Men and women struggle with gender expectations when balancing family Essay

Men and women struggle with gender expectations when balancing family and work - Essay Example The women participation rate increased but still lower than for men. The growth in women participation as put forward by Worell (1182) includes; improved education attainment, declining wages for men, declining family size, liberalization of perception of roles performed by men and women within the family as well as increased cost of living. Men and women take up different jobs at the work place. Most women are employed in the service sector with lowly paid wages and are rarely offered management positions. Men on the other hand, work in sectors that require a lot of skills such as engineering and construction where they are highly paid and also take up senior positions in the organizations. Gender pay gap also exists in the workplace where women are paid less than men in performing the same tasks. This can be attributed to gender stereotyping of roles which also leads to women taking up much workload at home and at the workplace. Women thus encounter more challenges than men while t rying to balance family and work. Gender Gender differences play an important role in determining the challenges faced by men and women in balancing family and work and how the challenges are negotiated. Traditionally, men performed heavy tasks such as hunting and gathering while women performed simple tasks and this continues to impact on their daily lives and modern occupational activities where jobs are offered in line with gender stereotype and role (Powell & Graves, 69). Women also were supposed to take care of their families while the men worked to provide for the family; the men were regarded as breadwinners and the women as care givers. This was attributed to biological factors where men are considered masculine and have good leadership skills. Women on the other hand are feminine in nature hence are caring and nurturing and always want to help others. As a result, women are employed in service sector where they interact with people and help them such as education, health an d as care givers. Men get jobs in sectors such as defense, construction, electrical work and engineering and take up leadership roles just as expected by the society (Powell & Graves, 76). Gender thus plays a role in determining occupational preferences of couples. Gender stereotyping also affects employer’s attitudes towards employees. It affects the HR procedures such as hiring, training and development, and promotion. There are those roles expected to be played by men and others for women and this affects recruitment decisions although discrimination based on gender is prohibited. Some employers view women as having more activities at home and therefore work for shorter time than men hence hindering their training and career advancement and consequently promotion decisions. The much emphasis put on women as homemakers affects their job preference whereby they prefer flexible working schedules and shorter working days as compared to men. Men as breadwinners are supposed to work and hence are accorded much search time for jobs and eventually get well paying jobs. Women on the other hand, have limited time to search for jobs and thus end up in lowly paid jobs and this affects work life balance as they don’t have enough to provide for their families (Powell & Graves, 79). Challenges Men and women are faced with various challenges as they struggle with

Critical Commentary on 'The Coming of the White People' Essay

Critical Commentary on 'The Coming of the White People' - Essay Example As Harris reports, the Bolivian people love to believe that the decisive periods are ‘before the Spanish, colonial rule, and the republican period’ (ibid). According to Harris (1995), this Euro-centric history of most colonial nations had its origin from the concepts of rationality and order associated with the European modernism and consequent self-image Europeans developed. This high self-image had a very serious impact on the cultures and places they conquered. One such reason is that it is the coming of the colonial government that made many colonies understand the importance of written documents. For example, the scholar points out that works like ‘Europe and the people without history’ are totally centered around the way the coming of Europeans brought the previously autonomous populations into the European world system (ibid). Another point as put forward by Harris is that the process of colonisation had the same effect on both the Europeans and the c olonies. In other words, the same has been mythologised in both the places. It is pointed out by Harris that Columbus was a great mythologist who knew very well how to prepare influential interpretations of the voyages he made. Moreover, such explorers like Thomas Cook and Columbus associated their explorations with the achievement of a new spirit associated with either Enlightenment or Renaissance. One can see that this claim gains support from Obeysekere (1997, p. 79). Moreover, the works tries to identify the way many colonies consider Europeans as god-like figures. The first argument put forward by the scholar is that in many cases, it was the self-image of the Europeans themselves that was reflected in their own reflections of history. For example, the scholar points out the story behind the way Captain Cook was considered as god by Hawaiians. While European historians still love to proclaim that Hawaiians identified Cook with their deity Lono, it becomes evident from other acc ounts that Europeans were predisposed to the belief that they would be treated as gods by the natives. For example, even during the voyage, Columbus speculated that the new people might treat them as gods. Thus, even when Cook was killed by the natives, the same kind of European interest in depicting themselves as god-like figures came into play. In fact, this version of history is enforced by the Europeans on the world because at that point of time, written documents were almost entirely the provenance of Europeans. This point is supported by Sahlins (1995, p. 9). Very similar cases are reported by the scholar (Harris, 1995) in the case of Mexico and the encounter of Pizarro with King Atahualpa. In the first instance, Cortes’ arrival in Mexico was considered as the fulfillment of a prophecy related to the return of god Quetzalcoatl. It is point out by the scholar that evidently, Cortes made use of this prophecy and actively encouraged it to become a myth. In fact, very simil ar was the case of King Atahualpa. When the Spanish came under the leadership of Pizarro, the king Atahualpa felt that Viracocha had come. Admittedly it is even now common in that part of the world. While some historians like Sarmiento (1572) report that the king and his people considered Pizarro as Viracocha, people like Acosta (1590) go one step further ahead and claim that the natives called the Spanish Viracochas because they believed they

