplus in the months ahead. Although this problem is still occurring it shows in monthly forecasts that since a peak high in July, forecasts are showing a declining trend. It states that Japans exports have been slowing, pushing towards a more steady economy. It also goes on to say that net exports made a negative contribution to japans economic growth in the middle months of July-September quarter for the first time in a year, and that many economists expect this trend to continue. Forecasters are hoping that as winter sets in, the pressure on policy makers will help resolve this is sue of economic recession. It also states that in October, forecasters showed signs of economic recovery due to inflation. III. Key concepts Some of the key concepts stated in this article. First, trade surplus, which we have discussed, is when nations exports of goods exceed its imports of goods, and a trade deficit is vice versa. Also, in our book, we have shown Japan currency (yen) compared to the American dollar. Also, exports and imports, which deal with national trade. Also, net exports which is the difference between exports and imports showing a negative balance. Lastly it states that Japans recovery will partly due to deflatio... Free Essays on Japans Trade Surplus Free Essays on Japans Trade Surplus I. Issue or problem This article states that Japan is in the middle of a trade surplus gaining 95.6 percent from last year to 902.0 yen (7.33 billion). Economists believe that because of September 11th, shutdowns of key ports especially in the U.S. have caused major contributions shrinking the trade gap. II. Summary The article goes on state that because of these key ports closing, billions of dollars of trade were lost, and a major trade surplus has occurred. It states that exports were up to 14.3 percent from a year earlier, and imports were up to 3.9 percent. This shows clearly the gap between Japans exports and imports. Forecasters are hoping that a slow U.S. economy, and a stronger yen point to a weaker surplus in the months ahead. Although this problem is still occurring it shows in monthly forecasts that since a peak high in July, forecasts are showing a declining trend. It states that Japans exports have been slowing, pushing towards a more steady economy. It also goes on to say that net exports made a negative contribution to japans economic growth in the middle months of July-September quarter for the first time in a year, and that many economists expect this trend to continue. Forecasters are hoping that as winter sets in, the pressure on policy makers will help resolve this is sue of economic recession. It also states that in October, forecasters showed signs of economic recovery due to inflation. III. Key concepts Some of the key concepts stated in this article. First, trade surplus, which we have discussed, is when nations exports of goods exceed its imports of goods, and a trade deficit is vice versa. Also, in our book, we have shown Japan currency (yen) compared to the American dollar. Also, exports and imports, which deal with national trade. Also, net exports which is the difference between exports and imports showing a negative balance. Lastly it states that Japans recovery will partly due to deflatio...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Innovation and Business Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Innovation and Business Growth - Essay Example Where do the other ideas or research efforts go They get into the vast Knowledge Management databases which is available to the organization as part of core business knowledge for future reference. All these products are a result of dollar intensive and highly sophisticated research which actually delves into the minds of end-consumers in a very concerted effort to focus the mind of the consumer on the company's products, services and processes. It was a quirk of an idea to increase the diameter of the tooth paste tube's nozzle by a millimeter in an effort to increase annual sales of tooth paste at Unilever. This of course caught like a wild fire and is much quoted as an example of business smartness and innovation. In this case, the above stated ides is t R & D for a global FMCG company. All it took the Australian phone company to reduce its bleed on local calls was introduction of a lead ring into the handsets of telephones. This lead ring fatigued the hands of the users who started disconnecting calls much earlier than the previous endless hours of conversation. A simple but a powerful idea directly impacted the network utilization as well as bottom lines of the Australian telephone network. That's R & D for a large telecom operator (Bono, 2003). There was this person who stuck post-it sheets with the names of the car owners on the insides of the fuel cap covers and this person spoke to each and every customer using their names. Sales increased dramatically. This person was trying to leverage customer experience at the gas station, researched to find out that people love to be addressed by their names. That's nothing but R & D for a micro enterprise (B, 2006). Xerox that spent billions of dollars in getting new products to the market place failed miserably and was bleeding at the point of machine replacements