Theoretical and Empirical Analyses

Question: Discuss about the Theoretical and Empirical Analyses. Answer: Introduction The present report aims to provide an analysis and examination of the case study of Planter Nuts for identifying the reason of its declining performance in recent times. In this context, the report emphasises on diagnosing the problem faced by Planter Nuts through the application of 5Cs framework and analyse consumer behaviour in snack nut category. Also, it evaluates marketing research carried out Kraft Foods Group in respect to Planter Nuts and segmenting, targeting and position strategy of Planters. The company is also provided recommendation for its brand positioning strategy in the report. 5Cs Framework to Diagnose the Problem as to Why Planters Nuts Performance has been Struggling As depicted in the case study, the consumption of Snack nuts of Planters brand is declining among the US consumers. 5Cs framework is a situational analysis technique that helps in examining of internal and external environmental factors to provide a better understanding of a marketing problem in context (Chernev and Alexander, 2014). The reason for the decline in performance of Planter Nuts can be evaluated successfully through the application of 5Cs framework consisting of the following components: Customer: This helps in gaining an understanding of the needs and expectations of the customers. Planter Nuts, a brand of Krafts Foods Group, aspired to become the national nut by providing consumers high quality products at minimum cost. Planters initially emphasised on providing peanuts to the US consumers but later expanded its product line to include cashews and mixed nuts. However, later the company also included almonds and pistachios in its product line with increased demands of these nut types by US consumers due to their health benefits. The expansion of the product line of Planters caused a decline in the sales of its core product areas that are, peanuts, cashews and mixed nuts. This was mainly due to increase in the competition in the snack nut market of the US from the brands such as Blue Diamond, Wonderful, and Emerald. The case study analysis depicts that competitive brands offer products to the customers at relative lower prices than Planter (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Als o, the shift of consumers towards more healthy nuts such as almond and pistachios were responsible for the decline in sales of the companys core products (Consumers Go Nuts for Healthy Snacks, 2015). Company: This analysis is carried out for gaining a proper understanding of the companys position for meeting the customer needs. This can be evaluated through analysing Planter strengths and weakness through SWOT analysis: Strengths: Good brand image among the US customers (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Providing high quality and tasteful nuts in the snack nut category (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016) Weakness: Targeting only one market segment of males aged between 35-65 years (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Recognised among the US consumers as only offering high quality peanuts, cashews and mixed nuts and does not gain customer recognition in healthy nuts category such as almond and pistachios (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Opportunities: Expanding the product line for increased offering of high quality almonds and pistachios nuts to the customers (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Threats: High cost of nuts as compared to the competitive brands such as Emerald (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016) Competition: Planter Nuts is facing stiff competition from Blue Diamonds, Wonderful and Emerald. Blue diamonds has achieved a good brand name in providing almond nut to the customers. On the other hand, Wonderful is a dominant player in offering pistachios nut among the US market segment. The increasing shift of US consumers towards almonds and pistachios due to their health benefits is impacting the sales of planters peanuts (Watson, 2014). Almonds are recognised as healthy for heart by the American Herat Association. In addition to this, brands such as Emerald offers relatively low priced peanuts in comparison to planters as depicted by the case study further negatively impacting Planter sales and profits (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Collaborators: Planter nuts need to implement major changes in its operational activities such as procurement and manufacturing for meeting the customer needs. It needs to reduce its operational cost by offering low price products for achieving a competitive advantage. Also, the company need to increase its suppliers providing almonds and pistachios nuts for meeting changing customer needs (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016).. Context: The nut consumption trends on the basis of demographics reveal that there is increased consumption of snack nuts by males in comparison to females. However, Planter nuts current positioning strategy only target male segment aged between 35-65 years. Also, the nut consumption is more in population group above the age of 65 years. The demographic trends as illustrated by the case study indicate that planters need to modify its current positioning strategy for improving its performance (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Analysis of Consumer Behaviour in the Snack Nut Category The case study demonstrates the changing trend and preferences of the US population group towards the consumption of snack nuts. The increased popularity of the nuts is on account of high protein and energy nutrition provided by the snack nuts responsible for their large volume sales in the country (International Markets Bureau, 2011). However, there has been dramatic change in consumer behaviour towards snack nut category in recent times. Earlier, the US population group regarded peanuts as basic nut and flavoured peanuts become more popular among the countrys population group. Planters peanuts sales recorded high sales during this time and its salty peanuts were in high demands among the US consumers (Schultz, 2014). The expansion in product line of Planters nuts for cashews and mixed nuts drive the attention of customers towards them and cashews are regarded as the most delicious nut among the US consumers. The market entry of Blue Diamond and Wonderful brand in the snack nut market of the US brought major changes in the taste and preferences of the consumers. The introduction of almonds and pistachios brought attention of the consumers towards eating nutritious and healthy snack nuts. Almonds were regarded as healthy for heart by American Heart Association and this cause a rise in the demand of these nuts among the consumers in the country (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Peanuts, cashews