Malcolm X Richard Rodriguez essay --

Richard Rodriguez in â€Å"The Achievement of Desire† by Richard Rodriguez, displayed his early thoughts on education, how he learned from them as he grew older and how he ultimately alienated his parents do-to the way he went about getting his education. Malcolm X’s path toward education is explained in â€Å"Learning to Read† by Malcolm X. His influences, his beliefs and the actual process of what it actually took for X to become educated is explained in great detail. Malcolm X’s reasoning for wanting to be educated was to be able to reach out to Elijah Muhammad, -leader of The Nation of Islam and present himself as an educated person so Muhammad would be able to take notice. Moreover, Richard Rodrà ­guez wanted to become more educated was due to his parent’s lack of education. In addition, education was Rodriguez’s way of distancing himself from his parents and isolating himself into the world of books. There are some similarities between Malcolm X and Richard Rodriguez, like the fact that they both wanted to overcome their past and make something better of their respective situations through education. For example Rodriguez clearly states that when he was younger and would need help with his homework his parent’s absence of an education limited their abilities to help him and he had to find a way to do it himself. Moreover Rodriguez’s parent’s inability to help him was something that he learned from and later indicated that he changed his process of dealing with his schoolwork and his parents. X similarly to Rodriguez had an experience in his past that he worked to change. The work of X reveals that when X attempted to write a letter to Elijah Muhammad, he could not find the words to write that would accurately express his thoughts witho... ... educated so he decided to bury himself into his studies and leave his family life as an afterthought. Rodrà ­guezes parents were always supportive of him and his academic success but he did not embrace them as he should have. Next, Rodriguez rightly points out that at his graduation ceremonies throughout life his parents would attend and someone would always say that â€Å"your parents must be proud.† and those words always registered with him. Rodriguez’s influences were his teachers during his school years. Rodriguez wanted to obtain the same knowledge that his teachers possessed so he would be able to concentrate on the benefits his education could bring him. Later he realized that he alienated himself from his parents. Rodriguez indicates the time he was in the closet reading a book and his Mother finding him was something he looked back on as one of his regrets.

Amazing Grace Essay -- essays research papers

Jonathan Kozol's Amazing Grace is a book about the trials and tribulations of everyday life for a group of children who live in the poorest congressional district of the United States, the South Bronx. Their lives may seem extraordinary to us, but to them, they are just as normal as everyone else. What is normal? For the children of the South Bronx, living with the pollution, the sickness, the drugs, and the violence is the only way of life many of them have ever known. In this book, the children speak openly and honestly about feeling 'abandoned', 'hidden' or 'forgotten' by our nation, one that is blind to their problems. Studying the people themselves would only get us so far in understanding what their community is really like and why they feel this way. Jonathan Kozol really got to know the people individually. We can take his knowledge and stories to try for a better understanding of the environment in which they live. By doing this, we can explore the many reasons why the people have problems, what some levels of intervention could be, and possibly find some solutions to making the South Bronx a healthier and safer place for these children and others to live. Problem Identification The environment in which we study these people can only be defined by first taking a look at possible reasons why the people have problems. Some of the problems discussed in Amazing Grace have festered throughout the United States for some time now. The high numbers of drug users in the community, the high amounts of gang-related violence, and the numerous cases of people who have contracted the AIDS virus are just some of the problems that have arisen in this ghetto. There are many differences between this community and others in the United States, one of which is that the government has grouped these people all together and made a ghetto of the lowest income families. This has ostracized them from the rest of the nation. It has given them many abandonment issues to deal with, while also telling them they are not worthy of living among the wealthier population. Environmental factors are involved in the problems arising in the South Bronx. Pollution, for example, could be the biggest source of the high number of children in the community who have asthma. Asthma is a condition in which one has trouble breathing. Without clean ... ...s for the people in these neighborhoods have gotten to be that of violence and drugs. These are not healthy norms. To change them, the communities could use more education on social issues in the schools and communities to help the people learn to live healthier lifestyles, to get the word out that violence and disruptance are not all right, and to help the people obtain some community unity. Getting some of the well known community members involved in politics is another way they could get their voices heard and let the government know their needs and desires. Support groups held for people with AIDS, for people who have lost loved ones, and also for people who just need a place to talk about their emotions and get their frustrations out, would help the community as a whole and get more people involved in the healing process of that community. If the people in the South Bronx would act as a community bound together to help themselves and each other, there would be less tolerance for deviant behavior among it's members. Then the ones who act defiantly could be out-numbered, and the good citizens of the South Bronx could reclaim their homes and their lives.

