Gloria Jeans Essay Example for Free

Gloria Jeans Essay Gloria Jeans’ is well known due to it is made by 100% natural ingredients which include home-made cookies, muffins, and any other sweet desserts. 1) Economy The point here is that Gloria Jeans’ can not set a price that is too high because competitors will be attracted by potential profits and will follow by a lower price. After having taken all the important factors into consideration, there are five-price fixing approaches seem appropriate. 1.Cost Based pricing One of the centred objectives of this project being to become the market leader in functional drinks, Gloria Jeans’ is willing to stay among the top competitors if not becoming the greater by achieving a certain target profit this could be obtained by establish a price that will largely cover variable and fixed costs while bringing tremendous profits 2.Value Added Pricing Competitors and potential substitutes prices can also be part of the strategy. Having a higher price could make customers aware of the additional benefits and the higher quality of coffee. 3.Value based pricing The company sets its target price based on customer perceptions of the product value. The targeted value and price then drive decision about product design and what cost can be incurred. As a result of pricing begin with analysing consumer needs and value perceptions and price is set to match consumer perceived value. 4.Market Penetration Pricing The company can set a low price for a new product in order to attractive a large number of buyers and a large market share. 5.Break-even Pricing The company has to make some strategies for break-even prices, setting prices to break even on the cost of making and marketing a product or setting prices to make a target profit. According to the report of Su, Chiou and Chang (2006), the case study of Starbucks coffee displayed that Western culture adoration can influence the coffee consumption of Taiwan. Kim (2002),point at consumer behavior have significant influenced by the  product-of-origin and brand image. Hao(1998), states that superior brand has become the most important element to enhance value-added products and it also is a strategy. The brand image and product-of-origin would important factors, they would provide insights on cross-culture marketing. 4ï ¼â€° Demographics According to the survey, women more desire to drink coffee than men (Jones, 2006).There is no significant difference between two groups of people. Coffees are all thousands of years ranging from adults or even older. Its hard to resist the appeal of Coffee, and there is great opportunity to tea growing up. In addition, the social behaviour are one of the factors segmented coffee products in the market Because of different group has different demand for their need and wants. The high salary people may more focus on their healthy or willing to pay higher prices. 3ï ¼â€° Political and legal Doing coffee business there is no risky for the company because of it does not related any political and legal

The Disavantages Of Education

The Disavantages Of Education Educational disadvantage refers to situation where some individuals derive less benefit from education system than their peers. The Education Act 1998 defines educational disadvantage as impediments to education arising from social or economic disadvantage which prevent students from deriving appropriate benefit from education in schools. Educational disadvantage is demonstrated in many ways, most often in poor levels of participation and achievement in formal education system. (Matheson, 2000, 7) Many fundamental changes that have occurred within British economy, have called for structural changes to be made to education system. These include 1944 Education Act, which made secondary education compulsory, and introduced tri-partite system of schooling, as well as introduction of National Curriculum in 1988. Although These measures appear to have brought about à Ã‚ ° rise in overall attainment levels and made an impact on social gap in schools and wider society, official statistics and sociological research indicates that class-based inequalities in educational attainment have shown no tendency to decline (Phillips, 2001). In face of this remarkable resilience of class inequalities, educational reforms seem powerless (Health, 1989, quoted in Bilton, 1996, p359). Equal Opportunities Education should provide equal opportunities for all pupils to reach Their fullest potential, regardless of Their race, gender, ethnicity, class, or ability. However, Social class continues be one of main causes of educational disadvantage in schools and in society. The Liberal Democrats spokesman Paul Willis claims that, when it comes to educational achievement social class is still strongest indicator of success (http//education.co.uk/schools/story/html). For example, in 1993 over 70% of children whos parents were from professional backgrounds obtained 5+ GCSEs passes at grade A C, whereas only à Ã‚ ° mere 14% of children of working class parents obtained 5+ GCSE passes (http//education.co.uk/schools/story/html). However, contrary to this, not all pupils from working class backgrounds are educationally disadvantaged, some do just as well as children from middle class backgrounds if not better. In this respect, one could argue that education can also be seen as à Ã‚ ° pathway f or upward mobility and à Ã‚ ° means of reducing structural inequalities in society. So what is role and function of education? Section 1 -Educational Disadvantage One perspective is that of functionalists, They have often viewed education system as offering opportunities for mobility of individuals. However, conflict ories have, by and large, argued that role of education is to maintain à Ã‚ ° system of structured inequalities (Bilton, 1996). Despite fact that current education system is seen by many politicians and functionalists as being à Ã‚ ° means of combating or even reducing inequalities within society, many children who are born into working class homes still fail to achieve educationally as well as middle or upper class children. In à Ã‚ ° recent article published by The Observer Newspaper, it was found that in todays society à Ã‚ ° bright child born into à Ã‚ ° poor working class family, will do worse at school than à Ã‚ ° child with low intelligence but rich middle class parents (article from The Observer, Bright, 2002). According to this perspective, one could argue that education system acts as an agency of selection within society and determines type of schooling received, and hence ones future position in society. This type of socialisation is achieved by means of Hidden Curriculum, serving to control level of social mobility from one generation to next. Sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu, claims that role of education is to hand on cultural values and behaviour patterns