The Berlin Wall The Cold War - 1506 Words

The Berlin Wall: The Cold War’s Symbol European history has always interested me and one of the events we covered in my World Cultures history class was the Berlin Wall. I wanted to spend more time on the topic because I love all history and it interested me. I am sure we learned a little more than what I remember of the Wall but I know is the basic facts. We glazed over it and pretty much just acknowledged its past existence then moved on. We recalled it was in Germany and was a result of many previous and ongoing conflicts of the time. One night I was watching a documentary on the eighties by CNN and they quickly mentioned the Berlin Wall being knocked down. It brought this time period of history back to my attention. I wanted to read about on my own time but I did not. Having an English paper be about this captivating event helps me find the time. This time period was very risky and countries had their set allies and enemies. Even a country has their own sides (West and East Germany). Everyone had a side, a view point. These countries helped each other by setting up bases in countries close to the enemy or sending supplies to help their war buddies out. NATO, Arab Union, Organization of African Unity, League of Nations/ the United Nations and the European Union were becoming common and most becoming large power players in economic and political situations. All countries wanted a large spot in these organizations to have more influence and power. I also must mention theShow MoreRelatedThe Berlin Wall And The Cold War Essay715 Words   |  3 PagesPerhaps the most visual reference to the Cold War was the Berlin Wall. Although this wall only existed to divide Berlin into two sides, it became a physical representation of the Cold war for many and its fall in 1989 has been regarded to many as the end of the Cold War. I have always been interested in the background history behind the Berlin Wall. Since I started school in the 80s and was in High School while the Cold War was winding down, I don’t have a great personal understanding of manyRead MoreBerlin Wall : The Cold War1403 Words   |  6 PagesBerlin Wall The Berlin Wall was built in August 1961 during the Cold War. The Wall that separated East and West Berlin came to show the different ideologies between different systems of government, Communism and Democratic supported by the USSR and the USA. The Berlin Wall symbolised the difference between the western democrats and eastern communist and the way they though Germany should be led. The significance of the wall What was the cold war and diplomatic relationships? The Cold War was aRead MoreA Brief History of the Berlin Wall Essay890 Words   |  4 PagesThe Berlin Wall Walls are one of man’s oldest defenses; physical barriers that are erected to keep people out, or, in some cases, to keep them in. Walls are physical fortifications that create tension and distain among people on both sides. This is what the Berlin Wall, or der Mauer in German, was; a physical barrier created in Berlin, Germany during the Cold War. It was created by the East Germans in an attempt to stop East German citizens from immigrating to Western Germany. However, the BerlinRead MoreThe Cold War1676 Words   |  7 PagesHistorical Context: The Cold War started by the end of the Second World War. The aim of this war was to spread opposing ideologies of Capitalism and Communism by the two world superpowers without the result of a hot war. The war was between the Capitalist West - namely: the United States of America, Britain and France – and Communist East – known to be Russia and all the satellite states which communism had taken over. An agreement made at the Yalta meeting of 1945 was that Germany would be dividedRead MoreThe World Through Freedom And Democracy : A Critical Analysis866 Words   |  4 PagesDemocracy: A Critical Analysis of the Pre-Emptive Cold War Policy Strategy of President Ronald Reagan’s â€Å"Tear Down This Wall!† Speech This critical analysis of â€Å"Tear Down This Wall!† speech of 1987 will define President Ronald Reagan’s properly conveyed speech on the necessity of tearing down the Berlin Wall as a symbol of democracy and freedom on a global scale. Reagan examines the ideological barriers of the Cold War, which are defined in the Berlin Wall as a division between communism and democracyRead MoreThe Berlin Wall Of Berlin1488 Words   |  6 Pagesof the Berlin wall brought Germany closer together as one country. The east side of Berlin was communist, whereas the west side was socialist/democratic. The Berlin wall was often referred to as a symbol of the cold war and the inner conflict of Germany. It showed the different ideologies of the USA and USSR and their systems of government. Officially known as the â€Å"Anti-Fascist-Protective Wall† by the east, and the â€Å"Wall of Shame† by the West, it physically divided the city of Berlin from AugustRead MoreThe Fal l of the Berlin Wall666 Words   |  3 Pagesfall of the Berlin Wall is very much a sequel, a continuation of the story about Eastern Europe emerging from war and communism. The nation of presenting history as a story also appealed to me very much, since that is the way I look at the events I cover as a reporter. -Serge Schmemann The Berlin Wall was a symbol of division between two different political beliefs and two different ways of life. The population during this time was about 3.4 million. This started the Cold War and endedRead MoreThe Cold War And The World War II872 Words   |  4 PagesDuring the World War II through the present, the Cold War and the Globalization impacted a lot both positive and negative sides for the national world. The Cold War was a remarkable time for not only Germany and Globalization was a big shift for the world. From that, people defined Cold War as a division and Globalization as integration. So why do people define two events like that? The Cold War was simile as a division, especially when it came to Germany. As we all know, Germany was divided intoRead MoreThe Cold War According to Berlin Essay example1005 Words   |  5 PagesThe Cold War According to Berlin After the end of World War II, in 1945, Germany was divided into four zones, American, British, French on the west side and the Soviet on the east side. Germany’s capital Berlin was also divided into four zones. To identify what happen during the Cold War one has to focus on Berlin as it was the centre of this conflict. Events like the currency reform, Berlin Blockade and the building of the Berlin Wall show how close it was to becomingRead MoreThe Berlin Wall : A Secret History960 Words   |  4 PagesWhile studying about Europe in the twentieth century, it became clear that the cold war had a lasting impact on the history of Germany as well as America’s view on communism. In our text book the Allies, especially the U.S., are always presented as being strongly opposed to the building of the Berlin Wall. So why had the Berlin Wall been allowed to last for twenty-eight years? During a search to find out more as to the reason for this lengthy existence, I came across the website for the magazine

Blacktown Water Treatment Plant Project Brief - 1230 Words

Blacktown Water Treatment Plant Project Brief Version: 1.1 Date: 8/22/2014 Copy: Uncontrolled Document Acceptance and Release Notice This is Version 1.1 of the Blacktown Water Treatment Plant Project Brief. Title: Blacktown Water Treatment Plant. Background: This treatment plant is designed to remove potentially harmful substances from waste water. It also includes safe effluent discharge and production of agro-ash. This is the process diagram of the treatment plant: [pic] Process flow - step 1 Preliminary treatment bar screen Removal of large objects As wastewater enters†¦show more content†¦The filters consist of finely crushed coal, about one meter in depth, and sand, half a meter in depth. This provides the final step in the treatment process. Process flow - step 6 Chlorination/dechlorination Chlorine is added to the effluent to disinfect any remaining microbiological pathogens; this takes at least half an hour. The effluent is then treated with sulphur dioxide gas to remove excess chlorine, which would be harmful to the river ecosystem. The effluent is then ready for discharge into the river. Process flow - step 7 Solids separation and incineration The sludge and scum, removed in step 2 of the process, are dealt with separately. The sludge is stored in a sludge holding tank where it is then pumped to the centrifuge at a controlled rate. Polymers are added to the sludge to aid in the thickening of the sludge during this process. Water is separated from the sludge by spinning in a centrifuge to form a thick, muddy substance known as cake, a process known as dewatering. The cake is then conveyed to the furnace where it is incinerated at 750-1000 °C to produce Agri-Ash. The scum, however, is stored in a heated tank to thicken it prior to its transfer to the furnace, where it is also incinerated. Approximately 700,000 litres of sludge is treated each day to produce 47 tonnes of dewatered solids. After

