Informative speech on sleep Essay

I. Attention Gainer: â€Å"Even though we burn more calories when we stay awake, losing sleep is not a good way to lose weight. The light sleepers ended up eating far more than those who get nine hours of sleep.† According to author Tara Parker-Pope of The New York Times published on March 18, 2013. II. Thematic Statement: Most people don’t think about the long term effects of not getting enough sleep you need to function properly. But if we all were to go to bed at a reasonable time, then not only will it improve your physical health it will also improve your mental health. III. Preview: I am going to begin by talking about how much sleep do we need according to our age? Then what goes on with our brains during sleep and lastly I will explain the implications of lack of sleep. Body: I. Main Point #1 (How much sleep do we need according to our age) A. According to The National Sleep Foundation last updated March 22nd, 2014 â€Å" Studies confirm that on average adults need at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep to complete all stages of sleep.† Also after further research newborns 1 month to 2 months old need 14 to 18 hours, Infants 3 to 11 months old need 13 to 16 hours, toddlers and children need about 11 hours, and teens need 9 to 10 hours. These variations of sleep time is because of growth and repairs the brain and the body need. Neither can be obtained if you’re always up. B. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website last updated January 13, 2014 states that â€Å"50-70 million U.S Citizens have been recorded to have sleep deprivation (or lack of sleep) caused by various reasons.† Various reasons meaning that the lack of sleep could be anything from a medical problem to self-infliction of sleep deprivation. Internal Summary #1: Now that we are aware of the amount of sleep we need, let’s now discuss about our brain activity during sleep. II. Main Point #2 (What goes on with our brains during sleep) A. According to The National Institute of Neurological disorders and stroke last updated April 28th, 2014 â€Å"During sleep, we usually pass through five phases of sleep: stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and  REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.† The article also states that 50 percent of our sleep is during stage 2, 20 percent in REM sleep, and the other 30 percent in the remaining stages. B. Stage 1 of sleep is also known as light sleep where we drift in and out of sleep. This stage is where we can be woken up the easiest. Stage 2 is where our brain activity and eye movement start to slow down and stop. Stage 3 brain waves start to begin with slow and fast movements. Stage 4 also known as deep sleep is the toughest stage to wake someone up. It is the stage where there is no eye movement or muscle activity and if you were to awaken during this stage. The results would be the feeling of grogginess or disorientation. The last stage REM sleep aka Rapid Eye Movement is the dream stage of sleep. Where we fantasize about our life and day occurrences. Internal summary #2: We have discussed what goes on with our brains during sleep, let’s finish with the implications lack of sleep has on our society. III. Main Point #3 (Implications) A. Sleep is a very important factor in our everyday lives in fact according to The National Association of Science last updated April 14, 2014 â€Å"Sleep deprivation can cause severe cases of anxiety and can also lead to insomnia.† B. Without sleep our brains cannot not work to the best of its abilities. Scientists can’t discover new things, students will continue to fall asleep in class, and people that work 9 to 5 jobs could and will go mentally insane. Conclusions: I. Summary Statements: We are now familiar with the amount of sleep we need depending on ages, what our brain activity is like during sleep, and how sleep impacts us all as a society. II. Concluding Remarks: Since I researched this topic very thoroughly I can now help people who refuse to sleep for decent hours realize what they are doing to themselves. WORK CITED National Sleep Foundation â€Å"how does sleep deprivation affect us† Web 27 June 2014 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention â€Å"Sleep deprivation† Web 27 June 2014 National Association of Science â€Å"Negative implications of sleep deprivation† Web 27 June 2014 The New York Times â€Å"Lost Sleep Can Lead to Weight Gain† Tara Parker-Pope published on March 18, 2013. Web 27 June 2014. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web 27 June 2014

Ministry of Sound Case Study

1.From the offset Ministry of sound has had to deal with numerous environmental factors that has fashioned the club in the early stages and in the later years. Weather it has hindered its development or accelerated it is up for analysis. During the early stages logistically they had to deal with the issue of the clubs location being in a high crime rate borough of Southwark situated in Elephant & Castle. Also with â€Å"Acid House† derived music, the nightclub inherited the underground rave culture that is synonymous with the designer drugs of the 90’s such as ecstasy. The national drug offences crime rate is at 4.5 were as Southwark council is 18.6 far exceeding national average, this is shown in appendix 1. These factors could have been detrimental to the development of the club and portray the label in a negative public image. In addition with the security team fuelling the drug trade within the club could be seen as one of the principle threats. But with the overhaul of the security team and the zero tolerance on drugs, they managed to change the clubbing ethos to a cleaner and safer environment. During the later stages one of the weakness could be the commercialisation of the brand, loosing the â€Å"edgy† and â€Å"underground† crowd that established the club. However this also means commercial success with ministry of sounds DJ Eric Prydz â€Å"call on me† reaching number 1 for 16 weeks in 2004. 2.The capabilities of ministry of sound has vastly increased over its life span with itself becoming a brand, gaining brand recognition. Which could be now recognised as a worldwide music lifestyle. With its product portfolio ranging from; record labels, branded apparel/electronics, worldwide tours, radio and fitness DVD’s. it has outgrown its venue in south London from just a nightclub to a movement, being able to influence popular music trends and unearthing new styles and genre of music. Ministry of sound has now achieved a significant presence within the industry, which allows the company to expand and diversify its product portfolio successfully within the mainstream markets. 3.To identify the main stakeholders we have to differentiate the qualities and recognise the levels of significance they hold to the organisation. We can do this by analysing stakeholders by categorising them, such as internal and external stakeholders and by using the power interest matrix as shown in appendix 2. There are 4 categories within the power interest matrix that we can apply to Ministry of sound. The fist being A â€Å"minimal effort† which is low power and low interest, they do not have any authority they can exert onto the organisation. Then there is B â€Å"keep informed† these stakeholders have high interest and limited ability to influence directly, for example those who visit the nightclubs and events and retail customers. However they do expect a high quality service or product, whilst expecting a euphoric experience. Category C â€Å"keep satisfied† are stakeholders that have low level interest but can exert change relatively easily, such as government bodies or local authorities. Their expectations seem to be generic to all other organisations, follow laws and regulations and act coherently within society. Lastly being arguably the most important stakeholders are D â€Å"key players† these are employees and investors like venture capitalists 3i, who are key players in ministry of sound organisation. Expecting good return on investment and dividends, whilst expanding creating growth and longevity for the company. 4.Strategic choices at this point are vital to the prosperity and future of Ministry of Sound. They are required in this case to develop their strategies to improve the performance of the organisation in accordance to their external factors. Taken from Johnson, Scholes and whitington â€Å"Exploring corporate strategy† states there is a strategic model were a business route will be taken in relation to three requirements. Suitability, does it make economical sense? Also would it be suitable in context of environment and capabilities. So if Ministry decided to open a new super-club in Dubai, would it make economical sense? Dubai may have high levels of disposable income within its population, but the market may not be as strong or cultural differences may occur. Another is a financially superior competitor may invest more entering the market. Feasibility, are the resources available to execute the strategy? Includes cash flow analysis break-even analysis and forecasting. Acceptability, this is in relation to the risk involved in the project and the returns gained. Also to do with stakeholders, it requires the company to review the reactions and the possibilities of the venture. 5.Another factor they should include is when entering new markets and countries, they should employ mid level native managers. This is to extract local knowledge of laws and cultural differences, in order to maximise company competency within the new country. So when considering reorganisation and the three divisions, each need to be catered in forms of correct management style and strategy implementation. I agree with the reorganisation of the company as it separates departmental aims and outcomes. This intern specialises each department, however the company should employ previously successful and experienced department managers. This would ensure the running of the departments to be more efficient and productive. In conclusion the reorganisation is key to the development of company, and now relies on the implementation of the key strategies. With the rearrangement of the company, different aspects can get specialisation and close focus rather then being neglected that could be detrimental to the organisation. This is imperative for long term orientation of the product portfolio and expansion prospects. Bibliography http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8468372.stm

