Cultural communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural communication - Essay Example He broke up the code of honor that is one of the codes of communication by throwing away her wife in the public. It was considered a shame for Dakota men to reveal their emotions and feelings concerning anything publically. By throwing his wife publically, he made a mistake of breaking up the code of honor of Dakota tradition. He showed his cultural dominance by throwing away blue Bird. Men are considered to have an upper hand in Dakota tradition. The story Waterlily is based on the lifestyle and cultural norms exercised in Dakota Tradition by the people of that society. The story circulates around the main character, Waterlily, whose birth in a forest and her association to Waterlily enables her to get the name, Waterlily. Her mother, Blue Bird regards her very beautiful. Blue Bird marries to a Dakota man named Star Elk. After her marriage with the man, she comes to know that her husband is a lethargic and covetous individual and has no regard for Dakota tradition. At a victory dance, he in his overly emotional state shows his disregard for the Dakota tradition by throwing away his wife in front of all the people. This incident appears as a sort of humiliation for Blue Bird and her daughter Waterlily. Due to the publically upheaval displayed by Blue Bird’s husband, she runs away with her daughter and grandmother to her relatives called tiyospaye. Tiyospaye are the people who live in western plains. Waterlily is brought up in a cultural set up where she learns about cultural norms and how can she become a part of culture. The story, Waterlily not only talks about the protagonist, Waterlily but also informs about various cultures and conventions adopted by the Dakota people. Waterlily learns the rules of kinship. She learns the code of honor and all the aspects that come under this code of communication. She learns aboput how can a person be part of

Technology and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Technology and Society - Essay Example While the instrumental theory sees technology as an instrument, the substantive theory sees technology changing society. 1) What does technology or media determinism mean Technology determinism seeks to explain social and historical phenomena in terms of one principal or determining factor. It focuses on causality - cause and effect relationships - a focus typically associated with scientific explanation. 2) What are technology-led theories Technology is seen as a 'prime mover' in history; particularly technological development, communication technologies, media, or technology in general are the sole or prime antecedent of changes in society and technology is seen as the fundamental condition underlying the pattern of social organization. 4) What does reductionism mean in terms of technological determinism Reductionism aims to reduce a complex whole to the effects of one part (or parts) upon another part (or parts). It is utilized in a linear or one way manner. Technological determinism is mono-causal. It offers a single cause or 'independent variable'. 5) Describe the difference between reductionism and holism. Reductionism discusses a complex whole in terms of parts.

Week one Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week one Discussion - Assignment Example 7). Likewise, these people were revealed to be alert and interested to indulge in various activities such as: â€Å"using the Internet for shopping, keeping in touch with family members, and learning about all sorts of topics. Theyre attending college classes, taking art lessons, and scheduling trips to Prague, Alaska, and Scandinavia† (Misconceptions About Aging, 2013, par. 10). 2. Research the aging theories discussed. Which one makes the most sense to you-why? Research a study on one aspect of aging and tell the class about it-be brief and cite your source. Do you agree with the study conclusions? There were two major categories of aging theories: biological and social theories (Lecture Notes: Topic 3: Theoretical Perspectives on Aging, 2013, p. 3). One believes that biological theories make most sense because physical changes naturally occur out of biological process which could not be prevented. One modern biological theory was the programmed theory which reportedly implies that â€Å"aging follows a biological timetable, perhaps a continuation of the one that regulates childhood growth and development. This regulation would depend on changes in gene expression that affect the systems responsible for maintenance, repair and defense responses† (Jin, 2010, par. 3). As such, Jin(2010) expounded that there are three sub-categories of the programmed theory which included: (1) programmed longevity, where the life span depends on apparent switching on and off of genes; (2) endoctrine theory, where homones were noted to control aging; and (3) immunological theory, where the immune system contributes to alleged propensities to contract illnesses that eventually shortens the life span. With the extensiveness and comprehensiveness of the study, one thereby agrees with the study and the author’s

Public Relation Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Public Relation Research - Essay Example Consequently, the basis of defining media issues should and will always revolve around conveyance of vital, lifesaving information to the general populace in a responsible, fact-based manner which is not just strong enough but also convincing enough to motivate them to take appropriate action without subjecting them to risks. Way back in in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew paid a visit to south Florida, the residents in awe as miles and miles of traffic evacuated the people. Nonetheless, persons who missed the media report, had no information as to who was evacuating who and where. Such underlies the importance of the media and highlights what constitutes a media issue. The article â€Å"Boral demolishes another 700 jobs† highlights a major societal issues and as qualifies as a media issue. It looks at two major public interest areas hit by crisis, thanks to economic recession. These include the employment and the housing development sector. More often than not, every member of the public has interest in knowing the changing employment trends as well as the changes affecting the housing sector. These are both areas which directly touch on the day to day life of the citizens. What makes these issues of interests to the media is the public interest they elicit. The report for the case witnessed in Boral and the possibility of job losses, it is indicative of the hard economic times and spells a possibility of other related or even unrelated industries follow trend to salvage themselves. It reveals information which could have a rippling effect across the local divide. In a related piece, Wheeldon (2012) highlights not just Boral but also brings in Fletcher, both of which are construction related industry. This is a warning to the public of negative effects within the industry and the need to take contingency measures. Public relations have a lot to do with communication of occurrence to the general public. It helps the public get a clear picture of some special o ccurrence within an organization and in most cases attempt to justify the actions. This is summarized in the statement, â€Å"When a company spends hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to sponsor an event, it seems rather foolish to me not to spend the additional relatively small amount required to tell people you're doing so. Public relations are the final ingredient required to ensure the success of the buy; to fail to use PR seems kind of like buying a car without the engine; it still looks pretty but it won't go very far (Cox & Avila, 2008).† In general, it focuses on justifying an action taken by an organization more especially if the action taken touches on the lives of the public. In this case, the reported incident reports loss of employment to hundreds of employs and probably other many who directly relay on the ones who lose their employment. Other than the loss of employment, it justifies its position and explains that the cut will not affect its produ ction as it will focus on areas where redundancy has been recorded in the past (Kylie, 2013). This is what makes it public relations. It explains a situation, justifies the situation and explains the possible impact of the situation. A number of public concern issues are raised in the article. Primary ‘publics’ concerned with the issue A number of stakeholders are will find interest in the communications made in the article. The first groups of interested parties are the employees. The employees are

