Falcon-Star Software Essay Example for Free

Falcon-Star Software Essay Falcon-Star Software is newly established Software Company which came into existence in 1994. It has offices in both Washington and Canada. The company is based on providing web based solutions to its customers worldwide. It aims to fulfill all our customers’ software based and customized application based needs. Our mission is to provide quality service to our customers who need our help for their businesses at reasonable rates and provide them the best solutions that will solve their problems for a extensive period of time. At the moment we have two offices to develop our software, our main competitors are also situated close to us and also across the globe, therefore we have to be much focused and plan our strategies accordingly else we can run out of business. Our company is divided into three main departments of information systems group, provisioning services Group, and manager of customer Service. Each department has its own set of directors under whom each of the heads of the departments and managers will be functioning. Since our organization is new we don’t have too many departments that is why each person will be doing multiple roles at the same time. You will be answerable to the CEO who will be there to over look your work and help you with your decisions. (Robbins Judge, 2005) Since we are in the initial stages of our business therefore we all need to work as one team and plan things ahead so that we can reduce the mishaps that can occur in future. As the manger of our departments I expect you all to be very clear of the mission of this company and based on that you define and identify your goals. This would include strategic planning and staff planning. Your senior managers are going to establish the over all objectives for the company and its your job to turn them into tactical objectives and make your less seniors workers understand them. (Fleming, 2005) Leadership is an important part of becoming a successful manager. It is your ability to lead other people so that they look up to you, trust you and therefore give in their best. It is your responsibility to take care of your sub ordinates who will be helping you with your work. Motivation is an important part of leadership. You need to keep your employees intact with the goal of the company. Make them understand their importance to this company. Employees are one of the greatest assets of a company and we don’t want to lose this asset. (Employee Engagement – A Concept Clean Up) As a manager you are responsible to look into all the matters that are under your control. In order to make things works in a systematic way you will have do organize your team of workers, time and resources in the most efficient manner. It is not about giving instructions only. You need the right kind of people to work under you and delegate responsibility to them . There should be clear division of work. And each department is accountable for its outcome but they all should work for one common vision. Well planned and organized work is a sign of good management and that is what we want our managers to be like at Falcon-Star Software. It is your duty to measure the performance of your department and your employees by comparing it against the targets that you had set for your self and if there are any shortcoming you need to over come that by taking appropriate corrective actions. This will help you in not repeating the same mistake again and learn more from the past experience. As it is said by Hertzberg that giving feed back is very important if things are going the way you wanted them to be. (Echols, 2005) Apart from them you are responsible for coordination between your different activities. The goals of each department should be the same. Try to avoid situations which would end up wasting resources, money and effort. Our aim is to give our customers the best developed software to fulfill their requirement. Communicate with your staff and encourage them. Failure to keep satisfied employees can adversely affect the business. Different managers have different ways of approaching problems. You can choose your own ways of doing work as long as it’s giving us result. You should understand your role and what we want from you at work. You have to plan, organize, control, communicate, and lead the organization and its employees. Our focus is our customers. We together have to work as a team so that our goal is met and we are able to compete with our competitors successfully. For that we require efforts from every individual however, the role of a manager in a company is versatile. They give fuel to the organization. Its now on your ability and work and commitment and how you undertake pressure. (Echols, 2005) Works Cited †¢ Fleming, John H. (November 2005). Where Employee Engagement Happens. Harvard Business Review †¢ Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy A. Judge (2005). Organizational Behavior, Twelfth edition: Pearsons Publishers †¢ Employee Engagement – A Concept Clean Up. bsiconsulting, Retrieved June 26, 2008, from http://bsiconsulting. com. au/pdfs/Engagement%20Clean%20Up%2003. pdf

Hawthorne effect Essay Example for Free

Hawthorne effect Essay In today’s competitive climate lots of business owners are trying to get more from their workforce at the same time however their employees are trying to get more from their jobs. Reward and recognition programmes are one way that employers can motivate their staff into changing their key behaviors and work habits, thus benefitting the business. At the same time these schemes can also give the employee that little bit extra they are looking for from job. Motivation and reward are closely linked and there have been many credible theories written on the subject. It is widely recognised that human beings have a need to feel valued, both in their home lives and in the work place. To keep people motivated they need to be encouraged, rewarded (where appropriate) or recognised in their endeavors. One of the most valued of the motivation theories was written by Abraham Maslow from the USA back in the 1950’s. As part of his study into motivation Maslow developed a five tiered hierarchy of needs. He argued that the way to motivate individuals in the workplace and indeed in life is to satisfy the need sets one by one and in order. The first of the need sets and the most basic are the biological and physiological needs. These are survival requirements ingrained into us and evolved with mankind for tens of thousands of years, things such as food, shelter, warmth etc. In Maslow’s model it’s these