Wednesday, July 31, 2019

How to Write a Tabloid Style Article

How to Write a Tabloid Style Article Tabloids take bits and pieces of stories and focus on the most scandalous, violent or criminal aspects and the burden of truth is much lower than it is in regular journalistic articles. With a few tips, you can write a successful piece that grabs the readers' attention and holds them captive until the last word. Instructions: Step 1 Look for story ideas in local newspapers on the back pages. Articles that detail a gruesome crime or romantic liaisons make good fodder for tabloid articles and if a well-known personality is involved it's even better.Step 2 Find creative â€Å"sources† to quote for your article. After interviewing the disgruntled ex-wife of a popular soccer player, your article, entitled â€Å"Soccer Star Stalks Underage Girls,† needn't meet the requirement of subject truth as long as you indicate a â€Å"source† made the accusations. Step 3 Prompt your sources with loaded questions. If you're writing a piece abou t a peeping tom in the community, ask one witness if she was â€Å"frightened beyond belief by his twisted features. If she responds with a â€Å"yes,† you can write, â€Å"The victim indicated that she was frightened beyond belief by his twisted features. † Step 4 Contact the publicity agents of celebrities and offer to write only positive stories about their client in exchange for information. Stars regularly â€Å"feed† the tabloids information and send photographs as part of a deal that the tabloid not run damaging articles. Step 5 Elaborate on the most sensational aspects of the story. If the subject is something you would overhear in the beauty salon in whispered tones, it's robably just right for your tabloid article. The higher the gossip factor, the better. Step 6 Keep detailed records of everyone you interview for tabloid articles. While celebrities are slow to sue, private individuals might resent you publishing a scandalous story about them. Make su re you have the documentation to back up what you write. Step 7 Stick to writing tabloid stories about well-known personalities, stars and politicians to protect yourself against libel charges. Test:  Writing Skills

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Mpo Notes

Extrinsic motivation is related to rewards such as salary, job security, benefits, promotional prospects, the working environment and its conditions. Intrinsic motivation comes from within the individual. It relates to rewards which are psychological such as positive recognition and a sense of challenge and achievement. Vroom’s expectancy theory – Vroom believes that people will be motivated to do things to reach a goal if they believe in the worth of the goal and if they can see that what they do will help them to achieve it.Maslow Theory hierarchy of needs – self actualisation, esteem needs self esteem recognition status, social needs sense of belonging love, safety needs security protection, physiological needs hunger thirst. Herzberg two factor theory – hygiene factors (maintenance factors to avoid dissatisfaction but do not necessarily motivate employees) – Company policy and administration, Wages, salaries and other financial remuneration, Qua lity of supervision, Quality of inter-personal relations, Working conditions, Feelings of job security.Motivator factors – Status, Opportunity for advancement, Gaining recognition, Responsibility, Challenging / stimulating work, Sense of personal achievement & personal growth in a job. McGregor’s X and Y theory – Theory X = Individuals who dislike work and avoid it where possible, Individuals who lack ambition, dislike responsibility and prefer to be led, Individuals who desire security. Theory Y = Consider effort at work as just like rest or play, Ordinary people who do not dislike work.Depending on the working conditions, work could be considered a source of satisfaction or punishment, Individuals who seek responsibility (if they are motivated). Taylor’s scientific management theory – Man is a rational economic animal concerned with maximising his economic gain, People respond as individuals, not as groups, People can be treated in a standardised fashion, like machines. Porter and Lawler’s Expectancy Model is a further development of Vroom’s theory.It considers performance as a whole, pointing out that effort expended does not lead directly to performance but is influenced by the ability of the individual and his/her perceptions. They identify motivation, performance and satisfaction as individual and separate variables and attempt to explain the relationships between the three. Adam’s equity theory – focuses on the way people feel they have been treated in the workplace, looks at fairness of treatment between people, expectation – what people expect to receive in return for there hard work.People may try and get others to leave, they may start to compare themselves to someone who they think they are more like. Methods of removing inequity – increased pay, perks, better working conditions, transfer a member to another department. Locke’s goal theory – clarity, challeng e, commitment, feedback, task complexity. Teamwork is important for staff morale, work performance. Empowerment, quality circle and TQM. Improves productivity, improving quality, improvement in motivation and commitment.Organisations arrange their workforce into groups of people who work together for a common purpose or goal but who each have their own jobs to do. Teamwork creates synergy, in groups leadership is shared, empowerment is making people responsible for the quality of their own work, it enables all knowledge to be utilised, and people doing the work are those that know most about the job. Where group members share the same office this can lead towards group cohesiveness.Good teamwork – Commitment to the team’s success as well as the development of team member, The appropriate skills to do the tasks, The team has its own clear identity to both the members and others, Team members are positive and motivated, The team learns from mistakes and copes with setbac ks, The team is results focussed and produces real results. The authoritarian manager: Motivates by reward, Imposes decisions, Does not delegate, Has only a superficial trust in their staff, Occasionally involves staff in solving problems.The democratic manager: Shares opinions and ideas, Has complete confidence and trust in their staff, Allows staff to participate in making decisions, Motivates by reward for achieving goals set by participation. The autocratic manager: Threatens or bullies staff into action, never delegates, Always imposes decisions on others, Has no trust and confidence in staff, Has little communication and teamwork.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Discuss the Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertisements Essay

Topic: â€Å"Advertisements do more harm than good. † Discuss. In general, advertisements promote products or services to the public. Advertisers use all sorts of gimmicks to promote their own product. For example, fast-food restaurants promise attractive toys and prizes in â€Å"scratch and win† competitions. As a result, children badger their parents to take them to that particular fast-food restaurant. Many advertisements make misleading claims and promise instant solutions to people’s problems. For example, an advertisement may depict a pimply boy being surrounded by pretty girls as soon as he applies a particular brand of pimple cream. Though many know that this is an exaggeration, they may still cling to the hope that it may be true and rush out to buy the cream and try it out. When the claims are not matched in real life, it can cause a lot of frustration. In my view, the greatest harm advertisements cause is that they nurture superficial values in people. People lust for products they cannot afford and some even resort to illegal ways of getting money in order to obtain them. This in turn breeds a class of snobbish people who only respect others for the material things they possess. However, advertisements are inevitable in a modern society that depends on trade and production. Advertisements inform the public about the products that are available in the market. Furthermore, advertising is a booming industry. This contributes greatly to the economy of the country. In fact, advertisements create competition among producers. As a result, they constantly try to upgrade the quality of their products and services to outdo their rivals. This also encourages creativity and talent among the advertisers. In conclusion, I feel that it would be impossible and unwise to ban advertisements. However, I feel that it is important to control their influence. The government can do so by imposing stringent rules on advertising methods. Internet connecting people Do you play games on-line ? Do you send e-mail messages to your friends ? Do you surf web to get information ? You can do all these things through the internet . So I think the internet has many advantages in our life. Firstly, the internet is a great source of information. You can get almost every kind of information such as news, articles, weather forecast ,†¦And it is always availble whenever you want to use it. Seccondly, the internet is also a great source of entertainment. You can listen to music, play games, watch movies, †¦. Thirdly, the internet is a very fast and cheap way to communicate with friends and relatives by means of e-mail, chatting, webcam,†¦Although you are far away from your family, you can see them through webcam and talk to them normally. Thank to the internet you can also make many new friends. Next, the internet plays an important education role. It provides many opportunities to broaden knowledge in almost every subject. You can learn E on-line, take an on-line course,†¦ect Finally, the internet is a convenient medium to do shopping, book a room in a hotel or buy a ticket to see a play without going out. Today, the internet is a highly effective tool for communicating, for gathering information and for cooperation between distant locations. Millions of people worldwide are using the internet to communicate ,share information, make new associations ,†¦. But on the other hand, the internet has some limitations . It is time-consuming if you don’t know how to use it properly. It is also dangerous beacause of virus and bad programs. Sometimes the internet users have to suffer various risks such as spam or electronic junk mail and personal information leaking. So while enjoying surfing, be alert ! Therefore, the internet is very useful but whether it is good or bad depends on the way you use it. Good and bad things of Change In our daily life, different kind of human has various characteristics and lifestyles. Some people prefer staying the same whereas the others prefer changes. In my point of view , I frankly say that change is an indispensable factor in developing human and society process. The first reason I choose change is that every minute, our society is changing. If it comes to a standstill, how can we keep up with pace of this world . Changing pushes the development of society from ancient time to modern period. Thus, we can have chances to expose with advanced technology and convenient facilities. Moreover our life standard is increasing and improved. For instance, by changing solar energy into heat and electricity, people can find a new way to prevent the energy shortage. Or a students know to change their studying method properly for himself, he ‘ll certainly get good results. The second reason is that changing opens up chances for people to improve themselves. If you don’t want to listen to other’s opinion and resist yours, you ‘ll never get better. It also form bad characteristics,Conservative person are narrow-minded and selfish. They only think of themselves and can do any thing even hurting the others to protect their thought. In contrast, a person who is modest and always crave for learning will be respected and admired by many relatives and companion around them. The third reason is that changing assists us to explore our talents better and deeper. Only by overcoming storm or big change can you become more maturer and stronger. Changing is precious experiences in your career and life. For example, somw people like challenges and want to change their job. Even in crisis economy, job is very difficult to find, they still want to choose a suitable job for them . Through it, they will find their real abilities and try hard to achive their goals. In a nutshell, I think changing is always a good thing . Nobody can deny the convinience and huge benefits it brings to our society and human.

