Thursday, November 28, 2019

Strip That Down by Liam Payne free essay sample

This is Liam Paynes breakout single. In case you dont remember, Liam Payne is from the very famous boy band One Direction. Prior to the release of the song, Liam posted teasers of it on Instagram, he was the last member of the band to release his solo work. Payne did not write the song by himself, rather, Ed Sheeran wrote it. While Sheeran wrote it he figured Paynes falsetto voice would go best with it so he called Payne up to sing it. All in all, it took a day to produce. This song is not sung by Payne himself, he sings it with the highest ranking rapper of now, Quavo. In my personal opinion, Paynes voice sounds wonderful on this track. I mean, seriously, if you were to log onto youtube and listen to some of his live vocals, you would see what I mean. We will write a custom essay sample on Strip That Down by Liam Payne or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page His voice always sounds very clear, and he is one of the few singers out there that can actually sing. The song lyrics itself are pretty self-explanatory. You know, I love it, when the musics loud But cmon, strip that down for me, baby Now theres a lot of people in the crowd But only you can dance with me So put your hands on my body And swing that round for me, baby (swing) You know, I love it when the musics loud But cmon, strip that down for me (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah) The song is currently certified Double Platinum, so in other words, if you havent heard this bop yet, add it to your to-do list.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Recovering Energy from Waste

Recovering Energy from Waste Background Waste management is one of the fundamental issues that are raising concern among the policy makers within the Victorian State in Australia. According to Parkinson (2007, p. 85), the amount of waste materials produced by households and companies in Australia has been consistently on the rise over the past few decades due to the increasing population in this country.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Recovering Energy from Waste specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the past, the Victorian government did not see the relevance of enacting strict policies to help in the management of waste because it never considered it a major issue. However, the events that have taken place in the last thirty years or so have forced this government to redefine its focus towards waste management. It realized that this issue could no longer be ignored anymore. Action had to be taken to protect the environment in order to achieve s ustainability. Some of the approaches that were used before in managing wastes could no longer be used because they were unsustainable. For this reason, the government has enacted a number of legislation and policies to help define the approach that should be taken to manage wastes within this country. Recovering of energy from waste materials has been seen as the best alternative to managing waste other than disposing them to landfills. The Victorian Organic Resource Recovery Strategy is one of the initiatives by the Victorian Government that focuses on how to recover energy from waste materials. In this essay, the researcher will focus on discussing how energy recovery from wastes is more beneficial than disposal in the landfills within the Victorian state. Aim of the study Waste management is a global issue that is causing concern in various parts of the world. Here in Australia, the government has been trying to find the best solution to this problem. The Victorian government ha s been keen on developing policies, which may be of help in waste management. In this essay, the researcher aims at identifying how wastes can be turned into energy as a way of addressing this problem. Analysis of the Issues According to Smith (2010, p. 45), managing of wastes in the modern world is taking a new approach. In the past few years, some of the developed countries considered sending waste materials overseas to the developing nations for recycling. However, the issue of waste management in these developing countries is a concern, and this means that countries have to find a local solution to this local problem. The Victorian government has taken the initiative of finding a local solution to this local problem. Over the past decade, government has been pushing a number of agendas on waste management that can be summarized in the diagram below.Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Figure 1: Waste Management Initiatives Source (Roberts 2014, p. 84) As shown above, the government has been pushing for reduction in the production of waste materials as the best solution in managing this problem. It is the first step towards having an environment that is free from pollution. However, it is a fact that the society cannot avoid producing waste in totality. In this case, the second policy of re-use becomes very useful. In this area, the government is creating awareness among the populace that it is environmentally beneficial to reuse some of the wastes as plastic bags instead of disposing them soon after they are used for the first time. This will help in minimizing wastes in the environment. When the product can no longer be re-used anymore, the next step would be to recycle the material instead of letting it go into waste. Recycling increases the usefulness of these products before they can be disposed. It reduces the amount of domestic and i ndustrial wastes. When recycling is no longer a viable option, then energy recovery comes in as an alternative to disposing the material. It is important to note that the recovery involves tapping of energy from the material that has been considered completely non-useful. This will be the focus of this study. The last stage that the whole system is trying to avoid is the disposal into the landfill because of the obvious health hazards.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Recovering Energy from Waste specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Policies Enacted By the Government to Promote Resource Recovery The Environment Protection Act 1970 is seen by many as the basis of all other government policies on managing wastes in this country (Hinrichs 2014, p. 72). Under section 50 CA, the Victorian government provides policies on how various stakeholders can participate in waste management and resource recovery in order to reduce the b urden of wastes on the environment. Nee and Ong (2013, p. 119) say, â€Å"The Victorian Waste and Resource Recovery Policy remains one of the best government-led initiatives in combating wastes.