Integreted Marketing Communication in Cadbury

What is Integrated Marketing Communications  (IMC)? Integrated Marketing Communications  (IMC) is an approach to brand communications where the different modes work together to create a seamless experience for the customer and are presented with a similar tone and style that reinforces the brand’s core message. Its goal is to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations direct marketing, online communications and social media work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation, which maximizes their cost effectiveness.Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is an approach to brand communications where the different modes work together to create a seamless experience for the customer and are presented with a similar tone and style that reinforces the brand’s core message. Its goal is to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relatio ns direct marketing, online communications and social media work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation, which maximizes their cost effectiveness.IMC is becoming more significant in marketing practice because of the reduced cost effectiveness of mass media and media fragmentation. As consumers spend more time online and on mobile devices all exposures of the brand need to tie together so they are more likely to be remembered. Increasingly the strategies of brands cannot be understood by looking solely at their advertising. Instead they can be understood by seeing how all aspects of their communications ecosystem work together and in particular how communications are personalized for each customer and react in real time, as in a conversation.Brand strategies and their tactics can be viewed on the  Integrated Brands  site. Cadbury Profile:- About Cadbury’s Dairy Milk: Long ago in 1866 the Cadbury brothers were busy pioneeringtheir  d rinking  chocolate  recipe. However,  they  wanted  to  givetheir chocolate fans more. 30 years went by with the brothers dreaming up new ideas and then inspiration struck. What would happen if you put fresh milk into chocolate? That’s why since1905, Cadbury Dairy Milk still contains a glass and a half of fresh milk in every half pound  of milk chocolate.Cadbury  Dairy  Milk  is  full  of  beans, Cocoa beans to  be  precise. And all from one place: Ghana. They believe that Ghanaian beans are  so  delicious  that  we’re  happy  to  pay  premium  prices  for them. They think it’s worth it to give us that unique Cadbury Dairy Milk taste that we all love so much. Everyone  knows  the not  so  secret  ingredient  of  how Cadbury Dairy Milk is made so creamy. However, not many people knowhow dairy milk chocolate is made so chocolatey. It’s all thanks to the beautiful tropical country of Ghana in We st Africa that helps make our Cadbury Dairy Milk taste  so special.The Cadbury’s dairy milk contains a whole glass and a half goes into every single half pound of chocolate. That’s why it tastes so delicious and that’s why is named  as Cadbury’s dairy milk. Cadbury Dairy Milk, produced in Bournville UK, uses fresh liquidmilk sourced from dedicated dairy farmers in the UK. CadburyDairy Milk is also produced in Ireland and uses fresh, liquid Irishmilk to create the unique  chocolate taste. INTRODUCTION Cadbury is a leading global confectionery company with an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands.They employ around 50,000 people and have direct operations in over  60 countries, selling their products in almost every country around the world. In India, Cadbury began its operations in  1948 by importing chocolates. After 60 years of  existence, it today has five  company-owned manufacturing facilities at  Thane, Induri (Pune ) and  Malanpur (Gwalior),Bangalore and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) and 4 sales  offices (New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkota and Chennai). The corporate office is in Mumbai. their core purpose â€Å"creating brands people love† captures the  spirit of what they are  trying to achieve as a  business. hey collaborate and work as teams to convert  products into brands. Simply put, they spread happiness! Currently Cadbury India operates in  four categories viz. Chocolate Confectionery, Milk Food  Drinks, Candy and Gum category. In  the Chocolate Confectionery business, Cadbury has  maintained its undisputed leadership over the years. Some of the key brands are Cadbury Dairy Milk  ,  5 Star  ,  Perk  ,Eclairs and Celebrations. Cadbury enjoys a value market share of over 70% – the highest Cadbury brand share in the world!Our  flagship brand Cadbury Dairy Milk is considered the â€Å"gold standard† for  chocolates in India. The pure taste of  C DM defines the chocolate taste for the  Indian consumer. In the Milk Food drinks segment their main product is  Bournvita  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the leading Malted Food Drink (MFD)in the country. Similarly in the medicated candy category Halls is the undisputed leader. they recently entered the gums category with the launch of  our worldwide dominant bubble gum brand Bubbaloo. Bubbaloo is sold in  25 countries worldwide. Since 1965 Cadbury has also pioneered the development of cocoa  cultivation in India.For over two decades, they have worked with the Kerala Agriculture University to undertake cocoa research and released clones, hybrids that improve the cocoa yield. Their Cocoa  team visits farmers and advises them on the cultivation aspects from planting to harvesting. They also conduct farmers meetings & seminars to educate them on Cocoa cultivation aspects. their efforts have increased cocoa  productivity and touched the lives of thousands of farmers. Hardly surprising then th at the Cocoa tree is  called the Cadbury tree! Today, they  are poised in  their leap towards quantum growth.Cadbury is world's leading Confectionery Company. HISTORY:- 1948  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The Company was incorporated on 19th July, as a private  limited company under the name of Cadbury-Fry (India) Private Limited and commence business soon thereafter. Manufacturing facilities were setup gradually. 1964  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The Company undertook at its own cost and responsibility the development of cocoa growing in the country. A specialist cocoa advisory service was created. A cocoa research centre was also created together with seeding nurseries and  distribution centers. – Through its subsidiary, Induri Farm Ltd. the Company had set up facilities near Pune to breed cattle that would give improved yield of milk at economic feeding costs. 1967  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Cadbury introduced the `Five Star and Gems' chocolates in 1967 and  1968 respectively. 1977  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ The name of the C ompany was changed from Cadbury-Fry (India) Pvt. Ltd. , to Cadbury India Pvt. Ltd. ,on 7th  June. It was converted into A public limited company on 11th June. Our locations in India Registered Office| Cadbury India ltd. Cadbury House 19, B Desai Road Mumbai 400 026 Maharashtra India Tel: +91 22 4007 3100| Indicative map of India | | | | | | | PURPOSE AND VALUESObjective: Grow shareholder value†¦over the long term. Strategy: Create robust and sustainable regional positions in our core categories of confectionery and beverages through organic growth, acquisition and disposal. Process: They achieve this by Managing For Value. Managing for Value Process incorporates: †¢Setting stretched financial objectives. †¢Adopting Value Based Management for major strategic and operational decisions and business systems. †¢Creating an outstanding leadership capability within our management. †¢Sharpening our company culture to reflect accountability, Aggressiveness and adap tability. Aligning our management rewards structure with the interests of our Share owners across the country. MILESTONES OF CADBURY * The June 2003 issue of Business Today identified Cadbury India as one of India's best-managed companies in 2003. * Cadbury India was identified as one of India’s Best Managed Companies in2003. * India’s Finance Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh at Business Today’s Best Managed Companies Awards ceremony, felicitated Mr Bharat Puri, Managing Director of Cadbury India. * It was the only Multinational Company featured in the list of Best * Managed companies in India.Components of IMC Related to Cadbury:- # Advertising Advertising  or  advertizing  is a form of  communication  used to encourage or  persuade  an audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group of people) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, a lthough political and ideological advertising is also common. The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful.Advertising messages are usually paid for by  sponsors  and viewed via various  traditional media; including  mass media  such as  newspaper,  magazines,  television commercial,  radio advertisement,  outdoor advertising  or  direct mail; or  new media  such as  blogs,  websites  or  text messages. Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased  consumption  of their  products  or  services  through â€Å"branding,† which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate certain qualities with the brand in the minds of  consumers.Non-commercial  advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmenta l agencies. Nonprofit organizations  may rely on free modes of  persuasion, such as a public service announcement  (PSA). Advertising by Cadbury:- Cadbury India has unveiled a new campaign that continues with the brand's ‘Kucch Meetha Ho Jaye' positioning. Created by Ogilvy & Mather, the campaign revolves around the theme of ‘Pay Day', which is associated with happiness by most people.Commenting about Cadbury's latest communication, Sanjay Purohit, director – marketing, Cadbury India said, â€Å"This new campaign takes the concept of celebrations to yet another level. With the Pappu and Miss Palampur campaigns, Cadbury Dairy Milk created a space for itself during the big, community celebration moments. This new commercial keeps the core promise of happiness while introducing another ‘moment of joy' in one’s life. Also, the new TVC highlights the celebratory occasion of pay day, which is an important event in the life of every middle-class India n. Said Abhijit Avasthi, executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather (India & South Asia), â€Å"We were looking to come up with another interesting, unique meetha moment. We realised that while celebrations have been done for various occasions, the celebration for ‘pay day’ was not done. Pay day emotes feelings that are naturally celebratory in nature. Pay day makes you feel as rich as a king or as rich as a crorepati. THE MAIN ADVERTISING CAMPAIN FOR CADBURY INDIA:- KUCH MEETHA HO JAYE (2004)The biggest challenge for Cadbury to reinstate faith of  the biggest challenge for Cadbury to reinstate faith of  consumers after the worm controversy. Post controversy, approached Amitabh Bachchan to calm the Post controversy, approached Amitabh Bachchan to calm thenerves.. nerves.. Hence the Kuch meetha ho jaaye campaign was introduced. Hence the Kuch meetha ho jaaye campaign was introduced. Projected chocolates as a substitute to mithai  (sweets) and Projected chocolate s as a substitute to mithai  (sweets) and cheered people to have chocolate on every joyous occasion. cheered people to have chocolate on every joyous occasion.MISS  PALAMPUR  (2006) Miss  Palampur clearly targeted at hinterland (INTERIOR OF clearly targeted at hinterland (INTERIOR OFINDIA) Focused on Adults and values, like  SACRED COW Focused on Adults and values, like  SACRED COW Campaigns aimed at rural India did fare well Campaigns aimed at rural India did fare well The share of Cadbury increased by more than 20% in rural India. The share of Cadbury increased by more than 20% in rural India. The brand further strengthened its positions with the core audience. The brand further strengthened its positions with the core audience.AAJ PEHLI TARIKH HAI (2009) Pehli taarikh hai campaign is on the working class of  the campaign is on the working class of the ? country?. Pehli taarikh hai campaign highlighted the celebratory campaign highlighted the celebratory occasion of payday, which is an important event in the life of  occasion of payday, which is an important event in the life of  every middle class Indian. Is a clever occasion–based association which allows for the based association which allows for the brand to be recalled in the right context, every month, ? brand to be recalled in the right context, every month.SHUBH AARAMBH (2010) Core target group, consumers in the age group of 15 Core target group, consumers in the age group of 15–35 years 35 years Specifically, there is a shift from the notion of celebrating Specifically, there is a shift from the notion of celebrating happy occasions with chocolate to the happy occasions with chocolate to the concept of anticipating the occurrence of something good  after consuming , a substitute for mithai the campaign is aimed at consumers across sectors, and is supposed to have a balanced appeal across all tiers. # Direct MarketingDirect marketing is just what it