Marketing techniques Essay

Introduction The businesses and products I chose happened to be, Nike and their Mercurial football boots, and Sony and their PS3 gaming console. I chose these products because I think they are both reasonably diverse, and in their time, both these products have experienced a range of sections within the product life cycle. For example, due to Nike’s football boots having to be constantly refreshed and renewed due to high competition, they have experienced, each sector, a number of times. In contrast, the Sony and their PS3 have also experienced similar experiences. For example, due to this specific console being one of the most successful and exclusive gaming consoles of all time, the overall competition has been reasonably low, and due to this, this certain product has seen the product life cycle at a very different perspective by experiencing each sector at a much slower rate. Product The diagram presented above dictates the process in which businesses go through, when marketing. Every business will follow this strategy when they advertise and market a product in order to gain the most sales, and to generate a substantial amount of profit. For example, the first stage of this Product Life Cycle is the Development. This stage entitles a business to conjure up a selected idea, in which they will later hope to produce as a product and then sell. The development stage is where the business will discover the blue prints of their product and how they will later market it. In other words, the development stage provides a foundation for the selected product as it will be built as a prototype to be later sold to the public in order to increase sales and profits. This certain stage is very secretive within any organisation. Other businesses do not want to let their competitors have knowledge of what they’re producing, in case they steal and release the idea before, a nd generate a mass of publicity, sales and profits. The next stage is referred to as the introduction stage; this is  where the business launches its completed product for the first time. This certain sector is vital as it will later determine how successful the product is, and whether it should be develop further. Within the Introduction stage, sales begin to grow slowly if the product begins to generate publicity, this is usually due to the lack of knowledge people have about your product, and it is also due to the lack of advertising. However, a business may not want to advertise straight away, as they may waste money on advertising a product that their piers may not essentially want or need. Therefore, business tend to use the certain advertising scheme, known as informative advertising, this includes small processes in which a business can build their products reputation or publicity. If this section of the product life cycle is successful, businesses can later develop on their products, thus enabling them to create further marketing schemes, beneficial to them, in regards to their sales, profits and annual turnover. The next stage within the Product life cycle is, Growth. This is where a business’s product begins to increase in sales, rapidly. This is due to increased demands, and the fact that all the business’s persuasive marketing schemes are working, thus increasing sales and profits. The growth sector within this product life cycle basically classifies how successful a business is, by being within the growth sector; this indicates that the business’s product is successful and popular. The fourth and pen ultimate stage is known as the Maturity stage. This is where a selected product, created by a business begins to sustain profits, and generate sales slowly. This stage takes place after the growth stage, due to many factors such as an increase in product competition due to the publicity of your product, as well as an increase in advertising due to businesses trying to sustain the success of their product. After this stage, comes the final stage, or otherwise known as the Decline. This stage entails a business’s product to begin to drop in sales, reduce in publicity and popularity, it begins to lose its appeal and competition becomes stiffer and bigger, therefore fewer units are sold. At this stage, advertising is either halted or completely stopped, and possibly the production of the item may decrease in activity in order to retain money and boost the production on other marketing schemes/ideas. Brand: Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc or Nike is a very popular and successful business that originated  in the early 70s. This business firstly began, known as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964, however, 7 years later saw them changing their name into what we know them today as; Nike Inc. This organisation specialises in sports apparel and accessories. This sport based business sells items within sports such as Football, Rugby, Golf, Basketball, Cricket, tennis, athletics and pretty much every other sport. However, I feel they are extremely notorious for their very professional and popular football boots. For example, Nike have earned international success and have worked with the likes of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Neymar, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Mario Balotelli, Wesley Sneijder, Wayne Rooney and Landon Donovan in regards to promoting their Football related range of goods. However, in regards to my product, Nike has formed many advertising schemes with players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovià „‡ (left) and Cristiano Ronaldo (right). Product: Nike Mercurial Vapor This certain product is a very popular and renowned piece of sports apparel. This certain product is linked with football, as they are, a selected type of football boot. This variation of football boot comes in many shapes and sizes, this enables the product to appeal to all different, acquired tastes, and overall this will help the brand Nike Inc, reach out and attract customers. However, my reasoning for choosing this brand would be its placement within the product life cycle, due to increased and increasing competition, businesses such as Nike Inc have to constantly refresh and renew their produce, in order to maintain customers and as a business become more appealing and modern/stylish. Therefore, I believe these products fluctuate between growth and Maturity, for example, due to the competition, new boots are brought out every couple of months or year, this causes older boots, and their predecessors to be regarded as â€Å"old†, â€Å"boring† or â€Å"out of fashion†. Therefore, each boot only has a selected amount of time, until the next big style or football boot gets released. Like I mentioned before, I believe this product is mainly situated within the growth sector, as each boot only obtains a selected amount of time to succeed and become appealing, until the next brand gets released; therefore, it’s time to mature and become a cemented item is limited. Brand: Sony Corporation Sony Corporation, or Sony, is a very successful and popular Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in electronics, game systems and game entertainment. Sony is one of the leading providers of game entertainment in today’s society; they have produced some iconic titles/products like the PS1, the PS2, the PS3 and its most recent addition, the next generation of console, known as the PS4. These gaming, entertainment systems have altered and revolutionised the way we play virtual games, and they have truly made their mark on gadget history. Sony is a Japanese business that began in 1946, its name, at the time stood as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, however, since 1958, this iconic brand has been referred to as Sony. Product: Sony, Play station 3 The product I will be using during this task will be Sony’s, award winning creation/product, known as the PS3. I believe this product has been very, very successful, and I think I it will be an ideal product to evaluate and analyse. For example, seeing as this certain console is one of few gaming entertainment systems to be released in the modern era, the competition is reasonably low, therefore, its time during the product life cycle has sustained and gradually evolved into being a product within the Maturity sector. However, due to recent events, a new range of console appeared, formed by the same brand; Sony. This new range of gaming console is referred to as, the next generation of gaming entertainment, and this specific console is known as the Sony PS4. This PS4 was released into stores and gaming retailers on such dates as the 15th of November 2013 (for North American Citizens), the 29th of November 2013 (for European Citizens) and 22nd February 2014 (for Asian Citizens); and as of March 2nd 2014, this product has already sold as many units as 6 million worldwide. Because of this, the Sony PS3 will eventually fall into the declining sector within the product life cycle, due to decreasing demand, decreasing popularity and a decrease in advertising and production. This certain factor is one prominent reason why I have chosen this product to feature within my coursework. Promotion The promotional process within a business is where an organisation would advertise a selected product to either inform existing customers of new modifications to their products, or to advertise a new product they have just created and finished. The methods and messages business use when displaying their products are very important, as it can overall determine the outcome/success of the product. For example, businesses want to sustain and attract new and existing customers by using persuasive and informative promotional materials, and if their promotional schemes do not achieve this substantial amount of money can be lost, thus negatively affecting the business and potentially damaging the business. There are many forms and ways in which business can promote their products for example: Advertising – Through TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, internet Direct selling – directly approaching and â€Å"targeting† customers, e.g. public speakers, telesales, door salesmen Direct Marketing – Leaflets, mailshots, emails Point-of-sale – selling point stands, free samples, vouchers, offers Incentives – loyalty cards, bonus points or point systems i.e. these exist on many crisp and cereal selling brands Public Relations – Ensuring the organisations name is well known and grown or growing publicity. Catchy slogans, and brand names or e.g. sponsorships like Nike’s Cristiano Ronaldo sponsorship deals Sales Promotion – special offers, deals, sales to attract customers All these ways are commonly used by business in order to boost the publicity and overall speculation on their product, as every business needs to achieve a certain amount of customers, in order to generate profit. As well as these promotional ideas/methods, businesses also use certain features like AIDA. This stands for (A) Attraction, (I) Interest, (D) Desire, (A) Action. This diagram is used to represent a customer’s approach to reviewing a product. For example, when seeing a advert that appeals to them, these (potential) future customers will have a mental review of the product, and over a period of time, this AIDA process should unravel and take its formation. This is a process in which many businesses follow, in regards to promoting and releasing their product/ideas so they can identify what techniques to use, when advertising and promoting their products. For example, firstly comes the Attraction of the product, businesses want to represent their newly formed product as a new revolutionary item that will  benefit someone in every way, where it’s needed. Therefore, business will present their item as â€Å"cool†, â€Å"modern† and highly â€Å"anticipated† despite it’s not even released yet. This is in order to obtain