Integrated Reporting Framework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Integrated Reporting Framework - Essay Example However, it was not until 1999 that the UK developed a framework which it described as – ‘Statement of Principles for Financial Reporting’. Both frameworks were based on work done in US, Canada and some other countries (Dyson 2007). Before that time the bases for financial reporting were various rules and custom and standards which were mainly ‘fire-fighting exercises’ (Dyson 200?). The USA, however, was much earlier in developing a conceptual framework in the 1970’s. This framework was also developed out of a number of crises over the years which led to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States in 1934 under whose charge the FASB falls. Subsequently, there have been additional crisis in the United States especially that which led to the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002. This Act has laid down certain requirements for companies listed on the stock exchange. All these have one objective – the protection of stakeho lders, while minimising the differences in reporting by companies. The IFRS framework deals with the objectives of financial statements, the qualitative characteristics that determine the usefulness of these statements, the definition, recognition and measurement of the elements from which they are constructed, and the concepts of capital and capital maintenance (BPP 2009, p. 36). They form a common basis on which financial statements are repared, thus creating a basis for discussion. These frameworks have provided guidelines in relation to disclosure of information, measurement, recognition and presentation of financial statement components. This means that company executives have to abide by these guidelines if they want their auditors (assurance providers) to indicate that their financial statements show as true and fair view. This has helped to constrain the freedom of company executives. Harmonisation and convergence projects There have been frequent calls for harmonisation and this has borne some fruit with over 100 countries accepting the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) with additional countries such as Canada being one of the most recent adoptees (Sungard 2011). According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (2011, p. 3) as a result of mergers and acquisitions through business dealings with non-US customers and vendors IFRS continue to affect US companies. This has led to the convergence project for a conceptual framework which is a joint project between the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) the preparers of IFRS and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) the preparers of US GAAP. The objective of the project is to develop an improved conceptual framework as a basis for developing accounting standards in the future (Financial Accounting Standards Board n.d.). All these are aimed at making financial statements that have been produced in different countries more comparable. Additionally, investors will feel more secured and con fident in the information provided in the statements. The Need for Integrated Reporting The frameworks provided by various accounting bodies though undergoing continuous revision have not been able to keep up with the pace of changes in the global environment. Investors and other stakeholders find themselves being short changed by insufficient disclosure, an inability to link the figures provided in the

A Woman’s Place Essay Example for Free

A Woman’s Place Essay â€Å"Don’t read so much, he said, don’t study; get yourself good and tired out with homework, take exercise. He believes that her troubles would clear up if she got married. He believes this in spite of the fact that most of his nerve medicine is prescribed for married women. † The primary theme of Meneseteung by Alice Munro is the role of women in times of Victorian traditions and standards. The narrator, who is never identified, explains tasks and qualities that differentiate a real, marriageable woman from an outcast from society. The main character in this story is Almeda Joynt Roth, a respectable woman who has become famous in her small town for her poetry book. She has earned respect and admiration amongst others in the town for her works, but has also been criticized as a woman’s literary ambitions were thought to be hobby rather than vocation. Roth yearns to marry Jarvis Poulter, an idea that the rest of the town supports. Even Roths doctor, who prescribes nerve medicine to help Roth with her sleeplessness, says she would be much happier if she were married. However, Poulter does not find Roth to be a suitable wife and does not pursue her as such because she does not demonstrate the qualities that defined a marriageable woman of the times. The story, then, is not just about the role of women in the society but also about a lonely woman, an outcast of traditional society, and her search for companionship. Roth suffers from insomnia and goes to the doctor to get medication to help with her sleeplessness. The doctor suggests that Roth busies herself with things that are not considered womanly such as studying and writing. Her writing is considered an asset to the community, but not totally accepted as a woman is expected to marry and have a family. The town paper, the Vidette, which contains articles that would often be considered libelous by modern standards considers her young and fit enough to bear children, physically speaking she is marriageable material. The doctor suggests that she wear herself out by performing housewife tasks such as cleaning and exercising so that she may sleep. He also discourages her from reading and writing, as it is not required of her to do these things to ulfill her position in society. He suggests that marriage would solve most of her problems, though the medication he prescribes her is primarily prescribed to married women. The doctor is prescribing a remedy to her problems by becoming a housewife, while also prescribing medication that is given to housewives to treat the very condition she, as a single woman, had come to ameliorate. In the society portrayed in Meneseteung marriage is considered to be a cure-all for many of women’s problems. Why, asks the narrator, has Roth remained unmarried for so long? The narrator suspects that it is partly down to her desolate disposition. A caliginous personality is not one that is considered attractive and people tend to avoid developing social ties to her. Weighed down by burdens such as the loss of her family Roth is a loner with reading, writing, and the hopeless pursuit of Jarvis Poulter as her only aspirations in life and generally just does as she pleases. She dreams of marrying Poulter, an idea that the whole town supports, but he never showed an interest in her as she did not fit the imagine of a marriageable woman of the times. Despite this the narrator portrays Roth to be less of the â€Å"reckless hedonist† and more like a â€Å"tormented artist,† suffering as a result of her art. It is her particularity that makes her an eminent writer, but also not considered suitable to be taken as a wife. Women in this story are portrayed as weak and in need of men. One night, Roth is awoken by a drunk, abused woman at her fence. She is frightened and rushes to Poulter for help, and this is shown as being the first time in the story that she behaves like a typical woman of her time. She is no longer the poised, confident woman that Poulter has come to know her as and is attracted to her desperate vulnerability. Poulter was not attracted to her when she was poised and confident but once he had seen that she was weak, helpless, and in need of him he felt drawn to her as she finally fit the stereotypical image of a woman. Poulter deals with the drunken woman in a cruelly and insensitively and upon seeing this Roth loses interest in him. Poulter asks her to church and she declines and the two never pursue a relationship. Despite being portrayed as weak and in need of men, women are not powerless in marriage. One of a woman’s primary roles is to â€Å"create their husbands† by â€Å"ascribing preferences† to them. â€Å"This way, bewildered, sidelong-looking men are made over, made into husbands, heads of households. † Roth cannot see herself doing this, which urther separates her from the society in which she lives. After her rejection of Poulter’s interests Roth retreats into the vivid aberration brought upon her by the doctor’s nerve medicine and meets her death after becoming the target of menacing youths’ malevolent tormenting. This quote from the doctor, which I have chosen as the most profoundly meaningful, shows the thinking of the times. Women we re to marry to solve their own problems as well as to solve the problems of their husband. This short story is about a woman who is different from the social norm and her search for companionship and stability in her own life, as well as how breaking the norm had its own consequences. Her obsession with reading and writing, which was said to be more suitable as a hobby than profession, set her aside and earned her respect within her community while at the same time driving a wedge between her and a normal life because she did not spend her life marrying, becoming a wife, becoming a mother, and spending her days cleaning and caring for her family like a typical woman of the time. When Roth became vulnerable she became like every other woman and Poulter finally saw her as a possibility for marriage but his actions revolted Roth. The incident with the drunken woman disgusted her into a solitary existence with just her and her hallucinations brought on by the nerve medication prescribed by the doctor. The doctor suggested that by marrying, Roth would not require this medicine despite it being most commonly prescribed for married women. So, then, Almeda Roth could not live with herself as a normal woman yet not being a typical woman is what eventually led to her demise.

