Article Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Article Analysis - Essay Example rategic choice because it launches innovative health care products, and that the strategy is implemented through building synergies with existing systems and providing space for adapting new ones. In addition, the basic meaning of the article is that Apple is ready to lead in the production of innovative health care products that both prevent and manage diseases. The article, moreover, will help me succeed in class and my employment because it inspires me to also find new innovations where I can use my strengths as distinct advantages. First, the article has the elements of strategic analysis, strategic choice, and strategic implementation (Kew and Stredwick 205). Apple has a vision of being a leader of innovative products that can change industries for the better (Hull). The Apple Watch represents Apple’s vision as it enters an industry that it is new to it too. This is similar to Nintendo’s Wii that became a health care product when it promoted physical activity that has entertainment and social value. Apple Watch is an innovation that can help Apple become a more familiar brand in the health care sector. Moreover, Apple shows that its strategic choice is about innovation. It is not afraid of promoting change, as its watch combines prevention and disease management (Tozzi). Furthermore, the strategic implementation of Apple is to start with a product that is already based on linking existing systems. For instance, Tozzi says: â€Å"HealthKit will plug into electronic health records from Epic and o ther providers, enabling smoother communication between doctors and patients.† Apple Watch shows that the strategic choice is about improving how systems can work together, and how it can offer something new now and in the future. Apart from these elements of strategic management, the article has the basic meaning that Apple is ready to lead in the production of innovative health care products that both prevent and manage diseases. Apple Watch can help people

Motivation to Exercise: Social or Personal Factors?

Motivation to Exercise: Social or Personal Factors? Everybody needs to exercise regardless of ones age, gender, socio-economic status, or even physical or mental capabilities. Exercising can be in the form of sports, going to the gym or merely just walking around the housing area. According to Hornby (2005), the word exercise means activities; bodily activities such as moving the extremities or the trunk and psychological actions that is done in order to maintain health. According to Bouchard, Blair and Haskell (2007), exercise is basically considered as a repetitive psychical activity that is done to spend ones free time in order to sustain and increase a persons bodily robustness. Exercise, defined as planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movement done to improve or maintain one or more components of physical fitness (National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel, 1996). Exercise:  physical activity carried out for the sake of health and fitness (Soanes Stevenson, 2004). Now the question is does everybody exercise ? Is motivation important in exercising? What usually motivates a person to exercise? We know the answer to the first question by just looking at the people around us. Not everyone we know exercise. Yes, motivation is very important to exercise. As that influences a person to exercises or not to exercise. A person who exercises generally has a motive or also widely known as motivation. Motivation, according to Hornby (2005) is the explanation for a person to act in a certain manner. Motivation:  the stimulus, incentive, or inducement to act or react in a certain way. Purposeful behavior is motivated behavior, which means that either physiologic or social stimuli activate or motivate a person to do something (Nunez Fehrenbach, 2007). There are different aspects to motivation. It could be an external factor or an internal factor. External motivation:   incentive that accrues as a result of influence from outside sources; inducement to act or change based on the expectations and e xamples of other people. Internal motivation: incentive that accrues from within an individual; inducement to act or change based on an inherent or intrinsic desire (Nunez Fehrenbach, 2007). Motivation to exercise would vary between one person to the other. It could be to lose weight, to maintain their body figure, to increase ones self esteem, to spend time with friends or to stay healthy by avoiding degenerative diseases such as obesity, cardio-vascular disease, and hypertension. This research focuses on the two factors that contribute to the motivating a person to exercise which are the social factors and the personal factors. What is a social factor? According to Hornby (2005), the word social is defined as associated with actions that revolve around folks so that they get to congregate for contentment. The word factor according to Hornby (2005) means the reason to engage in an activity. Social motivation: an incentive or drive resulting from a sociocultural influence that init iates behavior toward a particular goal. (Nunez Fehrenbach, 2007) The social factors that is tested in this study are time spend with friends, wining in physical activities over friends, fitting in social circle and so on. What is personal factor? According to Hornby (2005), the word personal means that a person has possession of something and others do not own it. Self-motivated: motivated to do something because of ones own enthusiasm or interest, without needing pressure from others, acting on ones own initiative without external pressure (Soanes Stevenson, 2003). The personal factors that are tested in this research are that exercising gives people the time to think, to keep ones body healthy and so on. One theoretical perspective that appears useful for understanding various motivational issues in physical activity settings is self-determination theory (SDT; Deci Ryan, 2002). SDT accounts for the quality of motivation regulating behavior, as well as, the processes that facilitate motivational development (Deci Ryan, 2002) that holds considerable appeal for understanding why people initiate, persist, and terminate their involvement in various physical activities (Hagger Chatzisarantis, 2007). According to Deci and Ryan (2002), basic psychological needs represent innate nutriments (p. 7) that when satisfied authentically within social contexts promote integration, adaptation, and directly impact well-being. In contrast, environments that stifle opportunities to satisfy basic psychological needs provoke ill-being (Deci Ryan, 2002). SDT proposes that motivation is multidimensional and resides along a continuum of self-determination ranging from amotivation (i.e. when a person lacks the motivation to act) through extrinsic motivation (i.e. when a person acts in response to external cues) to intrinsic motivation (i.e. when a person acts for the inherent pleasure derived from that particular activity) (Deci and Ryan, 1985). The basic psychological needs for competence (effectively mastering challenging tasks within ones environment; Deci Ryan, 2002), autonomy (feeling a sense of ownership over ones behaviors such that they stem from an internal perceived locus of causality; Deci Ryan, 2002), and relatedness (feeling a meaningful connection with others in ones social milieu; Deci Ryan, 2002) have long been advocated within the SDT framework as fundamental to human development and well-being. SDT also considers that what goal a person holds for the activity will be important for a number of outcomes (Deci Ryan, 2002).. The content of goals can be classified as either intrinsic or extrinsic (Kasser Ryan, 1996). Intrinsic goals, such as the formation of social relationships and self-development, stem from a persons core values and are inherently rewarding to pursue. As such, they promote self determined behavior and well-being (Furnham et al., 2002). In a study conducted by Fontaine et al. (2002) based in an African American Apostolic church, 48 participants completed measures of social support, health-related quality of life, depression, exercise self-efficacy, and exercise motivation and then participated in an exercise program for 6 months. Exercise Motivation Inventory used to determine the personal motivations to participate in an exercise program comprised 14 subscales: stress management, revitalization, enjoyment, challenge, social recognition, affiliation, competition, health pressures, ill-health avoidance, positive health, weight management, appearance, strength and endurance, and nimbleness, where a higher score predicted a higher motivation. This study found that, in this community, people with high scores on affiliation were more likely to attend the exercise program. The authors concluded that exercise adherence is a complicated phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of environmental, personal, and social factor s. Social factors, in particular, may be important in promoting adherence to an exercise program in African Americans. However, it must be noted that the sample size for this study was small which prohibited the use of multivariate statistical techniques (i.e., logistic regression) to evaluate the predictive value of the study variables (Fontaine et al., 2002). In another study conducted by Gillison (2001) using a sample of 580 British schoolchildren, a model grounded in self-determination theory was explored to examine the effects of exercise goals on exercise motivation, leisure-time exercise behavior. Exercise goal content was measured using the Reasons for Exercise Inventory. Motivation towards exercise was measured using The Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire. This study hypothesized that self-determined motivation would partially mediate the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic goal content and leisure-time exercise. Intrinsic (and therefore more adaptive) goals for exercise can persist despite the presence of body related anxiety. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that adolescents perceiving themselves to be overweight and pressurized to lose weight endorsed extrinsic weight-related goals for exercise. Extrinsic goals negatively predicted, whereas intrinsic goals positively predicted, self-determined motivation, which in turn positively predicted exercise behavior. Self-determined motivation partially mediated the effects of exercise goals on reported exercise behavior. Results suggest that holding extrinsic exercise goals could compromise exercise participation levels. Teachers and parents are proposed with the aim of orienting young people towards intrinsic goals in an attempt to enhance future exercise behavior. It was hypothesized that self-determined motivation would positively predict participants leisure-time exercise. Conversely, extrinsic goals stem from aims to achieve outcomes separable from the activity it self, such as wealth and status, and are usually formed in response to external pressures. Extrinsic exercise goals negatively predicted, while intrinsic goals positively predicted, levels of self-determined motivation. In turn, greater self-determination in motivation predicted higher levels of leisure-time exercise. Fostering intrinsic goals could be beneficial for