Customer Segmentation Study for Brazil Market Essay

Early childhood from 0-6 years is under the responsibility of the municipalities , and primary education between sates and municipalities. We could aim our main targets (children) between the age of 6- 25 in schools, colleges, etc. We could promote our innocent smoothy drinks at schools and other places for cheap prices or of no price at all at the beginning when our business would need recognition. We could have different flavours with different kinds of fruits to attract children and make it a more healthier drink for them and as acai berry is high in nutritional value and it contains vitamin a, vitamin e, iron, calcium,etc which is required for a growing The acai berries are found from a palm that has a long thin trunk unto 25m high with a group of branches at the top from which hangs ribbon like leaves. It has a life span of 24 hours (the properties in the juice are active till 24 hours only), so they should be loaded into baskets and onto the boats by the west part of Brazil, Belem’s market. Then they can be crushed and mixed in smoothies, juices, ice creams, etc. Consumers and distributors across the world have recognised the health benefits of Acai juice and sales have confirmed this trend. Acai is taken in liquid juice form. It is safe to say that Acai juice that is cold processed and not dried out will be a superior product over the rest. Another thing to watch for are the ingredient lists on these products. Many companies are producing Acai juice with 20% or less of the actual Acai juice. The remainder is filled with water, sugar, preservatives and other cheaper juices. With the Acai’s great anti-inflammatory properties, adding sugar (and effectively cancelling out Acai juice’s benefits) simply doesn’t make sense. However to the credit of some companies there are juices available that are 80% to 85% Acai juice. 100% Acai juice can seem too strong in taste to many people. Naturally the Acai berry is not sweet. When the pulp of many berries is blended it is easy to see the oils that come to the surface.

Career College vs. Community College Essay

After schooling a student may have a number of options. A number of colleges have come up that can meet up the various requirements of the students. The new era students are having now expanded demands and desires for their career and future. So, to meet their needs the various colleges are also coming up in the help of the students. What is a Career college? Career Colleges are the new day colleges. They are the modern colleges that have provided the modern students a new scope in the various fields. They are not the general colleges of doing bachelor degree and master’s degree in general streams. They have specialist subjects that offer professional training to the students. These days the mentality of the students and also the parents has changed drastically. In previous days parents and students had only some of the limited choices such as medical, engineering and government services. But now a number of choices have come as add on to this career option. The varieties of career options now available are the hotel management course for services in various hotels, restaurants and clubs, management degrees for various corporate offerings and much more. Now a time has come when a person can even convert his or her hobbies to a study. This has only led to a vast number of diverse courses such as art, aviation, animation, web designing, linguistics and many more. Both bachelors and masters degrees are provided by these colleges. Even other types of degrees are also provided from here. What is a community college? Apart from choice, students have also got colleges that offer them studies as per the comfort zone of the students. There can be a number of students who have problem of joining and regularly attending a college. There can also be students who are not that financially strong and are not able to afford the cost of the career colleges. In these circumstances there are a number of colleges that support the students in all areas. These are the Community college. These days the community colleges are becoming great options for many of the students. These colleges are flexible in their cost, time and  methods. They provide all types of courses from full time to part time, from 3 year courses for 6 months courses, all depending upon the candidate’s capability and need. The pros and cons As everything has its own pros and cons so does the colleges also. Both the colleges, Career College and the Community College have their own pros and cons. The career college is the most sophisticated academic center. They are the most professional and properly handled colleges that provide the most technical and professional training to its students. On the other hand Community Colleges serve the most cost efficient and time efficient academics. The fees of these countries are lesser than the career colleges and have time flexibility for the students to attend the classes as per their requirement and need.

Attitude, behavior, & high quality of customer relationship management Research Proposal

Attitude, behavior, & high quality of customer relationship management influences on the Saudi consumer buying decision - Research Proposal Example In this context, customer service is the cornerstone on which customer relationship depends to a considerable extent. In other words, customer service determines and influences customer relationship and enables the business firms to develop positive relationship with customers. Customer service represents an integrated and comprehensive set of business processes and practices delivered by business firms to the customers. Business organisations worldwide strive to deliver an enhanced and enriched set of customer services in order to entail high customer satisfaction (Shoult, 2006). It has also been identified that customer buying decision influences by the customer service significantly. High quality and positive customer services attract customers in purchasing or availing particular products and services. On the other hand, low quality and poor customer service led the customers to switch over to other competitors. This act on the part of customers of switching over to other competitors affects image and reputation of business firms negatively. This situation of switching over other competitors prevails more significantly in case of Saudi Arabian business firms. The present research study aims at identifying and analyzing level of customer service in Saudi Arabian firms like airlines, banks, telecommunication companies, hospitals, restaurants and many more. The variables affecting Saudi Arabian consumers’ decision like price, quality, after sales services, competing offers and many more will also be discussed in the underlying study. The selection of research methods, data collection strategies and approaches will also be done in accordance with overall purpose and aims of the study. The research problem acts as a founding stone for the study as it paves the path for organising and conducting other sections of the research process. In light of this, research

How Wild Was the West Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How Wild Was the West - Essay Example The land that these people lived upon also caused a dilemma as they mainly thrived upon agriculture, and these harsh soil conditions, in actual fact, didn’t quite suit their crops. Throughout these times, the state government was still beginning to establish solid grounds upon the hierarchy of its systematic beliefs. During the early periods, these inhabitants resided in unorganized sections of homelands situated in any way in which they wanted. This is considerably factual in the aspect that when white men began to settle in America during these early times, there were no towns at all. These towns in the early settlings of the west obtained a very meager reputation. This is essentially due to the fact that they engrossed many variables of society. These types of citizens included criminals, robbers, thieves and gunslingers. Taking this into consideration, families were tempted away from these areas, making them seem even more desolate. These however, weren’t the only problems facing the new settlers. Others included tribulations such as facilities and education. The towns were rushed, unplanned and lacked many of the essential requirements that a newly established town must have in order to prosper and to suit the needs of its people. Education is these areas were also poor as the need for teachers increased as the amount of children requiring education did too. Health and hospitalization was also a grave difficulty when sometimes it seemed that the populations became sick, or caught the wrong diseases, and no apparent reason could be found. All of the problems facing these people were mainly due to the fact that they simply had to start from the very core of their society. When they established their grounds upon which they lived, they merely had nothing but hard, dusty earth which of course took them time to develop the necessary means in which to prosper. Other problems included the lack of resources such as banks, buildings and stores. This is particularly factual when combined with other troubles such as cattle rustling, horse stealing (for which the punishment was hanging), and claim jumping. All of these problems and many more, meant that towns had to simply fend for themselves in times of trouble. Conditions during this era also caused problems when they meant that other means were needed to support their livelihood. This is where the unnecessary problems such as crime and hostility took place. Combined with this, gender imbalance meaning the lack of women in the area, meant a lack of community respect and ordered women into violence, caused racism problems and most notably, economic intolerance upon its entire people. Poverty was also another beneficiary of these troubles as it seemed to be inclined upon producing other troubles such as lack of supplies, bad people and depressive social tensions. Why were these towns so violent and lawless Difficulties and negative circumstances seemed to make the towns in the west become intolerable to live in. Some of the main causes of these problems included drunkenness, in which men would become bored, frustrated and fight upon each other. Together with these people included minorities, who found it hard to live in these distrustful conditions and were often the victims of racism and violence because of their religious practices and beliefs. For example, the Mormons practiced polygamy, and had more than one wife which disconcerted the rest of the majority of the population, which eventually led to this group leaving their community. The legal system incorporated in this time upon these areas also shaped an uncompromised

Strategic Choice and Evaluation Paper on Apple Inc Research

Strategic Choice and Evaluation on Apple Inc - Research Paper Example In this sense, the company cannot afford to relent on its path towards market domination because its rivals and new entrants can easily catch up and take over the market leadership position that Apple Inc. currently enjoys. This paper explores the three levels of strategy that the company can use to consolidate its position. The three areas of strategy include the identification of the best value discipline for the company, the best generic strategy option, and the most effective grand strategy that Apple Inc. ought to pursue. Value Discipline All companies usually choose between three broad value disciplines. This three value disciplines are operational efficiency, product leadership, and customer intimacy (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993). Operational efficiency refers to the ability of a company to provide a product without hassles and with minimal inconvenience to the customer. Usually, it calls for investment in powerful supply-chain management tools to ensure that there are no delays i n the production process. Companies that attain efficient operations as a value discipline also tend to provide basic products made with little or no embellishments, and with a very small parts-count. They employ advanced levels of designed-for -manufacture concepts. In order to attain product leadership as a value discipline, a company must invest in advanced product research and development techniques because it requires that the company retain leadership in its ability provide new products for its customers (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993). The IT industry seems to require this as a basic value discipline because of the high rate of innovation in the industry. The amount of game-changing discoveries in the IT industry renders new products obsolete within a very short time. Thirdly, adopting customer intimacy as a value discipline calls for the use of personalized methods of production and marketing that aims at developing a sense of personal attachment with customers (Treacy & Wiersema, 1993). This approach works best for low volume and high margin products for the target market. The best value discipline for Apple Inc. is product innovation. This comes from the fact that Apple Inc. is an IT based industry dealing with personal products. The main competitive edge for companies producing IT devices for personal use is in the innovativeness of the products. Pursuing operational efficiency will limit the innovative edge that Apple Inc. enjoys because of the efforts it will divert to attain efficiency. On the other hand, Apple Inc. develops products for the mass market. It is very challenging to implement customer intimacy as a value discipline when it comes to productions for the mass market. However, there may be strategic benefits in pursuing a two-fold strategy both as a product leader and as an efficiency operator because Apple Inc. may not always be a product leader in the unpredictable IT industry. Product Innovation alone may also make it too expensive for App le Inc. to return a profit because of the high cost of product development. Generic Strategy Porter identified three elements of generic strategy that informs the approaches organizations use to gain market share. In Porters model, the three strategies come from a matrix developed by comparing the scope of the target market with the source of advantage (Porter, 1980). In this sense, a company can pursue a strategy aiming for a niche market or for the mass market. In addition, it has to make a decision regarding whether it

