Potential Market Segmentation

Since the raw materials are very much available in our country, I have decided to give the product an indigenous image. Sandwood is a kind of talcum powder that provides the consumers with processed sandal mixed talcum powder in bottles. For the marketing purpose of the product I have decided to launch three product lines. The Sandwood would be launched in the market at 150 gms. 100 gms. and 50 gms bottle. I have set a reasonable price for the product so that all kinds of people can afford to buy this talcum powder. I have targeted a huge market segment for the product.Bangladesh s a large populated country. Lots of people are looking for such a product. Sandal mixed Talcum Powder are not available all the time. My target market includes health conscious people, women, children & many other consumers, which I have segmented from the Demographical, Geographical, Psychographical & Behavioral point of view. Product Potrayal: I am a Brand managers of a consumer product in a domestic comp any. The top management asked me to choose a product to segment the potential market and we choose Talcum Powder. The description of the product is given below.Product: Talcum Powder Brand Name: Sandwood Plastic Bottle Container: Size: Price: 1 50 Grams Taka 100. Product Features: It's Total skin comfort. Feel better than regular talcum powder. Keep the body fresh for a long time. It has a classic scent. Product Ingredients: Natural sandal, Talc, hydrated magnesium silicate, Scent We choose this very product because normally there are much talcum powder produced for women and many of them have been produced for both male and female but there are very few company that produce women talcum powder and most of them are produced outside Bangladesh.

Odysseus vs Rama Essay

Two exciting epics that are widely read and well-known across the globe hold many likenesses between the heroes. The Odyssey by Homer and The Ramayana by Valmiki, tell the tales of two heroes who hold many similarities between them even as their stories differ. Both poems are epics because their heroes are great men, well-known to their worlds, both suffer long difficult journeys, and both are aided by as well as taunted by gods and goddesses of their religions and cultures. But in the end both men overcome great tragedy and catastrophes to rightfully rule as kings of their own lands. Odysseus and Rama were both strong warriors of great stature. Athena speaks of Odysseus to his son and calls him â€Å"a mighty man† (Homer, Odyssey, Book I,p. 7). Griffith describes Rama as â€Å"Tall and broad-shouldered, strong of limb,† (Griffith, Book I, stz. 1) who has â€Å"†¦massive jaw and ample chest† and â€Å"strong arms reach below his knee† (Griffith, Book I, stz. 1). Throughout the story these men both are challenged and use their great strength of the warrior to defeat their challengers. Odysseus is challenged by the sea many times and with great strength survives the power of the sea against him. In the house of King Alcinous he describes many a plight where he fought against the drowning waves and the storms of Poseidon. â€Å"†¦. Zeus with white bolt crushed my swift ship and cleft it in the midst of the wine-dark deep†¦. I clung with fast embrace about the keel of the curved ship, and so was I borne for nine whole days†¦. † (Homer, Osdyssey, Book VII, p. 105). Only a man of great strength and endurance could cling in the moving waters for nine whole days without fail. Then, against Poseidon’s enormous waves, Odysseus later survives a storm at sea by swimming through the forcible waves to reach land. For Poseidon, shaker of the earth, stirred up the same, who roused against me the winds†¦. Thus the storm winds shattered the raft, but as for me I cleft my way through the gulf yonder†¦. † (Homer,Odyssey,1950, Book VII, p. 105). Odysseus exhibits godly strength against the seas and her challenges. Rama displays an unconquerable stamina in Griffith’s epic. Rama slays a giant to gain the friendship of Agastya but this leads to his being attacked by the giantess Surpanakha and her three sisters. Still they are no match for Rama as â€Å"†¦. they and myriad fiends beside Beneath the might of Rama died† (Griffith, Book I stz. ). Both heroes are challenged by enormous odds and yet both are victorious proving stout strength and stamina above all other men. However, physical strength is not the only weapon these heroes wield. Cunning and strategy play an important role in defeating more powerful enemies. Odysseus exhibits such mental strength against Cyclops when he helps his companions to escape the Cyclops’ cavern. Odysseus devised a plan to deceive Cyclops and in his cunning is even smart enough to predict Cyclops’ call for help from his brethren. And in knowing this, he tells Cyc lops his name is â€Å"Noman. Thus does Cyclops call out for help after Odysseus blinds him with the torched end of a stake and cries â€Å"My friends, Noman is slaying me by guile, nor at all by force† (Homer,Odyssey,1950, Book IX, p. 137-8). Thus his friends who thought â€Å"no man† was assaulting their brother determined his suffering to be a sickness sent by Zeus and bade him to call upon his father Poseidon for help and went their ways. Odysseus further exhibits his craftiness when he devises a plan of escape. When Cyclops is blinded, he sets himself before the cave entrance with arms wide to prevent the men’s departure through the cavern mouth. However, Odysseus is more clever than he and fastens three sheep together across and ties a man beneath the middle one’s underbelly. For himself he hangs on beneath the magnificent ram until sunrise when they are allowed through the mouth of the cavern by Cyclops out to pasture to graze. Once far from Cyclops Odysseus comes out from under his ram and then unfastens his men, and they are all able to escape. By their hiding beneath the sheep, Cyclops only felt the fleece and thereby allowed the men to pass through. This is a grand display of cunning. Rama also portrays some semblance of intelligence when he chooses his allies against the demon king, realizing that he can win their loyalty by defeating their enemy and convincing the king of the monkeys that they share a suffrage because they both have been banished from their homelands, Rama is able to convince the monkey army to come to his aid (Griffith, Book I, stz. 1) . â€Å"Who, knowing all the tale, before The sacred flame alliance swore. Sugriva to his new-found friend Told his own story to the end: His hate of Bali for the wrong And insult he had borne so long. And Rama lent a willing ear And promised to allay his fear† (Griffith, Book I, Stz. 1). With his crafty ways, Rama knew since he had slain the object of Sugriva’s , the monkey king’s, hatred, that he would be allied at once with the monkey armies. This was his key to finding his wife, Sita, and rescuing her. Odysseus and Rama were both intertwined with the deities of their cultures. Odysseus had the help of Athena throughout his entire trip home after the war in Troy and his exile with Calypso on her lonely island where he was a kept man by the goddess (Homer, Odyssey, Book I, p. ). Athena bodes Zeus â€Å"O father†¦. if indeed this thing is now well pleasing to the blessed gods, that wise Odysseus should return to his own home, let us then speed Hermes the Messenger†¦. to the island of Ogygia. There with all speed let him declare†¦. our unerring counsel, even the return of the patient Odysseus, that so he may come to his home† (Homer,Odyssey,1950, Book I, p. 3). If not for Athena’s plea and reminder to Zeus, Odysseus would have remained with Calypso forever. But Athena provides further assistance and stays beside Odysseus along the way. She is with him when he travels to the house of King Alcinous and tries to protect him and to guide him. â€Å"At that same hour Odysseus roused him to go to the city, and Athene shed a deep mist about Odysseus for the favour that she bare him, lest any of the Phaeacians†¦. should meet him and mock him†¦. † (Homer,Odyssey,1950, Book VII, p. 97). And disguised as a maiden she journeys with him home on the ship and stays until he has defeated his wife’s wooers who have consumed the spoils of his home. She lends her assistance when needed such as when she cloaked Odysseus and his son and his men in darkness so that they may leave the town to come back to defeat the wooers in battle. Athena provides even more aid as she convinces his son Telemachus to search for his father and to bring him home. She also gives him advice such as having his mother hide Odysseus’ bow that no man can string other than Odysseus, foreseeing the contest to prove his identity later after his journey (Homer,Odyssey,1950, Book II, pp. 25-7). Rama himself is a god although he does not know this. He is the born human entity of the god Vishnu Narayana who has a premeditated plan to take human form and then to defeat the demon god, Ravana hated by all supernatural gods and goddesses alike. But it is not until the end of his epic journey that Rama remembers that his true essence is the god Narayana (Griffith, Book I, stz. 19). This is unlike Odysseus who was favored by the gods and knew of their help and their interest in him as he bore them many sacrifices in return. One such sacrifice being in the cave of the Cyclops as they awaited his return from shepherding his flock. â€Å"Then we kindled a fire, and made burnt-offering†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Homer,Odyssey,1950, Book IX, p. 132). Such offerings are made throughout the story before and after challenges are met. Once the Cyclops was defeated, Odysseus took the best ram for offering â€Å"†¦the ram for me alone my goodly-greaved company chose out, in the dividing of the sheep, and on the shore I offered him up to Zeus†¦. and I burnt the slices of the thighs. † (Homer, Odyssey,1950, Book IX, p. 142). From this a conclusion could be drawn: it is expected of a hero to make offering to the gods who find favor with him. Likewise, Rama shows respect to the gods and his father, King Dasaratha, when he unfailingly responds to their commands without question. When asked by Queen Kaikeyi if he promises to honor his father’s vow and do his bidding, Rama replies, â€Å"I, at the bidding of my sire, Would cast my body to the fire, A deadly draught of poison drink, Or in the waves of ocean sink: If he command, it shall be done,–My father and my king in one† (Griffith, Book II, stz. 8). Rama leaves for his banishment without delay and without question to honor his father’s vow to Kaikeyi. He meets his challenges without hesitation and follows what the Indians name â€Å"dharma†, the will of the gods (Brockington, 1984, p. 33) or what the Greeks refer to as fate, a story of life darned out by the Muse (Homer, Iliad, 1950, p. 175). Both epics contain heroes who follow their dharma or fate without question and praise and honor their gods. It is when the heroes anger or disrespect the gods that evil befalls them. For example, when Odysseus tells king Alcinous how he injured Cyclops and this angered the creature’s father, Poseidon who aided Cyclops as he attacked the ship with hilltop and large boulder causing waves to drive the ship back to shore. (Homer, Odyssey,1950, Book IX, p. 141-2). Or when Rama slays the giant and angers the demon king Ravan, because Rama is vigilant in his respect to the gods, he overcomes the challenges brought before him when his wife is stolen from him. Rama is the example of true dharma and a great hero to the Indian religion of Hindu. Brockington, 1984, p. 8). Odysseus and Rama both face a great journey and banishment. Odysseus takes twenty years to return from the battle of Troy and suffers many hardships along the way that detain him from reaching his homeland for which he desires. One such suffering be at the hands of Calypso on the Isle Ogygia for seven years where she forced his stay as he had no means by which to depart until Calypso was bade by the gods to sent him adrift on a raft (Homer, Odyssey,1950, Book V, pp. 74-75. Among these misadventures that halted Odysseus’ return, was the Isle of the Lotus-Eaters, where the men ate of the Lotus which made them lose their desire to continue their journey home, and the Sirens who attempted to attract them to their own deaths (Homer, Odyssey, Book IX, p. 128-130). The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ journey home once he has befallen these challenges after the War of Troy. This journey takes more time as he meets hardships mostly set upon him by Poseidon, who â€Å"†¦. saw Odysseus as he sailed over the deep; and he was mightily angered in spirit†¦. (Homer, Odyssey, Book V, p. 79) and reveals â€Å"it must be that the gods at the last have changed their purposes concerning Odysseus†¦. But methinks that even yet I will drive him far enough in the path of suffering† (Homer, Odyssey, 1950, p. 79). Thus another journey begins and Odysseus is troubled once again, taking a total of twenty years before he reaches his homeland. If not for Athena’s aid and the aid of the other gods, Odysseus would not have been successful. Rama is also taken from his homeland. On the eve of his preparations to take over the throne for his father, one of his father’s other wives, Queen Kaikeyi , to whom King Dasaratha owes two vows as she had saved his life previously, beseeches the king to throne her son, Bharat and exile Rama for fourteen years to the forest. â€Å"These rites in Rama’s name begun Transfer them, and enthrone my son. The time is come to claim at last The double boon of days long-past, When Gods and demons met in fight. And thou wouldst fain my care requite. Now forth to Dandak’s forest drive Thy Rama for nine years and five, And let him dwell a hermit there†¦. (Griffith, Book II, stz. 11). With these words Kaikeyi reminds Dasaratha of his promise to her when she saved his life by caring for a fatal wound. She then asks for her son to be throned without challenge from Rama and also that Rama be exiled for fourteen years to live as a hermit in the forest. Kaikeyi only does such a greedy act because her maid Manthara has convinced her that horrible tidings await her future and that of her son if Bharat does not take the throne and Rama is enthroned (Griffith, Book II, stzs. -8). Still, honoring his father’s lamenting bid, Rama departs, ready to make a life anew with his wife and his one half-brother, Lakshmana (Griffith, Book II, stz. 19). As did Odysseus, so did Rama face many sufferings once he left in exile and his journey was not yet over. Sita, his wife, is stolen from him while he is away. Thus Rama, takes on the tasks of allying with the monkey armies to have aid in finding and saving his beloved wife. Then he faces Ravan, the demon king, to save her (Griffi th, Book IV, V, VI). Odysseus’ and Rama’s stories both reveal the importance of a warrior’s weaponry and strength in their respective cultures. When Odysseus returns home, with the deviousness of Athena, he and his son and wife, Telemachus and Penelope, devise a contest to prove his identity so that Odysseus may overtake his kingdom of Ithaca once more. Whosoever can string Odysseus’ prominent bow will have Penelope for his wife and all the kingdom of Odysseus for his own. So does Penelope set the bow and quiver before the wooers. And one by one they attempt to string Odysseus’ mighty bow. But none can accomplish this feat. Once Telemachus convinces the wooers to let the beggar who is his disguised father attempt the feat, â€Å"†¦. Odysseus straightaway bent the great bow, all without effort, and took it in his right hand and proved the bow string, which rang sweetly at the touch, in tone like a swallow â€Å" (Homer, Odyssey, 1950, Book XXI, p. 336). All at once he revealed his true identity and all was lost to the suitors of his wife.