needs that need to be satisfied before anything else, for example there is little point offering status as a motivator, when the individual has not yet satisfied basic requirements such as achieving a livable wage in order to eat, secure shelter etc. Reward Systems Peformance at Mark-it-Down Co Ltd is not what it should be and it has been decided between senior mangement and the Human Resources department that the introduction of a reward scheme is whats required to motivate the workforce and improve performance overall. The team in charge of deciding on the reward system to implement have come up up with the following suggestions: Variable Pay/Bonus Scheme A scheme of variable pay is one possible solution for the supermarket. In this scheme a portion of the employee’s pay would be considered at risk. This portion of the wage will be rewarded according to the performance of the company as a whole, on the basis of personal acheivement or based on the results of a department or team (this would probably be the most effective for this type of commercial business) Targets will be set at the beginning of a specified period (per annum is the common period) at the end of this period depending on the how well the targets have been met, a percentage or full quantity of the â€Å"at risk† part of their pay will be paid to the individual. This payment could take a few different forms, possibly a cash bonus, a quantity of stock or shares in the business. Whilst monetary reward has been proven to be effective and can encourage hard work amongst a team or individually, it has the disadvantage of impacting on profit made by the supermarket, for example if the grocery team meet their target for keeping the produce displays replenished to a defined level, then the whole grocery team will have earnt the bonus which must be paid from the profits. You also may have a situation where part of the workforce become demotivated, if their team or they personally have missed out on a bonus. Bonus and pay based rewards are considered differently depending on which motivation theory you study. For example in Maslows hierachy of needs, financial remuneration is only mentioned within the first tier of the hierachy which covers the most basic and obvious survival needs (physiological needs) Money was not considered by Maslow be a long term motivator. Frederick Herzberg considered financial reward to be amongst his â€Å"hygiene factors† that is that money in itself is not a motivator but actually will only act as a â€Å"dissatisfier† if the individual feels that their financial expectations and requirements of the role are not being met. In contrast to Maslow and Herzberg, John Stacey Adams might have argued that bonus schemes and pay related rewards can indeed be effective motivators. If the individual percieves that they are gettting a fair input to output balance in comparison to their peers eg, works hard (input) for a pay bonus (output) However that motivation through financial reward might not last. If the individual learns that a colleague or peer is benefiting from a better input to output ratio (eg doesn’t work as hard, but gets paid more) then the individual can quickly become dissatisfied. Promotion The introduction of a promotion programme could be a viable option. If the employee’s are aware that there is a realistic opportunity for them to progress within Mark It Down Co then they will likely feel motivated towards improving their standard of work in the hope that they will be one of the employee’s chosen for promotion. Maslow’s heierachy of needs supports promotion as a motivator, however depending on the person promotion/status as a form of motivation might be quite high up on the tiers and as such it would only work if the tiers below have already been satisfied. There could be several downsides to this however; often with promotion comes a rise in salary for the individual, which will of course impact on any profit made by the supermarket. There might also be a risk of a culture developing within the company whereby individuals take the attitude that they are â€Å"out for themselves† Employee of the Month One of the suggested recognition programmes is an employee of the month scheme. The idea is that all employee’s and managers are provided with a brief form to be used to nominate an employee that they believe deserves recognition (they should also explain the reasons behind there nomination) Due to the nominations for employee of the month being business wide not only is the playing field for recognition level, but there is the scope for recognising excellance in all of the different area’s of the organisation. This reward system could be as low or high cost as Mark it Down Co directors see fit. There is support for this type of recognition reward in Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Effect theory. Following his studies of workplace behaviour at the Hawthorne Plant Chicago in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s Mayo deduced that emotional factors acted as far better motivators than economical ones, as such a reward scheme of this nature could be very effective indeed, not to mention low cost. On the downside employee of the mon th schemes can have a tendancy to be considered a little cheesy and may require a little effort on the part of the programme managers in order to keep all of the staff motivated to particiate by completing the nomination slips. Pass on Praise Something as simple as passing on positive comments you have heard about an employee direct to the individual can have an extremely motivational effect. Again the hawthorne effect supports this belief. The praise could passed on by way of email, copying in managers or even with a visit to a senior managers office in order to receive thanks directly. The main advantage of this idea is that it costs nothing and is extremely easy to implement, however it may not be enough on its own, I would suggest that this tactic be used in conjunction with one of the other employee recognition schemes. All of the afore mentioned reward options have the potential to be effective, however the success of the chosen scheme could have a lot to do with the indviduals in nbeed of motivation. For instance in McGregors theory, the two employee types, X and Y differ greatly. What might motivate a Y employee (someone that is naturally happy to take on repsponsibilty and excepts work as part of life) might have the opposite effect on an employee of the X variety (someone that’s avoids repsonsibility and needs to be heavily supervised. The type of employee’s to be motivated should be considered before a motivation