A Critical Examination of the Sexual Life of Man In...

A Critical Examination of the Sexual Life of Man In Sigmund Freud 1.0 INTRODUCTION It is a word that rings a bell, it penetrates all cultures and overwhelms all humanity. It means many things to many people; to some, it is sacred and should be treated with respect. To others, it is pleasurable and should be lured to without repression; expressed it is worded human sexuality. Reiterating the central place which sexuality occupied in the life of man, Dietrich writers: Sex à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as contrasted with other departments of bodily Experience is essentially deep. Every manifestation of sex produces an effect which transcends the physical sphere and in a fashion quite unlike the other†¦show more content†¦For him then, there is no reason why sexual satisfaction should be repressed because of moral principles since it does not cause pain but pleasure. The acme of his whole doctrine of the libido is that he considered man as a libidinal being. He also conceived the spiritual activities as being rooted in instincts. The gross reduction of man to the instinctive level is precisely the point of concern in this work 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM Within the panorama of rational analysis as well as the biological framework of man and his psychological responsiveness, it is expedient to say without qualms of conscience that man is a sexual being. Therefore the ambiguous interrogative remains: when and how is sexual expression permissible to man? So, contrary to the age-long view that sexuality develops only at puberty, Freud identifies that sexuality has its arche from the earliest days of infancy and only undergoes transformation at puberty. For Freud, man is a being unto sex. All the nature of human activities and desires from cradle to the grave are directly or indirectly traceable to his sexual nature. Elucidating the veracity of this inborn infantile sexual pleasure, David said: Parents in some culture are well aware of theShow MoreRelatedThe Personality Theories Of Sigmund Freud ( 1856-1939 ) And Carl Jung2919 Words   |  12 PagesExamined are the key elements in the personality theories of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Carl Jung (1875-1961). Prior to Freud, personality psychology did not exist. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory conceptualized personality development in terms of psychosexual stages whereby personality was fixed by middle childhood. Freud explained that mental and physical illnesses were the result of an individual not being aware of the inner conflict which was experienced due to repressed infantile sexualityRead MoreThe Issue of Gay Marriage864 Words   |  3 Pagesâ€Å"The issue of gay marriage is one of many fronts. Looking into the nation’s past, an individual will realize that depriving anyone of free will and/or rights they feel they should have doesn’t work. A critical argument against gay marriage, is that bein g gay is a â€Å"choice† therefore it shouldn’t be promoted and spread. This is false because one who is truly homosexual is naturally sexually attracted to the same sex. A heterosexual male cannot just make a choice to engage in homosexual intercourseRead MoreThe Balance of Dorian Grays Structure of Personality in Oscar Wildes Novel the Picture of Dorian Gray: a Study of Psychoanalysis3447 Words   |  14 Pagesbehavior and make the standard law points about what we can do or what we cannot do. This law usually opposes our desire. When we choose to follow our desire rather than the norms, our society will see us as a bad person. It is because they belive that life has to be bordered by norms and people cannot do as they please without considering their social norms. We can see that issue in a novel titled The Picture of Dorian Gray. It is a novel written by Oscar Wilde. This novel appeared as the lead storyRead MoreCounselling Psychology (Description and Evaluation of the Psychoanalytic Theories of Counselling and Techniques Using the)4628 Words   |  19 PagesRunning head: Therapeutic Techniques and Counselling Description and Evaluation of the Psychoanalytic Theories of Counselling and techniques using the Theorist Sigmund Freud During the history of psychology and counselling a wide range of attitudes and approaches have been developed in order to provide individuals with the ability to explore his or her inner world through varied strategies and modes of interaction. The aim was toRead MoreCritical Evaluation of Karen Horneys Theory6263 Words   |  26 PagesCRITICAL EVALUATION OF KAREN HORNEY’S PSYCHOANALYSIS * The concept of narcissism * The emphasis on childhood * The ‘id’ and the ‘ego’ * Feminine psychology * The death instinct * Anxiety * Neurotic guilt feelings - By Group 3 SHRADDHA MANISHA DIMPLE BIJAL INDERJEET RESHMA DHARA HITAKSHI The Concept of Narcissism According to psychoanalytical theories Narcissism includesRead MoreEssay on Adolescence - Learning and development. Not a bad essay written over night for a Monday hand in,surprised at the outcome will post the Bibliography when I find it3514 Words   |  15 Pagesdevelopment Adolescence is considered as a normal part of the human life span, connecting middle childhood and young adulthood, this period consists of three separate phases: early, middle, and late adolescence. The adolescent years extend roughly from age 10 to age 22. It is common to mark the beginning of the teenage years as the entrance to adolescence; most people consider that the onset of puberty, or the beginning of sexual maturity, as a sign of an individuals passage from middle childhoodRead MoreA Rose for Emily Psychoanalysis2422 Words   |  10 PagesLacanian one would focus upon her position in a community of structuring institutions. As Judith Fetterley has shown, it is a story of a woman victimized and betrayed by the system of sexual politics (351, or in Faulkners own words the tale of a young girl brow-beaten and kept down by her father, a selfish man who didnt want her to leave home because he wanted a housekeeper (Gwynn and Blotner 185). Miss Emilys position is most graphically represented in a reminiscence of the genealogy of herRead MoreKhasak14018 Words   |  57 Pagesrichness of the multilingual scenario of India. Indian novels are best read from the multiple perspectives of comparative literature, translation and critical theory. Comparative studies diversify the putative unity of the nation. Translation of texts in regional languages to and from English ensures a text’s existence as a ‘pan-Indian’ object. Critical theory proposes interpretive paradigms with which to shift literary boundaries. This dissertation analyses the novel The Legends of Khasak penned byRead MoreHeart of Darkness in the Light of Psychoanalytic Theories.4599 Words   |  19 PagesCriticism Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forcesRead MoreEssay about Heart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism4502 Words   |  19 PagesPsychoanalytic Criticism Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces

The Amber Spyglass Chapter 8 Vodka Free Essays

Balthamos felt the death of Baruch the moment it happened. He cried aloud and soared into the night air over the tundra, flailing his wings and sobbing his anguish into the clouds; and it was some time before he could compose himself and go back to Will, who was wide awake, knife in hand, peering up into the damp and chilly murk. They were back in Lyra’s world. We will write a custom essay sample on The Amber Spyglass Chapter 8 Vodka or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"What is it?† said Will as the angel appeared trembling beside him. â€Å"Is it danger? Get behind me – â€Å" â€Å"Baruch is dead,† cried Balthamos, â€Å"my dear Baruch is dead – â€Å" â€Å"When? Where?† But Balthamos couldn’t tell; he only knew that half his heart had been extinguished. He couldn’t keep still: he flew up again, scouring the sky as if to seek out Baruch in this cloud or that, calling, crying, calling; and then he’d be overcome with guilt, and fly down to urge Will to hide and keep quiet, and promise to watch over him tirelessly; and then the pressure of his grief would crush him to the ground, and he’d remember every instance of kindness and courage that Baruch had ever shown, and there were thousands, and he’d forgotten none of them; and he’d cry that a nature so gracious could never be snuffed out, and he’d soar into the skies again, casting about in every direction, reckless and wild and stricken, cursing the very air, the clouds, the stars. Finally Will said, â€Å"Balthamos, come here.† The angel came at his command, helpless. Shivering inside his cloak, in the bitter cold gloom of the tundra, the boy said to him, â€Å"You must try to keep quiet now. You know there are things out there that’ll attack if they hear a noise. I can protect you with the knife if you’re nearby, but if they attack you up there, I won’t be able to help. And if you die, too, that’ll be the end for me. Balthamos, I need you to help guide me to Lyra. Please don’t forget that. Baruch was strong – be strong, too. Be like him for me.† At first Balthamos didn’t speak, but then he said, â€Å"Yes. Yes, of course I must. Sleep now, Will, and I shall stand guard, I shan’t fail you.