Joseph Campbell The Power of Myth - 1469 Words

Madison Beecher Mr. Ritchey Literature and Composition 21 February 2013 Harkness Questions: The Power of Myth Chapters 1-3 1. Myth reveals spiritual truth about the world. Why read myths? You need myths to find your truth. You have elaborate myths to compare to everyday experiences and to other myths. â€Å"Myths give a meaning to life (Campbell, 5). Mythology is a collection of stories based on one’s knowledge and stories of experience. Myths are clues to life meaning. They are clues to â€Å"spiritual potentialities† or your potential to develop spiritually and finding your inner self. For example, marriage creates a transformation in us spiritually because it transforms our perspective of ourselves and our ability to sacrifice. 2. Do people†¦show more content†¦These records reflect mythical reality. The same concept of nothing, paradise, and distance from the creator. Cultures like Christianity, Bassari tribes of West Africa, and the Pima Indians. 3. What is a metaphor and how does it operate in religion? How does metaphor assist one with the â€Å"journey inward†? A metaphor is a comparison that suggests something else. In religion, Campbell says that the metaphors used are not literal. It was a metaphor and in his definition metaphors are not to be taken literally. Myths are written in a way to be discovered and unknown so it is able to awaken your inner self. It is deeper that what most people have been interpreting it as. People may believe that Campbell was undermining Christianity when he said Jesus never really ascended into heaven when in fact he was just cracking the code. It was a metaphor. Society’s problem is that we don’t use connotation to interpret metaphors and myths, but use denotation. 4. How do myths help us to connect to the spiritual world? Myths and religion share the same qualities. Myths help connect to the spiritual world. â€Å"The myth is for spiritual instruction† (Campbell, 59). Myths help us relate to other spiritual references. Campbell uses the example of reincarnation and how it ties into other concepts of religion also, â€Å"†¦.dimensions of your being and a potential for realization and consciousness that are not included with the concept of yourself.† (Campbell,70). In religion, you come out a newShow MoreRelatedThe Power Of Myth By Joseph Campbell1500 Words   |  6 Pageswhich then have their own distinct characteristics. Joseph Campbell was a celebrated American scholar who studied mythology, having popularized the idea of the hero’s journey. The Power of Myth is a book based on the six-episode documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth, in which Campbell and interviewer Bill Moyers examine the human world. Both discuss Campbell’s thoughts about mythology, and ultimately culture. Campbell’s The Power of Myth introduces important ideas that don’t completely agreeRead MorePower Of Myth : Joseph Campbell Calls The Movie Theater1255 Words   |  6 PagesIn Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell calls the movie theater â€Å"a special temple where the hero has moved into the sphere of being mythologized† (Campbell). Watching the movie Baraka, the audience can connect to Campbell’s description of the didactic nature of movies. According to its co-director Fricke, Baraka was intended to be a journey of rediscovery that plunges into nature, into history, into the human spirit and finally into the realm of the infinite (Fricke). It is a visualization of theRead MoreMy Hero: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay542 Words   |  3 Pagesgreat courage or strength of character. (Encarta, 2009) Joseph Campbell has come up with eight of his own characteristics of a hero. Joseph Campbell is known as a scholar of mythology. There a re several people in our times that are considered a hero. Whether, these heroes are fictional or nonfiction, they all portray some kind of heroic abilities. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one the most heroic figures of our time. According to Joseph Campbells characteristics Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.Read MoreTransformation in Flying with the Eagle, Racing the Great Bear928 Words   |  4 PagesThe Great Bear, a popular myth embedded within is called Racing The Great Bear. In this story there was a man named Swift Runner who was looked down upon in his village but he felt he was better then how he was viewed. Through several different processes he went through many life-endangering elements to physically and emotionally mature. Myths are traditions of stories that are interpreted many ways. Some myths are used to make sense of the world or anemology. Some myths tell a story of sociologicalRead MorePostmodern Perspectives On Religion Often Favor A Non Theistic Approach Regarding Traditional Abrahamic Religions1626 Words   |  7 Pagesgain from recognizing the eternal Thou. In the fifth set of quotes, Joseph Campbell in â€Å"The Power of Myth† makes a straightforward assertion: myths, taken metaphorically, are true and provide insight into â€Å"human and cosmic mysteries.† John Caputo in On Religion then expands on Campbell’s ideology, remarking that there is no reason why â€Å"many different religious narratives cannot all be true.† Campbell insists that certain myths may be false to one individual, while true for another-- the significanceRead MoreA Comparative Study of Mythology Essay2508 Words   |  11 Pagesvents of the world and attempt to provide answers for unanswerable questions. Though every mythology appears different, if one looks close enough, commonalities appear. Joseph Campbell spent his life studying mythologies and religions along with compiling the commonalities amongst them. This study on the works of Joseph Campbell focuses on the following areas: I. Reasons for the commonalities amongst mythologies II. Carl Yung’s Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, and their relation to mythology Read MoreThe Epic Of The Ramayana1270 Words   |  6 PagesChauntise McIntosh Prof. Warren Hum T/Th 1130/1245 INTRO/THESIS The Ramayana is an excellent example of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, who expresses that it â€Å"marks the physical, mental, and spiritual changes that young women and men undergo as they grow and develop to fill a variety of roles in society† (Whomsley 186) based on cultural dogmas. During this journey of maturation, an in individual must act in accordance with dharma to attain enlightenment. Dharma is the glue, which upholds the universeRead MoreThe way of the peaceful warrior Essay1657 Words   |  7 Pages   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Joseph Campbell, a well know mythologist states in â€Å"the Power of Myth† that â€Å"a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something greater than oneself† (Campbell 151). Campbell also indicates that there are two types of hero deeds. One type is a physical deed, â€Å"in which the hero performs a courageous act in battle or saves a life† (Campbell 151). The second is a spiritual deed, â€Å"in which the hero learns to experience the supernatural range of human spiritual life and then comesRead MoreEssay on Lais of Marie de France1046 Words   |  5 PagesKnights of Old and Harry Potter October 7, 2012 Love and Marie de France According to American mythologist, Joseph Campbell, â€Å"The greatest love was during the Medieval Ages, when noble hearts produced a romantic love that transcended lust† (Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers [2001]). The Lais of Marie de France are primarily concerned with this idea of love--specifically, courtly love--between a man and a woman. Courtly love, a union modeled after the feudal relationshipRead MoreEssay about Exposition of Mythology846 Words   |  4 Pageshave been studying this deep and complex issue and have come to the conclusion that without myths history would not be the same. In this paper I will discuss what myths are and how scholars have broken them down. Scholars such as Joseph Campbell go into great detail to explain mythology and how it effects the human life. First you must determine what a myth is? Websters New Riverside Dictionary defines a myth as, A traditional story originating in a preliterate society, dealing with supernatural

Exam 2 Operations Management - 2658 Words

Exam 2 1. award: 0 out of 10 points The objective of strategic capacity planning is to provide an approach for determining the overall capacity level of labor-intensive resources. | False | 2. award: 10 out of 10 points Best operating level is the volume of output at which average unit cost is minimized. | True | 4. award: 10 out of 10 points Overtime and personnel transfers are solutions to capacity problems in the intermediate term. | False | 5. award: 10 out of 10 points Capacity flexibility means having the ability to rapidly increase or decrease production levels, or to shift production capacity quickly from one product or service to another. | True |†¦show more content†¦The assembly line needs to produce 6 units per hour and there is room for only four workstations. The tasks and the order in which they must be performed are shown in the following table. Tasks cannot be split, and it would be too expensive to duplicate any task. | TASK | TASK TIME (MINUTES) | IMMEDIATE PREDECESSOR | A | 2 | — | B | 3 | — | C | 8 | — | D | 5 | A-B-C | E | 5 | C | F | 2 | E | G | 4 | E | | Required: | (a) | What is the workstation cycle time? | Cycle time | minutes per unit | (b) | Balance the line using the largest number of following tasks, so that only four workstations are required. Use the longest task time as a secondary criterion. (Leave no cells blank - be certain to enter 0 wherever required. Round your answers to 1 decimal place.) | Work station | Task | Idle time | I | C-A | | II | E-B | | III | D-G | | IV | F | | | (c) | What is the efficiency of your line balance? (Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the % sign in your response.) | Efficiency | % | Explanation: (a): C = production time per day/required output per day | = 60 minutes per hour/6Show MoreRelatedSP15 SCM 305 Syllabus1256 Words   |  6 Pages1:00-2:15, Tuesday/Thursday Instructor: Joe Walden E-mail: joewalden@ku.edu Office: 118i Summerfield Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday: 9:00-11:30 PM; Monday/Wednesday 8:00-10:30; Or by appointment TAs: Jamie Mack Pamela Carper Deepa Anant Jill Carroll Angie Kim Course Description: This course is an introduction to decision making encountered in business and everyday life. 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Course Description This capstone course in Strategic Management aims to equip you with the knowledge and analytical tools essential to comprehend and analyze how firms formulate and implement strategies. In doing so, you will learn how leaders of successful organizations make decisions and strategically maneuverRead MoreFmc Course Netherland1093 Words   |  5 PagesFinancial Management Control – IM07CC CEMS Dr. Marcel van Rinsum Associate Professor RSM Erasmus University Department Accounting Control mrinsum@rsm.nl Introduction Financial Management Control Systems (FMCS) form the bridge between the organization’s strategy and its operations. Their purpose is to align managerial behaviour and decision making with organizational goals. Although management controls are typically embedded in the organization’s financial management and accounting systems, their

