Madness and Insanity in Shakespeares Hamlet - Madness and Hamlet :: Shakespeare Hamlet Essays

Madness and Hamlet       Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare's most honored works and is a piece of literature, which has been studied in depth by many a scholar. The storyline of Hamlet follows a vein of madness that begins with Claudius' murdering King Hamlet and ending with the tragic killing of almost every main character. Many reasons have been proposed for the ultimate tragedy, which occurs at the conclusion of the play. It will be argued in this essay that madness is the cause of the eventual tragedy in Shakespeare's Hamlet.    Claudius' murdering of his brother, the king is the first murderous act of mental illness in the story and it sets into course the madness of many other characters. Murdering one's brother so that they may marry their sister in law is not the act or desire of a sane person. After the king's death, Claudius and Gertrude marry within a matter of months. This quick marriage circumvents the standard mourning period of one year that is expected of a queen. Hamlet is greatly disturbed by the fact that his mother does not mourn longer for his fathers death and conveys his anger about this subject on several occasions. The marriage of a man to his sister in law is thought incestuous by the church and contributes to the overall lack of decency in this story. Claudius is directly responsible for the death of the king, Hamlet's father, and he also contributes to the deaths of Gertrude and Hamlet. His actions set into course a series of events of which the end result is the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia. He is also indirectly responsible for the deaths of these characters.    Hamlet's display of mental illness allows him to prove to himself that Claudius did, in fact, murder his father. After seeing the ghost of his father, Hamlet vows to avenge his death and decides that feigning lunacy will provide him with the means to prove Claudius' guilt. Following his initial encounter with the ghost of his father, Hamlet is very excitedly speaking with Marcellus and Horatio and tells them:    But come / Here, as before, never, so help you mercy

Economic and Political Strategies of China versus Japan Essay examples

China and Japan From 1500 to 1800, China and Japan tried to politically and economically established their countries in very different ways. Japan fought war after war for a century before they changed their ways. China on the other hand slowly established a government and used education as a tool to be politically and economically strong. Japan would later do the same. China was one of the most politically and economically strong countries during 1500 – 1800. The state was identified as family. It brought unity and integration. The political system was an expanded role of Confucianism. From 1500 – 1800, China was the most highly commercialized non-industrial society in the world. China had what is known as the perfected late imperial system. The two Dynasties that ruled China during this time period were Ming (1368 – 1644) and Ch’ing (1644 – 1911). They both had the same type of government, good familial and good educational system. The emperor was stronger than ever during Ming - Ch’ing. It made all-important and UN-important decisions. Below him were the Grand Secretaries. They made all decisions the Emperor did not want to make. The Ming and Ch’ing had an organization of offices, at the top was the military, censorate, and administrative branch, below them were six ministries. They ran a Confucian ism political system. These were also Chinas last Dynasties. During the ruling of Ming, population doubled from 60 million to 125 million. Food supply was on the same pace. They had their fare share of epidemics. The great plague of 1586 – 1589 and 1639 – 1644 killed 20% - 30% of the most populated areas. Ming re-populated open lands by re-settling villages and expanding water supply like the re-opening of the Grand Canal in 1415. Silk and cotton dominated the local markets. Silver was a dominate market in the mid 1600’s. It was imported from mines in Western Japan. Spanish Galleons brought Peruvian silver into China. This led to the opening of the private â€Å"Shensi Bank† branches to accommodate the transfer of funds. Rather than paying taxes in grain or labor, farmers would sell grain and cash crops and pay taxes in silver. Ming collapsed in 1644. In the late 16th century, a Leader unified the Manchurian tribes, proclaimed a new Dynasty, and established a government. After the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, they took over and are know as the Ch’ing Dynas... ...century due to taxes. Peasants would pay appoximently 33% of their annual income towards taxes. In return they would get military protection. In the 17th century, Japan’s economy grew. The resources previously used for war were now used for land reclamation. This doubled agricultural production and doubled population from 12 million to 24 million. Some of the by products produced were, cotton, silk, indigo, and lumber. After the growth of the economy, commence also grew. Townsmen governed districts and Samurai watched over the cities. Services such as schools, police, and Firefighter companies were provided. Merchants provided moneychangers, pawn brokers, peddlers, small shops retail establishments, and wholesale merchants. In the early 18th century, Japan adopted Confucianism, which would put schools in every district. In conclusion, China and Japan started out differently. Japan used war to establish unity and China use education and political growth. China was very strong in international trade; Japan was a secluded country. China grew slow and strong and Japan grew fast after the Warring States era. In the late 1800’s both countries were strong politically and economically.

Vivid Atmosphere

Vivid Atmosphere: Tennis Slowly, I kneel down to tie my shoe for the fourth time this match. The sweat creeps down my face as if mocking me in saying that I should have taken the cardio sessions more seriously. At this point I was doing everything I could just to keep my body from collapsing to the ground. The feel of the sun beating down makes me wonder if it is purposely driving all of its energy to sap mine. Glancing up across the court I see my water bottle filled with mountain dew.At that very moment the sugary, citrusy scent flows through my nose increasing my thirst even more. I could care less if everyone knows that my shoe really wasn’t untied, and they did. This was too much, the constant sprinting back and forth while trying to place the ball in that perfect spot. Why would anyone participate in something like this willingly? Somehow I always pick the best hobbies. It’s been about a minute now and my hand tightens around the sticky tape of my racket as I use every ounce of energy I have left to stand to my feet.Standing there my weight now shifts back and forth between my tired and blistered feet. She serves. My fast reflexes allow me to throw my racket to where the ball is going and my jaw tenses as I brace myself for impact. The vibrations tingle up my arm as I strategically swing through the ball at the perfect speed and angle. Well, almost perfect. The disappointment of another return into the net. A smirk on my opponent’s face shows her attempt at hiding the satisfaction she has in winning†¦. again.