Reflective Journal for Simulation & Gaming- myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theReflective Journal for Simulation Gaming. Answer: Non-verbal communication: Describe: Non verbal communication is a way of communicating between the two persons using non-verbal clues. Non verbal communication is effective in some ways, and sometimes becomes more effective than verbal communication (Walther et al.,2015). We all have used non verbal communication for some reasons, knowingly and unknowingly. I have used non verbal communication in the classes, like, during a lecture if I need a pen or a pencil from my classmate, I used non verbal communication to ask him or her for that. Sometimes non verbal communication becomes one way like someones gesture can indicates about the thinking of that person. Interpret: For me, the non verbal communication happens most with my friends. I think, the understanding of the non verbal communication depends on the understanding between the persons. I have witnessed that my close friends can interpret my communication through the non-verbal communication more clearly, rather than my friends, who are not that close. Though it is an informal way of communication, sometimes the communication between students like us and the professors also become non-verbal. Evaluate: I think the flow of the communication is faster in the non-verbal communication. The thoughts of a person are passed to another person through some gesture or facial expressions. Depending on the understanding between the two people, the non-verbal communication can be effective. However, I think it should not be used as a way of communication in every situation (Cuddy et al.,2015). The compactness of the formal way of communication is not present in the non-verbal communication. Plan: In future the non-verbal communication can play a vital role. We all have used non-verbal communication as a way to communicate with each other. However, I try not use the non-verbal way of communication with those persons who are not well known to me, because I think misunderstanding may occur in this case. However, the persons I know may able to understand my saying through the non verbal communication, so I generally use this way of communication with them. McGregors Theory X and Theory Y: Describe: McGregors Theory X and Theory Y consist of two different concepts of managers believe regarding the motivation of the workers. Theory X is considered as the old school of management where it is believed that the workers are not interested to take responsibilities and routine observations on the workers are needed to be done in order to make them work properly. Theory Y deals with the concepts from the new school of management where it is stated that doing work is natural for the workers and the workers can be motivated by the appreciation of their work and certain rewards and recognitions for their work. I think motivating people depends on the professional background of that person. A fresher can get motivated by appreciation for his work and constant encouragement from seniors, opportunity for promotion. In case of working professionals the motivation factors can be hike in the salary and going for more responsible position. Interpret: The experience of being a student in the college or university is totally different from working as a professional in an organization (Dharejo, Baloch Jhatial, 2017). I feel, in the college the only responsibility is to understand the subjects and doing well in the exams. The consequences of doing well in the exam are good, but we do not think about those consequences much as a student. Working in a company, imposes certain responsibility on the worker, and the consequences of those responsibilities have certain higher level impacts on the organization. Evaluate: I have the experience of being a student in the university and also working in an organization. I felt the difference between the degrees of responsibility that has to be taken in the both place. I was appreciated by my co-workers for my work, which motivated me to do better in the workplace. I made mistakes, but in that case my seniors helped me to do the work correctly. In case, if the organization imposed a strict rule on me and penalized me for my mistakes, I might not be interested to do my job properly. I think, in university also, the impact of applying theory Y is good. In case if my good marks are appreciated by my teachers and my classmates I will be more encouraged to learn the lessons more properly. Plan The application of the new school principal of motivation is more desirable, but I have seen in some cases strictness plays an important role in order to manage the workers. It can be said that theory X, the old school principals are not meant for the motivation, but is more inclined towards managing the people. In an organized company, in future, some kind of conflicts can happen in that case managing the workers become important. The future of the Mcgregors theory cannot survive individually only on one theory (Aithal Kumar, 2016). It is better that if a new theory can derive, from merging these two theories. Self Directed Team Work: Describe: Self Directed team work indicates a group of employees acquiring different skills, aims to work together in order to achieve the organizational goals (Phillips, Parker Rushmer, 2017). I have worked in such team in my academic life. I did not work with self directed team in my professional life. I have gained certain experience in my college life while working with this kind of team on certain projects; from my experience I have learnt that self directed team sometimes becomes more effective than the conventional team management (Hoffman, 2017). The main difference between a self directed team and the conventional team is that, in conventional team there is a leader to lead the team but in a self directed team there is no leader and the members of the team gained certain knowledge. The team is very diverse in that sense. Interpret: I have done some projects in my college days, and the team I was working was self directed in nature. We, the members of the team had knowledge domain on the different areas and the main objective of our team was that to implement all our domain knowledge successfully in that certain project. There was no one to lead our team, but we were stick to our objectives and this helped us to achieve the success in the project (Schreuder,Schalk de Jong, 2017). The absence of the primary attributes of the conventional team worked for us and we enjoyed working in a team, with no leaders and flexible working condition. Evaluate: We did not have any team leader in our team; the driven force of our team was the thought of the success of our project. The working time was also flexible. All these factors did have positive impacts of the team (Bourdeau et al.,2017). As , there was no hierarchy in our team, w e, the members of our team can communicate with each other in informal ways which had helped us to understand the requirements of the project properly and had positive attributes on the success of the project. Plan: Self directed team is successful is some cases depending on the situation. The organization needs to motivate the employees so that they can work in a team without any supervision to achieve the organizational goal. In our case, all of the members of our team were wanted to gain the success in the project. Setting of one goal for all the members of the team worked for us. However, self directed team may not work, if the member of the team do not share a comfortable working environment and the members are not motivated enough by the company or the organization to achieve the goal. Human Skills: Describe: Human skill is the ability to work and cooperate with the people in a positive and effective way. Human skill is important for both the managers and the employees as it helps them to maintain good working environment and the flow of work (Daniau, 2016). I think, human skill is applicable in both academic life and professional life. In my college I maintained good friendship with my classmate and I tried to listen to my teachers properly. In some cases, the conflict arose, then I tried to resolve that issues through a good and transparent communication. `The same thing happened from my teacher`s and my classmates side. Interpret: I have seen that the good communication skill helps to achieve the good human skill. I have tried to maintain the ethics in both the workplace and the office and have tried to maintain a good terms with both my classmates and the teachers (Divleli Ergun,2015). The teachers are also very approachable to us and that can be considered as a good human skill as we, the students can clear our doubts from them without any hesitation or can feel free to discuss any problem that is bothering us. Maintaining good terms with my classmates helps me to create special bonding with them. We have enjoyed our journey of gaining the knowledge as well as we have helped each other when it is needed. Evaluate: Good human skill can solve many complex problems and I have already experienced this. In this case, it can be definitely advisable that for maintaining the good working culture and the organizational growth, managers are needed to maintain good relationship with the employees. Human skill also includes managing the people. The good human skill is helpful to identify the problems, employees are facing and also solving of those problems. Plan: In future human skill is going to play an important role in all the fields of studies and the industries. Like, I have faced many problems in my college but those were solved by my teachers and it was the result of the good human skill maintained by them and also maintained from my side. The overall impact is good human skill has positive impact on both the organizations and its members. References Aithal, P. S., Kumar, P. M. (2016). Comparative Analysis of Theory X, Theory Y, Theory Z, and Theory A for Managing People and Performance. Bourdeau, D., Roberts, D., Wood, B., Korioth, J. (2017). A Study of Video-Mediated Opportunities for Self-Directed Learning in Required Core Curriculum.International Journal of Educational Methodology,3(2), 85-91. Cuddy, A. J., Wilmuth, C. A., Yap, A. J., Carney, D. R. (2015). Preparatory power posing affects nonverbal presence and job interview performance.Journal of Applied Psychology,100(4), 1286. Daniau, S. (2016). The Transformative Potential of Role-Playing Games: From Play Skills to Human Skills.Simulation Gaming,47(4), 423-444. Dharejo, N., Baloch, M. N., Jhatial, A. A. (2017). PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AT WORKPLACE: APPLICATIONS OF THEORY X AND THEORY Y IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS SECTOR.European Journal of Business and Social Sciences,6(02), 193-206. Divleli, M. S., Ergun, E. (2015). MANAGER EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY: THE EFFECT OF SKILLS ON DIFFERENT LEVEL MANAGEMENT.International Journal of Management Human Resources,3(1). Hoffman, J. (2017). Self-Directed Work Team Transition: Leadership Influence Mediates Self Determination Theory to Describe Variation in Employee Commitment. Phillips, S., Parker, J., Rushmer, R. K. (2017). Introducing Self-Directed Primary Care Teams in the NHS: An Overview of Initial Strategic Issues. InOrganisation Development in Health Care(pp. 51-59). Routledge. Schreuder, F., Schalk, R., de Jong, J. (2017). Psychological contracts in self-directed work teams: Development of a validated scale and its effects on team commitment.Team Performance Management: An International Journal,23(3), 136-155. Walther, J. B., Van Der Heide, B., Ramirez, A., Burgoon, J. K., Pea, J. (2015). Interpersonal and Hyperpersonal Dimensions of Computer?Mediated Communication.The handbook of the psychology of communication technology, 1-22.

Spanish Language and Bilingual Childhood free essay sample

One day his teachers came to his home and explained that he was not doing so well in school and therefore the English language needed to be enforced in the house (453). The teachers asked for his parents to try to speak English with Rodriguez and his siblings. Rodriquez explains how speaking Spanish at home was the family language and it made him feel a intimate and close with his family and it seemed easier to bond. Rodriguez felt after the switch to English they lost the closeness and the bond within the family and started to fall apart from one another. The essay starts off with Rodriquez knowing only Spanish and English sounding like only noise to him, and later towards the end as he concludes the essay he ends with knowing English and losing his ability to speak Spanish, the language he remembered speaking with such warmth and love. One reason why this essay fascinated me was because I was able to relate to Rodriquez since I grew up in a bilingual home. We will write a custom essay sample on Spanish Language and Bilingual Childhood or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This essay is like the journal of Rodriguez’s life. Reading about him made me open my eyes to see that I was not the only person going through problems between languages. I understood as Rodriguez says, â€Å"English was intrinsically public language and Spanish was intrinsically private† (453) because I remember feeling the intimacy and warmth of my parents communicating with me in our language at home. It was almost hard for me to hear my parents speak English because I felt as if they spend more time trying to figure out what to say correctly in English that I lost the sense of the emotion they were trying to express. As my parents spoke in our language at home it was easy for them and I was able to see the love and emotion behind their conversation which kept our family close and intimate. Another reason why this essay caught my attention was because he was against bilingual education even though I thought he would be for it since he comes from an immigrant family. But in his essay he makes the point that you do not have to lose your heritage to find your identity. He believed to be successful one needs to dominate the public spoken language and culture (452). Rodriguez says, â€Å"Supporters of bilingual education imply today that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family language. What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantaged child, I regarded Spanish as a private language† (452). Even though he learns the English language it does not take away his heritage (461). His private language is what made him unique and be different from everyone else. â€Å"Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood† makes me appreciate the advantage I had to be born in America into an immigrant family because I get to find my identity as a successful American citizen and keep my heritage alive through my family.

Heres why you should start your job search this summer

Heres why you should start your job search this summer There are plenty of things in life that we reserve for summers- going to the beach, swimming, and backyard BBQs are just a few. But what about job searching? If you’re in-between jobs or are thinking about a career change, you may be wondering when is the best time of year to plan your job hunt. Is now the time to strike, or is it better to wait until the humidity passes before ramping up your search? The truth is, if you’re out of work and need a paycheck, you might not have the option to delay your job search until the fall season returns. However, you may be currently employed or in no big rush to make your next career move, and are questioning whether or not to take the summer off from job hunting or get started immediately.Business is ongoing- even during a vacation seasonTraditional conventional wisdom suggests that the summer can be a challenging time to try and find a new job- many people assume that the pace of business slows during the sweltering months of Jun e through August, and that employees (including key hiring personnel) are more focused on vacations and weekend plans than staffing concerns. Businesses also might assume that the available talent pool during the summer months may be a little thinner, and choose to defer filling new and vacant positions until the season changes. What’s the net result? A job market with fewer openings and opportunities on average than cooler months. But does that necessarily mean that starting a job search during the summer is a bad idea?The truth is, although there’s much to be said about conventional wisdom, it isn’t always right. Like most things in the professional world, trends change over time. Many aggressive and innovative businesses not only fail to slow down operations in the summer, they actually ramp them up- especially if there’s a seasonal element to their industry. Also, there’s no denying an immediate need, and if an open position absolutely needs to be filled ASAP, you can count on businesses conducting a hard-target search for the right person- even during the hot summer months. Also, seasonal and part-time employment (as well as contract work) are more resilient to seasonal shifts, so if you’re on the lookout for these types of opportunities then there’s no reason not to start searching in the summertime. In fact, many employers ramp up short-term hiring during the summer months to offset full-time staff summer vacations, so keep an eye out for growth in these opportunities.There’s more opportunity to shineHere’s another good reason to consider summertime job searching- remember earlier when we mentioned that the available talent pool tends to shrink during the summer months? This temporary decrease in job seekers may mean that there’s less competition for the positions you’d be applying for. Furthermore, fewer active people searching for jobs may mean that you’ll get more att ention from recruiters and employment agencies, should you consider using their services. Who knew that conducting a job search in the summer may actually be a wise and strategic move?So, what’s the bottom line when it comes to job searching in the summer? The reality is that it really depends on your situation- your target industry, position, experience level, city, and luck all factor into how effective a potential job hunt will be during the months of June through August. But even if there are  fewer  opportunities available in the summer, that doesn’t mean there are no opportunities, and those who stay serious, focused, and committed during the summer months are most likely to be successful. Will you be among them?

