What Is an Educated Filipino free essay sample

â€Å"Education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you know and what you don’t†. –Anatole France- Life itself offered an education as you know it, without the right needs, bow can you call it life when you do not enjoy it? This is one in my opinion I think that is more important than a informal education. Many times I’ve heard â€Å"it is not what you know, but who you know†. We Filipinos are given the right to be educated, but what are the attitudes that we must possess to be called an educated Filipino? I think this is the time for us to have the ingredients of education. We must have the ability, the knowledge and the mindset that will help us nurture ourselves and others. Education makes a man who he is and what he does. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is an Educated Filipino or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It chooses his faith and when he is on the right path, he leaves him in his own, make his own decisions with his new life with education. It shows the surrounding people who you are, what you like and what you don’t. Education has to be used the right way to be drive out the most of life. Only education can help you in the future, so why abuse it, and take it if you can! As I read the essay of Francisco Benitez entitled â€Å"what is an educated Filipino†, I end up realizing that it’s not only the knowledge being taught in school can let others to call us an educated one but it is also on how we deal to our fellowmen, to our country, and of course to our selves. Through trials and tribulations in life and we learn to be a more understanding person. Education and life are far from over, but that life and education is a journey. We cannot go through life and learn nothing for to even make it that we know nothing, we have also realized that there is so much else in life and that could be education.

Trustworthy testimonials how to write

Trustworthy testimonials how to write A Comprehensive Guide on Writing a Testimonial A testimonial is a personal statement, which concentrates on the main qualities of a person, product, or service. It is a way of sharing the opinion about any issue, including businesses and enterprises. In most of the cases, it concentrates on positive features of a product or service. If you are willing to leave positive feedback, make sure it contains three elements: Description of the problem; Showing benefits of the Conclusion Steps of Writing a Trustworthy Testimonial Tell About Yourself Always start feedback with key details about yourself. This will make the testimonial personalized, and your opinion will have more weight. However, you need to adjust the quantity and quality of personal information to every type of product or service. Describe the Problem Proceed with discussing the situation you have faced before you found out about a person/product or service. This will be the basis of the testimonial and will explain how valuable your review will be. Try to include lots of facts to support your point of view but always remain clear and straight to the point. Such facts will help readers to compare how your situation has changed before and after using the service or product. An evidence-based testimonial is what all customers need!   For example, if your company had difficulties with sales, you can leave the following comment â€Å"My enterprise was selling only 20 products per day before using the services of a sales expert. Now they have reached 500 products per day.’ Tell About Additional Options Tell about the products or services you have used to solve the issue. The main idea here is to explain how others failed to solve your problem. The best way to present a company in the best light is to compare it with competitors, who were not able to help you. Based on the example above, you can say, â€Å"We hired XXX, a leading advertiser in the city, to promote our products. However, the number of sales didn’t increase.’ Indicate Possible Obstacles You can discuss any problems you have faced with the previous service or company, and tell how you overcame the situation. A good example can be the cost of the service. Based on the previous example you can say, â€Å"We decided not to use XXX advertiser, which is more expensive than the YYY one. However, they didn’t show any results, and we decided to give XXX a chance’. How the Problem Was Solved? Start a new paragraph by providing key facts about the product or service. Tell what it does and explain in details how it helped to solve your issue. For example, based on the information in previous samples, you can say â€Å"The XXX company used online promotion as the key tool to sell our product. It also used web markets to advertise us and also has employees, who move from supermarket to supermarket and offer products. Since hiring them, we have increased our sales to 400%, which is a significant result.’ You should also mention any specific and unique services or offers the company has. In such a way, you will give them more value. It is a great factor when users decide whether to choose a particular company or not. You can say ‘We were pleasantly surprised to get an extra month of their services for free.’ Don’t Forget About a Personal Note In case the result has exceeded your expectations, you can mention it by praising the company or a particular person. You can even give names and tell that it was a pleasure working with them. It is very important because the employees you mention can be rewarded by the company. You can also distinguish a particular employee even if the whole team worked perfectly well. For example, ‘Members of the team managed to promote and sell our product within tightest deadlines, but John did, even more, devoting lots of time to communicating with potential customers. We are sure that without his efforts, the results would be not so great.’ Quantify the Results If you want to impress readers and to give them a clear picture of what to expect from a product or service, it is important to give numbers. Moreover, they should match those, which you used to explain your issue. For example, if you are writing a testimonial for an advertiser and your main problem is a low quantity of sales, you should indicate an exact number you had before and after cooperating with a particular company. Tell How You Surpassed the Obstacles Discuss how you feel about the problems that you have faced and indicate whether they were as big as you have imagined before working with the chosen company or product. For example, if you couldn’t decide whether to work with XXX because of their high fees, it is necessary to highlight whether the result was eventually worth it. This section is the last one in the body part of your testimonial, and now you only need to come up with the conclusion. Summarize Your Experience In a few sentences, explain how the product or service helped to solve your problem. This should be the third paragraph of your review. You should also write a few words about why you decided to leave a testimonial. For example, ‘When John from XXX advertiser asked whether I could write a testimonial about their service, I didn’t hesitate, because they did a great job and it was the least I could do for them.’ Would you Recommend the Service to Others? A good testimonial always contains encouragement, which motivates other users to try out the service and to benefit from them. For a better result, you can refer to a certain group of people based on the niche you are occupying. For example, ‘I recommend XXX services to owners of enterprises that are only starting their path and know nothing about their market.’ Include a Call for Action Although you have already recommended the product or service to the reader, you can still make additional encouragement to motivate others and to pay extra attention to the company. For example, ‘If you are launching a new product, just call XXX advertiser! They provide outstanding services, and the first consultation is free of any charges.’ Why Testimonials Are so Important Here are only some of the reasons why testimonials are important: Higher conversion rates By reaching the target audience, they can stimulate interest and increase the activity of potential users and customers. A tool to study the behavior of customers Reading testimonials is a great way to know what other people think about a particular product or service. It is a well-known fact that people are more willing to risk their money to purchase a new item if they previously get familiar with positive feedbacks. Proof of success When a person reads testimonials and sees that others have reached success due to a particular product or company, they also want to try it out. They make your product more value If you are an owner of such a service or company, testimonials are a great way to persuade potential customers. Instead of filling your website with watery texts, you can add a separate testimonial page. Features of a Good Testimonial It should be brief and straight to the point. In most of the cases people won’t read a long and watery text, simply skipping it; It should be direct. You should make clear statements so that the readers can understand them at once; It should be original and written from scratch. No copies or generic messages. Where to Place Testimonials To reach a maximum number of readers, place feedbacks on many different websites. Place them on the page of products or services. In such a way readers will see relevant comments at once; Place them on popular websites. This is one of the most effective tools, because such pages have more visitors, so more people will see the testimonial; To increase the conversion rate, place the testimonial on optimized pages; Place them on a landing page; Place them on a home page; Create a separate page with testimonials; Place on sidebars within quotation marks; Place on page with stories from customers. Testimonials for Your Business A customer testimonial is a feedback that is written by a customer, who is satisfied with the quality of a product or service. Such testimonial motivates others to try the product or company out. It helps to build a reputation. Testimonials give information about why others like your services or products. This is a great way to attract more customers and to build a solid reputation because more and more people will share what they like about your product; It creates trust between your company and customers. This can have a positive impact on the company because when customers tell about their positive experience with your services, they give others a chance to know more about your enterprise; A chance to overcome skepticism. Reviews attract more and more customers, familiarizing them with your services and products, and the way others benefited from cooperating with them; Testimonials are objective. Unlike your own descriptions, testimonials tell about the experience of other users and deliver a clear picture of the pros and cons your product or service has; It gives a chance to learn what others think about the services and products you provide. In such a way, you can improve the qualities of your services and create a tighter bond with your customers. You can ask them for testimonials, creating a separate draft letter. With its help, you can also encourage them to share your feedback with other users and to explain how their testimonial will be used. In case a particular customer has left a comment via a personal letter, you need to ask for permission to make it public. Remember, private feedbacks should never be posted without the previous permission of a client; Testimonials can promote your product or services in case the message is positive (i.e. ‘this company is the best’ or ‘their product is excellent’). It is a great tool to explain all of the benefits of your company or product. For example, ‘XXX company helped to significantly increase the number of sales: from 500 to 1700 in a single month.’ This will greatly improve interest in your company because readers would also want to get the same improvements for their own enterprises and businesses; Testimonials help to prove your points. Quality testimonials will surely explain how your product or company can provide the best services to ensure the prosperity of your enterprise. In addition, they will explain why the service or product is beneficial for a particular group of customers. It will also show that you keep your words and meet all of the expectations. It is one of the most effective ways of attracting more and more customers to your company; Positive testimonials will help your product to stand out. If a big number of reviewers will tell about the benefits of your company, more and more people will be encouraged to choose you instead of your competitors. Through testimonials, users will get more information about your product and will be aware of all the positive effects it has. Hopefully, this guide has given you all the information you need to know on writing testimonials and making them one of the most powerful instruments in achieving success!