Pantaloons Retail India Limited

Pantaloons Retail India Limited Future Group focuses most in the retail segment and most of its businesses are built around the same. Future Groups retail network operates 1,000 stores for more than 200 million Indians in 73 cities and 65 rural locations across the country in 16 million square feet of retail space. Some of the most popular retail chains of India like Pantaloons (chain of fashion destinations), Big Bazaar (hypermarket chain), Food Bazaar (supermarket chain) and Central (chain of seamless destination malls) Brand Factory, Planet Sports, ALL, Top 10 and Star and Sitara are managed by Future group. Indias most popular online shopping portal www.futurebazaar.com is also owned by the Future Group. Home building and home improvement products and services are also led through the groups formats, like the Home Town (large-format home solutions store), Collection i (formats specialized for home furniture and home furnishing) and Furniture Bazaar and consumer electronics through eZone and Electronics Bazaar. Aadhaar, Indias leading rural retailing chain has a presence in more than 65 rural locations. It acts as a complete solution provider for the Indian farmer. Pantaloons Retail India Limited Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is one of the leading retailers in India. Mr. Kishore Biyani, is the founder and is famously known as Indias King of Retail. Pantaloon has revolutionized the retail fraternity. With its headquarter in Mumbai, Pantaloons operates multiple retail formats in value and lifestyle segment. Pantaloons plans to increase its retail space to 30 million sq. ft. by 2011. PRIL is sub-divided into: Pantaloons Big bazaar Food Bazaar Fashion Station All Blue sky E-zone Collection 1 Home town Central Mall 2001 Indias first hypermarket chain Big bazaar is launched 2002 Food bazaar, a supermarket chain is launched 2006 Future groups financial arm, Future capital holdings launches two real estate funds Pantaloons High fashion family department, geared toward Indian middle and upper classes. In 2005, pantaloons rolled out a new merchandise and brand communication campaign to position itself as fashion trendsetter appeal to Indias youth. Central Mall It is positioned as a place for shopping, eat and enjoying. Big Bazaar Big Bazaar hypermarket concept was started in 2007 by PRIL. It was designed to integrate elements of an Indian bazaar with recent retailing features like parking of vehicles, AC shopping environment and privilege of replacing merchandise. Food Bazaar The first outlet of Food Bazaar opened in June 2002, within a Big Bazaar store, six month later the chain had grown to 42 outlets: 18 stand alone. Future Groups main businesses are : E-commerce Futurebazaar.com, Pantaloons website has changed the e-commerce business in India. A wide range of products are made available at affordable prices. PC World has named the website as the Best Indian Website for 2007 in the Shopping category. Food In the food section, a lot of options are available like Food Bazaar Chain of large super markets Brew Bar Its a beer bar Cafà © Bollywood -Its a eateries chain which is PAN India Chamosa Snack counter Sports Bar A Bistro which is dedicated to the sports world Fashion Varieties of options are available in this section like Top 10, Central, Blue Sky, Etam, Fashion Station, Gini, Jony, Navaras and ALL. Home Electronics Furniture store called Collection i Electronic goods and appliances store called Electronics Bazaar Electronics Items store called e-zone Home furniture store called Furniture Bazaar One destination for all home needs called Home Town Leisure Entertainment A family entertainment center called Bowling Co. A store offering gaming options from bowling, pool, video games to bumper cars called F 123 Wellness Beauty Health Village Its a yoga center as well a spa Star Sitara: A beauty salon for men and women Tulsi Allopathic, homeopathic and ayurvedic medicinal products are provided Turmeric Beauty products like colour cosmetics, fragrances, herbal and specialty skin items, hair products and bath accessories are offered. Books Music Depot It offers stationary, CDs and books Major Achievements of Pantaloon Retail 2007 International Retailer of the Year 2007 Emerging market Retailer of the Year 2007 According to Hewitt Best Employers Survey Best Employers in India (Rank 14th) 2006 Best Managed Company in India (Mid-cap) for the year 2006 Image Retail Awards for Best Value Retail Store, Best Retail Destination, and Best Food Grocery Store. Retail Black Hole Model The Black hole model is also known as The Retail EST Model. It was developed by J.C Williams Group. According to this model a retailer can win if he is the best in one of the several retail offerings i.e to say that the company is clearly positioned in one or more preferred locations to win and hence they are the strategic differentiators. The losers gravitate to central position, are not best at anything and are sucked into the black hole of retailing We have a store opening virtually every fortnight; I have lost count now of how many I have opened Kishore Biyani Big Bazaar A paradigm shift to the Modern Retail Big Bazaar is a unit of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and caters to the Great Indian Middle Class. It is like an Indian bazaar or mandi or mela, the environment created by traders to give shoppers a sense of moment. The personality of big bazaar is one of an entity being authentically no-frills. The personality of the brand is self expressed by its tagline Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi It sells a variety of merchandise at affordable rates, the prices of which it claims are lowest in the city. Usually the items are clubbed together for offers as on the lines of Wal-Mart and Carrefour, offer weekend discounts and works on the same economy model as Wal-Mart and has considerable success in many Indian cities and small towns. Food Bazaar format was added as Shop-In-Shop within Big Bazaar in the year 2002. Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar blend the look, feel and touch of Indian Bazaar with modern retail concepts of choice, convenience and quality. PRODUCT MIX TARGET AUDIENCE Higher and upper middle class customers are the target segment of Big bazaar. Another preferred customer segment is the young and growing population of the country. Big bazaar primarily targets the women folk and home makers who they feel are the primary decision makers. CORE COMPETENCIES Product range consisting of more than 20,000 products. Has a strong supply chain spanning one thousand five hundred cities and towns in India. Big bazaar has tie ups with world leaders in logistical services. Big bazaar has created a helpline for solving the queries of customers. Offers manufacturers guarantee as opposed to sellers guarantee. Good quality at reasonable cost. STRATEGIES: Minimize retailing cost. Minimize operating expenses by employing fewer floor staff -single person for every 500 sq ft. Keep furniture cost to minimum. Cut down expenses related to sourcing by almost 25-30%. Increasing the overall efficiency of logistics by creating mother-hubs all