My area – Earls Court a very weird and different area

Earls Court a very weird and different area. But that is not the opinion of the people living there that's just my opinion. Earls Court is a different area; I like to think of it as a little town not just some area in the heart of Kensington. The streets are always covered in old crisp packets and used condoms and there always seems to be puddles of water or some liquid that never seem to dry up. Behind my house is a private garden which, on a cold winter's morning is as misty as the peak of Mount Everest and the Scottish Highlands put together. This garden is run by a Garden Committee which is headed up by a woman who changes her hair colour every single week, for example last week the woman's hair was black and this week it is about as red as Manchester United's football shirt. In this garden there is a tennis court which is set up during the summer and the rest of the year the poles on which the nets hang are used by myself and about ten other mates as football posts. However the woman with the ever changing hair colour always seems to see us and come out and confiscate the ball even though her house is about from the school to Shepherds Bush tube station. The rules for this garden are extremely, I can't think of the word, hang on, ah yes, STUPID. You are not allowed to play football, play music, play and instrument, ride your bikes or any type of game that can damage the plants. It might as well be an outdoor prison. About 2 minutes walk from my house is a giant Tesco superstore; it claims to sell everything but the trouble is you can never find everything because they keep changing where everything is so I'll probably never know if they do sell everything. I remember about a month ago now, me and my mate Gav were in Tesco's and I had to use the toilet so I told him to wait downstairs. As I came back down the stairs my hat fell off down to the ground floor below; I ran down the stairs only to find my hat had disappeared and Gav standing where it had landed with an evil little grin on his face. Then a Jamaican security guard came up to us and said, † What are you doing†, and I because I didn't want to get in trouble said in a very angry and serious voice, † Gav man, where the hell did you put my hat? , the security guard told Gav to get my hat from where he had hidden it; amongst the boxes of wine. He gave it to me and we were just about to get away without getting into too much trouble when Gav, being the stupid idiot that he is, made the mistake of bursting into a fit of laughter when the guard had just turned away; not when he was out of earshot but when he had just turned his back so the guard heard, turned around, called his colleague and literally and I emphasise the literally, threw us out of the store onto the pavement; where Gav and I proceeded to laugh our heads off. But perhaps the most prominent building in my area is the office complex; just around the corner from my house; down a side road; which runs past a Gospel church. In this complex there is about 6 or 7 cameras 2 of which overlook the gate going in. On a dark and quiet Saturday night if there is nothing else to do; what me and my mates like doing is trying to get into the complex without being spotted by the 20 or so security guards just inside the main entrance. One time I dared a boy called Adam to run in and touch the sign that is about 10 metres in front of the front door. There were about five of us including Adam; he ran past the gate, past the cameras, touched the sign, and ran back. By this time all of the guards were up out of their seats and sprinting out of the door; I was the last one to notice; Adam sprints by me screaming like a little girl and everyone is running, I hadn't noticed what was happening and when I turned around from my hiding place about 15 metres from the gate; about four of the guards were coming through the gate, I stood up and started sprinting like a cheetah chasing a zebra. When I came to the fork I went right whilst everyone else had gone left down to Adam's house, I heard one of guards say, â€Å"You lot go left while we go right, we're going to get these kids†, I though, Christ their going to catch me; I wouldn't have been so worried if they weren't carrying holsters around which could have contained a gun. I ran between and over the parked cars and over a wall about a metre or two high and hid. I waited until they had given up and then I emerged from the shadow of the crucifix, triumphant in the fact that I had given trained security guards the slip. As I mentioned before I there is Gospel church near my house which has a bright green spire and on a Sunday morning and Wednesday evening it is absolutely bursting with music and singing. But the bad thing about this is that all of the cars of the church goers block up the parking lot; the only place that we are allowed to play football. But there are other more interesting things about my area like the fact that a woman fell of the roof of my house into my garden and I still don't know how she got up there. Also about three weeks ago a complete nutter of a man was on the roof of an estate brandishing and firing a rifle. All of the surrounding roads were closed off and armed police and for some reason there was riot police there as well. Nobody was hurt except the guy firing the gun who shot himself in the leg before being arrested. Once I was riding my bike to my mate's house and a tiny, little homosexual man stood in the way on purpose even though he had about a 10 second delay before I was near enough to hurt him; he stepped out and then said in a squeaky little voice â€Å"Watch where your going you stupid little s**t†, I yelled back at him some obscenities that I cannot mention here. Around my area there is a lot of refugees who go around asking people for money. Once I was walking to school when about five of them came up to me and asked me to give them i10; I just looked at them and said, â€Å"You got to be joking†, the leader looked at me really seriously and said, â€Å"I am being seriously perfect†, and that just made me laugh. I think he meant to say, â€Å"I am being perfectly serious†, but got confused. The leader then grabbed me and said, â€Å"give me i10 now†, he was only about as tall as me so I kneed him in his groin and the rest just backed off because a security guard had come out to see what was going on. The guard ‘escorted' the leader off the premises and by that I mean threw onto one of the islands in the middle of the road. There is a tall, red brick building just around the corner from my house which used to be where the local police force lived for free until it was turned into a council flat. There is a woman called Louise who is about 40 years old and has a problem with kids. She is as thin as rake and is about medium height. Her nose is crooked and she has a terribly squeaky voice like a rusty bike chain. She has a balcony coming out of the back of her house which she likes to use for taking pictures of people passing especially kids. When we make noise she comes out and starts going on about how we are making too much noise, and then we confront her about taking pictures of us she just goes quiet and slithers off quietly like the snake that she is. Just last Sunday she came out and starting having a go at us; but when we started confronting her about taking pictures of us she said she'd even take videos of us; we just said but that's illegal, she said so is noise disturbance; then I said â€Å"but which one do you think is more serious†, at which she just walked off and I called after her â€Å"I thought so! â€Å". She wears quite trampy clothes and she probably only has one piece of clean clothing in her whole life. Around my area there are a lot of kids who wander around looking for kids to mug, but I know them so they don't try to mug me. However when I was in first year there was some kids that I didn't know trying to mug people, and once I was on my way home from school and I must have looked like a right idiot with my catholic schoolboy uniform all neat and tidy. They were walking on the other side of the road and I saw them look at me then cross the road towards me; so I crossed the road to where they had been. They were then behind me and had turned around and started walking quite quickly towards me; now you have go to remember that I was a little first year so I couldn't fight off two 16+year olds, so I started jogging, they started jogging, I picked up the pace, so did they, I was coming up to Tesco's now so I sprinted through the back way through the car park into the store up to the first floor and out through the first floor exit. As I went down the stairs I could see them through the 12ft high windows searching for me jogging through the aisles so I started jogging across the large 6 lane road to my house. As I rounded the corner I saw them come out the main entrance, point towards me and start sprinting, so I just sprinted to my house and got through the front door in record time. I opened two doors in about 6 seconds. As I said earlier I consider Earls Court like a little town; a little town with its own high street with every shop its own cinema and even its own arena and park. But with little towns there comes problems. On Thursday mornings there are piles of black bin bags waiting for the bin men to come and take them away; it smells about as bad as rotten fish and eggs put together. You trip over the bags that are strewn all over the pavement. As I go down to school I go past a bright, mustard yellow estate which all the dump trucks come out of and so that stinks even more and there are kids on the estate that spit down on people going past. All in all I think my area has some good points like the fact that most of my friends live there but there are some bad points like all the crime and rubbish on the streets. But it is my area, I've lived there all my life and I love it.

Moliere’s Tartuffe and Rousseau’s Confessions

Each character Is guilty of stealing something for their personal gain. However, when analyzing their actions of theft, there Is clear evidence of contrast. In â€Å"Confessions† Rousseau Is a mere child and steals Males ribbons simply because she Is the first name that floats Into his head. When asked how he got the ribbon, Rousseau blames the cook. â€Å"They Inquired how I got hold of It. I grew confused, stammered, and said with a blush It was Maroon. The fact that Rousseau is a child and demonstrates when he is scared when asked about the ribbon helps lessen the severity of the crime and helps ease the burden for future forgiveness. This greatly contrasts from Tartuffe who can be described as an undermining hypocrite throughout the play and steals solely for personal gain. The face that Tartuffe is a grown man and understands his actions greatly contradicts with Rousseau childish mistakes. Tartuffe displays a heinous crime in contradiction to the trivial crime of Roussea u.When comparing the aftermath of the crimes, the two works differ in the shared theme, regret. In â€Å"Confessions† Rousseau does lie when asked if he stole the ribbon, but Rousseau is constantly haunted with this crime throughout his life. â€Å"There ended the serenity of my childish life. From that moment I never again enjoyed pure happiness. † Rousseau is feeling so guilty of small rime he committed as a child he writes an entire confession, this greatly differs from Tartuffe.When Tartuffe is handcuffed by the officer, Tartuffe displays the same hypocritical attitude that was evident throughout the play. The last words of Tartuffe, â€Å"To prison? This can't be true! † sum up perfectly the zero regret that Tartuffe shows even though he knows he has been caught. If looking the two works as a whole based solely on regret there is clear distinction. Rousseau, a child, committed a crime that he Is obviously regretful about. Then there Is Tartuffe, where there is no sign of regret and deserves to be imprisoned forever.

Godfather Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Godfather - Movie Review Example According to the movie review "Godfather" findings, the remarkable thing about this movie is the way the writer has been able to portray the character that is starting from the inside proceeding with to an outside view of the setting. Also how the characters have been given priority, like for instance the Godfather himself even is not the main character of the movie, that role has been given to his youngest son called Michael who has appeared in the movie as a very intellectual person. Michael understands his father’s way of life and methods in which his father conducts business while still revising his father’s old-fashioned ways (Ebert, 2010). Michael at first rejects being involved with his family ways of life, which are the mafia-like lifestyle. This demonstrates that he wants to be with Kaye and not the family way of doing businesses. This resistance afterward comes to diminished when his family’s power and influence comes under threat from outside forces, w hich later puts him in a position to intervene. This is because he is the only one who is capable of upholding it. By doing this, the writer gives the viewers, as the sense of growth to the main character. The change of heart by Michael, in that he stops in believing that what his family does is wrong to believing that the crimes that his family commits are necessary evils that must be committed. By this, the main character emerges and the main character position is resolved towards the viewers (Ebert, 2010). The main character is portrayed in the movie as a practical person who prefers to solve the family problems from an outside approach. This seen when he arrives from home as a World war II war hero claiming that he can solve the† Turk† (Sollozo) problem in which he does by killing Sollozo and the police captain. Another instance where the main characters approach is seen as doer. is when falls in love with Apollonian from afar and later proposes to her for marriage even before meeting her. He is seen to always prefer solving his problems externally rather than internally which leads to many murders being committed such as the† baptism of blood† where Michael eliminates every threat when assuming his title place in the family (Ebert, 2010). Michael uses a linear, cause and effect manner at looking at problems. He sees all the families that are involved with him as different link to one hierarchy of power. He can be seen not to care about the young ones who look up to them and the women. He is seen to take a bilateral approach to those people in the family and those people who are not in the family. That is why he warns people to take sides and to ever be loyal to the family. The main characters role is that of a male dominance, we can see Michael being able to convince himself that his wife should not know anything concerning his businesses and should not ask him anything concerning his dealing (Ebert, 2010). In this movie, Godfather, Functionalism,

BBC Facing Tide of Claims for Sex and Age Discrimination Essay

BBC Facing Tide of Claims for Sex and Age Discrimination - Essay Example This study discusses that figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that in the past year there have been 12 cases brought by women alleging sexual discrimination at the corporation.This was up from nine in the year before and three in the year before that. There have also been a further three cases of ageism brought against the BBC by women in the last three years. The broadcaster refuses to say how many of these women it has given payments to stop an employment tribunal. But it is understood this has happened on several occasions in recent years and that is why these type of cases against the BBC have rarely if ever actually reached court. The decision to drop Moira Stuart as a TV news reader was one of the most controversial examples of perceived sexism and ageism at the BBC in recent years. This was followed by the decision to axe Miss Phillips.This paper outlines that presenters such as Selina Scott, Anna Ford and Kate Adie have also attacked the BBC's attitude towards older women amid accusations it shunts females off screen once they reach a certain age. In 2008 Miss Scott won a payout, believed to have been about [pounds sterling]250,000, from Channel Five after she said she had been offered a newsreading job only for it to be given to two younger presenters. Experts say the increase in cases could be because women have become emboldened to speak out against bosses or because the problems are actually getting worse.