† Will trusted him; he had to. And presently he fell asleep again. When he woke up, soaked with dew and cold to his bones, the angel was standing nearby. The sun was just rising, and the reeds and the marsh plants were all tipped with gold. Before Will could move, Balthamos said, â€Å"I’ve decided what I must do. I shall stay with you day and night, and do it cheerfully and willingly, for the sake of Baruch. I shall guide you to Lyra, if I can, and then I shall guide you both to Lord Asriel. I have lived thousands of years, and unless I am killed, I shall live many thousands of years more; but I never met a nature that made me so ardent to do good, or to be kind, as Baruch’s did. I failed so many times, but each time his goodness was there to redeem me. Now it’s not, I shall have to try without it. Perhaps I shall fail from time to time, but I shall try all the same.† â€Å"Then Baruch would be proud of you,† said Will, shivering. â€Å"Shall I fly ahead now and see where we are?† â€Å"Yes,† said Will, â€Å"fly high, and tell me what the land’s like farther on. Walking on this marshland is going to take forever.† Balthamos took to the air. He hadn’t told Will everything he was anxious about, because he was trying to do his best and not worry him; but he knew that the angel Metatron, the Regent, from whom they’d escaped so narrowly, would have Will’s face firmly imprinted on his mind. And not only his face, but everything about him that angels were able to see, including parts of which Will himself was not aware, such as that aspect of his nature Lyra would have called his daemon. Will was in great danger from Metatron now, and at some time Balthamos would have to tell him; but not quite yet. It was too difficult. Will, reckoning that it would be quicker to get warm by walking than by gathering fuel and waiting for a fire to catch, simply slung the rucksack over his shoulders, wrapped the cloak around everything, and set off toward the south. There was a path, muddy and rutted and potholed, so people did sometimes come this way; but the flat horizon was so far away on every side that he had little sense of making progress. Sometime later, when the light was brighter, Balthamos’s voice spoke beside him. â€Å"About half a day’s walk ahead, there is a wide river and a town, where there’s a wharf for boats to tie up. I flew high enough to see that the river goes a long way directly south and north. If you could get a passage, then you could move much more quickly.† â€Å"Good,† said Will fervently. â€Å"And does this path go to the town?† â€Å"It goes through a village, with a church and farms and orchards, and then on to the town.† â€Å"I wonder what language they speak. I hope they don’t lock me up if I can’t speak theirs.† â€Å"As your daemon,† said Balthamos, â€Å"I shall translate for you. I have learned many human languages; I can certainly understand the one they speak in this country.† Will walked on. The toil was dull and mechanical, but at least he was moving, and at least every step took him closer to Lyra. The village was a shabby place: a huddle of wooden buildings, with paddocks containing reindeer, and dogs that barked as he approached. Smoke crept out of the tin chimneys and hung low over the shingled roofs. The ground was heavy and dragged at his feet, and there had obviously been a recent flood: walls were marked with mud to halfway up the doors, and broken beams of wood and loose-hanging sheets of corrugated iron showed where sheds and verandas and outbuildings had been swept away. But that was not the most curious feature of the place. At first he thought he was losing his balance – it even made him stumble once or twice – for the buildings were two or three degrees out of the vertical, all leaning the same way. The dome of the little church had cracked badly. Had there been an earthquake? Dogs were barking with hysterical fury, but not daring to come close. Balthamos, being a daemon, had taken the form of a large snow white dog with black eyes, thick fur, and tight-curled tail, and he snarled so fiercely that the real dogs kept their distance. They were thin and mangy, and the few reindeer Will could see were scabby-coated and listless. Will paused in the center of the little village and looked around, wondering where to go, and as he stood there, two or three men appeared ahead and stood staring at him. They were the first people he had ever seen in Lyra’s world. They wore heavy felt coats, muddy boots, and fur hats, and they didn’t look friendly. The white dog changed into a sparrow and flew to Will’s shoulder. No one blinked an eye at this: each of the men had a daemon, Will saw, dogs, most of them, and that was how things happened in this world. On his shoulder, Balthamos whispered: â€Å"Keep moving. Don’t look them in the eye. Keep your head down. That is the respectful thing to do.† Will kept walking. He could make himself inconspicuous; it was his greatest talent. By the time he got to them, the men had already lost interest in him. But then a door opened in the biggest house in the road, and a voice called something loudly. Balthamos said softly, â€Å"The priest. You will have to be polite to him. Turn and bow.† Will did so. The priest was an immense, gray-bearded man, wearing a black cassock, with a crow daemon on his shoulder. His restless eyes moved over Will’s face and body, taking everything in. He beckoned. Will went to the doorway and bowed again. The priest said something, and Balthamos murmured, â€Å"He’s asking where you come from. Say whatever you like.† â€Å"I speak English,† Will said slowly and clearly. â€Å"I don’t know any other languages.† â€Å"Ah, English!† cried the priest gleefully in English. â€Å"My dear young man! Welcome to our village, our little no-longer-perpendicular Kholodnoye! What is your name, and where are you going?† â€Å"My name is Will, and I’m going south. I have lost my family, and I’m trying to find them again.† â€Å"Then you must come inside and have some refreshment,† said the priest, and put a heavy arm around Will’s shoulders, pulling him in through the doorway. The man’s crow daemon was showing a vivid interest in Balthamos. But the angel was equal to that: he became a mouse and crept into Will’s shirt as if he were shy. The priest led him into a parlor heavy with tobacco smoke, where a cast-iron samovar steamed quietly on a side table. â€Å"What was your name?† said the priest. â€Å"Tell me again.† â€Å"Will Parry. But I don’t know what to call you.† â€Å"Otyets Semyon,† said the priest, stroking Will’s arm as he guided him to a chair. â€Å"Otyets means Father. I am a priest of the Holy Church. My given name is Semyon, and the name of my father was Boris, so I am Semyon Borisovitch. What is your father’s name?† â€Å"John Parry.† â€Å"John is Ivan. So you are Will Ivanovitch, and I am Father Semyon Borisovitch. Where have you come from, Will Ivanovitch, and where are you going?† â€Å"I’m lost,† Will said. â€Å"I was traveling with my family to the south. My father is a soldier, but he was exploring in the Arctic, and then something happened and we got lost. So I’m traveling south because I know that’s where we were going next.† The priest spread his hands and said, â€Å"A soldier? An explorer from England? No one so interesting as that has trodden the dirty roads of Kholodnoye for centuries, but in this time of upheaval, how can we know that he will not appear tomorrow? You yourself are a welcome visitor, Will Ivanovitch. You must stay the night in my house and we will talk and eat together. Lydia Alexandrovna!† he called. An elderly woman came in silently. He spoke to her in Russian, and she nodded and took a glass and filled it with hot tea from the samovar. She brought the glass of tea to Will, together with a little saucer of jam with a silver spoon. â€Å"Thank you,† said Will. â€Å"The conserve is to sweeten the tea,† said the priest. â€Å"Lydia Alexandrovna made it from bilberries.† The result was that the tea was sickly as well as bitter, but Will sipped it, nonetheless. The priest kept leaning forward to look closely at him, and felt his hands to see whether he was cold, and stroked his knee. In order to distract him, Will asked why the buildings in the village sloped. â€Å"There has been a convulsion in the earth,† the priest said. â€Å"It is all foretold in the Apocalypse of St. John. Rivers flow backward†¦ The great river only a short way from here used to flow north into the Arctic Ocean. All the way from the mountains of central Asia it flowed north for thousands and thousands of years, ever since the Authority of God the Almighty Father created the earth. But when the earth shook and the fog and the floods came, everything changed, and then the great river flowed south for a week or more before it turned again and went north. The world is turned upside down. Where were you when the great convulsion came?† â€Å"A long way from here,† Will said. â€Å"I didn’t know what was happening. When the fog cleared, I had lost my family and I don’t know where I am now. You’ve told me the name of this place, but where is it? Where are we?† â€Å"Bring me that large book on the bottom shelf,† said Semyon Borisovitch. â€Å"I will show you.