and reward scheme is decided upon. Monitoring Performance There are various ways to monitor the performance of your workforce. In the supermarket setting of Mark it Down Co, these could be; Physical: the number of sales made, the number of employee’s served, punctuality or attendance. There can be no disputing these types of performance indicators they are unambiguous and offer a realistic insight into the performance of a team or individual. Qualiative: these indicators are based on opinions and judgements (the view of a supervisor or the such like). These indicators are just as important as physical ones but managers should be careful to ensure that any measures of performance are considered fair by both the employees and employers. Goals and Targets Performance measurement can also be linked to the companies appraisal system, that is performance can be measured by assessing progress made on targets and goals agreed at the previous review. Appraisals are valuable in this respect. In order to effectively monitor performance in this way it is important to ensure that your employees are aware of the difference between target and goal. Goals: These are long term ambitions that should relate to the individual aims for progressing within the company. Targets: These are the steps taken in order to achieve the goal. There is an acronym that can act as a guide for the criteria that any targets should adhere to. They should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. There is little point setting targets outside of these parameters. Monitoring progress towards identified goals and objectives as a way of determining who deserves reward does have its pros and cons though. On the one hand it can be considered an easily measurable method of monitoring performance, but on the other (particularly when the goals and targets have been set for a team or group) it could be argued that the fact that a company/team or individual is achieving its set goals and targets is not a true indication of who has made the most effort towards making that happen and as such is not an effective method for identifying who should qualify for reward. This is an important thing to consider when applying motivation and reward schemes, as an incorrect or ill managed monitoring technique could be costly to a business. For example a company will not want to be handing out cash bonuses to a whole team for reaching a set goal if it transpires that 3 out of 5 team members have made no improvement to their work output and had nothing to do with the team’s progress or achievement! When considering target setting as a way of monitoring progress and establishing where reward, praise or recognition should be given, serious thought should be given to how the company plans on pinpointing exactly who has been responsible for progress, both positive and negative. Benchmarking Another way to monitor company performance is to measure its successes and failures against those of other businesses in the same market. For example Mark it Down Co could measure its sales figures against one of its competitors, Lidl for instance. This method is known as bench marking and it’s all about taking the best practices of the highest achieving businesses in the same market and applying them back in the business in question. Job Evaluation Its has been brought to management attention that one of the employee’s at Mark it Down Co believes that he is receiving less salary for the same work as one of his peers. The following two methods can be used to evaluate the jobs of the individuals in question in order to assess whether theses concerns are justified or not. Job Ranking Job ranking is one of the simplest methods of job evaluation. Its considers the job as a whole and ranks it against another whole job within the organisation. This is usually carried out by the raters comparing the jobs using their general knowledge of the roles themselves. The jobs are ranked in order of the difficulty of the job itself or the importance of the role to the company. The procedure is followed for each department and then a comparison of jobs at all levels is made and jobs are given grade levels which define salary groups. The job ranking method is easily understood by all employees and simple to administer, however it does have its disadvantages, this technique is not really suitable for large organisations with complex structures where its is much harder to gain familiarity with all of the job roles. With this in mind it is probably not the solution that should be used at Mark it Down Co Ltd. Point Factor Method The point factor method establishes job values by assigning points to each area within a group of defined factors, below are some examples but there any many different factors that could be defined further and given points in order to be used for job evaluation; Skill: Within this group there might be points available for, experience or training. Effort: The points available for effort might be divided between mental and physical effort. In this method each job is rated using the defined points system. The points are totaled to form the final score for that particular role. From there jobs are grouped into salary grades (jobs with similar points ratings would be placed together in the same salary grade) This method can be tailored to meet the needs of specific companies and is suitable for use within larger organisations where there are a large number of jobs to evaluate. It’s an easy model to work with once it’s in place but can be very expensive and time consuming to develop in the first instance. In my opinion the point factor method would be a the better job evaluation model to use for Mark it Down Co. Job ranking is just too simplistic to cope with the amount of individuals roles at this organisation. The factors I think should be used to develop the point system are as follows; Skill – Experience, Training, Ability, Education Responsibilities – Monetary, Supervisory, Reporting Effort – Mental, Physical Environment – Job Location, Hazard’s In order to establish if the employee in question has a case for querying the wage he is on in comparison to his colleague. His overall score for the above factors should be calculated in order to establish his pay bracket. If the pay grade is the same as that of his colleague then his concerns are justified and his wage should be brought into line. If it is not and he is in a lower wage group then there is no case for a wage increase. Equally if the individuals wage bracket is determined to be higher than that of his colleagues then his wage should be adjusted to reflect as much.

