Explanations for Inequality Essay

There are many sociological explanations for female inequality in society. Inequality is where something/ someone is seen as not equal compared to something else. For example men have more opportunities than women in life, suggesting females suffer huge inequality in many factors of life. Firstly, Anne Oakley speaks about how women suffer inequalities in the work place. Oakley notes that after the industrial revolution in Britain acts were passed to limit women working; in 1851 one in four married women worked whereas in 1911 one in ten worked. During the Victorian era the ideology that a woman’s place was in the home became truly established and industrialisation led to the separation of men from the daily routine of domestic life. Now it is claimed that women suffer from four main inequalities in the workplace. Firstly, there is the much debated pay gap in which, even though legislation to stop unequal pay was introduced in the 1970’s, the although narrowing pay gap is still visible between men and women. Secondly half of all females in employment are in part time employment; this form of employment is often less secure with fewer benefits. Thirdly, women suffer from vertical segregation; this is sometimes referred to as â€Å"the glass ceiling effect†. Women are seemingly unable to achieve the higher ranking positions and are stopped from achieving managerial positions by an invisible barrier. Lastly, women are said to suffer from horizontal segregation which is the idea of gendered jobs. Liberal feminist Oakley blames the dominant housewife mother role, suggesting that a wifes role is primarily domestic, thus inequality is inevitable. There are criticisms for this study however, suggesting that it see’s inequality as simply just a matter of time. As well as biological factors, and time Victoria Beechey, from a marxist perspective has deleveloped a study which see’s women as a reserve army of labour. She uses this in order to explain the position of women in the labour market. Marx argued that capitalism required a reserve army of labour, that is a spare pool of potential recruits to the labour force. Beechey identifies a number of ways in which women in modern Britain are particularly suited to form part of this reserve army. She suggests that women’s jobs are least likely to be covered by redundancy legislation, so it’s cheaper to make them redundant rather than men, suggesting huge inequality as it shows women are superior to men. Furthermore she suggests that unemployed married women may not be elegible to receive state benefits if their husbands are working, and for this reason they might not appear in unemployment statistics. Beechey says that ‘women’ who are made redundant are able to disappear virtually without a trace back into the family. She also suggests that women are more likely to accept part time work due to their domestic role, women tend to be happy in accepting less wages than their husbands as they can rely on their man. This makes you realise that still in society, women who don’t work, even though they want to is still frowned upon, and it would be easier for men to get jobs than women, showing inequality between women and men. Bruegel challenges this theory, she questions the assumption that the interests of capital must be served if women are to be used as a reserve army of labour. She points out that women can also benefit capitalism by producing domestic labour in the home, as this reduces the amount that needs to be paid to male workers. Linda Mcdowell like Beechey also talks about part time work, and why women are more likely to accept it. She applies post-Fordist theory to female employment. Post-Fordism suggests that there has been a move away from mass production to more flexible production of specialist products. Businesses keep a core of highly skilled workers, but most other workers are temporary, or part time, or work is contracted out to other firms. Women tend to be concentrated in the more flexible jobs, particularly part time work. This suggests that even today it is still hard to for women to have a good career like men, as due to other ‘priorities’ part time work may be the only suitable explanation. Lovering found evidence to support this theory suggesting that post Fordism trends affect only some women. Furthermore, post-Feminists argue that the feminism of the 1970s and 80s is out dated because it sees all women as sharing the same interests and ignores the diverse interests of different groups of women. Natasha Walter believes that there is still much that feminists need to change. She believes that the post-feminist emphasis on political correctness and language neglects the continuing problems of inequality which affect all women. Women still tend to suffer from problems such a low pay, lack of childcare, the dual burden of paid employment and domestic labour, poverty and domestic sexual violence. Following up on this Germaine Greer suggests that women cannot be themselves as they still have to act in the ways men want them to be. This suggests that women suffer in the hands of men, due to them being more powerful etc. Women thus are brainwashed into being how men want them to be, for example, clothing and make up. Radical feminists also believe that men’s power and control over men is the main reason for inequality. They believe that patriarchy is the most important concept when explaining gender inequalities. They tend to focus on the power relationships that are experienced in private, in particular the significance of sexuality and the use of violence. Kate Millet believes that oppressive and unequal relationships between men and women originate not in wider society, but in the intimacy of personal relationships, in sexual partnerships and in families and households or various kinds. She believes personal relationships are also political in that they are based on different and unequal amounts of power which are determined by sex and which are reinforced in every aspect of wider society. Culture, government, tradition, religion, law, education and the media all reflect patriarchal leadership and power. Critics of this theory suggest that this theory is ultimately biologically deterministic, since the biological facts of reproduction are at the heart of the position. Not all sociologists believe that inequality is still a major factor in society. Catherine Hakim (economist) suggests a ‘Rational choice theory’. She is critical of all feminist positions. She argues that feminist theories are both inaccurate and misleading, and that women are not victims of unfair employment practices. She identifies five myths; women’s employment had not in fact been rising, women were less committed to work than men, that their childcare responsibilities were not the main reason for them working part time, that part time jobs were not necessarily worse and finally that women were less likely to be in stable employment. This goes against all feminist explanations and suggests that inequality is not as we see it, and a lot has changed. However, Crompton argues that Hakim underplays the structures within which women make choices. In particular she cites the development of the male bread winner. Other sociologist like Hakim who neglect mainstream feminist values are the black feminists. They are critical of mainstream feminism suggesting that they neglect the particular problems that black women face. Bourne argues that white feminists are luke-warm about tackling racism because they enjoy social, economic and political privileges which make them part of the system which oppresses black women. Further more Yuval-Davis develops this theme claiming that ‘non-black’ minority ethnics such as Iranian, Cypriot, and Chinese women not only face racism, they also face cultural patriarchy which is particular to their communities. This is suggesting women are not really all in the same position and it affects people differently. White feminists tend to reject black feminists and ignore them from most of the studies and theories.

