Death of a Salesman Context Essay

Death of a Salesman is a play that consists of a HISTORICAL background which is key to understanding the play. It was written in 1949, just a few years after the World War ll was over, meaning the United States, where the play occurs, was going through many changes. For example, the war caused an increase in industrial production markets and non-farming business. For the poorest Americans, however, the economic situation was not improved as America started having high inflation, causing problems for the poorest citizens to purchase the basics. Also, the government started to create policies which helped larger corporate farmers but not smaller farmers. Happy, a sales clerk and Biff, a farm worker, had the lowest-paid jobs in the country, leading them to some trouble in maintaining dignity in society. For Americans, dignity and pride were very important things. Due to their victories during the war, Americans felt proud and had a feeling of superiority over the world. This lead to the ir need of proving that capitalism was better than communism. Because of this, Americans felt responsible for protecting their nation from any influences from communist Soviet Union. This period of time where Americans felt the obligation to achieve financial success in order to show gratitude for the liberty they had as a democratic society and also to defeat the Soviets is now called the Cold War era. During this period of time, people like Willy relied too much on long-term credit to show they were financially successful and ended up having trouble in giving their families the basics. In the play, this Cold War attitude is shown by Willy’s preoccupation with his position in society and financial status. Willy’s worry also represents some of the SOCIAL context in the play as he fears not being accepted in society; he wants to be â€Å"well liked†. American society changed after WWll. Before, people were motivated by morals and rules but after the Cold War era started, Americans became motivated bywhat others thought of th em. Willy represents the people in American society who lost their identity due to their need to achieve social standards. This idea is reflected at the end of the play where Biff says that Willy â€Å"didn’t know who he was.† This social change may have been a cause of POLITICAL change because, as a result of The Great Depression, American government became more influential on citizens’ daily lives.  Because of this, and also due to an increase in media communication such as radio and television, Americans started to feel like they belonged to a large, connected society and along came a desire to be accepted by their peers in society. Miller also shows some of the CULTURAL background behind the play through three of his main characters: Willy, Ben and Biff as the three of them, similar to many Americans at the time, show they are eager to achieve â€Å"The American Dream†. Two versions of the American Dream are mentioned in the play. One is represented by Willy, focused mostly on money which was a way Americans found to show they had the â€Å"freedom and liberty† to purchase material goods. The other version is shown through Biff and Ben with their â€Å"go West, young man† mythology representing the dream of having the liberty for new adventures. Leticia Hosang

Analyze the Role of Religion in American Culture and Politics Since the Beginning of the 20th Century Essay

The first amendment of the constitution of the United States of America states â€Å"Congress shall make no law, respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof†. This law has given the United States of America the status of a secular state since 1791, meaning that its states have to be official neutral in matters of religion. However, many factors strongly contradict its values; Especially in the 20th century, where there have been many cases where citizens weren’t treated equally regardless of religion. In effect, Jefferson’s â€Å"wall of separation† as a metaphor for the separation of church and state promotes free exercise of religion yet its concept has proven to be difficult because the USA governs with a Federal system and today, there is 900 different denominations in the country. The establishment clause hasn’t been equally respected within the states of the country; for example, the constitution of Arkansas states â€Å" No person who denies the being of God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this state, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any court†, this heavily contradicts the USA’s secularity. It has always been a very difficult task for the country to separate religion and government; how has religion played a major role in American culture and politics since the beginning of the 20th century? From the colonial period through the current day, European visitors to the United States have commented on the powerful current of religiousness that appears to affect all aspects of American life. Surveys of American opinion document that religious belief is widespread: nearly all Americans profess a belief in God, anticipate an afterlife, and report that religion is important in their lives. In 2010, the Pew Research Center published a pie-graph illustrating religious denominations among people in the United States of America. The graph gives us a clear understanding of the religious pluralism of the country. Among the many religious belief systems co-existing in the American society, we can see a domination of the Christian religion, with an average of 80 % of the people living in America. Also, there are many other religious beliefs in the country such as Buddhism, Judaism etc. This document shows that religion is a very important factor of the image on the United States of America. Effectively, the American Dollar, the world’s currency, proudly states â€Å"In God we trust†. This is one of the many factors contradicting the establishment of religion clause. The constitution of the United States of America clearly states that religion should not interfere with the government because if it does, it will show a clear preference of the government, eventually contradicting free exercise. However religious beliefs have always had an impact politically on the country. Absence of state religion does not guarantee that a state is secular state; many people believe that the USA is a Christian State. This belief is understanding because many elements contradict the secularity of the country, for example, the congress and state congresses, one of the main institutions in the heart of American politics, have to begin with a prayer, children in publics schools begin the day by swearing allegiance to â€Å"One nation under God† and most importantly, elected officials have to swear an oath on a Christian Bible. Also, the recent presidential candidate Mitt Romney attracted many of his voters because he himself is a deeply religious man, an alleged Mormon. Consequently, electoral statistics of 2012 demonstrated an interesting pattern: most religious states, usually situated in inner America, voted for candidate Mitt Romney. These aspects among many others show that religion does have an impact culturally and politically in the United States of America. The extract for Time Magazine titled â€Å"Are we sliding backward on teaching evolution? published in April 2012 shows that the Scopes trial is still a hot topic even 87 years after the controversy. Effectively, in July 1925, the state of Tennessee passed the butler law, which forbade teachers in public schools from denying the biblical account of creation, therefore forbidding them to teach Darwin’s theory of Evolution. John T. Scopes, a young science teacher and football coach thought evolution in his class and got arrested for disob eying the Butler Law. Due to catholic pressure, this was the 1st case to be broadcasted by the media all over the world, giving the â€Å"monkey trial† immense proportions. This case strongly opposed the fundamentalist opinion of William J. Bryan who was completely against the ideas of evolution and Clarence Darrow, an evolutionist who wanted to â€Å"put Bryan in his place as a bigot†. During a fiery debate, Bryan admitted that some parts of the bible were not to be taken literally, completely overthrowing his beliefs. Many thought Darrow would win the case, yet the court assessed that Scopes was guilty of violating a state law. However, after the Scopes Trial, a 1958 Act stressed the importance of evolution as the unifying principle of biology. Nevertheless, the Time Magazine article demonstrates that anti-evolution forces have prevailed in Tennessee and a new law was enacted in 2012 giving school teachers the right to question the validity of evolution and to teach students creationism. This article helps realize that religion strongly influences human actions. It states that â€Å"13% of biology teachers across the country are currently teaching creationism†. This is an alarming situation because it shows that there hasn’t been much progress even more than three quarters of a century after the Scopes trial and that religion is at the heart of American culture and politics. However, us readers will not have full knowledge of the situation; since it is impossible to report everything, selectivity is inevitable. Usually a journalist gives us a widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an individual journalist or article. In all, the article shows its readers that we are taking a step backward on teaching evolution, demonstrating that religion, still today, plays a major role in American culture and politics. In the 20th century, other controversies gathering the ideas of separation of state and church existed. Effectively, many political crises were linked with the role of Religion in the United States of America. The Ku Klux Klan movement that first started after the American civil war in 1865 and continues marginally today. The members of the clan preferred the antebellum period where blacks were not free men and were slaves to whites and strongly opposed the passage of the three Reconstruction-era amendments. The 13th Amendment (1865) that banned slavery. The 14th Amendment (1868) that guaranteed equal rights of citizenship to all Americans, with the special intention of protecting the rights of former slaves. The 15th Amendment (1870) provided that voting rights of citizens â€Å"shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Theses acts brought fire to a racist fraternity that attempted to intimidate the black freedmen during nightly activities dressed as ghosts and posing a flamed cross where they stood. Progressively, they became more inclined to the idea that they are superior to all people of other colors and religions. They believe in a philosophy of exclusion and claim that whites must maintain control of the United States and keep all people of other races and religions from gaining power. As so called â€Å"defenders of white American Protestantism†, they heavily target African–Americans, Catholics, Jews and Immigrants. Today there are only minorities of the Ku Klux Klan yet the right of freedom of speech in the United States of America allows them to demonstrate their beliefs freely. Hundreds of individuals were lynched and murdered by the clan because of their religious beliefs and origins. The belief of white supremacy was strongly suggested by the Bible according to the KKK. They believed that the bible supports separatism, in effect, many extracts prove that god favored the whites and avoided miscegenation. For example, the bible once says, â€Å"God forbad intermarriage between Israel and other nations†, showing that the mixity of races should be forbidden. This shows how Religion can affect the country; many were condemned to suffer because they did not conform to what the church believed. In addition, another crisis began in 1969 when a woman named Norma McCorvey found herself pregnant without wanting to infant this child her whole life. She wanted an abortion but Texas law would only allow one if her life was in danger. She used the name of Jane Roe and brought her story to court. She declared that the laws prohibiting abortion violated a woman’s constitutional right to privacy implied in the Bill of Rights. Her case was brought to the Supreme Court and it finally agreed that the Texas law was unconstitutional. However, in March 1970, Henry B. Wade, a district attorney in Texas went against the court and stated that the state has a duty to protect prenatal life, most religious individuals believe that life begins at conception. There was an evident split in the USA between the â€Å"Pro-life† and the â€Å"Pro-choice†; Religion is again the main source of the conflict. On January 1973, the Supreme Court gave women the rights of abortion. However abortion is conditional: during the first trimester of pregnancy women can abort without interference of state, during the second trimester states can regulation an abortion only according to circumstances and during the third trimester state can regulate or forbid abortion usually if the mother’s life is at stake. This crisis has involved the United States of America politically because electoral candidates have to choose wisely about their opinions on pro-life and pro-choice. For example, 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney was pro-choice as the former governor of Massachusetts but became pro-life while running for president. In addition, the states of Wyoming and Georgia both regard women as live stock meaning they have to carry their child, even if dead, until it comes out of her. Although this crisis in mainly about the right of privacy under due process clause in the 14th amendment, religion has been a major factor of the debate since religious believers usually tend to believe that only god can choose when you die, therefore an abortion goes against this ideology. These many crises have shown that religion plays a major role in American culture and politics. In conclusion, Religion has always been an important factor in the United States of America showing that the country has difficulties holding its secular status. The 20th century has demonstrated many conflicts between the church and the state. Effectively, the country being a federal republic does not ease the complication, as many states prefer to base their values on religion. USA is one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world. A majority of Americans report that religion plays a â€Å"very important† role in their lives, a proportion unique among developed nations. Consequently, religion does play a major role in American Culture and Politics; however, in August 2010, 67% of Americans said religion is losing influence.

A Comparison of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Views on Abortion