Nabeel Tahir

It is indeed with great pleasure that I recommend Mr. Muhammad Shoaib to pursue his Master of Electrical Engineering. I have been associated with the Department of Electrical Engineering for the past 4 years and in that course of time had the opportunity to interact and assess many students who have passed through the portals of this Department. I have been in contact with Mr. Muhammad Shoaib ever since his 3rd year of engineering when he attended the course of Control Systems which I taught.From day one, I have seen many examples of his talent and have long been impressed by his diligence and work ethic. He is highly motivated and his apparent enthusiasm and interest in the subject is supported by his diligent work. He is smart, a high achiever, and eager to learn. He has always shown an extraordinary sense of perception of the subjects, and has made a difference to the classes with his insightful remarks. In all his course activities, his grades have been above average and he stand s in the top 3% of her class.Now, being our faculty member he is teaching Control Systems theory course with me to the undergraduates of electrical engineering. This speaks to his overall intellect and ability to learn, attributes that will serve him well in graduate study. Mr. Shoaib actively participated in extra-curricular activities also. He was an active member of the Electronic Club and Social Secretary of IEEE, UET Lahore Section. On inter-personal level too, Mr. Shoaib has endeared his self to his class-mates with his kind and compassionate nature.Inasmuch as these qualities, he is elected as Joint Secretary, Teacher Staff Association at UET Lahore for the year 2010. His combination of intelligence, commitment, perseverance, creativity, and compassionate character will certainly make him a valuable member of any academic program. It is for these reasons that I offer high recommendations for Shoaib without reservations. His drive and abilities will truly be an asset to your i nstitution. I encourage you to look favorably upon his application. If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, please do not hesitate to contact me.

‘A taste of honey’ and ‘My mother said I never should’ Essay

The two drama texts we have studied are ‘A taste of honey’ and ‘My mother said I never should’. These two texts have similar themes and issues. They both deal with growing up, single parenthood, leaving home, friendship, family relationships including conflict between daughters, parents and the attitude toward different class behaviour. In this essay I shall be exploring the similarities and differences between the two texts. I shall start with an analysis of ‘A taste of honey’ and compare this with ‘my mother said I never should’. ‘A taste of honey’ is set in the 1960’s in a scrubby little worn-down flat. It deals with the life of a young girl called Jo and her mother called Helen. In this drama text, Jo and Geof do not get on well with Helen. They are in conflict with each other all the time. We know this because the text illustrates lots of aggressive language like â€Å"oh, go to hell†. Helen has a boyfriend called peter she leaves Jo to live with him, but when she finds out that Jo is pregnant she returns to the flat. When she returns she finds that Jo is living with a young man called Geof. He is a homosexual and peter is quite homophobic so he insults him constantly. We know this because he calls him a pansy. Jo is similar to Jackie in ‘My mother said I never should’ because they are both young single mothers that have dropped out of college however, they are slightly different too because Jackie, Margaret and her family are middle/upper class opposed to Jo’s and Helen’s family which are lower/working class. ‘A taste of honey’ we see Helen come back to look after her daughter, but she runs out on her Jo and her new baby. In ‘My mother said I never should, the daughter is required to give up her role as a mother to return to art college. Jo never has this option and this is another difference between the texts. ‘My mother said I never should’ has many themes that are the same as ‘A taste of honey’ for example both deals with young mothers. In this play, there are four different generations of women. The characters names are Jackie, Margaret, Doris and the baby is called Rosie. Attitude to sex and having children has changed through the play form generation to generation as the different characters reflect this. For instant, Jackie is a young child, Margaret is pregnant, we know this because the play goes back in time to a scene in the garden where Margaret tell Doris how she feels about her miscarriage. Margaret says, â€Å"I thought I didn’t want it, till I lost it†. Doris, Margaret’s mother tells Margaret that she shouldn’t have worked while she was pregnant. She seems to think that working was the reason that Margaret lost the baby. This shows that in the 1960’s women were supposed to stay at home in bed, resting and not working. Margaret thinks that this idea is very sexist. Later in the characters’ lives Jackie challenges her mothers attitudes to sex before marriage. We learn that Jackie is already sexually active. We know this because the text states that Jackie slept with her boyfriend at his parents house Jackie say, â€Å"It was a relief to get it over with†. Her mother is not particularly happy about it as she says, â€Å"oh you can wound me sometimes, Jackie†. She is unhappy about the fact that Jackie could possible be pregnant. Later in the play we see Jackie with little baby Rosie. They are