Toddlers in Tiaras

Moriah Gates 5/3/12 CPC Research paper Beauty, Money, â€Å"Sexy† Too Soon! Young girls are like a sponge, they soak up anything they see or hear. They are vulnerable and young. Mothers are hurting their children by putting them through beauty pageants–they are setting them up for life’s insecurities like, self esteem issues and eating disorders. â€Å"Mommy please no†¦. Mommy no it hurts. I don’t want to do this†¦NOO mommy! † â€Å"I don’t wanna dance, I’m not doing that! † These cries come from young girls who compete in beauty pageants.The most recent pageant that has caused a lot fuss with some parents and others is the TV show TLC Toddlers in Tiaras. Toddlers in Tiaras is a show that is centered on beauty and wining the crown. Beauty, clothes, makeup, hair, pretty dresses, long eyelashes, spray tans, Botox, waxing, the list goes on. It’s just the beginning of many of the girl’s list they must fallow become â€Å"pretty enough† to compete. Pageants are where young girls are primped and primed to look pretty and much older than they really are, and are made to dance and parade around on stage.Girls as young as two are being put into these competitions learning how to dance and act and look like a teenager. These pageants are teaching girls at a very young age to dress, look and be â€Å"sexy† the way to win. Parents also start doing pageants for money, and the beauty. When girls start dressing in â€Å"grown up† looking clothes, it is taking away their chance to be a child. Children should be allowed to play in the mud and on the play grounds not made to wear loads of makeup, fake hair, and flippers for their smile, and act like a grown up.Mothers express their desire for their daughters to win, and to be the best. One mother said in an interview, how her daughter is on stage. â€Å"My daughter is the Triple F, five, fearless, and ferocious. Her daughter als o chimed with an answer to her mother’s question, asking her about how she like money and modeling. The daughter says she loves money, and money is her favorite thing! With pageants pushed to the side this mother and daughter have been doing modeling and the mother said has made $30,000 in modeling her daughter.The little girl said, â€Å"With modeling, you have to take pictures, be on commercials, and get paid, that’s my favorite part, it’s all about the money! † CNN article wrote, they interviewed a Toddlers in Tiaras, mother who flat out said, â€Å"I love living vicariously through my three year old daughter, Paisley†. That seems to be the common answer for why these mothers are putting their daughters through these pageants. When watching some of the shows, a majority of the mothers of the girls are overweight, don’t have a good job, and have health problems.The mothers use their young vulnerable daughters, to live their dreams of fame and recognition. Some mothers say they will do anything to put their daughter in to competition, some mothers’ say they will take out a second lone if it means having her daughter win. The family somehow finds the money to make the pageant happen for their girls, yet really they see themselves up there in the spotlight doing all the moves not their four year old daughter. What are we doing to our children when we teach them that they have to be â€Å"sexy† to be pretty, and have to look like x,y and z to be pretty.Mothers are putting four year olds into stripper outfits, they dress their girls up as famous actresses like Julia Roberts in the move â€Å"Pretty Woman. † Julia wore a stripper outfit in the movie, and the mother dressed her three year old to be her look alike. † An article, by Fox News says: â€Å"As a treatment of professional sex offenders as well as victims of sexual abuse, I would like the parents of these little girls to assume responsib ility for their choices. They are sexualizing their young children.Do not be surprised if your child is preyed upon as a result of this high degree of visibility,† said Dr. Nancy Irwin, a Los Angeles-based psychotherapist. â€Å"Men can pose as agents/managers and track you/your girl down through the show. Further, know that they will be pleasuring themselves while looking at your daughter’s YouTube clip. † We are grossed out by pedophiles and people who take advantage of our kids, yet we are ok letting our kids run around in out fits that are very sexual.Some say that it’s just a title ‘child beauty pageant’ but it’s much more! It’s a sexualization pageant. Young girls are put in skimpy clothes and taught to do dance moves like bumps and grinds, this not looking at beauty, its teaching girls that beauty is highly sexualized and they have to be sexual to be beautiful. Just thinking about the pressure that is put on the girls is h ard to imagine, they are four and younger, they should not be worried about how their hair is or how â€Å"pretty† they look, yet mothers stress the very factor of beauty.They get professional photographers to take model pictures and when they get the pictures back the girls are modified so much they look like a china doll. They are photo-shopped to the point where the child begins to like they way they look in photos. When the pictures young girls see are photo-shopped selves, they don’t see their true beauty. Girls already have pressure on them to look a certain way and then, when they start pageants, they are pressured into having beauty treatments done. With pageant shows, there is only one winner, and they are the only ones who get the crown.The others are not rewarded and not recognized for their hard work. The pageant girls grow up with attention fully on her, all the time and then, when it goes away, what happens? These girls are going to grow up with eating di sorders and self esteem problems. They are going to feel like they are never good enough, or pretty enough to get the judge’s approval. The judges, judge and score the girls physical features and talent, looking for something that stands out from the rest of the girls. They are not looking at the girl, or how young and venerable she is.Nor do they think of the effects that this pageant will have on her. For example, when the girls forget the dance move and mess up, the mother might berate the child for her forgetting her part. The girls feel hurt and broken because they didn’t do well enough for their mother. Most parents in the show Toddlers in Tiaras tell their children â€Å"If you do really good in this pageant what will this mean? The child, Mommy and daddy will be happy cause I will bring home lots of money. † â€Å"That’s right, mommy and daddy will be proud if you win because it means lots of money! Money is what parents push on them and that the y must win. What is it doing to their children when the pressure is money, if they do not the child doesn’t feel love or important to their parents and they feel worthless. Children pick up on things and can read their parents actions; if the parents are not happy with them then the child feels afraid. They soak up anything they hear and see. We should be protecting our children not endanger them by our carless wants. Bibliography (I forgot to do the right way to do the bibliography, I will fix it next essay)

Essay on Wonder Woman

Her mission is to bring love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men. The heroine Princess Diana of Themyscira, more famously known as Wonder Woman, has gone through various reimagining and different retellings in both media and comic books. But all of these have the same basic origin. She was born and lived the majority of her life on the isolated paradise island of Themyscira, an island inhabited entirely of Amazonian women.Everything changed one day when pilot, Captain Steve Trevor crashed on the mysterious island. Soon after he crashed, as he was being held and treated on the island, Queen Hippilyta held a tournament to decide who would have the honor of escorting Captain Trevor back to the United States. Against her mother’s wishes, Princess Diana participated in said tournament and won. At this point the narrative diverges depending on its retelling.In the 1975 pilot, set in World War II, named, The New Original Wonder Woman directed by Leonard H orn, Wonder Woman fights Nazis during the World War II era soon after leaving the island. In the 2009 animated movie, Wonder Woman, directed by Lauren Montgomery, Wonder Woman fights to stop the reign of the Greek god of war, Ares and his army of undead Amazons. Wonder Woman has always been widely considered as a feminist icon, thus these movies are supposed to reflect such a message. Thus each movie shows how the times and sexual equality has changed over the years.These can be shown by the relationship between Princess Diana and Steve Trevor in which one movie portrays them fighting on equal footing against a common threat much like co-workers and the other not so much which is apparent in a multitude of fighting scenes; Wonder Woman’s behavior and personality through both movies but mostly with her passive behavior in one fight scene in the 1975 pilot and her aggressive behavior in the 2009 animated movie; and Steve Trevor’s difference in behavior and personality bu t mostly toward women and is most apparent in the 2009’s hospital scene.In the 1975 pilot episode, The New Original Wonder Woman, the relationship between Steve Trevor and Princess Diana seems to be focus on the fact that Wonder Woman is more so smitten and dependent on Trevor in order to be happy. This can be clearly seen when she pretty much stalks him, after his safe return to the U. S. , by disguising herself as his nurse while he’s recuperating and at the end where she disguises herself as his personal assistant, Diana Prince.This acts as a contrast to the 2009 DC animated movie, Wonder Woman where Steve Trevor is smitten by her but instead of being dependent on her, he acts as her sidekick, as they fight Ares as equals, but usually Wonder Woman showing her superior strength and fighting skills. This further shown when they are about to first encounter Ares and thus have to infiltrate a military base. They violently take down the soldiers silently but cooperativel y, Steve with his combat knife and Wonder Woman with her boomerang like tiara.Princess Diana of Themyscira is portrayed very differently in both adaptations of the same character. In the 1975 adaptation, Wonder Woman was rarely allowed to engage in hand-to-hand combat, instead relying on simply throwing bad guys around. But in the 2009 animated movie it embraces the fact that she is a skilled warrior and not only can she throw punches but more surprisingly allowed to receive them too. In the 2009 adaptation of the super heroine, she is a strong, smart, aggressive independent woman who needed no man.For example in the 2009 animated movie, when Princess Diana and Steve Trevor are about to get mugged in a dark alley, the muggers say that if they do what they say, no one will get hurt; and she replies with, â€Å"Maybe I want someone to get hurt. † But in contrast, the 1975 Wonder Woman was a soft-hearted, kind, naive, passive young woman who needed a man in order to take action. For example in the 1975 pilot, when Diana quit her circus job and is subdues her ex-boss after he tries to pull a firearm on her, she claims that she was taught to avoid conflict and did not like fighting or hurting others.In the 2009 movie she is not in need of a man or in love with Steve Trevor right off the bat, but instead he earns her love by proving himself by helping in the hunt down Ares. She also does not stalk him like the 1975 counter-part but instead it’s him following her around but instead of stalking her, helping her; and in the end she is not in disguise from him as his assistant but instead in disguise from everyone else but as a friend, or possibly his girlfriend because it is never clearly explained. Captain Steve Trevor’s 2009 character differs vastly in comparison to his 1975 counter-part.In the 1975 adaptation he was merely a flat characterized damsel in distress who tried to act as a symbol of the American ideal. But in the 2009 animated movie h e was more fleshed out and given more characterization and more of a major role in the plot. The 2009 version of Trevor was a witty, brave, and a symbol of sexual equality. Also Steve Trevor in this movie more so acted as Wonder Woman’s sidekick in the fact that many of the times in which there was action they both worked cooperatively to defeat any threat.In the 1975 movie, Steve Trevor never or rarely ever talked about sexual equality while Wonder Woman talked more so like a feminist extremist. But in the 2009 animated movie, after Wonder Woman keeps talking down about men and claiming Steve Trevor was a sexist, he had enough and expressed his mind more than his 1975 counter-part. In the scene, Wonder Woman wakes up in a hospital bed after their first encounter with Aries.Then she starts berating him on the fact that he didn’t stop Aries and that he merely saved her because she was a woman and if she were a man he would have acted differently. This causes Steve Trevo r to have enough of her ranting about men and himself, and thus he goes and pretty much sums up the theme of the whole movie. The outraged Trevor tells her, â€Å"Cutting yourselves off from the outside world was cowardly! Not to mention STUPID! [Yeah] like less communication between men and women is what the world needed.And I didn’t save you because I thought you were some damsel in distress. I saved you because†¦because I care about you, Diana. And I’m not going to abandon a friend in need. Man or woman. † This quote says a lot about Trevor in that the viewer’s view of him prior to this moment, being a womanizer, was not in fact his actual personality and that there was more depth to this man than meets the eye. This also expresses the change toward sexual equality we have strived for through the years since the time of the 1975 pilot.Both movies featured Wonder Woman as a symbol of feminism and sexual equality. But both movies were vastly differe nt in their take on the heroic icon, due to the time period they were conceived. Movies like these tend to come off as either overly preachy or decide to blame all the world’s ills on man. In the 1975 adaptation it tried to portray her as the heroine that was in the comic books, but in the movie they were successful in that feat but only in describing her background but was unable to show her tough-as-nails  personality due to restrictions during the time period; and due to this, showing Wonder Woman acting as a contradiction in which she is in love with a man right off the bat, but is sexist against men and think women are more superior.But in the 2009 animated movie they were able to take a more balanced view. Steve unlike his 1975 counter-part had a more active role and was a more rounded, fleshed out character that was witty and quirky but also loyal and brave.The faults of men are shown in ample detail, as well as the faults of women were shown equally as examples such as Etta Candy’s overall flirtatious uselessness and Persephone’s final words of admonishment to Hippolyte. Both genders are represented as flawed and both movies themes are expressed through the 2009 Steve Trevor’s speech to Diana. In the end of it all, the world needs more understanding and congregation between men and women rather than isolation and distrust. In both media and literature, Wonder Woman will always be that icon of feminism and sexual equality.

