MBA Dissertation Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MBA Dissertation Proposal - Essay Example Research objectives describe what is aimed to be accomplished by the research. Principle objective of this research is to identify the effects of recession on the global automobile industry. The research will be conducted with the objective of finding out the significant changes that have taken place in the automobile industry due to global financial turmoil. Since the financial meltdown started from the mid of 2008, the research will be carried out to find out those changes that have taken place from the year 2008 till February, 2010. Changes can only be understood when previous statistics will be compared with the present statistics. As a result it is very important to find out the situation of the industry prior to the period when there was no recession and the situation that has emerged after the recession. Finding out these situations is a major objective of the research. Recession is one of the most talked about topics in the global economic scenario over the last two years. It has affected almost all the industries in all the countries starting from developed to developing. Automobile industry is one of those industries that are badly affected by the global financial turmoil. However before getting into further details regarding the effects of recession on the industry, it is crucial to have a clear idea regarding recession, its causes and effects. This research will include a well structured literature review where all the theoretical aspects of recession will be clearly explained. The literature review will also contain the theories that are related to marketing and strategic management. Moreover the literature review includes all the theories that are related to the research methodologies and that are relevant to this particular research. Research methodology is referred to the method in which the research would be conducted. It includes research

Nature-Nurture Debate Essay Example for Free

Nature-Nurture Debate Essay Introduction In this report I will examine and explain effective communication by looking at the role of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care context, theories of communication, methods of communication (verbal, non-verbal and written communication), communication cycle, what is effective communication, formal and informal communication, differences between language and culture. Communication between people enables us to exchange ideas and information, but it involves much more than simply passing on information to others. Communication helps people to feel safe, to form relationships and develop self-esteem. Poor communication can make an individual feel vulnerable, inferior and emotionally threatened. Effective communication helps us understand a person or situation, enables us to resolve differences, build trust and respect and create an warm environment. The effective communication helps us improving communication skills in everyday live, business, relationships, but also in health and social care context. Learning and understanding the effective communication skills the people can better connect with the family members, friends, co-workers (by improving teamwork), people looked after in care homes. What is effective communication Effective communication combines a set of skills including verbal and non-verbal communication, attentive listening, the ability to manage stress, the capacity to recognize and understand your own emotions and those of the person you are communicating with . Effective communication is about more than exchanging information. It requires also understanding the emotion behind the information. It enables us to communicate even negative or difficult messages without creating conflict or destroying trust. Effective communication-Methods of communication Verbal communication The basis of communication is the interaction between people. Verbal communication is the main way for people to communicate face to face. The components of the verbal communication are: sounds, words, speaking and language. Only people can put meaning into words; words alone have no meaning. As meaning is an assigned to words, language develops, which leads to the development of speaking. Over 3000 languages and major dialects are spoken in the world. The huge variety of languages creates difficulties between different languages, but even in one language there can be many problems in understanding. Speaking can be looked in two major areas: interpersonal and public speaking. To communicate effectively we must not simply clean up our language, but learn to relate to people. To be an effective communicator, one must speak in a manner that is not offending to the receiver. Listening Successful listening means not just understanding the words or the information being communicated, but also understanding how the speaker feels about what they are communicating. Effective listening can: -create an environment where everyone feels safe; -save time; -relieve negative emotions; -focus fully on the speaker, make the speaker feel heard and understood; -avoid interrupting; -show you interest. The communication cycle According to Michael Argyle(1972) skilled interpersonal interaction (social skills) involves a cycle in which you have to translate or â€Å"decode† what other people are communicating and constantly adapt you own behaviour in order to communicate effectively. Good communication involves the process of checking understanding, using reflective or active listening. The communication cycle supposes: -an idea occurs: you have an idea that you want to communicate; -message coded: you think through how you are going to say what you are thinking and you put your thoughts in to language or sign language; -message sent: you speak, or sign, or write, or send your message in some other way; -message received: the other person has to sense your message; -message decoded: the other person has to interpret or â€Å"decode† your message; -message understood: your ideas will be understood if all goes well. Non-verbal communication Non-verbal means â€Å"without words†, so non-verbal communication refers to the messages that we send without using words. We send these messages using our eyes, the tone of our voice, our facial expression, our hands and arms, the way we sit or stand. We can enhance effective communication by using open body language (arms uncrossed, standing with an open stance, maintaining eye contact with the person you are talking to). When we speak about non-verbal communication we actually mean: -posture; -the way we move; -facing other people; -gestures; -facial expression; -touch; -silence; -voice tone; -proximity; -reflective listening. As well as remembering what a person says, good listeners will make sure that their non-verbal behaviour shows interest. Skilled listening involves: -looking interested and communicating that you are ready to listen; -hearing what it is said to you; -remembering what was said to you, together with non-verbal messages; -checking your understanding with the person who was speaking to you. Written communication When people remember conversations they have had, they will probably miss out or change some details. Written statements are much more permanent and if they are accurate when they are written, they may be useful later on. Written records are essential for communicating formal information that needs to be reviewed at a future date. For the people who cannot see written scripts or who have limited vision there is a communication system known as Braille which uses raised marks that can be felt with the fingers and it’s based on the sense of touch. This system is now widely used for reading and writing by the people who cannot see written script. Theories of communication The verbal and non-verbal communication is not always straightforward. Effective communication involves a two-way process in which each person tries to understand the view point of the other person. According to Michael Argyle (1972) interpersonal communication is a skill that could be learned and developed. Skilled interpersonal communication, interaction(social skills) involve a cycle in which you have to translate or â€Å"decode† what people are communicating and constantly adapt your own behaviour in order to communicate effectively. The communication cycle involves a kind of code that has to be translated. The stages of communication cycle might be: 1. An idea occurs. 2. Message coded. 3. Message sent. 4. Message received. 5. Message decoded. 6. Message understood. Tuckman ‘s stages of group interaction Bruce Wayne Tuckman(1965) argued that communication in groups can be influenced by the degree to which people feel they belong together. Tuckman suggested that most groups go through a process involving four stages: 1. Forming refers to people meeting for the first time and sharing information. 2. Storming involves tension, struggle and arguments about the way the group may function. 3. Norming sees the group coming together and agreeing on their group values. 4. Performing means that the group will be an effectively performing group, once they have established common expectations and values. Formal and informal communication in health and social care Health and social care work often involves formal communication, which is understood by a wide range of people and shows respect for others. Usually care workers will adjust the way they speak, in order to communicate respect for different communities they address to, as the service users, visitors, colleagues. Formal communication is used in local authority social services and supposes proper English. It also shows respect for others (e.g.: if one went to a local authority social services reception desk, that person will expect to be greeted in a formal way like â€Å"Hello! How can I help you?†, and not informally, like â€Å"Hi! How’s it going?† In many situations such informal language could make people feel not being respected; so it is often risky to use informal language unless you are sure that people expect you to do so. The formal communication is also used in social care services with the manager and even between colleagues if they don’t know very well each other. Otherwise, when they know each other better, they will use informal language. Communication with people at work (between colleagues) is different, because care workers must communicate respect for each other. Colleagues, who do not show respect for each other, may fail to show respect for people who use care services. Colleagues have to develop trust in each other. It is important to demonstrate respect for confidentiality of conversation with colleagues. Care settings may have their own social expectations about the correct way to communicate thoughts and feelings. Communication between professional people and people using services involves the professionals being well aware of the need to translate technical language in to everyday language, when they work with people from other professions or people who use services. Professional people such as doctors or nurses often use their own specialised language, called jargon. It is important that people check that they are being understood correctly. Differences between language and culture Language There are many minority languages in the world. Some people grow up in multilingual communities, where they learn several languages from birth. Many people have grown up using only one language to think and communicate. People who learn a second language later in life find more difficult to express their thoughts and feelings in that language, and prefer to use their first language. Working with later languages can be difficult, as mental translation may be required. Different localities, ethnic groups, professions and work cultures have their own special words or phrases known as speech communities. Some people might feel threatened or excluded by that kind of language they encounter in these speech communities. The technical terminology used by care workers (called jargon) can also create barriers for people who are not a part of that speech community. When people who use services communicate with professionals there is always a risk of misunderstanding between people from different language communities, therefore the health and social care staff needs to check their understanding with the people communicating with them. Culture means the history, customs and ways of behaving that people learn as they grow up. People from different regions use different expressions. Also non-verbal signs may vary from culture to culture. In Europe and North America people often expect other people to look them in the eyes when talking. If a person looks down or away they think it is a sign of dishonesty, sadness or depression. On the other hand, in some other cultures (some black communities or Muslim communities) looking down or away when talking is a sign of respect. (E.g.: in social care settings a Hindu or Muslim person will not accept to be looked after by a person of the opposite sex). People from different geographical areas who use different words and pronounce words differently, they are often using a different dialect. Some social groups use slang (non standard words that are understood by other members of a social group or community, but which cannot be usually found in a dictionary). BTEC Level 3-Health and Social Care-Book 1-Beryl Stretch/Mary Whitehouse www.helpguide.org/effectivecommunication http://louisville.edu

Future of Islam Essay -- essays research papers

The Future of Islam When first approached with the question â€Å"what the future of Islam is?† my mind raced around many places and had lots of different thoughts. I had no clue what the future of this religion would be I thought there are people for the American Gov. who are being payed a lot of money to figure this out and I don’t think they even know. So I decided to do research to figure out what my opinion on this matter was. I found that there could be different futures for different places, like Islam in the United States and Islam in the Middle East. I found that in the pre 9/11 days Muslims were a proud people and one of America’s largest populations. Post 9/11 there was a lot of ignorance and hatred towards Muslim people. Most Americans did not know the difference between a law abiding Muslim and one of the terrorists who attacked our country. Soon most Americans were educated in this matter and learned about the religion, and how a Muslims interpretation of the Koran affected what kind of Muslim they were and how they viewed the western civilization. They found that most Muslims are in fact great people and are no threat to our society. They also learned about the radical Muslims that interpret the Koran as saying that they should defend by all means anyone who is a threat to there religion (The United States and the Western World ). I think in America Islam has a bright future where one can practice there religion in peace and where the population understands and ...

