Movie Review on “The Promise” Essay

The movie entitled â€Å"The Promise† by Chen Kaige is a depiction of love and truth that lies beneath different circumstances of the characters. The promise is love where two people will unite as one in the end as they unravel their past. The main characters in the story are general Guangming, Qingcheng, and Wuhuan. These characters mould the story into an enthusiastic construction that leads to tremendous ending. This movie has been recognized in the whole country of China as well as the different parts of the world. Its recognition became remarkable for it brought cultural tradition to the heritage of China with the concept of true love and fate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The movie created huge effects for it shows the historical situation of China where territories are being built and dynasties are being produced. Though this movie is fictional, it shows the character of Chinese culture as it embodies the life of its people and the way how leaders utilize their powers and richness towards their region. This movie also shows that a man will fight in the battle to save his woman despite of all the risk and troubles that he may encounter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Based on my understanding in this movie, I have seen that along with other Chinese movies, this movie discussed how love prevails in any circumstance of life. It is somehow the opposite in today’s culture when men and women have no time to love one another because of their social equality. From the time when women became recognized in their country, they wanted to hasten their richness and become powerful but they already forgotten their traditional values about love and how it justified their being and essence as Chinese. However, the movie showcased great talents and effects as well as technicalities as it depicts the social realm of China during the year of dynastical love. Reference Kaige, C. The Promise.

Psalm 1, 23, 32

Psalm 1, 23, 32 Psalm 1, 23 and 32 is from the bible and these Psalms praise to the God by people. It is also the worship to God and shows that another way for pursuit of happiness is singing the Psalms or praising the God because people who believe in God think that they can be protect from troubles and forgiven their sins by God. By trusting that the God, they believe that they will be safe and not need to worry about their starvation or survival. They believe that God will provide them with all needs and even protects from their enemies.Psalm 1 describes about the three characteristics of a blessed man, and how he mediated with the law of the lord. The blessed man compared the God with a tree panted by the rivers of water, which yields its fruit I season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prosper. † The blessed man also compared the ungodly in the fourth sentence. He also mentions that the ungodly will not stand in the judgment and the sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous.He mentions that only the God know the way of the righteous. Psalm 23 is about the God is our shepherd, and describes about where the God lead us (2,3). It also describes about how the God restore the blessed man’s souls and guides him in the way of righteousness. In the fourth sentence, the blessed man describes about how people do not have fear when they walk through the valley of death and the fifth sentence describes that God has always prepare for us.The last sentence describes about how goodness and love follows us all the days of our life by God. Psalm 32 is about who is blessed (1,2) by God and describes about the result when one does not confess his sins (3,4). It also talks about the psalmist deal with his sins (5) and how the God would guide him (8). Finally, the ninth sentence mentions about what we are not to like as horse or mule (9).

Kansas City Hyatt Walkway Collapse

Kansas City Hyatt Walkway Collapse Introduction The Hyatt Regency Hotel was built in Kansas City, Missouri in 1978. This hotel consisted of a 40-story hotel tower and conference facilities, which were connected by an open concept atrium. Inside the atrium, there were three walkways that connected the hotel to the conference facilities on the second, third, and fourth floors. The atrium was 145 feet long, 117 feet wide and 50 feet high. On July 17, 1981, approximately 2,000 people had gathered in the atrium to participate in and watch a dance contest.Dozens stood on the walkways. At 7:05 PM, the walkways on the second, third, and fourth floor were packed with visitors as they watched over the active lobby, which was also full of people. The fourth floor bridge was suspended directly over the second floor bridge, with the third floor walkway set off to the side several meters away from the other two. Construction issues led to a subtle but flawed design change that doubled the load on the connection between the fourth floor walkway support beams and the tie rods carrying the weight of the second floor walkway.This new design could barely handle the dead load weight of the structure itself, much less the weight of the spectators standing on it. The connection failed and both walkways crashed one on top of the other and then into the lobby below, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others. Mainbody FIG-1 FIG-2 Originally, the 2nd and 4th floor walkways were to be suspended from the same rod (as shown in fig-1) and held in place by nuts.The preliminary design sketches contained a note specifying a strength of 413 MPa for the hanger rods which was omitted on the final structural drawings. Following the general notes in the absence of a specification on the drawing, the contractor used hanger rods with only 248 MPa of strength. This original design, however, was highly impractical because it called for a nut 6. 1 meters up the hanger rod and did not use slee ve nuts. The contractor modified this detail to use 2 hanger rods instead of one (as shown in fig-2) and the engineer approved the design change without checking it.This design change doubled the stress exerted on the nut under the fourth floor beam. Now this nut supported the weight of 2 walkways instead of just one Conclution FIG-3 FIG-4 Neither the original nor the as-built design for the hanger rod satisfied the Kansas City building code making the connection failure inevitable. If, however, the building design had contained more redundancy this failure may not have resulted in the complete collapse of the walkway.Kaminetzky (1991) suggests two much stronger design alternatives for the connectors. The toe-to-toe channels used in the Hyatt Regency provided for weak welding which allowed the nut to pull through the channel/box beam assembly initiating the collapse. A back-to-back channel design using web stiffeners when necessary (fig-3) or the use of bearing crossplates in conjun ction with the toe-to-toe channels (fig-4) would have made the connection much stronger making it much more difficult for the nut to pull throughReferences Engineering Ethics – Lessons Learned: Kansas City Hyatt Walkway Collapse http://www. pdhengineer. com/Course%20Web/Law%20and%20Ethics%20Courses/hyatt_walkway_collapse. htm â€Å"Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse†. School of Engineering, University of Alabama. http://www. eng. uab. edu/cee/faculty/ndelatte/case_studies_project/Hyatt%20Regency/hyatt. htm#Causes Kaminetzky, Dov, Design and Construction Failures: Lessons from Forensic Investigations (1991). McGraw-Hill, New York, N. Y.

Ethical Issues in Women's Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical Issues in Women's Health - Essay Example The problems are known to originate from societal influences associated with cultural beliefs and implications with regard to ethics (Smith, 2009). The greatest influence is the well-known traditional power imbalance in women. Women are expected to provide care, love and respect to the society without questioning the behavior and the decisions made by men. Gender imbalance is known to be the main cause of domestic violence, sexual assault women have also faced reproductive problem issues and women living in apt poverty giving birth to, many children and lack financial support from men (Smith, 2009). Majority of women who are victims of gender imbalance in fear of reporting their problems to the right authority. Medical practitioners and nurses have had difficulties handling the problem of domestic violence (Grace, 2009). Another challenge experienced by women is the expectations women are required to deliver to the society. For instance, the society expects women to be mothers, careg ivers, professionals, wives and friends all at once. As women strive to balance these roles, they experience health difficulties thus jeopardizing with ethical expectations of the society. Sara’s case Sara is a 19-year-old pregnant girl who is in a dilemma about where to live to protect her fetus. Sara went to the healthcare for a checkup, and the nurse in charge noted some bruises. When Sara asked, confessed that her boyfriend who is responsible for the pregnancy abused her. Sara is currently living with her father and two siblings. Sara’s family suggested that she relocates to her mother’s place. In the past, Sara had a unhealthy relationship with her mother, and she is not comfortable living with her, in addition her boyfriend claimed that, if she relocates he will no longer be responsible for the her and the baby (Smith, 2009). Sara does not want to lose her boyfriend and the father of her child therefore, she is afraid of making the decision of relocation. Sara’s case is similar to many other cases facing a number of women globally. Ethical and legal considerations have to be taken into account, to help people like Sara. Many are times, when abused, pregnant women are unable to decide appropriately. The nurse in charge of Sara’s situation has to help Sara make the decision with regard to her situation (Smith, 2009). Sara can be practically considered to be a teenager and not capable of making a reasonable decision. Sara ought to be empowered first, because the abuse inflicted by her boyfriend are as a result of powerlessness, therefore; through empowerment she is going to be more informed and can make the decision that protects her and the fetus. The nurse in charge has to ensure the decision made must favor both Sara and the fetus. The decision to relocate may be suitable for the fetus but not for Sara emotionally (Smith, 2009). Nonetheless, the decision to remain may put the fetus at risk due to constant abuse from Sar a’s boyfriend. In addition, the boyfriend must also be involved in this case. He is responsible for putting Sara and the fetus at risk, talking to him and knowing what disturbs him will be crucial in taking care of the situation. If the boyfriend is reluctant change, his abusive ways the law can also be factored in the case (Grace, 2009). Even though, Sara may be reluctant about involving the law,

