Proposed design for residential dwellings and retail super markets Essay

Proposed design for residential dwellings and retail super markets near Lichfield Basin - Essay Example The proposal also highlights the preventive measures that need to be incorporated in view of flooding, soft and moist clayey ground, damp patches in buildings. The other design considerations include the spacing between dwelling and the development of garden in nearby area. Thus the single major aim of this design proposal is to develop sustainable dwellings and retails that are contemporary with good aesthetics 2. Performance requirements for buildings: The proposed site is a basin area and hence requires a careful design with respect to structural stability, good thermal and sound insulation and availability of natural lighting. The materials that provide good insulation are prescribed in the EST guidance, â€Å"Insulation materials chart - thermal properties and environmental ratings† (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/housing , CE 71) and that for airtightness in â€Å"Insulation materials chart - thermal properties and environmental ratings† (www.energysavingtrust.org.u k/housing , CE 137). ... According to the Building Regulations Approved Document E of the Department for Communities and Local Government (Resistance to the passage of sound, 11 -17) of the building regulations, the attenuation values for airborne sound and impact sound could range from 3dB to 8dB. The credits in the certification is 1 for 3dB attenuation and for 8dB attenuation, the credit is 4. Insulation tests are carried out in pre-completion and post completion stage by test bodies accredited by UKAS. The thermal insulation is assessed by the Heat Loss Parameter. The long term thermal insulation of the building depends on the structure of the building. The Heat Loss parameter gives a statistical measure of the thermal insulation of the external surface area including construction and airtightness. A lower value of heat loss parameter specifies efficient design in terms of thermal insulation. The design and location of hot water cylinders, insulation pipes and cold water tanks needs more attention. ( I h ave removed some text here) During construction the design and mode of temporary supports need to be assessed and decided by a competent structural engineer who has sufficient knowledge about the load bearing ability of different materials. According to the Building and Construction Authority (â€Å"GUIDELINES FOR STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS†, www.bca.gov.sg/), the structural investigation of a building involves checking the structural plans, calculations of load bearing ability, testing the strengths of materials and carrying out load tests on parts of the building. As stated in the technical guide, of Department for Communities and Local Government

Why Labor Unions Were Successful Essay Example for Free

Why Labor Unions Were Successful Essay The years following the Civil War era was considered a gilded era due to the rapid economic and population growth in the United States. In this â€Å"gilded† time new inventions were being created, and factories were being revolutionized and more and more jobs were being created. With rapid population growth comes rapid growth of problems. Jobs were being created as fast as people were willing to fill them. Businesses everywhere were booming. But after a while, workers grew tired of the strict and demanding work conditions. Factory workers in this time were working in extremely poor conditions and had no power. Workers were often abused by the factory owners and their wages were cut very low. The mass immigration also did not favor the laborers as it made them so east to replace. In order to fight back, laborers would join labor unions in order to protest all these horrible conditions. Primarily, one of the important factors of the American opinion upon labor unions was the press. One of which was the New York Times (Doc. B). Often times the press was bribed by large companies in order to have favor them, hence giving labor unions a bad name. This article is about the BO railroad strike. They said it was a hopeless cause and the strikers do not even know what they wanted. (Doc. C) is another great example how the reputation of labor unions weren’t great. In the picture that Thomas Nass illustrates he is showing the laborer has killed the goose that lays the golden egg. One of these golden eggs is in his pocket and another egg is in the basket of the woman and child in the background of the illustration. This illustration is suggesting that labor unions do not know what they are doing and will regret it in the long run. Also, Nass is suggesting that the labor unions have a communist influence and that behind the labor unions is in fact communism.

Death: Friend Or Foe? :: essays research papers

It is just a fact we all must die! Some of us are afraid of the uncertainty that death brings. Therefore, it is regarded as an enemy, a tragedy, and the unavoidable downside of life. Others live day by day knowing that death will come, but they have no fear. They are not in a hurry to meet him, but are making preparations for the encounter. Myself, now that I am old, will be looking forward to the place that I will be going to spend my eternity. I am an eternal being you know. I have heard it is a place I can happily anticipate. I?fm glad because I am very old and feeble. I am ninety-five years old and it is time, death has crept in on me. I have never welcomed an unannounced stranger especially at night. This was our first encounter, yet I knew he was a friend. I was just getting ready for bed when it happened. Now, I have to remind you that I did not know that it was time to die. I just lay down and that was the last time I would ever hear my children?fs voice, or see the sun rise or set. But you see I have lived a full life and I am looking forward to going to the place that I have wanted to be all my adult life. I have to say I did not know about it when I was a child. It would have saved me a lot of excess worry if I had. But I did all that I knew how to do while I lived here on earth. My life on earth seems like such a short time when I?fm about to experience eternity. Somewhere in the still of the night, my being, my very soul seemed to just float about my house. I am calling my body my house because I am leaving it behind. I left it right there still, cold, and lifeless. When I opened up my eyes I stood in front of a gate. This was no ordinary gate; it was made of pearl, one huge pearl, and the likes of which no man has ever seen. It opened as if by magic, but actually I was invited to come in. The light of this city was so bright and pure that it seemed to bring with it a flood of peace.

The Concept of Perfectionism Essay examples -- Perfectionism Perfectio

The Concept of Perfectionism Do you push yourself to be the best? Do you get mad at yourself for not doing the best? Do you delay assignments till the last possible limit because of fear of rejection? Do you feel horrible when work isn’t done to your best ability of when minor failures seem like catastrophic ones? These are all signs of what is known as perfectionism (Pacht 1984). If you seem to agree with most of these things then you might be a perfectionist. According to Webster’s dictionary, it states that perfectionism is "a disposition which regards anything less than perfect, unacceptable." Many people in the world suffer from perfectionism. So is that case of Mike Bellah. His perfectionism lead him to a lifestyle where he lost who he was. He states, "When we’re always playing a part, we no longer know who we really are." Perfectionists try to do everything perfect leading them to an unstable, unsatisfying life. There are many characteristics and effects of perfectionism. Coping with the disorder of being a perfectionist can lead to a much more stable life. There are many characteristics and causes of perfectionism "It’s a compulsive guide to unrealistic goals" says psychiatrist David Burns. "Setting high personal standards and goals, and working hard to attain them is appropriate," he states, "however, perfectionists set excessively high goals and strive compulsively to achieve them." Perfectionists have the constant drive to be perfect. Anything less than the best is unacceptable to them. They refuse to live with anything than the best. The constant strive for excellence in everything that one does is one key characteristic when describing 2 perfectionism. Their measurement of their worth is entirely in terms of productivity and accomplishment. Perfectionists try to do so much to please others, and to show how much they can do, and overlook what they really want to do in life. They might take on so many jobs and get in over their head. They can’t say no to an idea because they would consider that failure. Many times, perfectionists start things over because things aren’t going perfect (Pacht 1984). Some have long delays in completing assignments, or repeatedly starting over on assignments because the work must be prefect from the beginning and continue to be perfect as one goes along. The causes of perfectionism can be described by th... ...nt without always accomplishing everything perfect, their life will become better manageable. Coping with perfectionism may not be easy, but these are a few key ideas to help those live better in life, and instead of trying to be perfect, to be "above average" or "normal." The many individuals in the world who suffer with perfectionism deal with it day to day. Perfectionists want to be perfect, which leads to a life that is not perfect. You can still set high goals for yourself, but they should be ones that can be accomplished. Some people try and harness perfectionism to work for them than letting it control their lives. They aren’t ashamed of it, and understand that it serves a useful purpose. Some people are able to control it, and some people aren’t. The concept of being perfect is one that cannot be achieved, because no one is ever perfect. It is a symbol of what is correct 100% and because we are human beings and not machines it is not possible. Everyone has goals for themselves, but to live a healthy life, we need to make them realistic. We can still give our best, but we need to please ourselves and be aware of who we are before we need to be perfect for others.

Certificate and Diploma in Child Care and Education

?What do the qualifications cover? These qualifications prepare you to work unsupervised or in a supervisory capacity with children and their families in a variety of settings. These could include nurseries, children’s centres, home-based child care pre-schools or schools. Who are they suitable for? Anyone wanting to work with Children and Young People. What are the entry requirements? You will need to be least 16 years old. CACHE does not set any other entry requirements but colleges or training providers may have their own guidelines.How are they assessed? They will be assessed by your tutor and CACHE. You will need to complete written assignments for the Award and a short answer test and written assignments for the Certificate. For the Diploma, assessment is the same as for the Award and Certificate plus additional written assignments, assessment of your performance in the workplace and a research task. ?Do you need to be working to take the qualifications? No, but you will be required to spend some time in different practical placements to complete the Diploma.How long do they take to complete? You can usually complete the Diploma in 2 years. The Award and Certificate can be completed in less time. What related qualifications can you progress to? The Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care and Children and Young People’s Services (England) (QCF) or a degree. UCAS Information The following points are available for this qualification Award – 10 to 30 points Certificate – 35 to 110 points Diploma – 120 to 360 points To work out your UCAS grades, we have a handy calculator to help you.

buy custom Factors that Influence Military Innovation essay

buy custom Factors that Influence Military Innovation essay Just within the scope of this particular research, the paper analyses factors other than technology that tend to impact on military innovation. The particular argument highlights various factors that are actually very important when it is a question of application of some given strategies to ensure innovation within the military force. Just to mention a few, there are the changes in a given military structure, competition among different nations and also consequences due to a war in a particular society, and this is with regard to the periods of 1st and 2nd world wars. The modern social scientists have ensured a number of that examine the exact origin of the so called disruptive innovations. However, when considering the literature as pertains to military innovations is quite vast, each and every models that is put into operation is normally taken from some two larger theoretical perspectives, the theory about balance of power and then the organizational theory. In an attempt to explore more about the military innovations, various schools may be discussed. The first that was represented by Barry Posen tries to comprehend innovation just as it is related to the key changes in the international balance of power and the existing competition between the nations. When considering this particular structural realistic perspective, Posen makes an attempt to pinpoint the most notorious external threat and civilian intervention as the most effective determinants that lead to innovation. In trying to shape up the argument that the existing competition between given nations normally has a greater explanatory power as compared to the organizational theory, Posen alleges that a states ability to innovate may be termed as its security information function. Considering that states behave rationally, in order to counter the ill-effects due to insecurity, they tend to either acquire allies or even the internal balance-by ensuring strengthened militaries. The times when the security threats go low, civilian leaders tend to be satisfied with the incremental improvement. However when the threats go high, so are the tied up incentives in way for achievement of disruptive innovation. Posen gives the Germanys Blitzkrieg developmnt during the 1930s as a good example. He suggested that civilian intervention leads to military innovation either directly or indirectly. This is through officers Posen refers to as mavericks. The mavericks normally produce civilians having the military expertise they do not have and at the same time having an insider who has the ability to steer the organization up to the given required innovation trajectory. Generally, predictions by the Posens model are that in order to ensure that there is motivation of the civilian leaders to get included either directly or indirectly using the military mavericks as the major proxies and hence force the military department to instantly change; nations must get subjected to competition between one another. Apparently when the security threats are relatively low, the civilian leaders tend to be satisfied with the incremental improvements. There was another school by Steve Rosen, which makes an attempt to comprehend innovation through the examination of variations within the military structure. Considering the organizational theory, Rosen alleges that military organizations are in a position to innovate on their own. He views the impetus for reformation as originating from within, owing to the variations within the military structure, besides positing that besides civilian intervention that is not required, also that is generally also counts. According to him, military organizations are normally stimulated by the particular variations noticeable within the environment. He however believes that the origin associated with innovation is when branches belonging to the same service vie to become their given services main security guarantor. Overlapping of their capabilities results to increased competition, and the most senior military leaders both tend to encourage cum moderating these evident internecine squabbles. It is worth noting that innovation takes its due course the moment emerging war fighting parties acquire moral and any other relevant form of support among the senior military leaders after which it is endorsed by the civilian leaders. Assertions by Rosen had it that innovations greatly require product champions-those of the senior officers who advocate constant innovative approaches to open promotion paths and welfare for other reformers. After a scrutiny of the US Navy and also the Marine Corps, Rosen asserts that mainstream senior officers in the military department mostly adopt a two-part strategy in order to ensure fostering innovation. The most prerequisite attempt is challenging of the old and crude methods of waging war and at least some other newer ways and concepts for their replacement, through the means of changing the structure with regard to the military. The other section focuses on political struggle management which is inherent in any step in the course of new concepts implementation. An implementation that can be termed as successful, Rosen posits, is prerequisite and it can be maintained through the creation of stable career paths and hence flag rank for the younger officers who prefer experimenting with the new concepts and development of not only innovative tactics but also techniques. Another proposition is that intervention from civilians can prove quite working when it is a question of promotion of innovation it at all it offers support to military leaders in their strategies to ensure new war fighting methods. Rosen differentiates this particular intervention from the civilian intervention model and the argument is that the newer concepts tend to come from within the military. Rosen also strongly disagrees with the allegations that the military mavericks are more suitable as advocates of transformation. Still it is quite important to note that special training; not just mere training of the officers could quite be effective in creating room for military innovation. Officers ought to acquire training that makes them able to deal with any given situation without specifications. It is evident of how some officers were unable to handle some situations in the course of their operation, finally exposing lack of the standard prowess in handling varied issues. This is do saddening as they ultimately lose trust even in the eyes of the public. Special training enables officers even to handle issues out of their line of operation but still they manage to work perfectly. Innovation will hence be evident in such cases(Adamsky, 2010). Buy custom Factors that Influence Military Innovation essay