Feasibility Study Essay Example for Free

Feasibility Study Essay Fast food chains have grown at an incredible rate over the past couple of decades. There seems to be a McDonalds or Burger King on every street corner. Fast food offers people in a rush an inexpensive way to grab food whenever they want. In the United States, fast food restaurants accounts for 46.7% of the total food service industry while sit-down restaurants have 39.3% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009). This forces sit-down restaurants to target a different market, people that are looking for pleasure and a relaxing experience. The food services industry is considered to be the most known industry in the world. Sitdown restaurants typically offer full menus, which include appetizers, entrees, sides, desserts, and all types of beverages including alcohol. Most restaurants will have a host or hostess that will greet a person as they walk in and show them to the table that they will be sitting at for the duration of their meal. Sit-down restaurants typically will have trained chefs to cook and prepare the meals and servers that will completely take care of any needs that there will be while eating at the restaurant (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009). It is important to have honest and hard working servers at a sit-down restaurant to ensure that people will have an enjoyable time at their establishment. If a restaurant has a unique reputation then the customers will come back time after time. For a restaurant to have a loyal customer group, it must be able to serve the customers with high quality food and service. The restaurant must also have different things that differentiate itself from other sit-down restaurants. Instead of just getting a bite to eat at a fast food chain, a person can go to a restaurant and enjoy him or herself with family and friends for an extended amount of time. The restaurant experience should become a form of entertainment for the customers. Some restaurants also offer a bar, which fast food chains do not. At a bar, people can come in and drink a few beers while watching a sports game on television. At night, the bar area can become a place for people to relax or enjoy themselves with some dancing. Many college age people like to spend a little time at a bar to relieve stress and to dance. With two colleges in the area and an increase of tourism within the past decade, Tacloban City would be a logical place to open a new restaurant. Tacloban is a city in Leyte and has been revamping its image to attract more people to the downtown area. The city has been growing in population with many new housing tracks recently built along with those under construction. The city is considered a beach town with many people visiting the beach every spring and summer. There is also a large amount of foot traffic in the downtown area as well as near the mall and the major schools. The problem with opening a new restaurant is being able to establish the business, while differentiating itself from others. A restaurant should be in a recognizable area which can be used as a landmark. In order to do so, the restaurant must find a theme and a strong following of customers. With the right marketing, good service, good management and strong financial information, a new restaurant can be a great business to start up. In order to open a restaurant, the owner should know the consumer characteristics of the area. For a restaurant to do well there must be people willing to spend money. That is why knowing the area’s workforce is important. Ventura has a strong work force with only 4.5% of the population being unemployed who are over the age 16. The city’s largest work industry is educational services, health care and social assistance which is at 21%, followed by professional, scientific, management, administrative and waste management services at 12.3%, retail trade at 11.8%, arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services at 10.1% and manufacturing at 7.8%. Some of the most prominent occupations of people that live in Tacloban City are management, professional, and related occupations at 38.8%, sales and office occupations at 25.7% and service occupations at 17.2% (U.S. Census, 2009) Problem Statement * Is opening a sit-down restaurant in downtown Ventura feasible? Hypotheses A new restaurant in downtown Ventura will have a demand of at least 50% of the people surveyed. The new restaurant also will be able to cover its everyday operating expenses as well as its start-up cost while still making a profit. Objectives 1. To assess the feasibility of a sit-down restaurant in Ventura. 2. To conduct a survey to determine the interest of a new restaurant. 3. To determine the target market for a new restaurant. Justification A feasibility study for a sit-down restaurant in Tacloban City will be beneficial to anyone who would like to open a sit-down restaurant in downtown Tacloban City, as well as Palo due to the similar demographics throughout Tacloban City. The study will also be helpful to anyone who would like to open a fast food restaurant in the area because of the analysis of the desirability of the location of the new restaurant. The analysis of the amount of people that go downtown in Tacloban City will be able help other entrepreneurs that plan on opening a small business because the study will give them the knowledge of how many people go downtown on a regular basis which can give them an idea of how many potential customers they may have. This study will also help people planning to open a restaurant in an area with similar demographics as Tacloban City. II. MARKETING STUDY LITERATURE REVIEW Competition Analysis Opening a restaurant takes a lot of time and effort to be successful. One of the most important things to know when assessing the target market for a restaurant is who the competition is. The competition can range from fast food chains all the way to a high-class sitdown restaurant. Many people are in a rush at times or are too tired to cook for the family after work, which drives them to dine out. These people then have to decide if they want inexpensive fast food or go to a sit-down restaurant to be serviced. That is why it is so important for restaurant owner to know who the target market is. Fast food restaurants target people in a hurry and that want an inexpensive meal, while sit-down restaurants target people that are there to take their time and be provided with good service (Brown, 1990). When assessing the competition Debruyne and Reibstein (2005) found it is important to know the technology and services that the competition has so that a company can keep up with them. Debruyne and Reibstein (2005) also went on to say that companies should consider approaches to avoid