Revenues in sports industry Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Revenues in sports industry - Term Paper Example Consulting company A.T. Kearney states that the sports industry in global scale is prospering, and today the industry is worth about 500-600 USD bn. (which includes sports events like simple games, national competitions, Olympiads etc., infrastructure and constructions, sports products and goods) (Collignon, Sultan, and Santander). Dynamics of sports industry revenues in global scale shows the overall growth of revenues for the past 9 years (table 1): expected revenue in 2014 is 36% more than it was in 2006 ("Changing the game. Outlook for the global sports market to 2015"). The constituents of Revenues are Gate revenues, Media rights, Sponsorships, and Merchandising ("Changing the game. Outlook for the global sports market to 2015") (table 2). According to the structure of revenues, the biggest portion of the total revenues belonged to Gate revenues (34% in 2006). The situation changed in 2014, when Sponsorship took the leading position (31%, which is 1% more than Gate revenues that year). The change of the structure shows that the representatives of other industries use sports industry to win new markets, gain new customers, increase their own rating among competitors and increase profits.Jonathan Jensen and Anne Hsu prove this with their research, which says that "net income at these firms (sponsors) grew faster than at S&P 500 firms in general (7.8% to 6.5% per year)" and "the top 16 (companies), which spent on average $160m a year on sponsorship, saw net income grow by 22.1% annually".

Piaget Theory of Children Cognitive Development Essay Example for Free

Piaget Theory of Children Cognitive Development Essay Much of the research since the late 1950s on the development of role taking and moral judgments has its roots in the research conducted by Piaget in the 1920s. One thrust of Piagets theorizing in his earliest writings dealt with the proposition that children progress from an egocentric to a perspectivistic state. He proposed that children younger than 6 or 7 years of age do not clearly differentiate between self and others or between thoughts (the psychological) and external events. A consequence of the failure to differentiate the self from others is that the child is unable to take the perspective of another person. For instance, in communicating with others the child is unable to take into account the requirements of the listener. A consequence of the failure to differentiate thoughts from external events is that the child attributes an objective reality to internal mental events such as dreams. A major developmental transition was posited to occur when the child shifts from an egocentric state to one in which the self is differentiated from others and there is the ability to take anothers perspective. (Angela M. ODonnell, Alison King, 1999) However, the most extensive research in a social domain undertaken by Piaget during this early period dealt with childrens moral judgments. Those were also the only studies on moral development to be done by Piaget. Three specific aspects of Piagets moral development theory had a substantial influence on later research. One was the characterization of moral development as a process of differentiating moral from nonmoral judgments. The second was the proposed interrelations between general cognitive orientations and moral judgments. And the third was the proposed relations between changes in perspective-taking abilities and changes in moral judgments. (Jacques Montangero, Danielle Maurice-Naville, Angela Cornu-Wells, 1997). Piaget proposed that children progress through two moral judgment levels (following an early premoral phase), the first being labeled heteronomous (generally corresponding to ages 3 to 8 years) and the second labeled autonomous. In the heteronomous level, the child has unilateral respect for adults (regarded as authority) and morality is, therefore, based on conformity. The right or good is seen by the child as adherence to externally determined and fixed rules and commands. The young childs morality of conformity and unilateral respect becomes transformed into a morality of cooperation and mutual respect. The basis for the autonomous level is the emergence of concepts of reciprocity and equality. At this level, rules are viewed as products of mutual agreement, serving the aims of cooperation, and thus are regarded as changeable. (Gwen Bredendieck Fischer, 1999). In formulating the levels of heteronomy and autonomy, Piaget studied childrens judgments about several specific issues, including rules, punishment, intentionality, lying, stealing, and distributive justice. A brief description of the levels can be provided by considering some of the studies of childrens thinking about rules and about intentionality in situations involving property damage, deceit, and theft. The definitions of the moral levels were derived, in part, from the way Piaget had framed childrens general cognitive capacities. Two presumed characteristics regarding the increasing differentiations that occur with development were relevant. One proposed characteristic was the childs egocentricism, the failure to clearly distinguish the selfs perspective from that of others. A second relevant feature was the young childs failure to differentiate the physical world from social and mental phenomena; young children confuse the subjective and objective aspects of their experience. (Richard I. Evans, Eleanor Duckworth, 1973) According to Piaget, one concrete manifestation of young childrens inability to differentiate perspectives and to differentiate the physical from the social is their attitudes toward social rules. It was proposed that children at the heteronomous level view all social rules as absolute. The inability to take the perspective of others leads the child to assume that everyone adheres to the same rules. There is a failure to comprehend the possibility that rules may be relative to the social context or to an individuals perspective. In turn, there is an inability to clearly distinguish physical from social phenomena that leads to a confusion of social regularities with physical regularities, such that social rules are seen as fixed in much the same way as are physical regularities. For instance, Piaget maintained that children regard rules of games as unchangeable; they believe it would be wrong to modify the rules of a game even if they were changed by general consensus. (Harry Morgan, 1997) Another manifestation of the young childs cognitive confusions is that judgments of right and wrong are based on the material consequences of actions, rather than the actors intentions or motives. Piaget examined the relative importance that children attribute to intentions and consequences in situations involving material damage, lying, and stealing. Younger children, it was found, attribute greater importance, in judging culpability, to amount of damage (e. g. , breaking the 15 cups accidentally is worse than breaking one cup intentionally), whereas older children attribute more importance to the intentions of the actor. Similarly, younger children assess the wrongness of lying or stealing, not by the motives of the actor, but by their quantitative deviation from the truth or the amount stolen. In judgments about theft, for instance, children judging by consequences would say that stealing a larger amount to give to a very poor friend is worse than stealing a lesser amount for oneself. (R. Clarke Fowler, 1998). In contrast with the heteronomous level, at the autonomous level respect is no longer unilateral, rules are not viewed as absolute or fixed, and judgments are based on intentions. Piaget proposed that these changes are stimulated by the increasing interactions with peers (such as in school) and the decreasing orientation to relations with adult authority that usually occurs during late childhood. Relations with authorities (parents, teachers, etc. ), he maintained, are likely to lead to conformity and an attitude of unilateral respect on the part of the young child. That is, the child feels that the authorities are superior and that their dictates are right by virtue of their superior status. In order for the shift from a heteronomous to an autonomous orientation to occur the child must more clearly differentiate the self from others and, thereby, be able to take the perspective of others. Relations with adult authorities who impose external rules upon the child are likely to reinforce a heteronomous orientation, whereas relations with peers are more likely to stimulate attempts to take the perspectives of others. Therefore, through increasing interactions with those he or she can relate to on an equal footing, the child is stimulated to view his or her own perspective as one among many different perspectives. In the process, mutual respect replaces unilateral respect for authority and the bases of a sense of justice reciprocity, equality, and cooperation emerge. Rules are then regarded as social constructions, based on agreement, that serve functions shared by the participants of social interactions. The increasing awareness of others perspectives and subjective intentions leads to judgments that are based on intentionality rather than consequences. (John H. Flavell, 1963) In addition to the connections to general cognitive capacities, Piagets characterization of moral judgments was a global one in that development was defined as entailing a progressive differentiation of principles of justice (ought) from the habitual, customary, and conventional (is). In essence, the claim was that concepts of justice do not emerge until the autonomous stage. Thus, the heteronomous morality of constraint and unilateral respect is a morality of custom, convention and tradition, while autonomous morality of mutual respect and cooperation prevails over custom and convention. Prior to the development of concepts of justice, therefore, the child must progress through the simpler, conformity-based conventional orientation. In sum, Piaget proposed a model of development as the differentiation of domains of knowledge. Only at more advanced stages are moral judgments and knowledge of the social order (or even morality and physical law) distinguished. It is precisely on this basis that Piaget thought it was methodologically valid to examine childrens concepts of rules of marble games as a means to understanding their moral reasoning. (Christopher M. Kribs-Zaleta, DLynn Badshaw, 2003) Piagets professional career has been devoted to exploring the possibilities of a psychological theory of relativity. In this approach neither the subject, who knows, nor the object, which is known, have absolute status. Each is conditioned on the other within a continually changing framework. Change occurs through interchanges of actions and reactions. Actions of the subject are like probes equivalent to statements by which the subject says: I think you, the object, are such and such. When acted upon, objects act back, revealing who and what they are. Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Sharon J. Derry, 1998) Piagets contribution to the study of knowledge has been to escape the philosophic traps of subjectivity and objectivity. The former makes knowledge a self satisfying concoction where, for the sake of consistency, the subject creates concepts of objects and reality. This position tends toward error through failure to come to grips with the facts of reality. It puts the subject in control of deciding what reality is and, in the extreme, allows distortion for the sake of maintaining the subjects version of how things ought to be. Objectivity errs at the other end and, in its extreme, denies self-initiated definition, making the subject only a valid recorder of reality. Distortion can occur either through exposure to odd circumstances or through breakdowns in the subjects recording devices. The position of relativity seeks solution to both problems. Its clearest expression is found when both subject and object are given defining powers in their interactions. There is double agency, with the object telling what it is just as forcibly as the subject reveals itself through its actions. (Hans G. Furth, 1987) With interactions as the basic reality, the context of knowledge is dynamic. It is also the means to knowledge insofar as subject and object are able to extract orderly relations from their interactions. These relations among actions and reactions color definitions of both agents. They are the medium for knowing and provide the terms by which subject and object attain their forms. This is why, for example, Piaget argues that space, number, and the like, remain open to redefinition throughout development. Numbers are not things to be grasped but are products from relations abstracted from subject-object interactions. True relations become expressed through numbering operations, which coordinate actions of the subject as well as reactions of objects. It appears that Piagets approach is unique among contemporary psychological theories by its treatment of relations as the topic of knowledge. Relations are primary, with subject and object being their products. For other theorists, these terms are reversed; subject and object are posited and relations come secondarily. In Piagets scheme, neither subject nor object ever gets to know one another with certainty. Together they can work only toward relations that are reliable. Validity is always a relative matter, depending on current relations, which remain open to further redefinition. (Arthur J. Baroody, Alexis Benson, 2001) This point no doubt has stymied most attempts to bring Piagets work into the mainstream of psychological theories. It is like the essential key without which notes may sound similar but actually render a different song. The stumbling block is evident, for example, in the many ways phenomena originally generated by Piagets position have undergone alteration when considered from the view of more familiar theories. Conservation provides the most telling illustration. Few, if any, of these alternative explanations deal with or care to deal with the phenomenon as a conservation of a subject-object relation. The more common explanation states that number or amount is conceived as constant through physical changes in the object. Within Piagets framework, the physical changes are said to remain constant; they are understood as but two versions of a single relation. The relation is between number- or amount-making actions, with their products made ostensible in the reactions of cubes, chips, or clay. Leslie Smith, Julie Dockrell, Peter Tomlinson, 1997) There is a tendency among contemporary theorists to credit Piaget with having shown that children are cognitively active and control rather than being controlled by external objects or other persons. This emphasis has clouded the fact that objects and persons are not benign, simply waiting for children to transform them into this or that conception. In order to put relations in clear relief, it is helpful to give these things their proper due in knowledge. It helps even to anthropomorphize their role. Objects are as active as children. They move, change shape, enlarge in size, fall off tables, roll, and otherwise respond when they are contacted. Each reaction is reciprocal to something children do. In the case of conservation, to use an example often cited by Piaget, the child who plays with pebbles in his or her back yard may come to understand number making operations because the stones react as they do to his or her manipulations. That which remains constant in making a row, then a circle, then a tower, and next two columns is only the relation among these actions from the child and the several reactions of the pebbles. (Leonora M. Cohen, Younghee M. Kim, 1999). It is now possible to outline the meaning of relations in the social domain where knowledge is based on interactions between the child and other persons. The following sketch highlights the general points of the theory. (a) Children enter the world as actors, seeking order and regularity. This search describes their inherent motivation for knowledge. b) Children look for order first in their own actions by attempting to find that which is repeatable and reliable in execution of actions. (c) Insofar as actions make contact with other things, or persons, effects of actions are not solely under the control of the child. These things react in reciprocity to the actions exerted upon them and together the action and reaction produce effects that differ from those that would result from either alone. (d) This fact of double agency naturally widens childrens focus from action to interaction. Because other agents act in reciprocity to childrens actions, children are forced to seek explanations for change and order in the interplay between actors. The foregoing points can be summarized as follows. Suppose the child intends that an action have a particular outcome or effect. The child then executes the act in accordance with this intention. Suppose also that the act engages another person who adds to the original act with a reaction. The coupling of these actions may have an effect that is different from the childs intention or anticipation in performing the original act. It would be futile to seek order either in the childs or the other persons parts, alone. This is why for Piaget, the child is led to seek a solution in the coupling and arrives at the conclusion that the actions of persons are reciprocally related. This is also why Piaget contends that naive egocentrism ends most probably during the childs first year. To maintain an egocentric posture, a child would have to deny the facts of reciprocity made evident through the thousands of interactions experienced in everyday dealings with other persons. Joy A. Palmer, Liora Bresler, David E. Cooper, 2001) (e) Thereafter, the childs search for order turns to identifying the forms of reciprocal relations that occur in interpersonal interactions. (f) Piaget suggests that there are two such forms. One is a direct and symmetrical reciprocity where ones action is free to match or counter the others action. The second is a reciprocity of complement where ones action must conform to the dictates set down by the others action. g) These two forms describe the basic relations in which people order themselves as actors with respect to other persons, who are also actors. They provide the epistemic unit from which self and other achieve definition. (h) For Piaget, development proceeds as these relations are structured and restructured. They give rise to social and moral conceptions that pertain to the self, other persons, possible relations among persons, and principles of societal functioning, both practical as well as ideal. (Gavin Nobes, Chris Pawson, 2003)