A Comparison of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Views on Abortion Abortion: Pro-Choice or Pro-Life â€Å"But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to desperation which impelled her to the crime [abortion]† (Susan B. Anthony, 1869). In the Scott, Foresman Advanced Dictionary, Thorndike and Barnhart defined abortion as the removal of a developing embryo or fetus from the uterus to terminate a pregnancy before birth resulting in death of the fetus (3). The abortion issue has become one of the world’s most controversial problems of today. This issue is divided into two sides, pro-life and pro-choice. They focus on different aspects of receiving an abortion. At one end we have the pro-choice advocate those who focus on women’s right. The pro-choice supporters have reason to believe the fetus is only a potential human being. It has no right whatsoever, because the right belongs to the woman carrying the fetus, and it is she who decides on the length of time of the pregnancy. On the other end we have the pro-life those who oppose abortion and focus on the fetus rights. They believe the fetus is a human being and has just as much legal right as the parents. The Bible states that everybody was created in the image of God. Therefore, taking the life of an innocent child is like killing the image of God. In the Bible, God said that thou shall not murder. Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus has defined murder as the unlawful and intentional killing of a human being (133). Is abortion moral or immoral? According to pro-life supporters, the unborn child is entrusted to the protection and care of the mother carrying it. Daniels 3 Time it is the mother herself who makes the choice of whether or not the child should be aborted. The decision to abort the child may have come from problems dealing with the health of the mother or standard or living for the family. However, these excuses never justify the intentional killing of an innocent person. Many people claim that an embryo is not considered human life. Supporters believe that human life starts at the fertilization of the ovum. Human life is sacred at every moment of existence. In the opinion of pro-choicer advocate, birth is not always the right choice, because it may be â€Å"socially disfunctional, morally irresponsible, or even cruel.† (Abortion, 24) Many women who knew that life would only bring pain for their children choose to have an abortion. They feel that it would be better if the child wasn’t born at all. Even though it kills human life, abortion is in fact, the moral choice to make when would be mothers are as certain that their present circumstances do not enable them to raise a would-be child responsibly. Contrary to popular accusations it is not the decision to abort, but the decision to have a child that is treated with the insufficient gravity in our society (Quinn, Abortion, 25). To many pro-life advocates, abortion is a form of holocaust. They have compared abortion to the Nazi’s termination of the Jews. The number of aborted babies is staggering: 4,000 on a daily basis, over 1.6million annually, and over 30 million in the 20 years after the United States Supreme court gave it proabortion decision in 1973. Daniels 4 Yearly basis from 50 to 60 million abortions have been performed worldwide. The Nazi’s killed at least six million Jews. The Nazi’s killed the Jews and, instead of burying them they put them in crematory ovens and huge ditches. Burning in hospital furnaces or city incinerators exposes of many of the aborted babies. Pro-life groups prefer that the bodies be disposed with dignity, a Christian burial. Pro-choicest Don Sloan believes that an embryo is not a baby because it can only exist inside a woman’s uterus. Some people think of abortion as a self-defense rather than a murder because the woman is defending her health, her way of life, and her piece of mind against something that is not wanted. Sloan, like other pro-choice supporters, believe that everyone have a right and a say-so in the abortion issue. School officials are not allowed to hand out aspirin to children without the permission of the parents, so why should they be able to have an abortion without consent? To pro-lifers, parents should be involved in abortion decision-making for teens because legally, they are responsible. The idea of notifying parents in advance when any of discussion goes on with regard to their children health and welfare and that includes abortion. As long as the parents are responsible for their sexuality laws are written to stipulate what is right and wrong. And when it comes to a law that affects parental rights, I think there is a responsibility to come out on the side of the parents (Gow, Abortion, 96). Daniels 5 Parental notification is one of these troubling topics that confound many. Many states such as Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, and Kansas require parental notification before a minor is required to obtain an abortion. States were parental consent is required include Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Ohio. Pro-choicers feel that these laws are unconstitutional and they are a violation of the pregnant child. They feel that this could harm the girls’ health and may drive the teen to have an illegal abortion to avoid telling their parents. Legislators who disagree with abortion believe that the parental-consent laws will scare teens into abstinence. However, in states with these laws, sexual intercourse rates don’t decrease, but their health risks, however, increases. Young people are frightened by these laws only when they have become impregnated and need help desperately. There is evidence that teenagers who do no involve their parents [in deciding about abortion] believe that involving their parents would not be their own best interests or try to protect their parents (Abortion, 98). V. Many people believe that rape justifies abortion. To them, pregnancies resulting from rape are bothersome and involuntary, and should be approached by providing suitable counseling. On the other hand, the pro-life advocates feel that rape doesn’t justify abortion. Opponents of abortion rights walk a fine line when they condone any abortion. Based on their own definition, they are guilty of being accessories to â€Å"murder† in certain circumstances by accepting rape and incest exceptions (Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights, 135). Daniels 6 It is not moral to hate a person because of the way they were conceived. Rape is a violent act received by a woman. That makes her an innocent victim. Abortion, no matter the reason, is a violent act received by an unborn child from the woman carrying it. What does this makes the unborn child? With an average of 1.5 million abortions performed every year since its legalization in 1973, abortion is the most common surgical procedure for women. Most medical professionals agree that the earlier an abortion is performed, the safer it is for the woman. The pro-life advocates have shown studies that women who have had abortions have a 50 percent increased risk for breast cancer. This increased revealed by the studies means that women face a higher risk of dying from the effects of an abortion than of dying in childbirth. The first trimester of a normal pregnancy is marked by a surge of hormones from the mother’s ovaries, which makes her breast grow. The high estrogen levels of early pregnancy interact with hormones of late pregnancy and produces breast milk. If the pregnancy is terminated artificially, the growth-stimulating effects of the estrogen surge help primitive and abnormal cells to grow in possible cancers. However, the pro-choice supporters have found that many medical studies have shown that a woman’s reproductive history affects her risk of breast cancer. The risks associated with abortion are insignificant compared with other well-documented breast cancer risks, such as alcohol consumption and weight. Furthermore, studies on the link between breast cancer and abortion have reached contradictory conclusions. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that everyone has the freedom of speech, or of press. Daniels 7 Opinions. There are many questions people should consider about the issue of abortion. They are as follows: Is this process immoral; Should rights be restricted; Can abortion be justified; and is this a safe process.

Mission Statement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Mission Statement - Assignment Example It also aims at teaching them to adhere to the spirit of rules thus instilling habits that lead them to better and healthier lives. In addition, the program aims at building community by engaging the young people and creating an environment through which other people can also enjoy the experience. The issues that the program is likely to face include: firstly, insufficient funds to carry out all the obligations. Being a new program, we are not likely to get sponsors. I will address the problem by organizing fundraising events to ensure that we get enough funds. I will also look for charity organizations that can support us however small. Secondly, the program is likely to have poor reception (strong opposition) in the area because many parents prefer curricular activities (Murphy, 2011). I will carry out awareness programs aimed at educating parents on the benefits of co-curricular activities. This will make the parents to allow their children to join the program. I will also encourage my students to balance between athletics and class work to ensure that they excel in both. Finally, we are likely to be faced with youth sports violence. For instance, some parents being unhappy about unfair treatment their children receive and hence verbally abusing the coach (Murphy, 2011). I will ensure that equity and equality is observed all the time and also that all complaints are listened to and addressed fully. Such parents will be made to understand the role youth sports play in the society and not viewing them as just games of

Fashion marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fashion marketing - Essay Example It takes over other stores to enter a new market and because of the brand name, it is able to quickly settle in. (International Operations, 2008) As mentioned above, Wal-Mart has a simple strategy which it practices around the globe. This has been the reason why Wal-Mart hasn't been able to do well in Germany and China. The same strategy cannot be implemented across cultural and geographical boundaries. Despite the standard strategies around the world, Wal-Mart has to adapt to an extent like the low budget stores in Brazil and small subway stores in China. The global initiative does not support its marketing strategy very well in all regions, Wal-Mart needs to adapt and be flexible in order to be success. (International Operations, 2008) Currently it does not seem that Wal-Mart will be successful in Japan or German. To be successful, the management should study the local conditions of store chains that are functioning well and adopt a similar marketing strategy since learning is the best thing to do. Also Japan and Germany are very quality conscious thus the best thing is to give them high quality products at higher rates. And also before starting any operations, Wal-Mart should perform an extensive market research like the one being conducted in India. According to the conclusion th

Individual Essay Virtual Teams Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Individual Virtual Teams - Essay Example 300). It is important to note that even though members of a virtual team may work from different branches of the same organization, their contribution to the team is expected to enable the organization reach a common goal. Body Before an organization decides to form a virtual team as a means of attaining organizational goals, it is critical to evaluate the pros and cons of such a team. Such an evaluation enables organizations to determine if a virtual team would be best suited to meet the needs and goals of the organization. Some of the advantages of such teams are outlined below. First, virtual teams are highly convenient because of the lack of time restrictions. Since the members of a virtual team often reside in different cities/ countries, members are aware, from the onset, that team meetings may be held at odd hours. The communication technology that is used by virtual teams is designed to be effective irrespective of time differences. The ability of such teams to work without t ime restrictions is very beneficial since essentially, a company can work for twenty-four hours a day (Hungwei & Heng-Yu, 2011, p. 83). This increases the amount of work that is accomplished in one day, which leads to increased productivity. The lack of restrictions on time also means that in most cases, virtual teams hold meetings when members have varying energy levels because of the time difference (Berry, 2011, p. 193). This is beneficial since team members are not likely to be exhausted at the same time, which makes the virtual team highly productive (Ofir & Zhang, 2010, p. 368). Another notable advantage of virtual teams is that they may cost the company less in terms of overhead. As noted in this paper, virtual team members do not necessarily have to be in the office to hold meetings. In fact some members may work for their homes on a full time basis because face to face meetings in the office may not be needed. As such, companies are able to save costs that they may otherwis e have incurred on things such as office space and other office amenities (Panteli & Tucker, 2009, p. 113). Virtual teams are also beneficial since they enable companies to acquire the best possible variety of employees that can steer the company to success. In some cases, companies may be unable to hire all the skills they need because they rely on local-based employees who can be able to report to the local office. By making use of virtual teams, companies can ensure that they do not compromise and hire minimally skilled employees (Jacques, Garger, & Brown, 2009, pp. 153-154). Virtual teams can comprise of members who are not able to relocate to the location of the actual office but who are just as skilled as or even more skilled than employees who work from the office. In addition to this, a virtual team is also advantageous since it leads to reliance on a result- based method of measuring employee performance. During the evaluation of the performance of employees who work from t he office, some companies may erroneously rate the performance of employees who stay longer in the office highly. However, just because an employee put more effort by staying in the office longer, this does not necessarily mean that such an employee contributes highly to the attainment of organizational goals. Since the performance

Integrity in Humanistic Organizations Research Paper

Integrity in Humanistic Organizations - Research Paper Example This paper can help to understand what a humanistic organization means. The humanistic organizations can therefore are those organizations that are formed and operate on the basis of the interest of the welfare and interest of human beings Integrity can be defined as the adherence by a person or by the organization to a given set of moral principles and character. The term can also be expanded to mean the quality of having a sound moral character and honesty of actions. Integrity also has to do with being free from the influences or motives that are corrupting. This freedom from influences is especially important in the operations of the humanistic organization. Development on the other hand refers to the activities in the organization that are geared towards enhancing or improving the productivity of the people and the various components of an organization. Development also has to do with the activities that are geared towards enhancing the performance or the quality of leadership i n an organization. This in turn has the effect of improving the productivity of the said organization. Humanistic organizations are usually carefully planned and the activities that are engaged in are coordinated. The elements or people within an organization usually work under a given set of rules and leadership structure that governs their organization. In defining integrity, there are three aspects that should be considered. These aspects are consistency, relational awareness and inclusion. The consistency aspect has to do with the association between the words and the actions. There should be a consistency between what one says and what one does. The two should be the same. Consistency means that what one says should not be affected by influences from others and should also not be affected by the possibility of personal gain. To be consistent also means that one should adhere to their standards and principles despite the circumstances and despite who is watching (Marchica 40). T he aspect of relational awareness means that one is conscious of the different relationships in which they are involved in. this means that the person should have the awareness of one’s identity and how that identity relates to others. The awareness of the relationships that one has with others enables a person to know how to act and react in different circumstances. This connects with the consistency aspect in that integrity means that an individual or an organization must be aware of their identity (this has to do with what an organization is all about) and or their actions (what they should do in different situations). For the humanistic organization, the actions and their mission has to be centered on ensuring the wellbeing of others. The humanistic organization is also centered on ensuring that more potent contributions are made in the workplace (Schneider, Bugental & Pierson 522) The inclusion aspect of integrity means that the organization or the individuals in the org anization must be open to the differences that exist between them. Inclusion means that the

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 60

Case study - Essay Example The deal was going on well with the company making small losses and gains to balance the losses, an indication that all systems were right. However, in mid April 1994, Artzt, the chairman of P & G, made a shocking revelation that the company had made a whopping $157 million loss after liquidating two interest rate swap contracts (Smith, 68). This was in addition to a $102 million after tax charge against the company’s third quarter profits to cover the losses incurred in the transaction (Malkin, 1994). The scenario was that P $ G had a signed a contract that considerably magnified the interest rates swings in a 3 years swap in which the company paid a floating rate on Libor (Smith, 69). The intention of the company was to make an interest in the event that interest rates fell or remained constant, which could have led the prices of the relevant bonds increasing or remaining constant. As a result, the company could have paid the expected Libor rate while still benefiting from t he income from Bankers Trust for the options. However, the short interest rates rose significantly leading to a decline in the prices of the long term bonds, forcing P & G to buy the derivatives at rates way above the selling value. In other words, P &G found itself paying rates above the selling value due to the sensitivity of the long term bonds to the slightest movement in interest rates. Consequently, P & G had to pay much higher to purchase back the derivatives from Bankers Trust than what the bank had paid for them due to the increase in the value of the options held by the bank as a result of a rise in interest rates (Heffernan, 641). P & G incurred the above losses due to interest rates volatility in the market, which made the company buy its swiped instruments at much higher costs than the bank had paid. The outcome of the transaction was that two P & G employees considered to bear the

