English class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

English class - Essay Example The main mission of the museum is â€Å"Teaching Tolerance through Education†, that is, remembering the victims of the Holocaust of World War II, promoting tolerance, providing educational materials on the Holocaust and promoting public awareness and understanding of the Holocaust of World War II (Shosteck and Heland, 88). Even though the museum was founded by three people, it mainly focuses on the experiences of the Ipsons during the holocaust of the World War II. The Ipsons were Lithuanian Jewish and settled in Richmond after the World War II. The Virginia holocaust museum was originally housed in several vacant rooms of a local temple, Beth El, in Richmond, Virginia. However, in 2003 the museum changed its location to the old tobacco warehouse in 2000 East Cary street Richmond, Virginia. The warehouse was donated by the state of Virginia legislature after it flourished and outgrew its original space in 2000. The new location of the museum was dedicated during the Day of Rem embrance and Heroism in April, 2003 (Shosteck and Heland, 88). Personal Response The museum provides visitors with true experiences of the holocaust of the World War II. It allows people who visit it to feel as though they are part of the happenings of the holocaust.

An Overview of Management Practice of Whole Foods Essay

An Overview of Management Practice of Whole Foods - Essay Example It was an opportune time since consciousness of people on the healthy lifestyle has begun; there is an increasing educated age and wealthy population, and environmental concerns are spanning across the globe. 2. Brief Overview of the Company Whole Foods was formed in 1978 by two friends, John Mackey and Rene Lawson Hardy from a borrowed capital of $40,000 to sell natural foods in Austin, Texas. It was originally known as Safer Way, to be distinct from Safe Way that was also in Austin, Texas. Expansion and mergers has been part of its business strategies as, within only two years after it was formed, it entered into a partnership with a grocery store that resulted into the opening of the Whole Foods Market in 1980. It didn’t stop there since from then on; WFM had several acquisitions of companies carrying organic products. In 1992, the company went public trading in NASDACQ Global Select Market. It sales revenue saw successive growth that reached $11.7 billion in 2012. Correspo ndingly, shareholders earnings have steadily increased, from $0.82 in 2008 to $2.52 per share in 2012. In 2013, its stores are located in 335 sites in North America, Canada, and United Kingdom with prospects of aiming for more stores opening in years to come. The store offers perishable foods, grocery, meat and poultry, seafood, bakery, prepared foods and catering, specialty beer, wine and cheese, coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care, educational products, floral items, pet products and household products (Whole Foods Market 2012 Annual Report). WFM is the world’s leading retailer of organic foods and is the first grocer to be certified as â€Å"organic†. Its corporate mission is â€Å"to promote the vitality and well-being of all individuals by supplying the highest quality, most wholesome foods available†. This has been translated to a core mission, of â€Å" promotion of organically grown foods, healthy eating, and sustainability of t he eco system†. 3. Motivational tools and strategies such as Work Life Balance, Benefits ,Virtual Work, Rewards, Recognition, Performance Management, Training and Development Fortune List has ranked WFM for 15 consecutive years as â€Å"One of the Best Companies to Work for in America†. This recognition acknowledgment bears out WFM’s commitment to fulfill its core values of â€Å"Supporting team members’ happiness and excellence.† . As motivational tool, WFM has designed a â€Å"Total Health Immersion and Healthy Discount Incentive program to promote health of its employees. This program aims to educate members and create awareness of the benefits of healthier habits that contributed to year-over year decreases in participant medical claims and inpatient stays in hospital, and an increase in annual preventive wellness exams. WFM recognizes team member’s efforts so much so company supports them in many other ways. Part of its package compensa tion plan includes a generous store discount, medical care, dental and vision plan, life insurance, retirement savings plan, gain-sharing program, stock option plan and emergency funds, paid time off and leaves of absences. A salary cap limits cash compensation (wages plus

