Freud’s Perspective of an Advertisement for Clinique :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Freud’s Perspective of an Advertisement for Clinique Although Freud's theories of psychoanalysis tended to deal exclusively with dreams, his understanding of the unconscious proves to be entirely useful in deconstructing popular culture. We can take, for example, the Clinique advertisement into consideration by viewing the image itself as a public (perhaps collective) and published dream. Freud may not have been particularly interested in the visual features or compostion of the image, yet these components are vital to the translation from conscious to unconscious thoughts. First, we can examine the bar of soap itself, as depicted in the scene. We are at once struck by the grotesque and commanding zie (certainly unrealistic) of the bar; yet it also appears insolated - from a consumer, from production, etc. The bar is shown in another (unusual) manner: its yellow-green colour portrays a "clean" and "natural" product, but also conveys an immaculate, medicalized one. The bubbles surrounding the bar also carry stylistic features; they appear as perfectly "round", "firm", "gentle" and "clean" (although we can see a lather/suds, the bubbles remain completely "pure" in themselves.) Finally, the pouring water re-iteratres this sense of purity and nature; the waterfall-like motion generates feelings of tranquility and harmony. (The text found in the advertisement supports these sentiments of purity, carlessness ["allergy tested" = worry free] and nature, and for the purpose of my examination require no further mention.) At this point we are able to undertake a Freudian analysis of the image. While the components mentioned can be understood as the visual, manifest content, we can attempt to translate their hidden, subverted, latent thoughts. According to Freud, all manifest content is subject to distortion by the "dream-work" (the mechanism by which such thoughts are altered, and thus we must decode the image by paying particular attention to the hidden elements (the ones that resist our analysis most). If all thoughts are generated in the unconscious, as Freud believes, then we must center our analysis on these hidden or latent components. One can see how, in this Clinique advertisement, Freud's theory of the dream-work is logical; both dream-distortion and dream-censorship are evident. An initial psychoanalysis of the image reveals an inherent desire to be "wholesome" (or "moral", as depicted by the rounded bubbles), "clean" (or "moral", as depicted by the medicalized soap) and "pure" (or "moral", as depicted by the clear, natural water). It is my understanding then, that this advertisement appeals to the viewer as a "sinner", or flawed individual, and aims to reconcile this deficiency through morality. Freud’s Perspective of an Advertisement for Clinique :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers Freud’s Perspective of an Advertisement for Clinique Although Freud's theories of psychoanalysis tended to deal exclusively with dreams, his understanding of the unconscious proves to be entirely useful in deconstructing popular culture. We can take, for example, the Clinique advertisement into consideration by viewing the image itself as a public (perhaps collective) and published dream. Freud may not have been particularly interested in the visual features or compostion of the image, yet these components are vital to the translation from conscious to unconscious thoughts. First, we can examine the bar of soap itself, as depicted in the scene. We are at once struck by the grotesque and commanding zie (certainly unrealistic) of the bar; yet it also appears insolated - from a consumer, from production, etc. The bar is shown in another (unusual) manner: its yellow-green colour portrays a "clean" and "natural" product, but also conveys an immaculate, medicalized one. The bubbles surrounding the bar also carry stylistic features; they appear as perfectly "round", "firm", "gentle" and "clean" (although we can see a lather/suds, the bubbles remain completely "pure" in themselves.) Finally, the pouring water re-iteratres this sense of purity and nature; the waterfall-like motion generates feelings of tranquility and harmony. (The text found in the advertisement supports these sentiments of purity, carlessness ["allergy tested" = worry free] and nature, and for the purpose of my examination require no further mention.) At this point we are able to undertake a Freudian analysis of the image. While the components mentioned can be understood as the visual, manifest content, we can attempt to translate their hidden, subverted, latent thoughts. According to Freud, all manifest content is subject to distortion by the "dream-work" (the mechanism by which such thoughts are altered, and thus we must decode the image by paying particular attention to the hidden elements (the ones that resist our analysis most). If all thoughts are generated in the unconscious, as Freud believes, then we must center our analysis on these hidden or latent components. One can see how, in this Clinique advertisement, Freud's theory of the dream-work is logical; both dream-distortion and dream-censorship are evident. An initial psychoanalysis of the image reveals an inherent desire to be "wholesome" (or "moral", as depicted by the rounded bubbles), "clean" (or "moral", as depicted by the medicalized soap) and "pure" (or "moral", as depicted by the clear, natural water). It is my understanding then, that this advertisement appeals to the viewer as a "sinner", or flawed individual, and aims to reconcile this deficiency through morality.