in 72 hours. As part of their service level agreement, Xerox innovated its post sales service delivery mechanism to come up with almost instantaneous resolution of over 98% of customer complaints thereby reducing the bleed due to machine replacement promise to almost nil. Today various Corporates are investing billions of dollars to leverage the R & D knowledge at the market place and this paper will specifically look at the innovations at Unilever - Unipath, Xerox - PARC and Ntt - MBD. A Product/Service - Its importance Most of the organizations, once having introduced a product / service into the market place, leverage of two different types of research. The first type of research is to find out what the consumer wants or even has in his mind. The second type of research is to how to move the current product line or introduce a new product line to meet those expectations in the mind of the consumer. It is more often in the second type of research work, which new product identification happens. Also it is in the second type of research that companies often file for patents; develop knowledge that may be leveraged in future. Marketing begins with the identification of consumer needs and wants, and culminates with successfully

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Crusades - Essay Example Origins of the crusades. There are many origins of the Crusades. The Crusades movement is a series of religious wars. The Popes wrote encyclicals and gave orations for the necessity to implement the crusades as Christianity’s antidote to the Turks and other Muslim invaders1. In 1464, Pope Pius personally went to Ancona to lead the Crusade’s attempts to retain Constantinople from the Muslims. Pope Pius died from the plague while waiting for the crusade army to arrive2. The Pope and the Catholic Church approved the Crusades’ war strategy. The main goal of the crusades was to get back access to the holy places. The Crusades had political influence over a significant part of Europe, the Western sector. The Crusades’ soldiers made a solemn vow to the Pope that they will fight for the Cross of Christ. Consequently, the Pope gave each soldier a cross. The cross symbolized the soldier as a soldier of the Church. In 1280, to ensure Muslim success over the crusade a rmies, Kalavun, the Muslim leader, took advantage of petty disagreements between the different Crusade armies within Jerusalem. Those in Acre supported King Charles and those in Tyre supported King Hugh of Cyprus. Kalavun entered into different treaties with different cities. Kalavun was counting on the factionalism to fit the different parts of the kingdom against one another3. The Ottoman Turks focused their war on the doorsteps of the European countries. Previously, the crusades focused on recovering the Holy Land from the Muslim invaders. During the 1370s, European Christians had to fight the Ottoman Turks who were invading the European nations. The theme was refocused from the Holy Land to reducing the continuing spread of the Muslim faith in Europe. In 1354, the Turks occupied Gallipoli and started entering Europe. In 1361, the Ottoman Turks conquered several European areas, including Bulgaria and most of Greece. The Crusades had economic influence over several parts of Europe , the Western sector4. The best-funded Crusade was the Crusade of St. Louis5. The Christian pilgrims were being persecuted by the Muslims on their way to Jerusalem. With the Christian lands being gobbled up by the Muslims, the economic power of the Pope was also reduced. To recover its former economic power, the Pope, especially Pope Urban II, launched the Crusades to recover the lands from the Muslim invaders. Maalouf insists the Crusades were a drain on the Christian nation’s coffers. Money was needed to pay for the war to proceed6. Pope Urban II made a strong appeal to all Christian rulers in Europe to launch attacks against the Muslim armies. The Pope admonished the Muslim infidels’ desecration of the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem. The Pope described the horrific atrocities and damages of the Muslim infidels plundering of the Holy Land and attacks on the innocent Christian pilgrims going to Jerusalem. In 1368, King Peter tried to raise another Crusade. When King Peter returned to Cyprus, the local barons were mad at the huge amount of money spent on Peter’s crusade. Peter was finally assassinated during his sleep. The people of Europe decried the treachery of the Cyprus traitors and mourned the loss of their crusade’s King7. When King Louis, the Crusade leader, was captured by the Muslim armies, Turan-Shah, a Muslim leader, released the hostages in exchange for 800,000 bezants. In addition, the Crusade armies had to surrender Damietta to the Muslim rulers. The French paid 400,000 bezants to Mamluks for the release of King Louis8. The Crusades had social influence over many parts of Europe, the Western sector. The people rallied to the Crusades. The Christian people

Monday, November 18, 2019

ASSIGNMENT 2 Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