Case Study On Euro Land Foods Finance Essay

Case Study On Euro Land Foods Finance Essay The company was founded in 1924 by Theo verdin a previous as a subsidiary of his dairy business. His keen attention to product Development and grew business steadily over the year .the company went public in year 1979 and by 1993, was listed on trading in the London and Germany exchanges. In January 2001, the senior management of Euro land foods was to draw the firm’s one year capital budget and up for new 11 major projects are imposed to spending limit on capital of 120 million pound. Investment at that rate would be representing a major increase in the firm’s current assets base on 965 million pound. The senior manager challenge of Euro land foods to allocate funds among a range of compelling project, new product introduce and preventive maintenance, safety and pollution control. As a matter of policy, investment proposals at Euro land foods were subject to two financial test, payback and internal rate of return. NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV) The net present value (NPV) re quires cash flow discounting by making use of the so-called risk-adjusted cost of capital, which serves the purpose of accounting for risk. A widespread model employed for computing the cost of capital is the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Rubinstein (1973) and other scholars in the late 1960s and 1970s have provided the link between CAPM and capital budgeting decisions: in their classical contributions they show that, if the CAPM assumptions are met, then the cost of capital is a function of the systematic risk, which is given by the beta of the project. The latter depends in turn on the cost of the project, which implies that it is a disequilibrium beta. The corresponding NPV is therefore disequilibrium NPV. If†¦ It means†¦ Then†¦ NPV > 0 the asset would add value to the definite the venture may be acknowledged NPV < 0 the asset would take from value as of the firm the plan should be unwanted NPV = 0 the asset would neither gain nor misplace value for the firm We should be uncaring in the conclusion whether to accept or refuse the project. This plan adds no monetary value. Decision should be base on other criteria, e.g. designed position or other factors not evidently included in the calculation. Formula: Npv =CFo+ ___CF____ ( 1+k) n Example:- Year Cash flow Present Value 0 100,000 1 22,727 2 20,661 3 18,783 4 17,075 5 15,523 Internal rate of return:- It is a different economical cash flow practice which takes report of the extent and time of cash flow. Formula: – IRR=LOWER RATE+ npv at lower rate x (HIGHER RATE -LOWER Rate) Npv at lower rate -NPV at higher rate Example 1. If a speculation may be given by the chain of cash flows: Year (n) Cash Flow (Cn) 0 -4000 1 1200 2 1410 3 1875 4 1050 Then the IRR  r  is given by . In this case, the answer is 14.3%. 1. Project with NPV and IRR:- The research on the resource-constrained project scheduling problem is focused mainly on two types of objectives: objectives based on time and obje ctives based on cost. Both of these factors, i.e. time and cost, are indispensable in practical applications. Year

IT Systems Strategy Of A Company Research Paper

IT Systems Strategy Of A Company - Research Paper Example In the context of current market trends, the increase of a firm’s profitability cannot be achieved without a radical change in the methods used for managing information across the particular organization. The development of information as an element of competitive advantage is, primarily, the result of the continuous improvement of technology involved in various organizational activities. Under these terms, the firms, which are interested in achieving a long-term growth, need to ensure that they are able to capture, process and transmit information across all their departments. The above issue is set under examination in this paper. Reference is made to a particular firm, Microsoft UK. The information management practices of the above firm are evaluated emphasizing on the following issues: a) the effects of a potential information audit, b) the relationship between the organizational structure/ culture and the information management policies used by the organization and c) the value of competitive intelligence for the development of organizational performance. It is concluded that the development of the firm’s existing information management policies would help the firm to increase its competitiveness within the global market; moreover, the incorporation of effective competitive intelligence methods would also support the achievement of the above target. However, the firm’s existing structure and culture would need to be reviewed and updated supporting more effectively the relevant efforts of the organization. 