Slasher Films in the Pakistani Cinema

Pakistan is a developing country that has been struggling for decades in its many eras, ranging from business to the cinema. Despite the tussle, it has managed to develop its film and television industry rapidly. â€Å"Lollywood† is a term that was coined back in the day to glamorously describe the cinema culture of Pakistan. Though, as we all know, in comparison to Bollywood and Hollywood, Lollywood, in majority has not been much popular. Nevertheless, upon profoundly observing the television industry of Pakistan, one learns that it is much more refined and efficacious in contrast to the film sector.Particularly, in the present times, the drama or television industry, as you may call it, is flourishing not just locally but all around the globe, reaching out to many Pakistanis and providing them with twenty four hours of fruitful entertainment. Pakistani Cinema has touched upon a variety of genres which predominantly revolve around documentaries, dramas, thrillers, horror, rom ance and action. This paper will, however, depict and deliberate upon a subgenre of horror films; slasher films in Pakistan.A slasher film is preeminently defined as a horror film which involves the use of an unearthly weapon such as an axe by a psychopathic slaughterer who mainly pertains to aggressively slaying a number of victims. These movies follow specific cinematic techniques where close-ups and special effects are used in a variety of ways, primarily representing women as sexual objects. The conception of showing the â€Å"Final Girl† rescuing herself is the foremost ideology a slasher film ordinarily focuses on.Over the years, Lollywood has managed to accomplish the two most successful horror films using the true slasher and storyline techniques; Zinda Laash (â€Å"Dracula in Pakistan/The Living Corpse†) and Zibah Khana (â€Å"Hell’s Ground†) produced in 1967 and 2007 respectively. It is interesting to know that the recent production; Hellâ€℠¢s Ground makes continuous relations with the thirty year old film; Zinda Laash. However, the two devour excessive amount of differences; in regard to the slasher film techniques and gender based critique which will be discussed in this essay. Dracula in Pakistan† was filmed in the late 60’s; however, when released, it sprang a cascade of fear amongst the Pakistanis. According to (The Indian Express, 2012), a woman from the audience was agonized by a heart attack. It was also the first movie produced in Pakistan to be categorized as â€Å"X-rated† along with being screened at two international film festivals. (IMDB) Zinda Laash is considered as a plagiarized production; an elucidation of Hammer’s Classic â€Å"Dracula. † (The HotSpot Online) The plot begins with a scientist; Dr.Tabani accomplishing his test experiment to gain immortality followed by the introduction of his assistant; a buxom woman who discovers the â€Å"dead body† of the sci entist and decides to store it in a coffin. To her astonishment, the corpse comes to life and she is his first victim. The story continues with a somnolent traveller, Dr. Aqil who does not consider the rumors of the existence of the immortals to be true, entering the mansion of the â€Å"Khabees Rooh†. Though, he soon discovers the veracity and chooses to end the cycle of plague, but is evidently futile.The film further revolves around a Dr. Aqil’s wife-to-be; Shabnam, who is also a victim of Dr. Tabani and how immortality fails her appallingly. As petrifying Zinda Laash might have been in the 60’s, it most certainly isn’t disturbing in relation to the modern day standards. One might find it rigorously monotonous but humorous at the same time as it depicts alluring and peculiar dances by women. Zinda Laash strongly caters to the â€Å"Male Gaze† throughout the hundred minutes of its run time; from the introduction to the climax and the conclusion.T hroughout the course, the audience experiences a range of dance numbers by either one or many women. The initial portrayal of the sexuality of women instigates when the assistant is lured by her â€Å"dead† boss in the middle of the dark hours. The woman is dressed in a knee length night gown with revealed skin and cleavage; identifying her as a sex object. For being a Pakistani production of the 60’s era, the cinematic techniques capturing the body of the woman can definitely be labeled as â€Å"obscene. The attack demonstrates sensuality in the facial expressions of the woman with the sluggish movement of closeness between the victim and the attacker pouring a sense of sexual tension amongst the audience. Followed by the frightening shrieks of the woman, violence against women is highlighted significantly; a woman is powerless in front of a man. Later, as the weary traveller arrives and adjusts comfortably at the mansion after a warm welcome by Dr. Tabani, one notic es Dr. Aqil setting a photo frame of his beloved fiancee he truly misses. Dr.Tabani enters his room to ensure comfort and malignly admires the photo by calling it â€Å"Khoobsurat. † It is enigmatically bizarre how Dr. Tabani ignores to make Dr. Aqil his next victim who is right there and instead wishes to suck blood out of a woman. Malevolent thoughts instantly stutter through the attacker’s head about the woman; further enhancing the violence against women. As the night gets gloomy and murky, one notices Dr. Aqil being effortlessly distracted by the giggles of a woman; the vampire bride. He gets up to follow the chuckles; his facial expressions visibly expose his urge for sexual desire.Discovering the origin of the chortles, Dr. Aqil finds a mysterious female, dancing with â€Å"voluptuous sensuality† (The HotSpot Online) dressed in a lightly lined white dress to attract him towards her. There is undeniably a connotation attached to the actions of the woman in this scene; she uses her sexuality to fulfill her need to feed upon the man for survival. The man finally submits himself to her and is attacked by the vampire bride. This explains how the religion of Islam fears the power of female sexual attraction over men.Imam Ghazali’s interpretation is also highlighted during this part of the film; female aggression is tuned outwards and she sexually entices men. Captivatingly, this occurrence is intermittent by Dr. Tabani; the vampire, who pushes the woman; once again showing the physical power of man over woman. Wretchedly, Dr. Aqil is masticated and is fated to earn immortality. Nonetheless, before fronting his destiny, he tries to put an end to the outrageous veracity by using a â€Å"knife† as the weapon of destruction, but fails terribly. Incongruously, a dance number is presented right after Dr.Aqil becomes a casualty of immortality. This dance sequence is similar to the many others shown during the film at odd intervals. This particular sequence comprised of a woman dancing dressed in a half sleeve top and pants in front of a crowd of men in majority. Vulgarity strikes not only in her clothing this time, but in the movement of her physique in sync with the song lyrics which were chanted by a man as he made hand gestures pointing towards the dancer; â€Å"Udhar Jawani, Idhar Nasha. † The lyrics clearly indicate the drunken men relishing the â€Å"jawaani† of the female performing.The theme of sexuality is reinforced with the entrance of Dr. Aqil’s brother as he is interrupted with another dance number, this time comprising of many women dancing for their own entertainment instead of one woman dancing to entertain a crowd. This dance comprises of Dr. Aqil’s fiancee, Shabnam dressed in shalwar kameez; the national dress of Pakistan, dancing with her friends. However, the fitting of the clothing catered to the male gaze once again. The shirts are of normal length but tremend ously body-hugging from the hip, hence outlining he body shape. These women also wore perfectly winged eyeliners and hair done gracefully, further emphasizing the gender socialization of women; how they are required to dress up. The theme of men giving in for the sexuality of women is reversed when Shabnam desperately waits for Dr. Tabani to suck her blood. On his arrival, Shabnam lies down on her bed in an inviting posture outlining her curvaceous body and reveals her neck; women objectification. Once again, sexual tension is built as Dr. Tabani goes close to her neck and feeds on her.The difference between the earlier attacks and this once is that Shabnam was willingly letting Dr. Tabani feed on her; she felt pleasure. The photograph below shows her exact position on the bed. (The HotSpot Online) There is also a female child in the narrative who Shabnam intends to feed on. The question here evolves as to why there was not a male child instead of a female child named â€Å"Babyâ⠂¬ ? Baby constantly made relations with Shabnam throughout the course of the film, for example, she teased Shabnam by snatching Dr. Aqil’s photograph from her hand and ran away.The film comes towards a climax where the family discovers the Dracula Shabnam who intended to trick Baby and suck her blood out. Shabnam’s brother confronts her as she convinces him to hug her; she decides to feed on him. This plot comes to an end when Aqil’s brother acts as the macho man and pushes Shabnam away and stabs her to death by a dagger. Patriarchy is promoted via this prospect as well. Nonetheless, a dance sequence is a must input at the pinnacle; this time a female wearing a sequin dress entertaining a group of men by dancing. Most importantly, we notice that the dupatta in many of these dance numbers is eliminated.The movie further progresses with the development of an aim to eradicate the immortals by Shabnam’s brother and Dr. Aqil’s brother. Zibah Khaana or Hell’s Ground, on the other hand, follows a completely different narrative with underlining various subjects such as Gender Roles, Social Concerns and Pakistani Culture. It truly depicts the use of slasher film techniques like showing the world from the eyes of the attacker and use of the â€Å"Final Girl† notion. It is an Urdu-English slasher film directed by Omar Khan in only 30 days and has won many awards at Film Festivals around the Globe. Wikipedia) Zibah Khaana is a journey of five teenage friends who decide to take a short cut through a place known as â€Å"Dozakh Pur† to attend a rock concert. On their way, they face many difficulties such as the toxic water, zombies, a daunting hitchhiker, a witch and a man dressed in a burkha with an ancient spiky weapon which makes the movie a modern gore flick. The diversity in characters chosen makes the film even more exhilarating. The movie begins with a boy having an accident upon seeing a Burkha Man standing i n the middle of the road with a medieval weapon.However, the first victim is massacred with a spade, in comparison to Zinda Laash, where the first victim was a woman attacked by fangs. In the case of Hell’s Ground, woman objectification is hardly given any attention. The film sets the surroundings of Pakistan by showing detailed shots about the culture of Pakistan; daily activities. Gender socialization is highlighted when Roxy, a modern American girl is introduced and specifically