† This policy seeks to find a way of turning waste materials into resources that can be used to drive the economy. The government- through various departments- has been struggling with the impacts of waste materials on the society. These wastes are a serious threat to public health, besides the negative consequences they have in the environment. This ambitious government policy focuses on turning the problem into a solution. According to Shrivastava (2003, p. 58), waste materials have the potential of producing energy that can be used to run engines, provide lighting, and many other benefits if the tapping is done appropriately. According to Plitch (2008, p. 51), the Environment Protection (Industrial Waste) Act 1985 was enacted as an amendment to the 1970 laws on environment to bring more focus on waste management using local solutions. This Act specifically focused on the management of industrial wastes. It promoted the idea of large industries using their wastes to harness energy instead of releasing it to the environment. According to Hinrichs (2014, p. 89), it is through this policy that many manufacturers of sugar realized that they can produce enough energy to run their engines by using energy recovered from their waste products. This policy was enacted after a review conducted by the government agencies confirmed that industrial wastes were posing serious environmental threats and urgent measures were necessary to help address the problem.  The Environment Protection Act 2002 was enacted to give Environmental Protection Authority the mandate to develop policies on waste management (Roberts 2014, p. 67). This new law was enacted after it became apparent that the issue of waste management was dynamic in nature. Addressing it through Acts of parliament was not a viable process. The Victorian government, therefore, considered it necessary to hand over this responsibility to an authority that can be in the best position to develop policies at regular intervals in line with the dynamic forces in the environment.Advertising Looking for essay on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This law allows the authority full mandate to define all the policies that should be followed by the industrial sector in order to ensure that wastes are recycled. It also allows this authority to create an enabling environment where private-public partnerships can be used to spur growth of energy production from waste materials. According to Hinrichs (2014, p. 137), the Victorian government has been using this authority to identify companies that have done exceptionally well in converting their wastes into energy that is useful to them and to the society. The government always rewards these companies through material and non-material initiatives. The companies, which are able to produce more energy than they require for their local consumption can, sell the excess energy to the national grid through direct help from the government. More recently, the Victorian government enacted Environment Protection Regulations 2009 to improve on the laws that existed on industrial waste resource management (Roberts 2014, p. 125). The Act is a deliberate effort by the government to convince the industrial sector to change their perception towards wastes. Under this Act, the scope of industrial wastes goes beyond the wastes produced within a given company. It extends to wastes from consumers buying products from a given company. For instance, Coca Cola Company uses plastic bottles to sell their drinks. The plastic wastes (the used bottles) that are thrown by the consumers become a responsibility of this company. This means that the company will find a way of making its consumers use the material responsibly. The law encourages the need to find a communal solution to this problem. Importance of Energy Recovery from Wastes The global society is struggling with the problem of pollution as its effect begins to weigh heavily in some parts of the world. According to Hinrichs (2014, p. 43), major cities in China such as Shanghai and Beijing are so polluted that sometimes it forces the elderly and young individuals to stay indoors because of their vulnerability. People develop strange diseases because of the toxic substances within the environment they stay. This clearly demonstrates some of the possible consequences of pollution that this society may face. On the other hand, the cost of fuel continues to rise. Australia is forced to import oil from other countries such as Saudi Arabia at very high costs. Converting of wastes into energy is the solution to these two problems. This explains why the government has enacted several laws to guide this process. It will help the Victorian community eliminate all the health hazards from organic wastes and instead, tap energy that can be used to spur economic growth in the society. To the industrial sector, this initiative can eliminate the cost of buying energy to run their engines. To individual families, the initiative will help them generate their own power that can be used domestically or even commercially by sell ing excess power to the government. The process can be done safely and in a manner, that minimizes air pollution as much as possible. The figure below shows a waste-to-energy plant and the process involved. Figure 2: Waste-to-Energy Plant Source (Roberts 2014, p. 64) As shown in the above diagram, the energy from this plant- in the form of electric energy- is then supplied to the national grid. Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clear that we should recover energy from wastes rather than using the landfills. This initiative helps in addressing the problem of environmental pollution, besides creating additional energy to be used for domestic and industrial use. The Victorian govern has enacted laws to help govern this process. List of References Hinrichs, R 2014, Sustainable Energy Policies for Europe: Towards 100% Renewable Energy, CRC Press, Melbourne. Lawrence, W 2004, Plitch Retail Wheeling: A Paradigm Shift for Waste-to-Energy and Other Renewable Energy Facilities, Nat ural Resources Environment, vol. 9. no. 2, pp. 27-29. Nee, A Ong, S 2013, Re-engineering manufacturing for sustainability: Proceedings of the 20th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering, Springer, London. Parkinson, A 2007, Maralinga: Australias nuclear waste cover-up, ABC Books, Sydney. Roberts, B 2014, Australian Environmental Planning: Challenges and Future Prospects, ABC Books, Sidney. Shrivastava, A 2003, Wealth from waste, McMillan, London. Smith, J 2010, Renewables information: 2010, with 2009 data, OECD/IEA, Melbourne. .