the focus of customers and to gain their attention to their product. The success rate in which businesses do this will determine how many people will feel encouraged to buy your product, an increase of this will overall benefit the business and generate them with increase/grown profits. Secondly comes Interest, this is where business aim to achieve the focus and publicity of their product . Because of this, businesses want people/customers to gain an interest to their product, they want people to feel they need and have to purchase it. If a business successes within this stage, this could impact the business in a number of positive ways. For example, an increased amount of people interested within your product could mean, an increase in profits, and this will most certainly benefit a business. Businesses do this by containing people within their adverts or promotional materials looking happy with the product, or featuring famous figures in order to promote how stylish a product can be. Like I briefly mentioned, businesses want customers to feel the need to have their product, this stage is referred to as the Desire stage, this is where business feature many promotional materials in order to obtain the attention of customers and make them feel the need to want to buy and purchase their product. Again businesses can do this through featuring famous figures like Cristiano Ronaldo in order to promote their new product. By doing this, many fans of these famous figures may feel desired into purchasing the product as they deem it as stylish or maybe they just feel loyal to the role model/celebrity who promoted it. Finally features the stage/section known as Action. This the physical side to this AIDA cycle, for example Action is where the customer/reviewer will eventually purchase the good and use it/consume it for its purpose. Within this cycle, businesses don’t really have to do anything more at this stage, the customer has bought their product, all the business can do now is wait and assume the certain client has grown fond of their product, thus potentially forming them into an existing customer/loyal consumer. What are the promotional techniques used by your businesses? Within the two businesses I have chosen, there are multiple promotional techniques. Within the paragraphs displayed below, I will present this and eventually outline their strengths,  weaknesses, and comparison with compe titors and their differences. Nike Inc, Mercurial Vapor: For this selected product, I found many promotional schemes, however, I commonly found promotional processes within the advertising side of promotion, and these TV advertisements included famous footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović in order to boost the attraction of their product as well as the desirability. For example, some screen shots/links of the adverts collected: Advertisements: Cristiano Ronaldo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWVYwppLPdE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mdgTR5ZyDs Zlatan Ibrahimović: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqVk1FHYeFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SBnk3lKzzg Strengths: Within this set of Nike commercials, I thought the real strengths and positive aspects had to be the way in which they want people to perceive their products. For example, within each advert/promotional technique, they indicate how their style of football boot could change the way in which you perform, and how it can alter your abilities. For example, within the Cristiano Ronaldo adverts, it depicts Ronaldo, running through a whole team, easily with such pace, the advert then finished with the simple statement of: Be fast. Be Mercurial. This would indicate to customers that their special brand of football boot could enhance their abilities and the way they perform on the football pitch. For many football fans, and aspiring football players, these factors may be very important and this may encourage them to buy the item as they desire the certain traits these products supposedly provide. This is also a good way of advertising, because when people purchase this variation of football bo ot, it’s another way of advertising, however it’s free. For example, potential customers may see other people wearing the advertised boots, and this may cause them to feel jealous due to them knowing what the boots supposedly provide trait wise, as well as the fact, their favourite footballer may be the cover of that  certain brand, therefore they could feel further experiences of jealousy. This factor is very important because, in modern day football, the competitiveness between aspiring players may be extremely high, therefore each player wants/needs a certain factor such as new boots that may pose them with an â€Å"advantage† over everybody else/their opponents. Overall this will encourage more people to purchase Nike’s product as the certain products may feel increasingly desired, thus potentially increasing their profits and reputation. I also feel strength of these advertisements is the involvement/featuring of worldwide known sports figures like Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Many young people interested within sports and football idolize over certain role models like these players, therefore, when these people see the Nike adverts featuring them, they feel obliged to purchase the certain piece of sports apparel in a way of supporting their role model. Therefore, Nike can use this to their advantage by exploiting how these players â€Å"benefit† from their products, and how it will reflect on their customers. For example, many fans and expiring footballers may feel, that wearing the same football boot as Cristiano Ronaldo or Zlatan Ibrahimović will grant them with their abilities and skill. Because of this, Nike’s advertisements can easily attract more customers by featuring these great athletes, thus potentially boosting their profits due to increased attraction and desirability. Weaknesses: Within these adverts, I felt it was very hard to find a significant weakness; however, I came to the conclusion of their adverts potentially degrading people. For example, due to the adverts representing how football players could be boosted/enhanced by the certain football boot, certain people who may desire the item, however can’t afford it may feel, when they play football, they do not have enough skill or power when on the pitch in comparison to people wearing these advertised boots. Because of this, many people may feel degraded, and they may also feel potentially weaker as a footballer, and this could potentially have a negative effect on Nike due to some people possibly feeling depressed about their abilities when being reminded of their products and their brand faces like Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović. Therefore, Nike may suffer some reductions in customers,  therefore a decrease in overall profits. Comparisons with competitors: When comparing to competitors, I believe Nike is probably at the best stage, I believe Nike is at the top of their game. For example, I think the way in which these commercials are conducted, represent these products with style, professionalism, power, speed, agility, and skill, precision. Because of this, I believe Nike’s target audience has been expanded for example, due to the professionalism and smart appearance of these products and their commercials, elder customers may also be enticed to purchase the products, as well as young, aspiring players. I also feel Nike made the correct choice when choosing players like Cristiano Ronaldo when advertising their products. For example, over the past couple of years, Ronaldo has accomplished many individual and joint awards and has successfully earned his place as the one of the best, if not the Best player in the world. Because of this, more people may have been enticed to buy Nike’s products, thus potentially booting their profits and overall reputation. Sony, Play Station 3: Again, with this certain product, I found Sony Corporation used many promotional techniques in order to advertise their product, especially within television, posters and billboards. For example: Links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyTlxHwuPZY – Long Live Play Michael https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqkNPcUMffU – PS3 Baby Commercial Strengths: Within these Sony, PS3 commercials/promotional material, I found that theses commercials had many aspects about them that were positive. One of these was the engagement to the audience a special individuals that are avid console gamers. For example, within the Long Live Play commercial, a group of gaming characters formed in order to celebrate the background character known as Michael who controlled their stories, as he PLAYED their games. I believe this is a positive effect as certain people may recognise these gaming characters, therefore they already obtain some variation of emotional  attachment to them, because of this, more people may be attracted to Sony’s products. For example, by seeing characters from certain games they have played may trigger many good memories of these people playing these games when they were younger. Because of this, they may feel encouraged to buy the console in order to recap on old memories, because of this, and increased amount of people buying Sony’s products will mean, and increased amount of profits, thus benefitting Sony in a number of ways. Another strength could be the suspense during the commercial. For example, the Long Live Play commercial depicts a group of characters speaking and celebrating about this person called Michael, however, customers watching the commercial don’t’ actually get told who this Michael is and why he’s important until the very end. I believe this is a very good promotional technique as this may cause customers having to watch the entire commercial as they are curious to whom Michael is, and by that time, they are drawn in and notified of the brand â€Å"Sony – PS3†. This suspense could ideally cause more people to remember the commercial, and overall these factors could increase the amount of people wh o will buy Sony’s products, thus increasing their profits further. Weakness: In comparison to the Nike commercials, I felt there were more negatives within these certain promotional methods, especially within the first commercial I watch, the PS3 baby commercial. I feel there were certain negative, such as how vague the promotional method was, for example, I don’t feel and can’t seem to analyse any form of message or purpose into why Sony depicted a baby doll, glancing at their product and making a series of different noises. If anything I believed this certain commercial was quite weird, and if I were to watch this commercial, my initial reaction would probably deter me from buying this product,, as I found little about the product itself, and the way I think the commercial was conducted was very strange and dysfunctional. I believe this would overall be a negative effect in regards to Sony. For example, if people are deterred from buying you product, due to your commercial, this could result in reduced sales and ultimately a decrease in your a nnual turnover. I also find, within the Long Live Play commercial, if you were new to gaming and unaware of some of the figures within the production, the advert wouldn’t really appeal to you,  therefore the way Sony aimed to increased sales through this promotional method may not work as well as hoped. For example, how do you expect to connect with some of the characters when you’re un aware of their story/history? Ultimately this could affect the turnover and sales created through this product and it could mean less people may purchase Sony’s products, thus potentially affecting their profits. However, in relevance to my last point, it could also be perceived as a positive, for