How Is Peak Load Staffing, Unit Hour Utilization and System Status Management Used in the Fire Service and Ambulance.

The majority of non EMS/Fire related people believe that the EMS and Fire calls are sporadic. In reality there is a predictable trend where the call volumes are higher and lower. There are 3 concepts that I will discuss further, first, System Status Management. SSM is simply what its name implies, the management of a EMS/Fire system’s resources before and between calls. It is the process of preparing the system for the best possible response to the next EMS or Fire call. Second, the concept is of Unit-Hour Utilization. UHU is an equation to find out what percent of the time a specific unit is being used on a specific day.Third, Peak Load Staffing will be discussed. PLS is a pretty simple topic to understand, For instance, Industrial areas and commercial office building usually have the highest call volume during the 9am-5pm business day when residential areas have a higher call volume after 5pm, lessen at night and start again around 6am the next day. The concept of PLS is to have more resources in the higher call volume times and areas. I work as a Paramedic for the Medical Express Ambulance Service (Medex) where both SSM and PLS are used. First, the concept of System Status Management.Our 2 most northern posts at Medex are Swedish Covenant Hospital (northeastern chicago) and Resurrection Medical Center (northwest chicago). The dispatchers attempt to keep 2 ALS and 3 BLS ambulances around the hospital. However if all of our ambulances out of Swedish Cov. Hospital get dispatched, Our dispatchers will move a few ambulances from Resurrection over to Swedish Cov. to cover the area and decrease overall response times. There have been times where we have not been relocated to either hospital and had to travel more than 30-45 minutes lights and sirens to get to a patient.If SSM had been implemented appropriately, that response time could have been greatly decreased. â€Å"UHU, or unit hour utilization, itself is fairly straightforward. It's calculated by divi ding the number of transports by the number of â€Å"unit hours,† with one unit hour defined as a fully equipped and staffed vehicle in your EMS system. If your system has 10 ambulances around the clock, there are 240 unit hours in a 24-hour period. If those 10 ambulances do 120 transports in 24 hours, you would calculate your system's UHU as follows:120 transports/240 unit hours = . 5 UHU† (http://www. ems1. om/ems-management/articles/1365144-How-to-explain-UHU-from- UFOs-to-your-city-manager/) Back to personal experience at Medex for the implementation of PLS. On average, our Medical calls on the week days are nearly double that of which we get on the weekend. In addition, the number of calls during the day is cut in half at night. On average, I run 6 medical calls per 12 hour shift on a week day, 3 at night and 3 on the weekend. If you look at those numbers, if you were to staff the same amount of ALS and BLS ambulances on the weekend or at night as you did during th e day, the UHU ratio would be extremely low.On average, Medex has around 12 ALS and 24 BLS ambulances on the street during the week. For the weekend, they only have 6 ALS and 10 BLS ambulances on the street. This effectively reduces the running cost for the company but does not strain the line staff. The EMS and Ambulance companies utilize these three concepts quite effectively, however they can also be applied to municipal Fire/Rescue departments. Most people see the Fire Departments as a rigid system, The stations are where you sit. However this does not always cover the most amount of area.For instance, town ABC has 2 fire stations both on the main road in town 5 miles apart. Both have 2 ambulances at each station, If both ambulances at one of the stations go our on a call. One of the towns regions around the station would experience a long ETA for an ambulance. However if one of the 2 ambulances sitting at the other station would go and cover the empty station until a unit clear ed from a call, the