The Crusades Campaigns That Changed The World - 1738 Words

Jared Spoonhour Mrs. Fegan Human Rights Literature 18 November 2015 The Crusades: Campaigns that Changed the World The Middle East has been afflicted by major religious wars and strife for thousands of years. For nearly a millennium, pilgrims from Europe had been persecuted by the Muslim rulers while on their way to the holy Christian city of Jerusalem in order to make atonement for their sins. The tense struggle for ownership of the city of Jerusalem between Muslims and Christians nearly a thousand years after Christ’s death finally came to a head in 1095. After learning of the mistreatment towards Christians in the Middle East by Muslims, Pope Claremont advocated for the liberation of Jerusalem from its Muslim governance in order to acquire freedom for the oppressed Christians attempting to simply be pious followers and repent. The Crusades, occurring from 1095 A.D. to 1272 A.D., were a direct response to the problems coinciding with the growing population of Muslims, Jews, and Islamic peoples in the Middle East and were greatly influenced by powerful individuals such as Richard I of Eng land, consequently leading to effects that would forever change the world’s advancement and progression. One thousand years after Christ’s death the peaceful setting in which Muslims and Christians cohabitated in the Middle East began to be threatened. Many formerly Christian controlled cities had now fallen under the control of Muslims. Ordinarily this was not an issue, however, at thisShow MoreRelatedEssay about The History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement977 Words   |  4 PagesWomen’s suffrage, or the crusade to achieve the equal right for women to vote and run for political office, was a difficult fight that took activists in the United States almost 100 years to win. 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English sportswear organization Umbro had paid for the rights to be the official sportswear supplier of the titles, just to find that Nike had bought all the blurb space and promoting locales in and around WembleyRead MoreLone Success of the First Crusade2657 Words   |  11 Pagesthe First Crusa de The First Crusade was the pinnacle of the entire Crusade campaign. Its lone success in the long line of Crusades proves its uniqueness among the six others that were mostly ineffective. Certain fortunate circumstances definitely contributed to the Christian success in taking the Holy Land on their first try. Similarly, many other circumstances were responsible for why the following crusades were less successful and in some cases disastrous. From the first crusade being a holyRead MoreThe Long Journey Of African Americans1176 Words   |  5 PagesAmericans and thousands of them forced to run away for their lives. The movement grew because of its earlier campaigns. It lobbied the congress to create and pass anti lynching bills that made it illegal to lynch the black Americans. Despite its lack of more success in its ambition, it succeeded in making sure that the public were aware of the problem that was at hand. During the First World War, the movement succeeded in having black army officers recruited in the segregated units. Despite this theyRead MoreThe Crusades and the Siege of Damascus618 Words   |  2 PagesThe Crusades lasted much longer than most people are aware. Common knowledge of the Crusades states that it was one long war between Christians and Muslims, when in fact; there were several Crusades, between Christians, and all non-Christians. The first Crusade was the only successful Crusade, and was widely praised in Christian Europe. After the fall of Edessa in 1144, a second Crusade was waged unsuccessfully. Dawn Hayes, a professor at Montclair State University, defines the Crusades as aRead MoreAlexander the Great: the Man, the Life, the Legacy Essay example1465 Words   |  6 Pagesaccused him as a drunken killer who wanted only to have the world under his rule. Others deem him as a kind-hearted man who wanted to better the world by spreading the culture of his people. The decision of what is in the right and what is feigning depends foremost on the sources and information being analysed. After much researching, Alexander the Great’s personality has been evaluated and the extent to which his actions shaped and changed the society in which they lived were studied. He had effects

Generals Die in Bed - 1333 Words

Through the soldiers’ experiences, the narrator shows only the dark side of human nature. Discuss. Generals die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison is a novel where a young Canadian soldier tells of his first hand account of the harsh and inhumane conditions in the trenches on the Western Front during World War 1. Through his observations and experiences the Narrator shows the effects of war on ordinary people and how they manage in extraordinarily horrific situations. Even though the brutal nature of the war is often reflected in the violent way that combatants act towards one another there are also moments when compassion and mercy is shown. The novel demonstrates that in extreme situations both the dark and the good side of human†¦show more content†¦However we also are shown bravery, companionship and acts of kindness as the soldiers struggle to stay humane and sane in a hellish environment. Throughout the novel they are compassionate and caring to even their enemies in their darkest moments. They also illustrate the dark and unforgiving side of human nature. They show no pity or mercy even while being pleaded too. Throughout the novel the Narrator often shows compassion towards others – in his actions – eg. letting the German soldier grieve for his dead brother letting him take ‘a few letters and papers from his brother’s pockets’ and imagines how their mother would feel. He then helps the Germans to safety behind the lines amp; asks that ‘the prisoners be treated nicely.’ Just like their constant companions the lice and the rats, the soldiers in the trench adapt to the hell that they find themselves trapped in – doing whatever it takes to survive. They even fight each other over food ‘at each others throats like hungry, snarling animals’. As the novel amp; the war progresses so does the inhumane side of the soldiers who become increasing more detached from killing, unconcerned with the death of friends. The soldiers are conditioned, hardened up and desensitised with self preservation becoming a key motivator. This is shown as the soldiers plunder the city of Arras allies town and vandalize houses with no consideration of the localShow MoreRelatedGenerals Die in Bed926 Words   |  4 PagesGenerals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison ‘Generals Die in Bed’ demonstrates that the war only bring the sense of futility and despair.’ Discuss. By Saro Man 9B Generals Die in Bed certainly demonstrates that war is futile and the soldiers suffer both emotionally and physically. Charles Yale Harrison presents a distressing account of the soldiers fighting in the Western front, constantly suffering and eventually abandoning hope for an end to the horrors that they experience daily. The ‘boys’Read More Charles Yale Harrison’s Generals Die in Bed vs Colin McDougall’s Execution1733 Words   |  7 PagesCharles Yale Harrison’s Generals Die in Bed vs Colin McDougall’s Execution As with any genre, all novels termed ‘war stories’ share certain elements in common. The place and time settings of the novels, obviously, take in at least some aspect of at least one war or conflict. The characters tend to either be soldiers or are at least immediately affected by the military. An ever present sense of doom with punctuated moments of peace is almost a standard of the war novel. Beyond theRead MoreExpression of the Opposing Sides in All Quiet On The Western Front by Remarque and Generals Die in Bed by Harrison1197 Words   |  5 PagesAll Quiet On The Western Front is the German side and The Generals Die In Bed is the Allied side. 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Physical Education Is Important Free Essays