of society to its young (Bilton, 1996). Many aspects of hidden curriculum can be seen as being embodied in social system of School and These reflect interests of society as à Ã‚ ° whole. It is believed that Schools and Teachers unintentionally treat and label children differently according to Their ability or social background (Kyriacou, C. 1997). This can be seen as having à Ã‚ ° powerful influence on way in which pupils see mselves and consequently what They learn. Thereby Teachers perception of à Ã‚ ° pupils ability strongly a ffects how that pupil progresses (http://www.harland64.freeserve.co.uk). Another manner in which schools reinforce social inequalities, thus disadvantaging working class pupils, is through system of streaming pupils into different ability groups. Sociologists Lacey and Hargreves studied effects of streaming in schools and found that children from working class backgrounds were more likely to be placed in lower ability streams (Bilton, 1996). This form of streaming of pupils can be seen as mirroring hierarchical social class divisions in society, allocating people to different positions within economic system. Therefore it could be argued that aspects of hidden curriculum, such as teachers perception and streaming of pupils can all be seen as à Ã‚ ° powerful means of social control. I would argue that it is consequently important, if not imperative, that teachers and schools have high expectations of Their pupils and do not limit horizon of any child. Even though Education should provide à Ã‚ ° pathway out of poverty and disadvantage, too many children are failing to take advantage of opportunities available to Them. Evidence of this can be found in statistics that demonstrate that early leaving is worst among socially disadvantaged, which in turn becomes à Ã‚ ° primary source of social disadvantage in future. For example Halsey, Health and Ridges (1980) study Origins and Destinations found that those from higher social backgrounds were much more likely to stay in education past minimum leaving age, than those from working class backgrounds (Halsey, Health and Ridge in Bilton, 1996). As à Ã‚ ° result They are not getting education or skills They need for adult life. However for those who do stay on in education, class-based inequality continues to disadvantage Them, higher They move up educational ladder. Estelle Morris quoted in Observer (2002), in relation to class based inequalities within schooling system stated It gets worse as you go through school. (Estelle Morris quoted in Observer, 2002). However, Bowles and Gintis (1976), argue that inequality and disadvantage faced by working class pupils in school correspond to disadvantage They will face in world of work in à Ã‚ ° capitalist society, workings of school system being seen to be tied to and reflecting workings of capitalism. Bowles and Gintis argue, that experience of schooling differs according to level, and that These differences are related to particular point of entry into labour force for which They prepare (Ball, 1986, p 39). They go on to explain that variations in social relationships and social structures are in turn related to social class of students, supporting Their position with historical and statistical data to demonstrate that social background of pupils is primary determinant of Their attainment at school (Ball, 1986, p 40). Clearly Then schools could be said to be preparing pupils for Their future class based role and function within society. The Governments Education White Paper states that social class gap amongst those entering university remains too wide, accordingly government states that Their priority is to reach out and include those from groups that have been under-represented in higher education, These including young people from semi-skilled or unskilled family backgrounds and certain minority ethnic groups. Although government strategies such as Education Bursaries and Sure Start are specifically aimed at lifting educational achievement of disadvantaged, one could argue that o r polices seem to work against These policies and initiatives. For example recent introduction of top up tuition fees for universities will only serve to extend exclusion of working class pupils. The fear now is that if university costs rise any more, They will deter all but wealthiest students (Bright, 2002). This argument is pursued by cultural deprivation ory, stating that those at bottom of classroom are deprived or deficient in certain values, attitudes and skills essential for educational success and its affects are cumulative. However it does face considerable criticisms as people question whe r values and attitudes of different classes are actually that different. For example Rutter M and Madge N in cycles of disadvantage (1976) argue that although children from poor backgrounds were more likely to underachieve at schools, cycles of disadvantage do not exist. Bourdieu P (1977) takes à Ã‚ ° Marxist view and has developed his own distinctive cultural explanation for achievement and suggests that There is an element of cultural capital in society. Thus higher à Ã‚ ° persons position in class system, greater amount of dominant culture They are likely to have. Culture is regarded generally as superior as those at top define it as such. Thus it becomes highly sought after and highly valued and consequently it forms basis of educational system. Thus because middle class culture is closer to that of school culture They refore are more likely to succeed. Evidence of this has already been discussed through Bernsteins studies. One theory suggests that chief reason why à Ã‚ ° students family life affects his/her education is based on size of family. More specifically, it suggests that those coming from à Ã‚ ° family with fewer children perform better academically than those coming from à Ã‚ ° family with many children. One main reason for this is attributed to dilution of familial resources available to children in large families and à Ã‚ ° concentration of such resources in small ones (Blake 11). For example, in families with many children parents have less time, less emotional and physical energy, less attention to give, and less ability to interact with children as individuals (Blake 11). Another reason that attention may be diluted is because of many siblings. Often mother is pregnant or recovering from pregnancy, which lessens her ability to care for children. In addition, money is also often diluted. Blake says of that: This type of dilution involves not only parents treatment of individual childrenability to provide personal living space, cultural advantages such as travel, specialized instruction such as music lessons, specialized medical or dental care, as well as continuous and advanced schoolingbut, as well, to provide settings advantages of which are not divisible: living in à Ã‚ ° desirable neighborhood, or having à