and mixed nuts were relatively perceived as high in fats by the consumers and thus less healthy (Consumers Go Nuts for Healthy Snacks, 2015). In this context, the theory of reasoned action used for analysing consumer behaviour trends states that specificity is a critical factor in the decision-making process of a consu mer. The expectation of achieving a specific result from an action taken influences the purchasing behaviour of consumers. Thus, the perception of gaining a specific advantage with purchasing a product plays a major role in decision-making process of consumers (Southey, 2011). Source: Southey, G. 2011. The Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour Applied to Business Decisions: A Selective Annotated Bibliography. Journal of New Business Ideas Trends 9(1), pp. 43-50. The change in consumer behaviour regarding the consumption of snack nuts can be mainly attributed due to their changed perception eating fat free and nutritious nuts such as almond for staying healthy. The increased awareness among the US consumers about the benefits of eating healthy snacks is causing the changes in their buying patterns in snack nut category (Sweeney, 2000). The figure below reflects percentage of peanut consumption in the US: Evaluation of Marketing Research Undertaken by the Kraft Foods Group in Respect to Planters Nuts Planters Nuts is a part of Kraft Foods but the entity has recently divided into two parts, Mondelez and Kraft Foods Group. Kraft Foods Group is involved in grocery business in North America and Planters has been a part of it since the split. Kraft Foods has assigned a new management team for identifying the main issues responsible for the declining sales of the Planters (Ahead of Spin-Off, Kraft Goes Nuts to Support Grocery Business, 2012). The marketing team under the new management has undertaken a research for gaining a better understanding of the current situation of the company through gathering market data. The research undertaken involved both qualitative and quantitative survey for achieving a specific answer for the research problem. The quantitative surveys undertaken by Krafts Food Group provided an insight into the consumer perceptions of snack nuts on the basis of health benefits and costs. The quantitative data also reflects the brand awareness of Planters among the US consumers and assessed its brand equity in terms of quality, popularity, familiarity, uniqueness and relevance. The result obtained through quantitative survey concluded Planter a recognised and established brand among the US consumers in snack nuts category (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). In addition to this, qualitative research such as in-depth interview and focus groups surveys was also undertaken by Kraft Foods Group. The in-depth interview carried out among the consumers depicted that Planters was mainly recognised as providing quality products for peanuts, cashews and mixed nuts. It has still not achieved brand recognition in category of growth products that are, almonds and pistachios. Almonds and pistachios are regarded as healthy nuts by American consumers and other products such as cashews and peanuts are associated with high fat content (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). There is dramatic shift in the customer preferences towards healthy nuts in comparison to that of flavoured nuts such as salty peanuts, a core product of Planters. Also, the core products of Planters were attributed by customers to be high in cost as compared to similar products offered by competitive brand such as Emerald. The current marketing strategy of Planters can be regarded as ineffective as c ustomers perceive the companys products out-dated. The current positioning strategy of Planters was mainly developed on the basis of demographic variables. The company mainly targets male customers of age group 35-65 years. However, case study analysis shows that nut consumption is more in the adult population of above the age group of 65 years in the US. Moreover, female population group in the country consumes more nuts as compared to that of male population (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). In this context, cognitive learning theory can prove to be very useful in analysing and examining the information collected through market research by Kraft Foods Group in relation to Planters declining performance. As per cognitive learning theory, consumers behaviour towards purchasing a specific product or service is mainly influenced by their thought process. The thought process of consumers is mainly influenced by their present and past experiences achieved through the consumption of a specific product or service over time. Consumer leaning in accordance with cognitive theory can be described as acquiring information and experience about a product or service in past period of time tend to have a significant impact on their future buying behaviour (Awa, 2010). As per the theory, the main influential factors in the purchasing decision-making process of consumers for snack nuts products of Planters are personal, product and situational factors. Product factors relate to self-image of products, product factors involve perceived health risk in purchasing the products and situational factors relates to purchasing products for personal use or for serving to guests in parties etc. in snack nut product category of the company (Salted and Roasted Nuts and Seeds, 2016). Thus, qualitative and quantitative information obtained through market research can be interpreted easily trough Kraft Foods group by applying cognitive theory. Consumers still perceive Planter nuts core products as similar to peanuts on the basis of their past experiences that is negatively impacting their future buying behaviour of companys products. Thus, the marketing research undertaken by Kraft Food Group illustrates modification in the marketing strategy of Planters nuts so th at customers do not perceive the companys brand as synonymous to peanuts only. Planters Nuts Current Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning (STP) is a strategic approach used by marketers to identify the target customer segments and planning the strategies to gain customer recognition in target customer segments . The current STP strategy used by Planters nuts is evaluated as follows: Segmentation: The segmentation strategy followed by Planters nuts is to focus only on one target market and developing effective strategies for becoming a dominant player in the identified market segment. As evident from the market research carried out by Kraft Foods Group in respect to Planters, snack nut consumption is variable in different market segments and so company must design its segmentation strategy for reaching out to different market segments instead of emphasising only on one market segment (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Targeting: The target segments as identified by the Planters nuts is mainly of male population group in the US aged between 35-65 years. However, as illustrated by the market research data, the consumption of snack nuts is relatively higher in female population group of the US. Also, adult population of above age 65 years consumes snack nuts more in comparison to the youth population in the country (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). This indicates that the company need to re-evaluate its targeting strategy and identify new target segments in the country for improving its sales and profitability. Positioning: Planter nuts emphasises on positioning its products in snack nut category in mens target segment through the help of spreading marketing messages on packaging of its products, displaying ads in magazines and launching campaigns targeting at male population group to provide them information of nutritional benefits of its products (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). The marketing research data indicates that the company need to modify its positioning strategy in accordance with the new target segments identified. Brand positioning recommended to Planters Nuts for going forward Planter nuts need to adopt major strategic changes in its positioning strategy for increasing its sales and profitability (Watrous, 2015). As illustrated by the market research conducted by Kraft Foods Group, the company need to identify new market segment of adult and female population group in the US as the consumption of products in snack nut category is relatively more in these segments as compared to male population group. The company need to position itself in the snack nut market as such it is not only viewed as peanuts provider but also a major player in the healthy nuts category such as almond and pistachios. This can be done through the help of adopting proper communication channels that facilitates the company to reach to its target customer segments. Implementation of proper communication channels is also essential so that customers views companys brand image not only as limited to peanuts but also fit for almonds and pistachios products. Communication channels such as ad vertising, press releases, launching health campaigns, social networking will help the company to re-position its brand image in the market (Ries, 2003). The company can modify its tag line to shift its target segments from male population group to female and adult population group (More than Peanuts: Snack Nut Brands Up Spend On Sponsorship, 2009). The change of consumer behaviour pattern for eating more healthy nuts such as almond and pistachios is responsible for Planters to adopt major change in its positioning strategy to enhance the sales in healthy nuts category (Topper, 2014). The competitive brands such as Blue Diamond and Wonderful receives huge support from American Health Association that has enhanced their brand reputation in mind of the US consumers as depicted from the case study analysis (Dolan and Ngwe, 2016). Thus, to enhance the brand image of Planters it also needs to obtain certification of its almonds and pistachios products from health communities in the US to gain customer recognition in these product segments. Conclusion Thus, it can be stated from the case study analysis that Planter nuts need to modify its marketing strategy for enhancing its sales and profitability. The main reasons responsible for the present declining sales of the company is changes in the consumer behaviour in snack nut category and perceived past brand image of Planters in the mind of consumers. Thus, Planters need to position its new brand image among target segments identified for overcoming the decline in the sales of its products in snack nut category. References Ahead of Spin-Off, Kraft Goes Nuts to Support Grocery Business. 2012. [Online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/03/12/ahead-of-spin-off-kraft-goes-nuts-to-support-grocery-business/#65c124302117 [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Awa, H. 2010. Cognitive Consistency in Purchase Behaviour: Theoretical Empirical Analyses. International Journal of Psychological Studies 2 (1), pp. 44-54. Brown, L. et al. 2008. Market Research and Analysis. Wildside Press LLC. Chernev and Alexander, 2014. Strategic Marketing Management. Cerebellum Press. Consumers Go Nuts for Healthy Snacks. 2015. [Online]. Available at: https://www.cstoredecisions.com/2015/04/02/consumers-go-nuts-for-healthy-snacks/ [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Dolan, R. and Ngwe. D. 2016. Planter Nuts. International Markets Bureau. 2011. Consumer Trends Salty Snack Food in the United States. [Online]. Available at: https://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/market-prices-and-statistics/trade-statistics/pubs/us_snack_food_consumer_trends_en.pdf [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. More than Peanuts: Snack Nut Brands Up Spend On Sponsorship. 2009. [Online]. Available at: https://www.sponsorship.com/iegsr/2009/05/25/More-Than-Peanuts--Snack-Nut-Brands-Up-Spend-On-Sp.aspx [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Ries. 2003. Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Salted and Roasted Nuts and Seeds. 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://business.highbeam.com/industry-reports/food/salted-roasted-nuts-seeds [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Schultz, E.J. 2014. Planters Gives Mr. Peanut New Mission: Flavored Nuts. [Online]. Available at: https://www.adageindia.in/marketing/news/planters-gives-mr-peanut-new-mission-flavored-nuts/articleshow/45725936.cms [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Southey, G. 2011. The Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behaviour Applied to Business Decisions: A Selective Annotated Bibliography. Journal of New Business Ideas Trends 9(1), pp. 43-50. Sweeney, S.M. 2000. Working For Peanuts. [Online]. Available at: https://inside-business.com/Main/Archive/Working_For_Peanuts_7763.aspx [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Topper, A. 2014. Going Nuts: The Power Of The Peanut. [Online]. Available at: https://www.mintel.com/blog/food-market-news/going-nuts-the-power-of-the-peanut [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Watrous, M. 2015. Kraft's profit slips 16%. [Online]. Available at: https://www.bakingbusiness.com/articles/news_home/Financial-Performance/2015/04/Krafts_profit_slips_16.aspx?ID=%7B4713D2FB-A955-41B7-83AB-60C19E6DA2E6%7Dcck=1 [Accessed on: 20 August 2016]. Watson, E. 2014. Almonds are on fire, says Blue Diamond CEO as meteoric growth rates continue. [Online]. Available at: https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Markets/Almonds-are-on-fire-says-Blue-Diamond-CEO-as-meteoric-growth-rates-continue [Accessed on: 20 August 2016].

