Thanks to My Hardworking Father Essay Example for Free

Thanks to My Hardworking Father Essay Jose Quiles Prof. J. Robinson Eng 100-F80 August 06, 2009 Thanks to My Hardworking Father It is very fortunate for a kid to have his father around. In the last thirty years, having both parents in the household was rare. Most of my friends I grew up with only had their mother around. To all the mothers that were strong enough to raise a boy to be a man, I commend you. However, I was very fortunate to have both parents in my household. I would like to thank my father for showing me what a hardworking man truly is, for teaching me how to be responsible, and teaching me why it’s better to work hard for my money than take the easy route like selling drugs. First of all, I thank my father for showing me what a hardworking man truly is. He always had a job, sometimes two, but they never took any quality time away from spending with me. My father always made me remember that any man can help make a baby, but a real man helps raise the baby. My father was always there to help raise me. I remember when I told him that he was going to be a grandfather, he reminded me that anyone could make a baby, raising one was a different story. When my mother got a raise at her job and had to work more hours, my father took a different job so he could spend more time at home with me. Most men would rather work and have the mother at home to raise the kids. My father was different; he wanted everyone to be happy. My mother was happy working at her job. I was happy to be around my father more, and he was happy that he could raise me to be a responsible man. Next, I thank my father for teaching me how to be a responsible hardworking man. My father always taught me that a man is a person that takes care of his responsibilities. He always showed me that having fun with my friends was pleasant and okay as long as I had taken care of my homework and chores. Once I got to that age where I could clean up behind myself, he made sure I did just that. My father also made sure to teach me that being responsible comes with benefits. For instance, if my chores were done on time without my parents telling me to do them, they always had a surprise for me. It was never anything outrageous but it was definitely a good motivator. My father never tried to spoil me, but there was always a lesson to be learned in everything he did for me. If he gave me something for doing what I was supposed to do, he would tell me that God’s reward for me being responsible is even greater. My father continually stressed to me that when you work hard for the money, there is always a greater reward at the end. Finally, I thank my father for teaching me that a real man works hard for his money. My father always said if a person takes the easy route to get money, that person won’t appreciate anything. I didn’t understand what my father meant by that until I got older. Seeing people sell drugs to get money, I noticed that those people didn’t care how the money was spent. I would see those people buying clothes, which were ridiculously expensive; like five or six hundred dollar shirts. These guys had no clue about how to work hard for their money, so they didn’t care how fast it was spent. Then I saw a hard working man who cherished every dime he worked for. In the end, what my father was trying to teach me was that there are benefits for those that work hard, and none for those that don’t. In conclusion, I thank my father for being there to teach me how to be a hardworking man, the importance of being responsible, and how nothing comes easily. He taught me that when a person works hard for a living, they reap the benefits of that hard work. My father is my super hero; I wish every child could have been as fortunate as I was to have their father around.

Why Marriage Fail Essay Example for Free

Why Marriage Fail Essay Marriage is something very beautiful you get to enjoy the rest of your life with the person yo love and share lots of nice things together, however there are some negative things about getting married and most of them are lack of time, addiction, and money. Work, home, schedules, time spent apart and time spent together are equally important for maintaining a marriage. People that spend time alone without making an effort on spending quality time together puts a lot of stress on a marriage. In a magazine â€Å"Time Plus Marriage† they state that 65% of the couples that do not spend time with each other always have an excuse on why they can not for insistent they had to stay late for work or their friends invited them out. Most of the couples that get a divorce is because of addiction problem, drugs, alcohol, and gambling all affects marriage. The behavior of an addicted spouse make their life difficult to because they are only worried if he/she would come home safe. According to â€Å"New York Times† most of the accidents and death on the year 2010 has been because of drunk driving or drug uses from their spouse which leaves them traumatized. One of the major reasons why marriage fail is because of the communication about money. Everyone has financial issues concerning bills, dept, spending, and budgets. Majority of the human being has a problem splitting their expenses individually to make things easier on their end. Those issues can make or break a marriage. Understanding each other and following the simple steps you would have a long lasting marriage. What comes in between is time, addiction, and money majority of the couples do not know how to manage these specific things when married.