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Puigs kiss of the spider woman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Puigs kiss of the spider woman - Essay Example Evidence of Mestre's (Sara p78) prodigious imagination is ubiquitous in his unusual characters, in the many subplots, twists, turns and transformations (after inventing a powerful guava-based aphrodisiac, one character turns into a river fish and is promptly eaten by his cat), in the onion layering of folklore within tales within stories. His prose has an uncommon exuberance that captures the lushness of his tropical setting. On the other hand, this vitality frequently gives way to elaborate decoration that can obstruct the impetus of the insecurely structured plot, and the novel's big movements turn out to be obscured by its complicated details. This novel can be compared to the Cuba revolution for the reason that it is based in the Cuban revolution in addition to also highlights Castro Gays were despised in Cuba and Castro brought a reign of terror upon them. They were harassed, publicly ridiculed, forced from jobs, jailed, and beaten and, in 1965, they were labeled "counter revolutionary" rounded up and sent to forced labor camps. In 1980 hundreds of Cuban Gays were again labeled "counter-revolutionary," only this time they were thrown out of the country. After what they'd been through, getting thrown out of Cuba wasn't the worse thing that could happen. Puig's kiss of the spider woman Concerns the impact of the Cuban revolution on

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Alcoholism and Its Effect on the Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Alcoholism and Its Effect on the Family - Essay Example The alcohol that is carried from the mother into the placenta reaches the baby inside the womb thereby introducing the mother to the risk of giving birth to a baby with "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or FAS" (Parsons). According to Parsons, babies born with FAS have "deformities in the brain and skull" and are "physically shorter and underweight compared to normal babies." Apart from this, they have "difficulties in learning, attention span, judgment, memory, problem-solving" (Parsons), and usually exhibit behavior problems. These physical and behavioral limitations are carried over to adulthood leading to difficulties in relationship establishment and making these affected children socially impaired and incompetent to live a normal existence. In physically healthy children of alcoholics, "learning disorders, behavioral problems and emotional disturbance" (Burge & Schneider) are apparent. According to G. Berger, many of them have "low self-esteem" and carry feelings of "loneliness, guilt, helplessness, fears of abandonment and chronic depression" (qtd. in Parsons). These children's ability to read and learn slows down as alcoholic parents neglect their important role in the family. Moreover, as the home becomes a venue for conflict due to constant arguments about the issue of excessive drinking, the home becomes no longer conducive to study and learning. According to Ferguson, as performance in the school gets adversely affected, children experience problems academically and have "difficulty establishing relationships with teachers and classmates" (Parsons) thereby resulting to feelings of inadequacy and isolation. Other children manifest "behavioral problems [such as] lying, stealing, fighting, and truancy" (Parsons). This is mainly due to the "extremely unstable home environment" (Parsons) they live in. As children "can not predict the behaviour of the problem drinker" (Walker) in the family or know not what to expect from an alcoholic parent, they develop erratic behaviors and become unpredictable themselves (Parsons). On Marriage The attitude of the problem drinker negatively alters as the dependence on alcohol increases. According to Burge and Schneider, excessive alcohol use does not only lead to clinically significant physical impairment as the drinker's health deteriorates, it also leads to distress as the family gets exposed to common scenarios among alcoholic families such as car accidents due to intoxication or arrests for alcohol-related violations or misconducts (Burge & Schneider). These situations more often than not trigger arguments between spouses and other family members about the risk of intoxication that result to domestic tension. As the alcoholic individual fails to fulfill major obligations at work, relationship between spouses gets affected. For instance, "repeated absences or poor work performance related to alcohol use" (Burge & Schneider) leads to inefficiency and eventual job loss. Unemployment then leads to "financial difficulties" (Parsons) which is another formidable domestic issue that couples deal with on a regular basis. Liquor addiction also makes the alcoholic parent neglectful of children or household. Feelings of "hatred and self-pity" (Parsons) thrive as the nonalcoholic spouse feels

Monday, November 18, 2019

