African philosophy

Among Southern African communities ubuntu is associated with the maxim umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, which, loosely translated into English, may be construed to mean that to be a human being is to affirm one? s humanity by recognising the humanity of others and, on that basis, establish humane relations with them (Ramose, 2002; Ramphele, 2001): a point which Sindane (1994:8-9) underscores, saying that â€Å"ubuntu inspires us to expose ourselves to others, to encounter the difference of their humanness so as to inform and enrich our own†. Letseka (2000), one of the philosophers who have written on ubuntu argues that this concept illuminates the communal embeddedness and connectedness of a person to other persons and also highlights the importance attached to people and to human relationships (Letseka, 2000:183). It is essential to understand that ubuntu does not wholly reject material wealth acquired through individual effort, as is evidenced by this saying among the Sotho communities: „U tla phela ka mofufutso oa phatla ea hau? which loosely translated means „you will live by the sweat of your brow? (Letseka, 2000:183). Ubuntu rejects competition and arrogance arising from being rich, as these can be detrimental to cooperative living within the community. Individual effort is good as long as it generates resources for the maintenance and sustenance of human life. The main concern of ubuntu is the welfare of others. This is why when two Africans meet in the street, it is likely they will enquire about the health and welfare of family members rather than the weather as most Westerners would do (Letseka, 2000:183-184). For Venter (2004:159), ubuntu/botho/menslikheid/humaneness is a philosophy that promotes the common good of society. It contains the potential to enable South Africans to succeed in their quest for reconciliation and nation building

The Acculturation Model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The Acculturation Model - Essay Example Schumann’s model is a valiant attempt at describing the process that individuals go through in acquiring a second language. Specifically, it focuses on members of ethnic minorities, being described by Schumann as including immigrants, migrant workers, and their children. His study revolved around how these individuals learn their target language by being immersed in the natural setting of the majority language, with little access to their own native language (Ellis, 1994). This analytical essay aims to provide a thorough and critical analysis of the Acculturation Model, followed by an evaluation of how this theory specifically can best be incorporated into the second language classroom of today. Description and Discussion of Main Claims Schumann’s theory originally began as a study of six students who were non-English learners. One of those students was making little to no progress in terms of actually acquiring the English language. Since his language skills were sorel y lacking, Schumann ascertained that the student’s cognitive development was stunted as a result. ... With rapidly advancing globalization, research in the area of second language acquisition has expanded in recent years. The Acculturation Model continues to be of particular interest because of its approach to assimilation and direct contact with the target language. At its most basic level, acculturation is primarily defined as a combination of social and psychological factors that are commonly understood to be critical to the acquisition of a second language in a natural environment (Berry, 1997, p. 8). According to Barjesteh (2012), â€Å"The major claim of the model is that acculturation, which is a cluster of social-psychological factors, is the major cause of Second Language Acquisition† (p. 580). In making this claim, the Acculturation Model takes the position that any second language learner can be placed on a continuum in a natural setting with speakers of the target language. The speed and fluency with which a learner acquires the language, then, can be seen as a dir ect correlation to the proximity that learner has with native speakers in a social or psychological context (Larson-Freeman, 2007, p. 781). A further claim of this particular model is that the process of acculturation is not directly linked to second language acquisition, but should rather be looked at as the first of several factors that contribute to the successful learning of a second language. Again, acculturation in this context is viewed as the â€Å"integration of the L2 learner into the target linguistic community† (Barjesteh, 2012, p. 580). Acculturation, then, should as be viewed as a cause of L2 acquisition, one that brings a student into contact with native speakers of the

The Global Justice Concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Global Justice Concept - Essay Example   The government is grounded on the concepts of fairness, equality, justice, and protection of the people's mutual interests. The government must do its share to ensure the citizens achieve their unique societal goals and objectives. The social contracts, including the United States constitution, reduce or prevent constant wars among individuals and communities. The social contracts ensure everyone will strive to comply with the contracts' provisions of justice for all stakeholders (Souryal 75).  Christian Unity Model  During John Winthrop’s sailing towards the brave new world, the Puritan religion’s Winthrop espoused his fellow ship passengers to become the beacons or guides for all humans everywhere (Gardner 106).   The New World is the current United States of America. Winthrop is a rich land owner and government officer in England. The ship was going to propagate the Christian brand of justice in the New World environment, in the other part of the world. The speech was done during his 1630 trip to New England. Winthrop's speech persuaded his fellow ship travelers to firmly establish the New England society's ecclesiastical (religious) government format.   Under the format, Winthrop convinced his fellow Christian followers to ensure the citizens of the New World will implement all religious policies or concepts. Winthrop insisted his fellow Puritan followers must establish the civil government, not the military government, within the New England community (Gardner 106).

