Marketing project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Marketing project - Essay Example The product spread to these countries due to the high population of the Islamic people who believe in their religion and cannot question their faith. The focus will be how to penetrate into the European country. The target market for the â€Å"HALAL† brand will be the Muslim people who believe in what is stipulated in the Quran to constitute a lawful meet among the Muslim religion. The brand position to be adopted is pricing the product high to presage the quality of the product (Cadogan, 2009). Messages would be sent to respective consumers telling them how the product is of high value to their health. In Qatar, the target customers have got different social-economic status as well as the variance in consumption rates due to the difference in preference and tastes. In this case, American will produce varieties of Halal meat putting into consideration the multinational diversity of the market segmentation. The current price of the Halal meat brand products like Baklava range is approximately $15.99. Though it can be seen as expensive, the underlying pricing objectives for the increase in price are to generate more profit from the sales, to meet the production and distribution costs and finally to demonstrate the products superior quality. The company will lower the price in future to increase further the demand as the law of demand and supply dictates. The objectives underlining the product promotion will be to increase the number of sales, attraction of more consumers, enhance the brand identity and recognition of the brand in the market. The company will select the best segment and design effective and sufficient strategies to facilitate the creation of consumers’ value and profitable customer relationships. American will utilize psychographic segmentation where it will target its client based on beliefs, religion, lifestyles, personal characteristics and

Understand the importance of early intrevention to support the Assignment

Understand the importance of early intrevention to support the speech,language and communication needs of children and young people - Assignment Example Early mediation means making a brief intercession to backing the child and their families. In the event that a child gets the right help early, they have a higher chance of tackling issues, communicating appropriately and making advancements in their lives (Guitar 2005, p. 293). If these problems are not recognized early on, then the child’s future development is at risk and they risk having problems in future. The early years are a period for kids advancement as their brains are yet forming and thus it is very important to recognize if the child has communication and language difficulties. A child’s speech, language and communication affects other areas of their lives and thus any challenges may hinder their development. They may find it hard to control their conduct and play with other kids which makes them feel detached and baffled. Language is connected to the advancement of proficiency (Guitar 2005, p. 292). Kids who have poor speech will find it hard to comprehend the connection in the middle of sounds and letter shapes so reading and writing could be postponed. Discovering approaches to help the youngster convey will help their self-esteem and help keep them from anti-social behavior practices. By cooperating as a group, multi-agencies can help a child to achieve their maximum capacity. These groups may incorporate speech and language specialist, instructive, therapist, physiotherapist, occupational advisor, Health visitors and pro educators for learning Support. They can get together and talk through what kind of help the kid, family and setting needs. It helps on the grounds that they can all set an objective or target together and concentrate on the primary issues (Guitar 2005, p. 294). In their gatherings they can examine who is going help the child and families and the when and wheres. This can give details to those working with the child of where to get help if more of it is required. Ensuring that each and every person included

Should Middle Schools be Drug Tested?

Should Middle Schools be Drug Tested? Drugs are ruining everyones lives and its killing children and adults. We all know the damage it leaves, by causing families to suffer from addiction or death. Kids are getting money for drugs by stealing, their parents, or even friends, its hard to say when they start and how far gone,   since not everyone is open about their addiction. We do have a chance to fight the drug war by drug testing in middle school. Drug testing kids in junior high would identify behavior issues, effect they learning, the effects of long term abuse and the most important addictions. Behavior issues is one of the most obvious tell of abuse of drugs paranoia, aggressiveness, and impulsiveness are the most common things to look for. People who are consuming drugs lose their sense of compassion or even common sense. It shows that drugs strips you of what makes you human and gives you this need to fill a void that always empties in the end. They slowly lose themselves to a never ending need that will deter people, so they will be forced to live alone leading them to be introverted. Abusing drugs eventually leads to you slowly kill your brain cells therefore killing any chance to learn again. Drugs hijacks your nerves to flood your brain with dopamine but the problem with that it floods your system, and just like a regular flood there is a abundance so you are drowning your brain in dopamine. Draining you of both memory and focus so your losing the memory to do basic things like get up in time, personal hygiene, balancing eating, and sleep. Addiction is the absolute worse effect, making you want more of your fix leading you to a destructive circle. Its much easier for a teen to get caught in this circle and once there caught it hard to break out. Your life starts to circle around the drugs you take; you start hanging out with other people who also do it, so you can get more drugs. You work more to get more drugs; even waking up just to get another fix in order to keep your body in balance. The more you do the drug the more it becomes a part of your life; but when it hits a certain point there will no help to break you out of the circle. Once you fall in the circle you will start to feel a physical need to your fix once you go a time without it your body start to shut down; leaving you with no immune system getting you sick more of the time. After all the sickness and getting more drugs your emotions connected when you get another dose you start feeling normal, but as soon as you run out thats when desperation kicks in. leaving you to lie and steal more drugs or things to sell to pay for them. All that leads you to is a life of crime running or going to jail doing all you can for your little drug to feel normal again leaving you back to the decision that got you here. Drugs cause a much shorter life expectancy because of all the health concerns a few major one are cancer, strokes, and even abnormal heart rate. Cancer would just be a lingering thing that will follow you throughout your life ether slowly killing you or just being an everyday thing dealing with it. Your body is all you have why would you just give it a deadly debases that will be a slow and painful death. Strokes are a thing that can happen to anybody the only thing is it increases the chances to get them. The strokes affect your whole body giving your body a weakness and numb feeling making everyday thing much harder. Not to mention the increase heart rate can lead to all kinds of problems a few are faintness, dizziness, loss of coordination, and lightheadedness. In any case increase heart rate for too low will cause much more problems than the benefits of taking drugs will ever give you, In conclusion I agree with the idea of drug testing of junior high students for purpose of identifying at risk students for potential drug addiction.   