Can Cheaters Win the Game Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Can Cheaters Win the Game - Essay Example nhancement substances, of which are taken knowingly or unknowingly.1 It is now a known fact that sports people will use all means to gain a competitive advantage in order to win games. This now begs the question can cheaters win games. Firstly, they are several arguments that would revolve around this question. I feel that cheating is dependent on the given situation or circumstance of the sport being played. Feezell asks the question, â€Å"What is it that makes us think that cheating is wrong?† 2 To get a better comprehension, let us look at some examples. Feezell goes on to state: â€Å"From the examples given, we can determine what could be wrong with the arguments presented by the skeptics concerning cheating†. In sports, it is interesting to note that most forms of cheating are hardly strategic matters as skeptics would at times suggest. For instance, a sport requires score keeping hence making the participants to keep scores fairly.3 Should they fail, then that is considered cheating and is wrong? Examples of this kind of sports include golf, tennis matches, and basketball games. Then if a particular sport has strict eligible requirements for its players in which umpires or referees are required, to not violate the rules, the hiring of the officials must not be biased because if it is, this then creates an unfair advantage for a particular team, which would then be a clear form of cheating.4 Sports that require equipment and are restricted on the type of equipment required by the rules would be considered cheating. For example, usage of a corked bat when playing baseball or substituting illegal apparatuses in field events is considered cheating. That being said, what do these cases of paradigm cheating have in common (Feezell, 2). All cases illustrate intention from the players as well as coaches to gain a form of unfair advantage by altering particular conditions of competitive fairness. Therefore, about judgme nts pertaining cheating, a decision must be

About the role of Quantitative Easing in helping the UK out of the Essay

About the role of Quantitative Easing in helping the UK out of the slum - Essay Example The conditions following the financial collapse were by no means normal, however, and the Bank of England had to innovate. As conventional monetary tools became virtually ineffectual, the BOE started pursuing Quantitative Easing (QE) monetary regime. Joyce et al. (2011) defines QE as a government’s policy of expanding the central banks balance sheet with an objective of increasing the level of central bank’s reserves. The main purpose of the BOE in introducing the program was to expand the balance sheet. QE policy includes purchasing of assets from the financial market with an objective of imparting additional liquidity. Secondly, it seeks to affect the term structure of interest rates by influencing markets expectations on future interest rates. BOE’s decision to open asset purchase window marked the transition of BOE policies from a conventional regime to an unconventional QE regime. In early 2009, the Bank of England (BoE) introduced a large-scale asset purchase (LSAP) programme called quantitative easing (QE). When the intensity of global financial crisis was high following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, most governments and central banks around the globe introduced a variety of ways meant at stabilising financial conditions and supporting aggregate demand (Joyce et al., 2011). The main focus of BOE was to purchase large amounts of UK government bonds (gilts) from non-financial institutions. The BOE finished the LSAP program in early 2010, but it restarted it in October 2011. The main intention of the BOE in engaging in QE program was to boost liquidity in UK financial markets and help in restoring stability in credit and bond markets. The BOE was responding to continued deterioration in world economic growth, excessive market volatility and persistent problems in international credit markets. In response, the BOE revised the official bank rate to th e downside and reduced them by 0.5% to 1.5% in January 2009, prior to the introduction of

Animal in research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Animal in research - Essay Example Prior approval from Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is mandatory before using animals for such purposes. An estimated 100-200 million non-human animals are used and decimated annually through out the world in universities, medical colleges, research institutes, defense and public health establishments, commercial and pharmaceutical companies etc. Non-human animal testing is conducted chiefly for basic research, applied research and toxicology or safety testing. The proponents of animal testing argue that animals have a significant role in research that can benefit both animals and humans. Major development in medicine and science has been possible through such researches. Animals such as mice was used for development of the drug penicillin(awarded with Nobel prize), dogs for organ transplantation as well as Pavlov's experimentation, mice and monkey's for the vaccine poliomyelitis etc. The very edifice of morality and ethics is based on the principle that humans are unique and distinct from non-human and so they can utilize animals for their benefit. It is also a moral duty to elevate the misery of both animals and humans by researching developing medical science and science in general. Since non-human animals are less developed they are not so sensitive to pain and suffering.

Assessing HRD Need is Important in Developing Strategic HRD Essay

Assessing HRD Need is Important in Developing Strategic HRD - Essay Example Current paper focuses on the examination of a particular aspect of HRD: the development of strategic HRD process. Reference is made specifically to the relationship between this process and the assessment of HRD need. The examination of the literature published in the particular field has revealed that indeed the accurate and appropriate assessment of HRD need can increase the chances for the successful development of strategic HRD process; however, the terms under which the interaction between the above two activities/ processes can be developed are not always clear. It seems that the conditions in the internal and the external organizational environment can affect the level at which the assessment of HR need affects the development of strategic HRD process. All the potential aspects of the above relationship are examined and critically analyzed in this paper using examples – as possible – from relevant organizational practices.   This paper stresses that  the establishment of HRD policies in the workplace has been proved to be a challenging task; despite their value, these policies have also important requirements, which have to be appropriately addressed so that the targets set by the planners of these policies to be achieved. The challenges that HRD policies have to face in the modern market can be understood by referring to their characteristics and common forms.  In this way also, the requirements of these policies will be clearer understood and justified.  

Marketing Simulation Essay Example for Free

Marketing Simulation Essay The rest of the sales force time would be equally divided between the segments B, C and D. Change in Strategy: During simulation, we studied the effects of percentage increase of sales force time for each market segment individually along with decrease in list price. As we proceeded with the simulation, we found that * A decrease in list price and an increase in percentage sales force time for segment D would be more fruitful in the short run as it will increase the overall sales volume and overall profit much more than in the case where sales force concentrates more on segment A. This is because the overall market share of highly price sensitive customers in segment D and â€Å"small volume customers† is almost three times of segment A’s market share. * So, even though the profit margin in segment D and â€Å"small volume customers† is lesser than that for segment A, the overall profit was greater because of the scope of much higher sales volume. * Hence, we decided to increase the sales force percentage time for segment D to 40% and for segment A to 30%. We decreased the sales force time percentage for segments B and C to 15% each. Also, we reduced the list price from $142 to $136. Challenges during simulation: During simulation, the primary challenge we faced was to decide on the key parameters that should be changed and the level of change in each of these parameters to get optimum profit and higher market share. Key decisions: Since our initial strategy was to increase the sales volume of segment A, we decided to concentrate on sales force time percentage parameter for each segment and the list price of the motors. We studied the effects of percentage increase of sales force time for each market segment individually along with decrease in list price on the overall profit of the company. Solution Analysis Decrease in list price from $142 to $136 and increase in sales force time percentage to 40% for segment D and to 30% for segment A. As we proceeded with the simulation, we found that * A decrease in list price and an increase in percentage sales force time for segment D would be more fruitful in the short run as it will increase the overall sales volume and overall profit much more than in the case where sales force concentrates more on segment A. This is because the overall market share of highly price sensitive customers in segment D and â€Å"small volume customers† is almost three times of segment A’s market share. * So, even though the profit margin in segment D and â€Å"small volume customers† is lesser than that for segment A, the overall profit was greater because of the scope of much higher sales volume. * Segments B and C sales force time was reduced because of the high competition that MM faces in these categories on the basis of the rmal resistance parameter. Hence, in the long run, MM can target for higher profit margins than for higher sales volume if it concentrates the sales and market research resources to segments A, B and C. The main challenge with this approach is that it would difficult to attract customers from these segments who are already loyal to competitors and would require much more effort from the sales team and the product development team to come up with a product that caters the needs of these segments especially segments B and C where MM has yet to prove its overall competitiveness. Learning and experience This simulation exercise helped us to validate whether our suggested solution was an optimal one and also helped us to arrive at new solutions through experimentation which finally led to change in our overall decisions and strategy. It also showed us how varying a single parameter can change the overall market share and overall profits of the company. Finally, it reinforced the theory behind segmentation of customers according to their buying behavior to achieve optimal marketing strategies.

Learning Team Reflection Essay Example for Free

Learning Team Reflection Essay Introduction In business, quality refers measures of excellence and remaining free of defects, deficiencies, and significant variations. Quality products or services are brought about by the commitment to abide by certain standards. These standards are put in place to maintain customer or user satisfaction, (Business Dictionary.com, 2014). In this paper, Learning Team A will discuss total quality management, ISO standards, how these standards are used to improve an organization, benefits and challenges of these standards, and the role of the quality control department within an organization in relation to TQM and ISO standards. Total Quality Management and ISO Total quality management may be defined as managing the entire organization so that it excels on all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer, (Jacobs, H., Chase, R., 2011).† The two primary goals of total quality management (TQM) are to ensure that the product or service is carefully designed, and secondly, to ensure systems within the organization can consistently produce and design the product or service. TQM resembles Six Sigma to a great degree, but it is a different process. TQM focuses on ensuring standards and guidelines are actually reducing errors while Sigma looks to reduce defects, (Jacobs, H., Chase, R., 2011).† ISO are a series of standards used to measure quality. These guidelines are international guidelines established by the Internal Organization for Standardization. To gain certification for these standards, the process takes greater than a year. ISO 9000 represents standards for the criteria that need to be met during manufacturing processes. ISO 14000 refers to rules or guidelines set for environmental management of industrial production. This standard simply promotes useful tools for businesses to help manage environmental impact, (Investopedia, 2014). Advantages of TQM and ISO in organizations Customer satisfaction is the main goal for every organization. Customers are satisfied if they get a product or service that meets their expectation and if it is of fair price. Total Quality management helps to provide this quality assurance for the customers. It helps the organization to make the needed corrections and improve production. Apart from satisfied customers, organizations also need to improve their efficiency and effectiveness of doing business. TQM places a focus on internal process that includes process alignment, consistent delivery and process productivity (CEBOS, 2012). With TQM, organizations will have a longer term competitive edge. TQM is a philosophy that empowers all the employees and it promotes continuous and sustained improvement. Its basic principle is that the cost of prevention is less than the cost of correction (Gharakhani, Rahmati, Farrokhi, Farahmandian, 2013). Like TQM, ISO also provides benefits for a business. According to (ISO, 2014), when a company improves its operations, it saves cost. Having internationalized standards will improve operations and reduces operational expenses. Standards will help to enhance customer satisfaction and access new markets. It also helps companies to increase their productivity and stay in the competitive edge. ISO 9000, certification increases marketability and reduces product liability risks, because the quality of the product is enhanced. With the ISO 14000, organizations reduce their footprint in global environment. ISO14000 helps companies to save in energy consumption, reduce the cost of waste management, and improve corporate image among regulators, customers and the public (ISO, 2014). References Business Dictionary.com (2014). Quality. Retrieved from, Business Dictionary.com Web site: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/quality.html Investopedia (2014). ISO 9000. Retrieved from, Investopedia Web site: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/iso-9000.asp Investopedia (2014). ISO 14000. Retrieved from, Investopedia Web site: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/iso-14000.asp Jacobs, F., Chase, R. (2011). Product and Service Design. In (Ed.), Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed., pp. 38-67). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin. CEBOS (2012). How Can TQM Make Your Business More Successful?. Retrieved from, CEBOS Web site: http://www.cebos.com/how-can-tqm-make-your-business-more-successful/ Gharakhani, D., Rahmati, H., Farrokhi, M. R., Farahmandian, A. (2013). Total Quality Management and Organizational Performance. American Journal of Industrial Engineering, 1(3), pp. 45-50. ISO. (2014). Benefits of International Standards. Retrieved from http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/benefitsofstandards.htm ISO. (2014). ISO 14000 – Environmental management. Retrieved from http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/benefitsofstandards.htm