Change Management in Semantic Web Services

Change Management in Semantic Web Services Change Management in Semantic Web Services in Legal Domain using FSM & XXM Introduction With the new paradigm of Service Oriented Computing, many enterprises attempt to utilize services as fundamental elements for developing applications/solutions as an additive layer on top of existing components. The Web Service Controller Architecture (WSCA) for service-based, enterprise-scaled business solutions provides exactly this flexibility. The design, exposure and management of services can be accomplished through a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that supports the usage, composition and coordination of services in a loosely coupled manner. Web services appear to be particularly suitable for addressing these aspects of a SOA. Furthermore, composition languages such as BPEL add value by composing Web services and facilitating the implementation of business processes. As the SOA paradigm brings this big behavior change relying on loose coupling of services it raises new questions in the area of change management. Change management is a central aspect in any software design, but its complexity for Web services is increased by both composition languages and loose coupling. The resulting advantages like composability, autonomy, message-based communication, and the avoidance of combined compilation and binding prove to be deficiencies in this context. In this paper we discuss these elementary challenges of change management in the area of Web services (Web Service Change Management, WSCM). Currently there are no sound mechanisms and engineering principles for changing Web services and their related entities. Through analysis of a suitable scenario, specifically looking at the details of the Web service provider and consumer roles, one can identify the various problems that exist in this domain. Therefore we will start our approach with the consideration of an application scenario from the business domain of application and change management, the addition of Web servic es in private legal sector. An Overview of a WSCA A WSCA consists of several autonomous outsourced Web services, but acts as a virtually coherent entity. Business entities, in the form of Web services, are often geographically distributed and organizationally independent. While WSCA has a potential to introduce new business opportunities through dynamic alliances, the challenges of fully realizing a WSCA lie in managing changes during its lifecycle through Extreme X Machines (XXM). XXM: In this paper we explore the design changes as made to software projects by the use  of a formal model known as Extreme X-Machines (XXM) [5,6], which  are based on the work of Eilenberg and Holcombe [7,8]. An XXM model describes the functionality of the software without defining exactly how this functionality is achieved. This perspective allows an analysis of functional change whilst excluding specific implementation or requirements issues. XXM are a state based model, they are intended to be us ed by developers as a method to design  their systems from at the top level but here, XXM are used as effectively to analyze and incorporate changes in, even addition of new web services. Each model typically consists of a set of states which correspond to screens in the final system and functions which link the screens together. The functions are typically labeled with an enabling action such as â€Å"click_ok† which corresponds to a user clicking the OK button.

International Project-Brazil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Project-Brazil - Essay Example There has been large variations and inequalities in income in the recent past owing to inflation, but have overcome these economic complexities. It is one of the fastest growing economies in the world with GDP growth of 5%. The Brazil economy ranks the eighth largest economy in terms of nominal GDP and ninth largest in terms of purchasing power. The service industry is the largest contributor of GDP at 66% which is followed by the industry and agriculture sectors. Brazil has the 2nd biggest industrial sector in the Americas having diverse industries such as automobiles, steel, consumer products, computers to aircrafts. The Brazilian government has also introduced many programs to accelerate the growth and development of the economy. (Economy of Brazil, n.d) Brazil has developed drastically in the recent past in agricultural, mining, manufacturing and service related sectors. It is considered as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The growth cycle in Brazil has been con sistent and ongoing since 1970. Given below the per GDP average from 1981-2008. The legal system in Brazil is based on codes and legislation which are controlled at the federal, municipal and state level which are based on Roman- Germanic traditions. Municipalities and federal districts have laws which do not contradict the federal constitution. The legal system is based on the civil law tradition and the country is ruled by the federal constitution. The highest court in Brazil is the supreme tribunal. There are a specialized court for military and labor and the usually the jurisdictions are handled and administered by judiciary entities. Brazil is a federal district and federal republic with 26 states. It is made of Executive, legislative and judicial branches and usually the president of the country can hold up the position for 4 consecutive years and can have his own cabinet ministers. The current

Explain how krebs in a soldier home would rather observe life than Essay

Explain how krebs in a soldier home would rather observe life than live it. give reason as to why he feels that way use exa - Essay Example But in the later part of the story he is referred to as Krebs, to elucidate the transformation in his character. The Krebs is a German word which in English means cancer. The author very interestingly refers to Harold’s character as Krebs in the later part of the story because he wants to describe the transformation that the character went through, which completely left him disdained from all earthly emotions. He wants to be part of a simple life than involve in complexities. He has transformed into a person who just observes life rather than living it. In the story â€Å"A Soldier’s Home†, Hemmingway describes three very important situations which mark Harold’s transformation into Krebs. It was the time of the First World War, when most of the young lads joined the army to fight for their motherland. Harold Krebs was one such young man who joined the army after college. It was only after his return from the war that the first instance of his transformatio n was marked. Krebs was a little late to return home and was not part of the celebration that the other soldiers received on their return. By the time he came back all the hysteria regarding the war has settled down, people were no longer interested in war stories but Krebs wanted to experience the thrill and in couple of occasions he even lied about the stories. People were interested in lies not the realities of war. This gave birth to a raging conflict within Krebs, against the entire community. People were not interested in his stories and that left him in a state of shock. There were many criticisms regarding this point. As Hemingway’s "Soldier’s Home" opens, Harold Krebs, the protagonist, has just come back from World War I. All the other young men his age have settled back into small-town life and found a niche for themselves as contributing members of the community. But Harold, for some reason, cannot do this; instead, he plays pool, "practice[s] on his clarine t, stroll[s] down town, read[s], and [goes] to bed."(Bernardo, K., n. d.) "Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up". â€Å"It appears as if the town was never affected by the war, not as Krebs had been. The town radiates conformity, such as the girls all wearing the same clothes. Harold's mother and father wish for him to conform too, as he once did in college where he too wore the same clothes as his fraternity brothers†(Comtois, Jean P., n.d.).   The second instance in the story which depicts Krebs character slowly turning into an observer of life rather than living it is when he starts appreciating the beauty of the girls of his hometown, but does not want to involve into any relationship with them. In war he had learnt that, one did not need girls to survive, though few of his soldier friends thought differently, he did not believe that the complexities of relationship were worth it. When all of his other contemporaries had returned from the war and settled down into the culture of the town, it was he who could not relate to any emotion and did not even feel it to be worth it. He only felt comfortable eyeing things from a distant. Even this phase of Krebs life was up for many criticisms some of which are, â€Å"

Research Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Research - Case Study Example (Baer, 34) Implementing a fixed exchange rate in Brazil is not a plausible concept because the value of the currency is constantly decreasing with the constant flooding of the currency in the market. The availability of the currency has prompted the currency to continuously lose its value, hence the increase in inflation (Taylor, 76). The same strategy (of using a fixed system) was applied in Zimbabwe, but the country succumbed to the harsh nature of inflation, this led to the country disregarding the local currency and using US Dollars instead. The URV or Unidade Real de Valor is a currency that is used in Brazil that is not subjected to the effects of inflation in Brazil. The aim was to absorb the effects of inflation in the country. The Brazil government implemented a fixed exchange rate for the URV to the Dollar (1 URV = 1 USD). However, the main problem was the fact that obtaining the URV was expensive as compared to using cruzerios reais, which is widely used in Brazil (1 URV = CR$ 2,750). The demand for the URV has only served to increase the exchange rate, and it is playing its part in the inflation that has plagued Brazil. (Blanchard, 54) Implementing a free-floating exchange rate will allow the currency to trade based on the conditions and regulations that are implemented in the market. The advantage is that the exchange rate will be stabilized by these market forces hence serve to regulate the exchange in the best interest of the market. However, the major disadvantage is that, excess freedom in the market, may encourage cartels to manipulate the exchange rate to their advantage, which may inconvenience other players in the market. Implementing both fixed and free-floating exchange rate mechanisms would be the ideal setting for the market. There should be freedom in the market that will allow the market to determine the suitable exchange rate for the operations of the market (Lagassa, 98). The