example, if some people are unaware of certain characters, this may leave them questioning their purpose, and why they’re there. Because of this, people unaware of this information may feel the need to purchase a games console and some related game titles in order to find understand why certain characters were within the commercial. Due to this, businesses like Sony who sell gaming systems may receive increased sales due to people new to games, and are searching for a correct platform to play on. Overall this would positively affect Sony as sales may increase, as well as profits, thus benefiting the company economically. In comparison to their competitors I feel Sony don’t feel the need to input as much effort into their advertisements. They seem to focus on sales promotions within shop windows like Game or Game Station. I also feel Sony withdraw from increased advertising as it costs money, and they seem to find leaving their customers without that many details, It might give them an increased chance in regards to buying the console as the negative effects of the product may be unknown until purchased, this is beneficial to Sony as again, more sales mare be generated, thus a potential increase in profits. Pricing Strategies Used Pricing strategies is another word for the structure, and how businesses decide to sell their goods, and depending on these products, the type of pricing may change. Nike, Mercurial Vapor: The first pricing strategy I think Nike use in regards to this specific product happens to be the strategy known as Promotional Pricing. This is where businesses provide offers, and sales on their certain products. And in Nike’s case I believe this is exactly what they do, for example, considering the competition for this variation of product is very high, businesses like Nike have to constantly circulate new products and new Mercurial Football  boots, otherwise, their competitors will receive the upper hand and potentially an increase in customers due to less competition and other competitors not releasing new, updated stock. So, businesses like Nike release new stock/products like Mercurial Football boots in order to maintain their customers interest, therefore a majority of their older stock falls into the category of sales, deals and special offers. For Example: For example, Nike cut down this special type of Mercurial Football boot down from  £55.00 to  £43.00, a  £12.00 price decrease. Nike also follows the pricing strategy of Price Skimming. For example, when Nike first releases a new rendition of the Nike Mercurial Football boot, the price is initially, extremely high. I believe they do this because they know people would pay so much, just to stay up to date and modern in regards to the latest range, I also believe they do this because they know they are going to later decrease the price, therefore they initially sell their products at an extremely high price, just to take advantage of the limited time it’s going to be that price for to ensure they may generate a major profit per unit, thus potentially increasing their sales and overall increasing their profits. For example: The screen shot displayed above represents how much Nike initially release their Mercurial Vapor range at, later this price will decrease as new boot ranges will circulate, and this certain style will eventually go decrease in fashion/popularity. Sony, Play Station 3: The Sony PS3 has been around for around for around 7 – 8 years now, therefore the pricing strategies Sony used may or may not have changed during the products long lasting existence. Over that period of time, the Sony PS3 has been altered, re-mastered and perfected, therefore the pricing has obviously had to be changed, and considering the release of the new PS4, the Sony PS3 price has probably fluctuated at an even greater scale. One of the price  strategies the Sony PS3 withheld was, Price Skimming. Sony needed and has used this strategy due to the products huge market life. In order to generate and receive the most sales/turnover, Sony needed to keep the price as high as they could until something like the PS4 appeared. For example, since its release, the Sony PS3 has maintained a price between  £400 –  £150, therefore within that 8 year product life bracket, Sony has only cut the pricing down from around  £250, and like I mentioned before, Sony did this in o rder to generate the highest amount of sales/turnover in order to sustain a substantial amount of profit. Sony have also used the pricing strategy known as promotional pricing, for example, since Sony and their consoles involve features such as buyable accessories and games, Sony seem to release the occasional deal which involves a mix of a variety of games, certain gaming related accessories and obviously, the console itself. These deals appeal to many people as they receive the highly anticipated console as well as many other beneficial features. However, businesses like Sony use these added features in order to boost people’s encouragements as they believe the deal is better than it actually is. This is beneficial to the business as it overall could result into increased sales/profits due to deal prices and bundles potentially being sold for more than the individual console. This then leads me on to my next and final pricing technique, for example, business use the pricing strategy known as Psychological pricing. This is where businesses sell products at a price to deceive customers and trick them into thinking it’s cheaper than what it really amounts to. For example, many businesses sell items ending in 00.99, this is due to it seeming like it’s much cheaper than the price following it, for example, people feel they’ve received a great deal off an item for  £19.99 instead of it being  £20.00, despite it’s one penny less, your eyes deceive you and it seems to look like a much smaller number/price. For example, in regards to Sony, their PS3 has been usually sold at a price ending within 00.99 in order to trick and deceive people, thus causing Sony, to generate an increased amount of money, thus boosting sales and potentially enlarging the business’s profit. For example: As you can see, this certain retailer has applied this strategy on order to generate a increase within each unit sold. This will overall benefit Sony as  more money will be generated within their company, causing them to receive a positive cash flow. Place Nike: Nike is business that specialises within sports apparel and sports related accessories, therefore you will find most Nike goods within common Sports retailers. For example, popular European stores like Sports Direct, JD sports and the Nike shop will supply these related goods as they are all featured within the same business sector – Sporting and Leisure activities. These products produced by Nike are supplied within these stores as Nike is a multinational brand, and it’s becoming increasingly popular, therefore, over the past couple of years, the demand for Nike produce, such as Mercurial Football boots has increased. Because of this, businesses like Sports Direct and JD sports want to sell their goods as Nike will cause them to generate increased profits due to increase popularity of Nike products and increasing demand for the certain stock, supplied by Nike. This is beneficial to both stores, for example, Nike will receive money through the selected stores Nike stock sales as a percentage of this money will be generated and transacted to them, as long as Nike provide these businesses with suitable and updated stock. The only negative I can picture could be the certain percentage of the money Nike might receive, for example, this percentage may be quite low, and therefore it might actually negatively affect Nike as they may spend more money manufacturing and transporting the goods than what they receive in return. Sony, Play station 3: Since Sony and their PS3 is categorized as a gaming entertainment system, the stores that usually sell this product are gaming retailers like, Game, HMV, Game station, and CEX, however, since PS3 became a worldwide product, they have gradually been sold within basic superstores like Tesco, Wall mart, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, ASDA and Waitrose. Again, due to the products speculation and overall success, these businesses decided to get in touch with Sony and sell their produce (PS3) as they were certain its success will provide them with increased sales, and overall profits. Many businesses like  Tesco also bought the stock in order for more people to enter their stores, fro example, by increased amounts of people entering a Tesco in search for a PS3, they may buy a certain drink or product provided by Tesco, and because of this Tesco and other superstores selling the PS3 may have also generated increased product/stock sales and well as potential increased profits. Much like the positive effect presented above this will also overall benefit Sony, as an increased amount of businesses wanting to sell their produce, will mean an increase in funding and overall boost in the finances within the organisation as more money will be externally inserted within the company. The only negative again could possibly be an insufficient amount of money to compensate for the immense amount of demands from businesses wanting to sell Sony’s products, however their funding/money should cover it, thus evading this problem and providing Sony with no real negative issue in regards to this problem. Evaluate the marketing techniques used by a selected business Nike: After evaluating and analysing Nike and their Mercurial Vapor football boots, I have resulted in a conclusion, and have formatted my final opinion, on their way of marketing. I personally believe Nike used very smart and successful marketing strategies, as the popularity of their business represents how they have globally attracted people to their brands, and sports apparel. For example, in regards to their Product, I believe the way they’ve dealt with the growing/fast competition really functions well within their business. For example, Nike has adapted and became accustom to bringing out and releasing new products, like football boots every couple of months/year in order to sustain the interest of their customers and target audience. For example, they need to sustain each of their products like the Mercurial Football boots within the growing sector in regards to the product life cycle, until the next brand or style of boot gets released. Without these certain functions, and Nike standardized approach, I doubt the business would be as successful as it has been over the past few years, this certain function has certainly helped Nike achieve success, sales and profits; and these are all very beneficial features within an organisation. Due to these factors, I also believe Nike has breached its customers’ expectations; they have released consistent and fashionable products, much  like the rapid production and competition of football boots, and they are definitely one of the best within their selected sector of Sports and Leisure apparel/equipment. This is why I believe Nike could be regarded as one of the best, if not the best football boot producers/retailers within the world, and I believe they are definitely one of the feared businesses, in regards to their competitors like Adidas, Puma, Umbro, Sondico and Warrior. Secondly, I believe Nike’s Promotional sector is also very effective, for example, as I mentioned previously, I believe the way Nike advertise and present their products is very professional, stylish and smart in regards to their appearance. And because if this, I believe Nike’s target audience is expanded, for example, by appealing to an increased amount of people, Nike’s football boot sales may increase, therefore Nike may even result in an increase within profits; thus benefiting the business further. I also believe Nike conducted their sponsors very professionally and successfully as well. For example, Nike and their range of football boots obtain sponsorship deals with players like Zlatan Ibrahimović and the two time Ballon d’Or winner; Cristiano Ronaldo. I believe these deals have secured Nike’s success, for example, due to players like Ronaldo promoting their produce, an increase amount of people have been encouraged to buy their products , like the Mercurial football boots; thus boosting their sales, revenue and overall, profits. Again, in comparison to their competitors, I believe Nike are the best in their business sector. For example, the way they’ve conducted each commercial, poster or other promotional source, they do it with certain features that I feel provides them with an edge in regards to attracting and generated desiring customers.  