Dell Inc Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dell Inc Paper - Essay Example In addition, the third party integration cost is higher than the cost of integration done by contract manufacturers. The US labors costs are higher than that of China. From the figure 6-4, it is obvious that in L5 the chassis (without motherboard) is shipped to the United States first, and subsequently the motherboards are airfreighted to the country (Simchi-Levi et al., p.184). Since the motherboard is not manufactured at the time of shipping the chassis, the company incurs additional logistics costs from airfreight. While analyzing the six of the proposed manufacturing solutions to the Dell, it is advisable for the company to manage the 3PI (3rd Party Integration) directly to improve its supply chain efficiency. When the 3PI is managed by Dell directly, the Dell management can enjoy more control over its supply chain activities, and ensure uninterrupted flow of finished products. Another major advantage of this manufacturing solution is that it would help the company trim down integration costs by employing cheap labor. In addition, this manufacturing option may assist the firm to minimize its dependence on external parties. The potential demerit of this solution is that Dell has not adequate expertise in the integration process and this issue may lead to product quality problems. If the supply chain shortage gets deteriorated, the company cannot manage the situation by simply practicing the option 4 (Dell managed 3PI). Under this circumstance, the organization must switch to the option 3A – Integration at SLC/hub. This option is relatively less complex for worldwide procurement, and therefore it may assist the company to resolve the issue. In addition, the management of supply quality engineering is minimized under this option, and hence the chipset supply is likely to improve. However, the option 3A is not very effective considering the difficulties associated with cost accounting. Finally, additional production control and

Credit Counterparts of Broad Money Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Credit Counterparts of Broad Money - Essay Example This paper illustrates that the effect of a government loan to another government is a reduction in the money supply in the economy. Based on the IS-LM model, it is apparent that reducing the supply of money shifts the LM curve to the right thus moving the equilibrium interest rate upwards and the level of national output downwards. On the macroeconomic level, the government can use this item of the Broad money counterparts as a macroeconomic policy to curb inflation or unsustainable increases in national output. The policy can be used as a contractionary fiscal to reduce excess liquidity in the economy and control inflation. Excess liquidity refers to a situation where the money being held by the public is in excess inducing excess spending and hence excess demand. The excess demand to supply can cause an unhealthy price increase. Foreign reserves are adjusted using the surpluses of trade that is a stimulus to increase exports thus increasing the foreign reserves while an increase i n imports decreases the foreign reserves. Changes in foreign prices in countries largely dependent on international trade have a significant effect on the money supply, inflation, and national output. The increase in the prices of imports will result in inflationary pressures in the economy. On the contrary, an increase in export prices will cause an increase in the profitability of the export goods and hence a shift of resources in the production of export goods. The change in import and export prices affects a countries balance of payment situation. The government can control national output and inflation through fiscal policies regulating imports and exports. When the balance of payment has been offset by over importation, the government can curb the inflationary effects by introducing higher tariffs that will adjust imports to a sustainable level.

Anything about marine biology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Anything about marine biology - Essay Example nt manmade and natural calamities have caused serious damage to the coral reef structures and as a result many reef formations have been lost over the years. Hence environmentalists and especially those in the field of marine biology are relentlessly trying to put an end to the destruction of coral reefs (Weir, 2001; Shah, 2010; Skoloff, 2010 Skoloff, 2010). All corals have a simple basic structure which is referred to as a polyp that consists of three layers of tissue: an outer epidermis, an inner cell layer surrounding the gastrovascular cavity and a middle layer of mesoglea. The gastrovascular cavity opens only at one end which facilitates food intake by the organism and also waste products are expelled through the same. Corals also possess tentacles which project as extensions of the body wall in the regions surrounding the mouth which mainly help to capture and ingest food as well as a source of defense when needed. In addition to this the presence of a unique type of cell called the cnidocyte that includes organelles such as nematocysts secrete lethal toxins which are helpful in prey capture. Additionally most corals contain a symbiotic alga, zooxanthellea, within their gastrodermal cells and both the algae and the coral share a mutually beneficial relationship by supplying resources required for photosynthesis, organic products o f photosynthesis and facilitating waste removal. This mutual exchange is vital for coral productivity as well as limestone-secreting capacity of the coral reefs using the photosynthetic produce of the algae. In addition, the presence of the algae is responsible for the color of the polyp and if the algae are expelled by the corals, which may occur during periods of prolonged stress, the coral reefs become while in color, a process which is referred to as coral bleaching. Using the photosynthetic products released by the algae the corals produce calcium carbonate. Of the 6000 known species of anthozoans, stony corals make up the

Communication with people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Communication with people - Essay Example The third story elaborates a persons perception about themselves while being in a relationship of any sort and holding healthy two-sided communication as an effective key of progress. The person identifies themselves as trustworthy or appearing as such so that the other person is comfortable to open up as well. The fourth story identifies everyone having the best intention but also acknowledging that this might not be the case with some people. If a person is good at his/her intentions, then it does not necessarily mean that others are good with their intentions a well. However, benefit of doubt should be given and one should believe in the goodness of everyone. The fifth story evaluates the person as someone who does not need constant communication to maintain healthy relationships. A constant need to interact digitally is not necessary in every relationship and it is sometimes good to be alone for personal reflective

Tax Law & Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tax Law & Accounting - Essay Example As any tax lawyer will admit, tax code is some of the most difficult kind of language that one will encounter. The objectives of our modern income tax statutes are basically to inform the public of what is required by them when they fill out their income tax reforms. The modern income tax statutes are a code that is used to navigate the sometimes nebulous areas of the law that arise when income tax season arrives. Usually, only experienced accountants or tax lawyers (and occasionally, some tax preparers) will have in-depth background knowledge on this subject. This is not to say that the average citizen couldn't learn income tax statutes, but it may prove difficult without proper training. [Primarily:]a) Officially established accounting principles consist of FASAB Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards.and Interpretations. FASAB Standards and Interpretations will be periodically incorporated in a publication by the FASAB" ("Generally Accepted Accounting Principles," 2009). On a functional level, this first principle basically has to do with the standards that were generated regarding accounting. These standards within this principle are the keys to the accounting industry, because, without standards, people in the accounting industry would have no accountability. This first principle is therefore the guiding light of what must be the exemplar par excellence for all accountants. They must adhere to this principle first and foremost as a formal exercise, and not merely because it is good business sense-but because it is legally within the FASAB's right to impose such standards on the accounting industry. Without this principle, there would basically be little else that would hold together the industry in an ethical manner. Moreover, there are additional standards which must be held to: "b) FASAB Technical Bulletins and, if specifically made applicableand clearedby the FASAB, AICPA Industry Audit and Accounting Guides; c) Technical Releases of the Accounting and Auditing Policy Committee of the FASAB; and d) Implementation guides published byFASAB staff, as well as practices that arerecognized and prevalent infederal government" ("Generally Accepted Accounting Principles," 2009). These last three principles demonstrate yet more examples of regulation within the accounting industry. There are bulletins and guides which must be followed according to the FASAB. These are invaluable to the accountant because they are the touchstones of good accounting-which basically state what is allowed and what is not allowed. Further, a guide outlining the auditing policy of the FASAB Committee gives the accountant an idea of how information will be reviewed should auditing occur. Auditing is basically when the federal government checks a company's or an individual's record books,

Statement of Purpose Essay Example for Free

Statement of Purpose Essay It is my absolute pleasure to write this statement of purpose to explain about my interests and to share my inspirations, career goals and professional qualifications. I think one of my most distinguishing characteristics is the diversity of experiences I possess. Belonging from a business background family I always had inclination towards managerial role in the organization. I am a man with professional aptitude and an interest in pharmaceutical industry. I also have a passion for traveling and understanding different cultures of the world. All these elements have given me a very broad outlook, with varying degrees of knowledge in a range of topics. I feel the greatest value in pharmacy studies is not so much the classes themselves but the accompanying thesis/practical work experience that you get in tandem with the coursework. Personally, I find the pharmaceutical training I will be getting to be an asset to my qualification, because I feel that I am getting a social and management perspective on the medicine I have studied managerial role in the health and social sector, and it does add something to the coursework. My pharmaceutical diploma has given a strong foundation to my analytical skills. Over the past one year, I have been working part time in pharmacy. More than what I have studied in school and college, it has been this experiences that have shaped the person that I am today. During the completion of my Diploma course I had always had great inclination towards health, social and community care. It was this inclination and interest towards this field that I always scored good marks. I consider it necessary to take Master’s or Bachelors program to improve my knowledge and expertise in the pharmaceutical sector. And I have diverse interests and am very dedicated to the idea of giving something back to society I believe that an opportunity for higher education in MSc./BSc. in health management from your University/ College, U.K would be a unique fortuity to test and prove my ability and also to enrich and broaden my keen with transition to a health and social care setting. I would like to conclude with the reasons for my choosing to apply to your esteemed university/college for my Master/Bachelor degree. Browsing through the information brochure and the Universitys home page I feel that the Study at your institution holds a lot of promise to me and it is the right place to embark upon my academic career. I feel that studies in your institution will be the most logical extension of my academic pursuits and a major step towards achieving my objectives.

