Women in the War

1. In Britain in 1914 and before, women were thought of as second class citizens. Women had few privileges that men had; they were down upon by men. Women's employment opportunities were limited and their pay was considerably less than a man's. All this was due to strong discrimination about women being of less importance and intelligence, the general view was traditional one which inferred that women should be housewives. Only one third of women were in paid employment. However there were differences between the jobs they did because of their class. Middle class and Working class women did very different jobs. Working class women worked in more manual, and labour intensive jobs. Whilst Middle class did more intellectual jobs. So we already know that there were clear distinctions between the jobs the women of different classes did. Working class women mostly did domestic services such as cleaning or being servants for the rich. They had to work in poor conditions and were subjected to long working hours. On top of this they received criticism, low wages and got little time off. A major employer was the textiles industry in which women could supervise, yet men often get these jobs. Women also made clothes and dresses, or jewellery or painted ornaments. Middle class women experienced better working conditions. These women were more likely to work as teachers, nurses, secretaries and shop assistants. Women had no political vote and were looked down on as inferior to men. Before 1914 jobs for women were limited and discouraged due to traditional beliefs about the role of women. Within this discrimination there was further discrimination between the classes of women. They were expected to manage the house. People were aware of this and a group called the Suffragettes voiced the opinion that equality should be imposed. This all changed when war broke out. 2. When war broke out the men went to war, this meant that they left their vacant jobs behind. The country was behind the war effort and all came together. Women were at first not allowed to fill the men's jobs, they were only allowed to knit and fundraise. People, including Emmeline Pankhurst, a leading Suffragette realised that women could help more. Pankhurst in July 1915 organised a ‘Right to Serve' march in which 60 000 women took part. There was also an increasing demand for shells due to shortages on the front line. Lloyd George, the Minister of Munitions had to negotiate with trade unions to let women work. They came to a deal known as the ‘Treasury Agreements'. Women began to work in industrial employment; they began manufacturing munitions and shells. The government backed Pankhurst further by giving them à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½3000 to organise processions. Also the women war register was established; it contained all the names of women wanting to help. Also more jobs needed filling when, in early 1916 the government introduced conscription as they realised they were in for the long slog. The war wouldn't be over any time soon. Vigorous campaigning ensued with extensive propaganda encouraging women to work instead of men in industry, farming and the armed services. As a result of increased levels of women working birth rates were falling, this was because women were worried about raising children during wartime. So to ease worries, the government increased the number of child welfare centres so that children and babies had a place where they could be cared for. Female employment levels rose massively due to encouragement, campaigning and thanks to the women's will to help the country win the war. Another reason is because men had to go fight on the frontlines so in order to keep up the production of munitions and shells, the women had to fill in the men's jobs. 3. Before the war women were limited to working in textiles even though they were paid at a fraction of the money that men were. Only a third of women were in paid employment. There were strict traditional rules in society which made it clear that some jobs were purely a certain gender. Women of a lower class had to generally work as domestic services for the rich and middle class women worked doing clerical work and teaching. Women were seen as 2nd class citizens. When the war broke out the men left to go to war meaning that there were vacant jobs that needed to be filled. At first the government were reluctant, but later they realised that women could make a big difference. Protests organised by the Suffragettes encouraged women to work. Women worked in industry, medical and many new areas of employment now. Women though were still treated badly, underpaid and overworked. Some men resented the women and say them as inferior. More positively though is that women became freer and some women over 30 could vote. After 4 years of war, it was over; the allies had won and the men returned home. Women were pressured to leave their jobs for the men and go back to their old jobs, mostly housekeeping. Women did leave work and female employment levels returned to what they were before 1914. The jobs that women worked in changed slightly though as more women worked in areas such as law and medicine, pay did also improve. In the short term it looked like not much had changed, things were back to normal. Women were still paid less and weren't promoted above men. However in the long run World War 1 changed the role of women and had a massive impact as they earned the respect and privileges that they deserved for their contributions. It had been made clear that women were capable of many things that men could do and over time the mood changed regarding what women could and should do.

