Business blue print document Essay

Recurring payments/deductions infotype (0014) in which you capture the details of periodic/regular earnings or deductions. For Mastek, Indian payroll, they will be Medical Reimbursement, Reimbursement of Books, Leave Without Pay, Guesthouse Deduction, Personal Courier and Personal STD/ISD Phone Call.   Additional payments infotype (0015) in which you capture the details of annual or irregular earnings or deductions. For Mastek, Indian payroll, they will be LTA and Performance Pay.   Contract elements infotype (0016) Monitoring dates infotype (0019)   Family details infotype (0021). Membership fees infotype (0057), which you can also set up to make payments to third-parties in particular cases Cost distribution infotype (0027), which you can also set up to assign the internal order number if the cost of the employee is to go to the internal order number. You can also assign the percentage so that only that percentage of cost goes to the internal order. If this infotype is not maintained or the percentage assigned to the internal order in this infotype is not 100 percent, then the system picks the cost center assignment from infotype 0001 to attach the cost. Personnel IDs infotype (0185) These infotypes have been modified to handle Indian requirements. India-specific infotypes containing payment information: – These infotypes have been created for India payroll only: –   Previous employment tax details infotype (0580)   Housing (HRA/CLA/COA) infotype (0581)   Exemptions infotype (0582)   Car & Conveyance infotype (0583)   Income from other sources infotype (0584)   Section 80 deductions infotype (0585)   Investment details (Section 88) infotype (0586)   Provident fund contribution infotype (0587). Other statutory deductions infotype (0588)   Long term reimbursements infotype (0590) * Nominations infotype (0591) 1. 7 POSTING TO ACCOUNTING Purpose Reporting for posting payroll results to Accounting, otherwise known as posting to Accounting, is a subsequent activity that is carried out after a successful payroll run. It usually takes place for each payroll period. During posting to Accounting, all posting data for the payroll results is selected, summarized, formatted, and then posted to the integrated components in Accounting. You can also archive the data created in posting to Accounting. Integration Different R/3 components are involved in posting to Accounting, and these components have different data requirements: –   Payroll (PY)   Financial Accounting (FI)   General Ledger Accounting (FI-GL)   Accounts Payable (FI-AP)   Accounts Receivable (FI-AR)   Special Ledger (FI-SL)   Controlling (CO) INTEGRATION OF THE COMPONENTS IN POSTING TO ACCOUNTING Payroll (HR) The principal organizational concept in Payroll is the wage type. A wage type classifies personnel expenses according to tax, insurance, labour legislation, pay scales and other operational characteristics. In Payroll, wage types are also used for saving additional information in the payroll results, for example, in the form of cumulation wage types (total gross amount or gross tax amount), or in the form of wage types for other important amounts (statutory net pay or transfer amount). The organizational assignments valid for all periods are also created within Payroll as well as special cost assignments, and the wage types are assigned to this information. During payroll, additional wage types are created to provide data for cost accounting and these are saved in the payroll results, for example, the portion of the wage that is not applicable on public holidays. Financial Accounting (FI) Financial Accounting is responsible for the flow of payments. The payment flows are posted to particular accounts depending on the type or identity of the receiver, and on the due date of the payment. Cost Accounting (CO) Cost Accounting splits the costs according to the type (cost type = G/L account) and assigns them to cost centers or to other cost assignment objects (additional account assignment). Posting to accounting allows you to post costs to the following account assignment objects: –   Position in customer order Implementation Considerations To ensure that the process of posting to accounting is completed successfully and without problems, please make the following settings: – Customize the components involved (wage types, accounts, other account assignment objects)   Customize Reporting for posting to Accounting. The individual components involved in posting to Accounting can be organized as follows:   All components are in the same clients of the R/3 System.   The accounting components are in a different system to the Payroll application component. This could be a different R/3 System, an R/2 System, or a third-party system. If the individual components are distributed in various systems, see setting up Posting to accounting.   Reporting for posting payroll results to Accounting   Posting documents In Customizing for Cross-Application Components under Scenarios ‘Posting payroll results to Accounting’. Features Posting to Accounting allows you to perform the following functions: –   Post retroactive accounting runs Pension Fund report for exempted Trusts (Though this is not applicable for Mastek, this is for the information only): – 1. Form 4 – Return of members leaving service 2. Form 5E – Return of the members leaving service during the month 3. Form 6 – Statement of contributions for the month ESI Reports 1. Form 6 2. Form 7 These reports are generated every half-year, in the months of October and April for the preceding contribution period. Professional Tax (PTax) Reports Payroll-India caters to the PTax Reports for the following states: – 1. Andhra Pradesh (Monthly) – Not applicable for Mastek 2. Gujarat (Monthly) – Not applicable for Mastek 3. Karnataka (Monthly) – Applicable for Mastek 4. Maharashtra (Monthly) – Applicable for Mastek 5. West Bengal (Monthly) – Applicable for Mastek 6. Tamil Nadu (Half-Yearly) – Applicable for Mastek 7. Madhya Pradesh (Annual) – Not applicable for Mastek These reports are to be generated at the relevant frequency for those states where PTax is applicable. The selection screen captures the following information: – 1. The PTax report can be generated for a PTax grouping created for the Personnel Subarea. 2. The report is printed in the relevant format for each state as applicable and for those employees for whom the PTax and return is applicable. Labour Welfare Fund Reports Payroll-India caters to Labour Welfare Fund reports for the following states: – 1. Gujarat (Half-Yearly) – Not applicable for Mastek 2. Using the standard SAP – ADP link the gross payroll results shall be uploaded to ADP for the final processing. The SAP US Payroll allows MSI to process payroll for employees in the United States, using data from SAP Personnel Administration and Benefits under a wide variety of configurations. The SAP Payroll system also offers a number of standard payroll reports. The Tax Reporter component will allow MSI to generate all required state and federal tax forms, such as SUI reports and W-2s. Further reports can be generated using Ad Hoc Query in conjunction with an SAP Payroll Infotype. However bulk of MSI requirements for legal reporting etc shall be met by ADP as the net payroll processing will be in their domain. Integration The Payroll component is integrated with other SAP HR components, such as Personnel Administration and Benefits. There are also interfaces to other SAP modules such as Financial Accounting and Controlling. 2. 1 COMPENSATION FOR USA PAY SCALE TYPE During the discussions it was realized that across Mastek Group, the compensation paid to the employees is divided into the following classifications: – 1. Technical – Professional 2. Technical – Semi-professional 3. Non-Technical – Professional 4. Non-technical – Semi-professional 5. Others – Professional 6. Others – Non-professional The same will be configured as the Pay Scale Types in the SAP R/3 system. PAY SCALE AREA The Pay Scale Area will remain same as we have defined our Personnel Areas. Therefore the following will be the Pay Scale Areas in the SAP R/3 system: – 1. Santa Clara 2. Dallas PAYROLL AREA & PAYROLL PERIOD In MSI, a semi monthly payroll period shall be used for running the payroll. Hence the payroll area defined in the SAP R/3 system for MSI is: – 02 – Semi Monthly – USA PAY SCALE GROUP The Pay Scale Group will be in terms of grades in the organization. The list of Pay Scale Group that is to be customized as under: – 1. T2 2. T3 3. G2 4. G3 5. G4 6. G6 7. G8 8. G10 9. G12 10. G14 11. G16 12. G18 13. G20 14. Project Trainee 15. Temporary PAY SCALE LEVEL There is no sub-classification of Pay Scale Groups, which can be mapped to the Pay Scale Level. At Mastek the salaries are defined in terms of Total Annual Gross (TAG) and then the money is divided into the various wage types of the employee. For the purpose of customization, one Pay Scale Level will be defined For the US compensation, Dallas has been taken as base location. The location is also considered for the US compensation package. To start the compensation review, first Mastek has to map the US Grades with the Indian Grades. The US Grades are as follows: – D2 D1 C2 C1 B2 B1 A2 A1 How they are mapped: – Indian Grade US Grade G4 D2 G6 D1 G8 C2 G10 C1, B2 G12 B1 G14 A2 G16 A1 The salary survey is done by an external agency and the salaries are fixed based on that. There are four major heads under which the salary is fixed for the review: – 1. Base Salary 2. Location Allowance 3. Skills 4. Performance Pay NOTE: MASTEK has decided that Indian grades shall be applicable globally and the US grades shall be mapped to equivalent Indian grades. However MASTEK is yet to provide the mapped list of grades for the same. The Reviewed salary is paid as Base salary and the relevant amounts are paid under the other heads. Thus the salaries are finalized for each and every employee in USA. It is to be noted that the salary survey report is Grade based in USA. As Dallas is taken as Base location, the amount for Location Allowance is fixed on the basis of the location the employee is scheduled to work in. For finalizing the location allowance the following factors are taken into account: – 1. Accommodation Cost, 2. Transportation Cost, 3. Tax Rate, and 4. Food Cost. All this is relevant to the Indian employees who visit USA from India. There is no information available as to how the compensation review takes place for the US nationals in USA. 2. 2 USA SPECIFIC BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION COBRA COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. It requires the vast majority of employers to offer continuation of coverage to covered employee and their dependents who, due to certain COBRA qualifying events, lose group health plan coverage. Infotype 0211 COBRA Qualified Beneficiary Infotype 0212 COBRA Health Plan Infotype 0270 COBRA Payments > MSI pays 100% for its employee’s health insurance premiums. Employees’ dependents are eligible to participate in the same health insurance, however it’s the employees’ responsibility to pay the premium costs. > Anthem Health provides both Medical and Dental insurance for MSI employees and their dependents. LIFE INSURANCE > MSI provides life death and dismemberment insurance coverage for all of its employees through UNUM Life Insurance Company effective from the date of joining MSI. > The beneficiary will receive two times the employees’ annual base salary. 401 K PLAN > All employees are eligible for this plan > MSI does not make any contributions to this plan > Employee can contribute up to 25% to a maximum of USD 10,000 per calendar year. CAFETARIA PLAN > Also known as Section 125 Plan. > Employees can pay for medical and dependent care expenses with Pre Tax Dollars to avail of tax benefit under this plan. > Employees may choose to have designated amount of their income directed towards this plan. > This is solely and employee contributed benefit. 2. 3 STANDARD SAP US PAYROLL FEATURES SAP Payroll allows MSI to run payroll for employees in all states. Requisite statutory reports, such as Federal forms 940, W-2, W-3, and all state SUI forms are also supported by the SAP system. Payroll does not just involve the calculation of remuneration, but consists of a variety of processes that are becoming increasingly important due to the employer’s increased obligation to supply benefits and medical welfare. You can also control the financial system of third-party providers. The System calculates the gross and net pay, which comprises the individual payments and deductions that are calculated during a payroll period, and are received by an employee. These payments and deductions are included in the calculation of the remuneration using different wage types. However, since MSI has out sourced its net payroll processing to a third party called ADP. Hence only the gross payroll shall be run and an interface shall be provided to send data to ADP for net payroll processing and deduction of Taxes etc. After the remuneration payroll you can carry out various subsequent activities, for example, you can see to remuneration payment or the creation of various lists, and make evaluations. The Gross Payroll component processes employee master data from SAP Personnel Administration and generates wage types and amounts to be used by the Net Payroll component, or to be exported to a third-party product for net calculation. Pre-tax deductions and earnings are processed within the Gross Payroll component. Integration. The Gross Payroll component is closely integrated with the SAP Personnel Administration and SAP Benefits components Payroll in Dialog Mode Purpose The payroll program is run at a specific point in time, not only to calculate an employee’s basic remuneration but also any special payments, overtime payments or bonuses that must be effected for the period in question. You can follow the procedure of payroll directly in dialog mode. Payroll in dialog mode is particularly suited to simulate a payroll run for an individual payroll area or individual personnel numbers. Payroll in a Background Operation Use When you have checked all the settings for the payroll run, and have tested the run in a simulation run, you can perform the payroll run in a background job. Off-Cycle Activities Purpose As an addition to regular payroll, which carries out payroll at fixed regular intervals, this function enables you to carry out specific off-cycle payroll activities for individual employees on any day. You can issue a check to replace payments that were originally made to an employee by check or by transfer but which the employee did not receive, or if the check is in an unusable condition (for example, torn). You can reverse payroll results that were created by a regular or off-cycle payroll run. You can enter a check number into the system retrospectively for a payroll result for which you have already issued a check manually. 2. 4 MSI US PAYROLL – GROSS PROCESSING Purpose The Gross Payroll component processes employee master data from SAP Personnel Administration and generates wage types and amounts to be used by the Net Payroll component, or to be exported to a third-party product for net calculation. Pre-tax deductions and earnings are processed within the Gross Payroll component. Integration The Gross Payroll component is closely integrated with the SAP Personnel Administration and SAP Benefits components Payments The individual payments form the basis for the calculation of an employee’s gross remuneration, which is the core part of payroll. Gross remuneration is the starting point for the calculation of social insurance and tax payments, and also for the calculation of net remuneration. Structure In the R/3 System, payments are split into the following categories according to their characteristics: Basic pay. Basic pay consists of the fixed wage and salary elements that are paid in every payroll period. You enter them in the form of wage types in the basic pay (0008) infotype. Recurring payments and deductions Recurring payments and deductions are paid or retained with fixed frequency. The system determined the payments using factors such as overtime, leave or substitutions. The wage types that illustrate these factors are entered in the recurring payments and deductions (0014) infotype. In the processing stage the system uses the Customizing settings representing the collective agreement.   Additional Payments. Additional payments are remuneration elements that are not usually paid in each payroll period, and that are not paid at regular intervals. You enter them in the Additional Payments (0015) infotype. Benefits Integration to Payroll Purpose Users of the R/3 Benefits component can use Benefits Integration to streamline the payroll calculation process for their employees. The Benefits Integration component allows benefits-related deductions and contributions entered in master data to be processed during net payroll processing. Integration This component integrates the Payroll component with the Benefits component. Deduction and contribution amounts can be remitted to benefits providers using functionality from the Third Party Remittance component. 2. 5 THE PAYROLL PROCESS 2. 6 US PAYROLL REPORTING Introduction The R/3 HR Payroll System provides all regulatory and tax reports required by U. S. federal and state law, such as SUI reports for state unemployment agencies, W-2 reports for the federal and state governments, and the Multiple Worksite Report for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional payroll reports are available for other business purposes, such as the New Hire Report. These reports allow efficient evaluation of payroll data and ensure compliance with government regulations. Integration Payroll reports access information from all HR Infotypes and evaluate data from HR Time Management and HR Organizational Management as well as HR Personnel Administration. Features R/3 Payroll offers numerous internal and regulatory reports, including: New Hire Reporting Tax Reporter for federal and state reports Law requires companies to report the results of their payroll calculation to several tax authorities, including the federal government and many state and local governments. This component enables you to produce regulatory reports for government authorities in the format required by each authority. Reports that Tax Reporter supports include Form 940 – Employer’s Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return, Form 941 – Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, Form W-2 – Wage and Tax Statement, the 1099-R form and the Multiple Worksite Report. NOTE:-In case of MASTEK the above reports may be provided by ADP since ADP shall be responsible for running net payroll and doing all calculations and deductions for the same.