Within Nike, I feel their pricing strategies were extremely good / beneficial to the organisation, and I believe, there isn’t any other form of strategy that I would follow, in terms of generating sales, and ultimately profits. For example, I believe the strategies they used were very good, in regards to their products, and how it will function with their target audience/customers. For example, one of the pricing strategies they used was, promotional pricing, this is where business sell their goods by offering certain deals and sales and cutting down the price in order to attract and generate an increased amount of customers. I believe it was  convenient for a business like Nike to use this certain strategy, as the football boot market is very competitive, and new boots will have to be released every couple of months/ year. Because of this, it’s only right if they cut down the price on their other goods by introducing sales, offers and other forms of promotional pricing, in order to attract more customers, and potentially increase sales/profits. Another form of Promotional pricing that Nike conduct is the strategy known as Price skimming. This is where businesses initially release their item at a very high price; however, as it progresses through the product life cycle, this price tends to decrease in order to benefit the business and customers by producing potentially more sales, thus more profits, as well as a cheaper price, therefore increasingly affordable. Again in Nike’s case, this is mainly due to the strong, competitive market. For example, new products like Mercurial football boot s will have to be released, therefore the stock referred to as the old stock will slowly come down in price as new products and goods get released. This will benefit Nike as the cheaper prices could attract more customers, because of this, Nike could face an overall sales increase, and this sales increase could eventually lead to the increase in Nike’s profits. Nike could improve the sales of this by promoting these reductions in such things as Television Adverts or posters, combined with popular retail stores such as Sports Direct. By promoting these reduced offers, more people within their target audience may feel interested to purchase their products, due to this Nike’s sales and overall profit may lead to an increase. Within these advertisements further deals with popular sports personalities such as Cristiano Ronaldo could take place; further promoting these reduced products, ultimately leading to more people having a desire or wanting for these items, resulting in an increase in Nike’s sales and profits. I believe the way Nike sells their produce, like their Mercurial Vapors is very convenient and bene ficial to the organisation. Therefore I believe these certain pricing strategies are very effective and this specific range of marketing techniques are very successful in terms of generating the business with increased sales and overall increased profits. Nike has overcome their competitors by formulating certain schemes to override their opponents and receive increased customers, sales and profits. Like I mentioned previously, to strengthen this, Nike could promote their discounted and reduced prices  even more. For example, since a new style or variation of their products such as Football boots are renewed monthly in order to maintain a controlling position within the Market, a vast amount of their old products are slightly forgotten about in regards to customers and their target audience. Therefore I think it would be highly beneficial to Nike if they compensated more for the promotion of their older products with reduced prices as it could overall increase the sales of their business, and ultimately lead to increase publicity. More people would be interested to purchase these promoted items with reduced prices, creating a larger attraction to the Company (Nike) and its products, either new or old. Further promotional materials with sports personalities would also help solidify their position, as certain sporting figures may attract a larger audience to their business, increasing the publicity and knowledge of their products; this would be highly beneficial to Nike as it may result in increased sales, ultimately leading to an increase within profits, further benefiting the organisation. However, if I had to make one improvement I would say the pace at which the company skims the prices off its products. For example, many times I have been looking at popular football boots and noticed how the prices are extraordinarily high. For example, popular football boots promoted by famous athletes sometimes cost over  £200. For children, and sometimes adults, this type of money to compensate is nearly impossible, or considered a â€Å"waste†. This high price may result in push factors for people in search for the adequate balance I regards to sporting goods such as football boots, people will look for price, fitting and appearance; and if the price is high, it may deter people from purchasing it, ultimately reducing Nike’s sales, potentially leading to a decrease in profits. By increasing the rate at which these products are reduced, and shortening the period they are sold at a very high price for, more people may be attracted to buying and using the product, thus promoting the business’s content furthermore, and ultimately leading to an increase in profits due to increased customers and sales. Lastly, within the marketing sector, comes the section known as Place. This basically refers to where the products are actually sold. For example, for Nike this is the common sports retailers like Sports Direct, JD sports and  more. This encourages greater sales as the product is widely available. For example, it would be common to provide businesses who have generated success, prior to you letting them sell your specific items. Therefore, it was only beneficial for businesses like Nike to sell their good to businesses like Sports Direct who are very successful and have generated an array of customers in search for products like Nike’s Mercurial football boots. This will benefit them as the business’s success could potentially mean, more people might purchase Nike’s products, like their Mercurial Vapors, therefore Nike would benefit as they could potentially result in an increase within profits, and sales. Another way Nike may be able to improve the promotion and success of their sporting related goods could be the increase in personal customization, for example, many people buy and purchase products such as football boots to stand out within their selected sport, by allowing your customers to personalize a product, catered to their wants and desires will enable an increased level of individuality. For example, this customisation technique may allow people to feature their own personal initials and colour combinations on their selected Nike products. Also, this certain function should not only be introduced via the internet, but also via located outlets. This would enable people and customers to receive a visual on how their selected product would appear. Certain physical features such as a wider Nike product customisation would potentially lead an increased amount of customers, for example, like I mentioned previously, within their selected sports, people want to stand out, in order t o attract attention or an increased chance of remembrance. Therefore, by allowing people to customize their personal products whether it is tops, shoes, boots, shorts or even tennis rackets, a wider audience may be attracted. Ultimately this may increase Nike’s sales, leading to an increase in their overall profits. The only recommendation for Nike, in my opinion would be if they were to provide more promotional pricing methods in order to prevent certain items falling into a decline, for example, due to the high competition within the market in regards to football boots, they have to release new boots, every couple of months, therefore the â€Å"older† boots decline in price and popularity quickly. In order to prevent this, I think Nike should increase the amounts of offers within their football boot range; this will potentially increase sales and even boost profits as an  increased amount of people would be encouraged to purchase Nike’s products due to the falling/cheaper prices. Again this will benefit the business as more money could be generated, and this could possibly mean Nike may sell more, thus increasing their overall sales.

Enzymes: Lab Report

Introductory Biology 1 Biology 1003 Fall Term 2011 Lab Number: 3 Title: Cell Energetics: Enzyme Role in Biological Reactions Name: Brandon Moore Student Number: 100819124 Lab day and time: Wednesday pm Date: Wednesday November 23, 2011 Introduction Enzymes are a key aspect in our everyday life and are a key to sustaining life. They are biological catalysts that help speed up the rate of reactions. They do this by lowering the activation energy of chemical reactions (Biology Department, 2011). In chemical reactions bonds must be broken and new bonds must be formed. In order for this to occur the bonds must be made less stable. For bonds to become less stable a small input of energy is required and this is called the activation energy. In simpler terms, in order for a reaction to begin and proceed spontaneously a small input energy is required to give the reaction a push and get it started (Cooper, 2000). As said before catalysts are chemical agents used to speed up the rates of reactions. The biological catalyst is a group of proteins called enzymes. Enzymes work by lowering the activation energy and making it easier for the eactants to obtain the necessary energy to break the kinetic barrier. Even though enzymes speed up the rate of reaction, they do not change the free energy of the reactants and the products (Russel et al. , 2010). Enzymes work by combining with reacting molecules at the active site. Each enzyme is specific to only one kind of molecule and can only bind to its specific molecule. The active site is a groove in the enzyme wher e the molecule will bind to; this is formed by the enzyme folding into a specific shape. When the enzyme is done and the molecules are then in the transitional state, which means the bonds are unstable and ready to be broken, the enzyme remains unchanged and can continue to bind to other molecules (Russel et al. , 2010). Enzymes induce the transition state by three major mechanisms. The first is by bringing the reacting molecules together. The reactants bind in the active site of the enzyme in the right orientation for catalysis to occur. The second mechanism works by the enzyme exposing the reactant molecule to altered charge environments. The third mechanism is by changing the shape of a substrate molecule (Russel et al. , 2010). The conditions being studied on how they affect enzyme activity are: concentration, ph, and temperature. As the concentration of enzymes increases the rate at which products are formed also increases. It is also true as the concentration of the substrate increases the rate