Corporate Evaluation Analysis †Avon Products Free Essays

string(75) " is that they are familiar names that offer the necessities of daily life\." Table of Contents I. Company History†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. We will write a custom essay sample on Corporate Evaluation Analysis – Avon Products or any similar topic only for you Order Now Pg. 3 II. Recent News†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 5 III. Industry Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 8 IV. SWOT Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Pg. 15 V. Value Line Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 15 VI. Ratio Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 18 VII. Regression Descriptive Statistics – Growth Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 20 VIII. Growth Analysis, Estimates for Earnings Employed in DDM, DDM including Discount Rate, and Other Assessments of Risk†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Pg. 23 IX. Other Valuation Parameters†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 26 X. Rule #1†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Pg. 28 XI. Conclusions/Final Stock Judgment†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 31 XII. References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Pg. 33 XIII. Appendix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Pg. 35 I. Company History In general, Avon Products, Inc. is a U. S. cosmetics, perfume, jewelry, skin care, personal care and children’s products seller with markets in over 140 countries across the world and sales of $9. 9 billion worldwide. Avon Founder David H. McConnell offered women a rarity in 19th century America: a chance at financial independence. In 1886, it was practically unheard of for a woman to run her own business. Only about 5 million women in the United States were working outside the home, let alone climbing the ranks of any corporate ladder. That number accounted for just 20% of all women (Avon. com). The man behind the company for women was the son of Irish immigrants and grew up on a farm. Yet, it was this young man from rural New York, a visionary leader decades ahead of his time, who would become a pioneer in empowering women. McConnell, a bookseller-turned-perfume entrepreneur, would offer women the opportunity to create and manage their own businesses through what later became known as direct selling. David H. McConnell sold books door-to-door and gave out perfume to entice women to buy his books. His perfume proved to be much more popular than his books, so he then founded the California Perfume Company (CPC) in New York, New York. Mrs. P. F. E Albee, a 50-year old wife and mother of two, became the California Perfume Company’s first Representative. The legendary Mrs. Albee is still considered a role model for Avon Representatives today and is credited with creating the company’s system for distributing products. The California Perfume Company was incorporated on January 28, 1916 by David H. McConnell and Alexander D. Henderson (businessman) in Suffern, New York. By 1918, five million units were sold in North America, and by 1928, sales reached $2 million. In October 1939, the name was changed to Avon Products, Inc; McConnell had visited Stratford-Upon-Avon (UK) and had liked the town so much, that he renamed his company after it. The company was taken public in 1946 with OTC stock. By 1954, sales reached $55 million, and the â€Å"Avon Calling† advertising campaign was introduced, making it one of the largest and most successful advertising campaigns in history (Avon. com). In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Avon was one of Wall Street’s favorite â€Å"Nifty Fifty† stocks, a group of well-regarded, â€Å"buy and hold† blue chips that also included Xerox, Disney, and McDonald’s. These stocks helped drive the bull market of the early 1970s in the U. S. , with Avon’s stock soaring to $140. The Nifty Fifty bubble later bursts, sending U. S. stocks plunging. Avon was listed on the NYSE as AVP in 1964. By 1979, sales reached $3 billion, with one million direct sales agents. Today sales exceed $10 billion worldwide. In June 1989, Avon became the first major cosmetic company to announce a permanent end to animal testing on all Avon-manufactured products. Avon does not conduct animal testing on any of its products or raw ingredients and does not require that suppliers of raw ingredients and finished products produced for Avon conduct animal testing on our behalf. In addition to its corporate pursuits, the Avon corporation is involved in philanthropic causes. The Avon Foundation for Women, an accredited 501(c)(3) public charity, is the largest corporate-affiliated philanthropy for women in the world. Avon has been committed to helping women achieve their highest potential of economic opportunity and self-fulfillment by empowering them through scholarships and support for other forms of educational and occupational training and advancement. The Avon Foundation is currently focused on two key causes: breast cancer and domestic violence. Through 2009, Avon global philanthropy raised and donated more than $725 million worldwide for causes most important to women. Since 1992 in more than 50 countries around the globe, millions of dedicated Avon Representatives have sold special Avon cause products, raising almost $150 million to end breast cancer and domestic violence and to help in times of global emergencies. In 1999, the first woman CEO was named: Andrea Jung. In 2003, â€Å"mark. â€Å", which is targeted to younger, college-aged women, was created to help the company reach out into markets it had not previously serviced. mark. as proven to be successful in reaching a new generation of recruits, primarily young women ages 18–25, with a monthly â€Å"magalog† featuring its products. In 2008, reality star Lauren Conrad became a spokesmodel for the brand. Conrad also designed clothing and accessories for the brand. In 2010, actress Ashley Greene would replace Conrad as the spokes model for the brand. T hroughout the first decade of the new millennium, Avon began operating in numerous new markets, with heavy expansion in Central and Eastern Europe and the Caribbean Islands. Avon is now in more than 100 markets and is coined to be â€Å"the company for women†. II. Recent News AVP has a market cap of $11. 43B, operating cash flow of $702M, and consistent quarterly dividends around $0. 22 per share, making AVP a leader in personal products globally (Investment Underground). Given AVP’s positioning in the personal products industry, Avon could be a prime takeover candidate for competitors such as The Estee Lauder Company (EL) or French conglomerate L’Oreal SA (LRLCY. PK) looking to expand their reach into the direct sales portion of the personal products market. Because AVP currently has one of the lowest operating margins in the sector (11. 0%), competitors such as EL could view AVP as an attractive investment in hopes of increasing profitability. In turbulent times, people turn inward. The argument for large cap consumer staple companies is that they are familiar names that offer the necessities of daily life. You read "Corporate Evaluation Analysis – Avon Products" in category "Papers" Barron’s Magazine presents a list of ten companies that fit this argument. The underlying thesis is that these ten companies offer cash flow, dividends and predictable growth. This list includes: Avon Products (AVP), Campbell Soup (CPB), Clorox (CLX), Coca Cola Enterprises (CCE), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), General Mills (GIS), Kellogg (K), Molson Coors Brewing (TAP), PepsiCo (PEP), and Proctor Gamble (PG). Are these companies really good investments for today? |Ticker |Company |Recent |Price Chg. |Dividend |EV/EBITDA |EV/SALES | | | |Price |52W |Yield | | | |AVP |Avon Products, Inc. |26. 59 |-19. 00 |3. 50 |15. 03 |1. 31 | |CPB |Campbell Soup Company |33. 50 |-4. 00 |3. 50 |13. 01 |1. 9 | |CLX |Clorox Company, The |68. 81 |7. 00 |3. 20 |17. 46 |2. 39 | |CCE |Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. |25. 81 |-5. 00 |1. 90 |16. 15 |1. 79 | |CL |Colgate-Palmolive Company |76. 95 |-9. 00 |3. 00 |12. 23 |2. 70 | |GIS |General Mills, Inc. |36. 65 |0. 00 |3. 10 |14. 90 |2. 24 | |K |Kellogg Company |54. 17 |3. 00 |3. 00 |15. 49 |2. 18 | |TAP |Molson Coors Brewing Company |43. 5 |0. 00 |2. 60 |12. 87 |3. 20 | |PEP |PepsiCo, Inc. |63. 24 |-5. 00 |3. 00 |15. 58 |2. 25 | |PG |Procter Gamble Company, The |60. 60 |-5. 00 |3. 20 |15. 05 |2. 78 | The first item that can be noticed from the above chart is that the se companies underperformed the S 500 significantly during the past twelve months (Sommer). This lag is not indicative of a turning point. The poor performance reflects high unemployment and consumer uncertainty. The consumer is being more selective in its discretionary spending and seeking alternate, cheaper products. The market seems to reflect this understanding. The high dividend yields provide a measure of support to these stock prices but they also reflect the lack of price appreciation. | Ticker |Company |EPS TTM |2011 EPS |2012 EPS |FCF TTM |Payout Ratio| | | | |(Est. ) |(Est. ) | | | |AVP |Avon Products, Inc. |2. 28 |2. 01 |2. 26 |-0. 03 |38. 0 | |CPB |Campbell Soup Company |2. 36 |2. 43 |2. 53 |1. 15 |47. 50 | |CLX |Clorox Company, The |5. 25 |3. 94 |4. 43 |2. 00 |41. 00 | |CCE |Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. |2. 05 |2. 04 |2. 26 |1. 44 |5. 90 | |CL |Colgate-Palmolive Company |4. 46 |5. 05 |5. 50 |2. 98 |45. 50 | |GIS |General Mills, Inc. |2. 51 |2. 48 |2. 68 |0. 60 |41. 80 | |K |Kellogg Company |5. 6 |3. 47 |3. 78 |-0. 17 |30. 20 | |TAP |Molson Coors Brewing Company |3. 81 |3. 78 |4. 04 |1. 98 |28. 30 | |PEP |PepsiCo, Inc. |3. 97 |4. 48 |4. 90 |3. 21 |47. 60 | |PG |Procter Gamble Comp any, The |3. 84 |3. 97 |4. 36 |3. 43 |49. 00 | Each of these companies reports solid earnings over that past twelve month period. Consensus analyst estimates for both the current year and next year are less impressive. We believe the estimates reflect expectations for continued weakness from stressed consumers† (Sommers). These companies are all overpriced and have no catalyst for change. The assumption that investors can find safety by identifying sectors or themes is a dangerous one. Avon recorded feeble operating performance in the fourth quarter of 2010. The company’s earnings per share plunged 13. 2% to $0. 59 from $0. 68 per share in the year-ago period. The decline was principally due to reduction in operating margin, which resulted from unfavorable product mix, rising commodity cost and a 27% sales decline in Venezuela (Zachs). Moreover, Avon ended fiscal 2010 with a long-term debt of $2,408. 6 million, reflecting a debt-to-capitalization ratio of 59%, which is substantially higher, and could negatively influence the company’s credit worthiness and make it more vulnerable to the macro-economic factors and competitive pressures. Additionally, the North American market continues to remain sluggish with volume falling 14. 0% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Moreover, the company’s initiatives to change the product mix and reposition the business in the U. S. arket will require significant expenditure to support increased advertising and promotional activities. This is likely to undermine Avon’s overall operating performance, moving forward. Besides, the company is expecting a mid single-digit revenue growth in fiscal 2011, which can be achieved through strong field programs coupled with an innovative. As well, call it luck; on November 08, 2010, Avon sold out its entire ownership interest (7 4. 