sounds like †“ directly reaching a market (customers and potential customers) on a personal (phone calls, private mailings) basis, or mass-media basis (infomercials, magazine ads, etc. ). Direct marketing is often distinguished by aggressive tactics that attempt to reach new customers usually by means of unsolicited direct communications. But it can also reach out to existing or past customers. A key factor in direct marketing is a â€Å"call to action. † That is, direct marketing campaigns should offer an incentive or enticing message to get consumers to respond (act).Direct marketing involves the business attempting to locate, contact, offer, and make incentive-based information available to consumers. # Personal Selling Personal selling is a promotional method in which one party (e. g. , salesperson) uses skills and techniques for building personal relationships with another party (e. g. , those involved in a purchase decision) that results in both parties obtaining value. In most ca ses the â€Å"value† for the salesperson is realized through the financial rewards of the sale while the customer’s â€Å"value† is realized from the benefits btained by consuming the product. However, getting a customer to purchase a product is not always the objective of personal selling. For instance, selling may be used for the purpose of simply delivering information. Because selling involves personal contact, this promotional method often occurs through face-to-face meetings or via a telephone conversation, though newer technologies allow contact to take place over the Internet including using video conferencing or text messaging (e. g. , online chat). Dairy Milk:-Most fantastic and commonly used concept of personal selling is done when they had introduced Dairy Milk silk as their premium product. They actually kept written message explaining their product silk. They also kept an idea of feed back through mails and toll – free – number â€⠀œ 1800 22 7080. Interactive Marketing Interactive marketing is a one to one marketing process that reacts and changes based on the actions of individual customers and prospects. This ability to react to the actions of customers and prospects means that trigger based marketing is dramatically more effective than normal direct marketing.Interactive marketing is called many things. You may have heard it called event based marketing or event driven marketing or even trigger based marketing but it is all the same idea: reacting to what the customer is doing and driving up marketing effectiveness. Dairy Milk’s Interactive marketing – 1. Social Networking Site One of the easiest way to get connected in today’s 21st century is leading networking sites i. e. Face book and as all other brand even Cadbury has its face book page specially Indian fans is http://www. facebook. com/cadburydairymilkindia 2.Banners and hoardings In key supermarkets, Cadbury will sample its rang e of Cadbury Dairy Milk Fairtrade products during the Fortnight’s first weekend. Online activity will include banners on supermarkets’ websites and there will also be a campaign blog, with regular posts from Ghana updating consumers on progress. Marketing materials show the benefits to the community by way of three characters â€Å"wearing† a school, community centre and hospital. For such type of direct marketing they will always choose a prime location where its always an eye catching phenomenon location.Recently Cadbury had placed almost more than 12 hoardings in western express highway on account of rakshabandhan to promote its chocolate in terms of Indian sweets. For Creating such an advertisement Cadbury India asked national public to send their brother – sister pictures to their registered mail ID or need to fill some forms where they can actually send their feelings / message for their siblings. This act was a perfect direct marketing tool to attr act the crowd using emotional intelligence.This not only created an environment for festival encouragement but an soft corner for the brand Cadbury chocolates as its personal brand of chocolates. 3. INTERNET MEDIA Launched its website www. cadburyindia. com Interactive site www. meethamoments . com, making cards etc Community on social networking sites . Community on social networking sites. Advertisements on different web sites. # Sales & Promotions:- Sales promotion offers a direct inducement to act by providing extra worth over and above what is built into the product at its normal price.These temporary inducements are offered usually at a time and place where the  buying decision  is made. Not only are  sales promotions  very common in the current competitive market conditions, they are increasing at a fast pace. These promotions are direct inducements. In spite of the directness,  sales promotions  are fairly complicated and a rich tool of marketing with innumerable creative possibilities limited only by the imagination of promotion planners. Sales promotion is often referred to by the names of ‘extra purchase value’ and ‘below-the-line selling’.Today we  find companies  in almost all sectors offering some sort of a promotion scheme. These sectors range from automobiles to beverages, from financial services to foods, from household durables to services, from  household products  to  business products, from personal care to textiles and apparel. Dairy Milk initiative for Sales Promotion:- Quantity deal Cadbury offer discounted schemes under customer  oriented sales promotion strategy to increase the sales of product like it offers 250 g pack of  chocolate at the cost of 200g pack and offer 50g chocolate at the cost of 50gextra to their  customer.Consumer contest Cadbury also organized many contest to get attraction and to increase the interaction with the  customer. Interaction with the  customer ww w. meethamoments. com includes  many  competitions  for  for  consumer  like†¦ Consumer Story writing, Painting competition  etc. Point of sales material Point of sales material * Mini Cooler: Mini Cooler serves the need for cooling Chocolates for its reduced perish ability while  still maintaining cooling while  still maintaining the visibility of the product. Visibility of the product. * JarsThese are provided to small outlets, where they are prominently outlets, where they are prominently displayed. * Events in Mall & Festival times Most common Sales promotion now-a-days is they keep their live stall in malls during weekends and conducting some games where the winner would get a Cadbury dairy milk hamper or some Gift vouchers from Cadbury. # Public Relations:- Every organization, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and success. Customers, suppliers, employees, investors, journalists and regulators can have a power ful impact.They all have an opinion about the organizations they come into contact with – whether good or bad, right or wrong. These perceptions will drive their decisions about whether they want to work with, shop with and support these organizations. In today's competitive market, reputation can be a company's biggest asset – the thing that makes you stand out from the crowd and gives you a competitive edge. Effective PR can help manage reputation by communicating and building good relationships with all organisation stakeholders. Public relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. One of the example case study for Cadbury Chocolate is as follow:- EFFECTS OF THE CONTROVERSY ON CADBURY The state Food and Drug Administration has ordered seizure of Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolates from all over Maharashtra after worms were found in two of them in Mumbai.Cadbury India, whose chocolates had ridden into controversy late last year during the festival season because worms were discovered in some stocks of its Dairy Milk chocolates is probably hoping the association with Bachchan will help consumers forget the bad press the company got on account of the discovery. The Food and Drug Administration had then seized the company's stocks and the Cadbury India management had explained it was bad storage practices by retailers and distributors that had led to the worms. Cadbury India's sales fell following the discovery.And even the government got in to the act with the central health ministry asking for a report on the  controversy. The timing of the controversy couldn't have been worse. Festival season sal es (Cadbury sells almost 1,000 tonnes of chocolates during Diwali) plummeted 30 per cent. Until then, in the country's FMCG sector plagued by slow,  low single digit top line and bottom line growth, Cadbury was a sweet exception. But its net profit in 2003 dipped 37 per cent to Rs 45. 6 crore (Rs 456 million) as compared to a 21 per cent increase the previous year. ROLE OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONSPR concerns the total communications of your total organization/group of organizations. It is unlike advertising, where you are sharing skills of planning, creative and media buying teams with an out-sourced agency. PR calls for a very intimate understanding of the total inner workings of your organization at all levels – workers to Board levels. It requires the integration of knowledge and communications. It is not a part time job for a Marketing Services Manager. If it is to work and serve the larger objective, the PR department should be independent, servicing others like production , personnel, marketing, finance, corporate agendas.Therefore, the PR Head should be part of the top management team- reporting directly to the CEO. He also needs to share everyone's confidences. The PR department of Cadbury’s played a very effective role in managing the reputation and keeping up the goodwill of the company. After being struck with the Worm Controversy it was not possible to create a very good impact on consumers who trusted the company the most. But through the efforts and a good PR team Cadbury’s managed to wriggle its self out of the controversy with a clean chit.STEPS TAKEN TO SOLVE THE CONTROVERSY †¢NOT DENYING THE FACT It helped that the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration had given a clean chit to the company's two plants in the state. Cadbury went into overdrive to tell consumers that improper storage of what is essentially a perishable commodity might lead to worm infestation. Last November Bharat Puri, Cadbury's mild-mannered MD, wen t to media offices around the country meeting reporters, answering mostly hostile queries and patiently explaining the company's stand on the issue. Unlike the cola companies which were caught in a controversy just a month earlier and displayed an ostrich-like attitude, Cadbury did not go into denial mode. It accepted that there was a problem, which may not have been of its own making, and made a commitment to the consumer that it would plug all possible safety loopholes,† says a Mumbai-based brand consultant. As a result Cadbury improved the packaging and paid more attention to the way its chocolates were stored by nearly 650,000 retailers across the country. †¢GAINING BACK TRUSTThe Big B promoted the Big C in the chocolate business – Cadbury in India. Indian cine superstar Amitabh Bachchan has signed on to become the brand ambassador of the chocolate major for two years. AB played a pivotal role in all communication relating to Cadbury's products and brands, be i t in print, on television or the great outdoors, the company's managing director Bharat Puri has been quoted as saying in media reports. With the help of its Public Relations Dept. and advertising agency O;M, it created a campaign which aimed for both rational and emotional appeal.One of the ads showed Bachhan visiting a Cadbury plant, inspecting the systems and processes and finally consuming a bar of chocolate to be convinced that there's nothing wrong with the brand. The other ad featured Bachhan and his granddaughter to emphasize that the product was absolutely safe for children Sponsorship The brand has tied up with the popular TV show; Kaun BanegaCrorepati (KBC) 4and is the key sponsor for it. TCC tropic of cancer foundation and also for the most popular TV show FIR which comes on SAB TV. Product Publicity The following re the types of publicity they used to promote their product:-Tie-up with Reliance India Mobile service. CDM has tied up with BSNL's Missed Call Alert scheme. The brand plans to tie up with marriage and job portals. Tie up with Indian Railways for branding on tickets. Conclusion The Cadbury dairy Milk company successfully  re-establishes the  brand in  different  classes Important and ongoing  campaign after  the 2004 worm controversy which almost affected the sales and the good will of the company. Many variations in this campaign helped in targeting the different socio economic class of people and also the emotional value of people by making and soft heart feeling for the brand.Cadbury Dairy Milk very effectively used the various tools of IMC and the Kuch meetha ho jaye campaign also went  on to  win Silver  for   The Best Integrated Marketing Campaign and Gold in the Consumer Products category at the EFFIES 2006 (global benchmark for effective advertising campaigns) awards. Bibliography:- * http://www. facebook. com/cadburydairymilkindia * www. cadburyindia. com * www. meethamoments . com * www. scribid. com * www. wikipedia. com * www. timesofindia. com