ASSIGNMENT 2 - Statistics Project Example ii) To the simple regression model in part (i), add the variables , rooms, baths, and age, where intst is distance from the home to the interstate, area is square footage of the house, land is the lot size in square feet, rooms is total number of rooms, baths is number of bathrooms, and age is age of the house in years. Now, what do you conclude about the effects of the incinerator? Explain why (i) and (ii) give conflicting results. The coefficient for the incinerator is 0.05539 showing a decrease from the previous value of 0.36488; addition of more relevant variables to the model results to a decrease in the coefficient value of the initial variable. Yes the square of  is significant when you add it to the model from part (iii); this is because we observe an increase in the value of adjusted R-squared from 0.7475 in part (ii) to 0.7642 in part (iii) a) Most households use air conditioning powered by electricity to cool down the house but use other forms of energy (gas, oil, etc.) to warm up the house. Given this piece of information, what would you predict for the sign and significance of the coefficients if electricity usage were regressed on a households heating requirements and cooling requirements? Run a regression of electricity usage (kwh) on heating degree-days (hd16) and cooling degree-days (cd16). Are your results consistent with your predictions? Test whether the coefficients are statistically different than each other at 1%. We would expect the electricity usage to go up during cooling as such the sign for the cooling would be positive. On the contrary, we would expect the electricity usage to come down during the heating and as such the sign for the heating is expected to be negative. The p-value for the test is 0.000 (a value less than 1% significance level), we therefore reject the null hypothesis and conclude that

Friday, November 15, 2019

The Business Of Unilever Nigeria Plc Commerce Essay

The Business Of Unilever Nigeria Plc Commerce Essay Unilever has built its business on understanding and responding to the needs of its consumers globally. Its corporate goal is to add value and quality to the basic aspects of its consumers satisfaction which adds value and srength to the consumers life. Unilever Nigeria Plc, came into life as Lever Brothers (West Africa) Ltd on 11th April, 1923 by Lord Lever Hulme, but the companys antecedents have to be traced back to his existing trading interests in Nigeria and West Africa generally, and to the fact that he had since the 19th century been greatly involved with the soap business in Britain. Unilever Nigeria started with the soap manufacturing company, and is today one of the oldest surviving manufacturing organizations in Nigeria. Their Products: Unilever produces a lot of products, namely; Food brands (e.g., Knorr, Lipton, Blue band, Beverages) Home care brands (e.g., Shampoo, Toothpaste, Soap, Moisturising cream) Personal care brands ( e.g., Lux, Vaseline, Sunsilk, Omo, Pears) Nutrition Health, hygiene and beauty Unilever food solutions Your suggestions Latest brand news The success of this business is as a result of the sound relationship which they have established with the consumers in the local cultures and markets creating products that help them transform in life. In sustaining these successes, they ensured to maintain the highest and sound standards of mutual behavior towards their employees, consumers, customers, communities and operating environment as a whole. Talking about their brands, they produce domestic goods which they know from the onset that people would really need such goods because, it enhances the daily living of people. For this reason, they are committed to meet the everyday needs of people everywhere in Nigeria. In addition, because they are have International experience and support, it enables them to consistently develop brands, which raise the worth of life. In essence, most people in Nigeria always have their products at home. 1.2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The PESTLE Analysis is an analytical tool used to evaluate and identify the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors in a given economy that would affect the operation of an organization. According to Kotler (1999) PESTLE Analysis is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position and direction for Operations. This Analysis also allows an Organization to have a competitive advantage over other firms in the industry. Political Factor: This factor is always necessary to be evaluated, in order to know the favorability of the political climate to market growth and development in a particular country, such as the Government Stability, Taxation Policy, and Attitude of the Government towards foreign investment. Economic Factor: This Economic framework is used to measure the state of an economy by considering the GDP, the wage level, interest rate, the disposable income, unemployment rate, business cycle and the economic growth in the country. Socio Cultural Factor: This indicator is used to measure the rate and growth of population, changes in the taste and preferences of consumers, the changes in the lifestyle of consumers and the level of education of the populace which would have a great effect on the demand of the products or services provided by the organization. Technological Factor: This Framework is used to evaluate the level of Government spending on Research and Development institutes and the efforts of government and private sector efforts towards technological advancement. Legal Factor: This is used to know the laws and regulations that exist in the environment an organization is operating such as the employment, health and safety laws. Environmental Factor: This is used to understand the various environmental laws, natural resources available and the prevailing weather condition in the economy. 