Why Not to Use Plastic Bags

As everyone knows, the humble plastic bag has become an integral part of our lives†¦ In fact.. the plastic bag has become so common that we hardly notice their presence. Yet if you look around you.. you will notice that we are all in a swamp†¦. of plastic bags. They are everywhere. We use them to pack clothes, shoes, pens, tools, video games.. even fruits and vegetables. They are light weight, high strength, very flexible and come at a relatively low cost. Well All of this might sound wonderful. The plastic bag is an agent of air pollution, cancer and even some skin diseases. People who use these bags†¦ have made it into an environmental menace†¦ which has made many of our world's clean and glimmering metropolises into a†¦ pile of garbage. Did you know†¦ they are a slow poison in our daily life? When you use plastic bag do you know how they are made? If you don't lend me your ears†¦ Many of the plastic bags at the super market are made through recycled plastic; this means the old plastic is burnt at high temperatures and melted down. For this process †¦ a large number of hazardous chemicals are used.. which makes them a severe health hazard. When you use a plastic bag you could be responsible for giving your family members cancer, now your all wondering how this has come to be. When plastic bags and other plastic materials are burnt below 7,000 degrees they produce gasses which can lead to skin disease and some forms of cancer. Also when you bring your family products wrapped in polythene like fish, meat and vegetables they get can get infected by anaerobic bacteria, which is a germ responsible for skin cancer. Before you go ahead and throw away a plastic bag consider these true facts. Plastic bags end up in landfill. The bags are made of polymers and they are non- bio degradable (this means they cannot be broken down by the earth). Now you will ask why can't we just remove the polymers from the bag well the simple answer is.. Polymers are the same substance that makes the plastic bag a â€Å"performance material† get rid of them and your plastic bag will be as flimsy as a piece of paper†¦ Next time you go shopping and wonder why the prices of many fruits and vegetables have become more expensive†¦ consider this fact. The Plastic bags that are embedded in soil do not allow water to go into the earth. This becomes a huge problem for farmers and their crops. If their crops don't get enough water†¦ their crops will die and this is one of the factors that cause inflation in the cost of many fruits and vegetables. If you are one of the people who cares about animals.. you would like to know that humble plastic bag is also a health hazard to animals, especially in large cities where animals meet their end after eating.. a plastic bag. Even in places like zoos where animals are meant to be protected, many zoo keepers have found their animals munching away on plastic material that visitors and people like you have thrown away. Plastic bags that end up in our oceans and lakes†¦ have become a huge problem for the native wildlife. Many researchers have found the population size of animals such as the sea lion.. have de crease because of the plastic bags. These gentle creatures run into the plastic bag and it gets wrapped around their neck causing them to suffocate. The majestic sea turtle, which has been around from many millions of years are having their life drastically cut short by the plastic bags. When a sea turtle see's a plastic bag floating right past it, it mistakes the bags shape and colour for that of a jellyfish. The jelly fish is the sea turtles main source of food. So when it eats the plastic bag it also suffocates. So please†¦ don't be one of the people who are responsible for the extinction of the sea turtle! If you're a bird lover.. ou should know that even our flying friends are affected by the bag. Birds sometimes mistake the plastic bags for food but when they go to eat it the bag gets lodged in their beaks causing them to starve to death. The latest figures ravel that over 10million plastic bags are being used every day. All of this can be prevented†¦ by one simple solution. Next time you go to the super market look for an alterative to the plastic bag; this could either be a paper bag or a cloth bag. If you love your world.. and if you want to live in a cleaner environment†¦

Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. Essay

1. Stakeholders 1.1. The five-year girl and the injured: – as because of this incident a five year girl lost her life and nothing is more precious that life. 1.2. Customers: – because people were resting their futures in the hands of this number fever promotion campaign. 1.3. Victoria Angelo, her family and families like hers: – these people who didn’t have enough money to eat were buying Pepsi in the hope of changing their whole life. The rich company Pepsi was making money by making these people believe that they might win a lot of money. Instead of using their scarce resources for something more real, these people spent it on Pepsi building up dreams of getting rich and leading a good life. 1.4. Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc.:- as the campaign was launched by Pepsi-cola, it is responsible for the outcomes like deaths, lawsuits, injured etc. 1.5. Pepsi-Cola International: – as Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines Inc. is a part of the multinational firm with branches all over the world, this incident might negatively effect the sales in other countries. 1.6. PepsiCo Inc.:- as it owns 19% of the company. 1.7. Insurance companies: – The insurance companies are affected by this incident as a lot of the Pepsi-cola cars, trucks and wagons were destroyed by the angry public and these companies might have to pay for it. 1.8. Competitors especially Coca-Cola:- as a result of this incident coca-cola might be able to snatch away a huge chunk of the market from Pepsi. 1.9. Government: – It has to make sure that companies follow the laws and  they have to protect the innocent consumers. The government has to make sure illegal and unethical activities do not happen. It has to make sure that the laws are implemented without any exceptions. 1.10. Judicial system in Philippines: – as it is responsible for making sure that no violations of laws and regulations happen and people who do it are dealt with in the proper manner. 1.11. Company Employees: – they might lose their jobs as a result of the riots and losses that Pepsi had to face. 1.12. People who ran the computer or made the computer program:- as they have a significant role to play in the misprinting of the numbers. 1.13. Banks and financial institutions: – although not very clear from the case Pepsi-cola might haven taken loans form other banks. 1.14. Share and Stockholders: – although not very clear from the case, the value of the shares and stock of Pepsi-cola Company might have fallen. 