The Debate on Executive Compensation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Debate on Executive Compensation - Essay Example Rather than the converse proportionality of their compensation to the exhibition of the firm, it ought to be with the end goal that the relationship is legitimately corresponding to one another. Ordinarily, the official compensation is a blend of the pay, extra rewards, repayments, and offers on the organization stocks. The remuneration is given a rigid design to conform to the fundamental legitimate prerequisite, which incorporates charge law, guidelines of the administration, the wants of the organization as specified by the administrators and the association itself, and obviously the prize and execution. Most significant is the way that the official compensation is consistently a subject of endorsement from the governing body and implications that the pay is foreordained before the real execution of the administrators is seen (Bertrand and Mullainathan 2001, p.62). Various schools of musings have along these lines emerged over the official compensation by estimating on the persuad ing factor for the inexorably rising compensation for the CEOs and two schools of contemplations have been delivered. ... The other perspective observation is fairly restricted to the remuneration level and declares that it is a socially unaccepted wonder that is generally fuelled by the social and political request that permits the officials to self-decide their own compensation and have total command over it (Chen, Liu and Li 2010, p.54). In this manner, the installment of the officials is anything but a secretive that is unconventionally chosen by the CEOs themselves but at the same time is endorsed by the top managerial staff who likewise decide and offer agree to the figures. In spite of this, the business analysts are not convinced by this and along these lines keep up that the executives’ pay must be adjusted to the presentation of the organization, without which it is silly and unjustified (Bruce, Buck and Main 2005, p.41). Regarding the goal brought by the financial expert over the powerful pays that go to the administrators in any event, during the time of monetary crunch, this paper fu ndamentally analyzes the office hypothesis and clarifies why it is difficult to clarify the remuneration of the officials with the arrangement of the hypothesis. Other than that, the paper additionally gives similar methodology of assessment from other hypothetical sources that consider the connection between the head and the operators separated from the office hypothesis. The Agency Theory This hypothesis shows the association that exists between the principals and the mediators in a business situation through dealing with the business issues to the wellbeing of each. The principals for the situation organizations are the investors while operators are the officials; in this connection, the office hypothesis handles any difficult that may emerge between the head and the specialist over the span of maintaining the business. In this manner, the office hypothesis is known to be instrumental

Stryker Corporation In-sourcing PCBs Essay Essay Example

Stryker Corporation: In-sourcing PCBs Essay 1. Express the Business Case for # 3 Alternative # 3 has a few advantages that make it the most possible choice of all. Here are the undermentioned advantages: * This alternative guarantees a higher evaluation of command over quality and bringing. These improvements will help chop down the strategic losingss. * The underlying outgo ( creating costs ) will be income improvement deductible. empowering Stryker to bring down its income upgrade obligation in the underlying mature ages of in-house creation. * The deterioration factor of introductory contributing will other than be income improvement deductible. We will compose a custom exposition test on Stryker Corporation: In-sourcing PCBs Essay explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom paper test on Stryker Corporation: In-sourcing PCBs Essay explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom paper test on Stryker Corporation: In-sourcing PCBs Essay explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer * Accounts collectible range has expanded from being 30 to 120 yearss because of new exchanges with suppliers. This implies Stryker will to a great extent do cash of the customer before it needs to take care of to its suppliers. * Having an in-house manufacture unit will empower Stryker Corporation to modify the total of creation quickly. quickly and blending to the adjusting request to amplify the productivity. * An opposite incorporating of the organization will take to financial worth reduction and mindful customer administration. * With the insourcing unit put in topographic point. Stryker will be to the full prepared to run into its future developing requests. * The current PCBs suppliers are oftentimes non trustworthy as they work on truly light overall gain outskirt and have chances of running into insolvency. 2. Process Capital Budgeting Decision Criteria. Talk about what they mean NPV: Cost of the current sourcing technique has a NPV of $ - 32. 67M over a time of 6 mature ages ( 2004-2009 ) . Cost of the In-house manufacture technique has a NPV of $ - 31. 8M over a time of 6 mature ages ( 2004-2009 ) . This implies taking this endeavor has a positive NPV of $ 870. 000. Blending to this examination. creating in-house will work out to be less expensive. IRR: 37. 9 % . holding such a high IRR implies, that there is acceptable slip-up fringe in the expense of capital. In straightforward words. regardless of whether the expense of capital went up from 15 % to 37. 9 % . NPV will just go 0. Accordingly. Choice # 3 is the acceptable contributing contrasted with the present choice. Recompense Period: I determined a restitution time of 3. 11 mature ages ( get bringing down at get bringing down of 2004 ) that implies at 3. 11 mature ages the endeavor will make its breakeven point and after this point it will get down creating overall gain. 3. How might you contrast this with alternatives 1 A ; 2 This is a superior choice than # 1 and # 2. Choice # 1 has following disadvantages: * Acquiring wellbeing stock and setting up twofold sourcing of every single electronic gathering would take to greater expense of stock rundown. * This would take to progressively costly and complex stock rundown course framework. The Option # 2 has its ain downsides like: * Having an individual supplier can give supplier all the more dealing power. * This alternative will strongly better the steadfastness guidelines yet will other than expect sad reliance on an individual supplier for various kinds and aggregates of PCBs which can be perilous as any inability to run into the stuff requests by the supplier may mean unmanufactured stocks. 4. Would ask bolster this endeavor? I would positively propose bolster this endeavor just non in light of the fact that it’s NPV ( Cost of choice # 3 ) is less in supreme incentive than the NPV ( Cost of current alternative ) which implies it is similarly cheap to deliver PCBs in-house. This alternative ought to other than be favored in light of the fact that this endeavor will empower Stryker to hold more prominent command over its creation forms. Having non being reliant on any outside beginnings for PCBs flexibly will rescue Stryker from imperceptibly and undesirable losingss. The creating units of PCBs can be balanced fitting to the gross incomes and can be incredibly adaptable with the insource manufacture set up.

Real Estate Resume Examples, Template Complete Guide

Real Estate Resume Examples, Template Complete Guide Everybody knows that searching for a house, an apartment, or office space can be a real monotonous and tiring activity, not to mention trying to sell or lease on of those.Thankfully, there’s a whole industry centered around the humans’ need for a roof over their heads, and it’s called the real estate industry.There are a lot of things that could go wrong when you’re looking for a house or any other type of property, one of the main ones being scammers.That is why it’s great to hire someone who can run a background check for anything or anyone.However, certified real estate agents and analysts are here to help us. They are responsible for finding homes and other properties, helping a lot of people in the process.Selling and analyzing commercial or residential properties can be an incredibly tricky task, but there are a plethora of individuals in this world who can help.Not everyone can be a great employee in the world of the real estate industry, that’s why they usually fa ll into a certain type of person.These days there are a lot of properties exchanging owners or leasers every minute, and the proof of that can be seen in the fact that in 2018 the U.S. housing market value climbed up to $33.3 trillion.However, finding a job in this multi-trillion dollar industry might seem like a tough task at times.That doesn’t mean that you should think that you’re not fit for this job and stop trying.The only thing that you should worry about is creating the best possible resume for yourself.That’s exactly what we will write about in the rest of this article, so if you feel like you want to be a part of the real estate industry, keep reading our article about how to make a perfect resume for real estate.Real Estate Agent Resume Example Right Real Estate Analyst Resume Example Right Create your own resumeThese two are examples of how your professional real estate resume should look like.The first example is for a real estate agent and the second one is for a real estate analyst, but they both have similar points that we will delve into examining.In the rest of this article, we will point out to you the most important things on your resume, how to write something that your employers will love and that will surely land you a job and some mistakes that you might have been making that you weren’t aware of.Start making your resume in our resume builder, as that will make this whole process much easier for you.HOW TO WRITE A PERFECT PERSONAL INFO SECTION THAT WILL DEFINITELY CATCH YOUR EMPLOYERS EYE  Resumes are, by rule, always started with personal information about you. Personal information is a prerequisite, and you can’t leave it out of your real estate resume. Your employer needs that information in order to get in touch with you.An important thing that you should take care of is the positioning and size of the personal information section of your resume. Your name should be written in big bold letters that can easily be seen.When it comes to your name you should also take care that it isn’t too long.If you have a long name try to write just your first and your last name, as your middle name isn’t something relevant to your potential employer. Keep it simple.However, you must use your actual name on your resume, so refrain from using any nicknames.You should also make sure that the name that you’re putting on your resume matches your LinkedIn profile.Mitchell Lee RightMitch Lee WrongEmployers in some industries might ask you to submit your photo with your resume, but that is usually not the case.Some countries have strict rules when it comes to adding a photograph of your face to your resume.The subsection about your contact information is the place where you shouldn’t make mistakes, as this is the info that your future empl oyer is going to use to contact you.So make sure that you write down your correct mobile number, as they are the easiest way that they will be able to get in touch with you.When it comes to sharing your full address on your resume you don’t have to do it, as it is extremely private information and we understand that you might not feel safe sharing it.However, instead of completely leaving it out we suggest that you just write town the town or area that you live in.If you opt for disclosing your entire address make sure that you hide it from your online resumes, as that can get pretty dangerous.The next step is to make sure that your email address is professional and serious.If you have an embarrassing email from a couple of years ago try making a new more serious one and use it for work.Your address should have your actual name on it.mitchell.lee@gmail.com Right richmitch@gmail.com WrongUsually, the only social media that you should share with your employers is your LinkedIn, bu t you should still refrain from posting anything connected to how much you hate your new job on other platforms, as your employers are bound to check it.Also, make sure to personalize the URL of your LinkedIn account before putting it on your resume.HOW TO WRITE THE SUMMARY OF YOUR REAL ESTATE RESUME THAT WILL DEFINITELY GET YOU YOUR NEW JOBThe summary section is the one place on your resume where you are supposed to put your most important attributes, skills, assets and accomplishments.As the name suggests, this is the summary of your whole resume. And it’s really important because it binds all that information together.When it comes to writing the summary section, you should adhere to the following tips.Your summary should be too long or too short. The ideal length is about three to six sentences.You could write it in the form of bullet points, but it will look more professional if you just write it as a regular paragraph.The information that you should share in your summary is the following:Years of experienceTraining, certifications, and degreesSpecific accomplishments and received recognitionsSkills and experience that make you uniqueAreas of expertiseYou don’t have to mention all of these, just pick the most important ones.The starting point of your summary should be your professional title and years of experience.SummaryHighly professional and performance-driven real estate agent with more than 10 years of experience in selling different kinds of properties in the area. RightAfter that, you should add some accomplishments that show that you are a capable individual.Summary (cont.)According to data, managed to make 40% more sales that any other real estate agent in the company. RightAfter adding a couple more sentences that showcase your other abilities, you should write the last part down in such a way that personalizes the resume based on which company you’re applying to.Summary (cont.)Has an incredible record of client satisfaction and is know n for her knowledge of the market and her negotiation skills. Looking for a position in which she could further her knowledge and expertise. RightHOW TO MAKE THE EXPERIENCE SECTION OF YOUR REAL ESTATE RESUME STAND OUT IN 2020You’re probably thinking that there’s no way to mess this part up if you have the experience, but there are a few things that you should think about when you’re writing your resume.One of the most important things is the wording.You should take care to describe your tasks and responsibilities in the previous companies that you worked for in great detail. This is most likely the part of your resume that your employer will pay the most attention to.You should mention where you’ve worked and for how long, as these things are important to your potential employer.The first step is choosing the format of this section, and the best one is arguably the reverse chronological order.This way you start with your most recent job and go from there. Usually, your most recent job is the one where you got the most experience.However, if you don’t have any experience you can choose any format that you want.The most important thing for you is to list all the possible jobs or volunteering projects that you did where the skills and responsibilities that you got there can be transferred and used in the real estate industry.Listing your duties and responsibilities shouldn’t be just a list of things you did, as that is boring and overdone. You should opt for a more professional tone of turning your duties into accomplishments. Right WrongThe third example shows you that you should share some impressive numbers if you want to be different from everyone else who’s applying.Another thing that we should add is that you should use as much professional slang and specific skills as you can, as it will show that you actually might know what you’re doing.And as we mentioned before, if you don’t have any experience in this field but you want to get some, don’t be afraid to write down any possible skill or accomplishment that can be used in real estate.That being said, even if you have a lot of experience and even if you don’t, you should always only list the most important jobs and accomplishments.HOW TO MAKE THE EDUCATION SECTION OF YOUR REAL ESTATE RESUME INTO PERFECTIONThe part of your resume regarding your past education is usually thought to be more overlooked by your potential future employers than the part about your experience, but the truth is that they are all equally important.You should nev er forget to add education in your resume, as it shows information about you that other parts can’t.If you went to college and got a degree you don’t have to write down the information about your high school graduation. If you have a degree you should list it like this: RightThe first thing that you should write is the years of your education. In case you are still in the process of getting a degree you should list your education like this: RightThe next thing after the years is your level of degree, and then the place where you studied. After that, you can add some bullet points, but only add them if they will showcase some exceptional things such as an above-average GPA, some clubs that you were a part of that show that you are the right person for this job and other important accomplishments.Having just a high school diploma might prove to be a tough place when you’re applying for a job such as this, but it’s still not impossible. In this case, it might be best if you concentrated more on your experience section. For a high school diploma your listing should look something like this: RightHOW TO MENTION THE RIGHT SKILLS IN YOUR REAL ESTATE RESUME THAT WILL DEFINITELY GET YOU THE JOBThe skills section is the part of your resume that will be showing your potential future employer what exactly you can do, as experience and education can’t showcase your actual abilities and how good you are at them.Employers in the real estate industry are looking for someone great at making others trust them, someone who listens and treats others with respect.However, these basic people skills aren’t the only thing, you should also be hard-working and goal-oriented, and deliver results of those attributes along the way.The skills mentioned above are considered to be soft skills, but there are also hard skills, such as knowledge of certain software and programs.Even though there’s a difference between these two you should still list them both in one place. Another very important thing that you should do is check the job offer in detail as some skills that are needed might be listed in the description.However, only list the skills that you possess, as it will be obvious if you lie.Besides the skills that every employer is looking for, there are also some specific to the real estate industry, such as:Ability to negotiateTrustworthinessKnowledge of laws in your area regarding the real estate businessMicrosoft OfficeExcellent communication with othersBe sure to list only the skills that are most relevant to your job in real estate, and refrain from writing down things about yourself that have nothing to do with this. It’s just more professional that way.When it comes to soft skills you should always take care not to overdo them. You can list them but the hard skills are usually more important to your employers. Right WrongUSEFUL TIPS AND TRICKS THAT YOU CAN USE TO MAKE THE BEST REAL ESTATE RESUME POSSIBLEHeading of your resume â€" the heading of your resume should always be your name in big bold letters. That is the most important part. Refrain from writing “Curriculum Vitae” or any other variation of that as your heading, as everyone knows that it’s a resume.Some details are too personal â€" when it comes to writing the personal info section you should refrain from listing details that are too personal. Here are some examples of things that you shouldn’t write down: your social security number, date of birth, race or ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, children, pregnancy status or citizenship. Unfortunately, your employer might make assumptions about you based on these things.Adapting your resume â€" You should write a new resume for every job you apply for, or you can just change parts of it to make it more personal, like mentioning the n ame of the company that you want to work for or changing some of the skills so that they meet their requirements.Bullet points â€" Use these to present concise information as the employers are most likely to just skim over your resume and bullet points will catch their eyes.Honors and achievements â€" feel free to list your honors and achievements, but take care that they translate well into the job of a real estate agent. Winning an art contest is great for you, but won’t mean anything to your employer.Volunteer experiences â€" Job seekers often forget to put down their volunteer experiences, but they are just as important as the regular ones. However, pick only the volunteer experiences that showcase some skills that are needed in the real estate industry.Hobbies and interests â€" If you have hobbies or interests that can be good for your job in real estate you should write them down on your resume, as it will make you stand out from the crowd.Languages â€" These days knowledge of various languages is greatly appreciated, and you should list all the languages you know.Descriptions â€"Be careful not to describe your achievement or experience with too many fancy words as some employers don’t like that.Length of your resume â€" The ideal length of a resume id just one page long. And that is usually how everyone’s resume looks like.Formatting â€" Keep your resume in physical and digital form, and also various types of files such as PDF or DOCX, maybe your employer will need them. Make sure to check what kind of resume your employer is looking for in the job offer.Font â€" Only use serious fonts, and refrain from the ones that look too detailed and flourished.Reviewing â€" Give yourself some time to gather your thought and look at your resume from a perspective of a potential employer. Or give your resume to someone you know who is used to looking at resumes and who can help you spot some mistakes. Use the gathered knowledge to improve your resume.Grammar c heck â€" Always proofread your resume â€" you don’t want some embarrassing mistake to slip and ruin your chances of getting the job.Don’t lie â€" When writing about your skills and experiences don’t lie. As soon as you start working all those lies will be uncovered.Resume template â€" All of this will be made easier if you opt to use one of our resume templates on our resume builder. Just find the one that you like the looks of and continue editing it and saving some time.NOW: LAND YOUR REAL ESTATE JOB INTERVIEWThose are all the things that you need to know about writing your resume for the world of real estate.Just adhere to the steps and tips listed above and you will have no problems in landing that job!The most important thing that you should remember is to always point out only the skills and experiences most relevant to the job that you’re aiming for.If you don’t know where to begin and have trouble making your resume stick out, feel free to use our resume template b uilder. It will definitely help you.Good luck with finding your dream job in real estate! Create your own resume