Financial Statement Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Financial Statement Analysis - Research Paper Example 2.1.1 Which three (3) assets are most significant to the company? Using the notes to the financial statements, discuss the accounting methods used to value assets. What method(s) do the companies use to value inventory? What depreciation method(s) do the companies use to value property, plant and equipment? How are accounts receivable valued? The most significant assets of Home in 2010 included merchandise inventory, Property and equipment and other current assets constituting about 26%, 62% and 3% of the total assets respectively. Compared to 2009, the most significant were merchandise inventory, Property and equipment and other current assets constituting about 25%, 63% and 3% of the total assets respectively. The companies appear to have inventories and property as top two most significant assets for both years and this should describe the nature of the industry that they are in. The three most significant assets of Lowe for 2010 would include merchandise inventory, Property and long-term investment constituting about 24.7%, 65.5 and 3% of the total assets respectively. Compared to 2009, the most significant were merchandise inventory, Property and cash and cash equivalents constituting about 25%, 68.2 and 1.9% of the total assets respectively. For Home depot on the other hand, Bother company value their inventory using lower of cost or market under first in first out (FIFO) basis. Both companies used the straight-line depreciation method Receivables are valued by both companies using fair value. The three of the most significant liabilities to HD include the following: Accounts Payable, Accrued Expenses and Long-term Debt. For HD There have been no significant change to liabilities from 2009 to 2010 except on deferred tax which decreased by 15%. The three of the most significant liabilities to LOW include the following:

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Globalization - Essay Example The opponents of globalisation until now have achieved greater success in garnering support from the public, owing to their ability for framing arguments in their favour, focussing on issues like use of child labour by MNCs in developing economies, and indifference of the developed nations towards serious health issues like AIDS seen rampantly spreading in the developing nations. The proponents of globalisation on the other hand present statistical data in their favour that though scien...tifically sound evidences are often difficult to comprehend from the viewpoint of a layman (ibid). Despite the contentions over globalisation and its effects, in the past three decades, observations reveal that large-scale globalisation and worldwide interconnectedness have gained increased popularity in all spheres of life, ranging from economic to technology to cultural. Globalisation of world economy has occurred due to rapid expansion of trade, financial activities, production of goods, which li nks economic growth and development of all nations across the world within the main trading zones (developed nations) and beyond (emerging economies of developing nations). As was evident during the global economic crunch of 2007-2008, currently globalisation has taken place to such extent that no national economy can safeguard itself from the ‘contagion effect’ of the disturbances within global financial markets (Baylis, Smith and Owens, 2011). The term globalisation can be interpreted in various ways. According to the most popular interpretation, the term means creation of a uniform platform at global basis, where there is synchronisation of technology, economy and culture, to create a standardised world. This perspective primarily translates into referring globalisation as westernisation of the oriental world. According to another perspective, globalisation is a form of hybridisation that creates a melange of various cultures and socioeconomic structures worldwide. H owever, from a study of the various perspectives it is not easy to derive a particular ‘correct’ interpretation, as the meaning of the term can vary based on the context on which it is used. As for example, economics globalisation, which takes place through the integration of national economies with the global economy via foreign direct investments or FDIs, capital flows, immigration and spread of technological knowledge in all fields, refers to liberalisation of trade markets and spread of capitalist market values (Bhagwati, 2004). In the arena of international relations, it refers to the development of global power play with more focus on interstate relations. Globalisation within sociology relates to changes within the present society its effects and the development of the so-called ‘global society,’ while in cultural context globalisation pertains to the study of effects of global interconnectedness on the culture and identity of various communities wor ldwide. Therefore, it is quite clear that globalisation has many facets and is hence difficult to delineate and ascertain whether it is a panacea (as per the neo-liberals who are strong proponents of globalisation) or a plague (as per the leftists or the anti-neoliberal group forum that are against

Outline and assess the different explanations of poverty in society Essay

Outline and assess the different explanations of poverty in society - Essay Example Moving further ahead, we need to outline and assess the exact manner as to why poverty exists in the society and what are the reasons for the same being within it as well. Poverty exists because there is a general feeling of helplessness within the society and more so, on those people who are at the helm of it. This means that poverty exists due to a certain reason – helplessness caused by greed and selfishness of other individuals who can bring about a change within the society but prefer to keep themselves at ease and in the process earn more and more with each passing day. Thus selfishness within the elites is surely one problem that brings to light the issue of poverty in front of one and all. Poverty can be minimized but not really finished since one catastrophe or the other on the face of the earth brings misery for the people under discussion and hence this leads to poverty which is basically fed upon them. However there are other reasons for poverty to exist within the society as well. Another point that is of significance here includes exploitation at all possible levels. It means that people who know work but do not have authority to properly market it are exploited upon and basically they get ‘used’ by others who are most definitely the people sitting at the top, at least on them. The hierarchy is thus set from top to bottom, where the top most man or woman is doing certain things which are asking for favors, though in the rightful sense for a cheap cost. It means that no matter how properly the job is done by the skillful labor, he would not be paid for his work which is in accordance with the natural justice. In fact he will be told to accept at a price which would be way below the mark in order to win future assignments of a similar nature. This entices the laborer to give in his best, but for a