Jacob Lawrence Essay

1.0 Background Jacob Lawrence, one of the most important artists of the 20th century and best known for his series of narrative paintings depicting important moment in African American history was born on 7th September 1917 in Atlantic City (pbs.org, para. 1). He spent a portion of his childhood life in Pennsylvania after which his parents separated in 1924. Jacob and his siblings went with the mother to New York and settled in Harlem. He was introduced to art at his teen age when his mother enrolled him in Utopia Children’s center which provided an after school art program in Harlem. By 1930’s he could participate in the art programs at the Harlem Art Workshop and the Harlem community art centre, where he got a chance to meet leading American artists of the time such as Augusta Savage and Charles Alton, the director of Harlem workshop at the time and who later became a professor of art at Howard University (pbs.org, para.1). Having trained as a painter at the Harlem workshop inside the New York Public Library’s 113 5th street branch, and despite being much younger than   most of the artists and other writers who took part in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s, Lawrence was a force to recon with (Hughes, para.2). He was not interested in the type of idealized and fake primitives of blacks otherwise referred to as the Noble Negroes in art Deco guise, as they were usually produced as an antidote to the stereotypical racists. He gained confidence particularly from Alain Locke, who was a Harvard trained artist and also the first black Rhodes scholar in America. Locke strongly believed in the pieces of work done by blacks, as it could speak explicitly to African-Americans while still embodying value as well as self critical powers of modernism. Precisely, Locke believed that, â€Å"There is in truly great art in no essential conflict between racial or national traits and universal human valu es† (Hughes, para. 2). 2.0 The work of Jacob Lawrence Lawrence became well known at the age of 21 years when he did his â€Å"Toussant L’Ouverture Series†, a 41 painting collection that depicted a successful rebellion by the Haitian slaves. Three years later at the age of 24, his work became the first from an African American to be included in the permanent collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art (Lawrence, para. 1). Lawrence therefore considered himself to be both an artist and an educator. He used his art to tell stories about the black American history as he felt that this was being overlooked in the teaching of history in America. For instance, Lawrence did a forty panel series which he called â€Å"The Life of Harriet Tubman† who in the 1800s had helped many slaves in the north to free through an Underground Railroad (Sernett, pp. 218). From his childhood, Lawrence had been steeped in stories about movement and migration and therefore with encouragement from Locke, he worked hard to get historical background and related facts right. Months of research in the Schomburg Collection of the Public Library which is the chief archive of African American life and history in New York, saw the realization of his other piece of work, â€Å"Migration Series† which could help trace the mass influx of African Americas from the south to the North as a result of World War I. The two series are known for use of detailed titles and creative images to create narrative history of events (Lawrence, para. 2). Additionally, the series are notable for lack of language use. The author was in no way a propagandist. He however advocated for front social realism which was at its peak in America at the time as evidenced by labor camps, prisons, deserted villages, city slums and race riots which were mainly his subject matter. Lawrence attributed his success to his black experience which was his heritage, more so as far as black Americans struggle to secure independence and justice was concerned. Even during adult hood, he extended this theme to include all human struggles for liberty, and although each of his paintings evidenced his sense of humor as well as human pain and misery, they offered hope for the human condition. In 1937, Lawrence secured a two-year scholarship to the American artist school, where he studied with the   Wilson, Philip Riesman and Eugene Moreley before marrying one of the pupil of Savage who was also a west Indian painter, Gwendolyn Knight in 1941.This scholarship took him out of Harlem but he still maintained a close contact with the community which was the focus of his work as evidenced by his work â€Å"Street Scene Restaurant†, â€Å"Street orator†, â€Å"Interior† and â€Å"Interior scenes† which were shown in 1938. Other notable work that was done by Lawrence were a 32 painting series, â€Å"The Frederic Douglass† and the 22 panel   series that he painted while on honeymoon in 1941. In the explosive 1960s, Lawrence painted what most critics have called his work of â€Å"Protest† in favor of civil rights struggle in the South. In one of his paintings, â€Å"The ordeal of Alice†, he showed a black girl dressed in white trying to get into a newly desegregated school in the South but demonic tormentors attack her with arrows in a scene that is common only with religious martyrs. In the late 1960s though, Lawrence progressed from portraying racial injustice into showing racial harmony. At this time he did his series, â€Å"Builders†, which showed both whites and blacks working together in building projects, scenes which could be interpreted to mean rebuilding the society. Despite the changing trends, both political and in artistic field, Lawrence remained true to his own original and creative path until his death in June 9, 2000 (Sernett, pp. 82). 3.0 His work compared with others A comparison between the work of art done by Jacob Lawrence and that of other artists of his time reveals a lot of difference, with most these differences inclined to Lawrence’s outstanding. While most of the artists, especially those doing watercolor paintings like him, are usually inclined to beauty and elegance, Lawrence was different. Even the most recent artists such as Thomas Deir, despite making  Ã‚   the highest sale of $ 10,000 in the Waikiki gallery, do not seem to belong to the same school of thought with Jacob Lawrence (hawaiiart.com). The work of Lawrence, despite bringing out beauty, also carries some real life meanings as far as human life is concerned. The â€Å"Toussant L’Ouverture Series†, for example is a series that is not only elegant but also carries success. Depicting a successful rebellion by slaves, especially at the time when slave trade and slavery accompanied with a lot of other human misery was rampant, the painting can be said to carry more than Thomas Dier’s   â€Å"Mokulua Milky Way   valued at   over $2000† as far as   human values and relevance   is concerned (hawaiiart.com). Other renowned artists such Judy Abott or Michelle Amatrula, though recognized for making huge sales from their pieces of work, do not address contemporary issues like Lawrence does. The other artist who could in away compares to Jacob Lawrence is Martin Johnson Heade (1819-1904) who is particularly known for his Luminists landscape particularly of the storms and marshes in South America as well as still life paintings. Martin Johnson Heade (originally Heed) was equally a talented artist of the nineteenth century. He is remembered for   his flora, fauna and landscape paintings that do not only have a rich effect of color and light but could also portray some poetic sentiments. Lawrence however still appears to outweigh Heade in what can be drawn from a critical analysis of their work. Put in simple terms, while the work from both artists share beauty, Lawrence has some educative aspect injected into his work. By all definitions, Lawrence was better than most of the other artists of the time as evidenced by the numerous awards and credit that goes to his name. In 1974, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a major retrospective of the work done by Lawrence which later resulted to his election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1983, while in 1977, he received an invitation to paint during the inauguration of Jimmy Carter. In May 2007, the White House Historical Association bought Lawrence’s â€Å"Builders† shown below for $2.5 million at auction. This painting today hangs in the white House Green Room (Crehan, para.5). 4.0 Conclusion Jacob Lawrence is probably one of the best artists that ever appeared on the face of earth. His work reveals a rare talent that he recognized and exploited fully. Despite being a black American, he beat all odds to become one of the best artists of the 21st century while the plight of fellow black Americans remained a dear concern to his heart. This is what his work addressed.  Jacob Lawrence is no doubt a legend whose life deserves recognition by and over generations while his artistic work will continue to demand respect over centuries.

Why were the Manchus so much more successful in ruling China after Essay

Why were the Manchus so much more successful in ruling China after their conquest of the Ming than their predecessors, the Mongols, were in ruling over China after the fall of the Song - Essay Example The Mongols, initially, sought to segregate themselves and maintain different cultural identities, but eventually integrated with the society and adopted many of the ways of the Chinese. By concerning itself with the maintenance of power as a conquering force, and subjugating the Chinese people under a heavy handed rule, the Manchu dynasty would be a longer, more successful rule than the Mongol dynasty. During the time of the Song dynasty in China, a great growth of the country would take place. As advances in science, the arts, and in philosophy would expand, so to did the population double in size. All of these things are signs of a thriving civilization. However, these advancements were diminished by a government that did not recognize the need for a global attitude. Expansion of the government itself did not occur in order to meet the demands of a greater population. As the country of China and its people thrived, the roots of the country, the core government, did not sustain enough strength to hold onto its nation. In an attempt to expand and promote new growth, Wang Anshi created what is known as the ‘New Laws’. â€Å"Wang not only tried to expand channels of revenue and the apparatus of local order, but explicitly argued that the state must enlarge itself and in effect absorb into an expanding bureaucracy the growing wealthy and educated elite.† (Embree, p. 348) According to Ainslee T. Embree and Carol Gluck, in their book, Asia in Western and World History, if Wang Anshi’s reforms had taken place they would have rivaled advancements made in industry and state building that did not occur again until the late 19th and early 20th century. However, after the fall of North China, Wang’s reform party would be defeated and the advanced concept of ‘growth of the state’ would end. A general lack of interest in forward motions of modernity would stagnate the growth of the country as the growth of the

The effect that war has on soldiers mentality Research Paper

The effect that war has on soldiers mentality - Research Paper Example This study therefore attempts to explore the effects that war has on a soldier’s mentality, or what some scholars refer to as the emotional or psychological effects of war on soldiers. Studies carried out by psychologists’ indicate that soldiers ideally face psychological disorders associated with wars. In the novel ‘yellow birds’ by Kevin Powers, a story is told of a 21 year old soldier who went to war in Iraq and lost a friend ,Murph ,during combat. The soldier narrates his ordeal during the war and its aftermath in his life on now he’s faced with legal, emotional and psychological battles that he needs to cope up with forever (Powers 10).Below is a discussion on the various metal disorders soldiers are prone to, not exclusively from Powers’ narrative piece, but also from the voices of other scholars in this field. The experiences in the battlefield-in most cases after combat- does leave soldiers with unpleasant physical and mental ‘injuries’ that they have to nurse upon coming back home, or long after the war has ended. The mental injuries normally present themselves in the form of mental illnesses. Martinez et al, (73) enumerates the various forms of mental illnesses that soldiers are prone to. They include; the post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, and alcohol or substance abuse. The living evidence of these is to be seen in the lives of surviving war veterans. The post emotional effect of war in them is distressing and hurting, not just for them but their families’ alike. Each of these mental disorders is discussed below. One of the main effects of war on the mental health of soldiers is the Post-traumatic stress. It occurs after one does experience or witness a life threatening event like the scenes in a military combat. Key symptoms of this illness include nightmares,

History of psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

History of psychology - Essay Example This reality manifests itself in the American social context with regard to the high element of materialism. Various marketing campaigns target the consumptive nature of the American public with various goods and services, which are billed as the most fashionable, trendy, and the most advanced. The desire to live within the context of the American dream of limitless success often makes people to seek the attainment of these goals. Many times, the American people undergo tremendous painful experiences in their desire to achieve or obtain the goods and services that are marketed in various media outlets. According to Buddha, humans ought to control their desire and cravings for things in order to achieve for higher levels of spiritualism. The pain that Buddha describes is usually understood within the context of greed (Eckel 92). It is brought out as a consequence of human greed and other failings that have to be moderated through the attainment of higher levels of consciousness. The argument presented in this philosophy could further be explained in terms of the natural weakness of humans to overcome their appetites. The capacity to overcome the appetite for material things and higher services should, therefore, mark the apex of