Interpreting Popular Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Interpreting Popular Music - Essay Example Lastly, of every significant structure, music has maybe the most unpretentious and complex connection to verbal dialect and the sorts of referentiality in which it is (customarily) related. The state of it being rich, makes music a vital source-case for a basic semiotics. Nevertheless, it is likewise this richness, which has regularly separated musical semiotics into contending camps, each one deficient. I ought to pause a minute, then, to show the general blueprints of the new amalgamation which, I believe, can at long last start to address this many-sided quality. There are three key improvements in musical semiotics in the 1990s. The principal was a basic swing in the field far from formalism for its own particular purpose, towards a recharged enthusiasm for hermeneutics (but of a profoundly formalized sort). The hermeneutic turn has given room for musical semiotics to say significantly more in regards to the particular connections between cultural value and formal detail. The second advancement was the development of an intelligible and effective hypothesis of musical gesture a vastly improved picture of the associations between musics symbolic and corporeal aspects, and the inconspicuous interplay in the middle of literal and progressively abstract signs of encapsulation in musical practice. This advancement has permitted musical semiotics to be more particular about the instruments fundamental musical connotation at all levels of sweeping statement. The third advancement has been the rise of a semiotic hypothesis of musical narrative and musical personae. However, the main aim of this paper is to give a semiotic analysis of aâ€Å"Not a second† a rock song done by the Beatles back in the years. There has been plenty of earnest rock writing -- Heylin 1992 Eisen 1969, and Kureishi 1995- are excellent anthologies. Nevertheless, so far it has largely concentrated on disciplines like music’s sociology, with their theories and concepts rooted in

Friday, November 15, 2019

Danone Company Analysis

Danone Company Analysis Group Danone or Danone is the French company which has the head quarter and stock exchange at Paris. Danone group produces variety of product in many business segmentations; fresh dairy product, water, baby food, medical nutrition and beverage. The group primarily operated in European country; UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, through it has operation in Asia, US, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Brazil, Poland and other parts of the world. In this analysis, we are focusing on Danones bottled water division only in order to make it more specific and easy to use the secondary data. Our group also considers both UK market and Global market according to secondary data provided. Danones group is the second leading producer of packaged water in the world based on volume. The group is also second leading producer of packaged water in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin-America. (Data monitor, 2009). Their water division market packaged under Volvic, Badoit, Aqua, Naya, Lanjarà ³n, Font Vella, Bonafont (Brazil), Villa del Sur, Villa Vicencio. The group is focusing on natural mineral and spring water based business. There are two big brands from this group are operating in UK bottle water market; Evian and Volvic. On the figure two below has shown the Danones group key date from 1958 to 1997. Figure2: Danones group Key dates (company history, funding universe) Financial performance analyzing is equipment that the company has to be done every year in order to measure the company performance and company growth so, before we looking through each topic in market driven marketing, we have to consider and analyze their financial performance. Then, we will know that Danone is loss or gain the profit (Growth, stable or loss). Danone group using many strategies in order to make the company growth; growth strategy; joint venture, acquisitions by vertical integration, corporate governance etc. which will describe in detail later on. By looking at figure3, we can conclude that from year 2005 to 2006, revenues of Danone group on bottled water division is decreasing. Then, increasing two years from 2006 to 2008 and decreasing again between 2008 and 2009 (a little). We cannot totally conclude that this company has bad operation by considering only revenue so; we have to calculate percentage growth, financial ratio; profit margin, Debt-asset ratio, Return on assets, Average revenue per employee, average profit per employee and also consider the market share of Danone group in the industry in order to summarize the financial performance of the company. Now, lets calculate the percentage of growth rate by using equation below; By using this equation, we can calculate revenue growth, asset growth, liability growth as shown on the table2 by the next page. Then we calculate the profit margin by using equation below; Debt-asset ratio, return on assets, revenue per employee and profit per employee can be also calculated by using equation below; All result of calculation have displayed on table 2 below; There are many financial ratios in the business that the company has to calculate and consider but in this report, we have limited information therefore we calculate only important or key ratio in order to analyze the basic company performance. Now, lets consider each element on the table2; According to the profit margin equation, we can see that the pattern of profit and profit margin are showing into the same direction (Profit margin profit) that decrease trifling during 2005 to 2006 and exploding at year 2007 and decreasing down to the previous level at 2008 to 2009. We can notice the irregular pattern at year 2007 which may come from some unusual situation in the company. It may come from the policy of the company to lay out some employees or many employees may leave or retire in this year because we can notice from table1, number of employee in 2007 is decreasing down abundantly therefore the company will have less expense and high profit. Another possible reason is in 2007, Danone group joint venture with Dutch Mill group (Datamonitor, 2007) which they can expand their product to Thailand. Danone group also joint venture with others company around the world in this year but they expanded in others market division; milk, yogurt