Western philosophy Essay Example for Free

Western philosophy Essay Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. [1][2] Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. [3] In more casual speech, by extension, philosophy can refer to the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group. [4] The word philosophy comes from the Ancient Greek (philosophia), which literally means love of wisdom. [5][6][7] The introduction of the terms philosopher and philosophy has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras. [8] Contents [hide] 1 Areas of inquiry 1. 1 Epistemology 1. 2 Logic 1. 3 Metaphysics 1. 4 Moral and political philosophy 1. 5 Aesthetics 1. 6 Specialized branches 2 History 2. 1 Ancient philosophy 2. 1. 1 Egypt and Babylon 2. 1. 2 Ancient Chinese 2. 1. 3 Ancient Graeco-Roman 2. 1. 4 Ancient Indian 2. 1. 5 Ancient Persian 2. 2 5th–16th centuries 2. 2. 1 Europe 2. 2. 1. 1 Medieval 2. 2. 1. 2 Renaissance 2. 2. 2 East Asia 2. 2. 3 India 2. 2. 4 Middle East 2. 3 17th–20th centuries 2. 3. 1 Early modern philosophy 2. 3. 2 19th-century philosophy 2. 3. 3 20th-century philosophy 3 Major traditions 3. 1 German idealism 3. 2 Pragmatism 3. 3 Phenomenology 3. 4 Existentialism 3. 5 Structuralism and post-structuralism 3. 6 The analytic tradition 4 Applied philosophy 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 7. 1 Introductions 7. 2 Topical introductions 7. 3 Anthologies 7. 4 Reference works 8 External links Areas of inquiry Philosophy is divided into many sub-fields. These include epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics. [9][10] Some of the major areas of study are considered individually below. Epistemology Main article: Epistemology Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge,[11] such as the relationships between truth, belief, and theories of justification. Skepticism is the position which questions the possibility of completely justifying any truth. The regress argument, a fundamental problem in epistemology, occurs when, in order to completely prove any statement P, its justification itself needs to be supported by another justification. This chain can do three possible options, all of which are unsatisfactory according to the Munchhausen trilemma. One option is infinitism, where this chain of justification can go on forever. Another option is foundationalism, where the chain of justifications eventually relies on basic beliefs or axioms that are left unproven. The last option, such as in coherentism, is making the chain circular so that a statement is included in its own chain of justification. Rationalism is the emphasis on reasoning as a source of knowledge. Empiricism is the emphasis on observational evidence via sensory experience over other evidence as the source of knowledge. Rationalism claims that every possible object of knowledge can be deduced from coherent premises without observation. Empiricism claims that at least some knowledge is only a matter of observation. For this, Empiricism often cites the concept of tabula rasa, where individuals are not born with mental content and that knowledge builds from experience or perception. Epistemological solipsism is the idea that the existence of the world outside the mind is an unresolvable question. Parmenides (fl. 500 BC) argued that it is impossible to doubt that thinking actually occurs. But thinking must have an object, therefore something beyond thinking really exists. Parmenides deduced that what really exists must have certain properties—for example, that it cannot come into existence or cease to exist, that it is a coherent whole, that it remains the same eternally (in fact, exists altogether outside time). This is known as the third man argument. Plato (427–347 BC) combined rationalism with a form of realism. The philosophers work is to consider being, and the essence (ousia) of things. But the characteristic of essences is that they are universal. The nature of a man, a triangle, a tree, applies to all men, all triangles, all trees. Plato argued that these essences are mind-independent forms, that humans (but particularly philosophers) can come to know by reason, and by ignoring the distractions of sense-perception. Modern rationalism begins with Descartes. Reflection on the nature of perceptual experience, as well as scientific discoveries in physiology and optics, led Descartes (and also Locke) to the view that we are directly aware of ideas, rather than objects. This view gave rise to three questions: Is an idea a true copy of the real thing that it represents? Sensation is not a direct interaction between bodily objects and our sense, but is a physiological process involving representation (for example, an image on the retina). Locke thought that a secondary quality such as a sensation of green could in no way resemble the arrangement of particles in matter that go to produce this sensation, although he thought that primary qualities such as shape, size, number, were really in objects. How can physical objects such as chairs and tables, or even physiological processes in the brain, give rise to mental items such as ideas? This is part of what became known as the mind-body problem. If all the contents of awareness are ideas, how can we know that anything exists apart from ideas? Descartes tried to address the last problem by reason. He began, echoing Parmenides, with a principle that he thought could not coherently be denied: I think, therefore I am (often given in his original Latin: Cogito ergo sum). From this principle, Descartes went on to construct a complete system of knowledge (which involves proving the existence of God, using, among other means, a version of the ontological argument). [12] His view that reason alone could yield substantial truths about reality strongly influenced those philosophers usually considered modern rationalists (such as Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz, and Christian Wolff), while provoking criticism from other philosophers who have retrospectively come to be grouped together as empiricists. Logic Main article: Logic Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning. Arguments use either deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning is when, given certain statements (called premises), other statements (called conclusions) are unavoidably implied. Rules of inferences from premises include the most popular method, modus ponens, where given â€Å"A† and â€Å"If A then B†, then â€Å"B† must be concluded. A common convention for a deductive argument is the syllogism. An argument is termed valid if its conclusion does indeed follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not, while an argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true. Propositional logic uses premises that are propositions, which are declarations that are either true or false, while predicate logic uses more complex premises called formulae that contain variables. These can be assigned values or can be quantified as to when they apply with the universal quantifier (always apply) or the existential quantifier (applies at least once). Inductive reasoning makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning. For example, if â€Å"90% of humans are right-handed† and â€Å"Joe is human† then â€Å"Joe is probably right-handed†. Fields in logic include mathematical logic (formal symbolic logic) and philosophical logic. Metaphysics Main article: Metaphysics. Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, the relationship between mind and body, objects and their properties, wholes and their parts, events, processes, and causation. Traditional branches of metaphysics include cosmology, the study of the world in its entirety, and ontology, the study of being. Within metaphysics itself there are a wide range of differing philosophical theories. Idealism, for example, is the belief that reality is mentally constructed or otherwise immaterial while realism holds that reality, or at least some part of it, exists independently of the mind. Subjective idealism describes objects as no more than collections or bundles of sense data in the perceiver. The 18th century philosopher George Berkeley contended that existence is fundamentally tied to perception with the phrase Esse est aut percipi aut percipere or To be is to be perceived or to perceive. [13] In addition to the aforementioned views, however, there is also an ontological dichotomy within metaphysics between the concepts of particulars and universals as well. Particulars are those objects that are said to exist in space and time, as opposed to abstract objects, such as numbers. Universals are properties held by multiple particulars, such as redness or a gender. The type of existence, if any, of universals and abstract objects is an issue of serious debate within metaphysical philosophy. Realism is the philosophical position that universals do in fact exist, while nominalism is the negation, or denial of universals, abstract objects, or both. [14] Conceptualism holds that universals exist, but only within the minds perception. [15] The question of whether or not existence is a predicate has been discussed since the Early Modern period. Essence is the set of attributes that make an object what it fundamentally is and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the substance has contingently, without which the substance can still retain its identity. Moral and political philosophy Ethics, or moral philosophy, is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily, concerning the question of whether this question can be answered. The main branches of ethics are meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concerns the nature of ethical thought, such as the origins of the words good and bad, and origins of other comparative words of various ethical systems, whether there are absolute ethical truths, and how such truths could be known. Normative ethics are more concerned with the questions of how one ought to act, and what the right course of action is. This is where most ethical theories are generated. Lastly, applied ethics go beyond theory and step into real world ethical practice, such as questions of whether or not abortion is correct. Ethics is also associated with the idea of morality, and the two are often interchangeable. One debate that has commanded the attention of ethicists in the modern era has been between consequentialism (actions are to be morally evaluated solely by their consequences) and deontology (actions are to be morally evaluated solely by consideration of agents duties, the rights of those whom the action concerns, or both). Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill are famous for propagating utilitarianism, which is the idea that the fundamental moral rule is to strive toward the greatest happiness for the greatest number. However, in promoting this idea they also necessarily promoted the broader doctrine of consequentialism. Adopting a position opposed to consequentialism, Immanuel Kant argued that moral principles were simply products of reason. Kant believed that the incorporation of consequences into moral deliberation was a deep mistake, since it denies the necessity of practical maxims in governing the working of the will. According to Kant, reason requires that we conform our actions to the categorical imperative, which is an absolute duty. An important 20th-century deontologist, W. D. Ross, argued for weaker forms of duties called prima facie duties. More recent works have emphasized the role of character in ethics, a movement known as the aretaic turn (that is, the turn towards virtues). One strain of this movement followed the work of Bernard Williams. Williams noted that rigid forms of consequentialism and deontology demanded that people behave impartially. This, Williams argued, requires that people abandon their personal projects, and hence their personal integrity, in order to be considered moral. G. E. M. Anscombe, in an influential paper, Modern Moral Philosophy (1958), revived virtue ethics as an alternative to what was seen as the entrenched positions of Kantianism and consequentialism. Aretaic perspectives have been inspired in part by research of ancient conceptions of virtue. For example, Aristotles ethics demands that people follow the Aristotelian mean, or balance between two vices; and Confucian ethics argues that virtue consists largely in striving for harmony with other people. Virtue ethics in general has since gained many adherents, and has been defended by such philosophers as Philippa Foot, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Rosalind Hursthouse. Political philosophy is the study of government and the relationship of individuals (or families and clans) to communities including the state. It includes questions about justice, law, property, and the rights and obligations of the citizen. Politics and ethics are traditionally inter-linked subjects, as both discuss the question of what is good and how people should live. From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. In The Republic, Plato presented the argument that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings, since those best at philosophy are best able to realize the good. Even Plato, however, required philosophers to make their way in the world for many years before beginning their rule at the age of fifty. For Aristotle, humans are political animals (i. e. social animals), and governments are set up to pursue good for the community. Aristotle reasoned that, since the state (polis) was the highest form of community, it has the purpose of pursuing the highest good. Aristotle viewed political power as the result of natural inequalities in skill and virtue. Because of these differences, he favored an aristocracy of the able and virtuous. For Aristotle, the person cannot be complete unless he or she lives in a community. His The Nicomachean Ethics and The Politics are meant to be read in that order. The first book addresses virtues (or excellences) in the person as a citizen; the second addresses the proper form of government to ensure that citizens will be virtuous, and therefore complete. Both books deal with the essential role of justice in civic life. Nicolas of Cusa rekindled Platonic thought in the early 15th century. He promoted democracy in Medieval Europe, both in his writings and in his organization of the Council of Florence. Unlike Aristotle and the Hobbesian tradition to follow, Cusa saw human beings as equal and divine (that is, made in Gods image), so democracy would be the only just form of government. Cusas views are credited by some as sparking the Italian Renaissance, which gave rise to the notion of Nation-States. Later, Niccolo Machiavelli rejected the views of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas as unrealistic. The ideal sovereign is not the embodiment of the moral virtues; rather the sovereign does whatever is successful and necessary, rather than what is morally praiseworthy. Thomas Hobbes also contested many elements of Aristotles views. For Hobbes, human nature is essentially anti-social: people are essentially egoistic, and this egoism makes life difficult in the natural state of things. Moreover, Hobbes argued, though people may have natural inequalities, these are trivial, since no particular talents or virtues that people may have will make them safe from harm inflicted by others. For these reasons, Hobbes concluded that the state arises from a common agreement to raise the community out of the state of nature. This can only be done by the establishment of a sovereign, in which (or whom) is vested complete control over the community, and is able to inspire awe and terror in its subjects. [16] Many in the Enlightenment were unsatisfied with existing doctrines in political philosophy, which seemed to marginalize or neglect the possibility of a democratic state. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was among those who attempted to overturn these doctrines: he responded to Hobbes by claiming that a human is by nature a kind of noble savage, and that society and social contracts corrupt this nature. Another critic was John Locke. In Second Treatise on Government he agreed with Hobbes that the nation-state was an efficient tool for raising humanity out of a deplorable state, but he argued that the sovereign might become an abominable institution compared to the relatively benign unmodulated state of nature. [17] Following the doctrine of the fact-value distinction, due in part to the influence of David Hume and his student Adam Smith, appeals to human nature for political justification were weakened. Nevertheless, many political philosophers, especially moral realists, still make use of some essential human nature as a basis for their arguments. Marxism is derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Their idea that capitalism is based on exploitation of workers and causes alienation of people from their human nature, the historical materialism, their view of social classes, etc. , have influenced many fields of study, such as sociology, economics, and politics. Marxism inspired the Marxist school of communism, which brought a huge impact on the history of the 20th century. Aesthetics Main article: Aesthetics Aesthetics deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory-emotional values, perception, and matters of taste and sentiment. Specialized branches. Philosophy of language explores the nature, the origins, and the use of language. Philosophy of law (often called jurisprudence) explores the varying theories explaining the nature and the interpretations of the law in society. Philosophy of mind explores the nature of the mind, and its relationship to the body, and is typified by disputes between dualism and materialism. In recent years there has been increasing similarity between this branch of philosophy and cognitive science. Philosophy of religion Philosophy of science Metaphilosophy Many academic disciplines have also generated philosophical inquiry. These include history, logic, and mathematics. History Main article: History of philosophy See also: Western philosophy, Eastern philosophy, and History of Western philosophy Further information: Philosophical progress Many societies have considered philosophical questions and built philosophical traditions based upon each others works. Eastern philosophy is organized by the chronological periods of each region. Historians of western philosophy usually divide the subject into three or more periods, the most important being ancient philosophy, medieval philosophy, and modern philosophy. [18] Ancient philosophy Main article: Ancient philosophy Egypt and Babylon Further information: Babylonian literature: Philosophy and Ancient Egyptian philosophy Main article: African philosophy There are authors who date the philosophical maxims of Ptahhotep before the 25th century. For instance, Pulitzer Prize winning historian Will Durant dates these writings as early as 2880 BCE within The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental History. Durant claims that Ptahhotep could be considered the very first philosopher in virtue of having the earliest and surviving fragments of moral philosophy (i. e., The Maxims of Ptah-Hotep). [19][20] Ptahhoteps grandson, Ptahhotep Tshefi, is traditionally credited with being the author of the collection of wise sayings known as The Maxims of Ptahhotep,[21] whose opening lines attribute authorship to the vizier Ptahhotep: Instruction of the Mayor of the city, the Vizier Ptahhotep, under the Majesty of King Isesi. The origins of Babylonian philosophy can be traced back to the wisdom of early Mesopotamia, which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics, in the forms of dialectic, dialogues, epic poetry, folklore, hymns, lyrics, prose, and proverbs. The reasoning and rationality of the Babylonians developed beyond empirical observation. [22] The Babylonian text Dialog of Pessimism contains similarities to the agnostic thought of the sophists, the Heraclitean doctrine of contrasts, and the dialogues of Plato, as well as a precursor to the maieutic Socratic method of Socrates and Plato. [23] The Milesian philosopher Thales is also traditionally said to have studied philosophy in Mesopotamia. Ancient Chinese Philosophy has had a tremendous effect on Chinese civilization, and throughout East Asia. The majority of Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the Hundred Schools of Thought,[24] which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments. [24] It was during this era that the major philosophies of China, Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and Taoism, arose, along with philosophies that later fell into obscurity, like Agriculturalism, Chinese Naturalism, and the Logicians. Of the many philosophical schools of China, only Confucianism and Taoism existed after the Qin Dynasty suppressed any Chinese philosophy that was opposed to Legalism. Confucianism is humanistic,[25] philosophy that believes that human beings are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour especially including self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucianism focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, the most basic of which are ren, yi, and li. [26] Ren is an obligation of altruism and humaneness for other individuals within a community, yi is the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good, and li is a system of norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act within a community. [26] Taoism focuses on establishing harmony with the Tao, which is origin of and the totality of everything that exists. The word Tao (or Dao, depending on the romanization scheme) is usually translated as way, path or principle. Taoist propriety and ethics emphasize the Three Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility, while Taoist thought generally focuses on nature, the relationship between humanity and the cosmos ( ); health and longevity; and wu wei, action through inaction. Harmony with the Universe, or the origin of it through the Tao, is the intended result of many Taoist rules and practices. Ancient Graeco-Roman Ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy is a period of Western philosophy, starting in the 6th century [c. 585] BC to the 6th century AD. It is usually divided into three periods: the pre-Socratic period, the period of Plato and Aristotle, and the post-Aristotelian (or Hellenistic) period. A fourth period that is sometimes added includes the Neoplatonic and Christian philosophers of Late Antiquity. The most important of the ancient philosophers (in terms of subsequent influence) are Plato and Aristotle. [27] Plato specifically, is credited as the founder of Western philosophy. The philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said of Plato: The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. I do not mean the systematic scheme of thought which scholars have doubtfully extracted from his writings. I allude to the wealth of general ideas scattered through them. [28] The main subjects of ancient philosophy are: understanding the fundamental causes and principles of the universe; explaining it in an economical way; the epistemological problem of reconciling the diversity and change of the natural universe, with the possibility of obtaining fixed and certain knowledge about it; questions about things that cannot be perceived by the senses, such as numbers, elements, universals, and gods. Socrates is said to have been the initiator of more focused study upon the human things including the analysis of patterns of reasoning and argument and the nature of the good life and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of justice, and its relation to various political systems. [27] In this period the crucial features of the Western philosophical method were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentation. This includes Socrates dialectic method of inquiry, known as the Socratic method or method of elenchus, which he largely applied to the examination of key moral concepts such as the Good and Justice. To solve a problem, it would be broken down into a series of questions, the answers to which gradually distill the answer a person would seek. The influence of this approach is most strongly felt today in the use of the scientific method, in which hypothesis is the first stage. Ancient Indian Main article: Indian philosophy. Further information: Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, Jain philosophy, and Upanishads The term Indian philosophy (Sanskrit: Darshanas), refers to any of several schools of philosophical thought that originated in the Indian subcontinent, including Hindu philosophy, Buddhist philosophy, and Jain philosophy. Having the same or rather intertwined origins, all of these philosophies have a common underlying themes of Dharma and Karma, and similarly attempt to explain the attainment of emancipation. They have been formalized and promulgated chiefly between 1000 BC to a few centuries AD. Indias philosophical tradition dates back to the composition of the Upanisads[29] in the later Vedic period (c. 1000-500 BCE). Subsequent schools (Skt: Darshanas) of Indian philosophy were identified as orthodox (Skt: astika) or non-orthodox (Skt: nastika) depending on whether they regarded the Vedas as an infallible source of knowledge. [30] By some classifications, there are six schools of orthodox Hindu philosophy and three heterodox schools. The orthodox are Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva mimamsa and Vedanta. The Heterodox are Jain, Buddhist and materialist (Carvaka). Other classifications also include Pashupata, Saiva, Rasesvara and Pa? ini Darsana with the other orthodox schools. [31] Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years, especially between 500 BC to 200 AD. Some like the Jain, Buddhist, Shaiva and Vedanta schools survived, while others like Samkhya and Ajivika did not, either being assimilated or going extinct. The Sanskrit term for philosopher is darsanika, one who is familiar with the systems of philosophy, or darsanas. [32] In the history of the Indian subcontinent, following the establishment of a Vedic culture, the development of philosophical and religious thought over a period of two millennia gave rise to what came to be called the six schools of astika, or orthodox, Indian or Hindu philosophy. These schools have come to be synonymous with the greater religion of Hinduism, which was a development of the early Vedic religion. Ancient Persian Main article: Iranian philosophy Persian philosophy can be traced back as far as Old Iranian philosophical traditions and thoughts, with their ancient Indo-Iranian roots. These were considerably influenced by Zarathustras teachings. Throughout Iranian history and due to remarkable political and social influences such as the Macedonian, the Arab, and the Mongol invasions of Persia, a wide spectrum of schools of thought arose. These espoused a variety of views on philosophical questions, extending from Old Iranian and mainly Zoroastrianism-influenced traditions to schools appearing in the late pre-Islamic era, such as Manicheism and Mazdakism, as well as various post-Islamic schools. Iranian philosophy after Arab invasion of Persia is characterized by different interactions with the old Iranian philosophy, the Greek philosophy and with the development of Islamic philosophy. Illuminationism and the transcendent theosophy are regarded as two of the main philosophical traditions of that era in Persia. Zoroastrianism has been identified as one of the key early events in the development of philosophy. [33] 5th–16th centuries Europe Medieval. Medieval philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages, roughly extending from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance. [34] Medieval philosophy is defined partly by the rediscovery and further development of classical Greek and Hellenistic philosophy, and partly by the need to address theological problems and to integrate the then widespread sacred doctrines of Abrahamic religion (Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) with secular learning. The history of western European medieval philosophy is traditionally divided into two main periods: the period in the Latin West following the Early Middle Ages until the 12th century, when the works of Aristotle and Plato were preserved and cultivated; and the golden age[citation needed] of the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries in the Latin West, which witnessed the culmination of the recovery of ancient philosophy, and significant developments in the field of philosophy of religion, logic and metaphysics. The medieval era was disparagingly treated by the Renaissance humanists, who saw it as a barbaric middle period between the classical age of Greek and Roman culture, and the rebirth or renaissance of classical culture. Yet this period of nearly a thousand years was the longest period of philosophical development in Europe, and possibly the richest. Jorge Gracia has argued that in intensity, sophistication, and achievement, the philosophical flowering in the thirteenth century could be rightly said to rival the golden age of Greek philosophy in the fourth century B. C. [35] Some problems discussed throughout this period are the relation of faith to reason, the existence and unity of God, the object of theology and metaphysics, the problems of knowledge, of universals, and of individuation. Philosophers from the Middle Ages include the Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Anselm, Gilbert of Poitiers, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan; the Jewish philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides; and the Muslim philosophers Alkindus, Alfarabi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer, Ibn Khaldun, and Averroes. The medieval tradition of Scholasticism continued to flourish as late as the 17th century, in figures such as Francisco Suarez and John of St. Thomas. Aquinas, father of Thomism, was immensely influential in Catholic Europe, placed a great emphasis on reason and argumentation, and was one of the first to use the new translation of Aristotles metaphysical and epistemological writing. His work was a significant departure from the Neoplatonic and Augustinian thinking that had dominated much of early Scholasticism. Renaissance The Renaissance (rebirth) was a period of transition between the Middle Ages and modern thought,[36] in which the recovery of classical texts helped shift philosophical interests away from technical studies in logic, metaphysics, and theology towards eclectic inquiries into morality, philology, and mysticism. [37][38] The study of the classics and the humane arts generally, such as history and literature, enjoyed a scholarly interest hitherto unknown in Christendom, a tendency referred to as humanism. [39][40] Displacing the medieval interest in metaphysics and logic, the humanists followed Petrarch in making man and his virtues the focus of philosophy. [41][42] The study of classical philosophy also developed in two new ways. On the one hand, the study of Aristotle was changed through the influence of Averroism. The disagreements between these Averroist Aristotelians, and more orthodox catholic Aristotelians such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas eventually contributed to the development of a humanist Aristotelianism developed in the Renaissance, as exemplified in the thought of Pietro Pomponazzi and Giacomo Zabarella. Secondly, as an alternative to Aristotle, the study of Plato and the Neoplatonists became common. This was assisted by the rediscovery of works which had not been well known previously in Western Europe. Notable Renaissance Platonists include Nicholas of Cusa, and later Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. [42] The Renaissance also renewed interest in anti-.