67%) in Avon Japan to TPG Capital, otherwise the scenario could have been worse for the company due to the recent crisis in Japan product pipeline (Zachs). Pulling out of the Japanese market was part of the company’s 2010 decision to redouble its efforts in China. It announced the sale of its 75% stake in Avon Japan to private equity firm TPG for $90 million in late 2010. The move also was part of the beauty-products maker’s plan to refocus on direct sales. (The Japanese unit typically generated more than half its revenues through direct mail. ) III. Industry Analysis (Personal Products – Cosmetics Toiletries) Because of the wide arrange of products Avon offers, it is quite difficult to pin point one single industry. Thus, going by their primary selling products, Avon fits most accurately into the Personal Products and Cosmetics Toiletries industries. Companies that manufacture and/or market personal care products produce cosmetics, fragrances, and razors. The personal care products industry targets many faces – from chubby newborns to 40-something near-goddesses to those newly retired and dreaming of a beachfront condo. While companies in this sector would like to cater to everyone, the industry has found potential in both the Baby Boomers and their children — the teens and ‘tweens. Called Gen Y, Boomer’s teens offer an estimated $9 billion in purchasing power (Hoover’s). Leaving no demographic untouched, personal care products makers also are expanding their target markets across gender lines, marketing everything from cosmetics to hair care to men and teen boys, as well as women. With more US consumers reaching the age of 55 (33% by 2030), the industry has targeted this more-vain-than-not age segment and has logged revenue growth in skin care and hair coloring products throughout the past few years as a result. On the other end of the spectrum, the teen girl population age 12 to 19 grew from 14. 3 million in 1995 to 15. 2 million in the US in 2001 (Hoover’s). Industry beauty companies, such as Avon Products, are targeting this demographic with lifestyle brands the likes of Avon’s Mark. While women have historically been a target market — primarily because women are the likely shoppers — the buying power of males is not ignored by the personal care industry. In fact, the group’s buying power is eagerly sought after. Industry giants are tapping into the revenue potential of personal care products made specifically for men, illustrated by Procter Gamble’s acquisition of Gillette in October 2005 for some $57 billion (Hoover’s). Gillette represents more than razors. In the eyes of the industry, Gillette is the king of marketing to men. As the top marketer to women, Procter Gamble has counted on its purchase of Gillette to give it the keys to the castle and enable it to become the voice to men, as well. Men offer revenue potential beyond Gillette’s Mach3 and Colgate-Palmolive’s Mennen brand. A Newsweek magazine poll conducted in mid-2003 revealed that more than half of men age 35 to 55 are â€Å"somewhat† satisfied with their overall appearance. This percentage reflects an increase for this age segment since Newsweek’s last poll in 1996. Companies have begun educating men on the topics of sunscreen, lotions, nail care, hair color, and more. Along the way, the personal care industry has been piquing the interest of the male customer and introducing him to the profitable skin care market, as Estee Lauder has with its Aramis and Clinique brands and Beiersdorf has with its Daily Protective lotion (formerly NIVEA for Men). This trend still extends into 2008. Regardless of gender or age, customers access personal care products through a variety of venues, including grocery stores, drugstores, mass merchandisers, warehouse clubs, specialty retailers, and online e-tailers. Reports about personal care products sales for grocery stores and drugstores are usually prefaced with the phrase, â€Å"excluding Wal-Mart. † (Fidelity) This is a reminder that Wal-Mart Stores, as well as some warehouse clubs, present something of a wildcard to the industry. Outside the brick and mortar, personal care products makers have a polished business model for using direct-selling methods to reach target markets. Cosmetics companies have gained sales advantages — with little or no overhead — by letting their customers sample products at home parties. Direct sellers, such as Avon Products, Mary Kay, and Amway, have long relied on this concept. UK-based natural personal care retailer The Body Shop has tested the US waters by selling through independent consultants and continues to sell in the US after seeing positive results. No matter where a company in the personal care products industry identifies its untapped growth potential — be it in the teenage girls or mid-life males markets — a few of the same factors apply. Staying competitive means implementing innovation fueled by billions of dollars in RD and a strategy of quick-to-market products. Reaching far and reaching fast are significant parts of the battle. However, expanding as wide as the tentacles of Wal-Mart and maintaining brand recognition and loyalty in a sea of private labels may prove to be the ultimate challenges. Fidelity) [pic] Competitors: Avon faces competition from a variety of products and product lines both nationally and globally. The beauty and beauty-related products industry is extremely competitive and the number of competitors and degree of competition in this industry varies extensively from country to country. Globally, Avon competes against products sold to consumers by other direct-selling and direct-sales com panies and through the Internet and against products sold through the mass market and prestige retail channels. The major competitors of the company are L’Oreal SA (LRLCY. PK) and Revlon Inc. (NYSE: REV). Competition from mass merchandisers and specialty and department stores has spurred Avon to not only spend many millions on RD but set aside just as much — $100 million — to support the launch of a global ad campaign. Avon anticipates driving additional growth based on fragrances (Today, Tomorrow, Always) and skin care (Anew anti-aging) sales. To that end, it signed on award-winning singer Fergie to develop a signature fragrance, which was unveiled in 2010. Previous partnerships have involved French designer Emanuel Ungaro for two fragrances (U by Ungaro for Her and U by Ungaro for Him) and the New York Yankees’ Derek Jeter for â€Å"Driven† men’s fragrance and a personal grooming line of products. (Yahoo! Finance) [pic] Revlon (REV) is engaged in the production, marketing and selling of an array of cosmetics, hair color, beauty tools, anti-perspirants/deodorants, fragrances, skincare and other beauty care products. The company primarily operates in North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. It is headquartered in New York City, New York and employs 4,800 people. Revlon’s global brand name, product quality and marketing experience have enabled it to create one of the strongest consumer brand franchises in the world. Revlon’s brand equity among the consumers enabled the company to garner 12. 7% of the US mass retail color cosmetics market; 9. 7% of the hair color market; 4. 6% of the perspirants/deodorants market; and 21% of the beauty tools market, during 2009 (Revlon). Strong brand image of the company facilitates customer recall and allows Revlon to penetrate new markets as well as consolidate its presence in the existing ones. The company recorded revenues of $1,295. 9 million during the financial year ended December 2009 (FY2009), a decrease of 3. 8% as compared to 2008. The decline in revenues was driven by lower net sales of Revlon and Almay color cosmetics and some of the other beauty care products. The operating profit of the company was $170. 8 million in FY2009, an increase of 10. 2% over 2008. The net profit was $48. 8 million in FY2009, a decrease of 15. 7% as compared to 2008 (Revlon). L’Oreal (LRLCY. PK) is one of the largest cosmetic companies in the world. It produces and markets a range of make-up, perfume, hair and skin care products in over 130 countries. It is headquartered in Clichy, France and employs 64,600 people. Since its inception about 100 years ago, the company has developed a strong brand portfolio of 23 international brands. The company’s products are sold under well-known brands such as L’Oreal Paris, Garnier, Maybelline, SoftSheen Carson, CCB Paris, L’Oreal Professional, Kerastase, Redken, Matrix, Mizani, Lancome, Biotherm, Helena Rubinstein, Kiehl’s, Shu Uemura,and Giorgio Armani. These brands are available through a range of distribution channels ranging from mass market, to selective distribution including hair salons, pharmacies/drugstores and a network of directly owned stores and franchises. Strong brand portfolio lends better visibility and presence in all distribution channels and enables L’Oreal to reach a large customer base, thereby increasing its market penetration opportunities. L’Oreal operates through three business divisions: cosmetics, the Body Shop, and dermatology. The Body Shop division operates a chain of 2,550 stores in 63 countries worldwide specializing in skin and hair care products made from natural ingredients. The company recorded revenues of E17,472. 6 million ($24,367. 8 million) during the financial year ended December 2009 (FY2009), a decrease of 0. 4% compared with 2008. The operating profit of the company was E2,577. 6 million ($3,594. 8 million) in FY2009, a decrease of 5. 4% compared with 2008. The net profit was E1,792. 2 million ($2,499. 5 million) in FY2009, a decrease of 8% compared with 2008 (L’oreal). (Fidelity) [pic] IV. SWOT Strengths |Weaknesses | | | | |Diverse geographic presence enhances |Chinese operations marred with controversy | |scale of operations and mitigates local market risks |and poor performance | | | | |Low cost business model of direct selling |Lack of clear-focus and strategy for non-beauty products | | | | |Strong brand equity |Declining operating margins | |Opportunities |Threats | | | | |Restructuring initiatives for organizational Competitive environment in the global | |Effectiveness |cosmetics industry | | | | |Re-branding strategy to drive consumer |Company’s revenues tied to the | |Demand |performance of the sales representatives | | | | |Emerging markets enhances the scope of |A diversified global operation exposes Avon to currency fluctuation | |growth for the Avon’s value cosmetic |risks | |products | | V. Value Line Analysis On December 24, 2010, Jerome H. Kaplan, a Value Line analyst, points out that investors are not thrilled about Avon’s mediocre progress. The company’s stock price has declined in the last three months. Avon continues to struggle a bit in the U. S. and Chinese markets as is reflected in September-quarter earnings, as well as deteriorating growth in the vital markets of Brazil and Russia. Kaplan states, â€Å"Long-term emerging market-oriented investors should consider this untimely stock. Avon could be viewed as the equivalent of a diversified portfolio in fast-growing regions, such as Latin America, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. (Value Line) Improves margins, profits, and share price will most likely be a result of the growth of these markets by 2013-2015, in addition to savings of over one billion dollars by 2012-2013 from programs reducing Avon’s cost structure. When looking at the Value Line, we notice a Safety rating of 3. A Safet y rating is another way to measure the company’s risk or financial strength. It is measured from 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest and best rating indicating the company has a less likely