Behavioural Finance

The occurrence of stock market bubbles and crashes is often cited as evidence against the efficient market hypothesis. It is argued that new information is rarely, if ever, capable of explaining the sudden and dramatic share price movements observed during bubbles and crashes. Samuelson (1998) distinguished between micro efficiency and macro efficiency. Samuelson took the view that major stock markets are micro efficient in the sense that stocks are (nearly) correctly priced relative to each other, whereas the stock markets are macro inefficient. Macro inefficiency means that prices, at the aggregate level, can deviate from fair values over time. Jung and Shiller (2002) concurred with Samuelson’s view and suggested that waves of over- and undervaluation occur for the aggregate market over time. Stock markets are seen as having some predictability in the aggregate and over the long runBubbles and crashes have a history that goes back at least to the seventeenth century (MacKay 1852). Some writers have suggested that bubbles show common characteristics. Band (1989) said that market tops exhibited the following features: 1. Prices have risen dramatically. 2. Widespread rejection of the conventional methods of share valuation, and the emergence of new ‘theories’ to explain why share prices should be much higher than the conventional methods would indicate. 3. Proliferation of investment schemes offering very high returns very quickly. 4. Intense, and temporarily successful, speculation by uninformed investors. 5. Popular enthusiasm for leveraged (geared) investments. 6. Selling by corporate insiders, and other long-term investors. Extremely high trading volume in shares. Kindleberger (1989) and Kindleberger and Aliber (2005) argued that most bubbles and crashes have common characteristics. Bubbles feature large and rapid price increases, which result in share prices rising to unrealistically high levels. Bubbles typically begin with a justifiable rise in stock prices. The justification may be a technological advance, or a general rise in prosperity. Examples of technological advance stimulating share price rises might include the development of the automobile and radio in the 1920s and the emergence of the Internet in the late 1990s. Examples of increasing prosperity leading to price rises could be the United States,Western Europe, and Japan in the 1980s. Cassidy (2002) suggested that this initial stage is characterised by a new idea or product causing changes in expectations about the future. Early investors in companies involved with the innovation make very high returns, which attract the attention of others. The rise in share prices, if substantial and prolonged, leads to members of the public believing that prices will continue to rise. People who do not normally invest begin to buy shares in the belief that prices will continue to rise. More and more people, typically people who have no knowledge of financial markets, buy shares. This pushes up prices even further. There is euphoria and manic buying. This causes further price rises. There is a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein the belief that prices will rise brings about the rise, since it leads to buying. People with no knowledge of investment often believe that if share prices have risen recently, those prices will continue to rise in the future. Cassidy (2002) divides this process into a boom stage and a euphoria stage. In the boom stage share price rises generate media interest, which spreads the excitement across a wider audience. Even the professionals working for institutional investors become involved. In the euphoria stage investment principles, and even common sense, are discarded. Conventional wisdom is rejected in favour of the view that it is ‘all different this time’. Prices lose touch with reality. One assumption of the efficient market hypothesis is that investors are rational. This does not require all investors to be rational, but it does require that the rational investors outweigh the irrational ones. However there are times when irrational investors are dominant. A possible cause of market overreaction is the tendency of some investors (often small investors) to follow the market. Such investors believe that recent stock price movements are indicators of future price movements. In other words they extrapolate price movements. They buy when prices have been rising and thereby tend to push prices to unrealistically high levels. They sell when prices have been falling and thereby drive prices to excessively low levels. There are times when such naive investors outweigh those that invest on the basis of fundamental analysis of the intrinsic value of the shares. Such irrational investors help to generate bubbles and crashes in stock markets. Some professional investors may also participate on the basis of the greater fool theory. The greater fool theory states that it does not matter if the price paid is higher than the fundamental value, so long as someone (the greater fool) will be prepared to pay an even higher price. The theory of rational bubbles suggests that investors weigh the probability of further rises against the probability of falls. So it may be rational for an investor to buy shares, knowing that they are overvalued, if the probability-weighted expectation of gain exceeds the probability-weighted expectation of loss. Montier (2002) offers Keynes’s (1936) beauty contest as an explanation of stock market bubbles. The first level of the contest is to choose the stocks that you believe to offer the best prospects. The second level is to choose stocks that you believe others will see as offering the best prospects. A third level is to choose the stocks that you believe that others will expect the average investor to select. A fourth stage might involve choosing stocks that you believe that others will expect the average investor to see as most popular amongst investors. In other words, the beauty contest view sees investors as indulging in levels of second-guessing other investors. Even if every investor believes that a stock market crash is coming they may not sell stocks. They may even continue to buy. They may plan to sell just before others sell. In this way they expect to maximise their profits from the rising market. The result is that markets continue to rise beyond what the vast majority of investors would consider to be the values consistent with economic fundamentals. It is interesting to note that Shiller’s survey following the 1987 crash (Shiller 1987) found that 84% of institutional investors and 72% of private investors said that they had believed that the market was overpriced just before the crash. Shiller suggested that people did not realise how many others shared their views that the market was overpriced. As Hirshleifer (2001) points out, people have a tendency to conform to the judgements and behaviours of others. People may follow others without any apparent reason. Such behaviour results in a form of herding, which helps to explain the development of bubbles and crashes. If there is a uniformity of view concerning the direction of a market, the result is likely to be a movement of the market in that direction. Furthermore, the herd may stampede. Shiller (2000) said that the meaning of herd behaviour is that investors tend to do as other investors do. They imitate the behaviour of others and disregard their own information. Brown (1999) examined the effect of noise traders (non-professionals with no special information) on the volatility of the prices of closed-end funds (investment trusts). A shift in sentiment entailed these investors moving together and an increase in price volatility resulted. Walter and Weber (2006) found herding to be present among managers of mutual funds. Walter and Weber (2006) distinguished between intentional and unintentional herding. Intentional herding was seen as arising from attempts to copy others. Unintentional herding emerges as a result of investors analysing the same information in the same way. Intentional herding could develop as a consequence of poor availability of information. Investors might copy the behaviour of others in the belief that those others have traded on the basis of information. When copying others in the belief that they are acting on information becomes widespread, there is an informational cascade. Another possible cause of intentional herding arises as a consequence of career risk. If a fund manager loses money whilst others make money, that fund manager’s job may be in jeopardy. If a fund manager loses money whilst others lose money, there is more job security. So it can be in the fund manager’s interests to do as others do (this is sometimes referred to as the reputational reason for herding). Since fund managers are often evaluated in relation to benchmarks based on the average performance of fund managers, or based on stock indices, there could be an incentive to copy others since that would prevent substantial underperformance relative to the benchmark. Walter and Weber (2006) found positive feedback trading by mutual fund managers. In other words the managers bought stocks following price rises and sold following falls. If such momentum trading is common, it could be a cause of unintentional herding. Investors do the same thing because they are following the same strategy. It can be difficult to know whether observed herding is intentional or unintentional. Hwang and Salmon (2006) investigated herding in the sense that investors, following the performance of the market as a whole, buy or sell simultaneously. Investigating in the United States, the UK, and South Korea they found that herding increases with market sentiment. They found that herding occurs to a greater extent when investor expectations are relatively homogeneous. Herding is strongest when there is confidence about the direction in which the market is heading. Herding appeared to be persistent and slow moving. This is consistent with the observation that some bubbles have taken years to develop. Kirman (1991) suggests that investors may not necessarily base decisions on their own views about investments but upon what they see as the majority view. The majority being followed are not necessarily well-informed rational investors. The investors that are followed may be uninformed and subject to psychological biases that render their behaviour irrational (from the perspective of economists). Rational investors may even focus on predicting the behaviour of irrational investors rather than trying to ascertain fundamental value (this may explain the popularity of technical analysis among market professionals). There are theories of the diffusion of information based on models of epidemics. In such models there are ‘carriers’ who meet ‘susceptibles’ (Shiller 1989). Stock market (and property market) bubbles and crashes are likened to the spread of epidemics. There is evidence that ideas can remain dormant for long periods and then be triggered by an apparently trivial event. Face-to-face communication appears to be dominant, but the media also plays a role. Cassidy (2002) suggested that people want to become players in an ongoing drama in which ownership of stocks gives them a sense of being part of a social movement. People invest because they do not want to be left out of the exciting developments. The media are an integral part of market events because they want to attract viewers and readers. Generally, significant market events occur only if there is similar thinking among large groups of people, and the news media are vehicles for the spreading of ideas. The news media are attracted to financial markets because there is a persistent flow of news in the form of daily price changes and company reports. The media seek interesting news. The media can be fundamental propagators of speculative price movements through their efforts to make news interesting (Shiller 2000). They may try to enhance interest by attaching news stories to stock price movements, thereby focusing greater attention on the movements. The media are also prone to focus attention on particular stories for long periods. Shiller refers to this as an ‘attention cascade’. Attention cascades can contribute to stock market bubbles and crashes. Davis (2006) confirmed the role of the media in the development of extreme market movements. The media were found to exaggerate market responses to news, and to magnify irrational market expectations. At times of market crisis the media can push trading activity to extremes. The media can trigger and reinforce opinions. It has been suggested that memes may play a part in the process by which ideas spread (Lynch 2001). Memes are contagious ideas. It has been suggested that the success of a meme depends upon three critical factors: transmissivity, receptivity, and longevity. Transmissivity is the amount of dissemination from those with the idea. Receptivity concerns how believable, or acceptable, the idea is. Longevity relates to how long investors keep the idea in mind. Smith (1991) put forward the view that bubbles and crashes seem to have their origin in social influences. Social influence may mean following a leader, reacting simultaneously and identically with other investors in response to new information, or imitation of others who are either directly observed or observed indirectly through the media. Social influence appears to be strongest when an individual feels uncertain and finds no directly applicable earlier personal experience. Deutsch and Gerard (1955) distinguish between ‘normative social influence’ and ‘informational social influence’. Normative social influence does not involve a change in perceptions or beliefs, merely conformity for the benefits of conformity. An example of normative social influence would be that of professional investment managers who copy each other on the grounds that being wrong when everyone else is wrong does not jeopardise one’s career, but being wrong when the majority get it right can result in job loss. This is a form of regret avoidance. If a bad decision were made, a result would be the pain of regret. By following the decisions of others, the risk of regret is reduced. This is safety in numbers. There is less fear of regret when others are making the same decisions. Informational social influence entails acceptance of a group’s beliefs as providing information. For example share purchases by others delivers information that they believe that prices will rise in future. This is accepted as useful information about the stock market and leads others to buy also. This is an informational cascade; people see the actions of others as providing information and act on that information. Investors buy because they know that others are buying, and in buying provide information to other investors who buy in their turn. Informational cascades can cause large, and economically unjustified, swings in stock market levels. Investors cease to make their own judgements based on factual information, and use the apparent information conveyed by the actions of others instead. Investment decisions based on relevant information cease, and hence the process whereby stock prices come to reflect relevant information comes to an end. Share price movements come to be disconnected from relevant information. Both of the types of social influence identified by Deutsch and Gerard (1955) can lead to positive feedback trading. Positive feedback trading involves buying because prices have been rising and selling when prices have been falling, since price movements are seen as providing information about the views of other investors. Buying pushes prices yet higher (and thereby stimulates more buying) and selling pushes prices lower (and hence encourages more selling). Such trading behaviour contributes to stock market bubbles and crashes. People in a peer group tend to develop the same tastes, interests, and opinions (Ellison and Fudenberg 1993). Social norms emerge in relation to shared beliefs. These social norms include beliefs about investing. The social environment of an investor influences investment decisions. This applies not only to individual investors, but also to market professionals. Fund managers are a peer group; fundamental analysts are a peer group; technical analysts are a peer group. Indeed market professionals in aggregate form a peer group. It is likely that there are times when these peer groups develop common beliefs about the direction of the stock market. Common beliefs tend to engender stock market bubbles and crashes. Welch (2000) investigated herding among investment analysts. Herding was seen as occurring when analysts appeared to mimic the recommendations of other analysts. It was found that there was herding towards the prevailing consensus, and towards recent revisions of the forecasts of other analysts. A conclusion of the research was that in bull markets the rise in share prices would be reinforced by herding. Research on investor psychology has indicated certain features about the behaviour of uninformed investors, who are often referred to as noise traders in the academic literature. Tversky and Kahneman (1982) found that they have a tendency to overreact to news. DeBondt (1993) found that they extrapolate trends, in other words they tend to believe that the recent direction of movement of share prices will continue. Shleifer and Summers (1990) found evidence that they become overconfident in their forecasts. This latter point is consistent with the view that bubbles and crashes are characterised by some investors forgetting that financial markets are uncertain, and coming to believe that the direction of movement of share prices can be forecast with certainty. Barberis et al. (1998) suggested that noise traders, as a result of misinterpretation of information, see patterns where there are none. Lee (1998) mentioned that a sudden and drastic trend reversal may mean that earlier cues of a change in trend had been neglected. Clarke and Statman (1998) found that noise traders tend to follow newsletters, which in turn are prone to herding. It seems that many investors not only extrapolate price trends but also extrapolate streams of good or bad news, for example a succession of pieces of good news leads to the expectation that future news will also be good. Barberis et al. (1998) showed that shares that had experienced a succession of positive items of news tended to become overpriced. This indicates that stock prices overreact to consistent patterns of good or bad news. Lakonishok et al. (1994) concluded that investors appeared to extrapolate the past too far into the future. There is evidence that the flow of money into institutional investment funds (such as unit trusts) has an impact on stock market movements. Evidence for a positive relationship between fund flows and subsequent stock market returns comes from Edelen and Warner (2001), Neal and Wheatley (1998), Randall et al. (2003), and Warther (1995). It has been suggested by Indro (2004) that market sentiment (an aspect of crowd psychology) plays an important role. Indro found that poll-based measures of market sentiment were related to the size of net inflows into equity funds. It appears that improved sentiment (optimism) generates investment into institutional funds, which in turn brings about a rise in stock market prices (and vice versa for increased pessimism). If stock market rises render market sentiment more optimistic, a circular process occurs in which rising prices and improving sentiment reinforce each other. It has often been suggested that small investors have a tendency to buy when the market has risen and to sell when the market falls. Karceski (2002) reported that between 1984 and 1996 average monthly inflows into US equity mutual funds were about eight times higher in bull markets than in bear markets. The largest inflows were found to occur after the market had moved higher and the smallest inflows followed falls. Mosebach and Najand (1999) found interrelationships between stock market rises and flows of funds into the market. Rises in the market were related to its own previous rises, indicating a momentum effect, and to previous cash inflows to the market. Cash inflows also showed momentum, and were related to previous market rises. A high net inflow of funds increased stock market prices, and price rises increased the net inflow of funds. In other words, positive feedback trading was identified. This buy high/sell low investment strategy may be predicted by the ‘house money’ and ‘snake bite’ effects (Thaler and Johnson 1990). After making a gain people are willing to take risks with the winnings since they do not fully regard the money gained as their own (it is the ‘house money’). So people may be more willing to buy following a price rise. Conversely the ‘snake bite’ effect renders people more risk-averse following a loss. The pain of a loss (the snake bite) can cause people to avoid the risk of more loss by selling investments seen as risky. When many investors are affected by these biases, the market as a whole may be affected. The house money effect can contribute to the emergence of a stock market bubble. The snake bite effect can contribute to a crash. The tendency to buy following a stock market rise, and to sell following a fall, can also be explained in terms of changes in attitude towards risk. Clarke and Statman (1998) reported that risk tolerance fell dramatically just after the stock market crash of 1987. In consequence investors became less willing to invest in the stock market after the crash. MacKillop (2003) and Yao et al. (2004) found a relationship between market prices and risk tolerance. The findings were that investors became more tolerant of risk following market rises, and less risk tolerant following falls. The implication is that people are more inclined to buy shares when markets have been rising and more inclined to sell when they have been falling; behaviour which reinforces the direction of market movement. Shefrin (2000) found similar effects among financial advisers and institutional investors. Grable et al. 2004) found a positive relationship between stock market closing prices and risk tolerance. As the previous week’s closing price increased, risk tolerance increased. When the market dropped, the following week’s risk tolerance also dropped. Since risk tolerance affects the willingness of investors to buy risky assets such as shares, the relationshi p between market movements and risk tolerance tends to reinforce the direction of market movement. During market rises people become more inclined to buy shares, thus pushing share prices up further. After market falls investors are more likely to sell, thereby pushing the market down further. Projection bias is high sensitivity to momentary information and feelings such that current attitudes and preferences are expected to continue into the future (Loewenstein et al. 2003). Mehra and Sah (2002) found that risk tolerance varied over time and that people behaved as if their current risk preference would persist into the future. In other words the current level of risk tolerance was subject to a projection bias such that it was expected to continue into the future. Grable et al. (2006) pointed out that this interacts with the effects of market movements on risk tolerance. A rise in the market enhances risk tolerance, projection bias leads to a belief that current risk tolerance will persist, people buy more shares, share purchases cause price rises, price rises increase risk tolerance, and so forth. A virtuous circle of rising prices and rising risk tolerance could emerge. Conversely there could be a vicious circle entailing falling prices and rising risk-aversion. The Role of Social Mood People transmit moods to one another when interacting socially. People not only receive information and opinions in the process of social interaction, they also receive moods and emotions. Moods and emotions interact with cognitive processes when people make decisions. There are times when such feelings can be particularly important, such as in periods of uncertainty and when the decision is very complex. The moods and emotions may be unrelated to a decision, but nonetheless affect the decision. The general level of optimism or pessimism in society will influence individuals and their decisions, including their financial decisions There is a distinction between emotions and moods. Emotions are often short term and tend to be related to a particular person, object, or situation. Moods are free-floating and not attached to something specific. A mood is a general state of mind and can persist for long periods. Mood may have no particular causal stimulus and have no particular target. Positive mood is accompanied by emotions such as optimism, happiness, and hope. These feelings can become extreme and result in euphoria. Negative mood is associated with emotions such as fear, pessimism, and antagonism. Nofsinger (2005a) suggested that social mood is quickly reflected in the stock market, such that the stock market becomes an indicator of social mood. Prechter (1999, 2001), in proposing a socionomics hypothesis, argued that moods cause financial market trends and contribute to a tendency for investors to act in a concerted manner and to exhibit herding behaviour. Many psychologists would argue that actions are driven by what people think, which is heavily influenced by how they feel. How people feel is partly determined by their interactions with others. Prechter’s socionomic hypothesis suggests that human interactions spread moods and emotions. When moods and emotions become widely shared, the resulting feelings of optimism or pessimism cause uniformity in financial decision-making. This amounts to herding and has impacts on financial markets at the aggregate level. Slovic et al. (2002) proposed an affect heuristic. Affect refers to feelings, which are subtle and of which people may be unaware. Impressions and feelings based on affect are often easier bases for decision-making than an objective evaluation, particularly when the decision is complex. Since the use of affect in decision-making is a form of short cut, it could be regarded as a heuristic. Loewenstein et al. (2001) showed how emotions interact with cognitive thought processes and how at times the emotional process can dominate cognitive processes. Forgas (1995) took the view that the role of emotions increased as the complexity and uncertainty facing the decision-maker increased. Information can spread through society in a number of ways: books, magazines, newspapers, television, radio, the Internet, and personal contact. Nofsinger suggests that personal contact is particularly important since it readily conveys mood and emotion as well as information. Interpersonal contact is important to the propagation of social mood. Such contact results in shared mood as well as shared information. Prechter suggested that economic expansions and equity bull markets are associated with positive feelings such as optimism and enthusiasm whereas economic recessions and bear markets correspond to an increase in negative emotions like pessimism, fear, and anger. During a stock market uptrend society and investors are characterised by feelings of calmness and contentment, at the market top they are happy and enthusiastic, during the market downturn the feelings are ones of sadness and insecurity, whilst the market bottom is associated with feelings of anger, hostility, and tension. Dreman (2001) suggested that at the peaks and troughs of social mood, characterised by manias and panics, psychological influences play the biggest role in the decisions of investment analysts and fund managers. Forecasts will be the most positive at the peak of social mood and most negative at the troughs. Psychological influences can contaminate rational decision-making, and may be dominant at the extreme highs and lows of social mood. At the extremes of social mood the traditional techniques of investment analysis might be rejected by many as being no longer applicable in the new era. Shiller (1984) took the view that stock prices are likely to be particularly vulnerable to social mood because there is no generally accepted approach to stock pricing; different analysts use different models in different ways. The potential influence of social mood is even greater among non-professionals who have little, or no, understanding of pricing models and financial analysis. Nofsinger (2005a) saw the link to be so strong that stock market prices could be used as a measure of social mood. Peaks and troughs of social mood are characterised by emotional decision-making rather than rational evaluation. Cognitive evaluations indicating that stocks are overpriced are dominated by a mood of optimism. Support for one’s downplaying of rational evaluation receives support from the fact that others downplay rational evaluation. The optimism of others validates one’s own optimism. It is often argued that the normal methods of evaluation are no longer applicable in the new era. Fisher and Statman (2002) surveyed investors during the high-tech bubble of the late 1990s and found that although many investors believed stocks to be overpriced, they expected prices to continue rising. Eventually social mood passes its peak and cognitive rationality comes to dominate social mood. Investors sell and prices fall. If social mood continues to fall, the result could be a crash in which stock prices fall too far. The situation is then characterised by an unjustified level of pessimism, and investors sell shares even when they are already underpriced. Investors’ sales drive prices down further and increase the degree of underpricing. Fisher and Statman (2000) provided evidence that stock market movements affect sentiment. A vicious circle could develop in which falling sentiment causes prices to fall and declining prices lower sentiment. Taffler and Tuckett (2002) provided a psychoanalytic perspective on the technology stock bubble and crash of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and in so doing gave a description of investor behaviour totally at odds with the efficient markets view of rational decision-making based on all relevant information. They made it clear that people do not share a common perception of reality; instead everyone has their own psychic reality.