asks her maid for a â€Å"pink† colored shirt to wear as she has to spend the night at her friend â€Å"Ayesha’s† house.Pakistani culture is further laid stress upon when the maid reacts in astonishment to Roxy, being a girl and spending the night at a friends’ house. Next, a low class Christian boy, Simon is presented with his parents; where the father uses abusive language to degrade his son. In relation to Zinda Laash, here we experience that the wife; Simon’s mother screams back to her husband in support of her child. Patriarchy is not laid stress upon; it does exist but not to a critical extent in the modern day and this is what Zibah Khaana probably aimed to demonstrate.As the introduction progresses, the audience meets the Final Girl, Ayesha. Her first appearance in a traditional shalwar kameez serving her mother tea immediately clicks; she is different from the previous two characters introduced. Once more, the Pakistani Culture and Gender Bias are tinted when Ayesha seeks permission from her mother to go on a â€Å"school trip† for the night. Receiving a hesitant reaction from her mother and commentary upon how her father would be against this act if he were alive, instantaneously converses with the Pakistani audience as to how girls should not be let out for the night.It emphasizes upon traditional beliefs on gender socialization; girls should spend the night at their own house and not elsewhere. However, there are a lot of modern families in today’s time who are also against girls spending the night elsewhere. In the Pakistani society, it is definitely considered as indecent. Inevitably, Ayesha lies to stay out for the night to go to a rock concert. However, her socialization restricts her from doing things that she has been taught are wrong; for example later in the film all her friends smoke hashish, but she doesn’t.Ayesha also wears an â€Å"Allah Hu Akbar† necklace throughout the course of the film. We also observe, upon exiting the house Ayesha gets rid of her books and grabs a pair of jeans and t-shirt to change later for the trip; Ayesha belongs to a local ordinary family. Later, when she changes her attire from a traditional one to modern, her friends are surprised. Roxy, Ayesha, Simon and another boy OJ meet at the ice cream parlor, â€Å"Hot Spot† and wait for the last character of the film; Vicky to arrive with transport. He brings a van with old fashioned Pakist ani Horror Film Paintings, one of which consisted of a plump woman posing.Pointing out the sexuality in the old times; OJ instantly reacts to the painting of the woman as â€Å"sexy. † This shows that young boys are easily drawn towards sexuality with being open about their desires. The friends continue to head out and on their way are disturbed by a group of transgenders while waiting for the traffic signal to go green. An effective use of queer theory has been applied as the reaction of the teenagers is shown. Transgenders are a huge part of the Pakistani society and are treated with disgrace.They are usually perceived as infuriating while they beg at the traffic signals; the reaction of Vicky and the body language of the transgenders have clearly been captured. As the transgenders approached and touched Vicky, his facial expressions stressed upon irritation and repulsion. Youth culture has been shown via sarcastic conversations amongst the five friends. Roxy is an American -Pakistani modern girl who did not hesitate to smoke hashish in comparison to the Final Girl, Ayesha who denies the offer and feels uncomfortable. Roxy and OJ have a conversation about the socio-economic situation of Pakistan.This was amusing to observe as women in the earlier day were not included in such conversations, and today we see a positive change in the role of women. In Roxy’s imaginary world, she â€Å"can’t wait to get out of this sticky shithole. † Use of abusive language by both the genders has been highlighted, which serves as a change in the norm of our society as all such instances are censored by the censor board of Pakistan. Hell’s Ground, was however, successful in mirroring the reality. From zombies, a freaky hitchhiker and a witch to the serial killer in a burkha, Zibah Khana covers it all.Generally, older women are always associated with darkness, magic and evil. Hell’s ground uses the same ideology and uses an unusual strang e woman in the story who is involved in the village killings. The hitchhiker and the main psychopathic killer Burkhaman which the teenagers come across are the old woman’s children. Earlier in the film, the teenagers have managed to escape from the creepy hitchhiker by throwing him out of the van and crushing him in the process. Motherly instincts are shown when the mother finds her injured son and commands the Burkhaman to cut them up into â€Å"botis. The old woman also continuously addressed the Burkhaman as her daughter; further highlighting the use of queer theory. The Burkhaman is in reality a man, but is continuously referred as a female; this is because the old woman always wanted a daughter but never had one. I believe, the use of such a dogma is an indirect reference to the LGBT community in Pakistan. Throughout the film, the serial killer being the main lead remains silent. According to my analogy, it has been done purposely to lay stress upon the fact that societ y wants the LGBT community to remain silent and act as the underdog of the society.Being a slasher film, the plot revolves around The Final Girl throughout. Before the zombie attacks, she senses incongruity but chooses to ignore and stays determined. This is the most ideal strategy used in the production of slasher films. Her psychological turmoil is continuously tested till the very end where she saves herself. In completion, Ayesha is the only individual left who has not been successfully victimized. Slasher films intend to show women in terror, and Zibah Khana explicitly follows this rule. It shows both the women, Roxy and Ayesha, in terror, running for their lives and screaming.The only difference is that Ayesha is the final girl and remains determined to save herself. Another stratagem used in Zibah Khana is the eradication of all the irrelevant characters one by one leaving the Final Girl as the last victim. This is to build tension amongst the audience to experience the rever sal of gender roles. When Ayesha faces the Burkhaman, she fights back for herself and saves herself by getting hold of a spade and a stone, and smashes the head of the man dressed in a Burkha. There is no man to rescue her; she is her own hero. A hidden side of the innocent girl is shown; she makes sure to kill the attacker.Typically, in slasher films, the Final Girl is given intense strength and masculinity all of a sudden with the urge to protect her rather than being dependent upon a man to save the day. There are many differences we observe between the two films. Firstly, we notice that the first victim in Zinda Laash is a woman where she is shown as a sexual object. However, in Zibah Khana, the first victim is a boy; OJ. Secondly, Zibah Khana adopts the technique of showing the world from the attacker’s eyes to its fullest whereas Zinda Laash hardly makes use of it.Thirdly, another distinctive feature of a slasher film is to show women in terror; building the tension and finally reaching the climax. Zibah Khana renders this trepidation to a great extent in comparison to Zinda Laash, where the women feeling fear is shown minimally in comparison to Zibah Khana. Lastly, the concept of Final Girl is completely ignored in Zinda Laash, assuming that Shabnam was the main girl who was expected to save herself and not enter the realm of death; that too by being stabbed by a man. Zibah Khana, on the other hand, stresses all the attention on the Final Girl, Ayesha.In the end she is the only survivor. Horror film is a genre which has come a long way in the Pakistani Cinema. It started off with showing women as sex objects to the girl becoming the main lead and surviving on her own terms. To conclude, I absolutely agree with Omar Khan, the director of Zibah Khana as he claims, â€Å"Horror is at its most effective when it taps into real fears. Our real fears are connected to things that are sensitive politically and difficult to discuss. † (Telegraph, UK , 2007) 3286 Words Bibliography (n. d. ). Retrieved November 27, 2012, from IMDB: http://www. imdb. om/title/tt0360232/trivia Telegraph, UK. (2007, August 11). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www. telegraph. co. uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3667146/Zibahkhana-Beware-zombies-wearing-saris. html The Indian Express. (2012, July 2). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from The Indian Express: http://www. indianexpress. com/news/be-scared-very-scared/969038/0 The HotSpot Online. (n. d. ). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://www. thehotspotonline. com/moviespot/bolly/reviews/xyz/zindalaash. htm Wikipedia. (n. d. ). Retrieved December 4, 2012, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Zibahkhana

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 27

Strategic Management - Essay Example 87, the company unveiled a five years plan which was aimed at opening more than 125 stores in new areas at a cost of $ 60 million (My Starbucks Idea 2012, par. 7). To attain the required resources to open new outlets, the company introduced an Initial Public Offering in 1992. The success of the offers enabled the Starbuck Company to unveil other very intricate expansion programs. To fit in the contemporary competitive market, the company has continued to come up with strategies that are aimed at expanding its business into other global markets. Currently, the company is one of the most successful coffee industries in global market. Due to economic and technological development, the Europe continent is one of the most competitive coffee markets in the world. This is due to the presence of large coffee industries in the continent. Therefore, for Starbuck Company to prosper in the European continent market, it ought to come up with exceptionally effective market plan (Gulati, 2007, p. 99). The essay below will offer a detailed evaluation and analyses of the Starbucks external markets in Europe. The essay will as well analyse the Starbucks strategic capability as well as the company’s strategic fit analysis. The European economy is in most cases affected by some external factors such as economic recession. The economic recession and other economic factors have over years brought about severe impact in the operation of Starbucks Company. For instance, the 2008 and 2009 global recession increased the operational cost of the company thus lowering its profit margin. On the other hand, the 2008 recession as well played an awfully critical role in reducing the number of the company’s customers. This was due to the facts that, despite of the high cost of the products in the continent, the level of unemployment remained high with very limited wages. Moreover, the Starbucks Company competes at two main levels in the European market, the Italian-style coffee beverage and

US Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

US Foreign Policy - Essay Example The decision rejecting the protocol was accompanied by unmeasurable critic especially from European countries. Additionally, Bush’s regime saw withdrawal of United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with arguments that the treaty would hinder US’s ability to protect itself from external attacks such as terrorism. Moreover, US raised concerns over development of nuclear weapons by nations such as People’s Republic of China, Iran and North Korea. In 2003 China admitted to making nuclear weapons further straining the relations with US. In July 2002 the International Criminal Court was created with a mandate to ensure that perpetrators of international crimes such as heads of states are punished. This prompted creation of the American Service members Protection Act (ASPA) in August 2002 in a bid to protect its appointed and elected officials from being tried by an international criminal court whom US is not a member. In relation to trade, Bush signed the free trade agreements with countries such as Chile and Ukraine under the Central American Free Trade Agreement thereby improving trade relations in US. Matters relating to Iraq’s regime change had started earlier with the signing of Iraq Liberation Act by President Bill Clinton in 1998. After Bush took office he continued with the agenda going forth to publicly press for regime change in 2002. This was on grounds of poor cooperation from Iraq and claims that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction. In March 2003, Bush declared war on Iraq soon after notifying some allies such as Saudi Arabia on war imminence. The war however did not receive much support both from within US, other countries and agencies such as United Nations (UN) but this did not hinder Bush. Controversies surrounding the Iraq war arguably form the greatest criticism on Bush’s regime. Obama’s administration from its onset sought to bring the Iraq war to an end. However, there would

Public speaking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Public speaking - Assignment Example The third strength that I possess is coherency and fluency in speech. This makes me to present my ideas clearly in a way that the audience will understand and enjoy (Jaffe, 2013). It indicates that I am professional in my field and I know what I am doing. There are also weaknesses that I need to improve on. First, I always get tired easily. I can give a public speech for 2-3 hours and after that I lose energy to go on with my speech. In order to address all issues involved in my speech, I need to develop more energy to provide my speech strongly and consistently until the end (Jaffe, 2013). My second weakness is that I like providing a lot of information which may burden the audience and fail to capture all the ideas I present. I need to improve on this and be straight to the point. The effective speaker I know is a youth leader in my town. What makes him an effective speaker is his deliver style. He always makes a good eye contact with the audience and uses a good tone that everyone enjoys. He also tells stories clearly in an exciting manner. Furthermore, he connects with his audience and engages them in his speech. He understands the needs of his audience and addresses them well. He influences the people around him by being empathetic; putting himself in their shoes and tells them what he things they wish to hear. He has good negotiation skills including good listening to understand and influence his

Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Research Paper - Essay Example However, it is patently obvious that the social movements that began in the early 19th century have thus far a great deal left to accomplish. For instance, the individual can and should consider the case of wage disparity as it relates to men and women in the workforce. Regardless of the metric that is used, women typically make between 10-15% less on each and every pound as compared to a man. Even though great progress has been made, this particular statistic is one that is ultimately quite stubborn and has proven difficult to engage. Although it is obvious that one or two methods might not be sufficient for entirely ameliorating this differential, it is the view of this author that seeking to promote the changes that will be considered within this brief analysis will be extraordinarily beneficial in helping to address the broader issue; albeit not totally sufficient to ending the gender gap in wages. Accordingly, the approaches that will be put forward are as follows: extending fur ther levels of family leave to men, increasing government awareness programs, working to further social acceptance of wage parity, and discontinuing wage secrecy. It is widely recognized that women were not represented within the workforce of the United States, at least to a statistically significant degree, up until the First World War. As a direct result of the fact that tens of thousands of young men were going off to training and engaging in combat, the labor force was dealt a heavy blow. Similarly, the industrializing powers throughout the globe placed a heavy importance upon ensuring that their economic power was firmly exhibited by means of their industrial production capabilities; not to mention the fact that were material needed to be created at an ever increasing rate as a result of the conflicts they were exhibited throughout the developed world at that time. Similarly, the overall representation of women in the

Lafarge Financial Statements Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Lafarge Financial Statements - Case Study Example The trend analysis of Lafarge's P&L statement shows that the increase in company's sales has been stable over the years with a hike in sales by about 17% in 2005. The cost of sales has also been rising with the increase in sales and they have finally mounted by about 17% during the last financial year. It reflects that the percentage change in sales is almost same as the percentage change in cost of sales, however a reduction in depreciation account by 4.1% has magnified the company's gross profit by 22% in 2005. The SG&A have expanded drastically during the year 2005 i.e., by 13% (1.2% in 2004). However, due to a substantial increase in gross profit, the company managed to display a rise in the operating income by about 32%. The company has had a substantial decline in the interest payable for two years, however it seems to have rebuilt during 2005. The company's pre-tax income had declined by almost 3% in 2004, which recovered surprisingly with an increase of 36% in 2005 as compare d to the year 2003. With a 50% increase in net income, the company's retained earnings has flourished by 54% while the dividend distributed have increased by 41%. Thus, an analysis of profit and loss suggests that the company has risen up from the decline that took place in its financial performance in 2004. Three-Year Earning Per Share Analysis EPS 2005 2004 2003 Earning Per Share 6.39 5.16 4.92 "Common shareholders and potential investors in common stock first look at a company's earning record" (Meigs & Meigs, p934, 1993). The EPS analysis of Lafarge's financial statements reflects that the company has had an increasing trend in the earnings per share for the last three years. The company's EPS increased by 4.8% in the year 2004, which further rose by almost 24% in 2005. This sudden enhancement of the company's earnings has also been evident in its P&L statement, which highlights a pleasant reform in the company's financial performance in the year 2005 owing to a drastic increase in sales revenue. EBITDA Analysis EBITDA 2005 2004 2003 Lafarge Group 14.8% 14.7% 14.2% Cement 23.3% 23.0% 23.0% Aggregates & Concrete 7.4% 7.1% 6.3% Gypsum Products 10.3% 9.6% 7.0% Roofing 6.5% 10.0% 9.4% Speciality products -285.7% -128.3% -38.7% EBITDA refers to the Earnings Before Interest, Taxation, Depreciation and Amortization. Therefore this analysis takes into account all the major costs and expenses other than the items mentioned above. The EBITDA margins presented in the above graph reflect a segregated view of the company's earnings in terms of the group as a whole and its subsidiaries (on the basis of products). The group's EBITDA margin represents a stable and subtle rise in the company's earnings, which is a sum up of its subsidiaries. Cement and A&C are also having a stable uplift in earnings, while Gypsum products section is showing a remarkable growth in terms of EBITDA. Roofing's earnings have declined in the year 2005 whereas the specialty products section has had a substantial increase in the declining state of earnings, which

Case Study, University's President Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

, University's President - Case Study Example Moreover, rather than providing access to a pension plan or a severance package immediately after the incident came to light or upon firing Dr. Jameson, the university instead dragged their collective feet and only seemed to withdraw such an offer after a broad outcry within and without of the university; further hurting the university’s credibility. 2. What do you think would have been the best way for legal authorities to have dealt with Jameson's behaviour? As was described in the case, the legal authorities that dealt with this particular case acted in the only reasonsable way that they could have. The evidence was gathered, individuals were interviewed, and after it was proven that the calls originated from the private office of Dr. Jameson official charges were announced. Many might counter that these charges were too lenient; however, the fact remains that even though these calls were reprehensible, Dr. Jameson did not in fact engage in any of the activities that he dis cussed. 3. Was it a wise decision to allow Dr Jameson to once again teach courses to (under)graduate students? Why (not)? It is the strong belief of this student that the decision to allow Dr Jameson to resign was entirely incongruous with the allowance that he remained tenured and on staff as a lecturer. If the offense that Dr Jameson was required to resign from was so severe that the university could not afford the backlash of retaining him as the university president it was therefore also so severe as to warrant that he be dismissed or forced to resign from any and all other positions with which he could represent the university; to include his teaching position. 4. Could Dr Jameson in your opinion be reappointed at some future time as a president of a university? To say categorically that Dr Jameson could not be reappointed at some time in the future is a broad and categorical statement to make; however, it is the belief of this student that to do so would be to minimize the inc ident that precipitated his fall in the first place. Although Dr Jameson may have many good factors associated with his work and the level of dedication, notoriety, and esteem that he brought to the university, the fact of the matter is that his actions have necessarily precluded any possibility that he should reasonably expect to return to the university and continue to play a part in its direction. 5. Discuss how students, faculty, victims, the wider community and the Board of Trustees probably feel about the fact that Dr Jameson is teaching again. With regards to the broad campus wide sentiment, there appears to be a state of astonishment on the part of both faculty and students with regards to the fact that Dr Jameson is allowed to be on campus and teaching no less. Moreover, such an action does little to bolster the feelings of those within the university that the board of trustees and others are capable of making informed and moral decisions not affected by

Human Agency is at the Root of Climate Change and Global Warming Research Paper

Human Agency is at the Root of Climate Change and Global Warming - Research Paper Example This has resulted in an unprecedented rate of global warming that has been the fastest in the past two millennia. The earth receives energy from the sun in the visible and ultra violet radiation bands. Around 33% of the incident solar radiation is reflected by the earth’s surface into space. The remaining portion of the solar radiation is principally absorbed by the land and oceans. This absorbed solar radiation increases the temperature of the earth’s surface, which emits the excess heat as infrared radiation (Maslin, 2007, p. 9). A portion of this infrared radiation is retained by greenhouse gases, and this leads to the warming of the atmosphere. The principal greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, water vapour, ozone, methane and nitrous oxide. These gases, in combination, result in a greenhouse effect that warms the earth (Maslin, 2007, p. 9). Global warming and climate change are the handiwork of humans. This has been reiterated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has stated in no uncertain terms that human activity and not changes in solar activity, is the real culprit responsible for global warming (Jones, 2012, p. 32). During the period from the year 2005 to the year 2010, solar activity had been very less. Nevertheless, NASA discovered that the earth had absorbed much more energy than it had reflected or radiated back into space. Whilst arriving at this conclusion, this organisation had engaged in complex calculations relating to the energy imbalance of the earth.