Marketing Plan For Coca Cola

Marketing Plan For Coca Cola The Coca-Cola Company is one of the leading manufacturers, distributors, and marketers of non alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. They produce non alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups which are sold to bottling partners. The bottlers usually add carbonated water with the concentrates and sweeteners and then bottle the product and sell it to wholesalers or retailers. Coca-Cola owns more than 400 brands in which they market for in over 200 different countries (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola sells a variety of soft drinks, juices, sports drinks, teas, and water. They operate in eight segments, but most of their revenues come from three of those segments. Their three major segments are North America, South Asia and the Pacific Rim, and Bottling Investments. Their five other segments include Europe; North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East; Latin America; Africa; and Corporate. Coca-Cola also has the leading brand (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Their vision is to maximize profits and returns to shareholders. Coca-Cola wants to have skillful workers and inspire them to do the best that they can. They want Coca-Cola to be an enjoyable place to work at and for employees to be motivated in coming to work. The company likes to obtain a product line of beverages that satisfy the needs and wants of consumers. Coca-Cola wants to build trusting relationships with their partners and suppliers along the supply chain. Also Coca-Cola prides itself in making a difference in their community and their many contributions that work to improve the environment. The business decisions that Coca-Cola makes are guided by their values. Their main values include: leadership, passion, integrity, accountability, collaboration, innovation, and quality (Coca-Cola Company 2006). Coca-Cola has remained successful by maintaining strong values, visions, and mission. Marketing Objectives Future growth for Coca-Cola will emerge from their focus shift towards the global market as well as the health conscious market. They are implementing and continuing to build on their global strategy (FrontPage, 2007). Coca-Cola would like to continue to market to countries around the world outside of the United States. They are having growth in emerging markets in Latin America, the BRIC, and Western Europe (FrontPage, 2007). This will be their major focus in the future, because they feel this is where their major growth opportunities lie. Consumers are moving towards a healthier lifestyle, which in turn is causing Coca-Cola to expand their products to continue to meet their needs. They would like to focus on providing juices, sport drinks, and water lines that will aim at the more health conscious market. Coca-Cola has been performing trials on their Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juice to prove that it does help lower cholesterol and improve health. Also they are having trials for their Enviga green tea which can help boost metabolism. This new market is huge and creates a lot of growth opportunity for Coca-Cola (Credeur, 2007). The core of our business is healthy and its poised to capture significant growth over the coming years (Credeur, 2007). Consumer behavior is changing therefore Coca-Cola must adjust their marketing strategies and product lines to meet the consumers needs. Industry Analysis The Coca-Cola Company falls in the beverage industry with many other developing companies. Leading the beverage industry by generating revenues of $24,088 million dollars, Coca-Colas closest competition in this industry is Coca-Cola Enterprises and Anheuser-Busch. Others that fall into the industry include Pepsi Bottling, Molson Coors Brewing, Constellation Brands, Pepsi Americas, and Brown-Forman (Fortune 2007). The beverage industry is moving toward the more health conscious consumer. The market is shifting from soft drinks to juices, sport drinks, and water products. To remain competitive Coca-Cola must also enter into this market and follow the healthier trends. In many European countries, the increasing consumer trend toward a healthier lifestyle continues to grow demand for functional beverages that offer physical or mental well being, lower calories and other added values (Fuhrman, 2007). Consumers value products that are going to help them live a healthy lifestyle and feel better both physically and mentally. SWOT Analysis Strengths Coca-Cola has a lot of strength in their marketing plan and business. They are the worlds leading brand name, and they have a large scale of operations, and have continuing revenue growth in all of their three segments. Coca-Colas three major segments are Latin America; East, South Asia, and Pacific Rim; and Bottling Investments. These are the segments that earn the highest revenues. Each of these segments continuously grows in revenues each year. The revenues earned in these segments have helped The Coca-Cola Company to grow and expand (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Colas brand name is valued higher than their biggest competitor, Pepsi. Business Week valued Coca-Cola at $67,000 million and Pepsi at only $12,690 million. The brand of Coca-Cola is known globally and allows the company to enter new and emerging markets. Having a strong brand name also allows them to expand their company by adding products such as Cherry Coke and Coke with Lemon, and allowing them to meet different consumers needs. Coca-Cola owns the brand names of Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, and Fanta which are four of the leading brands in soft drinks (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola, with large scale operations, is the leader in manufacturing, distributing, and marketing nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. Selling in 200 countries, Coca-Cola owns 32 beverage concentrate manufacturing plants. They also own bottle water production and beverage facilities. The companys large-scale of operation allows it to feed upcoming markets with relative ease and enhances its revenue generation capacity (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Weaknesses Coca-Cola has three major weaknesses that occur internally in the company, they include: negative publicity, poor performance in North America, and