Protein Quantitation Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Protein Quantitation - Lab Report Example The following is a report on an experiment conducted to determine protein concentration of unknown samples using this method. Bradford Protein Concentration Assay Accurate protein quantitation is paramount to all experiments that are related to proteins in a lot of research topics in molecular biology, developmental biology, cell biology, neuroscience, and biochemistry. Different techniques have been developed to quantitate proteins in the last century, both for the total protein content and a single protein. Total protein content quantitation methods include Bradford assays. Bradford assay, which was initially described by Dr. Marion Bradford in 1976, is one of the commonly used methods to determine protein concentration. This method relies on formation of a complex between proteins in solution and the Coomassie brilliant blue G-250 dye. This dye exists in four different ionic forms. The more anionic blue form binds to proteins and has an absorbance at 590 nm. Protein concentrations can be known by determining the amount of dye in the blue ionic form, and by measuring the absorbance of the solution at 595 nm using a spectrophotometer (Becker, Caldwell & Zachgo, 1996). This dye binds mostly to arginine, tryptophan, tyrosine, histidine, and phenylalanine residues of the protein Materials and Reagents Protein standard: 1mg/mL Albumin Bradford reagent Distilled water Test samples A, B and C (Unknown protein) One 96-well plate Procedure First, the albumin standard solutions were prepared as follows: Concentration Albumin Distilled Water 0% 0ul 100ul 25% 25ul 75ul 50% 50ul 50ul 75% 75ul 25ul 100% 100ul 0ul Then the Bradford reagents were diluted with 300 ul (Bradford): 1500ul (Distill Water) (1:5 ratio). In the first trial, 180ul of the diluted Bradford reagents was added into the 96 well plate. Then 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% and Sample A, B, C, each 5ul was added to each well hole which contained 180ul of diluted Bradford reagent. These were tested with spectrophotom eter and the results recorded. The experiment was repeated again the same way. In addition, Sample C was diluted with 3 different ratios as follows: 1:9 (Sample C: Distill Water) 1:99 (Sample C: Distill Water) 5:95 (Sample C: Distill Water) The results were recorded after the solutions were tested with a spectrophotometer. A standard curve of absorbance versus concentration protein was drawn. Results The results were recorded as follows: First Trial Results: 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Sample A Sample B Sample C 0.092 0.145 0.161 0.169 0.162 0.095 0.161 0.763 Second Trial Results: 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Sample A Sample B Sample C Sample C (1:9) Sample C (1:99) Sample C (5:95) 0.113 0.188 0.218 0.217 0.210 0.116 0.200 0.670 0.244 0.118 0.152 The responses of the standards were used to plot a standard curve. Absorbance values of unknown samples were then interpolated onto the plot for the standard curve to determine their concentrations as shown in the graph below. Discussion From the graph abov e, the optimum measurement wavelength for this assay is on sample C. Thus sample C has the highest protein concentration. Sample A has the same absorbance as 0% albumin and Sample B has the same absorbance as 50% albumin. It can therefore be concluded that sample A and Sample B have 0% and 50% protein concentra

Biochem unit 9 paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biochem unit 9 paper - Essay Example Vitamin E works with other molecules such as glutathione, selenium, vitamin C, and vitamin B3 in preventing oxygen from becoming too reactive, thereby preventing oxidative stress (WHFoods: vitamin E, n.d.). Numerous studies indicate that oxidation is the crucial phase in atherogenesis. Oxidized low-density lipoproteins with low density promote the production of inflammatory indicators. They are also implicated in the formation of foam cells, inhibition of vasodilation due to nitric oxide, and inhibition of the motility of tissue macrophages (Saremi & Arora, 2010). Experiments carried out on mouse models reveal that vitamin E plays a significant role in augmenting oxidative resistance in vitro, consequently avoiding the formation of atherosclerotic plaque. In humans, there is reduced risk of coronary heart diseases due to consumption of vitamin E-rich foods especially in middle-aged and older men and women (Saremi & Arora, 2010). However, results from some clinical trials provide conflicting data. According to Blumberg, vitamin E has been implicated as having an unfavourable effect in the therapy of heart disease (n.d.). He further attributes these disparities to the different primary and secondary tests. Primary prevention entails observing large numbers of healthy people and investigating the incidence of new heart disease in the midst of people with diverse intakes of vitamin E. On the contrary, secondary prevention takes place â€Å"over a few years in clinical trials with vitamin E supplements (and placebos) in patients with heart disease to determine whether their conditions worsen, e.g., with a subsequent heart attack† (Blumberg, n.d.). Therefore, vitamin E is more effective in primary prevention by preventing the development of plaque, which usually starts in childhood and continues in adulthood. Nonetheless, a number of studies indicate that vitamin E could

IKEA and Fantastic Furniture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IKEA and Fantastic Furniture - Research Paper Example The key success factors desirable for such success is the provision of quality and value for customers’ money, understanding the market and targeting advertisements to perceived needs of the markets and provision of an outstanding customer service to the customers. Though IKEA and Fantastic furniture are similar in many ways, they differ in design of products where IKEA emphasizes on flexibility and portability of the furniture, thus, producing self-assembled furniture while Fantastic furniture mostly produces pre-assembled ones. Backward integration and increased productivity are recommended for the two companies, in order to be able to meet the projected increase in furniture demand. Table of Contents Background and Introduction IKEA is a privately owned international company that sells home products that can be assembled, such as home appliances and accessories, beds, and desks (Coker, 2005). The company was founded in 1943 by a 17-year-old Swedish, with the name of the com pany derived from his name and place of origin. The company ranks as the world’s largest retailer of furniture (Dennis, 2008). There are notable strengths that the company has been credited with. Its ability to control costs allows it to offer continuously lower prices for its products. The company is also known for its attention to operational details, allowing it to improve continuously the products it offers to its customers. These strengths have seen the company continuously advance, and expand to different countries in the world (Stroman, 2003). The company comprises of a group of companies that are centrally controlled by a Dutch corporation. The company provides its customers with 12,000 different products and is the third largest consumer of wood in the world (Ben, 2009). The company adopts environmentally friendly manufacturing process to ensure it preserves the environment. Fantastic furniture, on the other hand, was started in 1991 by two founders, Harding and Dejo ng. The company started as a stall that was selling plastic garden furniture, and later, the first of their store was opened at Birkenhead point (Johnson, 1983). In 1992, the company opened the first Fantastic Factory Lounge and in 1995, the Fantastic metal factory was established. The company owes its success to some strength it possessed from its inception. The company indulged in clever advertising, while at the same time improving its products and processes continuously. This way, the company has been able to expand its operations and grow to a large furniture retailer. The company’s growth rate was so high, that the founders were unable to manage this growth. Consequently, they invited other directors who had experiences in handling growth in a new business, effectively increasing the number of company’s director to five (Greenblat, 2010). In 1997, the company opened its first import department, which has been responsible for the sale and distribution of the compa ny’s products to a tune of 50%. The company has expanded its operations to have many other branches in Australia, later transferring its Fantastic Lounge factory to a different location to accommodate the increased production capacity, in 2006. With its growth and expansion, the company acquired a mattress producing company to suffice the mattress requirement of the company in the same year (Ben, 2009). Literature review A furniture retail business should be the most successful business ever running. This is because every day someone needs

Assignment on Hr Promotion & Transfer Essay Example for Free

Assignment on Hr Promotion Transfer Essay Flippo †A promotion involve a change from one job to another that is better in term of and responsibility† Chruden and Sherman†A promotion involves a change of assignment from a job of a lower level to one of level with in the organization† Dale Yoder†Promotion is defined as a movement to a position in which in which responsibility and prestige are increased† Pigors and myers â€Å"Promotion is the advantage of an employee to a better job better in term of gather responsibilities more prestige and status gather skill and specially increased of pay or salary†. Employer to support employee higher position, sales, duties, response everything increased is as well as employees enjoy self-determination, (a)progress (b)preferment (c)promotion (d) position Promotions are used to fill the positions which are more important to fill rather than the present position of employee. It can be filled by external recruitment but employees having eligibility and experience must be appointed for their motivation. Also it will decrease labour turn over as external recruitment costs more. Also increase in salary and status will increase job satisfaction. When scale of pay is increased without changing job it is called  up-gradation  and promotion involves changes in job as well as high salary. When higher position is given without change in salary it is known as  Dry Promotion. All these,  Promotion Up-Gradation and Dry Promotion  are used by management to increase morale of employee and as giving reward also. Promotion means the employee present position to superior position . more obviously promotion is the association to the higher position where more responsibility and more power exits with more occurrence. In the higher position, sales, duties, response everything increased is as well as employees enjoy self-determination. The advancement of an employee within a  company  position  or  job  tasks. A job promotion may be the  result  of an  employees  proactive  pursuit of a higher ranking or as a  reward  by  employers  for good  performance. Typically is also  associated  with a higher  rate  of  pay  or  financial  bonus. In terms of a career, a promotion refers to the advancement of an employees rank or position in a hierarchical structure. A