Learning the Spoken Language

Education is a one of the fast evolving spheres of knowledge in the world. Ever since the ancient times there have been multiple educators who practiced and promoted different approaches to teaching and learning. These days, language learning practice is undergoing a variety of changes and innovations. However, the theory of it is based on the works of psychologists and educators who worked in the 20th century such as Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Jerome Bruner.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Learning the Spoken Language specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As a result, the modern education is a complex and carefully crafted mixture of the wisdom of generations and the latest technologies. At the first sight, the theories of the educators and psychologists of the 20th century are very different in their bases and seem impossible to combine. However, regardless of some noticeable differences, their overall focus wa s to deliver a learner-centered, diverse, and flexible approach that allows creating a comfortable and encouraging environment for the student. This paper serves to demonstrate how the approaches of the well-known psychologists of the past can be applied in the contemporary classroom of language learners using various activities and integrating modern technologies. The paper was written as a reference for the teachers and covers such issues as the concept of discourse and its types, listening and speaking as the activities in language learning, the meaning of communication and personal involvement, and the importance of the use of technologies in the modern classroom. The questions I attempted to answer using the presented activities in the classroom concerned the comprehensibility of the language input, the encouragement of the students’ enthusiasm for learning, and the best strategies to facilitate the language learning among the young students. Theories and Activities Lear ning a foreign language can be divided into tasks targeting literacy skills (written language) and oral skills (spoken language). The theory of language learning is based on the approaches of several outstanding educational psychologists of the past – Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Jerome Bruner. The approach promoted by Piaget relied on the belief that children are learners by nature and are capable of active learning independently (Cameron, 2001). According to Piaget’s constructivist approach knowledge is a subjective rather than objective concept, and it is constructed individually by each learner (Reusser, 2000). In the theory developed by Vygotsky, social interaction plays the most crucial role in learning (Cameron, 2001). In one of her works, DeVries (2000) noted that the application of Vygotsky’s approach has created both constructivist and behaviorist implications in the modern teaching practices.Advertising Looking for report on education? Let's se e if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The works of Bruner rely on the term â€Å"scaffolding† as an activity that allows a child to take care of the tasks and concepts they are able to comprehend and solve, while the teacher is responsible for all the aspects and knowledge that are at that moment beyond a child’s understanding (Puntambekar Hà ¼bscher, 2005). Learning the spoken language relies on such concepts as discourse and vocabulary. The latter refers to the learner’s knowledge of words and phrases for the grammatically correct speech, and the former is developed by means of the activities that facilitate conversation and dialogue along with all the skills involved (comprehension, listening, building and expressing opinions). As a result, it becomes obvious that learning spoken language cannot happen in isolation and requires the participation of several people (Cameron, 2001). Guiding Principles for Teaching The two main guiding principles for teaching a spoken language are meaning and discourse (Cameron, 2001). The success of the spoken language learning process relies heavily on the meaning. In other words, without understanding what is communicated, the children would not be able to learn the language. As for the discourse skills, the children are to participate is it to develop discourse skills and build up knowledge (Cameron, 2001). As a concept, discourse can be used in two ways – in contrast with a sentence or with a text. In the former case, discourse refers to a passage longer than a sentence, and in the latter case, it stands for the use of a language. That way, discourse event characterizes a naturally bounded use of a language of any length (Cameron, 2001). A teacher’s participation in discourse and discourse events is rather important as it allows the learners to build and practice proper sentence structure and phrasing, but also leaves some space for creativity so th at a child could develop spoken language applicable in practical environments outside the classroom walls (Tools and Tips for Using ELT Materials: Drills, Dialogues, and Role Plays, n. d.). Fortunately for the educators, the children have a natural drive to learn, and due to that, a teacher can use the children’s thrive for development to benefit their practice. To ensure a successful learning of the spoken language a teacher is to facilitate communication between the learners and employ social knowledge as the moving forwards for a better understanding of the language. Throughout this process, the teacher is to make sure that the learners’ comprehension of their tasks is full because children have a tendency to go on with the activities without having any understanding. The problem is that such action does not result in learning, so the teacher’s responsibility is to make the meaning as accessible as possible.Advertising We will write a custom report sampl e on Learning the Spoken Language specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Comprehensible Teaching One of the main concerns of a successful language teacher is how to make language input comprehensible for the young learners and promote their enthusiasm about learning. In order to achieve these goals, a teacher is to make the learning experience enjoyable and meaningful for the children by integrating the elements of target and local cultures; support the learning with purposeful and relevant classroom activities, and ensure the practice of macro and micro language skills by means of social interactions with peers and teacher-student oral exchanges (Teaching Young Learners with the Use of Contextualized Language Instruction, n. d.). As an activity, speaking requires more effort from a child and, therefore, is more demanding. Using spoken language, a child practices their comprehension and develops discourse skills