Comments on ideology, class, structure and agency as used in media Assignment

Comments on ideology, class, structure and agency as used in media studies - Assignment Example The audience of Jeremy Kyle show is a group of people who share the same problem as those presented by the guests. The show offers relief and introduces anxiety by presenting and discussing a problem that the audiences can potentially identify as opposed to guests’ assumptions that the viewers are not familiar with the problems. In other words, specialist guests represent the voice of audience’s own commentary, which is unexpressed, creating a sense of superiority being and viewer’s ideology continually reaffirmed and articulated (Barwise & Gordon, 2002 p207). Therefore, it is evident that both the programme and its viewers share common ideological message. I feel that sponsorship and advertising of this Jeremy Kyle show undermines the programme’s message. The sponsors of this programme and its adverts claim that it helps to counsel and rehabilitate couples (guests) yet its ideological stance that is primarily violence and sex, is what is used to reaffirm its moral codes and maintain its audience. According to Kyle, failure of women to attend to their domestic duties and abstinent with a child-bearing role, and men’s failure to use sexual protection method and contraceptives is the source of their problems. Other programmes that share the same ideological message with Jeremy Kyle show include the Jerry Springer Show, Ricky Lake Show and Trisha Goddard Television talk show (Barwise & Gordon, 2002

Relationship and School Community Essay Example for Free

Relationship and School Community Essay Method While keeping in mind Mai’s method for determining subjects, I read the article â€Å"Care, Concern, and Communication† by Susan Pickford. I chose Mai’s conception because Wilson leaves out one major method of indexing that could be named user-oriented method (Mai, 2000). The basic idea of user-oriented method is that the indexer needs to have the user’s information needs and terminology in mind when determining the subject matter of the document as well as when selecting index terms for the document. It suggests that the indexer should have knowledge about the user’s needs to determine the subject matter. Mai argues 5 methods in indexing. First one is a simplistic conception similar to Wilson’s (1968) constantly referred to method. This method determines the subject by counting frequencies of occurrences of words in the document so it could be the most objective method. The problem is that there is not necessarily any correlation between occurrences of words in a document and its content. Second method is a document-oriented conception. The basic idea is that the indexer should establish the subject matter solely based on an analysis of the document itself; the goal is to represent the document as truthfully as possible and ensure the subject representation is valid for a long time. Third method is a content-oriented conception attempts to describe the content of the document as fully as possible. This conception shows historical and cultural circumstances that determine the subject matter of the documents. Fourth one is a user-oriented conception mentioned in above paragraph. Last one is a requirement-oriented conception. In this method, the indexers have knowledge about the users’ individual information needs and work tasks. It is only useful in smaller organizations and indexing done by this method, like a user-oriented conception, changes over time. Subject Description The article is about Jane Roland Martin’s argument for the SchoolHome, an idea of making the school home away from home. In this system, school children would be taught the three C’s: care, concern and communication and thus their education would be inclusive, merging intellectual with the heart. The result: the epidemic of violence would be reduced and the domestic vacuum in children’s lives filled for good. Derived Indexing Children of the ‘90s are a content-oriented concept that describes historical and cultural context in which the document is produced. Without using Children of the ‘90s in the subjects of the document one would lose context for the article, so it is important to include the article for understanding. It is possible to find documents like children’ education influenced by social conditions or changes of ‘90s. Domestic Vacuum in Children’s Lives is a user-oriented concept that is the foundation of the article and would be accessible from this common phrase or variations thereof (e. g. , â€Å"domestic vacuum†, â€Å"live* vacuum†, and â€Å"child* live*† using wildcards for the greatest number of matches for the concept). Schoolhome is essentially a simplistic and document-oriented concept that serves an identifier for the article in the most general way while it does not describe the content of the article. This term would be especially useful in finding such things as case studies or curriculum examples for Schoolhome. Rethinking Schools for Changing Families is an excellent term that touches slightly on all of Mai’s conceptions. While it is the book title of Jane Ronald Martin, in its various wildcard combinations is a simple general term, reflects the article’s content, and speaks to the more specialized non-expert and expert subject areas that are brought up with School, Changing, and Families. Transforming American Education is a document-oriented term that helps to focus the search to the overarching concepts that are touched on in Children of the ‘90s, Domestic Vacuum in Children’ Lives, Schoolhome, and Rethinking Schools for Changing Families. The document types that American Education points to vary from the basic to the expert, making it a very good lynch pin-term. Free Indexing Although the derived terms above do a good job in reflecting the ideas in the article, some additional terms may include: Social Context for Children Education, which brings in Education and children, but Social Context is a broader, less expert phrase than containing ‘90s and domestic vacuum terms. Philosophy of Children Education, which gives as sense of the article, but the word Philosophy may not be an obvious children education search term. School and Home in United States, which is akin to schoolhome. Schoolhome would also be a good derived term, but this is slightly more nominative than descriptive. Moreover, using United States as an example gives geographical criteria to indexing term. Family School Relationship expands on Children Education with relationship between Family and School. It also broadens the scope by detailing what the school reform would be about. School Reform is a good term that points the search in the direction of planning and results for Transforming American Education. These 5 free- indexed terms would all be in Mai’s user and requirement areas, since some of the terms might be meaningful to those experts enough to think of using jargon as search terms. Assigned Indexing (ERIC) Educational Change: I found that â€Å"education† was a better term over â€Å"school† for â€Å"reform†, but feel that my subject terms School Reform and Rethinking Schools for Changing Families are still appropriate in that they speak to individual schools (as in a study), although in the grand schema of the database it does not help to split hairs. In ERIC, education reform was educational change (as of 1996, although â€Å"reform† is still commonly used in society) and the contents regarded modification of things such as curriculum and teaching methods, which matches the article. Educational Philosophy: It is a good match, in that reflects the article’s context and themes. Social Environment: It means â€Å"social factors or conditions that influence individuals or groups†. It is a broader phrase than Social Context for Children Education. Family School Relationship: It has a placeholder for it but no information (i. e. , no related terms, but I take it to be a viable indexing entry). It is also used for school home relationship. School Community Relationship: It means â€Å"formal or informal interactions between an educational institution and the surrounding community†, which matches the article. I believe â€Å"brand names† like Domestic Vacuum in Children’s Live, Children of the ‘90s, Schoolhome, and Rethinking Schools for Changing Families do not have much use in the thesaurus, but the variations of Social Environment, Educational Philosophy, Family School Relationship, and School Community do an excellent job in representing the subject, derived and free terms above. Although I see where my subject analysis was too narrow in some places I am leaving the term â€Å"as-is† (except for â€Å"education reform† for â€Å"school reform†, which is not much of a trade seeing how it is actually â€Å"change†) to show the evolution of the indexing process in the assignment and in my mind. To revise my analysis would be like looking in the back of the textbook to do my homework. 6. 7. Compare, Contrast and Justification When I compared the derived and free indexing terms I selected with the descriptors in the ERIC thesaurus I was surprised by the number of them that were not in the ERIC thesaurus. In a few cases there was a close term, but for most there was nothing. This furthered my understanding of not only how challenging it is to select subjects for indexing, but how much harder it would be when faced with a controlled vocabulary. For the most part only the very narrow generic subjects were listed in the thesaurus, the more descriptive terms were not. In two cases terms I selected actually has a better term in the thesaurus, such as my choice of School Reform compared to the ERIC thesaurus descriptor Educational Change. The thesaurus does a service to the search process by training the indexer to be as strategic as possible in boiling down the essential terms or concepts of an article. My derived and free terms were no less accurate than the assigned terms, because author Susan B. Pickford was writing with an audience in mind and used the â€Å"brand names† to illustrate her article. ERIC is invaluable in not only framing the terminology commonly used for subjects, but also gives the searcher context, such as what the current term used to be, along with a date of the change. This makes research interesting as an historical concept, and seeing how improvements have been made over the years, it helps to sharpen the indexer’s ear for the best possible match (e. g. , â€Å"education† in lieu of â€Å"school,† â€Å"change† instead of â€Å"reform†). As author Stephen Nachmanovich wrote, â€Å"Creativity exists more in the searching than in the finding. † However, in being creative as an indexer, you help the searcher in finding things where he wouldn’t normally have considered looking.