across India for the purpose of sourcing products from regional/local vendors. Slashing channel cost by up to 25%. Economizing Shelf Space Dealing with unsold stock in an effective manner. Ensuring enough pull to snatch away customers from the neighbourhood. Introducing the concept of todays price wherein a products is chosen on a daily basis and sold at lower than usual price. Big Bazaars New Marketing Strategy: A new marketing strategy, based on guerrilla marketing has been launched by big bazaar. The guerrilla force is divided into small groups to selectively attack the target at its weak points. As a part of this strategy Future group has come up with three catchy and cocky advertisement campaigns. Keep West-a-Side. Make a smart choice! Shoppers! Stop. Make a smart choice! Change Your Lifestyle. Make a smart choice! STRATEGIC ANALYSIS SWOT analysis of Big Bazaar PEST ANALYSIS Political and Legal Factors: A stable government at the centre creates an encouraging investment climate Problems of getting subsidy from Octrai and on different taxes like land, water taxes A less complicated taxation structure(GST) on the horizon. Problems regarding taking over properties and real estate. Easing restrictions on FDI by the government leading to easier import of foreign consumer goods, thereby bringing variety to the Indian market place. Economical: India is one of the fastest growing economies, next only to China (7-7.5% GDP growth rate). Retail Industry to grow leaps and bounds by 2015 due to the consumption driven economy of the country. Increase in the percentage contribution of the service sector to GDP. Increased emphasis on infrastructural growth in the current 5 year plan will help reduce some of the bottlenecks in the retail segment. Socio-Cultural Factors: Increase in Nuclear families Increase in working womens proposition Life style changes Shift in Product and service preferences Increase in Young population giving the country a demographic advantage Technological: Technological development for fast billing and the service Better applications of information technology in the modern retail industry, like in supply chain management, store management, point of sale and customer relationship management Porters Five Forces Model 7 P Analysis of Big Bazaar Product There is a wide range of products on offer at Big-bazaar, ranging from apparels, food, farm products, furniture, child care, toys, etc. Products of all the major brands are available at Big Bazaar. A lot of in house brands (private labels) are also promoted by Big Bazaar. Price The tag-line of Big Bazaar is Is se sasta aur accha aur kahin nahi. The model on which Big bazaar works is one of economies of scale. Maximum Market Share (market penetration pricing) is the major objective of pricing at Big bazaar. Place Big-bazaar has a pan India presence with more than seventy-five outlets spread across fifty cities. Big Bazaar has presence in almost all the major Indian cities. Kishore Biyani is very aggressive when it comes to expansion plans of Big bazaar. As per Biyani, the cost of real estate should preferably be less than 5% of total sales of store if one wants to provide maximum benefit to customers. Securing spaces before other retailers join in has been a strategic decision of Big bazaar which has resulted in cost-saving. Promotion Many novel cross sell and upsell strategies have been developed by Big bazaar in Indian retail market. Big Bazaar uses various promotional techniques such as saal ke sabse saste teen din, Future card, Shakti card, using M.S.Dhoni as brand ambassador, Exchange offers such as junk swap offer, POP promotions. Print media, TV, Radio (FM) and road-side bill-boards are some of the many means used by Big bazaar for advertizing and effective communication. People People are considered to be one of the key assets in any organization and their importance is even more profound in the service sector. Big bazaars staff possesses some salient features such as: The staff is well trained for modern retail. Innovative thinking among the employees is encouraged at Big bazaar. Multiple payment counters, availability of stores staff for keeping baggage and presence of security guard at every gate. Process Some of the salient features of dispatch and purchasing area of goods include : Trolleys are available for carrying purchased items sufficient nos of counters for easy check-out are present. Information hoardings/banners for efficient identification of items at store Physical Evidence It deals with the final deliverable or the exhibit of written facts. The staff has standardized dress code to improve the overall appearance of the store (atmospherics). FINANCIAL ANALYSIS of PRIL PRIL Profit and Loss Statement Interpretation Total revenues have constantly been on the rise. This is partly due to the increasing sales resulting from aggressive expansion plans (opening up of outlets) of PRIL. PAT has also been on steady rise though it has flattened a bit in recent years probably due to higher operating costs, inability to transfer the increased cost to the customer etc. EPS has also been on a steady rise apart from a single occasion in 2007 when it went down. The reason could be a rights issue or other similar action leading to equity dilution. The return on capital employed has been decreasing YoY. This could because of concern for the company. The debt equity ratio has not been too volatile and has always been below 2 which is an indication of sound financial status of the company. Aggressive Marketing: Promotions The promotional activity of the company, which says Nobody Sells Cheaper and Better! has differentiated Big-Bazaar (as a brand) in the minds of the customer. The punch-line has made its place in minds of customer. As the competition is becoming stiff in the market the activities conducted by the company are unique, that have brought fruitful result to the company. Among them sales Promotions is one of the leading activity or unique among all other activities has high influence on the customer walk-in. As sales promotions is the major force for Big-Bazaar, Big Bazaar take it very seriously especially during festivals special occasions by focussing aggressively on psychological emotional promotion strategies as per the demographic profile of the various consumers. About 60-70% of shopping for apparel, consumer durables, and home furnishing, among other things, happen during festivals. At least 40-50% takes place during the peak festival season, between September and November. According to Ashni Biyani, 23, a team is set up six months ago comprising experts on Indian mythology and religion, retail and even an expert on days, seriously targeted one-third of the 150 auspicious days in the Hindu calendar. They map all the communities in India on how they shop and how these calendars work. They focus to understand intuitively, their customs, their rituals, adding that this is the part of a larger strategy to engage customers and to attract that India which lives in the deep-rooted communities. Sabse Saste 3 Din: The best watershed for brand Big Bazaar was the introduction of the Sabse Sasta Din in January 2005, when the Indian Republic