IBA Final Paper Group

In this simulation, we were tasked with successfully launch info Alleles in new markets over the next 7-10 years, effectively expanding the Alistair Brand into Latin America. Alistair Brands is doing well in its traditional markets of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, but the markets IR those countries are mature with lots of competition. Latin America is a region that provides great potential and a variety of trade enhancement actions have been struck in recent years. NONFAT for example, reduced the trade barriers between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.This allows for establishing production in Mexico to take advantage of low labor costs and seamless access to the U. S. And Canadian markets. The MERCURY agreement also provides similar ease of access among the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. These factors combined make Latin America a ripe market for Alistair Brands to enter. Initially, we entered the Mexican market and created five SKU that covered all four benefits to test the market for each type of benefit, as well as wanting to implement SKU that none of our competition was using, such as economy gel.Our primary target markets were families with kids focused on economy, and younger focused on whitening. No one had tapped into the kid's market, SC we created a SKU to fill that demand, which also created a niche in the mark hat We dominated. Our primary channels Were the traditional and hyper- market, with a small section focused in web. The traditional channel had the largest number of outlets; thus, we allocated 25 sales people to that channel and it generated 12. 1 % of our sales.Hypermarket had only one competitor and had the most growth potential, while the web had no real competition. We positioned ourselves in regards to pricing towards the lower spectrum with a 5% allowance. We set our MSP at double our production cost, still maintaining an economy price by being priced lower than our competito rs. Striving to get our name out there in the initial period, we also spent SSL 50 million in promotion and $76 million in advertising and our ad campaigns focused on highlighting two of our SKU (younger/white and families/ economy).Over the course of the simulation we entered three more Latin American countries (Brazil, Argentina, and Chile), built a plant in Brazil, left the traditional channel and entered the wholesale channel, changed SKU and pricing, discontinued and created new ads in all countries, tried to make our products standard in each country, exited a country that was not performing ell, and added new products to our existing product lines. After implementing and tweaking our marketing plan each year in the simulation, we ended the simulation with a BEE of 76. We saw a 6. % growth in unit sale 18. 3% growth in manufacturer sales, 29. 7% growth in gross margin, and 60. 3% growth in net contribution. We finished in fifth place with a cumulative net contribution of $400. 6 million. In the following few pages, we will demonstrate what our marketing plan was and how we implemented it in each year Of the simulation from beginning to end to effectively demonstrate owe our decision criteria led us to the position that we ended in. Situation Analysis Throughout the study, the opportunities and threats varied among the 1 0 decision making periods.However, threats were mostly, actively controlled by a third party stimulator, while the opportunities describe our reaction to openings in the market for potential revenue. For example, a population product benefit without a SKIS to squelch the market need provided a clear opportunity for a new SKU with an updated promotional budget and campaign. The opportunities listed below detail the groups research for opportunities as well as the active response. After a forced entry in the Mexico market, one of the first opportunities was the cheap tariff and shipping costs from the US to Mexico. With a 0. % tariff, as a percent of CIFS and a shipping cost of approximately two cents per unit, entry into the market provided a strong base to grow our brand. There were also free trade agreements between the US and Mexico, making distribution, cost effective and permittivity seamless. With Brazil economic boom, it was impossible to ignore the specific opportunities in this market. With a surge in population, there began to arise product benefits that were not being met by competing products. Therefore, Alleles responded by implementing a SKIS that filled the family/healthy/ economy and size gap, as well as the kids market.With space in the hypermarket and web. The Alleles group capitalized on these channels and spiked the promotional budget to raise product awareness and our resulting As the success in Brazil continued, Alleles constructed a second plant in period 3 that would offset the high shipping costs to the later entered, Argentinean an Chilean, markets, combined with a free trade agreement. Furt her, entry into the Brazilian, Argentinean and Chilean market was titivated by low transportation costs and tariffs. However shipping costs, from the home plant, did not prove a lucrative. With an opportunities analysis, a weakness analysis must follow.Because Alleles was on a first mover into the South American toothpaste market, the company missed out on many of the advantages awarded to competitors, such as the ability to set standards concerning product expectation, the bill ¶y' to educate the public about the product, and capitalize on unused distributors and suppliers. However, these weaknesses also provided an opportunity for Alleles to responds in self-benefiting methods. First, being a late entering competitor to an already established market, much of the risk was alleviated associated with introducing existing markets to new products.There was also less of a need for an educational promotional budget. Alleles was allowed to piggyback off of the market penetration of earl y entry competitors. Another additive that come with entering a market post-establishment, is the ability to put pressure on existing products, forcing them to make adjustments to account increased market competitor. Some of the changes included, price reductions, increasing sales force and raising advertising expense, all efforts to attempt to solidify their, now threatened, position in the market.The Alleles response to increased opportunity was to lesson dependence on a single market by entering others. Finally, market threats perpetually interrupted the opportunity response progression for Alleles. For example, after entry into Chile, the brand began to notice a reoccurring cost that could not justify the company's market activity. Therefore, it became necessary to pull out of Chile in period 8. Also, the highly competitive arena in Brazil and Argentina provided the need to constantly adjust product SKILL, racing, production, promotion and advertising to account for competitor s uccess.The largest threat in the South American toothpaste market proved to reside in Venezuelan and Argentinean markets. Venezuela entered a recession walkway through the simulation, which prevented entrance from Alleles, and Argentina began to experience the impending effects of a recession, however, we had already invested too many resources to pull out of the country, so we had to adjust our skews to account for the change in shopping habits. Market Entry International market entry decisions are complicated. Most companies must rye to balance the benefits of increased control and the costs of resource commitment and risk [Country Manager].Factors such as international experience, firm size, market knowledge, and economic attractiveness must all be taken into account. Therefore, market entry is critical to Allele's success. Alleles is interested in entering Latin America. Due to its large population and a variety of trade enhancement actions (NONFAT, MERCURY) that have been estab lished in recent years Latin America has great potential. Before choosing which country to enter we wanted to perform a competitive analysis and selected macro-level indicators, such as economic development, to examine.We then weighed their importance. We also examined product markets, such as market size and the number of competitors. These can be seen in the country attractiveness analysis sheet in the appendix Of this report. After weighing all of our information, Alleles decided to enter Mexico market first. Alleles chose to enter Mexico through exporting the product from our home plant. Five Kiss were chosen to test the market for each type of benefit. We also wanted to implement SKU that no other competitor was using. Finally, we chose three distribution channels.In this first market, and I being essentially a test market, Alleles was somewhat successful in establishing our name in the market. After being in Mexico for a year, we decided to use the ‘X†tearful marke ting effect† to enter Brazil. Alleles chose Brazil because of its similarities to Mexico. Using a slight product adaptation, four SKU and three distribution channels were chosen for Allele's entry into Brazil. Continuing with the â€Å"waterfall marketing effect† and utilizing straight extension, we next entered Argentina. At this time we had been establishedMexico for a few years and in Brazil for one. With moderate success in previous markets, Alleles entered Argentina with the same SKU and distribution channels utilized in Brazil. We also weighed the cost and benefit of continuing to export from the home plant against the risk of building a plant locally to our markets. Indicators weighed in favor of building locally. Therefore, Alleles began building a plant in Brazil. In the fourth year of marketing in Latin America we decided not to enter a new market. We wanted to focus our time and attention on Mexico, Brazil AR Argentina, as well as the new plant.The plant also began to distribute to the Brazil and Argentina markets which lowered costs and increased profit. Year five did see a new endeavor for Alleles. We chose to enter the Chilean market further increasing our regional diversification.. The SKU and distribution channels were again a straight extension of the product. As we did in year four, years six and seven were spent focusing on our established markets. Alleles also took this time to increase capacity in our plant to accommodate the market need. Due to several issues, especially our sustained losses, Alleles exited Chill?s market.We had been in the country for three years and we continued to set in the red. Furthermore, after examining the competition, we knew it would take us years to compete as market leader and the markets in Brazil and Mexico had much greater potential. Exiting Chile was the last â€Å"market entry/exit† decision that Alleles made. We spent the new couple of years focusing on the markets that we had entere d and that were doing well. Overall, by utilizing the â€Å"waterfall† approach and using the money made in one market to help fund efforts in new markets, Alleles was successful with our market entries. Manufacturing location and sourcingThere were many factors to consider when our company was assessing the attractiveness of building a plant in another country. Political stability, shipping expenses, market economy, natural hazards and transportation were just a few indicators that needed to be examined. Understanding these influences enabled our company to make the right decision. Brazil is one of South America's most stable and prosperous nations. It's economy outweighs that of all other South American countries and Brazil is expanding its presence in world markets. Shipping costs from Brazil to it's neighboring countries is quite cheap.According to Country Manager, hipping from Brazil to Mexico is the highest at . 040. Therefore, We would continue to ship to Mexico from o ur home Plant and use the Brazilian Plant to ship to Argentina (. 020) and Chile (. 020). A local plant, which Brazil would be for all but Mexico, results in fixed costs from depreciation and the per unit (variable) cost of production. Country Manager cost analysis has Brazil at the head of the pack in terms of fixed cost (1 5% cost reduction). Furthermore, building in Brazil would result in a 0% tariff in regards to Argentina and Chile. Both of these indicators pointed favorably to building in Brazil.Natural hazards are present in every country, however, it is an indicator that must be taken into account. Brazil is home to droughts in the northeast and frost in the south. These particular natural hazards aren't very severe in terms of affecting shipping further making Brazil our top choice in Plant location. Transportation was an important factor we took into account when deciding where to build Allele's plant. Having the means to transport/ship the product to market is essential. Brazil is home to 4,000 airports, 28,857 km of railways and 1 , 751 ,868 km of roadways and this doesn't take into account its shipping ports.Because there are so many options for transporting goods, the cost of goods sold can be kept reasonable. Utilizing all of these indicators, it was clear that Alleles should build in Brazil. The plant's capacity was set to the projected unit sales in Brazil for the following period because we did not want to have a large excess which would lead to avoidable loss. However, we increased our plant production capacity by 50 million units (100 million units total) after one year. This was done to meet the demand of our past sales and accommodate for our forecasted sales.We also began distributing to Argentina from our Brazil plant in effort f decreasing shipping and tariff expenses. As each period progressed we assessed the plant's capacity and adjusted accordingly, for example, we increased our plant production capacity again by 40 million units (1 40 million units total) in order to accommodate our entry into Chile. Once this capacity increase was accomplished there were no changes made to the production capacity for one year because our capacity perfectly lined up with the amount of units sold in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.However, the following year we increased production capacity by 15 million units to accommodate projected unit sales and a further 55 million units, eased on our need forecast for the next period, the year after that. With Alleles exiting Chile in year eight, we did not increase our plant capacity again. Building our plant in Brazil proved to be a success. Alleles was able to put pressure on all other competitors, especially other domestic companies. This helped drive share of mind and sales leadership in Brazil – enabling us to more effectively compete with the local and regional competitors which were two of the market leaders.Target Marketing Strategy Target marketing strategy was an important part to make Alleles achieve success when we enter and explore a new country. In target marketing strategy, we have to determine our main potential customers, try to attract attention from them, raise our target customers' interests, convince our customers' desires and lead our customers purchasing. Therefore, we had used MIMIC and AID (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model to help Alleles make a right target marketing strategy for each country that we entered. Mexico Alleles chose enter Mexico market first.Based on data provided from cross- section decision analysis in Mexico, price was customer most care about with 50. % weight and product effect was second with 27. 6%. For demographic, the families was most demographics population which was 55. 9% Of customers with 62. 2% of demand. The younger was second largest demographic population (27%) with 23. 7% of demand. See demographics with benefits, families/economy are largest market with 34. 6%pop and 36. 7% demand; younger/wh ite are second with 6. 9% pop and 10. 2% demand. By benefits view, the economy and white are majority benefits that Mexican customers would like to buy.