ETAs would be greatly reduced. This system is partially implemented with the station coverage neighboring departments participate in.The concept of UHU would be implemented in the Fire service more for evaluation purposes. This can help identify if addition resources are required, which units are near operational limits and which units are not utilized to their potential. Finally PLS is a topic which is not often used in the Fire service. This if properly implemented can reduce line staff strain, more adequately cover the areas required and save money. For instance, a town like Rosemont is primarily commercial business that are open 9-5 with very little residence on off hours and weekends. The majority of their Fires are 9-5 weekdays.To have more staff on duty during those hours would simply make more sense and save the town money. The Ambulance services have less complications than the Fire services does implementing the above concepts. The Fire service provides a larger spectrum of services and has many different apparatus for different uses. In the ambulance service they only have ALS and BLS ambulances which can sometimes work for eachother. For instance, a ALS ambulance can run a BLS call easily. However in the Fire service, a ALS ambulance cannot have the firefighting capabilities of a Truck or Engine crew.In addition, Ambulance companies have a plethora of resources that they can call on, to get another ambulance on the street is easy as calling a few people in since they have many spare ambulance that can be deployed if needed. The largest problem with the Firefighting side of this concept being implemented is that fires, sizes and resources needed truly is a sporadic event. Yes you can predict in the winter there will be more fires but the resources needed to combat a fire cannot be predicted as accurately.The UHU is extremely variable as is the ability to effectively implement PLS on Fire Apparatus. For the 4th of july scenario sh ows the utilization of Peak Load Staffing by having more resources on duty for events and days shown to require more resources. City XYZ FD is using System Status Management to cover the high call volume areas between the hours required. The final example uses Unit Hour Utilization to most effectively distribute the resources. The three above concepts of properly applied to the fire service can greatly reduce strain on the staff and running costs.

Colgate Marketing

Colgate-Palmolive Company  (NYSE:  CL) is an  American  diversified  multinational corporation  focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as  soaps,  detergents, and  oral hygiene  products  . In 1806,  William Colgate, himself a soap and candle maker, opened up a starch, soap, and candle factory on Dutch Street in  New York City  under the name of â€Å"William Colgate & Company†. In the 1840s, the firm began selling individual bars in uniform weights. In 1857, William Colgate died and the company was reorganized as â€Å"Colgate & Company† under the management of  Samuel Colgate, his son.In 1872, Colgate introduced  Cashmere Bouquet, a perfumed soap. In 1873, the firm introduced its first toothpaste, an aromatic toothpaste sold in jars. His company sold the first toothpaste in a tube, Colgate Ribbon Dental Cream, in 1896. By 1908 they initiated mass selling of too thpaste in tubes. Colgate-Palmolive has long been in fierce competition with  Procter & Gamble, the world's largest  soap  and  detergent  maker. P;amp;G introduced its  Tide  laundry detergent  shortly after  World War II, and thousands of consumers turned from Colgate's soaps to the new product.Colgate lost its number one place in the  toothpaste  market when P&G started putting  fluoride  in its toothpaste. In the beginning of  television, â€Å"Colgate-Palmolive† wished to compete with  Procter & Gamble  as a sponsor of  soap operas. Although the company sponsored many shows in part, they were most famous for being the full sponsor of the serial  The Doctors. Year Wise Details * 1873 – Aromatic toothpaste was first introduced. * 1896 – First dental cream was introduced in collapsible tube. * 1928 – Colgate merged with Palmolive Peet Company. * 1937 – Colgate Palmolive India limited was come in exi stence. 