Exploration Proposal Pop Art

Exploration ProposalI hope to explore the images of comic strips consumerism and symbolism in pop art that have been influenced in our everyday lives and how the mass media, advertising and popular culture are portrayed through pop art. One of the greatest iconic pop culture artists Andy Warhol suggests â€Å"I like boring things† this is a broad indication of a part of how pop culture is based on. It exposes how objects in everyday life can be right in front of us and we as people don’t think twice about what we are using. For example, Andy Warhol creates a wooden sculpture and painting based on the simplicity of ‘Campbell’s tomato soup’ an item he had been consuming for over 20 years frequently. I began to see interest in the field of pop art when I was at a younger age I was surrounded by it due to the mass media, constant advertisement imagery and basically elements of consumerism which created connection between the people.I was inspired to con tinue this art form as it drives my passion; it stems my love for consumerism. People can appreciate everyday objects and bright colours the same way as it derives me. I aim to experiment with a range of materials and techniques throughout my exploration in pop art. Digital photography was by far the most loved personally in my pervious Unit 1 carried in Studio Arts. It is an art media that I can place my skills to use and excel at. A digital single-lens reflex camera was the tool used to photograph objects and the photographs were further transferred into an editorial suite (Adobe Photoshop) and were manipulated to create a completely new picture. This technique can further be perused in creating pop art as there are a vast amount of filters found in editorial suites alongside blending pictures, masking, colour and picture correcting and abstracting of photos.Silver gelatin photography is another photographic process, however required more manual work. Strategies are used to create the desired pictures required such as amount of light exposure and how long chemicals should be run through. Pop art collages could be perfectly executed with this medium. Acrylic paint and water colour were two materials I continued to suffer with. However, I am looking to immensely improve and adapt them so I can incorporate the two materials into my pop art collaborative pieces. One thing I picked up from in Unit 1 was that it’s best to think creatively outside the box, extending ideas that come to mind to create a whole new level.Andy Warhol 100 CANS, 1962 Oil on canvas 72 x 52 inches (182.9 x 132.1 cm)The Campbell’s Soup Cans painting carries historical significance and represents what was happening in America during the 1960s. America had become an industrial culture in which products, machinery, and food were being mass-produced, and it seemed that everything was a commodity. Andy Warhol wanted to acknowledge this phenomenon in his art. He wanted us not to focu s on the composition of his work, but rather the idea behind it. The idea here is that the mundane, like a can of soup, matters. In addition, the use of repetitive imagery and mechanical processes creates an illusion that art can be mass produced and consumed by everyone. Warhol used the same shapes, dull colours and lines to create his image. The pattern that was created has a rhythm, but also repetition because each of the elements is repeated over and over in a recognisable organisation. I can potentially transfer these art elements and principles into making my own artwork that serves consumerism with my own product.Roy Lichtenstein Hopeless, 1963 Oil on Canvas Dimensions 118cm by 111.8cmRoy Lichtenstein’s comic images of girls with speech balloons was a major trend in the 1960s It contains vibrant colours with bold and wavy lines to add emotion to the scene. I would like to potentially use vibrant colours in collaboration with acrylic paint to express emotions in my own art pieces or create subliminal messages that entail emotion to the viewers. Colours and emotions can be used in different parts of the background to present mixed feelings or different views in the image.Richard Hamilton 1956, Just what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing Collage Dimensions: 26cm by 24.8cmJust what is it that makes today’s homes so different, so appealing? Literally elevates kitsch to high art, as symbolized by the framed comic book cover against the wall. The body builder on the left and naked woman on the right symbolise the commodification of the human form into just another business transaction—something to be marketed to relentlessly, idealised in the name of selling deodorant and toothpaste. All of these things in the collage are placed in the artwork composition for a reason ‘nothing was an accident’. Each object was thoughtfully placed to symbolise and have a meaning. I can use this same methodology in my own work by adding many digital/silver gelatin photos and other mixed media in creating collages to build me own theme and representations in advertising or symbolism.

Burroughs Wellcome Company Essay

In 1982, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) labeled the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and began to warn the public of the disease. In 1983 and 1984, the virus that causes AIDS was isolated and in 1988 it was named the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Burroughs Wellcome Company is a subsidiary of Wellcome PLC. Wellcome PLC is a pharmaceutical firm that employs 20,000 people in 18 countries. Wellcome PLC produces both ethical and over the counter medication. Zovirax, which treats herpes infections, accounted for $492 million in sales in 1989 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Retrovir, an AIDS treatment, was the second largest seller with $225 million in sales (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Wellcome PLC also produces over-the-counter Actifed and Sudafed with $253 million in sales in 1989 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). In 1981, there were 305 reported cases of AIDS, and by 1989 there were 35,198 reported cases of AIDS with numbers expected to continue to rise, although at a much slower rate (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). The majority of victims, almost 90%, were gay men or intravenous drug users, and almost one half of reported cases were in major metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, and New York. Not enough was known about the disease in the early 80’s to create a reliable way to predict its’ rate of growth. Economically, treating AIDS patients was proving to be very expensive, averaging between $70,000 and $141,000 per patient according to a 1987 study by the RAND Corporation (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Treating some forms of cancer averaged less than half of that cost. Since the income level of many AIDS patients was low, Medicaid covered treatment costs for approximately 40% of the patients, resulting in an Burroughs Wellcome Company,   estimated annual cost to the Medicaid system of between $700 and $750 million in 1988 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013).  Several pharmaceutical companies, including Burroughs Wellcome, were in the  race to produce an effective drug to combat HIV and AIDS. Burroughs Wellcome began research in 1984, developed Retrovir and began clinical trials on humans in 1985 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). The FDA cleared Burroughs to market Retrovir in 1987, as the first and only authorized treatment for AIDS. Bristol Myers developed a drug called DDI, which appeared to slow the progress of the AIDS virus and lessen the damage it causes (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Hoffman-LaRoche developed a similar drug called DDC that began clinical trials in 1989 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). As soon as Burroughs Wellcome was given the authority to market Retrovir in March of 1987, public protests began regarding the perceived high price of the drug. Wholesale price for Retrovir was set at $188 for one hundred 100-mg capsules. The recommended dosage was twelve 100-milligram capsules per day. The average annual treatment for an AIDS patients on Retrovir averaged approximately $8,528-$9,745 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). The public, media, and advocacy groups compared the price of Retrovir to the cancer drug Interferon. The annual cost to a patient taking Interferon was only $5,000. In December of 1987, due to increased pressure, Burroughs Wellcome, reduced the price of Retrovir by 20%, and again by 20% in September of 1989 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). The first price reduction was due to a cost savings in the production of synthetically manufactured thymidine while the second was due to an increase in potential patients. By 1989 sales had increased from $24.8 million in 1987 to $2 25.1 million (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). As postulated by industry analysts, the direct cost of research and development (R&D) for Retrovir was estimated at $50 million. Burroughs Wellcome spent an additional $30-50 million in indirect costs to establish a new plant and equipment to produce Retrovir (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). They also donated $10 million worth of Retrovir to 4,500 AIDS patients. Pharmaceutical R&D of a new drug in the US averages around $125 million, so with direct and indirect cost to develop Retrovir was on the low side. Prior to Retrovir, Burroughs Wellcome had spent a reported $726 million for R&D in  the previous five years without producing a single commercial winner (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Retrovir was designated as an â€Å"orphan drug† in 1985 under the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. This enabled Burroughs Wellcome to gain marketing exclusivity for a sevenyear period after its initial introduction. When Burroughs Wellcome was faced with the task of pricing Retrovir they had to account for many factors. They had to consider the demand for Retrovir. Since they were developing a drug for a fairly new disease, with relatively few patients, they had no way to predict what the demand would be in the next five years. They had to recoup their cost with the known numbers of AIDS in 1987, which were still fairly low. Burroughs Wellcome had to take into account both the direct and indirect cost spent on the R&D of Retrovir that totaled approximately $100 million. With an unknown market and $100 million to recoup they had to price Retrovir fairly high at the beginning. Looming competition was another important aspect for Burroughs Wellcome. They knew other pharmaceutical compan ies were researching drugs to treat AIDS and analysts believed there would be one or more of these drugs on the market by 1991 (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Burroughs Wellcome still had an ethical obligation to maintain fair pricing while trying to recoup their cost, as well as having an existing obligation to its employees, shareholders, and stakeholders. Most importantly however, is their responsibility to patients that rely on Burroughs Wellcome’s products for their health and well-being With an increasing number of AIDS cases, Burroughs Wellcome had a social and financial responsibility to make the drug Retrovir accessible to those who needed it, while remaining financially viable. It would be socially irresponsible to exploit people with an illness for mass profit gains. Like most other industries, the health care industry is competitive and no business is immune to failure. Because of this, Burroughs Wellcome must remain profitable in order to protect its employees and shareholders as well as to ensure that the company  can continue its research while providing the medical community with effective medicine. As previously mentioned, Burroughs had dropped the price of Retrovir twice: first on December 15, 1987 when a price drop of 20% was justified by synthetically produced thymidine and a second 20% cut due to a further expansion of HIV from 600,000 to one million estimated potential patients, at which point Burroughs’ gross profit margin (70.6%) and return on sales (20%) were comparable to other competitors in the industry (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). When pressured by outside entities about further reducing the price, Sir Alfred Shepard of the Board of Directors said, † There is no plan for another price cut† (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). As a result of this balance between sustainability, profitability, and social responsibility, it was important that Burroughs Wellcome maintained its margins and success, but continued to remain sensitive to price concerns. Furthermore, it would benefit both Burroughs and patients in need of the drug, if  insurance companies provided ade quate coverage on the drug Retrovir, as private insurance companies only covered $250 million annually compared to the $750 million covered by Medicaid (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). In January of 1990, congressional lobbyists began campaigning to reduce excessive profits in the drug industry. This set off a new round of pressure from the U.S. Congress, the media, and AIDS advocacy groups to again reduce the price of Retrovir. In 1987 sales of Retrovir were $24.8 million and net profit before tax was $8 million. Considering the $100 million dollar investment for the development, as well as new plant and equipment, the Return on Investment (ROI) was only 8%; meaning they only recovered about 8% of their initial investment for Retrovir. By fiscal year 1988 the ROI for Retrovir had increased to 52% but the initial investment had still not been recovered. In the five years prior to the sale of Retrovir, Burroughs Wellcome as a whole spent $726 million in R&D with no significant new drug.  The ROI for Retrovir was still less than the company as a whole when considering the investment in R&D. See figure 1 Figure 1 According to Industry analysts it was estimated that the cost of Retrovir was between 30 and 50 cents per capsule (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Using 40 cents for estimates, it can be determined that in 1987 when the drug first became available for sale the return on sales (ROS) was 28%. Realistically, the cost was probably more towards  the 50 cent per capsule higher end, as producing the AZT required a biological chemical harvested from herring sperm and took months and over 20 chemical reactions to produce (Kerin & Peterson, 2013). Using the high-end estimate the ROS in 1989 was only 23.3%. This is very close to the 23.5% ROS industry average. By 1989 the price of Retrovir had been reduced by 20% twice. Burroughs Wellcome stated the first price reduction in December of 1987 was due to a synthetically manufactured Thymidine becoming available. At this time, ROS was 23.0% using the 40 cent COGS estimate. Due to public pressure for an affordable AIDS treatment Burroughs Wellcome reduced its price again by 20% in September of 1989. At the 40 cent estimated cost this reduced the ROS to16.4%. Even using the low 30 cent estimate the ROA was only 24% which was is still very comparable to the 23.5% industry average. Burroughs Wellcome overall company ROS in 1989, while they were selling Retrovir at the $1.20 price per 100mg, was only 20%, which is over 3% lower than the industry average. Continued pressure to reduce the price again is not warranted. The figures show that to reduce the price another 20% would show at best a low 18% ROS and a possible negative ROS. Comparing Burroughs Wellcome to 1989 industry average shows all their current  ratios are well within what is normal for the industry. They are not the highest or the lowest of Return on Sales, Return on Assets, or Return on Equity. Burroughs Wellcome has two choices at this point. Do not reduce the price or reduce the price. The advantage of not reducing the price is the ability to maintain their current ratios that will allow them to continue their R&D for new drugs. The disadvantage of not reducing price is dealing with the public, media, Congress, and advocacy groups that may continue to increase pressure on Burroughs Wellcome and create further negative publicity. The advantages of reducing the price would be the reduced pressure from the groups mentioned before and the claim of being ethically responsible. The disadvantage of reducing the price would be losing the current ratios. They take the chance to lose profit margin therefore lose some ability to develop new drugs. Although there is public unrest in regards to the price of Retrovir we do not recommend Burroughs Wellcome reduce the price further. Reducing the price of Retrovir without another new drug would further reduce their current ratios, which are all within industry averages. Drug companies need profits as incentive to continue their  research. Especially when there is the very real possibility of going several years without the discovery and approval of a new drug. Although, on the surface, it seems very unfair for a patient to have to spend close to $10,000 per year for treatment, it would be far worse if they didn’t have the treatment as an option at all. Drug companies such as Burroughs Wellcome would avoid trying to develop â€Å"orphan drugs† if they had no chance of recovering cost. This is why government offers subsidies, tax benefits, and grants extending patents for drugs that qualify. In 1989 there were only 35,189 reported cases of AIDS in America and due to prevention awareness and HIV treatments, AID’s numbers were leveling off. Drug companies are taking a  huge risk investing millions of dollars in cures and treatments for rare diseases. In part, the cost for â€Å"orphan drugs† is so high because so few people are consumers of them. While it would be socially conscious for Burroughs Wellcome to drop the price further, they have to remain a viable company. Profits will ensure the financial future of the company as well as all the shareholders and stakeholders of the company. Maintaining the ROI percentages will allow Burroughs to remain viable and competitive allowing them to continue to develop new drugs that may provide further benefit. If they were to drop their prices it would be benefit public relations as they put the needs of the consumers before profits, however in such a competitive environment this could prove to be to a liability in the pharmaceutical industry, therefore, it is advisable that they do not drop their price by another 20%. References Kerin, R.A & Peterson, R.A. (2003) Strategic Marketing Problems: Cases and Comments England: Pearson Education Limited

Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Stephen Marches article Is Facebook Essay

Ray Bradburys Fahrenheit 451, Stephen Marches article Is Facebook Making Us Lonely, and Nicholas Carrs Is Google Making Us Stupid, - Essay Example The coupling of technology with social lives has resulted to a narrative with a stupid and lonely life ever after, ending. This is truly expressed in the works of numerous experts whose focus is in revealing the negative outcomes associated with technology. The works of these experts are Ray Bradbury’s â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†; Samuel Cohen’s â€Å"50 Essays: A Portable Anthology (Is Google Making us Stupid); and Mache’s â€Å"Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?† According to Marche (n.p) loneliness is promoted through modern day social media culture. Instead building and maintaining physical friendships, social media culture has promoted friendships founded on isolation and loneliness. Additionally, Bradbury reveals that allowing technology to replace all aspects of life will result to loss of intelligence. In his futuristic society, Bradbury reveals that the society is getting rid of common sense intelligence to submit to ignorance. However, for the curio us and anxious persons like Montag manages to see the beneficial side of not embracing ignorance but working with intelligence. Furthermore, from Cohen search engines have led to dramatic promotion of stupidity as people’s mind lose concentration and long for fast information to solve problems. Although there are tremendous benefits from technological advances, Ray Bradbury correctly predicted that technology would also have negative impact on human physical, intellectual and emotional health as if made evident by many experts today. Intellectually, technology is responsible for the continued experiences loss of intelligence. Based on the arguments by Bradbury, technology benefits are countered by the associated impact of loss of intellect and lose of contact with ordinary and important aspects of life. For instance, Montag could not remember being familiar with there being dew on grass in the morning â€Å"He suddenly could not remember if he had known

Walmart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Walmart - Research Paper Example Walmart headquarters are based in Arkansas, US. Under the leadership of Robson Walton and Mike Duke, the chairman and the President respectively, the company has embarked on diversification of its product portfolio in order to face off its key competitors in the market. Some of the notable products that the company provides include warehouse clubs, superstore, Apparel, Shoes & Accessories footwear and food products among others. Walmart Stores opened its first store in 1970 in its home country. Based on its good financial performance during its establishment, the store became a public held company in 1970. Based on the need to strengthen its capital base and bring more investors on board, the company was listed in the New York Stock Exchange thus making it to freely sell its stock to the local and foreign investors. Due to Walmart establishment of stores in various market and strong positive relationship with the customers, the store has for a long time enjoyed increase in revenue. F or example, in 2012-2013 financial year, the company revenue stood at US$ 469.162 billion. The net income was US$ 16.999Â  billion while the company operating income stood at US$ 27.801Â  billion. In the same year, the company total assets were US$ 203.105Â  billion. ... One of the major divisions is the Walmart Stores US. Being the largest, the store consists of there key retail outlets namely supercenters, Walmart markets and discount stores. Walmart plays in the monopolistic market structure. One of the major aspects that make the store to emulate a monopolistic economic model is that it emulates product differentiation in its operations. Additionally, the firm operates in an industry with many firms locally and in the global market. Based on its significant market share, it is worth to note that Walmart has some degree of market power an aspect that is characterizes firm in a monopolistic market structure. Major competitors Based on the free entry aspect of the retail industry, Walmart is faced by various competitors in the US market and in the UK market as well as in other countries. For example, in the North America market major competitors are Target, Meijer, Kmart, Big Lots, Costco and ShopKo. In UK, the company is faced with stiff competitio n from Tesco. In their efforts to face off Walmart in the market, the competitors have embarked on extensive marketing strategies that include selling of products that are low priced as well as similar to those provided by Walmart. For example, Target, the second largest retail shop in US, offers direct competition to Walmart by opening more that 1,920 distribution centers in US. Additionally, Target differentiates its products from those of Walmart and other competitors by offering upscale merchandise at lower prices. On its part, Tesco maintains a 30% of the UK market due to its extensive market strategies and provision of wide range of products that includes Tesco mobile, food products, clothing, financial services and

Film Report Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Film Report - Movie Review Example The film’s theme follows a courtroom drama that involves a battle of argumentative wits between and among brilliant lawyers. The audience can see the theme initially when Manion’s wife, Laura, talked to Stewart over the phone and asked him to defend her husband. It then follows that Stewart met with Laura and Frederick in the jail, and Stewart decided to accept the case. The film used an element of legal objects and subjects, such as Stewart’s law books and the introduction of Manion’s murder case. 2) What were the choices made by the main characters and what were the consequences of those choices? First of all, when Stewart accepted to represent the defendant on court, he embarked on a tedious journey of courtroom arguments in order to defend well an accused murderer. Manion’s wife also proved to be a disadvantage on the part of the defense because of her flirty and happy-go-lucky aura. Moreover, Stewart faced some dubious statements both from Fred erick and Laura which make it harder to patch things together consistently. Stewart’s appearance on the courtroom also showcased his unique temperament which shifts from being reserved to a sudden emotional outburst and rage. Furthermore, the judge also made important decisions while the case is going on. There in that trial, tabooed words in the court were used, such as ‘panties,’ ‘slut,’ and ‘bitch’ (Brunson par. 1). Now, these words have been legally used in trial cases. Lastly, the judge’s decision in giving the victory to Stewart’s camp was prompted by Mary Pilant’s decision to give in to Stewart’s request to side with their camp and tell the court that she herself found the undergarment in their laundry room. Pilant’s decision to reveal her identity as Quill’s daughter in the court made a stunning and shocking effect on the prosecution. As a result of their collaboration, Manion was freed a nd was charged not guilty of murder. 3) What three or four sequences are most important in the film? Why? These important sequences in this movie happened during the courtroom procedure. However, the first scene that can be considered important was when Stewart visited Manion for the first time in jail which initially got Stewart his impression towards Manion. He also learned about his marriage with Laura. It then follows that Stewart was set for the murder trial because he found out a precedent for ‘irresistible impulse’ in a Michigan court decision, and he began a battle with the two prosecution lawyers. Stewart, in one of his arguments, insisted that Quill and Manion had troubles before the murder happened because the former might have a fondness for Laura, and that Manion murdered Quill out of irresistible impulse, meaning he did not deliberately kill Quill but did so because he was ‘forced to its execution by an impulse.’ The case was sealed after Mary Pilant agreed to lie in court and tell the jury that she found Laura’s underwear in their laundry room suggesting that Quill did rape Laura. 4) Did the ?lm surprise you with anything unusual in its story, style, technique, or implications? Although I have seen modern courtroom drama films, such as My Sister’s Keeper, Erin Brockovich and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I can say that this movie surprises me