decrease in cash from operations. In 2006, Coca-Cola was accused of selling a product with pesticide residues in India and received negative publicity. These residues contained harmful chemicals that could damage the nervous and reproductive systems and could potentially cause cancer. Coca-Cola was plagued with harmful publicity much like this scenario throughout the year. This type of publicity can affect their brand image and decrease demand for their products (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola focuses on North America as their major target market; therefore it is important for them to have a good performance for the target market. In 2006, Coca-Cola did not perform well and its market growth ceased in North America. The company actually got worse. If this poor performance continues, it could affect the overall companys growth in the future and could allow their competitors to surpass them (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola had a decrease of 7% in cash flows from operations in the year 2006. This affected the company by reducing the amount of funds available for Coca-Cola to reinvest in the company (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Cola must then finance their growth with debt which makes them vulnerable to interest rates. Opportunities Major opportunities for growth for Coca-Cola include acquisitions, the bottled water market, and the growing Hispanic population in the United States. This growing demographic segment gives Coca-Cola an opportunity to try and reach new consumers and expand their product lines. Some acquisitions of the Coca-Cola Company are Kerry Beverages Limited in 2006 which is headquartered in Hong Kong. By acquiring Kerry Beverages Limited Coca-Cola gained control over distribution and manufacturing joint ventures in nine major Chinese provinces (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). They also acquired Apollinaris in Germany, which sells sparkling and mineral water. Coca-Cola also took over TJC Holding, a bottling company located in South Africa. They even acquired companies in Australia and New Zealand. This enabled Coca-Cola to have a strong hold on the global market, which as a result helped their international operations grow and get stronger. It also gives them an opportunity for growth and to enter into new markets. The increasing health conscious market is just one of the new markets that Coca-Cola has shown a growing interest in, like the bottled water market. Bottled water is one of the most fast-growing segments in the worlds food and beverage market owing to increasing health concerns (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Threats Even a large and successful company like Coca-Cola has external threats. Three of their major threats are intense competition, dependence on bottling partners, and slow growth of carbonated beverages. The nonalcoholic beverage industry is highly competitive, leaving Coca-Cola with many competitors in their industry. Their largest ones are PepsiCo, Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, Groupe Danone, and Kraft Foods. This intense competition influences Coca-Cola and their strategies. Key aspects that are affected are pricing, advertising, sales promotion programs, product innovation, and brand and trademark (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The high dependence Coca-Cola has on their partners and suppliers makes them vulnerable. Most of the revenue that Coca-Cola generates comes from selling concentrates and syrups to bottlers, in which they have no ownership control. These distributors and bottling partners make their own business decisions and Coca-Cola has no say in the choices they make. Not having control over a major aspect of their business is a major threat. (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Target Market As Coca-Colas mission statement states it wants to refresh the world (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). Therefore the companys target markets are any and all consumers that have a thirst that demands satisfaction. However, there are some brands that target specific consumers. For example, Coca-Colas PowerAde is a sports drink that is aimed at athletic men and women, where as its diet soft drinks are targeted at consumers who are of older age (Clark, 2005). This type of marketing approach is referred to as market segmentation. Market segmentation is defined as the process of dividing a market into meaningful, relatively similar, and identifiable segments or groups (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 212). Two ways in which Coca-Cola segments its target market are by demographic and geographic segmentation. Before 1960 the Coca-Cola Company only had one beverage aimed at the entire soft drink market (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 212). Currently Coca-Cola offers a wide range of products includi ng coffee, tea, sports drinks, energy drinks, water and their well-known Coca-Cola soft drinks (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Market segmentation allows the Coca-Cola Company to market to people with different product needs and preferences. For example, in the past year the Coca-Cola Company felt like they needed to focus on the need that their products satisfy for their consumers. They came out with a beverage portfolio based on seventeen need states of their consumers. Some of these included relaxation, hydration, weight management, and heart health (MacAuthor Thompson, 2006). Therefore the Coca-Cola Companys target market strategy is to segment the entire soft drink market to better understand and design marketing mixes that specifically matched with the characteristics and desires of each segments. Marketing Mix: Product, Place, Price, Promotion Product: In order for an organization to be successful it needs to have a well-defined marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of the four Ps; product, place, price, promotion (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 48). Product is defined as everything, both favorable and unfavorable, that a person receives in exchange (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 48). The Coca-Cola Companys products consist of beverage concentrates and syrups, with the main product being the finished beverages (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Coca-Colas products can be viewed as both business and consumer products. Ultimately, the main goal of the Coca-Cola Companys is to satisfy a consumers personal want, which is the definition of consumer products (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 248). The type of consumer product the Coca-Cola Company