Katherine Stocked, The Help Analysis Essays

Katherine Stocked, The Help Analysis Essays Katherine Stocked, The Help Analysis Essay Katherine Stocked, The Help Analysis Essay My thoughts on this book was that I thought It could have been more interesting, but it felt very realistic. Another thought on this book was it was very dramatic in its own ways. With Miss Hilly getting everybody to turn on Skitter and Skitter having to deal with all the cold shoulders. What this book says about people in general (theme) is that everyone has there own problems and will react deferent ways to every situation. The way the white women In the book react to the help using their toilets, acting Like they have a disease. 99% of all colored diseases are carried In the urine. Compared throughout the story it seems like they start to somewhat respect the help, except the nest who helped write the book. Today we respect catheter a lot more than we did back then. Over all I would say that what this book says about people in general is that the way people react to one thing will differ from the other. The main characters In this book are Skitter, Albanian, and Mainly. The way Skitter changes Is a good change. She starts to look at the world around her and see all the problems In it. Its Like she Isnt blinded from the fake reality that everything Is fine and sees all the problems that are happening. Kind of like she had a reality check and found out that her maid had died, her best friend is a diva, that her mother is going to die from cancer, and the people she can only really turn to is the help which is basically against their laws. Abilene doesnt change at all. If anything she opens up more after writing the book with Skitter. Other than that she has not changed. Mainly has become strong enough to actually leave her husband. If she was strong before she just might be invincible now. Ninny hasnt changed much she just as even more courage than before. The author, Katherine Stocked, has been somewhat successful in creating a good piece of literature. I feel like she was trying to target the Juniors when in reality it targeted the adults. This was a slow read so it was very hard for me to keep interest In this book. Other than that she has produced an excellent book. It has very realistic scenes that may have happened In 1962-1964. For routines added to make this a good point of view type book. I feel like the author has done an outstanding Job on making this book a success.

Harry Houdini - The Great Escape Artist

Harry Houdini - The Great Escape Artist Harry Houdini remains one of the most famous magicians in history. Although Houdini could do card tricks and traditional magic acts, he was most famous for his ability to escape from what seemed like anything and everything, including ropes, handcuffs, straightjackets, jail cells, water-filled milk cans, and even nailed-shut boxes that had been thrown into a river. After World War I, Houdini turned his knowledge about deception against Spiritualists who claimed to be able to contact the dead. Then, at age 52, Houdini died mysteriously after being hit in the abdomen. Dates: March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926 Also Known As: Ehrich Weisz, Ehrich Weiss, The Great Houdini Houdini’s Childhood Throughout his life, Houdini propagated many legends about his beginnings, which have so oft been repeated that it has been difficult for historians to piece together the true story of Houdini’s childhood. However, it is believed that Harry Houdini was born Ehrich Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary. His mother, Cecilia Weisz (neà © Steiner), had six children (five boys and one girl) of which Houdini was the fourth child. Houdini’s father, Rabbi Mayer Samuel Weisz, also had a son from a previous marriage. With conditions looking bleak for Jews in Eastern Europe, Mayer decided to emigrate from Hungary to the United States. He had a friend who lived in the very small town of Appleton, Wisconsin, and so Mayer moved there, where he helped form a small synagogue. Cecilia and the children soon followed Mayer to America when Houdini was about four years old. While entering into the U.S., immigration officials changed the family’s name from Weisz to Weiss. Unfortunately for the Weiss family, Mayer’s congregation soon decided that he was too old-fashioned for them and let him go after only a few years. Despite being able to speak three languages (Hungarian, German, and Yiddish), Mayer couldn’t speak English-   a serious drawback for a man trying to find a job in America. In December 1882, when Houdini was eight years old, Mayer moved his family to the much larger city of Milwaukee, hoping for better opportunities. With the family in dire financial straits, the children got jobs to help support the family. This included Houdini, who worked odd jobs selling newspapers, shining shoes, and running errands. In his spare time, Houdini read library books regarding magic tricks and contortionist movements. At age nine, Houdini and some friends established a five-cent circus, where he wore red woolen stockings and called himself Ehrich, Prince of the Air.† At age eleven, Houdini worked as a locksmith apprentice. When Houdini was about 12 years old, the Weiss family moved to New York City. While Mayer tutored students in Hebrew, Houdini found a job cutting fabrics into strips for neckties. Despite working hard, the Weiss family was always short on money. This forced Houdini to use both his cleverness and confidence to find innovative ways to make a little extra money. In his spare time, Houdini proved himself a natural athlete, who enjoyed running, swimming, and bicycling. Houdini even received several medals in cross-country track competitions. The Creation of Harry Houdini At age fifteen, Houdini discovered the magician’s book, Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, Ambassador, Author, and Conjurer, Written by Himself. Houdini was mesmerized by the book and stayed up all night reading it. He later stated that this book truly sparked his enthusiasm for magic. Houdini would eventually read all of Robert-Houdin’s books, absorbing the stories and advice contained within. Through these books, Robert-Houdin (1805-1871) became a hero and a role model to Houdini. To get started on this new passion, the young Ehrich Weiss needed a stage name. Jacob Hyman, a friend of Houdini’s, told Weiss that there was a French custom that if you add the letter â€Å"I† to the end of your mentor’s name it showed admiration. Adding an â€Å"I† to â€Å"Houdin† resulted in â€Å"Houdini.† For a first name, Ehrich Weiss chose â€Å"Harry,† the Americanized version of his nickname â€Å"Ehrie.† He then combined â€Å"Harry† with â€Å"Houdini,† to create the now famous name â€Å"Harry Houdini.† Liking the name so much, Weiss and Hyman partnered together and called themselves â€Å"The Brothers Houdini.† In 1891, the Brothers Houdini performed card tricks, coin swaps, and disappearing acts at Huber’s Museum in New York City and also at Coney Island during the summer. About this time, Houdini purchased a magician trick (magicians often bought tricks of the trade from each other) called Metamorphosis that involved two people trading places in a locked trunk onstage behind a screen. In 1893, the Brothers Houdini were allowed a spot to perform outside the world’s fair in Chicago. By this time, Hyman had left the act and had been replaced by Houdini’s real brother, Theo (â€Å"Dash†). Houdini Marries Bessie and Joins the Circus After the fair, Houdini and his brother returned to Coney Island, where they performed at the same hall as the singing and dancing Floral Sisters. It wasn’t long before a romance blossomed between 20-year-old Houdini and 18-year-old Wilhelmina Beatrice (â€Å"Bess†) Rahner of the Floral Sisters. After a three-week courtship, Houdini and Bess were married on June 22, 1894. With Bess being of petite stature, she soon replaced Dash as Houdini’s partner since she was better able to hide inside various boxes and trunks in vanishing acts. Bess and Houdini called themselves Monsieur and Mademoiselle Houdini, Mysterious Harry and LaPetite Bessie, or The Great Houdinis. The Houdinis performed for a couple of years in dime museums and then in 1896, the Houdinis went to work in the Welsh Brothers Traveling Circus. Bess sang songs while Houdini did magic tricks, and together they performed the Metamorphosis act. The Houdinis Join Vaudeville and a Medicine Show In 1896, when the circus season ended, the Houdinis joined a traveling vaudeville show. During this show, Houdini added a handcuff-escape trick to the Metamorphosis act. In each new town, Houdini would visit the local police station and announce that he could escape from any handcuffs they put on him. Crowds would gather to watch as Houdini easily escaped. These pre-show exploits were often covered by a local newspaper, creating publicity for the vaudeville show. To keep audiences further amused, Houdini decided to escape from a straitjacket, using his agility and flexibility to wiggle free from it. When the vaudeville show ended, the Houdinis scrambled to find work, even contemplating work other than magic. Thus, when they were offered a position with Dr. Hill’s California Concert Company, an old-time traveling medicine show selling a tonic that â€Å"could cure just about anything,† they accepted. In the medicine show, Houdini once again performed his escape acts; however, when attendance numbers began to dwindle, Dr. Hill asked Houdini if he could transform himself into a spirit medium. Houdini was already familiar with many of the spirit medium’s tricks and so he began leading sà ©ances