Marketisation of Social Care

Marketisation of Social Care The marketisation of social care will deliver efficient and equitable services. Discuss. Introduction Social care refers to a number of different aspects of social life including health, education, economic security etc. In the 1940s universal welfare provision was initiated in Britain. Universal welfare deals with all aspects of the population’s well being and the services that the state provides (Marsh, et al, 2000). The welfare state in Britain and in most of the western world was predicated on the work of the economist John Milton Keynes. In the last thirty years there has been a shift from Keynesian economics to a Neo-liberalist post-welfare state (Hursh, 2005) Keynes believed that when times were hard the state should intervene by putting more money into the economy and stimulating employment. However by the late nineteen seventies when Margaret Thatcher came to power it was evident that post-war policies were no longer working and thus there was a shift to a market based economy and welfare provision (Giddens, 2001). The full employment that had been envisioned by the p ost-war government had not happened and there was also a corresponding rise in inflation. Jessop (2001) maintains that in response to these happenings Western states began to make changes in the ways in which social care and welfare were provided. The Marketisation of Social Care and Efficient and Equitable Services Government leaders in Europe, Britain and America argued that the universal welfare provision that had existed since the Second World War was not working and what was needed was a return to the philosophy of a free market that had been the case prior to the war (Stiglitz, 2002). In 1979 the Conservatives won the election and Margaret Thatcher came to power. By this time arguments about a welfare state versus a free market economy had intensified. Introducing marketing principles into social care allow Governments to (hypothetically at least) improve services. It also enables a government to retain a greater degree of control (Stigliss, 2002). As a response to discourses on the value of a free market economy Regan’s Government in the United States and Thatcher’s in Britain began to introduce measure that would roll back the welfare state and control expenditure. This was done by the introduction of marketing and business strategies. In Britain the Government embarked on a massive process of privatisation because it was believed that public ownership of companies and the public sector generally inhibited and undermined market forces. It therefore follows, Stigliss argues, that there is a need to deregulate capital markets and to curb state spending. These policies stressed the importance of the internal market. Giddens (2001) says that: †¦the momentum of Thatcherism in economic matters was maintained by the privatising of public companies†¦Ã‚  (this)   is held to reintroduce healthy economic competition in place of unwieldy and ineffective public bureaucracies, reduce public expenditure and end political interference in managerial decisions (Giddens, 2001:434). It was believed that the introduction of market forces into social care would increase productivity and improve care while at the same time being cost efficient. It was considered the best way of allocating resources because free markets were considered to be self organising (Olssen and Peters, 2005). Within healthcare provision there was a shift from healthcare professionals and patients to the idea that there were service providers and there were clients (Giddens, 2001). Government discourses, both Conservative and New Labour have revolved around the notion that the introduction of market mechanisms would result in a more equitable system. However, policy making tends to be somewhat contradictory and Governments appear to give with one hand and take back with another. The instigation of NHS trusts has resulted in a somewhat haphazard distribution of care and there are inequalities across the system in some areas there are such discrepancies in care provision that commentators refer to a post code lottery, where the kind of care a person receives is determined by where they live. Some commentators were of the opinion that the policies introduced by the Conservative Government were implemented to widen inequalities in society (Field, 1996). Thus Marx’s dictum that laws are made to serve the interests of those who already have power in society are extremely relevant here. The Community Care Act of 1990 further exacerbated inequalities most especially for women as it assumed that the women (who were the main carers in the home) would shoulder the extra responsibility of care (Abbott and Wallace, 1982). Field (1996) maintains that the increase in inequalities whereby the rich got richer and the poor poorer created a social underclass who were denied the same rights as others in society. Under the Conservatives the tax burden shifted from the rich to the poor, along with this, changes to the benefit system such as job seekers allowance placed a good number of people into a poverty trap. Alcock (1997) supports Fielding’s views and maintains that the r oll back in welfare and changes in social care and benefits generally resulted in greater unemployment and a rise in the number of homeless. The introduction of market forces into social care has had the effect of excluding some people from mainstream society and led to the setting up by the present Government of the Social Exclusion Unit in 1997. This Unit is an example of the contradictions engaged in by policy makers in a free market economy. On the one hand the general philosophical approach of both this Government and its predecessor has been on the responsibility of the individual. This is nowhere better expressed than in Labour’s New Deal Documentation which promises a hand up rather than a hand out. Young (1999) maintains that there is a move away from inclusive goals that are based on citizenship rights and this means a move towards policies that exclude some people. This results in people feeling undervalued and with no investment in society and this may be reflected in the rising crime among the young. Currie (1998) maintains that there are a number of links between social exclusion and crime. Shifts in the labour market and minimum wage and taxation policies result in a rise in the numbers of those living in poverty. Furthermore these things put added strain on family life and weakens social cohesion. Conclusion Clearly the introduction of market forces into social care has been problematic and has benefited some members of society at the expense of others. Pierson (1994) has argued that the attempts by the Thatcher and Regan Governments to roll back the welfare state were not entirely successful. He maintains that this was more difficult than they had thought and that governments were besieged by public outcry. Rolling it back was not the exact opposite of the expansion of welfare that governments had thought rather, Pierson argues Far more than in the era of welfare state expansion†¦struggles over social policy become struggles over information about the causes and consequences of policy change (Pierson, 1994:8). The New Labour Government that came into power in 1997 have continued the welfare reforms introduced by the Conservatives laid out their welfare to work policies in a 1998 Green Paper which have been further extended in policy documents such as the New Deal 2004 and Youth Matters 2004. These documents are aimed at getting welfare recipients back into work and reducing Government costs. It is arguably the case that the introduction of market forces into social care have not resulted in either better services or more equitable treatment. Rather these policies have reduced services and benefited the better off at the expense of the poor, a fact which has been pointed out by a number of theorists. To what extent does a countrys welfare regime type influence the form of social care provision? Illustrate your answer with examples from two countries. Introduction Welfare provision and spending on public services differs from country to country depending on the types of service offered. In many cases this will include housing, education, pensions and health (Giddens, 2001). There have been a number of different ways of conceptualising the welfare state. Marxist theories tend to take the view that governments provide welfare for the benefits of those in power i. e. investment in welfare is necessary to sustain a capitalist system (Stigliss, 2002). This will look at policies in both Finland and the United States to assess whether and in what ways the type of welfare regime that is adopted by a country affects the form of social care provision. Welfare Regimes The ideal model of welfare is one of universal welfare provision where the state provides for everything in time of need and health and education are fully financed by the state. Marshall (1960, 1973) viewed the development of citizenship rights as crucial to the emergence of a welfare state. Civil and political rights would be extended to the rights to education, healthcare and other service provision because everyone was entitled to a reasonable life and a reasonable income irrespective of their position in society. Esping Anderson (1990) devised his tri-partite system of welfare provision through an investigation of welfare regimes in a number of different countries. He also evaluated the extent to which welfare services were unencumbered by the introduction of market forces. He looked at the ways in which welfare services were organised and delivered in different countries when making decisions about what group they fitted in. The models Esping Anderson identified were Social Democratic, Conservative Corporatist and Liberal. In the first example welfare subsidies are entirely state funded and are available to everyone (the notion of universal welfare provision) Most Scandinavian States follow this model. Within Social Democratic States such as currently exists in Finland, there is generally no influence of market forces but things tend to differ depending on the type of welfare provision in Finland during the 1990s the country was moving towards a neo-liberal regime where people received free primary health care but were required to pay something towards their secondary healthcare (Ball, 2004). In a Conservative-corporatist state such as pertains in both France and Germany welfare services are only marginally influenced by market principles but they are not equally available to everyone. Entitlement is dependent on a person’s position in society. The United States is an example of a liberal welfare regime where means tested benefits are only available to the needy. Giddens (2001) maintains that there is a high degree of stigmatisation attached to these benefits, one has only to see media representation of the American poor and needy to know that this is the case. Welfare is, in almost every case, sold through the market and this is due to the expectation that everyone should pay for their own care through the market as for example in the form of health insurance such as Medicaid. America is the only country in the world where people do not have automatic access at least to primary healthcare in times of greatest need (Navarro, 1986). Navarro argues that when market forces are involved in welfare regimes and particularly with healthcare systems then there is a tendency for organisations such as drug companies to promote medicines and drugs that serve their own interests on the world market. Monopoly capital invades, directs and dominates either directly (via the private sector) or indirectly (via the state) all areas of economic and social life (Navarro, 1986:243). Mitchell (1991) identifies five main approaches to the analysis of welfare systems in different countries these involve a comparison of policy, inputs, production, operation, and outcomes. These involve what is intended, who pays for it, how it is run, how it is organised and who benefits. The American liberal regime relies on a laissez faire approach to welfare (Olssen, 2000) this is particularly evident in its stigmatising of those in receipt of benefits. The situation in America is not uniform however and some states do have state funded health schemes, what Klass (1985) has called decentred social altruism (1985:428). In Finland, as in much of Europe, welfare provision has been dependent on social solidarity or the view that both the state and the society have responsibilities of care. Many welfare rights are dependent on people’s circumstances and so there may not be the equality within such a system as one might suppose and can lead to social exclusion. Health in Finland has been along institutional lines i. e. secondary health care for example can tend to be selective and based on circumstance. Soumen Ash (2005) however, maintains that: The state of peoples health and welfare in Finland has steadily improved since healthcare and health promotion were established. The main challenges nowadays relate to disease prevention, mental health problems and the disparities in health, welfare among different population groups. Finnish health policy has become matched to international standards set by the World health organisation and the European Union (Suomen Ash, 2005). [1] In the 1990s educational provision was affected in Finland by its moves towards a neo-liberalist or Conservative-corporatist state. More recently however the Social Democrats have again espoused the universal provision of education and this is now entirely free of market forces and subsidised solely by the state. Thus there has been a return to a welfarist view of education that is available to all and which operates to bring an end to the social exclusion that pre-dominates in elsewhere. The United States may take a dim view of universal welfare provision but its educational policies are welfarist in that there is free basic education for everyone and it is subsidised by the state. People are responsible for their own further and higher education costs if they are not awarded scholarships. The United States spends a greater proportion of its GDP on education than most other countries (World Bank world development report, 1998) but its educational provision, while universal, is still greatly underfunded as is teacher training and this is reflected in the fact that its schools lag behind other countries (Nation at Risk Report 1983). Thus the Americans (under Clinton) introduced public/private partnerships in an attempt to inject life into their failing schools (Giddens, 2001). The introduction of market forces into education does not seem to have generated a great deal of improvement (Molnar, 1996). There has therefore been a huge growth in the private educational proj ects and it may be that this will prove a threat to the basic state education that has been on offer (Whatt, 1999). Conclusion The welfare regime that a country adopts does seem to have significant effects on its service provision. In Finland, where the Social Democrats have taken over what was a liberal state, commentators maintain that the health sector is improving and many countries would do well to take note of the improvements in the Finnish education system since the removal of market mechanisms in that area. America on the other hand appears to be going in the opposite direction. Never comfortable with the idea of welfare its liberal and laissez faire regime has now adopted market principles into its education system. The state system was seen to be failing dismally and now the private sector appears to be taking over. One can only wonder whether the United States will continue with policies that further exclude the already excluded or whether it will drastically order the type of welfare regime that is in operation. [1] http://www.suomenash.fi/sivu.php?artikkeli_id=178

Diplomatic Immunity :: essays research papers

Diplomatic Immunity INTRODUCTION United Kingdom, 1982 While unloading the ship which carried the embassy's materials, one box marked "household effects" dropped from a forklift. More than six hundred pounds of marijuana worth 500,000 British pounds (1982 prices) spilled dockside. For centuries governments have used ambassadors, and diplomats to represent their nation. These special envoys have done everything from resolving years of conflict, deciding on how much humanitarian relief will be sent to a nation, or just being present at diplomatic dinners and ceremonies. These people have been the vital link between nations, and they have enjoyed complete immunity from the law of the host nation. Originally this immunity was extended as a courtesy to allow for an uneventful stay in the host country. While in a foreign country on official business, the diplomat would be granted exemption from arrest or detention by local authorities; their actions not subject to civil or criminal law. For the longest time this privilege produced little or no incidents. However, this unique position of freedom that diplomats, their family, and staff have been graced with has not been so ideal. Recently the occurrences of abuse for personal or national gain has grown out of proportion. What once protected the diplomat and his staff from parking tickets and some differing social laws, now grants them protection under the law to commit crimes such as drug trafficking, kidnapping, rape, and murder. Even though serious crimes are rare and punishable to various extents in most countries, domestic authorities were forced to look the other way. While it would be convenient to believe that the six hundred pounds of marijuana was sent for personal consumption at the embassy, it is evident a small drug trafficking ring was being protected under the guise of diplomatic immunity. HISTORY/DESCRIPTION The international community has tried to develop a universally accepted set of norms governing the conduct and privileges of diplomats abroad. These few Articles from the convention show the good faith of the convention: Article 29: Diplomats are inviolable; exempt from any arrest/detention. Article 31: Diplomats are exempt from criminal jurisdiction, they can be tried only if immunity is waived. Article 32: Only the sending country can waive immunity Article 41: Diplomats should still respect the laws and regulations of the host state. Baring few changes, the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations remains the basis for interaction between states. This convention tackles the problem by dividing the privileges of immunity into four classes. The diplomat and his family enjoy "complete" immunity. They cannot be arrested, detained or taxed. They do not fall into the realm of jurisdiction of the host country.