Belong Speech †As You Like It and The Kite Runner Essay

John O’Donohue once said ‘the hunger to belong is not merely a desire to be attached to something. It is rather sensing that great transformation and discovery become possible when belonging is sheltered and true. ’ Many individuals desire to belong and so forge connections with others through a variety of different vehicles, be it filial relationships or friendships. Shakespeare’s play As You Like It and Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner explore the developing of one’s sense of self, by establishing meaningful relationships, which are a conduit for one to find a sense of belonging. Familial relationships contribute towards one’s sense of belonging, as they shape a person’s identity and can result in personal fulfilment and growth. Conversely, disconnection between family relationships can cause confusion and isolation. Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It, analyses the ramifications of dysfunctional family relationships on one’s sense of belonging. Through animalistic imagery and hyperbole, Orlando describes his brother’s treatment of him as differing not from the â€Å"stalling of an ox† deeming it an assault on his identity. His disjointed syntax and truncated sentence structures, â€Å"it was upon this fashion bequeathed me by will but poor a thousand crowns†, further convey his confusion and frustration, which stem from severed familial relationships, thus highlighting how severed familial relationships stimulate a lack of belonging. In contrast to the antagonism brewing between the brothers at outset of the novel, they are reunited when Orlando asserts their filial connection, saving Oliver from a lion at his own risk. Oliver’s use of past and present tense, â€Å"was I, but tis not I†, conveys his personal transformation as a result of their connection. The humble tone of this dialogue reinforces the restoration of their relationship due the brother’s reconciliation, resulting in a strong connection and sense of belonging. The restoration of Orlando and Oliver’s relationships broadened my understanding of belonging in that there is often a profound compulsion to belong, even when one may resist it. The radical transformation in Oliver, exemplifies the notion that family relationships have a profound impact on one’s sense of belonging and identity, by affecting their ability to connect with others. Like in As You Like It, the main character in Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, experiences isolation as a result of the breakdown of family relationships. The silent animosity between father and son, resulting from their strong differences, highlights the tension that exists between them. Like Orlando and Oliver, constant conflict is intertwined within their relationship, as Baba does not approve of Amir’s interest in reading and writing. Baba’s short sentences and hesitant tone, â€Å"(He)†¦ gave a thin smile (of)†¦ feigned interest† illustrates the disconnection between Baba and Amir. This is furthered through Baba’s use of tag questions, â€Å"’Well, that’s very good, isn’t it? ‘ he said†, which reinforces his lack of interest in his son. While Amir expresses a profound sense of respect towards his father, he often describes his father as viewing the world as ‘black and white’. The binary opposition and colour symbolism of black and white symbolically reflects the tension between the two characters, and their inability to relate to one another, resulting in disconnection and a lack of belonging. Amir concludes with ‘you can’t love a person who lives that way without fearing him†¦ even hating him a little’. The use of first person narration, combined with colloquial language evokes feelings of empathy from the reader towards Amir, as they it allows them a deeper understanding of the emotional ramifications of the strained relationship on Amir. Amir’s emotional tone and body language, combined with the vivid imagery in the simile, â€Å"I flinched, like I’d been slapped. My heart sank†¦Ã¢â‚¬  effectively highlights his strong desire to belong with his father. The constant yearning for affection in the book was very insightful as demonstrated to me the extent of the innate human desire to belong. It can thus be concluded that filial relationships are an important factor in determining a person’s sense of belonging as one’s self-esteem and identity can only be cultivated within the close emotional bondage that only family offers. Relationships between friends are another factor that contributes towards one’s sense of belonging as such relationships aid in fulfilling the innate human desire to connect with others and be a part of something greater than one’s self. In ‘As You Like It’ there is a strong connection between Rosalind and Celia despite the conflicts that exists between their families. Celia’s affectionate tone and repetition, â€Å"my sweet Rose, my dear Rose†, coupled with her use of the possessive adjective â€Å"my† epitomizes the strong connection between them. Their immutable connection is affirmed through classical allusions and asyndeton, â€Å"We still have slept together,.. learned, played, eaten together†¦ like Juno’s swans coupled and inseparable,† The visual imagery of unity as well as virtuous symbolism is significant and challenges the notion of sexual promiscuity as suggested by the Dukeâ€Å"thus do all traitors. The strength of their connection is also conveyed in Celia’s insistence that her father â€Å"pronounce (Rosalind’s) sentence on me†¦ I cannot live out of her company†. The hyperbole and high modality language highlights Celia’s allegiance and loyalty towards Rosalind. Though exiled form the court, Rosalind’s stable and supportive relationship with Celia enables her to maintain her sense of identity and confidence, regardless of her circumstances and external environment. Because of this, it is clear that strong friendships act as a conduit to finding a strong sense of belonging and confidence, allowing individuals to experience security and fulfilment even within adverse circumstances. Similarly, in ‘The Kite Runner’, symbols and metaphors are used to visually represent Amir and Hassan’s friendship, and to present the message of true and loyal friendship in an impacting way. Kites are used as a motif to represent the freedom of and strong bond between the two boys, both at the beginning and end of the novel. Under the Taliban regime, kite flying was banned, symbolically representing the lack of freedom in Kabul, which paralleled Amir and Hassan’s disintegrating relationship due to a loss of innocence. Kites also symbolise the brotherhood and friendship between the two of them, particularly as they would often build kites together ‘sav(ing) (their) weekly allowance in the fall’. This simplifies the innocence and love between the two of them, increasing the impact of their bond. Symbolism allows for a deeper understanding of Amir and Hassan’s friendship, which shows that they belong to each other. The use of kite flying and kite running is also used to show the class distinction between Amir and Hassan and to show how minute and irrelevant hierarchy is compared to the bond of friendship. Even though Hassan is constantly referred to as the â€Å"slave†, Amir holds enough respect to forge and connect with Hassan. The demeaning value of the colloquial term, in turn demonstrates the depth and strength of their friendship. Through the use of metaphors and symbolism, the notion of unbiased friendship, is shown throughout the play which contributes towards the boys sense of belonging. Amir’s exclamation â€Å"You’re the brother I never had†, which, due to Hassan’s â€Å"slave† status would have been affront to the ropriety of the time, highlights how relationships can break down socially constructed barriers, enabling a strong sense of belonging and fulfilment. Overall, all both texts highlight the vital role that relationships play in terms of belonging and not belonging. As demonstrated through the relationships of Amir and his father, and Orlando and Oliver, it is clear that dysfunctional familial relationships and broken friendships can cause conflict and isolation. On the other hand, as seen in Celia and Rosalind and Amir and Hassan, a strong connection between individuals can lead to fulfilment, contentment, and a strong sense of belonging.

Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Interview - Essay Example of experience working in the position and thus knows a great deal about how the work is done; furthermore, he has developed proper skills with respect to teaching people that are newly hired within the work environment and train them regarding the job at hand. Moreover, he seemed very genial and professional at the same time, making it very comfortable for those working in the library and also has excellent customer management skills which are very essential for the purpose of a good library student leader. Working at the library involves a great deal of customer service and it is like a public service job where one has to cater to the needs of other people; books need to be kept in order, music CDs and films need to be kept in a proper manner so that they are easily found by others when they require them. Furthermore, the organization of all these resources also requires the people handling them to be very careful so as to ensure no damage of the same. We discussed the purpose of various groups within the library work field and how they are organized and utilized in an efficient manner – for example, the purpose of the people handling the inventory; when there are about ten people handling the same, they divide the job among themselves so as to get done faster and in a more efficient manner. Other chores in the library involve discharging books, CDs and DVDs and maintaining them in a proper order. He has spent a considerable amount of time working with various groups in the lib rary carrying out these different functions and has experience in utilizing groups; over the last two years he has used various methods to get the inventory work done faster by segregating the literature in different parts according to their genres, covering the books and then placing them in their respective racks to be found easily and issued by the customers. The groups are thus utilized in an efficient manner; however Mr Ferguson also said that there could be more groups with respect

