Romantic Love Is a Poor Basis for Marriage

Romantic love is a poor basis for marriage. Many songs had been written about romantic love, and a lot of books had been devoted to this topic. Up to now this is still a favorite theme for many movies and publications. But what is this in the real life, and how does romantic love affect a relationship between man and woman, and especially in marriage? What Romantic Love and True Love really are? Let’s look on this more carefully and try to answer on these questions. It’s difficult to disagree that falling in love is a very wonderful feeling.It seems like wings suddenly grow on your back, and the world shrinks where it is only you and your love, and you would give everything to keep this feeling forever. When I felt this feeling the first time, it was something amazing and indescribable. However, for me this feeling didn’t last long, and usually disappeared in several months. Now I’m married; is this feeling still alive in my marriage? We will see this late r. Sometimes people say that love is blinding. Is it true, or more correctly, is it love?I will not say that romantic love is always something negative. No, it’s a wonderful feeling, and it’s very good if partners have it in a marriage. However, can we build our own future family only on these feelings? I think, the best way for the family is if these feelings grow up in true mutual love in the marriage. On the other hand, what do we do if this doesn’t happen? Unfortunately, life shows in most cases that this romantic love ends after the wedding, and everyday life begins with its usual joys and troubles.You may say to me that it’s not your case, and in your life all will be perfect. Maybe it is true, as I also thought that way before my own marriage, but now I have changed my mind. It's good for all to be prepared for this. When romantic love ends after the wedding, what remains after it? Now we have approached to the definition of what True Love really i s in my opinion. I think, that true love it is not feeling, but it is a choice.When we decided to get married, we gave a promise to love each other forever, and this means that we cannot stop loving one another anymore. If our relations based only in romantic love, then when we live together we will see many differences and many weaknesses are inside one another. We can become disappointed with our decision to make this marriage. However, if we will know that true love is a choice, we can’t return back, and we will be more responsible for our decisions to get married. So, as we can see, romantic love is a poor basis for marriage.This foundation is not strong enough to stand against many difficulties, which we will meet in everyday life in marriage. We have to have the strong decision inside us that in any situation, with any obstacle against us, we will continue to love our spouses. This means that we will continue to respect, to understand, to seek not our will, but our spou se’s. We will continue to try please each other and sometimes even to give up our selfish desires. And then our marriage will be strong and lasting, and we will be together until death do us apart.

Japanese Family

Japanese family is known for being industrious, hardworking and for being responsible; but they have time for leisure. Japan is instituted through what they call the ie system. The ie or household is considered as the basic unit of Japanese law until the end of World War II. It consists of grandparents, their son and his wife and their children.Each family was required to follow to the ie system, with a multigenerational household under the legal authority of a household head. (Japanese Family† access 2007) This ie system is patterned after the Confucian’s of the upper classes of the Togukawa period.The ie lay legally the authority and responsibility to the household head. Every generation supplied a man and woman , with a preference to acquire by the first son and for the patrilocal marriage. In Japan daughters were expected to get married and the younger sons were expected to establish their own family.Japanese woman have no right to legally own or control property at the same time to choose her man to be her husband. The ie system are very restricted to the development of each individual, women’s rights and most of all the individual rights. During the late World War II, Allied occupation forced to create a new family beliefs based on the equal rights for women , equal rights required by all children and the freedom to choose of spouse and field. In the late 1960’s also most Japan marriages have been based on the mutual feelings and attraction of the couple and not the parents arrangement.Actual negotiations do not start until all the concerned parties including the husband and wife are satisfied with the relationship. Japanese family current lifestyles the husband and wife are satisfied with the relationship. Japanese family current lifestyles is that the father or husband may travel to work and return late.They spend so little time for their children except Sundays which is the favorite day for family outings. While the wives cal led as â€Å"expert or professional wife† which have a total responsibility for raising their children, to guarantee their career and marriages, managing the household and at their children, to guarantee their career and marriages, managing the household and at the same time the family budget. Wife also responsible in maintaining the social relations to their relatives, neighbors and for maintaining and managing the family’s reputation. Social life of wife is separated from that of her husband.She also required to participate in the adult education or other community activities. Mother and the children are the closest emotional ties. The question whether the contemporary Japanese families still have preferences for entertainment during their free time, is obviously an interesting one. Base on research conducted, despite their busy schedule Japanese family are engaged in different forms of entertainment. Fathers in Japan, choose the following entertainment during their free time are singing in the karaoke ,listening in the Japanese music and going to the department stores.They are doing this to make them feel relaxed, enjoyed and satisfied. On the other hand, mothers in Japan are only in the house and much comfortable in serving and cooking for their family. Most of them likes to watch TV movies. They are close to their children just because they are the one staying in the house always. Children in Japan like to watch movies, reading the anime, and listening Japanese music. The two leading forms of entertainment in Japan by family members are the Karaoke and Anime. Japanese love music. They usually sing and dance even though they are not good singers.They like to hear and sing different interesting melodies like â€Å"What a Wonderful World†, Love Spreads†, â€Å"99 Red Balloons†, â€Å"Bigorouf Strikes again†. Karaoke is one of the best choices of entertainment in Japan. Karaoke is very well-known in Japan. â€Å"Karao ke as a form of entertainment†¦, is as much a part of life as music itself. †[For Japanese people]. (Newman, 2001) Japanese Japanese are very passionate in singing in the karaoke. Karaoke have different kind of shows to choose from by amateur and professional. One of the shows is a glance inside the private karaoke rooms.In Japan. And the other one is the Home karaoke systems are located at electronic stores. Fathers in Japan are very busy because of their work but they have also time to enjoy their selves and go to some karaoke bars to sing their. This is the reason why they are returning home very late. Fathers in Japan have so little time for their wife and children but they see to it that they are all together during Sunday, their favorite day for their outing. Not only have the fathers loved to sing in the karaoke also the children specially the youth sing together with their friends They expressed their feelings by singing.Mothers or wives also love music but they o nly sing in the home karaoke, because they are only staying in their house to serve their husbands. Japanese families second choice of entertainment is the Anime. Anime reminds the Japanese culture Good example of this is the Manga which every Japanese people loves specially the Japanese children. Mr. Tezuka Osamo is recognized as the Father of Anime in Japan. He was distinguished as the Mangaka or cartoonist. Tezuka Osamo introduce anime to the TV screen, one of his own Manga on 1963 which is the Tetzuwan Atomu also known in the other country as Astro Boy. (â€Å"Modern Japan â€Å")Other well known cartoonist is the Gundam in the 80’s and Neon Genesis Evangelion on 1995. Japanese had a very eager appetite for Manga or comic books during rush hour on a train. In the West mainstream comics are almost entirely for children. Japanese Manga has different types and some are not appropriate for children. Examples of this are the graphic violence and sex. Two main forms of Manga come weekly, twice-monthly and monthly magazine . style Manga and paper books. Some good examples are in the sections on animated movies and TV cartoons.Japanese used Mangajin, one of a classic magazine as a fun and effective method to learn Japanese. It was promoted last 1990-97, it also contains interesting article on different aspects of Japanese culture. There is a shonen manga which is for young guys and shojo manga which id for young girl. They deal with a science fiction, young guys and shojo manga which id for young girl. They deal with a science fiction sports and romance and tend to portray male. Characters as the male manga do with the male characters. One of the popular female manga is Sailor Moon, which became a very successful TV show.Manga become popular and exceedingly large in Japan. One of the important things learned in this course is the reality of distinct family values among different cultures. That there is a difference between an Asian culture specially to th e Japanese. According to Mr. Yakamoto â€Å"I love singing in karaoke it makes me feel relaxed and happy† Based to Mr. Yakamoto’s statement he chooses karaoke as his entertainment because he find it relaxing and happy. Almost the father in Japan, their choice of entertainment is the karaoke . While in the other Asian country likePhilippines loves to watch movies and play basketball. His wife Mrs. Yakamoto loves to cook and sing in the home karaoke because according to her she wants to give the excellent service to her husband and kids. Their little son Aikihiru Yakamoto says that â€Å"For me my choice of entertainment in our country is the Anime. I really enjoyed reading it. † Based to the Yakamoto family they emphasized that they have their own choice of entertainment which give them satisfaction. They feel relaxed and happy too. Every country has different choices of entertainment but in Japan they emphasized that the karaoke and anime are their best choice d uring their free time.Their favorite day is Sunday which all the members of the family are join together to have their outing. Mr. John E. Lamuth, 45 years old author who finished his Master of Science Degree in Counseling from California State University who wrote â€Å"The Essential Guide to Family Values under the Grand Unified Theory of Ethics and Morality† which the title involve new moral scheme is the first grand combination theory of its kind: the ethical values establish in traditional Greek philosophy improved by the writings of the great Church theologians for the past two years.The typical groupings of ethical values defined within this scheme all happen to be related on an perceptive level, recommending a clear sense of essential cohesiveness. The source of innovation behind this alteration arises as a direct result of the emerging field of Communications, Theory, borrowing the critical concept of the met perspective. Based on this theoretical example, the concep tual groupings of virtues and values are cooperatively seen as subsets within this ladder of met perspectives, each more theoretical grouping constructing upon those which it succeed.There are ten levels hierarchy of met perspectives somewhat reproduced like GLORY reproduced as PRUDENCE, PROVIDENCE reproduced as FAITH, GRACE reproduced as BEAUTY, TRANQUILITY reproduced as ECSTACY , HONOR reproduce as JUSTICE, LIBERTY reproduced as HOPE, FREE WILL reproduced as TRUTH and EQUALITY reproduced as BLISS. The consistent hierarchy of qualities, morals, and best proves extremely complete in scope , accounting for almost every major ethical term renowned within the Western ethical tradition.It is simple to achieve a sense of the development towards increasing theoretical when examine each of the individually represent columns from top to bottom. Such external similarity, however, has an inadequate claim to be the complete picture; for it further proves probable to stand this hierarchy of fam ily values completely within a behavioral organization; specifically the vocabulary of operant conditioning recommended by the famous American psychologist ,B. F Skinner. The complete ten level of hierarchy of family values lastly accomplished the degree of authenticity applicable such accurate â€Å"technology of behavior.† Definitely, this new system proves particularly well appropriate for launching moral values to a new generation of youth. One of the important things learned in this course is the reality of distinct family values among different cultures. That there is a difference between an Asian culture specially to the Japanese. The grand unified theory of ethics in moral by Mr. John Lamuth is very applicable to Japanese family because they are very aware to their family reputation and moral. They give this kind of responsibility to all the housewives.That’s why all the mother or wives are responsible in maintaining social relations to their relatives, neighbo rs and for maintaining and managing the family reputation. In this theory we learn the importance of ethics and morality in a person itself. Because of this they can get the respect and love of others people. It is not hard for them to talk to them and ask for some help because we already planted a good moral for yourself. Japanese families gain this kind of high reputation. They possess some characteristics like being responsible, honest,loving and respectful from within and to their love ones.Meaning their family are intact and with a good relationship to each other. Japanese families are very ideal and somewhat to idolized by every family in Asian country and Western country too. They are really different to other families because even they are so busy they can save time too for their family specially Sunday. This is one good reason why they are so successful. Being successful and happy start first in the relationship we had for your own family. Family gives us the totality as a person. No one can understand you and love you like what your family gives you.Love, Care and Respect your family. Don’t be so selfish to give your love and attention to other member of the family and you will see in return that love and attention you give makes them feel better and very happy. Happiness makes a person successful because of doing their work easily.BIBLIOGRAPHYâ€Å"http://en. wikipedia. org. /wiki/Japanese_family†Http: www. furious. com/perfect/karaoke. html Modern Japan – Entertainment – Anime. htm Lamuth, John E. 1999, The Ultimate Guide to Family Values: A Grand Unified Theory of Ethics in Morality, California U. S. A