Compare a modern (post mechanistic) management accounting technique Essay

Compare a modern (post mechanistic) management accounting technique with a traditional technique which has the same (or similar) objectives - Essay Example Management accounting deals with presentation of accounting information which assists the management of a business to come up with policies and also to facilitate the management in it normal activities (Bhattacharyya, 2011, p. 1). It is a process that involves identification, measurement, accumulation analysis, interpretation and communication of financial information that helps to facilitate planning, evaluating and controlling the activities and accountability of resources (Thukaram Rao, 2003, p. 1). For a long time, strategic management accounting was considered as a possible area of development that would boost the future contribution of management accounting. In the 1980, the United Kingdom Chartered Institute of Management Accountants ordered an inquiry that was to review the current state of the development of management accounting. The findings were consequently published in a report entitled Management Accounting: Evolution and Revolution which drew attention to strategic management accounting as an area for future development (Drury, 2008, p. 570). There are a number of new techniques that have been introduced that are aimed at making management accounting more relevant to the production methods that are used in the modern world. This management accounting methods include; strategy management accounting, life cycle costing, target costing and Kaizen among others (Collier and Agyei-Ampomah, 2008, p. 50). The traditional focus of management accounting was on the period after the product had passed the design and development stage and has gone into production so that it can be taken to the market for the consumers to buy (Collier and Agyei-Ampomah, 2008, p. 51). In traditional management accounting, the control procedures focused mainly on the manufacturing stage of the whole life associated with a product. Cost that were realized

Marketing impacts on society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing impacts on society - Essay Example Similarly, children are getting obese because of food items that make them crave for it. Moreover, women are having severe body disorder like anorexia and they feel unsatisfied with their bodies due to advertisement. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts of advertisements that are affecting societies in a negative manner. It can be noticed that advertisements are playing an essential role to promote products and to increase their sales. Marketing through advertisements on TV, billboards, posters, and social media is on its peak. These marketing strategies and advertisements have three broad adverse impacts on societies that are making women conscious about their physique, generating behavioral problems in children, and families are facing high debt situations. The paper will highlight these impacts and issues in detail. Advertising purpose is to show the best part of the product in the best way. It has been observed that women are used as a sex object in advertisements. It has become a trend to present young, smart and slim women in almost every advertisement to grab the attention of the consumers. It can be said that advertisements influence people in a negative way because of the false or unrealistic images. Various researchers that by presenting slim and smart women in advertisements are making other women unsatisfied towards their physical appearance and body shapes suggest it (n.d., 2013). There are 69 percent women who are not satisfied with their bodies due to the advertisements (n.d., 2013). They wish to look thin same as those models in magazine ads, in TV ads and billboard ads. In order to get thin and skinny, women are now victims of body disorder like anorexia. It is an eating disorder in which health is being threatened because of the refusal to maintain healthy diet and body weight. It is bringing distorted body image between male and females. It is also a psychological disorder that is now increasing rapidly

Was Alexander II more successful than Alexander III Essay Example for Free

Was Alexander II more successful than Alexander III Essay Was Alexander II more successful than Alexander III in coping with the problems he inherited? During the reigns of both Alexander II and Alexander III both faced significant problems. Both rulers inherited some similar problems when they ascended to the throne for example both faced significant opposition, albeit in different forms. For example, at the time of Alexander II’s ascension to the throne opposition was disparate and far away from what it was by the time he was succeeded in 1881 by Alexander III. Problems regarding domestic policy were also inherited by both Tsars as well as problems on the international stage posing difficulties. It would seem that the more successful of the two leaders in dealing with these problems would be Alexander III as he managed to crush the opposition he faced surviving his reign unlike his father as well as being adept at dealing with international issues. The opposition faced was a serious problem that was faced by both Alexander’s. Opposition to Alexander II was largely based on discontent from the serfs and peasantry that had been festering before he came to power. For example there were 1468 serf uprisings since the turn of the century. This group of the population were seen as potentially dangerous to the regime within Russia and as a result Alexander II recognised there was need for change. As a result he set about with the drafting of the Emancipation Act using the nobility to do it. While he did sympathise with the serfs the reason behind the eventual introduction of this act was to uphold the fundamental principles of Tsarism, these being autocracy, orthodoxy and nationalism. Though this reform was meant to drastically improve the position of the serfs, it instead made their situation worse in many cases. This undoubtedly created more grievances on behalf of the, now, ex serfs. This growing discontent coincided with the emergence of an intelligentsia from the middle class. The intelligentsia were starting to become more organised forming early groups such as the Nihilists and then Populists. These groups were beginning to actively show their discontent at the limited reforms Alexander II had introduced would eventually result in the formation of the People’s Will, the group responsible for the assassination of Alexander II himself on 1st March 1881. It can thus be seen that Alexander II did not successful cope with the opposition he faced. In contrast it can be argued that Alexander III was successful in coping with the problem of opposition. The situation he had inherited in this regard was much worse than that of his father. Opposition had become much more dangerous to the regime in the years between 1855 and 1881 clearly highlighted as they ended Alexander II’s reign. The assassination of the Tsar generated a mass of insecurity and a determination to crush the opposition on behalf of the new Tsar. The creation of the Okhrana was almost immediate; this was essentially a police force that aimed at data collection on political offenders and infiltration of terrorist organisation. This came alongside the policy of Russification which forced the Russian on language onto those of foreign nationality and made the principle of Russian nationality fundamental to life within the country. The Okhrana were dedicated to enforcing religious, racial and national orthodoxy as well as restricting various parts of the population i.e. writers, teachers, Jews etc. As a result any opposition to Alexander III’s reign was suppressed. It would appear that the measures he introduced allowed him to successful cope with this opposition unlike Alexander II whose reforms caused opposition to develop further. Alexander II came to the power with the backdrop of the Crimean War in 1855. This war had highlighted the various incompetency’s of Russia as a nation, making them appear weak and backward in comparison to the Western European nations. As a result Alexander II saw the need for the introduction of reforms to bring Russia up to date with the West. Aside from the aforementioned Emancipation Act there were various other reforms. He decided that the country needed to develop on an industrial level. In order to do this Alexander II drew up plans for a massive investment in railways. The emancipation, he hoped, would lead to greater agricultural output, in order to finance the railways, and the beginnings of Russias industrialisation. He also invested in new iron and steel works for armaments and new manufacturing industries. However these plans never came to fruition during his rule with the dissatisfaction amongst the serfs playing a key part to this. Though he may have not been successful in this area the creation of Zemstvos as well as changes to the legal system and education on the surface appeared to bring Russia up to date with Western Democracies. The Zemstovs allowed people to have more representation at a local level, they were places where people could go to express opinions. The development of education and legal reforms also appeared as though the regime was becoming more liberal and to a certain extent this was true as people enjoyed greater freedom in society and thus showed distinct improvement in modernising Russia. On the other hand the rule of Alexander III can be seen to not offer such modernisation. Though he was successful he in introducing a large system of railways across Russia, most notably the Tran Siberian system these were largely following the plans of his father. On a more social level the repression experienced under Alexander III was somewhat archaic and was a step in the completely wrong direction. The persecution of the Jews was most horrific, they were forced to live in restricted areas and only a limited number were allowed in education. There were even Jewish Pogroms which occurred when gangs of people violently attacked Jewish people. This added to the state interference through the Okhrana mean that Russia had moved away from modernising rather than towards it under Alexander III. In this way Alexander II was more successful in coping with the problem of modernising Russia through domestic policy. A final problem both leaders faced were the issues taking place on the international stage. While the Crimean war had resulted in a need for domestic change it to had required Alexander II make changes to the army after being humiliated. Universal conscription was eventually introduced in 1874. This pointed the way to a large scale armed force with six year service and a long length of time in reserve this replaced the outdated old-fashioned system which had basically seen a serf army. Russia now looked to be on the path to developing a modern army on the Prussian model. However the Russo-Turkish 1877-1888 war saw the limitations of the army with the diminishing Ottoman Empire not being overrun by the new Russian army. Although they made gains in several areas they took a huge financial hit and had been isolated from the other European superpowers as they allied together. When Alexander II came to power he thus inherited these problems. He however was much more adept at dealing with international affairs than his father and predecessor was. Alexander III proved to be quite the negotiator gaining the title of â€Å"Alexander the Peacemaker†. He aimed at avoiding war at all costs and was tolerant of Otto von Bismarck, a conservative German statesman who dominated European affairs from the 1860s to his dismissal in 1890. Bismarck had a quite belligerent attitude towards Russia, and Alexander II was able to revive the ancient league of 3 emperors in 1884. During his reign as Tsar Alexander had managed to avoid war and create some kind of international security whereas under Alexander II Russia still seemed vulnerable as a result the problems inherited on the international stage were handled more successfully by Tsar Alexander III. In conclusion, it can be seen that Alexander III was more successful than Alexander II in coping with the problems he inherited. Although Alexander II’s handling of domestic policy and modernisation was superior, Alexander III’s ability to successfully get rid of opposition, through things methods such as the Okhrana, and his handling of the international situation make it clear that he was the more successful Tsar in coping with the problems he inherited.

Costing Methods Pape Essay Example for Free

Costing Methods Pape Essay Write a paper of no more than 700 words addressing the following questions:  · What strategies did the management of Super Bakery, Inc. use?  · Why did Super Bakery’s management think it was necessary to install an ABC system? Do you agree with their reasoning? If you disagree, identify your recommended costing system, including your rationale, to management.  · Would a job order cost system or a process order cost system work for Super Bakery. Why or why not? Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. College is too important not to give it your all, no matter what you face throughout your collegiate career. Hopefully, this article has given you some very useful advice that will help make college life easier for you and getting to that all important graduation day with confidence a little less challenging. In this document ACC 561 Assignment Week 4 Costing Methods Paper there is a review of the following parts: Strategy ABC Installation Cost System Conclusion Business Accounting Resource: Accounting Read BYP17-5, titled Communication Activity, in the Ch. 17 â€Å"Broadening Your Perspective† section of Accounting . Write a paper of no more than 700 words addressing the following questions:  · What strategies did the management of Super Bakery, Inc. use?  · Why did Super Bakery’s management think it was necessary to install an ABC system? Do you agree with their reasoning? If you disagree, identify your recommended costing system, including your rationale, to management. To get more course tutorials visit https://bitly.com/12Binkm College is something that you want to make sure that youre ready for as much as possible. While you have to live into much of it, there are many things you have to do ahead of time in order to make sure youre successful. Make sure you continue reading in order to find out the information you need. Business Accounting