By identifying the students through behavioral issues as well as learning problems, we can start to break the chain of addiction and ensuring we get them medical help to these students who become more productive and valued members of society. Concept Of Hegemony: The US Concept Of Hegemony: The US Forms Of United States Power And The Concept Of Hegemony According to Warteberg, power can be described as a natural artifact which is an aspect of human life which provides human being with means to cooperate with each other and at the same time make group decisions. This can be considered as ability to perform certain actions or to look over something. According to Warteberg, there are two positions of power which provides external structures for dominant and subordinate position. In this respect, there is a dominant and on the other hand a subordinate. In most cases you will find that socially aligned agents will act to represent the dominant agent in a bid to control subordinate agents. From this we can conclude that there exist power relationships which can be described as a social phenomenon which is made possible due to the fact that there is an external set of agents and practices but not due to any individual capacity. It is in view of the above theory that this paper is going to look closely at the power of US. This paper will examine closely the seat of US power and how the above theory applies to its relationship with the states and with the international community. This paper will also look closely at the concept of hegemony and how it has been applied in the current power status of the world. Finally it will look on how the concept of hegemony can be defeated in the world. In its simplest definition, power can be considered as the ability to influence others to do what you want. Power is articulated in many ways including threatening, paying or co-opting those who you want to exercise your power on. Of all the threes means of articulating power, getting others attracted to what you want is the best means since it cost less and is even has more effect. (Nye 1990, p. 23) If we look closely at the theoretical power structure of the United States, we acknowledge that there are four main building blocks of power in this country. Power in any form is manifested in networks of ideological, economic, military and political which can simply be termed as the building blocks of power structures. A close analysis of American power reveals that it is class dominated and it is close to the power of Europe and Middle ages in the 19th century which was dominated by economic and political power networks. But we have to come to an agreement that power is rooted in organizations in the United States and in other nations. According to Michael Manns theory (1986, p. 1) the structures of power in most western civilization can be understood by determining the intertwining and relative importance of the organizations at any time in four overlapping and intersecting social spatial networks of power. These networks are basically as mentioned above. The United States can be considered to the pinnacle of the world power as far as many of us are concerned. This comparison is often made to what was reached by other states which had assumed the same status as the United States like the British or Roman Empire. But contrary to the earlier powers, todays power is vested in military might, economic power and cultural sway all which have not been found effective enough to wield a powerful position in the modern world. (Fergusson, 2003) Let us look at the concept to hard power. Hard power is the predominant realistic measure of the power of a nation usually seen through population, military, economy and others aspects. Although many scholars have accepted that the level of technology and problems that the modern world is facing makes it impossible for one country to wield that power, it is clear that the United States occupy a unique position in the world which it can use to lead the world in a constructive manner. United States wields much economic and military power both which are regarded as hard power which can be used to persuade other nations to follow its suit. (Boehm 1999, p. 124) On the other hand it also wields what can be called soft power which is vested in culture, strength of ideals, the willingness of other nations to adopt the articulated ideals and the capacity to leaders moral authority. Soft power is the term that is used to describe the capacity of any political body like a state that have an indirect influence on other states in terms of behaviors and interest which are articulated through culture and ideologies. There is a general agreement that the strength of American soft power is vested in the spread of modern culture in fashion and clothing like the spreads of blue jeans, music ant others. Many countries in the world are today following the ideal of democracy which has been nurtured in America and which is spreading fast to other states. All these countries which have adopted these ideals look upon America for protection of freedom and observation of basic human rights. As has been expressed there are basic things that must be present if nat ion is to express its soft power. The aspect of culture, values and foreign policies must be exercised very well in order for the concept of soft power to work. (Stanford 1994, p. 126) The above two forms of power are seen as what has driven America to occupy its current position in the world. There is a general agreement that if the above powers are used wisely, America can remain on the seat of power for the next decades. But it is not everyone who agrees to this idea. The concept of hegemony Let us look at the concept of hegemony. The concept of hegemony has been used for along time now to refer to the idea of existence of dominance by one social group. It was first used by Italian Communist Antonio Gramci who had been imprisoned by Mussolini up to his death in 1926. He supported this concept with the idea of emergence of new elite which was followed by a change of mens consciousness. He reasoned that a class that is politically dominant is also ideologically dominant meaning that it keeps its position because the dominated class accepts its moral and intellectual leadership. (Stanford, 1995) In this regard, it follows the earlier description of power by Wattenberg in that there is a ruling group called the hegemon which acquires a degree of consent from the subordinate group unlike in a case where the dominance exerts its power on the subordinate group using force. The concept of hegemony has been used widely in many places to refer to any form of dominance more so when one is refereeing to dominance through culture and non-military. The concept of hegemony can be described in many fronts all which refer to the way dominance is created. For example it can be achieved through the use of institutions in a bid to formalize power, the use of bureaucracy which makes others see power as abstract, and in other manes. It can also be achieved through the articulation of hard power over others like the use of military or imposition of economic sanctions. The rise of the concept is directly linked to the struggle that has been there in the world to acquire dominance. Since the era of cold and the signing o the Warsaw Pact, there had been many instances in which the concept of hegemony has been applied. In this era, it was seen as a moment of attaining the much needed hegemony through the struggle of cold war. In particular, it was seen as a bitter struggle between the then two superpowers of the world, Russia and America in a bid to find their rightful position in the world. After the end of the cold war and the collapse of the communism Russia, the concept of hegemony has been purely used to refer to the role played by the United States as a superpower. This is due to the role that American has played since then which makes it appear like it is having the power to lord over others. But has it really grasped the concept of hegemony? This has been an issue of contention and a topic that attracts many scholars of international relations. The opponents argue that although the United States has used all its hard and soft power to realize dominance, it has been able to achieve this. This is because it seems to lack the necessary resource to position itself well in a position to dominate others. The emergence of other powers in the world like European Union, China, India and others is also seen as a big stumble for the United States in a bid to reestablish itself as the world power. On the other hand proponents point out the various achievements that the United States has which puts it in a position to dominant others. They argue in support of its military might. This is a concept that with but we have to ask ourselves the extent to which the United States has been able to use this power. Except in the end of the Second World War, there are other very few instances in which the United States has bee able to use its military power to dominate others. The United States used it military power to bomb Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan which somehow brought the bitter Second World War to end. If we take another example, it also used its power during Gulf war to drive Saddam Hussein and his troops out of Iran. But since then, it seems there is a surging rise of the concept of responsibility which has been achieved through world bodies like the United Nations. The United Nations has put in place rules which require the exercise of veto power in voting for any military action. Here some proponents of the idea of hegemony for United States argue that although it holds the hard power, it is restricted by the provisions of some of those agreements to exercise this power. But lets us look at this closely. (Stewart 2001, p. 78) There are many incidences in which America has tried to use its hard power but it has failed. Take an example of Vietnam. During the cold war, American soldiers underwent serious military casualties in Vietnam. Here America rallied all its military power but it failed. From Vietnam America learned that hard power alone is not enough to guarantee dominance and some soft power is needed as well. It learned that there must be the use of influence of culture, value and foreign policies if a country will succeed in achieving the concept of hegemony. One of the worst calamities to hit America in the recent past has been the terrorist attack on Twin Towers on September 11 2001. This attack reminded America that although it presumed to have dominance over others, its hard power could be put to test. After