John Lockes Theory Of Personal Identity Philosophy Essay

John Lockes Theory Of Personal Identity Philosophy Essay For should the soul of a prince, carrying with it the consciousness of the princes past life, enter and inform the body of a cobbler, as soon as deserted by his own soul, everyone sees he would be the same person with the prince, accountable only for the princes actions; but who would say it was the same man?2 In this example Locke shows that the human body is not necessary in personal identity since you could have the same person in two different bodies. Since the physical body cannot maintain personal identity, Locke comes to the conclusion that it must be the psychological aspect of humanity that retains personal identity. 1It is at this point that the emphasis of identity is placed on the psychological rather than the physical aspect of life as stated in Lockes second book: This may show us wherein personal identity consists: not in the identity of substance, but in the identity of consciousness3 Lockes next point was to differentiate between a man and a person. He uses the example of a rational talking parrot and compares it to an organism with the same shape as a human being though; it is unable to engage in rational discourse.1 This thought experiment is used by Locke to demonstrate that rationality is not an essential part of a man. Since rational discourse was not a necessary part of man. Locke expressed identity using something else. Thus, Locke finally narrowed down the integral part of personal identity to consciousness. Lockes definition of conscious is as follows: Consciousness is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for a morally vital sense of personal identity.3 Locke describes the essence of self as being their consciousness, which he states as something distinguishable for every thinking thing. This consciousness is described as the sameness of a rational being. The unique characteristic of consciousness is that allows it to retain personal identity is that it can be extended backwards to any past action or thought. It is this characteristic that Locke uses to explain his theory of personal identity. 4Locke also disagrees with the Cartesian view of the soul, which held that a mans soul was of an entirely different essence than his body, focusing more on the connectedness of the same conscious thought. Therefore, Locke reaches the conclusion that personal identity can only be achieved through psychological continuity. As a result of this, psychological continuity relies only on the beings ability to consciously look back on their previous existence and be able to distinguish between conscious thought and memory. This distinction is extremely important to bec ause Locke is frequently ambiguous when dealing with both terms. When he refers to conscious memory, he implies that it represents the consciousness of a past experience. Conscious thought, on the other hand, involves perceiving that one perceives. Locke explains that when we will anything, we are always conscious of it. Psychological continuity, as Locke describes it, also insinuates that a person who exists at one time is indistinguishable with a person who exists at a second time only if the first person remembers some past experience that connects the second person to the second time. Therefore, Lockes definition of personal identity centers around the continuity of the consciousness, which is able to relate past and present memories and retain some sense of self awareness. Now that I have explained and given an analysis of Lockes theory of personal identity, I will now evaluate the validity of Lockes theory by proving that his account of personal identity is incorrect. Lockes arguments contain flaws from their conception. I have a great difficulty with Lockes statement of self-conscious awareness as the main constituent of personal identity since intrinsically that consciousness is available only to each unique self. Due to this dilemma, third party juries will be subject to error in many cases. In order to further explain this point, I will divide my argument into two questions; what does personal identity consist of and how can one tell a person is the same? First, since Locke defined personal identity as a persons consciousness, I will use that as my basis for this argument. Thus, since we can only tell a person through their physical aspect, it becomes impossible to distinguish if someone elses consciousness resides in the person you are looking at . An example would be if a person robbed a bank but wasnt conscious of the fact that he performed the act in the first place. According to Locke, the man should be free of all charges since he wasnt the same person who robbed the bank. This however is preposterous if in a courtroom there is evidence of that person robbing the bank, the only exception being if the person could prove they lost consciousness throughout the event. Another error found within Lockes argument centers around the fact that even though a person can switch bodies, it is the consciousness that determines the identity of the bodies. Thus it is clear that while Lockes statements seem perfectly rational in theory, practically though, they have no weight. Another flaw found in Lockes argument, is in how he leaves out particular cases where his theory of psychological continuity cannot apply. First however, I must define the distinction between person and man. Locke defines man as a living body of some particular sh ape. A person, on the other hand, is an intelligent thinking being that can know itself as itself the same thinking thing in different times and places.4An example of this would be humans who remain in vegetative conditions and show no mental faculties whatsoever. According to Lockes description of personal identity these human beings are not considered persons since nothing can be discovered from their past in order for that individual to define their psychological identity. Lockes argument between man and person becomes too controversial since the definition of both terms can never truly be settled. In conclusion, after providing examples to counterclaim Lockes argument that personal identity originates from psychological continuity it is clear that Lockes view on identity is too flawed to be correct when defining identity for each person. 1William, Uzgalis. John Locke > The Immateriality of the Soul and Personal Identity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/supplement.html (accessed October 13, 2010). 2Locke, John. Of Identity and Diversity. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding Volume Two. 1690. Reprint, Toronto: Dover Publications, 2005. 517-518. 3John, Locke. Of Identity and Diversity. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding Volume Two. 1690. Reprint, Toronto: Dover Publications, 2005. 514. 4John, Locke. Of Identity and Diversity. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding Volume Two. 1690. Reprint, Toronto: Dover Publications, 2005. 515. sBibliography Uzgalis, William. John Locke > The Immateriality of the Soul and Personal Identity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/supplement.html (accessed October 13, 2010). Locke, John. Of Identity and Diversity. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding Volume Two. 1690. Reprint, Toronto: Dover Publications, 2005. 517-518. Locke, John. Of Identity and Diversity. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding Volume Two. 1690. Reprint, Toronto: Dover Publications, 2005. 514. Locke, John. Of Identity and Diversity. In Essay Concerning Human Understanding Volume Two. 1690. Reprint, Toronto: Dover Publications, 2005. 515.

Effects of Civil War Essay -- essays research papers

When a war occurs, it takes years for the society or societies involved to return to a more normal, calm state. In the case of the American Civil War, many aspects of the country were disrupted after the war ended in 1865. Relations were strained, land had been destroyed, families torn apart, and much more. The economy struggled, and many Southerners did not want to accept a loss. The death count for the American Civil War was also an amazing number, and made a large dent into families, businesses, and towns across the nation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When examining the physical damage to the land after the end of the war, it was obvious that much of the country had been brutally trampled and scarred by the battles and rampages of the war. As troops had moved across areas, they had burnt many fields and homes in proof of their defiance against their enemies. Also, many cities, towns, and businesses had been set fire as the troops had captured and traveled through them. Many of these fires took lives, and often made making a fresh start and rebuilding seem like an impossible venture. The land that had been destroyed by these fires also was very tattered and would take many years to rehabilitate.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The countless buildings, homes, businesses and structures that had been torn down and broken apart, were definitely very discouraging matters for the citizens after the war ended. Many families had lost their homes to traveling troops during battles...