creates is convenience product. Convenience products normally require a wide distribution in order to sell sufficient quantities to meet profit goals (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 285). In addition, the Coca-Cola Company often pays a certain amount to retail stores to resell their product. Therefore the Coca-Cola Company products can be considered a business product. The Coca-Cola Company has a fairly large product mix which contains about 400 brands, including diet and light beverages, waters, juice and juice drinks, teas, coffees, energy, and sports drinks (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The Coca-Cola Company has increased its product mix width since 1960. This enabled the Coca-Cola Company to spread risk across many product lines rather than depend only on one and to help generate sales and boost profits within its organization (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 287). The Coca-Cola Company also packages its products different sizes to appeal to certain consumers (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 286). For example, Diet Coke is available in twelve-ounce or even six-ounce cans and various plastic containers, ranging from two liters to twenty ounces (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The Coca-Cola Company has increased its product mix by product line extensions as well as creating new products. The Coca-Cola Company has extended its product line by introducing a variety of drinks (Will New Cokes, 2006). These include Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke, Cherry Vanilla Coke, Coke Plus and many more to attempt to meet the needs of all of its consumers. The Coca-Cola Company also increases its product mix and broadens its market by the innovation of new juice and sport drink products (Marcial, 2007). This fairly large product mix enables the Coca-Cola Company to satisfy the needs of their consumers thirst, whatever it may be. This type of product mix allows the Coca-Cola Company to achieve its mission statement in which it states that it wants to refresh the world (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). Place/Distribution: Another crucial part of the marketing mix is place and distribution of an organizations product. Place and distribution strategies are concerned with making products available when and where customers want them (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 48). The Coca-Cola Company states in its mission statement that it wants to offer its products to all consumers globally (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The Coca-Cola Company uses intermediaries (i.e. retailers and distributors) instead of directly selling to distribute its products worldwide (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The Coca-Cola Company also uses intensive distribution strategies to make sure their products can be available everywhere. One low profile type of retailing that the Coca-Cola Company does to increase its distribution of its product is the use of automatic vending machines. These can be found in a number of places, such as schools and concert venues (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 411). Since their product is a convenience produc t, it requires a wide distribution in order to meet profit goals (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 285). Recently the Coca-Cola Company has focused more on their global strategy to help them increase their growth. Much of this growth is coming out of Latin America, the BRIC, and Western Europe (Innovation, acquisitions, 2007). Currently many Europeans are beginning to be more worried about their health, which has increased Coca-Colas Diet Coke and Coke Zero sales (Fuhrman, 2007). In addition, the Coca-Cola Company is in many other countries including India that are in the growth stage of the product life cycle (Marketing: New products, 2007). The Coca-Cola Companys growth in these areas are caused by their improved marketing to consumers, better relationships with bottlers, their live happily campaign in 200 markets, and the launch of Coca-Cola Zero. They also launched Minute Maid juice in India as well as China and Korea (Marketing: New products, 2007). Their innovation and introduction of new products as well as their winning culture has helped them begin to grow again worldwide. Price: Price of the product or service is another important part of the marking mix. Price is defined as what a buyer must give up to obtain a product (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 49). Price is the quickest and most flexible element to change in the marketing mix. The prices of the Coca-Colas Companies products vary according to the brand and the size in which they come in (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The Coca-Cola Companys products are sold by a wide variety of distributors and retail stores, such as convenient stores and gas stations, as well as vending machines (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). The distributors and retail stores that the Coca-Cola Company deals with often implement their own pricing strategy (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). Gas stations and convenient stores usually sell Coca-Cola products at a fixed price. However, the retail outlets use a variety of pricing methods and strategies when selling Coca-Cola products (Coca-Cola Datamonitor, 2007). There is often competition pri cing of the Coca-Cola products and prices are set around the same level as its competitors. In addition there are also psychological pricing strategies that are used to make consumers perceive that the products are cheaper than they really are. Promotion: The fourth aspect of the marketing mix is promotion of a product. The promotions role in the marketing mix is to bring about mutually satisfying exchanges with target markets by informing, educating, persuading, and reminding them of the benefits of an organizations product (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 49). Since the Coca-Cola Company operates on a global scale, their promotional strategy needs to consider the external environment in which their products are. These external environmental factors include culture, economic and technological development, political structure, demographic makeup and natural resources (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 77). For example, the Coca-Cola Company promoted its new Coke Zero in Australia differently than it did in the United States because of the different external environmental factors associated with that segment (Alarcon, 2007). In addition, the Coca-Cola Company often has to adapt its