Global Marketing Strategy Is A Part Of Company Management Essay

Global Marketing Strategy Is A Part Of Company Management Essay Global marketing strategy is a part of companys whole corporate strategy and includes such issues as product positioning, branding policies, selection of target markets and modes for entering to, which media to use for promotional campaigns, and so on. A global marketing plan is a way for guiding the overall route of global campaigns. It requires to include choices regarding media combinations, whether to use a marketing agency and, if so, for which purposes and to what degree, and whether to challenge or sidestep from competitors when operating in overseas markets. Corporate and global marketing strategies are closely intertwined (Bennett Blythe 2002, p.15). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American  international  retail company that has number of department stores and warehouse stores in USA and worldwide. It is the worlds largest retailor and third largest multination company. It has more than 8,500 stores in 15 different of the world. It works in different countries with different names.   LuLu Hypermarkets, is Gulf based retail stores and considers as a trend setter of the retail industry in  GCC including Qatar. Nowadays, LuLu represents excellence retailing with number stores and has been an immediate success with the perceptive shoppers across the country. Multinational corporations including Wal-Mart want to quickly access the international market and exploit the opportunities in the rapidly growing economies such as Qatar (Cullen Parboteeah 1999, pp.133-135). Takeover the Lulu will give the quick and complete access to the Qatars growing economy. By acquisition of Lulu, Wal-Mart can expend its international operations. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart), started on October 31, 1969, is an American multinational company, runs retail stores in various layouts around the world. Companys pricing philosophy is to provide products to customer at lowest possible price. The Companys works in three corporate divisions: the Wal-Mart U.S. segment, the Wal-Mart International segment, and the Sams Club segment. In fiscal year 2012, Wal-Mart U.S. segment generated approximately 60% of its net sales from number of its stores in all 50 states in USA and Puerto Rico, as well as Wal-Marts online selling activities. Wal-Mart International division involves in retail activities in 26 different countries. During fiscal 2012, this overseas division produced about 28% of its net sales. The Wal-Mart Worldwide segment comprises a variety of layouts of retail stores, restaurants and online selling, which function outside the USA (Wal-Mart  n.d. online) The Corporation is involved in the retail activities located all over the United States; its entirely retained firms in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan and the United Kingdom; its majority retained holdings in Chile, Mexico, 12 countries in Africa, and five countries in Central America. The retail giant has joint ventures in India and the China and some fully owned subsidiaries. The Wal-Mart U.S. division contains the Firms mass mercantile idea under the Wal-Mart or Wal-Mart brand. The Wal-Mart Global segment involves of the Businesss operations outside of the USA. The primarily listed on the NYSE, but it is also traded on 13 other exchanges in 6 different countries. From many years Wal-Mart Stores Inc. revenue is growing. Last year it grew at 4.97% from 446.95bn to 469.16bn while net income improved 8.28% from 15.70bn to 17.00bn. LuLu Hypermarket LuLu Hypermarket, the retail division of the multidimensional EMKE Group has always been recognised as a trend setter of the retail industry in Arab region. LuLu shopping centres are modern and adding all possible requirements of the customers under one roof. LuLu Hypermarkets have widely arranged out counters, extensive parking spaces, play zones for kids, food places, money conversation and bank counters as well a display of global and local products appropriately justifying details. It is the most preferable shopping place in Qatar. SWOT Analysis: An overview: SWOT analysis is a scan of internal and external environment of an organization and a vital part of the strategic planning process and decision making. Environmental factors internally touches to the firm usually classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W) whereas those externally affects to the firm can be said as opportunities (O) or threats (T) . An organizations strengths are its means and competences that can be used to develop a competitive benefit whereas lack of these capabilities may be looked as weaknesses. The external environmental analysis tells us about the availability of new opportunities for income and progression in to new and existing market. All the external factors which can affect organisation performance are regarded as threats (Johnson et al. 2011, p74). SWOT Analysis of Wal-Mart: Strength Wal-Mart Stores, Inc is the world largest    global retail corporation. It runs hundreds of discount department stores, hypermarkets, supermarket, grocery stores and warehouse in different region of the world. According to the  Fortune Global 500  list in 2012 this multinational giant was ranked as third largest corporation in the world. The company is also leading private employer  in the international market having more than two million employees. The operations of the corporation are wide spread and there is no international competitor of this size (Wal-Mart Stores, online) One of the core competences of the Wal-Mart is to use the information technology and software to maintain its international logistics system. For instance, it can be seen how distinct goods execute in different countries, within one country and store-by-store at one look. In addition to the retail market controller, it has the ability of repeating its greatest activities frequently around the  globe. Wal-Mart has a very good standing for worth for money, accessibility and a wide-ranging range product portfolio all in at one place. This competitive advantage has created its constructive financial success and market share globally. Moreover, its leading position and the diversity of products permits it to rapidly differentiate the products, which allows it to encounter the demand and give benefits from increased trades. This kind of elasticity and impact enables it to uphold its dominant market position (Farhoomand Wang, 2006). Weaknesses Wal-Mart is a huge  vendor and runs hypermarkets which need large space for existing and every new stock. This restricts its growth in inner-city areas where limited space is available. It has been seen its sales in USA have reduced for eight constant quarters because of availability of less space. Therefore, it has become more essential for Wal-Mart to originate new set up which helps to increase its revenue and which is more appropriate to the city areas. Its competitors such as Tesco are planning to come up with such new strategy of market place to cater more and more segments of customer. If they accomplish to be successful in the market then Wal-Mart will likely to have a competitive disadvantage. Wal-Mart sells many