People over 68 years of age should have their driver's licenses Essay

People over 68 years of age should have their driver's licenses cancelled - Essay Example With an increase in life expectancy and reduction in population growth, the number of old people in the U.S is expected to triple. In recent years there has been controversy concerning the maximum age beyond which a person should not drive. Ageing is a continuous and complex process and hence there is no any absolute definition of an old person. Lack of a precise definition for an old person must be the cause of controversy surrounding maximum driving age. The rising number of accidents caused by seniors indicates that old people are more likely to cause accidents. Driving is a process that requires speedy reactions and decision-making. This is because drivers are expected to drive their vehicles at a relatively high speed especially the highway drivers. Driving at a high speed requires a person to have quick response as well as fast and rational decision-making. Response and decision-making depends on a person’s rate of reaction. Hope (web) stated that old people have slow response. Slow reaction makes old people to have slow response in relation to the speed of the vehicle. Accident takes a fraction of a second to happen but have fatal consequences. This implies that a driver should have quick response to events and occurrences on the roads. This makes the old people to be more likely to cause accident than young people. Old age is a losing process as described by theories of aging. This implies at old age people lose most of their capabilities. Aging is also described as an accumulation process, at old age a person accumulates problems acquired during his lifetime. The sense of sight plays an important role in driving since through the eyesight drivers are able to determine their direction. Eyesight also enables drivers to determine and avoid obstacles that might be present on the way. Most importantly, drivers use their eyesight to determine distance and speed (Lindenburg 78). It is not clearly known how this

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Bibliography - Essay Example Moreover, the article emphasizes the legal right of people to carry guns in a democratic country like the United States, and so this becomes the basis of further investigation as to how far should the legality of one’s right be acknowledged vis-à  -vis safety and security. A Florida gun-rights group in the name of Florida Carry decided to file a lawsuit against the University of Florida because the latter has allegedly and unjustly instituted a total gun ban in its campus. Furthermore, according to the gun-rights group, the university has blatantly violated the citizens’ right to carry weapons as it prohibited not only the carrying of weapons but also the storing of weapons in cars within the campus. For this gun-rights group, the right of people to store guns is really a matter of personal privacy. However, there is no stated response from the University of Florida so far. This paper will benefit greatly from the use of this article as a good counterargument against total gun ban laws, while emphasizing the right of people to privacy. This will, however, be counteracted by the idea that safety and security must be the greater priority in an ethical dilemma such as gun-related violence.HemeTop of Form HemeHemHemenway, David & Matthew Miller. "Firearm Availability and Homicide Rates across 26 High-Income Countries."  The Journal of Trauma, Injury, Infection, and Critical Care  49 (2000): 985-988. Print. The article says that wherever guns are more available in the world, there are definitely more homicides. This is the data of 26 countries culled from databases such as those of the World Bank, public surveys and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while using the Cook Index statistical tool. Among these countries, the United States is the highest for both the gun count and the homicide count. This work therefore provides the paper with one of

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Organisations and Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Organisations and Behaviour - Essay Example There are multiple organisational structures found both in theory and in practice. Some are rigid like public sector organisations while others are flexible like small scale private enterprises. There are many variables that affect the structure of the organisation. They include its size, age, staff, culture, geographical position and legal, commercial, social and technical environment. These factors all help to shape many organisational structures. In the basic categorisation, there are tall and flat structures. Below is the comparison of these two types. Tall Structure Flat Structure Size Usually Large Usually Medium Age Independent Independent Culture & Environment Rigid & Formal Flexible & Less Formal Geographical Position Independent Independent Hierarchy Strong Weak Span of Control Tight Loose Chain of Command Strict Loose Delegation of Authority Formal Informal Workload Reduced – Decentralised Increased Career Growth Well Defined Vague There are some other structures wh ich are combination of these two structures. The matrix structure is an example. It has different units and each one follows the tall structure independently. On the organisational level, all units form flat structure. Many organisational structures are dependent upon functional units therefore they extract the required characteristic from all types of structures. It is important to mention here that every organisation differs from other one in terms of structure. There can be variety in tall and flat structures as well. Organisational Structure of Apple The organisational structure of Apple is quite different from the ones mentioned in the literature and found in the practice. It is more like a wheel where CEO places himself at the centre. All other departments and functional units are spread around him and he the key focal of all. This structure reflects the overall leadership and operational philosophy in which Steve Jobs believed. He gave his executive team a direct access to hi mself. Through close coordination with them, he established trust and involvement. The same practise was adopted down the line and Apple won loyalty of employees. Steve’s successor disagreed with this organisational structure. His management and leadership approach is quite different from that of Steve. It is more likely that the command of Tim Cook will transform Apple into an organisational having traditional tall structure. The CEP will be at the top while the Executive Team will be next in the hierarchy and reporting to him. Since the structure is the overall design of an organisation, the functional units of Apple will become tall too. In addition to the conventional pros and cons attached with the tall structure, it is also expected that structural transformation will bring certain resistance. It is because change is naturally resisted and the employees of Apple are used to the wheel structure since long. It is also possible that command of authority may be challenged b y the employees and Apple may not expect the same performance as it was in Steve’s time. Comparison of Organisational Cultures The organisational structure influences the organisational culture. The rigid structure promotes strict and formal culture while the flexible structure is more likely seen in an informal culture. Below is the comparison of formal and informal culture that can exist in any organisation. In formal culture, the basic guideline followed throughout the

Friday, July 26, 2019

Latino Culture is Growing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Latino Culture is Growing - Research Paper Example Latino culture is certainly changing, but it is the aim of this essay to provide evidence that Latino culture is growing within the United States and as such is becoming more influential and powerful than ever before. The hypothesis of this paper is that the literature will support the notion that Latino culture is growing within the United States, and as such the operational definition will seek to define the statement above by describing the number of Latin Americans in the United States and the areas in which their culture is growing. We will define the weight of the Latin American culture in terms of number and evidence provided within the literature that it is becoming more and more influential in all areas of cultural interest. According to our hypothesis, Latino culture is growing and as such we will expect the tests we do (in this case measuring qualitative and quantitative evidence for the growth of Latino culture) to support this, providing us with an operational definition . To understand the growth of Latino culture, it is important to understand what exactly comprises it. Latino culture at its most basic level involves anything cultural that can be found predominantly amongst those within the Latin American ethnic group. It also generally refers to movements that have come from Latin America directly, or modern adaptations of this. For example, Roman Catholicism is generally thought to be a large part of Latin American culture (Phol, 1998). Music is found within all cultures, and Latino culture is no different. Latino music generally refers to music made by those of a Latin American origin, whether it be traditional forms such as salsa or adaptations of more modern American trends such as hip-hop or rock music with a distinctly Latin flavour, such as involving traditional rhythms or singing in Spanish. Language is often associated with culture too, and we will look at how the Spanish language is the most important growing language in the United Stat es and how Spanglish (a fusion of Spanish and English) is becoming more common amongst Latin American and Anglo American teens. It is hard with Latino culture, as with any culture, to pin down exactly what makes it unique, as culture changes so rapidly. However, it is safe to assume that Latino culture can be attributed to those of Latin American origin and as such most of the cultural elements discussed within this essay will be those directly formed under the influence of people of this ethnic origin. It is widely recognised that Latino culture is growing, particularly within adolescent groups. Latino teenagers now have more spending power than Anglo teens, spending over $320 a month, which is 4% more than the average American teenager (Stapinski, 1999). This means that advertising companies have had to adapt and begin to target Latino adolescents to improve profit margins, and new advertising companies such as Lazos Latinos have started to appear, primarily targeting the Latino Y outh. With this increased targeted advertising, more elements of Latino culture have been reaching a wider audience, meaning that Anglo teenagers pick up on the trends that are currently defining Latino culture and as such the trends are spreading to a wider

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Civil war in Africa Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Civil war in Africa - Research Paper Example Warlords and government can no longer rely on an ideological basis for civil war financing since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Natural resources are asserts that sustain activities of both rebel movements and justice movements set to counter them (Collier & Hoeffler, 2000). Congo has diverse and abundant minerals that include gold and copper. The locals do not benefit from these minerals, as those that benefit have not done any useful investment in the country. Foreigners have persistently found local collaborators to share the massive possessions of the continent. Civil war broke as movements purported to protect the masses from the monopoly of the rulers and their overseas business allies (Nzongola-Ntalaja, 2004). Interference from outside countries, like USA and Soviet Union has also led to civil wars in the African continent; the Cold War is a significant component in aggravation of civil war in Africa. Each power militarized different African states and took part in de stabilizing their government’s political legitimacy. Governments in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Zaire depended on Cold War finance sustain their military dominance. This competition for supremacy motivated a scramble for power among different sponsored movements in different African states (Cramer, 2006; Ndikumana & Emizet, 2005). ... The powers went as far as offering arms and training to groups to provide them and edge in waging war over their rivals. A large number of African civil war protagonists received military training from countries like Russia, Israel, USA, and the Soviet Union (Kinzer, 2008) Extend of Western countries’ contribution to civil wars can be as far as assassination of some of the African leaders. There are accusation against western countries for sanctioning assassinations of African political leaders such as Eduardo Mondlane and Patrice Lumumba, Dag Hammarskjold and Samora Marcel (Akaki, 2008; De Witt, 2001). This assassination has contributed to civil wars in Africa as various political groups blame each other for the death of these leaders. The power vacuum in place leads to scramble for the vacant leadership position. High prevalence of civil wars in Africa is accredited to the ethnic variety of its people. This inference seems self-evident to many, given that. Rebel movements in Africa are most of the times ethnically oriented. Divisions in terms of ethnic orientation and the hatred that comes with it are thus among the cause of violent conflict in African continent (Elbadawi & Sambanis, 2000). Settlement former slaves in Liberia can also be to blame for of civil unrest in the country. The freed slaves prevented those from indigenous community from taking up political leadership positions; moreover, thefreed slaves thought of themselves as a progressive group. They saw indigenous Africans as heathens and savages. Liberians from America, adopted a racist thinking they experienced in the west at the time, which tagged indigenous Africans as primitive people. Such attitudes led to frequent friction among the groups, which

