Poca Snack

POCA SNACK – PEPSI CO Pepsi Co, established about 100 years ago, is the owner of the Poca brand and one of the largest companies in the world, having a significant variety of carbonated, non-carbonated beverages, salty sweet and gain-based snack and other food which are available in more than 200 countries. PepsiCo Vietnam was established in 1991 (IBC) under the form of a joint-venture company, and became owned wholly by foreign businessmen in 2000, with a great many investments and supports from PepsiCo Global.Along with the success of Lay’s snack brand name all over the world, PepsiCo is on the way to build a new snack brand, Poca, with a view to becoming popularly recognized in not only Vietnam but also overseas markets in the long run. Although Poca brand has been established in Vietnam nearly for four years, it is ranking now in the top three leading snack companies (The Market Newspaper 2008). Until now, Poca has 20 flavors with various package sizes from 10 to 60 g. Although Poca brand is now very popular and has had a large market share in the market for snack they still have some limitations.Firstly, as being a comparatively new entrant with recently launched products, Poca has to compete with a great number of big and long-standing well-known opponents, such as Oishi, Pringles, Kinh Do. Almost Vietnamese customers are used to those famous brands so they do not care much about Pepsi Co snack – Poca. Secondly, most people think that snack is unhealthy food. Therefore, many parents do not allow their child to eat snacks. Moreover, Poca also contain small amounts of cholesterol, animal fat, sodium which are well-known as unhealthy substances.Last but not least, natural factors such as water, soil or weather play a very important role in growing potatoes and wheat, so if there are some changes on one of them, it could effect to the productivity of the whole industry. In addition, each year Vietnam often face with many disasters such as storms or typhoons. Therefore, Poca sometimes faces shortage of main raw material and it leads to large amount of backlogs. There are some suggestions to deal with Poca brand’s limitations.Poca brand should intensify the natural nutrition such as anti-inflammatory, omega 3, aliphatic acid, and oleocanthal and minimize the unhealthy ingredients like cholesterol, animal fat, sodium and artificial substances. Besides, they can change the packing materials from plastics into Bio-Plastics packages – which automatically disintegrate into carbon dioxide, water, and biological substances under the natural condition. It will encourage people to buy Poca instead of other snack brand to protect the environment.Moreover, the whole industry has to be aware about the weather in Vietnam in order to avoid shortage of main raw material. They should have careful planning and well weather prediction. Furthermore, there should be more promotions to attract the customers. For example, the company sometimes holds parties or concerts with the performance of the brand’s representatives – famous stars, they can give out some discount programs to attract more consumers. Additionally, the company should increase more flavors for recent products.They should give out the surveys among their target customers to determine the favorite flavors for the upcoming products. As Poca develops new competitive and unique flavors, it can compete with other famous competitors such as Kinh Do Barkery or Bibica. INTRODUCTION . Saigon Cosmetics Corporation (SCC) is officially established in 01/01/1987 and became a share holding company in 01/01/2000. The company specializes in manufacturing and distributing perfume. Besides, the company also produces shampoo, shower gel and soap.Before 1990, the market of SCC is only local. In 1990, the first foreign markets were the Soviet Union and the Eastern European Bloc countries. Since then, the business has developed greatly, and now b een it is aiming for international markets such as the US and UK. In addition, the company completed and put into use a new factory of 18ha area at Cat Lai Industry zone, District 2, HCMC in 2004. , Miss Saigon Elegance is a high quality product of the company which has a unique shape of a Vietnamese girl wearing an â€Å"Ao dai† and a conical hat.Since the year 2007, SCC has started investing in new stores to sell its products. At present, SCC has 13 stores in all over Vietnam. Many of the stores are located in big department stores/supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City – the most developed city of Vietnam. Moreover, there is a showroom in Phu My Hung – a new and wealthy district in HCMC. Besides, SCC products are also sold at other general retail shops. * The company aims to build its brand into a internationally competitive one, make it to the world-class level.This will face with tremendous difficulties as there are top brands in the world that has perfume produc t; e. g: Calvin Klein, Chanel, Cartier, Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, etc. Products at medium cost may make the customer wonder about the quality of the products as comparing to other brands of perfume. Vietnamese customers are in favor with foreign brands rather than the local brands. Perfume in general is luxury product, which are usually sold at high price. * To provide customers with high-quality products, the company imports materials from French.Moreover, the company is in associate with Liz Claiborne cosmetics for manufacturing technology and quality assurance counseling. Most of the materials for the products are imported. This results in import tax and transportation cost that cut down on the company’s profit. Access to raw materials is limited There are counterfeit products of Miss