Utopian Societies Essay Example for Free

Utopian Societies Essay Utopian societies are in constant struggle to find perfection in everyday life. In Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid’s Tale, each protagonist is struggling with fitting into these boundaries of perfection. When inquisitive minds emerge in a society that strives to be so pure, it can become dangerous not only physically but also emotionally. Although these societies strive for a utopia thinking that it will allow them to reach perfection, it in fact ends in hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is seen in both Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid’s Tale through Captain Beatty and the power of books, the government taking Offred’s daughter, and both societies basing their beliefs off of fiction. In Fahrenheit 451 Captain Beatty, a leader and someone to whom the firefighters look up to, has read and made up his own mind about books but will not allow anyone else to read the books which he knows hold so much power. By denying the people to read the books that he himself has read, Beatty is the epitome of a hypocrite. When speaking about the books it is obvious that Beatty understands the great power these books yield, but he refuses to let that power out. This is hypocritical because Beatty tells Montag that the books say nothing! You can teach or believe (Bradbury 59) and yet he still believes that these books have to have enough power that the world must be rid of them. Although Beatty preaches the uselessness of books, he has dedicated his life to burning them all, an admittance in itself that the books hold enough power to change the ideals of the society in which they live. In The Handmaids Tale Offred is accused of being an unfit (Atwood 39) mother for her daughter because of her past. Offred met her husband through being his mistress, but waited until marriage to have a child. The government uses their affair against them, convincing Offred that because the bible says that adultery is a sin that she is not fit to be a mother. To make-up for her affair and illegitimate child, the government gives Offred a choice between being a Handmaid or an un-woman and chooses to become a handmaid. Her duties as a Handmaid, however, are to repeat the same sin that plagued her with this destiny. The hypocrisy surrounding this society and Offreds role in it is that to dissolve yourself of sins, you must keep repeating them. This kind of adultery is seen as righteous because this society bases their beliefs off of the Bible, which, in the story of Rachel and Jacob, deems an affair for the purposes of child bearing as necessary. Through allowing Offred to rid herself of her sins by sleeping with married men, the government is a hypocrisy that uses the Bible to justify their cause. In both novels, each society is based off of myths that cannot be proved or seen. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradburys society follows a strict code of the phoenix: it must all burn to ashes before it can be reborn again. Taking this literally, the society decides that books must be the rebirth of the society, burn[ing] all books (Bradbury 57). The only problem with this is that the Phoenix is based off of mythology, only existing in fiction. Bradburys society is striving to reach a new mythical beginning, setting themselves up for disaster. Likewise, in Atwoods utopian society, their new rules and regulations are based off of the Bible, a book of stories that cannot be proved as non-fiction and are more fantasy than realistic. Many of the stories and rules of the Bible are out dated. The society picks and chooses what rules and commandments they want to follow, reverting themselves back to a lesser time. By basing their societies off of myth, both Bradbury and Atwood depict men and women who are constantly influenced by hypocrisy. They are forced to believe blindly that these myths will lead them into safety and a better future. Each society comes with a promise of better times, but by basing it off of mythology they are striving for perfection which can only lead them down the road of disaster. In both Bradbury and Atwoods utopian societies, the government strives for perfection by changing the standards that their people live by. Although their is revolt and questioning in the means of these changes, it is ultimately at the blame of the people of the societies themselves. In Fahrenheit 451, the minorities (Bradbury 57) are the ones who begin the banning of the books, but because their are so many minorities, every book must go. Likewise in The Handmaids Tale, the men of the society agree to the changes which affect everyone, reverting their society back to a time where there was no technology or developments. By leading the change of the societies, the people are the only ones to blame for their societys hypocrisy and ultimate downfall. Citations Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaids Tale. New York: Anchor, 1986. Print. Bradbury, Ray. Fahrenheit 451. New York: Simon Schuster Paperbacks, 1951. Print.