attracting competition to a new market. That is why having employees that can be trusted with company secrets is very important. Analysis of Potential Profit There are many things that need to be taken into consideration when projecting a company’s potential income. The location of a restaurant can have a large effect on the amount of income that a restaurant obtains, which is why finding a good location for a restaurant is important (Coats, 1986). The better the location, the more people will know about it and want to stop in. Having a restaurant in a place where foot traffic is heavy can be beneficial to the restaurants success because people walking down the street could see the restaurant and decide to stop in and eat. In order to see how much money could be made, a business should develop projected financial statements so they can see how much the business would cost to run the restaurant (Newman, 2008). Besides projecting income and expenses, there are many other things that a restaurant owner should take into consideration when trying to figure out if the restaurant will be profitable. Sweasey (1987) found a restaurant had a better chance of being profitable if it has a creative menu. This is very important for a sit-down restaurant because potential customers could order food from a well-known place like Domino’s Pizza, or a McDonalds. The key to success would be to offer many different types of food that would be unique to a particular restaurant. Another thing that indirectly affects a restaurants potential income is the relationship that the employees have with their managers (Davis, Schoorman, Mayer and Tan, 2000). Their study found that trust between management and employees can affect the restaurant financially because employees are willing to work harder for a manager that they can trust. A restaurants profit can also be affected by inventory control. Archibald, Betts, Johnston and Thomas (2002) stated that for a new business to survive it should be conservative with their inventory. This is very important with restaurants because there are many types of foods and ingredients that can go bad if not used in a short amount of time, which causes the restaurant to lose money from having to waste their inventory. The price of items on the menu is also very important according to Becker (1991). He found if prices of food are too high then customers will feel that they are being treated unfairly, which will keep them from coming back to the restaurant. It is important for a restaurant to have consistent customers because they will help bring in new business by telling others how good the restaurant is. THE MARKET City of Tacloban People that know the area and the interest of the people in the area tend to have more success operating a restaurant than people that do not know the area. Tacloban City is continually growing with new housing tracks recently built and some currently being constructed. The city is also rising in popularity and marketing towards becoming a tourist destination. Tacloban City has 3 large high schools and a junior college. Tacloban City restaurants also receive business from Channel Island students who live on campus and near campus that just want to get away from their area and eat somewhere nice. Tacloban City also attracts people to its downtown area with many places to shop and eat. Downtown seems to be a good location for a new restaurant because of the heavy foot traffic throughout the week. The city also has a shopping mall near downtown, which attracts even more people to the area. Tacloban City is known as a beach town as well, which helps bring more tourists to the city. A restaurant near the beach could be a good location assuming that people will see the restaurant on the way to the beach. III. TECHNICAL STUDY METHODOLOGY Procedures for Data Collection To determine if a restaurant will be feasible, a projected income statement must be made to figure out if expenses will be covered and if profits can be made. This will be done by going to different restaurants and talking to the owners and managers about the financial aspects of the restaurant along with how to run the operation smoothly. If the owners decide not to provide the financial information needed, then research online for standard restaurant financials will be collected. There will also be a survey made to determine Tacloban City demographics, and personal interests. The survey will be given out at random at mostly downtown Ventura. Two other places that the survey will be given out is at Leyte Normal University and Eastern Visayas State University. The survey will be administered for about four hours at each location The survey will also provide information about the type of food that should be on the menu and finding out if people would rather go to a dive bar or dance club at night. The survey can also be used to determine what type of theme the restaurant should have. One other thing that will be used from the surveys is to determine the target market so that the restaurant can be marketed to those that would be most likely to try the new sit-down restaurant in Tacloban City. Procedure for Data Analysis When the financial information is obtained, the data will be analyzed and provide projected numbers for a new sit-down restaurant.Once the projected financial statements are made, there will be several tests to see if the restaurant will survive and be profitable. Once the survey is completed, the information will be analyzed in SPSS. Using the information from the collection of data will create a better understanding of the restaurant market in downtown Tacloban City. The analysis should show an accurate description of the individuals who represent the population of Ventura. The data will show the people that like to go downtown, what age groups there are, their education level and income level. The data from the surveys should be able to show who the target market is for restaurants in downtown Ventura. Overall, the information that is obtained from the survey should be able to show an accurate target market and interest for a new restaurant in Tacloban City. Assumptions This study assumes that Tacloban City economy will remain stable and the growth rate of the city will remain consistent. The study also assumes that the observations conducted will be an accurate measurement of the desirability of restaurants in Tacloban City. Limitations The study that was conducted will be helpful to other cities in Leyte, but the actual analysis of the target market will be solely for Tacloban City due to the unique demographics of the city. IV. FINANCIAL STUDY DEVELPOMENT OF STUDY Surveys can be a great tool to find out information from consumers. They can show the interest of the people, who the target market is and the demographics of the area. The survey was distributed mostly in downtown Ventura do to the heavy foot traffic of the area as well as the potential location of the new restaurant. 