Water-astronomy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Water-astronomy - Essay Example Seeing the detail on how everything works on earth has become the guiding point of inquisitive minds to understand further the mystery beyond the universe. Scientists found that the earth is just an integral component of a solar system ruled over by a star within the vast Milky Way. The Milky Way galaxy consists of millions of these stars, which means the odds of having a habitable planet, as earth is higher. However, there are still thousands of galaxies across the universe that based on supporting details from Einstein’s theory, have continue to move away from each other, leading to the point that the universe could be expanding at some point (Fang and Chu 97). Understanding these ideas about the universe could lead us to conclude that it could be so huge beyond our imagination. There are infinite possibilities out there that science continues to unearth. Scientists keep on to dig more theories and scientific proofs just to back up some essential ideas that could help them piece together the relevant information about the universe. For thousands of years, the existence in this universe remains a mystery to the humankind. While the earth is a physical proof that we could see, feel and touch, and that is integral part of the big part of the universe, scientists in most of their studies have based on their meaningful understanding by what they observed from this blue planet. This means they are trying to understand the whole part of information by starting from its very detailed component. This makes sense as a good guiding point in order to learn more about the universe. In fact, this analogy applies to our understanding about the entire water, for instance. We know about water and its importance, but most of us have a slightest idea that behind what we can see about the water is the presence of sub-atomic particles that are combined just to produce a liquid form of matter that has universal importance for the

Regional Econmic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Regional Econmic - Essay Example The economic implications should be apparent. Protection of these spaces leads to the conservation of scenic landscapes ideal for outdoor recreation especially in this period where people are finding ways to escape the city life. The presence of wildlife presents a more interesting experience for the individual and may make him willing to pay a fee for access to such open spaces. Open spaces then presents an opportunity to gain revenue thru small fees charged from campers and hikers. One might argue that open spaces would generate little revenue which does not justify the amount used to purchase. Ranches and lands for suburban developments do not come cheap. While it is recognized that the amount of purchase can indeed be large, it should also be noted that revenue generation of open spaces is not confined to access fees and the like. Open and natural areas can have multiple uses-benefits. While providing scenic views, the area can have some of its portions available for sustainable livestock foraging. Revenue can be generated by renting pasture for livestock grazing and presents opportunity for livestock producers who have little capital to own ranches for themselves.

The bridge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The bridge - Essay Example Millennium Bridge was designed to carry large load and a degree of structure’s movement was expected and taken into account. However, after about 80Â  000 people crossed it on the opening day, some vibration was detected. The bridge began to sway sideways noticeably, and the movement became so strong that people could not walk steady any more; many had to cling to the sides of the bridge to maintain balance. The phenomenon of bridge sideways movement is not unique to the Millennium Bridge only. There were other structures, completely different from the given bridge that, to a various degree, suffered the same effect. However, those cases have not been widely publicized, thus the phenomenon, known as Synchronous Lateral Excitation, was not anticipated and has not been given enough attention by bridge engineers. When people walk they have a natural sway motion. This very motion causes small regular vibrations, which, as the result of chance correlation, generated slight lateral movement of the bridge. When that happened, pedestrians instinctively adjusted and synchronized their motion with bridge’s movement to counteract the effect and to walk more comfortably.

Supply Chains with a Focus on Customer Value Essay - 6

Supply Chains with a Focus on Customer Value - Essay Example Supply chain management excellence is crucial to customer satisfaction; consequently, customer satisfaction is critical to customer loyalty, and loyalty critical to profitability (Reichheld 1996 cited in Flint et al., 2008, p. 258). In order to address the problem of customer loyalty, firms apply product and service innovations. Supply chain learning should be a part of the firms’ strategies to address customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is also the main objective of market orientation – customer satisfaction through superior performance of products and services (Singh, 2004, p. 3). Companies attain competitive edge through constant innovation. The first periods of the new century marked profound shifts in organisation’s strategies with aims for talents, technologies and customer’s focus and loyalty (Venkatraman and Henderson, 2008, p. 258). Organisations keep constant contact with customers, looking for ways to satisfy their needs and wants. Good customer relation is an important aspect of business (McColl-Kennedy & Schneider, 2000, p. S884). To get closer to the customers, businesses have to work as cohesive organisations, using tools and technology (Gulati and Oldroyd, 2005, p. 92), and focus on knowledge-based economy, slowly moving away from the industrial economy. Identifying and working out to strengthen customer satisfaction, supply chains can help in having good relationship with customers, but supply chains have two attributes which are cost and service. Service is itself responsiveness to the customer’s demand, but demand can also increase cost. Putting on a lot of innovations on the product/s means adding cost on production. â€Å"Supply chain efficiency is measured as a cost of producing and delivering goods and service to the customer.† (Hines, 2004, p. 61) This means that if we increase responsiveness to supply chain, we add cost to the delivery of service.

Role of Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Role of Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Innovation is a key factor in entrepreneurship. Innovation involves introducing new ideas and products as a measure of improving or satisfying a market need. The chief instigator of innovation is the entrepreneur, who analyzes the pros and cons of innovation and the likely risks that relate to implementing innovation. The say if it is not broken, do not fix it; however, this concept cannot apply to entrepreneurs based on their pursuit of increased sales and maintaining their pioneer status. Innovation is a factor that is pivotal in the longevity of a company. (Howkins, 2001) Mercedes-Benz: A Leader in Innovation The best example of innovation relates to Mercedes-Benz in the 1980s. The company came out with a new concept of using block headlights instead of the popular circular headlights. They claimed that the concept would be copied by a majority of car companies in the 1990s. It was a bold statement by the car company, who were deemed to be blowing their own horn at the time (Reyno lds, 2007). However, true to their prediction, in 1992, several car companies had begun using the block headlights introduced by Mercedes-Benz. This is an illustration of the impact of being a pioneer in innovation. The fact that Mercedes introduce the concept the concept first meant that they were the leading light in car innovation, and to some degree, they still are to this day. Though it was a risk making the bold prediction, there were spot-on proving they have a sharp eye for solid innovation concepts. The primary aim of any entrepreneur is to ensure that their company makes the most sales and net profit (gross profit – company costs = net profit). Wise entrepreneurs push this factor beyond the limits of the company in order to grow as a company. Growth involves factors such as becoming a multinational company, and becoming the global leader in sales of a given product. It is vital for an entrepreneur to push the company to its highest limits, and put it on a level that will make the world take notice. This may not be the best strategy for the consumers; however, the ultimate task for an entrepreneur is to become a monopoly in the company’s respective market. This ensures that the company is the pioneer in the market, and the latter will make purchases from the company anytime they require a product that the company produces. Coca Cola: an Entrepreneurship based on Establishing a Monopoly The best example is Coca-Cola; when it comes to soft drinks, the first word on everyone’s lips is coca-cola. Such is the dominance of the company, that it can be considered the global monopoly of soft drinks. It holds over 70% of the market share for soft drinks on a global scale. As a result, the company is able to generate large volumes of revenue, which can be used for aggressive advertisement (Howkins, 2001). Though it has established itself as a soft drink monopoly, Coca-cola does not rest on this accomplishment. It is constantly seeking new ma rkets to enter, such as the water market. Coca-cola has entered the juice market and is looking into venturing into the tea and coffee markets. This is evident of the company’s ambitions, which are evidence of quality entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is important in the revival of companies. Employing the right CEO or chairman is the fine line between success and failure of a company. Experience is the best teacher that serves to educate entrepreneurs

Philosophy of Education Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of Education Essay The word â€Å"teacher† does the profession no service. A teacher is really a combination of the most important professions in the world. Besides the parents, an educator is the biggest influence in a child’s life. The age span in which children are in school is the most impressionable years of their lives. A student’s educational experience can mold the events of his or her future. That is why I want to become a teacher. I want to be a mold for younger generations, and I hope for students to remember a knowledgeable and ethical teacher. Beliefs I feel the student should come to school willing to learn and the teacher should come ready to teach! The student’s role is just as important as the teachers; the student’s expectations of the teacher should be for her to teach and help them learn at all times. Teachers also play an important role in the classroom when it comes to the environment. If the teacher prepares a warm, happy environment, students are more likely to be happy. An environment set by the teacher can be either good or bad. If students feel the teacher is angry, students may react badly to that and therefore learning can be harder. I think teachers are responsible for the social behavior in their classrooms. This behavior is primarily a reflection of the teachers actions and the environment he/she sets. Metaphysics We are all here for a purpose and I believe that, that is to live for God and follow his way of life. It is hard to know what you are really on earth for until you find it through him! Some teachers will find it hard to keep the focus on the classroom do to all the other outside distractions but, I strongly believe that is you were meant to be a teacher then you will find a way to look past the bad and find the good. Why am I here? I think I am here to help children follow their dreams and make it through school easier than I did. When I become a teacher I want to be the best ever! I want to see that smile on the kids’ faces after I teach them something amazing. Progressivism I want to teach from some aspects of the progressivism style which focuses on respect for individuality, high regard for science, and learning from experience. I want to teach the children in my classroom to have respect for each other. This is a quality that will help them to be successful in society because if they respect others, then others will have respect for them. Having respect for others also shows that they have respect for themselves. I also want children to learn by hands-on activities. I will direct them from step to step and demonstrate how to do each step in the activities they perform. These activities make learning more interesting for the children because the children are able to get involved instead of just always watching the teacher do everything. Speaking of the children getting involved, they can really get involved when learning in a different atmosphere when on field trips. I feel taking children on field trips is an effective learning experience for them because it allows children to get out of the classroom setting and learn from a different perspective. In addition I want to focus on sciences because they are an important area in the knowledge of children. I think this growing area of our society should be focused on thoroughly because science advances and improves every day and I feel children should be aware of their changing world. Constructivism I feel like this is the main reason why I should teach and why I want to teach, I have learned so much though school and it has molded me to become who I am today. I learn a lot through experience and what I know will make me a better teacher it will help me relate to the ones that hate school or the ones that think they can’t do it. It’s all a process and the way you take the steps is how I think you will show others so you have to help them with their process and make sure that it doesn’t go bad or in the wrong direction. I plan to continue my education so that I may make teaching my profession. After graduation, I hope to find a position in an elementary school teaching in one of the first through sixth grade classes. I feel that elementary education is extremely important because it is here that children establish their foundation for the rest of the educational career. My goal and desires are to have the opportunity to touch a child’s life.