living in a run down council flat, which shows that the area is lower class. We also learn that the father is not there to help look after Rosie so Jackie is therefore a single mother. Her mother comes to visit and we learn that Jackie’s mother is pressuring Jackie into giving up the baby and return to art college. As we learn from the text, Jackie is not happy about this as Jackie mother says, â€Å"Jackie, we can’t go over this again †¦ you know as well as I do, it would be impossible† and Jackie replies by saying † I don’t believe you†. Margaret and her husband are ashamed by single parents. We know that her father is unhappy about Jackie and Rosie because he won’t go into the house however Margaret is more relaxed about the situation that Jackie and Rosie are in. she comes to pick up Rosie and Rosie’s clothes as she will be her new mother. Jackie is reluctant in giving Rosie to Margaret. Jackie is now free to go to Art College again. This reflects that attitudes towards working mothers have changed from one generation to the next. In conclusion I think both are similar in most of their themes however they differ when it comes to how the mothers react and why they react to the situation. For example Helen wanted Jo to move in with her because she thinks she cant cope and Margaret want Jackie to give the baby to her so she can go back to art college because Margaret is from an upper class family and a young single mother is shamed upon and she also wants to have a better life.

Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglass as self-made men Essay

‘Autobiography’ of Benjamin Franklin states that apart from being one of the founding fathers of United States, he was a philosopher, scientist, inventor, a leading writer, publisher and a diplomat too. A person with so many specialties in his personality is rarely seen and when we read the whole book, which has 14 chapters, we come to know that Benjamin Franklin was completely a self-made man. He gained expertise in each field he worked because he did everything in his life with all his interest. Benjamin gives a good description of his life in Philadelphia and his keen interest in literature and hilosophy in this book. He also had interest in religion prevailing in America during colonial and revolutionary period. He wrote the first five chapters of the book in England in 1771 and after 13 years i. e. , probably in 1884-85 he continued it when he was in Paris. Later when he returned to US in 1788, he completed the book giving the account of his life till he is 57 years old i. e. , till 1757. One year after Benjamin Franklin’s death, in March 1791, his autobiography was published in Paris. Benjamin was born in Boston in 1706 as his father’s 15th child out of 17. When he was a chool going child he wanted to become a minister but later he dropped this idea as he had great interest in reading and writing. For the first few years, Benjamin apprenticed his brother but soon moved to Philadelphia and worked there for some time. While staying in Philadelphia, Franklin made friends with well-known political figures and then moved to England. Here he stayed for 18 months with James Ralph who was a good friend of his but later he estranged with him. Then in 1726 he returned to America where he started a debating club in a very short time and called it the Junto. After two years, with the help of tools and knowledge gained in England, he turned ‘The Pennsylvania Gazette’ into a flourishing publication after taking it over from Keimer. In 1730 Benjamin married his beloved, Deborah Read and had two children. Franklin did printing work for the government holding small positions during 1730s. Later he became postmaster of Philadelphia and also started Poor Richard’s Almanac. He invented Franklin stove by the end of 1730s. 1740s saw him working on various projects like fire brigade, police force, university of Philadelphia and even public works like street weeping service too. After retiring from printing business in 1748 he conducted various scientific researches on lightning. He was honored with degrees from Harvard and Yale in 1753 and he turned out to be the Postmaster General of America. Next year saw war breaking out between England and France and he participated in the war by drafting proposals that helped bring funds for the war. However the ‘Autobiography’ is left unfinished and is written only up to 1757. The first chapter of his ‘Autobiography’ is addressed to his first son, William Franklin who was born nearly one year after his marriage. He writes, Dear son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the enquiries I made among the remains of my relations when you were with me in England, and the journey I undertook for that purpose. (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Chapter one, Lines 1-3) First chapter includes his present work and the reasons behind choosing it, some description of his ancestors’, about his early life and his attachment towards reading books. In chapter six, Benjamin mentions a lot of such incidents that made him decide to be simply honest in his dealings in life. The philosophical lines in chapter six are, I grew convinc’d that truth, sincerity and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life; and I form’d written resolutions. Which still remain in my journal book, to practice them ever while I lived. (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Chapter six, Paragraph 21, Lines 1-2) Thus we find that Benjamin Franklin worked on lot of projects and expertised his knowledge in