advertisements in different cultures. For example, an ad in Singapore portraying teenagers careening down a store aisle on a grocery cart was perceived as too rebellious (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 129). The ultimate goal of any promotion is to get someone to by a good or service. There are four main aspects of the promotional mix that integrate together to create a competitive advantage for an organization. The four aspects of the promotional mix are advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 411) The advertising part of the promotional mix allows the organization to reach the masses with its product. The Coca-Cola Company was built heavily on advertising and marketing investments. Today the Coca-Cola Company spends most of its money on advertising that maintains the brands awareness (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 468). Thus advertising is a main source in increasing consumer awareness. The Coca-Cola Company uses many forms of advertising, from TV advertisements to magazines and billboards (Steinberg Vranica, 2004). One target segment that the Coca-Cola Company is having trouble trying to advertise to is the more outdoor, health conscious and environmentally friendly consumer (Steel, 2007). The advertisers are unsure how to advertise to them in a green fashion where the advertisement achieves its goals of persuading, informing, and reminding as well as being environmentally friendly. Public relations part of the promotional mix helps maintain an organizations image and educate consumers (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 444). Many organizations hire outside professional help to deal with public relations within an organization. Public relations are the element in the promotional mix that evaluates public attitudes identifies issues that may elicit public concern, and executes programs to gain public understanding and acceptance (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 441). The type of public relations tools that the Coca-Cola Company uses widely are product placements and sponsorships (Steinberg Vranica, 2004). The Coca-Cola Company often uses is a spokesperson to appeal to the younger more youthful (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 163). An example of this can be seen in China where the Coca-Cola Company has increased advertising containing younger Chinese celebrities to help inform, persuade, and remind their target segment (Flagg, 1999). The Coca-Cola Company also uses publicity to try and create a good company image. An example of this is when the Coca-Cola Company invested 60 million dollars in creating a recycling plant in South Carolina. By creating this plant the Coca-Cola Company hopes to help eliminate carbon dioxide emissions and recycle a mast majority of their plastic bottles (Truini, 2007). This effort in trying to help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions strengthens the Coca-Cola Company image of wanting to create value and make a difference everywhere they go. Personal selling allows the organization to build relationships with their consumers or other business associates (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 444). Personal selling is defined as direct communication between a sales representative and one or more prospective buyer (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 443). Personal selling in the Coca-Cola Company often is done in a business-to-business fashion. An example of this is seen when the Coca-Cola Company was trying to boost their sales in North America by forming alliances with Nestea to create coffee and tea drinks (McKay Corderio, 2007). This demonstrates how the Coca-Cola Company uses personal selling in a business-to-business atmosphere to provide its consumers with a larger variety of products that can satisfy their need. The Coca-Cola Company also uses sales promotions to increase their effectiveness of their promotional efforts. The essence of sales promotion is to help stimulate a purchase (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 444). Some examples of sales promotions that the Coca-Cola Company uses are coupons and rebates and are used frequently because they are more likely to influence customers buying decision (Hair, Lamb, McDaniel, 2006, p. 442). Another type of sales promotion that the Coca-Cola Company is currently using is their coke rewards points promotion. My Coke Rewards is customer loyalty marketing campaign from the Coca-Cola Company. Customers enter codes from specially marked packages of Coca-Cola products into a website. These codes are converted into virtual points which can in turn be redeemed for various prizes or sweepstakes entries (Coca-Cola Company, 2006). The ultimate goals and tasks of promotion mix are to inform, persuade, and remind the target audience. Marketing Research The Coca-Cola Company is a mass company with many marketing channels. They are widely distributed throughout the world. Many marketing decisions they face are backed with data or conflicts that result in them creating a fancy or reasonable solution. Even though Coca-Cola does an excellent job of quenching ones thirst, they sometimes have trouble understanding what regions of the world to emphasize marketing certain products towards. To stay competitive, Coca-Cola conducts marketing research to try and better understand their consumers. Coca-Cola creates products and services that will help fit into the needs and wants of their marketplaces. They have found that people expect more from their beverages. To try and fill this desire Coca-Cola has developed the Beverage Institute For Health and Wellness. This institute develops and tries new product ideas that can contribute to their product line. In additions, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the Institute works with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences to research the active ingredients in Chinese medicinal beverages and soups for the potential development of new beverages (The Coca-Cola Company Annual Review, 2006). Coca-Cola wants to be able to keep their market alive and constantly drinking their line of refreshments, so they continue to do research that will benefit their consumers, as well as being potential profits for the company. Coca-Cola within the last decade has been slowly grasping the idea of introducing and emphasizing products that may not be profitable in certain regions to other cultures where they may find value in such a product. For instance, Coke Zero is a product that carries no carbohydrates or calories and was not quite meeting the expected profits in the United States, but Coca-Cola started to advertise it more