of the reaction will also increase until the enzymes reach their maximum rate at which they can combine with the substrates. Each enzyme has a best possible pH where it works at its best. Anything that changes on either side of the optimum pH will decrease the rate of the reaction. Finally as temperature raises so does the rate of the reaction but only to a certain point. As the temperature raises the frequency and strength of collisions will increase, however if the temperature rises too high the hydrogen bonds of the enzyme break and it unfolds making it unable to accept any molecules due to its active site being destroyed. To observe the effects of these three conditions on enzyme activity spectrophotometry is used. A spectrophotometer works by measuring the amount of light a compound in solution absorbs. As the concentration of the solution increases more light is absorbed (Biology Department, 2011). The purpose of this experiment is to test and observe the effects of concentration, pH, and temperature on enzyme activity. Methods In part I of the lab obtain six small glass tubes in a test tube rack. After the six small tubes are obtained, add fifteen drops of distilled water to tube 1, ten drops to tube 2 and 3, five drops to tube 4, and no drops to tubes 5 and 6. Once distilled water is added five drops of the substrate solution were then added to tube 2, 4 and 6. There were no drops of substrate solution added to tubes 1 and 3, and ten drops were added to tube 6. After the substrate solution was added, five drops of the enzyme were quickly placed in tubes 3, 4 and 5. There were no drops of enzyme added in tubes 1 and 2 and in tube 6 ten drops were added. Once the enzyme solution has been added the tubes were then left to incubate for ten minutes and after five drops of DNSA solution were added to tubes 1 to 6. The tubes were then placed in a hot block at 80-90oC for five minutes. They were then taken out after the five minute period and using a 5 ml pipette, 5 ml of distilled water were added to the 6 tubes and mixed by inversion. Once everything was complete the 6 tubes were then taken to the Milton Roy Company Spectronic 21 and the absorbance of each tube was tested. In part II of the lab six small glass tubes were obtained in a test tube rack. Ten drops of distilled water were then added to test tube 1, five drops to tubes 2-4, and no drops in tubes 5 and 6. Five drops of 0. 1M HCl were added to test tube 5 and five drops of 0. 1M NaOH to test tube 6. Five drops of enzyme were then added to all tubes except tube 1. Tube 3 was then placed in the ice bucket and tube 4 was placed in the hot bucket at 80-900C for five minutes, the remaining tubes were left in the test tube rack. After the five minutes five drops of 1% starch was added to every tube and left to sit for ten minutes. After ten minutes five drops of DNSA were then added to all the tubes. All the tubes were then taken and placed in the hot bucket at 80-900C and left to incubate for five minutes. After the five minutes, take a 5 ml pipette and add 3 ml of distilled water to each tube and mix with inversion. Once everything is complete the tubes were then taken to the Milton Roy Company Spectronic 21 and the absorbance of each tube was tested. Results In part I tubes 1-3 had a very low absorbance. In tube 4 when the enzyme and substrate were present the absorbance increased substantially from below 0. 1 to a mean of 0. 53. When two times the amount of substrate was added in tube 5 the absorbance increased again from a mean of 0. 53 to 0. 57. Finally when two times the amount of enzymes was added the absorbance increased a final time from 0. 57 to 0. 63. Table 1. The effects of different concentrations on the absorbance of solutions Lab Group |Tube 1 Abs. |Tube 2 Abs. |Tube 3 Abs. |Tube 4 Abs. |Tube 5 Abs. |Tube 6 Abs. | |Our Group |0 |0. 05 |0. 09 |0. 55 |0. 68 |0. 66 | |Group 2 |0 |0 |0 |0. 61 |0. 725 |0. 75 | |Group 3 |0. 01 |0. 02 |0. 01 |0. 42 |0. 3 |0. 49 | |Mean |0. 0033 |0. 023 |0. 33 |0. 53 |0. 57 |0. 63 | |SD |0. 0058 |0. 025 |0. 049 |0. 097 |0. 23 |0. 13 | |SE |0. 0033 |0. 015 |0. 029 |0. 056 |0. 14 |0. 076 | Tube 1 was the control and recorded a low absorbance of approximately 0. 01. Tube 2 contained the enzyme and substrate and the absorbance rose to a mean of 0. 54. When tube three was heated and tube 4 was cooled the absorbance ecreased to 0. 32 and 0. 38. Finally solution of 0. 1M HCl was added to tube 5 and the absorbance decreased to 0. 0025, and solution of 0. 1M NaOH was added to tube 6 and the absorbance decreased to 0. 13. Table 2. The effects of pH and temperature on the absorbance of different solutions |Lab Group |Tube 1 Abs. |Tube 2 Abs. |Tube 3 Abs. |Tube 4 Abs. |Tube 5 Abs. |Tube 6 Abs. | |Our Group |0 |0. 63 |0. 39 |0 |0 |0. 4 | |Group 2 |0 |0. 15 |0. 9 |0 |0 |0. 01 | |Group 3 |0. 05 |0. 85 |0. 49 |0. 11 |0. 01 |0. 08 | |Group 4 |0 |0. 54 |0. 31 |0. 04 |0 |0. 03 | |Mean |0. 013 |0. 54 |0. 32 |0. 038 |0. 0025 |0. 13 | |SD |0. 025 |0. 29 |0. 17 |0. 52 |0. 005 |0. 18 | |SE |0. 013 |0. 15 |0. 085 |0. 026 |0. 0025 |0. 091 | Discussion Enzymes are biological catalysts that reduce the activation energy in order to increase the rate of the reaction. Increases in concentration increase the rate of the reaction, change in pH from the optimum will decrease the rate of a reaction, and increasing temperature will also increase the rate of reaction until a certain point is reached (Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 1972). Part I of the lab focused on the effects of concentration on pH. When we look at table I we can see that tubes 1-3 had very low absorbances. Tube 1 was the control that contained only water and no reaction occurred. In tube 2 the enzyme was not present which meant that the reaction occurred spontaneously without any help, thus a low absorbance. Tube 3 contained the enzyme but lacked the substrate, which meant nothing was bonding to the active sites and reaction could not occur. In tube 4 both substrate and enzyme were present and the absorbance rose greatly from approximately 0 to a mean of around 0. 3. This perfectly demonstrates that with the addition of an enzyme the product concentration increases and so does the rate of reaction. To tube 5, two times the amount of substrate was added and absorbance increased again to a mean of 0. 57. This shows that more substrate was present and readily available to bind to the active sites. Last was tube 6 which contained two times the amount of enzyme and again the absorbance rose to approximately 0. 63. The increase of enzymes allowed for more active sites to be readily available to bind to the molecules (Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 1972). When viewing the data obtained and comparing it to what is known about concentration effects on enzyme activity it can be accurately concluded that the data obtained is fairly accurate. As the enzyme concentration is kept the same and the substrate concentration increases the rate of reaction will also increase. This makes sense since now there are more molecules of substrate available to bond to the active sites. Increasing concentration will only increase the rate of reaction until a certain point is met. This point occurs when too much substrate is added and all available enzymes are already working. When this occurs the concentration increase no longer has an effect on the reaction rate. This is also true with the increase in concentration of the enzyme. The more enzymes there are the more active sites available to bond to the molecules. The increase in enzyme concentration will also increase the rate of reaction. This concludes effectively that the data obtained effectively demonstrates the effects of concentration on the rates of reactions (Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 1972). Part II of the lab focused on the effects of temperature and pH on enzyme activity. When viewing table II it can be seen that tube 1 had a very low absorbance, due to it being the control and not containing any substrate or enzyme. Tube 2 contained the substrate and enzyme and thus the absorbance increased greatly to a mean of 0. 54. When looking at the changes of pH in tubes 5 and 6 the absorbance decreased for both to 0. 003 and 0. 1. The optimum pH is around 7 and with this the reaction rate is at its best. As stated before any change in pH away from the optimum will decrease the rate of reaction. HCl has a lower pH than 7 and is below optimum, which means that it will have more unstable charges and the absorbance will lower, which is what was seen in tube 5. The same happens for NaOH, which is on the other side of the pH spectrum and above the optimum pH of 7 as seen in tube 6. From this it can be concluded that any change in pH away from the optimum will cause an unbalance in charges and cause the reaction rate to decrease (Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 1972). The second part of part II involves the effects of temperature. When looking at tube 3 that was placed in the ice bucket the reaction rate decreased from tube 2 with mean absorbance of 0. 54 to a mean of 0. 32. A decrease in temperature will slow down the activity of the substrate and enzymes and will reduce the speed and amount of collisions occurring. With less collisions occurring the reaction rate will then decrease. Tube 4 was placed in heat and the absorbance dropped as well to a mean of 0. 38. Stated before it was said that an increase in temperature would cause the speed and number of collisions to increase. This would then increase the rate of the reaction. However, an increase in heat will only increase the rate of reaction until a certain temperature is reached. This temperature is approximately between 40-50OC. Tube 4 was placed in temperatures ranging from 80-90OC, which is much higher than the max of 40-50. When this max is surpassed the hydrogen bonds will begin to break and the enzymes will unfold. When the enzyme unfolds the active site will then be destroyed and become deformed and no longer usable. When this happens the enzymes stop functioning and the reaction rate will decrease, which is what was seen (Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 972). The living cell is a site for activity known as metabolism. This can include the build-up or repair of tissues, turning food into energy, getting rid of waste products, and all the activities of life. Many of these processes do not occur spontaneously and this is why enzymes are needed. Without enzymes life itself would not be possible (Cooper. 2000). It can be concluded that concentr ation, pH, and temperature have great effects on enzyme activity. The increase in concentration of substrates increases the reaction rate until the point where all enzymes are being used. The increases in enzyme concentration will increase the rate of reaction. Any change in pH away from the optimum will cause an unbalance in charges and will lower the reaction rate (Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 1972). Finally the increase in temperature will increase the reaction rate until around 40-50OC when hydrogen bonds begin to break (Russel et al,. 2010). By understanding more about enzyme catalysts advances in medicine and life sciences are able to occur and help us understand more about life itself. References: Russell, P. J. , S. L. Wolfe, P. E. Hertz, C. Starr, M. B. Fenton, H. Addy, D. Maxwell, T. Haffie, and K. Davey. 2010. Biology: Exploring the Diversity of life, first Canadian edition. Nelson Education Ltd. , Toronto. Biology Department. 2011. Introductory Biology: BIOL 1003 Lab Manual. Carleton University Press, Ottawa. Worthington Biochemical Corporation. 1972. Introduction to Enzymes. http://www. worthington-biochem. com/introbiochem/effectspH. html. November 22, 2011. Geoffrey M Cooper. 2000. The Cell: A Molecular Approach, Second Edition. Sinauer Associates Inc, Boston University.

