Chinese Mythology Essay

Mythology is a collection of myths or the study of ancient traditional stories of gods or heroes, giving an explanation to an unexplained event. For Plato, the fist known user of the term, muthologia meant know more than the telling of stories (Kirk 8). Mythology is an important aspect to the world, today. Through the study of myths help us develop an idea of what the cultures were like. It includes hints that exhibit how they lived their lives. Myth is its serious purpose and its importance to the culture (Lansford 1). Every culture has its own myth that explains about the nature of that particular culture. The Chinese culture has been around for many centuries, its myths have accumulated into varies stories of gods and their culture. China is the world’s oldest continuous civilization (Cotterel 9). Evidence show the earliest Chinese civilization to be found around 1650 B. C. The beginnings of Chinese mythology, started around the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Influenced by alchemist ideas, Taoist and Buddhist superstitions, various writers created storied about their enigmatic surroundings. The beginning of the Chinese civilization is based on mythology. One of the creation myths is about the beginning of the world. In it, the world began as an egg and cracking open, the top of the shell grew to be the sky, the lower shell became the Earth, and in the middle stepped a man named P’an-gu. Mythology of the ancient Chinese is apparent through art, music and literature. Since, there is no explanation of how the Chinese civilization began; mythology has been a way of explanation to the Chinese culture and other cultures around the world, today. Chinese mythology, as with many other cultures, has many gods and goddesses that are in charge of various things. In the Ancient Chinese culture, there are gods and goddesses for every important aspect of the people’s life, even things as unlikely as the stove god and the door god. Other deities that were important to the Chinese people were the gods of the elements such as Chu Jung, the fire god, Lei Kun, the thunder god, the wind god, and the lightning goddess. Most of the element gods devoted themselves to punishing criminals and keeping evil spirits away. There were also important gods in charge of fields such as Kuan Ti, the god of war, Kuan Yin, the goddess of compassion, T’Shai-shen, the god of wealth and Tsao hsang, god of the hearth. Although there gods were very important to the Chinese people, one of the most important gods was Nu wa, the mother goddess. She was a compassionate goddess who created mankind and bestowed love and creation to them. She helped her people when they were in need, like when she created rice from her own milk and blood in order to feed her people. She was very humble and a modest goddess, not wanting credit for her benevolence. The gods and goddesses of Chinese mythology were basically deities that symbolized the good and just qualities that people should imitate in their everyday life. The basis of Chinese life was a belief in harmony and balance (Williams 20). The Chinese believed in harmony with nature, and sometimes honored the spirits with gifts, feasts, and rituals. The Chinese believed the souls of the dead returned (Williams 20), a concept of Buddhism. The family held Chinese society together (Williams 20). In China, many generations of families lived together, even in the same house, and the children were taught to respect and obey their elders (Williams 20). As in all cultures, men were ? superior’ to women in China. Parents believed they would become gods after they died, if they had a son (Williams 21). This belief was taken fiercely to the point that the parents would kill a newborn female. A custom that the upper-class women followed was of foot binding, which was believed to make the foot appear tiny, since the culture considered small feet feminine and delicate. The most important festival in China was the Chinese New Year, it is held in the spring of each year. During this festival, offerings were given to the sprits. In China, the color white is considered the mourning color and the children showed respect for dead parents by fasting and wearing thick clothes (Williams 21). Most beliefs and customs of the Chinese culture appear from the religions of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The Chinese culture has a long history of beliefs and customs, which are used by the generations before and now. It is highly unlikely that the generations to come would not be following the same beliefs and customs of the ancient Chinese. The origin of religion goes back to prehistoric times when the earliest people of China sought answers to the same basic questions that have baffled primitive men over the world: what is the unseen force that brings darkness and light, winter and summer, drought and rain, life and death; what must men do to appease this force? (Schafer 57) Ancient China has three main religions Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Confucius was concerned mostly with laws made by people, and whether people were naturally good or naturally evil. In contrast, the followers of Lao-tzu believed people were guided by universal laws, not human ones. This was the basis of Taoism (Williams 18). Taoists tried to live a life of simplicity and meditation close to nature. Taoism was mystical and influenced by ancient Chinese folk religion. Its followers used magic as well as prayer and diet to seek eternal youth (Williams 19). Taoists were peaceful people who generally lived peaceful lives. Buddhists follow the teachings of Buddha (born 563 B. C. ), a north Indian prince who devoted his life to a search for personal peace, or enlightenment. The name Buddha means â€Å"enlightened one†. He believed that by giving up worldly desires, such as for fine food and clothes, a blissful state called nirvana could be achieved. In nirvana there was freedom from sorrows of the world. Indian belief as that time held that people were reborn many times. Persons who had lived badly in former lives might be born in an animal or insect form. Buddha said that by reaching nirvana, this endless cycle of rebirth could be broken (Cotterell 27). Buddhists follow an â€Å"eight-fold path,† this is like a code by which they live. Confucianism came in earlier than Taoism and Chinese Buddhism. The so-called Confucian classics were, in fact, complied long after the death of Confucius by disciples of his disciples, and were edited and interpreted in Han times by government scribes; but they purport to reflect the views of the great sage of antiquity on history, religious rites, morals, and standards of behavior. The state officers of Han times accepted these interpretations and associated them with the standardized pagan nature worship of state cult as a part of the acceptable way of life for a Han gentleman. We in the west sometimes call this way of life, which includes both reverence for the ? ancient’ books and the ? ancient’ gods, ? Confucianism’ (Schafer 60-61). Confucianism flourished in China as so did the other religions. The Chinese were inquisitive people, always inventing and always wondering how things worked. It is only logical for them to generate religions that explain how life is and how it will be in the afterlife. In Chinese mythology, myths and legends deal with aspects of human nature, human relations and social life (Owens). Chinese myths use human traits, like emotion, to convey lessons. The myth on the creation of man clearly depicts the basics of a Chinese myth. After P’an-gu, creator of the world, died and his body transformed into different elements of the Earth, Nu wa, the dragon goddess, came down from heavens and admired P’an-gu’s creation. In order to honor P’an-gu’s sacrifice to the Earth, Nu wa decided to create humans. She started to make them out of yellow clay, but since it took much of her strength, she dipped a rope into the mud and when she took it out, the drips became people. Her clay and mud people were not alive, so her heart took pity and she breathed her divine breath into them. She also whispered thoughts of love and creation into their ears and told them to reproduce. The people made of yellow clay became the rich and the people Nu wa made of mud became the poor. This myth explains many aspects of human life. It explains how the social classes came to be and also human emotions. Nu wa shows human emotions like honor, when she was determined to let P’an-gu’s death not be in vain; in compassion, she breathed her divine breath into each and every human. This myth represents human relations because Nu wa put ideas of love and procreation into the human race’s mind. These Chinese myths explain how the good and bad came to be and how a person should live a happy a fulfilling life. Mythology is not a subject that should be ignored. It is an important subject that should be learned and understood by all cultures so that as a world, we can come to understand each other better. The first step in hatred is fear. Fear of the unknown can generate more hate than anyone could possibly fathom. If everyone became educated about other culture, there would be little to know unknown, and there would probably be less hate in the world. Mythology, the study of myths, gives people an insight to others dreams, hopes, and their fears. We all have hopes, dreams, and fears. By learning about other cultures’ hopes, dreams, and fears we can feel more connected to each other and reach out. Mythology is a key element in keeping peace without shedding blood. Work Cited Cotterel, Arthur. Ancient China. Kirk, Geoffrey Stephen. Myth: its meaning and functions in ancient and other culture California; University of California Press. 1970 Lansford, Tyler. â€Å"Mythology† Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2002. Microsoft Corporation, 2002 Owens, D. W. â€Å"Ancient Chinese Mythology: Gods and goddess folklore† Google. com. November 5, 2003 Schafer, Edward H. Ancient China. New York; Time Inc. 1967 Williams, Brians. Ancient China. Middlesex, England; Reed Educational and Professional Publishing, Ltd. 1996.

