Alfred Hitchcock’s film Essay

By referring closely to two scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s film ‘Psycho’ (1960), give your views in detail on how the director uses the soundtrack and the camera to create fear and suspense in the audience. ‘Psycho’ is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most well known and famous films. The film was made in forty-one days and at a cost of 80,000 dollars. It was shot in black and white to save money but also to create more impact. The film opens with a black background to create fear in the audience. We then see the director’s name, Alfred Hitchcock and the title of the film in the centre of the screen in medium, white text against a black background. The title then splits repeatedly, horizontally and vertically to reveal the rest of the credits. The horizontal and vertical splits suggest and already prepare us for the split personality of Norman Bates. Piercing, high-pitched notes of violins and the deep deafening notes of the cello are introduced to break the silence. The tempo of the music is rapid and frantic to generate terror in the audience. The staccato rhythm of the string instruments also adds to create tension and a perturb feeling. It also makes us feel alert and anxious. The credits and background fades with the music to unveil a panoramic view, which is at a high angle and an extreme close up shot of a city. The camera then pans across the skyline of the American city. Words are super imposed and displayed giving us the precise place, date and time producing the feeling that the audience are there and that it is actually happening, ‘ ‘Phoenix, Arizona, Friday December Eleventh, Two Forty Three pm. ‘ Numbers are displayed in letters to emphasise the date and time and to make sure the audience knows when this is occurring. As the camera pans over apartment blocks and rooftops of buildings, the camera steadily zooms in from a long shot to a medium shot to a close up on apartment block windows. Then the camera zooms in into one particular window, which is slightly open, making the audience curious. It gives the audience a question, where are we being led? We are made to be voyeurs as we are invited and entering the lives of a middle aged man and woman. In this scene, we see the relationship between Marion Crane and Sam Loomis. Alfred Hitchcock gives us the impression of ‘normal behaviour’ in which Marion and Sam present love and affection towards each other. Marion wears white underwear to symbolise purity and innocent whereas later on in the film after she has stolen the money we see her wearing black underwear to symbolise deceit and betrayal. It is in this scene we enter Marion Crane’s life and see everything from her eyes and her point of view. We observe her world and are put into her world. Hitchcock lets us see, hear and think what she sees, hears and thinks. Later in the film, we see Marion driving away from Phoenix with the stolen $40,000. The camera views her face as a close up where we hear a voice over of her thoughts and fears. This technique allows us to enter her mind and feel what she is feeling. As she carries on with her journey, we hear the penetrating and piercing rhythm of the string instruments from the theme tune. This creates awareness and alertness in the audience. In this scene we see an extreme long shot of Marion’s car, which is parked at the roadside in the countryside. She has stopped for a rest. The car is positioned in the bottom right hand corner of the frame. There is no one or nothing to be seen. This makes her seem isolated and deserted and where anything could happen. There is nothing to be heard but the natural sounds of the countryside. We suddenly hear an unknown car coming into the frame from the bottom right hand corner. The unknown car appears to a police car. The car drives past Marion’s car however, reverses behind Marion’s car. The next shot is a medium shot, which is filmed from a low angle and is shown from the side of Marion’s car. As the police officer opens his car door, we see the police badge printed on it. As the officer exits his car, he is walking towards the camera. This effect makes the audience feel that he is walking towards us. The low angle shot is used to convey his authority. This creates fear and makes the audience feel threatened. This scene is made up of many short, sharp cuts, mainly in big close ups. All natural sounds are heard to build up tension and suspense. As the police officer is at Marion’s car side, he knocks on her window. In this shot Marion is lying down. As she hears the knock, she wakes up immediately and abruptly with panic. As she looks at the officer, she appears to very nervous and overcome with anxiety. Her eyes are extremely wide and bold as she is filled with fright. This scene cuts to Marion and then to the officer many times. The camera shows a subjective shot, from Marion’s point of view so when he is looking at her it appears to the audience that he is looking at us. This makes us feel what she does. Dark sunglasses blank the police officer’s eyes out so we cannot tell what he is looking at. This suggests that his eyes are emotionless. As the officer questions Marion, she portrays herself as being nervous by giving short, breathless answers. She acts suspicious when saying ‘why do you want my licence’. The camera then films a privilege shot, so we can see everything that the officer cannot, Marion hiding the stolen money. Again, the camera moves into a subjective shot, when we can see the view from her point as Marion watches the officer look at her licence, to feel her fright and distress. This scene took seven days to film and only lasts forty-five seconds. It opens with Marion taking off her robe for a shower. She is located in a white tile bathroom, which is brightly lit. All the natural sounds are emphasised; toilet being flushed, soap packet being open, movement of shower and shower curtain. This makes the audience watch attentively and be very observant. The first shot is a long shot. Marion having a shower, suggests that she is washing away all her wrong doings to make herself feel unburdened and that she is deciding to put things right. She portrays herself to the audience as being deeply relaxed as she is smiling. A subjective shot of the shower is shown to make us the audience feel as if we are being showered. Hitchcock gives tranquillity and calmness in the audience as he makes us enjoy her shower. As she is showering, she is located in the bottom right corner of the frame, to prepare us for the attack, so we can see what she cannot. The camera films Marion in a close up from the wall side, she was in the centre, however, cuts to another shot which is a privilege, close up to leave the left side of the frame empty with the shower curtain behind. The curtain is translucent, this gives a dramatic effect and lets the audience see the figure approaching. Suddenly, in the left hand corner of the frame, a large, silhouette figure appears to make the audience feel uneasy and tense. It gives us a feeling of wanting to warn Marion of what is behind her. The powerful noise of the shower prevents Marion hearing the figure approaching. The shot remains constant, and then slowly zooms into the mysterious, menacing figure. Marion disappears out of the frame making the audience focus and concentrate on the dark, disturbing figure. Hitchcock makes us believe that the figure is the mother of Norman Bates because the shape of the hair is shown in silhouette. This shot is designed in such a way that the camera shows the figure in shadow because the audience should not be able to see the figure’s face. When the shower curtain is thrown aside, we still see the figure in shadow. A montage of shots is used when we see Marion being attacked. Horror fills the audience as screeching, violent sounds of the violins are introduced. We hear Marion’s terrifying, fearful screams, the sound of Marion being stabbed, the knife against the skin and bone to let the audience know what it feels like. A subjective shot of the knife is shown to produce the feeling that the figure is almost stabbing at us. Rapid shots are shown of the killing, twenty-eight shots in twenty seconds. Several shots are used of Marion moving from side to side and struggling to defend herself to show that she cannot stop the killer. The camera swoops in with a high angled shot of Marion’s blood draining away in the bath. A big close up of Marion’s hand is shown as she slides down the wall. As this is taking place, the deep, heavy sounds of the cello is heard. We see Marion turn around and slide down further, as she does this she reaches out her hand. This suggests she is maybe reaching out to us or to the shower curtain. In the final shot, we see the camera panning to show the blood of Marion draining down the plughole to suggest that her life is draining away. The camera zooms into the plughole where an extreme close up of it is shown and is mixed with Marion’s eye. The eye then becomes a staring, lifeless, emotionless eye. This suggests that we see, hear and think no more from her eye. For its time ‘Psycho’ was one of the most frightening, psychological thrillers ever made and even by today’s standards still has the power to terrify.

How did the ‘Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeal to the collective consciousness of Victorian Society Essay

In the Victorian Era many people were indeed superstitious of various issues that were classified by class, for example, becoming drunk would not be considered as normal, or as proper, with people from the upper classes; whereas with people from lower or working class this would have been deemed a standard activity and most likely occurred on a daily basis. In Robert Louis- Stevenson’s novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde just about every aspect to do with the fear of a typical upper class Victorian is explored by the life of the unfortunate Doctor. The face of Hyde is described as a criminal from everyone’s view and one of the memorable first sightings of Hyde, met by a distant cousin of Mr. Utterson, namely Mr. Enfield, claimed ‘he gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running.’ It’s a human reaction on first sightings of someone never before seen to be very stereotypical, as was the case with many upper class Victorians. If someone from a lower class did not look ordinary than they would most likely be considered a criminal. As such, the reaction from the majority of accusers was as follows: ‘I had a loathing to my gentlemen at first sight. So had the child’s family, which was only natural.’ If this was the case, than there was little the accused could do for himself, because the lower classes were never given the benefit of the doubt when there was an important or rich family involved. ‘I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him.’ Even the doctor had been so taken aback by the ferocity and ugliness of this so-called human, despite doctor’s professionalism not to be judgemental in times when their attention is needed. This only shows the type of opinions that Victorians held from a range of a backgrounds. This appealed to the Victorians in a sense that, by introducing the new police force, they had succeeded with trying to bring in a law abiding country and ridding it of these criminal faces. In the early Victorian years, Charles Darwin produced a theory that claimed we had not been created by God and had instead evolved from nature. He omitted to mention which animal we had evolved from, but many ideas were developed. One such idea was the primitive ancestor reflected the troglodytic actions performed by Mr. Hyde at certain occasions. On one of these occasions Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew. In killing Carew, Hyde ‘clubbed him to the earth’, similar to a caveman, along with ‘ape-like’ fury, and eventually ‘trampling his victim underfoot’. This idea of Darwin’s had induced a new fear in the hearts of Victorian people, that they and others around them could, perhaps, at any time, lose control of themselves or something akin to the actions of Hyde. A brief point could be made about alcohol. In the tale there are many references to the upper class doctors and lawyers; for example Mr. Utterson, who drank alone and only in small amounts for fear of the alcohol giving him cause to lose himself. He could not be seen to embarrass himself, by drinking too much and losing his social standing. This would have rendered him unacceptable to his fellow gentry. This is very similar to the life of Dr. Jekyll as drinking too much would have lead to the exposure of Hyde and his evil deeds. The way in which Victorian London has been described could have intimidated many into behaviour which avoided prejudice, at all costs, from across the classes. The two characters in the novel divided by good and evil both live in completely different conditions in London. As Hyde is a criminal and as he lives in the ‘dismal quarter of Soho, with it’s muddy ways and slatternly passengers’ then it must have caused some relief to the upper classes when they were living in clean conditions and considered to be acceptable places to reside, in turn taking the criminal far away from them. This though, brought around the new danger of these criminals escaping from their filthy conditions and creeping around the streets and labyrinths of those thought to be safe; therefore having access to their private lives and secrets. Also, Hyde’s flat is illustrated as untidy and disorganized, very similar to the life of a criminal, where they would have only a single night perhaps to lay at rest before they had to be on the move. Secrecy played an important part in Victorian lives and Stephenson’s novel explores this. ‘†¦within there was another enclosure, like wise sealed and marked upon the cover as† Not to be opened until the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ and ‘All my drugs were in the cabinet – a long journey down the two pairs of stairs, through the back passage, across the open courtyard and through the anatomical theatre’. In the case of the letter, Jekyll would rather have his secrets unveiled after he has died. This is due to the good doctor trying to save himself from the embarrassment and mockery he would receive had someone discovered what he got up to when he was alone. This was also a problem with many among the upper classes, as their many ‘distractions’ in life, like alcohol, were not considered acceptable, so they would have had to be done in secret. In the second quote, it is a surprise to find a doctor with drugs and medicines hidden away in the most secluded part of this house. This links back to the same point of revealing his habits and what could happen to him, living in shame for the rest of his life. Intolerable to Victorians was shame. This relates back to many Victorians regarding their class as imperatively important, not something to lose in the agony of public humiliation, should their private activities be revealed in the public domain.