Literacy Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Literacy Narrative - Essay Example I couldnt stop figuring out how it could be if I won in a foreign land, and was branded the best singer of the year. I was very determined to win and, therefore, I dedicated myself and spent sleepless nights practicing. The song was quite challenging since it was not easy to translate all the words. I kept on forgetting some parts of the song, and I had to refer to my script uncountable times. Giving up was not an alternative; I had to win thee challenge. One month prior the talent show day, I sacrificed having fun with my friends and visiting the gym. I utilized this time to perfect my presentation. Finally, the long awaited day came. After class that day, I rushed to my room to freshen up. I dressed to the occasion and started the journey. My family had travelled to cheer me as I presented. We drove to the venue, my younger brother and mom sang the song all the way. This assisted me since I was able to grasp every word as they sang. My father helped me that my effort would be rewarded, and I would win. We arrived, and my family went to the audience hall when I joined the other contestants. The contestant looked so sure of themselves, and this made me feel nervous. Their mastery for English was very good, and they were so eloquent in their presentation. My dads words lingered at the back of my mind, and this encouraged me. I was the second presenter, and as the first presenter left the stage, there was a loud applause. I was nervous and wondered whether the audience would applause me. As I marched forward to the stage, I spotted my mother from the crowd. There was very much pri de in her eyes, and I heard an inner voice say, "Time has come. Make your mother proud." I stood behind the microphone and held my guitar tighter. This time, I was very composed and sure of my eloquence. I started the song and amazingly, I did not forget even a single word. It seemed as if English was using my native language. The judges starred at me with

Orientalism and Multiculturalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Orientalism and Multiculturalism - Essay Example Certain groups whose aims are equitable with greed and power develop means to create an inferior group and attempts to uplift their in their own context an "acceptable behavior". As efforts to conquer other nations and discover communities beyond one's own reached its peak, colonialism reached its height that further extended the gap between people of different cultures. The East-West contrast soon evolved that transformed relativistic emphasis as a means to identify cultural similarities and differences with regard to local region and culture. Technological advancement has pushed critical viewpoints that greatly sensationalized views of dominion and submission; of the perpetrator and victimization creating political issues concurrently escalating in present day conflicts. Societal mechanisms that involved racism has been used and probably politically and culturally abused to blame the West for the existence of discrimination and to integrate cultures to fight for their supreme right. These changes brought about by globalization in the 19th century has identified exotic stereotyping of cultural behavior that has often associated the West with their classical views that Said (1980) exposed in a critique as an affront against other minority cultures. The Eastern side has also criticized Western values that are often associated with materialism where Said criticized its failure to give meaning to individual's lives. Discipline, being an important aspect of western emphasis has been equated with civilized behavior and labeling of human's knowledge that segregated underdeveloped cultures according to Foucault (1979). Further, Foucault added that such eugenics has theorized discipline that pervades the Victorian sentiments pervading in the western society. The apparent stereotyping from both sides and critical claims has created events that affected the interrelationship between each side. Religion With the spread of Christianity, western dominions over eastern religious beliefs that glorify Arab culture were seen as substandard and ignorant. The Roman Catholic Church's hierarchical insistence of power over religious beliefs has further delegated eastern religion as not harmonious because of the many facets embraced by the number of multicultural beliefs in the eastern bloc.Attempts to consider varied beliefs have seen Zizek's insistence against the multiculturalists' true position of universality in religious practice. The chasm is further widened as open and critical western viewpoints allowed the Islamic faith to stand and rally against factions that has questioned their religious affiliation. More recently, open disrespect by Europe to Prophet Muhammad has raised hardened Muslim hearts to declare antagonism against their critics. Such western attitude among others toward Middle-east's age-old culture and practice has brought about the continuing wars and conflicts that are better left to their respective factions to find a settlement amongst them in contrast to Zizek's constant defense of the revolutionary act as the pure and only alternative against war and cruelty. Arts, Literature and Academe In the field of arts, music, literature and science a plethora of great authors and poets are the pride of the Western culture that magnifies Shakespeare's works and influenced modern

Different IT Systems used in Retail Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Different IT Systems used in Retail - Assignment Example It is notable that there are no two ERP vendors that are the same in the services they offer. The differences are noticed in their product executions based on the functionalities of their products. The applications may be similar in a number of factors that also display negligible exceptions in their developments. Most of the software applications are used to support different tasks as per the requirements of and objectives for which the application was designed. It is essential for the software vendors to establish the benefits of taking care of the business needs of the small and midsized companies. Oracle offers different modules from SAPs that are distinctive in terms of the needs and requirements of the applications being developed. This is seen in the ERP frameworks that the two vendors have to offer because the clients they deal with choose products that suit their business needs. Some of the common needs that companies grapple with include financial management, distribution management, and Personnel management. It is the duty of the vendors to narrow down on specific needs to offer the best services. It is essential for prospective clients to contact vendor before they can start developing solutions. Supply chain management software is essential for companies to have an advantage in the management of its supplies. They are meant to transform the usual supply chains into systems that are meant to bring substantial value to the company’s businesses. They provide an appropriate platform for the transformation of the company’s businesses there by changing the fortunes of the company. The systems bring about flexibility and reliability of company’s operations, which is likely to translate to increased profitability. Supply chain management systems ensure that organizations are able to scale up their operations because of the flexibility brought

People Capability Maturity Model Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

People Capability Maturity Model - Research Paper Example The long-term success of an organization entirely depends upon its success in the talent market. These days talent market is dwindling rapidly with expansion in business market. Due to lack of talent some organizations have started offering incentives to ordinary employees that were once offered to talented and 0ld employees. The challenges related to talent hunt are extended further than recruiting and retention. At the very time competing for hiring talented people is not sufficient. Because trying hard to win just talent war can be harmful for the organization. A homogeneous balance between business and talent war is the golden key to success. Organizations must make every effort to develop a healthy learning environment so that the entire workforce keeps on refreshing their skills with changing demands of the market. A very vital constituent of any organization is a labor force having knowledge and skills to make rapid modifications and ability to get hold of new skills. Such a r esponsive workforce is a great asset for an organization. Organizations have stabbed to adapt different techniques to improve human capital. To achieve a better human capital management system most of the organizations came up with different ideas like getting better ways of information sharing, arranging interactive workshops for employees, highlighting the mission and vision statements of organization, practicing downsizing, founding attractive incentive policies, launching complaint handling system, conducting various seminars and conferences to throw light on importance of training and continuous learning for employees, supporting the unique concept of job rotation, giving employees the relaxation to work from home and conducting regular training session. What many corporations require is a framework to implement these wonderful ideas. Now trends are changing rapidly in market. These changing trends have affected workforce badly. The scenario in business is totally opposite now that’s why in order to keep pace with these changing trends employees need to enhance their knowledge and skills constantly. This is the war of talent and employees have to try hard to win this war. Doers must be thinkers, people are the real assets for any organization, workforce is actually the investment, centralized decisions, continuous struggle for improvements and centralized network are some of the advanced concepts in business. Since people are now the real asset for any organization so in order to hire and maintain talented workforce its inevitable to follow a strategy that could help an organization to address the problems being faced by the workforce. The organizations have to focus on three interconnected components i.e. people, process and technology. With the help of People Capability Maturity Model many organizations have made excellent improvements in their products and services. The People CMM is an organizational change model. It is based on the fact that w orkforce training practices won’t endure until and unless organization changes its behavior to support them. The People CMM presents a plan for renovating an organization by gradually civilizing its labor force practices. The People CMM consists of five evolutionary stages, at every maturity level; a new structure of practices is added to already implemented at previous levels. Each superimposition of practices elevates the level of

Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example Moreover, to date there still is no research that supports whether the criteria used (if used) by corporate executives, as agents of corporations, is in agreement with the various criteria used by theorists and organizational observers to evaluate and measure corporate performance in the area of social responsibility. This body of research aims at presenting CSR in a new light and will examine its possible correlation with the underlying profitability of a company. For an increasing number of global and multinational corporations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an important aspect of conducting business (Aquilera et al, 2005; Hummels, 2004; Mackey et al, 2005; Peloza, 2005). Despite the continuing debate about its meaning and despite the ongoing criticism of CSR as being enacted purely for self-interest 2005). Some theorists speculate that the recent surge in interest is due to corporations seeking to increase market competitiveness (Mackey, 2005; McWilliams & Seigel, 2001). On the other hand, some theorists recommend that firms adopt CSR because doing so can mitigate risk and can actually improve profitability (Godfrey, 2004). Other theorists advise corporations to engage in "profit-maximizing ethics" (Windsor, 2001). In a 2004 review of CSR for the Journal of C... Because of the impetus to compete profitably, and because firms desire to ease the negative affects of recent corporate scandals, such as ENRON and WorldCom, leaders are trying to understand how to satisfy both shareholders and stakeholders. Background of the Study Corporate Social Responsibility is not a new concept; in fact, it has a relatively long history. The North American culture has seen several waves of interest in CSR over the past 50 years. In each wave of interest, there appears to have been a continuation of both the interest in its value (to society and to business) and in CSR's inherent problems (Hummels, 2004). Over the years, organizational observers have noted the problems with CSR and describe them as conceptual vagueness, lack of understanding about which operational mechanisms to use, cost benefit, and the lack of an agreed upon moral foundation (Frederick, 1986, 1994; Hummels, 2004; Porter, 2003). There are several debates raging currently concerning corporate social responsibility. One concerns the issue of, what is referred to as, the "one-size-fits-all" problem. Several writers have stated that it is impractical to assume that one definition and one set of CSR operating principles could satisfy all needs across industries, nations, cultures, and organizations (Banerjee, 2001; Gobbels 2002). Another fundamental debate concerns business priorities; from this perspective, we have the debate about the fundamental purpose of business and to whom any corporation should serve the highest allegiance: the shareholder or the various stakeholders (van Marrewijk, 2003). In the past five years, there has been an intriguing appearance of actual research conducted concerning CSR in use. The attempt to move beyond the

Final exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Final exam - Essay Example Some Western scholars such as Gilles Kepel and Samuel Huntington believe that Islam is on a collision course with the West the West and is inherently inimical to the modern age we live in. Scholars both Muslims and non- Muslims disagree with this notion and argue that Islamic societies just like other world cultures are influenced by traditional religions, and are therefore reacting to the global transformation that is taking place. Some of these scholars with opposing views include John Esposito, Seyyed Nasr, and Noorani among others. They further argue that the reaction is often as a result of mixture of social tensions, denials, and anger. Moreover, they argue that, Islam, just like other major religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, or Christianity, has been adopted for many causes, from modernism to traditionalism, liberalism to conservatism, which may have nothing to do with its original transcendent message of unity and equality before God. Muslims continue to increase in number and the role of Islam in global affairs is very significant to be ignored. Friction seems to be evident between Islam and the West and also with modern age (Seyyed 1). Therefore, in order to have a deeper understanding of these issues, this discussion will respond to the following questions: At this critical period in the Islamic history what issues should be explored or followed by the Muslim societies to bring programmatic changes? Explain in your own perspective of whether the Islamic world is at the surge of clashes with the West or otherwise. What issues should be explored or followed by the Muslim societies to bring programmatic changes at this critical period in the Islamic history? The history and the role of Islam in the world are undoubtedly significant. It has played major role in civilization and in developing the important tenet of religion in the world being one of the world’s major religions. Islam shaped the world history in a greater

The Porter Five Forces Analysis Performed On the Case Study of the Article

The Porter Five Forces Analysis Performed On the Case Study of the Music Industry In 2006 - Article Example The paper tells that market attractiveness in this context refers to the general industry gain of profitability. On the other hand, in an unattractive industry or market setup, is one that does not conform to the five forces analysis, since it offers a projection of losses within the market in the long run. In other words, an unattractive market would be one that is approaching the level of "pure competition", that is, the available profits for all firms within the market are depicted at a normal profit. The porter five forces analytical model has the following components the facilitate the examination of a particular product within the industry: The first part of the porter five forces model is the Internal Rivalry, which explains the competitive level within the industry. In this particular scenario, the intensity of competition within the music industry in that specific year is high because given the numerous number of players in the music industry. The major players in this marke t include Universal Music Group which owns 26% share of the music global market and has the prospects of merging with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to increase the production rate of publishing music media. The merging of companies within a market tends to consolidate the industry. For example, in the year of 2004, the entertainment and recording companies, Sony Music and the BMG, merged to change the equilibrium within the competitive market. The major companies highlighted in the case study regarding the prospected changes in the music industry form mergers with the expectation of each company trying to favorably compete with each other by developing new products or increasing the mass of production in the market all the time. For instance, the 50-50 joint venture between Sony and BMG Music Entertainment which made it the second largest major in the music industry.

Biography of William Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

Biography of William Shakespeare Essay William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-in Avon, England. From the year 1594 onward he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men members of theatrical players. Written records give little information of the way in which Shakespeare’s professional life was his artistry. All that can be said is that over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that intensify the range of human emotion and conflict. Even though birth records dont exist, church records were found that a William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was born on April 23, 1564, and this is the date known as William Shakespeares birthday. William was the third child of John Shakespeare, a leather merchant and Mary Arden. William had two older sisters Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard and Edmund. Before Williams birth, his father became a successful merchant and held official positions as alderman, an office resembling a mayor. there is no record of Shakespeare attending schools, students have written that he most likely attended the Kings New School in Stratford, which taught reading, writing and the classics. Being a public officials child, he could have had free tuition if he wanted too ,. But misbelieve regarding his education has led some to raise questions about the authorship of his work and even to wonder if he even was real or a made up character of a great writer whom just made up the name to hide behind the name and keep people wondering . William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582, in Worcester. William was 18 and Anne was 26 she got pregnant of Their first a girl they named Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins Hamlet and Judith were born,. Hamlet later died of unknown causes at age 11. By 1592, there is evidence William Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a playwright in London . In the September 20, 1592 edition of the Stationers Register there is an article by London playwright Robert Greene that takes a few jabs at William Shakespeare: there [William Shakespeare] is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers that with his tigers heart wrapped in a Players hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you and being an absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene . Students differ on the interpretation of this criticism, but most agree that it was Greenes way of saying Shakespeare was reaching above his rank, trying to match better known and educated playwrights like Christopher Marlowe . Thomas Nash or Greene himself. In the 1590s, documents show William Shakespeare was a managing partner in the Lord Chamberlains Men, a acting company in London. After the crowning of King James the 1 in 1603, the company changed its name to the Kings Men. the Kings Men company was very popular, and records show that Shakespeare had works published and sold as popular literature. The theater culture in 16th-century in England he was not highly admired by people of high rank. However, many of the nobility were good patrons of the performing arts and friends of the actors. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to who he dedicated his first published poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594). It was a four-day ride by horse from Stratford to London, so it is believed that Shakespeare spent most of his time in the city writing and acting and came home once a year during the 40-day Lenten period, when the theaters were closed. By 1599, William Shakespeare and his business partners built their own theater on the south bank of the Thames River, which they called the globe . Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his own purposes and creating a freer flow of words. With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare usually used a metrical pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed words , or blank verse, to compose his plays. At the same time, there are passages in all the plays that come from this and use forms of poetry or simple phrase . With the exception of Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeares first plays were mostly histories written in the early 1590s. Richard II and parts 1, 2 and 3 and Henry v dramatize the destructive results of weak or corrupt rulers and have been interpreted by drama historians . Shakespeare also wrote several comedies during his early period: the witty romance A and Much Ado About Nothing, the charming As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. Other plays, possibly written before 1600, were Titus Andronicus, The Comedy of Errors The Taming of the Shrew and The Two Gentlemen of Verona. DEATH Tradition has it that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, though many students believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Trinity Church on April 5, 1616. In his will, he left the bulk of his possessions to his eldest daughter, Susanna. Though entitled to a third of his estate, little seems to have gone to his wife, Anne, whom he didnt seem to care much for This has drawn speculation that she had fallen out of favor, or that the couple was not close.

Herbal Products for personal casre Essay Example for Free

Herbal Products for personal casre Essay Aromatherapy is complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) technique in which various essential oils (including essences and extracts) derived from plants, flowers, fruits, leaves, herbs, stems, shrubs or trees are utilized to promote healing of the body, mind and the spirit, and to encourage health and well-being of the individual. Aromatic oils have been utilized in healthcare since ancient times by the Egyptian civilization and the Arabs. Modern aromatherapy was given special interest in France. The French found that oils had several anti-septic properties and hence could be utilized to reduce infections. Some of the physicians in France administer essential oils. Certain guidelines mentioned in the ‘aromatogram’ help the physician to decide which essential oil has to be utilized. The patient’s sample of tissues or body fluids is cultured in the laboratory. Different essential oils are added to the growing cultures. The specific essential oil that inhibits growth of the microorganisms is identified and utilized. Essential oils are substances similar to hormones (or chemical messengers) present in the body, that play an important role between cells. It contains about 200 to 3000 different compounds. Studies suggest that they can play a role against cancer, and have other effects such as stimulation (lime), calming (lavender), analgesic (clove), anti-spasmodic and cough suppressant (lavender). On the skin, it seems to have an antiseptic (tea tree), astringent (lemon grass), protectants (sandal wood), stimulant (rose) and cooling (Chamomile) effect. Aromatherapy can be administered in several forms such as skin or external applications (including cosmetic use and applications over the hair), inhalation, and internal consumption. External applications of essential oils involve applying the agents on the skin through baths, massages, friction, compresses, cosmetic use (in the form of creams, masks, compresses, lotions, ointments, etc), hair applications, etc. Such applications help in relaxation, stimulating the skin and make the individual feel more energetic and lively. Several toxic substances and metabolic wastes present on the skin are inactivated and destroyed. It also helps to reduce body aches and reduce swellings. Rarely (5% of the cases), the individual may develop inflammatory disorders of the skin (such as dermatitis), and experience symptoms such as irritation, rashes, pruritis, etc. In such circumstances, the treatment should be discontinued. Internal consumption of essential oils may be required to treat several disorders involving the internal organs (such as the digestive tract). However, some of these oils may damage the liver. Hence, they have to be administered strictly by a physician, and the patient’s condition should be monitored. The essential oil can also be administered utilizing a diffuser or nebulizer (through inhalation). The oils can be utilized to treat several breathing or lung disorders, and to improve mood. The molecules of the essential oils can enter the body through the nose, gain access through the lungs, from where it can diffuse into the bloodstream. It can remain in the blood for 30 minutes to several days. Sprays are also available which provide effect for a short period. Aromatherapy has emerged as a separate branch of science and profession because of the huge benefits. Lavender may increase brain wave functions related with relaxation and stress-release (Balac, 1992). Chronic smokers felt a reduced urge to consume tobacco with aromatherapy (Rose Behm, 1994). The quality of life in individuals with cancer and anxiety improved after being administered Chamomile (Wilkinson, 1995). Stevenson (1994) demonstrated that heart patients requiring surgery felt better when their feet were being massaged with neroli oil. Post-operative patients had reduced nausea and needed fewer painkillers after inhaling peppermint oil (Tate, 1997). In fact aromatherapy can be utilized to treat several conditions such as infections (such as Herpes Zoster Virus, Herpes Simplex Infections, etc), arthritis, skin disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, sleeplessness, anxiety, distress, anticancer therapy problems, anorexia, body aches, etc. Any individual can learn about aromatherapy by reading books, attending seminars or going to school that train in aromatherapy. The National Association of Holistic Aroma-therapists (NAHA) is setting up standards for giving licenses and administering training. The individual who wants to become an aroma-therapist should have a good knowledge and practice of chemistry, botany, human physiology, etc. The aroma-therapist is responsible for administering treatment sessions on the patients such as massages. During the patient’s first session, he/she will ask the questions to get a detailed outlook of the past and present medical history. According to the patient’s complaint and the diagnosis of the condition, he/she will prepare essential oils using different individual components. The massages are similar to the Swedish and the Sports methods. The aroma-therapist also gives complete details of the procedure to the patient, advices about any precautionary measures to be taken and educates the patient about the benefits and risks of the procedure.