Heuristic Evaluation Weakness And Strength Computer Science Essay

Heuristic Evaluation Weakness And Strength Computer Science Essay When choosing a usability evaluation method, it is important to understand what usability evaluation is. Usability evaluation evaluates how the interface of certain software or product works. How the test is conducted and how detailed the test can be, how it will react on tests and so on. For this study, heuristic evaluation is selected as the main analytical inspection method and for the empirical method, Usability Testing is selected. First introduced by Jakob Nielson in early 90s, the evaluation for usability was created to enhance evaluation method by taking elements such as, user interface(Rogers and Preece, 2007, p.686), dialog boxes, menus, navigation structure , online help and etc.(Rogers and Preece, 2007, p.686). This evaluation method was called heuristic evaluation and when its early establishment, usability evaluation guideline has a long list of method (Nielsen and Molich, 1990), and Nielson shorten the list to only ten of main heuristic evaluation which is(Nielsen, 2005); Visibility of system status: The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. Match between system and the real world: The system should speak the users language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order. User control and freedom: Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked emergency exit to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo. Consistency and standards: Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions. Error prevention: Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action. Recognition rather than recall: Minimize the users memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate. Flexibility and efficiency of use: Accelerators unseen by the novice user may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions. Aesthetic and minimalist design: Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors: Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution. Help and documentation: Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the users task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large. These sets of rules or guideline set the benchmark on how to evaluate usability on interface designs. For example, Mook (2008) research on Microsoft Windows XP Usability testing that is conducted by Bloomberg University, Washington shows that several functionality testing is conducted with the participation of students from the same University, such as setting up an email account, writing an letter, saving a letter copy and sending the final were the part of a important study on how those interface function works. Heuristic Evaluation Strength Heuristic evaluation can be seen as one of the usability methods that is knows as Usability discount engineering (Useit, 2001). The main advantages of Heuristic Evaluation can be verified as cost efficient, intuitive, planning on evaluation doesnt need any advance feature and it can be used easily in early development phases (Nielson and Molich, 1990). Cost Efficient: Cost Efficient or cheap means that it can be implemented in any development phases. For example, when creating a System, evaluation can be done on interfaces that are in Prototype Development Phase. This evaluation can be easily done without jeopardizing the cost when evaluating.(Cockton et.al, 2003) Intuitive: Intuitive means that is it easy to ask people to evaluate using Heuristic evaluation method, for example, evaluation can be done both by students or professionals and independently. (Nielsel and Molich, 1990). Advance Planning not required: Heuristic Evaluation also doesnt need advance planning prior to evaluation, meaning that it is evaluated with the rules or guidelines, with reference to Ten Usability Guidelines. Can be used easily in early development phases: Evaluation or test can be done before the final finished product is out. Meaning that it can be tested within the prototype or beta version of the product. Heuristic Evaluation Weakness Not currently solving identified problems: According to Nielson and Molich (1990), one of the disadvantages of Heuristic evaluation is problem are identified regardless of suggestions how to solve them. For example, once the problem has been identified, evaluators doesnt tend to get information for how to resolve the current problems. Working on multiple number of problems: As suggested by Nielsen and Molich (1990), evaluators just tend to identify several small usability issues, though several more are experts are useful to identify multiple problems. Not suitable on complex interfaces: Because in heuristic evaluation uses small amount of evaluators, they tend to missed out several issues, such as minor issues in complex interfaces. Usability Testing Description The approach for Usability Testing is the test that is conducted toward a product or website to ensure that the product or website is in functional state. Meanwhile, empirical uses more approach towards the thorough observation of the current system. The goal of Usability Testing is to get feedback from users whether the product that is being developed is usable by its standards. Usability testing in earlier days is conducted to investigate the usability efficiency features on interfaces (Rogers and Preece, 2007, p.646). For example, tests conducted on twelve students, by the Wichita State University (Lenz, 2008), to test usability of several gaming peripherals, such as gaming joystick, gaming pad and mouse. Participants of this test firstly need to fill out a questionnaire based on their gaming experience (Lenz, 2008) and their objective is to eliminate 15 enemy robots as quickly and efficiency as possible (Lenz, 2008). These results are recorded and later processed to be viewed as a full video. Data recorded such as how many enemies killed, time to be taken to kill an enemy and how many shots fired per kill are recorded (Lenz, 2008). Usability testing is divided into two groups, which is analytical and empirical, the analytical method means that the evaluated system are thoroughly checked and examined to crucially identify problems. Usability Testing Strength Usability Testing is a procedure that ensures that the final product is meeting the current specification and doing the tasks it supposed to do. Several advantages of Usability Testing can be identified, such as direct feedback from users, how to react to problems and resolving potential problems, if arises (McGregor, n.d) Direct Feedback from Users: Getting the required feedback from users is one of the advantages when using the usability testing. For example, questionnaires are such tools when using usability testing. Hands on users usage on interfaces are also one of the direct feedbacks that are used in usability testing. For example, testers on interactive websites can directly interact with websites and gives feedback to evaluators respectively. How to react to current problem: If problem arises, evaluators can react directly to specific problems and options. For example, when evaluating websites, if certain links are not working, the evaluators can directly spot the problems Resolving potential Problems: Launch of the final product can be done and fixing by the final product is launched. For example, once the problems are spotted, any problems can be fixed in mean time before the product is finalized. Usability Testing Weaknesses Costly in regards of equipment, staffing and facility: For example, when conducting tests, costs of equipment can be high, because of setting up of computers, questionnaires and so on. Analysis of data collected is complex: Once the tests are conducted, evaluators need to analyze those data. Usually these data are complex, for example going through hundreds of questionnaires to get the final data, this create more time consuming on staff. Require commitments by testers: For example, test on websites with a 10 students currently testing interfaces on websites will need full commitments of students, thus creating inflexible time rate with the testers. Task 2 Introduction LiveAtc Website is a live Air Traffic Control online website that enables visitors to hear live ATC from various airports in the world. Although overall look of the website is reasonable, but there are number of issues that will cause problems for users visiting to the site. Using heuristic evaluation of the website, users will generally satisfy when visiting the site. Heuristic Evaluation Heuristic Evaluation will be used upon evaluating of the website. The basic ten general heuristic are; Visibility of system status. Match between system and the real world. User control and freedom. Consistency and standards. Error prevention. Recognition rather than recall. Flexibility and efficiency of use. Aesthetic and minimalist design. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors. Help and documentation. Evaluated Website: http://www.liveatc.net Date Accessed: 20 November 2010. Nielsen(n.d) also suggested that a scale rating from 0(Zero) to 4(Four) should be used to identify the severity of the problem. Rating Description 0 No Usability Problem At All. 1 Cosmetic problem only; need not be fixed unless extra time is available on project. 2 Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority. 3 Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority. 4 Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix this before product can be released. Table 1: Nielsen recommended severity table. Problem 1 Brief description of problem: Color hyperlink coding not available thus denying link recognition Problem for User: User has to remember each link page before moving to another one, thus making problem remembering where theyre left before. Heuristic conformed to: Recognition rather than recall, because User has to recall where theyve been before rather than having color hyperlink recognition. Severity of the problem: Rating number 3; Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority. Problem 2 Brief description of problem: Website doesnt have any back button to the link before it, thus making user have to use the back browser button instead. Problem for User: User will have problem navigation from each link to another without a back or forward button. Heuristic conformed to: User control and freedom, because user doesnt have any control and freedom for each link, thus will limit them on going back and forward on each link. Severity of the problem: Rating number 4, Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix this before product can be released. Problem 3 Brief description of problem: Website design is complicated. Banner and icons are not properly aligned. Webpage width and size for different links are not standardized. The content copyright footer doesnt align properly. Problem for User: On some pages, User have to scroll down to just click the About button, because there is no standardization between web links within the pages. Heuristic conformed to : Consistency and standards , because the website doesnt have consistency and standards such as , between pages, there is no standard size or page limit, certain web links have different size and confusing links. Severity of the problem: Rating number 3, Major usability problem: important to fix, so should be given high priority. Problem 4 Brief description of problem: On the Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page, it links to another site, which is a forum site. This hinder user from get quick help from the website but rather have to ask and wait for a required help. Problem for user: User would have to search from a long list of FAQ and by the end of the list; they might not find the required answer. Asking in a forum would just make the user wait for answers rather getting the answer immediately. Heuristic conformed to: Help and documentation, because of the nature of the FAQ given on the site, long lists of FAQ are given. But not all would cater the needs of the user and the FAQ link is not so helpful on users. Severity of the problem: Rating number 2, Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority. Problem 5 Brief description of problem: Website doesnt have an effective navigation menu. For example, the main page has a poor navigation menu. Links are not properly justified and creates confusion. Problem for User: User often gets confused on whether the link is as one or not because there is no separation between links. Heuristic conformed to: Visibility of system status. This is because lack of features such as effective navigation menu hinders the user to have easy usability of the website. Severity of the problem: Rating number 2, Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority. Problem 6 Brief description of problem: There is no accessibility features for users who has problems viewing the icons and fonts on the website. Zoom feature or enlarging the site features should help. Problem for user: User who have accessibility problem will have difficulties going through the site as there is no accessibility features such as font enlargement or zoom features. Heuristic conformed to: Flexibility and inefficiency of use, because accessibility features are not anywhere in the website or in their links. Severity of the problem: Rating number 2, Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority. Summary According to Nielsen (n.d), related usability problem can be found in four ways, that is, in a single location in the interface, at two or more locations that have to be compared to find. Overall structure of the problem interface and something that can be included in the interface but it is missing. In the Heuristic evaluation done above, the biggest single problem with the LiveAtc website is that, the design is too simple and would only cater with experienced visitor or user. Although problems can be identified more than six (6), but the most obvious problem is what has been evaluated above. Problems would occur if inexperience visitor is browsing through the site and would have difficulties such as navigating and understanding regardless the anonymity of the un-standardized of some web links it has. Severity rating when evaluating the website was from two (2) to four (4) rating, with reference to the Nielsen Severity Rating table. This shows that the website has problems range fro m cosmetic until problems that need to be fixed before publishing it to the internet. According to Nielsen experience with rating severity in heuristic evaluation (Nielsen, n.d), he suggested that, severity ratings from a single evaluator are too unreliable to be trusted and recommend a three (3) evaluator when doing heuristic evaluation. Accuracy and reliability of rating severity determines from how complicated the product or website that would want to be evaluated. LiveATC website is a very simple website and when judging from the Nielsen experience when rating severity, it could be that the accuracy of the evaluation would be more reliable because of the simplicity of the website evaluated.