life :: essays research papers

Through out history man has always tried to find ways to explain the ways of life. Were do we come from, why are we here, are we alone, so may different questions but yet we still have no answers. Is there there a reason why we do not know?, can we truly comprehend the real answers of life? No one really knows. Some people try to find there answers buy relaying on mans creations. They look to science for answers and believe that there is a reason hidden behind everything and that all things come about by chance. Many other look towards religion to find there answers in hoping that they can gain accurate knowledge of the universe and believe that all things DON’T come about by chance but happen because there were pre-determined and could not be any other way. In order to understand life we must be willing to give up life in order to obtain it because the only real way to understand it would take thousands of years. What is life? Is it something that just happens to be or something that should be? Many people view life as something that is easy to obtain and take it away, to others life is as precious to them as there 1st born. How is it that we can question life itself? Man has tried for so long to figure out how to control it. Scientist spends years and years calculating formulas and equations trying to harness what they can never achieve.Many come to believe that they are higher then god himself. â€Å"The universe must have had a beginning†, Dr.Gish from the institute for creations says. According to the bible god created the earth in seven days but according to scientist the earth and all other things in our universe were created with a huge explosion (Big Bang Theory). To some people the bibles taking of this makes more sense to them but many modern day people are beginning to accept the more scientific approach when it comes to the creation of the universe. Why is this? One reason is because man has become very self-absorbed and believes that they can find a solution for anything. Another reason is because people just don’t believe that god created the universe and that the universe has always been and always will be. So how then do you know?

Access Control Proposal Essay

Access control: type of access control by which the operating system constrains the ability of a subject or initiator to access or generally perform some sort of operation on an object or target. In practice, a subject is usually a process or thread; objects are constructs such as files, directories, TCP/UDP ports, shared memory segments, IO devices etc. Subjects and objects each have a set of security attributes. Whenever a subject attempts to access an object, an authorization rule enforced by the operating system kernel examines these security attributes and decides whether the access can take place. Any operation by any subject on any object will be tested against the set of authorization rules (aka policy) to determine if the operation is allowed. A database management system, in its access control mechanism, can also apply mandatory access control; in this case, the objects are tables, views, procedures, etc. With mandatory access control, this security policy is centrally controlled by a secu rity policy administrator; users do not have the ability to override the policy and, for example, grant access to files that would otherwise be restricted. By contrast, discretionary access control (DAC), which also governs the ability of subjects to access objects, allows users the ability to make policy decisions and/or assign security attributes. (The traditional UNIX system of users, groups, and read-write-execute permissions is an example of DAC.) MAC-enabled systems allow policy administrators to implement organization-wide security policies. Unlike with DAC, users cannot override or modify this policy, either accidentally or intentionally. This allows security administrators to define a central policy that is guaranteed (in principle) to be enforced for all users. Historically and traditionally, MAC has been closely associated with multi-level secure (MLS) systems. The Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria[1] (TCSEC), the seminal work on the subject, defines MAC as â€Å"a means of restricting access to objects based on the sensitivity (as represented by a label) of the information contained  in the objects and the formal authorization (i.e., clearance) of subjects to access information of such sensitivity†. Early implementations of MAC such as Honeywell’s SCOMP, USAF SACDIN, NSA Blacker, and Boeing’s MLS LAN focused on MLS to protect military-oriented security classification levels with robust enforcement. Originally, the term MAC denoted that the access controls were not only guaranteed in principle, but in fact. Early security strategies enabled enforcement guarantees that were dependable in the face of national lab level attacks. Data classification awareness: For any IT initiative to succeed, particularly a security-centric one such as data classification, it needs to be understood and adopted by management and the employees using the system. Changing a staff’s data handling activities, particularly regarding sensitive data, will probably entail a change of culture across the organization. This type of movement requires sponsorship by senior management and its endorsement of the need to change current practices and ensure the necessary cooperation and accountability. The safest approach to this type of project is to begin with a pilot. Introducing substantial procedural changes all at once invariably creates frustration and confusion. I would pick one domain, such as HR or R&D, and conduct an information audit, incorporating interviews with the domain’s users about their business and regulatory requirements. The research will give you insight into whether the data is business or personal, and whether it is business-critical. This type of dialogue can fill in gaps in understanding between users and system designers, as well as ensure business and regulatory requirements are mapped appropriately to classification and storage requirements. Issues of quality and data duplication should also be covered during your audit. Categorizing and storing everything may seem an obvious approach, but data centers have notoriously high maintenance costs, and there are other hidden expenses; backup processes, archive retrieval and searches of unstructured and duplicated data all take longer to carry out, for example. Furthermore, too great a degree of granularity in classification levels can quickly become too complex and expensive. There are several dimensions by which data can be valued, including financial or  business, regulatory, legal and privacy. A useful exercise to help determine the value of data, and to which risks it is vulnerable, is to create a data flow diagram. The diagram shows how data flows through your organization and beyond so you can see how it is created, amended, stored, accessed and used. Don’t, however, just classify data based on the application that creates it, such as CRM or Accounts. This type of distinction may avoid many of the complexities of data classification, but it is too blunt an approach to achieve suitable levels of security and access. One consequence of data classification is the need for a tiered storage architecture, which will provide different levels of security within each type of storage, such as primary, backup, disaster recovery and archive — increasingly confidential and valuable data protected by increasingly robust security. The tiered architecture also reduces costs, with access to current data kept quick and efficient, and archived or compliance data moved to cheaper offline storage. Security controls Organizations need to protect their information assets and must decide the level of risk they are willing to accept when determining the cost of security controls. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), â€Å"Security should be appropriate and proportionate to the value of and degree of reliance on the computer system and to the severity, probability and extent of potential harm. Requirements for security will vary depending on the particular organization and computer system.†1 To provide a common body of knowledge and define terms for information security professionals, the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2) created 10 security domains. The following domains provide the foundation for security practices and principles in all industries, not just healthcare: Security management practices Access control systems and methodology Telecommunications and networking security Cryptography Security architecture and models Operations security Application and systems development security Physical security Business continuity and disaster recovery planning Laws, investigation, and ethics In order to maintain information confidentiality, integrity, and availability, it is important to control access to information. Access controls prevent unauthorized users from retrieving, using, or altering information. They are determined by an organization’s risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. Appropriate access controls are categorized in three ways: preventive, detective, or corrective. Preventive controls try to stop harmful events from occurring, while detective controls identify if a harmful event has occurred. Corrective controls are used after a harmful event to restore the system. Risk mitigation Assume/Accept: Acknowledge the existence of a particular risk, and make a deliberate decision to accept it without engaging in special efforts to control it. Approval of project or program leaders is required. Avoid: Adjust program requirements or constraints to eliminate or reduce the risk. This adjustment could be accommodated by a change in funding, schedule, or technical requirements. Control: Implement actions to minimize the impact or likelihood of the risk. Transfer: Reassign organizational accountability, responsibility, and authority to another stakeholder willing to accept the risk Watch/Monitor: Monitor the environment for changes that affect the nature and/or the impact of the risk Access control policy framework consisting of best practices for policies, standards, procedures, Guidelines to mitigate unauthorized access : IT application or program controls are fully automated (i.e., performed automatically by the systems) designed to ensure the complete and accurate processing of data, from input through output. These controls vary based on the business purpose of the specific application. These controls may also help ensure the privacy and security of data transmitted between applications. Categories of IT application controls may include: Completeness checks – controls that ensure all records were processed from initiation to completion. Validity checks – controls that ensure only valid data is input or processed. Identification – controls that ensure all users are uniquely and irrefutably identified. Authentication – controls that provide an authentication mechanism in the application system. Authorization – controls that ensure only approved business users have access to the application system. Input controls – controls that ensure data integrity fed from upstream sources into the application system. Forensic controls – control that ensure data is scientifically correct and mathematically correct based on inputs and outputs Specific application (transaction processing) control procedures that directly mitigate identified financial reporting risks. There are typically a few such controls within major applications in each financial process, such as accounts payable, payroll, general ledger, etc. The focus is on â€Å"key† controls (those that specifically address risks), not on the entire application. IT general controls that support the assertions that programs function as intended and that key financial reports are reliable, primarily change control and security controls; IT operations controls, which ensure that problems with processing are identified and corrected. Specific activities that may occur to support the assessment of the key controls above include: Understanding the organization’s internal control program and its financial reporting processes. Identifying the IT systems involved in the initiation, authorization, processing, summarization and reporting of financial data; Identifying the key controls that address specific financial risks; Designing and implementing controls designed to mitigate the identified risks and monitoring them for continued effectiveness; Documenting and testing IT controls; Ensuring that IT controls are updated and changed, as necessary, to correspond with changes in internal control or financial reporting processes; and Monitoring IT controls for effective operation over time. References : http://hokiepokie.org/docs/acl22003/security-policy.pdf Coe, Martin J. â€Å"Trust services: a better way to evaluate I.T. controls: fulfilling the requirements of section 404.† Journal of Accountancy 199.3 (2005): 69(7). Chan, Sally, and Stan Lepeak. â€Å"IT and Sarbanes-Oxley.† CMA Management 78.4 (2004): 33(4). P. A. Loscocco, S. D. Smalley, P. A. Muckelbauer, R. C. Taylor, S. J. Turner, and J. F. Farrell. The Inevitability of Failure: The Flawed Assumption of Security in Modern Computing Environments. In Proceedings of the 21st National Information Systems Security Conference, pages 303–314, Oct. 1998. Access Control Proposal Essay Proposal Statement Integrated Distributors Incorporated (IDI) will establish specific requirements for protecting information and information systems against unauthorised access. IDI will effectively communicate the need for information and information system access control. Purpose Information security is the protection of information against accidental or malicious disclosure, modification or destruction. Information is an important, valuable asset of IDI which must be managed with care. All information has a value to IDI. However, not all of this information has an equal value or requires the same level of protection. Access controls are put in place to protect information by controlling who has the rights to use different information resources and by guarding against unauthorised use. Formal procedures must control how access to information is granted and how such access is changed. This policy also mandates a standard for the creation of strong passwords, their protection and frequency of change. See more:  Perseverance essay Scope This policy applies to all IDI Stakeholders, Committees, Departments, Partners, Employees of IDI (including system support staff with access to privileged administrative passwords), contractual third parties and agents of the Council with any form of access to IDI’s information and information systems. Definition Access control rules and procedures are required to regulate who can access IDI information resources or systems and the associated access privileges. This policy applies at all times and should be adhered to whenever accessing IDI information in any format, and on any device. Risks On occasion business information may be disclosed or accessed prematurely, accidentally or unlawfully. Individuals or companies, without the correct authorisation and clearance may intentionally or accidentally gain unauthorised access to business information which may adversely affect day to day business. This policy is intended to mitigate that risk. Non-compliance with this policy could have a significant effect on the efficient operation of the Council and may result in financial loss and an inability to provide necessary services to our customers. Applying the Policy – Passwords / Choosing Passwords Passwords are the first line of defence for our ICT systems and together with the user ID help to establish that people are who they claim to be. A poorly chosen or misused password is a security risk and may impact upon the confidentiality, integrity or availability of our computers and systems. Weak and strong passwords A weak password is one which is easily discovered, or detected, by people who are not supposed to know it. Examples of weak passwords include words picked out of a dictionary, names of children and pets, car registration numbers and simple patterns of letters from a computer keyboard. A strong password is a password that is designed in such a way that it is unlikely to be detected by people who are not supposed to know it, and difficult to work out even with the help of a Protecting Passwords It is of utmost importance that the password remains protected at all times. Do not use the same password for systems inside and outside of work. Changing Passwords All user-level passwords must be changed at a maximum of every 90 days, or whenever a system prompts you to change it. Default passwords must also be changed immediately. If you become aware, or suspect, that your password has become known to someone else, you must change it immediately and report your concern to IDI Technical Support. Users must not reuse the same password within 20 password changes. System Administration Standards The password administration process for individual IDI systems is well-documented and available to designated individuals. All IDI IT systems will be configured to enforce the following: Authentication of individual users, not groups of users – i.e. no generic accounts. Protection with regards to the retrieval of passwords and security details. System access monitoring and logging – at a user level. Role management so that functions can be performed without sharing passwords. Password admin processes must be properly controlled, secure and auditable. User Access Management Formal user access control procedures must be documented, implemented and kept up to date for each application and information system to ensure authorised user access and to prevent unauthorised access. They must cover all stages of the lifecycle of user access, from the initial registration of new users to the final de-registration of users who no longer require access. These must be agreed by IDI. User access rights must be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that the appropriate rights are still allocated. System administration accounts must only be provided to users that are required to perform system administration tasks. User Registration A request for access to IDI’s computer systems must first be submitted to the Information Services Helpdesk for approval. Applications for access must only be submitted if approval has been gained from Department Heads. When an employee leaves IDI, their access to computer systems and data must be suspended at the close of business on the employee’s last working day. It is the responsibility of the Department Head to request the suspension of the access rights via the Information Services Helpdesk. User Responsibilities It is a user’s responsibility to prevent their userID and password being used to gain unauthorised access to IDI systems. Network Access Control The use of modems on non- IDI owned PC’s connected to the IDI’s network can seriously compromise the security of the network. The normal operation of the network must not be interfered with. User Authentication for External Connections Where remote access to the IDI network is required, an application must be made via IT Helpdesk. Remote access to the network must be secured by two factor authentication. Supplier’s Remote Access to the Council Network Partner agencies or 3rd party suppliers must not be given details of how to access IDI ’s network without permission. All permissions and access methods must be controlled by IT Helpdesk. Operating System Access Control Access to operating systems is controlled by a secure login process. The access control defined in the User Access Management section and the Password section above must be applied. All access to operating systems is via a unique login id that will be audited and can be traced back to each individual user. The login id must not give any indication of the level of access that it provides to the system (e.g. administration rights). System administrators must have individual administrator accounts that will be logged and audited. The administrator account must not be used by individuals for normal day to day activities. Application and Information Access Access within software applications must be restricted using the security features built into the individual product. The IT Helpdesk is responsible for granting access to the information within the system. Policy Compliance If any user is found to have breached this policy, they may be subject to IDI’s disciplinary procedure. If a criminal offence is considered to have been committed further action may be taken to assist in the prosecution of the offender(s). If you do not understand the implications of this policy or how it may apply to you, seek advice from IT Helpdesk. Policy Governance The following table identifies who within [Council Name] is Accountable, Responsible, Informed or Consulted with regards to this policy. The following definitions apply: Responsible Head of Information Services, Head of Human Resources Accountable Director of Finance etc. Consulted Policy Department Informed All IDI Employees, All Temporary Staff, All Contractors. Review and Revision This policy will be reviewed as it is deemed appropriate, but no less frequently than every 12 months. Key Messages All users must use strong passwords. Passwords must be protected at all times and must be changed at least every 90 days. User access rights must be reviewed at regular intervals.  It is a user’s responsibility to prevent their userID and password being used to gain unauthorised access to IDI systems. Partner agencies or 3rd party suppliers must not be given details of how to access the IDI network without permission from IT Helpdesk. Partners or 3rd party suppliers must contact the IT Helpdesk before connecting to the IDI network. Access Control Proposal Essay 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Title of the project Access Control Proposal Project for IDI 1.2 Project schedule summary The project will be a multi-year phased approach to have all sites (except JV and SA) on the same hardware and software platforms. 1.3 Project deliverables †¢ Solutions to the issues that specifies location of IDI is facing †¢ Plans to implement corporate-wide information access methods to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability †¢ Assessment of strengths and weaknesses in current IDI systems †¢ Address remote user and Web site user’s secure access requirements †¢ Proposed budget for the project—Hardware only †¢ Prepare detailed network and configuration diagrams outlining the proposed change 1.4 Project Guides Course Project Access Control Proposal Guide Juniper Networks Campus LAN Reference Architecture 1.5 Project Members David Crenshaw, IT Architect and IT Security Specialist Members of the IT Staff 1.6 Purpose A proposal for improving IDI’s computer network infrastructure is the purpose for this proposal. This project is intended to be used by IDI’s information security team to developing a plan to improve IDI’s computer network infrastructure at multiple locations. 1.7 Goals and Objectives Objective 1 To assess the aging infrastructure and then develop a multi-year phased approach to have all sites (except for JV and SA) on the same hardware and software platforms. Objective 2 The core infrastructure (switches, routers, firewalls, servers and etc.) must capable of withstanding 10 – 15% growth every year for the next seven years with a three-to-four year phased technology refresh cycle. Objective 3 Solutions to the issues that the specifies location of IDI is facing Objective 4 Assessment of strengths and weaknesses in current IDI systems Objective 5 Address remote user and Web site user’s secure access requirements Objective 6 Prepare detailed network and configuration diagrams outlining the proposed change Objective 7 Prepare a 5 to 10 minute PowerPoint assisted presentation on important access control infrastructure, and management aspects from each location. Objective 8 A comprehensive network design that will incorporate all submitted requirements and allow for projected growth. Objective 9 Final testing of all installed hardware, software, and network connectivity. Objective 10 Initialization of the entire network and any last minute configuration adjustments to have the network up and operating within all specified ranges. 2 Current Environment 2.1 Overall: There are a variety of servers, switches, routers, and internal hardware firewalls. Each of the organization’s locations is operating with different information technologies and infrastructure—IT systems, applications, and databases. Various levels of IT security and access management have been implemented and embedded within their respective locations. The information technology infrastructure is old and many locations are running on outdated hardware and software. Also, the infrastructure is out dated in terms of  patches and upgrades which greatly increase the risk to the network in terms of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. 2.2 Data Center: Logisuite 4.2.2 has not been upgraded in almost 10 years. Also, numerous modifications have been made to the core engine and the license agreement has expired. Progressive upgrading to the current version will be required. As a result, renewing this product will be extremely cost and time-prohibitive. RouteSim is a destination delivery program used to simulate routes, costs, and profits. It is not integrated into Logisuite or Oracle financials to take advantage of the databases for real-time currency evaluation and profit or loss projections. IDI’s office automation hardware and software has not been standardized. Managers have too much liberty to buy what they want according to personal preferences. Other software problems include early versions of MS Office 5, WordPerfect 7.0, and PC-Write that are not compatible. Telecommunications has not been since the company moved its current headquarters 15 years ago. This has left many of the new features for telecommunications lacking and not integrated with the customer service database to improve call management efficiency. The generic system was acquired from a service provider who is now out of business. Policies for personal devices are being ignored by many of the executives who have local administrators install the clients on their unsupported, non-standard personal laptop computers and workstations that interface with the internet. The original WAN was designed in the early 2000’s and has not been upgraded. During peak periods, usually between September and March, the capacity is insufficient for the organization resulting in lost internet customers which  further reduces growth and revenue. Telecommunications works through a limited Mitel SX-2000 private automatic branch exchange (PABX) that only provides voice mail and call forwarding. 2.3 Warsaw, Poland This is the largest office based on number of employees, strategically located to assist IDI for major growth in the Middle East and Asia, and the home portal for expansion and geographical client development, yet there is insufficient computing power to stay afloat on a day-to-day basis. The primary freight forwarding application is almost 10 years old and does not interface with the McCormack dodge accounting and finance system There are 6 Web servers (4 are primary and 2 fail during clustered load balancing) The cafeteria sponsors a public wireless network running WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) with no password protection. Telecommunications is an 8 year old Siemens Saturn series PBX, some of whose features have become faulty. The desktop phones have not been replaced or upgraded during this time. There is a lack of separation of duties between the network operations and the accounts receivable department and there is evidence of nepotism and embezzlement. 2.3 Sao Paulo, Brazil Vendors are unwilling to sign a service agreements.