Telecommunication in the 21st Century

Telecommunication in the 21st Century Telecommunication in the 21st century have improved over the decade by the introduction of better techniques through which signals can be transmitted from a transmitter through a medium to a receiver. These techniques have improved mobile communications, satellite transmissions and helped to improve data security. Some of these techniques are amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), sampling and link analysis (SLA) and PCM. The acronym PCM represents ‘Pulse-code modulation’, which is used for digitizing analogue data, for instance, audio signals. This is carried out by sampling analogue signals at uniform interval and then quantized to a series of symbols in a digital code (e.g. 10001).Its technically a way in which analogue signals are converted to digital form. PCM technique has its advantages; It makes processing of signals cheap since PCM is digital. It helps to filter off frequencies above the highest signal frequency. Pulse-code modulation has been a form used for some compact disc formats, digital video and for digital audio in computers. In PCM, there are series of processed to be followed; Filtering Sampling Quantizing Binary coding Companding Filtering This is a process where frequencies above the highest signal frequency are removed. The reason for this is that if this frequency is not removed, problems would occur when going to the next stage of sampling. Sampling This stage of the PCM is performed through PAM (pulse amplitude modulation).It answer the question of how signals change from one form to another (analogue to digital). It makes use of the original analog signal and uses it for the amplitude modulation of a pulse which has constant amplitude and frequency, this constant frequency is known as the sampling frequency (i.e. the number of samples per second ).The sampling frequency have to be more than the maximum frequency of the analogue signal. To work out the sampling rate, Nyquist theorem is used; â€Å"That in order to be able to reconstruct the original analogue signal, a minimum number of samples had to be taken†.It could be stated as: Fs > 2(BW) Fs = Sampling frequency BW = Bandwidth of original analog voice signal Quantizing and Coding This basically means the converting of each of the analogue sample into a discrete value (in the form of a binary code) that can be given a digital code word. It is done by assigning each sample a certain quantization interval. The instantaneous amplitude is been rounded off to certain levels, this thereby introduces some uncertainties (quantization noise).This is given by this expression; Number of levels = 2 ^ Bn (Bn is the number of bits used in the encoding) It was proven from the experiment that the higher the number of quantization levels the lesser the amount of quantizing noise. However this process of increasing the quantizing level to lower the quantizing noise introduces complexity into the system as the PCM system would need to be able to handle more code word. Companding It is a word derived from the combination of compressing and expanding. This is another stage in pulse–code modulation. It is a process of compressing a given analogue signal and this signal is expanded to its original size on getting to destination. In this process, the input signal is compressed into logarithmic segments and then quantized and coded. The more the signals increase the more the compression increases. Since the larger signals are compressed more than the smaller signals, the quantization noise increases. This indirectly keeps the SNR (signal to noise ratio) constant. EXPRERIMENTATION AND OBSERVATION Apparatus Oscilloscope PCM ENCODER module Connection cable The experiment was carried out by sending an input (analogue message) into the PCM ENCODER module. This input is constrained to a defined bandwidth and amplitude range in order to make sure the Nyquist criterion is observed. The PCM ENCODER module looks like the diagram below: A suitable encoding scheme for the analogue sample is selected. For example a 4-bit or 7-bit encoding scheme. The analogue signal is fed through the Vin. For this experiment, the clock rate us 8.33 kHz TTL signal from MASTER SIGNAL module. Time frame is also very essential as each binary word is located in a time frame. It’s 8 clock periods long and has 8 slots of equal length (i.e. 0 – 7). The LSB (consisting of 1’s and 0’s) are embedded in the encoder itself. This is useful in determining the location of each frame in the data stream. Initially the 4-bit linear coding scheme is selected and patched up with the 8.33 kHz TTL sample clock.CH-2A displays the clock signal on the oscilloscope. The display below shows a 4-bit PCM output for zero amplitude input; Quantization in PCM ENCODING is the next stage after sampling. The quantization level is rather transmitted instead of the sample value. The quantization levels are binary coded (i.e. binary ‘1’ in the presence of a pulse and binary ‘0’ in the absence of a pulse) RESULTS AND OBSERVATION The output of the variable DC is connected to Vin and sweeping the DC voltage slowly forward and backward shows discrete jumps in the data pattern, e.g. The maximum voltage is recorded as -2.51V.Also increasing the amplitude of the DC input signal looks like the diagram below; Changing the DC voltage from the maximum to minimum gave a range of binary code variations as listed below; The following measurements were later made after recording the quantizing levels and associated binary numbers; Sampling rate – 16.6 kHz Frame width – 950 µs Width of a data bit 120 µs Width of a data word 480 µs Number of quantizing level – 16 From the measurement above it could be concluded that the quantizing levels are linearly spaced .The same process would be applicable to a 7-bit linear encoding using the toggle switch on the front panel, though it would take longer than the 4-bit linear encoding done earlier. The Companding stage in a PCM is the process by which an analogue signal is been compressed at the source and then expanded back to its original size when it gets to its destination. During this process, the signal is compressed into segments which are quantized using uniform quantization. As the sample signal increases, the compression increases (i.e. the larger samples gets more compressed than the smaller samples). The standard of companding used in this experiment is the A-law .The equation is; Where A = 87.7 in Europe and X is the normalized integer to be compressed. RESULTS AND OBSERVATION The toggle switch is changed back to a 4-bit companding and the TIMs A4 companding law pre-selected is selected from the switch board. This gave the measurement below; In PCM decoding, the TIMs PCM DECODER module is used for decoding. This is the first operation in the receiver towards regenerating the received pulses. Amplitude of the pulse generated is the linear sum of all pulses in the coded word. In other to be able to recover the information on the PCM decoder, the knowledge of the sampling rate used to encode the signal is essential. RESULTS AND OBSERVATION The setup is similar to the earlier setup with CH-1A connected to the scope selector to the PCM output of the PCM ENCODER.A large negative DC is used for the message, the alternating ‘0’ and ‘1’ bits produced are measured to be 1920ms apart. The 4-bit linear decoding scheme is now selected to carry out the decoding process. The 8.33 kHz TTL signal is stolen from the transmitter and connected to the clock input. Time division multiplexing (TDM) is an alternative to the method of multiplexing using frequency sharing. Each channel is allocated a specific time slots, and each slots contain frames which must be repeated at the sampling rate. It can only be used for pulsed signals and not for analogue signals because they are continuous in time. The importance of TDM is that it enables many independent signals to be transmitted. RESULTS AND OBSERVATION A PCM TDM signal could be generated using PCM ENCODER; each driven by the same clock ( one the MASTER and the other SLAVE).Interconnecting in this way eliminates other frames and gives room for the two output to be added together to form the TDM signal. The display on the oscilloscope is shown below; The connection of the MASTER and the SLAVE generates the diagram below; Patching up the two PCM data outputs generates the display below; The next step which is shown below is to confirm that the frame synchronization bit is a ‘1’ for the MASTER and ‘0’ for the SLAVE The last stage of this experiment is to separate the two messages that have been multiplexed earlier. The PCM demodulator is patched up, with each module receiving the same clock stolen from the transmitter and each module also receives an external FS signal. The diagram below confirms the two messages have been recovered and appear at the correct outputs; CONCLUSION Pulse Code Modulation is however a very effective way of conveying audio signal by sampling the signal and transmitting binary coded pulse representing the sample values. It has emerged the most favored modulating scheme for transmitting analogue information such as voice and video signals. The advantages of PCM over the other forms of modulation (e.g. analogue modulation) are; PCM suppresses wideband noise. It is effective in the regeneration of the coded signal along the transmission path. It enables digital multiplexing. It enables the efficient exchange of increased channel bandwidth for improved signal-to-noise ratio. All these advantages however come at the expense of increased system complexity and increases channel bandwidth. REFERENCES http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/P/PCM.html [last accessed 25/03/08] http://cbdd.wsu.edu/kewlcontent/cdoutput/TR502/page13.htm [last accessed 25/03/08] http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/788/signalling/waveform_coding.pdf [last accessed 25/03/08] http://www.comlab.hut.fi/opetus/245/2004/09_PCM.ppt#20 [last accessed 25/03/08] Rodger E.Ziener and William H.Tranter, â€Å"Principles of Communication†, Chapter 3, John Wiley and sons, NY, 2002. Simon Haykin, â€Å"Communication Systems†, Chapter 3, John Wiley and sons, NY, 2001. David Petersen, â€Å"Audio, Video and Data Telecommunications†, Chapter 2, McGraw-Hill, Cambridge, 1992.