Adidas PEST and SWOT Analysis

Adidas PEST and SWOT Analysis The Footwear Industry is a mature industry; it consists of giant players like Nike, Reebok, Puma on one hand and millions of small retailers in the unorganised sector on the other. This industry presents a myriad of interesting observations there are highly specialised segments where performance is the driving force like running shoes, basketball shoes, and soccer shoes. But to some, a highly fashionized shoe is the priority. Therefore the industry is in a creative phase where performance and fashion have now been merged to create a new hybrid, called lifestyle segment. The competition in this industry is mostly non-price atleast for the established legendary players like Nike and Adidas. They compete for mind share of the customer and aspects like marketing campaigns, brand ambassadors, product proliferation and branding, spell success. Brand Stickiness is high once a customer has experienced a brand and has been satisfied, indicating that price stickiness is less which is also due to affluent lifestyles, prosperity and rising purchasing power of the customer today. Nike and Adidas are the two mammoths of the industry today. Nike is the world leader with a close follower as Adidas Reebok combined (post Reeboks acquisition by Adidas in 2006). The report attempts to study the internal external environment in which Adidas operates and competes. To give the study a 360 degree perspective, various aspects of the industry like market trends, customer profile, competitive analysis and are covered. I. Corporate Mission Mission Statements are an insight into a companys intent, it tells various stakeholders the basic premise for the existence of an organisation why does it do what it chooses to do, who does it deal with, what does it aspire to become all these are essential elements of a companys mission statement, Rossiter, J. R., Bellman, S. (2005). Marketing communications: Theory and applications. The Mission Statement of Adidas is as follows: Adidas-Salomon strives to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry with sports brands built on a passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle. We are consumer focused. That means we continuously improve the quality, look, feel and image of our products and our organizational structures to match and exceed consumer expectations and to provide them with the highest value. We are innovation and design leaders who seek to help athletes of all skill levels achieve peak performance with every product we bring to the market. We are a global organization that is socially and environmentally responsible, creative and financially rewarding for our employees and shareholders. We are committed to continuously strengthening our brands and products to improve our competitive position and financial performance. In the medium term, we will extend our leading market position in Europe, expand our share of the US footwear market and be the fastest growing major sporting goods supplier in Asia and Latin America. The resulting top-line growth, together with strict cost control and working capital improvements, will drive over-proportionate earnings growth. (Mission Statement sourced from www.adidas.com) Adidas is a German company by origin and it had acquired Salomon SA in 1998 as a part of its expansion strategy. It purchased Reebok in the year 2006 to re-strengthen its position and focus on its core businesses of athletic footwear and apparel. The company has been known for its continual zest for innovation, a trait mastered by its founder Adolph Dassler. A detailed analysis of the mission statement reveals the following Post Salomon acquisition, Adidas was clear that it wanted to expand establish itself in a gamut of sports and focus beyond athletic shoes and aptly be known as a sporting goods company. It always had lifestyle in mind while thinking of performance. Customer centricity was always high and a continuous improvement to provide more than the customers expected was essential to Adidas. The management realises that athletic performance is the ethos of the company and innovation is required to deliver high performance. Their mission statement also talks about the scale and the scope by mentioning that it is a truly global conglomerate. It realises its responsibility towards employees, shareholders and the society equally. It mentions that Europe, US, Asia and Latin America will be the focus; the company will strive to maintain its cost, increase its top line and deliver the best to all stakeholders. Deliberating on the mission statement, it appears to be a well focused and an all encompassing one. After the acquisition of Reebok in 2006, Adidas has reinforced its core strategy which had got diluted post Salomon take over as the product line got too diversified to gel with each other or to enable smooth management of the business overall. If one were to write a revamped Mission statement for Adidas considering the current competencies, its focus and the industrial environment in mind, the following can be a suggestive and an all compassing attempt Adidas Mission Statement We will exploit technology judiciously in our entire product lines of footwear and apparel, both in performance and fitness segment, to extend benefits to all our stakeholders globally either in the form of more comfort, better technique in sports, advancement in the materials used, competitive prices, more eco-friendly use of raw materials and maximum growth to enable them to get the best value proposition from us. II. Core Competencies The Core competencies form the basis of edge over the competition. It signals what one company does superbly better than the other, by virtue of which it can reap excellent benefits. Adidas has the following core competencies Living the three core values The vision got established in 1920 when Adolph Dassler started designing the first shoe ever. And ever since then to now, three things have not changed and that is the three genuine intentions of the company manufacture each shoe as a masterpiece for the requirement of the sport, avoid the sportsman from injury and make the product long lasting and value for money. Adidas has sworn by these three values and even over decades, these core values have never been disintegrated. Even when athletes talk of performance, they vouch for Adidas. Continuous innovation and mastering the art of perfection, Adidas believes in outdoing itself each time and this is clearly visible in the vast product range it offers. Be it athletics, tennis or soccer, Adidas is a name integral to success of sportsmen alike. Strategic Expansions organic integrations Management at Adidas has made the right decisions at the right time. Whether it be entering into a merger or divesting, such strategic activities have been well thought of and well timed. In 1999, Adidas wanted to expand beyond athletic shoes and apparel and that is when it bought Salomon which had huge established inroads into other sports such as skiing, skating and golf. It also had presence in bicycle production. Thus Adidas became a true sports equipment, shoe and apparel manufacturer but it retained the identity of different brands, a wise decision as it became easy to disintegrate with Salomon around 2005, when it could no longer handle the vast mutually exclusive set of businesses. In 2006, Adidass decision to acquire Reebok was equally strategic; it was a two pronged strategy as firstly Adidas Reebok combined together could compete with Nike, the industry leader in a more vigorous manner. Secondly it gave Adidas a platform to create its presence in the lifestyle segment wh ere it was earlier non-existent. Adidas was always known as a performance brand and Reebok as a lifestyle and a fitness brand; the coming together of the two is a lethal combination as it presents a complete proposition to all kinds of customer segments. The decision for both the brands to maintain their brand identity is again a well informed decision as it avoids cannibalisation. Technology Innovation The core competence of Adidas is its continuous zest to innovate. It lives and maintains its performance image very meticulously. At the same time, it has constantly believed in innovating, this was exemplified to the world, when in 2002, Adidas along with the Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto launched an exclusive range of sneakers which were sold at a whopping $590. Branding Internet In the year 2000, Adidas launched its website with e-commerce applications functional. Adidas knows that the footwear and apparel industry is very mature; in order to stay abreast against fierce competition it is vital to invest in web marketing and branding. The site ensures ease of use, speed and easy navigation. It has both brick and mortar own brand outlets and a vast network of retailers, distributors and online stores. The self branded stores enable a direct contact with customers and reading their pulse, building face-to-face relationships with them and personifying the brand with the POP merchandise at thee outlets. Internet has enabled Adidas to reduce its cost and increase its reach drastically. E-commerce has provided Adidas far fetching benefits over the competition, the customer data retrieved through the net can be researched upon to understand the customer profiles and their buying behaviour. This enables the management to design highly customer centric communication, discounts and offerings. Though Nike has been a close player reaping all these advantages, other major companies like Converse, Puma, K-Swiss are no way near. III. PESTL Analysis PESTL analysis is an excellent technique to gauge the external environment in which a company operates. These factors are mostly if not always, uncontrollable and an organisation has to find its position within this cloud. Political Adidas enjoys presence in the entire Europe market, post its acquisition of Reebok in 2006 it has created inroads in the US as well. The company has expansion plans in Asia Latin America. At most of these places, the political domain remains stable as they are largely democratic set ups. This implies that the government will not pose undue restrictions or introduce stern impractical decisions to be followed blindly by the organization. Elections every four or five years, (in UK most Asian countries respectively) also do not impact Adidas much as it does not really get impacted by the ruling party. There are other aspects like stable currency, minimum wages, hygienic working conditions in factories, stipulated working hours per week that are more critical factors for Adidas to adhere to. This is one reason as to why most of these big players are shifting their manufacturing base to Asian countries like India and China while retaining the RD and designing at their home countries. Economic Economic conditions have a considerable impact on the sales operations of Adidas. The inflation rate, the purchasing power of customers, consolidation and buy-outs hugely affect the revenues. World economy suffered one of the biggest recessions in the past two years; with the fall of Lehman Brothers and the shaking of the entire financial sector, people lost jobs and unemployment touched a historical high figure. Purchasing power fell drastically as most of the people all over the world, especially in the US and Canada started living on their savings. The economic crisis in Asian countries also mean that labour and manufacturing costs would now rise impacting the net earnings for Adidas. The stability of government and of currency, tax rates, inflation, import and export duties, special economic zones and subsides; all these are critical economic factors that can impact Adidas and other players in the industry. Social This comprises of the culture, beliefs, demographics, psychographics, education levels and spending habits and lifestyle of the target audience. A factor that is too significant for any player to ignore especially when it enters into a new market; this is the most important factor that can break or make a brand. Culture, social groups, race, religion impact how people live in a society and thus marketers have to pick up the cues sensibly as to how to operate in that environment. Adidas has used this knowledge wisely. Its famous slogan Impossible is nothing captures it beautifully as it gels with the youth today globally. The youth today is characteristic of breaking the rules, exploiting their potential and wanting to unfold the undiscovered. It is this spirit which associates the brand with this audience perfectly. The education level and the pace at which the society moves are reflected in advertising today. Reeboks advertising of its range Easy Tone is another example to demonstrate this aspect. Today women are highly conscious of their figure; Reeboks advertising where it claims that Reebok shoes and slip-ons will enable the users to have a well toned figure could not have found acceptance a decade back. With the arrival of internet, the way people shop is also changing. Now Adidas and other major companies have started selling through online stores and promote the same by giving heavy discounts. Technological Continuous innovation and the use of technology is a great imperative in the industry. The breakthrough use of technology signifies some definite improvement more comfort, superior running performance, more support and cushion, better hold on the ground, reduction in manufacturing costs or in customer price! The original perforated technology of Geox which claims that it enables its shoes to breathe and overcomes the problem of sweaty feet is a remarkable achievement for the brand; it not only creates a niche for itself but enables the company to sell its range at a high premium. Nikes 360 air max, Adidas 1 and Crocs colourful shoes for outdoors, are all examples of constant innovation in the industry. Legal Regulatory Legal Regulatory impact the advertising branding significantly. Let us take an example of Nike when it was planning to enter the Spanish market Nike could have faced the biggest challenge of establishing its mark in Spain because of a trademark issue. This was a decade long litigation case where the Supreme Court found out that the Nike name was a registered trademark of a former distributor called Cidesport. Nike could only use its swoosh but not its name on any of the products. This could have been a great set back and would have demeaned the brand equity. However Nike got lucky when in 2009 Supreme Court reversed its ruling post Nikes appeals. Adidas need to make sure all their promotions give a true representation of the products being advertised, as to not break the laws of the Trade Descriptions Act. It needs to make sure all of their retailers have sufficient knowledge of Adidas products in order to obey the Trade Descriptions Act, as if Adidas give the retailers sufficient information and they give customers incorrect information about the product, then it is the retailer breaking the Trade Descriptions Act rather than the manufacturer, (www.adidas-salomon.com/en/news/archive/2000/2000-07.asp, August 2010) IV. Market Analysis Let us analyse the athletic footwear market through Porters Five Forces model to gain a holistic view of the market Barriers to Entry High to Moderate Brand Loyalty is extremely high; economies of scale and scope also restrict entry for small players as the industry is dominated by few giant players who reap huge benefits from the volumes and the supply chain integration. Economies of scale include advertising marketing costs, RD spent in addition to voluminous production and economies of scope would include benefits like umbrella branding, available to large conglomerates like Nike Puma. However, a new entrant will not find it difficult to find suppliers or raw materials largely of the fact that is a billion dollar industry which is still largely unorganized. Bargaining Power of Buyers Moderate to High Switching cost is low for the buyers as options are endless except in the case where brand loyalty is extremely high. Buyers have easy access to the products through online shopping as well. Though the big players dominate the industrys rate but they cannot decide these prices ignoring customers. Billions are spent by these players on market research and studying consumer profiling and buying patterns which shows that buyers have high bargaining power in the market. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Extremely Low The raw materials used in this industry are rubber, cotton and foam. The giants like Nike Adidas lay out stringiest norms which a supplier has to comply with in order to mean quality. Switching between suppliers is also very high in the industry. The supplier power is extremely low, most often than not, these suppliers work at norms and prices governed by the big players of the industry. Threats of Substitutes Low The substitution is quite low as it is not possible for sneakers to be replaced by fashion or high- heeled shoes. Similarly between tennis shoes and running shoes, there cannot be a replacement. Rivalry among Existing Competitors High The rivalry amongst firms is extremely high and mostly being non-price. Each firm lives and dies by the brand identity it creates. There is fierce competition between Nike Adidas. Specialty shoes like Geox, Rockport and Ecko also compete in niche segments. V. Customer Analysis Adidas has a brand identity of being performance oriented, technically superior and with strong European roots. Therefore to study the customer type, Adidas looks at three broad types of customers Governed by Superior Performance: This is typically a customer who looks for premium performance. Be it an athlete, a tennis player, a soccer lover or a college going student who values technological advancement would choose Adidas over other brands. Fitness Health: This segment is best captured by Reebok as it promotes fitness and aerobic shoes. These days the campaign is running globally by Reebok for its Easy Tone shoes where the slogan is take the gym with you. Be it running shoes, aerobic shoes or shoes for casual wear, Reebok has captured huge market share. This range is particularly selling like hot cakes both in US and Asia amongst women as they are constantly worried about toning their thighs and hips. Adidas has wisely let Reebok focus in this segment so that there is no cannibalisation in sales. Lifestyle Shoes Apparel: Reebok and Adidas have had significant increase in the market share, competing very closely with Nike in the apparel industry. Easy Slippers, T-Shirts, jackets and jumpers enjoy brand loyalty by customers. Adidas does big promotions in this segment. The recent FIFA World Cup championship saw players wearing Adidas T-Shirts with the legendary three stripes logo. Customers of these big brands generally have a very gullible temperament and thats the reason these big players engage in celebrity marketing in a big way. Celebrities are chosen with great caution and deals worth millions of dollars are done with these sports sport stars. The idea is to have a rub off effect on the brand and establish strong associations. For e.g. Nike and the coming together of Michael Jordan promoted the shoes in the basketball segment successfully. Even after when he retires, Nikes Air Jordan segment collected significant revenues for the brand. Adidas had tied up with David Beckham and was one of the official sponsors for World cup in 2006; later years saw the sale of Adidas mount like never before. Even till date Adidas leads the industry in soccer shoe sales. VI. Competitive Analysis The footwear and apparel industry is in a mature phase with fierce competition for market and mind share of the customers. Nike is valued at around 14 billion dollars and is the market leader, followed closely by Adidas Reebok combined at around 12 billion dollars (as per the 2006 statistics captured from their websites). Mostly the firms compete on brand image, web site designs, service, advertising celebrity endorsements and innovation. Nike has had a slight edge over its competitors from the time it launched its products as it has considerably invested in RD and high tech designs. But Adidas has narrowed this gap drastically in recent years. Brand image focus is very high in the industry. Example of this can be seen in the case of Nike. Nike chooses to sell its regular range through high end retailers only, it had refused to sell through Sears post the Sears Kmart tie up as it feared brand dilution, it instead started retailing its low priced Starter range through this channel. Technology focus and specialisation is high. Nike focuses on performance plus style, Adidas as seen as a high end performance shoe and it leads the market in the soccer industry. Reebok is deemed as a fitness and health conscious brand. New Balance talks only performance and is seen as a no-nonsense brand. Crocs has positioned itself as an outdoor wear brand is predominantly used for boating. Puma is seen as a stylised brand both for footwear and apparels, it has never really spoken of high end sports performance and this focus has helped the brand create its space in the lifestyle segment. Hence it is imperative that each player positions itself well and delights the customer in that segment rather than being all over the place. Below is a diagram of the total market share of competing firms (post Reebok Adidas integration)- (Chart sourced from www.hoover.com) To conclude, one analyses that it would be prudent for close rivals to think of innovative ideas to increase the overall market for performance and lifestyle shoes than just competing on the market share with each other. VII. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis refers to the technique of mapping the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for an organisation. (P. Kotler, S. Adam, L. Brown and G. Armstrong 2001) While the first two are internal to a firm, the last two are more from an industry orientation overall. Strengths Adidas has an image of high performance and a favoured brand for buyers who seek technology over style The acquisition of Reebok complements the brand as it allows a larger portfolio of high end performance based shoes (Adidas) and fitness lifestyle range (Reebok) Known for its constant innovation, Adidas and Reebok Easy Tone being the case in point Association with sports championships enable the brand to be positioned as the leader for Soccer segment The intellectual quotient of management is seen as very high, as Adidas has been known to take the right decisions at the time (evident from all the mergers acquisitions which the brand has done) Association with celebrities like David Beckham adds to the Brand value and high TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness) User friendly and high brand appearance web site enabling high online presence Vast product portfolio to choose from Shoes for running, tennis, soccer, skiing, golf and related line of apparel, jumpers, watches etc. Weaknesses Adidas has a vast product portfolio but still has a high dependence on soccer shoes as compared to Nike which has several high revenue bearing products Has become synonymous with market-follower tag and Nike being the market leader, to most customers it becomes a second choice only The Adidas/Reebok acquisition results in cannibalisation of each others sales rather than targeting competitors. This is because there is a lack of well defined differentiation between both the brands Not seen as innovative as Nike and is alleged to copy Nike in its advertising, promotions and celebrity endorsements Opportunity Highly brand conscious youth wanting to own a pair of branded shoes only Increasing love for Soccer where Adidas is perceived as the official brand leader High value placed on fitness sports for a healthy lifestyle, resulting in an increase in the overall industry Advanced technology available Use of internet, online marketing and e-commerce widening geographical markets and connecting the globe virtually Threats World Economy recession which has impacted the purchasing power of consumers drastically Competition from online stores who have presence only through e-commerce and sell shoes at heavy discounts because of their low cost manufacturing strategy Changing consumer preferences and lifestyles Reducing popularity of sports because of frantic working lives Increasing power of suppliers to set terms, e.g. Wal-Mart New competitors entering the market Price war between competitors Cheap replicas available in the market Conclusion Adidas has come a long way over the decades and is now positioned second largest most popular player in the athletic footwear industry. Each company in the industry today is trying to reduce its manufacturing costs by shifting the production to Asian markets. Adidas Reebok have strengthened their combined market, post the integration. This is a well suited strategy to compete with Nike and grow by expanding into the emerging markets US Asia. It would be wise if Adidas focuses on its core competencies and engage into aggressive marketing branding. Critical areas for success are summarised as follows Three critical focus areas which Adidas should be focusing on currently are 1. Strong Highly differentiated Brand Positioning for Adidas Reebok Brands: A serious attempt must be made to create a positioning for both the brands. What does Adidas stand for as compared to Reebok? The Company must strategise Adidas as a sports performance brand and create a niche for athletic, tennis, golf, soccer, both in sports apparel. It should position Reebok as a fitness brand and let it handle aerobics, running, walking and casual shoes and apparel. 2. Focus on increasing the total market by innovative marketing: Adidas should creatively focus on increasing its total customer base, it should look at promoting soccer in clubs and schools and offer scholarships and start interacting with the children at an early age so that they become loyal customers for life. Reebok should tie up with gyms could offer discounts on Reebok shoes and apparel. It can tie up with specialty clinics fighting obesity and over-weight, sponsor health check up camps and give aids for other related causes. This will help the brand in two ways one is that it would help create an image of a socially responsible company and secondly reinforce the strategy to capture the ever increasing health conscious customers of today. 3. High end use of technology: Undoubtedly RD technology will remain the catalyst of this industry. Adidas will only be able to survive if it continuously focuses on improving the quality performance of its shoes. So when Nike says Just do it, Adidas should scream aloud the spirit Impossible is nothing.