DyEsha Robinson EDU 460 Motivational Paper September 23, 2009 Educators across the country are worried that kids aren’t getting enough physical fitness. Kids in elementary school may be getting a lot of their activity on the playground at recess instead of P. E. We will write a custom essay sample on Physical Education Is Important or any similar topic only for you Order Now classes. Most grade schools don’t have P. E. teachers. Regular teachers can teach the kids physical education, but the state says many of them don’t feel equipped to do that. Statistics prove more kids are becoming inactive and overweight. Among youth six to 19 years old, 16-percent are overweight. That’s more than 9-million kids across the country. To compound the problem, state officials say as schools strive to meet intense academic standards with programs like â€Å"No Child Left Behind†, schools are de-emphasizing P. E. P. E. encourages kids to find something active they love to do, like dancing, swimming, hiking, even skateboarding, because then they’re more likely to develop healthy habits. Put simply, at a time when every penny is being pinched by every school in every district in every county in every state, physical education is taking a beating. The experts and educators say there is no doubt that the erosion of P. E. has been a major contributor to the skyrocketing obesity rates. And, of course, the more kids are unhealthy, the less they can exercise. This is their circle of life. Improving children’s health may not be a convincing rationale for school administrators. A big argument for cutting back on P. E. is that it wastes time that kids need to be spending in academics, and that it will reduce test scores, which is the death knell for schools. But a studies show that spending more time in P. E. does not interfere with academic achievement. In fact, in some studies, including ours, there is some evidence that it might even improve academic achievement. Other studies have shown that P. E. boosts brainpower (attention, test-score fanatics) if it’s done right. That may be the key to fighting obesity as well—instead of just changing the amount of P. E. kids get, change the type. Learning to manage children’s behavior in the outdoor environment might help with classroom management inside. Going outside and participating in a physical activity provides a break from the brain drain of sitting in the desk, so perhaps the teacher benefits as much as the students and everyone goes back in more refreshed and with a more positive attitude. The U. S. Department of Education contends in a newly released study that 99 percent of public elementary schools have some type of physical education built into their curriculum in 2005. But how often students actually engaged in physical activity varies widely. Between 17 and 22 percent of students attended P. E. each school day. Another 11 to 14 percent scheduled P. E. three or four days a week and 22 percent scheduled P. E. one day a week. Exercise creates more alertness in a classroom situation. It stimulates more of the natural uppers in brain, like dopamine, and it improves working memory and problem solving skills. Sources http://www. cnn. com/2006/HEALTH/08/20/PE. NCLB/index. html http://www. newsweek. com/id/130621? digg=1 http://rwjf. org/pr/product. jsp? id=20811 http://help. senate. gov/Hearings/2004_10_05/destefano. http://sports. espn. go. com/espn/otl/news/story? id=4015831 How to cite Physical Education Is Important, Papers

Markieting at Bop Essay Example

Markieting at Bop Essay Marketing at the bottom of the pyramid Submitted by: Akshay Garg (001) Akshay Mishra (007) Keerthi N. (028) Mreegasha Mondal (034) Background and Motivation The Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) has emerged as one of the dominant ideas in business lately. The phrase â€Å"bottom of the pyramid† was used by U. S. president  Franklin D. Roosevelt  in April 7, 1932. In economics, the  bottom of the pyramid  is the largest, but poorest  socio-economic group. According to the author of the book-‘Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’ and the famous management Guru C. K Prahalad, almost two-third of the world population which earns less than US$2 per day comprises of the bottom of the pyramid population. The world economic pyramid Historically, businesses around the world have been focusing on traditional markets with good spending power. However with increased saturation in this market and in order to sustain growth, the companies started seeking to penetrate into the largely untapped rural markets with new marketing techniques. The proposition of inclusive capitalism thus arose—involving and mobilizing the resources, managerial know-how and technology of the large FMCG firms to co-create solutions to the problems at the bottom of the pyramid—those people that live on less than $2 a day. This way, the firms contribute to poverty eradication and upliftment of the marginalized; in return, they would get fantastic business opportunities like cheaper and easier procurement of inputs and a wider customer base. This creates a win-win situation for both. We will write a custom essay sample on Markieting at Bop specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Markieting at Bop specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Markieting at Bop specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Hence subsistence markets, when entered and explored correctly, are becoming a constant source of revenue for businesses. Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), as HUL was known back then, experimented as early as in 1995 in the refined salt market. Firstly, they aimed at upgrading the 75 per cent unrefined market (BOP consumers) to Annapurna and secondly of converting branded consumers to Annapurna. In 1999, HLL launched Project Shakti. It identified promising opportunities like confectionaries and healthcare products for the bottom-of-the-pyramid consumers. Amul started its DISK project which comprised of computerization of more than 70,000 village societies and automation of milk collection process. It adopted a 3 tier structure involving farmers, village societies and district milk federations, doing away with the middlemen. ITC’s e-Choupal program was launched in 2000. The motive was to make Indian agriculture self-sufficient by leveraging digital technology and customized extension services to empower farmers and raise rural incomes through better crops, yield and practices. The initiative began while procuring soya from rural India. The effort illustrates the social impact of bringing global resources and farm and business practices to the Indian farmer as well as the opportunities to garner revenue by ITC. Objective The major objectives of our study and research are: 1. ) Analyze and understand BoP approach and its significance. 