Functionalist Views on Religion Essay Example for Free

Functionalist Views on Religion Essay The functionalist view of religion stems from Durkheim who said that society is like the human body. He argued that that religion reinforces collective conscience that leads to a unity within society as a whole and that each member of the society is joined in solidarity, therefore it acts as glue. It does so by reinforcing social norms and values that bring the community together. It allows people to accept that society is about more than just the individual. However this can be questioned as western societies such as Britain are becoming increasingly secular. This means that they don’t believe in religion as much, and therefore how can religion act as a collective conscience. People are turning to science as a way of life, theories which head down the evolutionary approach. It suggests that the theory is out of date. Malinowski looked at the psychological function of religion. This looked at when things such as funerals and divorce occur. Religion acts as an act of hope which allows individuals to feel at ease when they are increasingly stressed out. They are brought together like a community within things like a funeral because it allows the individual to grieve but collectively with active members of the family and church/synagogue/mosque etc. At times of uncertainty and stress, religion helps people to gain control of themselves again, and community acts like funerals progress that. This is supported by the study of the Trobriand Islanders. The fisherman had a number of prayer rituals which they performed before going out to sea. They did this as a group of individuals to have a sense of a belonging to a community of fishermen. They would not perform these then they were sailing because of safety. Malinowski suggested that the threat of the open sea to them, was like a threat to the stability of their community and therefore they had to perform those prayer rituals to prevent that from happening. However Marxists would criticise this and say that actually religion teaches people social control. And actually when people have grieved at a funeral it doesn’t allow them to fully express their grief, they are socially controlled into â€Å"getting over it† which is morally wrong. Parsons agreed with Malinowski and Durkheim, but went further and suggested that religion provided answers to unanswered questions about the meaning of life, and about things like death, it also prevented anomie. He agreed that religion promotes social solidarity, and agreed that it helps in times of stress. EG during the Second World War, people began to gather together in churches as a community as a source of comfort. Bellah suggested that there were functional alternatives to religion known as â€Å"civil religion†, which brought whole countries together regardless of their faith but on behalf of a civil religion. He suggested that instead of religion facing secularisation it is facing transformation into isms such as Americanism. Uses religious images to promote national identity, EG in America having â€Å"God bless America† on coins or the Queen’s coronation in Britain. It is an act that allows the country to come together without questions of ethnicity, gender, religion etc. The functionalist theory of religion benefits wider society and the individual through marriage, bar mitzvahs, christenings, pilgrimages to Mecca/Lourdes, praying the holy books – Quran, Bible, Torah, and things like hymns. Religion helps to bring communities together and also helps individuals who may not feel wanted, welcomed into religious practices. However, contemporary examples suggest that religion doesn’t bind people together at all; in fact it allows the complete opposite. For example, in Northern Ireland there is conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants, which suggests that religion doesn’t help equality between religious groups. And as functionalism is a consensus theory it is doing the actual opposite – allowing conflict. Functionalism has been criticised because of today’s multicultural society. Theorists such as post-modernists are questioning whether religion can actually integrate a multi-faith society, where lots of small groups have different religious views. They would agree that Durkheim’s view of religion was accurate for a primitive society but not for a complex society such as today. Many other theorists have criticised functionalists and their theories about religion. Marxists would argue that religion oppresses groups of women and the poor, so how can religion benefit the individual or society. If an individual is being separated due to his/her gender and class then how can religion allow them to fit into a community when the elites would look down upon them. People recognise that Bellah’s approach of civil religion begins to overcome the problem, but again can something like Americanism be considered as a religion, especially if there is no belief in he supernatural? Some people would argue that religion is spread as a plan to spring hatred on one group of people. It benefits one group but puts down another. Today’s example would be of Pastor Terry Jones, wanting to burn the Quran. He brought about this plan to make Muslims angry, and therefore how can a group of Muslims be part of a community when someone in a position like his can provide such hatred for another religious group. It goes back to the question of integrating a multi-faith society. Granted that the church proposing this was small, but sometimes minority influence has an impact which is why it was all over the media. This provides evidence that religion isn’t able to benefit society or an individual because certain groups are always made to feel alienated, from a mainstream trend. To conclude, religion is inevitably able to help people in terms of crises, and does prevent anomie, but on the other hand it does allow for social cohesion to break down, as hatred for religious groups grow subtly in countries.