Rbi on Discipline

One thousand words on discipline, one thousand words on the Army Values, and one thousand words on what being a Soldier means to me, not counting words that are less than three letters in length, which i dont uderstand because they are words too, poor little guys, just cause theyre small , they don't exist? Discipline, this part of the rbi is being written and discussed on discipline. I am condudcting this rbi because myself along with a few other soldiers in the platoon fucked up today and since i am on profile and cannot conduct the pushup and the sittup, my profile states that i can only walk at my own pace a distance for Physical Training, which is now called PRT standing for Physical Readiness Training, therefore writing this rbi is the punishment my leaders deemed neccesary for corrective action toward myself and others that fucked up in the platoon. RBI's are given to soldiers for corrective action sometimes because we need trining on writing essays esspecially if a soldier is getting out of the army soon, like myself, i get out of the army in july of this year therefore i am actually kind of glad that i have to do this becaue i need to sharpen my essay skills anyway, so thankyou. Disciline means control gained by enforcing obedience or order. It also means orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior. Discipline is important in all situations by everyone young and old, big or small, short or tall, white or black, or hispanic, or asian. so any race religion hieght or weight, no matter who you are or what job you have, whether it be in the army navy airforce marines or even if you work at wal-mart, or k-mart or chuckee cheeze, or even mcdonalds, but most importantly in the military, army, and military police corp, discipline is one of the most important traits a person can have. Discipline can vary from keeping yourself from eating the last piece of pizza or doing the wrong thing, such as not going to a class you are told to show up at, (even if you have a valid reson for not showing up and the person your tryng to explain it to wont listen to you and keeps interupting you, which is rude as fuck, but oh well, its the army, what can i say. hats why i usually dont even bother trying to explain myself wheter i do or not i am still going to get into the same amount of trouble because some people just dont give a shit what you have to say when they are having a bad day, i like how when some people have bad days they take it out on everyone else, or when leaders dcide one day to be super hooah when they usually are pretty laid back. thats also one of the reasons hat i am getting out of the army, that and at least one thousand other reasons) to even killing someone. Without discipline, the united states army every state in the united states of america and every oth er country in this world would be way way more chaotic than what it is now, i could not even imagine the world and the army being more chaotic than it is now. Jim Rohn said once, â€Å"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Discipline is applied to each activity in our lives. The discipline in the One Seventyth Military Police Company has been worsening since weve begun reintegration into the United States, personally I believe that has happened because the leaders in the company are not enforcing discipline, mostly because over in Afghanistan while we were deployed we bacame such a tight nit family that we saw eachother more as family than soldiers and non-comissioned Officers. Discipline down-range was still there just not as much as the Army expects it to be. So that being said, I also believe that discipline in this company has dropped because soldiers feel as though our leaders do not care about the welfare of the soldiers, maybe they do but it doesnt show.. Prime example, yesterday SPC Snyder asked Staff sergeant Holenbach if he would give her a counseling on requesting leave and the procedures she needs to follow. Staff sergeant Hollenbach then told her that he would get it done, later on he told her that he would be off the followng day and to have her get with SGT Quirarte and have him give her a counseling. The next morning, SPC Snyder found out that SGT Quirarte was on leave and coud not counsel her. SPC Snyder then came to me thinking I was the acting Squad leader and the next leader she should come to in her chain of command and then asked if I would counsel her on requesting leave and the procedures she needs to follow since Staff sergeant Hollenbach was off, From what she said, i understood that Staff sergeant Hollenbach told her to get her leave packet done first thing in the morning, i understand that SPC Snyder and I did not show up to class at 0900, i was in charge, so i was therefore, i was taking charge, as the saying goes â€Å"When in charge, take charge† which i am sure every soldier in the United States army has heard more than once. I understand that i probably should have chosen a different time to complete the counseling but i figured since her own team leader isnt here and wasnt going to complete the counseling on his day off and not take care of his soldier then i should be the one to take care of her, since her team leader wasnt going to be able to do so, when i deem neccessary, it is definatley absolutley one hundred and ten percent my fault that i chose a bad time to complete to complete SPC Snyders counseling, you might even choose the saying, the wrong time to complete SPC Snyders counseling, rather than a bad time to complete SPC Snyders counseling, but i was not sure when the classes would be over, classes we did a couple weeks ago if i remember correctly. mind you. nd if the classes did take all day then the leave packet would not have been complete in time to turn it in that day, and therefore would take alot longer to get passed up through the chain of command and get approved or dissaproved. So, m y bad, this type of incedent from me will not happen again, and this type of behavior from me will not be seen again. Also discipline comes in the same catigory as attitude. In that i mean from what i see, higher leaders, such a platoon sergeants dont have there prorities in order, i believe taking care of soldiers comes first in my mind, i do not see that in our senior leaders. i always take care of my soldiers issues first, i could not care less anout mne until my soldiers issues are resolvled. Leave packets sitting on the same desks for days does not say good things, deamening sldiers, does not say good things, and getting upset when (HOly shit, i am only at six hudred words, and this has to be done by tomorrow morning? This is bullshit) and even denying a soldier theyre right to attend an appontment when a soldier has an appointment whether it interfres with work or not, that does not say that a Non comissioned officer cares about the health and welfare of there soldiers. Overall i believe that the soldiers discipline in this company has dropped because the soldiers in this company feel as though theyre Non-comissioned officers do not care about the health and welfare of them. The mentality in this company seems to be, â€Å"If the Non-comissioned Officers in this company dont care, then why should I? 1006 The seven Army Vaues. This RBI is being written to discuss the seven army values, which consist of Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Persanal Courage . Integrity is not just a word that defines honesty and trust, but it is also one of the words that makes up and defines the Army Values. Integrity is probably, in my mind, one of the most important, valuable and worth meaning words the United states Army uses. The united states Army defines Integrity as doing what is right always, mentally, morally, and physically. Doing what is right always, means being able to do everything you are supposed to the correct way when no one is around to watch you or being able to do the things you are tasked out to do the right way without having anyone be there to supervise you, being able to have people trust and believe in you that you will do what your told the right way, like from a Non-comissioned officer. Being able to do even little missions and have every one trust you to get it done the right way is a very important aspect of being in the united states Army. If no one can trust you to do things the right way when they tell you to conduct a mission, you wont be asked to do anything, you wont be put in charge of anything, and you wont get to go to any schools, especially any schools you actually want to attend. Integrity also works the same way when you are at a school or away from your company or even on leave or a four day pass. While at the school or class or even on leave or a four day pass or whatev er you might be at. Letting your company, or team leader or squad leader or platoon sergent know what is going on with you at your school or class is a must and you also must be honest and tell your team leader, or squad leader, platoon sergeant the truth, like maybe if you get counseled for something while at your school for any reason at all you just might let your team leader squad leader or platoon sergeant know about this so that they know what is going on with you, being truthful with everyone will show them that you can be trusted even if things are not going good for you in school or class or at home on leave or whatever it is that you are doing while you are away from the company or base, they might even say they will try and help you out with your class, but maybe as soon as you go in to talk to them for help, you most likely get yelled at and also get talked down to like youre an idiot, and you feel like you wished you wouldnt have even let them know you were having trouble because now you lo ok like a fool and an idiot, so next time you dont tell them that you need help and then you get into even more trouble because now they say you cant be trusted and that you dont have any Integrity. You earn integrity by doing what you are told and doing it without having to be supervised and getting whatetever it is that you were told to get done finished the right way without messing it up. if you continue to do everything that is asked of you the right way and more every time your supervisors will learn and come to trust you because they can count on you to do what they ask, they wont question your word or integrity. Then there is integrity like good conduct. Good conduct can be described as conducting yourself in a professional manor at all times, being in the united states Army you must conduct yourself in a professional