Marketing Plan for Emirates Airline

e- Book Series Guide to Writing a Killer Marketing Plan Written by: Steven Fisher Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Purpose of this book You are either someone that has been doing marketing as a part of your professional career or you look at as that â€Å"thing you do to promote your business and attract customers to buy†. Regardless of where you are along that spectrum, you have arrived here because you have been charged by the CEO of the startup you work for to write a marketing plan for your business or you need to create one for your own business. You need to not just write just any marketing plan.You need to write a Killer Marketing Plan. One that your boss will say â€Å"awesome, let’s get started† and which will tell all those people who have been looking for a product or service like yours for a long time. This book is written for you. Marketing plans are sexy mistresses that tempt you to include all of the coolest of campaign ideas without th e sanity of budgetary constraints. While marketing is one of the more important functions of a small business, it is one that is limited by the budgets of that business and campaigns must demonstrate a return in order to justify their existence.Since I have written more marketing plans than I care to tell you, I can share with you my knowledge and experience of what has worked almost all the time, some of the time and none of the time. While this is not the single tome on marketing plans, I hope that this helps you balance the unlimited creative ideas with the budget you have to work with and find a mix that is both innovative and results in sales. I invite you to explore as many resources out there, some of which are mentioned at the end of this book. I don’t need to wish you luck.Just get started, get out there and crush it. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Overview: Section 1: Product and Purpose Part 1 – 5 Section 2: Analysis and Competition Part 6 â₠¬â€œ 10 Section 3: Strategy and Action Part 11 – 12 Section 4: Financials in Plain English Part 13 – 15 Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Section 1: Product and Purpose Part 1: The Art of Marketing Doing marketing planning, which is captured in the marketing plan, is an essential organizational activity, considering the hostile and complex competitive business environment.Our ability and skills to perform profitable sales are affected by hundreds of internal and external factors that interact in a difficult way to evaluate. A marketing manager must understand and build an image upon these variables and their interactions, and must make rational decisions. Here is a great description of Marketing from HowStuffWorks: â€Å"According to the Dictionary of Marketing Terms, marketing is â€Å"the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and org anizational goals. What does that mean to you?It means marketing encompasses everything you have to do in coming up with a needed product or service, making potential customers aware of it, making them want it, and then selling it to them. So then, is sales considered â€Å"marketing†? Is advertising â€Å"marketing†? Often, you’ll hear sales functions referred to as â€Å"marketing,† but really sales is just a part of the larger marketing process, as is advertising. In the olden days (back 30 or 40 years), marketing did consist primarily of sales. Rather than having marketing departments, companies had sales departments with an advertising manager and someone who did market research.Sometimes they added a promotions manager or hired an agency to handle advertising and promotions. Things began changing as some companies grew larger and larger and began offering many product lines that warranted having their own brand managers, market segment managers and many more specialized positions that addressed and mulled over the needs of their particular markets. The need for a marketing department began to be seen as a vital part of business. The marketing department also takes most of the blame if a product (or company) isn’t successful, regardless of whether or not the fault actually lies there. Logically, your CMO or VP of Marketing would be in charge of this effort but in many startups you don’t have someone in that position so it is probably you with the ultimate responsibility. So my dear reader, I am here to the rescue to guide you through very important part of executing your overall business plan. Planning your company’s marketing program is a process much like the one you go through in writing the business plan. You go through phases of: †¢ What are you going to do with the plan? †¢ What are the company’s skills, strengths and weaknesses? Goal setting based on those strengths and weaknesses â € ¢ Setting strategies for achieving your goals †¢ Executing the plan †¢ Putting the numbers together to back up your words But before you dive into the plan, you should know what type of plan you are expected to write. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Part 2: The Three Types of Marketing Plans Most of the time when you are writing the marketing plan, it is usually something that needs to stand on its own and in other cases it might need to be incorporated into another document like a business plan.So before we dive into the executive summary, it is important to understand that there are three marketing plan types with various content and sizes. Marketing Plan Type #1: The Marketing Plan for the Business Plan In a business plan, the sales and marketing section as part and parcel to the business plan, which is true, but it is not the entire picture. The business plan essentially holds the executive summary and key components, graphics and financials that suppo rt the greater business plan. This means that the data came from somewhere †¢ Page Range: Usually 3-6 Pages Marketing Plan Type #2: The Strategic Marketing PlanHere is a great description of the Strategic version of the Marketing Plan from Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Canada: At the strategic marketing plan level, marketers are scanning the environment, pondering what is happening and looking for emerging or robust market segments which they could consider as target markets. The outcomes of such plans are clearly identified target markets and the strategies which will meet their needs, as identified in our analysis. Marketing plan objectives are typically on the level of sales, profit, return on investment or, for the larger firm, market share. Page Range: Usually 3-6 Pages Marketing Plan Type #3: The Tactical Marketing Plan Here is another great description of the Strategic version of the Marketing Plan from Sheridan College Insti tute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville, Canada: Tactical plans, in contrast, presume the target market and marketing strategy as a given and don’t look much at the external environment. They deal with issues such as raising awareness or getting more returning customers. The main way to tell at which level you are working is whether your target market is a given or not.If you are scanning the environment, you are seeking new target markets or looking for subtle changes in your existing target markets; you are preparing a Marketing Plan. If however, you start from the premise that you know exactly who your target Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC market is, you would then develop a range of tactics to reach them; this is a Tactical Plan. Many people mistakenly operate at the tactical level when they should be at the strategic level. For instance, suppose your product sales were poor, so you came up with a plan to advertise more. The result was an even f aster decline in sales.Why? People found even faster that your product was terrible. Had a strategic marketing plan been developed, we would have determined what consumers want, compared those desires to our product and made the appropriate modifications. †¢ Page Range: Usually 10 – â€Å"As many as people want to read† Pages Sometimes it is better to start big and widdle your way down There are different schools of thought on this one. The first being to write the tactical version with everything and then extract information to create the strategic and narrow further for inclusion in a business plan.The second is to write the strategic one first to focus your thoughts and have one person tighten it up for the business plan and a team expand on it so the tactical issues are worked out. This can be a problem because your financial projections might not be totally accurate and your plan will fail. I would offer taking the tactical plan and mapping out the sections w ith the abstracts so that all the issues are addressed, then write the strategic so there is a plan that others outside of marketing can digest and only when it is approved should it be tuned up and included in a business plan.Now you know so let’s get started Now that you understand what a marketing plan is, its purpose and the type you should write, let’s get to the heart of the matter. In Part 3 we will discuss the Killer Executive Summary. Part 3: Framing a Successful Marketing Plan In Part 2 we talked about selecting the right type of plan to fit your needs. Now that you have decided that, let’s get into the general structure of a marketing plan. Please note that this is a proposed outline and depending on your emphasis, this structure can and might change. Marketing Plan Outline Section I – Cover Page Section II – Table of ContentSection III – Situational Analysis (Market, Competitive Environment, Technological Environment, Socio-Polit ical) Section IV – Problems and Opportunities Section V – Objectives Section VI – Action Plan Section IX – Financial Data Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC So there you go, a basic outline. I know that putting all this together might seem daunting, especially if you are not a marketing and sales person. Fear not, that is what we are here for and from here on out we will break down each section and subsection in detail so you understand what information is required and how to get it.Part 4: Killer Marketing Plan Summary Everyone who begins the journey of writing a marketing plan usually looks at the Executive Summary section early on in the process. A Marketing Plan Summary is usually 1-3 pages long and the goal is to summarize the entire marketing and possibly sales plan into something digestible by new readers and those in other departments who want to get to the bottom line. Don’t despair, the hard work you put into the marketing plan will be useful to some people, not all of them.Each reader is trying to get something different and the executive summary is the best way to give them the big picture so they understand their part in this area of the operation. When is the best time to write the Marketing Plan Summary? There are many schools of thought on when to write the Marketing Plan Summary, either write it first, write it along the way or write it at the end. I take a little different of an approach in that you should try and write it at the beginning and then re write it again at the end.There are two reasons for this: Reason #1 – Writing it at the beginning can focus you and force you to answer questions in the shortest way possible. This is an interesting and valuable exercise for many because they work to answer many of the hard questions and because it forces you to get in the habit of getting to the point. Reason #2 – Writing it at the end is great because you will revisit what you wrote an d either be on track with only a little tuning required or most likely will roll your eyes and see how far off you were and really have a much easier time tuning the summary up to make it truly a killer Executive Summary.What are the overall components of the Marketing Plan Summary? Generally, you need to write 2-3 sentences MAX on each of the following sections: Company description of what you are doing Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Problem and Opportunity Your products and/or services that address the problem and take advantage of the opportunity Money You Need and What it will be used for (this is if the summary is targeted at investors) The market and your customer The Competition and Your Differentiators (how you will kick the competitor’s butt) Your current Marketing and Sales (if you have them)Your Management Team (If they are an A-Grade team this might be further up) Current Business Operations (if you are an existing business)3-5 Year financial project ions and plans (How much have you made, how much will you make and if you are looking for investment, how you will use it) – This includes a small table of numbers in addition to the 2-3 sentences. What makes a Killer Executive Summary that stands out from other businesses? There are many well written Executive Summaries out there that have never been funded or missed the market or for whatever reason never got off the ground.But what makes an Executive Summary â€Å"Killer†? Here are six key things to make it â€Å"killer†: 1. BE focused and clearly state what you do -Too many businesses, especially startups try and â€Å"boil the ocean† making you look like you are all over the place and will not be able to execute successfully. 