2. Ethical Issues 2.1. Trust: – A climate of trust provides improved communication, greater predictability, dependability and confidence among the customer’s, employees and the company. The people trusted Pepsi to pay them the money if they would win. But Pepsi dining do that hence breaking customer trust, something once broken is very difficult to regain. 2.2. Egoism: – the company was just thinking about its own interests when it launched the campaign. It didn’t consider the poor people who might be lured by this number fever and spend the little money they had on Pepsi-cola instead of saving it and using for food, medicines, education etc, hence harming the innocent customers. 2.3. Deception: – With the winning numbers pre-selected by computer and only  ten 1-million-peso prizes available, the chance of anyone becoming a peso millionaire was one in 28.8 million. But Pepsi drinkers didn’t know that. The few winners got saturation media coverage, and entire families spent inordinate time and effort collecting bottle caps. 2.4. Theft: – these people who didn’t have enough money to eat were buying Pepsi in the hope of changing their whole life. The rich company Pepsi was making money by making these people believe that they might win a lot of money. Instead of using their scarce resources for something more real, these people spent it on Pepsi building up dreams of getting rich and leading a good life. When Pepsi refused to pay the rightful winners their rightful money, the company robbed these people of their dreams, hopes and financial resources. 3. The shaping of Public happiness a. There was maybe a little collaboration of private welfare and public good. The company was giving out prises valuing up to 1 million to people. Although the company intended to gain more market share through this action, it also helped people get more money and live a better life. On the other hand it was also private welfare as only a handful people really profited from this action. Only these few were able to lead a better life and the majority was left out b. Yes I think it is an appropriate good as one cannot always do stuff for the public good. It is not always possible to do good for all on a large scale. You need a lot of resources, power to carry out actions on such a large scale. Instead it would be better to help groups, families and individual. This is relatively easier to do and consequently a lot of people will benefit from such actions. c. What should have been differently i. Truth: – the company should have told the truth in the advertisements, that the chance to win the game is extremely small. This would help  especially the poor people in making the more sensible and invert their money in things what they really need. ii. Trust: – the company should have tried to regain trust of the people by explaining to them that the mistake was not on purpose and that they never intended to hurt people’s feelings. iii. Consequences: – The Company should have also tried to explain to the people that if Pepsi would pay the $18 billion to the people, then the company would go broke and would have to close. This would result in thousands of people loosing their jobs. iv. Government: – it should make sure that people understand such campaigns and don’t get seduced by such empty promises through better control over what the companies exactly advertise and what they do. d. Yes Pepsi was justified in not paying the full 1 million pesos: Doing that would mean that Pepsi would have to pay a total of more than $18 billion, a sum that would definitely lead to the company getting bankrupt. As a result of this thousands of people would lose their jobs not only in Philippines but also in other parts of the world where Pepsi operates as the Whole Pepsi organisation would be affected by this huge loss. The share and stock holder might lose a lot of money as a result of this loss at Pepsi. Thus it is a very complicated and damaging chain reaction that would be set of into action if Pepsi paid the money. Pepsi made a mistake in printing the numbers, something it did not intend to do. It kept its promise of giving out the 1 million to people who had the numbers but now you can’t expect the company to pay $18 billion because of an honest mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. e. Europe: – The response would have been different as the people in Europe are not that poor and live a good life. They are not that desperate. They are also well educated and understand such campaigns. South America and Africa: – the response might have been similar to that in  Philippines as the people are poor and are desperate to have money. Most of the people are not well educated and hence don’t really understand such campaigns. Asia: – the response here might be not that aggressive as in Philippine as the people are well educated and although also being poor they live in highly developing countries for example India ,China etc, that are constantly attractive huge investments from around the world. Multinational companies are building huge factories here and are outsourcing their functions in these countries. As such the people are not that desperate. f. The firms offer was OK, it could have offered some more money, but whatever it might have offered it would have never been enough for the people. The company had to think about all its shareholders and paying the full amount would have damaged lot of them for example Insurance companies, Company Employees, Banks and financial institutions, Share and Stockholders etc. It was in the best interest of everyone for the company to pay 500 pesos and not the full 1 million. 4. What would I do? Likely the ethical principles violated have to do with trust that they would keep their word, (pay for winners) even if it weren’t profitable. I don’t think the ads said anything about conditions of payment are only if they ‘choose the correct, low probability number to ensure low payoff’. It seems also that they need their customers, particularly since Coke customers will not be affected by Pepsi-Philippines decision not to pay off. I would make sure that the advertisements would mention the risks and possibilities of winning. The people would be aware of the fact that it is very difficult to win. This would help a person not to invest all his hopes and resources in something that is itself a dream. I would also try to explain to the people that if Pepsi would pay the $18 billion to the people, then the company would go broke and would have to close. This would result in thousands of people loosing their jobs. I would try to maintain the good will of the customers. The projected $ loss from loss in reputation may be worse than paying the prizes. Simply from a business and ethical perspective, I would have done something very quickly to maintain the good will of the customers once I knew of the mistake. I would have tried to regain trust of