The Aspects of Immigration into Australia

The Aspects of Immigration into Australia Immigrants are individuals that have come into a country to be residents of the country. There are various reasons that can make an individual leave his or her country and seek residence in another country. Whereas some individuals may migrate to another country due to the unfavorable social, political, and economic conditions in their countries, others may opt to migrate from their country just to join the other members of the family who had moved earlier to these countries.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Aspects of Immigration into Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The latter category does signify the kind of tie that the immigrants have with their homeland. This often poses economic and political challenges to the receiving nation. It also has social influence on the host country as it defines the identity and nationalism of the immigrants.  There are millions of immigrants all over the world. The high level of economy in the developed nations often attracts immigrants from the developing countries. Australia is one such country that has attracted many immigrants from the developing nations. The country had earlier received European settlers in the eighteenth century who helped improve the country’s economy. The immigrants from other countries started flowing into the country in the early twentieth century. The kind of immigration that was witnessed in Australia up to the early 1970s is different from the immigration that has been witnessed in the last thirty years. The factors that led to immigration in the earlier times are quite different from what leads to the present immigration. Besides, the increased terrorist attacks especially in the Middle East countries have led to the development of immigration policies that are strict. The migration of individuals from one country has different issues that concern both the country of origin and the recipient nations. The c ountries of origin of the immigrants and the host country often have social, cultural, economic, and political differences that will influence their reception and accommodation of the immigrants. The immigrants are often from different ethnic communities, language groups, and races. Thus, their formation of a single community in the host country brings forth issues like racism and ethnicity among the society. There are differences in the culture of the communities including their religious beliefs and practices. The different economic, social, or demographic factors will also affect the resettlements of the immigrants in the host countries. The immigrants with low-income will be forced to reside in the regions that have low costs of living. Such regions, however, have other adverse conditions that may pose problems to the general well being of the immigrants.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The influx of immigrants to a given country also has certain significant impacts on the host country. The immigrants may dominate the region with their new culture and erode the culture of the natives of the country. Their accommodation can also have negative economic impacts on the country. Besides, the immigrants to a given country may turn out to be agents of some terrorist attack on the nation. As a result, the different nations have developed policies that define the immigration measures. The political history of a given country, the economic status of the country, and the social factors like religion in the country often form the basis for the development of such policies. It is required that immigrants follow the stipulated steps when getting into a given country. A number of literatures are available that examine the different aspects of immigration into Australia. These researches mainly focus on the aspects of nationalism and national identity among the different individuals. They focus on aspects like interaction between culture, the political systems, and the governmental regulations on immigrants and immigration. There are materials that examine the trends in immigration that have been recorded in the country in the recent years. The countries of origin that send the majority of the migrants to Australia are also examined. A key issue that emerges is that the immigration of individuals into a country brings the country into a global scene. In the book The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origins, Jupp (2001) illustrates on the composition of the Australian population. The natives of Australia, the earlier immigrants into the region, and the pattern of immigration and settlement that has been recorded in Australia are provided in the text. One of the issues that have generated debates is the original inhabitants of the country. Issues have been raised concerning the period in which the fi rst human existence was recorded in the land that has no land connection to the neighboring continents like Asia. The other issue that has also raised debates is the means of transport that was used by the first visitors to the country. Jupp states that the first individuals to arrive in the country were from the South East Asia and used sea routes, as there was no land bridge connecting Australia. However, the author is not certain on the type of sea vessels that these individuals used. Jupp notes that the Aborigines are the oldest residents of the region and are thus the indigenous peoples of Australia.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Aspects of Immigration into Australia specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Jupp observes that the notion of culture and self-identity was first seen in these earliest inhabitants of Australia. There are archeological evidences that portray the earliest Aborigines as being sensitive t o what can be regarded presently as the values and identity derived from the culture of a group of people. Jupp (2001) points out that both the ancient and the modern Aborigines are ‘motivated by the impulses to lead a worthwhile life, to be known and respected, to achieve honor, to develop and maintain relationships with other human beings, and to leave something behind for future generation’ (p.6). This would later define the kind of resistance that the Aborigines offered to the European settlers who appeared in the country in the late eighteenth century. Their attack on the European settlers often followed some misconduct by the foreign settlers. The natives were fully aware of the impacts that the settlement of the Europeans would have on the social and economic status. The Europeans had in mind that the Aborigines were primitive and that their land was free to be grabbed by the white settlers. The enmity between the Aboriginal people and the Europeans was eroded by the attempts of the Aborigines to assimilate the white settlers and adapt the European culture to the requirements of the native culture. Jupp notes that by the time the European settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, there were over 200 languages spoken in the country. The languages marked the different social groups that occupied the region. The groups that spoke similar languages were seen to live adjacent to each other and had nearly similar cultural beliefs and practices. The influx of the immigrants later eroded most of these native languages and as Jupp (2001) points out, currently there are Aborigines in the country who proclaim identity for languages that are no longer spoken (p.7). More people from the European and Asian continents migrated into the country in the years following the settlements of the first Europeans and more pressure was put on the Aboriginal people in different parts of the country. Their culture continued to be assimilated by the foreign cultures and the British culture and language dominated the country.  Jupp proceeds to examine the Middle East countries that sent migrants to Australia. He observes that the countries in the Middle East also produced a good proportion of the immigrants in Australia. One of the Middle East countries that sent emigrants to Australia is Lebanon.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The migration of the Lebanese to Australia began in the late nineteenth century (Jupp, 2001, p554). Korea is another country that has immigrants to Australia. Their major migration was witnessed in the early 1970s due to the withdrawal of the Korean soldiers from the Vietnam War (Jupp, 2001, p.547). There are immigrants from other countries like Pakistan, Palestine, Afghanistan, Armenia, and many others. Jupp also examined some of the reasons that led to migration from Middle East countries to Australia. Several reasons contribute to the movements of emigrants from a given country. The movement of the emigrants from the various Middle East countries was caused by the economic, political, or social factors in the region that were not favorable. Religious factors were key contributors of such movements. Other factors like natural calamities also contributed to their departure to Australia. Jupp observed that the economic difficulties that rocked countries like Lebanon in the late nine teenth and early twentieth century contributed largely to emigration of Lebanese to Australia. The population of the country was growing rapidly and land was increasingly becoming a scarce commodity. Settlement and economic activities like farming became hard. There were also national disasters like drought and plagues that had hit the rural parts of the country. Besides, the country had been under the rule of the Ottoman Empire since 1521 up to the World War I. the Ottoman Empire, though tolerant to different religious teachings, was mainly Islamic and gave preference to the Islamic religion. As such, the Christians during this time were often persecuted. The Lebanese were mainly Christians and the persecution could contribute to their migration to Australia.  Other books have similar views provided by Jupp (2001). The book Australia’s Immigration Revolution by Markus et al (2010), also examines the patterns of immigration in Australia. It is observed that the earlier immi grants in Australia were mainly the Europeans, particularly the British and Irish. The immigration pattern changed and the proportion of European immigrants decreased as that of the Asian immigrants increased. This is the trend observed currently.  Some researchers have sought to highlight the effects that such globalization has had on the culture of Australian. In his work, â€Å"Globalization: A threat to Australian Culture†, John Pickering (n.d) focuses on the interaction of globalization and the Australian culture in two different perspectives, the theoretical and historical perspectives (p.47). Pickering focuses on the interaction between the popular cultures in Australia like sports. He also examines how globalization interacts with the Australian political culture and how it helps define the kind of government systems adopted by Australia. Pickering observes that the globalization can be advantageous to the country if the country is able to withstand the influence of the external cultures. The author observes that the Australian culture has withstood the pressure from external cultures brought about by the trade across different countries. They have managed to use the foreign cultural and economic forces to improve on the local industries.  In the article Guest Editorial*Comparative Analyses of Transnationalism: a geographic contribution to the field.   Dunn (2008) provides a comparative analysis of transnationalism- a concept that also has implications on the cultural interactions among different communities. Dunn gives views similar to those given by Pickering on globalization as an aspect of transnationalism. Immigration is described to promote transnationalism in the country as international business organizations are attracted into the country. As Dunn (2008) illustrates, transnationalism can have negative or positive implications on the host country depending on the ability of the natives of the country to hold onto their cultural ide ntity.  The cross-cultural interaction raises other issues like religion. There are literatures that examine the plight of Islam as a religion in the country, the individuals that are against the religion, and those that support its establishment. The Islamic religion particularly received bad reputation among the Australians. In Representation of Islam in the politics of Mosque development in Sydney, Dunn (2001) examines the constructions of the Islamic culture among the Australians owing to the stereotypes that were developed by the media in Australia. The political issues that have arisen following the need to establish the religion are contained in such literatures. Dunn considers the difficulties that Muslims face in Australia that stem from the prevailing racism. The Muslims in Australia were seen to suffer much from the racism that was practiced in the country due to the dominance of the Christian religion in the country. Dunn (2001) described the difficulties that the Musl ims encountered in establishing a Mosque in Sydney. Those who identify themselves with the religion have limited access to services like employment opportunities. Similar views were later provided by Dunn et al (2007, p.569).  