PDA Slim 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

PDA Slim 4 - Essay Example I decrease the price of X5 item 10%, increased the X6 by 10% and decreased the X7 price by 20%. During this simulation run I accelerated the X7 results and was able for the first time to obtain positive profits for X7 in the first round for the first time. I was able to do by lowering the price in the initial run by 20% for an overall price of $136. The market saturation growth doubled from 4% to 8%. My cumulative profits after the first round were $341 million. After completing the first round I studied the behavior of the X5 marketplace. I noticed by analyzing the historical data that the last two times I ran the simulation after the second round the results for the X5 product were negative. Independent of the price movement upwards or backwards the product became unprofitable and saturated. Based on this information I learned that this was a clear indicator that the best course of action was to eliminate the product out of the market since its existence was detrimental to the cumulative profits of the company. The profits I achieved during this round amounted to $194 million of which the X6 contributed $107 million, while the X5 provided $87 million. In the third round of this simulation I noticed that the internal information provided by the advisors of handheld became more useful and insightful. I would imagine the reason the information became more useful is that the management of the company now had more time to concentrate of their efforts in a more simplified strategy since more time could be spend in analyzing each product now. For example for the X6 the advisor told me that the customers pay more the X6 product than other comparable products. This originally made me raise the price of the item. Along with this comment another advice came in saying that the competition for the X6 has comparable products with more features. The added information was an indicator that a small decrease in price would provide greater value for the customers. I

Marketing Strategy of Samsung Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing Strategy of Samsung - Assignment Example From this discussion it is clear that  Samsung Electronics is a South Korean based multinational electronic products manufacturing and marketing company. It is the flagship subsidiary of Samsung Group and has been the world’s larges technology company in terms of revenue since the year 2009. The Samsung group was incorporated in the year 1969 and Samsung Electronics was founded in the year 1988. However the history of the company dates back to 1938, when it was founded by Lee Byung-chull as a trading company. It is presently headquartered at Suwon, South Korea and is headed by Gee-Sung Choi. The company has presence all over the world and employs around 221,726 people. Some of the major products of the company include LCD and LED panels, mobile phones, semiconductors, televisions, digital cameras, tablet PCs, and home appliances among others.This essay stresses that in the context of its mobile phone division, the company has been witnessing colossal growths since the mid of 2000. According to industry experts, the major reasons behind the growth is the introduction of low and mid ranged phones and providing Android operating system with the high range phones. Another driving factor was the introduction of several phones at the same which allowed the company to make the availability of wide range of options for the customers. In addition, promotional technique, strong distribution network, and superior after sales service also played crucial roles.  ... According to industry experts, the major reasons behind the growth is the introduction of low and mid ranged phones and providing Android operating system with the high range phones. Another driving factor was the introduction of several phones at the same which allowed the company to make the availability of wide range of options for the customers. In addition, promotional technique, strong distribution network, and superior after sales service also played crucial roles. The company caters to business segment as well as consumer segment and targets almost all the age groups. Figure 1 – UK market Share of Mobile phone Companies (Source: Smith, 2012) The section below will carry out a SWOT analysis and will provide insights into the competitive landscape of the mobile phone industry of UK. 2. Situation Analysis 2.1 SWOT Analysis Strengths Samsung manufactures products in such a way that most of the operating system and application software can be easily integrated with it. This gives an edge to the company over its rivals. Especially, integration with the android OS allowed the company to gain high market share. Apart from that, another major reason for the company to embrace maximum mobile phone market share is their excellence in engineering department. This has led the company to ensure effective and efficient production. Hence, the research and development, along with the engineering department can be considered as an area of competency for the company (Tolentino, 2000). Another major strength of the company is the product innovation and design. With superior design and product features, Samsung has been able to surpass Apple’s sales figures in the US market, which is the home of Apple. The mobile phones of the company are eco