Starting Up A Restaurant | Business Plan

Starting Up A Restaurant | Business Plan It is noteworthy that the keys to run a successful restaurant lies in a stable economic base in the community and demographic characteristics compatible with the intended market. A well researched feasibility is required to obtain a loan from banks or other Non baking financial institutions. The economic base of a community can be beneficial to identify the potential for success, as well as help to determine the type(s) of restaurant that might succeed. A white-collar clientele needs are different from an industrial economic base. cultural backgrounds in the community may also affect the types of food preferred and consumption patterns. The prosperity of an area affects personal income. It help to find out a society by observing and contacting residents. The following questions help to evaluate whether a community is progressive and growing or whether development has become stagnant: There should be an area to assure comfortable seating and enough of a walkway for wait staff to move among tables. The outstanding space is for food preparation, storage, and office area. The food preparation area should provide an efficient movement of food from the kitchen to the dining room. The space should be arranged with everything only a few steps away from the cook, and should also allow two or more cooks to work side by side if warranted. Inside the restaurant, a separate area is usually reserved for dish washing and trash. The room needed for prep and steam tables, oven, grill and stove top, and small refrigerator and freezer, along with the exhaust fans needed for ventilation must be adequate. big refrigerators or walk-in coolers are used to store perishable items (Entrepreneur Magazine Group 1996, p. 40). In the restaurant we need some room for the washrooms. In restaurant you need the area for disable, male , female toilets. The external appearance of the restaurant is almost as important as the inside decor. Great advertising or even the best word of mouth endorsements cannot always compensate for lack of curb appeal. If the outside shows dirty windows, a dimly lit entrance, or an offensive sign, potential customers may turn away. The outside should be clean and inviting. If parking will be provided, the estimate is one spot for every three restaurant seats, with safe convenient access. Large restaurants must provide four percent of the first 100 parking spots for persons with disabilities and two percent of any additional parking. Once the conceptual framework is determined, the outcome should be recorded and saved in a form of a written manual. This written manual is more of a general description than a detailed plan. A description of the type of menu being planned should list the types and number of items for the following categories: breakfast, lunch, sandwiches, appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, side dishes, beverages, and desserts. Apart from location and menu, one of the most important aspect of a successful restaurant is the atmosphere or ambiance. The atmosphere along with the menu, should fit the type of restaurant (quick service, mid-scale, or upscale) determined by the market study. Customers will assess the atmosphere of the restaurant by the way it makes them feel. think about the following factors in creating a desired atmosphere: An investor must do a feasibility study to estimates the cost involved and the expected returns, before starting any form of business. unluckily, not all good ideas make great businesses, or even generate a steady revenue stream. A comprehensive checklist can be prepared to determine if an idea represents a genuine opportunity for starting a new business. The checklist should includes but not limited to that who the customers will be and where the business will be located. Restaurant are no dissimilar than other businesses in this respect. The idea or type of restaurant and the market the owner is trying to reach are often the first and main considerations. If a specific cultural food will be served, then the exact location and market must be evaluated. In order to have a footing in the market we have to analyze our long term opportunities and strengths. It can be done with a concept of total quality management with continuous improvement in the foods quality and sales by targeting the right market mix and segments. One important aspect is to understand the behaviour of the business market and types of the competitors in this sector. This can be attained by gathering information about the major players (who had captured the market) so that to identify their moves, strategies, strength and weaknesses. As the economy of the UK is hit hard by the financial crisis, the setting up a new business is challenging task; this means that areas and sectors like education, tourism and Industry will witness a large scale decline in the coming years. The current scenario required the government spending in some big projects like infrastructure, healthcare and education that in return can revive the economy and increase the demand of new business within the country. Researching and selecting Target Markets: We as a restaurant operator have to adopt a policy that is directed toward identifying the market size and potential in terms of demands related to the multi ethnic group within the regions. This means, that we have to target different community using a standard food Menu that can attract the customers accordingly. Next, we have to make decisions on types of Ethnic group that we should focus on by subdividing the market sector into smaller segments and assessing each one separately. Selection of the market segment is very important for positioning product. In our case it is advisable to target and select few niche markets comprising certain African and Asian ethnic groups within med-level salary ranges. The challenge would be providing them with the reasonable standard food with nice atmosphere at competitive rates. Designing Strategies and positioning our product: Once we have decided about the target market then the next step will be designing the strategies that match our long term objectives and goals. For this we can develop and deploy differentiation and positioning strategy. This can be done by providing a product that is different in term of quality and strength so as to capture the eye of the customers. After that we should position our product for middle niche market between large to medium level society. During this phase we have to consider that challenging market leaders in the very beginning would be difficult but we can exert extra efforts to be the market challenger or else become a market follower which is a strategy that fits us well during the initial stages of our operations. Planning Marketing programme After designing strategies we need to transform our strategies into programmes. This could be accomplished by making decisions on marketing expenditures, marketing mix and marketing allocation. As an