System integration

>The term integration is inserted in technical papers, e-mail messages, correspondence, proposals, and even causal conversations. After many years of project work, and many misunderstandings and failed meetings and workshops, it can only be stated that the word has multiple and misunderstood meanings. For technical papers (research and trade), the term must be provided with context, or it is impossible to have a meaningful conversation. Next, multiple alternative definitions (that are valid in the literature for the appropriate context) are presented and explained in some detail.Research limitations/implications – The paper is not exhaustive, since new definitions of integration may exist or may emerge. Originality/value – The main contribution of the paper is that it yields clarity on a key term that is frequently used in information systems research. The paper is useful to any researchers or practitioners who are focused on enterprise system implementation. Keywords I ntegration, Interface management, Applications, Information systems, Research Paper type General review Introduction and importance Integration is a common term in the enterprise systems literature.Seldom does a meeting occur when the word is not used multiple times and often within quite technical contexts. Unfortunately, our experience is that individuals often have a different understanding of the meaning of the word. Loosely speaking, there is a general consensus that integration concerns making applications work together that were never intended to work together by passing information through some form of interface. This is certainly part of the context, but this paper argues that there is more to be said.Since the earliest days of computing, the term â€Å"integration† has been seed in both the trade and academic literature to describe a process, a condition, a system, and an end-state. Given that these competing labels have very different meanings, their indiscriminate usage is often obscure and invites confusion. For example, a sloppy conflation of process and condition encourages circular definitions that possess little explanatory power. Consider the following advertisement (Figure 1) from the Oracle Corporation and the corresponding quote from the Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison.Figure 1 is clearly an appeal for a type of integration that we call â€Å"Big l,† having all relevant data aligned with a ingle data model and stored only once. The implication is that you can place all of your data for the set of business processes listed in the middle column of Figure 1 inside of the Oracle E-Business Suite and significantly reduce total cost of ownership (TCO). In fact, the advertisement claims that Oracle saved over $1 billion USED per year by implementing Big l.And also, there are the problems with complexity and managing scope integrity across multiple data sources (Gulled and Summer, 2004). Consider Figure 2 from an unnamed company. Figure 2 shows a situation that is described in the literature as â€Å"systems integration;† . E. The interfacing of systems together so they can pass information across a complex technology landscape. We call this type of integration a form of â€Å"Little I,† and we note that this form of Little I (point-to-point interfaces) is an expensive proposition.Data must be constantly harmonize and cleansed across multiple data sources, and any changes to one system can lead to complex and costly re-testing or even re-design and coding of interfaces. Clearly, we have presented two extremes, and by and large both have been rejected by large organizations world wide. Most organizations do not want to include all of their data in one application (e. G. Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, etc. ) for a number of different reasons, but at the same time, no one wants the problems that are associated with implementations like that shown in Figure 2.There are other options. In fact there are many options , and that is the point of this paper. All of the options (including the two above) are called integration. So what is integration? As one might guess, it depends on the context, and the usage must be qualified. Big I may not achievable, and it may not even be appropriate. If Little I is appropriate, what type of Little I is appropriate, given the situation and the state of 7 Figure 2. Interfacing systems components to define an enterprise solution emerging technologies?This paper addresses those questions, and it also categorizes the most used forms of Little I in the context of enterprise system implementation. This categorization and associated discussion is essential, or it is impossible to have a meaningful discourse about application integration. Integration – Big I To establish a baseline, the following definition is proposed for integration. Integration (Big l) – integration implies that all relevant data for a particular bounded and closed set of business proc esses is processed in the same software application.Updates in one application module or component are reflected throughout the business process logic, with no complex external interfacing. Data are stored once, and it is instantaneously shared by all business processes that are enabled by the software application. This is a rather comprehensive and restrictive definition that revives memories of first generation enterprise resource planning (ERP). The business process implications of Big I are discussed in some detail by Gulled and Summer (2003).To preserve clarity throughout this paper, the above definition will always be referred to as â€Å"Big l. † Big I is definitely the goal of management, especially for mundane business processes. This implies â€Å"one source of truth† for those business processes that are enabled by core ERP solutions. The concept is simple: if all data are stored once and shared, then integrity issues are less likely to occur. The TCO is sig nificantly less, since interfaces across application components are not required. Furthermore, complexity is significantly reduced. MEDS 8 Figure 3 shows how Big I relates to Little I for a simple example related to US Army Logistics. In this example, Army Logistics processes are scoped with the SAP solution as Big l; I. E. There is no interfacing across the SAP components. However, some of the logistics business processes flow outside of the Army. In this case, we indicate the transportation processes that are part of the end-to-end logistics business processes, but they fall outside of the Army, and they are managed by the US Transportation Command (TRANSOM).The systems that support this segment of the end-to-end process are not SAP, and they are not even owned by the army. This is a classical composite application[3] and some form of Little I is must be implemented in order to preserve the integrity of the business process logic[4]. Figure 3, even though a simple picture, shows m uch about integration. First, it suggests that large and complex organizations are unlikely to place all of their business processes in a single application.While assertions of Figure 1 are accurate, there are at least two reasons why single instance ERP will not occur in most firms: (1) he internet opened more options for Little I; and (2) the culture and control of the internal and external system integration communities will not allow such consolidation. Like it or not, given the current state of technology, we are going to have to live with is a mixture of Big I and Little I, at least as long as the current trends continue.The reality of this situation is reinforced by the fact that the larger software providers are â€Å"opening† their products and making them more flexible for mix and match Figure 3. An example of Big I and Little I in the same enterprise opportunities with Little I. This is evidenced by such products as the Oracle Data Hubs and SAP Interweave technolog ies. While it is true, Just as Figure 1 shows, that the TCO could be reduced by moving to Big l, most organizations do not have the flexibility nor the desire to do that. However, this does not mean that Big I is dead.There will always be pockets of Big l; connected by Little I, to other pockets of Big l. This is not a technical assertion, but is directly related to common sense. For example, one would never â€Å"rip† a product like SAP core ERP apart and then interface it back together again. This is self inflicted main, and it can be avoided by Just implementing the product the way it was intended to be implemented[5]. Preserve the integrity of the product by implementing Big I whenever possible, and use Little I to include those components that cannot be included in the integration domain.One would never dream of separating financial from materials in an SAP implementation, and then interface it back together again. Or even worse, it makes even less sense to stand up inde pendent SAP solutions in different divisions of a company, operating as a family or fiefdom, with the absence of an enterprise orientation. We will revisit implementation options later, but before doing that, we must further explore the options for Little I. The choice of a particular little I technology has significant implications for the types of mix and match options that are available for consideration.Integration (Little I) As previously mentioned, all forms of Little I are some form of interfacing, even though they are loosely called â€Å"system integration. † Much has been written on the subject, so we only focus on those types of Little I that are most relevant for the implementation of enterprise systems: point-to-point integration; database-to-database integration; data warehouse integration; enterprise application integration (EAI); application server integration; and business-to-business (BIB) integration.Point-to-point integration This is the most expensive for m of integration. Point-to-point integration is the pair wise development of interfaces among systems. The data model of the target and source system are known, and someone (e. G. A system integrator) develops the code for passing information back and forth. Sometimes accelerator products are used, a good example being the IBM Miseries of middleware products that are now included as a part of Webster. Miseries does require writing code at both the source and target system.The approach to point-to-point integration is well known, most frequently involving changing both applications to use a middleware layer, by rewriting the transaction handling code to communicate across the two applications. The traditional model of interaction is through remote function calls. The largest problem with point-to-point integration is shown in Figure 4, a situation that Schafer (2002) attributes to a customer situation. 9 10 Figure 4. Example of point-to-point integration As the number of interfaced c omponents is increased, the number of interfaces to be maintained increases dramatically.The TCO likewise increases. As a real example consider the financial interfaces to a Navy SAP solution that is shown in Figure 5[6]. Figure 5 is a good example of the previously mentioned case that can arise when financial are separated from materials or assets in an enterprise solution and then must be interfaced back to the ERP product, violating the integrity of the solution. While Figure 5 is reality and could not be easily avoided, the SAP product was never intended to be implemented in this way. The integrity of the product is violated by destroying the Big I that is engineered into the product.For all of the reasons previously mentioned, point-to-point integration should be avoided and only be used when there are no other options. Database-to-database integration This form of Little I, requires the sharing of information at the database level; hence, providing interoperable applications. The basic replication solution leverages features built into many databases to move information between databases as long as they maintain the same schema information on all sources and targets. There are companies that provide middleware to accelerate this process.Database and replication software are provided by companies such as Pervasive Integration Architect and Denominator's Constellate Hub that permit moving information among many different database products with different schema. Figure 6 shows the conceptual layout for this form of Little I. While this integration procedure may work well for database applications, it does not work so well for enterprise applications. Most enterprise applications have 11 Figure 5. From defense financial and accounting services to the US Navy Pilot SAP implementations Figure 6.Conceptual layout for database-to-database 12 multi-tiered architectures, where even though the applications reside at a separate tier, the business process logic is â €Å"bound† to the master data. So, if one simply passes information at the database level, it is easy to create data integrity problems. Enterprise software vendors typically publish application program interfaces (Apish) that allow interfacing at the application level, and it is best to use these Apish. If you update the database without using the Apish, then you are violating the Big I that is engineered into the product, and integrity problems are a likely result.See that Anonymous (1999) article in enterprise development where some of these difficulties are discussed within the context of interfacing with SAP's R/3 product. For enterprise implementations, this form of Little I should be avoided. Data warehouse integration This form of Little I is similar to database-to-database integration, but instead of replicating data across various databases, a single Martial database† is used to map the data from any number of physical databases, which can be various brands, m odels, or schema.In other words, a new data warehouse is created, and information is aggregated from a number of sources, where it may be analyzed or used for report generation. The effectiveness of this approach depends on the sophistication of the tools that are used and the quality of the data that is pulled from the various sources. Once the data are aggregated, reporting is straight forward; however, if business process logic must be applied to the aggregated data, then that logic must be created at the data warehouse level.The basic layout for data warehouse integration is shown in Figure 7. Figure 7. Conceptual view of data arouses integration If the integration is at the database level, the same problems associated with database-to-database integration that were mentioned above still apply. If the integration is at the application level, then data warehouse integration is similar to point-to-point integration, and the problems with that approach also apply. This form of inte gration is quite popular, even though it is expensive to maintain.The reason that data warehouse integration is popular, is that it allows all parties involved to maintain their individual stove-piped environments while sharing selective data in a auteur environment. In short, one is trading Big I for autonomy. An example of a large data warehouse integration effort in the US Army is shown in Figure 8. The logistics integrated database (LIDS) contains aggregates information from many stand-alone systems, with the objective of providing enterprise-level analytics. As the fugue indicates, the input data are aggregated from many sources, and output data are pushed to many sources.Constant cleansing and harmonistic is required in order to avoid integrity problems. Many enterprise solutions, like those from SAP and Oracle, use data warehouse lotions for reporting and enterprise analytics. However, this static view of enterprise data are not the same as Big l. Even if the concept is exten ded to include a federated query capability with the data warehouse being a virtual repository of metadata, this is still no substitute for Big l. However, the big problem, as previously mentioned, is the maintaining of business process logic at the data warehouse level.While this option preserves organizational autonomy, it is indeed costly. The data that are pushed into the warehouse must be constantly monitored for quality, and NY changes in any one of the target or source systems create significant testing and/ or additional coding problems. 13 Figure 8. A conceptual view of the LIDS 14 Figure 9. Hub and spoke architecture for enterprise application integration Enterprise application integration EAI is the sharing of data and business process logic across hetero/homogeneous instances through message-oriented-middleware (MOM). EAI may be managed by packaged vendors (e. . SAP and Oracle) or through solutions provided by third party vendors (e. G. MM, Webmasters, etc. ). EAI is som etimes called application-centric interfacing. EAI is used to connect multiple systems at the application or database levels, using a form of middleware that is sometimes called a broker. The middleware moves information in and out of multiple systems, using pre-engineered â€Å"connectors. † The connectors are a source of competitive advantage for EAI software providers, because if a connector already exists for the target and source application, the cost of interface development can be reduced.The problems associated with point-to-point integration are reduced by adopting a hub and spoke model for sharing information. The EAI Middleware allows one to rite a single interface between each application and the middleware, instead of individually connecting each application to every other application. An example of a hub and spoke architecture is shown in Figure 9. Once the information is extracted, it is sent to a central server using some sort of messaging system, where the in formation is processed and routed to the target system.If there is a gap in required business process logic, the logic can be created on the central server for execution. In theory, any-to-any document swap is possible, considering the business process logic in the source and target systems. Using â€Å"connectors,† the EAI software processes messages from packaged applications, databases, and custom applications using a queuing engine. When an event occurs (e. G. A transaction in an ERP package or a database table update), a message is published to the queue about the event.Subscribers to queue access the event envelope, analyze the content, and if it is intended for processing in the target system, the envelope contains everything necessary for recreating the event in the target system. The queuing engine ensures that all events are processed in the correct sequence, ensuring transactional integrity. Many companies provide pre-packaged EAI solutions, and the market is extre mely competitive. The hub and spoke model using connectors has been operational for many years, and the products have reached a mature level.However, we note that EAI is still interfacing, and while this is a significant improvement over point-to-point integration, EAI can be costly to implement and costly to maintain. The main benefits flow from being able to use â€Å"partially configured† connectors, while leverage industry partnerships which yield certified interfaces. Tremendous consolidation has occurred n recent years in companies that provide EAI solutions as the larger software providers have moved in to provide EAI solutions that interact with their Big I products.For example, SAP now supports EAI as part of its Interweave[7] solution, where previously SAP had used third party providers like IBM and Webmasters to provide EAI capabilities. It is also important to note that EAI is typically used inside the enterprise, as opposed to across the enterprise. For this reas on EAI is sometimes called application-centric interfacing. The objective is to interfaces processes and share data within the enterprise. The inter-enterprise model falls under a class of solutions that are called Business-to-Business commerce, and this form of interfacing will be discussed in a later section.Application server integration This is the most sophisticated form of Little I that is discussed in this paper. Think of application server integration as the creation of a single, centralized application (logical or physical) that can provide a common set of services to any number of other remote applications. These â€Å"services† are common business objects that are shared across enterprise applications. The sharing and reuse of services is the goal of distributed objects and applications servers.Application server integration enables the enterprise by sharing services across the enterprise. The concept of application server integration is shown in Figure 10. Modern systems invoke shared objects to share business logic and interact with resources (such as databases, ERP systems, or queues). In modern ERP systems these shared objects may be more highly aggregated as â€Å"wrapped† transactions. For example, when configuring the SAP solution, one aligns transactions with process steps. A process step could be associated with one or more transactions.If the transactions associated with a process step are bundled together and â€Å"wrapped† as a web service, then they may be shared across other SAP and non-SAP components. SAP calls this aggregated object an â€Å"Enterprise Service,† and it is the basis of SAP's Enterprise Services Architecture (SAP GAG, 2004). Application integration occurs through the sharing of business logic, as well as through the back-end integration of many different applications and resources. The application server â€Å"binds† the data from a relational or relational-object database to he commo n shared objects.The main advantage of application server integration is that 15 16 Figure 10. Application server integration concept the interfaced applications or components are tightly coupled to each other by sharing methods. By our assessment, application server integration is Little I, but given the limits of current technology it is the best approximation that we can provide to Big l. This is because the data integrity checks and business logic bound to the objects are always shared, and therefore, never circumvented. The SAP example is not unique. Most of the major software vendors have a similar tragedy.For example, Figure 11 shows the Oracle strategy for application server integration. The key component of Figure 11 for our discussion is in the right-center of the figure. The Oracle Application Server manages the shared objects and during runtime â€Å"Top Link manages persistence between Java objects and database tables. † At the conceptual level the integration ap proaches pursued by Oracle and SAP are similar. The widely accepted disadvantage of using this application server integration is that significant changes may have to be made to all source and target applications to