Day holiday was utilized to make sure that hordes of consumers descended on all Big Bazaars across the country to buy all kinds of household items cheap. There were scenes of customers actually vigorously fighting over items in-store long queues were seen in the store. Big Bazaar like previous years, attracted large crowds during its three day sales event called Sabse Saste 3 Din organised to celebrate the Republic Day. Depending on the results, the event is sometimes extended to 5-6 days as it happened in 2008. The promotional event being organised by Big Bazaar every year has assumed great significance over the years. A large number of customers look forward to this event as hefty discounts on a range of products are offered to the customers in partnership with the retail chains vendors on this occasion. This is, perhaps, the biggest sales event being organised by any retailer in the country. Big Bazaar, which sold merchandise worth Rs 140 crores in 2007, garnered revenues of over Rs. 280 crores during the year 2008 the growth still continues unexpectedly. As mentioned by Kishore Biyani, the whole focus is low margins pushing volumes aggressively during these times which make the Big-Bazaar stick to its core Brand-Personality. Wednesday and Weekend Bazaar: One of the most popular events Wednesday Bazaar presents terrific offers and irresistible discounts on majority of the products. The Concept was to aim at giving the homemakers the power to save the most on this day of the week. Even on weekends when the footfall is the highest, eye-catching offers and discounts are promoted. The weekend promotions differentiated from the Wednesday bazaar in terms of the offers cross-selling and not on reducing the price of a particular product. This way they were able to differentiate both the concepts focus on avoiding confusion while promoting it to the consumers and also attract different type of consumers during these durations. Special event promotions: Maha Bachat Sale: Big Bazaars incorporates such as on Independence day by having Maha Bachat Sale which did a business of 1.5 crores in its Bangalore store alone. Maha Bachat focuses on further reducing the price as compared to the Wednesday Bazaar. Also on auspicious occasions such as Akshaya Tritiya which again did a business of 150Cr on a single day in Mumbai Ahmedabad last year. An event offering discounts, benefits and privileges to senior citizens were created and promoted on the Senior Citizens Day. Monthly Bachat Bazaar: Big Bazaar understands clearly the habits of Indian consumers. In Monthly Bachat Bazaar the prices are reduced at the start of every month in order to target those consumers who bulk purchase the products and especially the commodities every month. Price Challenge Campaign: Reinforcing Big Bazaars USP of value proposition, Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi scheme was launched. The challenges promise to offer twice the price difference, if the cost of any of the item found in the store is found to be higher than the market price. This doesnt mean that the consumer actually go to other shops in order to compare the prices, but due to this challenge of Big-Bazaar, the consumers had more faith trust on the Big-Bazaar and hence were confident seeing the confidence level of Big-Bazaar which again built a strong brand differentiation of Big-Bazaar for low pricing. Exchange Offers: This promotion primarily focused on letting people disposing off their junk and to gain something out of it in return i.e. Bring anything old take anything new. They could exchange their products and shop from a huge spectrum of discounted products. This gave the motivation factor to consumers to give their old belongings for something worth hence their old is not getting waste or is unvalued. Since the Indian consumers are very much value conscious, this strategy worked out very well. Big-Bazaar also made it sure that the campaign is actually not fooling the consumers around and is actually giving the desired value focusing on the fact that faith thrashed is never recovered in India. In- Store Communications: To ensure that no one misses out on an opportunity to gain from special offers, service boys ferry around a trolley with the product inside, announcing the scheme. Not only is this entertaining it also helps customers pick up the product from the trolley instead of walking up to the rack where it is on display. Language Customization: To make sure that non-English speaking customers dont feel alienated, the communication is also conducted in the local language. The communication is always unambiguous and direct. The Power of One Campaign: This initiative encourages customers to add One Rupee to their bill towards donation to a social cause. Big Bazaar makes an equal contribution and donates the entire proceeds to an NGO called Save the Children India. This is a selfless body which has been working for the welfare of children from marginalized sections of society. Corporate campaign: Big Bazaar has recently launched a corporate campaign which revolves around a family having a great time together. The brand anthem Khushiyon se Bhari Jholi connects with the customers at an emotional level positioning Big Bazaar as part of the happy moments. Future Cards: Specifically for Big Bazaar outlets these credit-cum-loyalty card which offer customers a slew of discounts and benefits across Future Group stores are co-branded with ICICI Bank. Customers receive four loyalty points for every Rs 100 spent at Future groups retail stores and one loyalty point for every Rs 200 spent outside the groups retail stores. This creates a vicious cycle for the customers to repeat their purchases and is especially done by the consumers during special occasions. School Jao Khushi Khushi Providing Discounts School related requirements accessories like school bags, water bottles, lunchboxes, shoes etc. Promotions include: Pencil Case for purchase of above Rs 500. Free shopping trip worth Rs 1000/- for Sending ones experience of the Best day that you had in school the most humorous the best one is selected as a winner and to avail the offer. Lucky draw for the lucky kids shop for Rs 1,000 above, drop in your kids name into the drop box 10 lucky kids were provided with the offer 30% off on an NIIT course Motivational offer for Kids: Shop for Rs 500 or above, Parents are told to drop in the kids painting, the best painting is sponsored for an art course. Doston ke saath khushiyon manao Individual are invited with friends more the merrier shopping with 1 friend entitles the individual with 10% discount, coming with two friends get 20% discount etc on the total bill. Friendship band to every walk-in A friend indeed -people were told to drop their best friends name in the drop-box and in lucky draw the winner could win the major prize A Car!! Special treatment emotional connect for the individual his/her friend -free massage, tattoos, horoscope etc were provided for purchases above Rs 500/- above during the friendship day. Diwali Dhamaka: This campaign especially remains open for longer duration Huge discounts are seen over the board If purchase is above Rs 300/- two pairs of diya