Kinh Do Bakery

Executive summary This report was aimed at analyzing current issues in the organizational environment of KDC and providing recommendation for the company to improve its performance regarding environment. The analysis focuses on the external environment of KDC. Overall, KDC has a quite favorable external environment to a certain extent to make out the most of it. However, each of the factors in its external environment have good and bad effects on its outcome, realizing and understanding all of which can help the corporation to exploit the most from the environment and avoid mistakes reducing its achievements.External environment is divided into general and specific factors. In the general environment, economics is enduring massive fluctuations, making customers cut down expenditure and turn to economically efficient products. The political condition in Vietnam is stable, appropriating for applying in a long time. Whereas, the life styles of people are under a considerable change, the y adopt time- saving meals, which is an opportunity for instant foods of KDC. Nevertheless, the instant foods are also proved not to be so good for health.Finally, beside a potential domestic market, which possesses an ideal population structure, as Vietnam joined in WTO, it comes a chance of extending KDC’s market into the world. In the specific environment, because of the significant drop in people’s income comparing to real value of commodity, the purchasing power of customers decreases. The widespread of fake and low quality goods turns out to be an opportunity for KDC as people trust in established organizations.Regard the potentiality of confectionery industry development in Vietnam, it is easy to understand the vast number of KDC’s rivalries in the market, and despite the leading role of KDC, the others have their own considerably outstanding strengths. KDC has a wide variety of suppliers both from domestic and abroad, which bring not only benefits but al so disadvantages due to the differences in price and the distance to deliver. Finally, pressure groups always react in case of wrongdoings.With a view to solve the problems and exploit the market, KDC should cut down the price, diversify the products, build development and extend plans. They also should consider more about the responsiveness to the consumers and society I. Introduction KD is a big corporation which is the combination of many subsidiaries and each of which has the specialized production. However, when it comes to the brand name of KDC, people often associate it with the confectionary production, which is under implement of Kinh Do Bakery.Established in 1993, after 19 years of development, this company has become the leading one in the food industry. KDC is considered to be one of the well-known joint- stock company which is not only dominating in the market of Vietnam but also expanding to the international scope. In the recent years, though the economic recession ha s put a lot of pressure on the well-being of many companies, KDC still has the good performance and even make the incredibly high profit in the stock market of Vietnam.The annual report of KDC reveals that in 2011, the revenue increased by 32% and on average every SBU achieved the growth level of 2 digits. As food processing is the main production activities and also the base for the development of the whole group, the annual turnover from this section strikingly accounts for nearly 90% of the total revenue for the corporation. The customer that KDC targets at is the Vietnamese one especially children because normally, the confectionary good is more preferred by this group than the adults.Therefore, what the company is producing and providing to the market is of various kinds including candies, cakes, soft drinks, ice cream and other product made from milk. In addition, they have the desire for bringing their products to the world market to consolidate their position and get more pr ofit. No matter what strategic goal that KDC aims at, they always consistently follow the mission of the company which providing customers with the safe, delicious and nutritious products and trying to meet the changing their needs to fulfill the dream of making life better day by day.By that way, KDC can maintain its long-established reputation in the food industry as well as sustainable and non-stop development in the future. II. External environment analysis of KDC 1. General environment like any other organizations KDC is affected by its general environment which includes economic, political , sociocultural, demographic, technological and global conditions. 2. 1 Economic conditions Recently, Vietnam’s economy has been undergoing massive fluctuations which have affected almost companies including KDC.First of all, the years ranging from 2008 up until now, the issues of escalating inflation and high interest rate have posed numerous threats to businesses (Tu 2011). It is un doubted that those components of the economy have changed spending behaviors of customers, who may cut down their expenditures on luxuries as well as become more critical about what to buy and how much to buy. This may be a real challenge for KDC since the corporation is well known for high quality and costly products. 2. 2 Political/ legal conditionsThere is no doubt that political and legal situation of each nation always exerts profound effects on its business performance. In terms of politics, it is widely accepted that political environment in Vietnam is relatively stable, which gives KDC an opportunity to apply its development policies in a longer time frame without having to follow various political institutions. Concerning legal aspect, Vietnam Government provides and enforces Business Law by which an organization operates. For instance, in May1st, 2012 the Tuotre. vn reported that Vietnam Government passed through the Law which required higher minimum salary.Consequently, K DC had to spend more on salary for its employees. Hence, legal environment in Vietnam not only brings about advantages to a confectionary producing firm like KD but also creates barriers to the expansion and development of the corporation. 2. 3 Sociocultural conditions In recent years, Vietnam’s society and cultures have been experiencing considerable changes, which brings about the change in consumers’ life styles. One of which is adopting time saving meals instead of traditional ones, which is beneficial for instant foods industry- the major of KDC.This can be regarded as a big opportunity for all the businesses which manufacture instant food like KDC. Meanwhile, there is also another dominant trend in today’s society which to some extent may affect KDC. That is the shift in the Vietnamese perception in the importance of health in their lives. Thus, it is trendy now that more and more people put much emphasis on food hygene and safety when making choices of fo od. It means that they are tending to consume the products which are rooted in long-established and well-known brands.This is undeniably an obvious advantage to KDC which is by far top-of-mind company in Vietnam food industry. However, it is also posing challenges for KDC considering the confectionary sector. It is universally known that the products such as candies, cream cakes and so on are among the major causes of obesism, which may lead to cardiovascular diseases and other serious problems (Bang 2011). As a result, people in modern culture with educational improvements have been gradually changing their tastes to adjust to products which contain low fat and cholesterol intake.This would be a big issue for KDC which operates in the field of manufacturing products with high volume of sugar, milk and butter. This is a big challenge for KDC to innovate the ingredients in its products to meet these new requirements from its customers. 2. 4 Demographic conditions As reported in the C IA World Factbook in 2011, Vietnam has an ideal population structure, consisting of more than 90% of youth and mature people within working age. This has contributed to creating a vibrant and potential market for KDC in private and food industry in general.Moreover, this striking pattern in age structure of the country also brings about a significant benefit for KDC, which does business in food manufacturing sector with high demand for labors. 2. 5 Technological conditions It is obvious that technology is a very active element filled with numerous opportunities and threats to enterprises. First of all, as widely accepted, the introduction of modern technology helps simplify a variety of complicated and time-consuming manufacturing processes, contributing to optimizing efficiency and improving profits for many firms.However, in Vietnam, it seems to be an immense challenge since there is a shortage of qualified staffs to meet the new requirements of knowledge economy such in-depth und erstanding of advancements in science and technology. In addition, our country also ranks behind many other countries in the world in the field of technological applications as well as transferring. According to the Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) published in recent years concerning technology indicators, the order of our country is 92 out of 117 hile that of Thailand is 43. Hence, it can be concluded that this would an immense challenge for KDC to cope with technological issues today given the explosion of newly emerging technologies, which has and has been making existing ones become quickly obsolete and need innovating much more frequently than ever. 2. 6 Global conditions As reported in the VTC news, Vietnam has officially become a member of the World Trade Organization-WTO. This has marked an important turning point in the country’s development in all aspects.In terms of economy, joining the WTO has given domestic enterprises an opportunity to integrate into th e global economy, expanding their scope of market. Nevertheless, it may also pose threats to many firms as it would attract more and more foreign investment into the country, creating harsh competition in domestic economy. KDC may also be put under this threat unless it could reinforce its outstanding position in customers’ mind. In addition, the opening of the country’s economy to the global one also means that our economy will be influenced by fluctuations in other economies.In recent years, the whole world has been suffering a long period of economic downturn, which has resulted in a dramatic decrease in purchasing power even in developed countries. Thus, not only KDC but also numerous enterprises all over the world would have to address this problem to gain an outstanding position in the gloomy picture of global economy. 2. Specific environment 3. 7 Customer According to Stephen P. Robbins and Mary Coulter, the specific environment is the external factors directly affecting managers’ decisions and actions and is of the most relevant components to the achievement of the organization’s goals (Robbins2009, p. 8). As specific environment is unique to each organization, it is worth analyzing the specific environment of KDC to find out its opportunities and threats. Customers seem to be first mentioned as an organization’s existence is for their demands. Consequently, this is the objective that organizations have to satisfy initially. Naturally, customers always want to buy goods at the lowest price and highest quality, which pushes organizations to race in the field of price and product’s quality pressure.It is quite challenging in the case of price pressure as the price of inputs is increasing faster over time whereas the income and purchasing power of consumers are limited. According to the Vietnam economic forum, in 2009, GDP of Vietnam decreased by 51 years in comparison with Indonesia, 95 years with Thailand and 15 8 years in comparison with Singapore (Le Khac 2012). In the article titled â€Å"Moi lo lon: gia ca tang cao thu nhap tang cham† (2007), the author also mentioned about the alarmingly increasing trend of necessary goods including food, which had strong negative impacts on the living standard of people with low income.Despite the increase of production cost, organizations still have to maintain their quality of goods because without it, consumers will reduce their purchase. Especially in the context of fake goods and low quality goods widely spread in the market, the challenge that KDC has to face is not easy. The article â€Å" sua kem chat luong, banh keo qua ‘dat’ tran lan† (2005) reveals that market control forces discovering successively increasingly cases of producing and delivering fake and low quality goods, included products faking KDC’s, which absolutely negatively affects the prestige of the company.However, the number of consumers trustin g in KDC and buying its products always ranks first in comparison with other domestic confectionery companies, showing the advantage of it over the rivals, the total revenue of 4 other largest companies in term of confectionery which are Hai Ha, Huu Nghi, Biscafun and QNS is only equal to 73% of KDC’s (2012). One more problem that the company itself realized is that the bird flu, which affects the quality and price of eggs_ the major ingredients in making KDC’s products, raised the cost of production and reduced the sale of the products (2012). . 