Evaluation of Starbucks Strategic Position In the Market Essay

Evaluation of Starbucks Strategic Position In the Market - Essay Example ?s customers are mainly coffee lovers from all walks of life and it can be noted that it has been pursuing a differentiation strategy by Porter (1985). Starbucks’ cornerstone value is to â€Å"build a company with a soul† and its broad mission is â€Å"To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a time.† The organisation broadly aims to be â€Å"a purveyor of fine coffees in the world while maintaining uncompromising principles.† Its intent has been to do the right thing and conducting its business in ways that earned the trust and respect of the customers, partners/employees, suppliers and the general public. The stakeholders include Howard Schultz, employees, customers, community members and the shareholders. 2.0 External analysis of Starbucks This section of the report seeks to analyse the external factors affecting the operations of the organisation. Two models namely PESTEL analysis and Porter’s five forces model are going to be utilised in carrying an analysis of the external factors impacting on the operations of Starbucks. Critical success factors will also be analysed in this section of the report. 2.1 PESTEL analysis A close analysis of Starbuck’s case study shows that there are various external forces obtaining in the macro-environment in which the organisation is operating and these have an impact on its operations. As such, a PESTEL analysis is going to be used to evaluate the external factors affecting the operations of Starbucks. Basically, PESTEL is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological, environmental as well as legal factors impacting on the operations of the organisation (McCarthy & Perreault, 1996). The table below outlines the analysis in detail. Table 1: PESTEL analysis for... This report seeks to analyse the external factors affecting the operations of the Starbuck’s organisation. Two models namely PESTEL analysis and Porter’s five forces model are going to be utilised in carrying an analysis of the external factors impacting on the operations of Starbucks. Critical success factors will also be analysed in this section of the report. A close analysis of Starbuck’s case study shows that there are various external forces obtaining in the macro-environment in which the organisation is operating and these have an impact on its operations. As such, a PESTEL analysis is going to be used to evaluate the external factors affecting the operations of Starbucks. Basically, PESTEL is an acronym for political, economic, social, technological, environmental as well as legal factors impacting on the operations of the organisation. In evaluating the strategic capabilities of the company, the following factors will be discussed in detail as they cons titute the internal environment of the company. Strydom posits to the effect that a key strategy should utilise the strengths of the organisation in order to gain a competitive advantage. These include human, physical and financial resources as they have a direct bearing on the performance of the company. The company’s value chain will also be discussed in this section. Since the period Howard Schultz assumed the CEO position of the company in 1987, it can be noted that it has harnessed on a number of strategic capabilities as going to be explained in brief below.

Forensic Botany Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Forensic Botany - Essay Example There are issues of specificity, profile complexity, and reproducibility that lead to the rejection of botanical evidence in courts. Moreover, a higher number of samples, translating to the urgency for analysis to yield quality and quantity have often yielded poor DNA making analysis less effective (Hall, Byrd, & Wiley InterScience, 2012). These factors usually introduce new challenges in the identification of evidence in forensic botany. Scientists have identified the fact that most of the evidence comes in mixed proportions, complicating the analysis process. Therefore, this heightens the need to develop techniques that have the potential of sorting out the mixed samples to present specific evidence. Such effective methods will help investigators rely on botanical evidence that is subject to being discarded in the current days. The development of numerous techniques used in DNA profiling has served to lay a hope for the possibility of better approaches of identification that yield evidence that is dependable in courts. Apparently, an effective DNA analysis technique for use in forensic botany must meet certain requirements. The approach must have the potential of establishing distinct differences between individual species irrespective of a high correlation. Moreover, it should have the capacity to handle robust amounts of samples (Bock, & Norris, 2008). An additional requirement of immense criticality is the fact that the technique must exhibit the potential of positively analyzing degraded plant materials. Although scientists have made progress in developing tools with the capacity to satisfy the above described requirements, only a few of the developed techniques have the potential of meeting all the... The development of numerous techniques used in DNA profiling has served to lay a hope for the possibility of better approaches to identification that yield evidence that is dependable in courts. Apparently, an effective DNA analysis technique for use in forensic botany must meet certain requirements. The approach must have the potential of establishing distinct differences between individual species irrespective of a high correlation. Moreover, it should have the capacity to handle robust amounts of samples. An additional requirement of immense criticality is the fact that the technique must exhibit the potential of positively analyzing degraded plant materials. Although scientists have made progress in developing tools with the capacity to satisfy the above-described requirements, only a few of the developed techniques have the potential of meeting all the requirements. However, the short tandem repeats (STRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Moreover, bar coding has emer ged for better analysis in the future.Specialists are usually very keen in making sure that collection of samples follows a standard procedure. The collection is a critical step because the seizure of the samples of interest occurs at this point. Prior to the collection of the intended samples, there is a need for a specialist to embark on an effective recognition procedure, before collection of the sample accurate recognition serves as the initial step in the dependence of forensic botany in identifying any sort of crime.