† The priest drew his chair up to the table and licked his fingers before turning the pages of the great atlas. â€Å"Here,† he said, pointing with a dirty fingernail at a spot in central Siberia, a long way east of the Urals. The river nearby flowed, as the priest had said, from the northern part of the mountains in Tibet all the way to the Arctic. He looked closely at the Himalaya, but he could see nothing like the map Baruch had sketched. Semyon Borisovitch talked and talked, pressing Will for details of his life, his family, his home, and Will, a practiced dissembler, answered him fully enough. Presently the housekeeper brought in some beetroot soup and dark bread, and after the priest had said a long grace, they ate. â€Å"Well, how shall we pass our day, Will Ivanovitch?† said Semyon Borisovitch. â€Å"Shall we play at cards, or would you prefer to talk?† He drew another glass of tea from the samovar, and Will took it doubtfully. â€Å"I can’t play cards,† he said, â€Å"and I’m anxious to get on and keep traveling. If I went to the river, for example, do you think I could find a passage on a steamer going south?† The priest’s huge face darkened, and he crossed himself with a delicate flick of the wrist. â€Å"There is trouble in the town,† he said. â€Å"Lydia Alexandrovna has a sister who came here and told her there is a boat carrying bears up the river. Armored bears. They come from the Arctic. You did not see armored bears when you were in the north?† The priest was suspicious, and Balthamos whispered so quietly that only Will could hear: â€Å"Be careful.† And Will knew at once why he’d said it: his heart had begun to pound when Semyon Borisovitch mentioned the bears, because of what Lyra had told him about them. He must try to contain his feelings. He said, â€Å"We were a long way from Svalbard, and the bears were occupied with their own affairs.† â€Å"Yes, that is what I heard,† said the priest, to Will’s relief, â€Å"But now they are leaving their homeland and coming south. They have a boat, and the people of the town will not let them refuel. They are afraid of the bears. And so they should be – they are children of the devil. All things from the north are devilish. Like the witches – daughters of evil! The Church should have put them all to death many years ago. Witches – have nothing to do with them, Will Ivanovitch, you hear me? You know what they will do when you come to the right age? They will try to seduce you. They will use all the soft, cunning, deceitful ways they have, their flesh, their soft skin, their sweet voices, and they will take your seed – you know what I mean by that – they will drain you and leave you hollow! They will take your future, your children that are to come, and leave you nothing. They should be put to death, every one.† The priest reached across to the shelf beside his chair and took down a bottle and two small glasses. â€Å"Now I am going to offer you a little drink, Will Ivanovitch,† he said. â€Å"You are young, so not very many glasses. But you are growing, and so you need to know some things, like the taste of vodka. Lydia Alexandrovna collected the berries last year, and I distilled the liquor, and here in the bottle is the result, the only place where Otyets Semyon Borisovitch and Lydia Alexandrovna lie together!† He laughed and uncorked the bottle, filling each glass to the rim. This kind of talk made Will hideously uneasy. What should he do? How could he refuse to drink without discourtesy? â€Å"Otyets Semyon,† he said, standing, â€Å"you have been very kind, and I wish I could stay longer to taste your drink and to hear you talk, because what you tell me has been very interesting. But you understand I am unhappy about my family, and very anxious to find them again, so I think I must move on, much as I would like to stay.† The priest pushed out his lips, in the thicket of his beard, and frowned; but then he shrugged and said, â€Å"Well, you shall go if you must. But before you leave, you must drink your vodka. Stand with me now! Take it, and down all in one, like this!† He threw back the glass, swallowing it all at once, and then hauled his massive body up and stood very close to Will. In his fat, dirty fingers the glass he held out seemed tiny; but it was brimming with the clear spirit, and Will could smell the heady tang of the drink and the stale sweat and the food stains on the man’s cassock, and he felt sick before he began. â€Å"Drink, Will Ivanovitch!† the priest cried, with a threatening heartiness. Will lifted the glass and unhesitatingly swallowed the fiery, oily liquid in one gulp. Now he would have to fight hard to avoid being sick. There was one more ordeal to come. Semyon Borisovitch leaned forward from his great height, and took Will by both shoulders. â€Å"My boy,† he said, and then closed his eyes and began to intone a prayer or a psalm. Vapors of tobacco and alcohol and sweat came powerfully from him, and he was close enough for his thick beard, wagging up and down, to brush Will’s face. Will held his breath. The priest’s hands moved behind Will’s shoulders, and then Semyon Borisovitch was hugging him tightly and kissing his cheeks, right, left, right again. Will felt Balthamos dig tiny claws into his shoulder, and kept still. His head was swimming, his stomach lurching, but he didn’t move. Finally it was over, and the priest stepped back and pushed him away. â€Å"Go, then,† he said, â€Å"go south, Will Ivanovitch. Go.† Will gathered his cloak and the rucksack, and tried to walk straight as he left the priest’s house and took the road out of the village. He walked for two hours, feeling the nausea gradually subside and a slow, pounding headache take its place. Balthamos made him stop at one point, and laid his cool hands on Will’s neck and forehead, and the ache eased a little; but Will made himself a promise that he would never drink vodka again. And in the late afternoon the path widened and came out of the reeds, and Will saw the town ahead of him, and beyond it an expanse of water so broad it might have been a sea. Even from some way off, Will could see that there was trouble. Puffs of smoke were erupting from beyond the roofs, followed a few seconds later by the boom of a gun. â€Å"Balthamos,† he said, â€Å"you’ll have to be a daemon again. Just keep near me and watch out for danger.† He walked into the outskirts of the scruffy little town, where the buildings leaned even more perilously than the village, and where the flooding had left its mud stains on the walls high above Will’s head. The edge of the town was deserted, but as he made his way toward the river, the noise of shouting, of screams, and of the crackle of rifle fire got louder. And here at last there were people: some watching from upper-floor windows, some craning anxiously around the corners of buildings to look ahead at the waterfront, where the metal fingers of cranes and derricks and the masts of big vessels rose above the rooftops. An explosion shook the walls, and glass fell out of a nearby window. People drew back and then peered around again, and more cries rose into the smoky air. Will reached the corner of the street and looked along the waterfront. When the smoke and dust cleared a little, he saw one rusting vessel standing offshore, keeping its place against the flow of the river, and on the wharf a mob of people armed with rifles or pistols surrounding a great gun, which, as he watched, boomed again. A flash of fire, a lurching recoil, and near the vessel, a mighty splash. Will shaded his eyes. There were figures in the boat, but – he rubbed his eyes, even though he knew what to expect – they weren’t human. They were huge beings of metal, or creatures in heavy armor, and on the foredeck of the vessel, a bright flower of flame suddenly bloomed, and the people cried out in alarm. The flame sped into the air, rising higher and coming closer and shedding sparks and smoke, and then fell with a great splash of fire near the gun. Men cried and scattered, and some ran in flames to the water’s edge and plunged in, to be swept along and out of sight in the current. Will found a man close by who looked like a teacher, and said: â€Å"Do you speak English?† â€Å"Yes, yes, indeed – â€Å" â€Å"What is happening?† â€Å"The bears, they are attacking, and we try to fight them, but it is difficult, we have only one gun, and – â€Å" The fire thrower on the boat hurled another gout of blazing pitch, and this time it landed even closer to the gun. Three big explosions almost immediately afterward showed that it had found the ammunition, and the gunners leapt away, letting the barrel swing down low. â€Å"Ah,† the man lamented, â€Å"it’s no good, they can’t fire – â€Å" The commander of the boat brought the vessel’s head around and moved in toward the shore. Many people cried out in alarm and despair, especially when another great bulb of flame burst into being on the foredeck, and some of those with rifles fired a shot or two and turned to flee; but this time the bears didn’t launch the fire, and soon the vessel moved broadside on toward the wharf, engine beating hard to hold it against the current. Two sailors (human, not bears) leapt down to throw ropes around the bollards, and a great hiss and cry of anger rose from the townsfolk at these human traitors. The sailors took no notice, but ran to lower a gangplank. Then as they turned to go back on board, a shot was fired from somewhere near Will, and one of the sailors fell. His daemon – a seagull – vanished as if she’d been pinched out of existence like a candle flame. The reaction from the bears was pure fury. At once the fire thrower was relit and hauled around to face the shore, and the mass of flame shot upward and then cascaded in a hundred spilling gouts over the rooftops. And at the top of the gangway appeared a bear larger than any of the others, an apparition of ironclad might, and the bullets that rained on him whined and clanged and thudded uselessly, unable to make the slightest dent in his massive armor. Will said to the man beside him, â€Å"Why are they attacking the town?