various field with the help of his own experiences of life. He met various people and read variety of books too, which further helped him develop a sense of esponsibility and duty as well also morality and self-improvement. â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave† is a book with eleven chapters that gives us the picture of Douglass’s life as a slave and how keen he was to become a free man. His book has played quite an influential role during the ‘abolition movement’ of early nineteenth century in United States. The first chapter starts with the information that Douglass is unaware of his date of birth and seems sad about this fact. Then he explains that he lost his mother when he was only seven-year-old but he was taken far away from his mother even before that. He had no idea about who was his father but according to most people he must have been the son of his owner who was a white man. The first time when Douglass could see the brutal side of slavery was when he saw his Aunt Hester being whipped. The following two three chapters describe the life of slaves of that time and how they were treated along with farms’ structure also. A very important and mentionable point here is the description of the singing of the slaves and this makes the reader have a good deal of admiration for Douglass as he knows far better that slaves are forced to do everything. Douglass mentions incidents of extreme brutality with slaves even if they spoke truth. He also makes the reader aware of how slaves were taught to behave in front of their owners. In chapter five he starts with life in Baltimore as he was taken there and also mentions that had he not been taken to Baltimore, he would have been slave for the rest of his life without having the feeling of making himself free. Here he started to feel that he could also have better hopes for future and mentions his new mistress, Mrs. Auld as a very kind woman initially but in due course of time turned malicious. Douglass learned to spell small words and read a little bit from Mrs. Auld and he tried to develop his new skill whenever he found time and opportunity. The following two chapters describe his life in Baltimore and how he learns to read and write for himself and the sufferings due to this skill for him. In chapter six he mentions the difference in the treatments of a city slave and rural slave. He writes, I had resided but a short time in Baltimore before I observed a marked difference, in the treatment of slaves, from that which I had witnessed in the country. A city slave is almost free man compared with a slave on the plantation. He is much better fed and clothed, and enjoys privileges altogether unknown to the slave on the plantation. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Chapter six, Paragraph 4, Lines 1-2) When Douglass was probably ten or eleven years his master died and with the division of property he was sent to the family of Master Hugh. For some time he was moved from one master to another which he extremely hated but had no option other than to follow the instructions of his present master. During these different voyages, Douglass made up is mind to flee from this kind of life and tried to take an account of the direction he was traveling so that it would help him run away from there. He had very hard time with the kind of work he was allotted and he was even whipped almost weekly just because he was awkward with the work. All this crossed the limit of patience for Douglass and one day when his master Covey tried to tie him he fought and won. After this incident he was never beaten. Douglass was then sent to another farm where he made friends with other slaves and also taught them to read and write. Here he planed to escape with some of the slaves but was caught and sent to jail. After being released from jail he was sent to learn some trade in Baltimore and he worked as a trainee in a shipyard. Here also white men abused him and his master was kind enough to make him work as a caulker and not go back to the shipyard again. He was even given wages for his work but he had to give them to Master Auld. He writes, In the early part of the year 1838, I became quite restless. I could see no reasons why I should, at the end of each week, pour the reward of my toil into the purse of my master. When I carried to him my weekly wages, he would, after counting the money, look at me in the face with a robber-like fierceness, and ask, â€Å"Is this all? he was satisfied with nothing less than the last cent. He would, however, when I made him six dollars, sometimes give me six cents, to encourage me. It had the opposite effect. (Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave, Chapter eleven, Paragraph 3, Lines 1-3) Somehow Douglass manages and finds his own job and escapes from there and moves to Massachusetts. He mentioned very little about this escape in order to protect the names of persons who helped him in this work. After this he met his fiance and started working on his own. He then joined an antislavery get-together and fought for the issue from that time onwards. Within four months of the publication of the book, â€Å"Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave† in 1845, it made a sale of five thousand copies. Douglass sailed to England after the publication of his book and remained there for next two years, as he feared to be recaptured by his legal master. This book eventually gave him the liberty to work for himself and people now believed in the story of his past. He then started a black newspaper too.