Group Engagement Exercise Essay Example for Free

Group Engagement Exercise Essay The experience of this week’s Engagement Exercise made clear to me one idea that I am posting here as the hypothesis: Time and the need for joint efforts are absolutely necessary for the collective of individuals to become a group. Several people put together formally will never become a group, not to mention a team. Two factors are absolutely necessary: time and joint work. Time allows people to get accustomed to each other, understand the processes more clearly, and define their own roles within the group. During our first experience of joint work, I felt a bit uncomfortable because of a slight degree of uncertainty concerning who does what, how it all is organized, and what my role in this process should be. This time, the experience was more successful as we all had had a prior experience of working in small groups on a similar task. The team was different now, and I am curious if it influenced the effectiveness and if the result could be better in case we worked in the same team. We had time to reflect on our prior experience, draw conclusions, and re-establish our own roles. In short, time is tantamount to experience in this case. The need for joint efforts was also a powerful consolidating factor. Each of us understood that our individual success depends on our work now, on how effectively we can work together. None of us could do the task alone for it could not be graded then, so we were compelled by the circumstances to combine our efforts. Thus, each of us was interested in effective team work. Under such circumstances, we began to think of our group as â€Å"we† and not â€Å"I† versus â€Å"them†. And, as Johnson and Johnson (2009) note, â€Å"the one-word test to detect whether someone is on the road to becoming a leader is we† (p. 202). As a result, I found my role to be more active and I am more satisfied with this exercise than with the previous one. I participated in the work process actively as well as the others. I find this exercise to be very important in terms of learning to be a participant-observer. The previous exercise provided us with the material for observation; the discussion provided opportunities for giving and receiving feedback; we could reflect upon this experience and see what could be improved. So, this time we all tried to modify our behavior. I am sure that the further exercises will bring even more understanding and experience.

