Floating Exchange Rate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Floating Exchange Rate - Essay Example Since, it is largely dependent on the working of supply and demand, it is said to be self-correcting. The value of the currency will depend on the factors that affect the supply and demand, similar to a simple commodity. If the demand for the currency is high, its value (which is reflective of its a price) will increase. On the other hand, a low demand for the currency in the world market, perhaps brought by a decline in the demand for the domestic products, will cause a depreciation of the currency. Examining the supply side, an increase in the supply of the currency will cause its depreciation while a decline in supply will work the other way. The terms "appreciation" and "depreciation" are used to mean increase in value and decrease in value respectively. However, these terms are only used in the floating exchange rate regime as in the fixed exchange rate; they use the terms "evaluation" and "devaluation". We say that it is "largely", but not "entirely" dependent on the workings o f the private market through the supply and demand because it is not entirely free from government intervention. "In a floating regime, the central bank may also intervene when it is necessary to ensure stability and to avoid inflation", although this is much less often than in a fixed exchange rate regime (Investopedia).One way for the central bank to intervene in a floating exchange rate regime is through "buying and selling of its own currency reserves in the foreign exchange market

Taoism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Taoism - Research Paper Example This paper will introduce the main ideas of Taoism in contrast to Confucianism, and will show how they might be a source of wisdom and inspiration to modern Western life. Taoism: Yang Chu, Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi Three central figures may be identified in the birth and proliferation of Taoist thought. These are Yang Chu, Lao Zi, and Zhuang Zi. Yang Chu proposes a very basic form of naturalism. His main goal is basic to the Taoist view: to preserve life and to avoid injury. But Yang Chu’s way is through what might be called escapism. It is said that Yang Chu retired in the forest to dwell close to the animals who knew nature. A famous anecdote (Fung 62) says that he refused a calling to be an official precisely because he wanted to preserve his life. A horse does not need more than a few licks of water from a lake to satisfy its thirst. Why would one want more than the humblest abode and a few morsels of food to live? This simplicity advocated by Yang Chu has often been interpreted a s selfishness, for he is supposed to have told people to not give up a single strand of their hair even if it meant they would have a whole kingdom in their hands. But on deeper examination, we find that Yang Chu’s refusal to join the world is really his way of preserving life. Once we give a piece, people will want more and more until we have no more to give; until we have no more. Thus, Yang Chu advises against giving up even a single strand of hair (Fung 63). It is through this view that Yang Chu has earned the description, one who despises things and values life. Lao Zi is the sage identified with Taoism primarily because of the Tao te ching, the book he is supposed to have composed at the request of a guard asking hum for his legacy before he left society altogether. Unlike Yang Chu, Lao Zi is still concerned with practical life. He does not espouse the escapism of Yang Chu but rather makes sure that in our day to day living, we still followed the way of Nature by preser ving the simplicity of life. To do this, one is encouraged to keep in mind two concepts: wei-wu-wei and the principle of yin-yang. The former can be interpreted as doing without doing, while the latter can be emphasized as the harmonious opposition of things. For Lao Zi, to follow the Dao is to let things be, to leave things the way they are. Suffering is caused by our desire to change things or to control events in our lives. As this will never happen, we fall into frustration. To be happy, one must be content and not meddle in the ways of Nature. To go with the flow, so to speak, is the secret to a satisfying life. Thus, wei-wu-wei allows us to be active without disturbing the natural flow of things. It is not mere passivity, but rather an activity that facilitates the working out of the course of Nature. We do not do more than what is necessary. â€Å"Do you work, then step back. The only path to serenity† (Lao-Zi, chap. 9). â€Å"Practice not doing and everything will fa ll into place† (Lao Zi, chap. 3). The water symbol of the Dao is central to their philosophy. It literally goes with the flow and does not rise above itself, yet it is a very powerful element. Water is soft, yet it overcomes the hard as the river polishes the stones where it