2. Key issues that would be likely to emerge if an information audit were to be conducted for Microsoft UK In order to identify the effects of a potential information audit in Microsoft it would be necessary to refer primarily to the common needs and benefits of the particular process as developed in firms internationally. In accordance with Dube et al. (2005) information audit results to a series of benefits for the organization invo lved: the most important benefit of information audit is the improvement of a firm’s existing control systems (Dube et al 2005, p.12); moreover, information audit helps to identify the problems of a firm’s information management policies and to suggest information management processes which are more appropriate for the particular organization (Dube et al. 2005, p.12). However, despite its value for the organizational performance, information audit is a rather costly process (Lipman et al 2006, p.66). In this context, the ability of a firm to cover the relevant expenses cannot be guaranteed. In the case of Microsoft, no such problem is expected; the firm’s financial status allows for such initiatives; however, another issue would occur: is the information audit process attempted in Microsoft well planned? If the relevant plan is not carefully developed, the risk of a failure would be extremely high. From a different point of view, the success of information audit has been related to the IS skills of the employees engaged in the specific process; this is an issue highlighted in the study of Coderre (2009). For Microsoft, the above issue is not important; the firm’s employees are

Comparison critique of 2 famous speeches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparison critique of 2 famous speeches - Essay Example In Kennedy’s address, he used both ethos and pathos to convince the audience that under his leadership significant ties that allegedly bind the country to other foreign governments would continue through his offer and pledges of loyalty, hope, good deed, and a call for peace. They both exuded the air of confidence during the whole duration of the speech and assuming ample preparedness prior to the delivery. Though both were glancing at some previously prepared notes on the speech, it was clearly evident that they knew most of the contents of the speech and frequent glancing was enough to ensure that the delivery flowed perfectly and effectively. Their appearances were both sublime and very professional; donning formal suits with respective neckties and hair perfectly groomed. Likewise, both employed sustaining a particular tone that uses emphasis and clarity in pronunciation, diction and use of flawless grammar. Both speakers, during their course of delivery, were intermittent ly applauded by the audience, to signify conformity and approval to their points of assertions. Both Reagan and Kennedy knew the effective use of body language that employs glancing at the audience, looking at them through their eyes, briefly glancing on their notes, changing their facial focus to the right, the middle and the left portion of the audience, and using the appropriate tone and marks of emphasis, as needed. Likewise, in terms of audience orientation, it was evident in both speeches that the audience impact and appeal were both positive. Intermittent claps were heard, especially when the speakers noted some relevant arguments that were appropriately supported; or when figurative languages were used. The fact that these speakers were the ones who delivered the speeches resulted in an enhanced credibility and audience appeal. If the speech were delivered by somebody else, it could have significantly affected audience impact, depending on the person’s character, the manner of delivery, air of confidence, and manifested authority, among others. Concurrently, there were disparities between the delivery, style, and focus or thrusts of these two speeches. In Reagan’s speech, he did not begin the speech by acknowledging the presence of personalities who were present; unlike Kennedy’s speech which begun with acknowledging the following: â€Å"Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens† (John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address par. 1). Reagan’s introduction was simply to acknowledge gratitude from the audience by repeatedly saying â€Å"Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening† (A TIME FOR CHOOSING (The Speech – October 27, 1964) par. 1). Likewise, the speed of Reagan’s speech was faster, as compared to the slower paced and significantly rehearsed pacing by Kennedy. The total number of words

Culture and packaging Essay Example for Free

Culture and packaging Essay Packaging is considered to be an integral part of the product and is the first point of contact with the brand for a consumer product. So, most of the companies that do business internationally redesign their packages for each market. The principle reason is that expectations and utilizations of consumers vary across cultures. The world’s two leading industrial powers, U. S. and Japan have almost opposite approaches to packaging. Packaging is recognized as an expression of culture in Japan and designed to be appreciated, whereas in America cultural aspect is largely ignored and packaging is calculated to be accepted. Foods that only Japanese eat have beautiful, traditionally designed wrappings that resemble handmade paper or leaves and accommodate scan able bar codes. Such products look Japanese and are intended to do so. Products that are foreign, such as coffee, look foreign even to the point of having only Roman lettering on the can. We speak of global villages and international markets, but packages reveal some unexpected cultural boundaries. Few examples of such cultural implication of packaging are- Canadians prefer to drink milk out of flexible plastic pouches that fit into reusable plastic holders while Americans are believed to be so resistant to the idea that they have not been given the opportunity to do so, Japanese consumers prefer packages that contain