2. BE a business that solves a problem and not a solution in search of one – You might have an awesome â€Å"widget† but if people don’t need it or companies can live without it, why are you starting a busin ess? 3. BE strong and positive with your language – This is not a time to be passive.From potential investors looking to give you money to those people willing to join the team, people must know that you †are† going to execute, not â€Å"may† or â€Å"might† do something. 4. DON’T cut and paste – Read the sections and extract the best and write a new concise section 5. DON’T use Jargon – Most industries have acronyms or buzz words that are neat and catchy. One or two that make a point are fine but if your engineer is writing the business plan, don’t get all geeky on the solution. Remember, the Executive Summary is about telling someone the time, not how the watch works.The business plan will have plenty of places for that type of content. 6. Write an â€Å"Executive Summary† of the Executive Summary – Most people have very short attention spans and once you are done the Executive Summary you should try and compose a 2-3 sentence summary at the top that gets all the critical elements in so that people really want to read the rest and get excited about reading the entire business plan. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Part 5: Understanding Your Market The Situational Analysis is designed to take a snapshot of where things stand at the time the plan is presented.The Situational Analysis is probably one of the hardest sections you will write because you are essentially laying out how the product will function in various environments and how it will be perceived in the marketplace. In many marketing plans, the first section could be the product analysis. If you already have existing products/services you should start with this so that you provide a â€Å"lay of the land† for readers not familiar with where you are at with your current product(s) and/or service(s).That section covers the product attributes, current pricing, current distribution and services offered. This should be about a page or two in length. For the purposes of this Marketing Plan series we will assume you are a new company and dive straight into defining the market. That is why the first part of the situational analysis is called the â€Å"Market Analysis†. This subsection of the situation analysis section should be about two to four pages in length and provides actionable information on selling to target buyers and stimulating purchases or usage by the ultimate end users.Key questions answered in this subsection include: description of target buyers or end users in demographic, psychographic, and lifestyle terms target buyer/end user wants, needs, attitudes, and perceptions of category products and services where target buyers/end users are located and how to reach them, which segments of the total market or category are growing or declining and why. You will need to tell the story in a way that makes sense to you and your readers so the following outline should be arranged as you see fit: Target Market Approach Start with a description of your total potential market (your potential customers).Present a general strategy that is used to reach targeted customers that might include a mass market or segmentation approach. Describe the needs/benefits sought by market, the product usage, the positioning and what people’s attitudes are regarding the product you are selling and the product category in general. Target Market Profile(s) Create and describe the demographic/psychographic profile(s) of the market including elements such as gender, income, age, occupation, education, family life cycle, geographic region, lifestyle, attitudes, purchasing characteristics, etc.Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Target Market Motivations Since you know the profile(s) within your target market you need to explain what motivates them to buy your products/services. Begin by describing how your product/service satisfies the needs of this market. Fo llow up with describing the particular customers that you will target. Expand into the size of your total potential market (number of potential customers), and then drill down into your target market so that you can make the motivational case you set out to in the first place.Target Market Purchasing Strategy Ok, great. You have the market explained, the target profiles done, the market motivations are worked out, now how are people gonna buy your amazingly cool new widget? Well, you need to detail that out in your purchasing strategy. First, you will need to explain how the target market makes their purchases. Then explain what is involved in the decision-making process and the timeline for the purchase (is it an impulse buy or something that takes an extended period of time).Finally you will cover who influences and then makes the purchase. Target Market Growth Strategy To wrap things up you will need to provide market size estimates but keep in mind these are estimates for the ma rket, not for a specific product. You will need to provide size estimates for the potential market that include the largest possible market that would buy. Then you need to narrow your focus and provide estimates of size for the current target market (how many actually purchased this kind of product) and provide estimates for these growth rates.Lastly, all of this needs to be projected out for at least through the timeframe for the plan (e. g. , 1 year) but most likely longer (e. g. , 3-5 year projections). A Final Thought on Numbers Throughout all of these explanations it is critical that you need to support estimates with factual data. You can have the best laid plans with awesome projections but if you have nothing to back up your story and make your case you are just fooling yourself that your strategy is the right one. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Section 2: Analysis and CompetitionPart 6: Understanding and Beating the Competition This is the second part of the situational analysis which deals with the competition and appropriately called â€Å"Competitor Analysis†. I mentioned in Part 5 that the Situational Analysis is probably one of the hardest sections you will write and this section validates that statement. You believe your product/service is the best on the market but not just to validate yourself but to validate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats along with trends of those competitors.Here is how the Competitor Analysis sub-sections break down: Competitive Landscape First you need to identify major competitors: name, location, and market share. The best thing to do is create a table that allows clear comparisons of your product/service with that of your major competitors (brand name, quality, image, price, etc. ). Then you need to perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis (coming in a future post) and compare your firm with that of your major competitors.Include factors such as company reputation, size, distribution channels, location, financial standing, target market perception and if relevant, research and development capabilities. After your SWOT analysis is complete, use that as sounding board to honestly evaluate your chances as the new competition and how successfully you would be able to enter this market. Include your thoughts and observations on what you have learned from watching the competition and you can learn from the good and bad parts of their business models to increase your chances of success. Competitive OpportunitiesWhile in the competitive landscape doing much of the SWOT analysis, you should include a section that really expands on the opportunities you uncover because those usually end up being the foundation for things like your marketing messaging and web site content. It is designed to really expose the differentiators that make you stand out in a competitive marketplace. Competitive Trends This section is where you should discu ss the trends of your competitors. This includes whether your competitors’ sales increasing, decreasing or steady. Answering those questions clue into the growth or decline of competitors from a shifting market shareConfidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC perspective and also from a more macro market size perspective. This should also help you identify any future competitive threats that your team should be made aware of but not focused on, yet. Describe direct competitors in terms of: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Target markets served Product attributes Pricing Promotion Distribution including the distributor network Services offered Discuss competitor’s strengths and weaknesses: †¢ May need to consider much more than just marketing issues such as: financial standing target market perception R & D capabilities Part 7: Technology, Economy and SociopoliticalAnalysis As we continue our Marketing Plan Series and keep working our way through th e Situational Analysis we make a pit stop to talk about the macro-level environments that impact your marketing and your competition. This part of the Situational Analysis is usually called â€Å"Environmental Problems and Opportunities† and is about 1-2 pages in length. This could easily turn into a diatribe about politics and economics so what you need to focus on in this sub-section is how technology, the economy and the socio-political environment affect the marketing of your products/services. The Technological EnvironmentWhen you discuss the technological environment think about how you create/leverage/affect creating new ways of satisfying needs (i. e. using technology to enhance the demand for existing products). Innovation can create or wipe out industries and businesses in less than a year. One example is the popularity and convenience of DVD players all but eliminated the sale of VCRs and seriously depressed the manufacture and sale of video tapes. This is especial ly important for you if your product is technology based. The Economic Environment Regardless of the current state of the economy, there will be good times and not so good times.You need to describe how your company will survive and grow in this most challenging of economies. Look at the bright side, if you can find the opportunities and sell successfully in this market you could position yourself as almost recession-proof in the long run. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC The Socio-Political Environment These are governmental policies and regulations that affect the market. It is also the economic environment around your company; which is the business cycle, inflation rate, interest rates, and other macroeconomic issues.For example, here in America there is a sweeping trend to dress more casually, with function and comfort driving new clothing and shoe trends. People are cooking less and are more concerned about nutrition and fat in their diets. And today, American busin ess people are less willing to sacrifice family life for business careers. These types of factors can impact the marketability of your product or service. Part 8: Financial Summaries that Sing You can’t have a product discussion and not include financial for the number geeks in all of us.We will dive into our â€Å"Marketing Plan Financials in Plan English† toward the end of the series but many will need to connect some financial dots in the situational analysis at a high level leaving the detailed stuff (budgeting, break even analysis and cash flow analysis) for the â€Å"back of the book†. This section should be about 2-4 pages in length and kids, keep it pretty for the rest of us. Now while you will need to write some short paragraphs to explain your information, tables and graphs are your friend here. The Financial Analysis section is separated into two general areas – sales and profitability Part 1 – Sales AnalysisIn this section you need to f ocus on the current sales that your industry and you business are doing across segments, product categories and various distribution channels. Let’s break it down like this: Overall Industry and Market Share †¢ Sales for the Entire Market †¢ Sales for Your Company †¢ Sales for Your Competitors Sales By Segments and/or Product Categories †¢ Sales by segments and/or product categories †¢ Sales by company product(s) †¢ Sales at this level compared to competition Sales By Distribution Channel †¢ Sales for each channel †¢ Sales for company product(s) by channel †¢ Sales for Your Competitors by hannel Sales By Geography †¢ Sales for Each Region †¢ Sales for company product(s) by region †¢ Sales for Your Competitors by region Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Part 2 – Profitability Analysis Since we focused on sales which is really revenues, we need to splice this up and see what is actually profitable. Ju st because you can make money from it does not mean you make a profit. You will need to look across the revenues and include the marketing related expenses. Let’s break it down like this: †¢ †¢ Revenue Breakdown o Use the sales numbers from above but identify realized revenues not just projectionsMarketing Expense Breakdown o Direct Marketing Expenses – These are the expenses that are tied to the product(s) and must be identified in that way o Indirect or Proportional Marketing Expenses – These are the general administrative and broad marketing expenses that may be assigned to a product based on some criteria like percentage of sales or a pre-determined distribution amount. Lastly, remember that this is the â€Å"30,000 foot view† †¢ Since this part of the situational analysis, you are using this sub-section to make your point and support your overall analysis. †¢ Stay high level †¢More detailed financial stuff comes later and in the marketing plan and we will do explain it in plain English later in this book. Part 9: The SWOT Analysis Dance Concluding our dive into the sub-sections of the situational analysis, we wrap up with the all important SWOT analysis. It is a â€Å"dance† of sorts because you have to dance around the fact that in some ways your competitors might have over you but it is better that you learn this now and how to work around it or market against it that will help you in the long run. The term SWOT analysis stands for â€Å"Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats†.Start with posing these sessions to your brainstorming team: †¢ Are your competitors becoming stronger? †¢ Are there emerging trends that amplify one of your weaknesses? †¢ Do you see other external threats to your company’s success? Internally, do you have financial, development, or other problems? Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Let’s break each part down and th en wrap up with some the advantages this section can offer you and your team: Strengths: Here is where you must capture the positive aspects internal to your business that add value or offer you a competitive advantage.This is an opportunity to remind yourself of the value existing within your business. Think about what your company does well. You should address the strengths within your business that add value to your product or your marketing efforts. You should also describe your positive tangible and intangible attributes. Weaknesses: These are factors that detract from your ability to have a competitive edge. It includes the negative aspects internal to your business that distracting customers from seeing the value you offer or place you at a competitive disadvantage. These are areas you need to enhance in order to compete with your best competitor.The more accurately you identify your weaknesses, the more valuable the SWOT Analysis is to your readers. Some questions to help yo u get started are: What do your customers complain about? What are the unmet needs of your sales force? We continue breaking each part down†¦. Opportunities: Traditionally, a SWOT looks only at the external environment for opportunities. I suggest you look externally for areas your competitors are not fully covering, then go a step further and think how to match these to your internal strengths. Remember, these are opportunities external to your business.If you have identified â€Å"opportunities† that are internal to the organization and within your control, you will want to classify them as â€Å"strengths†. Try to uncover areas where your strengths are not being fully utilized. Are there emerging trends that fit with your company’s strengths? Is there a product/service area that others have not yet covered? Threats: What situations might threaten your marketing efforts? You have to ask this hard question. Get your worst fears on the table. A threat is a challenge created by an unfavorable trend or development that may lead to deteriorating revenues or profits.As with opportunities, threats in a traditional SWOT analysis are considered an external force. By looking both inside and outside of your company for things that could damage your business, however, you may be better able to see the big picture. Competition — existing or potential — is always a threat. Other threats may include intolerable price increases by suppliers, government regulation, economic downturns, devastating media or press coverage, a shift in consumer behavior that reduces your sales, or the introduction of a â€Å"leap-frog† technology that may make your products, equipment, or services obsolete.Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Advantages of a SWOT Analysis – Uncovering Opportunities This is where you look externally for areas your competitors are not fully covering, then go a step further and think how to match these t o your internal strengths. Try to uncover areas where your strengths are not being fully utilized. Are there emerging trends that fit with your company’s strengths? Is there a product/service area that others have not yet covered? Once you have uncovered these opportunities take each one and discuss how you will market them.Will it be a mixed marketing campaign? A targeted sales effort? What resources will you need (e. g. new collateral, selling guides, web site content, e-mail marketing)? Advantages of a SWOT Analysis – Address and Overcome Problems Problems are not necessarily a bad thing. They are just issues that need to be overcome. It is better to get out front of problems that may exist than have them rear their ugly head when you are selling or raising money. Problems could be strong competitors, your product lacking critical features that you are not able to roll out yet or a long sales cycle.You should list each problem and discuss an approach to overcome the m in a sales situation and with specific marketing messages that counter what a customer might be thinking. Part 10: Mapping Out Your Marketing Objectives OK. You are half done the marketing plan and while you might scream â€Å"only half! † at the top of your lungs, you have suffered through the tough part – the analysis. You have spent time building the case that your products/services are competitive, viable and profitable. Now that you have proved that point you have to demonstrate how you are gonna actually do it.The first part of telling this second half is setting out the overall objectives in the marketing plan. Now let’s breakdown the Marketing Objectives section. We have put together this great breakdown and outline of how you might want to structure the objectives section. Please note, some of this outline may or may not apply to your business so use this as a suggestion and not a list of requirements. Target market objectives †¢ Market Share â⠂¬â€œ total, by segments and by channel †¢ Customers – total, by number/percentage new, by number/percentage retainedConfidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Channel Objectives †¢ Dealers – total, by number/percentage new, by number/percentage retained †¢ Order Processing and Delivery – on-time rate, shrinkage rate, correct order rate Promotional Objectives †¢ Level of brand/company awareness †¢ Traffic building (e. g. store traffic, web site traffic) †¢ Product Trials (e. g. sales promotions, product demonstrations) †¢ Sales Force (e. g. cycle time, cost per call, closing rate, customer visits, etc. Continuing our breakdown and outline of how you might want to structure the objectives section.Please note, some of this outline may or may not apply to your business so use this as a suggestion and not a list of requirements. Market Research Objectives †¢ Studies Initiated †¢ Studies Completed R&D Objectives †¢ Product Development Other Objectives †¢ Partnerships Developed †¢ Rate of Purchases, size/volume of purchases †¢ Purchases Advice on Setting Your Objectives Remember these are objectives that you expect to meet so keep in mind that these should be achievable. I have used the SMART approach to setting objectives and that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based.Section 3: Strategy and Action Part 11: Setting Your Marketing Strategy Once you have completed writing your Marketing Objectives, as discussed previously in Mapping Out Your Objectives, you need to write your marketing strategy. The marketing strategy section of your plan outlines your game plan to achieve your marketing objectives. There is no other way to say it but this section which is in the center, is essentially the heart of the marketing plan. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC The marketing strategy section should then include information that revolves around the â€Å"4Ps of Marketing†.Don’t know what they are? Let’s do a quick refresher: The â€Å"4Ps of Marketing† are a few decades old but are the most basic and classic way of slicing up your marketing strategy. They are broken down as follows: †¢ Product – your product(s) and services †¢ Price – what you will charge customers for products and services †¢ Promotion – how you will promote or create awareness of your product in the marketplace †¢ Place (distribution) – how you will bring your product(s) together with your customers. Product Describe in detail your products or services in terms of the features and benefits they offer customers.Describe what you need to have or do to provide your product or service (how it’s produced). Pricing List the price of your products and describe your pricing strategy. List price ranges for product lines. For example, if your product is a line of cosmetics, include info rmation in this strategy section about your lipsticks â€Å"ranging in price from $5. 00 to $15. 00 per item† rather than a detailed product price list. (You should, however, consider including a detailed price list in the Supporting Documents section. ) Describe any price flexibility or negotiating room, as is common with large purchases such as houses or cars.Outline any discounts you offer for long-term customers, bulk purchases or prompt payment. Also, include the terms of sale, such as â€Å"net due in 30 days,† extended payment plans, and whether you accept credit cards Promotion Plan A promotion plan describes the tools or tactics used to accomplish your marketing objectives. In your Action Programs section, you will describe the steps that need to be taken in detail, when they should be done, who will do them, and so on. If your marketing objective is to: Create awareness of baby care products among mothers of newborns.Increase sales of potato chips to teens. T hen tools or tactics might be: †¢ Advertise in baby care or motherhood magazines. †¢ Distribute product samples to obstetricians. †¢ Offer free baby care seminars to expectant mothers. †¢ Distribute free samples or discount coupons at high school football games. †¢ Sponsor an event attended by teens. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Placement (Sales and Distribution) In this section, describe how your products and customers â€Å"meet† or come together through sales and distribution. Describe your sales philosophies and methods.Do you employ an aggressive sales method for a large number of quick sales, or a relaxed method where the emphasis is on having customers feel comfortable to come back another time even if they don’t buy now? Do you use contract sales people or employees? Explain your approach to sales issues. Describe your distribution system. (Where will your product be placed so customers have access to it? ) A few points about distribution to address in your marketing plan are: Is the exchange of the product made in a store? Through the mail? Through a direct sales representative?What are your production and inventory capacities? (How quickly can you make products and how many can you store? ) Are there cyclical fluctuations or seasonal demands for your products? For example, if you produce Christmas decorations, how will you manage peak production and sales periods as well as slow periods? Do you sell to individuals or to re-sellers? Your company may use more than one method. For example, you may sell directly to customers who place large orders but also sell to customers who buy small quantities of your product through retail outlets. Part 12: Action PlansThe Action Plan covers the â€Å"Who, Where and How Much† of your plan. You should look at this section as the â€Å"to do list with budget numbers† and separate it into sub-sections or â€Å"miniplans† that are involved in y our marketing efforts. They can include but are not limited to the following: Publicity Marketing Plan – How do you pitch? I am not talking fastballs, but rather using the media to spread the word about your business. You could also call this mini-plan your media plan and it includes the costs and tasks involved in pitching stories to the press and writing press releases on a consistent basis.Customer Marketing Plan – No small business can survive without customers and smart business know that it is FAR cheaper to keep the customers you have than always working to replace them with new ones. This mini-plan talks about what activities you will undertake with your current customers and the types of targeted offers you will be making to retain them. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Advertising Plan – Now we all know that most traditional advertising is hit or miss and it is hard to track results.However, there are more and more promotional programs that provide you with a way to measure results that you can create a mini-plan of where you are going to advertise and how much of it you will be doing. Internet Marketing Plan – Every one these days has a web site. If you don’t and you are small business, then that is another matter. If you are a small business that is actively engaged on the web to promote your products or services then you need to include a separate mini-plan on Internet marketing that could include search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising and any other online campaigns.Promotional Event Plan – Related to advertising and Internet marketing the promotional event plan includes different promotional activities such as, having sales, sponsoring contests, awards, or events. Referral Marketing Plan – All small businesses need referral business. In fact, it is how many survive and even thrive. Here is where you need to identify specific programs that will add incentive for those that value your work enough to tell others about you. Budgeting AKA â€Å"The Bottom Line†We all wish we could do awesome and cool marketing campaigns but we are quickly brought back to reality when the limitations of our budgets are staring us in the face. Small Business Notes provides some great advice on putting together your budget. Estimate the cost of the marketing activities you’ve described in the marketing plan so you will have a budget to keep everyone on track over the course of the year. Typical marketing expense categories are marketing communications, market research, promotions, advertising, events and public relations.Because marketing needs and costs vary widely, there are no simple rules for determining what your marketing budget should be. A popular method with small business owners is to allocate a small percentage of gross sales for the most recent year. This usually amounts to about two percent for an existing business. However, if you are planning on launching a new product or business, you may want to increase your marketing budget figure, to as much as 10 percent of your expected gross sales. Another method used by small business owners is to analyze and estimate the competition’s budget and either match or exceed it.Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Section 3: Strategy and Action Part 13: Sales Projections in Plain English What Are Components of Sales Projections? Projection of sales is an important part of the marketing plan. Part of the sales projection work is planning for a better performance in the future and correcting past performance with which you are not satisfied. You do this by finding out what profit contribution each sales representative makes. One goal of measuring a sales representative’s performance is improvement assistance. This is done in the marketing personnel section of the marketing plan.Cost of Goods per Unit Worksheet This is the first preliminary worksheet you must complete . The reason you have to start here is because these are the basic costs of raw materials, production labor and other costs that, once added up, give you the cost of goods per unit number you will need to get the â€Å"Estimated Sales Table† completed. Estimated Sales Table Worksheet This is a preliminary worksheet that helps you figure out what the total sales and cost of goods sold are for each product year by year. You need to include the units, or number of things, sold by each product line. Take each number times the elling price of each product and you will get the actual sales for each product. Tally that number up and create a column called % of sales and divide each number by the total and you can see how much each product brings in as a share of the entire sales projection. You should already have the â€Å"Cost of Goods Sold† per unit from the previous section. Put that number in after the â€Å"% of sales† and then multiply that number times the unit s and put the result into a new column called â€Å"Cost of Goods sold total†. Once that is done, do the same thing we did with â€Å"% of sales† and create a â€Å"% of Cost of Goods Sold†.Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Sales Projections Worksheet This is where all the hard work comes into focus and you break things down by months that give you the total amount you put together in the estimated sales table. You will use a concept called â€Å"weighing† which is basically splitting 100% across 12 months as to when you think that total amount will be met each month. Think of busy periods where sales are way up and slow periods where it is way down. A good example is retail with busy holiday periods and slow winters and then busy back to school sales. You will also include he cost of goods sold numbers and percentages that breakdown according to the â€Å"weighing† you set up for each month overall. These projections are also used on th e business plan financials as revenue projections in the way they organize the business. You should also be aware how important this is not only from running your marketing division but when investors want to dive a layer deeper in the business plan and your numbers are what will back things up. It will also be used in other business plan financials but we will get into that in the next two sections. Part 14: The Break Even Analysis in Plain EnglishWe continue talking plain English with you in this fun and crazy world of marketing plan financials and move on to the all important Breakeven Analysis. The Breakeven Analysis is especially useful when you’re developing a pricing strategy, either as part of a marketing plan or a business plan. The Breakeven Analysis is actually pretty straightforward and asks one question – when do you break even and turn a profit? Simple†¦. Not quite†¦ but I will explain in plain English. You mean there is a formula for this thing ? Yes, you knew I would eventually get to a formula, but fear not math haters, it is straightforward.Fixed Costs divided by (Revenue per unit – Variable costs per unit) Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Fixed Costs – Fixed costs are costs that must be paid whether or not any units are produced. Things like rent and equipment fall into this category. These costs are fixed only over a specified period of time or range of production. Variable Costs – Variable costs are the things that make it fun and go up and down based on your production levels. Things like materials, labor, overhead are in this category. Let’s give you a real example:If your total fixed costs were $500,000, the price tag of your product (unit) was $25, and your variable Costs were $15, the equation would look like this: 500,000/25-15 = 500,000/10 = 50,000 You would need to sell 50,000 units to break even. Everything over that is profit and you dancing to the bank. Still, this n ot a perfect equation: Bplans. com points out that this equation, while important, can be misread or misinterpreted. Here are some key things they point out: †¢ It is frequently mistaken for the payback period, the time it takes to recover an investment. There are variations on break even that make some people think we have it wrong.The one we do use is the most common, the most universally accepted, but not the only one possible. †¢ It depends on the concept of fixed costs, a hard idea to swallow. Technically, a break-even analysis defines fixed costs as those costs that would continue even if you went broke. Instead, you may want to use your regular running fixed costs, including payroll and normal expenses. This will give you a better insight on financial realities. We call that â€Å"burn rate† these post-Internet days. †¢ It depends on averaging your per-unit variable cost and per-unit revenue over the whole business.However, whether we like it or not, thi s equation is a cornerstone of financial analysis. You may choose to leave it out, but really, a business or marketing plan would not be complete without it. Part 15: Sales Cash Flow Statements in Plain English As important as when you will break even, you must be able to show how, on a monthly basis, you will manage the cash flow to support the business and not sink it from an overly ambitious strategy and action plan. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC Similar to the Cash Flow Statement in a Business PlanThe cash flow statement reports the cash generated and used during the time interval specified in its heading. The period of time that the statement covers is chosen by the company. For example, the heading may state â€Å"For the Three Months Ended December 31, 2007? or â€Å"The Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2008?. For many, looking at a cash flow statement it looks a bit weird but it provides a different, yet critically important view of the business. For the mark eting plan, you need to create a subset of this that eventually rolls up into the business plan to support it and give detailed projections.Three Sections of a Marketing Plan Case Flow Statement For the purpose of the marketing plan cash flow statement that flows up and reports to the master cash flow statement, there are three sections that must be created – Operating Activities, Investing Activities, Financing Activities. We explain these on the next few pages. SECTION 1: Operating Activities This section converts the items reported on the income statement from the accrual (you book the sale but you might not have the money yet) basis of accounting and includes the following: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Cash receipts from sales or for the performance of servicesPayroll and other payments to employees Payments to suppliers and contractors Rent payments Payments for utilities Tax payments SECTION 2: Investing Activities Investing activities include capital expenditures – disbursements that are not charged to expense but rather are capitalized as assets on the balance sheet. Investing activities also include investments (other than cash equivalents as indicated below) that are not part of your normal line of business. These cash flows could include: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Purchases of property, plant and equipment Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipmentPurchases of stock or other securities (other than cash equivalents) Proceeds from the sale or redemption of investments Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC SECTION 3: Financing Activities Financing activities include cash flows relating to the business’s debt or equity financing: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Proceeds from loans, notes, and other debt instruments Installment payments on loans or other repayment of debts Cash received from the issuance of stock or equity in the business Dividend payments, purchases of treasury stock, or returns of capital IMPORTANT: Don’t Forget to Include an Expense BudgetBecause you will be estimating cash inflows for various product lines you must account for the expenses that are incurred related to them. This must include enough detail to track expenses month by month and follow up on plan-vs. -actual analysis. That’s a Wrap! Well, this concludes our 15-part series on writing a marketing plan. We hope you have learned new things and relearned things forgotten long ago. The following pages include extra resource for this Guide to Writing a Killer Marketing. We hope you have enjoyed this series and visit GrowSmartBusiness. com for more great content to help you grow your business.Additional Resources Small Business Administration http://www. sba. gov SCORE http://score. org American Marketing Association http://www. marketingpower. com/ Microsoft Small Business Center http://www. microsoft. com/smallbu siness/hub. mspx Microsoft Startup Center http://www. microsoft . com/smallbusiness/startu p-toolkit/default. aspx How to do a Competitive Analysis http://www. ehow. com/how_5220467_writecompetitive-analysis. html Writing a Marketing Plan http://www. knowthis. com/principles-ofmarketing-tutorials/how-to-write-a-marketingplan/ http://www. entrepreneur. com/marketing/marke ingbasics/marketingplan/article43018. html http://www. marketingforsuccess. com/MFSmarketingplan. html Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC About the Author Steve Fisher Blogs: http://stevefisher. me http://rulesforbusiness. com http://shootyourshow. com Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo or Flickr. Steve has been actively writing about small business and innovation since the late 90s on how small business could leverage the Web and stellar customer experiences to innovate their business and compete with the largest of competitors. He was among the arly thought leaders on the intersection of user experience, customer service and innovation. Steve curr ently is Managing Principal of AppSolve. In its 10th year, Appsolve specializes in user experience design, enterprise web development and online community management. Through AppSolve, he works with Network Solutions to manage its online small business community. Prior to that he was founder and CEO of Slipstream Air, a software provider to the private air travel industry. It was sold in 2008 to JIT Airline Resources, which rebranded as Slipstream Aviation Software. Steve has also held key leadership ositions at Global Network Solutions, OnSite Technologies, IKON, USConnect, Ryland and Wells Fargo. He has published several e-books on Small Business Management, User Experience, Online Marketing and Innovation. Currently, he is working on his first book, â€Å"101 Rules for Entrepreneurs† slated for a Spring 2010 release. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from University of Baltimore and on a personal note he is a great airplane pilot, a horribly slow 5K runner, a fair ly talented musician and a budding concert photographer. He currently resides in Columbia, MD, USA. Confidential  ©2009 Network Solutions, LLC