Contrast First Draft essays

Comparison/Contrast First Draft essays An aggressive retort by the United States will have a better outcome than no action at all as a result of the terrorists acts in New York. If you live in America right now you cant turn around without being assaulted by the media blitz on the recent attacks of the World Trade Centers. Until this incident we had considered ourselves immune to any foreign massive attack on our own soil. How wrong that turned out to be! Even with all of our technologies in the military we had no way to stop these people. I watch CNN and listen to all of the different opinions that people have given, and frankly am aghast at what I hear. When people get on television and give interviews I first look at their credentials, which are most often supplied. When I see PhDs. MDs and other impressive educational achievements following their name I automatically give them some consideration. What do some of these folks have to say? More than a few of these people dont think that retaliation by us is the right thing to do. They dont want to beget violence with the same. If you think of Jesus and his philosophy of turning the other cheek, you have to agree.... somewhat. Why should America show the rest of the world how petty we are by making such a big thing out of a few thousand people getting killed by some lunatics? Dont forget also these suspects are renegades, not claimed by any country. This makes for a very elusive target, in that we shouldnt bomb a whole country for the mistakes of a few. In watching the coverage, I was struck by the tone of passive acquiescence. Not once, in hours of listening, did I hear anyone express righteous anger. No one said, coldly, but with deadly seriousness, People responsible for this are going to die. Our military leaders speak of how we cant act rashly and the need for caution, which most likely means nothing will be do ...

Free Essays on Nietzchze

Friedrich Nietzsche, a unique philosopher had some very interesting ideas about people’s human values and personality types. In this essay I will explain what I like and dislike about his "Master Morality" & his antithesis to this, "Slave Morality". According to Nietzche, all morality is a manifestation of the will to power. The other is driven by the will to power but attempts to deny this. The term "master morality" refers to all the values of the psychologically strong willed people. They stress independence, personal dignity, self-approval and the will to succeed. For such people "good" refers to whatever leads to self-fulfillment with values such as nobility, strength, courage, power and pride. The antithesis to the master morality is the "slave morality." This morality appeals to those who are uncertain of themselves, weak willed. They define "good" as what makes life easier, safer, with such qualities as patience, humility, charity, modesty and compassion. I agree and d isagree with Nietzsche. I agree with the will to power. That all individuals are driven by this will. I am living proof. I want to be in charge of my future. I have goals in every aspect of my life that I want to fulfill, everyone does. Without these goals there would be no motivation for life. Artists wouldn’t want to be artists, scientists wouldn’t care about science, and people wouldn’t care about themselves. I also agree with the master morality’s virtues not the master morality as a perfect being. I think we need these virtues In order to succeed in fulfilling the goals set forth by the will to power. I feel that when a person finds him or herself these master morality virtues are evident. The slave morality on the otherhand, I think has some virtues and some downfalls as Nietzsche suggests. Patience, modesty, charity and compassion are some of the virtues that Nietszche believes to be "sour grapes". I believe in these qualities. The part of the slav ... Free Essays on Nietzchze Free Essays on Nietzchze Friedrich Nietzsche, a unique philosopher had some very interesting ideas about people’s human values and personality types. In this essay I will explain what I like and dislike about his "Master Morality" & his antithesis to this, "Slave Morality". According to Nietzche, all morality is a manifestation of the will to power. The other is driven by the will to power but attempts to deny this. The term "master morality" refers to all the values of the psychologically strong willed people. They stress independence, personal dignity, self-approval and the will to succeed. For such people "good" refers to whatever leads to self-fulfillment with values such as nobility, strength, courage, power and pride. The antithesis to the master morality is the "slave morality." This morality appeals to those who are uncertain of themselves, weak willed. They define "good" as what makes life easier, safer, with such qualities as patience, humility, charity, modesty and compassion. I agree and d isagree with Nietzsche. I agree with the will to power. That all individuals are driven by this will. I am living proof. I want to be in charge of my future. I have goals in every aspect of my life that I want to fulfill, everyone does. Without these goals there would be no motivation for life. Artists wouldn’t want to be artists, scientists wouldn’t care about science, and people wouldn’t care about themselves. I also agree with the master morality’s virtues not the master morality as a perfect being. I think we need these virtues In order to succeed in fulfilling the goals set forth by the will to power. I feel that when a person finds him or herself these master morality virtues are evident. The slave morality on the otherhand, I think has some virtues and some downfalls as Nietzsche suggests. Patience, modesty, charity and compassion are some of the virtues that Nietszche believes to be "sour grapes". I believe in these qualities. The part of the slav ...

In the United States, we do not need to plan for retirement. Social Essay

In the United States, we do not need to plan for retirement. Social Security will cover our needs when we are retired - Essay Example People at large now believe that the social security funds are not enough to provide financial shelter to the retired people and one should plan for his retirement without expecting that he will get enough from the national social security fund to fulfil all of his needs of the retired life (Brown et al, p83). The national social security program relies upon the taxes of the existing working force. The danger of the fiscal imbalance always remain associated with the social security funds because the number of retired people eligible to draw the funds anytime exceed the number of the workers paying to the system. This imbalance will cause the social security funds to run in deficit and the retired people will no longer be able to draw the desired amount of funds from the funds. The economic instability drawn by the financial recession and increase in the unemployment within the country has also increased the probabilities that the national security funds will run out few years before it has been projected by the financial experts (Stephen, p1). On average, the social security funds provide $1,076 per month to over 54 million Americans (Brown et al, p83). ... ts of the social security are more than the tax payers and in the coming years it is expected to record more imbalance in the ratio of retired and tax payer people. The government fiscal deficit has been increased to $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to which the funds available to pay the retirees are also expected to shrink in the coming years (Brown et al, p83). The issue of running out of the social security fund is great point of concern for the people in United States because the generally people use to reply upon these funds to meet their needs of the retired life. The social security funds could be deem as source of getting enough for the retired life but as the economy of the country is witnessing transformational changes due to number of factors it could no longer be a wise decision to reply upon the social security funds for the retired life. The people should now focus upon their individual planning so that they could spend their retired life with peace and financial security (Br own et al, p83). When the social security program was initiated in 1980s the fund reached the level of $2.5 trillion surplus within few years and it was expected that it will sufficiently pay out the benefits to the people until 2037. The projected year of running out in deficit is still not much close but the funds are already drained and the social security funds are now not enough to pay funds to all the eligible people until and unless the fund is provided from any other source. The danger of the collapse of the national security funds could not be overlook in the current situation where there is high level of economic uncertainty, instability and unemployment in the country (Megan, p1). It has been reported by most of the credible news sources like Associated Press, BBC and CNCB that

Humanities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Humanities - Assignment Example Despite the strong image factor, the West still makes and sells this kind of music successfully across the globe. Thus, music is a Western construct because the West â€Å"makes† music according to its own definitions and classifications of it. Music and/or dance can do things that are different from visual art by using properties that the latter does not contain and by involving couple, group, or community performance. Barnett (2012) provided five propositions of what music is, which does not only set it apart from other forms of noise, but from visual art as well. Music is organized sound, which is different from the organized hues of visual art (Barnett, 2012, p.7). The audience consumes music through their ears, and sometimes through their ears and eyes, while visual art is entirely for the eyes. Moreover, dance is a performance that sometimes requires two or more people participating in its production. The social aspect of its production sets it apart from visual art that can be very single-artist-driven in construction. Dance can also serve several social functions. Dance and its accompanying music act as a â€Å"lens† through which people can find social celebration and community solidarity (Barnett, 2012, p. 23). Dance can refer to rituals and other dances that serve diverse individual and social functions. Individually, people can dance to express themselves or to heal or curse others. Dance and music are common staples in social events too, such as weddings, birthdays, and funerals. Thus, dance and music operate at a different level than visual arts and can also be very social in its production and outcomes. Tango is an important music and dance in Argentina culture, precisely because it originated from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The urban poor developed tango during the 1890s and because of the socioeconomic conditions of its makers, tango was danced more frequently in brothels during this time (Morales, 2003,

Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 11

Report - Essay Example Various alternate services are available in the new market in terms of usability and value. For example an individual wants to watch an episode of a missed serial via Internet on the computer. This may decrease the use of mobile TV. The era of a dynamic environment also brings challenges for vendors to make considerations regarding consumer preferences. The new market continues to be robust and evolving media, Internet services, mobile communications and consumer electronic products. The mobile TV global ecosystem consists of content providers, aggregators, retailers, service providers, networks, device software solution providers, and device OEMs. It concludes that the mobile TV ecosystem cooperatively provides an end-to-end information services and entertainment that is widespread from permanent and broadband networks above broadband wireless networks for the consumers of mobile devices in the 3rd generation or 4th generation mobile networks. Advanced mobile data networks consist of IPTV and mobile TV services provided by mobile operators in the western countries. A comprehensive definition of IPTV is available on www.iptvdictionary.com which says â€Å"Internet protocol television (IPTV) is a process of providing television (video and/or audio) services through the use Internet protocol (IP) networks. These IP networks initiate, process, and receive voice or multimedia communications using Internet protocol. These IP systems may be public IP systems (e.g. th e Internet), private data systems (e.g. LAN based), or a hybrid of public and private systems†.Mobile TV is considered as a superb application by stakeholders in the context of falling ARPU and profits of mobile operators. Organizations are involved in content provision and they have learned the technological improvements and advancements along with service availability. These factors lead to adoption globally with high revenue streams. Although the predictions related to the mobile

Personal Selling (business marketing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Personal Selling (business marketing) - Essay Example amateur and professional players). Since this is an online enterprise, buyers may come from different parts of the world, but as a start-up company, the target would be mainly form the United States. Most of prospective buyers are single (about 70%), affiliated with different religious groups and organizations, but primarily Protestants, Roman Catholics, and members of other Christian denominations. Being sports enthusiasts, prospective buyers live an active, disciplined and healthy lifestyle. They are concerned on their physical, mental and emotional health. Their hobbies are geared to improve and excel in the sport activities that they are interested in. With an active and healthy living prospects have an optimistic, â€Å"I can do it,† attitude. They are solution-oriented. Instead of passively handling a problem and trials, they look at it as an opportunity for growth and improvement. With these of traits this target market, the benefits that they find in a retail outlet is ease and accessibility in buying the products that they want. Also, these prospects are enthusiasts, so they are willing to establish a continuous business relationship with sports equipments suppliers. Just Balls can tap institutions that have demand for their products. They can cater to bulk orders coming from athletic institutions as well as the athletic department of different schools. They can also act as suppliers to small-scale athletic supply stores. Knowing the needs and benefits that my customers have, I need to resort to novel ways in presenting my business concept to Vice Presidents of different enterprises that will supply the stocks. The first approach that I will do is to directly submit a proposal stating the new business idea that I will introduce to them. In that letter I will point out the different advantages and benefits of having a website especially dedicated to buying balls for sporting

Consumer behavior project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Consumer behavior project - Research Paper Example The latest generation is the iPhone 6 Plus. IPhones are usually distributed to various parts of the world. The company partners with other companies in various parts of the world to make sure that their products are availed all over the world. The local companies are always given the responsibility of assembling and supplying the products locally. From the companies that are responsible for assembling the products are supplied to the local dealers who do the supplying. Given the segment targeted by the product the pricing of iPhones is usually relatively high. The prices cannot be said to be the highest in the market. The fact that the phones are of high quality and are priced such that middle income earners can afford them makes it very easy for the phones to do well in the market. The company promotes this product through front page magazine, radio, and magazine advertisements. They also frequently make use of hoarding and point of sale advertisement with the aim of increasing their sales. The company uses sales promotions and exchange offers to lure customers into buying this particular product (Pride & Ferrell,