The Economies Of Scale Marketing Essay

The Economies Of Scale Marketing Essay Economies of scale is a economic term that illustrating a business model where the long run average cost curve declines as production increase. In another way, it also can explain as the reduction in average cost per output resulting from additional output production. Economies of scale can be distinct in two types, which are internal and external economies of scale. Internal economies of scale can achieve when a company can increase its production with decline of average cost while external economies of scale occur outside the firm but within an industry. For example, when an industrys scope of operations expands with certain factors will result a reduction in cost for those companies working within that particular industry then it can be achieve. External economies of scale will benefit all the companies within that particular industry. Research and Development Nestle has delivered significant improvements in operational efficiency over many years. Its manufacturing strategy follows what is the best serves its consumer and consumer needs. In order to achieve the economies of scale, Nestle is involved in every stage of production chain for providing growers with technical advice, maintaining the supply chain, researches and development, advising quality issue and others. For example, Nestle has its own researches and development (RD) department with total spending $70 million as long-term investment on it. Product innovation is becoming a necessary for a company because of it brings the awareness of companys situation and competition heated up in market. Therefore, Nestle need the RD to wring out efficiencies to slash the costs and boost the output production. In response, Nestle had set a vision is called One Nestle which it introduced common processes, standards, and system across the enterprise. It used System Application Products (SAP) software to automate and integrate all the operations, procurement, production, distribution, and customer care. Automation extent its contributions toward productivity and improvement and this innovation of technology maintain the efficient scale of production. As a result, Nestle achieved unprecedented economies of scale in its business (Ansari, Ali, Dogar, Shafique, and Bukhari, n.d.). Specialization Moreover, economies of scale can achieve by specialization in Nestles labors. Increased specialization in used of labors has high possibility of expanding size of its business. Workers can use full time to do their task at which they have specific skills. This can reduce the time consuming with lower the production costs than the skilled workers to spent more time and costs in unskilled tasks. With the expertise of labors, Nestle can produce different types of high quality products to meet customers needs and wants (Ansari et al., n.d.). For instance, customers nowadays are more health conscious. Therefore, Nestle has employed the labors that expert in the nutrition, health-wellness, and environment friendly aspects to produce health conscious products. The products with medical benefits can be known as functional foods or nutraceuticals can bring big growth to Nestle with cost saving when production efficiency by expertise workers (Benady, 2005). Popurlarly Positioned Products (PPPs) Furthermore, Popurlarly Positioned Products (PPPs) are an important strategy and the main growth drivers to Nestle in recent year. PPPs focused on providing high quality and nutritional food products at affordable cost to emerging consumers. With this strategy, PPPs achieved 8 percent increase in annual sales which equivalent to USD 8 billion in year 2009. This strategy can achieve that profitable return by Nestle because it relies on local sourcing, local manufacture, and local distribution to minimize the costs. Nestle business are using the range of local distribution such as street markets, door-to-door distributors and mobile street vendors to expand its business opportunity not only in developed but also distribute its products to emerging countries. With wisely used of locally distribution, this can lead Nestle to cost savings by lowering the transportation, import or export costs of the products without reducing the profit earned and amount of outputs produced (Nestle PPP Str ategy, 2010). 2.2 Economies of Scope Economies of scope is describing the cost advantage that received by a company due to produce a complementary variety of goods rather than specializing in the production or producing a single product. Economies of scope also can achieve when a company can produce a given level of output of each product line more cheaper than separate firms that specify in producing a single product at given level. This can occur from jointly utilization of inputs and lead to reductions in per unit costs. This shows that company has potential cost savings from joint production. Joint co-operation Economies of scope are an important in Nestles growth strategy. Nestle rely on its marketing expertise and well-established position to expand its range of products. The economies of scale can achieve by Nestle because its production system shares across many with different product lines (Delios and Singh, 2005). Besides, Nestle also had joint co-operation with others companies to produce more quality with expanding in product lines. For example, Coca-Cola and Nestle formed Coca-Cola Refreshments to expand companies position in ready-to-drink tea category. The products that produced by jointly companies of Nestle and Coca-Cola are such as Nestea, Nescafe ready-to-drink products, Tian Yu Di tea and Yang Guang tea. Besides, Nestle has also formed joint venture with US food company General Mills to produce and market breakfast cereal worldwide. With the joint production to other firms, Nestle not only can improve the expertise and quality of products but also save costs to take longer t ime and costly on RD development on new products. This strategy can lead Nestle to achieve economies of scope but also economies of scale (Girard, 2005). Umbrella brand In addition, another important reason for Nestle to achieve economies of scope is it used marketing through an umbrella brand. Nestle promotes its products in formed of professional magazines including statements of physicians and professors, official brand label, small flyers, advertising through electronic mechanism and a clear umbrella brand Nestle web page. All of the information that published by Nestle is to convince buyers to purchase its health-wellness and qualified products. Nowadays, Nestle kept on doing is integrating their logo in several brands in supporting advertisements, appearing as a seal of quality and web page. A good example of Nestle used umbrella brand marketing is Maggi, which its advertisement poster consumers first see Maggi as a brand but also can see Nestle as the responsible copyright brand at the bottom left-hand corner. The new flavor of Maggi brand products can easier to introduce to public with well-known brand of Nestle. The reputation of Nestle cre ates the credibility of customers to purchase the products while Nestle also can save costs to develop and maintain its brands ((Klopping, 2011). Advertisement Furthermore, Nestle also used marketing strategy by combining two advertisements to promote certain products. For instance, Maggi instant products and Thomy cooking oil or sauces are complemented each others in used. With combining two advertisements can save costs while if Nestle promoted its own brands separately will cause Nestle to spent more to promote in two different advertisements. Nestle used the strong advertisement marketing to create high brand awareness to itself and make it sell 2.5 billion products a year. This make Nestle achieve economies of scope by reducing of costs in advertising and increase the sales of its products to public (Klopping, 2011). 2.3 Learning Curve 2.3.1 The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) The BCG Matrix is a business method created by Bruce Henderson for Boston Consulting Group in the late 1960s. This method based on the product life cycle theory that usually used to analyzing their business units or products lines. This matrix also has significant contribution until today for strategic management used by companies by providing a composite picture of the strategic position of each separate business within a company. Therefore, the management can determine the strengths and the needs of all sectors of the firm. Under this matrix, it has two dimensions, which are market share and market growth. From the 2 dimensions, BCG charts can divide into four types of scenarios: Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, and Dogs. The products that categories into BCG Matrix figure can refer to Appendix Figure 1 (Birdi, Kapoor and Sood, n.d.). Stars The Stars is a market that having high market share with high growth. It is an optimum situation from all scenarios and leader in the business. However, this scenario requires an increased investment to maintain continuous growth because if the market growth decline as the market share maintain at same level will cause it fall to Cash Cows. Nestle beverages are the Stars in Nestle business because of high quality with new designs of products and make it become popular to customers. Most of the customers rather consume high quality product even more expensive due to they pay more consideration on health care nowadays. Through the number of repeat buyers is high in case of Nestle beverages, the rate of increase among the new buyers is also growing (Nestle BCG Matrix, 2010). Cash Cows The Cash Cows is the situation where the market growth is low and market share is high. This scenario has generated high profit margins and a lot of cash flow but the growth is very slow. Therefore, it only requires low placement and promotion of investments. Baby food products are the Cash Cows under Nestle business because Nestle has quite a long hold in its market share with its sales increasing on a continuous basis. Nestle company has also to promote and to put it forward to become products as stars (Nestle BCG Matrix, 2010). Question Marks The Question Marks is the scenario that has high market growth but low shares. It has high demand to generate high growth but low returns due to low market share. The question mark business is more risky because it only have low share. However, it can become a star if it can increase the market share or deliver cash. If fail, the growth stops and will cause the business drop to Dogs. The breakfast cereals are the example product of Nestle under Question Marks. This product has high market growth but low market share, therefore, Nestle has to make decisions on whether which of the product should stay or phase out in market to remain competitive advantage and can successfully improved it (Nestle BCG Matrix, 2010). Dogs The last scenario is Dogs, which the worst situation under BCG matrix due to the market share and growth is low. It has to avoid or eliminate because it only can generate little profit. Delivery cash or liquidate are the solutions to avoid present in this scenario. Pharmaceutical products are one of Nestle product that under Dogs because it only consist low share business with low growth market. The main reason is it never considered competitors by other pharmaceutical product manufacturers. Therefore, Nestle Company needs to think the solutions for improving on this product (Nestle BCG Matrix, 2010).

Wild West :: essays research papers

In the beginning moving West was the majority of the barriers and obstructions that the setters had to face. Indian attacks, blizzards, tornadoes, flash floods and just being ill prepared among and numerous other hard ships took many settlers lives and were tough to over come. The journey was across a uniform, dusty, wind-swept, treeless nothingness. The temperatures would very a lot between 110 and below freezing. Not to mention that there was no trees for shade or cover from the storms. In this book there is a lot of first hand diaries, artifacts and photographs that show how it was in the 1800’s and how hard it really was to make the trip to the west and live there. This book is about how the west was won. It is also about emigrants from China and Europe, slaves that had just been freed, teachers from New England schools, and just some farm boys or opportunist from the south and mid west. They all found out that the west was so enormous and commendatory. They could not believe this native land was so immense and enormous. One reason for heading west was the Homestead Act, which would give deserving people sites or land to individuals who stayed on there land for five years. There were six main Trails that they took; the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, Mormon Trail, Gila River Trail, California Trail and the Old Spanish Trail. Some people even came out West on the Transcontinental Railroad that was recently built. The settlers could even buy the land on the plains from the Rail Company. The rail road company had been granted great tracks of land by the United States government on both sides of the railroad and was later sold to settlers. The Native Americans suffered from this flow of people from the east and this would change their lives forever. There were many struggles and the quest to just stay alive is why today we call it the â€Å"Wild West†. Especially when a good number of them were dishonest scoundrels or just drifters and adventurers. Plus, most of them were armed. The first thing the settlers needed to get done was to dig a well. Well digging was very hard job and often had to be done many times because they would run dry or they just couldn’t hit water. For the families that just arrived getting a crop in was another one of the many important chores. Wild West :: essays research papers In the beginning moving West was the majority of the barriers and obstructions that the setters had to face. Indian attacks, blizzards, tornadoes, flash floods and just being ill prepared among and numerous other hard ships took many settlers lives and were tough to over come. The journey was across a uniform, dusty, wind-swept, treeless nothingness. The temperatures would very a lot between 110 and below freezing. Not to mention that there was no trees for shade or cover from the storms. In this book there is a lot of first hand diaries, artifacts and photographs that show how it was in the 1800’s and how hard it really was to make the trip to the west and live there. This book is about how the west was won. It is also about emigrants from China and Europe, slaves that had just been freed, teachers from New England schools, and just some farm boys or opportunist from the south and mid west. They all found out that the west was so enormous and commendatory. They could not believe this native land was so immense and enormous. One reason for heading west was the Homestead Act, which would give deserving people sites or land to individuals who stayed on there land for five years. There were six main Trails that they took; the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, Mormon Trail, Gila River Trail, California Trail and the Old Spanish Trail. Some people even came out West on the Transcontinental Railroad that was recently built. The settlers could even buy the land on the plains from the Rail Company. The rail road company had been granted great tracks of land by the United States government on both sides of the railroad and was later sold to settlers. The Native Americans suffered from this flow of people from the east and this would change their lives forever. There were many struggles and the quest to just stay alive is why today we call it the â€Å"Wild West†. Especially when a good number of them were dishonest scoundrels or just drifters and adventurers. Plus, most of them were armed. The first thing the settlers needed to get done was to dig a well. Well digging was very hard job and often had to be done many times because they would run dry or they just couldn’t hit water. For the families that just arrived getting a crop in was another one of the many important chores.