Neoliberalism in Latin America Essay

From the 1930s until the 1980s state intervention and protection were key components of most Latin American economies. In these years many Latin American countries were used an Import-substitution industrialization based economy trying to reduce dependence on foreign imports and replacing them with domestic production. Due to the use of an Import-substitution industrialization based economy Latin American countries were forced to keep high tariffs to protect the private companies of their countries. This combined with many Latin America countries providing numerous government subsidized programs eventually led to the 1982 debt crisis. This debt crisis created a vacuum affect in Latin America with many of the countries taking on a new neoliberal economic model, and by the early 1990s John Charles Chasteen claims that almost every Latin American country was led by a president that was pro neoliberalism. This neoliberal economic model called for the slashing of tariffs as well as the reduction of removal of all nationalist-inspired subsides. Also following the neoliberal model, Latin American countries stopped the printing of money to slow inflation effectively undermining the functionality of their local markets. All of this was done so that a completely â€Å"free market† could be created. It was believed that this free market would not only help improve the economies of Latin American countries, but also create more personal freedoms for the people of Latin America. In the article â€Å"Neoliberalism, Neoclassicism and Economic Welfare†, John T. Harvey claims the complete opposite, arguing although a neoliberal economic model was created to produce conditions conducive to social provisioning or democratic problem solving, the exact opposite has occurred. Harvery states in his article, â€Å"Instead of growth, stability, and the narrowing of income gaps, we have seen stagnation, volatility, and increased inequality. † By researching neoliberalism a clear picture can be drawn. Neoliberalism created class stratification with the upper and middle class greatly benefiting from the new policies sanctioned by neoliberalism, while the poor continued to become more impoverished and unable to provide for themselves. Many historians argue that the neoliberal economic model was most beneficial for the small wealthy upper-class of Latin America as well as many upper-class business owners from other countries. The existence of a â€Å"free market† due to neoliberalism in Latin America created many opportunities for upper-class citizens to continue to become considerably wealthier. The upper-class benefit from neoliberalism in many ways but the two largest benefits come from the privatization of government subsidized programs and the lowering of tariffs. Not only did both of these policies line the pockets of the upper-class of Latin America but foreign investors as well. In order to balance their federal budget many Latin American governments privatized their government subsidized programs as well as cut federal jobs. First, the privatization of federal jobs allowed many upper-class citizens to take over these businesses and use them in their benefit to create capital. Former government projects such as constructing roads and government buildings were now being completed by companies that were owned by the upper-class. Prior to neoliberalism these jobs were paid out of the federal budget and were used as a way to lower unemployment by hiring more workers than were really needed. Now that private companies were doing the work efficiency was the most important thing leading to the loss of many jobs for the poor class of Latin America. In the article, â€Å"Neo-Liberalism in Latin America: Limits and Alternatives† Ian Roxborough argues that the immediate beneficiaries of the privatization of government subsidized programs and federal jobs, or what he calls real assets, were foreign investors and people with â€Å"flight cash†. This was because when these programs became privatized upper-class people from other countries as well as Latin America were able to come in and by penny cheap shares of these programs and soon to be private companies. This excrementally helped the upper-class because after they bought this stock at largely discounted prices it quickly grew in value. Clearly, lower classes that did not have extra cash could not benefit from this because they were unable to purchase any of the shares of these newly privatized commodities. This created two problems, not only did real assets of Latin America get lost to upper-class foreign investors, it also created a significantly larger wealth gap between the poor and upper-class because of the large amounts of money the upper-class made from the gains of the stock that they bought at such cheap prices. Another benefit the upper-class of Latin America and other foreign countries gained from neoliberalism was the reduction of tariffs. The reduction of Tariffs allowed foreign companies to come into Latin America and build maquiladoras. This was beneficial for the foreign investors because they could now come into Latin America where working wages were much cheaper and produce their goods at lower prices, which entail created more profit. Lower tariffs were beneficial for Latin American upper-class citizens because as the foreign companies came into Latin America they were able to invest in these companies. The ability to invest in these companies that wouldn’t have come to Latin America with the previous tariffs was just one more way people who already had money in Latin America were able to benefit even more from a neoliberal economic model. Neoliberalism also benefitted the middle class of Latin America. Chasteen argues the middle class benefited from a neoliberal economic model because of the cheap products that were produced due to the maquiladoras in Latin America as well as cheap products that were being imported to Latin America because of the newly reduced tariffs. This was very beneficial for the middle class for two reasons. First, under neoliberalism the middle class society who had money to spend, now had more choices because the large influx of items that were now being imported into Latin America. In his article, â€Å"Magical Neoliberalism†, Alberto Fuguet argues that neoliberalism was what led to amenities like large scale movies from Hollywood and other services, like fast food chains, to come to Latin America. Secondly, neoliberalism was beneficial to the middle class because with a larger selection of goods comes competition. With competition companies foreign and local now had to produce the best quality goods at the lowest price in order to continue to receive business from the middle class. Neoliberalism also benefited the middle class of Latin America because of the advancement in technology that occurred because of the privatization of water resource centers, electrical companies, and telecommunication companies. The privatization of these companies allowed them to modernize as well as make them more reliable. Some argue that neoliberalism was also beneficial for the women of Latin America. In her article â€Å"Love in the Time of Neo-Liberalism: Gender, Work, and Power in a Costa Rican Marriage†, Susan E. Mannon argues neoliberalism allowed women to gain more power and independence then they previously had. Mannon claims that neoliberalism, and the reduced tariffs that come with it, led to the creation of maquiladoras where women could seek employment. Latin American women’s new ability to gain employment in maquiladoras allowed them to earn a wage creating dual-income households. Not only did this give them more power and independence in their individual households, but the ability to buy goods also allowed them to participate in the local economy giving them more power as well. Those who stood to gain the least under a neoliberal economic model were the poor people of Latin America. This is because the privatization of state-run corporations and public service programs made them unaffordable for the poor working class, leaving many homeless and hungry. In the article, â€Å"From Democracy to Development: The Political Economy of Post-Neoliberal Reform in Latin America†, Alfred P. Montero states claims that neoliberalism leads to deepening levels of inequality, a growing percentage of people living below the poverty line, decaying infrastructure, poor access to even low-quality primary education, rising criminality, and inefficient productivity. All of these problems can be linked to privatization of government subsidized programs and the loss of government jobs. With neoliberalism the loss of jobs and government programs made unemployment skyrocket and education too expensive for much of the poor class of Latin America to afford. This lack of education is what many argue led to the problems that Montero claims such as a rise in criminal activity. Also, because neoliberalism privatizes companies that control commodities such as water, telecommunications, and electricity the poor class was unable to afford them, essentially leaving the poor of Latin America in the dark without water or electricity. Neoliberalism also led to the creation of Maquiladora’s which initially created what poor Latin American believed to be desirable jobs. Quickly the poor found out that many of these jobs did not pay a wage that was enough for a person to survive. With the poor pay of maquiladoras also came very poor working conditions that were conducive to creating injury. Omar Gil a former maquiladora worker stated in an interview that his first maquiladora job paid him a dismal forty dollars a week in working conditions that were less than safe. Omar attested that maquiladora workers were injured often because of the intense pressure of Forman’s to produce as much product as possible. Also with neoliberalism came the lack of available occupations. Due to the reduction of tariffs foreign companies were able to bring mass produced goods into Latin American countries at prices cheaper than local inhabitants were able to produce them. This created large scale unemployment and forced Latin American people into the unsafe and low paying maquiladoras. Chasteen argues that for the poor class the inability to produce goods far outweighed the benefits of being able to be a small-time consumer from the dismal wages that were earned in maquiladoras. It is clear that the neoliberal economic model is not beneficial for anyone but the wealthy elites and middle class of Latin American Countries. A neoliberal economic model became fashionably popular in Latin America because the people who were in charge were upper-class citizens and during a down turn in 1982 neoliberalism seemed like a solution due to its approach to better balance the budget of Latin American countries. Unfortunately, either the leadership of these countries assumed wrong, or just didn’t care about the wellbeing of its impoverished people, but clearly a neoliberal economic model does nothing but create a larger wealth gap, create more social stratification, and deplete living conditions for the poor even more. In the article, â€Å"Exploring the Impact of Neoliberal Economic Development on Poverty in Costa Rica: What Went Wrong? †, Paul B Lubliner argues that in order for economic prosperity to complement poverty reduction the state should have more control over the economy not less. I agree and argue by privatizing all state subsidized programs as well as depleting the amount of government jobs to almost zero Latin American countries actually went backwards in their pursuit to shorten the wealth gap as well as social stratification. Abusing your population to closer balance budget is in no way the solution to guarantee countries prosperity in the foreseeable future. Neoliberalism was clearly one sided only benefiting the rich and middle class, disfranchising each countries poor setting them back further then they were before.