while Bess performed as a clairvoyant claiming to have psychic gifts. The Houdinis were very successful pretending to be spiritualists because they always did their research. As soon as they pulled into a new town, the Houdinis would read recent obituaries and visit graveyards to seek the names of the newly dead. They would also subtly listen to town gossip. All this allowed them to piece together enough information to convince crowds that the Houdinis were real spiritualists with amazing powers to contact the dead. However, feelings of guilt about lying to grief-stricken people eventually became overwhelming and the Houdinis ultimately quit the show. Houdini’s Big Break With no other prospects, the Houdinis went back to performing with the Welsh Brothers Traveling Circus. While performing in Chicago in 1899, Houdini once again performed his police station stunt of escaping handcuffs, but this time it was different. Houdini had been invited into a room full of 200 people, mostly policemen, and spent 45 minutes shocking everyone in the room as he escaped from everything the police had. The following day, The Chicago Journal ran the headline â€Å"Amazes the Detectives† with a large drawing of Houdini. The publicity surrounding Houdini and his handcuff act caught the eye of Martin Beck, the head of the Orpheum theater circuit, who signed him for a one-year contract. Houdini was to perform the handcuff escape act and Metamorphosis at the classy Orpheum theaters in Omaha, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, and San Francisco. Houdini was finally rising from obscurity and into the spotlight. Houdini Becomes an International Star In the spring of 1900, 26-year-old Houdini, exuding confidence as â€Å"The King of Handcuffs,† left for Europe in the hopes of finding success. His first stop was London, where Houdini performed at the Alhambra Theater. While there, Houdini was challenged to escape from Scotland Yard’s handcuffs. As always, Houdini escaped and the theater was filled every night for months. The Houdinis went on to perform in Dresden, Germany, at the Central Theater, where ticket sales broke records. For five years, Houdini and Bess performed throughout Europe and even in Russia, with tickets often selling out ahead of time for their performances. Houdini had become an international star. Houdini’s Death-Defying Stunts In 1905, the Houdinis decided to head back to the United States and try to win fame and fortune there as well. Houdini’s specialty had become escapes. In 1906, Houdini escaped from jail cells in Brooklyn, Detroit, Cleveland, Rochester, and Buffalo. In Washington D.C., Houdini performed a widely publicized escape act involving the former jail cell of Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James A. Garfield. Stripped and wearing handcuffs supplied by the Secret Service, Houdini freed himself from the locked cell, and then unlocked the adjoining cell where his clothes were waiting all within 18 minutes. However, escaping just from handcuffs or jail cells was no longer enough to get the public’s attention. Houdini needed new, death-defying stunts. In 1907, Houdini unveiled a dangerous stunt in Rochester, N.Y., where, with his hands handcuffed behind his back, he jumped from a bridge into a river. Then in 1908, Houdini introduced the dramatic Milk Can Escape, where he was locked inside a sealed milk can filled with water. The performances were huge hits. The drama and flirting with death made Houdini even more popular. In 1912, Houdini created the Underwater Box Escape. In front of a huge crowd along New Yorks East River, Houdini was handcuffed and manacled, placed inside a box, locked in, and thrown into the river. When he escaped just moments later, everyone cheered. Even the magazine Scientific American was impressed and proclaimed Houdini’s feat as one of the most remarkable tricks ever performed. In September of 1912, Houdini debuted his famous Chinese Water Torture Cell escape at the Circus Busch in Berlin. For this trick, Houdini was handcuffed and shackled and then lowered, head first, into a tall glass box that had been filled with water. Assistants would then pull a curtain in front of the glass; moments later, Houdini would emerge, wet but alive. This became one of Houdini’s most famous tricks. It seemed like there was nothing Houdini could not escape from and nothing he could not make audiences believe. He was even able to make Jennie the elephant disappear! World War I and Acting When the U.S. joined World War I, Houdini tried to enlist in the army. However, since he was already 43-years old, he was not accepted. Nonetheless, Houdini spent the war years entertaining soldiers with free performances. When the war was drawing to a close, Houdini decided to try acting. He hoped that motion pictures would be a new way for him to reach mass audiences. Signed by Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Pictures, Houdini starred in his first motion picture in 1919, a 15-episode serial titled The Master Mystery. He also starred in The Grim Game (1919), and Terror Island (1920). However, the two feature films did not do well at the box office. Confident it was bad management that had caused the movies to flop, the Houdinis returned to New York and founded their own film company, the Houdini Picture Corporation. Houdini then produced and starred in two of his own films, The Man From Beyond (1922) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). These two films also bombed at the box office, leading Houdini to the conclusion that it was time to give up on moviemaking. Houdini Challenges Spiritualists At the end of World War I, there was a huge surge in people believing in Spiritualism. With millions of young men dead from the war, their grieving families looked for ways to contact them â€Å"beyond the grave.† Psychics, spirit mediums, mystics, and others emerged to fill this need. Houdini was curious but skeptical. He, of course, had pretended to be a gifted spirit medium back in his days with Dr. Hill’s medicine show and thus knew many of the fake medium’s tricks. However, if it were possible to contact the dead, he would love to once again talk to his beloved mother, who had passed away in 1913. Thus Houdini visited a large number of mediums and attended hundreds of sà ©ances hoping to find a real psychic; unfortunately, he found every one of them to be a fake. Along this quest, Houdini befriended famous author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who was a devoted believer in Spiritualism after having lost his son in the war. The two great men exchanged many letters, debating the truthfulness of Spiritualism. In their relationship, Houdini was the one always looking for rational answers behind the encounters and Doyle remained the devoted believer. The friendship ended after Lady Doyle held a sà ©ance in which she claimed to channel automatic-writing from Houdini’s mother. Houdini was not convinced. Among other issues with the writing was that it was all in English, a language Houdini’s mother never spoke. The friendship between Houdini and Doyle ended bitterly and led to many antagonistic attacks against each other in newspapers. Houdini began to expose the tricks used by mediums. He gave lectures on the topic and often included demonstrations of these tricks during his own performances. He joined a committee organized by Scientific American who analyzed claims for a $2,500 prize for a true psychic phenomena (no one ever received the prize). Houdini also spoke in front of the U.S. House of Representatives, supporting a proposed bill that would ban telling fortunes for pay in Washington D.C. The result was that even though Houdini brought about some skepticism, it seemed to create more interest in Spiritualism. However, many Spiritualists were extremely upset at Houdini and Houdini received a number of death threats. Death of Houdini On October 22, 1926, Houdini was in his dressing room preparing for a show at McGill University in Montreal, when one of the three students he had invited backstage asked if Houdini really could withstand a strong punch to his upper torso. Houdini answered that he could. The student, J. Gordon Whitehead, then asked Houdini if he could punch him. Houdini agreed and started to get up off a couch when Whitehead punched him three times in the abdomen before Houdini had a chance to tense his stomach muscles. Houdini turned visibly pale and the students left. To Houdini, the show must always go on. Suffering from severe pain, Houdini performed the show at McGill University and then went on to do two more the following day. Moving on to Detroit that evening, Houdini grew weak and suffered from stomach pain and fever. Instead of going to the hospital, he once again went on with the show, and collapsed offstage. He was taken to a hospital and it was discovered that not only had his appendix burst, it was showing signs of gangrene. The next afternoon surgeons removed his appendix. The next day his condition worsened; they operated on him again. Houdini told Bess that if he died he would try to contact her from the grave, giving her a secret code - â€Å"Rosabelle, believe.† Houdini died at 1:26 p.m. on Halloween day, October 31, 1926. He was 52-years old. Headlines immediately read â€Å"Was Houdini Murdered?† Did he really have appendicitis? Was he poisoned? Why was there no autopsy? Houdini’s life insurance company investigated his death and ruled out foul play, but for many, uncertainty regarding the cause of Houdini’s death lingers. For years after his death, Bess attempted to contact Houdini through sà ©ances, but Houdini never contacted her from beyond the grave.