Saigon Elegance perfume that have been found in some South East Asian countries. This threatens to take over part of the company’s profit and harm the customers’ health and the refore, damage the brand image. Recruit skilled employees to make sure that products have good quality. Associate with other well-known brand such as Ponds to make a bundle of perfume and body care to attract more customers. ST strategies * Mass invest in promotion to get customers’ attention and increase sales. * Build up a good system to communicate with customers to keep them and attract new customers as well. | WT strategies * Diversify products to set different prices for different target customers. Try to promote the products in more areas with attractive advertisements. | SO strategies * Develop the company’s website for customers to be able to buy product online. * Research the market in Vietnam as well as foreign markets to improve the quality of the products to meet customers’ satisfaction. | WO strategies * Recruit skilled employees to make sure that products have good quality. * Associate with other well-known brand such as Ponds to make a bundle of perfume and body care to attract more customers. * Invest more in promotion for our products and try to have more customers from not only the market in Vietnam but also in other countries. * Maintain the relationship with the customers by building a good membership system which allows discount to customers who have silver and gold membership card. * Product Mix Pricing Strategies: SCC has many kinds of products which has different appropriate prices for the customers. The products range from average quality product to high quality product.This means that the company is using product line pricing to set different prices based on the different quality of the products * Price-Adjustment Strategies: * Psychological Pricing: because customers tend to judge a product’s quality based on the price – higher price means better quality – so we set a fairly high price that is compatible with the value of the products. * Product-bundle pricing: the product line of Miss Saigo n Elegance contains two kinds of fragrance: N1 and N2. When buying both fragrances, instead of paying 500,000VND, customers will have to pay 450,000 only.We suggest other bundles, for example, when buying a bottle of Miss Saigon Elegance (250,000VND) and Miss Vietnam (180,000VND), customers only have to pay 399,000VND instead of 430,000VND. * the company should have salespeople to push its products to the customers. With this strategy, word-of-mouth can be excellent in helping people recognize and remember the products as well as the company. * On occasions like Christmas Eve, Women’s Day, New Year, Company birthday etc. customers can have a small extra 5ml bottle of Cindy perfume when buying a 75ml Miss Saigon Elegance or 20% discount on all product. Poca Snack POCA SNACK – PEPSI CO Pepsi Co, established about 100 years ago, is the owner of the Poca brand and one of the largest companies in the world, having a significant variety of carbonated, non-carbonated beverages, salty sweet and gain-based snack and other food which are available in more than 200 countries. PepsiCo Vietnam was established in 1991 (IBC) under the form of a joint-venture company, and became owned wholly by foreign businessmen in 2000, with a great many investments and supports from PepsiCo Global.Along with the success of Lay’s snack brand name all over the world, PepsiCo is on the way to build a new snack brand, Poca, with a view to becoming popularly recognized in not only Vietnam but also overseas markets in the long run. Although Poca brand has been established in Vietnam nearly for four years, it is ranking now in the top three leading snack companies (The Market Newspaper 2008). Until now, Poca has 20 flavors with various package sizes from 10 to 60 g. Although Poca brand is now very popular and has had a large market share in the market for snack they still have some limitations.Firstly, as being a comparatively new entrant with recently launched products, Poca has to compete with a great number of big and long-standing well-known opponents, such as Oishi, Pringles, Kinh Do. Almost Vietnamese customers are used to those famous brands so they do not care much about Pepsi Co snack – Poca. Secondly, most people think that snack is unhealthy food. Therefore, many parents do not allow their child to eat snacks. Moreover, Poca also contain small amounts of cholesterol, animal fat, sodium which are well-known as unhealthy substances.Last but not least, natural factors such as water, soil or weather play a very important role in growing potatoes and wheat, so if there are some changes on one of them, it could effect to the productivity of the whole industry. In addition, each year Vietnam often face with many disasters such as storms or typhoons. Therefore, Poca sometimes faces shortage of main raw material and it leads to large amount of backlogs. There are some suggestions to deal with Poca brand’s limitations.Poca brand should intensify the natural nutrition such as anti-inflammatory, omega 3, aliphatic acid, and oleocanthal and minimize the unhealthy ingredients like cholesterol, animal fat, sodium and artificial substances. Besides, they can change the packing materials from plastics into Bio-Plastics packages – which automatically disintegrate into carbon dioxide, water, and biological substances under the natural condition. It will encourage people to buy Poca instead of other snack brand to protect the environment.Moreover, the whole industry has to be aware about the weather in Vietnam in order to avoid shortage of main raw material. They should have careful planning and well weather prediction. Furthermore, there