Marketing of Hardbite Chips

Hardbite Chips Langara College School of Management MARK 1115 Introduction to Marketing D. Hill 23 November 2009 Executive Summary This report provides an analysis of Hardbite Chips and the Snack Food Industry and offers recommendations for Hardbite Chips to develop an effective marketing plan. Hardbite Chips is an environmentally sustainable business that provides healthy, good-tasting, and quality potato chips. The target market we have selected for Hardbite Chips is health conscious consumers, particularly those with children.It is our belief that the consumers will be attracted by the healthy features of our product and will be willing to pay slightly more for these benefits. It is our objective to significantly increase awareness of our product among these consumers. As our funds for promotional activities are limited and our target market can be hard to reach our marketing mix focuses heavily on sales promotion. Advertising and public relations will help us promote the features of our product and position it as a high quality brand in the minds of consumers. We hope to use personal selling to increase the number of retailers that carry our product.We believe Hardbite Chips has the ability to obtain satisfactory profits and grow the business. This will allow the company to better compete against the numerous competitors in the industry and increase sales. As the business grows, more funds can be spent on promotional activities enabling the company to expand its target market and appeal to more retailers. Table of Contents Current Marketing Strategy†¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 1 Company Mission Statement.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 1 Internal and External Analysis PEST Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 SWOT Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 Competitive Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4 Target Market†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 5 Marketing Objectives and Issues†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 6 Marketing Research†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 Product Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 8 Pricing Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Distribution Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 Integrated Marketing Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12Appendix I†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 Endnotes†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 14 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 15 Current Marketing Situation The Canadian snack food market presents a lucrative opportunity for new and existing companies in the industry. In 2008, Canadians ate an average of 3. 2 kg of potato chips. 1 Food stores capture the majority of snack food purchases in 2001 at approximately 67% and supermarkets accounted for approximately two-thirds of this. Convenience stores took the third largest share of the market at around 13%.Mass merchandisers and wholesale club stores have increased their market share in recent years, passing convenience stores, as more of these types of locations have opened in Canada. However, this change has not yet significantly affected food stores. 2 In 2007, Canadian retail grocery stores sold over $1. 8 billion worth of snack food, with potato chips accounting for approximately $550 million. This continues the recent trend of 6% growth in annual retail sales of potato chips. 3 This growth has encouraged companies to expand into nich e markets by offering unique flavours and organic products.The Canadian snack food industry has seen an increase in new entrants in recent years despite the presence of big corporations. These big corporations have economies of scale which give them a significant competitive advantage in terms of cost. Furthermore, these corporations benefit from massive advertising budgets that allow them to hold on to their majority market share. Frito-Lays, a division of PepsiCo. , is the leader in the Canadian snack food industry with multiple SBUs that offer many different products, including different varieties of chips in various flavours. However, the opportunity exists for smaller companies to come in nd target niche markets. In fact, â€Å"in 2006, 106 Canadian snack food manufactures shipped $1. 6 billion of product†. 4 However, big corporations are beginning to see the potential of these markets and are beginning to expand into them. A good example of this is Frito-Lays and the in troduction of their Wasabi flavoured chips5. Company Mission Statement Hardbite Chips is dedicated to providing our customers with a healthy, good-tasting, and quality potato chip. In doing so, we are committed to be an environmentally sustainable company with strong ties to the community. Internal and External Analysis PEST Analysis: Hardbite Chips | |Political Environment |Economical Environment | |Mandatory nutrition labeling |Economic recession | |Provincial Government policy bans junk food sales in elementary and |Tough to get capital | |high schools |People are less likely to spend money on unknown premium brands | |Social Cultural Environment |Technological Environment | |Trend away from unhealthy snacks |Equipment needed to expand production is expensive | |Potato chips blamed for contributing to obesity | | |Recent discovery of acrylamide, a possible carcinogen, found in | | |carbohydrates cooked at high temperatures | | |People looking to buy environmentally friendly products | | |Competitive Environment |Demographic Environment | |Heavy competition in industry |Many consumers more interested in environmentally friendly products | |Low brand loyalty among consumers in industry |Many people are concerned about health | |Large corporations have majority of market share | | SWOT Analysis: Hardbite Chips | |Strengths |Weaknesses | |Product is hand-cooked |Limited cash-flow makes it difficult to grow | |Potatoes are grown locally |Brand is fairly unknown | |Focus on quality |Small production facility compared to major competitors | |Unique flavours | | |Growing brand awareness | | |Sold in many health stores and on many campuses in BC.Also sold | | |across BC in well known stores such as London Drugs, Shoppers Drug | | |Mart, Overwaitea, and IGA Marketplace locations | | |Opportunities |Threats | |Expanding market |Provincial Government policy bans junk food sales in elementary and | |Many consumers are becoming more interested in environme ntally |high schools |friendly products |Larger competition may enter market | |Many consumers are concerned about health |Economic recession | |Opportunity to target niche ethnic markets |Tough to get capital | | |People are less likely to spend money on unknown premium brands | | |Low brand loyalty among consumers in industry | Competitive Analysis We wish to position Hardbite Chips as a top quality potato chip brand in the minds of consumers. It is our desire to utilize the frequent consumer assumption that quality and price are related. [pic] We believe Hardbite Chips has the potential to develop a niche competitive advantage. Our primary focus is on serving health conscious consumers.Thus, our most important unique selling proposition is to focus on the healthy qualities of our product. By producing an all natural potato chip that is free of trans-fats, we believe we will appeal to health conscious consumers. Also, Hardbite Chips was an early entrant into the expanding healt hy potato chip market and the company has expanded its distribution points from originally selling in health food stores. It is our belief that this has created brand recognition among the early adopters of healthy snacks. As the number of consumers purchasing healthy snacks increases, we think these early adopters will recommend the product to consumers helping the brand grow.Furthermore, with the discovery of acrylamide, a possible carcinogen, in baked and fried carbohydrates cooked at high temperatures, including many of the existing potato chips on the market, we have an advantage over many of our competitors as our product is not cooked at high enough temperatures to produce acrylamide. Hardbite Chips also uses unique ingredients such as Himalayan salt which provides more nutrients while keeping sodium levels low. This can be particularly appealing to health conscious consumers, especially to those with high blood pressure. Another unique selling proposition Hardbite Chips can use is to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. Our company is committed to be an environmentally friendly company.Our potatoes and spices are supplied by local growers and our packaging is supplied by a local manufacturer. By highlighting these facts we believe we can convince environmentally conscious consumers that our company operates with similar values. As the â€Å"green† movement grows larger, we think we are situated to capture a large portion of this growing market. Another advertising appeal that we could use as a unique selling proposition is our unique flavours which may appeal to particular ethnic groups. While we attempt to make flavours that we think will appeal to everyone, we realize that certain ethnic groups may find some of our flavours appealing as they are familiar with them.For instance, our creamy coconut and curry flavoured chips may have a special appeal to Thai people as coconut milk is often added to curry in many Thai recipes. Although w e currently offer only a few unique flavours, it is our desire to develop more. By looking for inspiration in traditional ethnic foods we believe we can find flavours that appeal to Canada’s diverse ethnic communities as well as more traditional consumers of potato chips. Target Market In examining the potato chip market, we have decided to segment the market based on a psychographic segmentation. Our key considerations are the consumers’ motives, personality, lifestyle, and geodemographics.Since, there is normally just one person who does the grocery shopping for an entire family, most likely a parent, it is our desire to target this person. In particular, we are interested in targeting working parents who are raising children in an urban environment. In terms of personality and lifestyle we would segment these people by looking at the type and amount of activities they do. We are looking to target people who have full, active schedules and are looking for healthy foo d options but do not have time to compare products on their own. For motives, we are looking for parents that are concerned about providing healthy snacks their children will actually eat.By using geodemographics, we will be able to slightly modify our advertisements for certain ethnic neighbourhoods. We have chosen to target this segment because our product is capable of meeting their needs and should easily appeal to them. Also, as this segment purchases most of the food for their family, our product will be exposed to their children as well. This will help grow brand recognition and will help increase the sales of our product among other segments. The primary challenge we foresee in targeting this segment of the market is our ability to find an appropriate and effective media to communicate to them. These people balance work and family obligations which can take up a substantial amount of their time.For a convenience product such as snack food, these people may not pay attention to ads for different brands. Also, these people often have other things on their mind so they may be distracted when presented with our ads. Marketing Objectives and Issues Our objective is to increase consumer awareness of our product by 30% in the next year. Since our product is still fairly unknown and the company has been focussed on expanding production facilities, we believe now is a good time to increase promotional expenditures and raise awareness of our product. We are most concerned with increasing the awareness of our product benefits and decreasing customer resistance to buying our product.To measure the success of our objective, we will use monthly surveys to determine the approximate number of consumers aware of our product. When increasing awareness of our product, we wish to focus on the benefits that our product offers to consumers. These benefits would include the healthy aspects and quality of our potato chips. We believe consumers will perceive our all-natural, h and-cooked products as highly compatible with their lifestyles. Thus, as consumers become aware of our product, sales should increase. Also, by increasing awareness of our product we hope to decrease consumer resistance to buying our product. In recent years, potato chips have come under attack for contributing to obesity and related health problems.Additionally, carbohydrates cooked at high temperatures have been found to contain acrylamide, a possible carcinogen. Our product addresses these concerns and by informing consumers of this, we believe they will decide to choose our product over our competitors leading to an increase in our sales. In order to measure the effectiveness of our strategy, it is important to receive continuous feedback from consumers. Therefore we will survey consumers throughout the year to measure changes in awareness of our product and the change in the number of people buying our product. We will also ask consumers how they view our product compared to th ose offered by other snack food manufacturers and how they perceive our product in terms of health.Challenges in meeting our marketing objectives will include selecting an effective channel through which to educate consumers about our product. Also, as more companies are entering into the market we will be competing with them to make customers aware of our products. Another challenge that may present itself is the large companies in the industry may also become aware of our product and choose to emulate some characteristics of our product reducing our competitive advantage and making it harder to convince consumers are products are differentiated enough to be material. To overcome these challenges we will attempt to communicate with consumers as close as possible to the point of purchase.Our integrated marketing communication strategy will be the key to providing us the opportunity to meet our marketing objectives. Marketing Research Our research thus far has only included secondary sources of information. However, this information has given us a basic understanding of the market, changes occurring in the market, and our competitors in the industry. Statistics Canada has provided us with detailed information on the total sales of snack food in Canada as well as how large a portion potato chips make up of these sales. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Services have helped us to determine where the majority of snack foods are purchased by consumers in Canada.Industry Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have also supplied us with detailed information about the size of the industry as well as general performance information for the industry. Despite the high cost of primary data, it is our belief that it would benefit the company to conduct such research. This would allow us to better define the exact size and distribution of our target market, the growth of this segment, and the rate at which this segment’s beliefs and attitudes are changing. Primary data will also allow us to develop new flavours that are customers would enjoy. To gather this information we would recommend the company use internet surveys with screened internet samples and to design the questionnaire to provide data on all of these areas so as to keep costs as minimal as possible.We have chosen screened internet samples because they can provide real-time reports and can be personalized for individual respondents. Also, since the segment we have chosen to target is quite active and busy, internet sampling will allow us to reach these consumers and hopefully receive a high rate of responses. Additionally, primary data is needed to assess the company’s ability to meet the marketing objectives. For this we would recommend the company conduct internet surveys with recruited internet samples each month. This will allow us to determine the effectiveness of our promotions. We have included a sample survey that the comp any may use for this purpose (see Appendix I). We have chosen the internet sample method because of its relatively low cost.However, as the company grows, we would recommend the use of focus groups to help develop and test new flavours of chips and to help determine the most effective way of promoting the product to our target market. Although they are more expensive, focus groups allow us to get more detailed information from consumers which we can then use to better serve our customers. Product Strategy Potato chips are at the maturity stage in the product life cycle. Many of our competitors have been in the business longer than us and have established a hold over some share of the market. Many new entrants to the industry, including Hardbite Chips, target niche markets that have been underserved by larger, more established companies. Our product is aimed at satisfying the needs of health conscious consumers.To meet these needs, our product provides consumers with many healthy fea tures not included with other potato chips. By making our potato chips trans-fat and cholesterol free we provide a product that consumers can snack on without having to worry about high cholesterol and its detrimental effects on health. We also use Himalayan salt instead of table salt on our potato chips. Himalayan salt provides â€Å"84 minerals in the same ratio as healthy blood plasma† and is a lower sodium alternative to table salt. 6 We believe this will be particularly appealing to health conscious consumers, especially those with high blood pressure. Another health benefit our potato chips have over those of most others potato chips, is our unique cooking process.During this process, temperatures do not get high enough to create acrylamide in our potato chips. Since acrylamide is has been found to be a possible carcinogen, we believe customers will see this as a significant benefit. Our product is augmented by offering our potato chips in different and unique flavours. Also, information about the healthy qualities of our product can be found on the packaging. We would like to further augment the product by increasing the number of flavours available and providing a guarantee of consumer satisfaction with our product. Our long term goal is to position the Hardbite Chips as a top quality brand in the minds of consumers. Pricing StrategyOur pricing objective is satisfactory profits. This will enable us to compete with our competitors and continue to grow our production levels. Our competitors in the industry are numerous and many have developed economies of scale giving them the advantage of lower costs. Therefore, to achieve our objective we want to position our product at a slightly higher price than our competitors. We want to utilize the assumption of uncertain consumers that price and quality are related. However, we must be careful not to price our product to high as the market for potato chips is elastic. It is important that the company has enough sales to cover our fixed costs and provide satisfactory profits.As we our selling a product in the maturity stage of the product lifestyle, the distribution channels we use is important to the company. Thus, it is important that we price our product at a level that appeals to wholesalers and retailers. Our pricing strategy is to focus on the market for healthy and high quality potato chips. We believe this will allow us to price our product at a price slightly above our competitors. In order to encourage customers to try our product we will offer coupons. This will allow us stimulate demand by offering a lower price temporarily. We can then discontinue the rebate once people are aware of our product. Distribution StrategyHardbite Chips currently distributes the potato chips it produces through numerous distributors. This strategy has helped the brand grow from being sold in mainly in health stores to being sold on many campuses across BC in addition to well known stores such as London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart, Overwaitea, and IGA Marketplace locations. This has allowed the company to increase demand for its products without having its own sales force. Given the proportion of snack food sales in retail grocery stores, we believe it is important that we communicate directly to these retailers to encourage them to carry our brand. We also think selling our product in convenience tores will help increase brand awareness. Retailers that we feel would immensely help increase our sales include Safeway, The Real Canadian Superstore, and 7-11. Getting our product sold in vending machines would also help increase brand awareness. Despite a provincial ban on the sales of junk food in elementary and high schools, vending machines are found in many high traffic areas. As our packaging has information on the health benefits of our product, health conscious consumers may be more inclined to buy our product given the alternatives. IMC Strategy Our primary communicatio n objective is to convince consumers our product is a healthy choice for their snacking needs.We would also like to communicate our commitment to the environment and our community. We feel that these messages can complement each other and work to position the company as caring and responsible in the minds of consumers. Given the size of our company and the limited amount of funds we have for promotion, we cannot afford to spend the amount we would like to on advertising. Thus, to reach our target market, we think we should advertise in magazines devoted to healthy lifestyles. The reason we have chosen magazines is they are a relativity low cost advertising option, they have a long advertising life and they have a high pass-along rate.We believe public relations may be the most cost effective way to increase customer awareness of our product. Sponsoring community activities, like a community garden, and co-sponsoring events like eco-challenge, which receives national television cover age, will help establish us as a health conscious and environmentally friendly company. Sponsoring activities like this will also likely result in positive media coverage for the company. This media coverage will inform consumers of our product that we were unable to reach through our advertising. Sales promotion provides many appealing options and offers the easiest way to reach our target market. For these reason it will be the largest portion of our target segment.Since potato chips are a convenience product, consumers spend a little time deciding which product to buy and they are not likely to remember advertising for a particular potato chip brand. Therefore, a point of purchase display may significantly help sway a consumer in favour of our product. This allows us to be the last promotional item they see before they make their purchase. Providing samples is another sale promotion technique that we think would work well for our product. By being able to sample our product befor e purchasing it, consumers will be less put off by our slightly higher price. As we discussed in our pricing strategy, we would also like to use coupons to entice customers to buy our product. By temporarily reducing our price we believe many more consumers will be willing to try our product.As we discussed in our distribution strategy, we would like to use personal selling to encourage more retailers to carry our product. By doing this together with our other promotional elements we hope to create an effective mix of push and pull strategies that will convince more retailers to carry our product. As the company grows and more funds can be spent on promotional activities we would like to increase the amount of advertising done. We would like to use different forms of media to reach our target market. Also, as consumer awareness of our brand grows and we increase our product offerings, we would like to expand our target market and create slightly different marketing campaigns to targ et certain ethnic groups. ConclusionDespite heavy competition in the snack food industry we think Hardbite Chips can produce satisfactory profits and continue to grow. Given that potato chips are in the maturity stage of the product life cycle, increasing the number of retailers that sell our product is an important part of our strategy. By increasing the number of retailers who sell our product, we will make it easier for our target market to purchase our product. We believe by increasing awareness of our product we can capture a large portion of health conscious consumers. By using our promotion mix to inform consumers of the benefits and features of our product, we can convince members of our target market segment that our brand is of high quality.Although our price is slightly higher than most of our competitors, we believe consumers will perceive our product as worth the extra cost. Appendix I Sample Survey |1. List all brands of potato chips that you are aware of. | |_________ _____________________________________________________________________ | |______________________________________________________________________________ | |______________________________________________________________________________ | |2.Are you aware of the brand Hardbite Chips? (if your answer is no, skip to question 4) | |Yes ___ No___ | |3. What product features of Hardbite Chips are you aware of? | |______________________________________________________________________________ | |______________________________________________________________________________ | |4. On average, how often do you buy potato chips? |More than once a week ___ | |Once a week___ | |Once a month___ | |Once every 2-3 months___ | Endnotes 1. Statistics Canada, Canada Food Stats: Analysis, http://www. statcan. gc. ca/ads-annonces/23f0001x/hl-fs-eng. htm 2. L. B. C. Consulting, Canada: Market Development Reports: Snack Food Market in Canada, Global Agriculture Information Network Report, United States D epartment of Agriculture (Ottawa, Canada: Foreign Agriculture Services, 2003), 6. http://www. fas. usda. gov/gainfiles/200301/145785163. pdf 3. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Retail Sales in Canadian Grocery Stores, 2007, http://www. ats-sea. agr. gc. ca/can/4714-eng. htmAgriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Retail Sales in Canadian Grocery Stores, 2006, http://www. ats-sea. agr. gc. ca/can/4715-eng. htm 4. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada's Snack Food Industry, http://ats-sea. agr. gc. ca/supply/3320_e. htm 5. The Province, â€Å"From pasta to potato chips,† May 21, 2006, Canadian Newstand, ProQuest 6. Sarah Merson, â€Å"SALT — THE PROS AND THE CONS,† Foods Matter (UK), March 2009, 9, EBSCOhost Bibliography Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Canada's Snack Food Industry. http://ats-sea. agr. gc. ca/supply/3320_e. htm. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Retail Sales in Canadian Grocery Stores, 2006. http://www. ats-sea. agr. gc. ca/can/4715-eng. htm.

