Writing Assignment #2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Writing Assignment #2 - Essay Example While carrying out pricing seven major steps are followed. They are development of marketing approach, making marketing mix decisions, estimation of the demand curve, cost calculation, understanding environmental factors, pricing objectives being set and determination of pricing. Pricing strategy matters because if the prices are wrong business will fail. Companies carry out different price strategies depending on what the market will bear and make a reasonable profit. Examples price skimming this is sometimes used when a new product is being introduced particularly when it is a new technology. The objective of price skimming is to set a high price that helps to recover the costs of production and advertising (Suttle & Media). Penetration pricing this is used to set low prices early to attract lots of customers. A company will make an effort to produce high quality products and offer the best customer service inorder to retain their customers. This method is used to increase market share or the percentage of total sales it holds in the market. Return on investment pricing strategy, the company might spend lots of time analyzing costs that will be used to make the product and projecting sales figures. Geographical pricing strategy, the company sets higher prices in certain markets (Suttle & Media). In conclusion oligopoly is a market structure that is majorly a small number of moderately large firms that dominate an industry. Which affects promotion, it plays a major role in pricing. Pricing affects the customer in positively and at times

Science tells us the truth about reality (or not) Essay

Science tells us the truth about reality (or not) - Essay Example Science is victorious in the curing of doubt because it helps in tracking the real world state. It however cannot tell us the truth about reality. Many people have the belief that science is purely objective (Science and Reality, 1984). That it can be likened to a machine for churning out facts and converting ignorance to knowledge. Scientists are also seen like they are a special breed of truth-discoverers. Their pronouncements are viewed like the gospel. However, in reality, the practice of science deserves a more cynical look. Scientists are human too. They have insecurities to navigate, reputations to defend and careers to progress. They also do not abandon their years-long research programs or theories the minute something bad happens (Thind, 1939). Studies that did not work are run again, equipment is repaired or replaced and assistants of research get fired. It can be a messy job. A person’s best bet might be to appeal to some account of ideal form, citing a privileged relationship to truth if they wanted to mount a defense of science. And so long as it is done right, science deserves our commitment since it exceeds subjective belief and common sense and manages to latch on to ultimate reality in some systematic way. We would be compelled by science if we are committed to reason (Latour, 1999). However, this is where the founder of the school of thought known as pragmatism, Charles Peirce would disagree. In an essay he wrote in 1877, the fixation of belief (Peirce, 1997), he tries to forward the method of science without appeal to rationality, objective truth or reason. He instead argues that science if more like a good trick that happens to trump all other prescriptions. This is what pragmatism is all about. Anyone has uncertainty? Try science. Not for any metaphysical or theoretic reason but on the rounds of pragmatism instead. It just works. That explanation may however be too easy. First we may want to ask

What developments over the last 20 years have made transnational crime Essay

What developments over the last 20 years have made transnational crime harder to detect and prosecute - Essay Example Transnational crimes can be referred to as the violent activities carried out in a country by any rival country either by means of physically participating in terrorism / crimes or by supporting or exploiting the local individuals through brain-washing or the financial support. It is considered as a new form of warfare thereby avoiding physical contact with rival country, hence ensuring safety of men and material which are likely to be damaged during physical war (Netanyahu and Mekhon, 1981). Such crimes may also include those activities which are undertaken in the same countries but their affects / fallouts have effects on the other countries as well. These include the human / drug trafficking, arms / goods smuggling, information warfare / propaganda and even the cyber- crimes (Williams & Vlassis, 2001-pg 16). At times, it becomes very evident as which country is involved in such international crimes, but it is very hard to bring them to justice or trial in international courts due to non-availability or paucity of requisite proofs. Since last two decades, many countries developed laws to tackle such crimes. United Nations Security Council in its resolution 1373 / 2001, decided that all states should render their full assistance to other countries for criminal investigation and proceedings. Necessary evidences may also be provided by the state, to the one investigating the transnational crimes. At present INTERPOL (International Police) is the world-wide organisation in this regard, which renders its assistance to the other countries involved in investigation / prosecution of criminals by bringing the criminals to justice who evade to other countries (Mallory, 2007-pg 176). Despite having joint investigation teams, it is very difficult to bring these criminals to justice because of many reasons. The most obvious reason in this regard is difficulty in identification of hostile actors operating from across the border. This problem becomes even more pronounced du e to ‘lack of will’ by the government of the state which was involved in transnational crimes. The state / country that is to provide the evidences / proofs, try to hide the facts because if it is proved that that transnational crime has taken place from their country, it will tarnish the image in international community. Gathering evidences from the country which is already an adversary may not be an easy task due to conflicting laws or in some case the restrictions on law enforcement agencies in cooperating with international agencies. A lot of financial resources are required in joint investigations. Moreover, the issue regarding who will pay the incurred amount; the country which has been affected by the transnational crimes or it will shared between both of the countries, remains a question mark (Shanty & Mishra, 2005-pg 287). Another difficulty faced in prosecution / follow up of transnational crimes is difference of mind-sets. Terrorist or criminal for one nation can be a hero or freedom fighter for the other country (Abadinsky, 2010-pg 7). The affected state will definitely not be able to accrue the desired results in this situation. The fast growing technology, exploited by criminals for cyber-crimes or propaganda about other countries may not be easy to identify and prosecute as their exact location cannot be identified very easily. Although there are international rules on cyber-crimes, but we have