Gender Discrimination - 1008 Words

Gender-bias within the workplace has existed as long as both males and females have worked together, and even now, it is a prevalent issue in modern society. Discrimination classified as gender-bias is the unequal treatment or employment due to the gender of an individual. While U.S. Code Title 42, Chapter 21, 2000e-2 prohibits discrimination based on gender, religion, age, disability, race, and national origin (Cornell), illegal and unfair employment practices still affect many people. Despite several laws prohibiting bias in the workplace, it still occurs, in starting positions and throughout leadership. Gender-bias results in unequal treatment among genders and persists the outdated notion that gender is a qualification for knowledge†¦show more content†¦Another study, by Shefali Patil, showed that forcing gender-equality resulted in increased gender discrimination due to resentment, thus gender-bias transpires, but has nuances. Dr. Janet Shibley Hyde, a psychologist fr om the University of Wisconsin, concluded from her observation of dozens of studies, generally workplace studies reveal women who deviate from the caring, nurturing female stereotype are perceived less favorable when being hired or evaluated. Employees often need to cooperate amongst themselves and other businesses, however, males negotiating with males tended to have the lowest levels of initial trust, showing a prejudice towards the same gender (Sung, et al., 2008). In another study, it is suggested that gender discrimination in human resource related decisions stems from gender inequalities in broader organizational structures. Discriminatory human resource policies are created by both hostile (intentionally hindering a person) and benevolent (harming a person by overly protecting them) sexism (Stamarski and Hing, 2015). Several factors can alter gender stereotypes, such as race, religion, gender, and age. For instance, a study found 33% of female students expected a womanâ€℠¢s gender to affect her pay; but less than 20% of male students agreed. Similarly, it was found women were more likely to anticipate gender discrimination than males. It was also found that college-aged students generallyShow MoreRelatedRacial Discrimination And Gender Discrimination962 Words   |  4 Pagesincreasingly being seen, especially on social media. It s a single word which people are using instead of the longer phrases disability discrimination or disability prejudice. Racial discrimination and gender discrimination have their own single words - racism and sexism - and so those ideas can be expressed a little more easily. Disability discrimination is often complicated and misunderstood. At one end of the scale, buildings with steps instead of ramps may be said to be ableist. Less obviousRead MoreGender Discrimination1518 Words   |  7 PagesGender Discrimination Written by: Brent Davey TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------3 Gender Discrimination Defined-------------------------------------------3 Gender Discrimination at Work-------------------------------------------5 Gender Discrimination and Politics--------------------------------------6 Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------6 Works Cited-------------------------------------------------------------------8Read MoreSexual Discrimination And Gender Discrimination1384 Words   |  6 PagesSexual discrimination, sex based discrimination, gender discrimination or sexism is a type of prejudice or discrimination based on a person s sex or gender usually by the opposite gender. Thus, it generally refers to discrimination against a male by a female or a female by a male. Feminism can therefore be considered a form of sexism. More often than not however, sexism is commonly applied to the unfair treatment of women, the denial of opportunity to women or an injustice towards women, whichRead MoreGender Discrimination5921 Words   |  24 Pages GENDER DISCRIMINATION By Nkechi AGBOGO TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Abstract 2. Introduction 3. What does sex discrimination cover 4. Sex discrimination possible scenes 5. Forms of sex discrimination 6. Reasons for sex discrimination 7. Policies which should help reduce gender discrimination 8. Conclusion 9. Reference ABSTRACT Gender discrimination is an acute and persistent problem, especiallyRead MoreDiscrimination Based On Gender Discrimination973 Words   |  4 PagesDiscrimination, especially discrimination based on gender, should be looked at through Deontology. This is because discrimination based on gender affects the rights of many, requires duties of other to not discriminate and have respect for others, and can have large consequences. It is important we look at rights, duties, and consequences rather than only evaluate gender discrimination based on its consequences in order to be able to create a way to virtuously handle gender. While gender discriminationRead MoreRacial Discrimination And Gender Discrimination2298 Words   |  10 PagesDiscrimination is an ongoing problem that exists in many forms and is often studied by social psychologists. According to Bordens and Horowitz (2014), discrimination is defined as â€Å"overt behavior- often negatively directed toward a particular group and often tied to prejudicial attitudes- which involves behaving in different ways toward members of different groups† (p. 106). Although discriminatory behaviors have seemed to simmer down over the past decades, individuals still to this day continueRead MoreSexual Discrimination And Gender Discrimination2076 Words   |  9 Pagesdemand is a kind of employment discrimination. The sex discrimination of employment the female encounter is especially extrusive. At present, females of China more and more fall in a weak position in employment market. So, what is gender discrimination? Gender discrimination, also known as sexual discrimination, is any action that specifically denies opportunities, privileges, or rewards to a person (or a group) because of gender. The practice of letting a person s gender become a factor when decidingRead MoreGender Discrimination In The Workplace1867 Words   |  8 PagesDiscrimination in the workplace, specifically gender discrimination is a significant matter, impacting women all over the world. Defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 11, discrimination is ‘Any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation.’. As stated by GillianRead MoreThe Existence Of Gender Discrimination2843 Words   |  12 PagesThe existence of gender discrimination in w orkplaces is not under dispute (Acker, 2006). In virtually all societies across the world, women are known to be in a lower position in labour market than men. Women are overrepresented in positions at the bottom echelons of organisations; they have less status, prestige, power and authority on the job. Besides, women are segregated into roles and jobs that offer poorer rewards and have fewer opportunities for progression to positions of power (Walby, 1988)Read MoreGender Discrimination And The Workplace Essay1242 Words   |  5 Pagesusually paid less than their male peers and they aren’t promoted as fast as their male peers. Progress has been make towards gender workplace equality but gender workplace discrimination continues to be an impediment to gender equality. For the purpose of research on gender workplace discrimination, I used four journal articles. The first article, Minimizing Workplace Gender and Racial Bias, by author William T. Bielby, discusses stereotypin g in the workplace. The article offers suggestions on how

The American Dream By James Truslow Adams - 1611 Words

What is the purpose of our government? Is the meaning of Lady Justice true? Does every citizen have equal rights and opportunities as stated in the United States Constitution? If so, why are there so many cases of people fighting for equality? How can we approach this effectively? The United States of America has this idea that everyone can live the American Dream, and that we are a perfect nation. It is taught from a young age that the American Dream is promising for anyone to have. Parents and teachers tell us to shoot for the stars and that we can achieve anything we put our minds to. But as I progressed throughout life, I question the American Dream is a made up thing to get the economy back up and running again. According to†¦show more content†¦Since it is 2017 many people are blindfolded to the inequality people face every single day. There are still cases of injustice against minority groups and there are still cases of discrimination against people in the â€Å"so free, so equal† country called the United States of America. If today’s world was so equal for everyone, then why are there current groups of activists who protest and fight for equality? I am here to tell you why. There are three groups discussed in this paper. They are most certainly not the only groups, they are just the most popular and the frequently reported. These groups of activists are; Black Lives Matter (BLM), Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, and Queer, (LBGTQ) and Women’s Rights. The three of these groups were recreated not even a decade ago. â€Å"Racial minorities, particularly Black Americans, have had a long and troubling history of disparate treatment by U.S criminal justice authorities.† (Birzer, 23) I am not here to give you another lesson on slavery, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s or any other struggle we faced in our history, but I do want you to keep it in mind as you read about the current struggle we still face in 2017. You would think that America would give us a break since we’ve been fighting for equality for centuries, but they are not simply because of the color of our skin. When I say â€Å"they† I mean White America. Now, don’t get meShow MoreRelatedThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1243 Words   |  5 Pagesspike in questionable practices further withheld the American Dream from those wishing to achieve it the way it was intended, through hard work and perseverance. In 1931, James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream, â€Å"life sh ould be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement†, regardless of one s class or circumstances of birth. More and more people were being denied the American Dream every, yet they still strived to make something ofRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1130 Words   |  5 Pagesof the American Dream. The American Dream has changed dramatically over the few centuries. During the Founding Fathers’ time, many believed the American Dream meant freedom, equality, and mutual respect. Time has changed this ideology of the American Dream, which is now seen as owning a million dollar mansion with multiple luxury cars. This isn’t the case for many immigrants who come to the Americas to have a better life for themselves and their family. To many of them, the American Dream is as simpleRead MoreJames Truslow Adams : The American Dream1800 Words   |  8 PagesThe American Dream The American Dream was something everyone wanted to achieve in the 1930’s; however, many people did not get there because they either gave up, or did not find what they were looking for. Many people were just looking to get away and find their own happiness so they made their own American Dream. As historian James Adams said ... a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest statureRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams Essay1886 Words   |  8 PagesJames Truslow Adams in 1931 coined the term â€Å"The American Dream† in his book The Epic of America (Michels, n.d., para. 1). He wrote of an America that offered freedom of religion, and speech, as well as political and social opportunities that few other countries offered. However, according to Eva Michels, â€Å"The American Dream† means something different for each individual, it refers to the way of li fe that Americans strive for and have equal rights to achieve regardless of social class or nationalityRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1707 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream, coined by James Truslow Adams in 1931, had been a popular term that had; given motivation to the dissatisfied, reduced the influence of race and one’s social position on achieving their goals, advertised America as a land that offered an abundant amount of possibilities that no other country could match, and unified the country under the same desire of wealth and prosperity, even in times of great despair. Adams had constructed the idea, â€Å"...that American dream of a better, richerRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams803 Words   |  4 PagesThe term â€Å" The American Dream† can be coined to historian James Truslow Adams in the early 1930’s. Adams believed that the true commitment for the American society was based of material success that was o btained by individual competition of the citizens. Furthermore, stating that the American citizens had been conditioned to desire success, with an honest belief that it was possible for one to achieve it. This was possible because the very principles that American society represented, helped eachRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1500 Words   |  6 PagesThe American Dream is the sole reason that millions of people decided to come to this country, whether it be generations ago, or last week. But even so, this shared dream faces problems. To solve the problem, the American Dream has to be defined. James Truslow Adams, author of the 1931 book The Epic of America, was the first person to mention and therefore define the American Dream. He established it as: â€Å"[T]hat dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, withRead MoreJames Truslow Adams And The American Dream1392 Words   |  6 Pages While the idea of the American Dream became more popular during the 17th to 20th centuries, the achievability remained elusive due to a static and hierarchical social order that prevailed throughout this time. Thus, the tireless claims of the New Left for a reformed society are supported by the unchanging accessibility of the American Dream. In his book The Epic of America (1931), James Truslow Adams defined the American Dream as â€Å"that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer andRead MoreJames Truslow Adams And The American Dream1371 Words   |  6 Pagesand dreams. Although this is a simple concept, how one must work to achieve these goals is much more complicated. Everyone is born into a different situation and the opportunities they are exposed to differ depending on the person. The original idea of the â€Å"American Dream† supported the idea that all American citizens are able to obtain a better life than they are currently living; however, that idea is continuously changing and many interpret their own dream in different ways. James Truslow AdamsRead MoreThe American Dream By James Truslow Adams1406 Words   |  6 PagesThis so called, â€Å"American dream.† Is it still around, waiting to be achieved by those who work hard enough? Is it effectively dead, killed off by the Great Recession and the economic struggling that many Americans have come to face in this day and age? There are alarming instances and facts, including trillions of dollars lost in the stock market (Paradise, 2009). These losses combined with the unquestionably high unemployment in the past few years, have contributed to seemingly dismal prospects