that the Bush administration mobilized all the hard power in American possession in what was descried as war on terror. But again the issue of hegemony comes in light here again. The United States had to seek support of its allies who thought that they were also at risk of a terrorist attack. In its campaign, America was able to convince some countries in the world with almost equal hard power like Britain and others. But eight years down the line, the war which was seen to come to end in a matter of days owing to the military might of the force is still to end and no progress has been achieved. To make the matter worse, Britain which is a partner of United States in Afghanistan where the Taliban and the Al Qaeda are supposed be h iding also suffered a terror attack in London Railway system. Even a combination of all that force could not subdue the terrorist. From Afghanistan, America directed its force to Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein and install a democratic government in the country. But still there are no positive results coming from the country. This teaches us one lesson that in the modern world no single county can assume to have achieved the concept of hegemony. Though it may be referred to in many incidents, it does not apply in the real sense. What we are witnessing is the rise of power axis. This is mainly practiced in the United Nations Security Council where we see another bitter struggle for dominance. We see is a scenario where Russian and China always vote against the United States and its allies. This indicates that the so called powerhouse of the world have realized that they can no longer remain effectful in the face of the changing world. We can therefore say that the concept of hegemony has not achieved its meaning in the modern world. But if the current trend continue, we are going to come to a situation where there will emerge two parallel axis as history repeat itself. What many articulate here is that, the cold war has not ended, and the emerging axis is still allied to the earlier axis in the cold war. It is a struggle between capitalism and communism which is taking place once again. This is bringing more polarization to the concept of hegemony. How can we overcome hegemony? One thing we all agree to is that the concept of hegemony is being practiced in various sectors of life in our society. Therefore we cannot say that because it has become difficult for individual countries to achieve the concept of hegemony, then we should sit and watch. Since it practiced in our smaller societies there is need to work towards fighting the concept and its development. With the current trend in the world, we have seen that there is likelihood that the concept will take root. So what can we do to fight the concept? There is a common concession that the only best way to fight hegemony in the world would be by bringing about equality among all nations and among all communities living in a nation. The source of hegemony is directly attributed to a system of inequality which gives one party advantage over the other. Inequality in the world has been the source of acceptance of dominance by many countries especially those in the developing world. Tracing history since the era of colonization, there had been systematic inequality in access of resources which gives some countries undue advantage over the rest. (Joseph 2002, p. 54) Therefore, the only method that we can use to end hegemony would be through implementation of policies are aimed helping nations access resource in an equal manner. This will call for reviewing of international relationship including trade agreements which has been oppressive to the developing world. Following the postulation by Gramci, this will be achieved only when intellectuals rise to the challenge. In this regard the school ahs a role to play. This means that one of the most important tools that can be used to fight hegemony would be ensuring that there is access to quality education by all people in the world. (Moraes 2003, p 654) The modern world is driven by technology and many countries in the world which are fighting to acquire dominance like China have achieved this by improving their economy through technology. Education plays a crucial role in advancement of technology in any nation. In this regard intellectuals must inculcate a degree of self discipline and moral autonomy to resist colonization of their minds. This means intellectuals must become the ambassadors of the new culture in their own nations. Conclusion As we have seen no county can be said to have practiced the idea of hegemony not even the United States. But hegemony is practiced in our small societies and there is need to take bold measures in order to fight its. This will be achieved only when there is some degree of equableness in the society. Reference: Boehm, C 1999, The evolution of egalitarian behavior, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Fergusson, N 2003, Hegemony or Empire? Retrieved from, http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030901fareviewessay82512/niall-ferguson/hegemony-or-empire.html on 7th March 2008 Joseph, J 2002, Hegemony, A realist Analysis, Routledge, New York Mann, M 986, The sources of social power, Cambridge University Press, New York Michael, C 2004, Whatever happened to American Decline? International Relations and the new United States Hegemony Moraes, R 2003, Antonio Gramci on Culture, University of Brasilia Nye, J. S1990, Bound to lead: The changing nature of American power, Basic Books Inc, New York Stanford, M 1994, Companion to the Study of History, Blackwell Stewart, A 2001, Theories of power and domination, the politics of empowerment in the late modernity, Sage, London

The Americans With Disabilities Act Essay -- Argumentative Healthcare

"The Americans With Disabilities Act is one of the most significant laws in American History. The preamble to the law states that it covers 43,000,000 Americans."(Frierson, p.3) Before the Americans With Disabilities Act(A.D.A.) was passed, employers were able to deny employment to a disabled worker, simply because he or she was disabled. With no other reason other than the persons physical disability were they turned away or released from a job. The Americans With Disabilities Act prevented this type of discrimination by establishing rules and regulations designed to protect persons with physical disabilities. With a workforce made up of 43,000,000 people, it is impossible to ignore the impact of these people. The Americans With Disabilities Act not only opened the door for millions of Americans to get back into the workplace, it is paving the road for new facilities in the workplace, new training programs and creating jobs designed for a disabled society. I believe the Americans With Disabilities Act is the most important precedent set in the struggle against all discrimination for persons with disability. In this paper I will give a brief description of the statutes set by the Americans With Disabilities Act, pertaining to disabilities in the workplace. I will then discuss what employers are required to do according to the A.D.A. and some of the regulations they must abide by. The next section of this paper will discuss the actual training of employees with disabilities with a highlight on training programs for workers with mobility and motion disabilities. The following section of this paper will discuss the economic effects of a vocational rehabilitation program. Finally this paper will conclude with a brief discussion of what the measures set by the Americans With Disabilities Act means to the actual workers and people it benefits. The Americans With Disabilities Act The Americans With Disabilities Act has a section devoted to nothing but practices by employers regarding the treatment of applicants and on staff workers based on their physical condition or any health problems they may have. Some of the disabilities included are vision, hearing, motion, or mental impairments. "Title I of the Americans With Disabilities Act prohibits employers from discriminating against qualified individuals with disabilities in job application procedures, hi... ...ersons with disabilities to function as a productive member of society. Or what is thought to be a productive member, in that this person can be completely independent both in the home and in the workplace. Technology, persistence, and understanding makes it all happen. Now go back and look at the person who had a disability take control of his or her life. That person is no longer, hiding in the shadows, he is out, proudly contributing and living his life to the best of his ability. Also this person can support himself with a regular paycheck, not a government aid or the help of family and friends. This aspect in particular is of extreme importance to many disabled Americans. The ability to survive on their own, not having to be dependent on someone or some group to provide food, clothing or shelter, isn't that what we all want anyway? That is why the Americans With Disabilities Act is the most important precedent set in the struggle to end all discrimination against disabled people. Although there will always be some discrimination and prejudice against all groups in society, at least now one of those groups has the opportunity to prove themselves in an unforgiving society.

