Energy drink Essay

Introduction The marketing mix (tool largely used by marketers) is composed of the tactics being developed by a company in the 4 P’s areas: product, price, place and promotion, to assist them in pursuing their objectives. These variables have to be carefully managed by the organisation to meet the need of the defined target group. In this essay, we are going to focus on the â€Å"product† variable of the marketing mix. Phillip Kotler has defined the product as: â€Å"anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need† (Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2000). The product, but also its name and packaging, have a major impact on the brand positioning. They are fundamental tools in helping the company to induce trial and repeat purchase; they are also invaluable to achieve the desired awareness levels and to form positive attitudes among both customers and perspective customers. Highly profitable and attractive (giving the trend that consumers are increasingly looking for convenient drinks that boost their energy levels), the energy drinks market is highly competitive. A Mintel’s research (Market Trends category analysis, June 2004, www.PreparedFoods. com), found little brand loyalty among consumers of energy drinks, and a willingness to try a new product if the brand of choice is not available. This suggest the possibility that consumer could be swayed by the appeal of an intriguing package for instance. In this context, we will try to analyse, with the help of the example of the energy drinks, the importance of the naming and packaging tactics employed by the brands to differentiate their offer from the competition (given that the generic attributes of the energy drinks, in terms of composition, are quite similar). 1 Naming and Packaging: marketing mix tools of the product 1. 1 The products levels Philip Kotler, in â€Å"Principles of Marketing†, suggested that a product should be viewed in three levels (a division between five products levels has also been identified by the author but in our case, we are going to keep the simpler scheme of three levels). (source : www. learnmarketing. net/product. htm, 14/09/2004) The core product (level one) represents the core function of the product, a generic attribute that will be identical to all products on a specific market. For example, the main attribute a customer is willing to find when buying an energy drink is a liquid which composition will comprise ingredients that boost his or her energy levels (caffeine, guarana, taurine†¦ ) The actual product (level two) involves the brand, the packaging and the possible added features (benefits) that are provided to differentiate the company’s product from its competitors’. In the case of the energy drinks, if all of them actually provide a liquid that increase energy levels, some of them are sold in cans, other in plastic bottles or in aluminium bottles, using different designs and volumes. The augmented product (level three) is composed of the different additional non-tangible benefits that the company is offering to the customer. This comprises normally added services such as after-sales service, warranties, delivery†¦ It is difficult for a company providing energy drinks to differentiate itself from the competition through this kind of attributes. This is why we decided to focus on the second level of the energy beverages, their name and package. (www. learnmarketing.net/product. htm, 14/09/2004) First, what lies behind the concepts of naming and packaging? 1. 2 Naming â€Å"The naming of the product, service or company is called branding. A brand or name is the label that consumers associate with your product. For this reason, a brand or name should help communicate the product’s positioning and its inherent drama for the consumer† (Roman G. Hiebing Jr and Scott W. Cooper; The successful marketing plan, a disciplined and comprehensive approach; 2003). McCarthy, Perreault and Quester define branding as â€Å"the use of a name, symbol, design or combination of the three to identify a product† and more particularly a brand name as â€Å"a word, letter, or group of words or letters used to identify a product† (Basic Marketing, a managerial approach; 1997). 1. 2. 1 The visual distinctiveness of a brand â€Å"The name is composed of the title by which the company, product, or service is commonly known and the graphic forms of identification, including symbols, logotypes or signatures, tag lines, and representative characters† (Roman G.Hiebing Jr and Scott W. Cooper; The successful marketing plan, a disciplined and comprehensive approach; 2003). Some products, as paper clips, or energy drinks, are poorly differentiated by their â€Å"physical† attributes. One of the marketer’s tasks will be then to develop the brand in terms of its name and its graphic identity (logo), to communicate its differences. Nowadays, the consumers have an astonishing and increasing array of choice. In parallel, their available time to research products and make purchase decisions is decreasing. The importance of having a distinctive name is critical to securing competitive advantage, even