Personal Selling (business marketing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Personal Selling (business marketing) - Essay Example amateur and professional players). Since this is an online enterprise, buyers may come from different parts of the world, but as a start-up company, the target would be mainly form the United States. Most of prospective buyers are single (about 70%), affiliated with different religious groups and organizations, but primarily Protestants, Roman Catholics, and members of other Christian denominations. Being sports enthusiasts, prospective buyers live an active, disciplined and healthy lifestyle. They are concerned on their physical, mental and emotional health. Their hobbies are geared to improve and excel in the sport activities that they are interested in. With an active and healthy living prospects have an optimistic, â€Å"I can do it,† attitude. They are solution-oriented. Instead of passively handling a problem and trials, they look at it as an opportunity for growth and improvement. With these of traits this target market, the benefits that they find in a retail outlet is ease and accessibility in buying the products that they want. Also, these prospects are enthusiasts, so they are willing to establish a continuous business relationship with sports equipments suppliers. Just Balls can tap institutions that have demand for their products. They can cater to bulk orders coming from athletic institutions as well as the athletic department of different schools. They can also act as suppliers to small-scale athletic supply stores. Knowing the needs and benefits that my customers have, I need to resort to novel ways in presenting my business concept to Vice Presidents of different enterprises that will supply the stocks. The first approach that I will do is to directly submit a proposal stating the new business idea that I will introduce to them. In that letter I will point out the different advantages and benefits of having a website especially dedicated to buying balls for sporting

Financial Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Financial Management - Assignment Example The analysis of the data present in the financial statements helps the top level management of the organization to take a correct decision. The decisions taken after proper analysis of the financial statements are appropriate having reduced chances of flaws. The financial statement is known as the raw form of data which cannot be utilized by anyone without proper knowledge. In such case implementation of different types of analysis tools bring accuracy in the analysis process. Ratio analysis is one such important analysis tool which helps in the analysis of the financial performance of an organization. Ratio Analysis Any sustainable business needs effective financial planning. Ratio Analysis is an essential management tool which helps in improving the financial performance of an organization over time along with providing key indicators associated with the organizational performance (Siddiqui, 2006). The managers use ratio analysis for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the or ganization based upon which new strategies can be evaluated. ... s financial performance, the financial ratios act as an indicator indicating the places where the company requires rectification for achieving competitive advantage. Moreover when the ratios are far above or below the industry standards then it indicate that the company needs to change its existing strategies for bringing their ratio values close to the industry average. There are mainly four types of ratios: 1) Liquidity ratio 2) Profitability Ratio 3) Solvency Ratio 4) Efficiency ratio Liquidity Ratio The liquidity ratios help in finding out whether a company is able in repaying its short term debt in a proper manner. This ratio is very significant because if any company fails in meeting its short term liabilities then it may even lead to bankruptcy (Gallagher and Andrew, 2007; Hitchner and Mard, 2011). High liquidity ratios signify that the organization is performing in an efficient manner for meeting the short term liabilities. In the context of liquidity ratio, two ratios of Kin gfisher Plc have been calculated. The first is the current ratio and the second is the quick ratio. Current Ratio Current Ratio is measured as: Current Ratio = Current Assets/ Current liabilities Calculation of Current ratio As on 1.1.2012 As on 1.1.2013 Current assets 2989 3068 Current liabilities 3050 2870 Current Ratio 0.98 1.07 The current ratio will help in finding out whether Kingfisher Plc is performing in an appropriate manner in order to meet the short term liabilities or not (Kuppapally, 2008). The current ratio of the company has increased from the year 2012 to 2013. This implies that the inventory value of the company has increased significantly. Kingfisher Plc is utilising the current assets in efficient manner for meeting the current liabilities. Quick Ratio Calculation of

Civil Engineering Pesonal Statement Essay Example for Free

Civil Engineering Pesonal Statement Essay It was this quote by Theodore von Karman in my high school physics book that sparked my interest in engineering. Engineering allows for the designing and constructing of structures that most people could only dream of but they could not live without. From bridges spanning oceans to connect countries to artificial islands on which building complexes can provide housing for thousands of people. This notion is what made me want to become an engineer. I have always been interested mathematics and science since grade school, but it was in high school that my curiosity flourished when I joined an engineering program. There I learned about the different fields like electrical, structural, and robotics. But it was civil engineering that I pursued. Something that became evident when we were given the chance to build bridges from balsa wood which strengths would later be tested. Although my bridge was not the strongest, it was in the top five and the most aesthetically pleasing out of the twenty bridges that participated. That experience was enough to make me decide to pursue a career in civil engineering. Later when I entered college and began to take courses working towards my degree, I learned more about emerging new technologies which could benefit both the people and the planet alike. I am concerned about environmental issues which our world is currently facing and hope to use engineering to resolve these problems while also improving peoples lives. My mathematical skills also developed and I relish the opportunity of using these mathematical techniques to solve real-life problems. Studying further mathematics has proved more demanding than I anticipated, but I have found the extra challenge very rewarding. Furthermore, it has shown me the extent to which mathematics is ultimately present in every aspect of our lives. I am involved in extracurricular activities. In 2010 I joined Sigma Alpha Lambda a national leadership and honors organization and their local chapter. With them I have participated in Relay for Life and Food Fight Against Hunger. Two national initiatives aimed at fundraising and bringing awareness to cancer and hunger respectively. For Relay for Life I helped to decorate our team campsite according to the theme that year and for Food Fight Against Hunger I helped collect can foods as well as monetary donations. Outside of school I am also involved in my church. There I serve as a Sabbath School teacher for children in pre-K and kindergarten and as a general volunteer. My responsibilities range from helping the children learn songs to helping organize a blood drive, but also as a congregation we go visit elderly folks in a retirement home and volunteer at a shelter to feed the homeless on a monthly basis. Engineering offers us the chance to make the world a better, safer and more exciting place; this is what attracts me to the subject. I am confident that the challenges offered by civil engineering appeal to me and will inspire me to do great things. Engineering has always been fundamental in developing the world and is a field in which I would love to be involved.

State Of Nature Would Be State Of War

State Of Nature Would Be State Of War Thomas Hobbes set out to account for political authority with the use of the State of Nature. He illustrated what life outside of society without any overall authority keeping anyone in check would be like. Hobbes identified the State of Nature with a State of War but used war in an extended sense, to include not just armed hostilities but any situation where there is no reasonable expectation that hostilities will not erupt. He argued that the known readiness to engage in acts of aggression amounts in itself to a State of War. Specifically there are three principal causes of quarrel (lev) which throw people into hostilities. These causes are competition, diffidence and glory (Lev p. 88) and together they ensure that the State of Nature is a State of War. The State of Nature put simply is a situation in which human beings have no government, no political institutions and the feelings that they engender and no executive forces such as a police force or army in other words, it is a condition of anarchy. The State of Nature is an idealisation, a model. (Engaging P.19) Hobbes uses the State of Nature to justify political authority, or as Hobbes calls it, the commonwealth. He does not describe literally everything that would be the case in the absence of political arrangements, but only those things that matter for explaining political authority. What Hobbes did, was to identify features of human nature and the human condition that are universal, that in no way depend upon political authority relations, and that are relevant to explaining political authority causally. The State of Nature can be considered as a condition from which people are to escape if political authority is to be justified. So the sole alternative to political authorit y is the State of Nature, however according to Hobbes, the State of Nature is unbearably nasty as what is crucial to the state of natures justificatory role is the fact that life in it is pretty grim. Therefore the sole alternative to political authority is unbearably nasty, hence imposing political authority is justified. Hobbes attempted to illustrate that subjection to authority is vastly preferable to anarchy the State of War; he held the view that if we had reasons to believe that political authority is much better than the State of Nature, then imposing political authority is justified. Hobbes attempted to demonstrate that the State of Nature is a State of War in order to justify political authority. He depicted the State of War as a place full of insecurity and uncertainty in order to further substantiate his claim. The State does not necessarily consist in actual fighting, but a known disposition thereto, during which there is no assurance to the contrary. (page 86 Leviathan). Hobbes depicted the State of War as a condition in which civilisation and its benefits are absent. Only through the organisation of society and the establishment of the commonwealth can civilisation be attained. One thing that Hobbes recognised about the natural condition of mankind was the relative equality of individuals within it. When Hobbes spoke of equality he did not mean equality in a moralised sense, but more the distribution of physical and mental endowments. Nature has made men so equal that, although some humans are manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind, these endowments are distributed in such a way that even the weakest, slowest and dumbest among them can kill the strongest, fastest and smartest. Hobbes claimed that when all is reckoned together, the difference between man and man is not so considerable, all human beings are, in other words, vulnerable to assault at the hands of all others. Equality, for Hobbes, is based upon the equal ability to kill or conquer others so inevitably equality leads to conflict, a State of Nature will be a war of all against all.(leviathan p. Vii) In the State of Nature, there are three causes of conflict: competition, distrust and the desire for glory. Competition leads to fighting for grain, diffidence to fighting to keep what has been gained and glory to fighting for reputation. These sources of conflict arise from what Hobbes calls the equality of ability (lev) in men. This natural equality of men is not equality of rights or of worth but an equality of ability, which leads to equality of hope in attaining ones ends and so to competition. The right of each to all things invites serious conflict, especially if there is competition for resources, as goods -are in relatively short supply in the State of Nature.(Stamford) So if any two men want a single thing which cannot be attained by both, they will become enemies (page 84 Leviathan) Conflict can occur for example when someone has come to possess a better piece of land. If an invader would have nothing to fear but that one mans individual power, then it is more than likely that someone will choose to invade this estate and attempt to deprive the owner of his possessions. But then the successful invader will then be in similar danger from someone else. It is an endless cycle of conflict in the State of Nature, which inevitably creates hostile conditions. However, Hobbes claim that all men are equal is false. The very young, the very old and the infirm generally pose no mortal threat to able bodied persons in the prime of life and therefore there would be no competition in some circumstances. Whilst it was not Hobbess aim to describe what is literally the case, this does demonstrate that not all of his reasons were convincing when explaining why the State of Nature would be a State of War. Hobbes further illustrated a State of as a State of War as it is a place where nobody feels secure, each person has a reason to attack any other person, for fear of being attacked first; this is what Hobbes referred to as diffidence. Because of this distrust amongst men, the most reasonable way for anyone to make themselves safe is to strike first, so attack can be seen as the best form of defence in a State of War. And, because each person has roughly equal killing power, everybody is both a potential killer and a potential victim. The fact that each of them is liable to aggression from others means that each person has to treat every other person as an enemy. People dont just regard everyone as possible enemies, in the State of War everyone is an enemy. Hence diffidence makes people invade one another for safety. Hobbes quite rightly held that the State of Nature would be a State of War therefore as people would fear that others may invade them, and may rationally plan to strike fi rst as an anticipatory defense, a natural human instinct to preserve their own safety. Hobbes also said that The State of War arises from the nature of some people, mainly those who want others to value them as highly as they values themselves. Glory drives people to attack others to raise their value in the eyes of others. Glory is therefore a source of unwarranted aggression and when there is no common power to keep people at peace, conflict will occur which Hobbes quite rightly said. Hobbes had a particularly good reason for believing that the State of Nature would be one of war as morality has no place in this pre-political world that Hobbes created. Everyone has an interest in killing everyone else pre-emptively, whenever possible, and this is acceptable as nothing holds any individuals back from committing any immoral acts, humans would merely act as their interests dictate. In a State of Nature, by definition there are no rules, not even unenforceable ones that might deter some from committing such acts. Therefore even moral restrictions to do or withhold from doing certain things for example, not to kill have no effect in a State of Nature. Hobbess view was that in the natural State of War there are no objective moral distinctions. In this State of War of every man against every man nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, have n place. Where there is no common power, there is no law, where no law, no injustice. Hobbes assumed that the state of nature would be a state of war as taking people as they actually are, if you were to remove all political institutions, the natural proclivities that would ensue would lead to a state of war. Notably, without political institutions, the natural impulses to self-preservation are doomed to failure. In the state of nature, that is our unhappy predicament. Natural right of self-preservation (ch. 14): the liberty each one has to use her/his own power for self-preservation. A central claim of Hobbes: It is rational to give up ones right to self-governance to a sovereign, if everyone else agrees to do the same. (See chapter 17, section 13) The natural state of war, therefore, is the state of affairs in which the individual is dependent for his security on his own strength and his own wits. In such conditions there is no place for hard work, because there is no assurance that it will yield results; and consequently no cultivation of the earth, no navigation or use of materials that can be imported by sea, no construction of large buildings, no machines for moving things that require much force, no knowledge of the face of the earth, no account of time, no practical skills, no literature or scholarship, no society; and-worst of all-continual fear and danger of violent death, and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Perhaps we would imagine that people might fare best in such a state, where each decides for herself how to act, and is judge, jury and executioner in her own case whenever disputes arise-and that at any rate, this state is the appropriate baseline against which to judge the justifiability of political arrangements.