improving the mental health and exercise behavior in adolescents (Gillison, 2001). Dishman, Hales, Ward, Pfeiffer, Felton, Saunders, Dowda and Pate (2006), conducted a study on 1250 girls (39% White, 54.6% Black and 3.9% Others) whose mean age are of 17.66 years old from public high schools in South Carolina. The results of their study indicated that as bodily actions and partaking in games increases in an individual, their general perception of ones physical self increases too. General perception of ones physical self in this study focuses on aspects such as power, stamina, looks, and skills in a game. This means that people take part in games and exercise to increase their self-esteem or skills to avoid psychological conditions like depression. Although this study was conducted only among females and of those in the youth category, the results can still be applied to people of all ages and all walk of lives as exercising and its motivation are applicable for everyone. Ekeland, Heian, and Hagen (2005) conducted a study on 1821 kids and youngsters on the relationship between self-esteem and exercising. They discovered that physical activity is highly related positively with self-esteem. As the number of participants is high, the results can be well substantiated. On the other hand, there are many social factors that seem to be more convincing as compared to personal factors in predicting the motivation on exercising. Group cohesion plays an important role in this content. It contributes a positive connection on exercising regarding different aspects of group. All individuals that formed a group will become more significant. A persons act is influence by a group. It has been proven that there are effective associations between the mutual effort and conceptions of stay in a group. Abele and Ehrhart (as cited in Spink, Wilson, Priebe, 2010) proposed that as peoples thought themselves and others were in the same group, peoples were put more efforts toward the task that they work together. There are five specific variables identified by Carron Hausenblas (1998). The five variables are common fate, mutual benefit, social structure, group processes, and self-categorization. Common fate can be described as an event that joins by all the group membe rs and they share the same consequences together (Fiedler, 1967). Mutual benefit implies that the requirements obtained among the group members in a certain works (Bass, 1960).Whereas social structure can be defined as the position and duty in a group (Sherif Sherif, 1956). Shaw (1981) commented group processes as the conversation and useful interactions that take place within a group. The last variable that is self-categorization implies a sense of belongingness in one group (Brown, 1988). The five variables play an important role in the social aspect part to determine the motivation towards exercising. There is hypothesis on the five variables; common fate, mutual benefit, social structure, group processes, and self-categorization have a definite connection to the self-report regarding the devotion in an exercising activities (Spink, Wilson, Priebe, 2010). There are four evidences that support this hypothesis. Previous research conducted by Massie Shephard (1971) showed that th e attendance is higher in group-based exercise programs than individual or family ones. Steers Rhodes (1978) found out that there is a different type of adherence; energy expenditure can be seen in individual that more apprehend on group aspects in their structured exercise assembly. Furthermore, groupness can be considered to be related to adherence in exercise programs as members show more interest in remaining in a group through the cohesion mechanism that aid in fasten peoples together (Fraser Spink, 2002). Another factor that motivates exercising is exercising with the presence of friends. This happens especially in low-self monitoring individuals. The character that friend act in a persons life is significant as considered in the amount of time spend, variability of activities and role that friend can play. By viewing in this context, the fact that friend plays an important role in an individuals lives cannot be deny. It is an important matter to choose a compatible friend to engage in social activities particularly in exercising. Some knowledge and skills on the appropriate way to perform the activities is useful if all of these own by the friend (Synder, Gangestad, Simpson, 1983). The exercise that carry out seem to be much more easier if one is accompanied by friend that displayed competence and expertise in performing particular activities (Synder, Gangestad, Simpson, 1983). One that is get motivated will do more effort in displaying his or her competency and expertise and act in a suitable way in carry out certain exercise because of the opportunity that he or she received from friend that considered specialist in an activity (Synder, Gangestad, Simpson, 1983). There is also fact that friend will affect one in exercise through the mindset, affection, and choice towards partner that one will carry out physical activities with (Synder, Gangestad, Simpson, 1983). The extent to which a person shows his or her liking towards the partner will influence a person in engaging in an activity. There are people who look for coherence between their attitude and course of action in real life. In this case, people particularly in low-self monitoring person will be more likely to spend their time with their preferred partner. Correspond to this; the person will increase their approach towards specific peoples in their social circle and also their behavioral preference in the activities with those that they preferred (Synder, Gangestad, Simpson, 