The Impact Of Digital Technology Media Essay

The Impact Of Digital Technology Media Essay The use of digital devices such as computers, TV, mobile phones and video game has increased substantially over the past few years globally with every corner of the globe having some form of internet available. Technology has helped humanity get things done faster and there is no doubt or shortage of recognition of these increased benefits to humanity. The most visible effect of globalization is the reach of media of all types. A number of labels have been given to describe this impact which includes media society and the information society. Arguably information and communication mediated by network and broadcast systems of all types have become more important than the workplace that defined the Industrial Age (Holmes, 2007). How far both Digital media and social media have become integrated in the lives of most of the global population is shown here as at 31st March 2011, with the exception of some third world countries such as Liberia and Ethiopia with only a .5% Internet penetration rate and St Helena with only 900 users up from zero in 2000. Africa has the lowest percentage of Internet users globally with 11.5% penetration and makes up 5.7% of internet users globally. With a population of 1.03 billion, the total Internet users are 118.8 million including 30.6 million Facebook users. At the other end of the scale Asia has the largest percentage of internet user at 44% of all users globally from its population of 3.8 billion, a penetration of 24%. China is by far the highest population of users at 485 million and India at 100 million. However China has only 504,000 Facebook users of its 485 million populations connected to the internet while Indonesia has 38.8 million Facebook users of its 39.6 million internet users. (Minwatts Marketing Group). In total the world population estimate now at 6.93 billion with 2.11 billion Internet users and 710.7 million Facebook users as at 28th September 2011Â  (Minwatts Marketing Group, 2011). The importance of the Internet in todays society is of such magnitude that Sociologists are calling it a post-broadcast, second media age rising with it questions of democracy, free speech and the public sphere (Holmes, 2007). A current debate arising from the constantly fast evolving technologies exists between those who believe technologies serve human needs and those who believe technology shapes human evolution. These beliefs arise from a trail of evolving technologies of which will end when technologies can produce more technologies, making humans disposable. Both sides of the debate agree on one factor; historical turning points are marked by technological advances such as labor, trade, transport, medicine and weapons (Carr, 2010). Further debates on whether the increasing use of digital media are good or bad for new generations have risen alongside the many concerns by parents, psychologists, psychiatrists, government institutions and health related professionals of the length of time young people spend online using either social network sites, video and computer games and cellphones. This area of concern has risen to the level of seriousness that a near formalized diagnostic mental health classification labeled Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) globally by psychologists and psychiatrists is underway. These concerns however are further defined to excessive Internet use of which excessive is still to be further defined while the issue of IAD is so far being identified by mental health professionals when perceived as an interference with other areas of a persons life. A similar case is that of video and computer games where excessive use can be detrimental rather than beneficial to children, alongside the fact that unequivocal evidence shows violent video games are highly negative in their affects. Later in the chapter this research is presented. Much controversy surrounds the fact that Internet use provides many benefits for everyone, particularly the ability to access information of which was further extended when computers were supplied by governments to third world countries to help educate their people. While this appeared to be of some benefit educationally, on the other hand evidence for long term internet use on academic performance, even though scarce, appears more negative than positive, does not provide any strong evidence of benefits to people and in fact high internet use shows some impairment of performance over a long term. Moreover, the use of gaming is highly promoted by businesses and government agencies interested in economic benefits particularly as it is one of the highest income producers for the US economy currently. These organizations promote the benefits of the games, while many others believe it is harmful as seen in academic research. It is useful to note at this stage that TV even though not a focus of this chapter has not yet been displaced by the Internet and other new technologies and remains the highest used digital technology globally. 80% of families have cable or satellite TV and children watch at least three hours per day and four on the weekends. No matter how many new technologies emerge, TV keeps its powerful presence and has become a backdrop to family life and it can now be consumed on computers, mobiles and handheld devices (Gutnick, 2010). What are the effects of digital technology to us? Anecdotal reports have highlighted the sometimes dramatic effects both good and bad that digital media, the internet, social networking and online recreation appear to be having on the way our minds work, both physiologically and psychologically Carr, 2010, Greenfield, 2010; Wolfe, 2010; Price, 2011; Lanier, 2010) and there are a growing number of scientific studies that suggest changing patterns of brain function which have been attributed to the use of digital media. On the positive side these include improved complex reasoning and problem solving (Small et al., 2009). On the negative side they encompass difficulty in concentrating on books or long articles, becoming more easily distracted, impulsiveness, thinking that has a staccato quality and lack of concentration in general (OConaille and Frohlick, 1995). Then there are reports, particularly those that explore heavy web usage, of addiction to second life and on-line games (Chak and Leung, 2004). Support services, such as On-line Gamers Anonymous, have been set up to help people addicted to online activities. Meanwhile, experts from a range of disciplines, including neuroscience, education and technology, are often in stark disagreement about the long term benefits and costs of digital technologies to our mental functioning. Disagreements arise, not only between, but also within, disciplines. For instance, the neuroscientist Johan Lehrer dismisses concerns that digital technologies deplete our brains and regards loss of some mental functioning as cognitive trade-off (inside-the-brain.com/tag/johan-lehrer).He describes how dramatic decreases in working memory, self-control and visual attention result from simply walking down a city street and points out that while this activity may temporarily affect attention and memory, It is also an essential part of everyday life. Equally, he refutes claims that internet usage develops shallow thinking (Carr, 2010b). For Lehrer, the benefits of modern technology far outweigh the costs. By contrast, Professor Susan Greenfield, an eminent neuroscientist, former Director of the Royal Institution and author of several books on brain function, believes that repeated exposure to screen based technologies may re-wire the brain. In Greenfields view this issue is almost as important as climate change (Greenfield, 2010). She believes that excessive use of digital media may even threaten the quality of our existence if, for instance, social networking sites shortening attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred and lacking inpeople-skills (Greenfield, 2003). Yet other neuroscientists, such as the team at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Development in Los Angeles who conducted some of the first studies on the effect of the digital technologies on the brain, claim that internet usage can help improve some brain functions such as complex reasoning and decision making but disrupt others, such as people skills, including empathy (Small and Vorgan, 2008). Of course the behavioural changes caused by technologies are not restricted to our brains We have all have direct experiences of the ways in which technologies have changed our lives both at work and home as indeed have our research participants. Digital media have been credited with improving communications, efficiency, availability, flexibility, speed and so on. On the other hand, studies show senior managers working harder and having longer hours than in the past. They are often expected to be available at all times; they have less status, fewer perks and stress is common (Price, 2011). According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (October 2011), stress is now the main reason for long termabsence fromwork and it is rising.As Ian Price says in his excellent Digital technologies 335 book The Activity Illusion (2011), for a number of reasons, we risk becoming enslaved by a series of work innovations that, paradoxically, were introduced in an effort to ease life i n the office (2011, p. 26). We are all aware of our own or our friends changes in behaviour; the inability to turn off our mobiles, to go 24 h without checking e-mail, to ignore Facebook, resisting the urge to check e-mails in meetings, and so on. Being connected is the norm but it can be a two-edged sword. Some of our expectations of technology have been confounded. In the 1970s and 1980s, when computers heralded a new age of efficiency and the future was envisaged as paper-free, hypertext was heralded as liberation. Introducing hyperlinks into text displayed on screen would, it was claimed, facilitate critical thinking by enabling students to compare different viewpoints. It would free up the mind. It has not worked out like this. Carr (2011) cites a number of studies that contradict these expectations. Readers of hypertext often clicked haphazardly through pages rather than reading them carefully, they were unable to remember what they had or had not read. One study compared two groups of people in their ability to answer a series of questions; one group searched online, the other searched through paper documents. The latter group outperformed the former. Research continues to show that people who read linear text comprehend more, remember more and learn more than those who read text containing links. The effect of digital technology has been determined for several causes that technology will affect human being. It is Cultural Forms, Visual Arts, Literature, Music, and Interactive Multimedia. Cultural Forms Artists working in visual art, literature, and music have begun to incorporate digital technology into their creations. In each case, they have either appropriated existing technology or created new technology to suit their particular needs. The result has been new cultural forms that have called into question the nature of the fields within which they are created, as well as the nature of the artists themselves and the roles and responsibilities of their audience. Visual Art In the field of visual art, new forms have included both two- and threedimensional works produced on computer, collaborative online art, and World Wide Web or CD-ROM-based galleries. Many artists have chosen to use the computer as merely another tool in their creative toolbox; these artists often combine traditional and digital techniques in their work, such as scanning a traditionally created watercolor and then manipulating it digitally. Many of these works are retained digitally, but often they are printed to paper (or another support, such as canvas or vinyl) and displayed like traditional artwork. Other artists maintain a similar approach, but produce threedimensional instead of two-dimensional images, and these must necessarily remain digital. Three-dimensional images are technically interactive in that viewers can rotate the image to see it from different angles or zoom in and out on details, but viewers often cannot make any lasting changes to the image. Artists working in tw o- and three-dimensional digital art have found online collaboration to be a useful tool. An artist can upload the beginning of a piece to a common server (often the World Wide Web is used), and then other artists are able to access the piece and add to it (Lovejoy 223). While artistic collaboration has certainly existed since the beginning of art itself, online collaboration gives artists physically located vast distances from one another the ability to work together as if they were in the same studio. And in a sense, they are; its simply that the studio they are occupying is virtual, rather than physical. This has provided opportunities for collaboration that might never have occurred due to physical logistics. Both digital and traditional art can now be found in virtual galleries on the World Wide Web and in CD-ROM format. Literature In literature, the involvement of digital technology has produced the cultural forms of word processing and hypertext. Word processing is, quite literally, the processing of words, in that the user inputs his or her choice of letters in order to form words and sentences. Today, users have a great deal of control over the processing of their words; they can change fonts, type size, style, and even the layout of the page if they are so inclined. These changes can be quickly applied to the entire document and modified at will. Also, entire blocks of text can be rearranged to suit the authors purpose. Word processing has changed the way literature is written. Fragments of ideas can be quickly input as the author thinks of them, and then later expanded and moved around with a few mouse clicks. An author no longer needs to interrupt his or her train of thought in order to deal with the structure or mechanics of the writing; changes can always easily be made later. However, while digital te chnology does allow the author to compose his or her thoughts in a non-linear manner, the final document, whether printed to paper or retained in digital form, almost always assumes the linear format of traditional written or printed text. There is a definite beginning and end, and the document is designed to be read linearly. Hypertext, unlike word processing, is a completely non-linear format. It requires the reader to navigate through linked blocks of text, creating a unique path that may or may not be retraced during subsequent experiences with the work. Often the reader is also able to add his or her own links to the existing hypertext structure. Other readers can then incorporate those links into their own paths if they so choose. The World Wide Web, in itself an important piece of digital technology, is essentially a gigantic hypertext. In its initial incarnation, the Web was solely text-based. The traditional novels digital counterpart is hypertext fiction. Authors such as Stuart Moulthrop, creator of Victory Garden (1991), have used hypertext to produce fictional works that allow readers to choose their own path through the story, starting at any of a number of entrance points, and encountering a different story line each time they experience the work. Readers find themselves empowered in a way never before possible. In hypertext there is no primary axis, no clear road in or out, no coordinates that have priority over any other coordinates except as the reader determines. Thus lacking an authority or guide, the reader is thrust back onto his or her self (Gaggi 103). By empowering