the people by explaining to them that the mistake was not on purpose and that the company never intended to hurt people’s feelings. Maybe in Hong Kong the results would have been less radical or violent. However that wouldn’t mean that the company wasn’t just as wrong for their short-sightedness and carelessness. Their carelessness led to violence and death. Something should have been done differently. Yes. 5. Application of to case 5.1. Personal Traits:- Business decisions are made by individuals or by committees, thus the ethics of business in reality is the ethics of the individuals making up the business. A series of factors influence a persons ethics: personal values, stage of moral development and moral approbation. The extent to which a decision maker’s behaviour reflects personal values depends to some extent on the decision maker’s ego strength, field dependence and locus of control. There the Pepsi-cola company is a big player with a lot of power which can lead to high ego strength and locus of control. This might cause the company to go its own way and set wrong standards and use questionable methods. Stages of development depict the type of rationale used to select options. Moral approbation characterizes the internal need for approval something that is scarcely present in big companies. Each of these traits either supports ethical or unethical behaviour. 5.2. Stakeholders :- A stakeholder is someone who has a stake in an organization or a program. Stakeholders either affect the organization/program or are affected by it. Stakeholders include people who staff a program (e.g., management, staff); people who are affected by a program (e.g., clients, their families, and the  community); people who contribute to a program in other ways (e.g., contributors, funding agencies and foundations, volunteers, partner organizations, board members, etc.); and people with a vested interest in the program (e.g., politicians, neighbors, etc.), competitors, suppliers etc. The company did not take into consideration the effects of this campaign on particularly its consumers. The Stakeholders influence decisions in both ethical and unethical directions. 5.3. Organizational Culture and Traits It might be referred to as the common set of assumptions, beliefs and values that has developed within the organisation to cope with the external and internal environment and that is passed on to new members to guide their actions within these environments. It provides a sense of identity among members and promotes a commitment of the members to something larger than self. It also provides for stability of the organisational social system and rationale and direction for behaviour. While organisational culture serves as the overall glue of the organisation specific aspects of its culture are influenced by the organisational traits for e.g. organisational climate and organisational goals etc. 3.4. Dimensions of Decision Making The Decision Processes help to explain the types of ethical decision making behaviour that occur in business. Managers indicate there are specific actions that they will not countenance – thus, the minimum performance rule. Once a set of decision alternatives has been established, each one is evaluated on the bases of the Decision dimensions like economic, political, technological, social and ethical issues. These issues are responsible at the end about the ethical nature of the decision. 3.5. Moral Intensity The degree of moral intensity influences the decision maker’s decisions. A person with a high moral intensity is tend to consider moral and ethical  issues more deeply than a person who’s moral intensity lies very low. 3.6. Minimum Performance Level/ Total Benefit Test The decision maker applies a minimum performance rule to each of the decisions that specifies the minimum acceptable performance level for each of the decision dimensions. Any alternative that creates a conflict of interest will be dropped from consideration. The minimum performance level might be less than the desired level and when considered by itself would lead to rejection of the alternative. Decisions Alternatives that survive the Minimum Performance Level rule test may then be subjected to the second phase, total benefit yielding the overall value of each alternative. After the benefit for each decision variable has being considered has been derived, one would expect that the decision maker would select the alternative with the highest benefit. 6. Lessons Critical for organizations that are striving to gain or maintain a competitive advantage and that are in the process of re-structuring for the new century. Decision-making is an important factor for growing organizational memory with newly created knowledge and a broader base of perspectives to use in subsequent decision-making situations. Given a particular decision context and a decision maker with a set of personal values, it may be very difficult to see all sides of the issue. Individual, managerial and organisational success all depend on making the right decisions at the right times.1 However, decision-making is just one component of the problem-solving process. Unless a problem has been defined and its root causes identified, managers are unlikely to be able to make an appropriate decision about how to solve it. Effective managers know how to gather and evaluate information that clarifies a problem. They know the value of generating more than one action alternative and weighing all the implications of a plan before deciding to implement it. A major responsibility for all managers is to maintain a constant lookout for actual or potential problems. Managers do this by keeping channels of communication open and monitoring. When a problem involves others, they need to feel understood and accepted; they must have confidence that the problem can be resolved; they must trust management to see the problem as a learning experience and not as an excuse to punish someone. Whether blameworthy or not, the use of the cloak of social responsibility, and the nonsense spoken in its name by influential and prestigious businessmen, does clearly harm the foundations of a free society. I have been impressed time and again by the schizophrenic character of many businessmen. They are capable of being extremely far-sighted and clear-headed in matters that are internal to their businesses. They are incredibly short-sighted and muddle-headed in matters that are outside their businesses but affect the possible survival of business in general. But the doctrine of â€Å"social responsibility† taken seriously would extend the scope of the political mechanism to every human activity. It does not differ in philosophy from the most explicitly collective doctrine. It differs only by professing to believe that collectivist ends can be attained without collectivist means. The social responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.