8 Competitors Although KDC is the largest confectionery company in Vietnam, it does not mean that it can eternally maintain the current position without caring about other less successful companies and other kinds of competitors. The main current rivalries of KDC are Hai Ha, Huu Nghi, Biscafun and QNS. While KDC focused on the high and medium grade products, others tend to pursue producing the common grade products. And wherea s KDC is the leader in the market share of moon cake, AFC and sweet biscuit, those 4 companies also ave their strong positions in other products: BBC lead in candy market, HHC lead in chew and Jelly market, Huu Nghi well-known for Tet jam and industrial salty bread, which also bring them great profit and still tremendously potential to exploit (2012), from the research, we realize that although the way KDC is following is highly profitable and still grow fast, it may be rather risky when the income of consumers is low and they cannot afford its products in the future, in that case, they can turn to other brands.It also exists the case of consumers changing their tastes, and demand more the products that KDC does not focus to, which can reduce sharply its sale revenue. Additionally, the confectionery industry is one of the most potential industries in Vietnam ( from 2008 to 2012 the production of confectionery increases by 114. 7% per year despite the depression  (2007), so the cha nce of new entrants coming to it and take parts of KDC market share is of high likelihood 3. 9 SuppliersRegardless of however potential the market is, without suppliers, a company cannot perform anything. Suppliers, defined as who provide not only materials and equipment but also financial and labor resource, play a crucial role on the well-being of companies. In the case of KDC, the suppliers of raw materials are determined by its vision and mission. As the quality of products is what factory puts the most emphasis on, KDC has a tendency to coordinating with the partners of high prestige supplying high quality and clearly-rooted materials.The main inputs such as sugar, eggs, flour, admixtures are taken from the domestic market while milk powder and chocolate are from the global one, particularly, France, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. It can be acknowledged as an opportunity of KDC because the materials in the internal market are always available and it just has to deal with negligible carrying cost. Whereas, the wider spread of supplier network over the world market enables KDC to be flexible in ensuring the inputs for production.Along with the opportunities, suppliers also pose a lot of threats to the company in different ways, the first of which is through prices. As announced in the annual report of KDC in 2011, due to the inflation, the firm suffers from dramatically increasing and unstable prices of material together with the rises in salary and utilities expense, which leads to a significant drop in total revenue of KDC. Moreover, as KDC imports some materials from the external market, they are the price takers. Therefore, they will encounter some problems because of the fluctuations in the world prices.Back to the domestic market, the changing prices of inputs, especially sugar is really a pending issue. Not only KDC but also many confectionery producing corporations also get exhausted with the discrepancy between the sugar price at the beginni ng and the end of the harvest. While the price of confectionery does not change by 10 % per year, the sugar price fluctuates by nearly 30% (Hung, cited in thesaigontimes. vn, 2012) What is more, company effectiveness of performance is reduced significantly by supply chain disruption especially in global sourcing.Rob Handfield (2011, p3) points out that the delay in supplying can cut down shareholder value by as much as 10% or even worse in ‘time-sensitive† environments where early market introduction is critical to success. KDC also gets part of its inputs from the external market through shipping so it is impossible to avoid the risk of supply chain disruption, which means a great deal of time and money wasted. 3. 10 Pressure groups. One more factor that a firm often has to bear in mind derives from pressure groups, which are the ones attempting to influence the actions of organization.Every organization has its own pressure groups and as for KDC, the 2 groups that have the role in regulating KDC’s performances are Environmental Protection Group and Customer Right Protection Group. The EPG takes investigation of the treatment to wastes from production activities of KDC to determine whether it does harm to environment or not. If there is any problem, they will reflect it through the medium to force the company to correct it or make some compensation. The CRPG monitors the action of KDC from the step of taking inputs to processing and packaging to ensure it is safe to the health of customers.As the social attitudes change so does the power of pressure groups. In 2008, KDC had been blamed for using milk powder that contains melamine- one toxic substance- to produce cakes. Under the pressure of media, KDC had to carry out a careful test to make sure that the production was absolutely reliable. ( Thao, cited in baomoi. com,2008) | | | | | III. Recommendations In term of specific environment, as confectionery demand is rather elastic due to its e normous number of close substitutes, the lower the price is, the higher the demand is, especially in these dark days of the economy.Hence, it is obvious that KDC should take a set of actions in terms of price to motivate consumers to purchase more such as reducing the price of products, or giving promotions when they buy a certain large amount. Such programs will not only raise the company’s revenue but also make its reputation much more well-known. The marketing work also should be taken into consideration since the current advertising campaign of KDC is not of high effectiveness. Thus to make the quality of its products known and then highly regarded by people, it should promote advertising and marketing strategy.As regard competition, to be more competitive to best exploit the market, it is thought that KDC should research and build development plans, diversifying its products and expanding to other markets, this will both helps KDC to avoid the case of lower revenue due t o the change of consumers’ taste and bring about enormously larger revenue if successful. For the suppliers, the careful analysis over opportunities and threats that supplier chains bring about gives the implications for the company to direct its actions. As for KDC, to minimize the negative impacts of suppliers, it has to face 2 ill-minded questions.The first one is how to reduce the purchasing prices of inputs. To enjoy the low-cost sourcing, it is advised that KDC should make a periodical purchase with extreme amount of materials. By that way, KDC is benefit from the great negotiation power over its partners about the prices. Another question is how to manage the risks from tardy delivery progress. According to Handfield, the most critical action is to develop the supplies chain strategies to detect the problems, assess the negative impacts and also mitigate them.In the case of KDC, they should sign the strict contracts with its partners, forcing them to adhere to the cont racts to ensure about the delivery progress. Moreover, it is better for KDC to make plans of frequently checking the materials left to be active in ensuring the inputs for manufacturing. Besides suppliers, KDC should pay attention to the pressure groups. The only way to get out of the impacts of them is doing things right. In particular, KDC is encouraged to give priority to the customer rights by providing the safe goods to consumers with appropriate prices.Moreover, it is necessary to develop a business plan of manufacturing parallel with protecting environment. It is the way KDC performs its social responsibility. Turning to external forces in the general environment, there is no denying that KDC should take these components into thorough consideration. Concerning opportunities, the firm should understand and take advantage of them to reinforce its competitive advantage over other competitors. For instance, in terms of demography, Vietnam seems to be a dynamic and potential marke t for confectionary products.Therefore, KDC should seek the ways to expand their scope of production as well as diversifying their items to meet new requirements from different customers. Turning to the issues that are generated by the general environment, the firm should stay alert and pay more attention to them if it does not want to be put under serious losses. Specifically, it is obvious that KDC should take into account the fluctuations in the open market as well as changes in the Government rules and regulations to respond quickly and make appropriate adjustments for its strategic management.IV. Conclusion To sum up, it is concluded with no doubt that KDC is doing an extremely good business, which brings about a strikingly high economic profit and also gets the KD’s brand name familiar with the customers in the domestic market as well as the global one. To attain this achievement, beside some internal factors of the company such as the good manager, skillful employees o r great capital, the external environment of KDC also makes a significant contribution.The general factor, which include economic, demographic, technological, social, cultural, political/legal, global, though do not have the direct impacts on the performance of KDC, they still serve as the frame to set the standard for all business activities. On the contrary, KDC is influenced by four specific elements namely customers, suppliers, competitors and pressure groups. They act as the determinants of the success or failure of KDC. Hence, it is required for KDC to carefully understand the opportunities as well as threats that these factors pose on the company to have the right direction for development in the future.REFERENCE ‘Danh sach nha cung c? p nguyen li? u cho Kinh Do. ’ 2011 [online] Available at URL : . http://www. tuhaoviet. vn/index. php/tin-tuc/tieu-diem/199-dac-diem-cua-nganh-banh-keo-viet-nam#. ULFf_4c2aIU. KDC (Accessed on November 24,2012) Hung, 2012, ‘ Nien v? mia du? ng 2012/13 : cu? c chi? n gia c? ’ [online] Available at URL : http://www. thesaigontimes. vn/Home/kinhdoanh/dautu/84914/Nien-vu-mia-duong-2012/13-Cuoc-chien-gia-ca. html. ( Accessed on November 24, 2012) Thao, 2008, ‘ Kinh Do: s? a nguyen li? u khong ch? a melamine’ [online] Available at URL : http://www. baomoi. om/Kinh-Do-sua-nguyen-lieu-khong-chua-melamine/82/2048232. epi ( Accessed on November 25, 2012) Rob Handfield, 2011, ‘Reducing the impact of disruptions to supply chain’ Bang 2011, ‘11 sai l? m d? n d? n beo phi’ [online] Available at URL: http://www. eva. vn/suc-khoe/11-sai-lam-dan-den-beo-phi-c131a64320. html (Accessed on November 24 2012) CIA World Factbook 2012, ‘Vietnam Demographics profile 2012’. [online] Available at URL: http://www. indexmundi. com/vietnam/demographics_profile. html ( Accessed on November 25 2012) Dung 2012, ‘Ngh? d? nh s? 31/2012/ND-CP c? a Chinh ph? : Quy d? h m? c l uong t? i thi? u chung’. [online] Available at URL: http://vanban. chinhphu. vn/portal/page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban? class_id=1&_page=1&mode=detail&document_id=157436 (Accessed on November 2012) Khoi 2007, ‘Gia nh? p WTO: Ngay l? ch s? c? a Vi? t Nam’. [online]Available at URL: http://vtc. vn/10-12223/quoc-te/tin-tuc/gia-nhap-wto-ngay-lich-su-cua-viet-nam. htm (Accessed on November 25 2012) Tu 2011, ‘L? m phat va lai su? t tin d? ng’. [online]Available at URL: http://www. baomoi. com/Home/TaiChinh/doanhnhansaigon. vn/Lam-phat-va-lai-suat-tin-dung/7280942. pi (Accessed on November 25, 2012) ‘ Moi lo lon : gia ca tang cao thu nhap tang cham† [online] Available at URL: http://vietbao. vn/Kinh-te/Gia-ca-tang-cao-thu-nhap-tang-cham-Moi-lo-lon/55145690/88/ (Accessed on November 23, 2012) ‘Noi va lam: thu nhap vietnam gia ca quoc te’ [online] Available at URL  : http://vef. vn/2012-04-01-noi-va-lam-thu-nhap-viet-nam-gia-ca-q uoc-te (Accessed on November 23, 2012) ‘Sua kem chat luong, banh keo qua ‘dat’ tran lan’ [ online] Available at URL: http://vietbao. vn/Kinh-te/Sua-kem-chat-luong-banh-keo-qua-dat-tran-lan/20438509/87/ (Accessed on November 22, 2012) So sanh cac doanh nghiep banh keo hang dau vietnam’ [online] Available at URL: http://gafin. vn/20120701021441520p0c36/so-sanh-cac-doanh-nghiep-banh-keo-hang-dau-viet-nam. htm (Accessed on November 23, 2012) ‘Banh keo kinh do/ gioi thieu’ [online] Available at URL: http://www. vinacorp. vn/stock/hose-kdc/banh-keo-kinh-do/gioi-thieu (Accessed on November 19, 2012) ‘Vietnam- thi truong banh keo tiem nang’ [online] Available at URL: http://www. baomoi. com/Viet-Nam–thi-truong-banh-keo-tiem-nang/50/3279233. epi ( Accessed on November 22, 2012)