chance of becoming bankrupt and are less volatile. In Avon’s case, a 3 may be interpreted as being unpredictable. If the score is lowered to a 4 or 5, the greater the short-term price movements the stock may experience. Safety ranks work better than Beta when there is a break in the market (when the market is going down). Arguably the most important investment recommendation found on Value Line is the Timeliness rating. The scale is also from 1 to 5 with again 1 being the most desirable rating which reflects the top 100 stocks within Value Line’s 1,700 stocks. Investors typically are encouraged to buy a portfolio of stocks across six or more industries with a ranking of 1 for Timeliness. After some time, investors are encouraged to keep an eye on this rating and when it falls to a 4 or 5 rating that stock should be sold, as is the case with Avon with a Timeliness rating of 4 (Money-Zine). With a financial strength of a B++, Avon is considered a company that would most likely survive a depression. This means the company has sufficient liquidity to payout their dividends or increase how much they give as dividends. When income is the primary consideration, a strong balance sheet provides greater assurance that a dividend can be maintained (Valueline). Proper financing ensures stockholders that operations can be expanded without having to disperse a portion of the earnings to bank or bondholders. The stock price stability (SPS) is the standard deviation of weekly stock prices over the last five years. It is ranked from 5 to 100 and in increments of 5. A ranking of 100 reflects the lowest standard deviation, which reflects the greatest stability attainable, while 5 indicated the largest standard deviation and the least stability. Price stability along with the company’s financial strength rating determines a stock’s Safety ranking. Avon has a price stability of 75 which puts them not too far from the top and would be considered to be on the lower side of good stability. The price growth persistency (PGP) of a stock is measured in the same format as the stock price stability. A stock that is 100 probably beat the index every year of the last 10 years. Avon’s PGP rating is 45, which is on the low side of average. This measurement rewards this fund for the consistency with which it outperforms the broader universe if equity offerings over an extended period of time. Earnings predictability for Avon is 65. This rating provides a measure of the reliability of an earnings forecast. Ratings with a 100 are noted as the â€Å"best fit† on the regression line, meaning they have a high consistency of earnings. Predictability is based upon the stability of year-to year comparisons, with recent years being weighted more heavily than earlier ones. Reliable forecasts are close to 100 and the least are close to lowest of 5. Being that Avon falls around the middle of these two extremes, it can be said that the company is somewhat reliable and other factors should be considered in conjunction. A stock’s beta is a measure of a particular stock’s price volatility and risk relative to a broader measure of stock price movements such as a market index (Money-Zine). Many stock beta calculations are performed relative to the S 500; however, the Value Line Beta calculation uses the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index. The most important fact to point out is that the beta measures a stock’s movement in price. If a stock has a beta of 1. 0 or above, which is the value of the market beta, it will experience more movement either up or down relative to the index. In comparison, a stock with a beta of less than 1. 0 is considered less risky and stable with smaller price fluctuations. According to Value Line, Avon has a beta of . 5 right under the market beta, which implies that this stock is not risky and will most likely not experience any drastic changes in its price. The Technical ranking of a stock is almost similar to that of its Timeliness ranking except f or the fact that the Technical ranking does not take into consideration earnings per share projections, only the opportunity for a stock’s price appreciation. With a Technical ranking of 2, Avon, according to Value Line, should be purchased since this rating indicates Avon has short-term capital gains, in the three to six month timeframe (Money-Zine). The plowback method is sometimes used to calculate a company’s earnings after dividends have been paid out. A high rate indicates that a company pays less in dividends and thus reinvests more of its earnings into the company. Investors tend to prefer a lower plowback ratio in a slow-growing company and a higher one in a fast-growing company. Whether or not this is desirable depends on the rate of growth. The plowback rate is calculated using the following formula: ROE x (1 – Payout Ratio (Dividends per share/Earnings per share)). Plugging in the Value Line figures for Avon the result is, . 492 x (1 – (. 84/1. 45)) = . 207 = 20. 7%. To calculate Avon’s free cash flow we need the following = per share earnings + cash flow from operations – required dividends – capital spending. Thus, 1. 45 + . 44 – . 84 – . 69 = $0. 36. VI. Ratio Analysis Profitability |12/31/2010 | |12/31/2009 | |12/31/2008 | |12/31/2007 | |Ratios | | | | | | | | |2006 |5. 5 |   |1. 75 |   |6. 26 |   |60. 28 | |2007 |5. 4 | |1. 81 | |7. 23 | |70. 67 | |2008 |8. 3 |   |1. 81 |   |8. 38 |   |125. 92 | |2009 |6. 1 | |1. 61 | |6. 4 | |64. 27 | |2010 |5. 9 |   |1. 48 |   |4. 74 |   |41. 4 | According to this DuPont Analysis for Avon, all three sectors show inconsistencies and overall fluctuations up and down. In 2008, the company is at its highest level but dramatically goes down in all sectors the year following and continues to decline. Overall, efficiency in all sectors are not very stable. The company has had its off and on days throughout the years without any trend or consistency. Avon needs to control their operations and cost efficiency more closely. VII. Regression Descriptive Statistics – Growth Analysis Using the data figures for Avon provided through Value Line from 2002 to 2009, a descriptive analysis and linear regression were produced for SPS, Shares, EPS, CF, DIV, ROE, PE, BV, FCF, OM, RTC and NPM (Appendix). A more comprehensive analysis was done for EPS, FCF, PE, and ROE. Included in each financial variable analysis is the calculation of normalized data points for the 7th and 8th periods, which are years 2008 and 2009, respectively. Within this additional analysis the Current to Normalized (CNE) was also calculated, and each resulting figure was compared to the normal expected range of . 85 – 1. 15. In the last step of this additional analysis, growth rate and variability figures were also produced. *Please Note: the ROE figures for the years of 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2008 were noted as â€Å"NMF† on Value Line, thus the figures used in the analysis were calculated using the net income after tax from the income statement and the shareholder’s equity from the balance sheet. Looking at the summary of the results for these four financial variables in the chart given below, only the CNE of EPS, which is . 93 falls within the normal range of . 85 – 1. 15, which means that in the remaining three areas of FCF, PE, and ROE, Avon is operating below the expected and acceptable range. These below average results signify that the normalized points produced are not adequate enough to rely on to calculate appropriate growth rates. As can be seen also in the summary, there is a positive growth rate in both EPS and ROE, but negative in both FCF and PE. ROE may be at a significant high growth rate because of the out of norm results that were calculated for the years of 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2008 as mentioned above. In each of these particular years, shareholders equity was low in comparison to net income (negative in 2002) which resulted in abnormal figures Value Line did not wish to indicate. FCF has a negative growth rate since in 2005 it was at an unsustainable figure of 1. 07 and then drastically declined to . 34 the following year and even lower to . 25 in 2007. This drastic change coupled with another fluctuating high and low between 2008 and 2009 are factors for this negative growth rate. In relation, although not as drastic, for PE results more visibly decline in the last two periods of 2008 and 2009. |Avon Products, Inc Financial Variables Analysis | | | |EPS |ROE |FCF |PE | |Normalized 8th Period | |$1. 55 |$156. 38 |$0. 46 |$22. 18 | | | |   |   |   |   | |Normalized 7th Period | |$1. 51 |$121. 35 |$0. 52 |$22. 7 | | | |   |   |   |   | |Current to Normalized | |0. 93 |0. 31 |0. 79 |0. 84 | | | |   |   |   |   | |Growth Rate | |3. 09% |28. 87% |-12. 80% |-0. 88% | Another aspect of the descriptive and regression analysis that is important to point out are the R-squared and skewness. R-squared, also known as the coefficient of variation, is helpful in providing a measure of how well future outcomes are likely to be predicted by the model. The values for R-squared range from 0 to 1: the closer to 1 the results are, the better the â€Å"fit’ of the predicted values and the more realistic or reliable they are. R-squared can also be explained as the strength of the relationship between time and the variable. For all four financial variables, the R-squared figures range from . 01-. 25, which are indicative of weak relationships between time and each of these variables. None of the data points for these variables are strong measures of how well the regression line approximates the real data points. Skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of the probability distribution of a real-valued variable (Wikipedia. com). The results are usually either positive or negative, or in some instances undefined. A negative skew in characterized and having the mass distribution concentrated on the right of the figure or in most recent years and has relatively few low values. A positive skew has a mass distribution concentrated on the left o the figure or in earlier years and has relatively few high values. For both EPS and PE, the skewness is positive in contrast to ROE and FCF which are both negative. Growth for EPS and PE both took place in recent years while growth for ROE and FCF took place in earlier years. |Avon Products, Inc Financial Variables Analysis | | | |EPS |ROE |FCF |PE | |R-Squared | |0. 1041 |0. 2092 |0. 2527 |0. 101 | | | |   |   |   |   | |Skewness | |1. 0284 |-2. 5446 |-0. 3754 |0. 8432 | For the remaining financial variables, the same analysis was produced. Interestingly enough, the CNE for these variables fall within the normal expected range of . 85 – 1. 15, except for BV which is slightly over at 1. 18. These figures range from . 91 – 1. 04. The growth rates for DIV, CF, BV and SPS are positive, but are negative for Shares, OM, NPM and RTC. The negative growth rate of Shares means that the company is buying back their stock. For R-squared the only strong relationships between time and that variable were DIV at . 584, Shares at . 8963 and SPS at . 9632. The R-squares for BV and RTC are relatively moderate. Skewness for DIV, BV, OM and NPM are negative with growth occurring in earlier prior years and skewness for CF, Shares, SPS and RTC were positive with growth occurring in the latter years. |Avon Products, Inc Financial Variables Analysis | | | | | |EPS 2009 |1. 45 | | | | | |Growth Rate = |3. 9% | | | | | |Payout Ratio = |36% | | | | | |Discount Rate = |7. 10% | | | | |Avon Projections 2010-2019 | | |Period |Years |EPS |DIV |PV | |1 |2010 |1. 49 |0. 54 |$0. 50 | |2 |2011 |1. 54 |0. 55 |$0. 48 | |3 |2012 |1. 59 |0. 