Racism is an issue that is common in a multiracial environment. The immigrants in Australia have come from countries in the European and Asian continents. The practice of racism is thus common among these immigrants and the natives of the country. The country is in the process of reconciling the racial groups and promoting peaceful coexistence. Several literatures focus on racism in relation to the cultural interaction among the Australians. There are researches that have been conducted to study the concept of racism in the contemporary Australia and how the Australians perceive the practice, its underlying roots, and the appropriate remedy. In the article, Contemporary racism and Islamaphobia in Australia, Dunn et al (2007) provide an analysis of the Islami c stereotypes developed among the Australians. The study illustrates how racialization has been used to develop a negative image of the Islamic religion in the region. There is an evident relation between the country of origin of the immigrants and their religious beliefs and practices.  The practice of racism poses other challenges to the immigrants. The immigrants from different countries in the Middle East may opt to migrate to Australia for a number of reasons. Most of the immigrants are attracted by the better living standards that they feel can be obtained in the country. They often run away from the adverse economic situations that prevail in their home countries. They are attracted by the economic opportunities in the region that can help them raise their standards of living. Some are also forced out of their countries by the socio-political factors that are not favorable in their respective countries. These situations faced the early immigrants from the Middle East countr ies. In migrating to the country, the immigrants may fail to recognize the possibility that their expectations may not be met owing to certain factors in the country. Racial discrimination is often highly prevalent in such areas as was witnessed in Australia.  Another problem that is faced by the immigrants is the inability to speak the languages common in the country. The immigrants that have moved into the country recently find difficulties in speaking the English language that is officially used in the country. It was observed that the Lebanese in Australia had low-level proficiency in the English language, although the proportion is higher compared to the immigrants in the US as was observed by Antecol et al (2001). A substantial proportion of the Lebanese in Australia could not speak the language at all (see also Jupp, 2001, p.564). These are the bitter fruits of racism prevalent in the country. The high rates of unemployment can also be linked to the discrimination based on race, religion, or nationality. The early immigrants used to settle in the major cities of the country. However, with the increased cost of living, the immigrants are forced to resettle in the rural areas and other small towns where the cost of housing is still low. The other problem that results from the increasing cost of living is poor living conditions that cause health problems to the majority of the immigrants. Even though there has been a significant increase in employment rates among the different immigrants in Australia, there is still high level of unemployment among the immigrants. Jupp (2001) observed that the rate of unemployment was still high among the Lebanese in Australia despite the increase in occupation that had been witnessed in the recent years (564). The number of Australian professionals of the Lebanese origin is still very low compared to the total population of the professionals in the country. The low level of income dictated the settlement areas of the im migrants. The immigrants were often forced to reside in remote areas with little security and more exposure to environmental health hazards. All these challenges are related in some way to the practice of racism and the ethnoculture in Australia.  Forrest and Dunn had also focused on the issue of racism in Australia in their previous work. In the article Racism and intolerance in Eastern Australia: a geographic perspective, Forrest and Dunn (2006b) focus on racism as it is developed from the individual perceptions of self-identity and national identity. Various forms of racism are highlighted in the text. They share similar views by Dunn et al (2004) in Constructing Racism in Australia. The concept of racism is seen as being related to cultural and political hegemony, where some racial group would want to dominate over other groups that they consider inferior and less powerful.  In Constructing Racism in Australia, Dunn et al (2004) examines various aspects of racism in Australi a. Jupp (2001) had noted that the factors and the patterns of migration of the Lebanese to Australia up to 1970s were different from the patterns that are witnessed currently. Similarly, Dunn et al (2004) observed that the racism that was prevalent up to the 1970s is different from the racism experienced to date (p.410). The old racism considered some races inferior and other racial groups were supposed to be a distant from them. Similar views were also provided by Forrest and Dunn (2006b, p.168). The new racism considers the minority groups to be threats to national unity. The earlier Lebanese immigrants in Australia were mainly Catholic Christians with few Muslims. The Lebanese immigrants in the contemporary Australia have a larger proportion of Muslims and lower percentage of the Catholic Christians (Jupp, 2001, p.563). Besides, the current migration from Lebanon to Australia is mainly due to the conflicts that are experienced in the country and the other Middle East countries.  In the article ‘Core’ culture hegemony and multiculturalism Forrest and Dunn (2006a) describes how the process of developing the policies to have a multicultural society in Australia was faced with difficulties. There were rivalries among the dominant communities in the society.  Racism was used to despise some religions like Islam. Different issues of nationalism and national identity arise during the development of the immigration policies by a country. As Forrest and Dunn (2006a) described, some of the individuals would want that the different communities be integrated into a nation with equal citizens. Others would be of the opinion that the other cultures be assimilated in a single dominant culture whereas others would want free multicultural environment. The development of the immigration policies in Australia was challenged by the dominance of the Europeans in the region. The Europeans had settled in the area as from late nineteenth century and had suppressed the other communities like the native Aborigines and the immigrants from other parts of the world. Their language and culture was then dominant in the country. The British, in particular, wanted immigration policies that would help cultivate their culture as the dominant community in the country. Forrest and Dunn (2006a) assert that a multicultural society is often challenged by a need by a dominant culture to assimilate the other cultures.  The dominant communities in such setups often want to defend their culture and maintain their self-identity and national identity. The policies so developed are embraced by some sense of ethnocentrism. Forrest and Dunn (2006a) noted that there is a notion in the country that there is native culture (the Anglo culture) that every new immigrant into the country has to adapt. Similar views were also provided the following year by Forrest and Dunn (2007). The practice has been seen to impede the attempts to build a national identity in a multicul tural society. The nature of immigration policies developed in a country has impacts on the welfare of the immigrants as they can influence the legal status of the immigrant. The legal status of the immigrant in a given country is of great significance to his operations within the country. The individuals that have obtained legal entry into the country are entitled to several services within the country. Accessing health facilities and the other social institutions is not very easy for individuals with illegal entry. The rates of employment among these groups of individuals are high since most of the employment opportunities will require some sort of identification on the immigrants. Besides, the psychological pressure stemming from crossing the border illegally and the possible consequences of such act always pose challenge the mental health of the immigrants.  In the article Constructing racism in Sydney, Australia’s largest EthniCity, Forrest and Dunn (2007) examines the challenges that racism poses to the immigrants in the city of Sydney. They notice that the modern immigrants to the country are economically stable and reside in the large cities of the country. The multi-cultural environments give more room to the practice of racism. The Muslims, in particular, are portrayed to have difficulties in establishing their worship center in the city that is has been dominated by Christianity. Other materials examine the settlement patterns of the immigrants in the country. They put emphasis on how the patterns affect the immigrants’ identity. Researches have been conducted that consider the settlement patterns of the immigrants in the major cities of the country. The factors that influence the settlement patterns as well as the effects that the settlement patterns have on the immigrants and the country are also examined. The difference in human capital among the immigrants and their legal status in the country may influence the regions of settlem ent that receives the immigrants. In the article Immigration in gateway cities: Sydney and Vancouver in comparative perspective, Lee and Murphy (2001) describe the factors that affect the distribution of the immigrants settlers in the cities of Australia through comparison of the settlement witnessed in the cities. They highlight the effects that the increase of the immigrants has on the country. In particular, they consider that the facilities in the major cities that currently attract more immigrants should be expanded to accommodate the large number. This illustrates the effect that the immigrants’ ties with the homeland have on the economy of the host country. Ley and Murphy (2001) notes that the early immigrants to the country from the Middle East were mainly low-income earners and were forced to settle in the rural areas and the small cities where the cost of living was manageable. On the other hand, the current immigrants are mainly individuals who can afford the high standards of living and do settle in the big cities. Sydney has been found to be the major immigrant-receiving city in Australia (see also Forrest Dunn, 2007, 700). Ley and Murphy describes the strategies that have been used by the local governments to plan the city of Sydney in Australia and Vancouver in Canada to accommodate the diverse community of immigrants. However, they point out that the planning process is faced by certain problems. The kind of settlement has a connection with the cultural identity of the immigrants. The individuals who migrate and settle in the rural regions have high ability to form the social community organizations that can help cultivate their culture. On the other hand, the large cities are cosmopolitan and the cultivation of an ethnic culture may not be possible. The immigrants that have settled in the large cities are then more likely to lose their cultural and national identity and be absorbed by the native culture.  