Five More Reasons Why You Should Consider Private School

Five More Reasons Why You Should Consider Private School Some of the popular reasons why parents look at private school as an education option for their children include smaller classes and superb facilities. However, there are other important reasons why families choose to send their children to private school. Individual Attention Most parents want their children to have as much personal attention as possible. After all, you spent enormous amounts of time nurturing them when they were infants. If you can make it happen, you want them to receive as much individual attention as possible in school as well. If you send your child to a private school, it is most likely that she will be in a small class. Independent schools often have class sizes that range from 10 to 15 students, depending on grade. Parochial schools have slightly larger class sizes typically in the 20 to 25 student range. With a lower student to teacher ratio, teachers are able to give each student more individual attention. Another important aspect of increased individual attention is that discipline problems tend to be less frequent. There are two primary reasons why: most students are in private school because they have a strong desire to learn and, secondly, many private schools have more consistent enforcement of codes of conduct. In other words, if a student misbehaves or breaks the rules, there will be consequences, and those may include expulsion. Parental Involvement Private schools expect parents to be actively involved in their childs education. The concept of a three-way partnership is an important part of the way most private schools work. Naturally, the degree of participation and involvement will probably be greater if you have a child in preschool or elementary grades than if you are the parent of a high school student or a child away at boarding school. What kind of parental involvement are we talking about? That depends on you and the amount of time which you can devote to helping out. It also depends on your talents and experience. The best thing to do is to observe and see where you can fit in. If the school needs a gifted organizer to run the annual auction, then help out as a committee member for a year or two before offering to take on the lead role. If your daughters teacher asks you to help chaperone a field trip, thats an opportunity to show what a great team player you are. Academic Differences Most private schools do not have to teach to a test. As a result, they can focus on teaching your child how to think, as opposed to teaching her what to think. Thats an important concept to understand. In many public schools, poor test scores can mean less money for the school, negative publicity, and even the possibility that a teacher could be reviewed unfavorably. Private schools dont have those pressures of public accountability. They must meet or exceed state curriculum and minimum graduation requirements, but they are accountable only to their clientele. If the school does not achieve the desired results, parents will find a school which does. Because private school classes are small, your child cannot hide in the back of the class. If she does not understand a math concept, the teacher will probably discover that pretty quickly and can address the learning issue on the spot, rather than waiting weeks or months to fix it. Many schools use a teacher-guided approach to learning so that students discover that learning is exciting and full of possibilities. Since private schools offer all kinds of educational methods and approaches ranging from very traditional to very progressive, it is up to you to choose a school whose approach and philosophy meshes best with your own aims and objectives. A Balanced Program Ideally, you want your child to have a balanced program in school. A balanced program can be defined as equal parts academics, sports, and extracurricular activities. In private school, most students take part in sports as schools try to achieve that kind of balanced program. At some private schools, Wednesdays are a half-day of formal classes and a half-day of sports. In boarding schools, there may be classes on Saturday mornings, after which students participate in team sports. Sports programs and facilities vary greatly from school to school. Some of the more established boarding schools have sports programs and facilities which are finer than those at many colleges and universities. Regardless of the scope of a schools sports program, what is really important is that every child is required to participate in some athletic activity. Extracurricular activities are the third component of a balanced program. Like compulsory sports, students must participate in an extracurricular activity. Many private schools have extensive music, art, and drama programs, so there are many extracurricular activities to choose from. As you begin to explore school websites, review the sports and extracurricular activities as carefully as you review the academic curriculum. Make sure that your childs interests and needs are properly met. You should also note that intramural sports and most extracurricular activities are coached or supervised by faculty members. Seeing your math teacher coaching the soccer team and sharing your passion for the sport makes a huge impression on a young mind. In a private school, teachers have the opportunity to be exemplars in many things. Religious Teaching Public schools are required to keep religion out of the classroom. Private schools can teach religion or not, depending on the mission and philosophy of the particular school. If you are a devout Lutheran, there are hundreds of Lutheran owned and operated schools in which your beliefs and practices will not only be respected but taught on a daily basis. The same is true of all the other religious denominations. Article edited by  Stacy Jagodowski

Renoir Etching and Drypoint Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Renoir Etching and Drypoint - Essay Example Their dresses have been engraved with lines that look wiry and have ends that taper. All other features of on these women depict the same quality of lines. Taking a closer look at the lines, they portray rough scratches made by some sharp pointed object. These lines have been repeatedly scratched on the plate so as to come up with complete images. The objects on the background, seemingly children playing, reveal this act of scratching without leaving distinct lines on the images. Furthermore, the ridges left after the engraving process are not very regular and deep. The burr, it seems, was not removed during the entire process of incising. From far, an audience may be under the impression that this piece of art is drawing; which is not the case. It is only a colorless ‘dry point’ that can create such a shadowy scratch on a plate. Nonetheless, the use ‘dry point’ has given the picture a feathery touch that may be attractive to most

Scrabble Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Scrabble - Essay Example Matt Graham is a thirty two year old. He works in the comedy industry where he is a standup comedian. His mode of dressing of dressing is actually shabby. As Fatsis (2001) states, he wears flannel shirts that he does not button over old T-shirts. The jeans that he puts on are torn and do not fit him well. When he speaks, he speaks so fast that it seems his mind is running ahead of his thoughts. Matt is an individual who does not care much about his health. This is showed by the amount of pills that he takes each day. He has a five by seven card which he has divided into two columns. In one column, he has written the names of twenty pills which he takes in the morning on an empty. In the other column, he has written seventeen more that he has to take with breakfast. He does not care of the warnings indicated on the labels. Rather, he claims that they turn him around more than anything. He also has a damaged knee which pains him much but he refuses to see an orthopedist to check out th e issue. This supports the point that he does not care much about his health (Fatsis, 2011). According to Fatsis (2001), Matt is affected by insomnia. It is indicated that he does not sleep much. Especially on the night before the day when Matt shall play a best of five games against an opponent to find out the world Scrabble champion. The eating habits of Matt are quite out of order. On this particular morning, Matt does not eat much. Matt also chooses not to relax as opposed to the notion that a moment of relaxation and reflection before a very important game is needed. It seems that Matt has very peculiar ways of going about his time and actions before the finals. This peculiar ways may be as a result of the consumption of pills. It is suggested that if Matt is tested for drugs, then he would actually be banned for life. But Matt is lucky as drugs are not tested