in Europe to areas that to enjoy it. This region seemed more concerned about their health and well being, which contributed to Coke Zero becoming more of a profitable product. Coca-Cola also develops interesting marketing techniques such as business to business strategies to make their products more appealing to the younger generations. According to marketing research, younger generations will pay more attention to consumer products when they are advertised in a modern and hip way. For example, Coca-Cola united with iTunes, so that whenever someone purchased a Coca-Cola product they would receive free songs to promote both products (Fuhrman, 2007).Since in younger generations are very music oriented. This relationship proves to be effective in promoting their products and attracting to the youth. Even though Coca-Cola has interesting ways to promote their products, they need to find an effective way that will sell and promote their whole product line. With more marketing research, Coca-Cola is now being scrutinized for selling their product in public schools. Upset parents and school faculty see the carbonated drinks as contributing to the nations obesity. The ban limits the company to selling products in schools to children less than twelve years old. The company has also agreed to only advertise healthier products towards this targeted market. A solution to this could be that Coca-Cola should input their marketing skills to other products, as well. In addition, The soft drinks giant would do better to concentrate its advertising efforts on newer products with greater growth potential (Datamonitor). With the Classic Coke, being one of the most popular carbonated drinks in the world. Coca-Cola could try and promote their other products that would acquire to different tastes. Coca-Cola could put more efforts towards their Dasani, Inc. brand, known for their bottled water. Bottled Water is a non carbonated drink that is becoming increasingly popular and more of a competition towards the carbonated and other drinks. Organizational Structure and Plan Coca-Cola implements an organizational strategy that better involves the employees and customers. The ultimate goal of Coca-Colas structure is to continually build customer relationships. Coca-Cola likes to have a flexible organizational structure that will be compatible with the market environment. Since 2006, the market has been seen as a complex environment and to help fix this problem, Coca-Cola conducted a thorough company analysis through their departments and segments. They assembled a diverse, multi-functional executive group mix from separate countries and divisions. They mixed these executives from the organizational levels and created a new business model that would accommodate to the centralized as well as local Coca-Cola divisions. Coca-Cola claims that the impacts and benefits of this new business model are already showing improvements. For example, Among our results, we improved our efficiencies throughout the supply chain, grew our volumes of single-serve presentations, and increased our EBITDAà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (The Coca-Cola Company Annual Review, 2007). Coca-Cola has been making new improvements all over the globe for their operating segments. The eight operating segments in the Coca-Cola empire: North America; Europe, North Asia, Eurasia and Middle East; Latin America; Africa; East and South Asia, and the Pacific Rim; Bottling Investments and Corporate. Then each of these regions is broken down into smaller segments. The Coca-Cola segments work together as well as dependent from each other to fit their demographic segments. But all groups prove to be successful of share the similar approach and idea to operating: to create happy consumers through their products. Recently in 2006, Coca-Cola decided to move the operating group headquarters to Johannesburg, South Africa from its previous home in the United Kingdom. This enabled the company to be closer to more potential and current business, and be able to expand their empire through Africa. They also opened a new office in Cairo, which helped increase the products volume sale in that area by 23 percent (The Coca-Cola Company Annual Review, 2006). Coca-Colas repositioning and structure allows them to be more intact with their consumers and business. Financial Projections Coca-Cola has had an extremely successful year with improving the image of the company, introducing new product lines, acquiring companies, and increasing their products profitability from around the world. Coca-Cola expects to see a continue rise in profits through the next year. Even though the rising costs of commodities pose a threat, Coca-Cola will still prove to be profitable. With an upcoming year of hopefully new promising products, Coca-Cola might be looking at their lines of bottled water, juices, and sports drink to bring in most of the revenue due to their increasing popularity and consumer demand. The companys top sellers in 2006 were their sparkling beverages, juice and water products. From 2006 to 2007, the net income per share has already risen 2.6%. This increase is just the beginning for the company which shows extreme efforts towards the growth of the company. Coca-Cola will continue to expand its empire throughout the world. With already being sustainable in China and successful in India, Coca-Colas profit will only increase. For instance, Coca-Cola is set to switch its focus to the China market in an effort to sustain growth. The company said that with current economic growth continuing apace, China should be its third biggest market by 2008 (Coca Cola Looks to China For Future Growth, 2004). China is a very profitable segment for Coca-Cola and will only continue to contribute to increased profits. With excellent resources and planning, Coca-Cola can only bring in more consumers. The companys financial future projections are looking promising and the companys profits will continue to rise with more consumers drinking their products daily world wide. Summary The Coca-Cola Company demonstrates unique traits and strategies. Not only do they serve the world with quality products ranging for any type of taste, but they contribute to the well-being and restorat

Is It A Chocolate Sale...Or A Chocolate War..?? Essay example -- Engli