57 |$0. 47 | |4 |2013 |1. 64 |0. 59 |$0. 45 | |5 |2014 |1. 69 |0. 61 |$0. 3 | |6 |2015 |1. 74 |0. 63 |$0. 42 | |7 |2016 |1. 79 |0. 65 |$0. 40 | |8 |2017 |1. 85 |0. 67 |$0. 38 | |9 |2018 |1. 91 |0. 69 |$0. 37 | |10 |2019 |1. 97 |0. 71 |$0. 36 | |PV total of dividend payout for the next 10 years: |$4. 26 | Terminal Value The 2019 stock price calculated reflects the value of all future dividends or cash flows in perpetuity. In order to determine the 2019 stock price the following will be needed: Because when using the above process the discount rate is assumed and one of the biggest variables that may fluctuate and thus cause the result to differ, other methods should also be considered when doing a company stock price valuation. One other such popular method is the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) The main purpose of this model is to explain the relationship between risk and the expected return that a stock may yield and is used in the pricing of risky securities (Investopedia). The following formula is used in the calculation of CAPM: o CAPM = Rf + (a (Rm – Rf) Rf = Risk-free rate (Treasury bond rate) assumed at 5% o Rm = Expected market return assumed at 12% o (a = Beta of the security; from Avon’s Value Line beta is . 95 Thus, when using this CAPM formula to calculate the discount rate, the following result is returned: CAPM = . 05 + . 95 (. 12 â⠂¬â€œ . 05) = . 1165 = 11. 65% discount rate (Ke). This new discount rate of 11. 65% is now inputted into the dividends projections table done previously. The new table is shown below with a PV total of dividend payout for the next 10 years now at a reduced amount of $3. 45. The new terminal value also decreases to $16. 87 as well as the PV of this 2019 stock price to $5. 60. The stock remains overvalued with an intrinsic value of $9. 06 compared to the current price of $29. 22. The price-to-intrinsic is now 3. 23. |Variables used to determine PV total of dividend payout for the next 10 years: | | | |EPS 2009 |1. 45 | | | | | | |Growth Rate = |3. 09% | | | | | | |Payout Ratio = |36% | | | | | | |Discount Rate = |11. 5% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Avon Projections 2010-2019 | | | | |Period |Years |EPS |DIV |PV | | | |2 |2011 |1. 54 |0. 55 |$0. 45 | | | |3 |2012 |1. 59 |0. 57 |$0. 41 | | | |4 |2013 |1. 64 |0. 59 |$0. 38 | | | |5 |2014 |1. 69 |0. 61 |$0. 35 | | | |6 |2015 |1. 4 |0. 63 |$0. 32 | | | |7 |2016 |1. 79 |0. 65 |$0. 30 | | | |8 |2017 |1. 85 |0. 67 |$0. 28 | | | |9 |2018 |1. 91 |0. 69 |$0. 25 | | | |10 |2019 |1. 97 |0. 71 |$0. 24 | | | |PV total of dividend payout for the next 10 years: |$3. 45 | | The only way that Avon stock would be considered undervalued would be at a discount rate of about 4. 9% or below as shown in the table below. |Variables used to determine PV total of dividend payout for the next 10 years: | | | |EPS 2009 |1. 45 | | | | | | |Growth Rate = |3. 09% | | | | | | |Payout Ratio = |36% | | | | | | |Discount Rate = |4. 0% | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Avon Projections 2010-2019 | | | | |Period |Years |EPS |DIV |PV | | | |2 |2011 |1. 54 |0. 55 |$0. 50 | | | |3 |2012 |1. 59 |0. 57 |$0. 50 | | | |4 |2013 |1. 64 |0. 59 |$0. 9 | | | |5 |2014 |1. 69 |0. 61 |$0. 48 | | | |6 |2015 |1. 74 |0. 63 |$0. 47 | | | |7 |2016 |1. 79 |0. 65 |$0. 46 | | | |8 |2017 |1. 85 |0. 67 |$0. 45 | | | |9 |2018 |1. 91 |0. 69 |$0. 45 | | | |10 |2019 |1. 7 |0. 71 |$0. 44 | | | |PV total of dividend payout for the next 10 years: |$4. 75 | | X. Rule #1 The Four M’s †¢ Meaning †¢ Moat †¢ Management †¢ Margin of Safety (Sticker Price) Does the business have meaning to you? Since my tender age of 4, I remember going door-to-door with my mother distributing Avon brochures and samples. Not only was she a single mother at the time, but she also went to school and worked another part-time job. My mother eventually left her part-time job and made Avon her full-time career. She now has 25 years of selling Avon and making a living out of it. My step-father also quit his full-time job and dedicated his time to helping my mother out with the business. My whole life I have seen my mother work her hardest to give me anything and everything she could to raise me and get me to where I am now and she could not have accomplished that if it weren’t for her loyal commitment to Avon Products. She built her business from the bottom up just like any other Avon representative. She now works from home and has all her clients come to her. My mother has always told me that she eventually wants to hand over the business to me and I have taken this opportunity in Finance class to learn more in-depth about the company and what it offers not only as a business owner but also as an investor. Ironically enough, just about a month ago my mother showed interest in investing in the company (yes, after 25 years! ) and asked me about whether she should and if so how much she should invest. This evaluation project gave me even more reason to choose Avon Products, Inc as my chosen company of interest. Does the business have a wide Moat? Or in other words, is the company’s future predictable? Avon has been in existence almost 100 years, 95 to be exact. It has had an exciting development from start to present going from being solely in the perfume/cosmetics market to expanding their products to include an array interests from kids toys to men’s sports watches. They have captured a competitive advantage from the beginning starting off as the first to introduce direct selling and now being a well renown beauty global entity; they have indeed establishes a good name for themselves. Avon continues to do extensive research to keep up to par with their different markets and products and continuously strives to improve what they already have and produce new products. Many companies have hence since followed in Avon’s footsteps, realizing the success Avon has had with focusing on interpersonal sales and customer service. Avon has a well-established name and reputation and many customers have been loyal since their early years. The Management Ever since the beginning up until 2001, Avon has had male CEO’s. Some find that a bit peculiar being that Avon prides itself on being â€Å"the Company for Women†. Let’s keep in mind though the history of this company as mentioned in the first part, Avon was created by a man by accident perhaps, but definitely with good intentions. As of 2001, the new CEO, Andrea Jung, has brought new hope and meaning to the company. Since her leadership started the company has revolutionized into a new identity with Representatives truly feeling and living the motto of the company. Both customers and Representatives have more confidence in the company and it has portrayed overall both in the financial and operational functions of the company. Safety of Margin (Sticker Price) On Rule #1’s website www. ruleoneinvestor. com, Phil Town, provides various calculators that aid in the decision to buy or not buy a particular stock by inputting various company figures to produce the company’s true value. Step 1 Data Input: Current EPS: 1. 45 # Years: 10 EPS Growth Rate: 13% Step 1 Result: Future EPS = $4. 92 Step 2 Calculate Future Value Data Input: Future EPS: $4. 92 Future PE: 18 Step 2 Results: Future Value = $88. 56 Step 3 Calculate Sticker Price Data Input: Future Value/Share: $88. 56 Min Acceptable ROI: 15% # Years: 10 Step 3 Results: Sticker Price: $21. 89 Step 4 Calculate Margin of Safety Data Input: Sticker Price: $21. 89 Step 4 Results: Margin of Safety: $10. 95 Overall Results: $21. 89 ; $29. 22 (Current Price) = Stock is Overvalued = Sell/Not Buy XI. Conclusions /Final Stock Judgment Based on all the analysis previously set forth here, the best recommendation for an investor would be not to buy Avon stock or to sell their Avon stock if they currently hold interest in the company. Finding that the intrinsic value of the company using two separate methods (AAA bond rate CAPM) both return a valuation that Avon’s current stock price is undervalued, would understandably be sufficient to determine that it would not be the best of choices to invest in the company; at least for the current time. The difficulty as well in trying to formulate a regression analysis for ROE also points to the company’s weaknesses since shareholder’s equity has not shown a constant, positive performance and even at times negative. Income generation for stockholders is not quite strong and would require further, long-term watch if an investor has a personal interest in the company to be able to invest at a later time when the value of the current stock is really what it is worth. Furthermore, recent news indicates it is not the greatest time for Avon in terms of earnings as they have spent a great deal on advertising. Getting out of the Japanese market may have been the most perfectly timed move they have made. Although Avon is currently not seen as one of the strongest companies to invest in at the moment, reviews have said not to leave Avon behind for the future. They are slowly regaining momentum and being that their beta of . 95 is still below the market’s beta of 1. 0, it is not one of the riskiest out there. Also, it must be reminded that with a good Technical ranking of 2, Avon has short-term capital gains, in the three to six month timeframe. At a financial strength of a B++, the company is still in good shape and can most likely survive a depression better than other companies. The company has sufficient liquidity to payout their dividends or increase how much they give as dividends. Investors should still proceed with caution if even in the future the company still maintains a Safety rating of 3 and a Timeliness rating of 4 as these ratings do not give the company enough leverage to be deemed financially reliable. In addition, with a Price Growth Predictability (PGP) of 45, Stock Price Stability (SPS) of 75, and an Earnings Predictability of 65, the company does not perform more than average in all of these areas meaning they don’t really beat the index, they are somewhat stable, and they have an average consistency of earnings. Overall, all of the above inconsistencies and especially the overvalue of the current stock price, will not lead to satisfactory returns. Perhaps in the near future the tables will turn as the company does have many opportunities and room for slow growth, but it will require a watchful eye. Avon is a trusted company with a rich history, especially among women, so there is much possibility of vast improvement and capabilities of big interest to investors if the company is more observant with their financial movement and take care of their shareholders. XII. References Avon Products, Inc. Avon. com. 2011. 2 April 2011 Datamonitor. Business Source Premier. 7 June 2010. 3 April 2011 Fidelity. Fidelity. com. 2011. 8 April 2011 Hoover’s Inc. LexisNexis Academic. 8 April 2011. 8 April 2011 Investment Underground. Seeking Alpha. 21 March 2011. 2 April 2011 Investopedia. Investopedia. com. 2011. 6 April 2011 Kaplan, Jerome H. Value Line. 2011. 2 April 2011 L’Oreal. Loreal. com. 2011. 6 April 2011 Money-Zine. Money-Zine. com. 2011. 4 April 2011 Revlon. Revlon. com. 2011. 6 April 2011 Roberts, Andrew. Bloomberg. 17 March 2011. 2 April 2011 Sommer, Ron. Seeking Alpha. 21 March 2011. 2 April 2011 Town, Phil. Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in only 15 Minutes a Week. 2011. 9 April 2011 Wikipedia. Wikipedia. com. 2011. 6 April 2011 Zachs. Yahoo! Finance. 16 March 2011. 2 April 2011 XIII. Appendix [pic][pic] [pic] ———————– Corporate Valuation: Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE:AVP) F How to cite Corporate Evaluation Analysis – Avon Products, Papers