Airport Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) E

Abstract Through the history of aviation the importance of airport security has steadily increased. Since the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, many changes have taken place at airports to prevent such an attack from occurring again. The purpose of this paper is to: outline airport security procedures, discuss the different technologies involved with airport security, as well as examine the components of airport security. In addition I will also discuss the Transportation Security Administration’s role in our nation’s airport security. Airport Security   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Airport Security is a necessity of Life both in America and through out the world. Without airport security our airports would not be able to function and terrorist attacks resembling those of September 11th, 2001, would be more common place. Passengers would be afraid to fly in fear of such a terrorist attack happening again. The airline industry would lose more revenue from lost ticket sales. Then the airports themselves would lose money from the lack of passengers boarding through their gates. Finally this lack of security would trickle down to the entire economy not only in the communities surrounding the airport and aviation industry, but to the nation’s economy as well. To keep this economic failure associated with another terrorist attack from happening, our nation must take the appropriate measures to prevent it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Airport security procedures are designed to deter, prevent, and respond to criminal acts that may affect safety and security of the traveling public† Wells and Young (2004, p. 280). In order for this to happen, airports must become more proactive instead of reactive to possible threats such as: hijacking, explosive devices on aircraft or any other possible criminal act that could happen aboard an aircraft. To accomplish President George W. Bush signed into effect the Aviation and Transportation security Act, on November 19th, 2001. This act was a result of the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks, and from this act the Transportation Security Administration was formed. Transportation Security Information   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The purpose of the TSA is to protect all of the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. Commercial aviation has been a long-standing target for terrorists. Since the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, subst... ...om key entry to combination locks, to advanced identification authentication machines. Security lighting may also be used to aid in perimeter security. It is located and around heavy traffic areas, aircraft service areas, as well as other operations and maintenance areas. Patrolling by airport security and staff as well as local law enforcement agencies may also be used to secure the perimeter around an airport.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This paper has covered the many different aspects of airport security. It is important to keep in mind that procedures, regulations, and technology associated with airport security are in a state of constant change. However, it is through these changes that our nation’s airports will show a steady improvement towards the safety and security of the passengers that visit them. References Transportation Security Administration. (2004, February 20). Capps II at a glance. Retrieved from Transportation Security Administration Web Site: http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=5&content0900051980088d91 Wells, A. T., & Young, S. B. (2004). Airport Security ch. 8. In L. Hagar (Ed.), Airport Planning and Management (5 ed., pp. 279-307). New York: McGraw-Hill.

How Does Same Sex Marriage Affects in Decreasing Population Growth Essay

First, what is MARRIAGE? Marriage is a socially or ritually recognized union or legal contract between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between them, between them and their children. (From that statement, the word children are the most important thing in marriage, WHY? Because we all know having same sex marriage CANNOT produce a child) What is SAME SEX MARRIAGE? ————– Decrease of population growth caused by SAME SEX MARRIAGE Extending the benefits and status of â€Å"marriage† to couples who are intrinsically incapable of natural procreation (two men or two women) would dramatically change the social meaning of the institution. It would become impossible to argue that â€Å"marriage† is about encouraging the formation of life-long, potentially procreative (opposite-sex) relationships. The likely long-term result would be that fewer such relationships would be formed, fewer such couples would choose to procreate, and fewer babies would be born. Long term consequences are not worth the risk. The first and most obvious consequence to allowing gay marriage would be the drastic decrease in population. What if everyone decided that they were a homosexual? It may sound a little extreme, but if that happen the human race as we know it would cease to exist. Facts of decreasing population growth caused by same sex marriage: The effect on the population would be that there would be no children born of that union. Since it takes a male and a female to produce offspring, and since, by definition, a same-sex marriage would contain 2 persons of the same sex, they would contribute 0% to the population growth. Disadvantage of legalizing same sex marriage: 1. The negative side of same-sex marriage is that some see it as godless. 2. It is not acceptable by some religious orders. 3. Some societies ostracise those involved. 4. They can’t have kids w/o outside help. 5. Many countries do not recognise it and any rights associated with ‘normal’ marriage are not given. 6. TOP 10 HARM EFFECTS OF LEGALIZING SAME SEX MARRIAGE: 1. Taxpayers, consumers, and businesses would be forced to subsidize homosexual relationships. If same-sex marriage were legalized, all employers, public and private, large or small, would be required to offer spousal benefits to homosexual couples. You, as a taxpayer, consumer, or small business owner, would be forced to bear the expense of subsidizing homosexual relationships-including their higher health care costs. 2. Schools would teach that homosexual relationships are identical to heterosexual ones. A lesbian who teaches 8th grade sex education in Massachusetts told NPR that she teaches her children how lesbians use â€Å"a sex toy† to have intercourse. If anyone objects, she says, â€Å"Give me a break. It’s legal now.† One father was jailed after protesting because his son-a kindergarten student-was given a book about same-sex couples. 3. Freedom of conscience and religious liberty would be threatened. Churches and non-profit organizations could be stripped of their tax exemptions and religious psychologists, social workers, and marriage counselors could be denied licensing if they â€Å"discriminate† against homosexuals. Individual believers who disapprove of homosexual relationships may face a choice at work between forfeiting their freedom of speech and being fired. 4. Fewer people would marry. In Massachusetts, where same-sex â€Å"marriages† began in May 2004, only 52% of same-sex couples who live together had even bothered to â€Å"marry† by the end of 2006. Among opposite-sex couples, the comparable figure is 91%. In the Netherlands, the figures are even lower, with only 12% of homosexual couples having entered legal civil â€Å"marriages.† Giving the option of same-sex â€Å"marriage† would tell society that marriage in general is â€Å"optional,† not normative, and fewer people would marry. 5. Fewer people would remain monogamous and sexually faithful. Among homosexual men, sex with multiple partners is tolerated and often expected. One study in the Netherlands showed that homosexual men with a steady partner had an average of eight sexual partners per year. If these behaviours are incorporated into what society affirms as â€Å"marriage,† then  fidelity among heterosexuals would likely decline as well. 6. Fewer people would remain married for a lifetime. Even a homosexual psychologist has acknowledged that â€Å"gay and lesbian couples dissolve their relationships more frequently than heterosexual couples.† The same Dutch study that showed the high rate of homosexual promiscuity also showed that the average homosexual male â€Å"partnership† lasts only 1.5 years. As the transience of homosexual relationships is incorporated in society’s image of â€Å"marriage,† we can expect that fewer heterosexuals would maintain a lifelong commitment. 7. Fewer children would be raised by a married mother and father. Social science has clearly proven clearly that children do best when raised by their own married biological mother and father. Yet legalizing same-sex â€Å"marriage† would put an official stamp of approval on the deliberate creation of permanently motherless or fatherless families. As scholar Stanley Kurtz says, this â€Å"would likely speed us on the way towards more frequent out-of-wedlock birth, and skyrocketing family dissolution.† 8. More children would grow up fatherless. Most children who live with only one biological parent will live with their mothers, and lesbian couples are more likely to be raising children than homosexual male couples. Therefore, with same-sex â€Å"marriage,† more children would suffer the specific negative consequences of fatherlessness, which include higher rates of youth incarceration among males and adolescent pregnancy among females. Research also shows negative outcomes for the children of sperm donors, who are used by some lesbian couples. 9. Birth rates would fall. Same-sex â€Å"marriage† would eliminate the incentive for procreation that is implicit in defining marriage as a male-female union. There is already evidence of at least a correlation between same-sex â€Å"marriage† and low birth and fertility rates, both in the U.S. and abroad. While some people still harbour outdated fears about â€Å"over-population,† demographers now understand that declining birth rates harm society. 10. Demands for legalization of  polygamy would grow. If a person’s choice of spouse cannot be limited based on the sex of one’s partner, it is hard to see how it could be limited based on the number of spouses either. This argument is already being pressed in the courts. ADDITIONAL IDEA About same sex marriage The first laws in modern times enabling same-sex marriage were enacted during the first decade of the 21st century. As of 19 August 2013, fifteen countries (Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Uruguay), and several sub-national jurisdictions (parts of Mexico and the United States), allow same-sex couples to marry. A law has been passed by the United Kingdom, effective in England and Wales, which is expected to be fully in force in 2014. Polls in various countries show that there is rising support for legally recognizing same-sex marriage across race, ethnicity, age, religion, political affiliation, and socioeconomic status. Introduction of same-sex marriage laws has varied by jurisdiction, being variously accomplished through a legislative change to marriage laws, a court ruling based on constitutional guarantees of equality, or by direct popular vote (via a ballot initiative or a refer endum). The recognition of same-sex marriage is a political, social, human rights and civil rights issue, as well as a religious issue in many nations and around the world, and debates continue to arise over whether same-sex couples should be allowed marriage, be required to hold a different status (a civil union), or be denied recognition of such rights. Some analysts state that financial, psychological and physical well-being are enhanced by marriage, and that children of same-sex couples benefit from being raised by two parents within a legally recognized union supported by society’s institutions. Court documents filed by American scientific associations also state that singling out gay men and women as ineligible for marriage both stigmatizes and invites public discrimination against them. The American Anthropological Association avers that social science research does not support the view