Formative Essay-Employment At Will Essay

1. How is employment-at-will applied in your organization or in one with which you are familiar? To what extent do the exceptions to employment-at-will limit its application in the organization? How might managers in the organization use knowledge of employment-at-will and its exceptions to protect the interests of the organization? An employment-at-will relationship where there is no contractual obligation to remain in the relationship; either party may terminate the relationship at any time, for any reason, as long as the reason is not prohibited by law (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman (2007)) The company I work at talks about how they reserve the right to terminate your employment without notice and without receipt of any Corrective Action Agreement, for any reason during the first 90 days of employment and beyond. It goes on to give a list of actions or attempt of actions that will result in the company using the Corrective Action Agreement. 2. What are specific examples of roles that are filled by employees and others that are filled by independent contractors? Use examples from your employer, industry, or an employer or industry with which you are familiar. What do the employees and independent contractors have in common and how do they differ in dealing with employers? How might temporary employees be characterized in the organization or industry you select? Within the company there are several departments: break-n-shear, welding, upholstery, sewing, cutting, electrical, wood shop, and shipping. The departments that do not use temporary workers are break-n-shear, electrical, welding, and since accident on friday cutting will no longer employee temporary employees. During our busy season (four months a year) the company hires temporary workers for sewing, upholstery, assembly, and shipping. The main difference is filings with IRS, benefits, and places to go, such as department of labor to file grievances. The subcontractor receives no benefits, less of a liability, and nowhere to file a grievance except small claims court. When I first started working at the company, I was hired as an employee; with full benefits as benefits became available. The owner came to where I was working as a head sewer and told me that if I came to work with him that his intent was to make me manager of the sewing department. As the company grew, so did the subordinates underneath me. I started getting sick. Owner wanted to keep me and make adjustments. I went out on medical leave and quit because I can no longer do the job. Owner talked me into coming back as subcontractor. I asked for written definition and term. The only people I answer to are the foreman, HR, and owner. Depending on subcontractor hired to do will determine who the subcontractor answers to; not all mangers’ have that concept at work but will after the training. When the job I was hired for is done my work at company is done. I receive no benefits the tax forms are different; I am responsible for taking taxes and FICA out (paying). I am less of a liability than a regular employee. I am also paid a percentage not hourly pay. Other subcontractors are hired through temporary employment agencies. The company pays the agency based on an hourly scale for each temporary employee and the agency in turn pays the subcontractor. At the end of the busy season if a position opens up then one of the subcontractors would be offered a positioned. Subcontractors are not trained and employees are cross trained is the major difference besides what was previously mentioned. The company has a policy that anyone who gets hurt on premises the company pays the medical; for everyone including employees, subcontractors, and guests. The company views it as responsible and less of a liability (proactive approach). References Bennett-Alexander, D.D., & Hartman, P.L. (2007). Employment law for business (5th Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Supreme Essay Essay Example

Supreme Essay Essay Example Supreme Essay Paper Supreme Essay Paper Finding an appropriate company who can write a supreme essay is an uphill task that many students face on daily basis in their quest to get an outstanding essay. It important to recognize that there are millions of online essay writing companies who purport to be experienced in writing original and non-plagiarized custom essay. The truth of these allegations is that most of online research writing companies are owned by quacks who cannot even write an elementary essay. Most of them can’t even follow the instructions given by your lecturer, ending up uploading to you a substandard custom essay, full of mistakes and plagiarism. In order not to fall a prey in these companies, always scrutinize their terms and conditions page and ascertain whether they give you unlimited rights as you order with them. They should allow unlimited revisions and should give you the right of paper uploaded to you. In order to benefit from our supreme essays, fill the order form and wait for an authentic A+ custom paper. We are professionals with a wide range of experience in writing supreme essays that conform with all your instructions and paper requirements. Our customer support will be more than glad to make sure that writer has followed all your instructions and delivered your paper due to date. As well as our professional academic writers will provide with the paper written on the top level of writing.