Ideology of the films Essay Example for Free

Ideology of the films Essay I. Introduction Feature films such as Star Wars and The Terminator last just a couple of hours, but they take months or even years to make. Huge teams of people are involved in preparing for the action, and then capturing it on camera. Then, when the acting has finished, more hard work begins on turning the action into a film fit for cinema and TV screens. This paper studies (1) who were the first film-makers; (2) know the development of cinema worldwide; (3) be aware of the different types of modern film and; (4) figure out the film-making at present. II. Background A. The first film-makers The first people to invent equipment for making films were the Americans W. K. L. Dickson and Thomas Edison, in the early 1890s. Their apparatus consisted of a camera called the Kinetograph and a viewing box called the Kinetoscope. Only one person at a time could look into the viewing box to watch the film, which was in black and white, had no sound and lasted just a few seconds. Two French brothers called Auguste and Louis Lumiere first devised a way of projecting film images onto a large screen for an audience. The Lumiere brothers called their apparatus the Cinematographe. They carried out their first demonstration in a Paris cafe in December 1895. People were stunned to see the large, moving pictures. Other inventors immediately began creating new types of projectors and experimenting with making their own films. ? Early film-making ideas Film cameras do not record movement. The moving pictures we see on screen are actually still photographs, taken so quickly one after the other that they seem to merge. Each still photograph is called a frame. Most film cameras today take 24 frames every second, on a big reel of film that is wound steadily through the camera. The first film cameras, though, could take only 16 frames every second. The length of the film on the reel was 20 or 25 metres, which gave just about one minute of screen time. So the first films usually showed just one, short scene. For example, L’Arroseur Arrose (A Trick on the Gardener) by the Lumiere brothers, made in 1895. The first film with more than one scene was probably Come Along Do! , produced by the Robert Paul company in Britain in 1898. The company joined a scene outside an art gallery with a scene inside. A film-maker called George Melies began to produce multi-scene films, such as Cinderella (1899). Melies also experimented with interesting ways to join the scenes together. He often used equipment, such as slides and magic lanterns, to create special effects. At the turn of the century, two British film-makers working separately in Brighton came up with creative ideas for shooting the scenes themselves. George Albert Smith invented a technique for filming a scene from different camera positions. In The Little Doctors (1901), a scene showing somebody feeding medicine to a kitten is shown first from a distance, then in close-up, then from a distance again. James Williamson had a different idea—to shoot a piece of action across several scenes, instead of just one. In Stop Thief! (1901), the lead character runs out of one scene, then the film cuts to a new scene elsewhere and the lead character runs into the scene, continuing the story. An American film-maker called Edwin S. Porter used ideas like these especially effectively in a 1903 film called The Great Train Robbery. III. Discussion A. The Development of Cinema Worldwide In the early days of film-making there were no cinemas. Film-makers used specialist sales organizations to sell their films to entertainment organizers, who projected them as part of variety shows in tent theatres. From 1905 to 1908 in the United States, thousands of theatres (known as nickelodeons) were set up especially for film. Permanent film theatres were also established across Europe, and film-making became a booming business. From 1908 a leading centre for American film-making developed in an area of southern California called Hollywood. Established British and French film companies were joined by flourishing film industries all over the world. An Italian film company produced the first large-scale film in 1912. It was called Quo Vadis? , and used massive film sets and more than 5,000 actors. Film-going became so popular that from 1914 many lavish cinemas called picture palaces were created. They could seat thousands of people at a time. Film-companies began to make films that lasted for several reels instead of just one. Picture palace audiences had to wait in the middle of a film while the projectionist changed reels. Films in those days were silent, so picture palaces usually had a pianist or organist who played music to accompany the action. Film-makers also included short written sentences in the film to add to the story or explain what the actors were saying. One of the most famous silent film stars was the British actor Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977), who created the loveable character of the â€Å"little tramp† who had a funny walk. Many film companies experimented with animated drawings and models, as well as human actors. European film companies introduced the idea of making information films about events in the news, as well as films for entertainment. ? Color and Sound From the early 1900s, inventors had worked on films with colour and sound. The first breakthrough with colour came in 1908 in London, when G. A. Smith demonstrated a colour film process called Kinemacolour. However, Kinemacolour shades were based on just two colours, so films continued to be made in black and white. The first colour films to be created successfully from two colours were Toll of the Sea and The Black Pirate, shown to the public in 1922. In 1926 the American film company Warner Brothers delighted audiences with a series of short films that had sound to match the pictures. As the sound was recorded on a separate disc, the words did not always match the mouth movements of the actors. Warner Brothers’ The Jazz Singer was the first full-length talkie, in 1927. The film company Fox soon developed a more effective technique for recording the sound onto the film itself. During the 1930s, Hollywood film companies made the most of the new sound technology by making musicals with singing and dancing stars such as Shirley Temple, and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Gangster talkies and romantic comedies were popular in the United States and Britain, although at this time the Japanese film industry was the largest producer of films in the world. In 1934, the Bombay Talkies studio was formed in India, founding one of the biggest film industries in the world. While film companies had been busy creating talkies, they had also been working on perfecting colour in films. Finally a process was developed that used three colors to create different shades, rather than just two. In 1935, the first three-strip Technicolor film was produced, Becky Sharp. From then on, moving pictures not only sounded real, they looked real too. B. Different Types of Modern Films Since the early days, many different types, or genres, of feature film have been made. These include westerns (such as The Magnificent Seven), thrillers (The Fugitive), comedies (Home Alone), action adventures (Indiana Jones), supernatural horror (Dracula), war epics (The Great Escape), romantic comedies (When Harry Met Sally). Crime and gangster films (The Godfather), films with animation (Who Framed Roger Rabbit? ), spy adventures (Mission Impossible), kung-fu extravaganzas (Enter the Dragon), science-fiction (E.T. —The Extraterrestrial) and modern musicals (Grease and Moulin Rouge). Sometimes films combine two or more genres. Some films are produced with three-dimensional technology, so that if you wear special glasses, the images on-screen appear to have more depth, just like in real life. Other films are made for IMAX cinemas. These special cinemas have giant-sized screens with sophisticated sound systems to make you feel as if you are right in the middle of the action. IV. Conclusion A. Film-making today Film-making requires different specialist staff and technical processes, depending on what the film is about. All films go through three broad stages before they are ready for an audience. During the pre-production stage all the preparations are made for filming. The producer chooses the story, raises money and employs the people who will work on the film. The scriptwriter writes the words, creating an exciting plot and interesting characters. The director decides on the overall style of the film and chooses the leading actors. The art director is in charge of designers for the film sets, costumes and makeup, and choosing locations outside the studio. Technical directors are in charge of crews who build huge film sets and arrange lighting, sound and special effects. The production manager controls the budget and makes practical arrangements for filming. During the production stage filming takes place. Stories are not usually filmed in the right order. The actors and crew film all the scenes that take place in one location before moving on to another. The director guides the creative elements of the film, from giving opinions on the story, to instructing the actors, to choosing camera angles. The director is helped by people in different departments. For instance, a continuity person makes sure that all the details are correct in scenes that are shot out of sequence (such as the actors’ clothes and length of their hair). That way, when the filmed scenes are put into the right order later, they will run together smoothly. The post-production stage happens when all the action has been filmed. An editor cuts sequences of action and joins them together, adding the sound. When the director and producer are happy with it, the finished film is then ready for distribution companies to sell to cinemas or TV companies.

