A Brief History of Courtship and Dating in America

A Brief History of Courtship and Dating in America, Part 1 [pic]by The Rev'd Skip Burzumato [pic] Whenever possible, I love to use the word â€Å"courtship† in everyday conversation with young and old alike. It's one of those words with which most people are familiar, but have vastly differing opinions of what it means. For many, courtship is an old-fashioned word. It summons visions of men wooing women with small tokens of affection and asking their hand in marriage on bended knee. For social scientists, studies of courtship usually look at the process of â€Å"mate selection. (Social scientists, among whom I number myself from time to time, will never be accused of being romantics. ) For the purpose of this article the preparation for and proposal of marriage is what makes the act qualify as courtship. As cultural historians Alan Carlson and Beth Bailey put it in the Mars Hill Audio Report, Wandering Toward the Altar: The Decline of American Courtship, prior to the early 20 th century, courtship involved one man and one woman spending intentional time together in order to get to know each other with the expressed purpose of evaluating the other as a potential husband or wife. The man and the woman usually were members of the same community, and the courting usually was done in the woman's home in the presence (and under the watchful eye) of her family, most often Mom and brothers. However, between the late 1800s and the first few decades of the 1900s the new system of â€Å"dating† added new stages to courtship. One of the most obvious changes was that it multiplied the number of partners (from serious to casual) an individual was likely to have before marriage. So, one important point to understand right up front (and about which many inside and outside the church are confused) is that we have not moved from a courtship system to a dating system, but instead, we have added a dating system into our courtship system. Since most young adults will marry, the process employed in finding a husband and wife is still considered courtship. However, an extra layer, what we call â€Å"dating,† has been added to the process of courting. If you are familiar with computer programming terminology, you can liken dating to a sub-routine that has been added to the system of courtship. Over the course of this two-part article, I would like to trace how this change occurred, especially concentrating on the origin of this dating â€Å"subroutine. † Let me begin by briefly suggesting four cultural forces that assisted in moving mate selection from, as Alan Carlson puts it, the more predictable cultural script that existed for several centuries, to the multi-layered system and (I think most would agree) the more ambiguous courtship system that includes â€Å"the date. The first, and probably most important change we find in courtship practices in the West occurred in the early 20th century when courtship moved from public acts conducted in private spaces (for instance, the family porch or parlor) to private or individual acts conducted in public spaces, located primarily in the entertainment world, as Beth Bailey argues in her book, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth Century America. Bailey observes that by the 1930s and 40s, with the advent of the â€Å"date† (which we will look at more fully in the next installment) courtship increasingly took place in public spaces such as movie theaters and dance halls, removed by distance and by anonymity from the sheltering and controlling contexts of the home and local community. Keeping company in the family parlor was replaced by dining and dancing, movies, and â€Å"parking. † A second cultural force that influenced the older courtship system was the rise of â€Å"public advice† literature as well as the rise of an â€Å"expert† class of advisers — psychologists, sociologists, statisticians, etc. At the same time that the public entertainment culture was on the rise in the early 20th century, a proliferation of magazine articles and books began offering advice about courtship, marriage, and the relationship between the sexes. As Ken Myers says in Wandering Toward the Altar, from the late 1930s on, young people knew, down to the percentage point, what their peers throughout the country thought and did. They knew what was â€Å"normal. † Prior to the 20th century, â€Å"normal† was determined within families and local communities, but now a â€Å"higher authority,† with wide-spread circulation and readership, began to form a national consciousness. Thirdly, we see a change in sexual norms in the West. With the onset of the sexual revolution the question arose, â€Å"Why would a man court and woo a woman when he could gain a chief benefit of marriage, namely sexual gratification, for free with no commitment? † (Friendship â€Å"with benefits† is a contemporary example. ) Closely related to this is the invention of birth control. There is too much that could be said here, so I'll be brief. Simply put, with the onset of the idespread use of chemical and other means of birth control, the language of procreation — of having children — was separated from the language of marriage. As U. of Chicago ethicist Leon Kass argues in his chapter on courtship in Building a Healthy Culture: Strategies for an American Renaissance, under the old system of courtship, marriage and bringing a child into the world were inextricably linked. But no longer. With the ever decreasing risk of pregnancy, having sex and being marr ied were no longer tied together. Fourthly, we find a change in the models and metaphors used to describe the home and family. Prior to the 20th century, when we talked about courtship we used language and metaphors of home and family: â€Å"He'd be a good father,† â€Å"They could have such a happy home together,† etc. The new system of courtship that played itself out in the entertainment culture and public square largely was understood and described by the advice and â€Å"expert† class with metaphors taken from modern industrial capitalism. It's as if those who wrote and commented on male-female relationship had stopped reading the Song of Solomon and Jane Austen in favor of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. The new courtship system gave importance to competition (and worried about how to control it); it valued consumption; it presented an economic model of scarcity and abundance of men and women as a guide to personal affairs — There aren't that many good men left, so you better get one while the gettin' is good! This new language of courtship had great symbolic importance and continues to shape the way we think, speak and act concerning relationships to this day. Have you ever known a girl who went out with a guy who was a complete dolt but who could help her get ahead socially? (And not to pick on women, it just as easily happens in reverse. Those decisions are based more on economic theory of the 19th and 20th centuries than on any sort of biblical notion of desire for the opposite sex. So, these are four important cultural forces in the early part of the 20th century that assisted in moving our culture from the older courtship system that existed prior to the late 19th centur y, to a courtship system that includes â€Å"dating,† which, I will argue in the next article, is much more ambiguous and confusing. I will also talk about dating itself (including the origination of the word â€Å"date†), and how it has changed over time. ttp://www. boundless. org/2005/articles/a0001456. cfm Filipino Custom and Tradition: Courtship Although they have dated for a while here in the United States, my brother in law has to continue to court not only his fiancee but her family as well. Courtship is one that is still being practiced among the strictest of the Filipino families. This is performed by the male (who is the suitor since it is wrong to do it the opposite way) visiting the home of the female. In the olden days, courtship doesn't start until the male suitor had obtained permission from the parents. This was done with the male suitor being accompanied by another respectable elder and approaching either the father or the mother of the female and obtaining permissions days in advanced to visit at a particular day and time. Nowadays this form of getting the parent's permission is still being practiced in the provinces, however, due to western influences, there are some variations more adaptable to the modern times. One alternative is to make a phone call, asking for the parents' or guardian's permission through an elder to schedule a visit. Another way is for the suitor to approach the parents in a public place, and informally asking for permission to visit. Either way, it is to show proper respect to ask for permission prior to the formal visit. Properly greeting the parents by placing the back of the right hand of the parents to the suitor's forehead is practiced to show respect. This is called pagmamano in Tagalog. When the permission has been granted, the suitor whether accompanied by a friend or an elder will visit the girl's home and offers gifts. Gift bags or boxes of goodies or Filipino snacks purchased from a local store and flowers are generally given. The snacks or other goods are offered to the family of the girl then the flowers and special sweets (like chocolate or candies) are given to the girl. In a strict Filipino home, during courtship, the parents are present during the first visit. This is the opportunity to get to know each other. This is sometimes called courting the parents first and winning their hearts and approval then letting the boy or suitor court the girl. Subsequent visits are then scheduled if all went well during the first visit nd, depending on how long the courtship will last, the answer is given by the girl with the parents' knowledge as well. Since my brother in law and his fiancee have already dated and gone through a bit of courtship here in the United States, what he would do in his visit is to court or meet her family. He brought some pasalubong (gifts) from America which he will give to each family member. Other culture may call this as dowry but in the Filipino culture it is just plain gift-giving. No suitor should go to a girl's home without bearing gifts at least during the first visit. Then he will be introduced formally to her mother since her dad had passed away and also meet her younger siblings. His fiancee and her family would prepare a special meal and he will partake in them whole-heartedly. http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/397501/filipino_customs_and_traditions_courtship. html The Filipino way of courtship is probably among the most romantic in the world. TRADITION Courting under Filipino tradition gives very big importance on the value of respecting the woman and her family and strictly adhering with proper rules set by society for pursuing a lady. This practice which dates back to the Spanish times prohibits men to be very aggressive or becoming even when they want the lady very much. One cannot just talk and approach a lady in the street and ask her number or address. If a young man sees a lady he likes he should seek out the help of a go-between, usually a common friend of both family, to ask the permission of the girls father whether he can visit them in their house. This is the gentlemanly thing to do so the parents will most likely approve unless of course the lady is just a child. When the approval is obtained, the suitor can then come to the house with the go-between who will initiate the introductions to the family. The parents in turn will introduce their daughter to the gentleman. In this stage, the suitor is expected to bring â€Å"pasalubong† or gifts to the family and a special one to the girl he likes. This he will have to do everytime he visits the girl’s house. In the Philippines, when you court a lady, you have to court her whole family as well. In this first visit, the couple will not be left alone on their own to get to know each other. It will just be an informal chatting and introduction and getting-to-know stage between the suitor and the family and making clear of the suitor’s intention to pursue the host’s daughter. After the initial visit, the suitor is then expected to woo  the girl by showing up in her house more often and establish rapport with the her family. This is the stage where he does the â€Å"paninilbihan† or servitude. He serves the girls family in any way that he can to show to them and to the girl of his sincere intentions and love for her, be it by chopping firewood, fetching water from the well, etc. It is a way of saying â€Å"I will do anything to prove my love for you†. At night, he will sing â€Å"harana† or love songs outside the girls house by the window with a guitar and his friends serving as back ups. They will sing and wait until the lady finally opens the window and invites them into the house. They will then be served with light snacks and they can talk in the presence of the girls parents and the man’s friends. Note that in most times, the couple will be with either friends or families. It is considered inappropriate to leave an unmarried couple unsupervised in those times no matter what their ages are. The process of courting a Filipina in the traditional sense is a long and arduous process. It is expected that a Filipina will play hard-to-get when court because that is the norm. No matter how much she likes the man, she has to show utmost restraint and disinterest. Girls are made to believe that men will value them more if they are made to work hard before letting them have what they want. So after a long period of paninilbihan and a series of haranas, the girl can finally accept the suitor’s love. At this stage, the couple can now start dating in public but always in the company of a chaperon. The man will still continue to come to the house and help out. When the time comes when he feels he is ready to get married, he and his parent’s will have to come to the girl’s house and the parents of the boy will have to formally ask the hand of the hand of the girl in marriage to their son. This stage is called â€Å"Pamamanhikan† or â€Å"Paghingi ng Kamay†. In doing this, they will have to bring with them, lots of food and presents as well as the dowry that they can present to the girls parents. In the Philippines, dowry is given by the boy’s family, not by the girl’s family. This is because we give high value to the women in our society and giving them away is not easy. When the two families have come to an agreement as to the dowry, the wedding date is set, a ring is presented to the girl and the couple is said to be betrothed. A small feast is then held with the food brought by the boy’s family. MODERN Although a lot of our traditional wedding practice is still being observed these days there are modifications and â€Å"evolutions† that has been introduced to it that gives it a more modern version. Modern Filipino courtship revolves more on the liberalism of Filipino youth. If Filipinos of opposite sex were not allowed to mingle in public in the old days, these days that is already possible. These has allowed courtship to be a little more lenient on youngsters. You can now meet a girl you like through a common friend or on a party but never on a street as the same is still regarded as inappropriate. Most parents would still want their children to be courted inside the house though some modern and liberal-minded Filipinas don’t do this anymore and prefers to meet up somewhere else instead, a clear disregard of tradition and parental respect. Modern courtship does not really have a pattern. It could start from a group date where friends would pair friends up and tease them. Friends could play cupid and set a couple up and leave them on their own to talk then before you know it they are going out on a date. With the influence of western television, modern courtship these days are going fast although it doesn’t necessarily have the emotional baggage attached with immediately going to bed. It would take a lot longer time for Filipinos to trust each other to get to that point. It stems on the virtues rooted from the olden days. Modern Filipina ladies are also decisive on their choices. Those who do not really want their suitors would not hesitate on letting them know of this fact. A refused suitor is called â€Å"basted†. These modern Filipinas are only a tip of the iceberg as most Filipinas especially the ones in the province still adheres to the traditional way of courtship. Most families still observes the rituals connected to panliligaw, pamamanhikan or paghingi ng kamay, dowry etc. Gone were the days of paninilbihan and haranas. These days, it is enough that a man shows up in a lady’s house and bonds with the woman’s family. He is not expected to chop wood or fetch water but at least show the girl’s family that he is worthy enough of her love. It is important though to note whether it be traditional or modern, to show your sincere intention of courting by introducing yourself to the family and impressing the girls family in any way that you can. ONLINE We know how hard it is to try and court a Filipina online, believe use, we’ve been there. Here are some helpful tips to go through with it: 1. Try to be as gentleman as possible. A Filipino male sets his best foot forward in courting a girl. That’s how the game is played. 2. Keep communication lines open. Filipinas love to talk on email, on skype, etc. They just want to feel and hear you love them all the time. This is their way of bridging the distance. Filipinas have a lot of insecurities, if you forget to call them they will immediately feel bad or suspicious you’re up to something. That’s true to most Pinays. Constant communication helps. 3. Filipinas love surprises 4. Make good all of your promises. When you say you are coming on a certain date make sure you come on that date. Sincerity to Filipinos is measured not by saying what is right but by doing what is right. http://www. western-asian. com/index. php/archives/30