Breakfast Cereals in Uk 07 Essays

Breakfast Cereals in Uk 07 Essays Breakfast Cereals in Uk 07 Essay Breakfast Cereals in Uk 07 Essay Breakfast Cereals in United Kingdom 2007 Introduction: Aim: The aim of this report is to discuss whether The change of macroeconomic situation is an opportunity or threat for United Kingdom’s breakfast cereal industry. Compare the external microenvironment that affects firms in which breakfast cereal industry operates with the help of PEST analysis. To evaluate the operational strategy that affects the level of competitive environment in an industry using Porter’s five force model. Why I chose this industry: Cereals are a great start to the day. â€Å"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper. By Adelle Davis Like most proverb says, this one hold more than a gram of truth. Breakfast cereals are certainly the most important meal of the day. It is a time when we ‘Break the Fast’ of the night, which can be anything up to 10 or 12 hours. The nutritional benefits of breakfast, facts suggest that this important meal provide a number of ot her benefits to give us the best start of the day. Breakfast cereals industry is diverse and has come up with new exciting flavors. There is an increase in the market with consumption of oats, muesli and high- fiber cereals, since 2002. Without doubt, health is the key factor that drives the expansion of the industry and consumption. This is one of the most growing industries despite the market is saturated and that cereals have been facing increasingly fierce pressure from alternatives, such as cereals bars and croissants. The breakfast cereal in United Kingdom has also grown in value terms increasing by an estimated 9. 5% between 2002 and 2006, to ? 1. 23bn at retail selling prices (RSP) reflecting the growth in volume and the shift towards premium – price products. There has been offset to some extent by aggressive price discounting by the major multiples. Some cereals have also come under fierce attack for their allegedly high sugar, fats and salt contents. In addition, they have placed more emphasis on their brands health credentials, and new product development (NPD) has followed this trend. The market appears to be very strong, and has healthy image, are convenient to use and are already a well-established item in most peoples kitchens. However, they should continue to be beneficiaries of the two major trends influencing food and drinks markets, not just in the UK but around the world - namely demand for healthy and convenient products. Boundaries: As the topic of this easy is analyzing the breakfast cereals industry in United Kingdom, emphasis is on the source related to United Kingdom’s environment during the process of collecting materials. The data statistics reports given was collected were one or two years before. There was no much reports available for reference. Moreover, the materials collected in this research are secondary data. To analyse the market efficiently primary report has to be used. Industry Sector: Sector introduction: The cereal market has managed a strong level of growth in the market volume and values in United Kingdom since 2000. The breakfast cereals market has grown over ? 1,090 million (2002) to ? 1,280 million (2007) with over 95% of house stock breakfast cereals [23,24]. There is a strong growth of 17% in the size of household penetration over last five years [23]. The volume of consumption of the cereals has been 432,000 tonnes in 2007 with a growth of just 7% over this period [23,1,2,3,4]. Over 87% of the household consume breakfast cereals twice every weekday. There are reports, which say that United Kingdom is the second highest global consumer of Breakfast cereals, [24]. This has occurred due to strong permiumisation in the market, as there is higher value of products launched. There is always demand for products that delivery high taste and quality with health as superior, [23]. The revolution towards healthy eating has been used by the breakfast cereal manufacturers, who make use of their intrinsic healthiness of their products and there by widening the scientific evidence to support the eating of breakfast cereal. The manufacturers are stressing about their health credentials on packs (like fiber, calories, vitamins, minerals, wholegrain and super food), so that the message reaches the increasing target audiences. However, the hot cereals accounts for only 12% of the market had seen strong until 2006 driven by the growing consumers’ interest in oats, [23]. Therefore, the hot cereals have launches a number of oats based cold cereals, which include oatibix, oatsmore, and cheerios oats, which now have taken over the hot cereals market. There is an ongoing development in the eating on the go and snacking market has played an important part in the growth of the industries. PEST Analysis: The PEST analysis is an analysis of the external microenvironment that affects all firms in which a business operates. The PEST is an ellipsis for the Political, Economic, Social, and technological factors of the external macro environment. These factors usually are beyond the control of firm’s but sometime become threat for the firm itself. This analysis is important when developing a product, business or strategy planning. POLITICAL: This arena will have huge influence depending on the regulation of business and the spending power of consumers and other business. Many political factors affect this industry as it deals with the foods. There are many basic regulations for the food industries but here there are only few important laws and regulations that have been discussed. ACFM Statement on salt: Members of the Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers* (ACFM) have announced a significant 38% reduction in salt which contain an average of 0. 36g of sodium per 100g, which equates to less than 5% of the average adult daily intake. Now, the Breakfast Cereals manufactures are leading the way in product reformulation such as salt reduction and clear nutritional labeling through Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). [24 ] ACFM Statement on sugars: The European Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 stated that product which says as Low Sugar must contain 5g/100g total sugars. Green colour coding for breakfast cereals should be criterion. The regulation also requires the statement â€Å"contains naturally occurring sugars† if the product have natural sugar and if the manufacturer claims no added sugar. These information should be provided in the core of the signpost with the colour coding, which was recommended for each. However, it suggested that cereals that have no added sugar, like fruit muesli, could be excluded from the recommended signposting categories. [24, 26]. The colour code for sugars, Green if total sugars are less than or equal to 5g/100g. The colour Amber if total sugar exceeds 5g/100g and added sugars are less than 12. 5g/100g. The Red colour denoted if added sugars are more than 12. 5g/100g. Fortification Breakfast Cereals: New regulation on food fortification 1925/2006/EC in 2007 for foods, which should be voluntary fortification (breakfast cereals) not for foods that are subjected to mandatory fortification. The recommendation is based on the nutritionists, who says that the breakfast should be provide 20 -25% of daily requirements. The fortified breakfast cereals are more likely to meet their daily requirements of essential vitamins and minerals. For instance, there should be around 20% of total iron, 15% of folic acid, 14% of vitamin B1, 13% of vitamin B6, 15% of riboflavin and 10% of niacin. 24, 27]. ACFM position on Food Labelling – Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA): The Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers have supports the government objectives along with the Food Standards Agency, to provide clear information on the nutritional labeling by implementing the use of Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA’s). Thereby giving the consumer clear informationâ€℠¢s on the nutritional contents in their foods so that they know what they eat, [24,12]. ECONOMIC: The success of breakfast cereals is due to penetration and frequency of usage is high, with more than half of consumer eat cereals at least once each day, [9,10]. As they are well-established market with big brands and huge marketing budgets. The market is a matured due to the popularity that keeps the cereals market sales persistently high. The breakfast cereals are facing increasing pressure from alternatives, such as cereal bars and croissants, [16]. The increasing usage has been the focus of growing market (Kellogg’s challenge, weetabix- more than cereal consumption). They have placed more emphasis on their brands health credentials, and new product development (NPD) has followed this trend. The market is very stable in terms of brand shares and suppliers. There is growing demand for the cereals globally, have increased the price of breakfast cereals and farmers are turning the land over to the production of bio-fuel. The increase in raw materials prices is due to erratic change in the weather and crop damage is becoming common with poor harvest. This have pushed the retail selling price (RSP) of cereals in United States, there by rising the price of breakfast cereals at the point of sales in United Kingdom, [23,17]. The manufacturer has to focus on the production values (such as provenance, organic and even fair trade) to shape the future direction of the market. The survey done by BMRB (British Market Research Bureau) International Ltds Target Group Index (TGI) that cold breakfast cereals remain a family favorites. In 2006, around 86% of adults had eaten cold breakfast cereals over the past 12 months, which is an extremely high rate of household penetration. Hot cereals recorded a much lower level of household penetration than cold cereals, but, at 49. 