entity we have to divide the marketing budget into the following elements of the market mix namely: Our product: We have to introduce our product with some differentiation and improved quality by acquiring good recipes, as well as, employing quality chef who can prepare quality food, allowing us differentiating our products from market. It is the product that needs to be marketed with due diligence so as to make the market feel your presence. And also tried to bring a new kind of recipe which is not available in the market before because that will make a plus point in your products and in your reputation. Price of the product: The Price of the product also plays some important role in its sales. At present, tough competition exists demanding the restaurant to sell their product at the right price. To price the product, initially one can consider quality and cost of production and companys mark up. Price valuation procedures like target pricing can be used to reach a point for price determination. In addition, to that idea of the market price for that product is also essential because one cannot set a price beyond the market norms unless that product is exceptional either in its quality or availability. Promotion: Promotion is vital tool for any product to promote our restaurant and its products (food items). The promotional mix / tools that could utilized may include: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Television à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Radio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Newspaper à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Magazines à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Direct mail à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Yellow Pages à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Public transportation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Billboards à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Internet home page à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Free-net in community à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Chamber of Commerce à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Visitors Bureau à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Convention Bureau à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supporting non profit organizations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Free press (if available in the community) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Community involvement Advertising: since it is a perishable item, due care is essential to market it using printed media that tend to be one of the reliable advertising tool. Sales force: for the same reasons above this promotional tool becomes very efficient effective. Delivery places (on time and at right place) Special Offers (like discount for parties and bulk Purchases etc.) Offering birthdays parties in your hotels so families can come and enjoy in restaurant decorate your restaurant for them and offer some kinds of kids boxes to the kids which can help in promotion of your restaurant. Organizing and implementing marketing programmes. It would be very cost effective to have the marketing philosophy built in and adopted by all working staff and employee at all levels. The marketing philosophy should be the primary component of the firms organizational culture to be reflected in firms and workers daily practices and performance. At higher levels the founders/ partners have large and more responsible role to play as they would be expected to market the firm among identified clients based on their relations the market. Monitoring the market process is the crucial activity where it will be needed to trace and find whether or not the programme is being executed correctly this includes controlling the expenses to ensure cost effectiveness as well as to ensure the execution of the programme is in line with the firms long term objectives. Suggestions for Success The customers perception of the restaurants concept is an important factor in success. Once the restaurant is open, quality feedback from customers is important. Does the concept need adjustment? Observe and talk with customers. What does the wait staff overhear? Are their tips good? Are certain menu items ordered more often than others? What menu items are left on the plate? Are the portions too large or too small? Consider carefully how the market you have created reacts to your concept. Repeat customers and word of mouth endorsements are priceless. The SBDC web site (http://www.commerce.state.il.us) provides the following list of 15 reasons why businesses fail: 1. Lack of experience 2. Lack of capital 3. Poor locations 4. Inventory 5. Equipment 6. Poor credit practices 7. Personal expenses 8. Premature expansion 9. Bad attitude 10. Too many expenses 11. Poor collections 12. Low sales 13. Inventory mismanagement 14. Competition 15. Crime Motivation for tourism: Push-pull factors Motivation for tourism: Push-pull factors Introduction The tourism industry is considered one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world (Ninemeier Perdue, 2008; Cooper Hall, 2008). In the past few years many people have been travelling around the world for leisure, business and migratory purposes. Each individual traveler has different motive based on their needs, culture and lifestyle. A person needs give rise to motivations that forces them to act or behave in a specific way to satisfy the needs. Motivations are driven by the different force of push and pull factors that revolve around an individual which will reflect in both travel decision and behaviour. Therefore, it is important to understand the behavior of tourists, their backgrounds and what motivates them to travel as all ‘leisure involves a temporary escape of some kind’ (Leiper 1984: 249). The topic of this paper is based on trip in Langkawi and further understanding of what motivates the tourist to travel overseas and what sort of temporary es cape are they intending to find here on this island. The trip Based on recommendations by friends, a 4 day trip to Langkawi (LGK) was an ideal place to have a weekend getaway and enjoy the slow paced beach life. It was also a trip of escaping reality and in search of inspirations. Yet, while observing the local people here, there is more to this than just escaping reality and the slow paced life. Actually many of the locals have travelled here for holidays and vacations but ended up extending their stay for many months, some even love the life here so much that they became part of the local people and took up jobs in bars and opening up small businesses. It was the first time staying in a guesthouse and it felt like the whole atmosphere brought in by the friendly people helps open a person’s character and that atmosphere of good vibes seems to grow even more by mingling with people from different parts of the world, hearing their stories and gaining exposure of different lifestyles and culture. When travelling alone, one also gets to und