1949 – Colgate toothpaste launched in Indian market by CPIL. Company details * Fabian Garcio is the Chairmen and Roger D. Calmayer is the M. D Company.* It acquired 75% equity in advance oral care product * Registered office is located at Mumbai. * Its total turn over is Rs. 1363 cr. * Its main business is manufacturing and marketing of oral care products toilet soaps, shaving products etc. * Its has captured highest share in the toothpaste brand in India. * Its manufacturing plant is situated at Baddi plant of Himachal Pradesh Colgate toothpaste * Launched in 1949 , Colgate is largest tooth paste in India . Colgate has been ranked as India most trusted brand across all Categories for four consecutive years from 2003 to 2007 by brand equities most trusted brand survey. Colgate was also rated as the no. 1 brand. * Colgate toothpaste has variety of products which includes : * Colgate dental cream * Colgate active salt * Colgate max fresh * Colgate total 12 * Colgate ext ra clean gum care * Colgate sensitive toothbrush * Colgate 360 toothbrush Total market share of Colgate in different years The leader in the oral-care category is positioned to capitalize on underpenetrated market segments through strong brands.A 51% subsidiary of Colgate US, Colgate Palmolive (India) (CPIL) is a market leader in the Indian oralcare industry since decades. The company has products across variants and price points in toothpaste, toothpowder, and toothbrushes, and has leadership in each of these. CPIL’s two brands of toothpastes — Colgate and Cibaca — are targeted at the urban and rural markets, respectively. CPIL’s toothpaste sales volume increased 11% and toothbrush 41% in the September 2008 quarter, expanding its overall market share to 37. 7% in the January-August 2008 period. The company boosted the toothpowder market share to 48. % in the January-August 2008 period. These increases were driven by tight focus on getting closer to consu mers everywhere, strengthening partnerships with the dental profession and customers in the trade and fostering innovation in all areas of business. The launch of innovative products such as Colgate Active Salt, Colgate Maxfresh and Colgate 360 ° toothbrush also contributed to the growth of the market share. Penetration of modern oral-care products below 55% is low in India as many people in rural India still clean their teeth with traditional products like twigs of neem tree, salt, ash, and other herbal items.Per capita consumption of toothpaste in India is among the lowest globally. While India’s per capita consumption of toothpaste is 92 grams, even countries like China and Malaysia consume much at 219 grams and 285 grams, respectively. Also, just 7% of the population here brushes twice a day as compared with 61% in China. Increasing awareness on the benefits of oral care and brushing twice daily would work in favour of CPIL. In the current scenario of economic slowdown, there may be a reduction in demand for premium products and higher demand for value-for-money products.CPIL will be at a significant competitive advantage as it has one of the strongest brands in the lower priced toothpaste segment. The company has improved its presence in the value-for-money segment through an increase in market share of Cibaca from 5% in the year ended March 2005 (FY 2005) to 7. 3% in FY 2008. The markets for advanced oral products like mouth wash, dental floss and teeth whitening products are at a nascent stage in India. These products find limited usage with consumer concentration in urban areas. CPIL caters to these products and has an upper hand in the development of this market as they evolve in future.The company has also made attempts to widen its product basket through entry into shower gels and body washes and has been steadily expanding its offerings in the Palmolive Naturals as well as Palmolive Thermal Spa range. To make effective use of capital, addr ess overcapitalisation and reward shareholders, CPIL cut its share capital from Rs 136 crore to Rs 13. 