Online Communities :: essays research papers

I. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  York university in Canada once created a web site called York University Student Center Online. This web site concern about the student activities on campus and outside. First lunched in 2001, the aim of York’s website is entertainment and media publication. It has a good reputation among other Canadian universities’ websites. The web site archives many of the student activities since its launch till today. Some of the website activities are holding online orientations for new students, weekly newsletter about student clubs and organizations, collecting donations, web register for events and concerts, online discussion with professors. The article York University Student Center Online says that lots of York’s students has got active in the university from behind their computers screens only. These students where in some day in the past the typical character of the passive students. The articles also claims that many crimes came about from behi nd the website. Students misused the other students properties and tried to steal their work and ideas that they have published on the website (yorku.ca). These disadvantages appears to the surface always with the existence of a new web technology. York’s website is an example of what so called an online community for college students. This new form of a web site can also be applied at AUS. Although an online community for AUS students may have some disadvantages, it is beneficial for four main reasons. II. Online communities background Community is an odd and rich term in the world of Internet public life. Like many key conception of the social sciences, it has specific and rigid meaning for scholars, and broader connotation when it is used in the information technology language. According to Christian Crumlish, an online community or virtual community â€Å"is a group whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet† (Crumlish, p. 142). By this definition of the online community, the Internet is the term behind the internationally connected computers that link the people all around the world into online discussions by using the great CMC (Computer-Mediated Communications) technology. This general definition fulfills all the possible activities that can be done in an online community. Howard Rheingold in his book The Virtual Community claims that the important thing to keep in mind is that the worldwide interconnected telecommunication network that we use to make telep hone calls in sharjah and Dubai can also be used to connect computers together at a distance, and you don't have to be an engineer to do it (rheingold.