Foreign Market Entry and Diversification Research Paper - 2

Foreign Market Entry and Diversification - Research Paper Example However, the issues that will remain unchanged are the functioning and control techniques including the ability of the institution to have better consumer associations and sales force. Through working upon the plans of foreign market expansion, a Coca-Cola institution may have benefits and be advantageous in many differentiated ways. A product line of particular type established by the organization can aid the enterprise in lowering the threat. It may achieve experience two different technologies, and establish the economies of scale. It shall satisfy the powerful desire to diversify the brand of the organization into a few extra fields of items, and will aid in achieving the profitable development (Karami, 2007). Diversification strategy Corporate administration’s initial course of action must be an analysis of if any opponent exists for enhancing its present enterprise functioning. The company wants to diversify DASANI, which is bottled water produced by Coca-Cola. The organ ization initially takes into account if it would achieve greater market share with its present items in their current markets (Neelankavil & Rai, 2009). This is known as the market penetration plan. After that, the organization takes into account where it can discover or establish new markets for its present commodities. This is the market growth strategy. Lastly, Coca-Cola will assess if it may establish new commodities for new markets. This is termed as the expansion strategy. The markets which Coca-Cola trades its commodities include in the United States and in the home market as well. The company has attained huge prosperity for the past years it has been in operation. However, the company feels there is a need for further expansion to reap more benefits. The Coca-Cola Company started to establish new commodity which will be used in the diversification process and which is the DASANI bottled water. DASANI at first got satisfaction outcomes when it first entered the United States market and the company hopes the product will repeat the same results when they decide to expand into new markets. Therefore, for the company to diversify its new commodity market and enhance its global competitiveness, it started to expand DASANI into a new market, which is in the United Kingdom. This expansion will increase the sales volume of DASANI; hence the increase in profitability of the company (Terpstra, Sarathy, & Foley, 2012). Market entry strategies Product positioning strategy This strategy is important for an organization to venture into a new market. The positioning strategy provides the organization with the best alternative to take to place the product, and at what price should it be sold at in the market for consumers to be able to access and buy it. Individuals in the United Kingdom are searching for greater quality water to drink. This calls for the Coca-Cola organization to commit extra resources to produce a high quality product that fulfills the consumer nee ds. A greater quality product will call for heavy investment in the production process and this as well calls for the products to reflect the cost of production. The differentiation strategy and the brand management strategy have as well to be applied in the product positioning strategy to achieve better and attractive results. Therefore, for

Traffic Gridlock in New York Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Traffic Gridlock in New York - Essay Example This letter will begin with the statement that as the traffic gridlock in New York continues to bring the city to a grinding halt every single day of the week, Mayor Bloomberg has done his best to try to solve the traffic situation. One of his traffic easement programs includes the building of more bicycle lanes in our city. There are currently 255 miles of additional bike lanes around the city. But it is little used because native New Yorkers are not aware of the bike lane program of the city. The researcher tells that he cannot help but feels saddened by the fact that New Yorkers continue to face daily gridlocks that adversely affect the local economy. The author feels even worse when he realizes that no amount of government programs will be able to help ease the situation because the government lacks the advertising and promotional skills to make sure that their bicycle programs get out the most number of New Yorkers. Although 66 percent of New Yorkers believe that the bicycle lan e is a good idea. It appears that not everyone in New York owns a bicycle. That is why the researcher was more than happy to learn about the Paris style Bike sharing network that the city is working towards implementing. Under the bike sharing network, even people who do not own a bicycle can participate by simply â€Å"renting† a bicycle at specific points within the city and then parking it at a similar terminal at their point of destination. With all of New York reeling under the rising costs of gasoline, the bike sharing idea does not sound like a bad thing.

Answer the questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Answer the questions - Essay Example The scope entails establishing the capability of the system to interact with other elements within the environment with which the system operates is essential. The requirements of the users must be assessed effectively to ensure that they are incorporated within the operation of the system. The identification of system weaknesses is fundamental in seeking to establish a properly functioning system to undertake the required functions. Limitations into the process of system analysis are the regulations that exist with regard to the technology that can be utilised in establishing a functioning system. Technological differences between the system and the applications being utilised presents a significant challenge to system analysts Fact-finding measures are essential in the determination of the functions that a system can undertake, with regard to the user requirements. Use cases provide a platform upon which system usability is commonly analysed. Information gained from fact-finding and use cases is essential in system analysis, as it is the fundamental base upon which decisions regarding the system are made. Technological discrepancies are commonly solved by undertaking an analysis of the available technology during the feasibility study. These social settings provide an individual with guidelines through which daily activities are based upon. Before undertaking any personal activity, one requires to make an analysis of the activities involved in order to determine which one comes before the others. The consideration for the environment within which one undertakes his/her activities is essential in ensuring that no harm comes to the society. The limitations that an individual experiences in life come from the knowledge possessed, and the values held by the individual. The fundamental assumptions within the context of this project include the capability of an individual to undertake an object analysis of self, and the capability to undertake the

2008 Economic Crisis in the U.S. and media connection Assignment

2008 Economic Crisis in the U.S. and media connection - Assignment Example While millions of people have spent their lives adhering to this American dream, there have been periods throughout our history where tireless amounts of work and sacrifice have not been able to stop the economy of this nation from crashing down upon the very people who work endlessly to build it. Nearly five years ago, 2008 was no exception as the core of the American economy crumbled beneath the people of this nation who were standing upon it to bolster their careers, their lives and their homes. As this recession immediately spurred talk of the next Great Depression, the American people as well as the rest of the world watched in varying states of horror as the media depicted an economic downfall which the country was not prepared for. The purpose of this paper is to establish that the America people give the media almost an absolute power in determining what we believe, see, think and feel about the world around us. In order to demonstrate the proposed goal of this literary work, the following pages will first define the â€Å"economic crisis† the country faced and then will break into discussions on how the media covered the events which unfolded in the midst of such a crisis at both a national and international level. Economic Crisis Upon its arrival, the 2008 economic crisis left families decimated and crippled the financial outlook of this nation. As soon as the reality of what was happening became apparent, the media became fixated with determining a cause and definition for this crisis. Initially after the crisis, news media turned to the experts and featured a high number of guest experts who could immediately pinpoint causes of the economic situation. One such example comes from the Accuracy in Media group with a guest column from financial expert James Davis. According to Davis, an international bank analyst, the complete downfall which caused the 2008 financial crisis was caused by faulty bank lenders (2008). From a media perspective, using these analysts in such a heavy rotation placed incredible emphasis on their words to the public. Essentially, whatever reasoning these analysts were giving were becoming the scapegoats of the financial crisis with heavy rotation of media coverage. In 2011, the New York Times was able to compile and pinpoint key causes of this economic crisis. According to the article, the economic crisis can be defined as the combination of â€Å"widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street,† (Chan, 2011). In addition to these components, the New York Times also highlights that the key parts of these economic failures included a factor of American life which affected nearly all people in the country – the real estate market. As Chan wrote, the economic crisis can be defined as a â€Å"calamitous concoction – shoddy mortgage lending, excessive packaging and sale of loans to investors and risky bets on securities b acked by the loans† (2011). With the gravity of the situation recognized by news organizations, the chain of events was quickly dubbed an â€Å"economic crisis† as the amount of families standing to lose their homes was staggering. According to Baily, Litan and Johnson in â€Å"The Origins of he Financial Crisis,† the issues which were at the center of the economic crisis included faulty lending practices in the form of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) and allowing homebuyers to purchase homes with no money down, substandard financial portfolios and credit default swaps (2008). As the housing market buckled in the wake this crisis, financial panic spread through America with

Political Environment Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political Environment Case - Essay Example The following concerns are hereby addressed: Response to the Letter One would first acknowledge support and congratulatory greetings to the new governor to indicate that one is not a detractor, nor a political enemy. It would be emphasized that any current policies and procedures would be appropriately justified to ensure that these are aligned with his administration’s thrust on addressing security and enhanced inmate programs. One would simply note that the currently implemented policies conform with the 1984 Justice Assistance Act which apparently removed previous restrictions and were inmates are enjoined to do productive work (Peak, 2007). Likewise, there were apparent recommendations enforced by the American Jail Association that encourages training programs, which are consistent with the educational and vocational programs currently implemented in the state prisons. ... One could present current statistics of improvements and therefore justify and rationalize that tighter and tougher policies and programs are not effective means to improve the current situation and condition of state prisons. As emphasized in the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, state prisons are encouraged â€Å"to provide for appropriate remedies for prison condition lawsuits, to discourage frivolous and abusive prison lawsuits, and for other purposes† (Peak, 2007, p. 255). As such, imposing tighter and tougher inmate policies would expose the state prisons to potential lawsuits that would be detrimental to the image of the state and of the new governor, who openly suggested these measures. Thus, aside from instituting tougher inmate programs, the current education and vocational programs which would capitalize on making the inmates productive would be more beneficial in the long run. Internal and External Support Therefore, rather than outrightly dismantling current p olicies and programs that have been effective and deemed successful, one would seek support from both internal and external stakeholders. From internal sources, one would solicit support from prison staff and personnel through a formal letter or correspondence and enjoining them to openly validate the progress and effectiveness of these current programs to the newly elected governor. They could send formal letters and copy furnish these correspondences to the local publications to make the new governor aware the all current programs and policies are transparent and effective. Likewise, external support could be solicited from the local community members who benefit from reduced recidivism of prisoners and for teaching them vocational and

Being a teenager Essay Example for Free

Being a teenager Essay When you leave primary school you become a young adult, and all things that you believed in are either reinforced or broken. You can be lucky and be accepted as a popular person or for simply being yourself; you could remain an outcast until you leave that school. There is a hierarchy that is followed in each school, and both the boys and girls follow it. There is in both cases a leader for the boys and for the girls, then there are those who follow the leaders. Then there are those who dont fit in at all and become loners. Its difficult to listen to your parents when they continually say to you, these are the best days of your life because sometimes, you struggle to see how this can be so. You feel pressure, a strong need to fit in even for just a moment, and even though you are told by your parents, no matter what grade you get we will always love you. There is still a deep feeling inside that if you dont do well, you will let your parents down and you will destroy your life. There is also a fear suppressed and hidden beneath the surface, that if you do too well, you will be called a stew by all of your peers. So you are caught in a catch twenty-two; and there is no way of avoiding the stress or worry. The best thing to deal whit the stress and worries is to pass over your fears and dont care what your peers are saying. When you are a young person everything revolves around your school live. For those that you meet in school are those you will stick with for the five to seven years that you stay there, and some of the friends you meet there may be your friends for life. You constantly are trying to better yourself in school in order to get the attention of others. You go to sleepovers, shopping and clubbing all with the people you meet in school. This puts pressure on you because you feel the need to be perfect and to fit in with all the rest of your peers. Bullying is in full flow when you are a young person, its not physical in my opinion its mainly verbal, or the people just basically exclude you completely. There are those who stand in a group of people and seem like they in a crowd or click but what others dont realize it that they arent included in the conversation what so ever. Music, television, celebrities and school control all of my actions as well as all other young people. The music that you like and listen to can determine the kind of people you will end up being friends with. Television influences how we talk, what we wear, and even affect our opinions about things. Celebrities make us want to make ourselves better and by better I mean thinner and more fashionable, and school effects what group we are in as well as the possibility that we may not fit in at all. So being a young person is anything but easy at times, there are so many different pressures that surround your life. From restless nights for exams to being able to fit in with all the popular people. Though we do have goodnights out and live for the night, when morning comes sometimes it wasnt just quite worth it. Starting jobs and keeping hormones under control is more difficult now than ever, because of influences on television. Those who surround us are constantly judging us, and we feel that we are also being judged by the outside world. Though we know there is always the one thing we can always rely on; our mobiles and in my case my family. So do you think now that its easy being a teen?