Phenomenology and Healthier Organismic Self

Exploring the terminology of the word Phenomenology and its etymology, presents me with an overture dating back to a long tradition of philosophical literature. I find it very difficult to try and explain what phenomenology means, because expressing significant ideas of one philosopher, will exclude others, and my choices will contradict the very idea of what phenomenology is beginning to mean for me. Drawing examples from phenomenological theoretical sources, I shall integrate personal experience to support what I understand by the term phenomenology.In brief, I am going to start to explain what I understand about the term Phenomenology by giving answers with references from theoretical sources. I shall, in no particular order along this essay, give examples to support the reason why I think phenomenology is important in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Lastly, I intent to discuss my current ability to understand my own, and another person’s worldview with some examples.The ter m Phenomenology originates from the Greek word phainomenon, meaning appearance, that which shows itself, and, logos meaning science or study. As Hans Cohn puts it, â€Å"the Greek word ‘phenomenon’ is derived from a verb meaning to appear, to come into the light, and ‘logos’, on the other hand, is rooted in a Greek verb meaning ‘to say’. (Cohn, 1997:9-10). To me this suggests, come into light through speech, or enlighten oneself through speech. In simple terms phenomenology is the study of how things appear to be.In order to acknowledge the phenomenon of perception, Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), developed a method from his former teacher’s philosophical intentionality, Franz Brentano (1838-1917) that explains how reality cannot be grasped directly because it is available only through perceptions of reality, which are representations of it in the mind. This is a method that attempts to describe phenomena without prior assumptions, by rejec ting prior beliefs or consciousness about things, events and people.His aim was to find a way to transcend subjectivity and understand phenomenon through experience as the source of conscious knowledge (Dermot Moran, 2002:1-22). He intended by this to suspend or bracket events, to go beyond the usual choices of perception to describe the things as they really are. Husserl’s phenomenological method includes concepts of Noema, ‘the object of our attention, or, blocks of meaning’, Noesis to mean, ‘the experience as it is experienced and the act of consciousness itself, or, process of conferring meaning’, and Bracketing ‘an act of suspending our prejudices and usual interpretations’ (Van Deurzen, 2005: 154).At this stage, these concepts are helping me to frame old acknowledged ‘blocks’ and consciously describe them. It is also helping me to bring to my awareness some of my behaviour patterns, which I was unaware of, or aware in hindsight, but unaware of their reasons. Husserl’s method is ingenious in that it brings to light my ‘perspective dynamics’ (sense of reality, prejudices, family dynamics) and helps me to understand and realise how to locate my blocks. I can now begin to verbalise enigmatic reactions and unveil covert fears, when truth about my character and individual qualities begin to be more approachable and real.I very often have been lost in my own personal history not knowing any other way out of it. ‘This felt like a block in my life loosing touch, feeling alienated within myself and therefore, preventing the self to extend towards other people as fully as I would wish. In my understanding of phenomenology in the above example, my own blocks can prevent me from living in the moment of now. The examples that will follow, there are so many thoughts and emotions distracting me from the moment of now.Learning to make conscious my personal assumptions in the form of noem a, noesis and bracketing, an aspect of phenomenological reduction called Epoche, was to learn how to suspend prejudice, frame a particular behaviour in focus, and examine the way I view things and people. I don’t know if it is possible to translate this process of reduction in all layers of my behaviour. But what I do know, is that this reduction process has taught me to be aware, in a more awake state, of my hidden intentionality and to take responsibility, or better own my thoughts and actions consciously because very often I searched for the blame outside of myself.And the search was not to be found outside, but the understanding of those reactions is to be found deep inside of me. ‘Bracketing is necessary because the phenomenological inquiry is not mere fact-finding, it is the apprehension of intentional acts’ (Van Deurzen, 2005: 154). Husserl’s transcendental Phenomenology hasn’t particularly been followed by his students and former colleagues such as Martin Heidegger (Spinelli, 1989:2-3). A remark from Paul Ricoeur follows ‘that phenomenology is the story of the deviations from Husserl; â€Å"the history of phenomenology is the history of Husserlian heresies† (Moran, 2002:2).I find that Husserl’s at the time controversial scientific opinions allows phenomenological progression. But his findings are a good basis to question what our true values are, to allow us to investigate our potential to be good therapists. Why is the relationship between Phenomenological philosophy, Existential, Person- centred Counselling and Psychotherapy, important in counselling and psychotherapy? I very soon started to comprehend that phenomenology addresses key questions of human experience and that this attempts to examine the process of subjective human nature, without being indoctrinated by some fixed theory.Philosophers have written a great deal about the nature of the self, and it is useful for psychotherapists to refl ect if they are addressing human issues of existence from the right angle or just emphasising one from an infinity of possibilities, or simply if the theory needs progression. One concern that I think relevant to consider is that psychotherapy, particularly existential and person-centred counselling, focus on the promotion of the client’s autonomy (Sanders, 2004). Are the theories open enough to offer that autonomy, or are they in its effort to make sense of a state of mind, limiting its variability?In my opinion, it is essential to have an uncluttered mind which is free from unprejudiced assumptions when approaching psychotherapy and counselling. Existential therapists for example, put more emphasis on the existence, than on the essence through the phenomenological reduction, because they do not wish to suspend existence. Carl Rogers‘s (1902-1987) concept of phenomenology maintains that knowledge of individual perceptions of reality is required for the understanding of the human behaviour, and suggests that we live in accordance with our subjective awareness (Nye, 1992:97).Rogers believed that human beings need the right psychological and environmental conditions to allow the troubled self to change and find a healthier organismic self. ‘Necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change’ (Kirshenbaum & Henderson, 1990:219). There are three core conditions out of the six sufficient conditions: Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR), meaning truly accepting the person as they are with no pre-conceived judgements intruding in the process of the relationship between client and counsellor.Empathy, meaning listening carefully, leaves aside my conditions of worth, and, Congruence, meaning genuine authenticity within the counselling relationship (Hough, 1998:103-104). I found a way to process these conditions through phenomenology. I can see the parallel between person-centred and existential psychotherapy, because for examp le, Rogers’s therapy involves the therapist's entry into the client's unique phenomenological world, without attempting to search for unconscious motives, but rather concentrate on immediate conscious experience and expectations (Sanders, 2004:4).These conditions have to be processed within myself first, before I can attempt to offer them to other people. To me, there was an intellectual and emotional understanding of how to integrate Rogers’ core conditions when with other people, but I was missing the link ‘how’ to do it, because the theory felt all very delicate, non-directive and carved for those who were born with those qualities. I wanted it to be part of my daily make up, but I many times regressed to old habits, and felt I was back to square zero.This is the reason why I think phenomenology is important in counselling and psychotherapy. It is a method that allows us to strip down any masks or shadows we have and work on many of our unprocessed cond itions of worth, for a healthier organismic experiencing. I have been fortunate to find the path to work on my true self, and something definitely happened in my conscious mind caused by the above learning cues. I can honestly describe with some contentment that I am processing my projections successfully with my environmental relationships.The example that follows, describes a significant event that showed me I have brought into light what looked like a projection into my full conscious. Right at the beginning of the academic year, I used to hear one of my colleagues speak, and I used to feel some irritation. I didn’t know the cause. It was only after the third week that I questioned myself the reason why because the symptom persisted. I wrote on my journal: I feel I was quite disrespectful today towards ‘Blue Sky’ when she was speaking in the group experience. (Blue Sky is a pseudonym name.I give all my course group colleagues a pseudonym name to keep their ide ntity protected). I reflected on my interrupting her several times while she was speaking. Interrupting felt intruding because something was not flowing. I like Blue Sky but I have ambivalent feelings towards her. I still don’t know what and why I feel the way I do. She is lovely and warm and welcoming and emotionally intelligent †¦ Today, my tutors introduced philosophy to the group. It is fascinating to be introduced to the question about subjectivity.Our subjective truth is based on our subjective human experience. Is this going to help me to find out about my incognitos? †¦ I don’t want to be lost in my own personal history and yet I do want to know all those parts of me that hurt and why. In learning phenomenology and the wish to get acquainted with those parts of me that remain unclear, provoked some sort of brewing threatening sensation. Nevertheless, over the next few weeks I went through a very painful learning curve. Phenomenology helped me to disc over my irritability about Blue Sky.After class, we took the train together and we were talking fluidly, when all of sudden, that cloudy irritable sensation about her struck back again, and I noticed it affected my congruent and empathic responses towards her. She must have felt it because our conversation fell flat. When she left the train, I knew it wasn’t her doing. I knew I was transferring something berried deep in me. I couldn’t write my journal for the rest of the journey as I usually do, and was suspended over that event that just happened.I went back to that feeling that made me feel that way, and I connected the event. I knew somebody 24 years ago that looked like Blue Sky. I was struck by the physical and verbal similarities and even more surprised how the arms and body expressions are so similar. Why didn’t I see that before? She was my then husband’s ex-girl-friend. It was a very painful experience at the time, because she didn’t seem to be able to forget him, and I could see her pain, and with that she was hurting my relationship with my husband by not wanting to give him up.Linking the irritation about Blue Sky with a totally unconnected old event, is proof that unresolved emotional and psychological experiences impedes reciprocal interaction and communication with another person in the present. For this reason, I was so happy to release Blue Sky out of my perception, and see her for what she really is. On that same week another projection towards one of my tutors was resolved, and when I discovered what it was, I experienced that same relieved sensation. I am now able to see my tutor for whom he is showing to be and not for what I was projecting.To me this is a sign that I am learning to identify my introjects, and not just let the natural attitude react as the victim of my conditions of worth. I feel that I am growing towards my potential, in Rogerian terms called actualising tendency, for a healthier organis mic self (Mearns & Thorne, 1988:11-14). In Gestalt terms this is described as healthy cycle, the drive towards actualisation of the self (Clarkson, 1989:27). Although these projections were resolved, I continued to feel a threatening sensation that there was more to come and I even felt physically sick over a period of two weeks with sleepless symptoms and anxiety.I felt all my toxicities were coming to the surface as a result of this process and told this to the group. All the present negative experiences were mirrored in the way I was articulating myself. The group reacted very strongly when I used the word toxic to describe myself, and said that they didn’t experience me that way. It was with the group process that I realised I was using punitive self-description, such as ‘I am toxic‘, that were introjects from a significant other’s values imposed upon me.I was beginning to believe those descriptions about me, and owning them. My language was showing sel f-condemnation in front of the group, but in truth I was using the group as a healthy pillar, or in Gestalt (form) terms, healthy cycle, to test my organismic experience of failure, and to examine the accuracy of my introjects (Clarkson, 1989:27). What came to the surface was how I feel vulnerable and unsupported at home. This showed me a dysfunction in the boundary disturbance of my private cycle, and a disclosure of my coping mechanisms.By believing the negative description of my significant other, I’m taking in the other person’s projection. I showed therefore a coping mechanism called confluence, which is a merging sense of self with the projection of the other. Patricia Clarkson explains that Fritz Perls saw these coping mechanisms ‘only as neurotic when used chronically and inappropriately ‘†¦ they are useful and healthy when authentically chosen temporarily†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ The other person‘s negative view of me is often things they cannot a cknowledge or accept in themselves.There are other three most important psychological coping mechanisms, out of the seven fixed Gestalts called, introjection, meaning to take in values without questioning them; projection, as explained above, and retroflection meaning inability to externalise emotion, the act of directing a difficult emotion such as anger at oneself rather than at somebody who has provoked the emotion (Clarkson, 1989:42-45). What I have learned from these experiences is how some of my own subjectivities and defences can get in the way of being open to other people.I would be carrying a false-self when offering non-judgemental acceptance, empathic and genuineness towards others, if I haven’t inwardly processed my conditions of worth. This process of dismantling my projections so intensely are absolutely essential in that I am responsible for knowing myself to the fullest of my capacity before I come in serious helping contact with clients. There is a danger of not resolving blocks that can interfere with a therapeutic relationship, in that clients can become the projection of the counsellor.This is why I think phenomenology is important in counselling and psychotherapy, because it helps us to put in practice the process of identifying our troubles and put it aside in order to be able to understand another person’s world view to the fullest of our competency. I do befriending volunteering once a week, and I noticed that my listening skills have improved and that my natural attitude for interpreting is decreasing, leaving room for the client to find meaning in the description of their feelings.I noticed that the quality of the relationship with some of my clients is deepening in that we are allowing more sensitive layers of hurt to surface. Clients on the search of a healthier organismic self will benefit the most from a therapeutic relationship when the counsellor can facilitate deepest understanding for the client’s percept ion of their world. This is only possible, if the counsellor has developed skills to discern about what is the client’s concern and what is the counsellor’s projection.A good relationship can only be built as far as a counsellor’s skills facilitate the client to feel the space is theirs to explore in the present. Irvin Yalom puts beautifully, ‘†¦ a therapist helps a patient not by sifting through the past but by being lovingly present with that person; by being trustworthy, interested; and by believing that their joint activity will ultimately be redemptive and healing’ (Yalom, 1989:227).Just as I thought I have learned a substantial amount of phenomenological theory to expand openness in my thinking process, with the aim to prepare me to understand myself, and then another person’s worldview, I read about Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980). I find Sartre’s concept of nothingness, that human beings are essentially emptiness and that we are constantly creating and reinventing ourselves, mind blowing. The human tragedy is that we aspire to being definite and fixed as objects are’; ‘†¦ human paradox: on the one hand we are nothing definite and, because of this, on the other hand we are able to become many different things†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Sartre would call what I described in the above paragraphs about introjects, ‘bad faith’ as an important human strategy. To be in bad faith is to perform role-plays in the here-and-now to cope with situations (van Deurzen, 1997:45- 48).In conclusion, phenomenology has opened gates to infinite possibilities of thinking consciously, supplying me with more space to understand how to be with other people. It is hardly surprising and I can understand why psychotherapy chooses to draw wisdom from phenomenological philosophy, because there seams to be a flux with no fix point to allow further exploration of the human distinctive many layered qualities. What is special and significant about this Phenomenological movement is its evolving history in search for truth in perceptions and beyond perceptions.My argument that my ability to understand another person’s world view, lies in my ability to comprehend and integrate all of the above discussed theoretical processes in my behaviour. The vignette ‘Blue Sky’ illustrates my present ability to recognise limits in my character and the willingness to change. I have set myself in an un-compromised path to know myself profoundly for both the benefit of my self-development and ultimately for the benefit of my future clients.I can choose the state of my mind and the emotions attached to it, and that therefore, interactions between me and other people will be of an egalitarian and mutual understanding. The examples I gave about my tutor and voluntary placement with clients, illustrate my endeavour to be fully authentic and transparent in all parts of me, including the understanding of relationship’s phenomenon. I could give other examples of how interactions with other people were successful, but they would have not demonstrated the difficulties and the painful metamorphosis I am going through towards the route of understanding myself, and others.