Modern Relevance of “The Birthmark”

Modern Relevance of â€Å"The Birthmark† â€Å"The Birthmark† is a fable created by Hawthorne that conveys his viewpoint towards the use of science to contradict the laws of nature. The fable also includes commentary on the depiction of men and women in society, along with their presumed roles. Both of these themes in my opinion are even more relevant today than when the story was written. Hawthorne disapproves of science used as a tool to tamper with living beings, for they are not meant to be perfect.This is illustrated in Georgiana’s death after Aylmer attempts to experiment on her: â€Å"As the last crimson tint of the birthmark–that sole token of human imperfection–faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The implied moral is that attempting to contradict what is originally intended is unethical and will lead to disastrous results. Hawthorne uses the character Aylmer to exempli fy the people who abuse science as a means to control nature.In modern sciences, â€Å"controlling nature† has become the essence of the medical field, progressing to the extreme of cheating death. Hawthorne’s opinion is echoed in the controversies today regarding methods such as stem cell research or cloning, as common arguments point to its immorality and the eventual disaster. The story is an exaggeration that was intended to be almost humorous, although I believe Hawthorne must have had the notion that his fear would someday become commonly practiced and even encouraged. The Birthmark† at a glance might appear to be supporting the stereotypical gender roles of the era. Hawthorne portrays Aylmer as the pragmatic husband and leader, while Georgiana is his complement as the obedient wife. However I believe Hawthorne is using satire to imply just the opposite. Georgiana is deemed to be Aylmer’s intellectual equal; as she was able to read through his experi ments and understand his successes and failures.She also understands Aylmer’s greatest flaw, which he himself can never comprehend, and that is his doomed strive for perfection: â€Å"With her whole spirit she prayed that, for a single moment, she might satisfy his highest and deepest conception. Longer than one moment she well knew it could not be; for his spirit was ever on the march, ever ascending†¦ requiring something that was beyond the scope of the instant before. † Georgiana’s death in the end is the result of her choice to obey Aylmer, even though she knew of his insane obsession and faulty judgement.I believe Hawthorne is making a statement on the folly of intelligent women bending to the ridiculous whims of their husbands, while they’re perfectly capapble of making decisions themselves. This theme translates easily for many modern readers who continue to resist the residual expectation of women being subordinate to men. The rigid role of a woman that Georgiana fits into is still recognizable to us, but it is the intelligence and the small streak of independence she possesses that we can relate to. In the end we lament that she did not take a greater stand for herself, as many would have done today.

E-Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

E-Commerce - Essay Example Considering the business nature of Whalen Clean and Tidy which provides cleaning services to local office buildings, setting up a website to targeted audience could involve extensive online marketing approach to gain both offline and online visibility. Since this kind of business is not that much common, the site to be created needs to be noticed by customers. To do this marketing, we can apply these approaches: Search Engine Placement and SEO – Search engine is a standard way to find any Internet site and of which includes online shopping sites. A large number of online shoppers utilizes online search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc.) to find their products, services and any desired information about a thing. Conventional Advertising – this may include advertising in TV, newspapers, etc. Using this type of advertising may not seem soothing with the Internet address as its statement. Apparently, still online business recommends this traditional way. Exchange Links – Outbound links from other relevant site referrals can boost you search engine rankings and exposure. Links are included on a variety of other sites with a variety of deals being done. It is also important to consider the website usability; this should conform to the web standards which will allow customers browse the site with ease. Order processing should also be processed online, orders or bookings for cleaning services which is basically linked with a back-office system. Payments for booking can be done on different modes – cash, check, or credit cards. Considering payment processing and posting bookings, security is now a primary concern since online payments are offered. This ensures customers that the transaction online will be secured and confidential. This will help them increase trust and confidence in doing business with you. The necessity of these elements is of high

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 16

Case Study - Essay Example However; the company development has gone unnoticed due to poor marketing strategies. The company has avoided external capital for 15 years and it has also developed a fear of venture capital and this has prevented it to rise in profitability for long. The company recently partnered with which has strengthened TEOCO without changing the culture of our organization. This paper therefore seeks to analyze the business environment and strategies of TEOCO Company analyzing various factors that contribute to its success. Over the years there have been external forces and industry conditions that have contributed to its performance. The external forces that include competition have affected the company’s performance to a greater level. This competitors Vibrant and Broad margin have been at the forefront in the provision of the same products. The competitors had low prices and this gave TEOCO Company really tough time to make profits and this affected the performance. The company conditions also affected the company performance at a greater extent. There has been a partnership agreement with TA Associates. The firm had made a minority equity investment of $60 million in TEOCO.This has boosted the capital base of the TEOCO company which was at the verge of collapsing. This has enabled the company to further increase its profitability. TA Associates which is the largest private equity firms in the country, managing more than $16 billion in capital by 2009, had an impressive network of relationships. This is important in the growth of TEOCO which tend to enjoy the free marketing of their services. The partnering company has also extensive knowledge of the industry. This enables TEOCO to be able to develop the products that are needed in the market. This enables the company to be able to meet the demand of the of the current market through having a shared knowledge of the

The Art Of The Rapanui Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Art Of The Rapanui - Essay Example Art has for a lengthy time, been used to make political statements among the Rapanui. The art of the Rapanui, in particular, the statues of Moai, are the last part of the ancient history of these people and because of this, they still have a special impact on then Rapanui. When the Spanish colonized the Easter Islands, they discovered the importance of these statues to the Rapanui and in order to make a political statement, these giant statues were toppled from their pedestals, to show that the Spanish were dominant on the islands. While this may have been the case, these statues have come to be recognized as a unique part of the Rapanui heritage and attempts have been made by the Chilean government, which governs the islands, to restore them. The Rapanui have made these statues their rallying point when agitating for political independence from Chile, which they consider an oppressive colonizer (Romero). A similar political statement was made in the past by the English in a bid to e stablish their dominance over the Scottish people. The English, after defeating the Scots in battle, took the important Stone of Scone, which was an essential part of the Scottish coronation ritual, from Scotland to England ("Stone of Scone due Back in Scotland Today" 5). This was used as a symbol of English dominance of the Scots, but in this instance, it does not seem to have worked since Scotland came to regain its independence later.  