Solomon Barney Project :: essays research papers

SOLOMON BARNEY PROJECT Political Website and Online Book Store Project Charter PROJECT MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK Solomon Barney Project Document Revision History V 1.1 11/15/04 2nd Draft produced containing updated "project definition" work from 11/08/04 worksession 1.2 11/22/04 Contribution and work flow planning finalized. Roles and Responsibilities finalized. 1.3 11/29/04 Initial project steps defined and waypoints defined with customer. 1.4 12/02/04 Revised final draft containing work from 11/29/04 work session and accepted previous changes 1.5 12/05/04 Final Draft accepted. Table of Contents PREFACE 1 PROJECT STATEMENT 2 PROJECT PLAN PURPOSE 2 PROJECT OBJECTIVES 3 GENERAL OVERVIEW OF PROJECT 3 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT 3 PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES 4 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE 5 TIMELINE 8 RESOURCE ALLOCATION 9 BUDGET 10 COMMUNICATION PLAN 11 PROJECT RISK/CONTINGENCY PLAN 12 Preface Document Version Control: Questions regarding updates and currency of the subject document should be directed to the owner of this document, or the project manager. This plan was generated by the WSC Project Team. WSC will be implemented and deployed for the Office of Solomon Barney Associates. Project Stage: WSC will be based on the commercial-off-the-shelf application titled vBulletin. The project is currently in the Development stage of the life cycle. Approval: A completed stage exit will constitute approval of this plan. Document Owner: The primary contact for questions regarding this document is: Dale Gribble, Project Manager/Planner WSC Project Team Phone: (555) 555-5555 Internet: bsm@Dalecom.com Document Change History: (Nature and date of each change are recorded here) November 15, 2004 – Document Creation. Privacy Information This document may contain information of a sensitive nature. In particular, staff names and phone numbers, and E-mail addresses. This document should not be distributed outside of the Project Team. 1. Project Statement Create a user friendly, customer oriented website for political debate and a digital store front for the sale of political merchandise. 2. Project Plan Purpose This document provides an orientation on how the Web Site Creation (WSC) project will be managed. It also defines the deliverables, schedules, risks, dependencies, assumptions, estimates, and change management philosophy. This plan will: †¢ Provide a general product description and overview. †¢ Provide a project plan purpose and objectives †¢ Identify a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). †¢ Identify a timeline through schedules and activities to be performed. †¢ Identify required resources through a resource allocation plan. †¢ Identify a risk analysis and contingency plan. †¢ Give a detailed budget. †¢ Establish a communication plan. †¢ Provide a basis for management tracking and control. This plan is an active document and may be formally revised at the end of each of the following stages of implementation: †¢ Research and Testing †¢ Planning †¢ System Integration †¢ Pilot Installation and Testing †¢ Pilot Deployment and Acceptance †¢ Pilot Post-Implementation Assessment †¢ Host wide Implementation 3. Project Objectives †¢ Refine requirements from customer. †¢ Develop an overall plan for project waypoints. †¢ Assign subtasks to the waypoints. †¢ Develop a timeline for completion of each task. †¢ Allow for rework at each waypoint. †¢ Create a preliminary budget for the product, and get customer approval. †¢ Refine the budget. 4.

The Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War Essay -- Vietnam War Essays

The Tet Offensive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Tet Offensive was a major assault by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the U.S. forces situated there. It was not only a psychological advance for the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, but also gave the United States a notion that the war wasn’t going to be an easy win, and the chances of winning the war were, in fact, very slim.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The war initially was an attempt to limit the spread of communism throughout Asia. Similar to Korea, Vietnam was in a civil war divided by political ideologies. (2) The Domino Effect is the idea that when one nation falls to communism, other nations around it in time will fall (2). Under the fear of this happening in Vietnam, the United States joined forces with the South Vietnamese to fight the spread of communism (5). Though most of South Vietnam was indeed against the spread of communism, there were some who sympathized with the North, known as the Northern Liberation Front, or Viet Cong (VC). The VC hid amongst the other South Vietnamese civilians, and used guerilla tactics to fight for communism. (5)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Tet Offensive was an all out attack by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the VC during the Tet cease-fire (6). The cease-fire was a peaceful and hospitable agreement made between the U.S. and the NVA to stop all assaults during Tet, the annual Vietnamese festival for celebrating the lunar New Year. On the first day of the festival, January 31, 1968, NVA and VC launched a series of attacks on major cities and military bases located in South Vietnam. (6)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Strategically, the assault was a failure (5). The communist attackers had failed to permanently capture any of their targets, and overall, had lost more men than the democratic defenders (6). However, the deviousness and planning involved in the offensive was so great that the overall psychological effect had gained an advantage for North Vietnam and the VC (5).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Vietnam War was the most reported conflict in history (3). TV cameramen from all over the nation flew to Vietnam to document the sights and stories, so that viewers at home would have a feel for the war they were paying for. Sometimes the media’s output had a negative effect on the war effort, showing graphic senseless violence. (3) They also proved wrong the claims laid by General Westermoreland of ... ...d Historical Society, Inc. 1998   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book is written by the commanding officer of Bravo Company. It goes through the happenings of a platoon through the Vietnam War, and describes the events on the first night of Tet, and carries the topic for the two weeks that followed. 4. Pimlott, John. Vietnam: the Decisive Battles. New York, New York. Macmillan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Publishing Company. 1990   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book goes through the planning, and execution of the Tet Offensive, and describes in detail the effects of the attack, and how it was â€Å"decisive.† 5. Knopf, Alfred. Walter Cronkite: a Reporter’s Life. New York, New York.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Randomhouse, Inc. 1996.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since Cronkite was one of the most influential political commentators during the sixties, his opinion was valued highly. This book gives an overview of how his opinion toward the war changed after the Tet Offensive, and how that changed the feelings of the American public. 6. Martin, Earl. Personal Interview. 21, March 2001   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Martin was a civilian relief volunteer during the war. He gave me an account of the change in moral of the volunteers and the civilians under pressure after the Tet Offensive had taken place.