low price products but customers often concerned about the quality of products. Many times it involved in non-compliance to environmental dispute which cost the company huge sums of money (Mujtaba Maxwell, 2011) Opportunities Wal-Mart has been growing its presence in emerging economies such as India, china and Brazil. It is estimated that due to rapid economic growth, consumers in these countries developing would have double by 2015. Therefore, this will create a great opportunity for  Wal-Mart for its international growing trend. Growth of ecommerce and buying through the internet is a big opportunity in future because this way of shopping will increase in future. Bad economic period is not over in many countries and people are still looking for cheap products (Kumar, 2008). Threats: The cost of making many consumer goods has fallen due to lower manufacturing costs. Production cost has dropped due to contracting out these products to low-cost regions of the World. This has led to price war, resulting in decreasing the price to very low level. Strong price competition in the global market a great threat to companys profitability. Local vendors do not welcome the arrival of Wal-Mart and it can face strong opposition. Rivalry from local stores is likely to increase as travel costs to Wal-Mart stores have been increased due to increase in fuel prices (Mujtaba Maxwell, 2011). Concept of Internationalisation: Internationalisation can be well-defined as the process and resources that businesses take part themselves into the foreign environments particularly overseas countries, cultures, beliefs or international structure of manufacture and marketing. According to Welch Luostarinen (1988) internationalisation is the procedure of external incremental drive in global operations. They propose seven extents for determining firms internationalisation: foreign operation methods, organizational structure, personnel, sales objectives, target markets, organizational capacity and finance. In the opinion of Penrose (1995), internationalisation is the direction of international business communication to encourage customers and clients to have chance and multiple choices of products that fulfil their requirements all around the globe. Through the business contact of these products or intangible services, firms sell goods all around the world. Those business actions that include more than two nations or stride more than two state boundaries can be called internationalised business no matter they are worked by the private company or the governmental firm. Internationalisation or globalization is the progression that organisations change business into international dimensions because of the global rivalry, the market growth and multination operation (Chetty Campbell 2004) Internationalisation Drivers: Generally globalization, technology advances and increased competition are the factors motivating firms to go into foreign markets. Thus, many multinational companies are motivated to operate worldwide and overlooking the national boundaries. It is acceptable to argue that drives to in to foreign markets differ from business to business. They may also depend on organisations functioning in diverse industries, from different national background and under dissimilar trade and industry systems. In addition to this, inspiration to go for internationalisation may also varies for firms because of their size, time period and strategy (Morrison,2006. P136). According to Slater Narver (1994) motivations of nay firm can be examined by considering the three key elements: internal and external environment, product and market situation. Luo (2000) argue that Capability possession is essentially important to gain competitive benefits and define firm-level approaches to exploit these advantages. He further says that to get the competitive rewards in the host country which cannot be attained at home is the major inspiration for the organisation to go overseas. International is essential to exploit the opportunities in emerging markets. Capability advancement is vital to the evolutionary growth of viable advantages and generating different packs of resources. Competent advantage is a needed for continued success in todays world economy categorised by growing technological advancement and business globalization. C:UsersDELLDocumentsInternational BusinessISMMy Assignment1-s2.0-S1090951600000432-gr1.jpg Figure 1.  Dynamic Capabilities in International Expansion: An Integrated Model. Source: Luo, Yadong (2000) Internationalisation is an attempt by an organization to make variations in its product and market approach. An internationalised company gather experience and knowledge through the globalised process. Many corporations prefer to go in other countries when there is an economic crisis in at home, whereas overseas market is emerging fast. When local clienteles are rushing overseas, firms follow to join in the global struggle in order that they do not lose these customers. Some companies also react to the penetration of external firms into the home market. Many firms take experimental decision towards the intercontinental market (Evers Menkhoff 2004). Firms may go into other countries to seek opportunities in foreign market. For instance, the globalisation of many Japanese companies was driven by the growth of domestic market. Many western and USA businesses are inspired by Chinas potentially vast market, less labour expenses and advancement of technology (Buckley et al., 2002). Why Invest in Qatar: Qatar is flourished from many years with constant high real GDP growth rate. It has worlds highest per-capital income in the world with the lowest unemployment rate. The country economy relies on its massive Oil and gas reserves. Now Qatar is taking advantage of its revenues from oil and gas in other economic sectors in order to expand its economic base and develop a strong private sector. Qatar is an active member of the World Trade organisation, Qatar has opened other segments of the economy to overseas investors and has flexible  investing policy.  Qatars successful 2022 world cup bid will also speed up the economic growth in the country (Qatar, 2013, online). For international companies, Qatar has much attraction such as: Modern network of roads and ports, as well as a state of the art airport Developed telecommunication network Peace and security with very low rate of crimes Political stable environment No discrimination for foreign investor and legal protection Land can be leased on nominal price Qatar exchange provides liquidity and numerous investment instruments through implementing world best practices Other incentives for international companies include sponsored or minimal rates for gas and electricity, no import duty on equipment, machine and spare parts for manufacturing schemes, tax exemptions on business and no export duty among others. Other benefits for employees include tax free wages, brilliant medical and educational facilities and highly advance telecommunication facilities (Qatars Investment Environment, n.d. online). Mode of Entry: Decisions regarding the means of an organizations entry to specific foreign markets are amongst the utmost important that its management will ever have to take. When an