Emergency Room Criteria, Vivid Description, Concrete Example

In order to evaluate the quality of emergency room care, it is essential to understand and define the standards that define high-quality care. My standards for high-quality Emergency Room care include the following: 1) it maintains life. 2) It provides rapid attention to injuries in order to prevent impairment. 3) It is professional and focused on providing maximized attention to the patients’ needs. 4) It includes rapid response to crisis. 5) It includes alleviating pain. 6) It includes having well-trained personnel.7) It also includes efficiency. 8) It provides rapid assessment. 9) It provides cleanliness. 10) Finally, It utilizes excellent equipment. The American College of Emergency Physicians has established the following standards for high-quality Emergency Room care. 1) Emergency departments must possess the staff and resources necessary to evaluate all individuals presenting to the emergency department (ED.) 2) Emergency departments must also be able to provide or arrange treatment necessary to attempt to stabilize emergency patients who are found to have an emergency medical condition. 3) Because of the unscheduled and episodic nature of health emergencies and acute illnesses, experienced and quality physician, nursing, and ancillary personnel must be available 24 hours a day to serve those needs. 4) Evaluation, management, and treatment of patients must be appropriate and expedient. 5) Resources should exist in the ED to accommodate each patient from the time of arrival through evaluation, decision-making, treatment, and disposition. 6) Excellent facility design 7) State-of-the-art equipment 8) Access to required medications. (www.acep.org) The first standard is that a high-quality Emergency Room provides rapid attention. When I brought my 17-year-old son, who has asthma, to the Sutter Medical Center Emergency Department, he had difficulty breathing, was wheezing, had severe sweating, and heart palpitations. Unfortunately, the triage nurse did not prioritize my child’s medical needs. He had to wait a full 30 minutes to receive medical attention at the waiting area. When a person has an asthma attack, they need oxygen to live. If they do not receive rapid medical attention, his breathing problems increase and can even lead to shock. When my son had another asthma attack, I took him to the Kaiser Permanente Emergency Room. There the triage nurse determined that my son was in crisis. Thus, she immediately sent him to a treatment room where he received rapid attention. As a result, his crisis ended quickly. In conclusion, Kaiser was far superior to Sutter with regard to rapid attention. The second standard is that a high-quality Emergency Room provides well-trained personnel 24 hours a day. At Sutter, the triage nurse who evaluated my son did not seen to be well-trained about the effect of asthma. The doctors and nurses who provided care to my son were well-trained and were able to end his attack. At Kaiser, 100% of the personnel were well- trained. The triage nurse correctly evaluated my son and prioritized his care. The physicians and nurses who treated him were able to quickly stop his attack. The personnel at Kaiser were all well- trained where as a key staff member at Sutter was not well-trained. The third standard is that high-quality Emergency Room provides a clean, well-organized and well- designed facility. At Sutter, the Emergency Room was small and not well-ventilated. Patients were crowded together; thus their screams and pain made others anxious and germs could be easily spread. The vinyl floor was scuffed and dull, the window had a view of a brick wall, and the walls were painted drab green. In contrast, the Kaiser Permanente Emergency Room has been recently renovated inside and out. It is an attractive room with new furniture. The waiting room is spacious, and people are not crowded together. It is very clean. In conclusion, the Kaiser Emergency Room is superior with regard to high-quality facilities. The fourth standard is that a high-quality Emergency Room provides state-of- the- art equipment. At Sutter, there was a mix of modern and old equipment. The nebulizer was extremely old; however, the oxygen equipment was modern. At Kaiser, 100% of the equipment was modern. The Kaiser equipment was much more powerful, and helped to end my son’s attack more rapidly. In conclusion, Kaiser‘s Emergency Room equipment was superior to Sutter’s Emergency Room equipment because it was much more modern. The fifth standard is that there is immediate access to required medications. At both Sutter and Kaiser, my son received the necessary medication. Consequently, Kaiser and Sutter were equal with regard to the standard of access to medication. In conclusion, overall, the Emergency services at Kaiser Permanente were far superior to those provided by Sutter Medical Center. If I could it over again, I would have chosen to go to Kaiser Permanente both times. I only hope that the word gets out about Sutter Medical Center so that other patients do not make the same mistake I did and receive poor quality Emergency Room Care.

Endogenous Growth Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Endogenous Growth Theory - Essay Example The paper focuses on endogenous growth and utilises two major approaches to deal with the issue. These are namely the convergence controversy approach and the state of market competition (Romer). Romer’s contention is to fill out gaps in existing endogenous theory to make it more accountable for growth patterns in developing and developed countries. Historically the neo-classical model has attributed economic growth to technology. Another basic assumption is that technology is freely available to all countries in the world since a perfect competition market exists (Rebelo). Romer uses the Cobb-Douglas production and cross-country regression models in order to highlight that endogenous factors can better explain such growth than exogenous models. He attributes growth to investments in human capital, innovation and knowledge whose spill over effects tend to augment the economy as a whole . The Philippines has been compared to the United States in order to bring out the savings rates that would be required by both nations to possess an equal level of economic growth. Romer argues that if the Philippines and the United States possessed the same level of technology, then their differing growth rates could be attributed to differences in labour productivity alone. It has been estimated that the share of investment in the United States is at least twice as large as it would have to be in the Philippines for a similar rate of growth. The lack of convergence between the growth rates for poorer countries and the more rich countries tends to indicate that the differences may be attributed to more than just technology. The rate of and amount of investment tends to differ between the North and the South. Using the neo-classical model, it would be hard to explain why the model attributes low investment in the North while that is not the case. The Summer-Heston model has been used in this regard to look into investments into human resources and capital to bring out the differences (Barro and Sala-i-Martin). Romer concludes this section by delineating that the only difference between developing and developed nations may not just be the availability of data that is blamed by neo-classical economists for a loosely fitting model. In the second section, Romer argues that aggregate level models had been missing in order to exp lain growth throughout the fifties, sixties and the seventies. He also expounds that certain assumptions have always been assumed as such but have not been explored to see their effects on growth models. It is generally assumed that there are many firms in an economy but it may be that these are concentrated to favour a monopolistic market structure. Scientific discoveries are not accessible to all entities operating in an economy since information is required to turn the scientific discovery into useful output. The shortage of information from one national economy to another (such as through trade secretes) signifies that scientific discoveries are not available to all and sundry. Another issue is the replication of physical activities which is not possible since all involved factors cannot be scaled up similarly all the time to receive an equally scaled up output. Technological developments are taken as having derived from factors external to the control of individuals. However, t he application of human resources and attention is typically how technological progress is derived. Hence, assuming that technological progress is an exogenous factor is highly misleading (Sachs and Warner). Additionally, economic entities with the power to create new information and knowledge often possess the power to manipulate the information and knowledge into monopolistic systems. This would indicate that the owner of the information a