1983). There are some differences between high-self monitoring and low-self monitoring people in selecting their social partner. In general, the presence of friend is substantial in boosting the attitude in engaging social activities like exercise. Belza, Walwick, Schwartz, LoGerfo, Shiu-Thornton, Taylor (2004), conducted their study on 71 adults (42 females and 29 males) with their mean age being 71.6 years old on seven groups that differ in ethnicity and their mother-tongue in America such as the African American, American Indian, Native Alaskan, etc where almost 35 of them exercise on a regular basis. The participants were asked on what drove them to exercise (eg: wellbeing looks, able to hang around wi th people and so on). They found that most the participants believe that they exercise because they it benefits them both in the social aspect and health purposes (to manage constant conditions such as ache, high blood pressure, arthritis and high glucose level in the blood). He also found that when a persons overall motivation (social and personal) drops, his or her bodily activity level drops as well. This study is done to investigate whether personal factors or social factors contribute more motivation to exercise. Theory of self-efficacy, which states that the more individuals believe in their ability to perform a course of action and in the positive outcomes of those actions, the more likely they will be to initiate and persist in a given activity (Bandura, 1997). Bandura (1997) describes four sources of information that influence self-efficacy expectations (and presumably outcome expectations) and consequently actual behavior: performance of the activity, verbal encouragement from others, exposure to role models, and physiological feedback or physical sensations experienced during the activity. In a study aimed at establishing what aspects of self-efficacy theory helped initiate and engage in regular exercise, and what decreased the willingness to exercise, a total of 148 older adults from 12 Senior Centers participated, with the majority of the participants being female African American. Findings support the use of the theory of self-efficacy to change behavior among minority older adults. In this study, the extrinsic incentives were emphasized to motivate the participants. The motivational component of the program included verbal encouragement and goal setting with small incentive gifts for goal achievement, cueing to exercise through the use of written material and calendars, and role modeling of exercise through exposure to the lay exercise leader and other group members. The participants in this study specifically recognized the importance of social supports as a source of motivation to exercise. The participants reported that it was laziness that prevented them from exercising, and they needed the group interaction to motivate them to come to exercise class. This external force helped participants to rekindle old exercise habits, to initiate an exercise program, or to increase the amount of exercise they did. This study was limited in that it included only older adults who volunteered to participate in an exercise program and regularly attended senior centers (Lu isi et al., 2006). Methodology Participants Data was collected from 27th up to 31st January 2011. There were 130 subjects (51 males and 79 females) who filled the survey completely. The age range was from 18 to 65 years old and the mean age was 22.669 years old. The data was consisting of 58 Malay, 17 Chinese, 21 Indians, and 34 participants from other race such as; Korean, African, Sikh, Arabian, Pakistani and Mauritanian. We also asked their perspective of their body weight by rating the scale which provided inside the demographic (refer to appendix B). We did a convenience sampling survey in Petaling Jaya and Johor. Refer to table 1. Demographic Mean Frequency Percentages Age Gender Male Female Total Ethnicity Malay Chinese Indian Others Total Perspective of body weight Underweight Normal Overweight Obese Total 22.669 130 51 79 130 17 58 21 34 130 9 99 20 2 130 100 39.2 60.8 100 13.1 44.6 16.2 26.2 100 6.9 76.2 15.4 1.5 100 Measurement The survey questions were adapted from The Exercise Motivation Inventory (Markland and Hardy, 1993) questionnaire. However, we selected and modified some of the questions. In total, there was 20 Questions inside our survey which contained of 10 Social Factor question and 10 Personal Factor Question. This survey used a 5 scale; Not Important=1, Less Important= 2, Neutral=3, Moderately important=4, and Very Important=5. The measurement was appropriate for our study because it was not only asking people who do any exercise regularly such as fitness but also for people who do not regularly exercise. The questionnaire was referring to healthiness, diet and body shape, and environment relation. Furthermore, EMI is suitable to be assigned to younger (at least 18 years old) and older people. Procedure First, we developed the survey and delivered it to course instructor. After receiving the approval we then can started collecting the data. The participants were asked by the researchers to fill the survey voluntarily. After they agreed, they were given a consent form and the survey form. All information about this study was clearly written down on the consent form. It took approximately 10 minutes to fill the survey and participants may withdraw from the study anytime when they feel unsecure or disturbed. After they fully filled the survey, they may give it back to the researchers and leave. We found some problems while collecting the data, some of the subjects refuse to join this study because they do not understand the English