that consist of conversation skills and repertoires (use of vocabulary and context). The students’ enthusiasm towards learning can be supported by means of using subjects interesting for the children, application of purposeful tasks, and employment of language practice in dialogues and texts. The use of contextualized text materials instead of isolated words and phrases is the key element of successful teaching of the spoken language (Teaching Young Learners with the Use of Contextualized Language Instruction, n. d.). In other words, all the linguistic components provided by the teacher are to be accurately integrated in various scenarios applicable to practical situations a child may experience in their day-to-day life. The activities with higher efficiency are those where the children are required to use their spoken language skills in combinations (for instance, listen and tell, listen and select). Dialogues are a good example of an activity targeting both listening and speaking skills such as gramma r, comprehension, pronunciation, and spontaneous responses. Reflection The information above was collected for the purpose to apply all the described principles and techniques in a real classroom. My practical experience showed that dialogues and activities that require the generation of spontaneous speech facilitate active learning in a rather effective way as they push the learners to find solutions independently using the materials and knowledge they have to respond to new situations or generate discourse of descriptive or narrative character. Besides, I also crafted my follow up activities to have practical purposes and match the main strategies of effective language learning such as task, theme, and story-based teaching as well as communicative language teaching.Advertising Looking for report on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, I found the use of modern technologies a very helpful strategy in spoken languages teaching as it includes a variety of tasks and activities and also connects learning to the children’s everyday life. In my opinion, applications of an iPad need to be used in class to enhance the practice, optimize the work, and maintain the children’s interest towards learning. Conclusion As language is a creative process, it requires a lot of space for the learners’ creativity while teaching it. As a result, as stated by DeVries (n. d.) and taught by Piaget, the teacher’s role is to help the learners to shape and build their own minds and a set of views but not to fill in the blanks with already existent knowledge and harshly coach them to repeat and learn by heart word combinations. Besides, contextualized information plays a crucial role in the learning of spoken language as it is tightly connected to practice. That way, all the knowledge the children rece ive in the classroom is to be applicable to the real life situations. Finally, the students’ willingness to learn plays an important role in the overall success of the teaching process, and this is why the teacher is to facilitate and maintain the children’s interest in the course using relevant topics. Reference List Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. DeVries, R. (n. d.). Piaget’s Theory and Education: Forming the Mind, Not Just  Furnishing It. Web. Puntambekar, S., Hà ¼bscher, R. (2005). Tools for Scaffolding Students in a Complex Learning Environment: What Have We Gained and What Have We Missed? Educational Psychologist 40(1), 1–12. Reusser, K. (2000). Co-constructivism in Educational Theory and Practice. Web. Teaching Young Learners with the Use of Contextualized Language Instruction. (n.d.). Web. Tools and Tips for Using ELT Materials: Drills, Dialogues, and Role Plays. (n. d.). We b. This report on Learning the Spoken Language was written and submitted by user Kailey Decker to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Creativity and Innovation essay part 3Essay Writing Service

Creativity and Innovation essay part 3Essay Writing Service Creativity and Innovation essay part 3 Creativity and Innovation essay part 3Creativity and Innovation essay part 2The key strategies and tactics of the introduction of the new product involve the use of the idea factory. The idea factory opens the way for the development of the effective application that may attract many customers. The strategies and tactics used in the course of the project and during idea factory operations should be determined by leaders but leaders should also take into consideration the position and attitude of their subordinates. The company should introduce the product that can be provided for customers in the quantity and quality that match customers’ needs and wants. Key strategies and tactics should focus on the use of the idea factory as the core of the development and introduction of the new product.The leaders should allow employees to participate in the process of decision making in order to make such employees confident and feel they are valuable so that they will have full initiati ve to make innovation. In addition, the leader should listen carefully to opinions in relation to innovation proposed by employees and consider its feasibility in order to decide whether such opinions can be accepted (Jeffrey 2006). Moreover, monetary reward and non – monetary reward should be given to employees who proposed innovative opinions in order to make them satisfied.According to Amabile Khaire (2008) the leaders should create healthy corporate culture and embedded such culture into the process of daily business operations in order to make employees make innovation in such culture and encourage employees to make innovation. In addition, the leaders should establish relevant target in relation to innovation in order to encourage employees to achieve such target. However, such target should not be set too difficultly to be achieved so that it is very important for the leaders to pay sufficient attention on employees’ feedback in order to examine the difficulty of target established and opinions from employees. Moreover, the leaders can also encourage positive competition among department. For example, the leaders can reward people who make innovation or propose innovative ideas more than other employees in order to encourage other employees to make innovation.Today, all the enterprises are faced with high technology, various products, picky customers, and quickly changing environment. If you want to win, you must keep changing, so innovation ability and innovation level is critical for business growth and highly related to whether the enterprise can win in the market competition. Innovations have been characterized as radical innovation or incremental innovation (Green, 1995). In enterprises, innovation comes from good ideas, which are the solutions to