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Analyzing Orwell's1984 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analyzing Orwell's1984 - Essay Example This allusion to the wiping out of memories is symbolic of a process of erasing memories, by which actually the sense of self within each and every human being is erased, culture is erased (Orwell, Chapter 4). In chapter 5 of the book, one understands that the Party is in a process of destroying many words which are supposed to be useless from the language (Orwell, Chapter 5). The reason for this is spelled out by Syme, a friend of Winston, when he says, â€Å"in the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it† (Orwell, Chapter 5). Here, thoughtcrime is the act of thinking against the Party and its laws. With this kind of progression of the narrative, the author has shown that people are deprived even of their power to think, disagree and dream; people are totally dehumanized (Orwell, Chapter 5). Loss of privacy is the most important aspect of the dehumanization process. In this novel, the face of the Big Brother a nd the caption, â€Å"Big Brother is watching you† follow the people everywhere thereby depriving them of even a moment of privacy (Orwell, Chapter 1). Even the â€Å"swirl of gritty dust† that enters with Winston into his apartment building is suggestive of the helplessness of people like him to have some personal space and time (Orwell, Chapter 1). Then there is this instrument on the wall, the tele-screen, which forces all to listen to what it says, through days and nights, so that nobody is allowed even the privacy for thought (Orwell, Chapter 1). When people have such voices screaming into their eardrums constantly, they become more like listening machines. Again, a helicopter is also seen sneaking into people's lives from the sky (Orwell, Chapter 1). By depicting these three presences- the Big Brother, the tele-screen and the helicopter- Orwell has in the very first page of his novel, made the readers apprehend that they are entering a world totally mechanical, y et very familiar in terms of certain aspects of modern life. As we read on, it is also communicated that the tele-screen is a receiver as well as transmitter (Orwell, Chapter 1). It is transmitting all the visuals and sounds that the protagonist made, to the thought police (Orwell, Chapter 1). From this moment, the reader actually enters the world of absolute power where, â€Å"you had to live-did live, from habit that become instinct- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every moment, scrutinized† (Orwell, Chapter 1). The first chapter of this novel, in this manner, strongly predicts the drama that is about to be unraveled yet keeps the reader hooked to the text and yearning to read more. Chapter 6 unfolds another horror of living in the world controlled by the Party and Big Brother- there is no sexual freedom, no freedom to love a person from the other gender (Orwell, Chapter 6). The reason behind this is explained as given in the following paragraph: The aim of the Party was not merely to prevent men and women from forming loyalties which it might not be able to control. Its real, undeclared purpose was to remove all pleasure from the sexual act. Not love so much as eroticism was the enemy, inside marriage as well as outside it. All marriages between Party members had to be approved by

ARTICLE REFLECTION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ARTICLE REFLECTION - Essay Example One of the biggest hindering factors to poor decision-making Mauboussin points out is overconfidence. People make poor decisions because they tend to think they are above-average; are optimistic; and have the illusion of having control over the situation. The experience and training people gain over the years influence their perceptions which inevitably lead to poor judgments and predictions. Another, major factor which influences decision-makers is the perception of the outside world. When decision-makers are confused by their internal information, they turn towards the outside world to gauge how others have dealt with similar problems. People try to find trends and events to base their own decisions on. Sometimes this is effective but at other times miscalculation can occur due to wrong interpretation of data, information bias and sometimes simply because trends do not account for ad hoc situations. Nevertheless, this outside view, according to Mauboussin is a more realistic approach because it gives a "reality check" to decision-makers. It offers decision-makers the opportunity to evaluate and contemplate which is an important in decision-making. However, I am of the view that decision-making is a combination of both internal and external knowledge. One cannot negate the fact that internal knowledge, ones professional experience and learned processes are also critical for decision-making. Mauboussin seems to have leaned on external factors more as opposed to internal factors for effective decision, a bias in my view. If all decision-makers start to rely exclusively on external information and trends, then it would be difficult to make instantaneous decisions in the field such as in the case of doctors, paramedics, firefighters and other life-saving professionals. Furthermore, I feel that Mauboussin has overly relied on his financial background in writing

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

The Social Cost of Carbon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

The Social Cost of Carbon - Essay Example The adverse impacts may be in the form of poorer health outcomes, loss or harm to biodiversity, economic weakening of agricultural, timber, water and energy industries, as well as the loss or destruction of coastal resources. The important feature of these detrimental effects is that they are not borne by the immediate parties in any economic transactions. In economists’ terminology they are ‘externalities’; however, they are experienced by the wider society (Putnam, 2007). In choosing the carbon reduction policy to be implemented, the social cost of carbon can be used at least in theory, as an indicator of whether society would be benefited by using the policy. Thus, if a social cost of carbon at  £70 per tonne is accepted, a carbon reduction policy that reduces emissions at more than  £70 per tonne would be rejected. However, the â€Å"social cost of carbon has been criticised as being too uncertain to provide the basis for policy decision making† (Putnam, 2007, p.28). It has been argued that it is not possible to monetarily assess climate change damage such as loss of ecosystems and large-scale population displacement, because of the difficulty in establishing the upper limit of the costs. Hence, for policy decision making, a single financial evaluation of the social cost of carbon should be avoided. The Government and Committee on Climate Change is also required to include the factor of sustainable development, because an exclusive emphasis on carbon reduction may result in adverse outcomes in other environmental areas such as biodiversity. For example, it is essential to consider certain substitutions and transactions between â€Å"the need to reduce carbon emissions, the impacts on local wildlife, and the financial costs of minimising such impacts† (Putnam, 2007, p.28), when planning key renewable energy projects such as wind farms and tidal barrages. A fairly recent and

Monday, July 22, 2019

Housekeeping International Hotels Essay Example for Free

Housekeeping International Hotels Essay Housekeeping Standard Manuals define exactly how a room should be presented to hotel guests. This includes instructions on how the rooms should be cleaned, when they should be cleaned and a list of the things to be included in the rooms. The time of cleaning is very important as early or late cleaning could disturb the guests. Clean and presentable rooms attract and keep guests. This ensures order and smooth running of the hotel as there will be minimal complaints and confusion. These Housekeeping Manuals ensure guests are well treated and get what they are paying for. The manuals offer a guide on how to treat hotel guests and how to ensure they are comfortable during their stay. A quality service ensures good publicity on the part of the hotel management. This ensures the guests keep coming back and even recommend the hotel to friends and family members. Housekeeping Standard Manuals ensure safety and comfort of the guests. The Manuals offer instructions on what to do in case of emergencies and how to safely evacuate the guests. Body According to Diamond Edge (2007), â€Å"The guest is always right. †Housekeeping Manuals ensure that guests receive quality service. The Manuals ensure that guests concerns are dealt with swiftly and with a smile. Many studies have shown that clean rooms and public areas are the most important factors that determine whether the guests will return to the hotel. Clean guest rooms make a difference in the success of the hotel and the comfort of guests. (Diamond Edge 2007) The guests need a providence of all the accommodation products of the hotel, according to their requests. The accommodation products of the hotel include a mini bar, internet, room service and in-house movies. This provides comfort and entertainment for the enjoyment of the guest’s stay. Housekeeping Standard Manuals ensure safety of the guests. According to Andrews, one important quality of a room attendant is an eye for detail. The room attendant has to keep checking the rooms in case a guest is ill and needs urgent medical attention (Andrews 2001: 46). On the other hand, the manuals ensure privacy for the guests. This is usually through â€Å"do not disturb† signs and double locks for the guests. The room attendants have to knock in case they need any information from the guests. This makes the guests feel safe and secure in the hotel. The management includes the General Manager, the Front office manager, Housekeeper and Maintenance Manager. The General Manager assists with Marketing plans, reservations, maintenance and grounds keeping, maintains financial records and implement cost control measures. The Front office manager provides coverage as well as night auditor and desk clerks. To offer a high standard of service, the front office staffs have to understand the needs of their guests. The front office staffs need have a full knowledge of the products which the hotel sells, how these products can be offered for sale and the clients to whom these products will be sold (Huyton, Baker and Bradley 2001:29). The ability of front office staff to handle guest’s problem will either make the guest a friend of the hotel for life or chase him away forever. The front office staffs need to be calm, courteous and helpful and understand what the guest is going through when experiencing any difficulty. (Huyton, Baker and Bradley 2001). The housekeeper assists the room attendants who clean and maintain guest rooms and public areas. The Hotel Management is required to develop a competent staff. Management is required to meet the goals of the organization through the employees. Efficiency depends on how well the employees are motivated and instructed to meet the goals and objectives of the plans the general manager and staff have formulated (Bardi 2006). According to Pizam (2005), Housekeeping is the most important department in the hotel. The Housekeeping Staffs inspect rooms, clean rooms and maintains a continuous supply of linen and cleaning supply inventories. Housekeeping Standard Manuals helps in the thorough training of the room attendants. These Manuals also help executive housekeepers to maintain and control an inventory of all the supplies. Housekeepers are expected to ensure that the rooms are spotlessly clean. Anything less than perfect is unacceptable. (Pizam 2005:321-322). The Housekeeping Staff have to follow all the instructions on the Manuals to ensure compliance with the demands of the hotel requirements. Room attendants work in compliance with standard operating procedures that may specify as many as sixty items that must meet a given standard in each guest room (Rutherford and O’Fallon 2006:184). The Manuals enable them to give quality service to guests. It guides them on how to attend to guests and thus ensure guest satisfaction. The housekeeping report is useful to the housekeeping staff as it determines which rooms need to be cleaned, which rooms are occupied and which need special attention. The room attendants need to follow the Housekeeping Standard Manuals instructions on keeping an eye on the guests. This ensures safety of the guests and security on the part of the management. Not all the guests are honest and have good intentions. Some guests could pose danger on the name of the hotel or cause the hotel to loose a lot of money. These include guests who may slip out without paying or guests who may pose danger to other guests through misconduct. Summary The importance of Housekeeping Standard Manuals and the effect they have on guests, Hotel Management and Housekeeping staff has been analysed. Housekeeping Standard Manuals take a lot of time and money but their usefulness is worth so much more. The needs of the guests are so many that they cannot be remembered by either the hotel management or the housekeeping staff. The Manuals makes it easier for the housekeeping staff to provide quality service to the guest without having to worry about forgetting something. The Manuals also make it easier for inspectors and managers to confirm that the room is presentable and everything has been provided for the guest. Housekeeping Manuals have a positive outcome on the guests in that these Manuals keep them coming back. The clean and well presented rooms contribute a lot to the good publicity of the hotel. Guests love clean rooms and other offers like accommodation products which make them feel comfortable and at home. Hotel General Managers use these Manuals to run the Hotel smoothly. These instructions make their work easy because these Manuals are a direct guide on how everything should be presented. There are also guides on steps to take during emergencies and how to address the problems of the guests. The General Manager has to only check with the other Managers once in a while to ensure that everything is running smoothly. The Housekeeping Manuals are most important to the Housekeeping staff. They guide them on the rooms to clean, what to use during cleaning and when to clean the rooms. They also give the exact details on what to include in the rooms and how to present these products to the guests. This helps them to offer quality service to guests and to know how to deal with guests in case of difficulties.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Accounting Essays Comparability of Financial Statements