The role of Governments and Intergovernmental organizations in dealing Essay

The role of Governments and Intergovernmental organizations in dealing with the impact of globalization - Essay Example s and strategies adopted by governmental organizations shapes globalizations as much as globalization dictates the conditions and policy that must be established by governments (Globalization and Global Governance 9-21). The portrayal of globalization as the external force that constrains governments, leaving them with few choices apart from adapting, led the former US President Bill Clinton to remark: Government and intergovernmental organizations play a varying role to deal with the impact of globalization, depending on the dynamics of the matter at hand. Where globalization is understood in the context of being involved in the erosion of economic, political, social and cultural borders, the government’s role of accepting the process and defining policies that promote such a change can be seen as â€Å"making† globalization (The Global Transformation Reader 22-44). The steps taken by the national institutions include the harmonization of regulations that govern various aspects of the system setup, as well as the removal of barriers that prevented free flow of information, goods and services in the past. The European Union (EU) provides a classic example for understanding the role of governments in acceding to the demands of globalization, by the removal of physical borders and unification of economic might to deal in a more positive manner with the changing dynamics of the global business and development demands (Globalization and Global Governance 77-85). The Schengen treaty allowed the citizens of member states to move with ease across the expanse of the EU; the overall aim being to create a mobile and skilled workforce that would have benefits for all concerned members of the EU. For the impact of globalization to be dealt with a positive manner, it has been pertinent for governments and related institutions to undertake an open and flexible approach, especially in identifying the areas where comparative advantage can be reached. This is evident when seen

Gastrointestinal Disorders I Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Gastrointestinal Disorders I - Essay Example H. pylori is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and spreads through contact witth the stool, vomit and saliva of infected persons. The second common cause of petic ulcers is the long-term use of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Ulcers are also rarely caused by stomach tumors. The sever abdominal pain and vomiting exhibited by the man are typical symptoms of petic ulcers. (NDDCH web site). A serious health complication resulting from a peptic ulcer is a perforation, or hole, in the wall of the stomach or duodenum, which develops when the ulcer penetrates right through the wall. A perforated peptic ulcer leads to peritonitis, an inflammation of the thin tissue which lines the abdominal organs. Bacteria enter the peritonial cavity. The fact that the patient has a significant drop in blood pressure, along with the vomiting and abdominal pain, indicates peritonitis. (PubMed Health web site). Surgery to remove the infected bowel may be necessary in this case. This may be followed by a course of medication to eradicate the H. pylori bacteria, reduce the presence of stomach acids, and protect the lining of the stomach and duodenum. (NDDCH web

No Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

No - Essay Example It would be hard for the company to be able to do the transaction without it being a donation. From the proposal, the company would be selling the Panini at three dollars per piece. Considering that the company spends four dollars on every Panini in the production, the company will be operating the transaction at a loss of one dollar every sale. His being the case, the company can only accept the proposal only where the transaction is a donation to the MBA students or if it were a marketing strategy and they would increase the prices later. b) Starbucks currently sells a Stainless Steel Clip Handle Tumbler - Gold, 16 fluid ounces in its stores for $22.95. Starbucks buys the Tumbler from a manufacturer in China for $ 9.00. A representative from a company in Vietnam is offering to sell them for 25% less than cost from the manufacturer in China. Discuss the issues that you would consider in deciding whether or not to accept this offer. In deciding whether or not to accept the offer from the manufacturer in Vietnam, I would consider various factors. These factors include: the quality of the products, the durability of the products, the ability to serve the purpose for which they are acquiring. Mainly, I would consider the quality, considering the low cost of the products; the quality of the materials would probably be compromised. Due to this, I would critically evaluate all the aspects of the product to ascertain that the quality of the products is at par. Besides this, I would consider the accessibility of the products from the supplier. Since Vietnam is a country that is not well developed, I would consider how the goods are to be moved from the country to Starbucks premises since the cost of acquisition would be higher in the long run due to transport costs. Basically, I would focus mainly on these areas. When preparing an incentive plan for the store managers, it should be budgeted to

MANAGING IN A MIXED ECONOMY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

MANAGING IN A MIXED ECONOMY - Essay Example In other types of contracts like the private finance initiative, the private sector makes the capital investment through a contract by the government while the government might wholly or partly bear the cost of providing the service. In the UK, PPP has had a long history. In 1992, the private finance initiative (PFI) was introduced by the Conservative government. This was the first official and systematic program aimed at encouraging public-private partnerships. Over the years, this initiative has been expanded to create efficiency and to enhance the realization of â€Å"value for money.† It must be emphasized that PPP has been successful in a number of ways throughout the UK. Various programs have successfully been accomplished through this initiative and the trend continues. In the same way, the initiative has had is fair share of challenges (Dodgson & Gann, 2008). Some of the programs initiated through the private finance initiative have run out of budget without giving the value for money. The core objective of PPP is to ensure a proper partnership without diminishing either sector. In a world where innovation and strategy implementation seems to be the only way forward, it is indeed important for the private and public sector to collaborate in offering services to the people. London Underground One example of PPP is the London Underground which is a metro transportation system serving a larger portion of the greater London. Spanning over 402 kilometers with 270stations, the Tube is a subsidiary of Transport for London. Presently, 91% of the operational expenditure of the system is covered by fares paid by the passengers. Under the PPP, there were three infrastructure companies which were responsible for the renewal and maintenance of the London Underground. Indeed, it is realized that the PPP was a great step in enhancing the efficiency of the rail system and learning some of the issues which should be a dressed in order to improve such future partn erships in the country. In a way, the London Underground PPP is a classic case of a public private partnership which realized a number of successes and was also plagued with many challenges. In the context of strategy and innovation, it is realized that partnerships are an important way of benefiting through the good strategy and innovation in the private sector and the mechanisms of the government. The essence of this partnership was basically to develop and create an efficient infrastructure for London which could become a model across the world. As such, the London Underground Limited was created as the public sector mandated to operate and maintain this metro system in London. PwC was in charge of reviewing the options available in terms of strategy and funding while also ensuring the continual development of the initiative. At the end of the review process, the PPP was clearly outlined. It involved a ?37.7 billion of investment spanning a period of 30 years in addition to a ?4. 6 billion of private funding. Private sector consortiums were therefore allowed to take charge of the rehabilitation and maintenance of the Underground system in order to enhance its performance and ensure innovation and proper strategy implementation. In addition to the private financing, the government provided annual grants and

Reducing No Show rate in a tertiary care Hospitals Research Paper

Reducing No Show rate in a tertiary care Hospitals - Research Paper Example The research was undertaken by the use of a telephone interview, and found the reasons for no-shows among patients in different hospitals namely specialized women and children’s’ hospitals and the main hospitals The purpose of this research work is to come up with ways of reducing the rates at which patients fail to show up at hospitals for booked appointments with physicians. This paper shall look into the reasons why no-show rates are high. In addition to that, this paper shall investigate the methods of managing and reducing the no-show figures, so that the rate at which patients fail to show up for appointments can be kept low. This will be done with the aim of improving the quality of medical services provided and increasing the satisfaction of patients. The method preferred for the research work is the Six Sigma method. This method seeks to achieve an improvement in process output quality by pinpointing and getting rid of the factors that cause defects. In addition to that, the Six Sigma helps minimize viability in the processes of business. The no-show rate was calculated using the following formula: The statistics collected over the month of December 2012 indicated that the average percentage of outpatients who did not show up for consultation in hospitals was at 31%. When segmented, the rate of no-shows stood at 19.58% in the women- specialized hospital, 35.71% for the rehabilitation hospital, 30.7 % for the children-specialized hospital and 37.15 for the outpatients at the main hospital. The rates of no-shows in hospitals are very high, especially in the main and rehabilitation hospitals. The effects of no-shows on a hospital will continue to be felt for as long as there are no measures put in place to curb the rate at which patients fail to present themselves at the hospitals for their pre-booked appointments (Johnson, Mold &