Stalins Reform Of Russia :: essays research papers

Every Day Stalinism, by Sheila Fitzpatrick gives the real accounts of life under the control of Joseph Stalin. Fitzpatrick states her claim as to how Stalin remained in power for over twenty-five years by using methods of oppression and by implementing modernity. One of the main reasons that Stalin stayed in power was by implementing modernity into a society that had previously been stuck in a traditionalized environment. Fitzpatrick describes how Stalin changed peoples lives in the Soviet Union by advancing there means of production to bring them up to speed with the rest of the western world. Stalin's production of more factories led to the increase in the work force. Along with the increase in size, the work force became more diversified with the addition of women. These improvements however had some setbacks. One being problems in family life, this can be accredited to the implementation of women in the work force. Modernization made Russian women no longer subordinate to men. They were now able to obtain jobs, which made them absent from the household. This surge in the number of factories and jobs offered led to "ten million women entering the labor market."(Fitzpatrick 139) The bond between child and mother was broken as women were not raising their children and began seeing "the upbringing of children as a community rather then family responsibility." (Fitzpatrick 156) This new mentality would never have come about if women were not placed in the work force. Women went from traditionalized lifestyles to believing that "they should have careers" because raising a family was only for the "bourgeois." (Fitzpatrick 156-160) Conflicts with men arose quite rapidly as women were now not only in the work force, but being promoted as well. (Fitzpatrick 161) These conflicts could have been the cause for the divorce rate to increase during this time. The families that were in tact were forced to live in cramped quarters. Thanks to modernization these single room apartments had bathrooms and kitchens, which Stalin would argue, made "life more cheerful.