4% of adults, but the penetration rate was still impressive, [28]. Socio cultural: The breakfast cereals was initial targeted for school going children, aged 11 – 18 years, as they tend to skip their breakfast. This breakfast cereal was successful as they can meet their 20% daily nutrition requirement from their breakfast. Then when the market became saturated, they targeted the ageing population as they have time to have breakfast. They normally do not skip their meal to keep their weight down. These group are health concerning, and these consumer are more keen towards wholesome, unadulterated food with no artificial ingredients rather than light or diet version. As this market is moving towards saturation, the manufacturers are now focusing on the whole family, to get more members of the family eating together. The premiumisation to continue with future consumer’s trends, where health drives both sales and new product development, as there is a growth in sale in the saturated market by increasing spends per head, [5,6,7,11]. The concern on health has put pressure on the manufacturers to reduce salts, sugar, fats and other additives from the cereals. There are several high profile TV programs like Dispatches: The Truth about Your Food and the Consumer Group which? ave identified that breakfast cereals was high in sugar and fats. However, the breakfast cereals manufacturers have acted proactively than other food industries to reformulating their existing product brand and lowering their hidden sugars, fats and salts contents. The manufacturers are now launching new naturally healthier products with sophisticated recipes and health claim s such as high fibers, whole grains, adding dries fruits, supper foods (Jordan’s and Dorset’s Cereals), pre- and probiotic functional ingredients, and organic foods. Many ethical issues concern with the breakfast cereals have arisen concerns over the products. These breakfast fast cereals contain high level of sugars, salts and fats than the recommended level. About three-quarters of cereals had high level of sugar, a fifth had high level of salt and more than 7% of cereals had high level of saturated fat. The breakfast cereals that target the children contain 88% of sugar coated, 13% of salt and 10% of fats. Now the manufacturer is reformulating their product due to increase media criticism by reducing their sugar and salt contains. FSA nutrient profiling and Ofcom Advertising Ban: The FSA launched a nutrient profiling model in April 2007, which was designed to tighten the rules on television advertising to children of foods high in fats, saturated fats, salt and sugar. this Ban on the advertising provoked uproar in the food industry as it was established as this would affect around 80% of cereals, so this banned was softened with some parameters and changing the guidelines for sugars, treating natural sugars and processed sugars. Thus, they changed their target to focus overall family, [23]. Increasing frequency of usage: There is an increase frequency of usage of cold breakfast cereals, which is at 87%, but there are still 13% consumers, who do not prefer having breakfast cereals, [23]. There is still an opportunity to convert the non-user into market and existing consumer to premium options, sourcing provenance-assured, organic and fair trade ingredients, and making favorites healthier will encourage the consumer to trade up. However, communicating these information and benefits to the target consumer will be vital. The other way of improving the frequency of usage will be to increase the occasion through handy/expediency solutions,[9,10]. The overall strategy of the manufacturers is increase the frequency of usage and there by increasing the amount spend on cereals eventually increasing their market value. Attitude and behaviour: There is a strong growth experienced by the hot cereal sector with a growth of 30% at the current price during last forecast period. It is also predicted that there would be a high volume growth in hot cereal sector by 10% when compared to Ready to eat (RTE) cereals, which would be only 2%. Currently there is an increase in the consumption of hot cereal sector, and with 50%, penetration there is still a good potentional for the future growth, [23]. The hot cereals experience both dip in the volume and value of sales in 2007, this is due to strong competition with oats cereals in the Ready to eat sector and the supermarkets bringing out there new cereals with low Retail selling price (RSP). However, in the market â€Å"well know brand† is top factor looked, when shopping for cereals is concerned which is unlikely to be effected. There is a slower growth within the RTE sectors, with 19% steady growth predicted at the current price for last forecast period, [23,5]. Technological Factors: There is tough competition within the industry, so the manufactures need to formulate new products to attract their target consumer and to increase there market share before they decline. The breakfast cereals industry have tried to come out with artificial sweeteners like isomalt. The isomalt, which is an artificial sweetener that would replace sugars in a 1:1 ratio in breakfast cereals. The isomalt is unique in its nutritional and hysiological benefits that make it ideal for use in sugar free, tooth friendly, low-calories and low glycemic products. The isomalt is the only sugar replaces made from the sugar beet that taste as naturally sweet as sugar, [29,30]. Evaluation of Competitive Nature of the Breakfast Cereal Industry: In the above there was an overview on the breakfast cereal industry, now in this there are three majo r competitor that are going to be compared. Even though the market is highly consolidated, with Kellogg, Weetabix and Cereal Partners which markets the Nestle brand in the UK. While, the Weetabix remains the top-selling ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal, followed by Kelloggs Corn Flakes, Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes and Special K, with Nestle’s Shreddies taking fifth spots. There is an introduction about the major competitors: Weetabix: The weetabix food company established since 1932, they also create delicious breakfast cereals using finest ingredients. Since then they have produce many popular cereal brands, which include weetabix, weetaflakes, weetabix minis, weetos, Alpen and Ready Brek, as well as being a major supplier of generic cereals under supermarket own labels, [20]. They are officially the UK’S favorite breakfast, who accounts about 8% of the country’s total cereal sales with annual sales worth over ? 89 million. They also export over 80 countries worldwide, from Middle East and South America to Europe and South East Asia. They also sponsor for Weetabix Women’s British Open Golf Tournament in 2007, [23, 20, 33]. Kellogg’s: William Keith Kellogg established the company in 1906. in 1950s, Kellogg’s introduced anew range of products to cater for differing taste of family, but without compromising its principle of health, balance and nutrition. Reformulating is a key part of Kellogg’s health strategy. They have set up new system to ensure that their products are healthy, which is called Kellogg’s Global Nutrient Criteria. The product states that no cereals will have more than 200 calories, 2 grams of saturated fat, 230g of sodium and 12 grams of sugar per serving. They are also eliminating all tran’s fats. They claim that reformulations should be noticeable and will take place across their range in2007 and 2008. They have also introduced global limits on their use of licensed characters on packs, in advertising and in food forms, in June 2007. They changed coco pops advertising to focus more on the product and removed the frosties websites, with users now redirected to a non-branded educational websites called Heaadstarters, [23,31]. Cereal Partners markets the Nestle brand: Cereal partners UK are part of cereal partners worldwide, a joint venture between nestle and general mills. They sell a number of popular cereals brands under nestle brand, which includes shredded wheat, shreddies, cheerios and fitnesse. All their products are made from whole grains and easy to identify, wholegrain green band on all their packing. They introduced a new range called Oats More in April, which was used to supported by the â€Å"studies show you’ll like it† advertising campaign, [23,32]. Porters 5 Forces Analysis: The porters five forcer helps to analysis the force, which affects the level of competitive environment in an industry. This is a simple tool but powerful to understand where the power lies in business situation. This tool tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single product or range of products. The analysis looks at five competitive forces jointly the intensity of the industries competition and profitability, they are the threat of entry, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes and competitive rivalry, which reflects the fact that competition in an industry goes beyond the established players. Competitive Rivalry: The competitive rivalry will be those in which entry is likely substitute threaten and buyers or suppliers exercise control over the organizations. The competitive rivalry has increased as the supermarket has also introduced their branded breakfast cereals along with the top brand like Kellogg’s, weetabix and cereal partners (Nestle). Even then, the consumer prefers getting top branded cereals, where they are more health concisions. Understanding their consumer’s needs, Kellogg’s reformulates their products to reduce the salt, sugar and fats, there by making them healthier for consumption, [22]. They also invent new product developments under same brand name, thereby increasing their product range for the consumers needs. Weetabix on other hand have wide range of cold oats based cereals and Cereal partner’s (Nestle) have wide range of cereals, which would be sufficient to serve a huge markets,[21,19]. Buying Power: Buying power is wide-ranged. The cost of switching from one breakfast cereal to another is very low, as it depend on the consumer whether they are satisfied with the breakfast cereals that they consume. Kellogg’s, weetabix and cereal partner (nestle) have control over their buyers as they cater to different needs of the consumers and have direct contacts with their buyers,[15]. However, it is easy for the buyers to drive down the price of the breakfast cereals by just moving from brand to another to satisfy their health needs. Power of Supplier: The power of suppliers was dependent on the suppliers. The suppliers are the farmers in this case; there is a huge rise in the price of the cereals that is grown. Due to erratic weather change, damage crops and lands turning into bio fuel production area. These factors have affected the cost of the breakfast cereals, which come into market to consumption. Kellogg’s, weetabix and cereal partners (Nestle) have no control over their suppliers, as they dictate the price range of the cereals that is cultivated. Many small suppliers that are involved, thus there would be no huge control over the manufacturers. The government plays an important role in the raw materials selected to make breakfast cereals as they consumed more by the target consumers. Threat of substitutes: This is affected by the ability of the consumers to find different substitute for the particular product. The threat of substitute is quite high in the reakfast cereal industries as they have reached the matured stage of the market but there is always demand for the products. The cereal bars and croissants industries would replace the breakfast cereals in future, as they have started to capture the consumers’ attentions, [16]. Thus, Kellogg’s and Cereal Partner (Nestle) have introduced cereal bars as their product line so they do not loose their market to the substitutes. These product lines will also help the product to be well recognized by the consumer among other competitors. The Threat of Entry: The threat of entry deals with the powers, which is affected by the ability of new competitor to enter your market. The threat of entry is very low, as it would take a long time and huge find to establish themselves among the consumers. As the three major competitors that are considered in this analysis are Kellogg’s, weetabix and cereal partners (Nestle’s). The Kellogg’s keeps developing range of products, which account to ? 