Effectively Managing A Work Life Balance Social Work Essay

Effectively Managing A Work Life Balance Social Work Essay Work-life balance is defined here as an individuals ability to meet their work and family commitments, as well as other non-work responsibilities and activities. Work life balance, in addition to the relations between work and family functions, also involves other roles in other areas of life. In this study, due to its more extensive associations, the concept of work -life balance is preferred. Work-life balance has been defined differently by different scholars. In order to broaden our perspectives, some definitions will be presented. Greenhaus (2002) defined work -life balance as satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home with a minimum of role conflict. Felstead et al. (2002) defines work-life balance as the relationship between the institutional and cultural times and spaces of work and non-work in societies where income is predominantly generated and distributed through labor markets. Aycan et al. (2007) confined the subject only with work and family and put forward the concept of life balance with a more whole perspective. Scholars defined life balance as fulfilling the demands satisfactorily in the three basic areas of life; namely, work, family and private. Work demands work hours, work intensity and proportion of working hours spent in work. Additional work hours subtract from home time, while high work intensity or work pressure may result in fatigue, anxiety or other adverse physiological consequences that affect the quality of home and family life( White et al.,2003). Family demands include such subjects as the roles of the individuals (e.g. Father, mother, etc.,) family responsibilities (e.g childcare, house chores, etc) looking after the old members, children. Besides this, there are some other demands in work life balance than family and work live relaxation, vacation, sports and personal development programmes. Work -life balance is not the allocation of time equally among work, family and personal demands. In literature, it is also emphasized that work-life balance is subjective phenomenon that changes from person to person. In this regard, work-life balance should be regarded as allocating the available resources like time, thought and labor wisely among the elements of life. While some adopt the philosophy of working to live and sees work as the objective, others consider living to work and situated work into the centre of life. DETERMINANTS OF WORK-LIFE BALANCE Many things in life are the determinants of work life balance. The subjects in the literature that are related the most with work life balance are grouped here. INDIVIDUAL: An individual is the most important determinant of work -life balance. two American cardiologists Rosenman and Friedman determined two different types of personality depending on heart disorders and individual behaviours: type A and type B. Type A expresses someone who is more active, more work oriented, more passionate and competitive, while Type B is calm, patient, balanced and right minded. It can be argued that since type A is more work oriented, there will be a negative reflection of it to work -life balance. Yet work holism, which is considered as an obsessive behavior, is another thing that destroys work-life balance. When work holism connotes over addiction to work, being at work for a very long time, overworking and busy with work at times out of work. Since life is not only about work, workaholics suffer from alienation, family problems and some health problems. Porter(1996) states that alcoholics, workaholics neglect their families, friends, relations and other social responsibilities. FAMILY: The demands that one experience in family life and that have effects on life balance can be given as the demand of workload and time, role expectations in family and support to be given to the spouse. It is also included in the literature that such variances as marriage, child rising, caring of the elderly at home have effect on work-life balance since they demand more family responsibilities. Those who have to look after a child or the elderly might sometimes have to risk their career by shortening their working hours, which becomes a source of stress for them. On the other hand, those without children or any elderly to look after at home experience less work-life imbalance. WORK AND ORGANISATION: Work environment is more effective in work-life imbalance than the family environment. The job and the institution one works in both demands on his time, efforts and mental capacity. Among the efforts to increase organizational efficiency, one of the subjects managers focus on is to raise the organizational efficiency, one of the subjects managers focus on is to raise the organizational loyalty of the staff. SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT: Another determinant of work-life balance is social environment. Especially in countries that stand out with their culturally collectivist characteristics, an individual also has responsibilities towards certain social groups he belongs. CONSEQUENCES OF WORK-LIFE IMBALANCE The stress based conflict occurs when one of the roles of the individual at work or in the family causes stress on the individual and this stress affects the other roles of the individual. The behavior stress occurs when the behavior at work and out of work are dissonant and conflicting. PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS According to Lowe (2005), work life imbalance affects the overall well-being of the individual causing such problems as dissatisfaction from life, prolonged sadness, using drugs or alcohol. FAMILY IMPLICATIONS: Organization expects from individual to allocate more time for their work while at the same time the family want him to perform his responsibilities too. Those who cant sustain work-life balance are bound to experience many problems in their families such as lower family satisfaction, decreased involvement in family roles etc. ORGANIZATIONALIMPLICATIONS: Those whose demands of the family and ones social interest are not met duly naturally prefer sacrificing his working hours, and carry out their personal needs. ORGANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE In order to decrease the negative consequences of work- family conflict on working individuals, family friendly organizational culture and human resources applications have recently been in agenda of executive. The components of the organizational strategy are flexible working hours , child care and elderly care scheme, home working ,job sharing. Supportive programmes for the family life of employees in an organization contribute to providing work -life balance. Thanks to these programmes, the employees will be encouraged, their attendance will be supported and their efficiency will increase. Flexible working hours is one of the methods used to maintain work-life balance. For example employees with flexi-time will have to fulfill certain amount of time weekly. Other thing which can be done is to allow employees to work at home away from traditional work environment. CONCLUSION: If one has managed to allocate the required time for every aspect of life duly and not to reflect the problems in one part of life to another it means that he has been able to achieve work-family balance. Life as a whole is composed of many other aspects along with work. Those who have achieved a balance among these aspects are sure to achieve the life balance, which does away with any imbalance.

American Graffiti Essay -- essays research papers

American Graffiti (1973) This classic move focuses on a single night in the early Sixties, the hopeful future of the main characters is followed by the events which occur. Steve (Ron Howard), and Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) will be leaving for college the very next day, the build up of years of hard work. Finally they'll be able to leave their small hometown and "spread their wings", experiencing life in ways they never have. Curt is unattached to anyone, but Steve will be leaving behind his longtime girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams), who happens to be Curt's sister. Also remaining at home are Terry (Charles Martin Smith), a fumbling nerd, and John (Paul Le Mat), an older kid with "the fastest car in the valley". The two main things that kid's focused on in 1962, it was cars and music. Everyone who's anyone cruises the strip in their shiny automobiles and while they're doing that they're listening to Wolfman Jack on the radio. Music is an integral part of this group, defining its moods, fears, desires and feeding from the same emotions. Curt, a scholarship winner, is filled with doubt regarding his future. Everything that he's ever done has been aimed at college, yet now the moment is upon him Curt wonders if instead he should take time off. Symbolic of this uncertainty is a blonde in a white T-bird; elusive and enchanting she always slips away from Curt when he nears. In contrast, Steve is (if a...