Microbial Analysis of Soil Essay Example for Free

Microbial Analysis of Soil Essay Abstract: soil samples were collected fortnightly from area near Dahisar River, A river in suburb of Mumbai. laboratory analysis started from July 2010 to September 2010. Total bacterial and fungal count were estimated by standard spread plate isolation. Isolated bacteria were subject to colony characterization and were estimated by their morphological and biochemical characters. As being a monsoon the occurrence of variation of different species were high. The microorganisms isolated from the soil were of staphylococcus strain and were gram positive, aerobic, coccus shaped bacteria. The fungal species were also identified, of which Aspergillus and Penicillium were dominant, followed by mucur, as sub dominant .This project aims to find out the water and soil quality of River and as it is flowing through an industrial area, to find out if it is getting affected by the Industrial pollutants. Introduction: Soil is the region on the earth’s crust where geology and biology meet, the land surface that provides a home to plant animal and microbial life (Pelczar et al., 1993). Soil teems with microscopic life (bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and viruses) as well as macroscopic life such as earthworms, nematodes, mites, and insects, and also the root systems of plants. The numbers and kinds of micro- organisms present in soil depend on many environmental factors: amount and type of nutrients available, available moisture, degree of aeration, pH, temperature etc (Prescott et al., 1999). Soil bacteria and fungi play pivotal roles in various biochemical cycles and are responsible for the recycling of organic compounds (Wall and Virginia, 1999). Soil microorganisms also influence above- ground ecosystems by contributing to plant nutrition, plant health, soil structure and soil fertility (O’Donnell et al., 2001). Soil is generally a favorable habitat for the proliferation of microorganisms, with micro colonies, developing around soil particles. Numbers of micro organism . In soil habitats normally are much higher than those in fresh water or marine habitats (Atals and Bartha, 1998). Bacteria make up the most abundant group of micro- organisms in the soil (3.0 x 106 – 5.0 x 108) per gram of soil, followed by the actinomycetes (1.0 x 106 – 2.0 x 107), fungi (5.0 x 103 – 9.0 x 106), yeast (I.0 x 103 – 1.0 x 106), algae and protozoa (1.0 x 103- 5.0 x 105) and nematodes (50 – 200) counts per gram of soil are wide differences in the relative proportions of individual bacteria genera found in particular soils (Atals and Bartha, 1998). Soil fungi may occur as free-living organisms or in mycorrhizal association with plant roots. Fungi are found primarily in the top 10 cm of the soil and are rarely found below 30 cm. They are most abundant in well-aerated and acidic soils (Domsch et al., 1980). Most fungi in soil are opportunistic (zymogenous). They grow and carry out active metabolism when conditions are favorable which implies adequate moisture, adequate aeration and relatively high concentrations of utilizable substrates (Postage, 1994; Miyanoto et al., 2002). In this research we isolate culturable heterotrophic bacteria and fungi from different top soil samples MATERIALS AND METHODS Laboratory analysis Preparation of materials The materials needed for this experiment include; glass wares (conical flasks, bijou bottles, pipettes, petri-dishes) and they were washed with detergents. These glass wares were rinsed thoroughly with clean distilled portable water and left to air dry before sterilizing them in the autoclave at 15ââ€" ¦C for 1 hour. Also, the laboratory cabinets on which the work would be carried out was swabbed with cotton wool soaked in methylated spirit to sterilize it before any microbiological analysis was carried out to avoid the growth and isolation of other organisms not present in the samples. After sterilization, the plates were allowed to cool to about 45 degrees before they were used. Microbiological evaluation Ten (10) grams of the soil sample for microbiological evaluation was weighed into 9ml of sterile water. Preparation of serial dilution goes thus: 1ml of the original stocks solution was poured into 9ml sterile distilled water and mixed thoroughly to give 10-2 of the original sample and this was done for each sample and the bottles labeled according to date of collection Isolation and Enumeration of Micro-organisms. 1gram of the samples was homogenized in 9mls of distilled water to obtain a ratio of 1:9 and the second diluted of each sample was plated using the pour plate technique. Sterile molten nutrient agar (NA), potato dextrose agar (PDA), macconky’s agar,(MA) manitol salt agar (MSA) and deoxycholate astrate agar (DCA) were used{the potato dextrose agar (PDA) was acidified). These agars were then added and left to solidify undisturbed. These plates were incubated 37oC for 24hours (incubation was aerobic) and the procedure was repeated using 10-2 finally the number of colonies per plates were counted and recorded. The acidified PDA was incubated at 25C for 3-7 days for microbial growth. Total Bacterial counts (Cfu/g) The total bacteria count for each sample was determined with the pour plate techniques using nutrient agar. The plates were incubated between 24hours at 370C and all colonies appearing on the end of the incubation period were counted using digital unlimited colony counter and the counts were expressed in colony forming unit per gram {CFU/g} of the sample. Colonies of bacteria developing on the plates were observed, isolated and reisolated on a fresh media until pure culture was obtained. Preparation of Pure Culture It is necessary to isolate organisms in pure culture before studying and identifying them because a pure culture originates from one cell. Characteristics colonies from the original culture on the plates were picked with a sterile wire loop (using surface streaking method) and this loop was used to make streak of the colony on the surface of newly prepared sterile agar plates of NA,MA MSA. These streak will space out the inoculants and discrete colony of a particular specie of organism and then incubated at 35-37oC for 24hours to enhance microbial growth. Distinct colonies were re-inoculated on another fresh agar plates in order to obtain a pure culture. The isolates were picked with sterile loop and streaked into prepared agar slants, labeled and incubated for growth after which they were kept in the refrigerator for future use and identification. Identification of Isolates These isolated bacteria were identified using both morphological culture characteristics (i.e. the color, shape, elevation, capacity, consistency, edge) and biochemical test (i.e. citrate, oxidase, indole, sugar fermentation, test etc.)and the bacteria were identified based on the results obtained from the above mentioned biochemical characterization results and the procedures include. Grams Staining Techniques A drop of distilled water was placed on a clean glass slide. The inoculating wire loop was sterilized by flaming until it was red hot (this is to prevent the invasion of unwanted micro- organisms that might be inhabiting the wire loop) in the blue flame of a Bunsen burner. The loop was allowed to cool and the small portion of each colony of microorganisms to be gram stained was picked and smeared in the drop of water (distilled) on the glass slide and then spread into a thin smear along the slide. The smear was air dried and passed through the blue flame. The smear was stained with 1%crystal violet and left for 1minutes (60secs) and then washed with running distilled water it was then stained again with Lugols iodine for another 60secs and also washed with running distilled water. The slide was decolorized rapidly with 75% alcohol in order to present the organism from having the color of the primary reagent and it was washed immediately with distilled water. The slide finally was flooded with a counter stain safranine (a secondary stain) for 60secons and also washed off with distilled water and allow to air dry. The slide was covered with a cover slide and observed under the microscope using oil immersion x 100 objective lens with immersion oil. The gram reaction of the isolated arrangement and the shape of the cell were observed and recorded. Gram positive (+ve) bacterial were characterized by a purple color (i.e. the primary stain) while the gram negative (-ve) bacteria were characterized by red color (i.e. the secondary stain) .This procedure is actually used to ascertain the component of each organisms cell wall. Motility Motility was determined by hanging drop techniques. Using loop, a little part of the colony of the organisms were grown in peptone water for 18hours and then placed in the grease free slide and covered with a Vaseline bound cover slip and then observed under x100 objective lens. A motile organism is then seen moving in the drop of liquid. Identification Of Mold Isolates Mold isolated was identified using cultural and morphological characteristics and according to (Fawole and Oso, 2001), microscopic observation was carried out using lacto phenol blue stain. Procedure for Mold Staining A drop of lacto phenol blue stain was dropped on a clean grease free sterilized glass slide and after this a sterile inoculating wire loop was used to pick the mycelium unto the glass slide from the mold culture .The mycelium was spread evenly on the slide. Teasing was carried out to separate the mycelium in order to get a homogenous mixture and the mixture was then covered with cover slips gently and then allowed to stay for some seconds before observing under x40 under the microscope. The microscope examination of actively growing mold was on the basis of structures bearing spores, presence or absence of septate. BIOCHEMICAL TESTS Catalase Test Catalase test demonstrates the presence of catalase enzyme by aerobic microorganisms. Catalase is an enzyme that catalysis the release of oxygen from hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). To test for catalase, a drop of 3% hydrogen peroxide solution was added to a slide and the organism to be tested for catalase production is brought in contact with the hydrogen peroxide. The production of gas bubbles however indicates a positive reaction and this shows that catalase enzyme is produced.(FawoleOso, 2001) Oxidase test This was carried out by placing a clean filter paper on the working bench or petri dishes and 2-3 drops of freshly prepared oxidase reagent was added to the isolate using a sterile inoculating wire loop. After this, a few quantity of oxidase reagent was added and a purple coloration was observed within 10-15minutes which indicated that the organisms is oxidase positive and according to Olutiola et al, 1991, a positive reaction is dependent on the presence of cytochrome. This test is also useful for the separation of Neisseria in mixed culture and in differentiating Pseudomonas from enteric bacteria. Indole test Olutiola et al, 1991, describes the test as one which is important in the differentiation of colonies and it depends on the production of indole from tryptophan by the organism. An inoculating loop was used to inoculate the organism into a test tube containing decarboxylase medium becomes violet. An uninoculated test tube serves as a control (i.e. remained yellow) Sugar fermentation test The ability of the isolates to utilize certain sugar as energy source was tested. If the organism does ferment a particular sugar, acid will be produced and gas may be produced or not. Acid production is indicated by color change of the medium from red to yellow and acid presence could also be detectable with a ph. indicator in the medium while the production of gas is indicated by a void produced in a Durham tube. The fermentation medium was prepared by 0.1g of sodium chloride and 0.1g of fermentable sugar (glucose) in 10ml of distilled water. An amount of 9ml of the medium was pipette into a test tube containing Durham’s tubes in replicates. 5ml of phenol red indicator was immediately discharged into the test tubes. The test tubes containing medium were sterilized in an autoclave at 121 o for 15minutes.After sterilization, each isolate were incubated in glucose Medium. An uninoculated test tube was also incubated for glucose to serve as a control. The test was also carried out using maltose, lactose, galactose, manitol, sucrose, fructose and mannose.(Olutiolaet al., 1991) Discussion: The abundance of bacteria and fungi in this study were typical of environment with high species richness and functional diversity. Despite the fact that it is possible that a number of bacteria and fungi may be missed in this study, the isolates could be readily assigned dominant (e.g. Bacillus sp, Aspergillus sp) or transient/succession roles in the isolation of organisms form different seasons, which form the basis of this study. In additions to the implications of the determination of the number of microorganisms during soil sampling, one should consider the qualitative aspect of the preservation of important species and groups of microorganisms and of the changes in these biochemical characteristics resulting from the variations in these counts. Although the results of this study would not be considered to be exhaustive, as it was done within the limits of facilities available in the laboratory, an insight into the population dynamics and distribution of culturable aerobic bacteria and fungi diversity has been elucidated. This is without prejudice to the possible influence which a substantial proportion of bacteria and fungi that are not culturable in vitro could have on the overall picture of event. It would require more modern technology (nuclei acid probes) to obtain such detailed overview of microbial diversity. This should be a subject of extension of this investigation in future. Conclusion Through this project, if emphasis is made on public health, the observation and findings show striking predominance of Salmonella typhi. And E.coli. E.coli being an enterobacter cause dysentery and S.typhi poses a great risk of typhoid. Health inspector and municipal authorities should look into this matter for further investigation and if possible improvement Acknowledgement Investigators are grateful to the Principal Management of S.V.K.M’s Mithibai College for constant encouragement support. And head of department of zoology Prof. V.V. Dalvie for providing me opportunities and Prof. Radhika D’souza, under whose guidance the project was successfully completed References 1 .Atals RM, Bartha R (1998). Microbial Ecology: Fundamentals and Applications. 4th Edition. Benjamin Cummings Publishing Company Inc. Addison Wesley Longman Inc. pp. 300 – 350. 2. Miyanoto T, Igaraslic T, Takahashi K (2002). Lignin–degradation ability of litter decomposing basidomycetes from picea forest of Hokkaida Myco.sci. (41): 105 – 110. 3. Domsch KH, Gaws W, Anderson TH (1980). Compendium of soil fungi 4. O’ Donnell AG, Seasman M, Macrae A, Waite I, Davies JT (2001). Plants and Fertilizers as drivers of change in microbial community structure and function in soil. Plant Soil (232): 135 – 145. 5. Pelczar MJ, Chan ECS, krieg NR (1993). Microbiology: Concept and Application International edition McGraw-Hill, USA. Pp 281-324. 6. Wall DH, Virginia RA (1999). Controls on soil biodiversity insights from extreme environments. Appl. Soil Ecol. (13): 137–150. 7. Fawole and Oso, 2001