Response to Intervention Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Response to Intervention - Assignment Example This is a, â€Å"Tiered system designed to integrate assessment, instruction, and data-based decision making to improve the outcomes for all students in both regular and special education classrooms† (Kubiszyn & Borich, p. 57). There is a set purpose to RTI, along with various benefits and challenges, that are worthy of study and this forms the basis for this paper. The Purpose of RTI Response to Intervention is designed to provide the classroom teacher with a tiered approach to managing classroom instruction. This method is designed to differentiate students and allow teachers the opportunity to determine what interventions, or instructional modifications, might be needed for their students based on past performance. The RTI system is actually geared to combine the areas of assessment, instruction, and data based decision making in an effort to improve outcome for all students, no matter if they are in a regular or special education classroom (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2009, p. 57). Students that do not respond well to the first tier of services would then be monitored according to the second tier. This is usually about 15% of the student population (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2009, p. 57). The second tier would involve teachers monitoring those students and providing them with more intensive instruction. The monitoring of this instruction would be ongoing and would be supplemented with regular formative assessment

Victim Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Victim Interview - Essay Example interviewee provided information that matches with the nature of his work during the accident, date, time, the magnitude of the injury and the aftermath. In September 2010, an employee whose name will remain withheld was going about his normal duties at his usual work place. As a mansion at a construction site, the interviewee’s responsibilities included pushing, lifting, carrying, pulling and throwing variety of objects at work. A track had offloaded several building blocks some few meters from the construction site on the day of accident. At this stage of construction, the major building works were happening in the second floor of the same building. This implied that some of the workers had to carry the bricks physically to the second floor. This task involved bending or squatting to reach for the brick, lifting, the block and then transferring it to an appropriate position of the body, preferably on the shoulders. The interviewee would then carry the load on his shoulders as he climbs up the stairs up to the second floor. Upon reaching the destination, he would transfer the load from the shoulder into his hands before caref ully lowering it to the ground. The interviewee started on well and was registering encouraging progress as manifested by the diminishing number of bricks at the site of the offload. However, as time went elapsed and the number of trips increased, most of the employees started showing signs of exhaustion. My interviewee began to feel pain in his back, shoulders, waist and knees but the pressure from his supervisors to get the job finished was overwhelming. Although the job was later completed, my interviewee was taken to the hospital after he collapsed due to the immense pain he encountered from the slave like task. He complained of general body pains but especially on the shoulders, back, waist and the knees. The incident that happened on 2 September 2010 led to the sustenance of immense injuries on the body. The interviewee’s body had