Benefits of computing gross profit on sales in contrast to contribution margin

The computation of gross profit on sales, which can be derived under the absorption costing approach, is a profitability measure normally conducted under financial analysis. This accounting ratio outlines the gross profit generated from every $100 of sales. Such measure is highly useful in financial analysis, because it provides indications on the profitability potential and cost efficiency of the company. For instance, if there was an increase in sales of 10%, but the gross profit margin declined by 4%.This indicates that the cost efficiency of the organization deteriorated during the period. Such analysis cannot be conducted under the contribution margin approach, because gross profit is not present. However, under the contribution margin approach one can calculate the contribution to sales ratio which indicates the contribution determined from every $100 of sales. This would also provide indications on the control of variable costs once compared over time.Difference in Net Income arising from different approaches. In the example of ABC Company the profit under the two methods is the same. However, this is not always the case. Profits under the two methods differ whenever there is movement in inventory. This is due to the fact that since under the absorption costing technique fixed manufacturing costs are included in the cost of goods sold, a proportion of fixed costs will be included in inventory leading to such a difference.Contribution margin approach not allowable for external reporting. The contribution margin approach, despite being highly useful to provide valuable information for decision making, is not acceptable for external reporting. This is due to the fact that it does not comply with the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). For example, under the GAAP the income statement layout should clearly outline the gross profit made by the company. Under the contribution margin method this is not highlighted.Another important reason why the ab sorption approach is allowable for external reporting and not the contribution approach is due to the way in which the income statement is classified. The GAAP state that the income statement is classified by function, like under the absorption method. In the contribution approach it is classified by cost behavior. Indeed separation between fixed and variable costs is made under such method. This conflicts with another requirement of the GAAP. Reference: Drury C. (1996). Management and Cost Accounting. Fourth Edition. New York: International Thomson Business Press.