should be more promotions to attract the customers. For example, the company sometimes holds parties or concerts with the performance of the brand’s representatives – famous stars, they can give out some discount programs to attract more consumers. Additionally, the company should increase more flavors for recent products.They should give out the surveys among their target customers to determine the favorite flavors for the upcoming products. As Poca develops new competitive and unique flavors, it can compete with other famous competitors such as Kinh Do Barkery or Bibica. INTRODUCTION . Saigon Cosmetics Corporation (SCC) is officially established in 01/01/1987 and became a share holding company in 01/01/2000. The company specializes in manufacturing and distributing perfume. Besides, the company also produces shampoo, shower gel and soap.Before 1990, the market of SCC is only local. In 1990, the first foreign markets were the Soviet Union and the Eastern European Bloc countries. Since then, the business has developed greatly, and now b een it is aiming for international markets such as the US and UK. In addition, the company completed and put into use a new factory of 18ha area at Cat Lai Industry zone, District 2, HCMC in 2004. , Miss Saigon Elegance is a high quality product of the company which has a unique shape of a Vietnamese girl wearing an â€Å"Ao dai† and a conical hat.Since the year 2007, SCC has started investing in new stores to sell its products. At present, SCC has 13 stores in all over Vietnam. Many of the stores are located in big department stores/supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City – the most developed city of Vietnam. Moreover, there is a showroom in Phu My Hung – a new and wealthy district in HCMC. Besides, SCC products are also sold at other general retail shops. * The company aims to build its brand into a internationally competitive one, make it to the world-class level.This will face with tremendous difficulties as there are top brands in the world that has perfume produc t; e. g: Calvin Klein, Chanel, Cartier, Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, etc. Products at medium cost may make the customer wonder about the quality of the products as comparing to other brands of perfume. Vietnamese customers are in favor with foreign brands rather than the local brands. Perfume in general is luxury product, which are usually sold at high price. * To provide customers with high-quality products, the company imports materials from French.Moreover, the company is in associate with Liz Claiborne cosmetics for manufacturing technology and quality assurance counseling. Most of the materials for the products are imported. This results in import tax and transportation cost that cut down on the company’s profit. Access to raw materials is limited There are counterfeit products of Miss Saigon Elegance perfume that have been found in some South East Asian countries. This threatens to take over part of the company’s profit and harm the customers’ health and the refore, damage the brand image. Recruit skilled employees to make sure that products have good quality. Associate with other well-known brand such as Ponds to make a bundle of perfume and body care to attract more customers. ST strategies * Mass invest in promotion to get customers’ attention and increase sales. * Build up a good system to communicate with customers to keep them and attract new customers as well. | WT strategies * Diversify products to set different prices for different target customers. Try to promote the products in more areas with attractive advertisements. | SO strategies * Develop the company’s website for customers to be able to buy product online. * Research the market in Vietnam as well as foreign markets to improve the quality of the products to meet customers’ satisfaction. | WO strategies * Recruit skilled employees to make sure that products have good quality. * Associate with other well-known brand such as Ponds to make a bundle of perfume and body care to attract more customers. * Invest more in promotion for our products and try to have more customers from not only the market in Vietnam but also in other countries. * Maintain the relationship with the customers by building a good membership system which allows discount to customers who have silver and gold membership card. * Product Mix Pricing Strategies: SCC has many kinds of products which has different appropriate prices for the customers. The products range from average quality product to high quality product.This means that the company is using product line pricing to set different prices based on the different quality of the products * Price-Adjustment Strategies: * Psychological Pricing: because customers tend to judge a product’s quality based on the price – higher price means better quality – so we set a fairly high price that is compatible with the value of the products. * Product-bundle pricing: the product line of Miss Saigo n Elegance contains two kinds of fragrance: N1 and N2. When buying both fragrances, instead of paying 500,000VND, customers will have to pay 450,000 only.We suggest other bundles, for example, when buying a bottle of Miss Saigon Elegance (250,000VND) and Miss Vietnam (180,000VND), customers only have to pay 399,000VND instead of 430,000VND. * the company should have salespeople to push its products to the customers. With this strategy, word-of-mouth can be excellent in helping people recognize and remember the products as well as the company. * On occasions like Christmas Eve, Women’s Day, New Year, Company birthday etc. customers can have a small extra 5ml bottle of Cindy perfume when buying a 75ml Miss Saigon Elegance or 20% discount on all product.