The Four Planes of Development

â€Å"Development is a series of re-births. There comes a time when one psychic personality ends and another begins†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"Our work as adults does not consist teaching, but in helping the infant mind in its work of development† (Dr Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, Chap 3) What did Dr Montessori mean by the four planes of development? Describe each plane of development. Explain how we use this knowledge about the child in the Montessori classroom, with the main focus at the age group of 0-6 years. THE FOUR PLANES OF DEVELOPMENTThe life of the child that will become tomorrow’s adult is basically divided into four planes or stages. Each plane consists of a period of six years. Within these stages the development of the child is quite intense at the beginning, then it consolidates and finally trickles into the next. The first & third planes of development are periods of intense creation, whereas the second & fourth planes of development are the ca lm periods of consolidation. First plane of development (0-6years) â€Å"Development is a series of re-births.There comes a time when one psychic personality ends and another begins. The first of these periods goes from birth to six years of age and the child’s mentality basically remains the same. It includes two sub-phases, from birth to three years and three to six years. In the first of these, the child has a type of mind that adults cannot exert upon to influence. In the second sub-phase (3-6years), they are still mentally the same but the child becomes susceptible to adult influence and their personality undergoes great changes. † (The Absorbent Mind, chapter 3, Pg 17).The first plane of development (0 – 6 years) is a period of intense creation. This period is of very great fundamental importance for the formation of the child or the foundation of the personality of the child. This is the period of transformation. This plane of development is further divid ed in to two sub phases, (0 – 3) and (3 – 6) years. The first sub plane is known as ‘The unconscious absorbent mind’. The infant during this period is also identified as a ‘spiritual embryo’ as the infant has within himself the potentialities which determine his future development.The child can learn subconsciously, and effortlessly, through observations and explorations. The child is a sensorial explorer at this stage, that is, the child basically learns through his senses. During the absorbent mind stage, the sensitive periods are at their strongest and help the child’s learning process as well as the child’s initial adaptation. During this first plane of development various physical abilities develop in the young child. Physically the body develops from head to toe. Between the age of zero to three years, these abilities develop separately and independently of each other.Hand and leg movements are not guided by the mind. At th is stage, the child needs to create himself. It is a period of rapid development for the child and the child develops physically, mentally, socially as well as emotionally. As his physical body becomes more defined, he learns both consciously and unconsciously as his mind easily absorbs his environment. He becomes more sensitive to things adult take for granted and learning for him is easy and fast. At this stage, he also learns to care for himself, dress himself, feed himself etc.

How to Deal With Stress at Work

How to Deal With Stress at Work Work stress is the great equalizer. High salary, low salary, doesn’t matter. The reasons might vary (deadlines, awful boss, workload), but everyone faces stress at some point in his or her career. There’s even a commonality in the source of these stresses: something is off balance. Too much to do, not enough time. Too many demands, not enough space to fulfill them to others’ expectations. Managing the stresses before they turn into performance issues or a huffy resignation letter is key- but how do you do that? Here are some common work stresses:Looming deadlinesToo much to do at onceOffice politicsWork/life balanceJob uncertaintyInsecurity/lack of confidenceFor all of these, it would be great to say that doing more yoga, or incentivizing yourself with personal rewards would solve the problem. However, while those are really excellent coping mechanisms for stress in general, they may not do much to address the underlying problems at work.Instead, take the time to confront the stresses head-on with a series of questions:What is causing this?Identify what’s behind the stress, and be realistic. It may be that you’re mad at your coworker for dropping the ball and leaving you with work, but is he or she really the source of your stress? Or is it that you have too many priorities to begin with, and the dropped ball was just one ball too many?What would my ideal situation be?While envisioning yourself on a beach with beverage of choice in your hand is nice, it’s not really the type of vision that would help here. This means taking a realistic assessment of what would make you less stressed and more fulfilled in your job. Would it be fewer meetings? More time built into your schedule for specific projects? A juggling of priorities with your manager so that you have the space to achieve your best results?Can I take steps to make this closer my ideal situation?Even seemingly un-budgeable stress factors, like hard deadlines or bos ses/colleagues who are just impossible to work with, can have some flexibility. It may be too late to change things for this round of deadline stress, but it’s not too late to come up with a plan for the next round. Maybe you’d like to have more advance notice on something, or maybe your boss would be open to restructuring your workload in the future so that there’s not such a crunch. If the stress is personality-based conflict with colleagues, maybe you can sit down with them to figure out the best way for you to mesh your styles on projects in the future. (Of course, this hinges on your ability to say, â€Å"I’d like to talk about how we can effectively work together on projects like this† instead of â€Å"dude, you’re driving me crazy.†)If not, what do I want to do to prevent this from being my normal?This is the â€Å"deep in your bones† check. If the disconnect between the ideal and the reality is just too big, or if makin g small changes won’t make your job any more fulfilling, it could be time to start looking around for a different job. The stress could be compounded by trying to push through inconvenient gut feelings. Having an exit strategy doesn’t mean you aren’t tough, or can’t hack it at your current job†¦think of it as an insurance policy for your sanity.

Columbus, the Indians, and Hum essays

Columbus, the Indians, and Hum essays Howard Zinn, author of the article, thesis is that Columbus and the Spaniards that came to the new world found gullible people and used them for their personal gain. The major point the author is trying to make is that Columbus and the Spaniard, although they found the new world, they were not as good people as many make them out to be. They took advantage of the Native Americans upon arrival to the new world. They never helped the Native Americans instead they hurt them. Zinn reports many logs of Columbus? from this voyage as well as Las Casas? in forming his evidence to prove the article. He is somewhat convincing but then again we never will know. Lastly I have no arguments because I find no help in using sources that no really knows how realiable they are. This went on how many years ago and the only one that truly knows what went on is him and the people from then. Columbus and the Spaniards may have found the new world, but how they used the people was just not right. The only evidence in this article I have in showing this is that in a log Columbus once wrote he stated, 'they willingly traded everything they owned'they would make fine servants? we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.? They also stated that some of the Spaniards got so conceited that they didn't even think they should have to walk on their own feet instead they had the Native Americans carry them on their backs. The new comers also treated the Native Americans so poorly. One log stated,As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.? Also in the article it was stated,When the Spainiard took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to dath. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassaba poison. Infants were killed to save thim from the Spaniards. In two year...

Business Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Law - Case Study Example 2). On the other hand, the Clayton Antitrust Act, another antitrust law of the United States of America, prohibits "exclusive dealings", "mergers or acquisition" if these acts substantially lessen competition (15 U.S.C., secs. 14 and 18). The US antitrust law refers to the body of laws that make illegal or unlawful certain business practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers, or both, or violate business ethics. These include anti-competitive behaviors such as monopoly, restraint of trade and commerce, and unfair business practices like exclusive dealings, mergers, and acquisition and other practices that lessen business competition or harm the economy. In order to determine whether a corporate action or conduct is anti-competitive and thus prohibited by the antitrust law, two methods can be applied: the per se rule and the rule of reason. Under the per se rule which was utilized in the Sherman Antitrust Act, a corporate conduct is anti-competitive if is overwhelmingly harmful to the business or to the economy like horizontal price fixing or territorial division agreement. It does not require further evidences since it is evident on the face of the agreement itself. The rule of reason on the other hand, utilized in the Clayton Antitrust Act, requires the plaintiff to prove that the agreement caused economic harm in addition to proving that the defendant acted as charged. Merger is most likely the type of transaction that Awesea will offer in the case at hand. A merger is considered when both CEO's agree that joining together is in the best interest of the companies, as in the increase of sales but cutting the cost of operational expenses. The law on merger in relation to antitrust law is governed under section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act. It was further strengthened by the Celler-Kefauver Amendments of 1950 and the various merger guidelines issued by the US Department of Justice. Said laws modified the Sherman Antitrust Act where a mere merger is a violation of the antitrust law as a method of promoting monopoly (Sec. 1). At present, any challenges in the legality of mergers are decided using the rule of reason, that is, the plaintiff can only prevail upon proving to the court that the defendants are doing something which can bring substantial economic harm. The Clayton Act also allows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to regulate all mergers and gives the government discretion whether to approve a merger or not. Another law, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act, provides in summary that before a certain merger can close, both parties must file a "Notification and Report Form" with the FTC and the Assistant Attorney General in-charge of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice so that the regulatory bodies can assess whether the proposed transactions violate the antitrust law of the US. Applying the rule of reason under the Clayton Act, when a company merges or acquired another company in order to promote its product in a certain country or to increase it sales, said transaction lessens competition, thus violates the antitrust law. The said fact is supported by various decided cases by the US Supreme Court which still are in effect today. One case is US v. Falstaff Brewing Copr., et. al., 410 U.S.