LOreal Global Marketing Strategy

LOreal Global Marketing Strategy LOreal is a great example of how global branding strategy can be used to generate new growth opportunities when all other companies were not going great guns. In the late 90s and early 2000s when the Asian and Latin American economies were shaky and doing poorly, and numerous international brands struggled, LOreal surged ahead. How did it happen? The answer lies in their beautifully framed mission statement as it elaborates their understanding of the marketability of their product and the need of marketing it globally: at LORÉAL; we believe that everyone aspires to beauty. Our mission is to help men and women around the world realize that aspiration, and express their individual personalities to the full. This is what gives meaning and value to our business, and to the working lives of our employees. We are proud of our work. (Source: LOreal website, www. loreal.com) 1 In 2005, the $18.89 billion LOreal group was the most successful cosmetics brand. According to the business week survey 2004 LOreal was ranked 49th. LOreal marketed beauty products e.g. Makeup, perfume, and skincare and hair products to both women and men in approximately 150 countries. The LOreal group reported its 19th consecutive year of double digit growth in December 2005. Since 1989, LOreals sales had grown at a compounded annual rate of 12% to 1.7 billion. Analyzing the kind of growth story it has written an analyst has rightly described it as the United Nations of beauty .the kind of global presence LOreal has it can only be compared to the United Nations. LOreals global branding strategy thats doing wonders has been actively spearheaded by Owen Jones himself. Lindsey Owen Jones has been the CEO of LOreal for nearly two decades and a chairman now, and under his leadership LOreal has really fine tuned its global branding strategy. Interestingly some press reports tell us that he has been seen roaming around streets in foreign markets to understand the new and existing trends. And without any doubts his interesting work style seems to work wonders. The branding strategy of LOreal has such an impact that LOreal seems to be the only global leader in every segment of the cosmetics industry, right positioning of its products seems to be the key .whatever its trying to sell the French elegance or street smartness of America; is getting good response throughout the world .and LOreal has been able to reach its consumers across the national and cultural boundaries. Owen Jones says: We have this great strategy back in the head office of how we are going to do it worldwide. But when you go out and look at what is happening, is there a big gap between your projections and the reality of what you see and hear? It is so important to have a world vision because otherwise decentralized consumer goods companies with many brands can fracture into as many little parts if somebody isnt pulling it back the other way the whole time with a central vision. This really explains why he prefers roaming in the streets for his strategy making rather than sitting in the boardroom. Having said all that its quiet evident that the global branding strategy of LOreal has paid huge dividends to the company overall. In order to understand this splendid growth story we need to see how exactly LOreal applied their strategy to the countries that were entirely distinct as far as the lifestyle, spending pattern and culture is concerned. LOreal was started in France, has a good brand value in the united states of America, is reaping good dividends from India and has a remarkable presence in Japan. These are different complex societies with different needs, so how exactly LOreal managed to be equally successful in all these places? This question needs some fact finding to be done on the basis of country specific products and strategies adopted by the cosmetics conglomerate. Thats what exactly we will try doing in the next section of this case study. In India 4 billion 7.5 ml sachets are sold every year and thats a staggering 66% of total shampoo consumption in India. Most of the urban Indian women (96%) use shampoo, however only 46% use foundation. For hair care a huge 74% population of Indian women still rely on home remedies, 42% use henna and 94% use hair oil, as far as the LOreals sale per person in India is concerned is just 10 cents compared to 28 Euros per person in France. In India skin lightening creams (fairness creams) constitute more than 50% of skincare market people seem to be crazy for getting for getting fairer. (Source: LOreal, Nielsen) These facts are self explanatory about the nature of Indian market and its clearly stating that the strategy used in USA or any other European countries is not going to work in India. USA is a mature market as far as cosmetics consumption is concerned India is an emerging economy with most of the population below 35 years of age and a huge aspiring middle class. The cosmetics market is growing approximately at an annual rate of 16% in India, still a long way to go. The youth in urban centers is very concerned about the image but the larger section is still off the fashion map. Interestingly even after the success story of corporate India , apparently its still a country that is very much community oriented. The great Indian middle class is aspiring but still has the community driven cultural values intact. LOreal has taken this fact very much into consideration while preparing the marketing strategy for India. A very good example would be the launch of garnier fructis shampoo in India. The concept was to rely on idea rather than relying on advertising a brand. The idea of getting five times stronger hair was the central point that created the hype, through word of mouth or network marketing. Initially it was positioned as product for young and teenagers, once the product was established in the market it tried to change or rather increase the target base by shifting gears. In a recent advertisement of garnier hair color a daughter is shown advising her mother to try the garnier product and explaining the benefits. Again it relies on the concept of idea getting spread by word of mouth to another customer segment. This is the best example of marketing in a closed community driven society. There is one more remarkable thing about this entire campaign the catch line take care. It shifts the focus from the product to the core value of Indian society caring about others