manor at all times whether you are working, on post or off post on leave or not, during the weekend and even if you are at a school or class, especially for being part of the united states army Military Police Corps, we always have to be conducting ourselves in a professional manor at all times whether you are working, on post or off post on leave or not, during the weekend and even if you are at a school or class, we always must maintain professionalism, because we are always being watched. If you screw up and do not conduct yourself in a professional manor you will pay for it, esspesially if you screw up and dont tell your team leader, squad leader, or platoon sergeant about the incident and they somehow find out later on, your punishment will be even worse then. and it wont be very nice in most cases. For example if you are failing a class and you decide to take a drop make sure you know what you are doing or getting yourself into, because every one that sent you to that class or school is expecting you to finish, if you take the drop you will not be conducting yourself in a professional manor. MENTALY MORAL: This one may be a little hard to discuss and describe and write about because I haveno idea what to say or write, but I will do my best, besides moral integrity is at stake once again. Being mentally moral really doesnt have too much to do with anyone else but you. In my opinion being mentally fit or having mental integrity is a big part of being in the united states Army or in whatever professional field you might be working in, wheteher it be in the army, navy, airforce, marines, or even if you are a lawyer or car salesman, is really important. If you cant be mentally honest or true with yourself then how can you be honest and true with anyone else? If you dont trust yourself and be honest or true with yourself then how are you going to be honest and true with anyone else, you cant be honest and true if you are not mentally fit and that you are in denial and that is not good because then everyone will think you are a basket case and just write you off as some idiot and someone that they will never trust to do anything the right way, because you lie to yourself and everyone else will think of you as a liar. For example if something is wrong and you keep telling yourself verything is all good, and everyone around you can see that something is w rong but you wont admit it then you show everyone else that you cant handle the truth with yourself then how can you handle being truthful and honest with anyone else. Kind of a messed up situation you would find yourself in. If this part didnt make much since then it was a good paragraph because I have no idea what to say about this, couldnt even find it on line to help with this part of the essay. Hell everyone says they are good when they are really not, maybe money, or spouse or something, in that case every one is a victim of not being in a mentally fit or mental integrity position. So basically being good in your head and having your melon in good shape and believing and trusting your self will greatly help you and others to see that you are actually mentally fit and you have good mental integrity which will then help them have trust in you and task you out for missions because they will trust that you will get the mission complete the right way. 1018 What it means to me to be an american soldier in the united states army. In this section of the rbi i will be writing and discussing what it means to be an american soldier in the united states army to me, i will mostly basically be describing the united states army's Soldiers creed in my own words. A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary. The majority of cognates of the word â€Å"soldier† that exist in other languages have a meaning that embraces both commissioned and non-commissioned officers i n national land forces. The word soldier entered modern English in the 14th century, from the equivalent Middle English word soudeour, from Anglo-French soudeer or soudeour, meaning mercenary, from soudee, meaning shilling's worth or wage, from sou or soud, shilling. The word is also related to the Medieval Latin soldarius, meaning soldier (literally, â€Å"one having pay†). These words were ultimately derived from the Late Latin word solidus, referring to an Ancient Roman coin used in the Byzantine Empire. In most armed forces use of the word soldier has taken on a more general meaning, due to the increasing specialization of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets or what the united states army would refer to as Military Occupational Specialty. As a result, â€Å"soldiers† are referred to by names or ranks which eflect an individual's military occupation specialty arm, service or branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employmen t or technical use such as: trooper, tanker, commando, dragoon, infantryman, marine, paratrooper, ranger, sniper, engineer, sapper, medic, or a gunner. So what does it mean to me to be a soldier you ask? Hmm†¦ There are many sections to the soldier's creed which all influence my life, both the way I live and the way I think. All soldiers whether old or new, should try their hardest to abide and live by the soldier’s creed. The soldier’s creed has taught me many things that make me who I am today. â€Å"I am an American soldier,† To me, that means I have the right to say this anywhere and everywhere I go. As an American I have Freedom of speech, religion, and pursuit of happiness. As a soldier in the united states army I defend these rights. â€Å"I am a warrior and a member of a team,† I will fight and give my life for my country, and as a member of a team I know I will never be alone because i will always have my battle buddy to my left and my right, right next to me, there to fight the battle and complete the mission just as i am. â€Å"I serve the people of the United States, and live the army values† When I recite this I stand proud that I am one of few that chose to serve and protect the United States of America. Now, as a soldier I not only follow the rules of the Bible, but I live the seven army values. Loyalty, I will and always will stand by my fellow comrades, soldiers and battle buddies, always being loyal and trustworthy. Duty, I will perform my job to the best of my ability. Respect, something earned, not given. I respect everyone that serves this nation proudly with me, but i believe that respect is a two lane road, meaning, if i give you the respect i think you deserve but dont get the respect i deserve in return then i will never give you that respect again. Example, if i give a Non-comissioned officer the greeting of the day and the just continue walking without saying a word back, then i will never give that non-comissioned officer the greeting of the day again. Selfless Service, I don't want to die, but I will if it keeps my fellow comrades and soldiers and battle buddies and family back home safe and continues the freedom they have always known. Honor, every day when I put on the uniform of the united states army I have great pride and honor in myself and others who also where the same uniform. Integrity, learned from our parents as kids, enforced as service members, always do what’s right no matter what, wheteher you are on post or off post on duty or off duty on leave or a four day pass or not. And last but not least, Personal Courage, if my country calls on me to do something and complete a mission, I have the personal courage to do whatever they ask of me. The Warrior ethos are the best and most important part to me in the soldier’s creed. I will always place the mission first, I will never accept defeat, I will never quit, and I will never leave a fallen comrade. † No matter where I am on duty or not, on post or no t, on leave or a four day pass or not, the mission will always come first (right after my family) or I will die trying, if that is neccesary. Part of being a soldier in the united states army is always being accountable and being on time, that is also very important. As a soldier in the United States Army we are accountable for any responsibilities we are given. Many responsibilities are given to us and there are also many situations where time is of the utmost importance. As a soldier in the united states army we have responsibilities such as, following the Army values in our daily lives, in and out of uniform, on or off post, on duty or not, because we are soldiers twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. Keeping our barracks clean our rooms and the common areas and always be ready for inspection. We are responsible for knowing about the United States Army, its regulations, rank structure and knowing our military occupation specialtys. With some military occupation specialty we have security clearances and are given a lot more responsibility than soldiers without security clearances. Everyday those with clearances are around sensitive information to the United States Army which could have a negative and detrimental effect on the united states of america and the united states army. We have the responsibility to protect this information and make sure the wrong people don’t get access to it. We have responsibility to look out for our fellow battle buddies in and out of uniform as well. We should always be looking out for them during the duty day and even in and out of uniform, on or off post, on duty or off duty, because as i said erlier, we are soldiers twenty four hours a day and seven days a week, making sure they are doing the right thing, keeping their uniform squared away and helping them when they need the help. Being stationed in another country where English isn’t the first language brings about more dangers which in turn creates more responsibilities as a battle buddy. Soldiers stationed in like say Korea also have the responsibility of representing the United States whenever tey step outside the gate or even go through the checkout line at the P. X. How we act is how the people of Korea will view the United states army and the United stated as well. We are responsible for leaving a good impression. As a soldier in the united states army we are trained to follow orders and always held accountable for this as well as carrying out any mission we are handed. All actions we take as a soldier we are held accountable and we have to be able to answer for everything we do, wheteher the person you are answering to wants to listen or not, which in most cases they dont want to hear what you have to say because leaders are right no matter what. 1003 -THE END-