6 crore in the fiscal ended March 2008 (FY 2008). Though the number of shares outstanding and the shareholding structure have remained unchanged, this reduction has substantially improved the return ratios like return on capital employed (RoCE) and return on equity (RoE).RoCE spurted to 129. 95% in FY 2008 from 90. 01% in FY 2007. RoNW improved to 104. 67% from 71. 23%. CPIL aims at margin gains through efficient supply-chain management and bringing down cost of operations. It has expanded its Baddi (tax-efficient zone), Himachal Pradesh, capacity to 66,000 tonnes in FY 2009 from 40,000 tonnes in FY 2007. This plant enjoys excise and income-tax exemption. These benefits will boost margin. With most commodity prices falling, CPIL’s raw material, packing and transport costs will also come down, helping it to increase margin as also expand ad budgets to boost volume growth.Net sales increased 16% to Rs 863. 06 crore in the half year ended September 2008. Operating profit margin declined 96 basis points to 18. 9% and operating profit grew 10% to Rs 162. 95 crore. Total tax outgo fell 11% to Rs 28 crore, which lifted net profit 17% to Rs 135. 40 crore. Company expect CPIL to register EPS of Rs 19. 7 in FY 2009. The share price trades at Rs 405. P/E is 20. 6. Cost of advertisement incurred by colgate toothpaste in different years. Strong rural off take for FMCG products and Colgate’s expanding market shares in oral care suggest that the company could sustain strong topline growth over the next 2-3 years.Colgate’s profit growth may outpace sales growth, as it widens its product mix and lowers tax incidence by shifting more of its production to tax-free zones. At the current market price, the stock trades at about 19 times its expected earnings for 2008-09 and about 16 times expected earnings for 2009-10, at par with FMCG peers. The companyâ€⠄¢s strong cash coffers, rising dividends and high dividend yield also make the stock a good defensive pick in a volatile market. Colgate Palmolive India, which holds a 49. 2 per cent market share in toothpastes and a 35. 2 per cent share in toothbrushes, is the dominant player in the Indian oral care market.Oral care products have seen strong volume growth over the past year, driven by consumer upgrading (from toothpowder to paste) and strong rural offtake. As the only other FMCG company apart from Hindustan Unilever to have an extensive rural distribution network, Colgate appears well placed to capitalise on strong rural demand for FMCGs, which is being driven by buoyancy in rural incomes and spending power. In the past year, Colgate has been able to expand its oral care market share on the back of new product launches and a strong presence in the economy segment where rival Hindustan Unilever does not have a major presence.Given its dominant market share, Colgate enjoys considera ble pricing power to pass on input cost increases to consumers. The company has also made attempts to widen its relatively narrow product basket through an entry into shower gels and body washes and has been steadily expanding its offerings under the â€Å"Palmolive Naturals† as well as â€Å"Palmolive Thermal Spa† range. Shower gel is a high growth segment which offers superior profit margins. Colgate’s strategy of shifting from outsourcing to own manufacture of products and locating new facilities in tax-free zones, has also led to steadily improving profitability.Its operating profit margins have moved up from 17-18 per cent to 22 per cent over the past 3 years. The company closed the nine months ended December 2007 with a 14-per cent growth in sales and a 30-per cent growth in net profit (excluding one-off items), despite significantly higher advertising spends. COMAPANY’S SALES IN LAST 3 YEARS Amounts spend by all toothpaste brands on advertisement ( InRs. Crs. ) From the above data we can say that Colgate gives preference to TV media and very small share of advertisement budget is spent on print media Toothpaste penetrationTalking about penetration Colgate concentrates more on urban India, so there is scope to expand business and market share in rural India . Cost of advertisement incurred by different toothpaste brands Even when we will compare Colgate with its competitors in terms of amount spent on marketing we can see that we can clearly see that colgate is the one who spends highest amount on advertising i. e. 40 % of entire market spending on advertisement. Competitor who stood second in spending is PEPSODENT . PEPSODENT spends 22% on advertisement capturing 22. 