more for the products such as the energy drinks, which core specificities have become insufficient to make a real difference. Consumers must be able to recognize the company in its name, logo, graphics and brand’s slogan; these must provide means of identifying the product as different from that of the competitors’, create a visual and verbal distinctiveness. For example, the name and logo of Ralph Lauren (a polo player) have become high means of recognition for the brand. Coca-cola is one of the best-known names in the world (even the characters’ type can be identified and recognized by the customer nowadays). Some companies, which offer different product lines, can use manufacturer brands, a name provided specifically for a product or collection of products that is different from the manufacturer’s one. For example, Powerade is the sport beverage supplied by Coca-Cola. Pepsi-Co sells a sport drink line under the name Gatorade. If the name is the more important element of the brand, one mustn’t forget that a brand can’t be simply reduced to its name. What is important are the positive associations that are going to be related to the brand in the customer’s mind (Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2000). 1. 2. 2 Selecting the right name A good brand name can help create brand familiarity (really important in the case of energy drinks). In general, good brand names are:  · short and simple (easy to recognize and remember)  · easy to pronounce  · should be able to be pronounced in all languages  · suggestive of product benefits (but not too generic)  · avoid any potentially undesirable connotation or image. (Roman G. Hiebing Jr and Scott W. Cooper; The successful marketing plan, a disciplined and comprehensive approach; 2003). 1. 3 Packaging 1. 3. 1 Definition â€Å"For manufacturers, packaging holds and protects the product and assists in communicating the products attributes and image. For retailers and service firms, packaging is the inside and outside environment that houses and dispenses the product/services (stores, offices, etc†¦ ), and it helps communicate the company’s attributes and image† (Roman G. Hiebing Jr and Scott W. Cooper; The successful marketing plan, a disciplined and comprehensive approach; 2003). Kotler has defined the packaging as â€Å"the activities of designing and producing the container for a product† (Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2000). 1. 3. 2 The functions of packaging Three functions lay behind the concept of packaging: protection, facilitating the product usage and communication. At its basic level, the package serves to protect the product (prevent breakage, exposure to light, exposure to air, spoilage†¦ ) and, in some cases, to hold or to contain it. Packaging also plays a role in protecting the consumer as well. Then, the package has a facilitative role in the use of the product (shape, size, fact that it can be resealed†¦ ). Finally, the product’s package represents a strong communication tool, at two levels. First, the package will comprise indications on the brand name, the product category definition, the composition, the flavour, warnings, directions†¦ Second, packaging also serves an important role in promotion. Its design, size, shape, materials, colour, text and brand mark†¦ should appeal to the target market. For example, yoghurt designated to the women on diet will not have the same package than yoghurt targeting the children. Besides, in today’s cluttered environment, where tens of thousands of brands are fighting for the shopper’s attention, consumers are making more and more purchase decisions at the point of sale. This is why the package, through graphics and colours that are attractive, plays an important role in getting the product noticed in the selves (to encourage impulse purchase for instance). (Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2000; Roman G. Hiebing Jr and Scott W. Cooper; The successful marketing plan, a disciplined and comprehensive approach; 2003). 1. 3. 3 The importance of packaging Packaging is a critical marketing tool. It can make an important difference from the competition by meeting customers’ needs more effectively. A better box, wrapper, bottle or can may help to emphasize the distinctiveness or novelty of a product or even result in the opening of a new market. It can even improve the product by making it easier or safer to use and then increase its value in the customer’s mind. Used correctly, the package can then underline the brand image, convey qualities such as freshness, fashion and quality (McCarthy, Perreault & Quester; Basic Marketing, a managerial approach; 1997). It is important that the packaging elements align with the rest of the marketing strategy to support it (pricing, advertising and other marketing tools). For example, an expensive perfume would rather be sold in a crystal bottle than in a plastic one, to underline and support the prestigious image (Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2000). 2 Packaging and Naming for the energy drink industry 2. 