A Review Of Marketing Strategy Of Wal Mart Marketing Essay

A Review Of Marketing Strategy Of Wal Mart Marketing Essay Marketing creates strong value addition in the organizational operations and revenues of companies increase remarkably by adopting latest marketing tools and trends. Demand of organizational goods and services is created by using marketing communication means. Marketing is important department of a company just like research and development, accounting, finance, and manufacturing. Chief executive officers have recognized the needs and importance of marketing activities so they appoint dedicated brand managers to promote individual brands. Particularly, CEOs appoint chief marketing officers having equal designation of chief operating officers and chief financial officers. Senior management of companies dedicate substantial resources to enhance value chain in organizational resource management, robust brand management, optimum utilization of resources and creating strong base of loyal customers (Kotler apparel and jewellery, baby care, electronics, home decor, furniture, groceries, h ealth and beauty, music and books, movie, photo, outdoor living, medicines, sports and fitness, toys and video games (Walmart, 2010). Wal-Mart focuses on various procedures to maintain its low cost strategy that is based on various sources. Wal-Mart does not base its supplies to an individual larger supplier but it adopts larger supplier base. By decreasing share of a single supplier in its inventory it manages to strengthen the bargaining power. It has a continuous focus on reducing costs through improvement in inventory control system and logistics system (McPhail, 2006). Likewise, Wal-Mart is determined to develop efficiency and output of its employees. Wal-Mart has positioned its products in market by adopting cost leadership strategy. Wal-Mart has ensured its success due to its lower prices. Thus, low cost leadership strategy is brand recognition of Wal-Mart and consequently serves as effective tool of organization. Wal-Mart adopts various TV ads at its discount or stores to pr omote and sustain its brand. Wal-Mart organization is selected being the leader in supermarket chain in order to evaluate its marketing effectiveness on the achievement of organizational objectives. Contrary to the Wal-Mart, Tesco the competitor of Wal-Mart is chosen for the sake of comparative purpose.

Management Insight Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Management Insight - Research Paper Example g days is known to adhere to ethical practices then when the time comes in the future for placing a person on a position which requires a flawless record then this trait might prove to be useful. Similarly if one has been active in Social Responsibility programs since their early days then the experience gained in this can be used in a manner which is beneficial to both the organization and the society (Loviscky et al., 2007). Businesses in search of new markets and more capital are increasingly expanding not only within the country they originate but to other countries as well. This has given it a global touch and has made the decision making process all the more complex in this environment. Taking into account the conditions of the country it is operating in is of vital importance (Levy, Beechler, Taylor, & Boyacigiller, 2007) I would add IT management as another key outcome to modern management which will be due to the ever-changing nature of businesses processes and the technology being used in it. If I am equipped with this skill then it is less likely that I will be rendered redundant in the future. Loviscky., Greg., Trevino., Linda., Jacobs., & Rick. (2007). Assessing Managers Ethical Decision-making: An Objective Measure of Managerial Moral Judgment.  Journal of Business Ethics,  73(3), 263-285. Levy, O., Beechler, S., Taylor, S. T., & Boyacigiller, N. A. (2007). What We Talk about When We Talk about Global Mindset: Managerial Cognition in Multinational Corporations.  Journal of International Business Studies,38(2),

Strategic Management in Singapore Airlines Research Paper

Strategic Management in Singapore Airlines - Research Paper Example This research report introduces airline industry in general and Singapore Airline in specific. It includes a brief history of the company. However, the focus is on the mission and vision of the company and on the profile of Board of Directors, which run the strategic management of the company. Current marketing strategy of the company is also under discussion. Introduction Air travel is an essential requirement of today’s global world. It provides its users with an easy, fast, and comfortable mode of travel. However, with the economic and social development of the world resulting in almost every developed country launching its international airline, air travel has become an option with considerably large number of choices. Every airline is competing with other airlines to enlarge their customer base on bases of airfare, comfort, services, and travel route. In this competitive environment, the name of â€Å"Singapore Airline† holds a lot of worth. The airline from its la unch until today has grasped a huge share of international air travelers due to its excellent and expert services. The airline with its slogan â€Å"a great way to travel† works hard to provide its customers with the promised experience of excellence. The company describes itself as â€Å"Singapore Airlines has evolved into one of the most respected travel brands around the world. We have one of the world's youngest fleet in the air, a network spanning five continents, and the Singapore Girl is our symbol of quality customer care and service. Customers, investors, partners, and staff — everyone expect excellence of us† (Singapore Airline, 2012). History On 28 January 1972, the Singapore government founded Singapore airline (SIA). It was incorporated as a limited liability public company, completely owned by the Singapore government (Singapore Investor Association, 2006). â€Å"The history of the company dates back to 1947 with the initiation of a scheduled serv ice of Malayan Airways Ltd between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur† (Singapore Airlines, 2012). With the addition of international services and formation of â€Å"Federation of Malaysia in 1963,† the airline acquired the new name of â€Å"Malaysian Airways Ltd† (Singapore Airlines, 2012). Government of Malaysia and Singapore in 1966 acquired joint control of the airline and renamed it to â€Å"Malaysia- Singapore Airline Ltd† (Securities Investor Association, 2006). However, MSA in 1971 was restructured in to two entities: Malaysia Airline System Bhd and SIA (Singapore Airlines, 2012). Mission Singapore airlines describe its mission through its mission statement. The mission statement clearly identifies the main objectives of the company. The statement is as follows: â€Å"Singapore Airlines is a global company dedicated to providing air transportation services of the highest quality and to maximizing returns for the benefits of its shareholders and employeesà ¢â‚¬  (Singapore Airline, 2012) Vision The company considers itself a citizen of the world and aims to excel not only as an excellent company but also as an excellent and responsible citizen of the world. It aims to fulfill this mission, which it believes to be actually its responsibility by enhancing the lives of the people they come in contact with. This is the reason that the company has made numerous commitments to the art, education, communities and health and welfare of their countries’ citizens and of those countries it flies to. It also feels a strong sense of responsibility towards the environment, and so holds a strong commitment towards environment preservation for the future generation (Singapore Invest

High Dropout Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

High Dropout - Essay Example Parents are finding themselves helpless as they are not able to do anything about it. However, dropping out of school is not a random phenomenon. Every action has a reason behind it. The reason can be psychological, social or personal. To prevent students from leaving their education incomplete, it is a responsibility of the society and the educational institutes to find out the reason behind students dropping out of the school and work out an effective and permanent solution for it. If not taken care of on time, this problem can become a major obstacle in the progress of the country. This research is an attempt undertaken to understand the reason for the students dropping out of the school. Give balance The data shows that the proportion of undergraduates in the UK who failed to complete their first year at university increased by 0.3 per cent to 7.4 per cent in 2006-07, the year the government raised top-up fees to  £3,000. (http://www.studentloans.co.uk/news/2009). In England, 7.1 per cent failed to complete their first year, compared with 6.7 per cent prior to the student fees increase.(ibid) In contrast, between 15 per cent and 19 per cent of students at the universities of Greenwich, Sunderland, Bolton and London Metropolitan failed to complete their first year, while one in five studying at the University of Ulster dropped out (ibid). I have a personal experience of this problem. I have two brothers who left university and caused great pain for my parents, but when they grew up they realized that the university was the most important thing in their life. Even though we know that â€Å"university is the best thing†, why we drop out of college? That fact is that, we drop out from the University or college for many reasons. A

The Legacy of Reconstruction and the Impact of Jim Crow on Economic Essay

The Legacy of Reconstruction and the Impact of Jim Crow on Economic Freedom for African Americans - Essay Example 1) arising after Reconstruction ended by 1877. This was further carried forward into the mid 19th century though during Reconstruction and even subsequent to the passing of the Amendments 13th, 14th and 15th have been enacted, giving black Americans their freedom, citizenship and right to vote. Further, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 has made it illegal to segregate schools, public accommodation, modes of transport, juries etc. However, actual practices have remained contrary and in opposition of relevant statutes. Thus, the period is considered as the era of white domination as a divine right, the belief encouraged by the church that whites are the ‘Chosen People’ and blacks are ‘cursed’ to be servants and that God’s will desired racial segregation. This notion has further fanned and spread at every educational level, by the so called intellectual custodians, that blacks are innately intellectually and culturally inferior to whites. This gives impetus to pro white politicians to cry foul of the laws enacted, through eloquent speeches on the great danger of integration, which could lead to what they termed as ‘mongrelization’ of the whites. ... By the end of Reconstruction phase, which literally meant the rebuilding of the shattered nation after the devastating Civil Wars, the African Americans experienced their first taste of freedom and liberty from the oppressive Jim Crow Laws, and embarked on their sojourn to economical and political emancipation. Though the new amendments and enactments of law during the period emphasized the need for freedom and equality to the blacks, the process sustained a setback during the civil wars, pushing the blacks back again into the dark dungeons of slavery. This can be summed up by the remarks of Robert Richardson, former Confederate General that â€Å"the emancipated slaves own nothing. For nothing besides freedom has been given to them† (Chapter 15: â€Å"W hat Is Freedom? 473). However, it is the same slavery and suffering from discrimination that emboldened them to raise their voice and inspired them to fight for freedom. Garrison Frazier, a black Baptiste Minister, states tha t slavery means â€Å"one person’s receiving by irresistible power the work of another man, and not by his consent† and he defines freedom as â€Å"placing us where we could reap the fruits of our own labor and take care of ourselves† and further adds that this could be accomplished by having â€Å"land and turn it and till it by our own labor† (Chapter 15: â€Å"W hat Is Freedom? 440). This contention, in itself, sums up the aspirations of the African Americans about their yearning to break free of the shackles of slavery with their desire to acquire and own land and achieve prosperity. Besides, they also have had a rightful purpose to attain progress through their own hard work, enshrining in their lives the concepts of equality and liberty at par the other citizens. These revolutionary ideas