Ã‚ ° wide range of excellent reading material or recorded music in house. (11) This suggests that children coming from à Ã‚ ° poor background are already at an educational disadvantage, possibly even before any formal schooling occurs. Travel enables à Ã‚ ° child to become à Ã‚ ° more cosmopolitan person and teaches children about different cultures of world. Music teaches dedication and helps with memorization skills. Other problems are associated with large families as well. A study by Lori Heise and Jane Roberts showed that children from large families dont interact with others outside family group as much as those in à Ã‚ ° smaller family, which can limit their understanding of certain social roles (Blake 11). It also places them at à Ã‚ ° disadvantage in school, where they make not have many friends or feel left out. This can lead to poor grades. This is so because child may become depressed and find it hard to focus on schoolwork. Without friends to greet them, many times child chooses not to even go to school. In addition, in families where lots of children are around, intellectual level may be more childlike, so kids arent exposed to adult conversation, vocabulary, and interests (Blake 11). The children spend most of their time playing with other children. In à Ã‚ ° family with one or few children, child often has no other choice than to play with their parent/s. Similarly, older siblings may often baby-sit or be treated as adult figure, meaning that parents are not as involved. The older children are often expected to help take care of his or her brothers or sisters. The parents are not home as often when à Ã‚ ° babysitter is available. Having à Ã‚ ° large family can also lead to financial burden and in turn à Ã‚ ° burden on childs academic success. It is often thought that income does not affect ones education until college; after all, education until that point is free. Studies have shown otherwise. It was found that only-child boys were twice as likely to graduate from high school as boys from families of seven or more, and same holds true for girls (Blake 41). Of graduates, there is again à Ã‚ ° large gap between two groups for college attendance (meaning that children without siblings are much more likely to attend college than those from large families). However, distinction is not as large as in high school graduation rates. Once in college, family size has à Ã‚ ° relatively small effect on number of years of college schooling à Ã‚ ° student receives (Blake 45). This indicates that higher level of schooling, less family size is influential. Blake suggests that this is due to many from large families who drop out of school and who are retained multiple times (Blake 45). Section 2 Schools Efforts The influence of what happens in school is also à Ã‚ ° major factor. For example bullying, pressure of exams and more commonly just plain boredom. School truancy is one of most common outcomes of bullying. Bullied children prefer to risk getting caught out of school than to get caught by bullies. One research study reports that one third of girls and one quarter of boys described being afraid of going to school at some time because of bullying (Balding, Young people in 1995, 1996). Bullying is very often due to racism, which in general terms consists of conduct or words or practices which disadvantage or advantage people because of Their colour, culture or ethnic origin (The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry). As we have seen, There are many reasons and causes for truancy and unfortunately, several cases of persistent truancy result in exclusion from school. A department for education report showed that permanent exclusion represents 0.4% of primary school pupils, 0.34% for secondary and 0.54% for special needs schools. OFSTED research highlights poor acquisition of basic skills, particularly literacy, limited aspirations and opportunities, poverty and poor relationships with pupils, parents and teachers. Excluded pupils generally experience considerable disadvantage with high levels of family stress, including unemployment, low income and family disruption. Most excluded pupils are white, male, young teenagers but à Ã‚ ° number of groups are disproportionately likely to be excluded. Children with special needs are 6 times more likely than o rs to be excluded (Dfee, Permanent exclusions from schools). Children in care are 10 times more likely to be excluded according to à Ã‚ ° National Foster Care report (National Foster Care Association). Perhaps as may as 30% of children in care are out of mainstream education (Sinclair et al). Students from lower-income families suffer other disadvantages as well. Economic hardship and stress have been known to affect relationship between parent and child. In addition, if socioeconomic status of student is low, amount of parental support, control, and consistency is often low as well. A study by Saucier and Ambert revealed, Adolescents from intact families have been found to be more optimistic about future than those from homes in which there has been à Ã‚ ° separation, divorce, or parental death (Brantlinger 154). The amount of parental involvement with education was also found to vary with income. Most students studied claim that their parents attended conferences and activities in elementary school, but there became à Ã‚ ° gap during junior high and high school. High-income students say their parents still attended, while low-income students parents did not. Additionally, high-income adolescents parents were much more likely to receive help with schoolwork, such as editing written assignments, than were low-income parents. This could be à Ã‚ ° result of education parents had received. After all, low-income parents had often dropped out of school prior to graduation, while high-income parents had high-levels of educational attainment (Brantlinger 156). A study by Carlos Torres and Theodore Mitchell showed that powerful more affluent parents played à Ã‚ ° significant role in maintaining à Ã‚ ° hierarchical track structure for their child. These parents ensured that their children did w ell in school. This was made achievable possibly through extra help, tutoring, and increasing pressure placed on child to do well (163). Family size and parenting techniques can be related to wealth differences. For example, smaller family, higher proportion of income can be spent on child(ren). Those with better parenting techniques also have à Ã‚ ° higher economic standing than other parents. Better parenting methods can be linked to parents having received à Ã‚ ° higher education. In turn, they often have more money. While it was found that family size and parenting techniques affect ones education, it is merely because of wealth. For example, it is not actual number of people in family, but amount of money family has because of number of members. Economics are key