Big Lion Small Cage essays

Big Lion Small Cage essays South African Breweries dominates its home market, because the firm is capable of meeting the markets abnormal demand. Several foreign companies have tried to enter the market, but failed because of SABs low-price strategy. It has increased productivity by cutting 7.000 jobs in the past ten years and by hard negotiations with the inflexible trade unions. Despite rough roads and bad electricity supply, SABs distribution net is highly developed and refrigerators and/or generators are put at its distributors disposal. Most of the beer in South Africa is sold via unlicensed pubs, called shebeens. Although they are illegal, SAB supplies them with alcohol through wholesalers. To compete successfully with SAB, foreign investors would have to build big breweries and to set up competitive distribution channels. But the market is growing too slowly to be worth the money. As scope for expansion is limited in South Africa, the brewery has started to acquire competitiors in the rest of Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and in China. Although it is the worlds fith-largest brewery by volume, it hasnt yet succeed in turning into a global player with global brands. SAB tried to enter the first-world-beer-market by acquiring a British brewing group but failed at the price. Because buying a brewery involves many bidders, brands, already established in the market, can offer a higher price, for the chance to swallow a competitor. One opportunity to enter the global market is sill left over: to be a takeover target itself. ...

Environmental Factors Shaping PepsiCos Marketing Essay Example

Environmental Factors Shaping PepsiCos Marketing Essay Example Environmental Factors Shaping PepsiCos Marketing Paper Environmental Factors Shaping PepsiCos Marketing Paper This paper will review the article, identify environmental factors that shape the organization and impact marketing decisions, and discuss how technology plays a role in those decisions. Alternatives to Ackermann view of social responsibility to the companys marketing decisions and activities will be analyzed, along with explanations of how ethical issues can make an impact. The accuracy of the articles forecasts will be reviewed and further supportive references to conclusions made will be gathered, if necessary. Global and Domestic Factors Several macro-environmental factors shape the PepsiCo Corporation and impact marketing decisions. Demographics, economic climate, ecological and lattice issues, technology, and cultural concerns all affect where the company is headed desires and the decisions the company makes. Each issue affects the company differently, but when combined together, the environmental factors can wreak havoc on a companys bottom line if not addressed appropriately. On the other hand, if a company has the ability to recognize these factors, can address them, and be prepared to think on its feet, then the factors can be used to the companys advantage. The Ackerman article discusses PepsiCo investment into the Chinese market. When it comes to the environmental factors, Pepsi must adjust its marketing strategy to fit the audience rather than trying to fit the audience to its strategy. For example, current demographics in the United States reflects an aging population as the nations Baby Boomers are now reaching retirement age with most of them having grown up with Pepsi and Coca- Cola. 12. 5% of the U. S. Population is over the age of 65, compared to China, where only 7. % of the population is over age 65 (Monasteries, 2009). According to Ackerman (2008), Pepsi plans to invest $1. 0 billion into the Chinese markets, which is significant considering that currently the worlds economy is relatively poor. The author believes that the plan to invest in the Chinese market is optimistic and that the company faces the challenge Of slow growth in China, a decline in U. S. Sales and the impact of the stronger dollar on international sales (Ac kerman, 2008, Para. 2). How wise is the decision to invest in a country during a period of world economic decline? Pepsi made similar ventures in the Eastern European and Russian regions that proved to be profitable. According to Jonathan Fenny, a Wichita Capital Markets analyst, Pepsins strategy is to build platforms ahead of demand to some extent and continuing to support platforms even during times of economic weakness (Ackerman, 2008, par a. 5). Success is not guaranteed in the Chinese market, but if Pepsi has been able to achieve positive demand for its products in the past in other challenging markets, the company just might be able to drive growth in this market as well. Technology Another example that affects PepsiCo is technology. Technological advancements are happening at a faster pace than ever in the 21 SST century ND companies must be ready to take advantage of them or be left behind. Advertising decisions must be made with technology in mind, such as making use of electronic billboards vs.. The old standards, which can appeal to PepsiCo technologically savvy target audience in China youth and young adults. The money that Pepsi plans to invest will also Ana able the company to develop new