1 Industry overview. As a relatively new style of beverage in Australia (appearing in the mid 90’s), energy drinks, sometimes known as â€Å"smart drinks†, were originally designed to give people a boost. Other benefits advertised by these products are improved concentration, endurance, stamina and the ability to help combat fatigue (www. education. theage. com. au/pagedetail. asp? intpageid=69&strsection=students&intsectionid=0, 29/09/2004). â€Å"Lifestyles are moving faster. People seem to have become time poor and tend to work harder and play harder. These drinks are for those who need to pack more hours into their day. † (Glenn Martin, general manager, Frucor Beverages, The Age, May 2, 2001). Typically including a high caffeine level as well as vitamins, amino acids and herbal extracts, they usually sell for about $2 – $3. 5 for 250 ml, making them a relatively expensive soft-drink alternative. (www. education. theage. com. au/pagedetail. asp? intpageid=69&strsection=students&intsectionid=0, 27/09/2004). Initially popular in nightclubs and hotels, the energy drink market has been booming during the past few years in Australia, and these beverages are now widely available in supermarkets and convenience stores. Although this market is somewhat new in Australia, it is the fastest growing area of the soft-drink market. (www. education. theage. com. au/pagedetail. asp? intpageid=69&strsection=students&intsectionid=0, 27/09/2004). 2. 1. 1 Leading brands on the Australian market In 2002, the energy drink sales were dominated by four brands in Australia: Frucor Beverages Limited’s V (remaining by far the most significant player with 35% volume share), Red Bull Australia’s Red Bull, Coca-Cola Amatil’s Lift Plus and the Red Eye Company’s Red Eye. With a clever marketing and promotional tactics, V managed to cope with the growing competition and to increase its market share between 2000 and 2002, targeting at teenagers and young adults through the sponsoring of youth oriented events and advertising during youth programming (Euromonitor International, Soft Drinks in Australia, August 2004). However, in the latter part of this same period, the best growth was performed by Coca-Cola Amatil’s Lift Plus, which volume share increased from 5% in 2000 to 14% in 2002, to the detriment of the Red Eye brand which lost market share by the same amount. Red Bull signed, in 2003, a distribution deal with Cadbury Schweppes to solve its volume share decline over the recent years by accessing the group’s strong sale network. (Euromonitor International, Soft Drinks in Australia, August 2004). Considering the huge number of small brands existing today on the energy drink market, we decided to illustrate our study using exclusively the example of these 4 leaders. 2. 1. 2 Target market of the energy drinks The potential customers initially consisted in 90% of young and trendy people (club scene, extreme sports), nocturnal revellers, trendsetters and clubbers. Nowadays, the group of customers has evolved and includes:  · long distance drivers, especially people who work during the night or even employees working out of the office and rushing from appointment to appointment who have come to appreciate Energy Drinks as a good way to wake them up,  · top-level as well as free time sportsmen like snowboarders, mountain bikers, free climbers and downhill racers but also people going to the gym or participating in a triathlon, · pupils or students under stress who use the energy drinks as a new substitute of coffee. Users of Energy Drinks buy/drink them to be mentally and physically top fit and wide awake. They are dynamic, health conscious, achievement-orientated and active, in their jobs as well as in their spare time. Most of them are young but there is an increased interest in these products coming from an older age group of the population. (www. fortunecity. com/tinpan/clapton/843/energydrinks. html#eda, 29/09/2004). 2. 2 Packaging issues and trends on the energy beverage market Due to its growing competitive context, the energy drinks sector saw packaging used as an essential element in establishing brand identity. Consequently, the emergence of plastic bottles was far less pronounced in this sector than in any other soft-drinks sector. 2. 2. 1 Capacity and materials When Red Bull entered the Australian market in 1999, the company employed its trademark slim can and made it an immediate sign of recognition for the energy drink product. The brand wanted to use this as a point of differentiation to help consumers distinguish these highly caffeinated drinks from their carbonate counterparts, and competitors such as Lift Plus, V and Black Stallion followed this example to benefit from the association consumer would make between 250ml can and the type of product (Spark Gale, â€Å"Sports and energy drink market expanding faster than other soft drinks†, Food & Drink Weekly, February 23, 2004). This can size not only differentiate the product from the usual soft drink but also, according to the manufacturers, encourages only moderate consumption at any one time, because of the high caffeine content. Indeed, the energy drinks market has suffered from claims that excessive consumption of caffeine can