1.3 ANALYSIS Using Porters models (Kippenberger, 1998; Haberberg and Rieple, 2001), but to examine it in addition to other strategic frameworks of  SWOT  and  PEST analysis. In trying to analyze the strategies, it will be fair to know what Business Strategy is all about. Business strategy to my own understanding is a way in which organisations view the future, the extent to which the business is heading to, the plan, set targets, etc. The basic aim of strategy is to move the business forward, it is not all about making profit alone, but how the business can succeed eventually. In other words, it will establish strategic direction, and implement those strategies, all in an effort to satisfy key stakeholders. Robert and Caldart (2009) view strategy as a way a firm can only hypothesize about the implications of different possible initiatives and learn more about them through interaction with other actors such as competitors, regulators, customers, suppliers, and partners in its competitive landscape. In these situations, managers face the extremely difficult problem in making decisions that demand a long-term perspective, committing the firm in the long-run within a competitive landscape that is unlikely to stand still. We call these decisions strategic decisions. Porter E.M. (1996) Views strategy as being flexible, companies must be flexible to respond rapidly to competitive and market changes aggressively to gain efficiencies and achieve best practice. Strategy to him is total quality management, benchmarking, time-based competition, re-engineering, change management. From this definition, it is believed that, for any business to grow there should be freedom, ability to initiate plans on how to move the business forward. Ellis Williams (1993) expressed that, It indicates the perspectives for business to achieve better advantages, it elaborates tactics for business to face challenges, it points out the trends and competitions around the business. Business consists of two main aspects, namely external factor and internal factor. From the definitions given by these scholars, it entails that, strategy is seen as a means of making business to strive and to achieve a defined goal through vision, hard work, through perseverance that will lead to transformation. 1.4 Application IINTERNAL FACTORS: Internal factors include information and communication as one of the internal control components. The factors are systems used to control financial, reporting and accounting systems in an organisation. Smooth flow of information and communication across and within the organisation is influenced by the nature of the working relationship within the organisation at all levels. The working relationship coordinates organisations activities to achieve specific goal. When effective working relationship exists in an organisation, delegation of responsibilities is achieved. The main internal factors which are considered to uphold the organisation are the managers, employees, capitals, and materials. Managers: Since the inception of Unilever, there were constantly sound and visional managers succeeding the affairs of Unilever and respectively improving the management of Unilever. Employees: Unilever has massive employees who perform specific duties to move the organisation forward. Unilever has the worlds top makers of packaged which has products like shampoo, deodorants, soap, Vaseline, tea, and frozen foods over the world. The company sells its goods in over 150 countries and has returns of approximately $46 billion ( £31,5bn). Unilever controls subsidiaries in at least 90 countries and employs 295,000 (in 2000) people. Unilever is one of the worlds top three firms after Nestle and Kraft and the worlds second largest packaged consumer goods company behind Procter Gamble. Capital: Unilever is one of the oldest surviving manufacturing organisations in Nigeria today. The organisation is well known with its products all over the world, its food brand, home care products, Unilever food solution, personal care brands, nutrition, etc, Unilever is recognised as the worlds most valuable brand. THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT The word external simply means outside that is the activities which takes place outside the business environment. The external environment of any organisation is a large and complex place. (Capon, 2009. P.5) for the sake of this work, we shall take a look at PESTEL analysis of the organisation, which includes Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental, Legal elements. Political Environment: The government is currently focusing on encouraging the local manufacture of finished and semi-finished goods in the country.  