William Foxwell Albright Essay Example for Free

William Foxwell Albright Essay William Foxwell Albright was born in 1891 and died eighty years later in 1971. He was born in Chile, where his parents were missionaries. Poor eye sight as a child meant he did not often join other children in play. Instead he turned to his father’s library. The family returned to the United State of America in 1903. Always a scholar,, his skills meant that he obtained his doctorate in Semitic languages at the very early age of 22 in 1913. From 1929 – 1958 he taught at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was the professor of Semitic Languages, while, for much of that time, also being director of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, now re-named as The W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. He held the latter post from 1921 to 29 and again from 1933-6. He was also the senior editor of the Anchor Bible series for the fifteen years from 1956 until he died in 1971 as well as making contributions to important definitive reference books such as the Cambridge University Press , ‘The Cambridge Ancient History’. According to his sentry in the New World Encyclopedia he was concerned with:- The social and political structure, the religious concepts and practices and other human activities and relationships that are found in the Bible or pertain to peoples mentioned in the Bible. Following the example of Sir William Flinders Petrie, who worked in Southern Israel from 1890 onwards, Albright was able to establish a systematic way of dating pottery found in Palestine, as when Tell Beit Mirsim , to the south west of Hebron in Jordan, was excavated in the years from 1926-36. His earliest archaeological investigations had as their focus the historicity of the Patriarchs. As late as 1961 he was able to utilize much of his knowledge on this subject , gathered over many years, in his article ‘Abram the Hebrew, a new archeological perspective. ’ In 1922 he had worked at the site of Gibeah ( Tell el ful, meaning hill of beans ) He would also work at other sites such as Beth-Zur, Bethel and Petra , the great trading city of the Nabateans, in Jordan. Although best known, and mainly concerned with biblical archeology, he was also able to make his contribution to knowledge about other near eastern subjects. He helped to establish a correct dating for Hammurabi in Babylon, when he argued with other scholars that their interpretation of a Mari letter was incorrect , His paper entitled, New Light from Egypt on the Chronology and History of Israel and Judah, was concerned with dating the Egytian pharoah Shishak, a contemporary of Soloman who began to rule at some point from 945 and 940 B. C. E. He laid the foundation of the understanding of ancient West Semitic cultures, in particular the religion of the Cananites. For all these reasons he was referred to as ‘The Great Authenticator’ because, among other things, it was he who identified, the Dead Sea Scroll as being authentic, despite his poor eye sight. In 1948, having only seen a photograph up to that point, of the scroll of Isaiah, he wrote to John C. Trevor at the at American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem in March 1948 :- I repeat that in my opinion you have made the greatest manuscript discovery of modern timescertainly the greatest biblical manuscript find What an incredible find! There were in fact some 15,000 fragments making up texts from 574 original manuscripts. The particular text concerned, a complete copy of the prophecy of Isaiah, which had been shown to Trevor by a Syrian Orthodox monk about a year after the original discovery of the scrolls, was the oldest Hebrew text discovered up to that time. Some of his work was instinctive, as when he studied a letter, believed by others to be from the Bronze Age, that is some 4,000 years ago. According to Dale Keiger he just sensed that something was wrong. Only recently has he been proved right. Keiger says of him :- The Bible, before William Foxwell Albright, was exempt from critical appraisal: It was simply Gospel. He goes on to describe how, because he could not see well enough to join in ball games, he studied from an early age. He was brought up in a Christian home and never repudiated Christian interpretations of the Bible, but he did say that it should be studied in the context of history. Albright has been described as the:- Father of biblical archaeology and the dean of American archaeologists working in the southern Levant from the 1920s through the 1960s. And he was ‘father’ in the sense that he passed on both his knowledge and enthusiasm. A number of his former students became leaders in their own right in the field of Biblical study and in archeology. Yet the same writer claims that the impact he made upon archaeological methods can be described as negligible. So was Albright as great as has been claimed? Other workers Although relatively well known because of his association with the amazing finds at Qumran in the 1940’s, Albright was in fact only one of dozens of other leaders of archeological expeditions. These began in a small way when an attempt was made in 1838 by Edward Robinson and Eli Smith to identify biblical cities, using as their basis modern day Arabic names . From the 1860’s onwards Warren began searching in Jerusalem. Albright actually used for the most part methods already established by earlier workers, rather than developing new ways of working. It was the British archeologist Kathleen Kenyon who developed the idea of stratigraphy, which involved close examination of the soil under and around objects discovered. It was her method, which was more demanding upon the excavators that was used from the 1950’s at very important sites such as Jerusalem and Jericho. It was based not upon instinct, but upon very careful analysis and interpretation of the materials found. Albright’s achievements. In Bernard Anderson’s work of 1957 ‘The Living World of the Old Testament’ the index has 17 citations under the name W. F. Albright . This gives some indication of the amount and range of his scholarly writing. For instance it is his opinion about the probable date of the Exodus that became widely accepted at the time. Much of his writing is about the translation of ancient texts. He is known for instance for his views on the history of the word YHWH which he said had it origins in God’s creative ability, a view accepted by some scholars, as Anderson describes. His scholarly writing was wide ranging, as when he described the Canaanite religion in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. though it may be in this case that he was only restating what others such as Pritchard had discovered about such very early texts, although Anderson does quote a translation by Albright. He was prepared to argue with others when he felt that he was right as when he stood out about the dating of the Song of Deborah , and the battle of Megiddo. Also with regard to the Biblical prophecy of Habakkuk Anderson describe how many scholars see the Psalm in chapter 3 as having been inserted by different writer, whereas Albright held out for a substantially unique authorship for the whole book, basing this upon the language used. Work by Albright has been confirmed by later work, as when he evacuated King Saul’s fortress at Gibeah, in 1922-3 and found that the charismatic Israelite leader lived a very simple life, in a two story building built upon earlier foundations. His findings were confirmed by Paul Lapp who looked at the site again in 1964. He was acknowledged as an expert upon links between the Bible and archeological findings because of his many writings, as when he wrote ‘Archeology and the Religion of Israel’. Albright was able to study the group of artefacts known as the LMLK seals. He also performed many on-site excavations, the first being one of the most significant, when in 1923 he was able to excavate a tumulus situated near Jerusalem, Israel. Criticism of Albright’s work. Some recent archeologists have seemed to be trying to make a separation between the Biblical record and archeology, whereas Albright sought to prove the Bible from archeology. Archeologist William Denver has said ’Most people really think that archeology is out to prove the Bible. No archeologist thinks so. ’ He has also said of Albright that :- Central theses (regarding the historicity of the Bible) have all been overturned, partly by further advances in biblical criticism, but mostly by the continuing archaeological research of younger Americans and Israelis to whom he himself gave encouragement and momentum. Despite such statements in Albright’s case he was often able to confirm the Biblical record. It has been found by people such as Lapp that his archeology was correct. Having said that Metzer and Coogan in 1993 said that his identification of Tell Beit Mersim as Debir has been disputed. Debir was the ancient fortress of one of the kings of the Amorites who were eventually defeated by Joshua at the time of the Israelite conquest of Canaan, . Despite this the Thompson Chain Bible marks it to the south west of Hebron as Albright said. The Oxford Companion to the Bible has a similar map, so even when his findings are disputed they are accepted by at least some scholars. Albright’s were not the only person whose findings were disputed. The various different views caused much confusion in the mind of the public. In 1932 he wrote:- Small wonder that historians and Biblical scholars turned away from this chaos of conflicting views in despair, convinced that the main purpose of archaeology was to unearth inscriptions and occasionally to elucidate the arts and the crafts of the ancient inhabitants. Times have moved on in what Thomas described as ‘The Shifting Sands’ of archeology. According to William Dever, as quoted by Thomas Davis, staff needed for excavations in Bible lands would no longer ask the questions posed by the Bible and it associated archaeology, but those raised American anthropology. Conclusion Albright’s real claim to fame seems to have been not so much as a pure archeologist as in his skills in the Semitic group of languages. He was able, despite his faulty eyesight, to examine ancient texts and come to important conclusions. In some cases his findings clearly back up the literal Biblical record. It has now been almost 40 years since his death and so perhaps it is time for a reassessment of his scholarly contribution. There is ongoing work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, but apparently no doubts about Albright’s original dating of the finds at between 200 BCE and 200 C. E. Archeologist Doctor Bryant Wood , one of the Associates for Biblical Research, has described the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. They are important because they are roughly 1000 years older than the previously known texts with which they can be compared. This means that they show how the Old Testament scriptures have been faithfully copied and carried forward down the years. Albright was many things – all of them to high standards. He was a biblical scholar and historian, a linguist as well as being an archeologist and an expert in early ceramics. His careful scholarship meant he was able to merge the science of archaeology and his knowledge of the languages used in the Biblical countries with the ancient Biblical narratives, in several instances proving their historical accuracy. In 1964, when his active working life was drawing to its close, he described himself not as a biblical archaeologist, or even as archaeologist, but rather as an Orientalist. Since his day new methods have come in, often using modern day electronic devices that were unavailable to Albright. Despite this it is with good reason that his writings are described as authoritative. During his life time he received numerous awards including both honorary doctorates, and medals. All archeologists are scientists, but they all also work to some extent using their instincts when making choices – Albright it seems was one of the best at doing so, despite the fact that in more recent years his has received considerable adverse criticism. He did his best according to the skills, knowledge, methods, beliefs and attitudes of his time. Dr Albright was able to bring Biblical archeology into the notice of the mainstream However it seems that, according to Thomas Davis , George Ernest Wright, a student of Albright’s has done work which could bring about the end of the kind of Bible based archeology Albright promoted so well. Despite all the negativism in 2004 Thomas Davis, who makes dozens of references to Albright in his book of that year, still felt able to write that ‘Biblical archeology still has validity as a name for the sphere of interaction of archaeology and the Bible.’ G. Ernest Wright in 1982, described him as:- The dominant creative figure in the attempt to place the Bible in a perspective of the whole of ancient history. References. Albright, W. F. The New World Encyclopedia, available from http://www. newworldencyclopedia. org/entry/William_F. _Albright internet, accessed 12th May 2010 Albright, W. F. to John C. Trevor, March 1948, The Dead Sea Scrolls, available from http://virtualreligion. net/iho/dss. html, internet, accessed 11th May 2010 Albright, W. F. , Abram the Hebrew, a new archeological interpretation, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 163: 36–54. 1961) Albright, W. F. , â€Å"The Ancient Tell Beit Mirsim†, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Number 23, 1926: 2-14, available from http://ancientneareast. tripod. com/Beit_Mirsim. html, internet, accessed 10th May 2010 Albright, W. F. Archaeology and the Religion of Israel, Baltimore, John Hopkins, 1946 Albright W. F. , Archaeology of Palestine and the Bible. New York: Fleming H. Revell. 1932

Thomas Paine :: essays research papers

Thomas Paine In September of 1776, on the outskirts of Newark, among the tired, discouraged, soldiers, as they paused from their daily retreat, sat Thomas Paine. He wrote many papers that would have a major effect on the outcome of the quest for independence. Born the son of a Quaker Laymaker on January 29th, 1737 at Thetford, Norfolk England. He received a basic elementary education, and started to work for his father as an apprentice, and later as an excise officer. He was not a huge success at either, and was in fact fired twice from the job as an excise officer. When he arrived in Philadelphia on November 30th 1774, he was sick and feverish, and had to be carried on a stretcher. With a letter of recommendation from Ben Franklin, he was accepted into a hospital and given special care, until he recovered. With that same letter from Ben Franklin, he found many doors opened for him, including jobs tutoring many of the sons of the wealthiest men in Philadelphia.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Paine started over again, by publishing African Slavery In America, in the spring of 1775, in which he criticized slavery in America as being unjust and inhumane. At about this same time, he became the co-editor for the Pennsylvania Magazine. When he arrived in Philadelphia, Paine noticed the tension, and the rebellious attitude, that was continually getting larger, after the Boston Tea Party. In Paine's opinion, the Colonies had all the right to revolt against a government that imposed taxes on them, and which did not give them the right of representation in the Parliament at Westminster. Then he went one massive step further, he decided there was no reason for the Colonies to stay dependent on England. He published his opinions in the American independence pamphlet Common Sense.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Common Sense Paine states that sooner or later Independence from England must come, because America had lost touch with the mother country. He felt that the function of government in society was to only be a regulator, and thus pretty simple. His strong beliefs made him a major influence on the Declaration Of Independence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He joined General Washington in his battle against General Howe in the War of Independence. Where he motivated many downhearted soldiers who needed reassurance. The retreating of General Washington's army was a slow, daily affair. Being an Englishman himself, Paine knew that the British enemy, would not take the Revolutionary Army seriously and was familiar with tactics of the English Army, and could advise the Revolutionary Army of what was to be expected. The English were polite in the way that they did not attack at night.