Despite the practice of raci sm in these cities, it has been noticed that a strong bond remains among the immigrants from the same origin. This has often impeded the assimilation of minor culture by the major cultures. In the study entitled Rethinking Assimilation Theory for a New Era of Immigration Alba and Nee (1997) illustrate how assimilation is no longer a big issue among the immigrants due to the strengthening ties the immigrants have to their homeland and among themselves. The authors hold views similar to those given by Jupp (2001) and Giorgas (2000). Most of the immigrants in the country have ties to the members of their cultures within the country and back in the homeland country. The Koreans entered the country illegally. However, they were later accepted into the country and most of these individuals invited their family members from Korea to stay in the country leading to their increase in number. The Korean population in Australia had grown to 4500 according to the 1981 census (Jupp, 2001, p.547). The Australian Lebanese have been seen to form social community organizations that draw members from them same origin. Churches, mosques, cultural centers, and educational centers have been established in the country. A significant proportion of such organizations serve the Lebanese in the country, and yet others serve the Arabic a community as an entity. The Australian Lebanese Association is one such organization that was established to serve the interest of the Lebanese. The association, established in 1951, was able to embrace effectively the Lebanese community in these early times. A study by Giorgas (2000) also showed that the ethnic communities could be used by the immigrants to solve their problems like social isolation and lack of employment (p.2). The ties also prevent the communities from being assimilated by the cultures in the country. These different literatures on the immigrants and immigration into Australia mainly focus on the impacts that the interaction of differ ent cultures have in the individual cultures. It is largely observed that the need by some cultures to be left dominant in the multicultural society is the main cause of racism that is seen to be prevalent in the region. The languages that individual speak help in cultivating their culture. In this regard, the dominant communities that would want to suppress the other cultures often use their language as the tool. The use of the English language in Australia was a European strategy to assimilate the cultures of the immigrants from other countries. The immigrants that are not ready to adapt the new culture often face difficulties like lack of employment. Even professional and skilled immigrants who cannot speak the English language cannot apply their expertise to the Australian system due to the language difference. The different literatures reveal that the Australians have different views on racism and its causes. The effects of the practice are generally adverse. It is observed tha t the building of a national identity is affected negatively by the practice of racism in the region.  Several other literatures are available that tackle migration and immigration issues across the countries. However, the literatures are challenged to base on migration in particular nations and minority groups (International Migration Institute, 2006, p.2). A lot of focus needs to be put on the dynamic nature of the different aspects of migration and immigration. Reference List Alba, R. and Nee, V., 1997. Rethinking Assimilation Theory for a New Era of Immigration. International Immigration Review 31(4); 826-874 Antecol, H. et al. 2001. Immigration Policy and the Skills of Immigrants to Australia, Canada, and the United States. Discussion Paper No. 363. Web. Available from: ftp://repec.iza.org/RePEc/Discussionpaper/dp363.pdf . Dunn, K., 2001. Representation of Islam in the politics of Mosque development in Sydney. The royal Dutch Geographical Society 92(3); 291-308 Dunn, K. et al . 2004. Constructing Racism in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 39(4); 409-430. Dunn, K. et al. 2007. Contemporary racism and Islamaphobia in Australia. Ethnicities 7(4); 564-589 Dunn, K., 2008. Guest Editorial*Comparative Analyses of Transnationalism: a geographic contribution to the field. Australian Geographer, 39(1); 1-7. Forrest, J. and Dunn, K., 2006a. Core’ Culture Hegemony and Multiculturalism: Perceptions of the Privileged Position of Australians with British Backgrounds. Ethnicities, Vol. 6: pp. 203. Forrest, J.and Dunn, K., 2006b. Racism and Intolerance in Eastern Australia: a geographic perspective. Australian Geographer, Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 167-186. Forrest, J and Dunn, K., 2007. Constructing Racism in Sydney, Australia’s Largest Ethnicity. Urban Studies, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 699–721. Giorgas, D., 2000. Community formation and Social Capital in Australia. Paper delivered to the seventh Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference. Jupp, J., 2001. The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their origins. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lee, D. and Murphy, P., 2001. Immigration in gateway cities: Sydney and Vancouver in comparative perspective. Progress in Planning 55; 119-194. International Migration Institute. 2006. Towards a New Agenda for International Migration Research. Oxford: University of Oxford. Markus, A. et al. 2010. Australia’s Immigration Revolution. Crows Nest NSW: Allen Unwin. Pickering, J., N.d. Globalization: A Threat to Australian Culture? Journal of Australian Political Economy, 48; 46-59.

Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One

Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One Telling a Good Poem from a Bad One By Maeve Maddox What makes a poem good? The answer ultimately lies with the reader of the poem, but there is a certain consensus as to what makes a poem good or bad. According to the critic Coleridge, prose is words in their best order, while poetry is the best words in their best order. Poetry demands precision. The novelist can get away with less than precise expression from time to time because the story will pull the reader along. The job of the poet is to create a picture in the mind and an emotion in the heart. Every single word counts. The wrong choicea word with the wrong connotation or the wrong number of syllables or an unlovely combination of consonant soundsspoils all. The underlying thought of the poem is also important. Some poems are written to create a picture only, but the most memorable poems also convey a universal truth about the human condition. For me, a good poem leaves me with goosebumps along my arms. I think a poem is bad when it lacks a discernible point and sounds like prose. People are led to write a poem because they have been strongly moved by some event. Theyve experienced a strong emotion, received an insight, and wish to capture the experience in words. Only a few, however, succeed in turning the experience into a poem that will be meaningful to another person. On his site dedicated to examples of bad poetry, Prof. Seamus Cooney observes that most bad poetry is simply weak and ineffectual and lacking in interest. He says that memorably bad poetry is created by a poet unaware of his or her defects. He says that a really dreadful poem is the product of the right combination of lofty ambition, humorless self-confidence, and crass incompetence†¦. He collects examples of bad poems as a teaching device: For the student, having a genuine insight into the true badness of some poems is, I think, a necessary corollary of having a grasp of what makes good poems good. Heres an excerpt from one of Prof. Cooneys bad poems: Twas the year of 1869, and on the 19th of November, Which the people in Southern Germany will long remember, The great rain-storm which for twenty hours did pour down, That the rivers were overflowed and petty streams all around. from Saving a Train by William McGonagall (1825-1902) A successful poem doesnt have to rhyme or scan or have a certain pattern of lines. It does need to paint a picture with carefully chosen words. It should have a point that a reader unknown to the poet can respond to. Fortunately, poets can study a wide variety of poetrygood and badin order to learn what works and what doesnt. Some anthologies for the poet: The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1950 The Norton Anthology of Poetry (from Old English to Cynthia Zarin [b. 1959]) The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry The Stuffed Owl: An Anthology of Bad Verse Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Whimsical WordsStory Writing 10120 Tips to Improve your Writing Productivity

Policing Functions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Policing Functions - Essay Example On the other hand, under the function of taking charge to policing the world, police falls into different classifications: public, specialized and professionals. Sheriff, constable and watch are in-charge of crime control. However, even if one could highly associate these responsibilities with policing, police are not excuse from various controversies. One of them according to Walker and Katz is the political influence and corruption associated with power that police carry among themselves due to their highly diversified functions in the US Law Enforcement Industry. From Industry perspective for instance, police have substantial authority and power to give substantial opportunity for the third party to gain with illegal activities such as gambling, prostitution and drug trafficking. Furthermore, for some ordinary people according to Walker and Katz, police are under in any way of positive or negative stereotyping. Walker and Katz elaborate negative stereotypes for police as being une ducated, untrained, prejudiced, brutal and corrupt. The positive stereotype on the other hand points police officers as heroic saints. Although Walker and Katz also point that police are not entirely different from ordinary citizens, the negative or positive stereotypes at some point must have substantial evidence from actual perspective of the society on policing. On the other hand, another important perspective on policing is that it is unsuccessful. Police agencies are bureaucratic paramilitary organizations that have traditionally responded slowly to change (Jones, 2009). In this matter, Jones believes that administrators fail to understand the complexity of their environment... In this paper, the proponent tries to examine various perspectives of the policing function from local, state and federal organizational levels. By looking at the hierarchy presented in this essay and different classifications of police, one could actually say that policing in the United States is highly decentralized, fragmented and diversified. The researcher focuses on describing differences and similarities of their functions on each level. Policing may have potentially gained positive or negative image for a long period of time. Reforms may be necessary in order to correct major negative feedbacks which at some point may lead to inefficient function of policing. In conclusion, the researcher also tries to address possible future changes in laws and the overall impact that these changes will have on the field of policing, such as the use of technology in policing, that is very important in order to enhance more and fulfill the essential task or function of every police officer. I n this case, the judicial system and emancipation of law must ensure in its reform programs to give substantial opportunity for policing to gain remarkable advantage in exercising the following: crime prevention, policing the world, crime control and law enforcement. All of such changes are to ensure that the execution of policing would substantially meet the prevailing needs of the society. The researcher also hopes that in some way his suggestions could increase successful policing and address the potential correction of negative image of policing.

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS PROJECTS Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS PROJECTS - Research Paper Example The scopes, opportunities and contexts of the publishing industry including the Canadian publishing industry are governed by the NAICS codes. But the advent of the internet and the increasing access of the population to the World Wide Web have blurred the geographical boundaries affecting the publishing industry. The value chain of this industry has undergone major changes and has assumed a more complex structure with the changes in the reading preferences of people as well as the changes in the teaching styles in different countries. The distribution channels of the publishing houses have also evolved with the shifting contexts of the industry. The geographical constraints of the publishing industry have been abolished and the importance of quality of publishing has become more critical for companies to survive in this industry. The publishing industry is dependent on achieving economies of scale in their operations and is dominated by the concentrated level of competition. The indu stry is in the maturity phase which needs to revamp the processes in order to prevent the saturation of the industry and create sustainability and development for the publishing industry. Innovation and balance between print and online publishing are critical factors that decide the scope of the publishing industry. The Canadian publishing industry has been facing major challenges in the changing global scenario. The powerful publishing companies in this industry being more focused on profit reaping rather than following the industry standards and have created certain obstacles in this specific industry. The domestic publishing firms are losing their importance due to the entry and dominance of the foreign publishing houses operating in the Canadian publishing sector. Other issues and boundaries faced in this industry are the achievement of economies of scale and the quick response to the shifting preferences of the consumers of the industry. The balance of power in