Damaging property Essay Example for Free

Damaging property Essay Much of Marlowes life would have brought much controversy. Christopher was reputation as a spy, a continuous blasphemer, a tough street-fighter and an openly gay homosexual did not let a lot of people love him.  Although the fight that resulted in his death is the only situation where there is evidence of Marlowe assaulting a person, he had a history of trouble with the law. Marlowe was arrested in London dating September 1589 following a brawl in which Thomas Watson killed a man named William Bradley. The jury found that Marlowe was not involved with Williams death and Watson was found to have acted in self-defense. In September 1592 in Canterbury, he was charged with damaging property. The other accusations of Marlowe being a homosexual or an atheist has no inconclusive evidence to prove these statements. My personal opinion, I think that Marlowe was accused of being gay and an atheist and accused being the key word. There are too many instances where people were accused of something during this time and killed over it. For example, the witch hunts that killed thousands of women after the Dark Ages. All because people were lead to believe that women could fly on brooms. So it is not far stretched to think that Marlowe may have been persecuted against for some trouble that he might have been linked too. These questions might never be answered. Marlowe was above all an admired artist for his time in the literary world. Within weeks of his death, George Peele referred to him as Marley, the Muses darling. Marlowes last name is actually another question. He was referred by different versions of his last name: Marl, Marlowe, Marley, and Merle. But the meaning of Muse is actually Greek mythology. The Muses were Any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science. People did not understand why someone could be so gifted at one thing and not the other so it must have been the gods that blessed man with these gifts. Not to say that George Peele worshiped the Greek gods but he is only admiring Christopher Marlowes talents. As far as Christopher Marlowes career is considered, his work was glorified after his death. Obviously no one knew of the impact that his writing would have on English literature and the influence it would have on Shakespeares play writes. Shakespeare mastered blank verse after Marlowe introduced it into theatre. But even so, critics of his time recognized his talents. Robert Greene (1560?-1592) says who hat said with thee, There is no God, should now give glorie unto his greatnesse. It is in that line that gives proof that people immediately recognized his talents. Modern Criticism defiantly did what Robert Greene and glorifies his talents as well as his life. Todays critics also make some outrageous assumptions about Christopher. But for such little knowledge on someone and so many speculations in his life, people cannot help but to be intrigued with the mans career.  Christopher MarloweA man who has no certain last name. A man who was incognito during a certain point of his life. A man believed in being a spy. A man who was a street fighter. A man who was believed to be a homosexual. A man who was believed in being an atheist. A man who was trouble with the law. A man who introduced blank verse to theatre. A man who faked his death. Christopher Marlowe is a man of unanswered questions, but what is for certain is his impact with the English language. Bibliography Jonathan Bate. Danger down in Deptford The murder of Christopher Marlowe continues to fuel conspiracy theories, says Jonathan Bate. The Sunday Telegraph 23 Oct. 2005, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest. Web. 27 Jun. 2010. Jeffrey Meyers. Marlowes Lives. Michigan Quarterly Review 42.3 (2003): 468. Platinum Periodicals, ProQuest. Web. 27 Jun. 2010. Ed. Judith Oneill. Critics on Marlowe. Florida: University of Miami, 1970. Ed. Emily C. Bartels. Critical Essays on Christopher Marlowe. Florida: University of Miami, 1997