Two Women in Proverbs 9 Essay -- Religion Bible Proverbs 9 women Essay

Two Women in Proverbs 9 Proverbs has always been one of the most renowned and loved books of the Bible. According to the prologue, it was written â€Å"to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence to the young† (1.4), and to â€Å"let the wise also hear and gain in learning, and the discerning acquire skill† (1.5). It is primarily addressed to young men, as the author makes frequent references to â€Å"my son† throughout. The purpose of this book was to help prepare young men for leadership and life. A proverb, which serves the purpose of drawing a comparison between two forms of behavior to teach moral wisdom, explicitly fulfills its role in particularly chapter 9 of Proverbs. In light of this father-to-son instruction, the author uses the personification of two different types of women in order to illustrate the two corresponding paths of life: wisdom and folly. Although there are many striking similarities of both women in Proverbs 9, the subtle differences between the two didactically imparts life lessons to young men. The speaker begins the passage of Proverbs 9, by informing that the first similarity that Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly share is the possession of a house. The only apparent difference is that Lady Wisdom has built her own house: â€Å"Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars† (9.1). Lady Wisdom has not simply constructed her home, but it is given that her house is a large one, representing wealth. There is no reference to Lady Folly building her house—she sluggishly just â€Å"sits at the door of her house† (9.14). Metaphorically, the speaker of this passage is advising the young men to be hard-working, signifying the importance of diligence, which is a constant underlying thre... ...m will lead to life. The speaker is saying that it is well worth it to embark on the path of wisdom and to persevere through it for there is an unseen reward awaiting them. Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly are not mentioned in Proverbs 9 to be merely two contrasting women that the young men should be aware of when they look for a wife. Representing the two ways of life, Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly are used to bring awareness to the young men about the subtle differences between the respective routes of life. It is emphasized that every decision counts and that just one decision can mean the difference between life and death. Because the teacher knows that the young men are the ones who will ultimately make crucial decisions of their own, he uses this particular juxtaposition of Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly to prepare them for what challenges lie ahead for them.

Adult Assumptions On Teenagers :: essays research papers

Adults Assumptions On Tennagers Everyone knows that throughout life, assumptions and stereotypes are made. Whether they concern age, gender, race, class and so on, it does not matter. Stereotypes are always made in some form or another, some can be referring to positive aspects, while others can be bad. Whether good or bad, stereotypes should not be made, if a person has not met someone, they shouldn’t presume to know them or their ‘type’. No two people are identical and so they should not be treated as though they are. Many people have similar interests and characteristics, but not identical. A common group that receives a lot of stereotyping is the youth of today. Not everyone, but a lot of people follow the assumption that the youth of today’s society are nothing but bludgers. Youth usually have plenty of negative assumptions placed upon them such as being known as ‘Know alls’, ‘Trouble makers’, ‘Druggies’ and irresponsible. This names just a few of the negative assumptions that youth have placed upon them nearly, if not, everyday. There are also some positive assumptions made in regard to the youth of today, these are statements like they (the youth) are beginning to understand the importance of education in order to have a chance at a secure future. Youth are very out going and don’t have a concern for tomorrow as they prefer to live for today. Youth have a creative imagination, not just towards art and work, but towards life in general and are willing to learn new skills in order to forward their knowledge, and are being thought of as the future generation. I believe that all of these as sumptions have an element of truth, but in the way of being stereotypes. To certain individuals, these assumptions may be true, but not every youth is a trouble maker or a drug addict and so on. As I said before, everyone is an individual and so should be treated as one, and not just as ‘one of them’. The reason I think this is because I know that I wouldn’t like it if someone treated me the same as other people who are nothing like me. I know that I’m not a ‘Druggie’ or a ‘Know all’ and so I do not want to be treated the way people treat these sort of youths. I know that this is sounding as though I am stereotyping but I am not, I am saying that people do put these groups under headings such as ‘Druggies’ and they then treat them different.

Single Parent Households

Raising children is a major job that takes time and patience. But imagine being a single parent, raising a child on your own. According to, Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2007, released by the U. S. Census Bureau in November 2009, there are approximately 13. 7 million single parents in the United States today ( that’s not including the individuals who didn’t participate). Those parents are responsible for raising 21. 8 million children (approximately 26% of children under 21 in the U.S. today). Generally, I will illustrate the picture of the single-family and their corresponding struggles with daily life. Approximately 84% of custodial parents are mothers and 16% of custodial parents are fathers. Economic burdens are greater in the women household which results from the fact that the average single mother does not earn the same income as a single man. This economic struggle is not experienced in the single father household due to the balance of w ork and family duties women face.You find most women working overtime to make up for the fact they have low salaries which takes time away from their children and daily chores to meet the needs of their kids. This results in either the child being left home alone without proper supervision, or placed in childcare eight to ten hours a day. Having trusted friends and family that can assist with childcare or transportation is a great asset when it comes to being a single parent.It is also the terrible price that parents pay to provide for their children when they have to work during those memorable moments of childhood. In addition, single parents struggle with time not only for their children but for themselves. In two parent households they struggle with managing time, so when the all the responsibility is solely on a single parent, the struggle can be suffocating. When you are working, going to school and caring for your child, you can find the task a little bit exhausting.While eac h task seem just as important as the next, a child needs can’t be negotiated, which from experience I know it may get the best of your emotions. Losing sleep to make financial needs meet or studying may bring your mental and physical tolerance to a minimum. Stress, malnutrition, physical abuse and sleep deprivation sound like torture, but it’s the situation that most single parent face every day. Last but not least, the average single parent pushes forward to achieve their personal goals or careers because that’s all they have to call their own.When achieving the balance of sacrifice and success that provides the best outcome for that child and its parent, can be a difficult path for anyone. This path challenges one decision and pushes the single parent to and emotional breakdown, which causes them to question, what may be best for not only them but the child. It’s a barrier that single parents face every day because their goals and careers take a back se at to the birth of their child. When that child is born, that child life is beginning and all your goals may be pushed off which makes them at times less important as before.In conclusion, single parent households have overcoming barriers that make all the struggles and sacrifices worth it at the end. Despite the challenges and emotional highs and lows, the creation of a responsible human being is always worth the trouble. At the end, the bond between that parent and child will be inseparable because that child will never forget all the sacrifices and hard work you have put forth to make their life that much easier. I don’t think society see the struggles many single parent households face daily.If we would help these parents out more than our society wouldn’t have to continuously point the finger to the boy who murdered and raped a young girl because he was a part of the single parent household statistic. So you wonder am I for or against the single parent household a nd my response to that is I have no choice, I live it every day. Everything I wrote was my lifestyle since I had my two year old son but never in a million years will I change it. Single Parent Households Raising children is a major job that takes time and patience. But imagine being a single parent, raising a child on your own. According to, Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2007, released by the U. S. Census Bureau in November 2009, there are approximately 13. 7 million single parents in the United States today ( that’s not including the individuals who didn’t participate). Those parents are responsible for raising 21. 8 million children (approximately 26% of children under 21 in the U.S. today). Generally, I will illustrate the picture of the single-family and their corresponding struggles with daily life. Approximately 84% of custodial parents are mothers and 16% of custodial parents are fathers. Economic burdens are greater in the women household which results from the fact that the average single mother does not earn the same income as a single man. This economic struggle is not experienced in the single father household due to the balance of w ork and family duties women face.You find most women working overtime to make up for the fact they have low salaries which takes time away from their children and daily chores to meet the needs of their kids. This results in either the child being left home alone without proper supervision, or placed in childcare eight to ten hours a day. Having trusted friends and family that can assist with childcare or transportation is a great asset when it comes to being a single parent.It is also the terrible price that parents pay to provide for their children when they have to work during those memorable moments of childhood. In addition, single parents struggle with time not only for their children but for themselves. In two parent households they struggle with managing time, so when the all the responsibility is solely on a single parent, the struggle can be suffocating. When you are working, going to school and caring for your child, you can find the task a little bit exhausting.While eac h task seem just as important as the next, a child needs can’t be negotiated, which from experience I know it may get the best of your emotions. Losing sleep to make financial needs meet or studying may bring your mental and physical tolerance to a minimum. Stress, malnutrition, physical abuse and sleep deprivation sound like torture, but it’s the situation that most single parent face every day. Last but not least, the average single parent pushes forward to achieve their personal goals or careers because that’s all they have to call their own.When achieving the balance of sacrifice and success that provides the best outcome for that child and its parent, can be a difficult path for anyone. This path challenges one decision and pushes the single parent to and emotional breakdown, which causes them to question, what may be best for not only them but the child. It’s a barrier that single parents face every day because their goals and careers take a back se at to the birth of their child. When that child is born, that child life is beginning and all your goals may be pushed off which makes them at times less important as before.In conclusion, single parent households have overcoming barriers that make all the struggles and sacrifices worth it at the end. Despite the challenges and emotional highs and lows, the creation of a responsible human being is always worth the trouble. At the end, the bond between that parent and child will be inseparable because that child will never forget all the sacrifices and hard work you have put forth to make their life that much easier. I don’t think society see the struggles many single parent households face daily.If we would help these parents out more than our society wouldn’t have to continuously point the finger to the boy who murdered and raped a young girl because he was a part of the single parent household statistic. So you wonder am I for or against the single parent household a nd my response to that is I have no choice, I live it every day. Everything I wrote was my lifestyle since I had my two year old son but never in a million years will I change it.

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

In â€Å"Black Like Me† by John Howard Griffin identifies how conflict management greatly changes after he undergoes a drastic lifestyle change to discover the truth of how people are categorized by their skin color and not their own character. Griffin undergoes an experiment in order to allow him to study and elaborate on racial boundaries that still exist during the 1950†³s. Griffin, almost immediately realizes segregation and low self-esteem caused by the feeling of being hated due to the color of your skin. The conflict management in the book changes drastically after his pigment is changed and he is no longer part of a privileged white American society, and now he his part of a hated society due to physical differences that make them seem inferior to the dominate race. Griffin†s conflict management style greatly changes after he undergoes his experiment. At the beginning of his journey, he was very aggressive, and took things for granite such as eating in restaurants and using public facilities. After he changes his pigmentation it changes his conflict management due to what he is succumbed to because of the change in the variation of his skin color. The only conflict management skills he had were the ones he learned by watching others who were adapted to the Society. For instance, â€Å"blacks see themselves as inferior to whites because of the society they live in†. For example, † on the bus ride to Mississippi, Griffin encounters a man who black on the outside, and tries to think of himself as part of the white culture and hopes when he dies, the white part of his soul shall go to heaven†. Griffin conflict management is passive in the end only because he is observing and he doesn†t want to draw attention to himself, which might get him into trouble. Griffin†s conflict management is arbitrary because he is no longer what he was before the experiment and knows he is going to have to live like a black male for the rest of his natural life.

Modernism in Music and Politics and Culture in Postwar France Essay

Modernism in Music and Politics and Culture in Postwar France - Essay Example London: MacMillan, 1999, pp. 84-85) 1. General Contents: This article discusses the existentialism school of thought that was prevalent in post-World War II France. Sartre introduces a school of thought that is called commitment, but in the end he has to adjust his notions to include the textual reality into his ideas2. 2. Qualifications: Jean-Paul Sartre was a playwright, novelist, and philosopher who lived between 1905 and 1980. 3. Evaluation of Credibility: Sartre was an influential figure in Post World War II France. He held on to his revolutionary beliefs concerning politics, and human existence. His stance on these matters drew controversy; yet he at the same time had an attachment to the traditional modes of cultural expression. His ideas were of relevance to, and appealed to the contemporary world. He developed a secular form of existentialism. His ideas insisted that existence comes before essence, and rejected the supernatural. He was of the opinion that modern culture was saturated with existentialism, as an intellectual movement. 4. Intended Audience: This essay is very helpful to everyone who is concerned about the way pertinent issues in the society can be addressed. By following the arguments that Sartreans, and the opposing writers and intellectuals advanced; one is able to understand how literature can be used to influence society3. The article is an interesting read, very insightful. In my opinion though, one should read it with an open mind. When one has a preformed ideology, then personal biases may prevent them from appreciating the factors that were inherent of the opposing sides. ESSAY MODERNISM To... This "Modernism in Music and Politics and Culture in Postwar France" outlines the existentialism school of thought that was prevalent in post-World War II France. Sartre introduces a school of thought that is called commitment, but in the end, he has to adjust his notions to include the textual reality into his ideas. To some writers, musical modernism extends from around 1890 to the 1930s. The period after that is often referred to as the post-modernism era. Industrialization, technological advances, and scientific discoveries that were taking place at the time of early musical modernism, meant radical reforms in musical expression. Individuals were trying to come to grips with a society which was becoming increasingly complex. Leon Botstein was of the opinion that alienation and isolation of individuals had resulted in heightened sensitivity. The intensity of personal emotions was concomitant, and it accompanied the sense of discontinuity, and newness that pervaded the first years of the century . Rhythmic strands were layered, and they started being based on two, or more metric frameworks that run concurrently. He asserted that the domination of industry, science, and technology was a characteristic feature of the modernism era. In addition to this, mechanization, nationalization, urbanization, positivism, and mass culture all had a role to play in influencing musical styles of this time. Several aspects of music changed during this time. The language of music and tonal organization were revolutionized.