My Work Experience

The first day of work experience, typically, I felt quite petrified to be honest. The Idea of working with people I've never met before and the humungous amount of mistakes I could make all added to the fear of getting killed on the way there! The story started when I realised I had to find a work experience placement two years ago in September, and I wanted to work in a hospital. Unfortunately I was considered too young, as you had to be sixteen to work in a hospital, and with my dreams crushed, I decided that I'll never find a placement. I did eventually get over it and tried to apply to a pharmacy six months later. Again I was told that all the places had been filled. At this point, I decided to ask Ms. Patel for help. Being as lazy as I was, I â€Å"couldn't be bothered†, until a few weeks in July when my tutor pressed me. I went in the afternoon, and looked at the list for pharmacies that I could work at. Thinking I was one of the luckiest kids alive, I noticed there were two! Then I realised that both were gone, and I was going to end up driving a ice cream van for the rest of my life. After explaining my problem to her, Ms. Patel suggested working at CHAS, as a previous student had enjoyed it immensely! Instead of using my common sense and asking what CHAS was, I automatically said â€Å"YES†! I woke up on the first morning excited and yet nervous at the same time. I didn't know how any of this would go. Would I be able to go a whole week without messing up or setting fire to the place? That day I woke up at around six thirty, and left the house at eight. Once I got to the station I was shocked that my train ticket was five pound. After muttering a few inaudible words, I got onto the train and went to Edgware road station. When I got out of the station, and took few news papers, I headed towards the office. Before I went in though, I just had to use some breath spray. As I walked down the steps of the entrance and stood outside the door, I noticed the door had two unmarked buttons, and a speaker system. I just stood there thinking, â€Å"Oh umm, now what um†¦ eenie meenie mynie, mo? â€Å", and just as I pressed a button a voice said â€Å"Hello? â€Å". Now this part, I'm quite ashamed of what I did, I panicked! â€Å"Hi! I'm†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. the um†¦. err†¦.. work experience kid? † like I was a plumber or something. Just then, the door buzzed open and I walked in. I don't actually remember the first person I saw, but I remember that it was Theresa who introduced me to everyone else. I was too busy wetting myself to memorize any of the names. Then she introduced me to Barry, who was the CEO, which was when I had to say something. I said a meek hello and was told that the person who was going to â€Å"look after me†, which I translated to â€Å"would boss me around† would be there in about an hour, though I still had no idea who it was since neither Barry nor Theresa had given me any other information. I was confused, until I turned around and realised I was an hour early. The day hadn't even started and I had already made my first mistake. I was then seated at a desk, and told to get settled. I guess I could count myself lucky that my supervisor, Brano, was early that day, and since I had started getting a little more confident during the last forty minutes of silence, I said â€Å"You must be Mr. Brano†. Later I learned Brano was his nickname. After being re-seated, I went into an interview room, and I was told all about the office and finally it struck home that I was spending two weeks at a solicitor's office. The first thing I did after being settled was to familiarise myself with everything they did at Chas and learn all about things like programmes, clients and other things offices use. It was such a rush in the morning, and I found myself loving every minute of it. The boring part was when didn't have anything to do. I literally had to ask for more work, while I assumed that my friends had were buried in work up to their necks. As Brano was quite busy, and was getting sick of me pestering him for more work, he told me to start a â€Å"Diary of Work Experience†. Personally I hated the Idea, as I find writing my thoughts and feelings down has got to be the strangest way to make yourself emotionally stable, or maybe I was just really lazy, but I decided that it would give me something to do during the next two weeks when they didn't need the help of an under qualified child. As assumed, I did end up having quite a lot of time on my hands. While I was working on this, I kept noticing that my â€Å"colleagues† kept answering the phone. That may sound like a weird thing to say, but you tend to let anything distract you when you're bored. I suddenly had a strange desire to answer the phone, so I decided to ask Brano. I got a reply e-mail saying â€Å"wait until the afternoon, and then I'll tell you what to say†. It turns out that all you had to do was to say â€Å"CHAS Central London, How may I help you? † like I was a marketing assistant. The day finally came to an end, and after saying a brief goodbye to Brano, and Arefa, who turned out to be the receptionist, I left the office. Even though I was tired, I felt great. I loved working, which is really strange. I decided it was much better than being stuck in school doing maths. The next day I went to work right on time, and the train ticket still cost me five pound! I came to work, and started doing some normal receptionist work. This is where the work started to get interesting. After a few hours of helping Arefa with her work, I was introduced to a programme called â€Å"Casetrack†. It was basically software which allowed the Case-workers, or solicitors, to keep records of each client they deal with. Brano then showed me how to input information, and keep records. Turned out that CHAS had over 12,000 cases, how stressful! No wonder they were always busy. After another day of repetitive work, I still hadn't lost my keenness and still wanted to do more work. Day three in my story, and for the afternoon I was bored out of my mind as there was nothing to do except my diary. The only useful thing I did that day was learn how to use the photocopying machine, little did I know that would prove extremely useful. Just as I thought the day would be really dull Barry informed me that I would start to help a colleague of mine who was leaving called Julie. That afternoon, I decided I was the luckiest person in the world as I got to use the shredder. Looking back on it now, it seems strange I could have an obsession with a machine that does nothing but rip paper. After shredding a ton of documents, Julie asked me to photocopy over five hundred pages work of book, after I ended up doing over-time, I realised I have a major problem saying â€Å"no†. Finally I got to go home, and on the train I had an epiphany, I loved doing overtime! Day four, was when the long repetitive chain of office work started, and I also started to help other people with the reports, and take phone messages, help Arefa with typical administrative work and other boring jobs. I must admit I loved doing these typically boring things, mainly because it was a completely new experience for me. During the afternoon, I decided to converse with my colleagues, and I realised that I should have started to converse the day I got there, and it doesn't help to keep to yourself quiet in the workplace. During the next few days, I saw two colleagues leave, and two new colleagues join. I must say I found the people there one of the most important aspects of work experience. I also discovered a market right behind the office, the only bad thing was the boredom and the repetitive work. The highlight at the end of the week was the money. I got paid for all my travel expenses, which came to a very high twenty-five pound, imagine how much gum I could buy with that! The next week seemed to have a routine to it, I got up later and came to work fifteen minutes later each day to save the company money, as I felt guilty for charging them twenty-five pound a week. I got on the tube, came to the office, and got on with my work. It was a boring routine, but there were new and exciting experiences each day for me, and one personal highlight was seeing a London bus with the lyrics of â€Å"Amarillo† on the side, like a karaoke machine. The other thing I noticed was that I was doing so much overtime. It was amazing. I was actually willingly doing extra work, and I hate extra work. I suppose the thing that made me want to stay was that after four where most people worked slowly and spent more time â€Å"chatting†, rather than ignoring everything around them and working too hard! I suppose that after a hard day's work, a nice chat with your colleagues really doesn't hurt! The final day was actually extremely relaxed, which was a massive contrast from the first Friday, and though I had a mountain of work, I managed to get it done by the afternoon. For the rest of the day, I finished my diary, and though I did tried, I couldn't find anything more to do. Since everyone else decided to go out, I got stuck babysitting the office. After I got back from my lunch break, which was at three, I was given a card and twenty pound as a gift. I knew I couldn't take it, but they insisted, and after protesting, and being told to â€Å"stop being silly† I decided that it would be best if I just took the money. By five, it was time to leave CHAS forever, which was quite depressing. As soon as one of the colleagues I had worked with got on the train and left me at Baker Street station, the realisation hit me that I'd never see CHAS again. After getting home, I sat on the sofa and thought about how great my two weeks of work experience had been, about the people I had met, and about what it had taught me. I had learned so many new manual skills, and how to use different kinds of machinery. However, the most important thing I learned was how to behave at work, and about how the world of work is really different from the sheltered world that is school. My Work Experience Firstly I am going to explain what is work experience? Work experience is our opportunity to spend a period of time outside the classroom, learning about a particular job or area of work. During our placement, we'll be able to find out what skills employers look for when they're hiring someone to fill a job vacancy. We will also get the chance to develop our self-confidence and communication skills. This will help us to work better with other people in further or higher education, as well as in our future career. When I were first told about work experience I thought to my self ‘great no school for two weeks' I was looking forward to looking around places and trying to figure out what and where I wanted to do my work experience. I've always been good at doing things with computers. For my work experience placement, I was confused and could not decide on what to do. I was interested in doing everything from office work to computers, but I finally managed to find myself a placement in retail at T. K Maxx, Uxbridge. My hours were 10am-5pm, Monday to Friday. It is about 45 minutes drive to the place however a bus does travel from near my house To get this placement, I personally went in, and asked if they would take me in. When I first went there I met Mark, whom I talked to, for it. After that all the official letters and forms were completed. I was over joyed; as this was the first shop I went to and got the placement. All my worries of getting the placement were over. The T. K Maxx that I normally frequent is a funny sort of place. First of all, the entrance is tucked away in between two shops and is hardly noticeable. Second of all you have to go down a huge elevator down deep into the inner of the earth to get to the goodies inside. Lastly, it is, like most T. K Maxx stores, almost white inside. For a start, T. K Maxx promises brand name clothes at sky-high prices. It's true that I've found my fair share of deal. I found a nice pair of K SWISS trainers and they often sell cartoon socks for i4 a pair, compared to the i2 you would pay for the same socks in Claire's Accessories or somewhere similar. They are usually selling a plethora of brand name jeans at very sky-high prices, too, so they are second to none when it comes to value for money. Most T. K Maxx stores are fairly expensive, with departments catering for women, men, kids and usually even home furnishings, toys, bags, purses etc. on sale. However, my one main complaint with T. K Maxx is its aim to be honest messy. Clothes tend to be arranged by size on racks, but you really have to break in through them to find what you're looking for. Also, often they'll only have one item in a particular style on sale. The shoe section is probably the worst when it comes to mess. Both shoes in a pair are displayed on the racks and the theory is that you take the shoes, try them on, and take them up to the cashier if you want them, return them to the racks if you don't. Unfortunately, the certain happen. People try shoes on, decide they don't like them and leave them on the floor, so you usually find yourself stepping over huge piles of shoes to look at the racks yourself. Don't get me wrong, I understand that this can happen and it's not easy to keep the place clean, but I've never seen staff picking up the shoes. Although it is a tedious task, making sure we pick up any shoes dropped on the floor and returning them to their shelf or place in the stock room is one of the top priorities. What's more, toy boxes tend to be bashed, ornaments tend to be damaged and clothes can often be marked. The T. K Maxx Company started in America, and has now almost 2000 shops in the USA and Canada. They've only been in the UK for about 10 years but have 150 shops here already. The staffs in T. K Maxx aren't the type to walk around trying to butter you up into buying, which is nice as I like to browse on my own, but they aren't the most helpful either, in my experience. I've only had to ask for assistance twice, but both times it took my ages to find a member of staff and when I did they were unclear and unhelpful. However, from my experience, the basement staffs are very friendly and chatty and they are free by free I meant to say working slowly, chatting a lot it is because they don't have CCTV operating in basement. I suppose that in a store as large as T. K Maxx, especially when it has a rather messy layout and displays are all over the place, it would be hard for them to keep on top of things and know exactly what's on sale, so it's not exactly their fault that they're a bit unclear, but I think this is an issue the company should address. I often find that a lot of the clothes on sale in T. K Maxx are rather unpleasant, and some of the nicer stuff is still quite expensive and you're not making a great saving, but they do always seem to have sale racks out, and you can sometimes come across a real deal through these. All in all, T. K Maxx is a good store to browse in if you have the time, and you might just find a good deal here. However, it is definitely not the kind of place you could go into if you were in a hurry and wanted to pick up a jacket, top, trousers etc. quickly and then zoom out as you really do have to be prepared to list. It's definitely worth a look, though, so if you ever go across one and have time to spare, pop in and see what you can spend your hard earned cash on.