Business management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 7

Business management - Essay Example The University of California (2008), states that bio-Analytical measurement offers measurement solutions for research and quality control applications to academic and government organisations. Electronic Measurement provides solutions, products and services to the leading customers in the communication and electronic industries. Their wide range of expertise enables them to provide quality services and products to their customers. The company has gained insight from this comprehensive and unique perspective and they are dedicated to helping their customers to make advancement in achieving business results. The main purpose of the business management system in the organisation is to maintain all the operations and groups. These include the Chemical analysis Group (LSG), Electronic Measurement Group (EMG) and Chemical Analysis Group (CAG). They also ensure that the products and services meet the regulatory requirements and customer expectations (The University of California, 2008). The business management system provides a framework whereby business operations and groups can make decisions appropriate to their organisations geographic and customer needs while ensuring that appropriate minimum standards are met. The company’s infrastructure is centrally managed and functions as internal service suppliers to the groups. The scope of the company involves development, procurement, manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing of their products and services worldwide. Throughout business research, scholars have established that a relationship exists between organisational culture and performance. Organisational cultures are the values which determine how the entity operates according to Mullins (2010). Businesses in the past believed that organisational culture was too hard to manage and were not keen on its importance. Today, they acknowledge that it can be used for competitive

Blog Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Blog - Article Example The organizations, big and small, scattered around the globe tend to have more than their ample share of what may be called the bad managers, whose only concern seems to be to mar the organizational efficiency and nip the talent right in the bud, wherever it is deployed within or outside the organization, thereby restraining the organization from achieving the levels of productivity and efficiency that may shock the shareholders, pushing most of them towards a premature stroke or heart attack (Lussier and Achua 5). One other role of bad managers is to give way to a pervasive despondency, apathy and cynicism within organizations so that employees may genuinely end up believing that they scarcely deserve a promotion or a raise, thereby sparing the organizations from splurging much money in the name of motivation and efficiency. When it comes to recruiting bad managers, the organizations may complain of a serious dearth of real talent. However, the good news is that bad managers happen to be just like regular managers with a discerning pool of skills and abilities at their disposal, which help them justify their title and denomination. While talking of bad managers, the one person that emerges on the canvass of my memory is Mr. Dam Doolittle, a paragon of managerial dexterity and a virtual paradigm of a bad manager, whom I came across while working in a local advertisement firm. One thing that outshined Mr. Doolittle from the pool of inefficient menials working under his tutelage in the firm was his panache for professional outlook. Mr. Doolittle had a passion for designer suits, ties and Italian patent leather shoes. Perhaps his guiding maxim was that if one successfully managed to look like a manager, than perhaps 99 percent of one’s job is done. No wonder, Mr. Doolittle’s managing acumen stood to be merely skin deep and superficial like the garishness of his apparels. However, sadly, this was not the be-all and end-all of his managerial acumen and talent. Mr. Doolittle indeed was endowed by the providence with some rare and special skills that aptly placed him at an assorted place in the hall of fame of the worst managers. His reputation was indeed well deserved and well earned, scarcely impervious to any tarnishing by the ravages of time or bursts of organizational change. When it came to micro management, it goes without saying that on this entire globe there scarcely existed a manager born of a human womb that could match the adroitness of Mr. Doolittle. Mr. Doolittle scarcely believed in the obsolete concept of ‘vision’. He was a stickler for change. He believed that in the current times defined by fast altering consumer preferences and the onslaught of digital solutions, ‘vision’ happened to be a thing of the past. He not only believed in leading from the front merely, but generously spread his management talent, right, left, behind and center, firmly convinced that the day he contracts his man agerial acumen from the floor, the business will virtually fall down on its knees. He believed in ruthlessly cracking the whip whenever and wherever the need be, luckily restrained by the organizational norms from wielding a whip in the literal sense. Being deprived of the superfluous notion of vision, the employees mostly felt insecure, confused and intimidated, and that is how Mr. Dam Doolittle expected them to be (Benfari 109). Esteemed to be a manager worth his salt, he had

My Familys experience with cities over the past three generations Essay

My Familys experience with cities over the past three generations - Essay Example Who could have blamed them Over the past sixty years, Santiago has seen numerous political rebellions and battles which finally lead to a nearly twenty year dictatorship. If my mother finally decided to move to the United States, it is, to my opinion only because of me and the opportunity she had for all of us. Wouldn't we have been there, she would have remained in Santiago. In this essay, I will present the ties my family and I have to our cities and explain on what they rely and their differences. I will try to show that even though we were all born and raised in the same place, our point of view at the same age - 20 - were totally different and the way that we have lived our lives there reflects it. We will see that the city is a My Grandmother, Liliana Domingo, was born in Santiago, Chile in 1942 and since than has been living all her life there. In 1962, at the age of 20, she was working at a local hospital as a nurse. That year marked the fourth anniversary of the president's Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez election. He was promoting foreign investments and free enterprise. The political developments were easily seen in Santiago and often noticed by my grandmother. She started nursing more and more foreigners who were visiting the country for business. It was this people who participated to the modernization of the city. She soon began to think that maybe one day Santiago will become an international city just like London, Paris or New York. These believes helped her in her everyday life which was not so easy. As both a working woman and mother she was busy 24 hours a day, barely finding some time to rest. She woke up very early in order to prepare the entire family, went to work, on her way back did the groceries and finally took care of dinner for all. In the meantime her Santiago was changing. The tramway nearly disappeared, leaving the empty space for buses and trolleybuses. She found it amazing as she never could take the tramway to go to work and spent an hour walking to the hospital. When the buses arrived, it took her only twenty minutes to go to work as the bus was passing just in front of her house leaving her just two blocks away from the hospital. Buses and Trolleys were principally of European origin. As she recalled treating European patients, she was proud in believing that she helped, in a certain way, create this new system of transportation. This is what Santiago was for her, a sort of haven. Though she spent most of her time working at the hospital or at home, she found it much more easier now because of all the new transportations available in the city. Her opinion was that this is the kind of means that a city has to put up in order to make people's life easier and more pleasant. Electricity, water and gas were now available to everybody. Schools, universities were spreading. It was alike a new city was being built just on top of the new one and an extraordinary quantity of opportunities at the same time. Santiago, in 1962, according to my grandmother was an example of modernity combined with a respect of a good and decent way of living; I believe even before my mother reached 20, that my

Iago, when No One is Looking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Iago, when No One is Looking - Essay Example Iago's soliloquies and asides, in contrast to his speeches in the presence of other characters, reveals quite clearly his deceitfulness and self-disguise. The audience is not duped for a moment, as, through dramatic irony and our privileged position, we come see that he is engaged in "double-knavery" (1.2.318), and not at all the "honest and true" Iago that others believe him to be. The audience would be amazed at the absolute faith that the character have in Iago's honesty, which we know to be a lie even from his first appearance onstage. Iago's aim throughout the play is to "blacken" Othello's reputation to match the latter's face, in revenge for what he sees as a slight in Othello's appointing Cassio lieutenant over him. In his first soliloquy in Act I, scene iii, he gives three motives for his plotting: to fatten his purse (1.2.308), "to get [Cassio's] place" as lieutenant (1.2.318), and to make "sport" on Othello whom he hates (1.2.311). He later admits that he is somewhat in love with Desdemona, and reiterates his suspicion that "the lusty Moor/ Hath leap'd into [his] seat; the thought whereof/Doth gnaw at [his] inwards" (2.1.310-14), and that one of his motives is to be avenged "wife for wife" (2.1.315). Jealousy, susJealousy, suspicion and envy are not only key motives to Iago's actions, but are key elements of his character, as his soliloquies reveal. Not only does he harbor unfounded suspicions that Othello "hath done office 'twixt [his] sheets" (1.2.312-313), he suggests that Cassio also is likely to cuckold him (2.2.320). He gives a further reason for his jealousy of Cassio, who "hath a daily beauty in his life/That makes [him, Iago] ugly" (5.1.19-20). It is not surprising then, that the method he employs to embroil Othello in jealousy is based on the working of his own suspicious mind, where "mere suspicion /Will do as if for surety" (1.2.314-15). On the other hand, his soliloquies reveal that he is an astute observer of character. He knows people's nature well, and thus is able to use their weaknesses and foibles to his advantage. For example, he shows keen insight into the relationship between Othello and Desdemona, in particular the latter's influence on her husband. As a result, he plans to manipulate Desdemona's liberal tongue and goodness to "enmesh them all" (2.3.366) and "turn her virtue into pitch" (2.3.364). He is also aware of Othello's own insecurities, and inferiority complex due to his race. Despite the fact that Desdemona, "had eyes, and chose [him]", Othello is convinced that she is unfaithful and gives as a reason: Haply, for I am black And have not those soft parts of conversation That chamberers have, or for I am declined Into the vale of years (3.1.402-5), giving Iago fodder to work on his jealousy. Knowing that Cassio cannot hold drink, Iago manipulates him into drinking himself "full of quarrel and offence" (2.3.48), which action will lead him to a fight not becoming to his station, discrediting him in Othello's eyes, and allowing Iago to have the coveted position. He also reveals the means by which he will achieve his "monstrous" ends: by insinuating false motives to Cassio, who is handsome, charming, "framed to make women false" (1.2.323). Iago soliloquies further reveal his real thoughts about these

Econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Econ - Essay Example The IMF was conceived in 1944 when representatives of 45 countries met at Bretton Woods, USA and agreed on the framework of IMF which came into formal existence in December 1945 (after World War II) with 29 members. The member countries agreed that the value of the US$ follow the gold prices and that the other member currencies be pegged to the US$ with some room allowed for corrections (but with the agreement of the IMF). This par value system was also known as the Bretton Woods system. In the 1960s, the US$ was seen as overvalued. As the US government started spending more especially due to the Vietnam War, the overvaluation of the US$ became even more of a burden for the US. Thus, in August 1971, then US President Richard Nixon announced that the US would temporarily suspend the US$ pegging to Gold. This led to a breakdown of the system and by March 1973, the major currencies were no longer pegged to the US$ and began to float against each other. Subsequently, the IMF has assumed the role of maintaining the stability and preventing crisis in the international monetary system.