Lets stop scaring are self’s

Crimson's essay â€Å"Lets Stop Scaring Ourselves† makes readers think twice at any time they hear of an issue that may affect them. Coercion reasons that people will often scare themselves whenever they hear of an issue that will upset their lives. Coercion starts his essay by declaring that when the scientists were predicting the world to experience global cooling rather than global warming. Then follows with how the world was to suppose to have ended. In the duration of his essay he pronounces a sense of miscalculations from people who've made predictions about owe our world will end or be destroyed.Coercion states that these predictions terrified people making them believe we would have global cooling, experience a decline In the population and experience brain damage using cell phones. Coercion conserves that people live In a state of panic whenever we hear news that could possibly change our world. During the essay Coercion uses YAK as an example of how computer speciali sts predicted that the stock market would crash and airplanes would fall out of the sky. When this news arose people cashed out here savings and money market accounts and then in the end nothing changed.Crimson's essay uses ample numbers of examples to show how different cases can cause one to scare or frighten there self's. Providing examples helped prove his argument that people will often scare themselves with real life situations. He proves to the readers with examples from global warming and cooling, to the world starving to death, and even the world running out of supplies. When people hear about these issues they acknowledge it is scary to hear about nevertheless often things get out of reapportion and an issue that may not be a big one will turn into one.Issues today often get tossed way out of proportion. When we hear of something that will hurt us we will freak out and stop doing whatever that is or don't do it at all. Coercion mentions in his essay that he read an article about an issue of cell phones causing brain damage. We have seen and heard of this before. In an article by the university of Wisconsin-Madison they found that cell phone usage does not affect brain damage or create brain tumors.There are numerous articles that support this Information, all you have to do is look for it and not Just believe the first misinformed bit of news you hear. I believe everyone scares themselves with the news they hear from friends, social media, their surroundings, and Fox. It is hard to believe or trust anything we see on TV or the news now a day. Scare tactics have been used to control the populous of the world since the beginning of time, not only by evil men but our own government as well.We need to not trust or believe every bit of news we hear room so called â€Å"creditable sources† and take the time and put the effort upon ourselves to Investigate news that could affect our own lives. Lets stop scaring are self's By pilgrim decline in the po pulation and experience brain damage using cell phones. Coercion conserves that people live in a state of panic whenever we hear news University of Wisconsin-Madison they found that cell phone usage does not affect information, all you have to do is look for it and not Just believe the first misinformed ourselves to investigate news that could affect our own lives.