Marketing and Fitness Center Essay

Our fitness is located in Cockeysville, Maryland, and provides fitness services to people of all age, level, and expertise. The main purpose of â€Å"Our Fitness† is to promote healthy lifestyles by providing knowledge on nutrition and exercising habits. â€Å"Our Fitness† is well known for it’s excellent services and aims to extend the business by providing two additional services. First, we will start fitness classes for people above 55 years old. These fitness classes are conducted to provide a comfortable environment for people above 55 to promote exercising habits and healthy lifestyles. Second, our fitness center will have our own restaurant next to the fitness center specifically designed for the members. Our fitness center’s restaurant will provide low fat, low calorie, and high protein and fiber food specially designed for promoting healthy eating habits. Strategically, Our fitness’s primary market target will consist of people over 55 and mostly retirees. Our secondary target market includes college and high school students. a. Three ways that determined these products and/or services would be the most feasible and potentially profitable for the company to add are: 1. Placement 2. Trends 3. IS the profit margin large enough to make money but small enough for your â€Å"target audience† to afford? Placement Placement or location is one of the most important factors in attracting and retaining customers. Everybody prefers easier and more convenient way to purchase products or services. Therefore, â€Å"Our Fitness† uses the placement approach to connect the products and services with the customer by making services and products more convenient and more accessible to the customers. Our fitness is located in the business area as well as densely populated  residential area with three different universities and one community college. On the other hand, there are only two fitness centers in the area with very expensive membership and maintenance service fees. Overall, this fitness center will be in the center of public places. At the same time, Our fitness center’s restaurant will be only one diet concerned restaurant in the area. Therefore, using competitive advantage through the introduction of two new services will help to retain old members as well as to attract new members in the area. 2. Trends People want to live longer and look good following healthy habits. It is very important to identify the market trends to assess the market potential. Understanding the market trends helps to respond according to customer behaviors as well as to develop sustainability. On the other hand, it also helps to analyze our competition and market potential. Different fitness centers are using different approaches to attract new members as well as to retain existing members. We have to understand that new members want new services. It is not possible to satisfy the consumers without understanding their needs. There is a fierce competition in the market to increase customer satisfaction by introducing new products/services. At the same time, there are many unsatisfied consumers who always change producers or owners because of unsatisfactory service or products. In our case, we even lost many members because of same services since last couple of years. So, we introduce our products/services as a result of customer survey and market research. Our market research and survey strategy will play a vital role to grow our target market in the future. 3.Is the profit margin large enough to make money but small enough for your â€Å"target audience† to afford? The profit margin is large enough to make money because we have young people who spend a great amount of money on food. You also have the retirees who spend a huge amount of money on good health. Also, these days people are more health conscious and follow healthy habits. Exercising and healthy eating are the main priorities of many people. The target audience will be able to afford it because it is a comfortable environment that promotes exercising habits and a healthy lifestyle which allows positive energy to follow. b. Competitive advantage is created through the understanding of your competitors and their products and services. One of the competitive advantages of Our Fitness is fitness classes especially designed for people over 55 as well as restaurant service for members with unique menus and special price. All fitness centers provide classes and specialty training but many do not have classes that target an older age audience. We want our members to feel more comfortable working out and training with people of the same experience level. On the other hand, people over 55 are the ones who spend more money on healthcare, and we aim to reduce their healthcare costs by engaging them with age specific and specialty classes. Our on site restaurant will provide nutrition rich health foods and diet services to members as well as other guests. It will be restricted to members only after one or two years, because we are using the restaurant as advertising to increase membership. A2. I will focus on newspapers for advertising, which reach a broad, geographically-targeted market. These ads will be focused to attract people who are 55 or older because they rely heavily on newspapers. Newspaper advertising is low-cost and involves short timelines. At the same time, this type of marketing channel will reach the total circulation, even if only a portion fits our prospective profile. I will also use Facebook as a marketing tool; Facebook is still, far and away, the most popular, with the most evenly-distributed demographics of any social media platform. Facebook is the only social media platform that you need, no matter what field your business is in. The main reason to use Facebook to advertise is the use of Facebook by all age people. In addition to ease of use, Facebook ads and business pages are cost effective, reliable, and very quickly disseminated to all users. Finally, we will rely heavily on word-of-mouth advertising, as personal reviews are often