their readers in such a manner, these authors have expanded the possibilities for literary creation. Music Musicians have been working with digital technology since its inception, and have found the computer to be a useful tool for everything from generating random sounds to controlling a sophisticated digital symphony. In recent years, a new musical genre, called techno (or more broadly, electronica), has emerged. Essentially, techno music can be defined as music that consists of mostly digitally created and sampled sounds and beats, or grooves, arranged in a repetitive, rhythmic manner and usually played at clubs and parties for the purpose of dancing. While there are myriad subgenres in the broad category of techno (drum n bass, jungle, ambient, and trance, to name only a few), they all share one common element: the involvement of digital technology in their production (hence the name techno). Techno music is created by mixing together clips of sound, known as samples. These sound clips can be culled from existing sources, such as a music CD, or they can be created from scratch using s pecialized computer software. Also, mixing can be done in the studio or live at an event such as a rave. Artists who mix in the studio often burn their creations to CD for distribution purposes, but many are turning to the popular MP3 format, which allows music to be compressed into a small file with virtually no loss of quality. The artist can then distribute these files via the Internet and reach a much larger audience. Mixing sound samples together is not a new technique exclusive to digital technology; hip-hop artists have been manually mixing beats for years using only two turntables and a mixing board. In fact, many techno DJs today still rely exclusively on analog equipment. While vinyl, for the average person, has all but disappeared in deference to the CD, in the specialized world of the DJ one finds entire stores devoted exclusively to vinyl, and most techno artists (as well as a surprising number of artists from other musical genres) release their albums in both CD and vinyl format. Despite the ubiquity of analog equipment in DJ culture, most techno artists who produce their music in the studio do use digital technology at some point. Herein lies the essential difference between a techno Interactive Multimedia In addition to affecting the cultural fields of visual art, literature, and music, digital technology has also produced a hybrid cultural form known as digital multimedia. While multimedia did exist before the advent of digital technology, digital multimedia is quite different from its predecessor. One major difference is that most digital multimedia works exploit the interactive aspect of digital technology. Viewers are able to travel through virtual space and interact with the digital forms they encounter, thereby creating new forms and pathways that they and other viewers can experience. Interactive digital multimedia is most often encountered in CD-ROM format, since the bandwidth issues of the Internet in its current state make Web-based interactive multimedia impractical for all but the most high-end user. However, new technologies are currently being developed in both file compression (i.e. Flash for animations and MPEG for streaming video) and bandwidth delivery (i.e. cable mo dems and DSL) that promise to greatly improve the capabilities of the Internet and make Web-based interactive digital multimedia commonplace in the near future. It is within interactive digital multimedia that one finds the traditional roles of artist and audience most in question. One is no longer strictly a visual artist, writer, or musician, but rather a critical cultivator, first searching to comprehend the possible meanings that emerge from this accumulation of nanocircuitry and indeterminate layers of code, then trying to reconstitute those emergent phenomena in such a way that they can become part of an evolving cultural discourse (Shaw 165). Even the genre-neutral terms producer and creator are troublesome, since the aspect of interactivity in digital multimedia makes the audience as important an influence on the development of the work as the so-called creator. While these issues do occur in other digital cultural forms as well, the very nature of interactive digital multim edia provides the most fertile environment for the exploration of these issues by both artist and audience. In conclusion Digital technology and its increasing prevalence have impacted human life radically in the last few decades. From the advent of the digital society, spawned by the invention of the computer and ENIAC, one of the first digital computers in 1946, to the present day, digital technology and computing have worked their way into more areas of life, from communications to finance to social interaction. You can see the impact daily in homes, schools and offices. The impact of computer technology on our lives makes much sector change in word of work. Computer technology is such a big factor in everyones lives today. In my own life I cannot leave my house without my mobile phone I feel secure when I have my mobile phone with me so I can be contacted or if i was ever to be in trouble I could ring my family. Also social networking is another great form of communication. people who live in different countries and want or need to contact with friends or people from across the world, they can just set up a personal profile on a social networking site and work from there doing this safely and securely for them. Computer technology is also in schools for basic training for computers themselves as people can now do online courses to further their education, fitting this into their own schedules. Skype is also a great invention as I have family who live abroad so I and my family can always talk to them and see their faces its great as you wouldnt see them for months at a time.

A Voice From The South Essay examples -- essays research papers

Anna J. Cooper – A Voice from the South   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In her book, A Voice from the South, Anna J. Cooper expressly addresses two issues: the participation of women in American society and America’s race problem. These are two issues very close to Cooper as an African American woman herself and she claims to speak for all African American women on these points. She argues that for America to be a truly democratic country that has freedoms for all people, it must have participation by women and blacks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first half of her book is concerned with the role of women in society. She compares a healthy family structure to a democratic society. In both cases, men and women have distinct roles they must fulfill in order to create a balanced, healthy environment. Since political participation for women was limited at the time of Cooper’s writing, she argued that not only were women suffering, but so was all of society. She argued that women’s sensitivity to emotion and intuition and their nurturing nature would balance out society that was controlled by aggressive and reason-oriented men. She argues that men and women are equals but their responsibilities to society are distinctive.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the second half of her book, Cooper addresses America’s race problem. She argues that, yes, there is a problem concerning race in America and the only way that it will eventually be solved is by the power and grace of God. U...

Spirituality for the Alienated