or daily products which we do not con sider in this report. We will discuss more detail on joint venture later on How brand growth? If we are considering only on profit margin element, we can conclude that Danone group operating their company very well because their profit margin shown all positive number. On the figure5 above has represented three graphs of growth; revenue growth, asset growth and liabilities growth. Revenue growth pattern is decreasing from 2005 to 2006 and keep increasing during 2006 to 2008. Then, decreasing again by the last period 2008 to 2009 which means the company had using good marketing strategies on the bottled water division; sale promotion, innovation of product, packaging, cutting price etc. therefore, the company can be able to generate more revenue during 2006 to 2008. However, if we look back to the profit (Net income) graph on figure4, during 2007 to 2008, the company lost the profit. Next, asset growth and liabilities growth pattern are nearly the same as shown on the figure 5 except last period (2008-2009) that asset is increasing but the liabilities is decreasing which looks take the benefit to the company; gain more asset with less liabilities. By this figure, we can notice that on the year 2007, revenue growth and asset growth is a lot increasin g same as profit margin pattern. Now, we may summarize that during 2007, Danone group acquires and joint venture with others company on the bottled water division which make the company have to use more money in order to invest more then, the liabilities is increasing. The company also had more profit and asset. We will not focusing on total liabilities and total asset much on this figure because we already discussed on their growth by the previous figure but, we plot these two elements because they are related to the debt and asset ratio in order to make more easy to understand this ratio. Recall back to the debt-asset ratio equation on the third page, we can see that debt-asset ratio is going to the same direction as liabilities (debt-asset ratio liabilities or debt). This ratio tells us about how the company manages their debt compare with the company asset. By looking through the pattern at the figure6 above, we can see that debt-asset ratio is decreasing during 2005-2006 then, increasing by two year and decreasing again during 2008 to 2009. We can conclude that Danone group can operate their debt and asset better during the last period (less liability, more assets). This figure doesnt tell us much about the company performance. It shows the average revenue and profit per employee which have the same pattern as profit and revenue and we can see that which less number of employees, the profit per employees is increasing. (2007) Now, the last and important ratio, the return on assets (ROA) percentage shows how profitable a companys assets are in generating revenue. Actually, Return on assets is an indicator of how profitable a company is before leverage, and is compared with companies in the same industry but there are a lot of Danone competitor which we will discuss later therefore with ROA of Danone group only, we can conclude that at 2007, Danone group has the highest ROA which mean good because it means the company can use their asset in order to generate high level of profit. (Well operation) Market share of Danone group bottled water division Market share is one of the most important elements that we have to consider in order to analyze the company performance. The figure9 below will show the market share of bottled water market in United Kingdom. By this pie chart, we can conclude that Group Danone is the leading player in the United Kingdom bottled water market, generating a 30.8% share of the markets volume. By the next page, we will see another set of data with show the company shares of bottled water by off-trade value 2006-2010. From this table, we also can see the same result as the previous source of data; Group Danone is the leading player in the United Kingdom bottled water market. As I have mentioned above Danone group owned a big two brand in the UK market; Evian and Volvic. We will discuss more detail about these two brands when we focus about brand equity, Duplication of purchase, Double Jeopardy etc. At that topic, we will show the share of each brand in the market. In this topic, we also notice the main competitors of Danone group; Tesco, Highland Spring, Nestle. How the company growth? Danone group use the many business strategies in order to move forward the company as I had mentioned some of them by the previous topic; acquisition, joint venture, finance agreement (vertical integration) which provide a lot of advantages to the company. Before we go through the company detail, lets we explain briefly about vertical integration to make more understand why this company can be growth by using this strategy. The degree to which a form owns its upstream supplier and its downstream buyer is referred as vertical integration. Because it can have a significant impact on a business units position in its industry with respect to cost, differentiation, and other strategic issues, the vertical scope of the firm is an important consideration on corporate strategy (Quick MBA, 2010) The expansion of activities downstream is referred as forward integration, and expansion upstream is referred as backward integration. There are some advantages of using vertical integration which mentioned by Quick MBA; reduce transportation cost id common worship results in closer geographic proximity, improve supply chain coordination, provide more opportunities by means of increased control over inputs, capture upstream or downstream profit margin, increase entry barriers to potential competitors, gain