IKEA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

IKEA - Essay Example IKEA helped people make their everyday life superior by offering a wide variety of products in home furnishing in their stores. IKEA is known to offer home furnishings that are designed well combined with great utility, quality and affordable prices so that it suits the pocket of the masses (Funding Universe, n.d). Company History Ingvar Kamprad is the founder of IKEA who started his career in business at a quite young age. He used to sell matches independently to his neighbours, that he would purchase in bulk and made profit out of it. Gradually his business started growing and he expanded it further by selling seeds, fish, decorative for Christmas and even ball pens and pencils which wondered many, back in the year 1935. From his younger days, he had been quite adept in employing his resources. At the age of 17, on the completion of his school, he was monetarily rewarded by his father. With that sum of money Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA. IKEA was derived from the initials of his fir st name and last name which is ‘I’ & ‘K’ and ‘E’ and ‘A’ was taken in a similar way from the name of the village and the farm named Elmtaryd Agunnaryd where he had grown up and was born. IKEA did not start out by selling furniture but instead it sold watches, wallets, pens, jewellery and other things that he bought at a low price and resold it for profit. The year 1948 marked the addition of furniture in its product line. Initially the furniture was manufactured locally and it was received positively by the customers. It was only in the year 1951 when Ingvar Kamprad focused on furniture and withdrew all the other products from its product line. In the same year, the first catalogue of furniture was published and then later in order to make its presence felt in the competition, the first showroom of furniture was opened in a village named Almhult. In response to such scenario, the other manufacturers and furniture stores pressurised the suppliers which led to the boycott of IKEA. This made IKEA to come to a critical decision of designing their individual line of furniture in 1955. This decision of designing their own furniture allowed IKEA to offer the products at low prices and improving the functions which ultimately made the company successful. The idea of flat-packed furniture came to Ingvar Kamprad when one of his employees sought a table to take home but which he could not fit in his car. He then thought of removing the legs of the table and then reassembled it back at home. IKEA started testing the flat pack furniture concept which proved beneficial for the company as it lowered the costs of labour, need of storage space, transportation and also reduced costs related to transport damage. The Lovet table was the first flat pack furniture product that was designed. The flat pack furniture range has gained a wide popularity across the globe as it not only cuts down on a lot of costs but also because the fu rniture is fashionably designed and the designs fit in efficiently and beautifully in the households. IKEA even has furniture that are made of sustainable resources making them environment friendly choice as well (IKEA Fans, n.d). Source: (IKEA, 2010). IKEA Stores/ Branches The first store of IKEA in Almhult had an area of 6700 square meters and had the biggest display of furniture in entire

Understanding Rhetorical Structures as They Pertain to Audience Essay Example for Free

Understanding Rhetorical Structures as They Pertain to Audience Essay This paper is about the understanding of the Rhetorical Structures as they pertain to audience, purpose, and context and how they affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument. Understanding Rhetorical Structures How do audience, purpose, and context affect the argument of whether taxes should be raised on higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk and underserved, low income children. I will discuss the relationship between the audience, purpose, and context to the context of the argument. Discussion The goal of this discussion is to see the relationship between audience, purpose, and context of should Taxes be raised for higher income brackets in order to fund social programs for at-risk, underserved, and low income children. The first audience for this group are wealth fortune 500 CEO’s. They are considered the in the higher income bracket in my opinion. They need to be educated on the understanding that even though most lower income families struggle, it is not because they are not trying. The economy has taken its toll on a lot of jobs here in the US over the past couple of years and even though they are working a full time job and sometimes two full time jobs, they cannot afford any kind of social program for their children. The present economy conditions are hurting the lower income families to the point that they struggle to make ends meet and can sometimes barley afford to put food on the table for their children. The higher income bracket would need to see just how little the additional taxes would take from them and what the benefits of those taxes could do for a low income family struggling to make ends meet. They still could possibly not be receptive to the idea, but giving them examples of the cost and benefits of such programs I think they would start to understand. The second audience for this group is the low income families of at-risk, and underserved, low income children. They need to be educated on the benefits that could come from the higher taxes. In my opinion, the higher income bracket can afford the higher taxes to fund some of these programs. The cost of living, food, gas, and housing all affect the income of many families in the US. If they understood what could come from the taxes, they could get some reissuance as to vote on such a bill if it came up to vote for the public. Education on the subject of the current tax laws would be a good example of what the different taxes brackets that are used today in the US. Lower income families would jump on the idea of being able to send their children to a soccer camp, or baseball camp. According to an article on â€Å"Taxing the rich is good for the economy†, raising taxes on the higher income bracket would reduce the taxes on low and middle income families. This would also allow for those families to keep more of their income to use towards these programs. All in all I think it would be a beneficial idea to entertain. The context of the economy, food, and taxes all play an important role in this argument. The higher income bracket would be resistant to the idea until they were presented with facts on the cost and the minimal decrease in income for them. The lower income families would be blessed with some relief with their children’s social experience and the ability to provide more learning resources to them.