Mother-tongue Education in South Africa Essay

Introduction The question of mother-tongue education in South Africa remains a vexed one. On the one hand, it seems reasonable and desirable that learners should be able to receive education in their mother-tongue, if they so wish. On the other hand, there are some very real difficulties involved in the implementation of this ideal. The purpose of this paper is to clarify what these difficulties are, and then to suggest what needs to be done to overcome them. The intention is neither to argue for or against the notion of mother-tongue education in the South African context, nor to consider whether its implementation is practically possible, but simply to spell out what courses of action need to be undertaken if the idea is to be seriously pursued. Background The South African Constitution guarantees learners the right to receive education in the language of their choice1. Most current research suggests that learners entering school are able to learn best through their mother-tongue, and that a second language (such as English) is more easily acquired if the learner already has a firm grasp of his/her home language. Furthermore, the poor throughput rates in South African schools at the moment, where barely a quarter of African language learners who enter the schooling system are likely to reach Matric2, seems to indicate that the current practice of using English as the initial language of learning and teaching is at least one contributing factor to this problem. 1 This right is, however, qualified by the consideration of reasonable practicability, which is defined in the Language in Education Policy of 1997 as occuring when 40 learners in a particular grade in a primary school, or   35 learners in a particular grade in a secondary school, demand to be taught in their mother tongue. 2 As a number of newspapers reported, of the number of learners who entered Grade 1 in 1994 only 21.9% wrote the 2005 Matric examination. Even taking into account such factors as the repetition of grades or learners leaving to study at FET Colleges, the percentage cannot be much higher than 25%. 1.  For some years now, educationists have proposed that African language learners should be taught in their mother-tongue for at least the first three years of school before switching over to English. More recently, the Minister of Education, Naledi Pandor, speaking at a Language Policy conference at the end of 2006, intimated that this initial period of mother-tongue instruction would be extended to six years, that is, both the Foundation Phase (Grades 1 to 3) and the Intermediate Phase (Grades 4 to 6). If this proposal is to be taken seriously, there are a number of questions which need to be clarified and considered. The rest of this paper will be devoted to this task. These questions may be divided into four main headings, although, as will become evident, there is much overlap between them: language development, curriculum development, teacher education and school implementation. Language Development The nine official African languages are certainly able to function as media of communication at such levels as interpersonal conversation, narrative and cultural practice. As they currently exist, however, the standard written forms of the languages have not yet been developed to the point where they are able to carry academic discourse effectively and therefore function as full-fledged languages of learning and teaching, even at the Foundation Phase. For the most part, they are based on particular rural dialects in conservative contexts, having been standardised in the nineteenth century by missionaries for such specific purposes as proselytisation, and later by the apartheid era Language Boards at least partly as a mechanism of social  control. As such, these standard written forms remain in many ways archaic, limited and context-bound, and out of touch with the modern scientific world. In addition, these  standard forms are often quite different from the various dialects spoke n by the actual language communities, even to the point in some cases of mutual incomprehensibility (see Schuring 1993; Herbert and Bailey 2002:59f). Nevertheless, it is axiomatic, as the Canadian linguist, William F. Mackey (1992:52), has pointed out, that â€Å"the lack of standardisation jeopardises the potential status of a language† and that a language which lacks a well- established written form cannot become empowered. 2.  If they are to be implemented as academic languages of learning and teaching, therefore, the standard written forms need to be modernised, regularised, codified and elaborated. This entails a number of large-scale projects: the revision of the spelling and orthography rules of the languages; the elimination of dialectal variation in the writing of the languages; the enlargement of their vocabulary, especially though not only in the fields of science and technology, together with the creation of modern dictionaries; and the codification of their grammars, based on the actual current practices of their speech communities, rather than on otiose cultural norms. It is clear that this is a very large undertaking, which will require the provision of very large resources, both material and human. Of course, in theory it can be done, and the example of Afrikaans in this country is often cited as evidence for this. It must be remembered, however, that the development of Afrikaans was made relatively easy by the fact that it emerged out of Dutch, an already fully functional scientific language; that enormous resources were made available through the National Party government; that it was fuelled by an intensely nationalistic political will; and that it was whole-heartedly supported by a community seeking exclusivity and autonomy from English. None of these conditions obtains in the case of the African languages in the present context, which makes the  possibility of their development into academic languages far less certain. And it must be realised that all the investment put into the elaboration of Afrikaans would have to be increased at least ninefold if all of the official African languages are to be developed to the same degree. It must be noted, furthermore, that the development of the indigenous languages into academic media of communication cannot be achieved merely through the endeavours of a few scholars working in isolation, however industrious and well-intentioned they may be. This technicist and artificial view of language development is plainly insufficient. Instead, what needs to occur is that the entire intellectual speech community of each language becomes actively involved in the development of the language as academic discourse by strenuously attempting to use the language to write scholarly articles, give formal lectures, present conference paSouth Africa uses English and Afrikaans as the languages of teaching and learning.pers, produce textbooks and scientific manuals, and the numerous other activities which require a rigorous academic register. It is only when co-ordinated and 3. To give but two lexical examples, there is no equivalent in isiZulu for the word â€Å"hypothesis†, while in  systematic linguistic research is able to draw on, and feed back into, an actual, developing discourse of practice in a mutually enhancing relationship, that a language can begin to evolve into a functioning mode of academic and scientific expression. After a period of some inertia, a number of projects have recently been undertaken to develop the African languages by both the university sector and the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB). These include the establishment of research centres at some universities, as well as the creation of new courses in translation and terminography. The nine