8 %of the total market share. Followed by CLOSEUP whos is third inProduct mix Strong Teeth Decay Protection | Colgate Strong | Complete 12 Hr Protection | Colgate Total | Cooling Crystal Freshness | Colgate Max Fresh | Fresher Breath | Colgate Energy Gel | Plaque &Removal | Colgate Herbal | Total Oral Care | Colgate Cibacea | Stains Preventing & Shiny | Colgate Advanced Whitening | Germ Fighters | Colgate Salt | Fruity Bubble Gam Flavour | Colgate Kids | Price Mix The Regular segment: Volume(64,922 tons) | The Low price point segment Volume(21,641 tons) | Price Range | | Price Range | | 50 gms | Rs 12. 5-24 | 50 gms | Rs. 8-10 | 100 gms | Rs. 25-30 | 100 gms | Rs. 4-20 | 150 gms | Rs. 35-45 | 150 gms | Rs. 25 | Prominent brands: | Prominent brands: |†¢ Colgate †¢ Pepsodent †¢ Close-up †¢ Meswak †¢ Dabur Red | †¢ Colgate Cibaca †¢ Babool †¢ Anchor †¢ Ajanta | Place mix * Colgate palmolive spread all over country. It has 3. 5 million retail outlets and 4235 direct distribution channel. * It has cover 75 % of urban market and 39 % of rural market of its total market share. * Colgate toothpaste are available at all most every retail shops in pune. * The Company is tying up with initiatives lik e E- Chupal and Disha to further strengthen its distribution network. Shubham Enterprises * Add. 16 no. , New kalebari, Meera complex ground floor pune (411033) Dealer margin : 10 Rs (per carton) Retailer margin Per box 6 – 7 Rs. (Per box ) box 50 gm. – 24 piece box 100 gm. – 12 piece box 200 gm – 6 piece promotion mix * Colgate has use various promotion strategy like discount , offers such as 20% extra on colgate strong , free tooth brush with cibaca toothpaste . * It has adopted various medium of advertisement like TV ads, oral care campaign * It has tied up with IDA * It has given free check up by introducing oral health month.Steps taken: Segmentation * CPIL has segmented market on the basis of product features * 1 Geographic segmentation – * Rural area – Colgate herbal &Cibaca toothpaste. * Urban area – Colgate Gel ,Colgate max fresh, Colgate strong etc. Demographic segmentation * A) Age – 2 year & above * B) Gende r – M/F * C) Income – Rs. 5000 & above * D) Family life cycle – Young single, married, with children , old people * E) Education – Both educated on non educated people Psychographic Segmentations * A) Life style – * Sustainer – Colgate Strong Colgate dental Achiever – Colgate energy gel * Experimental – Colgate citrus blast * Health Conscious – Colgate herbal Behavioral Segmentation * A) Value segmentation – Good quality , benefits, value for money* B) User status – Regular user, first time * C) Loyalty – Medium , strongly * D) Uses rate – light & Medium Targeting * Company has mainly targeted children& youth all over the country . Since a child involves it’s whole family so their parents also use it. * For youths they have launched Colgate max fresh & Colgate energy Gel for modern & adventures generation. Positioning As the â€Å"dental expert† Colgate has id entified different oral needs and Offers the customer a toothpaste that full fill their desired needs. * It has established its brand image in customer mind so customer has total faith on it. Conclusion & Recommendations * CIPL is doing extremely well in all the areas of its operations and this is the reason for its being the market leader. * It is no. 1 brand of toothpaste in India it has capture more than 39% market share. * The company should focuse on more promotional strategies and Distribution system through effective SCM to beat its competitor .