Relationship Between Consumer Vanity Cultural Studies Essay

Relationship Between Consumer Vanity Cultural Studies Essay This is a very brief overview of what candidate wants to do and it is based on preliminary and superficial literature review. The direction of the study within this area and choice of variables and model details can be modified after in-depth literature review under the directions of study supervisor. The relationship between consumer vanity, status consumption, fashion consciousness and materialism in university students of Islamabad Naveed Ahmed (MM-113046) MS-Marketing Muhammad Ali Jinnahl University Islamabad, Pakistan. [emailprotected] For consideration in Department of Management Muhammad Ali Jinnah University, Islamabad The relationship between consumer vanity, status consumption, fashion consciousness and materialism in university students of Islamabad Introduction: Consumption   is   a   construct shaped in accordance with social,   cultural, political   and   economic   process   of   choosing   products   and services. This process reflects the opportunities and constraints of modernity depiction by consumers through acquisition of a desired social identity via patterns of consumption . As the US populations insatiable appetite for consumerism teeters on a staggering $14 trillion in consumer debt . What is most puzzling to economists and decision theorists is that it is often those earning the least that spend the greatest fraction of their income on conspicuous consumption (i.e., the act of acquiring goods not for their inherent objective or subjective value, but to signal social status . Now a days consumption has become the social standard of leisure time and lifestyle that is necessary, easily accessible, and optimistic by society . Goldbart, Jaffe, DiFuria stated that consumer goods will give psychological benefits as the focus of materialistic values is more on materialistic good, and young people are comparatively more exposed to status consumption than the old ones. Sometimes consumers wish to become distinctive among larger groups to acquire an improved self. The fashion industry is becoming globalized by having the 220 billion worth in the luxurious fashion market for different brands . In USA consumers having age between 12 and 19 emerged as an fashion consumer due to having purchasing power of worth 153 billion $. That is an emerging market for getting profitability . In Asia the scenario is not different, according to different researchers Asian consumers adopt eight main styles in their decision making . These are: Perfectionist high quality conscious Brand conscious Novelty and fashion conscious Recreational or shopping conscious Price conscious Impulsive careless Confused by too much choices Habitual and brand loyal Even in Pakistan, people are becoming brand, fashion consciousness by purchasing the imported products rather than the Pakistani products, which shows that Pakistanis have become more fashion, and brand conscious . Economists say that, in recent years, Pakistani women have fueled a retail boom in name brand shopping as they move from a traditional homebound life into the working world. A senior female instructor at the Government College of Technology in Lahore said she earns about 100,000 rupees, or $1,054, a month. Gradually in the last five years I have become brand-conscious, she said. Today, definitely I spend more on my clothes and jewelry. . People acquire, utilize and dispose the materialistic products in order to get feelings of differentiation from society, creating a new self and social identity . According to Solomon the materialistic show is only through vanity, people show vanity via different materialistic products like dressing, sunglasses, luxury watches etc. Durvasula, Lysonski, Watson found that vanity is an improved self in the human which is affected by society and it is also derived by the society. People try to create an idealistic personality to prove them unique in the society. Netemeyer, Burton, Lichtenstein separated the vanity into four categories which includes physical concern. Physical view, achievement concern and achievement view. Physical and achievement vanity both are very important from the perspective of marketers because they have to highlight the benefits of an individual in terms of their physical appearance and attractiveness. Marketers use vanity as an appeal to promote different products . Fashion consciousness is of greater importance when examining the self-concept of fashion consumers. explain that the concept of self-consciousness suggested by is the basis for construct of fashion consciousness Individual can posses status with accumulation of education, wealth, social ties, fashion consumption, different possessions and materialistic products . Problem: The companies of cosmetics products, which are promoted on the appeal of physical vanity, and different materialistic products that are promoted on the appeal of achievement vanity are more conscious about customers now days. With the emergence of modernism, the customer has become more fashion and brand conscious. They do not care about the price of products and are more conscious about their status. The status consumption is an indicator to social dimensions for consuming certain products and consumer is more conscious about status than price, quality and other dimensions of the products . Therefore, its very difficult for companies to appeal the products on different values like consumer vanity, materialism and fashion consciousness and its need to check the accuracy of these values in customer willingness to buy and status consumption in different brands according to the suggestion of in different countries of Asia. Gap: Brand engagement social concept, which can be in terms of different traits (Sprott et al., 2009), and status consumption are concepts that link fundamental materialistic tendencies with more specific marketplace behaviors. The three constructs form a constellation of motivated behavioral tendencies focused around the purchase which include vanity, self consciousness and fashion consumption and use of goods to build and portray the self to others. People high in these traits have been shown to consume more, pay more attention to advertisements, and be more interested in products and shopping and thus are of great interest to marketers . There is a great push due to materialism for status consumption and it works as a potential moderator in between fashion consciousness and status consumption . Fashion consciousness and brand consciousness are basic elements which influence the Pakistani university students consumptions and intentions to buy and need to investigate more with traits lik e consumer vanity . There is little research in general and no research in Pakistan and specifically university shoppers, however, that specifically examines how this group of variables works together to affect status consumption. The present study seeks to fill this gap. Research questions: The research questions related to this study are: What is the effect of consumer vanity on status consumption, how the physical vanity and achievement vanity effects the status consumption? What is the mediating role of fashion consciousness in between consumer vanity and status consumption? What is the moderating role of materialism with fashion consciousness and status consumption? Objective: The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of consumer vanity on status consumption with mediating role of fashion consciousness and moderating role of materialism with fashion consciousness and status consumption in university students of business studies. The purpose of taking business students is, they have different values like achievement, social status and hedonism leads them to congruence with environment . Significance: This study will contribute both aspects marketing theory and practical implication. First, this will broaden the knowledge of consumer behavior and traits related marketing in relation to adult consumers, university shoppers in Pakistan. Second, it will enable the marketers to set an advertising appeal for consumers based on physical vanity and achievement vanity and can provide a base for getting purchasing patterns for status and a way of modernism. It will also assist them in determining the purchasing pattern of university shoppers in Pakistan. Theories supporting research on this topic: In terms of social learning theory, influenced by the media, female college students with different vanity characteristics may develop a materialism trait and may go a step further than the different fashion anxieties. Hence, adolescent consumer behavior was study, it is essential to study students vanity trait, materialism and fashion anxiety. However, the relationship between fashion anxiety, materialism and vanity trait has rarely been studied. To theorize status consumption and luxury brand purchase intention with regard to the implications for consumer research, this study draws on consumer culture theory . Within CCT, studies on possessions are particularly relevant. The central position is that is that consumers use possessions to formulate and alter their identities, in order to  ¬Ã‚ t their own projections of who they are and aspire to be. At the same time, this process must also be validated by the judgment of the external world (Jenkins, 2004). The relationship study is based on the Veblen theory of conspicuous consumption and Veblen work on the evolution of leisure class. According to Veblen, status has become increasingly important for societies and people own different materialistic products, and other possessions in order to get honor and show their status. To show a position of esteem they try to change their self-presentation their physical vanity compels them to adopt different products to make them physical attractive. Their achievement vanity also directed them to status consumption in order to show their success and achievements . Literature Review: The literature of different variables related to study is given below: Status Consumption: Achieving and expressing status are basic goals of members of human society and achieving status through consumption has been studied for more than a century (Veblen, 1967/1899). One of the ways consumers endeavor to demonstrate their social status is through the purchase and display of certain products. Gabriel and Lang (2006, p. 8) expressed this idea well: display of material commodities fix the social position and prestige of their owners. In recent years, as the level of consumer affluence has grown, so has the consumption of luxury and status goods (Hader, 2008). Consumers try to demonstrate their personality and social status in different ways and dominant way is purchasing and displaying certain products. They elaborated this idea in clear words: Materialistic possessions and goods sets prestige and social position of holder. Different studies showed the consumption of status products and luxurious consumption has rapidly increased with the intensity of consumer richness. The good condition of economy is also a predictor of status consumption. When public has facility of credit and aggregate income of a country is rising then people show their social standing with the help of status goods. In the scale of status consumption, the operationalization of persons tendency to consumer for the sake of status. While status consumption varies with the health of the economy, the increased availability of credit and overall rising incomes contribute to the use of status items to enhance social standing. The tendency of a person to consume to achieve status has been operationalized as an individual difference variable by the status consumption scale (Eastman et al., 1999). The scale allows researchers to measure an individuals propensity to use products and services as an expression of their own status. In the scale development piece, Eastman et al. (1999) used fashion clothing as a prime example of a product category used to express status. More recently, Solomon and Rabolt (2004, pp. 239-241) and OCass and Frost (2002) both use fashion as an example of a product category employed to express status and personal meaning. Other studies show that consuming to achieve status is conceptually related to the idea of instrumental materialism (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, 1981) where people accumulate possessions to some end. Status consumption relates also to a tendency to conform to group norms while expressing ones need for uniqueness (Clark et al., 2007). Indeed, status consumers are susceptible to normative influence, but not necessarily informational influence (Clark et al., 2007). While status consumption relates to accumulation to express position, materialism is more personal. Materialists things make them feel good directly, and status consumers things make them feel good because they show the world personal superiority. At the same time, materialists do want to signal status (Wang and Wallendorf, 2006), and materialistic consumers have been shown to be especially attuned to which products have status and how acquiring them promotes the status (Loulakis and Hill, 2010). Status consumption and materialism are clearly related individual difference variables. Consumer Vanity: Netemeyer, Burton, Lichtenstein defined vanity with two domains. The first one is physical vanity and other is achievement vanity. Two sub parts of physical vanity are; a concern for physical appearance and an inflated view of physical appearance. Similarly two sub parts of achievement vanity are; a concern for achievement and an inflated view of achievement. Mainly there are two philosophies about vanity. The first one says Vanity is derived by primary and biogenic needs. It is such type of personality trait which is affected by parental socialization and genes and on the second end Mason reveals that vanity is not primarily, it is secondary trait which is mainly influenced by the environment and socio-economic conditions like conspicuous consumption. Worst, Duckworth, McDaniel develop a special measure of 98 items about vanity and its motivation toward overspending based on literature. The main traits are (1) narcissism (2) Association about saving behavior (3) Compulsive over sp ending. Physical vanity: An extreme concern for and positive view of physical appearance is called physical vanity . The popular and academic press both revealed with articles and books about physical appearance, and its impact on consumer product demand. In USA people spent $ 36 billion on different dieting programs for their physical appearance . According to survey of psychology today which reported that 34 % men and 38 % women were bit satisfied about their physical appearance and other majorities want to get plastic surgery . Research uncovered that concern for physical appearance directs not only positive attitude (e.g. good health eating patterns and exercising) towards consumption but negative attitude also (e.g. disorder in eating patterns, addictive behavior and cosmetic surgeries ) for personal satisfaction . Achievement vanity: There is empirical and theoretical evidence that creates a link between consumption of product and personal achievement. Mitchell grouped 23 % respondents as achievers (who are anxious to achieve personal goal) and 9 % are grouped as emulators ( an aspiration to achievers ) by using typology of VALS. And according to Kahle 16 % people values a good judgment of accomplishment most important. It has been suggested by Belk that different groups consume in order to convey to status or success. One school of thought says that people show off the materialistic product for personal achievement . Fashion Consciousness: Various uses of self-presented products like clothing have been found to be related to self-esteem (Humphrey et al., 1971). Kwon (1994) examined the perceived effects of clothing on self-esteem. He suggested that college students perceived themselves as more competent in work, more sociable, and more positive when feeling good about their clothing as compared to feeling bad about it,. Fashion consciousness is of greater importance when examining the self concept of fashion consumers. Gould and Stern (1989) explain that the concept of self-consciousness suggested by Fenigstein et al. (1975) is the basis for construct of fashion consciousness. According to Buss (1980), the central concept of the self-consciousness theory is the extent to which one focuses on the inner or outer self: When self-awareness is directed inward, people tend to have a high level of private self-awareness, being conscious of inner states such as feelings, moods and beliefs. However, when self-awareness is directed outward, people tend to have a high level of public self-consciousness. When a person has a high level of public consciousness he tends to focus on himself as a social object (Buss, 1980, 1985). Those who are high in public self-consciousness are likely to become more nervous about being observed by others than those who are low in public self-consciousness (Buss, 1980). Based on aspects of self-consciousness, Gould and Stern (1989) strengthened the concept of fashion consciousness, and stressed the importance of biological gender in fashion consciousness. Nam et al. (2006) explain fashion consciousness as a persons degree of involvement with the styles or fashion of clothing. Apparel marketers  ¬Ã‚ nd it a convenient attribute of consumers, as this pre-existing interest in clothing can increase consumer receptivity to apparel product promotions (Richards and Sturman, 1977; Kaiser and Chandler, 1984). An individual does not have to be either a fashion opinion leader or a fashion innovator to be considered fashion conscious. Rather, fashion consciousness relates to a persons interest in clothing and fashion and his appearance (Summers, 1970; Jonathan and Mills, 1982). Gould and Stern (1989) developed the Fashion Consciousness Scale (FCS), which they suggested to have derived from two related constructs: (1) self-consciousness (suggested by Fenigstein et al., 1975) and (2) an everyday concept of fashion consciousness. Accordingly, the FCS consisted of 38 items to include both the original Self-Consciousness Scale and also various aspects of individuals everyday fashion consciousness. Gould and Stern (1989) further explained that fashion conscious females tend to focus more on their own external appearance, and they will tend to look for appearance-related reinforcement in shopping activity. They explained that the presence of objects such as mirrors,  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡attering lighting, and sales people trained to provide positive appearance are reinforcers for females. Conversely, males who are more fashion conscious focus more on what they are, and these men connect fashion with their self-identity and internalized maleness (Gould and Stern, 1989). Greco and Paksoy (1989) noted that fashion-conscious shoppers rely more on mass media information sources than non-fashion-conscious customers. Walsh et al. (2001) highlighted that fashion consciousness among German consumers was due to the desire for up-to-date styles, frequent changes in wardrobe and pleasurable shopping experiences. As Bakewell and Rothwell (2006) noted, historically, the practice of shopping and clothing consumption has been regarded as a female practice. However marketers are increasingly recognizing that it is outmoded to consider men as producers and women as consumers (Bakewell and Rothwell, 2006). However, many authors suggest that although appearance consciousness has a greater in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence on women, the society rede ¬Ã‚ nes what it means to be a man. Therefore, the notion of fashion-less male is outmoded (e.g. Featherstone, 1995; Kacen, 2000; Tseelon, 1995; Patterson and Elliot, 2002). In contrast, a study of fashion consciousness in Eastern Europ ean markets highlighted that young male respondents were more fashion-conscious than their female counterparts (Manrai et al., 2001). Further, Barak and Stern (1985) explained that fashion-conscious women often feel younger than their actual age. However, Lumpkin (1985) found that a high proportion of active mature consumers were relatively heavy spenders on clothing. Based on this, they concluded that fashion-conscious segments of older consumers do exist among shoppers. The work of Chowdhary (1988) showed that there is no relationship between age perception and fashion consciousness. However, there is a dearth of research focused of the fashion consciousness of consumers in developing countries since their cultural and socio-economic background is different from consumers in developed countries. (2) Fashion consciousness has been identi ¬Ã‚ ed as an important dimension of a persons lifestyle that affects purchase decision and consumption behaviour (Lee et al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2010). People who are highly fashion-conscious may pay more attention to the image portrayed by prestige brands and therefore may be more prestige-sensitive than those who are less fashion conscious. Studies in the past found that highly fashion-conscious consumers possess traits such as health conscious, brand conscious, innovative, and self-con ¬Ã‚ dent (Wan et al., 2001). Further, highly fashion-conscious consumers were found to be younger, and embrace social values such as respect, excitement, and fun/ enjoyment (Goldsmith and Stith, 1990). Stranforth (1995) identi ¬Ã‚ ed traits such as sensation seeking, adventure seeking, susceptibility, and clothing individuality to be signi ¬Ã‚ cantly related with high degree of fashion consciousness. The proposed hypothesis and relationships: The proposed hypothesis and relationship literature is given below: Consumer vanity and Fashion consciousness: Physical vanity and fashion consciousness: illustrated that being a fashion agent in a modernism era the fashion consumers are more conscious about brands and new fashion. He examined the relationship of brand consciousness and impulsive buying in the fashion environment. Checked the college student behavior in the attractive shopping environment but he no one focused in the fashion stores context. In today society, physical attractiveness and beauty are so much emphasized as desirable and Iranian females are more fashion consciousness in buying products for physical attractiveness. Therefore the proposed hypothesis on the base of this literature is: H1a: the physical vanity will be positively associated with fashion consciousness. Achievement vanity and fashion consciousness: People have becomes more conscious in fashion consumption just in order to show the view of achievement and success to their fellows . aggregated the achievement vanity with public-self consciousness and relate it with the external environment but ignored the self-consciousness in specific fashion context. Therefore, on the base of this literature the proposed hypothesis is: H1b: the achievement vanity will be positively associated with the fashion consciousness. Fashion consciousness and status consumption: Status consumption, wish for souvenir and fashion consciousness are the basic motivation for the fashion consumer for the purchasing of fashion goods.    Fashion  consciousness  and interest in image predispose consumers to be willing to pay more for their preferred brands. However, in Pakistan the emergence of multinational fashion brands emphasis on the requirement of research in this area. Therefore, the proposed hypothesis is: H2: Fashion consciousness will be positively associated with the status consumption. Consumer Vanity and status consumption: Physical vanity and status consumption: In a recent study in which has combined the psychological and social correlation and illustrate that the physical vanity and physical appearance needs to lower weight status and which ultimately leads to the status consumption. The need for high social status and compel to more physical attractiveness is more in female consumers . Therefore on the bases of this literature the proposed hypothesis is: H3a: Physical vanity will be positively associated with status consumption. Achievement vanity and status consumption: The values of achievement and social status prevail from young adults to university shoppers. In university the students are status consumer and want to show their achievements with their peers . The values of achievement are succeeded from the university environment to the shopping environment. described that there is a positive relationship between conspicuous achievement and status consumption in Iranian consumers but it should be investigated with other areas in this region. H3b: Achievement vanity will be positively associated with status consumption. Mediating role of fashion consciousness between consumer vanity and status consumption: Fashion consciousness, which is equivalent to fashion involvement, is merely the desire for and adoption of up-to-date styles to maintain ones status in a social network . This concept mediates the relationship between age and consumer commitment to retailers and that between age and fashion knowledge . report a signi ¬Ã‚ cant mediating effect of fashion involvement on the relationship between status consumption and price sensitivity. Checked the mediation of fashion consciousness among interpersonal effect of self-monitoring, susceptibility to personal influence with status consumption and reported about mediation working. Similarly, this study took the variable fashion consciousness as a mediator between the relationship of consumer vanity and status consumption. H4: Fashion consciousness is mediating between consumer vanity and status consumption. Conceptual Framework: Status Consumption Fashion Consciousness Consumer Vanity H1: Consumer vanity will be positively associated with fashion consciousness. H2: Fashion consciousness will be positively associated with status consumption. H3: Consumer vanity will be positively associated with status consumption. H4: Fashion consciousness is mediating between consumer vanity and status consumption. Methodology: The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of consumer vanity on status consumption with mediating role of fashion consciousness and moderating role of materialism with fashion consciousness and status consumption in university students. The purpose of taking business students is, they have different values like achievement, social status and hedonism leads them to congruence with environment . For this purpose, we will collect data from the different university students of Islamabad using the convenient sampling technique. Survey method will be used in order to collect the data from the sample of 400 respondents by developing the well-structured questionnaire. The measures for this study are given below: Measurement of the vanity was made with a well established scale of having 4 main facets. These are CFPA (Concern for physical appearance), VOPA (View of physical appearance), CFA (Concern for achievement), and VOA (View of achievement). All items have 5 questions each except VOPA (View of physical appearance) which has six questions. Five point likert scale was used having values from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Strongly disagree =1, Disagree =2, neutral =3, Agree =4, strongly agree =5) to check the response of business students and teachers of business studies. Fashion consciousness (FAS), developed by Shim and Gehrt (1996), consists of  ¬Ã‚ ve items. This construct re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ects the degree to which an individual incorporates the latest fashion styles into his wardrobe (Nam et al., 2006) and the degree of his desire for up-to-date styles and frequent wardrobe changes (Shim Gehrt, 1996; Walsh et al., 2001; Wells Tigert, 1971). Five point likert scale was used having values from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Strongly disagree =1, Disagree =2, neutral =3, Agree =4, strongly agree =5) to check the response of fashion clothing involvement. The concept of status consumption (STA) was developed by Eastman, Goldsmith, and Flynn (1999) and refers to an interest in consuming to obtain status or engaging in conspicuous consumption. The original scales compose of  ¬Ã‚ ve items. Five point likert scale was used having values from strongly disagree to strongly agree (Strongly disagree =1, Disagree =2, neutral =3, Agree =4, strongly agree =5) for getting response of business students about status consumption. The statically tools will be used to describe response of university students. Mean values of response were also calculated, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis will be used in order to prove the reliability and validity of instrument. KMO values were obtained. To check the association and to know the variance between variables. For inter-item reliability final scores the Cronbach alpha values were determined. Descriptive statistics were useful to demonstrate the demo-graphics of respondents. Correlation and regression values were calculated and regression weights will be used to show the relationships of variables.