Quarterly Performance Review Essay

Being a retail store we all know how important customer service is, but many don’t see the importance of good vendor support as well. Vendors are important and should be looked after. Since they provide us with our foundations to running our business with providing us with the products and merchandise we sell. Elaine Bridgewater, our retail relationship manager, has been a great addition to our team. With her experience she is able to bring technical knowledge about the industry giving us a competitive advantage over many other golf equipment stores. Everyday Elaine brings her boundless energy and she is always driven and motivated. Elaine’s engaging personal style has built numerous new retail relationships for our company. However I do have some concerns regarding Elaine’s performance. Since she is the first person our retailers contact it is important to be attentive to the retailers needs. Unfortunately we have received complaints from various retailers that their calls are not returned the same day, but usually days later. If retailers email Elaine they seem to get lost in the email conversation since email message from Elaine could have been written clearer, making a simple email go back and forth numerous times due to confusion. Furthermore weekly reports are not created with care, but seem as if they were thrown together quickly. Although these may not seem like critical issues, and they are all simple fixes, but are very crucial to the survival of our business. With some standardized guidelines and practice these are areas Elaine could easily improve on. The retail channel is a very important aspect to the survival of our company and so it is important that that channel is maintained at all times. To help make the changes easier we will establish appropriate standards and guidelines for the retail division. All call and emails should be responded to within 24 hours of receiving it. We will also provide an array of email response templates since most of the correspondences are routine.

Concrete Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Concrete - Case Study Example Concrete remains the most essential part of our daily activity, as people need to take shelter in their homes, which are built with use of concrete. In fact, all buildings, roads, bridges that people use today are constructed with concrete. Some constructions like bridge over the Colorado River, built with strong concrete, are almost 250 yeas old. However, the changes in the manufacturing process, based on the research and developmental efforts have resulted in different types of concrete, being used presently. The use of admixtures and plasticizers to produce concrete of high strength is an example in this direction. The background of concrete goes back to the time of Egyptian pyramids, which are almost 5000 years old. Since then, many civilizations have used concrete for building and decorative purposes. The utilization of concrete is now found almost everywhere for projects involving infrastructure, building architecture and decorative construction work. Egyptian technicians used gypsum and lime that served as mortar for the bricks used for building pyramids, Bricks were made of mud and straw. This process continued for many centuries until 300 B.C. when Romans discovered the use of a material that is very near to the modern cement, as they built different architectural structures including Colossuim and Pantheon. This was during the period from 300 B.C. to 476 A. D., when the Romans also mixed animal fats in their cement that served as admixtures. Britisher named Joseph Aspdin, a stonemason discovered Portland cement in 1824. The name Portland came from the mining area, which produced the tough stone required for making such cement, which came from stones quarried on the Isle of Portland, in Great Britain. During the year 1828, Portland cement was used extensively in the construction of tunnel under Thames River Experimenting with the mixture of clay and ground limestone, Aspdin created a product that he named Hydraulic cement, as this mixture became

An International and Comparative Human Resource Management Essay

An International and Comparative Human Resource Management - Essay Example As the essay states globalization of markets is an important aspect of modern world system which involves all areas of public life, including economy, politics, social sphere, culture, ecology, and safety. It is one of the most influential forces determining the international HRM. Development of IHRM becomes important in maintenance of human relationships and ensuring the physical well-being of employees so that they give the maximum contri ¬bution to efficient working. It is obviously closely related to the management process as a whole and each functional manager and supervisor must apply the principles effectively. According to the discussion findings International HRM have a great influence on the global consumer market as well. The transition to the knowledge economy, globalisation, and omnipresence of information and communication technologies (ICT) require a permanent updating of the skills and competences of organizational workforce. Business is not all about profit but also for organizational value creation. Organizational values in MNEs involve providing opportunities for employees’ development and self-realization, pursuing unmatched product quality, creating a safe working environment, and working for the improvement of the natural environment. . The aim of the paper is to apply the concepts of International HRM and comparative HRM for analyzing practices of P&G in South Korea. Information about the MNE's background (Proctor & Gambler) P&G is a multinational enterprise which operates in 160 countries around the world. Its main activity includes manufacturing of consumer, pharmaceutical and household products for diverse target audience. After the Second World War, P&G had started its international and global expansion in manufacturing and sales. In 1954 P&G has started its international activity in Europe leasing a detergent manufacturer.In 1980 P&G became a global company, and after a period of successful mergers and acquisitions with such brands as Noxell, Max Factor and Ellen Betrix, P&G expands its global presence. In 1993, the 50% of sales came outside the USA (Bob's River View, 2002). With the changing economic environment, globalization of markets, international economic integration and increased competition have enhanced the need of new strategies in international and global business. Today, it is one of the most important infrastructure requirements, which is essential for the expansion of opportunities and plays an important role in making or breaking the competitive positioning of P&G. The main products of the company can be divided into 6 categories: laundry and cleaning products, beauty

Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Argument - Essay Example This argument is evident from the existence of procedures such as parole where an individual who has not finished their sentence in its entirety is evaluated to determine whether they have learnt from their mistakes and if it is established that they have, they are released earlier than the determined date with external supervision However, society does not treat ex felons like the prison system works as it is intended by doing such things as taking away their voting rights. It can be said that by doing this the government is expressing its lack of faith in the correctional system they have set up for if one has truly learnt from their mistakes and has become a better person should they to be allowed to vote? The fact that they are expected to do fulfill other obligations such as pay their taxes but they are not allowed to choose the leaders of their country also demonstrates a level of unfair treatment of these ex-felons (Kevin). Once a felon is released after serving their term it is said that they have paid their debt to society and thus they should be given the same rights as any other citizen in the country, this includes the right to vote. Denying ex-felons this right also demonstrates a level of stigmatization as well as they are cast aside from a process that everyone else of legal age is able to participate in. This shows a lack of trust in them and treating them as if they are different from everyone else does not help in the effort to reintegrate them into society, which is what the government claims are their intentions after their release. There is also the simple argument that just because someone has gone to prison does not mean that they are no longer able to determine who they think should lead their country (Kevin). Treating ex-felons like they are no longer part of the country which is essentially what is being done when they are denied