General Information And The History Of Beer

General Information And The History Of Beer Beer is the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink in whole world and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. Beer is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mostly produced from cereal grains and usually malted barley, and also wheat, corn wheat and rice may be used as well. Almost all beers are flavored with hops. Hops are also used to add bitterness to the beer and be as a natural preservative. Although there are deferent beers with flavored with herbs or fruit smell. Beer has appeared between 9,000 and 14,000 years ago, being as old as the civilization. Beer is one of the oldest products of civilization, and may even have been a stepping-stone to the invention of leavened bread. The grain, from which beer is made, was the first domesticated crop that started the process of farming during the nomadic times. By that time the beer was cloudy and not filtered, and people were using à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾drinking straws when drinking beer, in order to avoid brewing residue in the mouth (Wikipedia, 2011). In ancient times beer was mostly used as barter, instead of being sold and a Babylonian King had even introduced a daily norm of beer per day. A normal worker received 2 liters, civil servants 3 liters, administrators and high priests 5 liters of beer per day. The Egyptians also have taken part in the history of beer brewing. They have been experimenting with unbaked bread dough and were improving the taste of beer. Beer is an especially important drink in countries such as Belgium, Germany, Ireland , and the UK, with nations such as France, the Scandinavian countries, the Czech Republic, and others having strong and unique brewing traditions with their own history, characteristic brewing methods, and styles of beer producing. RELATION BETWEEN GERMANY AND BREWING The most widely known event in the history of brewing is the establishment of standards for brewers by the Germans. They decided that to the production of beer, only four ingredients should be used: water, malted barley, malted wheat and hops. It is emphasize that beer was for the first time brewed on German soil. Germans brewed beer not just for God sacrifices, but also for their own enjoyment. Germans started to open even brewery family businesses. Beer is in Germany a major part of their national culture. Germany has more breweries than in any other country. There are almost 1,300 businesses producing beer. Figure 1 German Beer Statistics % Age of European Production: 26.5% Total beer consumption: 107,800,000 hectoliter Consumption per head: 131.7 l Number of breweries: 1294 Beer exports: 8,539,000 hectoliter Beer imports: 2,168,000 hectoliter Draught beer percentage: 22% Notes: The only countries with which Germany has a trade deficit in beer are Belgium, the Czech Republic and Mexico. MARKET STRUCTURE On the one hand, Germans are beer drinking nation. Their consumption per/capita is almost 60% higher than the western European average consumption and the beer market from Germany is still the largest in the world. Even if there are 1,300 breweries in Germany, therefore Germanys beer market is highly competitive. Their output is only around a third of the whole beer production in EU. On the other hand German consumers started to move away from the alcoholic drinks, the desire of a healthier way of leaving is rising, and German is tend to consume more mineral water, juice and coffee. The result of this is 7% drop in the beer consumption in Germany since 1998. Even though Bavarian-style beer continued to grow, and beer-based mixed continue to have high demand. Young generations of consumers are trying to discover new and different types of drinks, such as beer mixed with lemon-lime soda or cola etc. Imported beer is account only 5, 9% of the total beer consumption in Germany. This is due to the fact that domestic breweries created a strong preference among the consumers. The import share remains more or less constant in spite of several major international breweries that previously sold their products through exports now producing under license in Germany. Pils is the dominant segment in Germany with a market share of some 60% in total. In addition, there are a number of special German beer types such as Weizen, Alt and Kà ¶lsch. EVALUATION OF MAJOR BREWERY COMPANIES IN GERMANY BECKS BREWERY is a brewing company in the north part of Germany, in city of Bremen, since 1873. Becks was first owned by a local family, and later it was sold to InterBrew. Becks beer is famous of it quality and world-wide known brand, drunk by millions of consumers every year and is ranking number 5 among the most selling beers in Germany. By exported volume, Becks is on the first place among German Beers, and it is sold in more than 100 countries in the world. The largest markets for Becks outside Germany are the United Kingdom, the USA, the Ukraine, Australia, Italy, Romania, and Russia (Brauerei Beck Co, 2011). Products of Becks Brewery Becks the main brand, a pilsner Becks Blue (Alcohol Free) Becks Premier Light Becks Gold Becks Green Lemon Becks Green Lemon Alcohol Free Becks Chilled Orange Becks Level 7 Becks Ice Becks NEXT Becks Dark Becks Oktoberfest Becks VIER Becks Brewery is an attraction of the city, because the company organizes tours in the inside the brewery and gives sample of finished products and afterwards visitors can enjoy food at the Becks cafà ©, or browsing for beer-related souvenirs. Besides the organizing tours, the company also uses other ways to advertise its products. The sponsor various sport events, festivals and have more advertisements on TV and magazines. OETTINGER BREWERY is the best selling beer brand in Germany since 2004 with an output of almost 6.61 million hectoliters sold annually. Moreover a big factor that contributes to this big amount of sales is the low-price strategy. Oettinger appeared in the market, by using a gap from it industry. The brewery started to sell cheap beer in big volumes, so that people would afford it