Adolescence and Juvenile Delinquency Essay -- Juvenile Delinquent Crim

I couldn't begin to cover all the possible reasons that may cause an adolescent to become a "juvenile delinquent." During my research, I found that the term juvenile delinquency is defined a number of ways. Mosby's Medical Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary summed up juvenile delinquency best with this definition; "resistant antisocial, illegal, or criminal behavior by children or adolescents to the degree that it cannot be controlled or corrected by the parents, endangers others in the community, and becomes the concern of a law enforcement agency"(1994). I found that most theories about what causes delinquency in children and adolescents originate with families and parenting. Many statistics and studies have been conducted comparing the number of youths that had chosen a delinquent life style, with single parent households, or parents who were drug and alcohol dependant. It is my belief that three out of four parenting styles that we have studied in our text, when taken to extremes, can be just as damaging to an adolescent as a parent suffering from drug or alcohol addiction. Parents who exhibit an indifferent parenting style send the worst possible message to their children. "When permissiveness is accompanied by high hostility, the child feels free to give rein to his most destructive impulses"(Craig, 1996, p.316). And where exactly in the question of causation does nature Vs nurture fit in. What about the child who seemingly has balanced, consistent authoritative parents, and still chooses a delinquent lifestyle. I'm going to address some of these issues in the pages to follow, beginning with an external factor that may influence some of our younger children; TV. The impact of television violence has been debated since TV first arrived in America. According to a study highlighted in US News and World Report, the more violent TV programs children watch, the more likely they are to commit violent crimes. "The greatest impact is on pre-adolescent children who do not yet have the capacity to gauge what is real and what is not" (Zuckerman, Aug. 2,1993). The theory states, that combined with a lack of parenting by "plugging" children into the TV, these children later in life will be conditioned to violence, regarding it as exciting, charismatic, and effective. Opponents of this theory argue... ...est in their role as a parent, and combine this with a low level of affection. This indifferent parenting style offers absolutely no guidance to an adolescent, leaving plenty of room for those environmental factors to take over. A clearly more effective parenting style models the authoritative style highlighted in our text. Children brought up under this framework have a much better chance of avoiding the pit falls of delinquency. There has also been legislation introduced to use public funds to empower religious institutions to act as safe havens for at risk children. Many deterrents have been tried to reduce the effects of juvenile delinquency. More youths are being tried as adults in certain cases, and curfews are being enforced now more than ever. Law enforcement agiencies aggressivly enforce truency laws, and most officers I talk to are very intollerent of the slightest sign of disrespect when approaching suspect youths. Child and family counseling techniques have changed to fit more complex and extreme situations. The fact is that we live in an imperfect world, and final solutions to this problem will probably not be found by men, but by God.

Wernicke’s Encephalopathy Essays -- Biology Health Medicine Papers

Wernicke’s Encephalopathy Introduction Carl Wernicke first described the syndrome in 1881. He referred to the disorder as acute superior hemorrhagic polioencephalitis. Some of the original patients he described included two male alcoholics and a women with esophageal stenosis. He described a clinic triad of encephalopathy, ophthalmoplegia, and ataxia. Unfortunately, most diagnoses are not made clinically but rather at autopsy. This suggests that the classic clinical triad is rare, or that clinicians do not properly recognize the symptoms. In some clinical studies, only one third of patients diagnosed with Wernicke’s encephalopathy (WE) presented with the classical triad. The majority of the patients presented encephalopathy (characterized by disorientation, indifference, and inattentiveness). Ocular motor abnormalities (nystagmus, lateral rectus palsy, and conjugate gaze palsies) occurred in 96%, resulting from oculomotor, abducens, and vestibular nuclei lesions. Gait ataxia presented in 87%, probably due to a combination of cerebellar and vestibular involvement as well as polyneuropathy. However, an autopsy-based study revealed that while 82% had mental status abnormalities only 23% had ataxia, 29% ocular motor abnormalities, and 11% polyneuropathy. The clinical triad was identified in only 17% of autopsy cases, and 19% sh owed none of the classic symptoms. This discrepancy between the clinical and autopsy-based studies is probably due to exclusion of atypical cases in the clinical series and the underestimation in the autopsy series of classic signs that were not properly elicited, recognized, or recorded (1). At autopsy the characteristic lesions of WK occur primarily in nuclei and structures surrounding the thi... ...e), 8 (2):107-113. 6. Butterworth, R. F., Pathophysiology of Cerebellar Dysfunction in the Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. Canad. J. Neuroscien., 1993 (May), 20 suppl. 3: sl23-126. 7. Parkin, A. J., Dunn, J. C., Lee, C., O’Hara, P. F., Nissbaum, L. Neuropsychological Sequelae of Wernicke’s Encephalopathy in a 20-Year-Old Woman: Selective Impairment of a Frontal Memory System. Brain Cognition, 1993 (Jan), 21(1): 1-19 8. Halliday, G., Ellis, J., Harper, C. The Locus Coeruleus and Memory: A Study of Chronic Alcoholics With and Without the Memory Impairment of Korsakoff’s Syndrome. Brain Research, 1992 (Dec), 598; 33-37. 9. Halliday, G., Ellis, J., Heard, R., Caine, D., Harper, C. Brainstem Serotonergic Neurons in Chronic Alcoholics With and Without the Memory Impairment of Korsakoff’s Psychosis. J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol., 1993 (Nov), 52(6):567-579.