Comparative Economics Studies of China and India Essay Example for Free

Comparative Economics Studies of China and India Essay In 1950, China and India was the two developing countries with largest resources in term of land and labor. At that time, they both had the comparable economic structures and degree of development. However, with the difference mainly in political systems, in which China is Socialist Communist government, while India adopt parliamentary democracy, and specific countries’ development policy, it leads to the difference in the rate of growth in industrialization in particular countries. The dissimilarities in political system account for the rate of decision making process. It is the particular reason China had its development policy change in 1978, which undertake export-oriented policy creating special economic zones (SEZs), result in being one of the fastest growing countries in the past 30 years, while In the case of India, before 1991, the economic growth is considerably low, referring as â€Å"Hindu rate of growth†, reflects slow growth in industrialization. After 1991, India had its economic reform policies, Industrialization begin to grow once more, especially with the support of SEZ Act in 2005. It is still questioned whether India could follow China in growth of industrialization due to poor quality of infrastructure and protesting in land acquisition. Introduction The development policy of China and India had it starting point since India’s independency in 1947 and China’s liberation in 1950. These two countries had merely identical initial position in term of economic structures. GDP per capita of China and India, using prices at 1960, were estimated to be 65 US dollar and 62 US dollar respectively. Also, total labor working in industry was 11 percent in India, while it was only 7 percent in China. Moreover, 9 percent of total output was generated in Large-scale manufacturing and utilities, similar to 6% in India. Likewise, Both China and India economies characterized by mass rural poverty under feudal mode of protection in the country side. However, the gap of industrialization between two countries began to widen during 1970s. As in 1980, there was a substantial disparity in percentage share of GDP, only 21. 9 percent in India, compare to 48. 5% in China (Saith, 2008. ) Why was the gap broadened due to similar economic structures? This paper focuses on the reason behind the different rate of industrialization that leads to discrepancy in economic growth. The first section analyzes about the distinction of Chinese and India’s political system, autocratic socialist versus parliamentary democracy, and how it affect the decision making process of two countries. Next section examines various policies of each country, including Import substitution policy of India during 1950-1990, China reform in 1979 with special economic zones (SEZs) and SEZ Act of India in 2005 and the success or failure of those policies. The third Section discusses the policy of land acquisition of China and India that contribute to industrial district. Section four reviews quality of infrastructure of two countries that affect the industrialization accordingly. The Final section concludes the paper. Political Systems There is a distinct political system between China and India. China or PRC is considered as a single-socialist party, in which general secretary of communist party is the president of PRC. This gives total power to communist party to rule over country, although there are minorities of eight other political parties. Furthermore, having economic reform in1978, it gave provincial leader powers to allocate resources in their province. Local economic performances among states evolved into the essential criterion to evaluate lower-level officials. These economic performances included GDP growth, to steel produced, the miles of road constructed (Li amp; Zhou, 2004. ) It created competition among state official to compete for promotion in to higher level, which increase efficiency in each states. Li and Zhou (2004) used data from 28 provincial units from 1979-1995, estimated with regressions, showing that annual growth rate of GDP has positive relationship with promotion (15 %. ) Moreover, with average growth rate over 5 years, result in positive relationship more than double of the result of annual growth rate (33%. In contrast, India constitutes a parliamentary multi-party democracy which more than 40 political parties. It can be said that Indian politics is dominated by duopoly of National Congress party and BJP party. However, those small regional parties still possess some political power as no parties have votes enough for being one-party government. After 1992, Indian politics have become politics of caste factions. Candi dates for legislative assembly seats have been selected from local faction leaders who have local ote banks in specific caste and community. There is no party which can be one-party dominance except being head of multi-party coalition (Stern, 2000. ) Also, with numerous political parties, those parties choose to play vote bank politics. Sometimes they prefer not to afflict with their vote banks, although it is better in terms of society (Inhovi, 2009. ) Moreover, the composition of state power of China and India which it was created during achieving independence or liberation is what make it difference between two political system. In India, the independence movement was supervised mainly by the people in the middle and upper castes. By this I mean, in the post-independence period, people in middle and upper castes can retain their power, while protecting their benefits. As a result, the Indian institutional framework is taking as a constraint toward industrialization and economic growth (Saith, 2008) On the other hand; revolutionary communist party led by Mao Zedong has taken control over china in 1950. Those powers were in the hand of the poor peasant and workers. Prior Status-quo and political structures were overthrown during the revolutionary under socialism. Therefore, the Chinese could adjust their institutional framework so that it is suitable for development of the countries. With the dissimilarity in political system, it leads to the differentiation in the decision making process. For China, which political system is one-party domination, the decision for policies can be made in the communist party as less transaction cost of negotiation among political parties and no obstacle from institutional framework and status-quo. But for India, having duopoly in politics with coalition of multi-party government, culture of patron-client relationship and vote banks system, such decision on policies takes longer time as high negotiation cost between political parties, and it might has conflict with their vote banks (Inhovi, 2009 . ) In addition, China had dual-track implementing system in decision making process, in which State Planning Committee (SPC) make important decision on policies. It also monitors and implements the policy, supporting by powerful party structure, result in successful solutions in terms of growth and infrastructure development. While, India had separated institutions of decision making process and implementation on policies. Strategic Plans were constructed by working groups, including representative of line ministries, technical experts and others. However, in reality, the implementation was deviated from the plan. In addition, past Indian development plans only pointed out directions but not specific goals, making implementation process harder. The distinct model of decision making process would affect both developments policies and infrastructure of both countries that lead to difference growth of industrialization and economic performance (Kimamp; Nangia, 2008. Development Policies In 1950s, India led by Nehru Gandhi launch first development plan, in which its objective was to promote industrialization which large investment were made basic industries. It was known as Import Substitution Policy (ISI). Self-reliance on industrial goods was their prime target. As a consequence, government placed heavy pro tection against domestic industries with licenses, permits and quotas. Only manufactured goods that improve productivity of industrial goods were allowed to import. The development of industrial sector was portrayed by central planning which controlled private sector through license and permits and massive investment in public sector, including specific industries exclusively reserved (McMillanamp; Naughton, 1992. ) Consequently, India industrialized that its industries mostly produce everything from tinned fruit to nuclear energy (Stern, 2000). However, the rate of industrialization is slow as in behalf of non-comparative advantage and high costs of producing goods. Still, average annual GDP growth in industrial sector in real term from 1951-1960 was 5. 7% (Reserved bank of India, 2011. ) At the same time, China had its development policy slightly differentiate from India. China also had development policy centrally planned. However, it relied on the collectivization of agricultural sector, using surplus on development of producing raw materials, investment goods industries and larger-scale, capital intensive industry. All trade of China was co ntrolled by foreign trade corporations, which indeed owned by ministry of Foreign trade. It regulated all imports and exports to specific quantitative guidelines. Similar to India, China’s export and import is irrelevant to country’s comparative advantage (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) Then, in 1970s, there’s a turning point in Chinese economy. China, led by Deng Xiaoping, had a several economic reforms especially creating â€Å"special economic zones. † These zones were enacted for which foreign firms receive preferential tax and administrative treatment and given an unusually free hand in their operations (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) By that time, there were 4 zones: Shenzen, Zhuhai, Xiamen and Shantou. The prime objective of SEZs was to serve as a bridge to introducing foreign capital, technology and knowledge and management know-how (Roychoudhury, 2010. ) These special economic zones had several advantages. First, each of the zones is extremely large in terms of geographical area; for instance, 2000 square kilometers in Shenzen. It creates cost advantage of economies of scale for industrial sector both internal and external, and low transportation cost among suppliers. Second, they locate in the coastal area, having ports and transport networks. Also, these zones were established near major cities or countries; for example, Shenzen neighbor Hongkong, and Xiamen borders Taiwan. It could attract foreign investment from nearby cities, boast industrialization in SEZs. Moreover, foreign industries received preferential tax in corporate tax rate; the actual tax burden is 11%, while domestic industry paid 23% in actual tax burden, although nowadays, the preferential tax had been lifted except few high-technology sector and small enterprises (Guoamp; Feng, 2007. SEZs helped foster rapid industrialization in China within its area; incentivize foreign investors using comparative advantage of cheap labor costs. Along with the assistance of import policy in 1987, which granted imports of raw materials, parts and components for exporting production purpose tax-free, China industrial sector emerged as low-wage assembly services (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) As a result, SEZs growth has been enormous, as an example of Shenzen, which aver age annual GDP growth rate from 1980-2005 was 27%, later referred as â€Å"Shenzen Speed† (Guoamp; Feng, 2007. Later on, China has gained benefit from importing technical knowledge contained in capital goods, parts and components; as a result, some of the industry has shifted from assembling and processing services to self-manufacturing (Branstetteramp; Lardy, 2006. ) By the end of 2005, there are five Shenzen brands with sale more than 10 billion Yuan. The actual use of foreign capital inShenzen has increased to $3. 3 billion in 2006, compare to $153. 7 million in 1979 (Guoamp; Feng, 2007. ) 7% of gross world FDI flows in 2009 went in to China, increase significantly from 1% in 1980. In 2008, China had its share of world GDP in PPP basis of nearly 12% compare to 2% in 1980. China’s real GDP has increased average over 10% annually (Roychoudhury, 2010. ) SEZs policy has proved its own successful, accelerating industrialization and economic growth in China in the past 30 years. In contrast, coping with Hindu rate of growth for over 40 years, 3 percent per annum from 1947 to 1975 and 5 percent per annum from 1976-1991, India had its economic reform later in 1991, starting trade liberalization to oster industrialization and economic growth, including abolishing of industrial licensing, decreasing tariff protection, removing industries reserved for public sector and small-scale sector and liberalizing foreign direct investment. Before trade liberalization, the import substitution policy proved to be inefficiency due to licensing policy, high cost of producing, inflexibility of labor market and non-incentive for efficiency improvement (Ahluwalia, 2002. ) Companie s paid no attention on management training, quality control and advertising because there is only few or no competitor due to licensing policy and tariff protection. As in 1970s, Indian market for industrial goods soon exhausted as domestic market is small and low competitiveness against other companies in the world market. GDP growth in industrial sector of India from 1971-1980 is only 4. 3% especially growth from 1970-1976 is only 3. 4%, compare to 5. 9% and 6. 2% for growth from 1951-1960 and 1961-1970 respectively (reserved Bank of India, 2011. ) As a consequent, industrial licensing has been nullified, replaced by new competition law to increase competitive environment in domestic and international market. Moreover, 15 industries in public sector that was reserved exclusively, such as iron and steel, air transport services, have been opened for private companies to invest. Also, some of productions reserved for small-scale sector have been removed as those productions have export potential. Moreover, import licensing against capital goods and intermediate goods were removed in 1993, and quantitative restrictions on imports of manufactured consumer goods were abolished in 2001. It increased competitiveness for domestic industry, forcing to compete with other companies in global markets. In addition, Average tariff rate has reduced from 72. 5% in 1991-1992 to 15 percent in 2004, which will increase competition in domestic markets. However, the average tariff was considered high, comparing to China (Ahluwalia, 2002. ) The growth in economy and industrialization in India in late 2000s also partly came from â€Å"Special Economic Zones† or SEZ. In 2005, Government of India has passed SEZ A, which it goals was to incentivize local and foreign investors and promote export. There are numerous benefits investing under special economic zones.. Firstly, the government provided duty free import of goods for development, operation and maintenance of SEZ units. Secondly, income tax on export in the first 5 years is exempted, and 50% exempted in year 6TH -10TH and 50% of the export ploughed back export profit for year 11TH-15TH. Third, SEZs units also exempted from central sales tax, service tax and minimum alternate tax. Moreover, SEZs units could borrow from external commercial borrowing up to 500 million dollars in a year without maturity restriction. In addition, SEZs unit gain benefit from single window clearance for central and state approvals, which reduce transaction cost of dealing with governments (SEZ India website, 2011. ) The SEZs policy in India is quite similar to SEZs policy in China; however, there are some distinctions between two countries. First, SEZs units in China mostly produce industrial products or consider in industrial sector, while in India, it can be both industrial sector and service sector. IT/ITES/Electronic hardware Technology parks accounted for 61. 3% of formal approvals of SEZs.