Youth Violence and Gang Membership in America Essay Example for Free

Youth Violence and Gang Membership in America Essay Abstract Youth violence and its continuing growth as an epidemic seems to greatly impact and influence the increasing numbers of gang membership in cities and states. Without proper suppression of this epidemic, at risk youth are at greater risk of committing violent crimes and beginning affiliations with gangs or becoming active gang members themselves. There is myriad of reasons for the link between youth violence and gang membership that add to the spread of gang membership in cities and states. Most of these reasons are factors such as poverty, lack of social acceptance, disorganized homes and delinquent behavior. These factors calculated with other problems such as peer pressure, poor academic performance in school and the overall social environment of at risk youth; add to the growing problem of youth violence and its continued influence on growth in the numbers in gang membership and increase the number of violent crimes committed by youth. In order to reduce the growing numbers of gang membership and combat the growing problem of youth violence in cities and states, proper suppression of this epidemic must be accomplished through gang prevention and intervention programs to teach at risk youths the risk and dangers of crimes, violence and gang membership, harsher juvenile offender laws to deter repeat criminal offenses and gang related activities, more interactive and improved positive home environments to show caring and provide sustainable environment that keeps youth from becoming at risk due to the characteristic of a loving family. After school programs to keep kids involved activities like sports, and games to keep them off the streets and away from the influence of youth violence and gang membership. This paper will outline the various risk and dangers of youth violence and its impact on the growth and spread of gang membership in cities and states. This paper will also outline the various efforts, programs and legislations put in place to help combat, control and suppress the epidemic of youth violence and its influence and impact on the growth of gang membership and crime in cities and states. Introduction The intention of this proposed study on the youth violence, crime and gang membership is to examine explore various reasons that contribute to the link between youth violence and gang membership and explore how the relationship between youth violence and gang membership can cause the spread and growth gang membership and crime in cities and states the results of this study will provide important information and insight to the various elements and factors such as poverty, broken homes, lack of social acceptance etc. and how those factors play a role in youth violence and how youth violence can ultimately lead to gang membership and committing crimes of a violent nature for many troubled or at risk youth, and how without proper suppression of these problems such as providing a more structured community environment for at risk youth, to create positive intervention to deter youth violence and gang membership in cities and states and stricter laws and legislation being implemented to pun ish youthful or juvenile offenders to encourage positive choices by at risk youth, this will greatly impact the youth population who will grow up and lead healthy and productive lives. Problem Statement Youth and gang violence has been an issue for more than two decades. There is myriad of reasons for the link between youth violence and gang membership, most of those reasons or factors such as poverty, lack of social acceptance, disorganized homes and delinquent behavior, continue to impact and influence the majority of lives for at risk youths in cities and states who commit crimes and join gangs. Lack of guidance and social injustices that plague at risk youth place pressures on at risk youth that become overwhelming and the overwhelming majority of at risk youth seem to be giving into these pressures causing them to commit crimes and join gangs so they can fit in and belong to something that fills the void of the lack social acceptance, provides a home for them no matter how corrupt it is and allows at risk youth to act in uncontrolled delinquent behaviors and this expands youth violence, crime and gang membership to different cities and states helping this epidemic of youth viol ence and gang membership grow. Through various studies and research it may be possible to understand why so many youth choose violence and gang membership as a way out. But the aim of this study is to understand why and how youth violence and crime impact the growing numbers of gang membership and its spread in different cities and states. Is proper suppression and intervention the real solution to combating youth violence and crime and the growing numbers of gang membership in cities and states? Hypothesis The growth in youth violence and crime is increasing the numbers of gang membership in cities and states and without proper suppression, this will greatly reduce the youth population who will grow up and lead healthy and productive lives. *Note: the positive correlation will show how an increase in the independent variable (the growth in youth violence and crime), will cause a decrease in the dependent variable (the youth population who will grow up and lead healthy and productive lives). Background and Literature Review Youth and gang violence affects and influences 20-30% of the lives of children and teens. It is an epidemic that seriously impacts and changes the lives of children and teens; it causes delinquent behavior, loss interest in school or the need for an education and increase in violent crimes committed by children and teens. The most dysfunctional youth especially those who develop anti-social behavior due to abuse, broken homes or lack of peer acceptance and fitting in and who begin experiencing increased levels of conduct disorders are the most at risk for high levels of youth violence and criminal activity that can contribute to potential involvement in gang affiliation or membership (Howell J. C., 2007). 3 Specific dynamics were classified that are relevant in guiding this study and correlates with the topic of serious problems and contributing factors of youth violence and gang membership. One of the dynamics or factors identified in this article contributing to youth violence and gang membership is alcohol and substance abuse juveniles who drink or use drugs like marijuana are 3.7% times more likely to join gangs. The second dynamic or factor is academic problems. Children and teens with learning disabilities contributing to low self esteem are 3.6 times likely to join gangs. Poor academic performance and loss of interest in school correspond to a 3.1% chance of youths risk for joining a gang. And the third dynamic or factor in this report that is a contributing factor is Family, juveniles or youths in single parent families are 2.4% likely to join a gang than those in two parent homes. Poor parental supervision and low parental attachment 9 out of 10 times lead to gang membership (Stephen Johnson and David Muhlhausen, 2005). Five national basic strategies of gang intervention and suppression that correlate with the topic of lack of proper intervention or suppression of youth and gang violence will reduce the population of youth who will grow up to be productive and lead healthy lives, are best expressed and explained in a book by (Malcolm W. Klein, 2006). This book exposes the many ineffective attempts that have been made to suppress youth gang involvement and the deterrence of youth violence associated with gang membership. This book also examines and identifies community and societal changes that are crucial toward the mobilization and effective efforts needed to suppress youth and gang violence. This book also correlates with the topic of increasing numbers of gang members and the spread of localized gangs to other cities and states is becoming a compelling problem for law enforcement, by focusing on the multiple patterns of gang activity and their shifts in populations of different cities and states. And this book examines the political responses and financial resources that correlate with the topic of how the spread of gang members to other cities and states has become a compelling problem for law enforcement. Summary This study will help increase and enhance the awareness of the existing problems with youth violence, crime and the increasing numbers of gang membership and also add to the body of knowledge that already exist about the dangerous dynamics, influences and impact that youth violence and crime have on the growing numbers of gang membership inside cities and states, and how those dangerous dynamics continue to influence and impact the lives of at risk youths and continue to prevent majority of them from have productive and law abiding lives. Multiple research studies have been done on youth violence and crime and how they affect the dynamic of growing numbers of gang membership and corruption in cities and states. But other studies were not done from an in depth look at the overall dynamic of the problem, instead of the belly of the beast of the dynamic being studied which is youth who are gang members or at risk youth with gang affiliation or connections being explored a through non experimental design controlled measure of self designed questionnaire designed only to explore and distinguish the most at risk factors associated the most serious dangers of youth violence and crime and gang membership the answers obtained from the willing participants in this non experimental design at risk questionnaire will be used to determine and distinguish differences in noted real life experiences and talked up tall tales to gain recognition by a peer review and response of participants so that the differences can be measured use to calculate how youth violence, crime and gang membership all influence and impact the stability of life for serious at risk youths. Having a non-experimental design such as this will be a beneficial in helping better explain the at risk potential of youths by using a descriptive measure that determine the differences between the participants based on their answers that will really show the depth of who is seriously at risk and who is not. Research Design The purpose of this study is determine how and why youth violence and crime so greatly influence and impact the growth and spread of gang membership inside cities and states. This study utilized the quantitative research method and a non- experimental design. A non- experimental design consist of testing relationships between variables without controlling or manipulating subjects and conditions (Maxfield, 2009). This particular research design was chosen for this study because it uses time as a natural experiment and allows casual order to be established, it expands the ways in which the general study can be taken without limits and time restrictions. The measurements of the independent and dependent variables are taken at the same time, and the non experimental design over all is realistic and a better representation of the initial goals of this study by control of extraneous factors statistically that strengthen the efforts and perceived intentions of this study. Specifically designed questionnaires created by the researcher were designed with 10 in depth but short and easy to answer questions pertaining to youth violence, crime, gang affiliation and actual gang membership. These questionnaires were distributed with the help of acquaintances of the researcher who are inner city counselors in the city of Little Rock Arkansas where this study was conducted and the results from this specifically designed questionnaire were used to evaluate the highest at risk potential and for youth who have been in trouble for crimes and who have gang affiliation or have been or who are currently gang members. Using these results a list was created to examine and explore the various type of crimes and gang affiliations or gang memberships existed between the at risk youthful participants and this was used to evaluate the particular part of this population that was chosen for this study. Sampling The sampling plan for this proposed study consist of non probability sampling, the type of non probability sampling used in this study was convenience sampling the population N= 1000 out of 2500 possible in the proposed population are accessible and easiest to recruit due to the complex nature of this study convenience sampling was selected because it would be impossible to represent the whole population without bias and was less time consuming does not require generalization of the whole population just the population under study. 1000 out of 2500 potential participants were chosen based on the highest risk factors of gang violence, gang affiliation and gang membership and that data collected was used to provide the samples of at risk youth that were chosen for this study. N= 1000 the particular population chosen for this study n= 500 out of the 1000 based on the answers of the questionnaire had been in trouble with the law or had broken the law in some way between the ages of 15 and 17 n= 200 out of the other 500 youthful participants chosen for this study have been or are currently gang members n= 300 confessed or admitted to being a gang member or having been a gang member. Data collection 1000 at risk youth out of 2500 were selected based on risk factors and potential of having been in a gang, having gang affiliation or being in a gang or having committed a crime the determination of these risk factors and potential were based answers given to the questionnaire distributed by the researcher and his acquaintances that aided in the study the selected population N= 1000 that were selected for the study had the overall highest grossing factors and potential for being affiliated with gangs based on their answers the population N= 1000 selected for this study had committed a crime between the ages of 15 to 17, had been known to have gang affiliation as early as 9 to 12 years of age and most had become fully fledged gang members by the age of 15 to 21. It was determined based on the specific answers of the at risk youth participants in this study most came from broken homes, troubles in school, and lack of social acceptance to better understand the dynamic of why the youthful participants of this study were so apt to commit crimes, associate with gangs or become gang members themselves extensive reviews were done of the questionnaires of the selected population chosen for this study since the participating participants refused to do face to face interviews, and it was determined overall that most chose these options in life because they had n other choice and based on statistics associated with youth violence, crime and gang membership obtained from secondary sources tested against the sampling dynamic of this study it was determined that these exterior factors are the reason youth violence and crime is Ideally responsible for the growing numbers of gang membership in cities and states as this study was intended to prove. Data collection tools This study utilized a specifically designed questionnaire that was designed by the researcher and consisted of ten simple but dynamic questions related to involvement in youth violence, committed crimes or participation in crimes, association or affiliation with gangs and actual gang membership or former gang membership. The questionnaire was a good and effective way to collect data from the total population that participated because based on the answers from total population it made easier to measure the independent and dependent variables crucial to the importance of this study and help calculate the differences in answers to help measure which participants had the highest risk factors for being at risk for crime, gang affiliation and gang membership. This made it possible to choose the sample population that would be used to conduct this study. Ethical Issues Conducting a survey with at risk youth was a challenge on all levels, it had to be made clear by the researcher of this study to the participants that their participation was strictly voluntary so they would not feel they were being force to betray any loyalties their possible gang or affiliation with a gang. It was also important for the researcher to make it clear to the participants that none of their answers or information would be shared especially with law enforcement to ensure trust and maintain a level of participation needed for data collection of the study. It was also important for the researcher to point out to the participants that they did not have to answer any question that made them feel seriously uncomfortable in order to maintain a warm and inviting environment for the participant’s voluntary participation. An initial consent form was distributed by acquaintances of the researcher who aided the researcher in distributing the questionnaire used in this study that outlined the potential intent of this study, and pointed out it was voluntary with no compensation just a routine study being conducted to better understand the topic under study, affording the participants to back out at anytime they choose (Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects, 2006). And the importance of the study was expressed to the participants how their participation and insight in the study could help other at risk youth from facing the same hardships and adversities they faced or were still facing allowing a sense of accomplishment to be felt by the participants that would aide in their willingness to participate. Research Consideration The initial concern for reliability and validity of this study is that the factors and elements of the study will support its initial intent, which was to explain the effects and impact youth violence has on the growing numbers of gang membership in cities and states. And another initial concern of in this area of the study is that the exterior factors will not confound or confuse the initial intent of the study. The core components of the dynamics and risk factors of youth violence crime and how the impact the growing numbers of gang membership was addressed and examined through insightful answers of specified questionnaire and measured and compared through the initial answers of all participants and measured to sample a population for testing using the answers from that questionnaire that came from that population selected for this study produced the strengths and weakness viable to be proven by the implementation of this study. The ethical issues of this study would be the dynamic and concern of the overall justification of the study through the proven methods that were used to collect data important the reliability of this study and the question of was the most fair and inviting environment used to conform to the nature of the chosen participants of this study and their rights and insight obtained and used as data respectfully collected in given justice in initial representation of this proposed study. Conclusion The growth and expansion of youth violence and crime can play dynamic role in the increased numbers of gang membership in cities and states. By providing positive interaction both at home and in communities and giving hope and alternatives to violence and corruption that youth violence ensues upon most youth families and communities of at risk youth can deter crimes committed by youth by keeping them involved in various other activities that allow them no time to consider element of delinquency that are normally associated with youth violence and crime. In a unified effort to counter deter this horrible epidemic that plague so many youth in society today it important for parents to be involved and know what is going on in their child’s lives as much is possible it is important for teachers and educators to pay close attention to the interest of their students and provide a safe learning environment as well as the parents at home to provides safe and inviting environments so the frustrations of youth does not become so overwhelming that they turn to the alternatives of violence, crime, gang affiliation or potential gang membership that can contribute the serious problems of corruption and violence that is growing and spreading in cities and states across the board in the United States. It is important to remember without positive reinforcement and interaction provided by parents and surrounding communities at risk youth simply fall into crime, violence and gangs that reduce the number of youth who will grow up to lead healthy and productive lives in society. References Esbensen, F.-A. (2000). Preventing Adolescent Gang Involvement. Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 1-8. Howell, J. C. (2007). Realities of Youth Gangs. Juvenile and Family Court Journal, 39-45. Howell, P. A. (2004). Strategic Risk-Based Response to Youth Gangs. Juvenile Justice Causes and Correlates: Findings and Implications, 1-4. (2006). Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects. Austin: University of Texas- Pan American. Malcolm W. Klein, C. L. (2006). Street Gang Patterns and Policies. New York: Oxford University Press. Maxfield, M. B. (2009). Basics of research methods in criminal justice and criminology 2nd edition. Belmont: Wadsworth. Stephen Johnson and David Muhlhausen, P. (2005). North American transitional youth gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence. Washington: The Heritage Foundation.