118 responses were collected and then analyzed in SPSS. The following charts and analysis will show the results of the survey conducted. The first question asked how many times a month a person eats at a restaurant. It is important to know how often people like to eat at a sit-down restaurant because the people that go out to eat often will be more likely to actually try a new eating establishment. The majority of responses were 1-3 times a month at 36% and 4-7 times a month at 32%. Only about 2% of the responses said that they never eat at a restaurant. The next question asked how often the individual went to the downtown area of Tacloban City? Knowing how often people go downtown is essential because the more foot traffic an area has the more likely someone is willing to stop in and check out a new business. The largest response was 0-3 times a month; however 52% of surveyees said that they do go downtown at least 4 times in a month. On average, how many times each month do you eat at a sit-down restaurant? When the respondents were asked what their favorite restaurant in Ventura was, 35% of the respondents answered Aloha Steak House and 25% said Andrias Seafood Restaurant. When asked how likely the respondent would be to try a new sit-down restaurant in Ventura, 32% said they would certainly try it and 52% said that there was a good possibility they would try a new eating establishment. Only 2% of the respondents said that they would not be willing to try the restaurant out. People willing to try a new restaurant are the most important people to market towards. These individuals can become loyal customers and even help thebusiness out by telling others about the restaurant. What is you favorite restaurant in Ventura? The next question asked how many people lived in their current household. This response was spread out with the three largest responses being four people at 25%, three people at 22% and two people at 21%. People tend to eat in groups, whether it’s with family, friends, roommates or even co-workers. Most people are likely to bring members of their household with them while eating at a restaurant, which increases sales. This information can help when determining whom the target market will could be. This next question asked how desirable the social atmosphere, reasonable prices, variety of food, time food takes to be ready and service at a restaurant or bar is.? The averages were 3.93 for social atmosphere, 4.3 for reasonable prices, 3.84 for variety of food, 3.87 for time food takes to be ready and 4.5 for service. These attributes are important to know in order to have the right type of atmosphere, employees and management style needed for the establishment to succeed. When the people surveyed were asked what publications they read at least once a week? 59% said that they preferred to read the Philippine Daily Star. This information is critical when deciding where to advertise. Establishing a new business’s name is one of most difficult things to do, which is why knowing where reach the public to advertise is important. The next question asked the type of music the respondents liked to listen to? Rock and roll had the highest response and next was hip-hop and rap with 54% with 37%, respectively. Knowing the type of music people prefer to listen to can help when advertising by having announcements on radio stations with that type of music. The type of music the surveyees like to listen to can also be helpful when determining the music that will be played at night in the bar area of the restaurant. The next question asked if people would rather go to a dive bar or dance club at night. Over 60% said they would rather go to a dive type of bar atmosphere that consumers like at night is important for a restaurant owner to know. This will help drive in more customers at night, which may increase the amount of sales. Knowing the type of bar atmosphere that consumers like at night is important for a restaurant owner to know. This will help drive in more customers at night, which may increase the amount of sales. The following question asked the individuals where they would most like to see another restaurant. 47% said that they would like to see a new restaurant downtown with 35% saying Main Street would be the best location in the downtown area. The next two places people would like to see a restaurant open at would be near Century theaters or near LNU which were both at 20%. The location of the restaurant is vital to its success. Location of new restaurant People want to eat where they often are at on a regular basis. Many people go downtown, and Main Street is the street with the most traffic of people. The place with a lot of foot traffic will not only be a great place for the shoppers that want to eat, but also employees of other businesses that need to eat something on their break. Knowing people also would like to see a restaurant near Century Theaters and LNU can be helpful if the restaurant owner ever wanted to expand and open up a new location. Further analysis was conducted using crosstabs in SPSS. Critical questions where compared to other questions to reveal specific behaviors of potential restaurant customers. This analysis can give a more precise showing of the preferences and atmosphere of restaurant people are willing to try.The most useful information from these tests were discovering the respondent’s preferences who responded that they would certainly or have a good possibility of trying a new restaurant in Tacl oban City. The following crosstabs used in the analysis of the survey are significantly valid using chi-squared testing. Of the people who indicated they would be likely to try the new restaurant, 80% said they eat at a restaurant 1-3 or 4-7 times a month. Of the 15% of respondents that said they go to a restaurant 12-15 and 16-20 times a month, 89% of them said that they were likely to try a new restaurant in Tacloban City (P = .027). When comparing people that like American food to people that like ethnic food, 79% of people that like American food said they would like to see a dive bar over a dance club (P = .035). Due to the individuals’ preference of a dive bar over a dance club, traditional American food would be an excellent choice of food for the menu. The menu should also be broad and have a bit of variety to it in order to attract more customers. This is why the menu should also include Mexican and Italian entries due to the high preference according to the survey results. Although not many surveyees reported that they were in the downtown area often, 81% of them still responded they would like to try a new restaurant in Ventura (P = .077). These people may not go down town on a regular basis, but they can still be a great resource to advertise by word of mouth. They may eventually try the place out and then tell their friends and family about the business. Although not significant valid, as far as gender goes, 80% of men that were surveyed said that they would be likely to try a new restaurant establishment and 86% of women said that they would (P = .433). This information can be useful in determining the target market for the new restaurant. When examining the survey results to help determine the target market of a newrestaurant in Ventura the following results were found. When comparing males and females, females make up the majority of respondents who make $60,000 to $80,000 (69%) and over $80,000 (51%) (P=.787). When looking at how many people live in the household for women the highest response were two people with the next being five people in the household (P=.177). These results were close to the target market that MRI, Inc had in their database, which will be discussed in the following chapter. A projected income statement can be helpful when trying to determine if the restaurant has the ability to be successful. The income statement can also be used to help run the business properly and help the owners and managers be efficient at their job. The following income statement in Table 1 was based off Food Service Warehouse’s (2006) website of a sample restaurant’s income statement for a week in Greenwood Village, CO. All numbers were then multiplied 52 to give the financial information for the year as a whole. This information was ad justed using the rent as a base number to determine the rest of the expenses as well as the revenue. Rent typically goes for $2 a square foot in downtown Ventura. An efficient restaurant size of 4,000 square feet was used to determine that rent would cost $96,000 a year. Further adjustments were made