factor as to why ones family life affects ones education, and its à Ã‚ ° cycle. Children often grow up to be in same economic class as family he came from. Therefore, if à Ã‚ ° parent didnt attend college, student is less likely to (Shumow 37). So what can we do about this problem? How can we give economically disadvantaged children à Ã‚ ° good education? There are several options: For one state funding for poorer schools could be increased. Also, if poor communities applied for grants, they could use them to fund their schools. There are also programs out there to help poor schools. The SETA Head Start Program and Equity in Education Project were developed for purpose of improving lives of low-income children by providing quality, comprehensive, child development services that are family focused, including education, health, nutrition, and mental health (Head Start Home Page Screen 1.) By getting communities involved and educated about programs such as these it is very possible to prevent educational disadvantages like coming from à Ã‚ ° low-income household or neighborhood. No matter how many elected school officials declare that poverty is not an excuse for poor school performance, fact remains that children in poverty do not achieve well in school. In à Ã‚ ° study by Abt Associates, researchers examined performance of children in high- and low-poverty schools. High-poverty schools were defined as those with 76% or more of student body eligible for free or reduced-price lunches; low-poverty schools had 20% or less of student body eligible for federally subsidized lunches. The researchers first divided students into categories A, B, C, or Ddepending on what grade they commonly took home on their report cards. Then they looked at performance on achievement tests. Students in low-poverty schools who got As on their report cards scored as one would expect: 87th percentile in math, 81st in reading. Students in high-poverty schools who got As scored higher than their classmates who got lower grades, but they attained only 36th percentile in reading and 35t h in math (Cirasulo 44). One can only imagine sledgehammer that will hit these students when they have to compete with students from more affluent schools.National targets to reduce level of exclusions are all very well, but this will not work unless schools are given resources and support They need to tackle growing number of pupils who ruin education of Their fellow students. Section 3 Analysis Several scholars (Pring (1996), Hamilton (1996), Elliot (1996), White and Barber (1997)) have been critical of research in IS, and responses have provided researchers SE (Sammons et al, 1996; Mortimore and Sammons, 1997, Mortimore and Whitty, 1997). The criticism has focused on three main issues. The first is that IS research has claimed too much for their conclusions, and this is a view with which we have any sympathy and I return. The second charge is that it inevitably focuses on the limited cognitive learning outcomes and ignores the many other aspects that are important. With this view we have little sympathy. We do not understand the nature of current research that relates below. The third charge against SE research is that it has helped in the process of governmental centralization and control of education and professional education. Both agree and disagree with this! We disagree because they do not accept that SE researchers as a group have consciously supported such government actions, but would be willing to admit that some people involved in the SE may be guilty. However, we agree that the government and parastatals have cherry picked what is to be used to help legitimize their policies. There is no shortage of particular examples. Many threads of research have been quoted out of context For example, work on reading Ofsted (Ofsted, 1996) has tried to justify some questionable investigation by appealing to aspects of the literature (Mortimore and Goldstein, 1996) and the report task force produced for literacy Labour Party tried to justify his comparisons between primary schools by references questionable consumption settings (Goldstein, 1997). Some causes of minorities not being able to achieve same educational level as White Americans is because they have many obstacles in front of them. Some obstacles include not being able to speak language properly, desegregation, and discrimination. Some minorities start off only speaking their native language. So when they come to states they automatically have to face obstacle of learning native language, which is English. It is very difficult for those children whose parents do not have to learn English. When children come home from school they dont get to practice what they learned because they have to speak their native language to communicate with their parents. It is much easier for those whose parents are learning language because they can practice together and help each other out. Another barrier minorities have to cross is desegregation. They are automatically desegregated because they dont have same education level as average white American. Most of them immigrated here wit h no schooling what so ever. So when they arrive they not only have to learn language but start from scratch. Because they have no schooling behind them they are considered educationally handicapped and placed in à Ã‚ ° different class to start learning language and basics. Also then they are not expected to do as well as average white American because teachers show pity for their hardship. So when they dont do so well on à Ã‚ ° test teacher is not as tough on them as they would be on an average student because they are considered educationally handicapped. Another factor they face is discrimination. Most average Americans do not believe that minorities are as smart as they are so they put them down. Minorities are easy targets so white Americans take advantage of situation. Most minorities have problems speaking language so they dont feel comfortable making friends. Then it only makes it harder when they are made fun of or put down. They loose their confidence and tend to give up. There still is à Ã‚ ° lot of concern because minority enrollment percentages still lag behind that of white-students in American colleges, report concludes. While nearly 42 percent of white high school graduates attend college in 1993, only 33 percent of African-American high school graduates and 36 percent of Hispanics enrolled. And 82 percent of minorities go to public universities, and compared with 63 percent of white students. The gap in college participation between whites and minorities is cause for continuing concern, says Robert Atwell, president of ACE. We have à Ã‚ ° long way to go before we can claim to have achieved equality of educational opportunity and achievement. In conclusion, it is not easy to define social class in itself, as it is à Ã‚ ° many-stranded notion and in modern society people do not always easily fit into social class categories. There are many factors that account for educational disadvantage, one of which is clearly Social Class. However, it also important to be aware that it is but one factor that influences educational achievement, as social class is also à Ã‚ ° contributory factor to o r forms of inequality, which may also impact upon educational attainment of children. That said, it is clear that social divisions in society do in fact mirror educational disadvantage, its existence being defined for à Ã‚ ° variety of reasons, based upon oretical standpoint of commenter. Similarly, the earliest study of Mortimore et al (1988) in primary schools, twelve key characteristics of effective schools were illustrated: 1. Purposeful leadership of the staff by the head-teacher 2. The involvement of the deputy head-teacher 3. The involvement of teachers 4. Consistency among teachers 5. Structured lessons 6. Intellectually challenging teaching 7. Work-centered environment 8. Limited focus within sessions 9. Maximum communication between teachers and students 10. Record keeping 11. Parental involvement 12. Positive climate The knowledge and experience of schooling in society seems to reinforce à Ã‚ ° particular view of world, which in turn serves interests of particular groups in society. Never less, Education system appears to be key to counteracting inequality, despite present education system having quite opposite effect. The discussion within this paper would suggest that education system continues vicious cycle of disadvantage and social exclusion between generations. What is clear is that Education should not be seen in à Ã‚ ° vacuum, it visibly reflects society in which child lives, learns, plays and will later grow to work. Conclusion The problem with minority and their education is à Ã‚ ° huge problem in today society. There are different aspects of problems in educational system that needs work. I believe there are many solutions to this problem. First, schools need to be all equally funded. Some school districts receive more money then others and they need to receive same so that they can have proper funding for teachers and necessary equipment. They need to provide grants to institutions of higher education, either directly or through area wide planning organizations or States, for purpose of providing assistance to economically disadvantaged and minority students who participate in community development work-study programs and are enrolled in full-time graduate programs in community and economic development, community planning or community management. Another solution that could help this problem is to have fund razors among each minority so they can go ahead and help there own heritage. They can help them with such things as scholarships or helpful things such as educational programs and places they can go to broaden their horizons. They can have communities that help out there children with hardest things to cope with in united states especially coming from à Ã‚ ° different country that will tell them how to prepare to live in united states and get ahead in life. Education is very important and it will get you à Ã‚ ° lot of what you want and as bible says Moses was educated in all wisdom of Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action

Effects of Bank Mergers in the UK: Analysis

Effects of Bank Mergers in the UK: Analysis Introduction This paper takes a look at effects of Bank Mergers in the UK. It also shows how banks are affected by mergers and their effects on retail interest rates and customers. It also takes a look at how bank mergers help bring about improvement which is passed on to the customers. The main aim of the paper is to analyze the effects of Bank Mergers. It also takes a look at the environmental factors which lead to the mergers taking place. Aims and Objectives The aim of this paper is to analyse who the beneficiaries of a bank merger are and the cost analysis of the merger. It analyses the costs which are involved with the merger and its effects on the customer. The paper also deduces whether the retail interest rates are not influenced by the effects of mergers. Furthermore it also looks at how different banking products can be affected by mergers. The objectives of this work are: To review the extant conceptual frameworks and models associated with Bank Mergers To identify how mergers affect the relationship between banks and their customers To analyse the cost analysis associated with the mergers of Banks To understand the external factors which lead to mergers taking place between banks Literature Review Bank Mergers are usually subjected to anti competition or antitrust laws if they are found to be limiting the field for competition. The key to a bank merger is that it should bring about benefits to the sector instead of restricting it. There should be synergy between banks instead of tightening the noose and making it tough for everyone. If there are no savings being passed on to the customers then there is no use of a bank merger. There have been scenarios where bank mergers were not permitted by the Competition Commission as the customers would not benefit from the merger. (Competition Commission 2001). The regulatory bodies have to ensure that all gains from the merger do not benefit the merged bank but are passed on to the customers. There is a lot of scrutiny when it comes to bank mergers and identifies the relationship between efficiency and price changes after a merger has taken place. According to Farrell and Shapiro (1990) prices and retail interest rates can fall only if there were lower marginal costs before the merger of the two banks. Mergers are known to have failed if they dont bring about any savings or benefit to the customers. Mergers are not beneficial to the customer if the interest rates for customers are higher. The efficiency of merging banks influences the competition in the market. Bank mergers lead to bad conditions for the consumer if the merger does not promise efficiency. If a bank records efficiency gains after a merger then it brings about price improvements. Bank mergers tend to affect certain banking products in different ways. Research Setting The research is based upon the UK retail banking market. It examines the large and small banks and takes a deep look at the mergers which took place over the last few years and the mergers which failed to take place. Both building societies and UK retail banks are analyzed as they all offer different retail banking services. The research only includes banks that are in the UK retail banking market. The research also takes a look at the mergers which occurred between the small building societies as it is easier to gather data for that. The research has limited adding the mergers between bigger banks. RESEARCH QUESTIONS In