Week 2 Hand-in Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 2 Hand-in Assignment - Essay Example It consequently follows your every activity on the website that initiated it and the website proprietors receive this information. In E-commerce websites, cookies can and are frequently used to help in keeping the purchase details of each customer. E-commerce website requests for any present cookies when a customer accesses a page. The cookies tell the sites shopping cart what items are in the cart, and when the customer adds a new product or removes it, the server sends a new cookie to the browser that is up to date. When its checkout time, the updated cookie, tells the shopping cart what products have been purchased (Greenstein, 2001, p 35). The transport control protocol (TCP) is a connection-oriented service. This means that it usually has the client and server exchange transport-layer information with one another prior to the flow of the application level messages. Consequently, the client has the responsibility of starting the communication with the server and in order for the server to be able to respond to the client’s first communication, the server needs to be ready. This means that the server application cannot afford to be in an inactive state and must be running even before there is an attempt to generate the communication by the client. Thus, the server application must be executed before the client program (Rajinder, 2007, p

Research Methods CASE1 Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Methods CASE1 - Research Paper Example Qualitative research involves exploring phenomena from an inside point of view, and it provides to the researcher a complex comprehension about the subject in study ( (Rubinstein, 2010). Quantitative research involves studying the behavior of phenomena under controlled conditions that, acquiring quantitative data on the basis of accurate dimensions and generalizable findings (Johnson & Christensen, 2011). Mixed research involves the mixing of both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Action research involves observation and collecting of data that will help the researcher to come up solutions of solving indigenous problems (Johnson & Christensen, 2011). The strength of quantitative research is that, it is beneficial when studying a narrow number of subjects deeply as it gives a complex description of phenomena. Qualitative research assists quantitative research. Quantitative research on its own has the advantage that, it can be independently used for studying a large numb er of phenomena as it has some quantitative methods of collecting data that are comparatively quick (Ndunda, 2004). Being a combination of both qualitative and quantitative techniques is itself strength of the mixed research and hence it can be used for studying a large number of phenomena. Mixed research provides precise, quantitative and numerical data. The advantage of action research is that it involves practitioners who develop their own theories from their own practice gained. Experimental research can be used in a classroom situation, specifically, in grade eight to find out whether discussion groups help in an individual’s academic performance. Here, students are organized in two groups. The first group of students is made to study individually while, the students in the second group are further sub-divided into study-groups of four. After two weeks of study, the two groups are to be given an individual self-test from which the performance of the students

Budgeting Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Budgeting - Coursework Example This is because from fifth month Nod will have sufficient cash not only to meet regular cash payments but also Nod will have sufficient cash to return the overdraft. The consideration is also required for capital expenditure that Nod is planning to incur in the beginning of 2nd year. The cost of car is $15000. Nod will generate $3000 on selling an old car and the rest ?12000 will be easily generated out of operation in next six months. This is because cash by the end of September 2011 after paying overdraft of say $800 will be $13150. Each month enough extra cash will be generated to meet $15000 cost easily. Accordingly Nod is advised to negotiate only for an overdraft of $800 in April for a period of four months. Word count: 221 d) Budgeting and business goals Budgeting has become an essential function of any business activity so much in the sense that it becomes easy to attain the purposes for which the business activity is planned for. In fact management plans to achieve several g oals when budgeting is under taken for a business activity. Under normal circumstances budgets are used for the purposes of attaining control and evaluation, communication with different concerned parties, planning, and motivation of the factors involved in the business process. â€Å"Goal setting is a characteristic of successful business and a budget is a critical part of the process. It is a financial forecast of your operating and capital activities.†(Carol Patterson)i Operating budgets are used for planning the operations to achieve strategic objectives. Operating budget draws the attention of the management toward revenue projections and regular and routine expenditure to raise that projected revenue. The management can set up goals of earning specific revenue in order to meet the required payments for the generation of that revenue and improve the entity’s liquidity to meet unforeseen expenditure and payments. In fact operating budget force the management to pla n for increasing profitability as there is direct relation between economising of the business expenditure and profitability. The main goal of planning and control is always achieved through efficient budgeting. â€Å"The budgeting system is designed to plan and control a business. However, it is common for the budget to be ‘gamed’ by its participants. For example managers may pad their budgets with excess resources. In this way, managers will have additional resources for unexpected events during the period. If the budget is being used to establish the incentive plan, then sales managers have incentives to understate the sales potential of a territory to ensure hitting their quota.†(Carl S Warren, James M. Reeve, and Jonathan Duchac)ii That way revenue or operating budget can be made objectives to be achieved by the operational staff. Incentives when linked with budgets automatically create sort of enthusiasm among the operating staff to achieve budgetary target s or goals. It is believed that businesses should always create and apply budgets in order to keep a check or track of their income and expenses. This is more applicable for small business and operations. Budgeting helps the businesses to project their profitability to be achieved over a period covered by the budget. Budgeting can spot problems and plan in advance the means to rectify those problems and issues. In a way financial