Business studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business studies - Essay Example Other important applications include informing the details of the company to the sales personnel, suppliers and others so that they become aware of company's goals and achievements. Feasibility study is an important phase in the development process. It enables the developer to have an assessment of the product being developed. It refers to the feasibility study of the product in terms of outcomes of the product, operational use and technical support required for implementing it. Economic Feasibility: It refers to the benefits or outcomes. We are deriving from the product as compared to the total cost we are spending for developing the product. If the benefits are more or less the same as the older system, then it is not feasible to develop the product. The development of the new product should greatly enhance the accuracy of the system and cuts short the delay in the processing of the product. The errors can be greatly reduced and at the same time providing great level of security. Hence, we do not need any additional equipment except memory of required capacity. Operational Feasibility: It refers to the feasibility of the product to be operational. Some products may work very well at design and implementation but may fall in the real time environment.

Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Response paper - Essay Example Buddhism, in turn, refers to a â€Å"vast and complex religious and philosophical tradition† stretching over some 2500 years, including Hindu tradition (Gethin, 1998); while Christianity and Islam derived their foundations from the Bible, which is considered the cornerstone of Judaism (Steinsaltz, 2006), being based on the lives and teachings of Jesus Christ and Mohammed respectively. Each and every one of these religions is comprised of a particular set of beliefs and rituals, whose centerpiece is the concept of divinity. The latter not only represents the hub of any religious doctrine, but also accounts for the major source of either difference or similarity between one and another. In that regard, Hinduism and Buddhism on the one hand, being an amalgamation of various ancient traditions (Ahloowaila, 2009), and Judaism, Christianity and Islam on the other – having developed, and respectively build on the notion of the One pre-eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, and infi nite God – epitomize the monotheistic-polytheistic divide. Besides the divinity concept, as developed in the monotheistic and polytheistic beliefs, this paper examines the focal tenet of Hinduism/Buddhism – reincarnation/rebirth – as against the notion of eternal life in monotheistic religions. The Concept of Brahman-Atman and It’s Expansions The relationship between Brahman (the Supreme Being) and Atman (a ‘self’, or a world for all beings, along with the human soul), which is generally described as the â€Å"frame and the substance of universe†, hence â€Å"inseparably united but not identical† (Oxtoby and Amore, 2008), is central to Hinduism. Despite some prima facie similarity to the Holy Trinity, the Brahman-Atman relationship actually implies certain imperfection. This is not only because of Brahman’s need of additional powers and classes in order to get fully developed, thus necessitating an array of deities as veh icles of those powers, but also, and perhaps more importantly, due to both components’ mutual dependence on each other – Brahman is the inner controller of Atman and Atman provides Brahman with corporeal avataras which are Gods’ physical presence (Hume, 1921; Klostermaier, 1998). On the other hand, according to Klostermaier (1998), avataras are required to make Supreme Vishnu accessible to humans (Pancaratra doctrine), along with the super-human spiritual beings, called ‘vinhas’, an inner presence, named ‘antaryamin’ – the ruler within – and ‘arcavatara’, which is Gods’ visible presence in an image made of either stone or metal. Thus, to put it in a nutshell, Hindu deities need specific attributes in order to become recognized in the material world and to make themselves available to the believers. The twin concepts of Karma and Samsara are characteristic of both Hinduism and Buddhism; while the former generally refers to a system of cause and effect, or action and reaction, which is considered a natural law, rather than an act of divine judgment, the latter is defined as a cycle of death and rebirth, or reincarnation (Oxtoby and Amore, 2008). According to the Upanishads, one would be liberated from the Samsara cycle – hence to become immortal – only if achieved transforming experiential wisdom (Oxtoby and Amore, 2008). Thus, polytheism, as represented by Hinduism and Buddhism, has laid great emphasis on human senses, perceptions, experiences and demands, rather than being

X-Ray Powder Diffraction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

X-Ray Powder Diffraction - Essay Example (Marta J.K Flour, 1997) Theory A non amorphous material consists of a three dimensional structure having atoms in a series of planes separated by a distance. When X-Rays are directed on to this structure, part of it is transmitted the specimen, some part is absorbed, a part is refracted and the rest diffracted. Diffraction of the beam brings out a fingerprint of the crystal lattice which depends on the arrangement of atoms in different planes and the type of mineral in the lattice. (Ron Jenkins, 2000) Applications 1. Apart from identifying the different minerals present it also gives an accurate data regarding the proportion of each of these minerals in the mixture. 2. It is also used in determining the degree of crystalline phase in a mineral and the divergence from its ideal state. 3. Study of secondary minerals helps in ascertaining the degree of solubility of the mineral and the kind of storage facility this would require. 4. Analysis of the under clays lying under coal beds have helped in identifying the nature of environment and climate that existed in these Middle Pennsylvanian regions. Introduction-2 The discovery of x rays by W.C Roentgen in 1895 led to its use in identifying the structure of crystalline materials. In principle a monochromatic beam of x-ray electrons will be dispersed by the atomic electrons and different diffraction patterns are obtained for each plane of crystal lattice. The diffraction pattern that is obtained by using the x ray powder diffraction method is used to identify the various phases in different materials.( James R Connelly, 2007) Theory X rays generated under vacuum conditions are made to impinge on a sample that has been ground into powder of size less than 10 microns. The arrangement of atoms in the crystal lattice causes these electrons to be diffracted by varying degrees. This can therefore be used to ascertain the distances between different planes of atoms by applying Bragg’s law. This ‘fingerprint†™ allows in better identification of a material. ( Mike Meier, 2004) Applications 1. Identification of materials chemical compounds and rocks in single phase and multiphase respectively. 2. Ascertaining amorphous materials that are partly in crystalline state. 3. The amount of different phases calculated using peak-ratio calculations 4. These are used in remote sensing study of hydrothermally distorted rocks that are found on several Cascade volcanoes and its study helps in gathering information regarding landslides and mudflows. Introduction-3 X ray powder diffraction method is a non-destructive procedure used in the identification of phases and determination of crystal structure along with its imperfections. All kinds of microcrystalline structures of metals, ceramics, organics and catalysts can found out using this technique which was initially devised by Debye and Scherrer in 1916. Theory Current applied releases electrons from a filament. These electrons are then accelerated at voltages of 60kV onto a copper piece producing x rays on impingement. These x rays are then directed onto a sample that has been ground to fine powder of size less than 10 microns. The diffraction pattern that is obtained can be used to measure the actual distances between crystalline planes using the equations of Bragg’s Law. ( Stock.S.R & Cullity B.D, 2001) Applications 1. Ascertain crystal structure of an unknown material and phase identification of high and low temperature phases. 2. Degree of crystalline phase that is present in a material. A crystalline phase presents narrower diffraction peaks compared to amorphous phases. 3. The amount of residual stress that exists in a material after the external load has been removed. 4.

Is People have become overly dependent on technology Essay

Is People have become overly dependent on technology - Essay Example Electricity and easy availability of water is also a great gift of technology. It has become part and parcel of one’s life as life without electricity would bring to halt the whole world. Electricity and power, that produce light, was probably the best technological invention that has inspired other technology driven gizmos to surface. The fan, bulbs, refrigerator, air-conditioner, mixer grinder etc. are important and useful items without which the life at home would be difficult to imagine now. The bullet trains and underground railway system cannot work without electricity. In fact, almost all the technology based gadgets use power, one way or another, to make them work. So electricity has become the single most vital technology that helps the contemporary society to live in comfort. The advent of computers and associated aids like, internet, printer, fax, etc. have redefined the concept of communication. It has become necessary part of one’s life and an essential business tool that can be applied over large number of areas to give businesses a competitive advantage. Internet has greatly facilitated access to knowledge which is increasingly being used for personal and business growth. Drucker (1998) has correctly stated that access to information is the basic requirement for the success of a firm. The use of computers and internet has helped to exploit tacit information to not only promote efficiency within the organization but also to gain leverage against their rivals in the industry. Use of technology in the area of education has brought in new ideas and innovation in teaching methodologies and learning. It has improved quality of education and at the same time, provided students with to tools to develop their learning skills for higher achievements. It has also been a great boon for students with disabilities as it significantly helps to improve

Managing Information 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managing Information 2 - Assignment Example If considering the enterprise government, focus on executing management actions is required to support the strategic goals of the organization (JOHNSTON et al. 2009). It has been calculated approximately half of the breaches to the security of the information systems are made by the internal staff or employee of the organization (Spears et al. 2010). Security incident management facilitates the development of security incident handling and planning including preparation for detection and reply to information security issues. The standard of the incident management primarily relates to ensure the existence of processes rather than the contents of these procedures. The security incident of different computing systems will have dissimilar effects and escort to different consequences, bureau, departments the organization need to tailor the security incident handling plan according to specific operational requirements. Organizations invest enormous money to buy and install computing e quipments for securing their networks. Information systems security is a challenge for executives and the information technology professionals (Dhillon et al. 2006).Organizations focus on performance and efficiency of the security equipments. This is not enough, as human intervention and a proper plan need to be defined. The information technology professionals are not only responsible for securing the information systems, all the employees of the organization are responsible (Rotvold 2008). One needs to know what an incident is, before making a plan for dealing with the computer incidents. A simple definition is available in network dictionary which says â€Å"An incident as an adverse network event in an information system or network or the threat of the occurrence of such an event.† For organizations to be competitive with network incidents, they must lay a foundation within the organization for incident handling. The incident handling procedure refers to an action pla n associated with security breaches, thefts, distributed denial of service, fire, floods etc. Incident handling consists of six-step process: research, classification, restraint, purge, revival, and lessons learned. The information security should be handled internally and externally by the employees of the organization. They will be supported by the security teams with high-powered information security officers. The employees who do not have insufficient skills in dealing with information security, they can perform well in reducing risk factors (Bulgurcu et al. 2010). In each major business unit, an employee with a skill set of solid risk management and project management can be a good choice to be an information security officer. Likewise, the primary objective is to enforce policies and train the end users for following the procedures made for each policy. Moreover, acceptable use for networks and data on information systems must be communication, as end users can download susp icious codes or emails from the Internet etc. furthermore, if the company decides to outsource its security operations to another company, this will save cost but at the same time increase risks to critical information if no care has been taken for choosing a reliable business partner. Non disclosure agreement must be signed by the service organization and skill evaluation of the staff should also be considered. Furthermore, service level agreements

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING - Essay Example Global financial managers discuss and evaluate the financial parameters of business planning and performance. The course of Global Financial Management provides the students with a deep in-sight into the strategies used by the financial institutions and intermediaries to operate successfully in a highly dynamic and challenging environment. Students are taught the structure of financial markets, the factors that play a role in the development and breakdown of financial markets, and the way financial markets operate. The pathway of Global Financial Management provides a clear and coherent framework and educates and trains the students so that they can fully understand the challenges and deliver in the field of accounting and finance. The pathway of Global Financial Management enables the students to develop their employability skills by teaching them the mathematical techniques and operations involved in accounting and finance. Students are taught financial report writing which is a very important skill in the field of accounting and finance. Innovative financial management and strategic financial planning are some of the most required and relevant skills in the contemporary market driven by creativity and innovation. Students understand the financial capital markets in detail and develop the knowledge of annual company accounts. The pathway polishes the students’ ability to determine cashflows for the organization they work for and creates an understanding of latest developments in business thinking in the students. As a result of taking this course, students become deep thinkers and their ability to make informed decisions is improved. The pathway of Global Financial Management prepares the students to work in a variety of areas that include but are not limited to corporate finance, trading, banking, real estate,

Critical Analysis Of Research Paper (Current Practice in Project

Critical Analysis Of (Current Practice in Project Managementan Empirical Study by Diana White & Joyce Fortune) - Research Paper Example The paper was aimed to throw comprehensive light on the causes for disparity between the objectives defined by the managerial techniques and the results obtained. For this purpose, the writer focussed this paper on the data and results of a contemporary survey which was plannedâ€Å"to capture the `real world' experiences of project managers† aiming at finding out the levelâ€Å"to which those involved in the management of projects actually make use of the methods and techniques that are available and how effective the methods and techniques used are felt to be† (White & Fortune, 2004). ARTICLE’S SUMMARY The paper aimed at explaining the disparity between the objectives and conclusions reported in the contemporary survey planned to observe the real-life active participation of project managers. The survey was conducted with the help of questionnaires which were referred to 995 Project Managers. However, the response rate was mere 23.7%.The chief activity in the questionnaire was the description of a recent project and the factors influential on its conclusive outcomes. The emphasis was laid on the extent to which these influential factors modify the project outcomes and the researcher has directed the respondents to relate them with the available tools and techniques used in the methodology for a specific project management.... Article’s Summary The paper aimed at explaining the disparity between the objectives and conclusions reported in the contemporary survey planned to observe the real-life active participation of project managers. The survey was conducted with the help of questionnaires which were referred to 995 Project Managers. However, the response rate was mere 23.7%.The chief activity in the questionnaire was the description of a recent project and the factors influential on its conclusive outcomes. The emphasis was laid on the extent to which these influential factors modify the project outcomes and the researcher has directed the respondents to relate them with the available tools and techniques used in the methodology for a specific project management. The researcher had also asked for the respondents’ own critical evaluation of the tools and techniques that they had used so far and to relate any limitation that they have to face or any drawback that they noticed for using them. The results of this survey revealed the narrow range of tools and techniques which are frequently and commonly used in the project management including the project management software and Gantt charts. Nearly 50% of the participants testified against these tools and techniques. The results also revealed that the most implied criteria to judge the project success include three widely used factors: time, budget, specifications. Moreover, the suitability between the project and the organization as well as the success of the business also proved to be the determining factors of the project success. Critical Analysis of the Article The overall presentation of the paper is quite impressive as it appears to be quite a critically comprehensive analysis of the survey that was conducted contemporarily to