entrance mode in to host market has been selected, its execution has important inferences for a wide range of global marketing concerns. Certainly, a companys whole international marketing package might be significantly determined by how it selects to enter into foreign states. Thus, time and effort necessarily be dedicated to the decision-taking procedure, and widespread market investigation may be involve. In most of the circumstances the choice to enter a new market is a long-standing strategic choice. Thus it is a very vital and key step for corporations. The success of a companys global tasks depends greatly on the choice of entrance mode into a new market (Doole, 2008, p231) The OLI or eclectic approach to the study of foreign direct investment (FDI) developed by John Dunning is a particularly useful way of thinking about multinational enterprises (MNEs) and has motivated a great deal of useful work in economics and international business. According to this model a corporation must own three benefits while taking into account entry in a foreign market. These include ownership, location and internalization (Dunning, 1988). These benefits are the key source of inspiration and define the FDI firms entry strategy into new market. OLI stands for Ownership, Location, and Internalization, three potential sources of benefit that may motivate a firms choice to enter into international market. Ownership advantages discuss of why some companies but not others go overseas and propose that a successful international organisation has some firm-specific benefits which allow it to overcome the operational costs in a foreign country. Location advantages stress on the examination of where a firm chooses to locate. Finally, Internalisation states to the best interest of the businesses having ownership benefits to transfer them across national boundaries inside the company, rather than selling them or the right to use them to foreign firms (Buckley, 2011). Internet: The Internet is a new and innovative way to access the markets all around the globe for many organisations. There are many companies that have emerged as the Internet has advanced, as well as many old companies have adopted this new approach. For some corporations the Internet is an additional channel that improves or replaces their old-style networks. In any case internet has provided many new ways of business in the whole world (Palmer, 2012). Exporting: There are  two ways of exporting: direct  and  indirect. Direct exporting is straightforward. The firm creates an obligation to market in host country on its own behalf. I this way company can have better grip over its product and tasks in the foreign market. Other way of exporting is to employ agency at home which will handle all the exporting activities on the behalf of manufacture to get its product into and this way of exporting is called indirect export (Zahra et al 2000) Franchising: A overseas company take on the parents companys whole business setup in the local market and its name, logos, business approaches, premises, etc The franchisor also offers in return for a royalty and fee, a range of additional management facilities including training, practical advice and even financial assistance (Bennet 1999, p.312). Licensing In licensing, businesses signs an agreements with external businesses, which is also called license that permit the overseas firms to officially produce and sell the  companys goods and services. The foreign corporations will either buy the license and pay regular licensing fee or pay a part of their income over which is also called royalty. A lot manufacturing firms use this way to enter into foreign markets. It provides quick and inexpensive way of market entry, but provides them less control in market (Bennett Blythe 2002, p203) Joint Venture Joint Venture has become most popular mode of entry in past couple of decades. In this mode of entry two  businesses combine resources to sell products or services. Though joint ventures provide foreign companies with a partner knowledgeable in the foreign market, these partnerships can be problematic to manage and need a distribution of incomes (Cateora et al, 1999, ) Overseas Manufacturing or Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) A company may choose that none of the other choices are as feasible as completely possessing a  foreign business. The firm can invests directly into the overseas market. This is also identified as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The companies establish new business or might buy a current business that is suitable for his mission and strategic objective in the overseas market. The key advantage of this approach is that company becomes local and company can meet the demand and choice of the customer by gaining local market knowledge. The major drawback of this mode of entry is that it requires huge investment and investment risk involved in it (Shankar Luo 2007, p.297). Assessment of Modes of Entry in Qatar: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American  multinational  retail corporation that has number of department stores and warehouse stores. The company is worlds largest retailor and third largest multination organisation. It has more than 8,500 stores in 15 different of the world. It works in different countries with different names.   It runs in Mexico as  Walmex, in the UK as  Asda, in Japan as  Seiyu. It has recently started his business in India as Best Price. It has entirely owned subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. LuLu Hypermarkets, is Gulf based retail stores and consider as a trend setter of the retail industry in  GCC including Qatar. Nowadays, LuLu represents excellence retailing with number stores and has been an immediate success with the perceptive shoppers across the country. In case of franchising a companys name, logos, business approaches and premises is compulsory to produce and market products or services. Where as in licensing, businesses sign contracts with external firm that permit the foreign firms to officially produce and sell the  companys goods and services. But these modes of entry are not feasible for Wal-Mart and LuLu. One corporation is global giant where as other has excellent position in the local market and they does not need to share the resources of each other. The purpose of the Wal-Mart is international expansion and gets the strategic advantage by getting into of worlds fastest growing economy. Product quality levels and lower revenues are major problems of licensing and franchising (Bennet 1999, pp.311-312).In Joint ventures organisation cannot take any particular choice independently. However, fast decisions are needed in ever changing international market. Conflicts are quite common in joint ventures and this monde of entry w ould also be not acceptable by Wal-Mart to enter into Qatar. Wal-Mart Strategic Takeover of Lulu Hypermarket (Assumption): Assumption: Wal-Mart will completely take over the lulu-Hypermarket after buying its 100% stake. Wal-Mart management will take over the full control and make independent decision. The Lulu-Hypermarket will work under the same name in the market only adding a part of Wal-Mart family. Now it will work under the management of