An analysis on the sudden decline of Enron in 2001 Essay Example for Free

An analysis on the sudden decline of Enron in 2001 Essay Enron was company that was formed to the Northern Natural Gas Company which traces its existence to the early 1932 in Nebraska. The company was reorganized back in 1979 and formed as the leading subsidiary company of Internorth. In 1985 the company acquired the smaller Houston Natural Gas and in the process it formed its name to Enron. (Haney 2001, p. 28) Originally the company was involved in the transmitting and distributing electricity and gas in the United States. It was also involved in the development and building of power plants and pipelines. The company extended its services to the rule of law and in other infrastructures in the world. The company owned large had a large network of natural gas pipelines stretching from ocean to ocean and from border to border.   Its holding included Northern Natural Gas, Florida Gas Transition, Trans-western Pipeline Company and a strategic alliance with Northern Border Pipeline from Canada. These holding were real cash woes the kept investors coming to the company. It expanded its ventures and investment in every corner of the country.  Ã‚   These investments helped the company to make huge profits. By 1998 the company had entered the water sector and created the Azurix Corporation. The company floated its shares in the New York Stock Exchange but it failed to make a mark in the market.   It did not break in the water utility market  Ã‚   and ended up as a major money-loser. (Andrew 2001, p. 9) In 2001, Enron announced that it continued to grow wealthier. Due to its pioneering spirit in marketing and promotion of power and communication bandwidth commodities and other related derivatives including exotic items like weather derivatives. The company was named as the most innovative company by the Fortune magazine for 6 consecutive years spinning form 1996-2001. In 2000 it was listed among the Fortunes 100 best companies to work for in America.   It was hailed for its labour and  Ã‚   workforce policies including the long-term pensions and other benefits.   It was one of the well managed companies in America. (Krugman 2001, p. 8) But this fame was not to live long.  Ã‚   The effective management policies that had been associated with the company were at the end exposed to be fraud. It turned out to be the worst corporate fraud ever experienced on American soil. This research will look the rise and the sudden fall of Enron which was famed as one of the greatest companies in American history. Aims and objectives   The main aim for carrying out the study was to have a full understanding of the sudden fall of the great company and the factors that contributed to the fall. This is important as it can provide future guideline in management  Ã‚   as it gives an insight on how effective management can turn and destroy all the good work that it has achieved. The following were the objectives for carrying out the study; †¢ To asses the operation climate of Enron and how the company was able to prosper in the market †¢ To assess the management of the company and how it contributed to the sudden fall of the company. †¢ To asses the corporate fraud that led to the fall of the company Literature review Cases of business scandals are not new in the business world.   It has become the same as being told the that two great companies are merging in a deal worth billions of   dollars and the same story surfaces tomorrow informing you of how the same company have been implicated in a major scandal and financial rip-off.   The business press these days has more stories on business scandals than it has on prosperity of mergers.   It has been shown that although the stock market boom is over, the boom of business scandals is still on. According to Ledbetter (2002)  Ã‚   it has not been a wonder at any moment in life to hear of companies coming together to expand their operations, but it has become more  Ã‚   stunning to hear of prosperous companies involved in all manners of scandals.  Ã‚   It is like the business scandals have become the order of the day. Jayne and Greg (2004) concur that there are many factor that have been contributing to the increased business scandals in the world but some of the factors that have really contributed to the increase is  Ã‚   the effect that they have on the personal lives.   Most of those who have been implicated in business scandal have not been punished in a way that other are likely to learn from them.   For example when Nathan   Chapman   was sent to   jail for 7 ½Ã‚   years   for defrauding the   Maryland state pension fund   system   and for looting  Ã‚   three public trade companies which he owned,   he only thanked  Ã‚   the testimony that was given by   three of   her former mistresses   as they helped to put him behind bars. This shows the many of those who have been implicated in these scandals do not only defraud their trusted shareholders but they also  Ã‚   betray themselves and their families.   Greg shows that these individuals may be suffering from some kind of social or mental deficiencies and they are led by greed, ego, and corrupt ideals. Most of the business scandals do not arise because there are no strong institutions to deter their occurrence but they are caused by individual who are more interested in serving their own interest rather than the interest of their own shareholders.   In this case it has been shown that it is a faulty management that can be  Ã‚   attributed to the rise of business scandals.  Ã‚   It is due to lack of ethics in business scandals continued to hamper the trust of shareholders on corporate leaders. For   example while   Enron   was shown to have strong institution that   were even praised and helped it to  Ã‚   be classified as one of the Fortune 100 companies,   there was not   practice of business ethics   in the company which eventually led to the scandal. (Brewer 2002, p.7) Business ethics are important practices that have been recognised in the business world as them most acceptable ways that helps to have fairness in the practices. Business ethics is a form of applied ethics in business operation which inculcate the ethical principles and the moral and ethical issues and the way they are to be addressed as they arise in the course of operation of the business.   Business ethics is an important cooperate practice that ensure that the business keep to the normative and descriptive factors in the course of its operation. Business ethics  Ã‚   requires a company to do what it is supposed to do and in the right way. Business ethics are the same the social and moral ethics but  Ã‚   as applied in business.  Ã‚   There are ethics that are applicable to all the sectors of business operation.  Ã‚   There are ethics in accounting information, human resource management, sales and marketing production, intellectual property, and in other business areas. Most of the business scandal usually occurs due to lack of practice of business ethics in one of those areas.   In some companies there may be scandals that many occur due to breach of more than one area as listed above. For example in case of Enron in America it had breached ethic in production and distribution of power, human resource, accounting practices, and in other areas. Methodology The study mainly collected data from the secondary sources.   The study used qualitative research using a case study. In this case Enron Company was used as the main sample. The study decided to use qualitative research in order to collect detailed data about enron. By concentrating on Enron, the study was able to gather as much data as possible that was used for the study. The study chose to use qualitative research instead of quantitative research since it wanted to collected detailed data about the operation of the company that would give an insight on what happened and the overall fall of the company. The study was not interested in the quantitative data but it was interested on whom, when and how things happened.   Most the data was collected from secondary source. The study used various sources of data that gave any information regarding the operation of Enron Company. It also looked at various case studies that had been done before regarding Enron and the ethical issue r4egarign the operation of the economy.   The following were used as the main sources of information for the study; †¢ Websites †¢ Periodicals and journals †¢ Magazines †¢ Books †¢ Company reports The data collected was analysed in comparison with the studies that have been done before. The practice that led to the fall of the company was benchmarked on the required ethical practice in the corporate world in America. The research was conducted for one week through the analysis of the above mentioned sources. There were a number of ethical issues that were taken into consideration in the collection of the data. In the process of the correcting data the research visited several  Ã‚   libraries and other sources that could help to get information on the operation of the company.   The researcher ensured that the information that was requested was only the one that pertained to the operation of Enron and its eventual fall. The research also ensured that it reduced the amount of bias in the collection of data as much as possible.   Although it considered personal views that had been expressed by different writers about the operation of the company, it did not bank on their opinion which could have been biased.   Instead it  Ã‚   concentrated on collecting facts. Results   In the 1990s, Enron was   universally accepted as one of   the most innovative companies   that had   made crucial step to adopt to the new market that   and the new economy to record success in an old industry that had remained unattractive due to   the high risk that was involved.   The  Ã‚   company had growth to success very fast and in the same way it coma crumbling down. (Floyd 2001, p. 4) The eventual fall of the company has been attributed to the scandals that ware perpetrated by individual persons  Ã‚   and the whole organization in general.   From the 1990 to1998, Enron’s stock had recorded a rise of 311 percent  Ã‚   and which was considered to be one of the  Ã‚   highest growths in the country. The stock had just soared in a short period in the stock market.   In 1999 the stock further rose by 56% and 87% by 2000. It was rated the most innovative company at the same by the Fortune magazine owing to the success it had made. But his image was to change in a short period of less than one year.   In less than a year the company was in tatter and stock price fall nearly to zero.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The main question that was asked by many people not only the shareholders was what was the main reason behind the fall of Enron once a successful company in period of less than one year? (Bryce 2002, p. 4) Though there were a number of activities that led to the eventual fall of Enron, the unfolding events from 2001 have been earmarked as the final blow that drove the nail in.   The following events that happened in a period of one year were responsible for the fall of the company On August 14 2001 Skilling resigned from the company after heading it for just 6 mothers. He cited the need to  Ã‚   have more time with the family although there was a factor the sagging share price. He was succeeded by Lay as the CEO. On august 22 the vice president Sherron Watking met with Lay in order to discuss a memo she had written citing looming accounting problems. On 12th October, An Arthur Anderson lawyer contacted a senior partner in Houston to remind him that  Ã‚   the company did not uphold a polity of   retaining documents that  Ã‚   were no longer   needed   which prompted the shredding of the   documents., On 16th October the same year Enron which had been posting huge profits before  Ã‚   reported a quarter loss of $638 milling loss and it also disclosed a $1.2 billion reduction in the shareholders equity. This was actually attributed to the  Ã‚   partnership that was run the chief financial office Andrew Fastow. (Gilpin 2001, p. 8) On 22nd October Enron acknowledged Securities and Exchange Commission inquire in the probability of the a conflict of interest which was related to the dealings and partnerships at the company On 23rd October Lay who had assumed the CEO passion expressed his support for Fastow. Fastow was eventually ousted in Oct. 24   On October 31st Enron accused the SEC inquires that had been upgraded into a forma investigation On November 8th Enron restated plans to consolidate partnerships arrangement retroactively.  Ã‚   The profit from 1997 to 2000 had declined by more that $591 million and the debt had increased by more $658 million. (Swartz 2003, p. 3) In November 9th it entered tin a merger with Dynergy In November 28 major credit rating  Ã‚   agencies now downgraded Enron’s debt to junk bond status which made the liability to retire its $4biono f its $13 billion debt. At the same time Dynergy pulled out of the proposed merge. (Berenson 2001, p, 23) On December 2 the company led for bankruptcy in New York and at the same time it sued Dynergy for breach of contract.

The Affects of Cutting Nasas Budget Essay Example for Free

The Affects of Cutting Nasas Budget Essay Many people undermine the importance and contributions of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA. As president Obama is forced to make severe budget cuts, NASA is among the most affected programs to endure the blow. This issue does not take aback many people, but experts say that what is occurring will affect everyone as well as the economy more than they may believe. These extreme budget cuts recently issued by Congress impinge on the NASA space program by having a large impact on culture, and risking the setback of innovation in today’s machine-driven society. With all do respect, I have never seen an 8th grader sit up in their chair and say I want to be an NSF Researcher. With all do respect, these agencies do important scientific work but they are unknown and invisible at the age where people choose what they want to be when they grow up. † [1] Neil Degrasse Tyson brings into play a very important thought as he explains the affect of the budget cuts on the younger population of America. Scientists are worried that if NASA is taken way, we are taking away the birthplace of the STEM research fields. STEM, which stands for Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, and Mathematicians†[2] are those who make up tomorrow, or in other words, our future. By eradicating the space agency, we are also eradicating potential heroes to come. Furthermore, â€Å"NASA is the only agency that taps into the frontiers of all basic subjects including, biology, chemistry, physics, math, astronomy, geology, atmospherics, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. †[3] The people involved in these subjects, who innovate through opportunities given to them by the NASA program, are being deprived of their chance to invent and potentially become heroes. These heroes are those who leave lasting impacts on society and culture. For example, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, and as time progressed, the telephone evolved into the cell phone. Today the cell phone is used for almost everything; web browsing, emergencies, work and entertainment, and serves as a sizeable part of everyday life. Therefore, it’s easy to see that destroying the funds of NASA is simultaneously ruining our chance for new innovative heroes who are likely to create and impact the world we live in. Lastly, during the decade of the 1960’s, the average person knows that this was a decade of many important events; to name a few, the construction of the Berlin Wall, MLK Juniors â€Å"I Have a Dream† Speech, the first heart transplant, the first super bowl, the assassinations of JFK, MLK Jr. , and Kennedy and the Cold War. But most importantly these major events were not necessarily the highlight of the 1960’s but more so â€Å"the shining pearl of that decade was the ‘Mission to the Moon. ’ Everyone was a participant, emotionally and intellectually. [4] Many people say, â€Å"I think we should solve our problems here on Earth before we go into space. †[5] In the year 2007, the requested budget for the NASA program totaled to roughly $17 billion dollars. Numerous people argue that this amount of money could and should be used to solve other problems that concern the people here on Earth. For example hospitals contend that the money should be used for needed medical expenses. Others argue that the money could be used to solve poverty problems and debt.