African National Language Bodies (under the aegis of PanSALB) have initiated projects aimed at orthographic standardisation; lexicography and terminology  development; and the promotion of literature in the indigenous languages (see, for example, Webb, Deumert and Lepota, 2005). It remains true, however, that progress has not been rapid and that a very great deal more needs to be done if the ideal of the African languages functioning fully as academic and scientific media of instruction in South Africa is to be actualised. Curriculum Development If the African languages are to be used as languages of learning and teaching in the classroom, the first and most obvious step that must be taken is to translate the Revised National Curriculum Statement (the RNCS) into these languages. At the moment, the only subject curricula which appear in the indigenous languages are the African languages as subjects themselves. The rest are available in English and Afrikaans only. It is plainly unjustifiable to propose that subjects be taught in the African languages when the RNCS – the very basis of all subject content and methodology – is not available to teachers in the putative languages of learning and teaching. In the Outcomes Based Education system which South Africa has adopted, there are three Learning Areas in the Foundation Phase: Literacy, Numeracy and Life Skills. The subjects making up the Literacy Learning Area – the eleven official languages as subjects – are obviously written in the particular languages themselves. But the Numeracy and Life Skills Learning Areas have not yet been written in the nine African languages. Now, for this  Sotho one term is used for the quite distinct scientific notions of â€Å"force†, â€Å"power† and â€Å"energy†. 4. Translation to be conducted successfully, it is imperative to amplify and clarify the subject- specific terminology in the African languages, as well as to develop their capacity for generic academic discourse. Thus, it is necessary to develop the African languages as academic and scientific  languages, at least to a certain level, before the Foundation Phase curriculum can be translated, and, consequently, before one can expect teachers to begin teaching the curriculum in the learners’ mother tongues with any degree of consistency and precision. In the Intermediate Phase, matters are rather more complex. Here, there are eight Learning Areas: Languages, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Culture, Economic and Management Sciences, Life Orientation, and Technology. Moreover, within these Learning areas there may be one or more distinct subjects: for example, Natural Sciences comprises both Physical Science and Biology; Social Sciences includes both History and Geography. As is to be expected, the curriculum for these Learning Areas becomes increasingly detailed and specialised as the learner progresses through the various Grades. In consequence, the translation of the RNCS in this Phase can only proceed successfully if the African languages have been developed to a significantly higher degree as academic languages. And, at the risk of repetition, it is only once the RNCS has been translated that teachers will be able to begin teaching the various Learning Areas effectively in the African languages. Naturally, it is not only the RNCS which must be available in the indigenous languages. All textbooks, readers, support material, teaching aids, guides and literature must be made readily accessible in these languages and kept continuously up to date. This is particularly important in the fields of mathematics, science and technology where an extensive range of new terms and phrases will have to be developed, learnt by the teachers and then communicated to the learners. Apart from the translation of the RNCS and related learning and teaching materials, it is also essential that the curricula for the African languages themselves be revisited and revised. The content structure and methodology for the teaching of the languages remains, like the languages themselves in many ways, rooted in an outmoded and ineffective pedagogic model which hampers learning and diminishes interest. As a result, many learners emerge from the schooling system unable to write their own mother-tongue with  any acceptable level of competence. Moreover, since they have often not been taught English (or Afrikaans)  successfully, they find themselves unable to communicate effectively in their second language, in either oral or written mode. While they may have attained a certain level of basic interpersonal communicative competence, they lack what Jim Cummins (2000, for example) termed cognitive academic language proficiency, and thus they are unprepared for higher education or for training in a sophisticated work environment. At this point, it is necessary to make a distinction between employing the African languages as authentic media of instruction throughout the curriculum and using the languages in the classroom in an informal, ad hoc manner in some or other form of code-switching. Given the diverse linguistic profiles of many South African classrooms, together with learners’ limited grasp of English, it is inevitable that teachers will resort to a mixture of languages for purposes of clarification and explication. In such contexts, code-switching is frequently a vital and indispensable pedagogical tool. Nevertheless, if the goal is to develop the African languages into genuine academic languages, and have teachers use them as such, then code- switching cannot be viewed as anything more than a partial and transitional support mechanism. This becomes ever more apparent as learners move into the Intermediate Phase and beyond, where increasing emphasis is placed on independent reading and writing skills. Learners who remain reliant on mixed-language modes of communication will find it extremely difficult to read texts written in the standard form of a particular language, as well as to write essays and assignments and to answer tests and examinations. Furthermore, given the highly context-specific, personal and arbitrary nature of code-switching, it is impossible to construct generally comprehensible and enduring academic texts in a mixed-language format. Thus, while code-switching practices currently play an important role in many South African classroom environments, they can never be construed as constituting a target language of acquisition, or as representing a viable alternative to the development of formal academic  proficiency in the standard form of a language. It ought to be clear from the foregoing discussion just how much work needs to be done in order for teachers even to begin teaching the first six Grades of school in the indigenous languages. To suggest that such teaching could begin imminently, and to propose rapid policy changes to this effect, is both disingenuous and irresponsible. Teacher Education In addition to language and curriculum development, a crucial aspect of providing mother- tongue education in South Africa lies in the field of teacher education (or teacher training as it used rather inelegantly to be termed). In the early years of this decade the responsibility for teacher education was transferred from the former colleges of education to the universities. During the same period, the numbers of students enrolling for African language courses at universities dwindled, for various reasons, to almost nothing. Even in Teacher Education programmes where an African language is a compulsory credit, the number of students who proceed with the study of an African language beyond the obligatory first level course is negligible. There is, as a result, a real crisis in African language teacher supply. As a first step in addressing this crisis, it is essential that the government