Boots Marketing Strategy

Boots Marketing Strategy INTRODUCTION: Boots (UK) Ltd is also known as boots, It is the leading health and beauty retailer with around 1400 branches alongside in United Kingdom and Ireland. It has also more than 300 branches of Boots optician. Boots is previously known as The Boots Company, it has most its outlets in high streets throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Boots is subsidiary company of Alliance Boots. After merger of Alliance Boots and Boots Group Plc., Boots launched. Boots are dealing with 8 million customer every week. Boots develops and sells own brand products, a number of which are leaders in their respective markets. The Boots brand is founded on the trust, expertise and heritage, which comes with its longevity in the market. Boots Group operates three principal businesses: Boots The Chemists; Boots Opticians; and Boots Retail International. Pharmacy is a fundamentally important part of the brand; representing one quarter of sales, it is the foundation of Boots authority and credibility. Boots stores are mostly located on high streets; but, in line with modern shopping trends, its presence in edge of town retail parks is rapidly increasing. Over the last three years 48 such stores have opened, as well as a flagship London store on Oxford Street. Overseas, Boots is working closely with other major retailers in their local markets, to open Boots branded within their stores. There are currently 758 implants in 13 countries. Boots also has 96 standalone stores in Thailand. Boots has had an illustrious history. From its beginnings in 1849 as an herbalist shop, Boots has continually developed new product ranges, many of which are now household names in their own right. By the 1930s, Boots had more than 1,000 st ores selling a wide range of products. Over the years Boots has successfully introduced brands such as 17 cosmetics, aimed at teenagers, which was introduced in 1968 and new business ventures such as Boots Opticians now a major division of the business. In 1985 the Research Department received the Queens Award for Technological Achievement for the discovery and development of ibuprofen. The analgesic ibuprofen was introduced in 1969 as a prescription drug, but launched as the over the counter brand, Nurofen, in 1983. Boots internet business has become increasingly important in the new millennium and a successful part of the brand. Improvements have been made to the online customer experience making navigation easier, resulting in boots.com sales becoming bigger than those of the largest Boots store. Boots is best known for selling a wide range of products under the Boots brand name across health and beauty. The merger between Alliance UniChem plc. and Boots Group plc. was completed on July 1 2006, creating an international pharmacy-led health and beauty group operating in more than 15 countries across the world. The Alliance Boots network will include two retail formats, both under the Boots brand, ranging from approximately 1,500 smaller dispensing pharmacies to approximately 800 larger destination high street and edge of town health and beauty stores. In addition, Alliance Boots will also operate approximately 300 additional retail outlets, including freestanding Boots Opticians practices. Boots is also developing in-store health zones in its bigger stores, which will include extended waiting areas for customers collecting prescriptions. Consultation rooms for pharmacists are also being introduced, as part of a government initiative to alleviate the pressure on GPs surgeries. Boots uses a wide range of media on an ongoing basis, including TV, press, and direct mailings to its Advantage Card members to highlight new products, offers and services. Jesse Boot, the son of John Boot, the brands eponymous founder, took control of the business in the 1870s. He had a business philosophy of buying in bulk and passing the benefit of reduced prices on to his customers. His policy of superior goods at competitive prices delivered with expert care meant that the Boots name became synonymous with quality, value and service. His earliest marketing was based around the concept of Largest, Best and Cheapest Branches Everywhere. This philosophy is still an important part of Boots today. It aims to treat its customers fairly and to act with integrity in everything it does, which results in the brand regularly being rated as the UKs most trusted brand. Boots also believes that it has an enormously valuable role to play in promoting the health of the nation. It achieves this by forming innovative, long term partnerships with charities, particularly focusing on womens cancer. Boots has worked with Breast Cancer Care for 11 years, and this year linked with the Eve Appeal to highlight ovarian cancer. Boots also supports the health of the UK everyday through its 15,000 healthcare advisers working in store. MARKETING STRATEGY: Marketing strategy  is a process that can allow an Boots to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable  competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centred around the key concept that customer  is the main goal. Developing a marketing strategy is vital for any business. Without one, your efforts to attract customers are likely to be haphazard and inefficient. The focus of your strategy should be  to make  sure that your products and services meet customer needs and  that you develop  long-term and profitable relationships with those customers. To achieve this, you will need to create a flexible strategy that can respond to changes in customer perceptions and demand. It may also help you identify whole new markets that you can successfully target. The purpose of your marketing strategy should be to identify and then communicate the benefits of what your business offers  to your target market. Once you have created and implemented your strategy, you should monitor its effectiveness and make any adjustments required to maintain its success. This guide helps you identify which customers to focus on and your key objectives in reaching them. It explains what to include in your marketing strategy and how it can be used as the basis for effective action. MARKETING MIX Boots has a marketing strategy that tries to increase turnover. Look carefully at this strategy (page 6) and suggest ways in which the strategy could be improved. How can Boots improve the image of its brand products? How can Boots boost the male market for beauty products? Think about the target group and the 4 Ps. Marketing is not just about selling, It involves:- Price: This is the term used to describe what a customer pays for a product and service. It includes the actual selling price, any credit terms and profitability. Boots has to decide price of product as per local market conditions and customers. Place: This part of the marketing mix is about many things. It is about Location where it is located, how easy it is to get there. Access when is it open, are their special access facilities for people with special needs. Distribution channels how can you buy the product or service provided or buy tickets for the attraction. Boots has to open their outlets at opportunities market at initial stages. Promotion: This is about how you let people know about what you have available. There are many different ways you can go about this: Advertising, Direct marketing, Public relations, Personal selling, Displays, Sponsorship, Demonstrations, Sales promotions. Boots have to promote their product locally by sponsoring local events and local advertisements. Product: This is what the Boots provides for its customers. It is what they buy or what they experience. What they buy are tangible goods or products. They are things that can be taken away such as tennis rackets from a sports shop. Mostly what the customer buys is intangible. You cannot take them away but you can experience them like a white-knuckle ride at a theme park. All of these are part of the product. When looking at the product, there are a number of things to think about to make sure it meets the needs of the customer: Product and service features, brand name, after sales service, product life cycle, Researching the market to find out what customers want. Developing and designing a product that customers desire/want. Producing the right amount of the right quality. Getting the price right so that the product is affordable and profitable. Making sure that the customer know about the product through promotion. Making sure the product is on sale in convenient places These combination of factors adds up to the marketing mix or the 4 ps. This Could improve strategy by aiming to increase turnover during other periods other than Xmas. And also Aim to increase their business with the male market. Boost brand products could be improved through advertising television, magazines etc. target specific consumer groups. In order to boost the male market Boots needs to distance the male products from the womens and target marketing and promotional campaigns at the male consumer group. The Marketing Strategy for boots going to international market should be as follows. The below are the analysis, how boots can achieve success by going it internationally. By exploring key market drivers they can make huge success. Brand Tracking data showed that Boots continued to be rated much higher than competitors on the quality and choice of healthcare products and on customer knowledge and advice. However, only 19 per cent of dispensing customers identified Boots as their first choice pharmacy. The reason Boots isnt first choice is because only 20 per cent of Boots stores are more conveniently located than their competitors and convenience is the primary driver of pharmacy choice. The audience are the key factors which can make differences. The dispensing audience is critical to Boots. More importantly when you analyse the audience it becomes apparent that the pare to principle applies to Boots pharmacy. 60 per cent customers are on repeat medication, this 60 per cent generat es 90 per cent of the Boots pharmacy revenue.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   In addition it is important to remember that our audience is heavily skewed towards those over the age of 60 (57per cent). This was important for us to keep in mind as we develop the strategy and Mother developed the creative work. We had to ensure that our positioning and messaging were relevant and motivating to a certain type of consumer.  Brand positioning is important for boots as they are going internationally.   Government legislation makes it illegal for any company to claim that their prescription Collection Service brand is better or different from competitors.  So in the absence of a distinct USP, PCS is effectively a parity service. As such, the positioning, creative and use of media became even more critical.  Operational: store visits revealed that the staff dont understand the PCS service and cant explain its benefit. Competitive: every competitor has an equal service to us. Some are using television advertising to raise awareness.  Communications: the previous agency had tried to use TV advertising to drive PCS sign-ups. While it may have driven awareness. Consumer: qualitative research revealed that customers didnt understand the benefits of the service either. They needed a few minutes of someone explaining it, and then they really understood how it saved them having to stand in a queue. Upon deeper interrogation of the brief, it was apparent that the required campaign was not an awareness one. This was not a mass message or proposition this was aimed specifically at people on repeat prescription. Therefore traditional ATL channels would prove to be an inefficient way of meeting our clients business objectives.  