This  will be a  major advantage for interested local investors as it provides them with a playing ground for building their business.  Currently, local manufacturers face a number of challenges including: High Input Cost,   Lack of petrochemical plant,   High cost of production/distribution,   Customs administration and port related issues,   Common External Tariff (CET) and issue of competitiveness Security of life property Weak legal framework   Although, there are various incentives in place to boost local manufacture the high transaction costs resulting from above make local manufacturing uncompetitive with the outside world.   Unilever, as a matter of policy, set a standard as to the way of tackling political issues. In the 1960s, many countries began to nationalise foreign firms which also affected Unilever. There were persistent calls for local equity participation in foreign firms; many companies were subject to local control on prices, imports, and employment of expatriate. An example is UAC, a subsidiary of Unilever, whose operation was in many African countries like Cameroun, Ghana, Ivory Coast, including Nigeria, was focused on as its profit margin and the rate of easy remittance of profit to its Anglo-Dutch parent was enormous. Nationalising UAC hampered Unilevers control over the market where UAC operates. Economic Factor: GDP real growth rate:  3.8% (2009 est.)   5.3% (2008 est.)   6.4% (2007 est.)   Year GDP real growth rate Rank Percent Change Date of Information 2003 3.00 % 105 2002 est. 2004 7.10 % 25 136.67 % 2003 est. 2005 6.20 % 44 -12.68 % 2004 est. 2006 6.90 % 43 11.29 % 2005 est. 2007 5.30 % 90 -23.19 % 2006 est. 2008 6.40 % 66 20.75 % 2007 est. 2009 5.30 % 78 -17.19 % 2008 est. 2010 3.80 % 44 -28.30 % 2009 est. Source:  CIA World Factbook This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. GDP (purchasing power parity):  $353.2 billion (2009 est.)   $340.3 billion (2008 est.)   $323.1 billion (2007 est.)   note:  data are in 2009 US dollars This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nations GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. This is the measure most economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries. The measure is difficult to compute, as a US dollar value has to be assigned to all goods and services in the country regardless of whether these goods and services have a direct equivalent in the United States (for example, the value of an ox-cart or non-US military equipment); as a result, PPP estimates for some countries are based on a small and sometimes different set of goods and services. In addition, many countries do not formally participate in the World Banks PPP project that calculates these measures, so the resulting GDP estimates for these countries may lack precision. For many developing countries, PPP-based GDP measures are multiples of the official exchange rate (OER) measure. The differences between the OER- and PPP-denominated GDP values for most of the wealthy industrialized countries are generally much smaller (CIA World Fact book)   In Nigeria there was uncertainty about duties to be paid by companies due to inflation and fluctuation of currency. The effect on Unilever was a decrease in profit in 2005 compared to 2004, though there was increase in turnover. In 2004 and 2005 the profit after tax were =N= 2.167 billion (naira) and =N= 1.616 billion (naira) respectively, while in the turnover in 2004 and 2005 were =N= 28.6 billion (naira) =N= 33.4 billion (naira) respectively, which indicates increase in turnover but decrease in profit. Also the low per capital of people affects Unilevers market. Over 30% of Africa population lives on less than $ 1 per day. Socio-cultural Factor: Looking at the social factor of Unilever, their main focus is to add beauty to life, they ensure that they meet the needs of consumer on daily basis Such needs are; nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help someone feel good, look good and get more out of life. Unilever can make products that help give children a good start and be healthy for longer time. Their brands are also involved in a number of social initiatives to promote the importance of playing sports. Unilever has a platform and ground to improve vitality worldwide through its global scale and its interactions with consumers. Every day, 150 million consumers use Unilever brands. They use them to feel really good. Health and Welfare Concerning the area of health, Unilever has the credit to make people feel very healthy because they have good food that establishes their satisfaction. Soya is another plant-derived ingredient with an excellent nutritional profile. It is cholesterol-free, and a good source of protein, vitamins and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. It has modest cholesterol lowering potential Unilever Brand Unilever brand is superior and sound brands to help add value to the lives of people in general.Unilever Nigeria is a leading manufacturer of Oral care products such as Close up Fresh Red Toothpaste, Close-Up Extended Protection Toothpaste, Close Up Expert and Popular Toothbrushes. From the launch of Close Up Red Gel toothpaste in 1975. Technological Factor: The basic aim of technological factor is that, it enhances quick awareness to the general public