Fiat 500 Diesel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Fiat 500 Diesel - Essay Example According to their press release 2010, the car is special and has been designed using blue-sky technology added on to its features as illustrated in the Table1.In this model, consumers derive performance, status and approval due to its stylish trend, special features in the interior design, spacious boot at the rear which can accommodate bulky loads and a new sophisticated engine that is powerful and can race more kilometers without a stop-over. The car is small, economical in fuel consumption which implies that it is cost saving which places the consumer at a better purchasing power. It is also fun to drive, the car having being made mainly for youth city dwellers that are affluent and who need better fashionable designs. The product has a wide variety of attributes, like for instance, new midnight indigo blue colour; a set of aggressive 16 inch alloys wheels; imitation air intake integrated into the rear hatch opposite one of the most famous logos of Italian fashion; the yellow bra ke clippers for the 1.4 liter version making 100 HP and quite a few satin chrome painted features, including the moldings which evoke the atmosphere of diesel fashion world. The new special model offers a wide variety of additional products, mainly consumers, known as Fiat 500 Accessories that consists of graphics and badges for consumers to choose from. They include a wide variety of badges that are offered in affordable prices, a psychological make-up that could show that this class of consumers is loyal to their country as well as to fiat products. It also offers mats and mudflaps for consumers to ensure the car remains clean, as it is driven by a higher richer city dwellers youth. It also accompanies multiple services amongst which include car care services, safety instructions and other merchandise services to satisfy the consumers. The New Fiat 500 by Diesel has a depth of product lines, currently featuring five models in European markets: punto Evo model, panda model, bravo m odel, Doblo model and Qubo model.2 The consumers are willing to willing to spend some time looking for the car due to its excellent features that has made it popular, environmentally- friendly and fuel- saving. Its power unit, the 0.9-litre Twin Air is a unique engine that has won international standards and is currently the engine of the year in the latest awards (The 2011 GreenFleet awards City car manufacturer of the year)3. 1.2. Current Pricing The current pricing strategy is competitive and affordable (ranging from ?11600 to ?15500). The consumers are willing to spend some time looking for the car due to its brilliant features highlighted above: environmentally- pleasant and fuel-saving. This is mainly attributable to its class of consumers, mainly the rich city dwellers youth who do not care much about price. The product is in a competitive market position as other car manufactures also exhibit high sophisticated technologies and produce at low costs. However, Fiat group, the car manufacture division has excellent models for the rich and higher social class who will not care much about the price due to their higher incomes and quest for recognition in society. The fiat 500 by Diesel model is a luxurious good, and as such, the rises in prices or even if prices are higher than the competitor’s, it does not reduce demand but instead it increases it as consumers care more about recognition and admiration than prices from their fellow low-class consumers who utilizes

Research Sources Essay Example for Free

Research Sources Essay 1. Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment : Moving Beyond the Nature/nurture Debate In the midst of the twentieth century, staggering steps were made in decreasing disease and upgrading the soundness of individuals and peoples. General prosperity measures, sanitation, improved cleanliness, and antibodies incited genuine diminished in mortality and dreariness. Extended insightfulness with respect to the dangers of the workplace realized decreased injuries and better prosperity for experts. Advances in bio remedial examination had any kind of effect develop learning of affliction and nudged the change of new clinical and pharmaceutical meds. More starting late, the sequencing of the human genome has given information that holds the surety for further upgrading human prosperity. During the time a broad accumulation of proof has created showing that social and behavioral components, for instance, monetary status, smoking, eating schedule, and alcohol usage are key determinants of prosperity. Late studies in like manner prescribe that breaking down joint efforts among innate and social-regular components could fundamentally enhance perception of prosperity and illness. In a study showing how the social environment can affect natural response, found that the money related status of gatherings is associated with mixtures in central tactile framework serotonergic responsivity, which may have recommendations for the power of mental issue and practices, for instance, misery, incautious ill will, and suicide. While examine on the impact of coordinated efforts can encourage the cognizance of ailment peril and help in the change of effective pharmaceuticals to upgrade the quality of individuals and masses, there is an absence of investigation that encompasses each one of the three regions. Much stays to be got some answers concerning how these variables work together to impact prosperity, including the most vital thought of portraying association and how it can be depicted. Since more conspicuous etiological perception is relied upon to perceive future clinical research and make convincing meds went for improving prosperity comes about, the board fixated its attempts on etiological examination. 1. Regulation of Gene Editing Activity Directed by Single-Stranded Oligonucleotides and CRISPR/Cas9 Systems. The reengineering of mammalian genomes is a capable hereditary way to deal with both comprehension quality  capacity and growing new treatments for acquired maladies. While the conventional endpoint for hereditary building has been to disturb or debilitate a quality through complete knockout, it is presently conceivable to direct single nucleotide trade in a viable and proficient way. Quality or genome altering can be catalyzed by a progression of atomic apparatuses that when utilized in different mixes precisely change the arrangement of the DNA in a site-particular style. Single-stranded DNA oligonucleotides (ssODNs) have been utilized for a long time to build nucleotide changes in the genomes of numerous living beings. Also, while the instrument of activity furthermore, the administrative hardware are being explained, in any event partially, the low effectiveness with which single-stranded oligonucleotides work in segregation has since a long time ago hampered their advancement for helpful application. As a quest for adjuvants that can improve the recurrence of singlestranded ODN–directed quality altering has continued, it was resolved that the twofold stranded DNA breaks actuated preceding the presentation of the single-stranded ODN raised the general action of quality altering. 1. Engineered DNA-Binding Proteins for Targeted Genome Editing and Gene Regulation http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11156806 The engineereed DNA-tying proteins empower focused on control of the genome. zinc fingers are the most all around portrayed DNA-tying space and for a long time examination has concentrated on understanding and controlling the succession specificities of these proteins. as of late significant advances in the capacity to architect zinc finger proteins and also the revelation of another class of dna-tying spaces interpretation activator like effectors have made it conceivable to quickly and dependably design proteins focused to any grouping of hobby. The capacity to explicitly alter the genome has incredible potential for examination and restorative applications. the homology coordinated repair in a mixed bag of cell sorts and creatures this strategy has never been utilized to right an illness bringing about transformation in human affected pluripotent undeveloped cells. the human b troll locus to remedy the sickle cell sickliness transformation. Every one of us acquire a large group of more subtle destructive changes. Maybe you are more inclined to experience the ill effects of coronary illness, certain tumors, dementia or emotional sicknesses, or to lose your sight or go hard of hearing in seniority. Whats more, your youngsters and your kids and every one of their relatives will acquire a large number of these transformations, alongside the new ones created as natures irregular slips proceed. When you see how these changes come to fruition, the case for assuming responsibility of our hereditary fate appears to be unanswerable. We are getting the capacity to free ourselves from the things of 4 billion years of thoughtless development. Germ-line hereditary designing obviously has threats, not slightest its capability to be utilized for the wrong purposes or the potential for its expense to limit its points of interest to the affluent. In any case, numerous stresses are overstated we couldnt design Einsteins in the event that we needed to, for occasion, on the grounds that we havent discovered any quality variations that have a remarkable effect to knowledge, regardless of much attempting. What we could do is end a gigantic measure of affliction. Whats more, in the event that it is accessible to everybody, not simply the rich, hereditary building could even help make the world a much more pleasant spot. 1. Chinese researchers alter embryo DNA: Do results cross ethical tripwires? Christian Science Monitor. 4/24/2015, pN.PAG. 0p.  humankind is confronted with the crucial inquiry of whether people ought to have this level of control over their own particular physical fates, says Alta Charo, an educator of law and bioethics at the College of Wisconsin at Madison. Were hitting the point where individuals are asking: Would we truly like to have the force not quite recently to choose among the decisions given to use by nature, however to make totally new decisions we  could call our own detail? The moral concerns encompassing hereditary control of conceptive cells are weighty to the point that numerous researchers and bioethicists are asking associates to start substantive discussions with partners, biotech-industry pioneers, controllers, vested parties, and people in general to make sense of what clinical uses, if any, future worthy. Others, incorporating some in the biotech business, contend for a ban on any germ-line exploration including human regenerative cells. One measure of the moral minefield into which the Chinese group walked: Two of the most high-perceivability science diaries, Science and Nature, declined to distribute the outcomes on moral grounds, the ventures lead researcher, Junjui Huang, disclosed to correspondents from Natures news division. A hefty portion of the starting concerns in established researchers include wellbeing and adequacy for a device they see as having possibly capable restorative applications. The Chinese group shares this worry and refers to its own outcomes as confirmation that CRISPR-Cas9 is no place close prepared for the center.