Media Convergence: Advantages and Disadvantages

Media Convergence: Advantages and Disadvantages Introduction The electronic highway of information that is girdling the world has brought an end to the Gutenberg era. Transition from a â€Å"stones throw away† world to a â€Å"click away† world has changed the way we live, interact, socialize and work. It has also changed the way we perceive culture, people, processes, objects i.e. life in short. The high speed network fabric has rendered geographical boundaries irrelevant. A few years back it may have sounded like an idea by Slartibartfast from the legendary planet of Margarathea(from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) but with the advent of technological platforms this aint a far-fetched idea any longer but is the reality of the present times. It all began with the technological outburst which led to the availability of various platforms that helped to efficiently maximize the transfer of information. The degree of separation between the company and the consumer has reduced considerably. Branding Redefined Branding is no longer the privilege of the larger conglomerates or the big pockets. With the advent of technology and the significant reduction in the costs associated with branding, smaller companies that are taking branding seriously have cropped up like mushrooms. The competition is much tougher and there is this race of owning properties both online and real to cut out the competition. In the context of sports we can take the example of the Indian Premier League (IPL) the largest sport event in India this year. So there would be sponsors for IPL who would demand exclusivity. This is applicable across industry sectors- say a sponsor of something like MTV Roadies who would end up owning the content rights of the show- just to kick competition out of the advertising sphere for the show. The questions that loom large are â€Å"Has the traditional media died?† or â€Å"Has it just reduced to a mere supporting media?† or â€Å"Have the rules of the game changed?† or â€Å"Is it a new game altogether?† Brand experience is both emotional and functional. It is not only a promise that a company makes, or an assurance to the quality of the product as mentioned by Aaker(1991) but it also has a psychological role to play. They make you feel good about yourself or are an expression of yourself. They also fulfil social needs like a sense of affiliation or belongingness to a community or a group of people who think alike. The very fact that names like Arsenal, Manchester United of the English Premier League (EPL) are household names in a country like India where nothing but Cricket sells, shows the growth of sports branding. This phenomenon has been more evident in the recent past all because of the media convergence (Kerr,2008). There are fan communities where people can discuss their teams, interact with people with similar sentiments, vent their anger when a player does not perform and share their grief when their team loses. The arrival of sport channels has provided a medium to the broadcasters to telecast all kinds of sports and not just cricket. There is as much of motor sports, basketball, tennis and football as there is cricket. The question that pops up next is, what is the brand? Is it the player, the club or is it Football the game itself? If yes, how has a little white ball and a green field inspired the most successful brand principles that has led to true brand management? The concept of a sport being a brand may sound a little ridiculous at first, but the figures dont lie. A Brand Finance survey conducted in 2005 revealed that Manchester United had a brand value of  £197m, Liverpool a value of 156m, Chelsea  £137m and Arsenal a brand value of  £115mn. Indian Premier League (IPL) The Sport Renaissance in India India has two primary religions Bollywood and Cricket. The only differentiating factor that sets sports entertainment apart from the rest is the passion that it commands and the real time execution. The cricket economy world over is 1bn USD to which India contributes to more than 60%. This includes revenues from ticket sales, sponsorship, endorsements and broadcasting rights. In 2008 the remote wars in the households in India had struck a truce as all the members in the family were glued onto one thing -the IPL for their own different reasons. Be it the glamour, be it the sport, be it the uniqueness of the concept or be it the hype around the event, IPL redefined entertainment. The General Entertainment Channels (GECs) observed a huge dip in the Television Rating Points. Nothing had grabbed the attention of the masses the classes at such a scale ever before. Next year IPL struck again-grander and better. The GECs delayed the launch of new shows as they were sure they had nothing that could compete against the IPL. Such is the potential for the Sport Industry in India. The IPL 09 had rung the death knell of the whole arena of player management in India as small size sponsors signed the best of the players in the Indian team for a year at dead cheap prices. This fiasco happened due to the deals that the IPL Franchise had with these sponsors and the players were bound by it. This was the reason why we saw Master Blaster Sachin, Zaheer and Harbhajan promoting Luminous Invertors and Sehwaag advertising for Jetkings an equipment hardware manufacturer. Is it truly about club over country? The club format brought to the public light through the IPL has shattered the myth that sports in India is about national identity and patriotism? In the auction the highest bid jersey was not that of Tendulkar or Ganguly, it was Khans 11. It has given rise to a lot of questions What is it that makes a person support the Mumbai Indians or the Kolkatta Knight Riders? Is it Sachin, Sehwag, Shilpa or Shahrukh? Is it the success of the team or the strategy that they employ when at the field? The other areas of concern would be has this concept of IPL revolutionized the way sport is consumed in India? Will the spectators be interested in an IPL match over India vs Pakistan Test Match? The Moment of Truth in the IPL that made its success eminent was the fact that the crowd actually cheered when Sachin was bowled by Bret Lee. This is an indicator of the fact that sports in India is in the throes of evolution. People are open to accepting it as an entertainment option than a patriotic struggle. Literature Review What is Media Convergence? Britannica Encyclopaedia says, â€Å"Media Convergence is a phenomenon that involves the interlocking of computing and information technology companies, telecommunication networks and content providers from the various media platforms like magazines, newspapers, radio, television, films and the likes. It also says that Media Convergence is the confluence of the 3 Cs Communication, Content and Computing†. According to Henry Jenkins who is a highly respected media analyst and one of the foremost leading experts on the convergence culture paradigm, as well as, the DeFlorz Professor of Humanities and the Founder and Director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT states that, â€Å"the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behaviour of media audiences is what constitutes media convergence†. It is not just the confluence of the traditional and the new digital media but it is also about the unpredictable ways of interaction and association of the consumers and producers of media. It is not solely technological but there is a huge gamut of socio- cultural paradigm shifts that have changed the way the consumer evaluates a product, makes his decision and his social interactions to seek information. It also includes the experience that the producer of the media makes the consumer go through (Viau, 2 001). The world is witnessing the new forms of media in which they have a larger control over the types of feeds they receive, the ease with which they can interact with not just the media but with the media provider as well. This has brought a whole new dimension of competition to the traditional media platforms. This has also led to a lack of dependence of the consumers on any particular media which in turn translates to lesser loyalty. Benefits of Media Convergence: The content creators can use the platform to generate customized content that is targeted at a specific group. This has also brought about a change in the dynamics of economy as distribution and cost structure is not the same in traditional media. It has brought about a sense of Post Modernism to the field of media consumption where the consumer is not an audience but is also a co creator. This has also brought about a change in the experience that a person goes through by consuming media. It has transcended the limitations of the traditional media. Negatives of Media Convergence: This has brought in a certain amount of unpredictability in the responses that a media would receive. With the audience being exposed to a plethora of media platforms it gets tough to understand what has had what kind of effect on the consumer. Media Convergence has brought about a shift in the control that the content creator had over its property. With the advent of blogs, mobiles and emails the consumers are exposed to large amount of unbranded content. This has led to an increase in the competition for consumers time and attention that the content creators face. Is Sport an Industry? Does industry necessarily comprise of a product or service? NO! It could be an offering that is neither of the two but is consumed by the people. Entertainment is an industry and so is religion. Thus Sport is an industry too which comprises of selling sports or selling through sports. Be it the events, leagues and the tickets to view these or the marketing of products through sports- which would include merchandize, licensing and sponsorship (Mason, 1999). The figure below represents a model of the Sport Industry Parallels can be drawn between Sports and a Consumer Product. Below is a representation of the value chain of the sports industry. Sport as a product can be consumed in different ways- playing, watching, reading or being entertained by it. The level of involvement of the consumers -fans in the sports jargon, differs for each of the way. â€Å"Football is a million dollar industry. The sport has a long heritage in UK and has the most prestigious premiership in the world and has attracted players from all four corners of the globe. Most importantly, football inspires passion and the big four, Chelsea Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool FC, are among the most valuable brands in the country†, says Ruth Mortimer- a sports marketing blog owner. What is a Sports Brand? What constitutes a sports brand is questionable. It depends on what the product is? Is the league a product or is it the clubs in the league that constitute the product (Goldman, 1989; Grauer, 1983; 1989; Gray, 1987)? It is argued that the league can be taken as a cartel of these entities i.e. the clubs. This would determine the marketing strategies for the league and the clubs. But whatever the case be both are brands in themselves. If football is the category EPL can be taken as the Umbrella Brand and the clubs like Manchester United, Chelsea and the likes would constitute the sub brands. Even the players would be brands in their own respect. If Beckham is the brand then it is dedicated, suave and down to earth (Milligan, 2004). Manchester United stands for excitement and great entertainment all so because right from Cantona to Giggs to Rooney and Ronaldo, the club has stalwarts who are both excellent at the game and are trend setters in their own way. Hence there is a clearly identifiable brand proposition (Baeur et al, 2005). How are sport brands different from the product brands? NBA Franchise was the first to realize the potential of brand building and what organized marketing can do to fuel revenue generation. Andy Mulligan(2009), says, â€Å" Brands are often, somewhat lazily by some people, equated with pure commercialism and worse still with a kind of fluffy marketing that is about spin and not substance.† He is of the view that though Sport is a huge industry, managing teams is not in the least similar to managing a business. The very premise that a business is a tradable property sets it apart. A team is a repository of emotional associations that fans world over share and build. Hence sports team is not a business but it could definitely be a brand as its an identity and a promise that the consumers believe in and an experience that they live. The association of a spectator with a specific club is enhanced by the collaborative play of â€Å"local, national or emotional identifications† (Whannel, 1992, p. 199) or by the un-certainty of the outcome of the game (Clapson, 1992).The degree of association of the club and the spectator is so high that he develops a strong sense of affiliation with the club. He feels proud and celebrates the victories and is all gloomy over the losses. This phenomenon has been termed as Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRG) (Cialdini et al., 1976). Media and Sports The globalization, the opening up of trade barriers, this era of media convergence, the popularity of the internet, and the ever increasing number of netizens has revolutionized the sports industry. The advancements in communication technology provide omniscient access to all kinds of leagues that a team plays in. This coupled with the 24X7 dedicated sport channels has opened up a whole new arena of entertainment. Today the English Premier League and Formula 1 are as popular in the Asia Pacific as they are in Europe. Earlier people used to watch just the league finals but now they have the option to follow their favourite teams irrespective of their geographic location and time. The qualifiers for the Champions League or the NASCAR have a sizeable number of viewers as does the grand finale. When Real Madrid signed the superstar David Beckham, the live telecast of the ceremony attracted more than 2 million eyeballs (Hatfield, 2003). Games of Houston Rockets had a viewership of over 30 million Chinese viewers who tuned in just to watch Yao Ming- their fellow citizen battle the National Basketball Associations (NBA) finest (Larmer, 2005). Manchester United has a huge fan base of close to 24 million in China alone which is more than the number of viewers in Britain. More than half a billion people tune in to watch the weekly games world over. (Datson, 2004). The popularity that these sports command has attracted the attention of sponsors and advertisers. The teams themselves have realized the large potential that the world of marketing has in store. They have capitalized on this opportunity and the audience sentiment by branding themselves. They have a prominent presence across the various levels, be it Below the Line or Above the Line. We have Team Anthems, Jerseys, Videos, Events, Parties, Posters- ALL OF IT! Manchester Uniteds branded licensed jerseys sell more in the USA as compared to all the other Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs combined. The number of hardcore fans has been approximated to a good 4 million in North America alone. Japanese tour groups spent US$500 million on just the tickets and souvenirs from the New York Yankees. All so to watch Hideki Matsui the outfielder from Japan. This was more than five times what the presence of Ichiro Suzuki in Seattle Mariners generated (Whiting, 2003). Internet statistics tell the same story. There are more satellite fans to the NBA. 40% of visitors to the website log on from outside the States and a humongous 20% of the licensed merchandise is sold overseas (Eisenberg et al., 2003). Global Sports Industry Recession When the whole world is in the throes of recession, sports is one industry sector that has not been as badly affected as the others and was quick enough to bounce back within a year. Loss of sponsorship, events being cancelled, biggies withdrawing from the arena; these are some of the development the sports industry has witnessed in the recent past. On one hand we have been witnessing things like Honda, Kawasaki and Subaru withdrawn from motorsport Manchester United lose  £56 million AIG shirt sponsorship US National Football League indicates it will cut workforce by 10% Tiger Woods loses five year $8 million endorsement contract with Buick Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games takes out additional $800 million loan to cover financial shortfall 2009 Indian Masters golf tournament cancelled Arena Football League in US cancelled for the season On the other hand the world witnessed the largest ever viewership and increasing advertising spend TV viewership increased to 1 million (97.4m to 98.4m); advertising investment up $20 million (from $186 million to $206 million) at the Super bowl 2009 Manchester City sold for  £200million+ in summer 2008 Premier League signs new live TV rights deal for  £1.78 billion, surpassing previous deal Badminton England signs record-breaking sponsorship deal with Yonex Manchester United and City will both sign lucrative, record-breaking shirt sponsorship deals if the rumors are to be believed Sports Scenario in India The Sports arena in India has been dominated by cricket for quite some time now. But with the converging media and the Westernization sports like soccer, basketball, motor racing have observed an increasing fan base. A look at the Audience and Viewership data from TAM is enough to prove this point. Cricket is followed by soccer, tennis and wrestling. The reason for the monopoly of cricket is simple. Cricket is the only sport where India has made a mark in the International arena and which still holds hope for Indians to win over others. This has provided it the status of religion in India. The other popular sports would include Soccer, Tennis and Motor Sports as revealed by a TAM report. This marks the herald of a whole new era of sports entertainment and marketing. Below is an overview of the size of the sports industry in India IPL- The Story so Far India has two religions Bollywood and Cricket and the whole country was awestruck when the two joined hands. IPL is all about glamour, excitement and passion. It works on a franchise model where each of team is owned by an industrialist, a celebrity or is a joint venture. There was an auction to own the clubs and then there was an auction to make the team and select the players. This was the golden time for the Cricket Board in India as it made a lot of profits. Franchise rights were tendered with a reserve price of USD 50mn for 10 yrs. The owners get a percentage of the revenue that the team earns and has other streams like merchandising to mint money from too. The primary difference between the IPL and the English Premier League was the fact that in IPL there was a cap on the amount of money that could be spent in building a team. Unlike EPL where the teams that are backed by the deeper pockets manage to buy the best of the players and end up winning the tournaments and the others are a t a competitive disadvantage. Apart from this sponsorship on Television and the ground constitutes a huge chunk of the revenues that the board and the team earn. The IPL website had 50mn page views in the first week and had received 530,000 column cm of stuff written about it in the newspapers in the Season 1. The opening match in Delhi had a Television Rating Point(TRP) of 7.19 which was the highest for any event in India ever. It had a TRP of 6.7 amongst women which is a considerable number considering the fact that Indian women are generally not much into watching sports. Thus we see that it aint just a mere entertainment option but is an industry in itself. The Need Gap The clubs are no longer just teams whose players lend it its brand value. There is a huge industry of sports merchandize, events and the likes that thrives on this its a culture in itself. Keeping this in mind I plan to study formats like the EPL and NBA which are brands in themselves and arrive at the factors that lead to the success of such brands. India as a nation provides huge potential to market these brands. It is not just the passion for the sport or the sentiment of belongingness to a particular nation that commands loyalty. There are several other factors that have converted sports clubs or teams into one of the most valued brands world over. Therefore there is a knowledge gap that exists. It is to study what these factors are and what are the things that affect these factors? Parallels can be drawn between the sports industry in India and in nations abroad which in turn would help marketing sports, teams and clubs as brands in a nation like India- which is a burgeoning economy and holds great prospects for such brands. Research Objectives To understand how sports branding has grown as an industry in the West, taking EPL, NBA, Formula 1 as a case study. To understand the consumer perception of sports as a brand in India by conducting a research amongst the audiences To understand how media convergence has led to the popularity and the cult like fan following of Western sports in India To analyze the Indian sports industry and devise a marketing strategy for building a sports brand in the Indian context Research Methodology Research Design A fan â€Å"represents an association from which the individual derives considerable emotional and value significance† (Madrigal, 1995, pp. 209-210). Thus it is not equivalent to being a spectator. Therefore to understand their behaviour and attitude statistical data about what they watch and how often do they watch does not help in the quest to understand what makes them a fan. Therefore the research methodology would be a mix of quantitative and qualitative as both have their own advantages and contributions to making this study more fruitful. Quantitative studies use the deductive logic to explain social facts (Horna, 1994, p. 121) and thus would help in understanding the behavioural component. This would help in understanding what the crowd constitutes of and what are the primary scalable attitudes exhibited by them. But this fails to explain the underlying reasons for such behaviour, things that differentiate a fan from a spectator. Thus, qualitative study becomes important too. Qualitative methods help in exploring the cognitive components. It also helps explaining the longitudinal behaviour of things rather than a mere snapshot of the present scenario which could be gauged from the quantitative. In depth interviews would be the preferred technique as we seek to understand the reasons why an individual behaves the way he does and not really the collective opinion of a group. The quantitative research can be carried out by administering a questionnaire online and in person. Some statistics can also be gathered from the various databases and research data available publicly. Sampling The research aims to understand how the emergence of media affected the attitude of the people towards Sports in general and the club culture in particular. It is conducted to understand what is it that makes them commit their loyalties to a particular team and how does this affect the economics of the industry. Only SEC A and B are considered based on the assumption that the SECs lower than this dont contribute much. Females have been considered as recent researches show that there are an increasing number of women who have started following sports and participating in it. Hence their opinion and perception could be a valuable contribution. Expected Contribution After studying the responses from the sample, the research would help arrive at answers to various questions regarding the future of the sports industry in India. Questions like where is the industry headed? What kind of sport would sell? How do the sports brands communicate to the people? How has the convergence of media affected their understanding of the sports industry? Apart from this it would help brand managers and sports consultants to design the branding strategies for the various sports brands so that they can sustain themselves in this highly competitive and unpredictable market. Secondary Research: Marketing of Professional Sports Professional sports started with the leagues specializing in one kind of sport which would run for a season and the league enjoyed a monopoly in the arena. But with the advent of infrastructural facilities and increased investments in the industry of sport management there are multiple leagues fighting for the share of eye and heart. They fight for consumers who have a plethora of other entertainment options to select from. Thus the competition in not limited to just the sports industry but is with the larger entertainment industry (Grauer, 1989). The one thing that makes professional sports appealing to the audiences is the uncertainty of the results. The adrenaline rush that the spectator experiences with every passing minute is dramatic and cannot be derived from staged content. â€Å"Like other forms of entertainment, sport offers a utopia, a world where everything is simple, dramatic and exciting, and euphoria is always a possibility Sport entertains, but can also frustrate, annoy and depress. But it is this very uncertainty that gives its unpredictable joys their characteristic intensity (Whannel,1992, p. 199)†. The intensity of appeal and engagement with the sport is further enhanced by the association that an individual has with the sport and if there are stakes that he has in the outcome. The concept of Basking in Reflected Glory(BRIG) talks about the highest degree of association where a fan is a loyal even if the team does not perform well(Cialdini, 1976). Initially the sports leagues were owned by individuals or entrepreneurs but with the growing popularity it has achieved the status of an industry and has been successful in attracting corporate and has taken a more formal structure than a mere source of entertainment. It is due to the involvement of these corporations outside the realm of professional sports management that has brought in newer revenue streams like merchandizing and sponsorships. This model of corporate ownership of a league or a club was started in the USA and was later adopted by the leagues in the continents of Europe and Australia. The biggest advantage of this is that the teams are backed by deep pockets and investment into a team is a part of the investment portfolio of the corporation and not the main business area. Companies like Blockbuster, Disney and Turner from the North American industry of entertainment and broadcasting have benefitted from their presence in professional sports (Cousens and Slack, 1996) . This has also helped Rupert Murdoch to extend his empire across the globe. This has also helped in attracting better players as the salaries are far better, improved facilities to train and huge advertising expenditures to build the fan base. The corporations are not buying into the uncertainty of the game by owning a team but are using the reputation of the team to fuel their interests. For example the treaty between FOX network and the National Football League was not really a profitable venture for the broadcast network as it had to overbid to acquire the rights but as Murdoch puts it, â€Å"it has made [FOX] a real network in the US†(Swift, 1995). Globalization of the Leagues â€Å"Professional sports leagues are now a part of the powerful recreation and entertainment sector of the economy. In addition, sports have â€Å"delocalised†; the global marketplace has made sports less attached to specific places, particularly those which have world-wide appeal, such as football and basketball (Euchner, 1993)†. Satellite TV and Internet has sped up the delocalization of professional sports by making the content available across the globe in real time. The total income of the â€Å"Big 5† football leagues in Europe in the year 2005-06 was  £12.6 billion ($18.54 billion) (Deloitte and Touche 2007), out of which the Barclays English Premier League(EPL) was the largest contributor, generating revenues as high as à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 2 billion. The most sought after customers of the industry would be the fans as they are loyal and facilitate generating the revenues required to rope in the best players and management. The media analysts refer the players, the clubs and the leagues as the â€Å"brand† (Globalisation of the league, Dr. Bridgewater, 2007). The brands in this industry are not same as the rest but there are strategies that remain the same. When a FMCG brand has to be made global, what companies generally do is start operations in the country where they would like to have a presence. Similarly, the leagues involve other nations or players that have a different nationality to increase the audience base which in turn would lead to building up the fan base which constitutes the target segment for the merchandise. For example the National Football League (NFL) in the USA announced the first competitive game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants in October 2007, more than a 50,000 tickets were sold within 3 days of the announcement. The buyers comprised of local and expatriate fans. This is representative of the fact that there is huge potential in this industry sector. The number of â€Å"E Loyals†- people who dont hold a season ticket or have been to watch a live match but support the game and the club as they have been exposed to it online or on TV- has been rising in the last few years. They are a segment that is as likely to buy the merchandise as a fan who is a regular at the stadium. Pennants, caps, shirts, flags, bands and other team branded articles are what have led to an increase in the revenues and facilitated penetration in other geographic markets (Cousens and Slack, 1996). English Premier League (EPL) -A Case Study English Premier League is a leading association of professional football clubs in the European Union. It has 20 clubs that play in the league every year and follows the system of relegation. Each of these clubs is a shareholder to the league. The EPL came into existence in 1992 when the First Division in the Football League decided to part ways from the Football League as it had struck a lucrative deal for television broadcast rights. It has the largest revenues in the football arena, close to a $4mn in 2007-08. It is perceived to be more glamorous, entertaining and action centred as compared to the rest of the European Leagues like the Serie A and La Liga in Spain. Premier League has undoubtedly grown to be a global brand. The global fan base of the leading international football brands such as Real Madrid and Manchester United runs in millions of British Pounds and â€Å"shows no sign of waning† (Deloitte â€Å"Football Money League†,2008) What is it that determines a persons identification with a club? A Research conducted in 2002 has identified 5 important factors that govern the association of fans with the team. These are primarily the support that the team gathers at the venue the management of the team the traditions, values, legacy that it entails the social entertainment factor i.e. the fan community that it h