Accounting Essays Comparability of Financial Statements Comparability of Financial Statements. 1.0 Financial Statements and its Significance. In recent times, we have witnessed tremendous policy reforms and recommendations being made to tackle and control the manner in which businesses carry out their accounting work. Numerous accounting mismanagement and malpractices have only added to the urgency to bring regulations that seek to keep a check on accounting procedures followed by the corporate world. The failure of companies such as Enron due to inappropriate accounting tactics stands out as a perfect example. Investors in the form of shareholders and stakeholders provide huge sum of capital anticipating higher future returns. Firms are known to tamper with financial data in order to attract prospective investors to finance their capital requirements and debt elimination. Recently, Shell, one of world biggest energy and oil producing companies was accused of overstating oil reserves to attract investments and had eventually admitted to have tampered with its financial data. Therefore, proper scrutiny of financial statements is essentials especially since various individual and business interests are developed citing information provided in these statements. Countries such as the US have come up with regulations such as US GAAP1 to assess financial policies pursued by corporates and the format to be followed in publishing financial statements. Countries have adopt accounting procedures and guidelines framed under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to eliminate discrepancies in financial analysis, improve investment opportunities and to make financial information available. By 2005, all companies registered in the EU have to adhere by new accounting standard. Countries such as UK have come under immense pressure to replace UK GAAP with the new IFRS scheme. Investors often depend on various financial ratios to determine when and where to invest. Such complexities and the presence of diverse interests groups make it essential to develop financial mechanisms that determine the financial health of a company. Companies have to publish Annual Reports that summarise its financial status and act as a medium of information to its shareholders. An important and significant step in determining the health of a company is to analysis its historical financial statements. These historical data provides a picture of the financial health of a business and a roadmap outlining the direction the business is heading. The financial data are covered under various headings such as the Balance Sheet and Income Statements. Each of these has a particular format and is based on the principles of financial regulation framework such as the GAAP. We shall look at them briefly in the following chapter and also look at other techniques developed due to the shortcoming some of these financial ratios are known to show. 2.0 Understanding Financial Ratios Ratio is nothing but the comparison of one figure with another and is normally depicted as a percentage. Financial ratio is an analytical tool used to analyse trends, strength and weakness of a companys assets and its liabilities. Financial ratios are compared overtime on a year to year basis. The basic source for these ratios comes from the companys financial statements which contains information on the assets, liabilities, profits and losses and dividends accruing to its shareholders.2 The most common ratios can be classified under the following headings: Profitability Ratios Liquidity Ratios Capital Structure Ratios In the financial world, firms rely on investors to raise funds for its short and long term needs. This is done by floating shares in the stock markets or by issuing debentures or bonds (loans). The funds may come in the form of short term, medium or long term loans. An investor will only invest if he is fully convinced that his investment will gain higher returns/dividends. He may look at the balance sheet to analyse how much the company is worth. Liquidity is an important criterion that influences investor decisions. The company must be able to pay back its loans on time and doing so will only raise its reputation in the capital market for future borrowings. The company that relies heavily on borrowing its expenses will obviously find it difficult to service its liabilities. Besides, customers spending habit has a larger impact on the companys sales and liquidity. Purchase affects the companys stock of goods which, in turn, affects its liquidity. Since stocks cannot be sold in short notice, it has a direct impact on the firms capability to raise fund to finance short term debt financing. The current liabilities have to be settled in cash within short period of time. The presence of large stocks will artificially inflate the total current assets which may make it appear as if the company has enough resources to meet its short term liabilities. We shall look at some popular ratios that, though informative, cannot be used as an ideal tool for financial analysis. Lets see how. The annual report 2004 of The EMI Group suggests that group has current assets (including stocks) worth  £1107 million and current liabilities worth  £1403.5 million. The resultant current ratio is 0.78:1.3 This figure suggests that the Group does not have enough short term resources to meet its short term requirements. It has only 78 pence to meet a pound of debt. If we deduct the stocks ( £36.4 million) from its current assets to see its immediate liquidity, the quick ratio shows an even poor debt financing capability. The quick ratio is 0.76:1.4 This figure suggests that the Group has only 76 pence to meet every 1 pound worth of debt.5 Analysing the results suggest that it would be inappropriate to rely on the current ratio as it does not explain how much the company real assets are readily convertible into cash in short notice. Stocks are not highly liquid and therefore must be excluded in assessing the companys liquidity in the short period. Therefore, current ratio cannot be used as a reliable means to make investment decisions and that it essential that we look at other ratios and their merits and demerits to determine which of these is appropriate in the capital market. The Gross Profit Ratio is the ratio between the Gross Profit and the Sales Revenue. The Gross Profits is arrived at by deducting the Cost of Sales from the Sales Revenue.6 To analyse this ratio we shall look at the Income Statement of The Sandvik Group.7 The Consolidated Income Statement suggests that the group had an Invoiced Sales of  £4010.2 million and Cost of Sales equalling  £2742 million. The GP ratio between these two figures is 1.46:1 meaning that the group is able to make 46 pence extra from every  £1 of sales. It may look appealing but it must be noted that the Cost of Sales does not include other expenses that may significantly reduce the gross profits.8 If we deduct other expenses worth  £741.9 million, the operating profits drop to  £526.3 million. The Shareholders and the companys future investment plans and its dividend policies depends on the Net Profits. It is arrived at by deducting the interest payables. The Sandviks Net Profits for the year after tax de ductions are equivalent to  £327million. We can see that though the Gross Profit ratio is a useful ratio it does not shows the companys financial position and does not influence any investment decisions. The real true figure that matters is the Net Profits after taxation. The ratio categorised under capital structure ratios are more elaborate and descriptive. However when using ratios such as gearing and interest cover, factor such as market structure, consumer preference and taste, economies of scale, product type have considerable influence. For example, payments from debtors depends of consumer income and preference. These factors have its affect on the current assets (cash) which will in turn affect the company ability to pay its creditors. The points here is that though some factors cannot be measured and may not have direct consequences (market structure) it cannot be ignored. The ideas highlighted above are very important in performing financial analysis of a company. The accounting professionals have introduced techniques that are more accurate and explicable. We shall look at one such technique in the next chapter. 3.0 Improvement in assessment of financial statement. We have seen the technical failure of various financial ratios and the difficulty in using them as a tool to make investment decisions. Comparing financial results from different periods has its own drawbacks because there are no independent frameworks to assess whether the companys current results are good or bad. It is very important that care must be taken when comparing results between two different companies in terms of products, size, market share etc. For example, company A may have a significant market share (turnover) compared to company Bs but smaller net profit due to its bigger operational costs. Such discrepancies can influence wrong investment patterns and decisions. Another major drawback of ratio analysis is that accountants indulge in creative accounting techniques where ratios calculated from published financial statements show favourable figures. For example, sale and repurchase agreements manipulate liquidity figures and off-balance sheet finance which distorts return on capital employed and thereby influencing companys gearing. It is therefore essential that new approach to assessing financial statement must be devised and changed to suit to new market conditions. One such technique was developed by Professor Altman who devised a new technique popularly known as the Z-Score.9 The Z-Score is a statistical model that incorporates the use of five different ratios which serve to predict the health of a firm.10 The Z-Score is used to predict bankruptcy of the business using traditional financial ratios and statistical method known as the Multiple Discriminant Analysis. The Z-score is considered to be 90 % accurate in forecasting business failure one year into the future and 80 percent accurate in forecasting it two years into the future.11 By selecting various financial ratios and applying weight to each ratio it is possible to estimate the financial position of the company. In his study, he analysed over 22 such financial ratios and selected 5 distinctive ratios that focused on the balance sheet and performance ratios. Weights were assigned by establishing appropriate coefficients to show how each of these ratios influenced the dependent Z-Score. Altman Z-Score equation: Z = X1 (a) + X2 (b) + X3 (c) + X4 (d) + X5 (e)12 Where, X1 Working Capital/Total Assets. X2 Retained Earning/Total Assets. X3 EBIT/Total Assets.13 X4 Market Value Equity/Book Value of Total Debt. X5 Sales/Total Assets a, b, c, d, e are respective coefficient assigned to each ratios (X1,X2 ¦Ã‚ ¦..X5). Z Overall Z-Score. Now, companies expand their reach in the global market by producing goods that belong to different markets. Firms engage in horizontal and vertical integration to expand their market and also to reduce risk by spreading their resources in different activities. It is therefore illogical to do a financial comparison of firms from different industry. Professor Altman overcame the problem of comparing companies that specialised in different industries by altering the above equation by eliminating certain ratios. For example, Ratio X5 for non-manufacturing companies. This is done because sales/total assets ratio greatly varies from industry to industry. Z = X1 (a) + X2 (b) + X3 (c) + X4 (d) He modified the equation for a privately held company by implementing book value of equity as a private companys stocks are not publicly traded. He further devised Z Score table to determine a financial healthy company from a sick company in various industries. The companies in the grey area were considered misclassified. Unhealthy Gray Area Healthy Private Companies < 1.23 1.23 2.90 > 2.90 Public Companies < 1.81 1.81 2.99 > 2.99 Non Manufacturing Companies < 1.00 1.11 2.60 > 2.60 The Z Score technique is gaining popularity in the financial world as an efficient and accurate method to predict financial health of a company and also it is less likely to be manipulated as Ratio Analysis are known to be. In the next chapter I shall focus on the International Financial Reporting standard and look at ways it can be improved to promote comparability and facilitate globalisation and movement of capital. 4.0 Financial Reporting and Applications. The International Financial Reporting Standards also known as the International Accounting Standard are a set of accounting standards companies must follow when formulating financial policies and publication of financial statements. In the EU, new regulations require EU companies to adopt International Accounting Standards by the year 2005. Questions have been raised as to whether we need international standards with massive movement towards free market. As Mr. Andrew Crockett puts in advances in IT and the ascendancy of free market principles have underpinned government-led to market-led financial system ¦.the period saw the emergence of financial instability 14 Mr. Crockett also stress on the fact that we need to develop, seek global acceptance of, and implement a set of codes or standards that pertain to key elements of financial system infrastructure . It was felt that certain regulations on financial prices, financial statements framework, and accounting principles pertaining to domestic and cross border transactions were hindering market forces. These factors combined with the shift towards greater fiscal and monetary prudence laid the foundation for a system that controlled capital movement across borders and international standards that improved global accounting principles. The steps taken to achieve efficient financial mechanism must be able to address two factors firstly, it must be able to identify the most economic way of utilising resources and secondly, it must be able to control the manner in which these resources are utilised. It forms the basis for the allocation of income among various claimants on the company and to bring in financial discipline. The major advantages of such reporting standards are:- It helps in poverty reduction by reducing the risk of financial crisis and their impact on the global poor. It achieves significance because the scope of globalisation has reached almost every single country. It helps in creating investor confidence by improving investment climate, eradication of loopholes affecting direct and indirect investments. Its helps by eliminating barriers on free movement of market information and sentiments. It assists local governments to implement taxation regulations and also unwanted barriers to trade. Despite the advantages of having international standards for financial reporting, it is quite evident that certain factors act as a barrier to accounting standards. For e.g. the UK banking sector has been in the forefront of this conflict between the international standards and the national standards. Lets very briefly look at two such regulations that will have an impact on the banking sector the Basel II capital accord and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which apply to all companies listed in the EU.15 Basel II requires banks to link their capital to risk. It is likely to have consequences on all types of lending to SMEs and large companies. Despite the advantages in terms of better risk management and accurate pricing of loans, the complexity involved in switching will cause some problems. The eventual replacement of UK GAAP with the IFRS comes with the complexity of changing over, cost involved and bad debt provisions. According to an article published in the Business Money magazine by Mr. Mike Imeson, the HSBC bank incurred $ 400 million in expense to bring regulatory changes in accounting standards world over in 2003. Similar sentiments were expressed by Mr. Stephen Pegge, Lloyd TSB in this article by saying that when a business approaches you for a loan, you wont know for certain which legislation applies .16 Considering the above statements, it is essential to look at national concern towards the development of an international standard on financial regulation. It is true that it will improve investment opportunities by elimination of unwanted barriers and it is also likely to create expenses that may prove as a hindrance to an already volatile and underdeveloped financial systems in most countries. As Mr. Pegge puts in, it will create confusion in the mind of investors and lenders as to what legislation applies and bureaucratic delays in understanding and applying them. 5.0 Conclusions In the preceding chapters, we have seen the importance of financial analysis in investment choice and decision making. The ratio forms a very important aspect in making financial choices and also acts as a medium for companies to assess their business performance. Financial analysis of these ratios influences the interests of various groups of individuals and organisations such as Individual shareholders, Employees, Managers, Directors, Governments. Considering these interest groups and affects on each of these entities, the need for an international framework for accounting standard has being increasing felt. It acts as a medium of information for the investors who would assess the basis for making further investments and also to see how well the company is performing. The managers stand to benefit as their remuneration and income are directly linked to the company performance. The governments policy towards economic development and need for further reforms are based on these financial analysis and financial statements. It forms the basis for taxes on trade and tax benefits and exemptions. While the importance haves been highlighted, it is also essential to note that drawbacks are not ignored. As Mr. Pegge points out there must be a clear understanding of the legislations and it must work towards reducing costs rather than increasing it. To conclude, financial reforms and regulations are an essential component in todays global economy. Financial statements must as an informative source free from manipulations of date and figures. References and Bibliography Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA), (2005 Edition), Financial Accounting Fundamentals Paper C2. Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (CIMA), (2005 Edition), Management Accounting Fundamentals Paper C1. Annual Report, 2004, The EMI Group. Annual Report, 2004, The Sandvik Group. Internet Sources: The EMI Group www.emigroup.com/financial.html The Sandvik Group www3.sandvik.com/pdf/annualreports/sandvik2004_eng_web.pdf Vercor The Global Resource for Business, Sales, Merger and Acquisitions www.vercoradvisor.com/articles/companyscore.html Bank for International Settlement www.bis.org/speeches/sp020227.htm BusinessMoney.com http://www.business-money.com/features_mike_imeson_jan05.html Ventureline www.ventureline.com/SampleOneIndustry.asp