worlds largest retailer with plenty of experience and skills in retailing. http://www.jeddahpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/lulu_hypermarket_jeddah.jpg A Part of Wal-Mart Family As a worlds leading retailer and having plenty of resources, Wal-Mart has the ability to buy the 100% stake of Lulu hypermarket and can make it its wholly owned subsidiary as it did about 13 years ago to enter into UK market by acquiring the ASDA. The Wal-Mart can enter into Qatar by using the same approach. This mode of entry is considered to be best when demand for the product seems to be certain. This market entry mode shows that the company has long term strategic plan. By owning LULU hypermarket, Wal-Mart can have following advantages (Bennett Blythe, 2002, p212): lower cost of production Local technical expertise and market knowledge Grants from Government Trained Staff Competitive Advantage Retailing have long-standing market potential in a comparatively politically stable state such as Qatar then having full possession will offer the level of control which is necessary to fully meet the companys strategic marketing intentions. This strategy is a tool to build a build an influential and strong presence in the global markets over a long period of time. In future the Wal-Mart can have huge market share and large profits in Qatari market, but this will not realised overnight. The Wal-Mart has to wait to become the market leader in the country. Sometimes it takes many years gaining an understanding of the local markets, customers and competition before making a major success in the market (Hitt et al 1995). Many multinational companies like Wal-Mart considering for speedy access to market and generate short term by exploiting the opportunity in the growing economy (Cullen Parboteeah 1999, pp.133-135). Takeover to Lulu Hypermarket will give the quick and complete access to the Qatars growing economy. Acquisition of Lulu will provide instant access to a skilled work force, existing customer and established supplier links, recognised brands to the customer, an established distribution network and a direct source of revenue. International Marketing: According to Griffith Hoppner (2013) marketing managers from all over the world are be aware of the growing requirement for their companies to improve the expertise, abilities and familiarity to enter effectively in global markets. The rise of a more open global market, the globalisation of buyer choices and the rapid growth of Internet, all has increased the interdependency and interconnections of countrys economies around the world. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as the Management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (Dann, 2010). Thus, marketing includes (Doole Lowe 2008, p.5): concentrating on the customer demands recognising the best way of customer satisfaction companys motivation to the process of providing that satisfaction Meeting organisational goals In international marketing the strategic components of this structure still apply and the conceptual structure is not going to alter to any noticeable degree when a firm moves into a foreign market. However, there are two key differences. First, there are different planes through which global marketing can be approached and, second, the uncontrollable circumstances of the international marketing environment. Therefore, international marketing is more complex, multidimensional and challenging (Doole Lowe 2008, pp.5-7). The Marketing Environment in Qatar: There are many environmental analysis models available to analysis the marketing environment of specific country. SLEPT approach is one of these and commonly used international marketing environment analysis through the social/cultural, legal, economic, political and technological dimension. http://cdn.grin.com/images/preview-object/document.114088/cadd82efe20d90c01ea65576b8a5c001_LARGE.png (Doole Lowe 2008, p.7) Social/cultural environment The social and cultural impacts on global marketing are vast. Changes in social circumstances, religion and way of living all have emotional impact on customers observations and purchases behaviour. These differences tell us that consumers across the globe either similar or different and defines the possible universal branding and standardisation. Cultural variances and particularly language changes and religious differences have a major effect on the way a product may be used in a market, such as product name and the advertising campaign (De Mooij, 2010,pp.31-37).  Wal-Mart is going to enter into a country where native language is Arabic. It would have to make sure that all the information about products also be given in Arabic. So that customer can have full facts about product. Another important aspect is that all the products must be halal and fulfil the requirement of Islamic law. These products particularly include meat and dairy or those in which these are used as ingredients. When any company transfers into another nation, it deals with people from different social environments and background. Social values that are important to one community may mean little to another. Existence of all these substantial differences must be kept in mind while making marketing strategy in new country. As the economy of Qatar is growing rapidly people love to go outside for shopping. For Wal-Mart, this social trend of shopping would definitely be helpful to get competitive advantage in the economy. People in Doha are always looking for those places where they can find everything at same place. Legal Environment: The host Countrys legal environment affects the international marketing operations of firms in many ways. A good manager will analyse the legal environment of the country in which the firm is going to operate (Jain, 1989). Good news for Wal-Mart is that is that Qatar has NO taxes. The country is tax free and very attractive place to invest. It can sell thousands of products on very cheap prices. Government of Qatar has made very flexible rule to invest in the country for international companies. Political Environment: Multinational companies such as Wal-Mart usually prefer to invest in a country with a stable and friendly government (Williams, 2006). But such ideal business environment is not easy to find particular in Arab region. But in Qatar the situation is entirely different. Qatari Government is stable and very strong. There is no political dispute or protest reported in recent years as it is happened in other countries of the same region. Economic Environment: The macro as well as micro components of economy has a significant impact on international marketing strategy. Qatar is growing from several years with continuous high real GDP growth rate which has made it a country with highest per capital income. Qatars economy depends on its enormous resources of oil and gas. Peoples living standard and purchasing power are very high. In such economic circumstances Wal-Mart has plenty of business opportunities in Qatar. Basically, the microeconomic environment concerns more with competition in the open market of a country (Jain, 1996, p.189-195). After taking over LULU-Hypermarket, Wal-Mart would not have any significant competitor in the market. Its purpose is