Early Childhood Educator and NAEYC Code of ethics Essay

Early Childhood Educator and NAEYC Code of ethics - Essay Example Although everything written in the Code of Ethics is significant to the well-being of children, some stood out for me among the rest. Some are on the issues of children’s assessment. I 1.6 states: â€Å"To use assessment instruments and strategies that are appropriate for the children to be assessed, that are used only for the purposes for which they were designed, and that have the potential to benefit children†. I 1.7 states: â€Å"To use assessment information to understand and support children’s development and learning, to support instruction and to identify children who may need additional services† (Decker, Decker, Freeman, and Knorpf, 2009, p. 356). For several years in the past, assessment techniques were limited to written quizzes, exams, oral recitation, individual and group projects, etc. Assessment methods either fall under the more traditional approaches that expect students to regurgitate information previously fed to them or authentic asses sment that traverse a wider range of academic disciplines and skills as well as assessment approaches that attempt to evaluate the â€Å"whole child† in a wide span of application of his knowledge and abilities (Darling-Hammond et al, 1993). Although the basic assumption behind traditional and authentic assessment is common, which is to develop prolific citizens, the former approach tests the students on the possession of certain knowledge while the latter tests the students on the application of knowledge. Consistent with constructivist philosophy, authentic assessment entrusts the reins of learning to the students. They â€Å"are required to provide rigorous intellectual commitment and perseverance, and teachers must continually connect student’s previous and current knowledge to the emerging curriculum† (Wescombe-Down, n.d., n.p). Hence, assessment methods should include learner-centred activities

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 45

Assignment Example A person can verify the authority of the biblical canons using internal protocols of authorization. A good example of this is Isaiahs prophecy found in Isaiah 8:16, which talks about how the Messiah would bind testimonies and seal the laws and teachings of the bible among His disciples. The proof of this is in the New Testament where the founders of the early church believed this prophecy would bind them to their death. Further authorization of biblical canons comes from the persons who wrote the books. For example, history proves that Peter started the process of canonization very early in the church history. Therefore, all his books in the bible have authority, e.g. his epistles and the fourth gospel in the bible, Mark, which he personally directed. In conclusion, authorship of the books of the bible is another best way of determining the authoritative nature of biblical canons. This leaves questionable doubts on books without direct authorship such as Jude, James, and the gospel a ccording to Matthew. Furthermore, the general acceptance of these books by the church also proves their authority (Plummer 17). Based on the principles and tools for interpreting the Bible given in and the discussion of Hebrew history, explain how you would go about â€Å"exegeting† or getting the meaning out of the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. Be sure to explain briefly how the different principles might help you understand the story, and be sure to give what you believe to be the appropriate application of the text. The process of interpreting the bible follows several laid out principles. These principles help one in understanding the bible verses and relating them to their daily personal life. While exegeting the story of David and Goliath, we first have to read the entire prose. David was a shepherd who killed Goliath, the largest and the strongest warrior of the

Screening report on 400 blows Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Screening report on 400 blows - Essay Example The story of this movie revolves around a young boy who is considered to be a trouble maker. This child is deprived of love from his parent and is constantly being shouted at by his parents, especially his mother. This movie is a semi – autobiography of the life of the director and his friend. The style of shooting of the film displays the style of Truffaut. In this movie he had displayed very clearly the life of a young prankster. This movie apart from being about Antoine alone also highlights how the French ill – treated the injustice by the young at that time. There is a great portrayal of the how Antoine has been punished and criticized at both home and in school at every step. The poor child is punished all the time in school while his mother on the other end is strict and very demanding for him to help with the choirs at home. Also the child faces a lot of discomfort since his family is very insecure financially, live in an extremely small apartment, with him having to sleep on a sleeping bag. Also his mother has a number of issues and agreements with his step father. He also realizes that his mum is having an affair with her co – worker. He takes this to himself and engages in childish mischief, until he and his friend are turned in to the police by h is step father, for stealing the type writer from his office. The film ends with the child being sent to a work camp (on request of his mother) by the sea line. The child is also sent to a psychiatrist as his parents deem him to be very mischievous and incurable. The director has been able to provide the movie with an excellent ending, where Antoine runs away from the work camp and is seen at the sea shore. The use of the camera is excellent as the movies ends with the cameras zooming into his face and to a great extent it seems like he is gazing into the faces of the audience. This seems to be the strongest point of the movie. The director has been able to rightly depict the look in his eyes. A

OHS Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

OHS - Coursework Example The nurse only did what she had to do to the best of her ability with disastrous consequences. By using the Systems Approach to Occurrence Causation (SAOC), we can conclude that the cause of the occurrence can be traced to several factors that combined to bring about the event. We can start of by pointing out that the nurse was on duty unsupervised. This was of course what led to the patient sustaining the overdose which led to the brain hemorrhage that killed her. The second cause can be attributed to the nurse not having proper knowledge concerning the dosage required for the child and as such ended up giving ten times more than was required and the child’s system could not handle this. Third we can attribute the occurrence to a failure by the hospital to implement proper guidelines that would have prevented the nurse from administering the medicine without a doctor’s supervision. Lastly the medicine was administered at a time off the usual routine which made it hard for the doctor to be available as per schedule which could have negated the need for the Nurse to do the administration of the medicine alone without supervision. The other cause can be put down to understaffing at the hospital which meant there was no qualified pediatrician when the Nurse was doing her rounds administering the medicine. In this incident, the energy in this scenario is the medicine being administered and we can identify the administration of the medicine as the source of risk especially without proper supervision. A hazard is a source of potential harm in terms of human injury, ill-health and damage to property, the environment, or a combination of these. In this case, we can pinpoint the hazard as being the drug administered by the nurse. This case can also be used to express an example of psychosocial hazard. The work conditions were liable to cause the

New and Improved Rewards at Work Research Paper - 2

New and Improved Rewards at Work - Research Paper Example The most important goal for an employment compensation strategy is to offer better rewards for right employee actions for success of the company. In order to make competitive compensation packages for employees, companies need to consider what their rivals are offering so that they do not end up running into losses by offering more than the equilibrium package in the industry or offering less than the minimum, because this will make it impossible for them to recruit and retain staff. Best packages are sometimes those that are preferred by employees while at the same time appear to be competitive in the particular industry. One advantage with compensation schemes is that they are able to underpin organizational culture, something that is highly desired by companies. The government governs every aspect of employee compensation within the public sector. In many instances, this leaves no room for innovative ideas towards formulation of important compensations schemes. Companies that are highly innovative in engaging their employees record high returns that are sometimes double those of rival companies which do not engage their employees adequately (Pollitt, 2081) The first way to creatively engage your skilful employees is by putting them in a position where they can have direct contact with consumers of their products. In many industries, employees design products and dispatch them for sale, yet they have no idea about the impact of the products on the lives of their end users (Grant, 2007; Grant, 2008). A good example is the automotive industry where automotive engineers design cars of all kinds worldwide but they never gets the chance to have direct feedback from drivers of the cars, authors as well compose many pieces of literature to millions of faceless readers but never meets them for feedback. Meeting end users as a product developer has been known to enhance prosocial motivation as well

Battle to Save the Seas Essay Example for Free

Battle to Save the Seas Essay Once upon a time there lived a naughty boy who lived in a cottage near the sea with his parents that loved polluting the sea. His parents were one of his biggest inspirations when it came to polluting the sea. Every time they needed to dump garbage, they’d dump it in the sea. Soon the sea was filthy and organism died so therefore, it caused them lack some food too because they loved eating fishes from the sea that was nearby. The most important issue is we need to keep the sea clean. People of every kind who don’t take value, pride and withhold the possessions of the sea will have no respect for it. So therefore, we need to battle to save the sea. People will just literally dump any spoiled food items, household stuff etc. into the sea. They’ll just have a don’t care attitude about and towards the sea. We need to enforce strict regulations on people who love to dump trash in the sea. It they’re caught doing so, they should pay a high fine that they can’t afford and be thrown into jail. Secondly we need to battle to save the sea because the sea is a gift from God, not human. With the nature of the sea, tourists are attracted by it which helps to grow and benefit from our number one industry â€Å"Tourism†. Once tourist see that our seas are filthy and unprotected, they won’t feel pleasant coming to our island ever again. Soon we’ll even lose our number one industry for a lifetime. We are way too much dependent on tourism, we wouldn’t want it to shut down forever nor do we? The tourists love to snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming and fishing in the beautiful seas. So why wouldn’t we want to fight to save it? After all the sea contains all our living creatures, those that survive in water. We’ll lose our queen conch, groupers and spiny lobsters which will affect our agriculture and marine industries. We wouldn’t be able to export and make profits from our spiny lobsters etc. We also wouldn’t be able to eat seafood which is where our Bahamian dishes mainly come from. Imagine living on an island that is surrounded by dirty waters on hot summer day, now think about it? No swimming will be the answer to your imagination. In conclusion I suggest that our minister who’s responsible for the sea etc. should establish laws, activities and persuasive ideas to persuade people not to liter in our seas because the sea is a special gift from God and we need to take more care of it with great respect, joy and content.