2. ) Study how Indian companies are identifying opportunities and entering into the unexplored markets present at BoP 3. ) Analyze the inclusive approach of ITC e-choupal and HUL Shakti in terms of reach to Bottom of Pyramid. Literature Review The Bottom of Pyramid constitutes the market made up by the world’s poorest people who lives on less than $2 per day. The idea behind BOP suggests that the best way to meet the needs of the poor is through a profit driven market – based approach. Most companies have not considered people at the base of the economic pyramid as potential consumers due to the low level of their individual incomes. The common belief that the poor have no significant purchasing power ignores the volume of the market. The bottom of the economic pyramid in India representing the masses is an over $1. -trillion market, making up the biggest chunk of the global $5-trillion BOP market excluding China, says a study by IFC and World Resources Institute (WRI). The BOP population of 924. 1 million people – 78% of them in rural areas – makes up about 95% of the countrys population. In India, BOP accounts for 88. 1% of the total national household expenditure on food, 87. 2% of energy exp enditure, 85. 3% of health spend, 78. 8% of household goods expenditure and 52. 6% of the spend on information and communication technology. The business potential at the BOP has five central advantages: * Size of the market * Rapid market growth Less competitive environment * Opportunities for cost saving * Opportunities for innovation The commercial challenges of the BOP market are: * Cash poor consumers * Geographic, economic, and cultural distance between the seller and the buyer * Limited product awareness and understanding * Weak physical and institutional infrastructure * Working with longer time frames Profit driven investment in the BOP market has a broad range of social benefits. Investing in the BOP market has great potential for reducing poverty by accelerating growth through job creation, and for lowering prices whereby the capacity to consume is increased. Companies can generate profits for themselves, and at the same time, benefit the poor by improving their welfare. ITC and HUL are the two companies which have invested a lot of money for the BOP market. Sources: Websites: Wikipedia. org, bopstrategy. com Books: ‘Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid’ by C K Prahlad and Stuart L. Hart E-Choupal The e-Choupal is a three layered infrastructure with the first layer consisting of ICT kiosks which have internet access and which are manned by ITC trained village farmer. It is generally situated within 1. km of every target farmer and is meant to serve the purpose of six villages. The second layer, called Choupal Sagar is a mortar and brick infrastructure located within 10-30kms of every target farmer. A Choupal Sagar is situated in the middle of 40-50 e-Choupals, typically few km away from the town to facilitate procurement. Finally the third layer consists of a network of companies managed by ITC who acts as the direct consumer s of the farm commodities thus completing the three layered architecture of an e-Choupal. Real-time information and customized knowledge provided by e-Choupal enhance the ability of farmers to take decisions and align their farm output with market demand and secure quality amp; productivity. The aggregation of the demand for farm inputs from individual farmers gives them access to high quality inputs from established and reputed manufacturers at fair prices. As a direct marketing channel, virtually linked to the mandi system for price discovery, e-Choupal eliminates wasteful intermediation and multiple handling. Thereby it significantly reduces transaction costs. Model in Action Benefits 1. The e-Choupal model has been specifically designed to tackle the challenges posed by the unique features of Indian agriculture, characterized by fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries, among others. 2. e-Choupal also unshackles the potential of Indian farmer who has been trapped in a vicious cycle of low risk taking ability gt; low investment gt; low productivity gt; weak market orientation gt; low value addition gt; low margin gt; low risk taking ability. This made him and Indian agribusiness sector globally uncompetitive, despite rich amp; abundant natural resources. 3. Such a market-led business model can enhance the competitiveness of Indian agriculture and trigger a virtuous cycle of higher productivity, higher incomes, and enlarged capacity for farmer risk management, larger investments and higher quality and productivity. 4. A growth in rural incomes will also unleash the latent demand for industrial goods so necessary for the continued growth of the Indian economy. This will create another virtuous cycle propelling the economy into a higher growth trajectory. Launched in June 2000, e-Choupal has already become the largest initiative among all Internet-based interventions in rural India. e-Choupal services today reach out to over 4 million farmers growing a range of crops soybean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses, and shrimp in over 40,000 villages through 6500 kiosks across ten states (Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The problems encountered while setting up and managing these ‘e-Choupals’ are: * Infrastructural inadequacies, including power supply, telecom connectivity and bandwidth. Imparting skills to the first time internet users in remote and inaccessible areas of rural India. Several alternative and innovative solutions some of them expensive are being deployed to overcome these challenges e. g. Power back-up through batteries charged by Solar panels, upgrading BSNL exchanges with RNS kits, installation of VSAT equipment, Mobil e Choupals, local caching of static content on website to stream in the dynamic content more efficiently, 247 helpdesk etc. Going forward, the roadmap includes plans to integrate bulk storage, handling amp; transportation facilities to improve logistics efficiencies. As Indias kissan Company, ITC has taken care to involve farmers in the designing and management of the entire e-Choupal initiative. The active participation of farmers in this rural initiative has created a sense of ownership in the project among the farmers. They see the e-Choupal as the new age cooperative for all practical purposes. This enthusiastic response from farmers has encouraged ITC to plan for the extension of the e-Choupal initiative to altogether 15 states across India over the next few years. On the anvil are plans to channelize other services related to micro-credit, health and education through the same e-Choupal infrastructure. Choupal Pradarshan Khet This brings the benefits of agricultural best practices to small and marginal farmers. Backed by intensive research and knowledge, this initiative provides Agri-extension services which are qualitatively superior and involves pro-active handholding of farmers to ensure productivity gains. The services are customized to meet local conditions, ensure timely availability of farm inputs including credit, and provide a cluster of farmer schools for apturing indigenous knowledge. This initiative, which has covered over 70,000 hectares, has a multiplier impact and reaches out to over 1. 