Marketing analysis of Famous Amos (Singapore) Essay

Famous Amos was established in the year 1983 in Singapore. It is now under Kellog’s Company since it was bought over in year 2001. Famous Amos offers cookies with nine varieties of flavours. It products also includes muffins and brownies. They serve the consumer with its finest and freshly made cookies. They believe in making the chip for the future generation. Famous Amos Cookies are also recognised as the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. Their cookies also meet the needs and wants of the audience. Famous Amos is also widely distributed in the island. Famous Amos targets audience are mainly the cookies and chocolate lovers. However, they segment their products Geographically; around the world, Demographic; targeting kids, young adults and adults, Psychographic; interest in chocolate cookies, and Behavioral Segmentation; can be used in any occasion. Famous Amos strength is mostly on its superior quality product and its weakness is mainly on its marketing skills, which is promotion. This is because, they did not advertise as frequent to inform the consumer about its existence. Famous Amos opportunity is having international expansion and threats that it may face is the increase in aging population when its target audience are mostly young adults. Famous Amos competitor is Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place. Mrs. Field is its major competitor as they are selling mostly the same and it is also known. However, Famous Amos still stays competitive by continuing to produce new products and packaging designs to strengthen their competitive positions. Company Profile of Famous AmosFamous Amos was found by Wally Amos. He was a veteran who worked as a talent agent with William Morris Agency. He started with sending home-baked chocolate cookies to celebrities mainly to attract them before opening a store in Los Angeles, California on 10 March 1975. By 1985, his sales had grown to more than $10 million. By then the people around the world could see how â€Å"famous† Famous Amos is. However, between 1985 to 1989, Famous Amos went through four different owners since inception. The President Baking Company bought the brand from the Shansby Group in 1992 before Keebler foods purchased the President Baking Company in 1998. Kellogg’s Company then bought over Keebler in 2001. Thus, Famous Amos is now part of Kellogg’s Company. It was only then Famous Amos came to Singapore. Famous Amos was first established in Singapore in the year 1983. It serves the cookies lovers varieties of cookies flavour to choose from. Famous Amos is categorized as one of the Food and Beverage industry and Bakery sector in Singapore which they specialised in cookies, muffins and brownies. With 13 stores located island wide, their minimum requirements of Corporate Structure for each store are one Service Provider and a Baker. These are number of employees who serve the customers at each branch of the stores. Famous Amos also then came out with a new way in reaching the market. They produce the packed Famous Amos Cookies that is convenient to be sold at Convenient Shop such as NTUC Fairprice and Cheers. These are for the convenience of the cookies to be reached (manufactured) around the world without having the physical stores at a country or region. Famous Amos does not have any specific mission and vision since it is now part of the Kellogg’s Company. However, they have a tag line, which states that Famous Amos is â€Å"Truly the Chip Made for the Next Generation†. This shows that they want to serve its original and the best cookies made from generation to generation. Overall, Famous Amos has gone through around the world. They served the people around the world with its finest and freshly made cookies. With these, Wally Amos is now known as the father of gourmet cookie industry. Marketing PhilosophyFamous Amos adopts the Product Concept. The product concept holds that consumers will favour those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. They focus on making superior  products and improving them over time. Thus, based on Famous Amos, we can see that it offer the most quality, which are their finest and freshly baked cookies. They bake their cookies at their each stores everyday to make sure that its cookies are always fresh. Famous Amos also produced the packets one without changing its concept in serving quality cookies. They make sure that the taste of their cookies stays the same. This is to make sure that their performances meet the standard of the consumers. Marketing OfferFamous Amos is a Profit Organization. It offers mainly Cookies. It serves the finest in freshly baked cookies. It satisfies the wants of its customer due to its freshness of products. They offer nine flavours such as â€Å"No Nut Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chip Pecan†. Their product includes Cookies, Speciality Cookies, Soft â€Å"N† Chewy Cookies and Cookies Cakes. It also includes a wide range of Muffins and Brownies. However, the core benefits that customer received is actually the exceptional taste of Famous Amos Cookies. SWOT AnalysisInternal Environment (Strengths & Weaknesses)Famous Amos brand is the ultimate strength for the company. Its brand â€Å"Famous Amos† shows it all about them being a â€Å"famous† cookie company. To add with it, Famous Amos received an International Brand Recognition, which is widely recommended and recognised. Famous Amos also has the reputation for its homemade cookies. It has a unique taste that would always attract buyers and especially chocolate cookies lover. Being a product company that is Halal Certified is also strength as it does not limit its product to only non-Muslim but to Muslim people too. Its product that is well distributed in Singapore is also a strength to Famous Amos as it reached its target audience easily. Its packed cookies are also convenient that people can purchase almost everywhere. Famous Amos also provides delivery service that makes it easier and convenience for the customer who bought it online. Its Research and Development (R&D) department also make sure that they always improve on its products and packaging design so that they remain competitive company.  