The Negative Effects the Media Has on the Pit Bull Breed Free Essays

The Negative Effects The Media Has On The Pit Bull Breed Did you know that for over one hundred years the Pit Bull was called the â€Å"Nanny Dog† by Americans, and was the breed that symbolized our country? One of the most famous Pit Bulls was Petey from The Little Rascals. For generations people got a Pit Bull to keep their children safe because these dogs were the most trustworthy of any breed with children and adults. Now the Nanny Dog is being persecuted by the media, and being called the hellion breed that frightens people. We will write a custom essay sample on The Negative Effects the Media Has on the Pit Bull Breed or any similar topic only for you Order Now Even though plenty of other dogs bite people, they only publish stories about Pit Bulls. Poodle bites man† is not a very eye catching headline. The media publicizes crazy myths, and they label any dog a Pit Bull even if it is not. The media also zeros in on the specifically negative and extreme incidents; they often do not provide the circumstance surrounding the incidents, and also neglect to mention important statistical information and comparisons to other similar incidents. Being a Pit Bull owner, and having many friends who own them as well, I know that the media is incorrect in their portrayal of the Pit Bull. They are the most loving and gentle breed I have ever known. The media had labeled certain dog breeds as bad breeds for a long time. The Pit Bull is just the most recent victim of the media’s criticism. Before Pit Bulls it was the Rottweiler, before the Rottweiler it was Dobermans, and before Dobermans it was German Shepherds. Each breeds being deemed as vicious and unpredictable to be around people. Every time there was uproar of the public for bans and restrictions on owning them. It is painfully ironic that the media has turned on the breed once the symbol of our country and our national babysitter. In temperance tests (the equivalent of how many times your kid can poke your dog in the eye before it bites him) of all breeds the most tolerant was the Golden Retriever. The second most tolerant was the Pit Bull. I am sure anyone has heard of the Pit Bulls locking jaw, this is a myth. Pit Bulls jaws do not lock; in fact they do not even have the most powerful bite of dog breeds. Pit Bulls are not human aggressive, in fact studies have shown that Pit Bull puppies prefer human company to their mother’s two weeks earlier than any other breed. Also, another common myth is that they don’t feel pain. They feel just as much pain as any other breed. These are the myths that the media is drilling into the public’s heads. Now this tolerant, patient, and gentle breed of dog is embarrassingly being portrayed as the most dangerous. Now sadly 6,000 Pit Bulls are put to death every day, by far the highest number of any breed to be euthanized. Mistaken identity is a huge problem in the media nowadays as well. There is countless times where headlines claimed that a Pit Bull had done wrong and then later on find out it was not a Pit Bull at all, or they just say Pit Bull because the dog resembled one. And even if the media corrects themselves the damage had already been done, people already have the image of the Pit Bull in their mind doing wrong. For example, a story from October, 2007 has as a headline â€Å"Lynn teacher mauled by Pit Bull. † Then the story goes on to identify the dog as a Lab/Rottweiler mix. The term Pit Bull should never have been used. Another story March, 2006 headline â€Å"Pit Bull attacks 12 year old. † However the picture shown of the captured dog is not a Pit Bull, and does not even appear to be a Pit Bull mix. After complaints to the news station regarding the mistaken identity and the use of the term Pit Bull, instead of correcting their mistake, they took down the photo and just left the story up written the same way. These are just a few examples of hundreds of falsely identified Pit Bull stories. Now there may well be some stories where a Pit Bull or Pit Bull mix was correctly identified, but many times they do not mention the circumstances that the attack happened, or the statistical comparison to any other breed of dog attacks. The Humane Society of the United States says that it is imperative that the dog population the community be understood. To simply pull numbers of attacks does not accurately represent the breed. For example, by reviewing a study that states there have been five attacks by Standard Poodles in a community and ten attacks from Pit Bulls in the same community, it would appear that Pit Bulls are more dangerous. However, if you look at the dog population in that community and find there are 50 Standard Poodles and 500 Pit Bulls, then statistically the Pit Bull would be the safer breed. The media turning them into this bad vicious dog is making the wrong people want to own them. Drug dealers and felons are seeing them as protection dogs, or using them to make some cash by breeding. As a result of over breeding, many communities have much more Pit Bull and Pit Bull mixes than any other dogs. With the over population of the breed, people’s fear of them, and breed restrictions many of these dogs end up in shelters or euthanized. On the positive side recently I have seen some great stories about Pit bulls. Many people re starting to get educated that this breed is no more dangerous than any other dog. A story from May 9th of 2012 headlines â€Å"Hero Pit Bull saves owner from train tracks. † This amazing story goes on to explain how the woman fell unconscious on the tracks and Lilly, the eight year old Pit Bull, managed to drag her out of harm’s way. Risking her own life Lilly was badly hurt by being struck by the train. After needing her leg amputa ted, many surgeries and physical therapy she is still just as happy as ever. The Pit Bull can go through so many traumas and still bounce back and be just as loving as ever. Pit Bulls that have been used as fighting dogs and bait dogs get adopted and act like none of it ever happened. Though the media has already caused so much damage to the judgment of the Pit Bull breed, I am hopeful that people will wake up and realize these dogs are one of the best companions you could ever have. My Pit Bull wants nothing more than to be loved; he is an 80 pound baby who sleeps under the covers in my bed. Maybe the Pit Bull will one day be known as the symbol of America, and the â€Å"Nanny Dog† again. How to cite The Negative Effects the Media Has on the Pit Bull Breed, Papers

Research Techniques & Methods

Questions: Task 11. To introduce you to the techniques and methods of research, so that you gain an understanding of research methods.2. To enable you to produce a project report based on your own independent research into an area of professional business practice. The subject area that you choose should besomething that interests you and that will add to your professional development.You will have to produce a research proposal whichshould be approved by your tutor before you start work on the project itself. Your tutor willmonitor the development of your project to ensure that you are following the guidelines and working towards agreed objectives.Task 2Explain how the problem was investigated and why particular methods and techniques were employed (Bell, 1999). Task 3 The outline structure we include here is suggested by Marshall (1997) but you will find this basic structure, albeit with some minor modifications, in all of the key authorities on researchmethodology.Task 4LO 4 will be assessed based on the overall structure and coherence of the research report, including referencing of sources using the Harvard referencing system. Answers: Task1: Formulate a research Specification 1.1 Formulating and recording possible research project outline Market research is the best way to organize a new business in corporate industry. In a particular market there are different kinds of customers. As the cultural backgrounds of the customers are different, demand as well as requirement is also differ according to their culture. As a result the tastes and preferences of different types of customers vary from each other. On the other hand different customers have different level of satisfactions. The demands and wants of each and every customer also differ from each. Based on the market structure and demands and wants of different customers a business plan needs to be organised . In this assignment, by organising various kinds of research procedure and methodology the researcher suggested the best recommendations for setting up a new business in the United Kingdom. The researcher has used various kinds of research methodology in order to get concrete information about the current market structure. Miller, R. (2013). Business law today. Mason, ohio: South-western. Safko, L. and Brake, D. (2009). The social media bible. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Figure 1: Project Outline(Source:) 1.1 Identifying the factors involved in the process of business plan The market structures vary from country to country. These variations are caused due to different kind of demands and wants of the customers. The most important factors which are involved in the process of business plans are customer habits, consumer behaviours, purchasing behaviours of the customers, etc. The next important factor is the pricing factor. Depending upon the market structure the pricing decisions are need to be taken in order to set up a new business. Safko, L. and Brake, D. (2009). The social media bible. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Figure 2: Factors of Business Plan (Source:) 1.1 Reviewing key references Increase in the sale is the objective of every company. In order to increase sale all the company needs to preserve a strong customer retention strategy. On the other hand in order to maintain a strong customer retention policy all the company need to implement a proper customer relationship management. Customer Retention Policy and Customer Relationship management are inversely related. These are the two factors which every company needs to develop in order to fulfil the objectives. Yakin, I. and Gencel, I. (2013). The Utilization of Social Media Tools for Informal Learning Activities: A Survey Study. Mevlana International Journal of Education, pp.108-117. Figure 3: Key References 1.1 Plans and procedures for the agreed goods After completing the research work the researcher concluded the demand for coffee is the best in the market. Therefore the researcher recommends the company to start a business of coffee as the demand for coffee maximum in this market but the supply is not enough to support the demand. If a company introduces a new product the first job of the company is to promote the new product by adopting various kinds of advertisement policies. In modern generation the application of internet is immerse. Therefore, all the companies depending upon the nature of the business adopts the concept of the social media tools. All the companies use the concept of the social media tools in order to promote a product and uses as the major source of advertisement. Task 2: Implementations of the research project 2.1 Matching efficiency to the research questions and hypothesis This particular assignment was based on setting up a new business structure. After going through the market structure the researcher has suggested the best recommendation to the company regarding plans and procedures of agreed goods, reviewing key references and identifying the factors involved in the business plans. 2.2 Proposed research investigation In this particular research work the researcher has gone through different kinds of research methodology. Realisms research philosophy is used by the researcher in order to complete the examiner work. The research methodology which is adopted by the researcher is inductive. Descriptive way of research design is adopted by the researcher for the research work. The data collection which is used by the researcher is primary and secondary method of data collection and probability sampling methods are adopted by the researcher to support the data collection method. 2.3 Data Collection Procedure Generally the researcher uses two kinds of data collection method. One is primary method of data collection and other one is secondary method of data collection. Further the data collection methods are divided into 2 parts one part is the quantitative part and other one is the qualitative part. Miller, R. (2013). Business law today. Mason, ohio: South-western. Safko, L. and Brake, D. (2009). The social media bible. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Task 3: Evaluating the research outcomes 3.1 Research Techniques Different kinds of research methodology which is adopted by the researcher in order to complete the research work efficiently. Generally there are three kinds of research philosophy. Positivism, Interpretivism and realism. To organise this particular research work researcher adopted the concept of realism. The research methodologies are of two kinds one is inductive methods of research methodology and other one is the deductive method of research methodology. The researcher used inductive method of research methodology. Mainly there are three kinds of research designs. Explanatory, Exploratory and descriptive are the three kinds of research designs. In order to complete the research work the researcher has used the concept of the descriptive research design.[1] The data collected methods used by the researcher in order to complete the research work are primary method of data collection and on the other hand secondary method of data collection. Further the data collection method is divided into two parts, Quantitative Part and the Qualitative Part. In order to support the data collection method the researcher as used probability method of sampling. Miller, R. (2013). Business law today. Mason, ohio: South-western. Figure 5: Research Methodology 3.2 Interpreting and analysing the results with the original research specification The statistical report shows the substantial demand of coffee over tea. United Kingdom is considered as a nation of coffee drinkers. The statistical report of the industrial magazine shows the sale of tea bag has decreased to 17.3% over the last three years. On the other hand the sale of coffee has increased to 6.4% over the last year. This statistical report shows the shifting of customers in the UK market from tea over Coffee. By going through the survey the researcher has concluded about the growing demand for coffee. Nearly 60% of the total respondents were coffee drinkers in the UK market. Therefore the researcher has suggested the company to introduce coffee products in the UK market to fulfil the demand. DONER, L. (2004). SOCIAL MARKETING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. Social Marketing Quarterly, 10(1), pp.31-34. Figure 6: Research Results 3.3 Recommendations 3.3.1 Market Structure: . Globally nearly 2.5 billion glass of coffee are consumed regularly. One third of the total coffee drinkers are found in UK. The researcher found in the market that there is an excess demand over supply for coffee. Therefore, the best recommendation which the researcher has provided to the company is to start coffee business in order to fill the vacant supply coffee. 3.3.2 Maintaining a proper advertisement procedure: Advertisement is the crucial part of every company. Advertisement is the process of communication between the consumers and the company. It helps the company as well as the customers to keep themselves updated about the different kinds of products and services of the company weather new or existing. 3.3.3 Using the Social Media tools for advertisement: In the modern generation, internet has given an important breakthrough. Nearly the majority of the people keep themselves engaged in the social media tools. Some of the popular social media tools are Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc. In a recent statistical survey the users of Facebook has increased by 5% followed by Twitter 3.9%. These social media tools are used by all the companies as a modern source of communication and advertisement in order to keep all the customers updated about the latest as well as existing products and services of the Miller, R. (2013). Business law today. Mason, ohio: South-western. Figure 7: Social Media Tools Task 4: Research Outcomes 4.1 Result of the Project After going through the research work the researcher has provided the best recommendation to the company for setting up a new business. After completing the research work the researcher came to understand the demand for coffee over tea in the market of UK. The demand for tea over coffee maintains a proportion of (7:3). And on the other hand the supply of coffee is not well enough to meet the demand in the market. The researcher has suggested the company to introduce various kinds of products and services related to coffee in order to fulfil the vacant supply. Reference list: DONER, L. (2004). SOCIAL MARKETING: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. Social Marketing Quarterly, 10(1), pp.31-34. Mangiameli, G. (2015). BMC Medical Research Methodology reviewer acknowledgement 2014. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 15(1). Miller, R. (2013). Business law today. Mason, ohio: South-western. Oswald, L. (2015). The structural semiotics paradigm for marketing research: Theory, methodology, and case analysis. Semiotica, 2015(205). Safko, L. and Brake, D. (2009). The social media bible. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Yakin, I. and Gencel, I. (2013). The Utilization of Social Media Tools for Informal Learning Activities: A Survey Study. Mevlana International Journal of Education, pp.108-117. Oswald, L. (2015). The structural semiotics paradigm for marketing research: Theory, methodology, and case analysis. Semiotica, 2015(205). Miller, R. (2013). Business law today. Mason, ohio: South-western.