Marketing research on recycling in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing research on recycling in UK - Essay Example eport pertains to the waste generation and disposal habits, and the efforts to be adopted by local administrations for improving segregation before collection and recycling, in the light of national laws and successful international efforts. To this extent it defines the objectives, methodology and budgetary requirements. iv. Background: Since the 1980s, per capita household waste generation in the UK has risen from just under 400 kg. to over 500 kg. Such an increase can be attributed to economic growth, social change, and waste collection methods. The increase in waste has closely followed that of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Today in the UK it is estimated that each household throws away over a ton of waste annually; England and Wales produce 100 million tons of waste annually from households, commerce and industry. Each ton of waste comes from 10 tons of resource utilization! Around 70% of household waste can be either recycled or composted. Despite the fact that the majority of the general public regard recycling as worthwhile, and that over 65% of households have access to kerbside collection recycling schemes, only 14.5% of dustbin contents are recycled or composted. Thus there is a need to improve the system. Until the dawn of the industrial revolution, waste generation was minimal and mainly composed of biodegradable matter from vegetation, animal products, textiles, burning of firewood, etc., which was being dumped in farmlands where it would turn as compost or simply disposed off in the nearest available vacant public space with little or no concern for the environs. ‘Use and throw culture’ was not yet in sight and frugal living, repair and reuse were the order of the day, with products like utensils, clocks, closets etc. being used for generations together. Coupled with the smaller population, and widely spread colonies of smaller groups, waste recycling was not an issue at all. However, the transition to the post-industrial revolution era meant

Powerpoint is Evil Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Powerpoint is Evil - Assignment Example PowerPoint, just like any other piece of technology, helps enhance learning and how students relate with their teachers and interact with content. Teacher-centered uses of technology are not as effective as student-centered ones. Student centered technology allows students to be more creative and view content in new ways. For example, in the NPR program, one of the teachers notes that PowerPoint has enabled her students to retell the story in new perspectives. With teacher-centered technology, the teacher is still in charge of learning, and this does not really change it from the traditional teacher-centric classroom. One of the most important aspects of the student-centered uses of technology is that it allows the learner to organize his activities, thereby making the student responsible for his own learning. PowerPoint, for instance, can help students organize their information in new and exciting ways that are appreciated by both the student himself and the teacher. Through student-centered technology, learners will be in a position to build connections with the various materials that have been covered in class. As noted in the NPR program for instance, PowerPoint allows students to bring together information from a variety of sources. Student-centered use of technology is thus

The concept of sky credit card Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The concept of sky credit card - Essay Example From the research it can be comprehended that aggressive marketing and easy availability of credit cards has resulted in credit cards being used to finance consumer purchases as a way of life. Research suggests that socialization as a consumer begins in infancy with children making their first purchase at the average age of eight years. There has been a change in attitude towards credit card which implies that consumers are more willing to use credit to finance their consumption. The widespread us of credit cards reflects the consumer preference for using credit cards and technological advancements have made it possible for the creditors to offer revolving credit. The credit card has allowed for convenience in purchasing but still one needs to go to the shops and cash machines to use the credit card. For the first time, Sky TV and Barclays have joined hands to introduce an interactive credit card known as Sky Credit Card which offers the convenience to make purchases right from the c omfort of the living room through the television. The users will be able to place the SkyCard in the second slot of their set-top boxes and through the remote control they can manage their accounts and make purchases. The attitude-behavior relationship in consumer finance differs from that in social settings. The consumers may have favorable attitudes towards borrowing but having low incomes poor credit history may impose constraints on the level of credit that they would like to enjoy.

Sales Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Sales Management - Essay Example There is a growing body of evidences that argue about the nature of sales ethics and claims in to be oxymoron; however, another school of thought believe that sales ethics are practically followed within the business world and opposes the impression that these are only formal expressions of the company values to built its better image3. The following essay aims to discuss the general conception about the sales ethics that deem them as oxymoron. In this regard, the essay also explores different situations where the sales personnel have to decide whether to practically follow the described ethical values and principles of their company or prefer the interest of company in terms of increasing sales volume. The essay basically opposes the notion that sales ethics are oxymoron and provides the arguments to support this standpoint. The essay strives to explain how sales ethics can act beyond the formal descriptions to support the products and companies’ image. At present there are large inspections about the companies’ business that puts pressure upon them to fulfil the ethical requirements and follow the basic ethical principles. These principles ought to be straight forward, reasonable and clear so that the companies could deliver the same values to the customers. The companies are expected to respect these values because it is generally accepted notion that the societies giving due attention and value to these principles can prosper and develop significantly. Hence, the issue of the fulfilment of the ethical values becomes very important in this scenario and the companies have to draw a clear line between the theory and practice of the ethical values4. The customers of today’s technology driven world have more choices in front of them as compared with the consumers of the past. The international availability of products options have made them more demanding and

Benefit of school vs traditional college Essay Example for Free

Benefit of school vs traditional college Essay Technology and specifically ICT has permeated virtually all sectors of life including education. Traditional schooling is being replaced at an unprecedented rate. These days most professionals prefer to take courses online rather than attend school physically. The reasons behind this trend range from convenience, greater options, multitasking, and reduced cost among others. Often, this kind of schooling has been criticized because skeptics argue that the socialization aspect of schooling is cut off from schooling experience. Additionally, this technique has cost many people their jobs and means of livelihood. For instance, the cooks, secretaries, security personnel and such like. What’s more, this technology is still new to many people and naturally, resistance to adopt it is commonplace. However, I feel that despite the negatives associated with e-schooling, the benefits far out ways the costs and hence, my stance on the subject remains that school should be reinforced. To begin with, my community benefits greatly from e-schooling in the sense that, it enable re-schooling among adults who felt ashamed to go back to a traditional college to complete a degree. This is especially the case for people who had dropped out of high school or college. Nowadays, it is possible for them to earn degrees and diplomas while at home. This way they are able to multitask, say, baby sitting and learning In addition, collaboration between teachers and students has never been easier than with e-schooling. A wide range of digital resources, online libraries online tests, emails, videoconference and more are used to facilitate communication among stakeholders in the schooling system. Feedback on one-on-one basis makes school just as effective if not more to traditional college. Schooling to a marginal extent is cheaper than the traditional college. This has increased access to education for the economically challenged people in my community. Notably, the best colleges and universities are located in major cities, say, New York LA and so on meaning that the rural areas are sidelined from access to these colleges. The advantage of e-schooling is that these people now have a chance to get degrees and diplomas from these prestigious colleges without relocating from their home area. The costs of education have also been halved owing to technology of schooling. (Holmes Gardner, 2006) Personally, schooling has had both direct and indirect impacts in my life. Prior to the introduction of e-schooling, I used to find that the schooling duration was too long. I wanted to get my degree as fast as possible. With the introduction of e-schooling, I am able to accelerate my program such that I get a full credit course in one semester. Most people in my community are using similar approach and it has worked well. Moreover, I have more control and independence over my learning skills. The experience of taking a course online can be life changing. I have learnt to be more responsible of my time. Last summer I was able to take up an AP course that was not available in our site and my friend has explored a learning opportunity that was not schooling in our site. Generally, I believe that schooling has enriched not only my life but also the lives of the people in my community. (www. ucet. ac. uk/ ) In the community where I come from, people are athletic and get involved so much with games and sport to an extent that it becomes very difficult to manage an 8-hour school program and sports. E-schooling has curbed this problem by giving the students flexibility and independence to decide how they want to structure learning hours. For some they access learning material in morning hours while others prefer to do that late in the night. At the end of the day, whichever style used, people earn degrees. Alternatively, enrolment to e learning is fast and hassle free. Most people can attest to the pressure experienced during enrolment days in college. With online schooling, this problem has been erased. I would like to share the experience of my cousin who got involved in an accident. Subsequently, her two legs were amputated making it a challenge to move around in clutches. The option of e-schooling has benefited my homebound cousin and in few weeks, she graduates with a diploma from a distant college. Other disabled people from my community have also benefited from schooling. (http://aasd. k12. wi. us/eSchool/whyecourses. htm. ) Other benefits arising from schooling is students with unique cases or reasons for being away from school benefit from e-learning e. g. teenage mother s, terminally sick students participating in foreign exchange programs, resist, and self supporting students who juggle between work responsibilities and learning Briefly, schooling is a great advancement in the education sector. The outstanding features attributed to schooling are the flexibility and affordability of the schooling concept. Reflecting on the benefits that I have witness at a personal level and within my community, I believe traditional colleges will be phased out as more and more people embrace e-schooling for its benefits. A word of caution though, policies and regulations need to be clearly set to ensure that schooling achieves fundamental purpose of schooling. Additionally, students and educators need to e empowered on how to maximize use of digital resources and online technologies in order to reap benefits of schooling.