erstand the importance of being alert to the surroundings in a foreign land especially when one does not speak the common tongue; it also helps that person to be independent by looking out for himself, adapting and abiding to different cultures, managing the money wisely and having clarity in life as one tends to drift into their own thoughts easily when not distracted by the daily routines. Lit review Getting away from the mundane life of the city or their hometown has always been in the minds of many people. Crompton (1979; 416) noted that the desire to ‘escape from a perceived mundane environment’ became a major motive of inducing tourist vacation behaviour. Escapism is described as a push factor, which refers to factors that predispose an individual to travel (Dann, 1977). In contrast to Riley (1988: 317), when an opportunity presents itself, people tend to be attracted to exotic places like an island where the beach helps them to relax and rejuvenate and have a temporary escape from the dullness and monotony of their everyday routine. ‘A certain picture is built up of a world that marks an escape from present reality an environment for acting out psychic needs, and the playing of certain roles that cannot be fulfilled at home, and it is this which forms part and parcel of tourists’ motivations’ (Dann, 1976: 22). So when a destination attraction consists of those elements of a â€Å"non-home† place, people are more motivated to travel there or even extend their stay. According to Backman et al. (1995) motivations are associated with individual basic needs for participating in activities that associate with their personal goals, being influence by their friends/family members or due to the change of weather. For instance, Westerners love travelling to Asia because of the exotic feeling, discovery of ancient history and warm weather. The need to see the unseen and know the unknown drives people to travel to new places and motivates them to visit new destinations (Venkatesh, 2006). But March Woodside (2005) also states that tourists are subjected to certain behaviour before, during and after travelling. These travel behaviours are mostly influence by external and internal factors. These could be explained using the Push-Pull motivation theory. Push factors are socio-psychological motivations that predispose, while the pull factors are those that attract a person to a specific destination when the decision to travel has been made (Oh et al., 1995). (Mehmetoglu, 2011) The ‘need’ to see things are the pull factors, Mehmetoglu’s model shows that these factors influence the tourist mindset of travelling. For instance, Image could be due to the sharing of photos through facebook and other social media platforms, Culture, for example Westerners at the age of 16 tends to be independent and they usually go on road trips after their collage and Price could be discounts given by accommodations or air flights at a particular destination. While the push factors are influenced by the socio-psychological mindset of that person. For example, the need to socialize or escape from their comfort zone pushes them to search for a better environment. Both of these factors lead to the length of stay for the tourist and it is controlled by ‘Control Variables’ which reflects on each individual tourist culture and background which not only determine the length of stay but also the destination. The control variables could also make tourist migrate to another country. Before the concept of migrating appear in a persons’ mind, the person has planned on a destination to escape from the reality of his/her hometown, travelling to places to relax. After being satisfied with the current place, the external and psychological factors such as better economic/social opportunities, safer environment for building a family, slower paced lifestyle and realization of their spirituality plays a part in concluding the migration or longer stay of the tourist. Methodology The research method for this essay would be considered qualitative because learning more about the culture and lifestyle of the locals requires more time, more analytical data of the surroundings and time. Therefore, the methodology for this research paper is based on observation and interaction with the local people. These observations and interactions were compared with the local people and some of the few tourists who came to stay for a short period of time. Taking down notes during observations will help to determine what happened and at the same time triggering an answer to any research question during data analysis (Bogdan Biklen, 2007; Pitney Parker, 2009). Data Analysis Findings While walking around the beach and streets of LGK, I manage to talk and find out that many of the locals were actually tourist before when travelling here for leisure but most of them ended up staying here as residents. Most of them came from Penang, Germany, KL, Thailand and even Brazil. Mostly, due to the slow paced lifestyle and their love for the beach, and better and nicer work environment which made them decide that they want to live here. I even talk to some of the tourists who travelled here for a few days ended up extending their stay for another day or so cause of the new friends they made. Discussion In order to predict travel behaviour it is important to understand how individual characteristics of a person interact with the characteristics of the situation, therefore understanding the positive and negative evaluative factors influencing destination choices of the tourists (March Woodside, 2006; Laws, 1995; Holloway, 2004). Using this guy called ‘Captain’ as an example, he says before coming to work here in LGK, he was a Malaysian who works as a security guard and he did not like the environment there and his salary could not justify his work. Back then he was eager for a getaway, a temporary escape of some kind. So travelling to places nearby like LGK would be a good idea as it is affordable, easy to distress and communicating with the locals is easy. (Pearce, 2005; Pearce Lee, 2005) came up with 14 core factors that describe travel motivation; they were built on items of interest from a rich array of previous studies and identified across the two large internati onal samples. The defining forces were in order of importance, novelty, escape/relax, relationship strengthening, autonomy, seeking nature, self development through involvement with hosts or the site, stimulation, self-development of a personal kind, relationship security (enjoying being with similar others), self-actualisation (getting a new life perspective), isolation, nostalgia, romance and recognition (prestige of travelling). (Pearce, 2005) Using the model above, the Travel Career Patterns (TCP) concept shows that tourists in the Core motive are unchanging because these standard and important motives are the common motivations that push people like ‘Captain’ who travel to LGK for temporary escape to just relax and bond with friends and family. Eventually, ‘Captain’ TCP