Sources of Business Start

Strengths and weaknesses of the Baldrige Award

Strengths and weaknesses of the Baldrige Award Introduction The Baldrige award came to be in 1987 when the death of the secretary of commerce Mr. Malcolm Baldrige. The full names are Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and the award is funded by congress through the secretary of commerce.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Strengths and weaknesses of the Baldrige Award specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The sole essence of starting this award was to promote the organization to have promoted total quality management among American companies for easier ushering them to 21st century. Total quality management seeks to ensure that an organization continually improves, as well as keeps in mind the satisfaction of the customers. In short, it seeks not to achieve perfection but to continually keep improving the organization’s services and achieve the highest level of success. The Baldrige criteria has evolved from being business oriented to accommodate ot her sectors of the economy. Some of these sectors include the following manufacturers, small businesses, Education, services industry, and healthcare. Other counties of the world have come to adopt it in the production since globalization has hit the world. All this can be attributing to the fact that there are achievable benefits by incorporating it especially in the business world. Strengths and weaknesses of the Baldrige Award There are various strengths that are so much of benefit to any organization in the world. To start with, organizations have been stimulated to improve their quality and productivity so as to gain recognition while at the same time having a competitive edge and gaining profits. The fact that there is recognition of the best performing companies when it comes to the quality means that a company will continual to strive to be among them since it promotes the image of a business organization. The fact that the award also runs through all sectors of the economy means that they are all enticed to achieve a high efficiency and through this, the whole economy develops (Davis et al., 1999). Applicability is another strength found in Baldrige criterion. The meaning of this is that it can be applied to all organizations irrespective of their size. It is also not discriminative to the type of industry involved, whether it is service or manufacturing, all of them are included. The same is extended to sectors of the economy, as it is applicable to both the public and private sectors of the economy. Awareness is also brought out through the existence of this award. The challenge of foreign firms is highlighted and as statistics have shown United States, national growth and competition has been low in the last two decades. There is also the impact in knowledge it offers to companies and business organization in various sectors of the economy. Facts like the circumstance that poor quality costs consume about 20% of all the revenues in the country have been revealed through it. In addition, essential information has been unveiled to various organizations, among them are the benefits that are accrued due to having quality products. For example, having quality products means a higher productivity is achieved and that same time it minimizes the cost of producing them (Leonard, 2005).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Enhancement on the strategic planning of the quality and quality movement has also been experienced. The achievement of this is through a desired commitment to have excellence in the both manufacturing and services industry. In turn, the economy has been improved as well as the ability to compete in the global market. It improves the cost the quality of manufactured goods. The cost of production has also been minimized by having knowledge of how to improve the productivity of workers and usage o f statistics to control cost. Quality is also improved as the company incorporates measures that are able to improve the company’s competitive edge through having products of high quality (Evans, 2008). It also ensures that the consumers demand are met, indirectly Baldrige award ensures that the demand of the consumers are considered as well as been put into perspective as it is one of the requirement necessary to remain competitive in the market. Only with the satisfaction of the consumers does an organization continue to remain in the market, and this is one of the most important things management should consider doing. The focus of the company’s strengths and weaknesses is also considered. It is important for the organization to ensure that they maintain the strengths they have in the market and subsequently try to minimize the weaknesses that may be putting them down in their fighting of the market conquest. A plan should therefore be put in place to ensure that an organization puts the weaknesses in controllable position so that they do not hinder them in achieving their goals. There has also been improvement in the performance where a place of excellence has been achieved (Cartin,1999). The approach has been integrated in nature and some of the results achieved include the following; the capabilities of the organization have been improved as well as the effectiveness in the organization. The delivery of the services has also improved, which has in turn resulted to success in the market place. Though there are so many strengths that are associated in this award there has been also an experience of weaknesses in it. It requires the organization to have significant time and resources to achieve such an award. As it has always been said, any success has to be achieved with an amount of sacrifice the organization sacrifice a lot of time in trying to do research that may get them results of what they need to improve on. In addition, a good number of resources have to be included for such success to be achieved. The resources range from qualified personnel and monetary resource. Some small companies may lack some of this resources and that is why some of them are finding nit hard to compete against big and established organization. A lot of commitment is also needed to run such a system needed to reach the greatest level of success that Baldrige talks of (Wilson,2005).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Strengths and weaknesses of the Baldrige Award specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The problem may be exaggerated further by senior leaders in the organization who may have misgiving in the long-term commitment of system thinking. The fact that it may sometimes take a long time to achieve Baldrige standard means that there is dangers that seniors in the organization may not comprehend it. Finally, the complexity of the criterion is also a weakness in it. S ome organization may find it hard to work with such complex measures to achieve the defined success. Conclusion A Baldrige criterion is one of the best methods a business can incorporate to achieve success in its operation. The fact that it is inclined to ensuring satisfaction among the customers ensures retaining of the customers as well as having a broader base of customers. The good thing with it is it does not aim at achieving perfection but rather a high level of quality at whatever size the organization has since even the small organization can get to enjoy it. Establishment of Baldrige award is one of the best thoughts to have been put in someone’s mind. The fact that each company seeks recognition means that each and every company will act in a way to achieve it, and what better way to promote the economy of a country than this? References List Cartin, T. J. (1999). Principles and practices of organizational performance excellence. Wisconsin: ASQ Quality Press. Davis, M., Aquilano, N. J., Chase, R. B. (1999). Fundamentals of operations management. Boston: Irwin, McGraw-Hill. Evans, J. (2008). Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Leonard, D. ( 2007). The executive guide to understanding and implementing the Baldrige criteria: improve revenue and create organizational excellence. Wisconsin: ASQ Quality Press.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Wilson, J. P. (2005). Human resource development: learning training for individuals organizations. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT - Coursework Example The UK fashion industry is a $45 billion pound industry which has seen accelerated growth driven by competitiveness. The industry is expected to grow at a high rate over the next few years as consumers become more fashion conscious and as their purchasing power increases. The industry is adopting innovative techniques like digital marketing with the changes in the evolving customer behaviour scenarios. The highly competitive nature of the industry is increased by the increased global expansion processes of different international fashion retail companies. The market of UK is considered as a market with high potential and has been a preferred market for different multinationals for expanding their business into. The industry is a highly concentrated sector with major influence of the large businesses in organizational terms. The sector is dominated by large international fashion retail businesses. London is the largest contributor of revenues for the fashion retailing industry of Unit ed Kingdom. UK fashion retailing is a significant driver of the global economy. Demographic factors are major indicators of expenditure as it has been observed that expenditure decreases with the increase in age of the consumer group. It is observed that the young age group is more fashion conscious and tends to spend more on fashion retail whereas the higher age group tend to spend lesser on the fashion retail and are more focused on spending in traditional brands. Fashion consciousness is more observed in the young age groups as well as the fashion conscious parents who buy apparels and accessories for their children (Burts and Sparks, 2003, p.4). The international trade agreements like the Economic Union Quotas; Multi-fibre agreement has been incorporated to facilitate the growth of the UK fashion retailing industry. The government focuses on supporting and encouraging the growth of the industry as it is a major

Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Crisis - Essay Example TESCO'S has garnered a big share of the retail industry market. But complaints have been lodged by competing stores for government to make an inquiry into its bully boy tactics. Tesco with over 180 stores in England is offering up to 40% discounts to its present and prospective customers. The stores affected are Asda and Yorkshire's chain Proudfoot. Tesco uses its vast Clubcard database to give it access to detailed information about shoppers that no other retailer can match. (Harrison & Enz,Hospitality Strategic Management,p145,USA,John Wiley & Sons,2005) It also owns a controlling stake in an information company, Dunnhumby, which sells data to third parties. Sales of Tesco has increased due to this strategy. "Calls for an end to Tesco's bully-boy tactics have grown too loud to ignore " this result to a call of full scale competition inquiry by govt. Elsewhere, Lee Scott, the president of Wal-Mart, which owns Asda, has called for government intervention to halt Tesco's rapid growth on the grounds that it is increasingly hard to compete. Sainsbury's chief executive, Justin King, has demanded changes to stop Tesco's market share "climbing to 40% in short order". Ref: Julia Finch Saturday November 12, 2005 The Guardian COMMENT: This is another way of Macro strategy where the competitors ask government to intervene since Tesco is playing fair as their market share has been decreased and many smaller stores have closed up. In business, only the losers complain. The customers go to Tesco because of its lower prices. SAINSBURY'S has made public its first loss after many years of being one of the leaders in the supermarket industry in England. Its current loss of 38m pounds is a big disparity between its last year's 323m pounds. Sainsbury's, which last month was at the centre of takeover speculation, is struggling to turn itself around. It has been the subject of takeover by its competitor Asda. The main cause is that they have not filled up their stores shelves in time because they had not estimated the sales output. This Micro strategy has been rectified by its chief executive ,Justin King. Its stock market shares increased due to the new moves of it chief executive. "Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King recently admitted the firm had been failing to properly stock its shelves after struggling with faulty distribution systems. A reorganization of the business under Mr. King has already cost it 400m. However, he said the company was now aware of where it had gone wrong in the past and was work ing hard to try to put things right." Now, the shop has been opened again to regain its original foothold as one of the leading markets in England. It has also added additional product lines. Sainsbury's chairman Philip Hampton said he believed the retailer had the building blocks in place to achieve a turnaround. SAINSBURY'S key strategy: increase product quality, lower prices, improve product availability . Once the UK's biggest supermarket chain, Sainsbury's has since been overtaken by both Tesco and Asda. REFERENCE: (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4018407.stm)] General Electric's

Critical analysis of a Charitable Organization

Critical analysis of a Charitable Organization The reality of poverty in several communities around the world is quite inescapable. Admittedly, varying types of government in every country is doing their best to fight the negative pull of poverty and socioeconomic struggles of communities, yet, a number are still at ends with their finances in daily living. At this point, other sectors in society steps in to support other areas that the government can no longer substantially support. According to Shelley (n.d.) the economic structure of Australia consists of three sectors: private, public, and non-profit. The public division is said to be primarily controlled by the government, where duties are performed by way of services offered through taxation policies and user fees. On the other side, private sectors are chiefly governed by market competition and economic gains of individual and collective assemblies. On the last section, nonprofit organizations neither fit the above descriptions. As it is, this is the category that lives of f from the charity of the concerned public, either from private citizens, to private companies, and even the government pitches in to help. In review, one of the reputed nonprofit organizations based in Australia is CARE Australia, which is run on both community and international level. With its founding origins dating back to 1945 in United States, the said charity organization had found its roots across the oceans in Australia on 1987. Now, it is already serving more than 20 neighboring countries in Pacific regions, and extends towards Africa. With a mission to serve impoverished communities, regardless of race and nationality, the said organization had set forth a number of empowering campaign programs to provide support (socially and economically), as well as offer emergency international aid when needed. Free from religious and political affiliation, CARE Australia is a charity institution that seeks to concentrate on the plight of women and young girls, as they believe that these groups are integral for successful and sustainable communities worldwide (Anon., 2009). In this paper, the internal structure and managem ent conditions of the charity organization, CARE Australia, will be put into analytical perspective, where its leadership status and functions are reviewed, and probable resolutions to conflicts can be identified. Organization Profile The relative significance of charity organizations as the third community sector is indispensable. According to Palyvoda (2006), charity groups are beholden, not only in delivering public service to the poor and needy, but also in influencing other societal sectors to contribute with such altruistic pursuits in relevant service areas. In relative settings, most organizations take up a number of structural form and decisions-making process. Fuetchmann (n.d.) pointed out that for an organization to be legally accepted as a formal one, it must be incorporated first, and at best, possesses considerable properties in tax-free institutional status. In perspective, one can safely assume that an organization, even a nonprofit one, is liable to establish a formal structure in management. Henry (1998) listed the basic members in organizations, including board members, chief executives and funders (cited in Cornforth, 2001, p.13). The former two groups are the ones at topmost level, where they decide the movement of the organization, while staff within the organization simultaneously moves to perform the plans formulated by various management departments. As clarified by Gaist (2009), a well-managed organization should promote a structure that defines how each member should achieve their roles in, where decision-making activities are marginalized between the board, management officers, and the staff. As such, governance in the organization should be consistently delineated and followed-for organizational goals to be realized. Such responsibility falls primarily on the board of directors, which encompasses more than the obligation to manage the organizations, but should provide direction, efficacy, and accountability as leaders in the group (Angelini, 2005). With the power to appoint executives and committee officers, the board of directors is indeed influential in decision-making and general operations in organizations (Levrau, 2007). In such appeal, the importance of str ucture and role distinction is crucial for the survival of every organization. In application, CARE Australia, as a considerable charity foundation, adopted an organizational structure that is more of a corporate type. As illustrated in Figure 1 (please see Appendix A), the charity institutions is mainly governed by an organizational board, and their decisions are collaboratively translated through the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). As further observed in the diagram, the charity board is aided by several subcommittees, and are altogether supported by an advisory council. In horizontal line, the CEO takes on the responsibility of monitoring and managing the different organizational departments: international operations, international programs, fundraising and communications, and corporate services (Anon., 2009). In more ways, the foundation appeared to adapt a formal structure that is top-down in direction, from highest hierarchical officers down to administrative staff and volunteers. As discussed earlier, governance mainly falls on the shoulders of the board members, although discussions and negotiations are rendered between the board, the subcommittee members, and executive directors before any concrete decisions are cemented. In CARE Australia, there is a collaborative type in planning and decision-making aspects. As predicted, directors in the board look out for overall condition of the organization, where they approve, monitor, and evaluate program performance. At their side, advisory council supports and reinforces the decisions of the board, where they act as representative counsels, in lieu of community members. On the other side, subcommittees report directly to the board, where they enact on decisions the board formulated, yet, are of equal consultation with the board members in reaching the goals of the organization (Anon., 2009). Lastly, the various staff and teams are instrumental in the whole operation of the organization, as they set forth the wheels in making a reality the plans and programs formulated and agreed upon at upper management levels. The line for decision-making depends, thereby, on the organizational structure they maintain. Corporate Structure: Pros and Cons The structure of CARE Australia is quite complex in framework, where this type of governance by the board may yield both positive and negative outcomes. The board of directors, as identified by Collin (2005), serves as mediating body between organizational management and stakeholders, where the latter can communicate their desires through association with the board. As a charity organization operating on international scale, CARE Australia caters to numerous stakeholdersconcerned public citizens in Australia, institutional sponsors from both government and private associations, and targeted impoverished communities (Anon., 2009). This clarified, the more influential stakeholder is revealed, where its power lies in parallel with the mission of the team, community empowerment, making public communities the real stakeholders in such organization. At this point, local community stakeholders hold the influencing power on the broader scale, while government and private institutions remain in the background-silent partners in the achievement of program goals and organizational missions. This delegating principle at the base level of the hierarchy is quite effective, for it promotes supportive delegation where needed-at the community level. As indicated in earlier discussions, the board in CARE Australia adopts the role as approval body, evaluator of strategies and project performance, as well as regulating body in balancing the executive and management functions of the other members in the organization. In theory, the board may take the form of stewardship perception, where they are independent in function, or it may adopt shareholder dependency practice, prioritizing shareholders condition above that of the organization (Collin, 2005). In relation, CARE Australia appeared to emulate the former view, where organizations mission and goals are topmost priority. By doing so, it indirectly adhere to stakeholders community development. Significantly, the board is quite active in its encompassing role, beyond passive rubber stamp appeal, as it dynamically engages with subcommittees and advisory group, contributing to well-directed activities in the organization. Their leadership is more participative in construct, as the board monitors those at lower ranks in delivering services to communities. As such, there is mutual collaboration with locals in area programs, as staff management directly deals with community citizens, in line with the mission of the organization and the goals of formulated projectsdecentralizing leadership management assures accountability, and transparency in both financial and operational progress (Anon., 2009). Accountability is delegated in lower management, but the board still holds control, ensuring that no dead spaces in function can occur between the planning and implementation stage of community programs. Yet, such notion may not be as idealistic as it appears. The problem with this functional structure is that it projects excessive staff innovation, leading to loss of corporate identityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(and) stagnation in individual regions (Clark, 1991). Continuous monitoring and strong commitment to the organiza tion may counteract the negativity brought by this type of organizational structure. Current Organizational Conflict The governance with the board may appear to be running smoothly, with defined organizational structure, and clear margins on the roles that all members have to maintain. Yet conflicts may arise in two patterns: disagreements between the board and management department, and the rise of too much professionalism in volunteer-based charity groups. On the first case, Anne-Line, Annick, and Marc (2009), admitted perceptions may differ among the members of the top organization level, especially in terms of policy set-ups, management planning and financing, as well as settling disputes within organizational network. As the board in CARE Australia seemed to promote the participant leadership style, relegated staff channels can have their say; however, this can also be a potential pitfall, in some ways. Clark (1991) placed emphasis on the possibility that staff compromise may lead to nonconstructive values, where lower ranked personnel may consequently guard substantial decisions that they thi nk may negatively impact projected plans, inhibiting creativity in promoting harmony. Aside from staff hesitancy, ambiguousness on the nature of staff and higher authority relation may lead to discontent and lack of organizational motivation. Collin (2005) identified the motivations that drive individuals in organization: need to belong and instinct to duty. The former denotes loyalty the group, while the latter is more individualized, where outcomes depend on self-perceptions on how to perform ones duty. The resolution with the first organizational dilemma on disagreements and inhibiting obligations is by enacting on these two motivations. Internal control within the organization must be strengthened, possibly through enhancing communication lines between board members and executive directors, and in worse scenarios, the former can either remove or compensate the latter management (Levrau, 2007).By projecting governance that is loyal to the cause of the organizations mission, above self-interest, commitment can also be stabilized between the top and lower management. With regard to increasing professionalism in nonprofit organizations, the danger with this value in governance can be targeted on too much administrative work, where groups can lose focus on the charity work itself. Admittedly, CARE Australia hires individuals with excellent professional qualifications, and even allots part of the resource funds in maintaining the efficiency of the said management teams. From the board members down to management staff, each one boosts a professional status that belies the strength of sustainable governance in the association. Yet, such technical competency in management is not sufficient in sustaining a good organization, as performance on the social and emotional level are said to be of equal importance in the progress of organizations (Anne-Line, Annick, and Marc (2009). As such, interrelationship should not suffer in the face of excessive administrative competence. Again, lines of communications should be kept open, where everyone is given the cha nce, one way or the other, in airing their constructive views and concerns through the right channels. Social association, then, is quite substantial and must therefore be incorporated within the informal lines of organizational structure. Promoting this can be quite tricky, as individual differences can get in the way. In resolution, everyone should be judiciously encouraged to adapt strong commitment towards the goals and mission of the organization, and policies must be ratified to accommodate behaviors that promote mutual collaboration between staff personnel and their superiors. The solution should work both ways, where those in authority should identify with the management committees, broadening their perspectives to allow for wider staff opportunities in rendering unified projects and services, while professional staff should know how to properly express their ideas and concerns in hierarchical procedures. Again, well-defined organization structure can aid in such pursuits. Summary and Conclusion Summarily, structure and functional roles in a charity organization relegate important parts in the development and progress of an organization. As the third sector in Australian society, and even in other societal regions, the existence of charity organizations are said to fill the gaps in community services that the government had not been able to perform due to a number of reasons. In altruistic sense, such roles in fighting the rampant case poverty and related societal issues are the main goals of such nonprofit groups. Although they may differ on the priority groups they may focus on, most are founded on the belief that they can be instrumental in easing the struggles of impoverished citizens in the community level. In order to deliver services in an efficient manner, organizations must have an internal network that is both stable in structure and function. To fulfill such requirements, most charity organizations adapt a corporate type of governance, where it commonly comprised of the board, executive directors, the staff management, and the stakeholders on the side. Although the stakeholders do not take active participation in actual operations, most of them primarily fund the organization, providing the necessary resources in order to sustain programs and projects, all the while the community stakeholders take precedence in the organization, where their conditions are the main concerns the organization deals on. These concepts are summarily adapted in CARE Australia, where added appendages included the advisory council and the subcommittees, where the delegation process promises faster results and efficient delivery of projected services. Yet, it seemed that the benefits reaped from such conceptual structure and functions can also be the crux for conflicts to arise. For one, decision-making may be marginalized between the board and executive management, yet, disagreements may arise when motivations between the two bodies may differ. At this point, self-interest may get in the way towards belongingness and harmony within the group. Another problem observed in the full organizational development is the excessive administrative professionalism that the teams assume. In the first place, such sector is more on volunteer works, where charity works are the primary focus. Technical expertise can somehow affect the social and emotional unilateralism in the organization, where it may threaten the stat us of community projects. At this point, dilemmas can be traced back to administrative conformity against social relations, where the latter is stifled as part of the organizations policies-removing opportunities to reach out in local community degrees. As these problems are identified, one can assume that no matter how compact and defined an organization is, there can still be problems along the way. As counteract measures, all members of the organization must be aware on where they stand in the hierarchal structure, with their roles are clearly defined, and they should know the directions they will be taking. To arrive at such situation, competence in technical and social levels must be tempered with open lines in communication from the top management and down to staff at the fields. In such means, existing and potential problems can be identified and resolved before it had time to fester and destroy organizational harmony. Preventive measures, then, is the best way to manage orga nizations such as CARE Australia, ensuring their sustenance for longer service provisions.