business challenges, and it comes into being business opportunities. So it is the process of â€Å"ideas-innovation-opportunity†,   For the incremental innovations, it is easy to d etermine the feasibility of an innovative solution because the market has verified it, but if it is completely radical innovations, choose the reasonable solution becomes very important and very difficult.When enterprises need to solve problems that occur in its development or need to develop new product, the RD department will come up with a series of innovative ideas. Then assessment team will be formed to choose the good idea from the idea pool and put the good idea into practices. According to Ed Bernacki, innovative activity can be divided into five parts, including generating ideas, developing ideas, judging ideas, communicating ideas and turning ideas into actions. And judging ideas is the weakest skill for most people. Judging ideas is also called the idea assessment process. Evaluation mainly divided into three stages, preparation for the assessment, feasibility analysis, choosing a scheme to implement on the basis of feasibility.The preparation for the assessment is mainly about establishing the evaluation team, including the choice of evaluation personnel and the communication mechanism between assessment team and innovation team. First, experts in relevant fields must be needed. Since the ideas are often with high technology and applied in specific field. If the ideas are aimed to create something new and sometimes even bring comprehensive cross-industry, the knowledge domain of experts must be clear. Second, the individual difference affects the judging (Caroff Maud, 2008). Pursuing customer’ the biggest satisfaction is the goal of the company and customers are the end user of the products, so customer experience has a decisive influence in the success or failure of the product. It is necessary to choose a few loyal users to evaluate the idea of research and development. The experts are related with RD and customers are related with the market. Third, communication mechanism between assessment team and innovation team is important during t he assessment process. The explanation of problems is sometimes not simple and direct, good communication will help.When enterprises need to solve problems that occur in its development or need to develop new product, the RD department will come up with a series of innovative ideas. Then assessment team will be formed to choose the good idea from the idea pool and put the good idea into practices. According to Ed Bernacki, innovative activity can be divided into five parts, including generating ideas, developing ideas, judging ideas, communicating ideas and turning ideas into actions. And judging ideas is the weakest skill for most people. Judging ideas is also called the idea assessment process.Evaluation mainly divided into three stages, preparation for the assessment, feasibility analysis, choosing a scheme to implement on the basis of feasibility.The preparation for the assessment is mainly about establishing the evaluation team, including the choice of evaluation personnel and the communication mechanism between assessment team and innovation team.Creativity and Innovation essay part  4

Grounded Theory -- Definition and Overview in Sociology

Grounded Theory Definition and Overview in Sociology Grounded theory is a research methodology that results in the production of a theory that explains patterns in data, and that predicts what social scientists might expect to find in similar data sets. When practicing this popular social science method, a researcher begins with a set of data, either quantitative or qualitative, then identifies patterns, trends, and relationships among the data. Based on these, the researcher constructs a theory that is grounded in the data itself. This research method differs from the traditional approach to science, which begins with a theory and the seeks to test it through the scientific method. As such, grounded theory can be described as an inductive method, or a form of inductive reasoning. Sociologists  Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss popularized this method in the 1960s, which they and many others considered an antidote to the popularity of deductive theory, which is often speculative in nature, seemingly disconnected from the realities of social life, and may, in fact, go untested. In contrast, the grounded theory method produces a theory that is based on scientific research. (To learn more, see Glaser and Strausss 1967 book,  The Discovery of Grounded Theory.) Grounded Theory Grounded theory allows researchers to be scientific and creative at the same time, as long as the researchers follow these guidelines: Periodically step back and ask questions.  The researcher needs to step back once in a while and ask the following questions: What is going on here? Does what I think I see fit the reality of the data? Data does not lie, so the researcher needs to make sure their own ideas about what is happening matches what the data is telling them, or the researcher may need to alter their idea of what is going on.Maintain an attitude of skepticism.  All theoretical explanations, hypotheses, and questions about the data should be regarded as preliminary, whether they come from the literature, experience, or making comparisons. They should always be checked out against the data and never accepted as fact.Follow the research procedures.  Research procedures (data collection, analysis, etc.) are designed to give precision and accuracy to a study. They also help the researcher break through biases and lead him or her to examine some of his or her assumptions that might otherwise be unrealistic. Therefore, it is important that the correct research procedures are followed so that an accurate conclusion is reached. With these principles in mind, a researcher can construct a grounded theory in eight basic steps. Pick a research area, topic, or population of interest, and form one or more research questions about it.Collect data using a scientific method.Look for patterns, themes, trends, and relationships among the data in a process called open coding.Begin to construct your theory by writing theoretical memos about the codes that emerge from your data, and the relationships among codes.Based on what you have discovered so far, focus on the most relevant codes and review your data with them in mind in a process of selective coding. Conduct more research to gather more data for the selected codes as needed.Review and organize your memos to allow the data and your observations of them to shape an emergent theory.Review related theories and research and figure out how your new theory fits within it.Write your theory and publish it. Updated  by Nicki Lisa Cole, Ph.D.