Pantaloons Retail India Limited

Pantaloons Retail India Limited Future Group focuses most in the retail segment and most of its businesses are built around the same. Future Groups retail network operates 1,000 stores for more than 200 million Indians in 73 cities and 65 rural locations across the country in 16 million square feet of retail space. Some of the most popular retail chains of India like Pantaloons (chain of fashion destinations), Big Bazaar (hypermarket chain), Food Bazaar (supermarket chain) and Central (chain of seamless destination malls) Brand Factory, Planet Sports, ALL, Top 10 and Star and Sitara are managed by Future group. Indias most popular online shopping portal www.futurebazaar.com is also owned by the Future Group. Home building and home improvement products and services are also led through the groups formats, like the Home Town (large-format home solutions store), Collection i (formats specialized for home furniture and home furnishing) and Furniture Bazaar and consumer electronics through eZone and Electronics Bazaar. Aadhaar, Indias leading rural retailing chain has a presence in more than 65 rural locations. It acts as a complete solution provider for the Indian farmer. Pantaloons Retail India Limited Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited is one of the leading retailers in India. Mr. Kishore Biyani, is the founder and is famously known as Indias King of Retail. Pantaloon has revolutionized the retail fraternity. With its headquarter in Mumbai, Pantaloons operates multiple retail formats in value and lifestyle segment. Pantaloons plans to increase its retail space to 30 million sq. ft. by 2011. PRIL is sub-divided into: Pantaloons Big bazaar Food Bazaar Fashion Station All Blue sky E-zone Collection 1 Home town Central Mall 2001 Indias first hypermarket chain Big bazaar is launched 2002 Food bazaar, a supermarket chain is launched 2006 Future groups financial arm, Future capital holdings launches two real estate funds Pantaloons High fashion family department, geared toward Indian middle and upper classes. In 2005, pantaloons rolled out a new merchandise and brand communication campaign to position itself as fashion trendsetter appeal to Indias youth. Central Mall It is positioned as a place for shopping, eat and enjoying. Big Bazaar Big Bazaar hypermarket concept was started in 2007 by PRIL. It was designed to integrate elements of an Indian bazaar with recent retailing features like parking of vehicles, AC shopping environment and privilege of replacing merchandise. Food Bazaar The first outlet of Food Bazaar opened in June 2002, within a Big Bazaar store, six month later the chain had grown to 42 outlets: 18 stand alone. Future Groups main businesses are : E-commerce Futurebazaar.com, Pantaloons website has changed the e-commerce business in India. A wide range of products are made available at affordable prices. PC World has named the website as the Best Indian Website for 2007 in the Shopping category. Food In the food section, a lot of options are available like Food Bazaar Chain of large super markets Brew Bar Its a beer bar Cafà © Bollywood -Its a eateries chain which is PAN India Chamosa Snack counter Sports Bar A Bistro which is dedicated to the sports world Fashion Varieties of options are available in this section like Top 10, Central, Blue Sky, Etam, Fashion Station, Gini, Jony, Navaras and ALL. Home Electronics Furniture store called Collection i Electronic goods and appliances store called Electronics Bazaar Electronics Items store called e-zone Home furniture store called Furniture Bazaar One destination for all home needs called Home Town Leisure Entertainment A family entertainment center called Bowling Co. A store offering gaming options from bowling, pool, video games to bumper cars called F 123 Wellness Beauty Health Village Its a yoga center as well a spa Star Sitara: A beauty salon for men and women Tulsi Allopathic, homeopathic and ayurvedic medicinal products are provided Turmeric Beauty products like colour cosmetics, fragrances, herbal and specialty skin items, hair products and bath accessories are offered. Books Music Depot It offers stationary, CDs and books Major Achievements of Pantaloon Retail 2007 International Retailer of the Year 2007 Emerging market Retailer of the Year 2007 According to Hewitt Best Employers Survey Best Employers in India (Rank 14th) 2006 Best Managed Company in India (Mid-cap) for the year 2006 Image Retail Awards for Best Value Retail Store, Best Retail Destination, and Best Food Grocery Store. Retail Black Hole Model The Black hole model is also known as The Retail EST Model. It was developed by J.C Williams Group. According to this model a retailer can win if he is the best in one of the several retail offerings i.e to say that the company is clearly positioned in one or more preferred locations to win and hence they are the strategic differentiators. The losers gravitate to central position, are not best at anything and are sucked into the black hole of retailing We have a store opening virtually every fortnight; I have lost count now of how many I have opened Kishore Biyani Big Bazaar A paradigm shift to the Modern Retail Big Bazaar is a unit of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and caters to the Great Indian Middle Class. It is like an Indian bazaar or mandi or mela, the environment created by traders to give shoppers a sense of moment. The personality of big bazaar is one of an entity being authentically no-frills. The personality of the brand is self expressed by its tagline Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi It sells a variety of merchandise at affordable rates, the prices of which it claims are lowest in the city. Usually the items are clubbed together for offers as on the lines of Wal-Mart and Carrefour, offer weekend discounts and works on the same economy model as Wal-Mart and has considerable success in many Indian cities and small towns. Food Bazaar format was added as Shop-In-Shop within Big Bazaar in the year 2002. Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar blend the look, feel and touch of Indian Bazaar with modern retail concepts of choice, convenience and quality. PRODUCT MIX TARGET AUDIENCE Higher and upper middle class customers are the target segment of Big bazaar. Another preferred customer segment is the young and growing population of the country. Big bazaar primarily targets the women folk and home makers who they feel are the primary decision makers. CORE COMPETENCIES Product range consisting of more than 20,000 products. Has a strong supply chain spanning one thousand five hundred cities and towns in India. Big bazaar has tie ups with world leaders in logistical services. Big bazaar has created a helpline for solving the queries of customers. Offers manufacturers guarantee as opposed to sellers guarantee. Good quality at reasonable cost. STRATEGIES: Minimize retailing cost. Minimize operating expenses by employing fewer floor staff -single person for every 500 sq ft. Keep furniture cost to minimum. Cut down expenses related to sourcing by almost 25-30%. Increasing the overall efficiency of logistics by creating mother-hubs all across India for the purpose of sourcing products from regional/local vendors. Slashing channel cost by up to 25%. Economizing Shelf Space Dealing with unsold stock in an effective manner. Ensuring enough pull to snatch away customers from the neighbourhood. Introducing the concept of todays price wherein a products is chosen on a daily basis and sold at lower than usual price. Big Bazaars New Marketing Strategy: A new marketing strategy, based on guerrilla marketing has been launched by big bazaar. The guerrilla force is divided into small groups to selectively attack the target at its weak points. As a part of this strategy Future group has come up with three catchy and cocky advertisement campaigns. Keep West-a-Side. Make a smart choice! Shoppers! Stop. Make a smart choice! Change Your Lifestyle. Make a smart choice! STRATEGIC ANALYSIS SWOT analysis of Big Bazaar PEST ANALYSIS Political and Legal Factors: A stable government at the centre creates an encouraging investment climate Problems of getting subsidy from Octrai and on different taxes like land, water taxes A less complicated taxation structure(GST) on the horizon. Problems regarding taking over properties and real estate. Easing restrictions on FDI by the government leading to easier import of foreign consumer goods, thereby bringing variety to the Indian market place. Economical: India is one of the fastest growing economies, next only to China (7-7.5% GDP growth rate). Retail Industry to grow leaps and bounds by 2015 due to the consumption driven economy of the country. Increase in the percentage contribution of the service sector to GDP. Increased emphasis on infrastructural growth in the current 5 year plan will help reduce some of the bottlenecks in the retail segment. Socio-Cultural Factors: Increase in Nuclear families Increase in working womens proposition Life style changes Shift in Product and service preferences Increase in Young population giving the country a demographic advantage Technological: Technological development for fast billing and the service Better applications of information technology in the modern retail industry, like in supply chain management, store management, point of sale and customer relationship management Porters Five Forces Model 7 P Analysis of Big Bazaar Product There is a wide range of products on offer at Big-bazaar, ranging from apparels, food, farm products, furniture, child care, toys, etc. Products of all the major brands are available at Big Bazaar. A lot of in house brands (private labels) are also promoted by Big Bazaar. Price The tag-line of Big Bazaar is Is se sasta aur accha aur kahin nahi. The model on which Big bazaar works is one of economies of scale. Maximum Market Share (market penetration pricing) is the major objective of pricing at Big bazaar. Place Big-bazaar has a pan India presence with more than seventy-five outlets spread across fifty cities. Big Bazaar has presence in almost all the major Indian cities. Kishore Biyani is very aggressive when it comes to expansion plans of Big bazaar. As per Biyani, the cost of real estate should preferably be less than 5% of total sales of store if one wants to provide maximum benefit to customers. Securing spaces before other retailers join in has been a strategic decision of Big bazaar which has resulted in cost-saving. Promotion Many novel cross sell and upsell strategies have been developed by Big bazaar in Indian retail market. Big Bazaar uses various promotional techniques such as saal ke sabse saste teen din, Future card, Shakti card, using M.S.Dhoni as brand ambassador, Exchange offers such as junk swap offer, POP promotions. Print media, TV, Radio (FM) and road-side bill-boards are some of the many means used by Big bazaar for advertizing and effective communication. People People are considered to be one of the key assets in any organization and their importance is even more profound in the service sector. Big bazaars staff possesses some salient features such as: The staff is well trained for modern retail. Innovative thinking among the employees is encouraged at Big bazaar. Multiple payment counters, availability of stores staff for keeping baggage and presence of security guard at every gate. Process Some of the salient features of dispatch and purchasing area of goods include : Trolleys are available for carrying purchased items sufficient nos of counters for easy check-out are present. Information hoardings/banners for efficient identification of items at store Physical Evidence It deals with the final deliverable or the exhibit of written facts. The staff has standardized dress code to improve the overall appearance of the store (atmospherics). FINANCIAL ANALYSIS of PRIL PRIL Profit and Loss Statement Interpretation Total revenues have constantly been on the rise. This is partly due to the increasing sales resulting from aggressive expansion plans (opening up of outlets) of PRIL. PAT has also been on steady rise though it has flattened a bit in recent years probably due to higher operating costs, inability to transfer the increased cost to the customer etc. EPS has also been on a steady rise apart from a single occasion in 2007 when it went down. The reason could be a rights issue or other similar action leading to equity dilution. The return on capital employed has been decreasing YoY. This could because of concern for the company. The debt equity ratio has not been too volatile and has always been below 2 which is an indication of sound financial status of the company. Aggressive Marketing: Promotions The promotional activity of the company, which says Nobody Sells Cheaper and Better! has differentiated Big-Bazaar (as a brand) in the minds of the customer. The punch-line has made its place in minds of customer. As the competition is becoming stiff in the market the activities conducted by the company are unique, that have brought fruitful result to the company. Among them sales Promotions is one of the leading activity or unique among all other activities has high influence on the customer walk-in. As sales promotions is the major force for Big-Bazaar, Big Bazaar take it very seriously especially during festivals special occasions by focussing aggressively on psychological emotional promotion strategies as per the demographic profile of the various consumers. About 60-70% of shopping for apparel, consumer durables, and home furnishing, among other things, happen during festivals. At least 40-50% takes place during the peak festival season, between September and November. According to Ashni Biyani, 23, a team is set up six months ago comprising experts on Indian mythology and religion, retail and even an expert on days, seriously targeted one-third of the 150 auspicious days in the Hindu calendar. They map all the communities in India on how they shop and how these calendars work. They focus to understand intuitively, their customs, their rituals, adding that this is the part of a larger strategy to engage customers and to attract that India which lives in the deep-rooted communities. Sabse Saste 3 Din: The best watershed for brand Big Bazaar was the introduction of the Sabse Sasta Din in January 2005, when the Indian Republic Day holiday was utilized to make sure that hordes of consumers descended on