6 million farmers. Another initiative by ITC Apart from eChoupal, ITC has also taken initiative to improve the financial conditions of the farmers who also rears cattle for a living. Although 70% of the rural population owns cattle, the quantity of milk produced is on the lower side because of the poor quality of the stock. ITC was quick enough to realize the high potential and opportunity trapped in this sector. They took the help of a NGO firm called BAIF Institute for Rural Development, a national NGO specializing in livestock development to improve the quality of cattle stock in the villages. ITC has focused on the small and landless farmers at the first stage. With the help of BAIF, superior quality of semen from Jersey and Holstein-Friesian cows is inseminated into the cattle which has resulted in better production of milk both quality and quantity wise. Quantity wise there has been an increase in 7-9 times in the milk produced thus enabling the farmers to invest further in dairy farming which has resulted in a substantial increase in average income and revenues. The milk produced is collected by co-operatives fostered by ITC who channels the milk to larger diaries connecting farmers to the major milk markets of the country. Project Shakti It is a unique case in point. HLL created a direct distribution network in hard-to-reach locales (markets without distribution coverage through traditional distributors and dealers). It seeks to empower the underprivileged rural women i. e. the women at the bottom of the Pyramid. * They selected entrepreneurial women from these difficult-to-penetrate villages and trained them to become distributors, providing education, advice and access to their products in villages. * These village women entrepreneurs, called Shakti Amma (empowered mother), have unique knowledge about the village needs and products in demand. * They earn between Rs. 3000 and Rs. 7000 per month and therefore create a new capacity to consume for themselves and their families. generating opportunities for 45,000 rural impoverished women and has also helped to increase the rural distribution of the Company * More importantly, these entrepreneurial women are increasingly becoming the educators and access points for the rural BOP consumers in their communities. A typical Shakti distributor sells products worth Rs 10,000-15,000 a month, which provides an income of Rs 700-1000 per month on a sustainabl e basis. While this may not seem to be a high income, it makes an enormous difference to women who live in remote villages in dire poverty. In many cases, earnings from Shakti help them double their household income. Much of the additional income goes to educating children, and also to purchasing consumer durables such as television sets, which further expands the rural market for such products. Some Shakti distributors whom the company calls entrepreneurs – invest the extra money in buying vehicles such as motor scooters that allow them to go into more villages. According to media reports, Shakti distributors now account for 15% of the companys sales in rural India. Meanwhile, the potential for growth is enormous, since studies have shown that just 15% of Indian consumers use products such as shampoo. According to Whartons Raju, there are behavioral reasons why rural consumers represent a sound bet for companies that are willing to invest in reaching them. Affluent consumers demonstrate that they have arrived by buying bigger houses or cars. People at lower income levels do so by buying premium brands. This means brand loyalty is very high among less affluent consumers. That is why the rural market is critical for companies. The first-mover advantage is significant. An initiative which helps support Project Shakti is the Shakti Vani programme. Under this programme, trained communicators visit schools and village congregations to drive messages on sanitation, good hygiene practices and women empowerment. This serves as a rural communication vehicle and helps the SA in their sales. Project Shakti is needed: 1) To extend direct reach into untapped markets: one of the aims of the project is to help the company to penetrate in rural untapped areas in partnership with Self Help Groups. ) To build Brand through local influence: To overcome the problem of limited media coverage, the company appointed the Shakti Entrepreneurs as the brand ambassador of its products. They are not just brand ambassadors but also generate sales of HUL products. 3) To Empower underprivileged women: HUL as a company is also well aware of its social obligation towards the society. Hence, through partnership with village level Self Help Groups, it provided sustainable livelihood opportunity to its members. The main advantage of the Shakti programme for HUL is its ability to enter those areas which remain hidden from any communications. Shakti Ammas are able to reach far flung areas, which were economically unviable for the company to tap on its own, besides being a brand ambassador for the company. Moreover, the company has ready consumers in the SAs who become users of the products besides selling them. Although the company has been successful in the initiative and has been scaling up, it faces problems from time to time for which it comes up with innovative solutions. For example, a problem faced by HUL was that the SAs were more inclined to stay at home and sell rather than going from door to door since there is a stigma attached to direct selling. Moreover, men were not liable to go to a womans house and buy products. The company countered this problem by hosting Shakti Days. Here an artificial market place was created with music and promotion and the ladies were able to sell their products in a few hours without encountering any stigma or bias. Other BOP Initiatives in India Amul made it possible for a farmer with one or two buffalo to connect with the national and global dairy markets and gave them a new identity. It receives milk collection at a centralized, efficient world class processing facility where it is pasteurized and packaged for retail consumption. It connected its practices and processes with Bottom of Pyramid, the villagers, maintained the local infrastructure and brought to them the most advanced facilities in their respective fields. Some other notable Indian businesses which have successfully tapped the fortune hidden at the bottom of the pyramid are Aravind Eye care systems and Jaipur foot. Aravind is the largest eye care facility in the world and it provides free eye treatment to nearly 60% of its patients who are poor. Still it has managed to remain profitable. Similarly, Jaipur Foot has successfully understood the requirements at BoP level and is one of the well-known prosthetics manufacturers in the world. Citigroup  found an innovative