Market analysis of instant fast food industry

Market analysis of instant fast food industry The concept of non-consumer is vanishing at a faster rate and is becoming almost non existent in the current era of consumerism. Marketers are finding new ways and techniques to rope in new set of consumers previously not looked upon seriously. The trend followed till now was that the housewives bought individual food ingredients ranging from spices, vegetables, butter/ghee, etc. and mixed it in appropriate proportions to prepare a meal. The taste of meal was primarily governed by factors such as expertise of the cook, quality of the ingredients used, cooking time followed, etc. But still one cannot be sure of how will the meal taste. This was more difficult for bachelors, working men living away from family and working women. Marketers were successful to find this gap in highly cluttered food industry. The answer was Ready-to-eat. Ready-to-eat is defined as the status of the food being ready for immediate consumption at the point of sale. It could be raw or cooked, hot or chilled, and can be consumed without further heat-treatment including re-heating.[1] [1] Centre for food safety, Government of Hong Kong These are processed foods and no further processing is required. They are safe to eat and requires few minutes to cook if it requires cooking. The basic principle behind RTE foods is Convenience for normal consumers and Diet nutrition in case of health conscious consumers. The health category of RTE foods is RTE cereals which are rich in vitamins, fibers and have less sugar content. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS United States is one of the major countries of Ready-to-eat foods producers and consumers. All major RTE foods producers with an exception of nestle belong to US. Because of such a big market, advertisers gets quickly attracted. The television advertising budget average for the food industry is 2-4 percent of sales , but the RTE foods segment attract about 13 percent of the sales as advertising budget. India is also emerging market for these products. RTE foods in the normal practice are consumed in a short span of time. The advancement of packaging technology and introduction of retorting technology in India has made these items commercially viable and long lasting i.e. high shelf life. RTE market witnessed a growth of 7% between the year 2000 and 2005. In 2009, Indian RTE foods market was estimated to be around $33.5m, registering a CAGR of approximately 15% over the last five years. RTE segment is expected to grow to a Rs. 2900 cr (US$ 604.20 mn) industry by 2015. (Source: Tata Strategic Management Group) RETORTING PROCESS The operating principle of retorting process is heating foods prone to microbial spoilage in hermetically sealed containers to extend the shelf life. Three factors responsible are : These factors must be taken into consideration while designing a retorting process. Safety is the foremost concern. The retorting process involves inactivation of microorganism that can result in spoilage and in turn affect public health. For this, the F value is the measure followed. F value is the number of minutes to destroy the organism at 250 degree Fahrenheit. Under the food safety standard, different F value has been specified for each microorganism. Over heating also affects the finished product quality. So the product and process has to be designed carefully. Quality of Retort process is determined by two factors: From microorganism side, how much heat is required to inactivate the organism. From processing side, how much heat is reaching the product. The selection of specific retort style is largely affected by following factors : Container shape and size : easier in case of cylindrical shaped Product type : formulation , ingredients , etc. Throughput required Energy Efficiency VARIOUS RTE BRANDS IN INDIA Some other players are : Gits MTR Priya foods Rajbhog Foods Inc. Rainbow Foods India Satnam Overseas Ltd. Tasty Bite, etc. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN READY-TO-EAT (RTE) AND READY-TO-COOK (RTC) Most consumers often lacks clarity to differentiate between RTE and RTC, and often refer both as RTE. But they are different. RTC products are different type of pastes and consumer adds vegetables or meat to prepare a meal/dish. On the other hand, RTE products are complete products which seldom require any preparation and are often in the frozen form/cans/packets. Out of the estimated current production of 20,000 T, about 80 percent is exported. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND FACTORS AFECTING FOOD SELECTION There are various factors influencing buying behavior and motivation among the consumers. In the broader sense, the most dominant factors in food selection are food availability and cultural factors. Societal Considerations With the increase in environmental awareness in the past few years, the food product composition and packaging has become a major determinant of the buying behavior. Health factor has become the primary concern for almost every consumer. This has given rise to the use of natural ingredients (i.e. it contains no additives and no artificial ingredients) and environmentally friendly packaging. Safety and Environment Quality are other food choice motivations by consumers. This is now become the competitive weapon for food marketing. Other factors linked to societal considerations and in turn shape purchase motivations are : Well Being Social relationships Enjoyment Pleasure Personal Identity Food defines the consumer personal identity and it also acts as a self-referent part. Diet change can trigger in redefining the self. Food habits change throughout the life cycle. Consumer in the adolescence stage will have different food habits than in the later stages of life. Gender differences also define the food selection habits. As per the normal understanding men are considered that they have more food than women. The figure conscious female counterpart highly influenced by the slimming industry often vary their food selection based the motivation they have to look good. Weight control (i.e. low in calories, fat and in turn control my weight) is a determinant. Men are more interested in Vitamin content and women are more concerned about the sugar content. Familiarity also kicks in while making food selection. Consumers carry these questions in mind while planning and shopping stuff : Is what I usually eat Is familiar Is like the food I ate when I was a child Convenience Another important factor in food selection is convenience. The stages of consumption process define the relevance of convenience. The most time and energy consuming step is Preparation. But the effort required in this step defines the consumer behavior and factors affecting the food selection. RTE foods producers look forward to this gap while defining their strategies. Sensory Appeal In this era of consumerism and competition, one of the main differentiator is Sensory Appeal. Every consumer want the food to smell and look nice, have a pleasant texture and should taste good. Packaging here plays an important role. In RTE foods, the physical evidence for the consumer is the packed unit. The taste is bound to be as per the standards followed by the company selling the product and is always in line with what consumer want. The difference is created in terms of the look of the packet. Price Price is one of the major motivation factor in food selection. Price factor is always considered and monitored in relative terms. Purchase motivation for RTE foods vary on the following factors: Cost of eating out v/s cost of RTE food Effort required to cook food v/s cost of convenience in RTE food Price of RTE food is determined by following factors : Product Brand Value of the company Type of Packaging Country of origin Shelf life of the product Other factors are following: Product and marketing message Availability of the product in terms of constant stock replenishment Reachability to the store stocking the product Ethical Concern: Country of origin, politically approved country. MEDIUM OF INFORMATION Retailers and food producers tap multiple mediums to highlight the offerings present at the store or under the portfolio respectively. Media RTE Food industrys advertising budget is 13% of sales which is second only to the automobile industry. The average budget for other components of the food industry is 2-4% which is much lower in comparison to RTE. Marketers have always believed that RTE foods need more advertising efforts to tap the new customers and retain old ones. Source: British Food Journal , Volume 105 , Issue 3 Advertising has been the primary weapon. The use of media personalities and cartoons in the ads has always been welcomed by the consumers. Marketers have also tried to rope in children through their ads. The basic principle behind it is to gain their loyalty at a very young stage. Also it acts as a catalyst in Impulse buying at the store level. The only disadvantage of Advertising is high cost involved. Direct mail (DM) Direct mail (DM) is another method to provide information to the consumers to assist in their food purchase. It is also referred to as Direct Marketing. Unlike Advertisements which are broadcasted and their reach is subject to the viewership ratings of the slot they were telecasted in, Direct Mail is more personalized and sent to individual consumers. Since each consumer receives a copy of the offer document customization is possible for a group of consumer with common interests. It also permits marketers to experiment with the mailers and its formats. These are generally used by hypermarkets and supermarkets to notify customers of daily, weekly or fortnightly offers. Through these direct mails the store also sends coupons and schemes to the customers catering to a particular festive seasons which are believed to be higher sale period. The new concept in direct mail being followed these days is Targeting Mailing. Marketers define the target group for the mails and then through database analysis send the mailers to only that group. This in turn has following advantages : More Direct Communication Saves cost Only Potential customers are notified and other customers are not disturbed. Disadvantages of Direct Mail : Often treated as junk or spam by the consumers Stores can only differentiate on the basis of offers and the way it is communicated through DM Internet Among the sources of information for food purchase this is the least used method because of low involvement characteristics in the food purchase. Very few consumers visit internet websites such as store websites to obtain food information. Amazon.com offers the catalogue for the RTE products. Bundled packages are sold in the combo offer. With the growth of internet and families turning to every single purchase, use of internet for food purchases is bound to grow in the coming year. Stores stacking other stuff also such as apparels and accessories, electronics, etc. along with food items, general format followed by the supermarkets and hypermarkets, use internet as a selling medium but not for food items. With the increase in competition and new strategies coming up, time is near when they start selling packed RTE foods also. Groceries or vegetables being sold as loose items will then be only food item left to stock. The benefits of e-commerce have been realized by most retailers. Illustrations from the RTE Food Industry To explain the process of Instant Food or Ready-to-eat food and the consumer behaviour, two companies have been chosen from the Indian Market. MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd. vs ITCs Kitchens of India MTR Foods Pvt. Ltd. is among the major processed food manufacturers in India and is owned by Norwegian Company M/s Orkla. Kitchens of India is an ITC brand which majorly exports various RTE food packages of specialty Indian cuisine. Marketing Mix Analysis Product MTR : Normal Day to day food varieties such as paneer, dal, etc. Portfolio comprises of 22 authentic Indian curries, gravies and rice. 100% Vegetarian offerings 100% Natural and no preservatives added ISO 22000 and HACCP Certified quality product Retorting and packaging technology from Defense Food Research Lab, Mysore. Kitchens of India: Prestigious offerings from the chefs of ITC Welcome Group Restaurants. E.g. Dal Bukhara from Bukhara Restaurant of ITC Maurya Shereton and Dal Dakshin from ITC Dakshin. Four layer packed to prevent the royal taste and smell Standards are monitored to compliance Price MTR offering are normal day to day food and is less expensive than ITCs Kitchens of India which is more expensive in comparison. Also the offerings by ITC are positioned for the target group which wants to experience the pleasure of royal palates at the comfort of their home. MTR Paneer Butter Masala 300g pack is priced at MRP of Rs. 50 On the same hand, Kitchens of India dishes start from Rs. 89 Place Both MTR and Kitchens of India mainly exports to other countries and sell through the retail setup in both India and other countries. Kitchens of India also services its customers through its website www.kitchensofindia.com . It also won the Best Website Award at the PC World Web Awards 2008. Website is the medium to promote the brand and display the recipes of various offerings. Use of classical music has been seen prominent with both the websites to portray the Indian culture. Promotion Kitchens of India promotion strategy circles around the product offering highlighting the essence Feast for the senses. The key message is bringing the royal tastes directly to consumers home without having to visit ITC Welcome group hotel. Kitchens of India promote its brand through various food exhibitions such as Anuga in Germany. These are also displayed and sold at food festivals across the ITC group hotels. MTR promote its offering on the essence Freshly cooked home meal. It targets the price sensitive consumer. Brand Analysis on the basis of factors influencing buying behavior Health MTR has positioned itself as a freshly cooked home food with modest offerings. Kitchens of India on the other hand has positioned as brand offering the royal palates matched to the same standards at the ITC Restaurants. Based on the study done among Indian consumers by Datamonitor, 50% of the consumers considered low or lowers cholesterol and low or reduced fat as a motivator during food purchase. Both brand understand this fact and mentions the health contents of the dish on the packets. Sensory Appeal MTR packaging is as per the standards do not attract the visual senses of the consumer. The product is also home cooked food offerings and smell factor is present as per the home cooked food. On the other hand Kitchens of India packaging is more lavish to support its image and price range. It has an outer paper bag like covering. Natural Content Both brand claim to be 100% natural and contains no preservatives. This is possible only because of the retorting technology used and the packaging. Consumer choices are affected by these factors. Weight Control Kitchens of India offers meals or dishes which are more lavish and specialty dishes high in oil and butter content which is de-motivator for weight conscious people. These dishes are not preferred at the daily basis. On the other hand, MTR offerings are more close to the weight conscious people. Mood Mood factor plays an important role in defining the consumer behavior. This can be specified by the rebellious behavior at the younger age to eat things different from what others in the family are having. Kitchens of India offerings promotes itself on this behaviour to compel consumers to have that royal meal once a while without even visiting any ITC hotel. MTR is not seen utilizing this behaviour characteristic in its promotion or marketing communication.