The story of Summer Essay example -- Literary Analysis, David Updike

The story of Summer, by David Updike, is set during that idyllic time in life when responsibility is the last word on anyone's mind. And yet, as with all human affairs, responsibility is an ever-present and ever-necessary aspect to life. What happens when the protagonist, Homer, loses his awareness of a certain personal responsibility to maintain self-control? Homer's actions increasingly make him act foolishly, internally and externally. Also, how does Homer return to a sense of sanity and responsibility? To a degree, I would say that he does. At first, Homer's control over himself seems strong; he is only mildly aware of tempting situations. The reader begins to notice, however, that Homer's mind is still easily swayed by that most primitive of urges - sexual desire. The passage, "Homer looked up. Through the screen he watched Fred's sister Sandra as she came ambling down the path, stepping lightly between the stones in her bare feet," (293) is the first mild manifestation of Homer giving in to a loss of control to his sensual appetite. The next case of Homer's decreasing ability to control himself takes place on a tennis court. Throughout the game, the reader gets the impression that Homer was trying to get Sandra's attention through talented athletics, "On the tennis court she was strangely indifferent to his heroics." (293) Towards the end of the tennis match, Homer's eyes, once again, follow her as she is leaving, which leads him to double fault. This is the first time his decreasing self-control manifests itself in a somewhat harmful manner: namely, having hurt his score. Homer comes even closer to abandoning self-control during the night when he watches Sandra in bed. Homer's decreasing self-control is beginning t... ...e of sanity and self-control. Given the chance to show Sandra his affectionate lust, Homer withdrew his chance as one reads in the passage, "But to touch her, or kiss her, seemed suddenly incongruous, absurd, contrary to something he could not put his finger on." (296) Here Homer is becoming quite aware of the insanity which has driven his previous actions. Finally, Homer's inner turmoil is laid to rest and his sanity fully returns as his affection is returned. At the very end of the story, as Homer and Sandra are sitting on a couch together, her foot comes into contact with Homer's back. "But to Homer's surprise Sandra's foot remained, and he felt, in the faint sensation of exerted pressure, the passive emanation of its warmth, a distant signal of acquiescence." (296) Homer still had a desire for Sandra, but it would not consume him as it had in times before.

GLUT 4 in Muscle Cells Essay -- Biology

Hypothesis During muscle contractions cytosolic calcium and adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) levels increase. Exercise also increases GLUT 4 production, which allows more glucose to be metabolized in the muscle cell. The purpose of this study was to determine whether calcium and AMPK cause the increases in GLUT 4 production in the cell. The hypothesis regarding GLUT 4 being tested in this research article stems from related research, which showed that GLUT 4 and mitochondria increase due to repeated bouts of muscle contraction. Since raising calcium levels in the cytosol of the cell increases mitochondria, GLUT 4 is may increase as well. The hypothesis that is being tested with this research was that GLUT 4 will be increased in skeletal muscle cells due to induced increases in the cytosolic calcium levels. These calcium levels are increased in cells naturally due to exercise. Since exercise also increases activity of AMPK, the study tested the effects of increasing AMPK on GLUT 4 levels in skeletal muscle. Methodology GLUT 4 levels were determined after exposing muscle cells to the various stimuli. In order to test whether the various stimuli increased GLUT 4 muscle cells were either exposed to a single stimulus, a stimulus with an inhibitor specific of the stimulus, or no stimulus (control). Then the GLUT 4 protein levels in each set of cells could be tested in order to determine the effects of each stimulus. Various chemicals that are known to be produced in a muscle cell during normal exercise were used as stimuli. Caffeine, which produces increased cytosolic calcium, was used to simulate the normal increase in calcium in a cell during exercise. An... ... activity effect GLUT 4 protein. The results of this study show that during exercise GLUT 4 in muscle cells was increased by increases in cytosolic calcium levels as well as the activation of AMPK. The transcription factors that are responsible for "making" GLUT 4 are also increased by these two chemicals. The increases were found to be regulated by CAMK an inhibitor of calcium. This is important for muscle metabolism and effects on diabetes. The capacity for metabolism in muscle cells is enhanced with training because greater amount of GLUT 4 in the muscle cell is important to respond to stimuli. Consequently more glucose is transported into the cell to be metabolized. This GLUT 4 increase is an adaptive response to the body's greater need for energy. Ultimately this results in more glucose, which means more energy for the cell to use.