Mozart's Women Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mozart's Women - Term Paper Example Don Juan changes with generations and the Magic Flute, part of the German folklore, has become a universal tale of striving through the trials and tribulations of life. Comparing the women of two operas has proven to be a false reality as most documentation has used fallacies which would be against the purpose of this paper. One example is shown is Kristi Brown's, Mozart's Women. She compared Donna Anna to a misfortunate Spanish maiden. She never once considered the social context whereas Mozart was writing an Italian opera only using the setting and subject matter of "Don Juan" with an 18th century interpretation as did Moliere use "Don Juan" in France in the precedent century. Social context were taken into account in both cases. During her lecture of Mozart's two operas, Mrs Brown never took mentioned the social context of the 18th century. It is the purpose of this paper to show how Mozart integrated the importance into his opera as a way to integrate his values and judgments as a form of communication as well as dissent. An opera buffa was the style of the period. (Grout 517) It was a light hearted opera which made the audience laugh and also to sell tickets. Mozart's Don Giovanni was opera buffa with much controversy. There was much discussion as the theme was thought to be too serious for a "funny" opera". People usually did not die nor were audiences frightened by stoned statues. Mozart's using three women characters was his own characteristic tool enabling to mix reality with storytelling. Gounoud wrote in the 19th century Don Giovanni was an "apogee of the lyrical drama, a wondrous example of truth, beauty of form, appropriateness of characterization, deep insight into the drama, purity of style, †¦.charm and tenderness in the love passages, and power in pathos." (Krehbiel 69) Don Giovanni "can be viewed as an archetype of every man or woman's alter ego, a man who faces that eternal conflict of the tension, desire and craving for love, and the st ruggle between emotion and reason, the spirit and the flesh, or the sacred and the profane". (Ballantine 19) In the 18th century period of Enlightenment, women were given intellectual and artistic liberties that the Don Juan of Moliere would never have had. These liberties were accepted as long as women adhered to the roles of the domestic life as well as appearing to support one's husband. Sexuality was open but behind the screen. Donna Anna, had she been scorned by Don Giovanni by our standards, she would have been considered as having been raped. Had she been scorned by the standards of the 18th century of Enlightenment, it would be possible to assume that he only shamed her future position as an aristocratic. Her role was to maintain the household and support her husband in appearance? Nowhere in the opera is it said why she is scorned, a 21rst century assumption is being made because of Don Giovanni's past histories with women. Much controversy has been made in literature to th e extent of the role women played in the period of Enlightenment. Needless to say, Mozart was highly touched by the dichotomy of the role of women. His wife would forgive him for his philander with servant girls but not with "educated or artistic"(Stafford 119) (Paumgartner, Mozart, 273). To the extent this showed the sexual freedom of 18th century Italy. It was quite common to have extra marital affairs for both men and women. In prenuptial agreements, women were allowed their cicisbeo or man

Across The Universe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Across The Universe - Essay Example The film is brilliant for its daringness and like the war in Vietnam; the film does not quite stop in the achievement of its goals. It reaches something more powerful in the quest for success. The music that is used in the first part of the film fits well with the story, from a fantastic dancing number, to Lucy when she is gently musing on the potential romance with Jude through singing. At the end of the film, the song morphs into a dance that can be said to be seductive between Jojo and Sadie. This is a brilliant balance of the inherent romance and the song’s darkness (Taymor 1). At the start, of the film, the music that has been used binds well to the situation and what is taking place in the film. Through this, the film highly captures the viewer’s attention. Some may argue that when watching the film, only the actors and the screenplay matter; however, this is not true as proved by this film. Films have to match the message with the background music played to maintain the viewer’s attention and show progress in the movie. A song can also be used to introduce a new theme or emphasize on a current them is a film (Taymor 1). Halfway through this film, the musical numbers get more visually splendid and weirder and the story seems to lose its way. This one effect is attributed to the wrong choice of song. The film writer has to ensure that the theme of the song coincides with the theme that the film is trying to advocate for, if the theme of the song does not correspond with the film’s theme, then the film will lose its way and will not achieve the required goal (Taymor 1). In the film, the actors use songs to emphasize the feelings that they are portraying especially the main casts. At some point when Sadie tells the rest of the band that Lucy is planning on going solo, Jojo intentionally spoils Lucy’s’ opening song.  Ã‚  

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 45

Discussion - Essay Example Therefore, John is intelligent in Mathematics. It can be observed that the difference between the two reasoning can be defined by its falsifiability. Inductive reasoning permits the possibility that the conclusion of the proposed premises can be incorrect in that it is only a probability and could be disproved by solid evidence in the future. Deductive reasoning, in contrary, does not only rely on the soundness of the proposition but also in its validity. When a hypothesis is valid, it is impossible for it to have a false conclusion. It could lack soundness but it will retain its validity. That is why, Karl Popper’s strategy of disconfirmation is better in a sense that it considers hypothesis according to its falsifiability – a quality that every hypothesis is testable and that if something is wrong among and within its premise, it will manifest itself eventually. 2. The condition clearly involves conflict of interest as well as an ethical dilemma: there is a clear ambi valence on the part of Mary on whether to steal or not; to be altruistic or egoistic. One should remember that there is no justification for stealing. Stealing is morally wrong; nevertheless, to die because of starvation is likewise wrong. Hence, a conflict of interest arises. Mary has no choice to stay morally right at all; she is caught in the middle. Since to steal and to die of starvation are both wrong, one can choose to commit one wrong to prevent the other from becoming morally wrong. She should steal food so that his children don’t die of starvation. That way, there is only one wrong

Critically evaluate the extent to which budget hotel brandsrequire Essay

Critically evaluate the extent to which budget hotel brandsrequire effective brand management in the current post recession envi - Essay Example It was during this period that a sandal maker based in Syria mentioned his name on the footwear he was selling so as to keep it distinct from others. During initial years branding was often viewed as naming a good or an article. This follows from the different religious views which stress on naming individuals so as to distinguish them from the rest of the others. The aspect of naming goods has over the years modified itself to what is termed as ‘branding’ in today’s globalised market environment (Jackson & Fulberg, p.51). According to Keller a brand is defined as â€Å"a set of mental associations held by the consumer, which ad to the perceived value of a product or service† (Kapferer, p.10). The importance of brands could be analysed from the fact that well known brands like Coca Cola, Kellogg’s and Apple are being valued in billions just because of the power of their names (or brands). The present study would focus on the importance of branding an d brand image in case of budget hotels especially in the light of the recent financial meltdown and the competitive forces prevalent in the market. Importance of Brand Management The present age of business is being widely debated as the age of consumerism. In this age customers are in the driver’s seat as firms are trying to aggressively woo customers by offering them greater value for every purchase. The competitive environment in the consumer markets has forced organizations to distinguish their product and service offering from the rest of its competitors (Budzinski, p.13). Branding has therefore assumed considerable importance for business organizations as it is being largely used by the customers to distinguish the product and service offering among the wide array of choices available in the market. The importance of branding could be analysed from the fact that branding plays a key role in the positioning of a firm’s product or service in the minds of the consum er. This is important considering the fact that positioning plays a key role in the consumer’s buying behaviour process. Branding assumes significant importance as it distinguishes the product or service offering of different organizations and also gives uniqueness to a particular product or service in the consumer markets. In the present age it has often been argued that consumers are more intended towards purchasing a brand instead of a product. Branding also has a role in the aspect of marketing communication as they are essentially used by firms to promote their product in the market. For example Cadbury uses its famous tagline â€Å"I love Cadbury† to make a connection with its target market audience (Elliot & Percy, p.229-230). Brand equity is a broad term and includes four critical aspects namely awareness of a brand, loyalty towards a brand, quality and image. The combined effect of these four aspects plays a critical role in determining the profitability and s ustainability of a brand in the market. For example the success story of the fast service chain of restaurants could be traced to the effectiveness by which the marketer has handled these four underlying aspects of brand equity to build a formidable brand image (Oh & Pizam, p.103-104). Global Recession and Budget Hotels The global recession had large scale impacts on the business prospects of budget hotels. The financial meltdown resulted in rise of unemployment coupled with decrease in the income levels of the individuals. It

The recent advancements made in petroleum microbiology Term Paper

The recent advancements made in petroleum microbiology - Term Paper Example Petroleum, in the twenty – first century, remains to be one of the most significant sources of fuel and energy. It is a complex blend or mixture of different types of hydrocarbons and organic compounds. It may sometimes also contain traces of transition metal complexes (called organometallo) like nickel and vanadium (Lerner, 2011). The compositions of petroleum, and thus its physical and chemical properties, vary from place to place, and from area to area. In the current scenario, the demand for petroleum and its by – products continues to rise. In an answer to them, science has come up with the use of microbiology during the extraction and purification of petroleum. The study of this use and application of microorganisms in the fuel industry is called petroleum microbiology (Encyclopedia, 2005). The most important experimental works in the field of petroleum microbiology have been done by Claude ZoBell (Lerner, 2011). His research, which extended for over 40 years (193 0 – 1970), has proved that microorganisms, especially bacteria, play an important role in most of the vital processes related to petroleum, which include its formation, extraction and refining. The hydrocarbons and petroleum products have been termed as ‘substrates’ or ‘nutrients’ for microbes, which they need in order to carry out efficient metabolism. This feeding of bacteria and fungi is aided by the action of certain enzymes and is called, biodegradation (Hamme, 2003). Most of the hydrocarbons are broken down to release carbon dioxide, water, proteins and nucleic acids. The carbon dioxide escapes to the atmosphere while the rest of the products are used for cellular growth. Bacteria and fungi involved in biodegradation are highly specific in function, that is, not all bacteria can break down a specific hydrocarbon or organic compound. Pseudomonas and mycobacterium are examples of some degrading bacteria while examples of fungi include Candida (Va n Hamme, 2003). With the advancement of biotechnology and microbiology, scientists have widened their understanding and developed better concepts of the metabolic processes related to microbial actions on petroleum (Van Hamme, 2003). The effects of the use of the hydrocarbons as substrates by the microorganisms involve alteration of cell surface membranes and mechanisms of both uptake and discharge. Similarly, the ability to study the behaviour of microbial organisms, in a petroleum rich environment at a molecular level has also been enhanced. Under the optimum conditions for the growth of these organisms, they have been treated with hydrocarbons, and transformed to take part in highly accelerated and bioreactor-based petroleum waste degradation processes, that are now being implemented (Atlas, 1995) (Van Hamme, 2003). In the modern world, petroleum microbiology is an important part of bioremediation which involves controlling oil pollution (Bronson, 1993). Bioremediation is the use of microorganisms to get rid of pollutants and harmful substances from the environment. Oil pollution is the result of seeping and spillage of oil from tankers into the sea, as well as intentional or deliberate discharge of oil products into the water sources. The huge spill of crude oil from a tanker near Alaska’s coast back in the 1980s practically showed the scientific world of the usefulness of biodegradation (Bronson, 1993). Scientists observed the actions of the microorganisms present in breaking down the oil and thus, getting rid of it, both on and offshore. Experimental evidences also showed that the microbial actions are affected by factors like temperature and pH. This led to the establishment of a rapidly growing industry which makes uses of microbial remedies to counter water pollution. Modern researches have also proved that waste products produced by one microorganism during biodegradation can be used as a source of food by the others