Marketing Mix of Unilever Soaps Essay

Unilever Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast- moving consumer goods. We aim to provide people the world over with products that are good for them and good for others. Vision Unilever’s Corporate Purpose * Deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world gives Unilever a strong relationship with consumers and are the foundation for future growth. They hope to bring their wealth of knowledge and international expertise to the service of local consumers – a truly multi-local multinational. * Unilever believes that long-term success requires a total commitment to exceptional standards of performance and productivity, to working together effectively, and to a willingness to embrace new ideas and learn continuously. * To succeed also requires, Unilever believes, the highest standards of corporate behavior towards everyone they work with, the communities they touch, and the environment on which they have an impact. This is Unilever’s road to sustainable, profitable growth, creating long-term value for shareholders, our people, and our business partners. Unilever’s Growth Priorities Ambition: To win share and grow volume in every category and country. * Winning with brands & Innovation * Winning with people * Winning in the marketplace * Winning through continuous improvement Consumer Product Market By and large in the consumer product markets that prevail all over, products are defined in terms of the buying behavior of shoppers. Following three are the major categories defined; * Convenience goods * Shopping goods * Specialty goods Convenience goods, usually the edible food items, are known to be purchased often, quickly, and with little comparison or effort. On the other hand shopping goods involve product comparisons on such bases as quality, price, style and suitability like for example if you go out to purchase a television set, you’ll definitely take into account whether you want an LCD or an LED or even Plasma maybe; other than this you would be making a mental analysis in your head as to whether your last reviews about a particular brand say Samsung or Song or LG was good or bad and likewise you would be narrowing down your list of choice. Lastly specialty goods possess unique attributes for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special effort; an example maybe of Mercedes or any sports car or any luxury item for that matter. These shopping characteristics, in turn, determine marketing mix emphasis for each product type. For example, in our case of the chosen product category soap which comes underneath the head of convenience good; the often impulsive nature of purchases puts stress on the â€Å"place† element to make sure these products are widely available and highly visible. 1. Product Product: A product is more than something with physical characteristics. In a very narrow sense a product is set of tangible physical assembled in an identifiable form. From the perspective of a marketing manager a new product can be anything management believes to be new, usually categorized as a major innovation, a minor innovation, or a modification. Major Innovation – this entails any new product that the company develops & introduces; having no prior existence in the market by any company Minor Innovation –  this entails a product which the company previously did not make but others in the market did. Modification – is an adjustment in the tangible features that may include color, packaging, size; product improvements etc. All facts and figures considered mostly when new products find their way on shelves is through modifications. Unilever’s Products Unilever’s products image building features includes: †¢Color: For the sake of variety they have full colored products. Like LUX, Dove, Lifebuoy are available in different colors. †¢Quality: Unilever maintains the high standards of quality of its products for the entire target market, which creates a strong image in the consumer’s mind. †¢Warranty: It is the policy of the company that it replaces the products damaged due to manufacturing or quality fault whenever claimed. 2.1. LUX In 1954 local production of this remarkable successful toilet soap began. Lux happens to be the largest Unilever brand globally, with its glamorous association with film stars providing a common link across the world. History of Lux: Lux soap was first launched in the UK in 1899. The name â€Å"LUX† was chosen as the Latin word for â€Å"light†. Lux was introduced as bathroom soap in the US in 1925 and in the UK in 1928 as a brand extension of LUX soap flakes. Formula given by Research and Development departments in foreign countries: LUX is produced in Pakistan from imported raw materials. Sodium soap, glycerol and different extracts according to flavors, coming from Unilever plants. †¢Almond Oil: An excellent skin softener and moisturizer. Almond oil is great for all skin types but especially beneficial for dry or irritated skin. †¢Cocoa Butter: Cocoa Butter is absorbed quickly into the skin to soften, lubricated, moisten and nutrients the skin. Works great to prevent and treat scars, stretch marks, and damage skin. †¢Colorants: Unilever uses a combination of micas, oxides, spices, and clays to achieve colors in their products. †¢Distilled Water: Unilever always uses distilled water for safety and purity. †¢Fragrance Oil: Fragrance oils are added in small enough quantities to not be an irritant for most people. Yet, they add enough to give a light scent which, in your favorite fragrance, you will have a hard time resisting the urge to sniff  your hand (again and again!). †¢Glycerin: Glycerin draws moisture to the skin keeping it soft. †¢Sodium hydroxides: This is the chemical used to make soap. Without this chemical, there is no soap, period. It causes a chemical reaction called specifications. Once specification is complete, the finished product is soap – and there is n o lye in the finished product. †¢Monodie Tahiti: A moisturizing and naturally fragrant oil, which quickly penetrates the skin acting as a natural barrier helping prevent dehydration (and wrinkles) of the skin. It is a wonderfully, naturally scented oil excellent for all skin types. †¢Olive Oil: Moisturizing oil used in soaps – Castile soaps are generally 100% olive oil. It softens skin while attracting moisture to your skin. It’s a mild soap which keeps your skin soft, supple and younger looking. †¢Vitamin E: A natural skin antioxidant, promoting healthy tissue Color: LUX is offered in Pakistan in five different flavors which are: †¢LUX Peach & Cream †¢LUX Strawberry & Cream †¢LUX Purple Lotus & Cream †¢LUX Aqua Sparkle †¢LUX Nature Pure Sizes: LUX in three different sizes, 80gm, 115gm and 155gm.With five different fragrances, three different sizes, international standard and high quality design, as a product, LUX has been highly successful over the years. Target Market: †¢Urban and suburban †¢Upper class people †¢Middle class people †¢Financially well-off who can afford to buy LUX. 2.2. LIFEBUOY The brand has long legendary status in the country. Lifebuoy aims to provide affordable and accessible hygiene solutions that enable people to lead a life free from hygiene related worries, everywhere, regardless of