Unilever Multinational Company Analysis and Breakdown

Unilever Multinational Company Analysis and Breakdown Unilever is a multinational consumer product manufacturing giant operating in over hundred countries all around the globe. Unilever Bangladesh is the Bangladesh chapter of Unilever, where the company holds 60.75% share whereas the Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh holds 39.25% share. Unilevers one of the most popular brand is LUX. They segments LUX.s market according to geographical locations. It further differentiates these segments into Socio Economic Cluster (SEC) which takes into account the criteria of education and profession which ultimately measures the financial ability of consumers. The cluster is divided into five parts starting from A to E. Unilever targets the urban and sub urban upper middle class and middle class segment of the population, who falls under A to C of SEC. Tactical marketing tools, 4Ps, are extensively used by the company to market LUX. Though LUX is produced in Bangladesh, Unilever Bangladesh maintains the same standard all around the globe. The product is available in six different fragrances under three different sizes. Since the demand for beauty soap market is to a great extent oligopolistic, variations in price lead to price war which can eventually break down the companys market share. Thus Unilever cannot provide a better price than its competitors. But the price is affordable by most of the people. Unilever Bangladesh has outsourced its distribution channels to third party distributors which allow them to distribute LUX in massive bulks amounting to around ten million pieces. It undertakes the largest promotional activities in the beauty soap industry. The beauty soap industry has a few major producers of which Unilever holds market share of slightly less than 50%. Other competing brands like Tibbet, Aromatic and Keya have started to have a strong consumer base, but LUX.s product features distribution and promotional activities have created high brand loyalty for which it is still the market leader. Unilever, with the aid of its heavy promotional activities, has been able to penetrate the market. But the other producers in the industry are posing a threat towards Unilevers market share as they have moved towards the rural masses of the population. Therefore, Unilever Bangladesh should undertake further steps such as moving towards the rural and/or poorer segment; attract children (by making a special product for kids) and other innovative promotional activities to retain its command in the industry. 1. Introduction Unilever is one of the worlds largest and leading multinational companies; Unilever commenced their business activities on a larger scale by setting up their first factory in Netherlands, in the year of 1872. Operating in Bangladesh for over the last four decades the company is trying to significantly contribute towards the augmentation of the standard of living by bringing world class high quality products at the door step of their customers. The usage of Unilever products by over 90% of the people in Bangladesh stands a testimony to their successful operation. . Their array of products show that they produce household care, fabric cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, personal grooming, and tea based beverage products under worldwide famous brand names Wheel, LUX, Lifebuoy, Fair Lovely, Ponds, Close Up, Sunsilk, Lipton, Lipton Taaza, Pepsodent, All Clear, Vim, Surf Excel, and Rexona. 2. Objective of this report: This report is an outcome of an analysis of marketing strategies used by Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. The main purpose of the report is to find what strategies the company uses to market its world famous beauty soap, LUX, in Bangladesh; the positive and negative aspects of those strategies. The report further analyzes the position of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. in the toiletry industry in comparison to its competitors. The report discusses the process of using market segmentation, target marketing, the product, pricing, promotional and distribution strategies and a competitive analysis. 2.1 Methodology of this report: For accessibility and availability of information we have chosen to work on the strategies of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. As the company operates in the market with a huge number of products in different industries, we have decided to focus on one of their world wide successful brands, LUX. Most of the information used in this report is from primary sources. The main source of information was the focus group discussion. In addition information was also collected from websites. 3. Product Category, Market Segmentation, Target Marketing and Positioning This chapter describes the category of the selected product. The chapter is organized into four sections. Section 1 states under which category the product falls. Section 2 describes how Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. differentiates the population and categorizes them into different segments. Section 3 analyzes which segment the company targets and why they target that specific segment. Finally section 4 describes the process through which the company tries to capture a place in the buyers mind i.e. the product positioning method. 3.1 Product Category: LUX falls under the category of toiletry product as a beauty soap. 3.2 Market Segmentation: The company claims that LUX is the highest selling beauty soap in Bangladesh. Moreover some survey reports also reveal the same result. Though LUX is the highest selling beauty soap in Bangladesh, it does not go for traditional mass marketing. Moreover as a beauty soap LUX does not even segment its market according to gender. Figure 2.1 (P-9) shows that Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. segments their market according to geographical areas. The population of the country is segmented into three parts which are urban, sub urban and rural area consumers. The company further differentiate the geographical segments according to Socio Economic Cluster (SEC) i.e. education and Income. The Table 2.1 (P-9) overleaf shows the Socio Economic Clusters the company uses. The SEC divides the population in five segments starting from A to E, where A categorizes the highly educated and high income earners holders, and sequentially in descending order E categorizes the opposite. 3.3Target Market: Figure 2.1 (P-9) shows that urban and sub urban middle class, and rural poor people are the largest part of Bangladesh population. A research carried out by Unilever Bangladesh reveals that urban rich people are more likely to buy imported and expensive products. Moreover rural poor people tend to buy cheap products even without evaluating its quality. However urban and sub urban upper middle and middle class people tend to buy affordable and quality products. LUX is not a highly expensive but an affordable product. That is why the company targets urban and sub urban upper middle and middle class people who are the second highest population of segment of the country. From the segmentation of customer according to SEC they target category A, B and C, because they are assumed to be financially well-off and can afford to buy LUX. 3.4 Product Positioning: Unilever Bangladesh Ltd obtained a good position in the buyers mind through better product attributes, price and quality, offering the product in a different way than the competitors do. The company offers improved quality of products in the industry at an affordable price with high branding, which ultimately helps to position the product in the buyers mind as the best quality beauty soap. The market share of the company in the beauty soap industry is somewhere around 43%.Since in the beauty soap industry all products are of same price Unilever cannot provide its consumers with better price but it is in a great position in reference with its packaging, fragrances and product designing. A positioning map of the company is shown Figure 2.2 (P-10) to describe LUXs position in the consumers mind on two dimensions, price and quality. Figure 2.2 (P-10) has been drawn with information gathered by conducting a consumer survey. It states that though in comparison to its competitors the pricing of LUX is same but consumers rate it as the product which gives them the highest quality. This positioning created a strong customer loyalty for LUX, for which it the market leader in the industry. 4. Using the Tactical Marketing Tools This chapter describes the way Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. use the tactical marketing tools for marketing LUX in Bangladesh. The chapter comprises of four sections. Section 3.1 discusses the product attributes of LUX. Section 3.2 visualizes the price of LUX according to different size. Section 3.3 conceptualizes the distribution channel of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. This section includes a table that shows the location of the companys warehouses all around the country. Finally section 3.4 discusses the promotional activities that the company undertakes for LUX. 4.1 Product: LUX is an internationally renowned beauty soap brand of Unilever. Though manufactured in Bangladesh for the local market by Unilever Bangladesh Ltd, as an international brand, it maintains an international quality for the product. Formula given by Research and Development departments in foreign countries, LUX is produced in Bangladesh from imported raw materials like sodium soap, glycerol and different extracts according to flavors, coming from Unilever plants situated abroad. LUX is offered in Bangladesh in six different flavors which are: LUX Energizing Honey, LUX Golden Glow, LUX Nature Pure, LUX Orchid Touch, LUX Almond Delight and LUX Aqua Sparkle. Taking into account the convenience of its customers, the company manufactures all flavors of LUX in three different sizes, 40gm, 80gm and 120gm. 4.2 Price: Though Unilever Bangladesh gives its LUX customers a lot in terms of the product itself, it cannot provide a better pricing. This is due to some constraints in the beauty soap industry. Beauty soap is a product with a vulnerable demand in Bangladesh. A change in price has a high risk of creating price war among the rivals which will eventually cause a loss of profit. Its prices are almost equal to its competitor. Table 3.1 (p-10) compares Luxs price with its major competitor. Company carries out research on competitors price and brand loyalty when it feels extreme necessaity of chaging price. The brand loyalty test is an exploratory research which is known as Brand Health Check-Up (BHCU). 4.3 Place: Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. has a huge distribution channel for LUX all over the country as its sales reach more than 10 million pieces a year. The company has six huge warehouses, one in each division of Bangladesh, where the product goes after they are manufactured at Kalurghat factory. Table 3.2 (P-10) shows the location of its six warehouses in Bangladesh. The company does not use its own fleet of transport for distributing its product. However, it has outsourced its distribution process to various third party distributors, exclusively dedicated to Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. These distributors then supply the product all over Bangladesh to a huge number of retailers. Even though LUX targets the urban and sub urban middle and upper middle class people they are distributing their products all over Bangladesh because of a recent increase in demand of its product to all segments of the population. 4.4 Promotion: Unilever Bangladesh undertakes huge promotional activities to promote LUX which has topped the beauty soap industry of Bangladesh. It spends almost 20% to 25% of its Net Proceeds from Sales (NPC) of LUX for promotional activities for LUX 1 Its certain annual promotional campaigns like LUX Channel i Superstar and LUX Channel i Annual Cinema Awards has made the product a part of the glamour world. Since the 1930s, over 400 of the worlds most stunning and sensuous women have been proudly associated with Lux advertisements. They do not only promote LUX in Bangladesh for the beauty conscious females, it also promotes the brand for males and the company proved that, by including world famous male celebrity Shahrukh Khan for their advertising campaign. Unilever Bangladesh Ltd spends a huge amount of money for promoting LUX through TV commercials, newspaper advertisements and billboards. Moreover it also undertakes small promotional campaigns at different schools, colleges, universities and recreational parks with winners of its Zonal Beauty Contests. Till now promotional activities of LUX has always been successful which has made it a household common name and helped it reach almost one billion taka sale value in the year 2004 2. 5. Analyzing the Market for LUX For better comprehension of Unilever Bangladesh, its marketing strategy, product quality, positioning and placement, we present here a comparative analysis of its competitors. This part of the report illustrates the market share of different companies in the beauty soap industry. 5.1 Market Share: The beauty soap industry in Bangladesh consists of only seven major producers. Unilever Bangladesh Ltd is operating in the industry with its world famous brand LUX. Out of these giant companies Unilever Bangladesh Ltd is the market leader with a share of around 43%. Figure 4.1 (P-11) shows the market share of all the companies in the sector. Unilever Bangladesh Ltd is leading the market. The other competitors are very competitive among themselves but they cannot put a intense competition with Unilever Bangladesh Ltd, as they have market share much less than Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Table 4.1 (P-11) overleaf shows a detailed description of the major competitors in the market, their operating brand, estimated annual sales revenue and market share. Other companies in the industry are not as big as Unilever Bangladesh Ltd but they are posing threat to the company by a tendency of a gradual increase in their market share. Kohinoor Chemicals which is operating with the brand name Tibet is an extremely famous brand to the rural segment of the population and possess a significant share in that segment which is the largest population group in Bangladesh. Moreover Keya Cosmetics Ltd operating with the brand name Keya and Marks Allys Ltd operating with the brand name Aromatic are also uprising brands to both the rural and sub urban segment of the population. Moreover a recent takeover of Aromatic by multinational consumer product giant MARICO who operates with famous brands in other industries like Parachute Coconut Oil is posing to be a threat to Unilever Bangladeshs market share. 6. Conclusion Recommendation The beauty soap industry of Bangladesh consists of a few producers in the industry. The demand for this product is very much vulnerable in terms of pricing. Unilever Bangladesh is providing LUX. at a price which is affordable to most of the people in the country. Beauty soap is an uprising product in Bangladesh as a greater portion of the population, both male and female, are now getting more beauty conscious. As a multinational company Unilever Bangladesh with heavy promotional activities, has been able to penetrate the market. With six different fragrances, three different sizes, international standard and high quality design, as a product, LUX has been highly successful over the years. Its distribution process is highly efficient. Its promotional activities, like the beauty contest has been a milestone in attracting a huge number of customers. Overall with its marketing activities LUX has been a successful brand. The only place where rival companies are progressing is in giving customers redemption offers. Research revealed that Bangladeshi customers are highly attracted to this sort of offers. These offers are not sustainable in the long run but still it takes away a considerable part of LUXs sale in the short run. In this chapter the team would suggest some recommendations to Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. to adopt more successful operation in Bangladesh. Since a huge portion of the rural poor people is demanding LUX in recent days, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd should expand their target market also towards the rural people. They should also conduct different promotional activities in rural fairs and socially responsible promotional activities to attract rural consumers and social awareness .Because Lux has different skin type soap so now if they provide different types of beauty soaps for male and female soapunder the same brand name i.e. LUX it might increase their sales. Lastly, as Bangladeshi culture children have a huge say in shopping so they should also promote the product to children like their another brand Dove. These are the recommendations suggested by teem members to Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. to adopt for a more successful operation in Bangladesh with large market share. 7. Appendices Urban Rich Urban and Sub Urban Upper Middle and Middle Class Rural Poor (Figur2.1): Market Segments 1. Socio Economic Clusters A B C D E Income High Income Upper Middle Level Income Mid Level Income Lower Middle Income Low Income Education High Level of Education Educated Slightly Less than Cluster A Educated Slightly Less than Cluster B Educated Slightly Less than Cluster C Very Low Level of Literacy (Table 2.1): Socio Economic Cluster Segmentation 1 (Figure 2.2): Positioning Map Brand Lux Aromatic keya Tibet (Table 3.1): Comparative scenario of soaps price Division Location of Warehouse Dhaka Dhaka City Chittagong Kalurghat Heavy I/A Sylhet Sylhet City Rajshahi Rajshahi City Khulna Khulna City Barisal Barisal City (Table 3.2): Location of Unilever Bangladesh Ltds Divisional Warehouses 1. (Figure 4.1): Market Share Sl. No. Company Brand Name Yearly Market Share on Toilet Soap 1 Unilever (BD). Ltd Lux International Beauty Soap Tk. 312 Core 43.33% 2 Square (Toiletries Division) Meril Beauty Soap 48 Core 6.66 3 Keya Cosmetics Ltd. Keya Beauty Soap 72 Core 10.00% 4 Aromatic Cosmetics Ltd. Aromatic Beauty Soap 48 Core 6.66% 5 Lily Cosmetics Ltd. Lily Beauty Soap 72 Core 10.00% 6 Kohinoor Chemical Co. Tibet Beauty Soap 72 Core 10.00% 7 Marks Allys Ltd. Camelia Beauty Soap 60 Core 8.35% 8 Others 36 Core 5.00% Total Market 720 Core 100% (Table 4.1): Estimated Annual Sales Revenue and Market Share .