Information Technology and Business Intelligence

Question: Discuss about theInformation Technology and Business Intelligence. Answer: Introduction The use of business Intelligence techniques has accelerated pharmaceutical company. The Pharmaceutical companies are evaluating the models that are related with business and thus it helps in focusing on the business Intelligence tools (Smith, 2016). The report helps in unearthing the nature and role of business Intelligence, role of information technology in business intelligence, key issues and roles of information technology in Pharmaceutical Company. Discussion Nature and Role of Business Intelligence According to Betz and Tidona (2015), pharmaceutical companies are implementing business Intelligence technologies for their drug development process. The companies have deployed and purchased the different technology solutions for automating and standardizing workflows. The pharmaceutical companies are very much mature in terms of business intelligence though a large number of vendors have successfully pierced the market by selling solutions to Biotech ad Big Pharma. On the other hand, de Carvalho and Sassi (2014 ) argued that the present competitive landscape related with the business intelligence vendor are diverse. It consists of organization that has different market portfolios, technologies and market approaches. Some vendors helps in providing horizontal Business Intelligence tools for analysing, integrating and measuring the performance of data where as other vendors have offered different developmental environments for the organizations in order to build applications that are required for unique need (Du et al., 2016). Furthermore, there are vendors who help in supplying a full suite of business intelligence tools while the other organizations are specialized in one or more technological areas such as predictive and reporting analytics. According to Smith (2016), the key business intelligence vendor which helps in serving the customers of the Biotech and Big Pharma includes GenoLogics, Genstruct, SAS and Oracle. The vendors are selected in order to provide a sample of Business Intelligence vendors in terms of technologies that are offered, size and market focus (Elizabeth et al., 2016). Each of the vendors was evaluated on the basis of a framework that is known as market readiness. A score was used by each of the users for the pharmaceutical users in order to specify business intelligence solutions for their partnership strategy and for supporting the capabilities. The three important pharmaceutical companies in USA include Johnson Johnson, Gilead Sciences and Pfizer. The companies are operating in order to conduct various research and for collecting huge amount of data. According to Tanev and Kleismantas (2015), the pharmaceutical industries of USA value business intelligence products which are scalable across various departments and thus help other organizations in creating global protocol and streamlined workflows. Business intelligence equipment must help in reflecting the domain expertise and thus creating or making sense in the hands of end-users. The challenges for different vendors include offering various business class BI solutions for transitional medicine and for keeping the cost that is associated with the medicine and professional. Information Technology in Pharmaceutical Companies Needs of Information Technology According to Smith (2016), the pharmaceutical industries are using both the outsourcing as well as off-shoring of IT work which includes maintenance of vendor companies and application development. With the help of outsourcing, pharmaceutical organizations are getting substantial savings in the areas of business which includes management of clinical data support of IT infrastructure, drug discovery that is IT enabled scientific communications and may more. On the other hand, Rastogi et al. (2015) argued that benefits that are collected from cost savings which is known as labour arbitrage. The companies expect that the resources must focus on the operations of the business that are fully innovative in nature by having IT vendors as the perfect guide. Evaluation of Key Issues According to Smith (2016) there are various key issues that are associated with the Information system of Pharmaceuticals Company. IT breach is one of the issues that lead to theft of identity, counterfeit drugs and loss of revenue. On the other hand, Betz andTidona (2015) stated that routine procedure is related with security that can fall short in securing the data of the IT system of a pharmaceutical company. It raises lot of issues which includes security and privacy concerns, violation of data and many more. Blueblugging is one of the issue or challenge that helps in attacking the phone of the victim. Bluejacking is another issue, due to which the privacy of the users get lost as they enforce long messages into the phone of the victim without having their permission. Tasks and Roles in an Information Technology Environment for Successful Pharmaceutical Business According to Tanev and Kleismantas (2015), pharmaceutical companies expect that all their vendors are achieving their regulatory compliance at a very low cost. The efficient and cost-effective services that meet the requirements of regulatory compliance are the key vendors for the external service providers in order to contract more number of companies. On the other hand, Elizabeth et al. (2016) stated that IT vendors must view the regulatory compliance for proper management, execution as well as for delivering proper IT business solutions. The pharmaceutical organizations are selecting IT vendors on the basis of different credentials in the compliance services for focussing on the capability and experience in the areas of compliance which includes data privacy, qualification and management of validation. On the other hand, Rastogi et al. (2015) stated that oracle and SAS influence their expertise for the applications that are related with the enterprises and analytics in order to gain industry based solutions in the market. Additionally horizontal vendors support or influence the strength of the brand in the pharmaceutical industry. Conclusion It is concluded that both the business intelligence technique as well as information system are significant for the development of Pharmaceutical companies. It is analyzed that some vendors helps in providing horizontal Business Intelligence tools for analysing, integrating and measuring the performance of data whereas with the help of outsourcing, medicinal groups are getting considerable investments in the areas of business. The companies expect that the resources must focus on the processes of the business that are fully advanced in nature by having IT dealers as the perfect guide. References Betz, U. A., Tidona, C. A. (2015). Outcubation [mdash] where incubation meets outsourcing.Nature biotechnology,33(1), 20-21. de Carvalho, T. V., Sassi, R. J. (2014). An alternative to face worldwide financial crisis of 2008: best practices usage of a business intelligence architecture in a chemical industry.International Journal of Business Innovation and Research,8(4), 399-410. Du, M., Pivovarova, L., Yangarber, R. (2016, July). PULS: natural language processing for business intelligence. InProceedings of the 2016 Workshop on Human Language Technology(p. 1). Go to Print Publisher. Elizabeth H, R. John C. Yi,, S. (2016). Retrieved 21 September 2016, from https://file:///D:/new..ppt/969341_1518617304_AnalyzingtheEffectivenessof.pdf Rastogi, S., Singh, A. P., Virmani, T. (2015). Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (Kpo): Opportunities In Pharmacy Research And Development.Indian Journal of Drugs,3(3), 71-78. Smith, N. C. (2016). From Corporate Philanthropy to Creating Shared Value: Big Pharmas New Business Models in Developing Markets.GfK Marketing Intelligence Review,8(1), 30-35. Tanev, S., Liotta, G., Kleismantas, A. (2015). A business intelligence approach using web search tools and online data reduction techniques to examine the value of product-enabled services.Expert Systems with Applications,42(21), 7582-7600. Thomas, S. (2016). Retrieved 21 September 2016, from https://file:///D:/new..ppt/969343_1471105397_Sept-201420-Year-TrendsThomas-.pdf

Prevention And Intervention Of Adolescence Alcohol Abuse Social Work Essay Essay Example

Prevention And Intervention Of Adolescence Alcohol Abuse Social Work Essay Essay Alcohol, drug, depression, sexual behaviour, these jobs are interact by each other which impose an highly negative influence on modern-day young person. Apparently, different states have their ain concrete state of affairs and typical phenomena. In the paper, I would wish to discourse some effectual and utile bar and intercession attacks depending on Hong Kong. There are different theoretical accounts of intoxicant intervention such as cognitive behaviour theoretical account, medical theoretical account, biopsychosocial attack and so on. Different intervention and intercession program has different focal point and characteristic. Just like instruction plan, a sort of prevalent attack which applied in bar phases, people hold different version. The instruction plan is uneffective and has non offered utile cognition and accomplishments to chair and cut down the intoxicant ingestion. ( Collins A ; Keene, 2000 ) . Collins and Keene stated that that while degrees of cognition can be increased, supplying information on intoxicant issues and jobs does non take to behavior alteration . ( 2000, p.97 ) On the other manus, some research workers think instruction plan is necessary especial in bar phase. Prevention phase are ever related with instruction , which provide utile information and cognition to alarm people remain off from drugs and assist them do a accurate determination when confronting intoxicant and drugs. ( Akers, 1992 ) We will write a custom essay sample on Prevention And Intervention Of Adolescence Alcohol Abuse Social Work Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Prevention And Intervention Of Adolescence Alcohol Abuse Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Prevention And Intervention Of Adolescence Alcohol Abuse Social Work Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Besides the instruction plan, cognitive behaviour viewed as an effectual and utile attack. Cognitive behaviour attack is the most appropriate attack for societal workers. Because in the attack, there are tonss of accomplishments and methods belong to the societal work s repertory and it stress the duty, value, authorization of clients. ( Collins A ; Keene, 2000 ) .Ray and Ksir ( 1999 ) stated that Some behavior-management attacks have accepted controlled imbibing as a desirable result and have attempted to learn methods that will copy intoxicant intake. ( P.257 ) . Ray and Ksir argued that behavioural attack can learn clients get bying accomplishments. Some behaviours are taught in bar plans, moreover, healers besides help clients to concentrate on high hazard state of affairs and learn them how to acquire through the hard times. ( 1999 ) . Gorgulho and Tamendarova figure out a new attack called societal norm selling.they stated that it is a comparatively effectual in diminishing utmost imbibing and it stress on equal norms and force per unit areas. Social norm selling apply assorted formal and informal manner to offer accurate information of imbibing forms to those immature people, which can extinguish misconceptions and cut down utmost drinking. ( 2008 ) . Besides, brief intercession and circle of alteration theoretical account are mentioned often in many governments. Brief intercessions are suited for immature intoxicant maltreaters because these immature extreme drinkers ever think the intoxicant ingestion is elementary and no necessary to seek aid. Brief intercession can be a critical first measure in intervention since it provides advice, appraisal and referral. ( Gorgulho A ; Tamendarova, 2008 ) . Cycle of alteration theoretical account is a practical measure to assist cut down drug maltreatment. It focus on seeking the trigger that lead to drug maltreatment, and understand the hazard state of affairs which can supply effectual backsliding bar schemes and offer self-talk. ( Dominelli,2009 ) . Prevention attack can assist underage adolescence stay manner drugs to some extent. Spruit stressed that traditional bar plan aimed at bettering pupils behaviour accomplishments such as learning them how to get by with peer force per unit area and do accurate determination. Secondary bar besides called injury decrease, which used by healthy attention sector and societal attention sector ; assist forestall wellness deteriorating in the hereafter. ( 1998 ) . Beside these effectual and professional theoretical accounts and attacks, societal workers should see the intervention environment and household environment of clients during the whole bar and intercession procedure. To the minor striplings who are alcohol abuser, most of them are vulnerable and down, so they seek solace from intoxicant. When confronting this sort of clients, a safe and trustworthy environment is critical. Muisener argued that when confronting to the clients who have been alcohol abuser or intoxicant victims, societal worker should supply a safe environment. ( as cited in Collins A ; Keene, 2000, P.103 ) . societal workers can smooth relationship -building, particularly in the formation of societal networkers that can give people a feeling of being valued, appreciated and belonging to a broad circle of people. ( Dominelli, 2009, p.121 ) Actually, non merely the intervention environment is of import to the adolescents, their household milieus besides influence their behaviour and emotions. Due to tonss of immature drinkers are influenced by household and equal group in school, so school-family plans seem utile and effectual. The plan aimed at bettering the household working to forestall imbibing jobs by household member and adolescence. ( Gorgulho A ; Tamendarova, 2008 ) The state of affairs in Hong Kong: Actually, the intoxicant maltreatment job among adolescents in Hong Kong has its ain features such as alone cultural background, public attending, the ground of household and equal influence and so on. All the clip, intoxicant imbibing is viewed as a prevailing amusement and single life style and has non being viewed as a serious societal job. From my point of position, the intoxicant cultural is playing an of import function in the whole societal activities. Peoples will hold a drink after work to alleviate force per unit area. Peoples besides will imbibe alcoholic drink when some happy events or jubilations go oning. Lou and Shek stated that in Chinese civilization, people ever drink when they meet friends or holding household assemblage. Because these societal -oriented grounds, tonss of adolescents begin to imbibing. ( 2006 ) . In Hong Kong, the adolescents intoxicant maltreatment is ever associated with five psychosocial factors. They are academic public presentation, temper, attitude, household attitude and organized condemnable groups engagement. Further, Lou and Shek suggested that intoxicant maltreatment brings about many negative effects to adolescents. The influence include behavioural job such as combat, sexual behaviour after rummy, take parting in offense organisations and so on ; healthy job such as liver or tummy hurting and household struggle. ( 2006 ) . Therefore, the intercession and bar program should be established from the five positions. My bar and intercession program: Harmonizing to the specific state of affairs in Hong Kong, I suggest the prevention/ intercession program pay more attending on adolescents psychological state of affairs, populating and analyzing environment. Because of both of them are the most important elements which influence the hereafter development of adolescence. At the beginning, although there are tonss of arguments about the effectivity of instruction plan, I still see instruction plan is a critical portion, particularly in the phase of bar. Actually, how to use instruction plan to better adolescents consciousness is important. The accomplishments, methods, techniques will find whether the plan is effectual or non. Prevention program: To those adolescence that neer drink intoxicant before, the bar program should concentrate on two parts: instruction and communicating acquisition. Education plan: Education plan can supply them current way and utile information. Adolescence is an of import period which imposes a important influence on a individual s whole life. During the period, kids ever full of wonder, and like seeking something disputing and experient alteration in both mental and physical development. At this clip, as a societal worker, we should give more advices and pay more attending in instance of them go astray. However, in the instruction plan, we should offer appropriate advice, if we emphasize do non imbibe to much, it will convey approximately negative effect. For illustration, most adolescents at this age are rebellious and they view imbibing intoxicant as a cryptic escapade and seek it in secret. Therefore, in the instruction plan, those sorts of deadening talks possibly uneffective, I suggest societal workers should utilize several vivid signifiers such as movies or existent experience to exemplify the negative consequence caused by intoxicant. Communicating A ; larning workshop Social workers can join forces with school instructors and staffs to form some activities to assist pupils understand and acknowledge the disadvantages of utmost imbibing. For illustration, ask foring school pupils visit several establishments which help bring around intoxicant maltreaters. After sing, societal workers can promote them hold a treatment or compose a contemplation to depict their ain feelings. By this method, adolescents can grok hazard of utmost imbibing and organize their ain sentiment instead than accomplish sermon passively. Intervention program: To the adolescence who is of all time alcohol user or current intoxicant user, the focal point of attack is different from bar program. Intervention program emphasize amending the behaviour and assist them retrieve every bit shortly as possible in both mental and physical wellness. Appraisal Those adolescents who are utmost imbibing in Hong Kong are ever associated with similar psychosocial correlativity. Some of them are influenced by equal group, some of them are lack of household support and corsets in an unsupervised state of affairs which lead them seek solace from intoxicant. Merely understanding the grounds and triggers behind, we can happen out sound schemes to assist them. The appraisal should include person s household background and state of affairs, person s drink form and their perceptual experiences about intoxicant. From the appraisal, societal workers can get person s accurate information which facilitates set uping following program. Family-school attack From the five psychosocial elements associated with adolescent intoxicant maltreatment in Hong Kong mentioned above, we can happen that Adolescents are easy influenced by their household members and peer schoolmates. From the position of household, societal worker should pass on with the client s parents on a regular basis and happen out the disadvantage of the household operation and parenting form. Then give them advice and inquire the parents to care about their kids more often. From the position of school, societal workers can corporate with instructors and staffs to place the triggers of intoxicant maltreatment like academic emphasis, hapless relationship with schoolmates and so on. And assist them acknowledge the bad state of affairs and effect. Bettering intervention environment Tonss of adolescents are less likely to seek professional aid to cut down their alcohol addiction. On the one manus, a portion of them view intoxicant is elementary, on the other manus, they ever feel vulnerable and incapacitated, they are fear to confront their psychological job. Therefore, societal worker should supply a trust and safety environment. At the beginning of the guidance plan, we can state clients we will maintain secretiveness of their basic information and give them more support and encouragement. Relaxation accomplishment preparation There must be some ground lead to people particularly adolescents addicted in intoxicant. And depression, anxiousness and emphasis these sorts of emotional reactions are frequently involved with the intoxicant maltreatment. During the intercession program, societal workers can use some relaxation accomplishments to assist adolescent quiet down. Helping them release and cut down emphasis and modify their temper. By the method, we can extinguish their tenseness and assist them remain off alcohol measure by measure.