international expansion in this way it can quickly expand its business in the region. Technological Environment: The influence of technological developments can be seen in all areas marketing. The capability to collect information on marketplaces, organisation control abilities and the feasibilities of carrying out the business globally have been modernised in recent years with the advances IT and telecommunication (Wilson Gilligan, 2012, pp.145-147). Qatar is a significant joining link in the world telecommunications system. In recent years, it has made outstanding development in the fields of communications, broadcasting, delivery services, roads airports and sea ports which make Qatar an excellent place to invest. Marketing mix: Wal-Mart pricing Strategy: Pricing is a most critical and composite variable in foreign marketing plans. Pricing strategy finally decides a companys capability to remain in an overseas market. The uncertainties in market or economy which are very difficult to predict such as production costs, demand, competition and many other factors fluctuate international price (Ferrell Hartline, 2010, pp.230). International pricing has several processes and complications. In case of Wal-Mart, its corporate headquarter in USA will make all the pricing decisions. Different price-setting tactics are open to them. But before making any decision they would need complete market research and a number of factors effect pricing policies including competitor approach in the market, dumping, and leasing. Marketing managers would work with their abilities through all these composite variables (Jain, 1996, pp.482) Why should people Buy in Qatar from Wal-Mart: A proposed Model Different Low Cost Focus on Niche Market Source: Made by student himself The international objective of Wal-Mart is to have retail prices at lowest possible cost and the corporation has been very successful to get this goal in the international market. A person can at least 15 present by shopping in Wal-Mart. Its excellent corporate culture and availability of advance technical expertise coupled with professionalism make it possible to achieve its ultimate goal of providing the lowest prices possible in the international market. Wal-Mart should ente

We Must Ban Therapeutic Human Cloning Essay -- Argumentative Persuasiv

  Ã‚   The Senate is considering a proposal to outlaw human cloning. Two alternative proposals would ban only "reproductive cloning," which would mean explicitly legalizing human cloning but not the implantation of a clone embryo into a womb. Pro-cloners are willing for the most part to outlaw reproductive cloning because it isn't safe, but they oppose a ban on cloning for research and experimentation--known as "therapeutic cloning"--arguing that such a cloning license is necessary to the development of future medical treatments for human ailments. This opposition to a ban on human therapeutic cloning is misinformed.    The case against cloning, including therapeutic cloning, has mainly been argued on grounds of morality. Opponents have warned that creating embryos through cloning for the purpose of research (with the full intention of destroying them later) is a breathtakingly radical enterprise. For the first time in history, human lives will be created for the explicit purpose of exploitation. Such considerations have led activist Jeremy Rifkin to opine that the cloning debate is to the 21st century what the slavery debate was to the 19th.    Unfortunately, we live in a time of widespread and extreme non-judgmentalism, an era when many Americans simply do not respond to moral arguments in public policy debates. For these folk, what counts is not right versus wrong, but whether it will or won't work--in a word, utility.    Does this mean that the public policy amoralists among us must end up by default on the pro-cloning side? Not at all. There is increasing evidence that therapies based on cloned embryo cells would be so difficult and expensive to develop and so utterly impractical to bring to the bedside,... ...ork on embryos? The Red Cross representative could not have been clearer: "We really need to focus our resources, our attention, on those areas where we could most likely provide, in the shortest period of time, some therapies for our patients."    To pour money into human cloning embryonic stem cell research is to risk drilling one dry hole after another. The moral policy thus also turns out to be the pragmatic one. The United States Senate should vote to ban all human cloning now.    WORKS CITED: Civin, Curt I. "stem Cell Selection." http://www.stemcellselection.com/transwithselection/overview.htm Prentice, David. "The Truth About Stem Cells. http://www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/interrogatory022601a.shtml Odorico and Kaufman. Embryonic Stem Cell Research - a Reality Check. http://www.stemcellresearch.org/info/quotes3.htm

Looking at a Growing City :: essays papers

Looking at a Growing City In her lecture, Ms. Gretchen Schneider gave an in depth study of the changing uses of space in the development of the city of Boston. Her study involved a look at the history and land of the city and how they informed the decisions made regarding development and change in the city. In Jack Ahern’s lecture, he discussed landscape scenarios, which included a look at the different spatial concepts of landscape planning. Both lectures included information that could be extracted and applied when analyzing the development of any city. In this paper, I will be applying the ideas they presented in my own brief analysis of the development of my hometown, Nashua, NH. Nashua, New Hampshire is a small city of 175,000 people that lies on the border of Massachusetts. It began as an Indian fishing village along the Nashua River and with time and the construction of the Daniel Webster (Main) street, it grew to be a small factory town. Around the civil war times, Main Street became the main retail district as it was close to the textile factories that ran along the river. Small neighborhoods developed at either end of Main Street along with a railroad station west of the center of town. At this stage of Nashua’s development, it most closely resembled a contained interdigitation. The community and buildings were located in the central part of town, with a few neighborhoods that ran outside the boundaries. By about 1900, the city had begun to expand in all four directions, still fairly contained by the wilderness and the outskirts still resembled the interdigitation. BY the 1940, main other main roads were built, stemming from Main Street, and there was a great expansion, and the fingers of the interdigitation grew long, stretching into more of the wild land. Owners of the farms near town sold their land and moved to these areas on the western part of town, cleared the woods and built them selves huge farms and orchards. The neighborhoods north and south of the town got larger and expanded to east some. The growth of the city was becoming fast and town officials decided to begin claiming public grounds and building parks. It was at this time that Greeley Park was built that contained about a square quarter mile of land and Holman stadium was built at the northern part of town.