Response to Speech Titled An American Success Story -- Nakasian

Dear Mr. Nakasian, Your speech has been capable of showing people your thoughts and ideas on â€Å"An American Success story†. In â€Å"An American Success storyâ€Å", you tell your audience that forty years ago you entered America through a U.S. District Court in New York. I believe that the U.S. District Court is in the same area as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. You spoke of applying and receiving your American Citizenship, then going through an honored ceremony. Also you spoke of the meanings and feelings that this Certificate has expressed on you, which showed your public viewers. Well as much as your viewers see this speech, personally I do not agree with you on some levels of your speech being a well rounded and believable description of â€Å"An American Success Story†. You state only your experiences not knowing what anyone else went through nor giving any examples of anyone else’s experiences. Mr. Nakasian, my opinion of you is constructed of an idealistic person who wants to believe everything that comes out of your mouth. In your speech of an â€Å"American Success Story†, you speak about cherishing your certificate for forty years. You announced your meaning of this certificate as a very special item to you because no other country offers as much as this certificate guarantees. Also you spoke of escaping discrimination by coming to America and having the guarantee of religious beliefs and personal freedom. You set down experiences about yourself, how you went through a poor life and then becoming orphaned shortly after arriving in the United States. In your speech, you discussed your dream of becoming a lawyer and making progress: educationally, professionally and economically. Also an interesting point you have made to y... ...sion as shows, movies, commercials and so on. Also it is harder for immigrants to find a job, especially if they have accents. For example, even immigrants with an education who have an accent have closed doors to job opportunities because they are not of the same kind and an accent make’s it harder to identify someone. Think about it people will not always be nice to you in this world, maybe you were just hit with a simple bit of luck. Many things in American society is not as always great as people might seem to think they are, which gives people a different vibe about America such as you Mr. Nakasian. Although people know there is no country that provides each person with better opportunities than America. I just do not completely agree with your presentation, as the United States being an ideal country because people don’t give us enough information.

Krashen’s Hypotheses of Second Language Acquisition Essay -- Foreign L

Krashen’s Hypotheses of Second Language Acquisition For decades, foreign language teachers wandered in a scientific abyss. Until 1983, there had been little real research dealing with the ways in which someone acquires a second language. Teachers mostly used the audiolingual classroom model that had been in place for the past twenty years (or, even worse, the literally ancient grammatical translation model that had been used by civilizations millennia old). Clearly, language teaching methodology was in a poor situation. In 1983, however, Krashen published the results of an unprecedented body of research and paved the way for a revolution in our field. His five-point hypothesis focused on the difference between the acquisition of and the learning of a second language. Krashen has his detractors, of course, not the least of whom are American school districts, which have been reluctant to implement his teachings. Most experts agree, however, that his ideas are the most meritorious of the theories in circulation now, an d schools that refuse to incorporate them are doing their students a disservice. The first of Krashen’s hypotheses is the learning-acquisition hypothesis, which differentiates the two titular terms. According to Krashen, â€Å"acquisition† refers to the implicit knowledge we have of a language, whereas â€Å"learning† refers to explicit knowledge about a language. Implicit knowledge refers to command of a language as if it were one’s native language; explicit knowledge is what we unfortunately gain in most foreign language classes. One good example of this in Spanish is the phrase â€Å"me llamo,† which literally means â€Å"I call myself† but is usually translated by Spanish teachers as â€Å"my name is.... ... on teachers to find objective methods of evaluating students, which can be extremely difficult to do if they heed Krashen’s advice. The price that students pay for steady grading is, unfortunately, genuine competence in their chosen language, and it is far too high. The pending change in second-language teaching is often called an â€Å"incomplete revolution† because the educational establishment refuses to implement the system despite its acknowledged merits, choosing instead to languish in the mediocrity we face today. WORKS CITED Krashen, Stephen. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Pergamon Press. 1982 Omaggio, Alice C. Teaching Language in Context. Proficiency Oriented Instruction. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. 1986 Sole, Yolanda Russino. â€Å"The input hypothesis and the bilingual learner.† Bilingual Review 19:2. 99-100.

The Hero and Anti-Hero in Joseph Conrad?s Heart of Darkness Essay

The Hero and Anti-Hero in Joseph Conrad?s Heart of Darkness In studying Joseph Conrad's, The Heart of Darkness, many critics dwell on the issue of heroism. Who is the hero, Marlow or Kurtz? It is clear that both Marlow and Kurtz are the protagonists of the story; however, protagonist and hero are not always synonymous. Marlow is the hero in the traditional sense of the word, while Kurtz is the more modern hero, often referred to as the anti-hero. Marlow starts out as just as everyman, trying to put some bread on the table. His original plans were setting out to make money, but his journey turns into so much more. His expedition turns into a quest to find and save Kurtz, and to understand the people so many were prejudice against. Despite the opinion of certain critics, Conrad did not create Marlow to be a prejudice character. One of his first Marlow?s first Reactions to the villagers is the exact opposite, ?They were not enemies they were not criminals(Conrad, 189) While his initial response may not seem altogether accepting, it is far beyond the understanding of his peers. As the story continues Marlow is slightly sarcastic in his understanding of the villagers, ?Fine fellows-Cannibals-in their place. They were men one could work with, and I am grateful to them. And, after all, they did not eat each other before my face? (189)? Marlow shows his ability to be sarcastic in the face of popular criticism, even making the mold step to refer to these African?s as ?Fine Fellows?(189), ?They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of they humanity-like yours-the thought of your remote kinship with this wild(189) Although the natives... ...s to look at Kurtz as a hero for all that he had accomplished, no matter how evil. Marlow?s obstacles as the hero are not the overcoming of a dragon or evil villain. It is the eternal battle of the story of a Hero versus Antihero. Marlow?s blindness to Kurtz?s impurities are both his strength and weakness. His ignorance to the greatness of his own qualities can best be stated one way: ?The Horror.? Works Cited page Conrad, Joseph ?The Heart Of Darkness? Schwarz, Danie Reference Guide to English Literature, 2nd ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press, 1991 Dean, Leonard Fellows Heart of darkness. Backgrounds and criticisms Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1962,c1960 ?The Gallery of Antiheroes and Villains? Flowerstorm 2004 www.flowerstorm.net/disa/Gallery/anti-explain.html ?The Existential page? Connect 2004 www.connect.net