Lush Company Structure

Lush Company Structure As an entrepreneurial venture, Lush company is acknowledged as the successful cosmetic retailer which is created by Mark and Mo Constantine in Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom under the name of Cosmetic House Limited in 1994 (Wikipedia, 2012). It was in 1995 that they adopted Lush as companys name due to the competition ran in the fledgling companys first handmade newsletter and catalogue. Nowadays, Lush company has almost over 820 stores in 50 countries all over the world (Lush Website, 2012). Product and service Lush companys products are: bath products, shower products, hair products, face and beauty products, body lotions and other products, perfume. But the innovation and highlights of the products in Lush company are: differentiation, communication, fresh ingredients, environmentally-friendly packing. Producers use the fresh fruits or vegetables to make different shaped products with different color for looking artisanal, which create the differentiation on the market. Besides, each producers name will be located on the products label for connecting the customer on the personal level and promoting the brand. Lush company also encourages the ethical value such as packing with the recycled materials (Marketline, 2008). According to the different types of innovation by Schumpeter (See Appendix1), Lush company belongs to type1 the introduction of a new or improved good or service (Paul Burns,2011). Service: Lush company not only provides the considerate service in the store but also providing the remade order for customer through the website. Consumers can also communicate with Lush through the publication of Lush Times (Lush Website, 2012). Business Model Stewart and Zhao (2000) define the model as a statement of how a firm will make money and sustain its profit stream over time. Therefore, the business model represents how the firm will be running. As Gary Hamel (2001) believes that there are four components of a business model, namely, core strategy (competition strategy), strategic resources( how a firm acquires and uses its internal and external resources), partnership network( suppliers, partners, other relationships), customer interface(how to interact with customers). For Lush Company, I the form below can illustrate its business model. Core strategy Business mission -We Believe (See appendix 2) Product Scope personal care products Basis for differentiation Use fresh ingredients and products are handmade Strategic resources Core competenciesunique style of retail, retain its original focus, we believeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Strategic assets- corporation culture, brand reputation, ethical beliefs Partnership network A private owned company with subsidiaries in global Customer interface Target customer- young adult women ages12-30, diverse customer due to divers products Fulfillment and support-natural ingredients and anti-animal testing trade Pricing structure- lower than the luxury brand like The Body Shop, higher than the products in the supermarkets. Target market A firms target market is the small number of group of individuals or business that it pursues or tries to appeal to in a certain time (Bruce R. and R. Duane Ireland, 2012).The primary target market of Lush focuses on the young adult women who ages 18-45, the urban adult women in highly populated cite, and the diverse market due to the diverse products. The second target market is the acquaintances of the primary target market (Kwilkison, 2012). Pricing strategy Price is the only component in the marketing mix that generates revenue, all other elements stand for costs( Kotler and Armstrong,2001). The most used methods to set the price of products for the entrepreneur are cost-based pricing and value-based pricing(Bruce R. and R. Duane Ireland, 2012). As Lush company uses the natural ingredients for handmade products, therefore, they price their products based on the costs rather than on what the market thinks it should receive. Compared with the local competitors and supermarkets, Lush products price a litter higher but less than the famous cosmetic company like Body Shop(Lush marketing project, 2012). Lush offers customers good value, most of their products varies from designing style and weight, which is also the value of products, therefore, Lush prices different item based on the ingredients and weight with high quality. Brand Management Branding contributes to the development of a company, a strong brand could become the powerful assets of a firm. As Bruce R. and R. Duane Ireland (2012) pointed that One of the keys to effective branding is to create a strong personality for a firm, designed to appeal to the chosen target market. Lush standardize its brand and stick to its value when globalize its market. Partners must use brand name Lush rather than translated local language like Chinese in Twian, Japanese in Japan((Schmitt, Pan and Tavassoli 1994; Tavassoli1999; Zhang and Schmitt, 2001). Concentrating on promoting brand value and emphasizing the beliefs of Lush, against animal testing, using fresh ingredients, making handmade products, protecting the planet, supporting communities and promoting happy people making happy soap (Marketline, 2008). Localization of subsidiaries on website, all the subsidiaries of Lush should share the common value with Lush but they can promote products with different methods for adapting to the local market(Ping-Kuan Lin, 2012). Route to market insource vs outsource Insource The insource of Lush can be understood as the internal competencies, mainly, the differentiation of products, the unique retail style. As those competencies could solidify the firms role in the external source and it lies at the heart of the business model (Applegate, 2001; Viscio and Pasternack, 1996). Minimum packagingusing recyclable and reusable materials as packaging, naked packing campaign(See appendix 3). Customizationinteracting with the customers through the publication of Lush Times. Ethical campaign replaces the advertising In August 21, 2008,Lush and Sea Shepherd launched Partnership Campaign to Protect Sharks(Wendy Evans,2009). Advertising by the smell and experience in store. Outsource Lush company encourages partners to invest in its firm and gives them exclusive rights to develop their brand, besides, they also embarked on single store franchising in some countries like France, Italy, Spain(Lush Website, 2012). E-strategy E-strategy is mainly shown form the firms website, the business models on the web that Lush used is the manufacturing model which uses the web to reach buyers directly and compressing the distribution channel. There are mainly three key parts on their web, purchasing part, customer-focus part, company propaganda part. Buyers purchase products through the categories on the web(See appendix4) Customer can reserve the limited products through section of Retro and find news of Lush on Lush Times(See appendix 5) Company information presented on the web intends to attract partners and connect the subsidiaries(See appendix 6) Funding As the firm grows, it requires a large amount of money to operate as the basis of serving the customers. In the beginning, Lush is private owned by Mark and Mo Constantine but with a small number of shares, with the expanding of the firm, Lush gradually relied on the funds of partners in the team, Andrew Gerrie one of the Lush partners said that Lush is funded by a team who started the business together with funds from a wealthy investor (Startups, 2002). Innovation of Lush It is important for the entrepreneur to have a good venture idea for running a business. Therefore innovation penetrates the whole process in the venture. Trott (2008) believes that innovation= theoretical conception + technical (or process) invention + commercial exploitation. For lush company, their business idea comes from the interests of Mark Constantine and Elizabeth Wire in beauty therapy, then they developed many recipes and sold them to other companies until 1976, they contracted with The Body Shop as one of their suppliers (Wikipedia,2012). For an entrepreneur, the innovation is not always a continuous process which will be influenced by the dramatic changes in the market, social, technology as well as the regulatory environments (Paul Burns, 2011). In order to keep innovative, in 2003, Lush company launched a new beauty brand and retail concept, B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful, there are only four shops of this brand located in UK, (Journal of MarketWatch, 2003). By keepi ng the small numbers of stores with a unique location, Lush could increase the desirability of products to customers and encourage the existing-consumers loyalty (Marketline, 2008). It is believed that in the future, Lush would emerge much more creative brand to satisfy the customers. Stick to the original focus In the intensive competition of the market, entrepreneurial ventures would come across the risk of takeover by the leader of the industrial, some of the firms will agree on takeover in order to make profits, for instance, Bees by Clorox, and The Body Shop by LOreal (Marketline, 2008). But, Lush still insist its independence and avoids any demands for takeover. Whats surprised me is that, as the best suppliers for The Body Shop, Mark and Mo Constantine didnt give into the compromise of Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop. If you were going to sell the leading ethical company in the world, there couldnt be a much worse choice than LOreal, (Mark Constantine quoted in Financial Times,2007). This comments showed that in order to retain their original focus, they will never accept takeover, and only the independent operation can facilitate the advancement of their brand. Recognizing and coping with risks It is believed that entrepreneurs are more intended to make decisions through the different using of information or employing heuristics and rules, depending on their instincts and intuition (e.g., Schwenk, 1986; Cooper et al., 1995; Forlani and Mullins, 2000). Therefore, it is important to recognize the risks of starting up the business. For Lush company, the previous years, the manager in the store have to forecasts the products demands for deciding the amounts of products, the lack of accurate predicting generated the risks of lost sales and lower customer services(Prophix, 2012). However, they uses the retro part of website to make sure the producing quantities of products based on the customers reservation, which greatly save the costs of sales to a great extent. Furthermore, since The Body Shop has been taken over, Lush has to consider its risks of being taken over by leader of cosmetic industry, while Mark Constantine considered forming a staff ownership scheme for its company, which can prevent the business takeover Lush to some extent (Marketline, 2008). Although it is agreed to make the staff become the stakeholders in the company, Mark Constantine does not approve to turn Lush into a public company due to his untrusting of shareholders decision-making capability. If a business goes public it has to consider its shareholders above all else. I realize the people you can trust most are your own staff, (The Guardian, 2007). It is a controversial issue that the staff may lack the ability to make a good business decisions. Learn from Mark Constantine- the successful entrepreneur As an entrepreneur, the personality plays an important role in growing the business, the second resource indicates five personality factors of an entrepreneur, namely extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability (Barrick etal., 1991). Constantine shows those traits through his success of Lush. Hiring strategy employ those who are passionate, enthusiastic, ethical. Never being frightened Mark Constantine once stated that I went through a period when I was a bit frightened of the business. People who have very corporate businesses are rather frightened of them. If youre frightened youre constantly putting in layers and fiddling about because you dont know what youre doing, (Kate Walters, 2010). Creativity Lush holds 38 patents and Mark is proud of his focus, the continual supervising of products makes the company less vulnerable to innovative competitors (Kate Walters, 2010). Specific makes the entrepreneurial venture success Sheth et al (2000)state: The fundamental precepts of marketing remain unchanged, but more attention must be given to specific areas, such as customization and one-to-one approaches, which indicates the entrepreneur should follow the structure of the business and concentrate on the specific issues. Indeed, Lushs intense focus on customization, innovation of products and dynamic methods of promoting bring benefits of growing its business and facilitate the victory of the market.