two tennis balls and view the standard U. S. package of three as cheap and undesirable, Germans insist on highly detailed technical specifications on packages of videotapes, while Americans don’t, Swedes consider blue Colour of packaging as masculine whereas Dutch consider it to be feminine and so on. (Eric, J. A. et al. , 2004, p. 298) Culture Packaging Colour Schmitt and Simpson (1997) states, Colour is one of the many marketing tools that global managers use to create, maintain, and modify brand images in customers’ minds while Schmitt and Pan (1994) discovers, Colour is also an important component of many corporate and brand-building cues, such as logos, packages, and displays. It is a commonality reflecting in the views of both the authors that- Colour is one of the major element which affects consumer perception regarding a brand. The research results show cross-cultural patterns of both similarity and dissimilarity in Colour preferences and Colour meaning associations. Colour used in packaging is equally important in determining a product’s desirability. â€Å"James Mandle, a Colour consultant, changed the Colour of Ty-D-Bol’s toilet bowl cleanser bottle from light and green to stark white letters on a dark background. He believed that the original Colours were â€Å"too wimpy† and that the new, bolder Colours would connote strength and cleanliness. In an 18 month period following the change of Colour, sales of Ty-D-Bol jumped 40% (Lane 1991). † (Thomas, J. M. et al. , 2000, p. 91) Packaging is not about Colour only there are various other factors involved in it. Factors like design shape of the package, text on the package and other factors of the packaging. But it is true that Colour is the most important attribute in terms of attracting the attention of the consumer. Packaging is not only made up of a single Colour but combination of Colours to create a brand image. So preferences in regard to combination of Colours also vary across cultures. Few examples of such combinations are of pairing Colours with green and red. The Colour best paired with green is yellow in Canada, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, blue in Columbia, and white in Austria. Only the Chinese and Taiwanese pair green with red as red is a potent Colour in China. In Brazil and the US people pair red with black, whereas in Canada, and China, the preferred combination with red is yellow. ( Mooij and Marieke K. de, 2004) Culture Packaging Information Packaging not only protects and contains a product but also provide the consumer with loads of information about the product such as its composition, correct use etc. For instance, packaging of foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals provides information regarding the name of the product, manufacturer, country of origin, â€Å"best before† date and expiry date, ingredients and additives or composition of drug along with quantity and price. Since packaging is subject to country-specific legislation so ear of legal action has made many companies in the US and the UK includes all sorts of warnings on label instructions on consumer goods. On bar of Dial soap: â€Å"Directions: Use like regular soap. † On a Sears hairdryer: â€Å"Do not use while sleeping. † On packaging for a Rowenta iron: â€Å"Do not iron clothes on body. † On Nytol sleep aid: â€Å"Warning: May cause drowsiness. † On a child’s Superman costume: â€Å"Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly. † On Sainsbury’s peanuts: â€Å"Warning: contains nuts. † On Marks Spencer bread pudding: â€Å"Product will be hot after heating. † On Boot’s child’s cough medicine:† Do not drive a car or operate machinery after taking this medication. † ( Mooij and Marieke K. de, 2004, p. 265) In the present scenario various countries have included packaging waste into hazardous matter to contribute in pollution. This led the government to adopt some policies to restrict the use of non recyclable products as a packaging material where it is not required. These have also posed challenge among business organizations to try and find out recyclable materials and present themselves as a responsible corporate citizen among the stakeholders. This is also one aspect of culture which leads to this kind of environmental concern approach. Culture Packaging Images/Pictures Imagery is an important element of packaging, as it enhances the accessibility of packaging information. As said by Bolen (1984), visual information in advertisements generally attracted more attention and was noticed before verbal advertising content. While Alesandrini (1982) declared, visual information may serve to attract consumer’s attention and set expectations for the contents of the verbal elements; the visual information thus serving as an â€Å"advance organizer† for the verbal elements of packaging. (Underwood et al. , 2001) Different culture recognizes various symbols differently with different meanings altogether. Picture that is very meaningful for people in one culture as it expresses important values of that culture can be completely meaningless to the people of the other culture. For instance, a box of pineapple cookies sold in Singapore has an image of a lion, as in Singapore lion is considered to be a symbol of royalty. Hence, if the similar box of cookies is launched in UK it won’t be given equivalent importance as in Singapore due to the differences lying in culture. Culture Packaging Communication Customer or