Quality Assurance Manual Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Quality Assurance Manual - Assignment Example This means that a nutrition care plan should be completed as soon as the patient is admitted; be continuously monitored to ensure proper implementation within 14 days of admission; review its alignment in relation to institution-wide care plan; and review the plan based on changes in the needs of the person in care. In order to achieve the best practices in nutrition care plan, reviews should include the quality of the following mandated activities: Audit is done with 10% of the charts in the facility’s medical department. Using each person’s nutrition plan, review the developed plan within 2 weeks after entrance; nutrition care revised based on the person’s requirements; nutrition care monitoring to guarantee implementation; and the endorsement of the nutrition care plan by a registered dietician amongst others (Davison & Dominik, 2009). Additionally, audit should review weight monitoring of each selected person. With the nutrition plan and weight data of a selected person, the score is provided and determined whether or not the least acceptable audit score is met. Records are kept for any identified problem and its possible causes, the remedial measures to take, and the re-audit date. The policy for menu planning is to ensure that all menus are designed to offer appetizing, meals and beverages that are nutritionally reasonable and cost effective meals for the persons in care. In order to comply with the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care legislation, menu planning should be accomplished using the best possible practices and principle(Canada, 2014). The best practices include a registered dietician approving all menus; a consultation process is used to develop and improve menus; a menu cycle is used to ensure that there is monthly reviewing for variety; all menus bring enjoyment and enhance life through liberalization; use of tools and processes to determine nutritional content in food; and specification of portion sizes in each menu cycle

Biography of Friedrich Nietzsche

Biography of Friedrich Nietzsche All the Interesting People are Missing in Heaven Biography of Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche born on October 15, 1844 in Rà ¶cken bei Là ¼tzen, Prussian Saxony he was a German philosopher most credited for his brash criticism about religion and the role in played in society and mortality. What makes Fredrick controversial by even today’s standards is so many people see him as a mad man while others see him as a mad genus however no matter what your option of him one thing can be said that he was a man always seeking the truth. Nietzsche grew up in the small town of Rà ¶cken, near Leipzig, in the Prussian province of Saxony. His name comes from King Frederick William IV of Prussia, who turned 49 on the day of Nietzsches birth. He had one brother Joseph who died in 1850 and one sister Elisabeth while he was never extremely close with either sibling growing up later in life he became closer with Elisabeth (Sherefkin, J). Carl Ludwig Frederick’s father was a pastor and died of a brain aliment early on in his child hood which I feel might have a lot to do with his ideas regarding religion. Shortly after the tragic death of both his brother and father the rest of the family moved to Germany to live with his grandmother. From the ages of 14 to 19, Nietzsche attended a first-rate boarding school, Schulpforta, located not far from Naumburg, where he prepared for university studies. The schools educational atmosphere was reflected in its long history as a former Cistercian monastery and its buildings include d a 12th century Romanesque chapel and a 13th century Gothic church (Nietzsche Nov 2007). While attending this religious affiliated boarding school he met some life long friends Paul Deussen and Caral Von Gersdorff both promenade members of the community. While at school as a teenager he was very interested in the arts and music I feel maybe while he didn’t really continue this passion in life it helped shape his views of that a lot of this are unique in there own right and should not be conformed for religion or society. After graduating from Schulpforta, Nietzsche entered the University of Bonn in 1864 as a theology and philology student, and his interests soon gravitated more exclusively towards philology a discipline which then centered upon the interpretation of classical and biblical texts. Inspired by Ritschl, and following him to the University of Leipzig in 1865 an institution located closer to Nietzsches hometown of Naumburg, Nietzsche rapidly established his own academic reputation through his published essays on Aristotle, Theognis and Simonides. In Leipzig, he developed a close friendship