the boundaries of nationality, religion and socio-economic status. History of Lifebuoy: Lifebuoy is one of Unilever’s oldest brands. Lifebuoy Royal Disinfectant Soap was launched in 1894 as an affordable new product in the UK, to support people in their mission for better personal hygiene. Soon after launch, Lifebuoy soap travelled across the world, reaching countries such as Pakistan, where even today it is still the market-leading brand. Lifebuoy on a Mission According to the World Health Organization, diarrhea is the single largest cause of death, killing 2.2 million people every year. In Pakistan, a large number of children are also affected by this fatal disease every year. It’s been estimated that if everyone washed their hands properly at key times during the day, up to half of all childhood deaths from diarrhea could be avoided. Health and Hygiene education is the core Lifebuoy’s plans. The Way Forward For the past few years, major changes have been made to the classic Lifebuoy soap bar to ensure that it provides improved hygiene protection and a more enjoyable healthy washing experience for its billions of consumers. †¢Lifebuoy soap’s classic hard red brick shape has been replaced with a new signature Lifebuoy shape. The new shape makes the bar easier to grip and use †¢Lifebuoy soap’s characteristic medicated, carbolic smell has been replaced with a more enjoyable and contemporary ‘health’ fragrance FRAGRANCE These four variants help you protect your family from the 10 infection causing germs and stay one step ahead of them. †¢Lifebuoy Nature: A soap bar color is Green color. Green is the color of nature and life. Green symbolizes secure, natural relaxed, self-respect and well being. It’s anti-acne with neem and lemon. †¢Lifebuoy Total PROTECT Bar Soap: It’s in Red color. It is warmest of all color. Red is the color most chosen by extroverts. Active kids need unbeatable, long-lasting protection from germs. Lifebuoy Total protect Bar Soap is lab-proven to keep your family protected  from 10 infection causing germs. †¢Lifebuoy Care pack is of Blue color in which soap bar color is blue. It commands respect and authority. †¢Lifebuoy cool fresh PRODUCT: Product involved some elements which are Variety, Quality, shape & Brand Name. †¢Quality: Lifebuoy’s quality is very popular among the people. Lifebuoy has continued to change as per consumer needs. Since the soap has undergone numerous product quality improvements to offer best hygiene results. †¢Shape: Lifebuoy soap’s classic hard red brick shape has been replaced with a new signature Lifebuoy shape. The new shape makes the bar easier to grip and to use. Target Market: †¢All households who can afford buying soap †¢Children 2.3. Dove In a world of hype and stereotypes, the Dove brand provides a refreshing alternative for women who recognize that beauty isn’t simply about how you look. The Dove brand’s mission is to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening the definition of beauty and inspiring them to take great care of them. History of Dove Unilever acquired a French patent for a radically new product; a personal cleansing bar that was not soap. Rather, this new bar contained a pH-neutral cleanser and a moisturizing component. Dove Bar was born and launched in the US in 1957. †¢It promised women that it wouldn’t dry their face the way that soap did. Women tried it. And it didn’t. Thus began a very trusting relationship between Dove and its users. Shape: The shape of the bar is a perfect shape to fit into the palm of your hand. It’s oval and curved, like the back of a spoon, and is a nice fat bar of soap, not a teeny little slim bar. On both big sides of the soap is the Dove title and logo of the bird, just like on the box. Dove Bar Ingredients: Stearic Acid †¢Uses: Used as a hardener in soap. According to DCI, it also gives liquid soap a pearly appearance. †¢About This Ingredient: According to DCI and Cosmetics Info it safe by the FDA and CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review) expert panel. Stearic acid is a constituent in some vegetable oils. Sodium Tallowate †¢Uses: Used for cleansing. †¢About This Ingredient: Sodium tallowate is a salt of Tallow (according to Cosmetic Cop’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients it is a substance extracted from the fatty deposits of animals, especially from suet (the fat of cattle and sheep). It clogs pores, cause blackheads, and increase the incidence of eczema for individuals with sensitive skin. Sodium Palmitate †¢Uses: Used for cleansing and creating lather. †¢About This Ingredient: Sodium Palmitate is a salt of Palmitic Acid (according to Cosmetic Cop’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients. Palmitic Acid can be drying to the skin).This ingredient cleanses your skin, best for oily skins. Lauric Acid †¢Uses: According to Cosmetic Info it is a surfactant and cleansing agent. †¢About This Ingredient: Lauric Acid occurs naturally in some vegetable oils like palm oil. Water †¢Uses: Typically used in soap as a solvent for dissolving the oxidizer. †¢About This Ingredient: A solvent is always needed to dissolve the oxidizer. It can be water, milk, or any other liquid containing water. Water is used as a means of dissolving the oxidizer (the thing that combines with the oils to make soap). Sodium Stearate †¢Uses: The Stearate salts are generally used for their lubricating properties. They also help to keep emulsions from separating into their oil and liquid components, according to Cosmetic Info. †¢About This Ingredient: According to DCI, this ingredient is about 98% Stearic Acid. Cocamidopropyl Betaine †¢Uses: Used as a surfactant, according to Cosmetic Info. †¢About This Ingredient: This is generally regarded as one of the more gentle surfactants. This ingredient cleanses your skin. Sodium Cocoate †¢Uses: Used as a surfactant. †¢About This Ingredient: This is a gentle surfactant.This ingredient cleanses your skin. Sodium Palm Kernelate †¢Uses: Used as a surfactant. †¢About This Ingredient: This is a gentle surfactant.This ingredient cleanses your skin. Sodium Chloride †¢Uses: Used as a thickening agent. †¢About This Ingredient: Sodium Chloride is the same as ordinary table salt. Tetrasodium EDTA †¢Uses: Used as a preservative and chelating agent. †¢About This Ingredient: No known toxicity to the skin. Tetrasodium Etidronate †¢Uses: Used as a preservative and chelating agent (DCI lists this as a synonym for Tetrasodium EDTA. †¢About This Ingredient: No known toxicity to the skin. Maltol †¢Uses: Used as a flavoring agent. †¢About This Ingredient: It occurs naturally in some types of plants. It does have a fragrance. It used as a fragrance. Titanium Dioxide †¢Uses: Used as a whitening agent. †¢About This Ingredient: Titanium Dioxide is thought to have no negative side effects when used externally. PACKAGING DOVE †¢Dove soap comes in little cardboard box. The box is 8.5 cm long, 3.3 cm wide and 6 cm high. The color of the box is the typical Dove colors of the blue ‘Dove’ on a white background with the little simple gold outline of a dove over the Dove title. Beneath the words ‘Dove Cream Bar’ is the other familiar picture of a little gold droplet causing some ripples with the fraction ‘1/4’ in it. This is to