Impact Of Sensory Marketing Marketing Essay

Impact Of Sensory Marketing Marketing Essay Existing research studies on sensory marketing efforts focus on the broad influence of sensory stimuli on consumer reactions to different brands. This research study narrows down the focus of sensory elements to olfactory and auditory stimuli and tries to analyze the effect of these stimuli on consumer emotions. Further the relationship between emotions generated out of these sensory stimuli and consumer purchase decision is being established. INTRODUCTION With ever increasing clutter in the advertising space as multiple brands vie for consumers attention simultaneously, capturing the consumers attention has become more challenging than ever for marketers today. Marketers realize the need for an alternative mechanism to capture consumer mind share in order to enhance brand awareness. Research shows that 99% of all marketing communication is based on what consumers see and hear. Scientific studies have proved that as human beings, 75% of our emotions are connected to what we smell rather than what we see and hear. Marketing in general seems to have neglected this very important sense, given the fact that branding is all about building emotional relationships between a product and the consumer. AN OVERVIEW OF THE SENSORY MARKETING APPROACH Marketers are finding new ways to build stronger connections to their customers and drive preference for their brands by employing scent, sound and material textures in immersive customer experiences. Sensory marketing is an emerging business discipline that applies analytical techniques to amalgamate the use of sensory stimuli such as scent, sound and texture in order to develop strong brands that are more memorable for customers than conventional visual branding techniques alone. Brands develop strong memories in consumers through content and communication cleverly packaged to appeal to our five senses. This results in stronger bonds between consumers and brands. The table below (a result of a survey by Brand sense) shows the importance of consumer emotions with respect to each of the five senses and the percentage marketing spend of Fortune 500 companies with respect to each of these senses. Figure 1: Perceived importance of senses versus marketing spend by Fortune 500 companies Sense % identifying each sense as very or somewhat important % spend against the senses by Fortune 500 companies Sight 58% 84% Sound 41% 12% Smell 45% 2% Touch 25% 1% Taste 31% 1% Source: Brand sense Sensory marketing applications Marketers from varied industries from automobile to food and leisure to entertainment have leveraged sensory branding in the last few years. One of the first movers to employ sensory branding is the Singapore Airlines, with its patented fragrance Stefan Floridian Waters, becoming its trademark and a standard company scent. The hot towels served to the customers perfume worn by flight attendants is standardized to this aroma to create an enthralling memorable in-flight experience. Cinemas have traditionally uses the aroma of popcorn to arouse the unique feeling of being in a movie hall. The breakfast cereal company, Kelloggs has patented a crunchy sound and feel of eating cornflakes that is unique in its own way. Mercedes-Benz had set up a division to work on the sound of its car doors to increase the perception of high quality among its consumers. Similarly many companies have tried to subtly exploit the impact of sensory perceptions in building their brands and ensuring better consumer loyalty. Purpose and scope of the study The purpose of this study would be to analyze at a basic level what impact sensory branding has on the purchase behaviour of consumers. Hulten, Bertin (2012) aims to depict shoppers touching behaviour in relation to the introduction of visual and olfactory sensory cues at point-of-purchase in a retail setting. The findings demonstrate that sensory cues exert a positive impact on consumers desire to touch.  Sensory cues frame consumers affective responses and decision making through involving the sense of touch. This study will aim to see to what extent and how multi-sensory marketing efforts have a positive impact on the consumer during his purchase decision making process. It would also look at cases of how marketers have leveraged sensory branding to positively influence consumer behaviour and present what are the key takeaways that marketers in particular can act on in order to increase brand awareness and induce trials. IMPACT OF SENSORY MARKETING ON PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR: EXISTING RESEARCH Academic research has shown that different sensory impressions impact consumer behaviour and perceptions of goods and services. The sense of sight is the most powerful one for discovering changes and differences in the environment and is the most common sense in perceiving goods or services. Impressions of sound have been analyzed empirically by Garlin and Owen (2006), Sweeney and Wyber (2002). The sense of sound is linked to emotions and feelings and the sense impacts brand experiences and interpretations. The sense of smell is related to pleasure and well-being and is closely connected to emotions and memories. The sense of taste is the most distinct emotional sense and often interacts with other senses. The sense of touch is the tactile one, related to information and feelings about a product through physical and psychological interactions. A multi-sensory brand-experience takes place when more than one of the five senses contributes to the perception of sensory experiences (Hulten, 2009). The author defines multi-sensory brand experience as follows: a multi-sensory brand-experience supports individual value creation and refers to how individuals react when a firm interacts, and supports their purchase and consumption processes through the involvement of the five human senses in generating customer value, experiences, and brand as image. Sensory marketing model Figure 2: A model for sensory marketing Sensorial strategies In relation to the five human senses Sensors Scent sensors Sound sensors Sight sensors Taste sensors Touch sensors Sensations Atmos-pheric Auditory Visual Gastro-nomic Tactile Sensory expressions The multi-sensory brand experience Customer equity Source: Hulten, Bertin (2009) A sensory marketing model takes its point of departure in the human mind and senses, where mental flows, processes and psychological reactions take place and result in a multi-sensory brand-experience. An individuals personal and subjective interpretation and understanding of a multi-sensory brand-experience is referred to here as experiential logic. This means that, for each individual, the logic contributes to forming behavioural, emotional, cognitive, sensory, or symbolic values. According to Bertin Hulten (2009), this consumer experience becomes an image, forming the mental conceptions and perceptions of interactions and inputs in the service process, which constitutes the final outcome of the multi-sensory experience within a brand perspective. This perspective is defined here as an individuals beliefs, feelings, thoughts, and opinions about a brand, based on the overall experience. Sensors aim at communicating sensations and sensory expressions that reinforce the multi-sensory brand experience for the customer. Sensations aim at expressing a brands identity and values as something distinctive and sensorial, in facilitating the multi-sensory brand experience. Influence of olfactory stimulation Hyojung Ho et al (2010) show that consumers understand the relation between specific product and smell by experiencing and learning. By this biological responses and the principle of classical conditioning that build through repetition, olfactory stimulation influences peoples attitude directly. And also, information from organ of smell can have an influence on peoples behaviour unconsciously by hypothalamus which controls an autonomic nerve and the endocrine system. The author shows that fragrance can create various kinds of positive emotion but the positive emotion cannot directly influence on willingness to buy in other product types. However, fragrance can be used for motivating to purchase. In addition, fragrance results in a wide variety of positive emotion on fashion goods. Fragrance can be used on marketing strategy as each products concept. Moreover, in the case of high technology product, satisfaction was the highest. And also, Consumers feel pleased and impressed from products with fragrance regardless of its product type. Auditory stimuli and consumer behaviour Park and Young (1986) examined the effect of music (present, absent) and three types of involvement (low involvement, cognitive involvement, affective involvement) on the formation of attitudes toward a brand in the context of TV commercials. Music increased the brand attitude for subjects in the low involvement condition but had a distracting effect for those in the cognitive involvement condition. Its effect for those in the affective involvement condition was not clear. They argue that music acted as a peripheral persuasion cue. The relationship between the fit of the mood induced music (happy or sad) and the purchase occasion (happy or sad) and its effect on purchase was studied by Alpert, Alpert, and Maltz (2005). While mood induced by music did not exhibit a main effect on purchase intentions, its interaction with fit was significant. The authors conclude that when music is used to evoke emotions congruent with the symbolic meaning of the product, the likelihood of purchase is increased. Haptics as a sensory marketing tool Terry and Childers (2003) show how haptic information influences emotions and consumer purchase behaviour. Haptic information, or information attained through touch by the hands, is important for the evaluation of products that vary in terms of material properties related to texture, hardness, temperature, and weight. The authors develop and propose a conceptual framework to illustrate that salience of haptic information differs significantly across products, consumers, and situations. The authors use two experiments to assess how these factors interact to impair or enhance the acquisition and use of haptic information. Barriers to touch, such as a retail display case, can inhibit the use of haptic information and consequently decrease confidence in product evaluations and increase the frustration level of consumers who are more motivated to touch products. In addition, written descriptions and visual depictions of products can partially enhance acquisition of certain types of touch information. The authors synthesize the results of these studies and discuss implications for the effect of haptic information for Internet and other non-store retailing as well as for traditional retailers. Analysis of literature with respect to impact on consumer behaviour The research studies analyze show that consumers are heavily using their senses in order to perceive the quality of the product and associate it with positive emotions. The perception of different marketing stimuli consists of emotional and cognitive processes, which take place within the consumer. According to the findings of these studies, sensory stimuli deriving mainly from the product and the packaging such as colors, modern style, pleasant smell, velvety texture and closure packaging sound, influence brand perception positively leading to a stronger (rational and emotional) bond between the brand and the consumer. Marketers need to pay attention, apart from the traditional means of the marketing mix (advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion), to other very important sensory means, such as product scent and texture, store atmosphere (including store music), sounds deriving by their products. Sensory marketing is a relative new concept, which involves the creative synergy between marketing, psychology, neuroscience and neuropsychology. If marketers clearly understand this new concept and try to utilize the knowledge of similar to this study researches, then they can offer a unique buying experience to their consumers, significantly increasing the probability of selling their products. IMPACT OF SENSORY MARKETING ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INVOLVED Sensory marketing framework Sensory marketing is an application of the understanding of sensation and perception to the field of marketing -to consumer perception, cognition, emotion, learning, preference, choice, or evaluation. (Aradhna Krishna, 2011). A framework can be constructed which conceptually explains the process of sensory marketing: Figure 3: A conceptual framework of sensory marketing Sensory Perception Product Stimulus Emotion Behavior Attitude Learning Cognition Source: Krishna, Aradhana (2011) It is to be noted that sensation and perception are stages of processing involved in sensory marketing. Sensation happens when the stimulus has an impact on the receptor cells of a sensory organ-this part is neurological in nature. Perception is the awareness or understanding of sensory