order to make sure that the research is conducted properly we have to set a number of key questions so that the research will be able to answer them. To identify how mergers affect the relationship between banks and their customers To analyse the cost analysis associated with the mergers of Banks To analyse the external forces which lead to mergers between banks RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This particular assignment follows the traditional research methodology which allows the research to be conducted in various layers one after the other. The first one is the philosophy of Positivism where a researcher adopts the stance of a scientist who has to evaluate everything in a philosophical manner and understands the evolutionary process of how things are done. The interpretivism philosophy is where things are created due to the interaction between individuals. The research looks at all the issues associated with mergers within the banking retail market. the data is gathered through proper research. There is the need to gather quantitative as well as qualitative data in order to prove the theories and conclusions. RESEARCH APPROACH The research is conducted by examining all the data in a systematic format. Most of the data is present in documentary format along with information available in various journals and papers. All the data needs to be interpreted in a proper organized manner and needs to be separated in order to get the gist of the research. RESEARCH STRATEGY This research paper takes an in-depth look at the effect of mergers between banks and how it affects the banking products in the UK. It also examines how it can affect the interest rates in the banking sector. The paper also takes a look at the external factors which push the market in favour of mergers. It examines factors such as bear market which leads to share prices falling, dire economic situation which lead to problems, bad balance sheets which lead to a drain of capital, mergers which take place mainly due to help two troubled banks i.e. Lloyds TSB and Halifax, losses suffered by the investment arm of banks, collapse of big corporations which lead to a domino effect, hedge funds making losses and lastly due to the insurance divisions which do not do well. It also examines how the retail interest rate is affected if a merger does not go well. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS It is essential for me to follow a proper code of conduct before going ahead with my research process. There is a fine line between ethical and unethical research. The information gathered will be done with the consent of everyone and no laws shall be broken to obtain the data. I shall ask all the people interviewed to sign waiver forms and to give me indemnity from any potential problems. A point to bear in mind is not to intimidate any of the subjects or to harass them in handing over vital information. DATA COLLECTION The plan is to contact all of the various building societies and a few of the big banks which merged in the not so recent past. I need to visit them all and collect information on the types of products they have. It would help to visit someone from the corporate headquarters as retail banks would not have the competent staff which would allow me to gather the information I need. Higher ranked officials at the various banks can only give me information about how their bank products were affected and how mergers in the retail banking sector leads to different interest rates. Data will be collated through both qualitative and quantitative questionnaires, series of interviews, documentary analysis. I would also need to do a walkthrough with people from the various banks and building societies so that I can get the right idea. The questionnaires will be quite straight forward and will only comprise of a few limited questions which are closed ended. The interview process will not take long and will only be a one on one session which is also close ended. The only problem is to schedule everything within a particular timeline. There are a lot of people to interview and that is one reason why it is crucial for me to limit the time I spend on all my interviews so that I can get everything done really fast. It is also interesting to know that both questionnaires and interviews will generate different answers so special attention will have to be paid to both. Document samples are a must to be collected from the various banks in the area. The data collected will be from both primary and secondary resources. Primary Data I will gather all the primary data by simply gathering all the information via personal visits to the various banks and building societies which have been created as a result of a merger between two banks. It will be useful to find out how the banks were able to change their policies and how the merger affected their interest rates. The cost analysis will also be done after taking a look at the before and after status of the merged entities. Bank personnel will be giving me their valuable time so it would help me save time by only sticking to close ended interviews for the session. This will make it easier for both parties. The banks should hopefully provide me with documents I need to support my work and allow me to create my quantitative data. Secondary data Secondary data will be gathered with the help of external sources. It is essential to check out proper databases which deal with the type of historical data required for my analysis of the retail banking sector. The best idea for me is to base my work conducted by a researcher on the same topic. It also helps to do a bit of reading up on the topic so that I would know what this research entails. It is obvious that I wont be able to get all my data from people so I would need to gather information from journals, databases, white papers, etc. some of the data can be cited from text found in the documents supplied by the banks. DATA ANALYSIS The data needs to be examined one by one so that mistakes are not made. There are plenty of key points which can be examined only by going through it with a fine tooth comb. Data can be analysed in the form of charts, tables etc. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Finally the research can be summarised as the sort who will allow me to understand why mergers take place between banks and how the retail banking sector is affected. I will be able to make my conclusions after I have gone over everything at the end of the study. TIME FRAME OF RESEARCH The research program needs to be conducted within a specific timeline. Due to limitation of time and the amount of legwork to be conducted I need to finish my research within 22 weeks. This gives me plenty of time for discovery and to jot all my information down on paper. If I do not finish my research on time it will delay everything and create various problems.