Modern Retail On Traditional Formats Scm Applications Marketing Essay

Modern Retail On Traditional Formats Scm Applications Marketing Essay Indian retail industry has always played an important role in improving the GDP growth rate and lifestyle of the country. The industry which traditionally comprised on mom and pop stores spread hither and thither is in the revolutionary phase in the present era. The way retailing is done has come a long way with the emergence of organised or modern retail outlets. There are big players like Big Bazaar, Spencers and Vishal Mega Mart to name a few who have changed the face of retailing in India. These modern retail outlets have enormous financial and technological support as compared to the traditional and unorganised retail outlets. An attempt is made in this paper to study the evolving formats of modern retail and to know their impact on the traditional distribution partners like retailers and distributors. This paper also throws light on the supply chain management tools used by the modern retail outlets through case analysis. Impact of Modern Retail on Traditional Formats SCM Applications Abstract Indian retail industry has always played an important role in improving the GDP growth rate and lifestyle of the country. The industry which traditionally comprised on mom and pop stores spread hither and thither is in the revolutionary phase in the present era. The way retailing is done has come a long way with the emergence of organised or modern retail outlets. There are big players like Big Bazaar, Spencers and Vishal Mega Mart to name a few who have changed the face of retailing in India. These modern retail outlets have enormous financial and technological support as compared to the traditional and unorganised retail outlets. An attempt is made in this paper to study the evolving formats of modern retail and to know their impact on the traditional distribution partners like retailers and distributors. This paper also throws light on the supply chain management tools used by the modern retail outlets through case analysis. Introduction to Indian Retail Industry Indian Retail industry, the industry which stands second in terms of employment generation after agriculture is undoubtedly characterized by the widely dispersed retail outlet situated at each nook and corner whether its urban India or rural. It is the industry which is unlikely known for its unorganized formats. Paanwalas and kiranawallas, street hawkers present everywhere are the various firms operating hither and thither; and meeting the basic needs of the general public and creating a means of earning livelihood for many. In India, the retail industry is broadly divided into the organized and unorganized sectors. The total market in 2005 stood at Rs. 10,000 billion, accounting for about 9-10% of the countrys gross domestic product (GDP). Of this total market, the organized sector accounted for Rs. 350 billion (about 3.5 % of the total) of the total revenues. According to AT Kearney, the organized retailing industry is expected to cross Rs. 1000 billion revenue mark by 2010. Tradi tionally, the retail industry in India comprised of large, medium and small grocery stores and drug stores which could be categorized as unorganized retailing. Most of the organized retailing in India had recently started and was mainly concentrated in metropolitan cities. Within a short span of five years retail sector in India has witnessed great changes mainly on account of a gradual increase in the disposable incomes of the middle and upper-middle class households. In order to reap the benefit of growing economy more and more corporate houses including large real estate companies are coming into the retail business, directly or indirectly, in the form of mall and shopping center builders and managers, hence the sea change in retail sector is highly evident. Indian Organized retail Sector and the Major Players: The Industrial Policy Resolution, 1991 has given a new tool known as LPG i.e. Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization which resulted in several structural and demographic changes of the Indian Economy. These changes marked the beginning of the new era of Retailing in India and helped the retail industry to grow. Besides this last decade has witnessed the growth of GDP at the rate of 6.6 per cent, resulting in increased income levels and higher purchasing power for the population. Though the early signs of organized retail were visible even in the 1970s when Nilgiris (food), Viveks (consumer durables) and Nallis (sarees) started their operations but the retail still had a long way to go. While these retailers gave the necessary ambience to customers, little effort was made to introduce world-class customer care practices and improve operating efficiencies. Moreover, most of these modern developments were restricted to south India, which is still regarded as a Mecca of Indian Retail. Turn around in Indian retail has taken place in various phases and the journey is still in continuation. Notable among the early entrants were players like Shoppers Stop, Pantaloon, Ebony, Foodworld, Subhiksha, etc.   Thus one can easily make out that the major players of organized retail sector in India are: Figure 1 The Study Research Problem: The aim of this paper is to study the emergence of modern retail and its impact on traditional channel partners like retailer and distributors. The research problem can be formulated in terms of following questions: What are new retail formats? What supply chain management tools are employed by modern retail? What impact these outlets will have on retailers and distributors? The provide answers to these questions, the objectives of the study are: To study the emerging retail formats To study the impact of modern retail outlets on the traditional distribution system To study the variety of SCM tools employed by the modern retail formats To analyze the role of SCM application in modern retails formats Research Methodology: To gather the required information for this study, both secondary and primary source of data was used. Active primary data was collected from the retailers and distributors in both the cities through structured personal interviews. The information other than this was collected through traditional secondary sources like journals, news articles, websites and books. The scope of the study is limited to the two cities Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, India. These cities differ in terms of their population, demographics, size and volume of business and the marketing strategies used by the non-durable and durable goods manufactures in two different cities. Further they are un-researched in this aspect. Sample profile of respondents: The data was collected from the various types of retail formats dealing in consumer non-durable and durable goods like tooth paste, soap, chocolates, cold drinks, refrigerators, mobile phones and televisions. The inclusion criterion was the availability of the products chosen for the study. Following tables describe the sample profile: Sample of Dealers/Retailers Sample Descriptors Profile of Durable Goods Dealers Profile of Non-Durable Goods Retailers Sample Size (N) 50 Retailers/Dealers 50 Retailers Area Moradabad and Delhi Moradabad and Delhi Retail Format Multi Brand Outlets, Exclusive and Dealers cum distributors General Store / Provisional store Confectionary Store, Supermarket, and Departmental Store Inclusion Criteria Availability of Products Availability of Products Table 1.1 Sample of Distributors Sample Descriptors Profile of Distributors Profile of Distributors Sample Size (N) 30 Distributors 15 Distributors Area Moradabad and Delhi Moradabad and Delhi Brands HUL-5, Godrej-3, Cadbury-4, Pepsi-4, Coke-4, ITC-5, Pillsbury-3, Nestle-2 Sony-1, LG-2, Samsung-2, Nokia-2, Motorola-2, Neelkamal-2, Supreme-2 and Whirlpool-2 Inclusion Criteria Availability of Products Availability of Products Table 1.2 Emerging Retail Formats in India India is watching resurgence of Retail sector whereby it has grown from the traditional Mom and Pop stores present here and there in the neighbourhood catering to the convenience of the consumers to the emergence of shopping centers mainly in urban centers with facilities like car parking and finally growth of modern retail formats like hyper and super markets trying to provide customer with 3 Vs- Value, Variety and Volume (Lakshmi Narayanaswamy, Mudit Sharma,). A brief description of the various modern formats of retailing emerging in India: i. Malls: Malls are an upcoming trend in retail market. They form largest share of organized retailing today. Located mainly in metro cities, in proximity to urban outskirts. Ranges from 60,000 sq ft to 7,00,000 sq ft and above. They lend an ideal shopping experience with an amalgamation of product, service and entertainment; all under a common roof. Examples include DLF City Center, The Metropolitan and Big Bazaar around Delhi, Crossroads and R-Mall in Mumbai and Spencers in Chennai are revolutionizing the way middle class Indian consumers shop. These malls have very efficient and effective supply chains which ensure product availability and tracking of the product is feasible easily. ii. Specialty Stores: A specialty store concentrates on a limited number of complementary merchandise categories and provides a high level of service in an area typically under 8,000 square feet (Levy, Michael 2006); Chains such as the Bangalore based Kids Kemp, the Mumbai books retailer Crossword, RPGs Music World and the Times Groups music chain Planet M, are focusing on specific market segments and have established themselves strongly in their sectors. Since this format has less diverse product range thus it is comparatively easy to manage supply chains. iii. Discount Stores: According to Levy and Weitz a Discount Store is a retailer that offers a broad variety of merchandise, limited service, and low prices. Discount stores offer both private labels and national brands, but these brands are typically less fashion-oriented than brands in department stores. The discount stores or factory outlets, offer discounts on the MRP through selling in bulk reaching economies of scale or excess stock left over at the season. The product category can range from a variety of perishable/ non perishable goods. The coverage of products in this kind of format is quite extensive and the demand fluctuation is also high thus if offers challenges in managing supply chains effectively. iv. Department Stores: Levy and Weitz defines Department stores as the retailers that carry a broad variety and deep assortment, offer some customer services, and are organized into separate departments for displaying merchandise. These are the large stores ranging from 20000-50000 sq. ft, catering to a variety of consumer needs. They can be further classified into localized departments such as clothing, toys, home, groceries, etc. Departmental Stores are expected to take over the apparel business from exclusive brand showrooms. Among these, the biggest success is K Rahejas Shoppers Stop, which started in Mumbai and now has more than seven large stores (over 30,000 sq. ft) across India and even has its own in store brand for clothes called Stop!. It is one of the most complicated retail formats catering to the most diversified set of consumer needs. It becomes very difficult to manage the inventory of so many products and brands. v. Supermarkets: As defined by Food Marketing Institute Supermarket is self-service food store with grocery, meat and produce department and minimum annual sales of 2 million. In India, there is growing number of such stores especially in metros and big cities (Anjali, Gupta 2006). These are located in or near residential high streets. These stores today contribute to 30% of all food grocery organized retail sales. Super Markets can further be classified in to mini supermarkets typically 1,000 sq ft to 2,000 sq ft and large supermarkets ranging from of 3,500 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft. having a strong focus on food grocery and personal sales. vi. Hyper Market: Combination food and drug stores average 4,600 square meters of selling space. Hyper markets are even larger, ranging between 7,400 and 20,400 square meters. The Hyper markets combines supermarket, discount and warehouse retailing principles. Its product assortment goes beyond routinely purchased goods and includes furniture, large and small appliances, clothing and many items. The basic approach is bulk display and minimum handling by stores personnel, with discounts offered to customers who are willing to carry heavy appliances and furniture out of the stores. Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PRIL) is now emerging as Indias first Hyper Market chain. Modeled along the lines of global Hyper Market Chains like Wal-Mart, the Big Bazaar will stock several product categories. vii. Convenience Stores: These are relatively small stores 400-2,000 sq. feet located near residential areas. They stock a limited range of high-turnover convenience products and are usually open for extended periods during the day, seven days a week. Prices are slightly higher due to the convenience premium. viii. MBOs: Multi Brand outlets, also known as Category Killers, offer several brands across a single product category. These usually do well in busy market places and Metros. Supply Chain Management Tools Employed by Modern Retail Formats: The rate at which transformation is taking place in Indian Retail Sector is unprecedented; the entire retail sector is under going sea changes. The organized retail sector is no doubt having a vast ocean of opportunities in front of it but it possesses certain challenges too. The task of an effective and efficient retailer is to satisfy the customer at the right time with the right product at the right cost, all the time. The challenges that a retail organization faces are many like: huge stock-keeping units (SKUs), seasonal variations of product lines necessitating the introduction of new SKUs, complex tax structures, the sheer geographic spread of the country, changing consumer demands, etc. This level of efficiency calls for retail automation and integrated supply chain management on the part of retailer and a retail organization has to plan to make this system work properly and try to satisfy the needs of every customer without fail. The discovery of automatic identification technologies has been a boon to retailing; they were first introduced globally in the 1960s to assist logisticians identify products in the supply chain. Following are the recent developments in the technologies to trace the goods in the supply chain: i. Barcodes Multi-dimensional barcodes: Corporations have become obsessed with driving down logistics-related costs, including transportation and warehousing. In order to facilitate the movement of goods in transit and to reduce the cost of transportation and to ease the process all most all items in a distribution centre are marked with UPC barcode. In fact, Walmarts buying office has a sign reading, If Your Product Doesnt Have a Barcode, Dont Bother to Take a Chair in Our Waiting Room. Even in India the Retailers in organized sector are beginning to barcode all their products; organizations like Foodworld (RPG Group) and Shoppers Stop (Raheja Group) have urged their vendors to supply merchandise only with standard