Metabolic Syndrome Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Metabolic Syndrome - Assignment Example According to the symptoms displayed by the patient, he has a positive diagnosis of metabolic syndrome; evident from a high fasting blood glucose levels of 140. According to Brasher (2006), this entails a long period of insulin resistance and early postprandial hyperglycemia. Thus, this increases the risk factors for health problems in this case such as diabetes. In addition, insulin resistance is connected to overweight. In this case, the patient presents several risk factors for the condition. They include a large waistline, low HDL cholesterol level of 36, high blood pressure, and high fasting blood sugar of 140. However, additional questions are helpful in comprehending rationale of the disease process; as well as its clinical presentation. These questions include nutritional patterns, lifestyle (smoking), physical activities done, race, any changes in visual acuity or retinal abnormalities, delayed wound healing, any past or recent infections of the skin (for instance yeast skin rashes) and urinary tract infections. Physical examination aspects involve a comprehensive assessment so as to determine a diagnosis. Examples of physical examination entail the following: numbness or tingling sensation and decreased sensory of the feet, skin examination, and waistline measurement. Moreover, blood tests are vital in diagnosing this condition. Examples include collection of blood urea nitrogen has to be d one in proper evaluation of the kidney function, as well as triglyceride level examination (McCance and Huther, 2014). Proper management for this condition begins with prevention of the disease. Prevention will be based on directly influencing the development and reversal of insulin resistance and B-cell dysfunction. Metabolic syndrome is in the increase due to an elevation in obesity rates. In this case, the patient has experienced weight gain while in

New Zealand's Building Industry and the Climate Change Essay

New Zealand's Building Industry and the Climate Change - Essay Example Former U.S. vice president and Senator Al Gore (1992) relate how his former college professor, Roger Revelle, initiated sampling and research on the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in 1958. Revelle showed in 1960 that the increase in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere contributes to the Greenhouse effect. These series of studies by Revelle sparked awareness among people about the dangers of global warming and since then it has been quite an issue among environmentalists, scientists and common people alike. Â  According to The Earth Works Group (1989), The Greenhouse Effect is not all that destructive. In fact, it is a natural, beneficial process that prevents the Earth from freezing. The natural greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere prevent heat from escaping into space thus warming the Earth. However, throughout the years, industry and other human activities have increased the volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting into the destruction of the ozone layer and the eventual superheating of the Earth's surface. Â  There are many variants of the modern global warming theory; among these is the theory that states that the so-called global warming that the Earth is experiencing right now is within tolerable boundaries. ... Â  and for fossil fuels and the increased rate of industrialization has accelerated the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The office also noted that due to these circumstances, the Earth's surface temperatures predicted to rise anywhere from 1.4 to 5.8 C, which could lead to other drastic climatic changes such as droughts, sea level rise, great variances in temperature, flash floods etc. Climate Change Group, on the other hand, states that in New Zealand, temperatures are likely to increase faster in the Northern parts than those in the South through the increase in temperature is less than in other parts of the Earth. Other climate changes that are predicted by the group are increased the volume of rainfall, fewer cold days in the winter and hotter days during the summer. The Climate Change Group has also noted the direct impacts of agricultural practices on climate changes. As new concepts in agricultu re are introduced, the risk of flood, droughts and pestilence increase leading to more agricultural loses. Gore (1992) elaborated the effects of agriculture on the climate, claiming that although the world's population has increased in direct proportion to the rate of increase in the development of agriculture. In 1992 for example, the world's population has ballooned to 5.5 billion people in that year alone and is expected to grow to up to 9 billion in the year 2032. More people equal more food and another resource would have to be consumed and by this, some do equate resource acquisition with resource abuse and environmental degradation. Â  

Sudha Chandran: Biography and Profile

Sudha Chandran: Biography and Profile Sudha Chandran On January 28th, 1984, Sudha Chandran stood behind the curtain, staring at the crowd nervously and waiting for the crowd to settle down. It had been a while since she had danced on the stage. The accident had not only left her dejected but also left her fans sceptical about her ability to return to the sacred dance floor. How can a single-legged person dance Bharatnatyam, one of the most intricate Indian dances? She proved everyone wrong. Her dance left the audience spellbound. Sudha was known to have this captivating effect since childhood. The young Sudha was a plethora of talent. She was born on September 21st, 1964 in Mumbai. She is the only child of K.D. Chandran and Mrs. Thangam. Her mother was an exceptionally good singer and her father was an art lover. They instilled in her the love for singing and dancing. Sudha started dancing at the tender age of 3. Seeing how well Sudha was dancing on her own, her father took her to the famous dance school of Mumbai, ‘Kala Sadan’. The principal of the school refused to admit Sudha as she was below the age-limit. Her father pleaded with the principal to at least see Sudha dance and then make the decision. Needless to say, the principal was mesmerised with Sudha’s dance and immediately admitted her in the school. Here, her talent was nurtured under the guidance of her teachers. By the age of 17, she had already performed 75 stage shows and gained popularity for her effortless and graceful dancing. Her parents were her support system. They were very particular about her studies and wanted her to be the best in whatever she did. Her mother left her job and stayed at home so that Sudha’s upbringing was not compromised. She made sure that Sudha went to school, completed her homework, went for the dance class, ate healthy and slept on time. There was no scope of lack of discipline in Sudha’s life. Life was not always dull for her. She was always full of life and made life-long friends during her college days. They went to watch movies together and have road-side food. Life took a sudden turn on 5th May, 1981. She was travelling overnight for a pilgrimage with her parents when her bus collided with a truck resulting in the immediate death of the driver and severe injuries to the passengers. Sudha’s legs were stuck in the wreckage. She was admitted to a government hospital in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. Initially, the doctors thought that she had a minor fracture and treated the leg by putting a plaster on it. It turned out to be a huge mistake. When she went for a check-up to a hospital in Chennai, then Madras, the doctors found out that a wound had not been cleaned properly and, with the plaster on, it had developed gangrene. Whenever gangrene develops in the body, the body part has to be amputated to save the person’s life. Sudha’s leg was amputated in order to save her life. It left Sudha’s heart filled with sadness and her body without a limb. For a dancer, especially of her calibre, it was a major setback. As she couldn’t dance anymore she put all her efforts and energy into studies. She had already finished her B.A degree and was pursuing her M.A in Economics from Mithibai College, Mumbai. The family was heartbroken. Her family had dreamt big for their only daughter. However, no one showed Sudha any pity. They might have been hurting inside, but when they sat together they would talk as if nothing had happened. This helped in avoiding any scope of sympathy and pity for her disability. It was a tremendous attempt to treat her like a person without disability. Through these trying times, her major source of inspiration was her father. He never showed any sign of pity on her daughter and still expected her to have a good life. She learnt to draw strength from her pain. She tried to walk with the help of the crutches as she refused to use a wheelchair. Six months after the amputation she came across an article which changed her life and staged the rebirth of an outstanding dancer. Dr. Sethi was gaining worldwide popularity for manufacturing artificial legs known as the ‘Jaipur Foot’. She could manage to get an appointment with Dr. Sethi, but only after a week because of his busy schedule. Meanwhile, she convinced her parents and set off for Jaipur. Dr. Sethi was stunned by her determination. She refused to leave for Mumbai without getting a foot. He listened intently and understood her requirements. Due to many positions of the foot while performing Bharatnatyam, she needed a more flexible foot than there was. Dr.Sethi created the foot with many nuts and bolts so that it could be bent in any position. When Dr. Sethi presented her with one of the kind foot, Sudha asked him if she could dance again. Dr. Sethi wore the foot and did two dance steps to demonstrate what the foot could do. Sudha knew that the foot would give her, her life back. She practiced dance, wearing the artificial foot, for several hours a day. At times, the pain would be excruciating and often it would bleed, especially when the movements of the foot became fast. But, that didn’t stop Sudha for making her dream a reality; once again. She was surrounded by people who believed in her, especially Dr. Sethi and her parents. Dr. Sethi believed in her and her strength to withstand any adversity. With the support of her loved ones and Dr.Sethi, her confidence and desire to perform on the stage started to return. On 28th January, 1984, after two years of dance practice with the ‘Jaipur Foot’, she performed on the stage at the ‘South India Welfare Society’ of Mumbai. By the time Sudha finished her stellar performance, the entire audience stood up to see the dance of willpower. They could not imagine that a person with an artificial limb could perform such delicate and fast-moving steps. According to Sudha, ‘Once I was on stage, I forgot about my artificial foot. I could only remember that I was performing after a long time and that I had to give my best. The audience’s energy got transformed into my energy.’ Her life inspires people from all walks of life. Ramoji Rao, a Telgu producer approached her with a script titled, ‘Mayuri’ which was loosely based on Sudha’s life. She agreed to play the lead actress and overnight she became a star after the release of the film in 1984. She was presented with a special award ‘Silver Lotus’ and a sum amount of 5,000/- for her role in the film ‘Mayuri’ at the 33rd National Film Festival. In 1986, Ramoji Rao made a Hindi version of the film and titled it ‘Nache Mayuri’. The film was enjoyed by the audiences all across the globe, adding to her popularity. Through ‘Mayuri’, her inspirational story was able to reach out to millions of people across the globe. She believes that everything happens for a reason. She did not let one setback in life ruin her future, â€Å"The accident was a blessing in disguise because without it I would have been just like millions of other dancers. But, dancing with the Jaipur foot makes me one of a kind.