Camping in the Deep Woods to Sleeping in a Motel Essay

Camping in the Deep Woods to Sleeping in a Motel - Essay Example Now keeping your daily life in mind if given a chance to spend a vacation either camping in the forest or a trip around the city with getting yourself a room booked in a perfect motel, what will you choose? Now, this is a question of choice rather than comfort. Some might say that there is no point in putting yourself in danger and camping in woods when one has a decent option of living comfortably in a motel while others might say that there is nothing new in getting yourself a room in a hotel why not try something different and adventurous. So it really depends on person to person that what choice they make but everything comes with a price and so does each of them. Both the options have their pros and cons, which are discussed in the following paragraphs. Camping in the deep woods might sound very interesting and adventurous but it is not a very practical idea especially if one is with his/her family. First of all, you need to have all the required equipment for it and mind it that such equipment is not that cheap so a person who thinks about camping once in his life he may think that there is no point in wasting money in buying such stuff which will not be used that often. Moreover, if a person does have the camps and everything then they should be experienced enough to know how to make it stand so it does not fall off by the gist of wind! Sometimes you do need professional help in such kind of activity and if you are going on a holiday where you have a tight budget then you cannot afford to hire expert help. Compared to this, living in a motel can be simple but not necessarily cheap (depending on the standard of the motel) because they're all you have to do is get yourself a room and pay for it.

Legal and Ethical Issues Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Legal and Ethical Issues - Case Study Example The parents claimed that the culprit was initially detained by the local police, however once the culprit pretended to be logically, the culprit was released, the psychologist also used his influence to prevent the Poddar from any future arrest, and made a request to the police department to avoid taking any stern measures against Poddar. Legally, if the psychologist was aware about the killing, as alleged by the parents of Tatiana, then psychologist has violated the laws by supporting the murderer and providing assistance to the criminal. It was observed that 'the superior court sustained defendants' demurrers to plaintiffs' second amended complaints without leave to amend'. As per the protest of the parents on the legal grounds imposed liability on the defendants on two different grounds i.e. the failure on the part of the psychologists to inform and warn the prosecutors about the danger before and after its occurrence, it is correct to relate that the psychologist legally under an y law has no justification for hiding the truth and prevalent danger from the parents, police and courts, therefore as per law the psychologist has proven himself wrong through his actions which are violation of law, surprisingly the defendants forwarded and justified their actions in lieu with the California Tort Claims Act of 1963, according to which the defendants were under no compulsion to provide care and concerns for Tatiana (Lawrence, 2002). The parents of Tatiana held the psychologist responsible under Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. Legally it has been observed that the psychologist has performed such action which is contradicting to the injunctions of the laws, 'defendant therapists cannot escape liability merely because Tatiana herself was not their patient', and therefore the reference provided by the defendants is not credible and non-explanatory. Legally a professional is under compulsion to warn and inform the public and police from any expected criminal course of their patient, therefore it was the legal responsibility of the psychologist to alarm the prosecutors, 'when a therapist has observed that his patient has revealed a serious danger of violence to another, the psychologist is liable to incurs an obligation to use reasonable care to protect the intended victim against such danger' (Lawrence, 2002). As per law and legal perspectives the therapist was bound to take different precautionary measures to avoid such crime from occurrence, which in this case the psychologist failed to perform and execute. The failure on the behalf of the psychologist to inform the police, the court, and university administration and the parents has placed the psychologist under severe scrutiny for his failure to abide by the laws and regulations. Although the psychologist did inform the police at the later moment, however his actions were not enough to prevent the crime from occurrence, which could have been avoided because the psychologist was aware about the appr oach and feelings that were developed by Poddar towards Tatiana. The prosecutor blamed the psychologist, and accused him for his failure and reluctance to share the truth at initial

GA Army National Guard Should Provide Laptop Access to all Soldiers Assignment

GA Army National Guard Should Provide Laptop Access to all Soldiers - Assignment Example The reason for this effort is to find out the best possible way to give the Georgia Army national Guardsmen access to computers. There are two options on the table to achieve this. Option one is to designate a computer lab at each armory, while option two is to buy laptops for soldiers. Cost, efficiency, time, desirability and practicality form the criteria for rationing the decision. Internet research, phone calls, unit surveys and interviews are performed to research data to analyze the criteria. After careful analysis option one turns out to be the better of the two. Designating a computer lab offers many advantages and scores higher on the criterion table. Other than lower cost ‘option one’ can be completed in lesser time. Technology is imperative in the military. There are no second opinions in the argument that the soldiers need to learn, acquire and practice the technology skills. The war in Afghanistan is ending. The troops have to return home soon. In the near future The National Guard will be relatively inactive at the international level. The Georgia Army National Guard is focusing on the education and the professional growth of their soldiers. Although the national guards are not recruits where the administration forces them to complete their education and grow in the professional career of their choosing, yet, if they do choose to grow within the ranks then they need to put a lot of effort in accomplishing those goals. And the best way to do that are the online courses. These courses take weeks to complete. And those courses are not the only thing on their schedule. They have to show good performance in the annual and monthly NCOERs. The administration is also responsible for completing any c ounseling statements. The soldiers have a lot of work that they need to complete on a computer. The unfortunate thing is that not all soldiers have computers or desktops in their homes. Moreover, the soldiers have different computers and

Trying times for President Clinton during the sex sandal with monica Term Paper

Trying times for President Clinton during the sex sandal with monica lewinsky - Term Paper Example The impeachment of the former president came as a result of the scandal and a law suit that was filled by Paula Jones (Neal, 2005:135). This served as the second impeachment of a president in power in the United States of America after the impeachment of the former president Andrew Johnson in the year 1868 (Neal, 2005:136). When the impeachment proceedings were brought forward against the president in 1998 several issues were raised against the governmental processes. While some scholars took the matter lightly, others argued that sexual conduct is a serious offense and is adequate to remove an elected president from the office. Those in support of the president argued that president just like any citizen of the United States have the right to privacy. They also stated that many other former presidents like John F. Kennedy, Roosevelt as well as Warren G. Harding had been linked to extensive extramarital sexual activity but their sexual conduct was not made available to the public. As observed by Chapman (2010: 99), the European observers were surprised that Americans engaged in impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton because he lied about his sexual conduct. In their argument, they stated that just like any citizen of America would avoid the truth about his sexual fidelity and so Bill Clinton will. In the impeachment case against Clinton, separation of power prevailed through the proceedings. In this context, the act of not telling the truth with respect to the sexual misconduct does not constitute enough evidences necessary for impeachable offenses as defined by the constitution of the country as â€Å"high crimes and misdemeanors† (Chapman, 2010:99). In this argument therefore, the impeachment against the president seemed partisan and was seen as an attempt by the legislature to extend its powers and responsibility past the boundary. According to Chapman (2010:100), the charges that the former president faced were not worth impeachment because the y did not grow from the failure of the president with regard to the state functions. However, the failure was from his personal life which is different from his public and political life. These differences in arguments divided the legislature and there was a clear boundary in terms of opinions between the republicans and the democrats. The question of what could constitute impeachment against a president had dominated the list of issues during Clinton’s administration. However, the fact that congress was dominated by the Republicans presented a threat to the former president since the issue had taken political angle dividing the house into pro and against impeachment camps. It is this time that the congress dominated by Republicans appointed a counsel to investigate the financial backgrounds of the president (Kogan & Kelso, 2009: 308). The counsel which was headed by Kenneth Starr was given further responsibilities to investigate the scandal surrounding the former president a nd the white house intern, Monica Lewinsky. In close analysis of the unfolding events, it is clear that the push for the investigations and the impeachment of the former president was more political than legal. This is because the political enemies took the opportunity finish him politically. The trouble began when it became apparent that the intern, Monica had told

Letter to the Committee Saying Why Brain Rejuvenation Should Not Be Essay

Letter to the Committee Saying Why Brain Rejuvenation Should Not Be Allowed - Essay Example Within the context of brain transplant, a person is only identical to the later person if the later person has the entire body as the earlier person, subsequently, brain rejuvenation results to memory duplication whereby a person’s memory can be used by several other persons. Prior to the suggested â€Å"brain rejuvenation† procedure on Nick, Dr. Mathews performed a â€Å"brain transplant† operation on Julia North and subsequently the members of the committee agreed that Julia North’s life was saved. Perhaps we may need to understand a few basics and events that led to this case. Before this operation, Julia North was a young woman run over by a car in efforts to save the life of a child who wandered onto the tracks. Mary Frances who was the child’s mother had stroke while watching the events unfold. The two victims were brought to this facility where Dr. Mathews performed his ‘Brain transplant’ operation which the committee approved an d agreed that saved Julia’s life. It is also important to note that at the time of accident, the survivor, Julia North’s body was dying and the brain was okay and Dr. Mathews transferred her brain into another body. The committee further agreed that it was Julia’s life that was saved since the survivor had memories of Julia based on the being Julia. While arriving at this conclusion, this committee must have been guided by the sophisticated memory account that provides that when a person is numerically identical to a later person if and only if the person has memories of being earlier person that is so caused in the right way. My objection for this matter rests with Cohen’s views on this matter. Julia North had one up until the time of accident, and another body after the operation. This implies that one person had two bodies. Therefore a person cannot be simply identified with a human body and therefore something must be wrong with the view that the comm ittee had adopted on this case as it implies that if a similar operation were to be carried out on brain transplant, then afterwards this person would be a person with new body since the person with that body has a memory of having a similar case as Julia if caused in the ‘right way.’ Right in this scenario has a particular meaning of interest, and must satisfy three conditions; if a subject experiences some event, this experience leaves a trace in the brain of the event and this trace that has been left is later responsible for content of a memory, then in this way we can say that the memory is caused in the right way. Dear members, we are faced with another problem of a new technique called ‘Brain rejuvenation’ yet to be performed on Nick. While adopting earlier propositions to defend approving Julia’s case we are also suggesting that the same logic as earlier proposed would be applicable and as such the committee is justified in saying that Nick w ould be the survivor of the operation , and I quote, â€Å"Nick would be the survivor of the brain rejuvenation procedure because the survivor would have the memories of being Nick and there would be more than one person of being Nick.† But dear members, Nick cannot be more than one person and this do not seems right. Using the same procedure as advanced in this new ‘brain rejuvenation’ process, the committee has argued that saving Nick’s life will be accomplished by replacing his brain with a duplicated brain from someone else and as such his survival are justified on the premise that the same bodies would be of this new person, say Alex and that Nick would then have Alex’s memories and they remember them in the right way. Premised on the duplication theory, when someone