Theres only one place where youre really receptive about a message about not having to get tired of waiting in a queue. Its when youre standing in one. So we spent most of our media budget on huge signs hung above the queue. And then when customers got to the front of the queue, we got our staff to offer customers the chance to sign up to a service where you never have to queue again. So we were now communicating the right message at the right time. Remember the staff in-store didnt understand the service. And we were now using them as the primary communications channel. We couldnt just give them a T-shirt and a badge and expect them to sign customers up. So the final part of the strategy was to: train our staff on how to sell the service incentivise the staff by giving them longer coffee breaks if they reached their target number of sign-ups introduce a standard operating procedure so they knew how to enter. MARKETING ENVIRONMENT: The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the Boots. There are three key perspectives on the marketing environment, namely the macro-environment, the micro-environment and the internal environment. The micro-environment This environment influences the Boots directly. It includes suppliers that deal directly or indirectly, consumers and customers, and other local stakeholders. Micro tends to suggest small, but this can be misleading. In this context, micro describes the relationship between firms and the driving forces that control this relationship. It is a more local relationship, and the firm may exercise a degree of influence. The macro-environment This includes all factors that can influence and Boots, but that are out of their direct control. A company does not generally influence any laws (although it is accepted that they could lobby or be part of a trade Boots). It is continuously changing, and the company needs to be flexible to adapt. There may be aggressive competition and rivalry in a market. Globalization means that there is always the threat of substitute products and new entrants. The wider environment is also ever changing, and the marketer needs to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology. The internal environment. All factors that are internal to the Boots are known as the internal environment. They are generally audited by applying the Five Ms which are  Men,  Money,  Machinery,  Materials and  Markets. The internal environment is as important for managing change as the external. As marketers we call the process of managing internal change internal. Essentially we use marketing approaches to aid communication and change management. The external environment can be audited in more detail using other approaches such as  PESTLE Analysis, Michael Porters  Five Forces Analysis  or  SWOT Analysis. Pestle analysis: There are many factors in the macro-environment that will affect the decisions of the managers of any Boots. Tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes are all examples of macro change. To help analyse these factors managers can categorise them using the PESTEL model. This classification distinguishes between: Political Factors Political factor includes government policy, wars and conflicts, legal issues, some employment laws, revenue policy, environmental laws, trade policy, current legislation, future legislation, international legislation, governments stability, international trading policy, are the political factors that affect Boots. Economic Factors Economic factors includes economic crisis in country, employment problems, exchange rate, condition of stock market, change in international trade policy, fluctuation in tax, inflation rate, growth in economic are the economic factors that affect the Boots. Social Factors Social factors includes literacy rate, minimum wages, change in lifestyle, living condition and standards, demographic changes, population changes, occupation of people, earning capacity, consumers attitude, ethical problems, marketing and publicity pattern, religion issues are the social factors that affects the Boots. Generation gap between young employees and old age employees to fulfill both requirement and satisfied both according to their thinking strategy are work as a medicine. Dominant religion if they are religious, they will not work on the day they are worshipping like the Sabbath for Christians. Some religions favours certain animals such as in Hinduism, the cow is sacred; if cows were used in testing the chemicals or Boots sell anything that has beef in it, Hindus will probably not work there. Attitudes towards foreign products and services they dont like stuff for foreign companies; they are not likely to attract people who dont like foreign products. If people think foreign stuff are cheap and it compromises the quality of the product, their self-image may be an issue. Green issues If Boots were to do all sort of environmental harm, environmentalists will not work for them. Likewise, if environmentalists found out that Boots does recycling and is dedicated to planting a hectare of trees each month out of its own pockets, it will attract more environmentalists to work for them. Animal testing if Boots products were animal tested, protesters will not work for them, let alone any animal lover. Roles of men and women if there is any sexism in the company, women are likely to leave. If there are only a selected set of roles that each sex can apply for (e.g. facial cream sales rep, beauty treatment), then that would restrict the number of applicants and workers Boots will get. Health consciousness if people are health conscious, they can use their knowledge to promote products Boots has. On the other hand, if the applicant wasnt health conscious , he/she will not really guarantee a job as a sales assistant in any section to do with health products. If people have a choice of jobs with equal pay anywhere and they were not all that health conscious, then they are not likely to be applying for jobs at Boots. Technological Factors Technological factors includes arrival of new technology, quick acceptance of new technology, competing technology development, Information technology, intellectual technology issue, communication, replacement of technology, maintenance of machines, outsourcing of technology, Research and development activity, Customer relationship management are the technological factors that affects the Boots. Environmental Factors Boots has to take care of Staff, they have to increase morale of staff periodically by giving satisfying them. This could be satisfy by hierarchies needs. Boots has to concerns about staff engagement. Enjoyment between staff is necessary to increased productivity and quality of product. Boots has to conduct workshops for employees to increase product awareness, customers service lessons, and all other aspects which can help Boots. Boots culture is most importing aspects which can helps them to be a success in international market. Boots has also take care of pollution which may be created from Boots products or services or both. They has to more concern about recycling of products which can help to boost international image. They has to help government and consumers towards environment by giving service in environmental activities. Legal Factors Legal factors are important for a company who is going to internationally. Boots has to take in mind that what is happening in our sector that will impact what we do, they also have take care of minimum wages, working conditions as per local government rules. Governments is most important in legal factors. Boots have to take care of food items, Industrial training and take care of local child labour laws. The below legal factors affects boots and which will be Legislation in areas such as employment, competition and health safety, future legislation changes, changes in government law, trading policies and Regulatory bodies Pest analysis gives brief knowledge about key factors which is affect the Boots and Stakeholder to fulfil their needs .PEST analysis looks at the external  business environment  and is an appropriate strategic tool for understanding the big picture of the environment in which business operates, enabling the company to take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the threats faced by their business activities. When  strategic planning  is done correctly, it provides a solid plan for a  company  to grow into the future. With a PEST analysis, the company can see a longer horizon of time, and be able to clarify strategic opportunities and threats that the Boots faces. By looking to the outside environment to see the potential forces of change looming on the horizon, firms can take the  strategic planning  process out of the arena of today and into the horizon of tomorrow. PEST is not a set of rigid compartments into which ideas need to be sorted. It is better thought of as a set of hooks that can be used to fish for important facts. Once the factors have been fished out, it does not matter which hook they were attached to. When it comes to writing up the analysis, there is no need to mention the PEST labels at all. Porters Five Forces for Competitive Position Porters five forces is strategy for competitors, deals with issue regarding the suppliers, Rivalry, threat about their competitors, substitutes, and threats of new market entrants are the porters five forces. Power of Suppliers: It includes concentration of supplier on business, importance of volume to supplier, separation of inputs, and impact of inputs on cost, Threat of future assimilation, cost relative to total purchase in industry, switched cost of Boots. Power of Buyer: It includes bargaining leverages, volume of buyers, detail information of buyer, identity of buyer, and sensitivity of price, incentives of buyer, threat related to past integration, differentiation of products. Entry barriers: Both new and existing competitors feels threat. It includes absolute cost advantages, access of inputs, Economic scale, capital requirement, and identity of brands, governments binding policy, and access of distribution channel. Threat regarding substitutes: Buyers tendency to substitutes, price performance of substitutes, switching cost of buyers, buyers opinion regarding the product and its separation and amount of substitutes product available in market. Rivalry: It defines when some organization competes with each other in same business for same thing. It is important to make strategy to deals with competition in same business environment. It determines attractiveness of Boots. Swot Analysis: Environmental scanning includes internal analysis of the Boots and external macro environment and task environment. Internal analysis and external analysis of Boots is known as a SWOT analysis. This analysis gives brief knowledge about auditing of Boots and details of products. SWOT Analysis is the base of making strategy and to manage risks regarding to the products. It is very important to understand general techniques and functions of managements. .SWOT analysis makes suitable environment for identifying and analysing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threat. It also gives clear vision regarding situation and making suitable strategies and business formulas. There are following stages of SWOT analysis. Strengths Appropriate Environment, strong brand name, Strong background, good reputation, strong distribution channels, good quality natural resources, exclusive rights of products are the strengths of business Boots. Boots turnover and current sales are marginal to enters global market. Boots have clear objectives which can help to understand the global market easily. Boots is successful manufacturer of health and safety products. There customers are loyal to the brand which can helps to enter global market. Weakness Boots failed to attempts to diversified in Halfords. Saturated global market is also important factor for boots in this segment. Boots is also failed to expand their business in European market. Weak background, inappropriate environment, inferiority raw material, lack of natural resources, lack of manpower, unreliable product and services ,lack of finance, weak brand name, poor reputation, lack of distribution network are the weaknesses of business Boots. At present situation of credit crunch, their operating profit is falling. Boots market strategy failed to target socio-economic groups . Opportunity Boots has opportunity by some success with implant in south east Asia. There is a possibility of  £100 million savings if they merger with Alliance Unichem. Women are the key customers of this kind business and at present that 11 million people have an advantage card, but only 9% being male. Now a days internet selling is important and Internet sales becoming popular. They have an opportunity to expand their business in ethical market. Male healthcare and beauty products are also opportunity for boots. Increasing production when low revenue cost, increasing production when inflation rate is low, quick acceptance of latest technologies, take benefits of international trade policy, investments which is favourable for Boots are the opportunities of Boots. Threat Tesco and other supermarkets are threats after deregulation of Boots. Competitors sales of product through the internet is remarkably high as compared to Boots. Competitors, less interest of customers in product, fluctuations of price between competitors, changes in government policy like tax, revenue and inflation rate, Demographic changes in target market, changes in population age are the threats of Boots. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Boots could expand their business overseas. Because it has had failures but can benefit from this experience. Boots could look for further mergers to give it access to more markets either in the UK or abroad. Unichem does have pharmacies and hospitals abroad. Boots could continue with the idea of implants. Boots could continue with its core activity of developing new products in healthcare. It has a great deal of expertise in research and development and an understanding of the market. The male market is under-developed and needs to be expanded. The Advantage Card is not used by male customers. I would recommend that Boots concentrate on its core business for a number of reasons which are Boots should not diversify because it has failed in markets, Boots has only recently merged with UniChem. If this proves to be successful it should merge with other companies as this increases market share and lowers cost, The UK market is saturated, Boots should expand its internet sales worldwide. Boots should re-design it marketing strategy toward young male customers. This would expand its core business. The Advantage Card needs to be launched to male customers to improve the core business.