Marketing Plan for Harvey Norman Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing Plan for Harvey Norman - Assignment Example Due to the high demand of electronic products both locally and internationally, Harvey Norman Company has opened different stores to cater for the different needs of their customers both locally and internationally. The market situation analysis for the company indicates that the company has increased its sales significantly over the last years despite the harsh trading conditions they have operated. However, their retail spending has been largely affected by debt they have accrued both internally and externally. This is negative to the grot of the company, since most customers have decided to shop online because of the readily available substitutes for the products produced by the company by other companies (Synnot & Fitzgerald, 2007). Harvey Norman Company faces stiff competition from other companies dealing in similar products because of its large scale production tendencies. There are many companies that form strong competitive force for Harvey Norman Company dealings. Theses are companies that also share similar market as Harvey Norman Company, therefore, are major competitors for the company as they also target similar customers like Norman Harvey Company. Most major competitors for the company originate from the United States. ... According to the PESTLE analysis, there are different factors affecting the operation of Harvey Norman Company. These factors range from political, economic, social and technological. Political factors affect the company’s operation in terms of regulations placed by the government to control various activities being conducted by the company. Harvey Norman Company is both affected by internal and external regulation. Despite some of these working towards the growth of the company, others create conflict within the company, therefore, making the company unable to achieve its goals and objectives. Harvey Norman Company is forced to take into considerations various clauses stipulated by the law so as not go against specific regulations set by the government in their course of operation within different countries. An example is the environmental clause which is there to protect the environment from toxic waste or substances produced by companies. Moreover, there are consumer laws a lso plays a significant role in determining the success of the company. This is because all companies dealing in the same or different line are always eager to achieve a competitive advantage of their competitors. Harvey Norman Company is forced to adopt different consumer laws in the different countries they sell their products in despite some of the laws being unfruitful to their profits. Harvey Norman Company has devoted its time in concentrating on the society and engaging in various ways that has played in improving people’s way of life. In its contribution to charitable organizations, the company has show to the world that it not only concerned about their profits, but to the welfare of all their stakeholders which forms the current Harvey Norman Company. In addition,

English Paper Essay I will upload for what is needed

English Paper I will upload for what is needed - Essay Example Terry Bisson is a fantasy author, best known for his short stories. Several of his stories are award winning. He also wrote several comic books including â€Å"Web of horror†, which is a horror comic magazine. â€Å"Bears discover fire† is one of the most preferred short science fiction stories. As claimed by the author, the story is exactly what its title suggests. Once upon a time in a place called Appalachia, all of the bears started burning bonfires in the widespread freeways. They used to assemble themselves in a circle and stare into the flame all night long. During the ritual, they intermittently get up from the fire to find barriers or hunt for firewood. The news media and police wanted to capture the occurrence and made sure they kept the local folks away from the ritual. The story begins when one family manages to get to a very close proximity of the bears’ social gathering due to a flat tire. (Whyte) The story begins with Chronicler driving with his brother and nephew, Wallace jr. to the North of Bowling Green, when he experienced a flat tire near a bear military camp. Their flash light goes out and the narrator had to change the tire in the dim glow of orange light that was coming from the torches held by two bears. â€Å"They just held the torches up, whether out of curiosity or for helpfulness, there was no way of knowing† (P:2, Bisson ) Afterwards, in the car, the narrator’s brother comments that it seemed like finally the bears had discovered fire. Use of fire is the well-built western icon of civilization and intelligence. This symbol is often used to separate humans from the animal kingdom. Fire describes humanity in a cultural level. The narrator states a number of events in the story that depict the decline of humanity in human beings. Meanwhile, bears are discovering what humanity and civilization is. One event was the disappearance of the narrator’s mother from a nursing home and

Management in eco-friendly organizations (Benefits of Going Green) Essay

Management in eco-friendly organizations (Benefits of Going Green) - Essay Example To ensure eco-friendly organizations, the management must be committed to implementing green strategies and ensuring ethical leadership. The organization structure determines the kind of relationship the management has with employees, customers, stockholders and the community as a whole. Besides maximizing profits for the shareholders, the management should ensure it is operating ethically and is socially responsible (Berman et al. 1999). By implementing green strategies costs are reduced, the company gains reputation, workers work in a healthy environment thus improving their productivity, the company can attract and retain highly qualified employees and engage in constant innovations hence remain competitive in the market (Crawford et al. 2008). The paper will discuss the benefits that various industries achieve by enacting green strategies in their operations. Benefits of Going Green Various industries achieve different benefits from utilizing environment friendly operations. Global warming is rampant due to greenhouse gas emissions especially from the manufacturing and vehicle industries. The manner in which business premises are constructed also contribute to gas emissions as a result of the materials used, the lighting, heating and cooling systems inside the building as well as transportation of building materials (Crawford et al. 2008). Most companies however, are trying to reduce the emissions by putting up environmental friendly buildings. Reduction of carbon emissions is also necessary if the environment has to be conserved. One of the companies in the vehicle manufacture industry has done a lot over the years to ensure sustainable environment. Honda Motor Company with its headquarters in Japan is one of the leading companies in implementing environmentally friendly policies. It specializes in motorcycles, automobiles and power products. It has 176, 815 c onsolidated employees and 26,121 unconsolidated employees. Its new global environmental slogan is â€Å"Blue skies for our children† (Honda.com, 2011). According to Pride et al (2010), Honda is committed to reduction of pollution, conservation of water and energy, recycling, reduced carbon emissions and production of fuel efficient vehicles. It has produced natural gas powered civic CIX and hydrogen full cell cars FCX which are environmental friendly. As a result, the company has earned a lot of reputation and good will from the community and stakeholders. It is considered as one of the leading automakers in the vehicle industry. It has an environmental committee which oversees green strategies formulation and implementation. One of the benefits of going green for a company is thus is gaining outstanding reputation. Another company in the financial sector which has managed to gain much reputation from applying environment friendly policies is the Goldman

Criminal Justice Field Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal Justice Field - Case Study Example According to her statement, it is quite clear that she was aware of her husband's habit of stealing and indicated that he was doing it in order to support them. Some of the stolen items were also listed in the statement in conjunction with Whitehead's comments on to their ownership (Charlene Marie Whitehead v. Record No. 080775, 2). However, during the trial in Circuit court for the city of Danville, Whitehead denounced everything she had indicated in her statement. She went ahead and claimed that she did not know about Walden's habit of breaking into people's cars. Instead all she knew was that Walden returned with a bunch of things including money. However, during the cross examination, Whitehead admitted that the items brought back to the apartment by Walden were not his. In a contradicting statement, Walden denied having never given Whitehead any stolen item though he pled guilty on the issue. From the issued statements, the trial court decided to bring together Whitehead's forty denunciations to thirty two counts for accepting stolen items from her husband (Charlene Marie Whitehead v. Record No. 080775, 3). In return, the court passed a ruling for each count. Later on, during a sentencing hearing the thirty two counts were reduced to six counts whereby Whitehead was sentenced to five year's imprisonment with four years suspended on each count, for a total of 30 years imprisonment with 24 years suspended. However, the trial court withheld the sentencing on the remaining 26 counts conditioned on 25 years of good behavior. Appearing before another judge in the same court who had been asked by the common wealth to cancel her suspension, Whitehead pled guilty for violating her probation. Consequently, the trial court cancelled its prior suspension and sentenced her to seventeen years, four months of imprisonment with 12 years, four months suspended, for a total of 5 years in addition to her sentences of the new conviction (Charlene Marie Whitehead v. Record No. 080775, 4). The court of appeals confirmed the new convictions and the revocation order in an unpublished opinion indicating that the evidence was adequate to support the court's sentencing. From the information obtained, I tend to disagree with the court of appeal's ruling on Whiteheads case; confirming Whitehead's convictions and the trial court's order of revocation of her probation. This is due to the fact that the common wealth never contended that Whitehead was involved in the actual theft of items or that she received the stolen properties from Walden. Although, there was some contradicting information from Walden regarding her awareness on the stolen items, the court of appeal should have gone a step further and investigate the case. Jeffrey Wayne Rowe v. Record No. 081173 Case It was around 1:30 am on July 9, 2005 when Officer Brian J. Fair of the Virginia Beach police department noticed a truck being driven recklessly. At the moment, he was in his dark blue uniform and was driving his personal car on his way home. He immediately contacted the Virginia Beach police dispatcher requesting for the notification of the incident to the Virginia state police since he believed that the truck driver (Rowe) was drunk. However, he was informed that there were no available state police