Seasonal Affective Disorder :: essays research papers

Seasonal Affective Disorder: Lighting the Way Pamela Johnson "Whoever wishes to pursue the science of medicine in a direct manner must first investigate the seasons of the year and what occurs in them." Hippocrates (6) Introduction As the shortest day of the year approaches, more and more multi-colored lights and bright, festive decorations are splashed across houses and yards everywhere. Long ago, in more earthy times, people celebrated the solstice because it was the rebirth of the sun, when days began to lengthen and light began to return. As our ancient ancestors probably realized, their celebrations helped to keep spirits up when times were dark and cold, just as our modern holiday light displays function as a way to ward off the winter blues. (1) However, not everybody can shake the sadness that comes at this time of year, usually because they are suffering from a type of clinical depression called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). When a person has SAD, he or she regularly experiences depression in the winter months that then subsides in the spring and summer months. Although first identified around 1845, this mood disorder was not officially classified until 1984 when psychiatrist Norman E. Rosenthal, M.D., began to study cases of depression that seemed to occur during the winter only. (2) After an article was published in The Washington Post about his research, Rosenthal received a nationwide response from thousands of people who experienced the same symptoms he had observed in his patients. (3). After further research he compiled his studies in Winter Blues: Seasonal Affective Disorder: What It Is and How to Overcome It, which he recently revised, updated, and rereleased in October 1998. Causes Although the cause of this disorder is attributed to the lack of exposure to sunlight, it has not yet been determined whether a person's susceptibility to it is genetic or stress-related or both. Dr. Rosenthal finds the causes of SAD to be "a combination of factors including shortened daylight, stress and genetic vulnerability." (4). By means of his research, he calculated that some kind of depression is experienced by at least 14 percent of the population due to the decrease of exposure to sunlight in the winter. Many scientists feel SAD is "a product of modern society that confines us indoors," with stress levels easily increased by a work environment in which one hardly ever sees the sun. (4). Also,