through the use of internet facilities, radio, television etc which promotes the marketing aspect of the business. Unilever attract people with their advertisements, another strategy they use is e-commerce. Unilever wants to step up the use of the Internet in order to improve brand communication/marketing and on-line selling to simplify business-to-business transactions throughout the supply chain. Legal Factor: Though Nigeria has a weak legal structure generally, it has a Parastatal called Nigeria Agency for Food Drugs Control (NAFDAC) that regulates activities of multinational companies that are into manufacturing of consumables like foods, Beverages and Detergents. Unilever are committed to providing consumers with products that are consistent in quality, safe in use and free from adverse effects at all times. These are achieved by: 1. Fostering a consumer safety structure throughout the company by establishing systems and processes that will guarantee the well being of their consumers. 2. Complying with all legal requirements in the management of consumer safety. 3. Implementing an effective consumer complaints mechanism, to monitor, investigate and deal with complaints from the trade. 4. With all these precautions, they are continuously ascertaining that their products and processes meet the highest standards of quality and safety. Environmental Factor: Unilever  Nigeria takes the responsibility of raising the quality of life of people in the operating environment through the quality of their brands and contributions to communities in which they operate. Talking about the environment, it explains the weather, temperature and the climatic condition of the environment which the business operates, in most cases, when the weather condition is good, it favors the business itself. Unilever is a market that is known globally and its market has been successful all over the world, due to this awareness, its brand is well appreciated. Porters Five Forces: Understanding the nature of each of these forces gives organizations the necessary insights to enable them to formulate the appropriate  strategies  to be successful in their market (Thurlby, 1998). Rivalry: Rivalry in any business outfit is inevitable, when a business should have its rivals, it motivates them to improve more in their products in other to attract more attention to consumers. The intensity of rivalry, which is the most obvious of the five forces in an  industry, Unilever has been more dominant in market compare to Nestle. Barriers to Entry: The threat of new entrants is usually based on the market entry barriers. In contrast, entry barriers exist whenever it is difficult or not economically feasible for an outsider to replicate the incumbents position (Porter, 1980b; Sanderson, 1998) Suppliers: The threat that substitute products pose to an industrys profitability depends on the relative price-to-performance  ratios  of the different types of products or services to which customers can turn to satisfy the same basic need. Customers: Kippenberger (1998) states that it is often useful to distinguish potential buyer power from the buyers willingness or incentive to use that power, willingness that derives mainly from the risk of failure associated with a products use. In any business organisation, Buyer Power is a force that influence the value established by an  industry.   The most important aspect of buyer power is the size and the concentration of customers. Other factors are the extent to which the buyers are informed. Substitutes: as the name implies, substitute products are usually many in the market and vast numbers of substitutes are available, supplier power is seen as a mirror image of the buyer power. In other to convince customers to buy products at different prices in the value created for each of those buyers usually indicates that the market is characterised by high supplier power and at the same time by low buyer power (Porter, 1998). Bargaining power of suppliers exists in the following situations: Where the switching costs are high (switching from one Internet provider to another); High power of  brands  (McDonalds,  British Airways,  Tesco); Possibility of forward integration of suppliers (Brewers buying bars); Fragmentation of customers (not in clusters) with a limited bargaining power (Gas/Petrol  stations in remote places). 4. SWOT ANALYSIS: SWOT analysis to my own understanding is a way to analyze the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a business environment. It explains the purpose of the business and if there are any lapses or pot holes, the management is liable to provide solutions. The table below summarises the SWOT analysis of Unilever Nigeria Strength: Unilever Nigeria is recognised as a global company which has its products all over the world. It has strong brand portfolio and sound relationship with retailers basically and economies of scale. Strong roots in local markets and first-hand knowledge of the local culture. Weakness:Unileverweakness is the dual leadership not connecting with customers and secondly, Inefficient management for RD the inability to maximize. Opportunities: Unilever has the opportunity of increasing need for healthy products and changing consumer preferences by adding value to their daily needs. Threats: Unilever encounter decrease in revenues and strong competition, increasing store brands. They also encounter Tougher Business Climate and exchange rates. 