Exam qusetion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Exam qusetion - Essay Example Laws in common law however can be repealed and amended by parliament. Duress is a defence against all crimes with the exception of murder and attempted murder. The prevailing circumstances matter and determine when duress can be used to exonerate one of their wrongdoings. The threat must: be to death or serious injury, be directed against the defendant or his immediate family or someone close to him, neither emanate from actions the defendant voluntarily did nor circumstances that the defendant voluntarily put himself in and inescapable by any reasonable means. The crime against which one seeks to use duress as a defence must be a directly caused by the threats to the person. The above criteria present a lot of problems to the defence of duress. First is the subjective nature of most of the criteria. The perception of the actor is key to the actions they commit and what accounts as serious injury to one person may not be so to another. Levels of fortitude, self-sacrifice, altruism and perception of danger vary from individual to individual and have no reasonable measure or an objective benchmark. The requirement that the threat be of serious injury is of essentially ambiguous and thus may be valid or invalid depending on the individual under duress. This ambiguity and subjectivity also apply most of the other criteria and thus denying the defence of duress to any and all individuals without appealing to the prevailing circumstances is clearly unfair. The courts do not recognise duress if the court determines that the harm done is superior to the perception of harm to be caused by threats and this is tested in two ways; questioning whether the defendant acted as they did because they honestly believed the harm of the threat to be serious and questioning whether a reasonable person of typical courage and having similar characteristics to the defendant would have acted in the same manner. Clearly these two criteria do not

Function of Central Banks as Lender of Last Resort (LOLR) Essay

Function of Central Banks as Lender of Last Resort (LOLR) - Essay Example The crisis saw the fall of stock markets across the world and the collapse of massive financial institutions from some of the richest nations (Dorn 2010). In a bid to salvage the situation, governments, through their central banks as LOLR, came up with rescue packages with an aim of bailing out the countries’ financial systems (Brunnermeier 2009). The crisis resulted from the US sub-prime mortgage market collapse as well as the negation of the real estate boom according to (Brunnermeier 2009). Many experts blame the current economic models for the crisis that affected lives across the globe. Advantages of LOLR During a financial crisis that hit the financial sectors, it is pointed out that many banks tend to become insolvent and sometimes collapse. In order for such a situation not to come into play, the central banks always come in an act as lender of last resort. In this case, it provides funding to increase the liquidity position of these banks. This has helped many banks e scape receivership during a financial crisis (Schinasi, Teixeira and IMF. Finance Dep. 2006 p.11). Grauwe (2011) notes that when a bank is faced with solvency problems, this in most cases can trigger deposit holders of other banks to move out their money/deposits commonly referred to as bank run. It also causes banks to start selling off their assets lowering their prices. When this continues for long, the bank may end up owing more than it can own. To solve the problem, the central bank had to play the role of lender of last resort (LOLR). Being lender of last resort was important in restoring the cascading loss of confidence among the depositors. This is so because when investors know that they are in a position to get their money in the event of a crisis, they do not panic (Posen 2005 p.120). Central banks function as a lender of last resort is important as it acts as buyer of last resort for a country’s bonds. The loss in confidence, in this case, may lead to a liquidity problem in the other markets since there is no buyer of last resort. When this is allowed to continue for long, fears may continue until the liquidity crisis degenerates creating solvency problems. With regard to bonds, fear creates loss of confidence which increases governments interest rates which they are required to pay in order to rollover bonds (Grauwe 2011). The high interest rates may make the country insolvent and the central bank comes in as lender of last resort (Grauwe 2011). When a financial crisis hits the financial sectors of the economy, many agents tend to hold cash for safety reasons. When the central bank comes in and acts as a lender of last resort and provides funding, it stops the deflationary process leading to stabilization of economy (Capie and Wood 2007 p.424-429). Disadvantages and Controversial Function of LOLR One of the main arguments against central bank’s function of being the lender of last resort is that it may lead to inflation (Grauwe 2011) . When the central bank buys out government bonds, it is argued that this increases the money market thereby triggering inflation. The main distinction is seen between the money stock and money base. In situations where the central bank purchases government bonds and other assets, this increases the money base. However, the money stock remains stable. For this reason, it is seen that during periods of financial meltdown, the monetary supply and monetary base become

Characteristics of the breakfast cereal industry Essay Example for Free

Characteristics of the breakfast cereal industry Essay Brand History Breakfast cereals are not a homogenous product. The ready-to-eat breakfast cereal industry may be characterized by relatively low economies of scale and relatively low levels of technology. In other words, the entry into this industry is easy. Between the 1950s and the 1970s there was no entry of new firms in the industry even though all the incumbent firms such as Kellogg, General Mills, General Foods and Quaker Oats, made significant profits. Later however, there was the entry of new low-end companies in the markets and the number of brands sold by these firms also increased substantially from 25 to more than 80, and this number is still on a rise (Cabral, 2000, p. 265-266). Pricing trends For decades the breakfast cereal market was one of the most profitable in the United States. The industry had a consolidated structure dominated by Kellogg, General Mills and Kraft Foods with its Post brand. Strong brand loyalty, coupled with control over the allocation of supermarket shelf space, helped to limit the