with Erwin Rohde (1845-1898), a fellow philology student and future philologist, with whom he would correspond extensively in later years (Sherefkin, J). The World as Will and Representation in 1818 by Schopenhauers who had some what of a pessimistic view of the current world and was an atheist at the time this book came out Nietzsche was twenty-one this formed many of his ideas. Then there was the book that argued that Kant;s ideas regarding the metaphysical world were wrong and then this got him interested in the after life. At twenty-three Nietzsche was required by the government to complete one year in the military however he did not last long due to an injury in his chest which put him on sick leave. Due in part to Ritschls support, Nietzsche received a generous offer to become professor of classical philology at the University of Basel before having completed his doctorate or certificate for teaching. After moving to Basel, Nietzsche renounced his Prussian citizenship: for the rest of his life he remained officially stateless. With the help of some esteemed colleagues in 1872, Nietzsche published his first book, The Birth of Tragedy out of the Spirit of Music. However, his colleagues in the field of classical philology, including Ritschl, expressed little interest for the work. Due to his failure he became isolated among many of his counter parts however this gave Fredrick time to reflect and add to his works which in this time period created four long essays. With the publication of Human, All Too H uman in 1878 on subjects ranging from metaphysics to morality and from religion to the sexes, Nietzsches removal from the philosophy of Wagner and Schopenhauer became apparent. Nietzsches friendship with Deussen and Rohde began to deteriorate as well. Becoming more of a loner he went his separate way to try to find a wife, however also at this time his heath was worsening one of which might have been his infection of syphilis which he contracted when he was in the military. He became some what of gypsy publishing Daybreak (1881), The Gay Science (1882/1887), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-85), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), and On the Genealogy of Morals (1887). Nietzsches final active year, 1888, saw the completion of The Case of Wagner (May-August 1888), Twilight of the Idols (August-September 1888), The Antichrist (September 1888), Ecce Homo (October-November 1888) and Nietzsche Contra Wagner (December 1888). On the morning of January 3, 1889, while in Turin, Nietzsche experienced a mental breakdown which left him an unsound for the rest of his life. Upon witnessing a horse being whipped by a coachman at the Piazza Carlo Alberto although this episode with the horse could be anecdotal he threw his arms around the horses neck and collapsed in the plaza, never to return to full sanity. Spending a lot of his time in Germany effected some of his view points because at this time before all the wars and such Germany was one country who had little problems. His book, Twilight of the Idols talks about how Germany needs to stop consuming them selves with beer and start concentrating more on gaining knowledge and sophistication. He in part blames French and Britain culture for this because what they allowed Germany to become was a sea of nothingness. Also I feel he was able to see that because the German people were so unsophisticated it would lead to even more corruption in power for the church all the way up to the government. The best way to control people is arm them with as little information as possible so they have nothing to go buy. Nietzsche completed Human, All-Too-Human in 1878. Here, he often reflects upon cultural and psychological phenomena in reference to individuals organic and physiological constitutions. The idea of power infrequently appears as an explanatory principle, but Nietzsche tends at this time to invoke self-indulgent considerations of pleasure and pain in his explanations of cultural and psychological phenomena (Nietzsche Vogt press). This book comprises more a collection of debunking of unwarranted assumptions than an interpretation, though it offers some elements of Nietzsches thought in his arguments: he uses his perspectives and the idea of the will to power as descriptive devices, though the latter on his writing show this a lot better. In Daybreak: Reflections on Moral Prejudices Nietzsche de-emphasizes the role of pleasure-seeking as a motivator and accentuates the role of a feeling of power. His relativism, both moral and cultural, and his critique of Christianity also reach greater maturity (Nietzsche Cambridge). In Daybreak Nietzsche devoted a drawn out passage to his criticism of Christian biblical writings including its arbitrary interpretation of objects and images in the Old Testament as prefigureements of Christs crucifixion. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche identified imagination, self-assertion, danger, originality and the â€Å"creation of values† as qualities of authentic philosophers, as opposed to incidental characters who engage in dusty scholarship. Nietzsche also took aim at some of the worlds great philosophers, who grounded their outlooks wholeheartedly upon concepts such as â€Å"self-consciousness,† â€Å"free will,† and â€Å"either/or† bipolar thinking. Alternatively, Nietzsche philosophizes from the perspective of life located beyond good and evil, and challenges the entrenched moral idea that exploitation, domination, injury to the weak, destruction and appropriation are universally objectionable behaviors (Nietzsche Oxford). Above all, he believes that living things aim to discharge their strength and express their â€Å"will to power† a pouring-out of expansive energy that, quite naturally, can entail danger, pain, lies, deception and masks. As he vi ews things from the perspective of life, he further denies that there is a universal morality valid indiscriminately to all human beings, and instead assign a series of moralities in an order of rank that ascends from the plebeian to the noble’s. The word I obscures and fudges together a whole complex of commanding and obeying wills. This freedom of the will comes only from identifying this I as the source both of the commanding and the obeying (Nietzsche Jungle). The concept of free will also relies on the erroneous notions of cause and effect, which see our will as a cause. Cause and effect are a part of a larger picture of physics, according to which nature is governed by laws. Nietzsche argues that this is a democrats interpretation of nature: we could equally well see it as totally lawless, governed only by the unfettered assertion of wills. On the Genealogy of Morals first essay states within Christian morality are products of self-deception, since they were forged in the bad air of revenge, resentment, hatred, impotence, and cowardice. In this essay, as well as the next, Nietzsches controversial references to the â€Å"blond beast† in connection with master morality also appear. In the second essay, Nietzsche continues with an account of how feelings of guilt, or the â€Å"bad conscience,† arise merely as a consequence of an unhealthy Christian morality that turns an evil eye towards our natural inclinations. Nietzsche focuses upon the truth-oriented ascetic ideals that underlie and inform prevailing styles of art, religion and philosophy, and he offers a particularly sarcastic critique of the priesthood: the priests are allegedly a group of weak people who guide even weaker people as a way to experience power for themselves (Nietzsche Oxford). The third essay also contains one of Nietzsches clearest expr essions of â€Å"perspectives† the idea that there is no absolute, God watching us standpoint from which one can experiences anything that is around them. When reading his work the thing that I most found fascinating to think about was Nihilism or rather Existentialism the idea that fate is in everyone’s own hands that there is no god to control us. In The Antichrist, Curse on Christianity September 1888, Nietzsche expresses his disgust over the way noble values in Roman Society were corrupted by the rise of Christianity, and he discusses specific aspects and personages in Christian culture the Gospels, Paul, the martyrs, priests, the crusades with a view towards showing that Christianity is a religion for weak and unhealthy people, whose general historical effect has been to undermine the healthy qualities of the more noble cultures (Nietzsche Cosimo Classics ). Nietzsche has many publish and unpublished works however I feel it is the ones I have given a breife summery about are the ones that really affect social theory. While most of his critisum regarding power is towards christianity and god it is easy to take his consepts and apply them to many other aspetcts of society. For instances his idea behind that controling people by revenge and punishment is a abuse of power is much like modern American soceity and how the government is able to use there adjenda to control the media. There revenge is on thoes who are trying to counter act what there trying to make American Citzens belive such as the war on terror and then they use punishment by pupposly with holding vital information to the public, which really does affect dessitions down the line and while this might not seem like sever punishment it still is enough to keep people in line. This abuse of power is what neitzsche saw in religon the pope was able to tell the weak and the sick to b ehave a certain way not to fight the in justices there facing in their lives because all wll be fixed when they get to the