Struggling with the Spirit in today’s world is a daunting challenge. Most fail. This is because the mainline culture holds that the life of the Spirit is actually a life of the mind, a life of the emotions somewhat distorted by older, â€Å"discredited† system of spirituality and life. Burg’s project, however, is not so much denying this rather dogmatic approach, but in reconstructing it so that the moderns can come to the life of the spirit with few doubts and problems. However, Borg speaks to me for several reasons: first, my love of the eastern tradition stresses Christ as Tao, as the path, rather than as a dogmatic set of beliefs.It is not so much that dogma is a problem–as it merely asserts things as true–but these propositions never exist in themselves, they exist as part of a broader whole, a struggle with myself and the modern world (Damascene, 1999). This struggle is about integration: the integration of a tradition, a set of beliefs held p ropositionally, but also its integration within a culture that is often hostile, and that–it seems–seeks to constantly throw roadblocks in the way of one’s struggle. This paper, then, will take my own struggle through the methods Borg uses to reconnect Christianity to modern life.The basic thesis here is integration: taking the insights from all relevant communities to construct a reasonable and useful understanding of Jesus and his mission. For Borg’s (1995) work, the real struggle is twofold: first, the struggle between the communal understanding of Christ and his historical essence, and second, the struggle with integrating â€Å"modern scholarship† with one’s life of true faith. This struggle is very real, but for Borg, his uncritical acceptance of â€Å"modern scholarship† as a set of infallible oracles who have no agenda or ulterior motives make his approach weak and compliant.Nevertheless, the insights taken from this approach cannot be ignored. The basic historical approach Borg takes is highly problematic: Christ did not say what is attributed to him, this existed as an oral tradition prior to being written down, hence unreliable, and lastly, that these oral ideas were written down by a community that had already experienced Christ and hence, itself is largely personal and cultural (Borg, 1995). Unfortunately, he refuses to deal with the large body of work that refutes these theses, such as McDowell (2006), Strobel (1998), Siciliano (2001) and so many others.His assumption that the modernist scholarship is true (rather than as an ideological construct) shows his criticism to be poorly developed: if the Christ of the ancient world is an ideological construct of the community (and hence unreliable), why is the modern academic, also part of a community, not guilty of the same crime? The fact that Borg is a part of this community might help in answering that problem. If I am to hold that Christ is the creat ion of an ideologically motivated community, then there is no reason why the â€Å"modern scholarship† on this question is not also an ideologically motivated community.Nevertheless, it is the case that struggles against the modern idea are real, and some of their insights cannot be cast out of hand, as this community does to what they call the â€Å"fundamentalists. † There are several issues Borg takes the reader though that are full of insight and use for the modern Christian buffeted by the modern mentality. In Borg’s Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time (1995), he stresses that images of Jesus are important for one’s development as a Christian. There are several images that he identifies:Jesus as Savior: likely the most common image. Christ came to earth to save man frm sin, to take his human nature and link it to the divine, hence cleansing it, and bringing it through the realm of death, hence conquering it. Second, Jesus as teacher, Jesus came to earth to primarily teach a set of doctrines about Himself, the world and the Christian’s relation to it. Third, Jesus as the â€Å"king of creation,† the stern judge and teacher of righteousness. Fourth, Jesus as moralist, that Jesus came to earth to primary teach an ethical system.And lastly, Jesus as a liturgical figure, the Jesus whose beauty is such that normal words cannot describe it, but it can only be understood in poetry and the symbolism of liturgy (Borg, 2-5). This is an important approach. All of these, to one extent or another, are a part of each Christian’s life, but some are more significant than others. Borg seems to hold that the real problem for modern Christians is the â€Å"propositional† nature of â€Å"faith. † That faith, for him, is the assent to a series (literally a list) of propositions: Christ is the Son of God, Christ walked on water, etc.The problem is that the modern person lives in a society that lives by its own do gmas: that such things cannot happen because they â€Å"violate the laws of nature. † Of course, this assumes that Christ is not their author. He does have a solution, one that I find personally satisfying: that there are two Christs (though not literally), the Christ that existed prior to the resurrection, and the Christ that came after. The latter is the Christ that should motivate the modern reader, and this is the Christ that motivated the early Christian community to write the scriptures.The assumption is that this community made up a series of stories and held to it. The fact that the resurrection and crucifixion made no sense to the surrounding Jewish or pagan world is not considered. In other words, that no real religious interest was served by creating these stories, since the concept of a crucified God was abhorrent to both communities. Nevertheless, he holds that the motivation of writing the Gospels come from the resurrection, which Borg takes as true from the tes timony of the Scriptures that he does not trust (Borg, 1995). Nevertheless, Borg, while inconsistent, is involved with a similar struggle to my own.Being from a secular household, the concept of Christ and his miracles was strange to me. No different, really, than a cartoon superhero. It was so easy to reject them, so hard to accept them. But this was not a matter of assent and intellectual life, but rather socially. To preach Christ to anyone other than the converted is to lose a great deal of social capital. This I felt powerfully. But intellectually, I never had a problem: â€Å"science,† or rather, the scientific establishment, tells me that the infinitely complex life of DNA came into existence by chance.If this was true, then how strange was it to believe that God came to earth to teach men about Himself? I never thought it strange that Christ was God, while my friends believed that Eric Clapton was God. What I did find strange was the mentality of belief as â€Å"prop ositions. † In other words, that one could hold to the list of accepted beliefs about God and Christ, but the integration of these ideas into the world about them was the real challenge. Borg’s other famed work, The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering the life of Faith, has helped me put this problem into a better perspective.In fact, it is precisely the statement of the problem that makes the most sense, just as much as the solution itself. In other words, the context of the problem suggests its own answer. Borg writes that Christ should be seen as a way of life rather than as a set of beliefs (Borg, 2004, 25). However, the problem is that Borg seems to say this so as to relieve himself of the pressure of believing things that â€Å"modern scholarship† has decided are false. This, as I have already said, is the great weak spot of this series of books. But it helps to place it like this:Dogma: This is an intellectual approach to God and Christ. It holds to a set of beliefs both as reflecting the historical world of facts, and at the same time, demands a consistency among the propositions believed. This is fair enough. But the real issue is that it is a matter of the head. If Christianity was to be a strictly rational, empirical religion, then why did Christ not speak in this way? Christ, rather than speaking as a metaphysician, spoke in parables, He spoke in aphorisms, He spoke in stories of only a few sentences. He seems to preach by example as much as by words.Way: Christ preached by example, by the words and actions that he integrated within himself for a short span of three years. He struggles with non-belief, the arrogance of the Pharisees, and incomprehension of the Romans. But this is precisely our condition: our modern Pharisees, our modern secular people consistently give us trouble. Christ is a way of struggle rather than as a set of dogmatic beliefs (Damascene, 1999). Borg (2004, 28-37) does one better: he reduces the struggle t his way: Christ and the Christian mission in the modern world can be reduced to four specific approaches:(1) Assensus: this is a matter of rational assent. This is the problem, at least when such assent is separated from the community. One can hold that Borg is really trying to minimize conflicts, to minimize the â€Å"dogmatic† element of Christ so as to lower the threshold of belief: more and more can come to Christ if they do not need to â€Å"pass the belief test. † At the same time, Borg can also be said to hold this because either he does not believe the dogmatic pronouncements about Christ, or his community (i. e. the academic community) does not, and he does not want to be left out, or attacked as a â€Å"fundamentalist.