Chapter 12: Setting Product Strategy

Chapter 12: Setting Product Strategy GENERAL CONCEPT QUESTIONS Multiple Choice 1. Marketing planning begins with the formulation of an offering to ________ target customers’ needs or wants. a. undermine b. meet c. capture d. compete with e. comprehend Answer: bPage: 318Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 2. The customer will judge the offering by three basis elements: ________, services mix and quality, and price. a. performance b. salespeople c. price d. product features and quality e. none of the above Answer: dPage: 318Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 3.The five product levels constitute a ________. At each level more customer value is added. a. customer-augmented product b. customer consumption system c. customer value-hierarchy d. customer-perceived value e. customer hierarchy Answer: cPage: 318Difficulty: Medium4. When companies search for new ways to satisfy customers and distinguish their offering from others, they look at the ________ product, which encompasses all the possible augmentations and transformations of the product. a. consumption system b. expected c. potential d. augmented e. basic Answer: cPage: 318Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills5. The way the user performs the tasks of getting and using products and related services is the user’s total ________. a. consumption system b. consumable system c. consistent use system d. augmented system e. none of the above Answer: aPage: 319Difficulty: Medium6. Marketers have traditionally classified products on the basis of three characteristics: ________, tangibili ty, and use. a. customer value hierarchy b. expected c. augmented d. durability e. none of the above Answer: dPage: 319Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills7. ________ are tangible goods that normally survive many uses. a. Nondurable goods . Durable goods c. Services d. Consumption systems e. Potential products Answer: bPage: 319Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills8. Because ________ are purchased frequently, marketers should make them available in many locations, charge only a small markup, and advertise heavily to induce trial and build preference. a. nondurable goods b. durable goods c. services d. consumption systems e. potential products Answer: aPage: 319Difficulty: Medium9. The consumer usually purchases ________ frequently, immediately, and with a minimum of effort. a. specialty goods b. shopping goods c. â€Å"must haves† goods . personal goods e. convenience goods Answer: ePage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills10. It was sunny when Jenny went to clas s, but by the time class was over it was raining heavily, so Jenny stopped by the student store to buy an umbrella before she walked back to her dorm. In this case, the umbrella is an example of a(n) ________. a. impulse good b. staple c. homogeneous shopping good d. emergency good e. heterogeneous shopping good Answer: dPage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills11. ________ are similar in quality but different enough in price to justify shopping comparisons. . Emergency goods b. Homogeneous shopping goods c. Heterogeneous shopping goods d. Specialty goods e. Impulse goods Answer: bPage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking12. Products such as insurance, cemetery plots, and smoke detectors are examples of ________ that are products that the consumer does not know about or does not normally think of buying. a. specialty goods b. unsought goods c. heterogeneous shopping goods d. homogeneous shopping goods e. none of the above Answer: bPage: 320Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking13.Industrial goods can be classified as ________, capital items, or suppliers and business services based on their costliness and how they enter the production process. a. service components b. subassemblies c. pieces and parts d. specialty goods e. materials and parts Answer: ePage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills14. ________ are the major factors influencing the selection of suppliers for natural products. a. Price and delivery reliability b. Product features and customization c. Price and customization d. Delivery reliability and product features e. Customization and delivery reliabilityAnswer: aPage: 321Difficulty: Medium15. Capital items are long-lasting goods that facilitate developing or managing the finished product. They include two groups: installations and ________. a. natural products b. component materials c. operating supplies d. equipment e. none of the above Answer: dPage: 321Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking16. Supplies and b usiness services are short-term goods and services that facilitate ________ or managing the finished product. a. inspecting b. developing c. building d. creating e. none of the above Answer: bPage: 321Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking17. Many products can be differentiated in terms of their ________,—size, shape, or physical structure. a. form b. performance quality c. conformance quality d. reliability e. design Answer: aPage: 321Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills18. Most products can be offered with varying ________ that supplement its basic function. a. reliability b. conformance qualities c. features d. forms e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 322Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking19. ________ is the ability of a company to prepare on a mass basis individually designed products, services, programs, and communications. . Mass customization b. Feature fatigue c. Performance quality d. Conformance quality e. Repairability Answer: aPage: 322Difficulty: Me diumAACSB: Analytic Skills20. ________ is the level at which the product’s primary characteristics operate. a. Design b. Conformance quality c. Reparability d. Performance quality e. Durability Answer: dPage: 322Difficulty: Easy21. Buyers expect products to have a high ________, which is the degree to which all the produced units are identical and meet the promised specifications. a. durability b. reliability c. conformance quality d. form e. performance quality Answer: cPage: 323Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills22. ________ describes the product’s look and feel to the buyer; it has an advantage of creating distinctiveness that is difficult to copy. a. Design b. Style c. Durability d. Conformance e. None of the above Answer: bPage: 323Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills23. Ideal ________ would exist if users could fix the product themselves with little cost in money or time. a. durability b. reliability c. style d. design e. repairability Answer: ePage: 323Di fficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking24. In increasingly fast-paced markets, price and technology are not enough. _______ is the factor that will often give a company its competitive edge and is defined as the totality of features that affect how a product looks, feels, and functions in terms of customer requirements. a. Services b. Performance c. Reliability d. Style e. Design Answer: ePage: 325Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking25. When the physical product cannot be easily differentiated, the key to competitive success may lie in adding valued services and improving their quality. The main service differentiators are ordering ease, delivery, installation, ________, customer consulting, maintenance, and repair. . customer limiting b. customer orders c. niche marketing d. customer training e. customer marketing Answer: dPage: 326Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills26. Delivery refers to how well the product or service is brought to the customer. It includes speed, ___ _____, and care throughout the delivery process. a. length of time for delivery b. type of delivery services c. attributes d. completeness e. accuracy Answer: ePage: 326Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills27. ________ refers to training the customer’s employees to use the vendor’s equipment properly and efficiently. a. Customer training . Internal marketing c. Client marketing d. Customer relationships e. Technical training Answer: aPage: 326Difficulty: Easy28. ________ refers to data, information systems, and advice services that the seller offers to their buyers. a. Sales force relationships b. Customer relationships c. Internal marketing d. Customer training e. Customer consulting Answer: ePage: 326Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills29. Differentiating on ________ is important for companies with complex products and becomes an especially good selling point when targeting technology novices. a. delivery b. ordering ease c. ase of installation d. customer consult ing e. repairability Answer: cPage: 326Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking30. ________ describes the service program for helping customers keep purchased products in good working order. a. Returns b. Ordering ease c. Installation d. Maintenance and repair e. Delivery Answer: dPage: 327Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking31. Improved handling or storage, better packaging, and improved transportation and forward logistics are methods for reducing ________. a. installation b. uncontrollable returns c. controllable returns d. product families e. ustomer consulting Answer: cPage: 328Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking32. A group of products within a product class that are closely related because they perform a similar function, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same outlets or channels, or fall within given price ranges is known as a ________. a. product type b. product class c. need family d. product variant e. product line Answer: eP age: 328Difficulty: Medium33. A(n) ________ is defined as a distinct unit within a brand or product line distinguishable by size, price, appearance, or some other attribute. . stockkeeping unit b. UPC (uniform product code) c. stock unit d. product type e. none of the above Answer: aPage: 328Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills34. A ________ is the set of all products and items a particular seller offers for sale. a. product line b. product mix c. family of products d. product system e. product class Answer: bPage: 328Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills35. The ________ of the product mix refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way. a. onsistency b. depth c. width d. length e. composition Answer: aPage: 329Difficulty: Hard36. The ________ of the product mix refers to the total number of items in the mix. a. width b. length c. depth d. consistency e. height Answer: bPage: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills37. In offering a product line, companies normally develop a ________ and modules that can be added to meet different customer requirements. a. convenience item b. â€Å"best selling† item c. staple item d. product e. basic platform Answer: ePage: 329Difficulty: Medium AACSB: Reflective Thinking 8. The ________ of a product mix refers to how many variants are offered of each product in the line. a. width b. length c. depth d. consistency e. height Answer: cPage: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills39. A company can classify its products into four types that yield different gross margins, depending upon sales volume and promotional costs. The four classifications include all EXCEPT ________. a. core product b. shopping goods c. staples d. specialties e. convenience items Answer: bPage: 330Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 40.The main point in segmenting products into different classes is that companies should recognize that these items ________ in the potential for being priced higher or advertised more as ways to increase sales, margins, or both. a. differ b. are more elastic c. are less elastic d. respond to advertising differently e. none of the above Answer: aPage: 330Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 41. A benefit of product mapping is that it identifies ________. a. market matrices b. target markets c. market segments d. consumers e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 330Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 2. Product-line analysis provides information for two key decision areas—product-line length and ________. a. product-length new items b. product-mix pricing c. product pricing d. popular pricing e. none of the above Answer: bPage: 331Difficulty: Hard43. ________ occurs when a company lengthens its product line beyond its current range. a. Market reach b. Product reach c. Product adaptations d. Line shrinking e. Line stretching Answer: ePage: 331Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 44. When a company positioned in the â€Å"middle† market introduces a lower-priced product line, this is an example of ________. . product-line length b. up-market stretch c. down-market stretch d. maintenance e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 331Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 45. Moving ________ carries risks. The new brand can cannibalize core brand sales and lower the core brand’s quality image. a. up-market b. two ways c. one way d. down-market e. none of the above Answer: dPage: 333Difficulty: Medium 46. Companies may wish to implement a(n) ________ to achieve more growth, to realize higher margins, or simply to position themselves as full-line manufacturers. a. up-market stretch . down-market stretch c. service-market stretch d. consulting-model stretch e. obsolescence strategy Answer: aPage: 333Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking47. A product line can also be lengthened by adding more items within the present range. There are several motives for line filling: ________, trying to satisfy dealers who complain about lost sales because of missing items in the line, trying to utilize excess capacity, and others. a. responding to senior management wishes b. responding to consumer wishes c. reaching for incremental profits d. eaching for incremental capacity e. responding to sales-force demands Answer: cPage: 334Difficulty: Hard 48. If line filling is overdone, it could result in ________ and customer confusion. a. sales paralysis b. manufacturing inefficiencies c. self-cannibalization d. self-sacrifice e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 334Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 49. Price-setting logic must be modified when the product is part of a product mix. In that case, the firm searches for a set of prices that ________ profits on the total mix. a. are ineffective on total b. ave no effect on total c. maximize d. minimize e. capitalize upon Answer: cPage: 335Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 50. Companies norma lly develop product lines rather than single products and require sellers to establish ________ quality differences between price steps within the line. a. imaginary b. actual c. perceived d. monetary e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 335Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking51. Some service firms often engage in ________, consisting of a fixed fee plus a variable usage fee. a. pure bundling b. pure pricing c. mixed pricing . captive pricing e. two-part pricing Answer: ePage: 336Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 52. In ________, the seller offers goods both individually and in bundles and often charges less for the â€Å"bundle† than for the individual products. a. pirating pricing b. captive pricing c. two-part pricing d. pure bundling e. mixed bundling Answer: ePage: 336Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 53. The main advantage of co-branding is that a product may be convincingly positioned by virtue of the ________ involved. a. branding synergy b. increas ed advertising dollars c. ultiple brands d. bundled package e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 337Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking54. The potential disadvantages of ________ are the risks and lack of control from becoming aligned with another brand in the consumers mind. Consumer expectations about the level of involvement and commitment are likely to be high, so unsatisfactory performance could be very negative for the brands involved. a. co-branding b. primary service features c. values d. perceptions e. pricing Answer: aPage: 337Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 55. _______ is a special case of co-branding involving creating brand equity for materials, components, or parts that are necessarily contained within other branded products. a. Component branding b. Ingredient branding c. Advertising branding d. Sales branding e. None of the above Answer: bPage: 337Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 56. We define packaging as all the activities of designing and producing the container for a product. This includes up to three levels of material: primary package, secondary package, and ________. a. retailer package b. design package c. shipping package d. consumer package e. one of the above Answer: cPage: 339Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills57. Various factors have contributed to the growing use of packaging as a marketing tool and include all of the following EXCEPT ________. a. self-service b. consumer affluence c. consumer influence d. company and brand images e. innovation opportunities Answer: cPage: 339Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 58. ________ are formal statements of expected product performance by the manufacturer. a. Insurance b. Warranties c. Guarantees d. Reputation e. Marketing statements Answer: bPage: 341Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills9. Many sellers offer either general or specific guarantees. Guarantees reduce the buyer’s ________ risk. a. actual b. perceived c. real