kingdom of heaven. He speaks out strongly against the morality of the herd that encourages a dull mediocrity in all. He finds such a mediocrity in modern scholarship, which is overly concerned with digging up dry, dull facts. Nietzsches ideal philosopher creates meaning and values, and does not simply deal with empty facts. Nietzsche asserts that there is an order of rank according to which the spiritual strength of all people can be measured. Because of this difference between people, it would be absurd to apply one moral code to all people. This is true because you don’t see many people in todays world trying to find something new to shead light on most people only get to learn about the same dull matters everyday to keep them focused on stuff that should really no matter like fastion and movie stars. All of this mind numing stuff is almost like an alter reality that the american people galdy bye into. This then leads to scholars not aiming to high when it comes to philsophical ideas this may because they them selves have been so brain washed by he mundane life they interact with everyday or prehapps the most radical and note worthy theories are the ones being kept out of mainstream society in order to keep the â€Å"nothingness† alive. To prove that inequality and raceisum exist on every level he uses women and of course from one nationality to the next there are biased options and this is how he begins his work on anti semitisum. While his intentions may not have been ill mannered some of his consepts were taken on by Hitler along with Neitzsche idea that he was better then god could be or any human making him supior to everyone which is exactly what Hitler belived to. I think that for him to belive that the consept of god and religon had to much power doest make it any better if the power is in his hands. Through most of his life he was not one looked at has a leader or ever given the chance to have more power then he could handle therefor no one could really say what he would do with that power. However we can look through history and see what happens when one belives their suprior to people and espically specfic groups and no one better exeplafies this better then Hitler. Another critcisum I have of his work would be that while he forcuoses on courrption and power from a view point about god and christinaity I feel he doest anlyze from the prospective of soceity and the governement. As well as other religons he acts as if it is only one particular religon that is courrpt and even by todays standards this is far from true its amost like you can look at human nature and see that the powerful will always be there to control the weak by any means nessary. What distinguishes Nietzsche from other nineteenth-century critics of religion, morality and nineteenth-century life is that he does not search for a more effective moral life; he attempts to save life from morality itself. He argues that nineteenth-century culture experiences life as a form of nihilism because it has invented a series of moral concepts such as truth, selflessness and equality that have been raised above life in order to regulate and judge life. Nietzsches philosophy insists that we ask questions what does it mean to think? Or what is the value of life? It is his willingness to ask these imperative questions that have made him so controversial yet so genus. So even today in modern American culture he is consistently being debated slowly changing the view points of many all over the world. Work Cited Existential Primer: Introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2007, from http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/exist.html. Flynn, T. (2006). Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions). New York: Oxford University Press, USA. Friedrich Nietzsche. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2007, from http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/nietzsch.htm. Nietzsche, F. (2003). Beyond Good and Evil (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics. Nietzsche, F. (1997). Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy). New York: Cambridge University Press. Nietzsche, F. (2007). Human All-Too-Human A Book For Free Spirits. New York : Vogt Press. Nietzsche, F. (1998). On the Genealogy of Morals: A Polemic. By way of clarification and supplement to my last book Beyond Good and Evil (Oxford Worlds Classics). New York: Oxford University Press, USA. Nietzsche, F. (2005). The Anti-Christ. knoxville: Cosimo Classics. Nietzsche, F. (1968). The Will to Power. New York: Vintage. Nietzsche, F. (2007). Thus Spake Zarathustra (A BOOK FOR ALL AND NONE). Little Books Of Wisdom: Book Jungle. Sherefkin, J. (n.d.). NYPL, Nietzsche Research Guide. Retrieved November 5, 2007, from http://nypl.org/research/chss/grd/resguides/nietzsche/.