Star Newspaper Business Study

Star Newspaper Business Study COMPANY BACKGROUND Companys history The Star was first published regionally in George Town, Penang on the 9th of September, 1971. The Star went to become a national newspaper on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. To adapt a growing staff and a new press incorporating the latest technology, it moved its headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to its present premises in Petaling Jaya in 1981. The Star created histor y on June 23, 1995 when it became the first Malaysian newspaper and the third in Asia to launch a World Wide Web edition. In addition to that, The Star also achieved a new milestone in its corporate history in the same year by being listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, The Star relocated in stages to its very own 17 storey premises, Menara Star in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. In January 2002, The Stars new printing plant, Star Media Hub was officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi in Shah Alam, Selangor. The Star also has a new office and printing plant, Star Northern Hub in Bayan Lepas, Penang. About The Star and Sunday Star The Star weekday paper is packaged as a 4-in-1 paper, comprising the Main Paper, StarBiz and StarTwo. The Main Paper covers the latest in regional, national and as well as international news while StarBiz offers a comprehensive coverage of local and international financial news such as market trends, financial reports and latest market updates. StarTwo features articles on lifestyle, entertainment, health, parenting, social issues and et cetera. Every Sunday, there is an additional section known as Sunday Star. For the Sunday Star, it covers current local and as well as worldwide news. Apart from that, Sunday Star also contains an educational section where careers, further education, exams tips and various comments are featured within. Board of Directors The current Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad is Dato Clement Hii Chii Kok whereas the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer is Datin Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh. There are two Executive Director in the company which is Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal Mohamed Hashim and Mr. Ng Beng Lye. And the Group Editorial / Education Advisor is Dato Ng Poh Tip. Groups Financial Highlights The revenue of the company as at 31 December 2008 is RM 831,040,000. Profit before tax is RM201, 463,000 whereas the profit after tax is RM138, 701,000 which show that the tax expense is RM 62,762,000. Political and Legal Environment There is one law in Malaysia that protects media freedom that is Article 10 of the Constitution. It also notes that there are limits to this freedom, and that these limits are, generally, defined by the Government. The constitution provides freedom for speech of the press. However, some important legal limitations exist. According to the government, it forced restrictions on the media to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with other countries. The law that provides legislation in the interest of security or public order may restrict freedom of speech. Example, Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues sensitive such as racial and religious matters. Government used Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, criminal defamation laws, and other laws to limit and threaten political speech. As for Printing Presses and Publications Act, it requires local and foreign publications to apply annually to the government for a permit. This is to make publication of wicked news a punishable offense and authorized the minister of internal security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. Besides, it also prohibits court challenges to delay or revocation of publication permits. According to the government, these conditions make sure that the media did not spread twisted news and were necessary to preserve harmony and promote peaceful in a multiracial country. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail, a fine, or both. This is along with the government power over annual license renewal and other policies inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in widespread self-censorship. Government had banned some foreign newspapers and magazines and, occasionally, covered up foreign magazines or newspapers. Furthermore, you could point to the guarantees under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) if you want to impress the crowd which covers broadcasting and Internet. The guarantees under this act are no monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves and nothing in the Act is to be regarded as censorship of the Internet. No monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves is that no group of companies should own enough of the radio and television stations to prevent listeners and viewers from having a choice of material. So far is all good but they have not seen it put into practice as yet. As for censorship of the Internet, it is a bit more of a problem. Although there is not any censorship or control of the Internet under this Act, doesnt mean there isnt any censorship of the Internet. Internet access was widely available and internet subscriptions totalled approximately 13.5 million at the end of 2006. However, criminal offence and preventive detention laws generated some self censorship from local Internet content sources. Examples are bloggers, Internet news providers and NGO campaigners. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down 11 Web sites for breaking rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet. Neither the MCMC nor the government released the names of the 11 Web sites. The CMA requires certain Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. Previously, the government stated that it did not intend to enforce controls on Internet use but that it would punish the misuse of information technology. The CMA permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a court deems offensive. Besides that, almost all the newspaper companies are under a political control. This is where the politician uses the publications to spread their news to the public. The biggest press group was Media Prima which is owned by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad which has close ties with the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and government. Media Prima owns the leading English-language newspaper The New Straits Times, the second biggest Malaysia-language paper Berita Harian, Malay Mail, Harian Metro and the ShinMin Daily News. In addition, Media Prima owns four terrestrial TV channels. However, the acquirement of Nanyang from MCA two years ago which is 2005 has since setup its monopoly in Chinese media. Sin Chew Media Group was being owned by the timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King. He already corners about 90% of the Chinese language newspaper market, with his control of Sin Chew ,which publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, and Nanyang Holdings, which has Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. As for The Star, it was owned by MCA while MIC owned Malaysia Nanban. Economic environment 2009 will bound to be a very challenging year for Malaysia, although Malaysias economy is holding up pretty well this year. The first half of 2009 is expected to be a very tough period for Malaysia. The impact on Malaysia this year has somehow been cushioned but many are beginning to feel the economic downturn towards the year-end. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, much has been said and published about its economic and financial impact, but relatively little has been said about the socio-economic impact. While it is not difficult to observe the direct and often immediate unpleasant social impact of the crisis, little is known about their indirect and long-term effect on the countrys human development and social capital potential which are increasingly acknowledged in developing economies as a critical factor for sustainable development. Economic pressures are becoming the primary forces determining the behaviour of Malaysian newspaper companies. It is increasingly clear that the responses of some newspaper managers are affecting journalistic quality, producing practices that reduce the social value of newspaper content and that redirect the atten ­tion of newspaper workforce from journalism to activities primarily related to the business interests of the press. This situation has promoted encouraged self-interested behaviour aimed at exploiting market potential, and there is a growing conflict between the role of newspapers as servants of readers and the exploitation of readers to seek additional com ­mercial gain. It should not be surprising that the public increasingly sees the press as just another business that is more concerned with its own economic interests than with the broader interests of those it purports to serve. This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. The graph above shows the overall performance of Malaysian in economy. We can see the economy started to drop from the middle for second quarter of 2008 till 2009. (Source: CIA World Fact book, September 17, 2009) The print media is already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Newspaper adex has fallen for four consecutive months from October to January 2009. In January, newspaper adex declined 4% year on year to RM258.6 million while total adex for the media industry as a whole (TV, radio and print) inched up 2% year to year. This means that newspaper companies suffered a bigger blow than other media channels. As an open economy, Malaysia was badly affected by the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The major decline in exports, in turn, affected domestic demand. Thus, economic growth contracted 6.2% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the decline narrowed to 3.9% in the second quarter, assisted by speedy and effective operation of stimulus packages as well as monetary easing. Economic performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year, supported by counter-cyclical measures and reinforced by stabilization in the global economic environment. As such, the economy is expected to turn around in the fourth quarter, though for the year it is estimated to contract 3%. The current environment exists as the Malaysian newspaper industry faces an uncertain future because of inactive markets, increasing competition from other media for audience attention, use by progressively smaller portions of the population and changes in advertiser media choices. It is a common view that the newspaper business is elastic because people read the papers every day, regardless of the economic climate. People want to know the latest happenings in good times and bad. It is expected to see a slowing down in adex in this year, 2009, with the absence of any major events, together with the weakening economic climate. The lower economic growth forecast has an effect on the newspaper industry including advertising. Last years growth was driven by worldly TV adex (up 20%), newspaper (8%), radio (21%) and point-of- sale (28%). Malaysia Advertising Expenditure Trends Year 1997 to 2008 Circulation Generally, there is a total newspaper circulation rise since 1998. The actual figure in appendix for 2008 should have rose higher though if the data from Nanyang, Malay Mail and Weekend Mail are included. Newsprint has not dead yet and will co-exist with online media. The circulation growth has been steadily all these years which contributed by the increase of the population and the knowledge of society. There are a few online news portals which without print circulation have been gaining huge popularity since last year. This creating a strong competition in online space compared to the print circulation. In English newsprint, The Star is still far ahead of everyone. As for The Sun, it considers that it offers free controlled circulation. Competition in Malay circulation is only reserved for the big three which similar to the online scenario shown in figure 2 at appendix. Harian Metro is gaining popularity in recent years. This had posed a challenged to Utusan Malaysias top position. Another famous trend in the Malay segment is newspaper sales on weekends are generally much higher than working days. Societal About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year, according to comScore Media Metrix (digital marketing research company). While the figures quoted in May edition of OnMedia, OmicomMediaGroups industry newsletter, were based on average daily readership for the online news sites over the past year from March 2008 to February 2009. In total, the average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiakini led online English news sites with 91,943 average daily visitors over the past year. In second place was The Star Online with 74,417 readers a day. Malaysia-Today.net registered 12,948 readers daily, putting it in third place. The New Straits Times Online came in fourth with an average of 16,871 readers a day. However, in fifth place was theedgedaily.com, the website of The Edge Malaysia, which averaged 3,844 readers daily over the past year. However, according to Google Analytics which monitors online site traffic, since its relaunch in March this year as theedgemalaysia.com, the site has averaged around 14,000 readers daily. For the Malay-language online portals, Utusan Malaysia Online led with an average daily readership of 70,641 over the past year. It was followed by Berita Harian Online which averaged 55,764 readers a day for the past year. myMetro (the website of Harian Metro) averaged 51,767 readers daily, placing it third. ChinaPress dotCom was the most popular of the Chinese-language online news portals with an average of 29,950 readers a day. It was closely followed by nanyang.com which averaged 27,168 a day, and Sinchew-i which received an average of 23,779 readers a day. Key points that emerged from the study, if price were not a factor and if their choice was restricted to paper, online, e-paper and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents would pick traditional newspapers as their first choice for news consumption. While, twenty-nine percent (29%) would make online sources their first choice, with the remaining twenty percent (2%) opting for e-paper or mobile devices first. The gap between traditional newspapers and online was, however, significantly smaller for younger respondents. Both consumers and advertisers have demonstrated a willingness to pay more for high value, topic-specific publications than they would for newspapers providing general news only, wrote authors Marieke van der Donk and Marcel Fenez in the reports executive summary. Financial readers were willing to buy financial online content for 97% as much as they would pay for a traditional paper. Meanwhile, sports fanatics would pay as much as 77% as they would for a traditional paper, for an online edition that focused on sports. The study showed newspapers are still the major sources of news and information for consumers, with survey respondents listing almost equally television, the Internet, and newspapers (free and paid) as their main source of news and information. Moreover, all 4,900 respondents were willing to pay for the general print news content. This is not to say that newspapers should not make the move online, said the report. Over 60% of respondents were willing to pay for general online news. Furthermore, based on the reports findings, a key future trend is the willingness of younger readers to pay for online content. According to the report, newspapers have been able to earn readers trust and loyalty, thus giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media like mobile devices. It also noted that although the rapid adoption of the Internet and mobile technology have created a market for mobile devices, especially for those under 35, they are low on the list of preferences for accessing information because of the difficulty of reading content on these devices. Malaysians are not giving up newspapers for the Internet. This research based on the data sourced from Nielsen Media Index from 2006 to 2008. It shows that newspaper consumption levels held steady all through 2008 despite the rise in Internet consumption. Malaysian newspaper consumption holds steady despite Internet. Its written by Emily Tan, Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 11:24.While the average time a Malaysian spends online has increased by 24% from three hours a day in 2006 to three hours and 46 minutes a day in 2008, the average time spent reading a newspaper has held steady at 49 minutes in the same time span. There is no sign that Malaysians are shifting from newspapers to the Internet, said the report published in PHDs August newsletter — PHD Pioneering. PHD is a media service agency under the Omnicom Media Group. The PHD study found that Malaysians over the age of 30 spend more time reading newspapers and its about 50 minutes daily, while the teenagers and young adults read for about half an hour on average per day. A few online news portals that without print circulation have been gaining a huge popularity since last year, creating a stiff competition in online space compared to the print circulation. As for English newsprint, The Star is still well ahead of everyone, considering The Sun offers free controlled circulation. Newspaper readership in Peninsular Malaysia for the fourth quarter of last year (4Q08) grew about two percentage (2%) points to 55% from 52.9% in the same period in 2007, possibly in tandem with population growth of those aged 15 and above. Bahasa dailies seemed to have gained the most from the slight increase in newspaper readership, growing from 26.8% to 29.3% in the fourth quarter. English dailies saw marginal growth of 0.3 percentage point while Chinese and Tamil dailies saw a drop of 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point correspondingly. This is written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy, Thursday, 05 March 2009, at 17:44. Technology On the other hand, the media industry is challenged by the rapidly changing environment, birth of new digital technologies and advertising money diverting to new media platforms on the internet. The local media industry has yet to capitalize on the full potential of the internet which will remain the fastest and the next powerful media platform, globally. Largely driving this change is technological development but the industry is also being affected by the impact of globalization of media ownership, the phenomenal growth of the internet, and other ambient media such as outdoor, point of sale, television, bus and taxi sites. The process of creating media strategies has become more complex and dynamic with the introduction of very highly developed software designed to optimize media selection against an unending range of criteria. There is a growing movement away from the use of simple age sex demographics for most media assumptions and an increasing appreciation of the need for a more holistic understanding of current and potential customers, including characteristics such as media usage, buyer behaviour, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. According to Nielsen Media Index, while mainstream media continues to control the Malaysian media scene, the internet is fast catching up. There was a double growth in internet penetration which reaching up to two out of ten people compared to five years ago. The executive director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia, Andrea Douglas said that internet will become a more important part of the media mix with its continuous growth in the market. She added that Malaysians are decided to go on online news for faster and constant updates. This can be seen by the 35% growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers. Those who only read news online exclusive online newspaper readers, it grew from 55,000 to 70,000 in 2008. The index signified a 21% increase in internet users with almost four out of ten users spending one to two hours on the internet every day. Increasing internet penetration goes hand-in-hand