Dictatorship VS Democracy - Benito Mussolini :: Italy Dictator Politics Government

Introduction Dictatorship is a type of Government. The leader rules alone or in a small group. The dictator is usually a commoner and their rule is not limited by law. The people have no legal right to influence government and they may be in danger if they choose to do so. The aim of this report is to describe the political system of Italy. To explain the changes that has occurred by changing Italy's political system and to evaluate the consequences of this change. Background - Italy Benito Mussolini's came from Italy. Italy is slightly larger than Arizona, is a long peninsula shaped like a boot, surrounded on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea and on the east by the Adriatic. It is bounded by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia to the north. The Apennine Mountains form the peninsula's backbone, the Alps form its northern boundary. The largest of its many northern lakes is Garda the Po, its principal river, flows from the Alps on Italy's western border and crosses the Lombard plain to the Adriatic Sea. Several islands form part of Italy, the largest are Sicily and Sardinia (See fig 1). The population of Italy is 58,147,733. Because Bentio was quite popular it was easy for him to rise to the power. The Dictator Mussolini was born on July 29, 1883 in Dovia di Predappio in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Benito one of Alessandro Mussolini and Rosa Maltoni's three children. Despite having two incomes in the household, the Mussolini?s were poor, as were many families in Italy at this time. He was named Benito after Mexican reformist President Benito JuÃÆ'Â ¡rez. His mother was a teacher and his father, a blacksmith and a socialist activist. In 1891, Mussolini was banned from his local church for throwing stones at the congregation after Mass. Mussolini had never been baptized, and only would be in 1927. He was then sent to boarding school. Later that year and at age 11 was expelled for stabbing a fellow student in the hand and throwing an inkpot at a teacher. Mussolini rose to his power by propaganda and he organized a march in 1922 through Rome with 26 000 followers. Mussolini then convinced the King and the people of Italy to make him Prime Minister of Italy.

Oceanview Marine Company Engagement Letter

LILTS BERGER & ASSOCIATES 4-1 Certified Public AccountantsCW 11/23/2012 Ocean City, Florida 33140 October 30, 2012 Mr. Donald Phillips, President Oceanvien Marine Company 36 Clearwater Lake Road Ocean City, Florida 33140 Dear Mr. Phillips: This letter is to confirm our understanding of the terms of our engagement as the auditors of Oceanview Marine Company for the year ended December 31, 2012. We will audit the company’s balance sheet for December 31, 2012, and the related statements of income, retained earnings, and cash flows for the year then ended.The purpose of our audit is to form an opinion as to whether these statements are fairly presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. We will review the company’s federal and state income tax returns for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012. In addition, we will be available to consult with you concerning the tax effects of any transactions or changes in company policies.Our audit opinion will be based on our examination, made on a test basis, of your records, documents, assets, and equities. We will not examine all transactions, assets, or equities in detail, and the examination should not be relied on to detect all errors, fraud, or illegal acts that may have taken place. Notwithstanding, should we discover material misstatements resulting from error, fraud, or illegal acts during our audit, they will be disclosed to you. Please note that management of the company has the primary 4-2CW 11/23/2012 responsibility for maintaining adequate accounting records, for the safeguarding of assets, and for the preparation of accurate financial statements. If, for any reason, we are unable to complete the audit or are unable to form or have not formed an opinion, we may decline to express an opinion or decline to issue a report as a result of the engagement. The timing of our services is scheduled for performance and completion as follows: Begin field workDecember 15, 2012 Completion of fieldworkMarch 15, 2013Delivery of management letterMarch 22, 2013 Delivery of audit reportMarch 29, 2013 Delivery of tax returnsMarch 29, 2013 It is agreed that your staff will provide assistance with the preparation of data and by providing documents and records as needed. Our fees will be based on our standard hourly rates. Invoices will be submitted periodically as the work progresses and are payable upon presentation. Should we find any conditions that could significantly affect our initial estimated total fees of $21,000, we will notify you immediately.If the above terms are acceptable, and the services outlined are in accordance with the company’s requirements, please sign the copy of this letter in the space provided and return it to us. 4-3 CW 11/23/2012 Yours very truly, Per: Charles Ward Charles Ward, CPA Partner The services set out in the foregoing letter are in accordance with our requirements. The terms set out are acceptable to us and are hereby agreed to. Per: Donald Phillips Donald Phillips, President Oceanview Marine Company November 10, 2012