Review of Literature on Abortion in the Family Essay -- Abortion Pregn

Review of Literature on Abortion in the Family Abortion is a very controversial subject that has been continuously argued over for the past few years and probably for many more years to come. Women who are making the decision are effected emotionally, mentally, and physically since their bodies are going through many changes which it is not accustomed to. The main controversy is, who's right is it to abort? Many will argue and say it is the woman's right to chose what she does with her own body, but what about the father's right? The man's involvement in the abortion decision is not about the woman's choice, it is about his own responsibility to her and the child (Arthur 1999). There are two sides to this abortion topic: the pro-life, which is those who are against abortion altogether, and the pro-choice, or those who believe it is the woman's right to choose if she wants to have an abortion. These two groups offer different solutions to the problem. The pro-life solution is to have the child and basically live with him/her. They believe abortion is not an answer. The pro-choice solution is abortion because of reasons they feel are appropriate. When pregnancy is unwanted women perceive the choice of abortion as the least of three evils: abortion, adoption, or keeping the child (Smith, 2000). Pregnancy changes a woman's life, regardless of whether or not it ends in abortion. The woman making the abortion decision looks at a variety of relationships to help her make the decision. Often, she will discuss her options with a physician or counselor. If she does decide to get an abortion, there are many factors she will have to face. According to an article in Business 2.0, written by David Shribman (2000), women who have had abortions are at greater risk of suffering emotional and psychological problems which may interfere with their ability to concentrate, make decisions, and interact with others. As a result, it reduces the woman's level of job skills and employment opportunities. Post-abortion women are more likely to engage in drug and alcohol abuse, often as a result of the guilt and negative feelings held inside of the m after the abortion. This may prevent them from entering other meaningful relationships. They are likely to become pregnant again and undergo additional abortions and are more likely to never marry, more likely divorce, and m... ... Legal abortion may help parents limit their families to the number of children they want and can afford, both financially and emotionally. Many unwanted babies are abused, neglected, or even killed by uncaring or immature parents (Smith 2000). There is a lack of babies up for adoption because abortion is legal. Perhaps if abortion was illegal, women could go ahead with the pregnancy and then give the baby up for adoption. Abortion is a significant issue in society that has a lot of conflicts. There is still no conclusion because one can see this problem from many different perspectives. If a person supports a pro-life or pro-choice group, they cannot judge objectively if the other group has a different way of thinking. Society cannot judge pro-life activists as a group who have no respect for a woman's right. On the other hand, one cannot say that pro-choice is a better group because they are more aware of human needs. Society will never understand the feelings of a woman who has had an abortion unless they are in her place. To solve this problem, society needs to spend some time to think carefully and to weigh both sides of the issue to make the best decision possible.

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Essay

Pricing Strategy and Channel Distribution Senior Concierge Services Kelly Spino Strayer University Dr. Robert Badowski Abstract Determine and discuss a pricing strategy (penetration or skimming). Determine and discuss pricing tactics (product line pricing, value pricing, differential pricing, or competing against private brands) to be used for your product. Identify any legal and ethical issues related to the pricing tactics. Prepare a marketing distribution channel analysis identifying the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer relationships. Discuss how the distribution strategy fits the product/service, target market, and overall marketing objectives for the company. As a service business, Senior Concierge Service will offer non medical care and maintenance for senior citizens and their families. This type of service business does not have many competitors, and pricing is consistent among the senior care industry. The pricing strategy for Senior Concierge Service will be to stay within the normal range for its services. Consumers will choose Senior Concierge Service over the competition not by cost, but by the quality of services offered. Price skimming is a pricing strategy in which a marketer sets a relatively high price for a product or service at first, and then the price is lowered over time. This is a version of price discrimination. Price skimming allows a business to recover its resources quickly before a competitor moves in and lowers their prices, lowering the market price. The objective of a price skimming strategy is to capture the consumer surplus. There are several potential problems with this strategy. It is effective only when a business is facing an inelastic demand curve (demand that is not very sensitive to a change in price). Skimming encourages the entry of competitors. Penetration pricing is a more suitable strategy in this case. This strategy is a pricing technique of setting a relatively low initial entry price, often lower than the market price, to attract new customers. This strategy works on the probability that customers will switch to the new business because of the lower price. Penetration pricing is most commonly associated with a marketing objective of increasing market hare or sales volume, rather than to make profit in the short term. This can take the competition by surprise, not giving them time to react. It can also create goodwill among the early customer segment. This can create more trade through word of mouth. Ethical thinking is responding to situations that deal with principles concerning human behavior in respect to the appropriateness and inappropriate ness of certain communication and to the decency and indecency of the intention and