GA Army National Guard Should Provide Laptop Access to all Soldiers Assignment

GA Army National Guard Should Provide Laptop Access to all Soldiers - Assignment Example The reason for this effort is to find out the best possible way to give the Georgia Army national Guardsmen access to computers. There are two options on the table to achieve this. Option one is to designate a computer lab at each armory, while option two is to buy laptops for soldiers. Cost, efficiency, time, desirability and practicality form the criteria for rationing the decision. Internet research, phone calls, unit surveys and interviews are performed to research data to analyze the criteria. After careful analysis option one turns out to be the better of the two. Designating a computer lab offers many advantages and scores higher on the criterion table. Other than lower cost ‘option one’ can be completed in lesser time. Technology is imperative in the military. There are no second opinions in the argument that the soldiers need to learn, acquire and practice the technology skills. The war in Afghanistan is ending. The troops have to return home soon. In the near future The National Guard will be relatively inactive at the international level. The Georgia Army National Guard is focusing on the education and the professional growth of their soldiers. Although the national guards are not recruits where the administration forces them to complete their education and grow in the professional career of their choosing, yet, if they do choose to grow within the ranks then they need to put a lot of effort in accomplishing those goals. And the best way to do that are the online courses. These courses take weeks to complete. And those courses are not the only thing on their schedule. They have to show good performance in the annual and monthly NCOERs. The administration is also responsible for completing any c ounseling statements. The soldiers have a lot of work that they need to complete on a computer. The unfortunate thing is that not all soldiers have computers or desktops in their homes. Moreover, the soldiers have different computers and

Letter to the Committee Saying Why Brain Rejuvenation Should Not Be Essay

Letter to the Committee Saying Why Brain Rejuvenation Should Not Be Allowed - Essay Example Within the context of brain transplant, a person is only identical to the later person if the later person has the entire body as the earlier person, subsequently, brain rejuvenation results to memory duplication whereby a person’s memory can be used by several other persons. Prior to the suggested â€Å"brain rejuvenation† procedure on Nick, Dr. Mathews performed a â€Å"brain transplant† operation on Julia North and subsequently the members of the committee agreed that Julia North’s life was saved. Perhaps we may need to understand a few basics and events that led to this case. Before this operation, Julia North was a young woman run over by a car in efforts to save the life of a child who wandered onto the tracks. Mary Frances who was the child’s mother had stroke while watching the events unfold. The two victims were brought to this facility where Dr. Mathews performed his ‘Brain transplant’ operation which the committee approved an d agreed that saved Julia’s life. It is also important to note that at the time of accident, the survivor, Julia North’s body was dying and the brain was okay and Dr. Mathews transferred her brain into another body. The committee further agreed that it was Julia’s life that was saved since the survivor had memories of Julia based on the being Julia. While arriving at this conclusion, this committee must have been guided by the sophisticated memory account that provides that when a person is numerically identical to a later person if and only if the person has memories of being earlier person that is so caused in the right way. My objection for this matter rests with Cohen’s views on this matter. Julia North had one up until the time of accident, and another body after the operation. This implies that one person had two bodies. Therefore a person cannot be simply identified with a human body and therefore something must be wrong with the view that the comm ittee had adopted on this case as it implies that if a similar operation were to be carried out on brain transplant, then afterwards this person would be a person with new body since the person with that body has a memory of having a similar case as Julia if caused in the ‘right way.’ Right in this scenario has a particular meaning of interest, and must satisfy three conditions; if a subject experiences some event, this experience leaves a trace in the brain of the event and this trace that has been left is later responsible for content of a memory, then in this way we can say that the memory is caused in the right way. Dear members, we are faced with another problem of a new technique called ‘Brain rejuvenation’ yet to be performed on Nick. While adopting earlier propositions to defend approving Julia’s case we are also suggesting that the same logic as earlier proposed would be applicable and as such the committee is justified in saying that Nick w ould be the survivor of the operation , and I quote, â€Å"Nick would be the survivor of the brain rejuvenation procedure because the survivor would have the memories of being Nick and there would be more than one person of being Nick.† But dear members, Nick cannot be more than one person and this do not seems right. Using the same procedure as advanced in this new ‘brain rejuvenation’ process, the committee has argued that saving Nick’s life will be accomplished by replacing his brain with a duplicated brain from someone else and as such his survival are justified on the premise that the same bodies would be of this new person, say Alex and that Nick would then have Alex’s memories and they remember them in the right way. Premised on the duplication theory, when someone