way to bring basic financial services to the poor. By using an ATM, networked, 24/7 model, Citigroup was the first global bank to offer a $25 deposit option to start an account. In its first year, 150,000 customers took advantage of the offer. Other Side of the Coin Stories of well-meaning commercial ventures that couldn’t make sustainable profits are also too common in low-income markets. Despite achieving healthy penetration rates of 5% to 10% in four test markets, for instance, Procter amp; Gamble couldn’t generate a competitive return on its Pur water-purification powder after launching the product on a large scale in 2001. Although the price—equivalent to 10 U. S. cents a sachet—provided a margin of about 50%, on par with that of the company’s products worldwide, Pamp;G gave up on Pur as a business in 2005 and announced that the sachets would be sold only to humanitarian organizations at cost. DuPont ran into similar problems with a venture piloted from 2006 to 2008 in Andhra Pradesh, India, by its subsidiary Solae, a global manufacturer of soy protein. Intended to alleviate malnutrition and open a new market for the company, the venture aimed to get mothers in rural areas and urban slums to cook with soy protein as part of their daily routine. The product mix consisted of small packets of protein isolate, which provided about half of woman’s average daily protein needs, and a range of packaged, soy-fortified snack foods all priced below 30 U. S. cents. The isolate’s margins were on a level with those of Solae’s core business-to-business products, but sales proved to be inconsistent. Sales were stronger for the snack foods, but the margins were significantly lower—so low, in fact, that the company would have had to sell quantities much higher than could have been absorbed by the communities within reach of the business. Unable to see a path to profitability, Solae closed the pilot. As these and other ventures suggest, cost structures in low-income markets are daunting: Operational expenses, such as distribution, are frequently much higher than those that companies face in developed markets. In addition, customer acquisition and retention for new products often demand unusually intense—and costly—levels of high-touch engagement. To cover those high costs, much greater volumes are needed for break-even. However, selling to customers in rural villages and in slums scattered across urban centers is difficult and inefficient. Each local business unit is forced to generate its sales volumes from the consumer base living in a narrow geographical range—often just a small cluster of villages in rural areas, or several neighborhoods in the case of larger slums. Research Methodology and Data Collection We have conducted primary and secondary research for an accurate understanding of the market and consumers at the bottom of the pyramid. As a part of our primary research, we conducted surveys in the rural areas around Delhi, so that we can get a clear picture of the market present at the bottom of the pyramid and how the BoP consumers behave. This has helped us draw a clear picture of the BoP market scenarios and how organizations across different sectors are implementing BoP products sales strategies to boost their sales volumes. The data for our analysis and inference was firsthand information that we got from the local ‘Kirana Stores’ about bottom of the pyramid products. We identified a number of issues and strategies that distributors and sellers tend to follow for the consumers at BoP, then we prepared a series of questionnaire to determine the following things:- 1. ) Demand of BoP products in the market. 2. ) Activities that companies undertake to make consumers more aware about their products and offerings. 3. ) Analysis of offers/discounts given by various brands/distributors to attract the consumers at BoP. . ) Purchasing pattern of the consumers present at BoP and how companies adopt measures such as packaging and offers to affect this pattern. 5. ) Behavior of consumers at BoP with respect to new products, brands, pricing, offers, packaging, advertisements etc. We split our survey in two parts: survey at the small ‘Kirana Stores’ and survey done among the consumers present at the BoP. We went to two different rural areas representing the population at BoP, namely Gopalpura village and Daya Basti and asked our questions. We intereacted with around 25 Kirana stores and 30 BoP consumers. Sectors and Products: We focused mainly on the FMCG goods and products offered by the small kirana stores in these areas. We asked our questions about various products such as Wheat flour, Incense Sticks, Soaps, Toothpaste and shampoos. We asked various questions pertaining to these products to the consumers as well as to the Kirana Stores. Questionnaire In the following portion we will give a brief about the questions that we asked from the Kirana stores for our research study. 1st question How old is your shop? Consumer trust and faith on a shopkeeper largely depends on how long has he been operating. This also affects the sales volume of that particular shop. 2nd question How often do consumers come to buy different products such as shampoo, biscuits, soap, toothpaste, hairoil etc This question given an important insight into the consumers present at BoP, as it tells us about the purchasing pattern of consumers and also of the demand of various products existing at BoP. 3rd question How do they react to different packaging of these products? Do they demand more for small packets/packing as compared to regular sized packing? This was a very important question, as it helps a lot in understanding the consumer behavior at BoP. Most of the consumers at BoP tend to buy products in small quantities and for lesser price , as they have either low incomes or are daily wage earners. 4th question What types of schemes/discounts/offers do companies and distributors offer for their product and what is the impact of these schemes on the sales of these products? This question was required to look into the details of how Indian FMCG firms are making their way into the BoP markets, by using lucrative discounts and offers for the these consumers. 5th question How is the distribution network/supply of various products of different FMCG brands? What are the profit margins present with each of these brands? This information was required to have an understanding about the supply chain network existing at the BoP for different brands and manufacturers, and the efficiency of these supply chain systems. We expected to gain insight about the number of visits by the distributor in a month, and the profit margins given by the distributors at these small kirana stores. 6th question How do the consumers ask for a product they want to buy? Do they ask for a specific brand or are satisfied with any local brands? We wanted to gauge the awareness among the consumers at BoP about various brands and whether they were aware about the positioning carried by the individual brands. 