Radiation Heat Transfer Lab

The objective of this laboratory experiment is to investigate the radiation laws (Lambert's Distance, Cosine Law and Stefan-Boltzmann Law) using thermal and optical radiation. This experiment was carried out with the assistance of the Thermal Radiation Apparatus which consists of a heat source (that provides the heat for the verification of the Stefan-Boltzmann Law), a thermopile (that assists in detecting the temperature), a luxmeter (that assists in measuring the luminous intensity for the verification of Lambert's Distance & Cosine Law), absorption plates that detect any radiance incident upon them, a swivelling light source (that assists in provides luminous radiation for the verification of Lambert's Cosine Law) and finally measuring amplifier that detects he amount of irradiance incident upon the measuring plates and provides an electronic output in the form of a reading. Lambert's Distance Law states the as the separation distance between the point source of radiation and the detector plates is increased, the irradiance detected will decrease. This law was proved to be precise since the irradiance and the distance have a negative slope of -1.584 on Figure #1. Lambert's Cosine Law, which constitutes that the radiant intensity, I, of the radiation emitted by a flat source is same from any direction but the irradiance, E, decreases with the increase of cosine of the angle of incidence. This law was also proved to be accurate as it can be seen from Table #2 that as the angle of incidence increased, the irradiance decreased. The Stefan-Boltzmann Law was also verified. It was observed that the irradiance of a blackbody was proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature. The main source error in the lab experiment was that the laboratory room was not completely dark and caused the measuring plates to detect ambient light radiation and giving untrue readings. PROCEDURE The procedure outlaid in the lab manual was followed to precision. The procedure steps were carried out in a safe manner for Lambert's Distance Law, Lambert's Cosine Law and Stefan-Boltzmann Law. [2] RESULTS Lambert's Distance Law: Please refer to Table #1, Figure #1 and Figure #2 in Appendix A – Tables and Figures for the Results of the experiment conducted to observe Lambert's Distance Law. Lambert's Cosine Law: Please refer to Table #2, Table #3, Figure #3 and Figure #4 in Appendix A – Tables and Figures for the Results of the experiment conducted to observe Lambert's Cosine Law. Stefan-Boltzmann Law: Please refer to Table #4, Table #5 and Figure #5 in Appendix A – Tables and Figures for the Results of the experiment conducted to observe Stefan-Boltzmann Law. DISCUSSION Lambert's Distance Law: Theoretically it is believed that Lambert's Distance Law correlates to the fact that the irradiance of the radiation emitted perpendicularly towards a surface from a point source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance separating the illuminated surface and the source. [2] From the experiment it was observed that as the distance between the illuminated surface and the source of radiation increased, the irradiance decreased; as an individual can notice that at a separation distance of 100 mm the irradiance was observed to be 1069 W/m2 and at the separation distance of 800 mm the irradiance reduced to a 126 W/m2. From Figure #1 (Lambert's Distance Law plotted on a Log-Log scale) and Figure #2 (Lambert's Distance Law plotted on a normal scale), it can be discerned that the irradiance diminishes as the separation distance between the source of radiation and the illumination surface increases. Lambert's Cosine Law: Lambert's Cosine Law states that the radiant intensity, I, emitted by a flat source is the same from any direction, however the irradiance, E, decreases with the cosine of the angle of direction. [2] This law essentially dictates that the direction of illuminance is irrelevant since the radiance from the surface at any angle is exactly the same to the human eye; this happens due to the fact that as the angle of direction of the rays increases relative to the normal (0à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ – angle of direction), the area of incidence for the radiation decreases. Another theoretical observation that can be made from the law stated above is that the maximum irradiance will occur at the angle of zero degrees. It can be perceived from Figure #3, in which the relationship between angle and light intensity on blackbody in a radian measure is shown, the blue circles represent the angle from the center of the unit circle that correspond to the respective normalized illuminance value. From Table #2 it can be noted that as the angle of incidence is increased the illuminance decreases; this corroborates Lambert's Cosine Law even further. Stefan-Boltzmann Law: This law situates that the total irradiance of a blackbody radiator is proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature. [1] This can be stated mathematically, as , where ? is the Boltzmann constant with a value of 5.67*10-8 W/m2*K4; although this law applies solely to blackbodies. From Figure #4 it can observed that a linear relationship develops between the temperature and the irradiance, with a positive slope of 2078.1; when the temperature climbs the measuring amplifier detects a higher amount of irradiance. The theoretical irradiance values were calculated, since the only variable parameters in the equation for the irradiance are the temperatures that are detected. From Table #5 it can be discerned that the theoretical values had a percent error of approximately 76% when compared to the experimental values. This is a very high percent error and can be explained by that fact that not all of the radiation emitted by the source reaches the measuring plates and the majority of the radiation is lost to the environment. Errors: The main source error in the lab experiment was confronted during the second part of the lab; during which the Cosine Law was being detected. This room needs to be completely dark and only the radiance from the source must reach the measuring plates so as to provide the most accurate results. This was not achieved as the room was not completely dark and ambient radiation was allowed to be incident upon the measuring plates causing an error. Experimental errors were caused due to the measuring ruler for the distances of separation and the error in the readings for the irradiance. Another source of error may be that all sources of radiance during the lab experiment were assumed to be point sources; this is untrue as radiance was incident upon the measuring plates from reflection off the surfaces present in the laboratory room. CONCLUSION From the laboratory experiment conducted the Lambert's Distance Law was proved to be true as it was observed that an inversely proportional relationship developed between the distance and the irradiance detected by the measuring amplifier. Similarly, the Cosine Law was also proved to be correct, as an inversely proportional relationship was also detected between the angle of incidence and the illuminance measured. The last law to be confirmed was the Stefan-Boltzmann Law, which was observed when the total irradiance of the blackbody radiator was proportional to the fourth power of the absolute temperature. Overall a firm understanding of Lambert's Distance & Cosine Laws and Stefan-Boltzmann Law and radiation transfer were gained.