† Over the years, she started concentrating more on her acting career. She became part of the small screen and film songs. During the shooting of one of her films, she met Ravi Dang, an assistant director back then. Since then, they have been inseparable. They both provided emotional support to each other. Ravi Dang now manages her dance academy called Natya Mayuri Sudhachandran Dance Academy which is in Ville Parle, Mumbai. She has also established herself as an actress in both on the small screen and in the films. Her name will always be synonymous with courage and dedication. If one thing can be learnt from her life, it is to never give up. Word Galaxy: adversity misfortune; harsh conditions amputate to surgically remove a limb for medical reasons calibre ability; talent excruciating extremely painful; unbearable gangrene decomposition of body tissue due to obstructed circulation or bacterial infection. intricate complex; elaborate sacred holy; revered spellbound awestruck stellar outstanding trying times period of time of hardships or difficulties Fresh Facts: Prior to the accident, she had received two important awards: Nritya Mayuri from the Dance Academy and Bharatnatyam and Nav Jyoti from the Telgu Academy. Dr. Sethi is a specialist in artificial limbs. He is also a recipients of the Raman Magasassay Award. She won the National Film Award – Special Jury Award for her role in Mayuri. The Trend Of Bakery: Justo Eat The Trend Of Bakery: Justo Eat Justo Eat is a bakery with experienced bakers serving all customers with undivided passion. The bakery has a wide range of products for the customers, from a simple mini cheese tart to the often sought-after ice cream cakes. The bakery strives to use only the best ingredient in the market in order to create quality products as ingredient plays an important role to baking mouth-watering delicious food. When the trend of bakery started growing in early 20s, Alvin Lau flew over to Singapore to learn the skills of baking from the established Bread Story. After several years of training, he came back to Malaysia in the hopes of using his skills to teach fellow Malaysians the fine art of bakery besides to create a better living. The first Justo Eat was formed in 2007 in Teluk Intan with a small number of employees, with most of the operations managed by him. From a humble beginning in Teluk Intan, the bakery expanded quickly to Bidor, Batu Gajah, and several regions in Perak. With 4 bakery and 1 bakery academy to boast in a short span of 6 years, Justo Eat has managed to achieve plenty that most could only dream of. Breaking sales of more than RM100,000 and also having the ability to achieve break-even point in a short span of 6 months, Just To Eat bakery is indeed intriguing. Hence, we have chosen this bakery for our research due to its remarkable marketing strategy and also the strategic management of the company. Problems that rose during the course of business and how , using sound marketing strategies, the company managed to stay competitive in the industry, all these would be discussed in the following pages, altogether with the discussion of the bakery industry. 2.0 The Environment Bread is an essential item in all households of Malaysia. It is a necessity that sells very well even in the times of financial turmoil. Though rice is the staple starch for most of the Malaysia population, bread still serves the Malaysia family as it is a choice for breakfast due to the nutrition present in bread. The production of bakery products consists of a few vital components, primarily, sugar, and wheat flour. Unlike wheat flour, the price of sugar over the years has increased ever since the government began cutting subsidies in January 2010. This has caused a significant of 58.6 percent from Rm1.45 per kilogramme (Ariffin, 2012). The hike in sugar price has caused headaches in the bakery industry since sugar is a vital component in the production. However, on the 3rd of February 2012, the government has signed a long-term sugar supply deal that would peg the sugar price of RM2.30 for 3 years, stretching from January 2012 to 2014. Hence, till then the price of sugar would not fluctuate and this is very favorable to the business. The value of bakery products in 2003 reached a whopping RM2 billion with an annual growth of RM65 million over the previous year and it is expected to grow by 4% per annum to reach RM2.9 billion in 2006 (Nordin, Simeh, and Shariff, 2008). There was also a growth in production of bakery products by 1.39%, from 259, 800 tons in 2009 to 263,400 tons in 2010. The increase of production and value of the bakery product is due to the increased use of bakery products by Malaysians due to the rising disposable income and a faster pace of life (Shah, 2011) in the last five to seven years. In 5th July 2012, the Danish firm Palsgaard announced its plan to build an emulsifier plant in Malaysia which will be completed in the first half of 2013 (Culliney, 2012). This announcement further reinforces the bakery industry of Malaysia; allowing greater efficiency of the bread production. The rise of boutique bakery such as BreadTalk, Free Mori, or The Loaf also sparked an increased interest of the public towards bakery products. This latest development of the bakery industry has come to the stage where the choice of buying is not just between white and brown, but a variety of factors due to the emergence of exotic range created by these boutique bakeries. Despite the positive business climate for the bakery industry in Malaysia, the industry still lacks of proper baker association or education that is needed to guide and teach Malaysians regarding this field (Bernama, 2011). Professional training modules need to be implemented in the country in order to create more varieties in the bakery industry and also to gain more knowledge regarding the field. A report released by Euromonitor shows that the retail value of all bakery products in Malaysia has increased from 651.3 million US dollars in 2006 to 742.16 million US dollars in 2011. With appropriate learning environment in Malaysia for the bakery industry, the Euromonitor forecasts that the retail value of bakery product in Malaysia will increase to 871.20 million US dollars in 2016. 3.0 The Industry Our research is based on a bakery store Justo Eat, thus the bakery industry of our assignment is based on the bakery industry in Malaysia, but it is of the bakery industry in Kampar, Teluk Intan, and Bidor instead since these places are where the bakery operates. Since the bakery is not available nationwide, hence, to include major competitors such as Breadtalk or Kings Confectionery which dominate the scene would be unnecessary since they do not provide a direct competition to the bakery in these places. Instead, we would be writing an analysis around these areas in order to provide a better understanding regarding the bakerys business situation. The threat of new competitor in the bakery industry in Perak is very low. This is because bakery is actually a specialized skill is hard to come by, therefore to compete in this industry, one needs to be a learnt baker with enough resources prior to his entry to the industry. It should also be noted that the bakery industry in Malaysia is still very new albeit it is very promising, hence there is not a well-known bakery organization that could produce qualified bakers in Malaysia (Bernama, 2011). Also, the start-up capital for this business is also pretty high, ranging from RM50,000 to RM100,000 for the price of the equipments needed for baking. These baking equipments and machineries are essential for business since the business need to produce thousands of breads everyday. The specialized set of skills needed for the business, coupled with an above average cost of start-up capital, make the threat of new competitors in the market rather low. However, the industry is not without competition. Just-To-Eat faces severe competition in places such as Teluk Intan from a local firm, Happy Angel. The Happy Angel bakery is an established bakery in this region, thus they have extensive resources to compete. Happy Angel bakery has competed with Justo Eat by opening branches wherever they operate in the hope of damaging Justo Eats sales overtime till it is forced to close down eventually. Happy Angel bakery also has competed directly with Justo Eat using pricing strategies in Teluk Intan due to the advantage it has from economies of scale. The price war between these two bakeries went on for a year with Justo Eat emerging as the ultimate winner, however, when Happy Angel bakery was forced to move out due to the diminishing profits. Since bread is a type of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), theres a variety of substitutes. Substitutes of bread include instant noodles which relatively cost a little higher than bread, yet it provides a better taste for consumers. Whole wheat bread easily available in all convenience store is also a substitute for bread, especially for the health-conscious consumers due to the low level of carbohydrates. Consequently, instant food such as Twiggies and Roti Koko that can be conveniently consumed are substitute products too since it is cheaper. It should also be noted that the small packets of nasi lemak which makes a more filling meal for a cheaper price is also another good substitute product. These products relatively make business a lot harder for bakeries such as Justo Eat because not these products are cheaper, they also offer much better taste than bakeries. Bread is a product of low-involvement, therefore the bargaining power of buyers in the market does not provide a threat to the industry. The low prices of these products do not affect the customers significantly, hence the buyers alone do not impose a great pressure on the bakery. The real threat comes from the variety of substitute products instead since not only these alternate meal options provide a better taste, these products are also subject to price changes constantly. The bargaining power of suppliers is also limited due to high number of suppliers in the market. Suppliers for bakery usually supply raw material, hence these first tiers suppliers can easily be found in the market. Various suppliers compete for the large account of Justo Eat, therefore most often the power to bargain prices usually fall in the hands of this bakery instead. 