Is It A Chocolate Sale...Or A Chocolate War..?? Chocolate "sale" or.....chocolate "war"? Although you describe this novel as being mainly based on simply the chocolate sale, the correct answer is more like the war of the chocolate sale. Already from the opening page of this exclusive book, where quarterback Jerry Renault is clobbered by a relentless defense, The Chocolate War is relentless in its portrayal of the vicious, sometimes violent world of high school. Through Jerry Renault, Robert Cormier who is the author of this book, thrusts us into the tormenting world of Trinity High, an all boys prep school. The Chocolate War isn’t all about the schoolwide chocolate sale Brother Leon presented to Trinity. The sale is part of the "war" going on through the school, but even before the sale was put out, problems already were occurring. The theme in their school was always "the students vs. the teachers". It then lowered down to "the Vigils vs. the teachers", particularly talking about Archie Castello, head and assigner of the Vigils, and Brother Leon, assistant headmaster of Trinity. These conflicts were already existing before the sale was given by Brother Leon. The characters are guided by peer pressures and the desire to please (or displease) their teachers. All of this is just a piece of the war at Trinity. The real chocolate war all started out just as Brother Leon announced and introduced the chocolate sale that all the students were supposed to participate in. Everyone was perfectly fine about the idea of the sale since it is held as one of the biggest fund-raisers all year to help the school. But once Leon changed around the expectations on the sale, conflicts around the school began to form. This year, Brother Leon wants the entire school to sell up to 20,000 boxes of chocolate, which means every single student is needed to sell 50 boxes each. Some of the students were excited and motivated to sell their set of chocolates, while some only sold them because they feared Brother Leon. Many of the students didn’t want to sell the chocolates, but they were all afraid of what Brother Leon might do if they weren’t involved in the fund-raiser. They all knew about the unexplained failures Leon gives out to the students in his class. The reasons of these F’s are usually something that is related to the sale. Archie Castel... ...ing match controlled by Archie. In order for him to get the chocolates sold, he needed to get money. Although Archie hates the sport boxing, and any other activities that involve violence, as smart as he was, he knew that all the students at Trinity would love it. Jerry Renault and Emile Janza were the two who were going to be the ones fighting in the match. Just about everyone in the school bought a raffle ticket, and the profit of the tickets was what Archie was planning to use to pay off the rest of the chocolates. This whole boxing match idea of Archie’s definitely doesn’t show much about the chocolate sale, but of its war. It showed the war against Brother Leon and Archie Castello. It showed the war against Leon and Jerry Renault, the war of Jerry vs. Emile Janza, and definitely the war of just the criticizing world of high school. The word "war" doesn’t always have to be a physical war, as in deaths or literally fighting. It can mean internal war, where not a single show of violence has to be involved. This whole novel, The Chocolate War, takes the reader into the underworld of Trinity, where justice is ruled by just one powerful concept...intimidation. Is It A Chocolate Sale...Or A Chocolate War..?? Essay example -- Engli Is It A Chocolate Sale...Or A Chocolate War..?? Chocolate "sale" or.....chocolate "war"? Although you describe this novel as being mainly based on simply the chocolate sale, the correct answer is more like the war of the chocolate sale. Already from the opening page of this exclusive book, where quarterback Jerry Renault is clobbered by a relentless defense, The Chocolate War is relentless in its portrayal of the vicious, sometimes violent world of high school. Through Jerry Renault, Robert Cormier who is the author of this book, thrusts us into the tormenting world of Trinity High, an all boys prep school. The Chocolate War isn’t all about the schoolwide chocolate sale Brother Leon presented to Trinity. The sale is part of the "war" going on through the school, but even before the sale was put out, problems already were occurring. The theme in their school was always "the students vs. the teachers". It then lowered down to "the Vigils vs. the teachers", particularly talking about Archie Castello, head and assigner of the Vigils, and Brother Leon, assistant headmaster of Trinity. These conflicts were already existing before the sale was given by Brother Leon. The characters are guided by peer pressures and the desire to please (or displease) their teachers. All of this is just a piece of the war at Trinity. The real chocolate war all started out just as Brother Leon announced and introduced the chocolate sale that all the students were supposed to participate in. Everyone was perfectly fine about the idea of the sale since it is held as one of the biggest fund-raisers all year to help the school. But once Leon changed around the expectations on the sale, conflicts around the school began to form. This year, Brother Leon wants the entire school to sell up to 20,000 boxes of chocolate, which means every single student is needed to sell 50 boxes each. Some of the students were excited and motivated to sell their set of chocolates, while some only sold them because they feared Brother Leon. Many of the students didn’t want to sell the chocolates, but they were all afraid of what Brother Leon might do if they weren’t involved in the fund-raiser. They all knew about the unexplained failures Leon gives out to the students in his class. The reasons of these F’s are usually something that is related to the sale. Archie Castel... ...ing match controlled by Archie. In order for him to get the chocolates sold, he needed to get money. Although Archie hates the sport boxing, and any other activities that involve violence, as smart as he was, he knew that all the students at Trinity would love it. Jerry Renault and Emile Janza were the two who were going to be the ones fighting in the match. Just about everyone in the school bought a raffle ticket, and the profit of the tickets was what Archie was planning to use to pay off the rest of the chocolates. This whole boxing match idea of Archie’s definitely doesn’t show much about the chocolate sale, but of its war. It showed the war against Brother Leon and Archie Castello. It showed the war against Leon and Jerry Renault, the war of Jerry vs. Emile Janza, and definitely the war of just the criticizing world of high school. The word "war" doesn’t always have to be a physical war, as in deaths or literally fighting. It can mean internal war, where not a single show of violence has to be involved. This whole novel, The Chocolate War, takes the reader into the underworld of Trinity, where justice is ruled by just one powerful concept...intimidation.