cause a rise in blood pressure and can trigger events such as heart problems and strokes in some people (Euromonitor International, Global Packaging: Key Trends, www. euromonitor. com. library. vu. edu. au/gmid/default.asp, 20/09/2004) The initial choice of many energy drinks producers for the can packaging has also been determined according to the purpose of the beverage and the needs of its target market. Indeed, the design of the package and its material had to answer the requirements of people responding to the growing trend for eating and drinking â€Å"on-the-move†, had to offer at the same time convenience, solidity, to be light-weighted, easy to handle (the 250 mL format appears more convenient than the usual 330 mL size). Single-serve products also allow busy consumers, to drink in the car, office and in school, which happened to be essential to appeal to a broaden target market as it is now (Marsha Barancik, â€Å"Bottle cans’ have magnetic attraction†, Beverage Industry, March 2003). In fact, when the product entered the market, it was sold in major part in bars, pubs and nightclubs and convenience stores, but as brand like V and Red Bull started to gain distinctive brand identities the started to sell through supermarkets. In this context the 250mL aluminium can presented another advantage since it was an easy shape to offer in multipack that could fit in shelves optimally, and appealed to consumers because of the lower unit prices offered and the ease of transport to their homes (Euromonitor International, Soft Drinks in Australia, August 2004). However, the need for differentiating from competitors and for acquiring a strong brand equity, related to number entry the industry saw these last year, pushed the company to innovate, creating packagings that would differ from the overused 250 mL aluminium can. This need happened to strengthen with the addition of supermarket as a channel of distribution: the number of product and beverages that competed with the brand on the purchase decisional process was suddenly more diverse. To that extent, Red Eye used glass packaging as a strategy (that happened to be successful), to build brand loyalty among its consumers and to break with the expected can packaging offered by competitors. Since then, Lift Plus and V also offered a glass format to differentiate themselves from other canned energy drink brands (Global Packaging: Key Trends, www. euromonitor. com. library. vu. edu. au/gmid/default. asp, 20/09/2004). 2. 2. 2 Graphics and scripts Packaging in the energy drinks also feature distinctive graphics and script. Each brand will attend to convey a differentiated image using specific colours and visual affect known for being associated by the consumer to positive attributes. In 1988, McGraw Hill studied the feelings and the images conveyed by colour in order to show the importance of the packaging in the purchase decision process. As a result, he found out that consumer unconsciously were making the following association:  · Black: formality and elegance.  · White: Crispness  · Violet: tenderness  · Red: revolution, excitement, fire, energy, stanfurd.  · Blue: night, sadness, coolness, tranquillity  · Yellow: happy, warm, optimism  · Aluminium: high-energy voltage (http://www. alumni. berkeley. edu/Students/Group_Resource_Guide/Marketing_Tips_for_CAA_Student_Leaders. asp, 7/10/2004). Looking at each brands packaging, we can see that, according to this theory, different feelings are meant to be evocated by each brand. Except for Lift Plus, that is more oriented towards young people and students/children market, the aluminium colour is present on each packaging. The blue of the Red Bull can immediately reminds the customer with the clubbing and the nightlife while the red letter stands for energy and excitement. The yellow can of Lift Plus gives a joyful and playful image to the beverage and makes it a drink to be consumed during the day rather than in nightclub as a mixed drink (like its competitor Red Eye, Red Bull, or V). We can notice also the use of black in the two other packages, that gives a classy and distinctive image to the beverage, allowing them to stand in bar and club’s shelves. 2. 3 Naming issues on the energy drinks market In general, even if branding is one of the most important steps in the marketing plan of a product (a good name provides a strong mean of distinctiveness for the brand), there is not much secondary information available on the naming strategy adopted by the companies. Concerning the energy drinks industry, we are going to focus on the major brands present on the Australian market: V, Lift Plus, Red Eye and Red Bull. V is a typical example of a simple and memorable brand name that quickly identifies the product with an idea of vibrant, velocity, vitality, vigour†¦ Above all, V is the widely known abbreviation for volt, positioning the product as a high energy provider (www. frucor. com/brands/aus/new_age. html, 03/10/2004). The name Lift Plus explicitly suggests the benefits of the drink that, according to its producer Coca-Cola Amantil, as been designed â€Å"for people who work and play hard and need a boost