to incorporate the start-up cost of a restaurant, which is in the range of $300,000 to $500,000 (Rainsford and Bangs, 2001). The number used in this study was $300,000. After the first year was constructed, the revenues and expenses where increased by 2% due to inflation for the next two projected years. Changes in the income statement that are not held in consistency with the example income statement given were the equipment and repairs expense for the first year which includes the start-up cost along with a $5,000 projected repairs expense. The next year only included the repair expense with respect to the number used for inflation. To determine the interest expense, an amortization schedule in Table 2 was made based on a five year, $300,000 loan with a 7% interest rate for the start-up cost of the company. Advertising and promotions expense where also added to the income statement do help promote the restaurant’s name, which is essential in the first few years of operation. A depreciation expense was added in to account for equipment and supplies. The depreciation expense was 28calculated by using the straight-line method for five years on the $165,920 for equipment and supplies. The number used for depreciable assets was calculated by taking the initial start-up cost and then subtracting any items that are not depreciable. A miscellaneous expense of $1,000 was also added in case of unforeseen costs that may occur throughout the year. A break-even analysis in Table 3 was then performed to determine how many meals would have to be sold to cover expense. The unit price was based on an average projected meal cost of $11 for the first year and then adding in inflation rates for the next two years. The number of meals that would need to be sold for the first three years to break-even would be 70,403, 42,770 and 42,416, respectively. 29 Income Statement Projected Income Statement Sales| Year 1| Year 2| Year 3| Food| 483, 487| 485, 166| 505, 028| Wine| 70, 668| 72, 081| 73, 523| Liquor| 58,488| 60, 678| 61, 871| Beer| 126, 464| 128, 88| 131, 573| Beverages| 3,744| 3, 817| 3, 875| Total Sales| 742,860| 758, 737| 773, 812| Summary The data that was collected and analyzed from the 118 surveys collected proves the hypothesis to be correct by showing that people have a strong interest of trying a new restaurant Tacloban City. The hypothesis was also proven to be accurate through the projected income statement by showing that after the first year, the restaurant would start making a profit with the following years increasing in net income. The desirability of a new eating establishment by the people of Tacloban City appears to be high with 84% replying they would be likely try out a new restaurant. People who responded to the survey said service is the most important attribute of a restaurant which means the time of day staffing is most important would be from 11:00am to 2:00pm for lunch and 5:30pm to 8:00pm for dinner. The days of the week that more staff then usual would be needed is on Saturdays and Sundays due to the large amount of people that like to eat at restaurants and go downtown on these days. The target market for the restaurant according to MRI, Inc (2010) which was close to the results of the survey analysis are Caucasian women, who have attended or graduated from college, 25 to 54 years old who are employed full time in sales and office occupations or professional and related occupations, with an income of $80,000 or more and three to four people living in the household. Conclusions The best type of restaurant in respect to the results of the analysis would be a traditional American food restaurant with a section of the menu being dedicated to ethnic food mainly including Mexican and Italian food. The type of bar the restaurant should have at night should be a dive bar with a mixture of rock and roll, hip-hop and rap playing in the background. The average price for a meal should be around $11. The location of the restaurant should be downtown and preferably on Main Street nearplaces to shop. Possible places to expand would be near Ventura College or by Century Theatres. The best way to advertise for the bar would be running ads in the Ventura County Start newspaper or on radio stations and internet radio stations that play rock and roll or hip-hop and rap. Recommendations This study shows that opening a new sit-down restaurant would be feasible in Tacloban City but further research of consumer trends of Tacloban City could be done to have a more accurate desirability of the restaurant market in Ventura. It would also help to have a strong background and work experience in the sit-down restaurant industry. Contacting and obtaining more financial information from restaurant owners or managers would also be helpful when conducting the financial analysis. Reference Cited Archibald, T.W., J.M. Betts, R.B. Johnston and L.C. Thomas. 2002. Should Start-up Companies Be Cautious? Inventory Policies Which Maximize Survival Probabilities. Management Science (48:9) September. pp. 1161-1174. Becker, Gary 1991. A Note on Restaurant Pricing and Other Examples of Social Influences on Price Journal of Political Economy (99:5) October. pp. 1109-1116. Brown, Douglas M. 1990. The Restaurant and Fast Food Race: Whos Winning? 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The Role Of Stereotyping In Fairytales English Literature Essay

The Role Of Stereotyping In Fairytales English Literature Essay Fairy tales have a great history in Europe and they were transmitted from the one generation to the other by oral speech, until the Grimm brothers decided to commit many of them, around 1815. The fairy tales stories are very important for childrens psychology, as psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim says, because they communicate with the unconscious of the child, through their secret messages, like the battle between the good and the evil, where the good always wins. So, the children feel more hopeful and ready to pass through the difficulties that emerge in their lives (Salkind, 2004). Fairytales contain material that influences a lot the feelings and the cognition of children. Contemporary research has shown they are not coming into the world as black slates, but they bring reflexes, predispositions and capacities, with their birth. Although schemas, the cognitive structures, that represent organized knowledge about a given concept or stimulus, that influence perception, memory and inference, (Hewstone, Stroebe Stephenson, 1997, p.617), are transmitted to them through the contact with their guardians and the society (Hewstone et al., 1997). Another effect of fairytales is the elongation of some schemas, specially those that concern gender. There are three types of schemas, according to Baron and Burne (2009); those that have to do with persons, with roles and with events. The role schemas, that are correlated with specific social roles, concern the way that people act and are like. Gender identity is one of the major role schemas that people cope with (Baron, Branscombe Burne, 2009). Gender roles affect the behavior of men and women throughout their life, social and personal. Some characteristics of the male stereotype is that the man is able to be a leader, aggressive, forceful, competitive, independent, individualistic and defending his own beliefs. On the other hand, woman is affectionate, compassionate, shy, soft-spoken, tender, she loves children and she is sensitive to the needs of others. Men are also considered as the owners of their family and like the head of the wife. Stereotypes like that have still their place in many religions, but are also tought to the children through the fairy tales. Women are still presented as followers of the active male figures or helpless