were provided to the customers Tie up with known mithaiwala: if one purchases above 1000/- people can avail discounts of 45% or above on the mithai purchased from that mithaiwala. Motivating the home made mithai recepies: Purchasing goods worth Rs 500 above, females were pulled to send the recipe of their secret mithai the best judged recipe gets a complete set of Sanjeev Kapoors cook-books Diwali Manao Abroad winning through lucky draw on purchases worth Rs 1,000 or above. Christmas Joy: Across the board discounts. Big Bazaars special surprise Christmas gift on purchase of over Rs 1000/- or above. Christmas-Card Design Contest: Design next years Christmas card for children and a gift voucher worth Rs. 500 were given to the best card winner. Big Bazaar Christmas party focussing on points vouchers through festival focussed games. Happy-Hours: All the discounts/offers were hiked up in a fixed hr of a day eg: Buy X and get Rs 10 off on that day will become Rs 15 off. Mystery-Shopper: Everyday, one person is tagged as the mystery shopper i.e. a) 100th person walking through the door wearing all red b) 1st person walking through the door wearing all red These person gets the discount of 50% on the total bill. Apke kismat mein hai khushi: Lucky is happy Based on scratch card Get all that you pick in 60 seconds till reaching the billing counter Assured gift for the bulk takers: Choose a gift from the listed items if the bill is above 1000/- This is used especially to push the non-moving goods which is usually put in the listed free gift items. Banto khushiyan har ek ke sang: Social causes Khilone se khushi bate Toy drop box was set in the big-bazaar store and the concept was promoted to ask for the toys from the families then the toys were sent to the social organisations working for underprivileged childrens. This has helped the underprivileged, generate goodwill, and have also attracted the floor traffic to store at the large scale. Supporting a charity Support through charity: Donation to the charity on the individuals name for purchasing above a specified amount. Customers were given an ornament with his or her name on it to hang signifying the donation by the individual. Advertisements: Advertising for Big-Bazaar is an essential component of brand building. The advertisement focusing on brand building of Big-Bazaar is done through various ways, Some of the techniques applied are: Tag Line: One of the key components of Big Bazaar is its Tag Lines. Designed according to the demographic profile of customers in order to get connected easily with simple one-liners. The catch liners includes Chane ke bhaw kaaju, Stall ke bhaw balcony etc. Holistic Advertisement: Promotes the brand and creates awareness among people. It is not targeted at promoting each store but only creates an image of Big-Bazaar as low-cost shopping option. The store has advertised through TV, road-shows and also started reality show typed promotional campaign The Big Bazaar Challenge Promotions like Sabse Sasta Din is very successful strategy to get footfall. Print-Ads: Just before the launch of any new schemes Big-Bazaar spends heavily on advertisements in print media especially newspapers. This is done in order to create a buzz about the big-bazaar brand its upcoming schemes. TV-Ads: various channels are utilized properly, also as per the demographics cultural channels the schemes, promotions especially the common brand tag-line is aired in order to create top of the mind awareness Road side Advertisements: As a brand building exercise, big-bazaar displays bill-boards in prime locations as per the target people. Focus is more on the phrases which is targeted to the needs of the customers as per the market conditions at that particular point of time. Radio-Ads: The major focus through radio ads is in Tier-12 cities. And the prime emphasis is given on radio ads for promotions in order to inform customers for all the new happenings schemes at Big-Bazaar. Fashion-Shows: The latest innovation of the Indian iconic brand is FASHION @ BIG BAZAAR Desh Badla, Bhesh Badlo. In order to make an effort to take the Fashion to the masses, a three-day fashion show was organized by Big-Bazaar on the streets of Bandra, Mumbai. Brand Endorsement by Celebrity: For marketing and advertising its brand name, value endorsement co-branding is used by Big Bazaar. Earlier Himesh Reshammiya Sanath Jaisuriya was associated with Big-Bazaar. Also, recently the current campaigns are being associated promoted with the Indian cricket ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Communication through Media: Heavy spending is carried out for proper position of Big Bazaar through the different mediums. Paper advertisements are released just before the launch of any new scheme, billboards are displayed on prime locations, frequent TVCs are aired in prime time in various Indian channels for the mass, advertisements on FM channels about the current happenings are aired etc. Below the Line Promotion: Coupon, discount, more of the product at normal price, gift with purchase, competition, and prizes, money back offer, exchange offer, special occasion. Big Bazaar, in association with Star India Pvt Ltd, has launched a collection of designer ethnic wear under the brand Star Parivaar. Above the Line Promotion: Advertisements in Newspaper, TV, Internet (own website which give online shopping service), Partnership with Bigfilx, Big FM 92.7. Aggressive Pricing Strategy The tag-line is Is se Sasta aur accha aur kahin nahi make Big-Bazaar to differentiate itself from competitors in terms of only pricing the value at that price. Hence it makes it very important for the Big-Bazaar to always focus on the its pricing strategies to keep the prices always low compared to the competitors whatever the market, economy or the external conditions is. They work on the model of economics of scale. There pricing objective is to get Maximum Market Share. The various pricing techniques used at Big Bazaar are: EDLP Every Day Low Pricing: Big-Bazaar as a brand is differentiated through low pricing strategies. Hence it promises delivers the lowest available price without stressing on coupon clipping, discount promotions waiting time, or comparison shopping. Promotional-Pricing: Low interest rate financing is being offered by Big-Bazaar. Psychological discounting (Rs. 99, Rs. 49, etc.) strategy is used as a promotional tool. Special Event pricing (Close to Diwali, Gudi Padva, and Durga Pooja) is also the prime focus of big-bazaar for the reasons mentioned in the previous topic. Value-Pricing: Big-Bazaar sets selling prices on the perceived value to the customer, rather than on the actual cost of the product, the market price, competitors prices, or the historical price. Differentiated Pricing: Also termed as Time pricing, i.e. difference in rate based on peak and non-peak hours or days of shopping. This again as a pricing technique is used in Indian retail, hence aggressively used by Big Bazaar. Psychological Pricing: In order to attract status-conscious customers and also to push status-consciousness among the middle-class people, psychological pricing concept was undertaken by Big-Bazaar which provided the best deal in the market for the products which are market-buzz-creators and highly engaging long-lasting products such as LCD TVs, Washing Machines etc. Bundling: In