Oregon Wines Essay

Although winemaking dates back to 1840’s, in Oregon, commercial production began in 1960’s (Hall). Having a relatively short history of 50 years, today, Oregon is the third largest wine producer state of United States. As of 2009, the state hosts to 453 wineries which are mostly small and family-owned (Wine Communications Group). History of the Oregon Wine Industry The first grape plantation in the region was made by horticulturist Henderson Luelling, in Willamette Valley by 1847. By the 1850’s Peter Britt started growing wine grapes in his Valley View Vineyard, today’s Applegate Valley. According to the census; in 1860, wine production was 11,800 litres (2,600 gallons) in Oregon (Hall). By the 1880’s, Edward and John von Pessls planted Zinfandel, Riesling, and an unkown variety of Sauvignon in southern Oregon. At the same times in the north, in Willamette Valley, Ernest Reuter has been growing Klevner wines which brought him a gold medal at St. Louis World’s Fair of 1904 (Hall). The wine industry in Oregon closed down in 1919 because of the Prohibition. It revived by the late 1930’s as a fruit wine-based producer region. At that time there were only two producers, Louis Herbold and Adolph Doener growing grapes. Oregon’s wine industry was also damaged by the success of California winemakers (Hall). The rebirth of Oregon wines dates back to 1961, when Richard Sommer founded Hill Crest Vineyard near Roseburg. Although the production was based on Riesling, he also planted some Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. In 1965, David Lett, the owner of Eyrie Vineyard, planted his first Pinot Noir near Convallis and after 1966, continued the production at Willamette Valley in the Dundee hills. This was the beginning of the era of Pinot Noir which Oregon is nowadays famous for (Hall). By the 1970’s many winemakers immigrated to Oregon from California. Some of them where David and Ginny Adelsheim, Dick Erath, Dick and Nancy Ponzi, Jerry and Ann Preston, Pat and Joe Campbell, Susan and Bill Sokol Blosser and Myron Redford. However, David Lett was the one who placed Oregon on the world’s wine map. In 1980, 1975 Eyrie Vineyard’s South Block Reserve Pinot Noir came second in the grand tasting of wines sponsored by the French Gault Millau guide and this called the attention of press to Oregon as a wine producer state (Hall). In 1990, Oregon was hosted to 70 wineries and 320 growers in 5,682 acres vineyard. In the early 1990s, Oregon wine industry got into the danger of Phylloxera infestation which was prevented quickly by the use of resistant rootstocks. Some beneficial laws for winemakers were enacted by the Oregon Legislature in 1995. For instance, direct in-state shipment from wineries to customers and in-store tasting were legalized (Chemeketa Community College). In 2000, the number of wineries had increased to 135 and 500 growers had been engaged in grapery in 10,500 acres vineyard. In the 2000’s producers have began giving importance to â€Å"green† wine production in Oregon (Chemeketa Community College). An Oregon non-profit organization, Low Input Viticulture and Enology, Inc. , has been certifying wineries for meeting certain environmental standards (Low Input Viticulture and Enology, Inc. ) In 2005, there were 314 wineries and 519 vineyards in Oregon (Chemeketa Community College). Grape Varietals Grown in Oregon Red Wine Varieties| White Grape Varieties| Baco Noir| Chardonnay| Barbera| Chenin Blanc| Black Muscat| Early Muscat| Cabarnet Franc| Gewurtztraminer| Cabarnet Sauvignon| Huxelrebe| Carmine| Melon| Dolcetto| Muller Thrugau| Gamay Noir| Muscat Canelli| Grenache| Pinot Blanc|. Leon Millot| Pinot Gris| Malbec| Riesling| Marechal Foch| Sauvignon Blanc| Merlot| Scheurebe| Petit Verdot| Semillon| Pinot Meunier| Viognier| Pinor Noir| | Sangiovese| | Syrah| | Zinfandel| | (Bernard’s Wine Gallery) Types of Wine Produced in Oregon In Oregon, wine production is mostly based on Pinot Noir and the state is one of the first Pinot-producing regions in the world. Apart from the list below indicating the wine varieties, the state also produces sparkling wine, late harvest wine, ice wine, and dessert wine (Hall). Red Wine Varieties| White Wine Varieties|. Produced in great amount| Cabarnet Sauvignon| Gewurtztraminer| Pinot Noir| Muller Thurgau| Syrah| Pinot Blanc| | Sauvignon Blanc| | Semillon| Produced in smaller amount| Baco Noir| Arneis| Cabarnet Franc| Chenin Blanc| Dolcetto| Viognier| Gamay Noir| | Grenache| | Marechal Foch| | Malbec| | Muscat| | Nebbiolo| | Petit Syrah| | Sangiovese| | Tempranillo| | Zinfandel| | Viticultural Area of Oregon Willamette Valley â€Å"Willamette Valley is the largest AVA of Oregon, running from the Columbia River in Portland south through Salem to the Calapooya Mountains outside Eugene†. The valley is 150 miles long and almost 60 miles wide (Oregon Wine Board). In the valley, summers are generally warm and arid and the winters are cool and rainy. It is ideal for cool climate grapes due to its temperate climate and coastal marine influences. During the growing season, the valley has more daylight hours than other areas of Oregon (Oregon Wine Board). â€Å"The Willamette Valley is an old volcanic and sedimentary seabed that has been overlaid with gravel, silt, rock and boulders brought by the Missoula Floods from Montana and Washington between thousands of years ago. Red Jory soil is the most common volcanic type in the region and provides excellent drainage for superior quality wine grapes. † (Oregon Wine Board) â€Å"The valley is surrounded by the Coast Range to the west, the Cascades to the east and a series of hill chains to the north† (Oregon Wine Board). The Willamette River runs through the middle of the valley. Most of the vineyards are concentrated on the west of this river, on the slopes of the Coast Range, or among the valleys and they are mostly located a few hundred feet above sea level (Oregon Wine Board). Columbia Valley Although the Columbia Valley AVA is an 11 million acre growing region, only a small section with 185 miles wide and 200 miles long lies in Oregon (Oregon Wine Board). The valley has a mostly continental high desert climate. The hot days and cool nights provide slow, even ripening and helps grapes keep their natural acidity. Annually, the area only receives 6 to 8 inches of rainfall which makes supplemental irrigation essential in the entire region (Oregon Wine Board). The area is covered with silt and sand which was deposited about 15,000 years ago. The deposited silt and sand came to the region 15,000 years ago because of a series of massive ice age floods and wind-blown loess sediment. Today the region is mostly covered by loess (fine grained calcerous silt) which is well drained and ideal for grapevines (Oregon Wine Board). The Columbia Valley mostly lies on the Columbia River Plateau. The valley is bordered by the mountain ranges on the west and north, by the Columbia River on the south and by the Snake River near Idaho on the east (Oregon Wine Board). Walla Walla Valley. As a sub-appellation of the Columbia Valley AVA, The Walla Walla Valley AVA is in the northeast of Oregon. Although most of the wineries of Walla Walla Valley are located in Washington, almost half of the vines are produced in the Oregon side (Oregon Wine Board). The region has long sunshine-filled days and cool evening temperatures. Annual rainfall is 12. 5 inches due to the Cascade Mountain Range. Therefore, irrigation is necessary for grape growing (Oregon Wine Board). The soils of the region consist of varying combinations of well-drained loam, cobbles, silt and loess (Oregon Wine Board). The valley is located at the foot of the Blue Mountains, with vineyard elevations varying from 650 to 1,500 feet. Cascade Mountain Range borders the western side of the valley (Oregon Wine Board). Umpqua Valley The Umpqua Valley AVA is surrounded by the Coast Range from the west, the Cascade Range from the east, the Willamette Valley AVA from the north and the Rogue Valley AVA from the south. The valley is 65 miles long and 25 miles wide. Umpqua River runs nearby the valley (Oregon Wine Board). There are three different climatic sub-zones in the valley. First one is the northern area around the town of Elkton which has a cool, marine-influenced climate suitable for cool-climate grape varieties. Annual rainfall is around 50 inches; therefore, the viticulturists only benefit from the rain to grow their vines. Second is the central area to the northwest of Roseburg which has an intermediate climate allowing both cool and warm varieties to grow. Last area is located on the south of Roseburg. It is suitable for warm-climate varieties, such as Tempranillo, Syrah and Merlot. This area is more arid which makes irrigation necessary (Oregon Wine Board). The Valley has diverse soils with more than 150 soil types. â€Å"The valley floor levels have mostly deep alluvial or heavy clay materials, while the hillsides and bench locations have mixed alluvial, silt or clay structures† (Oregon Wine Board). The Umpqua Valley is made up of a series of interconnecting small mountain ranges and valleys. The complex topography of the valley is a result of the collision of the Klamath Mountains, the Coast Range and the Cascades (Oregon Wine Board). Rogue Valley The Rogue Valley AVA is located in the border of California. It is 70 miles wide by 60 miles long. Rogue Valley has the highest elevations of Oregon’s winegrowing regions on the east. However, it is also the warmest and the driest, allowing the winemakers to grow warm-weather varieties such as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. Cool-weather varieties, including Pinot noir do well here due to the mountain and ocean influences (Oregon Wine Board). Rogue Valley has various soil types, ranging from sandy loam to hard clay (Oregon Wine Board). Vineyards are generally located 1,200 to 2,000 feet above the sea level and planted on hillsides. The Klamath Mountains, the Coastal Range and the Cascades converging in Rogue Valley lead to a diverse landscape. Besides, the namesake river and its tributaries, the Applegate, Illinois and Bear Creek Rivers run though the valley (Oregon Wine Board). Viticultural Practices in Oregon In Oregon, viticulturists mainly use vertical shoot position (VSP) training. However, combination of Scott Henry and Lyre is also used, with lesser amounts of GDC and hanging. Standard rootstocks used in Oregon are 101-14 and 3309, with a lot of 5C and SO4. Low to moderate vigor sites are being developed to keep the canopies small. Although some meter by meter plantings exist, majority of the vineyards are falling into the 8Ãâ€"4 to 9Ãâ€"5 range for quality. Creative viticultural practices are being used in Oregon, for example, â€Å"Joel Myer, a local vineyard consultant, uses a sensible linear feet of trellis formula to determine yields. He suggests that a pound of fruit per foot of trellis will give optimal fruit quality. At Bethel Heights Vineyard, Ted Casteel thins all Pinot Noir to one cluster per shoot. He is also experimenting with planting vines side by side, about a foot apart, and training to single guyot, to increase vine competition and slow vigor. He is also taking one of his most successful Pinot Noir fields on vertical shoot position (VSP) training and converting it to Scott Henry, just to see if opening the canopy will help enhance the ripening process and flavor development (Chien). † â€Å"Oregon has been committed to sustainable winegrowing and earth-friendly practices. Numerous vineyards of the state are certified sustainable, organic, or biodynamic† (Voorhees). Two main organizations that certify Oregon’s vineyards and wineries as sustainable are LIVE and OCSW. Low Input Viticulture & Enology (LIVE). LIVE is an organization that provides education and independent third-party certification approving that the vineyards and wineries use international standards of sustainable viticulture and enology practices. They have been certifying vineyards and wineries in Oregon since 1999, in Washington since 2006 and nowadays in all of the Pacific Northwest. LIVE cooperates with Salmon-Safe in order to point out the watershed impacts and administers the Carbon Reduction Challenge, an organization helping wineries achieve energy efficiencies (Voorhees). Oregon Certified Sustainable Wine (OCSW). Founded in 2008, OCSW highlights the commitment of Oregon wineries to the responsible grape growing and winemaking. The organization certifies wine growers who meet both agricultural and winemaking requirements on sustainability and provides them a certification logo to be easily recognized by customers. To meet the agricultural requirements, 97% of the grape must be certified by LIVE, USDA Organic, Demeter Biodynamic, or Food Alliance and Salmon-Safe. On the other hand, to meet the winemaking requirements, the winery must be certified by LIVE, USDA Organic, Demeter Biodynamic, or Food Alliance (Voorhees). Producers within Oregon Valley View Winery Valley View Winery, owned by Wisnovsky family, is located in the Applegate Valley AVA, Southern Oregon. Valley View was founded in 1972 and it is one of the oldest wineries in Oregon. Valley View is famous for its pioneering efforts in producing Bordeaux varieties and blends. They mainly use grapes from the Applegate and Bear Creek Valleys of Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley and produce Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo, Viognier, Sauvignon blanc, Rousanne, Chardonnay and Syrah (Valley View Winery). The Eyrie Vineyards. The Eyrie Vineyards was founded by David Lett in 1966. It is composed of 49 acres in several different vineyards in Dundee Hills, Oregon which is a sub-American Viticultural Area (AVA) of Willamette Valley AVA. David Lett produced the first Pinot gris in the United States and first Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley. The Eyrie Vineyards divide their production into three as Estate Reserve wines, Estate wines, and Limited Bottlings. All grapes for their Estate Reserve wines; Pinot noir and Chardonnay, come from Eyrie’s original planting. This is the oldest plating in the Willamette Valley at 40 years. The grapes for Eyrie’s Estate wines come mostly from their three other vineyards; Stonehedge, Sisters, and Rolling Green Farm which were planted in the 1980’s. They grow Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. Finally, their small production, limited bottling wines include Muscat Ottonel, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier (The Eyrie Vineyards). Abacela Vineyard and Winery In 1992, Earl and Hilda Jones bought a 19th century homestead in southern part of the Umpqua Valley to produce Tempranillo wines which they fell in love to in Spain. In 1994 they built the winery and began planting the Tempranillos they purchased from California. They chose the Umpqua Valley because of its similar climate to the one of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions where Tempranillo grapes are grown. Today, in addition to the eight different Tempranillo clones at Abacela, they grow grapes and produce wine from Spain’s white variety, Albarino, as well as other Iberian varieties including Graciano, Tinta roriz and Bastardo (used in the production of port-style wines) and French varieties such as Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Petit verdot and Viognier (Wines Northwest). Bibliography â€Å"Abacela Vine & Wine Center in Oregon’s Umpqua Valley Wine Region. † Wines Northwest. N. p. , n. d. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"About The Eyrie Vineyards. † The Eyrie Vineyards. N. p. , n. d. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. . Chien, Mark L. â€Å"The Oregon Wine Community and Its Viticulture. † Pennsylvannia Wine Grape Network. Penn State Cooperative Extension, n. d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . Hall, Lisa Shara. â€Å"History of the Oregon Wine Industry. † History of the Oregon Wine Industry. Ed. Mitchell Beazley. N. p. , n. d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"History of Oregon Wine. † Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 May 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . Low Input Viticulture and Enology, Inc. N. p. , n. d. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. . â€Å"Northwest Viticultural Center: Oregon Wine Historical Milestones. † Discover Chemeketa Community College. Chemeketa.