The Primary Shaper of Gender Differences Research Paper

The Primary Shaper of Gender Differences - Research Paper Example Recent studies demonstrate, however, that nurture is a powerful force in affecting so-called â€Å"genetic† or â€Å"natural† gender differences (Sameroff 8). This paper asks: Are gender differences primarily caused by nature or nurture? This paper believes that gender differences, in terms of risk-taking, aggression, cognitive abilities, and language skills, are significant products of nurture, which refers to a host of diverse environmental factors. Risk-taking is commonly believed to be a masculine trait, but sources show that it is the environment, and not genetics, which plays a large role in shaping risk-taking attitudes and behaviors. In â€Å"Gender Differences in Risk Behaviour: Does Nurture Matter?† Booth and Nolen examined if choosing risky outcomes is truly an innate preference reserved for boys. They hypothesized that single-sex settings for girls can enhance their risk-taking behaviors than co-ed settings and these behaviors will not differ from boy s. They recruited 260 students with an average age of 15 years old. The sampling came from Essex and Suffolk counties in the United Kingdom. The researchers used five rounds of lottery to determine risk-taking behaviors. Findings showed that gender differences in risk-taking preferences are affected by the school environment. In particular, girls from single-sex schools take the same risks as boys from co-ed and gender-exclusive schools and more than co-ed girls. Gender mix also affects risk-taking behaviors, where girls in all-girls groups take higher risks than those in mixed-sex groups. Booth and Nolen concluded that nurture variables had a significant impact on risk-taking behavior, where all-girls settings remove traditional gender influences on risk taking. Morrongiello, Zdzieborski, and Normand seek to provide an explanation for differences in risk-taking behaviors between men and women in their study, â€Å"Understanding Gender Differences in Children's Risk Taking and Inju ry.† They compared the reactions of mothers and fathers to their children’s risk-taking actions. Around 52 mother–father pairs participated, where their reactions to their sons and daughters were recorded before and after injuries. Findings showed differences in kinds and reasons of reactions; for instance, mothers were angry at their sons, while for their daughters, they showed disappointment and shock. The researchers quote psychologists Kessler et al: â€Å"†¦What is hegemonic at any given time depends on how the relations among different kinds of masculinity and femininity have been worked out† (17). Morrongiello, Zdzieborski, and Normand conclude that parents have gender-based perceptions, which affect their discipline approaches to their children regarding their risk-taking behaviors. The way they discipline their children, in turn, affects the existence of gender differences in terms of risk-taking. Nurture affects the genetic risks for aggress ion among men, which proves that the environment strongly brings about gender differences in aggressive personalities between men and women. Boutwell, Franklin, Barnes, and Beaver studied if genetic influences interact with the effects of spanking on children’s behaviors. They analyzed statistics from twin siblings that were gathered from a nationwide-survey. Findings showed that spanking can provoke aggression among children, especially for boys, when genetic risks are present. Boutwell et al. believe that boys are more predisposed to violence,

Advantages and disadvantages of the options officers have regarding Essay - 1

Advantages and disadvantages of the options officers have regarding the use of force - Essay Example Their major goal is the protection and security of the citizens of the country. In order to attain this goal society, government and the law grants police officers authority in civil government. Police officers use this authority to for the control and the management of the behaviors of the citizens. One of the major advantages in their field is that they can take actions according to the circumstances. They are given permission by the authority to use the forces according to the current situations. While analyzing the challenges of being a Police officer Ashley comments that the greatest challenge for today’s officer is the question of when and how to use the force and how much to use the force. Officers are often considered as the mediators in their careers. They have to analyze the situations where they have to take actions when laws are violated. Their delay or haste in actions and orders can change the whole scenario for them and put the lives of the innocent citizens at risk. Their one wrong decision or wrong step can lead towards the situations where whole society can be put at a risk. New York City Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau points out the acts that a police officer is supposed to do when he is on and off duty, the report says that according to the New York law â€Å"officers also are held strictly accountable to safeguard their weapons at all times. They are not permitted to store or leave their firearms in an unattended motor vehicle and are not permitted to carry their firearms in briefcases, handbags, or other portable containers†. (New York City Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau, 1996) The police officers are considered as the life savers of the citizens in the life threatening situations. They are praised because of their strength, confidence and bravery. They have the permission to carry the gun almost anywhere and investigate any area where they suspect

CHILDREN AND THE MEDIA - media literacy Literature review

CHILDREN AND THE MEDIA - media literacy - Literature review Example They gain exposure to different methods in which the media can be used to manipulate and misrepresent and also its role in view generation and reality (Pannu and Tomar, 2010, pg. 21). However, the above definitional can be described as outdated for media literacy has evolved from just theses abilities and formats into electronic forms (Pannu and Tomar, 2010, pg. 21). Since 1970’s when information technology emerged, media and information has shown tremendous growth forming a basis for education and learning. This saw information becoming more digital, while people and countries became more networked. This has led to a complex and transformed environment filled with all kind of data and information that is easily accessed by a simple swipe or click of a button (Cohen, Schwartz and Harris, 2013 pg. 52). In the 1300’s, long before the information technological boom, Sorbonne library located in Paris had 1,338 books which made it the largest library in Europe. However, only an elite group of people had access to the tremendous amount of information contained in the library. In this century, thereis a high number of libraries containing more than eight million books. These books are lent out to millions of people across the globe (Potter, 2011, pg. 6). Media literacy has received a massive boost due to this. The creation of online libraries that store books in virtual cloud space has also attributed to easy ac cess to books. In 2007, 276,649 new book titles were produced by commercial publishers. A further addition of 134,773 book titles were produced by on demand publishers (Potter, 2011, pg. 6). Due to this tremendous amount of information being produced every day, humans have come up with ways to automatically sieve through this information and get the information required in a matter of seconds or faster. This has seen people from age groups develop skills that are essential in accessing information from anywhere and at any time. This

Computer networking Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computer networking - Research Paper Example The connectivity that has connected individuals in the present digital age has become possible due the linking together of computing devices. Technically advanced devices and their increasing usability have assisted in connectivity among individuals. Communication and connectivity have never been as easy as they are today. Neither is it required to get into the hassle of arranging hardware for establishing connectivity nor is it as timely as it used to be just about a decade back. There are several means by which connectivity may be maintained. The basis of it all however lies in the fact that it mainly is computer networking that enables the establishment of this connectivity. The establishment of connection between two or more computing devices is referred to as Computer networking. This network among computing devices may be established via either local area networks or Wide Area Networks. The connection may either be wired or un-wired. The unwired connections are referred to as Wireless Networks. The computing devices that are part of a network are said to be its units. The most suitable and feasible of networks is the Local Area Network. Once the LAN has been set up, the proposition of converting it into its better WLAN form become comparatively easier. Computing resources that are present within a physical boundary over a small area can be connected together via hardwired physical connections. It is this type of a hard wired connection which is referred to as a Local Area Network. â€Å"Universal components consist of the physical media that connect devices, interfaces on the individual devices that connect to the media, protocols that transmit data across the network, and software that negotiates, interprets, and administers the network and its services.† (Knowledgebase, 2012) Computing devices connected via a network

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Globalization of China - Research Paper Example Nevertheless, while assessing the effects of globalization in the world, China offers the most classic example, owing to the way the country has been able to match the opening-up of the country to the rest of the world, with development and geographical advancement of most of its provinces, as well as the revolutionized administration and governance of corporate institutions, and the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (Fan and Zhang, n.p.). Notwithstanding the advantages offered by globalization to China, there are several negative effects that globalization has brought about, which essentially backtracks the gains that the country had made, especially in the cultural and social value systems (Ma, n.p.). The closing of the Starbuck’s coffee house in China's former imperial palace is a good example of how globalization can bring about cultural and social transformation that are detrimental to the value-based system that a country has upheld as the core of its identity (The New York Times, n.p.). ... itors, but its presence in the Chinese museum was found to be threat to Chinese culture, thus attracting media and online protests that led to its closure (The New York Times, n.p.). China’s economy has highly been boosted by the investment of foreign firms within its economy, especially starting the early 1990s, when it implemented some of the much desired financial deregulation (Fan and Zhang, n.p.). This allowed for more entry of investment firms within the country from other foreign countries, especially from Europe and the USA, through eliminating the fixed exchange rates of its currency, thus allowing for more flexible foreign exchange transactions (Mckinnon, n.p.). Therefore, globalization has played the role of a major economic booster in China’s economy, which has in turn made it possible for the country to lift a large percentage of its population from poverty, considering that they can now have jobs that are created by the foreign investments firms in the cou ntry (Mckinnon, n.p.). The deregulation of the currency control in China served to ensure exchange stability, while also promoting aligned price-level of products, thus making it easy for foreign investment firms to gain entry into the country, whose business accounts for a huge growth of the Chinese economy. Further, through globalization, China has been able to operate highly in the technological world, through a creation of a platform through which labor can be exchanged with foreign countries (Fan and Zhang, n.p.). Despite the tight control of the internet that the Chinese government has been applying to regulate the use of the internet within the country, China is one of the largest outsourcing global hub, with many large companies outsourcing labor from China, through the application of