Famous Amos also provides training for its employee to provide good services to the customer. Famous Amos does not need experience bakers and only required a minimal space for its store to operate. Therefore, it is cost effective for Famous Amos and act as a strength to the company. Famous Amos main weakness is in its marketing and promoting as it does not advertise its product as frequent that would inform consumer about its new product or its new stores. These will not create a want for consumer to consume its products as advertisement usually attracts the public and advertisement help to reach the public geographically. It also shows that the public are lack of information about its products. External Environment (Opportunities & Threats)Famous Amos operates stores world wide and it has successfully grow in every market it operates. This shows that Famous Amos has the opportunities in its international expansion. It is the best way in expanding its market. Famous Amos also has the opportunity to develop new strategic ways to increase their profitability. They may ask customer for suggestions or they can give suggestions and ask customer to give opinion. For example, Famous Amos can ask consumers for suggestion if they might want to produce other food products besides cookies to be sold in its stores. However, reports have shown that there is more aging population in Singapore. This will thus be a threat to Famous Amos Cookies as their target audience are mostly kids, young adults and adults. Cookies are also considered bad for health, especially when it contains a lot of sugar. This can also be a threat to the company as government has been encouraging the public to have a healthy lifestyle. Consumers will then avoid consuming something that they might consider unhealthy for them. Target Customer SegmentsFamous Amos basically targets those Cookies and Chocolate Lovers. These are their main customer they are targeting at. However, to be specific, Famous Amos segments their products through marketing segmentation. They are Geographic, Demographic, Psychographic and  Behavioural Segmentation. Famous Amos segments their product geographically generally to attract Cookies Lovers around the world such as the one in Melbourne Shopping Centre in Australia. In Singapore, Famous Amos scattered its stores island wide and it is usually at places that is at convenient to the consumers. For example, they have a store in Compasspoint located in Sengkang which caters the needs for the North-East people and Tampines for the convenient of the East people. Demographic Segmentation segment markets by age, gender, income, education, occupation, religion and race, ethnic background and family life-cycle or size. Famous Amos segments their products within most of these parameters such as the age, income and family size. Age is actually concerning anyone above 3 years old but specifically teenagers and adults of both genders. Their price is relatively affordable for consumers to buy it. They also provide packaging for immediate consumptions and as well as larger family size packs. This means that they do cater to these markets segments to attract buyers with large family size. Psychographic Segmentation consists of social class, lifestyle and personality. Famous Amos mostly segments its market through lifestyle. Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her activities, interests and opinions. When a person bought the Cookies, this may show their interest in consuming the chocolate cookies. Lastly, Famous Amos segments their products through Behavioural Segmentations which segment markets through occasions, benefits sought, user status, usage rate and loyalty status. However, in Famous Amos case, they markets through occasions and target the gift giving market. They provide special promotions and labels for special occasion. For example, they provide hampers and gifts that customer can give at any occasion. Famous Amos also offer benefit sought to the customer from its appealing gift designs. Their gift tins, hampers and products have since to become a gift to be treasured by the person who receives it and a pleasure for the one who gives it. This is the benefits sought a customer may receive. Needs and DemandsTherefore, Famous Amos target audience needs are basically to eat or to have a snack. However, the consumer wants Famous Amos Cookies to satisfy their need. Thus, when the consumer finds a need and has the purchasing power, they will then demand for high quality Famous Amos Cookies. Competitor AnalysisFamous Amos competitors are Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place. Mrs. Field is Famous Amos major competitor as it sells exactly the same as Famous Amos which is cookies, brownies and muffins. Mrs. Field are also its competitor as Mrs. Field is also well-known food and beverages products. Little Jerry’s Place is also a competitor to Famous Amos as it sell cookies and muffins too. Mrs. Field products are slightly the same as Famous Amos as they provide a range of products from cookies, nibblers, cookie cakes, brownies to muffins with a wide range of flavours. In Little Jerry’s Place, they sell only cookies but claim to offer slightly more varieties than Famous Amos and they differ by the taste as Little Jerry’s Place contains more milk, thus the rich milky taste. Mrs. Field prices are considerably the same as Famous Amos whereas Little Jerry’s Place cookies prices are cheaper as compared to Famous Amos. This is a way for Little Jerry’s Place to attract customer, which is to provide good products with low price. Mrs. Field has 8 stores located mainly around the town area and at Singapore Changi Airport. Little Jerry’s Place have 3 stores, located in West Mall, Square 2 and Ang Mo Kio Hub. This shows that Famous Amos has the advantage over its competitors for its distribution area. Mrs. Field offers 10 percent discounts vouchers and season’s offer through its website. Thus, those internets savvy might have the chance to get  discount if they came across the website. Mrs. Field also have Students Special promotion, which is free flow of drinks when dining-in before 6 in the afternoon. Little Jerry’s Place also have a current promotion. They offer one free Muffin if the customer buy four of its Muffin. Both Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place promotions are to attract more customers to buy their products. However, in this case, Mrs. Field has an advantage over Little Jerry’s Place as they target the students which can be the main consumers of cookies industry. Famous Amos is definitely the market leader as it is widely known and recognised around the world. Mrs. Field main strength over Famous Amos is the promotion. Mrs. Field promotions are always up to date as compared to Famous Amos. Mrs. Field shop is also attractive. However, another factor besides being a known brand, Famous Amos has an irresistible aroma that other shops like Mrs. Field and Little Jerry’s Place does not have. Little Jerry’s Place weakness to Famous Amos is its new entry to the market. It is still unknown and does not have any official websites for the consumers to check out their details. Thus, Famous Amos has advantages over Little Jerry’s Place due to Little Jerry’s Place weakness. With these, Little Jerry’s Place could not challenge the Famous Amos high quality, freshly baked and irresistible taste of its chocolate chip cookies. Famous Amos continues to provide its customer with the delicious sweet treats. They make sure that they always meet the standard of its customer by their performance in providing the finest