Free Essays on Traveling

Title: The Road Not Taken - an analysis "Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different interpretations. It is one’s past, present and the attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light that he will see the poem in. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost’s belief that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he is. "And sorry I could not travel both..." It is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be missed out on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is going to lead. It is the way that he chooses here that sets him off on his journey and decides where he is going. "Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim." What made it have the better claim is that "it was grassy and wanted wear." It was something that was obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the majority of people took the other path therefore he calls it "the road less travelled by". The ... Free Essays on Traveling Free Essays on Traveling Title: The Road Not Taken - an analysis "Do not follow where the path may lead... Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Robert Frost Everyone is a traveler, choosing the roads to follow on the map of their continuous journey, life. There is never a straight path that leaves one with but a sole direction in which to head. Regardless of the original message that Robert Frost had intended to convey, his poem, "The Road Not Taken", has left its readers with many different interpretations. It is one’s past, present and the attitude with which he looks upon his future that determines the shade of the light that he will see the poem in. In any case however, this poem clearly demonstrates Frost’s belief that it is the road that one chooses that makes him the man who he is. "And sorry I could not travel both..." It is always difficult to make a decision because it is impossible not to wonder about the opportunity cost, what will be missed out on. There is a strong sense of regret before the choice is even made and it lies in the knowledge that in one lifetime, it is impossible to travel down every path. In an attempt to make a decision, the traveler "looks down one as far as I could". The road that will be chosen leads to the unknown, as does any choice in life. As much he may strain his eyes to see as far the road stretches, eventually it surpasses his vision and he can never see where it is going to lead. It is the way that he chooses here that sets him off on his journey and decides where he is going. "Then took the other, just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim." What made it have the better claim is that "it was grassy and wanted wear." It was something that was obviously not for everyone because it seemed that the majority of people took the other path therefore he calls it "the road less travelled by". The ...

Firm expansion in the U.S Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Firm expansion in the U.S - Essay Example The company lacks experience selling outside its regional comfort zone. A strategy that could help the company quickly penetrate other US markets is to formulate a strategic alliance with a competitor. The competitor should be a medium to large size firm that has an established network of distribution across all parts of the United States. This option can help the company increase sales volumes, but the profitability of the firm will be lower because the partner has to get his cut of the earnings. The strategic alliance deal should be negotiated in a manner that the company does not give up too much of its profits. Offering an equity participation in the company can persuade the partner to get a lower margin of the profits. A second strategy that the company could implement to expand its sales though out the United States is the implementation of an aggressive online marketing strategy. Ecommerce in the United States in 2010 reached sales of $153 billion (Plunkett Research, 2011). Th e company has a lot of good products that could be very attractive for online customers. A way to increase sales is by getting a freelance workforce to help increase the sites traffic and sales.

Business plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 3

Business plan - Essay Example a leading bank in the United Kingdom which offers start-up loans to the tune of  £ 25000.00 for young self-employed people who intend to start a business. We have applied for the same and are eligible for the loan. We shall be using these funds for initial start-up expense as well as carrying out day-to-day expenses. This loan will be for the period of 1 year after which we intend to request the bank for an overdraft facility1 (HSBC.co.uk, 2013) I like to believe that I’ve reached a stage where I can’t let ANYTHING outside my own self responsible for my negative states. Nothing in the external environment is 100% negative. Every situation, however bad, has it’s lessons n gifts. It’s up to me to make use of any circumstance in a beneficial way We are under negotiations for the purchase of a commercial property located at 12, Regent Street, Leeds, LS6 (RIGHTMOVE.co.uk, 2013). This property will cost us  £ 4,50,000. We intend to carry out further renovation and interiors to the tune of  £ 2,50,000. The property is located is front-facing to the main road leading to Headingley Stadium and has immense potential for a restaurant business. Ensure the building is classified under class A3 category which involves use of sale of food or drink for consumption on the premises (UK Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 764, Town & Country Planning Order 1987). Agusto’s is planned to be a casual restaurant-cum-lounge targeting the varied class of people staying in Leeds. Leeds also happens to be a student city; From our research we found that people aged between 17 to 25 visits a restaurant every weekend. One of our main objectives is to provide nutritiously high-value meal at a comparatively low cost. Marketing Budget: We intend to allocate about 2 % of the start-up cost for the purpose of marketing. We mostly intend to depend on word-of-mouth publicity. We will be spending most of our budget on print media and discount coupons. We intend to do our advertising in the

Why do constructivists believe that identity matters Do you agree Essay

Why do constructivists believe that identity matters Do you agree Critically evaluate - Essay Example It is with this respect that Constructivism as a theory tries to explain how humans learn and construct their knowledge and understanding of their environment. Checkel (1998) found that knowledge acquisition is a continuous active process whereby learners tend to construct or develop ideas which are normally based on their previous and current knowledge. In order to make decisions, learners depend on cognitive structure to formulate hypothesis and come up with decisions based on the selected information. Klotz and Lynch (2007) described cognitive structure as a mental structure that gives a learner’s experience some organization and meaning. Although learners always come across new experiences, constructivists believe that an individual possesses internal power to give meaning to their new experiences (McGrew, 2011a). McGrew (2011b) further argues that the power resides only within an individual and not within the institution that surrounds them. Alexander Wendt’s theory of constructivism is based on the identity concept of an individual in the process of knowledge acquisition (Checkel, 1998). Identity being the core concept of Constructivism theory, Price and Reus-Smit (1998) defined it as an aspect that uniquely distinguishes an individual from the rest. An aspect that an individual tends to take pride in and which more or less cannot be changed. Checkel (1998) found that identity is influenced by the learner’s background and cultural origin, since people adapt what they come across in the society they are raised in. In this regard, society plays a major role in molding up an individual’s identity because learners build up knowledge based on their perspective of the experiences they encounter. Finnemore (2011) states that it is also necessary to put into account the cultural background of an individual in their process of learning since it helps in shaping out the knowledge that they create. Due to the diversity of cultures, individuals tend to