Luxury Brands Insights Essay Example for Free

Luxury Brands Insights Essay Over years, India’s tryst with luxury brands has changed gears. With high disposable incomes and a penchant for all things luxury amongst affluent Indians on the rise, the country is emerging as the next stopover for global luxury brands such as Gucci, Christian Dior and Versace. However, we must realize that Luxury marketing is a whole new ball-game altogether, both from the perspective of the marketer as well as the luxury consumer. It therefore becomes important to view it both in relation and isolation from the ‘regular’ goods marketing. To achieve the above objective, we would first look at how luxury goods are different from regular goods and then go on to explore some facets and trends of the luxury goods as well as their market and consumers. This analysis would finally sum up into a SWOT analysis of the luxury goods segment, thereby helping in obtaining a bird’s eye view of the exercise at hand. Considering that the luxury concept has shifted to the ‘new’ meaning, we would further delve into that aspect to understand the drivers for luxury brands presently, as well in the time to come. This is followed by a luxury potential determination of the Indian market both in terms of quantitative growth factors as well as qualitative initiatives. INDEX Abstract5 Objectives Sub Objectives6 Research Design6 Getting To Know Luxury8 Difference Between Regular Luxury Goods10 Luxury In India14 Qualitative Insights15 Quantitative Insights16 The Affluent Indian: Profiling The Indian Luxury Consumers17 Classification Of The Indian Luxury Consumer21 4p Trends24 Consumer Trends29 Strategies For Luxury Marketing In India57 Moving Forward66 References69 Annexure70. â€Å"Why do I need to know how the watch market is doing? I’m in the business of luxury† Partick Heiniger, CEO, Rolex GETTING TO KNOW LUXURY Luxury brands have often been associated with the core competences of creativity, exclusivity, craftsmanship, precision, high quality, innovation and premium pricing. These product attributes give the consumers the satisfaction of not only owning expensive items but the extra-added psychological benefits like esteem, prestige and a sense of a high status that reminds them and others that they belong to an exclusive group of only a select few, who can afford these pricey items. The luxury sector targets its products and services at consumers on the top-end of the wealth spectrum. These self-selected elite are more or less price insensitive and choose to spend their time and money on objects that are plainly opulence rather than necessities. For these reasons, luxury and prestige brands have for centuries commanded an unwavering and often illogical customer loyalty. Luxury, derived from the Latin word luxus, means indulgence of the senses, regardless of cost. Luxury brands are brands whose ratio of functional utility to price is low while that of intangible utility to price is high. Such brands share characteristics like consistent premium quality, a heritage of craftsmanship, a recognisable style or design, a limited production run of any item to ensure exclusivity, an element of uniqueness and an ability to keep coming up with new designs when the category is fashion-intensive. THE market for luxury brands in our country has expanded in recent times. With income levels going up, customers prepared to buy such brands are growing in numbers. According to an NCAER Household Income Survey, in 2001-02, there were 20,000 families in India with annual incomes of more than Rs 1 crore. By 2005, that number increased to almost 53,000. By 2010, India will have some 1, 40,000 crorepatis. Retail management company KSA Technopak estimates the market for luxury and high-end clothing in India at Rs 1,000 crore and for accessories at another Rs 1,000 crore. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LUXURY INDUSTRY 1. Luxury is a product category in itself: This can be best explained by the fact that both an expensive watch and an artwork can be considered to be luxury items. Therefore, all luxury marketers are not just competing in their ‘technically defined’ product categories (like manufacturers of refrigerators compete amongst themselves) but for the wallet share of luxury goods in total. 2. The meaning of luxury had changed Luxury has moved from its ‘old’ meaning of ownership that is also known as conspicuous consumption Conspicuous consumption is a term used to describe the lavish spending on goods and services that are acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth rather than to satisfy a real need of the consumer. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, such display serves as a means of attaining or maintaining social status. Invidious consumption, a necessary corollary, is the term applied to consumption of goods and services for the deliberate purpose of inspiring envy in others has now changed its objects to the ‘new’ meaning of the experience / fulfilment derived from possessing a certain object. 3. Aura is more important than exclusivity Exclusivity is something that cannot be ensured to a great extent and neither is it the prime requirement of a luxury consumer. The consumer bases his decisions on the relevance of the aura of the brand to his fulfilment or actualization needs. 4. Trading up A mass of wealthy people have emerged the world over, give rise to a large section of consumers who are now moving to luxury / premium brands, thereby creating greater business opportunity for luxury marketers. 5. Trading down Today, fashion brands are giving luxury brands competition because of marketing mix and branding strategies, which make it acceptable to pair these two brands. This is something that was not practiced before. eg. Wearing an Armani shirt with a pair of GAP jeans 6. Emergence of luxury brands. Sea of luxury brands have emerged giving a wide choice to consumers, in all segments of luxury goods. 7. Factors at play In luxury marketing there is a subtle interplay between three factors that most strongly influence the luxury consumer to buy: product brand; dealer or store’s brand or service providers’ reputation; and price/value relationship 8. Customer loyalty is more important that brand awareness Rather than focus on measuring the brand awareness of a luxury company, measuring customer loyalty is far more significant a metric regarding the success or failure of corporate strategy to connect with the luxury consumer. CONSUMER PERSPECTIVES TOWARDS LUXURY Consumers can be segregated in 3 groups according to what luxury means to them: Luxury is Functional – these consumers tend to buy luxury products for their superior functionality and quality. Consumers in this segment, the largest of the three, tend to be older and wealthier and are willing to spend more money to buy things that will last and have enduring value. They buy a wide array of luxury goods, from artwork to vacations, and conduct extensive pre-purchase research, making logical decisions rather than emotional or impulsive. Messages that highlight product quality and are information-intensive are powerful with this group. Luxury is Reward – these consumers tend to be younger than the first group but older than the third. They use luxury goods as a status symbol to say â€Å"I’ve made it! † They are motivated by their desire to be successful and demonstrate this to others. Luxury brands that have widespread recognition are popular, however they don’t wish to appear lavish or hedonistic in their appearance. They want to purchase â€Å"smart† luxury that demonstrates importance while not leaving them open to criticism. Marketing messages that communicate acceptable exclusivity resonate with this group. Luxury is Indulgence – this group is the smallest of the three and tends to include younger consumers and slightly more males than the other two groups. Their purpose for luxury goods is to lavish themselves in self-indulgence. They are willing to pay a premium for goods that express their individuality and make others take notice and are not overly concerned with product longevity or possible criticism. They enjoy luxury for the way it makes them feel; therefore they have a more emotional approach to purchases. They respond well to messages that highlight the unique and emotional qualities of a product. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGULAR LUXURY GOODS Luxury has never been something easy to define, yet this mystery concept is something highly desired by one and all alike. We look at delving deeper into this mystery and aura of luxury goods by way of comparing them against ‘regular goods’ as well as highlighting the characteristics of the luxury industry. Strategies for Luxury Marketing in India There are conventional foundations for ensuring success of a brand and they are listed below in brief: 1. The brand must be â€Å"expansive† Which means it should be full of innovation opportunities for the marketer and in terms of satisfying the divergent needs of the luxury consumer 2. The brand must tell a story It is this story, of either heritage or performance or other aspects that goes on to build the aura of a brand over time. The story always accentuates the identity of the brand. 3. The brand must be relevant to the consumers’ needs Depending upon the mindset of the luxury class, it is imperative for a brand to satisfy those needs, whether they are for recognition or functional use etc. 4. The brand must align with consumers’ values A brand that does not concur with the basic values of a consumer’s society has a small chance of succeeding because luxury items are forms of expression or identification for a luxury consumer. This makes it difficult for the consumer to adopt the brand in such cases. 5. The brand must perform Irrespective of which category the brand belongs to, a performance assurance is a must for the brand if it wishes to be in the evoked set of luxury consumers, considering the price being paid for luxury. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW. In the past, brands like Liz Claiborne and Pierre Cardin tested Indian waters but made a hasty retreat following poor customer response. This led to a general perception that India is still not ready for luxury brands. But now that impression is changing. Many leading global luxury brand marketers have started taking our market seriously. Luxury goods marketing is a different ball game as the type of customers involved fall in a different class altogether. These customers are influenced more by glamour and style and want to stand out in a crowd. They do not bat an eyelid whey they buy a Vuitton bag costing Rs 50,000 or a Mont Blanc diamond-encrusted pen for Rs 50 lakh, Ermenegildo Zegnas top-of the-line, custom-tailored suit costing Rs 6 lakh or a mid-range Louis Vuitton briefcase priced Rs 1. 27 lakh. As these figures suggest, luxury brands are prestige products characterised by high-involvement decision-making that is strongly related to the persons self-concept. Sensory gratification and social approval are the primary factors in selecting a prestige product. Cutting prices or giving discounts can be detrimental in case of luxury brands. A higher price implies a higher level of quality and also suggests a certain degree of prestige. Similarly, distribution should be restricted. Status-sensitive consumers may reject a particular product if the feeling of exclusivity goes away. Managing luxury brands is as much an art as a science. The challenge is to create a demand for something which is not really needed. After all, it looks crazy to spend Rs 50,000 on a handbag or Rs1,27,000 on a briefcase. Creativity plays a key role in creating such a premium image. Many luxury brands achieve legitimacy and fashion authority as a result of the creative talent of their design teams who respect the brand heritage and yet continuously reinvent it. MARKET SIZE AND INDUSTRY GROWTH RATE With the European and American markets reaching a saturation point, leading players are now concentrating on the BRIC countries and the action is expected to shift to India, being the fastest growing luxury market, growing at 25%. , and is expected to maintain these rates for the next 10 years. The Indian Luxury Market is estimated to be to be USD 4. 35 billion and this forms only 2% of the global share. The growth of luxury markets is on the basis of GDP per-capita growth and the High Networth Individuals (HNI’s) in a country. India will be the second largest economy by 2040. Factors like Consumer Attitudes, Real Estate, Regulatory Environment and Ecosystem are important for the growth of luxury market and these are improving in the country. India has 83,000 millionaires and every year 16,000 more are getting added to this. The main trigger behind Indians indulging in luxury is to flaunt status, and the consumers here are becoming aware of leading global brands in the space, but tend to be extremely value conscious. There is a sizeable population engaging in outbound travel and getting exposure to global luxury market. The Indian consumer wants not just to be pampered, but entertained, excited and Inspired by Luxury brands and hence global players will have to look at innovative methods of reaching and engaging customers to succeed in the Indian market. With India emerging as one of the important players in the Luxury Space, the rich and famous across the globe are interested in exploring Indian Luxury products. Also, because of the availability of high disposable income Indians have developed an appetite to live a lavish lifestyle. India is being looked upon by the entire world as an emerging market and a potential Global hub. Hence, considering the potential of the Country many big brands from across the Globe either have set up their base here or are planning to do the same. GDP CONTRIBUTION The Gross Domestic Product or GDP is the indicator of the performance of an economy. According to the estimates of 2008, Indias GDP is $1. 209 trillion and this is slated to make improvement in the coming times. It is estimated that Indias GDP will grow by 6. 5% in the year 2009. In 2008 the countrys GDP was 9%; the slowdown that has been witnessed this year in the estimates is largely due to the slowdown witnessed by the agriculture and the industrial sectors. A look at the India GDP composition sector wise throws up some interesting figures. The agriculture sector contributed 17. 2%; industry contributed 29. 1% while the service sector had a contribution of 52. 