HSBC Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

HSBC Risk Management - Essay Example The problem is that profit, the measure of reward, requires, as a minimum, a pencil, the back of an envelope, and some degree of skill in arithmetic calculations. HSBC is the world's largest banking group operating on the global scale. HSBC is considered the 4th largest financial institution of the world with $2,348.98 billion of assets. Also, HSBC is the largest bank with market value of $180.81 billion and the most profitable bank with $19.13 billion2. For this financial group, risk management is crucial to forecast and predict possible market changes and economic fluctuations. Similar to HSBC, MNCs face financial problems and need risk management techniques to avoid profit loss and sustain market growth. For both types of corporations, the first principle of sound financial systems is to lend money only to those who do not need the money. This may sound contradictory to the intent of banking, but it is not. Banking is a business where the banker takes the savings of a number of individuals and lends the money to others. Those whose savings are being redirected to others as loans do not know, or care, that this is happening3. All they care about is the timely payment of interest and the right to withdraw money at one hundred cents on every dollar. Bankers are lenders not of personal or bank funds, but the funds of depositors. Bankers are, in effect, borrowers. HSBC Bankers borrow money from depositors and pay them interest. They take the money and lend it out to others at a higher rate of interest. What bankers expect from borrowers is what depositors expect from bankers. Depositors, borrowers, and bankers function in a system where repayment is in terms of one hundred cents for every dollar deposited or borrowed. Depositors expect one hundred cents on every dollar that bankers have borrowed from them4. For bankers to honor their obligations to depositors, bankers must expect one hundred cents returned on every dollar that they have lent to borrowers. From the bankers' perspective, a deposit is a liability on the books because they "owe" this to depositors at the time when depositors desire to withdraw money. A loan t o a borrower is an asset from the perspective of a banker because its interest represents income and its repayment represents cash flow into the bank. To maintain a balance between assets and liabilities, a dollar's worth of assets and a dollar's worth of liabilities must be in terms of one hundred cents on the dollar5. "What If" analysis is part of risk management for HSBC and MNCs. "What If" analysis consists of looking not only at the most likely, from which one derives a measure of reward, but also certain unlikely cases where the events of business life do not follow the most likely script. The measure of reward diminishes with respect to the measure of reward for the most likely case. At some point, the measure of reward becomes the measure of risk. A measure of risk is a low degree of reward that is insufficient either to meet expenses or to provide a minimum return on investment. Risk, in a business environment, can be looked upon as an unsatisfactory level of reward where t he wisdom of proceeding with the project must be questioned6. In viewing loan applications or proposals, bankers focus on the prospects of repayment. This is because loans are made when it is perceived that the borrower does not need the money. In other words, loans are made wh

Causes of Gang Involvement Essay Example for Free

Causes of Gang Involvement Essay Today, gangs in America cause a huge problem. Are there any positives for having a gang in the community? Does anything good come out of having a gang in the area? The answer to all of these questions is no. Gang involvement directly affects neighborhoods and has negative effects on communities. One of the first reasons a person joins a gang is because of economic despair or deprivation in the area they live in. Gangs form as a way for their group to make money. Some ways gangs earn an income is by selling drugs, committing thefts, prostitution of women, and sometimes even killing others for money. Because of economic despair, gangs are usually found in rundown neighborhoods. When we think of rundown neighborhoods, we think of poor housing and small incomes for those living in the neighborhood. This is why gangs will do just about anything for money. If the community or neighborhood fails to provide a way to earn money, the gangs will have to find other ways to receive an income. Gangs provide the member a way out of economic despair and into the lifestyle of â€Å"fancy living.† Because of bad economic times, this may cause a gang member to have low self-esteem about themselves. A member might be an outcast at the school they attend and are not well liked even in their own home sometimes. Even their own peers might give them a hard time. The gang entices the possible member with the ability to receive power, respect, and money. Gangs form in order to provide the individual with low self-esteem a chance to build their self-esteem through the gang. The gangs reputation, interaction with gang members, accomplishments of the gang, and gaining power through the gang sends loads of confidence to the new member. This new confidence usually gives the newest member the feeling of invincibility. But, as we all know, no one today is invincible. The thought of being rich and having the respect of others are two main reasons for members to join a gang. But, one of the simplest and easiest reasons new members join is because simply they can! Gangs from because they can; it is as simple as that. Gangs form when non-gang delinquents and gang delinquents are left for themselves. The groups simply are left unmonitored and have no structure to guide them while living their lives. These individuals are looking for ways to get into trouble and to cause problems. The members also do not respect their elders which also can cause problems. As long as there are victims to prey on, the gangs will prey on them. Overall, gangs do not send a positive wave of feeling when the word is heard. The members of gangs are troubled and confused individuals who are looking for ways to fill the voids that are in their lives. That is what a gang offers, ways to fill these voids. These are frequently negative ways to complete the person. The causes of gangs directly affect the community and neighborhood where the residents live.