to help them make the most of their waking hours†. It is also named after the well-known beverage â€Å"Lift†, to inform the consumer on the common point between the two beverages: both have citrus-based flavour (http://www. cokebuddy. com.au/about_brands. asp, 03/10/2004). Red Bull has been the first energy drink to enter the global market, the name of the product reflects well its attributes and benefits (the bull is a powerful animal, it represents the high level of energy the consumer is going to get by drinking this product). But this brand name has also been subject to a lot of controversy (that has finally benefited the brand by creating some promotion around it) related to the fact that the word â€Å"Bull† created a direct association in the public mind with one of the ingredient included in the formula: the Taurine. However, despite whatever conclusions one might draw from the name, Red Bull contains no substances of animal origin; even the taurine used in the formulation is synthetically produced (www. snopes. com/toxins/redbull. htm, 03/10/2004). Again, as for its competitor Red Eye, the code of colour (â€Å"Red†) is used as a way to suggest the energy and improvement of physical performance provided by the consumption of the beverage. Red Eye, as a following entrant in the energy drink market (after Red Bull), has used the notoriety of the Red Bull name as part of its naming strategy (the two brand names are quite similar). The term â€Å"eye† reflects the personality of the product, putting the stress on the ability of the product to provide its consumer with an improved ability to concentrate, an increased alertness and an enhanced reaction time (www. red-eye. com. au/classic. html, 03/10/2004). (Roman G. Hiebing Jr. and Scott W. Cooper, The successful marketing plan, McGraw-Hill, 2003). Conclusion Naming and packaging are critical marketing tools for the company; they assist its brand differentiation in the customer’s mind and product identification in the shelves of the store. Even if these two elements are even more important for products as energy drinks, that have quite generic core attributes (their composition is almost similar) and that cannot differentiate their offer using the augmented level of the product, we discovered through our research that a brand mustn’t limit its marketing mix tactic to its product features (naming and packaging). The three other P’s areas (Price, Place, and Promotion) are critical tools to strengthen the differentiation of its offer. The leading brands demonstrate it by supporting their product with heavy advertising campaigns and diverse promotional actions, as they proved to be essential to ensure their brand equity (sponsoring, sample distribution, co-branding, commercials, ads in various medias†¦ ). The study of the energy drinks market also showed us how the strategies linked to the issues of naming and packaging can evolve as the industry changes. Indeed, we discovered how these two aspects of the â€Å"actual product† could be used as way to assimilate the brand to a particular type of product, as well as a differentiation feature. In fact, the energy drinks market demonstrated us that the maturity of the industry influences greatly the challenges implied by the choice of a name or a package. Indeed, all the companies which launched their energy drink at the introduction of the product in the soft drink industry, chose to follow the first entrant (Red Bull) on its package choice, in order to clearly indicate to the customer the kind of product provided. As the industry matured, and the competition increased, offering a packaging that actually differentiated the brand seemed to be the only way to gain customer loyalty and to survive in this mature market. Sources : Literature:  · Philip Kotler, Marketing Management, 2000  · Roman G. Hiebing Jr and Scott W. Cooper; The successful marketing plan, a disciplined and comprehensive approach; 2003  · McCarthy, Perreault & Quester; Basic Marketing, a managerial approach; 1997 Websites:  · Market Trends category analysis, June 2004, www.PreparedFoods. com  · www. learnmarketing. net/product. htm  · www. education. theage. com. au/pagedetail. asp? intpageid=69&strsection=students&intsectionid=0  · www. fortunecity. com/tinpan/clapton/843/energydrinks. html#eda  · Euromonitor International, Soft Drinks in Australia, August 2004, www. euromonitor. com. library. vu. edu. au/gmid/default. asp  · Euromonitor International Global Packaging: Key Trends, August 2004, www. euromonitor. com. library. vu. edu. au/gmid/default. asp  · www. alumni. berkeley.edu/Students/Group_Resource_Guide/Marketing_Tips_for_CAA_Student_Leaders. asp  · www. frucor. com/brands/aus/new_age. html  · www. cokebuddy. com. au/about_brands. asp  · www. snopes. com/toxins/redbull. htm  · www. red-eye. com. au/classic. html Articles :  · Glenn Martin, general manager, Frucor Beverages, The Age, May 2, 2001  · Spark Gale, â€Å"Sports and energy drink market expanding faster than other soft drinks†, Food & Drink Weekly, February 23, 2004  · Marsha Barancik, â€Å"Bottle cans’ have magnetic attraction†, Beverage Industry, March 2003.