and the entire advertisement becomes more of a good advice rather than publicity. China is the worlds most populated country in the world and that makes it very clear that it has the potential of being the biggest consumer market. These days Chinese women are spending on an average 10 to 15% of their income on cosmetics products, an urban Chinese lady would use 2.2 cosmetics products on an average every morning. Evidently most of them want to be fashionable and the LOreal punch line if you want to be fashionable, just choose Maybelline, really seems to work. Masses are made to believe that this is something that represents America and it ought to be trendy. Maybelline is the product line for the masses and LOreal really uses the tendency of masses to look towards the USA thats why the Maybelline products are displayed against the backdrop of shiny skyline of New York City Chinese women prefer skincare and beauty products. According to a research by LOreal in china women are concerned about the radiance of their skin and prefer skin nourishing lotions that protect their skin from skin-drying winters. Unlike us customers most Chinese women like skin whiteners rather than tanning products. Its a sign of beauty for Chinese women. Also, the texture of Chinese hair is thicker and more course than typical US Caucasian hair. This requires different product, and really a different skill set to effectively sell and get these products moving in China. LOreal has dedicated research facilities for these and other issues, and followed up with more innovations to suit the needs and preferences of Chinese consumers.   There is one more very interesting fact about Chinese cosmetics industry; Chinese women are very concerned about the ingesting of lipsticks. This is the most interesting food attitude about Chinese women. Now following its global strategy LOreal even took this into consideration and developed lipsticks containing vitamins; as soon as this was told to the women they were more comfortable in using the product. European countries are mostly developed, here LOreal has the liberty of publicizing the brand value rather than focusing on pricing, the benefit to LOreal in these markets is that it is already well established and the brand is well known so it can concentrate on grabbing the attention of individualistic feminist women. Pricing is not a concern in these markets so LOreal can afford to have punch lines like-I am worth it because these punch lines justify the high pricing of the products and fulfill the feeling of exclusivity of high end clientele. Now lets take another example from the European and us markets, LOreal brands in these markets are quiet well established. LOreal products have been used there for few generations now; once young consumer of the LOreal brand has started aging and the same street smart products could not be positioned to them, they have started becoming the mature citizens; now their priorities have changed. A recent market report suggests that the new target segment in the cosmetics industry is 40 plus women who once used the teenage cosmetics products. The thrust is on anti aging products because it not only adds the new customer base but retains the once teenage customer also. Customer from the baby boom generation reaches the retirement age and tries to maintain healthy and youthful look and finds out that their favorite cosmetics brand is still making products for them. LOreal capitalized on their desire to look youthful and started marketing it anti aging products, it has signed sixty year-old D iane Keaton to represent the Age Perfect Pro-Calcium skin care line. Also LOreal has signed Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Eva Longoria and Beyoncà © Knowles to promote specific cosmetics lines according to the age groups. Now this tells us how LOreal used the desire of customers to position its products. The French conglomerate believes that only two different cultures as far as fashion is concerned, are dominant, represented by two flagship brands LOreal Paris and Maybelline new York. LOreal has been projected as a French origin with elegance, high end presentation and obviously high pricing. Whereas the Maybelline product line represents the street smart American babe who is looking for the value of the money. America seems to be the growth engine of the world, in the cosmetics industry as well. LOreal has understood this and they made a strategy based on the trends in the USA and thats how Maybelline came into existence. Maybelline currently is the second largest brand in share of unit sales of cosmetics products and number one in makeup brands. It claims to be totally consistent with todays confident woman. Maybelline products targets three customer segments; youngster (16 to 25), office lady (26-35) and career women (35 plus). Marketing mix for Maybelline line of products consists of two main strategies: foreign consumer cultural positioning and symbolic New York City imagery that women can relate to everywhere. Maybelline promotion include different way of grabbing attention including promotional coupons, online advertising, sponsorship of fashion shows, signing fashion icons as spokesperson of the product ,free make up consultancy and providing scholarships etc. we can see as American cosmetic market is a mature market so LOreal tries to rely on mature marketing tactics. In the early 20th century, even American society was not very much open to makeup and skin care products .people thought that only sinful women should wear makeup but eventually with the economic independence that the American women gained; makeup and cosmetics started coming into mainstream. Cosmetics apparently became the symbol of new self belief that the American women was beaming with; and remember even Maybelline claims to be totally consistent with todays women, there are several other punch lines like maybe shes born with it, maybe its Maybelline, all the punch lines keep the self confidence of women in centre as if its not the make up but its the attitude that has to be worn. Thats why women of every nationality and culture started identifying herself with the product and this became the symbol of the 21st century woman. We always say that the world has turned into a small village. Production houses are becoming more and more global. But same cant be said about the consumers as they would still be using the products because of their own reasons. Someone in the USA can use a product