7% according to 2008 estimates. FDI LIMITS AN INTERESTING FACT!!! What is the size of US Luxury Market? A) A third of India’s GDP B) Half of India’s GDP C) Equal to India’s GDP D) More than double India’s GDP ANS: D) More than double India’s GDP. While India will certainly not match the US, Japan or China in terms of its domestic market size for luxury goods and services for decades to come, its influence on global luxury business will steadily increase in the coming years. The reasons are many and mostly historical. Unlike Japan or China, India has a history and a tradition of luxury for millennia. It has an influence on textiles and handwork on them, on gems and their setting in jewellery, in food (including ingredients and spices), on natural skin and body care, on fragrances and cosmetics, and even furniture, furnishings, and objects d’art. For centuries, India’s nobility and the wealthy have been used to â€Å"commission† and patron works of luxury and extraordinary human skill. LUXURY MARKET SECTORS SECTORS| KEY PLAYERS| MARKET SHARE %| Jewellery| | 27| Clothing| | 16| Digital Accessories| | 13| Time Wear| | 8| Cosmetics Skin Care| | 8| Foot Ware| | 6| Wine Liquor| | 6| Accessories| | 6| Fragrances| | 4| Crystal Wear| | 2| Others| | 4| The Key Player Analysis The following table summarizes the marketing mix adopted by the 4 leading luxury brands. In order to arrive at successful strategies to market luxury in India, it is pertinent to look at the marketing strategies instituted by the existing luxury players in India. Product| Price| Place| Promotion| Valentino offers a limited assortment due to the nascent demand of gowns in India. This is attributed to Indian women’s preference of sarees over gowns. Because of this trend, Valentino has launched â€Å"saree inspired gowns† in their latest collection. Valentino has also included a few sarees (worn by Elizabeth Hurley) in its trademark red in their collection. | Valentino claims to charge prices same as their western counterparts. | Opened its first store in August ’06 at Delhi’s Shangri La hotel. it is currently looking for space to open a standalone store each in bangalore, Mumbai surprisingly, Ludhiana. Has no plans of opening a store in a luxury mall due to a fear of dilution of identity. The brand owns numerous stores in China. | The brand has little promotional presence. In the west it relies on red carpet events fashion shows to promote its gowns. However due to lack of such events in India, it uses little print advertisements from abroad in India. They predominantly feature Hollywood actresses models. | Product| Price| Place| Promotion| The brand offers a smaller assortment of their products in west in India. This is attributed to the cultural difference the differences fashion trends. | The brand claims to price their products equitably in India when compared to their western counterparts. However, it does admit to the greater taxes. | Launched operations in India in 2005. has only one boutique in India as opposed to 8 boutiques in China. The brand’s only boutique in India is located at The Imperial Hotel in Delhi. | Has no. promotional campaigns targeted exclusively at Indian market. Nicole Kidman, the brand’s leading endorser, recently shot an advertisement with Indian model/actor Arjun Rampal in Rajasthan. However, the advertisement will not be aired in India as Chanel only promotes in print media in India. Came into headlines for dressing up actress Sonam Kapoor for a film premier. | Product| Price| Place| Promotion| Made headlines with their intention to design sarees. However, the brand has shown no signs of actually producing them. Offers limited amount of their product offerings due to limited demand in Indian market. However, is planning to expand their offering in future. | The brand admits to charging a higher price due to the tax structure high infrastructure costs. | Launched operations in India in 2007 with boutiques in Mumbai and Delhi. Murjani Group is the master franchisee of this brand in India. The brand’s store in Delhi is located at The Oberoi’s Hotel. the brand has currently shelved the plans of opening four more stores including one in the Emporio Mall. The brand owns close to 27 stores in almost all leading cities of China. | The brand relies heavily on print advertisements. However, it regrets its recent decision of promotions through newspaper advertisements as it harmed the brand’s exclusive luxe image. Has no specific advertisements promotional material for Indian customers. | Product| Price| Place| Promotion| Armani offers all of their latest collection in their Indian stores. The brand recently made headlines in Indian newspapers for including Sherwanis in the 2009 fall-winter collection. The sherwanis are now sold globally in all their stores. The brand has registered a tremendous growth by selling above 200 items a month and registering a growth of above 50 percent annually. | Armani claims to price their products same as abroad refuses to comment further. | Armani has recently entered the Indian market with a joint venture with DLF. The store currently operates through two exclusive stores in Delhi’s first Luxury Mall DLF Emporio. The is currently in plans of opening four more standalone stores in Delhi and Mumbai. It owns 15 stores in China. | Armani, unlike in west, only relies on print media (in magazines) to promote their products. The brand features its international promotional material in India as well. However, in its latest ad campaign, it featured a model of Indian descent (Vasuki)| DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE MACRO-ENVIRONMENT Political Trends One positive factor for any company entering India is the political stability of the nation as well as democratic style of leadership. Government apart from tariffs has taken a neutral stance towards the luxury stalwarts, FDI and tariffs as only concern which will be strengths in coming future. The implementation of the Free Trade Area, which laid out a comprehensive program of regional tariff reduction, will be continuously implemented in phases through the year 2010. Over the course of the next several years, the programs in tariff reductions will be made broader. Efforts to eliminate non-tariff barriers and develop common product certification standards were initiated. In addition, ASEAN also was able to formulate framework agreements for the intra-regional liberalization of trade in services. Economic Trends Despite the adverse economic trends in the last year, the luxury goods industry as a whole experienced relatively robust economic growth. Many countries have also seen the risk-weighted capital adequacy ratios of their banking systems improve due to government-sponsored bank recapitalization programs, continued progress in financial restructuring, and improvements in financial risk management. Overall Indian economic trend is a silver lining for companies as India is increasingly becoming the hotbed for millionaires and billionaires the new found riches is growing and will continue to be so, hence economic trend which was a challenge will grow as a big advantage. Social / Cultural Trends. There have also been social and cultural trends that have been evident over the last few years in the luxury goods industry. These include: (a) The irreversible rise of civil society (b) The rise of civil society and urbanisation blends perfectly with dreams that luxury brands sell (c) The increase in the roles of intellectuals and social awareness. (d) Indians are a peculiar breed, victims of centuries-old socio-economic oppression. Where each of us is pinned on the social matrix is revealed by our last name or even a stray twist in accent. Money or the display of it can rarely manage to unsettle the hierarchy. Awareness or rather subtle awareness is something which luxury marketers are happy about and aiming at. With more and more urbanisation and globalisation the need to be in parity with the world will fuel the demands for more upmarket and more luxurious lifestyle. Technological Trends It is a common knowledge that the luxury goods industry is still a relatively new industry in the country and is still in its early stages of development. Technology being a important factor still comes as second at times in various luxury categories, though make no mistakes that that second is still way above what a mid level brand can aim at. India being hub of technological development still does not provide luxury brands enough lucrative options as tech advancement are not synchronised and homogeneous, hence it is a dark spot but might be a very significant area in future. Legal Trends. Intellectual property (IP) and IP Rights (IPR) creation, commercialization, and protection have been a significant source of comparative advantage of enterprises and economies and a major driver of their competitive strategies. Indeed, countries all over the world are fully aware of the pressing need for a long-term policy commitment to collectively transform the luxury goods industry into one which is largely based on knowledge, driven by innovation and sustained by life-long learning. Countries all over the world have pledged to work together to help accelerate the pace and scope of IP asset creation, commercialization and protection; to improve the regional framework of policies and institutions relating to IP and IPRs, including the development and harmonization of enabling IPR registration systems; to promote IP cooperation and dialogues within the region as well with the region’s Dialogue Partners and organizations; to strengthen IP-related human and institutional capabilities, including fostering greater public awareness of issues and implications, relating to IP and IPRs. INDIA and IPR are a big problem, just not having the stringent and encompassing laws is not the only issue, and problem also arises due to weak enforcement of laws. Cheap imitation and intellectual property infringement is a common occurrence in the nation. Luxury Goods Industry SWOT Analysis Strengths: †¢Has products that boast of a very powerful retail. This includes a reputation for value of money, convenience and a wide variety of products †¢Has grown significantly over the years, and has experienced global expansion. †¢Main competence lies on the use of information technology (IT) to fully support its international logistics system. Therefore, companies in this industry can see how their individual products perform within the United States for instance, or even at stores at a glance. †¢Is able to deliver good customer care, as the limited amount of work would mean plenty of time to devote to customers. †¢Products have established a strong reputation within the market. †¢Offers little deficits and overheads. Therefore the companies in this industry can offer good value to customers on a consistent basis. Weaknesses: †¢Is one of the worlds largest industries but has a weak control of its empire, despite its IT advantages. This could lead to a decrease in productivity in some areas where it has the least control. †¢Since companies in this industry sell products across many sectors, they may lack the flexibility that some of its more focused competitors possess. †¢Operates globally, but its presence is located in only relatively few countries worldwide. †¢Some luxury goods lack market presence or reputation †¢The company’s cash flow is unreliable especially in the early stages of a new luxury product development. †¢Over flooding doesn’t leave a luxury brand a real luxury brand. Opportunities: †¢Taking over, merging, or forming strategic alliances with other luxury good companies while focusing on strong markets like Europe or the Greater China Region and India. †¢Luxury good companies operate only on trade in a relatively small number of countries all over the world. Thus, this would open the opportunities for future businesses in expanding various consumer markets, such as those in China and India. †¢The opening of new locations and branches offer luxury good companies the opportunities to exploit market development. This could lead to the diversification of the company’s branches from large super centres to local-based sites. †¢Opportunities exist for luxury good companies to continue with their current strategy of establishing large branches worldwide. †¢The industry is continuously expanding, with plenty of future opportunities to exploit for success. †¢AS FOR INDIA IT IS â€Å"THE â€Å"INDUSTRY OF FUTURE maybe 10 more years. Threats: †¢Being number one means that the luxury goods industry is the target of competition, the industry to beat, both locally and globally. †¢Being a global retailer means that luxury goods companies might be exposed to political problems in the countries where the company has operations. †¢The production costs of most luxury products have the tendency to fall because of lower manufacturing costs. Manufacturing costs fall because of outsourcing to low-cost regions around the globe. This phenomenon could lead to competition in prices, which in turn would result in the deflation of prices in various ranges. Intense price competition must definitely be considered a threat. †¢Indian mentality of the masses. †¢REPUTATION, if it goes down company goes down. Detailed Analysis of the Industry Environment The assessment of the industry attractiveness is performed using the Porter’s Five Forces Model. A. Threat of New Entrants New entrants in the luxury goods industry will have to deal with high costs of entry for their latest technologies. Most major competitors in this industry have yet to establish strong distribution channels. This will severely hamper their plans to retaliate with their technological developments as without distribution channels, their products would never be seriously considered in the market by customers. These companies must worry though about certain government laws in some countries that might weaken their competitive position (2002). B. Bargaining Power of Suppliers. Suppliers of luxury goods have relatively lower bargaining power because their products have yet to establish consistency in the market. This is in contrary to ordinary brands where these products have been able to secure the confidence of its customers worldwide. C. Bargaining Power of Buyers A majority of consumers in the luxury goods industry are professionals who rely on mobile and expensive gadgets and expect seamless services every time they use them. For instance, a customer phones in a service request from the New York airport while boarding a plane bound to Paris the same day. The technical people in New York will immediately work on the service ticket of the client. And when that client arrives in Paris, he / she would be able to call the New York service centre and pick up exactly where he / she left off (1999). The bargaining power of buyers in the luxury goods industry is relatively high because there are only few, large players in the industry. D. Threat of Substitutes There are very little threats that could emerge from possible substitutes. This is because product-for-product substitution could not possibly happen especially with luxury goods. Other products cannot simply replace the ingenuity of the established luxury products in the market. Also, the millions of users of these luxury products surely would find it too uncomfortable using other products other than their luxury products CASE STUDY: THE MURJANI GROUP OVERVIEW Murjani Group develops, launches, and builds various designer lifestyle brands. It operates in the United States, India, and internationally. Murjani Group was founded in 1930 and is based in New York, New York. They partner with international luxury brands and retail them in India. KEY EXECUTIVES Managing Director: Mr. Vijay Murjani. Chief Operating Officer: Mr. Pradeep Mansukhani Business Head of French Connection: Mr. Dhiresh Sharma Marketing Head of Luxury Division: Mr. Vikram Raizada Business Head of Gucci: Ms. Ananda Kara JOURNEY 1930: Mr B. K. Murjani found the group in Shanghai, CHINA with it’s first retail store 1950: After the world war Murjani commenced operations in Hong kong with a trading company. 1952: Murjani sets up Hong Kong’s first garment manufacturing factory. 1958: With 6 years, Murjani grew to one of the largest apparel producers in the world, with a production capacity in excess of 10 million units per annum. 1966: The current Chairman, Mohan Murjani, joins the group. 1966: The Group commenced its transition from manufacturing to designer lifestyle brand development and marketing, by launching its first brand in the USA, â€Å" Marco Polo† 1976: Murjani launches the â€Å"First Designer jean† 1980: Murjani sponsors the US Open 1985: Murjani launched Tommy Hilfiger,in 1985. Here again Murjani group re-enforced their panache with ground breaking and ingenious marketing, to ensure that Tommy Hilfiger, would almost immediately, positioned amongst the top designers in the world. The innovative brand marketing and management techniques adopted by Murjani Group over the years, have changed the very paradigm of marketing, merchandising and retailing, as we know it today. 1986: Murjani launches â€Å"Coca-Cola clothes Why India With a luxury boom in India, there are over one million luxury consumers, which is only a fraction of eight million plus consumers who have the disposable incomes but are unfamiliar with the luxury segment. The growth rate is 14. 6 per cent. Target audience is 22-55 year olds. India’s luxury goods market of Rs 717 billion is set to expand with a new firm to facilitate process by bringing together buyers and manufacturers. India’s total retail market has been estimated at $160 billion or Rs 7,170 billion, covering eight million consumers. Of them, one million are considered to be in the luxury brands segment 2000: NAMASTE INDIA The Murjani Group for many years, was very keen to establish a presence in the Indian market, but had to wait for the right time. In 2000 with the rapid growth in the consuming class, Murjani was amongs.