show that the Dove products wit with this symbol are a quarter moisturizer them. †¢The front and back of the box both have the main title and  ¼ moisturizer bit on them. The remaining 4 sides are covered with lots of ‘blurb’. This includes ingredients, barcode, and quantity. Dove is available in 75g pack & 135g pack. 2. PLACEMENT/DISTRIBUTION Dire attention needs to be devoted to the question of ‘place’ – especially as to where to make available the product and in terms of how to get that product there; otherwise successful product decisions that have been taken will be lost. No doubt these decisions are to a very large extent influenced by the type of product that is marketed and the environment in which it is marketed, the company policies & resources and not to forget consumer needs – the ultimate buyer. These place decisions then pave way for pricing & promotion decisions to be undertaken. At the basic level, the first thing that the marketing managers need to identify is whether or not to use intermediaries; and if the answer to the question is yes then further decisions need to be taken in regards of type & organization of them i.e. wholesalers or retailers. Distribution channels once established are often hard & costly to change. 3.4. LUX Unilever Pakistan Ltd. has a huge distribution channel for LUX all over the country as its sales reach more than 10 million pieces a year as per the recent increase in demand for all of its products that were originally targeted towards urban and suburban middle & upper middleclass. Warehouses = 6/ one in each division. The company does not use its own fleet of transport for distributing its product; therefore, it has outsourced its distribution process to various third party distributors, exclusively dedicated to Unilever Pakistan Ltd. These distributors then supply the product all over Pakistan to a huge number of retailers. 3.5. Lifebuoy The strategy that Lifebuoy follows is like that in every small or big shop customer will be able to find out the product. Its distribution network directly covers about 50,000villages, reaching about 250 million consumers. It basically targets Rural, semi-urban and urban people. Rural: 72% of Pakistan’s population is in the rural areas; hence about 50% of the soaps are sold in the rural markets. Lifebuoy’s variants like Lifebuoy care,  Lifebuoy total, lifebuoy active are specially positioned for the rural market. Semi-urban: For the semi-urban segment, Lifebuoy nature & Lifebuoy fresh is positioned. Urban: All varieties are found here. 3.6. DOVE It uses one distribution channel to provide its various products to retailers. Placement and distribution of DOVE is more popular in Metropolitan cities although demand is rising now. The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesale, and general stores. 3. PRICING STRATEGIES One of the main components of marketing mix is ‘Price’ or pricing strategy incorporated by a company for a particular product. Unilever’s pricing strategy for its soap items is quite conventional based on the country (Pakistan) it is operating in. as explained in detail in the product, place and promotional parts of this report, the market is segmented into different categories based on purchasing capacity. Thus different items in category of soaps cater to the demands and needs of a particular targeted segment. The current prices for different SKUs of Lux, Lifebuoy and dove are as follows: LUX LUX luxury bar 155g Rs. 50 LUX 115g Rs. 40 LUX 80g Rs. 28 Lifebuoy Lifebuoy Jumbo Pack 155g Rs. 38 Lifebuoy 115g Rs. 32 Lifebuoy 75g Rs.24 Dove Dove white beauty bar 75g Rs. 55 Dove beauty cream bar 135g Rs.85 4.7. LUX Lux is a soap associated with beauty more or less. The target market is middle, lower middle and upper middle class. This constitutes another big chunk of population. The prices suggest the Lux is neither too cheap nor  excessively expensive. The impression that Lux gives is of a soap that is of better quality and appeals to the female populations in general. The strategy is neither skimming nor penetrative; it’s a hybrid of both as it is for any product which lies in between high and low end of product prices. Lux is a well known brand with high awareness among consumers. The value-based-pricing approach is the most suitable tag for Lux’s pricing and persona in the market. 4.8. Lifebuoy As clear from the price listings above, lifebuoy is a low-end soap of Unilever. The main focus has been to target the lesser-earning and rural population of the country. Given that huge chunk of the population falls in the low earning category, this is a big target market that needs addressing. This segment of population is very elastic in terms of demand, so a cheaper soap like Lifebuoy has high demand. Lifebuoy, for its economic price, is also used as the public toiletry item in public toilets and schools or collages or hospitals. Unilever’s strategy for Lifebuoy is penetrative in nature. As the aim is quantity maximization through lower prices. Its logical as quantity demanded will increase if the prices are kept lower for the targeted market segment. The pricing objective is to maximize quantity. As number of units sold increase, the cost of producing will decrease automatically. So it can be said the Lifebuoy is produced with cost-plus pricing method. 4.9. DOVE Dove is a prestigious brand of Unilever. Quality is the focus and target market is the upper middle and upper class of the society. Dove’s pricing suggests soap not intended for the economic buyer but for customers who believe in high quality as compared to quantity. The packing, the look the fragrance all give the indication of a quality product. The strategists believe in quality leadership as the core objective for pricing of Dove. high price gives an indication to the customer that this is the best product to have been offered in the soap category by the company. The objective is also profit margin maximization through skimmed pricing that is Unilever aims to focus on the cream of the customers who are not price sensitive and are willing to pay higher to get better quality. 4. PROMOTION Even when you have come up with the right kind of product; with the required quality attributes at the right price and through the correct distribution channels have placed it at the right spot; there is still one thing that remains; how will your intended customer know that you exist? It’s the same like if you come up with a brilliant business idea altogether and you cook up its whole feasibility without really reaping anything out of it; unless you spread the word and someone out there suddenly feels the same vibes that yes this will work and you may as a result perhaps find investment that you needed. So the element that essentially is required is promotion! and it makes a significant part of a company’s marketing mix. Promotion therefore caters to the need identified of informing people about your product in general and that it presents a better solution to whatever perceived problem or crave that they might have. Now this task has over the decades become extremely tedious for marketing managers since every day we are bombarded with different companies trying to sell their products through various modes of promotion may it be