Go Tell It On A Mountain - Sum Essay -- essays research papers

Part One- The Seventh Day: 1. Summary- The story starts by introducing the active role of church in John’s and his family’s life. Various activities occur on Sunday in church, such as school, hymns, and preaching. On the morning of his birthday, he wakes up to lay in bed, pondering on his past birthdays and events. He falls asleep to wake up late and head to breakfast. Roy’s hardheaded personality is introduced here through an argument with his mother. The argument was based on their father, and his abusive behavior. After breakfast, John is assigned to sweep the front room, which is just one of his many labors around the house. He takes a pause to think of what kind of birthday this is, where no one even remembers it. But his mother comes through and gives him some change to get a gift for himself, so he runs out to the city. On his way there, rage fills him and he daydreams about the white folk in the city looking at him with respect. Respect of him because he’ll own the city. Reality strikes him and he realizes that the people don’t even notice him. After using the money for a movie, he arrives back at home finding out that Roy had been in an incident. His father, aunt, and mother have a dispute and then the next day John heads to church early to open up and clean up. Him and Elisha (a brother and preacher of the church) have a talk. John is told to think about being saved, just as Elisha had been saved. Part Two- The Prayers of the Saints: Florence’s Prayers 1. Summary- This next chapter focuses on John’s aunt, Florence. It begins with Florence at church, she is sorry for her sin yet doesn’t remember how to pray. A few nights before, she had received a threatening message repeatedly and even saw death. The story then jumps back to her youth, where she worked as a servant-girl. She lived with her mother and younger brother, Gabriel. Florence had been a child hood friend with John’s mother, Deborah. Gabriel would be the “apple of her [his mother] eyes';; he would be sent to school, fed more, and treated more specially. For this reason, Florence would resent her brother; she wanted to learn far more than her brother ever did. The story jumps back to John and what he sees in church for a brief moment, then goes in to talk about Florence’s husband... ... confusing chapter of the book. From what I read, it seems that John is on the threshing floor with all these emotions and events going through his head. At first he hears voices, but it’s confusing to tell whom it is coming from. The second set of voices came from above that sounds like his family. As John cries for help, his father comes to the rescue. The assistance is rejected because john does not want to be like his father. Then his father attempts to lead him up the road, but John resists. John thinks for a while and found out how the devil is toying with John. Elisha comes to the rescue by talking with John. This talk raised John’s faith and found his place before the Lord. His mother is happy and smiles, but yet John wants to make sure no one forgets. He tells Elisha, that no matter what happens, he was saved. He explains how he went to the valley and was saved. Elisha tells him that God won’t forget him, and leaves him with a kiss on the forehead. The story ends with a picture perfect scene with the sun out and all. But yet, his father does not smile at John when smiled at him, that is one thing I don’t understand about the ending. Go Tell It On A Mountain - Sum Essay -- essays research papers Part One- The Seventh Day: 1. Summary- The story starts by introducing the active role of church in John’s and his family’s life. Various activities occur on Sunday in church, such as school, hymns, and preaching. On the morning of his birthday, he wakes up to lay in bed, pondering on his past birthdays and events. He falls asleep to wake up late and head to breakfast. Roy’s hardheaded personality is introduced here through an argument with his mother. The argument was based on their father, and his abusive behavior. After breakfast, John is assigned to sweep the front room, which is just one of his many labors around the house. He takes a pause to think of what kind of birthday this is, where no one even remembers it. But his mother comes through and gives him some change to get a gift for himself, so he runs out to the city. On his way there, rage fills him and he daydreams about the white folk in the city looking at him with respect. Respect of him because he’ll own the city. Reality strikes him and he realizes that the people don’t even notice him. After using the money for a movie, he arrives back at home finding out that Roy had been in an incident. His father, aunt, and mother have a dispute and then the next day John heads to church early to open up and clean up. Him and Elisha (a brother and preacher of the church) have a talk. John is told to think about being saved, just as Elisha had been saved. Part Two- The Prayers of the Saints: Florence’s Prayers 1. Summary- This next chapter focuses on John’s aunt, Florence. It begins with Florence at church, she is sorry for her sin yet doesn’t remember how to pray. A few nights before, she had received a threatening message repeatedly and even saw death. The story then jumps back to her youth, where she worked as a servant-girl. She lived with her mother and younger brother, Gabriel. Florence had been a child hood friend with John’s mother, Deborah. Gabriel would be the “apple of her [his mother] eyes';; he would be sent to school, fed more, and treated more specially. For this reason, Florence would resent her brother; she wanted to learn far more than her brother ever did. The story jumps back to John and what he sees in church for a brief moment, then goes in to talk about Florence’s husband... ... confusing chapter of the book. From what I read, it seems that John is on the threshing floor with all these emotions and events going through his head. At first he hears voices, but it’s confusing to tell whom it is coming from. The second set of voices came from above that sounds like his family. As John cries for help, his father comes to the rescue. The assistance is rejected because john does not want to be like his father. Then his father attempts to lead him up the road, but John resists. John thinks for a while and found out how the devil is toying with John. Elisha comes to the rescue by talking with John. This talk raised John’s faith and found his place before the Lord. His mother is happy and smiles, but yet John wants to make sure no one forgets. He tells Elisha, that no matter what happens, he was saved. He explains how he went to the valley and was saved. Elisha tells him that God won’t forget him, and leaves him with a kiss on the forehead. The story ends with a picture perfect scene with the sun out and all. But yet, his father does not smile at John when smiled at him, that is one thing I don’t understand about the ending.