Free Essays on Differing Conceptions Of Contemporary Youth Policy

Contemporary approaches to youth policy can differ depending upon the theoretical underpinnings. For instance, the Queensland Government’s recent Education and Training Reform Agenda: White Paper (ETRFA White Paper, 2002) exhibits a pysch-social orientation in addressing the needs of young people. The paper imposes legislative reforms and strategies in order to increase the participation of young people in education and training. [In the following paper, education and training will be referred to as â€Å"education†]. The pysch-social approach of the paper is evident given these strategies and reforms are focussed on the deficit of the individual student, are economically driven and paternalistically determine the life pathways for young people. The Youth Affairs Network Queensland (YANQ, 2004) responds to this agenda in the document titled Lets Invite Everyone. As the title suggests, YANQ advocates for the inclusion of all students within mainstream education systems a nd critiques the Queensland government’s approach to disengaged youth. YANQ employs a social reproduction approach in its critique, as it emphasises the need to address structural inequalities within educational settings. YANQ (2004) opposes the Government’s focus on the deficit of the individual student. Instead, a maximal citizenship framework is employed to advocate for young people to be viewed as â€Å"whole† and valuable contributing members of society. The following paper will examine the contrasting approaches to young people of the ETRFA White Paper (2002) and YANQ’s Lets invite Everyone article (2004). It will outline how these documents are underpinned by either pysch-social or social-reproduction/ maximal citizenship approaches, and detail how youth are differently represented as a result. The Queensland government’s ETRFA White Paper (2002) demonstrates the operation of a pysch-social approach, as it individualises difficulties encountered by youn... Free Essays on Differing Conceptions Of Contemporary Youth Policy Free Essays on Differing Conceptions Of Contemporary Youth Policy Contemporary approaches to youth policy can differ depending upon the theoretical underpinnings. For instance, the Queensland Government’s recent Education and Training Reform Agenda: White Paper (ETRFA White Paper, 2002) exhibits a pysch-social orientation in addressing the needs of young people. The paper imposes legislative reforms and strategies in order to increase the participation of young people in education and training. [In the following paper, education and training will be referred to as â€Å"education†]. The pysch-social approach of the paper is evident given these strategies and reforms are focussed on the deficit of the individual student, are economically driven and paternalistically determine the life pathways for young people. The Youth Affairs Network Queensland (YANQ, 2004) responds to this agenda in the document titled Lets Invite Everyone. As the title suggests, YANQ advocates for the inclusion of all students within mainstream education systems a nd critiques the Queensland government’s approach to disengaged youth. YANQ employs a social reproduction approach in its critique, as it emphasises the need to address structural inequalities within educational settings. YANQ (2004) opposes the Government’s focus on the deficit of the individual student. Instead, a maximal citizenship framework is employed to advocate for young people to be viewed as â€Å"whole† and valuable contributing members of society. The following paper will examine the contrasting approaches to young people of the ETRFA White Paper (2002) and YANQ’s Lets invite Everyone article (2004). It will outline how these documents are underpinned by either pysch-social or social-reproduction/ maximal citizenship approaches, and detail how youth are differently represented as a result. The Queensland government’s ETRFA White Paper (2002) demonstrates the operation of a pysch-social approach, as it individualises difficulties encountered by youn...