all Big Bazaars across the country to buy all kinds of household items cheap. There were scenes of customers actually vigorously fighting over items in-store long queues were seen in the store. Big Bazaar like previous years, attracted large crowds during its three day sales event called Sabse Saste 3 Din organised to celebrate the Republic Day. Depending on the results, the event is sometimes extended to 5-6 days as it happened in 2008. The promotional event being organised by Big Bazaar every year has assumed great significance over the years. A large number of customers look forward to this event as hefty discounts on a range of products are offered to the customers in partnership with the retail chains vendors on this occasion. This is, perhaps, the biggest sales event being organised by any retailer in the country. Big Bazaar, which sold merchandise worth Rs 140 crores in 2007, garnered revenues of over Rs. 280 crores during the year 2008 the growth still continues unexpectedly. As mentioned by Kishore Biyani, the whole focus is low margins pushing volumes aggressively during these times which make the Big-Bazaar stick to its core Brand-Personality. Wednesday and Weekend Bazaar: One of the most popular events Wednesday Bazaar presents terrific offers and irresistible discounts on majority of the products. The Concept was to aim at giving the homemakers the power to save the most on this day of the week. Even on weekends when the footfall is the highest, eye-catching offers and discounts are promoted. The weekend promotions differentiated from the Wednesday bazaar in terms of the offers cross-selling and not on reducing the price of a particular product. This way they were able to differentiate both the concepts focus on avoiding confusion while promoting it to the consumers and also attract different type of consumers during these durations. Special event promotions: Maha Bachat Sale: Big Bazaars incorporates such as on Independence day by having Maha Bachat Sale which did a business of 1.5 crores in its Bangalore store alone. Maha Bachat focuses on further reducing the price as compared to the Wednesday Bazaar. Also on auspicious occasions such as Akshaya Tritiya which again did a business of 150Cr on a single day in Mumbai Ahmedabad last year. An event offering discounts, benefits and privileges to senior citizens were created and promoted on the Senior Citizens Day. Monthly Bachat Bazaar: Big Bazaar understands clearly the habits of Indian consumers. In Monthly Bachat Bazaar the prices are reduced at the start of every month in order to target those consumers who bulk purchase the products and especially the commodities every month. Price Challenge Campaign: Reinforcing Big Bazaars USP of value proposition, Is se sasta aur accha kahin nahi scheme was launched. The challenges promise to offer twice the price difference, if the cost of any of the item found in the store is found to be higher than the market price. This doesnt mean that the consumer actually go to other shops in order to compare the prices, but due to this challenge of Big-Bazaar, the consumers had more faith trust on the Big-Bazaar and hence were confident seeing the confidence level of Big-Bazaar which again built a strong brand differentiation of Big-Bazaar for low pricing. Exchange Offers: This promotion primarily focused on letting people disposing off their junk and to gain something out of it in return i.e. Bring anything old take anything new. They could exchange their products and shop from a huge spectrum of discounted products. This gave the motivation factor to consumers to give their old belongings for something worth hence their old is not getting waste or is unvalued. Since the Indian consumers are very much value conscious, this strategy worked out very well. Big-Bazaar also made it sure that the campaign is actually not fooling the consumers around and is actually giving the desired value focusing on the fact that faith thrashed is never recovered in India. In- Store Communications: To ensure that no one misses out on an opportunity to gain from special offers, service boys ferry around a trolley with the product inside, announcing the scheme. Not only is this entertaining it also helps customers pick up the product from the trolley instead of walking up to the rack where it is on display. Language Customization: To make sure that non-English speaking customers dont feel alienated, the communication is also conducted in the local language. The communication is always unambiguous and direct. The Power of One Campaign: This initiative encourages customers to add One Rupee to their bill towards donation to a social cause. Big Bazaar makes an equal contribution and donates the entire proceeds to an NGO called Save the Children India. This is a selfless body which has been working for the welfare of children from marginalized sections of society. Corporate campaign: Big Bazaar has recently launched a corporate campaign which revolves around a family having a great time together. The brand anthem Khushiyon se Bhari Jholi connects with the customers at an emotional level positioning Big Bazaar as part of the happy moments. Future Cards: Specifically for Big Bazaar outlets these credit-cum-loyalty card which offer customers a slew of discounts and benefits across Future Group stores are co-branded with ICICI Bank. Customers receive four loyalty points for every Rs 100 spent at Future groups retail stores and one loyalty point for every Rs 200 spent outside the groups retail stores. This creates a vicious cycle for the customers to repeat their purchases and is especially done by the consumers during special occasions. School Jao Khushi Khushi Providing Discounts School related requirements accessories like school bags, water bottles, lunchboxes, shoes etc. Promotions include: Pencil Case for purchase of above Rs 500. Free shopping trip worth Rs 1000/- for Sending ones experience of the Best day that you had in school the most humorous the best one is selected as a winner and to avail the offer. Lucky draw for the lucky kids shop for Rs 1,000 above, drop in your kids name into the drop box 10 lucky kids were provided with the offer 30% off on an NIIT course Motivational offer for Kids: Shop for Rs 500 or above, Parents are told to drop in the kids painting, the best painting is sponsored for an art course. Doston ke saath khushiyon manao Individual are invited with friends more the merrier shopping with 1 friend entitles the individual with 10% discount, coming with two friends get 20% discount etc on the total bill. Friendship band to every walk-in A friend indeed -people were told to drop their best friends name in the drop-box and in lucky draw the winner could win the major prize A Car!! Special treatment emotional connect for the individual his/her friend -free massage, tattoos, horoscope etc were provided for purchases above Rs 500/- above during the friendship day. Diwali Dhamaka: This campaign especially remains open for longer duration Huge discounts are seen over the board If purchase is above Rs 300/- two pairs of diya were provided to the customers Tie up with known mithaiwala: if one purchases above 1000/- people can avail discounts of 45% or above on the mithai purchased from that mithaiwala. Motivating the home made mithai recepies: Purchasing goods worth Rs 500 above, females were pulled to send the recipe of their secret mithai the best judged recipe gets a complete set of Sanjeev Kapoors cook-books Diwali Manao Abroad winning through lucky draw on purchases worth Rs 1,000 or above. Christmas Joy: Across the board discounts. Big Bazaars special surprise Christmas gift on purchase of over Rs 1000/- or above. Christmas-Card Design Contest: Design next years Christmas card for children and a gift voucher worth Rs. 500 were given to the best card winner. Big Bazaar Christmas party focussing on points vouchers through festival focussed games. Happy-Hours: All the discounts/offers were hiked up in a fixed hr of a day eg: Buy X and get Rs 10 off on that day will become Rs 15 off. Mystery-Shopper: Everyday, one person is tagged as the mystery shopper i.e. a) 100th person walking through the door wearing all red b) 1st person walking through the door wearing all red These person gets the discount of 50% on the total bill. Apke kismat mein hai khushi: Lucky is happy Based on scratch card Get all that you pick in 60 seconds till reaching the billing counter Assured gift for the bulk takers: Choose a gift from the listed items if the bill is above 1000/- This is used especially to push the non-moving goods which is usually put in the listed free gift items. Banto khushiyan har ek ke sang: Social causes Khilone se khushi bate Toy drop box was set in the big-bazaar store and the concept was promoted to ask for the toys from the families then the toys were sent to the social organisations working for underprivileged childrens. This has helped the underprivileged, generate goodwill, and have also attracted the floor traffic to store at the large scale. Supporting a charity Support through charity: Donation to the charity on the individuals name for purchasing above a specified amount. Customers were given an ornament with his or her name on it to hang signifying the donation by the individual. Advertisements: Advertising for Big-Bazaar is an essential component of brand building. The advertisement focusing on brand building of Big-Bazaar is done through various ways, Some of the techniques applied are: Tag Line: One of the key components of Big Bazaar is its Tag Lines. Designed according to the demographic profile of customers in order to get connected easily with simple one-liners. The catch liners includes Chane ke bhaw kaaju, Stall ke bhaw balcony etc. Holistic Advertisement: Promotes the brand and creates awareness among people. It is not targeted at promoting each store but only creates an image of Big-Bazaar as low-cost shopping option. The store has advertised through TV, road-shows and also started reality show typed promotional campaign The Big Bazaar Challenge Promotions like Sabse Sasta Din is very successful strategy to get footfall. Print-Ads: Just before the launch of any new schemes Big-Bazaar spends heavily on advertisements in print media especially newspapers. This is done in order to create a buzz about the big-bazaar brand its upcoming schemes. TV-Ads: various channels are utilized properly, also as per the demographics cultural channels the schemes, promotions especially the common brand tag-line is aired in order to create top of the mind awareness Road side Advertisements: As a brand building exercise, big-bazaar displays bill-boards in prime locations as per the target people. Focus is more on the phrases which is targeted to the needs of the customers as per the market conditions at that particular point of time. Radio-Ads: The major focus through radio ads is in Tier-12 cities. And the prime emphasis is given on radio ads for promotions in order to inform customers for all the new happenings schemes at Big-Bazaar. Fashion-Shows: The latest innovation of the Indian iconic brand is FASHION @ BIG BAZAAR Desh Badla, Bhesh Badlo. In order to make an effort to take the Fashion to the masses, a three-day fashion show was organized by Big-Bazaar on the streets of Bandra, Mumbai. Brand Endorsement by Celebrity: For marketing and advertising its brand name, value endorsement co-branding is used by Big Bazaar. Earlier Himesh Reshammiya Sanath Jaisuriya was associated with Big-Bazaar. Also, recently the current campaigns are being associated promoted with the Indian cricket ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Communication through Media: Heavy spending is carried out for proper position of Big Bazaar through the different mediums. Paper advertisements are released just before the launch of any new scheme, billboards are displayed on prime locations, frequent TVCs are aired in prime time in various Indian channels for the mass, advertisements on FM channels about the current happenings are aired etc. Below the Line Promotion: Coupon, discount, more of the product at normal price, gift with purchase, competition, and prizes, money back offer, exchange offer, special occasion. Big Bazaar, in association with Star India Pvt Ltd, has launched a collection of designer ethnic wear under the brand Star Parivaar. Above the Line Promotion: Advertisements in Newspaper, TV, Internet (own website which give online shopping service), Partnership with Bigfilx, Big FM 92.7. Aggressive Pricing Strategy The tag-line is Is se Sasta aur accha aur kahin nahi make Big-Bazaar to differentiate itself from competitors in terms of only pricing the value at that price. Hence it makes it very important for the Big-Bazaar to always focus on the its pricing strategies to keep the prices always low compared to the competitors whatever the market, economy or the external conditions is. They work on the model of economics of scale. There pricing objective is to get Maximum Market Share. The various pricing techniques used at Big Bazaar are: EDLP Every Day Low Pricing: Big-Bazaar as a brand is differentiated through low pricing strategies. Hence it promises delivers the lowest available price without stressing on coupon clipping, discount promotions waiting time, or comparison shopping. Promotional-Pricing: Low interest rate financing is being offered by Big-Bazaar. Psychological discounting (Rs. 99, Rs. 49, etc.) strategy is used as a promotional tool. Special Event pricing (Close to Diwali, Gudi Padva, and Durga Pooja) is also the prime focus of big-bazaar for the reasons mentioned in the previous topic. Value-Pricing: Big-Bazaar sets selling prices on the perceived value to the customer, rather than on the actual cost of the product, the market price, competitors prices, or the historical price. Differentiated Pricing: Also termed as Time pricing, i.e. difference in rate based on peak and non-peak hours or days of shopping. This again as a pricing technique is used in Indian retail, hence aggressively used by Big Bazaar. Psychological Pricing: In order to attract status-conscious customers and also to push status-consciousness among the middle-class people, psychological pricing concept was undertaken by Big-Bazaar which provided the best deal in the market for the products which are market-buzz-creators and highly engaging long-lasting products such as LCD TVs, Washing Machines etc. Bundling: In