products and expand local research and development efforts. In order to cater to the Chinese audience, technology plays a role in developing products due to the use of computers and other equipment. Comparing Views Social responsibility and ethics Ackerman (2008). Seems to believe that PepsiCo move to invest heavily in the Chinese market can appear to be bullish, yet optimistic. The author points out negatives concerning the venture, such as the value of the dollar in the market, economic downturns and sinking financial profit reports. However, perception of the authors view of the companys social responsibility is high, since she States that investing in China will create new employment opportunities due to expansion of R D facilities, manufacturing opacity and sales force. Thousands of new jobs are expected to be created in China because of the investments (Ackerman, 2008, Para. 11). Ethically speaking , providing employment to the unemployed, especially in poor regions, will increase quality of life for the Chinese, while at the same time, increasing revenue as more people are able to afford to purchase Pepsi products. Not only that, Ackerman states that the company is business driven, which typically suggests a business model where a company takes ethics into mind. Since Pepsi has been able to invest in global markets, rated jobs and improved quality of life standards in the past, the company shows that it holds to an ethical guideline by striving to repeat success in new global markets. Another view of Pepsins social responsibility and ethical stance by Michael seem proves to be positive as well. The article covers Pepsins CEO Indri Annoy, her personal views and her vision and goals for the Pepsi Corporations future (Seem, 2008). Taking into consideration the struggles with obesity that the United States faces, Annoy convinced the company to sell Pizza Hut, KEF and Taco Bell in 1 997, acquired the Tropical many in 1998 and helped engineer a $14 billion takeover of Quaker Oats, maker of Storage in 2001 in order to be able to offer healthy alternatives to PepsiCo consumers (Seem, 2008). Annoy and PepsiCo have pledged by 201 0 that half of the firms revenue will come from healthful products and that the company will eschew fossil fuels in favor of wind and solar (Seem, 2008, Para. 7). The company will also campaign against obesity. According to Land (2008), the Pepsi Bottling Group has maintained significant environmental and ecological commitments. So far the company has been able to save over 300 million gallons of water, 1 6,000 tons of plastic, and has been able to offset 100% of the companys U. S. Electricity by making conscientious manufacturing technological and operations decisions. In a savvy public relations move, Pepsi includes in its marketing strategy the release of an environmental annual report to generate positive publicity about its commitment to citizenship, responsibility and ethics. After reviewing the Ackerman, Seem and Land articles, the writers view Of PepsiCo stance on social responsibility and ethics is positive. Pepsins efforts o consider the environment, increasing employment in oppressed countries, and taking on health initiatives bolsters the companys social image. Accuracy The Ackerman (2008) article quotes Pepsi CEO Annoy saying We are enormously confident in the continued prosperity of China. Confidence is found in this statement and confidence seems to have been used in the qualitative and quantitative data gathered to make the marketing decision to invest in China. When such a stance is taken and a company, in this economy, makes such a significant financial decision, the factual data outlined in the article can be concluded be fruitful. The article provides past examples of Pepsins ventures into foreign markets that provided SUcceSS and the statement that its business is driven by building platforms ahead of demand to some extent and continuing to support platforms even during times of economic weakness sums up the companys strategy because it shows the company properly plans ahead, using past successes as a foundation (Ackerman 2008). Seams (2008) article showed how the background and positive personal beliefs of PepsiCo CEO have flowed over into the positive marketing, manufacturing and socially responsible decisions of the company. The article also touched on the growing mentality of the United States and global market attitudes on important issues that make a global impact, including health and environment. Land (2008) reported specifically on the companys environmental efforts, which are beginning to shape the company for the future, which looks positive. Reporting specifically in numbers the results of Pepsins efforts to strive to be a company focused on citizenship, social responsible ¶/ and ethics help support the writers conclusions. Conclusion PepsiCo strives to remain one of the leading beverage and snack companies in the United States and abroad and takes into consideration the environmental factors, both domestic and global, that affect the companys marketing and business decisions. Pepsins plan to invest in the Chinese market will prove to be a successful venture due to past achievements in similar markets.