Gender Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Gender Discrimination Essay Laws on woman’s rights have changed a lot since the 1900’s. Women weren’t allowed to vote, get an education, and have high authority in jobs. Now, women are allowed to do all of these things and more. But have things really changed, or are they just more hidden? There are three ways in which women are discriminated against: in the workplace, television, and in politics. According to Napoleon Bonaparte â€Å"Nature intended women to be our slaves they are our property. Woman are nothing but machines for bearing children. Even though Napoleon is dead, and has been for a while now, this way of viewing women is very much alive. Why is it that woman are paid less than men for doing the same jobs? For example, a male professional basketball player gets paid way more than a woman. A 2008 study of 63 countries shows that a woman in the same job as a man with the same responsibilities is paid 10% to 15. 6% less then the man. Television plays a big part on the way that our country views woman. For example, in a commercial for pizza bites you see a women coming home from the grocery store with pizza bites, and making them for her children. Why is it that a man is never shown in the kitchen cooking for his children? Another example is on the show George Lopez. George manages an airplane parts factory, while his wife is a stay at home mom. The only thing you ever see her doing in this show is cooking, taking care of her kid, or arguing with her mother-in-law. In conclusion, women are stereotyped when cast for television roles. Television only shows woman, cleaning cooking, or taking care of their children. When it come to politics people can be very unwilling to change. For example we have never had a woman vice president or president. Each time we have a women run for president, I become more aware of gender discrimination in this country. Men will not vote for a woman candidate simply because she’s a woman. I had once seen a shirt stating: â€Å"No women will ever be president because: 1. No woman is a man. 2. See rule 1†. There has never been a women president because men in politics who vote are so unwilling to make a decision without discriminating against woman. Until America changes as a whole discrimination against woman will continue. Even though we women would like to believe otherwise they are still discriminated against: in the workplace, television, and in politics. The only way for women to be truly equal in this country is for women to get the same salary as men in careers, television to stop stereotyping women, and for America as a whole to change the way they view women, and the way they teach their children about the roles of women in society. Until this happens, women will always be discriminated against.