information. Analysis of sensory marketing variables Based on the framework above, its possible to identify the variables that can be used to study sensory marketing. Stimuli created through any one or any combination of the five senses (touch, auditory, olfactory, vision, taste) can be identified as the antecedent variables. Sensory stimuli Touch If the hedonic aspects of touch can increase persuasion, the use of touch in marketing may be more broadly applicable than previously believed (Joann Peck Jennifer Wiggins, 2006). It is widely believed that the role of touch is limited to providing information to the customer about the physical attributes of the product; however this kind of touch can be used effectively only in contexts in which customers are able to physically evaluate the product. But the use of touch as a hedonic tool has the potential to be applied to a broad set of products and even services and in a wide variety of contexts which include but are not limited to package design, print advertising, direct mail advertising, and point-of-purchase displays. Sensory stimuli Olfactory There have been studies which have dealt with the relationship between ambient scent and memory. Morrin and Ratneshwar (2003) showed that ambient scent increased recall and recognition of brands seen. Earlier studies on this topic also suggested that ambient odors result in memories and affect elaboration on product information and choice. According to Bosmans (2006), ambient scent can lead to emotion-based semantic connections with memories (e.g., roses and babies) and result in improving product evaluation. Stimuli auditory There have been various studies on the effect of auditory stimuli on marketing programs. A lot of marketing communication is auditory in nature for e.g. radio and television advertising messages, jingles and songs. There is also prevalence of ambient music in retail spaces, hotels, restaurants and airplanes. Also marketers create and deploy signature sounds for products for unique identification for their brand such as the sound for the Windows OS that one hears each time we boot a PC. Ismail M. El Sayed, Dalia A. Farrag, Russell W. Belk (2006) concluded that the type of background music played in malls had a distinct effect on the shopping behaviour of the visitors. They used the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm to ascertain the impact of auditory stimuli on purchase behaviour. Stimuli through vision and taste AydinoÄÅ ¸lu and Krishna (2011) demonstrate that size labels adopted by food vendors can have a major impact on consumers size judgments and consumption (actual and perceived), since consumers integrate the actual size information from the stimuli, with the semantic cue from the size label. The consequent variables identified are enhanced customer awareness about the brand, increase in brand recall, better brand recognition and customer purchase behavior whether the stimuli actually leads to the customer purchasing the product. Customer awareness As a result of stimuli through any of the senses, the awareness of a product/brand can be enhanced in the customers minds. Brand recognition (learning) Sensory stimuli is more often deployed by marketers in their products in order to ease the process of recognizing a brand for a customer. Auditory and visual stimuli in the form of packaging are more often used to enable a customer to recognize a brand with a higher level of ease and convenience. Brand recall (memory) Marketers also use sensory stimuli as a tool to facilitate a high level of brand recall among the customers. A typical example is that of the Intel Pentium processor sound or even the Britannias jingle in the Indian market. Purchase behavior Though sensory stimuli can help in awareness and recall, it is ultimately the conversion into a purchase that is the ultimate goal of marketers of any product. Barry J. Davies, Dion Kooijman and Philippa Ward (2003) show a model of how environmental stimuli in the form of ambient scent can affect the shopping behaviour of consumers in a retail set up. Figure 4: Model of the Influence of Ambient Scent on Consumer Responses Moderators Approach avoidance reactions Affective response Perceived ambient scent Objective ambient scent Source: Barry J. Davies, Dion Kooijman and Philippa Ward (2003) Variables for study The variables chosen for this study would be auditory and olfactory stimuli on the antecedent side and customer purchase behavior on the consequent side. Antecedents Consequences Kind of stimuli Vision Brand awareness Taste Brand recognition Purchase behavior Auditory Brand recall Olfactory The scope of research would be to identify how marketers have deployed the use of auditory and olfactory stimuli in products, services or environments (shopping malls, etc) to influence the customer purchase behavior. The study will also analyze the two major intermediate variables involved in the process perception of the stimuli and emotions and cognition happening at the customers mind. ANALYSIS OF IMPACT OF AUDITORY AND OLFACTORY STIMULI ON PURCHASE DECISION Research proposition This paper proposes that olfactory or auditory stimuli deployed by marketers in products or retail environments actually lead to positive emotions and cognitive reactions about the brand for the consumer. Further these cognitive and affective beliefs lead the consumer to the actual purchase decision. To analyze the validity of the above proposition, we examine the case in two different stages: Influence of olfactory and auditory stimuli in creating positive emotions/affective beliefs in consumers Influence of positive emotions on actual decision to purchase Relationship between olfactory stimuli and affective reactions in the consumer The sense of smell is considered to be the most closely related to emotional reactions. The olfactory bulb is directly connected to the limbic system in the brain, which is the system related to immediate emotion in humans (Wilkie 1995). 75% of emotions are generated by smell (Bell and Bell 2007). Consequently, smell represents a direct line to feelings of happiness and hunger and is a sensory bandwidth that cannot be turned off (Wilkie 1995; Vlahos 2007). Thus, from a marketers perspective, smell has an instantaneous good or bad effect on our emotional state which, as some research has shown, ultimately affects our shopping and spending behavior. Figure 5: How Objective Ambient Scents Interact with the Perceptual Process Organizing Assimilation Covert objective Objective Conscious level of awareness scent Sensing Attention Reacting Response Reacting Response Sensing Attention Ambient scent Organizing Assimilation Source: Bradford and Desrochers (2009) The neurological substrates of olfaction are especially geared for associative learning and emotional processing. Marketers can link a scent with an unconditioned stimulus eliciting the desired response and eventually prompting a conditioned response from consumers (Herz 2002). Further, since the olfactory bulbs are part of the limbic system and directly connect to the structures that process emotion (the amygdala) they also strongly related to associative learning (the hippocampus) (Herz 2002). No other sensory system has this type of intimate link between emotion and associative learning (Herz 2002). Relationship between auditory stimuli and affective reactions in the consumer Ambient sound, such as music heard in hotels, restaurants, retail stores, and supermarkets, can influence consumer mood, actual time spent in a location, perception of time spent, and actual spending. For instance, stereotypically French versus German music has been shown to affect the choice of wine-shoppers bought more French (German) wine when French (German) music was played (North, Hargreaves, McKendrick, 1999); classical music has been shown to enhance pleasure, whereas pop-style music to increase arousal (Kellaris Kent, 1993). Music in a store also influences shopping pace-slower music produces slower shopping and results in more purchases since customers progress at a slower pace as they move through the store (Milliman, 1982). When consumers enjoy the background music, they feel they have spent less time shopping relative to the actual amount of time they have spent in the store; if they dislike it, despite the short amount of time they have actually spent in the store, they claim to have been there for much longer (Yalch Spangenberg, 2000; but, see also Kellaris Kent, 1992). Influence of positive emotions on consumer purchase decision The relationship between pleasant emotions and purchasing behaviors is relatively well supported in the retail literature (Donovan and Rossiter, 1994). In particular, the Mehrabian-Russell model (1974), which explains the relationship between environments, intervening variables, and behaviors relevant to retail setting using a Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm, has received the widest usage to explain shopping emotions in consumer research. According to the Mehrabian-Russell model, three emotional responses of pleasure-displeasure, arousal-non arousal, and dominance-submissiveness mediate peoples approach or avoidance reactions to environments. (Lee and Yi, 2008). APPLICATIONS OF OLFACTORY MARKETING TO STIMULATE PURCHASE Sensory analysis is a scientific discipline which is now employed by all the leading brands and also companies who are trying to enhance their brand identity. Because, Consumers perception is as good as reality (Lindstrom, Martin (2010):p106), added (non-edible) aromas prove to the scientists that buyer behaviour is absolutely influenced. Nestle, coca-cola, Carlsberg add aroma to the packaging on their products. Exposed, unwrapped foods are how leading supermarkets and shops entice their consumers, an example of this would be the in store environment at Wholefoods. More specific examples include; the Florida hospital which has a seaside centre in which they use scent machines to circulate the smell of sea, coconut and vanilla, with the notion that patients will be soothed and not cancel their appointments. (Hulten, Bertil, Niklas Broweus Marcus van Dijk, 2009) The Hyatt hotel chain in Paris used their French history of great perfumers and combined that with detailed sensory brand analysis to create their own signature scent. Their scent brand was developed by French perfumer Blaise Mautin for the Park Hyatt Vendome hotel in 2002 and it incorporated eighteen ingredients. It was ultimately described as fresh cement poured over raw oak plank, plus fresh, ever-so-slightly cinnamony pastry dough with the olfactory texture of thick, rich tan silk (Hulten, Bertil, Niklas Broweus Marcus van Dijk (2009):p64). Such detailed descriptions are there to serve our need for developed language around olfaction, due to the fact that our confidence and communic ation around scent is still developing. That said, olfactory memory is not semantic but episodic and customers only come into contact with the experience not the description. APPLICATIONS OF AUDITORY MARKETING TO STIMULATE PURCHASE Much of marketing communication is auditory in nature-one hears radio and television advertising messages, jingles and songs; one also hears ambient music in retail spaces, hotels, restaurants and airplanes; then, there are signature sounds from products such as the sound for the Intel Pentium chip that one hears each time one starts a computer or the sounds for Motorola or Verizon cellphones. Importantly, even when one reads a word, one hears the word as well-if the language is phonetic in nature, then the words that one reads enter a phontactic loop before being encoded in the mind, similar to spoken words. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH Conclusion The findings from the research point to the fact that there is a positive relationship between olfactory and auditory stimuli deployed by marketers in products or retail environments and the emotions that the customers go through in the purchase situation. Also the different studies analyzed show that positive emotions generated by sensory experiences lead to a higher probability of actual purchase decision by the customer. Thus, it can be concluded that sensory marketing efforts do have a direct impact on the purchase decision of the customers. Limitations and future research This research is only limited to analyzing the effect of sensory marketing efforts on consumer purchase behaviour. However there are other variables on which sensory stimuli could have different positive or negative effects on brand recognition (especially in the case of auditory stimuli used for sonic branding), brand recall (mostly achieved through rich visual stimuli) or just consumer perception of the brand. Future research can focus on the effect of each of the individual sensory stimuli independently on these different consequent variables. Also this research has largely focused on conscious sensory approaches to marketing. However this study can be extended to the increasingly prevalent subliminal approaches taken by marketers to reinforce the brands subconsciously in the minds of consumers.