Top 5 Lucrative Tech Careers You Should Consider

Top 5 Lucrative Tech Careers You Should Consider don’t let the prospect of tedious, isolated computer work dissuade you from exploring careers in it- there are more engaging and compelling options to consider! take a look at this list from aftercollege’s joy miller.   big data scientistas the name implies, this is the big-picture approach to data analysis- you’d be responsible for developing programs and systems to house and investigate data. your ingenuity and creativity will help you identify trends and insightful conclusions, solve problems, and propose areas for growth or company innovation.these positions can pay as much as $188,000 annually, so it’s worth the time and labor-intensive demands of the gig.  computer forensic investigatormake the most of your interest in law enforcement and pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer forensics, information security, or cyber security- you can even get a certification from a computer examiner board. with it, you can help law enforcement and invest igative agencies solve crimes and testify at trial. average salaries can run to $91k.  geospatial analysteven bigger than big data is an analyst that works with global geography and modern technology. where are people living and working and moving, what models can help us predict or analyze their behavior, and what technological resources can help accommodate and address their needs?certifications in geospatial intelligence analytics, cartography, or related fields can help you earn as much as $74k.  software engineerif your degree is in software engineering, computer science, or a related field, chances are you already know about the countless opportunities available to people who can design games, create apps, and write code. whether you find an in-office gig or stay flexible as a freelancing contractor, you could potentially stand to earn as much as $93k.  it consultantthe classic it gig involves finding a company where you’d like to work- based on their products, th eir mission statement, or even just the team you’d get to work with, from a start-up to a massive corporation- and getting your foot in the door. whether you take the late shift or the daily grind, you may earn as much as $94k.

READ THIS Before You Enroll in KDP Select!

READ THIS Before You Enroll in KDP Select! READ THIS Before You Enroll in KDP Select! We get it: writing a book requires a lot of your time, effort, and money. Taking a book from inception to completion is intense work, and by the time you’re ready to publish you might find yourself referring to your manuscript as â€Å"my baby.†Of all the big decisions you have to make in your journey as a self-publishing author, one of the biggest is whether or not to enroll your ebook in Amazon's KDP Select: a program which offers authors bonus incentives in exchange for granting Amazon exclusivity.But going exclusive is a big deal. Are you sure you want to let Amazon put a ring on it before your book has had a chance to test out the other options? Is Amazon's Select program the right choice for you? That’s what we’ll answer in this post, covering all the points in the table of contents (to your left).Let’s get started with the basics. The great "KDP Select or not" debate: where do you stand? What is Kindle Direct Publishing?Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is Amazon’s ebook publishing unit, which allows authors to sell their books directly to Amazon’s readers. The Kindle and KDP were launched concurrently in 2007, laying the groundwork for Amazon’s ebook empire which now holds more than 80% of the market in the United States and United Kingdom.Success stories from authors self-publishing through Amazon KDP began to roll out around 2011, with the popularity of Andy Weir’s The Martian and Wool by Hugh Howey. But they’re not without company: in 2018, Jeff Bezos revealed that over 1,000 authors had earned over $100,000 through Kindle Direct Publishing.While numbers like these are not the norm for the average writer, KDP has become the heavily preferred route for self-publishing authors - many of whom also decide to enroll in Amazon's Select program. Speaking of which...What is KDP Select?KDP Select is a program available to all authors willi ng to grant Amazon exclusive rights to sell their ebook through the Kindle store only.By agreeing not to sell the digital file of their book through any other retailers, authors are given access to a variety of promotional tools - the most significant of which is Kindle Unlimited -   and the opportunity to earn higher royalties (in some cases, more on that later).The KDP Select program lasts 90 days, after which authors can either choose to opt out of the program, or auto-renew for another 90-day commitment.While digital copies of the book must only be sold through Amazon:A 10% sample of the book can be made available outside of the Kindle Store;Print (or any other non-digital) versions can be distributed elsewhere; andCopies of the book can be emailed to reviewers for editing purposes.So, a higher percentage of sales and additional book marketing tools: sounds pretty good, right? Why would an indie author not want those things? Well, the question of whether to grant Amazon exclu sivity or to â€Å"go wide† is a constant talking point amongst self-publishing authors, as both options come with their own sets of pros and cons. The biggest and most important pro of enrolling in Amazon's Select program is undoubtedly the access to Kindle Unlimited. So before we get too far into discussing pros and cons, let's quickly cover exactly what Kindle Unlimited is.What is Kindle Unlimited?Kindle Unlimited (KU) is an â€Å"all-you-can-read† service that allows subscribers to read as many ebooks as they’d like for $9.99 a month (if you’re thinking â€Å"Netflix for books,† you’re on the money). When authors enroll in Amazon's Select program, their books are automatically made available to readers on KU. (For a comprehensive guide to KU, check out our post right here.) With all of this in mind, remember that whether you decide to go with KDP Select or open publishing, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. If you use KDP Select’s Countdown Deals or Free Promotions but don’t spend any time advertising your promotions, they won’t lead to much exposure - the whole point of these tools.If you decide to forgo the increased visibility that can come with Kindle Unlimited, make sure you spend time getting acquainted with the aggregators out there or developing various book marketing strategies - or else the benefits of going wide will end up falling flat.We hope this post has been helpful in considering the pros and cons of KDP Select vs. going wide, and that you feel more confident in leveraging the route you choose for your book’s success.Are you enrolled in KDP Select or considering it? Let us know your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

Answer 5 of the 8 question for speech assighnment Assignment

Answer 5 of the 8 question for speech assighnment - Assignment Example cal design, where one organizes the events that relate to the speech according to their significance, this would help in preventing one from leaving out anything vital. Use of a preparation outline could also prove helpful. One could write an outline and some few points below it, and this would help one highlight the key points that could be used to support the message being passed. This could be supported by a delivery outline. Delivery outline would help a speaker remember the sequence or the way by which he intends to deliver the speech. This will help prevent one from straining while trying to remember the point that should follow (Pink, 2009). Finally, the speaker should make sure to remember the general purpose of the speech. Sometimes one may tend to be carried away by the speech, and forget to stick to the purpose of the speech. Thus, by putting the broad purpose in mind, the speaker will be able to focus on delivering the broad goal of the speech. There are a number of ways by which one could gather resources so as to use as evidence in the speech. One of the methods could be to plagiarize. To plagiarize means to take ideas from another person, and deliver them as if they were one’s own. For example, one could borrow ideas from another person’s previous speech or a textbook, and deliver them to the audience as if they were one’s own (Pink, 2009). Another way one could gather resources could be through periodical optional, where one gets information about a topic from a research aid, where different articles have been put together for research purpose. It could be from magazines or even journals. The internet is also another reliable way by which one could get resources or evidence for one speech. All one needs to do is just Google the topic or the word one intends to speak about, and information about it will be provided. An online database could also be beneficial in helping a speaker gather information for his speech. This is easily done through

Napoleon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Napoleon - Essay Example On the other hand, there are a number of other historians who consider Napoleon as a real military despot who was a tyrant, aggressor and autocrat who cared for his fame and popularity alone. This paper seeks to explore the military and personal life of Napoleon and attempts to show how criticisms and interpretations of Napoleon’s life varied from one historian (researcher) to another. Ralph Jean-Paul in his article entitled â€Å"Napoleon Bonapartes Guide to Leadership† suggests a number of reasons why Napoleon should be regarded as one of the best leaders the world has ever seen. For him, Napoleon’s leadership style included â€Å"all of the major and minor characteristics that make a brilliant leader†1. For him, Napoleon was a great motivator and charismatic speaker who could win the trust and loyalty of his generals and soldiers ‘by promising them victory and glory’, employing ‘new ways to make things work’, appreciating and awarding the achievement of his soldiers, and leading the battles from the front. However, Ralph Jean-Paul also argues that it was his deteriorating confidence after his loss to the Russians in the War of the Sixth and his lack of trust in his followers that culminated in his ultimate defeat (Jean-Paul). Similarly, Jared Stenzel tries to answer whether Napoleon was a real hero or a tyrant and he purports that Napoleon was more of a tyrant than a hero. The author argues that Napoleon was very much a tyrant as he never believed his followers and entrusted people to spy on them, either jailed or killed people who opposed him, and never offered freedom of speech and expression to his followers and the newspapers2. Justin Patterson, in this respect offers a balanced view of why Napoleon was considered to be a real French revolutionary who was a hero to his people and loved his nation so much and how he turned out to be a military despot in the latter part of his military career.

Survey discussion board 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Survey discussion board 4 - Essay Example by Kim, it was revealed that outsourcing is actually opted as a viable strategy to achieve the following benefits: â€Å"(1) lowering of costs for the outsourcing party, (2) compensation for lack of internal expertise, (3) freeing of managerial and governing personnel to focus on their core competencies and high level issues, and (4) availability of best-in-class practices and the latest technology† (Kim 1). However, the legal issues that need to be taken into account by the outsourcing organization inlcude addressing the terms of the outsourcing agreement (which should clearly and explicitly stipulate the services that are to be provided, the warranties, any disclaimers, and addressing unforeseen events), ownership concerns, privacy and confidentiality issues, jurisdicational concerns particularly affecting the countries where the organization intends to outsource the identified tasks, termination concerns on the agreement, and finally, statutory concerns (Kim). From here, it could be deduced that the outsourcing organization need to prepare additional resources to cater to legal costs that require the preparation of legal documents, as well as the need to address any impending legal concerns that would results from outsourcing. One of the ethical and moral concerns that face the outsourcing organization is addressing the 120 people in South Carolina center that would be displaced, retrenched or simply loses their jobs. As employer, the organization has ethical and moral obligations to ensure that appropriate labor laws are observed and applied to the best interests, not only of the new client, but more so, of the affected employees and the organization, as a whole. Other moral and ethical implications include the need to ensure that the services to be provided are at par with those provided by the South Carolina center but was justified by the lower costs of labor; that the cultural disparities are appropriately addressed, including any language or

What drives Chinese into Buying Luxury Goods in the 21 century Essay

What drives Chinese into Buying Luxury Goods in the 21 century - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that China’s luxury market has turned into a lucrative business over the recent years. Chinese consumers are becoming more brand conscious, becoming shrewder in their tastes, and making a better exertion to comprehend the traditional brands. China has become the second largest market for luxury goods in the world. The Chinese economy is growing day by day and her people are buying expensively priced branded commodities. Â  They buy these things not only within China but also from other countries as tourists. A rapidly growing upper and middle class are seen as bent on enhancing their individuality by buying luxury goods. China has been reported to have already overtaken the United States and Japan in terms of luxury items purchases. Â  China has worked hard to achieve economic prosperity, producing current generations of millionaires. Â  Accordingly, this generation has been spending a large amount in the luxury market day by day and Chinese are becoming more dynamic and active buyers in the market. China has emerged as the biggest purchaser of luxury goods in the world market. Chinese consumers are showing great interest in buying luxury goods these days, and this has not been left unnoticed by the global luxury market. The United States, Japan, and Europe, who have been the top consumers of luxury goods, are indeed quite surprised with the growing appetite of Chinese for luxury items. Nearly all Chinese visiting Paris have bought expensive bags without looking at its price tags.