† â€Å"They want fuel. But we have no dealings with bears. Now they are leaving their kingdom and sailing up the river, who knows what they will do? So we must fight them. Pirates – robbers – â€Å" The great bear had come down the gangway, and massed behind him were several others, so heavy that the ship listed; and Will saw that the men on the wharf had gone back to the gun and were loading a shell into the breech. An idea came, and he ran out onto the quayside, right into the empty space between the gunners and the bear. â€Å"Stop!† he shouted. â€Å"Stop fighting. Let me speak to the bear!† There was a sudden lull, and everyone stood still, astonished at this crazy behavior. The bear himself, who had been gathering his strength to charge the gunners, stayed where he was, but every line of his body trembled with ferocity. His great claws dug into the ground, and his black eyes glowed with rage under the iron helmet. â€Å"What are you? What do you want?† he roared in English, since Will had spoken in that language. The people watching looked at one another in bewilderment, and those who could understand translated for the others. â€Å"I’ll fight you, in single combat,† cried Will, â€Å"and if you give way, then the fighting has to stop.† The bear didn’t move. As for the people, as soon as they understood what Will was saying, they shouted and jeered and hooted with mocking laughter. But not for long, because Will turned to face the crowd, and stood cold-eyed, contained, and perfectly still, until the laughter stopped. He could feel the blackbird-Balthamos trembling on his shoulder. When the people were silent, he called out, â€Å"If I make the bear give way, you must agree to sell them fuel. Then they’ll go on along the river and leave you alone. You must agree. If you don’t, they’ll destroy all of you.† He knew that the huge bear was only a few yards behind him, but he didn’t turn; he watched the townspeople talking, gesticulating, arguing, and after a minute, a voice called, â€Å"Boy! Make the bear agree!† Will turned back. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath and called: â€Å"Bear! You must agree. If you give way to me, the fighting has to stop, and you can buy fuel and go peacefully up the river.† â€Å"Impossible,† roared the bear. â€Å"It would be shameful to fight you. You are as weak as an oyster out of its shell. I cannot fight you.† â€Å"I agree,† said Will, and every scrap of his attention was now focused on this great ferocious being in front of him. â€Å"It’s not a fair contest at all. You have all that armor, and I have none. You could take off my head with one sweep of your paw. Make it fairer, then. Give me one piece of your armor, any one you like. Your helmet, for example. Then we’ll be better matched, and it’ll be no shame to fight me.† With a snarl that expressed hatred, rage, and scorn, the bear reached up with a great claw and unhooked the chain that held his helmet in place. And now there was a deep hush over the whole waterfront. No one spoke – no one moved. They could tell that something was happening such as they’d never seen before, and they couldn’t tell what it was. The only sound now was the splashing of the river against the wooden pilings, the beat of the ship’s engine, and the restless crying of seagulls overhead; and then the great clang as the bear hurled his helmet down at Will’s feet. Will put his rucksack down and hoisted the helmet up on its end. He could barely lift it. It consisted of a single sheet of iron, dark and dented, with eyeholes on top and a massive chain underneath. It was as long as Will’s forearm, and as thick as his thumb. â€Å"So this is your armor,† he said. â€Å"Well, it doesn’t look very strong to me. I don’t know if I can trust it. Let me see.† And he took the knife from the rucksack and rested the edge against the front of the helmet, and sliced off a corner as if he were cutting butter. â€Å"That’s what I thought,† he said, and cut another and another, reducing the massive thing to a pile of fragments in less than a minute. He stood up and held out a handful. â€Å"That was your armor,† he said, and dropped the pieces with a clatter onto the rest at his feet, â€Å"and this is my knife. And since your helmet was no good to me, I’ll have to fight without it. Are you ready, bear? I think we’re well matched. I could take off your head with one sweep of my knife, after all.† Utter stillness. The bear’s black eyes glowed like pitch, and Will felt a drop of sweat trickle down his spine. Then the bear’s head moved. He shook it and took a step backward. â€Å"Too strong a weapon,† he said. â€Å"I can’t fight that. Boy, you win.† Will knew that a second later the people would cheer and hoot and whistle, so even before the bear had finished saying the word win, Will had begun to turn and call out, to keep them quiet: â€Å"Now you must keep the bargain. Look after the wounded people and start repairing the buildings. Then let the boat tie up and refuel.† He knew that it would take a minute to translate that and let the message spread out among the watching townsfolk, and he knew, too, that the delay would prevent their relief and anger from bursting out, as a net of sandbanks baffles and breaks up the flow of a river. The bear watched and saw what he was doing and why, and understood more fully than Will himself did what the boy had achieved. Will put the knife back in the rucksack, and he and the bear exchanged another glance, but a different kind this time. They approached, and behind them as the bears began to dismantle their fire thrower, the other two ships maneuvered their way to the quayside. Onshore some of the people set about clearing up, but several more came crowding to see Will, curious about this boy and the power he had to command the bear. It was time for Will to become inconspicuous again, so he performed the magic that had deflected all kinds of curiosity away from his mother and kept them safe for years. Of course it wasn’t magic, but simply a way of behaving. He made himself quiet and dull-eyed and slow, and in under a minute he became less interesting, less attractive to human attention. The people simply became bored with this dull child, and forgot him and turned away. But the bear’s attention was not human, and he could see what was happening, and he knew it was yet another extraordinary power at Will’s command. He came close and spoke quietly, in a voice that seemed to throb as deeply as the ship’s engines. â€Å"What is your name?† he said. â€Å"Will Parry. Can you make another helmet?† â€Å"Yes. What do you seek?† â€Å"You’re going up the river. I want to come with you. I’m going to the mountains and this is the quickest way. Will you take me?† â€Å"Yes. I want to see that knife.† â€Å"I will only show it to a bear I can trust. There is one bear I’ve heard of who’s trustworthy. He is the king of the bears, a good friend of the girl I’m going to the mountains to find. Her name is Lyra Silvertongue. The bear is called Iorek Byrnison.† â€Å"I am Iorek Byrnison,† said the bear. â€Å"I know you are,† said Will. The boat was taking fuel on board; the railcars were hauled alongside and tilted sideways to let coal thunder down the chutes into the hold, and the black dust rose high above them. Unnoticed by the townspeople, who were busy sweeping up glass and haggling over the price of the fuel, Will followed the bear-king up the gangway and aboard the ship. How to cite The Amber Spyglass Chapter 8 Vodka, Essay examples

Dawn as the Brand free essay sample

Dawn the Innovator in Brand Building Jacquelyn Denton American Intercontinental University Abstract Dawn has created a loyal fan base since its introduction in 1973. Dawn marketers utilized several marketing techniques such as brand equity and positioning to remain the leader of dish soap sales. Dawn has built brand equity by using the original Dawn to spring board their new products such as the ultra concentrated Dawn with power scrubbers. Dawn positions itself in the market by fulfilling the consumers need for a quality product. Dawn has given consumers a new perspective as dish soap by being used to clean animals affected by the recent oil spill. The Dawn brand is an example of how brand building is an essential factor for businesses and their marketing departments An interview was conducted with Terri Perkins, my mother. Terri has used the dishwashing liquid Dawn for many years. Terri has used Dawn dishwashing liquid 25+ years. Terri feels that no other dishwashing liquid cuts grease and gets the dishes clean. Terri has experimented with several other dishwashing liquids when others are on sale or money is short. Terri mentions no other dishwashing liquid comes close to Dawn. Research on the website www. dawn-dish. com states, â€Å"Since its creation in 1973, Dawn dishwashing liquid has been known for superior grease-fighting power†. (www. dawn-dish). Terri believes the old Dawn commercial that stated, â€Å"one drop of Dawn does it all†. Terri feels that other liquid detergents may be cheaper but you use more of the cheaper version. Dawn is rarely on sale but