Mechanism of Vitamin D Action

Introduction Once absorbed, active elements of vitamin D, such as calcitriol, attach themselves to intracellular receptors and then act as transcription factors so as to modulate gene expression (Holick, 2010). The vitamin D receptors are similar to thyroid hormones and steroid hormones receptors and contain DNA- binding and hormone-binding domains. According to Holick (2010), these receptors bind with the retinoid-X receptors, another intracellular receptor, forming a complex bond. This heterodimer is what binds to cellular DNA and activates a biological reaction. The biological reaction can either be the stimulation of proteins that perpetuate intestinal absorption of calcium or providing the appropriate balance of elements crucial for bone function and growth (Holick, 2010). Vitamin D and Bone Health. Numerous studies have demonstrated that vitamin D has important ramifications on bone health, not only in life, but even in the course of fetal development. For instance, DeLuca & Schnoes (1976) cite Dr. Cooper’s research that studied the key factors associated with normal patterns of skeletal growth and established that maternal vitamin D deficiency, coupled with other dynamics, inhibited bone mineral absorption during intrauterine life, and was linked to stunted childhood growth and weak bones in adulthood (DeLuca & Schnoes, 1976). Lack of vitamin D has insidious consequences on the skeleton since it inhibits the accumulation of optimal levels of calcium that is genetically prearranged for the skeleton (Holick, 2010). Watson (2013) also retaliates that once peak bone mass is reached, adults lacking vitamin D in their system will annually loose approximately 0.5% of their skeletal mass if they lack sufficient vitamin D and calcium in their systems (p.18). In addition, vitamin D deficiency can also lead to osteomalacia (DeLuca & Schnoes, 1976); a mineralization defect of the collagen matrix. This condition is often accompanied by throbbing bone pain and aching (DeLuc a & Schnoes, 1976). Holick (2010) points out another research at the University of Pittsburgh that also established a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and increased susceptibility to bone fractures. The study measured the vitamin D levels of 400 participants with hip fractures and compared the results with the vitamin D levels of 400 other healthy women. The outcome demonstrated that individuals with the lowest levels of Vitamin D were 71 percent susceptible to bone fractures compared to those with the highest levels of vitamin D. Consequently, the role played by vitamin D in sustaining bone health can never be overemphasized. Not only does it aid in mineral absorption and bone development in intrauterine growth and childhood, but is also responsible for strong bones in adults as well. References DeLuca, H, F., and Schnoes K.K., (1976). Metabolism and Mechanism of Action of Vitamin D. Annual Review of Biochemistry. Vol. 45: 631- 637 Holick, M.F., (2010). Vitamin D: Physiology, Molecular Biology, and Clinical Applications. New York: Springer Science & Business Media Watson, R.S., (2013). Handbook of Vitamin D in Human Health: Prevention, Treatment and Toxicity, Chicago: Wageningen Academic Pub.

Discuss the problems of the Central Business Districts of MEDC cities

In this essay I will be writing about the Central Business District (CBD), it's problems, and possible solutions to them. Also I will show how the CBD relates to the Burgess and the Hoyt models. The main things that are located in the CBD are: shops, department stores, and office blocks. The main functions of the CBD are commerce, employment and entertainment. The CBD has the widest range of shops, and the highest amount of department stores, as it is very densely populated during the day. People come to the CBD for shopping, as you will have no trouble finding what you are looking for. In the CBD lots of businesses have their offices there. For example: solicitors, banks etc. The entertainment is also located in the CBD. Theaters, cinemas, nightclubs etc. are all located in the Central Business District because it is very highly populated in the evenings/nights. A good example is London's West End. The CBD is located in the same place on both Burgess's and Hoyt's models which is in the middle of the city. (As shown on the diagrams below.) It is located there because it is easily accessible and most of the public transport meets there. Central Business District Central Business District The CBD faces many severe problems due to the high density of people, cars etc. Many of those problems are trying to be solved by the government, but unfortunately so far they have not been successful. One of the major problems is traffic congestion. Traffic congestion is a very big problem that causes not only jammed streets, and delays but also pollution, which is another big problem. Traffic congestions is caused by the fact that the streets and roads where laid down before the car was invented. Back then horse-carriages were in use and the roads were not getting jammed. The other thing that causes this problem is the very high ownership of cars. Many people own more than one car. Many roads are being gridlocked for many minutes or sometimes even hours. Also lots of shops , services and offices are located in the CBD so people want to get to them, so the roads are congested. Some solutions have been attempted to solve the problem. These include: Ring roads, by-passes that divert the traffic from the CBD and instead go around it. It may seem that it would take longer, but that is not the case, as in the CBD you cannot travel fast, there are traffic lights, etc. but on the motorway there are no traffic lights and you can travel much faster so you take less time then you would if you travel through the CBD. An example of a ring-road is the M 25 going around London. It is so successful the government is planning to expand it so each side has 6 lanes, instead of the 3 it has now. Another solution proposed by me, is the banning of heavy lorries from going through the CBD as they take up lots of space and cause congestion. That way there will be more space for cars, and lorries do tend to block streets while turning, etc Also I think that multistory car park and † park and ride† schemes would help to reduce the traffic in the CBD. It would help because people would park their cars in a multistory car park or the would park it on the suburbs of the city and ride to the CBD using public transport, that not only would save them time, but also money because parking in the CBD is very expensive, and it's hard to find a space. In Rio de Janeiro in Brazil they have a scheme in which on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays only cars with an odd last number plate are allowed to drive in the CBD and on the remaining last 3 days, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Sunday anyone can drive. I think that this method of reducing cars in the CBD is good and successful for cities in LEDC countries because people can only just about afford one car let alone two. That's why this would not be doing so well in MEDC countries such as England, because people can afford two cars, one with an odd number plate and one with an even number plate so they will be able to drive on any day of the week. The solution attempted by the Mayor of London is † Congestion Charging†. Basically you have to pay 5 pounds so that you can drive into the CBD. This method has been successful in one-way, but yet still there are a lot of cars in the CBD, although some people do choose to go around now, that they have to pay, or they choose to travel by the public transit. I also think that if the government invested some money into improving the public transport drastically, then probably more and more people would choose to travel by it, recognising that it is faster than travelling by car and not so gross. Also another solution that I think would be successful is car sharing. For example I think that some people go to 2 places that are really close to each other, and yet still they take 2 cars, when they could take only one. That would help because there would eventually be less cars around, so there will be less traffic jams, so people will see that it is a good idea because they get to work on time, or maybe even they can sleep for another 10 minutes or so. Furthermore I think that pedestrianization of certain high streets is a good idea. For example Bond Street in London. That way it will encourage people to take the public transport as they won't be able to go on that road in their car anyway, and the pedestrians will have more space so they will move about more freely. Also allowing only â€Å"black taxis† and busses on to certain roads is a good suggestion, because it will also encourage people to take the public transport. In addition I think that introducing bus lanes is an excellent scheme, because the busses won't be stuck in the traffic jams, and they will take up less space because they will have to keep to their lane. That way more people might start to travel by busses, as they will see that it is quicker. This will result in the number of cars on the road to decrease. The second chief problem the CBD is facing is pollution. Pollution is the air that is polluted but also water, land, noise and garbage in the streets. Polluted air causes many diseases such as asthma and bronchitis. Not only it is not healthy for us to breathe in, but also it doesn't look to appealing when car fumes are floating everywhere. Vehicle fumes, especially petrol and diesel, mostly cause polluted air. Cars are the biggest air polluted in the CBD, as there are thousands of them. Traffic congestion makes the pollution even worse because while the car is stopped, it r releases more fumes than it does whilst moving. The government are tackling this problem, but so far they do not seem to succeed in it. In my opinion there are quite a few solutions to this dilemma. Firstly I think that banning heavy lorries (as I mentioned before) is a very good way of reducing pollutions as they give of many fumes and most of them run on diesel, which is very bad for the environment. That way fewer fumes will be released so it will be healthier to live/work there. Secondly I think that if all the busses were running on methane, then it would release less poisonous fumes than diesel. Methane is more environment friendly than petrol or diesel and it won't be so destructive to the surroundings. Thirdly I propose that people start to use bikes more than they do now. For example they could get to work by bike rather than by car. That way not only it would be better fro the environment, but also the people will work on their fitness, and some might find it highly entertaining. In Japan, China, and S/N Korea many people travel by bikes. Bikes are the mean form of transport over there and the atmosphere is cleaner. In addition I think that increased road sweeping can be successful. If the government invested more money into the cleaning processes of the CBD then it would help to solve the problem of pollution. If we had more road sweepers employed and maybe a higher pay for them then the CBD will ultimately be cleaner and the pollution level will drop (hopefully). Like they do in Holland. Also there is lots of garbage left lying around the streets at the end of the day left by coffee shops, cloths stores, restaurants etc. that should be cleaned up immediately, because it attract lots of diseases and looks unpleasantly. Another solution to undertake this problem is to enhance the tree and shrub planting. I think that would be successful, because trees and shrubs photosynthesis producing oxygen so they make the air cleaner. That way we could have more hedges, grass areas etc. and the air will be cleaner. Noise pollution can be sometimes unbearable as well. It is mostly produced by cars, lorries motorbikes etc. There aren't many solutions to this problem. The main thing is to reduce the amount of vehicles driven in the CBD and this is linked with traffic congestion. The further difficulty the CBD faces is the high cost of land. The land in the CBD is very expensive because lots of shops and businesses locate their stores/offices and it's become very cramped. Because of this, the competition some traders have had to leave and re-locate their business out-side the city center. Every business wants to set up there because all the people go there either for shopping, work or entertainment, also its easily accessible. One of the solutions I would attempt is to start building high-rise office blocks on a small area, but tall. That way we save space and money because we only pay for the space we take up on the ground. So now more offices can situate their offices in the city center. Another solution for this conflict is the building of out-of-town shopping centers in the suburbs or the rural-urban fringe. They need to take up lots of space so the land is cheap there so they have the money to build there stores there. People then travel there to and back. This process is called decentralization. Also most of them have free parking which is very attractive to customers, as they don't like paying for the parking space. In conclusion I think that the solution to the CBD's problems are hard to implement because the CBD is very crowded big, and it involved lots of co-operation from all of the people. Furthermore I don't think the CBD will ever get rid of it's problems because it will continue to get bigger and the amount of cars/shops/businesses etc. will always grow, and so will the competition, so it will be impossible to get ride of urban decline , pollution, traffic congestion etc.