An Internal Analysis Of General Motors

An Internal Analysis Of General Motors General Motors is the international company; the global market share is estimated at 12.5 percent as of 2008 (General Motor, no date), therefore, base on the global market coverage, it can benefit from many regional countries, to allow better access to resources, talents and knowledge.. According to Boston Consulting Group, General Motors is one of the 25 most innovative companies in 2008, it arises from the concept cars like the electric Volt and a renewed focus on design. The workforce is value driven and understands the business mission and vision. 1.2 Intangible resources The intangible resources of the organization are its brand image and its reputation. General Motors has its strong reputation for innovation and new products in the automotives market. This means that customers will often associate the brand with new technology and products. 1.3 Core competencies General Motors core competencies including innovation. They constantly strive to deliver new and exciting products to the market, and human resources. General Motors have a well prepared knowledge and flexible workforce who is concentrated on reaching business goals. General Motors starts recommending vehicle installed OnStar satellite in case of an emergency or theft.(Onstar, no date) 2 Factors affecting the Automotive Industry (PESTEL Analysis) 2.1 Political The safer vehicle and the environment in the American market is not restricted at a great disadvantage. Government and authorities in the region made efforts to regulate, eventually start the implement and set the laws and regulation since the 1960s (L.S. Robertson, 2006) 2.2 Economic According the number of studies (Catherine Rampell, 2008), is the major user of steel, iron, lead, plastics, vinyl, rubber, aluminum, textiles, and computer chips. The study also mentioned that for each autoworker there are seven other jobs created in other industries. 2.3 Sociocultural The consumer automotive market, especially the vehicles market, used to be dominated by men but nowadays is not true. Marketing strategies are also focusing on emotions. The presence of women in the market shall turn out as fallback to cushion declining sales On the other hand, young consumers increase their spending power by working in a part-time job or by receiving larger allowance from their increasingly financially successful parents. 2.4 Technology the internet has a great impact on every industry in the anywhere and has also affect the automobile industry. According to the J.D. Power and associates 2006 New Autoshopper.com Study, 59% of the buyers referred to the internet before making their purchases and out of that 59%, 85% of the serious buyers visit the manufactures website before going to the dealer for a test drive. 2.5 Environmental On 30th November 2007, the business leaders of 150 global companies published a communiquà © to world leaders calling for a comprehensive, legally binding United Nations framework to tackle climate change. In fact, there is a programme in which WWF and businesses collaborate to show leadership in addressing climate change. 3. Porters Five Force Anaylsis 3.1 Threat of new entrants The threat of new entrants is relatively low. This is mainly due to the fact that it will cost a new company a lot of investment cost and know how to enter the automotive market. 3.2 Threat of substitute products Tthe coverage of destination is limited, besides, bus, metro, taxi are not products that can replace the vehicle. Therefore, the threat of substitute products is relatively low to moderate 3.3 Bargaining power of suppliers Due to the fact that suppliers are united, they are a very strong threat in the automotive market, nevertheless, the United Auto Worker, the only supplier of labor, has exerted a great deal of the leverage over the benefits and wages provided by the big three, therefore we can conclude that the bargaining power of supplier is strong. 3.4 Bargaining power of buyers As we look at consumer behavior when buying vehicles the conclusion can be made that their power is relatively low. Mainly the reason for this low power is because individual consumer has some power over price within a given dealership, but low power over manufacturers. 3.5 Competitive rivalry within the industry Due to the fact that there is a intense completion going on in the auto industry the rivalry within the automotive market is high. There are a lot of choice and intense competition in internet sales that can damage a company when they dont keep up with their competitors. See appendix 1 for more information. Summary Porters Five Forces Framework Porter (1980) http://dpj.typepad.co.uk/entrepreneur_zest/images/2008/03/26/porters_five_forces.gif 4. SWOT Analysis 4.1 Strengths 4.1.1 Large Market Share Although GMs market share in the US has declined, it still retains a competitive 21.5 percent in 2008. They also start to penetrate the Chinese customer automotives market and gain an increasing share. 4.1.2 Global Experience They have already been a global company for almost 100 years now and have established themselves as the global leader for most of them, they already have global experience. 4.1.3 Variety of Brand Names GM has been the automotive leader for the majority of the last century. The current GM brands included: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Daewoo, Opel, and Holden. 4.1.4 GMAC Customer Financing Program Since its establishment in 1919 it has proven to be GMs most reliable way of revenue. 4.1.5 OnStar Satellite Technology This technology allows the vehicles to be tracked in the event of an emergency or theft, it also allows the driver or passengers the ability to communicate with OnStar personnel at the click of a button. 4.2 Weaknesses 4.2.1 Behind on Alternative Energy Movement The alternative hybrid trend has begun to take place in the automotive industry and GM has been one step behind the competition It is a reason that lead them to lose the market share. 4.2.2 Organizational Structure below standard We can see the organization structure above, it seems to be too vertically integrated. The shortcomings are that it is a lack of communication between employees from top to bottom and may have played a part in GM lag on the hybrid technology. 4.2.3Stagnant Profitability To review GMs profit we can see that they are struggling with respect to the size of the company. It is disappointed that shareholder would not happy about. 4.2.4 Too dependent on domestic market GM overly become dependent on the US market The competition will become tough if they only focus on just one country. 4.2.5 Too dependent on GMAC GM overly become dependent on its financing company. Maybe it is a very great advantage for GM, but they cannot rely on financing company for gain the profit, if they want to compete with competitors 4.2.6 Poor Credit Rating GMs credit status has been declining obviously. According to Standard Poors, they declared billion of dollars of debt owed by GM to be junk, it will increase borrowing costs and limit fund-raising options for them.(Sharon Silke Carty, 2005) 4.3 Opportunities 4.3.1 Alternative energy movement hybrid technology is giving to GM a opportunity to once again become the automotive industry leader in innovation and technology 4.3.2 Continuing to expand globally Recently, they found that there is a dramatically increase in China automotive market, that proves themselves to focus and emphasis on Chinese huge potential market. 4.3.3 Low interest rates It is a opportunity that they can gain immediate revenue in sales. 4.3.4 Develop new vehicle styles and models As you know the development of the vehicle model never be satisfied, GM should keep attempting the most popular model in the world. 4.4 Threats 4.4.1 Rising fuel prices GM the major business pieces is the sales of truck and SUV, but it is gradually declined because of the lack of fuel efficiency, for rising fuel prices this reason, 4.4.2 Growth of competitors Toyota gains the first mover advantage of hybrid system and become the leader of automotive industry, GM faces the reality they should develop more fuel efficiency vehicle and small car model. 4.4.3 Legacy cost GM provide a great welfare to their retired employees, so they need to experience it is a serious financial problem more and more retired employees begin to be benefited. 5 Key strategic issues firm face GM is facing several strategic issues. It will be shown by a number of aspects. The economic recession, Competition, and New entrants. 5.1 Economic Recession The economy of world is currently in the downturn, or even recession in which will impact a lot of industries and consumers in the world. As the economy slowing down, doing business may find it hard to increase the revenue because banks are not willing to lend money to companies, especially bad credit status companies. As a result, GM may suffer from decrease in sales of automotives. However, they may benefit from hybrid technology, since more people are buying new fuel efficiency car model if consumer intend to purchase a new car. 5.2 Competitor in automotive industry The competition between the main competitors for instance, Toyota, Honda, Ford, has expanded beyond that of the traditional energy car. These companies are now competing on value adding products, fuel efficiency, design and service of maintenance. In order to achieve competitive advantage companies try to merge or acquire other companies in gain experience and knowledge. 5.3 New entrants The fast moving and constantly changing industry gives opportunities to new entrants who have not previously specialized in the automotive market as technology can often be easily imitated. In addition an alliance formed by different companies, such as Magna and Sberbank, trying to seek a takeover of Opel and Vauxhall, parts of GM European division. There has also a growing number of new entrants in China due to relatively low investment costs. 6 Strategic Options The strategic options that GM might realistically pursue had been discussed as below such as product development, market development,, and market penetration as their strategic options. (Ansoff, 1987) 6.1 Product development Product development is a feasible option because it can be capable both in present and the prospect. This option is also suitable to GM since it is able to exploit the needs of customers. GM is facing the threats of too much competitors in the market and the improvement of technology is increasing rapidly. Doing more researches on GMs products and investigate and understanding more about the favour of customers are significant. To improve the quality of services in their technology should not be neglected in order to catch up the expect of consumers and the externally needs so the company can be enhanced and stable in the market. . Suitability: Due to the furious competition between the three consoles company, this strategy is very important. GM have to develop more innovative new products to catch up the pace of the technological advancement. This could ensure the company to gain a step ahead of its competitiors. The technology industry requires swiftness in developing new and innovative products. Feasibility: The research and development of the company is doing very well in the past few years. They had been rated the top 25 most innovative company in the world (businessweek, 2008). In skills term, they have talent in which had leaded and developed a lot of innovative ideas which attracted a lot of consumers from youths, adult and even elders!. Acceptability: Shareholders and stakeholders will agree wholly with GMs decision as technology investors, they realize that the technology development or innovation is very important to maintain themselves into the market. 