Visionary Mr Mineka Wickramasingh Essay

Brief background on CBL (Munchee) It was the visionary Mr Mineka Wickramasingha in 1960 who wanted to expand his family business from the chocolate market. It was at the same time that CARE looked at sources of nourishment for the poverty stricken. It was a substitute of a biscuit that Mr Wickramasinghe proposed looking to expand on those lines. At that time the market leaders were Maliban. They were the ones who were awarded the contract. Due to lack of space, CBL was first launched at Dehiwela in his own premises to produce a high protein biscuits for schools. From this footing Munchee, has marched forward to capture 80% of the market of the local market. For over 40 years the brand has developed a certain nostalgia that is irreplaceable by any other brand. The taste is enjoyed young and old alike. There vision is to become the number one biscuit in Asia. Product portfolio CBL now produces various food items which have become house hold names in Sri Lanka. CBL expansion is not only with biscuits to which consumers are more familiar, they also have chocolates under brand name ‘Ritzbury’ since 1990s. The other brands are Tiara and Lanka Soy. There are numerous subcategories under each product. There are jellies, soya base products, cereal products, herbal porridges, soups and much more. Sub Categories under the Munchee brand Sweet biscuitsCrackers Puffs Savory Biscuits Cream Biscuits Marie Cookies Assorted HerbalWafers These are premium and hand-moulded chocolates. They come in boxes and slabs. Can be as a coated biscuits or wafers or beans or candy bars. It is in different flavours, type, and size. Sub Categories Chocolate Coated Biscuits Chocolate Slabs Miniature Caterers RangeChocolate Coated Beans Chocolate Coated Balls Chocolate Coated Candy Bars Specialty ChocolatesChocolate Coated Wafers Soft sponge cake made to perfect texture and taste Layer Cake Portion Cake Butter Sponge Cake Swiss Roll Company performance Ceylon Biscuits is of undisputable quality. CBL has shown a growth both in sales and profit for the last 5 years. Revenue had doubled from Rs.1.9 to Rs 5,2 Billion by 2005. Group turnover grew by 48% that same year. Net profit that year was Rs.533 Mio. This was the highest recorded profit for this company. CBL profit gradually grew, as it caught on to an international market. By 2011 sales revenue has grown by 25% in comparison to 2010. The overall profit margin was around 9% for the recently past five years. If ever the company saw a small decline it was due to industrial unrest. This biscuit is spread over 95,000 retail outlets all around Sri Lanka. CBL exports to 36 international destinations. It has been able to spread it’s fame in South Asia as well. Some of the countries of export are USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Hong Kong, China, India, Maldives and even the Middle East countries. The annual export revenue is about US $ 4 to 5 million. CBL has many awards for its entrepr eneurship. These awards are Exports in the Gold Category, Product Brand of the Year for four consecutive years, Anugu International Food Fair award. The daily production is around 150 tons. The annual production is around 45,000 tons. The company’s labor force is about 3,500. Company sustainability relies on strict norms on quality, texture and taste. For this it uses the latest technology, innovative marketing, research and development. The three C analysis There are three phases that need to be carefully scrutinized in order get a total overview of the product. Customer analysis Of the main brand Munchee, the customer analysis will be done on a sub category -Marie widely known as â€Å"Tikiri† Marie –or Munchee Tikiri Marie. It is a small sized biscuit. The market segment chosen were children. Presently it is packed in a ‘keep fresh pack’ sold at a economical price. The advertisement that was done on a range of media was presented in the most attractive way, backed by lyrics that set a smile on the lips of any child. It was later that Maliban put a Marie range into the market. But by then Munchee Tikiri Marie had taken the market by storm. Competitor analysis There has been great potential for a children’s biscuit in the market. CBL had limited resources, especially in production technology which restricted revenue. It was the consumer preference that motivated CBL to keep producing the Marie Biscuit. At one point in time 50% of the production was Marie. Yet, the company was unable to raise profits. Maliban held strong to its position. No advertising, trade promotions or merchandising was able take over the market share that Maliban held. Maliban Marie has an unique flavor that was unmatchable. Volume market share (Total Biscuit Market-February 2005) Communication analysis This is a (B2C) nature of business. The company has used campaigns such as Tikiri Marie scholarship program.-Munchee Tikiri Shishyadara. Expansion programs worth Rs. 500 million – Rs. 300 million for state of the art plant. It was known as â€Å"Plant 6† from Italy. CBL went to war using all types of media from TV, newspaper, radio, magazines, even websites to introduce a new Marie. There was a series of advertisement for Tikiri Marie- from ‘Kohomada Tikiri Mole’ to the first day in school. All campaigns had been embarked under their corporate moto-‘A crowning success’. This was CBL communication approach of tacking Maliban. Target market for Munchee Tikiri Marie The brand â€Å"Munchee† has not only spread over domestic market but also the export market. Munchee is now exported to over 36 countries. Munchee can be seen in Gourmet Shops in Australia, supermarket like Wal-Mart, K-mart worldwide in countries like UK, Germany , Italy , Middle-East , Canada and Japan. South East Asian region is spread over 11 countries. When Munchee is target marketed in this area, it must be the same target market as of the other South Asian countries. It is the high quality, texture and taste that captivate any child in any country. Because of this CBL must ensure that they do not loose the perception of ‘a biscuit for children.’ As it is not being partnered by any company as it was in UK the brand name can prevail. Here CBL needs to position its product, thus no private label will be needed either like NTUC of Singapore and Supreme brand in China. Segment for Marie Geographical segmentation-South Asia, Europe, America, UK Demographical Segmentation – Age, taste, texture, income Behavioral segment- instant, nutritious Product positioning of Marie Brand Identity vs. Competition (Source- AC Neilson) Premium quality, Innovative and value for money brand available at arms length of desire. Scope of this Integrated Marketing Communications Plan It looks in to objectives, strategies, and tools in communication used to successfully bring about integrated marketing. The plan will discuss ways to launch a program to communicate product. Marketing objective Increase the sale of Munchee Buiscuits. CBL is looking to increase sales by 5% within the next two years. With this to increase the market share by 5% at the end of the second year. Increase the company profile while enhancing the product among the target market. Munchee also wishes to strengthen Brand image among South East Asian countries as a healthy, nutritious biscuit. Communication Objective Awareness program to reach 20% of target market through television, newspaper advertising and web promotions. At least 5% the target market must purchase the product. Issues and Challenges The target market may have other preferences in biscuits. This entirely depends on texture, flavor, taste, shape and size. Thus the promotions/advertising will have to be attractive, creative and innovative in order to reach the hearts and minds of South East Asian Children. Situational analysis Current problem facing product * The target audience may not be reached. * They may prefer other biscuits. * Difficult to build brand loyalty in the food industry. Identifying target * The target market is chosen taking taste and nutrition in to consideration. * Targeting people who looks for low price but has to be of quality. Selecting a Market to Target South East Asia Geographic segmentation Children of the age 1-16 , Middle class Demographic segmentation Target market Instant, nutritious Behavioral segmentation The target market that has been chosen is of the geographical location of South East Asia region among a demographic target of children between the ages of 1-16. In modern South East Asia food in freely available for purchases for people who are one the move. This biscuit provides nutrients that are good for children and is an easy snack in a keep fresh pack. It is instant food for hungry youngsters. Positioning through Marketing Strategies * Introductory price * Chance to taste Competition Product Comparison There are companies like DIMOs that offer discounts to Government servants but no company has offered it to Bankers. AMW is the first to get into this program. Barriers to Entry * The awareness in low. * Banks have tied with other automobile companies, on a separate basis for their leasing requirements and the staff gets their vehicles also leased through those companies. * Buyers may go for second hand as the economic situations are tough. Competitor Differentiation | Chery QQ| Micro Panda| Features | Small hatch back with comfortable interior, Three Cylinder – DOHCMPI – 12V – Petrol 812 CC engine ‘Chery’ is imported from China and marketed in Sri Lanka by David Peiris Motor Company| Micro car, Volvo tech, 1300 cc engine. Made in Sri Lanka. Comes with and without air bag.| Target Market| Working professionals| Working professionals| Strengths | Low price, Brand backing | Made in Sri Lanka| Weakness | Small range of customers, No discount| Small range of customersNo discount| Consumer Behaviour – problems faced in addressing communication message There is nothing extraordinarily attractive about the AMW Maruti. But the interior is appealing. It is economical on the fuel. There is a one year warranty on the car. These are some of the aspects in regards to the car that a consumer will look at. Then the consumer is going to look at the company that selling the car. Associated Motor Ways Ltd is one of the oldest automobile conglomerates in Sri Lanka. They are the sole distributors of Suzuki vehicles in Sri Lanka and are affiliated with several brand names in the motor industry such as Nissan, Yamaha, and Goodyear. Addressing the problems with the vehicle such as no extra ordinary beauty about the vehicle or that there is fume emission from the vehicles which is hazardous to the external environment, what AMW concentrates on is the interior of the car and how economical it is. The Maruti is good on fuel. The size makes it easy to handle. This car is val ue for money. Branding Bankers are likely for a discount program where the vehicles are leased giving a bank loan. Maruti is likely to stay in the minds of the buyer due to features of the vehicle, the interior and the engine capacity in relation to the other brands of this same model which where given under competitor analysis. The Maruti is a more durable and dependable brand. Position statement This promotion is available only for bankers that are permanent in their jobs and the loan facilities are available. Any other financing will not be permitted. The discount is available for all colours of Maruti. Promotion The promotion is done within Colombo and its near suburbs. For this promotion 50% of the budgeted funds are allocated. This was first circulated to family and friends, for the word of mouth is the cheapest and the best way of promoting a discount program. Gradually as the awareness starts to increase it will be circulated among banks, first on a personal basis to call whose contacts can be acquired. Then the leasing managers or the staff managers in charge of staff leasing will be approached. Depending on the geographical location, banks will be approached in regards to the promotion. Once the approval has been obtained by the management, posters will distribute to main branches. These are known as power position advertising. The dealership logo will be indicated in the poster. A list of the eligible staff members will be collected and a web based mailer will be sent out to them. Permission will be acquired to post the promotion on an intranet facility that is accessible only to the relevant bankers of the targeted bank. A car may be sent out to the main branch for display. Once the initial promotions have been done in and around the main branches where web may not be the best promotional attribute a news paper advertisement will be posted. The news paper will carry a pictureous depictation of the car with a Brand Ambassador. The Brand Ambassador can be a cricketer or any other sportsman who is working in a bank indicating that this is the best leasing offer ever. These adds will have to run every often and it must be made sure that the adds are not too small to see. It may be preferable to advertise in a Sinhalese paper when thinking of promoting the discount program among the suburbs. There has to be creativity, innovation and an even flow for an advertisement to catch the eyes of the reader. A Saturday or Sunday paper is preferable as people have more time than on a weekday to read the paper. Television can be used as last resort. This is expensive but can be the most influential method of advertising. This is a sure a way of information gathering for viewers. The television adds usually have a lasting impression on the viewer. This is a sure way of assuring results for IMC. There are many highly watched channels of those