with the need to be rescued. Children attain the meaning of gender identity, the fact that they are boys or girls, by the age of two and between the ages of four and seven, they realize that the gender is a basic attribute of the person. As they grow up they come in contact with the stereotypes that concern what it means to be male or female, and they are enforced by their environment to show these traits Children also, learn gender stereotypes very early in their life. By the age of two they know to accord stereotyped behaviors and traits with each gender and at the ages between three and six, they seem more strongly sex stereotyped than adults. Furthermore they are convinced that these stereotypes are true. In particular, in the research of Urberg (1982, cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994), it was found that children espouse unconditionally the gender stereotypes at the age of five, but at the age of seven they become more conciliatory. Another finding of the same research was that children tend to stereotype oth er children more than stereotype adults. In another study of Haugh, Hoffman Cowan (1980, cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994), it was shown on a screen to two groups of children of three and five year old, a shortcut with two twelve month infants playing. The children of the first group were told that the infant on the left was male, and on the right female, and to the other group the opposite. Both groups described the babies labeled as males, with characteristics like big, mad, fast, strong, loud, smart, and hard, while the female labeled as small, scared, slow, weak, quiet, dumb, and soft. As for the predictions that children can make about the preferences of the two sexes, in the study of Martin (1989, cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994), it was found that children of all ages tented to predict the characters interest about some toys, based on his or her gender. But only the younger children relied absolutely on this trait. It seems that younger children are more categorical with gend er stereotypes, and the gender of an individual is determinant for his or her characteristics and habits (Baron, Branscombe Burne, 2009, Golombok Fivush, 1994). The research about the gender roles in fairytales, has shown that even though women represent more than the half percent of the population, they are represented much less in childrens literature. Research during 60s decade found that women were underrepresented in a big amount in the book titles, central roles and the illustrations of popular childrens stories. After the political changes of the decades of 70s and 80s, it was found that women are better represented in childrens literature, but the male characters were represented double times. When a woman had a leading role was described as the males that had the same character. But when she had a secondary role, she was described with the traditional characteristics, as passive and depended (Golombok Fivush, 1994, Godden Godden, 2001). Furthermore, it was found by a research of DeLoache et al., cited in Golombok Fivush, 1994, that children get in contact with the gender stereotypes not only through the characters of their stories, but also by the way that their parents present the gender roles, while they are reading them a book. In particular, mothers that were reading a book to their children were presenting the 90% of the characters with unknown roles as males. Also, when they were asked to read a picture book with bears of indetermined gender, the 62% of them represented the bears to their children as male and a small percentage, about the 16% as female. It was also observed that the bears that were labeled as females, where those that were not been presented to interact with other bears (Golombok Fivush, 1994). According to the Banduras Social learning theory, cited in Cole Cole, 2002, gender is formed by social factors. He supported that the childs behavior is formed by that one of the others and specific by parents behavior, through the learning processes of reinforcement and observation or imitation of a model. Other factors responsible for socialization can be the teachers, the peers and generally the people that get in contact with the child, without underestimating the role of media, like tvs and children readings (Cole Cole, 2002). It has been observed that parents provide to their children except of patterns of imitation, rewards, when the behaviors of the last are compatible with their gender and they punish them for the behaviors that are not accord with it. In the studies of Beverly Fagot, cited in Cole Cole, 2002, in families, it was found that the parents were praising their daughters when they were trying clothes, dancing, playing with their dolls, or when were following them and they were punishing them when they were exploring things, running and climbing around. Contrary they were praising their sons when they were playing with cubes and they were punishing them, when they were playing with dolls, giving or asking for help. These findings are also supported by other studies, like those of Langois Downs, cited in Cole Cole, 2002. Except of the rewards, it has been observed by studies that the fathers in contrast with the mothers, treat their sons much more different than their daughters. More specifically they were considering boys as more strong and taugh and they were enforcing them to do similar activities, while they were rating them more strict than their mothers when they were playing with dolls. Also, when the boys were between the age of two and twelve, they were becoming stricter, more equable, less affectionate and more directional than with their daughters. Furthermore, it seems that the pressure to the boys to conform to their gender role, is bigger than this one that touch girls. As a result the gender role of boys is more cohesive than for the girls, something that continues to exist in mens and womens roles, when the male characteristics and roles are acceptable for women, while the opposite is not acceptable. Another stereotypic role for women in fairytales is that they have to stay in silence. Its inappropriate for them to express their thoughts and claim for their rights. This could be like an insult to their husband and only evil women, like witches, are taught with these behaviors. The only way for the women in fairytales to speak is only after asking a mans permission. Its also common for the man in fairytales to hit his wife when she dares to interrupt him. Women can only express themselves by crying and show helpless (Afanasev, 1973, Bottigheimer, 1986). In Snow White, Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale, the female gender is represented in a negative way. Snow White is displayed as being frightened, naive and helpless, and the evil Queen, her stepmother, the only other prominent female character is a narcissist. Thus, after reading or hearing this fairy tale, society begins to mold into these stereotypes. This quote demonstrates what society considers to be womens role. These traits are presented when the huntsman spares Snow Whites life and when the Dwarfs expect Snow White to do house work in order to live safely with them. Although the queen ironically is very powerful in this fairy tale, she also falls into the stereotype for females. She only uses her power for negatives, rather than positives, scheming vindictive plots on Snow White throughout the whole story. In which, naive Snow White falls victim, not once but three times. The evil queen sends the huntsmen to kill Snow White. This setting introduces the readers to Snow White as a scared helpless girl, a typical expected role of a female (Zipes, 2000). Although there are exceptions, the rule