d. implied e. stated Answer: bPage: 342Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 60. Guarantees are most effective in two situations. The first is when the company or products are not well known and the second is when the product’s quality is ________ to competition. a. not known b. different c. inferior d. equivalent e. superior Answer: ePage: 342Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking True/False 61. Product is the key element in the market offering.Answer: TruePage: 317Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 62. A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need. Answer: TruePage: 318Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 63. In planning its market offering, the marketer needs to address five product levels, each of which reduces customer value. Answer: FalsePage: 318Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 64. The customer-value hierarchy consists of the basic product, core benefit, expected product, augmented product, and the consumption system. Ans wer: FalsePage: 318Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 65.Marketers have traditionally classified products on the basis of characteristics such as durability, tangibility, and use. Answer: TruePage: 319Difficulty: Medium 66. Durable products normally require more personal selling and service and more seller guarantees than nondurable goods. Answer: TruePages: 319–320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 67. Because they are intangible, durable goods normally require more quality control, supplier credibility, and adaptability than either services or nondurable goods. Answer: FalsePage: 320Difficulty: Medium 68. Carlos always buys bread and milk when he goes grocery shopping.In this case, bread and milk are examples o f impulse goods. Answer: FalsePage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 69. A Maserati sports car is considered a specialty good because interested buyers will travel far to buy one. Answer: TruePage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skill s 70. The homogeneity of natural materials limits the amount of demand-creation activity that producers undertake. Answer: TruePage: 321Difficulty: Medium 71. Capital items are long-lasting goods that facilitate developing or managing the finished products. Answer: TruePage: 321Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 72.Supplies can be classified as two kinds: maintenance and repair items and operating supplies. Answer: TruePage: 321Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 73. To be branded, physical products must be differentiated. Answer: TruePage: 321Difficulty: Easy 74. To avoid â€Å"feature fatigue,† companies must be careful to prioritize those features that are included and find unobtrusive ways to provide information about how consumers can use and benefit from the feature. Answer: TruePage: 322Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 75. Firms should design the highest performance level possible for their products.Answer: FalsePage: 322Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 76. As a selling point, durability commands a particularly high pricing premium, especially for products that are subject to rapid technological obsolescence, as are personal computers and video cameras. Answer: FalsePage: 323Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 77. Design can shift consumer perceptions to make brand experiences more rewarding. Answer: TruePage: 325Difficulty: Medium 78. If the physical product cannot be easily differentiated, the key to competitive advantage lies in the pricing of the related â€Å"services† provided by the manufacturer.Answer: FalsePage: 326Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 79. Customer training and customer consulting are two areas for service differentiation that manufacturers can use with their products. Answer: TruePage: 326Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 80. The cost of processing a return can be significantly greater than that of an outbound shipment. Answer: TruePage: 327Difficulty: HardAAC SB: Analytic Skills 81. The product hierarchy stretches from basic needs to particular items that satisfy those needs. Answer: TruePage: 328Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 82.A product system is a group of diverse but related items that function in a compatible manner and includes the product mix and product assortment. Answer: FalsePage: 328Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 83. The four product-mix dimensions (length, width, depth, consistency) permit the company to expand its business. Answer: TruePage: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 84. Factors that influence product-line length do NOT include company objectives or management aspirations. Answer: FalsePage: 331Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 85.Every company’s product line covers a certain part of the total possible range of products and consumer levels. Answer: TruePage: 331Difficulty: Hard 86. Companies in the â€Å"middle market† should never attempt to stretch their li ne in both directions. Answer: FalsePage: 333Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 87. Line filling, if overdone, may result in self-cannibalization and increased customer loyalty. Answer: FalsePage: 334Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 88. In the rapidly changing market of today’s world, product lines must be continuously updated or modernized.Answer: TruePage: 334Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 89. Price-setting logic must be modified when the product is part of a product mix. Answer: TruePage: 335Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 90. Companies normally develop product lines rather than a single product and introduce price steps such as a â€Å"low-,† â€Å"average-,† and â€Å"high-† priced computer system. Answer: TruePage: 335Difficulty: Medium 91. Manufacturers of systems such as razors and ink jet printers use a system of pricing called â€Å"two-part pricing†Ã¢â‚¬â€one price for the disposable products a nd another for the â€Å"hardware. † Answer: FalsePage: 336Difficulty: Hard 2. A pricing system in which there is a â€Å"fixed† fee and then a variable â€Å"usage† fee is called bundling. Answer: FalsePage: 336Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 93. Pure bundling occurs when a firm offers goods both individually and in bundles. Answer: FalsePage: 336Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 94. Co-branding is when two or more well-known existing brands are combined into a joint product and/or marketed together in some fashion. Answer: TruePage: 337Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 95. Ingredient branding can take on a form called â€Å"self-branding† in which the company advertises its own branded ingredients.Answer: TruePage: 338Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 96. Packaging is all the activities of designing and producing the container for a product. Answer: TruePage: 339Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 97. Labels can identify t he product and must contain legal statements that under various Federal laws cannot be misleading, false, or deceptive. Answer: TruePage: 341Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 98. Warranties are formal statements of expected product performance by the manufacturer. Answer: TruePage: 341Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 99.A guarantee’s greatest contribution to a product’s success is that it decreases the buyer’s perceived risk in the purchase of the product. Answer: TruePage: 342Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 100. Guarantees are most effective when the product is well known and/or similar in performance to other brands in the market. Answer: FalsePage: 342Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking Essay 101. In planning its market offering, the marketer must address the five product levels of the customer-value hierarchy. Describe the â€Å"customer-value hierarchy† and identify the five levels of product contained ithin.Suggest ed Answer: Each layer adds more customer value, and the five levels are: (1) the core benefit—the service or benefit the customer is really buying; (2) the basic product—the actual product that provides the core benefit; (3) expected product—a set of attributes and conditions buyers normally expect when they purchase the product; (4) the augmented product—the marketer exceeds customer expectations; and (5) the potential product—which encompasses all the possible augmentations and transformations the product or offering might undergo in the future.These five elements constitute the buyers’ consumption system. Page: 318Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 102. The vast array of products that consumers buy can be classified on the basis of shopping habits and are broken down into four main areas. List these four main classifications of consumer goods and explain what elements are included within.Suggested Answer: The four main areas are: (1) Convenience goods are bought frequently, immediately, and with a minimum of effort; (2) shopping goods are goods that the consumer characteristically compares on such bases as suitability, quality, price, and style; (3) specialty goods have unique characteristics or brand identification for which a sufficient number of buyers are willing to make a special purchasing effort; and (4) unsought goods are those goods that the consumer does not know about or does not normally think of buying.Page: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 103. Industrial goods can be classified in terms of how they enter the production process and their relative costliness. Identify the three groups of industrial goods. Suggested Answer: The three groups of industrial goods include: (1) Materials and parts are goods that enter the manufacturer’s product completely. Raw materials (farm and natural products) and manufactured aterials and parts (component materials and component parts) compose this group; (2) Capital items are long-lasting goods that facilitate developing or managing the finished product, such as machinery (installations and equipment); and (3) Supplies and business services are short-term goods and services that facilitate developing or managing the finished product; maintenance and repair and operating supplies are included here. Business supplies include advisory services and other â€Å"services† necessary for the ongoing operation of the business.Pages: 320–321Difficulty: Hard 104. When differentiated, products can then be branded. List the possible ways that physical products can be differentiated. Suggested Answer: Products can be differentiated according to form, features, customization, performance quality, conformance quality, durability, reliability, reparability, and style. Pages: 321–323Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 105. When a physical product cannot easily be differentiated, the key to competitive success may li e in adding valued services and improving quality.Identify and discuss the six main service differentiators. Suggested Answer: The six main service differentiators are (1) ordering ease, (2) delivery, (3) installation, (4) customer training, (5) customer consulting, and (6) maintenance and repair. Pages: 326–327Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 106. Explain the concepts of product-line width, length, depth, and consistency. Suggested Answer: The width of a product mix refers to how many different product lines the company carries.The length of a product mix refers to the total number of items in the mix. The depth of a product mix refers to how many variants are offered of each product in the line and is determined by dividing the total number of items by the number of lines. The consistency of the product mix refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way. Page: 329Difficulty: H ardAACSB: Analytic Skills 107. Explain the concept of line stretching and the three uses for it.Suggested Answer: Line stretching occurs when a company lengthens its product line beyond its current range. It includes down-market stretch (introduce a lower-priced line), up-market stretch (introduce an upscale line), or two-way stretch (introduce both an upscale line and a down-scale line). Pages: 331–333Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 108. Product-mix pricing can involve a number of pricing strategies for the brand manager. List each of these strategies and briefly define each.Suggested Answer: There are six situations involving product-mix pricing: (1) product-line pricing—low-, medium-, and high-priced products within the same line, such as different priced ties; (2) optional-feature pricing —charging for â€Å"extra† features, such as leather seats in a car; (3) captive-product pricing—when the â€Å"user† has no choice but to use t he high-priced â€Å"disposable† products that make the entire product work (for example, ink cartridges for printers); (4) two-part pricing—consisting of a fixed fee and a variable usage fee (cell phone usage); (5) by-product pricing—the price of the by-products of goods being used for other purposes (oil refining for example); and (6) product-bundling pricing—pure bundling when the firm offers its products only as a bundle, or mixed bundling when the firm offers its products as a â€Å"bundle† and/or individually. Pages: 335–337Difficulty: Hard 109. Various factors have contributed to the increased importance of packaging as a marketing tool. List and briefly describe these events.Suggested Answer: Self-service—an increasing number of products are being sold without any personal interaction, on a self-service basis. Consumer affluence —rising consumer affluence means consumers are willing to pay a little more for convenience, appearance, dependability, and prestige of better packages. Company and brand image—packages contribute to instant recognition of the company or brand. Innovation opportunity—innovative packaging can bring large benefits to consumers and profits to producers. Page: 339Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 110. Sellers must label their products. Labels serve many purposes beyond just â€Å"naming† the product.List the additional services provided by a product’s label. Suggested Answer: A label identifies the product; a label might also grade the product; a label might describe the product; and the label might promote the product. A label may contain information required by law. Page: 340Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking APPLICATION QUESTIONS Multiple Choice 111. Marketers must see themselves as benefit providers. For example, when a shopper purchases new shoes, he/she expects the shoes to cover his/her feet and allow them to walk unobstruc ted. This is an example of what level in the consumer-value hierarchy? a. Pure tangible good b. Basic product c. Augmented product d. Potential product e.Consumption system Answer: bPage: 318Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 112. How a consumer shops for organic foods and how they use and dispose of the product is part of the consumers’ _________ that is important for marketers to consider. a. basic product system. b. customer value system c. potential system d. consumption system e. none of the above Answer: dPage: 319Difficulty: Medium 113. The sellers of ________ goods carry a wide assortment to satisfy individual tastes and must have well-trained salespeople to inform and advise customers. Examples include automobile dealers, furniture stores, and insurance services. a. unsought shopping goods . specialty shopping goods c. homogeneous shopping goods d. heterogeneous shopping goods e. none of the above Answer: dPage: 320Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills114. ___ _____ are major purchases and are usually bought directly from the producer with the typical sale preceded by long negotiation periods. a. Raw materials b. Materials and parts c. Business services d. Capital goods e. Installations Answer: ePage: 321Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 115. Most products are established at one of four performance levels: low, average, high, or superior. For example, mountain bikes come in a variety of sizes and physical attributes.When a consumer purchases a mountain bike costing $1,000, she/he expects the bike to perform to specifications and to have a high _________ meeting the promised specifications. a. features b. durability c. conformance quality d. performance quality e. reliability Answer: dPage: 322Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 116. If the Porsche 911 is designed to accelerate to 60 miles per hour within 10 seconds, and every Porsche 911 coming off the assembly line does this, the model is said to have high ________. a. re liability b. conformance quality c. durability d. repairability e. style Answer: bPage: 323Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 117.Realizing that although household products is a huge category, taking up an entire supermarket aisle or more, it is an incredibly boring one, the founders of Method Products designed a sleek, uncluttered dish soap container that also carried functional advantages. Method is competing in the crowded market for household products on the basis of superior ________. a. design b. durability c. conformance d. reliability e. performance quality Answer: aPage: 325Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 118. When Baxter Medical supplied their hospitals with computer terminals directly linked to Baxter’s ordering system, this was an example of a company differentiating itself versus competition in terms of ________. a. customer relationships b. customer training c. installation d. delivery ease e. ordering ease Answer: ePage: 326Difficulty: HardAA CSB: Reflective Thinking 119.Using the ________ level of the product hierarchy to market its soups, Campbell