How the family changed over time Essay

How the family has changed over time? The institution of the family has changed dramatically over last 50 years and the main sociological perspectives, functionalism, Marxism, feminism and interactionism have described this changes in terms of family structure, divorce rates, marriage rate and gender roles. Defining family in Britain is problematic as until 1960’s few sociologists questioned the importance of the benefits of the family. Family is a group of people living together related by blood or marriage who support themselves economically and emotionally. It was assumed that the family was evolving with the change in Britain. From the 1960’s , with increasing divorce rates, living together before marriage, single parent families, one person households , separation and migration, family traditionally seen as nuclear (based on two adults and children) became harder to define. Sociologists have concluded that the family has become harder to define in the more traditional sense. A family can now consist of any group of people living together and/or bringing up children. This could separate due to divorce and another family created through remarriage or cohabitation, with the introduction of step children or children born to the new parentage resulting in another family unit although the first one still technically exists. There are two basic types of family structure: extended and nuclear. Functionalists say industrialization changed the function of the family. In pre-industrial society the extended family was most prevalent. Families lived and collaborated in engendering goods and crops to live from, taking the surplus to market. In industrial society, the nuclear family becomes ascendant. Status for an individual in pre-industrial society was ascribed. Talcott Parsons (1956) presumed that in industrial society an individual’s status is achieved by their prosperity. The nuclear family is the best way to achieve prosperity as individuals. Family structure adapts to the changing circumstances. Changes in economic, political, and moral approach led to the transformation of the family structure. Postmodern times in which we live in a time of tolerance, emancipation of women, legalization and acceptance of homosexual relationships. All these changes meant that more and more people moved away from the traditional model of the family, universal fifty years ago. Statistics indicate an increasing number of households about 9. 2 million since 1961 but that is due to the increase amount of the divorce, migration, remarried people, single people and increase in length of life. At the same time the increase amount of households decreased their size and the average number of children due to widespread access to the contraception, abortion, aging population and costs associated with children’s maintenance. More women are also delaying having children because they focusing on work and education seeing role of the mother as a barrier. It is related to ‘child centric’ model of the family, which learn society to treat children’s as the most ‘precious’ , whom one must completely conform their lives to them . Most mothers deciding to give a birth at age 30-34. Although, life style changes have also caused decrease in married couples amount which is also related to religious approach, because from 1981, when only 49% of all marriages were civil marriages, at 2010, already 68,2 % of all marriages where civil marriages. However, married couple are still the most common type of the family. The functionalist view of the role of the family in society is that it maintains social order for benefits of all. The family is a tool for primary socialization and a key social institution in sustaining the value consensus (Harambolos 2008).Murdock (1949) claimed that family was universal. It is defined as a social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation and reproduction. A family lives in the same home, has economic co-operation usually through the division of labour where the man will take on the instrumental role and provide for the family while the woman will adopt the expressive role and take care of the home and family members. Unfortunately, that’s the most common image of division of labour for as much, men, are more likely to help at housework or child care presently, it still seen as a responsibility of women. Marxists would contest this viewpoint, arguing that the division of labour is capitalist dogma used to control the labour force and stop them from developing class consciousness. Marxism looks at the methods of control of the ruling class (bourgeoisie) in determining the way society is organised. The family is seen as part of the structure of society and is one of a number of social institutions which helps maintain the capitalists system. Marxists state that it is the requirements of the system that has come to shape the family in modern societies. From this perspective view, society revolves around the infrastructure and social superstructure. The family helps to maintain this system. Friedrich Engels (1884) provides a basis for the Marxist view of the family were strongly linked to the evolution of the capitalist system. He also explored the concept of monogamy and argued that the monogamous nuclear family developed with the emergence of private ownership of the ‘means of production’. Engels stated that this system is maintained by the socialisation of capitalist social norms and values. Marxists do not see this as benefitting the family at all, only the