Reckoning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Reckoning - Essay Example She compares England to â€Å"Jerusalem† (720), which is a holy place in her heart. According to Kincaid, England was a unique jewel that only special people got to wear (720). England the jewel is so beautiful, gentle, and delicate in her opinion that she cannot help but express her adoration. She even extends the admiration to the people of England. She says, â€Å"The people who got to wear England were English people† (720). The statement clearly shows how unique the English people were to be able to wear that special jewel, England. Kincaid forms her idea of England in many ways. First, she learned about England from school. She describes how her teacher first showed them England from a map. â€Å"When my teacher had pinned this map up on the blackboard, she said, ‘This is England’- and she said it with authority, seriousness, and adoration, and we all sat up† (720). The teacher’s tone was enough indication that the topic about England was important, and they needed to take it in seriously thus it drew Kincaid’s attention to the study and knowledge of England. Secondly, Kincaid experiences England in her daily life. An example is the can of cocoa that has a label of â€Å"Made in England† on it. Others like the box of oats, her cloth, socks, and shoes all have this particular tag. Her curiosity and knowledge of England improves with these daily experiences. Kincaid also learned much about England from demonstrations by her parents. She writes about how her father must have seen and admired the picture of an Englishman wearing a particular hat in England (721). She talks greatly of how her mother taught her to eat her food the English way (721). Although Kincaid has such fascinations about England, she is far away on an island and can only live with what she has heard or seen from few English people she met. She merely lives under the shadow of

REACHING YOUR INTENDED AUDIENCE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

REACHING YOUR INTENDED AUDIENCE - Essay Example hen an individual intends to reach individuals suffering from diabetes mellitus he/she can go an outpatient department and provide health education intended. Those who are suffering from diabetes mellitus shall be interested in the topic and will be much engaged unlike those who do not. In essence, public speaking provides a broader way of reaching intended audience who are not known to the speaker. Publishing of newsletters: Newsletter is another simpler and cheap way of meeting the target audience who are known and unknown. An individual who wants to relay health information can use it through printing the intended information in newsletters and put them in strategic places that the public will pick. Among those who shall pick the newsletters some of the intended audience shall pick and read them. The intended information shall have been passed to the intended audience. For example, dissemination of healthy eating habits among diabetics can be passed through newsletter. Building of a website: websites provide a broad avenue of reaching the intended audience, which is achieved by developing a website that contain information that describes an intended health problem address. Those individuals who are interested with the information posted there shall read and utilise the information to better their lives (Livingstone, 2004). Direct mail: when the target audience is known, then direct mail is very possible to be employed. The health care provider shall compose an email containing the intended information they should be relayed to the audience. Emailing is better because it involves an exchange of ideas, questions and answers (Awan & Gauntlett, 2011). Zero-based budget: This strategy involves allocation of all the money to various activities that need to be done  during the entire  project  of the communication plan. At the end of allocation of money to various activities the balance should be $0. This strategy works best when an individual is sure that money is

How does today's film in the U.S influence people perception of Research Proposal

How does today's film in the U.S influence people perception of Chinese culture (Please try to focus on a specific film genres) - Research Proposal Example Xie (9) has carried out a number of research projects on the influence of media on Asian stereotyping giving particular focus and emphasis on how the Chinese culture is portrayed in films in the United States of America (USA). In the research projects conducted, various issues were pointed out and they included; discrimination and racism. The goal of this research as the ones conducted byXie (7) is to identify how a majority of films in the United States of America (USA) miss represent the chines culture. The research shall focus on how Chinese men are represented by films in the USA, how Chinese women are represented by films in the USA, the level of violence associated to them as well as the morals and ethics about the Chinese culture that are miss represented or represented accordingly in the films. For example, a majority of the female chines characters are portrayed in many of the films in USA as being highly sexually seductive individuals and they are trained from a tender age to use this seductive technique to kill men. A majority of the films portray Chinese people as highly trained in elements of martial arts, these is evident in films where Chinese actors Jackie Chan and Jet Li are anchored, this exhibits fraudulent behavior (Chan, 3). Other films portray the Chinese as highly intelligent individuals, mostly appearing in films as computer wizards and sharp when it comes to solving puzzles and mathematical queries (Chan51)Not forgetting about the ethics and morals, some films portray chines girls as immoral, being used for sexual activities especially in the USA as illegal immigrants, other films portray the Chinese people as good and calm with high consideration of the four elements of nature i.e. land, water, and air (Stein, 7). With critical analysis of data intended to be collected, this research will help give a clear picture of what the Chinese culture is really about and whether what we see