7th question How do the consumers react to the introduction of a new brand in the market? Are they keen to use it? How do the shopkeepers push that brand to the consumers? Does having a better profit margin motivate him to push or force a sale of one brand over the other? Shopkeepers have a big influence on the buying decision of consumers at BoP, as consumers are typically less informed about various brands and tend to put their faith on more knowledgeable shopkeeper. Also the motivation for selling one brand over other stems from better profit margin. 8th question Who are the regular customers for the products? Do people who look rich also come and buy smaller sized products? This question was asked to determine if there is a spill-over effect or not. We had some indications from where we comprehend that the BoP boundaries are getting extended to the upper class as well. 9th question What other factors contribute towards the sale of a product of a brand, like banners, posters, shelf space etc.? How important do these factors become in the light of consumers asking for smaller sized packages? Companies keep on coming with regular offers, campaigns and other schemes to lure consumers, especially at BoP. How much effective are these schemes and how they affect the behavior pattern of consumers, was something we intended to know. Questions from Consumers: We also put forward the following questions to some of the consumers we found in the villages we targeted. This was done, basically to have an understanding of the same concepts, but from the point of view of a BoP consumer. How often do you go to buy a product (toothpaste, soap, biscuits) * Do you always prefer a smaller sized product over a medium or large size? * Do you prefer to buy a branded product or local product? * Are you willing to try a new product introduced in the market? * How much is your purchase decision affected by the shopkeeper/offers/advertisement of that product? Based on the answers to the above mention ed extensive questionnaires and the analysis of data gathered from them, we were able to understand the expectation and behavior of customers at Bottom of the Pyramid. We also got an insight about how the Indian companies are faring at bottom of Pyramid. Results and Data Analysis: Some facts about the rural market that were observed during the research: * People in rural areas are aware of most of the brands like Fair and Lovely, Vivel, Sunfeast, Pepsodent, Sunsilk etc. * The common strategy used by most of the brands to reach the household of rural areas are: 1) Small packaging: * Aashirwad Aata- Pack of Rs 240/10kg, 125/5kg * Colgate- Rs 10/35g, Rs 35/100g, Rs 44/200g, * Mangaldeep Incense stics: pack of Rs 5 and Rs 10 Clinic Plus- small sachet of Rs1, Rs3 and Rs5 * Vivel- Rs 5/10g, Rs 10/25g, 2) Adding extra quantity at the same price: Quantity Scheme * Colgate: 20% extra * Wheel: 30% extra * Vaseline: 20% more 3) Discounts: Done on almost every product in every 2 months. 4) Bundle Offers: * Buy 1 Mangaldeep Incense stick and get an AIM matchbox free. (both brands of ITC). * Incesnse stick stand free with Mangaldeep Sticks. * Buy 3 get 1 free of fer on Breeze 5) Attractive Packaging: Colgate distributes a pack at Rs 38 and another at Rs44. The interesting fact is that the weight of both the packs are the same, just the packaging size is different. The pack for Rs 44 is slightly bigger than the other one which tricks the consumers. 6) Promotion: Posters and banners of the product on the shops. * Profit Margin: For new brands, the profit margin to the shopkeeper is more since people are not aware of brands which holds true for not only rural market, but urban retailers too. For eg, ITC is relatively a new brand compared to HUL and most of the shopkeeper get higher profit margin for it, 8-10% for ITC and 5% for HUL. Although local products offer much higher profits , about 25-50%, but they are one time sale in most of the places. * Consumer Awareness In rural area, sales of a branded product majorly depend upon consumer awareness about it. If the consumer is aware, he directly asks for the particular brand, if not the shopkeeper can easily trick him and give a duplicate or local product. Brands must keep in mind that they are selling the products to rural consumers who are price and quantity focused and do not get much attracted by the brand name. ence product which fulfils their immediate need is purchased by them. This can be illustrated by the example of Surf and Wheel. Both of them come at a price for Rs 10, but wheel is sold more since its pack has 150g of detergent powder compared to 70 g of Surf. Observation 1 The above chart clearly indicates the preference of consumers at BoP towards the products with smaller size packing. This is the primary reason that nearly every brand and manufactu rer has now started coming out with small packages of its products available in small denomination, generally single digit. This is an attractive feature for the BoP market. Obeservation 2 Would you like to try a new product? Would you like to try a new product? Would you prefer to buy a brand over a local product? Which factor affected your purchase decision the most? Which factor affected your purchase decision the most? The above two pie charts contain very useful information. The consumers at BoP do not hesitate to buy the new products in the market. This could be attributed to increased awareness due to the mass media. Also, they are more willing to buy a branded product as compared to a local product. The third pie chart shows the relevance that the shopkeepers carry in the BoP market. They are the biggest decision makers for around 50% of the sample. Conclusion and recommendations: After a thorough research into the working of HUL Shakti and ITC e-choupal, we were very much impressed by the real fortune that lies at the broad base of the pyramid, which had been neglected by most of the companies as rightly explained in the book by CK Prahalad. Also, our primary research also gave us a new insight into the markets at BoP, the forces that exists there and how do the consumers behave and make their purchasing decisions. We also learnt about the spillover effect of the products. We also realized the importance of small Kirana stores in the functioning of the entire BoP market and how they affect the decisions of the consumers. BoP consumers, though poor, but are increasingly becoming aware of their options and making informed decisions. It is also concluded that initially a company provides a higher margin for its product, when it is newly launched. But with time, it becomes normalized across the different variants of the same company. Our interaction with the retailers and the end consumers was a very good learning experience. We got a glimpse as to how does a retailer decides which product he has to push more. Also, how do the end consumers make their final decision, which is based on variety of factors. Though we also met people who said that they would buy any product which costs less, their number was far lesser than those claiming to use only branded products but mostly the one in smaller packing. Our primary recommendation from this market research is that companies do need to realize the bottom of the pyramid importance in their business profits. To tap the wealth present at BoP, they need to make some sustained, motivated efforts. But successful marketing measures would open a whole new dimension for such companies which would provide them with a continuous source of revenues.