Relationship between Organizational Learning and HRM

Relationship between Organizational Learning and HRM Both organizational learning and human resource management (HRM) have been studied more recently because of their important role in improving organizational performance and as a source of competitive advantage which is probably the most significant for organizations to achieve sustainable development in the changing economic environment. With the frequent application of the concepts and theories of organizational learning and HRM in the organizational operation management and practice, a wide range of literatures have focused on these two disciplines and find that a proper combination of the two has a positive influence on organizational performance. Thus this essay is to explore and analyse the relationship between organizational learning and HRM and their impact on organizational performance. It will explain the key concepts and theories used in these two disciplines including definitions and discuss how learning and HR practice affect each other further to organizational performan ce. Firstly, this essay will introduce organizational learning concepts, learning organization, levels and types of learning. Then, it will demonstrate and discuss the reasons and the ways of a combination of organizational learning and HR practice including recruitment and selection, human resource development (HRD), reward and employee relations in the improvement of organizational performance. Organizational Learning Organisational learning has become a field with rapid growth and receives more and more attention of researchers now. It has been defined from many perspectives by scholars. According to the definition given by Garvin (1993), organizational learning is like an organization which does well in generating, getting and shifting knowledge and in action correction of staff in order to have reaction on new information and views. However, learning has been recognized as both the knowledge itself and the process of getting it by Argyris and Schon (1996) who defined organizational learning as the action of organizations obtaining various information including knowledge, methods, ideas and news through any ways with a more macro perspective. Many researchers propose that resultful organizational learning plays a significant role in improving organization commitment and realizing and keeping competition advantage (Shipton et al, 2002). Organisational learning is the courses in which an organization deals with information to improve its latent capacity while obtaining beneficial knowledge (Huber, 1991). In the similar way, organizational learning is defined as a process that the employees learn to change and enhance their behaviour through the cycle of absorption of new knowledge and technique and critical knowledge accumulation and development in order to achieve organization value creation and increase (Patricia, 2002). This essay will define organizational learning as a process in which organisational performance can be improved by managers through the advancement of learning ability of staff step by step on the basis of focusing on its significant role in organisational performance (Jones, 2000). Learning Organization In the study of organizational learning, the concept of learning organization has been defined in different ways. In Senges (1990) eye, learning organization is an organization which has the ability to carry out adaptive learning and generative learning for a flexible development. According to Senge, detectable features of learning organization are unclear in definition instead of identifying the necessary rules of how to create a learning organization (Yang, et al, 2004). From a strategic view, a learning organization has been defined as an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights (Garvin, 1993, pp.80). In these different definitions of learning organization, we could find some features in common. First, organizations have the ability to learn like people and it is known that this capability is the most significant advantage for organization in competition in long term (Yang, et al, 2004). The second feature of a learning organization might be different levels of organizations such as individual, group or team and organization have their own characteristics (Yang, et al, 2004). Organizational learning and learning organization are related but different. The concept of the learning organization usually means organizations with the features of ever-lasting ability to learn and strong ability of adaptation. In comparison, organizational learning refers to a collection of experiences of learning for studying new knowledge and enhancing ability (Yang, et al, 2004). Three-Learning Loop Theory Three-learning loop theory (Argyris and Schon, 1978) is the most important theory in the study of individual learning. As an important part of a successful organization, individual learning has been widely discussed in the area of organizational learning. As stated by Chang and Lee (2007), the dynamic of development is learning and the power of organizational development is individual level learning. First is the single-loop learning that refers to instrumental learning that changes strategies of action or assumptions underlying strategies in ways that leave the values of a theory of action unchanged (Argyris and Schon, 1996, pp.20). In this situation of learning, a single feed-back loop caused by an investigation followed by error detection is a result of unusual phenomenon according to the definite strategies of organization in order to control the operation in the norms of organization (Argyris and Schon, 1996). When this situation happens, the employees who have learnt the theory-in-use of the organization will carry out this kind of approach to solve problems due to their previous learning and feedback confirmed by managers that it is proper according to the organisational norms (Yeow, 2009). Next is the double-loop learning refers to a learning that cause the value of theory-in-use, strategies and thoughts of organizations changed (Argyris and Schon, 1996). Double-loop lear ning happens when the employees evaluate the previous strategies on the products, services, customers and norms (Yeow, 2009). Deutero-learning is the third learning approach focusing on previous study process includes failure (Yeow, 2009). Human Resource Management Human resource management is a discipline comprises a broad range of theories and concepts. In other words, it is a subject of all human things focusing on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. From the perspective of organization, human resource emphasizes on the abilities, skills and knowledge that are benefit for the organizations of their employees (Price, 2007). The relationship of organizational learning, human resource management and organizational performance Facing the fierce competition in the society, organizations have been aware of the importance of capability of learning and creativity of employees and the whole organization in maintaining the sustainable success (Ulrich et al., 1993). Types of learning and Human Resource Management As for organizations, especially for learning organizations, improving adaptive learning and single-loop learning is only the first level and generative learning and double-loop learning are the key (Senge, 1990). Generative learning could improve the ability of creativity of employees and organizations for the development (Kaynak et al, 1998). When identifying and dealing with problems, generative learning put a focus on ever lasting practice and feedback in the consideration of the situation of organizations (Rouse and Boff, 2005). Focusing on creativity is the nature of generative learning, so systemic thinking, shared vision, personal mastery, team learning and creative tension are involved between the vision and reality (Rouse and Boff, 2005). Take a brief look at the responsibilities of human resource management, comprehensive employee recruitment and selection procedures are one of the most important parts in human resource management (Davenport, 2000). In addition, a determin ing factor of the effectiveness of organizational learning is the quality of their employee (Davenport, 2000). Therefore, one aspect of link of human resource management and organizational learning is the practice of employee selection and recruitment. The implication of this link is best fit employees could be benefit for generating valuable knowledge and assumptions and improving the whole organizational performance further (Kaynak et al, 1998). In other words, organizational learning will improve the value of the most important asset of people. This is one of the reasons that why people apply organizational learning into human resource management. In addition, as discussed above, generative learning help employees improve their ability to solve problems in working process with a creative perspective which is very important in either lower level of staff or higher decision making level such as line managers and top managers and the future of organizations (Kaynak et al, 1998). Thirdly, the outcome of application the theories of double-loop learning and generative learning is to set up a cor porate culture which holds the features of knowledge shared and creative atmosphere gradually. In return, the strategy of human resource management such as employees selection, employment relationship and commitment will be improved as well (Ulrich et al., 1993). The key step of achieve the improvement of organizational performance is to apply the organizational learning theory into the human resource management practice. According to the five features of generative learning, systemic thinking, shared vision, personal mastery, team learning and creative tension. In preparation, the recruitment strategy should be designed with the aim of selecting the fit employees who have the nature or personality of easy to be trained as the members of accepting the corporate culture with creativity and flexibility (Davenport, 2000). It is known that training is also one of the most important human resource practices in the process of organizational learning (Ulrich et al., 1993). In the study of this area, some changes happened to the role of individuals (Perez et al, 2006). As a result, training could be one effective and efficient tool for the application of organizational learning framework. In the process of training, individuals become more important and active in order to achieve the objects of organizations (Perez et al, 2006). The ability of dealing with internal and external information and useful organizational knowledge has become the importance of training (Perez et al, 2006). On the basis of this kind of training, information and knowledge should be treated as a shared vision in order to make sure that everyone who is eager to learn has the newest knowledge in the organization. Just as Kamoche and Mueller (1998) noted that the corporate culture of commitment and trust to learning colleagues and organization should be trained and developed in the process of training. The employees and managers should be taught and learn to be familiar with what the whole working procedures like and how the knowledge and information management system is linked to the values of organization during the process of training (Perez et al, 2006). Moreover, this kind of training would help the new employees get a clear understanding of the companys mission and values and the old employees to get a deeper realization of the organizations developing direction so as to make sure a better direction and result for the learning processes involving acquisition, distribution, interpretation and organizational memory (Perez et al, 2006). At the same time, through using a common style of language and a shared vision, communication and trust among employees might be easy to set up through the strategic training as a basic way (Perez et al, 2006). For one thing, in order to avoid the static of the knowledge belonging to the organizational rules and corporate culture and to help to develop a common understanding, the designs of these training procedures help to share all the knowledge and information (Ulrich et al., 1993). For another thing, they are benefit for the acquisition of information and continuous update of new knowledge and skills, enhancing the extent of openness to new knowledge (Garvin, 1993). What training achieves is to improve flexibility, to make a contribution to promote critical knowledge and to react to competitive advantages (Ulrich et al., 1993). Learning levels and human resource management In order to achieve the goal of improving organizational performance and keeping competitive advantage, managers should get a clear understanding of the function of a combination of the implement of organizational learning and human resource management in organizations. Adapting organizational learning to the operations of organizations is the only way to keep organizations in the state of high efficiency, competitive strength and win (Senge, 1990; Deevy, 1995). Many of the best human resource management practices have a positive effect on enhancing organizational performance for organizations (Marchinton and Wilkinson, 2006). Some researches have shown that a variety of human resource management practices could enhance motivation and commitment of organization (Theriou and Chatzoglou, 2007). In general, three important natures can be identified from the literature which are enhancement of individual learning, where organizational learning begins from the employee working in the organisation, engaging team learning, where knowledge is gathered through employee interactions and learning from each other, and organisational learning practices, where tacit knowledge is procedurally and systematically acquired and transformed into explicit forms and become organisational knowledge which are assessable by employees or approved parties. For the purpose of this study, the three attributes of organizational learning have been identified as contributing factors toward performance. Conclusions In conclusion, this essay shows that organizational learning and human resource management are interdependent and interactive in the practice of performance management. Through the discussion on the reasons and the ways of that organizational learning could be applied to human resource management. This essay finds that there is a positive relationship in the two disciplines in achieving the improvement of organizational performance. In order to keep the sustainable development of organizations, managers should carry out the strategy of a combination of organizational learning theories and framework and best human resource management practice. This essay might contribute some ideas of the specific pattern of the combination of the theories and frameworks of these two disciplines to the study of the application of organizational learning to human resource management. With the further development of organizational learning, the application could be used widely and deeply. This essay will suggest that although organizational learning develops on the basis of human resource management, however, organizational learning and human resource management could not be treated separately because of the interdependence and interaction of these two disciplines. Considering the importance of learning, organizational learning theories were expected to further development. Accounting, Management and Information Technologies Volume 5, Issue 1, January-March 1995, Pages 61-77