Web Site Promotion Essay -- essays research papers fc

Promoting a World Wide Web Site   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As we enter the new millenium, more and more businesses are deciding to go along with building what is called sites on the world wide web, better known as a web site. It seems as though these days to many people is that all you have to do is build a web site and you are set to go. Being as upfront as possible there is an extreme downside to this method. Just building the web site will not bring anybody to the web site. To get people to visit a web site certain processes have to be taken to promote the web site. There are numerous ways out there to promote a web site. One very common and successful way to bring visitors to a web site is to send out direct electronic mail or commonly known as email. This is a very simple process in general. It simply consists of sending out emails at random or premeditated if you have the time. The emails need to contain a short paragraph describing a little about your web site and what it has to offer to those who visit the web site. Remember that with this method it is wise to not be too wordy otherwise this process can develop to be very time consuming and irritating to the sender and the receiver of the email. However it is possible to email well over 10,000 emails in just under an hour. This process can only be done if everything has been thought out thoroughly and ready to go before the process has even begun. Another possible advantage to this method is that the recipient of the email may enjoy the site and forward the same email to people that they know. Emails also cost nothing if there is already access t o the World Wide Web through an ISP (Internet Service Provider). This method is the most commonly used and it can and does work (â€Å"7 Ways†). A very similar way but much less direct method is simply to attach a signature to the end of outgoing emails. Most email providers offer this option. It simply means that at the end of outgoing email that is sent out there will be a message of individual choice at the bottom of the email where a signature would normally be on a hand written letter, thus giving it the name signature. What the message says is entirely up to the sender of the email. It is recommended that more than one signature be provided to pertain to different types of people that are emailed. The message should include your web site name, addre... ...rticle, a radio program, a newspaper, etc. Just about anything that is seen or heard by a lot of people (Kent 339). The web site promoters can also offer what is known as an affiliate program. This allows viewers of the web site a chance to carry a banner from the web site on their web site. In return offer a small commission for each person that visits the web site through the link applied on their web site. As the days go bye more and more people will have their own web site. Along with more people having a web site comes more ways to promote a web site in due time. It is always a good idea to keep up with the modern ways of promotion. Works Cited Kent, Peter. Poor Richard’s Web Site. Lakewood, CO: Top Floor Publishing, 1998. â€Å"7 Ways to Promote Your Website.† Website Promotion. n.d. n.p. 29 March 2000 â€Å"Software of the Year 1999.† Website Promotion. n.d. n.p. 29 March 2000   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Free Visibility Software.† PromoteYourWebsite.com. n.d. n.p. 29 March 2000   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

How Surface Area to Volume Ratio Affects the Rate of Heat Loss :: Depression and Suicide

How Surface Area to Volume Ratio Affects the Rate of Heat Loss Aim The aim of this investigation is to answer the following questions: Why do elephants have trouble cooling down? And why do mice have trouble keeping warm. Apparatus 5x cans (5 different sizes) 1x Bunsen burner 1x heatproof mat 1x Thermometer 1x Ruler 1x Kettle 1x Stopwatch 1x Tripod 1x Gauze 1x Clamp and stand Plan ==== * Label each can from A to E in ascending order, A the biggest and E the smallest. A representing the mouse and E representing the elephant. * Measure and record the height and diameter of each can. * Fill can A to the top with boiling water out of the kettle. * Bring the water back up to a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, to make sure it is a fair test and that all the cans start from 100 degrees Celsius. * Use a clamp and stand to hold the thermometer inside the can, position it so that the bulb of the thermometer is in the centre of the can. * With a stopwatch ready to start timing, switch off the gas to turn off the Bunsen burner and start timing. * Read and record the temperature on the thermometer every two minutes for twenty minutes. * Repeat this for all of the other cans, twice for each one and make a recording of all the temperatures, and work out the averages. Safety ====== * Always wear safety glasses during the practical to protect the eyes and avoid any hot water being splashed into them.

Statement of Educational Philosophy Essay examples -- Philosophy of Ed

Statement of Educational Philosophy What is a humanitarian? Webster's Dictionary defines it as one who practices philanthropy; an effort to promote human welfare. As a child, I always knew I wanted to become a humanitarian. I have always loved to help people, which I viewed as a very special gift granted from God. However, it never occurred to me that becoming a teacher would be the best way to share my gift. I always looked at health care options and even exceeded in the nursing program. However, it did not fulfill my dreams and standards of becoming a humanitarian. I wanted to enlighten people and make a difference in society. After starting the nursing program and working in the hospital, I knew it was not what I wanted to proceed with in my life. I needed a different way to make a difference. Patients were scared and sick which lead to unhappiness in my life. I searched my soul for the answer and it did not take me long to find it. I decided to become a teacher. It feels like the perfect way to express myself in society, and to contribute to mankind. I can think of many times when my teachers made an impact on my life. I want to be that teacher; the teacher that my former students can search the past and remember something inspirational that I said. I hope that something I said can help them in the real world. I want to become an elementary teacher at a local school. After I teach a few years, I plan to take classes in early education and work towards my master's degree. I also want to be active in extracurricular activities in the school. I think that sports and other activities are essential in a child's life. I believe that children who participate in such g... .... By giving students choices and listening to their opinions, they will feel less intimidated and victimized. My students will have responsibilities, when students are empowered they are less likely to vent rage. As a teacher, you must eliminate problems before they even start, you must let your students know who the boss is, and then become their friend. My educational philosophy is one of many. I believe in progressivism and many views of my own. I have adopted many of my viewpoints from my teachers of the past. The teachers that have made an impact on my life are the teachers that I want to become. Through the years, I have seen what students appreciate. I know what teachers I respected and what philosophies they used. I will become that teacher; the teacher that I thought was too hard on me. The one I now go back to and say "thank you."