Night World : Daughters of Darkness Chapter 4

What a difference a day made. Somehow, in the hot, hazy August sunlight the -next morning, Mary-Lynnette couldn't get serious about checking on whether Mrs. Burdock was dead. It was just too ridiculous. Besides, she had a lot to do-school started in just over two weeks. At the beginning of June she had been sure summer would last forever, sure that she would neversay, â€Å"Wow, this summer has gone by so fast.† And now here she stood in mid-August, and she was saying, â€Å"Wow, it's gone by so fast.† I need clothes, Mary-Lynnette thought. And a new backpack, and notebooks, and some of those little purple felt-tip pens. And I need to make Mark get all those things, too, because he won't do it by himself and Claudine will never make him. Claudine was their stepmother. She was Belgian and very pretty, with curly dark hair and sparklingdark eyes. She was only ten years older than MaryLynnette, and she looked even younger. She'd been the family's housecleaning helper when Mary Lynnette's mom first got sick five years ago. MaryLynnette liked her, but she was hopeless as a substitute mother, and Mary-Lynnette usually ended up taking charge of Mark. So I don't have time to go over to Mrs. B.'s. She spent the day shopping. It wasn't until after dinner that she thought about Mrs. Burdock again. She was helping to dear dishes out of the family room, where dinner was traditionally eaten in front of the TV, when her father said, â€Å"I heard something today about Todd Akers and Vic Kimble.† â€Å"Those losers,† Mark muttered. Mary-Lynnette said, â€Å"What?† â€Å"They had some kind of accident over on Chiloquin Road-over between Hazel Green Creek and Beavercreek.† â€Å"A car accident?† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Well, this is the thing,† her father said. â€Å"Apparently there wasn't any damage to their car, but they both thought they'd been in an accident. They showed up at home after midnight and said that something had happened to them out there-but they didn'tknow what. They were missing a few hours.† He looked at Mark and Mary-Lynnette. â€Å"How about that, guys?† â€Å"It's the UFOs!† Mark shouted immediately, dropping into discus-throwing position and wiggling his plate. â€Å"UFOs are a crock,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"Do youknow how far the little green men would have to travel-and there's no suchthing as warp speed. Whydo people have to make things up when the universe is just just blazing with incredible things that are real-â€Å"She stopped. Her family was looking at her oddly. â€Å"Actually Todd and Vic probably just got smashed,† she said, and put her plate and glass in the sink. Her father grimaced slightly. Claudine pursed her lips. Mark grinned. â€Å"In a very real and literal sense,† he said. â€Å"We hope.† It was as Mary-Lynnette was walking back to the family room that a thought struck her. Chiloquin Road was right off Kahneta, the road her own house was on. The road Mrs. B.'s house was on.It was only two miles from Burdock Farm to Chiloquin. There couldn't be any connection. Unless the girls were burying the little green man who'd abductedVic and Todd. But it bothered her. Two really strange things happening in the same night, in the same area. In a tiny, sleepy area that never saw any kind of excitement. I know, I'll call Mrs. B. And she'll be fine, and that'll prove everything's okay, and I'll be able to laugh about all this. But nobody answered at the Burdock house. The phone rang and rang. Nobody picked it up and the answering machine never came on. Mary-Lynnettehung up feeling grim but oddly calm. She knew what she had to do now. She snagged Mark as he was going up the stairs. â€Å"I need to talk to you.† â€Å"Look, if this is about your Walkman-â€Å" â€Å"Huh? It's about something we have to do tonight.† Mary-Lynnette looked at him. â€Å"What aboutmy Walkman?† â€Å"Uh, nothing. Nothing at all.† Mary-Lynnette groaned but let it go. â€Å"Listen, Ineed you to help me out. Last night I saw something weird when I was on the hill†¦.† She explained as succinctly as possible. â€Å"And now more weird stuff with Todd and Vic,† she said. Mark was shaking his head, looking at her in something like pity. â€Å"Mare, Mare,† he said kindly. â€Å"You really are crazy, you know.† â€Å"Yes,† Mary-Lynnette said. â€Å"It doesn't matter. I'm still going over there tonight.† â€Å"To do what?† â€Å"To check things out. I just want toseeMrs. B. If I can talk to her, I'll feel better. And if I can find out what's buried in that garden, I'll feel a wholelotbetter.† â€Å"Maybe they were burying Sasquatch. That government study in the Klamaths never did find him, you know.† â€Å"Mark, you owe me for the Walkman. For whatever happened to the Walkman.† â€Å"Uh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mark sighed, then muttered resignedly.†Okay, I owe you. But I'm telling you right now, I'm not going to talk to those girls.† â€Å"You don't have to talk to them. You don't evenhave to see them. There's something else I want youto do.† The sun was just setting. They'd walked this roada hundred times to get to Mary-Lynnette's hill-the only difference tonight was that Mark was carryinga pair of pruning shears and Mary-Lynnette had pulled the Rubylith filter off her flashlight. â€Å"You don't reallythink they offed the old lady.