National Debt :: Economy Economics Argumentative Papers

National Debt The national debt is an issue of great concern to the economy. Each year, the debt amounts to a higher percentage of GDP. As we have studied, the debt weighs down the economy, and the interest payments are consuming an ever larger share of the national budget. Something must be done to avert this crisis from coming to a head. We need to begin today, by making spending cuts ACROSS THE BOARD. These cuts must be enacted sensitively, however, in order to keep the economy stable as we move toward a balanced budget. The need for spending cuts across the board cannot be understated. For just one example of how imbalanced our policies are, notice how 63% of all entitlements go to retirees. 93% of these are NON-MEANS-TESTED. Federal spending on the 65 and over age group is 11 times greater than on the 18 and under age group.^1 We must pay off the debt, but the current Republican plan should be votoed. First of all, it leaves welfare for the well-to-do, Social Security, and defense off the table. In fact, the current plan calls for a $34,000,000,000 increase in defense spending.^2 (Doesn't the military have the discipline to learn to be more cost-effective?) At the same time, the Republicans are calling for a $245,000,000,000 tax cut. Their plan is supposed to restrict the growth of Medicare. This is a good start, but they have no definite plans on how to restrict it. Basically, the Republican plan aims to balance the budget entirely at the expense of the young (for whom we are trying to balance the budget), the environment that they will inherit, the poor, and the weak, while sparing the rich, thealready-by-far most powerful military in the world, the elderly (the ones who accrued most of this debt for us),

Overcoming My Fear of Public Speaking :: College Admissions Essays

Overcoming My Fear of Public Speaking I could barely hold a pen. There was this faint, yet distinctly audible, buzzing in the room; I suspected only I heard it. My hands were shaking convulsively and the writing on the blackboard was blurrier than usual. My economics teacher called out my name several times before I acknowledged her. â€Å"Carol, if the GDP per capita of Argentina falls, what is the most likely outcome? Carol?† she said, in her stereotypical teacher like tone. â€Å"I’m sorry, what was the question?† I asked. I was hardly in the state of mind to be answering questions about GDP and South America. â€Å"Are you sure you’re all right? You look a bit pale. Maybe you should get a glass of water,† she said. What she said scarcely registered. All I heard were the words â€Å"water† and â€Å"pale†. My lack of focus was reaching a comical point; I’m sure my fellow ninth-graders attributed my stupor to either sleep deprivation or a certain plant with intoxicating properties. Unfortunately, my daze was brought on naturally. I soon began to feel my heart pounding faster. I noticed how moist the palms of my hands were, and how cold the room had suddenly grown. My economics teacher, Miss Loyd, went on relentlessly. She was one of my favorites, but I still itched to dart from the class room. I kept repeating to myself, â€Å"stay calm, you’ve got nothing to worry about,† but emotions are never easy to control. The school bell rang, echoing throughout the building. In my ears, it was the sound of an executioner sharpening his sword. I felt my knees give way; I was, however, determined in my resolve. I would conquer my fears – nothing would stand in my way. I made my way out of the class room, and with a shaky hand, pulled out the speech I would soon deliver. I smile as I write this, for I am now quite the orator. This episode of my first speech in front of a large audience will always humble me; unfortunately, I have an ego the size of a small planet when it comes to public speaking.

Consequence of Self Deception

The consequence of self-deception can be disastrous. Self-deception can be defined as a misconception that is favoured to the person who holds it. In an attempt to justify ones behaviour, we often, unknowingly, gloss over or even alter the truth of our past, in order to escape the feelings of guilt, embarrassment, shame, or even to protect the people around us. However, consequently, the act of self-deception can be disastrous, not only for the delinquent, but also for those around them.This is continuously depicted in Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar named Desire, as the protagonist, Blanche Dubois, spins a web of deceitful lies to escape the painful truth of her past. It isn’t only Blanche, however, that find them self a victim of their own self -deception, struggling to free themselves from the strong hold, eventually leading to their disastrous downfall. On the other hand however, as self-deception can be extremely dangerous in certain cases, it can also help a ssist in delaying/preventing disasters from occurring.As such, the act of self-deception can leave ever lasting damage, whilst, for some, preventing it, as they attempt to protect the ones they love. Remembering the past, may often be a painful and traumatic experience, as unpleasant events are recalled. As such, certain individuals may tend to try to fabricate these past events, in order to steer clear of shame or embarrassment, and escape the harsh blows of reality. In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar named Desire, the protagonist, Blanche Dubois, is depicted in a manner where she comes across as a deceitful liar as she only tells what ‘ought to be the truth’.Blanche is somewhat ashamed of her traumatic past and the ancestor’s epic fornications lead to the loss of the family home in Belle Reve, as well as Blanche, searching for love and affection in strangers. Blanches deception to herself and the people around her, lead to her ultimate tragic downf all as she doesn’t search for realism, she wants magic in her life. Throughout the course of the play, Blanche is convinced and has deceived herself, but not the people around her, and as the light is shun over and her unpleasant past is brought to light, Blanche spirals down, consequently leading to her downfall.In certain circumstances, an individual may attempt to supress or repress an event if it is possibly distasteful to their current reality. By choosing to supress a fraction of the truth in the event, one may hope to simply continue on living in their current reality, forcing themselves to believe what they hope to be real. In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar names Desire, Stella Kowalski decides to repress her thoughts, when her sister Blanche Dubois informed her of how she was raped by Stella’s husband Stanley.Stella believes that if she does chose to believe what her sister has told her about her husband, Stella cannot continue living in her curr ent reality with Stanley Kowalski. Stella however, decided to continue living a life, with the man she loves whilst having to make her own truth of the story she was told by her sister Blanche. Although, through the act of self-deception, Stella manages to continue on, living the life she loves, with the man that she loves, steering clear of the disaster she may have otherwise faced.

How to Score A1 Grade in English Subject of Ssc

English – Study Plan Planning your study helps in making it extensive and thorough. Given below are some guidelines that may help you to score high in each section of SSC English papers. Answering questions based on the lessons in the main reader: Start by studying the questions for comprehension asked after each lesson at least a few times, which helps in grasping the important topics that can be asked in each lesson. Then take up a more detailed approach for a deeper understanding of each lesson-to understand questions better and know the necessary points to be written for each question.Make a note of the important topics-whichever can be asked as questions. Don’t depend entirely on the questions given after each lesson. Meanings: Keep a dictionary beside you while reading lessons to look up the meanings of words you are not so sure of the meaning. Also a dictionary/thesaurus gives a list of similar meaning words. Meaning of the underlined word: Knowing the different ways a word can be used and the meaning it conveys in each context helps you score marks in the ‘meaning of the underlined word’ section.Ask the teacher for the subtle differences in meanings and usages of those words. Pronunciation: Listen carefully when the teacher pronounces unfamiliar words. Listening is the way to recognize sounds in a language. This will help in recognizing similarly pronounced words and rhyming words. Spellings: While reading a lesson, observe the spellings and make note of words which may be mis-spelt. E. g. : enmity, pilgrimage, austere etc. This helps in recognizing the wrongly spelt words and correcting them. Read the exercises after each lesson also with a critical eye.Practice solving old question papers, bit banks etc and keep evaluating yourself-your strengths and areas that need more work. Rewriting sentences as directed: Practice the different sentence structures (Direct- Indirect speech, Active-passive voice, conditional clauses, parti cipial clauses, relative clauses etc). Structures taught in 8th and 9th classes also need to be revised. Passages for comprehension: Practice the passages for comprehension-the unseen passages of Paper I and the passages from the supplementary readers in Paper-II. The questions following these passages are for one mark each.So they have to be answered briefly, in a sentence or two. After reading the passage, read all the questions, before attempting to answer them. Two or more questions might seem similar. You need to understand how each question is different from another, to answer them well. Read the relevant part of the passage repeatedly to arrive at a concise, precise answer. Answering questions based on the lessons in the supplementary readers: This is the only section in English question paper that allows the students to choose the questions which they can answer the best.The questions may not be the ones that are given after each lesson in the supplementary readers. So a tho rough reading of the lessons is absolutely necessary. Scrambled sentences: The sentences in a passage are jumbled up. The order of the sentences doesn’t convey the meaning correctly. It is necessary to re-arrange the sentences logically, so that they become coherent and connect to each other. Only the letters corresponding to the sentences are to be written in the right order.Writing an argumentative passage based on the given dialogue: Understand the topic being discussed and express your views on the topic. Depending on the topic under discussion, you may argue on one or both sides. It is advisable to divide the argument into a few paragraphs-at least three. State briefly your opinion in the first paragraph. Then go on to express your views, and finally give your conclusion in another paragraph. Letter-writing: Go through the letters given in the previous SSC exams. Practice writing different letters.Understand the difference in style of writing different kinds of formal le tters. Business letters: A business letter-answering an advertisement, is different from a letter written to the Editor of a newspaper to be read by the general public. In a business letter we focus on the purpose of writing the letter-applying for a job or educational course. When you are applying for some educational course you need to tell them what attracted you to the course and why you think that course would be helpful to you.When you are applying for a job, you have to mention that your qualifications suit those required for the job. Lay emphasis on the qualities in you that you think would make you a suitable candidate for the job. Express your eagerness to impress the employer with your sincerity. Â ¤ Understand each new word introduced-the subtle differences in similar meaning words-and how they are used. Â ¤ Pay attention to the textual exercises given after each lesson. They are valuable guidelines to develop a good understanding of the language. Link every new word, to words of similar meaning you learnt earlier. Â ¤ The SSC exam tests the knowledge of the student-it includes words and usages introduced in the earlier classes as well. Â ¤ Listen and read extensively-to develop a better vocabulary. Â ¤ Use the words you have newly learnt at every opportunity-in writing letters and in writing your argument based on a dialogue. Â ¤ Understand the difference between formal and informal expressions. Know the vocabulary to be used in each context. Â ¤ Last but not the least-WRITE IN A NEAT, LEGIBLE HANDWRITING. Avoid striking off or overwriting.