offer service contract bursaries for student teachers specialising in African languages. In this scheme, students receive a full bursary (covering tuition, board and living expenses), but then have to pay the bursary back through a year of service for every year of study in which they received the bursary. Over the past few years, such bursaries have been offered for Maths and Science students only. In 2006, however, the Minister of Education announced that such bursaries would be extended to students specialising in Technology and Languages (both African languages and English). It is gratifying to note that this service-linked bursary scheme,  which teacher education institutions have been demanding for some time, has begun to be implemented in 2007, through the Fundza Lushaka project (see Metcalfe 2007). It remains to be seen, however, whether sufficient numbers of student teachers will enrol for and g raduate in African language courses, and then whether the Department of Education has the capacity to ensure that they do actually take up African language teaching posts in the schools. Even this is not enough, however. Incentives must be provided for graduating teachers to accept employment in the rural areas and township schools where the need for teachers qualified to teach in the African students’ mother tongues is most needed. Such incentives could take the form of higher salary packages, performance bonuses and better promotional opportunities. If this does not happen, the current trend of successful black education graduates taking posts in private schools or government schools in the affluent suburban areas will continue. Here it is necessary to remember that the issue is not merely that of teaching the African languages as subjects, but rather the ability to use the African languages as the media of instruction for the entire curriculum. For student teachers to be empowered to achieve this goal, a number of further steps need to be taken. Firstly, as with the African language school curriculum, the African language curriculum at tertiary level needs to be drastically revised and modernised, so that students are enabled to study and learn these languages as effective carriers of academic discourse. Secondly, the entire Teacher Education curriculum (or at the very least the undergraduate Bachelor of Education programme) needs to be translated into each of the African languages. This would include all the official school subjects, but most especially Mathematics and the Sciences. As was noted in the first section of this paper, however, for this to be made possible the languages themselves need to be si gnificantly developed. Thirdly, it will be necessary to provide a very large number of new Teacher Education lecturers who are able to teach the newly translated curriculum in the medium of the African languages. At the moment, a very small percentage of university teacher educators are able to provide quality tertiary tuition  through the African students’ mother tongues, and even fewer in the scientific subjects. Finally, for the requisite development and continuous upgrading of mother tongue tuition at tertiary level to be possible, it is necessary for high level research to be conducted. Thus, optimally, each university’s Faculty or School of Education would need to attract and support top quality education researchers working specifically in the field of African languages in education, whether through research units, centres of excellence or individual fellowships, grants or professorial chairs. In addition to the training of pre-service student teachers, it will also be necessary to upgrade the competence levels of teachers already in the system. Universities will have to provide a range of additional courses for in-service teachers so that they are able to acquire academic proficiency in the newly-developed African languages as well as enhanced methodological skills in utilising the languages as media of instruction in all the various Learning Areas. Such courses would, of necessity, need to be taught part-time (after hours, during the vacations, or as block-release programmes) which would place an enormous burden on both the schools and the universities, and would again require a heavy investment on the part of the State in terms of additional lecturing staff, tuition and transportation costs, and perhaps even temporary teacher-replacements. Such courses would also by their very nature have to be completed over an extended period of time and would thus require a strong co mmitment  on the part of both lecturers and teachers over and above the normal duties which they have to perform in an already highly pressurised work environment. As was the case with language and curriculum development, it is evident that for all of this to become possible, the State will have to make extremely heavy investments in human and material resources far beyond the provision of the limited number of student bursaries it currently offers. Whether the State budget for education can or will ever be enlarged to meet all of these multiple costs remains unclear. Implementation in the Schools The fourth aspect of mother tongue education involves its actual implementation in the schools. Even assuming that at some point in the future the African languages have been effectively developed, that the curriculum has been efficiently translated, and that a full quota of properly trained teachers is available, there is still the question of whether schools will adopt the policy and implement it thoroughly. For this to take place, a number of stakeholders will have to be convinced of the broad benefits of mother-tongue education, not merely in a cognitive sense, but in a much larger socio-economic context. Such stakeholders include government education officials, school governing bodies, principals, teachers, and, most importantly, parents and learners. If learners and their parents do not actively desire mother- tongue instruction, then all the effort in the world will not make the policy viable. And for this desire to be inculcated, parents and their children will have to see that mother-tongue education leads to palpable benefits in such spheres as economic empowerment, social mobility and influence, and pathways to further academic opportunities. All of this raises questions of the instrumental value of the African languages in South African society more generally which, though of interest and importance, lies beyond the scope of the present paper. A more specific question related to mother-tongue education in schools concerns the role of English. No matter how rapidly or to what degree the African languages are developed, it is safe to assume that English will continue to occupy a role of crucial importance in South Africa for the foreseeable future. Even if the African languages are utilised as languages of learning and teaching in the first years of school, at some point there will have to be a switch  to English as the medium of instruction, whether this takes place after three years, or, as is now proposed, after six years. Thus, English will have to receive systematic and sustained attention, and will have to be taught  extremely effectively as a subject during the initial years of schooling so that when the transition does take place (be it gradually or immediately) learners will be sufficiently competent in the language to be able to cope with learning through it. Indeed, even if mother-tongue education were one day to be employed right through to Matric level, learners would still need to be proficient in English for the purposes of higher education where, in a globalised academic environment, English is indispensable. At the moment, however, English is, in many cases, badly taught in South African schools. Just as important as the