the cheapest but the most effective can be used. The TV add can play between programs. The programs after which the add will be aired will have to be carefully chosen. It will need to depend on viewer’s discretion. The advertisement can go on for a period of 6 months at least. The web based marketing is another method by which advisement can be done. This is the most modern method. Some of the websites frequently visited by banke rs are Facebook, ESPN, Google, YouTube, Digg.com, Myspace, and Perezhilton.com. The most popular of them all is Facebook, Google, and Youtube. All these websites focus on online advertisements. Websites like Facebook taps a large audience. This not only enables promoting to bankers but also lets others know the car sale. This is a good way to get other companies to tie up with the dealership of AMW. Communication Tactical Calendar | Jan| Feb| Mar| Apr| May| Jun| Jul| Aug| Sep| Oct| Nov| Dec| Poster| | | | | | | | | | | | | News paper| | | | | | | | | | | | | TV| | | | | | | | | | | | | Web| | | | | | | | | | | | | Display| | | | | | | | | | | | | Budget The largest potion that is 50% of the budget is for promotion. Of the 50% promotional budget 30% will be allocated for television commercials, the remainder 20% for news paper, posters, display and web. The remainder 50% will be allocated for Brand Ambassador and miscellaneous expenses. The total allocation for the budget is Rs. 2,000,000/- Measurement system Implementation Controls Monitoring, review and control will be done by the dealership company with the collaboration with the bank that is leasing the vehicle. The review to be done on a monthly basis. Progress against targets to be analyzed. For this a marketing plan has to be drawn out. A target market needs to be chosen and a pilot project done before, the discount program is advertised. Once the dealership feels that this can be a successfully implemented then monitoring has to be undertaken. This has to be done carefully. Gap analysis done on a regular basis. Correction actions need to be taken if there is no progress within the first three months of advertising. Dealership may go back to the drawing board and redo the marketing plan again. Quality Assurance Around this time the company was receiving a number of complaints regarding its biscuits – breakages, poor taste, quality etc. Rather than ignore the issue, CBL decided to place an emphasis on investigating the cause of the complaints, and took corrective action, including formula changes, to reduce the high number of returns at the time. Setting up better procedures for packing, product handling and transportation, the company prepared for its future growth. It conducted daily taste tests of its own products and organized regular taste panels to compare its products with those of its competitors’. It also methodically documented the specifications of all products being manufactured – knowledge that had previously been passed on through practice and word of mouth. As the demands on the Quality Assurance department began to rise, the company decided in 1996 to seek ISO certification Today, quality assurance remains an area of particular pride for Munchee. The depa rtment plays a critical role in product testing and development of production process controls and systems. High hygiene standards for toilet habits and hair, together with regular swab tests of employees are strictly enforced. Every shipment of incoming materials is tested for quality and those that fail are rejected. Following a complaint, products are collected from customers and subject to laboratory analysis. In 2004, CBL received HACCP certification for food safety together with SLS certification for its biscuits23.. With these in hand CBL became the only confectionary company in Sri Lanka to acquire all relevant quality certifications for its line of business i.e. SLS, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 1400124 and HACCP. Product Development Product development also became an area of increased focus. While CBL had begun operations with a line of distinctive biscuits, along with some generics. However, in the recent years the push for higher turnover had resulted in innovation playing a secondary role. Some of the biscuits that had made Munchee distinctive, were neglected in favor of more mass consumer products. CBL began formulations and potential improvements to flavor and quality. The company also began to actively investigate and keep up with new technologies and machinery by participating regularly at trade exhibitions and through membership in industry associations. Distribution Around this time CBL took the decision to rethink its methods of distribution and undertook to overhaul its sales and distribution efforts in favor of a much bolder plan. Up to this point the company had depended almost completely on wholesalers to sell its products as a hassle free means of managing its distribution efforts. As a result, while CBL had the logistic and cost advantages of maintaining a lean sales team, the company suffered due to its dependence on the enthusiasm of its wholesalers to push its products. CBL decided to bite the bullet and invest heavily in its sales force. It expanded its distribution reach, increasing its number of distributors, changed the demarcation of sales regions into much smaller areas for more intensive sales efforts and recruited the regional and senior sales personnel required to cope with this new direction. 5.4.4 Customer Intimacy With the changes to its sales force, CBL was forced to face up to the fact that it was very removed from its consumers. The company recognized that it had been paralleling the moves and decisions made by Maliban rather than acting on real consumer insights. CBL’s focus had been very much â€Å"product centric† – concentrated on improvement of its formulation and production technology. It developed its products in isolation and once developed attempted to market them. Little attention had been paid to market research, even on an informal basis. Moreover, CBL began to understand that its customer was a new, youthful generation whose tastes and style were very different from the consumer of the previous ten years. Beginning in 1996, the Board itself acknowledged this changed attitude by beginning to go to the field on a regular basis to a top down attempt to gauge market perceptions and trends. The newly developed sales force provided feedback from consumers and distributors and the company took the further step of setting up a separate subsidiary to plan its marketing activities and to become more responsive to market needs an gaps. The holding company became primarily responsible for improving product quality and procedures. 5.4.5 Image Building CBL also recognized that in order to grow it had to become a better known name as a company. Partly as a result of its multiple brand names, CBL itself was relatively unknown as a corporate entity. Embarking on a campaign to raise the profile of the company, CBL engaged the services of a consultant, and set out to gain greater corporate recognition for itself among both consumers and the business community. The public’s lack of knowledge of the breadth of the company’s activities was hindering its activities as a holding company, particularly for purposes such as tapping the capital market. With the help of its consultant, CBL set about establishing a public image for itself. This was done primarily through the print media. Every week or so, an article regarding the company and its various corporate activities and Latest initiatives, including its export plans and CSR, appeared in the newspapers. Competitiveness Behaviour The Biscuit Wars Around 1995, CBL had hit a wall in terms of increasing its turnover. Limited by its existing production technology and consumer tastes, t its highest growth opportunity lay in the Marie biscuit market. While CBL’s Marie25 biscuits now made up 50% of total production, the company was unable to meaningfully increase its sales and market share of the Marie category. It had attempted a variety of marketing activities including extensive advertising, merchandising and trade promotions, but was still not able to take sufficient market share away from Maliban. The Munchee Marie biscuit was at this time essentially a knockoff of Maliban’s Marie and used very similar packaging. However, despite much effort and testing, eBL was not able to exactly reproduce the Maliban Marie flavor. Although market share was a (then) respectable 10% and despite fervent urgings from its own sales team to the contrary to be more like Maliban, CBL decided that the time had come to change tactics and be different in order to try to break through the turnover barrier. The Tikiri Marie Campaign Munchee hit on the winning concept of launching its own Marie as â€Å"Tikiri† Marie – a petit sized Marie biscuit – using an aggressive campaign entitled â€Å"Tikiri Mole†, to bring the little biscuit to the attention of consumers. The campaign targeted children with the use of attractive advertising and proved a real turning point in Munchee’s growth and image. The biscuit was so successful that the smaller sized Tikiri Marie became the number one Marie biscuit in the Sri Lankan market, with a phenomenal 50 per cent of Marie market share and eventually forced the giant Maliban to acknowledge Munchee as a significant market player by playing copy cat and resizing its own Marie. 7 Part of Munchee’s success with Tikiri Marie stemmed from Maliban’s complacency and its failure to react to this attack on the Marie category. The Tikiri Marie campaign brought into effect other changes at CBL such as the introduction of Munchee’s â₠¬Å"keep fresh pack, which ensured better product freshness. Following its success with Tikiri Marie CBL expanded the use of the fresh pack to the entire Munchee biscuit range. The company also commenced a Tikiri Marie scholarship program for school children in 1997 entitled Munchee Tikiri Shishyadara which it continues to this day. Now in its eighth year, the program provides 120 deserving children with scholarships of Rs. 1000 per month for one year with fresh applicants being selected annually. By 1998, the cumulative effect of the changes made through the 1990’s, resulted in CBL achieving a 30% market share of the biscuit market (up from 20% at the start of the 1990s) and topping the Rs. 1 billion turnover mark. This was a major milestone for CBL, both internally and externally. The company was becoming better known, both to consumers for its brands and quality products and to the industry for its investments in good technology. CBL reinforced this reputation by committing to a Rs. 500 million expansion program – Rs. 300 million of which was spent on a large state of the art plant from Italy. â€Å"Plant 6† as it was known, was CBL’s largest capacity plant thus far with five lines that could handle both hard and fermented dough. This action by CBL sent a strong message, to its staff and associates, about CBL’s optimism and confidence in the company’s future growth commercialization of this new plant, CBL planned to introduce a new range of biscuits to tackle Maliban head-on. 6.1.2 The Lemon Puff Battle CBL’s next strategic attack on Maliban came in 2001 with its Lemon Puff. The Munchee Lemon Puff had a solid 30% market share but as was the case with Marie, failed at growing sales further as a â€Å"me too† product. CBL decided to re-Launch Lemon Puff, by promoting it as a sandwich biscuit with a higher quantity of lemon cream. The campaign was heralded by an intensive television campaign directed at capturing the attention of a new market. What the company did not reveal in its advertising was that the cracker itself had been vastly improved, through a new formula and upgraded technology. It was in fact a noticeably better overall sandwich biscuit than Maliban’s Lemon Puff rather than just being a look alike with more cream. Going against the advice of its advertising company, Munchee replaced the traditional yellow packaging, synonymous with the Lemon Puff category, with a white wrapper. The superior moisture and odour barriers of the new metalized wrapper com bined with the new pillow pack technology, which used only two seals to achieve increased air-tightness, better preserved the crispness and freshness of the sandwich biscuit. This had been a problem that had plagued both companies’ puffs for decades. Consumers who tasted the Munchee Lemon Puff for its extra cream (not enough cream was a complaint associated with both Lemon Puffs for years) were pleasantly surprised and rapidly switched loyalty to the Munchee Lemon Puffs. Thus Munchee demonstrated that it was in touch with tastes of its consumers and used their feedback to improve its biscuits. The impact of the product changes were felt immediately. Munchee’s market share in puffs went up from 30% to over 50% within a mere four months following this relaunch, and grew the entire puff category from 12 to 16%. As a result, Maliban’s share of Lemon Puff which had been a staggering 70% plummeted to 29%. By now Munchee had 45% of the local biscuit market and was vyin g with Maliban for market leadership. CBL’s next big challenge was clear – take on Maliban in the cream cracker market. Despite Munchee’s success at growing its sales, Maliban still had nearly 75% of the lucrative cracker market while Munchee was at a meager 23%. The Maliban cream cracker was well accepted and entrenched in the market. CBL had to find a way of breaking through with an innovative cream cracker to take on this market. 