Scientific Theories Essay Example for Free

Scientific Theories Essay One of the major preoccupations of XX’s century scientific philosophers was the development of complex scientific theory explaining how science comes to be and how it works. Since 1900-s several basic theories have been proposed to explain science. This paper aims to provide an overview of those theories especially concentrating on ideas of scientific revolution by Thomas S. Kuhn. Already David Hume in â€Å"A Treatise of Human Nature† noticed, that we can never truly prove the existence of casual laws but we can only perceive them and their consequences. And as we can not know the truth about laws, we can never know the law itself, so it is always open for reconsideration. W.V. Quine went even further by proposing, that even mathematical theorems can from time to time be revised if necessary. Thusly they have created grounds for illogical negativism, under which no statement can be recognized absolutely true. In the 1920-s Moritz Schlicks and Hans Reichenbach offered another view which they called logical positivism. Basically recognizing that no statement can be true or false a priory, logical positivists held that every piece of knowledge is based on logics of â€Å"protocol sentences† based on observable events. In order to be recognized true or false a statement is to meet a verifiability criterion. Only in this case a statement can be recognized meaningful. However, some of the positivists noticed, that even non-verifiable statements may have some cognitive value[1]. In the 1930-s Karl Popper raised criticism against positivist model and introduced a theory based on ideas of practicing scientists. Under his idea scientific progress is achieved by rejection of earlier false theories and creation of a new theory when the old one no longer fits the empiric facts. The new theory is therefore closer to truth. So physics of Aristotle has been replaced by physics of Newton and physics of Newton by the one of Einstein. Every new theory explains the world in new terms and on a new level, Progressive theory has been sharply criticized by Thomas Kuhn in his â€Å"Structure of Scientific Revolutions†, published in 1962. Under his idea, scientific progress is a set of dominant structures, which he called paradigms.   Scientific research passes through stages of â€Å"normal† development including solving of current problems and â€Å"revolutionary stage†. Revolutionary stage or paradigm shift means testing of new theories and assumptions which causes a state of crisis in the old theories, when paradigms are sufficiently unprecedented to attract an enduring group of adherents away from competing modes of scientific activity[2] For Kuhn a new paradigm is not only a new theory, but a totally new view on the world and a new way of thinking. A paradigm is not a new answer to a question, but it is revolutionary new way of putting questions themselves. Core questions of the old paradigm are rejected by a new one as those, which are no longer applicable[3]. Moreover, one paradigm can not be understood in terms of another paradigm, so changing paradigms necessarily causes a crisis. Kuhn explained this using examples from astronomy by noticing that Given a particular discrepancy, astronomers were invariably able to eliminate it by making some particular adjustment in Ptolemy’s system of compounded circles. But astronomy’s complexity was increasing far more rapidly than its accuracy and that a discrepancy corrected in one place was likely to show up in another.[4] Paradigm changes the world itself, and Kuhn offers an example of Lavoisier, who saw nature differently after discovering oxygen[5]. After scientific revolution has happened, communications are to restored between advocates of new and old theories. This is a hard and long lasting process, which often ends by physical death of the â€Å"old† scientists, because Conversions will occur a few at a time until, after the last hold-outs have died, the whole profession will again be practicing under a single, but now different, paradigm[6].   This caused claims of relativism which Kuhn himself denied in the later editions of his book. However, despite of all, Kuhn’s idea have deeply influenced the modern philosophic vocabulary. Such terms as â€Å"paradigm†, â€Å"paradigm shift†, â€Å"normal science† and â€Å"revolutionary science† are now widely applied by scientists and philosophers, especially in social science, political science and international relations theory[7]. Among the latest critics one should mention reasoning by Paul Feyerabend. He noticed, that there were many cases in the history of science, when scientists considered their theories a priory accurate long after some facts are discovered, which demonstrate the weakness of the theory. Under Feyerabend’s assumption there exist certain forms of scientific thinking, which allow scholars to recognize certain theories as scientific. So methodology of science can be pluralistic and include methods from different periods. New methods of reasoning do not substitute old ones, but they enter the scientific cannon together and mutually influence each other[8]. Works Cited Friedman, Michael, (1999) Reconsidering Logical Positivism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press Thomas S. Kuhn (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University Of Chicago Press; 3 edition Fuller S. (2000) Thomas Kuhn: A Philosophical History for Our Times. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Bird A. (2000) Thomas Kuhn. Princeton and London: Princeton University Press and Acumen Press Paul K. Feyerabend (1999) Knowledge, Science and Relativism. Vol. 3, Cambridge [1]   Friedman, Michael, (1999) Reconsidering Logical Positivism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, p,- 43 [2] Thomas S. Kuhn   (1996) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, University Of Chicago Press; 3 edition, p.-10 [3] Fuller S. (2000) Thomas Kuhn: A Philosophical History for Our Times. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p.-70 [4] Thomas S. Kuhn   (1996) ibidem, p.-65 [5] Supra note, p.- 118 [6] Supra note, p.-152 [7] Bird A. (2000) Thomas Kuhn. Princeton and London: Princeton University Press and Acumen Press. p.- 113 [8] See: Paul K. Feyerabend (1999) Knowledge, Science and Relativism. Vol. 3, Cambridge University Press