is that a woman has to lose her voice and her identity in order to provide a place in the society for herself. There are specific gender roles in the classic fairy tales that state that the men have the voice and the women are to be collateral. In the classic fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, the character of the seventh daughter is being taught what it is to be a woman. When she complains about grooming for her first trip above water, her grandmother remind her that someone cant have beauty without paying a cost. A woman must be beautiful and must suffer for the cost in silence. Silence is repeated throughout the tale as being a virtue. The mermaid suffers the pain and blood of her feet and the cutting out of her tongue as to be with her love, even though the man does not want her in return. The Disney version of this tale also shows Ariel learning about the importance of outward beauty and suppression. Ursula convinces Ariel that she doesnt need her voice in the human world. She has her beauty, her lovely face and she can use her body language. A woman can live in the mans world, only if she will lose her opinion. At first, Disneys Ariel seems not to follow the typical stereotype role for a woman. She is active, curious and rebellious sometimes. However, when she falls in love, her independent character, transforms into a dependent woman that only wants to become the wife of her beloved man. Moreover she decides to sacrifice her voice, as to become a human, and leave her underwater kingdom to live next to her man (Bell, Haas, Sells, 1995). Another example of the importance of women silence, is in the story of The Merchants Daughter and the Slanderer where the king decides to marry her only when it is mentioned to him that she is quiet and vestal. The value of silence is correlated with those of speech and power. Generally in fairy tales the speech comes from people that have authority, which most of the times are not the women. The women that appear to speak are evil, like witches, and only when they give a curse to their enemies, as it was mentioned before (Afanasev, 1973, Bottigheimer, 1986). Another stereotype in fairy tales, is that the mans role is to work and provide food to his family by this work. Besides that, in many fairy tales, the opposite fact happens. In Constantino Fortunato of Straparola, it is a woman, the mother Soriana, who provides the food to her three adult sons, who end helpless when she is dead. Their only way to survive is to use the items she left them and because they do not have any qualifications for work they become dependent on other people. Because of the fact that they have never worked, they do not appreciate the people who help them and they forget each one when a new person who can help them appears. And thats what Constantino does when is been ensured to him the marriage with the princess. In this fairytale the sons are completely dependent on their mother who has the main character in that. She is described as a very poor woman who had three sons, a description that appears in many points of the story. The important to notice is that never this family is been demonstrated as a poor family, but there is only a really poor mother and her sons. The sons are not considered as independed members of this family and they are not responsible for their poverty, even though they are old enough to have a job. They stay sideliners even when their mother is dead. Their only way to survive is to wait for their neighbors to ask them to borrow some of the items their mother left and give them something in return. When Constantinos brothers get a sweet like a gift from their neighbors they eat it by themselves and they dont keep anything for him but only advice him to ask the cat for help. That is what happens and the cat begins to provide everything to the young man, even his marriag e with the princess. When he becomes a prince he has to face many responsibilities but even in that time he denies to do it and continues to count on womens of the palace help (Zipes, 2000). Another common characteristic for the women in fairy tales is their passivity. Most of them when they find themselves in trouble, are waiting for a male to rescue them and dont take the situation in their own hands. In the story of The Footless Champion and the Handless Champion the sister of the family has to endure every day the minatory visits of a dragon, without doing anything to protect herself like to escape, but only waiting for her brothers to come back from a hunter travel, to save her (Afanasev, 1973). Another message that fairy tales give to women is that disobedience to men and possible will for power will be strict punished. The womans role is to serve the husband and do the housekeeping. In the Mayoress fairy tale, the woman explains to her husband her intention to become mayoress and he decides to punish her with some elder men. Because of her inability as a mayoress she spends the public money and then its impossible to collect the taxes in time. Even though she makes efforts to control the situation, the Cossack decides to punish her by beating her. The meaning of this story is that this woman should never desire a position of power and disobey her husband. Generally this story teaches women to stay allegiant to the authority of their husband and also men that women are incapable for positions that have to do with the public affairs and power. Beauty is another value that is overestimated in fairy tales. Usually we meet in their pages, young and beautiful girls to be chosen by men with power, but ugly and much older, like what happened in Beauty and the Beast and the ugly girls to be rejected not only from men but also from society. It is also common that the beauty is correlated with traits, like honesty, purity, virginity, delicacy and modesty. Beauty is also a virtue that has to be well protected from the world outside and be well guarded like a treasure. In the story of Dawn, Evening and Midnight the king watches his daughters during all day not allowing to anyone else to see their beauty. He doesnt even leave the sun or the wind to touch them. It is obvious that he adores his daughters only because they are extremely beautiful. It is not only the beauty that determine a wedding but also the ability of woman for reproduction. More specifically, it is the ability of the woman to make male children. It is considered as an ability of the woman to control the sex of her child, something that does not correspond to the contemporary knowledge and when she fails to make a boy, she is usually considered as cursed or worthless and she is driven away from her husband. This is obvious in the Singing Tree and the Talking Bird, when the king chooses his future wife only after she promises him to make three children, two males and one female. No other traits are more decisive than this, like the worth of a woman is considered first of all, with her ability of reproduction (Afanasev, 1973). It seems that even nowadays fairytales attribute to women the stereotyping traits of their gender, like passivity and silence, and to men those of power and courage, as it was shown through the fairytales of Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Ariel and The Footless Champion and the Handless Champion. Although there are traditional fairytales like Constantino Fortunato, that shows the woman in a position of power, this one of the head of the family and modern, that describe their heroine with some male characteristics, like Ariel of the Little Mermaid, who is independed and curious, before falls in love with a man, it seems that social sciences have to make a lot of efforts to modify the gender stereotypes in children literature (Zipes, 2000, Afanas ev, 1973).