Private Schools vs. Public Schools Essay -- Education

(Thrust for Educational Leadership 1999) wrote: Voucher proponents claim that public school educators could learn a lot from private schools and their "superior" practices and outcomes. However, a report from the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute has found that the most important variation between schools lays in the type of community in which they are located (affluent, suburban, inner-city), not whether they are private or public. Researchers conducted case studies of eight public and eight private elementary schools in California to determine whether there are any identifiable and transferable private school practices that public schools can adopt to improve student outcomes. They discovered: †¢ Private elementary school employees are not necessarily more accountable to parents than are public school personnel. †¢ Private school expectations for student outcomes are not more clearly defined. †¢ Private schools do not provide more meaningful evaluation, supervision or mentoring of teachers, nor are they more selective in hiring teachers than their public school counterparts. Private schools also did not necessarily have more flexibility in firing teachers. †¢ Private schools do not necessarily focus more on issues such as values and behavior. †¢ Private school innovations do not necessarily stimulate improved practices at the public schools with which they compete. The report found that inner-city private schools shared more characteristics with public schools in low-income communities than with affluent suburban private schools. Likewise, suburban public schools had more in common with suburban private schools than with urban public schools. The researchers conclude that the report's findings "could have importan... ...erybody can get on a team in a smaller school." Similarly, a child who needs more individual attention might benefit because "it can customize a child's experience a little more." Finally, I think it is up to each parent to establish what is best for their children. Some children need more attention than others and they learn better in smaller classrooms. What ever route you choose make sure your children are getting a good education. References (1999). Differences between public, private schools overstated, study finds. Thrust for Educational Leadership, 29(2), 4. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database. Lawrence, L. (1997, April 28). The pros and cons of public vs. private schools. Christian Science Monitor, p. 12. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database

File Sharing Survey :: File Sharing Illegality Essays

File Sharing Survey With a coke in one hand and the computer mouse in the other, Jack Napster is busy downloading Mp3's from Limewire with his super fast college Ethernet connection. Jack Napster lives for his music and consequently makes use of file sharing programs in order to keep up with current musical trends. He can access all the new hit songs and even some underground artists that his friends have recommended to him. Jack feels that file sharing is an ethical practice even though it is deemed illegal by the law. He feels that the downloading of music does not hurt the music industry; on the contrary it actually helps promote smaller artists. Most important, he knows that mp3's are free, and what college student does not like the word free? College campuses all across the nation are full of Jack Napster's. On October 8th, 2002, a letter was sent out to over 2,300 colleges and universities across the nation by the Recording Industry of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) informing them of the legal issues about on-campus file sharing programs. The letter seeks the support of the colleges’ to help fight against file sharing and outlines a set of policies for the schools to adopt (MTV.com). In light of these recent incidents, I choose to delve into this controversial issue by creating a survey to give to college students at James Madison University (JMU). The purpose of my survey was to determine the ethical beliefs of the Jack Napster’s at James Madison University in response to file sharing programs. The survey was administered to both female and male students as well as students of every undergraduate level. The demographics are as follows; eight males and seventeen females were surveyed for a total of twenty five completed questionnaires. The survey was distributed in my hall in my dorm, the laundry room, in my friend’s dorm, at a theater rehearsal, and at a super bowl gathering. The survey was administered from January 24th through January 27th, 2003. I feel that this variety of settings, ages, and gender provide for a more balanced survey. Going into the survey, I was sure that everyone on campus used file-sharing programs, but to my surprise only 18 of the students actually did.

Junot Diaz Bio Essay

Lent DDS was born In the Dominican Republic and raised New Jersey. He Is a creative writing teacher at MIT and fiction editor at the Boston Review. He also serves on the board of advisers for the Freedom university, a Volunteer organization in Georgia that provides post-secondary instruction to undocumented immigrants. From what I have read I have gathered that he really had to rely on himself. Getting him through college working the Jobs where you have to do the dirty work, dishes, and pumping-gas. Supposedly Drown reflects Diaz’s strained relationship with his own father, with whom he no longer keeps in contact with. Diaz was born in Villa Juana, a neighborhood in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was the third child in a family of five. Through most of his childhood he lived with his mother and grandparents while his father worked in the united States. Diaz emigrated to Parlin, New Jersey, in December of 1974, where he was able to reunite with his father. He lived close to what he considered one of the largest landfills in New Jersey. His short fiction has appeared In The New Yorker magazine, which listed him as one of the 20 top writers for the 21st He has also been published in Story, The Paris Review, and in the anthologies The Best American Short Stories four times (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), The PEWO. Henry prize stones (2009), and African voices. He s best known for his two major works: the short story collection Drown (1996) and the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007). 80th were published to critical acclaim and he won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the latter. Diaz himself has described his writing style as a disobedient child of New Jersey and the Dominican Republic If that can be possibly Imagined with way too much Diaz has received a Eugene McDermott Award, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a Lila Acheson Wallace Readers Digest Award, the 2002 PEN/Malamud Award, the 2003 us-Japan Creative Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard university and the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was selected as one of the 39 most important Latin American writers under the age of 39 by the Bogota World Book Capital and the Hay Festival. [18] In September 2007, Miramax acquired the rights for a film adaptation of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. [19] The stories in Drown ocus on the teenage narrator’s impoverished, fatherless youth in the Dominican Republic and his struggle adapting to his new life in New Jersey. Reviews were generally strong but not without complaints. 20] Diaz read twice for PRI’s This American Life

Film Treatment