1. Core Competences: A core competency is a way in which a business handles the affairs of the organisation. In other words, the organisation makes advancements to the growth of its business. In core competence, it is not usually easy for competitors to imitate, take for example, in the area of branding, the Logo of a company, and their style of doing things etc it is usually difficult to imitate. The core competence of Unilever is that, it can provide competitive advantage in its strong brand portfolio, strong relationship retailers. Brand is an asset of a company, it helps to distinguish companies product just as my lecturer Mr. John rightly said, it is the brand and logo of a company that promotes the market to competing products to help sales and capture the market. 2. Global perspectives Unilever is an organisation known globally and it has made impact to so many peoples lives, their products have spread abroad, they have gainfully employed millions of people and their products have been sold massively across the globe. Its global factor is achieving its growth and objectives, looking at how Unilever has pushed the business toward global approach is focused towards new opportunities, this could be traced back to how Unilever started, viewing this from the historical perspective of the company. In 2002, Unilever initiated a procurement centre in Shangai and China, this was to increase opportunities for Chinese raw materials providers. Unilever also carried out research and development to be able to ascertain new product and have basic knowledge to introduce to new market, these activities were meant to boost Unilever global business. Another factor Unilever adopted is in the area of brand, they did this to create awareness across border synergies in manufacturing and marketing. In other to accomplish this task, it started in 1999 when it launched the Heart Brand logo of ice cream product, this was meant to enhance its products. This idea was carried out to capture integration amongst subsidiaries to facilitate control centralisation. Conclusion: Bye and large, the organisation is in a very good position to continue growing. The history of Unilever is really amazing because, it started with the soap production and gradually, it grew up to producing diverse products today which is really enhancing the lives of people. In this work, I established the following which include thus: The History of Unilever Nigeria The theoretical Framework The Analysis, internal and external factors The five forces (Porter) SWOT Analysis and Core competences and finally, Global perspectives

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Welfare and Social Responsibility :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Welfare and Social Responsibility    Welfare. Read that word to yourself and ask what popular images surround it. The first thing is probably women and children. This one is correct, because 97% of AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the federal "welfare" program) is made up of women and children. Young women? Not really-the average age of a mother receiving welfare is 29, and only 7.6% are under the age of 20. Is she black? Maybe, because the composition of the welfare roles is about the same percentage black and white. More kids than she can count? The average welfare family has 2.9 members. That means a single mom would have 1.9 children (fewer than the national average). Forever "dependent?"-the average length of a stay on welfare is 22 months. We certainly think that they don't work. Without bringing up the question of why raising children is not considered work, the average AFDC benefit plus food stamps still is only 69% of the poverty line. Women on welfare are constantly working to make up that differ ence. Do we think of welfare as expensive? AFDC represents just over 1% of the national budget. If welfare is not about young women having lots of babies and living their life off the generosity of the state, and if it's a minuscule part of the federal budget, why have Republicans chosen it as their pilot issue? Why, when our Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and attempting to maintain an unemployment rate of 6.2%, and when a job at minimum wage would still leave a mother with two children 23% below the poverty line, is entrance into the paid workforce being pushed as the panacea for poverty? If we are serious about getting people to work we need relevant training programs, child care provisions, and efforts at job creation. These at least were discussed in the Clinton plan, if the plan was in many other ways as punitive and insubstantial as the Republican plan. The Republican ideology is particularly insidious because it shifts the entire frame of debate from the structural to the moral. It implies, even states, that if those people would just clean up their morals and stop being so lazy that they could have a place in the American Dream. Today welfare moms are understood to be the symbol for all that is morally wrong with America.