The Value of Life in The Most Dangerous Game Essay -- Most Dangerous G

The Value of Life in The Most Dangerous Game  Ã‚   He is hunched down in the bushes, a .22-caliber pistol in his hand.   His blood-red lips split open in a smile as he watches his prey writhing, blood spouting from the wound, dry green leaves becoming wet crimson.   Then, with a terrible pleasure, he places the gun against the skull of his prey and fires one last round.   The hunter, brimming with sadism, drags his kill behind him, leaving a trail of blood behind on the ground.   Human blood.   This premise of man hunting man is one set up by Richard Connell’s short story The Most Dangerous Game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The dominant theme to this story is that all life is to be respected and preserved.   A proof for this is that the protagonist, Rainsford, is at first disrespectful of animals when he hunts.   He is then placed into the animal’s role in a twisted hunt, and—due to the horrors he experiences—becomes more respectful.   More support to back this claim is that General Zaroff, the epitome of disregard for life, is defeated by Rainsford at the end.   However, this is not the most accurate theme of the story, and these examples also support another theme:   animals, and life in general, are not respected and never truly will be, and we should all come to terms with this fact.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Let us primarily take into consideration the aspect that Rainsford at first cares not for animals, but his view is altered by his experiences with Zaroff.   First, we must prove that Rainsford really did not care for animals.   Let us look at the conversation on the boat between Rainsford and Whitney.   Here is a quote:   Ã‚   â€Å"[...] Great sport, hunting.†   Ã‚   â€Å"The best sport in the world,† agreed Rainsford.   Ã‚   â€Å"For the hunter,† amended Whitney.  ... ...en that—and then takes Zaroff’s things, including his style of hunting, it is apparent that Rainsford has become worse, even as bad as General Zaroff.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusively, as the main character of The Most Dangerous Game fails to learn from such a horrible experience the value of life, a society that has not been subjected to such an experience will also not know the value of life.   Our disrespect has gotten even to the point where our children are killing their fellow children.   The value of life in all its forms has not been discovered by all of society, and it never will.   We must learn to cope with that fact, or we will all be, in the words of Sanger Rainsford, huntees of our own nature. Works Cited: Connell, Richard. "The Most Dangerous Game." Structure, Sound and Sense . Eds. Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. Arp. 4th ed. New York: Harcourt, 1983.

Two Views of Affirmative Action Essay -- Affirmative Action Race Essay

Two Views of Affirmative Action "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal†¦." Even before it became a nation, America was heralded as a land of equality. Thomas Jefferson's statement begs more than a few questions, one of which is: "How can we ensure equality to everyone?" Beginning in the late 1960s, the federal government provided an answer to this question in the form of affirmative action. In recent years, many people have called this policy into question. Interestingly, affirmative action is sometimes attacked by the people it helps, and defended by those it hurts. In particular, two recent essays demonstrate that people's race does not necessarily determine their beliefs on the issue of affirmative action. "Why I Believe in Affirmative Action" is by Paul R. Spickard, a white man who is defending affirmative action, while "A Negative Vote on Affirmative Action" is by Shelby Steele, an African-American who is attacking the program. When the two essays are considered as respon ses to each other, Steele's logical explanations of the effects and implications of affirmative action expose the flaws in Spickard's ethical arguments supporting it. Both authors structure their arguments to appeal to their respective audiences. Since Spickard's essay is written for Christianity Today, he makes a lot of ethical appeals that a Christian audience could easily relate to. Steele, on the other hand, is writing for The New York Times Magazine, so he relies on logic that would appeal to a more general audience. Spickard begins his ethical appeal by establishing his credibility through focusing on his support of affirmative action even though he has been denied employment because of the program. He says, "I a... ...demonstrating the absurdity of trying to make up for what our ancestors did. According to Steele, these attempts to pay for the wrongs of our ancestors grow out of a need "to impose on the world a degree of justice that simply does not exist." In other words, affirmative action seeks to correct wrongs that cannot be corrected because the people who were involved are no longer living. When Spickard's essay is examined alone, its arguments are quite convincing. However, Steele's essay effectively addresses the arguments of his opposition. As a result, his essay becomes much more effective than Spickard's, because he is able to point out all of the faults in Spickard's arguments. When these essays are read together and compared to each other, Steele's logic is much more convincing than Spickard's moral appeal, and exposes the flaws in the affirmative action program.