barcodes. ii. RFID: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an early technology starting to emerge. In order to stop the pilferage of goods in over crowded retail stores this technology plays a great role. It is expected that in coming few decades, RFID will directly connect physical products to logistics systems as the only truly automatic identification technology. This technology helps to track the product and customers use pattern even post-purchase. P G currently tags (RFID) a small number of cases and pallets of products as part of a trial with Wal-Mart stores in USA. The company is focusing on the supply chain and has not even begun to think about whats going to happen to the items post-sale. iii. Retail Software: Most retailers in the organized sector in India have to use retail software in their back end and front end operations and are constantly looking to upgrade their systems as they evolve. To help this growing retail sector get the best, many Indian software companies have developed software packages to suit the different and varied requirements of these retailers. Among the few who are in. the market is Chennai-based Polaris Retail InfoTech Ltd, a subsidiary of Polaris, which has entered the market with its software, Retail Excel. Reputed organizations like Wipro Infotech, Tata Consultancy Services and NCR Technologies have created robust, retail automation software. The Chennai-based T.V. Sundaram Iyengar Sons are currently test-marketing their new point-of-sale system for small and medium retailers in grocery and other related segments. The Bangalore ­ based VMoksha Technologies has developed software for the retail segment while Pune-based Zensar Technologies has tied up with th e RPG group for retail software. The list of that developing retail software is growing by the day. There are many other packages like MS Retail, Shopper, Retail Pro, Retail Magik, etc. that help enable the fast implementation of retail automation in India available in the market. Not to mention large ERP packages like IDA, SAP Retail, BAAN, Island Pacific, etc. Analysis and Findings Impact of Modern Retail Outlets on Traditional Distribution System: The number of modern retail outlets is growing day by day. The customers show shopping preference for these outlets but the extent to which they will influence the traditional retail is uncertain. There are certain categories of products which customers prefer to shop from the modern retail outlets. While the customers still prefer neighbourhood retail stores for their daily groceries and requirements. The analysis of the data collected from traditional channel partners is: The data was collected by the traditional retailers dealing in non-durable products in Delhi and Moradabad to know the impact of modern retail on their business. It was observed that in Moradabad 70% of the retailers feel that the impact of modern retail formats will be important and they too need to work on their formats to meet the customer and companies requirement. Other 20% said it is going to have average influence on their business and it can be cope-up whereas 10% retailers were of the view that it will not have influence on their business. They also opined that they are in operation from last so many years and facilities like home delivery and credit which they provide to their customers are not provided by these new formats. While retailers in Delhi were of different opinion, 15% retailers pointed out that modern format have already influenced their business highly and their sales have decreased by 50% and other 40% said that the influence is important on their business and they need to react accordingly. Around 40% retailers said that it is having average influence whereas 5% retailers located in the residential areas said that the influence of the modern formats is unimportant for their business. Figure 2 The data collected from the durable products dealers also reveals the mixed response towards the growth of modern retail outlet. In Moradabad 70% of the dealers said the impact of modern retail will be important and they too need to work on their formats to meet the customers expectations and companies requirements. Other 30% retailers were of the view that the facilities like home delivery and credit which they provide to their customers will help in marginalizing the impact of new formats. While dealers in Delhi were of different opinion, 15% dealers pointed out that modern format have already influenced their business highly and their sales have decreased by 50%. Other 40% said that the influence is important on their business and they need to react accordingly whereas 5% retailers located in the residential areas said that the influence of the modern formats is insignificant on their business. Impact of Modern Retail on Traditional Retail Outlets 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Highly Important Important Average Unimportant Importance Percentage Moradabad Delhi Figure 3 Apart from retailers, modern retail outlets also have influence on the distributors. It was observed from the data collected by the non-durable distributors that 70% distributors of different non-durable brands under consideration said that the impact of the modern retail formats on their business is going to be moderate as they are the one who supply to these formats. But other 20% said that the big modern retail outlets make purchases directly from the companies thus their will be significant impact. While other 10% feels that the impact is going to be high. Figure 4 Majority of the distributors dealing in consumer durables like Mobile Phones said that the impact of modern retail is going to be high because outlets like Big Bazaar, Subhiksha have already started procuring directly from the companies and they pass on the margins to the customers. While for products like CTVS, refrigerators and moulded furniture the impact is going to be moderate and distributors can provide better geographical coverage and inventory turnover. They also shared that may be in near future, the companies seeking advantage of reducing the distribution margin through direct supply to these outlets can lead to have moderate impact on their business. Impact of Modern Retail on Durable Goods Distributors 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Very High High Moderate Low Very Low Degree/Products Responses Mobiles T.V./Refrigerators Moulded Furniture Figure 5 Case-Study Analysis of SCM Applications in Modern Retail- (a) TANISHQ Tanishq is a division of Titan Industries Ltd, Indias largest jewelry maker. It is Indias only fine jewellery brand with a national presence, and an acknowledged leader in the branded jewellery market. Tanishq is sold exclusively through a company-controlled retail chain with over 60 boutique stores spread over 39 cities. This network is supplied and supported by a network of 32 CFAs (Clearing and Forwarding Agents). With the network of boutique stores poised to grow, the Tanishq management had to increase visibility along the supply chain, CFAs and boutiques across the country. The Tanishq team picked Wipro Infotech, Indias premier IT solutions company, to put together the solution. The Wipro Infotech team designed a web-based solution, Goldmine, to facilitate the flow of information between various distribution entities. Goldmine offers a platform for the sales, management and factory teams of Tanishq to monitor key activities and parameters along the distribution chain. It also se rves as an integration platform to pull together existing information systems in the company such as SAP/Oracle, DOS-based point-of-sales systems in boutiques, without modifications. Wipro Infotech developed the solution using the .NET framework with an ASP .NET presentation layer. Challenges addressed: The most significant supply chain management issues addressed by Tanishq are in the areas of reducing cycle time, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs in the areas of tracking movement of goods and sales indenting, order status, sales visibility, communication (reports) and exception reporting. Goods in transit: The new system provides details of goods that have been dispatched from the factory to the CFA and then to the boutiques. This functionality also enables tracking of stock return cases from the boutiques to the CFA. And from there on to the factory. This helps the organization track goods in transit and monitor loss of goods effectively if any. Indenting: The ordering of goods by the boutiques is automated. They can refer to online product catalogues and price lists before placing orders. Goldmine enables online indenting for replenishment, shop-specific indenting as well as customer-specific indenting. Such online indenting is based on norms set by the administrator for each variant. Hence, the company can enforce prudent credit norms through Goldmine at the point ­ of-sale system. Say a boutique has a great track record, selling Rs 20,000 ­25,000 worth of bangles, but not up to the Rs 50,000 level it had reached in the past, the company can set prudent indenting levels for gold for that boutique. This information is transmitted to the point-of-sale system via Goldmine and is actually enforced. Previously, under the manual system, the company had no means of systematic enforcement of such norms. . Order status: This functionality provides visibility on the status of orders placed by boutiques. This is made possible by the daily synchronization between the Oracle system at the factory and the web-based solution. Boutique users no longer have to send emails or call up anyone to find out the status of their orders. They get it at their own convenience from Goldmine. Sales visibility: With sales information flowing in from the boutique into Goldmine, visibility of sales from each boutique is improved. Management can now track the effectiveness of marketing programmes and promotions at the boutique level, according to category and price band. Bestseller information for all boutiques is currently available on demand. Communication and exception reporting: Goldmine provides a platform for dissemination of information through content uploads, bulletin boards, and so on. Information on local gold rates (the most important component of material cost), market information, promotion scheme details and product catalogues are transmitted in real time. The company has over 40,000 product variants, so this system capability is crucial. The system also provides for discussion on queries raised by users at the boutiques for producing and modifying new and existing products. Discussions between factory users and boutique users are tracked and an escalation mechanism with alerts is in place in case queries are not handled promptly. Future plans: As Goldmine builds up the supply chain database, Tanishq intends to build a data warehousing application enabled with advanced data mining using SQL server. This will facilitate the use of relevant business intelligence in real time in the boutiques during a customer touch. Market leader Tanishq will set its benchmarks in retail automation and its applications for many in the industry to follow in future. (b) SHOPPERS STOP Shoppers Stop has implemented the US-based retail ERP system JDA. JDA facilitates the integration of all retail functions in Shoppers Stop efficiently. Efficiencies in the buying process: It is JDAs merchandise management system that now performs the buying process and merchandise management control practices. Pursuant to range width and assortment plans, purchase orders are issued to suppliers through the central merchandising function. The actual delivery of stocks is then controlled on a weekly basis through the delivery authorization process mechanism. The delivery authorization number acts as a tool to control the overall inventory position. The delivery authorization is issued to vendors on a weekly basis based on the previous weeks actual sales and on the forward sales plan (forecast). The vendors then despatch the goods to the distribution centre based on the purchase order and delivery authorization. Every distribution centre gets a copy of the delivery authorization issued for the week. At the distribution centre support is provided by the warehouse management system (WMS) of JDA, which manages the warehousing function mos t efficiently. The challenges at Shoppers Stop are the spread of the 14 stores across the country in varying large sizes, ranging from 25,000 sq ft to 55,000 sq ft, the large SKU base, etc. Also, it has more than 300 suppliers who supply stocks to three distribution centres, which then redistribute merchandise to the 14 stores. Variety, colour and size of merchandise play a very important role in delivering a great shopping experience to the customer. Profitable growth: Shoppers Stop views SCM as an enabler of profitable growth; it firmly believes that ERP, if used well, can cut costs greatly by reducing cycle times and inventory levels. One of the key drivers of the profit-driven operation is the significant development in the retailer-supplier information integration in the supply chain the emergence of retailer control over the movement of suppliers goods into the retailers distribution centres. This has led to more complex relationships involving suppliers, third-party distributors and retailers through supplier-retailer collaboration where major suppliers and retailers have the opportunity to exchange timely information on consumer demand and put into practice the most appropriate product flows. SCM at Shoppers Stop: SCM at Shoppers Stop coordinates and integrates all activities associated with moving products, services and information into seamless processes linking all the partners in the chain, including the various departments, vendors, transporters and other service providers. The system facilitates perfect supply chain coordination with an able information system that controls all SCM activities. SCM at Shoppers Stop begins and ends with the customer. The guiding philosophy is to improve the organizations performance by managing constraints and uncertainties inherent in the earlier system. The focus is on using new tools and techniques. The first step in SCM is merchandise planning and sourcing. In Shoppers Stop, SCM is seen from a strategic perspective rather than just as an operational issue. Core supply chain issues such as month-end sales peaks, forecasting inaccuracy, constraint-based planning and so on continue to create problems for Indian retailers even after ERP implementation. Many organizations implemented SCM as a tool to contain costs. and identifying means for reducing pressure on margins due to competition. The mindsets of organizations underwent a transformation when they accepted to consider the use of such integrated SCM from end-to ­ end. The first step in SCM is merchandise planning and sourcing. The range width and assortment planning process is used to develop meaningful sales and space plans. The planning process starts six months before the actual beginning of the season to fill an agreed amount of footage with a product that matches customer demand. The challenge is to develop a balanced range which provides the appropriate mix of colour, price, st yling and fabric so that the customer is given the best possible choice at all times. Also on the agenda is having a mix of own-label products and brands in such a way that it aligns with the companys strategic goal of increasing own-la