Effects of Agenda for Change on Psychologists

Effects of Agenda for Change on Psychologists What is Agenda for Change? What are the likely implications of Agenda for Change for clinical  psychologists and other healthcare staff working in  the UK? Agenda for Change, implemented in December 2004, is a comprehensive pay reform package for 1.2 million NHS staff. It has brought about improved correlation between career and pay, proving to be the biggest overhaul in this area for 50 years. As part of Agenda for Change, the NHS Job Evaluation Scheme has helped coordinate rates of pay with a hierarchy of job profiles. The Job Evaluation Group, a subgroup of the NHS staff council, has so far produced over 200 national job profiles. On a more personal level the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework was introduced to advance the interrelation between education, development and career progression. This Framework will develop a culture of lifelong learning in the NHS, promoting annual development reviews and encouraging staff learning. Agenda for Change aims to boost morale and staff retention, as well as improving diversity and family-friendly flexibility. Furthermore, as a result of pay improvements, it is hoped that the system will precipitate long term improvements in every aspect of patient care and service delivery. These changes aim to include a reduction in waiting times, improvement in the quality of treatment/care, and upgraded working practises. NHS Job Evaluation Scheme Job Evaluation attempts to provide a systematic approach to determining the relative worth of jobs within a workplace. The Scheme makes provision for most NHS jobs to be matched to nationally evaluated profiles on the basis of information from job descriptions, person specifications and additional information. National job profiles additionally provide a framework against which to check the consistency of local evaluations. Job Evaluation itself does not determine the rate of pay it simply produces a hierarchy of jobs. It examines the demands made by the job and the value of the job in the organisation. In March 2005 Clinical psychologists profiles were reviewed profiles are intended to apply to all psychologist jobs in the Health Service, (Amicus the Union: 2004). At the end of March 2006, 99% of all NHS staff had been moved to the Agenda for Change terms and conditions, and since June 2006 the NHS has invested  £ 1.1 billion in staff. The new pay system The impetus behind Agenda for Change was the need to address pay inequality, Thus the new system aims to create equal pay for equal work, with a series of three pay spines: Doctors and Dentists Nursing and Other Health Professionals NHS staff, (excluding the most senior managers). (Agenda for Change: NHS terms and conditions of service handbook, January 2005) Both the second and third pay spine will be divided into nine pay bands, and within each band there will be a number of pay points. The Job Evaluation Scheme determines the correct pay band for each post and thus the correct pay. The NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF) and the development review process. KSF and the development review process is the core of the career and pay progression outlined in Agenda for Change. By October 2005 all staff had in addition to updated job descriptions a description of the knowledge and skills needed to do a job. KSF concentrates on how acquired knowledge and skills might be applied in certain areas. (Department of Health: 2004) Everyone has their own personal development plan, created jointly in discussion with their line manager. Each year there will be a joint review of the work where new targets for development are set. At the first one, the psychologist (or other NHS staff) agrees on a personal development plan with their line manager. The aim is to meet these targets and then move up one pay point. There are two points called â€Å"gateways† in each pay band. The first gateway takes place no later than 12 months after appointment to ensure that the appointee can meet the basic demands of the post. The second gateway is set at a fixed point towards the top of the pay band. Implications Positive In June 2004 the final draft for psychology job profiles, job evaluation, job descriptions and person specifications was ready. It was a thorough and detailed document, agreed to be beneficial for clinical psychologists. For example, it included a Job description and Personal specification suitable for newly qualified clinical psychologists called Band 7 8a, making it possible to move from band 7 to 8 within a couple of years. (Amicus: 2004). KSF encourages positive learning development and career progression, giving the individual more freedom and control over their career. The objectivity of the frameworks for reviewing and evaluating clinical work can be advantageous. However, evaluations will always be dependant upon the relationship between the persons involved, giving room for differences of opinions and idiosyncrasies. Negative The announcement in autumn 2005 of around 13000 job cuts for nurses in NHS was in part the result of hospital trusts’ efforts to balance the books in the aftermath of the hugely increased wages bill brought about by the implementation of Agenda for Change (The Guardian, 2006). Although no job cuts for clinical psychologists have been announced, there is a tendency to withdraw funding when vacancies arise. (Amicus: 2006) The reduced staffing level increases the workload for existing staff, perhaps to a degree that the increased pay doesn’t compensate for. Increased demand for back pay[1] Conclusion Although the implementation of Agenda for Change has been fraught with difficulties and economic unrest there are indications that the new system is bringing about positive changes in some areas. In the Agenda for Change Briefing (June 2006) NHS employers stated that †the reform has been a success story.â€Å" However, many organisations are only now coming to the end of the implementation period and it will take at least a year or two for success criteria to emerge. In conclusion, it is perhaps too early to fairly evaluate the implications for clinical psychologists and other health care staff. References Agenda for Change: NHS terms and conditions of service handbook, January 2005: Available from: ‘http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/HumanResourcesAndTraining/ModernisingPay/AgendaForChange/fs/en’  [Accessed 7/11/06] Amicus, the Union,: Clinical psychologist and psychology assistant profiles, 2004:  Available from:  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœhttp://www.amicustheunion.org’  [Accessed 8/11/06] Amicus, the Union: Grading guidance for clinical psychologists,2004  http://www.amicustheunion.org/ Amicus, the Union, Press Release, September 2006: Available From:  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœhttp://www.amicustheunion.org/’ Department of Health :Agenda for Change What will it mean for you? A guide for staff, 11/10/2004: Available from: ‘http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4090842chk=djtkBc’  [Accessed 8/11/06] Department of Health: The NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework (NHS KSF) and the Development Review Process (October 2004): Available from: ‘http://www.dh.gov.uk’  [Accessed 8/11/06] The Guardian, April 24, 2006  Ã¢â‚¬ËœCumbrian nurses finally get equal pay cash’: Personnel Today, Jan 2006 Footnotes [1] See article in Personnel Today concerning the case of hundreds of nurses lodging equal pay complaints as a result of the new NHS Agenda for Change pay system (Personnel Today, January 2006).