Globalisation and Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Globalisation and Diversity - Essay Example These are a set of indicative norms that companies can use to do their business. They help companies to adapt to international standards of corporate behavior. By adopting this, companies show their willingness to conduct their business in an ethical way and become role models for others to follow. Introduction It has been increasingly felt by all that there should be a proper alignment of objectives between the international community and the business community. This need has become stronger by the fact that they have common goals. Some of them are, fighting corruption, taking care of the environment and issues related to its safety, enabling social inclusion, and building common markets. All these factors have opened up avenues for an extraordinary cooperation and need for transparency between different stakeholders such as business, governments, civil society, labor force and the United Nations. The UN Global Compact is a very well planned initiative for all those organizations in the world, which are dedicated to align their business operations and strategies with â€Å"Ten universally accepted principles.† (United Nation, 2011). These principles are adopted in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti- corruption. This initiative is both local as well as global. In fact private and public enterprises can participate in this. There are no mandatory requirements to join this initiative. However once a company joins it, it must endeavor to remain accountable for its operations to its stakeholders. Discussion of question set By aligning the business operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles, the organizations are indicating their willingness to join it on a voluntary basis. They also agree and believe that business is the key driver of globalization. With this initiative, they can make sure that they make significant contributions to the growth of economies and societies at large (Schreck 2009). Their contribution c an be in several areas such as, markets, technology, finance and trading. The social, political and economic opportunities and threats have a significant effect on all the businesses. More and more companies are increasingly realizing the need to work together and collaborate with the all the stakeholders such as, governments, civil society, labor to improve their business volumes and profits. The UN Global Compact has made vital contribution to the development of business in an ethical way (Gjolberg 2004). The environmental principles of the United Nations Global Compact have left a great impact on the organizations. More and more companies have now started realizing the need for focusing on environmental issues and their effect on the industry and individuals (Rasche 2010). The first ten years of the existence of Compact have thrown interesting findings which have been endorsed by scholars, business tycoons, and stalwarts from the civil society as well the staff working in the Glo bal Compact initiative. Their comments clearly indicate the achievements of the Global Compact and the future trends it should follow to sustain the initiative. It also has to meet challenges and oppositions from the traditionalists. Rashce also highlights the changes in the structure of the Compact, role of Global Compact Local Network and the spread of communication on the progress of the policy. The story of UN Global Compact is not all successful and its strengths and weaknesses are clearly brought out by Rashce.

Financial Information for Business Decision Coursework

Financial Information for Business Decision - Coursework Example According to the report the company deals in third party land development and capital management. Nevertheless, it runs capital management trusts referred to as Hercules Unit Trust, the Pillar Retail Europark Fund and the Hercules Income Fund. The headquarters of the company is in London, at the Seymour Street. However, the business model adopted by the company is both risk aversive and opportunistic, which enables them to be in a position of attaining the long-term growth in her shareholder value. The major focuses of the company include: the maximization of equity returns, which is done via optimal financing and joint ventures; it aims at the creation of incomparable or excellent long-term ventures with strong covenants; it also focuses on the major assets in the office and retail sectors; as well as aiming to enhance the property returns via active development and management. In addition, we find that flexibility is imperative to high returns for the company that is both in terms of business financing and business organization. This will greatly enable them to take advantage or capitalize on the changes in the property market. From this study it is clear that whenever a business is started, we find that it either implicitly or explicitly adopts a specific business model, which defines the design of the creation of value, its delivery, as well as the capture of the mechanisms applied by the business enterprise. Nonetheless, the significance of a business model is its description of the way by which the business venture delivers value to its clients, attracts the clients to pay for value and also changes the payments to returns. Therefore, it reflects the presumption of the management as regards what is wanted by the clients, and the way a business can be in a position of meeting those needs in the best way possible, get reward for doing so and making a profit.

Electronic financial transactions over the Internet Essay

Electronic financial transactions over the Internet - Essay Example Technological innovation in terms of developing security software aided this process and so did the process of globalization. As a culmination of these parallel but complementary processes, e-commerce in general and electronic financial transactions in particular has firmly taken root in mainstream global economy. While this kind of progress in such a short span of time is an impressive achievement, there is much work to be done in terms of creating robust security systems for the Internet. This essay will look into the various types of security threats facing electronic financial transactions, the potential damage they could inflict, the remedial measures to counter these threats and the effectiveness of such measures. The architecture of the Internet is such that it is inherently difficult to ensure security. Alongside this, the concept of user anonymity makes the Internet â€Å"an attractive medium for extortion and crimes involving theft of personal information for illicit financial gain† (Misra Scherer et al, 2004). As per a report released by IDG News Service, many organized crime groups avail of the services offered by hackers to implement complex and sophisticated financial schemes to swindle money from unsuspecting participants. According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, as much as $200 million was lost in the year 2006 alone. And each year this sum seems to increase, since financial institutions like banks and insurance companies are lucrative targets for cybercriminals. A FBI report released at the beginning of the new millennia has confirmed the nexus between computer hackers and organized crime groups. Many of these organized crime groups are said to operate from Eastern European countries that were part of the erstwhile Soviet Union. In such cases, the hackers first crack the security systems in place and gain access to vital data. The organized

Motivation as a critical success factor Dissertation - 1

Motivation as a critical success factor - Dissertation Example Employee motivation has attracted immense research and debates in the last few decades in the post-modern era of industrial age. Many theories and models have been proposed, and implications of employee motivation on various aspects of organisational development, whether at organisational performance or growth of business, have been profound. Employee motivation has been defined in many different ways by different researchers and management specialists, most of which revolve around employee needs and psychologies. This thesis attempts to explain employee motivation and various dimensions associated with it, as perceived from different motivational theories described in the literature associated with organisational behaviour, leadership and motivation. Further, this proposal describes specific methodology and conceptual framework for carrying out the research, which is aimed at researching the impact of management practices and policies followed by a specific organisation and its perf ormance; in this process, it attempts to illustrate how employee motivation plays a role in organisational performance. ... This plan presents justifiable explanation for attempting the proposed methodology as well as considers all potential limitations. A brief note on tentative time plan for the research has also been drafted, which can help in staying focused and also measure the progress. 2. Aims and Objectives of the study: The main purpose of this study is to focus on the increasing significance of role of employees in an organisation’s success and sustenance in the most competitive global market experienced by the organisations in current scenario. This study strives to evaluate the growing trend of employee motivation as a new way of achieving and sustaining organisational performance against new and changing standards. In particular, this study seeks to analyze and evaluate if employee motivation would continue to hold its importance in future of organisational development. Secondly, this study aims to examine the prominent aspects of employee motivation and its impact on organisational su ccess in comparison with other elements of organisational performance and success. Objectives: Against this background, the dissertation will seek to answer the following questions †¢ What is the place of employee motivation in organisational strategy? †¢ What are the variables that motivate employees? †¢ What is the relationship between employee motivation and organisational goals? How has employee motivation, as a concept, evolved during last two decades? †¢ How is employee motivation related to other organisational elements? 3. Relation to previous research and theory: Motivation in the workplace plays significant role in harnessing the tremendous hidden potential within every employee. However, the factors impacting motivation or arousing motivation may be extrinsic or intrinsic. The