Quebec, The Province, The People, The History :: essays research papers

Quebec, The Province, The People, The History Quebec is a province in eastern Canada, bordered on the north by Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay; on the east by Labrador (Which is a part of Newfoundland), the Strait of Belle Isle, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; on the south by New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, and Ontario; and on the west by Ontario, James Bay, and Hudson Bay. The name Quebec is derived from an Algonquian term for "place where the river narrows," referring to the Saint Lawrence River near the site of present- day Quebec City, the capital of the province. Quebec is sometimes called "the Storied Province," Quebec became part of the Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, as one of the four original provinces. The province of Quebec was first colonized by France and was formally acquired by Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. The mass majority of Quebec's population today use French as their first language. Beginning in the 1960s the Quebecois (French-speaking residents of Quebec) made strong efforts to preserve their French heritage as well as to gain additional powers for the province, which led to conflicts with the national government that have yet to be fully resolved. This is apparent in the recent "Referendum" where theQuebecois tried to get Quebec special provincial concederations based on the fact the mass majority of Quebec residents speak French. Quebec is the largest of all the Canadian provinces. Its large area of 1,540,680 sq km (594,858 sq MI) accounts for 15.5 percent of Canada's total area and includes 183,890 sq km (71,000 sq MI) of inland freshwater surface. This is a major draw for Industry in Quebec. Elevations in Quebec range from sea level to 1622 m (5322 ft), atop Mont D'Iberville in the Torngat Mountains in the northeast. Anticosti Island and the Magdalen Islands, (which are both in the Gulf of St. Lawrence), are part of Quebec, which has a tidal shoreline of some 13,775 km (some 8560 MI). Montreal is the leading industrial and commercial center and largest city in the province of Quebec. The climate of Quebec varies drastically. Quebec's climate is effected by regional variations in altitude and by the pce's northern location, and its exposed position between the cold waters of Hudson Bay and the cold ocean currents along the Labrador coast. Montreal has an average January temperature of about -9Â ° C (about 16Â ° F) and an average July temperature of about 22Â ° C (about 72Â ° F). The recorded temperatures in the province have ranged from -54.4Â ° C (-65.9Â ° F), in 1923 at Doucet in the south, to 40Â ° C (104Â ° F), in 1921 at

Opportunity Cost Essay

Lets start with a small introduction to the topic Opportunity Cost. Opportunity cost is the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the next best alternative forgone (that is not chosen). It is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone, or group, who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. The opportunity cost is also the â€Å"cost† (as a lost benefit) of the forgone products after making a choice. Opportunity cost is a key concept in economics, and has been described as expressing â€Å"the basic relationship between scarcity and choice†. The notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that scarce resources are used efficiently. Thus, opportunity costs are not restricted to monetary or financial costs: the real cost of output forgone, lost time, pleasure or any other benefit that provides utility should also be considered opportunity costs. Now lets look at Opportunity Cost from the point of production. Opportunity costs may be assessed in the decision-making process of production. If the workers on a farm can produce either one million pounds of wheat or two million pounds of barley, then the opportunity cost of producing one pound of wheat is the two pounds of barley forgone (assuming the production possibilities frontier is linear). Firms would make rational decisions by weighing the sacrifices involved. Looking at Opportunity Cost from the point of Implicit and Explicit Cost. Implicit costs are the opportunity costs that in factors of production that a producer already owns. They are equivalent to what the factors could earn for the firm in alternative uses, either operated within the firm or rent out to other firms. For example, a firm pays $300 a month all year for rent on a warehouse that only holds product for six months each year. The firm could rent the warehouse out for the unused six months, at any price (assuming a year-long lease requirement), and that would be the cost that could be spent on other factors of production. Explicit costs are opportunity costs that involve direct monetary payment by producers. The opportunity cost of the factors of production not already owned by a producer is the price that the producer has to pay for them. For instance, a firm spends $100 on electrical power consumed, their opportunity cost is $100. The firm has sacrificed $100, which could have been spent on other factors of production. Now lets look at some real life examples from my life inorder to understand Opportunity Costs better. Opportunity Cost Examples that I myself have been across- I have only Rs 1000 to spend and I have two choices, I can eat at a nice restaurant or buy a good cricket bat instead. I spend my Rs 1000 on buying the cricket bat, then the opportunity cost of that choice is the delicious meal I did not choose and let go. Opportunity Cost also works in regards to time. Eg- I only have two hours of free time. I could either go to a movie or meet a friend of mine. I choose to spend my time at the movie, the opportunity cost of this decision is the time I could have spent enjoying the company of my friend. Here’s another example- When for the first time I decided to invest my saved money lying with me. I had two options that I could do with the money I had. My first choice was either investing in Mutual Funds or leave the money in a Savings Account that earns only 5% per year. I invested in Mutual Funds and it returned 10%, here I’ve benefited from my decision because the alternative would have been less profitable. However, if the Mutual Fund would have returned only 2% when I could have had 5% from the Savings Account, then my opportunity cost would have been (5% – 2% = 3%). To summarize Opportunity Cost, scarcity creates choice, and every choice has value to us. That value can be looked at in terms of benefits and in terms of cost. Value is not always measured in financial terms but sometimes measured in terms of time or enjoyment. The opportunity cost of a choice is what must be given up in order to take an opportunity. It’s not the opportunity we chose, but the value of the next best alternative we didn’t choose. Every major choice has an opportunity cost.

Do Spin in Political Marketing Destroy Democracy?