direct like selling or indirect like advertisement, publicity or sales promotion. Now it is the job of the manager at hand to identify how to be the â€Å"one† who stands out; the one to whom you would actually listen to and absorb rather than just letting it slip from one ear to the next; this task requires upmost efforts & painstaking brainstorming and idea generation & not to mention some creative efforts on the part of the marketing team on the whole. A simple example to note the efficacy of such measures is if you’d contrast the advertisement of perhaps Surf Excel and say Nirma; on most grounds we have reason to bet our money on surf excel that it has better chances of retaining in the minds of customers when they go for a purchase. Each detail no matter how minute – matters; in case of television advertisements, which channel you are going to use for airing your commercial; the reach; which season like if you are Qarshi; you’d want your commercial to air more in summers and maybe in the holy month of Ramazan as well, which time slot i.e. morning, afternoon, evening, night; whether you want your commercial to run first during the ad break or you want it in-between; the frequency – everything matters. Same goes for print media including newspapers and magazines, radio etc. Print media in terms of which newspaper or magazine? Which page? How many words? Bottom of the page or top of the page? Or maybe you’d want the whole page to yourself.  Radio in terms of which frequency to air through, at what time? How many times? And so forth; billboards & hoardings are the same story. Promotion can be seen in respect of communication. The company tends to be the sender; the mode of communication can be termed as the channel and the audience of course is the ultimate consumer; the underlying assumption is to get the message across. Since communication requires effort, expense, and time, most messages are sent with the expectation that they will generate a feedback and obviously the expectance is skewed towards the positivity whereby which the company would experience a rise in sales share & profits; therefore deciding on the promotional budget & promotion mix is imperative. Unilever Promotion For promotion; we have evaluated the indirect measures that include advertisement, sales promotion & publicity. The following outlines the key traits of each; * The aim of advertising is to inform; to persuade & to remind. * Sales promotions is usually to retailer where they are encouraged to carry higher inventory levels and stocking of related items; build brand loyalty and of course the idea is to offset competitors promotions. Sales promotions can also be targeted to customers so as to increase their current purchases or to divert customers for competitors to one’s own brand. * Publicity entails being newsworthy and believable and it includes events such as anniversary celebrations & sponsorships. 5.10. LUX LUX is positioned to be beauty soap entailed to â€Å"bringing out the star in you†. Since childhood, I along with my group members remember LUX being advertised on television screens with female models, may it be from TV or film industry; the underlying concept had always been of beauty and over the years it has sticked to that philosophy; by introducing new product variants in terms of fragrance, color; use of milk proteins, rose extract and what not. LUX has used female models time and again in its commercial each time it brought a new product improvement in terms of fruit extracts, skin moisturizing minerals etc. Some of the models that were prominent include Reema featuring a new white LUX with double moisturizing; Iraj Manzoor with  the green LUX having sea minerals. In both of these ads the message was of LUX not being just soap but a total skin care system; as you may remember by the lines â€Å"sirf soap nae, mukaamal skincare†. And then there were commercials that featured Iman Ali; tag line â€Å"mujh mai star jagaaye†; Reema with silk protein extracts; sonya jahan with new lux white commercial; â€Å"khoobsorate ka raaz ab app kai pass.† And of course Katrina Kaif with purple lotus and the tagline was to moisturize your skin with beauty oils. For its 50th anniversary(Publicity), LUX featured top models headed by Barbara Sharif in its commercial whereby which the tag was â€Å"salha saal se chala aa raha hai, LUX aur khoobsorate ka safar †¦ ab app manain hamaray sath †¦ LUX kai sath khubsoorte kai 50 saal †¦ kyunkai hum laye hain khas app kai liya LUX special edition †¦ Special edition mai dhundain 50 yrs coupon and jeetya saal bhar kai liya free lux† So in short the campaign introduced a special edition LUX bar which had a coupon that would entail you to free LUX supply for the whole year; talk about big! but I guess being a multinational company you have that leve rage to do so. As a promotional campaign (Publicity), LUX also introduced LUX style awards for the first time in 2002; which was no doubt the first of its kind in our country. And at one stance which we believe is memorable; to promote this – LUX came up with a special Black limited edition; and the commercial was aired by the name of vision factory directed by Asim Raza who evidently did an excellent job at shooting the whole thing; the main leads were Iman Ali & Shaan and the commercial picked pace with the intimidating lines â€Å" wakt aa gaya hai app se milnay ka †¦ humain join kerain at the lux style awards† and subsequently the invitation process was the LUX special edition wrapper to be sent to such and such address. LUX also featured in its ads â€Å"who will be the next LUX girl?† Sms and win exciting prizes. Recent promotional activities(Sales promotion) include the LUX gold coin scheme; and for that particular reason they came up with a new commercial featuring Humaima Malik, the now extremely popular Mahira Khan, Reema & ofcourse Meera. The commercial opens with the lines â€Å"lux kai ander chupee hain app ki kismet †¦ 4 beauties nai bajhe hain special wishes lux bars mai †¦ hazar sonay kai sikay †¦ khas app kai liya†; so this is where the four television models have been incorporated into the whole scheme. For publicity LUX also featured Ali Zafar who sang the song â€Å"dakha jo teri ankhun mai† & the video had Amina  Haq, Meera & Reema as playing the supporting roles alongside him. 5.11. Lifebuoy Lifebuoy is a brand with a rich history; infact even now; lifebuoy brings with it the nostalgic feeling of school days where one used to find â€Å"red colored† bars in washrooms & other rest rooms across the country. Although it wasn’t a particular brand of soap which had a great fragrance to its name; still the positioning had been so strong; that the memory of it remains evident in the minds of people on the whole. Today however, Lifebuoy has come a long way from being targeted to perhaps the poor labor class (lowest income class) to middle income bracket consumers thereby changing its earlier positioned strategy to a hygienic soap whereby which families can protect themselves from multiple ailments. Initial commercial that we as a group recall is that of a football ground in which the kid falls; and later the close was on â€Å"Lifebuoy hai jahan, tandrustee hai wahan †¦ Lifebuoy†. After that it’s noticeable that Lifebuoy