in freshly baked cookies. They also continuously rolls-out new products and packaging design to strengthen their competitive position. Marketing Strategies (4Ps)ProductFamous Amos is classified as a Convenient Product. Convenient Products are products that are purchased frequently and immediately, sold at a lower price, mass advertising and many purchase locations. Thus, based on Famous Amos Singapore, Famous Amos is actually purchased frequently and immediately since it has many purchase locations. It can found mostly in shopping centres that are convenient to the markets. It has 13 stores located around Singapore such as in Cineleisure Orchard,  Tampines Mall and Marina Square. Famous Amos offers wide varieties of flavour for just its Cookies. This is to cater to different markets. For example, Double Chocolate Chip with Pecan targets those who really love chocolate as they offer twice the amount of chocolate chips than a normal favour such as Chocolate Chip with Pecan. Its cookies include the brand name, Famous Amos, quality level which they are known as the world’s best chocolate chip cookies and providing appealing gifts designs. It is nicely package even for own consumptions as it has its own packaging (Appendices: Pictures). PricingFamous Amos uses the Market-Skimming under the New Pricing Strategies. Market-Skimming states that company set a high price for a new product to â€Å"skim† revenues layer by layer from the market and make fewer, but more profitable sales. It is used when a product’s and image support the high price. Its costs of smaller volume could not be so high that they cancel the advantage of charging more. Market-Skimming strategies also make sure that competitors are not able to enter the market easily and undercut the high price. Famous Amos adopts these pricing strategies as it is a product of value. Their product and image thus supports the high price they are selling. The consumers are willing to pay as high as $4.20 for only 100 grams of Famous Amos Cookies that they purchased at the available stores. Competitors are also unable to enter the market easily and undercut the high price. This is due to its known brand and quality of its Cookies around the world for ages. DistributionFamous Amos has a Direct Marketing Channel. Direct Marketing Channel is a marketing channel that has no intermediaries. Famous Amos is a direct marketing channel as the cookies are baked freshly at its own stores that are located island wide in Singapore. This shows that it does not went through a number of intermediaries. However, the packed Famous Amos Cookies went through a number of  intermediaries. It has the Intensive Distribution as it aimed at having a product available in every outlet in where consumers might want it. This is to cater and meet those beyond reached of the cookies. PromotionsFamous Amos does not do any mass advertising for its product. However, Famous Amos has done a rapport with its consumers when they won the international acclaim as the world’s best chocolate chip cookies. It is so unique that it spun the birth of an entire new industry. Its cookies are special with a crisp, nutty and richly flavoured at just the right size. This is the public relations that the brand has done over the years. Famous Amos had also made contributing in helping the needy people by partnering with Community Chest in March 2006 (Appendix: Famous Amos Public Relations). This is to promote their cookies to the public. Famous Amos Website is also a public relation as it is a form of reaching and communicating with its audience through internet. Famous Amos provides Sales Promotion on its Cookies in Gift Tins, Gift Sets and Cookies in Gift Boxes. These are all the premium items that Famous Amos offers at lower prices as an incentive to buy their cookies. Strengths & Weakness of Marketing StrategiesFamous Amos products are definitely strength to the organization. Its product is well-known to the public due to its quality of cookies that always meet the standard of the consumers. It is strength as it can be a perfect choice for midmorning snacks or at any time of the day. It is so handy that it can also be brought for picnics or birthday parties. The same goes for the Packed Famous Amos Cookies. Packed Famous Amos Cookies that is usually manufactured to the convenient chop is strength too as it can easily reached its target audience. This is because convenient shops can be found easily and mostly everywhere. Thus consumers can purchase Famous at their convenient. Being well-located throughout the island is also strength for the organization because having stores island wide shows that consumers can easily purchase the products wherever they are. Famous Amos brand name is known that its pricing strategies are strength to them too. Competitors will be unable to challenge its cookies due to the product quality n well-known brand. Competitors have to make sure that their products are better than Famous Amos Cookies to compete with them. The original cookie that is being sold at the stores is strength as they do not have to go through a lot of intermediaries. These thus save the cost of the organization and eventually save cost for the customer. This is because each intermediary that the organization went through, they will usually tax the products and it will then increase the selling price. Famous Amos weakness is mainly on its promotion. It does not have mass advertising that will subsequently inform its consumer about their existence or that they are still there to offer them the delicious sweet treats, their Cookies. They also do not have any con-current sales promotions that usually attract the consumer attention. This will eventually go back to its product. Its irresistible aroma produced at its stores will be the only factor that shows Famous Amos is still alive. This will be its weakness as for those areas without the stores will then cause the consumer to forget about it. Even so, their products are still at advantage as its quality products are irresistible by most Chocolate Lovers. However, Famous Amos could not base on its products and do not make any changes to them. This is because they will soon be forgotten when a new brand arises. They have to make sure they did some activities to increase the relationship with the customer. Recommendations and SuggestionsFamous Amos promotion has always been its key weakness to its competitor such as Mrs. Field. Thus, they should improve its marketing, especially public relations. This is an important factor as they must communicate with the customer to show them that they are vulnerable to the company and they treasure them for consuming their products. Advertising  is equally important as advertisement helps in reminding customer about their existence. Distributing flyers or their pamphlet can also be done. Famous Amos may also like to offer financial benefits to its regular customer by having