† (2) Fidelity: this is the matter is personal relationship. This is not so much a matter of a-dogmatism, but goes beyond it: love is stronger than intellectual assent. One follows Christ not because he has given assent to a series of dog mas, but rather, because Christ is a man worthy of being followed. A man that exudes love in the strongest sense of the world. (3) Vision: the approach where faith in Christ makes sense out of the whole: the world, the community even of religion. While it is is true that Christ preached the coming of his Church, he did not speak of it all that much.Christ spoke of a life of struggle, of virtue, of a personal relationship through faith. The apostles had this, and still could not keep Judas. The vision is to bring the whole into integration with Christ’s teachings, the real basis of this paper and the basis of my personal life. One cannot run from the world, but one can infuse it with Christ and his teachings. But this is difficult with so many teachings about Christ, one does not know which image to pick,. This is the problem, and many have rejected Him altogether because fo the disagreements. This many be the real strength of Borg and his approach.(4) Trust: this seems to syn thesize all the above. One trusts in the message of Jesus, but a message that might not be literally â€Å"true,† but is the experience of God in and by the community. If one approaches scriptures in this manner, then one can get over the â€Å"belief threshold† and see the Scriptures as a â€Å"response to God,† rather than a historical record. On a more personal note, the most satisfying part of Borg’s work is in his threefold â€Å"basis† of the Christian life in the modern era. I’d like to make this the conclusion, and the real central element of my personal response to reading Borg.In his (2004) work, Borg holds that the modern mission of Christianity can be reduced to three elements: (1) The affirmation of the reality of God. Now this can be done two ways: first, through intellectual arguments, but also as a set of experiences. Borg prefers the latter. Nevertheless, in my own history, it was the former that led me to the latter. In my younger years of obligatory doubt, it was not the experience of God, it was the understanding of him. Once I understood him, I could feel and experience him. But my understanding came in the form of a series of negations: I could not believe that DNA ever came into existence by chance.DNA is the great proof of the intelligence of God, the very nature of His creative power (at least that which is open to human observation). I could not believe that matter was eternal. Even in my younger years, while I could not articulate such an idea, I most certainly believed it. Materialism holds that matter is God, in the sense that all things, including life, came from it. It is also eternal and hence, all powerful. Once I realized this set of ideas that must be held by materialism, I realized that the life of the spirit was for me. Life cannot come from death, since something cannot give what it does not have.Consciousness does not come from chance. I saw these as the affirmation of the dogmati c and ideological community of modern scholarship and science, I saw it as the worst and crudest form of obscurantism (2) The centrality of Jesus. While I have no problem with this concept, I can not imagine that Borg can say the same. Jesus? But if one holds that the Jesus of Scripture is deliberately falsified, then what is he speaking of here? He never says. Jesus seems to become an archetype rather than a person. If one holds that the New Testament is falsified (a concept I hold as fantastic) then Christ can never be central.In other words, unless one holds to certain things as historically true (i. e. dogma), then Christ can never be the central part of one’s life. (3) Lastly, the centrality of the scriptures. There are two ways of viewing this: first, the scriptures as historically true, which Borg rejects, and the scriptures as reflecting, in words, the early community’s experience with God. Of course, these are not mutually exclusive, but the latter does more a ccurately reflect out situation. We do experience God in our lives. What we write about this comes out as vague and poetic.It is not history, but at best, psychology. It does not mean that the experiences are false, but that there are only so many ways that such experiences can be expressed. The final expression cannot, however, be called â€Å"history. † I commend Borg for trying, but he ultimately, fails. He cannot have it both ways: to reject scripture (as his community does) but still hold Jesus as central. Jesus cannot be central if his life is falsified. Borg is ultimately a sloppy writer that seems to want to pleas everyone, and make Christianity an easy religion for all to approach.Whatever he likes about the Scriptures he uses, whatever will get him made fun of by his colleagues, he rejects. This is dishonest, and says more about the academic community than the early Christian community. Basically Borg is trying to rescue Christianity from the attacks of the modern c ritics, while affirming that everything that those critics say about the Bible is true. Nevertheless, we have all experienced the doubt, the pressure of the outside world. It is all the matter of context and expression: how we approach God in a materialistic world. That, Borg can do nicely. Bibliography:Borg, Marcus (1995) Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time. HarperOne. ___. (2004) The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering the Life of Faith. HarperOne Damascene, Fr. (1999) Christ the Eternal Tao. St. Herman’s Press. Fr. Damascene’s book strongly takes the approach advocated by Borg. He holds that Christ as a relational entity (so to speak) leads to believing in Christ as the Way, a method, a path to Enlightenment and truth. McDowell, Josh. (2006). Evidence for Christianity. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Strobel, Leo. (1998). The Case for Christ. Zondervan. Siciliano, Terry. (2001) Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Evidence for Christianity.Truth Press. These are three major wor ks that refute the thesis that Christ’s message was falsified. There are many means to do this, but the most impressive one is that the message that came out in the Scriptures is repugnant to both the Jewish and Pagan mentality: rising from the dead, execution like a common criminal, no military force, etc. were all highly disagreeable to the environment in which the Scriptures were first written and disseminated. Hence, they must be true. If one was going to invent a series of events, the last series one would invent at the time was that which was actually written.