undertook some drastic changes in its commercials; uplifting the image that it had built for so long to where now we see it as being positioned as â€Å"advance lifebuoy† that is supposedly catering to 10 infection causing bacteria; punch line â€Å"advance jaraseem†¦advance hifazat†¦.10 infections walay jaraseem se bachayega†¦aik hifazat†¦care†¦Lifebuoy†. Previously there had been commercials that featured Lifebouy as more powerful than ordinary soap in terms that it gave you better protection even hours after you bathed; furthermore active 4 was there with a blue variant incorporating â€Å"healthy ho ga Pakistan†. Then of course there had been the â€Å"Germbusters – Lifebuoy koe dar nahe†- a 5 to 6 minute graphic showing children & germs fighting against each other; singers were Ali Azmat of Junoon & Ahmed Butt of EP; which was later incorporated into a short film by asad u l haq â€Å"lifebuoy khud badlo apni dunya campaign – koe dar nahee†. Most recent campaign includes â€Å"Lifebuoy total care – Healthy ho ga Pakistan †¦ Panch ka pahara† with Wasim Akram. In this with the partnership of Wasim Akram & IT, Lifebuoy has launched its school programme in Pakistan to embed the habit of hand washing at 5 key occasions of the day in an effort to build a healthy Pakistan and they have reported figures as high as 1000 schools in 2010 with a student strength of 250,000. Lifebuoy on the independence day of Pakistan as a publicity drive  came up with Haroons video of the very famous patriotic song Dil Se on the grounds of â€Å"bari quom, bari hifazat †¦ Lifebuoy† 5.12. Dove Where LUX has by and large used female models in its advertisements to promote the concept on beauty; Dove which was launched as a mild soap; goes on to portray a different meaning to the word beauty. It widens the meaning of beauty; giving women a reason to take greater care of themselves; one of its advertisements had emphasized â€Å"since when did our definition of beauty became so distorted† and â€Å"beauty is in each one of us, that’s why women trust their skin to Dove†. Its exquisite logo of dove symbolizes purity & softness and the packaging, product, colors variations all compliment this fact and the general feel of the product for women specifically becomes nothing short of being pampered. Over the years, it has stayed true to its tag-line â€Å"one quarter moisturizing cream to one quarter cleansing cream† in its advertisement. In contrast to Lifebuoy & LUX, Dove is the least promoted brand and we believe there is room to work for better market appeal towards it. Some other Remarks regarding Sales Promotion The shop that was visited; eds in Defence – the manager there told that as an incentive overall Unilever in its sales promotion hands over Rs.250, 000/month to them ; now imagine this is only one shop that we are talking about – Consider how many corner or small departmental stores are there in Defence, and then not to mention the bigger ones like Alfatah, Pot Pourri etc and then we should not forget that there are other areas in Lahore and to top it all Unilever is a brand present across cities; so all in all what can be concluded is that Unilever on the whole for its products spends huge sum of money so as to ensure that their products are available, they occupy a better display and they are within reach of consumers.

Describe an event, achievement, or experience of which you are particularly proud but will not show up on a resume Essay

Hardship. We all go through it at least once in our lives. It visits us all from time to time and in many different ways. It can come disguised as a marriage trouble, an illness, a financial calamity, or even as a long-distance relationship. Hardship is never a pleasure for us but whether we like it or not, we all must face it. So the question now is: how well we respond to it. Among the many hardships that I have faced in my life, the hardest one was not the irritating illness called the â€Å"singer’s nodules† which I had since I was nine and still suffer from, nor the separations within my family. The hardest one was the language barrier I had to cope with in America. Since my family moved to America from Korea in 2005, my responsibility in the family has become increasingly determined because no one in my family spoke English. I was not fluent in English but I knew I had to master it so that I could help my family. But for the meantime, from sending a bill to renting an apartment room, everything was my job because I was the only one who could speak some English. However, the true yearning to learning English was derived when I was denied of need: a friend. It seemed to me then that there was no way to make a friend in America without knowing English. It seemed that the most important thing here is to be in the popular group. Being in a non-popular one meant rejection. So just imagine the isolation I endured due to the language barrier. It was such a cruel punishment just for being unable to communicate. If I had one wish that could be granted during those days, it would have been to be completely fluent in English so that I could be in the popular group. I studied hard to learn the English language but I still could not understand the nuances nor the inside jokes among popular kids in school. I studied harder and harder to fulfill my dream of being in the popular crowd but the language barrier always hindered me. And that barrier never seems to break. It was only about a year later when I realized that my motivation to learning English was wrong and immature. I participated with one of my â€Å"non popular† friends in many community services in the local area and I realized that a student like me, one who does not speak English well, can help make a more positive environment. I used to think that I am useless because I do not speak the language well. But now I see that I am wrong. Upon that realization, which also became a motivation, I started to study English in order to help other people who are struggling and no longer to be in the popular crowd. I started to stay up all night to study English. I started to refuse to answer any question that my family asked in Korean. I forced them to speak English at home. I covered the walls with English words I did not know. I wrote English phrases on the bathroom tiles and on the shower curtain so that I could study while taking a shower. I put my English notes inside a zip-lock for waterproofing so that I could study in the bathtub. I literally watched the movie â€Å"You’ve Got Mail† more than a hundred times. And I even memorized funny stories and wrote letters in English to communicate with the people in the nursing home and the pregnancy care clinic. My new attitude towards learning the language not only gave me many true friends who actually care about me but it also drastically improved my English oral communication skill so much so that people now say that I do not have the language barrier anymore. The thing I take most pride in, but will not show up in my resume, is having overcome the language barrier and having overcome it by helping others. Being a non-English speaker in America never means that one has to be useless and aloof. With hardwork, with the right attitude, and with a right heart, one can overcome anything.