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Elements that build the identity of a country

Elements that build the identity of a country Chapter Five: Conclusion and Recommendations Conclusion The objective of this paper was to explore the different elements of a country’s identity that builds a country’s image. Each country has unique elements which builds its image. It is seen that the elements that builds the identity of a country plays an important role in framing the general image of the destination. With regards to Kotler’s categories of country images, it was found that Mauritius fits in the category of positive image which is countries granted with natural resources, diverse culture and gastronomy, political stability that makes up its beauty. As such surrounded by the sea, Mauritius has been gifted with inheritance beauty with its wide range of breath-taking natural scenery that makes it in a position to offer a variety of inland and sea activities to cater for the needs of the market. Additionally it was found that the multi ethnic diversity that lives in peace and harmony and sharing their culture is something unique to the image of Mauritius. It also enjoys a sound political environment Image has an important role for so as to differentiate a destination in this highly com petitive market (Yilmaz et al., 2009). The figure below has been formulated by the current author. It shows the relation between country identity and country image. It depicts the unique elements that build the image of Mauritius under the country main factors section. Those main factors establish the promotion strategy of Mauritius. Marketing Promotional Strategies Figure 11: Mauritius Country’s Image Formulated by the current author into the context of Mauritius It is to be noted that the elements of country identity builds its image and if not managed properly it can hamper its image. Notably, challenges to the image of Mauritius is the proliferation of crime activities, prostitution, drug dealing. However, it is argued that irrespective of the prevailing image, tourists keep arriving in Mauritius. By far campaigns aiming to prove that Mauritius is still a safe place to be and that such case is an exception and any country can be victim of has been successful. Moreover, country representatives established in our key markets have been doing a great job in re building the image of Mauritius by focussing on its key strengths. Moreover, this study has also found that in light of the global crisis; priorities of people have changed making long haul travel less preferred leading to a decrease in arrival from our major markets. As such to offset the arrivals from Europe, new markets (Asian countries mainly) have been sought. However, even if it di versifies into new markets, Mauritius must continue to be visible in the European countries. It has been found that the geographical factors of a destination is somewhat an imaginary influences that place marketers should deal in proposing travelers with other valuable offers that will compensate the detriments that cannot be altered. Actually, a destination cannot be re-located from its actual geographical location. Nevertheless, promoters need to offer exciting packages that will make travelers feel distance is not a big deal. For example, despite of the infinity distance and exorbitant fees, nowadays people are committed to travel to space to experience amazing features. Hence, promoters need to propose products or services that are not accessible at competitor’s destinations. In the context of Mauritius, it can be concluded that indeed it possesses unique characteristics that enable it to cater for diverse markets. In this study it has The image of Mauritius is a significant factor on tourists’ decision-making. In the past, the image of Mauritius was entirely focuses around the honeymoons segment. The MTPA has since implemented strategies and campaigns to broaden this image to include many segments which are still unknown by most tourists: family, sports, shopping. This image, which varies from market to market, is stressed upon during fairs, workshops, events, and marketing campaigns to convince potential tourists that the destination meets the requirements they expect from a holiday destination. As Mauritius has a multi-faceted image, its tourism industry can be promoted in different effective ways even in a single market. With regards to promotional activities, it can be stated that the MTPA along with major stakeholders that makes up our tourism sector possess good understanding on promotion practices. In cases where the image of Mauritius was at stake, they have used the right promotional tool (advertising, personal selling, sales promotion) to show that Mauritius is a safe place. Moreover our strategic offices in key markets have been constantly supplying the right information on Mauritius. The main purpose of a brand is to communicate what the destination has to offer that is different and unique. The brand Mauritius is being developed using its unique USP and campaign has proved to be successful. MTPA has been developing and designing the brand of Mauritius with the right strategy so as to effectively communicate its brand promise and brand essence across the world. The major findings of this study can be summarised as follows: The image of Mauritius has been developed largely from its natural elements; history, culture, geographical factors, its people. Such elements can neither be manipulated nor altered easily. However things such regulations to enter the country, information sources (media) can be managed and should be used to improve the image of Mauritius. The research findings have concluded that policies and regulations to enter Mauritius are quite simple. Thus it does not discourage travellers to come to Mauritius. Irrespective of the established assumptions, promotion strategies should inevitably reflect the real situation of the destination and not paint abstract pictures to meet false expectations of tourists. The image of a destination significantly influences consumer’s evaluation. Therefore, the prevailing image decides the actual promotion strategy that will suit the target market. For tourism promotion to be effective, it should be supplemented by trade and investments projects. Those projects shall contribute in paving way for a favourable environment mainly by enhancing the current infrastructures and also introducing recent amenities which are essential in today’s tourism. . In the attempt to create a positive image for Mauritius, the MTPA along with other bodies that builds the tourism sector has made considerable efforts that have succeeded in re building its image in light of major crisis and attracting as much travellers. Recommendations: From the study and analysis, several spots have been identified where improvements could be brought in order to enhance the image of Mauritius and hence maximize tourist’s arrivals. The recommendations are dedicated to the future perspectives of the tourism industry. Government needs to invest in building the event and conference sector We have the basics to start events and conference business in Mauritius: few venues, event companies, and good logistics. However, Mauritius is note widely reputed to be a destination of events and conferences. Infrastructures to support events and conferences are inadequate. Instead of developing huge shopping complexes like bagatelle mall of Mauritius, Cascavelle, Mont Choisy, the government needs to encourage investors to use these plots of land to build venues like the SVICC. In other countries the conference centers are much bigger than the SVICC, they offer accommodation as well. As soon as the existing infrastructures (enlargement of road network, proper lighting and sewage facilities) are in place, the demand for events will automatically arise. Moreover, our unique blend of cultures should be promoted more massively. Incorporate cultural tourism in our core tourism product. Regulate developments As the tourism industry continues to prove successful, people recognize the advantage of investing in the sector. As a result hotel, tourist residences, guest house, restaurants are growing like mushrooms. Identify areas that are already saturated. For example ile aux cerf, there is already enough pleasure crafts operators there. Therefore, no more permits should be given to those saturated spots. A decrease in building permits is an action that needs to be considered by the government because nowadays less and less green spaces are available for tourists who prefer to travel to a destination far away from their stressful lives of buildings and pollution. Rebuilding of the MTPA website The main body aiming at promoting tourism is the MTPA. Since we have tourists from across the world who shows interest in Mauritius. It is worthwhile to consider in re building the MTPA website in different languages. This will ease access to information for everyone. Moreover an online system should be set up whereby any queries posted should be replied back in less than three hours. This will show our professionalism and dedication to be the best. Moreover the MTPA website should be a one stop shop providing information on all aspects of Mauritius (hotels and any other tourist accommodations, nightlife, climate, flight information, etc). Celebrity Marketing To increase tourist arrivals in order to reach its target of 2 million tourist’s celebrity marketing could be used. Certainly it will cost much to employ those celebrities but the returns on such an investment will be much higher. Those celebrities could be from Bollywood, Hollywood, and the world of sports. Those people will be regarded as trend setters for the higher segments and they position Mauritius as an aspirational / desirable holiday destination. Launching of a travel newspaper A travel newspaper/magazine providing the calendar of activities for the year should be published at least two times during a year. The magazine should be designed using our unique elements to show our uniqueness and it should be distributed to our strategic offices in our target markets. Those people working in our strategic offices should be encouraged to distribute those magazines to travel intermediaries across the world. In this way potential travelers will have a visual description of Mauritius and what they might be losing if they decide not to come to Mauritius. Branding Mauritius Branding plays an important role, as with all tourism destinations, as it is crucial to present a brand that will attract people. All campaigns, whether simply marketing campaigns or online/offline sales campaigns, need to include branding elements to attract potential tourists. The brand identity helps to establish a relationship between the destination and the customer, and can help to convince the latter to choose the destination. Without this element of branding, it would otherwise be hard to convince potential tourists to choose Mauritius over competing destinations.