Marketing plan Essay

Trappist Dairy is glad to providing quality and healthy beverages for customer’s daily consumption. Trappist believes that milk is the best natural source of nutrition that good for people. Trappist Dairy started out as a small dairy farm operated under the Trappist Monastery in the early 60’s to supply bottled fresh milk for Lantau Island. The small operation carried on until as recently as the early 80’s when Trappist Dairy relocated from Lantau to Yuen Long in order to meet increasing demand for the Trappist brand fresh milk from the public. Trappist Dairy also carries a wide range of delicious flavored milk drinks and unique milk drinks. Because the milk industry in Hong Kong is very competitive, to ensure continuing growth, Trappist is looking to extent its products and develops a new product to customers, based on the reasonable price, good-quality milk in Hong Kong. And I hired by Trappist Dairy, I will develop a marketing plan to capitalize on an opportunity identified in Hong Kong. Three parts are included in this marketing plan, including introduction, current market situation and marketing objective. I will investigate the current market situation deeply by analyzing the market and my company. I will then conduct SWOT (Strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis, competitor analysis and customer analysis. Finally, I will recommend a target market and position of Trappist Dairy. Market Analysis The market analysis includes both the internal and external business environment. It is vital for Trappist Dairy to carefully monitor both the internal and external aspects regarding it’s business as both the internal and external environment and their respective influences will be decisive traits in relation to Trappist Dairy’s success and survival in the milk industry. Internal Business Environment The internal business environment and its influence is that which is to some extent within the business’s control. The main attributes in the internal environment include efficiency in the production process, through management skills and effective communication channels. External Business Environment The External business environment and its influences are usually powerful forces that can affect a whole industry and, in fact, a whole economy. Changes in the external environment will create opportunities or threats in the market place Trappist Dairy must be aware off. Fluctuations in the economy, changing customer attitudes and values, and demographic patterns heavily influence the success of Trappist Dairy’s products on the market and the reception they receive from the consumers. Trappist Dairy is concerned with overall state of milk market in Hong Kong. According to the Trappist Dairy’s research, about 31.3% people like to drink fresh milk, 28.3% Hi-Cal low fat milk drink, 1.5% Skimmed milk drink, 1.5% Pure milk drink, 15.6% Chocolate milk drink, 21.8% other milk favorite taste. The demand for Hong Kong grew at around 5-10% per annum from 1999 to 2006. Current sales of imported milk are less to foreigners. Less than 10% market of milk import from USA, Canada, Mainland China, Europe, Australia, New Zealand etc. The sales volume for the milk segment in Hong Kong reached $36.2 million in 2006 for a volume of 130 million liters. It has shown a steady growth since 1980: an increase of 9.5% over a period of 26 years. The consumption rate per new product in 1995 has reached 0.98 liters, which represents a 4.0% increase compared to 1999. The growth of new market is largely due to a consumer trends. Company Analysis Trappist Dairy is a medium sized company with a large amount of market share in Hong Kong. It produces products of high quality and good taste. The company currently produces ten products in three product lines, namely pure fresh milk, delicious flavored milk drinks and Low Fat Yogurt Drink. Pure fresh milk is a traditional style milks with (Protein, Fat, Calcium) natural source of nutrients. Hi-Calcium Low Fat Milk Drink contains one-third more natural calcium than average milk products with level of fat as low as 1.5g, Skimmed milk with 0% fat but no cholesterol, Chocolate Milk with a perfect blend of intense aroma and sophisticated mouth feel. Trappist Dairy also provides another favor taste such as Mango Papaya Low Fat Milk Drink and Ginger Low Fat Milk Drink. Trappist Dairy can manufacture competitive drinks at competitive prices with implementation of its newer and cutting edge technologies. Trappist Dairy believes in total quality control. For fresh milk, quality control starts from the selection of feed. Trappist Dairy monitors the health and living conditions of the dairy cows to ensure that Trappist Dairy can deliver supreme good taste and nutritious milk. Trappist Dairy production lines run daily to ensure fresh delivery every day to customers, while Trappist Dairy salesmen and telesales team are dedicated to deliver the best service to satisfy customer needs. So they can gain overriding market share. Competitor Analysis In Hong Kong, the milk industry is quite competitive. The industry is divided into milk, soy milk and yogurt. Compared to soy milk and yogurt, the market for milk is very large because Hong Kong people think that milk is an essential and health drink. Also, Government and school always promote milk and its health benefits, from baby to adult, the milk market has been growing since 1980. Hong Kong’s three largest milk producers control approximately 90% of the local’s milk market. There are two major competitors in below. The Kowloon Dairy LTD was founded in 1940. Today, It produced fresh milk in Tuen Mun factory, employ nearly 500 people and had distribution network reaches almost all corners of Hong Kong and Macau. They have diversified to produce a variety of recombined milk drinks, such as Hi-calcium milk, skimmed milk, different flavored milk, and other ice cream products. Vitasoy Group was bringing the milk drink made from this healthy little bean to a wider market began in 1940. They introduced paper packed products and were the first Hong Kong company to introduce Tetra Pak packaging technology for drinks production. The Tetra Pak packaging system, which ensures that, a drink product can be kept for months without refrigeration. The Group pushed into overseas markets in 90s. The group’s products sell in over 40 markets around the world – including the USA, Canada, Mainland China, Europe etc. There are other competitors such as foreigner brand or small local brand. However, they are less competitive compared with these two brands (Kowloon Dairy & Vistasoy) and less marketing share in Hong Kong market. Customer Analysis Given the size of the Hong Kong market, Trappist Dairy will concentrate on entering the market in the supermarket, Convenience stores and some classic stores. This is a wealthy segment of the market, consisting primarily of aged 3-80 years and interested in purchasing milk as a health and keeping nutrition like calcium recovery. Targeting this group will allow Trappist Dairy to enter the market at the top and keeping competition with another brand of product. A strategy could be to target on the price and quality. An advantage of targeting all age is that they have a great need on milk, it regards as the potential to become long-term customers and have not yet developed taste of milk segmentation. If Trappist Dairy can satisfy this market, it will theoretically be easy to penetrate and expand to Hong Kong or other markets. A number of behavioral and attitudinal descriptors are identified in the table on the following below. Segmentation parameters Future Hong Kong market Age 3-80 years Sex Male or Female or Both Income Above average $6000/m Geographic Hong Kong Attitude health and keeping nutrition and seek long-term advantages Lifestyle young, mature, old Usage rates daily users