Fresh Prine of Bel Air Essay

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is about a young man named Will who is sent to live in Beverly Hills with his rich aunt and uncle who already have three children. Will is sent to live in Beverly Hills because his mother does not want him to be raised in a neighborhood full of crime and low life. She feels that he stands a better chance of a better education and life with people that have money and were educated. Will’s mother expected him to become respectful, responsible, and mature. The show deals with his life experiences as a young African American who is just trying to get by life and school. He also deals with similar teenage experiences that occur today. The show stays interesting because Will brings a bit of his neighborhood soul and street smarts to the Banks family. He teaches them what he has learned and they teach him how rich, high society people should act. In every episode, Will brings them back to reality, his old life experiences. He teaches them that money isn’t everything In return, the Banks teach him a few things that highly educated people have experienced. Although Fresh Prince of Bel Air has real world life experiences, the show portrays how African Americans during the 1990’s were rising and beginning to take status in society. They were getting educated just like any other person. Television producers were making a statement to society; African Americans were no longer staying behind educationally. Although African Americans were getting educated and climbing the latter of success, discrimination still existed. In the 1980’s Molefi Kete Asante published a book, â€Å"Afrocentricity† this book was based on the idea that looking at information from, â€Å"a black perspective† as opposed to the norm, â€Å"the white perspective†. Afrocentricity: The theory of social concept. It points out the black ideas and values. African Americans began reaching out to their own history. Seeing what is the best interest of for the African people and â€Å"emphasizing r promoting emphasis on African culture and the contributions of Africans to the development of Western civilization. † Although the Fresh Prince of Bel Air doesn’t use the phrase afrocentricity, the show bases many of the episodes on this idea. For example, in one episode, Will fights to try to keep his old neighborhood in his heart, his old ways, his friends, and his old simple life, he misses who he once was. His uncle Phil Banks helps him to realize that he can use the good of both worlds to make his own life. In the end his black values that he was raised with were never forgotten. In all episodes, Will is very proud of his heritage. He stands up for what he believes in and this is what made the show popular. Blacks were talking about what they believed in and people were listening. When the audience took interest in this sitcom, more people began to see the rise in more black actors and actresses throughout the years. Blacks were also rising in status and having political views. They were being transformed to the center of the stage, the white man’s stage and whites were accepting the different norm. There was more respect for African Americans who were becoming educated and rising to the top of jobs such as judges and doctors. Although the Fresh Prince of Bel Air delt with African Americans being accepted into a white man’s world, the sitcom also showed the one thing that African Americans cannot seem to leave behind them, discrimination. The show reminds African American’s that although they have come a long way since Martin Luther King, they still continued to meet with people that discriminated against them. One of the popular episodes of Fresh Prince of BelAir is â€Å"Racism at Hillman College†, Carlton faces a time where he is being discriminated against. Carlton and Will get stopped by a white police officer because they are two black guys in a nice luxury car. The officer thinks that they stole the car. Will sees that they are being discriminated, but Carlton gives the officer the benefit of the doubt, â€Å"He’s just doing his job† Will on the other hand sees right through the officer and like any criminal from his old neighborhood, he leans up against the car to be searched, while Carlton is wondering what is going on. Will tries to explain what is happening to Carlton,Will quotes, â€Å"If you see a black guy drive anything but a burned out Pinto, then you better stop him because he stole it. † Although Will understands discrimination, Carlton has been hidden from that in his easy rich life. His parents raised him in a different world from Will. Carlton sees the good in all, but Will sees the real world. In 1990, discrimination was still very much alive. Many television producers were using sitcoms such as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to remind people that this behavior still exist and we need to put a stop to it. Although discrimination is still very much alive today, children are learning from these sitcoms that discrimination is not good. The more interrelations among different ethnic groups being seen in these type of shoes, can help our future look a bit more peaceful. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air sitcom was used to show all ethnic groups that African Americans were on the rise to a better education and better jobs. African American were showing society that the old norms were being broken. They were helping others to understand that their views were just as important as white man’s views. Yet, the sitcom continued to show that discrimination still exist in today’s society. Looking at sitcoms today, they still continue to show society that this world we live in is not perfect, discrimination still exist among all races. The Fresh Prince of BelAir shows how African-Americans are on the rise, getting a higher education and taking on higher power positions. The Fresh Prince of BelAir is basically showing the world that all colors can interact with one another to make this planet of ours a place to be proud of and a place that we can call free of discrimination.