Why Did I Get Married Too

Why Did I Get Married Too Introduction â€Å"Why did I get married too† was released on 2nd April, 2010 in the United States of America. It is a drama comedy acted by four married couples going through marital challenges. They were proffessionals but their lives in marriage were quite challenging; the four wereTerry and Dianne, Gavin and Patricia, Angela and Marcus and, Sheila and Troy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Why Did I Get Married Too specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The movie started with the four couples going for a retreat to Bahamas. At first, Patricia and Gavin were perceived to have been in the best marriage but at the end they broke up and Gavin died in an accident (IMDb 1). This movie is very appropriate for the married people and even young teens. The movie brings out the theme of marriage and finances clearly. It is interesting and full of suspense as the director is able to bring out many conflicts in marriages with in a short time.Dialogue between the characters is intensively used. However, this movie only targets the adults and only includes black Americans. Critics have claimed that the director did not take into account the economic recession and that the movie did not use the seting of exotic Bahamas appropriately (Tsai 1). An analysis of this movie revealed that it effectively showed effects of infidelity and importance of communication between a husband and a wife. Plot The movie started when four couples who had been friends for a long time went for a vacation in Bahamas. The movie started with Terry dribbling a ball in their living room when their young daughter started to describe what divorce was to her brother. Dianne and Terry looked at each other with amazement. At the Airport Dianne and Angela were chatting when Angela noticed that her husband Marcus was flirting with a clerk. She went straight ahead and confronted him. Sheila and Troy were the first to arrive at Bahamas and the y were excited to find out how beautiful Bahamas was. Patricia and Gavin were second to arrive in Bahamas. Third were Terry and Dianne. The arrival of Angela and Marcus at Bahamas drew attention from other people.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Angela was too loud and all along seemed to have quarrels with her husband Marcus. She scolded Marcus and asked other people who were passing by if they knew her husband and she would give them two hundred dollars as a reward if they knew him. She wanted to prove to her husband that he was not famous at all. The gentlemen went to their own place at the beach while ladies also got to their place. Both groups talked about their marriages. Later on, Mike, the man who divorced Sheila some time back arrived at the scene (Perry 1). The second half of the movie was when the couples went back to their homes. Their marriages fault lines were seen in this scene. Each couple was going through a challenge and Gavin lost his life at the end while driving after a quarrel with Patricia (Hale 1). The movie shows the struggles wives and husbands go through. The movie is said to have a soap opera style especially with Sheila who is very emotional (Tsai 1). She had worked so hard for her second marriage with Troy to succeed. Troy on the other hand was offended because she exposed his financial struggles. He felt like others were undermining him and turned his anger to his wife Sheila (Perry 1). There was suspense throughout the movie, for example, when Terry moved out from his home and went to live in a new house. Dianne was desperate to get her husband only to find him with another girl. Terry mentioned her name and stated that she was pregnant. Suspense was created because we do not know what would be the reaction of Dianne if Terry was the father of the unborn child. Dianne relaxed when she heard that that girl had a boyf riend. There was also suspense when Patricia turned to be so wild and broke the furniture with a club. She broke glasses and smoked which was unbelievable because she had always been a role model. When Gavin was involved in an accident we did not know what would be Patricia’s reaction to this event and what she would do now that Gavin had died (Perry 1).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Why Did I Get Married Too specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Character Analysis Patricia was the protagonist in this movie. She was a commander in their marriage with Gavin. She was a psychiatrist and more theoretical than practical. It was ironical that she advised other couples and even wrote a book about marriage whereas her marriage was going through hell. She was wise and asked Angela and Dianne to find all the good things in their husbands and write them down. Patricia was hard working because she wrote a book and was succe ssful in her career. She was abusive because she abused her husband by calling him a bitch. Patricia (Janet Jackson) has also acted in the movie, For Colored Girls where she plays a wife’s role which is similar to this movie (Farley 1). Gavin was very patient with Patricia and got silent on Patricia’s insults until he could not handle them any longer. This was when he became brutal by forcing Patricia to take beer. He was kind and supportive as he supported his wife financially and emotionally as she wrote the book but unfortunately she was not thankful. She wanted to take all the money during their divorce without recognizing all the efforts he had put into that project. He later became a victim of circumstances because their marital problems made him to be hit by a truck as he was driving after a serious conflict with Patricia. Gavin was also faithful because throughout their marriage, Patricia did not suspect him for being unfaithful (Perry 1). Angela was always yel ling at her husband Marcus. She was very honest and confronted Marcus every time there was a problem. For example, she literary confronted Marcus when she saw him from afar trying to take another woman’s cell phone number. She was humorous; she tried to imitate Patricia’s tone as she read her book. She was also humorous when Marcus asked her to stop drinking beer. She filled a glass and told Marcus to allow her to take her last time beer. Marcus was also humorous because as Angela had said in the first movie every time he said, â€Å"You know what I am saying?† (Perry 1) it always meant that he was telling a lie. He also had a funny facial expression. Critics say that the movie lacks dramatic arc, â€Å"at times the script seems the result of free association of automatic writing. Behaviors are often incongruous with the characters, and plots are in free fall† (Tsai 1). Perry also concentrates so much in unfaithfulness in marriages failing to strike a bal ance between other factors which affect marriages such as finances, in laws and responsibilities of husbands and wives while also including children (Tsai 1).Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More All the characters acted in the earlier movie, Why Did I Get Married where they played the same roles as in this movie. However at that time Troy was a Sherriff. This family movie has the same theme of marriage with Not Easily Broken which was directed by Bill Duke. The movie theme is on causes of conflict and I would call it, Marriage Conflicts. Camera and Background Music The camera is used to effectively in this movie by use of camera techniques. There are numerous close up shots which are used to create interest and suspense. They give details of the characters. There are also several nature shots which help to give details of the environment in Bahamas. The director used medium long shots with a balance at the beach where men were resting and chatting. This gave the viewer a clear background of the place. The director also used many medium shots especially in dialogues between two people. The characters dressing matches with the occasions in which they are in. At the beach they are in bright color clothes such as yellow, light green, white and pink which created an atmosphere of calmness (Literacy 1). The movie also had a short background music which went, â€Å"I am a married man, cant you understand?† which is repeated several times. It was composed specifically for this movie. It is important because it enhances the theme of marriage. Conclusion Why did I get Married too movie was set in Bahamas during four couples’ vacation and at Atlantic in their homes. Marriage conflicts, importance of communication and friendship are the main themes of this movie. The movie concentrates on infidelity failing to consider other factors that affect marriages such as children, in laws and finances. It is mostly enjoyed by adults and older teens. The movie is appropriate and effective because infidelity is one of the largest causes of divorce. Farley, Christopher. Why did I get Married Too. Janet Jackson Tackles Poetry in For Colored Girls, 2010. Web. ht tp://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/11/02/janet-jackson-tackles-poetry-in-for-colored-girls/. Hale, Mike. At Couples Reunion, Laughs, Then Griefs. New York, 2010. Web. http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/04/03/movies/03tyler.html. IMDb. Why I Did I get Married Too. IMDb, 2010. Web. imdb.com/title/tt1391137/. Literacy. Visual Literacy. Portals, n.d. Web.. http://portals.studentnet.edu.au/literacy/minisites/sceggsdarlinghurstrevised/vliteracy/shots.htm. Perry, Tyler. Why Did I get Married too. Hollywood Screen, 2010. Hollywood. Tsai, Martin. Tyler Perrys Why Did I Get Married Too. NT, 2010. Web. nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2010/04/tyler_perrys_why_did_i_get_mar.html