just to feel exclusive however the same product could be used in the UK for health reasons. So the companies need to identify the demands of a specific market to effectively satisfy the demand while planning the globalised marketing strategy. Therefore the challenge posed to the companies is whether they should just keep changing their strategy according to the culture or can they consider every customer as a global customer with all common needs. Thats the irony we are supposed to work with these days; on one hand companies are on a global platform more than any other point of time in history however they have to adapt to the mindset and lifestyle of the customer as well. The mindset and the lifestyle of the customer are heavily impacted by the culture. Culture is defined by different norms, values, interactions, language and others personal components shared by groups of people across the world. It is a social phenomenon which defines peoples interests, thoughts and other behaviors they may exhibit in the social life. From one country to another, humans have evolved and developed different types of expressions, beliefs and behavior which can be difficult to understand for someone who does not belong to the same culture. culture is the way how the members of a particular group interact with each other on the sharing of the available means, now that determines what is going to be the need for a particular product in that society, that also decides whether a particular advertising strategy will work or not and how exactly that will be interpreted by the target customers. In different markets consumer requirements and consumer behavior may vary. Cultural aspects deeply impact the consumer behavior; the impact may be direct or indirect. The culture distinction creates the consumer behavior difference, as it can be noticed between the Asian and European continent where the culture and the behaviors are very different. Being a global organization LOreal certainly needs to understand the cultural differences and position its products accordingly otherwise the results may be far more different than they are at this moment. The thrust has to be on hitting the right customer with the right product. This can be possible only if one has a deep knowledge of local culture and beliefs. A very interesting example would be of lipstick use in china; according to a research only 3% women use lipstick for makeup. The reason that was supposed to be behind this low percentage of lipstick use is even weirder; women in china have concerns about ingesting lipstick. LOreal conducted a survey to see whether this is just an age old saying or it holds some truth, based on the findings it came up with a lipstick that had vitamins in it and in turn the demand for LOreal vitamin lipsticks increased. Another example could be real handy; in India long hair is considered necessary for a woman to be considered beautiful. LOreal considered this fact while launching its shampoo product in India and it focused on publicizing the fact that using the garnier fructis shampoo helps in getting long and strong hair. This strategy made the product very popular in India. In china or India people like to have fair complexion. In Asia, women take special care of their skin. People want radiant skins and lotions that can nourish their skin against sun .whereas in the United States people would rather buy tanning cream. On basis of this knowledge LOreal can position their whitening creams in India and the interesting part is the way the advertisements could be interpreted .the way the advertisements for the fairness creams are made in Asian countries these can be interpreted as racial advertisements in the USA but in Asian countries that seems to be quiet usual. Now thats where the knowledge of the culture and beliefs comes handy and helps avoiding unnecessary problems. From a business point of view, companies have to adapt themselves to the culture of each country in which they want to have business in.  for example, Because of the differences of culture between countries, companies need to adjust their products and services according to the local demands. This will help them to create and develop a brand image across the globe that is based on a large number of globally recognized products. Based on these examples we can say that LOreal was able to be successful in these markets because it adapted to ground realities of the particular market yet it followed a standardized strategy. If we study the marketing mix of Maybelline, it has two pronged strategy -one for the foreign markets another is the global street-smart image of the American chic. The global street smart image of New York chick can be admired in almost all the urban centers, be it India, china or Brazil. However there has to be a right mix of local flavor as well. The most important part of the LOreals strategic plan is opportunity hunting or the marketing of their products worldwide. From the initial days it already started catering to the demands of women worldwide. In order to do that efficiently they were expected to be well aware of the diversities of women across the globe .once they knew the diversities their job was to come up with different line of products suitable to the women from all parts of the world .Innovation has been the keyword for LOreal and this was made possible through constant research and development over the years .the group has already covered most parts of the world and still striving to cover more. In order to do so LOreal group has to keep respecting other peoples identity ,ideas and culture .LOreal has to keep valuing different cultures and nationalities to get their brand value up and it seems that they have been doing it really well. The success story can continue further because even today products of LOreal touches the cultural values instilled in potential customers mind .LOreal just doesnt sell the product it makes the customer buy the idea of dreaming big but still remaining rooted to the core cultural values .it has carefully devised its global marketing strategy and customized it to the local needs, and thats the reason people from Africa to Europe and America to Australia are using the LOreal products. LOreal has been doing pretty well in terms of global presence and monetary growth. The mission today is to understand consumers needs and expectations so as to meet them as effectively as possible along with widening the scope of global line of products.