Business Ethics And Surrounding Theories Philosophy Essay

Business Ethics And Surrounding Theories Philosophy Essay Business ethics for quite some time now has been a global issue as the case maybe in business deliveries. Business ethics may be defined as way managers take decision that will make their business reputation to be morally sound in business transaction. It entails that transparency is involve in decision making, ethical issue in business delivery is very vital to protect the image of the company (Boatright 2007). Business ethics help’s manager’s to take the right decision in business transaction in other to keep their business moving at a rapid growth in the economy (Nash 1990) Ethics can also be defined as the study of how morality are involve in human decision to build their business reputation (Borland 1999).Ethical solution to business transaction has a lot possible solution to make business to deliver it objectives. The term ethics also has another, quite different use as the case may be which is to denote the field of moral philosophy. Every manager has a way to s how transparency and accountability to the business approach, in other to make the right decision in business. ETHICAL THEORIES Teleological frameworks: these are the conduct of an individual or the outcome of an individual action.(mill, 1864).Ethical egoism entails that the decision that individual take will be in mutual interest of the organisation and balance it to be mutual beneficial in business transaction. Ego is derived from a Latin word meaning self, ethical egoism allows for self-interests to play a role in the actions of the individual as long as there are also positive benefits for others. The level of rationalization may evolve into the justification that pursuing a person self- interest is necessary to generate a positive outcome for others.(Beauchamp and Bowie 1997). Deontological frameworks: This aspect focuses whether the action is right or wrong on ethical issues. The duty of the person taking such decision is highly considered as the case may be in ethics. Ethical theories; these theories involves the way or approach which are linked with philosophical empiricism and utilitarianism.(George 1999). The act of utilitarianism deals with the decision that one will take which will make him feel relax in business transaction and the outcome of the business will be positive depending on the application. The rule utilitarian states that the decision the manager’s will result in potential rules of action. (Graham 1990). Business reputation in the context of business to business, deals with a way manager relate with other vital issue which will protect the image of the company. If adherence to the rule produces more positive result than otherwise, it is a rule that morally will be highly considered. The distinction between act and rule utilitarianism is based on the outcome should be highly considered in calculating the effect on business related issues. UTILITARIANISM: According to utilitarianism, our obligation or duty in any situation is to p erform the action that will result in the possible balance of good over evil. ln classical utilitarianism, pleasure is taken to be more beneficial to compare with pain and harms which are evil.

Retail marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Retail marketing - Essay Example They take small supplies from the suppliers and then sell them in an open market. They need to keep their eyes on every aspect of the market. In fact they are the real salesmen of the products. The normal buyer goes to the retailers for shopping. A normal buyer does not have access to the manufacturers or the suppliers. Simply, a retail shop is the last place in the chain of selling the products that is from the producer to the consumer. Before analyzing the marketing strategies to be adopted by retailers we need to understand what the retailers and public relationship actually are and what their functions are. This will make us capable enough to make some strategies for the retailers to achieve good PR coverage. RETAILERS Business dictionary defines retailers as â€Å"A business or person that sales goods to the consumers, as opposed to a wholesaler or supplier who normally sell their goods to another business†. A place where a retailer commences business is known as retail s tore or departmental store. A departmental store is defined as "The department store is characterized by a store with wide variety and deep assortment and good level of customer service. An example is the shopping center to attract consumers who value comfort, safety, quality, famous brands and greater variety of options in specialty stores. The variety stores are those that offer a wide variety of products and limited services and low prices. They sell similar products that could be found in department stores, but usually are not brands, or brands of self-standard of quality and service system is self service† (Kotler, 2000, p. 129) There are certain characteristics of retailers that make them different from producers and whole sellers. They are like they deal in different varieties of the products where as producers produce the products of their brand only. Retailers have a very limited and small percentage of total consumers and they try to satisfy consumers by providing di fferent types of the products and acting as a bridge between the producers and the consumers. Retailers establish and maintain a permanent contact with the consumers and they purchase as well as sell small quantities of the many products. Retailers perform different functions for different stake holders. They may include functions for the consumers, suppliers, and manufacturers. The main general functions include sale of goods and establishing a good relationship with the consumers. A retailer acts as a middle man between producers and the consumers. Moreover he acts as an advisor to both the supplier and the buyer. He also acts as a marketing agent for different companies as he attracts consumers by briefing them about different products. The functions that are specifically performed for the customers are provision of a good stock of different finished products and maintaining enough stock of the goods to fulfill desirable demand of the normal consumers. A retailer does not bind hi mself to sale the products of some specific producer he even sales products of two competitors. Hence he offers a variety of products to the consumers. Nowadays most of the retailers also offer free home delivery service and very few of them charge for such a service. In case of any fault or dissatisfaction from the products purchased, a retailer offers after sales