Genovese and Northup :: American America History

Genovese and Northup Slavery as a global institution tends to have an unreal aura surrounding it. Modern perspectives cannot be empathetic because it is not an institution even partially realized in the last century of American life. This is why even through reading Eugene Genovese's Roll, Jordan, Roll and examining most of the aspects of slave life, slavery still remains a mystery in the personal sense. Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave, in addition to being one of Genovese's own resources, fills this void with its brutally honest personal story of a slave's life. Northup's account enlightens and strengthens Genovese's arguments, specifically those concerning labor, the master-slave relationship, and rebellion, by putting global descriptions in a personal perspective. One of the main advantages of 12 Years a Slave is that Northup is a slave himself, and in that respect does not have to be an apologist for slavery and slaveholders. It is not that Genovese himself is an apologist, but as a modern Caucasian, he must approach the subject of casting any light that might be perceived as positive on slaveholders with trepidation. Although Genovese does his best to present a fair and accurate depiction of slavery, he cannot know the slaves' perceptions of their masters. It is really in this respect that Northup's account is so useful. By portraying slaveholders as people with human faults and sensibilities, he shows how the institution affects everyone involved. Slaveholders can still be good people, and that goodness shines through the peculiar institution. This is a vital piece of the story of slavery that Genovese cannot put in his comprehensive history. Northup's words must be left to stand alone, and draw specifics against a general background. The details of working cotton and sugar cane differ little from Genovese to Northup. Genovese puts the slave gang working grueling hours with specific daily goals, and Northup backs this up with his description. "The hands are required to be in the cotton fields as soon as it is light ... and ... they often times labor till the middle of the night."1 This is a prime example of how Northup is able to lend his personal experience to Genovese's general description of slavery. Northup tells us that even after such long hours, the slaves are still extremely afraid, because the master demands a certain amount of cotton from each slave. Merely meeting that goal is not be enough; if a slave exceeds it, then the expectations for that slave's ability would be raised. Genovese and Northup :: American America History Genovese and Northup Slavery as a global institution tends to have an unreal aura surrounding it. Modern perspectives cannot be empathetic because it is not an institution even partially realized in the last century of American life. This is why even through reading Eugene Genovese's Roll, Jordan, Roll and examining most of the aspects of slave life, slavery still remains a mystery in the personal sense. Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave, in addition to being one of Genovese's own resources, fills this void with its brutally honest personal story of a slave's life. Northup's account enlightens and strengthens Genovese's arguments, specifically those concerning labor, the master-slave relationship, and rebellion, by putting global descriptions in a personal perspective. One of the main advantages of 12 Years a Slave is that Northup is a slave himself, and in that respect does not have to be an apologist for slavery and slaveholders. It is not that Genovese himself is an apologist, but as a modern Caucasian, he must approach the subject of casting any light that might be perceived as positive on slaveholders with trepidation. Although Genovese does his best to present a fair and accurate depiction of slavery, he cannot know the slaves' perceptions of their masters. It is really in this respect that Northup's account is so useful. By portraying slaveholders as people with human faults and sensibilities, he shows how the institution affects everyone involved. Slaveholders can still be good people, and that goodness shines through the peculiar institution. This is a vital piece of the story of slavery that Genovese cannot put in his comprehensive history. Northup's words must be left to stand alone, and draw specifics against a general background. The details of working cotton and sugar cane differ little from Genovese to Northup. Genovese puts the slave gang working grueling hours with specific daily goals, and Northup backs this up with his description. "The hands are required to be in the cotton fields as soon as it is light ... and ... they often times labor till the middle of the night."1 This is a prime example of how Northup is able to lend his personal experience to Genovese's general description of slavery. Northup tells us that even after such long hours, the slaves are still extremely afraid, because the master demands a certain amount of cotton from each slave. Merely meeting that goal is not be enough; if a slave exceeds it, then the expectations for that slave's ability would be raised.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Freedom of Expression- A Service to Citizens Essay -- Censorship

â€Å"The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says that Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of ‘speech’ (â€Å"Freedom of Expression†).† It has been proven through the court system that speech goes far beyond regular verbal communication (â€Å"Freedom of Expression†). If this is be true, then why is there so much controversy over the freedom of expression? If the right to freedom of expression is taken away, the government will steadily become more and more powerful until it controls every facet of life. Even though the United States prides itself on being a staunchly democratic nation, it is no better than a tyrannical government if it steals the right of freedom of expression from its citizens. Most people do not wish to live in a society oppressed by an all-powerful government that gives them very little freedom. Holding Orwell’s society as a model, a government that has too much power will gladly let its c itizens endure pain, suffering, and even torture. For society to be productive, people must be allowed to express their ideas and thoughts, if they cannot, then civilization will move backwards instead of frontward. The issue of freedom of expression is not a new problem. In fact, people have been debating it for years, even on the Supreme Court level. One such case is Schenck v. United States, where it was deemed illegal for Schenck to distribute pamphlets urging people to impede the process of the draft (â€Å"Schenck v. United States†). The Supreme Court thought that it was illegal for Schenck to do this, and he was convicted, but on another case dealing with the freedom of expression the court took the opposite side. In the case of Tinker v. Des Moines, a school prohibited students from wearing black armba... ... gotten across. Living an emotionless existence is surely not living at all, and this is why freedom of expression should be a guaranteed right. It is very important for a functional society where people are entitled to their opinion and are able to freely offer constructive criticism. When it is taken away, oppression, poverty, and the general degradation of society is seen in abundance. A society in which people are allowed to speak their minds is infinitely better than an Orwellian one in which people feared thinking thoughts that could be unwelcome to the government. A terrible place if one were not even safe in their mind. The present world is a place to give full freedom of expression to everyone. Everyone deserves the chance to get their ideas across, and depriving them of that opportunity is borderline inhumane. It is simply immoral to deny this right.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Business Plan for a new soft drinks Essay