The Market Audit And Preliminary Marketing Plan Marketing Essay

The Market Audit And Preliminary Marketing Plan Marketing Essay The market audit and preliminary marketing plan is prepared to inspect lunching the SOLO in Afghanistan. It has been based on the market analysis such as socio-cultural and economic analysis of Afghanistan and also, determines how to stable to launch the SOLO product, which is target market and how to be adapted to fit into Afghanistan market as well as determine the competitors. Based on this analysis, preliminary marketing plan has been prepared to determine the marketing mix. Firstly, the product, SOLO is a brand of a carbonated lemon-flavored soft drink. Sports drink is necessary in Afghanistan where dry desert are. The product may be accepted by some kinds of people, including young Afghans who have been affected by western culture, the foreign workers and the members of international military which stationed in Afghanistan. Solo as a new health soft drink will be known and chose. This soft drink (SOLO) will be sold in capital area at first. In this area, not only the people have stronger purchasing power, but also there are many foreign officers and businessmen working and living in capital area. In addition, this product will start out in the region of stress concentration of foreign companies, hotels, bars, famous restaurants then move to local retailers. This product will also be sold by other middlemen. Roshan Cola Company is a local Mineral Water and Carbonated Soft Drink manufacturer. We will corporation with Roshan then our product can use its marketing channels and share the market range. The competition of Afghanistans beverage market is not intense competition and our product can own a large market in Afghanistan, but still got many competitors such as Coca-Cola. The goal for SOLO is to entry into the Afghan several main cities, around capital city- Kabul to successfully enter the Afghan market, to achieve a 10% market share within the first step and to promote to a large consumer a taste of this product (Soft drink not only cola).This product will attract new customers (Foreigners and locals) for the soft drink. The target markets are the hot summertime cities and arid conditions, where Afghan people indicate a huge market for clean and refreshing non-alcoholic beverages (Non-drinker for religious reasons). Expected sales in 2010 will be approximately AU$ 80 million with increases expected. The first year is the repair year, due to the highest cost associated with setting up the requirements. Follow the sales operating and distribution systems start to work, in the following years, the profit expectations will be higher step by step. The product will be adapted to fit the market in Afghanistan. These adaptations include the packaging, bottling size, color and so on. We will sell paper cup and glass packaging in Afghanistan that does not sell in Australia to reduce cost and keep the price low. Advertising will be the first show in a new market and also the first choice for a company to communicate with potential customers. The main advertising plan is to use television, radio, internet, newspapers and billboards. The other way of TV advertisements is in a form of product placement. In addition, we will use two types of sales promotion which are trade sales promotion and consumer sales promotion. Moreover, we also use personal selling method and other promotional tools. Distribution will include transportation by shipping, flight and motor carrying from Perth to Kabul. The product will be sold in the outlet of Roshan Cola Company and variety of other retail outlets which is a local agent who is familiar with local conditions is very necessary to sales in Afghanistan such as hotels/ resorts, restaurants, convenience store and vending machine. Finally, pro forma financial statements and budget has been prepared to demonstrate its evaluated profits and sales with expenses in the first year to the fifth year. Profit expectation will be lower in the first year due to the highest costs with additional resources for set up. Over five years, profit and sales will significantly increase with reducing distribution costs. As a result, the launch of SOLO into the Afghanistan market has to be successful with better profit for the SOLO Company. Market Audit Introduction Following is the afghan socio-cultural and economic analysis. It may be helpful to solo entering the afghan market successfully. Socio-cultural analysis -Geography: Afghanistan is an inland country in Southwestern and borders with Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and China. It is dry to semiarid and cold in winter and hot in summer (Afghanistans web site [ACC], n.d.). Plateau and mountainous make up 2/3 of 647,500 sq km land. Moreover, there is a wide range of desert in this country (Saba Bakhter, 1997). -Education literacy rates: Afghans valued religious education instead of science, technology and literature studies in the past. At present, 54 thousand children are studying in school. However, there have been 11 million illiterates in Afghanistan (Qazi, 2008). -Health care: According to Blood (2001), there is a high mortality rate of infants and pregnant women. Moreover, the health of afghan children is threatened by the several of infectious and parasitic diseases. And still worse, the long war leads to the thousands of injuries and damages of medical facilities. On the other hand, many international organizations help Afghans improve the basic preventive and curative primary health services. -Political legal system: Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic, and the major constitution is established according to Islamic law. However, there is not a uniform legal system in Afghanistan because of the long war. (Lau, n.d.). -Language: Pashto and Dari are the major official languages of Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, 35% of people speak Pashto and 50% of people speak Dari. Moreover, Turkic languages, including Uzbek and Turkmen, are the main languages too in Afghanistan (Qazi, n.d.). Economic analysis -Population: An estimated data of the population of Afghanistan in 2003 is 23,897,000 and the annual growth rate of Afghan population is 3.88% between 2000 and 2005. However, these data is unsure because the long civil war leads to the large numbers of death and emigrants (Afghanistan-Population, n.d.). -Gross domestic product: Agriculture is the main revenue source. A large amount of food products, including corn, rice, barley, wheat, vegetables, fruits and nuts, offer the opportunities of export. In addition, the natural mineral has been the main economic pillar industries (Qazi, 2010). -Foreign investment: In present, only some companies are investing public transport and infrastructure, such as telecommunications, express delivery and aviation, because of the long war in Afghanistan (Herold, 2003). On the other hand, a trillion dollars worth of minerals, including copper, iron, chromium, magnesium, rubies, emeralds, lapis lazuli, nickel, mercury, gold, silver, lithium, and uranium, are found in Afghanistan in June 2010. In addition, many countries have been aware of the opportunity of investment in Afghanistan. (Haidari, 2010). -Trade restrictions: A highly differentiated import tariff regime has been the main trade restrictions in Afghanistan. Though the government of Afghanistan has made some measures, such as adjusting the tariff rates and decreasing the process of the import license applications, to improve trade policy and customs administration in recent years, some problems are affecting the trades: firstly, the shortcoming of government leads to the weakness of business environment; secondly, transport and other infrastructural constraint the trade; thirdly, the main support services, such as commercial insurance and freight forwarding are lacking; fourthly, government restraint against the use of foreign trucks; fifthly, the local authorities increase the fee of transport; and finally, some complex customs checks are frequently in some problematic border areas (Afghanistan: Trade Policy and Integration, 2010). The product Solo is a brand of a carbonated lemon-flavored soft drink. Schweppes Australia launched this soft drink as a sports drink in 1973. Schweppes Australia defines it as masculine drink and cooperates with AFL (Australia Football League) perennially. Moreover, it has had 6 variants: Regular Lemon, Lemon Lime, Solo Sub (no added sugar), Solo Strong, guarana and caffeine (Solo (soft drink), n.d.). Evaluation the product as an innovation Sports drink is necessary in Afghanistan where dry desert are. The product may be accepted by some kinds of people, including young Afghans who have been affected by western culture, the foreign workers and the members of international military which stationed in Afghanistan. Solo as a new health soft drink will be known and chose. Advantage Solo could help drinkers replenish lost water and energy after a lot of movement. It is health because the materials of solo are all natural and it do not include too much cocaine. In addition, different flavors of solo drinks are for different people and the cheaper price is the main reason of the choice of many people. Relative advantage Firstly, solo as a sports drink will be liked by the young Afghans who like sports. Moreover, it is a good choice for the workers in desert. Furthermore, the product from Australia should attract the international garrison, especially Australian soldiers. In addition, it is beneficial to Afghan government because import of solo could relieve water shortage. Compatibility Firstly, the sport enthusiasts and soldiers could accept solo quickly. Moreover, Afghanistan is a large drink market because of the lack of water. In addition, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been known by Afghans and the soft drink market has been developing gradually. As a result, solo will have a favorable market prospect in Afghanistan. Major problems and resistances to product The flavor with little sour may be not liked by Afghans. Because of the different culture, Afghans might reject the products from western. As a result, Afghans could not accept the new comer western drink at the beginning. The price of solo might be not accepted by most of Afghans who have only low income. As a result, it becomes very important that company need to discuss with Afghan government to reduce the costs of transport and tariff. The market This soft drink (SOLO) will be sold in capital area at first. In this area, not only the people have stronger purchasing power, but also there are many foreign officers and businessmen working and living in capital area. According to Afghan economy position and internal transportation condition, this will slowly move into the general population in Afghanistan. Describe the market(s) in which the product is to be sold This soft drink will be served in Afghanistan capital area (tropical area and dry) where have more and more foreign officers and international businessmen entry Afghanistan, to implement post-war reconstruction and partake The UN economic aid program. Geographical region(s) -Capital city: Kabul (200, 0000 populations) -Paghman region: Paghman (15, 0000 populations) -Jalalabad region: Jalalabad (20, 5000 populations) Kabul province is made up of 14 districts; Paghman is a part of it. Jalalabad is a main city in Afghanistan Form of transportation and communication available in that region -In Kabul city: There is the nation biggest international airport in Kabul. The airport is connected to Kabul from a 4 lane highway. This airport has two main cargo airline operate by Emirates Sky Cargo and Etihad Crystal Cargo (operated by World Airways), communicate among Afghanistan, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Follow by the post-war reconstruction; throughput will be expanded in 2011, which is when Ariana Afghan Airlines and Kam Air will receive their new airplanes. Trucks are the best choice to transport goods from airport to another district, or to the other cities of this area. In several years, Afghan government, with the help of foreign companies or organizations, has working on many of Kabuls roads. During the war, many Kabuls roads have been broken, but follow the attracted the attention of international society, Kabul gets more and more help from many countries to rebuild the highways and main roads in Kabul city. (xpatulator.com) -Paghman region: There is a popular place near Kabul, Paghman garden is the very famous place where people relax and spend weekends with families and friends. Paghman is a village used to be a royal garden. But now is open to the public. Because this area is so close to the Kabul city and also there is a holiday resort and beauty spot. The transportation is convenient; trucks can though this area and the roads condition can be accepted. -Jalalabad region: There is a very important place in Afghanistan, there is connected by roads with Kabul and Peshawar in Pakistan. There has highway between the city of Jalalabad and Kabul. All the trade between the two nations (Afghanistan and Pakistan) passes through this city. Highway transportation will be served in this area. All of the regions have highways linking the Kabul International Airport. Follow post-war reconstruction, get more and more help from developed countries to improve and maintain the road infrastructure. Currently, at least 22 Internet Service Providers giving their services in Afghanistan. (cia.gov) In 2007 there were at least 535000 users, mostly in the capital area. At the same time, Television and Radio are served in Afghanistan, they have English TV programs and English Radio programs and several different languages programs (Kabul Radio). The table shows internet users in Afghanistan around several years: (internetworldstats.com n.p 2010) Consumer buying habits Soft drink, especially soda drink is bought as a very famous recreational beverage in many years. Different cultures people have the same habit that drink the icy soda drink in summertime. The carbon dioxide in soda drink can bring out human body quantity heat by hiccup. Afghanistan is a four distinct seasons country, in summer there is hot and dry. Follow by post-war reconstruction many foreign officers and businessmen entry Afghanistan, drinking soda drink is in their culture. And this habit will affect local population in the years that followed. Almost Afghan are Muslim, they do not drink beer and alcohol. Soda will be the second welcome recreational beverage in their society behind tea drink. Product-use patterns -Foreigners: consume the product as part of the daily experience and holiday experience. Due to the locations and season chosen, the heat associated with these areas it will be used for cooling down and quenching consumers thirst. In Kabul area is hot in summer and owing to the geographic reason this area is dry. -Locals: consume the product as part of the holiday experience. Due to the religion reason almost Afghan do not drink beer