the most trusted form of information. This marketing tool can also be used to reach the secondary market, visiting colleges and advertising our job opportunities as well as membership benefits. A3. Price is the value that you exchange for a product or service. Pricing objectives should align with the company’s goals and can be affected by factors such as competition, consumer reaction, and other regulatory requirements. Generally, other fitness centers charge $59 per month as service fee and $55 per personal training class in the area. So, we need to provide service for lower prices than our competitors. On the other hand, it is very important to understand the demand of product or services before pricing because there is a direct relationship between price and demand. Our main pricing objective is to maximize the revenue and quantity. This objective helps to maximize long-term profits by lowering costs and increasing market share. Penetration pricing will be used to maximize the sales of quantity by means of a low price. First, we will cut the one time member fee for all new members, so that they have to pay monthly fee only, which will be $39.99 per month. At the same time, for new members and existing members, who are 55 years or older, will have to pay only $15 per fitness class. The price may be gradually increased after establishing market share and customer loyalty. We will use cost-plus pricing method because it makes easier to calculate the selling price for our services/products. Since, our production cost per membership per month is $20.00, and $4 per fitness class. Therefore, our profit per person in membership is $20 and $11 in fitness class per person. Our goal is to add 100 new members in the first month and increase to 500 within next six months. Therefore, our revenue will increase by $2000 from membership in the first month. Similarly, we will provide competitively cheaper price for foods and drinks comparing to local restaurants. We will also offer promotional pricing, discounts and coupons for the restaurant and fitness center to attract more customers. Our overall goal will be to maximize the number of consumers to increase the quantity of sale. If we can maximize the number of consumers, then we can maximize the revenue as well as profit. A4. Customer relationship management (CRM) is the combination of technologies, strategies, and practices used by companies to manage customer interactions and improve customer relationship. The main goal of CRM is to improve  business relationships with customers by retaining customer retention and increasing sales growth. Ngai stated that â€Å"the purpose of CRM system is the building of relationships in order to affect the customer acquisition, retention, loyalty and profitability† (Ngai, 2005). I would like to use Salesforce as CRM system. Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM system, and doesn’t need special installation and hardware. This system can be very cost effective by keeping IT cost low. CRM system like Salesforce can track the history of customer interactions and helps to grow our business. The system track includes calls, emails, presentations, meetings, or even the further step to close the deal. Salesforce can also track the deal details including the worth, competitor, and the stage of deal with automatic deal updates at a glance to close the deal. Salesforce can drive the process, productivity, and consistency by using sales app to map the sales and forecasting stages. It is equiped with quoting capabilities to track the quantity, standard and quoted price, product code, and expected sales in a given period. In addition, company’s e-mail, phone or website can be used to track customer inquiries and history of their activities. Salesforce provides customer relationship data with automatic updated instant access of full customer history of all communications. It also helps to create customized pitch documents about consumers and prospects and can focus sales staff’s attention on the right consumers. Cross-selling and up-selling opportunities become clear through better understanding of consumers and increase their satisfaction. Satisfied consumers are likely to become loyal consumers and common referrals. It can also be beneficial to the customer because it can provide email updates, alerts, referrals, discount coupons, and special events and promotions. Overall, Salesforce tracking system will be very useful in controlling and managing the inquiries and sales of products and services. A5. It is not possible to open any new business without incurring risks, and opening a new restaurant with established fitness center is no different. Financial risk is one of the most difficult risks associated with any new business. â€Å"Financial risk has been defined as any risk that has a direct impact on net cash flows† (Cabedo and Tirado, 2004). This includes problems  related to price, credit, inflation, liquidity, and potential losses due to changes in financial markets and defaulting large scale debtors (Meulbrook, 2000). There are also risks with opening a new restaurant. Our Fitness center require a large amount of capital upon opening, in order to hire additional staff, purchase high-end fitness equipment, and advertise the restaurant to local fitness and healthy food seekers. Personal injury is another significant risk of operating a gym and adding fitness classes especially to people of 55 or older who are more prone to injury. Aside from the legal aspect, injuries in our gym could cause a bad reputation, particularly if they are recurring. It is critical to maintain a good reputation to sell our fitness services and get people into our restaurant. At the same time, improving the quality of our existing services along with adding new specialty services and products is very critical, and is one of the most important aspects of business. Factors such as product contamination, product safety, business integrity, and failure to maintain high standards, may reduce demand for our business. The reputation of the company plays a vital role in our forward progress. Therefore, poor product quality or services may damage our reputation and could limit business activities as well as increase our operating costs. On the other hand, there is always a risk of substitute of products and services in the market. It is very important to study the market and meet consumer needs before launching any new business. A6. The most common risk associated with not launching the new products or services will be the lack of competitive advantage at the Our Fitness center.  