you use less, so it lasts longer. Terri has been a consistent user of Dawn for 10 years without using any other substitution. Terri has tried several other brands of liquid detergent such as Joy and Palmolive dish washing liquid. Terri figures it is not worth paying less money for less satisfaction. Terri doesn’t have any knowledge concerning the concepts of brand equity and brand positioning. The interview is concluded with answering questions concerning Dawn and the concepts of brand equity and positioning. A series of questions were asked by Terri during the interview. The first question, what is the definition of a brand? A brand is simply a name or symbol that is used to identify a product or a source of a product. A famous example is the golden arches, or the yellow M that represents McDonald’s restaurants. The yellow M is so well known a, 4 year old child can identify the McDonald’s brand on site even before knowing how to read. Terri was instructed the original Dawn only came as a blue liquid. Dawn was easily identified as a brand due to the unique blue color. Terri’s next question, what is brand equity? Brand equity was explained in relation to the Dawn liquid. Brand equity can be seen from three different perspectives. The first perspective involves finances. The financial perspective is one way to measure brand equity. The website www. etMBA. com states, â€Å"One way to measure brand equity is to determine the price premium that a brand commands over a generic product†. The financial perspective is why Terri is willing to pay a higher price for the Dawn versus paying the cheaper price for the competing liquids. The willingness to pay the higher price provides essential information about the value of the Dawn brand. The second perspective involves brand extensions. When Dawn first entered the market, only one choice existed. Today many variations of the Dawn brand exist. Dawn has teamed up with Cascade and they offer an automatic dish washer tablet. The website www. dawn-dish. com features several different Dawn products, such as Dawn Hand Renewal with Olay Beauty. Dawn has several extensions from the original scent such as citrus, lavender and a direct foam product. The website www. netMBA states, â€Å"A successful brand can be used as a platform to launch related products†. (Brand Equity 2010). The related brand such as the Dawn Direct Foam is a brand extension. The third perspective of brand equity involves the consumer’s attitude. Terri has a strong attitude towards the Dawn product. Dawn is a strong brand which increases Terri’s positive attitude toward the Dawn brand. The attitude is built based on the experience with the product. The website www. netMBA. com states, â€Å"The consumer’s awareness and associations lead to perceived quality, inferred attributes, and eventually, brand loyalty†. (Brand Equity 2010). Terri’s next set of questions concern brand positioning. Dawn has a dominant place in Terri’s mind. Positioning is the attempt of a brand to occupy the space of a consumers mind. A more detailed definition comes from the AIU textbook entitled Marketing Management which states, â€Å" Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to ccupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market†(Kotler Keller 2009). One drop of Dawn completing a sink full of dishes is the goal it helps consumers achieve. Dawn positions itself has a unique liquid with power scrubbers. In the consumers mind they see little power scrubbers that eat and destroy the grease particles in the water and on the dishes. No other dish washing liquid claims to have tiny power-scrubbers in their liquid that fight and destroy grease. The interview with Terri is complete. Terri has a better understanding of why she feels Dawn is the only dishwashing liquid she will use. The second part of the research will identify how Dawn identifies market segments and targets? How has Dawn developed its brand equity over time? How does Dawn position itself on the market? What is dishwashing liquid? Dishwashing liquid is a detergent made of a mixture of high foam surfactants. Dishwashing liquid is also known as dish soap or dishwashing soap. The surfactants within the liquid causes little skin irritation and is used to wash a variety of dishes such as spoons, cups, utensils, pot and pans. The Dawn website states the product was born in 1973. Dawn’s target market is the average household with dirty dishes. Dawn’s primary market segment is women. The overall target is the average household but the market segment within the household is women. Dawn states, â€Å"Dawn dishwashing liquid has been known for superior grease fighting power†. (www. dawn-dish. com). Men wash dishes but Dawn markets based on the concept that the average household dishwasher is a woman. Dawn markets their dishwashing liquid based on the concept that the average household shopper is a woman. Dawn conducted research and the market segment was chosen to increase company profits and market penetration. Dawn has developed a product that falls under the category of niche marketing. The AIU unit materials states, â€Å"Niche marketing involves selecting an even smaller segment than the target market†. (FAQ: Marketing Strategies n. d. ). In 2008, Dawn developed a new product called Dawn Plus Hand Renewal. Dawn Plus is a niche marketing product. The Dawn website states the hand renewal product places dishwashing into the daily beauty routine. The website states, â€Å"Now users can elevate their dishwashing to a beautifying experience without sacrificing the superb cleaning power that has made Dawn a trusted brand for years†. (www. dawn-dish. com n. d. ). Women age 18-45 is the niche group; women who are concerned with the integrity of their hands and skin while doing household chores. Dawn’s Plus Hand Renewal has identified their product’s strength by identifying an attribute that other competing dish soaps do not offer. The AIU unit materials enforce an important rule for all marketers, â€Å"Pitting your products strengths against the weaknesses of the competition should be the center of your strategies†. (FAQ: Marketing Strategies n. d. ). Dawn developed its brand equity over time. Dawn first introduced itself on the market as an efficient dish soap, where a little bit goes a long way. The first product was the original Dawn, a harmless blue un-concentrated and unscented liquid. The introduction of the original Dawn was unassuming. Dawn was building brand equity by using the original Dawn to spring board future products such as the ultra concentrated Dawn with power scrubbers. Dawn also build brand equity by making using the ‘elaboration’ technique. Elaboration is making the brand easy to remember so the customer will continue to buy. Dawn is the only product on the market that features a blue liquid, it is easily identifiable. Lastly, Dawn uses fortification to build their brand equity. Dawn’s image has remained consistent over time and this has reinforced its place in the consumers mind. Terri has fallen pray to this concept. Dawn offers several new bottle shapes but the logo and image has remained untouched, this helps the consumer develop a special relationship with the product. Dawn positions itself in the market by fulfilling the consumers need for a quality product. The shelves of the supermarkets are filled with a variety of dishwashing liquids. Joy, Palmolive, Ajax and the new market entry of Gain which are all competing dishwashing liquids. What had Dawn done to set them apart form the competition and provide the consumers with a new perspective? An article found on the website www. mnn. com mentions Dawn being used to clean animals affected by an oil spill. The competing dish soaps such as Joy and Ajax can’t compete with this aspect of Dawn. The article states, â€Å" The â€Å" tough on grease† dish detergent, commonly found at kitchen sinks across America, is used by animal rescue and rehabilitation teams to help gently remove oil from feathers, fur , and skin of oil-soaked critter†. (Anonymous 2010). The new use of Dawn to clean oiled animals provides a new conception for Dawn users. Dawn has now positioned their dish soap as a product that helps the dirty sinks of America and the world. Dawn has created a loyal fan base since its introduction in 1973. Dawn marketers utilized several marketing techniques such as brand equity and positioning to remain the leader of dish soap sales. Dawn identified their target market while creating niche markets for new products. The Dawn brand is an example of how brand building is an essential factor for businesses and their marketing departments. References AIU Online (2011). FAQ: Marketing Sgtrategies and Methods. [Unit Materials]. Retrieved from AIU Online Virtual Campus. Marketing Management: MKT305-1103A-10 Anonymous. (2010, April 30). Dawn dishwashing liquid being used to clean animals affected by oil spill. Retrieved August 1, 2011, from www. mnn. com/earth-matters/wilderness Brand Equity. (n. d. ). Retrieved August 1, 2011 from http://www. netmba. com/marketing/brand/equity Dawn. (n. d. ). Retrieved July 31, 2011 from http://www. dawn-dish. com Kotler, P. Keller, K. L. (2009). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Marketing Environment Essay Example