Management Issues of Implementing Welfare to Work Programs In Californi

Management Issues of Implementing Welfare to Work Programs In California In August of 1996, our chief executive of the United States, President Clinton, changed the structure of welfare dependency. He signed into law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. This act, with its entire new legislature, has come to be known as welfare reform. Our state leaders, administrators and managers face many challenges and constraints in their attempt to implement a law, which will restructure the welfare dependency roles. This paper will take a detailed view of the specific challenges faced by state public sector leaders, in the attempt to implement these new laws which created a new welfare system for the United States. This paper will also highlight the various programs, created from the new legislature, and examine them from implementation through their operations. As the structure of welfare dependency begins to change, the primary challenge faced by state administrators is the ability to get its citizens, who have depended on federal funds to support their families, to depend on their own work generated incomes. For over 60 years, the government has been financially providing a subsidized income for its needy citizens. The government has begun to look for ways to assist its needy and able bodied, welfare dependent citizens, to become much more self-sufficient. The government was also looking at ways to decrease its national debt. Government studies revealed that too many Americans had become too dependent on the financial assistance of the government to support their lifestyles. Tax payers, as well as the republican parties were pushing for a change. They believed that the needy, those that were able sh... ...tive ways to implement dependency reduction programs to fit a large sum of people with a limited and amount of time and funds. Bibliography Barnow, Burt S. and Nightingale, Demetra S., Status of the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program After One Year Challenges, Resources and Flexibility: Using TANF Block Grant and State MOE Dollars http;www.urbaninstitute.org/welfare/wtw_labor.html http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/calworks/caworks.html http;www.urbaninstitute.org/welfare/wtw_labor.html http://www.hudson.org/wpc/states/cal-tanf.htm http:///www.urban.org/welfare/grants_program/grans_prog.html http://www.dss.cahwnet.gov/calworks/caworks.html http://aspe.os.dhhs.gov/hsp/isp/xsleszn.htm Welfare Policy Center/ Hudson Institute http://www.hudson.org/wpc/states/cal-tanf.htm wysiwyg://119/http//www.ncsl.org/statefed/welfare/flexblty.htm