† â€Å"No,† Mary-Lynnette said candidly. â€Å"I just want to put the world back where it belongs.† â€Å"You want what?† â€Å"You know how you have a view of the way theworld is, but every so often you wonder, ‘Oh, myGod, what if it's really different?'Like, ‘What if I'm really adopted and the people I think are my parentsaren't my parents at all?' And if it were true, it would change everything, and for a minute you don't know what's real. Well, that's how I feel right now, and I want to get rid of it. I want my old world back.† â€Å"You know what's scary?† Mark said. â€Å"I think Iunderstand.† By the time they got to Burdock Farm, it was full dark. Ahead of them, in the west, the star Arcturus seemed to hang over the farmhouse, glittering faintly red. Mary-Lynnette didn't bother trying to deal withthe rickety gate. She went to the place behind the blackberry bushes where the picket fence had fallen flat. The farmhouse was like her own family's, but with lots of Victorian-style gingerbread added. MaryLynnette thought the spindles and scallops and fretwork gave it a whimsical air-eccentric, like Mrs. Burdock. Just now, as she was looking at one of the second-story windows, the shadow of a moving figure fell on the roller blind. Good, Mary-Lynnette thought. At least I know somebody's home. Mark began hanging back as they walked down the weedy path to the house. â€Å"You said I could hide.† â€Å"Okay. Right. Look, why don't you take thoseshears and sort of go around back-â€Å" â€Å"And look at the Sasquatch grave while I'm there? Maybe do a little digging? I don't think so.† â€Å"Fine,† Mary-Lynnette said calmly. â€Å"Then hidesomewhere out here and hope they don't see you when they come to the door. At least with the shears you have an excuse to be in the back.† Mark threw her a bitter glance and she knew she'dwon. As he started off, Mary-Lynnette said suddenly, â€Å"Mark, be careful.† Mark just waved a dismissive hand at her without turning around. When he was out of sight, Mary-Lynnette knockedon the front door. Then she rang the doorbellitwasn't a button but an actual bellpull. She could hear chimes inside, but nobody answered. She knocked and rang with greater authority. Every minute she kept expecting the door to open to reveal Mrs. B., petite, gravelly-voiced, blue-haired,dressed in an old cotton housedress. But it didn't happen. Nobody came. Mary-Lynnette stopped being polite and began knocking with one hand and ringing with the other. It was somewhere in the middle of this frenzy ofknocks and rings that she realized she was frightened. Really frightened. Her world view was wobbling.Mrs. Burdock hardly ever left the house. She always answered the door. And Mary-Lynnette had seenwith her own eyes that somebody was home here. So why weren't they answering? Mary-Lynnette's heart was beating very hard. She had an uncomfortable falling sensation in her stomach. I should get out of here and call Sheriff Akers. It's his job to know what to do about things like this.But it was hard to work up any feeling of confidence in Todd's father. She took her alarm and frustration out on the door. Which opened. Suddenly. Mary-Lynnette's fist hit air and for an instant she felt sheer panic, fear of the unknown. â€Å"What can I do for you?† The voice was soft and beautifully modulated. Thegirl was just plain beautiful. What Mary-Lynnette hadn't been able to see from the top of her hill was that the brown hair was aglow with rich chestnut highlights, the features were classically molded, the tall figure was graceful and willowy. â€Å"You're Rowan,† she said. â€Å"How did you know?† You couldn't be anything else; I've never seen anybody who looked so much like tree spirit. â€Å"Your aunt told me about you. I'm Mary-Lynnette Carter, Ilive just up Kahneta Road. You probably saw my house on your way here.† Rowan looked noncommittal. She had such a sweet,grave face-,and skin that looked like white orchid petals, Mary-Lynnette thought abstractedly. She said, â€Å"So, I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood, say hello, see if there's anything you need.† Rowan looked less grave; she almost smiled and her brown eyes grew warm. â€Å"How nice of you. Really. I almost wish we did need something †¦ but actually we're fine.† Mary-Lynnette realized that, with the utmost civility and good manners, Rowan was winding up the conversation. Hastily she threw a new subject into the pool. â€Å"There are three of you girls, right? Are you going to school here?† â€Å"My sisters are.† â€Å"That's great. I can help show them around. I'll be a senior this year.† Another subject, quick, MaryLynnette thought. â€Å"So, how do you like Briar Creek? It's probably quieter than you're used to.† â€Å"Oh, it was pretty quiet where we came from,†Rowan said. â€Å"But we love it here; it's such a wonderful place. The trees, the little animals. . .† She broke off. â€Å"Yeah, those cute little animals,† Mary-Lynnette said. Get to the point, her inner voices were telling her. Her tongue and the roof of her mouth felt like Velcro. Finally she blurted, â€Å"So-so, um, how is your aunt right now?† â€Å"She's-fine.† That instant's hesitation was all Mary-Lynnette needed. Her old suspicions, her old panic, surged up immediately. Making her feel bright and cold, like aknife made of ice. She found herself saying in a confident, almost chirpy voice, â€Å"Well, could I just talk to her for a minute? Would you mind? It's just that I have something sort of important to tellher†¦.