Free Essays on A Time In My Life

Moving from one city to another city can often be very difficult for a child. The reason for this is that you aren’t just moving to a different city. You’re moving to a different atmosphere, school, group of friends and neighbors. Moving is one thing that is very hard but has come very easy to me. We were transitioning from Japan to Virginia and my parents sent me and my sister, Ashley, to Hawaii to stay with my grandparents so that they could find a good living area with a good school system. We moved and it was hard but I was only twelve and I eventually got over it and then began to make new friends. Moving wasn’t such a big deal to me anymore, especially after the 7th time. I loved my grandparents to death, so I had a blast staying with them to finish up the school year. Plus they lived in Hawaii†¦enough said, nice weather, cute boys, and the beach. I was young and had no responsibilities. Up until that point I was feeling pretty good. Until one day whil e my grandpa was at work, well he was retired but he just helped out once and a while, he had a massive stroke and was rushed to the hospital. Till that day no one in my family that I was close with had died or have had something awful happen to them. So my family and I were sitting in the hospital waiting for the doctor to come out and tell us something. One thing you must know about my grandfather is that he is this jolly old man with a huge belly. You would think it was a beer belly, but it defiantly was full of food, he loved to eat. We couldn’t go anywhere without him knowing someone and stand there for what seemed like hours of him talking. He was real big into church and he was always helping people out. So when the doctor came out finally he had told us that my grandfather had had a stroke and it hit his left side making him paralyzed on his right. He could no longer use anything on his right ride. So eating, walking, and talking were gone. The normal things in life . .. Free Essays on A Time In My Life Free Essays on A Time In My Life Moving from one city to another city can often be very difficult for a child. The reason for this is that you aren’t just moving to a different city. You’re moving to a different atmosphere, school, group of friends and neighbors. Moving is one thing that is very hard but has come very easy to me. We were transitioning from Japan to Virginia and my parents sent me and my sister, Ashley, to Hawaii to stay with my grandparents so that they could find a good living area with a good school system. We moved and it was hard but I was only twelve and I eventually got over it and then began to make new friends. Moving wasn’t such a big deal to me anymore, especially after the 7th time. I loved my grandparents to death, so I had a blast staying with them to finish up the school year. Plus they lived in Hawaii†¦enough said, nice weather, cute boys, and the beach. I was young and had no responsibilities. Up until that point I was feeling pretty good. Until one day whil e my grandpa was at work, well he was retired but he just helped out once and a while, he had a massive stroke and was rushed to the hospital. Till that day no one in my family that I was close with had died or have had something awful happen to them. So my family and I were sitting in the hospital waiting for the doctor to come out and tell us something. One thing you must know about my grandfather is that he is this jolly old man with a huge belly. You would think it was a beer belly, but it defiantly was full of food, he loved to eat. We couldn’t go anywhere without him knowing someone and stand there for what seemed like hours of him talking. He was real big into church and he was always helping people out. So when the doctor came out finally he had told us that my grandfather had had a stroke and it hit his left side making him paralyzed on his right. He could no longer use anything on his right ride. So eating, walking, and talking were gone. The normal things in life . ..

10 Tips for When You Cant Find a Job After College

10 Tips for When You Cant Find a Job After College In an ideal world, every college graduate would find their dream job immediately. However, this is simply not the case and many students find themselves struggling to find work. With student loans to pay back and living expenses to cover this is a stressful situation to find yourself in, which is why we’ve put together these tips for what to do when you can’t find a job after college. 1 – Reduce Your Living Costs If you can’t find a job after college, one of the most pressing issues is going to be your financial situation. How are you going to feed yourself and keep a roof over your head? The first step is to look at ways to reduce your living costs. You might want to think about moving back home if it is an option as this will drastically reduce your living costs. You can also defer your student loans and work out a strict budget for the next few months to make the money you do have last. 2 – Apply for Job It might seem like a bit of a no brainer, but you won’t find work if you are not applying for jobs. It is easy to get disheartened and give up after a few rejections, but you must keep your eye on the prize. Apply for every single job that comes up. You should be sending out resumes and filling out applications daily. If you dont have job experience, you should read some tips on how to write resume with no job experience. Dont forget that its a good idea to ask professionals to write your resume. Also, don’t forget to write multiple cover letters suited to different jobs. 3 – Give Yourself a Social Media Audit One reason why you can’t find a job after college could be that your social media profile is putting potential employers off! It is increasingly common for employers to look up potential candidates on social media. If your profile is littered with drunken snapshots at the dorm parties, then you could be giving the wrong impression. Take a little time to remove anything that could be potentially off-putting and start sharing some of your other interests. 4 – Spend Some Time Networking Sometimes, when it comes to finding a job its not what you know, its who you know! If you can’t find a job after college then you need to start networking. Attend career fairs, college alumni events, networking luncheons and conferences. It is also a good idea to join LinkedIn if you haven’t already. Start getting to know the movers and shakers in your chosen industry and they might just thrown you a bone when a job opportunity arises! 5 – Consider Staying in School If it is beginning to look like you are not going to find a job when you graduate, you do have the option of returning to school for some additional qualifications. This may not be an ideal situation, but it could pay off in the long run. 6 – Broaden Your Job Search If you can’t find a job after college then you may need to broaden your job search. If there is nothing available in terms of your dream job, think about other jobs within the same industry that you might also enjoy. Sometimes working within the industry of choice can get your foot in the door. For example, even taking an admin role in a pharmaceutical company could potentially put you on the road to a laboratory job. 7 – Work Part Time If broadening your search within the industry doesn’t work, then you may need to cast the net even wider. You may not have envisioned working part time in retail or fast food after completing your degree but taking a part time job will at least allow you to bring in some money while you search for the dream job. Part time hours also mean you still have plenty of time for job hunting. If you are lucky, maybe you can find something part time that relates loosely to your ideal career which will give you something to build upon. 8 – Volunteer to Gain Experience Another common reason why you can’t find a job after college is that many employers want people with experience. This creates a catch 22 situation where you can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience because nobody will give you a job. The answer is to volunteer! Offer to work for free in your chosen field either as part of an internship or just given up a few hours a week. This will get you experience in the industry which will help strengthen your resume. However, you should know that there are more benefits of volunteering besides getting experience. 9 – Start a Blog Sometimes, you just need to find ways to put yourself out there. If you truly have an interest in the industry you want to work in, then why not start a blog about it? Get your name out there and position yourself as an expert in your field. It may take a little effort to grow your audience and build a healthy following on social media, but once your name is out there you may well find job offers coming to find you rather than you having to hunt them down. However, a word of caution. This is not the easy route to finding a job. It takes hard work and dedication. 10 – Start Your Own Business Finally, if you have exhausted all other options and you still can’t find a job after college, why not consider starting your own business? Think about the skills you possess and how you can market them. If you are a great academic writer, you could try freelance editing or journalism. Computer wizards might start their own IT company. The possibilities are endless. Heres a small guide on how to become entrepreneur while youre still student. In conclusion, if you can’t find a job after college, try not to be too hard on yourself. It is not always easy to get started in your chosen career and you may need to make a few changes along the way. One thing to remember is that your lack of employment is not necessarily your fault. Do not give up hope, a little persistence is sure to pay off in the end and you will soon find your way in life. Good luck!

Stories of Chanhe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stories of Chanhe - Essay Example Furthermore, with the help of Kotter’s model, the paper will highlight the main errors that were by these companies during the change along with some recommendations. Hewlett Packard (HP) is one of the leading IT corporations in the world. In 1999 when Carly Fiorina was recently appointed as the CEO of HP, the company was facing serious competition in the computer industry and therefore needed guidance. The market share of the company was at stake because of its rivals such as Dell, etc. Fiorina wanted to change the functions and operations of the company. She believed that it could be changed by ‘going back to the roots of the place’. She restructured the company into front end and back end departments. Many opposed the merger that took place between HP and Compaq in 2002 however Fiorina did not lose hope and stayed focused. The merger made HP the biggest personal computer manufacturer in the world. However, the sales did not grow, and the company lost half of its share. The CEO was fired and was replaced by Mark Hurd. Mark incorporated some new strategies and in 2007 HP claimed its highest sales for seven years (Gruver, Young, & Fu lghum, 2012; Palmer, 2005). Although Fiorina restructured the company and divided it into quadrants the major reasons behind its failure were quite prominent. As according to Dr. John Kotter, 70% of major change efforts fail in organizations. According to Kotter’s model, Fiorini was unable to develop a sense of urgency within the workforce therefore majority of the workforce was not in agreement with Fiorina’s decision. Secondly she was unable to create a guiding coalition. For this reason, she was failed to develop a change vision effectively (Palmer, 2005). If the CEO of the company would have engaged the entire top management of HP and have attained their concerned the change  policy would have worked in an effective manner. It is recommended that in order to effectively implement