Effect Of Personality On Effective Communication Essay

Psychologists have come up with different definitions as far as personality is concerned. However, most of them tend to agree to the fact that, personality is the individual’s unique pattern of thoughts, patterns of thought, feelings and behavior that tend to persist over time and situation, (Morris & Meistos 1998p 442). Accordingly, Morris and Meistos have found out that personality as described in the above definition has two parts, that is, it is a unique pattern of an individual- those tenets that isolate or tell an individual from another. Secondly, that personality has a spell, that is, they persist through time and across situations. The last example simply means that personality is stable and enduring. According to James Kalat, in his introduction to psychology, the word personality has been derived from the Latin word persona which means ‘masking’, (Kalat, 1990 p 467). It traces its roots from the theatres of ancient Greek and Rome where actors wore masks to indicate their emotions- whether they were happy, sad or even angry. The use of the word personality, however, has a totally different meaning from the word mask. According to James Kalat (1990), a mask can be put and be removed again after the play, but personality as we saw in the definition above, indicates something stable and enduring. Personality also consists all consistent ways in which the behavior of one person differs markedly from that of another person. Of the several psychologists who have wrote about personality, Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939) and Karl Jung are the most notables ones. Sigmund Freud actually held the opinion that our behavior is based on unconscious instincts. Some of these behaviors are aggressive and destructive; while others such as hunger, thirst, self-preservation, and sex are necessary for the survival of the species. Sexual instincts according to Freud just don’t mean erotic sexuality behavior but also desire to almost any kind of pleasure. Consequently, Freud regarded the sexual instincts as the most central in the development of personality. James Kalat (1990) has found that this aspect from the Freudian theory is very vital for the establishment of a full individual. Therefore according to him the way we communicate, address others and general relationship are determined from innate by our personality. Morris and Meisto, in their psychology an introduction have found that Carl Jung, who was a student of Freud, had a different direction as far as personality is concerned, (Morris & Meistos 1998, p 442). According to them, although the two believed in the role of unconscious in determining human behavior, Jung fell out with Freud’s view that the Id is the desire for sexual excitement which is led by the ego, Jung emphasized that the unconscious is the source of strength vitality manifested by the ego, (Morris, Maisto 1998, p 447). Further, Jung emphasized that the unconscious part of personality can break down into the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. Therefore, according to James and Maistos (1998), personality can be said to control the whole individual. Patterns of life which include behavior, emotions, and communicational aspects such as speaking, listening, hearing and noise are all manifestations of personality. Communication, as has been found by James (1990), relates directly with personality of an in the sense that it is a process in which one has to hear and understand the views and ideas of another. In most cases emotions are aroused in the course of communication process. Emotions here can mean that the whole process can make one happy or sad, delighted or anxious, A good example of a communication process in which emotions take a centre stage is this extract taken from a play by this Nigerian play writer, Wole Soyinka in his 1965 play, the Road. Salubi: Six o’clock I bet. I don’t know how it is, but no matter when I go to sleep I wake up it strikes six. Now that is a miracle. Samson: There is miracle somewhere but not what you say. Maybe the sight of you using the chewing stick Salubi: Look Samson, it’s early in the morning. Go back to sleep if you are going to start again. (He starts to put his chauffeur’s uniform). Samson: Who lend you uniform? Salubi: I buy it with my own money. (Samson goes over, feels the cloth). Samson: second hand! Salubi: so what? Samson: at least you might have washed it. Look at that blood stain- has someone smashed your teeth? Salubi: rubbish, no washing powder. Samson: all right, all right. But you are a funny person. Funny like those street idiots. How can anyone buy uniform when he hasn’t got a job? Salubi: impression. I take uniform to impress all future employers. Samson: With that smear on the front? Salubi: (angrily going over to Samson) Go mind your own business you jobless tout. ( Qtd Soyinga . W, 1956 PP 2-3) In such a conversation with the likes of Samson no meaningful understanding can take place. There is evidence of personality with Samson seemingly proud lounging his attack on the seemingly low status of the colleague. Eventually, a misunderstanding is evident, and finally they a break out. For an individual who always has a good self impression, and is normally confident and assured, may be quite insecure in particular one to one. This means that effective passage of the message might not eventually take place. Persons introduced to celebrities have been known to stutter, flutter or be struck dumb. An individual engaged in a two person colloquy must actually reckon with several images. First, he sees himself as he feels he is. He also feels himself as he wishes the other would see him. And finally he sees himself as he suspects the other person really does see him, (Abernathy, 1959 p 7). To illustrate the foregoing, suppose you as a student go to see one of your favorite teachers. You see yourself as somewhat better-the-average students, though you are sure how well you are mastering this particular subject. Meanwhile you dream of being a superstar student that your instructor will automatically think of you when matter of special awards is mentioned. Also, however from the tone of one or two comments he has made fear that the teacher sees as quite deficient. This suspicion bothers you a great deal as you prepare to talk to him. When there is a wide gap between these images tension develops, and most likely a healthy and meaningful conversation will be affected. The hearing and listening aspects of communication are interfered with just because of anxiety and tension grip, (Abernathy, 1959 p 8). A young man or woman prepared to meet an individual, whether or not in position of authority, have always had tension because of the way they perceive this individual and also their personality. Adults should in essence be made to understand that their personality affects the way they are perceived by the young generation. You can imagine you being addressed by an individual with a distorted personality like in the case of Samson above. Personality in essence affects all aspects of communication, but most important listening and hearing. Furthermore, if our adults understood the personality of the young generation they are required to be addressing, for example, they should know the relevant information to relay to the teenagers. Ever heard of the generational gap! Difference arising in the way the younger generation comes to understand the older generation is actually vested in the personality as expressed by the two generations.It is helpful that in future adults should understand us! ( Abernathy, 1959 p 10) Reference: Abernathy, E. (1959). Fundamentals of Speech Communication. Mc. C. Brown Company Publishers. Hayes, D. (1998). Effective Verbal Communication. Berkshire: Horder & Stoughton. Soyinka, W. (1965). The Road. Nairobi: Oxford University Press. Kalat, J. W. (1990). An introduction to Psychology. Belmont: Wadworth Publishing Company. Morris, G. M. & Maisto, A. A. (1998). Psychology: An Introduction. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall.