1.0 Company description 1.1 Brief History and Present State Eclipse Chill Drinks introduced itself in 2012 as a roadside juice selling endeavor in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. Initially we had two outlets with no any administrative office and all the administrative activities were conducted over the communication via phone and social media. Gradually, we expanded our business throughout the Dhaka City establishing as a private limited company and today we have 200 mobile retail outlets serving raw fruit juice and drinks, mainly sugarcane juice and lemon soda, to the mass pedestrians of the city. Eclipse Chill has also settled in a corporate office situated at 23/4, Dhanmondi 4/A, Dhaka-1215. We also have a small storage house, at Ashulia, Savar, Dhaka, for keeping inventories and machineries. The company is now at the initial stage of transition with the plan to produce and sell canned beverages to the confectionary and super stores with the new name Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. Our conducted feasibility analysis reveals a huge demand for our current product at home or other convenient places with currently not reflecting due to lack of health and hygiene concerns of roadside food products. Our research and development group has come up with the country’s first canned sugarcane juice drink that is viable to create buzz in the market. We will set up a big manufacturing plant in Gazipur where beverages will be produced and packaged in a healthy environment following a computerized automated process by imported equipments. 1.2 Mission Mission Statement: Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. wants to see itself as the top trustworthy host of fruit juice based beverage drinks in the market. Our current growth in the raw fruit juice market already proves us reliable in providing quality tasty drinks to the mass. Now we want to ensure that our product is healthy, hygiene, and quite durable so that we can serve all kinds of people in the market of fruit or soft drinks both home and outside. Initially we will enter the market with the position of niche marketing and in a few years we will be able to capture the juice and soft drinks market and hopefully lead the market in 10 to 15 years. 1.3 Existing Organizational Structure The current Eclipse Chill Drinks has a very simple diamond-shaped organizational structure with operation and sales being its major functional area. Figure 1: Organizational structure of Eclipse Chill Drinks 2014 (Source: self) We also initiated an outsourced Research & Development team for product development purpose, which is overseen by our product development head Mehedi Hasan. 2.0 analysis of juice & soft drinks industry The beverage industry is an established industry that is still growing because of many different new products it brings in the market and also because of the substantial increase in buying power of people. Globalization is another factor that plays its role in the steady growth of the beverage industry. Because of its establishment, the competitors are able to hold a steady return while the overall industry return is always high because of the industry growth. The industry comprises of several genres of products such as juice, soft drinks, energy drinks etc. However, we will be competing in the fruit juice drinks genre with our beverages originating from natural fruits. 2.1 Competitor Analysis Since we will sell juice drinks products, out main competitor brands will be ACME, Pran Frooto, Frutika, Shezan, and Slice. However, these brands mainly sell orange or mango based juice products while our company will be selling unique products based on sugarcane, grape, lemon, water melon etc. based drinks. From that perspective, those brands are more like substitute products in the market for our company and our direct competitor in that sense is the Appy Fizz drinks. However, we will consider the previously mentioned brands as our direct competitors since they are the major players in the market and thus that makes more sense from the market viewpoint. The list of our major competitor companies are give below: i. Pran (Fruit juice and drink) ii. Akij Food and Beverage (Fruit juice) iii. Globe Soft Drinks and Beverage (Fruit juice and drink) iv. Abul Khair Consumer Goods (Fruit juice and drink) v. Partex Beverage (Fruit drink) vi. Hashem Foods (Fruit juice) vii. Transcom Beverage (Fruit juice) viii. Acme Agrovet & Beverages (Fruit juice) ix. Pepsico (Slice) Figure 2: Bangladesh fruit juice and drinks industry market share (Haque, n.d.) 2.2 Industry Attractiveness According to Porter (1980) there are five major competitive forces (Rivalry among firms, Threat of new entrants, Threat of substitutes, Bargaining power of suppliers, Bargaining power of buyers) in the market that determines the potential of an industry and its firms in terms of profitability since they significantly affect pricing. Following Porter’s competitive forces model analysis, we have found the following feedback for the industry. Table 1: Porter’s five competitive forces analysis (self) Our findings suggest that the industry we want to operate into is very lucrative and profitable as it mostly poses a moderate level of threat to overall industry profitability. 3.0 market analysis 3.1 Market Description We have more clear and specific information about the market and we are also aware of the customer demand and choices. The juice and soft drinks market always expect new quality products. Based on our Research and Development, we are determined to serve our customer needs and wants with a totally new taste of juice drinks like â€Å"Canned Sugarcane Drinks†. Our initial market consists of Dhaka city with a population of around 10 million and our target market include .80 million of that population. 3.2 SWOT Analysis We have identified some factors that define our strengths and weaknesses of our business that will affect the market and some opportunities and threats that the market presents to our business. 3.2.1 Strengths We have a talented and experienced management team that will lead us to success. We also have a very good relationship with our suppliers and other stakeholders. Our core input products are manufactured or found locally in the country so we can get them quickly and easily; also the price will be cheaper while the transportation cost will be minimized. We already have a reputation for providing good quality raw juice products. 3.2.2 Weaknesses We are entering the beverage industry as a new name so we will face a lot of competition and also our recognition will take time to get established. We will introduce ourselves with only one product. This less of product classification is not going to reach all of our target market. We also have challenges to maintain the product safety and quality since it is a food  product and any little mistake may lead to lawsuit problems. 3.2.3 Opportunities The beverage market expects new taste and flavor which we are going to bring. The industry is of high growth rate and it is still increasing with the increase in people’s income and need for quality life. Country’s infrastructure of communication, transportation, and media is improving that will make things easy for our business. The positive economic trend also helps our cause. 3.2.4 Threats There are already major rivals competing in the industry strongly. Moreover, there are available substitute products in the market which takes away the control of pricing a little from us. The political unrest in the country also poses threat to our business and the overall industry. As the product is new and innovative, the company has to consider some critical issues, which are as follows- The products sales growth will be slow and our company may face loss in the very first year of their operation. Thus the company has to hold the product’s position for first 12 month, which is admirable. As the product is new in the market, it will take too much time to stay in the heart of the consumer and the beginning consumers will be innovators. Thus attractive and effective marketing will be needed to attract, grow, and retain the customers. The marketing objectives will be to create product awareness and trial. The company must use heavy sales promotion to entice trial that is matter of investing huge amount of money. The products cost per customer will be high, as the product is lunching initially 4.0 marketing plan Our marketing objective is to initially attempt to introduce the product in the market and establish a brand image, and to achieve a sales target of 68, 9850 units per year. Initially it may take 2 to 3 years until we reach such level but that is the target we want to meet. 4.1 Market Segmentation and Target Market We will segment the market using several geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables. 4.1.1 Regional Regionally we will segment the market in rural, urban, and suburban parts. We select urban and suburban areas as our target market since rural people are not likely to get a product with a good price that comes from a product they produce in mass. 4.1.2 Age group There are people of different ages in our target market. It includes children, teenagers, young adults, and middle aged and elderly people. We select children, teenagers and young adults as our target market since they are the people that are fond of juice based soft drinks. Middle aged and elderly people are excluded because most of them suffer from diabetics and ours is a sugar based product. 4.1.3 Income level The income of people ranges from low, lower middle, middle, higher middle, and high income. We want to target from middle income level to high income level people because people with lower income than that will feel the product highly priced. 4.1.4 Social class There are lower class, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, upper lower class, upper class, upper upper class etc. in the society. We want to target people from middle class to upper class because the can product will suit their class. Upper upper class people generally do not like new local brands. 4.1.5 User status Users can be divided into categories based on their use of a new product. It consists of potential user, first-time user, regular user etc. We want to target the first two groups for now since regular user will not try our product until it becomes a trend. 4.2 Marketing Strategy The greatest objective is to establish our new brand in the industry. The marketing strategy will seek to first create customer awareness regarding the product and establishing connections with targeted markets and work toward building customer loyalty and referrals. The specific marketing strategies include: 4.2.1 Increase awareness and brand image Inform the consumers about our new product â€Å"Canned Sugarcane Drinks†. Through  advertisement, leaflets, events we can increase awareness of the product and establish image of our product. 4.2.2 Cross selling We can use our existing distributors to distribute our new product. We will also be able to cross sell our new product with our existing products. This will help us promoting our new product to the market. 4.2.3 Quality and cost leadership Our strategy is for being the quality and cost leader in the market. We will offer the best quality unique drink in the market which will make us differentiated quality leader in the market. We will also be reducing our cost through the use of local raw materials through existing suppliers, latest technology, and economies of scale. 4.2.4 Mass production and distribution We will also going for mass distribution of our product. We want to distribute our product each and every corner of the country. We hope to make our product available to all the customers within 2011. Consumers will get the drink where ever he or she goes. 4.3 Marketing Mix The marketer E. Jerome McCarthy proposed a four Ps classification in 1960, which has since been used by marketers throughout the world (Needham, 1996). It includes strategies in product itself, pricing, place or distribution, and promotion. Our planned marketing mix follows: 4.3.1 Product Our product will enable our customers to have a different experience to taste in juice based soft drinks. They will be able to differentiate our product in quality and test which are unique in the soft drink market. They will not be able to feel the same way for the other soft drinks in the market. Our first product is a canned sugarcane based drinks called the â€Å"Eclipse Sugarcane Pop†. It is a quality sugarcane based cold drinks beverage that includes many nutrition factors and comes with a 250ml attractive package. It is the first of its kind in the market. 4.3.2 Price The other juice drinks, soft drinks, and energy drinks products of same size  charge more than 25 taka while we are going to price our product at exactly Tk. 25 per 250ml can. It does carry its brand value along with a competitive price offer. 4.3.3 Place As mentioned earlier, we will be doing mass distribution through building a strong and coordinated distribution network. We will provide sales based incentive programs to motivate our distributors to sell more. Bottled soft drinks are distributed through different channels before reaching the consumer. A small proportion of goods go through distributors, who serve as middlemen, facilitating further distribution and warehousing. Up to 50% of soft drinks are purchased by the consumer in supermarkets and general retailers. Other retail outlets include fast food and drinking venues; convenience stores and gas stations; vending Machine operations; smaller outlets (such as drug stores, community centers); and exports. We can use either rail or road for transporting our products for distribution. But in case of By Road, we will maintain a contract with a specific petrol pump. We will receive the bill of petrol through fax, e-mail or SMS and the bill will be cleared by banks through â€Å"Electronic Data Interchange† (EDI). After receiving and checking the consignment we will store some quantity of juice in the Dhaka office and rest of the product will be sent to the warehouse. The Dhaka office will contact with the warehouse through mobile. Though we are not using any distributor the retailer will collect carrot from our Dhaka office. So, we can say that the Dhaka office will be our â€Å"Point of Selling† (POS). 