War trauma and masculinity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

War trauma and masculinity - Essay Example These two changes are extremely ambivalent and are determined by the personal qualities and conditions the person faces. First of all, in order to understand masculinity as a phenomenon, it is important to study its definition. Maculinity is a specific gender identification, related to stress, independence and self-management. "Like femininity, masculinity operates politically at different levels. At one level, it is a form of identity, a means of self-understanding that structures personal attitudes and behaviours" (Leach, 1994,p.36). Another level is associated with seeing masculinity as a form of ideology, in which "it presents a set of cultural ideals that define appropriate roles, values and expectations for and of men" (ibid, p.36). It is important to note that masculinity is not 'natural', as it can be developed (or, conversely, destroyed) throughout the life course as a response to certain social expectations. It can be viewed as cultural interpretation of maleness, developed and maintained by participating social relationships. The sociocultural nature of masculinity is shaped by values, beli eves, and, naturally, requirements, dictated by the epoch. For instance, Spiegelman and Hemingway's time is characterized by the belief that man is a breadwinner, problem-solver, or more specifically, autonomous, strong and independent person, who is capable of defending his motherland from invaders. Furthermore, this definition of masculinity is basic for the present paper, as it is the starting point of the whole analysis.In 'Soldier's home' Hemingway depicts a personality, torn in two by controversial attitudes towards his home, where he's just returned. In spite of Harold Krebs's parents comfortable middle-class life, he experiences a sense of homelessness, of quilt and despair, because of having experienced his close friends' death' and all the problems related to war. First of all, it is important to note that Hemingway doesn't reveal why Harold has been wandering for many years before he comes back (about ten years, in fact), so this time probably has been devoted to searchin g for a new home and re-thinking his own life. By that time "all the other former soldiers have found a niche for themselves in the community" (Imamura, 1996, p.102), but Krebs needs some more time to get accustomed to new conditions; he plays pool, "practiced on his clarinet, strolled down town, read, and went to bed" (Hemingway, 1995, p.146). "What he is doing, of course, is killing time" (Imamura, 1996, p.103).The problem is associated with Harold's understanding of who has become. He realizes he has been altered by the circumstances, and this alteration becomes much more dramatic, once he sees that his town has remained almost the same comparing to the period when he graduated from higher school: the same streets and the same girls walking down the streets, the same parking place for his father's car (Hemingway, 1995). In fact, these changes in his own outlook can be explained by his pre-war and war experiences.Before the World War I, as Hemingway narrates us, Harold studied at a Methodist school, an educational

Define the Unique Selling Proposition ( USP) for Nordstrom. Describe a Assignment

Define the Unique Selling Proposition ( USP) for Nordstrom. Describe a USP for each keyroduct and create an Executive Summary - Assignment Example Nordstrom promises that the customer will not only get a product of high quality but also will get the best service from the product and from their staff (Nordstrom). Nordstrom has Jackets that they it calls â€Å"Jacket of all Trades†. The branding of the Jackets is the first unique aspect of the clothing. Secondly the branding proposes that the jackets they sell are for all occasions and third is that the jackets are of high quality at affordable prices and thus gives the customers value for their money and this also has the potential to attract new customers (Nordstrom). Nordstrom has a variety of key products and these include clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, Jewelry, beauty accessories and house ware. The USP for these products is embedded in the overall companies USP of quality and service. All the products are of high quality and give the customers the service they are intended to give besides the exceptional service that the customers are given at the shops. For example their shops have personal stylists assigned to customers shopping for clothing and this shows how much they care about their customers (Nordstrom). Nordstrom, Inc. is America’s leading fashion specialty retailers. It was founded in 1901 as a shoe shop in Seattle, currently Nordstrom manage 225 stores in 30 states, including 117 full-line stores, 104 Nordstrom Racks, two Jeffrey boutiques, one treasure &bond store and one clearance store (Nordstrom 2). Nordstrom is also available online at  Nordstrom.com  selling on the internet and through its catalogs. Furthermore, the Company operates in the online private sale marketplace through its subsidiary HauteLook. Nordstrom, Inc.s common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN. Its mission is to provide the best possible customer service, selection, quality and value and this has made it attract a huge customer base (Nordstrom). The