4.0 Justo Eat Marketing strategies Objective of marketing strategy Product objectives of Justo Eat are desire to grow and enhancing the companys position in the market. Justo Eat is producing high variety of products and maintaining the high quality of products to differentiate and enhance itself in the market. The objective of promotion for Justo Eat is to create awareness among customers and attract more customers in order to increase demand. Pricing objective of Justo Eat is market-share objective. Justo Eat seeks to maximize sales and increase market share for its products. Justo Eat is having distribution channel objective of establishing direct sales contact with final customer to enhance networking generating good relationship for retaining customer. Target market The target market of Just-to-Eat is household who frequently purchase its products especially during special event of wedding and birthday celebration. Justo Eat has high coverage of target market because its product can be consumed daily and convenient to target market. The products being sold are also economically affordable to all customers with low price and full satisfied. Competitive advantage Justo Eat has competitive advantage of good networking with its supplier. The good relationships with suppliers enable Justo Eat to acquire high quality of ingredients with a reasonable cost. The high quality of ingredient will further ensure the product quality. In addition, good relationship with suppliers can help to avoid shortage of ingredients. Secondly, Justo Eat positioned as guaranteed high quality of products which can serve as an instrument to retain customers and carry positive word-of-mouth. Product The top sales product of Justo Eat is bun. Justo Eat bakery provides freshly prepared bakery buns at all times to ensure fresh baked goods are always available. As a result, fresh and high quality buns produced successfully attracting a lot of customer for frequent purchase. Buns such as hawaii pizza, hot dog chicken floss and garlic cheese are generating more sales compare with other bakery products such as cakes. Product line expansion is best to described Justo Eat product strategy. In order to expand the market and boost market share, Justo Eat believed that with wide variety of bread and cakes, different taste of customers can be tailored. In general, it also helps to retain the loyal customer by satisfying their desires through providing a wide variety of bread with good quality, innovative and creative design. For example, Justo Eat carrying variety of products such as fresh cream cakes in cheese series, chocolate and coffee series, fruit series, ice-cream series. In addition, Justo Eat also introduced a product line for festival series such as cartoon series, numbering, wedding and engage, and fullmoon series ( Justo Eat bakery, 2011). Promotion mix On every new opening of branch, Justo Eat rely on banner advertising to grab customer attention. The orange colour of banner can actually brings Justo Eat an identity. Banner is not the only method in advertising the bakery shop, Justo Eat also use brochure. Creative brochure with some important information about company are distributed. Brochures is a low cost advertising method that used by company to create awareness of company to target market. With good reputation, Justo Eat enable to form postive word-of-mouth among the customer. Satisfied customers will spread the positive comment and information about company to their acquaintances and peer groups when they are satisfied with the product purchased. This word-of-mouth is effective and efficient in free advertising. Pricing The price range set by Justo Eat for buns is RM1.20 to RM3.60, tart is RM2.20 and each slice of cake is ranged RM3.20 to RM4.50 while 1kg cakes is in price range of RM28 to RM40. In bakery industry, price war is inevitable, price setting of Justo Eat is relatively lower than competitors. This is useful for rapid market acceptance and maximum sales when come to time for intensive competition with other bakery. Competitor of Justo Eat, Happy Angel Cake House set 1kg of cakes in price range of RM30-RM45 which higher than Justo Eat. (Happy Angel, 2010) A powerful pricing tactics used by Justo Eat, RM 1 price promotions for all breads. Obviously, this is aiming to increase the sales and market share by attracting new customer. Nonetheless, the core advantage Justo Eat can gain from this price promotion is beating down its competitor. The lauching of RM1 per bread promotion is lasting for nine months in order to gain high profit and generated high market share. Competitors had been killed by Justo Eat in this critical period. Place Justo Eat is using direct market channel to reach the market. Justo Eat selling products only in their bakery shop. Justo Eat believed that direct contact with customer is the most effective way to satisfy them. Justo Eat also distribute products to some entertainment shop and campus cafeteria. However, this only serves as a promotional tactics to reach more potential customer to try on Justo Eat bread. As Justo Eat hold that the using of intermediate channel does not earn much profit to them. Justo Eat also invited Taiwanese for demostratation in its shops to attract customers and grab opportunity to learn and improve skills from them. Place strategy that using by Justo Eat is pull strategy which involves a massive word-of- mouth to create demand for product that draws the consumer to seek for it. Pull strategy can easily gather customer feedback on ways improving products. This strategy also can create high demand of products in a short time especially during the period of new open bakery branch. 5.0 Justo Eat challenges and its course of action Despite Justo Eats success, every business surely has to face some problems and challenges among the industry. The trend of the business will lead Justo Eat facing the lowest point of the career with the poorest sale performance due to bread is not the main course for people daily life especially Malaysian. People have other choices of foods such as noodle or rice. In addition, Justo Eat is small in size and the shop recognition is not popular in Malaysia compare to those famous bakeries such as Bread Story. Thus, although the sales is high at the beginning stage, yet the sales drop for a certain period when consumers no longer feel fresh with the bakery. This is a common phenomenon for all businesses. The dropped sales caused Justo Eat to rethink its strategy in order to bear the huge business expenses. As a store with low profit still need to pay for rental, water and electric bill, and employee wages. This kept a critical question for Justo Eat to maintain the business at this sho rt term trough trend. To maintain and even enhance the business during the trough point of the trend, Justo Eat expand the business by opening more branches in other area. The new branches can acquire more customers to gain more sales and eventually increase the popularity of Justo Eat. By doing this, the profitable branch can compensate the low sales branch. Instead of controlled by the trend, Justo Eat take initiative to open bakery academy which provide bakery course. The courses include one day self-interest DIY baking class, specialist certificate course, and professional diploma in baking and confectionery. Different courses had fulfill different student needs to learn a bakery skill. It also brings revenue to Justo Eat. The students who joined the courses in the first year of the commercement of bakery academy can enjoy the priority for partnering with Justo Eat to start own bakery business. By doing this, Justo Eat believed that their venture can be sustained despite the slow trend at certain peri od. In order to maintain the bread and cake business during the slow trend, Justo Eat put more effort in ensuring the performance at store level. The management emphasizes in cleanliness and hygiene of the shop. This helps the firm to earn some credits for the operating environment. It will influence perceive value of consumer, and then it will affect consumers purchasing decision making. Furthermore, the quality of product never been neglected and the best service is provided for customer. To establish employee morale in doing this, Justo Eat management had built up a clear reward performance system culture among the employee. Justo Eat only hire those employee with capability and good working attitude. Moreover, monthly meeting held in headquarter with the entire branch manager is necessary to understand every branch situation and giving opinion to improve the management team. During the meeting will discuss the problem facing and solution in different branch. Therefore Justo Eat can e nsure the employee provide the customer with best service to increase customer satisfaction so that positive word-of-mouth can be established among the customers. With this, customers are willing recommend the bakery to others. When considering a business, location is always a very critical element to be considered. The classic advice location, location, location is right on the mark for a business. The same is to Justo Eat, the location plays an important factor that lead to the firm success. Justo Eat bakery has the fifth branch in sitiawan early in the year of 2009. The opening of this branch had boom the bakery industry in sitiawan at the early stage. Justo Eat had ripped off majority of the market share from the competitors in that particular area. The shop was perceived to be placed at a good location as it located at the main street in Sitiawan and it was located beside The Store supermarket. Initially, Justo Eat believed that the exposure and the awareness of Justo Eat can be exploited from The Store as the bakery shop is viewable from The Store. Thus, the customer surely can notice and recognise the shop. Nonetheless, the shop location is believed to have satisfied number of pedestrian. However, few months later, the sales had dropped tremendously. Justo Eat overlooked the attractiveness of the location. Although there is many customer patronage The Store, but they are not guaranteed to visit the bakery shop. Whats more? Justo Eat overestimated the pedestrian traffic at the particular place. A business should ensure that the area is to be guaranteed to have pedestrian around the shop location from time to time. There is lack of pedestrian around the bakery shop, or can be inferred that during day time, there is not much pedestrian along the road. Therefore, in the end, Justo Eat decided to milk this branch to avoid further losses. Fortunately, the companys sales from the early period is enough to compensate the later stage loss, thus the company able to cover the initial start-up cost and any other operating expenses. The location problem not only existed in Sitiawan, the bakery branch in Kampar also faced location problem but it derived from another aspect. The increasing population in Kampar is really an attractive factor which can gauge business to come in. The number of student no matter in TAR College or UTAR is increasing, the company can exploit this opportunity to gain market share in Kampar. At the opening, the students are also attracted by the RM1 bread promotion, Justo Eat had also achieved high sales at this stage. However, Justo eat failed to anticipate the student study period. Students from both college and universiti will have a 3-week of semester break after final exam. During this time, they will not been in Kampar, therefore, there will be very low sales during that particular month. During the semester break month, Justo Eat can only rely on the sales from household in Kampar. Unfortunately, the location of the bakery shop only serves as a convenient place for the student in Kampar but not for the resident in Kampar. After few semester of lost, Justo Eat decided to milk this branch. Although the location is not suitable for selling their product, yet the store is remained and turns into a bakery academy. The idea of bakery academy is not merely for solving the problem in Kampar, it is a new strategy formulated by Justo Eat for future expansion as mentioned above. Since Justo Eat was searching for store space for bakery courses, while the bakery shop location is suitable for opening bakery academy, Justo Eat subsequently exploit the store space in Kampar to open their first bakery academy. By doing this, Justo Eat can eventually reduce the cost in market research and store renovation in Kampar. 