Egans Theory Essay Example for Free

Egans Theory Essay This is a 3-stage model or framework offered by Egan as useful in helping people solve problems and develop opportunities. The goals of using the model are to help people to manage their problems in living more effectively and develop unused opportunities more fully, and to help people become better at helping themselves in their everyday lives. (Egan G., The Skilled Helper, 1998, p7-8). Thus there is an emphasis on empowerment. Also the person s own agenda is central, and the model seeks to move the person towards action leading to outcomes which they choose and value. This model is not based on a particular theory of personality development, nor on a theory of the ways difficulties develop. It is a framework for conceptualising the helping process, and is best used in working on issues in the recent past and the present. As with any model, it provides a map, which can be used in exploring, but which is not the territory itself. The Egan model and mentoring are not synonymous; the model can be used in many kinds of helping relationships, and mentoring/co-mentoring can be done using other models, (or none!). The model can and should be used flexibly. The model works best if attention is paid to Rogers core conditions, the helpers approach to the speaker being based on genuineness, respect, and empathy, and if principles of good active listening are remembered throughout. The Egan model aims to help the speaker address 3 main questions: 1. What is going on? 2. What do I want instead? 3. How might I get to what I want? Not everyone needs to address all 3 questions, and at times people may move back into previously answered ones. For simplicity, well look at the model sequentially. However, the skilled helper will work with the speaker in all or any of the stages, and move back and forward, as appropriate. Stage 1 is about providing a safe place for the speaker to tell their story in their own way, and to be fully heard and acknowledged. It is about a space where a person can hear and understand their own story. It is also about gently helping them lift their head to see the wider picture and other perspectives, and to find a point from which to go forward with hope. 1a an expansive part The helper encourages the speaker to tell their story, and by using good active listening skills and demonstrating the core conditions, helps them to explore and unfold the tale, and to reflect. For some, this is enough, for others it is just the beginning. .as you summarised what I said, all the jumble began to make sense. Skills in Stage 1a:- active listening, reflecting, paraphrasing, checking understanding, open questions, summarising. Useful Questions: How do/did you feel about that? What are/were you thinking? What is/was that like for you? Keep them open! What else is there about that? 1b a challenging part Since they are in the situation, it can be difficult for the person speaking to see it clearly, or from different angles. With the help of empathic reflections and challenges, the speaker uncovers blind spots or gaps in their perceptions and assessment of the situation, of others and of  themselves their patterns, the impact of their behaviour on the situation, their strengths. Id never thought about how it might feel from my colleagues point of view. * Skills: Challenging; different perspectives, patterns and connections, shoulds and oughts, negative self-talk, blind spots (discrepancies, distortions, incomplete awareness, things implied, whats not said), ownership, specifics, strengths. * Useful Questions: * How do others see it/you? * Is there anything youve overlooked? * What does he/she think/feel? * What would s/he say about all this? * What about all of this is a problem for you? * Any other way of looking at it? 1c -Focussing and moving forward People often feel stuck; that is why they want to talk. In this stage, the helper seeks to move the speaker from stuckness to hope by helping Them choose an area that they have the energy to move forward on, that would make a difference and benefit them. I see now the key place to get started is my relationship with K * Skills: Facilitating focussing and prioritising an area to work on. * Useful Questions: * What in all of this is the most important? * What would be best to work on now? * What would make the most difference? * What is manageable? Stage 1 can be 5 minutes or 5 years; it may be all someone needs. Stage 2 What do I want instead? People often move from problem to action, or problem to solution, without reflecting on what they really want, or in what way their problems might be opportunities. Stage 2 is about this, about helping the speaker to open up a picture of what they really want, and how things could be better. This stage is very important in generating energy and hope. 2a a creative part The helper helps the speaker to brainstorm their ideal scenario; if you  could wake up tomorrow with everything just how you want it, like your ideal world, what would it be like? The speaker is encouraged to broaden their horizon and be imaginative, rather than reflect on practicalities. For some people this is scary, for some liberating. At first it was really difficult but after a while I Jet my imagination go and began to get really excited about what we could achieve in the department. * Skills: Brainstorming, facilitating imaginative thinking, i.e. * Quantity vs. Quality Anything goes have fun * Write down ideas verbatim, dont analyse or judge * Keep prompting what else? * Dont hurry, allow lots of time * Useful Questions: * What do you ideally want instead? * What would be happening? * What would you be doing/thinking/feeling? * What would you have that you dont have now? * What would it be like if it were better / a bit better? 2b a reality testing part From the creative and visionary brainstorm, the speaker formulates goals which are specific, measurable, achievable/appropriate (for them, in their circumstances), realistic (with reference to the real world), and have a time frame attached, i.e. SMART goals. Goals which are demanding yet achievable are motivating. It feels good to be clear that I want a clear understanding with my colleagues about our respective rules and responsibilities. * Skills: facilitating selecting and reality checking with respect to internal and external landscape. * Useful Questions: * What exactly is your goal? * How would you know when youve got there? * What could you manage/are you likely to achieve? * Which feels best for you? * Out of all that, what would be realistic? * When do you want to achieve it by? 2c moving forward This stage aims to test the realism of the goal before the person moves to action, and to help the speaker check their commitment to the goal by reviewing the costs and benefits to them of achieving it. Is it worth it? It feels risky but I need to resolve this. * Skills: facilitation of exploring costs and benefits, and checking commitment to goal. * Useful Questions: * What will be the benefits when you achieve this? * How will it be different for you when youve done this? * What will be the costs of doing this? Any disadvantages/downsides to doing this? Stage 3 How will I get there? This is the how stage how will the person move towards the goals they have identified in Stage 2? It is about possible strategies and specific actions, about doing something to get started, whilst considering what/who might help and hinder making the change. 3a another creative part! The speaker is helped to brainstorm strategies 101 ways to achieve the goal again with prompting and encouragement to think widely. What people, places, ideas, organisations could help? The aim is to free up the person to generate new and different ideas for action, breaking out of old mind-sets. There were gems of possibilities from seemingly crazy ideas. * Skills: Facilitation of brainstorming * Useful Questions: * How many different ways are there for you to do this? * Who/what might help? * What has worked before/for others? * What about some wild ideas? 3b focussing in on appropriate strategies What from the brainstorm might be selected as a strategy that is realistic for the speaker, in their circumstances, consistent with their values? Forcefield analysis can be used here to look at what internal and external factors (individuals and organisations) are likely to help and hinder action and how these can be strengthened or weakened respectively. I would feel comfortable trying to have a conversation with him about how he sees things. * Skills for Stage 3b: Facilitation of selecting and reality checking. * Useful Questions: * Which of these ideas appeals most? * Which is most likely to work for you? * Which are within your resources/control? 3c moving to action The aim is to help the speaker plan the next steps. The strategy is broken into bite-size chunks of action. Here the speaker is doing almost all the work, producing their action plan. The helper works with them to turn good intention into specific plans with time scales. Whilst being encouraging, its also important not to push the speaker into saying theyll do things to please the helper. I will make sure we have time together before the end of the month. I will book a meeting, so that we can be sure of quiet uninterrupted time. I will organise this before Friday. * Skills: Facilitation of action planning. * Useful Questions: * What will you do first? When? * What will you do next? When? If the end point of producing an action plan has been reached, the experience of trying it out could be the starting point for a follow-up mentoring/co-mentoring session. The work would start in stage I again, telling a new story. If an action plan had not been reached, thats fine too, and the model can be used over a series of sessions. The key in using the model, as with any theory or model, is to keep the speakers agenda central, the individual in the foreground and theory in the background, and to use the model for the person, rather than vice versa.