production of large numbers of competent mother-tongue teachers, therefore, is the development of high quality teachers of English who can be deployed in the rural and township schools. Again, a system of service-linked, contract bursaries and incentives to work in areas of greatest need must be implemented immediately for student teachers specialising in the teaching of English. The Minister of Education, as mentioned previously, has included English in the list of priority subjects for student teachers, and this is to be welcomed as a long overdue practical measure. But, as in the case of African language teaching, steps must be taken, over and above this, to ensure the upgrading of in-service teachers in terms of academic proficiency in the language, content knowledge and improved methodological practice. It is a simple truism that any educational system which prioritises the African languages at the expense of English is destined to fail at the levels both of practical reality and educational theory. As even so avid a proponent of heritage languages as Tove Skutnabb-Kangas has observed, in multilingual societies it is essential that all learners are enabled to â€Å"learn enough of the power language to be able to influence the society or, especially, to acquire a common language with other subordinated groups, a shared medium of communication and analysis† (1981:128). In the best of all possible worlds, learners, especially in areas where English is rarely used, would begin their schooling in their mother-tongue and then at some point switch over to English as the medium of instruction, having acquired enough English through subject study to be able to cope with it. At the same time, they would continue to study their home languages as subjects in a model of additive bilingualism. Conversely, in areas where  English is able to be used as the language of learning and teaching from the outset, it is just as important that learners acquire proficiency in at least one official African language. In schools where Afrikaans is the medium of instruction, it is not unreasonable to require that in 10 addition to their mother-tongue, Afrikaans-speaking learners acquire both English (as they invariably wish to do anyway) and an African language. From this it ought to be apparent that there can be no single language policy which would suit every school context in South Africa. The society simply remains too disparate and differentiated for any â€Å"one size fits all† system to be practicable or even desirable.4 What is not unfair to expect, however, is that by the time learners leave school they will all have full academic proficiency in at least one language (for the moment this would continue to be English or Afrikaans) as well as some degree of academic proficiency in one and perhaps two other official South African languages. However, even within this ideal linguistic scenario, there are some possibly unexpected and certainly ironic implications. For schools seriously to implement initial mother-tongue instruction (followed later by English) means that schools would have to be divided into particular language groupings, and learners would have to attend a school offering their particular language. While this does happen informally to a certain degree, a formalised policy would in effect return South Africa (at least in the primary schools) to a kind of linguistic apartheid reminiscent of a former era. Even in the unlikely event of township schools being able to offer parallel medium education in two or more African languages, there would still effectively exist a language apartheid between the various classes within the school. It is not clear whether the current proponents of mother-tongue education in this country have thought through these matters with sufficient care. Finally, there remains the question of individual choice, and this brings the present discussion full circle. In any democracy parental (and learner)  choice is paramount, especially when it comes to such issues as the language in which a child is to receive his or her education. It is no small matter that this right is enshrined in the Constitution. If, after all is said and done, parents continue to insist, as the majority currently does, that their children be educated in  Colin Baker (2006:215f) provides a typology of bilingual education in which ten main models, each with multitudinous sub-varieties, are discussed. Which of these models would be best for any particular South African school is a complex matter, and is clearly best left to each specific School Governing Body to decide.   This is borne out by the FutureFact 2006 survey, which reveals that, â€Å"apart from the Afrikaans community, between 60%-67% of all other language groups feel that English is the preferre d language for education†. Indeed, of the remaining 33%-40% of the sample, less than 20% preferred mother-tongue education (at whatever level); the remainder stating no preference. In addition to this, 82% of the sample claimed to be able to read and understand English, and, again apart from the  English rather than their mother-tongue, then the onus rests on the State to ensure that this is provided as effectively as possible for everyone who wants it. And if this does indeed continue to be the will of the majority, then the State must take far more active and extensive steps to improve the teaching and learning of English in South African schools than has hitherto been the case. No language in education policy which is forced on the majority against its will can ever succeed, and will serve only to perpetuate the unequal and inefficient conditions which currently exist in South African education. References Baker, Colin. 2006. Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (4th edition). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996. Cummins, Jim. 2000. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual matters. Department of Education. 1997. Norms and Standards Regarding Language Policy; Language in Education Policy. Government Gazette No.685, 9 May. FutureFact 2006 Survey. Languages. (Available at http:// www.futurefact.co.za/ 2006 survey.html.) Herbert, Robert K. and Bailey, Richard. 2002. The Bantu Languages: Sociohistorical perspectives. In Rajend Mesthrie (ed.) Language in South Africa, 449-475. Cambridge: University Press. Mackey, William F. 1992. Mother Tongues, Other Tongues and Vehicular Languages. Perspectives 81 22(1):45-57 (my translation from the French). Metcalfe, Mary. 2007. In Search of Quality Schooling for All. Mail & Guardian (Getting Ahead) January 26 to February 1:4-5. Pandor, Naledi. 2006. Language Issues and Challenges (opening address at the Language Policy Implementation in HEIs Conference, Pretoria, 5 October. Available at http://www.education.gov.za/dynamic/dynamic.aspx?pageid=306&id=2290. Schuring, Gerhard K. 1993. Language and Education in South Africa: a policy study. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council. Afrikaans community, between 72%-77% of all other language groups believe that English should be the main official language of South Africa. 12 Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 1981. Bilingualism or Not: the Education of Minorities. Clevedon: Multilingual matters. Webb, Vic, Deumert, Ana and Lepota, Biki (eds). 2005. The Standardisation of African

Mkt 421 Week 3 Kudler Paper