The Character Henry in John Berrymans The Dream Songs :: Dream Songs

The Character Henry in John Berryman's The Dream Songs The question that continuously puzzled me as I read through the poems was, "Who is Henry?". He is the main character in John Berryman's The Dream Songs, yet he is very mysterious. He is likely to show up in almost every poem in the book. Analyzing this character is confusing because he is mentioned so many times and in so many different contexts that it is hard to decipher exactly who he is, however it is possible that even the author is not exactly sure who he is. Berryman introduces Henry into the poems in a subjective manner as just a character in his poems. I think Berryman wanted to write about himself, but it would have felt too personal and revealing for him to openly talk about himself. He, therefore, starts out naming this man Henry and mentions him randomly. He says in poem 4, "There ought to be a law against Henry" (Berryman 6), which to the reader does not make a whole lot of sense and veers away from any emphasis on the author. The correlation between Henry and the author is not very apparent until later. In poem number 13 Berryman describes Henry. Berryman goes into detail as he explains, "So may be Henry was a human being...He is a human American man. That's true...God's Henry's enemy" (Berryman 15). It is uncanny how closely these lines resemble Berryman's own life. Berryman was obviously a human being, but he was also an American man, who lived a life that most would call grievous. He was so unhappy with life at one point that he tried to commit suicide, unfortunately something his father succeeded at when Berryman was younger. His complicated life could explain why he may feel that God is his enemy. This is where Berryman sort of lets go and starts sharing his own feelings and experiences, but still uses the name Henry to protect himself from the judgment of others. The Character Henry in John Berryman's The Dream Songs :: Dream Songs The Character Henry in John Berryman's The Dream Songs The question that continuously puzzled me as I read through the poems was, "Who is Henry?". He is the main character in John Berryman's The Dream Songs, yet he is very mysterious. He is likely to show up in almost every poem in the book. Analyzing this character is confusing because he is mentioned so many times and in so many different contexts that it is hard to decipher exactly who he is, however it is possible that even the author is not exactly sure who he is. Berryman introduces Henry into the poems in a subjective manner as just a character in his poems. I think Berryman wanted to write about himself, but it would have felt too personal and revealing for him to openly talk about himself. He, therefore, starts out naming this man Henry and mentions him randomly. He says in poem 4, "There ought to be a law against Henry" (Berryman 6), which to the reader does not make a whole lot of sense and veers away from any emphasis on the author. The correlation between Henry and the author is not very apparent until later. In poem number 13 Berryman describes Henry. Berryman goes into detail as he explains, "So may be Henry was a human being...He is a human American man. That's true...God's Henry's enemy" (Berryman 15). It is uncanny how closely these lines resemble Berryman's own life. Berryman was obviously a human being, but he was also an American man, who lived a life that most would call grievous. He was so unhappy with life at one point that he tried to commit suicide, unfortunately something his father succeeded at when Berryman was younger. His complicated life could explain why he may feel that God is his enemy. This is where Berryman sort of lets go and starts sharing his own feelings and experiences, but still uses the name Henry to protect himself from the judgment of others.

The Evolution of Cell Phones :: Expository Essays Research Papers

The Evolution of Cell Phones The cellular telephone, as many other current technological products, started off in the military and eventually made its way to the common consumer as a result of the high demands for such communications technologies. The concept for cellular technology was often thought to be limited to science fiction or futuristic communities. Well the future is now, and computerized technology with the help of transmitters and satellites brings nearly unlimited contact to anyone in the world. The transition of the cell phone from thought to reality was made possible by military technologies and a stress towards communications advancement. Cellular technology evolved from its early development to commercial use sometime in the late seventies as the first cell phones were expensive, appeared bulky, and was fairly inconvenient and inefficient. Currently, cell phones have become efficient, useful, and relatively inexpensive. Into the future, cell phones can only become smaller, more efficient, and g lobally renowned. Cellular phones are widely used and accepted into modern culture as one of the most popular forms of media communication. Cellular technology was actually originated in the military two years after the end of the Second World War, in 1947 (about.com). Despite many who believe that the cell phone is a relatively new product on the market, the first usage of any cellular component was very large and strictly for the use and development of the United States military. Actually, the cell phone derives from a two-way radio that uses a mobile phone type of communication of signals. Basically, the first cell phones were simply glorified mobile phones, in essence, that is what all cell phones are. The system uses many stations to divide an area into many cells. As a user moves from cell to cell, calls are transferred from base to base. Around 1968, the Federal Communications Commission, that had haltered the development of cellular broadcasts, now freed up necessary airwaves to allocate the usage of the first cell towers that acted as base stations for phone calls (about.com). This was certainly a start, but the se towers only broadcasted a couple miles in radius and there was still no device comparable to today’s cellular technology. The seventies saw the first working cellular phone components to reach the common market, although bulky, expensive, and inefficient. At a time when disco was lying in its death bed and spandex became popular as a wave of workout videos and aerobics struck the land like a pestilent plague, the demand curve met the supply curve for the commercial development of cellular technology.