access to downstream distribution channels that otherwise would be inaccessible, facilitate investment in highly specialized assets in which upstream or downstream players may be reluctant to invest and lead to expansion of core competencies. For Danone group, the acquisitions initially took the shape of vertical integration, acquiring Alsacian brewer Kronenbourg and Evian mineral water who were the glassmakers largest customers. This move provided content with which to fill the factorys bottles. In 1973, the company merged with Gervais Danone and began to expand internationally. (Danone group, 2007) Joint venture is one of the strategies that make Danone growth, Danone group had joint venture with many country around the world; India, Israel, Pakistan, China, Thailand etc. which we can say that Danone is the Global company as you can see on the figure11. On the bottled water division, Danone group always looking for acquiring their suppliers, suppliers competitors and also competitors company in order to produced bottle to the company which low cost and eliminate their competitors. Danone group also joint venture with the foreign company for expanding the product to the new market (Dutch mill group in Thailand). In the others hand, Danone group also sell some part or some brand of their company to others company. For example, Arvie water which belonging to Danone group was acquired by Eurokin this year. (Datamonitor, 2010) etc. Establish the non-profitable organization is one of the key marketing strategies to growth: Danone Institute International. Danone Institute International is a non-profit organisation originally established in 1997 with funding from the company. The Danone International Prize for Nutrition, worthà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬120,000, is presented biennially to honor individuals or teams that have advanced the science of human nutrition. Brand equity There are many ways to measure the brand equity which mentioned differently in past journals and researches. We cant say exactly which element can measure the brand equity effectively because it depends on many factors on the brands on each industry (Daily product, technology product etc.). Those journals and researches are not totally accepted but they failed to reject because they may works in some brands and related situation. Recall back to case study 3 that I have mention about the metrics that we can use to measure brand equity. The brand equity measurement that I want to measure can be summarizing into five main groups as shown on the table5. On each sub element of each group can be measure in two ways; quantitative and qualitative measurement. From this topic until the end of this report, we will focus deeply to the brand of bottled water division of Danone group. The big two brand that I will focus on are Evian and Volvic but we will not describe into their history or their company profile for these two brands because they have operating under Danone group. We will go through the analyzing part of their secondary data on each topic. These two brands are the top leader brand in the UK market. Brand equity measurement Loyalty Perceived Quality Leadership Association Brand Price premium Perceived Quality Perceived Value Brand Awareness Satisfaction/ Loyalty Leadership Brand Personality Brand momentum Organization Association Brand Contribution Table5: Five main groups of brand equity measurement. Now, I will explain each element briefly how they work. Loyalty is core dimension of brand equity. Brand equity blunders that go to the heart of the customer relationship should affect loyalty. A loyalty consumer base represents a barrier to entry, a basis of price premium, time to respond to competitor innovation and a bulwark against deleterious price competition. The price premium is the basic indicator for brand loyalty. For the satisfaction measurement, we can measure them by the existing consumer who can perhaps be defined as those who have used the product within a certain time such as last year (use the experiences for the last experience customer view). The loyalty is focusing on the existing consumer only. Then, it does not enough to measure the total brand equity so, we need more elements; Market behavior, the market share with price and distribution indices, the performance of a brand as measured by market share [1] (and/or sales with other financial information i.e. grow th rate, profitability etc.) often provides a valid and sensitive reflection of the brands standing with customers. When the brand has a relative advantage in minds of consumers, its market share should increase or least one decrease. In contrast, when competitors improve their brand equity, their share should response. Market share can be particularly detective brand equity measure when it increases as a result of reduced price or prices promotion. Thus, it is important to measure the relative market price at which the brand is being sold. Brand, Brand awareness is an important and sometimes undervalued component of brand equity. Awareness can affect perceptions and attitudes. It also reflects the salience of the brand in the customers mind. Brand momentum is a metric which is a strong indicator of short-term growth, are either technology leaders or financial institutions that emerged from the recession on a gust of increased demand and brand contribution is metric reveals how effe ctively and closely the brand has connected with its customers that also effect to the brand equity. Next, lets move to Association measures, the key association component of brand equity usually involves images dimensions that are unique to a product class or to a brand. It can be generate general measure that will work across