How far was foreign intervention responsible for the Nationalist Essay

How far was foreign intervention responsible for the Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War - Essay Example The sole objective of my investigation is to measure the tremendous impact which certain foreign countries exerted on the Spanish Civil War and whether they are to be held guilty and blameworthy for supporting the rebellious subjects during the Civil War or not. From this perspective, it seems relevant to address the following question: to what extent was foreign intervention responsible for the National victory in the Spanish Civil War? Waged between the Republicans and the Nationalists for a period of three years (from 1936 to 1939), the Spanish Civil War was indeed a ferocious conflict that has both destroyed and devastated Spain. The conflict has began immediately after an attempt of a coup d’à ©tat triggered by a herd of dissatisfied Spanish Army generals who declared themselves the new authority in Spain wielding much excessive power. Remarkable is that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Spanish landlords and some of the industrialists and financiers did not hesitate an instance to afford instinctive and unconditioned support to the military insurgency. These people have developed some kind of phobia and aversion for the elected government’s schemes for reform and sought to create a state of chaos and disorder in Spain with the aid of some foreign countries. My intervention therefore is to shed light on the divergent aspects of the Spanish Civil war, focusing mainly on the way foreign countries intervened in it in shaping National victory. As a matter of fact, the rebellious Spanish subjects were backed up by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (Confederacià ³n Espaà ±ola de Derechas Autà ³nomas, or C.E.D.A), monarchists known as Carlist groups, and the Fascist Falange (Falange Espaà ±ola de las J.O.N.S.).1 Prominently, the military purely Spanish conflict has ended with the defeat of the Republican government, the victory of the right-wing generals and the foundation of a dictatorship under the auspices

Public Relations for Non-Profit Organization Essay

Public Relations for Non-Profit Organization - Essay Example Therefore the media should take at least six weeks before handing over the message to the media to be publicized, this timing normally include preparing, distribution and deciding on the method that is effective enough to reach the public. 1 On the effective methods to be applied, the media person may apply the following methods: Community Calendars and Public Service Announcements, under this, calendars are mainly used to promote respective events in the society these events are always of general interests for all non- profit organisations, for them to be listed in the medias schedule, they should be written earlier before the particular event is practiced. While the Public Service Announcements are normally easy to read since they require little rewriting. Theses announcements should be organized in a manner that will be able to make the audience retain the message. In case of an electronic media, the information should be typed and double spacing should be provided including the phonetic pronunciations for the unknown words, it should also indicate who will be conducting the event, the venue, the nature of the event, and the date of the event. One should consider the opinions of the editorial staff of the media house on the issue that would be used to create interest to the public. Under this case, if anyone comes up with an opposing view, then he is given an opportunity to rebut the issue. For the announcement to be productive it should therefore be brief, accurate and clear on the message that the practitioner intends to communicate to the public.2 The director of the association should therefore seek promotion of the association, to enable them generate a positive image through media coverage by the use of publications and broadcasts which will afterwards influence the public in financing the agency. As a director you should then ensure that the following strategies are applied in the association; Public relations- this is normally defined as, the process of correcting the reputation of the organisation to the targeted audiences with the current issues of the association. This normally involves the evaluation of public and personal opinions over a particular issue, formulation of procedures related to communication between the association and the audiences, and coordination of communication programs within and without the particular departments of the association. The use of public relations is, to enhance a positive media coverage thus increasing the awareness of the organisation to the public; therefore the Windwill Housing Association should use the following tactics in achieving this goal: Writing News Releases: This should involve framing of the issue which should be written with a journalistic angle, this should be used to inform the public about the financial problem under which its headline should be Attractive, thus grabbing the readers attention, its paragraphs should contain relevant information about the subject matter including the who, what, when, why and where questions this release should also be able to describe the history of the associatio

Research Paper about Digital Collection in library Essay

Research Paper about Digital Collection in library - Essay Example It occurred to me that the invention of new technologies such as e-readers may provide a solution. Some informal personal research I did revealed that, as you are, no doubt, aware Rutgers University has undergone significant budget cuts in 2010. I discovered that it costs $4.26 per annum to store a print book in a university library as opposed to $0.15 fro an electronic volume. . In addition, The Rutgers University Libraries are essentially filled to capacity – some of the most critical space shortages exist in the Alexander Library. The attached document is a detailed version of an oral presentation that I recently delivered, proposing that comprehensive changes within the Rutgers University Library System can be enacted by the implementation of a digital collection and electronic reader program, at a cost that would not be prohibitive. A saving of upwards of $25 million dollars annually could be saved by not having to extend the libraries physically and by reducing storage c osts. Surveys have shown that this move to digital format is something that the students and staff of Rutgers woul welcome. I look forward to hearing from you regarding this project and will make myself available at any time. Please feel free to contact me via email at tufkte@eden.rutgers.edu, or by phone at 201-835-9098. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Tae-Eung Kim Going Digital: The Adoption of a Digital Collection within Archibald S. Alexander Library & Electronic Reader Program Submitted by: Tae- Eung Kim Submitted to: Marianne Gaunt Vice President for Information Services and University Librarian Archibald S. Alexander Library Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 169 College Avenue, CAC New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901-1163 Submitted on: Jan 11, 2011 Scientific and Technical Writing Course Number: 355:302:01 W11 Abstract This report is a qualitative deconstruction of the concept of the library and argues that contemporary solutions are possib le to enhance the library experience and address the changing nature of library space. Connections are made between the changing nature of this library space and physical shortages of space in Archibald S. Alexander Library. The rising costs of tuition and textbooks are considered, as well as the cost of housing a digital book collection versus a print collection (ARL Statistics 2007-2008). Logistical shortcomings of a print collection in isolation are considered in relation to access to research material and Rutgers’ Special Collections. Overarching technological trends are considered insofar as they demonstrate the public’s growing reliance on and acceptance of handheld devices. Trends in media are also considered and sources are cited that forecast the ‘death of print media’ – even the more radical views of for example, Arthur Sulzberger, owner and chairman of the New York Times, are considered. A plan is formulated that is paradigmatically linke d to developments made at Northwest Missouri University, the Google Books Program, and the Gutenburg Project, as well as successful local initiatives reported on in the Rutgers University’s The Daily Targum.. The plan includes a three part structure and is designed for students in Rutgers’ Graduate Program in English at the New Brunswick campus to form a pilot study group as precursor to a more general university-wide

Columbian Exchange Essay Example for Free

Columbian Exchange Essay The term Columbian Exchange refers to the large-scale exchange of animals, plants, goods, diseases and people between the Old and New Worlds. This event is one of the more significant events of all-time as it marks the beginning of the modern era of history. Not only were Native Americans greatly impacted by the Columbian Exchange as it brought them devastation and catastrophe, but the Europeans were also affected as they benefited from the precious metals and agriculture they received. This exchange helps to explain why Europe was able to rise, prosper and go on to become a super power. The devastation of the Natives led to a great demand for labor which was met with the enslavement of approximately 12 million Africans over a 400 year period. While Africans were being sold as slaves and the Native Americans were being decimated by diseases introduced to them from the Old World, European nations took advantage of the depopulation and weakening of various cultures and more than likely had an easier time conquering this New World because of the diseases they spread. The exchange of foods and spices to Europe introduced foods like potatoes, tomatoes, and maize which became staples in European diet. These foods helped improve nourishment and vitamin intake and in turn led to an overall higher level of health amongst European people. â€Å"..This happened in no place that we could learn, but where we had been†(Thomas Hariot, 1589). The transfer of disease from the Old World significantly affected the Native Americans of the New World. For one, Native Americans began to become so desperate for a remedy that they began to convert from their cultural beliefs to Christianity as they believed that would bring an end to the disease as is evident in this quote; â€Å"†¦Some of the [Indian] Counselors were of the opinion, that by embracing Christianity the contagion would cease†. (2) Conversions to Christianity of course did little to curve the debilitating effects of disease on the Native American people as their population continued to drop at an alarming rate. Around 90% of the Native Population was depleted within a century and a half after the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492.(Faragher, 37) The ravaging of these Native American people by diseases does much to explain the incredible success of the Spanish as they conquered the Aztecs and later on the Inca civilization of the Andes, and Europe’s rather quick rise to success overall. It basically paved the way for the conversion and destruction of Native American traditions and culture. 1. John Mack Faragher, Out of Many ( New Jersey: Pearson, 2012), 37