with increased Internet usage. However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news through a hard copy. Apart from more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for citizen are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Within the Top 10 categories, nine categories advertised online but the spending only between less than 1% and 3% of the total budget online. Newspaper industry players have to constantly evolve themselves to stay ahead by improving technology and addressing readers preferences. The second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop urged the industry to play actively its role by involving themselves in developing the digital medium instead of ignoring it. He said it in his keynote address at the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association forum. Nor Mohamed said that with the online global reach, publish news about the countrys development became faster and easier. He added that to promote Malaysia as a developing and stable nation to potential foreign investors, information reported must be accurate. This image would be able to attract more foreign investments and visitors in Malaysia. As for Group M chief executive officer, Henry Tan said that as technology drove change, consumers, media, media agencies and clients were changing as well. New generation was created by new technology while new media structure and ownership will strengthen competition. The role of media agencies has expanded to more than just planning and buying media spots. Agencies also have to recognize changes in clients and deal with each one differently. Dow Jones Asia-Pacific sales director, Mark Hollands said change was not uncommon in the print media which comprised it to be better and more efficient. Potential new revenue stream and the branding improvement from a strong online presence in the combination of global trend, these have seen that local traditional news organizations begin to put more resources on the online platform. Besides, they also hired people who recognize the benefits of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking site Facebook, and Twitter, the so-called SMS of the Internet. The growing popularity of online news sites where readers can read for free is one reason decision-makers at traditional news organizations find it very hard to raise cover prices for their printing product. A drop in circulation numbers directly impacts the advertising rate which a publication commands. According to the On Media newsletter, the circulation numbers from Nielsen Media Research signified online news portals have not affected print newspaper that much though online readership has increased rapidly over the past year. At present, online news sites still do not enjoy the level of loyalty and commitment shown by readers to newsprint. Online readership tends to change based on economic, political and social events, said the newsletter. Based on Nielsen Media Research and Com Score, the newsletter concluded that readers spend less time reading online news than print. About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year according to ComScore Media Metrix, a digital marketing research company. The average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiankini led online English news sites average daily visitors over the past year. As for The Star Online was placing second. Utusan Malaysia Online led Malay-language online followed by Berita Harian Online. As for the Chinese-language online news portals, ChinaPress dotcom was the most popular. There are more on societal changes. Managing director of Omnicom Media Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis said that newsprint have little to fear from online news portals. He said that newspapers must learn to pull on their online portals to add value and enhance their offerings to the consumer. The industry has seen a decline in newspaper adex over the past three years, from 58% in 2006 to 54% 2008 said the Nielsen Co Malaysia executive director Andrea Douglas. She said that the reasons for these changes are difficult to said but some categories have changed their spending patterns. There has been a decline in residential ad spending due to the economic downturn and this category is almost fully print advertising. The web has introduced new advertising potential and new media that could be eroding the traditional print share. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 65 per cent below 40 and 35 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 62 per cent below 40 and 38 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. The readership of age above 55 years old in 2006 increases 3.5% compared with the readership of age 55 years old in 2005. The old generation between the age of 55 and above are still enthusiastic supporters of newspapers while the younger generation appear to be much in tune with computers and the internet. The newspapers are not only challenged by online websites but also the electronic media having regular updates in the news bulletin. Many youngsters enjoyed reading serious news on the internet rather than from the newspapers. Hence, newspaper publisher should focus on public from the age of 55 and above. According to a statistic from Department of Statistics, Malaysia, the population of Malaysia is increasing. The population of age 15 and below is decreasing every year. The decreasing rate of year 2002 to 2004 is 0.3% whereas the decreasing rate of year 2005 to 2008 is 0.2%. The population of age 64 and above is increasing every year by 0.1 % except for the year 2005 and 2006 which remain same at 4.3%. The same pattern of readership frequency could also be observed among the respondents with different educational backgrounds. According to The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000, the frequency of newspaper readership continued to be the highest among those with tertiary education where 60.0% of them read the newspaper daily. This was followed by those with secondary education (44.1%) with the lowest frequency (28.1%) among those with primary or lower education. In terms of locality, The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000 also revealed that 49.3% of the urban respondents read the newspaper daily compared to those in rural areas (39.8%). On the frequency of readership, the opposite situation could also be observed in the other categories (a few times a week, once a week, or seldom). For example, about one-third (32.1%) of the rural respondents and similarly about 34.4% of the urban respondents read newspapers only a few times a week. Identify the rivalry currently exists in the industry in which the company is operating. Are there many competitor or just a few competitor or no competitor? There are many competitors around Star Publication. For instance, Berita Harian, Guang Ming Daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sun Daily, Utusan Malaysia, and also New Straits Times. The largest Star Publication newspaper competitor is the New straits Times. The sell recommendation of analysts on Star Publications (M) Bhd are the countrys largest and most profitable print media group and as well as other media stocks, such as Media Chinese International Ltd and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, shows the current negativity on the industrys earnings prospects in the coming quarters, if not years. The Nielsen Media Report shows that Stars gross adex dived 20.6% y-o-y in January. Citi Investment Researchs analyst Alyson Shin has noticed that the page count for classified advertisements, which make up 25% of Stars advertising revenue, has fallen 33% to 40 pages from 60 pages in better times. Alyson Shin mention that Star has raised its advertising rates by an average 4% for both classified and display advertisements for the heavier days which is Wednesday to Saturdays. However, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the drop in adex in FY (Financial Year) 2009. Factoring in the 4% ad rate hike, we still forecast adex to contract 12% in FY2009, Alyson Shin comments in a February research report. Over the past two decades, Star has grown by shooting up and bounds in terms of earnings as well as manpower, after its English daily, The Star, overtook its main rival New Straits Times. The groups fixed operating costs have blown up. Its total operating costs that inclusive of printing and the newsprint have been above RM600 million in the past three years. This ascend to RM651.2 million in FY (financial year) 2008 versus revenue of RM831 million and net profit of RM138.9 million. The high fixed cost structure is a blessing for the group when advertisers are fighting for space in the newspaper because of the profit margin is getting bigger as the advertisement relative amount rises. Star has been the case this for over the past 10 years. It is the countrys most profitable newspaper with a handsome pre-tax profit margin of 24.2%, compared with its rival NST (New Strait Times) which manages only 9.5%. NSTP lost much of its thump over the past 25 years, especially on two separate occasions. During Operasi Lalang in October 1987, Star Publications (M) Bhds licence was revoked under a plan to crack down on the opposition leaders and social activists. After Star got back its licence, its readership and circulation surged. According to Nielsen Media Research, as at end-2008, NSTPs flagship newspaper New Straits Times had a readership of 308,000 while New Sunday Times readership stood at 263,000. As at end-June last year, New Straits Times circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, stood at 136,530 while that of New Sunday Times was 156,910. These figures cannot rival that of its main competitor, Star Publications, which had a readership of more than one million for both its daily and Sunday paper. Stars circulation was over 300,000 daily. Are the products/ services offered by company very much different from its competitors in terms of price/feature/others. KUNTUM An educational monthly in Bahasa Malaysia for children ages 6 to 12. In keeping with its Learning is Fun motto, the Kuntum Club organises many fun activities and ho Star Newspaper Business Study Star Newspaper Business Study COMPANY BACKGROUND Companys history The Star was first published regionally in George Town, Penang on the 9th of September, 1971. The Star went to become a national newspaper on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. To adapt a growing staff and a new press incorporating the latest technology, it moved its headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to its present premises in Petaling Jaya in 1981. The Star created histor y on June 23, 1995 when it became the first Malaysian newspaper and the third in Asia to launch a World Wide Web edition. In addition to that, The Star also achieved a new milestone in its corporate history in the same year by being listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, The Star relocated in stages to its very own 17 storey premises, Menara Star in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. In January 2002, The Stars new printing plant, Star Media Hub was officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi in Shah Alam, Selangor. The Star also has a new office and printing plant, Star Northern Hub in Bayan Lepas, Penang. About The Star and Sunday Star The Star weekday paper is packaged as a 4-in-1 paper, comprising the Main Paper, StarBiz and StarTwo. The Main Paper covers the latest in regional, national and as well as international news while StarBiz offers a comprehensive coverage of local and international financial news such as market trends, financial reports and latest market updates. StarTwo features articles on lifestyle, entertainment, health, parenting, social issues and et cetera. Every Sunday, there is an additional section known as Sunday Star. For the Sunday Star, it covers current local and as well as worldwide news. Apart from that, Sunday Star also contains an educational section where careers, further education, exams tips and various comments are featured within. Board of Directors The current Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad is Dato Clement Hii Chii Kok whereas the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer is Datin Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh. There are two Executive Director in the company which is Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal Mohamed Hashim and Mr. Ng Beng Lye. And the Group Editorial / Education Advisor is Dato Ng Poh Tip. Groups Financial Highlights The revenue of the company as at 31 December 2008 is RM 831,040,000. Profit before tax is RM201, 463,000 whereas the profit after tax is RM138, 701,000 which show that the tax expense is RM 62,762,000. Political and Legal Environment There is one law in Malaysia that protects media freedom that is Article 10 of the Constitution. It also notes that there are limits to this freedom, and that these limits are, generally, defined by the Government. The constitution provides freedom for speech of the press. However, some important legal limitations exist. According to the government, it forced restrictions on the media to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with other countries. The law that provides legislation in the interest of security or public order may restrict freedom of speech. Example, Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues sensitive such as racial and religious matters. Government used Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, criminal defamation laws, and other laws to limit and threaten political speech. As for Printing Presses and Publications Act, it requires local and foreign publications to apply annually to the government for a permit. This is to make publication of wicked news a punishable offense and authorized the minister of internal security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. Besides, it also prohibits court challenges to delay or revocation of publication permits. According to the government, these conditions make sure that the media did not spread twisted news and were necessary to preserve harmony and promote peaceful in a multiracial country. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail, a fine, or both. This is along with the government power over annual license renewal and other policies inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in widespread self-censorship. Government had banned some foreign newspapers and magazines and, occasionally, covered up foreign magazines or newspapers. Furthermore, you could point to the guarantees under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) if you want to impress the crowd which covers broadcasting and Internet. The guarantees under this act are no monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves and nothing in the Act is to be regarded as censorship of the Internet. No monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves is that no group of companies should own enough of the radio and television stations to prevent listeners and viewers from having a choice of material. So far is all good but they have not seen it put into practice as yet. As for censorship of the Internet, it is a bit more of a problem. Although there is not any censorship or control of the Internet under this Act, doesnt mean there isnt any censorship of the Internet. Internet access was widely available and internet subscriptions totalled approximately 13.5 million at the end of 2006. However, criminal offence and preventive detention laws generated some self censorship from local Internet content sources. Examples are bloggers, Internet news providers and NGO campaigners. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down 11 Web sites for breaking rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet. Neither the MCMC nor the government released the names of the 11 Web sites. The CMA requires certain Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. Previously, the government stated that it did not intend to enforce controls on Internet use but that it would punish the misuse of information technology. The CMA permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a court deems offensive. Besides that, almost all the newspaper companies are under a political control. This is where the politician uses the publications to spread their news to the public. The biggest press group was Media Prima which is owned by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad which has close ties with the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and government. Media Prima owns the leading English-language newspaper The New Straits Times, the second biggest Malaysia-language paper Berita Harian, Malay Mail, Harian Metro and the ShinMin Daily News. In addition, Media Prima owns four terrestrial TV channels. However, the acquirement of Nanyang from MCA two years ago which is 2005 has since setup its monopoly in Chinese media. Sin Chew Media Group was being owned by the timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King. He already corners about 90% of the Chinese language newspaper market, with his control of Sin Chew ,which publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, and Nanyang Holdings, which has Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. As for The Star, it was owned by MCA while MIC owned Malaysia Nanban. Economic environment 2009 will bound to be a very challenging year for Malaysia, although Malaysias economy is holding up pretty well this year. The first half of 2009 is expected to be a very tough period for Malaysia. The impact on Malaysia this year has somehow been cushioned but many are beginning to feel the economic downturn towards the year-end. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, much has been said and published about its economic and financial impact, but relatively little has been said about the socio-economic impact. While it is not difficult to observe the direct and often immediate unpleasant social impact of the crisis, little is known about their indirect and long-term effect on the countrys human development and social capital potential which are increasingly acknowledged in developing economies as a critical factor for sustainable development. Economic pressures are becoming the primary forces determining the behaviour of Malaysian newspaper companies. It is increasingly clear that the responses of some newspaper managers are affecting journalistic quality, producing practices that reduce the social value of newspaper content and that redirect the atten ­tion of newspaper workforce from journalism to activities primarily related to the business interests of the press. This situation has promoted encouraged self-interested behaviour aimed at exploiting market potential, and there is a growing conflict between the role of newspapers as servants of readers and the exploitation of readers to seek additional com ­mercial gain. It should not be surprising that the public increasingly sees the press as just another business that is more concerned with its own economic interests than with the broader interests of those it purports to serve. This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. The graph above shows the overall performance of Malaysian in economy. We can see the economy started to drop from the middle for second quarter of 2008 till 2009. (Source: CIA World Fact book, September 17, 2009) The print media is already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Newspaper adex has fallen for four consecutive months from October to January 2009. In January, newspaper adex declined 4% year on year to RM258.6 million while total adex for the media industry as a whole (TV, radio and print) inched up 2% year to year. This means that newspaper companies suffered a bigger blow than other media channels. As an open economy, Malaysia was badly affected by the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The major decline in exports, in turn, affected domestic demand. Thus, economic growth contracted 6.2% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the decline narrowed to 3.9% in the second quarter, assisted by speedy and effective operation of stimulus packages as well as monetary easing. Economic performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year, supported by counter-cyclical measures and reinforced by stabilization in the global economic environment. As such, the economy is expected to turn around in the fourth quarter, though for the year it is estimated to contract 3%. The current environment exists as the Malaysian newspaper industry faces an uncertain future because of inactive markets, increasing competition from other media for audience attention, use by progressively smaller portions of the population and changes in advertiser media choices. It is a common view that the newspaper business is elastic because people read the papers every day, regardless of the economic climate. People want to know the latest happenings in good times and bad. It is expected to see a slowing down in adex in this year, 2009, with the absence of any major events, together with the weakening economic climate. The lower economic growth forecast has an effect on the newspaper industry including advertising. Last years growth was driven by worldly TV adex (up 20%), newspaper (8%), radio (21%) and point-of- sale (28%). Malaysia Advertising Expenditure Trends Year 1997 to 2008 Circulation Generally, there is a total newspaper circulation rise since 1998. The actual figure in appendix for 2008 should have rose higher though if the data from Nanyang, Malay Mail and Weekend Mail are included. Newsprint has not dead yet and will co-exist with online media. The circulation growth has been steadily all these years which contributed by the increase of the population and the knowledge of society. There are a few online news portals which without print circulation have been gaining huge popularity since last year. This creating a strong competition in online space compared to the print circulation. In English newsprint, The Star is still far ahead of everyone. As for The Sun, it considers that it offers free controlled circulation. Competition in Malay circulation is only reserved for the big three which similar to the online scenario shown in figure 2 at appendix. Harian Metro is gaining popularity in recent years. This had posed a challenged to Utusan Malaysias top position. Another famous trend in the Malay segment is newspaper sales on weekends are generally much higher than working days. Societal About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year, according to comScore Media Metrix (digital marketing research company). While the figures quoted in May edition of OnMedia, OmicomMediaGroups industry newsletter, were based on average daily readership for the online news sites over the past year from March 2008 to February 2009. In total, the average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiakini led online English news sites with 91,943 average daily visitors over the past year. In second place was The Star Online with 74,417 readers a day. Malaysia-Today.net registered 12,948 readers daily, putting it in third place. The New Straits Times Online came in fourth with an average of 16,871 readers a day. However, in fifth place was theedgedaily.com, the website of The Edge Malaysia, which averaged 3,844 readers daily over the past year. However, according to Google Analytics which monitors online site traffic, since its relaunch in March this year as theedgemalaysia.com, the site has averaged around 14,000 readers daily. For the Malay-language online portals, Utusan Malaysia Online led with an average daily readership of 70,641 over the past year. It was followed by Berita Harian Online which averaged 55,764 readers a day for the past year. myMetro (the website of Harian Metro) averaged 51,767 readers daily, placing it third. ChinaPress dotCom was the most popular of the Chinese-language online news portals with an average of 29,950 readers a day. It was closely followed by nanyang.com which averaged 27,168 a day, and Sinchew-i which received an average of 23,779 readers a day. Key points that emerged from the study, if price were not a factor and if their choice was restricted to paper, online, e-paper and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents would pick traditional newspapers as their first choice for news consumption. While, twenty-nine percent (29%) would make online sources their first choice, with the remaining twenty percent (2%) opting for e-paper or mobile devices first. The gap between traditional newspapers and online was, however, significantly smaller for younger respondents. Both consumers and advertisers have demonstrated a willingness to pay more for high value, topic-specific publications than they would for newspapers providing general news only, wrote authors Marieke van der Donk and Marcel Fenez in the reports executive summary. Financial readers were willing to buy financial online content for 97% as much as they would pay for a traditional paper. Meanwhile, sports fanatics would pay as much as 77% as they would for a traditional paper, for an online edition that focused on sports. The study showed newspapers are still the major sources of news and information for consumers, with survey respondents listing almost equally television, the Internet, and newspapers (free and paid) as their main source of news and information. Moreover, all 4,900 respondents were willing to pay for the general print news content. This is not to say that newspapers should not make the move online, said the report. Over 60% of respondents were willing to pay for general online news. Furthermore, based on the reports findings, a key future trend is the willingness of younger readers to pay for online content. According to the report, newspapers have been able to earn readers trust and loyalty, thus giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media like mobile devices. It also noted that although the rapid adoption of the Internet and mobile technology have created a market for mobile devices, especially for those under 35, they are low on the list of preferences for accessing information because of the difficulty of reading content on these devices. Malaysians are not giving up newspapers for the Internet. This research based on the data sourced from Nielsen Media Index from 2006 to 2008. It shows that newspaper consumption levels held steady all through 2008 despite the rise in Internet consumption. Malaysian newspaper consumption holds steady despite Internet. Its written by Emily Tan, Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 11:24.While the average time a Malaysian spends online has increased by 24% from three hours a day in 2006 to three hours and 46 minutes a day in 2008, the average time spent reading a newspaper has held steady at 49 minutes in the same time span. There is no sign that Malaysians are shifting from newspapers to the Internet, said the report published in PHDs August newsletter — PHD Pioneering. PHD is a media service agency under the Omnicom Media Group. The PHD study found that Malaysians over the age of 30 spend more time reading newspapers and its about 50 minutes daily, while the teenagers and young adults read for about half an hour on average per day. A few online news portals that without print circulation have been gaining a huge popularity since last year, creating a stiff competition in online space compared to the print circulation. As for English newsprint, The Star is still well ahead of everyone, considering The Sun offers free controlled circulation. Newspaper readership in Peninsular Malaysia for the fourth quarter of last year (4Q08) grew about two percentage (2%) points to 55% from 52.9% in the same period in 2007, possibly in tandem with population growth of those aged 15 and above. Bahasa dailies seemed to have gained the most from the slight increase in newspaper readership, growing from 26.8% to 29.3% in the fourth quarter. English dailies saw marginal growth of 0.3 percentage point while Chinese and Tamil dailies saw a drop of 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point correspondingly. This is written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy, Thursday, 05 March 2009, at 17:44. Technology On the other hand, the media industry is challenged by the rapidly changing environment, birth of new digital technologies and advertising money diverting to new media platforms on the internet. The local media industry has yet to capitalize on the full potential of the internet which will remain the fastest and the next powerful media platform, globally. Largely driving this change is technological development but the industry is also being affected by the impact of globalization of media ownership, the phenomenal growth of the internet, and other ambient media such as outdoor, point of sale, television, bus and taxi sites. The process of creating media strategies has become more complex and dynamic with the introduction of very highly developed software designed to optimize media selection against an unending range of criteria. There is a growing movement away from the use of simple age sex demographics for most media assumptions and an increasing appreciation of the need for a more holistic understanding of current and potential customers, including characteristics such as media usage, buyer behaviour, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. According to Nielsen Media Index, while mainstream media continues to control the Malaysian media scene, the internet is fast catching up. There was a double growth in internet penetration which reaching up to two out of ten people compared to five years ago. The executive director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia, Andrea Douglas said that internet will become a more important part of the media mix with its continuous growth in the market. She added that Malaysians are decided to go on online news for faster and constant updates. This can be seen by the 35% growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers. Those who only read news online exclusive online newspaper readers, it grew from 55,000 to 70,000 in 2008. The index signified a 21% increase in internet users with almost four out of ten users spending one to two hours on the internet every day. Increasing internet penetration goes hand-in-hand with increased Internet usage. However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news through a hard copy. Apart from more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for citizen are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Within the Top 10 categories, nine categories advertised online but the spending only between less than 1% and 3% of the total budget online. Newspaper industry players have to constantly evolve themselves to stay ahead by improving technology and addressing readers preferences. The second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop urged the industry to play actively its role by involving themselves in developing the digital medium instead of ignoring it. He said it in his keynote address at the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association forum. Nor Mohamed said that with the online global reach, publish news about the countrys development became faster and easier. He added that to promote Malaysia as a developing and stable nation to potential foreign investors, information reported must be accurate. This image would be able to attract more foreign investments and visitors in Malaysia. As for Group M chief executive officer, Henry Tan said that as technology drove change, consumers, media, media agencies and clients were changing as well. New generation was created by new technology while new media structure and ownership will strengthen competition. The role of media agencies has expanded to more than just planning and buying media spots. Agencies also have to recognize changes in clients and deal with each one differently. Dow Jones Asia-Pacific sales director, Mark Hollands said change was not uncommon in the print media which comprised it to be better and more efficient. Potential new revenue stream and the branding improvement from a strong online presence in the combination of global trend, these have seen that local traditional news organizations begin to put more resources on the online platform. Besides, they also hired people who recognize the benefits of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking site Facebook, and Twitter, the so-called SMS of the Internet. The growing popularity of online news sites where readers can read for free is one reason decision-makers at traditional news organizations find it very hard to raise cover prices for their printing product. A drop in circulation numbers directly impacts the advertising rate which a publication commands. According to the On Media newsletter, the circulation numbers from Nielsen Media Research signified online news portals have not affected print newspaper that much though online readership has increased rapidly over the past year. At present, online news sites still do not enjoy the level of loyalty and commitment shown by readers to newsprint. Online readership tends to change based on economic, political and social events, said the newsletter. Based on Nielsen Media Research and Com Score, the newsletter concluded that readers spend less time reading online news than print. About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year according to ComScore Media Metrix, a digital marketing research company. The average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiankini led online English news sites average daily visitors over the past year. As for The Star Online was placing second. Utusan Malaysia Online led Malay-language online followed by Berita Harian Online. As for the Chinese-language online news portals, ChinaPress dotcom was the most popular. There are more on societal changes. Managing director of Omnicom Media Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis said that newsprint have little to fear from online news portals. He said that newspapers must learn to pull on their online portals to add value and enhance their offerings to the consumer. The industry has seen a decline in newspaper adex over the past three years, from 58% in 2006 to 54% 2008 said the Nielsen Co Malaysia executive director Andrea Douglas. She said that the reasons for these changes are difficult to said but some categories have changed their spending patterns. There has been a decline in residential ad spending due to the economic downturn and this category is almost fully print advertising. The web has introduced new advertising potential and new media that could be eroding the traditional print share. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 65 per cent below 40 and 35 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 62 per cent below 40 and 38 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. The readership of age above 55 years old in 2006 increases 3.5% compared with the readership of age 55 years old in 2005. The old generation between the age of 55 and above are still enthusiastic supporters of newspapers while the younger generation appear to be much in tune with computers and the internet. The newspapers are not only challenged by online websites but also the electronic media having regular updates in the news bulletin. Many youngsters enjoyed reading serious news on the internet rather than from the newspapers. Hence, newspaper publisher should focus on public from the age of 55 and above. According to a statistic from Department of Statistics, Malaysia, the population of Malaysia is increasing. The population of age 15 and below is decreasing every year. The decreasing rate of year 2002 to 2004 is 0.3% whereas the decreasing rate of year 2005 to 2008 is 0.2%. The population of age 64 and above is increasing every year by 0.1 % except for the year 2005 and 2006 which remain same at 4.3%. The same pattern of readership frequency could also be observed among the respondents with different educational backgrounds. According to The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000, the frequency of newspaper readership continued to be the highest among those with tertiary education where 60.0% of them read the newspaper daily. This was followed by those with secondary education (44.1%) with the lowest frequency (28.1%) among those with primary or lower education. In terms of locality, The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000 also revealed that 49.3% of the urban respondents read the newspaper daily compared to those in rural areas (39.8%). On the frequency of readership, the opposite situation could also be observed in the other categories (a few times a week, once a week, or seldom). For example, about one-third (32.1%) of the rural respondents and similarly about 34.4% of the urban respondents read newspapers only a few times a week. Identify the rivalry currently exists in the industry in which the company is operating. Are there many competitor or just a few competitor or no competitor? There are many competitors around Star Publication. For instance, Berita Harian, Guang Ming Daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sun Daily, Utusan Malaysia, and also New Straits Times. The largest Star Publication newspaper competitor is the New straits Times. The sell recommendation of analysts on Star Publications (M) Bhd are the countrys largest and most profitable print media group and as well as other media stocks, such as Media Chinese International Ltd and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, shows the current negativity on the industrys earnings prospects in the coming quarters, if not years. The Nielsen Media Report shows that Stars gross adex dived 20.6% y-o-y in January. Citi Investment Researchs analyst Alyson Shin has noticed that the page count for classified advertisements, which make up 25% of Stars advertising revenue, has fallen 33% to 40 pages from 60 pages in better times. Alyson Shin mention that Star has raised its advertising rates by an average 4% for both classified and display advertisements for the heavier days which is Wednesday to Saturdays. However, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the drop in adex in FY (Financial Year) 2009. Factoring in the 4% ad rate hike, we still forecast adex to contract 12% in FY2009, Alyson Shin comments in a February research report. Over the past two decades, Star has grown by shooting up and bounds in terms of earnings as well as manpower, after its English daily, The Star, overtook its main rival New Straits Times. The groups fixed operating costs have blown up. Its total operating costs that inclusive of printing and the newsprint have been above RM600 million in the past three years. This ascend to RM651.2 million in FY (financial year) 2008 versus revenue of RM831 million and net profit of RM138.9 million. The high fixed cost structure is a blessing for the group when advertisers are fighting for space in the newspaper because of the profit margin is getting bigger as the advertisement relative amount rises. Star has been the case this for over the past 10 years. It is the countrys most profitable newspaper with a handsome pre-tax profit margin of 24.2%, compared with its rival NST (New Strait Times) which manages only 9.5%. NSTP lost much of its thump over the past 25 years, especially on two separate occasions. During Operasi Lalang in October 1987, Star Publications (M) Bhds licence was revoked under a plan to crack down on the opposition leaders and social activists. After Star got back its licence, its readership and circulation surged. According to Nielsen Media Research, as at end-2008, NSTPs flagship newspaper New Straits Times had a readership of 308,000 while New Sunday Times readership stood at 263,000. As at end-June last year, New Straits Times circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, stood at 136,530 while that of New Sunday Times was 156,910. These figures cannot rival that of its main competitor, Star Publications, which had a readership of more than one million for both its daily and Sunday paper. Stars circulation was over 300,000 daily. Are the products/ services offered by company very much different from its competitors in terms of price/feature/others. KUNTUM An educational monthly in Bahasa Malaysia for children ages 6 to 12. In keeping with its Learning is Fun motto, the Kuntum Club organises many fun activities and ho