language properly, they needed to go to their next class, below the minimum age or just refused to participate without any reason. Results To investigate the relationship between types of motivation and level of motivation, a Paired Sample T-Test was used. As seen in Table 2, there is a significant relationship between types of motivation and level of motivation, t (129) = 8.479, p Table 2 Mean Differences Between Personal Factors and Social Factors that motivate Exercising Variable   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mean   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  df  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  t   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Personal Factors Social Factors Older Adult Perspectives on Physical Activity and Exercise: Voices From Multiple Cultures Basia Belza, PhD, RN, Julie Walwick, MSW, Sheryl Schwartz, PhD, James LoGerfo, MD, MPH, Sharyne Shiu-Thornton, PhD, and Mary Taylor, BSN, RN (2004) Bouchard, C., Blair, S. N., Haskell, W. L. (2007). Physical activity and health. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Dishman, R.K., Hales, D.P., Pfeiffer, K.A., Felton,G., Saunders,R., Ward, D.S., Dowda,M. and Pate, R.R. (2006). Physical Self-Concept and Self-Esteem Mediate Cross-Sectional Relations of Physical Activity and Sports Participation With Depression Symptoms Among Adolescent Girls. Health Psychology, 25(3), 396-407. Ekeland,E., Heian, F., Hagen, K.B.(2005). Can exercise improve se;f-esteem in children and young people? A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39, 792-798. Hornby, A.S.(2005). Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press.

Arthur Goldens Memoirs of a Geisha Essay -- Arthur Golden Memoirs of

Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha Memoirs of a Geisha is a wonderful novel and very informative on geisha life. The book is written by Arthur Golden. Golden earned a degree from Harvard College in art history and his M.A. at Columbia University in Japanese history and he also studied Mandarin Chinese. He worked at Beijing University in Tokyo. Golden studies, credentials, and experience all make him an experience all make him an expert on geisha and Japanese culture. The novel takes place in 1929 in a poor fishing village. The main character is Sayuri, who is nine years old. Her mother dies and she is left to live with her father and older sister. Sayuri’s father can not afford to take care of his daughters. He decides to sell his daughters. The girls are examined and Sayuri’s ol...

Marketing and Aesop Essay

 Introduction Aesop is an Australian based super premium cosmetic company that has significant presence in Asia-Pacific, Australia and North America with the capability of generating A$49 million revenue in 2012. Aesop has an active track record in expanding into new markets and is planning to introduce its products into Italy. Being the seventh largest economy in the world, Italy is widely popular for its huge and sophisticated consumer market that provides significant potential opportunities for Aesop to succeed. Moreover, Italy has an established cosmetic market that is approximately 9 billion Euros in size and has potential for growth in a few product sectors. The report aims to incorporate marketing theory with in-depth research that makes up a strategic marketing plan to provide relevant and sufficient information about doing business in Italy. A situational analysis is first  performed in order to investigate the company’s performance, the macro environment, industry environment and customers base in Italy. Pertinent marketing frameworks such as PESTEL analysis, Porter’s Five Forces, customer analysis and market segmentation are used in the investigation of the macro environment, industry environment and customer base. Based on the vast amount of information collected from the situation analysis, various strategies were identified and formulated by using marketing framework such as SWOT and VRIO analysis, possibility statements, Ansoff Matrix, product life cycle concept (PLC), Porter’s generic competitive strategies and SMART marketing objectives. After selecting the strategies that Aesop are well-positioned to deploy, its market entry mode and marketing mix strategies for Italy are further developed and elaborated with the support of previous established strategies and findings. The appropriate marketing theories or frameworks used throughout this marketing plan will be described and their objective, strengths and weaknesses, if applicable, will also be discussed in their respective sections prior implementation.  Situation Analysis The foundation of a good marketing plan should have a focus on the four elements of the overall environment that might influence the success of the outcome, which is widely referred as the 4Cs and also widely known as the situation analysis (Walker 2009). The 4Cs represent company, context, competitors, customers and collaborators. An analysis on the company is first conducted and the findings will form the strengths and weaknesses of the SWOT analysis performed in the next stage. Company analysis Aesop David Paphitis established Aesop in 1987 in Melbourne, Australia. Aesop operates in the manufacturing, retailing and marketing of premium beauty and skin care segment (Euromonitor 2013). Earlier this year,  Aesop was acquired by Natura, a publicly listed Brazil cosmetic company, and retained only 35% of its stakes. Corporate mission Aesop’s mission is to provide customers with superlative skin, hair and body products with integrity, simplicity, authenticity, attention to detail and the best ingredients (Cosmetics International 2011, About Aesop 2013). Corporate vision Aesop philosophy is to focus on a holistic perspective on beauty that combines skincare with an emphasis on exercise and diet (Euromonitor 2013, Manan 2004). Product Line Aesop product portfolio consists of skincare, body care, hair care and other kits and domestic items (Motta 2013). Regional structure and operations Aesop operates more than 50 signature stores globally while owning 355 wholesales stores in more than 10 countries. It is found that Aesop’s signature and department stores provides most of the revenue for Aesop. Separately, they contributed 48% and 40% of the total revenue respectively (Motta 2013). Aesop’s global head office is in Melbourne, Australia. Aesop also positioned regional hubs in Americas, Europe and APAC-excluding Australia (Motta 2013). 