Americas Equality is our Shared Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Americas Equality is our Shared Reality - Essay Example Without these equalities, there could be no freedom. Fuchs clarifies the unique relationship we have with freedom and equality when he testifies, "Liberty was grounded in what they called the equality of every person under God, a belief asserted in the Declaration of Independence". Equality is not a myth; it is an idea and concept that our law, culture, and freedom is rooted in. It is a reality that we continue to struggle to attain and vigilantly guard to preserve as much today as we did in 1776. Jefferson's immortal words, "all men are created equal", were meant to be an ideal to aspire to, and that ideal is as real today as it was then. They were not stated as an accurate reflection of the current state of affairs in 1776. Jefferson did not imply that there was absolute equality and that all men would forever be treated fairly. He was keenly aware of the injustices facing the infant Nation as well as he understood the long road that lie ahead towards true liberty. Jefferson, a slaveholder all his life, was against the institution of slavery and looked forward to the day of its abolishment. As if looking into the future with crystal clear vision, Jefferson understood the grave issues at stake for America and the looming threat of violence and destruction if the people failed to accept his words. Writing of the necessity of a movement toward eventual emancipation, he writes in his Autobiography, in the year 1820, It was found that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free []. The reality of Jefferson's notion of equality is further evidenced by the slow, yet steady, progress America has made towards these concepts. When drastically altering our culture, laws, and society, change must necessarily proceed at a deliberate pace. While for many change has not come quick enough, we can view America's commitment to Jefferson's words and the reality of the idea by comparing 1776 to today. When the Declaration of Independence was written, there was an entrenched system of slavery that affected a single race. Women were not allowed to own property and only a minority of the population were allowed to vote. The issue of the displaced Native Americans still loomed in the future. Sixty years after the revolution for equality, women were granted the right to own property. Every generation since then has seen more equality affecting more people than their parents had witnessed. The next generation saw these immortal words reaffirmed at Gettysburg, P.A., when Lincoln proclaimed that America was, "[] conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". Equality was no myth to Lincoln as he tackled the difficult task of freeing the slaves and playing out the prediction that Jefferson had made forty years earlier. Ensuing years would be graced with the monumental Fourteenth Amendment, which once again framed Jefferson's words as it reads, "[] nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal

Green Criminology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Green Criminology - Essay Example It is a fact that science and technology advances are contributing heavily to the advancements of life on earth. Nobody can overlook the efforts of science and technology in reducing the human efforts needed in many areas of our social life. At the same time, advanced technologies brought many challenges also. For example, nuclear power is believed to be the future energy option because of the rapidly exhausting oil resources and increasing energy needs. But nuclear power generation produces a lot of radioactive wastes and the dumping of these wastes is a major issue we are facing at present. Most of the industrialized or developed countries like America, Britain, France, China etc have toxic wastes generated out of high levels of industrialization and it is a fact that these countries dumping the toxic wastes in poor countries, misleading the administrations of the poor countries. This paper briefly analyses the victimization of the general public in poor countries by the developed countries in dumping toxic wastes. In December 1984, Indian city Bhopal has witnessed one of the worst examples of green criminology. The Union Carbide chemical plant at Bhopal, which used, highly toxic chemicals in its production process faced a catastrophic explosion when water somehow mixed with the chemicals because of the negligence. As per the estimates, more than 6000 people died in the company proximity and more than 60000 people were seriously affected (The Greening of Criminology, n. d, p.315). The toxic gages liberated out of the plant reached the nearby Bhopal railway station and killed many people who were sleeping there. This plant was established in a heavily populated area which itself is a proof of negligence on the part of the authorities and the Union Carbide company.

Americas Equality is our Shared Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Americas Equality is our Shared Reality - Essay Example Without these equalities, there could be no freedom. Fuchs clarifies the unique relationship we have with freedom and equality when he testifies, "Liberty was grounded in what they called the equality of every person under God, a belief asserted in the Declaration of Independence". Equality is not a myth; it is an idea and concept that our law, culture, and freedom is rooted in. It is a reality that we continue to struggle to attain and vigilantly guard to preserve as much today as we did in 1776. Jefferson's immortal words, "all men are created equal", were meant to be an ideal to aspire to, and that ideal is as real today as it was then. They were not stated as an accurate reflection of the current state of affairs in 1776. Jefferson did not imply that there was absolute equality and that all men would forever be treated fairly. He was keenly aware of the injustices facing the infant Nation as well as he understood the long road that lie ahead towards true liberty. Jefferson, a slaveholder all his life, was against the institution of slavery and looked forward to the day of its abolishment. As if looking into the future with crystal clear vision, Jefferson understood the grave issues at stake for America and the looming threat of violence and destruction if the people failed to accept his words. Writing of the necessity of a movement toward eventual emancipation, he writes in his Autobiography, in the year 1820, It was found that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free []. The reality of Jefferson's notion of equality is further evidenced by the slow, yet steady, progress America has made towards these concepts. When drastically altering our culture, laws, and society, change must necessarily proceed at a deliberate pace. While for many change has not come quick enough, we can view America's commitment to Jefferson's words and the reality of the idea by comparing 1776 to today. When the Declaration of Independence was written, there was an entrenched system of slavery that affected a single race. Women were not allowed to own property and only a minority of the population were allowed to vote. The issue of the displaced Native Americans still loomed in the future. Sixty years after the revolution for equality, women were granted the right to own property. Every generation since then has seen more equality affecting more people than their parents had witnessed. The next generation saw these immortal words reaffirmed at Gettysburg, P.A., when Lincoln proclaimed that America was, "[] conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". Equality was no myth to Lincoln as he tackled the difficult task of freeing the slaves and playing out the prediction that Jefferson had made forty years earlier. Ensuing years would be graced with the monumental Fourteenth Amendment, which once again framed Jefferson's words as it reads, "[] nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal

The religious believer Essay Example for Free

The religious believer Essay Explain the difficulties which the problem of evil poses for the religious believer. [35] Evil is a multifaceted term that can refer to moral evil (acts committed by human beings such as murder or rape) or natural evil (naturally occurring events such as famines, diseases and earthquakes). Both forms cause unimaginable human suffering. John Hick described evil as â€Å"physical pain, mental suffering and moral wickedness. † It is not surprising, then, that the existence of evil can be a stumbling block for religious believers. Evil and suffering poses an obvious problem for the believer who trusts in a loving and powerful God. As Epicurus surmised in his inconsistent triad, if God is willing but unable to prevent evil he must not be omnipotent. Or, he could be able to prevent it and doesn’t. This means he is not omnibenevolent, and is not worthy of worship. The existence of evil calls into question the traditional theistic attributes of God. Hume had very similar ideas to Epicurus, he wrote, â€Å"Epicuruss old questions are still unanswered. † The ironical Hume suggests that the god who designed the universe must have been a failure at the job and should have tried his hand at something else. The creator of our universe, says Hume, might have been a god in his dotage. Or perhaps he was `an infant deity still practising his craft. The suffering of children is a particular stumbling block for believers. It is understandable why sinful adults should suffer, but unless one holds to the doctrine of total depravity children are innocent. The Brothers Karamazov by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky explores this theme. It tells the story of brothers Ivan and Alyosha Alyosha is a holy young monk, whilst Ivan is a worldly-wise young man returning home from the big city. Ivan tells Alyosha he cannot accept the suffering of children, using the horrific practices of the Turks shooting babies when they invaded Russia as an example. Although a work of fiction, this tale mirrors the experiences and doubts of many believers. Friedrich Nietzsche, who famously announced the death of God, is another philosopher who tried to use the existence of evil and suffering to disprove God. A vehement critic of Christian morality, he thought that the concepts of good and evil were invented in the course of an elaborate power-game, as a way for weaker people to undermine the natural drives of their more powerful oppressors. However, suffering remained for Nietzsche one of the central problems of philosophy. Under the influence of his fellow German Arthur Schopenhauer – a notorious pessimist who wrote that the longer you live, the more clearly you will feel that, on the whole, life is a disappointment, nay, a cheat – Nietzsche saw suffering and tragedy as intrinsic to life and impossible to reconcile with the idea of a loving God. Furthermore, John Mackie argues that God could have created any possible world. The steps in his argument are as follows: God could have created any possible world, it is logically possible in one of the possible worlds that free human beings always acted rightly, therefore there is no logical contradiction in saying that in another of the possible worlds God could have created, ALL human beings always acted rightly. Gods failure to actualise this world means that he is not wholly good. This could pose a challenge to the faith of religious believers. If God is timeless, then perhaps [and this is debatable] God could not deliberate between alternatives he chooses the perfect universe that His perfect nature leads Him to create and the idea of His choosing between alternatives is not viable. If God is in time, He had to take a risk when creating the Universe and may not have known what human beings would do with their freedom. For instance in Genesis, Ch. 6 says that God regrets having made men and if this is taken literally it can imply that he was taken by surprise at what human beings had done. In order to combat this, several theologians have put forward theodicies to explain the existence of evil. The Irenaean theodicy is ‘soul-making. ’ Humans are in an immature moral state, though we have the potential for moral perfection. God brings in suffering for the benefit of humanity and from it we learn positive values. Contrastingly, Augustine put forward a ‘soul-deciding’ theodicy. He accepts God is perfect. The world he created reflects that perfection, but humans were created with free will. Sin and death entered the world through Adam and Eve and their disobedience. Natural evil is consequence of this disharmony of nature brought about by the fall. God is justified in not intervening because the suffering is a consequence of human action. The theodicy that is perhaps the least accepted among theists is the process theodicy. Process theology argues that the reality of God is not fixed and that God himself is still developing. God cannot force anything to happen, but rather only influence the exercise of this universal free will by offering possibilities. The possibility of evil has always existed. Ultimately, the question surrounding the origin of evil and suffering will never truly be solved with our fallible human understanding. Suffering needs to be understood in the overall context of God’s omniscient plan. Finite beings cannot understand. Suffering could be a punishment, or a tool to bring us closer to God. To quote Joseph Conrad, The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness. †