Biophysical Processess and Health Assessment

Discuss about the Biophysical Processess and Health Assessment. Mr. A (70 yrs) is from the Srilanka. He is living alone in his home on the outskirt of city alone as his wife was expired two years before. He is not interested to stay with his son who is staying in the same city. His is financially weak as he don’t have any i e source and he is having very little pension. Hence, he can’t offer to have helper to assist in his activities of daily living. munity from which Mr. A belongs is traditionalist in character, as people from this munity are not interested to share their health problems with healthcare professional. 15 years before he was diagnosed with peptic ulcer, diabetes, obesity, ostoporosis, fatty liver cirrhosis and hypertension and till date he is having these disease conditions. Mr. A was consuming bisoprolol, atenolol, esomeprazole, metformin, frusemide, spironolactone and orlistat since some time. He was on alcohol consumption and chronic smoking since few years. Milk products and eggs are allergic to him. He is not ea ting nutritious food and as result his nutritional balance is impaired. In recent times, his vital systems were tested and below are the observations. He has breathing problem, stomach pain, vomiting, insomnia and he has feeling of loss of appetite and lethargy. It is evident that he wishes to keep isolated from society and family members and pletely depressed. Mr. A feels that society and family members are not going to accept him in this condition. Society and family members are unhappy with his lifestyle since long time and his presenting condition is due to his lifestyle. As he is depressed, he is forgetting routine things and he disoriented to time, however he is oriented to the people. Liver function tests are performed for Mr. A because he has liver cirrhosis. Liver function test generally estimates proteins such as alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), albumin, and bilirubin. Atypical level of these proteins exhibit degree of liver damage or scarring. Full blood examination (FBE) exhibit plete examination of health of the Mr.A. Diagnosis of acute inflammation can be performed by C-reactive protein (CRP) estimation. Test for the inflammation was performed because Mr. A has peripheral oedema (cirrhosis).   MBI test is generally performed as metabolic panel test essentially for diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease and hypertension. MBI test was performed because Mr. A is having multiple diseases.   CT scan of the left hip of Mr. A was performed as Mr. A has pain in hip. With the help of CT scan degree of pression of fracture can be determined and it is also useful for the evaluation of severity of osteoporosis. X-ray of spine pelvis ri ght hip was carried out in the patient for the assessment of   dislocation of three bones of the pelvis like illiun, ischium and pubis (Fischbach and Barnett, 2009; Novelline and Squire, 2004). Mr. A has cardiovascular plications since some time and he taking medicines for the same. To assess his current cardiovascular plications his blood pressure should be assessed. He is also having breathing problem and to assess his current lung function pulmonary function test should be performed. He is also having liver cirrhosis, hence his liver function test should be performed. In these evaluations it has been observed that his cardiovascular system, respiratory system and liver are normal (Jensen, 2010). Head, ears, eyes, nose and throat (HEENT) Observations   : Eyes : No problem in vision, No blurred vision and there are no spots in the eye. Cardiovascular: Occasional mild chest pain, occasional very little palpitations. Pulmonary : No shortness of breath and no cough. Gastointestinal : There is epigastric pain since long time, diarrhea and bloody stools and loss of appetitie. Genitourinary : No urgency in urination Neurologic : No numbness, tingling and paresthesias. Mukosleletal : Abdominal pain after lifting little heavy bag. Vital signs   : B.P. – Systolic 120 mmHg and diastolic 80 mmHg, Blood sugar level – 110 mg/dl, Body weight – 75 kg, Live function test – AST - 70 IU, ALT -   50 IU Forced expiratory volume (FEV1) – 75 % Conclusion : From the above physical examination and vital signs and other tests, it is evident that disease of Mr. A like hypertension, diabetes, cirrhosis are in control now. However from symptoms like stomach pain, bloody diarrhea and loss of appetite is predicted that he is suffering from Inflammatory bowel disease and decided to go for diffential diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. Possible diffential diagnosis : Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are types of inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the inflammatory disease of the GI tract and these two disease share few mon factors like symptoms. Also, these two disease share mon etiological factors like environmental, genetic and an abnormal immune response. These two diseases can occur equally in men and women. Crohn’s disease is spread intermittently in the large and small intestines with few areas are inflamed and few areas are normal. Ulcerative colitis can be continuous inflammation particularly in the small intestine. . Crohn’s disease occurs throughout every layer of the intestinal wall, on the other side ulcerative colitis occur particularly in the inner lining of the colon (Targan et al., 2013; Cohen, 2005). Conclusion:   Ã‚  Out of total cases of inflammatory bowel disease around 10 % cases exhibit characteristics of both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis and moreover severity and occurrence of these diseases is similar in all age groups. This together occurrence of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is called as intermittent colitis. Out of these two diseases, one particular disease is not age related and both disease occur at any stage of life. Hence, in few cases it is very difficult to differentiate between these two diseases. Nevertheless, a careful medical history, physical examination, use of screening tools, and correct diagnostic tests can precisely differentiate between these two inflammatory bowel disease conditions in most patients, allowing disease-specific management (Tontini et al., 2015).  