Philosophy Montessori

â€Å"A child’s different inner sensibilities enable him to choose from his complex environment what is suitable and necessary for his growth. They make the child sensitive to some things, but leave him indifferent to others. When a particular sensitiveness is aroused in a child, it is like a light shines on some objects but not others, making of them his whole world. † The Secret of Childhood, p. 42, Chap 7 . Define the terms of sensitive periods and explain how the teacher’s knowledge and understanding of these periods determines his/her preparation and custodianship of the prepared environment A child is a unique human being who possesses countless potentialities since his early age. He is endowed through abilities to develop both physical and psychic constructions by himself. The development and growth for physical or external area is visible. Yet, the inner mechanism is still imperfectly understood. There are two studies are contained in these inner mechanis m. The glands and secretion connected with physical growth, the other is an understanding of child’s mental growth which is called â€Å"sensitive period†. It is a period of child where he can manifest his certain ability in perfectly manner. During these periods, a child has maximum sensitivity towards a particular knowledge or skill. This sensitivity lasts in certain period of child’s life and does not reoccur in other child’s age. Once the child concentrates with one aspect of skill, he will exclude others. He does the repetition to practice his ability with passion, love and even his inner force, and it continues until he feels satisfied and serene. Since, this is the best moment when the child develops his inner mental growth, a teacher should notice the indication from his appearance then enhance his ability by aiding him a right kind of stimuli through prepared environment and encourage him in special time of learning. Therefore, it can optimize the child’s new ability. As one of internal aid for child’s psychic development, the sensitive periods can achieve a child’s personal construction with two conditions. Firstly, the child needs a prepared environment, both things and the people surroundings, which is suitable and necessary for his growth. Secondly, the child requires freedom. Let the child chooses his own rhythm and law of development to explore and fulfill his need, this will put him into happiness, joyful and peace. If the teacher, as an adult cannot create these two conditions, he will not reach his potential and his personal development will be stunted. And his opportunity to master in those abilities as a human will be lost evermore. The sensitive periods are categorized in six terms, the order with environment, the sensory impression, the ability to use language, the development of walking and movement, the interest of small objects, and the spirit to be involved with social life. †A very important and mysterious period is the one which makes a child extremely sensitive to order. This sensitiveness appears in a child’s first year and continues on through the second. It may seem slightly fantastic that children should have a sensitive period with respect to external order, since it is a common opinion that children are disorderly by their very nature. (The Secret of Childhood, p. 49, Chap 8) Sensibility to order of child, it is truly shown since the first month of age. However, as an adult, parent often doesn’t notice this sensitiveness manifestation. The judgment that a child doesn’t have the ability to respect and react of external order become a common opinion. Montessori had observe d for some situations which showed the enthusiasm of child to have blissful and tranquil moment, in seeing things in organized arrangement. The tantrums and uncomfortable feelings that occasionally experienced by the child, is perhaps that he finds the obstacles when he tries to fulfill his needs. A story in Maria book: †In one such instance the principal character was a little girl about six months old. One day she saw a woman enter the room where she happened to be and placed her parasol upon the table. The child became agitated, not at the woman but at the umbrella, since after looking it for some times she became to cry. The woman thinking that she wanted the parasol picked it up and brought it to her with a pleasant smile. But the infant pushed it away and continues to scream. Efforts were made to calm the child, but to no avail. She only became more agitated. What could be done to solve the tantrum? Suddenly the mother of the child through some psychological insight took the umbrella from the table and carried it into another room. The child immediately grew calm. The cause of her disturbance was the umbrella on the table. An object out of place had violently upset the little girl’s pattern of memory as to how objects should be arranged. † (The Secret of Childhood, p. 50, Chap 8) A child has a twofold sense of order. First is his perception of relationship to the environment. Second is his inner awareness of different parts of his body to have relationship with the objects. With those two senses, a child can experience the order based on precise and determined environment. So that, he can categorize his perception and build conceptual work, then he can deal with his world. The second sensitivity will appear is sensory impression through five senses. They are visual/seeing, auditory/hearing, olfactory/smell, tactile/touch, and gustatory/taste. By those senses, a child who has highly curiosity of every new thing will be able to explore and experience the environment. Smelling and gustatory sensibilities also can be learned from practical life activities, such as differentiate the herbs smell and sweet, salt, sour and bitter tastes. Afterward, in order to be able distinguish variation of sounds, a child is introduced with human voice, music also the source of the sound has been made. The visual sense is interpreted by the eyes. The functional of these eyes can be exercised with identifying the size, shape, color of materials. While the visual sensitivity is being developed, the tactile ability is also developing. Without touching the materials which are existed in his environment, a child will not stimuli his brain and practices his motor function. In order to develop his mind throughout these sensibilities, a child needs to hear, see, touch, smell and taste. He initially observes the object with the eyes, he understands the form, size, and color also by hands. Then, he perceives the name of the object when the adult teach him. By hearing the voice, he’s not only imitating the sound, this young human will use his knowledge and memory, and thus he can speak the object name with his tongue. All of this process definitely will develop his intelligence in nature way, molding his character, and directed his ego to organize his movement. The more trials moments that a child experienced with his senses, the more skills he can apply to accomplish his works in confident and orderly. Introducing to language for child is as good as possible in the early age. During this sensitive period, a child can absorb and imitate the sound of human that he hears. Although the baby doesn’t look like understand when an adult is talking with him, but his brain as absorbent mind is developing and radually achieves under his unconscious mind. In fact, he can distinguish some types of sounds, which are produced by animals, instrument or human. He only imitate to the human words, not to the other sounds. If he can notice as many as words in his sensitivity period, he will enrich his vocabularies which useful in the future. Between the age of year and two, a child has the sensitivity to be more active. He starts to walk, run, climb, even jump in every type of environment, he surely move with his own purpose, unlike the adult. An infant, on the other hand, walks to perfect his own proper function, and consequently his goal is something creative within himself. † (The Secret of Childhood, p. 78, Chap 11) While doing the walking practicing, he still doesn’t have any pattern, rhythm also reason for any movement he makes. He barely walks toward something that attracted him in one point of position. An adult can assist him to develop his ability, by keeping in mind to give up all adult’s pace and goal. But, follow the child’s need as long as he can finalize his one passage of walk. It is important to know that an infant is only able to develop his ability to walk, when he passes all the processes of walking from the beginning. The first step that he makes, tries to figure out how to balance when changing one foot to another to stand, stands and walks with two feet perfectly. Alongside he develops his physical strength, his psychic life also improved. The growth of muscles which connect between cells and tissues will not be optimal if a child is not involved in such physical activities. When his physical condition is in health condition, he also creates his spirit, courage and self-confidence. â€Å"From the beginning of its second year a child is no longer carried away by gaudy objects and brilliant colors with that transport of joy so characteristic of the sensitive periods, but becomes interested in tiny objects that escape our notice. † (The Secret of Childhood, p. 64, Chap 9) His concentration towards a specific thing in one object, somehow the adult have no attention or even invisible on it. Yet, a child who likes to be an observer is be able to focus on these small things. He can spend a lot of minutes to only watch and look a painting that contain many details in pictures, color, and shapes. Or perhaps to pay attention on the shapes of stones, the forms of flies or plants. His sensibility in this period can increase his focus and concentration to higher level. The last part from child’s sensitive period is his spirit to be engaged in social environment. He begins to recognize the rules of his environment, his rights and responsibilities. How he serves the surroundings with a proper manner as well as himself. He learns to have a friendship and starts to be united in a group. If all the conditions can occur in a harmony, a peace community among the children can be established. To stimuli this child’s sensitive periods thus can reveal his potentialities, Montessori has her method that can help a child’s live successful and happily in this world. We have to fully understand her philosophy and kept in mind that this method only can be perfectly done if it is considered in open minded, instead of fixed one. There are two components which support the child’s development with environment, including materials and exercises also the teacher who prepares the environment. This is because a prepared environment is the place to nourish the child. He needs it to enhance his self-construction, so he can reveal his own personality growth in such natural approach. On the other hand, the teacher should learn the theory, observes the child and try to recognize the obstacles that can hinder the child development, and remove them from his environment. The first component of this method is prepared environment. As a teacher, she must knowledge and understands what kind of environment that she can prepare to help the child’s life development. The criteria which are should be applied in Montessori classroom are concept of freedom, structure and order, reality and nature, beauty and atmosphere, Montessori materials and the development of community life. Through freedom a child can have the opportunity to reveal himself. To aid the child’s psychic development, a teacher can secretly observe the child while he is doing the works. Also, through freedom, a child can possess himself with his own pattern of development, by using his inner guidance to improve his growth. Besides freedom, the environment should have the structure and order. The aim of this structure and order is due to a child needs to build his own perception and intelligence, from predetermine and precise environment. From that condition, the confidentiality from child to deal towards his life will incarnate. Since a child love to something in order, in this creative moment, as teacher orderly has to take care the materials in the classroom. They should be arranged in sequence and classified as per difficulty level of materials. Then, if the child accomplish one activity, he knows that he has to return back the apparatus in the right place as same as he has taken before. â€Å"The child must have the opportunity to internalize the limits of nature and reality if he is to be freed from his fantasies and illusions, both physical and psychological. † (A Modern Approach, p. 57, Chap 3) The child must deal with nature and reality. We live in this world where the natural things exist. For example a tree, a child can practice his sensibility of five senses. From nature, a teacher can inform the child that the nature is the thing that serves us during our lifetime, so that as human beings we can still alive and survive. In this world, also he will face the reality condition. By understanding from his every action he made, he will have the consequences. In Montessori, the child will learn how to do the housework with the real utensils. A child will use a real knife to cut the vegetables or pouring the water from a real glass jug. A child also learns if there is a condition that doesn’t happen as he expects, he has to accept it gracefully, instead of being upset or angry. The child comes to see that he must respect the work of others, not because someone has said he must, but because this is a reality that he meets in his daily experience. † (The Absorbent Mind, p. 223, Chap 22) The fourth part of prepared environment is beauty and atmosphere. Montessori felt that the environment should be simple, bright color, cheerful and ha rmoniously arranged. It makes the environment feel so relaxing, warm and conducive for the children activities. The other important element is Montessori materials itself. They should have a purpose for the child’s development. The difficulty or error of each material that could be figured out by the child must be isolated in a single piece of material. The designs of materials must be gradually composed from simple to complex. Also they are able to use for future learning. The last thing of prepared environment is development of community life. It has three key elements that contains of sense of ownership and responsibility, responsibility the children begin to feel for each other and the inclusion of children of different ages in class. A person, who intends to be a Montessori teacher, must prepare herself. She has to think that a teacher is not the person, who has to teach or control all over the activities in class and to be followed by the students. But, she has to understand the children that they have their own manner to accomplish their works in the class. A teacher must refrain herself to interfere the child when he is in the processing his physic and psychic area through the materials, otherwise one of trait which being developed at that moment will be vanished or done improperly. As a teacher, must look in each child as one unique individual, that one to another might have different type of characteristics. So that, she has to devote her energy to help the child step by step, thus he can attain his aim in order to deal with his environment independently. She usually does by obtaining three aspects. Firstly, her responsibility to custodian and keep the environment to be the component that can attract the child’s attention, thus he can fulfill his needs in freedom and without any distraction from others. When the teacher can design a harmony situation where the child takes place during his working times, so the aim of this method will be achieved in proper way. It includes the previous explanation regarding the prepared environment. Secondly, once the environment has prepared properly the other thing that must be considered is the teacher’s action during the class. Before the child manifests his first period, she can show when she is taking care the child with hearten, lovely and warmth manner. Once the child feel comfortable, he will trust the teacher, and it is easy for the teacher, if she need to interfere the child when it is necessary. The last, when a child begins to attract by something, usually the teacher can introduce the practical life area as an initial exercised. Because, the child will meet those activities in his home every day, so that it will easier to be taught. When the child is interest to one material, the teacher explains to him, and he starts to work with it, the teacher must not interrupt him in any ways and anytime until he can finish it by his own laws. The steps will start from slow into exam, and the teacher must understand this pattern of development. These sensitive creative moments, will happen only once in child’s life time. Not only the child who has to observe and practice to be able reveal his hidden potentialities, but the teacher also has to observe and thinking every moment when the child manifests his interest of some new things or show some disorder behavior that might be caused by the environment or his inner problems. If this process goes in natural and proper way, the child can have concentration, build his confident and will feel satisfied when the can conquer one conquest. Then, a success human being with good personalities will be created, because he has the opportunities to explore and manifests his potentialities during his sensitive period.