Resolving Conflict and Overcoming Obstacles in Lorraine Hansberrys A R

Resolving Conflicts and Overcoming Obstacles in A Raisin In The Sun    In the play, A Raisin In The Sun, Mother tries to keep everything under control because she believes in her children and their dreams, yet understands that they still need to learn and strengthen their value's as they begin to realize their own aspirations. She is the head of the family around whom the conflicts arise and are resolved. After the death of her husband, Mother struggles to keep her family together by providing the support and guidance they need, and encouraging them to use good judgment and think of the family as a whole before making their decisions. As the family faces various obstacles, each seemingly more severe t... ...in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. New York. Basic Books, 1988. Patterson, James T.   Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York. Oxford University Press,1996. Wilkerson, Margaret B. "The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine Hansberry." Black American Literature Forum 17.1 (1983): 8-13. Resolving Conflict and Overcoming Obstacles in Lorraine Hansberry's A R Resolving Conflicts and Overcoming Obstacles in A Raisin In The Sun    In the play, A Raisin In The Sun, Mother tries to keep everything under control because she believes in her children and their dreams, yet understands that they still need to learn and strengthen their value's as they begin to realize their own aspirations. She is the head of the family around whom the conflicts arise and are resolved. After the death of her husband, Mother struggles to keep her family together by providing the support and guidance they need, and encouraging them to use good judgment and think of the family as a whole before making their decisions. As the family faces various obstacles, each seemingly more severe t... ...in the Sun.   New York:   Signet, 1988. May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound. New York. Basic Books, 1988. Patterson, James T.   Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974. New York. Oxford University Press,1996. Wilkerson, Margaret B. "The Sighted Eyes and Feeling Heart of Lorraine Hansberry." Black American Literature Forum 17.1 (1983): 8-13.

Robert Browning’s Andrea del Sarto Essay -- Andrea del Sarto

Robert Browning’s Andrea del Sarto Lucrezia del Sarto (To My Dear Husband) My dear husband, put away your plate of bread Or, pray you, hand it to the dogs; the sun Has but an hour to make its mid-way trek, And here sit you etching pewter with crust, And smearing cheese and jam with lazy thumbs. Ah, yes! Kiss me so. Then kiss me better To smother my lips. Your artlessness is What makes me smile so, dear, and not your kiss. No, I will speak. And should you be so kind As to listen, you’ll find me plainly spoken. Long last night, in my bed, I turned and turned; As much as I’d suffered your words while they Tumbled from your lips, I suffered them once More, and more fresh, fettered fast inside my head! Love, the night wore on, black, blank, and at last Thinned. But how you wear me! Tell me you shall Keep your promise to each one of the three: To myself, to my cousin, and to thee! I will tell you how I mean: Do life’s work, Honor your wife, your word, and yourself If it pleases you. But be first a man; No—a husband—above all else. Tell me, ’Tis possibly better to honor yourself? My dear husband, I have much in reply To offer your last eve’s soliloquy; So perhaps it shall suit you to gaze less Dumbly at my brow and more at my mouth Whilst I so plainly speak. Your talents do Not waste themselves on me. Do not doubt it. I am more certain of your skill than you May think. And so I am less humored by The fickle errantry of a mind which once Was sharp and sweet. My pride in you has waned. Pick, pick, pick, but never paint! Well enough, You say we are all only but in God’s Hands; ’Tis not God who binds you down, nor I! Your works have touched heaven, but you are low; God, you think, assign... ...ehind a play of words or a psychological puzzle, tempting his reader to dig for it there, later. I have come to appreciate the rich expressiveness inherent in the dramatic mono-logue format. Without actually stating or describing very much, the poet is able to depict a scene and its props, animate characters, and imply action, emotion, and rhthym for the audience. I discovered that each time I implied action on the part of either Lucrezia or Andrea, (â€Å"put away your plate . . . But even now you entwine me . . .†), I was, at the same time, implying action—and its accompanying emotion—on the part of the second character, as well. The poem becomes a dance—a dense, complex web of subtleties and surprises. This poetic form is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to mimic. It carries an intimacy which embraces the poet, the characters, and the reader all at once.