developed into the Middle layer as he is satisfied with the environment that he is in and ended up building more bonds with the locals and gaining self actualisation and self enhancement by setting up a private inn business catering to backpackers and tourists. Some individuals like ‘Captain’ were push by escaping their life due to the political environment and individual background. Backing Pearce’s TCP model concept; McIntosh, Geoldner and Ritchie (1995) provides a deeper analysis of travel motives. Source: Yeong, Eves Scarles, (2004) Using the above table, McIntosh, Geoldner and Ritchie derived with 4 categories which travel motivators can be classified into. Physical motivators’ factors are those that push the individual to travel for his/her own purpose such as fulfilling a thrill of adventure, getting away from the hectic life and seeking a stress free environment. Cultural motivators are people who want to visit their heritage, ancestral site or travel to pilgrims in search for their faith to discover more about their religion. The third category, interpersonal motivators is about travelling with friends/family or a love one to build greater relationship and experience the destination together. Lastly, Status and Prestige are motivators that people travel for status, ego enhancement it is possibility due to an opportunity given to travel in a more prestige way and to impress their neighbours. Relating McIntosh, Goeldner and Ritchie’s theory and to Mehmetoglu’s model of push and pull factors. 2 siblings from Penang who work at a reggae bar along the street came here for leisure purposes. The brother is a cyclist who actively cycles with his group of friends around Malaysia twice every month. As what he said, it was a way of freeing his mind from his daily routines and his friends suggested going to LGK for a cycling session, group-based behaviour is a modification of individual behaviour, which makes individuals engage in activities they may not have done otherwise (Marcevova, 2011). Later on, he enjoyed living the island life and decided to carry on staying here and eventually, his sister and some of his friends came to LGK to stay and make a living here. Both the siblings and their friends decision was mostly based on social influence decision making and the pull factors of the destination. The political model of decision-making (Pettigrew, 1973; Pfeffer, 1 981) is an example of an adaptive form of decision-making, recognising the fact that most decisions are not individual but made in the context of groups, which means even backpackers or solo travellers make their decision based on recommendations, travel sites, stories based on past experience; all these are based on the context of group information and ideas that push them to travel. Social influences are processes which individuals adjust their feelings and behaviours towards someone who are perceived to be similar, desirable, or an expert in that discussion. Conclusion In conclusion, tourist motivation is seen as a multidimensional concept that explains tourist decision (McCabe, 2000) and each individual behaviours set different motivation of travelling due to different cultural background, country that they come from and the push and pull factors that influence them. In the modern world, technology is advancing such as social media being an intermediary to show people what the place has to offer and it needs to be considered as a factor of motivation. The destination that attracts the tourist plays an important role as well because the personal motives (push motives) and the view of the characteristics of the tourism destination (pull motives) determine perceptions (Bashar Aref Al-Haj, 2010) which could make tourists extend their stay or even bring in more people.

Cynicism in Works of Ambrose Bierce Essay -- Cynic Author

The style and motives of Ambrose Bierce are those of a great intellect and cynic. Ambrose Bierce used graphic images to get his message across in a lot of his stories such as "Chicamauga" and "The Affair at Coulter's Notch". A good portion of his short stories were stories of innocent people and soldiers and their experiences. He also wrote a book called "The Devil's Dictionary," which reinterprets a few terms in the English language. Ambrose Bierce's cynical perspective, which can be seen within his literary works, actually masks a sensitive idealist, who wants to create an awareness in the readers of the horrors of war as well as the injustices and insensitivities in people and society. To start off, Ambrose Bierce used a lot of graphic images to deglorify war. There were many graphic images in the story ?Chicamauga?, for example, ? - lacked a lower jaw - from the upper teeth to the throat was a great red gap fringed with hanging shreds of flesh and splinters of bone?. ?The unnatural prominence of nose, the absence of chin, the fierce eyes, gave this man the appearance of a great...

College Admissions: Philosophy, Politics and Economics :: College Admissions Essays

The crucial importance and relevance of politics, philosophy and their related disciplines to the modern world have led me to want to pursue the study of these social sciences at a higher level. My experiences of Politics at A Level have shown me the fundamental part it plays in our lives, but it has also shown me that it cannot exist alone, and is inextricably linked to history, sociology, economics and, most of all, philosophy. I have found it useful in my other studies, in adding reality to academic analysis - and a sense of stability and proportion too. I established, and remain editor of, a radical student newspaper at my school and I have tried to bring this fresh outlook and dynamism to my other roles: managing the school Prefects as Vice School Captain, representing the student body on many School Councils and the Equal Opportunities committee, as well as organising younger students as House Captain. My music is important to me, whether it be the band I play in, the school orchestra, or else performing with a local oriental Gamelan group. I work extensively with computers, recently winning a national multimedia competition and programming freelance for a variety of private clients, as well as designing the school magazine. These activities have taught me the importance of balancing academic study with my other interests successfully. Though I do not aspire to professional politics, several years of Public Speaking have significantly helped my oratorical and debating skills. This, along with my music, computing and languages, is something I look forward to developing further in the future, as an aspect of the partnership between vibrant student life and academic study that I hope to discover at university. From what I have seen, the study of politics and philosophy cannot be divorced from real life, nor understood out of context. I look forward to the opportunities to study in depth at degree level, independently but with the guidance of experts and in the company of new and interesting people.