Minimal Intervention Minimally Invasive Dentistry Health And Social Care Essay

Minimal Intervention Minimally Invasive Dentistry Health And Social Care Essay Dentistry has very much shifted from an invasive to a more conservative approach over the years. This is due to an extended understanding of the nature of the disease and its process and discovering more effective methods of treatment instead of the traditional cut, drill and fill technique. Hence, the concept of minimally invasive and minimal intervention dentistry is now gaining popularity in modern dentistry. Minimal intervention is a modern medical approach to the treatment of caries focusing on prevention and detection of dental diseases at the earliest stage to avoid invasive treatment. When surgical intervention is necessary, minimally invasive techniques are being used widely to conserve as much tooth structure as possible and reduce risk of tooth fracture and pulpal problems. The minimally interventive approach involves reduction of cariogenic bacteria. It uses preventive measures such as topical fluorides, fissure sealants and patient education on oral hygiene. Early lesions are remineralised by non-interventive management, such as fluoride ions in saliva. The surgery carried out if necessary is minimally invasive and uses adhesive materials such as glass ionomer cements and adhesive composite systems. Innovative, modified cavity designs are used with possibly no drilling such as ART techniques. The resurgence of air abrasive technology with newer restorative materials has given a new dimension to minimally invasive dentistry. The micro-mechanical bonding of the restoration to the tooth structure through maximum preservation of healthy tooth structure negates the need to follow conventional G.V. Black cavity design parameters. Firstly, the difference between minimal intervention dentistry and minimally invasive dentistry need to be pointed out. Minimal intervention can be defined as a philosophy of professional dental care, with emphasis on early detection and earliest possible cure of the carious disease. This is followed by minimally invasive dentistry, which is the conservation of healthy tooth structure by using techniques that are patient friendly and cause minimal damage to the dental tissue and focuses on repair of irreversible damages caused by the disease and remineralisation.1 The concept of minimally invasive treatment emerged in dentistry in the early 1970s. One of the early examples of this is the application of diamine silver fluoride, which arrests the carious process and prevents the formation of any new caries. The silver ions in the diamine silver fluoride kill pathogenic organisms. Application is simple, cost effective and does not require any complex training to carry out.2 Several other examples are the development of preventive resin restorations (PRR) that were introduced in the 1980s, atraumatic restorative treatment (ART) which is the treatment of caries using only hand instruments and restoring with an adhesive filling material such as glass ionomer cement, and Carisolv in the 1990s which is a chemo-mechanical method that is efficient at removing carious dentine.3 The fundamental components of minimally invasive dentistry are the risk assessment of the disease; paying particular attention on early detection and prevention of caries, remineralisation of the enamel and dentine, use of a wide range of restorative materials and techniques that cause minimal intervention and resorting to surgery only if absolutely necessary. The following definition can be used to summarise the different aspects of minimally invasive dentistry: the maintenance and monitoring of oral health through continuous care, comprising comprehensive preventive management, a longitudinal approach to risk assessment and diagnosis of chronic disease, and a minimally interventive approach to any necessary operative intervention.4 Minimally invasive dentistry is not only restricted to the management of caries. The concept can be used in various dental applications such as the treatment of periodontal conditions, wear of teeth through erosion and attrition and management of chronic oral mucosal diseases such as xerostomia. The patient is very much involved in this type of approach to preserve and maintain their dentition and oral health. The patient takes responsibility for the daily care of their mouth and to control and prevent the risk of developing disease or progression of existing disease to the best of their ability. To do this, patients must have a good understanding of the disease process and know what to do to maintain good oral health and should be consistently motivated by members of the dental team. (REWORD FULLY)Minimal intervention suggests remineralisation of any enamel margin that is not yet cavitated as well as remineralisation of the lesion floor to avoid irritation of the pulp. Demineralised enamel around the margin of the lesion will be restored during the stabilisation phase of treatment aimed at elimination of the disease through application of fluoride. The floor of the lesion will be remineralised through the placement of a glass-ionomer cement for the restoration and this, at the same time will seal the margins against microleakage.14 The minimally invasive approach has been described by Tyas and co-workers as follows: Early caries diagnosis The classification of caries depth and progression using radiographs An assessment of individual caries risk Reduction in cariogenic bacteria, in order to decrease the risk of further demineralisation The arresting of active lesions The remineralisation and monitoring of non-cavitated arrested lesions The placement of restorations with minimal cavity designs Repair rather than replacement of defective restorations Assessment of disease management outcomes at regular intervals13 Patient Motivation (CUT EDIT COMPLETELYYYYYY) Preventive care is the foundation for minimally invasive dentistry. Preventive care is an essential factor of the minimal invasion technique, but is reliant on the patient carrying out effective oral hygiene techniques. The motivation for this is most likely to stem from educating the patient about the carious process so that they understand the importance of maintaining good oral health. The most active method of doing this is likely to be actual demonstration of the carious process to patients as such stimulation is likely to show them the full effects, and encourage them to take part in preventive care on their own. An important factor to take into account is that each patient will have a different caries risk and assessment of this risk is necessary before treatment can take place. Caries risk is much more significant if there has been previous history of caries risk. In fact the best way of addressing treatment, in my opinion is to use the risk score assessment method, treatment by this method ensures that management of the disease is specialist to the patient, so that the results are the most successful. A risk score is worked out and used to manage the disease in a specialised way based on the individual patient. Several different caries treatment techniques will be discussed. Firstly, Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA), developed by Featherstone in university of San Francisco, This tool provides not only the assessment mechanism but also a set of interventions tailored to the disease level predicted.- havent changed words around!! Secondly, the technique of DIAGNOdent is lesion specific and detect lesions Some types of caries detection tools are lesion-specific and detect lesions at their earliest stages. DIAGNOdent is very useful in detecting demineralisation on certain surfaces, particularly the occlusal surfaces of teeth. Prevention stems from patient motivation to carry out effective oral hygiene techniques at home and maintain good oral health. Educating patients about dental caries in addition to talking about cavities is an important factor in motivating the patient as when they have a better understanding of the carious process they are more inclined to maintain good oral health to prevent such disease. The ability to demonstrate the caries process to patients might be the best motivational tool. If patients could see the process actually happening before cavitation occurs, they might be more likely to practice appropriate oral hygiene methods at home. It is first necessary to assess the patients caries risk. One of the most important predictors of caries risk is the history of caries. Featherstone and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco have developed and tested a caries assessment tool called. This tool provides not only the assessment mechanism but also a set of interventions tailored to the disease level predicted. Some types of caries detection tools are lesion-specific and detect lesions at their earliest stages. DIAGNOdent is very useful in detecting demineralisation on certain surfaces, particularly the occlusal surfaces of teeth. DIFOTI which stands for digital imaging fibre optic transillumination uses visable light between and through the teeth to see shadows that might be indicative of caries or other defects in the tooth structure. Quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF) scans the entire surface of the tooth and detects caries lesions at their earliest phases. By superimposing the lesion at two separate stages, it can assess the status of remineralisation. This is an example of psychological effect of caries management by risk assessment and early detection. A technology such as QLF allows the patient and practitioner to work together to achieve remineralisation. This empowers the patient and shows them the important of their role combined with professional recommendations in reversing the process before its cavitation stage. (Motivation is key hence patient more likely to follow and successful outcome). An increase in patient awareness of treating disease has developed a new kind of dentistry. Only at such an early stage can the patients focus shift from restorative dentistry to disease management.15 GV Blacks Approach(REWORD REARRANGE ORDER) In 1895, G.V Black introduced the concept of extension for prevention. The principle of extension for prevention is that not only must the lesion be included in the outline, but any adjacent areas not at present carious but likely to do so in the near future should also be included to reduce the risk of subsequent carious recurrence near the cavity margin. The principles of cavity design, as described by G.V. Black underpinned operative dentistry for almost a century. As a consequence of adhesive techniques and new understanding of carious process, Blacks principles have been revisited. Eg: Blacks concept of extension for prevention has been replaced by prevention of extention.17 The preparation of a retentive lock or key in the occlusal aspect of posterior teeth in order to prevent displacement of non-adhesive amalgam restorations result in substantial loss of tooth structure, weakening the tooth. The purely surgical approach to caries control as taught by Black is now recognised as being too invasive and destructive. It is inefficient as it does not eliminate the cause of the disease and also leads to a continuing process of replacement dentistry, enlarging the cavity further. The restoration is subjected to an increasingly heavy load and the tooth gets weaker. The cavity designs proposed by Black required geometric precision with sharp line angles, flat floors and removal of all signs of demineralised tooth structure. The fundamental problem with Blacks classification is that it proposes a cavity design regardless of the size and extent of the lesion. Therefore, there will be a standard amount of tooth structure removed whether it is involved with the disease or not. This results in the cavity preparation being larger that it needs to be. Also extension for prevention increases the areas for access of microbes, resulting in even more tooth structure being removed to remove the secondary caries.18 New Cavity Classification The concept of minimal intervention cavity designs is now being used as a replacement to the traditional Blacks classification. The new classification will identify both the position of a lesion on the exposed crown of a tooth and the extent to which it has progressed. It is not needed to specify a particular design for the cavity that needs to be prepared. (Table 1: Mount GJ, 2009) The above table shows a new cavity classification that has been developed by Graham Mount which takes into account the changes in caries activity so is classified by size as well as site: Site 1 lesions are similar to pit and fissure class I restorations and other defects on smooth enamel surfaces. Site 2 lesions are those at contact areas between any pair of teeth. Site 3 lesions are those originating close to the gingival margin including exposed root surfaces. 13, 14 As the size of the lesion extends so does the complexity of the restoration. The sizes that can be identified are as follows: Size 0 the initial lesion at any site that has not yet had surface cavitation so may be possible to heal it. Size 1 the smallest minimal lesion requiring operative intervention. Size 2 a moderate sized cavity. There is still adequate sound tooth structure to maintain integrity of the remaining crown. Size 3 cavity needs to be modified and enlarged to provide some protection for the remaining crown from the occlusal load. Size 4 cavity is now extensive following loss of a cusp from a posterior tooth or an incisial edge from an anterior.14 Cavity preparation One of the most important aims of minimally invasive techniques is to preserve as much sound tissue as possible. The smaller the cavity preparation, the better the performance of the restoration placed within it. It is important to excavate only the irreparable, diseased enamel and dentine, keeping the cavity as small as possible. The cavity walls have to be modified in order to restore the cavities with a suitable adhesive material that can strengthen and support the remaining tooth structure, promote remineralisation and ideally have antibacterial activity. Any remaining bacteria need to be sealed off so that their nutrient supply is cut off and the carious process is arrested. When carrying out the stages of caries removal, it is imperative to follow a minimally invasive approach, and for this to be successful a good knowledge of the chemistry and handling of dental materials is essential. There are many different approaches for proximal cavity preparation, with focus on preserving as much tooth substance as possible.5 Several techniques will be discussed as followed. Sonic Techniques The sonic oscillating, SONICflex system is used in minimally interventive occlusoproximal preparations. It was developed to cut small proximal cavities and used a high frequent oscillating preparation instruments in an air-driven oscillating handpiece. Damage to adjacent teeth is minimised by the use of safe-sided diamond coated, round ended preparation tips. SONICflex can be used in situations where access is difficult, such as proximal sections. The SONICflex PrepGold and SONICflex PrepCeram instruments are designed for minimally interventive gold and ceramic inlay preparations. Figure 1 preparation with SONICflex Prep Ceram (Wilson NHF, 2007) Figure 2 Preparation with SONICflex Prep Gold (Wilson NHF, 2007) Sonic instrumentation allows proximal beveling with limited risk of damage to the adjacent