Casebook method Essay

Sustainable Housing Featured Case Writers and Cases: †¢ Foreword †¢ MurraySilvermanandTomThomas(SanFranciscoStateUniversity)-Kimpton Hotels: Balancing Strategy and Environmental Sustainability †¢ TerenceTsaiandShuboLiu(ChinaEuropeInternationalBusinessSchool) -Hunghom Peninsula in Hong Kong: A Realistic Call for Corporate Social Responsibilities †¢ CharlesCorbett(UCLAAndersonSchoolofManagement)-The ReUse People: Turning Scrap into Sales †¢ Winnersofthe2012oikosCaseWritingCompetition †¢ Forthcomingcaseteachingeventsandothernews †¢ Howtosubscribe. 1 â€Å"BedZED†bytelex4. CreativeCommonsLicense. Attribution2. 5Generic(CCBY2. 5). Foreword Dear reader, ThetopicofourSpring2012issue isSustainableHousing. Ourhomes, officesandotherbuildingscause awholerangeofenvironmental impacts,includingcarbondioxide emissions,relatedtotheuseof energyfortheheating,lighting andrunningofthesebuildings; productionofconstruction materials;anddeconstructionof buildingsattheendoftheirlife. Inaddition,homelessnessand urbanslumsaresomeofthesocial problemsrelatedtothetopicof  sustainablehousing. Inthisissuewepresentthree casesfromtheoikosonlinecase collection. TheKimptonHotels case(byMurraySilvermanandTom Thomas)describestherolloutof amajorenvironmentalinitiative (â€Å"EarthCare†programme)atthe chainofboutiquehotels. Terence TsaiandShuboLiuwriteabouttheir caseHunghomPeninsulainHong Kongandthecontroversyinvolved intheproposeddemolitionofthe never-occupiedresidentialbuilding complexofHunghomPeninsula. Ourthirdcase–TheReUsePeople (byCharlesCorbett)–alsofocuses onthebuildingdeconstruction processandgivesanaccountof anorganisationthatspecialises indeconstructionwiththeaimof reusingasmuchofthematerialsas possible,hencekeepingthemoutof landfill. Youwillfindseveralothercases onsustainablehousingintheoikos onlinecasecollection. Youmay beinterestedtochecktheLiving Homescase(byRebeccaHennand AndrewJ. Hoffman)whichdescribes astart-upcompanyoffering â€Å"green†,prefabricatedhomes. The HaywardLumberCompanycase tracesthegreeningofHayward LumberCompany,whichdecidedto switchtoForestStewardshipCouncil (FSC)certifiedlumbertomeeta growingdemandforgreenbuilding materialsinCalifornia. Another California-centredcaseisThe AmbroseHotelbyMagaliDelmasand CharlesCorbettthatdescribesecolabellingstrategiesofaCaliforniabasedhotel. Adifferentangletothe sustainablehousingproblemistaken byLisaJonesChristenseninthe caseJamiiBoraandKaputeiTown: thiscaseoutlinesanentrepreneurial solutiontotheproblemofurban slumsinNairobi(Kenya)andthe processofcreatinganinnovative newtown. Finally,thecaseThe Mountain’sInstitutesEarthBrick MachinebyJohnBuffingtonandTed Londonexposesthechallengesof growinganon-profitorganisation– TheMountainInstitute(TMI)–that producesenvironmentally-friendly bricksfromdirt,allowingforlow costconstructionofhousingand otherstructures. Fromtheecchcasecollection, otherinterestingcasesdealingwith environmentalandsocialaspects ofhousingareZETACommunities (StanfordBusinessSchool)–a net-zeroenergy,prefabricated housingcompany; ProjectFrog (DardenBusinessPublishing)–a  sustainable-buildingmanufacturer transitioningfromstart-uptothe nextphaseofgrowth;Alarcity Housing(IBSCenterforManagement Research)–ethicalpoliciesand practicesofacorporationinthe Indianhousingconstructionindustry; TheOrchidEcotel(IveyPublishing) –anenvironmentally-friendly hotelinIndia;and,finally,Dharavi (HarvardBusinessPublishing)–redevelopmentofthelargestslumin Asia. Wehopethatyouwillenjoy readingtheSpring2012issueand discoveringorganisationsthatdeal witharangeofenvironmentaland socialproblemsrelatedtohousing. Asusually,wewouldbevery happytoreceiveyourfeedback, includingsuggestionsfornewissues, sodosendusanemailtocase@ oikosinternational. org. LiudmilaNazarkina oikosCaseQuarterlyEditor NextissueofoikosCaseQuarterly (Summer2012)willbefocused onthetopicofCross-Sector Partnershipsandwewillfeature thefollowingcases: †¢ â€Å"BuildingandScalingaCrossSectorPartnership:Oxfam America&SwissReEmpower FarmersinEthiopia†by JonathanDoh,TedLondon andVasiliaKilibarda †¢ â€Å"CorporateSocial Engagement:HowAramex CrossesBoundaries†byLuk VanWassenhoveandLea Stadtler †¢ â€Å"Transformingtheglobal FishingIndustry:TheMarine StewardshipCouncilatfull sail? †byAileenIonescuSomers,UlrichSteger, AlexanderNickandOliver Salzmann 2 2 Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic KimptonHotels:BalancingStrategyand EnvironmentalSustainability by Murray Silverman and Tom Thomas The Case Story topmanagementcommitment,use ofcross-functionalteams,employee engagementandcommunication methodsused. Thereweretwo basicgroundrulesfortherollout. First,newinitiativeshadtoreduce costs,havenonetcostimpactand investmentshadtohaveamaximum 12monthpayback. Second,new initiativescouldn’tadversely affectcustomerperceptionsor satisfaction. â€Å"Students often get so wrapped up in the initiatives that they believe an organization can introduce, they lose track of the difficulties associated with implementing initiatives: How do you engage employees and managers? How do you embed new values and initiatives in the organizational culture? † webelievethattheimportance ofembeddingsustainabilityinto organizationsisnotgivenenough attention. Kimptondoesan excellentjobofinstitutionalizing sustainability,providingstudents withanopportunitytoseehowthey didit. Wehavesuccessfullyintroducedthis caseinenvironmentalmanagement, business&societyandstrategic managementcourses. Topicsthat canbeusedtoinitiateorfocus discussionforeachofthethree coursesarelistedbelow: Strategy course–creating sustainablecompetitiveadvantage, branddifferentiation,cost savingsandtoplinebenefits,first moveradvantages,cause-related marketing,aligningstrategyand structurewithcorevalues,andthe integrationofstrategicmanagement andenvironmentalvalues. Business & Society course– corporatecitizenshipandsocial responsibility,stakeholderrelations, socialcapital,strategicphilanthropy andtheintegrationofstrategic managementandenvironmental values. forshareholdersandsocietyby leadingtheirorganizationstoward greatersocialandenvironmental sustainability. Hereceivedhis MasterofPublicPolicy(MPP)degree fromtheUniversityofMichigan, AnnArbor,andanMBAandPh. D. inBusinessandPublicPolicyatthe UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley. Dr. Silverman,Dr. Thomasandthree colleaguescreatedSFSU’sMBA EmphasisinSustainableBusinessin 2007. TheSFSUCollegeofBusiness wasrecognizedrecentlybythe AspenInstitute’sBeyondGrey Pinstripesasoneofthetopbusiness schoolsintheworld(#16)at integratingsocialandenvironmental issuesintoitscurriculum. Kimpton’sfounder,BillKimpton, iscreditedwithinventingthe â€Å"boutique†hotelsegmentin1981. By2005,KimptonHotelswas comprisedof39hotelsthroughout NorthAmericaandCanada,each onedesignedtocreateauniqueand exceptionalguestexperience. Animportantaspectoftheir effortstoestablishtheKimpton brandwasthedevelopmentand rollouttoalloftheirhotelsof amajorenvironmentalinitiative theynamedEarthCare. EarthCare wasbuiltonanalreadyestablished commitmenttoenvironmentaland socialresponsibility. TheirHotel Tritonwasamodelfortheprogram, asitalreadyincludedinitiatives suchas:energyefficientlighting solutions,low-flow/highpressure showerheadsandsinkaerators,and toiletsthatreducewateruse,linen andtowelreuseprogram,non-toxic, non-allergenic,allnaturalcleaning products,lowVOCpaintsusedto paintwallsandceilingsandmore. Plannedfutureinitiativeswentwell beyondthoseintheTritonHotel. Thecasedetailstheinternal implementationprocess,including Teaching the Case. TomThomasandIwantedtowritea casethatshowedthatsustainability couldbeintegraltotheoverall strategyofthebusiness. We wantedbothstrategyandbusiness sustainabilityinstructorstoembrace it. Thiscasedemonstrateshow sustainabilitycanleadtobothtop lineandbottomlinebenefits. Also, MurraySilvermanisaProfessor ofManagementintheCollegeof BusinessatSanFranciscoState University. HereceivedhisM. S. inIndustrialAdministrationfrom PurdueUniversity’sKrannert SchoolandhisPh. D. inBusiness fromStanfordUniversity. Professor Silvermanteachesintheareasof Business&SocietyandBusiness& theNaturalEnvironment. TomE. ThomasisanAssociate ProfessoratSanFranciscoState University,whereheco-directs (withMurraySilverman)theCenter forEthicalandSustainableBusiness. Histeachingandresearchare focusedonhelpingfutureexecutives andmanagerscreategreatervalue Murray Silverman 3 Tom Thomas Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic Environmental course– environmentalimpactsinthe hotelindustry,potentialfor financialbenefitsofenvironmental initiatives,industryenvironmental leadership,voluntaryinitiativesand self-regulation,institutionalization ofenvironmentalcommitment, green-washing,andtheintegration ofstrategicmanagementand environmentalvalues. Inteachingthecase,wetypically focusfirstonwhetherthereisa ‘businesscase’forEarthCare. This allowsustointroducetop-lineand bottomlineconsiderationsaswell astangibleandintangiblebenefits. Thesecondareaoffocusis institutionalization. Studentsoften getsowrappedupintheinitiatives thattheybelieveanorganization canintroduce,theylosetrackof thedifficultiesassociatedwith implementinginitiatives:How doyouengageemployeesand managers? Howdoyouembed newvaluesandinitiativesinthe organizationalculture? Thiscase iswellsuitedtoexploreboththe ‘businesscase’andtheissueof institutionalization. Webelievethereisadearthof casesthatallowstudentstoexplore theprocessofinstitutionalizing andembeddingsustainabilityinto organizations. WeofferanMBA courseinManagingtheSustainable Businessthatfocusesonthe internalaspectsofintroducingand embeddinginitiatives. Wewant ourstudentstobe‘intrapreneurs,’ changeagentswhocanact fromwithintheirorganizations, whethertheyareinmarketing,HR, operations,etc. Twocasesthatwe havefoundtobeexcellentinregard totheinternalissuesandprocesses associatedwithintroducingchange areHermesMicrotechandWalMart’sSustainabilityStrategy(A). Favorite Cases challengesdidtheyfaceandhow didtheydealwiththosechallenges? HereatSanFranciscoState University,weestablishedour CenterforEthicalandSustainable Businessin2010. Oneofour initiativesisaCasewritersForum. Theinitiativewouldincludea varietyofeffortstopromote andsupportthedevelopmentof businesssustainabilitycasestudies byfosteringcollaborationamong leadingsustainabilitycasewriters whoteachatbusinessschoolsin theSanFranciscoBayArea,and providingincentivesandmentoring supporttohelpfacultydevelopand applycasewritingskillsinthearea ofbusinesssustainability. New Case Development Case Purchase Information Wewouldliketoseemorecases thatfocusontheintroductionof sustainabilityinitiativesinlarger businesses. Whileitisofteneasier togetpermissiontowritecasesin start-upsandsmallenvironmentally orientedbusinesses,weneedmore casesrelatingtolargercorporations, asmanyofourstudentswillbe workingthere. Iwouldespecially liketoseethefocusontheinternal process. Whowasthedriver? What Inspectioncopyofthecase â€Å"KimptonHotels:Balancing StrategyandEnvironmental Sustainability†isavailablefrom theoikosCaseCollection. Please contactMurraySilvermanand TomThomasforpermissionrights. Thiscaseisalsopartoftheoikos CaseCollectionbook(Volume 1):CaseStudiesinSustainability ManagementandStrategy publishedbyGreenleaf. 4 4 â€Å"Swallowtail†bytanakawho. CreativeCommonsLicense. Attribution2. 5Generic(CCBY2. 5). Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic HunghomPeninsulainHongKong:ARealistic CallforCorporateSocialResponsibilities by Terence Tsai and Shubo Liu The Case Story Hunghomwaslatersoldtothe privatepropertydeveloperswho originallybuiltthecomplex. The developers,NewWorldDevelopment CompanyLimited(NWD)andSun HungKaiPropertiesLimited(SHKP) cameupwithareconstruction proposalforHunghomPeninsula: demolishandredevelopthearea intoaluxuriousprivateestate. However,theintentiontodemolish thenever-occupiedHunghom Peninsulacameunderheavy criticismfromthepublicinlarge partbecausethedemolition processwouldproduceextensive pollutiontotheenvironment,which violatedbothsocialpartiesand thecompanies’corporatemission ofbeingresponsibletothesociety. Underthesecircumstances,the managementteamhadtowithdraw thedemolitionplanandreconsider theirdecision. Afterthedevelopers thoughttwiceaboutalltherelevant parties’interestsandtookcorporate socialresponsibilityintoaccount, theygaveupthedemolitionplan anddecidedtoconductanextensive internalreconfigurationand renovationtoupgradetheproperty tomedium-gradeprivatehousing estatestandard. â€Å"The case served as a good example to students and the future managers and gave insight on how business profitability could be balanced with environmental concern and social responsibility. † information. Thiscasehadbeenusedinboth MBAandEMBAcoursesinBusiness Ethics,thelastmoduleofBusiness Strategicclass. Duringtheclass, thecaseprovokedholisticthinking ofstrategicmanagementaswellas discussionofbusinessenvironment analysisandstakeholderanalysis. Themajorlearninganddiscussions fellonStakeholderAnalysisbythe case. The(A)and(B)casesvividly presenta‘stakeholderdilemma’ tocasereadersandpermitteda detailedstakeholderanalysis:to predicttheresponsesofdifferent stakeholdersoftherealestate project,studentsperformboth quantitativeandqualitative analyses. Theclassparticipantsfoundthe caseusefulbecausethecase pointedouttostudentsthe importanceofissuesassociated withbusinessethicsandreviewed theroleofcorporatesocial responsibilityinbusinessstrategy. Inaddition,thecaseservedasa goodexampletostudentsandthe futuremanagersandgaveinsight onhowbusinessprofitabilitycould bebalancedwithenvironmental concernandsocialresponsibility. Itgavestudentsagoodchanceto analyzestakeholders’needsand businessenvironmentandreminded studentsthatbesidesprofit, companiesalsoneededtotake socialresponsibilityandbusiness ethicsintoaccountwhentheymake decisions. Theteachingflowcanbeseenfrom thefollowingquestions: 1. Whatfactorsshouldthe developersconsiderinmaking thedecision? Whoarethe involvedstakeholders? (Acase) 2. Whichproposalshouldthe developerschoose? Why? (A case) 3. WhatroleshouldtheHong KongGovernmentplayinthis incident? (Bcase) Theresidentialbuildingcomplex ofHunghomPeninsulawasbuilt undertheHongKonggovernment’s PrivateSectorParticipationScheme (PSPS)programthatwasintended toprovidehousingformiddleclass residentsatadiscountedprice. Duetoaneconomicdownturnand ashrinkingrealestatemarket threateningpropertyvalues, Terence Tsai Shubo Liu TerenceTsaiisanassociate professorinManagementandthe DirectorofCaseDevelopment CentreofChinaEurope InternationalBusinessSchool. Hisresearchinterestsinclude ManagementofMultinational /TransnationalCorporations (MNCs),Globalizationof ChineseEnterprises,Strategic EnvironmentManagementand Cross-CulturalManagement. ShuboLiuisadoctoralstudent attheEdinburghUniversity BusinessSchoolandResearch AssistantattheChinaEurope InternationalBusinessSchool. HisPhDtopicisGreenInnovation andheisworkingwithTerence ondevelopinganumberofcases ofsustainabilityinnovationin MNCsinChina. Teaching the Case Wedevelopedthecasebased onaMBAin-classdiscussionina selectivecourseofSustainability DevelopmentandStrategyat CEIBS. Oneoftheclassparticipants wasfromHongKongandhetold thestoryofHunghomPeninsula project. Boththeinstructorand otherparticipantsfoundthisstory interestingandthuswedecided todevelopthestoryintoagood teachingcasewithadditional 5 Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic 4. Whatwastheunderlyingcause ofthiscontroversialincident? (Bcase) 5. Whatwouldyoudoifyouwere thedecisionmaker? What bettermeasureswouldyou takeifyouwereinasimilar scenarioorinthefuture? (C case) 6. Thedeveloperschangedtheir mindin2weekstime. What areyouropinionsoftheirnew decision? Pleasecommenton theseactions. (Ccase) 7. Whatistheissue’simpact onHongKong’sbusiness environment? (Ccase) Favorite Cases Welikeusingtheâ€Å"SinyiReal EstateinTaiwan†case(Ivey Publishing,9B08M77). Thiscase portraystheimportanceof corporatecultureandbusiness ethics. Italsogivesanexample thatafirmcanusebusinessethics asitsdifferentiationstrategy. ThecaseillustratesSinyiReal Estate’sinnovativeHRandservice practices. becomingmainstreamforthey notonlyhelpfirmsuseresources moreeffectivelybutalsopavethe wayforsustainabledevelopment. Successfulcasesinthisfieldare worthmorestudiesandsharing withothers. Case Purchase Information New Case Development. Wehavedoneseveralroundsof interviewswithGeneralElectric andPhilipsinChinatoinvestigate bothfirms’greeninnovation processes. Currentlyandinthe future,eco-innovationsare Inspectioncopyofthecase â€Å"HunghomPeninsulainHongKong: ARealisticCallforCorporate SocialResponsibilities†isavailable fromtheoikosCaseCollection. Thiscaseisavailableforpurchase fromecch:PartA(710-046-1), PartB(710-047-1)andPartC (710-048-1). 