Development of Corporate Governance in Nigeria

Development of Corporate Governance in Nigeria   Literature Review The code of corporate governance Over the years, Nigeria has experienced rapid development with regards to corporate governance. This can be noted in the 2003 Code of Corporate Governance (SEC Code), the 2006 mandatory Code of Corporate Governance for Nigerian Banks post consolidation (CBN Code) and most importantly the 2007 Code of Conduct for Shareholder Associations in Nigeria (SEC Code for shareholders). {(now revised in 2011) update the dates for the different codes}. According to Grienenberger (1995), corporate governance can be defined as The legal and practical system for the exercise of power and control in the conduct of the business of a corporation, including in particular the relationships amongst the shareholders, the management, the board of the directors and its committees, and other constituencies. The main issue with corporate governance is that it is often viewed as the separation between ownership (shareholders) and control (managers). Jensen and Meckling (1976) state that managers will only be as incentivized to add value to shareholders in proportion to what they stand to personally gain. Schacht (1995) then argues that corporate governance represents the friction that managers and owners of public companies face in the involvement of the productive level of shareholders in corporate policy and administration. Nigeria was a British colony therefore it adopted the corporate governance system of the British and its history of corporate governance stems from the colonial times when the private sector was dominated by British companies (Okike 2007, Ahunwan 2002). After she gained her independence in 1960, there was a great economic liberation and the government developed domestic ownership and control of the Nigerian private sector (Akpotaire 2005). The framework of corporate governance adopted was still that of the British. For instance, there was the replacement of the Companies Ordinance of 1992 by the 1968 (how can the 68 replace the 92) Companies Act but the biggest influence was the UK corporate law (Adegbite and Nakajima, 2010). It is not unimaginable that since the corporate governance of Nigeria mirrors that of the British so closely, the effectiveness would be somewhat guaranteed. Unfortunately this has not been the case. It could be easily explained by the fact that the corporate la ws and regulations in the UK are not complementary, reflective or applicable in the Nigerian business environment (Adegbite and Nakajima, 2010). Okike (2007) states that though the framework of the corporate governance in Nigeria mirrors that of the UK, the same cannot be said in terms of application or ingrained principles. Ultimately, it seems the legal or corporate governance codes governing corporations have not been developed with the peculiarities of Nigeria in mind. The issues that are specific to the cultural and political environments have also been ignored (Okike, 2007) and these are of utmost importance especially when considering the unstructured and informal nature of the Nigerian economy (Yahaya, 1998). In the years that follow, I believe this error was trying to be corrected by making codes to reflect Nigeria as a country and her corporate environment. According to Adegbite et. al (2012) The primary statute empowering shareholders in Nigeria to intervene in a companys affairs is the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990 (as amended). In addition to this as stated above was the 2003 Code of Corporate Governance (SEC Code). Adegbite et. al (2012) goes on to state that this code has as one of its core focuses to promote the rights and responsibilities of shareholders. It expressly states that the company or board should not discourage shareholder activism whether institutional or by organised shareholders groups. It further states that the annual general meetings (AGMs) should be an avenue for shareholder participation in the governance of the company. Furthermore, there should be a director who represents the interests of minority shareholders who occupies a seat on the board. Okike (2007) believes that these are all efforts of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to promote shareholder activism as well as the rights of minority shareholders in the Nigerian corporate governance code. As a result of all these developments, there have now been an emergence of many private initiatives which have been encouraged by the government such as The Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), the Nigerian Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), the Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PROSAN), the Association for the Advancement of the Rights of Nigerian Shareholders (AARNS) amongst other shareholder associations. These have developed mainly to give minority shareholders a chance in a sector that has been dominated by majority shareholders when it comes to block voting. The issue of Politics and its impact on Shareholder Activism In a recent study, Adegbite et. al (2012) state that an environment of unhealthy and vast politicking is created when shareholder activism is used as corporate governance mechanism in Nigeria. It is believed that this is as a result of the countrys brand of politics, in other words expressing that this is a challenge that is quite peculiar to Nigeria. It denotes that though shareholder activism is somewhat a universal practice, certain characteristics of different regions warrant an understanding before said practice can be carried out correctly. Most literature on shareholder activism is based on the Anglo-Saxon construction of markets as prior to independence from the British, the Anglo Saxon-based system of corporate law and regulations was in place in Nigeria (Adegbite and Nakajima, 2010). This is founded on the neo-liberal conception of democratic politics where there is freedom and rights within legitimate institutional boundaries. Also, under the same umbrella of this ideology is shareholder activism, as it is an essential characteristic to the financial markets (Adegbite et. al 2012). This has led to little thought being given to the effect that the post-independence stage of political democracy has on the way in which different things are practiced and in particular, shareholder activism. Given these points, lets look further into the democratic political state of Nigeria. Nigeria gained her independence on October 1, 1960. In the 56 years of her independence, she has been vastly ridiculed with the plague of corruption. This has been evident in the politics of the nation, the way business is conducted both local and international and the general way of life of her people. Unfortunately, we follow this through many years of various scandals such as Cadbury 2014 and infamously Shell 1990 to present. It would be almost obvious that this corruption tremendously affects the business environment and by extension, shareholder activism. This can be evidenced by looking at independent corruption indexes. In appendix 1, we see extracts from various reports from the Transparency International (2013) which is a non-governmental organisation. These reports show Nigeria ranking 136 out of 178 countries (178 being the most corrupt country) in the corruption index as well as having a score of 26 (100 being corrupt free). More importantly, in the index of corruption b y political parties, Nigeria scored 4.7 out of 5 (5 being extremely corrupt). This data is one that cannot be ignored in the analysis of the political environment of the country having a direct/indirect effect on shareholder activism. Adegbite et al. (2012) also compare the World Bank index which is based on six broad measures: (1) voice and accountability, (2) political stability, (3) government effectiveness, (4) regulatory quality, (5) rule of law and (6) control of corruption. Three countries are examined namely Nigeria, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The latter mentioned countries score very low on the corruption index in the Transparency International reports and so its no surprise that in the World Bank Anti-Corruption and Governance Index, the same results are observed with Nigeria scoring less than 28% in all 6 categories while Denmark and the United Kingdom score higher than 80% across the same categories. These results all highlight the same issue. It is the implications of the Corrupt and greed driven Nigerian politics and political culture on business conduct, corporate governance and shareholder activism in particular (Adegbite et. al 2012). In light of all of this, it would be unfair not to mention that there are steps taken to mitigate this issue of corruption especially in the attitude towards corporate governance. Only a few years ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dismissed the Chief Executive Officers and Executive Directors or eight Nigerian banks on charges of corruption, fraud and bad corporate governance (Adegbite and Nakajima, 2010). These steps are definitely in the right path to getting the country to where it needs to be but the fact still remains that this is a serious consideration when addressing corporate governance and shareholder activism in Nigeria. As this has been established, the different matters around shareholders associations and institutional shareholders have been discussed below. Institutional shareholders and Non-institutional shareholders (shareholder associations) The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been in existence for about 46 years. It has over 260 listed securities including 10 Government Stock, 55 industrial loans (Debenture/Preferences) stocks and 195 equity/ordinary shares of companies with a total capitalisation of about 875.2 billion naira. Shareholding in Nigeria has grown rapidly to an estimated 10 million (Amao and Amaeshi, 2008). There have been a series of events such as the privatisation programme in Nigeria that has massively impacted the share ownership. In the early stages of the programme, the privatised companies offered over 1.3 billion shares for sale to the public. There was a huge influx of first time buyers as well others amounting to over 800,000 shareholders. Between 1989 and 2005, over forty government-owned companies were privatised (Tanko II, 2004). Small individual shareholders coming together to form shareholders associations and large individual shareholders are categories of Non-institutional shareholders. (Crespi Renneboog, 2010; Poulsen et al., 2010; Song Szewczyk, 2003; Uche, C., Adegbite, E. and John Jones, M. 2016). The way in which shareholder activism is carried out and achieved by small and large individual shareholders is mainly attributable to their shareholdings (Connelly, Tihanyi, Certo Hitt, 2010; Crespi Renneboog, 2010; Johnson, Schnatterly, Johnson, Chiu, 2010; Uche et al., 2016). Due to the amount of shareholdings that small individual shareholders possess, they are at a disadvantage in the matter of having influence over management. In order to combat this, small individual shareholders often combine voting rights with that of other shareholders thus increasing their influence when engaging in shareholder activism. By doing so, they bypass the need for large block holding. Coordination by small individu al shareholders is then achieved by using organizations such as shareholders associations. While this teamwork doesnt result in the influence of corporate strategy or board nominations, Strickland et al. (1996) states that it brings about certain advantages such as successful shareholder-initiated proposals documented in countries such as the United States of America. Shareholders associations are a registered group mainly consisting of small individual shareholders while Institutional shareholders is a term for entities which pool money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional shareholders include banks, insurance companies, pensions, hedge funds, REITs, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. In this section, the relationship between these two will be analyzed as well as the effects their union or otherwise has on shareholder activism. According to Uche, Adegbite and John Jones (2016), prior literature has shown how beneficial collaborations between shareholders associations and institutional shareholders have been in shareholder activism. Examples of this is institutional shareholders using their proxy votes to support shareholder proposals. However, there has been little work done in this area regarding a developing country as well as the effect that activism carried out by shareholders associations has on institutional shareholders (Uche, Adegbite and John Jones, 2016). According to Mulgan (2000) and Uche et al., (2016) Accountability is considered to be an activity that requires the accountee to engage in questioning, assessing and criticizing when holding the accountor to account. It is believed to be a two way conversation between accountee and accountor. Uche et al., (2016) notes that the accountability relationship theory isnt discussed in a corporate environment by Mulgan (2000) but similar characteristics have been identified in the relationship between the board members and management. These characteristics were identified by Roberts et al., (2005) as questioning, probing, discussing, informing and encouraging. In addition, it is evident that shareholder activism share these same features. This is because Institutional shareholders and shareholders associations involve in discussion, probing and questioning management at AGMs and other private meetings (Uche et al., 2016; Roberts et al., 2006; Solomon and Darby, 2005). These conversations with shareholders associations and institutional shareholders also allow companies to gain insight into different issues on social, ethical and environmental issues which in turn aids in promoting corporate matters aime d at the public (Solomon and Darby, 2005; Amao and Amaeshi, 2008; Johed and Catasus, 2015). As mentioned in earlier sections, Nigeria is home to many shareholders associations. There are more than thirty organisations unlike other more developed countries such as the United Kingdom which usually has only one association engaging in shareholder activism (Amao Amaeshi, 2008; Adegbite, Amaeshi Amoa, 2012). Uche, Adegbite and John Jones (2016) importantly highlights the importance of the structure of shareholders associations in Nigeria. These associations are made up only of small individual shareholders. The reason this is important to note is because of the impact it has on strategies carried out by the organisations. It also indicates the amount of influence or lack thereof that these organisations may have on the management of companies and thus shareholder activism. In shareholder activism, the expectation is that the shareholders are able to exert a certain level of influence over management of a company which will allow them to facilitate change in strategic outcome or managerial decisions (Ryan and Schneider, 2002). This influence is much easier when there is an independence