† She made a move as if to step over the threshold. Rowan kept on blocking the door. â€Å"Oh, I'm sosorry. Butwell, that's not really possible rightnow.† â€Å"Oh, is it one of her headaches? I've seen her in bed before.† Mary-Lynnette gave a little tinkly laugh. â€Å"No, it's not a headache.† Rowan spoke gently, deliberately. â€Å"The truth is that she's gone for a few days.† â€Å"Gone?† â€Å"I know.† Rowan made a little grimace acknowledging that this was odd. â€Å"She just decided to take a few days off. A little vacation.† â€Å"But-gosh, with you girls just getting here†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Mary-Lynnette's voice was brittle. â€Å"Well, you see, she knew we'd take care of thehouse for her. That's why she waited until we came.† â€Å"But-gosh,† Mary-Lynnette said again. She felt aspasm in her throat. â€Å"Where-just where did she go?† â€Å"Up north, somewhere on the coast. I'm not sure of the name of the town.† â€Å"But . . .† Mary-Lynnette's voice trailed off. Back off, her inner voices warned.Now was the time to be polite, to be cautious. Pushing it meant showing this girl that Mary-Lynnette knew something was wrong with this story. And since somethingwas wrong, thisgirl might be dangerous†¦. It was hard to believe that while looking at Rowan'ssweet, grave face. She didn't look dangerous. But thenMary-Lynnette noticed something else. Rowan was barefoot. Her feet were as creamy-pale as the rest ofher, but sinewy. Something about them, the way they were placed or the clean definition of the toes, made Mary-Lynnette think of those feet running. Of savage, primal speed. When she looked up, there was another girl walking up behind Rowan. The one with dark golden hair. Her skin was milky instead of blossomy, and her eyes were yellow. â€Å"This is Kestrel,† Rowan said. â€Å"Yes,† Mary-Lynnette said. She realized she was staring. And realized, the moment after that, that shewas scared. Everything about Kestrel made her thinkof savage, primal movement. The girl walked as if she were flying. â€Å"What's going on?† Kestrel said. â€Å"This is Mary-Lynnette,† Rowan said, her, voice still pleasant. â€Å"She lives down the road. She came to see Aunt Opal.† â€Å"Really just to see if you needed anything,† MaryLynnette interjected quickly. â€Å"We're sort of your only neighbors.† Strategy change, she was thinking. About-face. Looking at Kestrel, she believed in danger. Now all she wanted was to keep these girls from guessing what she knew. â€Å"You're a friend of Aunt Opal's?† Kestrel asked silkily. Her yellow eyes swept Mary-Lynnette, first up, then down. â€Å"Yeah, I come over sometimes, help her withthe†-oh, God, don't say gardening-â€Å"goats. Um, I guess she told you that they need to be milked everytwelve hours.† Rowan's expression changed fractionally. MaryLynnette's heart gave a violent thud. Mrs. B. would never,everleave without giving instructions aboutthe goats. â€Å"Of course she told us,† Rowan said smoothly, justan instant too late. Mary-Lynnette's palms were sweating. Kestrelhadn't taken that keen, dispassionate, unblinkinggaze off her for a moment. Like the proverbial birdof prey staring down the proverbial rabbit. â€Å"Well, it'sgetting late and I bet you guys have things to do. I should let you go.† Rowan and Kestrel looked at each other. Then theyboth looked at Mary-Lynnette, cinnamon-brown eyes and golden eyes fixed intently on her face.Mary-Lynnette had the falling feeling in her stomach again. â€Å"Oh, don't goyet,† Kestrel said silkily. â€Å"Why don'tyou come inside?†

Students will be required to research the topic of Effective Assignment

Students will be required to research the topic of Effective Advertising and write a literary review and analysis - Assignment Example Marketers can use different mediums like TV, Radio, internet, billboards, public personnel, celebrity, electronic display boards etc to communicate the message to viewers and in some case press releases are being used to communicate the message. Dube and Manchanda (81-95) stated that important thing is to measure the effectiveness of advertisement and due to non-tangibility of parameters; it becomes very difficult to measure effectiveness of advertisement. In such context, this essay will try to address the theme â€Å"Effective Advertising† with the help of research works conducted by various research scholars on that subject. Although, key objective of the paper is to answer the question â€Å"What Makes Advertising Effective† but the essay will take funnel approach to concentrate on specific aspect like â€Å"role of internationalization on advertising† in the later part. Understanding concepts or factors that might affect the effectiveness of advertisement wo uld also be important part of the discussion. Discussion Literature Review Nguyen and Shi (965-973) pointed out that it is very difficult to summarize all the factors that may affect the effectiveness of advertisement and they also identified macro and micro influencer of advertisement. For macro factor, synchronization of advertisement theme with socio-cultural dimension of particular population or theme variation can play important role in influencing purchase action of viewer. On the other hand, Bruce (659-673) identified micro factors like product involvement and ad/context congruency or cognitive appeal of the advertisement can play