Tapal Tea Pvt. Limited: Report

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal Campus Tapal Tea (Pvt) Limited ADVISOR: MR. MUZHAR JAVED Lecturer Submitted By: MUHAMMAD AHSAN RAZA CIIT/FA08-MBA-012/SWL COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal 520-B Jail Road, Sahiwal, and Tel: 040-9200100, Fax: 040-9200102 Acknowledgement ? ? ? ? ? Countless thanks to ALLAH Almighty for giving me such extraordinary abilities and making me privileged enough to take part in such activities and all respects and regards to Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) for giving me the faith paving me on the right path with the essence of faith in GOD. I would like to thank our Supervisor Mr. Muzhar Javed for his cooperation and help. He fully supported me throughout my work. I express my heartiest gratitude to him. His cooperation made this project a lot much easier. I would also like to express my heartiest gratitude to: Mr. Muhammad Naeem Khan, Regional Sales Manager, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Mr. Muhammad Kashif, Zonal Sales Manager, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Mr. Fakhar Ayub Raja, Territory Sales Officer, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Bundle of thanks to my parents, who were and are very supportive and cooperative at every time. Table of Contents Executive Summary3 TAPAL TEA4 History of Tapal Tea4 VISION5 Mission6 Business Operation9 Company Management9 Organizational Chart of Islamabad Region13 Corporate Information14 SWOT Analysis15 Marketing Strategy24 MARKETING MIX28 Competitive Strategy32 Business Process Analysis37 Learning as an Internee48 Duties49 Accomplishments51 New Knowledge Acquired54 Problem Encountered54 How Experience Impacts My Career54 CONCLUSION55 Glossary56 References57 Index58 Executive Summary From the dimmest of history when around 2727 B. C. few leaves of a wild shrub tea blew into the royal bowl of boiling water being sipped by the legendary Emperor Shah Nung, known as the Divine Husbander as well as a patron of arts. Tapal Tea here brought tea from the royal bowl to the common man's cups as the most sought after beverage the country over. Under the management of the founder's son, Faizullah A. Tapal, the company continued to grow and innovate. Currently it is being managed by the fo under's grandson, Aftab F. Tapal who has continued giving further strength to the foundations of quality laid by his family. After studying abroad, Aftab F. Tapal returned to introduce professional management and unique production ideas into the business. His progressive outlook resulted in the total automation of the tea plants in Karachi. Their motto â€Å"Never Compromise on Quality† remains the by word on the lips of all engaged in producing Tapal Tea that has resulted in customer's brand loyalty and their unflinching addiction. The testimony of their quality has made them the first tea company in Pakistan to earn the ISO-9001:2000 Quality Certificates. Pioneer of the Danedar category in Pakistan, Tapal's Danedar remains a firm favorite around the country with its grape-nutty appearance, rich golden color and a strong refreshing taste. In fact its popularity is such that several multinationals have launched their own versions, but Tapal remains the original and ultimate Danedar because of its unique color, aroma and taste. Color and a strong refreshing taste are its most significant attributes. Tapal is proud to have been a part of Pakistan's history since its inception. As a company they have grown and flourished together with the great nation. Founded by Adam Ali Tapal, the company first started marketing a number of quality blends to Pakistani consumer market through continuous innovation and research and development they gain 41% share of Pakistani market. They still are growing and hope to be a leader in a market in coming years. TAPAL TEA History of Tapal Tea The journey of Tapal's remarkable success is the combined efforts of three dynamic generations of the Tapal Family. In 1947, Tapal started out as a family concern under the personal supervision of its founder, Adam Ali Tapal. Against tough competition Adam Ali's unique blend, later named Family Mixture, became a hot favorite and eventually the largest selling brand in the unorganized tea market. From this auspicious beginning, Tapal moved from success to success introducing tea brands to suit every taste and pocket, sold from its retail outlet in Jodia Bazar, Karachi. The quality of Tapal tea soon became legendary and people from all parts of Karachi started lining up at the outlet to purchase tea. For their convenience, Tea distribution was initiated to retail outlets around the city. The company continued to grow under the management of the founder's son, Faizullah A. Tapal. Today the founder’s grandson, Aftab F. Tapal, manages Tapal Tea. After studying abroad, Aftab Tapal returned to Pakistan to introduce professional management and unique production ideas to the business. A well trained tea taster and tea connoisseur himself, Aftab Tapal introduced new tea concepts and developed a wide range of tea blends catering specifically to the tastes of people throughout Pakistan. His progressive outlook resulted in giving further strength to the foundation of quality laid by his family. Making a modest beginning over half a century back, today Tapal has become the largest, 100% Pakistani owned Tea Company in the country. It has modern tea blending and packaging factories, warehouses equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and a team of highly dynamic professionals headed by Aftab Tapal himself. VISION TAPAL’S VISION: TAPAL’s Environmental Vision is: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sustainable world, a world in which human populations can continue to exist indefinitely with a high standard of living and health †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To produce, market & distribute its product in a way that does not cause harm to people or damage to the Environment. We believe our activities should: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Respect the environment †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Generate economic benefits †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Create positive influence in the society †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Create opportunities for good quality of life Our Philosophy is: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To act locally, but think globally Our employees are: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Provided with the information & training necessary to enable them to perform their tasks in a hygienic manner. Mission â€Å"To satisfy our stakeholders and as a guiding principle to our business; be a benchmark for Quality, Creativity and Ethical values Achieve leadership in all categories of our core business and diversify in areas which compliment the core business. DISCOVERY OF TEA: In 2727 B. C Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung was boiling drinking water when a few leaves of a wild tea tree blew into the royal bowl. He discovered that the leaves imparted a delightful flavor to his water, and so it became his favored drink . It is probable that tea was first cultivated in China, though it is possible that people in Thailand and Burma have used it for as long as the Chinese have. The China tea plant was taken to Japan in about AD 800, where it was regarded as a medicine for several hundred years, until green tea was developed to become a popular beverage. Tea was introduced into England, as a gift from the British East India Company, in about AD 1660 and to rest to Europe soon thereafter. By the end of the 19th century, China still supplied the bulk of the world’s tea. In 1886 it exported 136 million kg, of which 77 million kg went to Britain, while India produced 40 million kg. But within a few years India moved ahead of China in world trade. Ceylon (Sri Lanka) emerged as a tea producer in 1867 and Java (now part of Indonesia) in 1878. Today, traditional tea growing countries of China India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Japan have been joined by many others in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador) and Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, and Mozambique). Tea is generally considered the oldest prepared beverage. Whatever its color (black, green, yellow or white, depending on how it has been processed), tea can be produced from three main varieties: camellia seinensis, camellia seinensis assamic and camellia seinensis Cambodians. When the tea tree grows under natural conditions, it is evergreen and can reach 10 to 15 meters, but when it is cultivated in gardens (the name given to tea plantation worldwide), its height is artificially limited to one meter in order to facilitate the pickers. Tea trees are grown mainly in tropical and subtropical regions with humidity of 70% to 90%. Rainfalls must be abundant and regularly distributed throughout the year, with a yearly average of 1,500 to 2,500 millimeters. PRODUCTION: Leaves can be picked by hand or mechanically. Manual picking yields leaves of higher quality. Picking is generally done according to the maturity of the leaves (from the top to the bottom of the tree, as a rule) and three levels of quality can be distinguished: †¢ Imperial picking involves picking only the terminal bud (Pekoe) and the first leave.? †¢ Fine picking involves picking the terminal bud and the first two leaves. †¢ Classical picking, the main technique used today, includes the terminal bud plus three to four leaves. Because of the product's perishable nature, final processing must occur as soon as possible after the leaves are picked, and special care is required during transportation and storage. The average yield per hectare from 1990 to 2003 was around 1. 2 metric tons, with yields in leading producing countries being 1. 4 tons per hectare in Sri Lanka and 2 tons per hectare in Kenya. Black tea is the only kind of tea that is subject to international quality regulations. It is classified according to two main methods, orthodox and crushing/tearing/curling (CTC). Within both categories tealeaves are classified into sub-categories, with the best quality represented by the pekoe and the condition of the pekoe and the lowest by the dust of leaves. Business Operation Company Management Aftab Tapal CEO, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. He introduced professional management and unique production ideas to the business. Being one of the few professional tea tasters in the country, and a tea connoisseur himself, his progressive outlook has given further strength to the foundation of quality laid by his family, and has bought the Tapal company to newer and higher levels of success. Evolving and innovating its way through its near 60 years history, Tapal is presently the largest, 100% Pakistani owned Tea Company in the country. Its has set new standards for modern tea blending and packaging factories, warehouses equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and a team of highly dynamic professionals headed by Aftab Tapal himself. He has established three production facilities in Pakistan, two in Karachi and one in Raiwind. In order to provide consistent quality, which is his commitment to his consumers, he brought in his organization the discipline of ISO 9001/2000. With such focused objectives and honesty in business dealings Mr. Aftab Tapal has been able to successfully compete against the multinational companies and has captured more than 35% market share of the organized market sector of Pakistan and is one of the top 100 tax paying companies of Pakistan and one of the top 5 FMCG companies of Pakistan. Haroon Rashid GM Marketing, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Mohammedi Miabhoy Chief Operating Officer, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Ayyaz Ali Khan GM Sales, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Mohsin M. Saify GM Tea & Blend, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Muhammad Shabbir GM Supply Chain, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Syed Zafar Ali GM Administration, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Own Ali GM Finance, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Anjum Pervaiz GM Projects, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Asghar Amin Head of Information Services, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Arshad Sohail Head of Production, Maintenance & Quality Juzer Yousuf Ali Employee Relations Manager Imran Ali Khan Manager HR, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Organizational Chart of Islamabad Region Corporate Information Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Head Office Plot 40, Sector 15, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi-74900, Pakistan. Phone: 92-21 – 5063891 (4 Lines) 5050228 (4 Lines) Fax: 92-21 – 5063890 Lahore Office 2ND Floor, Block-5, Awami Flats, 4-Usman Block, New Garden Town, Phone: 042-5868738-5831593 Fax: 042 5868738 City Office Tapal House Sayedna Tahir Saifuddin Road, Namakwada Pan Mandi, Karachi. Phone: 021-2737202-4 Islamabad Regional Office Plot No. 212,213 Industrial Area I/9-2, Islamabad Phone: 051-4431109-5831942 SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis can serve as an interpretative filter to reduce the information to a manageable quantity of key issues. The SWOT analysis classifies the internal aspects of the company as strengths or weaknesses and the external situational factors as opportunities or threats. Strengths can serve as a foundation for building a competitive advantage, and eaknesses may hinder it. By understanding these four aspects of its situation, a firm can better leverage its strengths, correct its weaknesses, capitalize on golden opportunities, and deter potentially devastating threats. The company's SWOT analysis of the tea market is as under: ? |Situation Analysis | |Internal Analysis | |External Analysis | |Strengths | |Weaknesses | |Opportunities | | | |Threats | |SWOT Analysis | STRENGTHS: The strength of the company would be the innovation and the high quality products. Because of these the company is able to survive in the market and still earning a good market share comparing to its competitors. Integrated Quality Management: Tapal has a great strength of integrated quality management because ISO 9001 standard is currently being revised to ISO 9001: 2008 Tapal has taken a strategic decision to capitalize this opportunity of revisiting QMS for the integration of other management system, like: ISO 9001:2008 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001 (Environment Management System), OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health & Safety System), ISO 20000 (Information Security System) and ISO 22000 (Food Safety System). This integrated system has been titled as â€Å"TIMS†- Tapal Integrated Management System. Localizing Tea Brands: Tapal tea Pvt Ltd is a fully Pakistani owned company and all the SKU’s(Stock Keeping Units) of Tapal tea are the local brands because all the p roduction, packaging, labeling is totally in Pakistan. Similarly its main brand Tapal Danedar owns the equity of understanding the diversity of the tea drinking culture of Pakistan. The Tapal Danedar is a local brand so four different areas were setup for its launching. These different areas were: a lounge, a dhabba, a cafe and a veranda to symbolize the diversity and show the localization of Tapal Danedar at the time of its launching. Strong Heritage: Tapal has always been abreast with changing trends and have adopted to the consumer and the retailer needs. Being the second largest tea brand in Pakistan, Tapal tea has always endeavored to cater to changing consumer needs. Due to strong heritage and local brands Tapal tea took a decision in 2008 to bring tapal Danedar in to hard pack with the same quality, weight and price this resolved a lot of stocking and display issues also helped retain the freshness of the tea for a longer time. The introduction of a hard pack is a tribute to the diversity of strong heritage of tea culture in the four corners of the Pakistan. The† four corners† mean the diversity of Pakistani people and the diversity in their heritage. Strong Supply Line: Tapal has a distribution network spread across Pakistan, from Karachi to Khyber with over 400 distributors. From their warehouses which are in KARACHI, HYDRABAD, SUKHUR, MULTAN, RAIWIND, the product move to the distributors as only in north, they have 207 distribution channels. And from these distributors the product moves to the next, which is retailer and then to the consumer. IBL (International Brands Ltd. ) distribution company, although charges high commission charges, offers efficient service in Karachi which it is made sure that product will be widely distributed, retailers will not experience shortage of products and the name IBL increases more value of the product. Similarly in Islamabad are the two istribution companies FRIENDS and ITTEHAD provide services for the distribution of Tapal tea which effectively and efficiently covers the all areas of Islamabad. This is also one of their strengths that they have a strong distribution channels. In the beginning the company sole aim was to capture the tea market of Karachi, as they were already in tea business here, only and then strate gically build there network to other cities of Pakistan. Low credit sales: Due to local brands Tapal tea get the 41% market share all over the Pakistan and continuously its shares is increasing. Tapal tea has highly profitable sales with minimum credits especially in Islamabad. In Islamabad in month of July the target of sales of Tapal tea was 12 tons (12000 kg, Rs. 4. 8 millions) but Tapal made a record sale of 15 tons (15000 kg, Rs. 6 millions) in that month with the only credit of Rs. 8 lac. Highly Innovative: Tapal tea is highly innovative because it not only makes the tea products but also introduce Tea as a soft drink with name of ICE TEA first time in Pakistan. 14th of June 2007 was a historic day at Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Pakistan’s own and favorite hot tea beverage company took its first step towards expansion with the introduction of its new product â€Å"Tapal Ice Tea†. The first consignment of Tapal Ice Tea was ceremoniously dispatched from the company’s warehouse on Thursday the 14th of June 2007. We say â€Å"Tapal Ice Tea Chill Karo† because Tapal Ice Tea truly adds to the fun of your chilling out style. It offers a lot more than refreshment. Brand activation: The reason brand activation is emerging very fast in the field of marketing is its control and grip over its consumer base. This field relatively flexible in comparison to ATL where we can easily customize our marketing as needed. Be it the direct consumer contact float activation, Event Management, Public Relation or branding, it all fits in easily. One of the key factors of Tapal success is that it has full trust in its activation strategy and has always invested huge amount in this medium. Realizing the effectiveness of activation, Tapal has been exploring almost all the major plate forms of activation. Event Marketing: Event marketing is one of the most effective tools of brand activation Tapal has been coveting all the areas where event marketing can be done. Tapal tea has been sponsoring the Jashn-e-Baharan festival in Sahiwal for the last four years. Be it social programs are sponsorship events like Dawn lifestyles, Tapal has always been there to get its consumers to experience with its brands. WEAKNESSES: The authorities of Tapal mentioned no major weaknesses but its intense competition as our analysis is one of their weaknesses as to stay alive against a giant as Unilever and the other one new entrant as Tetley. Centralization Management: In Tapal it is experienced that there is centralization of decisions. Due to which efficiency and functionality is disturbed. Tapal will have to change its highly concentrated culture, in order to be more flexible. Distribution System: Tapal has got the services of IBL (International Brands Pvt. Ltd) in Karachi. While due to highly focus on locally segmented brands like Meezban, there is better supply system, which is not existed in rest of the country. Highly Dependent on TAPAL’s Equity: Capital is essence for any organization. More the finance will be, higher we will be confident on its bright future. As Tapal is private limited company, therefore it is relatively weak in corresponding to the emerging trends of the market. Relative Technological Backwardness: Above point can be described in this aspect that due to less equity it is backward in adopting new technologies. No Competitive Advantage: There are limited options to attract the customers towards this commodity, because there is not clear competitive advantage aver competitors. Tapal can produce Black tea, Green tea, and Ice tea etc, but further Tapal has to depend largely on mass advertisement. OPPORTUNITIES: One of the greatest opportunities is that Tapal has its huge market, which is increasing as the population is increasing. Tea has become a staple product in Pakistan, which cannot be denied at 20 to 60 year of age. Per capita consumption is almost 1kg according to a recent research in Pakistan. The consumption of tea increases with the growth in population. At the moment, the population of the country is growing at a rate of 2. 