My Super SWEET 16 GRADUATION PARTY Directed By Chassity Gibson A Biography of the Film Maker: Chassity Gibson: Student, Writer, Director, Co-Producer Chassity Gibson is a Producer/Director of reality TV, commercials, music videos, and promotional films for networks and clients nationally throughout the US. Her first feature documentary, â€Å"the life of a young single mother†, an inspiration from her mother, was an award winning production. Aside from her film work, Gibson has written scripts for plays premiering at major theaters found in Las Vegas, and NYC.Born in Rochester, NY and a graduate of SUNY University at Buffalo, she currently lives in Fort Worth Dallas with her newlywed husband, Edsel. Filmmaking was never Gibson’s dream as a child or growing up. In fact, the road she was looking more towards her first year at UB was engineering. Going into her sophomore year though, she enrolled in her first film class, Basic Video (DMS 103), and apparently she had found her niche. Currently at the age of 36 Chassity Gibson has 3 award winning pieces along with a great family supporting her throughout the adventure it has been.Having two twin boys, Gibson is very devoted to her family time outside of work. This being something new to â€Å"try-out† Gibson says, â€Å"is very stressful but I’m going to make sure I make it all worth it†. Title: â€Å"Win Or Lose†. Biggest Graduation Party in NYS Log Line: Two UB graduate best friends, Candice & Jasmine, Plan for the biggest Graduation party buffalo, NY had ever seen. Synopsis: â€Å"My Super Graduation Party† is similar to the MTV reality TV show â€Å"My Super Sweet 16† minus the bratty, spoiled, teens that always seem to have their way through their pushover parents.In this series, instead, we find mature, independent, UB students preparing for life after college by setting it off with a huge celebration for all their accomplishments. Getting to know the sta rs of this show becomes quite easy through the way they move & interact throughout their episode. You see them juggling end of the semester final projects and exams, while creating time to plan & promote their party only weeks away. Watch their assertive demeanors in school as well as towards the party planners, in seek of success. Exaggerate over minor issues that may arise, somehow overcoming it.Dolling up, to insure they are the best looking females for the night. Finally, they relive the best part of it all, by recapping their big night with girlfriends over breakfast. Every episode of the series has its own individuality aspects to it, based upon the students we are dealing with, the type of party they want, and the results we receive from the guests who actually come to celebrate with the graduates. â€Å"My Super Graduation Party† closely follows the lives of the individuals of each episode for one day before the party, the day of the party, as well as one day after th e party.This provides a fascinating social matrix that draws the viewer to connect with the graduates as they face challenges and become satisfied with their final results. This specific episode of the series, â€Å"Win or Lose; the biggest graduation party in NYS†, does in fact have great success for CANDICE & JASMINE due to the work they put into it. Throughout the episode the view will see in on many aspects of the casts life away from the party planning, which normally creates a bias and foundation for that cast member that carries with them to the end of the show.For example: â€Å"Love life† – Love life is something that constantly re-appears throughout the entire show. From keeping annoying ex boyfriends out of the party, to attempting to ask the cutest boy on campus to be their date, and sometimes we witnessing a new love stir up. We follow these interactions as they add on to the shows variety of aspects of each of the cast’s lives. â€Å"Educat ion – Our casting will be graduation very soon after they party takes place. The student’s school efforts will be highlighted to show the stresses, successes, and failures that they encounter†¦and most importantly how they deal with those experiences. Friendship† – The bonding rituals and social lives will be highlighted as the over-riding context. Our cast will be a pair of close-knot best friends, who are throwing a party together. Each episode will include the two meeting for drinks or dinner to discuss latest life happenings and planning of the party. â€Å"Win Or Lose; Biggest Graduation Party in NYS† episode arc- Intro – A small montage is shown of each UB student to provide the viewer about her background, life, and current situation in the show. This is quickly done as we move on to see CANDICE & JASMINE in scenes preparing for school the day before the party.The two have separate lives, making it difficult to plan everything tog ether; therefore communication becomes an important issue when both wants need to be met. They talk amongst each other excited for the next day’s festivities, while getting dressed & putting on make-up, and agree on what still needs to be done before the day arrives. Initial Highlights of early morning talk – Some fascinating recaps from the previous nights of the week, interesting gripes about the workday and/or family, disagreements that need to be worked out, and all of these highlights are shown in about 1-2 mins of clips at the cast’s home.Candice & Jasmine live in a small apartment with their dog, Lovely. School/Work day for Candice – Her day begins around 9am the day before the party. She is running late for class because her hair is not cooperating with her today, yet has to be perfect if she is going to ask MEL GIBSON to be her date after their class together. She attempts numerous styles as it gets close to 8:50am, and none of them seem to work. Finally at 9:05am she pulls off the simplest look and heads toward the door. Leaving class, Candice struggles to find Mel, who normally sits in the same spot every day, and leave the same way every day.Disappointed she shoots a text to Jasmine for advice. They decide to meet for lunch. School/work day for Jasmine – Jasmine instead has work that Thursday morning, 8am-12pm shift. At work she constantly thinks of outcomes for the party, distracting her performance that morning. When it finally reaches 12pm, Jasmine must meet right after with the owner of the club where they plan to throw their party. Issues arrive about the amount of people the place can hold, the ability of guest to buy drinks, and how VIP and lines outside will work.Jasmine wants a huge stage where she can show off on the whole night, while Candice wants a photo booth in the same area. We see how Jasmine works around this issue while speaking with the owner. The two meet for lunch around 2pm that same day. Ca ndice reveals how upset she is about not asking Mel out after class and not knowing if she even wants to anymore. Jasmine tries to calm her down & move her energy away from that situation & gear it towards the party. The Day of the Party- This day moves pretty quickly from the moment the casts opens their eyes, to the moment they are ready to lay back in their beds.Jasmine, who ordered a dress online that week, is yet to receive her package in the mail and has no outfit for the night. A mall trip has to be squeezed in to try and fix this, yet no outfit compares to what Jasmine had in mind originally. The viewer then meets VEE, Candice & Jasmine’s close friend who has been promoting the party for them and making sure they get a great turn out. Vee makes sure everything is in line and that the party still goes on no matter what. That night is closely followed throughout the party and we see the reactions of the guests who come.The Morning after Breakfast – At this point the show will reinforce the friendship between the two students, Candice & Jasmine, and how close graduation really is. The eat breakfast and discuss all that went on that night. Candice can barely remember, she had so many drinks, and Jasmine recalls all the compliments she received all night. Clips from the previous night are shown and advice, reassurance, and support between the ladies are highlighted. Any additional outlandish or hilarious stories are played out. At the end of it all the ladies are asked to give their own separate individual comments on the overall experience.