Course syllabus1. Albert Essay

Course information 1 2.1 Teaching times and Locations Lecture: 8.00 – 11.00 a.m. Venue: 1 2 2.2 Units of Credit This course is worth 3 credits. 2.3 Parallel teaching in the course There is no parallel teaching involved in this course. 2.4 Relationship of this course to others BA023IU–Project Management concentrates on how to manage a project beside discussing issues of project management. The course provides hands-on experience in various stage of the process of project management. The course is independent requiring no prerequisite course. However, the students may find techniques and knowledge from the course of BA164BA–Production and Operations Management useful. Students majoring in International Business, Marketing and Business Management may later take BA171IU–Risk Management and BA149IU–New Product Planning in the following semester, which will complement and foster the skills learned from this course and employ the project management knowledge the students have accumulated here. 2.5 Approach to learning and teaching Employing the interactive learning and problem-based teaching approach, this course emphasizes the interaction between lecturers and students. The lecture materials will be uploaded in Blackboard to help the students to preview the materials and to facilitate discussion during the lecture. This will help students to interact with the lecturer on other matters related to the subject before and after the lecture. The sessions for presentations and discussions comprise company case studies as well as answering some theoretical and conceptual questions, which help the students to see how the concepts are applied in reality. 3. COURSE AIMS AND OUTCOMES 3.1 Course Aims The aim of this course is to provide the students with insights into human behavior, knowledge of organizational issues and skills with quantitative methods for successful project management. Specifically, the course is to provide students with: Understanding on the concepts of project planning and organization, project control and project communications. Decision-making techniques in project selection. Analytical skills for successful project management. Insights into human behavior and people skills for project management. Project scheduling techniques including WBS, PERT, Gantt Charts. Use of Project Management Software Ms Project and Crystal Ball Software. 3.2 Student Learning Outcomes Students completing this course are likely to achieve the following attributes: Systems approach. See a bigger picture when managing a project, holistic perspective regarding all parties involved in the project, and all components that would deliver to make a project completed satisfactorily. People management. Appreciate individual strengths and weaknesses, direct people to achieve project targets. Team player and team leader. Constructively contribute to projects as a team player or leader, having versatility in both human and technical sides, negotiate to get to win-win solutions. Disciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective. Bring disciplinary and multi-disciplinary perspectives in straightening out situations and projecting possible outcomes. Planning, scheduling, logistics literate. Perform satisfactorily the basic tasks of project management. 3.3 Teaching Strategies The learning system in this course consists of lectures and scheduled presentations/discussions. Lectures elaborate the appropriate theoretical content in the textbook and readings. Classes provide a more detailed and refined analysis of both concepts and applied materials. Classes are strongly oriented towards interactive discussion of the text and cases and reading assignments. In order to gain the most from the lectures and class activities, the assigned text/reading should be read before the lecture to participate in the discussions. 4. STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES AND CONDUCT 4.1 Workload It is expected that the students will spend at least six hours per week studying this course (three hours in class and three at home). This time at home should be made up of reading, research, working on exercises and problems, and attending classes. In periods where they need to complete assignments or prepare for examinations, the workload may be greater. Over-commitment has been a cause of failure for many students. They should take the required workload into account when planning how to balance study  with part-time jobs and recreation and/or other activities. 4.2 Attendance Regular and punctual attendance at lectures is expected in this course. University regulations indicate that if students attend less than eighty per cent of scheduled classes, they may not be considered for final assessment. Exemptions may only be made on medical grounds. It means that if you miss more than two classes, you may fail the class. For any class where you miss, you are obliged to submit your answers to the questions. 4.3 General Conduct and Behaviour The students are expected to conduct themselves with consideration and respect for the needs of the fellow students and teaching staff. Conduct which unduly disrupts or interferes with a class, such as ringing or talking on mobile phones, is not acceptable and students will be asked to leave the class. More information on student conduct is available at the university webpage. 4.4 Keeping informed The students should take note of all announcements made in lectures or on the course’s Blackboard. From time to time, the university will send important announcements to their university e-mail addresses registered with the school without providing a paper copy. The students will be deemed to have received this information. 5. LEARNING ASSESSMENT 5.1 Formal Requirements In order to pass this course, the students must: achieve a composite mark of at least 50; and make a satisfactory attempt at all assessment tasks (see below). 5.2 Assessment Details 5.2. 1 Attendance (5%): In order to get 5% of attendance score, a student must attend all sessions. If a student is absent for more than two sessions, she or he will lose 5% of total course grade and may be prohibited from the  final exam except for cases with medical reasons. 5.2.2 Homework (15%): Each student must submit a project proposal form, with enclosed budget and Ms Project schedule, before Session 8. Details will be announced. 5.2.3 Teamwork(10%): On Session 1, groups of maximum 5 students are formed and they will work on their group project throughout the course. Each team must present their analysis to a textbook case by answering the case questions (see the course calendar). Team members should read all the cases before class for discussion in class. Each class I will choose any team for case presentation which will be marked. 5.2.3 Mid-term Exam (30%): The midterm exam will be one and half hours in length and will be in the form of multiple choices and open questions/problems. This is open book test. Content of the Course Contents for Assessment Level of Cognitive Domain Understanding and Analytical Applying Multiple-choice Questions (MCQ) Written Questions (Problems) Introduction to Project Management Characteristics of a project, roles of project manager, project organization forms, Conflicts and Negotiation 10 MCQ 1 problem Project Selection/Planning Project Selection, Project Cost Estimation and Budgeting 10 MCQ 3 problems SCORE 40 60 5.2.4 Final Exam (40%): The final exam will be 2 hours in length during Final Exam Period and will be in the form of multiple choices and open questions/problems. This is open book test. Content of the Course Contents for Assessment Level of Cognitive Domain Understanding and Analytical Applying Multiple-choice Questions (MCQ) Written Questions (Problems) Project Planning Scheduling , CPM/PERT, Gantt Chart, Issues in Planning 10 MCQ 2 problems Project Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Project Crashing, Resources Allocation, Information Systems, Tools for Project Control, Project Evaluation/Audit 15 MCQ 2 problems SCORE 30 70 5.5 Special Consideration: Request for special consideration (for final examination only) must be made to the Office of Academic Affairs within one week after the examination. General policy and information on special consideration can be found at the Office of Academic Affairs. 6. ACADEMIC HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM Plagiarism is the presentation of the thoughts or work of another as one’s own (definition proposed by the University of Newcastle). Students are also reminded that careful time management is an important part of study and one of the identified causes of plagiarism is poor time management. Students should allow sufficient time for research, drafting, and the proper referencing of sources in preparing all assessment items. The university regards plagiarism as a form of academic misconduct, and has very strict rules regarding plagiarism.1 7. STUDENT RESOURCES 7.1 Course Resources Please note that it is very important to gain familiarity with the subject matter in the readings and cases prior to attendance in classes. Textbook: Meredith, J. and Mantel Jr, S. (2012), Project Management: A Managerial Approach, 8th Edition, Wiley. Reference Books: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 3rd Edition (PMBOK Guide), Project Management Institute, November 2004. Additional materials provided in Blackboard The lecturer will attempt to make lecture notes and additional reading available on Blackboard. However this is not an automatic entitlement for students doing this subject. Note that this is not a distance learning course, and you are expected to attend lectures and take notes. This way, you will get the additional benefit of class interaction and demonstration. Recommended Internet sites PMI (Project Management Institute) IPMA (International Project Management Association) APM (Association for Project Management) The Project Management Podcast Visitask Startwright Recommended Journals The Achiever Newsletter Project Management Books ePMTutor International Journal of Project Management PROJECT Magazine Project Manager Today Project Management Publications Project Times Project Management World Today PROJECTMagazine 7.2 Other Resources, Support and Information 1 2 Additional learning assistance is available for students in this course and will be made available in Blackboard. Academic journal articles are available through connections via the VNU – Central Library. Recommended articles will be duly informed to the students. 8. COURSE SCHEDULE Session Topic Learning materials and activities 1 Introduction – Basics of Project Management Context Definition of ‘project’ and other terminologies Rationale of project management approach Project life cycle Project objectives Risk associated with projects Textbook, Chapter 1 Forming Study groups Allocation of Group Tasks How to prepare for case study presentation Discussion: Bloomfield Transport, Inc. Reading: Lessons for an accidental profession 2 The Project Manager Introduction to Project Manager The roles of project managers The responsibilities of project managers Requirements of project managers Project manager’s qualifications Environmental and cultural issues Textbook, Chapter 3 Case: The National Jazz Hall of Fame Reading: What it takes to be a good project manager? 3 Project in the Organizational Structure Project and other superior organizations Project in its purest form Matrix Mixed Selecting the right project organization Project teams and other functions Textbook, Chapter 5 Case: Dizplaze Reading: The virtual project – Managing tomorrow’s team today 4 Conflict and Negotiation Categories of conflicts Conflicts and project life cycle Uncertainty and conflicts Negotiation defined Methods of negotiation Quiz (30 min) Textbook, Chapter 4 Case: Pelican landing –Bender Corporation. Reading: Methods of resolving interpersonal conflict 5 Project Selection and Planning Project selection models Qualitative and quantitative approaches Risk considered Project coordination plan Project action plan Work breakdown structure Integration management Textbook, Chapters 2 &6 Case: Pan Europa Food S.A. Reading: Planning for crises in project management 6 Budgeting Project budget estimation Methods of project estimation Issues in estimation Techniques for improving estimation Case discussion Textbook, Chapter 7 Case: Gujarat Auto Reading: Three perceptions of project costs MID-TERM 7 Project Scheduling PERT and CPM Gantt charts Risk analysis Extensions of tasks and project Practice of scheduling Textbook, Chapter 8 Case: Topline Arena Tutorial: Ms Project Software and Crystall Ball Software 8 Allocation of Resources CPM and crash Problems with resource allocation Loading and leveling Allocation under constraints Multi-project scheduling and allocation Practice of allocation of resources Textbook, Chapter 9 Case: D.U. Singer Hospital Product Corp. 9 Monitoring and Control Cycle of planning-monitoring-control Report process The concept of earned value Purposes and types of control Practice of project control Textbook, Chapters 10&11 Discussion: Earned value at CERN Case: Kroon Chemische Febriek Reading: Survey of project management tools 10 Project Control Designing control systems Control as a management function Balance in control Control of creative projects Control of change and creep Textbook, Chapter 11 Case: Peerless Laser Processors Reading: Controlling projects according to plan 11 Project Audit and Termination Purposes of evaluation Project audit Audit and project life cycle Design and use of audit report Issues of Measurement Termination basics Types of termination Process of termination Report of termination Textbook, Chapters 12&13 Case: Theatre High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD): Five Failures and Counting Team Project Presentations 12 Course Review Basic concepts Basic process The human side in project management Calculations, techniques and maths Q&A Drills Team Project Presentations