6.0 Suggested alternate courses of action and its implementation To engage in business in a good location is essential to attain exposure in the short-term and to gain profit in long run as agreed by every entrepreneur and businessman. However, by depending solely ones own sixth sense which is considered as an entrepreneurs alertness, is not always reliable. Therefore, it is critical to conduct a thorough survey and analysis before entering a market and location. This can help a company to better understand what the attraction in that particular area or location is, how to draw potential target customers and who its competitors are. Justo Eat, a family-style bakery shop, should create a small marketing team in which they gather useful information, analyze the new shop locations and strategies as well as carry out simple surveys in a particular location to ensure there is a high chance of being able to target its customers. The founder and brains behind Justo Eat is a successful entrepreneur who had depended on his business acuity to correctly anal yze the potential success of a location for a new shop, but there have also been some unforeseen mistakes which is the reason the small marketing team. The marketing team will be able to assist him by delving deeper into his judgment and help him explore his ideas by using survey and analysis research from his marketing department. Tea break is an increasing trend in Malaysia among youths, young adults and oldies, where they will spare some time for a short break no matter how busy they are. To seize this golden opportunity, Justo Eat should include different types of beverages in their shops and chairs and tables where customers can easily enjoy a combination of bread and coffee, and think of Justo Eat when they want to have a tea break. Other than that, the company can also improve the quality of the cake by providing training for its employees. This is due to the poor emphasis on cakes, rather than bread from the company. When compared to the breads, the sales of cake of the company are not always on target. For that reason, improving in the quality of their cakes may be an advantage to the company, to an extent, boosting its sales and revenue. The customers can not only have bread but also enjoy cake during tea time in any Justo Eat shop. Although this will be another operating cost to the company as the co mpany has to increase the number of employees, in the long-term, the company is able to increase its profit and target another new opportunity, enhancing the patronage of customers. This will be its competitive advantage in the bakery industry, as opposed to being just limited to only selling bread and pastries. The overall marketing strategy used by Justo Eat targets the family-based markets. Families often go to bakeries to buy different breads for their childrens breakfast, for them to bring to school or serve as the lunch for the adults. However, there are also unmarried individuals and youths, who prefer more variety in their lives. The variety of choice in Justo Eat is limited and after some time, the single individuals and youths will begin to feel bored due to the lack of new variety. In regards to this, Justo Eat can implement a Weekly Special program, where they introduce new breads to spice things up. This will encourage them to patronize the store at least once a week, using the weekly special bread to attract them, which will boost sales and allow differentiation among the other bakeries in the area. 7.0 Conclusion Justo Eat has good strategies to overcome the company problem, and it also has a complete management system for the daily operation. Throughout its five years of existence, Justo Eat has developed the organization with more and more branch. Developing the business had created the well-known reputation of company. However, in spite of the successful strategy and expansion of company, the future of Justo Eat is challenging. The major challenge is competition among the industry. The company do not have brand strategy that customer can differentiate the company product when compete with others. It does not have a unique product that able to impress the company brand. In other words, there are no products that can makes customer to recall Justo Eat when they think of breads or cakes. Secondly, culture and eating habit towards the Malaysian when having the main course. Consumer may not eat a bread or cake for their lunch or dinner but they will have noodles or rice. Breads and cakes will not be their only choice when considering a meal. Moreover, the society is moving towards healthy food habit. This creates a challenge for Justo Eat in considering the ingredients used in cakes and breads baking. In order to make the first decade, Justo Eat has developed the business by opening bakery academy. It is not merely for increasing the profit but also serve as an opportunity for future expansion. The graduation candidates from Justo Eat can partner with the company to open branch in other location. Therefore, company can have a sharing of the business risk with others and expands the business at the same time. It also helps the company to be well-known as the students will probably spread their experience to others. Upon the venture of Justo Eat, it cannot be denied that the observation of the market and a strong network relationship can really affect a successful business thoroughly. A complete and appropriate management system is essential for daily operation. Still, it is very important how a person can implicate the experience or learning to the venture.

Mcdonald’s 4ps

Company and Product Background McDonald’s is one of the best known brands worldwide. McDonald's first made its way to Malaysia in December 1980 when McDonald's Corporation of USA issued the exclusive license to GOLDEN ARCHES RESTAURANTS SDN BHD or commonly known as McDonald’s Malaysia to operate McDonald's restaurants in Malaysia. The entry of McDonald’s into Malaysia is through a Joint Venture agreement with Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd. McDonald’s Corporation of USA holds 49% equity. The remaining equity is held by local partners: 26% is held by Tan Sri Vincent Tan and 25% by Mohamed Shah Bin Tan Sri Abdul Kadir.At the helm of Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd is Mohamed Shah Bin Tan Sri Abdul Kadir, the Managing Director / Joint Venture Partner. He took over the reins from Tan Sri Vincent Tan in 1987. Malaysian got their first taste of McDonald's when McDonald's Malaysia opened its first restaurant at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur on 29 April 1 982. This restaurant is still in operation today and has undergone four renovations to maintain and keep with the changing trends. To date, Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn Bhd operates 194 restaurants located nationwide including Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei.McDonald’s Malaysia is currently expanding at an annual rate of approximately 10 to 20 restaurants. McDonald's has created many job opportunities in Malaysia. McDonald's Malaysia employs more than 8,000 local people with 120 support staff at its headquarters managing the day-to-day operations of the McDonald's business. There is also a regional office in Penang and Johor Bahru. McDonald's business actually began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by siblings Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California.Their introduction of the â€Å"Speedee Service System† in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion. McDonald’s grew into the largest restaurant organisation in the world. Today, there are more than 30,000 McDonald’s restaurants serving 47 million customers each day in over 100 countries.Ray Kroc died in 1984 but his legacy is very much alive. With the successful expansion of McDonald's into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Product Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. Product includes certain aspects such as variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging and services. These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what the target market wants.McDonald’s predominantly sells hamburgers, various types of chicken sandwiches and products: French fries, soft drinks, breakfast items, and desserts. Each country implements the core McDonald’s menu: hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken nuggets, and french fries. McDonald’s has intentionally kept its product depth and product width limited. McDonald’s studied the behaviour of the Malaysian customer and provided a totally different menu as compared to its International offering. Being a Muslim-majority country, all McDonald’s in Malaysia are certified Halal.Thus, pork products are not offered in McDonald’s Malaysia to satisfy Halal certification requirements. McDonalds continuously innovates its products according to the changing preferences and tastes of its customers. The recent example is the introduction of the Grilled Chicken Burger (GCB) and Prosperity Burger. Food quality is the key at McDonald's. This means that McDonald’s take pride in the foods to serve for cu stomers. McDonald’s seeks out fresh lettuce and tomatoes, quality buns and potatoes, pure ground beef, select poultry, fish and wholesome dairy product.The potatoes are specially blanched and processed so that maximum nutrients are retained. Besides, upon arrival at the plant in Malaysia, the fish blocks are stored in a temperature-controlled environment to maintain their freshness. Freshly shredded lettuce, slivered onions and pickles are used in all burgers. Thus, McDonald’s has implemented rigorous food safety standards and established high food safety standards. So, there is nutrition information provided on web site for consumers and the aims of this information as regards quality product and menu selection.In the 21st century, McDonald’s have continued to design and introduce new products and indeed new part menus, such as breakfast. The reasons that McDonald’s might have in introducing these products to satisfied their consumer’s needs and c ompany strategies. The design of paper bag used by McDonald’s is made from grease resistant grass paper and pulp paper. The grease paper lines the interior, which allows for a grease less and environmentally friendly breakfast, lunch and dinner of McDonald’s sets. Next, McDonald's is one of the most popular fast food restaurants whether domestic or abroad.The feature of McDonald’s is McDonald's thrives on the term â€Å"fast food† and offers a full menu 24 hours a day in some locations. For breakfast, the menu is filled with items like the Egg McMuffin, Sausage McMuffin with Egg, Egg McMuffin, Hotcakes, Hotcakes with Sausage and so on. For lunch, the menu is filled with McValue Lunch which offers from every Monday to Friday from 12 noon to 3 pm. McDonald's uses packaging to ensure their food is fresh, hot, convenient and safe. The vast majority of McDonald’s is enjoyed without the use of cutlery.Yet when menu items do require cutlery, McDonald†™s will provide plastic cutlery to customers. The cups that are used for McDonald's beverages are made from paper and have a coating to meet quality and food safety standards. This aim is to make sure that as much of McDonald packaging as possible is made from renewable resources. All McDonald bags, tray liners and cup carriers are made from 100 percent recycled paper. Packaging for hot foods such as Hamburgers, French Fries, Chicken McNuggets and Apple Pies, is made from 72 percent recycled paper.The delivery packaging used for all buns, muffins, milkshake and sundae mix are returned to suppliers for reuse. This avoids the use of significant amounts of cardboard. All McDonald’s packaging carries an anti-littering symbol to actively encourage their customers to dispose of their litter responsibly. By replacing McDonald’s plastic salad containers with a paper card base they have reduced by nearly 69 tones the amount of plastic. McDonald’s provides service with convenience, cleanliness, delicious food and friendly service to their customers.With free Wi-Fi, customers can access the Internet at no charge for customers who dine in McDonald’s. Thus, customers may enjoy foods but also searching information on internet. Besides, McDonald’s provides also an indoor and outdoor birthday party for those who wish to have a fun celebration on their birthday. Most of the McDonald’s restaurant provides 24 hours McDelivery service to satisfied customer needs. In addition, when several companies market a similar product, it is important that the brand name to be clearly seen on the packaging and easily recognizable.McDonald has been put effort into making their brand name, logo, and packaging different style compared to their competitor. Therefore, McDonald menu item are different compared to Burger King’s, because McDonald have their specific Menu which provide McValue Lunch, Happy Meal, breakfast and so on. Such tactics are usually easy to recognize, and even if a customer is fooled once, it isn’t