Principles Fundamentals Of Marketing Essay

Evolution of the concept of modern marketing The concept of marketing has been present for centuries. However, the concept of modern marketing was established in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first concept of modern marketing was based on the idea to sell whatever was being produced with no direct relation to what customer required. There were three assumption on which the concept was based: presence of a ready market to absorb whatever was produced, lower production cost to increase profits and just having very few basic product varieties. This was known as marketing done through product orientation and lasted from 1869 to1930 (Stone, 2001, p. 11). The above concept of marketing meant mass-product of products at low costs, which meant surplus of unsold goods, which led to the failure of the theory. Supply had outstripped demand and there was competition among competitors. Hence, at this stage, the demand needed to be tailored to the supply and also the customers needed to be persuaded that their product was better than the competitors. This was the phase when marketing was done via sales orientation and lasted from 1930-1960 (Stone, 2001, p. 11). Many of the sales tactics employed by sales people were dubious and in some cases totally dishonest. This led to customers getting put off by the tactics and led to huge losses for companies. At this stage the companies started recognizing customers as kings and the products started being tailor made for the customers, with much variety. Market segmentation too began at this stage to differentiate between product varieties. A lot of emphasis was put on innovative selling, social responsibility among companies. This is the marketing oriented concept and started from 1960 till the late 1990 (Applbaum, 2004, p. 203). While the concept still works, rapid globalization starting in the 1990s has ensured that the market size cannot be increased beyond a certain stage, and hence many of the companies have started looking at creating demand and satisfying them. This is the latest trend along with the marketing concept and the future belongs to controlling markets by creation of demand among potential customers (Applbaum, 2004, p. 203). Identification of markets The process of marketing commences with the identification of possible markets for the product, and culminates when the customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by the company. The whole idea behind identification of target markets is to find groups of people who consider that purchasing goods or services from the company would bring them benefit or value. Identification of market involves market segmentation, which is to find groups of people with similar wants and needs, so that products can be designed tailoring to the needs of these segments. The segments can be distributed based on gender, age, family size, geographical distribution etc. Target markets should be clearly identifiable and should consist of people who are able to buy the products if they are happy with the idea of possessing it (Weitz, Wensley, 2002, p. 3). Design of products to meet wants & needs Any marketing oriented company views customers as rational human beings having needs that apply universally to all human beings, and wants that consists of values that are rationally optional i.e. their tastes and preferences are logical and necessary for them, but not necessary to all the other human beings. A marketing oriented company then identifies the requirements of customers and designs its products suiting to the needs and wants of the people. In many cases the customers themselves are not aware of these requirements, the company designs a products and then markets them highlighting the requirements their product would fulfill thus creating a demand. Companies require the identification of needs and wants, to identify target markets, perform correct market segmentation, customize the products and sell it to people (Peter, Donnelley, 2002, p. 110). Pricing strategies Pricing is perhaps one of the most important decisions taken by marketing mix elements. This part of the marketing strategy decides organization’s profits, revenues and also to a very large extent competitiveness. Pricing strategies must be consistent with the organization’s marketing objectives and can result in prices that are high, low or neutral as compared to the competitors’ prices. Many companies use a range of pricing strategies which reflects the differences in the product portfolio, and are aimed to generate profits as well as satisfy the customers. Usually pricing of a new product in the market is complex, because everything is based on perceived values for the customers, and the estimates are mostly speculative (Cooper, Argyris, 1998, p. 506) Distribution structures & systems, promotional activities Distribution system ensures that the products reach the end customers with unnecessary delay. Efficient distribution system is directly related to the performance of a company in the market. Distribution channel consists of a combination of institutions through which a seller markets its product to the ultimate customer. Not all companies however have distribution channels, a classic example of which is Dell. However, majority of the large company consider distribution channels as efficient means to transfer the goods to the customers. Following are the elements of major marketing intermediaries or the components of a distribution channel: Middlemen and merchant middlemen, agents, wholesales, retailers, brokers, manufacturers agents and distributors (Peter, Donnelley, 2002, p. 157). While distribution channels facilitate the product reach to the customers, the promotional activities are done to make sure that the customer is aware of the product’s existence in the market. In the present times, this activity is very important due to the multiple sellers available for each product. Many of the company put up promotional offers to make the customers try out their products. Advertising is one of the most important type of promotional activity. In addition to this, many companies also tie up with existing facilities and sponsorship events to promote their products and services (Peter, Donnelley, 2002, p. 132). The evaluation of the marketing effort The evaluation aspect of marketing management involves making carefully judged objectives and media selection and measuring results against pre-determined goals. This activity is important because advertising, promotion and distribution channels are the costs which the company incurs at the time of marketing a product, and the efficiency of the methods would help in determining the effectiveness of these links of marketing management. This process is done through marketing research where the performance of the overall marketing systems is evaluated. It can be done by a third party or by organizing polls by the company or even by calling customers to ask their opinions (Varey, 2002, p. 316) Marketing problem identification Marketing problem identification is the first and foremost step of the marketing research process. The necessity of identification of a problem is very important. Unnecessary broadening or narrowing the scope of marketing problem leads to a waste of efforts and money spent. There must be consensus between the marketing managers and researchers about the specific nature of the problem (Majumdar, 1991, p. 11) Sources of secondary data Secondary data is defined as the data collected earlier for a purpose other than the one currently being pursued. In fact by definition any data, which is available prior to the commencement of marketing research, is secondary data. The key advantage of such data is the low cost and less time required for obtaining the data. It can also give insights to a situation, which may be exploited at a later stage. Care should however be taken to ensure that the data is not obsolete with reference to the problem being studied, and is also relevant (Majumdar, 1991, p. 42) One of the most important sources of secondary data are the government reports. In addition there are many research companies like A.C. Neilson and Co., Arbitron Co. IMS International, and Information Resources International who provide such data. Finally trade groups such as American Medical Association, National Association of Retail Dealers of America, or business publication like Million-dollar Directory and the Encyclopedia of Associations also provide useful secondary data that can be used by companies (Peter, Donnelley, 2002, p. 132). Sampling The sampling process consists of determining the target population on which the research is to be done related to the marketing problem. This target population would determine which elements should be present or not present in the research. Sampling unit is used as a basic unit to select elements from a target population. The next step is to select the sampling frame, which represents the samples from the target population. The perfect sampling frame is one in which every element of the target population is represented only once, and no elements are excluded or repeated. After this comes the sampling techniques which can be of many types like probability and non-probability sampling techniques, single unit and cluster sampling, un-stratified and stratified sampling, equal unit probability and unequal probability sampling, and single stage and multi stage sampling methods. Next step after this is selecting the sample size, which is an important criterion defining the accuracy of the research, but is always constrained by availability of target population and budget for research. This should be balanced to get the most accurate results within a target population. Finally the sampling process is executed by starting out to collect data from the target population (Cant, p.94) Experimentation In experimental research, the researcher manipulates an independent variable and measures its effect. This is done so as to understand the importance of a particular parameter on the target population, which serves to better understand the needs of the population. Experimentation is also used when the relation between variables is required to be measured. Many issues need to be researched while conducting an experimental research like setting up the environment, selection and measurement of dependent variable, the selection and assignment of test units, and control over extraneous and other variables (Cant, 2002, p.94) Data collection, analysis & report presentation After the data is taken from primary or secondary resources, it needs to be collected. The collection process is qualitative or quantitative in nature based on the type of information required. The data collected is analyzed using various techniques, which differ, from the type of source of data being used: primary or secondary. At the end a research report is prepared.   The report should contain the detailed information research process, which was used while conducting the study. The research report should also consist of the reason for the research to take place, give a brief problem statement and define primary and secondary objectives of research. In addition, the report should have the sources of information clearly mentioned. The next part of the report is where the researchers mention their finding, clearly defining the limitations and assumptions taken while conducting the data. The researchers many times include comprehensive tables and graphs to illustrate their findings. Finally based on the data and analysis the research the report gives conclusions and recommendations about the finding and many times also give the possible solutions of the problem. At the time of presentation an oral explanation is always preferred where the concerned parties can discuss and debate about the various finding and conclusions (Cant, 2002, p. 52).                                                                                                                                                 References Applbaum K, (2004), â€Å"The Marketing Era: From Professional Practice to Global   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Provisioning†, Roultedge, Published: New York Cant MN (2002), â€Å"Marketing Research†, New Africa Books, Published: South Africa Cooper CL, Argyris C, (1998), â€Å"The Concise Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management†, Blackwell Publishing. Majumdar R, (1991), â€Å"Marketing Management: Text Applications and Case Studies†, New Age Publishers, Published: New Delhi Peter JP, Donnelley JH, (2002), â€Å"A Preface to Marketing Management†, McGraw-Hill Professional, Published: New York Stone P, (2001), â€Å"Make Marketing Work for You: Boost Your Profits With Proven Marketing Techniques†, How to Books Ltd, Published: Oxford Varey RJ, (2002), â€Å"Marketing Communication: Principles and Practice†, Roultedge, Published: New York Weitz BA, Wensley R, (2002), â€Å"Handbook of Marketing†, SAGE, Published: California