What Is The Blue Ocean Strategy Commerce Essay

What Is The Blue Ocean Strategy Commerce Essay Blue ocean strategy makes companies to come out of ocean of bloody competition by creating market space which is uncontested and that makes the completion irrelevant. Since, dividing up existing demand and benchmarking the competitors, Blue Ocean strategy is regarding grow demand and break away from the competition. The business universe can be thought as a composition of two kinds of oceans the first is the red ocean and second one is the blue ocean. Red ocean includes all the industries which exist today and it is about the known market space. But on the other side Blue Ocean can be considered as industries which are not in existing today and it is called unknown market space. The industries boundaries are defined and well accepted in the red oceans. In the red oceans the rules of competitive games are well defined. The companies try to take away the greater share of the existing demand. Because there is a cut throat competition that makes the red ocean bloody and products become c ommodities. Blue oceans and Red oceans Blue Ocean can be considered as a fact of the demand creation, untapped market space and greater opportunities of highly profitable growth. Some industries can be created well beyond of the existing industries. But most of the blue oceans are created from the within the red oceans by expanding the industry boundaries which are existing. Since, rules of the game are to be set so competition becomes irrelevant in the blue oceans. Red oceans will always be taken as a matter of business life. When supply exceeds the demand in more industries then the competition for contracting demand will not result in to sustain high performance. Companies will have to go beyond the competition. They will have to create blue oceans to make more profit and growth opportunities. The most focus of strategy work has been on the competition based red ocean strategies in the recent times. But it provided the fairly good understanding about skill of how to compete in competitive environment from analyzing the economic structure of the existing industry. It also helped in making a choice between strategic positions of differentiation or low cost or focus, to benchmark the competition. Strategy followed over the time period This term blue oceans may be new but their existence is not new at all. These are an important feature of business life, past and present. If we look back 100 years and ask ourselves, How many of todays industries were not existing then? Probably the answer can be seen as many industries as basic as petrochemicals, music recording, automobiles, aviation, management consulting and health care, were unheard of or had just started to evolve at that time. If we look back only 30 years then again we see, a multibillion-dollar industries came out like cell phones, mutual funds, biotechnology, gas-fired electricity plants, express package delivery, minivans discount retail, , snowboards, home videos, coffee bars and many more. If we take and try to see just three decades ago, not one of those industries was existing in a significant way. Now we see forward twenty years or perhaps fifty years and ask ourselves how many now unknown industries will likely exist then. If we go by seeing the history as a tool to predict the future, then again the answer is many of them. Some aspects considered to follow this strategy This is the reality that industries never become constant. Industries continuously keep evolving. The some operations related to industries improve, markets get expanded, and players enter and exit as the time passes. This is the fact that history gives us lessons that we have a great underestimated capability and capacity to create new industries and re-create the existing ones. The services sector which were under the old system, for example, now have been expanded into seven business sectors ranging from information to health care and social assistance. As given that these systems are designed for standardization and continuity, such a replacement shows how important the expansion of blue oceans has been. As we have noticed that the overriding focus of strategic thinking has been on competition based red ocean strategies. Creating blue ocean impact It can be quantified the impact of creating blue oceans on a firms growth in terms of both revenues and profits based on the studied data. It has been found that 86% of the new launches were extensions in the line that can be said as incremental improvements within the red ocean of known market space and those accounted for mere 62% of total revenues and mere 39% of total profits. The rest 14% of the launches were targeted at creating blue oceans and they created 38% of total revenues and 61% of total profits. Forces behind the blue ocean strategy The several driving forces are working behind a rising trend to create blue oceans. The advancements in technology have significantly has improved productivity of industry and made suppliers to produce the maximum possible array of products and services. This resulted in increment in the numbers of industries and supply exceeded demand. This followed trend toward globalization accelerated the situation. The trade barriers between nations and regions are becoming lenient and as the information regarding products and prices become instantly, easily and globally available, the niche markets and chances for monopoly continuously keep disappearing. Although supply is keep on rising as global competition increasing, and it is not providing clear evidence that of an increment in demand worldwide, and statistics or data even pointing towards to declining populations in many developed markets. This has been resulted in increased commoditization of products and services, intensified price wars , and contracting profit margins. Blue ocean help in creating brand For the major services and products categories, brands are normally becoming somewhat similar, and since they are appearing more similar people usually select those products based on price. The customers no longer say and firmly ask, as they insisted in the past, that their laundry detergent be Tide. Because of the overcrowded industries, differentiating brands are appearing harder in both economic downturns and upturns. This shows that the business surrounding environment in which various strategy and management practices of the 20th century evolved that time is now disappearing. Since, red oceans are becoming consistently bloody, management will have to be more concerned with blue oceans. Strategy helps in separating winners from losers The thing that makes the winners separate from losers in creating blue oceans was their strategy. Moreover, the companies running in the red oceans went by a approach which is conventional and going to beat the competition by building a safer condition and position within the industry existed. Those firm or creators of blue oceans, amazingly, did not take the competition as their benchmark. But they implemented a unique and different strategic logic that can be considered as value innovation. Value innovation important for this strategy This Value innovation can be taken as one of the important concerns in blue ocean strategy. It is called value innovation since in place of focusing on cope with the competition, the firms try to make the competition irrelevant by creating and achieving value for buyers( customers) and the company, so looking up new market space which is uncontested. This value innovation focuses equal importance on value and innovation. The values without innovation try to focus on value creation on the incremental scale, something which improves value but is not enough to make you sustain in the marketplace. Innovation without value will be technology-driven, market pioneering, or futuristic, most of the times shooting beyond what buyers or customers are ready to accept and pay for. It is essential to have better understanding that shows distinction between value innovation as opposed to innovation in technology and market pioneering. It makes clear that what separates winners from the losers in cr eating blue oceans is neither bleeding edge technology nor market entry timing. It has been seen that sometimes it exists but most of the time it does not. The value innovation takes place only when the companies bring innovation with cost positions, utility and price. The value innovation is a new and different way of thinking about and executing the strategy that results into the creation of a blue ocean and a come away from the competition. It is generally believed that firms or companies can either create intensified value to customers at a comparatively higher cost or can create reasonable value at a lower cost. Here it can be said that strategy is seen as selecting a choice between differentiation and low cost. But those that want to create blue oceans follow differentiation and low cost simultaneously. Other strategies related to blue ocean strategy The creation of blue oceans is about bringing costs down while simultaneously taking value up for buyers. This shows that how a leap in value for both the company and its buyers is achieved. Since, buyer value is created from the utility and price that the companies offer to buyers and because the value to the company is created from price and its cost structure, value innovation can be achieved only when the whole system of the firm or companys price, utility and cost activities is properly and effectively matched. This represents the whole-system approach that makes the creation of blue oceans a sustainable and effective strategy. Blue ocean strategy includes the range of a companys functional and operational tasks or activities. On the other side innovations such as production innovations can be get at the subsystem level without affecting the firms overall strategy. The value innovation is not only innovation but it is more than innovation. It describes strategy that integrates t he entire or whole system of a firms activities and tasks. Conclusion Blue ocean strategy describes that it is all about to reconstruct boundaries of market to break away from the competition and create blue oceans. This highlights the search risk that many companies struggle with. The primary challenge is to successfully and effectively identify, out of the haystack of possibilities that exist, commercially compelling blue ocean opportunities.