6.1.3 The Cream Cracker Assault The following year, in 2002, CBL re-Iaunched its cracker as a â€Å"Super† Cream Cracker, enriched with vitamins in a bold campaign, with live broadcast of two music shows held simultaneously in Colombo and Anuradhapura before massive crowds As they had done with the Lemon Puff, CBL used a new metalized pillow-pack with a contemporary look to break away from the traditional solid red â€Å"Maliban† packaging synonymous s with cream cracker and re-formulated the cracker to deliver a crisper and tastier product. The Munchee strategy of delivering a superior quality product that convinced consumers to switch brands proved a success and the results were phenomenal. Cracker sales grew, expanding its own market not merely taking over competitor share. Growth in sales nearly tripled and Munchee’s market share in cream cracker immediately doubled to 40%, reaching 50% the foHowing year. Today, of the total cream cracker category, which makes up 20% of the total domestic b iscuit market, Munchee owns a 60% share. Super Cream Cracker accounts for 30% of the company’s turnover, with a profit margin of over 25%. Munchee continues to fight aggressively for market share. Its most recent marketing campaign entitled â€Å"Podi Badaginne† targets the large 500 gm pack market, previously serviced by loose crackers. The focus is to use the cracker as a substitute for a full meal for chummary factory workers who are already provided with two meals from their work place. The company has again demonstrated its knowledge of customer needs and changing trends and lifestyles in Sri Lanka as the record 128% growth of this heavy use pack from 2004 to 2005 shows. Business Expansion Beginning from the 1990’s, CBL began looking at other areas in the food and confectionary industry to expand its businesses activities. 6.2.1 Ritzbury One of the first areas CBL explored was one naturally complementary to its existing line of business: chocolate. At one time, the company had produced chocolate for Nestle and had some exposure to Nestle’s chocolate operations. Launched in 1991, Ritzbury chocolates began with chocolate coated (enrobed) biscuits. The company went through much teething pain in developing the right quality chocolate for its use. It struggled to develop a workable formulation – one that tasted good while withstanding the melting and rancidity caused by the tropical Sri Lankan weather. Ritzbury gradually developed its market by first growing its range of coated biscuits, then expanding to chocolate candies and hand made chocolates, and only recently moving into the traditional â€Å"slabs† – the largest market category. The company’s strategy is to provide innovative eye-catching products to its consumers and thus differentiate from its competition. Ritzbury’s first entry was Chunky Choc (chocolate covered biscuits sandwich with butterscotch cream filling), followed by Chit Chat (chocolate coated wafer with hazelnut cream) and Chocolate Fingers (chocolate coated â€Å"finger† biscuit). A nother innovation for Sri Lanka was Pebbles (brightly colored, sugar coated chocolate candies). The Ritzbury range includes Nik Nak, (chocolate coated vanilla cream wafer), Go Nuts (colored chocolate coated peanuts), Choosy (liquid chocolate stick) and Choco-La individual nuggets. Although it started out originally as a poor number four, Ritzbury recently beat Kandos (Ceylon Chocolates) to the number two spot in the chocolate market. However, at 21 % vs. 42% Ritzbury has only half the market share of market leader Edna and a long way to go to become number one. Further, Edna has itself shown to be very aggressive and quick in bringing out innovative products to the chocolate market. Ritzbury for its part, offers over 60 differentiated items, at the full range of price points and with a dedicated sales force certainly provides its consumers affordability and access. Despite being a small local brand, it offers consumers a complete range of chocolates and chocolate coated products and for other products frequently provides comparable alternatives to more expensive imported products. Examples are Pebbles as an alternative to Smarties, Chit Chat to Kit Kat and Go Nuts to M&Ms. Yet, apart from the hand molded specialty chocolates and coated biscuits products, the company has yet to fully convince local consumers that the quality of its slab range is on par with that of imports or Kandos. By 1997, following its first biscuit war and having grown its market share in the biscuit market to a respectable 30%, CBL began to focus on sales of Ritzbury. One hindrance to improving growth CBL realized was the then single chain of distribution it used for both biscuits and chocolates. In practical terms what this implied was that once a retailer had gone through purchases of the more established Munchee list of biscuits they would have little money left for Ritzbury chocolates. Ritzbury sales were materially affected and it became evident that an alternative would have to be sought out. One option was to increase the breadth of the CBL range in order to afford to maintain a second line of distribution. 6.2.2 Pancho Snacks With this in mind, CBL decided to enter the snack food market in 1998 under Ritzbury. Named Pancho, this snack range was made up primarily of extruded snacks. However, despite the company’s sustained efforts with Pancho and the separate sales force, the impulse buy snack market proved a disappointing arena for CBL. Despite the introduction of two products under a new line named Catch Me together with a re-Launch of Pancho in 2000, the company found that it could only succeed in this market with a near continuous stream of promotions. Although CBL persevered in snack foods for nearly five years, it was eventually forced to close up this operation and admit failure. With the aim of an expansion of its range still in mind, CBL next entered a completely unfamiliar food market. In 2000 due to its own financial difficulties, Yanik Incorporated, an investment bank, was selling its 79% stake in Soy Foods (Lanka) Limited, a public listed company manufacturing textured vegetable protein (TVP) nuggets. Soy Foods was a loss making number four player in the market but had pioneered a number of soy products under the brand Lanka Soy. CBL seized this opportunity to expand its range, encouraged by its present Managing Director who had experience in the soya area. CBL purchased the stake in Soy Foods at Rs.9/share and took over operations in September 2000; by 2002 the company had been successfully turned around and had become a viable entity. This was the success story that CBL had been searching for. The Soy Foods line allowed CBL to maintain a dual distribution network, one for its biscuits and another for chocolates and soy. The effects of this isolation of chocolate sales from biscuits were immediate and notable. By 2002 Ritzbury had made impressive inroads into its competition and grown market share to over 15%. 6.2.3 Lanka Soy In 2000 when CBL bought over management of Soy Foods (Lanka) Ltd. from Yanik it was a loss making company. Despite being the pioneer in the local soy market, Lanka Soy was at the time selling only 50% of the volumes of the market leader Raigam, with a 15% market share. The company’s growth was stagnating in a rapidly growing market, and many smaller competitors were cashing on its market with lookalike products. The ambitious strategy set out for a turnaround of the company was to aim to make it not merely profitable but the market leader. CBL decided that not only was it necessary to grow Lanka Soy’s market share, through a fresh look and product, it was going to grow the total product market through a change in positioning. Thinking very innovatively, the company decided what was needed was to position soya not just as a vegetarian food, but as a more economical substitute for the protein content of a main meal. Touting advantages such as convenience, price and the lack of freezer requirements together with newly introduced catchy features suc h as interesting shapes and flavors, a whole range of new branded soy products were launched under the Lanka Soy umbrella. Given that at the time, chicken flavored soya was the most popular soya product the company decided it would introduce interesting flavors to accompany new presentation efforts. In order to take the competition head on, it improved the taste of its traditional range, while also increasing its product range. It developed not one but a range of chicken flavors, under the brand Chikosoy, consisting of tandoori, masala, roast and chilli chicken flavors. For the traditional vegetarian market, it introduced the Vegesoy range a further four flavors of mushroom, hot and spicy, Chinese chop suey and Indian rasam. But its piece de resistance was a completely new entrant – Malusoy. This range of not merely fish but also seafood flavors truly tapped into a very strong local preference for seafood. Malusoy comprised spratts, devilled prawns, cuttlefish and ambul thiya l flavors. Packaging for the four new sub brands was done using a range of appealing eye-catching colors, with a unique logo designed for each. Advertising again interestingly was carried out individually on a sub brand basis. For example, Malusoy used a two column poster conveying the advantages over canned fish. The company also took the extra step of providing a sauce sachet to provide a one step cooking process. Emphasis was placed to introduce the cooked product to consumers by way of cookery demonstrations and street promotions. In particular, Malusoy was aimed at areas with little coastal access. Sales efforts were overhauled, re-demarcating a network to reach 35,000 outlets with designated representatives for supermarkets, catering and restaurant sectors. The results were strong. By early 2002 Lanka Soy’s market share had jumped to 25% hitting 30% and market leadership a year later. Malusoy to eBL’s surprise turned out to be Lanka Soy’s front runner in sales. The strategy to offer consumers, as a household, their daily main dish at a price less than half the price of canned or fresh sea food was highly successful. Within 24 months Malusoy sales exceeded 500,000 packets a month, making up over 14% of the total soy market. Due to the sudden launch of many interesting products at the same time Lankasoy established itself as trend setter and frontrunner of the soya product market. 6.2.4 Tiara Cakes eBL’s next expansion was within the local confectionary business -the lucrative Rs. 4 billion plus local cake market. eBL’s main biscuit and chocolate operations had traditionally taken place at its home factory located along with its head office in Pannipitiya. However in 2002, the company invested Rs. 1.5 billion to set up eBL Foods International (eBL Foods), a Board of Investment (BOI) approved company in Rannala, about one hour away. Awarded a 10 year tax holiday, eBL Foods has a mandate to manufacture bakery products and chocolates – the former includes a new line of cakes under the brand name Tiara. The new venture commenced operations in September 2004 with a new line of â€Å"portion cakes† – individually wrapped sponge layer cakes, marketed under the Tiara sub brand Okay, The product line also includes swiss rolls. CBL Foods boasts a state of the art plant intended primarily for cakes and a â€Å"Clean Room,,33 to guarantee freshness for a shelf life of up to eight months. Due to production constraints faced elsewhere however the 110,000 square foot modern facility also includes manufacturing and packing for chocolates, wafers and biscuits – the latter including both hard and soft dough. CBL expects that its group tax slab will come down to 32.5% as a result of CBL Foods’ tax advantaged status and the shifting of these manufacturing of chocolates, wafers and biscuits, which previously came under Ceylon Biscuits’ tax slab. The company uses a formula to determine profit and is taxed at the preferential rate of 15% on its export. 6.2.5 Other Snacks In 2004, CBL invested Rs. 50 million to acquire a 60% stake in Cecil Food (Pvt) Limited (Cecil Food) – an organic manufacturer of dehydrated fruit products, fruit juices, desiccated coconut and cashews primarily for the export market. Though the company had been in existence for 10 years and exported to 20 countries, it was facing financial difficulties. CBL brought to Cecil Foods the financial strength and management experience that it needed, while the founder retained a 25% stake. CBL’s main interest in Cecil Food was its exposure to rural agriculture and its export and local market potential. The company presently exports to countries including the US, UK, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Armed with CBL’s financial backing the company has overcome its working capital needs. CBL’s infusion of capital has enabled the purchase of new equipment and is now looking at expanding sales to tap the local marke t. Cecil Foods also has a 100% owned subsidiary Cecil Fruit Canneries which concentrates on natural fruit juices for both the domestic and export markets. CBL intends to launch this range to the domestic market by introducing a line of fruit juices in novelty pouches. Export Markets CBL has also set its sights on growing its revenues through tapping sales in overseas markets. Although CBL had been exporting biscuits from inception, around 1997, the company began to export regular container loads to the United States, Canada, Australia and India, while also investigating at lucrative export markets such as the Middle East. India became a particular focus, with the company beginning its own marketing effort there. By 2000 CBL was also exporting to the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Sweden, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Fiji Islands and the Maldives. Although the export sector took a long time to stabilize, export orders now go out to 36 countries, exceeding Rs. 110 million in value (USD$ 1 million) in 2004/5. Exports to the UK, Middle East and Canada are mainly to the so called ethnic markets catering to the Sri Lankan diaspora, but in other countries demand is slowly establishing into in the established biscuit market through chain distributors. While most e xports are under private labels – that it, outsourcing for foreign biscuit companies – CBL has managed in some instances to establish its own brand. This is particularly the case in Australia where the company has taken the additional step, as it did in India, of setting up its own marketing effort by establishing a company representative as market manager. Australia is now the main export market for CBL, having overtaken the United States. CBL also enjoyed some recent success making inroads into western Africa. 