Moniza Alvis Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Essay -- English Lite

Moniza Alvi's Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore, in Pakistan, the daughter of a Pakistani father and an English mother. She moved to Hatfield in England when she was a few months old. She didn't revisit Pakistan until after the publication of her first book of poems, The Country over my Shoulder, from which this poem comes. The poet says: 'Presents from My Aunts... was one of the first poems I wrote - when I wrote this poem I hadn't actually been back to Pakistan. The girl in the poem would be me at about thirteen. The clothes seem to stick to her in an uncomfortable way, a bit like a kind of false skin, and she thinks things aren't straightforward for her. I found it was important to write the Pakistan poems because I was getting in touch with my background. And maybe there's a bit of a message behind the poems about something I went through, that I want to maybe open a few doors if possible.' Subject Matter What is Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan all about? * The speaker in the poem, who is of mixed race, describes the gifts of clothes and jewellery sent to her in England by her Pakistani relatives. * She is drawn to the loveliness of these things, but feels awkward wearing them. She feels more comfortable in English clothes - denim and corduroy. * She contrasts the beautiful clothes and jewellery of India with boring English cardigans/from Marks and Spencer. * She tries to remember what it was like for her family to travel to England. * Her knowledge of her birthplace, which she left as a baby, comes to her only through old photographs and newspaper reports. * She tries to imagine what that world might be like. Glossary Sa... ...n Hatfield at that time, of a mixed race background or indeed from any other race, so I felt there was a bit of a blank drawn over that. I think I had a fairly typically English 50s/60s upbringing. When I eventually went to Pakistan I certainly didn't feel that was home, I'd never felt so English. But I never feel entirely at home in England, and of course I'm not part of the Asian community at all. And it feels a bit odd sometimes that because of the group of poems that I've written about my Asian background, I sometimes tend to be identified as a black writer. I tend to think of England as being very culturally mixed now. But it's important to know where you come from, which is perhaps what I was lacking as a child. I think it's important to know what has gone into your making, even quite far back, I think it gives you a sense perhaps of richness.'

Market entries to China for Holden Essay

Executive summary With more and more countries taking part in the international trade, the world’s market is expanding in a rapid pace. How to make use of the enlarging market and remain competitive become urgent for those participants. Market diversification is a good way to take full advantage of the resource and improve the efficiency by enlarging the business scope. In addition, it can also ease the pressure of competition and reduce the cost. The report mainly discuss that Australian Holden may enter Chinese market and chooses Shanghai as the target market. The report firstly analyzes the Australian and Chinese market and briefly introduces Shanghai. Then it presents the market-entry strategies and focuses on comparison on the advantages and disadvantages of Export-based entry and manufacturing-based entry. Through the comparison, the export-based entry is recommended to Holden. Finally, the report analyzes the 4p in marketing, which are price, place, products and promotion. In short, Shanghai is a bid developed country with the encouragement from the government to promote the development of automobile industry. 1.0 Introduction Holden is founded in 1856 with headquarter in Melbourne and it set into the field of automobile manufacturing after the company designed the body of the car for the first time in 1918. Australia-based GM merged with Holden in 1931 to establish GM-Holden Automobile Corporation. Holden’s Vehicle Operations produce 42 models from four vehicle body styles for domestic and export customers. For domestic market, the facility produces the Commodore range of sedans, Sportwagon and Ute together with Caprice long-wheel base luxury vehicles (Rob M 2011). Holden’s Global V6 Engine plant is located in Port Melbourne, Victoria and it gives Holden considerable flexibility in the range of engines it can produce for local and international customers including export customers in South Korea, Thailand and China. Holden is a centre of expertise in design and engineering for GM globally. Holden is one of GM’s nine global design centers responsible for vehicles such as the Holden Commodore and Chevrolet Camaro. Holden is also the centre of expertise for large, rear-wheel drive vehicles in the GM family as well as a major power train engineering centre with expertise in R&D and customer programs in V6 and V8 gasoline, CNG and LPG applications. 2.0 International and domestic marketing environment analysis 2.1 The analysis of Australian and Chinese market The economic crisis has negative effect on the global economy with high unemployment rate. As for Australian automobile industry, both the sales and production decrease. Although there is challenge, opportunity coexists. Holden saw the chance for industrial integration and it is inclined to import components from China and other countries. Hence, Holden is making efforts to enter Chinese market in order to achieve market diversification. The following table format shows the comparative analysis of Chinese and Australian market. From the above chart, it can be seen that China attracts Australia for the following reasons. Firstly, China is the world’s second largest economic entity and it has seen rapid development in recently years. With largest population in the world, China has wide potential in various industries with strong demand and high level of consumption. With the development of economy and high standard of living, people tend to purchase more expensive products as they have strong purchasing power. What’s more, Chinese government has announce some policies to promote its development, such as purchase tax-free for whose emission below 1.6, cash for energy-saving program and presentation of automobile credit. With the price of oil increasing, the compact vehicle has taken up the most of the market share. All those factors have stimulated the development of automobile industry in China (Piercy, N 1982). Compared with Chinese market, Australian automobile industry is more mature. In shor t, China is a place with great potential for automobile market. Shanghai is a global city, with influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology, and transport. Shanghai, the most developed city in China, is a major financial center in the world. With the development of automobile industry in China, the industry also sees rapid booming trend in Shanghai. As one of the earliest cities to carry out Chinese opening policy, Shanghai continues to go out of China, seeking for international level of development. In addition, it is a fairly open city with diverse culture and civilization. Taking consideration above factors, Shanghai will be the target market for Holden. 