between the activists and management of the company involved. This can be seen in the analysis between institutional shareholders, shareholders association and management within the boundary of shareholder activism (Uche et al., 2016; Becht et al., 2008; Catasus and Johed 2007; Crespi and Renneboog, 2010; Ingley and Van der Walt, 2001; Johed and Catasus 2015). The independence noted in relationships between shareholders associations and managements of companies allow for the association to have an increased influence over management (Uche et al., 2016; Poulsen et al., 2010) A lack of independence is noted in easily pressured institutional shareholders. This causes these type of investors to rather guard the relationships formed with managements of the company involved for their own benefits .This type of behavior is usually noted in passive institutional shareholders than active institutional shareholders (Uche et al., 2016; Almazan, Hartzell and Starks, 2005; Brickley, Lease and Smith 1998; Marler and Faugere, 2010). Prior literature has shown that there is a difference in the way various institutional shareholders carry out shareholder activism. This allows them to benefit in different ways from the way others carry out their activist activities (Uche, Adegbite and John Jones, 2016). Active institutional shareholders will benefit from things such as coordinated voting with other institutional shareholders or shareholders associations while the same may not be the case for institutional shareholders that are passive. Passive institutional shareholders as the name suggests, have a more laissez-faire attitude towards shareholder activism. They prefer to avoid any direct activist activities while benefiting from that which active shareholder institutions and shareholders associations have fought for (Brav, Jiang, Partnoy, Thomas, 2008). These passive institutional shareholders in Nigeria are usually hedge funds or pension funds who focus on short term benefits and dont want to disrupt the business relationships built with these companies. It is argued that shareholders associations dont experience this same dynamic between them and management of any company in questions regarding shareholder activism (Uche et al., 2016; Stratling, 2012). However, according to Uche et al., 2016, Adegbite et al., 2010 and Yakasi, 2001, it has been reported that some shareholders associations in Nigeria develop relationships with management because of financial benefits obtained outside of the business relationship. This then leads to a lack of independence and hinders the shareholders associations from acting as accountees and holding the accountors (management of the company in question) to account. Prior research notes that different shareholder groups have different agendas that they pursue and though these may be similar in multiple cases, they can also differ. This is as a result of their interests and time horizons being different (Uche et al., 2016; Goranova Ryan, 2014; Ingley Van der Walt, 2001). Individual shareholders usually invest smaller stakes over a short period of time while institutional shareholders such as pension funds will invest massively over a long period of time. Fundamental differences such as these cause conflicts between the groups in shareholder activism. For instance, hedge funds prefer short term pay puts thus are more short term oriented (Uche et al., 2016). Ultimately, in Nigeria, institutional shareholders do not participate enough in shareholder activism especially in comparison to shareholders associations. As noted in earlier paragraphs, due to the small holdings of individual shareholders who make up shareholders association they are not able to practice shareholder activism as effectively as they should (Uche et al., 2016; Amao Amaeshi, 2008; Okike, 2007; Yakasai, 2001). Despite this, it has been noted that shareholders associations have been of great help in holding management of companies accountable by resisting the fraudulent sale of corporate sales and sacking of poorly performing corporate executives through shareholder activism (Uche et al., 2016; Aderinokun, 2003; Chigbo, 2000). The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) code (both 2003 and the revised code in 2011) avidly encourage institutional shareholders and organised shareholders groups to actively engage in shareholder activism so as to improve practices (SEC Code, 2003; SEC Code 2011). While institutional shareholders are not there to usurp the role of monitoring agencies, they are in a better position to pressurise companies to take shareholder accountability and interest more seriously (Chung Talaulicar, 2010; Roberts et al., 2006). In the face of previous scandals and governance and accountability problems in Nigeria, institutional shareholders now have another opportunity to fight for improved governance practices so as to create better shareholder values (Ahunwan, 2002; Bakre, 2007; CBN, 2006). According to Yakasai (2011) and Ajogwu (2007), Institutional shareholders are in a better strategic position than small shareholders to engage with corporate managers. Their influence can bridge the gap of communication between shareholders and really have an impact on corporate governance practices. All of this highlights the importance of both institutional shareholders and shareholders associations to practice shareholder activism (together and independently) independent of management of companies so as to relinquish all forms of bias in order to improve the effectiveness of shareholder activism in Nigeria. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Introduction This chapter illustrates the methodology used in this research to achieve my results. Research methodology is crucial to any research as it highlights the reasoning behind methods chosen to achieve the aims and objectives of this research (Kothari, 2004). The purpose of this paper is to clearly state what Shareholder Activism is and take a closer look into Sub-saharan Africa, more specifically Nigeria. It will also highlight three main areas that grossly affect the practice of shareholder activism in Nigeria as well as offer suggestions that could make the experience a much more efficient and effective one. To achieve this, this chapter has been divided into various sub sections namely, research philosophy, approach, strategy, time horizons, data collection and data analysis. Research Philosophy Research philosophy is an over-arching term relating to the development of knowledge and the nature of that knowledge. (Bandaranayake, 2012). According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2003), research philosophy is dominated by three main views namely Positivism, Interpretivism (Social Constructionism) and Realism. Positivism as described by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2003), is a view that often adopts the philosophical science of the natural scientist. This research perspective is one of utmost objectivity, completely independent from the researcher and unaffected by the research or its results. Interpretivism/Social Constructionism views reality as based on human practices formed by human interactions with others and the world in which they live in, developed within a social context (Crotty, 1998). The intent of this approach is to understand the subjectivity of reality of the people being analyzed in order to deduce the background and reasoning of their motives in a way thats applicable to them. (Ramanathan, 2008). The key differences between Positivism and Interpretivism (Social Constructionism) are highlighted in the table below by (Ramanathan, 2008). Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2003) state that Realism is applied to the study of human subjects, recognizing the importance of understanding peoples socially constructed interpretation and meaning, or subjective reality, within the context of seeking to understand broader social forces, structures or processes that influence, and perhaps constrain, the nature of peoples views and behaviours. According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2003), it will be misleading to think of any research philosophy as better than the next. Ultimately, all three philosophies serve different purposes depending on the objective of the research. Nonetheless, business situations such as shareholder activism are complex and unique to different individuals circumstances and environment. Shareholder activism in Nigeria cannot be discussed without addressing the corporate governance environment of the country. According to Grienenberger (1995), Corporate governance can be defined as the legal and practical system for the exercise of power and control in the conduct of the businessof a corporation, including in particular the relationships amongst the shareholders, the management, the board of the directors and its committees, and other constituencies. This definition highlights two things that are very important. This is the fact that this is a legal and practical system. Every country has its own legal system that may derive its origin from many things such as the country which it was colonized by to the general way of life of the people. This in fact is the same for how business is conducted as well. Therefore, it is without doubt that an understanding of the countrys systems and the way in which things are done is essential for any well informed analysis to be made. This has therefore led me to choose interpretivism/social constructionism as my research philosophy as I believe that the characteristics of this philosophy such as aiming to increase the general understanding of the situation, gathering rich information from which ideas are induced and including stakeholder perspectives are all exactly the approaches I need to undertake in order to appropriately understand all the drivers involved in shaping shareholder activism in a developing country such as Nigeria. Research Approach When considering what research approach to use in research, there are two theories available. These are: Deduction (Testing theory) and Induction (Building theory). Deduction approach as the name implies involves the researcher having a proposed theory (usually involving two or more variables) which they then collect data against, analyse and draw conclusions in support of or opposing the original thesis (DeGracia et al., 2014). Induction approach on the other hand involves observing different cases or scenarios and then developing a general hypothesis around ones findings (DeGracia et al., 2014). This approach allows for a less rigid methodology and openness to varying explanations of what is going on (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). The table below shows the differences between Deduction and Induction approaches to Research by (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2003). Box 4.1 Major differences between deductive and inductive approaches to research Deduction emphasises Scientific principles Moving from theory to data The need to explain causal relationships between variables The collection of quantitative data The application of controls to ensure validity of data The operationalisation of concepts to ensure clarity of definition A highly structured approach Researcher independence of what is being researched The necessity to select samples of sufficient size in order to generalize conclusions Induction emphasises Gaining an understanding of the meanings humans attach to events A close understanding of the research context The collection of qualitative data A more flexible structure to permit changes of research emphasis as the research progresses A realisation that the research is part of the research process Less concern with the need to generalise The induction approach will be taken as this research looks into human behaviours and social construct within a certain environment. Furthermore, I will be making use of qualitative data alone to suit the approach adopted by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, (2003). This is because my research is looking into the problems associated with the lack of effectiveness of shareholder activism in Nigeria. This means that I am looking into the issues surrounding application, human behavior towards corporate governance and shareholder activism. Therefore, the induction approach as well as the use of qualitative data is the best way to get the different stakeholder perspectives and gather the right information within a less rigid structure that will enable the appropriate analysis to be conducted. 4.4 Research Strategy According to Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, (2003), there are different research strategies namely: Experiment Survey Case study Grounded theory Ethnography Action research Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies Exploratory, descriptive and explanatory studies. For the purpose of this research, grounded theory will be used. This is because it is mainly used in the inductive approach and will allow for a more thorough insight into the issues associated with the objectives set in this research by using interviews (Corbin and Strauss, 1990). My source of data will be interviews and archival records as it allows me to capture insights into events associated with shareholder activism through the personal accounts of individuals experiences (Hendry et all., 2007; Useem et al., 1993). As this research paper is focused on Nigeria, I have limited access to data as I am currently in the United Kingdom. Therefore, I have conducted telephone interviews with seasoned individuals practicing shareholder activism because it was more cost and time efficient to do so. I believe using these will give me a well-rounded view of the issues that need to be identified. Time Horizons There are two types of time horizons focused on by Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, (2003) namely Cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies. Cross- sectional studies have to do with research on a particular hypothesis at a particular time, while longitudinal studies involve researching a certain phenomenon over an extended period of time. This research focuses on Shareholder Activism in Nigeria, over the years there has been very little written on this subject matter. My aim is to add to the body of knowledge which exists in current times. In this case, I will be applying cross-sectional studies and focusing on the periods from the early 2010 to present day 2016. Data Collection The main research method in this paper will be the interviews conducted with persons that are knowledgeable on the subject. As I am not very conversant with the subject matter, speaking with these people will aid in expanding my knowledge. It is quite expensive to travel to Nigeria from the United Kingdom therefore, telephone interviews will be conducted as it will save time and costs. I also plan on using archival records as I believe this will provide context to my research thus allowing me to form a well-rounded grounded theory. Data Analysis Various solid articles and books will be used to aid in my coding and analysis of the intervi