It is possible to encounter political marketing in democratic societies because politicians sell their ideas to public. The more buyers they gain, the higher probability they win elections. While bargaining their ideas, politicians will do whatever needed to be elected. † Spin† is one of the things done during election eves to obtain more votes, for instance. These can ruin the democracy in such countries. For democracy to work properly, individuals should vote under no control of anyone and with clear opinions about politicians. To say that democracy exists, high percentage of public should participate in the elections by voting, as well. The main reason of this essay is to question whether or not political marketing and spin ruin democracy. Understanding it is crucial in taking necessary cautions for democracy to work. If those are really harmful to democracy, then they should be treated as the enemy of democracy. In this essay, every important impact of political marketing and spin to democracy will be examined and demonstrated how significant they are. To do these, this essay will start with the effects of â€Å"spin†, continue with the inequalities among politicians that political marketing causes and the importance of floating voters, which are bad for democracy, and finally, end with explaining how political marketing could be useful for democracy even if this usefulness pales in comparison to these bad impacts. â€Å"Spin† in political marketing gives wrong opinions about parties to voters and that contribute to ruining democracy. Politicians intend to gain political advantage and to do this; they resort to deceiving their potential and current voters. Spin† is one of the most moving things they do. To explain what â€Å"spin† is, David L. Martinson gives an advertisement example, which is quite appropriate and successful for this topic (2001). In that advertisement, the advertisers claimed that one slice of their bread contained fewer calories than any other bread’s slice. What makes this an e xample of spin is that they didn’t mention how thin these slices were cut. By doing that, they would make their consumers buy the breads so that they can lose weight. Martinson also says that this company didn’t have to share all the details with their consumers but had to present that significant detail (ibid. ). Likewise in politics, politicians avoid to tell some facts so they obtain more votes. After being deceived by the politicians who spin information, the public will vote for them in order to meet their expectations. However, after these politicians are elected, those who vote for them can’t find what they have expected. So, actually these people voted for different ideas and promises, and now are governed by others, which is definitely not a democratic process. To give an example of this in politics, Nick Clegg and his promises about tuition fees can be chosen. Everyone who had voted especially for this problem couldn’t receive any solution they expected. What they were expecting while electing him was lowered tuition fees, meaning he was the one who’ll provide lower tuition fees for the voters, but he actually was a different politician. In short, â€Å"spin† ruins democracy because it prevents people to vote for the right party by deceiving them. Political marketing promotes inequality among politicians regarding to financial resources and/or being good seller, and these make being elected nearly impossible for some politicians who lack of financial resources and advertising skills, meaning this causes an incomplete, ruined democracy. Firstly, being a successful advertiser is more important that being a good governor. McNair puts the significance of advertising skills in political marketing. He thinks that Ronald Reagan was successful because of his actor’s training. He also gives the example of Michael Foot. He says that Foot was a great thinker and an intellectual party manager but not able to fit the televisions. Because of this, he was replaced by someone who fits the televisions better (2011). McNair can’t refer to any sources because of the subjectivity of those. However, considering the general knowledge, it can easily be said that he is right. These examples show that being a good seller is more important than being a good thinker, meaning those who don’t have seller skills don’t have chances to be elected. Secondly, money has a significant role in elections. McNair explains the importance of money in politics with these words: â€Å"Political power becomes something which can be bought rather than won in a democratic contest. † (2011, p. 37) He strengthens this statement by giving the Goldsmith example. This example shows how right he is. He also adds that money can be used to buy creativity and innovation to make political communication effective. Similarly, with money, politicians can put themselves everywhere such as on TV, posters on streets. In short, with money, successful advertisements can be applied to public. Likewise, politicians can give money to the press and the media or buy them to influence public because the press and the media usually have more influence on public than any political advertising (O'Shaughnessy, 2001). Those who don’t have enough financial sources don’t have advantage as much as the ones who have enough sources. In conclusion, there are some inequalities among politicians such as financial resources and advertising skills that make some politicians have some advantages that enable them to win elections although there might be better governors that the public would choose. Floating voters can determine the results of an election and making only these votes change by political marketing can ruin democracy. According to the studies McNair refers to, only few people change their votes because of political advertising (Diamond and Bates, 1984 in McNair, 2011). At first, this statement may seem to tell that political advertising doesn’t work and it can’t possibly ruin democracy but it does. Floating voters have a crucial role in elections. They can determine the results of elections in democratic societies even though they form a small percentage of the population in a country. This makes them the most important and an easy target of political marketing. Effecting or manipulating a small group of people is way easier than crowds because some weak points of these people can easily be known and used appropriately to regulate them. Therefore, when advertisements come into play, they will be quite successful and change their audiences’ votes. This leads to the destruction of democracy because politicians eventually get what they want through political marketing. To summarize, floating voters, who may be the determining factor of an election, are very susceptible to political advertising and can, therefore, be controlled easily by political marketing, which ruins democracy. Despite all these bad effects of political marketing for democracy, there are positive side-effects of it that help democracy to work such as increasing participation in elections; variety of ideas, opinions, romises; and knowledge about various political ideas. When a politician uses political advertising, another one also uses it in order not to be left behind in the competition, another does the same with the same reason and so forth. This chain makes political advertising and, therefore, politics everywhere and the main agenda of the days. Because of this, everyone hears about politics and attains a political opinion unconsciously or not and goes to vote for a party. This may not be the aim of political marketing, but it increases participation of people in elections. It helps democracy to work properly because the more people say their opinions the better democracy there will be. Other than participation, politicians are now obliged to give what people want. As Scammel writes down on his essay in a convincing and clear way, as the possibilities of transforming information increases, consumers choose what they want but not what producers want (Scammel, M. , ND). In politics, political marketing is the tool that increases the possibilities of transforming information, consumers are public and producers are politicians. When there is no political marketing, people have to vote for only what are thought for them before and this may not result beneficially for these people and democracy. Likewise, political marketing helps ideas and opinions to be heard. As politicians’ competitions take place in agenda, people keep hearing and reading about them, their ideas and promises. Thus, they can encounter various opinions and find what is the most appropriate for them. To sum up, participation and voting for the appropriate party is important for democracy and political marketing help them maintain or increase. In conclusion, â€Å"Spin† and political marketing ruins democracy in general. Firstly, spin gives wrong opinions about politicians to people. People can’t elect the governor they want due to obfuscations. Secondly, due to political marketing, there are some inequalities among politicians. Some are good advertisers, some have a vast amount of financial resources and some have them both. The ones lacking of these cannot possibly win elections even if they are good governors and who public would want. Thirdly, politicians can win elections easily by effecting floating voters, who are usually minorities in most of the countries. Political advertisers can easily determine the result of an election by affecting these minorities. All of these three ruin democracy. Despite those, there are some ways that don’t ruin democracy but help it work. Political marketing may increase participation in elections and it can enable political opinions and ideas to be known. However, these good sides of political marketing are not enough to suppress the bad impacts, meaning political marketing and spin have strong negative impacts on democracy even though they have some positive impacts.