Market and company overview of pret a manger

Market and company overview of pret a manger Prà ªt a Manger established in 1986 by two college friends Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe (who also is the founder of Itsu sushi bar/restaurant). It is a UK based sandwich retailer, which now is an international business (Prà ªt). They named the company Prà ªt a Manger, which in French means ready to eat (see Appendix 1.0) Rix (2004) states, a product is a set of tangible attributes in an identifiable form and he adds, each product is identified by a commonly understood descriptive (p. 199). Prà ªt produces sandwiches, filled baguettes, soup, salad and coffee. It also prepares desserts, muffins (the American variety), cakes, and croissants. Some locations also serve sushi and noodles. Prà ªt has a range of vegetarian options including roasted vegetable sandwiches and hummus wraps. In marketing though, customers seek to purchase its quality and benefits (Rix, 2004). Prà ªt essentially provides fresh fast food made with natural ingredients. They are passionate about freshness all food is made fresh in the shop on the day of purchase. Sandwiches are packaged in paperboard rather than sealed plastic, to emphasise that they are fresh and cannot be kept overnight. Some packaging contains recipes for some of their products; these are for people who want to make sandwiches like Prà ªts for themselves. Mor eover, Prà ªt also provides a delivery service for orders over  £30 minimum. Service can be identified as activities that meet customers needs or wants solely on intangible benefits (Rix, 2004). Their services are excellent; the staff are friendly, always greet with civility, approachable and enthusiastic, which makes their customers feel welcome (ref). Rix (2004) states Marketers are increasingly being faced with a choice between profitably satisfying the wants of their customers and complying with the wishes of various other groups in the community (p. 5). Prà ªt is aimed at the middle to upper class including white-collar workers and businessmen and women who use it regularly to have a coffee before work, especially the City type customers (ref). Therefore, Prà ªt stores are normally found near the train or tube stations, affluent places such as Canary Wharf, and cities such as Central London. These are places where will be more consumers that they are targeting at. Prets competitors include Starbucks, Costa, Nero and Eat. Relatively speaking, Starbucks is the biggest competitor since it is the largest coffeehouse business in the world. Companies that anticipate changes in consumer behaviour and respond with new gods and services are likely to achieve long-term health and profitability. But companies that change consumer behaviour have the opportunity to make major breakthroughs in new markets and industries (Hoffman et al. 2005) Already there are about 240 Prà ªt shops, which are mainly based in the UK. Statistically, their yearly turnover is approximately  £270 million a year (see Appendix 1.1) Task 1 P 1.1 Situation Analysis A thorough analysis of the situation in which the firm finds itself serves as the basis for identifying opportunities to satisfy unfulfilled customer needs (City of London Academy, Edition 1). Need to be changed One of procedures of the marketing planning is the marketing audit, which plays a huge part that constantly is being conducted throughout the whole process. It is to study internal factors, while also anticipates stakeholders and external factors. The Chartered Institute of Marketing says: Carrying out the marketing audit provides the opportunity to review and appraise your whole marketing activity, enabling you to assess past and present performance as well as to provide the basis for evaluating possible future courses of action. (year) Marketing audit breaks down into two categories: The microenvironment is the forces close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers (Kotler et al. 1998, pp. 885-886). This is focusing on the internal business experiences, where an organization has a complete control, giving this opportunity to improve the business. The macro-environment is the larger societal forces that affect the whole microenvironment (Kotler et al. 1998, pp. 885-886). This is the external factors, where a business barely or has absolute no control on, that changes may adversely affect the organisation. (ref) SWOT analysis is a method, which came from the research conducted at Stanford Research Institute. It draws all the evidence from several analytical techniques used, provides basic useful information of developing the business, marketing objectives or aims and new products into the market. Prà ªt undertakes a SWOT analysis, which its abbreviation is Strengths, the strong features and positions of the company, Weaknesses, where the company needs to improve in order to maintain the best image of the business as possible internal issues, Opportunities, where the company can grab chances to better themselves and to expand their reputation, and Threats, where the company relish challenges that may affect the business external issues (Rix, 2004). Example of SWOT analysis is shown below: Table 1: (1.1 Explanation of SWOT analysis) Strengths Non-stop producing new products. Often do offers. Prices are cheap and affordable. Always create new advertisements. Services are fast and easy. Weaknesses Products are not healthy. Advertise unhealthy products i.e. burgers Contributes to obesity. Loaded with sugar. Opportunities Exploitation of interest in healthier eating. Sponsoring could help the business their sales. Home deliveries service Threats International exchange rate Increasing labours wages Competitors pricing Competitors invent similar products, might be better. Source: The researcher PEST is an analysis of external factors, generally considered to be outside the control of a business. The PEST analysis is to identify both presents and futures opportunities and threats. PEST stands for Political; Economic; Social and Technology (ref). Clear explanation of each of these are shown in the following: Table 2: (1.1 Explanation of PEST) Political These are factors that are controlled by the government policies. Economic These factors are related to political and are concerned about interest rates, exchange rate, economic growth and income levels. Social Concerning the factors of age, size of families, healthy lifestyle and religions. Technology Factors concern such as computers, machineries, motor vehicles etc. Source: The researcher P 1.2 A mission or vision statement is a statement that provides a signpost of where your business aims to be in the future (Chartered Institute of Marketing, ). Choose better one A mission statement has to be concise and explicitly explain that provides a clear view of Prà ªts intention to customers and stakeholders, what is their business and who their customers are. It also provides motivation within the organization, helps them to focus on accomplishing their objectives (ref). This helps marketer to make informed decisions of suitable strategies and programs. Here are the two mission statements of Prà ªt: Turnover currently  £270 million: to increase 9% within 2 years time. To expand wider and open new stores this year: 3 new stores to be opened in Birmingham, (BBC News, 2010). According to media sources, Prà ªts turnover is constantly increased in the recent years. Although economic crisis has just ended, nonetheless the business somehow managed to make profits. This shows that the businesss financial situation is stable and secure. Table 3: (1.2 Marketing Mix for Prà ªt a Manager) Product Hoi sin Duck Wrap is a Cantonese style of wrap Prà ªt does. Inside the wrap has shredded roast duck, hoisin sauce, red onions, cucumber, leaf spinach and a touch of mayo in a tortilla wrap. The wrap contains nuts, sesame free, dairy free, GM free and high protein, which keeps customers full longer. Every single Pret store has its own kitchen, they make the product every single purchase day, to make sure it is fresh and healthy. Those left unsold at the end of the day, they will not be re-sold, but will be collected by the charities, and then given to those are homeless. Price This product quite pricey due to the qualities it contains, which cost  £2.95 each. This can be cost plus pricing, average cost of the product and service plus a profit margin; it has a high mark-up. Place The channels of distribution of this product will be service providers to consumers, as well as direct marketing through the website so the consumers can shop at home, but minimum of  £30. This product sells in a clean and pleasant environment, affluent places like the city, where the market targets will perform the desire behaviour. Usually during lunchtime, when this product can be purchased the most. Promotion Prà ªt promotes the product through word of mouth by informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth. This promotion also includes leaflets, shop windows, and its own website, targeting at older group, middle and upper class groups. Source: wesite SWOT analysis is used to get something in the right position in the market and help in companys strategic planning. It must be done before Prà ªts product (Hoi Sin Duck Wrap) is launched and at regular intervals after that, also needs to spend resources to maximize profit and minimise potential threat (ref). The following table shows the SWOT analysis of Prà ªt that may influence their sales of the new product. Table 4: (1.2 SWOT Analysis for Prà ªt a Manager) Strengths Prà ªt is well known for handmade sandwiches, which are made with natural ingredients, and immaculate service, which the quality of products and customers are the companys priorities. The business also does delivery service that other sandwich bars do not provide, as well as online order. Thus, these advantages may aid to gain repeat sales of Hoi Sin Duck Wrap. Weaknesses Prà ªt is considerably to be one of the most expensive sandwich bars in the world. This also means that the business only has certain target audience and stores can be found in affluent areas only. Prà ªt stores are generally small that unable to provide sufficient seats for customers to eat in. Thus, the sales of Hoi Sin Duck Wrap will not be expectedly high. Opportunities Prà ªt does not franchise. The business could take this opportunity to franchise out; not only Prà ªt can gain popularity, the business can also earn some fees from franchising! Prà ªt does not involve a lot of advertisements. Advertising plays a major part in every organization Prà ªt should seriously think about advertisements on television and newspapers etc. Thus, Hoi Sin Duck Wrap is highly unreachable. Threats The risk of competitors entering the market. Competitors such as Starbucks often distribute discount vouchers. Customers are aware of the price and generally; they tend to go for cheaper options. Thus, Hoi Sin Duck Wraps product life cycle is predictably short. Source: website Prà ªt must consider on the external environment influences, which may have impact on its product. It is a strategic planning technique that provides a useful framework for analysing the environmental pressure on Prà ªt and its product (ref). Table 5: (1.2 PEST for Prà ªt a Manager) Political Economic Social Technology Source: The researcher Task 2 P 2.1 Marketing Barriers Barriers are vague obstacles that tend to thwart a marketing plan and unable to pass messages to external stakeholders. A marketer needs to understand and identify each of the barriers that they are confronting, in order to avoid scuppering the plan. Marketers generally realise these barriers when they manage to envisage a business is not growing or a prolonged unstable position (ref). These barriers can be both internal and external, and all must take into account: Not knowing your product Lack of knowledge in a businesss product and what services the business can provide to their customers can be an immense barrier to the business success. There will be no guarantee, security, customer loyalty, and number of complaints will increase, the business is ineffectual and needs improvement immediately. Whilst the business competitors understand their products, this can adversely affect the business turnover and repeat sales will not occur. Not knowing your competition If a researcher does not know where a business stands and positions of the business competitors, it is highly unlikely that the business can topple its competitors. Competitors study and observe their own competitors. This will give competitors the ideas how to better their performance. Gradually, competitors successfully satisfy customers and therefore eventually, the business will be ceased. Not understanding the market A product is ready to enter the market. However, if a researcher does not know what a business segmentations are can cause problems to the sales campaign. If the researcher does not know where these segments are, which segment should be regarded and disregarded, the marketing plan will not be effective. It is also concerned with costs. For example, the researcher does not study the environment for the business products, high premises cost, electricity and gas, the business will have no the potential to reach the top. Capital requirements The amount of financial resources that every new business enters a market is immense. Businesses such as manufacturing industries and building constructions are required extortionate machineries in order to run its business. Investments can also occur to existing businesses. For instance, investing in new product: finance availability for research and development, production, marketing etc. The investment risk is great, therefore creates barrier. However, there is a prospect of overthrowing the business competitors. Government policy This is concerned with macro-environment. Government policies sometimes are forced to halt competition. For example, laws and regulations such as product testing regulations, global warming and limits on access to raw materials can inhibit the growth of competitions due to licensing requirements. P 2.2 Solutions for marketing barriers Knowing your product It is vital to understand wholly and study what products and services that Prà ªt are providing, how they are functioned and any most recent information that a marketer should know. This will guide the marketer to the right direction and helps to plan a marketing strategy. Having knowledge of the companys products can laden relationships with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. For instance, customers expectations will be made, therefore sales enhance. Suppliers will be delighted to supply, as Prà ªt seems stable and able to meet payments on time. Knowing your competition It is important to know and learn about competitors. Competitors can be one of keys to a Prà ªts achievement, as researchers can study and observe the business competitors to acknowledge its weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This consists of competitive pricing, niche market availability, promotion, advertisements and other relevant useful information that can be learned. Understanding your market Researchers must know what are the target groups and who prà ªt is selling its products to. To conduct a market research can help researchers to understand the specific target audience and customers expectations in terms of price and quality. Methods of market research can be primary and/or secondary, quantitative and/or qualitative. Internet is a very effective tool that can help Prà ªt to overcome its barriers. Information and data that are needed can mostly be found online. Also, if researchers are struggling, good guidelines can also be found on the Internet. Until researchers are fulfilled with the results, decisions are then made and subsequently, implement a marketing plan. Task 3 P 3.1 In competitive world, companies need to produce new products to satisfy customer needs. A company cannot expect to continue growth or to maximise profit by relying exclusively on its existing products. The company must retain to control its market by continuous product innovation that involves complete new product development, product improvement, which is to discover different ways in improving existing products effectively, and imitative products, which means a copied product that is already exist in the market by other companies. It is essential to know how to manage a new product, which goes through its life cycle (Kotler et al., year) Every product has its life cycle, showing how long a product will last for. Product life cycle is the phases a product goes through from its introduction to its final decline (ref). The product life cycle has five main phases: Table 6: (3.1 Product Life Cycle) Induction This is the starting point, where a product has just begun its sales life. There is usually no profit making due to higher cost of marketing and development. Growth This is the period when a products sales has just set to rise, and the cost begins to fall due to economies of scale the more consumers purchase the product, the quicker the product will run out, therefore the more quantities of the product will be supplied by the suppliers. Maturity A sale is expanding at a slower rate and profits are soaring. More and more consumers purchase the product. The pricing may be lower due to greater competition. Saturation A market is begun to fall due to many other similar products, better products, out of date etc. The product will not be produced as much as it used to. Decline The ending of a product where the sales cannot survive again, therefore the price will be reduced more. The product then is withdrawn. Source: author , date Hoi Sin Duck Wrap is a product, which has been developed and marketed to Prets customers, and is currently market leader. Still as the researcher knowledge, there is no market follower for this product. Kotler et al. (year) believe a product tends to develop, improve and modify through research, as well as to identify, create and deliver the new product that has not emerged in the market yet. Every business must have its segmentation and targeting, its own branding and knowing relationship marketing in order to innovate flawlessly and increase demand. Segmentation technique is separated a market into groups, where there will be different segments requires and different market approaches. It is concerned on understanding customers lifestyles, preferences and aspirations. This can help businesses to find out what consumers are expected and their needs in order to develop products and increase overall demand. ACORN and MOSIAC help to identify groups consumers who are willing to purchase, therefore there will be a market for each product. Table 7: (3.1 Segmentation) ACORN A Classification Of Residential Neighborhoods, is a tool used to identify and understand the population and the demand for products and services. Businesses use this information to identify consumers needs and try to target at more consumers. Also identifying consumers age, income, employment, and type of holidays they go for etc. CACI Information Services develops classification of residential areas, market analysis and provides information. MOSIAC This is another classification to identify household types by combination of credit history, share ownership, postcode data etc. This can help businesses what type of characteristics they are aiming at. Source: author, date Segmentation technique also includes geographic, demographic, and psychographic. This can be developed so that it can create an effective marketing plan. Geographic This is a method to identify customer behavior information, such as consumer density, past purchasing behaviors etc, which may differ from other countries. Demographic This uses population factors based on variables such as age, gender family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality (ACORN). Psychographic A breakdown of consumers according to different characteristics, including the attitudes expectations and activities of consumers, their interests and lifestyles. Source: author, date Task 4 P 4.1 Marketing ethical is related to or concerning morals, justice or duty, based on ideas of right and wrong. Rules or laws that have already been set, everyday we make any decision may consider on those principles (Baker, 2006). There two main approaches in ethical identified by Rix (2004) are rules approach and outcomes approach. Rules approach is otherwise known as deontological. It is when rules must be strictly adhered, despite of the outcome. Rix (2004) states trust is one of the main keys of ethical rules in marketing. For instance, a products appearance is deceptive that lures a customer into purchasing the product, although it does not physically harm the customer is still ethically wrong. Likewise a company intends to maximise profit by conducting unethical approaches, such as making redundancies without a reason, the action is regard as unethical (Rix, 2004). Outcomes approach is otherwise known as teleological. It is occurred when an outcome is seemingly good and bad, dependi ng on the outcome prospective. For instance, Tesco brings a product into the market, but other groceries have had the product in the market already. Tesco set an unreasonable price for the product that is much lower than other competitors, which competitors accuse Tesco of unethical pricing. A contrary point of view from Tesco, that the outcome is beneficial to its stakeholders. If this action stays on, it may produce a greater amount of good than damaging others (Rix, 2004). P 4.2 Marketing mix is a tool that a company has the complete control. There are 4 main elements (4ps) in marketing mix, which are product, price, place and promotion. The fifth P, which is people, sometimes is added to demonstrate the relationship with customers. 2 further Ps are usually added within service industry, which are process and physical evidence (Lancaster and Reynolds, 1999). Conclusion