prospect judges the products on the basis of its name as well. Language used on the product package including its brand or product name creates impression among consumers. Consumer interprets the information selectively on the basis of his culture and his own personal factors. Different aspects of marketing communications like corporate identity, brand name, package design, and advertising styles impacts consumer in certain ways. Marketing communications styles are interrelated with personal communication styles. Chinese-speaking consumers tend to judge a brand name based on its visual appeal whereas English speakers judge brand name based on whether the name sounds appealing. In Asia, visual symbolism is a key aspect of a firm’s corporate identity. A comparative study of package design across seven countries found that packages differ both in three-dimensional design and in the way they communicate through graphical design and vary in the use of textual information; use of Colour, shape, and symbolism; and degree of structure and detail in the package design. All the above differences are highly influenced by culture. Even the product category is influenced by the packaging design, for example Deodorant is communicated differently from cigarettes, and that is reflected in its design of the packaging. ( Mooij and Marieke K. de, 2004, p. 213) Why it is important to understand culture differences in cultures? It is always very important for a marketer to understand the culture of his target market place. Many good products have failed in the market only due to ignorance of socio- cultural aspects. There are underlying components that influence culture such as religion, family, customs, politics, weather, etc, which must be taken into account when marketing products on an international basis. Consequently, it is important for marketers to be aware of the 25% of cultural differences in the world market to promote their product properly. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand similarities and differences in culture which also affects the consumer purchasing behaviours across the cultures. (Weber, J. M. et al. , 2002, p. 396) Tastes and preferences of consumers vary in different part of world. In the European continent itself consumer preferences and taste varies so much that retailers Marks Spencer had to made different advertising campaigns for each country. Initially Marks Spencer has a single uniform advertising for the whole of Europe in 2001. Later it recognized its weakness and immediately changed the advertising campaign according to the taste and preference of different parts of European continent at the end of 2001. Toyota’s model ‘Camry† was a huge success in US which it tried to launch in UK market in 2000. It was a huge failure due to difference in the lifestyle and cultural set up of these two countries. Toyota re-launched it later with changes in the model according to the European culture and it was a huge success. Companies have to estimate the strength of their products along with the market they are trying to trap irrespective of their own brand name and value. One of the mistakes by the snacks giant Kellogg’s is Indian market was with its breakfast cereals. Within Indian culture people tend to eat heavy breakfast in the morning. In such market breakfast cereals as a healthier alternative to the heavy Indian breakfast was unattractive offer to the Indians. Later on company improved its communication strategies and compared it with traditional chapattis (Indian breads). Even in that case Kellogg’s could sell to a Westernized niche market only. So it is quite clear from the above examples that thorough understanding of the culture as well as its differences across cultures is very important to survive in today’s competitive environment. There are some other companies which have done very well in understanding various markets on socio-cultural dimensions like Disney, Pizza hut, dominos, Mc-Donald’s and others. Success pf these brands was result of their conscious effort to keep the significance of culture in their minds. These companies went local irrespective of their global operations for each and every market for them. One such example is Mc-Donald’s. The reasons behind success of Mc-Donald’s in foreign markets apart from a strong brand image and consistent service a standard around the world is, its advertising which is local and its product offer has a local touch. Examples are the Kiwi burger in New Zealand; the Maharaja Mac in India; the Prosperity burger in Malaysia; the Teriyaki burger in Japan; the McKorket in the Netherlands; McLaks, a grilled salmon burger, in Norway; and the Croque McDo in France that refers to the popular French â€Å"Croque Monseiur†, a hot ham and cheese sandwich. Advertising by McDonald’s in France tied into local habits and symbols. In 2001, for example, advertising for McDonald in France tied into â€Å"Asterix and Obelisk,† the most famous historical cartoon of the nation. Hence, localization makes it increasingly important for marketing and advertising people to understand the influence of culture. ( Mooij and Marieke K. de, 2004, p. 18) Importance of Colours can not be ignored in the case of international markets. Colours are associated with different cultural beliefs, moods and meanings. Understanding of these aspects of Colour, culture and society helps the organization to develop appropriate strategy. As said by (Kirmani 