Free sample - Abuse of elderly. translation missing

Abuse of elderly. Abuse of elderlyIntroduction This paper defines abuse of elderly giving its categories. It also gives risk factors of elderly abuse, the causes of the abuse and the consequences of elderly abuse. Abuse of elderly This is any act occurring in a relationship where there exist an implication of trust resulting in harm to an older person if form of financial, physical social or sexual abuse and neglect in community or institutional care (Saunders L.2008). Categories of abuse include physical, emotional, sexual, financial, neglect and abuse by system as explained hereunder. Physical abuse is the infliction of pain (injury), physical coercion, or physical or drug induced restraint to an older person. Emotional and verbal abuse is the discrimination based on the age, insults as well as hurtful words, denigration, intimidation, false accusations, psychological pain and distress. Financial abuse is extortion and control of pension money, theft of property and exploitation of older people to force them to care for grandchildren or it is the illegal or improper exploitation or use of funds or resources of the older person. Sexual abuse is incest, rape and other types of sexual coercion or it is non-consensual sexual contact of any kind with the older person. Neglect is the loss of respect for elders, withholding of affection, and lack of interest in the older person’s well-being. Accusations of witchcraft are the stigmatization and os tracization to elderly person. Abuse by systems is the dehumanizing treatment older people are liable to suffer at health clinics and pension offices, and marginalization by the government. (Abuse of elderly) The risk factors for elderly abuse Individual factors: physically aggressive abusers have personality disorders and alcohol-related problems than the general population .Cognitive and physical impairments of the abused person are strongly identified in early studies as risk factors for abuse. Relationship factors: The studies involving caregiver stress, Alzheimer disease and elder abuse suggest that the nature of the relationship between the caregiver and the care recipient before abuse begins is an important predictor of abuse. Stress is a contributing factor in cases of abuse. Community and societal factors: The systems of patrilineal and matrilineal inheritance and land rights affect the distribution of power; the societies’ view the role of women; the erosion of bonds between generations of a family, caused by rural to urban migration and the growth in formal education and the loss, through modernization, of the traditional domestic, ritual and family arbitration roles of older people. Domestic settings: ev idence from studies in developed countries show that a higher proportion of abused elderly people suffer from depression or psychological distress than do their non-abused peers. Other symptoms associated with cases of abuse include feelings of helplessness, alienation, guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, denial and post-traumatic stress. This mistreatment can cause severe interpersonal stress leading to death. Institutions: various people are responsible for the abuse in institutions: a member of the staff, resident, a voluntary visitor, relatives or friends where the prevailing regime of the institution itself is abusive or negligent. (Elder mistreatment). The spectrum of abuse and neglect within institutions spans a considerable range, and are to the following: The provision of care for example, resistance to changes in geriatric medicine, erosion of individuality in the care, inadequate nutrition and deficient nursing care, problems with staffing for example, work-related stress and staff burnout, poor physical working conditions, insufficient training and psychological problems among staff, difficulties in staff ,resident interactions   for example, poor communication, aggressiveness on the part of residents and cultural differences, environment for example, a lack of basic privacy, dilapidated facilities, the use of restraints, inadequate sensory stimulation, and a proneness to accidents within the institution, organizational policies for example, those that operate for the benefit of the institution, giving residents few choices over daily living; bureaucratic or unsympathetic attitudes towards residents; staff shortages or high staff turnover; fraud involving residents’ possessions or money; and lack of a residents’ council or residents’ family council. Anecdotal evidence from India suggests that institutional abuse is often perpetuated by staff through a system of unquestioning regimentation. (Abuse of elderly). Complex factors contributing to elderly abuse include factors such as drug or alcohol problems in the abuser, negative attitude towards the older person, the history of family violence, high dependency of older person on others for their care, intergenerational family violence and stress of ill equipped and poorly supported career (Saunders L.2008). Causes of abuse Social isolation or lack of support can contribute to abuse or neglect; the sufferers of abuse in these situations are unwilling to join programs that encourage social interaction. The role of ageism, discrimination against and stigmatization of older people can cause elder abuse. The marginalization of the elderly is a contributory factor. Prevention strategies Measures that may be useful include the following:   the development and implementation of comprehensive care plans; training for staff; policies and programs to address work related stress among staff; the development of policies and programs to improve the physical and social environment of the institution. (Abuse of elderly) The consequences of elder abuse Older people are physically weaker hence more vulnerable than younger adults since their bones are more brittle and convalescence takes longer. Minor injury can cause serious and permanent damage. Many older people survive on limited incomes hence the loss of even a small sum of money can have a significant impact. They may be isolated, lonely and troubled by illness in which case they are more vulnerable as targets for the fraudulent schemes. (Catherine C. 2006). Indicator of elderly abuse Physical indicators include complaints of being physically assaulted, unexplained falls and injuries, burns and bruises while behavioral and emotional indicators are: change in eating pattern, sleep problems, fear and confusion.   The sexual indicators are complaints of being sexually assaulted, frequent complaints of abdominal pain and unexplained vaginal or anal bleeding and genital infections. (Abuse of elderly) Conclusion The problem of elder abuse cannot be properly solved if the essential needs of older people such as food, shelter, security and access to health care are not met. The nations of the world must create an environment free of abuse and exploitation to elderly people gives them opportunities to participate fully in educational cultural, spiritual and economic activities.