El Teatro Contra Las Peliculas :: essays research papers

El teatro contra las peliculas   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aunque la pelicula surgio del teatro, hay diferencias distintas que los separan. La pelicula se ha convertido en una clase de entretenimiento con propositos para entretener a la gran cantidad de gente. Se enfrentan las necesidades del publico de salir del teatro satisfechos y felices. Al contrario, el teatro sigue apelando a un publico educado que esta buscando una experiencia que empiece el pensamiento. Por eso, el drama La muerte y la doncella y la consiguiente pelicula, Death and the Maiden, contienen finales tan distintos.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  La muerte y la doncella es una drama escrita acerca de una mujer llamada Paulina que fue torturada por un doctor durante la dictadura de su pais. Una noche su esposo, Gerardo, llega tarde por causa de un neumatico ponchado. Un doctor Roberto es el buen samaritano porque lleva a Gerardo a su casa. Paulina sospecha que Roberto es el doctor que fue su torturador. Entonces, cuando Roberto esta durmiendo en su casa, Paulina lo detiene como regen con una pistola, y ella dice que no lo va a librar a menos que Roberto confiese ser el torturador.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  En el drama escrito por Ariel Dorfman, el final deja al publico pensativo. Algunas cosas quedan ambiguas. Por ejemplo, el doctor Roberto nunca confesea al crimen contra Paulina. Tampoco sabemos si Paulina lo mato. El dialago entre Roberto y Paulina cerca del final termina con Paulina enojada y aputando a el la pistola. La escena final ocurre en una sala de conciertos, y cuando entra Roberto, el esta iluminado, Paulina lo vio y no hizo nada. La interpretacion del espectador determina el final de la obra.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  En cambio, la trama de la pelicula dirigida por Roman Polaski tiene un final que deja al publico satisfecho con una obra completa. A pesar de unos detalles casi irrelevantes, las dos obras son casi identicas hasta el final. En el final, Roberto niega a Paulina la confesion hasta que Paulina le lleva al acantilado y le dice que le va a tirar al barranco. Con tono sincero le confiesa a Paulina todo lo que le hizo a ella durante la dictadura. Despues de la confesion, Paulina no lo puede matar, y queda vivo. Cuando ellos se ven en la sala de concierto, el publico no esta confundido por la presencia iluminada de Roberto porque saben que todavia esta vivo.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Estas diferencias entre el drama y la pelicula existen por la diferencia entre el publico de una obra de teatro y el publico de una pelicula. Las obras de teatro de hoy

Christianity and Hinduism Essay

I wanted to compare Hinduism to Christianity. I did not know anyone around here so I contacted a family member that lives in the Philippines. His wife’s family fallows Hinduism. I interviewed them over the Internet through video chat. That was very interesting. I had to have my family member translate to me somethings. But it was fun. I also have them write what they were answering to me. I e-mailed them the questions in advance so it would not be a shocker when I asked. I felt as if I was rude at times asking some of the questions. I kept apologizing and all they kept laughing at me. The interview was with Byra and Hansa Bose. Translation was Sandra and Justin Usry. Hinduism is generally regarded as the world’s oldest organized religion and the world’s third largest religion. Christianity is the largest religion in the world. Hinduism consists of thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India since 1500 BC. Most forms of Hinduism are henotheistic religions. They recognize a single deity and view other Gods and Goddesses as manifestations or aspects of the supreme God. Hinduism has about nine hundred and fifty million followers that is about fourteen percent of the world’s population. It is the dominant religion in India, Nepal, and among the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Christianity was founded in the early 1st century AD. Christianity has around two billion followers. That is around thirty three percent of the world’s population. Hinduism is a constantly changing religion. It was not founded by a person or prophet. Hinduism is characterized by its beliefs in reincarnation. Hindus believe in one Supreme Being but in many Lords. There are said to be three hundred and thirty-three million Lords. The lords are perceived as divine creations of that one being. Hinduism views compose of three worlds, the physical universe, subtle astral, and the spiritual universe. Christianity was founded by Jesus Christ. To be a Christian you have to believe only in Jesus and acknowledge him as your only savior. The Bible is the main source of the principles and values of Christianity. The Veda is the Hindu holy book. The Veda consist of four books; Rig, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva. The books include over 100,000 verses.  The knowledge imparted by the Vedas ranges from earthy devotion to high philosophy. Christianity is an organized missionary religion. The Christian Church is divided into three major groups, the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant Churches and the Orthodox Churches. Hinduism does not have a centrally controlling organization it has some ancient scriptures to guide it. That is a joke. Christianity believes that God created the world out of nothing. Hindus say that is not true. Nothing can come out of nothing. That everything has to exist from something. So Hindus think God created the world out of himself using the elements and qualities of his energy. Christians believes that God and men are different. God created man in His own image. The world and men exist separately from God. Hindus believe the whole universe is enveloped and inhabited by God. Hindus believes that the universe was created billions of years ago through a gradual process of materialization brought out by Prakriti and that the earth is just one world in a series of thousands of worlds. Christiani ty believes that the world was created a few thousand years ago over a period of seven days. That the earth is the center of the universe. Hindus do not believe in conversion of people. A person becomes a Hindu either by birth or through conscious that is by choice. Christians accepts conversion as a way of saving them from certain damnations. It is the responsibility and sacred duty of every Christian to save everyone who are not Christians by bringing them to Jesus. Hindus do not believe that you go to heaven or hell like Christianity rather they believe in the concept of Karma. Hinduism men are judged by their own karma. If you do badly in one life you have many more to work the bad karma off. The only way to get out of the cycle of life and death is to achieve true enlightenment. When a person achieves enlightenment he or she doesn’t go to heaven or hell, he or she is beyond heaven or hell. He or she would have become part of the entire universe. When enlightenment is reached they become part of God. Hindus believe that the death of a human being only extinguishes the bodily form of existences as the soul reincarnates in  another life form. They believe that a human being has it within his ability to attain Moksha, the final extrication of the soul, by applying the principles suggested by the scriptures. Christianity believes a person commits sin against God by bracken the ten commandments. If someone leads a life of sin without acknowledging God and without believing in Jesus, he will become a victim of the Devil and fall into temptation. If he is a true believer, God will save him and grant him an eternal life in heaven. It is the conduct of a person on earth that determines the person’s fate. A sinner can seek forgiveness of God and Jesus through repentance and submission and he will be forgiven according to the strength of his belief. On the Judgment Day all souls are resurrected and judged by God according to their actions on earth. Both Hinduism and Christianity believe in the eventual destruction of the world. However Hinduism does not believe in the permanent destruction of the world but in the repetitive nature of creation. There will be repetitive cycles of creation followed by destruction. In Christianity after that happens they reside either in the heaven or in hell eternally. Hindus worship a lot. They commonly worship shrines in three different environments, in temples, in the home, and in outdoor public spaces. Hindus believe that if proper care is not taken of a temple’s images, the deity will abandon the temple. Hence priests reside at the temple and take care of the gods’ needs. Priests perform puja at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight. For a layperson, however, visiting a temple every day or even regularly is not mandatory, and many devout Hindus worship at home. The essential aspect of puja is not congregational worship but an individual’s offering to a deity. Worship in the home usually takes place daily. Christians will worship anywhere. However when they come together to worship they will usually come together in a church. Prayers are usually done before a meal and before bed. It can be done at any time whenever a Christian fills the need to pray. Some holidays that Hindus celebrate are Shivarathri â€Å"The Night of Shiva† a festival celebrated in honor of Lord Shiva, Holi, Raksha Bandhan which is celebrated on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Sravan (August-September). It is one of the important Hindu festivals. Hindus who  wear a new holy thread offer their respects to the ancient Rishis by offering them water on this day. Telugu New Year’s is celebrated on the first day of the month of Chaitra (March-April).This is a happy day and is celebrated with great enthusiasm. This is New Year’s Day for the people of Andhra Pradesh and also the Telugu people all over the world. Navarathri is celebrated twice in a year, once it is celebrated in the month of Chaitra and then again in Aswayuja. It lasts for nine days in honor of the nine forms of goddess Durga. During Navaratri devotees of her observe a fast. Brahmins are given food and prayers are offered as it is believed that this provides protection of health and property. Ganesh Chaturthi is most popular of all Hindu festivals. It is the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is the most sacred day for Lord Ganesha. It falls on the 4th day of fortnight called Bhadrapada. It is observed throughout India as well as by devoted Hindus in all parts of the world. Krishna Janmashtami is the birthday of Lord Krishna, who is the eighth Divine Incarnation. It is believed that Lord Krishna was born at midnight. Many people go on a twenty-four hour fast on this day, which is broken at midnight. Ramnavmi is the last one. Christianity has a lot of holidays too but the really important ones are Christmas Eve which is the day before Jesus Christ was born. Christmas Day is the day Jesus Christ was born. There is Ash Wednesday which derives its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents. Doing this is a sign of mourning and repentance to God. When God was walking to be crucified there was a village that laid palm tree leaves down for him to walk on. When he left they burned them and that is where the ashes come from. It also starts Lent. During Lent, many of the faithful commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence. Good Friday, the passion or and death on the cross of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Easter is the day Jesus resurrected. Now let’s talk about food. Christians have no limitations to what they eat, but the Hindus do. They cannot eat onions or garlic. Onions and garlic cloud the mind with passion. I think that is funny. Also onions and garlic gives the breath an odor which offends Lord Krishna. Mushrooms cannot be eaten because they grow in dung and an unclean ground. Anything from a cow is forbidden. Cows are sacred. They are known as â€Å"the mother†. So they cannot  eat cheese, milk, butter, or any of the cow’s or cow’s meat. They also cannot eat pigs. Pigs are forbidden also. Vegetarianism is very common in the Hindu religion. About thirty percent of Hindus are Vegetarians. In conclusion I had a lot of fun learning about both these religions. I learned that Hindus have a lot of gods and pray a lot. I don’t think I could pray that much. Christianity only has one god that is thought to be three other things. I had a little trouble understanding that one. They both are very complex. They have many other religions that branch from them.