Beta Thalassemia: Causes and Treatments

Beta Thalassemia: Causes and Treatments Thalassemia is an inherited autosomal recessive blood disease that affects the bodys ability to produce haemoglobin, the protein that red blood cells use to carry oxygen. It reduces the rate of production of globin chains that make up haemoglobin, which are either alpha (ÃŽÂ ±) chain or beta(ÃŽÂ ²) chain. Beta-Thalassemia Major disorder occurs when both the beta globin chain are affected by mutation or deletion, resulting in the abnormalities in the formation, size and shape of red blood cell. Patients suffering from beta-thalassemia have to endure the pain from severe anemia, fatigue, enlarged spleen, and also bone problems besides jaundice. Thalassemia is found in almost every country worldwide, however it is more commonly found in Mediterranean and Asians. The data from the National Thalassemia Registry shows that currently there are 4,768 thalassemia patients registered in Malaysia. Based on the screening conducted by Ministry of Health, the carrier rate averages at about 5 %, which means about one in 20 Malaysians carry the thalassemia gene. The diagram attached in the next page shows an overview of the pathogenesis of ÃŽÂ ² thalassemia. Thalassemia can be treated and prevented by many different screening test and treatments. However, thalassemia is not curable yet. So, what are the current available treatments to help relieve the disorder symptoms? A POSSIBLE SOLUTION The treatment for thalassemia depends on the severity of the conditions. For example, people who are carriers or have a mild ÃŽÂ ± or ÃŽÂ ² thalassemia trait which usually does not have any symptoms, need little or no treatment. People with moderate and severe condition of thalassemia need treatments as soon as possible or else they are under dangerous situation that can cause fatal. BLOOD TRANSFUSION As the red blood cells of thalassemic patients are little and not healthy, it couldnt carry out its normal function of carrying oxygen efficiently which may cause the patient to have difficulties in breathing and other related problems. Therefore, the most effective treatment for these patients is blood transfusion therapy. Blood transfusion therapy is the main treatment for thalassemic patient. It is given through a needle into the vein, which gives healthy red blood cells with normal haemoglobin. Since the lifespan of the red blood cell for thalassemic patient is less than 120 days, the patient requires a regular blood transfusion. A person with moderate thalassemia needs blood transfusion when the body is under stress such as during infections. However, people with major thalassemia, Cooleys anemia, need more regular blood transfusion which is every 2 to 4 weeks.9 Basically, there are reasons why thalassemic patients need regular red blood cells transfusion. First of all, it is to correct anemia and make sure that tissues get normal amount of oxygen and carry out body functions. It is proven by research done by the scientists and doctors, where a thalassemic patient who receives a regular transfusion could live up to 50years compared to the one not receiving any treatment whom could survive only unti l childhood. Regular transfusion also helps to keep the haemoglobin level near normal and the production of ineffective haemoglobin could be stopped.7,12 This treatment helps to improve childs growth and well-being and usually prevents heart failure. 1 The blood transfusion in thalassemic patients is not the same as normal blood transfusion. As we know, blood contains different types of components and this component has its advantage that the components are in small volumes with higher concentrations of a particular product for specific indications. Therefore, thalassemic patients are given packed red blood cells instead of whole blood to improve the oxygen carrying capacity.13 However, regular blood transfusion leads to another medical problem known as iron overload. Regular blood transfusion creates an excess of iron in the body because the haemoglobin in red blood cell is an iron rich protein. As there is no natural way of eliminating it from the body, it is stored primarily in spleen, liver, endocrine organs, and heart, and becomes toxic in tissues and organ. Iron overload can cause these organs to malfunction and damages it if untreated.14,15,16 In order to remove the iron overload, a therapy known as iron chelation is done. A test called serum ferritin test is carried out to determine the amount of iron in the body as it is an important iron-storage protein. Injections of Desferrioxamine (Desferal) is given to the patient 5-7 nights per week with 8-12 hours supply which is done during sleeping time. It is injected under the skin from a small pump. Desferal works by carrying out excess iron through urine.22 Thus, iron level in the body can be reduced. So, in conclusion, the main treatment for thalassemic patients is regular blood transfusion and iron chelation therapy as blood transfusion makes the iron stored in the body overloaded. However, one sad thing about what thalassemic patients undergoes is that they started doing this since they are infant and continues this painful treatment for the rest of their lives and endure the side effects of both treatment. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS People suffering from thalassemia seem to have some emotional and psychological problems that disturb their routine lives. As we know, the people suffering from thalassemia have certain physical symptoms such as enlarged spleen which makes the stomach looks big and the head of the patient would be slightly in oval shape as the diploetic fibres in skull extend from the internal lamina. This makes them feel awkward and shy to meet people and other people also might look at them in different way. Based on the experience of Noor Hafiza Noor Hamdan, 33 a thalassemic patient interviewed for The Star newspaper, she said that : Before this, I was shy and solemn, and I did not like to smileà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. When people smile at me, I would ask myself, why? Maybe its because I have a sickness this lines are quoted from what she said in the interview. This shows that thalassemic patients lack of confidence and ashamed of themselves being in that condition, so they interact less with the public. This makes them feel lonely and leads to depression, another psychological disorder. Some people outside even discriminate them. Many thalassemic patients suffer in getting jobs besides being neglected by the parents and also the public. According to Pn. Noor Hafiza, she was not lucky with several other employers before working in a fast food outlet as she was not given the job opportunity after she showed her medical check-up which states that she has thalassemia.17 Some patients even tend to commit suicide as they couldnt cope with the pain and treatments that gives them more pain. Patients who couldnt cope with the treatment which requires not only money but also almost half of their hours in a day makes them think that its better to die rather than suffer and being a burden to the family. Besides that, they feel embarrassed by their limited ability to do things by their own. 4,19 On the other hand, economic implications also give a big impact to the patients life. Beta- thalassemia major patients require a regular blood transfusion of every 2 weeks, which cost them a lot of money. Not only transfusion, patients have to undergo many blood test and to be forgotten, the iron chelation therapy. Desferal is a controlled medicine that is very expensive medicine. This is one of the reasons why thalassemic patient couldnt continue their treatment. 1997 1998 (as from February) Thalassaemia association RM138.90 RM153.00 Goverment purchase (via Remedi) RM157.20 RM157.20 Pharmacy/clinic RM190.00 RM209.00 HUKM non-formulary purchase RM194.00 Customer purchase RM211.00 RM261.00 This research done by Prof. Elizabeth George shows the Desferals price increase from year 1997 to 1998, by 2009, the price had increased in the range of from RM500 to over RM1000 which is definitely not affordable for low class and middle class families. Thus, it becomes a financial burden to the family. As the patient gets older, the blood requirement increases as well as the Desferal. This directly increases the cost of living for a thalassemic patient. 20 There is no other way for the patients besides taking Desferal as without it, they have an average lifespan of only 20years only.5 WORD COUNT: 1463words BENEFITS AND RISK Benefits of blood transfusion are that it helps the body to have new and healthy red blood cell with normal haemoglobin. As we knew, thalassemic patients suffer from abnormal red blood cells with mutated or deleted haemoglobin, hence their red blood cells couldnt carry out its function and creates health problems such as the most severe ones is anemia. With this blood transfusion, a person could live longer to an average lifespan of 50years besides growing normally. Blood transfusion also helps the patients bones to form normally. As blood is given externally, the bone marrow does not have to work hard to produce red blood cell so it can concentrate on the formation of proper and normal bones. On the other hand, iron chelation helps to remove iron and prevents the organs like endocrine organs and liver from being damaged. 21 However, there are risks in both treatments. The most common risk of blood transfusion is infections and rejection. The patient has to get the same blood group in order to avoid rejection. There are chances of infection during transfusion either due to the blood itself or improper handling of the needle and syringe. Although a person receives regular Desferal, over time, the iron will be deposited in the spleen and liver and causes it to be damaged. Besides that, the patient has to cope with the side effects of both blood transfusion and Desferal which includes nausea, dizziness, and problems in hearing.22 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION SPLENECTOMY Splenectomy is a surgical way of removing spleen. Old and damaged red blood cells are removed in the spleen. Since the red blood cells in a thalassemic patient are weakened, it is destroyed when passed through spleen. This makes the body to have fewer red blood cells. Removing spleen can help to lower the number of red blood cells that are lost, besides being removed due to the enlargement which causes pain to the patient. Splenectomy is done to patient above 11years old and after the removal, patient might need antibiotics to prevent infections as without spleen a person is more prone to infections. Patients can also get pneumococcal vaccine (Pneumovax) before the surgery to prevent infections.2 BONE MARROW STEM CELLTRANSPLANT Bone marrow transplant is another possible solution for thalassemia patient. The first successful transplant was performed in 1981 to a six-month baby from Italy.23 Bone marrow transplant involves the replacement of healthy stem cells as the patients stem cells are not producing healthy blood cells. The transplant procedure is similar to blood transfusion where it is infused through central nervous catheter. The stem cells migrate to the bones from the blood stream to stimulate the production of new bone marrow that migrates to the large cavities of bones and produce new blood cells.24 The most commonly used stem cell is the embryonic stem cell because it is easier to extract and have more advantage compared to adult stem cell as it is totipotent and not yet undergo differentiation and determination. 25 However, there are risks in getting stem cell transplant. First of all, risk of getting a suitable stem cell that matches the body to prevent rejections. Besides that, risk of infection is another problem during the process. According to Dr. Revathy Raj, Consultant Paediatric Haemato Oncologist, Apollo Speciality Hospital, Chennai, as the immune system will be lowered by immunosuppressant drug to reduce the risk of rejection, the body is now more prone to other infections.6,26 EVALUATION http://www.penthal.org/thalassaemia.htm is the website from a non-profit organization that aimed to give information about thalassemia not only to the patients but also to those who wants to know about it. In my opinion, this website is trustable and reliable as the information is factual and valid. This organization is an active group and always updated with latest new. Besides that, they are reviewed by some doctors and also origins from Penang, which means the information is more specific to Malaysians. It is also trustable as the basic informations on thalassemia given are the same as other resources used in this report such as http://www.medindia.net/patients/patientinfo/Thalassemia.htm , http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=1571.0 Information are also obtained from a paper cut : The Star Online, My blood is Different which is based on the personal experience of Noor Hafiza Noor Hamdan and some information from Ministry of Healths Thalassemia website, www.mytalasemia.net.my. The experience shared by the patient gives a lot of reliable information on treatments and their risks. The Ministry of Healths website is also very helpful in providing all kind of information by using videos and slides shows which makes it more clear and understandable. However, it gives only a brief and limited input regarding thalassemia as its main purpose is to provide brief information about this disease. It is hard to find any specific book related to thalassemia as the disease is still considered as new and unpopular in Malaysia. Most of the book sources that I referred are books related to genetics and pathology as thalassemia is related to both. However, the book, Robbins Basic Pathology, 7th Edition by Vinay Kumar and others as stated in bibliography is the most reliable and useful among all. The diagram taken from the book is very useful in explaining the pathogenesis of ÃŽÂ ²-thalassemia as it couldnt be found in any website I explored. Besides that, the explanations given in the book are also simple, clear and understandable. For example this sentence that describes about ÃŽÂ ² thalassemia: Î’-thalassemia, associated with total absence of ÃŽÂ ²-globin chain, and characterized by reduced synthesis of the chain in homozygous state. Genes obtained from thalassemic patients has revealed more than 100 different mutations responsible for it. Controlling Operative and Postoperative Pain | Literature Controlling Operative and Postoperative Pain | Literature Review of literature is a key step in research process. The literature review is to discover what has previously been done about the problem to be studied what remains to be done, what methods have been employed in other research and how the result of other research in the area can be combined to develop knowledge. It is essential step; it can be done before and after selecting the problem. It can help to determine what is already known about the topic (A.P.Jai, 2005). This chapter attempts to present a review of studies done methodology adopted and conclusion attained by earlier investigators which helps in this study. The sources are internet search, textbook, published journal, editorials published and unpublished thesis. In this chapter, the researcher presents the review of the literature under the following headings, Section-I: Studies related to importance of postoperative pain management. Section-II: Studies related to Using Numeric Rating Scale for pain Assessment. Section-III: Studies related to effectiveness of music therapy among General Surgical Patients. Section-IV: Studies related to Effectiveness of Music Therapy among Post Caesarean Mothers. Section-V: Studies related to Gate Control Theory of Pain (Melzack and Wall (1965). Section-VI: Conceptual Framework Based on Gate Control Theory of Pain (Melzack and Wall (1965). SECTION-I: STUDIES RELATED TO IMPORTANCE OF POSTOPERATIVE PAIN MANAGEMENT. Kolawole and Fawole, (2003) conducted a study on Postoperative pain management following caesarean section in University of llorin Teaching Hospital (UITH).llorin, Nigeria. Prospective descriptive design was used to assess the effectiveness of various common methods of analgesia used in hospital following caesarean section. This study was conducted over a period of 18 months. Pain assessment was carried out by 4-point Verbal Rating Scale of None, Mild, Moderate, and severe. The first 24hrs postoperatively was particularly painful for the patient with 79.6% and 54.6% reporting moderate to severe pain in the recovery room and day 1 respectively. They concluded that the pain remains a significant problem following surgical operation in our environment. (PMID.15008293) Seers and Carroll, (1998) conducted a study on Relaxation techniques for acute pain management. They were used a systematic review of randomized controlled trials and seven studies involving 362 patients were included. Three of the seven studies demonstrated significantly less pain sensation or pain distress in those who had relaxation, four studies did not detect any difference. It was concluded that the well designed and executed randomized controlled trials are needed before the clinical use of relaxation in acute pain management can be firmly underpinned by good quality research evidence. So we can recommend that the relaxation in acute pain settings is carefully evaluated and not used as the main treatment for the pain management. SECTION-II: STUDIES RELATED TO USING NUMERIC RATING SCALE FOR PAIN ASSESSMENT. Yaakov Beilin, Jabera Hossain, and Carol, (2009) conducted a study on Numeric Rating Scale and Labor Epidural Analgesia, in this study a Numeric Rating Scale(NRS) used to evaluate pain in research studies, they define desire for additional analgesic medication as a clinically relevant outcome in research studies about pain and compare it with the results of the NRS. A post hoc analysis of three studies that conducted previously in concerning labor epidural analgesia was performed. In all three studies, score was obtained before and 15 min after analgesia. They found that the very few patients (2%) with a score of 0-1 wanted more medication. When the score was 2 or 3, 51% of the patients wanted more medication, and score was >3, almost all patients (93%) wanted more medication. Grouping the final NRS scores into 3 categories (0 or 1, 2 or 3, and >3) is more useful to the clinician than using individual NRS scores. Cinzia Brunelli, (2009) did a study on Comparison of Numerical and Verbal Rating Scales to measure pain exacerbations in patients with chronic Cancer pain. Crosses sectional multicentre study conducted on a sample of 240 advanced cancer patients with pain, background pain and BP were measured by 6-point VRS and 11 point NRS. In order to evaluate the reproducibility of the two scales, a subsample of 60 patients was randomly selected and the questionnaire was administered for a second time three to four hours later. The proportion of inconsistent evaluations was calculated to compare the two scales capability in discriminating between background and peak pain intensity and Cohens K was calculated to compare their reproducibility. It concludes that NRS revealed higher discriminatory capability than VRS in distinguishing between background and peak pain intensity with a lower proportion of patients giving inconsistent evaluations (14% vs. 25%) (Cohens K of 0.86 for NRS vs 0.53 for VRS) while the reproducibility of the two scales in evaluating background pain was similar (Cohens K of 0.80 vs. 0.77). Nathalie Dieudonne, Alexandra Gomola, Philippe Bonnichon, and Yves M.Ozier, (2008) conducted a study on Prevention of postoperative pain after thyroid surgery. In this study double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial used to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of bilateral superficial cervical plexus blocks performed at the end of surgery. Ninety patients were randomized to receive 20 mL isotonic sodium chloride or 20 mL bupivacaine 0.25% with 1:200,000 epinephrines. Postoperative pain was assessed every 4 h using an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS-11). All patients received acetaminophen every 6 h. In addition, morphine was administered following a standardized protocol if the NRS-11 score was à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥4. The main outcome variables were pain scores (NRS-11), the proportion of patients given morphine at any time during the 24-h period, and the amount of morphine administered. The Bupivacaine group had a smaller proportion of patients given morphine (66.0% vs 90.0%; P = 0.016), and lower initial median pain scores (P = 0.002). SECTION-III: STUDIES RELATED TO EFFECTIVENESS OF MUSIC THERAPY AMONG GENERAL SURGICAL PATIENTS. Sigma Theta Tau International, (2009) conducted a study to assess and compare the effect of music therapy on postoperative pain of patient undergone elective abdominal surgery. A quasi-experimental design was used and convenient samples of 30 (15 in each expcontrol group). Pain was measured by Verbal Rating Scale. Music therapy was given as per patients wish to experimental group and intensity of pain was monitored before and immediately after recovery from anesthesia, during the 1st and 2nd postoperative day for both the groups. Results revealed that those patients who listened to self selected music tapes had significant differences (p Tse MM.Chan Me. Benzie, (2005) conducted a study to find the effectiveness of music therapy on postoperative pain and analgesic use following nasal surgery. Sample size was 57 patients (24females33 males) who were matched for age and sex and then non-selectively assigned to either an experimental or a control group. Music was played intermittently to members of the experimental group during the first 24hrs postoperative period and pain intensity was measured by Verbal Rating Scales. It shows the significant decrease in pain intensity over time were found in the experimental group compared to the control group (p Nilsson, Unosson and Rawal, (2005) conducted a study on Stress reduction and analgesia in patients exposed to calming music postoperatively. The randomized controlled trial was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy. Seventy-five patients undergoing hernia repair in day care surgery were allocated to three groups: intraoperative music, postoperative music and silence (control group). Patients postoperative pain, anxiety, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and oxygen saturation were studied. The postoperative music group had less anxiety and pain and required less morphine after 1hr compared with the control group. The result concluded that intraoperative music may decrease postoperative pain, and that postoperative music therapy may reduce anxiety, pain and morphine consumption. SECTION- IV: STUDIES RELATED TO EFFECTIVENESS OF MUSIC THERAPY AMONG POST CAESAREAN MOTHERS. Arastirma TAF pre Med Bull, (2009) conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of music therapy on postoperative pain after Caesarean section. The sample size was 100 and randomly allocated into two groups (50 in each group).Group 1, patients listened to music through a headphone for 1hour immediately before surgery where as in group-2, not listen to any music during the same period. In the postanaesthesia care unit patients were connected to I.V. PCA device when they were able to respond to commands. The patients level of satisfaction with perioperative care was assessed by a 10cm Visual Analogue Scale and the severity of postoperative pain was assessed by VAS. The results shows that the postoperative tramadol consumption, total amount of tramadol consumption, additional analgesic use and all VAS values were lower in group-1(p Amin Ebneshahidi, and Masood Mohseni, (2008) conducted a study to evaluate the effect of patient selected music on early postoperative pain, anxiety and Hemodynamic profile in Caesarean section. The sample size was 80 who were undergoing elective C.S.surgery enrolled randomly to listen 30 minutes of music or silence by head phones postoperatively. Pain and Anxiety were measured with visual Analogue Scale. Results says that the pain score and postoperative cumulative opioid consumption were significantly lower among patients in the music group (p SECTION-V: STUDIES RELATED TO GATE CONTROL THEORY OF PAIN Marial, (2007) did a study to assess the effectiveness of back massage on pain during first stage of labour among mothers in selected maternity centre at tirupur. 60 samples were selected by using convenient sampling method for the study (experimental group-30 and control group-30). Experimental group received massage were as the control group did not. She used Melzack pain gate control theory for conceptual frame work. Data was collected using behavioral intensity and visual analogue scale. The statistical calculation done was frequency mean, SD, chi-square andt test. The result of the study shows that massage is a cost effective nursing intervention that can decreases the pain perception during labour. Jacintha, (1995) did a study on the effect of back massage during the first stage of labour. She divided the samples in to two groups of 30 each. The experimental group received back massage for 10 minutes per hour. She used non participatory observation technique to observe the maternal behavioral every hour. She used Melzack pain gate control theory for conceptual frame work. The experimental group was interviewed regarding their experience and feelings of back massage before shifting them to the post natal ward. 100% of mothers remembered massage given to them during labour, with feeling of comfortable in 76.66% and relaxed in 43.33%. All the mothers were of the opinion that all mothers in labour should be given back massage. Locsin, (1981) did a study to assess the effectiveness of music on the pain of selected postoperative patients during first 48 hrs. The 24 female gynecology and/ obstetric patients were assign to two groups (control and experimental). The measurement of the experimental variable was done by an Overt Pain Reduction Rating Scale (OPRRS) which is devised by the writer. Significant differences were found between the groups of postoperative patients in their muscular-skeletal and verbal reactions during the first 58hr at the 0.05 level. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the concept of distraction following the Gate Control Theory of Pain by Melzack Wall (1965). The finding says that the music can be used as a nursing measure for postoperative patients. SECTION-VI: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK BASED ON GATECONTROL THEORY OF PAIN (MELZACK AND WALL (1965) The conceptual frame work for the present study was derived from Gate Control Theory of Pain (Melzack and Wall, 1995) Application of Gate Control Theory of Pain Polit and Hungler, (1965) state that a conceptual framework is inter related concept on abstraction that is assembled together in some rational scheme by virtue of their relevance to a common scheme. It is a device that helps to stimulate research and the extension of knowledge by providing both direction and impetus. The present study was aimed at determining the effectiveness of music therapy on intensity of post operative pain among primipara mothers who had Caesarean Section. The conceptual frame work of this study was derived from gate control theory of pain. Gate Control Theory of Pain: Many theories of pain have been presented in the literature. These include specificity, pattern, affect and psychological/behavioral theory (Mander 1998). The most widely used and accepted theory is that of Melzack Wall (1965). These researchers have established that gentle stimulation actually inhibits the sensation of pain. Their gate control theory states that a neural or spinal gating mechanism occurs in the substantiate gelatinosa of the dorsal horns of the spinal cord. The nerve impulses received by nociceptors, the receptors for pain in the skin and tissue of the body, are affected by the gating mechanism. It is the position of the gate that determines whether or not the nerve impulses travel freely to the medulla and the thalamus, thereby transmitting the sensory impulse or message, to the sensory cortex. The pain impulses will be carried out by the small diameter slow conducting A-delta and C fibers. Impulses traveled through small diameter fibers will open the pain gate and the person feels pain. Pain gate is also receiving impulses produced by stimulation of thermo receptors or mechanoreceptors transmitted via large diameter; myellindated A-delta fibers inhibit superimpose the small diameter impulses. (Myles -2003) If the gate is closed, there is little or no conduction, for example distraction, counseling and massage techniques are ways to release endorphins, which close the gate. This prevents or reduces the clients perception of pain (Freeman and Lawlis, 2001) If the gate is open, the impulses and messages pass and are transmitted freely. Therefore, when the gate is open, pain and sensation is experienced. (Potter and Perry, 2009) Many non pharmacological procedures such as hydrotherapy, music therapy (distraction), application of heat or ice, massage, vibration, TENS and movement stimulate the nerve endings connected with large diameter fibres which can produce a reduction of pain by closing the pain gate. Based on the principle of gate control theory, the following conceptual framework was developed. Method used to reduce intensity of postoperative pain is instrumental music which is composed by violin among Primipara mothers who had Caesarean Section. Stimulation of Pain Receptors: Surgical trauma of the uterus due to Caesarean Section stimulates pain receptors in lower abdomen and lumbar area of the back. In the control group there was more stimulation of pain receptors in these areas due to the close contact between the contracting uterus and abdominal and lower back structures. In case of experimental group(Music therapy), there was less stimulation of free nerve ending in the lower abdomen and lumbar area of back compared to the control group due to the distraction caused by music therapy. Travelling of Pain Impulses: Normally pain impulses are traveling through small short conducting A-delta and C fibres. Impulses from stimulation will be distracted by instrumental music and decrease in pain perception produce a reduction of pain by closing the pain gate in experimental group. Gating Mechanism: Pain impulses after the Caesarean Section are transmitted through the spinal nerve segment of T11-12 and accessory lower thoracic and upper lower sympathetic nerves, which are traveled through (A-delta and C) small diameter and slow conducting amyelinated fibres and reach the pain gate and open the gate thus the mother perceives pain in the lower abdomen and lower back. Impulses reduced by music due to decreased in pain perception to travel through fast conducting myelinated A-delta fibres which impose small fibres and close the pain gate. SUMMARY This chapter dealt with the studies related to importance of postoperative pain management, application of music therapy and conceptual frame work based on gate control theory of pain.