tooth surfaces.4 Air Abrasion Bioactive Glasses The air abrasion technology was developed by Dr Robert Black in 1945 and was successfully introduced in 1951 with the Airdent air abrasion unit by S.S. White. Air abrasion can be described as a pseudo-mechanical, non-rotary method of cutting hard dental tissue where the tooth surface is bombarded with high velocity desiccated abrasive particles, transferring kinetic energy to the tooth surface, which is micro-chipped away. (REWORD) Studies have shown that bonding of enamel and dentine surfaces that have been prepared with air abrasion are much better than those prepared with conventional carbide burs or acid etching.6 Air abrasion produces no heat, vibration, pressure, pain or noise and extent of hard tissue damage is far less than that accomplished using rotary instruments, therefore making air-abraded hard tissue surface more favourable to adhesive bonding. It works by using a stream of aluminium oxide particles produced from compressed air. The abrasive particles strike the tooth with high velocity and removes a small amount of the tooth structure. Efficiency of removal is relative to the hardness of the tissue or material being removed and the operating parameters of the air abrasion device. (REWORD) A number of parameters such as air pressure, operating distance, powder flow rate, particle size, diameter of the nozzle tip and time of exposure vary the amount of hard tissue removal and depth of penetration. The safety for clinical use of alumina was supported by the fact that the particles are large enough to exceed the upper limit for respirable airborne pollutants.4 Air pressure usually varies from 40 to 160 psi and most common particle sizes are 27 or 50 micrometres in diameter. A high powder flow rate will allow more particles to abrade the tooth faster. Operating distances from the tooth range from 0.5 to 2 mm. Applications of air abrasion include caries removal, removal of superficial enamel defects, detection of pits and fissures, removal of pit and fissure surface stain, preparation of tooth structure for the placement of composites and ceramics, surface preparations of abfractions and abrasions, removal of existing restorations and as an adjunct to the conventional handpiece bur.7 Air polishing is an alternative type of air abrasion that removes plaque and surface stains effectively by using sodium bicarbonate powder instead of alumina. Advantages of air abrasion include majority of patients do not need local anaesthetic, discomfort can be managed by reducing air pressure and patients are less anxious with the sound of air abrasion compared to a turbine drill. Air abrasion has a large number of indications but several contraindications are that it cannot be used to remove large amalgam restorations and is not efficient for removal of gross caries because it does not cut substances that are soft. It also produces a round cavity that is not suitable for preparations requiring sharp margins.13 Bioactive glass particles are recognised for their bone inductive properties and there is evidence that shows that bioglass particles can interact with dentine through the formation of a hydroxyl carbonate apatite layer which can provide an effective interactive seal. Bioglass particles can be used for extrinsic stain removal, desensitisation of exposed cervical dentine, removal of selective demineralised enamel and composite removal. They have the ability of discriminating incipient lesions from sound enamel, treating them selectively and minimally. Chemomechanical Treatment Chemomechanical treatment is a gel-based dentine caries removal system and remains the least interventive approach to the removal of carious dentine. Carisolv gel is used with this system and has the advantages of limiting the need for anesthesia, preserves dental tissues, reduces the use of rotary instruments and is effective in controlling patient anxiety. Carisolv gel is applied into the cavity and subsequently the carious tissue is removed using specially designed hand instruments. The Carisolv hand instruments scrape away the material dissolved by the gel, hence preserving remineralisable layers of dentine and underlying sound dentine. Carisolv gel consists of a 0.1% hypochlorite-based alkaline gel with amino acids. The mechanism of the gel is that it dissolves infected dentine that has undergone proteolytic breakdown of collagen, causing further collapse of the collagen network for easy removal with hand instruments. The gel has no detrimental effect on healthy, hard dental tissue. Indications include the treatment of anxious patients, root caries and deep lesions of caries.4 Chemomechanical methods of caries removal is considered to be less painful compared to the use of rotary instruments.8 It is a well-accepted method by patients, despite the prolonged time taken to carry out the treatment. It is a self-limiting technique only removing infected dentine so it is not possible to cut away too much of the tooth structure.13 Polymer Cutting Instruments Metal and diamond burs are not able to discriminate between infected and healthy dentine. Polymer instruments have been designed to differentiate between these two structures as it is able to remove softened dentine but cannot cut the hard, healthy dentine. These instruments have the potential to prepare selected cavities without the need for local anaesthesia.9 Sound enamel has a Knoop hardness of approximately 400 and for dentine is 70-90. Carious dentine has a much lower Knoop hardness between 0-30. This allows a cutting instrument with a Knoop hardness of around 50 to be developed, which is halfway between carious and sound dentine. The polymer instrument remains largely intact when removing carious dentine but when it hits sound dentine, it is visably worn away therefore cannot remove or damage the sound dentine. This also means that it does not operatively expose vital odontoblasts and therefore has a limited capacity to cause pain and discomfort. Consequently, it may be possible to complete caries removal without having to use local anaesthesia.10 Stepwise Excavation Atraumatic Restoration Technique (ART) Stepwise excavation and ART are modern applications of the minimally invasive approach of managing deep cavitated carious lesions. Both techniques use simple hand instruments such as excavators to remove the necrotic caries-infected dentine and also some caries-affected dentine.5 The reasons for using hand instruments instead of electric rotating handpieces is that it requires minimal cavity preparation that conserves sound tooth tissues and cause less trauma to teeth. Also, the need for local anaesthesia is reduced as the patient will not have to endure as much pain. The stepwise excavation technique involves at different intervals. Carious tissue was removed and a thin layer of calcium hydroxide was placed followed by a temporary restoration. The calcium hydroxides primary purpose is to act as a protective seal of exposed dentine surface. It is a strong alkali so stimulates secondary dentine formation in very deep cavities. No final excavation is performed in the first visit. Re-entry and final excavation is made at a later date. There are several variations to the stepwise excavation technique such as Magnusson and Sundell placed a zinc oxide-eugenol cement temporary restoration and carried out the final excavation four to six weeks later. In 1962, Law and Lewis placed calcium hydroxide and an amalgam restoration and re-entry was made six months later. More recently developed ART techniques restore the cavity with chemically adhesive GIC which forms a better seal, instead of the traditional amalgam and also releases fluoride which prevents and arrests caries.5 When the restoration is removed, arrested caries-affected dentine which is darker and harder is exposed and tertiary dentine is also deposited. In the excavation procedure, all the undermining enamel has to be removed to allow easy access to the carious dentine along the enamel-dentine junction. 1 mm of carious dentine is left behind on the pulpal wall and re-entry takes place after a year and the final excavation is carried out. By removing infected dental tissue in deep cavities, excavation is at a very close level to the pulp. By using the stepwise excavation, pulpal exposure is avoided and any pulpal complications are minimised.11 (Figure 3: Bjorndal L, 2008) Figure 3 show the less invasive stepwise excavation procedure. The red zones indicate where plaque is found. A closed lesion environment before first excacation (a) and after (b) followed by application of calcium hydroxide material and a provisional restoration(c). During the treatment interval the demineralized dentine has clinically changed into signs of slow lesion progress, seen by a darker demineralized dentin (d). After final excavation (e) the permanent restoration is made (f).11 Restorative Materials At present there are several restorative materials that are compatible with a minimal interventive philosophy such as resin composites, giomers, ormocers, compomers, resin-modified and traditional glass-ionomer cements. The use of adhesive techniques such as resin composites removes the need of occlusal keys and undercuts, therefore conserving more tooth substance.13 Amalgam (REWORD) Amalgam is one of the oldest direct restorative materials still in use. It is an alloy of several metals including silver, tin, copper, zinc and a small amount of mercury. Amalgam is not compatible with the minimal intervention philosophy despite its proven durability. It requires an undercut to retain the restoration macro-mechanically; hence more tooth structure is removed or damaged, ultimately weakening the remaining tissue. Consequently amalgam is not recommended for the initial management of lesions of caries and where a minimally interventive approach is indicated.(REWORD) It is possible for the amalgam to be bonded to teeth with dentine adhesive systems, reducing the need for undercuts. These are called bonded amalgam restorations. Modern techniques for cavity preparation such as air abrasion are not well suited for the removal of amalgam and there is concern for the levels of mercury released when amalgam is abraded. Air abrasion of amalgam for one minute released mercury vapour four times in excess of the OSHA standard.12 Resin Composites (REWORD COMPLETELY) Resin composites are glass filler particles in a resin matrix. Composites for anterior and posterior teeth require different properties. Materials with a higher filler: resin ratio are recommended for posterior restorations, whereas materials with more resin matrix are used for anterior restorations. This is because materials with a higher filler: resin ratio tend to be stronger, more wear resistant and shrink less when cured. A high concentration of filler particles makes the material more opaque and is more difficult to finish. On the other hand, materials with a higher filler: resin particle ratios are more easily finished and translucent so better suited for anterior teeth restorations. However they shrink more when cured. All resin systems contract on curing. The concept of soft-start polymerisation has been shown to produce better marginal adaptation which may lead to reduced interfacial leakage. Also the net overall shrinkage is less. Composite restorative materials follow the minimally invasive concept as they can be used in conjunction with a dental adhesive system with minimal tooth preparation. Another advantage is that light-curing provides command cure which allows for immediate finishing and polishing. The restoration, if placed correctly in suitably prepared teeth, seals the tooth restorative interface, reducing interfacial leakage. It is possible to add material to cured increments, which allows for incremental build-up and further additions at a later date. Disadvantages include shrinkage typically 2-3% which can disrupt the marginal adaptation of the restoration. Bonding to dentine still remains problematic and water absorption with surface and marginal staining may occur after some years. Flowable composites are used in the repair of marginal defects in restorations and as a liner. They have a low filler: resin ratio and suffer relatively large percentage shrinkage when they are cured, but have the advantage of easy of adaptation to preparations. Compomers Compomers are made predominately from resin composite with the addition of a polyacid-modified molecule, which makes the material more hydrophilic. Compomers are initially light-cured, but subsequently absorb water, allowing for an acid-base reaction to set the polyacid-modified molecule. Initially the material shrinks due to polymerisation contraction but expands subsequently as water is absorbed. Compomers are easy to handle and release fluoride. they are resin-made so a dentine bonding agent is required. Properties are similar to composites but wear and fracture resistance are less than for composite. Glass-Ionomer Cements (GICs) and resin-modifed GIC (RMGICs) GICs are used for cervical restorations, fissure sealants and proximal lesions in anterior teeth. RMGICs are indicated for bonded-base restorations, temporary restorations especially between appointments in endodontic therapy. They are also used in high caries risk patients and atraumatic restoration treatments. GICs not indicated for definitive restorations in adult dentitions expect for the treatment of root caries. The advantages include self-adhesion to the tooth tissue through bio reacting with the tooth surface and the release of fluoride and other ions. They perform well in low-stress areas. It can also be rechargeable, therefore taking up fluoride from the environment.20 The disadvantages of GICs include poor fracture strength and wear rates. They are also quite difficult to handle but this can be overcome by adding resin to create resin-modified glass ionomer cements which is easier to place and has improved aesthetics. Traditional GICs are more opaque and less aesthetic than RMGICs and also cause more marginal chipping. Exogenous stain build-up is common with traditional GICs.20 Giomers Giomers are a relatively new type of restorative material. The name giomer is a hybrid of the words glass ionomer and composite. They have properties of both glass ionomers such as fluoride release and recharge, and of resin composites such as aesthetics and biocompatibility. Therefore the material combines advantages of both materials. The material is composed of prereacted glass-ionomer particles within a resin matrix. Ormocers Ormocer stands for Organically Modified Ceramic. It is a three dimensionally cross-linked copolymer. Their chemistry is based on a polyvinylsiloxane backbone. Ormocers are fully polymerised materials. Ormocers undergoes 1.97% volume shrinkage which is lowest value recorded so far for a resin based filling material. Due to their cross-linking and chemical nature, Ormocers ensure that it is a highly biocompatible filling material. Their advantages compared to conventional composites are outstanding biocompatibility, minimal shrinkage, resistance to masticatory loading and aesthetics resembling natural teeth. Examples of minimally invasive procedures Sealants A Dental sealant is a thin protective covering made of resin that is applied to the chewing surfaces of posterior teeth to prevent the formation of cavities. It is a primary preventive procedure. If the sealant is placed properly it does not require any cutting of the tooth structure. Placement of sealants in suspect teeth within s