Marketing and Unilever

(Case Study)Analysis of Comfort Vietnam EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Unilever is a fully multinational corporation with operating companies and factories scattering all around the world, and manufacture foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever owns more than 400 brands but its 13 â€Å"billion-dollar brands† fall mostly into two categories: Food and Beverage, and Home and Personal Care. Unilever started its operation in Vietnam in 1995.Since then, Unilever Vietnam (UVN) has achieved a strong and rapid growth, and managed to become the market leader in almost every sub-sector it has entered in spite of facing lots of harsh competition, especially in a country where investment is ample, rising not only domestic competitors but also attracting big foreign ones such as Nestle or PepsiCo. This paper, based on secondary research, is composed with the aim of presenting an overview of Unilever’s activities in Vietnam through the study of its current market, m arketing environment, customers, competitors, and particularly brand and SWOT analysis.We would mainly bring Comfort-the fabric softener into focus. In brief, some of its strength are secured financial background and reasonable pricing and high adaptability. It also has weaknesses such as probable misperception. And even though UVN has to face harsh competition and other threats that pose a hazard, it also can take advantages of opportunities like the domestic market having evolved much. From the analysis, we draw several suggestions for the company’s promotion strategies such as keeping going with public campaigns.COMPANY ANALYSIS Mission Statement Unilever is a multinational business that owns many of the world’s consumer product brands in foods, beverage, cleaning agents and personal care products. Since the commencement of Unilever’s operation in Vietnam in 1995, Unilever Vietnam has successfully grown to become a leading-fast moving consumer goods company i n the local market. Guided by the mission â€Å"To add vitality to life†, the company has diligently fulfilled its commitment to raising the quality of life for people everywhere through the rovision of its branded products and services. Every product line is originated and developed perfectly in tune with the overall mission. Knorr, for instance, the leader in Vietnam’s granule market with total share of more than 70%, originally founded on the belief that â€Å"Good food matters† since it adds untold pleasure to our lives. Or Comfort, which has been ranked the number 1 fabric conditioner in Vietnam with more than 55% of market share since 1999, lets people â€Å"Do the little extra thing for the one you love†.Or Lifebuoy, a market leader in every Asian market where it is sold, has made its goal clear is to provide affordable and accessible hygiene and health solutions for every person. Besides working on its production to provide the best for people, Un ilever Vietnam is also actively involved in social activities to help raise the living standards and improving the well-being for Vietnamese people. It has contributed more than VND 200 billion to the society through a wide range of projects such as â€Å"P/S protects Vietnamese Smiles Program†, â€Å"For Bright Eyes of Children†, and â€Å"Pride of Ha Long†.Company Objectives In accordance with the mission statement, the company sets up its corporate objectives guiding the present and future development of the company over the next 12 months as follows: †¢ Win share and grow volume profitably across categories and countries. †¢ Offer a broad portfolio of brands that appeal to consumers with different needs and budgets. †¢ Leverage technology to create bigger, better innovation platforms that will be rolled out faster to multiple markets. †¢ Enhance and broaden relationship with customers.Brand analysis 1, Brand `s current performance Brand i s the most important component to create success for a company, so it’s necessary for marketers to realize the brand’s current performance in the market and from that developing appropriate marketing strategies for improvement by using product life-cycle (PLC) stages, a useful framework for describing how products and markets work. There are five main stages namely Product Development, Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Decline.Product development and Introduction refer to the period of launching goods and services while Decline is when the company stops expanding and spending on the product and develop another new one instead. In the case of Comfort, it can be said that they are in the period of rapid market acceptance and sales growth (the growth stage). Caring for your clothes is important as it allows you look good and feel good. Understanding this, in 1999 Market Leader of Unilever Viet Nam launched Comfort with the aim of making customers feel cared for everyday by bringing oftness and longlasting freshness to their clothes . Immediately, Comfort has long been winning the love and loyalty of consumers with more than 55% market share and become the number one fabric conditioner in Vietnam. These are the evidences to support the fact that Unilever Viet Nam has been developing very good marketing strategies for their brand-Comfort. 2, Current marketing strategy for the brand Unilever Company has been implementing the international marketing strategies in Viet Nam market following Marketing Mix 4Ps framework. , Place Comfort has been distributed over the country, with over 100,000 places, which makes a convenient access for customers and any suppliers. Nowadays, when the transportation becomes more advanced with different kinds of vehicles, it is easier for Unilever Viet Nam to allocate the product to customers in different areas and regions. 2, Product In terms of quality, Comfort not only delivers exceptional softness to clothes, but it also offers a variety of well-loved fragrances. Some of which are Lily, Huong Ban Mai, rose scent etc. Fragrance Angels are the icons for Comfort's long-lasting fragrances.With the desire to meet the changing needs of consumers, Comfort keeps innovating and introducing new products to the market. Not only offering softness and long-lasting freshness, but Comfort also introduces extra benefits of the products. Comfort White, the only fabrics conditioner endorsed by the Dermatology Institute of Vietnam that is safe for sensitive skin, is the best choice to protect the skin and make clothes very soft, which is very suitable for baby’s clothes. Active Confident with tea tree oil extract protects the clothes from malodor and keeps customers feeling fresh and active the whole day long.The latest innovation on the February 2006 is Comfort Thom Lau Huong Ban Mai (Blue Concentrate) with fragrance capsules which protect the perfume and only releases it during wearing. These innovations agai n reinforce the long-lasting benefit of Comfort Blue in the fabric conditioner market. 3, Promotion The main promotion strategy system of Comfort is â€Å"Above the Line†. Above-the-Line is the promotion activities for product on TV, magazines†¦ to announce, persuade and remind customers about their products, especially at the beginning of each or new product launched .Some promotion programs are made most often on TV to make customers to be aware of the product like Comfort wedding, Comfort big day, Comfortâ€Å" spring breeze†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Since March 2005, a unique and creative idea for advertising and activation has been introduced: fragrance angel. With the fragrance angel, the fragrance is symbolized by an imaginary character which visualizes very well how the fragrance of Comfort works on fabric. The image varies according to its purpose to illustrate the function and component of Comfort: Angel with tea leaf shield, Angel that hugs the fabric, Angel with schoolb ag, Angel with the fan, Angel with sunglasses.The fragrance angel is the unique property of the Comfort brand in Vietnam. It has been loved and adored by many people, especially children. In November 2005 promotion, thousands of fragrance angel dolls have been given as unique and lovable souvenirs to consumers of Comfort. In additions, Unilever also held many programs at markets and supermarkets like â€Å"Kham pha 14 ngay thom lau† Campaign on 15/03/2006 â€Å"Thu thach 1 lan xa cua Comfort† on 14/04/2008 with the aspire of positioning the brand name as well as the product quality.Unilever Vietnam is also well recognized for its active contributions to social and community programs across Vietnam, which has helped to improve life for millions of people in Vietnam. In April 2005, Unilever Vietnam was honored by the President of the State the Second Rank Labor Medal for its excellent business performance and contribution to the socio-economic development of Vietnam, bei ng one of the first multinational companies awarded with such honor by the State and Government of Vietnam.Due to these direct, on time and appropriate promotion campaigns, the brand nameComfort has been widely recognized in Vietnamese market, not only bringing benefits for Unilever Vietnam but creating a good brand image fro Comfort on consumers as well. 4, Price Recognizing that 80% of Vietnamese consumers live in the countryside with low income, Unilever Viet Nam has been developing the price strategy, reducing the producing costs, charging appropriate price on consumers. The company has based on the small rural enterprises to find the local materials instead of importing. This helps the company reduce the producing costs and pay fewer tariffs.Furthermore, the company also distributes the producing places at three main factories, in the north, the middle and the south of Viet Nam to trim down transportation expenses and land cost. Unilever also follows the finance support policy, helping rural enterprises advance their equipments, transfer technology, hold the training programs, etc. With all actions the company has been doing, Unilever Viet Nam has demonstrated its talent of management in satisfying the needs and wants of customers and raising the market share of Comfort in a competitive environment like Vietnamese market in current years.COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Competition is inevitable for every business in every market. It’s apparent that the company must cope with numerous powerful and relentless competitors such as Bestfoods; Coca-Cola; Colgate-Palmolive; Kraft Foods, Inc. ; L’Oreal; PepsiCo. ; Nestle S. A. ; Procter ; Gamble and the list continues to go on. Unilever has managed to become a leading company in almost every sub-sector it has entered despite harsh competition in Vietnam, a thriving market that not only raising domestic rivalries but also big and wellknown foreign ones.Though it has dominated with lots of products in different k inds, this analysis would take a case of Comfort in particular. In detergents industry, Comfort has become the pride of Unilever, maintaining its 1st position in Vietnam with more than 55% of market share since 1999. However, as soon as Comfort made its appearance known in the market, it has also begun its struggle against other competitors. The strongest one of all is Downy, the product of Proctor ; Gamble group. Downy was launched right after Comfort was introduced to the market.It can be said that the number of campaigns and commercials ads poured into the two products from two sides have been equally effective and attracted attention. That might partly explain the market share between of the two has been in a tight match. Firstly, the two products are produced by two both well-known companies, which can somewhat assure their look in customers’ view. Then, the quality could also buy consumers with their position as worldwide brands plus the diversification of the product l ines gives customers numerous choices to choose.Also, advertisements of Downy and Comfort have been skillfully customized to attract attention and create certain values to consumers. From the introduction stage up to now, customers have been exposed to a handful of advertisements of both companies. When Comfort launches Comfort with lastingfragrance, Downy immediately offers this kind as well. Comfort creates a beautiful image of a little angel protecting the fragrance of clothes to illustrate its Comfort