1. 1 billion; cereal partner owns ? 1. 1 billion and weetabix with ? 89 million cereals market, [34, 35, 33]. Therefore, for any new small venture company it is difficult to for them to get established into giant firms. Mintel forecasts that there would be a continuous growth for total breakfast cereal market, 20% at current price from 2007 – 2012, resulting in an estimated worth of ? 1. 5 billion. Avoiding the effects of inflation on food real growth is shown to be slightly lower to 10%. Value growth is set to continue but at a much lower rate than value, [13,14]. CONCLUSION: The breakfast cereals have a huge demand in the market as it caters to the taste of the consumer (health). The trend towards the healthy eating continues, consumers are increasingly looking forward for a â€Å"healthier start† to the day. This has resulted in strong growth at the luxury premium end of the market, as consumer trade up cereals contain wholegrain, dried fruits, super food and functional ingredients. There is only around 13% of the market, which do not consume cereals, to target these group there should be new product introduced to cater their needs. Even though the market of breakfast cereals is saturated there is always been a growing demand. The success of frequency promoting campaign have pushed volume growth over the last two years, as consumer start to eat cereal more than once a day and occasional buyer start to eat cereal each day, [18]. The branded products continue to dominate the cereal markets as the consumer trust brands and often finds the quality and taste of own label product inferior to that of branded. In a established market with high penetration and frequency of consumption, brand loyalty is high as the manufacturer allocates a significant amount of marketing spend in developing a long term relationship between the consumer base and their cereal brands. Ready to eat cereals have biggest brands and the largest amount of shelf space given over to them. Evaluation of tools / Limitation: The evaluation of tools / limitation in the pest analysis and porters five forces gives an idea, which is better than the other is to be discussed below: Pest Analysis: This deals with the whole industry as such and it may be difficult to forecast on the future trends about the industries. This analysis gives overall information on the industry that can help in understanding the macro environment of the industry. They deal with all the manufacturer of that particular industry and gives wider knowledge of them. They are potential risk in the market, conducted and regular basis. Porter’s five forces: in this care should be taken that the models is not underestimated or underemphasize the importance of the strength of the organization (inside out strategy). The model helps to analysis individual business strategies, as it does not cope with interdependencies within the range of large companies. From the theoretical perspective, the model does not address the possibilities that an industry could be attractive due to certain companies are in it. The environments, which are characterized by rapid, systemic and radical change, require more flexible, dynamic or evolving approach to formulate the strategy. The strength of this analysis is that its as strong tool for competitive analysis at industry level and provides useful inputs for performing Swot analysis. APPENDICES Appendix 1: UK retail sales of breakfast cereals, 2002-07 000 tonnesIndex? mIndex? m at 2002 pricesIndexâ‚ ¬mIndex 20024041001,0901001,0901001,734100 20034091011,1171021,1031011,61593 20044151031,1431051,1221031,68597 20054191041,1691071,1341041,71099 20064241051,2161121,1551061,784103 2007 (est. )4321071,2801171,1951101,895109 Source: Mintel Appendix 2: UK retail volume and value sales of breakfast cereal, by type, 03-07 200320052007 (est)% change% change m%? m%? m%2003-052005-07 RTE cereal1,049941,084931,195933. 310. 2 Hot cereal686857857250. 0 Total1,1171001,1691001,2801004. 79. 5 000 tonnes %000 tonnes%000 tonnes% change 03- 05% change 05- 07 RTE cereal3668936988380880. 83. 0 Hot cereal43114912511214. 04. 1 Total4091004191004311002. 42. 9 Data have been revised since the last report . Source: Mintel Appendix 3: UK retail volume and value sales of RTE cereal, 2002-07 000 tonnesIndex? mIndex? m at 2002 pricesIndexâ‚ ¬mIndex 20023651001,0241001,0241001,629100 20033661001,0491021,0361011,51693 20043681011,0701041,0501031,57797 20053691011,0841061,0511031,58697 0063721021,1291101,0721051,656102 2007 (est)3801041,1951171,1161091,769109 Source: mintel Appendix 4: UK retail sales of breakfast cereals, 2002-12 Current pricesAt 2007 prices 000 tonnesIndex? mIndex? mIndex 2002404941,090851,16791 2003409951,117871,18192 2004415961,143891,20194 2005418971,169911,21495 2006424981,216951,23797 2007 (est)4311001,2801001,280100 20084301001,3221031,300102 20094351011,3851081,336104 20104371011,4301121,364107 20114401021,4821161,389109 20124421031,5361201,414110 % change 2002-0771710 % change 2007-1232010 Source: mintel Appendix 5: UK population changes, by age and socio-economic status,02-12 Source: National Statistics/GAD/Mintel Appendix 6: Agreement with selected lifestyle statements, 2003-07 Base: adults aged 15+ 2003200520072005-07 %%%% point change Agree: I often skip meals to keep my weight down15. 114. 014. 6-0. 5 Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults Source: GB TGI, BMRB Q4 2003-07/Mintel Agreement with selected lifestyle statements, 2003-07 Base: adults aged 15+ 2003200520072003-07 %%%% point change Any agree: I am prepared to pay more for foods that dont contain artificial additives34. 843. 545. 8+11 I consider my diet to be very healthy38. 641. 544. 1+5. Appendix 7: Agreement with selected lifestyle statements on food, 7-10s, 03-07 Base: youths aged 7-10 200320052007 %%% Agree: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day56. 756. 863. 5 Taken from the youth TGI survey of around 6,000 youths aged 7-19 Source: Youth TGI, BMRB Autumn 2003-07/Mintel Agreement with selected lifestyle statements on food, 11-14s, 2003-07 Base: youths aged 11-14 2003200 52007 %%% Agree: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day57. 357. 665. 7 Taken from the youth TGI survey of around 6,000 youths aged 7-19 Source: Youth TGI, BMRB Autumn 2003-07/Mintel Appendix 8: Demographic change: UK retail volume and value sales of RTE cereal, 2002-12 Current pricesAt 2007 prices 000 tonnesIndex? mIndex? mIndex 2002365961,024861,09792 2003366961,049881,10993 2004368971,070901,12494 2005369971,084911,12694 2006372981,129941,14896 2007 (est)3801001,1951001,195100 20083791001,2301031,210101 20093831011,2891081,243104 20103831011,3291111,268106 20113851011,3761151,290108 20123861021,4251191,312110 % change 2002-074179 % change 2007-1221910 Source: mintel UK retail volume and value sales of hot cereal, 2002-12 Current pricesAt 2007 prices 000 tonnesIndex? mIndex? Index 2002397666787183 2003438468807285 2004479273867790 200549968510088104 2006521028710288104 2007 (est)511008510085100 200851999110790106 2009521029611393109 20105310510111996113 20115510710612499116 201256110111130102120 % change 2002-07312920 % change 2007-12103020 Source: Mintel Appendix 9: Number of times consumers eat breakfast per week, January 2007 Base: 2,159 adults aged 18+ who eat breakfast Source: Putting Breakfast First Survey Breakfast Cereal Information Service. January 2007 Appendix 10: Product eaten at breakfast and frequency, December 2006 Base: 2,159 consumers who eat breakfast FruitBrown bread/toastWhite bread/toastCroissant/ other pastriesYogurtBowl of cereal Every day12771420 5 to 6 times444-213 3 to 4 times a week99101414 Once or twice a week (usually weekends)711125310 Once or twice a week (usually midweek)911113512 Once a fortnight778556 Once a month666955 Less often15191725159 Never302425495512 Don’t know111231 Source: Putting Breakfast First Survey Breakfast Cereal Information Service. January 2007 Appendix 11: Consumption of cold breakfast cereals in the last 12 months, 2003-07 2003200520072005-07 %%%% point change All users8786. 287. 2+1. 0 Heavy users6. 97. 36. 8-0. 5 Medium users38. 538. 439. 3+0. 9 Light users40. 439. 440+0. 6 Non-users1313. 812. 8-0. 2 Base: adults aged 15+ Heavy users – more than once a day; Medium users – once a day Light users – 2/3 times a week or less Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults Source: GB TGI, BMRB Autumn 2003, Q4 2005 2007/Mintel Consumption of hot breakfast cereals in the last 12 months, 2003-07 2003200520072005-07 %%%% point change All users42. 645. 750. 34. 6 Heavy users5. 66. 88. 41. 6 Medium users7. 28. 310. 82. 5 Light users27. 328. 329. 51. 2 Non-users57. 454. 49. 7-4. 6 Base: adults aged 15+ Heavy users – once a day or more; Medium users – 2/3 times a week Light users – once a week or less Taken from the TGI survey of around 25,000 adults Source: GB TGI, BMRB Autumn 2003, Q4 2005 2007/Mintel Appendix 12: Signpost: Appendix 13: Value share of sub-sections of the RTE breakfast cereal market, 2007 Cereal? m%Brand examplesG rowing or declining Kids501. 