Passive Voice What is Passive Voice How to Improve it with Examples

Passive Voice What is Passive Voice How to Improve it with Examples Passive Voice: What Is Passive Voice How to Improve It with Examples Passive voice has its purposes. It really does. In fact, it can be the politically correct way to phrase something.Imagine†¦The setting: a public school libraryThe players: a librarian (OK, I’m the librarian) and 15 first gradersThe scene: The librarian is reading aloud nonfiction books about sharks.The question: â€Å"Why do sharks _______________?† (some intriguing behavior too complex or gory for me to explain or possibly even understand)The passive voice answer that keeps me employed in a public school: â€Å"That’s the way they were made.†The active voice answer that I would tell my grandchildren: â€Å"God made them that way.†Heres what youll learn about passive voice:What is passive voice?How much passive voice can you use?How to choose to use passive or active voiceActive voice examplesHow to vary your sentence varietyHow to find your percent of passive voiceNOTE: We cover everything in this blog post and much more about the writing, ma rketing, and publishing process in our VIP Selfs:ACTIVE: I love reading.PASSIVE: Reading is loved by me.ACTIVE: AC/DC Thunder won the game easily.PASSIVE: The game was won easily by AC/DC Thunder.With students, the focus is on active voice; with a professional writer like yourself, you will most likely have a blend of both active and passive sentences, but active should still far outweigh passive.Active VS Passive Voice with ExamplesFrom Billboards â€Å"The Biggest Hits of All: The Hot 100s All-Time Top 100 Songs† I selected songs that used active voice in their titles. (WHO selected them? I selected them. That’s another easy example of active voice.)Here are song titles along with a rewrite in passive voice:â€Å"I Love Rock ‘N Roll† * Rock ‘N Roll Is Loved by Meâ€Å"I Gotta Feeling† * A Feeling Was Gotten by Meâ€Å"You Light Up My Life† * My Life Was Lit Up by You†Ã¢â‚¬Å"We Found Love† * Love Was Found by Usâ€Å"I Wan t to Hold Your Hand† * Your Hand Is What I Want to Holdâ€Å"Another One Bites the Dust† * The Dust Was Bitten by Another Oneâ€Å"I Will Always Love You† * You Will Always Be Loved by Meâ€Å"I Heard It Through the Grapevine† * It Was Heard Through the Grapevine by MeSentences with the understood subject (you) have an imperative active voice which is much more authoritative than passive tense:(You)† Un-Break My Heart† * My Heart Should Be Unbroken by You(You) â€Å"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree† * A Yellow Ribbon Should Be Tied Round the Ole Oak Tree by You(You) â€Å"Let the Sunshine In† * The Sunshine Should Be Let In by You(You) â€Å"Play That Funky Music† * That Funky Music Should Be Played by YouConversely, this next song title has a passive voice that works: â€Å"That’s What Friends Are For† (better than Friends Are for That).With the rewrites changing active voice to passive, did you dis cern a pattern where many of them ended with a prepositional phrase containing the person doing the action?Think of gossip. People want to know who is doing what! (They really did that? You’re kidding!) Put the subject right at the beginning so everyone knows whom you’re talking (writing) about and what they did!How to Vary Your Sentence Variety Using Passive Voice and Active VoiceIf you have the same subject over and over and if the object is more of the point anyway, passive voice allows for sentence variety.Furthermore, if it doesn’t matter who did the action because the result is the point, passive voice works.The chairs in the old high school library were refinished and moved to the new library weeks before the tables were moved. Temporary chairs were in the high school library. I needed the tables from the old elementary library to sort the genre boxes, so students had chairs, but no tables for a while. The elementary students enjoyed sitting at the  "invisible† tables and joked how they didn’t have to push in their chairs when they left.After class, a first grader told his teacher very sincerely, â€Å"The tables really are invisible!†I smile whenever I think of his endearing comment.Passive voice rationale: It didn’t matter who had refinished and moved the chairs or who had put temporary chairs in the high school library. I hadn’t done those things, and those details would not have added to the book. Nonetheless, I had completed the genrefication project (where the library was totally reorganized by book genres). I didn’t want to start almost every sentence with â€Å"I + action verb + direct object.† It would sound awkward to repeatedly start sentences with â€Å"I did this, I did that, I, I, I†¦.†Passive Voice Checker How to Determine Your Percent of Passive VoiceBeyond the basic spelling and grammar check (which can be helpful with tools like Grammarly or even Hem ingway Editor) is Word’s readability feature.It tells you various details about your writing, including the percentage of passive sentences, the Flesch Reading Ease, and the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level. For example, the segment about the chairs and the invisible tables scored an 8.8 Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level, which means it was written at a reading level where an 8th grader in the 8th month of school should be able to comprehend the text.Many teen and adult fiction books are written at 4th 6th-grade reading levels (based on Accelerated Reader scoring) because the writing flows at those levels for recreational reading compared to reading to learn new information. Newspapers may rank more at a 10th-grade reading level, depending on the complexity of the information.If you are using Word and would like to know your percentage of passive sentences and readability scores, here’s what you do:Go to Review at the top of Word.Select Spelling Grammar from the top left.Select Op tions from the pop-up.Select Settings at the bottom of the next pop up (next to Writing style:)Then scroll down until you see Passive Voice and check the boxSelect OK and youll now be able to check your passive voice in WordIn case you were wondering (and even if you weren’t), this article was written at a 6.7 reading level with 6% sentences being passive.Now check some of your writing and see if you agree with your results. By the way, I just took my own advice here and checked my children’s picture book, The Flower Fairies Meet the Talking Rainbow Rocks. It contains 4% passive sentences (acceptable to me) but has a 4.1 reading level, which is higher than I would have guessed and higher than I had planned for a picture book.My book’s science-related terms increased the reading level. Word’s readability tool actively helps with various writing considerations beyond passive voice. You may use it purely for passive voice, but it will tell you even more.Acti ve writing is lively writing. It is aggressive in the most positive sense. It burrows in there and zooms straight to the point. Stay active with your writing, and stay active in your writing.Are you ready to write a bestseller?Together we can take your writing up a notch and you can self-publish a book that becomes the next bestseller!