The Historical Significance of Puerto Rico Essay -- History Puerto Ric

The Historical Significance of Puerto Rico For most of its history, Puerto Rico has been controlled by an outside power, and its people oppressed. While Puerto Rico is currently a U.S. territory, Spanish colonialism has had a significant impact on the island’s development and identity. The history of the island itself is proof of this fact, demonstrating each step Puerto Rico took to reach its current state. By examining the stages of Spanish control that Puerto Rico experienced, we can determine how each stage affected the structure and identity of Puerto Rico. Before Spain invaded Puerto Rico, the native population known as the Taino inhabited it. At the beginning of the 1500’s, the Taino were conquered by the Spanish and, after a series of revolution attempts, virtually disappeared from Puerto Rican life. Those that were left fled to the interior of the island, which was, at that time, uninhabited. This part of the island became a refuge for the people who had fled from the approaching Spanish conquerors. This was the first stage in Puerto Rico’s development. Spain was the most dominant oppressor of Puerto Rico, and its occupation of the island resulted in many social and economic changes. The native people were marginalized, and Spain took over Puerto Rico in order to turn it into a productive colony. In addition to this, the presence of the Spaniards in Puerto Rico added a different ethnic group to the island’s native population. When the official slave trade began in 1518, African slaves were added to Puerto Ricoâ €™s mixed ethnic heritage. (Figueroa 9/22) According to "A Bicentennial Without a Puerto Rican Colony", Unlike the United States, in Puerto Rico the different races mixed and intermingled to create the moder... ...ed Bergad, Laird. "The Coffee Boom, 1885-1897," from: Bergad, Coffee and Agrarian Capitalism in Nineteenth-Century Puerto Rico (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1983), 145-203 Cruz, Jose. "Puerto Rican Independence-then and now". http://www.hartford-hwp.com/cp-usa/archives/95-09-23-2.html Scarano, Francisco, "Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1815-1849: An Overview," from Scarano, Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico: The Plantation Economy of Ponce, 1800-1850 (Madison: U of Wisconsin Press, 1984), 3-34 Thomas, Piri. "A Bicentennial Without a Puerto Rican Colony". http://www.cheverote.com/texts/bicentennial.html Valle Antiles, Francisco del, "The Spiritual Life of the Jibaro, " from: Iris M. Zavala and Rafael Rodrigues (eds.) The Intellectual Roots of Independence, An Anthology of Puerto Rican Political Essays (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1980), 95-103

Metaqualone

Methaqualone is sedative-hypnotic drug that is similar in effect to barbiturates, a general Central Nervous System depressant. This drug was mainly used in the 1960s and 1970s for the treatment of insomnia, and as a muscle relaxant. Methaqualone was first synthesized in India in 1951 by Lindra Kishore Kacker and Syed Hussain Zaheer. By 1965 it was the most commonly prescribed sedative in Britain. In 1972 it was the sixth bestselling sedative in the US, where it was legal under the brand name Quaalude. Methaqualone is a drug that helps the relief of tension, mental stress, and anxiety. Short Term Effects Short term effects include a reduction of mental activity, cardiac and respiratory depression, drowsiness, reduced heart rate, reduced respiration and increased sexual arousal. The abuse of this drug gives rise to a barbiturate-type dependence. Long Term Effects Liver damage can result from long term abuse of methaqualone or from ingestion of heavily adulterer methaqualone. The liver is responsible for metabolizing or processing drugs in the body, and impurities in the drug can cause irreversible damage to the organ. Methaqualone also affects muscle movement and coordination and can produce parethesia, a â€Å"pins and needles† sensation, commonly in the face and fingers. Large doses also cause a heightened pain threshold, and uncontrolled muscle twitching. Physically Addicting or Psychologically Addicting Methaqualone is highly addictive both physically and psychologically, and continuous moderate to heavy usage leads to tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal symptoms. Death Associated with Drug Coma and death can result from using methaqualone. Ingestion of more than 800 mg of methaqualone in an adult and 150 mg in a child is considered toxic. The average lethal oral dose is 8-20 grams (100-200 mg/kg) and coma can occur after ingestion of 2. 4 grams. Methaqualone can also cause coma or death at lower levels if it is taken with another CNS depressant such as alcohol. Slang/Street Names of Drug Common street names for methaqualone are: Quaalude, Lude, Quat, Quad, Mandex, and Sopors. How the Drug is Taken Methaqualone can be injected, and also taken orally. It is manufactured in tablets or capsules. Methaqualone can also be found in brown, gray or black tacky powder. An average dose of methaqualone is about 3 grams but it also depends on the persons body height, weight, and the use of any other drug. Within 4-8 hours of taking the drug the user may experience slurred speech. Affects on Fetal Development Methaqualone passes through the breast milk in lactating women. Animal studies have shown the drug to cause birth defects when used during pregnancy. References http://www. streetdrugs. org. [email  protected] org. Copyright Publishers Group, 1996. Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. http://www. well. com/user/woa/fsseda. htm