6.2 Market penetration According to (Lynch, R., 2006), market penetration uses the existing range of products or services to attract potential customers or consumers from competitor to expand their own market share. It basically targets the existing customers in the present market of competitors and gain profit from it. The cost is lower, and the chance of attracting consumers is higher. GM uses price competitive advantage to deal with their competitors, which are Toyota, Honda, Fordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦etc. When GM introduces their brand, it is priced lower than others significantly. GM offer lower prices than competitors and it attract competitors consumers to have an attempt on the product due to its low price Suitability: This strategy is suitable to be implemented because this allows GM to grab more market shares from their numerous of competitors in the US market, Feasibility: GM is capable to compete with competitors as they are financially competent with them. Since GM stated that they retain the GM Europe section because they posses good health of liquidity again. This also shows that GM is financially secured and there is no problem for them to compete with their competitors. Acceptability: Stakeholders of GM will accept the strategy as long it is profitable to the organization and to them. 6.3 Market development From this strategy options, it involves the strategy of introducing both new and existing products to their existing customers and not overlooking the new customers. From here, both new and existing customers have the options and more information about those products. From here, they would be introduce their product to both side. They would be able to saturated new opportunities for geographical spread, entering new segments or new users in the environment. Such a change will enable GM in better turnover at medium risk by exploiting current strength or market knowledge. (Lynch, R., 2006) Suitability: It is suitable in market development as they tend to target new groups of people, and other new geographic places. (Johnson, Scholes Whittington, 2008). GM try to targets elders, adult or basically all adult group. Feasibility: It is feasible for GM as they have enough resources to develop into the new market. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, they has received $1 billion repayment from GM. This shows that they totally have enough fund to research and develop proper strategy in order to venture into the new market or exploring into a new market segment. Acceptability: Stakeholders and shareholders would surely agree with this strategy as it gain profit for the company and stakeholders or shareholders themselves. Recommendation of Strategy options The best strategic option for GM in their current situation is to develop a new vehicle which is alternative energy SUV; this strategy would significantly lead to a growth in sales. In addition, GM can gain a new business partner from Canada-Russia consortium because of their contractual relationship and this would be a great competitive advantage for GM. By using this strategy, which is an external method, it can help GM to solve their problems quickly. An alliance with Magna-Sberbank will also benefit GM in terms of saving expenses on research for the small car technology. This will aid GM in solving the tribulations that they are facing. 7 Implementation Issues When GM wants to withdraw or retain Europe operation, some obstacles will appear. They are called implementation issues. These implementation issues will be discussed how Government involved in its decision making. 7.1 Russian Government German Gref, the Sberbank boss stated that he acquires GM Europe section to enter new markets abroad and confirmed it is a really low price to takeover Opel, it can get the permission to get its company technology. Sberbank is a famous creditors of automotive industry in Russia in which inform to turn around its carmaker industry. The Russian Trade and Industry Minister stated that if not the takeover, they will not good enough to develop the international car company Since the Russian government plans to acquire international technology, all of the international autos keep continue to build some facilities such as manufacturing plants in there to reach domestic market demand. The global companies can avoid Russian import taxes on autos, besides, they can benefit from the domestic low salaries. Nowadays, to sell the GM Europe, GM will struggle in the Russian market and GM technology. 7.2 US Government According to American negotiating circle, the US government is not welcomed to work with the Magna as long as Russian companies get extensive access to GM patents. As Magna keen to get access to all developments from the GM patent pool. US government concerns about not only car technology, they concern about Russian getting the military items. On the other hands, GM concerned that the consortium will use GM technology to contribute a potential threat of competitor to GM another brand in the Russian market. (Reuters, 2009) In addition, China Beijing automotive offer and promised job cut, and required financial support are much better than the other two, Magna also design Opel the best way for future development, but the GM is welcomed RHJ. According the analyst, GM expects to be able to make a comeback again in the future control of Opel, RHJ operation mode exactly GM wants, RHJ can give a hand to GM achieve a deep restructuring.(Wall street journal, 2009) 7.3 Germany Government According to Reuters(2009), the Germany Chancellor Merkel played an important role in the incident that Opel will be sold to Magna. Why? Because she takes the mission to save German unemployment rate, this is a political activity, she is preparing the coming election. How Merkel convinces Magna, allowed to retain as many jobs as Germany can be affordable? This is simple word money. The Germany Government wait for the European Commission approved a loan of 4.5 billion Euros to the Opel. Furthermore, the plants will not be closed in Germany, this seems very favorable for Merkel, and she is expected to easily win the election. On the other hands, it will damage their relationship if there is any failure of Russian involvement in Opel since Germany is apparently work well with Russia about trading. Besides, German election is almost can be said to the future destiny of the Opel that become a political hot potato. Government has invested a lot of money into the Opel, which is an economic decision making, but also the reason of political consideration. To unresolved Opel future, Merkel will be faced more political pressure. On the other hands, Germany government will not give any financial support to GM Europe section if GM remains it. It makes sense that Government will not help a outsider in which Germany has big three carmakers (Audi, BMW, Volkswagen),to survive its operation. As GM has already damaged the GM Europe section operation and put Opel on the transfer list. Germany cannot build any trust on GM, but by the way they have a good relationship with Russia as I mentioned above. Conclusion As a conclusion, GM sales have been affected by the economic downturn and in order to increase their sales the best option is to launch a alternative energy SUV. Besides that, GM wants to protect themselves on the market, and for this reason GM needs to be more innovative and be more sensitive to the current trends of the market. Knowing the needs of consumer will retain GMs position in the market as the worlds leading producer of mobile phone. 8. Reflective Statement on Leadership Leadership is defined as entails some degree of voluntarism in followship (Pardey, D., 2007). However, Kotter (1990) argues that leadership is about coping with the changes by giving direction. Kotters (1990) leadership framework states that the role of leadership is to set a direction, develop a vision of where the organization should be going and the strategy for change to achieve that vision. Leaders align people to the direction being set, communicating it to people and building commitment to it. Motivating and inspiring people so that they work to achieve the vision drawing on their needs, values and emotions. Our group were using democratic style of leadership where all of our members were involved in the decision making process. Ryan, our group leader discussed with all of us and decides which part we need to work on step by step. This helps a lot as we were very unclear about the direction were heading to. Communications In my group, there is some communication issues as the all four of us come from different country and background. Sometimes, there will be conflict of ideas and difficulty in presenting the ideas. We got delays in meeting because some of our group members were busy or there were some lack of communication as in setting up our meet up time got messed up and caused some group members turned up and some did not. I learnt that working in a group is not easy as it needs more effort to discuss and accomplish it. Responsibility We were each given task to search for the information from external analysis to internal analysis. All of our group mates were very responsible that they all searched for the information on their own part and some of them even helped to search for others part of work in detail. This helped our group to have the sufficient information for us to do our work. I learnt that without time management, everything would be in a total mess as we might have hand our assignment late. Problem solving We overcome our communication problem by spending more time during our meetings and we make sure everyone understand what are the things that we need to accomplish and understand what our group members were discussing during the meeting. I had learnt that developing a vision is important as it helps our group to do our work on time. Reference list Ansoff, H.I. (1987) Corporate Strategy Revised Edition. London: Penguin Books. BusinessWeek,(2008),The 50 Most Innovative Companies. [online] Available at: http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/innovative_companies/ (Access: 9th January 2010) Catherine Rampell, (2008), How many jobs depend on the big three?, Economix, [online] Available at http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/how-many-jobs-depend-on-the-big-three/ (Accessed: 9th January 2010) General Motors,(no date) GM Global Vehicle Sales and Market Share-2008,December [Online]. Available at http://www.gm.com/europe/corporate/sales/global/ (Accessed:9th January 2010) J.D.Power (2006), Research a car online[online] Available at: http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/research-a-car-online (Access:9th January 2010) Johnson, G., Scholes, K. Whittington, R. (2008) Exploring Corporate Strategy. 8th edn. England: Prentice Hall. Kotter, J. (1990) what leaders really do Harvard Business Review. L.S. Robertson, (2006), Motor Vehicle Dealth: Failed Policy Analysis and Neglected Policy, Vol. 27,p. 182-189, Journal of Public Health Policy Lynch, R. (2006) Corporate Strategy. 4th edn. Essex : Pearson. Pardey, D.(2007) Introducing Leadership. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Onstar,(no date) [online] Available at: http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/index.jsp (Access:9th January 2010) Reuters (2009) GMs U-turn on Opel sale angers Germany Russia. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5a25RL20091104 (Accessed:: 5/01/2009) Sharon Silke Carty, (2005) SP cut GM, Ford debt rating to junk status, [online] Available at http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2005-05-05-gm-junk_x.htm ,USA Today(Accessed:9th January 2010) Vincent J. Galifi. (2009) Magna Confirms Offer for Opel, [Online]. Available at: http://www.magna.com/magna/de/media/pressreleases/?i=218 (Accessed:5/01/2010) Vincent J. Galifi. (2009) MAGNA AND SBERBANK OFFER SELECTED AS THE PREFERRED SOLUTION FOR OPEL [Online]. Available at: http://www.sbrf.ru/en/news/index.php?id114=11000080 (Accessed:5/01/2010) Wall Street Journal (2009) RHJ improve the terms of its bid for GMs Opel.[Online]. Available at:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125182274337876583.html