and alcohol drink. The product can be as a recreational beverage into their culture and also can be consumed any day or on special occasions. Product feature preferences This preference in Afghanistan for can and small bottom also can be in glass bottom in some cases to reduce cost. The 6 cans package and 24 cans box will be sold in supermarket and other retailers shop. Soda drink can be bought for storage at home or in offices. For convenience stores, glass bottom and paper cup will be welcomed because the price will be lower. Shopping habits Foreigners who come from China, America and Europe would most likely buy the product for work or outdoor activities that are chilled for drinking in offices or during hikes to somewhere. The product will be for cooling down and relaxing on their free time. Locals will buy chilled packs for cooling down or later consumption with dinner. Convenience stores or supermarket will be the most likely place they could buy the soft drink. Festivals and family parties will increase consumption of the product. Distribution of the product Owing to the natural of the dissemination from foreigners to locals this product will start out in the region of stress concentration of foreign companies, hotels, bars, famous restaurants then move to local retailers. Typical retail outlets Types: Plans: Hotels Bars Beginning: Will sell in main hotels and bars, where foreigners usually stay. Glass bottom and can package will be sold. Supermarkets retailers Second wave: Will sell 6 cans package and 24 cans packages in local supermarkets, for foreigners and locals later consumption. Convenience stores and kiosks Expanding to the local market and demand pulls the product through the channel, it is long range plan. Vending machines A part of second wave, main put in expatriates communities and foreign offices. Airports and train stations Target for the tourists (both foreign and local). Service stations in scenic spots as well. Product sales by other middlemen Roshan Cola Company is a local Mineral Water and Carbonated Soft Drink manufacturer. We will corporation with Roshan then our product can use its marketing channels and share the market range. Due to Roshan Company is from Afghanistan, it deeply understands the local market and we will provide more competitive ability products. (alibaba.com) Advertising and promotion Advertising media usually used to reach your target market(s) Will be used television advertising on local TV channels both in local language channels and English channels will be painted in conjunction billboards by side of highway and on the side of houses. In some areas, taxi advertising will be used too. Sales promotions customarily used Sampling and discount are the main types used in soft drink industry. Pricing strategy Customer mark-ups The Afghan inflation rate (consumer prices) is 20.7% in 2008 and 30.5% in 2009. (cia.gov) Types of discounts available Discounts can be as high as 10% in summer and as high as 15% in winter, depends on different season. Compare and contrast your product and the competitions product(s) Competitors products Brand name The competition of Afghanistans beverage market is not intense competition. Our product can own a large market in Afghanistan, but still got many competitors. Such as Coca-Cola, Coca-cola is the most famous beverage company in the world. In 2005, Coca-cola came back to Afghanistan beverage market, and it cooperation with Habib Gulzar Non-Alcoholic Beverages Firm. Coca-cola became to domestic product. Features Coca-Cola is carbonic acid beverage as same as our product, but it is different taste and different area. Afghanistan is a large market. Different customers have different habits. Our products can be chosen by different people, although Solo and Coca-Cola are competitors. Package Coca-Cola got two types package, such as Pop Can and Plastic bottle. Also it got 375ML, 2Lites and 500ML for capacity. When Coca-Cola back to Afghanistan, it wrote: Coca-Cola back to Afghanistan. in 2005. Competitors prices Before 2005, Afghanistan sold Coca-Cola were import from Iran and Pakistan. At that time, the price of Coca-cola is 0.4 USD, but when Coca-Cola produced in domestic. The price decrease to 0.2 USD to sale in Afghanistan. Competitors promotion and advertising methods Coca-cola Company is a large company around the world. They used their forces to impact customers. Beverage companies always use TV, radio and internet advertising to advertise their products. It was so famous when Coca-Cola back to Afghanistan. Media support also a important way to improve brand force. That will lead people to choose which beverage to drink. Competitors distribution channels Coca-colas distribution channel is use every retail shop and supermarket to selling their product, because Coca-cola is a famous company in the world. Most of shops and supermarkets are willing to sell it. Vending machine is also another distribution channels, also include hotel and bars. Market size Estimated industry sales for the planning year The Afghanistan beverage market has been steadily growing over the last fewer years. Before Coca-cola company moving in to Afghanistan. Afghanistan already had a large population like drink beverages. Afghanistan has 33million population, most of goods need import from other countries include beverage, so build a factory and sell it domestic is the best way to selling our product. Estimated sales for your company for the planning year Compare with the Coca-Cola company sale their product. They planned 4 million boxes to sale in each year. We cannot sale so many like Coca-Cola Company, but as we think 1 million boxes in each year is the first target. In the follow years each year increase 10% until as same as Coca-cola. Government participation in the marketplace Agencies that can help you Assistance with launching the Solo beverage brand in Afghanistan may be sought from some of the following agencies: Embassy of Afghanistan Ministry of Commerce Industries (MoCI) Ministry of Finance (MoF) Afghan Customs Department (Division of MoF) Afghanistan Reconstruction and Development Service (ARDS) Department of Commerce Afghanistan Investment Reconstruction Task Force Department of State Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, Afghan Desk Department of State United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) Australian Embassy (http://www.embassyofafghanistan.org/documents/BusinessandInvestmentResourceGuide-Jan012009.pdf) Regulation you must follow Our company must follow Government Policy. Customs brokers must be employed to process any products imported into Afghanistan and are to submit an Import Declaration to Customs. The importer needs to be registered on the Treasury Ministrys National Importers Registry and in the case of beverages; importers must also be registered on the Registry of Importers in Specific Sectors and the Federal Taxpayers. Taxes also need to submit to government. Preliminary Marketing Plan The marketing plan In todays Afghanistan, consumer demand will remain unfulfilled, as available imports are often of expensive, poor quality, or both. Simplex product form will remain unfulfilled Afghan consumers at all. The market for soft drink is exceptionally large in capital city area of approximately 380,000 people, where temperatures can often over 40C in the summertime. Marketing objectives The goal for SOLO is to entry into the Afghan several main cities, around capital city- Kabul. This product will attract new customers (Foreigners and locals) for the soft drink. To successfully enter the Afghan market To achieve a 10% market share within the first step To promote to a large consumer a taste of this product (Soft drink not only cola) Target market(s) (specific description of the market) The target markets are the hot summertime cities and arid conditions, where Afghan people indicate a huge market for clean and refreshing non-alcoholic beverages (Non-drinker for religious reasons). Expected sales year 2010-2015 Expected sales in 2010 will be approximately AU$ 80 million with increases expected. Follow the first couple of years when it finds its place in Afghanistan, for instance, consumers begin to know this brand and fall in love with the taste, through the product advertising. Expected sales for the first five years are as the table: Year Sales in AU dollar 2010 80 million 2011 120 million 2012 200 million 2013 240 million 2014 280 million Profit expectations year 2010-2014 The first year profit expectations will be lowest; the first year is the repair year, due to the highest cost associated with setting up the requirements. Follow the sales operating and distribution systems start to work, in the following years, the profit expectations will be higher step by step. Years Profit in AU dollar 2010 3.8 million 2011 28million 2012 42 million 2013 56 million 2014 70 million Market penetration and coverage The capital city-Kabul will be targeted heavily, owing to its position and population and foreigners collection location. At the same time, there is resort area that attracts local and tourists. Product adaptation or modification The product will be adapted to fit the market in Afghanistan. These adaptations include the packaging, bottling size, color and so on. We will sell paper cup and glass packaging in Afghanistan that does not sell in Australia to reduce cost and keep the price low. The smaller bottling size is a great size for the forgeries and locals for lunch or dinner, and also for outdoor activities, easy to carry. Core component The core component of SOLO is soda, sugar and fruit flavors. There are 4 variants of this product: original lemon, lemon lime, solo strong and solo sub (sugar free). The latest addition is solo strong and also, it is energy drink which contains guarana and caffeine. This variant is to fit in with male consumers who like energy drink. In the other hand SOLO SUB is to fit in female consumers who do not like sugar. Packing component The products label must have the following information, both in Afghan and English: Brand name of the product Type of product (carbonated beverage/energy drink/Moslem drink) Country of origin Company name and address Company Slogan Nutrition information table (especially alcohol-free) Short introduction of Company Net content Support services component We will set a support service line in the form of an 1800 number (Toll-free telephone number) for consumers. At the same time, our home page (Afghan) will create an area for consumers feedback with any problems or advices. The number and web address will be clearly identified on the packaging. Promotion mix Advertising Advertising will be the first show in a new market and also the first choice for a company to communicate with potential customers. Advertising can send the information quickly to the audiences and has a huge reach. It always accesses the mass media and makes affection in short time. Advertising can develop market and reinforces the brand and helps us sells our products. The main advertising plan is to use television, radio, internet, newspapers and billboards. After economic analysis and research, television is the highest used media in Afghanistan. Not like internet, on TV set can be watched by one person or whole families. The number of the audiences can be huge and the affection will be deeply. The other way of TV advertisements is in a form of product placement. Placing the product advertisements before or behind the news or others TV programs (sports or cartoon) will increase the reach for our product. Game on is the theme for SOLOs advertisements, it is a free lifestyle, to educate the target market on happiness and passion. The other form of advertising used will be billboards. There is a great form of outdoor advertising which is use a painting on building envelopes and beside the freeways where they command high-density consumer exposure. The radio advertising is a form of advertising via radio. Local radios in Afghanistan have big range of audiences, both foreigners and locals (Radios have English programs). The newspaper and magazine advertisements will be a continuation of the television and radio advertisements using pictures. The internet advertisements as well to put in this market by the follow step. Objectives To let consumers (foreigners who are not Australian and locals) understanding our product and fall in love with it (Taste and this lifestyle). To make an impact in the target market in those cities we have chosen to promote SOLO, using different media. Not only promote the product but also promote the Australian lifestyle- Game on (happiness and passion, especially for locals). Media mix First step we will use TV advertisements to open the market, make consumers to know us. Radio and billboards are the second step to make consumers understand what we provide that not only just soft drink but also a lifestyle. Internet is the auxiliary channel to expand the market range. Four different media will work together. Message The information will send to consumers clearly. We promote a lifestyle which called Game on. Let consumers feel happy and fill with passion. Sales promotions There are two types of sales promotions: Trade sales promotion and consumer sales promotion. Trade sales promotion is known to push the products through the retailers, induce retailers into stocking and supporting certain products. Consumer sales promotion attempts to pull a response from consumers give directly to consumers to encourage them into action. The trade sales promotion strategy to the selected outlets will include discounts and surrender part of the profits. In another way, push strategy used will be for staff of retailers to give them push money for not only stocking products but also supporting them. The consumer sales promotion strategy includes many tactics to induce purchasing of SOLO. The first tactic will be to sell the soft drink in glass bottle and in paper cup. This will be a popular style to sell SOLO in Afghanistan, because these packaging will reduce the cost and keep our price always lower and it is a good packaging for lunch or dinner. The second tactic is to run a redemption game is called Kick the can! The game will enable player to win an I-pod and we will put the competition show on our official website. The players have an opportunity is watched by the whole world. Objectives A push strategy to retailers by surrender part of the profits. A pull strategy to promote to new customers of offering a redemption game. Personal selling Personal selling is the face- to- face promotion of the products to the customers by agents, store employees, assistants and relations officers. It can be effective because of the persuasiveness of the sales staff that has the ability to inform a customers decision. The personal selling can be in a way by local boys who wear the sportswear (yellow jersey) to promote SOLO. Looking like the sports star in the commercials and newspaper advertisement to provide taste testing and distribute the circular. Other promotional tools The current