important role in determining the effectiveness of advertisement. Considering the vastness of the topic, it is to be understood that addressing or identifying all the factors that may influence effectiveness of advertisement is beyond the scope of this short essay. Therefore, in this literature review, the researcher will focus on issue like impact of internationalization on advertising, theme effects and ad/context congruency etc in order to address key deliverables in the assignment. Theme Effects Bass, Bruce, Murthi and Majumdar (179–195) stated that quality of advertisement might vary over the time and alteration of themes might affect effectiveness of the advertisement. According to these scholars, quality of the advertisement is intangible and relative measure which has indirect link with the themes of the advertisement. For example, these Bass, Bruce, Murthi and Majumdar (179–195) used advertisement example of a fast food joint which has changed its theme over the course of time in order to remain relevant and effective. Bass, Bruce, Murthi and Majumdar (179–195) found that repetition of the same advertising theme in longitudinal manner might decrease the effectiveness of the advertisement. In such context, MacInnis, Rao and Weiss (391–407) found that effectiveness of the advertisement is dec ided by the existence of pooling effects like emotional appeal, logical appeal, sense of benefits etc in the promoted advertisement. For example, Chandy, Tellis, MacInnis and Thaivanich (399–414) gave examples of argument based advertisement themes in consumer durables sector and stated that effectiveness of the advertisement gets increased when marketers compare the benefits of offering with

Manager of a bank Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Manager of a bank - Essay Example The position’s basic academic qualifications vary across banks. While some banks prefer people with Masters Degrees in Business Administration or post graduate diploma in business management, others recruit individuals with Bachelor degrees. Qualified accountants under Chartered Accountancy can also fill the position of a bank manager. Similarly, a Master degree in Economics is an entry qualification into the career position. While possession of any of these qualifications establishes an opportunity to be employed by a bank as its manager, a combination of two or more, and even possession of other academic qualifications in addition to these, adds competitive advantage to an individual for consideration into the position of a bank manager. Such qualifications are necessary for meeting the scope of work in the banking sector, which defines the roles and responsibilities of a bank manager. The manager has a general responsibility of overseeing operations in his or her branch or sets of branches and includes exercising control over branch employees and processes. The manager is for example responsible for marketing his branch and the branch’s offered products. He, with respect to this role ensures development of strategies for understanding customer’s behavior and influencing such behavior towards higher demand for the organization’s product. He is also responsible for meeting customers’ expectations and resolving any emergent problems from customers. This is achieved through two initiatives. Ensuring that customers’ utility through offered products is achieved by initiating market research in order to determine products that can meet customers’ changing needs. He also approves m arket research findings for implementation towards delivery of newly developed products and practices. The manager also listens to customers’ complains against his branch’s employees or products, and

Ethic and Morality in Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethic and Morality in Religion - Essay Example Thus, it strives for all humanity without discrimination. The philosophers and thinkers are of the opinion that the popularity and validity of a religion can be assessed, estimated and measured by the noble teachings of its pioneers in respect of betterment and welfare of the individuals. No religion allows exercise of any kind of butcheries, atrocities and cruelties in the name of faith and religion. On the contrary, the concept of religion has close association with humanity, sacrifice, ethics and moral values.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The founders, preachers and pioneers of every religion have looked for the implication and observation of moral values as one of the most essential elements of the basic teachings of their faith. Though religious cults and practices vary among the followers of different religions, and there are some similarities too, yet the most common thing among all the faiths includes their emphasis on ethical principles and moral values. Ethics and morality refer to the rules and regulations, based on the principles of charity, kindness, love, respect and goodness, which everyone is bound to observe in his behavior. The basic motive behind every religion has always been the welfare of the people, which can be witnessed by analyzing the words, teachings and scriptures of the founders of the great religions.   Ã‚   Like other religious beliefs, Christianity has also defined morality as the essence of their traditional faith. The Christians consider Holy Christ as the founder of Christianity.