Case Study Lipton Ice Tea Marketing Essay

Case Study Lipton Ice Tea Marketing Essay Lipton Iced Tea is a beverage launched by Lipton in collaboration with Pepsico. Lipton is an established brand in the tea market while Pepsico has a prominent presence in the soft drink industry. Ever since the popularity of tea started to grow in the West, particularly in the United States of America, the tea market has evolved through various stages. In order to dominate the market, major tea producers like Lipton, Tetley and Nestea have kept on coming up with innovative varieties of tea. Lipton, which has the reputation of being the most innovative brand in terms of variety launched cold beverage, Lipton Iced Tea, thus adding a new dimension to the tea market. Lipton Iced Tea enjoys even more popularity after the recent researches stated the healthy benefits of consuming tea. Moreover, the iced tea was a good way of targeting those consumers who do not enjoy hotter beverages. Lipton faces a major competition from Nestle Nestea and Snapple. However, Lipton Iced Tea successfully managed to lead the market. Considering the threat from new and existing rivals, Lipton has kept is marketing strategy quite strong an aggressive. Besides positioning its product as the healthiest and the most refreshing drink available in the market, Liptons intelligent packaging and pricing strategy has significantly contributed to its success. Its low prices make Lipton more affordable as compared to its competitors and its packaging makes it instant and easy to use. While Lipton Iced Tea has an overall strong position in the market, however, its synthetic taste remains its weakness. Therefore, Lipton can further strengthen its position by enhancing the taste. On a macro level, Lipton enjoys a positive press, not only because of its efficient quality management system, but also due to its sustainable and environmental friendly production practices. Introduction Tea is a household icon in most parts around the world. Almost in every country that has tea consumers, when you think tea, the first name that hits our minds is Lipton. Lipton tea originates from the house of Lipton, currently a major subsidiary brand of Unilever. Lipton was founded by Thomas J. Lipton, an Irish man, who came to United States of America in the late eighteen hundreds. He started by a small grocery store and expanded it into a chain of stores around America. By the end of the nineteenth century, when demand of tea boomed in the Europe, the British tea brokers pressed Lipton to stock their tea in his stores. This gave Lipton an idea of coming up with his own brand of tea, and thus, Lipton Tea was born. Tea at that time was expensive and was considered a rich mans drink. Thomas Liptons idea was to come up with a more affordable brand so that even consumers from less strong economical background can enjoy tea. Lipton has continued to grow since then, which led it to go public in the early twentieth century. By late twentieth century, Lipton started operating as a subsidiary company of one of the world biggest corporate house, Unilever. Since its birth, Lipton has been on a road to continuous growth and expansion. This growth was not just in terms of exploring new markets, but also in terms of introducing a wide range of products. Today Lipton holds major market share both, in the United States of America and around the world. Ever since Lipton has stepped into the tea industry, tea has gone much beyond than a conventional household beverage. From time to time, Lipton is known to introduce new additions in the tea industry and one of the most innovative and popular addition is the Lipton Iced Tea. This product came into being after Lipton collaborated with PepsiCo., which is primarily a soft drink company. The Market As a tea brand, Lipton is the market leader both, in the United States of America and around the world. With a wide range of tea variety, Lipton serves people from all classes, social backgrounds, and regions. From students to grandparents, from China to the United States of America, Lipton is the key tea brand that serves almost all market segments. Focusing on Lipton Iced Tea in particular, Lipton has segmented its consumers according to lifestyle. In general, Lipton Iced Tea has two major targeted groups of consumers. The first group covers those people who lead a busy life style and are hunting for something instant. This group mainly includes, students, employees, working women and other similar consumers who live a hectic and busy life and are in need of an instant product to refresh them. Liptons idea of selling tea in ready to dip tea bags and instant sachets has been very successful among this segment. Tea in this kind of packaging proved not only affordable but also easy and quick to use. The second group of people comprises of the health conscious segment. Consumers from this particular segment may not necessarily lead as busy life as the first group, however, they are potential consumers because of the healthy benefits offered by the product. Ever since the researches have stated the medical advantages of tea consumption, Lipton has played on these reports in order to position its product successfully as healthy, energizer with immense health benefits. Since Lipton has always positioned its tea as a health beverage that provides antioxidants, its market share has continued to grow with the passage of time. Moreover, many people prefer Lipton to other brands due to its affordability, quality and user friendliness. In order to further diversify its clientele, Lipton has introduced further varieties of Iced Tea that includes, Diet Iced Tea and Flavored Iced Tea in Mixed Berry, Lemon, Raspberry and Peach flavors. Since Iced Tea is essentially a cold beverage, the integration of flavors with the beverage has made it popular in the younger groups as well. Since Lipton recognizes the fact that its potential consumers include people that are either health conscious or are have a busy routine or they opt for Lipton due to its affordability, it continues to develop products that are healthier, easier to use and are more inexpensive. Size and Growth of the Market In earlier days, coffee was a comparatively more popular beverage in the United States. However, in the recent past, the tea has gained much popularity, thus resulting in a phenomenal growth in the American tea market. The primary reason for this popularity, according to some survey reports, is the fact that tea is a healthier and more refreshing brew as compared to its counterparts such as coffee. Furthermore, the introduction of flavored tea and other tea varieties such as green tea and iced tea has broadened the consumer base. Another reason, besides the health factor, for the popularity of tea is the fact that it is instant and is readily available as a ready to drink brew. While initially, tea was known to be a drink of colder regions, however, the innovative introduction of iced tea has made the beverage popular among the inhabitants of warmer temperatures as well. According to market surveys, 85 percent of the total tea market in the United States of America is made up of iced tea. It is also said that iced tea sales has seen an average annual increment of 145 percent. Although the iced tea market is dominated by various top tier brands, however, Lipton holds the greatest market share of 32.6 percent, followed by Snapple with 26.5 percent share and Nestea with 10.8 percent share. Lipton leads the market not only in America, but also around the globe. Environmental Impact Lipton is known to have understood its Corporate Social Responsibility well. As an organization, it adheres to the concept of sustainability. The biggest evidence for this is the fact that Lipton grows its tea plantations in the Rainforest Alliance Certified estates. These estates are certified by the Rainforest Alliance organization, which is a non-profit entity, aiming to conserve the environment, managing farms efficiently and protecting the rights and welfare of the workers and their families associated with those farms. Moreover, Lipton has also switched to bottles that use 20 percent less plastic. This is another step towards an environmental friendly business activity. Competition The American tea industry is mainly dominated by Lipton, Snapple and Nestle. Focusing on the Lipton Iced Tea, in particular its major competitors remain Snapple and Nestea, a product of Nestle. While Lipton teamed up with PepsiCo to launch its iced tea, Nestle joined Coca Cola to get into competition. Just like Lipton and Nestle, PepsiCo and Coca Cola are into direct aggressive competition with each other. Therefore, the objective behind Nestlà ©s teaming with Coca Cola was to compete with the Lipton-PepsiCo partnership and to ensure a strong global distribution system. However, Nestea focused on a more packaging based marketing strategy and unlike Lipton, it failed to offer a variety of flavors to cater various tastes. Lipton, on the other hand, not only focused on offering variety, but also marketed its product and positioned it as an ideal healthy and ready to drink beverage. As a result, it did not only create brand loyalty for Lipton among conventional tea drinkers, but also su cceeded in capturing the consumers from the soda drinkers segment as well. This kept Lipton much ahead of Nestea as far as completion is concerned. The competition gap between Nestea and Lipton Iced Tea is filled in by Snapple iced tea, which is the second most popular brand after Lipton. Unlike Nestea, Snapple has an edge of offering a wide variety of flavors and initially, it did come up as a strong competitor for Lipton. However, the relatively smaller size of Snapple and its failure to position itself properly in the market resulted in the loss of major market share to Lipton. Although the weaknesses of its competitors have always kept Lipton ahead of them, however, the threat is always there and in order to maintain its position in the market, Lipton has to ensure constant innovation and improvement of its product. The Marketing Mix As mentioned earlier, despite of being a market leader, Lipton ice tea faces a constant competition from other dominant brands in the tea market. This prompts Lipton to maintain an aggressive marketing strategy to create brand loyalty and to ensure its leadership in the tea market. Liptons marketing mix is designed as follows: Product As a product, Lipton ice tea has a lot to offer as a unique selling point as compared to its rivals. The biggest edge that Lipton has is the recent research reports stating the medical benefits of consuming tea. Lipton has been successful in creating an image that Lipton Ice Tea is the healthiest beverage currently available on shelves. Apart from that, Lipton ensures constant and continuous innovation in the product and it keeps on coming up with newer and more improved flavors. To further increase its consumer base, Lipton introduced the diet and unsweetened range of ice tea, so that diabetic patients, who generally avoid tea, can also enjoy the beverage. Promotion Lipton Iced Tea is aggressively promoted using both, above the line and below the line promotional strategies. It generally uses print media and television for the promotion of its product. Liptons main promotional strategy is to position its product as the most refreshing, energizing and healthy beverage available in the market. Besides conventional advertising, Lipton also keeps on coming up with parallel promotional schemes. Its latest scheme involves buying two Lipton Ice Tea products and getting a chance to win a Convertible car. Placement In order to ensure a strong, efficient, massive, broad and uninterrupted distribution system, Lipton teamed up with PepsiCo, which already has a well-established distribution system around the globe for its soft drinks. Therefore, Lipton Iced Tea is distributed through PepsiCos distribution channels. Lipton Ice Tea is readily available in the market. It can be easily found in all retail outlets ranging from a small grocery store to a large hypermarket. Besides conventional retailing, it is sold via vending machines. Lipton has also maintained an online presence and its products can be ordered and purchases through the internet. Pricing Lipton believes in catering to mass market without ignoring the consumer segments with lesser purchasing power. For this reason, Lipton Iced Tea is available in a wide range of prices that starts as low as 41 cents. This makes Lipton the most affordable brand in the market and forces a large number of consumers to opt for Lipton. It also offers larger economy packs at a price of about US$ 34. This aggressive pricing strategy has a major contribution in keeping Liptons competitors at a lower position. Packaging Lipton has effectively and successfully used the color Yellow as Liptons personal color. It is as if thinking Yellow means thinking Lipton. Furthermore, Liptons packaging is an integral part of its marketing strategy. Lipton Iced Tea is available not only in cartons and in boxes, but it is also available in ready to drink bottles, ready to use tea bags as well as pocket sachets. This does not only make the product easy to use, but also instant and easy to carry. This instantaneousness and user friendliness makes the product popular in consumer segments of all age and social backgrounds, especially among the students and the employees. With time, Lipton keeps on bringing about changes in its packaging, thus improving the products quality and making it easier for consumers to use. SWOT Analysis Strengths Lipton is beyond doubt, the strongest tea brand in the market. Its biggest strength is its partnership with PepsiCo and its incorporation with Unilever. This makes Lipton a strong brand as association with both these firms ensures efficient distribution system as compared to its competitors. Another strong point that Lipton has is that press has always been in Liptons favor. This is due to recent researches portraying tea as a beverage with medical benefits combined with Liptons successful marketing strategy of projecting its product as medically fit for consumption. Other strong points on Liptons side include its affordable price, the user friendliness of the product and the variety of innovative flavors offered by the company. Weaknesses Although, a variety of flavors is available, some survey reports claim that Lipton Ice Tea needs to work on taste enhancement. Some consumers complain that they find it too synthetic and the taste, and in some cases, the after taste of the ice tea is awkward. A few consumers also complain that although they find the drink cool and refreshing, however, they find it tasteless at the same time. Opportunities Having a strong brand image combined with cost efficient production system, Lipton has the opportunity to weaken its competitors without getting into any price wars. By working a bit more on taste enhancement, it can take away the remaining market share that is held by its rivals. Threats Although so far Lipton had successfully fought back the competition, however, in order to maintain its position in the market it will have to make sure that it remains in the process of continuous innovation. Recommendations/ Conclusion Lipton Ice Tea is at present, one of the strongest brands in the brew market. However, it can further strengthen its position by improving its shelf presence and increasing its shelf life. Although some companies tend to ignore the importance of where there product is placed in a super market, however, in practicality, the way a product is displayed in a store has a great, and at times a direct impact on its revenues. Increasing shelf life would mean that the product would last for a longer time, which will result in consumers to prefer Lipton to its competitors products. As mentioned earlier, that some consumers have reported the weak taste of Lipton Ice Tea, it will have to work with its taste experts in order to develop the taste to suit consumer requirements. Failure to do so, might lead to a loss of potential market share to existing or new competitors. The fact that press has been constantly praising Liptons quality and researchers are seconding Liptons claim of offering a healthy beverage, can be utilized to increase its consumer base by pursuing informative advertising campaigns. Lastly, it has to ensure that it keeps on coming up with both new flavors and improved packaging so that it appeals more to the consumer and is able to maintain its image as an essential household product. It can have kids as its potential consumers by coming up with flavors that suit their taste such as chocolate and strawberry. Appendix Based on figures from online sources.