3.1.6. Brand Image in the Market Aesop creates its luxury and exclusive experience for consumers based on word-of-mouth and its one-of-a-kind design only. This is contrary to most brands that rely on media and agencies for advertising and promotion (Turner 2011). Aesop uses design as a channel to communicate its core values and its customers, who demand high quality products from Aesop (Turner 2011). Aesop has undoubtedly successfully created a cult by utlitising its unique brand images created by minimalist retail stores and product design (Euromonitor 2013). Alternatively, Aesop also gains popularity through sponsorships of cultural and fashion events (Euromonitor 2013). Research and Development (R&D) Aesop situates its own R&D team in laboratory in Melbourne in the heart of its corporate headquarters (Motta 2013). The team is responsible for all the quality assurance, innovation, research and prototyping of all its products. Aesop spends a significantly higher proportion of its costs on R&D than its competitors (Burns 2002). Market share Aesop’s market share in the domestic Australian cosmetic industry is 0.1% (Lev 2013), whereas its market share in the super premium skin care within Australia is 11% (see Appendix 1). Profit Margin Aesop’s forecasted profit margin for 2013 would dip due to higher than historical depreciation and operation costs (see Appendix 2). Nevertheless, the operation costs will see of a smaller percentage of the net sales attributable to the support of strong sales. Aesop is on course to post a higher margin in the future. Management and Leadership The founder and creative director of Aesop is David Paphitis. He possesses significant experience in the beauty, skincare and hair products industry. His philosophy of nature and health is deeply entwined within Aesop’s operations. His refusal to sell Aesop to private funds is an act of never compromising quality for profit (Safe 2008). It is to avoid compromising his ideology and beliefs over Aesop’s operations and products. Context Analysis Business environment can greatly affect the business directly and indirectly.  PESTEL framework is used to identify the influences of political, economical, social, technological, environmental, and legal on the organizations. Analyzing these factors in term of current and possible future situations can imply the proper ways for the organizations in order to invest or survive in the particular business environment (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington 2008). The PESTEL factors along with its associated trends and explanations are provided below: †¢ Italian male consumers have very strong image-consciousness †¢ Many Italian men buy skin care and anti-ageing products. †¢ Some â‚ ¬250 million spent per year on beauty products and 21% of Italian men use skin products (Euromonitor 2012) Increasing shopping places for goods Increasing commerce eluxurious †¢ Most of luxurious outlets are located around Italy’s key fashion destinations of Florence, Milan and Rome (Euromonitor 2011) †¢ The retail value of internet retailing in 2011 was â‚ ¬3.1 billion, an increase of 142% compared to 2006 Competitors and Industry Analysis Porter’s five forces analysis provides insight on the degree of competitive in firm specific industry. There are five factors that affect the level of competitiveness and they show how the industry affects its players (Baines et al. 2008). Companies can use Porter five forces analysis to examine their competitors. Therefore, they will understand the opportunities and threats existing in the industry when they enter new countries and devise strategies to exploit the opportunities and minimize the threats (Peng 2014). 1.Intensity of rivalry: High This examines the number of cosmetics brands in Italy. If there are many firms in this country, the probability that Aesop can make a profit will diminish. According to Euromonitor (2012), there are a few leading cosmetics companies in Italy such as L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Beiersdorf AG and Shiseido. This shows that the degree of intensity of cosmetics industry in Italy is high. 2. Risk of entry: High Potential competitors will enter market which is attracted them but they can be obstructed by entry barriers such as brand loyalty, economies of scales and increasing in distribution. According to Reportlink (2013), an increasing in sale of global skincare market will reach to 21 percent from 2010 to 2015. In addition, the economy will recover. This will attract other competitors joining in this market because customers do not concern about a brand or brand loyalty. They will penetrate a brand that sell product in low price and good quality. In Italy, many brands from other countries try to dominate cosmetics industry especially in skin care such as L’Orà ©al, Beiersdorf, Clarins, Està ©e Lauder, Shiseido and Johnson & Johnson (Euromonitor 2012). This shows that the risk of new entry is high because competitors have to spend a lot of money in research and development to produce new product or try to differentiate their product. 