Military's last barrier to Equality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Military's last barrier to Equality - Essay Example McSally therefore, justifiably argues that ban on women in combat should be repealed. The author, Martha McSally is a retired Air Force colonel who had led several combat positions and repeatedly proved that women are equal if not better than men in the area hitherto dominated by men. Indeed, many women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan have even won silver medal for bravery in the field. They have proved their usefulness in various positions vis-a-vis at checkpoints for searching women and children for weapons, acting as agents under counterinsurgency strategy, going as frontline soldiers to kill enemies etc. But unfortunately, their meritorious actions have yet to be recognized as such in their own country of birth. They are still relegated to areas that are least equipped to exploit their huge potential as a military person in their home country. McSally is absolutely correct when she says that ‘current policy is a legal fiction, which not only degrades combat efficien cy, effectiveness and flexibility but confuses military commanders’. ... Women have not been the isolated cases where gender differences were used to subvert the rights of citizens. In the contemporary environment of sexual freedom, sexual equality has wider implications. The categorization of sexual preferences has resulted in people exhibiting homosexuality, gay or lesbian behavior. Thus, rights of such people have also come under lot of controversy. But recently, allowing homosexuals within the military services, President Obama has succinctly indicated that time for change has become a necessity. He has particularly emphasized that homosexuals’ contribution in military could significantly increase national security. Justice, fairness and equality must be enjoyed by all. But McSally is not impressed because the same has yet to be filtered down to encompass women who are still deprived of coveted positions in many areas of military services. Diversity within the workforce, especially related to sexuality of persons must be included at all levels of services. Equal opportunity has become a ground reality that must cut across gender. The patriarchal society has been the major factor that has consistently denied women their rightful place in the society. Their empowerment therefore, has become a major issue that must be addressed. While the constitution has been amended to facilitate their inclusion and gives them equal opportunities, the court of law has surprisingly been quiet in the matter of American military services where women are openly differentiated. The court’s intervention in the case of homosexuals is a positive step that should greatly influence the decisions of higher hierarchy of military services to ensure that army

Hershey's Sweet Mission Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hershey's Sweet Mission - Personal Statement Example This paper tells that active listening is a way of listening and responding to another person that improves mutual understanding. Workers that are active listeners are able to communicate better with their colleagues. The new appraisal system must identify traits that are important in the performance of a particular employee. The company will monitor other personality traits of the employee that can impact performance. Diversity can be spread further into a corporate culture giving minority jobs in which they have to perform a supervisory role. Diversity in team activities has the benefit of fostering creativity among team members. Creativity helps workers provide better ideas and alternative solutions. As a Hershey, employee my perspective and motivation would be to comply with the vision and mission of the company. The first value that I would apply in my everyday interactions with my co-workers is teamwork. â€Å"Teamwork occurs when group members work together in ways that utili ze their skill well to accomplish a purpose†. In the corporate environment of the 21st-century, teamwork has become a critical success factor for corporations. Teamwork can help Hershey create an environment of trust and mutual respect. My mentality as a Hershey employee would be to cooperate with my colleagues at all times. Teamwork and cooperation are two desirable work outcomes. I would maintain good communication with my supervisors and with the other employees of the company. The employees of Hershey represent the corporate image of the company. It is important for them to behave properly with the utmost moral values during both their work and personal time. A second trend that is going to impact human resource professionals in the future is an increased dependency on technological tools. One of the HR practices gaining popularity in the work environment of the 21st century is empowerment. â€Å"Empowerment is increasing in popularity because it helps firms reduce their administrative expenses† (Worldbank, 2011). The employees at Hershey would benefit from empowerment because more responsibility will be given to them. The moral of the workers also improves due to the use of empowerment. Hershey is an enterprise with a global workforce. The use of empowerment can help streamline the work and reduce beaurocracy. The motivation of the employees also increases as a consequence of the use of empowerment. Giving greater responsibility to the employees of Hershey should provide valuable work experience to the workers. Empowerment is also beneficial to a company because it frees up a lot of managerial time that can be used in more productive practices such as strategic planning. The use of empowerment also increases employee satisfaction. Employees that are happy at work produce at a higher level. The use of mentoring is an HR practice that can benefit Hershey in a variety of manners. The mentoring relationship is composed of a mentor and a protege. The protege receives training and knowledge from the mentor. The training the mentor provides will help the protege achieve his daily activities for the company. Mentorship is an efficient and cost-effective way to help in the developmental process of an employee. One of the drawbacks of using mentorship to develop the skills and abilities of employees is that the technique is limited to the amount of managerial time at disposal.