FragranceAngel. Downy competes with Downy Incense Flowers, creating a demonstration through a flower field always presented in clothes.Comfort introduces Comfort 1-time; Downy also has Downy 1-time; Comfort comes up with Comfort anti-mosquitoes, Downy provides Downy anti-bacteria. Both of them make campaigns to market for their product. About the price, Downy’s price is higher than Comfort’s one in general. In pack-shape, price for a pack of Downy is 2000VND, whilst a pack of Comfort costs 1500VND. In recent months, the battle has become fierce when Unilever has launched a promotion using two eye-catching characters Andy and Lili and seem to gain attraction from consumers. From this commercial, Unilever gain the higher revenue.While Unilever invest so much on this commercial, P;G is still quite silent. Whether P;G is planning a state-of-the-art Downy ever with outstanding functions and best-ever components; or nurturing a win-away strategy? Time will give the answer and the rivalry between the two promises to be a prolonging harsh and unforgiving one. However, at this point, it appears that Comfort is gaining the upper hand over Downy. The positioning of Comfort in Vietnam and its biggest competitor, Downy, can be illustrated through the following map: Quality ilever Project plan INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable differe nt companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands.The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilever's business strategies, key elements of Unilever's path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies' slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in Unites Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitor's in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the company's performance which was said to be lackluster.With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the company's business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT :A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportuni ties (O) or Threats (T).Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. ? Figure1: Illustrative diagram of SWOT Analysis http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/SWOT_analysis The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis.The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is v ery important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly.Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to economic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses.A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forwar d with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales.It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter ; Gamble, Kellogg's etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care.Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market fac tors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies' growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company.According to Unilever's SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesn't not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R; D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in production of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customer's preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins.For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and privat e manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores.In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares.Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVER'S CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R ; D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Le adership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences.Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally.Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R ; D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which pr obably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause.Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marketing always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest stren gth as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic.Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales.Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldn't happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become dif ficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didn't help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way.The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people making decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods.It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life . Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Aust ralia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance. aol. om/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben ; Jerry's acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben & jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons.Dreyer's and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben ; jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben ; Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben ; jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben ; jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits.It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7. 8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the company's core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations.The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way b y which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities:Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years.Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees.The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1. 76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food.By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilever's path to growth strategy wer e cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R ; D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions.Unilever's years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergman's path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices.The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben ; jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben ; jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was US's 10 largest food products company with a strong global position.The two key elements of the Unilever's new business strategy was to cut do wn on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key element of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming c ompanies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R ; D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers.But accor ding to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently.Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben ; jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing to o yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In the year 2004 sales grew only by . 4 percent leading brands by . 9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising.Unilever's lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal cas e, and household industries all over the world.As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumer's preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales.In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 per cent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilever's current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth' strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth' came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues.In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it al so developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S. W. O. T analysis was done on the ‘Path toGrowth' strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldn't utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to incre ase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company.The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilever's growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the company's growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected.Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people.It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fact that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well.By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period?Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was more like a store where the fast selling stuff was found. Unilever's Path to Growth had probably the right ideas to take the company to the highest position with its aims and objectives on the right part but probably it was at the implementation of the whole strategy that could have probably caused the difference in this strategy from just a successful strategy to a very successful state The strategy had the right plans to study the whole products and the brands which where being sold and come up with whole list of brands that where actually more likely to be sold uickly and frequently and those which where not that much preferred, it does take in a lot of effort to recognize what is selling and what people like the most as you have to be cautious that u don get any of the products that is more frequently sold off the shelf. By early 2005 there was a need for a new business strategy and a new strategy which was more active and a top down approach to managing a company's brand profil e was introduced for Unilever to support this growth strategy. But the growth to strategy at the starting point was precise, tough compared to the company's profile. On the whole Unilever did manage to grow very well in the market during this period and it was for its strategies and policies and the work put into it that the whole thing was done successfully. TASK 4:Academic theories: The word diversification means a strategy for a company for its market growth. To look forward to increase its profits by increasing the sales of the products. There are four main strategic alternatives emphasizing how each strategy might change companies' competitive capabilities they are Market penetration, product development, market development and diversification. ? http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Diversification_(marketing_strategy) Basically the four main strategic alternatives deal with the markets and the products which are based on the present position of demand and supply of the market and th e position of the products.Market penetration, it is nothing but the way by which a products sales can be determined, consider there is a particular product which is generally used by everyone and is almost the same for everyone then in that case the penetration of that particular product will be deeper as its demand is much higher than other products, it can simply be told that the deeper the penetration the greater the product sales, by using the market penetration technique we can determine as to which product is currently more sort after and which one has the highest demand by doing this it will effect the business cause the demand for that product will be much higher. By using the market penetration we can come up with new marketing techniques as to increase sales of a product which is not much in demand or gain more profit on products which are in higher demand, for example lets consider a product which has not been off the shelf due to competition from other products in this case if we do the market penetration we would know the reasons as to why the product has not been sold. Based on this if the reason for that is if the product is expensive then we can look into the market penetration and decide to cut down the price so as to match that of its competitors.There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customer's preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. Market position can also help you determine as to which products need to be stocked up the most and how these are to be managed and depending on the demand we can decide as to what can be done to increase the publicity or marketing of that particular product.Product development, it is nothing but the way at which any particular product has improved its sales or how a product has worked