3.Bargaining power of buyers: High Italian customers have high bargaining power because they have many brands of cosmetics in Italy that offer them a good quality and price that they can afford. Moreover, Italian people spend their money carefully when they purchase these stuffs because of recess economy. Buyers who are retailers can have backward integration by providing their own  brand. 4. Bargaining power of suppliers: Low Bargaining power of suppliers in cosmetics industry is low because there are a high number of market players and large suppliers. Moreover, Italian consumers prefer cosmetics that made from nature and there are many suppliers around the world who can offer the low price material such as Asian countries to cosmetics manufacturers. 5. Threat of substitutes: High There is a high threat of substitute product in cosmetics industry because there are many brands that offer same product line such as eye cream and anti aging product. Moreover, people can change their preference and counsel with dermatologist to take care of their skin health. 3.3.1. Key Competitors According to Marketline (2012), the three leading cosmetics companies in Italy are Beiersdorf AG, L’Oreal and Shiseido. However, these three cosmetics brands have different market group from Aesop. Thus, their product offerings will not be in same range even within the same product line (see Appendix 3). L’Oreal L’Oreal wants to increase their market share to another country. They need to doubling their sales and their market strategy is penetration and they call themselves is â€Å"multi channel†. L’Oreal shows and sell their product to massmarket channel such as Wal-Mart’s and Targets. Moreover, they sell cosmetics in luxury department store such as Macy’s and Nordstrom (see Appendix 4). Therefore, L’Oreal’s price will not be as high as Aesop and Shiseido because L’Oreal ‘s strategy is to cover all customers. Shiseido Shiseido categorize their customer in five age groups, so their stores are ranked according to age group. The shops that sell to high-class customers will offer better promotion to their customers such as greater rebate, good beauty consultant and many samples. Their products are luxury and anti aging which are developed through innovative scientific discoveries (Girvin 2013). According to Shiseido annual report (2012), when Shiseido operate their business in other countries, they will sell high price premium with good service from personal sellers. They use â€Å"Masstige† word to describe their brand image. This word comes from Mass and prestige, meaning that Shiseido’s products are more expensive than mass product but price is not high like prestige products.  Beiersdorf Beiersdorf is a brand that focuses on skincare: NIVEA, Eucerin and La Prairie. Beiersdorf try to continually create and produce new product to market and develop new product categories such as Nivea for men. In addition, they expand to new market to get new market share, and they offer the price that all customers can afford. Three leading cosmetics brands in Italy have different strategies to do a business (see Appendix 5). It can be seen that leading cosmetics companies in Italy such as L’Oreal and Beiersdorf AG use cost leadership strategy to gain market share. Customer Analysis In order to identify and gather relevant information on the potential customers in Italy, a customer analysis is performed to break down the customer base into groups and segments. According to Kotler (2012), the customer analysis focuses on identifying the group of customers who share similar needs and wants. It shows the nature of segmentation by socio-demographic, behavioral, psychographic and benefit sought. This variables and findings are shown below: Segmentation variables Age Details Socio-demographic Between tweens and adult is the majority aged group of Italian (Chan, Tufte, Cappello & Russell 2011). The over-50 age group possesses high buying power (Walker 2013). Gender Geography Female but male sales emerging in cosmetic product sales (Austrade 2010). Urban cities of Italy provide the convenience to access to retail store and department store (Global Insight 2007) Lifecycle state Italian bought skin care products at 72.5% of all cosmetic products (Research and Markets 2010) Income Net average annual household adjusted disposable income is US$24,216 (OECD  Better Life Index 2013). Distribution Occupation Southern Italy is 50% poorer than Northern Italy (Marketline 2012). Working population between 15  and 64 because of their ability to purchase the skin care product (OECD Better Life Index 2013). Education Ethnic group and Nationality Religion Social class Literate and highly educated (OECD Better Life Index 2013.) Italian (CIA 2013). Insignificant The majority group is middle and upper class that have high power of purchasing (Kerschner & Huq 2011). Family and acquaintances Italian customers not only buy product of themselves but also for others (Schiffman, Kanuk & Wisenblit 2010). Behavioral Readiness Occasions Loyalty Usage rate Innovativeness Aware and knowledgeable about skin care product (CIA 2013) For everyday used and special occasions. High loyalty if product can perform as claimed (Cecchi et al. 2011). Routine use Italian customers prefer to pay extra in the high quality and performance stuffs (Cecchi et al. 2011). Psychographic Personality Italians order Life Style have to strongly attitude about building and maintaining self-images in have good appearance (Sanderson 2010). Metro-sexual and self-loving.