Marketing Environment Essay | 2012/13| | Id: 1180654 Allan raisin | [Firms can do more than simply anticipating and responding to both macro and micro environment:-]| Market research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information | â€Å"Marketing environment includes all the forces that directly or indirectly influence marketing operations by affecting an organization acquisition of inputs/creation of outputs such as human, financial and natural resources and raw material, information, goods, services or ideas. Sometimes a distinction is more between macro and micro factors of environment† The Structure of the Marketing Environment The consumer occupies the core/central position of all business activities and hence occupies the Centre of the marketing environment. The organization with its resources and having a policy and structure surrounds the consumer with its particular market offering as do its competitors, suppliers and other intermediaries. This microenvironment of marketing is again affected by the macro environment, which consists of the government, technical, political, social, economic factors. This is graphically represented by below 1. The major external and uncontrollable factors that influence an organizations decision making, and affect its performance and strategies. These factors include the economic factors; demographics; legal, political, and social conditions; technological changes; and natural forces. 2. Specific examples of macro environment influences include competitors, changes in interest rates, changes in cultural tastes, disastrous weather, or government regulations. PESTLE Macro Environmental Analysis PESTLE We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Environment specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Environment specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to scan the organization’s external macro environment. The  letters stand for Political, Economic  Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental. Some approaches will add in extra factors, such as International, or remove some to reduce it to PEST. However, these are all merely variations on a theme. The important principle is identifying the key  factors from the wider, uncontrollable external environment that might affect the organization. The PESTLE Factors We start with the Political forces. First of all, political factors refer to the stability of the political  environment and the attitudes of political parties or movements. This may manifest in government  influence on tax policies, or government involvement in trading agreements. Political factors are  inevitably entwined with Legal factors such as national employment laws, international trade  regulations and restrictions, monopolies and mergers’ rules, and consumer protection. The difference  between Political and Legal factors is that Political refers to attitudes and approaches, whereas Legal  factors are those which have become law and regulations. Legal needs to be complied with whereas  Political may represent influences, restrictions or opportunities, but they are not mandatory. Economic factors represent the wider economy so may include economic growth rates, levels of  employment and unemployment, costs of raw materials such as energy, petrol and steel, interest rates  and monetary policies, exchange rates and inflation rates. These may also vary from one country to  another. Socio-cultural factors represent the culture of the society that an organization operates within. They  may include demographics, age distribution, population growth rates, level of education, distribution of  wealth and social classes, living conditions and lifestyle. Technological factors refer to the rate of new inventions and development, changes in information and  mobile technology, changes in internet and e-commerce or even mobile commerce, and government  spending on research. There is often a tendency to focus Technological developments on digital and internet-related areas, but it should also include materials development and new methods of  manufacture, distribution and logistics. Environmental impacts can include issues such as limited natural resources, waste disposal and recycling  procedures. Additional Considerations A newer force which is gaining in importance is ethics. These can be defined by the set of moral  principles and values that govern the actions and decisions of an individual or group. Ethics and morals  serve as guidelines on how to act rightly and justly when individuals are faced with moral dilemmas. This force could include corporate social responsibility, fair trade, affiliation between corporations and  charities. A particular problem may exist with how ethical factors relates to legal forces as they may be  at different stages in development. Something may be ethical but not protected by law, whereas other activities may not be ethical, but are legal. A PESTLE analysis should feed into a SWOT analysis as it helps to determine the threats and  opportunities represented by macro-environment forces that the organization usually cannot control. On an international basis, it is best to perform the analysis on a country-by-country basis because  factors can differ greatly between countries (or even regions). Marketing Environment – Micro Marketing Environment – Micro The micro marketing environment consists of certain forces that are part of an organizations marketing process, but remain external to the organization. This micro marketing environment that surrounds organizations can be complex by nature; however the company has an element of control over how it operates within this environment. Marketing helps you to manage and make sense of this complexity. The illustration above summarizes the order of the immediate external marketing environment that businesses operate in. Current and Potential Customers Your customers are vital to the growth and sustainability of your company. In order to grow you must locate customers, understand their needs and then satisfy those needs both efficiently and profitably. Competitors Your competitors however have the same remit as you when it comes to sourcing and satisfying the needs of the customer. They will make it difficult to liaise with customer groups, as by definition they are largely pursuing the same sets of customers as you. As a marketer, you must therefore not only monitor what competitors are doing in the external marketing environment today, but to also anticipate their likely response to your campaigns and to predict what they will do tomorrow. Intermediaries (Distributors/Wholesalers/Retailers) Your business may require a network of wholesalers, distributors and/or retailer. These ‘intermediaries’ provide an invaluable service in getting your products to the customer. You must therefore think carefully about how best to distribute your goods and build relationships. This area can be fierce in competition as not everyone can get access to the channels of distribution that they want. Suppliers One other important area to consider in the external marketing environment is your suppliers. A key supplier can be an important part of your business and may even attribute to your competitive advantage. Losing important suppliers can interrupt production flow or your competitive edge and prevent you from getting your product to your customers. Choice of suppliers, negotiation of terms and relationship building all become important tasks of the marketer. The wider marketing environment, discussed in a separate knowledge sheet, covers all other influences that might provide opportunities or threats to the organization. These include technological development, legal constraints, the economic environment and sociocultural changes. This brief overview of the world in which companies operate in demonstrates that there are many relationships that matter. These need to be managed if the company is to conduct its business successfully. The main responsibility for managing these relationships lies within the marketing department. Using a SWOT SWOT is an important tool in auditing the external and internal environment of the organization. A SWOT Analysis should be more than a basic listing of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Most organizations have the same, common-sense type of threats, such as competitors, technological changes, regulation and deregulation, or weaknesses such as high price, but these are all very general, hard to control elements meaning the utility can be quite limited. As Cranfield’s Professor Malcolm McDonald puts it, real SWOTs should be more concise and specific. STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, AND THREATS Strengths, in the SWOT analysis, are a companys capabilities and resources that allow it to engage in activities to generate economic value and perhaps competitive advantage. A companys strengths may be in its ability to create unique products, to provide high-level customer service, or to have a presence in multiple retail markets. Strengths may also be things such as the companys culture, its staffing and training, or the quality of its managers. Whatever capability a company has can be regarded as strength. A companys weaknesses are a lack of resources or capabilities that can prevent it from generating economic value or gaining a competitive advantage if used to enact the companys strategy. There are many examples of organizational weaknesses. For example, a firm may have a large, bureaucratic