Stonehenge :: essays research papers

I. On Salisbury Plain in Southern England stands Stonehenge, the most famous of all megalithic sites. Stonehenge is unique among the monuments of the ancient world. Isolated on a windswept plain, built by a people with no written language, Stonehenge challenges our imagination. The impressive stone circle stands near the top of a gently sloping hill on Salisbury Plain about thirty miles from the English Channel. The stones are visible over the hills for a mile or two in every direction. Stonehenge is one of over fifty thousand prehistoric "megalithics" in Europe. As Stonehenge is approached, the forty giant stones seem to touch the sky. Most of the stones stand twenty-four or more feet high. Some stones weigh as much as forty tons. Others are smaller, weighing only five tons. At first glance, the stones may seem to be a natural formation. But a closer look shows that only human imagination and determination could have created Stonehenge. II. The Stonehenge today looks quite different from the Stonehenge of old. Wind and weather have destroyed a little of Stonehenge over the ages. People have destroyed much more. Today, less than half of the original stones still stand as their builders planned. Many of the once upright stones lie on their sides. Religious fanatics, who felt threatened by the mysteries posed by Stonehenge, knocked over many of the standing stones. They toppled some of the huge stones, which then split into pieces; they buried others. Other stones were "quarried" over the centuries as free building material and hauled away. Even into this century, visitors have come with hammers to carry away a chip of stone with them. III. Only in recent years have the stones been protected from the huge amounts of people that see them every year. No longer can anyone roam among the stones. Too much damage, intentional or not, has been done by the hundreds of thousands of visitors. Today, tourists are even prevented from walking between the stones for fear that the millions of footsteps every year might make the stones unstable. IV. The twelfth-century English writer and historian, Geoffrey of Monmouth, first recorded Merlin's building of Stonehenge in his famous book History of the Kings of Britain. Geoffrey claimed that his book was a translation of "a certain very ancient book written in the British language." However, no other scholar or historian knows of the existence of such a book. According to Geoffrey, the great stones were brought from Ireland to England to mark the burial place of a group of slain British princes.