Aloha Case Essay

1. What should be Aloha’s competitive strategy? Low cost? It is difficult for Aloha to compete with the industry giants like Nestle, P&G and Phillips Morris on low cost. The reason is simple – volume. These industry giants have much higher volume than Aloha and enjoy a tremendous advantage in economies of scale. It is probably suicidal for Aloha to try to adopt a low cost strategy. It will probably be crushed like an ant, unless the giants play â€Å"oligopolists† and charge high prices to maximize profits. Differentiation; i.e., selling gourmet coffee a la. Starbuck? It is probably easier for Aloha to position itself as a gourmet coffee maker, catering to the yuppie type and charging a premium price for a coffee experience different from that offered by â€Å"regular† brands. Differentiation seems to be the choice strategy for small companies in that its success does not rely on size or volume; anyone with little resources but a great idea can be the David that slays the industry Goliaths. Examples abound: Ben & Jerry in ice cream and Paul Newman in spaghetti source. In fact, while the case tells us little in this regard, I suspect that Aloha has been able to survive in this competitive industry for all these years and seems to be thriving entirely because it started out occupying a special market niche and positioning its coffee as a gourmet brand. 2. How should the roasting plants, and marketing and purchasing departments be evaluated? Roasting Plants Given the differentiation strategy, the roasting plants should be treated as a profit center, as it is already now. That is because the differentiation strategy can be successfully implemented only if the quality of the coffee lives up to its image as a gourmet brand, and evaluating plant managers on profit, rather on cost alone, motivates the managers to constantly improve the quality of the coffee and maintain it at high levels. In contrast with plant managers evaluated on cost alone, plant managers evaluated on profit are penalized if they sacrifice quality on the altar of cost minimization; when quality declines, so will revenue and profit. On the other hand, if Aloha pursues a low cost strategy, then the plant managers should be evaluated on cost control alone. For a firm adopting a low cost strategy, volume is the king in order to achieve economies of scale and the customers targeted are less conscious of the quality of the coffee brands they drink. Thus, keeping cost down would be the primary objective for the plant managers. Marketing Department Since Aloha positions itself as a gourmet coffee maker, the objective for the marketing department is to keep both the price and gross margins high. Volume would not be very important as the firm knows that it only appeals to a limited group of coffee connoisseurs. Thus, the marketing department should be treated as a revenue center and annual evaluation of its performance should be based on a comparison of actual prices with target prices. Alternatively, marketing could be treated as a â€Å"pseudo† profit center with its â€Å"profit† defined as sales minus standard cost of coffee sold. If a low cost strategy is pursued, then the marketing department should be treated as a revenue center as well. But the focus now is on volume, or more precisely, volume growth. Thus, the marketing manager and his lieutenants should be constantly reminded of the importance of sales growth over time and be rewarded for good sales growth. Purchasing Department The purchasing department currently purchases coffee on both the spot and forwards markets. The policy is to make purchase commitments (forward contracts) based on maximum potential plant requirements and sell the rest on the spot market. That sounds like speculation. One may argue Aloha should meet its need for coffee beans only on the spot market and refrain from the speculation business, which is distracting attention from is main business – grinding and selling gourmet coffee. A counter argument is that good coffee traders probably can spot market trends others cannot and are able to reduce the cost of coffee beans by purchasing forward contracts. I question that argument because it is doubtful that any market participants can â€Å"beat the market† and consistently purchase coffee beans on the forwards market at a lower cost than on the spot market. One drawback of the policy of buying forward contracts is it allows the purchasing department to transfer the most costly coffee beans to the plants and make the plants shoulder losses from their trading mistakes. Buying on the spot markets means that the purchased amount is equal to the need of the plants for coffee beans, and thus the purchasing department would not be able to burden the plants with high-cost beans and keep low-cost beans for themselves to boost trading profit. If the purchasing department is forbidden to play the forwards market, performance evaluation for the department is easy. It would be treated as a cost center, and the cost it incurs for coffee bean purchases will be compared with market price averages in the periods that the purchases take place.

20th century poetry Essay Example for Free

20th century poetry Essay ? We have been giving to 20th century poems to examine. They are â€Å"Evans† by R. S Thomas and â€Å"Death in Leamington† by Sir John Betjeman. Both poems are about death, but in two very different situations. I will examine the poem Evans first of all. Evans was written by a man called R. S Thomas. He lived from 1913-2000. he was born in Cardiff. He became a clergyman and taught himself welsh so he could work with the people in the hills, because not many of them spoke English at this time. Evans is a 20th Century poem. The poem begins as if the writer is talking to somebody else. It looks like the other person has asked him something like, â€Å"Do you remember a man Evans? † and the writer replies, â€Å"yes, many a time. † The first verse of the poem describes Evans’ house. It talks about the â€Å"bare† stairs and the â€Å"gaunt† kitchen. We can depict from the first verse that Evans was a poor man, his house is not at all well furbished, and he doesn’t have much to his name. Everything that Evans owns has a dull, dreary adjective attached to it, like stark farm and black kettle. His kitchen must be filthy because crickets can be heard. The last line of this verse tells us that he lives on a lone farm upon a hill. From this verse we have found out that this man is poor, lonely and doesn’t really care much about what his house looks like. The 2nd verse tells us that something appals the speaker. He says that it isn’t the darkness around him, which seems to fill his mouth and that it isn’t the tree that the rain drips off. I think the tree is symbolism, because the speaker says, â€Å"of rain like blood form that one tree, weather tortured. † I think he is really describing Evans appearance. The speaker says that it’s the veins of Evans. He sees darkness in them, and that it is â€Å"silting† them. Silt is the thick sandy substance at the bottom of rivers. I think it means that the darkness is trapped in Evans’ veins and that it is slowly killing him. The writer says, â€Å"I left stranded upon the vast and lonely shore of his bleak bed. † The writer believes that he has failed is his job, which is to comfort the sick if they are going to die. The writer feels that he is inadequate and that he hasn’t done what he wanted to. Again we see another dreary adjective attached to one of Evans possessions, his bleak bed. The word lonely is used again here. The writer wants to get the point across that Evans has no one, no family or friends to comfort him, that is why the writer feels so bad that he cant do this for him. This poem is about the bad way to die, all on your own and no one to comfort you. The next poem, Death in Leamington, is about the other way to pass on. Death in Leamington was written by Sir John Betjeman. Poets of his day liked to write poems making fun of the middle class people. The first verse tells us that someone has died, and that it is a woman. It has happened in the late evening. She has died in her bedroom. The room has a plate glass window, which means this place wherever she was staying must has been pretty well off. The second verse gives us a little more insight to the woman. She owned a crochet, which means she must have been quite old. It lay beside her bed, which means she can’t have been too old because she was still able to walk. Again the writer tells us that she is dead. 20th century poetry. (2017, Oct 29).