Marketing Project Guideline Essay

It is essential that all members of the team co-operate and that no member is a ‘passenger’. During the final Tutorial, members of each team will be required to provide the lecturer with confidential ‘peer group evaluations’ on other members of the team. These will be taken into account in awarding the mark for the project to each team member. Students should maintain close communications with other project team members throughout the semester. It is imperative that students collect team member contact details in the first lecture, as the lecturer may not able to provide this information to students. A major problem can occur with project team dynamics if students choose to withdraw from the subject once teams are settled and tasks have been distributed. Students intending to withdraw from the subject must immediately inform their project team members and the tutor/lecturer. The written report must be equivalent in quality to a report a consultant would typically submit to a client. The report must be perfect in terms of spelling, punctuation, grammar, page numbering, referencing, footnoting and appropriate use of appendices. Imperfections will count against marks awarded for the project. The body of the report should contain the group’s major findings and conclusions from their research of the market, the competitors and the company’s capabilities (Situation Analysis), followed by a detailed SWOT Analysis, Evaluation of Alternative Strategies and final recommended Marketing Strategy expressed in detail. It is recognised that research about the target market will largely consist of secondary data gathered from published sources. The mechanism to overcome any information difficulties is to make ‘planning assumptions’, and note in a Market Research brief the market research that will be required to provide the information. The detailed research material supporting the major findings in the Situation Analysis, and any Market Research briefs, should be included in an Appendix to the report. Reports will be assessed on the quality of the research and conclusions drawn, and the understanding of marketing strategy and planning demonstrated in the preparation of the plan. The Marketing Project is essentially the development of a marketing plan for a Chinese company. Project teams will be expected to find and work with a Chinese company to develop this plan. Generally high quality interaction and co-operation between the company and the project team should lead to a higher quality final report. However, students should be aware that many of the contacts in their chosen companies will have very limited time. This means that the project team must demonstrate that their project will add value to the company and that the contact’s expenditure of time with the team will be worthwhile. Interviews with contacts in companies may have to be supplemented with clearly written faxes, letters or e-mails to request further information and clarification. 4. PROJECT DEADLINES This section outlines the key project deadlines and deliverables. The overall Marketing Plan Format is outlined in Section 6. Elements of the Marketing Plan to be completed for the Progress Report are described in more detail in Section 5. The Final Report details are covered in Section 7. Key deadlines for the project are: i) One page Project Proposal to be submitted in class in 2th week for approval by the tutor (ii) Progress Report to be submitted in class in 5th week. (iii) Final Project Report to be submitted in class in 8th week. (i) Project Proposal The Proposal must contain the following: †¢ Company name †¢ Product or Service description †¢ Target market to which product or service will be marketed, and the opportunity for the company as you see it at this early stage †¢ Comp any contacts †¢ Team members, with co-ordinator nominated. Teams should only go ahead with the project after approval. They should immediately notify their tutor if there are any alterations to their proposal once the project is underway. Should there be a change in the company involved, a new Project Proposal must be submitted to the tutor. Undertaking an assignment where the project is not approved will result in failure of this component of the subject. (ii) Progress Report Undertaking a complete Progress Report is a critical factor in producing a successful Final Report. The Progress Report should be of a high standard and must include the following: †¢ Copy of Project Proposal Situation Analysis †¢ SWOT Analysis †¢ Evaluation of Alternative Marketing Strategies †¢ Summary of preferred strategy and preliminary financial outcome †¢ Progress record of contacts and activities †¢ A project planning chart with timeline forecasts for activities to be completed as part of the project. NOTE: The Situation Analysis, SWOT Analysis and Evaluation of Alternative Marketing Strate gies sections of the Progress Report will be included in the Final Report after review and revisions. (iii) Final Report (dueTutorial 8) The Final Report must be of ‘consultant’ quality, at the highest standard in terms of spellchecking, grammar, paging and referencing. As a guide the report should around 25 pages (exclusive of appendices), and should follow the format shown in Section 5. For assessment, students must submit one written copy of the Final Report in class in week 8. Reports must also be submitted electronically, and students should note that these may be subjected to a plagiarism check using plagiarism-detecting software (see Section 6 of the Subject Outline: ‘Statement On Plagiarism’ for an explanation of plagiarism). Situation Analysis i. Business Environment This section is concerned with external environment factors that are likely to impact on your company and its marketing strategy for the product or service selected. You will need to identify and discuss the changes, trends, developments and key uncertainties in the business environment that are likely to affect the comp any. Factors that you should examine in this section include: economic conditions in the target market selected, and likely future trends †¢ social and cultural factors and any changes or trends emerging that could affect your product or service †¢ technological factors and likely innovations that could affect your product or service †¢ political or legal factors affecting, or likely to affect, the company, the industry/product/service, marketing activities or customers †¢ infrastructure eg ports, rail and road network, telecommunications, media and information technology environment etc †¢ demographic trends The above list is not exhaustive. The textbook should be consulted for other areas you should consider. Most of the information required should be able to be obtained by ‘desk’ research (using secondary data sources). It is recognised that in some instances you will be unable to obtain the necessary information (but you should identify where further market research is required). Tables or graphs should be used eg to show key economic indicators, demographic statistics etc. All information sources must be disclosed and referenced in this section. See Section 11 of the Subject Outline for an explanation of plagiarism). This section should NOT be a compilation of every fact that you can find out about the business environment in the market. The objective is identify