9% annually, and the consumption of tea at a rate of 6%. This means that presently there is a considerable opportunity for the growth of tea in Pakistan. The initial re-launch of Tapal Family Mixture is limited to Karachi only, however, other principle cities will be taken into account in the future. Especially in Punjab mixture blend can be introduced under the brand name of Family Mixture. Slowly, Family Mixture will penetrate the market in other cities and expand its future market share. Traditional Drinking Habits: Tea has been a main drink of common Pakistanis and fortunately its use is increasing in common Pakistanis very much. Facts and figures tell us that use of tea is increasing at double rate as compared to the increase in population such as the population of the country is growing at a rate of 2. 9% annually, and the consumption of tea at a rate of 6%. It is the biggest opportunity for Tapal to grab the most part of the market. Expansion in other Beverage Markets: There is very much monotony of brands in tea industry. More opportunities can be explored by using innovative ideas. In recent years, Tapal has launched â€Å"Ice Tea† brand, which is the step forward to prevail in other sort of beverage market. Awareness in this regard is very much of crucial importance. Research and Development: In order to make its tea brand unique is quit difficult for any organization. R department seems to be prominent among very less alternatives. This is vital to utilize these opportunities. Expansion in Other Areas of Country: Tapal is not existed in every part of the country. On the other side, tea market is spreading day by day. So Tapal has a big field to play. It can strengthen its standing in current markets as well as by exploring new markets. Growing Health Awareness: Usually, it is considered in our society that tea is not good for health. While many research reports have published in different journals and magazines that tea is very helpful for continuous working. So Tapal should take a step to spread this fact. It can start its campaign with the collaboration of other players of the tea industry. Exports: Pakistan has very rich taste in drinking tea. It is one of those countries in which tea is widely drunk. If Tapal can get good position in Pakistan then it can satiate other parts of the world as well. Tapal should fill this gap by going for exports. THREATS: One of the major threats that Tapal has its area of the market, which is not educated, and it is using the loose tea, which may not be good for their health as well. Tapal claims that it is not possible for them to create such a big awareness for them but the Government should play his role so that these people should have some awareness of the imported loose tea. A rigorous threat is the increasing number of branded and unbranded tea in the market with ample price difference. For that, established companies need to increase their advertising and promotional budget. There is a need to get a better shelf space and more retailer patronization for the company's brand. Strong Competition in Rural and Urban Market: Tapal is facing stiff competition in the presence of Lipton. It is very difficult to compete in this market, because tea has not very much variety in its taste. To hold on the existing share as well as going further by competing such environment is the major threat. Internationally Increasing  Tea Prices: Pakistan is not self sufficient in tea. It has to import tea from abroad. And running an industry of which base is on imported good is quit challenging. There is another aspect of this picture that Pakistan has put duty of 10 pc on tea imported from Kenya. Kenya tea is liked mostly due to its taste, while tea from Bangladesh and Srilanka is duty free, so maintaining taste might be going to cost very much. High Inflation within Country: Recession is all over the world. Pakistan is not out of the influence. Due to this down turn purchasing power of Pakistanis is going down side as well. In this scenario innovation and introducing new products might cost very high. Saturation of Hot Beverage Segment: Lipton, Tetley, Vital and supreme are the some of the main competitors of Tapal tea. They are providing very stiff competition in front of Tapal. Similarly Islamabad tea and Peshawari Chai are among the local brands which are competing Tapal in rural areas. Political Conditions: This is the threat which has been facing by all industries. Pakistan’s political scene is quit unpredictable. Change of government and change of policies come together. It is not the better situation to file and implement long run policies. So it is very important threat to be considered for the exports to the other countries. |Internal Factors |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Management |Experienced, broad base of interests and |Large size may lead to conflicting interests. | | |knowledge. | |Product Line |Differentiated, Variation in products. |So much product lines but still not able to | | | |knock out loose tea. | |Marketing |Diverse and local awareness. |May lose focus, may not be segmented enough. | |Personnel |Very experienced, high knowledge. |Possible conflicts due to so many people, | | | |possible trouble staying focused. |Finance |High sales revenue, high sale growth, large |High expenses, may have trouble balancing | | |capital base. |cash-flows of such a large operation | |Research & Development |Continuous efforts to researc h trends an |Sometimes they conduct research but the | | |reinforce creativity. |advantage is taken over by small competitors. | |External Factors |Opportunities |Threats | |Consumer/Social |Increase in the population. Illiterate people go for loose tea, which is | | | |substandard as well. | |Competitive |Distinctive name, product and packaging in |Intense competition can pay so they have to | | |with regards to its markets. |keep eyes open. | |Technological |Maintenance of proper website which subscribes|Competitors are global leaders so they have | | |and provides information regarding long |more technology as compared to Tapal. | |production line. | | |Economic |Consumer income is high for the Danedar class. |Very elastic demand, almost pure competition. | Marketing Strategy MARKETING OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the marketing plan are strategically centered on 3 criteria: †¢ To create a strong consumer awareness against unorganized tea product. †¢ To establish a wi de brand recognition through the capture of market shares in the multi segment. †¢ To become the top market leader in that particular segment within the strong research and development. TARGET MARKETING: The target market is that they are defining for our brand Tapal Danedar is the A class and B+ class. The target of this brand is the urban area of the country and along with the use in offices and business class as well. Tapal Danedar is basically the one to one competitor against Lipton yellow label. The class and geographical location we can say is almost same for both the brands. MARKETING SEGMENTATION: As a whole when we see the market of tea in Pakistan, although it is not clearly segmented but, Tapal did this thing very accurately that it segmented the market very accurately. Its 11 brands in the current clearly shows the potential of each brand in each segment define by the company. They clearly look at the nature and extent of diversity of buyers needs and wants in a market. This thing offers a great opportunity for Tapal to focus its business capabilities on the requirement of one or more groups of buyers. The main objective of this segmentation is to examine differences in needs and wants and to identify the segments within the product market of interest. MARKET SHARE PICTURE: Our main focus is on organized tea market where different companies like UNILEVER and TAPAL are holding the main market share. Some other companies also present in the market but having very low share of the market. †¢ Unilever Pakistan limited has 43% market share. †¢ Tapal Tea private limited has 41% market share. †¢ Vital tea limited has 6% market share. †¢ Tetley has 4% market share †¢ The remaining 6% belongs to other market share in the organized market. Unorganized market also captures a good market share in the total tea market of Pakistan. 70000 tons out of 150000 consumption is of unorganized tea. 1% of total population of Pakistan are living in rural areas. Due to illiteracy and lack of awareness they are consuming unorganized tea, which is mainly affecting the organized tea market. Due to this they are enjoying a very big market share of the total tea market. Organized segment mainly depend on the imported tea. Mainly big players are importing tea from different countries like Kenya, UK, and Bangladesh. Last some year’s imported figures for Pakistan is described in the chart below. Unorganized tea is mainly smuggled from different neighbor countries of Pakistan. That’s why it has a large proportion in total consumption of tea in Pakistan, which is 70000 tons of total 150000 tons. MARKET TRENDS: Trends are now changing. If we see the consumers of tea firstly they are using or you can say addicted of the generic tea, which is the black one, but now the trend is changing. Consumers now want something different in taste now, as the competition is getting higher. Consumer of tea wants some new flavors in tea because now their taste is changing as the time is changing so trend is changing in the market. And Tapal utilize this trend very accurately as their innovations show us everything. Tapal Meezban, Danedar, Safari, and specially round metal free tea bags and last but not the least Tapal ice tea shows that as the trend is changing in the market Tapal also using this trend in the form of new innovations. MICRO-ENVIRONMENT ANAYSIS: SUPPLIERS: All tea in Pakistan is imported. Pakistan mainly imports tea from Kenya and other African countries like Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania, while multinational companies in Pakistan also import tea from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Tapal’s suppliers are major the importers of Tea from these countries. MARKETING INTERMEDIARIES: Tapal has a countrywide sales & distribution network. The company has over 400 distributors operating nationwide. CUSTOMERS: Tapal considers complete Pakistani tea market to be its current and prospective customers. Therefore, it has brands that cater to almost all demographic, geographic and social-class wise segmented market of Pakistan. Its customers are all people living in both rural and urban areas of Pakistan who like having tea. Tapal has always targeted families as its potential consumers. With the view that the younger generation will be Tapal’s future customers, Tapal is actively supporting the fast developing music industry in Pakistan. It has sponsored the leading singers in Pakistan and actively participates in music concerts. UNIQUE SELLING PREPOSITION: The main reason behind Tapal’s success is that it has localized its taste. It manufactures its product according to the taste and requirements of the market it is catering. Another reason behind Tapal’s success in catching the hearts of the consumers is that, it has always been close to them. This has been possible because of its strong Brand Activation Activities. These activities have added a new dimension to their marketing activities making them more attractive, exciting and interactive as possible. These activities not only reinforce Tapal as a national company but also assist all its other brands in having their desired impact wherever required. These activities are customized according the brand requirements to achieve maximum results. Not only this, these activities also provide the consumer with a 360-degree product experience, which not only helps in educating the consumer but also engages them to the brand. These activities cover Outdoor Billboards, Event Marketing, Road Shows i. e. floats, mobile kitchens etc, Rural Development Programs, Weekly Bazaars, and Merchandizing of the products. MARKET GROWTH: Industry is now on the maturity stage. Large players has established their brands in the market and enjoyed huge profit margins. Now they are looking towards product differentiation and multi segmentation because consumers are now more taste conscious and looking for variety available to them in a tea market. MARKETING MIX PRODUCT The core †¢ Tea Beverage The actual product Packaging and labeling: see figure in front †¢ Branding: red color, aspect of refreshing, hard pack and soft pack both. †¢ Trade name: Tapal Danedar, a TAPAL product †¢ Brand personality Freshness, Healthy, Innovative, etc. †¢ Brand equity: Tapal Danedar provides a quality, consistent, innovative and accessible tea reputation. Tapal has a variety of brands each catering to different market seg ments. After TAPAL’s unique Family Mixture became Karachi’s largest selling brand, the company was encouraged to innovate further. As a result an entirely new category brand called Danedar was created and launched. Tapal Daneder became the country’s largest selling tea brand with a loyal following, which shows that Tapal has been successful in creating a strong Brand Image amongst its consumers. Tea is part of culture in this region and now Tapal has become an integral part of this tradition with an unparalleled grace of its own. PRICE: The pricing strategy that they are following for Tapal is cost oriented as the price that tapal is taking is comparatively low then its main competitor Yellow label tea. The price going for some products are: 200 grams Tapal Danedar Hard Pack 80rs. 400 grams Tapal Danedar Family Pack 155rs. Prices for Lipton Yellow Label Tea are: 200 grams Yellow Label 95rs. 500 grams Yellow Label 235rs. So its price we can say that varies according to cost and even in high quality, which they are claiming, their price is low as compared to Yellow Label Tea. Tapal people never wanted to compromise on quality so they adopted value based pricing. As Tapal specifically catering to different segments of the market so its prices are based on its effective value to customers relative to other products. Also the prices are different for different SKU’s CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION: Manufacturer ——? Distributor———? Retailer ——–? Consumer The channel of distributions according to this brand Tapal Danedar is simply as shown by the diagram as manufacturer to distributors who vary according to geographical dispersion and then to retailer to final consumer. Tapal has a great channel of distribution not only to this brand but also all other brands that vary geographically according to consumer needs. TAPAL has 5 main warehouses in Pakistan, which are located in the following cities. 1. KARACHI 2. HYDERABAD 3. SUKHUR 4. MULTAN 5. RAIWIND From these warehouses the product move to the distributors as only in north they have 207 distribution channels. And from these distributors the product moves to the next, which is retailer and then to the consumer. This is also one of their strengths that they have a strong distribution channels. In the beginning the company sole aim was to capture the tea market of Karachi, as they were already in tea business here, only and then strategically build there network to other cities of Pakistan. Now Tapal has a distribution network spread across Pakistan, from Karachi to Khyber with over 400 distributors. Extensive training programs are provided for the devoted sales personnel. The popularity of its fine brands is unabated, making it the No 1 national tea company in Pakistan. Tapal caters to its customers by providing Tapal Danedar and Family Mixtures to more than 140,000 outlets in Pakistan, which include superstores, department stores, general stores, medical stores, paan walas, grocery stores, merchants, etc. Grocery stores and merchants together provide 80% volume of the tea sales. PROMOTION: OBJECTIVES: To make the brand remind the consumer as much it could be: †¢ Tapal is using both BTL and ATL for the purpose of promotion. †¢ Through BTL Tapal is focusing on display racks, sign boards etc. ainly placed to different retailers for heavy promotion against their competitors. †¢ The specific term used by Tapal is the MODERN TRADE so that they have an eye contact of the product with the customer. In this they are using shelves to display their product in big stores like BEST PRICE, BUY BEST, HARLORD’S, and 7th EVENUE etc. †¢ Thro ugh ATL Tapal is focusing on broadcast and print media promotion by placing ads on T. V and placing newspapers ads as well. ELECTRONIC MEDIA: Initially, the company relied heavily upon print media but this trend is changing now because of the in customer’s life style. Right now, company is doing intensive advertising through networks. In their advertisement they hire the services of renowned celebrities. TAPAL AND MUSIC: With the view that the younger generation will be TAPAL’s future customers, TAPAL is actively supporting the fast developing music industry in Pakistan. It has sponsored the leading singers in Pakistan and actively participates in music concerts. SALES PROMOTION STRATEGIES: The Company is running different sales promotional schemes at different times of the year depending on the sales of the company. TAPAL’s brand is backed by planed strategy implementation and followed up with affective communication its advertising and promotion is touching all aspects of media and market opportunities. MARKETING RESEARCH: Tea blending and tasting is both an art and a science and Tapal prides itself on having mastered both the aspects. Tapal has adroitly judged the factory senses and keenness of the taste buds of their patrons, resulting in the creation of various well known brands. Aftab F. Tapal is a well trained and highly experienced tea taster of the country and is recognized as a qualified tea specialist worldwide. Tapal's tea managers have been trained at home and abroad in this very rigorous and specialized discipline, and have frequently traveled to leading tea producing countries searching for better teas. Tapal is a research oriented company. It subscribes to and conducts various researches in the area of retail audits, consumer behavior, media planning and product development. This research is used for continuous improvement in product quality, brand positioning and communication according to the changing requirements of the consumers. Consistency and quality are the two keystones of Tapal's production policy, and the Quality Control Department at Tapal ensures that flavor and freshness is never compromised. That's why all the brands, whether Danedar, Tapal Special or Tapal Family Mixture, always taste exactly as expected, retaining aroma and freshness till the last sip. RESEARCH ON THE HARD PACK; According to the marketing manager service he conducted a research at different big cities of the country so that to analyze consumer behavior by this research many classes were taken over in 12 different sessions. By this research first they showed the ad of Tapal and then ask about their thoughts and feelings related to the ad. The target market is housewives from different classes and on the basis of this research tapal concluded that they have to launch a hard pack of Tapal Danedar. As its target market was not comfortable to use the soft pack due to the status problem. Now after the launching, Tapal claims that it is difficult to fulfill the market needs of hard pack due to high demand. Competitive Strategy COMPETITIVE SITUATION: Unilever owns two of the most widely recognized product lines Lipton and Brooke Bond. The major competition facing Lever at present is from Tapal Danedar Tea, who is truly a market challenger. Lipton comprises of Yellow Label which is designed for upper middle, upper lower and upper middle class, which is a market leader in the industry, it comes in all the packages including hard packs, jars, and teabags. Lipton yellow label although the direct competitor of Brooke Bond Supreme comes in the family of Unilever so it is prone to its competing attacks. Lipton follows a massive promotion scheme to hold its share. Richbru is designed for middle and lower Upper classes and Pearl dust is designed for rural areas, mostly districts of Sindh where consumption of dust is extensive. They both are not stated as direct competitors of Supreme because they are targeting to different audience. Lipton has a market share of 43%. Brooke Bond comprises of Supreme and A1 karak Tea which is designed for lower classes, originally known as Kenya mixture and then A1 Kenya mixture. Brooke Bond has a market share of 9%. Tapal with the assortments like Danedar and Family mixture collectively has a market share of 41% overall and in Karachi it has 24%. Tapal is not only a direct competitor but can be stated as a only competitor because all the major market share holders belong to the family of Unilever except Tapal. Tapal also comes in various packages and consumes much of the shelf space in super markets and convenient stores. Tapal has the biggest advantage of its assortments as is served not only by mixture but also Danedar which is getting very popular day by day. Tapal has a good image in consumer’s mind and its price is also reasonably attractive. A sizable portion of the market is dominated by loose tea or unbranded tea. However, these brands are currently threatened by smuggled tea from Afghanistan which is available in the open market duty free. This has posed a lot of problems for genuine importers of tea who cannot compete with this tea because of its low price. This unbranded tea’s have the biggest market share of 40% because of its low price. COMPETITION LEVEL; Direct competition of Tapal tea is with Lipton yellow label tea. Indirect competition of Tapal is with coffee, loose tea and other flavored teas. Generic competition includes all the generic products, which can fulfill consumer’s generic needs. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES: Tapal has a competitive strategy to make the promotion activities in all over the country, in urban areas as well as in rural areas. This is a great competitive advantage over the competitor Lipton which makes the promotion activities only in the urban areas. Tapal plan the following promotion activities: Float Activity: Tapal Danedar conducted a float activity recently in the rural areas of Pakistan. A Tapal Danedar branded float moved in different towns and the float was stationed in high traffic areas which generated the most crowds. The idea of this activity was to generate brand awareness and increase visibility. So it is the great competitive advantage over the competitor for increasing brand awareness and increasing visibility. Demo Activity: It was carried out in the semi urban regions of Punjab and was aimed towards women, in forming them about the benefits of tapal Danedar. Tapal Danedar set up stalls with branded umbrellas and tables. Women passing by were invited to the stall where a female promoter spoke to them about the benefits of tapal Danedar and disadvantages of loose tea. All that time free tea samples were given to the people visiting the stall making the atmosphere cheerful festive. This is the competitive strategy of Tapal tea to promote and aware the customers about its products as well as its advantages. Shop kiosk Activity: A Tapal Danedar branded kiosk was placed at a no. of Kiryana and General stores where promoters would invite customers passing by and inform them about the various deals being offered by tapal Danedar due to this activity Tapal get the competitive advantage over the competitor this is the store competitor strategy by which customers get awareness about the tapal products and increase and due to this strategy tapal stare getting more market share against the competitors. Relationship with Multinational Company: For getting the competitive edge over the competitor especially in tea blending packing and technological innovation the management of tapal visited time to time different multinational tea companies, such as the management team of tapal recently visited the tea factory of â€Å"TYPHOO† based in Liverpool England. The team was treated to an extensive visit of the production facilities and spent the day with the â€Å"TYPHOO† management team where some extremely valuable ideas and best practices process were exchanged between the two companies. ATL AND BTL ACTIVITIES: Both ATL and BTL activities do play a key roll in advertising and promotion of all SKU’s of Tapal tea. Media releases played a great roll to give information about the newly launched Hard Pack, service or company out to a large amount of potential customers while BTL activities addressed specific as well as selected mass audience in a particular area which will sustain for long duration. Through ATL and BTL activities Tapal has a great competitive advantage over the competitor and through using this competitive strategy they make reasonable market share and continuously increasing in their share due to this strong competitive strategy. CONTINUOUS LEARNING ABOUT MARKETS: In order to survive in the market you must have continuous learning about the market. Tapal did it very efficiently as their innovation shows this. They have the ability and they utilize it beautifully. Their continuous learning makes them real competitors against an international recognize brands like supreme, Lipton etc. Tapal Chai Family Mixture is the pride of Tapal developed by the forefathers in 1947 and thus creating a new category of Mixture in the tea market. It is the blend that started the Tapal success story, and now other tea companies are following Tapal’s footsteps by entering the market with similar blends. Danedar Leaf Blend Pioneer of the Danedar category in Pakistan, Tapal’s Danedar remains a firm favorite around the country with its grape-nutty appearances, rich golden color and a strong refreshing taste. Tea is part of culture in this region and now Tapal has become an integral part of this tradition with an unparalleled grace of its own. PIONEERS of SOFT PACKAGING: Technology is also harnessed at Tapal to benefit the consumer. From the very beginning, Tapal realized the importance of importing innovative technologies such as the soft packing process. A fully automatic facility was established where soft packs were produced for the first time in Pakistan. At this facility tea is blended and packed in hygienic conditions, untouched by human hands whilst the soft packing technology keeps tea fresh and packaging costs economical. The success of these soft packs has been such that other tea companies have also followed Tapal's lead and launched some of their brands in soft packaging. And their other innovations are: †¢ The first to introduce soft packs in the country. †¢ The first tea company to introduce metal-free tea bags. The first to develop an entirely new blend and category-Tapal Family Mixture (the mixture of leaf & dust). †¢ The first to invent the highly successful brand Danedar Leaf Blend. The first to market Kenya teas in Pakistan. The first tea company to be awarded the ISO 9001/2000 Quality Certification As a step towards backward integration Tapal has begun tea plantation at Shinkiari in the northern region of Pakistan. This project aims at providing jobs, saving the country's valuable foreign exchange and is a significant step towards self-sufficiency. Tapal is also the 1st national tea company to export tea to the UAE, Canada and USA. This is again a pioneering step towards increasing value-added exports and is also a fast developing source of foreign exchange for the country. Business Process Analysis A COMMITMENT TO QUALITY; â€Å"NEVER COMPROMISE ON QUALITY† has been the motto at Tapal since the very beginning. This commitment to quality has resulted in a high level of customer satisfaction and unflinching brand loyalty. In December 1997, Tapal Tea became the first Pakistani Tea Company to earn the ISO-9001 certification, a symbol of the highest international quality standards. Again in December 2000, Tapal acquired the ISO9001: 2000 certification, making it one of the first few companies in the world to achieve this milestone. In addition to the standard requirements, the ISO9001: 2000 certification system includes requirements for environment improvement, concepts of TQM (continuous improvement) with major emphasis on consumer requirements and satisfaction. Quality Policy; The management and the employees of Tapal Tea (Private) Limited is committed to: †¢ Produce products that meet the customer’s requirements & expectations. †¢ Fulfill the requirements and effectiveness of the quality management system through continuous improvements. †¢ Constantly review & update the relevant quality objectives of products & processes in line with the Company’s Statement of Commitment. †¢ Participate individually & collectively as a team towards the improvements of processes, personnel, environment & ethical values. Brands; The reason behind Tapal’s success in catching the hearts of the consumers is that, it has always been close to them. This has been possible because of its strong Brand Activation Activities. These activities have added a new dimension to their marketing activities making them more attractive, exciting and interactive as possible. These activities not only reinforce Tapal as a national company but also assist all its other brands in having their desired impact wherever required. These activities are customized according the brand requirements to achieve maximum results. Not only this, these activities also provide the consumer with a 360-degree product experience, which not only helps in educating the consumer but also engages them to the brand. These activities cover Outdoor Billboards, Event Marketing, Road Shows (floats, mobile kitchens etc), Rural Development Programs, Weekly Bazaars, and Merchandizing of the products. Tapal Tea has total 11 brands which are as under: 1. DANEDAR 2. FAMILY MIXTURE 3. TEZDAM 4. GULBHAR 5. GREEN TEA 6. ICE TEA 7. INSTEA 8. TAPAL SPEACIAL 9. CHANAK DUST 10. MAIZBAN DUST 11. SAFARI TAPAL DANEDAR: Since 1947, Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. has been the leading tea company in Pakistan. Since then, this prestigious corporation has expanded extensively and has introduced many successful tea brands complementing the different tastes of tea drinkers nationwide. At present, Tapal Danedar is the flagship brand of the company, standing as a true national brand. The history of Tapal Danedar is a success story in its own. In 1987, Tapal Tea launched a new category of tea in the market, called ‘Danedar’. This was a ‘Dana’ blend from the high grown tea leaves of the highest tea gardens in the world. Each component of Danedar blend is carefully selected to provide a lovely looking leaf appearance that is neat, black, grainy and fairly even. Danedar blend is an excellent combination of lively taste and distinct flavor of world’s best high grown teas, which produces satisfying cup of tea for the consumers who like aromatic or flavor tea. The innovation was so successful that other multinational tea companies decided to enter the category and launch similar brands. Tapal Danedar has ever since maintained its top position in the category and is still the 3rd largest tea brand in Pakistan. As a result of Tapal’s corporate philosophy, being the benchmark in creativity, many valued additions have been made to the brand over the years. The first was the introduction of Tapal Danedar teabags and later the innovative string less â€Å"Round Tea Bags† were launched. The most important feature of this top quality Danedar brand is that the characteristics of a brewed cup remain intact even after a long time. Tapal Danedar has throughout been an extremely strong brand, creating loyal consumers across Pakistan. Simply, Danedar is a powerful brand and a great value product and there is no real substitute of it. Today, the Danedar family comprises of a multiple SKU’s (stock keeping units) including 3 trade mark soft pack variations, 3 enveloped pack sachets, a high utility jar, a pouch and the ground breaking convenient teabags. 100 g 200 g 400 g 1000 g JAR FAMILY MIXTURE: Family Mixture is a blend of high grown Kenyan primary leaf and dust grades, which are carefully selected for their rich color, distinct flavor and a bright golden lively appearance. It is a pioneering brand which started its journey in 1947. It’s a brand that brought about significant success, in fact, a breakthrough for the Company. Besides, it pioneered a unique mixture of leaf and dust tea in Pakistan. As a blend, it took no time to take off and found favor with taste buds from varying levels of market segments. The blend, perhaps, stays at the core of success. The strength of Tapal Family Mixture is not only due to Company’s inherent interest in the brand but owes a great deal to the farsighted vision of its creators, with a deep understanding of the habits of millions of country’s tea drinkers. Tapal Family Mixture has been around and kicking for several decades now. In spite of long years of facing competition, which became tougher by the year, Tapal Family Mixture still holds it’s own. Backed by growing intelligent marketing, TFM today continues to command a leadership position in Pakistan’s tea industry or market. 100 g 200 g ? Kg GREEN TEA: Keeping the changing tastes and expectations of our customers in mind Tapal introduced a range of Green Teas that is healthy and revitalizing in taste. Tapal Green Tea is blended to perfection using the finest tealeaves and specially selected flavors to give a refreshing experience of light taste and soothing aroma. â€Å"Green Tea† unlike black tea undergoes minimal oxidation during processing and is made from leaves that are not fermented before being dried. Originating from China, today green tea is consumed all over the world for its medicinal values and great taste. It carries many health benefits as the antioxidants present in it destroy free radicals that damage cells in the body and also controls the glucose level. Green tea lowers cholesterol and blood-insulin levels, which helps in burning of fat. Furthermore, it promotes good all-round health, as it has no side effects. Tapal Shades of Green is an aromatic combination of the finest and carefully selected tealeaves and the tantalizing freshness of natural Jasmine, Elaichi and Lemon. Jasmine Introduced in the year 2000, Tapal Jasmine Green Tea with its vibrant essence and a distinct soothing effect breathes new life in to your senses. Jasmine Green Tea is a winning combination of alluring fragrance and health. Infused with Jasmine flowers, Jasmine Green Tea opens a new window to your mind. 90 g Elaichi Launched in 2005, Tapal Elaichi Green Tea was well received by green tea lovers nationwide for its revitalizing taste. The uplifting flavor of Elaichi tenderly takes your body to a whole new level of vitality. 45 g Lemon After joining the Tapal Green Tea family in 2006, Tapal Lemon Green Tea with its rich taste regenerates your soul. It is your perfect soul mate to indulge in a rejuvenating experience of its succulent essence. 45 g TAPAL ICE TEA: The invention of ice tea is generally believed to have occurred in America in 1904, although some evidence has been presented that it may have been drunk in the South well before that. Like many great inventions, ice tea was created completely by accident. It was a sweltering day during the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, and Englishman Richard Blechynden's tea concession was not doing well. He could not entice anyone to try his steaming beverage. The sweltering heat drove all visitors past his wares. Until he struck upon a solution. Borrowing ice from a nearby ice cream stand, he created a beverage that would endure for the next hundred years which is now also available in Pakistan. Ice Tea came to notice of the Tapal management when it was found that it was already being sold at many leading stores throughout the major cities. Independent industry research shows that healthy beverages were increasing claiming a bigger share of the Pakistani market and were growing at a tremendous pace. Tapal started to respond to consumer demand and research by introducing these current flavors. 14th of June was a historic day at Tapal Tea (Pvt) Ltd. Pakistan’s own and favorite hot tea beverage company took its first step towards expansion with the introduction of its new product â€Å"Tapal Ice Tea†. The first consignment of Tapal Ice Tea was ceremoniously dispatched from the company’s warehouse on Thursday the 14th of June 2007. Present at this momentous occasion were amongst other people the CEO of the company, Mr. Aftab Tapal, the COO Mr. Muhammadi Miabhoy and the CMO Mr. Mahmood Nanji. The product along with support POS material was well received by the shop keepers of Karachi and displayed across the selected areas of the city. Tapal had been the leading brand here in Pakistan for many years, and this new product which is for now available at leading stores in Karachi and is sure to stir up some more excitement among the Chai freaked Pakistani’s which will make Tapal another step ahead of the leading brands in our country CHILL KARO PAKISTAN! The super market culture has changed consumer purchase habits and the youth today has ample choices in front of them, even when compared to 5 years ago. Increasingly they are becoming a huge market on their own. Tapal wants to increasingly cater to this market and it is doing so with the launch of Tapal Ice Tea. Tapal is known for its hot cup of quality blend of teas, but with Tapal ice tea, it has literally set a new precedent in our markets. Taken in an international context, Tapal Ice Tea is not a new product however it is a first of its kind in Pakistan. Who else but Tapal, the tea experts, could have served up so many ways to enjoy the convenience & benefits of tea? â€Å"Tapal has been making tea for over 60 years and now we’ve added a new area into our portfolio† said Aamir Habib, Brand Manager, and Tapal Ice Tea. â€Å"We know our product is about more than refreshment though. It’s about chilling out and sharing good times with family and friends. We believe that this product is one of the best ways to kick back and have fun this summer. † Tapal Ice Tea offers Pakistani youth an attitudinal choice that comes in the kind of flavors that they will like. Tapal ice tea is made for today's generation that loves to enjoy their life at its fullest and chill out. Instant refreshment is yours anytime with our beverage. Thirst-quenching and delicious, our Ice Tea is pure and satisfying. With this now you’ll be able to enjoy the great refreshing taste of Ice Tea from Tapal – the experts in tea. Made from real tea, Tapal Ice Tea combines the goodness of Tea Antioxidants with no preservatives, no artificial colors and only 16% sugar which is less than most regular soft drinks. TAPAL Lemon & Lime and Peach Ice Tea are a refreshing addition to the popular TAPAL product line of traditional teas. The ice tea contains vitamin C that gives it a refreshing tangy taste. Without doubt Tapal Ice Tea is the best drink that adds to the fun of activities that you're engaging in. Whether its music, shopping, party, workout and games, you can be sure of a chilling time. Tea drinkers will really enjoy the new products, and the flavored ice tea will certainly appeal to active adults who seek refreshment and healthy benefits in their beverage selection,† said Aamir Habib, Brand manager. â€Å"The tea used to make Tapal Ice Tea has antioxidant properties which are associated with good health. † The launch will be supported with a fully integrated marketing program that includes pri nt, radio and out-of-home advertising, point-of-purchase displays, Web/interactive communications especially the launch of Pakistan’s first branded portal www. hillkaro. com, public relations and consumer sampling programs. Tapal Ice Tea will be sold in supermarkets, convenience and other retail stores. What is Ice Tea? The simple pleasure that tea drinkers have enjoyed with Tapal for more than 60 years gets a chilled & flavorful update this month with the new Tapal Ice Tea Lemon & Lime and Peach flavor varieties hit the shelves this month. Tapal Ice Tea is a deliciously refreshing drink made with tea, blended with water and fruit flavors. Ice tea is a form of cold tea often served in a glass over ice. It may or may not be sweetened. The most common flavors worldwide include lemon, peach and lime. About Peach Flavor Ice Tea For the delicious taste of summer in a glass any time of the year, mix up some Tapal Ice Tea Peach. It’s the perfect blend of thirst quenching, refreshing beverage and the sweet taste of peaches. Made from real tea blends, Tapal Ice Tea Peach combines the goodness of Tea antioxidants with no preservatives, no artificial colors and only 16% sugar which is much less than most regular soft drinks. About Lemon & Lime Flavored Ice Tea Nothing beats a chilled, sweet, lemony glass of Tapal Ice Tea Lemon With just the right amount of ingredients; our mix is going to quench your thirst with a refreshing burst of Lemon and Lime. Made from real tea blends, Tapal Ice Tea Lemon combines the goodness of Tea antioxidants with no preservatives, no artificial colors and only 16% sugar which is much less than most regular soft drinks. Opt For The Healthy Drink – Ice Tea! We say Tapal Ice Tea Chill Karo because Tapal Ice Tea truly adds to the fun of your chilling out style. It offers a lot more than refreshment: Energizes you Its moderate caffeine content stimulates energy consumption, giving your body a gentle physical boost that helps you keep going on your workouts, sports or any sort of physical activity energetically. 2. 1 mg of caffeine per kg body weight that equals 147 mg for 70 kg person ingested prior to prolonged exercise delays fatigue. This amount is available in approximately 3 Tapal Ice Tea cans. Sharpens your wits A combination of caffeine and theanine in tea gives you a relaxed but fully alert state of mind and at the same time helps you to focus. Hydrates you Drinking 8 glasses of water a day is a minimum requirement for a healthy, active lifestyle. Maintaining a healthy body fluid balance can become a challenge during summers, especially when you move outdoors. Your need to intake fluids becomes even more recurrent. In such a hot weather, refreshing Tapal Ice Tea breaks are necessary time after time to replenish the fluid that you’ve lost all day to the hot weather in a delicious way and they’re a much better alternative than carbonated drinks. Doesn’t hurt your fitness Ta