The Scarlet Letter | Character Analysis

The Scarlet Letter | Character Analysis Dimmesdale is the main male character in the world famous novel The Scarlet Letter, which is the masterpiece of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Although Dimmesdale commits adultery, it is not until the final part of the novel that he confesses his crime. From the time he commits adultery to the time he confesses his crime, everyday, he is tortured mentally. The conflicts of superego and id are best manifested in Dimmesdale. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the psychological situation of Arthur Dimmesdale based on Freuds psychological theory, especially the theory of id, ego and superego. Illustration of Id, Ego and Superego Freud is a famous psychologist, whose theory of psychology is a great contribution to the analysis of literature.  [1]  According to Freud, the mental processes can be assigned to three psychic zones: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id as defined by Freud is identical in many respects to the Devil as defined by theologians. Consequently, it is can be seen from this definition that the id is as dark as Devil. It is the dark aspect of human nature that cannot be touched by others. What is the id? Id, in short, is what people want. It is peoples desire of all kinds-desire for power, for sex, for amusement, for good. But this is only one aspect of id. Every one wants these things. There is no one in the world who does not want power, sex or amusement. So it can be said that id is in the human nature. Another aspect of id is that it is characterized by a tremendous and amorphous order. Its order is to satisfy its desire, without an eye to the consequences. In other words, id is lawless, asocial and amoral. Its function is to gratify our instincts for pleasure without regard for social conventions, legal rules, or moral restraint.  [2]  If one only wants to satisfy his or her impulses for pleasures, disregardi ng social rules and moral criteria, he or she will come to his or her self-deconstruction or do harm to other people, even the society. As it is stated above, id has dangerous potentialities. Consequently, there must be something that can prevent the id from doing dangerous things. In the book: A handbook of Critical Approaches in Literature, which is written by John K. Willingham, it is written that in view of the ids dangerous potentialities, it is necessary that other psychic agencies protect the individual and society. The first of these regulating agencies which protects the individual is the ego. This is the rational governing agent of the psyche. It regulates the instinctual drives of the id so that they may be releases in nondestructive behavioral patterns. In popular language, we may say that the ego stands for reason and circumspection, while the id stands for the untamed passions. Whereas the id is governed solely by the pleasure principle, the ego is governed by the reality principle.  [3]  While id is the dark aspect of human beings personality, ego is the rational, logical, waking part of the wind. As above has mentioned, ego is one of these regulating agencies that protect the individual and society, there is another psychic agency, superego. While ego is the rational, logical, waking part of the mind of each person, superego is the cultural taboos, such as social rules and moral criteria. In the book, A handbook of Critical Approaches in Literature, John K. Willingham also mentions that: The superego serves to repress or inhibit the drives of the id, to block off and thrust back into the unconscious those impulses toward pleasure that society regards as unacceptable, such as overt aggression, sexual passions, and the Oedipal instinct. Freud attributes the development of the superego to the parental influence that manifests itself in terms of punishment for what society considers being bad behavior and reward for what society considers good behavior. An overactive superego creates an unconscious sense of guilt  [4]  . If one only follows social taboos and neglects his or h er own feeling and desire, probably he or she becomes a machine which is runned by rules. Thus, the superego is in direct opposition to the id. The superego determines which desire the id contains can be fulfilled. And the ego, or the conscious self that experience the external world through the senses, between id and superego, and all three are defined by their relationship; no acts independently of the others; a change in one always involves changes in the other two. Then if can be concluded that the ego is the balance between the id and the superego. In this way, the ego is, to a large degree, the product of conflicts between what the society says we cannot have and what we want to have. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¢. Historical Background As superego is what the society says, historical background must be introduced so that a better understanding of the mental struggle of Dimmesdale can be achieved. Puritans came to New England to practice their religion, which is their chief incentive when they came to the new world. In this new world, they established a small civilized community out of the wilderness. At the beginning, they had to fight against nature; here the nature refers to the environment that had not been intruded by human being, in order to live. But later, they combated human naturesuppressing natural joys and pleasure, negating all passion, which they considered as wilderness. Puritans pretended that their own civilization had not and should not have any of the elements of the wilderness in it. They are, in fact, the enemies of nature and pretend to embody everything that is the opposite of the wilderness and nature. They focus on society and civilization extremely. All that they embrace is part of civiliza tion: the church, religious education, intellect rather than emotion; rigid forms and rules rather than freedom.  [5]  Because Puritans believe that God will punish the whole community if only one member of the community did bad behavior. So that is why Puritans are so aggressive in punishing moral infraction. à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ £. Conflicts manifested in Dimmesdale As has mentioned above, the id is peoples desire of all kinds, such as the sexual desire, passion and ambition. All these three are possessed by Dimmesdale. Although these are in the nature of human being, they are considered as wilderness and suppressed by the Puritans society. Dimmesdale, in the eyes of local governors, his colleagues and the country members, is a holy minister. But first of all, he is a human being and a healthy young man, thus he possesses sexual desire, passion and ambition which is suppressed by the society. Dimmesdale is in a dilemma, on one hand, his id orders him to fulfill his pleasure, disregarding the social rules and moral criteria; on the other hand, his consciousness, reason and morality prevents him from doing bad things. Consequently, Dimmesdale is always in conflicts which can be explained by many examples in the novel. As stated above, the id is our desire of all kind such as sexual desire, which is in the nature of human being. But the sexual passion is repressed by the superego. The scarlet letter A stands for adultery, which is the result from sexual passion of Hester and Dimmesdale. Thus, Dimmesdale does have. In order to satisfy his sexual desire, he slept with a woman who is already married to someone else. As it is said before, the Puritan society established cruel punishment for these who had committed crime and the punishment for adultery in that time was death sentence. If a woman commits adultery, one can easily see from her physical form. For example, people can easily see that Hester has slept with other man because of the absence of her husband, in that she gave birth to a child. Consequently, she is punished by the society. Dimmesdale is a man, one can not tell whether he has committed adultery or not from his physical form. But does this mean that he is free from the social laws? No . Superego manifests itself in punishment. Also, an overactive superego creates guilty feeling. Although Dimmesdale by concealing his secret isnt punished, everyday he is tortured by his guilty feeling. The guilty feeling manifests itself in the physical decline of Dimmesdale: His form grew emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had a certain melancholy prophecy of decay in it; he was often observed, on any slight alarm or other sudden accident, to put his hand over his heart with first a flush and then a paleness, indicative of pain.  [6]  In Hawthornes point of view: evil educated. The adultery committed by Dimmesdale is evil, because it not only breaks the law but also the moral ethics. Dimmesdale learns from the evil. And afterwards he obeys social rules. This can be explained by one example, that is when he returns from the forest where he and Hester held a long talk, he meets the youngest sister of them all. It was a maiden newly-won-and won by the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdales own sermon, on the Sabbath after his vigil-to barter the transitory pleasures of the world for the heavenly hope that was to assume brighter substance as life grew dark around her, and which would gild the utter gloom with final glory. She was fair and pure as a lily that had bloomed in Paradise. The minister knew well that he was himself enshrined within the stainless sanctity of her heart, which hung its snowy curtains about his image, imparting to religion the warmth of love, and to love a religious purity. Satan, that afternoon, had surely led the poor young girl away from her mothers side, and thrown her into the pathway of this sorely tempted, or-shall we not rather say?-this lost and desperate man. As she drew nigh, the arch-fiend whispered him to condense into small compass, and drop into her tender bosom a germ of evil that would be sure to blossom darkly soon, and bear black fruit betimes.  [7]  He wants to take advantage of her to satisfy his sexual desir e, but the consciousness, the ego, stops him from doing wrong thing again. Then the result is that: So-with a mightier struggle than he had yet sustained-he held his Geneva cloak before his face, and hurried onward, making no sign of recognition, and leaving the young sister to digest his rudeness as she might.  [8]  This example can best explain that Dimmesdale learns from his misdoing and now he can balance the id and superego better. While superego is one of the psychic agencies that can repress or inhibit the drives of the id, such as sexual desire, if one only follows social rules, he might become something that is unnatural. For example, Dimmesdale leads the community to think that he is too pure to consider a sexual union even in marriage by refusing others suggestion that he should get married for the sake of his health. While he represses his sexual passion and pretends to be saintly, he attempts to confess the truth of his passionate nature as well as his act, of course in comfortably safe and general terms. At the same time, he also attempts to confess his evil. And this can be seen in his midnight vigil. He stands on the scaffold, and speaks out the secret which he dare not say in the broad daylight. Dimmesdale not only possesses sexual passion, but also the passion of another kind, anger. Dimmesdale, a pale and passive minister in others eyes, possesses anger, which is a decided part of his basic nature, which is the id of Dimmesdale. But it is not like sexual passion which he suppresses and refuses to acknowledge to the rest of the community, Dimmesdale loses his temper twice in the novel. The first time he loses his temper in when Chillingworth asks him to confess his secret to him, but Dimmesdale refuses and walks out of the room. And the old physician observes: But see, now, how passion takes hold upon this man, and hurrieth him out of himself! As with one passion so with another. He hath done a wild thing ere now, this pious Master Dimmesdale, in the hot passion of his heart.  [9]   Another example is when in the forest, Hester tells Dimmesdale the identity of Chillingworth, Dimmesdales fury is described as the violence of passion.  [10]   Ambition The id refers not only to sexual desire and passion, but also ambition, which is also, lies in human being. Ambition, on one hand, is the content of the id, which is the nature of human being; on the other hand, it relates to the society, relates to what the society thinks and says. Dimmesdale, as described in the novel, is young clergyman, who had come from one of the great English universities, bringing all the learning of the age into our wild forest land. His eloquence and religious fervour had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession. He was a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and impending brow; large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self restraint. Notwithstanding his high native gifts and scholar-like attainments, there was an air about this young minister-an apprehensive, a startled, a half-frightened look-a s of a being who felt himself quite astray, and at a loss in the pathway of human existence, and could only be at ease in some seclusion of his own. Therefore, so far as his duties would permit, he trod in the shadowy by-paths, and thus kept himself simple and childlike, coming forth, when occasion was, with a freshness, and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought, which, as many people said, affected them like tile speech of an angel.  [11]  He comes to the new world to the new world to fulfill his ambition that is his desire to be a great and reverend minister in the Puritan world. What Dimmesdale concerns most is not his lover Hester nor his child Pearl, but what other people think about him and how it will affect his career. In the governors hall, when the governor and others want to take Pearl away from Hester, Dimmesdale does not stand out to help Hester until she asks for help. He helps Hester not because his love for her, but he is afraid that Hester may not keep the secre t any longer. It is for his own sake the he speaks for Hester. In the forest, when Hester reveals the identity of Chillingworth to him, he only thinks of his secret being exposed. He confesses to Hester that he has lived with horror that someone might figure out that Pearl looks like him and suspect that he is her father. When Dimmesdale returns to the town from his meeting with Hester, he feels relieved that she has not planned to leave Boston immediately. This can best illustrate his base ambition. The minister had inquired of Hester, with no little interest, the precise time at which the vessel might be expected to depart. It would probably be on the fourth day from the present. This is most fortunate! he had then said to himself. Now, why the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale considered it so very fortunate we hesitate to reveal. Nevertheless-to hold nothing back from the reader-it was because, on the third day from the present, he was to preach the Election Sermon; and, as such an occasion formed an honorable epoch in the life of a New England Clergyman, he could not have chanced upon a more suitable mode and time of terminating his professional career. At least, they shall say of me, thought this exemplary man, that I leave no public duty unperformed or ill-performed!  [12]   Conclusion: It can be concluded that, the scarlet letter A on the bosom of Dimmesdale may stands for adultery, which is his sexual desire; anguish, his strong passion; and also ambition, his desire to success. Thus the scarlet letter A is the id of Dimmesdale, which is also his basic nature. But the society in which he lives fight against all these human nature, Dimmesdale on one hand wants to satisfy all his desire; on the other hand, he is aware of social rules and moral ethics and cares about what the society says. Consequently Dimmesdale is in a dilemma. Health Promotion Plan: Older People Health Promotion Plan: Older People Caspersen .et .al (1985) defined physical activity as any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure. The aim of this essay is to plan a health promotion based on older people. Inactivity can lead to health problems, such as obesity, coronary heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease and also accident prevention. This assignment will present a series of evidence based on the intervention and will use current theories and models of health that can help prevent, increase and maintain the uptake of physical activity among older adult. These will be formulated through the integration of published scientific literatures. This approach will involve identifying and producing findings which will include the characteristics of determinant of health and health inequality, such as age, belief, class, environment psychosocial whilst applying the Beattie health promotion model in conjunction of specialism and awareness of ethical implication when taking part in health planning. The rationale of choosing this group is because, due to their age they have reduce physical activity. The proportions of older people in the population are increasing quickly and older people are less active. According to Health Education Authority (HEA 1995b) three out of ten men (33%) and four out of ten women (38%) aged between 55 and 74 years are sedentary (i.e. participate in less than half an hour of moderate intensity physical activity a week). It is known that health-related problems increase with both age and inactivity (Mathers et.al 1999, WHO 1996). Hoffman et.al (1996), Rice et.al (1996) pointed out that 85% of individual aged 65-100 years have at least one chronic condition (cardiovascular disease, CHD, stroke, obesity, diabetes, etc) and the numbers continue to grow with advancing in age. However, evidence showing the rate of progression and severity of many diseases in older people can be prevented, minimized or delayed with the provision of effective health promotion programmes, therapeutic exercise or physical activities (Harvey 1991, Nutbeam et.al 1993). However, older adults are more likely to pull out of exercise programs than younger ones. Paterson (1982), Acheson (1998), Naidoo Wills (2005) argue that elderly people, for example, may have different health expectations from those who are young, as may those who live in poverty compared with those who live more affluently. Health Promotion represents a comprehensive social and political process, not only embracing actions directed at strengthening the skills and capabilities of individuals, but also action directed towards changing social, environmental, and economic conditions so as to improve their impact on public and individual health (WHO 1998b) but also defined as the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health (Ewles Simnett, 1996). The World Health Organisation (WHO, 1946) defined health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. This definition is suitable for all groups who need to change to a developmental process Therefore this is evidence that peoples health will be determined by the factor surrounding them such as their beliefs, age, environment etc. Health promotion must be seen in preventing ill health and enhancing positive health. It must also try to develop positive health wit h an eye for prevention: for example, encouragement to physical exercise, through cycling, running and walking. Blaxter . However, Williams (1983) studied the health beliefs of elderly people living in Aberdeen, found that people could consider themselves, or others, healthy even though they may be badly diseased. The health of an individuals and populations can be affected positively and negatively by a range of interrelated factors influencing the determinant health (Keleher et.al (2002), Townsend et.al (1988), Acheson (1998). as a concept and set of practical strategies which remains as an essential guide in addressing the major health challenges faced by developing and developed nations, including communicable and non-communicable diseases and issues related to human development and health. Dahlgren and Whitehead (1991), Acheson (1998) see determinants of health as individual influenced by intrapersonal ( such as age, personal confidence, education, social class, and behavioural attributes and skills), socio-cultural, ( these include social support from peers, social support from ones spouse or family, and influence of a general practitioner), policy and physical-environmental, ( these include climate and seasonal factors, access to physical programmes and facilities), factors such as livi ng and working conditions, and community characteristics which are important to the changing and understanding adult health behaviours. Acheson report (1998), Naidoo and Wills (2005) and WHO (2003) for example, all pointed out that social environmental determinants are highly associated with health. The Office of National Statistics (2007a), Wilkinson (1986) also reported that major causes of sickness and death are circulatory diseases for example, coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, cancers and respiratory disease, while Stansfield Marmot (2001) suggested that there may be other links between CHD and psychosocial factors, such as stress and lack of social support, depression and anger. Britton Macpherson (2000) also contributed that physical inactivity, smoking and raised blood cholesterol are major risk factors for CHD. Fennel et.al (1988) pointed out that growing old is far from necessarily accompanied by becoming sick. Again, in the late 1980s, this was considerably higher a mong those in higher social classes and the differences increased over the period from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, particularly for women. However, the social rise in classes according to the Office for National Statistics (2008), Townsend et al (1982); Acheson (1998) and Vent and Wise (1991, 1989) suggests that people in the lower social classes working in unhealthy conditions are more likely to experience poor health, life expectancy, longstanding illness and premature deaths than those in social classes I and II. Caplan (1964) argues that the prevention of disease takes places at different levels. The level of intervention is set out in three main approaches for health promotion action: the downstream primary care approach, the midstream lifestyles/behaviourist approach and the upstream socioecological approach (Murphy Keleher, 2003). Prevention is the notion of reducing the risk of occurrence of a disease process, illness, injury, disability, handicap or some other unwanted phenomenon or state (Tannahill et.al 1996). According to Naidoo and Wills (2000) tertiary prevention is reducing further disability and suffering in those already ill, preventing recurrence of an illness; e.g. rehabilitation, patient education and palliative care. It will address a normative need of the elderly. According to Ewles Simnett (1996) normative need is a need defined by an expert or professional according to her own standards, if it falls short of the standards there is no need. Normative need is based on the value judgements of professional experts, which may lead to two problems. Expert opinion varies over what the suitable standard and the other values and standards of the experts may differ from those of their clients (Ewles Simnett, 1996). According to Ewles Simnett (1996) all planning should have aims and objectives. The aim of the initiative is to raise awareness of the connection between inadequate exercise and coronary heart disease and how the elderly can partake in reducing their vulnerability to the disease. Cognitive Objective is making sure the client understands any given information and the development of intellectual skills (Bloom, 1956). Affective objective is the manner of ways client emotions are dealt with such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasms, motivations and attitudes (Krathwohl et.al., 1973) . Psychomotor objective is concerned about client physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas (Simpson, 1972). Planning helps elderly people to increase control over their own health, which is the aim of health promotion. Older people who attend the primary care setting have 10 minutes walk, which they find beyond their functional ability. In such a case it is appropriate to support specific activities to help improve mobility and muscular strength and it might require a specialist instruction and supervision from a trained practioner (Ewles Simnett, 1996). According to Beattie (1991) he suggested that there are four paradigms for health promotion. They are produced from the aspect of mode of intervention, which ranges from authoritative to negotiated and they lay as Health Persuasion: This intervention is directed at individual and led by professionals. Personal Counselling: This intervention is based on client led and focus on personal development that is the health promoter acts as a facilitator rather than an expert. Community Counselling: This intervention is a similar way to personal counselling that is seeking to enhance the skills of a group or local community. The chosen mode of intervention which will be used is the personal counselling for health because it brings together individual factors explaining physical activity that is attitudes, beliefs, and values; psychological characteristics such as enjoyment, motivation, perceived health and fitness, barriers, and physical activity self-efficacy (Sallis and Owen, 1999). Strengths are according to NICE (2006); Referral to well-trained staff who can draw on a range of experience and training including behavioural change theory that is physical activity expertise and experience in working with people with specific conditions. Programmes should offer a range of choice of activity and or a choice of venue. Programmes offering ongoing support in the community ideally linked to a support environment for physical activity. Programmes run in conjunction with partners often from the local authority or voluntary sector. Weaknesses are according to NICE (2006): Role or capabilities of individual health professionals. Lack of necessary systems in place within primary care, which limits the ongoing and systematic promotion of physical activity. Lack of a prevention culture within primary care. Lack of clarity and consistency on what constitutes an exercise specialist. Few incentives to promote physical activity within primary care systems. A pressure to demonstrate cost effectiveness Autonomy refers to a persons capacity to choose freely for themselves, the ability to make rational choices and the ability to act on ones environment. Ewles Simnett (1996) suggested that there are different ways in helping a client to take control over their health; encouraging people to make their own decisions and resist the advice to take over the decision-making. It is also used to support people to think for themselves, even if this takes much longer than simply telling them. Autonomy can be obstructed: If you impose your own solution on your clients problems; Telling them that their ideas are no good and will not work, without giving an adequate explanation or opportunity to try them out Telling them what to do because they are taking too long to think it out for themselves Tannahill et.al (1996) defined evaluation as the comparison of an object of interest against a standard of acceptability. The reasons to evaluate are to: To measure the extent to which projects are achieving their main objectives. To update the development of materials and methods. Evaluation helps to compare different looms or consider new refinement in methodology To guarantee ethical practice, that is health promotion activities planning to influence peoples lives in health-enhancing manner. According to Tannahill et.al (1996) evaluation can be classified according to the exact aspect of the programme, which is to be evaluated that is, the process and product or outcome. Long-term health promotion programmes will have objectives about changes in health status and evaluated in terms of outcome. Process evaluation allows analysis of the factor aspect of a project, that is yielding detailed information of direct importance to the development of materials and methods, the understanding of the relevant and reproduction of approach to other settings. Naidoo Wills (2000) also stated that process evaluation employed a wide range of qualitative or soft methods. For example, such methods are interviews, diaries, observation and content analysis of documents. The product or outcome evaluation deals with these questions. It is essential to differentiate between the ultimate outcome, (such as health status) and other outcomes, (such as cognitive or behavioural outcomes), that are di rectly related to the programme objectives. According to Naidoo Wills (2000) outcome evaluation is often the preferred evaluation method because it measures sustained changes that had stood the test of time. Health promotion needs to been seen as contributing to the ultimate outcome but measures with more direct alliance to health promotion projects in measuring the suitable effects of an intervention. In conclusion the essay has shown older people inactivity can lead to health problems, such as obesity, coronary heart disease, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and how health is defined according to the group involves different determinants of health affecting older people. It also shows measuring health is not a simple task and lack of agreement about which are the best ways to measure health exits. Finally, the use of different kinds of criteria is explored.