Death of a Saleman †Happy Loman Essay

Happy shares none of the poetry that erupts from Biff and that is buried in Willy—he is the stunted incarnation of Willy’s worst traits and the embodiment of the lie of the happy American Dream. As such, Happy is a difficult character with whom to empathize. He is one-dimensional and static throughout the play. His empty vow to avenge Willy’s death by finally â€Å"beat[ing] this racket† provides evidence of his critical condition: for Happy, who has lived in the shadow of the inflated expectations of his brother, there is no escape from the Dream’s indoctrinated lies. Happy’s diseased condition is irreparable—he lacks even the tiniest spark of self-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis. He does share Willy’s capacity for self-delusion, trumpeting himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only an assistant to the assistant buyer. He does not possess a hint of the latent thirst for knowledge that prov es Biff’s salvation. Happy is a doomed, utterly duped figure, destined to be swallowed up by the force of blind ambition that fuels his insatiable sex drive. Character Analysis Happy might as well be Willy Jr., because this apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. Though he is relatively successful in his job, he has his dad’s totally unrealistic self-confidence, and his grand dreams about getting rich quick. Like Biff, but to a lesser extent, Happy has suffered from his father’s expectations. Mostly, though, his father doesn’t pay that much attention to him. Willy was always a bigger fan of Biff. Happy, maybe because he always felt second best, has more of a desire to please his father. Despite his respectable accomplishments in business, and the many, many notches on his bedpost, Happy is extremely lonely. Happy is competitive and ambitious, but these feelings are misdirected. Unable to compete on his own terms in the business world, Happy blindly pursues women – taken women – purely for the sake of doing so. Looks like he’s taken his sense of competition to the realm of sex. Of course, this, much like the world of business, fails to satisfy him. Most disturbing for Happy is the fact that he can’t figure out why all this isn’t working. He’s followed the rules, done all the right things, yet Happy just isn’t happy. His name highlights the irony of his predicament. If you consider the fact that parents name their children, you could say that Willy foolishly bestowed the nickname on his son in yet another display of misguidance and delusion. Nice. Just as the saddest part of Willy’s suicide is his continued delusion, the saddest part of Happy’s ending is his own persistent misbelief. Still driven by what he feels he should want (money, a wife), he sticks to Willy’s foolish dreams to the bitter end. Happy Loman Hap is the Loman’s youngest son. He lives in an apartment in New York, and during the play is staying at his parent’s house to visit. Hap is of low moral character; constantly with another woman, trying to find his way in life, even though he is confident he’s on the right track. Hap has always been the â€Å"second son† to Biff and tries to be noticed by his parents by showing off. When he was young he always told Willly, â€Å"I’m losin’ weight pop, you notice?† And, now he is always saying, â€Å"I’m going to get married, just you wait and see,† in an attempt to redeem himself in his mother’s eyes. Hap also tries to be on Willy’s good side and keep him happy, even if it means perpetuating the lies and illusions that Willy lives in. In the end of the play, Hap cannot see reality. Like his father, he is destined to live a fruitless life trying for something that will not happen. â€Å"Willy Loman did not die in vain,† he says, â€Å"†¦He had a good dream, the only dream a man can have – to come out number one man. He fought it out here, and this where I’m gonna win it for him.† Death of a Salesman By Arthur Miller Character Analysis Happy Loman Happy is a young version of Willy. He incorporates his father’s habit of manipulating reality in order to create situations that are more favorable to him. Happy grew up listening to Willy embellish the truth, so it is not surprising that Happy exaggerates his position in order to create the illusion of success. Instead of admitting he is an assistant to the assistant, Happy lies and tells everyone he is the assistant buyer. This is Willy’s philosophy all over again. Happy also relishes the fact that â€Å"respectable† women cannot resist him. He has seduced the fiancà ©es of three executives just to gain a perception of pleasure and power. He thrives on sexual gratification, but even more than that, Happy savors the knowledge that he has â€Å"ruined† women engaged to men he works for and also despises. He states, â€Å"I hate myself for it. Because I don’t want the girl, and, still, I take it and — I love it!† Happy is similar to Willy in two ways. Both deny their positions and exaggerate details in order to aggrandize themselves, and sexual interludes are the defining moments of both of their lives. Willy’s life revolves around his attempt to forget his affair with the Woman, while Happy’s life revolves around an active pursuit of affairs with many women. Death of a Salesman addresses loss of identity and a man’s inability to accept change within himself and society. The play is a montage of memories, dreams, confrontations, and arguments, all of which make up the last 24 hours of Willy Loman’s life. The three major themes within the play are denial, contradiction, and order versus disorder. Each member of the Loman family is living in denial or perpetuating a cycle of denial for others. Willy Loman is incapable of accepting the fact that he is a mediocre salesman. Instead Willy strives for his version of the American dream — success and notoriety — even if he is forced to deny reality in order to achieve it. Instead of acknowledging that he is not a well-known success, Willy retreats into the past and chooses to relive past memories and events in which he is perceived as successful. For example, Willy’s favorite memory is of Biff’s last football game because Biff vows to make a touchdown just for him. In this scene in the past, Willy can hardly wait to tell the story to his buyers. He considers himself famous as a result of his son’s pride in him. Willy’s sons, Biff and Happy, adopt Willy’s habit of denying or manipulating reality and practice it all of their lives, much to their detriment. It is only at the end of the play that Biff admits he has been a â€Å"phony† too, just like Willy. Linda is the only character that recognizes the Loman family lives in denial; however, she goes along with Willy’s fantasies in order to preserve his fragile mental state. The second major theme of the play is contradiction. Throughout the play, Willy’s behavior is riddled with inconsistencies. In fact, the only thing consistent about Willy is his inconsistency. From the very beginning of Act I, Scene 1, Willy reveals this tendency. He labels Biff a â€Å"lazy bum† but then contradicts himself two lines later when he states, â€Å"And such a hard worker. There’s one thing about Biff — he’s not lazy.† Willy’s contradictions often confuse audiences at the beginning of the play; however, they soon become a trademark of his character. Willy’s inconsistent behavior is the result of his inability to accept reality and his tendency to manipulate or re-create the past in an attempt to escape the present. For example, Willy cannot resign himself to the fact that Biff no longer respects him because of Willy’s affair. Rather than admit that their relationship is irreconcilable, Willy retreats to a pre vious time when Biff admired and respected him. As the play continues, Willy disassociates himself more and more from the present as his problems become too numerous to deal with. The third major theme of the play, which is order versus disorder, results from Willy’s retreats into the past. Each time Willy loses himself in the past, he does so in order to deny the present, especially if the present is too difficult to accept. As the play progresses, Willy spends more and more time in the past as a means of reestablishing order in his life. The more fragmented and disastrous reality becomes, the more necessary it is for Willy to create an alternative reality, even if it requires him to live solely in the past. This is demonstrated immediately after Willy is fired. Ben appears, and Willy confides â€Å"nothing’s working out. I don’t know what to do.† Ben quickly shifts the conversation to Alaska and offers Willy a job. Linda appears and convinces Willy that he should stay in sales, just like Dave Singleman. Willy’s confidence quickly resurfaces, and he is confident that he has made the right decision by turning down Ben’ s offer; he is certain he will be a success like Singleman. Thus, Willy’s memory has distracted him from the reality of losing his job. Denial, contradiction, and the quest for order versus disorder comprise the three major themes of Death of a Salesman. All three themes work together to create a dreamlike atmosphere in which the audience watches a man’s identity and mental stability slip away. The play continues to affect audiences because it allows them to hold a mirror up to themselves. Willy’s self-deprecation, sense of failure, and overwhelming regret are emotions that an audience can relate to because everyone has experienced them at one time or another. Individuals continue to react to Death of a Salesman because Willy’s situation is not unique: He made a mistake — a mistake that irrevocably changed his relationship with the people he loves most — and when all of his attempts to eradicate his mistake fail, he makes one grand attempt to correct the mistake. Willy vehemently denies Biff’s claim that they are both common, ordinary people, but ironically, it is the univers ality of the play which makes it so enduring. Biff’s statement, â€Å"I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you† is true after all. Miller often experiments with narrative style and technique. For example, Miller includes lengthy exposition pieces that read as stage directions within The Crucible. At first glance, it seems that an audience must either read the information in the program or listen to a long-winded narrator. Upon further inspection however, it becomes apparent that Miller’s inclusion of background material allows actors and directors to study character motivation and internalize the information, thereby portraying it in the performance. Miller provides audiences with a unique experience when it comes to Death of a Salesman. In many ways, the play appears traditional. In other words, there are actors who interact with one another, there is a basic plot line, and the play contains standard dramatic elements such as exposition, rising action, conflict, climax, and so forth. However, Miller’s manipulation of time and space creates a very non-traditional atmosphere that is unsettling but effective because it mirrors Willy’s mental state, thereby allowing the audience to witness his mental instability and take part in it. Stage directions call for a complete house for the Lomans. An audience will not simply watch the action take place in the kitchen but can observe several rooms within the home. This sounds as if it would be distracting since an audience can view several things at once. After all, what should the audience look at? If more than one character is on stage, whom should the audience pay attention to? Miller solves this problem through lighting. Only characters that are talking or involved in direct action are lit on stage, all other rooms, characters, and props remain in shadow. The result is a vast number of rooms and props that can be utilized immediately. The audience does not have to wait while a new set is erected or an old one torn down, but instead moves directly and instantaneously into the next scene. Such movement without the benefit of time delays or dialogue transitions produces a disjointed and fragmented sequence of events, much like a dream. In fact, the stage directions in Act I describe the house as follows: â€Å"An air of the dream clings to the place, a dream arising out of reality.† Miller does not stop there. Even though the action of the play can shift from one part of the house to another without delay, the action is still limited to the present. Willy’s dreams, memories, or recollections of past events must be revealed in a manner that is distinct from actions taking place in the present. This is important for two reasons: First, the audience must be able to differentiate between the present and the past in order to follow the action of the play; second, Willy’s increased agitation must be apparent to the audience, and there is no better way to reveal it than to have the audience observe his inability to separate the past from the reality of the present. Miller achieves this effect by manipulating the space and boundaries of the rooms. When action takes place in the present, characters observe wall boundaries and enter and exit through the doors. During Willy’s recollections of the past, characters do not observe wall boundaries, and the action generally takes place in the area at the front of the stage, rather than inside the house. As a result, the audience can distinguish present events from Willy’s memories. For example, in Act I, Scene 3, Willy pours a glass of milk in the kitchen, sits down, and begins to mumble to himself. He is in the present. He then remembers a past conversation with the teenage Biff and resumes the conversation. Since this is a past event, Willy directs his speech through the wall to a point offstage. This cues the audience that Willy is digressing in the past. Sound is also used to create a dreamlike state for both Willy and the audience. A flute melody is associated with Willy, Ben has his own music, laughter cues the Woman, and so forth. Once the sound is introduced with the appropriate character, the audience automatically associates the sound with that same character. As a result, Miller is able to prompt reactions and expectations from the audience, whether they are aware or not. For example, in Act II, Scene 14, it appears that things have finally been settled between Willy and Biff. Even though Biff is leaving in the morning, he and Willy have reconciled. This puts the audience at ease, but once Ben’s music is heard, it is evident that the play has not reached its final conclusion. In fact, Ben’s appearance may create anxiety for the audience because it suggests an alternate, more disturbing, end to the play. As the play progresses, the action shifts to the front of the stage. In other words, the audience becomes increasingly aware that the majority of the action is taking place inside Willy’s head. It is difficult enough to watch an individual lose his or her identity. It is extremely unsettling and disturbing to be forced to experience the individual’s memories, illusions, or perhaps delusions resulting in mental instability. Miller takes that into consideration and then pushes his audiences to the extreme. As Willy’s mental state declines, the audience is forced to watch and to react. As a result, the play may be called Death of a Salesman, but it is a death observed and experienced by every member of the audience.