the key forces and trends likely to impact on your company and the marketing opportunity you have identified. Conclusions must be drawn to show the relevance of the information to the marketing plan. It is from this analysis of the external business environment that the Opportunities and Threats should emerge when subsequently carrying out the SWOT Analysis. ii. Market Analysis In this section you need to demonstrate an understanding of the target country market, and consumer and customer needs in that market. As a guide, you should at least discuss: †¢ †¢ Definition of the market in which you will be competing †¢ †¢ Market size and outlook for the product/service in the target market (ie current size of market [units and values] and likely future trends) †¢ †¢ Market characteristics, including: – distribution channels for the product or service category – prices and pricing practices affecting the category †¢ †¢ Target market behaviour, including: market segmentation (ie how the market is typically segmented) – potential target market segment(s) for the product/service – consumer/customer characteristics (eg demographics, geographic, preferences) – consumer/customer purchasing behaviour. Generally the best final reports will have detailed market analyses and forecast s (either through research or through estimation) and comprehensive sections on market characteristics, trends and target market behaviour. Some market research (especially of customers and distributors) required to complete this section may be difficult to obtain. If this information is not readily available then your team may note that further research may be required, and attach a Market Research brief as an Appendix. iii. Competitor Analysis †¢ The purpose of this section is to develop an understanding of the competitive environment in which the organisation will operate in the foreign market.. †¢ The ideal competitor analysis section should take the accurate market size (in terms of units and values) and further break it down by competitor market shares, with a commentary on each of the key existing and potential competitors. You should attempt to make a profile of each of the major competitors, so as to assess their products, market share and coverage, as well as their strategy. In looking at competitors you should be trying to identify whether their current skills and assets provide them with some sustainable competitive advantage that you will need to try to neutralise, or opportunities on which you may be able to capitalise, in developing your marketing strategy. The competitor analysis should provide a major input to the Strengths and Weaknesses component of the SWOT Analysis (which assesses your company’s assets and skills relative to your competitors). iv. Organisation Assets and Skills Analysis of the company’s skills and assets are vital to the SWOT analysis, marketing plan and development of a SCA (sustainable competitive advantage). You should critically look at the company’s skills and assets and consider how appropriate they are for the target market you plan to enter. The analysis should consider and discuss the following, where relevant: †¢ †¢ technical/production capabilities, production capacity and resources (including research and development capabilities and facilities, especially where continuing technology development is critical to maintain SCA), †¢ †¢ relationships with distributors (including channels typically used and margins) †¢ †¢ existing supplier or key customer relationships †¢ †¢ market shares, profit margins, cost structures for domestic and other existing export country markets †¢ †¢ company profile and financial capability †¢ company business philosophy and culture. The objective is to understand what the firm is good at, and what shortcomings or limitations might require skills or capabilities to be developed in order to enter the target market chosen. This section must include an Organisation Chart. 5. 2 SWOT Analysis You will need to undertake a Strengths and Weaknesse s analysis of the company (in comparison to competitors or its ability to compete), and a separate analysis of Opportunities and Threats in the marketplace. This analysis should be a culmination of the analysis you have undertaken in the Situation, Market, Competitor and Organisation Assets and Skills Sections, and should be drawn from these sections. You should not introduce significant new information or facts in a SWOT analysis that has not been evaluated earlier in the report. New information introduced into the SWOT without explanation will be contradictory or confusing when viewed against your earlier analysis. After you have completed the SWOT analysis, there is a need to come to conclusions about where the firm’s situation lies in the spectrum of . These conclusions must be written up in an ‘Implications of SWOT Analysis’ summary at the end of the SWOT, and should focus on the positive aspects ie the opportunity for the company, or remedial action required to create the opportunity, that arises out of the analysis. 5. 3 Evaluation of Alternative Marketing Strategies This is the section in the Progress Report and Final Report that will clearly demonstrate your team’s knowledge of marketing concepts and ability to apply them in a marketing context. You must complete a brief but effective evaluation of alternative marketing strategies open to the company in the following areas: †¢ †¢ Target market selection, positioning and marketing mix options The Marketing textbook provides a useful guide to this evaluation process. i. Alternative Target Market, Positioning and Marketing Mix Strategies it is necessary to identify several potential market segments (target markets) in the market and consider how they might be serviced with appropriate marketing mix strategies. This does not require a lot of detail, but you must show your team’s understanding of the concepts involved and your ability to think through and express marketing strategy options. You should reduce the options down to a number that would be realistically implementable by your firm. As a guide you should consider at least or two or three alternative target markets (including your preferred option). In examining these alternative strategies, you must: 1. Identify potential target market segments in the market. 2. Outline possible positioning strategies for each of these target markets, and link them to brief alternative marketing mix strategies, covering product, price, distribution and promotion 3. Indicate your preferred strategy, and why. This section should NOT be merely a write-up of the company’s preferred marketing strategy without reference to alternative marketing strategies. ii. Preferred Strategy In about one half to one page (maximum) you should now ‘pull together’ and write up a summary of your recommended marketing strategy (ie target market, positioning and marketing mix) for the market.. A preliminary financial outcome for the preferred strategy MUST also be included here, showing sales, profit margin and market share that you believe might be achievable in the launch year of your strategy, subject to a much more rigorous and detailed analysis that you will provide later in the Final Report under Section 8, Economic Evaluation. This summary will be the ‘springboard’ for writing the detailed Strategy section of your Final Report.