Effectiveness of Play Based Learning on Thinking Skills

Effectiveness of Play Based Learning on Thinking Skills The effectiveness of play-based learning in developing thinking skills in young children. There is wide-held support for the thesis that a play-based curriculum will directly enhance cognition in young children. The effectiveness of play-based learning is founded on the pedagogical applications of the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. Both theorists wrote about the importance of play in the world of children and recent research in the area builds upon their ideas to confirm that play has a significant role in the development of cognitive skills in young children. In this essay, I will explore how play-based learning is linked to the development of thinking skills in young children, especially when the processes involved in play are made explicit, so that children, while enjoying the experience of play also explicitly recognise the mechanics of play, understand the role of play in their learning and anticipate the outcomes that will be achieved. I will consider both theoretical and practical levels and conclude that the benefits of play are so vital that children need to be given an abundance of opportunities to experience learning through play, because play directly affects their capacity for cognition, metacognition and problem solving, skills which are fundamental to their longer-term academic and social achievements. In a detailed synthesis of the recent research on the relationship between play and cognition, Bergen (2002) lists how such studies link play to young childrens mathematical reasoning, cognitive strategies, linguistic ability, problem-solving skills and mental representation ability. However, despite the positive literature on the importance of play in the learning experiences of children, there still exists an underlying bias – both parental and pedagogical – that sees play as a â€Å"trivial,† â€Å"purposeless† and â€Å"aimless† activity or a â€Å"jumbo category† that includes all sorts of activities, some of which are â€Å"conducive to learning† and others which are not (Wood and Attfield, 2005, p. 2). It is pertinent then to ask the same question that Moyles (2005, p. 2) asks: â€Å"Can play be equated with anything that is worthwhile in the twenty-first-century world?† A play-based curriculum includes play as a pedagogical tool. This is based on the understanding that the characteristics of play are always present in the world of the child (Piaget, 1999) and it is through play that children naturally learn about the world. Play involves a wide variety of activities and behaviours that take place in different meaningful contexts. Adults, however, according to Piaget (1999), tend to distinguish between â€Å"serious endeavour† and â€Å"play† and see a childs play as a â€Å"world of irresponsibility, in which unreality reigns supreme† (p. 366). The very nature of play might indeed be founded on behaviour that is seemingly spontaneous and idiosyncratic, but these characteristics are often mirrored in young childrens thinking patterns. Wood and Attfield (2005, p. 87) clarify that while young childrens thinking exhibits elements of disorganisation and inconsistency, there are actually very consistent patterns being developed in pla y which later integrate into a childs accumulated body of knowledge and experience. This occurs successfully when children are encouraged to become consciously aware of the processes at play in their play-based learning activities. It is when play is made explicit – that is, when it is understood at the metacognitive level – that it becomes an especially effective tool in developing thinking skills in young children (p. 87). Thinking skills are a group of skills that govern how new knowledge is learned. Clarke (2008, p. 1) defines thinking as a â€Å"complex process that involves a variety of skills that are often used together when confronted with a new and interesting situation.† Thinking skills also require â€Å"knowing about thinking.† This is metacognition. Metacognitive abilities include planning how to approach a learning task or problem, evaluating a specific learning process or approach to problem-solving, and being motivated to do this (Clarke, 2008). The development of thinking skills in young children requires that children be given opportunities to think â€Å"for themselves† and apply the knowledge they have acquired in one learning situation to another situation. Thinking skills are also often called â€Å"critical thinking† or â€Å"creative thinking† because of the assumed ability of a learner to reason, evaluate, solve and process, while being aware o f executing these skills. Clarke (2008) stresses that children need opportunities for questioning and answering in a â€Å"variety of contexts† and â€Å"play situations.† In these situations, adults should serve as guides to model the skills required for developing cognition and metacognition. Children develop thinking skills through their interactions with adults as well as with other children and through â€Å"their explorations and use of mind-engaging materials† (Puckett and Diffily, 2004, p. 36). Play is effective in developing thinking skills because different play situations offer cognitive challenges, provide opportunities for young children to form new connections between ideas and concepts, and consolidate cognitive competence by incorporating â€Å"practice, rehearsal, repetition, mastery and extension† (Wood and Attfield, 2005, p. 88). Moreover, cognitive development in young children is linked to their ability to acquire the skills that Vygotksy called â€Å"symbolic representation† (Whitebread and Jameson, 2005, p. 65), which are linked to abstract thought, the type of cognitive competence developed in later years. Young children between the ages of two and seven are in, what Piaget calls, the â€Å"pre-operational† period of cognitive development, a period characterised by the â€Å"acquisition of representational skills: mental imagery, language, and drawing† (Puckett and Diffily, 2004, p. 105). During this phase in their cognitive development, children use words, concepts, images, signs and symbols. A play-based curriculum can effectively foster the acquisition of such skills. Even a game of tag can offer opportunities for the development of thinking skills (Little, 1998) if the teacher makes explicit the mechanics of the game. For example, the physical education activity of â€Å"chasing and tagging† becomes an opportunity for thinking as well as â€Å"having fun.† Thinking skills are developed when students discuss the rules and objectives of the game with the teacher in the guiding role. For example, the teacher might ask about the strategies students used in tagging, seek ideas on how it is best to play the game, question how well students understood directions, and encourage students to consider novel ways for playing the game. Similarly, playing with play dough in the classroom can become an opportunity for developing thinking skills (Dimech and Pace, 2005) when the teacher introduces the concept and symbol of CAF (Consider All Facts.) Students are offered the opportunity to develop thinking skills when asked leading questions by the teacher, for example, â€Å"Where are we going to play?† â€Å"What should we do so as not to dirty the tables?† and â€Å"What should we do when we have finished playing?† (p. 5). Hereford and Schall (1998) also consider how guiding children through â€Å"dramatic play† can help develop creative thinking and problem-solving skills. For example, playing a â€Å"trip to the moon† could begin with guided questions that identify a problem (the need for helmets), brainstorm solutions (what can be used) and choose and evaluate a solution. Here the teacher supports the choices of the students even when impractical or illogical (p. 22). These activi ties encourage students to think for themselves and to understand the mechanics of their playing and thinking activities at a metacognitive level. In both theory and practice then, the evidence supporting a direct link between the effectiveness of play-based learning in developing thinking skills in young children is significant. The development of thinking skills thrives best when young children experience learning in a variety of complex contexts. A play-based curriculum offers the ideal multidimensional context in which young children are able to develop cognitive competence and metacognitive strategies. Young children should therefore be given ample opportunities to experience play, because play can indeed be equated with something â€Å"worthwhile.† References Bergen, B., 2002. The Role of Pretend Play in Childrens Cognitive Development. [online] In Early Childhood Research Practice, Vol. 4 No. 1. Available from: http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/bergen.html [Accessed: 21 November 2008]. Clarke, J., 2008. What are thinking skills, and how can they be nurtured in young children? [online] In Teaching Expertise. Available from: http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/fostering-young-childrens-thinking-skills-3193 [Accessed: 21 November 2008]. Dimech, N., and Pace, D., 2005. Thinking Skills Lesson Plans for Kindergarten [online] Skola, Available from: http://schoolnet.gov.mt/tsearly/LESSONPLANS/lessonplansforkindergarten.PDF [Accessed: 21 November 2008]. Hereford, N.J., and Schall, J., 1998. Learning Through Play: A Practical Guide for Teaching Young Children. New York, NY: Teaching Resources/Scholastic. Little, N., 1998. Sharks and Barracudas: Chasing and Tagging Activity: An Educators Reference Desk Lesson Plan [online] The Educators Reference Desk. Available from: http://eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Physical_Education/Games/GAM0005.html [Accessed: 21 November 2008]. Moyles, J.R., ed., 2005. Excellence of Play. Berkshire: Open University Press. Piaget, J., and Inhelder, B., 1999a. The Growth of Logical Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence: : Classification and Seriation. London: Routledge. Puckett, M.B., and Diffily, D., 2004. Teaching Young Children. Clifton Park, NY: Cengage Learning. Whitebread, D., and Jameson, H., Play, Storytelling and Creative Writing, p. 59-71. In Moyles, J.R., ed., 2005. Excellence of Play. Berkshire: Open University Press. Wood, E., and Attfield, J., 2005. Play, Learning and the Early Childhood Curriculum. California: SAGE Publications Inc. 5/ 5