Book and Popular Essay

1. Introduction Popular Holdings is a Singapore-based company that is listed on the Singapore Exchange. Popular is best known for its chain of Popular Bookstores under the Retail and Distribution unit. The Group currently carries out its publishing activities through subsidiaries operating in countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Canada. Its bookstore operations have a network of over 90 Popular Bookstores and 360 Popular managed bookstores with its core businesses in retail, distribution, publishing and e-learning. 2. History of the Company |1924 |Popular started in Singapore under the trade name of Cheng Hing Company, established by the late Mr Chou Sing Chu. It distributed | | |Chinese storybooks. | |1930 |Established World Book Company in Singapore to distribute Chinese books and later moved into the publishing business. | |1936 |Established Popular Book Company in Singapore to sell Chinese books. | |1949 |Incorporated World Publishing Company in Hong Kong to publish magazines and Chinese books for both local and Asian markets. | |1952 |Set up United Publishing House Pte Ltd in Singapore and Malaysia to publish textbooks. | |1975 |Started offering English titles in Singapore and was positioned as â€Å"The Bilingual Bookshop†. Business grew dramatically. | |1984 |Opened the first bilingual bookshop in Malaysia. | |1990 |Introduced the POPULAR Card to cultivate customer loyalty. | |1993 |Expanded the business scope by retailing music products and audio accessories under the brand name of â€Å"CD-RAMA†. | |1997 |Listed Popular Holdings Limited (â€Å"POPULAR†) on the Singapore Exchange. | |2000 |Set up joint venture, EdnoLand (HK) Limited, to provide interactive learning programmes to preschool children. This signified the start | | |of the Group’s e-learning initiatives. | |2002 |Entered the e-learning market of Mainland China | |2003 |Incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary, Popular Digital Products (Shenzhen) Ltd in January, leaving the first footprint in Mainland | | |China’s publishing market. | |2003 |Ventured into Taiwan publishing market. | |2006 |Successfully organized the inaugural BookFest@Singapore and BookFest@Malaysia, drawing over 400,000 visitors. | |2008 |Successfully organized the inaugural BookFest@Hong Kong 2008. | |2009 |Launched â€Å"UrbanWrite†Ã¢â‚¬â€a lifestyle stationery concept store that goes beyond the basics. | |2009 |Opened a new concept bilingual bookstore { prologue } at ION Orchard. | |2010 |Celebrated the 5th anniversary of BookFest@Singapore and BookFest@Malaysia. Both BookFests managed to achieve record turnouts of over | | |half a million visitors each. | 3. Management Structure Popular Holdings has a centralized organizational structure. Mr Chou Cheng Ngok is the Executive Chairman of the Board. In view of the Group’s single leadership structure, Mr Vangatharaman Ramayah was appointed as the Independent Director to lead and coordinate the activities of non-executive directors in circumstances where it would be inappropriate for the Chairman to serve in such capacity. The Independent Directors, Mr Vangatharaman Ramayah and Mrs Lim Soon Tze ensure that there is a good balance of power and authority to enable independent exercise of objective judgement of corporate affairs. All major decisions made by the Chairman are reviewed by the Audit Committee (chaired by Mr Vangatharaman Ramayah). The Nominating Committee (chaired by Mrs Lim Soon Tze) reviews his performance periodically and the Remuneration Committee (chaired by Mr Vangatharaman Ramayah) reviews his remuneration package. Hence, the Board believes that there are adequate safeguards against an uneven concentration of power and authority in a single individual. For management purposes, the Group is organised on a worldwide basis into business units based on their products and services, and has four operating segments as follows: Retail and Distribution, Publishing and E-Learning, Property Development and Corporate. Ms Lim Lee Ngoh and Mr Poon Chi Wai Ponch are the Executive Directors who are in charge of the performance of the businesses. [pic] 4. Markets Served 4. 1 Countries Served As of 30 April 2012, Popular had 148 bookstores – 63 in Singapore, 70 in Malaysia and 15 in Hong Kong. Popular is the biggest book retailer in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong (Chairman’s Statement, Annual Report 2012). Popular is making fast and extensive inroads into the Greater China market, especially in China and Taiwan. There have been marketing offices and subsidiaries set up in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Taipei. 4. 2 Customer Groups Served Due to the various branches in its core business and the variety of products offered at retail stores, Popular serves different customers of all ages, including students who constitute a large portion of their customer base. Popular’s customers range from individual consumers to corporate groups. 5. Products Offered Popular has its core businesses in retail, distribution, publishing and E-learning. As stated in the 2012 Annual Report, â€Å"though the book business is often labelled a sunset industry, retail and distribution [of books] are one of Popular’s strong core businesses†. Popular’s bookstores have products such as books (textbooks, assessment books, storybooks, reference books), CDs, DVDs, educational software, computer accessories, art materials, stationery, electronics, toys, games and gifts. 6. Recent Performance of the Company Popular Bookstore has been achieving increasing turnovers for 3 consecutive years. As seen in Fig 1. 1, Popular achieved a turnover of S$439 million in 2011 in its Retailing and Distribution sector, improving from the past results of 2010 and 2011. The increase in turnover in the Retail and Distribution segment is mainly due to 9 new outlets opening in various locations in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong and the book voucher programme held in Malaysia, where Malaysian students were each given a book voucher worth RM$200 each as part of Malaysia’s government budget in the education sector. Also, the increased turnover is due to reduced costs – In 2010, Popular reduced costs by reducing its retail store space from15200m2 in 2009 to 13700m2 in 2010. Its Publishing and E-Learning sector is doing well as well, with its turnover increasing from S$69 million in 2011 to S$72 million in 2012. Go-Easel is one of Popular’s initiatives which led to this increase in turnover. Go-Easel features digitalised assessment books which provides instant marking and step by step solutions. It gained popularity among students and parents due to its convenient and effective way in helping students academically. [pic] Profits before tax (PBT) in the Retail & Distribution of Popular Bookstore experienced a positive growth as shown in Figure 1. 2, with PBT of S$29 million in 2012, improving from S$19. 1 and S$10. 9 million in 2011 and 2010 respectively. However, there was a drop in PBT in the Publishing & E-Learning sector, decreasing about 24. 7%, from S$9. 7 million in 2011 to S$7. 3 million in 2012. This was due to the closing of one of its magazine distribution business due to restructuring. However, because this closure is only a one-off cost, the prospects of the Publishing & E-Learning sector in Popular Bookstore still remains hopeful for future growth and greater profits. [pic] 7. Macro-Environment Analysis 7. 1 Political Forces Education policies implemented by the government can improve Popular’s sales. For example, in Malaysia, as part of the budget allocated by the government in 2012, every student in Malaysia received a one-time book voucher worth RM$200. This policy led to greater spending in bookstores by the Malaysian community. Popular was the biggest bookstore company with 70 bookstores in Malaysia, and so Popular experienced an increased turnover in 2012. However, governmental regulations may limit demand and reduce profit for Popular Bookstore. The Media Development Authority in Singapore prohibits any import of books, publication, audio materials that contains content that may be â€Å"objectionable on moral, racial or religious grounds, or deemed detrimental to Singapore’s national interest. † (MDA, 2011) Thus, Popular Bookstore is restricted in their range of books and media as it has to comply with these regulations, causing it to lose some of its competitive edge to online E-books retailers. Book readers in Singapore may be able to purchase the restricted materials from these retailers, as these retailers are based overseas and are not restricted by the Singapore law. 7. 2 Economic Forces The relatively high inflation rate in Singapore (4. 1%) and Hong Kong (4. 0%) in 2012 and the bleak global economic outlook is fortunately, not much of a stumbling block for Popular Bookstore, with it achieving positive growth in its Retail and Distribution sector. This could also be attributed to the items that Popular sells, which are mostly books (Eg. Assessment books, textbooks)and stationery. The demand for these items has a small, positive value of income-elasticity because they are necessities and normal goods for students. Hence, a decrease in incomes due to poor economic conditions results in a less than proportionate decrease in demand for Popular’s books , thus Popular has not been badly affected. 7. 3 Social Forces In today’s world, many deem education as an important tool towards a better paying job and a better life. Thus, the spending on education, which includes spending on textbooks, stationery and assessment books, is increasing. For example, in Singapore, the consumer spending on education has been increasing at a steady rate, from US$ 84. 1 million in 2008 to US$155. 4 million in 2011. (GMID,2012). This shows that Singaporeans are increasing willing to spend on education-related items, such as textbooks and assessment books, to supplement the learning. As a bookstore with a niche product market of assessment books and textbooks, Popular Bookstore is able to benefit from this trend of increased spending in education. With the relatively high inflation rates, especially in Singapore and Hong Kong, consumers are becoming more value conscious. Popular Bookstore has done well to cater to the demands of the consumers and projecting a ‘value for money’ image, by offering membership cards and promotions on their items on a regular basis. One of such promotions is the back-to-school promotion, allowing students and their parents to purchase stationery and books at discounted prices. 7. 4 Technological Forces The increasing connectivity of the Internet island wide (e. g. 4G mobile network and OpenNet in Singapore) has led to more online consumers. The size of the online shopping market is large, reaching S$1. 1 billion in 2010, and is expected to reach S$4. 4 billion in 2015. (Techinasia, 2011). This could possibly mean that customers who usually purchase from brick-and-mortar shops like Popular would now shop at online bookstores such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble. While Popular does have an online bookstore, it is not well-known or often-used. Thus, the presence of well-established international online bookstores become a substitute to Popular Bookstores. Also, the affordability of e-books can pose a threat to Popular’s sales of hardcopy books. The price of Kindle Fire, an e-book reader manufactured by Amazon, dropped to US$159, making it more affordable for consumers. Amazon uses the pricing strategy of loss leader, which involves setting the price of Kindle Fire at cost price, and making significant profit from the sale of e-books. Therefore, e-books have now become a substitute of hard-copy books, such as those sold by Popular. 7. 5 Legal Forces The introduction of the Lemon Law in Singapore in September 2012 could affect Popular Bookstores. With the lemon law, consumers can ask for an exchange or even a full refund if goods â€Å"do not meet standards of quality and performance. † (CASE, 2012). This could mean decreased earnings for Popular Bookstore if consumers keep returning to the bookstores to exchange their purchased goods. Without proper enforcement or monitoring, the Lemon Law could even be abused by consumers who repeatedly demand for an exchange or refund, leading to a loss of efficiency and profits. However, Popular is unlikely to be threatened by the Lemon Law, as it already has an exchange policy in place, where it allows its customers to exchange faulty products within 7 days of purchase. 7. 6 Impact of Macro-Environment Forces on Popular Bookstores Popular Bookstore still remains a strong name in the book industry. The fact that it has the majority of the market share in Singapore and that the company’s PBT has been steadily increasing proves that the company has been staying competitive despite the huge number of macroenvironment factors it faces. 8. Market, Industry and Competitive Analysis for Book Buyers in Singapore Our selected market is the market of book buyers in Singapore. These include customers who buy books from both physical bookstores and online bookstores. 8. 1 Market Size The market for book-buyers is that of an oligopoly, with few incumbent firms. Hardcopy book format is still a multi-million dollar industry in Singapore going strong in the face of stiff competition from online book stores. The total market size of brick-and-mortar stores is worth around $165million. In 2011, Popular Bookstores hold about 62. 5% of the total market share, with Kinokuniya (25%) and Times Bookstores (12. 5%) as Popular’s main competitors. 8. 2 Market Trends. Popular Bookstores is still experiencing a growing trend as its value sales grew from $4,106 million in 2006 to $5,107 million in 2011. This may be due to the growing affluence of the Singaporean population, resulting in higher demand for books for both leisure reading and education. However, this trend might not continue in the future. This is in light of stiff competition faced from e-books and online stores such as Amazon, Book Depository. Fortunately, Bookstores like Borders and Page One have all exited the Singapore market and thus there is less competition from these large, well-established firms with Popular Bookstores. 8. 3 Industry SWOT Analysis for Book Buyers in Singapore | |Positive Effect |Negative Effect | |Interna|Strengths |Weaknesses | |l |Popular has a widespread chain of stores throughout Singapore, |Low variety of books as compared to other bookstores such as | |Factors|especially in the heartlands. This makes it very accessible and |Kinokuniya | | |convenient for the customers. |Lack of awareness of its online bookstore | | |Wide range of textbooks and stationery with very strong monopoly power |â€Å"Limited choice† of books on its online bookstore (e.g. Twilight, | | |over assessment books and textbooks |Lord of the Rings, Animal Farm) | | | Existence of { prologue } and Epilogue ( a book cafe located in { |â€Å"Poor interface† (Survey, 2012) of online bookstore | | |prologue } ) to provide an alternative book-buying experience: ‘a novel|Absence of a proper feedback system on its online bookstore | | |brand of book retail therapy, distinctively designed to give a bespoke |Under-utilization of Facebook page resulting in inactivity and | | |multifaceted lifestyle experience’. |unresponsiveness | | |{ prologue } was awarded the Premium Service GEM Award for the Books | | | |and Stationery Category by the Singapore Retailers Association in | | | |recognition of POPULAR’s effort in delivering excellent customer | | | |service. (Chairman’s Statement, Annual Report 2012) | | |Externa|Opportunities |Threats | |l | Growing incomes of book-buyers lead to greater demand for books for  |Local brick-and-mortar competitors such as Kinokuniya are trying | |Factors|leisure and education |to improve their presence by setting up a fourth store in Jurong | | |Many of the target audience are tech-savvy but have yet to purchase |East MRT (JEM) to reach out to more customers. | | |e-book readers such as Kindle or Nook |Due to technological advancement, the Popularity and accessibility| | |Well-established firms like Borders and Page One have previously left |of online bookstores (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository) and| | |the Singapore market, reducing the amount of competition |e-books is decreasing the demand for hardcopy books at physical | | | |stores | | 8.  