How Christians put there believe of helping others into practise Essay

Helping others is a big part of being a Christian. One of the commandments is â€Å"Love thy neighbour†; so many Christians do what they can to help. Charities are a popular way of helping the poor. Both Christian and non-Christian charities provide a wide range of help for the poor and needy. Christian Aid was set up in Britain and Ireland at the end of the Second World War. Its main aims were to improve the quality of people’s lives, particularly those of refugees who were struggling to cope with the aftermath of World War Two. It also funded Churches to help repair damage caused by the war. Eventually Christian Aids work started to involve other countries. It now has an income of approximately à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½40 million a year, and there are forty churches in the United Kingdom and Ireland who are part of Christian Aid. Most of the money, which they make through door-to-door collections and donations from members of the public and various churches, is put towards development work to help people in the long term. There are many other Christian charities that help in different ways. The Church of England Children’s society helps children in need. The Hospice Movement helps terminally ill people live out there life in a relaxed, caring environment making the experience less stressful for the patient and the patient’s family. Another famous Christian organisation is the Samaritans which was set up by Chad Varah, a priest. Chad Varah set up this organisation because horrified to find out that 3 suicides took place every day in London. He believed that the best way to help someone who was contemplating committing suicide was to talk to them. He set up a phone in his church and advertised locally for advice for people who were feeling suicidal. Now The Samaritans deal with 2 250 000 calls a year Sir John Templeton is a famous charitable Christian. He grew up in a poor family on a farm in Tennessee. He was educated at both Yale and Oxford University and he became a financial consultant in New York. Throughout his life he gave 10% of his earnings (a process called ‘tithing’) to help the poor. Eventually he became very wealthy running a multimillion dollar investment company, where he successfully managed funds for over two million people world wide. In 1972 he started the Templeton prize to be awarded for progress in religion. The Templeton prize is now worth more than the Noble Peace Prize. Fifteen years later he was knighted for ‘services in philanthropy’. In 1992, he sold his investment company for $400 million. He still gives money to support projects around the world. George Macleod is another famous charitable Christian. In 1938 he set up a Christian community on Iona, an island off of Scotland. He found volunteers to learn building, stone masonry and carpentry skills and together they rebuilt Iona’s ruined abbey. After that he opened a centre to provide shelter for young people from across the world to live in a community. The people of this community cook, clean, garden and work away. When they are not working they pray. The people who live there feel it is better for everyone to share and live in a close community than be rich and not. Oscar Romero was born in 1917. He became Archbishop of El Salvador in 1977. When he took his post his meekness encouraged the corrupt authorities to take advantage and step up there reign of terror against the church; priests were murdered and tortured. When he witnessed the murder of a particular priest Romero began to think differently. He began to speak out against the government in his sermons. In March 1980 he was shot while speaking out against the government in a hospital chapel. He is seen as a great martyr, who took the greatest sacrifice for what he believed in.

Aeneas and Jesus Essay

Roman ideal of pietas which Virgil’s Aeneas embodies the observance of what is due to the gods and men, and obeying one’s destiny (fate) or calling. In Virgil’s The Aeneid, Aeneas has no choice but to be devoted to the gods, while Jesus in The New Testament choices freely to be devoted to one god. Religion for the Romans was very tied up in ideas of obligations, not only to the gods, but to one’s family and nation as well. Aeneas preserves his sanity and the lives of his men, by stopping his own anxieties and desires to the demands of fate and the rules of piety. Religion in The Aeneid also involves making sacrifices and prayers to the gods. The idea was if you did that, the gods might like you and help you. The thing is they might also ignore you and mess up your life for no reason. Thus, when Aeneas tells Dido, â€Å"I sail for Italy not of my own free will,† he doesn’t mean that his fate is forcing him to go there. He means that he has an obligation (duty) to go there, which he is choosing to live up to. On the other hand, Jesus believes in one god. Jesus is completely devoted to his God and goes around teaching society about how good his God is. In the New Testament, Jesus has people or a following fully committed and devoted to God. The four Gospels describe Jesus’s life until his resurrection, and the remainder of the New Testament concerns itself with the community of followers of Jesus that steadily grows after his death. Concluding, Aeneas and Jesus are two different characters who have given their devotion to their own Gods. It was Aeneas’s piety or duty to carry his family with him to follow his devotion to the Gods. In contrast, Jesus uses his free will to teach us to follow his God. Aeneas has to sacrifice his free will to devote to his Gods because it is his fate while Jesus sacrifices himself voluntarily. ?