Blackberry Eating

The poem â€Å"Blackberry Eating† by Galway Kinnell is a short but effective example of how the use of the elements of poetry can evoke emotional reaction and the corresponding emotional experience in people. The poem starts out with a matter-of-factly account or story telling of a late September trip or errand to pick up â€Å"fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to ear blackberries for breakfast†. While the first three lines directly expresses, herein, the author still makes use of stressed imagery.The color â€Å"black†, an apparent redundancy, is used to precede â€Å"blackberry† to produce or connote the image of the darkness or deepness of the fruit color, on top of the other qualities of fatness or big size and possible coldness and juicy stage of ripeness. â€Å"The stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making;† These next two and a half lines jumps into or introduces the level of figurative langu age. What initially seems a either an implied mystery or a misguided use of the pronoun â€Å"they† in referring to that entity knowledgeable on â€Å"the black art† is in fact metaphorical language.The prickly stalks obviously are not persons who practice the supposedly dark or secret art of blackberry-making. What the â€Å"penalty† element in the metaphor perhaps suggests is that the practitioner of the art earns a disadvantage, or a price to pay, when he or she holds the stalks to pick up the blackberries. These next words prompt the reader to think what the author is trying to tell: â€Å"and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue†¦. â€Å"But the next line provides the unequivocal clue: â€Å"as words sometimes do†¦. â€Å". Herein, it is revealed that the berries are compared to words, implying that blackberry-making is likened to making a craft or something with words. At t his point, the poem becomes clear, as metaphor is clearly replaced with the simile tool of the conjunction â€Å"as†. What makes this apparently simple, down-to-earth poem particularly appealing to read and listen to is the equally effective use of sound devices. A sort of metaphorical onomatopoeia is made use of in the next lines:â€Å"Certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language†. As one reads or listens to these words of simile between creating prose and poetry or oration, it is as if one can almost hear the process of chewing and eating blackberries. In Blackberry Eating, rhythm, consonance or the repeated consonant sounds anywhere and alliteration or repeated initial consonants are obviously present, what with the multiple use of black by itself or as prefix: black blackberries, blackberries, blackberry-making.â€Å"S† is a lso alliterated several times with the words strengths, squeeze, splurge, silent, startled and the present and past forms of squinch. â€Å"I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making†. As later revealed, the â€Å"tenor† in this part of poem, or what Galway Kinnell means, is the process involved in poetry composition.The author's use of the brambles and bramble fruit plant parts and the act of preparing and eating them suggest the creation or the composition of poetry. The words or lines actually used to that effect, technically called â€Å"vehicle†, constitute the metaphor or analogy. That the subject needs to go out (of his abode) to be able to procure the raw blackberry refers to the what the poet has to do in order to carry out the preliminary phase of composing his poem. As the time period o f â€Å"late September† is repeated at the end of the poem, the significance of this author's choice of the month becomes evident.The line â€Å"of blackberry-eating in late September† makes another use of sound device: the ber is repeated to create a rhythmic finale to the poem. A fusion of the style devices of literal and figurative language and sound devices, Kinnell's Blackberry Eating is an excellent piece of poetic genius. As Kinnell brings to the reader the pleasure, along with the efforts, of preparing and eating blackberries, the poem communicates how literature is akin to it. The total product is poetically narrative, metaphorically educational and a pleasure to read and hear.