Introducing new services and opening a new restaurant will provide the competitive advantage that we seek and will help to expand the business and satisfy existing members. Customer preferences and tastes change with time, it is necessary to meet their needs and tastes to increase the demand for our products/services. Therefore, the new restaurant will aim to compliment our new services/products and satisfy consumer demands. If we are unable to launch the new services/products into the market and meet the consumer needs, then it will not only negatively affect Our Fitness’s financial performance but it may increase by operating costs, and change  consumer perceptions about our existing services Innovation can be a key differentiator between Our Fitness and our rivals. Therefore, if Our Fitness will not launch new services then, it might run the risk of losing ground to competitors, losing key staff, decreased membership, or simply operating inefficiently. As a whole, Our Fitness financial performance could be adversely affected without new products/services, and in the end lead to its closure. References Cabedo, J. D. and Tirado, J. M. (2004), â€Å"The disclosure of risk in financial statements†, Accounting Forum, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 181-200. Meulbrook, L. (2000), Total strategies for company-wide risk control, Financial Times, London. Ngai. 2005. Customer relationship management research. Marketing intelligence & planning, 23 (6): 582-605. he Feasibility Study’s Purpose ï‚ · Evaluate the nature, scale and economics of constructing an indoor recreation center within the Area ï‚ · Identify the potential audience/supporting membership of an indoor recreation center within the Area ï‚ · Assess what amenities/programming would be most logical to provide as part of a recreation center ï‚ · Explore the physical characteristics of various sites on which the recreation center could be constructed 1 Evaluate potential funding sources available to support short-term and long-term Recreation Center alternatives

Product Launch Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Product Launch Plan - Essay Example Nonetheless, the target consumers are middle class groups, who are highly involved in the media-saturated world attributable to things like advertisements, internet and mobile phone. Company SWOTT analysis Strengths The company is located in Italy, which is a company that is associated with a tradition of pioneering production of wine. In fact, this is a tradition that would enable the company to have a good reputation and the customers will have confidence in their products (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). The company will be situated in company that has favorable climate conditions, given that Italy is countries that cover an area attributed to different types of climatic zones; in this case, this will provide ideal location for increased productivity of grapes used for making wine. In 2011, trends of wine sales were attributed to establishment of modern concept, which are contrasting with the France conservative culture (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). In fact, France has a market of wine tha t is highly competitive due to introduction of flavored wines. Weaknesses Structures of Italian vineyards lack a specific strategy given that it is highly concentrated with small wineries that are owned by families and this have a negative impact on production (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). The company is likely to face challenges due to unfamiliarity with French culture and their customs; in fact, this may have a negative impact on the effort to venture into the market (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). Opportunities In France, there are potential customers, who have developed tastes and preferences for wine; in fact, they are able to rank these products based on value over volume leading to willingness to pay high prices per unit price (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). There are opportunities derived through wine intelligence in France market, whereby there are models being developed to facilitate market growth and ascendancy of wine; thus, the consumers will develop ways of distinguishing between v arious categories of wine (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). On the other hand, the company can focus on establishing a single brand with consistency in quality, taste and it will be associated with Italy. Threats France market has been surpassed by other markets such as Australia and Britain; thereby a decision to venture this market poses a threat of reduced profitability compared to other markets (Marini & Tepponen, 2012). There are other threats emanating from a decrease in the number of wine drinkers; in fact, this is a tradition has been introduced in the market, despite high per capita among consumers in the market. The competition There are increased chances that Italy will lose their position of being leaders in the market of wines due to stiff competition from other countries such as Australia, America, Chile and South Africa. However, Italy has attained a competitive advantage based on marketing strategies, whereby they promote products through captivating images (Fernandez-Cruz, 2003). Nonetheless, this competition has led to a decrease sales of wine in Italy; in fact, analysis in 2010 indicates that the country lost to their leading position to South Africa, which attained twenty percent market share. Therefore, this