Definition of Commonplace in Rhetoric

Definition of Commonplace in Rhetoric The term commonplace has multiple meanings in rhetoric: Classical Rhetoric 1. In classical rhetoric, a commonplace is a statement or bit of knowledge that is commonly shared by members of an audience or a community.   Meaning of Commonplace in Rhetoric 2. A commonplace is an elementary rhetorical exercise, one of the progymnasmata. (See What Are the Progymnasmata?) 3. In invention, commonplace is another term for a common topic. Also known as  topoi (in Greek) and   loci (in Latin).Also see: Commonplace BookEnthymemeTopoiTopic Commonplace Examples and Observations Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, it seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time.(Michael Ende, Momo. Doubleday, 1985)[In John Miltons Paradise Lost, the devils] speech to the deities of the void is a deliberative oration; he seeks to persuade them to give him information he needs by pleading the advantage his mission will bring them. He bases his argument on the commonplace of regal power and imperial jurisdiction, promising to expel All usurpation from the new-created world and to re-erect there the Standard . . . of ancient Night.(John M. Steadman, Miltons Epic Characters. University of North Carolina Press, 1968) Aristotle on Commonplaces - The commonplaces or topics are locations of standard categories of arguments. Aristotle distinguishes four common topics: whether a thing has occurred, whether it will occur, whether things are bigger or smaller than they seem, and whether a thing is or is not possible. Other commonplaces are definition, comparison, relationship, and testimony, each with its own subtopics. . . . In the Rhetoric, in Books I and II, Aristotle talks about not only common topics that can generate arguments for any kind of speech, but also special topics that are useful only for a particular kind of speech or subject matter. Because the discussion is dispersed, it is sometimes hard to determine what each kind of topic is. (Patricia Bizzell and Bruce Herzberg, The Rhetorical Tradition. Bedford, 2001) - [A]ccording to [Aristotle], the characteristically rhetorical statement involves commonplaces that lie outside any scientific specialty; and in proportion as the rhetorician deals with special subject matter, his proofs move away from the rhetorical and toward the scientific. (For instance, a typical rhetorical commonplace, in the Aristotelian sense, would be Churchills slogan, Too little and too late, which could hardly be said to fall under any special science of quantity or time.)(Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives, 1950. University of California Press, 1969) The Challenge of Recognizing Commonplaces To detect a rhetorical commonplace, the scholar must generally rely on empirical evidence: that is, the collecting and evaluating of related lexical and thematic elements in the texts of other authors. Such components, however, are often hidden by oratorical embellishments or historiographical dexterity. (Francesca Santoro LHoir, Tragedy, Rhetoric, and the Historiography of Tacitus Annales. University of Michigan Press, 2006) Classical Exercise Commonplace. This is an exercise that expands on the moral qualities of some virtue or vice, often as exemplified in some common phrase of advice. The writer in this assignment must seek through his or her knowledge and reading for examples that will amplify and illustrate the sentiments of the commonplace, proving it, supporting it, or showing its precepts in action. This is a very typical assignment from the Greek and Roman world in that it assumes a considerable store of cultural knowledge. Here are several commonplaces that might be amplified: a. An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.b. You always admire what you really dont understand.c. One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty counsels.d. Ambition is the last infirmity of noble minds.e. The nation that forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.f. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.g. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.h. The pen is mightier than the sword.(Edward P.J. Corbett and Robert J. Connors, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 1999) Jokes and Commonplaces With some hermetic jokes what is required is not knowledge, or belief, in the first instance, but an awareness of what might be called commonplaces. A young Catholic woman told her friend, I told my husband to buy all the Viagra he can find.Her Jewish friend replied, I told my husband to buy all the stock in Pfizer he can find. It is not required that the audience (or the teller) actually believe that Jewish women are more interested in money than in sex, but he must be acquainted with this idea. When jokes play upon commonplaceswhich may or may not be believedthey often do it by exaggeration. Typical examples are clergymen jokes. For instance, After knowing one another for a long time, three clergymenone Catholic, one Jewish, and one Episcopalianhave become good friends. When they are together one day, the Catholic priest is in a sober, reflective mood, and he says, Id like to confess to you that although I have done my best to keep my faith, I have occasionally lapsed, and even since my seminary days I have, not often, but sometimes, succumbed and sought carnal knowledge.Ah well, says the rabbi, It is good to admit these things, and so I will tell you that, not often, but sometimes, I break the dietary laws and eat forbidden food.At this the Episcopalian priest, his face reddening, says, If only I had so little to be ashamed of. You know, only last week I caught myself eating a main course with my salad fork.​  (Ted Cohen, Jokes: Philosophical Thoughts on Joking Matters. The University of Chicago Press, 1999) Etymology  From the Latin, generally applicable literary passage Also see: AdageAphorismArgumentationDiscourse CommunityMaximPlatitudeProverbSententia Pronunciation: KOM-un-plase

Dealing with Crime and Disorder in Urban Parks Essay

Dealing with Crime and Disorder in Urban Parks - Essay Example The parks in the urban areas are quite large and the security that is present in these parks is not strong enough and not in much number that they can keep a strong check on what is going inside the park. They are only responsible of watching over the outside of the park that no terrorist or burglar enters the park; they only keep an eye on the people who are entering the gate and do not allow who they feel suspicious. The illegal drug dealers know many ways and techniques through which they can make their way to various places from which they can trade and the drug dealers have now chosen urban parks as their main spot of dealing and they usually enter the park well dressed and like respectable ordinary people so the security officers cannot differentiate them from ordinary people. These people then carry out their illegal business in the park and it can only be observed by the people who visit parks regularly for recreation and it cannot be stopped by the local security officers. T his crime has increased and become wide spread and nearly all big parks in the urban areas have been reported for the same issue. ... rolling or other such things then they inform their in charges which then come in a jiffy and quickly wind up their work before any concerned official can get informed and make any sort of raid. The illegal drug dealers have a very wide spread network and informants who are also wide spread in many different years who keep an alert eye 24/7 to prevent their business from being caught by the police (Kinnane, 1979). A very sad part of this whole case is that there are some black sheeps of our own police department who themselves are involved in such activities and business and they are basically those who inform these drug dealers about the raid the police are about to do and other details being discussed in the police department like informing them about the operational planning of the police department. The greatest threat that this business pose is the wide dealing of syringes; the dealers do not care about the syringes being used or unused, they just sell them and the addicted are in so want of them that they also do not care about the syringe and this is a major reason for many incurable diseases that are now a days becoming wide spread in many parts of the country. It is very necessary that a proper operational policing strategy is developed to control this serious and rapidly increasing issue (Ireland, 1996). A proper operational strategy must be designed in order to eliminate this issue from the root. If a weak strategy is designed then it will not be able to overpower the strong network of the illegal drugs business dealers. Like other departments it has become a necessity for the police department as well to design strategies, tactics and techniques and pay a lot of attention towards strategic planning in the past few years because with the advancements in