Frequency Programs. This will help its consumer to enjoy benefits that the company provide. They may also like to give out its pamphlet when they produce new products. This is also a form of promoting its products. Famous Amos may also want to wider their product varieties like providing Famous Amos may also like to make its place for the consumer to dine-in. This means that consumer can dine-in while enjoying the cookies and aroma of Famous Amos cookies. Famous Amos may also like to produce something new that target the older generation since Singapore is having more aging population. This also helps in widening its audience thus generate more profit. ConclusionFamous Amos is widely known in the world. However, it is always good for the company to improve any of its weakness, grab any chances, and be prepared in challenges that they will face and always be innovative that will strengthen their competitive position. In my findings, I found that Famous Amos is preferred as compared to its major competitor, Mrs. Field. This is so as when I consulted some people about cookies company in Singapore, some does not realise the existence of Mrs. Field. Even so, Famous Amos has to really improve on its marketing strategies to attract the consumers. It is because, Famous Amos has the opportunities in doing more than what they are doing currently. They should really inform the public about their new products if there is any. This is because, I did not know they produce a new product until I visited a Famous Amos store located in Tampines. There is a sign that shows that there is new Fudge Cake. When I asked one of the salesperson, they mentioned that it has been out for quite sometime. That is why it is important for Famous Amos to promote their products as to generate more profit to the company. However, one most important factor that Famous Amos has is its cookies fragrance. It  is strong and attract consumer to crave for their cookies. I also visited both Famous Amos competitor stores, Mrs. Field located in Changi Airport Terminal 3 and Little Jerry’s Place located in Ang Mo Kio Hub. Mrs. Field stores are so attractive. It has a good sense of attracting consumer by using bright metallic red as a theme to their store. Little Jerry’s Place does not really attract the public with its appearance. However, it use the strategy of promotion such as â€Å"Buy 4 get 1 free† to attract consumers to buy their product. Thus, I find that it is important for company to plan on its marketing strategies. This will help in their profit maximisation. I also realised that it is important for the company to be attractive in attracting the public attention. However, as a whole, I can say that Famous Amos has done a great job in its effectiveness of providing standard and superior quality products. Famous Amos has also stays competitive and innovative in managing its products. Websites Famous Amoshttp://www.famous-amos.com.sg/Main website of Famous Amoshttp://www.speakers.ca/amos_wally.aspxFounder of Famous Amoshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_amosHistory of Famous Amoshttp://www.sugarstand.com/sc/sc0073-famous-amos-cookies.htmhttp://www.instaoffice.com/famous-amos-chocolate-chip-chocolate-chip-cookie-cookies-famous-amos-food-keebler-snack-snack-food-s.keb98067.0.7.htmInformation on Packet Famous Amoshttp://www.ncss.org.sg/about_ncss/press_release_archives.aspPress Release of Famous AmosMrs. Fieldhttp://www.mrsfields.com.sg/index.htmlMain Website of Mrs. Fieldhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._FieldsHistory of Mrs. Fieldhttp://www.asiacase.com/ecatalog/NO_FILTERS/page-GLOBIZ-653127.htmlInformation of Mrs. Field (e.g. Industry)Little Jerry’s Placehttp://www.timelessfacade.com/2007/04/amk-hub.htmlhttp://www.soshiok.com/print/9256Information websites

From the perspective of an Operations Manager, present a case to the Dissertation

From the perspective of an Operations Manager, present a case to the board of directors for adoption of a formal risk management - Dissertation Example Man-made risks and natural risks are some of the risks in organisations today. According to various definitions, risk management is about events that are still forthcoming. These events may create risks and uncertainties because of many factors and causes. Moreover, the events have to be identified so that risk management can be applied. This is a challenge on the part of risk managers to ascertain and identify the risks and more importantly the causes of these risks. If they are identified, plans and strategies should immediately be applied. Risks can cause a loss or damage in case of a physical structure. Loss, which occurs after an event, can occur on tangible and intangible assets. In the literature review and subsequent discussion, a theory is presented on the linkage between operational risks and knowledge management. First, we presented what operational risks are and then discussed about knowledge management. The subsequent discussion on the link between these two led us to co nclude that risks can be identified and managed adequately through knowledge management. What follows is an interesting discussion about how risks can be reduced – or eliminated – through knowledge management practices. ... Another risk management topic discussed is the subject of information technology and the risks involved. As we know, technology and the internet have influenced our lives today especially the running and operations of businesses and organisations. Information systems and the information revolution have created more risks and uncertainties in organisations and the workplace. IT infrastructures are targets of attacks by cyber criminals and terrorists. This is another phase in the formulation of programs and strategies for risk management. Risk management in the protection of information technology infrastructure is a part of operational risk management. This and among the many topics on risk management have been provided significant spacefor discussion in this paper. 1. Introduction Countless risks occur in the world of the living. In earlier times, people encountered and dealt with risks the way they dealt with nature. They managed risks through instincts of self preservation and expe rience. As time went by and as humans invented many things in the so-called survival-of-the-fittest, risks multiplied. Risks became ordinary part of human activities during the advent of the industrial revolution and as businesses and corporations grew. In factories and construction sites, necessary measures should be undertaken to avoid risks. Risks can cause accidents and can also be detrimental to the health of workers. Firms cannot be hundred percent sure of profits but they can be sure to stay in business for as long as they know how to analyse and deal with risks. Unexpected things should not have the chance to block organisation’s business activities. The job of the risk manager