6.3.1 Entry into India There are four accepted methods for a company to enter a foreign market: exports, licensing, joint ventures and direct investment, which often represent an evolution in the degree of interest the company develops once it is present in the market. Beginning with straightforward exports from the mid 1990s and early exports of containers to India in 1999 CBL took the next step in developing the Indian market by investing Indian Rupees 3.6 crores (36 million) to purchase Parry’s Confectionary based in Pondicherry, about an hour from Chennai. Setting up a 100% owned subsidiary Ritzbury India, CBL began manufacturing operations for the first time outside Sri Lanka. The acquisition provided CBL with a six line 350 ton a month manufacturing plant. The company entered the Indian market with the Munchee and Ritzbury brands, for distribution in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. While the chocolates were manufactured in Sri Lanka, most of the Munchee range was baked in India. CBL produced nine varie ties of biscuits including Marie, Glucose biscuits and several creams at the Pondicherry plant. This manufacturing base in India proved to be both a blessing and a distress to CBL. On the one hand, it became a strong negotiating tool for CBL at a time of labour unrest. CBL was able to take a tough stance, threatening closure and the moving of its entire manufacturing operations to its base in India. However, on the other hand, distribution arrangements provided by Parrys proved to be less than satisfactory. The company began a losing battle in trying to distribute its products. Revenues were far below expectations and Ritzbury India further faced a number of detrimental tariffs in South India. Despite a Free Trade Agreement with India, and a reduction of duty to 3%, the state sales tax in Tamil Nadu was increased by 8% for imported goods effectively nullifying any duty concessions. Following a second acquisition in India, CBL decided to completely dispose of its Chennai operations a t a loss, dissolving Ritzbury India. In 2003 CBL heard about the sale through court auction of Bakemans, once the third largest biscuit manufacturer in India with a market share high of 13% of the total Indian market. Outbidding its Indian competition in July 2004 CBL successfully acquired the assets of Bake mans at a cost ofRs .. 300 million. Along with the premises the company also gained six biscuit lines from the acquisition, two of which it chose to bring to Sri Lanka for installation at CBL foods to allay its present capacity constraints. Based in Patiala in the state of Punjab, CBL set up CBL India with plans to commence commercial production in the near future, using one biscuit line. Having recruited Bakemans former CEO, who had been directly involved in the company’s rise to its one time number three position, CBL has ambitious plans for India and its manufacturing operations there in the future. Tentatively speaking of a â€Å"Munchee-Bakemans† brand name, CBL aspires to become number three in India within two years of operations and have the same type of success at retail that Dilmah has achieved in India CBL’s challenge in I ndia is to find a mass consumer line of biscuits similar to Marie and Cream Cracker in Sri Lanka. Glucose biscuits are an area that the company will have to examine, given their present popularity in India, but to compete with established players such as Parle-G and Britannia, CBL will need both a reliable distribution network and an attractive proposition for the Indian consumers to give it a try. The use of the Bakeman name, which would certainly aid the latter, is presently an issue. If CBL is able to use the Bakeman brand name in some form it will cut down market establishment time considerably. CBL’s strength is that it has the innovation to develop a product to suit this market and it has proved in Sri Lanka that it has the quality and taste to convince consumers to switch to its brand. What remains to be seen is whether it will have sufficient insight into the Indian market to correctly select what that winning product and distribution strategy should be. Other Indian Ventures In 2004 CBL entered into an agreement with Ferrero of Italy to distribute and undertake manufacturing on Ferrero’s behalf. Ferrero is the world renowned producer of Nutella, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher and Mon Cherie brands of chocolate and another family owned business. Presently the agreement entails the manufacture of boxes for Tic Tac, Ferrero’s signature mini mint, intended to be extended to the manufacture or finishing of the mint pill also. CBL distributes Ferrero Rocher’s foil wrapped boxed chocolates, Nutella and Tic Tac for Ferrero in Sri Lanka and India. Manufacturing commenced in August 2005, packing pills imported from Australia into the boxes. Distribution is intended for Sri Lanka, Africa, India and Pakistan. The linkup with Ferrero is another example of CBL’s chairman’s dynamic personality and relationship building skills. Following initial contact in India, CBL’s directors visited Ferrero’s head quarters in Alba, Italy, which Ferrero reciprocated with a visit to Sri Lanka. The company has expressed an interest in using Sri Lanka as a base for South Asian activities, moving its present activities from India, convinced of CBL’sabilities as a business partner. CBL in turn hopes the association will expand its knowledge base through contact with the 60 year old Italian family business. Business Unit Contribution Biscuits Turnover from Munchee biscuits, the biggest contributor to group turnover, grew 30% in the financial year 2004/5 and early results for 2005 show this trend continuing. Past years sales have grown at a similar overall pace, although specific products have shown even higher growth rates at times of changes and innovation. Profit margins on biscuits range from 20-25% with products such as Super Cream Cracker, Tiffin and Chocolate Puff being the most profitable. Biscuit sales are presently constrained primarily by production capability, with demand strong and the company intending to increase its production lines in 2005/6. To try to keep up with demand, CBL has brought down two lines already from its recent acquisition in India and plans to import a new 2 ton per hour machine from Italy, expected to be installed in early 2006. Group Performance While CBL’s overall growth has been strong over the past five years with revenues more than doubling from Rs. 1.9 to Rs. 5.2 billion over the period, profit increases have been even higher due to various tax benefits. In 2005 CBL’s group turnover grew 48% to Rs. 5.2 billion and net profit after tax grew 63% to Rs. 533 million, the highest ever in the company’s 36 year history. Sales surpassed the previous year across all areas of biscuits, chocolates, Soya and exports. The tremendous bottom line growth clearly indicates the contribution accrued from CBL Food’s tax advantaged status. In comparison the 2004 figures were 11% top line and 23% bottom line growth. On average, overall profit margin has been near 9% over the five year period. This is taking into account FlY 200112 which differs due to both the industrial unrest that CBL faced for two months of that financial year as well as the exhaustion of the tax benefits afforded by the 1988 Investment Tax Allowance. The company’s latest earning per share figure (EPS) is an astonishing Rs. 53.12 and more impressively has grown from Rs. 36.75 in 2003. This EPS figure reflects the extraordinary growth that CBL has experienced over the last 10 years. EPS in the late 1990’s was actually in the Rs. 3000 range on the company’s original ordinary share capital of Rs. 390,000 (made up of 39,000 Rs. 10 shares). Path Forward Ceylon Biscuits faced with production capacity constraints for its biscuits, as demand has grown well beyond forecasts. It has adopted the following three pronged approach to increase capacity: a) bringing down two biscuit lines from India from its Bakemans operation for immediate capacity expansion, b) importing a brand new large capacity plant from Italy and c) future capacity expansion of its Indian manufacturing operations. CBL’s future growth will come from increasing exports of its established products and diversifying by leveraging its domestic logistics and distribution capabilities to market its other products. The company is also increasingly open to looking at new opportunities, an example being manufacturing for Italian chocolate maker Ferrero. The company’s core competencies for the future will be investment in technology, financial strength, sales and marketing competency and focused management. Key challenges will be dealing with its production restrictio ns and becoming able to compete on a global basis by 2007. CBL’s greatest test will be when the Indo Lanka FTA final phase permits Indian biscuits to be imported duty free beginning 2007. CBL intends to examine becoming listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange over the next few years. Since the desire for listing does not seem to be driven by financial needs only, it is still unclear what CBL will gain from this step. The company wishes to formalize its procedures in order to firm up its financial transparency and professionalize its organization structure and operations to ensure future continuity and success. There is a sentiment that going public will enforce the discipline required to ensure this. CBL is well poised with a business model to ensure ongoing value creation. It has spent time building strong brands that have future earnings potential. The brands have proven their competencies in that they have been replicated across new markets with success. However there are some concerns that need to be explored. Managing export markets Export marketing could be more aggressive – the model adopted by Munchee for Australia of establishing a marketing office seems the proven route to establish and develop key markets. We see some amazing possibilities for synergies for CBL in inviting someone of the caliber of Merrill 1. Fernando Chairman Dilmah to its board, perhaps even offering Dilmah some equity in an export division or forming a separate export company, who could help with establishing relationships with some of Dilmah’s retailers and distributors in Australia. One way or another, the use of a different model to fast track export market expansion is advisable. 5. Managing Indian market entry This is the second greatest challenge facing the company. India is an amazingly dissimilar market to Sri Lanka despite certain cultural similarities. It is fragmented with over 15 million retail entities, the largest number in the world. The organized retail sector in India is only 3%. However, over 51 % of its population is under 25 years of age and the fastest growing sector is the retail high-end supermarkets -expected to grow over three fold in the next five years (from US$8 billion to US$25 billion). Beginning with three malls in 2003, India had 25 by 2005 and is building 200 more. The pace of change is phenomenal. It makes sense to enter this high-end retail Focus on core competencieslRefocus on Sales and Marketing CBL’s passion for quality, capacity to build brands and technological and production innovativeness are great competencies to be retained. Skills like marketing and sales are always unstable. Such skills are in demand, pressures are great and often new challenges are looked for in different cycles of growth. No proper product management system or category management is in place. It is important to have some depth to the marketing department. And while CBL’s success speaks volumes for the capabilities of its current Director of marketing there is a need for a diversity of approaches and opinions so that marketing efforts do not grow stale. Key mid level appointments need to be made. Customer intimacy! Product leadership / Managing brand TOM In spite of CBL making all the right moves, and succeeding in achieving higher scores than Maliban in most of the consumer research categories (see chart below), Munchee is still behind in brand Top-Of-Mind (TOM) recall. This is despite Munchee having strong market noise levels in share of voice and especially with the competition making so many mistakes. Part of the gap between Munchee and Maliban in â€Å"top of mind recall† can be explained by the long history of Maliban as a market leader, and that it was the dominant player for a very long time. Part of the gap between Munchee and Maliban in â€Å"top of mind recall† can be explained by the long history of Maliban as a market leader, and that it was the dominant player for a very long time.