2.2. Estimated market size and gap analysis in Shanghai Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper by population in the world. With large population living in the city, their demand of automobile is strong, so there is hug amount of potential customers in Shanghai to buy cars. In addition, they also have strong power for purchase taking consideration of the economy in China. Actually, most young people will choose to buy compact and small cars in Shanghai as it is convenient. Automobile industry growth has been primarily driven by rising domestic demand stemming from rising incomes, a growing middle class, and by supportive industry policies from the Chinese government (Piercy, N 1982). However, the whole market is very fragmented and the research and development capacity is weak in China. The Chinese government has implemented a number of tax adjustments and subsidies for automobile purchases. In short, Shanghai has great potential for automobile development with strong demand and high purchase power, while the research and development is relatively weak. Holden can take the advantage to merge into Shanghai and bring about innovation to the whole market. 2.3 Expected sales and market share analysis in China. According to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), automakers in China sold 18,505,100 new vehicles last year, 2.45% more than 2010, which also creates a historically high. The annual growth rate dropped sharply from the 32.37% seen in 2010. Production rose slight 0.84% to 18,418,900 units. Passenger car sales gained 5.19% on year to 14,472,400, as 14,485,300 units were produced, 4.32% more than 2010. The commercial vehicle market shrank 6.31% to 4,032,700, as production dropped 9.94% to 3,933,600. Shanghai GM sold 1.23 million cars in 2011, up 18.5 percent from a year earlier. The sales in China are expected to see more growth in the future and It is widely believed that China’s automobile market currently has the most growth potential around the world. The sales of automobile in Shanghai always took a large amount in Shanghai, so Holden expect a huge potential for sales in Shanghai. According to a survey, the domestic market of share for automobile industry in China is 29%, which means that the majority of market share is took up by foreign brand. It is great news for Holden that can make use of its great competitiveness to enter in Chinese market, especially Shanghai. 3.0. Market entry strategies Marketing entry means that the government of a nation allows citizen or legal person to enter the market to do business and commercial activities. The system for marketing entry indicates the control and management of the government on the market. The purpose of market entry is to stabilize the source of tax and rationally allocate resources. In addition, the market entry aims to pursue public safety and health and maintain sustainable development. The ultimate goal of marketing entry is to maintain free and equal competition for participants, which means that the global market is unified. However, the marketing entry is a process, different country will have various degree for openness considering their economic development level. When a company has made a decision to enter an overseas market, there are a variety of options open to it (Basche, J.R1971). These options vary with cost, risk and the degree of control. The simplest form of entry strategy is exporting using either a direct or indirect method such as an agent, in the case of the former, or countertrade, in the case of the latter. More complex forms include truly global operations which may involve joint ventures, or export processing zones. Entry strategies: There are a variety of ways in which organizations can enter foreign markets. There are export-based entry, manufacturing-based entry and relationship –based entry. The export-based entry and manufacturing-based entry are compared here. 3.1 The analysis of export-based entry Exporting is the mostly widely accepted and the most mature form of operating in foreign markets. Exporting can be defined as the marketing of products from one country into another, while no direct manufacturing is required in an overseas country and significant investments in marketing are required. This strategy does not need too much detailed information about the market compared with the manufacturing-based entry, but it still need some necessary information about the local market (Cunningham, M 1986). The export-based entry contains many elements, such as indirect export, direct export, establish sales offices in foreign market and licensing. Direct exporting means that the organization uses agents, distributors or oversea subsidiary or through government agency. In most cases, the company exports by means of local agents or distributors as they know more about the local market which is important in conducting the business (Jaffee S 1993). In addition, they have advantage in language and they know how to get local customers. Indirect export means that products are exported through trading companies and some export management companies. The advantage of indirect exporting is that the exporters do not need to know much information about the local market as they can rely on trading companies. Another option for exporter is to sell products directly to foreign end-users and this method does not incur intermediary costs and exported can gain higher profits. The web-based B2C and B2B sales are the most common ways to sell products to end-users. The advantages of exporting are that: Firstly, exporting is very simple and low