out is called as the product development, the product development is generally used to determine as to which product id leading at the moment so as to utilize more of it to increase the sales , in the product development if any particular product is higher in demand due to its development it can be helpful in increasing the sales of that product but where as simultaneously if there is any product which is least popular we can make efforts using this to know as to what would be the reason behind the product not being to the sales expectations. Market development, the market development strategy is nothing but a way by which we can develop our business and increase the sale of the products, it is the process of getting new customers, new products and new business to the company by making new promotions so as to increase the sales of the products and to increase new customers, market development in simple terms can be called as the process by which we wish to develop the business by getting in new customers and getting some new products to our already existing customers is the market development.The market development strategy generally deals with the non-customers who don't often come in to shop, with this market development we manage to attract the people to now come into the store and improve our business. Diversification, it is nothing but the spreading of the investments among the company in order to increase the business, diversification is a means of way by which the market penetration can be improved, in the diversification looking at the market conditions the company invests in various fields so as to make the product develop by which the product will get more penetration, if the product gets more penetration that means it will increase the business to the company.On the whole diversification is a corporate technology by using which they generally tend to woo the customers to make the decision and increase the market penetration. All the four strategies have there own importance in improving the business the market penetration is the basic thing which helps the company in building up a product which would become a money spinner for companies, the market penetration process helps in finding the right product that is in demand and the right ways by which a normal product can be increased is called market penetration. Similarly, product development is a way by which we can determine as to what is the actual position of a particular product in the market and so as to what needs to be done for the development of that product is called as the product development.Market development is similar to product development in which we check as to what n eeds to be done so as to improve the sales and customers in the company. While diversification is probably the main source that holds all of these together, by using the diversification a product can be made to increase its market penetration, diversification involves the spreading of investments among the various other aspects in business so as to improve and let other products grow so as to improve the market penetration. Diversification is something which holds all the four alternative strategies together and diversification is more like an influencing factor on these for the products to be judged in the market and vice versa.Unilever in order to improve the sales has few strategies which are influenced by the strategic alternatives, in the unilever's method to increase the growth the number of brands that where being promoted or sold had to be cut down from 1600 to just 400 core brands which could be done with the help of the market penetration, by using the market penetration a nd looking at the market penetration of the various brands in the company it would help out in which brands had the highest penetration in the market and which had the least penetration in the market, so that the brands with the least penetration where removed from the company. Market penetration makes the whole task of choosing the brands which had to stay and the brands which where to be removed by having a look at the brands penetration.Similarly in the aspect of divesting the underperforming companies the strategic alternative comes into play where the product development is taken into consideration, in this a if a particular product or brand is not having a high market penetration then it is said that it is looked after to see the product development of the product so as to check if the product would help in the internal development of the company. The overall picture was of business strengths and weaknesses too much wastage of money and many better opportunities to align resou rces behind building the brand profile for the future. However the food products were also globalized with slower growing market. Unilevers expectations were to achieve double digit growth and secure a better position in the global market by building a brand value with increase in sales by diversifying that is creating more number of acquisitions across the world and making the products which are local in a market globally according to the change of customer preference.And making the company with dual chairperson and dual headquarters this made Unilever a more successful in the competitive industry while it is easy to manage the company and make decisions very quickly and effectively. Changing customer preferences that is according to the four business strategies product development need to be modified or a new product need to invented it is better to change and improve the quality of a product which is already existing rather than inventing a new product. As the number of women wor king out has increased gradually and single parents have increased and heir became a decrease in household products and rapid consolidation among retailers has made food industry miserable.Whether the theory is supported by practice: Yes the theory of these strategic alternatives is very much accepted and supported by practice, all the four strategic alternatives that ate used for the company's capabilities are generally accepted and supported by practice, it is very well known that the four strategic alternatives are market penetration, product development, market development and diversification. These are the four strategic alternatives which are generally supported by practice because when implementing the actual strategies of unilever these alternative strategies do come into being used and help in the successful implementation of those ideas.The, market penetration, product development, market development and diversification are the generally used ways of judging a product and its current performance and in requirements in the market, these help in judging and making various promotions to these products. Probably among all the four strategic alternatives the market penetration is the one which is more frequently come across as it basically deals with finding the products which currently have the highest sales and vice versa it is very well known that for any product deeper the penetration higher the demand for the product so this strategy is almost applied regularly. References http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Unilever http://www. planware. org/strategicplan. htm http://finance. aol. com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors   http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/SWOT_analysis http://extension. psu. edu/NWRegion/comm/marketfactors. htm Crafting and Executing Strategy   By Jr. Thompson, Arthur A, A. J. Strickland, III, A. J. Strickland III, John E Gamble http://books. google. com/books? id=D35W13gPIpAC&pg=PP1&dq=Crafting+and+Executing+Strategy&ei=odd sSpuSK5iwMteE-IAC&client=firefox-a Read more:  http://www. ukdissertations. com/dissertations/business/unilever-project-plan. php#ixzz2D1oixmZC Comfort Downy Price A positioning mapSWOT ANALYSIS In recent years, the competition among consumption markets between Vietnam and foreign countries became so fierce, especially products originating from multi-national companies which are currently present and dominant Vietnam market. Unilever Vietnam is one of the giants on the market of products and services, it has provided a large number of essential goods for daily consumption of Vietnam such as toothpaste, P / S, shampoo Sunsilk, Omo washing powder, etc. †¦ every year. This is not only a threat to domestic producers but also an example for them to learn about business marketing experience of a large multinational company with world-class like it. It can be said that Unilever has a thoughtful and creative marketing strategy which makes it well-known to attract the most customers f or the company's products.The company takes the advantage of their inherent strengths as well as promoting the opportunities from the market to bring huge revenue every year for the company. SWOT analysis below will show all about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as threats Unilever gets. 1. Strengths †¢ Unilever Vietnam has the support from global Unilever; hence it has strong financial background. The visit of Mr. Paul Polman, CEO of Global Unilever, on 10th April 2009, again confirmed the potential of the Vietnamese market which is growing very fast, as well as the important role of Vietnam in the group of new markets and developing countries of the Unilever Group. An effective policy of attracting potentials: The strategy of the company is that â€Å"Development through people†. Through their career days for students who are about to graduate of the prestigious universities, then the company will train them to become Administrators who set the light f or the company's human resources. In addition, the company also sets up salary, benefits, and courses in Vietnam and abroad for staff to enhance their qualification. †¢ The situation of research and technological development of Unilever Vietnam has always been focused and invested adequately. In particular, R & D works very effectively in the exploitation of traditional products such as shampoo Gleditsia, salt toothpaste.Besides, R&D shows its effectiveness in the modern products such as Comfort or Omo†¦ Modern technology inherited from the global Unilever is applied quickly and is remarkably effective. Unilever makes customers surprised many times with much new technology. Recently, we see new Comfort, with a slogan â€Å"just move to be pure fragrant† with Andy and Lili. And how about Omo? The whirlwind-power Omo is the newest kind. †¢ The price is relatively acceptable, while the quality is as high as imported goods. The target customers of Unilever are rang ed from children to adults, from low class to high class. Hence, the price is quite suitable for everyone. The staff with high level and knowledge focus only on the mission of the company, especially the company pays much attention to the relationship with the public. Unilever sets up itself a criterion which is all the employees are the best. Therefore, the staff has high ability to adapt with quick changes in the production line. 2. Weaknesses The key positions in the company are held by foreigners. The CEO of Unilever Vietnam is Ralph Kugler. This may lead to the differences in the perception between CEO and Vietnamese employees; which is the causes of conflicts. †¢ There are some applications not being operated in Vietnam due to high cost, such as the input for perfumes.Moreover, the company does not fully take advantage of abundant labor resources and capacity in Vietnam. †¢ As a company that originated in Europe, strategies to promote Unilever products are not really suitable with Asian culture. 3. Opportunities †¢ The policy of Vietnam is also to build Vietnam's economy as oriented industrialization, modernization, giving priority to attracting foreign investment, especially from transnational and multinational companies such as Unilever to increase the budget. †¢ Domestic market (wholesale, retail, goods circulation †¦ ) have evolved much. Also infrastructure in major cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City has been appropriate invested equally with other countries in the region. Vietnam is a country which is freely religious, so the distribution and advertising of products is not limited. In addition, Vietnam has a young population structure and extended family models (including grandpare