and would have a beer they just wanted for the lowest price and relatively good quality. In order to avoid competition, Oettinger bought the beer brand 5.0 Original and the corresponding brewery in Braunschweig. Braunschweig was his competitor, a brewery from the same segment of market (The Oettinger Group, 2011). Oettinger uses different ways to maintain the beer price as low as possible: No advertisement and promo campaigns. Concentrating only one the one brand, compared to other breweries which have twenty and same times even more brands. Direct delivery from brewery to stores, no intermediaries. The brewing process is highly automated only few employees are needed for production. PORTER 5 FORCES ANALYSIS Force 1: Supplier power Suppliers have small bargaining power in the brewing business, which works in technique brewers goodwill. There are a lot manufacturers and suppliers who provide brewing equipment. Brewers can also buy used or refurbished already existing equipment. Many of the companies that supply brewing equipment do not focus just on that area, they also offer other products and services and the brewing equipment is just one phase of their operation. Supplier concentration is low, which can possibly increase the sustainable profits. As far as supplier substitutes, the ingredients that go into the brewing of beer cannot be replaced. Those ingredients are necessary for the production. Brewing must have malt, hops, barley, yeast, and water. The beer brewing industry relies heavily on supplier input. Especially the ingredients that are in beer, consequently the suppliers are in constant need to keep this industry operational. Which means there is a threat of supplying integration; the larger brewing companies produce enough capital to possibly buy plots of land to grow their own malt, hops, or barley (Beer Brewers Industry Analysis, 2008). Force 2: Buyer power The main buyers of beer in the brewing industry are distributors. There are over 1,900 beer distributors nationwide servicing approximately 320,000 retail businesses. Bargaining power of buyers increase when: there are few distributors in the market; the distribution industry is increasing very fast than the manufacturers industry; and when new competition cannot emerge. The distributors are the ones with all the connections to the consumers retailers, thus the distributor control the prices based on what income margins they require. The distributors are consolidating and increasing in power. Moreover, distributors are limiting new competition. So, overall the Porters force of Buyer Power is a negative for the Beer Brewing Industry (Beer Brewers Industry Analysis, 2008). Force 3: Substitutes Figure 2 Beverage Consumption Category % Of Beverage Consumption Soft drinks 49.0% Beer 19.4% Fruit beverages 13.2% Bottled water 12.2% Sports drinks 1.8% Wine 1.7% Rtd tea 1.6% Spirits 1.1% Total beverages 100.0% Beer has a lot of substitutes as you can see from Figure 2 some of them are wine, spirits, wine cooler, and specialty drinks. But also soft drinks, water, fruit juices, tea, and sports drinks may be considered as its substitutes. According to the figures from the Beverage World Publications Group, Beer constitutes for 19.4% and soft drinks account for 49.0%. This makes beer consumed more than bottled water, fruit juices, sports drinks, wine, spirits and tea. These factors increase the threat of substitute goods for the beer industry, which has a negative effect on industry profits (Beer Brewers Industry Analysis, 2008). Force 4: Rivalry Rivalry is the extent to which companies compete with one another for customers. Rivalry can be price-based or non price-based (Michael Porters Five Forces, 2009) Rivalry is measured by the concentration level of the industry; the more concentrated the industry, the less rivalry. Other factors that increase rivalry are large capital asset requirements and high switching costs. This industry is experiencing significant concentration effects, which decreases rivalry. Also, there are significant barriers to exit, which increases rivalry. The proposed joint venture MillerCoors would act to decrease rivalry overall. Therefore, the overall effect of rivalry on this industry is neutral (Beer Brewers Industry Analysis, 2008). Force 5: Entry Barriers In the Germany beer brewing industry there are a substantial amount of entry barriers that protect the firms currently in the industry from the new entrants. Price competition combined with increasing vertical integration and the inherent production economy of the market leaders makes it very difficult for an inefficient major brewer to compete on a national scale. (CNBC, 2011 Liquor Sales Slow Along With Econom) Overall the German brewing industry faces a large amount of barriers to entry as there are economies of scale, brand loyalty and large capital requirements, product differentiation effects, possibly limited access to distribution channels, and large amount of government regulations. All of these factors reduce the threat of entry into the national beer brewing industry which in turn raises the industrys potential for sustained profits (Beer Brewers Industry Analysis, 2008). 5 FORCE SUMMARIES Force Key Drivers Effect on Industry Profit Bargaining Power of Suppliers Small suppliers relative to brewers + Bargaining Power of Buyers Consolidation of industry; distribution connected to retailers Substitutes Growing substitute industry; low switching cost Rivalry High concentration; high innovation Entry Barriers High capital requirements, economies of scale, closed distribution channels, high government regulation. + Conclusion In conclusion I would like to emphasize that beer market in Germany is very product differentiated and diverse. The competition forces are high and in parallel, customers have different offers from what to choose. Germany is the biggest exporter of beer in the world and has the most breweries. Beer has various substitutes, even though it is on the second place among other drinks. Each brewery is trying to gain competitive advantage. Oettinger lowers the prices and Becks uses more advertising channels.