potential for new entry. Meanwhile the steady demand growth of around 3% per annum kept the industry revenues expanding. Also Kellogg, which accounted for over 40 percent of the market share, acted as the price leader in the industry for years in the industry. Every year Kellogg increased cereal prices, its rivals followed and industry profits too remained high. However, this favorable structure started to change in the early 1990s when the growth in demand slowed and then stagnated as the lifestyle and hence food patterns changed and the market saw the rise of powerful discounters such as Wal-Mart that started promoting their own brand of cereal. As sales of cheaper store-brand cereals began to take-ff, supermarkets no longer were as dependent on brand names to bring in traffic and hence they started to demand lower prices from the branded cereal manufacturers. Initially, the branded cereal manufacturers tried to hold against these adverse trends. However, in 1996 Kraft which was then owned by Philip Morris aggressively cut prices by 20 % for its Post brand in am attempt to gain market share. Kellogg son followed with a 19 percent price cut on two-third of its brands and General Mills quickly did the same. However, this too did not change the consumption pattern the growth rates of which remained flat and revenues then started going down for all the branded cereals (Hill, Jones, 2009, p. 52). The trend continued in 2000s also and the situation worsened with the private-label sales continuing to make inroads, gaining over 10 percent of the market. To top it all off, the sales of breakfast cereals started to contract at 1 percent per annum and the period between 1998-2001 saw the market leader Kellogg sliding down to the 2nd position for the first time in its history since its inception in 1906, by General Mills that continued to launch expensive price and promotion campaigns. To cover the rising cost General Mills raised prices in 2001 and competitors soon followed the trend. However, both Kellogg and General Mills tried to move further away from price competition in the industry by diversifying and focusing on brand extensions such as Special K on the behalf of Kellogg and new varieties of Cheerios. Special K was instrumental and helping Kellogg recapturing its market leadership position from General Mills and this renewed focus on non-price competition halted years of damaging price warfare (Hill, Jones, 2009, p. 52). Target markets The breakfast cereal industry targets several diverse markets but focuses upon two large ones namely the baby boomers and their children. Since a high proportion of the baby boomers are highly educated, health appeals are paramount. Thus many brands have placed emphasis on various types of oat-bran cereal. The other sizeable market, targeted to children is also highly developed. Various brands have successfully used sports personality and trade characters such as Tony the Tiger to attract the children towards their products and retain brand loyalty. The breakfast cereal industry has been adept at target market segmentation and promoting favorable brand images. The strategy of the overall industry especially Kellogg, the market leader, has been to provide a comprehensive assortment for the retailers targeting specific market segments (Michman, Mazze, 1999, p. 109-111) Competition Breakfast cereal industry faces competition from hand-held breakfast products such as bagels, muffins, doughnuts etc. These have in fact led to a decrease in the growth of the breakfast cereal industry. The industry also faces competition from frozen waffles, pancakes, and French toast brands which have proved to be a concern both in the past and the present. Many analysts consider that the competition is due to the change in dietary habits, though some also say that this has been due to th increase in cereal prices for the branded segment (Michman, Mazze, 1999, p. 112-113). Advertisements and Promotional activities From the time of WH Kellogg, the breakfast cereal industry has been dependent on marketing strategies and expensive promotions. In fact in 1909 itself the advertisement budget of Kellogg had reached 1 million per annum. Needless to say this is a major problem in the industry which has become price sensitive in present times. This activity has led to a decrease in profits and considering that the market share has not increased since the 1990s, this has become even more of a problem. There were also many insufficiencies generated by coupons and in-store promotions. For instance, more than 95 percent of the cereal coupons were thrown away and not redeemed and approximately half of the promotional expenditures did not reach the consumers in the form of lower prices. Because of these inefficiencies, as well as congressional investigations and competitive treats, the breakfast cereal industry has moved to lower prices. As the returns earned by the cereal manufacturers exceed most other grocery products, there is fierce competition among manufacturers (Michman, Mazze, 1999, p. 113-114). Factors contributing to success and failure There are a combination of variables that contribute to the successes and failure of the breakfast cereal industry. These variables and strategies include innovation, target-market segmentation, image, physical environment resources, and human resources. Such factors must be combined in various degrees for success. The breakfast cereal industry has shown innovation in product and packaging strategies. In addition to this, breakfast snack bars are a new innovation. The image of the breakfast cereal industry has been positive enough to withstand the assault of private-label brand sot a large extent. Also cereal manufacturers with their successful track records and huge advertisement budgets do not have much difficulty in convincing retailers to give their new product introduction a chance. In 1970s, Kellogg designed shelf space allocation programs for supermarkets. Sophisticated computers and programs developed by members of the breakfast cereal industry now help to allocate shelf space according to turnover. The breakfast cereal industry has also been successful in designing packaging for shipping and for display purposes. To sell their product brands and retain the company brand value, the breakfast cereal manufacturers have developed the strategy that links the brand name to the company name instead to identifying brand products by their individual brand names. For instance, Kellogg’s Rice Krispies and Special K, as well as General Mills’ Total Raisin Bran and Total Corn Flakes use this strategy. To fend off private brand competition by offering product line depth and high brand identification (Michman, Mazze, 1999, p. 114-115).