product classes. Measurement of association can be structure around three perspectives on the brand; the brand-as-product (value), the brand-as-person (brand personality) and the brand-as-organization (organizational association). The last group that can be chosen to measure brand equity is perceived quality and leadership, perceived quality is one of the key dimensions of brand equity, it has the important attributed of being applicable across product classes. Perceived quality can be measure with scale such as the comparison of high quality vs. average quality vs. inferior quality among the brand. For the leadership, we can say that the product is the leade r in the market segment or not. If they are the leader, it should have high brand equity. We may measure it by the leading brand vs. one of the leading brand vs. not one of the leading brand or innovative, first with advance in product. Now, we will analyze the secondary data in order to understand and ranging the brand equity of bottled water industry. From the figure12 below which shown the Top bottled water brands in the world 2010 (BandZ, 2010), we can conclude that Evian has the highest brand equity and well-known brand in the world on this market division and followed by Aquafina, Perrire, Dasani, Volvic etc. because it has the highest brand value, brand contribution, brand momentum and also very high brand value change (high growth rate of brand value). [How did three elements work, we discussed at appendix1]. We can say that Evian was especially successful in this market because the brand value grew 21 percent. Evian shifted from a rational explanation of it benefits to an emotion appeal that associated the brand with youthful vitality. Its one-minute video simulation of roller-skating babies entered the Guinness World Records last year as the most watched online ad ever, with over 45 million viewing (BrandZ, 2010) We also can noticed that two brand under Danone group has the positive brand value change various with others brand that got the negative percentage of brand value change. Evian also one of the top 20 raiser brand as you can see at the figure13, Evian enjoyed badge equity, especially in emergent market, which accounted for 52 percent of sakes. Hence, we can conclude about Danone Company that they had good operation on their brands in bottled water division on 2010. As I have mentioned at number 1 on page 10, market share is one of the equipment that we can use to measure brand equity. Figure14 above represented the market share of UK bottled water market, Volvic and Evian got the highest market share in UK market by three years (Black Box) therefore we can conclude that the Volvic and Evian has the highest brand equity in UK then follow by others brand even though Volvic and Evian have negative percentage change but they still get high market share rather than others brand. Donone group still the leader in the UK market with high brand equity. Leadership is one of key measurement of brand equity as well. Danone has been on the wrong end of the trend towards seeking British waters and its two market-leading brands have seen sales decline despite developing a much more environmentally-friendly positioning in recent times. The brands continental provenance, once a major asset, now puts them at odds with a more environmentally-aware consumer. However, after spending large amounts on above-the-line advertising in 2006 and 2007 (Mintel, 2009) Danone has reduced spend in 2008 and 2009. The next year will be pivotal if it is to reverse its brands fortunes, with the company set to increase its marketing budget markedly. If and when Britain pulls out of recession, it is likely to see a less protectionist consumer. However, the concern about food miles is unlikely to go away, and if anything will increase further in importance If we look through the table6 which presented brand share of bottled water by off-trade value 2007-2010, we also see the same result as above. Volvic and Evian got the highest percentage of off-trade value. Lets move to the next element, perceived quality, the quality is one of the most important of the product which effect to the brand equity. Healthy and refreshing are two personalities that people want to get from the bottled water brand. At the figure15 on the next page, we can see the percentage of people ranging about their perception to each personality in each bottled water brand. Evain got highest number of people who have ever heard this brand (Green box) and percentage on many personalities (Purple Box); Authentic, Cool, Genuine, Stylish, Natural, Healthy and Refreshing. Volvic is also the same, it got high percentage on Healthy, Natural and Refreshing. From this secondary data we can say that these two brands have high quality on the consumer view point so, we may conclude that Evian and Volvic have higher brand equity than others brands in the market even thought this time Evian get higher percentage than Volvic but two of them are operated under Danone group. The last element that we will use to measure brand equity in this report is Satisfaction. We will consider two graphs in order to conclude the satisfaction which displayed on figure16 and figure17. From the figure16, we can say that matching their leading positions in the market and marginally higher usage than other brands, Danones Evian and Volvic have the highest retention, of roughly two in five each. They have high brand intention. For the figure17, it show the level of sactisfaction by ranking into 6 levels; excellent, good, average, poor, unsectisfy, dont know. We can see the result directly that Evian and Volvic get highest excellent level in the market. Hence, from these two figures we can conclude that Evian and