Soups feature the company name first, then the soup variety on their packaging. a. item b. product-type c. need-family d. product-family e. product-line Answer: ePage: 328Difficulty: Hard 120. A consumer products firm manufacturers and sells over 200 different sizes and varieties of jams and jellies. We can say that this manufacturer’s product mix has high ________. a. consistency b. depth c. height d. product assortment e. width Answer: bPage: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 121. Happy Home Products produces detergents, toothpaste, bar soap, disposable diapers, and paper products. This company has a product ________ of five lines. a. depth b. ength c. consistency d. height e. width Answer: ePage: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 122. When Jack bought his new laptop, he also bought a laptop bag and a spare power cord through the same retailer . These items are considered to be ________. a. core products b. staples c. convenience items d. specialties e. emergency items Answer: cPage: 330Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 123. A manufacturer of hiking boots looks at data that indicate that their subsegment of the market called â€Å"serious hiker† is declining and is predicted to decline into the future. The firm decides to enter the â€Å"low-price† segment with its new items.This is an example of a firm’s ________ to reach a new market. a. down-market stretch b. up-market stretch c. two-way stretch d. marketing research e. capitalizing Answer: aPage: 331Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 124. Marriott Corporation now contains hotels and motels from the â€Å"budget† end of the consumer spectrum to the â€Å"premium† end with their JD Marriott flagship locations. This is an example of a firm that successfully performed a ________ to reach more consumers and ventures that are more profitable. a. marketing diversification b. two-way stretch c. up-market stretch d. down-market stretch e. cross-stretch Answer: bPage: 333Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 125.When shopping for tires for your automobile, you notice that the manufacturer you have selected has tires for your car priced low, average, and high, based upon performance and features. This is an example of what type of product-mix pricing? a. Captive-price pricing b. Product-line pricing c. By-product pricing d. Two-part pricing e. Optional-feature pricing Answer: bPage: 335Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 126. Purchasers of theatre tickets receive a 20% discount if they purchase and pay for the full season at one time. This is an example of what type of product-mix pricing? a. Mixed bundling b. Pure bundling c. Cross-promotion d. Captive pricing e. None of the above Answer: aPage: 336Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 127.McDonald’s restaurants inside Super Wal-Mar ts and Starbucks inside Super Targets are examples of ________, whose main advantages are that the products can or may be convincingly positioned by virtue of the associated brands. a. cooperative marketing b. co-branding c. retail co-branding d. ingredient branding e. none of the above Answer: cPage: 337Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 128. Betty Crocker cake mixes using Hershey syrup in its cake mixes and â€Å"Lunchables† lunch combinations with Taco Bell tacos are examples of what special type of branding? a. Mixed branding b. Ingredient co-branding c. Co-branding d. Self-branding e. None of the above Answer: bPages: 337–338Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 129.Sales of luxury goods such as perfumes, colognes, and aftershaves depend heavily upon their initial response by the consumer. A well-designed package can create convenience and promotional value. It has been called the â€Å"silent salesman. † Which of the three levels of packaging is this â€Å"silent salesman†? a. Retailer b. Consumer c. Shipping d. Secondary e. Primary Answer: ePage: 339Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 130. A new product is advertised on the â€Å"infomercials† as being â€Å"the best cleaner money can buy† and â€Å"if not completely satisfied, return the product for a full refund, including shipping. † The strategy of using a strong guarantee in this instance is sound because ________. a. t is an example of a misleading or false advertising and is illegal b. the product is so superior to competition that there will be no claims for refunds c. it is just â€Å"advertising fluff† and the manufacturer has no intentions of refunding money d. for a product that is not too well known, it is â€Å"good advertising† because the claims will be a small percentage of sales e. for a product that is not too well known it reduces the buyer’s risk in purchasing Answer: ePage: 342Difficulty: Me diumAACSB: Reflective Thinking Short Answer 131. A manufacturer is contemplating introducing a product that is inferior to its competition in its performance, design, and functionality.However, the manufacturer believes that â€Å"good brand marketing† can overcome these shortfalls. Why is this thinking incorrect? Suggested Answer: At the heart of a great brand is a great product, the product is a key element in the market offering. Customers will judge the product (offering) on three basic elements: product features and quality; services mix and quality, and price. Not having a competitive product cannot be overcome by marketing. Pages: 317–318Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 132. Studying how consumers shop, how they use a particular product or service, and how they dispose of the product when consumed is important for marketers. This information forms the basis of product strategy.First, define the consumption system and second, identify the two upcoming p roduct strategies that are affected by this knowledge. Suggested Answer: This is called the user’s total consumption system, defined as the way the user performs the tasks of getting and using products and related services. This is important because it will contain information useful in the product-augmentation strategy and the potential product strategy. Page: 319Difficulty: Hard 133. You know that marketers have traditionally classified products based on characteristics of durability, tangibility, and use. You also know that each product type has an appropriate marketing-mix strategy attached.In analyzing your company’s products, you decide to list each of these products and the appropriate marketing-mix strategy to understand where your products â€Å"fit. † List these products and their appropriate marketing-mix strategies. Suggested Answer: (1) Nondurable goods—the appropriate strategy is to make them available in many locations, charge only a small markup, and advertise heavily to induce trial and build preference. (2) Durable goods—tangible goods that normally survive many uses. Durable products normally require more personal selling and service, command a higher margin, and require more seller guarantees. (3) Services—intangible, inseparable, variable, and perishable products. They require more quality control, supplier credibility, and adaptability.Pages: 319–320Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 134. Convenience goods, products purchased without much thought, can be classified as impulse goods and emergency goods, and this constitutes one of the four classifications of goods based on shopping habits. The purchase of a Mercedes automobile, life insurance, homogeneous shopping goods, and heterogeneous shopping goods are examples of the other classifications. Identify these â€Å"goods† classifications or segments. Suggested Answer: The vast array of goods purchased by consumers can be clas sified as convenience goods, shopping goods (homogeneous and heterogeneous), specialty goods, and unsought goods. Page: 320Difficulty: Easy 135.Industrial-goods classifications based on terms of how the products enter the production process and their relative costs include such segments as materials and parts and capital items. Window cleaning services, consumable office supplies, personal computers, desks, paint, nails, and buckets are included in the classifications of industrial goods. List the other â€Å"classifications† including subclassifications for industrial goods. Suggested Answer: Industrial-goods classifications include material and parts, farm products, natural products, manufactured materials and parts, and component parts. Capital goods include installations and equipment.Supplies and business services include maintenance and repair items, operating supplies, and business advisory services. Pages: 320–321Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 136. In y our position as a marketing manager for a small industrial company, you have been asked by the president to help differentiate the company’s product from its competitors. In reviewing your marketing management notes, you note that the text stated that physical products could be differentiated in nine ways. These nine areas comprise the â€Å"meat† of the memo you are writing to the president of your firm. What are the nine ways that physical products can be differentiated?Suggested Answer: The nine ways that physical products can be differentiated are form, features, customization, performance quality, conformance quality, durability, reliability, reparability, and style. Pages: 321–323Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 137. You know that your small firm cannot compete with the â€Å"big boys† in terms of price and promotion. Instead, you have decided to â€Å"outdesign† them. What is necessary for this strategy of â€Å"outdesigning themâ⠂¬  to succeed? Suggested Answer: Design offers a potent way to differentiate and position a company’s products and services. Design is the factor that will often give a company its competitive edge. Design is the totality of features that affect how a product looks and functions in terms of customer requirements.The designer must figure out how much to invest in form, feature development, performance, conformance, durability, reliability, reparability, and style. To the company, a well-designed product is one that is easy to manufacture and distribute. To the consumer, a well-designed product is one that is pleasant to look at and easy to open, install, use, repair, and dispose of. Page: 325Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 138. As the marketing manager for a product often referred to as a â€Å"commodity,† you know that incremental sales and profits lies not in physical differentiation but in â€Å"service† differentiation. As you compose a memo to your boss regarding the concept of â€Å"service† differentiation, you note the six areas where service differentiation can make a difference.List these six areas for service differentiation. Suggested Answer: The main service differentiators are: ordering ease, delivery, installation, customer training, customer consulting, and maintenance and repair. Pages: 326–327Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Analytic Skills 139. You have been asked to create a product system for your company’s personal digital assistant. Before starting, you must define the term â€Å"product system† to the engineers to enable them to start design and production of the aligned items. Define the concept of a â€Å"product system. † Suggested Answer: A product system is a group of diverse but related items that function in a compatible manner. Page: 328Difficulty: Easy 140.You have been asked to prepare a product-line analysis for your company’s stable of products. Why is it imp ortant for product-line mangers to do a product-line analysis? Suggested Answer: Product-line managers need to know the sales and profits of each item in their line in order to determine which items to build, maintain, harvest, or divest. They also need to understand each product line’s market profile. Page: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 141. How do the four product-mix dimensions (width, length, depth, and consistency) affect a firm’s product and corporate strategies? Suggested Answer: These four product-mix dimensions permit the company to expand its business in four different ways.First, it can add new product lines, thus widening its product mix. Second, it can lengthen each product line. It can add more product variants to each product line and deepen its product mix. Finally, a company can pursue more product-line consistency. Page: 329Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Reflective Thinking 142. As the newest member of the marketing department, your immediate boss asks you to comment on the company’s proposal to add two new shoes to the company’s middle-of-the-road pricing and product-line strategies. The first pair will retail for $ 40. 00 and has as its target market the â€Å"bargain† shopper. The second pair will retail for $ 200. 00 and is targeted at the â€Å"sophisticated shopper. In relation to product-line strategy, what is the company trying to accomplish with these two new items? Suggested Answer: This is an example of the company trying a â€Å"two-way stretch†Ã¢â‚¬â€introducing products at both ends of the consumer market simultaneously. Page: 333Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills143. During a meeting, you were asked by the vice-president of marketing, to comment on the company’s pricing strategy for its products. Recalling your marketing management course in college, your comments define the six situations involving product-mix pricing. List these six product-mix pricing strategie s. Suggested Answer: Product-mix pricing includes product-line pricing, ptional-feature pricing, captive-product pricing, two-part pricing, by-product pricing, and product-bundling pricing. Pages: 335–336Difficulty: Medium 144. Your firm is contemplating a bundling strategy for its line of products. In a memo to your boss, you outline the three guidelines for correctly implementing a building strategy. Suggested Answer: Do not promote individual products in a package as frequently and cheaply as the bundle. Second, limit promotions to a single item in the mix if you still want to promote individual products. Third, if you decide to offer large rebates on individual products, it must be the absolute exception and done with discretion. Page: 337Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 145.As the marketing manager for your firm, you have been approached by your key component manufacturer suggesting that your two firms â€Å"ingredient brand† a new item. What are some of the requirements for succeeding in ingredient branding? Suggested Answer: First, the consumer must perceive that the ingredient matters to the performance and success of the product. Secondly, consumers must be convinced that not all ingredient brands are the same and that the ingredient is superior. Third, a distinctive symbol or logo must clearly signal to consumers that the host product contains the ingredient. Fourth, a coordinated â€Å"pull† and â€Å"push† program must help consumers understand the importance and advantages of the branded ingredient.Page: 339Difficulty: HardAACSB: Reflective Thinking 146. Your research shows that over 53% of all purchases are made on impulse. As you sit down with your packaging design team, you tell them that the package must communicate many of the sales tasks. List the sales tasks that packaging must now incorporate due to the increase in self-service sales. Suggested Answer: These tasks are: attract attention, describe the produ ct’s features, create consumer confidence, and make a favorable overall impression. Page: 339Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills 147. In discussions with the packaging design team, you note that they do not have a firm design objective for the final package.In an internal memo to your boss, you outline the objectives (both company and consumer orientated) that you wish to see implemented by the design team. List these objectives. Suggested Answer: The objectives of packaging are to identify of the brand; convey descriptive and persuasive information; facilitate product transportation and protection; assist at-home storage; and aid product consumption. Pages: 339–340Difficulty: HardAACSB: Analytic Skills 148. In discussions with the packaging design team, it seems that they are unclear as to what should be included on the final product (consumer package) packaging. You list these objectives in a memo. List these objectives here. Suggested Answer: Labels must first identify the product or brand; the label might also grade the product.The label should describe the product and promote the product; and finally the label must contain all required government information. Pages: 340–341Difficulty: Medium 149. Your service firm is contemplating adding a â€Å"guarantee† component. Members of senior management are unclear as to the marketing advantages of a guarantee. How would you convince members of senior management that a guarantee can provide a marketing advantage? Suggested Answer: Guarantees reduce the buyer’s perceived risk. They suggest that the service/product is of high quality and that the company and its service performance are dependable. Page: 342Difficulty: EasyAACSB: Reflective Thinking 150. As you contemplate the introduction of your company’s newest services, ou think that the offering of a service guarantee would be a â€Å"marketing coup† and completely surprise your competition. You remember tha t your marketing management text stated that guarantees are most effective in two situations. What are these two situations? Suggested Answer: Guarantees are most effective when either the company or the product is not well known, so a â€Å"money-back† guarantee in that case would reduce the buyer’s perceived risk and provide them with confidence in purchasing the product. The second area is when the product/service is superior to competition in quality and performance. Page: 342Difficulty: MediumAACSB: Analytic Skills