Tesco Value Proposition

Tesco Value Proposition INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report was to critically evaluate the value proposition of Tesco Plc to its customers. Given information about the target customers of Tesco and even a PEST analysis of the company was done. Tesco Plc competed with big supermarkets to become one of UKs best supermarkets ever. 1. DISCUSSION 1.1 Tescos Value proposition to its customers Companies that offer outstanding value turn buyers (tryers) into lifetime customers ( Weinstein and Johnson 1999,p.4). Some of the value driven strategies are Understanding customer choices Identifying customer segments Increasing competitive options(for example, offering more products) Avoiding price wars Improving service quality Focusing on what is meaningful to customers Improving brand success and (Weinstein and Johnson 1999,p.5). Tesco Plc is worlds third biggest super market (Sky news 2008). What would have made them reach this position? To compete the supermarkets like Sainsbury and Morrisons , there must be some talent behind. Tesco Plc which started its life in 1919 when Jack Cohen started selling surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London. By 1970s, Tesco was building a national store network to cover the whole of the UK, which it continues to expand to this day, while also diversifying into other products (Telegaph 2008). As if now Tesco continues to dominate in UK. Why many customers turned to Tesco when they were happy shopping in Sainsbury and Morrisons ? How Tesco stole these customers from these supermarkets? The answer to these may be value proposition of Tesco Plc to these customers. Understanding customers is what the most important thing in business today. As in the lecture of adding value on week seven by Prof.Phillip Mutter, value proposition is how we intend to create value for our customer? Value of one customer may not be valuable to another customer. The impact the suppliers offer has on the customers own value chain. Customers do not buy features, products or services but solutions to their problem. May be this is what Tesco Plc is being doing. They might have understood customers more than Sainsbury and Morrisons do. How Tesco offer value to customers? Tesco in 1997 developed certain values some of them were: No one tries harder for customers. Understand customers better than anyone. Be energetic, be innovative and be first for customers. Use our strengths to deliver unbeatable value to our customers. Treat people how we like to be treated (Tesco Plc 2009). Cutting down the price Tesco studied that price can be one of the important factors which could bring customers to them. Tesco also maintained quality as the price cuts. Tesco made sure that no one could beat them in price. We have introduced bigger packs, representing even better value, on products like coffee, tea and bread and have also added 60 new products to the Value range, bringing the total to over 200. On Tesco Value, we promise customers that our prices wont be beaten (Tesco 1999). Use of ClubCards Using clubcard was one of the top strategies used by Tesco in 1995 to understand their customers. As for most other companies, did not realise the importance of Tesco using the clubcards. By the use of clubcards Tesco was actually stealing customers from other supermarkets. Tesco gave clubcards to frequent shopping customers. With the clubcard, Tesco got every information they wanted. Tesco stored all the information about customer in the customers clubcard. Like what did they shop? How much they use to spend in a day? What product they purchase etc. Tesco then sends special offers to them. Internet capture By seeing that many customers were shopping online, Tesco also used to give values through internet. Delivering products to the customers door. Customers used to visit the website and order things like groceries, books, cds, furniture, videos and other items and also arranging personnel finance. All in all great value. (brandingasia). Private label success In the idea of increasing sales, Tesco thought to give more to existing customers in existing stores. Tesco started using private labels to sell the product with which they tried to give almost same quality of top brands with cheap price. Tesco labels it as Tesco value. Items which they sold using private labels were bakery, meat, ready meals, deli, dairy, HBC, wine and non foods. Many others too (corioliosisresearch 2004,p.20). Porters value chain on Tesco Plc As in the lecture discussed by Prof. Phillip Mutter, Porters value chain consists of five activities which are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, service activities(Lysons and Farrington 2006,p.102). Inbound logistics include receipt of goods from suppliers, storage, handling and transportation and stocking. Tesco always tried to keep the customer choice in store. In Tesco, there is an opportunity to reduce the cost unfairly incurred by company and therefore preventing the cost being passed on to the customer. In operations, Tesco maintains the tasks such as opening every day in accordance with trading hours, maintaining the shelves, and the stocks. In outbound logistics, Tesco has home delivery service and also they increase the number of staffs at till to save the time of customers. Trolleys are arranged such a way that they are easily accessible. In marketing and sales, Tesco issues clubcards as discussed above and advertise in news papers, radio, national TVs etc Service activities include human resource and technological activities. In human resource management, Tesco trains the staff to do the job.There are a number of ways we support our people to achieve this, be it through an Options Development Programme, offering an Apprenticeship or encouraging the studying for a qualification whilst at work.(Tesco 2009) In the technological, Tescos brand name gives the product vitality and with the start of internet shopping, Tesco can be the best to shop. 1.2 PEST Analysis on Tesco Plc Political, economical, sociological and technological (PEST) analysis on Tesco Plc gives out the following results. Political Credit crunch usually leads to unemployment. As, Tesco being one of the largest and fastest growing supermarkets, more jobs are expected to be available in Tesco. Tesco politically, is facing a charge of driving out other retailers out of the competition. But under EU law, if an organisation has large market share can be dominant. Tesco to date has no charge legally of exploitation. Economical Economically, Tesco has not been badly affected when compared to others. Tesco has the brand name and all products cheap for all segments of the market. So whatever happens when Tesco opens the door, customers are ready to flow in. Sociological Sociological aspects for Tesco have also helped a lot. As the number of career minded persons like students from abroad are increasing in UK, ready meals are in demand to make the cooking easy. Tesco has also understood this segment too. Tesco has variety of products for such students. Technological Technological factors like internet are also friendly to Tesco. Customers can go online shopping in Tescos site. Tesco has also started carbon reduction programme. Customers are also encouraged to make low carbon choices. 1.3 Tescos Value proposition on Target customers The Clubcard database is helping us to give customers an even better and more focused offer: the mail-out at the end of February 1999 contained 80,000 variations of letter, offer and magazine, and issued  £50m-worth of reward vouchers, together with  £25m-worth of product coupons. By understanding customers shopping habits, we are now even better at targeting our offers to them ( Tesco 1999). Tesco created a student card and a card for mothers in 1996 which suited their needs. In 1997, Tesco direct service and financial services were added. Adding value also became mandatory, like expectant mothers were given the priority of parking outside the store, even personnel assistance to help them. In 1998, Tesco began to offer electricity and telecommunications products and services. By this time, Tesco had identified 108 customer market segments (brandingasia). For middle-income with young children, Tesco has opened bank with jargon-free, customer friendly approach, coupled with its perceived low prices, has obviously proved a winner (guardian 2005). Market share rose tremendously even customers are happy. Making nice use of technology, provided customers with great experience (brandingasia). CONCLUSION By looking into the value proposition of Tesco, it is for sure that it is going to be very difficult for any other supermarket to emerge. PEST analysis shows the company is still strong to compete politically, economically, socially and technically. Also Tesco is well aware of its target customers and doing well to them too. REFERENCES: Branding Asia. (). Tesco The brand experience is everything. Available: http://www.brandingasia.com/cases/tesco.htm. Last accessed 2 Jan 2010. Clark,T. (2008). A history of Tesco: The rise of Britains biggest supermarket. Available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/2788089/A-history-of-Tesco-The-rise-of-Britains-biggest-supermarket.html. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. Coriolis research. (2004). TESCO: A CASE STUDY IN SUPERMARKET EXCELLENCE. Available: http://www.coriolisresearch.com/pdfs/coriolis_tesco_study_in_excellence.pdf. Last accessed 2 Jan 2010 Lysons,K.Farrington,B (2006). Purchasing and supplychain management. 7th ed. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. P102. Sky News. (2008). Tesco Sees Huge Jump In Profits . Available: http://video.news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Business/Tesco-UKs-Biggest-Supermarket-Chain-Unveils-Profits-Of-145-Billion-Pounds-For-First-Six-Months/Article/200809415109917?lpos=Business_Article_Related_Con. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. Tesco. (2009). Company Information: values and cultures. Available: http://www.tesco.com/recruitment/html/careers/compInfo/values.htm. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. Tesco. (1999). from pennies to pounds. Available: http://www.tesco.com/investorInformation/report99/content/value.html. Last accessed 1 Jan 2010. TESCO. (2009). Training Development. Available: http://www.tesco-careers.com/home/working/training-and-development. Last accessed 3 Jan 2010. The Guardian. (2005). Every little helps so forget those Tesco quotes. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2005/sep/24/insurance.moneysupplement. Last accessed 4 Jan 2010. Weinstein,A.Johnson,W,C (1999). Designing and delivering superior customer value: concepts, cases, and Applications. United States of America: CRC Press LLC. p4.