Elements of Fiction in Danielle Steel’s Mixed Blessings :: Danielle Steel Mixed Blessings Essays

Elements of Fiction in Danielle Steel’s Mixed Blessings Danielle Steel, in her work of fiction, Mixed Blessings, has effectively used plot, setting, and theme as she weaves a powerful tale of three couples who face decisions about having children that will test, in unexpected ways, the ties that bind them as lovers, partners, and friends. Steel has used these elements to emphasize that there are people who have such a great need and love for children. In Mixed Blessings, she represents women radically and optimistically as shown by Diana Goode, Barbie Mason, and Pilar Graham, unlike the negative representation of womanhood in the movie version of her other novel, The Ring, where Kassandra feels that taking her own life would save her children and her husband from the shame of her unfaithfulness. First, there is a major plot structure in Mixed Blessings, the plot of complications. Right from the beginning, Steel portrays the female characters in terms of their dreams, careers, and their curiosity about having a family. For instance, Diana is the middle child amongst three sisters; her goal is to classically strive to be better, smarter, and more successful. She feels that she has to achieve something more than her sisters have done. Gayle, Diana’s older sister has a dream of attending medical school, but she happily succumbs to marriage temptation. In fact, in Steel’s own words Gayle’s situation is described as: Her oldest sister, Gayle, had been set on going to medical school until she met her husband in her first year of premed, married him that June, and instantly got pregnant. . . . Gayle never looked back at a career in medicine once. She was happily married, and satisfied to stay home with her girls and keep busy with them and her husband. She was the perfect doctor’s wife, intelligent, informed, and completely understanding about his hours as an obstetrician. (6) As the plot progresses, Diana has her own complications from the Intrauterine Device (IUD) she has been using for the past eighteen years. The IUD delayed her from having a child immediately after her marriage. Another aspect of plot that Steel has used in this novel is the reversal of fortune, where Diana, the young elegant looking woman, who knows where she is going and what she wants out of life, ends up being frustrated about inability to have a child.

Physics and Collision Detection Engines for Computer Applications :: physics video game computer

Includes program code Physics engines are used to simulate real physical interactions in a virtual environment. Many 3d based applications have physic engines included. Software such as modeling and animation programs, have physics engines that tell the program how the models react to certain forces to make them seem more realistic. This is used in the movie industry when creating computer generated effects to composite with live footage. They computer generated images need to look and react the same as real objects. Physics engines help determine the Game software include physics engines to create a a richer environment for the gamer to experience. By using physics engines, encounters do not have to follow pre-scripted courses, but can appear to react as they would in the real world. In both industries effects such as fire, smoke, fluid dynamics, and geometry-based sound all benefit from physics engines. Nothing moves by itself. Animating objects using traditional methods is complicated and time-consumin g. You have to "tell" the object specifically where to go and what to do. Creating natural motion means that objects will respond to environmental forces spontaneously. For example, if there is nothing to support it, an object should fall to the ground and come to rest. Physics-based simulation is a first step in making objects move the way they do in real-life, but there is more to it than that. The aim of natural behavior technology is to generate the expected behavior of the objects that appear in a 3D application. This includes satisfying the laws of physics (or an interesting deviation from them) and some degree of artificial intelligence and autonomous simulated behavior. Physics engines are basically code libraries. When a object is created it is giving a set of values for mass, height, weight, initial velocity, center of gravity, ect, ect. Then when a reaction needs to be calculated these values are used along with the correct formula. These formulas are part of the library and are stored along with it. The reason physics engines are hard to create is because it has to write functions to caculate certain reactions and has to have functions for every single reaction that could take place. In more complex environments there could be millions of formulas needed to be able to give correct answers for all the reactions. They used as reference libraries in the coding for the particular application that needs a physics engine and the functions are called on in that code.

In A View From The Bridge, Show How The Audiences Opinion Of Eddie :: English Literature

In A View From The Bridge, Show How The Audience's Opinion Of Eddie Changes. In A View From The Bridge, Show How The Audience's Opinion Of Eddie Changes. Refer To The Dramatic Effects Of A Few Key Scenes A View From The Bridge is a play by Arthur Miller. It was first produced as a one-act play in verse in 1955, and had the name of An Italian Tragedy. The play is rooted in the late 1940's when Miller became interested in the works and lives of the communities of the longshoremen of New York's Brooklyn Bridge where he had previously worked. He mentioned it in his autobiography Timebends as 'waterfront was the Wild West, a desert beyond the law', where was populated and worked by people who came to America seeking the 'American Dream', wealth, work and security which their own countries could not guarantee. This play was set in the 1950's, and at that time America was seen as the land of opportunity for many people, to start a new life, escape their past or just for a change, people believed America held the key. However this was not the case, as immigrants often lived in the most run down parts of town and found themselves out of work and with little money to live on the or send their families at home. Miller was concerned with this living through the depression, which bankrupted his father, and he saw the effects on the ordinary people. It was during this time that Miller heard a story from one of his lawyer friend of 'a longshoremen who had "ratted" to the immigration bureau on two brothers, his own relatives, who were living illegally in his very home, in order to break an engagement between one of them and his niece. ' This story became the model of A View From The Bridge when he paid a visit to Sicily and saw the awkward situation of the Italians without work and food, combined with his own experiences of Italian immigrant workers in Brooklyn. Miller also wanted this play to be a modern version of a Greek Tragedy, in which a central character is led by fate towards an inevitable destiny; thus when the final version of A View From The Bridge was published in 1956, he retained much of the content of the verse but transformed it into prose. In this essay I shall discuss how the audience's opinion of the central character of the play, Eddie Carbone, changes and the factors that influence them. In the opening scene, when Eddie first appears on stage, the way he