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. Essay Example for Free

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. Essay Company A wholly-owned subsidiary of Belgium-based Anheuser–Busch InBev, is the largest brewing company in the United States. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in other countries. It was, until December 2009, also one of Americas largest theme park operators; operating ten theme parks across the United States through the companys family entertainment division, Busch Entertainment Corporation. It is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. AB’s objectives as a corporation are: * To increase domestic beer segment volume and per barrel profitability which, when combined with market share growth will provide the source for earnings per share growth and improvement in return on capital employed. * To provide a great tasting fresh beer to our consumers by limiting self life to 110 days, and providing a â€Å"born on date† on all our products. * To build a high-performing, diverse workforce, while providing a safe, productive and rewarding work environment, in which all our employees can benefit. * To be a good corporate citizen and good neighbor in every community where we do business and promote the responsible consumption of our products. * To preserve and protect the environment and support communities where we do business, by complying with all applicable environmental laws, regulations, and permits. Products and Services Anheuser-Buschs best known beers include brands such as Budweiser, Busch, Michelob, Bud Light, and Natural Light. The company also produces more than 100 beers, import beers, specialty beers, nonalcoholic brews, malt liquors ( such as King Cobra and Hurricane), and flavored malt beverages (e.g. the Bacardi Silver family and Tequiza). Currently, the number 1 ranked beer in America is Bud Light. The company introduced a flavored 12% abv malt liquor under the name Spykes in 2007. It was sold in colorful, 2-ounce bottles. Available flavors included mango, lime, melon and chocolate. Free public tours of the brewery are given. The tour takes visitors through the complex, and those of the legal age can enjoy two free glasses of any Anheuser-Busch product in the Hospitality Room after the tour. Tourists can see beer being made in a working part of the brewery (from behind plexiglas shields). The company keeps a rotation of its famous Budweiser Clydesdales at its headquarters, and visitors to the brewery can observe the Clydesdales in their exercise field and see their places in the carriage house. Some of the herd is kept at the company farm in St. Louis County. The farm, known as Grants Farm (having been owned by former President Ulysses S. Grant at one time), is home to a menagerie of animals. Since 2008, approximately half of the Budweiser Clydesdales are kept at the Warmsprings Ranch. Introduction/History Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. traces its roots to 1852 and the Bavarian Brewery in St. Louis. The struggling brewery was acquired by Eberhard Anheuser, a successful soap manufacturer, in 1860 Anheuser had no experience in the brewing business, but his son-in-law did. Adolphus Busch, a successful German businessman, joined his father-in-law in the business in the 1860s and took on increasing responsibility. Through new technologies and modern marketing practices, he transformed the local brewery into an industry leader. In the early 1870s, Adolphus Busch became the first American brewer to use pasteurization, which allowed beer to be shipped long distances without spoiling. By the mid 1870s and early 1880s, he introduced artificial refrigeration, refrigerated railcars and rail-side icehouses. These technological innovations allowed the company to grow and distribute beer across the country. Budweiser was the first national beer brand, introduced in 1876. Twenty years later, Busch introduced Michelob, America’s first specialty beer. To market his beers, Busch used traditional, proven selling methods but in a far more organized and deliberate manner than his competitors. He pioneered the use of giveaways and premiums, and used his brewery as a show place for the public to visit. When Eberhard Anheuser died in 1880, Adolphus became president of the brewery. In 1901, the company broke the 1 million barrels of beer sales mark for the first time, making it one of the nation’s leading breweries. Adolphus Busch died in 1913 and was succeeded by his son; August A. Busch, Sr. The brewery’s bleakest period began at midnight on Jan. 16, 1920, when national Prohibition became law. Rather than close its doors, as more than half of the nation’s breweries did, Anheuser-Busch diversified and remained in business. Under the leadership of August Sr., the company marketed more than 25 different non-alcoholic products such as soft drinks, truck bodies and ice cream. In preparation for Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch released Bevo, a non-alcoholic cereal beverage, in 1916. On April 7, 1933, beer was re-legalized. Recovery from Prohibition was slow but steady under Adolphus Busch III, who became president of the company in 1934, upon the death of his father, August Sr. Economic conditions caused by the Great Depression also restrained growth, but, thanks in part to the introduction of the metal can in 1936, sales began to climb. By 1938, Anheuser-Busch hit the 2 million barrel mar k. During World War II, the company diverted many of its operations in support of the war effort, voluntarily relinquishing its West Coast markets to conserve railcar space for war materials shipments. Following the war, America and Anheuser-Busch experienced an era of growth and prosperity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1946, August A. Busch, Jr. became president of the company following the death of his brother, Adolphus III. Beginning with the opening of the Newark, N.J. facility in 1951, August Jr. created a national network of nine breweries. Under his leadership, beer sales increased from 3 million barrels to more than 34 million barrels, and corporate diversification was extended to include family entertainment, industrial products, real- estate and can manufacturing. In 1957, Anheuser-Busch became the leading U.S. brewer, a position it retains today. August A. Busch III was elected president of Anheuser-Busch, Inc. in 1974, and the next year succeeded his father, August Jr., as chief executive officer, becoming the fourth generation of the family to lead Anheuser-Busch. August III led the company to build four additional breweries, expand the family entertainment business, and significantly strengthen the company’s horizontal and vertical integration. In 2008, Anheuser-Busch and InBev combined to become Anheuser-Busch InBev. The new company is the world’s largest brewer and one of the top 5 consumer goods companies in the world. Mission It is AB’s mission to be the United States beer company. The company is working hard to elevate and enhance the image and relevance of beer, plus making their brands the preferred beer of choice. It is also AB’s mission to deliver superior returns to their shareholders, which in return will provide more benefits and resources for the company. Product/Bud Light In 1982, the company introduced Bud Light nationally, which grew quickly in popularity and today is one of the world’s best selling beer brands. Bud Light is an American style lager made from rice, hops and barley malt. It is less alcoholic than regular Budweiser beer. It is marketed in the premium-light category, and Anheuser-Busch banks on the drinkability of Bud Light being its defining characteristic Bud Light Marketing Strategy Bud Light beer has long directed their marketing strategy through sports. For years their ads have dominated the Super Bowl advertising bonanza. Bud Light also has used various sports themes in their commercials and has a strong presence in many sporting events (in the venue and through television). Bud Light’s advertising campaign has been extremely effective. They have targeted the young male demographic and have done a phenomenal job of it. Relying on humor and sports has been the staple of their strategy, and it has worked very well with their target audience. Advertisements for Bud Light almost always are a comedy, and as they close they briefly plug the actual product. This has been their recipe for success. Bud Light has well graded commercials and a very high percentage of the beer market. Who can forget the â€Å"secret fridge,† â€Å"real men of genius,† â€Å"hidden Bud Lights,† or countless other commercial lines that Bud Light has created. The ads are remembered, and in marketing that is half the battle. But, that is the issue. Why is beer being marketed solely through the use of comedy? Because comedy is much more successful than a realistic commercial. How successfully would Bud Light market themselves if they were forced to use the reality of their product? Would they show how drunken men get home after football games? Would they show people drinking too much? Would they show the average user of their product? No, of course not. They would never be able to market their product successfully if they used its real circumstances. While Bud Light solely relies on comedy, many other beer manufacturers have taken other approaches. Some show where their beer is made. Samuel Adams commercials currently focus on the early years of their organization and the development of their company. Additionally, most beer ads, other than Bud Light, heavily stress using responsibility while drinking. Guinness beer is a good example. Although Guinness mostly uses comedy to sell their product they stress responsibility in every ad, and even have comedic ads focused on responsibility. Bud Light should consider using a similar formula if they continue to stick to comedy. Bud Light has an amazingly successful marketing strategy through the use of comedy and sports. * Geographic Anheuser Busch sells its beer products domestically and globally. It operates 14 breweries in the U.S., brewing approximately 30 kinds of beer. They offer a wide variety of premium and sub-premium beverages, each of which has a unique taste and price. Another area of interest for A-B is the international marketing of their beer. This segment is regulated by Anheuser-Busch International, which operates 15 breweries – 14 in China and one in the United Kingdom. The product of Budweiser is brewed in seven other countries outside the United States under the direct supervision of Anheuser Busch brew masters. They include Argentina, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Spain. * Psychographics Anheuser Busch reaches out to diverse groups of people with various psychographics. They deal with people that have a social lifestyle and enjoy going out to bars and clubs. They also deal with consumers that are interested in sports. Anheuser- Busch is a major sponsor of every sporting event possible, taking profits in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NASCA. Lastly, Anheuser – Busch maintains a strong social affiliation with consumers who drink beer just for relaxation and comfort. A major market consists of social drinkers who drink one or two beers a night after work. Consumer Markets Anheuser Busch’s primary consumer market consists of males and females over the age of 21. The age groups range from seniors, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and a part of Generation Y. They also target every category involving family life cycle, including married, single, divorced, widowed, and parents. AB products are not sold to a particular social class, however depending on whether the consumer’s are Capitalists or underclass, might play a major role in deciding which AB beer they purchase. Finally, ethnicity is a major focus for AB, they believe in promoting diversity in all of their relationships. They actively support numerous community programs sponsored by a wide variety of ethnic groups; they encourage the development of minority and women-owned companies by purchasing more than $400 million in annual goods and services from those companies. Anheuser-Busch is also a close friend and partner with Americas ethnic communities. Their programs are designed to preserve the unique traditions within diverse communities and to provide immediate and long-term benefits through joint efforts with national, regional and local organizations. Business Markets AB has a variety of business markets that it is involved with. The most important are grocery stores, super centers (Wal-Mart), convenience stores / gas stations, warehouse membership clubs (Costco), restaurant / bars, and sporting event venues. Restaurants/Bars are the most important business markets for A-B, because they buy and distribute the most amount of beer. Also, restaurants and bars are two of the easiest places that adults can access beer. Finally, in a bar, most beer is distributed from a tap off of keg, and more beer can be distributed with a keg, than selling bottles or cans individually. Size and Growth A-B owns nearly 50 percent of the United States domestic market share in the beer industry. The company produced close to 11 billion barrels of beer in 2009, which is 7.5 times its closest domestic competitor. The company has four trademark brand families; Budweiser, Michelob, Busch and Natural, each of which play a key strategic role as the volume drivers of the company. A-B’s size is definitely strength, because the company has the resources in place to increase beer industry volume, while continuing to meet the needs of today’s consumer. A-B currently offers over 40 brands of beer. Of this wide variety of premium and sub-premium beverages, each beer offers its own unique taste and blend. Yet, A-B is not standing still; the company is committed to creating new beverages that appeal to today’s adult consumers. To meet these changing tastes, A-B introduced more than 30 new in the past five years and encouraged consumers to experiment with their new flavors. Of these, Budweiser Select, the newest addition to the Budweiser family was introduced, and has become one of the company’s most successful new product launches, with more than 2 million barrels sold. Other new offering included malt beverages, flavored beers, and beers such as BE, which combines fruit flavors with caffeine and guarana. A-B’s relentless commitment to constantly improving and innovating new products is keeping them ahead of the competition. Distribution Over the years, Bud light has been distributed in many sizes and containers. Bud light is primarily distributed in just three packages cans, 12-ounce glass and aluminum bottles. Along with this expansion came advances in bottling automation, new bottling materials and more efficient distribution methods. These advances have brought to market many new containers and package designs. Eagle Packaging Eagle Packaging, Inc. satisfies all of Anheuser Busch’s packaging needs. It supplies 100 percent of Anheuser-Buschs domestic crown and closure liner material. This means Anheuser Busch spends less time dealing with numerous suppliers, and more time spent on producing beer. Eagle Packaging, Inc. also stands behind every product they sell, and they continuously work with their manufacturers to provide Anheuser Busch with the highest quality products and services possible. With Eagle Packaging, Inc. as Anheuser Busch’s partner, they improve their business position by offering innovative solutions and proactive ideas. They also work with Anheuser Busch to coordinate a â€Å"Just in Time â€Å"delivery schedule. This saves Anheuser Busch inventory space and costs, while keeping them properly supplied. Longhorn Glass Corp. Longhorn Glass Corp. supplies Anheuser Busch, the nation’s largest buyer of glass bottles, with about 8% of its glass bottles. This Anheuser Busch subsidiary was established in Houston, Texas in 2001. Longhorn Glass Company provides 60% of Anheuser’s, Houston brewery, with its longneck bottle needs. The company primarily produces one product, Amber Longneck bottles. Anheuser-Busch Recycling Company Anheuser – Busch Recycling Company recycles used beverage cans, which are converted into sheet aluminum for manufacturing new cans. The company was formed in 1978 to provide a positive alternative to mandatory deposits and to help reduce container costs. They recycle over 90% of the cans sold domestically by the Anheuser Busch beer company. For over a decade, it has been the world’s largest recycler of aluminum beverage containers. Metal Container Corporation The purpose of the Metal Container Corporation, the largest partner of Anheuser Busch, is to provide cans, lids and services that exceed the expectations of our customers and consumers. Metal Container Corporation was formed in 1973 and operates eight can and three lid manufacturing facilities that are strategically located across the United States. It supplies 60% of Anheuser-Busch’s domestic beer cans and 75% of Anheuser-Busch’s domestic lids. Their main customers are Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Grupo Modelo. In total, the company makes more than 26 billion cans and 29 billion lids annually. Precision Printing Packaging, Inc. Precision Printing and Packaging, Inc produces more