Interracial Marriage

Introduction An interracial marriage is a marriage between members of different races, known as as Mixed marriage: marriage of two people from different races or different religions or different cultures. Miscegenation: reproduction by parents of different races (especially by white and non-white persons). Exogamy: marriage to a person belonging to a tribe or group other than your own as required by custom or law. Multiracial: made up of or involving or acting on behalf of various races, and Biracial: consisting of or combining two races. Interracial marriages are still a growing concern in the society. Over the time, the number of interracial marriage has been multiplied to a large number. After all these years, interracial marriage is still considered as a taboo according to some religious and cultural reason. Where at the same time, it is very common in some cultures, but whatever the situation maybe, interracial marriage has both pros and cons. Interracial marriage is the term used to describe marriages that take place between people who are from different racial or ethnic groups. Intercultural marriages are defined as marriages between people who come from two different cultural backgrounds. A marriage between a woman from China, whose culture emphasizes the needs of the family over the needs of the individual, and a man from the United States, whose culture emphasizes individual autonomy, would be an example of a intercultural marriage. Whereas relationships between people from different ethnic and cultural groups are becoming increasingly common, there are substantial increases in the number of individuals engaging in interracial or intercultural marriages. However, even though the number and societal acceptance of interracial marriages is growing, little has been written about these marriages, the reasons for their increase, or their strengths and liabilities. Interracial marriages have a hard go at it. They suffer not only from the prejudice of others, but also from inherent problems of differences between their respective cultures which combine with those already present in a marriage. Ethnic groups bring variety and richness to a society by introducing their own ideas and customs. Interracial marriages introduce such variety. In a perfect world, everyone should celebrate this. However, the world does not look at all marriages as love between two people without regard to their race. The Three Stages of Marriage Regardless of the race of the parties involved in a marriage, the marriage usually undergoes three distinct phases. These three phases either aid the couple in developing a stronger bond or the stages simply contribute to weakening or breaking the marriage. The phases may be distinguished by the following categories: the honeymoon stage, the setting-in phase, and the resolution phase. The first stage of marriage is the honeymoon stage. This is the stage when everything is new and wonderful. Both parties are optimistic and confident about their future together, they believe they can overcome any obstacle. They value their differences, and they work together to try to make the most out of everything and anything. In this stage interracial couples are at ease with each other, they face minimal if any problems between themselves. Unfortunately, this stage must and does end. This stage ends with the intrusion of an outsider who strains both persons. The outsider is usually somebody in the immediate family. If there is no outside intruder, then the marriage moves into the second phase when the individuals in the marriage stop valuing each other's differences and begin to see their differences as obstacles. The couple begins to realize what each difference means in terms of spending their lives together. The second stage of marriage is the setting-in phase. In this phase both members of the marriage expose their behavior. The politeness between the couple is reduced and the couple finds it constantly arguing because they have begun to defend their own ideas, and disregarding the ideas of their partner. The different types of qualities the individuals bring to the marriage are visible to each person during this stage. There is a revelation of love vs. compatibility in this stage, which relates to differences vs. similarities. The more differences the less compatibility, the more similarities the more love. In this stage interracial couples face more obstacles than couples of the same race, because there are more elements that need to be discussed. This is the stage where couples either make it or break it. The third phase in the marriage is called the resolution. In this stage couples have either mutually agreed to stay together and ignore each other's differences as well as each other, or they pretend nothing is wrong, or they are in a constant state of anger towards each other and the issues they face. Many nterracial marriages don't make it past the end of stage two and the beginning of stage three, unless they make arrangements that they can both understand and respect. Pros of Interracial Marriages There are plenty of benefits that accrue from an interracial marriage. The first and foremost is that the children of this relationship are likely to be better global citizens than those born from marriages/ relationships of the same race. There is more tolerance towards the diversity o f religion because the partners learn to respect the differences and nuances of each religious tradition they follow. Their children would grow with a broad outlook on God and the importance of religion. Again, this is the need of the day. More people have died as a result of religious hatred than all the wars put together. Religious tolerance and sensitivity is sorely needed in today’s world. One of the most positive aspects of this type of marriage is that each of the partners gets the opportunity to learn and experience another culture and racial aspects, which other people are deprived of. Interracial marriages also provide an opportunity to know other cultures and learn how similar most of the races and cultures are. Many times a person from an interracial marriage finds it easier to get adjusted with his or her in-laws, compared to his or her family, race or culture. Another positive thing about interracial marriage is that children born out of this marriage are tending to be healthier, which is an evidence of increase genetic diversity. Cons of Interracial Marriages There are potential pitfalls in any marriage whether the couple is interracial or not but there have been some common trouble spots that interracial couples have identified in their marriages. Some of the common trouble spots include: values, eating habits, sex, gender roles, friends, in-laws, and raising children. Some of these issues overlap, but there are some specific distinctions between each. Although these are potential trouble spots for any type of marriage, the degree to which they affect interracial marriages is greater. Value is what is seen as good or bad, right or wrong, true or false, important or unimportant. Values tell us a lot about who a person is. Couples from the same racial group sometimes have different value systems, and couples from different racial groups almost always have different value systems. Value differences cause disagreements and misunderstandings between the couple, which may lead to many conflicts. In order for interracial couples to overcome value differences, there needs to be tolerance from both parties. It helps when there are more similarities than differences in their value systems. Food and drink also become a problem in some interracial marriages. Food and drink does not only consists of what is going to be consumed, it also takes into account how the meal is prepared, what time the meal is served, where the meal is eaten, and how it is eaten. People from different races usually prefer different types of foods, even people from the same race who are from different locations have a problem with food, imagine what people from different races go through. How would an American feel about eating tortillas with all their meals, or how would a Mexican feel about eating rice with all his meals? Eating customs from different races can cause problems. In some races the time a woman takes to prepare a meal is significant of how much she loves her spouse, and in other races the spouse won’t care if the wife picked up the meal at the drive through as long as he gets fed. So if food is really the way in to a man's heart, what is a woman to do when the man does not like her specific choices of meals, and she doesn't like his, should she sacrifice herself and eat what he prefers? For some races mealtime is family time, yet for some others mealtime may just be whatever time the person gets hungry. If the person is used to eating at specific times during the day and making a feast out of every meal, they may find themselves in trouble when the spouse is eating at random times of the day, not in the dinner table, but on the sofa watching TV, or the spouse simply does not eat at home but instead takes it on the go because his busy schedule does not permit him time to sit down and eat with the family. What if the couple does not share the same manners or etiquette at the dinner table, who is to say which one is the correct form, and how will the argument be settled? For many eating is a common and non-threatening event of their daily lives, for others, especially interracial couples, eating can become a form of pitfall in the relationship. Even sex can become an issue in interracial marriages. Some of the issues that arise in sex matters are: contraception, menstruation, masturbation, number and importance of children, virginity and chastity, family honor, machismo and femininity, hygiene, premarital relations, marital fidelity, sexual practices, homosexuality, incest, dating, dancing, romance, holding hands, using cosmetics, and the way an individual dresses. One of the biggest reasons that sex can become an issue in interracial marriages is because the young couples don't expect it to be an issue, so they don't discuss many of the previously mentioned issues before marriage. If anything they are both under the impression that sex will be one of the few things they won’t have problems with. Unless the multiracial couple holds the same moral values the topic of sex will usually become an issue. Gender roles will cause problems when each individual holds different beliefs about how the other person should behave. In western societies women are given more liberties and freedoms, but in non-western societies the female is heavily expected to serve the man. When the races from these different societies unite some problems arise, especially if the man of a western society is marrying a woman of a non-western society and he is under the impression that she is going to serve him when no other women from his same race would do this, and the woman from the non-western society is marrying him because she believes he is going to offer her more liberties and freedoms, like no other man in her race can offer. Usually men and women want to take on the roles from the other race that they benefit from, and this becomes the problem. Outside expectations and pressures from family members can contribute to the problems. If a man from a non-western society marries a woman of a different race from a western society and accepts her liberties and freedoms, his family will usually become judgmental of the circumstances until they convince him to be different and thus he begins to have problems with his wife, and the woman's family may find it rare for their daughter to become a â€Å"servant† to the man. The gender role expectations and pressures from outsiders have a great influence on the decisions and actions of each individual in an interracial couple; it helps lead the couple into conflict and problems. Last but not least, in-laws are a frightening issue in any marriage. Disapproving in-laws are an issue in the majority of interracial marriages. The problem with in-laws is that depending on their race; they hold different views regarding what rights they have over their children, even after their children marry. In some races the parents believe their children are owners of their life and have the right to decide anything for themselves once they marry or turn a certain age. In other races parents hold the belief that since they raised and took care of the children when they were young, the children owe them eternal respect and gratitude, part of this respect and gratitude is conceived as parents having the authority over their child and the spouse of the child. Patriarchal authority becomes an issue if one person holds customs where their parents do not have any say in their children's married life. Interracial families find it beneficial to move away from both of their families to avoid this type of problem. Distancing themselves from the family may help alleviate the in-laws problem, but it can also contribute to issues of separation from a main source of support. Couples need to take into consideration the pros and cons of being away from the in-laws before they make the final decision to move away. Types of People Who Choose to Marry Interracially There are many types of people who chose to marry interracially. The most common people who choose to marry interracially share the following traits: highly educated, professional middle class or working class, marry at an older age, similar status, other interracial marriages exist in their family, and they are people who have been married before. Many of the people who marry interracially are placed into a category to try to explain their reasoning for marrying interracially. The types of categories include but are not limited to: outcasts, rebels, mavericks, compensators, adventurers, escapists, and unstable. The outcasts are those people who do not feel comfortable with their race because they don't agree with the norms. They are often questioning why they have to do certain things, and are not happy because they don't fit in with the social groups of their race. The outcast will usually find a culture within another race that appeal to their needs. This provides the outcasts with the opportunity to marry interracially and begin a family within a different racial context. The rebels are those people who disagree with the basic values, beliefs, and politics of their race. For them marrying outside of their race is not only a form of a long-life commitment to another person, but it is also a long life commitment to a form of protest. They disagree with one or more aspects of their race and they don't care what anyone around them might think if they marry outside of their race. The maverick may be seen as the non-conformist. People in this group are usually independent. Although the people within their race usually accept them, they would rather not belong to the â€Å"in group. For the majority of the time these people are sufficiently detached to the different aspects of their race that they are happier not belonging to it, much less belonging to the â€Å"in group. † Marrying interracially allows the maverick to feel freed of the pressures to join and conform to the values, beliefs, politics, etc. of a race that they do not accept. The compensator is the person who is always looking for their â€Å"other half. † These are the people wh o feel incomplete by themselves, who do not want to be alone, and long for a loving relationship. This may not sound exclusively for people who marry interracially, but it is because this type of compensator is under the belief that they can only find what they need with a partner from a different race. The compensator attributes the deficiencies in their life to their race. Many times the compensator belongs to a broken family where neither of the parents is present, physically nor emotionally. The compensator is not negative about their own race they are just under the impression that someone from a different race can provide what they feel they are missing. The adventurer is the person who is always daring to be different. Adventurers marry interracially because they need the excitement from those who are different to them. They are risking their life with a race that is unknown to them, they don't want a predictable relationship instead they want a marriage that will stimulate their life and make them feel special. Many adventurers cross all boundaries: race, class, religion, age, etc. Each additional difference makes the marriage and their life more exciting. The escapist is the person who marries outside of their race in order to improve the quality of their life. The escapist may be marrying a different race to move up the social or economic ladder, they marry for the benefits. The majority of interracial marriages include some type of trade off between the parties involved. Unstables can be described by deviance. They marry outside of their race to defy authority. The authority they are usually trying to defy is their parents. Once they marry outside of their race the family will consider them to be abnormal and unstable people. Not many people marry under this type of circumstance, but it does happen. Outside of these seven categories where people can be placed to explain why they choose to marry interracially, exists love. Some people do marry outside of their race because they have simply â€Å"fallen in love. † Love can sometimes become a problem because in the cultures of many races, romantic love is simply not a valid reason to join lives in matrimony and begin a family. Yet love is usually all it takes for many people to undergo marriage. Are People Still Marrying Interracially? Yes, people are still marrying interracially. Actually interracial marriages are in an increasing state of being. Over the last few centuries' interracial marriages have more than multiplied. Between 1970 and 1994 the number of interracial marriages increased from 310,000 to 1. 3 million. Of the 1. 3 million interracial marriages of 1994, 296,000 were Blacks with Whites. Although these numbers may seem significant they are less than 3 percent of the total marriages population in the U. S. But they are evidence of a changing America. The reasons interracial marriages have gained popularity include an increasing social acceptance, as well as an increase in interactions between the different races, family influences, and the media. Social acceptance began to grow once laws against interracial marriages were abolished and people began to understand that what matters are how people feel and not how people look. Increase in interactions has developed through many institutions; the most popular is college or the educational sector. A decrease in family or outside influences has also been recorded, which alleviates some of the problems interracial couples may face. The media is an important source of information in our society, and it has also played and important role in the development of interracial marriages or relationships. A wider acceptance of interracial relationships has been registered in the media through their advertising. Advertising is commonly known for depicting couples of the same race, especially if they are addressing the issue of romance. Yet depicting interracial couples in advertising is gaining popularity. Some well known brands who are gaining popularity for depicting interracial couples include: Diesel, Club Monaco, Ikea, Guess, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and Perrier. With the growth of interracial relationships there has been the development of interracial support groups. These support groups have started all across the country, and since they represent a community in the making, their outlook on survival is very optimistic. Examples of these interracial support groups include the following: Kaleidoscope at the University of Virginia, Students of Mixed Heritage at Amherst College, Interracial Family Club in Washington D. C. , Half and Half at Bryn Mawr, and Mixed Plate at Grinnell. These are definitely not the only ones, and many more are in development. The growth of interracial marriages is slowing among U. S. -born Hispanics and Asians. Still, blacks are substantially more likely than before to marry whites. The number of interracial marriages in the U. S. has risen 20 percent since 2000 to about 4. 5 million, according to the latest census figures. While still growing, that number is a marked drop-off from the 65 percent increase between 1990 and 2000. About 8 percent of U. S. arriages are mixed-race, up from 7 percent in 2000. The latest trend belies notions of the U. S. as a post-racial, assimilated society. Demographers cite a steady flow of recent immigration that has given Hispanics and Asians more ethnically similar partners to choose from while creating some social distance from whites due to cultural and language differences. Although the numbers of interracial marriages in the United Sta tes have increased steadily since the Supreme Court struck down bans against them in 1967, they are still far from commonplace. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Black-White marriages have increased from 65,000 in 1970 to 422,000 in 2005. When considering all racial combinations, less than 10% of all marriages in the United States today could be considered interracial. Mississippi had the fastest growth in mixed marriages from 2000-08, a sign of closer ties between blacks and whites though it still ranked second to last in overall share of mixed marriages. Mixed marriages jumped from 2. 25 million to 3. 7 million, or 65 percent, from 1990-2000, as such unions became more broadly accepted in Southern states. Among U. S. -born whites, about 0. percent married blacks in 1980; that figure rose to about 1 percent in 2008. About 0. 3 percent of whites married Asians in 1980 and about 1 percent in 2008. About 2 percent of whites married Hispanics in 1980, rising to about 3. 6 percent in 2008. Conclusion The main problem among interracial marriages is not: their history, their race, their marriage, or their children, the problem is soc iety. If society were not so judgmental and concerned with race, people would live more happily. Relations among groups would be easier to develop if they didn't have to face the strains from society. Many things still have to be done throughout the entire world to allow race relation in the world, especially among marriages, to take another path, a positive path. Bibliography Websites http://zebratalesbyhelenwillis. blogspot. com/2010/06/pros-and-cons-of-interracial-marriage. html http://www. hubbynet. com/interracial_marriage. htm http://weddinghopes. com/Interracial-Marriage. php Book We’ve Heard This Before: The Legacy Of Interracial Marriage Bans and The implications For Today’s Marriage Equality Debates by: Greg Johnson Interracial Marriage Interracial Marriage Interracial marriages have been a growing issue in our society. Some think that interracial marriages and relationships are socially wrong. Some believe that it harms children of mixed races because of the stares, discrimination, and being criticized. One should not have to feel the pain from being stared at or criticized, or discriminated against because of the color of skin or being with the one they love of a different race. The marriages and relationships that are interracial have multiplied within the past century. It is hard to believe that there used to be laws that banned interracial marriages.In years to come, interracial marriages and relationships will probably only become accepted in the world. Although laws have changed, interracial dating and marriages are still a controversial issue. In the past, fear and mistrust of such unions were more openly criticized, but in today’s culture where political correctness is more of a concern, people tend to hide their discrimination. Interracial marriages have become more socially accepted. However, some think it is completely wrong and that one should marry within their own race. Interracial marriages were illegal until the Supreme Court made them legal on June 12, 1967(Head).One could have been imprisoned for mating outside of white race. Laws against interracial marriages were overturned because they were ruled unconstitutional. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, black and white marriages increased from 65,000 in 1970 to 422,000 in 2005(U. S Census Bureau). In America today 35 percent of Americans have a family member or close relatives in a different race relationship (Talbot). Interracial marriages have become more common as the years have gone by, but there are still plenty of problems that people have with interracial marriages.Religious beliefs make some people think that interracial marriage is sinful and unbiblical. Black men marry outside their race at a far higher rat e than black women. The opposite is true of Asians; women marry outside the race at a higher rate than Asian men. Hispanics and Asians are the top ranking intermarriages. Blacks and Hispanics who marry outside of their race are most likely to receive college degrees, and make the most income out of diverse groups of marriage (Maxwell). Many interracial marriages face problems of racism. Couples in interracial relationships tend to face stares, criticism, and discrimination in housing.They also have a harder time when trying to find a job. People against interracial marriages believe that they corrupt cultures and ethics. Numerous people still believe that interracial marriages are unacceptable and should be made illegal again. Based on The Huffington Post an online reading site, many mixed-raced couples in the South are still struggling to feel safe and be accepted in their communities (Lai). There are potential pitfalls in any marriage whether the couple is interracial or not but t here have been some common trouble spots that interracial couples have identified in their marriages.Some of the common trouble spots include: values, eating habits, sex, gender roles, friends, in-laws, and raising children. Some of these issues overlap, but there are some specific distinctions between each. Although these are potential trouble spots for any type of marriage, the degree to which they affect interracial marriages is greater. Mixed race children are at risk for identity crisis such as, not knowing who is accepting of their race or what crowd to hang out with is a struggle for many mixed-race children in today’s society.Mixed-race children face not being accepted by both races that they are but instead a stranger in both worlds. For instance, if a child is mixed with White and Hispanic they may not speak Spanish so they do not fit in with many Hispanics. This could be the case with other races as well. There is still too much racism in the world! For a mixed-rac e child this can be more difficult because they want to be accepted by each race they are a part of, and yet in many situations they stand apart from both.Depending on the location this could be more of an issue than other places. If the location is in an area where there is not a lot of diversity it would be much harder than big cities where there is a huge diverse population. Children normally do not know how to handle racism so it is much worse on them than it is on the adults that deal with it, because children do not get to choose their race. Racial identity, a product of racial prejudice, is something these kids have to deal with.Everyone is equal and should have the same rights; however this is not the case in today’s world. One benefit being in an interracial marriage is the opportunity to explore another culture. Mixed-race children tend to be healthier due to an increase in genetic diversity. The children have an opportunity to learn about two entirely different cul tures, which in turn can make a difference in their everyday knowledge. According to The New York Times interracial couples are more likely to live in the West because concentration of immigrant minority groups there (Saulny).The fear and prejudices of the older generations have given way and have made young people believe that they has the right to marry anyone if they’re in love with each other. Some people have not accepted the fact that race should not be an issue in marriages or relationships. In today’s society there are always going to be people who don’t agree with the things that people do in their everyday lives. In the world today the younger generation tends to have more friends of different ethnic or racial groups. They are also more willing to be in relationship with a different race.Television has a big effect on the younger generation, with movies that make interracial interaction seem to be normal and not something wrong to do. Acceptance is not only difficult in our families but many members of our own cultures tend to offer some of the most damaging opinions. The main problem among interracial marriages is not: their history, their race, their marriage, or their children, the problem is society. Having difficulties in interracial marriages makes the marriage hard, but a strong willed couple who has faith in their love for each other can overcome many of the obstacles they face.Not fitting in because of the person one plans to spend the rest of their life with can be hard, but also knowing how certain people or establishments are, are a definite eye opener to seeing how many small minded people there are in the world. Nobody should have to be worried about if the person they choose to fall in love with or laws that could separate them. The children of interracial marriages will eventually blend with the other children of mono-racial families. Works Cited Head, Tom. â€Å"Interracial Marriage Laws History. About. com. N. p. , n. d. Web. 19 Feb. 2013. . â€Å"Interracial Tables. † U. S Census Bureau. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. Lai, Jennifer. â€Å"Interracial Marriage. † Huffington Post 3 Nov. 2012: n. pag. Print. Maxwell, Lesli A. â€Å"Marriages across Racial Ethnic Lines on Rise. † Education Week 16 Feb. 2012: n. pag. Print. Saulny, Susan. â€Å"Interracial Marriage Seen Gaining Wide Acceptance. † New York