Database Design of Healthcare Management System

Database Design of Healthcare Management System CHAPTER THREE SYTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 3.0 INTRODUCTION Hospital and healthcare services in general are round-the-neck communities with scores of staff, patients and systems that need constant monitoring and integration with each other. They are demanding places where situations change suddenly and rapid responses are essential. For this reason a fully integrated communications strategy and system is vital to maintain high levels of service and care for patients for mutual gains. In this chapter, discussion would be based on the existing system. First, the existing system would be compared with proposed system. Secondly, the weakness and drawbacks of the existing system shall also be discussed 3.1 INVESTIGATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM The current procedure of accessing healthcare is running on paper operating in â€Å"batch modes distributed medical data is less than l00% accurate and will in turn limit the accuracy in the medical symptom, diagnosis and treatment in emergency cases within the health sector. Poor information storage or the complete lack of it in some cases. Poor collaborative forecasting methods leading to slow order turnaround treatment for patients in dire need of these services Poor management decision in critical rescue period. When doctors needs any records the admin/nurse fetches patients file details in know what kind of problem they are complaining about The current system does not give room for proper accounting, planning, management of resources you cannot even integrate it with the current accounting system No existing or current reports module to help management for proper planning, decision taken, for future plans of the hospital FIG. 3.0 The data flow diagram for the current system 3.2 CRITIQUES OF EXISTING SYSTEM The drawbacks of the existing system are: Inability to have accurate inventory status report It is cumbersome and time-consuming to track patients The general lack of ability to generate instance patients medical history reports on all will affect doctors performance and treatment rate Lack of proper handling of medical records Too much paper materials involved and this results into unnecessary costs Insecurity of Records Workers safety is not guarantee 3.2.1FEW ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM The existing current system has the following advantages: It is easier for everyone to use specially people that are not computer literate It is cheaper for hospitals because there will be no need to procure computer hardware and software for Asset Management 3.3 PROPOSED SYSTEM The proposed system will take advantage of information technology tools and capabilities to enhance and automate medical information management for all staff and patients alike. The proposed system will improve system functionalities and bring new capabilities to hospital information management controls 3.4 BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PROPOSED SYSTEM This section outlines the general and functional features mandatory for the applications proposed. Functional Module Requirements; Each hospital observed operates the following high level processes and the system must cater for the following: 3.4.0FAMILY MEDICINE This is a modules designed to keep every record relating to patients. This module contains two features which include: (i) Find a patient record; the patient record is a form which contains every information about: the patient the patient next of kin information service payment option, and employment information (ii) New patient registration; It creates an avenue to enable the record, the treatment given, the clinic been referred to, the mode of payment, etc to be properly stored and retrieved. 3.4.1HUMAN RESOURCES This is a list that contain the names of the personnel (user name) assigned to operate a specific module. The human resources are of two folds namely; Personnel manager; It is a list that contains the details about the management Staff of various departments. Recruit new personnel; this is a form that ensures that newly recruited personnel information is been stored. 3.4.2SCHEDULE The schedule describes the appointment directory. It shows all appointment schedules between calendar months. Admission Centres; These environment comprise of Waiting list Ward, Ward occupancy and bed Nurses list Report and history Waiting List; It shows the list of patients to be admitted to various wards. Nurses List; It is a list that shows the details of the nurses staff and their department. Report and History; It is a list that shows all discharged patients in a particular ward. 3.4.3PHARMACY Pharmacy is a module that contains two major features namely: pharmaceutical centre and stocks management. The pharmaceutical centre has two folds namely: pending orders and pharmaceutical index. While the stock management has eight folds namely: warehouse stocks, stock diary, category management, products management, stocks movement, patients’ order history, stock movement history and diary history. Pending Order; These gives room for the user to view/access the pending orders. Pharmaceutical Index; This enables the user view all pharmacy stock items. To find a stock, entre the barcode and click on find. Ware House Stock; This is an integral part of the stock management designed to view all current warehouse stock. To find a stock: Entre the barcode and click on find. Stock Diary: This is a function of stock management designed to enter the new stock diary. To enter the new stock diary: 3.4.4SPECIALTY CLINIC This is a module that gives information about the various clinics and the patients been referred there. This is of two folds; Pending referred patients, and Find a patient 3.4.5TOOLS AND ENQUIRIES Tools and enquiry is a module that ensures an access to view service fees, telephone directory, and current admitted patients. Service Fees Environment: view service fees environment enables you to view all configure service fees which include service name, amount, department, allow HMO. Telephone Directories: Telephone directories are an environment which enables you to view all phone directories both previous and next record. Current Admitted Patients; The environment enables you to have an access to currently admitted patients details both previous and next record. 3.4.6ACCOUNT AND FINANCE This is a module design to enable one keep and retrieve all information relating to account and finance. This module has six basic features which include: Pending receivables, expenditures, daily cash book, bank account, service fees, reports Pending Receivables; This is an environment that enables you to have an access to pending service fee payments. An environment will be displayed in which the menu bar at the left hand side of the page headed account/ financial mode contains six departments namely: pending receivables, expenditure, daily cashbook, bank accounts, services fees and reports. This enables a user to view and receive pending service payment. Expenditure; It enables users to record new expenditure. Daily Cash Book; It enables user to post cashbook for all department. Bank Account; It enable user to manage bank account. It shows all banks and balance details. It also creates a room for the addition of a new bank account. Service Fees; It enables user to view all service fees/charges Report; It enable user to view financial reports such as the receivable reports, expenses reports and cashbook reports between calendar months. 3.4.7SYSTEM This is an environment designed to enable an individual have access to: system usage logs, user’s rights access control, backup HMS database. System Usage Logs; This is an integral part of system which shows the various event date, event performed, user IP address, event time and department accessed. Users Rights And Access Control; This is an environment designed to show all system users account. Category Management; This enables the user to manage stock category. Product Management; This enables the stock details to be managed. Stock Movement; This aid in the movement of stock from ware house to store, this operation is performed simply by filling in the blank spaces provided and clicking on perform movement. Stock Movement History; This helps to view all stock movement history. it shows stock / item name, batch ID, units moved, the date and notes. Dairy History; This helps to view all stock dairy history. My Account Information; This is a menu bar located at the left hand side and it is accessible in every module. It comprises of: waiting list appointment, my usage / access logs, personal data, change password, and log out from HMS. My Waiting List/ Appointment; this is a waiting list designed to view all appointments and schedules. My Usage/ Access Logs; this enables one to view all system usage history. Click on usage / access logs at the left hand side of the menu bar to view all system usage history. At the top right hand corner is next and previous, click on the next and previous to view the next and previous system usage history. This enables the system administrator to have an overview of the various event date, the event performer, event performed, the user IP address, the event time and the department accessed. 3.4.8PERSONAL DATA This enables an individual to view and update his personal information such as: Name, DoB/Age, Gender, Hospital/Clinic Registration Number, Occupation, Addresses, Telephone Number, Stage of Origin, Religion, Next of Kin information and Date. Patient Bio Data; A form which contains the information of the patient, next of kin information, and employment information will be displayed. Medical Record; As the name implies, it deals with the patient’s medical history. 3.5START-OFF THE PROJECT The project implantation will be done using: Dreamweaver Software PHP Programming language Java script MySQL Database server XAMP server Microsoft Window 7 OS 3.6 ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM It will help management to better monitor patients registration in the system Periodic accident and injury analysis can now be carried out Patients health history can now be monitored Very fast and accurate therefore reduce administrative overheads Maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage Eliminate obsolete business processes Speed up hospital production and responsiveness to incidents It will facilitates treatment of patients as patients history can now easily be retrieved from the system Because it is web based patients last update medical information csn be retrieved even if the patient goes to another hospital. It will give the doctors options of referring patients to other doctors completely automated It will allow hospital Management can plan better and make accurate and informed decisions 3.7 DISADVANTAGE OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM It will lead to unemployment Its only good for those that are computer literates, Nurses and doctors may not be familiar with the technology It may cost more money and infrastructure investment on the part of management Nurses and doctors are unfamiliarity with technology Hackers may ultimately be able to penetrate system despite security precautions System can be attacked by computer viruses Power failure 3.8 SYSTEM DESIGN Overview of the System; Information/system requirement gathered during the time of carrying out the functional specià ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ cation requirement and network requirements identified during the initiation and planning phases was put into good use during the design of the application. This project is planned at developing a web-enabled Healthcare information management system (HIMS). 3.8.0FACT FIDING AND REQUIREMENT DISCOVERY This chapter actually presents the method0logy that was used in this study. The methodology chosen followed the already tested and commonly used approach in software engineering and software development life cycle. Actually three key areas were used to get requirement for the Patients medical information system project. The first method was that a review of internet materials related to patient were carried out, I also tried to review specific platform of related design project to ascertain the specific language/platform to use for development of the application. The second most logical direct gathering of information from the hospital visited and used in the study (University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH)). It must be quickly pointed out that the tools used in this case were interviewing of staff, observations of passive ways of these things and simulations of different scenarios. The third method of the requirement gathering was by studying the existing applications presently used and we were then able to understand what is lacking in the present system, what needed to be done and we were then after able to fix a time frame (SCOPE) for the project 3.8.1SYSTEM REQUIREMENT MODELLING An object oriented programming was used for the design of the application. In view of this, and in view of the fact that I intend to design an application that will be user friendly and easily accessible. I feel a web enabled application will be more appropriate since we are not talking of a windows application that will just be installed on a client machine in the office. We therefore focused on planning, which included defining our target audience, purpose, objective, application usage, population and finally application development. The look and feel of the application were considered, navigation browser type validations tools were all analyzed and most importantly client/server architecture was also considered. 3.9APPLICATION ARCHITETURE AND MODEILING Developing a web application requires locus and determined effort on the part of the practitioner in meeting people needs The decision for accomplishing this was based on components based model with a linear approach to application development Specification and decisions objective were into account for example issues like meeting the applications purpose and aim and functionalities. The steps used here acted as an overall development methodology and life cycle which were also dependent upon available tools, time line, and user willingness to be involved in the final testing of the system. Implicit in the methodology adapted was the concept of bringing the Patients medical information system refining the application/system based on user feedback 3.10 DESIGNS INPUT The registration form be was designed as such that it will include all information required about the patients. The following is incorporated into the form: Important fields These are fields that must be filled because they are necessary information need. Return dialog box- This is used to guide against the input of wrong data or format in some fields especially the compulsory fields. A sample of patient record been patient record interface is shown below 3.11FLOW CHAT DIAGRAM OF HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 3.12DATABASE DESIGN OF THE HEATLHCARE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 3.12.0 ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP MODEL Entity Relationship Diagram: A representation of data Entity-relationship modeling is a database modeling method, used to produce a type of conceptual schema of a system, often a relational relationship, and its requirements in a top down fashion Diagrams created by this process are called entity-relationship diagrams, ER diagrams or ERDs. Also it can also be defined as a specialized graphic that illustrates the interrelationships between entities in a database ER diagrams often use symbols to represent three different types of information. Boxes re commonly used to represent entities. Diamonds are normally used to represent relationships and ovals are used to represent attributes. 3.12.1OVERVIEW According to CHEN (Wikipedia), information system design uses these models during the requirements analysis to describe information needs or the type of information that is to be tored in a database. The data modeling technique can be used to describe any ontology (i.e. an overview and classifications of used terms and their relationships) for a a certain area of interest. In the case of the design of an information system that is based on a database, the conceptual data model is, at a later stage (usually called logical design), mapped to a logical data model, such as the relational model; this in turn is mapped to a physical model during physical design. An entity may be a physical object such as a customer transaction or order. Although the term entity is the one most commonly used, following Chen, we should really distinguish between an entity and entity-type. An entity-type is a category. An entity, strictly speaking, is an instance of a given entity-type. There are usually many instances. 3.12.2 WHAT LEAD TO ER DIAGRAM Once the data has been created in the database the ER diagram will show the relationship between each table created they all have to link to each other. It could be one to many relationship, many to many or one to one relationship, there is always a unique field in the system and in this case it is the patients registration number identifying the patients anywhere in the system. We can retrieve the patient’s records once this registration number generated during registration is known.