than 25 billion metalized labels annually for Anheuser-Busch and other customers including Bush Beans, Wrigley, and Pepsi. The company supplies 80 percent of Anheuser-Buschs labels. Pricing Methodology A-B is best described as market oriented because the sales of their products do not depend on an aggressive sales force, but rather on the customer’s decision to purchase their product. The company focuses on customer wants and needs by offering a diverse selection of products while giving a relentless commitment toward quality and by doing so is able to distinguish its products from competitors’ offerings. The company is also able to adhere to customers wants and needs by offering different prices for their beer, while still offering the same relentless commitment to quality. A wide variety of premium and sub-premium brands, offer a broad range of prices. However, price does not excuse A-B’s commitment to quality on all its products. Budweiser is on the upper echelon, where as Natural is on the lower end. Competition The emergence of the Bud Light brand was illustrated to develop a competition-based position. In the mid-1970s, Miller Brewing Company introduced a brand that was called Lite beer from Miller. In contrast, Lite beer from Miller was positioned as the beer that tasted great, but had fewer calories than regular beer. The advantage of this product was that users could drink more without getting filled up. The campaign, which was developed by Backer Spielvogel, targeted 18-34 year old males with blue-collar occupations, who were the heavy users of the beer category. The campaign was supported by the endorsement of ex-athletes and other beer-drinking personalities and aired on television during sports programming. The result was impressive sales of Late. Consumption of the brand was substantial in-home as well as in bars and restaurants, where 30% of all beer is sold. Unexpectedly, however, the majority of users were not the 18-34 year-old heavy drinkers of beer. Rather, more moderate drinking 25-44 year old professionals were the dominant Lite users. Anheuser-Busch viewed Lites introductory campaign as a potential threat to their Budweiser brand, which at the time commanded 43% of the beer market. A-B responded by entering the light market in 1977 with the premium Natural Light brand and in 1978 with a super premium Michelob Light brand. The logic behind these introductions was that A-B dominated Miller and other brewers in distribution, and this domination would enable A-Bs new light brands to emerge as strong players in the light category. A-B introduced Budweiser Light (currently known as Bud Light) in 1982. The goal was to market a brand that, unlike Natural Light and Michelob Light, would have a strong point of advantage in relation to Lite. The advantage was the heritage of Budweiser, the king of beers. The introductory campaign was targeted at the 25-44 year old professionals, which by this time all light beers were targeting. The position was the light beer with superior quality because it is made by A-B. The introductory campaign featured a clydesdale horse, which was an icon that A-B had associated with their Budweiser brand, running free on the beach and the slogan bring out your best. The voice-over explained that the brand had been developed slowly over time with the same care, quality, and commitment that went into Budweiser to ensure that it lived up to the heritage of Budweiser. Subsequent executions showed season-appropriate sports including football, hockey, skiing and baseball. Each was aired during sports programming. Indeed, Miller Lite had over 50% of the light beer market and Coors light entry was the second leading beer in the light category. Business results were impressive. In 1982, Budweiser Light sold more product than Lite had in its first three years, and by the end of 1983, Budweiser Light achieved a 20% share of the light beer market. At the same time, Budweiser Light had failed to make significant inroads in the out-of-home market. Apparently, when people asked for a Budweiser Light in bars and restaurants, they were more often than not being served either Miller Lite, or a regular Budweiser. As a result Lite beer from Miller maintained a market share of over 50% in the light category. A-B also found that a substantial percentage of Budweiser Light sales were at the expense of the flagship Budweiser brand. To address these concerns, A-B made several changes in their marketing program for 1984. One change was the brand name from Budweiser Light to Bud Light. The other was to introduce a new campaign called Make it a Bud Light. It focused on the fact that Bud Light was a light beer and that if they just asked for a light they might get any number of different objects that were not Bud Light beer. It was anticipated that this campaign would be run for several months and then Bud Light advertising would return to the heritage focus that had been used to launch the brand. However, when it was found Bud Lights sales increased in response to bar call, the campaign was run for five years. In 1987, Miller Lite was still the leading brand in the light category and had actually maintained its advantage over Bud Light. Sales of both brands had grown substantially as light was now almost 30% of the beer market. A-B was particularly concerned about these developments because the growth of the light category was largely at the expense of their Budweiser brand. Indeed, many of the heavy-drinking blue-collar males under 25 were abandoning regular beer for light beer. In addition, the growing consumption of white wine and soft drinks were limiting growth of the beer category. In an effort to capture the under-25 heavy user, A-B segmented the market and developed two campaigns. One was focused at the 25-44 year old professionals, who were the traditional users of the light category. The other campaign was targeted at the under-25, heavy user of beer. It featured a dog named Spuds MacKenzie, a party animal who attracted the attention of beautiful women. As their share and sales began to decline in the nineties, Miller Lite sought a campaign that would deliver news. In 1997, Millers CEO Jack MacDonough decided that a dramatic change was needed if Miller Lite was to reestablish its position as the number one light brand. He hired Fallon McElligott, the hot Minneapolis agency. Their charge was to attract 21-24 year olds with the proposition that Miller invites you to Miller Time, where its always fun, entertaining and unexpected anything can happen. Two Swedes, copywriter Linus Karlsson and art director Paul Malmstrom, developed the Miller Time campaign. These creatives were under 30 and were best known for work on Diesel Jeans in Europe, which included humorous references to American culture. These drastic marketing measures by Miller still weren’t enough to top A-B. Today, the light category has 40% share of the beer category sales and Bud Light is the best selling beer in the U.S and the number one beer in the world. Bud-Light is brewed at all 12 Anheuser Busch based breweries. Environmental Impact * Ethics/Social responsibilities A-B is making many extensive efforts to get involved in the community, by teaming up with charitable foundations and reaching out to those in need. Over the past decade, the company has donated more than $320 million to charitable organizations, including those that support education, health care, the arts, cultural enrichment, social services and environmental conservation. A-B released a â€Å"making friends† campaign which involves local communities, disaster relief and â€Å"true music† in which they sponsor music artists and related programs. The company also created a one million dollar â€Å"fallen heroes’ fund† which is a scholarship fund for spouses and children of those killed in Iraq. A-B has worked hard to establish a history of giving back to build on lasting friendships. By investing in and adding communities, the company is enhancing its image and reputation, increasing awareness for its brands, and creating loyalty among its customers. A-B has earned a reputation as the industry leader in the fight against alcohol abuse. The company has promoted responsibility efforts for nearly 100 years, and over the past two decades, have invested more than a half billion dollars in a comprehensive portfolio of more than two dozen community-based programs and national advertising campaigns to promote responsible drinking and help prevent underage drinking and drunk driving. A-B has also created effective community based programs that train bartenders, waiter, store clerks, etc. on ID checking, and also have distributors bringing speakers into schools about issues such as drunk driving and underage drinking. In their effort to promote responsible drinking, A-B is strengthening the community, which in return is strengthening the company’s image and reputation. A-B’s commitment to quality extends beyond packaging development. The company operates with care and concern for the world’s environment. A-B Recycling Corporation (ABRC) is one of the world’s largest aluminum recyclers. In 2009, ABRC recycled more than 1200 million pounds of aluminum and was introduced into the Waste Wise Hall of Fame by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ABRC also develops educational programs that promote voluntary recycling. A-B’s longstanding commitment to waste reduction and recycling programs has not only made up for their consumption of natural resources, but has also built a reputation for about the environment. * Legal/Regulatory/Political A-B experiences many threats do to new laws and regulations regarding the distribution of alcohol, such as: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In dealing with alcohol, the ATF regulates the qualification and operations of distilleries, wineries, and breweries, as well as importers and wholesalers in the alcohol industry. ATF has established mutually beneficial working relationships to minimize the regulatory burdens on businesses while still providing necessary government oversight and protecting consumer interests. The ATF National Laboratory Center is the premier tester of new products coming onto the market, as well as the facility that determines whether any products currently on the market pose a health risk to consumers. To ensure alcohol beverage labels do not contain misleading information and adhere to regulatory mandates, ATF examines all label applications for approval. The goals of the ATF are to ensure the collection of alcohol beverage excise taxes; to provide accurate deposit and accounting for the taxes; to prevent entry into the alcohol industry whose business experience or associations are a risk of tax fraud; and to suppress label fraud, commercial bribery, diversion and smuggling, and other unlawful practices in the alcohol marketplace. Many states have started to use â€Å"Dram shop† laws. Under dram shop liability laws, a person injured by an intoxicated person can sue the business or establishment that contributed to that person’s intoxication. Regulation of the sale of liquor to minors or individuals who are intoxicated; requiring most states require an alcohol license. These limit the time and place where sales take place. The government also regulates the production of alcohol by taxing businesses that take part in the selling and production of alcohol. This provides a source of revenue for the government. The Alcohol Beverage Act of 1988 which, requires all alcoholic beverages to bear a clear and conspicuous label warning of the dangers of alcohol consumption. Laws limiting alcohol distribution, and advertising such as college sporting events * Technology AB continues to implement several cost saving initiatives. Brewery modernizations, such as improvements to packaging line flexibility and increased bottle line speed, reductions in brewery material costs and transportation initiatives, including several consolidation and improved scheduling of shipping carriers, contributed nearly $100 million in incremental productivity improvement savings. Analysis of Marketing Strengths and Weaknesses Through my analysis, I have identified that A-B has many current strengths in all aspects of their domestic operations. They offer a unique product, which is distributed and promoted to precision. A-B has very few if any current weaknesses. Strengths Product A-B owns nearly 50 percent of the United States domestic market share in the beer industry. The company has four trademark brand families; Budweiser, Michelob, Busch and Natural, each of which play a key strategic role as the volume drivers of the company. A-B’s size is definitely strength, because the company has the resources in place to increase beer industry volume, while continuing to meet the needs of today’s consumer. A-B currently offers over 40 brands of beer. Of this wide variety of premium and sub-premium beverages, each beer offers its own unique taste and blend. Yet, A-B is not standing still; the company is committed to creating new beverages that appeal to today’s adult consumers. To meet these changing tastes, A-B introduced more than 30 new products in the past 5 years and encouraged consumers to experiment with their new flavors. Of these, Budweiser Select, the newest addition to the Budweiser family was introduced, and has become one of the company’s most successful new product launches, with more than 2 million barrels sold. Other new offering included malt beverages, flavored beers, and beers such as BE, which combines fruit flavors with caffeine and guarana. A-B’s relentless commitment to constantly improving and innovating new products is keeping them ahead of the competition. Along with variety in beer, A-B is offering a variety in new packaging styles and shapes to elevate the image of beer. A-B launched aluminum bottles for those consumers who want to look stylish when out at a club, bar or upscale restaurant. The company also released a new clear plastic label to its Bud Light and Budweiser Select packages, which enhances the premium image and appeal of the brands. By offering new product lines in packaging, A-B is strengthening its image as the leader in the market. Place A-B owns and operates 12 strategically located breweries in the United States. These breweries give A-B a competitive advantage of its competitors by reducing freight costs associated with shipping out supplies, but also by offering the freshest beer of any major brewer. On average, A-B beers are 14 days fresher than the nearest competitor. Promotion A-B encounters significant advertising and promotional expenses; however these costs are necessary because advertising and promotion are key elements of their marketing strategy. Each year the company advertises through numerous sponsorships, programs and campaigns to focus on their unique imagery and product difference. A-B also does a fair amount of advertising through sporting events, they have been the exclusive beer advertiser during the Super Bowl for the past 18 years, and are also associated with the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and the majority of National Football League teams. They also are currently in contract to sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr. A-B is also known for its creative, catchy commercials. The Clydesdale horses are recognizable by most, and Budweiser Select’s national advertising campaign featured U.S. beer company President August Busch IV which highlighted the company’s sophistication and its â€Å"Expect Everything† brand identity. Price A wide variety of premium and sub-premium brands, offer a broad range of prices. However, price does not excuse A-B’s commitment to quality on all its products. Budweiser is on the upper echelon, where as Natural is on the lower end. Employee A-B has worked hard to develop and build a diverse workplace, in which teamwork and open, honest communication is valued. They are committed to promoting diversity in ethnic background. At the centerpiece of their effort is â€Å"Partners In Economic Progress,† a structured initiative designed to ensure that minority and women-owned firms have an opportunity to do business with A-B and its subsidiaries. In their efforts to building a diverse work force A-B has strengthened its brand name, as well as developed a strong relationship with many ethnicities. A-B has also worked hard to create a safe, productive and rewarding work environment, where each employee is responsible for contributing to the company’s success. The company emphasizes preparing employees for challenging and rewarding careers through extensive training and education provided by the A-B Training and Development Group (ABTDG). ABTDG’s main focus has been developing skills for employees of all business units within A-B, giving special consideration to technical, leadership and professional development. Technical training focuses on brewing, packaging, sales, maintenance, engineering and information technology, where as leadership and development courses center more general skills needed to prepare the future leaders of A-B. A-B has also offer highly competitive salaries and one of the most generous benefit packages in the industry. Benefits include health, dental, vision, and prescription plans; vacation; holidays; 401 (k); pension.