structure that limits its ability to compete with smaller, more dynamic companies. Another weakness may occur if a company has higher labor costs than a competitor who can have similar productivity from a lower labor cost. The characteristics of an organization that can be strength, as listed above, can also be a weakness if the company does not do them well. Opportunities provide the organization with a chance to improve its performance and its competitive advantage. Some opportunities may be anticipated, others arise unexpectedly. Opportunities may arise when there are niches for new products or services, or when these products and services can be offered at different times and in different locations. For instance, the increased use of the Internet has provided numerous opportunities for companies to expand their product sales. Threats can be an individual, group, or organization outside the company that aims to reduce the level of the companys performance. Every company faces threats in its environment. Often the more successful companies have stronger threats, because there is a desire on the part of other companies to take some of that success for their own. Threats may come from new products or services from other companies that aim to take away a companys competitive advantage. Threats may also come from government regulation or even consumer groups. A strong company strategy that shows how to gain competitive advantage should address all four elements of the SWOT analysis. It should help the organization determine how to use its strengths to take advantage of opportunities and neutralize threats. Finally, a strong strategy should help an organization avoid or fix its weaknesses. If a company can develop a strategy that makes use of the information from SWOT analysis, it is more likely to have high levels of performance. Nearly every company can benefit from SWOT analysis. Larger organizations may have strategic-planning procedures in place that incorporate SWOT analysis, but smaller firms, particularly entrepreneurial firms may have to start the analysis from scratch. Additionally, depending on the size or the degree of diversification of the company, it may be necessary to conduct more than one SWOT analysis. If the company has a wide variety of products and services, particularly if it operates in different markets, one SWOT analysis will not capture all of the relevant strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that exist across the span of the companys operations. LIMITATIONS OF SWOT ANALYSIS One major problem with the SWOT analysis is that while it emphasizes the importance of the four elements associated with the organizational and environmental analysis, it does not address how the company can identify the elements for their own company. Many organizational executives may not be able to determine what these elements are, and the SWOT framework provides no guidance. For example, what if a strength identified by the company is not truly strength? While a company might believe its customer service is strong, they may be unaware of problems with employees or the capabilities of other companies to provide a higher level of customer service. Weaknesses are often easier to determine, but typically after it is too late to create a new strategy to offset them. A company may also have difficulty identifying opportunities. Depending on the organization, what may seem like an opportunity to some may appear to be a threat to others. Opportunities may be easy to overlook or may be identified long after they can be exploited. Similarly, a company may have difficulty anticipating possible threats in order to effectively avoid them. While the SWOT framework does not provide managers with the guidance to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, it does tell managers what questions to ask during the strategy development process, even if it does not provide the answers. Managers know to ask and to determine a strategy that will take advantage of a companys strengths, minimize its weaknesses, exploit opportunities, or neutralize threats. Some experts argue that making strategic choices for the firm is less important than asking the right questions in choosing the strategy. A company may mistakenly solve a problem by providing the correct answer to the wrong question. USING SWOT ANALYSIS TO DEVELOP ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY SWOT analysis is just the first step in developing and implementing an effective organizational strategy. After a thorough SWOT analysis, the next step is to rank the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and to document the criteria for ranking. The company must then determine its strategic fit given its internal capabilities and external environment in a two-by-two grid (see Figure 1). This fit, as determined in the grid, will indicate what strategic changes need to be made. The quadrants in this grid are as follows: * Quadrant 1 —internal strengths matched with external opportunities; * Quadrant 2 —internal weaknesses relative to external opportunities; * Quadrant 3 —internal strengths matched with external threats; and * Quadrant 4 —internal weaknesses relative to external threats. Quadrant 1 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys strengths and its perceived external opportunities. It represents the best fit between the companys resources and the options available in the external market. A strategy from this quadrant would be to protect the companys strengths by shoring up resources and extending competitive advantage. If a strategy in this quadrant can additionally bolster weaknesses in other areas, such as in Quadrant 2, this would be advantageous. Quadrant 2 lists the strategies associated with a match between the companys weaknesses with external opportunities. Strategies in this quadrant would address the choice of either improving upon weaknesses to turn them into strengths, or allowing competitors to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. Quadrant 3 matches the companys strengths and external threats. Strategies in this quadrant may aim to transform external threats into opportunities by changing the companys competitive position through use of its resources or strengths. Another strategic option in this quadrant is for the company to maintain a defensive strategy to focus on more promising opportunities in other quadrants. Quadrant 4 matches a companys weaknesses and the threats in the environment. These are the worst possible scenarios for an organization. However, because of the competitive nature of the marketplace, any company is likely to have information in this quadrant. Strategies in this quadrant may involve using resources in other quadrants to exploit opportunities to the point that other threats are minimized. Additionally, some issues may be moved out of this quadrant by otherwise neutralizing the threat or by bolstering a perceived weakness. Once a strategy is decided on in each quadrant for the issues facing the company, these strategies require frequent monitoring and periodic updates. An organization is best served by proactively determining strategies to address issues before they become crises. An example of how a firm can develop strategies using these quadrants is as follows. Generic Corporation produces high-quality; high-priced specialty kitchen items in a catalog and in stores and is known for their excellent customer service. This strength has been able to offset its major weaknesses, which are having few stores and no current capabilities for Internet sales. Its major opportunities come from the explosion of Internet shopping, and its threats are other more high-profile competitors, operating primarily on the Internet, and the concerns of identity theft in Internet sales that many customers ha ve. Matching Generics strengths to its opportunities (Quadrant 1), the firm may choose to enhance its Internet site to allow online purchases, still providing its excellent 24-hour telephone customer service. Ideally, this strategy will offset the weakness of not having an Internet presence, which addresses the concerns of Quadrant 2. Additionally, by bolstering the strength of excellent customer service by applying it to the online shopping site, the company may be able to alleviate customer concerns about identity theft (Quadrant 3). A strategy for Quadrant 4, which matches the companys weaknesses and threats, is that Generic may consider selling its online business to a competitor. Certainly, the Quadrant 4 strategy is the least preferred, but a proactive strategy that plans for managing such a situation is favored over a crisis situation in which the company is forced to sell with no planning. A SWOT analysis is a first, but critical, step in developing an organizational strategy. By examining the companys internal capabilities—its strengths and weaknesses and its external environment—opportunities and threats, it helps to create strategies that can proactively contend with organizational challenges. The changing and uncertain marketing environment deeply affects the organization, instead of changing slowly and predictably, the environment can produce major surprises and shocks, how many managers at â€Å"Heinz† foresaw that the baby-boom numbers would fall so rapidly? How many were able to predict that the Internet will enable not only real-time personal communication but that will also provide a way for business process improvement and new industries would be formed. How many were able to predict that mobile phone SMS and MMS services would add significant value for the customers, some said ‘who would want to type text on the phone or even snap pictures , telephone are only for talking’ To conclude I would say that Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information – these information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications. †