6 1 â€Å"MEC’sgreenroofamongothers†by416style. CreativeCommonsLicense. Attribution2. 5Generic(CCBY2. 5). Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic The ReUse People: Turning Scrap into Sales  by Charles Corbett The Case Story operations,butoftendonot havethefinancialslacktodoso. Second,thecasepresentsagood vehiclefordiscussingthetradeoffsbetweenvariousapproaches togrowth,oneofwhichisorganic, theotheravariationonfranchising. Thecasealsoshowshowgood managementsystems(inthiscase, fordeconstructionprocess,storage, logistics,etc. )canhelpavoidlarge amountsofwasteunnecessarily goingtolandfill. Manyofthe deconstructedmaterialscould besalvagedandsoldlocally,or inMexico,ordonatedtocharity (Habitat). TheReUsePeoplefilla needbyconnectingasupplyand ademandthatalreadyexistbut  indifferentplaces;onecanthink ofTRPasapipelinebetweenthat supplyanddemand. â€Å"When I use the case at UCLA, Ted Reiff is usually able to join the class discussion, which naturally adds further insight to the discussions. Faculty teaching this case elsewhere in the US could consider inviting one of the regional managers to join the class discussion, to get deeper insight into how TRP is run. † Thecasewaswrittentobeused inacourseonenvironmental managementor(social) entrepreneurship,primarilyto CharlesCorbett,Ph. D. ,isprofessor ofOperationsManagementand EnvironmentalManagementat theUCLAAndersonSchoolof Management. Hisresearchand teachingfocusonoperationsof entrepreneursandsmallbusiness, andonsustainabilityandoperations. Hisresearchhasbeenpublishedin theleadingjournalsinthefield, andhehasbeeninvitedtopresent over100seminarsandlectures atinstitutionsandconferences worldwide,includingoveradozen keynotesandtutorials. Hehas receivednumerousteachingawards demonstrateafewkeypoints. One istoshowhowsalvagingleftover materials(inthiscasebuilding materials)canbeturnedintoa viablebusinessmodel. Anotheris todiscussthechallengesfacedby anysmallorganizationthatplans togrowbutthatfacesfinancial constraintsindoingso. Forinstance, itiseasytoassumethatyouhave morecontroloverdeconstruction operationsifyouhireyourown crews,butthatassumesthatyou haveawell-runorganizationin whichmanagementinCalifornia canexerteffectivecontrolover crewsinChicago. Similarly,itseems plausiblethatyoucanexpand fasterbycertifyingothers,butthat assumesthatyoucanfindsuitable demolitioncontractorsinother partsofthecountryandcantrain andcertifythemfasterthanifyou weretoattempttohireyourown crewsinthosesamelocations. Purelybasedonfinancials,growing withTRPcrewslooksfarbetter, asTRPearnsmoremoneyon deconstructionwiththeirown crews. Giventhatthereisenough timetoexpandslowly,thenarrow financialpicturewouldfavor growingorganicallywithin-house crews,notjumpingintotoomany locationsatoncebutopeninga warehousewithatleast2-3crews inonelocationandmakingit successfulbeforemovingtothe atUCLA. Heiscurrentlyservingas DeputyDeanforAcademicAffairs (2009-12),andwaspreviously anAssociateDeanfortheMBA program. ProfessorCorbettholdsa Ph. D. inProductionandOperations ManagementfromINSEADin Fountainbleau,France,andaDrs. in OperationsResearchfromErasmus UniversityRotterdam(Netherlands). TheReUsePeople(TRP)case discussesanorganizationthat specializesindeconstructionof buildings,withtheaimofreusingas muchofthematerialsaspossible, hencekeepingthemoutoflandfill. Theorganizationisfacingaclassical growth-relateddilemma:should itgroworganically,keepingmost oftheworkin-housebuthence limitingitsgrowthrate,orshould itâ€Å"franchise†itsdeconstruction approachbycertifyingother companiesinthedeconstruction process? ThemissionofTheReUse Peopleissquarelyenvironmental, buttheorganizationisincreasingly aimingtoprovidesocialbenefits toobyreachingouttocommunity organizationsandproviding employmentopportunities. Atthe timeofthecasewritingTRPwas growingbycertifyingcontractors, partlyopportunistically,andthey havesincedecidedtokeepdoing that. Sincethecasewaswritten, TRP’snationalexpansionhas continued. Teaching the Case Thecasecanbeusedtohighlight severalpedagogicalpoints. First, thecasehighlightsachallenge commontomanysuccessfulnonprofitorganizations:oncethey growbeyondwhattheoriginal entrepreneurcancontrol,they needtobringinstafftomanage 7 Charles Corbett Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic nextlocation. However,consider TRP’smission:keepingmaterial outoflandfill. Tofulfillthat mission,TRPshouldgrowasfastas possible,consideringthefinancial considerationsasaconstraintrather thantheobjective. Thatargues stronglyforgrowingbycertifying contractors. Studentsusuallyenjoydiscussing thesetrade-offs,asthisdiscussion forcesthemtogettotheheartof theconflictbetweenTRP’smission andtheconstraintsitfaces. For variousreasons,TRPhasended upfocusingmoreonexpandingby workingwithpartnersandcertifying crewselsewhere,ratherthantrying tohireandmanagetheirowncrews alloverthecountry. Thereisaverygood30-minute videothatfeaturesTheReUse PeopleandthatIoftenshowin myclass. Itisoneoftheepisodes intheCalifornia’sGoldseriesby HuellHowser(California’sGreen #123-HOMEDECONSTRUCTION). Partofthevideoisalsoavailableon YouTube,andcanbeaccessedfrom TRP’swebsiteunderMediaCenter, Audio&VideoClips. WhenIusethe caseatUCLA,TedReiffisusually abletojointheclassdiscussion, whichnaturallyaddsfurtherinsight tothediscussions. Facultyteaching thiscaseelsewhereintheUS couldconsiderinvitingoneofthe regionalmanagerstojointheclass discussion,togetdeeperinsightinto howTRPisrun. featuringamedicaldoctorwho startsaclinicandsubsequentlya collectionofcommunityprogramsin atownshipinSouthAfrica). Thelast caseispartoftheoikosonlineCase Collection. New Case Development Forenvironmentalmanagementand socialentrepreneurship,Iwould liketoseemorecaseswithtangible takeaways,intheformsofspecific tools,checklists,etc. Inparticular, morecasesusinglife-cycle assessmenttoinformmanagerial decision-makingwouldbevaluable. Forsocialentrepreneurship,it wouldbehelpfultohavemorecases thatgetintothedetailsoftheâ€Å"how to†:notjustfocusingonamajor decisionthattheentrepreneuris facing,butalsogettingintomore specificsonhowtheentrepreneur shouldexecutewhicheverstrategy s/hechooses. Favorite Cases  Otherfavoritecasesinclude FreeportIndonesia(RichardVietor, HBS,onsustainability,enablesgreat discussionsamongstudents),and Ndlovu:TheClockTicks(Charles Corbett&SarangDeo,UCLA/ Kellogg,onsocialentrepreneurship, Case Purchase Information Inspectioncopyofthecaseâ€Å"TheReUsePeople:TurningScrapintoSales†isavailablefromtheoikosCase Collection. PleasecontactCharlesCorbettforpermissionrights. Thiscaseisalsopartofthenewoikos CaseCollectionbook(Volume2):CaseStudiesinSocialEntrepreneurshipandSustainabilitypublishedby Greenleaf. 8 8 â€Å"Deconstruction1†byDiamondMoutain. CreativeCommonsLicense. Attribution2. 5Generic(CCBY2. 5). Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic News Case Writing Competitions oikos Case Writing Competition 2012 Weareverypleasedtoannounce thewinnersofthe2012oikos CaseWritingCompetition! Youcan downloadinspectioncopiesofthe winningcasesfromouronline casecollection. Corporate Sustainability track: FirstPlace: Mind the Gap: Royal Dutch Shell’s Sustainability Aagenda in Nigeria EstherHennchen(ESADEBusiness School),JosepMariaLozano(ESADE BusinessSchool) SecondPlace: Building and Scaling a Cross-Sector Partnership: Oxfam America and Swiss Re’s Empower Farmers in Ethiopia JonathanDoh(VillanovaUniversity),TedLondon(WilliamDavidson Institute/RossSchoolofBusiness, UniversityofMichigan)andVasilia (Lea)Kilibarda(WilliamDavidson Institute,UniversityofMichigan) ThirdPlace: Of Orangutans and Chainsaws: Cargill, Inc. Confronts The Rainforest Action Network’s Palm Oil Advocacy RamSubramanian(MontclairState University) Runners-Up: Walmart: Love, Earth N. CraigSmith(INSEAD)andRobert J. Crawford(IndependentWriter) Sustainable Development at PepsiCo DebapratimPurkayastha(IBS Hyderabad)andAdapaSrinivasaRao (IBSHyderabad). Social Entrepreneurship track: FirstPlace: TerraCycle JanLepoutre(VlerickLeuvenGent ManagementSchool),StuartRead (IMD)andPhilippeMargery(IMD) SecondPlace: World Toilet Organization: Leveraging Resources for Social Impact ImranChowdhury(ESSECBusiness SchoolandPaceUniversity)and ThierrySibieude(ESSEC BusinessSchool) ThirdPlace: Crediamigo: Partnering with VivaCred? EmmanuelRaufflet(HECMontreal) andFredericLavoie(CECI) Runners-Up: Bio-Vert: Green to What Limit? CatherineBedard(Concordia University),GenevieveGrainger (ConcordiaUniversity)andRaymond Paquin(ConcordiaUniversity) Nuru Energy FilipeSantos(INSEAD)andAnneMarieCarrick-Cagna(INSEAD). Free cases /Teaching materials oikosFreeCaseCollectionnow comprisesthreecases:Better PlacebyDrorEtzionandJeroen Struben(McGillUniversity,Canada); LululemonbyAndreaErinBass (UniversityofNebraska-Omaha, USA);andPortlandRoasting CompanybyMadeleinePullman, GregStokes,PriceGregory,Mark LangstonandBrandonArends (PortlandStateUniversity,USA). BetterPlacecasewasfeaturedin Issue3(SustainableMobility)of oikosCaseQuarterly;Lululemonand PortlandRoastingCompanywere featuredinIssue5(Sustainable Lifestyles)ofoikosCaseQuarterly. Ifyouareafacultymemberand youareinterestedinteaching thesecases,youcanrequestafree teachingnotebysendingusanemail tofreecase@oikosinternational. org. CasePlace Search of the Week â€Å"SearchoftheWeek†helps CasePlaceviewersquicklylocate teachingmaterialsthatrelateto currentevents. Themostrecent newsearchersareGreenBuilding andConsumerism. CasePlaceuserscanviewand downloadteachingcases,research notes,workingpapers, policyreports,essays,interviews andsyllabirelatedtothesetopics. ecch Case Awards 2012 Thisyearanunprecedented13 schoolsfrom7countriesin4 geographicalregionshaveproduced winnersinthe2012ecchcase awardsandcompetitions. The OutstandingContributiontothe casemethodawardwaswonby JamesAErskine,MichielRLeenders andLouiseAMauffette-Leendersof theRichardIveySchoolofBusiness. Visitwww. ecch. com/awards2012for moreinformationandtoviewthe winningcases. 10 9 Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic Winter2012Issue5|www. oikosinternational. org/academic Case Teaching Workshops ecch workshop: Teaching with Cases 27-29 June 2012 AESE,Portugal Thisannualworkshopisrunin associationwiththeRichardIvey SchoolofBusiness. Itdispelsthe mystiqueofteachingwithcases whilehelpingteachersavoid someoftheelementarypitfalls. Theframeworkoftheworkshop isbasedontheuniqueconcepts developedbythetutors. This 3-dayworkshopwillbeofbenefit toawideaudience,including: experiencedandinexperienced teachersinterestedinparticipatory learningandcaseuse;juniorand seniorfacultyfromanysectoror discipline. Fees:? 695/â‚ ¬825non-residential. Feesincludecoursematerialsand lunches. ecchmemberorganisations receive10%discount. Aminimumof onesubsidisedplaceforparticipants indevelopingcountriesisavailable onthisevent. Moreinformationon theecchwebsite. speakabouttheirbusinessandtake questionsfromparticipants. With thesupportoftheeventspeakers, participantswillworkinteams throughaseriesofexercisesto completeacasedraftbasedonthe guestentrepreneur’sexperiences. Thecaseswillbelookedatbythe speakersandtheentrepreneuranda winningcasewillbeannounced. Fees:? 335/â‚ ¬400non-residential. Feesincludecoursematerialsand lunch. ecchmemberorganisations receive10%discount. Aminimumof onesubsidisedplaceforparticipants indevelopingcountriesisavailable onthisevent. Moreinformationon theecchwebsite. ecch workshop: Aligning Your Teaching and Research – The Potential of Case Studies 26 October 2012 Europe(venuetobeconfirmed) Atatimewhenuniversities areencouragingacademicsto strengthenthelinkbetween theirresearchandteaching,this workshopwillprovideaframework forusingthecasemethodinthis process. Bybringingresearchinto theclassroom,thetutorbenefits fromstudentinputandresponses, whilststudentsrespondwelltothe enthusiasmandvestedinterestof thetutor. Thisworkshopexplores theuseofcasestomaximisethe potentialofthelinkbetween researchandtechnique. Participants willworkthroughtheirown experiencesandopportunitiesina supportiveenvironment. Fees:? 335non-residential. Feesincludecoursematerialsand lunch. ecchmemberorganisations receive10%discount. Aminimumof onesubsidisedplaceforparticipants indevelopingcountriesisavailable onthisevent. Moreinformationon theecchwebsite. GRONEN – Teaching Case Development Laboratory 28 June 2012 GRONENResearchConference2012, CouventRoyal,SaintMaximinla SainteBaume,France TheoikosFacultyDevelopment. Symposiumwillofferaplatform forreviewingkeystrategieson howcorporatesustainabilitycan  beintegratedintoteachingat businessschools. Professional DevelopmentWorkshop(PDW) 3–TeachingCaseDevelopment Laboratory–aimsatexchanging experiencesinusingteachingcases insustainability-relatedcourses,as wellasmainstreamdisciplinessuch ascorporatestrategy,marketing, entrepreneurshipandfinance. Theworkshopintendstogather scholarswithintheGRONENnetwork whoareteachingcasesor/and areinvolvedincasewriting. By includingexperiencedcasewriters andinstructorswewillexplore principles,methodologiesandtools forefficientcaseteachingand discusswhatanâ€Å"ideal†teaching noteshouldinclude. Pleaseregisterforthisworkshopvia GRONENwebsite. Case Writing Workshops ecch workshop: Writing Cases (Singapore) 11-13 June 2012 NationalUniversityofSingapore Thisintensiveworkshop,presented inassociationwiththeRichardIvey SchoolofBusiness,willbeledby oneoftheworld’smostexperienced casemethodtutors. Theworkshop aimstohelpparticipantswrite effectivecasesquicklyanddevelop skillstocreateamoreenriching classroomenvironmentfortheir students. Theframeworkofthe workshopisbasedontheunique conceptsdevelopedbythetutor. Eachparticipantwillberequired tocompleteapre-workshop. Cases and Entrepreneurship – Making it Work for You 28 June 2012 CranfieldSchoolofManagement,UK Thisonedayeventwillbean opportunityforspecialistsof entrepreneurshipeducationtoshare theirexperienceofusingcases tomaketheirteachingengaging, participatoryandmeaningful. The programmeincludesanoverview ofusingcasesinentrepreneurship teaching;usingcasestolink research,teachingandpractice; designinganinstructors’manual (teachingnote)toguideeffective caseteaching;andanentrepreneur spotlight–aguestentrepreneur fromanunpublishedcompanywill 10 11 10 Spring2012Issue6|www. oikosinternational. org/academic assignment. Thiswillinvolve conductingafieldinterviewwith acasecontactpersonandwriting theopeningparagraph(upto60 words)forapotentialcase. During theworkshop,eachparticipantwill completeashortcasebasedonthis interview. Fees:? 695/â‚ ¬845non-residential. Feesincludecoursematerialsand lunch. ecchmemberorganisations receive10%discount. Anoptional socialdinnerwillbeheldon12June foranadditionalcostof? 30/â‚ ¬40. A minimumofonesubsidisedplacefor participantsindevelopingcountries isavailableonthisevent. More informationontheecchwebsite. Cases that Sing in the Classroom: Insights into Developing and Teaching ecch workshop: Writing Cases (Portugal). 2-4 July 2012 AESE,Portugal Presentedinassociationwiththe RichardIveySchoolofBusiness,the workshopaimstohelpparticipants writeeffectivecasesquicklyand developskillstocreateamore enrichingclassroomenvironmentfor theirstudents. Theframeworkof theworkshopisbasedontheunique conceptsdevelopedbythetutors. Eachparticipantwillberequired tocompleteapre-workshop assignment. Thiswillinvolve conductingafieldinterviewwith acasecontactpersonandwriting theopeningparagraph(upto60 words)forapotentialcase. During theworkshop,eachparticipantwill completeashortcasebasedonthis interview. Fees:? 695/â‚ ¬825non-residential. Feesincludecoursematerialsand lunches. ecchmemberorganisations receive10%discount. Aminimumof onesubsidisedplaceforparticipants indevelopingcountriesisavailable onthisevent. Moreinformationon theecchwebsite. briefoverviewoncasewriting programmesandexistingcase writingcompetitionswithafocuson sustainability-relatedcompetitions (e. g. EFMD,DarkSide,NextBillion, August 2012 (exact date to be oikos). InPart2wewilldiveintothe confirmed) practiceofcasewritingprogramsby AcademyofManagementconference sharingtheexperiencesoftheUNDP 2012,Boston,US GIMCaseWritingInitiativeandother ThisProfessionalDevelopment initiatives. Part3willbedevotedto Workshopwilltakeplaceatthe awrap-upa.