Consumer Decision Making Model

Consumer Decision Making Model The consumers decision making model deals with the process of consumer decision making. This model consists of three stages the Input stage; the Process stage and the out put stage. The input stage can be broadly categorized into Firms efforts and Socio-cultural Environment. The firms efforts relate to the firms marketing mix, i.e. Product, Promotion, Price, Channels of Distribution, People and Physical evidence. This stage involves the activities the firm undergoes to sell their products. Socio-cultural environment on the other hand is the environment of friends, family, society, culture and sub culture that surround a consumer. The input stage affects a consumers decision making. The decision-making is the second stage called process. In this stage the consumer does him pre-purchase research and evaluation based on the firms efforts and socio-cultural environment. The firms efforts and socio-cultural environment influence a consumers psychological field. The psychological field consists of Motivation, Perception, Learning, Attitude and Personality of a consumer. This stage also evaluates the past experience of the consumer. The final stage in the consumer decision-making is the Output stage. This stage is concerned with the actual purchase, repurchase and the purchase evauation. Cognitive View Cognitive View explains decision making from the thinking problem solvers perspective. According to Cognitive view, decision-making is an emotional or reasoning process, which can be rational or irrational and can be based on explicit assumptions or tacit assumptions. The most important characteristic of this view is that, a consumer is in pursuit of information until a satisfactory solution is found. Once the satisfactory solution is found, the process of collecting information is terminated. Problem solving view defines a consumer who lies between the two extremes of passive and economic view. It is believed that a consumer cannot have all the knowledge of all the alternative products. Hence the consumers decisions are not perfect. But nevertheless the consumer actively seeks information and attempts to make satisfactory decision. In a cognitive view, the consumer has a predefined goal. The next step is action plan or way to achieve the goal. The third step is implementation of this action plan and controlling it. The final step is attainment or failure of Goal. Consumer Decision Making and Cognitive Learning. As defined earlier, the first step in any decision-making is a need reorganization or goal. A consumers cognitive learning is related to pre-purchase search and evaluation of alternatives. For example, if a person is looking to buy a car he will first decide what features does he want in his vehicle. Whether his first preference is safety or performance. Based on this evaluation he will evaluate various car models available in the market. The consumers psychological field will come into play once he has identified his goal. The cognitive learning combined with attitude, personality and previously will form a perception in a consumers mind. This perception will thus motivate a consumer make a purchase decision. Marketers Efforts A firms marketing efforts play a very important role in influencing cognitive learning process. Over the years the marketers has provided the consumers with information to make them believe that they have sufficient knowledge and thus spur the decision making process. The best example of this can be seen as the Free or Sale adverts. These adverts convey that something is free or there is a sale on. This Free or Sale sticker on the window display of store is enough to attract the consumers inside the store. Marketers have used Promotional Model and Diffusion of Innovation to influence the consumers cognitive learning. The promotional model focuses on Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. The Sale sign is to attract the costumers attention. Up to 50% off written under the sale sign is to create interest. Store design and reduced prices to instigate the desire and marketing campaign to cause Action. There is silent need of a consumer to buy clothes. The moment the consumer comes across the Sale sign, the final piece of information is received that instigates action. The marketers over time introduce new technology and new products, using the Innovation Diffusion, to affect the persons cognitive learning and thus drive sales. Various automotive companies use the cognitive model to understand their customer and hence sell their cars. The purchases such as cars, which are expensive, are generally well thought out. The customers generally do a through pre-purchase research and evaluate their alternatives before making the purchase. Hence to attract these customers, the marketers promote their products with test drives, and other adverts that focus mainly on the features of the vehicles. Hierarchy of Needs It can be argued that people looking to satisfying self-actualization need may need complete information about a product. Their cognitive learning process may vary from that of those aiming to satisfying physiological, safety, social and esteem needs. But nevertheless, cognitive learning is ideal for satisfying every need on Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. The degree of information gathered might vary, but learning and information processing will be constant at each level. Passive View Passive view believes that can be manipulated by self-serving interests and promotional efforts of the marketers. To a certain extent this model can be believed to be true. But the passive model does not recognize that a consumer plays an equal role in making the purchase decision. The consumer does make pre-purchase search and evaluation before buying goods. This model can be applicable in case of B2C where the customer is absolutely unaware of good and the marketer is in position to manipulate the consumers. This is mainly evident in case of tourists. Local sellers and marketers in many places often manipulate tourists. Since the tourists have very little market and product knowledge, sales people can manipulate them. In case of B2B application of passive model is highly debatable, as business men and companies generally go through a through research and back ground check before buying their desired products. There are of course certain extra-ordinary incidents, when due to lack of time or resources B2B buyers can also be manipulated. Consumer Decision Making and Passive View In the passive view model the marketers generally use their marketing mix to influence the consumers perception, personality, learning, attitude and motivate the consumer to buy the product. Innovation Acceptance Model and Innovation Decision Model are being effectively used to influence the consumers psychological field and hence instigate the consumer to buy a particular product. Marketers Efforts Apple Inc for example, have been using the Passive view combined with the Innovation Diffusion to sale their products. They came up with Ipad in 2010 and with extensive and unique marketing mix managed to sell it well, now as of 24th March 2011; people are already queuing for the Ipad 2. It is nothing but belief in the passive model that is driving the sale of various electronic innovations in todays world. There are various other companies that make an effective use of passive view. The most notable among these are the high street fashion design labels. These retailer introduce their seasonal fashion, they popularize it using their extensive marketing campaign and sell them successfully at a profit. Louis Vuitton for example have been following a concept of retro marketing and selling their products to the customers at a high price and particular trademark design. Economic View Economic view believes in a world of perfect competition, where consumers make rational decisions all the time. In the true sense of the world this model is inappropriate as there can never be a situation of perfect competition. Besides it is also not possible for the consumer to make rational decisions all the time. Because for making rational decisions a consumer will have to be aware of all the products in the market, all possible alternatives and their features. Having all this information is literally impossible in todays fast changing world. Consumer Decision Making and Economic view The consumers economic decisions are mainly influenced by their needs, attitude, personality, cultural environment, and marketers efforts. The economists believe that the decline in price of a product will increase the demand. It is not always true. The consumers consider the price as something they have to give up for the product. So the decision depends on the need for the product. Maslows hierarchy of needs depict the security and psychological needs as a set of desires which forces buyers to focus more on food, shelter, family and safety rather than price. The attitude and personality also come into action during the decision making process. This has been clearly reflected in Maslows esteem needs. The economic view of a buyer with an attitude of self respect and esteem concentrate on their possessions. And the spotlight on the product and not the price influences their decisions. For instance, buying premium range clothes boasts the buyers esteem and attention from others. Consumers with this attitude may fall under the category of materialistic people. The economic view of a buyer depends on their personality of seeking for the potential and value of the product. Buyers satisfy their actualization needs by comparing price and quality of the product with the available alternatives. The psychological traits sets the The cross-cultural analysis reveals the fact that the benefits of products or services consumed differ from one country to another. For instance, possessing premium cars in Africa portrays ones esteem in the society. The marketers still consider that the consumers economic vision towards a product has little real life application. It is unlikely that the consumer will be aware of the knowledge of all the alternatives. The consumer with an economic view conducts an extensive decision making through comparing. So the marketers come up with tactical pricing strategies illustrating discounts and offers to motivate the stimuli of the consumers effectively. However, in B2B market it is different. The business markets have well-organized resources to attain the knowledge and the potential of the products and services. Marketers Efforts Various marketers have been using the low pricing and the economic view to attract their target market and thus increase their sales. The Pound stores in the UK and Dollar Stores in the United States of America are the examples of use of economic model. Various and frequent sales and low pricing offers by the companies to increase their sales are also examples of economic view. Primark would be an ideal example of a company that tries to make best of the economic view model. The company sells its merchandize at prices, which are lowest in the market. The quality of the products though, is not as good as other in the same market. Emotional View Emotional view believes in targeting emotions and impulse of the consumers. This view believes that there are certain feelings or emotions like joy, love fear fantasy etc attached to every purchase of the consumers A consumers is less likely to do pre-purchase evaluation and search before emotional purchase. Consumer Decision Making and Emotional View An emotional view model deals with the personality and attitude of the consumer. The emotions of a consumer attached to a particular product motivate the consumer to make a particular decision. Over the years the marketers have used emotions in the their adverts and marketing campaign to influence the personality and the attitude of the consumer. Marketers Efforts Over the years football clubs have sold their merchandize on the basis of the emotional view. The various holiday packages use emotions to attract the customers. My real-estate seller promote their homes and other properties with a tag line Your Home etc just to attract the emotional aspect to their product. The Body Shop has been using the emotional model attract its consumers. The company portrayed itself as more humanitarian than the others in the same industry, by campaigning against animal testing. Marketers have also been doing various other things with the physical evidence of their stores to attract the emotional feel. In Tesco, there is a scent of fresh bread in the bakery section. The All Saints have designed their stores with a display of old sewing machines and other cloths manufacturing goods of the old times. Hierarchy of Needs The emotional view is about satisfying the self-actualization need of the customer. It is more about doing things or buying things to feel good. But it can be argued that emotional views are also about fulfilling social and esteem needs to a certain extent. Relevance of the above views There have been various criticisms of the economic and the passive view models. These models are extremely opposite of each other. The economic model believes in the existence of perfect competition and the notion that every consumer is fully aware of all the products and their features in the markets. Whereas the passive view model believes that a consumer is fully submissive to the manipulations of the marketers and has not dominance of his own. In true sense of the world both these believes are baseless and surreal. But their presence in the world is possible in certain scenarios. The relevance of the cognitive and emotional models is justifiable. As consumers do tend to make pre-purchase evaluation as well as make decisions based on impulse and emotions. Hence the marketer should use the combination of both cognitive and emotional views to market their products. Alternative theories Freudian Freudian theory believes that an individuals personality is formed as she or he passes through various stages of infant and adulthood. It believes that consumers are initially unaware of the true reasons for buying what they buy. Freud proposed that an individuals personality consists of three interacting systems: Id, superego and ego. Ids are the primitive or the impulsive drives and include physiological needs. Superego is the individuals internal expression of societys moral and ethical code of conduct. Ego is the individuals self-conscience. These factors affect an individuals personality and hence influence his or her purchase decision-making. Neo Freudian Neo Freudian theory believes social relationships are fundamental to formation and development of personality. This theory has divided the individuals personality into three categories, i.e., compliant, aggressive and detached. The individuals with this kind of personality have different purchasing habits and behavior. Traits Theory Trait is any distinct and relatively enduring way in which an individual differs from other individuals. This theory believe that an individuals specific characteristics affect his decision making process. For example, a confident individual is more likely to buy a newly introduced product than a conservative product Marketers Efforts Marketers have used various creative adverts to attract these personality adverts. Nissans tag line Enjoy the ride is targeted toward safety conscious individuals. Nikes Just do it is targeted toward impulsive personality, whereas Mountain Dews Do the Dew marketing campaign is targeted toward the adventurous people. Conclusion There are various factors that affect a consumer, while making a purchase decision. These decisions can be rational or irrational, economy driven or emotion driven. But all these decisions are influence by a consumers motivation, perception, learning, attitude and personality. This in turn is affected by the research and evaluation of the consumer. And all these factors are further influenced by the marketing communication of the firm.