results of such actions (distinctions between right and wrong). Marketers are ethically responsible for what is marketed and the image that a product portrays. Marketers need to understand what good ethics are and how to incorporate good ethics in various marketing campaigns to better reach a targeted audience and to gain trust from customers. (Wikipedia. com) Unethical or controversial marketing strategies include: bait and switch, pyramid scheme, planned obsolescence, lock-in/ loyalty schemes, viral marketing, and, monopolies/oligopolies. In retail sales, a bait and switch is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at an unprofitably low price, and then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available but that a substitute is. A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, without any product or service being delivered. Pyramid schemes are a form of fraud. The scheme collapses when no more people are willing to join the pyramid Planned obsolescence is the process of a product becoming obsolete or non-functional after a certain period or amount of use in a way that is planned or designed by the manufacturer. The purpose of planned obsolescence is to hide the real cost per use from the consumer, and charge a higher price than they would otherwise be willing to pay, or would be unwilling to spend all at once. For industries, planned obsolescence stimulates demand by encouraging purchasers to buy sooner if they still want a functioning product. In business, vendor lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. Lock-in costs which create barriers to market entry may result in antitrust action against a monopoly. Loyalty programs include frequent flier miles or points systems associated with credit card offers that can be used only with the original company, creating a perceived loss or cost when switching to a competitor. Most programs are able to get consumers to spend more money just to get to free or bonus item. Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Monopolies and oligopolies often use anti-competitive practices, which can have a negative impact on the economy. This is why company mergers are often examined closely by government regulators to avoid reducing competition in an industry. Since this business caters to seniors and their families, it is especially important for Senior Concierge Services to represent quality, value and confidence in its services and staff. The success of this company depends on compassionate, trustworthy, conscientious, and ethical care givers providing non-medical in-home care. A different take on the loyalty program would allow customers to receive a discount after x amount of service visits or when prepaying for multiple services. A marketing distribution channel analysis is a means used to transfer merchandise from the manufacturer to the end user. An intermediary in the channel is called a middleman. Channels normally range from two-level channels without intermediaries to five-level channels with three intermediaries. Intermediaries in the channel of distribution are used to facilitate the delivery of the merchandise as well as to transfer title, payments, and information about the merchandise. Distribution describes all the logistics involved in delivering a company’s products or services to the right place, at the right time, for the lowest cost. For many products and services, their manufacturers or providers use multiple channels of distribution. Well-chosen channels constitute a significant competitive advantage, while poorly conceived or chosen channels can doom even a superior product or service to failure in the market. Distribution channels may not be restricted to physical products alone. They may be just as important for moving a service from producer to consumer in certain sectors, since both direct and indirect channels may be used. There have also been some innovations in the distribution of services, such as an increase in franchising and in rental services. There has also been some indication hat service integration can benefit many providers. Senior Concierge Services will look to link with other service providers to create a mutually beneficial arrangement. Medical providers, beauticians, landscapers and general contractors would all be a good fit with the services offered. A distribution strategy defines how a business is going to create and satisfy demand for its products; how a business is going to move produ cts from point of creation to points of consumption, in a cost-effective manner; as well as defining how a business is going to manage its brand. Today’s customers shop and buy very differently than ever before. Access to high-quality information, via the internet, combined with their heightened price sensitivity, has created customers that are more sophisticated, better informed and often times, more demanding than customers of the past. A distribution strategy must be in sync with how the customers of Senior Concierge Service want to shop for services. Franchising is an option worth considering. For a fee, a small business owner can take advantage of the marketing research completed at the corporate level.

Nike Company Background

About Nike Inc.Nike, Inc. /ˈnaÉ ªkiË / is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area, and is one of only two Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Oregon. It is one of the world's largest suppliers ofathletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$24.1 billion in its fiscal year 2012 (ending May 31, 2012). As of 2012, it employed more than 44,000 people worldwide.The brand alone is valued at $10.7 billion, making it the most valuable brand among sports businesses. The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1978. The company takes its name from Nike (Greek ÃŽ ÃŽ ¯ÃŽ ºÃŽ ·, pronounced [nÇ Ã‹ kÉ›Ë ]), t he Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand, as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding, and subsidiaries including Hurley International and Converse.Nike also owned Bauer Hockey (later renamed Nike Bauer) between 1995 and 2008, and previously owned Cole Haan and Umbro. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high-profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of â€Å"Just Do It† and the Swoosh logo. (source : Wikipedia.org)Origins and HistoryNike, originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman in January 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (now ASICS), making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile. According to Otis Davis, a student athlete whom Bowerman coached at the University of Oregon, who later went on to win two gold medals at the 1960 Summer Olympics, Bowerman made the first pair of Nike shoes for him, contradicting a claim that they were made for Phil Knight. Says Davis, â€Å"I told Tom Brokaw that I was the first. I don't care  what all the billionaires say.Bill Bowerman made the first pair of shoes for me. People don't believe me. In fact, I didn't like the way they felt on my feet. There was no support and they were too tight. But I saw Bowerman make them from the waffle iron, and they were mine.† In 1964, in its first year in business, BRS sold 1,300 pairs of Japanese running shoes grossing $8,000. By 1965 the fledgling company had acquired a full-time employee and sales had reached $20,000. In 1966, BRS opened its first retail store, located at 3107 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California next to a beauty salon, so its employees no longer needed to sell inventory from the ba ck of their cars.In 1967, due to rapidly increasing sales, BRS expanded retail and distribution operations on the East Coast, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end. BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the Swoosh newly designed by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974. In 1976, the company hired John Brown and Partners, based in Seattle, as its first advertising agency.The following year, the agency created the first â€Å"brand ad† for Nike, called â€Å"There is no finish line,† in which no Nike product was shown. By 1980, Nike had attained a 50% market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year. Together, Nike and Wieden+Kennedy have created many print and television advertisements, and Wieden+Kennedy remains Ni ke's primary ad agency. It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now-famous slogan â€Å"Just Do It† for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by Advertising Age as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20th century and enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.Walt Stack was featured in Nike's first â€Å"Just Do It† advertisement, which debuted on July 1, 1988.Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to â€Å"Let’s do it,† the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed. Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its product line to encompass many sports and regions throughout the world In 1990, Nike moved into its eight-building World Headquarters campus in Beaverton, Oregon. (source : Wikipedia.org)AcquisitionsNike has acquired several apparel and footwear companies over the course of  its history, some of which have since been sold. Its first acquisition was the upscale footwear company Cole Haan in 1988, followed by the pur chase of Bauer Hockey in 1994. In 2002, Nike bought surf apparel company Hurley International from founder Bob Hurley In 2003, Nike paid US$309 million to acquire Converse, makers of the Chuck Taylor All-Stars line of sneakers.The company acquired Starter in 2004 and Umbro, known as the manufacturers of the England national football team's kit, in 2008. In order to refocus on its core business lines, Nike began divesting of some of its subsidiaries in the 2000s. It sold Starter in 2007 and Bauer Hockey in 2008. The company sold Umbro in 2012, and Cole Haan in 2013 as of 2013, Nike owns two key subsidiaries: Converse Inc. and Hurley International. (source : Wikipedia.org)ProductsNike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes. They currently also make shoes, jerseys, shorts, baselayers, etc. for a wide range of sports, including track and field, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, association football (soccer),lacrosse, basketball, and cricket. Nike Air Max is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. The most recent additions to their line are the Nike 6.0, Nike NYX, and Nike SB shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes called Air Zoom Yorker, designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'.In 2008, Nike introduced the Air Jordan XX3, a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind. Nike sells an assortment of products, including shoes and apparel for sports activities like association football, basketball, running,combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, skateboarding, association football, baseball, American football, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike is well known and popular in youth culture, chav culture and hip hop cul ture for their supplying of urban fashion clothing. Nike recently teamed up with Apple Inc. to produce the Nike+ product that monitors a runner's performance via a radio device in the shoe that links to the iPod nano.While the product  generates useful statistics, it has been criticized by researchers who were able to identify users' RFID devices from 60 feet (18 m) away using small, concealable intelligence motesin a wireless sensor network. In 2004, Nike launched the SPARQ Training Program/Division. Some of Nike's newest shoes contain Flywire and Lunarlite Foam to reduce weight. On July 15, 2009, the Nike+ Sports Band was released in stores. The product records distance run and calories expended, keeps time, and also gives runners new programs online they could try running. The 2010 Nike Pro Combat jersey collection were worn by teams from the following universities: Miami, Alabama, Boise State University, Florida, Ohio State, Oregon State University, Texas Christian University, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. Teams will wear these jerseys in key matchups as well as any time the athletic department deems it necessary. (source : Wikipedia.org)Location & ManufacturingNike has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has offices located in 45 countries outside the United States. Most of the factories are located in Asia, including Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is hesitant to disclose information about the contract companies it works with. However, due to harsh criticism from some organizations like CorpWatch, Nike has disclosed information about its contract factories in its Corporate Governance Report.