4.3.4 Promotion As we are new in the industry, our major marketing strategy is to make extensive promotional campaigns in order to get recognized in the market. There are many media through which we can achieve that. We strongly prefer television, billboards, print and online social media to do our promotional activities. We can also visit school, college, universities and other crowded places to offer free samples of our product. 5.0 management team and new company structure The management team of a start up business typically consists of the founder or founders and a handful of key management personnel. It includes the founders, board of directors, board of advisors, managers, key personnel etc. A management team represents some of the most talented and experienced professionals in the industry. 5.1 Executive Officers Masrur Ahmed Roman, CEO and Co-Founder As chief executive officer of Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd., Masrur Ahmed Roman is responsible for company’s top management decisions, generally reflecting in all business function areas. He co-founded the Eclipse Chill Drinks. He holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from IBA-JU and has an overall 10 years of industry experiences. Subrata Howlader, CFO and Co-Founder He is the chief financial officer of the company who will oversee the accounting and finance department. He will be responsible for the arrangement of funds, financial projections etc. He also co-founded the Eclipse Chill Drinks and also holds a MBA degree from IBA-JU. He worked as a senior finance officer in a reputed company for more than 5 years. Saiful Islam, Executive Director As executive director, he is responsible for the external matters of Company: building partnerships and broader business relationships, government outreach and technology thought leadership, as well as advising the CEO and senior leadership on business and policy issues. He has the experience of being the Assistant Managing Director of a reputed company for 10 years and also holds a masters degree from Dhaka University. Mahamud Hasan, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer He leads company global teams for legal, public policy, communications, corporate development/mergers and acquisitions, and product quality operations. He also serves as chairman of Company’s investment. Mahamud Hasan has a LLB degree and also got a masters degree from Dhaka University. 5.2 Board of Directors Masrur Ahmed Roman, Chairman of the board, CEO, Co-founder He has successfully led the Eclipse Chill Drinks since its origin and now will lead the board of directors of Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. Tushar Chanda, Co-founder He has been the head of sales and marketing department of Eclipse Chill, holds MBA degree from IBA-JU, and co-founded the company. Minhazul Abedin, Food and Beverage Expert He has got a masters degree in agricultural studies from Japan. He will provide the technical expertise and advice regarding the beverage products and its quality. 5.3 Board of Advisors Khondokar Mominul Haque, Co-founder He has been successfully managing the operations department of Eclipse Chill Drinks. He will now also serve as an advisor of the Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. Al Masud, Co-founder He has been the head of Human Resources department of Eclipse Chill Drinks, holds a MBA degree from IBA-JU, and co-founded the company. He is also a co-founder of the Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. Maruf Ahmed, Managing Director, Shahjalal Bank He will provide financial and capital related advice and help. Irine Sultana, Vice President, Agro Group She will provide product and market related advice. Mehedi Hasan, Co-founder He is overseeing the Research and Development team and will lead the product development besides being an advisor to the firm. 5.4 Other Professionals Other professionals include our attorney, who will provide legal advice and assistance, our accountant, who will record the financial activities and prepare financial reports, a management consultant, who will provide management consultancy, and a banker, who will help deal with bank transactions issues. 5.5 New Company Structure Figure 3: New Organizational Structure of Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. (self) 6.0 operations plan â€Å"Formally, an operation is the process through which resource inputs are converted into useful outputs (Viehland, 2005)†. It outlines how the business will be run and how your product or service will be produced and distributed. It is a useful way to illustrate how your business will be run  describing it in terms of â€Å"back stage† (unseen to the customer) and â€Å"front stage† (seen by the customer) activities. 6.1 General Approach to Operations It illustrates the back stage view and the front stage view of the operations. Our operations plan includes a manual for operations. The technical approach to the operations manual is illustrated below: Figure 4: Operations manual for Sugarcane drinks production (Seleghim, n.d., p.22) We already have a good relationship with the suppliers who provide us a large amount of raw sugarcane regularly. Our supplies mainly come from Rajshahi, Faridpur, and Kushtia districts. We have already obtained the required business license from the government and the Dhaka City Corporations. Additionally, we have acquired the permit from Health Ministry and Dhaka City Corporations. Our operating hours will be standard 8.5 hours of work including two breaks of 15 minutes each and a lunch break of 30 minutes. We will be extracting raw sugarcane juice and process it to produce a nutritious drink that will be canned for distribution, all in an automated process. The distribution network will be based on Dhaka. 6.2 Business Location Our manufacturing plant will be located in Gazipur. We have acquired a piece of 5acres of land on lease in Gazipur. It is not far from the highway and therefore the transportation for both raw materials and final products will be easier. It includes an artificial pond where our soft industrial wastes can be dumped. For heavy industrial wastes, we have contacted the Gazipur City Corporation for help and guidance. We have also acquired a permit from Gazipur City Corporation. 6.3 Facilities and Equipment We have contacted the a Chinese equipment manufacturer who is ready to make a deal to provide us with required quality machineries and agreed to keep a back up for major machineries in case of our emergency need. The manufacturing plant will have all the necessary safety and security measures and equipment. Our legal advisor is already working on creating a safety related guidelines and policy. The production process has got updated with a new technological advancement. We will be taking this chance and set up the  facility accordingly. 7.0 product design and development plan 7.1 Product Description Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd. will sell a 250ml canned nutritious drink based on sugarcane juice that is enriched with Vitamin C. The product is called â€Å"Eclipse Sugarcane Pop† and it is totally a new product coming from the result of our outsourced R & D team effort. The juice is obtained by crushing peeled sugar cane in a mill. It can be a hand cranked machine, or powered. Then this raw juice will be sent to â€Å"sterilization machine† for sterilization, addition of nutritious elements, and packaging, all in an automated process. Table 2: Nutrition facts in Eclipse Sugarcane Pop (self) 7.2 Additional Ingredients Sugar, or other sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), fruit and carbonated water (constituting on average 94% of a soft drink) are the main ingredients of our soft drinks and are used in varying quantities. Other minor ingredients added in very low concentrations include flavorings derived from fruit (such as orange used in Fanta); acids (most commonly citric acid); additives to enhance flavor; texture; aroma; appearance; emulsions (most commonly gums and pectin) to enhance appearance; and preservatives and antioxidants (BHA, ascorbic acid, or other naturally occurring additives) to maintain color and flavor. Sugar production in mills requires a significant amount of energy and water and is only economically viable in very large scale sugar mill operations. Citrus fruit is the most processed fruit for soft drink production. 7.3 Packaging There are three types of packaging associated with the industry: primary packaging, which is the soft drink container; secondary packaging, which is the packaging used to group together individual primary packaging; and tertiary packaging, which is used to group together secondary packaging. This is due to the raw materials, energy, water and waste involved in production/recycling and the impacts of disposal such as littering, landfill space and the pollutants produced when incinerated from waste to use as  energy. Primary packaging of Eclipse Sugarcane Pop includes teen can with appropriate cover design and labels. Secondary packaging includes hard paper box cartoons. Tertiary packaging includes hardboard boxes. 7.4 Product Development 7.4.1 Product desirability Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon-type climate, with a hot and rainy summer and a dry winter. It has warm temperatures throughout the year, with relatively little variation from month to month. January is the coolest month with temperatures averaging near 26 ºC and May the warmest with temperatures from 33 to 36  ºC. It is warm and humid. In general, the temperatures ranging from as low as 3 ºC during the night in the winter season to as high as 40 ºC in the summer season (Haque, n.d.). Bangladeshi people tend to be thirstier due to the warm temperature. So they prefer to take soft drinks and juices most of the time. At present people are used to drink sugarcane juice from local vendors. Vendors extract juice from sugarcane and present it to the customer in a glass. These vendors usually sit in open places and are not concerned about hygiene factors. So from the preparation to presentation of sugarcane juice an unhygienic approach is followed by the local vendors. Thirsty people are drinking the juice as no more sugarcane juice providers are in the market currently providing hygienic sugarcane juice. So desirability for hygienic sugarcane juice drinks is very high. 7.4.2 Product demand In Bangladesh, almost 9 months of a year is summer. So there is always existence of the demand for soft drinks, juice, energy drinks etc. Consumers of these are ready to buy 250 ml, 500 ml and 1liter packages. However, initially we are considering only the 250ml package until it creates enough demand for our product in the market. It has been found that 15 glasses (200 ml per glass) of sugarcane juice are being sold per summer hour. The highest sale of the traditional sugarcane juice available right now is 400 glasses in a 10-hour day that is 40 glasses per hour. The lowest sale is 80 glasses in a 10 hour day that is 8 glasses per hour. Normally the lowest sales days are the rainy days (Haque, n.d). 7.5 Manufacturing In this product manufacturing process (usually referred to as the bottling process) water purification takes place to ensure that the flavor and quality of the beverage are not affected by bacteria or unwanted substances. A series of water purification processes take place such as coagulation, flocculation, filtration and sterilization. Reverse osmosis is increasingly used as the main final treatment process. Dissolved sugar, juice and flavor concentrates are pumped into batch tanks where they are carefully mixed making syrup. Some syrup, such as the fruit-based syrups, is sterilized. The whole bottling process uses between 2 and 4 liters of water per liter of soft drink that is produced, and between 0.5 and 1.0 mega joules per liter of soft drink creates energy in human body. Additional information regarding the manufacturing process has been covered in the Operations Plan section. 8.0 financial projections The Eclipse Chill Beverage financial picture is quite promising. Eclipse Chill Beverage is operating a cash business; the initial cost is significantly less than many start-ups these days. The financial investment in its employees will be one of the greatest differentiators between Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd and its competitors. The Eclipse Chill Beverage Ltd anticipates the initial combination of investments and long-term financing to carry it without the need for any additional equity or debt investment, beyond the purchase of equipment or facilities. The financial plan depends on important assumptions, most of which are shown in the following table. The key underlying assumptions are: 1. Sales Revenue: Yearly 689850 Unit @ 25tk per unit = 17246250 TK .Sales revenue will be increase as 2nd year-6%, 3rd year-10%, and 4th year-15% 2. Cost of goods sold: Our COGS are determining 50% of the sales price. In manufacture overhead we include two things direct labor & direct material. Direct labor = 768000 TK (Yearly), Direct material= 7281750 taka Yearly & Factory overhead cost yearly is =472000. So, Total cost of goods sold = (768000+7281750+472000) =8521750 & Ending inventory for the 1st year is =1040250 tk. 3. Advertising expense: Here include TV, Radio, Newspaper, Internet, Leaflets, Visiting card Allover advertising cost is =358000(yearly).But this will be increase at the @5% from the 2nd to 5th year 4. Salaries: our total worker salary is =1152000Tk.It will also increase if profit is increase. 5. Insurance: Total about is 15000000Tk and for this our insurance is 8000000Tk for the 10 years =8000000/10 =800000(yearly) 6. Deprecation: Our depreciation is 20% of the total equipment cost. Our total equipment cost AC cost=40000*6 =240000, Purchase fun= 1200*6= 24000, Computer cost= 30000*6 = 1800000, Purchase cover van=1000000*2 =2000000. Total cost =2444000. 20% of the total cost =2444000*20% =485000/10 =48500(Yearly) 7. Loan Payment: We take 6000000Tk loan from the bank with the interest of 14% for 10 Year: 60000000*14%=84000.So ,Principle+ Interest=600000+8400=684000 (Per year) 8. Utilities bill: Utilities bill includes Gas, Electricity, and Water. In this Gas and Water bill is fixed and Electricity bill is not fixed.