Marketing Research: Kudler Fine Foods Susan Karr MKT 421 October 1, 2012 Ricci Rizzo Marketing Research: Kudler Fine Foods In order to succeed, it is fundamental that businesses satisfy consumers’ needs (and desires) for goods and services. Appropriate market research provides the data necessary to understand those needs and respond to them effectively and profitably. Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) has performed market research in the past. Some of that research has been helpful; some has not. Additional market research is needed for KFF to reach a larger share of the market and increase profitability.Kudler Fine Foods is a gourmet grocery store. KFF sells meat, produce, cheese, and wine. They also provide catering services. KFF has targeted two market segments, high-income consumers and gourmands (gourmet food enthusiasts) (Kudler Fine Foods, 2011, Sales Plan 2007 webpage). These markets were selected based on the strengths owner Kathy Kudler brings to her organization. Gourmet food is Kathy’s passion. KFF has used historical data, customer surveys, and feedback from its sales force to discover what its target market wants.Observing patterns in historical data and extending those patterns to predict the future, or trend extrapolation, is the â€Å"best-known statistical method† for predicting future sales (Kerin, Hartley, & Rudelius, 2011, p. 215). Salesforce survey forecasts, such as the feedback from managers at the operations review meetings on the sample offerings Kathy is considering, are another logical approach to discovering what the target customer wants (Kerin, Hartley, & Rudelius, 2011, p. 215). KFF’s customer surveys are an additional tool used to fine-tune what their customers (new and existing) really want.The company has begun to track customer purchase behavior to forecast which products and services are most likely to be in demand and when specifically (year-round, seasonally, holidays, etc. ). KFF is considering a ddressing changes in consumer expectations in the changing e-commerce arena (KFF currently has an informational website that consumers can visit). KFF believes quality and specialty items, especially new ones, are most important to its customers. Kudler Fine Foods has no direct competition with other gourmet grocery stores in their current locations.Kathy chose the locations for this reason and for their accessibility to KFF’s target high income consumers. KFF has been emphasizing direct mail promotions to high income zip codes, word-of-mouth advertising via satisfied customers, and personal sales promotions both in-store and at various community events. Although Kudler Fine Foods has chosen two very specific markets to target, a more thorough understanding of those target markets is needed to deliver what they want. One of KFF’s target markets is gourmands.KFF’s research focus in this area has been primarily on the supply side: Kathy monitors what products the competition is offering, what products are advertised in gourmet magazines, and what products are shown at gourmet conventions and websites. To discover what gourmands want, KFF also needs to research the demand side. Mining on-line blogs and gourmet food forums are two ways KFF can increase its understanding of what gourmands want. Customer surveys, such as the ones KFF currently uses in-store, can also be revised and used both in-store and on-line. Specific areas to be researched include: * What products do they want? A changing selection of items or traditional items? * The newest items available or a more specific selection, such as local artisan wines and cheeses? * When do they want it? * Are there different times when certain items are desired more or less? * What do they want over the holiday season? Or during the summer versus the winter? * Where / how do they want it delivered? * Do they want to shop for it and prepare it themselves? If so, do they want to be able to shop on-line? * Do they want to attend classes to learn how to use the products? * Are they interested in on-line tutorials? * How much do they want the product to cost? Note: Based on answers to KFF’s 2011 Customer Survey, price is one area where additional research is vital. More than 50% of respondents did not feel the merchandise was a â€Å"good value for the money† (Kudler Fine Foods, 2011, 2011 Market Survey webpage). * What do they expect to pay? * What are they willing to pay? (Rizzo, 2012). Additional research is needed to more effectively reach KFF’s other target market, high income consumers. Currently KFF segments this market geographically based on zip code areas determined by various factors to be â€Å"higher-income† areas (based on real estate prices, for example).Although somewhat targeted, this promotional method uses the â€Å"shotgun† approach: direct mail is â€Å"blasted† over an area in hopes of reaching the target (Respon se Targeted Marketing, 2010). Past sales data (information on customers who spent over a certain amount or purchased large quantities) can be mined to determine where they live and how much they make. This demographic information can then be used to procure or generate lists of similar people. Using direct mail promotions, the target market can be contacted more effectively. It is important that KFF take measures to track the results of marketing campaigns.For example, if a direct mail postcard with a promotional offer is sent out, tracking sales generated from that offer will tell KFF if they are reaching their target or wasting their time and need to re-aim. This also means asking customers directly how they found out about KFF or what brought them into the store. Again, updating the current Customer Survey is a simple way to accomplish this. Kudler Fine Foods can improve its marketing strategy by focusing on three competitive intelligence priorities: 1. Understanding the consumer environment 2. Assessing and tracking competitor’s actions 3.Providing early warnings of opportunities and threats Several of the recommendations for increasing understanding of the target market will also help KFF understand the consumer environment better. Increased utilization of internet technology, such as implementing on-line surveys and monitoring gourmet consumer blogs and forums, is simple and cost-effective. Continuing to monitor competitors as Kathy has in the past is also important. To prioritize this, KFF’s department heads and managers can contribute to intelligence gathering, paying particular attention to competition, customers, and trends relevant to their areas of expertise.Most of this information can be gathered during customer and employee interactions; some will require research via internet, magazine, and the gourmet food community, even visiting competitors’ stores. Communication is vital to provide KFF with early warning of threats and opportunities. Kathy visits the stores personally: Discussing consumers and competitors, not just products and services, with employees and managers during these visits will ensure opportunities, as well as threats, are revealed in a timely manner.Kudler Fine Foods has begun to develop a foundation for successfully marketing its products and services. It is important that KFF perform additional research in some areas and continue to modify and improve on its marketing strategy. By updating it Customer Survey, capitalizing on information freely available on the internet and taking advantage of information previously gathered, KFF can reach a larger share of the gourmet foods retail market and increase profitability. References Kerin, R. , Hartley, S. & Rudelius, W. (2011). Marketing (10th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.Kudler Fine Foods (2011). Retrieved from https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/intranet/sales-plan. asp Response Targeted Marketing (2010). Shotgun Marketing Versus Targeted Marketing: 8 Steps To Focus Your Energies And Get More Sales For Less Investment. Retrieved from http://www. responsetargetedmarketing. com/2010/02/05/shotgun-marketing-versus-targeted-marketing-8-steps-to-focus-your-energies-and-get-more-sales-for-less-investment/ Rizzo, R. (2012). Marketing Process. Retrieved from http://www. screencast. com/t/R65nHl3j8ARl