Benefits desired Buys for the benefits of health, quality and reasonable price Furthermore, within this market it is possible to further segment the preferred target market for Trappist Dairy’s offering. Age can be used to further segment the market. Although older members of the family have a large influence on purchase decisions in Hong Kong, these older people are part of the ‘late majority’ group, which is not an attractive group for new products. Therefore the age of the target segment will be 18 to 44, as these individuals should be more likely to adopt new products or at least be influenced by ‘early adopters. These individuals make up almost 50% of the total population, and so form a profitable target segment. SWOT Analysis In the following SWOT analysis, I investigate the strengths and weakness of Trappist Dairy. Also, I try to find out the opportunities and threats facing Trappist Dairy. Strength †¢Staff are highly trained and always be aware of the nee of customers †¢Trappist Dairy offers quality and healthy beverages at reasonable price. †¢A strong brand of Trappist Dairy is built through brand building and promotion Trappist Dairy provides standardized products, efficient for productive and specialized milk. †¢Trappist Dairy is able to maintain good relationship with customers’ e.g. facebook fanspage The strengths are a devotion to customer service, and the tastes and innovativeness of the products. Customer service is a essential level in Hong Kong in terms of building relationships with new customers. Trappist Dairy offers outstanding after sales service, with teams located in every major superstores. The Trappist Dairy also has a follow-up strategy that includes phone calls and emails to new customers giving them the chance to open dialogues with the firm. Also, Trappist Dairy are proud to highlight four of new and unique milk drinks: Low Lactose Low Fat Milk Drink, Ginger Low Fat Milk Drink, Mango-Papaya Low Fat Milk Drink and Oats Hi-Calcium Milk Drink. They offer unique flavors and functions for the needs of different customers. Has been operating successfully for over a century. Is known world-wide and operates in more than 20 countries. Trappist Dairy has a large share of the milk segment – holding approximately 40 per cent. The Trappist Dairy Company is one of most recognised trademark in the world. Weakness †¢line extensions The time taken to do business in China will stretch human resources Capital is required for expansion into exporting †¢ The prices could not be fitted by all. Lack of prior exposure to Chinese market. Experiencing Chinese Distribution system will be a greater challenge. Introduction of new organizational practices and employees with lack of experience will be a challenging part. Opportunity †¢Image of Trappist Dairy is clear and it is good for developing the brand name of Trappist Dairy †¢Marketing becomes more easy as people is familiar with the brand name of Trappist Dairy †¢As Trappist Dairy has launched in Hong Kong for long time, it knows the taste and preference of Hong Kong people well and it can develop popular food more easily. Milk is perceived as healthy. Milk consumption is growing Has significant growth opportunities. Has sufficient capital to expand. Has the potential to innovate and differentiate the company’s products to sustain a competitive advantage. May merge with other global businesses to eliminate competitors. Capable of expanding into other markets other than the soft drink market. Has many major global competitors with its main one being Turner Dairy. Trappist Dairy can be substituted by other milk drink products made by its competitors. These competitors may develop marketing strategies to eliminate The Trappist Dairy Company. Product diversification According to an analysis of the external environment, two major opportunities exist. These are an increase on sales of milk over the past year, and a minimum of Ginger low fat milk drink products being marketed by competitors. According to Hong Kong Discuss Forum, the new taste of milk drinks increased by 8% in 2009. This shows that there is an increasing market for the new of taste milk drinks. Threat Language and cultural differences exist Business relationships take a long time to forge Less ability to make a family image to another country customers Hong Kong and China Government are very concern the quality and ingredients. †¢There is keen competition from competitors selling similar products e.g. Kowloon Dairy LTD, Vitasoy etc. Biggest threat would be Hong Kong’s local of milk brand. Existing companies like Kowloon Dairy LTD would add-up to the threat. Young people like to choose the new things such as new taste of milk or product from Kowloon Dairy LTD presented. Recommended Target Market Hong Kong This is a wealthy segment of the market, which will allow Trappist Dairy to keep the market at the top and filter its product down easily. Because Hong Kong people are familiar with Trappist Dairy, and Trappist Dairy has already occurred in Hong Kong over 50 years. It is the main place for Trappist Dairy to get money. Also, Trappist Dairy had already doing many research and have a big piece of milk market penetration. It regards as a star with a long term development. A strategy could be to target the Hong Kong through many advertisements. It is a very effective to target all-aged. If Trappist Dairy can satisfy this market, it will theoretically be easy to expand to other markets. China A large potential market for milk in China remains. With relatively low capita consumption of milk, this market has a great opportunity to growth. According to China Gov news, many production milk of company can’t provide a good quality to their resident, even worst that made their body get harm. The reason is that they are not very focus on quality control and ingredient. They are just focus on the money. This is a very great of opportunity for Trappist Dairy becoming a success, if Trappist Dairy provides a good quality and reasonable price to Chinese. Chinese is also focusing on health and nutrition. Trappist Dairy can shows the performance like Hong Kong to let them know that Trappist Dairy is a brand which is dedicated to providing dairy products of the best quality and family’s daily consumption. Recommended Position The intended positon for Trappist Dairy’s product is to be at the middle to high of the local or imported milk. That position may be interpreted as a high-quality, health, fitted all-aged and many taste provided. The retail price range of the Trappist Dairy’s product is depend on the competitor product. Generally, Trappist Dairy preferred to set the same or lower than their price. Marketing Objectives Goal: To increase flesh milk and daily market share and product awareness Objective: To obtain 60% market share of the milk market in Hong Kong within January 2012 to December 2015. To obtain 13% market share of milk market in China Future: Trappist Dairy’s will develop new marketing strategies end of 2013 -We aim to increase earnings per share by at least 10% every year for the foreseeable future. Functional objectives – We aim to build customer database of at least 250,000 households within the next 12 months. -We aim to achieve a market share of 60%. – We aim to achieve 80% customer awareness of our brand in our target markets. Overall Marketing Objectives: -Predicting and satisfying customer needs. -Analyzing marketing trends. -Monitoring competition. -Anticipating change and overcoming its effects. -Increasing positive perception among its customers. -To identify distinctive, compelling and competitive positioning in promoting Trappist Dairy -To increase overall awareness of Trappist Dairy by health and aggressive advertising. Reference http://trappistdairy.hk/ http://www.lark.com.hk/dairy_chi.html http://www.mplans.com/sample_marketing_plans.php