942Coco Pops, Rice Crispies, Sugar Puffs, Mega Munchers, Fruit LoopsGrowing Naturally good346. 629Jordan’s, Dorset, Alpen, Special KGrowing Favorites239. 020Cornflakes, Crunchy NutGrowing Reduced fat/calorie/sugar95. 68Health Living, Reduced Sugar, Reduced SaltDeclining Organic free from12. 01Jordan’s Organic, Doves FarmGrowing * For sector definitions please see appendix Source: Mintel Appendix 14: Seasonal changes: Source: Nielsen Media Research/Mintel Appendix 15: UK retail distribution of breakfast cereal, 2003-07 200320052007 (est)% change% change ?m%? m%? m%2003-052005-07 Grocery multiples1,039931,094941,203945. 310. 0 Convenience404393383-2. 5-1. 5 Independent/others*383363383-5. 36. 7 Total1,1171001,1691001,2801004. 79. 5 * includes health food discount stores Source: Mintel Appendix 16: Opportunities and threats in the competing markets, 2002-06 Market size (2006) % change 02-06Major inhibitorsMajor driversStrategies for growth Fresh fruit ?3,796m +20. 2% Highly competitive market Loss leading itemsThe 5 a day message – This government sponsored guideline is heavily promoted and actively taught in schools. The obesity epidemic a greater focus on health which is leading to increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. Increasign wealth and familiarity with fruits means that consumers are more open to trying new options. Conveniently packaged products that can fetch a higher price. Organic fruit Fair-trade products (particularly bananas) Expansion into premium and rare/exotic varieties The introduction of locally sourced options Superfoods and eating for health Yogurt ?1,397m +28. 6%Pressure on prices Mixed messages and confusing health claimThe rise of healthy indulgence Popularity of functional products Rising levels of obesity Demand for natural products Consumers self diagnosing minor digestive health complaintsOrganic products at competitive prices More premium cream based products perfect for indulgence. Free from range expanding, products catering for different health needs. Child targeted products that please both parent and child. Bread ?2115m +10. 3Rising raw material prices Growing fear of the white bread Awareness of complex carbs Home Baking resurgence Decline in heavy usageHealth eating trends more opportunities for high value breads Rise of the foodie The health movement particularly the turn away from white breadHigh value artesian style breads. Super food breads with toppings including nuts and seeds Smaller more convenient loafs White breads with the goodness of brown Cereal bars ?270 56%The number of consumers prepared to purchase Relative price to breakfast cereals Healthy eating trends Time poor cash rich consumer The resurgence of breakfast from a health perspective The trend towards healthy yet natural products. Large number of market players, who are prepared to innovate Good healthy snack alternativeNatural and free from options Indulgent options that can be eaten as a necessity and a treat. Mixed selection packs. Super food and functional food versions. Source: mintel Appendix 17: Price per Kilo of RTE Brands from Selected Supermarkets, January 2008 Source: Storechecks/Mintel Price per Kilo of Hot-Cereal Brands from Selected Supermarkets, January 2008 Source: Storechecks/Mintel Appendix 18: Main monitored media spend, by advertiser, 2003-07 ?m20032004200520062007* ?m? m? m? m? m Kelloggs34. 343. 849. 252. 554. 6 Nestle18. 720. 619. 821. 224. 5 Weetabix8. 04. 19. 311. 910. 9 Jordans0. 50. 71. 11. 81. 7 Quakers1. 71. 70. 11. 70. 4 * Jan-November 2007 Source: Nielsen Media Research/Mintel Appendix 19: Map of manufacturers and brands in the breakfast cereals market, 2008 Kellogg’sCrunchy OatbakesCountry Store All-BranHoney Loops Bran FlakesJust Right Coco PopsLuxury Muesli CornflakesRicicles Crunchy NutStart FrostiesRice Crispies Fruit ‘n FibreSpecial K OptivitaWheats Cereal Partners UK (Nestle)CheeriosFitnesse Oat CheeriosAlmond Oats Shredded WheatNesquik ClustersOats More Golden NuggetsForce Flakes Cinnamon Cookie Crisp Shreddies WeetabixWeetabixOatibix WeetaflakesWeetos Alpen CerealsStars Crunchy BranOatiflakes Ready Brek Source: Mintel Appendix 20: The Weetabix Food Company Timeline 1932 Weetabix founded by two South Africans who introduced the Weetabix breakfast products to the UK 1936 Weetabix Limited was incorporated by, among others, the George family 1967 Weetabix entered the Canadian market 968 Weetabix entered the US market 1971 Alpen Muesli launched 1991 Ready Brek, acquired from Lyons Tetley 2002 Alpen bars launched 2004 Seriously Oaty launched 2005 Weetaflakes launched 2006 Alpen Light bars launched 2006 Oatibix launched 2007 Oatiflakes launched 2007 Alpen Luxury range launched 2007 Alpen Groove bars launched Source: weetabix Ltd. 2008. Appendix 21: The top-selling breakfast cereals in the UK, by estimated brand shares, 2006-07. Source: Mintel 200620072006-07 ?m%? m%% change Weetabix95. 48102. 587. 4 Special K90. 5799. 489. 8 Corn Flakes66. 565. 65-0. 6 Crunchy Nut Cornflakes57. 4564. 6512. 5 Coco Pops39. 9343. 037. 8 Rice Krispies35. 0343. 0322. 9 Shreddies34. 0333. 83-0. 6 Oatso Simple28. 2232. 8316. 3 Cheerios28. 2231. 029. 9 Frosties27. 3229. 728. 8 Shredded Wheat27. 0226. 62-1. 5 All Bran Bran Flakes 27. 3225. 62-6. 2 Fruit and Fibre22. 4220. 52-8. 5 Sugar Puffs20. 4219. 52-4. 4 Kelloggs Variety16. 6118. 4110. 8 Weetabix Minis17. 5116. 01-8. 6 Shreaded Wheat Bitesize14. 6116. 4112. 3 Country Crisp14. 0113. 01-7. 1 Alpen13. 6113. 31-2. 2 Crunchy Nut Clusters11. 7113. 3113. 7 Own Label237. 620243. 0202. 3 Others292. 24310. 0246. 2 Total1,2161001,2801005. 3 Appendix 22: Key developments in the Kellogg’s portfolio, 2007 BrandNew product developmentDriver/Motivation Special KSpecial K Bliss, Special K Susta in, Special K Oats Honey Drop a Jean Size ChallengeMore variation of health options to keep the consumer engaged in the brand A promotion designed to increase frequency of purchase. Special K range Mini BreaksGuilt-free snack designed as a healthy alternative to crisps Coco PopsMega Munchers, Crunchy Curls, Creations, Moons and StarsEngage children in Coco Pops despite limited advertising. CornflakesHint of Honey, Cornflakes MultigrainA more demanding health conscious audience Fruit and FibreRelaunchedA more demanding health conscious audience Source: Mintel Reference: Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Appendix 6 Appendix 7 Appendix 8 Appendix 9 Appendix 10 Appendix 11 Appendix 12 Appendix 13 Appendix 14 Appendix 15 Appendix 16 Appendix 17 Appendix 18 Appendix 19 Appendix 20 Appendix 21 Appendix 22 Breakfast cereals in UK, Mintel Report (2008) http://academic. mintel. com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show/display/id=227674/list/id=227674=NSItem=News=1/displ y/id=233120=233120 [accessed on 1/03/2008] 24. Benefits of breakfast cereals, The European Breakfast Cereal Association, (2008) ceereal. eu/documents/20070312%20Final%20Brochure. pdf [accessed on 10/052008] 25. Information nutritional signpost labeling- breakfast Cereals Criteria, Food standard law, (2008) foodstandards. gov. uk/multimedia/pdfs/breakfastcerealpaper. pdf [accessed on 13/04/2008] 26. Regulation and legislation on breakfast cereals, Food Standards Agency (2008) food. gov. uk/foodindustry/regulation/ [25/05/2008] 27. Regulation on Fortification, British Nutrition Foundation (2008) nutrition. org. uk/home. asp? siteId=43=434=323=299=1 [accessed on 14/03/07] 28. The UK Breakfast Cereals Market Has Grown In Value Terms, BNET United Kingdom (2007) http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2007_June_11/ai_n19207742/pg_1 [accessed on 2/04/2008] 29. Isomalt- artificial sweeteners information, Palatinit (2008) beneo-palatinit. com/en/Food_Ingredients/ISOMALT/ [accessed on 23/04/2008] 30) Isomalt sweetener information, Isomalt from Palatinit (2008) heingredients. co. uk/Palatinit%20GmbH/isomalt_main_page. htm [accessed on 23/04/2008] 31) Information on Kellogg’s, Kellogg’s (2008): kelloggs. co. uk/ [accessed on 19/04/2008] 32) Information on Cereal Partners, Cereal Partners (2008): cerealpartners. co. uk/ [accessed on 19/04/2008] 33) Information on Weetabix, Weetabix (2008): weetabix. co. uk/ [accessed on 19/04/2008] 34) Case study on Kellogg’s, The Times 100 (2008): theti mes100. co. uk/studies/view-summaryusing-aims-objectives-to-create-business-strategy6-267. hp [accessed on10/05/2008] 35) Cereal partners expand despite falling market, Bakery and snacks (2006) bakeryandsnacks. com/news/ng. asp? id=70006-cereal-partners-worldwide-nestl-cereals-general-mills [accessed on 21/04/2008] Bibliography Books: 1) Fast. B. 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Websites: 1) A Review of the UK Food Market, Cornwall Taste of the West (2006) ornwalltasteofthewest. co. uk/idupload/images/the_uk_food_market. pdf [accessed on 15/05/2008] 2) Ban on Unnecessary Colour for Children, The Management System Community (2008) http://businessassurance. com/food/news/ [accessed on 20/03/2008] 3) Breakfast cereals in UK, Mintel Report (2008) http://academic. mintel. com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show/displ ay/id=227674/list/id=227674type=NSItemclass=Newspage=1/display/id=233120anchor=233120 [accessed on 1/03/2008] 4) Breakfast cereals: Global industry guide, Report Buyer (2008) reportbuyer. om/food_drink/bread_bakery/breakfast_cereals_global_industry_guide. html [accessed on 10/04/2008] 5) Breakfast Food statistics, Topher’s Breakfast cereal Character Guide (205) lavasurfer. com/cereal-stats. html [accessed on 13/05/2008] 6) Breakfast Reports in United Kingdom, The keynote (2008) keynote. co. uk/CnIsapi. dll? fld=Xalias=kn2k1uni=2322SetUserType=1jump=collapseLevel=0fromPage=StatAZAutoShowFirstRecord=1search=SY%20=%2010-1922-55985Browser=NETSCAPE [accessed on 12/04/2008] 7) Benefits of breakfast cereals, The European Breakfast Cereal Association, (2008) eereal. eu/documents/20070312%20Final%20Brochure. pdf 8) Case study on Kellogg’s, The Times 100 (2008) thetimes100. co. uk/studies/view-summaryusing-aims-objectives-to-create-business-strategy6-267. php [accessed on10 /05/2008] 9) Cereal Growth Slow as Challenge Continue, Food Navigator (2007) foodnavigator-usa. com/news/ng. asp? n=79780-mintel-kellogg-general-m

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