Study on the Historical Background of Parental Involvement

Although parents and instructors have interacted since schools were foremost formed in the United States, the construct of parental engagement has changed over clip ( Cutler, 2000 ) . In the early 19th century, parents and the community greatly controlled the actions of the schools. The place, church, and school supported the same ends for acquisition and for the integrating of the pupil into the grownup community ( Prentice and Houston, 1975 ) . The community, including the parents and church, were in control of the educational system by engaging instructors, developing the course of study, and turn toing maturity accomplishments necessary for their environment. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a different form of partnerships began. Parental authorization began to decrease and local school control could be seen in the increased authorization of province, county, and territory educational systems. During this clip period the school began to draw off from the community cognition and towards the educational expertness of the instructors. Up to this clip, it was thought that anyone could learn ( DeMoss, 1998 ) . Rearing was supplemented by direction and course of study in schools ( Berger, 1991 ) . Throughout this displacement, pupil coursework became enhanced in countries that the parents and community members did non hold cognition of or a background in. As a consequence, Epstein ( 2001 ) suggested that parents were expected to take on a different role-that of fixing their kids for school by leaving values, duty, and other normally held work moralss. During the 1960s, educational theoreticians and the federal authorities began to back the transition of statute law back uping such plans as Head Start, Home Start, and Follow Through ( Berger, 1991 ) . As schools became larger and more impersonal, beds of school bureaucratism were added. This made it hard for parents to go involved. The importance of enlisting parents and community members as spouses in instruction has been on the head since 1965. In the 1990 ‘s, the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary of Education Richard Riley shined a limelight on school, household, and community partnerships ( Epstein, 2001 ) . Currently, federal Torahs have required school territories to include parents to help in educating the young person of America. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act ( ESEA ) is a United States federal legislative act enacted on April 11, 1965 as an built-in portion of Lyndon B. Johnson ‘s â€Å" War on Poverty † . The passage of the ESEA revolutionized the federal authorities ‘s function in instruction. Prior to the jurisprudence ‘s transition, educational policy-making had been the close sole sphere of province and local authoritiess. The ESEA is the largest individual beginning of federal support for kindergarten through 12th grade instruction. It was the first federal act to apportion money straight to hapless schools, communities, and kids. Although it did non hold a direct connexion with parent and community engagement, this federal act led the manner to turn toing the demand for partnerships outside of the local school system. The Coleman Report, besides known as Equality of Educational Opportunity, was a research survey commissioned by the U. S. Department of Education in conformity with the freshly passed Civil Rights Act of 1964. Coleman ‘s study uncovered the cause of disparity between Black and White schools in America. The paper stated that public instruction did significantly impact the ability of pupils to make their full potency. The Coleman Report besides cited household environment as the significant factor for the successful academic accomplishment among those kids. James Coleman concluded that kids who lacked support or a value of instruction in their place were at a disadvantage and could non larn at the same rate as those pupils emerging from wealthier households valuing educational direction ( Coleman, 1966 ) . In 1975, Congress passed Public Law 94-142 ( Education of All Handicapped Children Act ) . In order to have federal financess, provinces must develop and implement policies that assure a free appropriate public instruction to all kids with disablements. In 1990, Public Law 94-142 was renamed to Persons with Disabilities Education Act ( IDEA ) . IDEA was reauthorized in 1997. IDEA includes cardinal rules to steer households and professionals to work together to heighten the educational chances for their kids. IDEA requires active parent engagement throughout the educational procedure, including the development of the kid ‘s Individualized Educational Program ( IEP ) . The overall end of this jurisprudence is to keep an equal and respectful partnership between schools and households ( The History of IDEA, 2004 ) . A noteworthy impact on parental engagement is a consequence of IDEA by promoting parents to recommend for their kid and to supply input for the class of their kid †˜s instruction. In the 1980s, the U.S. Department of Education every bit good as the National Association of State Boards of Education, along with assorted professional forte associations, took leading functions in developing theoretical accounts of successful parent-school coaction plans ( Berger, 1991 ) . By the 1990s, politicians every bit good as parents were progressively demanding answerability from public instruction and both entities encouraged federal statute law to mandate such answerability. Grolnick and Slowiaczek ( 1994 ) maintained that there was an increasing acknowledgment within development, sociological, and educational theories that both the school and place were critical establishments responsible for the socialisation and instruction of kids. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was reauthorized with the Improving America ‘s Schools Act ( IASA ) of 1994. The focal point of reauthorizing the ESEA was to alter the manner pedagogues deliver direction, promote comprehensive systemic school reform, strengthen answerability, and advance the coordination of resources to better instruction for all kids. The comprehensive school reform in this act was predicated on four cardinal rules: ( a ) high criterions for all pupils, ( B ) better trained instructors to learn to high criterions, ( degree Celsius ) flexibleness to excite local enterprise along with duty for consequences, and ( vitamin D ) advancing partnerships among households, communities, and schools ( National Education Goals Panel, 1995 ) . Although advancing partnerships among households, communities, and schools was a founding rule of the reauthorization of ESEA, Congress did non include a formal end focused on parental engagement until it reauthorization in 1994, when President Bill Clinton signed into jurisprudence the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. This act consisted of eight National Education Goals for the twelvemonth 2000. Goal 8 provinces: â€Å" By the twelvemonth 2000, every school will advance partnerships that will increase parental engagement and engagement in advancing the societal, emotional, and academic growing of kids † ( National Education Goals Panel, 1995 ) . Thus the end of parental engagement had changed from the proviso of inactive functions for parents in the 1980s to one of coaction and partnerships between schools and parents in the 1990s. The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, entitled the No Child Left Behind Act ( NCLB ) , continues a legislative committedness to parental engagement begun in 1965. Cardinal characteristics of the 1988 and 1994 reauthorizations, such as school-parent compacts, parental engagement policies, and the parental engagement support expression, remain predominately unchanged. However, the 2001 reauthorization represents a noteworthy displacement in the expected function of parental engagement in the schools. It includes new commissariats increasing parental presentment demands, parental choice of educational options, and parental engagement in administration. The new jurisprudence envisions parents non merely as participants, but besides as informed and empowered determination shapers in their kids ‘s instruction ( Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 2002 ) . Title I, Section 1118 is entirely devoted to rear engagement. Title I provides the nucleus elements that include many of the other parental engagement commissariats of NCLB. Epstein outlined the four rules characterized by Section 1118: ( 1 ) parental engagement requires multilevel leading, ( 2 ) parental engagement is a constituent of school and schoolroom organisation, ( 3 ) parental engagement recognizes the shared duties of pedagogues and households for kids ‘s acquisition and success in school, and ( 4 ) parent engagement plans must include all households, even those who are non presently involved, non merely the easiest to make ( 2005 ) . The first clip in history of the ESEA, federal jurisprudence contained a definition of parental engagement, which is: the engagement of parents in regular, bipartisan, and meaningful communicating affecting pupil academic acquisition and other school activities including: helping their kid ‘s acquisition ; being actively involved in their kid ‘s instruction at school ; functioning as full spouses in their kid ‘s instruction and being included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on consultative commissions to help in the instruction of their kid ( NCLB, Section 9101.32, 2002 ) . The NCLB confirms the importance of parent engagement. The declared intent of the NCLB legislative act is to â€Å" guarantee that all kids have a just, equal, and important chance to obtain a high-quality instruction and range, at a lower limit, proficiency on disputing State academic accomplishment criterions and province academic appraisals † ( U.S. Department of Education, 2001 ) . In a 2006, Appleseed Foundation study entitled â€Å" It Takes a Parent, † parental involvement elements of the NCLB were examined by a pool of 16 province and local organisations, in 18 school territories in six provinces. There were three decisions which emerged from the survey. First, despite federal authorizations and parental engagement research, school territories, and single schools had non wholly encompassed parental engagement as a primary pupil accomplishment scheme. The Appleseed Foundation ( 2006 ) suggested that this deficiency of widespread parental engagement in schools had been the consequence of several causes: The deficiency of clear and meaningful appraisals by which effectual parental engagement policies and plans could be measured. Limited consciousness and preparation on how to affect parents. A conjunct attempt to run into the answerability constituents of NCLB, such as proving and teacher quality, instead than parental engagement ( Appleseed Foundation, 2006 ) . Second, there was still a demand for bing parental engagement authorizations to be to the full understood, supported, and implemented. The Appleseed study ( 2006 ) recommended that province, territory, and school leaders work to implement the Torahs that soon exist. Third, a figure of promising parental engagement patterns and theoretical accounts emerged during the survey. The Appleseed study ( 2006 ) concluded that many parents did non have clear and timely information about their kids and their schools ; that poorness, linguistic communication, and cultural differences are barriers to parental engagement ; and school leaders do non uniformly value that parental engagement as an answerability scheme. Parental engagement continues to be studied by research workers, pedagogues, and parents who understand that parental engagement is an indispensable component in the success of pupils and schools. High accomplishing schools recognize that parents are a necessary constituent of the educational procedure. Schools and instructors are still being encouraged to travel parental engagement policies, plans, and patterns from the side to the head of their accomplishment scheme ( Appleseed, 2006 ) . Twenty-five old ages ago, Missouri pioneered the construct of assisting parents embrace their of import function as their kid ‘s first and best instructor. Today, Parents as Teachers continues to fit early childhood organisations and professionals with information and tools that are relevant-and widely applicable-to today ‘s parents, households and kids. The Parents as Teachers leading squad and Board of Directors is engaged in a three-year strategic program, which places the organisation as a valued spouse to back up the organisations and professionals who serve households and kids, particularly those most vulnerable. The construct for Parents as Teachers was developed in the 1970s when Missouri pedagogues noted that kids were get downing kindergarten with changing degrees of school preparedness. Research showed that greater parent engagement is a critical nexus in the kid ‘s development of larning accomplishments, including reading and authorship. Early on childhood professionals suggested that a plan to supply early sensing of developmental holds and wellness issues, and parent instruction to assist parents understand their function in promoting their kid ‘s development from the beginning could assist better school preparedness and parent engagement. With support from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and The Danforth Foundation, Parents as Teachers began in 1981 in Missouri as a pilot undertaking for first-time parents of neonates. Acknowledging the plan ‘s benefits and cost effectivity, the Missouri legislative assembly provided province support in 1985 to implement Parents as Teachers plans in all Missouri school territories. Since 1985, Parents as Teachers has expanded to all 50 provinces and seven other states ( Parents as Teachers, 2010 ) . The Parent/Family Involvement Resolution was adopted on November 14, 2005, by the Missouri State Board of Education. Within the declaration the Missouri State Board of Education believes that schools must make an environment that is contributing to larning and that strong, comprehensive parent/family engagement is an of import constituent. Parent/family engagement in instruction requires a concerted attempt with functions for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, school territories, parents/families, and communities ( Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2005 ) .Parental Involvement ResearchThe common wisdom is that parental engagement and strong schools are inseparable-that you can non hold on without the other. Research indicates a strong nexus between parental engagement and pupil accomplishment ( Hester, 1989 ) . Harmonizing to Vandergrift and Greene ( 1992 ) , parent engagement has two independent constituents: parents as protagonists and pa rents as active spouses. Concentrating on one of these constituents entirely is non a sufficient attack to parental engagement. The ideal is the parent who is both supportive and active. Hester ( 1989 ) discusses parental engagement from the following position: parents as instructors, parents as protagonists of activities, parents as scholars and parents as advocators. Hester besides emphasizes the importance of communicating with parents as an of import portion of engagement. The research on parental engagement in the field of instruction references parents ‘ activities in support of larning at place, in school, and in the community. Joyce Epstein, a taking research worker in the field of parental engagement, identified and studied multiple steps of parental engagement ( Epstein, 1995 ) . As a consequence of this research, Epstein and her co-workers developed a model of six types of engagement with associated activities, challenges, and expected consequences. Rearing: Help all households set up place environments to back up kids as pupils. Communication: Design effectual signifiers of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school plans and kids ‘s advancement. Volunteering: Recruit and form parent aid and support. Learning At Home: Provide information and thoughts to households about how to assist pupils at place with prep and other curriculum-related activities, determinations, and planning. Decision Devising: Include parents in school determinations, developing parent leaders and representatives. Collaborating With Community: Identify and integrate resources and services from the community to beef up school plans, household patterns, and pupil acquisition and development. There are many grounds for developing school, household and community partnerships. They can better school plans and school clime, provide household services and support and increase parent ‘s accomplishments and leading, connect households with others in the school and in the community and aid instructors with their work. However, the chief ground to make such partnerships is to assist childs win in school and in ulterior life ( Epstein, 1995 ) . The National Parent Teacher Association ( PTA ) Board of Directors ( 1993 ) has endorsed three types of parental engagement: Parents as the first pedagogues in the place, Parents as spouses with the schools, and Parents as advocators for all kids and young person in society. In 1997, the National PTA created and adopted the National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs in support of set uping quality parental engagement plans that enhance pupil acquisition and accomplishment. These criterions were based on Epstein ‘s ( 1987, 1992, 1995 ) theoretical account of parental engagement. As Fan and Chen ( 2001 ) found in their research, rearing manners, as a critical step of parent engagement, have been linked to student public presentation. Fan and Chen examined multiple steps of parent engagement. The research workers identified three concepts of parent engagement: communicating, supervising, and parental outlooks. Communication refers to parents ‘ frequent and systematic treatments with their kids about school assignment. Supervision includes monitoring when pupils return place from school and what they do after school, supervising clip spent on prep. Parental outlooks were found to be the most critical of the three. These include the mode and extent to which parents communicate their academic aspirations to their kids. Fan and Chen found that high outlooks of parents and pupil perceptual experiences of those outlooks are associated with enhanced accomplishment. The research grounds is now beyond difference. When schools work together with households to back up acquisition, kids tend to win non merely in school, but throughout life. In fact, the most accurate forecaster of a pupil ‘s accomplishment in school is non income or societal position, but the extent to which that pupil ‘s household is able to: Make a place environment that encourages larning Express high ( but non unrealistic ) outlooks for their kids ‘s accomplishment and future callings Become involved in their kids ‘s instruction at school and in the community ( Henderson, 1994 ) .Impact of Parental Involvement on Student AchievementParental engagement is perfectly indispensable to student accomplishment in school and in life. The overpowering surveies and research indicate that there are positive academic results stemming from parental engagement with benefits get downing in early childhood throughout adolescence and beyond ( Henderson & A ; Mapp, 2002 ; Patrikakou, Weisberg, Redding & A ; Walberg, 2005 ) . A kid ‘s acquisition is enhanced when schools encourage parents to excite their kids ‘s rational development. Numerous surveies have shown that the place environment has a powerful consequence on what kids and young person learn, non merely in school but outside of school as good. This environment is well more powerful than the parents ‘ income and instruction in act uponing what kids learn in the first six old ages of life and during the twelve old ages of primary and secondary instruction. One major ground that parental influence is so strong, is because the kids spend more than ninety per centum of their clip from babyhood throughout their childhood outside school under the influence of their parents. Therefore, finally the parents are their first and most of import instructor ( Weinstein & A ; Walberg, 1983 ; Peng & A ; Wright, 1994 ) . Epstein ( 1987 ) found that schools besides affect parent engagement degrees and grounds shows that parents want to go involved but are non allowed to hold unfastened communicating with the school. Conventional avenues for affecting parents in school can be closed to parents due to specific cultural cognition. Parents have a batch of trouble accommodating to the school civilization particularly in non English speech production communities, but cultural cognition is power and it can forestall parents from take parting to the full. Sheldon ( 2002 ) highlighted minimum resources parents get through societal webs as one ground parents are less involved in their kids ‘s instruction. Eccles and Harold ( 1993 ) found that less educated parents switch their attending off from school because they feel unequal to assist their kids with their prep. Henderson has examined the effects of parental engagement and pupil success since 1981. Her initial study, â€Å" The Evidence Grows † documented 35 surveies that showed important, measureable benefits for kids as a consequence of parental engagement. ‘When parents become involved in the kids ‘s schooling, they promote the development of attitudes that are a cardinal to academic accomplishment, attitudes that promote household interaction instead that its societal category or income. If schools treat parents as powerless or unimportant, or if they discourage parents from going involved, they promote the development of attitudes in parents, and accordingly their kids, that inhibit accomplishment ( Henderson, 1981 ) ‘ .