system, and therefore this helps support their theory that family exists as a largely negative institution. Both of these sociological perspective see the role of the family in the opposite way, but in the meantime both of them describing family as a unit of socialization. On the other hand functionalists assume that the family is a positive and beneficial institution in which family members receive nurturing, care and unconditional love which helps keep society functioning well. However, this is not always the case, when it comes to domestic violence, divorce and child abuse. All couples and families who were nuclear families or had potential to be were being ruined each day, providing that the functionalist’s view of a beneficial family was much overestimated. In comparison, Marxists state that family helps to maintain class differences in society as the rich can afford to give their children a better start in life than the poor, such as. pay for a better education, and get them a good job either in their own business or their friends business. Marxists believe the family socializes the working class to accept that it is fair that the classes are unequal. A different view on the family, presented by Feminists, focuses also on socialization but sees its effects in division of labour and gender role stereotyping. They states that family is bad for women. Girls and boys learn their different gender roles within the family through socialization. Girls copy their mothers, doing housework, whilst boys copy their fathers, doing DIY. They then learn that this is how male and female roles should be. Feminists believe that the family is male dominated- the term for this is patriarchal. Their theory is still relevant nowadays, because although more women are having careers it’s still expected from them to take care of children’s and home. Perceptions of roles is so deeply rooted in society that, despising the false image of a woman liberated, having range of capabilities which can freely pursue her dreams when in the end ,is still required from her to perform, in the meantime, the role of housewife. In contrast, interactionist state that the family assists in the construction of the identity for the social individual and looks at the society at a micro scale. In this perspective the family, through interaction helps the social individual to understand ‘self’ when feminists could argue that vision of how one should look like and behave originates from socialization. They also believe that family helps the social individual identify her/his social role without considering how institutions, class conflict and gender stereotyping influence on creation of those roles. In Great Britain the family is built on the concept of marriage with children had a very well-established position but during last century divorce rates increased 200%. Which is also reflected in the number of separations reported annually by 150,000 to 200,000 pairs per year. Some researchers place the cause of increased divorce on higher expectations (Fletcher, 1966). And given the rates of remarriage it is not the institution of marriage, or the ideology picturing lifelong happiness that is rejected, but an insufficient partner. (Denny1984) regards western style marriages based on romantic love as fragile because they are only held together by emotional ties. Another reason why divorce rates increased is that now considerably less social stigma and blame is attached to divorce. One of the main reasons for this phenomenon are changes in divorce law making it much easier to divorce now then for example 50 years ago. Statistics show that the number of children in divorcing couples declined from 153,000 to 104,000. However, this data does not take into account cohabitating couples whose separation is not recorded. The amount of cohabiting couples has increased significantly in recent years. In the majority of relationships still the most important are children’s. The average time spent with children nowadays by mothers is 2h 32 minutes and by fathers 2h 16 minutes when 50 years ago that that was only 25 minutes per day for both parent. Currently fathers are more involved in bringing up children, and the belief in the society that children are an extension of us and their success is our success modernized power image of the families. Is widely spread on the increasing number of single fathers to 178,000 from  60,000 from 1670. This shows how evolved the role of the father in the family. Increasingly, we find also reconstituted families where the connection partners cohabitation or marriage jointly raise children from a previous relationship. That happens because of the increased amounts of divorce and remarriage trends. Humans as far didn’t create any more successful structure t han family. But is nowadays family a well-functioning institution ? Very big influence on how present family looks like has mass media which are creating image how does family should look like which society is fallowing. Traditional family model become a consumption unit which glorifies children and parents are responsibility to make them happy and fulfill their all desires. All values and norms changed dramatically over time and people lost respect to institution like marriage. In conclusion family is still a basic part of the society but it evolved creating new forms of it. References: Haramolos, M & Holborn, M (2008) 7th Ed. Sociology, themes and perspectives, Harper Collins: London Scott,J. & Marshall, G (2009) Oxford dictionary of sociology , Oxford University Press: Oxford