Business Plan for Salon & Spa

Introduction People seek beauty. They are constantly looking to give themselves a whole new look or improve what they have. They drop by the nearest hair and beauty salon to be pampered by stylists and beauticians to style their tresses, shape their eyebrows, and color their nails – all for a few (or more) bucks. An hour in a hair and salon shop every month and one emerges confident and ready to take on the world. Beauty salon and spa business has grown rapidly over the past decade. Latest extrapolations from U. S. census data place the salon and spa service industry at over $35 billion annually.And that figure doesn't include the retail sale of professional beauty products which is at least another $7 billion annually. While traditional barbershops, hair salons and nail salons have experienced moderate growth, high end beauty salons and day spas have seen significant spikes of revenue in recent years. In the recent years, this business has seen redundant profits in Bangladesh . In this moment introduction of â€Å"Trendster† a full-service beauty salon to the Bangladeshi market is an exciting new development for us.Our Mission: â€Å"Trendster† is dedicated to consistently providing high customer satisfaction by rendering excellent service, quality products, and furnishing an enjoyable atmosphere at an acceptable price/value relationship. We will also maintain a friendly, fair, and creative work environment, which respects diversity, ideas, and hard work. Owners and source of finance â€Å"Trendster† is a partnership business owned by several owners. Ms. Farzin Ahmed, co-owner with Kabir ahmed, her husband, has worked in a prestigious, upscale salon in Gulshan, Dhaka for the past two years.Ms. Farzin has created a large client following through hard work and dedication. She and her talented team of beauticians, has what it takes to make this venture an extremely successful one. We expect our growing reputation to lead to new clients and beauticians to support our anticipated growth. To achieve our objectives, Trendster is seeking additional loan financing. This loan will be paid from the cash flow from the business, and will be collateralized by the assets of the company, and backed by the character, experience, and personal guarantees of the owners.Address: The salon will be located at House 25, Road 5, Block A, Bashundhara Residential Area, Dhaka. The salon will utilize 1,540 square feet. The location is strategically situated on one of the high profile area, with easy access from all parts of town. Justification As we have said before, the owner has created a large client following through hard work and dedication. So, the rising demand from the owner's clients, as well as the ambitions of the owner to one day start her own salon, and the procurement of highly professional and qualified beauticians to support the salon, has made this business one of great potential.Moreover, the salon business in Bangladesh is raising potential. The keys to success in our business are: * Location: Providing an easily accessible location for customers. * Environment: Providing an environment conducive to giving relaxing and professional service. * Convenience: Offering clients a wide range of services in one setting, and extended business hours. * Reputation: Reputation of the owner and other â€Å"beauticians† as providing superior personal service. Target Market: A target market is a specific, well-defined segment of consumers that a company plans to target with its products, services and marketing activities.Target marketing orients all of the various components of the marketing function toward a single group, maximizing the appeal of brands to specific markets. The term â€Å"target audience† is a bit narrower; it refers specifically to the group of consumers targeted by advertisements. Now we are going to describe the segments of our salon’s target market: Category of segmentat ion: 1. Geographic segmentation 2. Demographic segmentation 3. Psychographic segmentation 4. Behavioral segmentation Geographic segmentation:City : Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh . Gulshan , Banani, Baridhara , Uttara , Dhanmondi are most popular area in Bangladesh and most of the rich people are living in these areas. That is why, people of these areas are our target customers of Dhaka city. Other than Dhaka, we want to open some branches of our salon in other divisions where the market is promising, such as, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Sylhet. Because, a huge number of people of these cities are wealthy enough to bear the cost of spa services. Moreover, people of these areas are educated and style conscious.So, they deserve a spa shop where they can meet their demand. If we launch our Salon in those areas then it will carry a good profit that’s really the main cause. Another city, which will become another large market after Dhaka, is Cox’s bazar. No doubt, the long est sea-beach has a very large amount of foreigners who come to enjoy the holidays, must seek the heavenly pleasure of spa service. It will be our best chance to start our business there considering both local and foreign visitors comfort to enjoy the sea-sight with full satisfaction.And no doubt, a huge amount of profit will come from this target market for future. 2. Density: Certainly we are targeting the urban areas. No doubt, the poor and uneducated villagers will not agree for getting those benefits of spa and they also cannot bear the cost too. That is the main cause to target the urban area as a target market. Demographic segmentation: 1. Income: We want to give better service to the customer than the others. We will provide services to the people of different kinds of income.But the main condition will be the customer himself/herself must have that capacity to pay for the service. So, we have planned to make target customers those who are well-off to pay such as, middle and top level employees, business persons, university faculties etc. we are also offering reasonable price for the students whose income ranges 6000-12000 with discounts. 2. Education: Students of different universities who are fashion conscious are our target customers. We are offering discounts for the students. Now, it is not possible to target the students of whole Bangladesh, or outside the Dhaka city.In this respect, we are focusing on those who are near to our shop, such as, students of NSU, IUB, AIUB etc. it is sure that targeting this segment, we are going to get a huge number of customers who are students. 3. Age and education: Though our target market is different employees of good amount of income, business persons and students, but we cannot ignore others beside these customers who too take the services either only haircutting or spa service with barber services. The details of these customers, their potentials, occupations are stated below with target customers.Age| Occup ation| Details | Market potential| 5 to 12 (children)| Kindergarten students or primary students | Do not have so much knowledge on hair-stylingBirth rate in Bangladesh is increasing| Weak| 13 – 18 Teenagers| Secondary school students| Begin to follow the current trendStrict rules in secondary schoolSmall consumption power | Medium| 18 -25(young adults)| University students| Normally no rules restricting their hair style Have income sources because can be a home tutor or doing so work through internet like as free launching etc. Strong| 25 to 40 (mature adults )| Doctor , engineer, teacher, banker , marketing officer, business man ,| Do not communicate with customers Income sources | Medium | 40 -60(Middle aged adults )| Doctor, engineer, teacher, banker, marketing officer, business man. | Problems of having less hair Willing to pay more on hair treatment| Quite strong | Above 60(old aged adults)| N/A| Normally do not have so much hair| Weak| Psychographic segmentation: 1. Li festyle: From achievers and striver obviously it is possible to make good profit because they are really so careful about their lifestyle.But from the survivors the market potential is so weak that we were forced to target the achievers. 2. Social class: The upper class people is always careful about their life. So, it’s obvious that they will agree to spend much money if they get quality services. So from this segment our main target will be upper class people. The middle class people also careful about their hair and other elements of fashion, but not as the upper does. Behavioral segmentation: 1.Occasion: In Bangladesh Eid, Pahela Baishakh, puja, Valentine’s day are the occasions people celebrate with great joy. In this time we can give some special offers or discounts for the customer for building a good relationship with the customers. We will give same facility like as another salon like as ours but will give service lower rate than them for marriage ceremony occ asions. 2. Benefit: We will provide good quality products to give the service of the customer to attract them to this salon. If we do this then we will get some regular customers who will be profitable for us. User Status: We will provide discount for the regular and first time user that will help us to attract them to this salon which is essential to make good relation with the customers and to attract the customers for our salon. Positioning strategy: Positioning strategy is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Core Idea Concept simply describes the product or service. Its purpose is merely to determine whether the idea has any interest to the end buyer.Positioning Concept attempts to sell the benefits of the product or service to a potential buyer. The positioning concepts focus on the rational or emotional benefits that buyer will receive or feel by using the product/service . A successful positioning concept must be developed and qualified before a â€Å"positioning statement† can be created. The positioning concept is shared with the target audience for feedback and optimization. Brand positioning process Effective Brand Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a brand's uniqueness, differentiation and verifiable value.It is important to note that â€Å"me too† brand positioning contradicts the notion of differentiation and should be avoided at all costs. This type of copycat brand positioning only works if the business offers its solutions at a significant discount over the other competitor(s). Generally, the brand positioning process involves: 1. Identifying the business's direct competition (could include players that offer your product/service amongst a larger portfolio of solutions) 2. Understanding how each competitor is positioning their business today (e. g. laiming to be the fastest, cheapest, largest, the #1 provider, etc. ) 3. Documenting the provider's own positioning as it exists today (may not exist if startup business) 4. Comparing the company's positioning to its competitors' to identify viable areas for differentiation 5. Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based positioning concept 6. Creating a positioning statement with key messages and customer value propositions to be used for communications development across the variety of target audience touch points (advertising, media, PR, website, etc. )Product positioning process Generally, the product positioning process involves: 1. Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are) 2. Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product ‘space' 3. Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the relevant attributes 4. Determine each product's share of mind 5. Determine each product's current locati on in the product space 6. Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector) 7.Examine the fit between: * The position of your product * The position of the ideal vector Product Positioning for salon Product positioning refers to all â€Å"products and services,† not just the physical products that we use (and sell) in our spa. Product decisions include: * Brand * Quality * Styling * Safety * Packaging * Guarantees * Support Price Positioning for salon: Pricing spa products and services is a key element of the marketing mix. Pricing decisions influence all your other marketing decisions. Pricing decisions include: * Skim pricing (to maximize profits) Penetration pricing (quantity maximization) * Suggested retail price * Discounting * Bundling * Seasonal pricing We have considered the following: To maximize profits, should we price our services and to â€Å"skim the cream† off the top of the market, to those who are less â€Å"price sensitive†? Will our target customers support that strategy? Will we and our employees be better served if we keep prices low, to reach a broader market? Will we sell at (or below) suggested retail price? Will we offer discounts by bundling products and services? Do we run seasonal promotions?When clients buy spa packages, do we offer discounts on products and/or future services. Selecting an overall positioning strategy : Consumers typically chose products and service that give them the greatest value. Marketers want to position their brands on the key benefits that they offer relative to competing brands. The full positioning of brand is called the brands value proposition the full mix of benefits upon which the brand is positioned. More for more: â€Å"More for more† positioning involves providing the most upscale product or service and charging a higher price to cover the highest cost.Black cut hair salon, so much included instrument. Each claims superi or quality, durability, performance, or style and change a price to much. Not only is the marketing offers high in quality. It also offers prestige to the customer. It symbolizes status and a loftier lifestyle. Often the price difference exceeds the actual incrementing quality. In general , companies should be on the lookout for opportunities to introduce a much-more-for-much-more brand in any underdeveloped product or service category yet more-for-more brands can be vulnerable.More for the same: Hair salon can attack a competitors more for more positioning by in traducing a brand offering comparable quality but at a lower price. Black cut hair salon its Lexus line with a â€Å"more for the same† value proposition. The same for less: offering â€Å"the same for less† can be powerful value proposition everyone likes a good deal. For example ,fair and care salon offers equivalent service at a lower price for performance . Discount stores such as spa service. Less for muc h less: A market almost always exist for products that offer less therefore cost loss.Few people need , want , or can afford â€Å"the very best† in everything they buy. In many cases , consumers will gladly settle for less than optimal performance or give up some of the bells and whistles in exchange for low price . â€Å"less-for-much-less† positioning involves meting consumers lower performance or quality requirements at a much lower price. For example fair care hair salon general stores offer more affordable goods at very low price. More for less: of course, the winning value proposition would be the offer â€Å"More for less†. Many salon claim to do this.For example, fair and care salon claims to have better products and lower prices for a given level of performance. In the short run , some companies can actually achieve such lofty positions. Yet in the long run, companies will find it very difficult to sustain such best –of-both positioning. Offerin g more usually costs more , making it difficult to deliver on the â€Å"for less† promise. Fair and care salon that try to deliver both may lose out to more – focused competitors. The important thing is that each company must develop its own positioning strategy, one that makes it special to its target consumers.Offering only â€Å"the same for the same† provides no competitive advantages . leaving the firm in the middle of the pack . salon offerings one of the three losing value propositions_ â€Å"the same for more,† â€Å"less for more†, â€Å"less for the same†_ will inevitably fail. Here, customers soon realize that they’ve been underserved , tell others and abandon the brand. Positioning statement: Company and brand positioning should be summed up in a positioning statement. The statement should follow this form: To target segment and need our brand is concept that point of difference.The positioning first states the product mem bership in a category (spa or salon business) and then shows its point of difference from other members in category has more salon. Placing a brand in a specific category suggests similarities that it might share with other products in category but the case for the brand in a surprisingly different category. Differentiation Strategies of Salon Differentiation Strategies This strategy involves selecting one or more criteria used by buyers in a market – and then positioning the business uniquely to meet those criteria.This strategy is usually associated with charging a premium price for the product – often to reflect the higher production costs and extra value-added features provided for the consumer. Differentiation is about charging a premium price that more than covers the additional production costs, and about giving customers clear reasons to prefer the product over other, less differentiated products. Top of Form * Complementary Services: This will encourage additi onal customer purchases. For example, If you offer facials, offer a free make up consult with every facial.Customers who like to pamper themselves will appreciate the additional offers and your salon will make more money. * Products: Sell products that relate