Free Essays on More Just Societies

More Just Societies Let’s take a trip back in time into the 1960’s. African Americans were facing very harsh discrimination against them by white Americans. African Americans faced many hardships and were mistreated very poorly. Even earlier in history look at Native Americans. The â€Å"White Men† came onto their land and territory and mistreated and basically took over their land. Well, times have changed a lot since those days, and Americans are trying to give back to the Native Americans and African Americans were given rights as individuals and are not treated like they are not human anymore. But humans as a society still have much to work on. The United States has much to work on within our own society. There is so much mistreatment such as racism, sexism, and even ageism. Individuals look at the color of one’s skin, their sex, and even their age before they even look at the person and already begin to judge that individual. So as a society we need to look past the persons outside and see the person for who they are and what they believe in. Society has been changing for the better because there was a time when one could not get a job just because of the color of their skin, of whether or not they were male or female. Society does still a little judging of one’s skin color and by their sex, but I believe society will never be able to completely look past certain things. As a society we just need to minimize how much we judge and look upon one another. There are a few possible ways to reduce discrimination within our society today. The most affective way to reduce discrimination is to make it illegal. This method is not too logical because there is no way to affectively enforce this. People need to just keep in mind what American stands for, which is â€Å"freedom†. There are methods currently in place trying to make the U.S. a more just society. One of these methods is to have quotas that companies o... Free Essays on More Just Societies Free Essays on More Just Societies More Just Societies Let’s take a trip back in time into the 1960’s. African Americans were facing very harsh discrimination against them by white Americans. African Americans faced many hardships and were mistreated very poorly. Even earlier in history look at Native Americans. The â€Å"White Men† came onto their land and territory and mistreated and basically took over their land. Well, times have changed a lot since those days, and Americans are trying to give back to the Native Americans and African Americans were given rights as individuals and are not treated like they are not human anymore. But humans as a society still have much to work on. The United States has much to work on within our own society. There is so much mistreatment such as racism, sexism, and even ageism. Individuals look at the color of one’s skin, their sex, and even their age before they even look at the person and already begin to judge that individual. So as a society we need to look past the persons outside and see the person for who they are and what they believe in. Society has been changing for the better because there was a time when one could not get a job just because of the color of their skin, of whether or not they were male or female. Society does still a little judging of one’s skin color and by their sex, but I believe society will never be able to completely look past certain things. As a society we just need to minimize how much we judge and look upon one another. There are a few possible ways to reduce discrimination within our society today. The most affective way to reduce discrimination is to make it illegal. This method is not too logical because there is no way to affectively enforce this. People need to just keep in mind what American stands for, which is â€Å"freedom†. There are methods currently in place trying to make the U.S. a more just society. One of these methods is to have quotas that companies o...

Impact of Major Sporting Events on Host Communities Essay

Impact of Major Sporting Events on Host Communities - Essay Example 2010). Thus, this essay critically evaluates whether major sport events are of major benefit to the host city, region, or country. Social Impacts Tourism research has presented a wide array of proof that major sport events can have negative and positive impacts on a host city. Several of the positive outcomes concern economic gain or national honour and high spirits among citizens. This national honour leads to the ‘psychic income’ related to hosting a major event (Gratton & Henry 2001, 32). Moreover, major sporting events have been said to introduce nations to new knowledge and lead to a liberalisation of ideals in closed societies. As a worldwide event, sport draws active involvement and mass viewership, both creating the sub-cultural features of such sport (Gratton & Henry 2001). Commonly, scholars give much attention to the economic effects of major sporting events, thus studies in this field is scarce. According to Hall (1992), social impacts is â€Å"the manner in which tourism and travel affect changes in the collective and individual value systems, behaviour patterns, community structures, lifestyle and quality of life† (as cited in Robinson et al. 2011, 155). ... Recently, there has been an increasing attention given to the social gains of major sporting events for societies. The investigation of Waitt (2003) on the social outcomes of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 reported that in spite of disapproving outlooks and objections to the prelude to the event, all through the event there was â€Å"a reason to celebrate rather than protest† (as cited in Pedersen et al. 2010, 238) and citizens disclosed a heightened feeling of national pride. Likewise, Kim and Petrick (2005 as cited in Pedersen et al. 2010, 238), in an investigation of the South Korea FIFA World Cup in 2002, discovered that even though the passion does appear to ebb after the sport event, it does not fade entirely. A further social gain of major sporting events for hosting societies is the gift of urban restoration. In fact, hosting the 1987 America’s Cup has been recognised as the driving mechanism for the reconstruction of the metropolitan zone in Fremantle, Austra lia. It has been discovered that the apprehensions about severe traffic jams and overcrowding were groundless (Pedersen et al. 2010). Rather, as stated by Pedersen and colleagues (2010), citizens believed that development in infrastructures and opportunity for improved tourism would further enhance the better standard of living in the period after the event. Nevertheless, positive impacts may not constantly stem from major sporting events. According to Higham (1999 as cited in Hinch & Higham 2011, 55), some of the negative outcomes of sport events are interruptions to traditional lifestyle, displacement of local communities, and congestion. Hall and Hodges (1996 as cited

Informal housing in Caracas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Informal housing in Caracas - Essay Example 552). The processes of globalization have generated a distinct pattern of spatial urban organization that is typified by people’s segregation in the extension informal settlements. Urban restructuring has led to rising metropolitan fragmentation and increased socio-territorial inequality (Peters, 2008, p. 1). This paper explains the way globalization has changed the production of housing in Caracas. In spite of being located in the most urbanized and the wealthiest country of Latin America, Caracas accommodates numerous rancho settlements that are distributed all across the city. These settlements are characterized by invasions of squatter land. Disinvolvement of the government has perpetuated self-help housing techniques in Caracas. The aspects of informal housing in Caracas discussed in this paper include regulation of informal housing, housing production, exchange and consumption in the barrios of Caracas, the influence of globalization on housing, and the role of different actors in the developmental process. Informal housing in Caracas is quite politicized, with the demand exceeding the supply. Commodity forms dominate the production, exchange, and consumption of the informal settlements in Caracas. Globalization caused political and economic restructuring thus altering the metropolis’s fabric. Slum upgrading and microcredit are some of the factors that have played a role in the development of housing in Caracas. The mobilized and generated type of squatting is the most common in Latin America. Development of the informal housing in Latin America engages the political organizations. The state is somehow involved in the process. Informal housing in Latin America is quite politicized. The squatter communities are collectively involved in the process of settlement development and shelter acquisition. Such