likely to happen a second time. Promotion A promotion mix is any form of communication a business or organization uses to inform, persuade, or remind people about its products.Promotion mix consists of advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling, and public relations. Using these tools, McDonald’s looks to localise its marketing communications strategy as it needs to consider the enormous range of cultural and other differences that it would be faced with in each country. It would be naive to ignore the various local markets and the factors which may affect the performance of its product in them. It also needs to analyse consumers’ attitudes towards its product, usage patterns and ethnic, moral and religious considerations in that environment.Although the idea is to promote McDonald’s as a global image, McDonald’s focuses on the needs of the communities they are entering. In a communication context, the maxim â€Å"brand globally, advertise locally† is the McDonald’s promotional strategy. There are three main objectives of advertising for McDonald’s are to make people aware of an item, feel positive about it and remember it. The right message has to be communicated to the right audience through the right media. McDonald’s advertising is conducted on television, radio, in cinema, online, using poster sites and in press.Television advertisement for the new Prosperity Burger for example explained the new choices and attempted to generate excitement for the product in conjunction with Chinese New Year. This may be supported by in store promotions to get people to try the product and a collectable promotional device to encourage them to keep buying the item. In press for example business magazines, television news reports, and newspaper articles provided free media coverage of the product launch and it became a significant news story.The media gave McDonald’s franchise owners and corporate executives an opportunity to explain the reasoning behind the menu addition and to reassure their customers that McDonald’s was still in the hamburger business. In September 2003, McDonald's introduced † I'm lovin' it † as its first global advertising theme. Besides that, the advertisement capture the fun, youthful spirit and high energy that is the essence of the McDonald’s brand as well as the ba-da-ba-ba-baâ„ ¢ audio trademark that has become recognized around the world. McDonald’s also ties in with sponsors. McDonald’s sponsors a vast array of sports.Like example, during the summer 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, McDonald’s was a cooperate sponsors. McDonald’s outlets offer its customers with various forms of incentives to buy its products. Using McDonald’s discount voucher or coupons that one can acquire after spending a partic ular amount over a period of fixed time, customers can enjoy the benefits of free meals or free add-ons. Additionally, they provide meal vouchers and exciting offers in their print ads, which the customer must cut and bring along when purchase it. Sales promotion efforts in McDonald’s involved free samples, launch parties, and store banners.Today, McDonald’s patrons can enjoy close to 30% savings for selected products from its McValue Meal line-up between noon and 3pm everyday at almost all McDonald’s restaurants nationwide. In conjunction of the month of Ramadan, McDonald’s extended the time of McValue Lunch, normally is 12p. m-3p. m to 6p. m-9p. m. Extended period is to consider for the Muslims who fast during Ramadan and let them to have their dinner to break the day’s fast. The McDonald name the extend McValue Lunch called McValue Buka Puasa. Public Relations are also an important part of the McDonald's marketing strategy.The restaurant employe es play a huge role in interacting with the public. On a day-to-day basis the employees commit themselves to customers and the customers' feelings toward the brand. McDonald's feels that before they communicate with their customers they need to be aware of what their competitors are communicating, so they can create a beneficial difference between themselves and the competitors. McDonald’s main idea of campaign is to connect with consumer all around the world. Some of the most famous marketing campaigns of McDonald’s are â€Å"You deserve a break today’, â€Å"Food, Folks and Fun†, â€Å"I’m Lovin’ It† and so on.McDonald’s concentrates to help seek solutions for the problems facing children and families today. In Malaysia, the cornerstone of McDonald’s community relations programme is the Ronald McDonald House Charities Malaysia (RMHC Malaysia). It was established as a non-profit organization with the mission to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of Malaysian Children through health, education, and welfare. McDonald’s Malaysia supports all administration and management costs, thus enabling RMHC Malaysia to use 100% of all donations received to assist Malaysian children in need.RMHC Malaysia Coin Boxes are placed in every McDonald’s Malaysia restaurants to help raise funds for the organization. Every member of McDonald’s Malaysia is also involved in many local events in support of RMHC Malaysia. Price The customer’s perception of value is an important determinant of the price charged. Customers draw their own mental picture of what a product is worth. A product is more than a physical item, it also has psychological connotations for the customer. Price is the only marketing mix variable that can be altered quickly.Price variables such as dealer price, retail price, discounts, allowances, and credit terms influence the devel opment of marketing strategy, as price is a major factor that influences the assessment of value obtained by customer. McDonald’s strategy is to offer quality food quickly to customers at a good value. The pricing structure for McDonald’s over years has supported this message. The company strives to differentiate itself from other fast food restaurants by offering a variety of menu items that appeal to a variety of people from those who just want great hamburgers, to those who just want a quick healthy meal.McDonald’s has a unique pricing strategy that falls solely on their many product lines. Their Value Meals fall into the category of Product Line Pricing, where there is a range of product or services the pricing reflect the benefits of parts of the range. For example, you can order a Double Cheeseburger Value meal that comes with a medium drink and fries for around RM9. 50. You can Upsize this meal to get a large drink and large fries for a little more money or you can go with another value meal that might include different items for different price.The value pricing approach is used where external factors such as recession or increased competition force companies to provide ‘value’ products and services to retain sales. The most notable and recent example of this is McDonald’s McValue Meal. The McValue Meal was created because McDonald’s recognized that the economy was in a decline and that their competition was getting fiercer. The McValue Meal satisfies the current decreasing economy and has increased the pressure towards competitors. The introduction to the McValue Meal is by far the most economical product line that McDonald has ever offered.You can get a number of products off of their menu for a few ringgits. It is efficient and practical. Geographical pricing is evident where there are variations in price in different parts of the world, country or state. For example rarity value, or where shipping cos ts increase price. In McDonald’s Malaysia, the price differs in East Malaysia, Langkawi, Genting Highland, KLIA, and LCC Terminal. If a market is close to perfect, in other words there is a lot of competition, this means that the participants are price takers and have no influence over the price.In the case of McDonalds, if they raise their price above the market price then the consumer will simply take their business elsewhere as they can get the same product cheaper. Therefore McDonalds could concentrate their marketing on distinguishing their product from their competitors to make the consumer think that their competitors’ product is not as good. Alternatively they could reduce their price and compete that way instead. However sometimes price can act as a market indicator, that is if McDonalds burgers are cheaper than other burgers people might think they are poor quality and still buy from the competition. This branding means that the market is not perfect). So McD onalds would still need to aim their marketing at convincing the consumer that their product is good quality. McDonald's is one of the first and most sort after in the fast food business and millions around the globe, especially the food lovers are passionate about it. McDonald's offers discounts to its regular shoppers as a promotional strategy and along with that it is more cost-effective than dining at restaurants with waiters. Thus it helps in saving money which many consumers are concerned about when all the want is to fill up their appetite.People can cut down their expenses because of the discounts offered. This is the reason for its growing popularity. Purchasers prefer burgers, fries and drinks when it comes with a better price discount availed through coupons. Discounts make the demand go higher and in buying more they save even more. McDonald's coupons are sometimes given completely free. One can get them easily at any McDonald's eatery without any money. The staff is inf ormed about the discounts and can certainly give all the necessary details. Staffs are deliberately placed at shopping malls to give out these coupons, to areas where most people pass through.Online websites are launched to provide the McDonald's chits, letting one print the coupons out. Some use the internet and it is seen that many people are fond of these McDonald coupon websites. Loads of websites post their printable chits offering discount on food products at McDonald's and also inform about the coupons and lists regularly. The most important reason for McDonald’s pricing flexibility is its well-established supply chain arrangement, which ensures efficiency and speed in distribution. Besides, huge increases in volume sales and food processing technology have been helping the company to offset its cost.Place In the marketing mix of McDonald’s, the place is not just about the physical location or distribution points for products. It encompasses the management of a range of processes involved in bringing products to the end consumer. Place mix includes physical distribution, storage, inventory management, and channel selection. McDonalds is currently has over 33, 000 restaurant in 123 countries across the world. According to McDonald’s Malaysia website, there are 194 McDonald’s restaurants located nationwide. McDonald’s focuses on store placement and is always looking for the best locations.This strategy created some weaknesses because it seemed that too many stores were put in some areas, cannibalizing sales from the other McDonald’s. The company has also made convenience a focus, not only through how fast it serves customers, but also in the location of its outlets. Most McDonald’s restaurants are small spaces, especially behind the counter in the food preparation area. These areas are designed for efficiency where the equipment is placed together to cut down on wasted movement and energy. The place mainly consists of the distribution channels.It is important so that the product is available to the customer at the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity. There is a certain degree of fun and happiness that a customer feels each time he dines in McDonalds. There are certain value propositions that McDonalds offers to its customers based on their needs. McDonalds offers hygienic environment, good ambience and great service. Now McDonalds have also started giving internet facilities at their centre and they have been playing music through radio instead of the normal music.There are