to the services you offer. For example if you offer braiding, you can sell hair maintenance product such as braid spray, hair food e. t. c. You could also create your own product; you could have different beauty services put together as a package deal. * Atmosphere: Create an atmosphere in your beauty salon that allows you to charge a premium price for your services. For example, make your beauty salon feel like a spa with, soothing music and soft lighting.When customers feel rejuvenated and look great after they leave your salon, they will pay more and return more frequently. * Target group: Differentiate your beauty salon from your competitors. For example, if your primary competitor focuses on high-end appointment-based clie nts, you should focus on basic services and walk-in clients. On the other hand, you could offer services that are not available at your competitor's salon. If your competitor only offers hair services, you should offer nail services, facials and makeup services. Strategy – Differentiation FocusIn the differentiation focus strategy, a business aims to differentiate within just one or a small number of target market segments. The special customer needs of the segment mean that there are opportunities to provide products that are clearly different from competitors who may be targeting a broader group of customers. The important issue for any business adopting this strategy is to ensure that customers really do have different needs and wants – in other words that there is a valid basis for differentiation – and that existing competitor products are not meeting those needs and wants.Strategy – Cost Focus Here a business seeks a lower-cost advantage in just on or a small number of market segments. The product will be basic – perhaps a similar product to the higher-priced and featured market leader, but acceptable to sufficient consumers. Such products are often called â€Å"me-tool’s product differentiation (also known simply as â€Å"differentiation†) is the process of distinguishing a product or offering from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market. This involves differentiating it from competitors' products as well as a firm's own product offerings.Rationale Differentiation can be a source of competitive advantage. Although research in a niche market may result in changing a product in order to improve differentiation, the changes themselves are not differentiation. Marketing or product differentiation is the process of describing the differences between products or services, or the resulting list of differences. This is done in order to demonstrate the unique aspects of a firm's product a nd create a sense of value. Marketing textbooks are firm on the point that any differentiation must be valued by buyers .The term unique selling proposition refers to advertising to communicate a product's differentiation. * Ignorance of buyers regarding the essential characteristics and qualities of goods they are purchasing * Sales promotion activities of sellers and, in particular, advertising * Differences in availability (e. g. timing and location). Marketing mix: Marketing mix is the set of controllable tactical marketing tool- product, price, place and promotion- that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. The marketing mix is everything we can do to influence the demand for our service.The four groups of variables known as â€Å"the 4 Ps†: product, price, place, promotion. The marketing mix of our salon is stated below: Product: Product is actually the services we will provide to the target customers in our salon. There are different ty pes of services in our salon starting from hair cutting of male and female, hair coloring service, skin care treatment, different types of massages to sooth the people from different types of pressures and other different kinds of salon and spa services. All these services are to be given with great care keeping the customers satisfaction in the mind.In the following, the list of services is given: Salon and Spa Services:Hair Salon Business Services:? Haircuts, styling and trims. ? Hair coloring and highlights ? Hair and scalp treatments. ? Hair shampoo and conditioning. ? Hair relaxers and perms. ? Hair curling, reconstructing and waving Nail Salon Business Services:? Manicures. ? Pedicures. ? Nail polish. ? Nail repair and sculpting. ? Hand conditioning. Day Spa and Beauty Business Services:? Body scrubs. ? Body wrapping and herbal wraps. ? Massage and aromatherapy. ? Hot stone therapy. ? Acupuncture and Reflexology. ? Derma abrasion. ? Anti-aging. Facials. ? Makeup and makeovers. ? Skin cleansing and care. ? Body waxing.? Polishing, buffing and bronzing. ? Tanning. ? Piercing. | Salon and Spa Products:Hair Salon Products:? Shampoos. ? Conditioners. ? Extra hair treatment. ? Pre-styling products. ? Hair styling products. ? Hair finishes. ? Brushes and hair tools. Skin Care, Nail and Beauty Products:? Face skin care products. ? Body skin care products. ? Makeup. ? Makeup tools. ? Nail polish products. ? Nail finish products. ? Nail tools. ? Perfumes. ? Bed and bath products. | The list tells that how our shop is and how its work quality will be.Price: Now, we will discuss about the second variable of marketing mix of our shop. In every business farm, one of the major activities is to set price of the services. The price must be fair and within the budget of the people. Also, it is also important to set price in such a way that, a farm can attend its profit. So, we have tried our best to set a fair price which meets the customer vale and our profits. The price list of our services is given below: Service providing Price (BDT) Hair Salon Business Services:Haircuts, styling and trims. 200 Hair coloring and highlights 350 Hair and scalp treatments. 500 Hair shampoo and conditioning 350 Hair relaxers and perms 400 Hair curling, reconstructing and waving 400 Shaving (foam) 100 Shaving (gel) 150Day Spa and Beauty Business Services: Body scrubs 1000/hr Body wrapping and herbal wraps 1000/hr Massage and aromatherapy 000/hr Hot stone therapy 1000/hr Facials (Men) 600 Facials (woman) 1000 Makeup and makeovers 2000-3000 Skin cleansing and care 800 Body waxing 500 Polishing, buffing and bronzing 800 Nail Salon Business Services: Manicures 500 Pedicures 500 Nail polish 200 Nail repair and sculpting 200 Hand conditioning 300Place: Place include the farm’s activity that makes the service available to the target customers. Place must be a suitable site or location where people can easily get access without any hazards. Since, we are new i n the salon market service and also in introduction stage, so it is actually not possible for us to open more than one branch in the city. Certainly our target market is the people of Dhaka and our shop will also be in Dhaka, but it seemed a great hectic job for us to find out a suitable place to open the salon. We thought, since Persona has its branch in Gulshan, Banani and Uttara, it will not be profitable for us to open a new salon and spa business in those busy and royal areas.But there is a place where Persona still did not open their branch. The place is Bashundhara Residential Area. So, this was the best chance for us to open and grab a whole market of Bashundhara where different University students, business persons, employees of different big corporate giants live. Promotional strategy 1. Stealth marketing: Viral marketing is used to build brand awareness. Viral marketing is done through Facebook, twitter and other different blogs. 2. Referral program: Referral program is a very powerful word of mouth advertising and more believable than any other form of endorsement. It is done mainly by endorsements or reference. Reference can come from friends and clients.The most powerful recommendation is the recommendation of clients who will tell to his/her friends about the service we will provide him/her. For this reason, we have to identify those people who can influence our target market and get them endorse our service. 3. Telephone marketing: Everything should be about increasing perceived value of the service in the eyes of the clients. Now the question arise how telephone marketing helps us? Every single contact clients has with the business forms a perception, either good or bad. In telephone marketing, we have to call our clients and let them know about our new promotions. Not only that, we have to ask them questions that what he/she thinks about our service according.Another part of telephone marketing is, if the clients ask us about any problems and solutions, then we will solve the problems by providing them guidelines. 4. Keep in touch: It will be very important for our business to give emphasis the existing clients and customers. For this, we have to maintain a good relationship by remaining in touch with them. We can be in touch with them by sending promotional materials, greeting cards, birthday wishes and by e-mails. E-mail marketing is highly effective to build and maintain relationship with existing customers and also to build loyalty and trust. 5. The power of free: The customers who regularly take the service of salon and spa, mainly they get some gifts from the salon. But as we are new in the market, we are giving gifts to the customers from now.Those who would have already arrived to us for taking our service more than three times, we will actually offering them different kinds of gifts. The gifts are cosmetics, skin care products, hair care products, salon voucher, product samples etc. this system is called Ã¢â‚¬Ë œGifts with purchase (GWP). ’ 6. Perform SWOT analysis: SWOT analysis too plays a great role in promotion. SWOT analysis helps to know which are our strengths, our weakness, and what is our opportunities and threats and considering these four variables, to check and analyze our strengths, weakness, threats and opportunities. By researching these four, we can promote our business easily with practical logics.Our strengths are, we are placing our business in such a place where there is no salon and spa which can provide the services as we are providing. Not only that, we are charging comparatively cheaper than other salon and spa shops in Dhaka city with qualified manpower. By doing our SWOT analysis, we got some weakness in our business which is not surprising because, we are new in the market and weakness will be there. These weakness are since we are new, we don’t have that much manpower, but the good news is that the existing manpower are as good as other reputed sal ons and spas. Another weakness is we cannot charge more than other salons and spas in our every service since we are still in introducing stage and people are lacking about our brand.Our management is not consists of experts like persona or women world, the employees are still learning, so it is sure that we have to wait for a long time to take our salon in the top. We have got huge opportunity to take ourselves in a class of reputed salon and spa shop. Salon and spa shop market is not that much widespread in our country, only in Dhaka there are some spa shops and in Chittagong too, there are may be 2 or 3 salon and spa shops, but those are very costly, actually located in five star hotels. In other cities, there are no salon and spa shops. So we can extend our business throughout Bangladesh and can create an opportunity for those people who cannot afford the huge cost of salon and spas and we can increase our brand image.There are some threats for us in this market. We are not thin king that we will be dissolved in this market, but there is a threat of not reaching in our vision. Because other salon and spa like Persona, Women’s World are so popular, strong and wide that, we may remain under them, ie, the competition is intense though the competitors are small in number. Another thing is that since our services are cheaper than others, so we may face losses in first few years which may create problems for us to attain a good return on investments (ROI). However, we are confident that despite weakness and threats, we will be the best salon and spa service institution in Bangladesh. Advertising mediaMedia is the most important medium of conveying the messages to the people. people come to know about a product or service at first through media. So media plays a big role in a product or service development. We considered some major steps in selecting advertising media. These major steps are: 1. Deciding on reach, frequencies and impact. 2. Choosing among ma jor media types. 3. Selecting specific media vehicle and 1. Deciding on reach, frequencies and impact: To select the media, the advertiser must decide on the reach and frequency needed to achieve advertising objectives. We are not unaware of this fact. So we also decided on reach, frequency and impact.Reach is the measure of percentage of people in the target market who are exposed to the advertisement campaign during a given period of time. Frequency is a measure of how many times the average person of the target market is exposed to the message. The media impact states whether our advertisements are of that quality which can attract person or convince a person to come in our salon. 2. Choosing among major media types: We had to see advantages and limitations each and every media types when we had to select the medium. We have chosen those mediums that effectively and efficiently present the advertising message to target customers within our budget. Thus we considered the mediums i mpact, effectiveness and cost. The mediums are: 1.Newspaper: Advantages are flexibility, timeliness, can cover the local market very well and high believability. The limitations are, short life, where people can surely forget about the promotions. 2. The internet: High selectivity, low cost, immediacy, interactive capabilities are advantages. Limitations include relatively low impact than the television. 3. Direct mails: High audience selectivity, flexibility, no advertisement competition etc. limitations include relatively high cost exposure, â€Å"junk mail† image. 4. Magazines: High geographic and demographic selectivity, long life and good pass-along readership. 5. Billboards: Flexibility, high repeat exposure, low cost, low message competition, good positional selectivity.Limitations are little audience selectivity. Selecting specific media vehicles: Since it is important to select the best medium, it is also necessary which brand or vehicle in that medium will gain the attention of the people. The media vehicle makes the product or service believable to the customers; certainly that vehicle does which has huge popularity, good reputations. As newspaper is the medium, we have planned to put our advertisements in the most popular newspaper which is sold in the highest numbers and which is also holds the position of no. 1 in presenting reliable newspaper and magazines. The Daily Prothom Alo and The Daily Star. People will surely response.In the internet, we are mainly targeting to put our advertisements in Facebook. Since Facebook is very popular social networking site and also more used than Twitter and other social blogs, so people will come to know about our service easily. Competitors Analysis: In salon and spa marketing, though the competitors are few in number, but the competition is still high. This is because of the brand image of the competitors. People trust them and easily convinced by their offers. People don not hesitate to take their se rvices despite knowing that they will charge high. Competitors like Persona, Women’s World, Studio Menz did not create their brand image in one day.They did it with hard labor and patience, providing high quality service by qualified men power. They charge high too for the services they provides. A short price list is given below: Service| Competitors (BDT)| Trendster (BDT)| Haircut | 300-600| 100-200| Hair color and treatment| 500-1000| 200-500| Makeovers | 3000-6000| 2000-3000| Facials | 800-1500| 600-1000| Nail treatments| 300- 700| 300-500| Aroma therapy| 1000-1500| 800-1000| Other spa services| 1000-10000| 800-2500| So these are the competitors price list differs from us. Though it looks that, we are better than us in respect of pricing, but there are some things which make them better than us.In the following, the points are given: 1. Our competitors like Persona, studio menz have more qualified manpower than us. 2. Their target market is stronger than us. 3. They have more than 3 branches in the Dhaka city, even some of them has outside of Dhaka. 4. Their ROI is surely better, and they earn good amount of profits. 5. They placed their shops in the suitable places where people can comfortably access. 6. The most important factor is that, they have a very strong brand image, for eg: Persona. If we have to sustain in the market and create a brand image of our own, then we must do whatever our competitors are doing and try to do better than them.Our competitors are strong and popular among the people, but we are also determined to be like them and within few years, we will be at the same shoulder height. Conclusion: So, after seeing all the relevant factors, we can say that, Trendster will be one of the leading salon and spa business holder in Bangladesh. Our strategy, considering the fact that we are in introducing stage, is right and practical. Though in the initial stage it is not possible to gain profit, even it is not possible to flourish the bu siness like Persona as it is now in. Everything needs time to get set, so as our business. We need time to get set ourselves in the market. As time will gradually pass, we will be near to our goal if we remain on the right track.