costs and risk, so it is usually the first forms that companies will choose to get knowledge of the target market. Secondly, as the exporting-based entry is home based, the utilization of domestic plants are increased and costs are decreased at the same time. Thirdly, the method can also help to diversify markets, which reduce the company’s exposure to domestic demand instability. The disadvantage is that: firstly, high transport costs from the exporter to the target market. Secondly, exporting may encounter some trade barriers and problems with agents will also affect the export (Sharma, D 1989). Thirdly, exporters have lower control of the agents, facing the risk of exchange rate fluctuation, and are subjected to custom duties and tax from the target country. Although the export costs are low, the exporter has to pay for know more about the market, increasing sales, distribution networks, and attracting customers. Furthermore, exporters should design their products as per the requirement of target market. 3.2 The analysis of manufacturing-based entry Manufacturing-based entry includes joint venture. Joint venture means alliances where there is equity participation from both the foreign entrant and the local companies. The equity participation indicates that one can have minority of stakes, equal stakes or majority of stakes (Terry J 2006). The advantages of joint venture are: firstly, one can decrease the capital risk. Secondly, exporter can use the target companies’ facilities in manufacturing distribution and sales. Thirdly, the exporter can take advantage the local companies to enter the market and they can contact with local government through local companies. Many companies avoid having joint venture as it is complex in coordinating policies, decisions and execution with a different company. Disadvantages of joint venture are that: a. Different in culture and language with communication problems b. Different in managerial styles c. Different in the motivation behind participation. d. Selection of the right partners. Other than above problems, there are also risks in entering in joint venture as the complication at the time of exit, when a foreign entrant decides to leave the market and the joint venture should also have an exit strategy (Yip, G 1982). Another is the company’s intellectual property, which is more difficult to control the access to the technology. Furthermore, if the IP is stolen by local partner, it will become a big problem to deal with. 4.0. Recommendation on how to enter Chinese market 4.1 Market entry strategy choice An organization wishing to enter other market faces three major issues: a. Marketing – which countries, which segments, how to manage and implement marketing effort, how to enter – with intermediaries or directly, with what information. b. Sourcing – whether to obtain products, make or buy? (Keegan, W1989) c. Investment and control – joint venture, global partner, acquisition. Decisions in the marketing area focus on the value chain. The strategy or entry alternatives must ensure that the necessary value chain activities are performed and integrated. As for Holden, the export-based strategy is greatly recommended as Firstly, exporting is very simple and low costs and risk, so it is better for Holden to get know more about Chinese market. Secondly, as the exporting-based entry is home based, the utilization of domestic plants are increased and costs are decreased at the same time. Holden has its own manufacturing plants and it can save costs in this way. (Khoromana, A 1991)Thirdly, the method can also help to diversify markets, which reduce the company’s exposure to domestic demand instability. Holden can gradually come to Chinese market after get a better idea of Chinese market and customer’s demand. Another approach is to direct invest in Chinese market. Holden can set up manufacturing facilities as it is capable of putting large amount of capital with management dedication (Korey, G 1986). 4.2 Estimated budget The marketing mix is one of the most famous marketing terms. The marketing mix is the tactical or operational part of a marketing plan. The marketing mix is also called the 4Ps which are price, place, product and promotion. |Price |Price is the amount the consumer must exchange to receive the offering | |Place |Place includes company activities that make the product available to target consumers | |Product |Product means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market. | |Promotion |Promotion includes all of the activities marketers undertake to inform consumers about their products | | |and to encourage potential customers to buy these products. | So the budget includes activities for efforts to make the products available to target consumers, service for the target market and promotion. 4.3 Time frame (2014—2017) for Holden |Price |Making an analysis of prices in Shanghai and setting the price according to the consumption level. | |Place |Target market: Shanghai | |Product |Holden’s compact and small cars. | |Promotion |Making some advertisement for Holden’s cars with the help of local agents or distributors as it use | | |export-based entry methods | As Holden uses the export-based entry methods, most work can be done by local agents or distributors and also the budget also includes the pay for them besides the budget for 4ps. 5.0 Conclusion In the recent years, trading has become more and more popular among countries. Trading activities has become increasingly global in some way due to the need to gather and increase the company’s financial bases. Advancement in technology including communication efficiency and better international relations has contributed to the development of the international trade. However, competition has become a great challenge to the expanding of global business, but most companies are making great efforts to solve the problem. In order to make the good use the situation as the world has become a village and to achieve greater investments and better market opportunities in the international market, it is necessary that primary and secondary market research is done to ensure that information regarding the target markets in countries desired is obtained. To choose the best way for market entry is crucial for a company as it can help the company to diversify market in other countries and help it gain competitiveness in the world with fierce competition. 6.0 Reference 1. 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