4 Detailed Industry Analysis of Bookstores | | |Physical Stores |Online Stores | | |Kinokuniya |Second-hand Bookstores |Amazon/Barnes & Noble |Book Depository | |Description |Kinokuniya bookstores are located in central city |Various second-hand bookstores in Singapore |Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are American online retail |Book Depository is a UK-based | | |locations, with its flagship store located at Ngee Ann |sell many classic and contemporary titles at |giants specialized in selling books in both hardcopy and |independent online bookstore | | |City. Kinokuniya offers a wide range of titles and also a |extremely cheap prices. |e-book formats. They are grouped discussed together in this |which sells mainly hardcopy | | |cafe within its store. |There are many second-hand bookstores in Bras|table due to their similar characteristics. |formats. | | | |Basah Complex. (Eg. Evernew Bookstore, Pro | | | | | |Saint Bookstore, Book Point, Knowledge Book | | | | | |Centre) | | | |Strengths |Offers a wide selection of titles in various languages | Extremely cheap prices will attract |They own an ecosystem of their own through their Kindle and |Provides free shipping services, | | |including English, Chinese, Japanese, French, and German |consumers looking for a good read. |Nook tablet products that allow readers to buy e-books and |which allows prices of books to | | |Successfully marketed itself as a premium bookstore in |Good for casual reading, if the reader is not|download it to their tablet reader immediately. |remain cheap | | |Singapore with majority of its stores in the city area. |looking for a particular title |Online stores result in decreased operational fixed costs such|Occasional discounts of up to 90%| | |Niche market focus on casual book readers | |as rental charges and staffing costs compared to |makes books very cheap | | | Premium membership strategy i.e. More expensive membership| |brick-and-mortar stores. Therefore, they are able to sell | | | |card ($21) offering limited discounts to entice consumers | |both e-books and hardcopy formats at a discounted rate. | | | |to purchase more titles to get back their money’s worth. | |Extremely wide collection of titles. | | | | | |It is easy to search for titles because the search process is | | | | | |automated. | | |Weaknesses |Books are priced higher than its competitors due to its |Limited range of titles, especially newer |Penetration of their respective ecosystems are not widespread |It is relatively unknown to the | | |premium branding and higher rental costs in the city |titles, consumers looking for specific books |in Asia |crowd in Singapore. | | |Limited market penetration due to its limited number of |may not be able to find what they want. |Shipping costs and waiting time negates the benefits of online| | | |stores. | |shopping as price of shipping from America is usually high. | | | | | |Asian titles are not as diverse / rich as they are | | | | | |America-based. | | 8. 5 Competitive Analysis –Using Porter’s Five Forces 8. 5. 1 Threat of New Entrants The threat of new entrants in the physical bookstore industry is relatively low because there are low barriers to entry. This is due to strong customer loyalty to established players like Popular and Kinokuniya dominating the market, high sunk costs and economies of scale setting in late. Also, the book industry is also deemed as a â€Å"sunset industry†, which is less attractive to firms as this is associated with low profitability, so firms are less likely to enter the market. However, these low barriers to entry only apply to the industry of physical bookstores. Popular still faces a different kind of competition from online bookstores, which are close competitors with physical bookstores. 8. 5. 2 Degree of Substitutes There is a high degree of substitutability. In terms of physical bookstores, book buyers in Singapore have many alternatives to turn to – such as big industry players like Kinokuniya and Times and second-hand stores at Bras Basah Complex. Kinokuniya and Times are strong competitors because they offer a greater variety of books from different countries, and have marketed themselves as premium bookstores due to their location in the city area. Second-hand bookstores at Bras Basah Complex (Eg. Evernew Bookstore, Pro Saint Bookstore, Book Point, Knowledge Book Centre) are also a threat because they offer very cheap books. Besides physical stores, online bookstores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Book Depository are dominating the book-buying market in Singapore. These online bookstores offer a quick and easy way to purchase books without being physically at the store, and the benefit of having purchases delivered to customers’ doorsteps. E-businesses can also offer more competitively-priced books than Popular because there is no need to pay for rental, which takes up a huge proportion of fixed cost. For example, Amazon sells a book titled â€Å"Act of Valour† at $9. 99, whereas Popular sells the same book at $17. 00. Furthermore, with an increased access to fast and free internet services such as those offered by Wireless@SG, and the availability of safe and convenient electronic payment, e-businesses are becoming closer substitutes to physical bookstores than ever before. 8. 5. 3 Bargaining Power of Buyers The bargaining powers of buyers are relatively low in terms of physical book stores. They have little access to information such as the prices of books, because physical bookstores do not openly publish their prices online, except when there are promotions. Also, most bookstores located in a certain region would sell books at similar prices, so customers who are unwilling to travel would have a low tendency to switch to other physical bookstores if the switching cost exceeds the savings gained from only slightly cheaper books. However, the increased popularity of online bookstores is likely to increase the bargaining power of buyers. Buyers become less dependent on existing channels (ie. Physical bookstores) and can now switch to purchasing books online instead. 8. 5. 4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers There is low bargaining power of suppliers. In terms of the book-buying market, Popular Bookstores’ suppliers are mainly publishing firms. Because there are many suppliers in the market that engage in publishing work, there is a low supplier to firm ratio. This means that Popular Bookstore can switch suppliers easily. Furthermore, there is low switching costs for Popular because they can easily turn to their own subsidiaries such as Novum Organum Publishing House Pte Ltd and Educational Publishing House Pte Ltd. Also, there is low supplier competition because it is hard for suppliers to vertically integrate and sell the products to buyers directly. Therefore, suppliers have a low bargaining power, which strengthens Popular’s position and authority. 8. 5. 5 Degree of Market Rivalry Amongst Existing Competitors There is a strong intensity of market rivalry amongst existing competitors like Times, Kinokuniya, and second-hand bookstores. This is because there is a lot of room for differentiation in terms of the four elements in the marketing mix. Product differentiation can come in the form of the variety of books, in terms of the subject matter and country of origin. Price differentiation can also be present as some bookstores have higher priced books due to their well-known brand name or location. Place differentiation can be in terms of the store environment and store location, while promotion differentiation can be in terms of level of advertising, frequency of discounts, customer access to publicity materials and staff service standards. Therefore, bookstores face much competition amongst themselves because there are so many ways that they can differentiate themselves in providing the optimal book-buying experience for book-buyers in Singapore. 9. Customer Analysis and Segmentation for Book Buyers in Singapore 9. 1 Customer Profile: Book Buyers in Singapore The selected market of focus for Popular is book buyers in Singapore. Potential book buyers are any literate customers in the country, from 6 years-old onwards (Stuart, 2010). This customer base is continuously growing, albeit at a slow rate due to the low fertility rate in Singapore (Wong, 2012). Majority of Singaporeans are literate (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2012) as they have basic primary education which is mandatory for all citizens (Ministry of Education Singapore, 2011). In addition, an influx of foreign talents from other countries to support Singapore’s infrastructure and economy (Yeoh & Lin, 2012) also increases the number of book buyers in Singapore. The incomes of book buyers can be inferred from the Singapore Department of Statistics. The average monthly household from work including employer CPF contributions among resident employed households in 2011 was S$9,618, while the average monthly household income from work per household member including employer’s CPF contributions among resident employed households was S$2,925. These incomes have a generally increasing trend from past years, and were the highest in 2011, reflecting the increasing affluence of book buyers. Because books are normal goods, an increasing income of customers would increase the demand for books. However, since the selected market of focus is solely referring to individuals, businesses or organizations are not included and revenues are not considered. To develop an effective marketing strategy, it is essential to understand the targeted customer base and its segments. Comprehensive profiles of a company’s target customers are often required, and this is done by expending resources to segment these target customers. Book buyers can be segmented according to demographic and psychographic factors. 9. 2 Demographic Segmentation Popular segments its market by key variables such as gender, age, education, race, nationality and the family life cycle. For the identification variable of gender, books relating to beauty and the domestic sphere such as recipe books cater more to women, while the genre of sports and cars appeal more to men. In terms of age, segmentation is characterized by one’s life cycle, as exemplified by pre-school books, children books, teenage fiction and magazines, adult fiction and self-help books, etc. The company’s philosophy of knowledge and education (Chua, 2010) has been manifested in the common sentiment that Popular’s niche is in assessment books and textbooks (Survey, 2012) and is a large portion of the customer base of book buyers. This demonstrates how the market is segmented by education, as books are tailored to the needs of students in each stage of education – primary, secondary and tertiary, and also for students in different disciplines – business, finance, management, etc. The market is also segmented by race, as there are books in different languages such as English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. The variety of books in the Singapore & South East Asia and Asian Collections also show that the market is simultaneously segmented by nationality as well. Finally, the family life cycle is also an important variable as Popular’s books cater to the needs of different families at different parts of the cycle, providing books on sports and leisure for families without children, and books on parenting and health for families with children, etc. 9. 3 Psychographic Segmentation The identification variables of personality, lifestyle and social class also come into play for the selected market of book buyers. Based on the variety of genres provided by Popular such as fiction, classics and literature, comics and humour, astrology and new age and self-improvement, it can be seen that Popular designs its catalogue to appeal to different people with distinct personalities. Likewise, in the culturally diverse Singapore with an inherent cosmopolitan lifestyle, Popular recognizes the importance of suiting the needs of various individuals by offering a selection of books for every lifestyle, such as books on cooking or food and wine, outdoors and nature, photography, travel, etc. The different social classes have also led  to Popular’s expansion in the market, as illustrated by the novel brand of book retail therapy seen in { prologue } (Popular Holdings Limited, 2009) to cater to the higher-income class, which has an â€Å"upscale identity† that is â€Å"quite different from the family-oriented, fluorescent-lit heartlander look and feel that Popular bookstores have come to embody† (Lui, 2009). 10. Marketing Objectives Popular’s main objective is to establish a strong regional presence by becoming a Central Clearing House for both English and Chinese books in the Asia Pacific Region (Popular’s Strategic Vision 2012). As such, their marketing objective is to offer a wide variety of books with relevant, unique, and good quality content at value-for-money prices. (Popular’s Strategic Vision, 2012). Next, Popular aims to differentiate itself from both brick-and-mortar bookstores and online bookstores which both serve the same book-buying market. This is especially important because Popular is in an oligopolistic market and faces strong competition. These brick-and-mortar bookstores include the well-established Kinokuniya, Times and Big Bookshop, and second-handbook stores, while online bookstores include Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Thus, Popular’s marketing objective is to capture a larger market share through differentiation. Lastly, in terms of the variety of books, Popular aims to be the largest and most innovative publisher of bilingual books (Popular’s Strategic Vision, 2012). It attracts publishers like Seashore Publishing (M) Sdn. Bhd. to Singapore, which dominates the market for bilingual cookbook and general-interest Mandarin books. Through its books, Popular also intends to promote the Chinese language, heritage and culture. For instance, Popular organised the National Chinese Creative Reading Competition during the BookFest@Singapore 2011 to ‘make students more aware [of] and stimulate their interest in Chinese culture and heritage through creative reading’ (Chairman’s Statement, Annual Report 2012) 11. Marketing Strategy / Mix 11. 1 Branding and positioning Popular portrays an image that it is a one-stop station where consumers are able to find whatever they need. This image is especially relevant since Popular’s main target group is the masses who usually read best-selling books written by well-known authors. To capture a larger consumer market and establish a strong regional presence, Popular has also ventured into overseas markets such as Malaysia, Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. 11. 2 Price Popular has adopted different pricing strategies for Popular and Prologue. Prologue has adopted a premium price position for their products. This strategy of prestige pricing is appropriate as Prologue is targeted at the higher end consumers who would be willing to pay higher prices. On the other hand, Popular has adopted mainstream price position for their products. The products offered by Popular is at a rather affordable price since it is mainly targeting the majority of the population. Furthermore, Popular offers products at competitive prices compared to other bookstores. With its membership card, Popular offers further discounts on the prices of its products and this further enhances its competitiveness in the industry. In addition, Popular’s membership card can be acquired at a low cost (e. g. $20 for 3-year membership for students), as compared to other bookstores, such as Kinokuniya ($55. 60 for 3-year membership). 11. 3 Product  Popular believes that in order to stay relevant with changing consumers’ taste and preferences, they should continue to innovate by selling new products. Hence, in 2009, Popular opened ‘UrbanWrite’ and ‘{ prologue }’. UrbanWrite, â€Å"a lifestyle stationery concept store that goes beyond the basics†, offer slightly different products such as scrap book materials, stationaries that are not available at Popular Bookstore. With new concept stores under Popular, such as { prologue } and UrbanWrite, it is pertinent to ensure that Popular does not lose its identity as a one-stop station to avoid confusion amongst its consumers.