certain dedicated areas for children where they can play while their parents can have some quality time together. In addition to its tradition rivals such as Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut, the firm encounters new challenges. Burger King competes using a back to basics approach of quickly serving up burgers for time-pressed consumers. On the higher end, the KFC has become potent competitor in t he quick service field, taking away customers from McDonalds’s. Perhaps in the new environment, fast, convenient service is no longer enough to distinguish the irm. At this time, a new critical success factor may be emerging: the need to create a rich and satisfying experience for consumers. This brings us to service and experience based competition which McDonald’s can use for competitive advantage against Burger King. Keeping in mind the demographics of the area, with urban professional class getting bigger and bigger, McDonalds also begin to adapt by offering more elegant looks in its layout design, offering special seating and Wi-Fi access to tech-savvy consumers who eat in the outlet.It is for this overall â€Å"Food, Fun ; Folks† experience that customers pay a premium over the other competitors. McDonalds stress importance to meet customer’s expectation especially in term of time of delivery. In order to ensure fast delivery is through â€Å"Drive Thru† concept where customers can place order by driving through the counter with their car. This can save time from parking and waiting long queue for those who just want to take away the food. Customer‘s expectation is to able to get what they needs right on time at any place in convenience way and McDonalds is morphing from just a fast food restaurant to value service provider.It is getting itself closer to the customer’s base so it can serve them better. For example fast ordering system like McDelivery will not only increase McDonald’s business opportunities to those who are reluctant to travel to its physical outlet but also will delight the customers with the fast response. This is the efforts by McDonalds to serve the hunger and needs of consumers anywhere, anytime whether it is rain or shine and day or night. In Malaysia, McDonalds started 24 hours concept in 2006 with 72 selected outlets or drive thru station that operate on 24 hours basis.Logisti cs is the integration of the activities that procure materials, transform them into intermediate goods and final products through manufacturing and assembly, and deliver them to customers. For a firm as large as McDonald’s logistics is an area where proper planning results in increased efficiency. Purchasing is the most costly activity in most firms. Purchasing provides a major opportunity for management to reduce costs and increase contribution margins. Because the cost and quality of goods sold is directly related to the cost and quality of goods purchased, McDonald's must examine a number of strategies for effective purchasing.Because of the perishable nature of food, a system of just-in-time ordering and delivery is most effective for the company. For such a system to work, solid ties must be forged with a lot of suppliers. Ordering huge quantities of beef, chicken, and vegetables and expecting them to arrive at the shortest possible time requires coordination with capabl e suppliers. The company stands to gain the most with improvements in production – the actual preparation of food. Raw agricultural materials arriving at its commissary must be turned into buns, hamburger patties, french fries and McNuggets with minimal waste.It must then carry over this practice of efficiency into its outlets. Conclusion Marketing mix is the combination of four elements, called the four P’s (Product, Price, Promotion, and Place), that every company has the option of adding, subtracting, or modifying in order to create a desired marketing strategy. McDonald’s marketing mix is strategic because of the diverse approaches that are used. First, in identifying the four P’s of marketing, McDonald’s is very careful in making decisions that affect each area or how each area affects the other.McDonald’s is concerned about how the firm will fulfil the needs and wants of its customers and in the activities associated with maintain the relationships with its stakeholders. McDonald’s stakeholders include customers, franchisees, suppliers, employees, and the local communities surrounding them. McDonald’s has shown care for customers through the decisions to add more healthful foods to the menus, by changing how products are packaged or how foods are prepared, and by philanthropic contributions and sponsorships.Local adaptation, no doubt, has contributed to McDonald’s business growth in Malaysia. The restaurant has developed competitive advantages in the industry of serving quality fast food as low as cost. In addition to these decisions, the development of the Golden Arches or Ronald McDonald has provided consumers with memorable icons that are associated with quality, service, and value. McDonald’s faces some difficult challenges in moving away from the fast food king to a more conscious provider for customers who care about what they at. The keys to its future success will be maintainin g its core strengths, an unwavering focus on quality and consistency while carefully experimenting with new options. The company’s environment efforts, while important, should not overshadow its marketing initiatives. Though there are many opportunities for this fast food giant, McDonald’s must keep the strategic nature of its marketing efforts to stay on top and provide what customers want. McDonald’s uses market research information to build a marketing strategy.All parts of its organisation then have to work together to ensure that the strategy reaches its objectives. Once the marketing strategy is in place, various responsibilities are given to different individuals so that the plan can be implemented. Systems are put in place to obtain market feedback which measure success against short-term targets. McDonald’s has to ensure that this is done within the confines of a tightly controlled, finite marketing budget. Thus, the four P’s of marketing provide a good starting point for consideration of the requirements of strategy implementation in the marketing function.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberias Iron Lady

Ellen Johnson was born on  October  29, 1938, in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, amongst the descendants of original colonists of Liberia (ex-African slaves from America, who promptly on arrival set about enslaving the indigenous people using the social system of their old American masters as a basis for their new society). These descendants are known in Liberia as Americo-Liberians. Causes of Liberias Civil Conflict The social inequalities between indigenous Liberians and the Americo-Liberians have lead to much of the political and social strife in the country, as leadership bounced between dictators representing opposing groups (Samuel Doe replacing William Tolbert, Charles Taylor replacing Samuel Doe). Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf rejects the suggestion that she is one of the elite: If such a class existed, it has been obliterated over the last few years from intermarriages and social integration. Gaining an Education From 1948 to 55 Ellen Johnson studied accounts and economics at the College of West Africa in Monrovia. After marriage at the age of 17 to James Sirleaf, she traveled to America (in 1961) and continued her studies, achieving a degree from the University of Colorado. From 1969 to 71 she read economics at Harvard, gaining a masters degree in public administration. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf then returned to Liberia and began working in William Tolberts (True Whig Party) government. A Start in Politics Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf served as Minister of Finance from 1972 to 73 but left after a disagreement over public spending. As the 70s progressed, life under Liberias one-party state became more polarised—to the benefit of the Americo-Liberian elite. On April 12, 1980, Master Sergeant Samuel Kayon Doe, a member of the indigenous Krahn ethnic group, seized power in a military coup and President William Tolbert was executed along with several members of his cabinet by firing squad. Life under Samuel Doe With the Peoples Redemption Council now in power, Samuel Doe began a purge of government. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf narrowly escaped—choosing exile in Kenya. From 1983 to 85 she served as Director of Citibank in Nairobi, but when Samuel Doe declared himself president of the Republic in 1984 and unbanned political parties, she decided to return. During the 1985 elections, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf campaigned against Doe and was placed under house arrest. An Economists Life in Exile Sentenced to ten years in prison, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf spent just a short time incarcerated, before being allowed to leave the country once again as an exile. During the 1980s she served as Vice President of both the African Regional Office of Citibank, in Nairobi, and of (HSCB) Equator Bank, in Washington. Back in Liberia civil unrest erupted once more. On 9 September 1990, Samuel Doe was killed by a splinter group from Charles Taylors National Patriotic Front of Liberia. A New Regime From 1992 to 97 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf worked as Assistant Administrator, and then Director, of the UN Development Program Regional Bureau for Africa (essentially an Assistant Secretary-General of the UN). Meanwhile, in Liberia, an interim government was put in power, led by a succession of four un-elected officials (the last of whom, Ruth Sando Perry, was Africas first female leader). By 1996 the presence of West African peacekeepers created a lull in the civil war, and elections were held. A First Attempt at the Presidency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 1997 to contest the election. She came second to Charles Taylor (gaining 10% of the vote compared to his 75%) out of a field of 14 candidates. The election was declared free and fair by international observers. (Johnson-Sirleaf campaigned against Taylor and was charged with treason.) By 1999 civil war had returned to Liberia, and Taylor was accused of interfering with his neighbors, fomenting unrest and rebellion. A New Hope from Liberia On 11 August 2003, after much persuasion, Charles Taylor handed power over to his deputy Moses Blah. The new interim government and rebel groups signed an historic peace accord and set about installing a new head of state. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was proposed as a possible candidate, but in the end, the diverse groups selected Charles Gyude Bryant, a political neutral. Johnson-Sirleaf served as head of the Governance Reform Commission. Liberias 2005 Election Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf played an active role in the transitional government as the country prepared for the 2005 elections and eventually stood for president against her rival the ex-international footballer, George Manneh Weah. Despite the elections being called fair and orderly, Weah repudiated the result, which gave a majority to Johnson-Sirleaf, and the announcement of Liberias new president was postponed, pending an investigation. On  November 23, 2005, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was declared the winner of the Liberian election and confirmed as the countrys next president. Her inauguration, attended by the likes of US First Lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, took place on Monday, January 16, 2006.Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the divorced mother of four boys and grandmother to six children, is Liberias first elected female president, as well as the first elected female leader on the continent.