Volvic have highest sectisfaction in the UK bottled water market so, these two brand also have the highest brand equity in this market as well. Again, Danones two leading brands are also the best endorsed. Most of the companies around the word have their brands which represent what they are or we can say the brand is the identification of each company. Brands represent tremendously valuable pieces of company property, capable of influencing consumer behavior, being bought and sold, and providing the security of sustained future revenues to their owner. The brand equity is the value directly or indirectly accrued by these various benefits. There are many ways to measure the brand equity, in this assignment mentioned 5 main groups to measure brand equity; Loyalty, Perceived Quality Leadership, Association, Brand and Market Behavior. Brand equity is the combination of the many strong components of the brand (good operation, reputation, performance, CSR, supply chain etc.). It can generate trust and expectation of the customer. Trust can be change into value of the brand. If any customer trust some brand, they will have high brand loyalty means they will stick with that brand. Expectation is the factor that tells the future planning of the brand. These two words are very important for the brand. We know that the brand equity is very hard to get it and it also very difficult to protect it too. The normal way to protect brand equity is Brand Identity Manual because the symbol or logo is the thing that shows the equity of the brand. Everything in this world always has two sides (advantage and disadvantages). Brand equity also has two sides; companies can build high and good brand equity but it they do not protect them carefully, it also very easy to copy and there is still possibility of negative brand equity when the brand affects the market negatively. (We can consider Toyota as example, very hard to built brand equity and also very easy to lose some of them because their small mistake on the supply chain assemble line and design process).We can notice that the brand that has high brand value should be global brand. However, some brand may successful in some country so, they will get the high value brand only on that country. Its may depend on many factors; culture, lifestyle, religion, environment etc. Finally, we can put all elements of brand equity measurement together as the new model which we called brand value chain on the figure 6 below; Brand map This brand map is analyzed by Mintel which illustrates a three-dimensional brandscape based on; Differentiation, Trust and Experience. This map gives a snapshot of the current strength and quality of selected bottled water brands, where they are in their growth and how healthy they are. From the figure 18, we can see that the differentiation of the bottled market it very low because the water cannot be changed much. The product from Danone group; Vilvic and Evian got high percentage of Trust which takes an advantage to the company in term of brand equity and loyalty.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

The European Union Essay -- EU Europe European Union Politics Essays

Introduction In the course of fifty years, the European Union has expanded from six countries united under economic treaties to a large collective of twenty-five sovereign nations. Maintaining the union within such a large group has grown more difficult as numerous treaties have been drafted to control the governance of the European Union. To reduce the number of treaties in the union, the convention decided to draft a Constitution, which now moves through the process of ratification in each of the sovereign nations. The Constitution works to set up a basis for the expansion of the Union and the requirements that need to be met when a country seeks entry into the Union. But with the greater controls the EU seeks to place on the legal arena, many countries question whether their individual sovereignty will survive in the system. The evolving legal system will be shaped by the Constitution, but the influence of the document could reach much farther than what it allows for in the text. In this paper, I intend to explore how the Constitution will affect the culture within the European Union through the legal changes imposed on nations and the further expansion of the Union. History of the European Union In 1950, after the economic depression caused by the first and second world wars, Europe sought a way to ensure lasting peace among the nations. The French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, following the ideas of other world leaders, proposed to integrate the European coal and steel industries in the hopes that political and economic unity would ensure peace among the involved nations. This brought forth the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, constructed between Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Ital... ...e than the United States of America. Works Cited A Constitution for Europe. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004. Craig, Paul and Grà  inne de Bà ¹rca. EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials. Pg 9, 11. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003. d’Estree, Claude. Personal Interview. 9 March 2005. â€Å"E pluribus unum?†. The Economist. 25 September 2004. â€Å"EU Czech Klaus Reaction†. CTK National News Wire. Brussels. 4 March 2005. General News. â€Å"The History of the European Union†. 2005. Europa. 7 February 2005 . Wolf, Martin. â€Å"No way to create a more dynamic and flexible Europe†. The Financial Times: London England. Pg 17. 7 April 2004. Smith, Don. â€Å"RE: EU†. Email to Katie Mulligan. 9 March 2005. Smith, Don. Personal Interview. 2 March 2005.