1997: Schmitt and Pan 1994), one marketing cue that global managers can use regardless of location is Colour. The effects of culture on the meaning associated with Colours are very critical for international marketing purposes. â€Å"Wagner, the creator of the Wagner Colour Research Institute, contends that Colours are associated with certain images (Lane 1991). For example, Blue is associated with wealth, trust, and security: Gray is associated with strength, exclusively, and success: and orange denotes cheapness. These associations may explain why banks are more likely to Colour their logos and collateral using Blue or Gray rather than orange ( Seitel 1993). It is cultural background due to which Colour has a strong effect on choice of a customer. It is important to understand which Colours are preferred by people in different cultures. It will help to create, maintain, or modify brand images in consumers’ minds. The associated with Colours and combination of Colours are important to understand for any marketer. â€Å"Colour combinations are considered culturally bound with certain ideologies and traditions (Geboy 1996). For example, black on red signifies happiness to Chinese people and is commonly used for wedding invitations while a combination of red over white represents celebration and signifies the life force to the Japanese ( Tektronix 1998). (Thomas, J. M. et al. , 2000) After Colour it is cultural beliefs which have impact on the consumer minds. It is important to understand the beliefs related to target product category within the target market place. For instance in India people feel that ancient herbal methods are good choices over the cosmetic options available today. This led various cosmetics company in India to launch their promotional programs comparing their product with traditional methods or showing the products equivalent to the traditional benefits. In these leading brands like Lux, Fair Lovely and many others are present. Success of a fair and lovely brand due to the fact that Indians believe fairness is beautiful. Vicco turmeric cream is another example which positioned itself as a cream that would be useful for would-be brides to enhance their complexions, as applying turmeric for skin care is a part of the Indian tradition. These types of behaviour which are associated with a specific culture or belief can also be associated with different product categories such as, for instance, the bindi worn in most parts of India. It is important that the brand name selected for such a product category should have an ethnic-sounding name whereas a Western name is prone to be counter-productive. (S Ramesh Kumar, 2003) Another product category is food where the role of mother and grand mother is considered important. This is the reason all spices, traditional quick meals and cooking oil etc contain some or more of the mother’s recipe kind of concept. Not only that change in the societal socio-cultural structure can also be seen as some of the advertisement in India show modern man helping their women in their work as well like washing clothes or taking care of child. There is a strong need to understand and consider the culture which constitutes of the values, beliefs and habits of consumers which show a discrepancy across the nations. The other aspect of the changing cultural environment and upcoming trends are also important to understand.

John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men :: Essays Papers

Of Mice and Men When writing the novel Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck made many themes clear to his readers. Some of these themes were good statements to live by, and others weren’t. Most of these themes were about people’s social lives, because that was what a good part of the book was about. They addressed friendship, equality, and death. The first, and probably most important lesson taught by this book was the value of friendship. From the very beginning of the book, readers can tell that George and Lennie are very close friends. Later, the book tells of this odd duo’s past. Because Lennie was never too bright, George often took advantage of him. Eventually, though, George decided Lennie needed someone to take care of him and lead him through life. The two stuck together, though Lennie often got them both into trouble. Another theme the book contains is negative statements about human equality. On the ranch where George and Lennie worked, the ranch hands were considered more inferior than the wealthy boss, his son, and his daughter-in-law. One of the ranch hands, Crooks, was a black man and also a cripple. He was considered more inferior than the ranch hands and had a private room out in the barn. Some of the other ranch hands did respect him, though; as much as someone could expect from anyone at the time the story takes place. Throughout the story, Lennie found out just how fragile life was in his strong hands. When he was younger, his aunt would give him mice to play with and pet. Because he was so strong, he would pet them too hard and kill them. When Slim gave Lennie a pup, he eventually pet it too hard and accidentally killed it too. Then, while talking to Curley’s wife in the barn, she invited Lennie to touch her hair. When she wanted him to stop, he got scared and held on. When she screamed, he shook her and told her to stop so he wouldn’t get in trouble. With his incredible strength, he accidentally broke her neck.