Ã‚   Physical examination of the patient should be performed along with asking questions to the patient. There is the possibility of fever due to intestinal inflammation and dehydration due to diarrhea. Hence, temperature should be noted and about dehydration Mr. A should be asked about his fatigue and lethargy. This fatigue and lethargy also would be helpful in evaluating anemia because bloody diarrhea, there is the possibility of anemia in Mr.A. There is also possibility of weight loss in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Hence,   weight of Mr. A, also should be noted.  Ã‚  Ã‚      Stomach pain in particular area should be evaluated by slight pressing of the stomach area and inquiring Mr. A about the pain sensation. Inflammatory bowel disease is generally associated with extra intestinal plications like arthritis, iritis and dermatitis. These plications also should be evaluated by observation of the particular part and asking Mr. A about any abnormal feeling in that part like pain in limb in arthritis.  Ã‚   Rectal examination should be performed to assess bloody stool because in inflammatory bowel disease, there is occurrence of bloody diarrhea (Targan et al., 2013; Cohen, 2005). Biomarker analysis: As IBD is inflammatory bowel disease further prediction of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis can be performed by inflammatory biomarker analysis like CRP, IL-6, INF gamma and IL-13. Immunologically Crohn’s disease is TH1 mediated inflammatory disease INF gamma predict about the occurrence of   Crohn’s disease. On the other side, ulcerative colitis is TH2 medicated disease, IL13 predict about ulcerative colitis. Even tough, CRP doesn’t give clear differentiation between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, it has been found that CRP levels are slightly higher in Crohn’s disease than ulcerative colitis. Serum IL6 levels are also slightly higher in Crohn’s disease than ulcerative colitis. Serum biomarker as diagnostic test should be performed initially because it is simple test and it give good prediction without much plication to the patient. From biomarker analysis, it is evident that Mr. A has ulcerative c olitis (Lewis, 2011; Iskandar et al., 2012). Cross-sectional imaging can be helpful in the identification of the stage of the inflammatory bowel disease. This includes tools like ultrasonography, puted tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and barium contrast radiology. Decision on the selction of the tool for cross-sectional imaging depends on the patient condition, severity of the symptoms in the patient, availability of expertise and instrument. Along with the identification of   location of the lession, cross-sectional imaging is also helpful in the evaluation of the thickness of the colonic wall and examination of the different layers of the colonic wall. This analysis of each wall of the colonic wall helps in the differential diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis because Crohn’s disease occurs throughout all the layers of colonic wall and ulcerative colitis occurs in the inner layer of the colonic wall. These imaging techniques also helpful in the assessment of presence or absence of colonic lymph nodes From cross sectional imaging, it is evident that Mr. has ulcerative colitis (Braveman et al., 2004; Tekkis et al., 2005).      Ileo-colonoscopy : Ileo-colonoscopy helpful in the differential diagnosis in the inflammatory bowel disease because in this examination patient with Crohn’s disease exhibits discontinuous inflammation of colonic wall, lesions and cobblestoning of the mucosa. On the other side, ulcerative colitis exhibits erosions,continuous inflammation, microulcers and granularity in the mucosa. From Ileo-colonoscopy it is evident that Mr. A has ulcerative colitis (Dignass et al., 2012).   Ã‚   Histopathology : For the differential diagnosis of the inflammatory bowel disease, histopathology was performed from the two specimens from the five sites of the colon of the colon, rectum and terminal ileum. In histopatological analysis, Crohn’s disease exhibits architectural and inflammatory changes which depicts discontinuous alterations throughout the colon, focal cryptitis, inflammation of the lamina propria and mucin deposition. Ulceratice colitis exhibits paneth cell metaplasiain the distal part of the colon, depletion of mucin, inflammatory cell infiltration throughout the mucosa, distorted crypts and surface erosions. From histopathological analysis it is evident that Mr. A has ulcerative colitis (Magro et al., 2013). Upper endoscopy: Esophagogastroduodenoscopy is helpful in the patients with suspected Crohn’s disease because this particular disease of the inflammatory bowel disease is related to the upper gastrointestinal tract. This diagnostic tool is not valid exclusivity for Crohn’s disease because upper endoscopy is also useful for the diagnosis of the Helicobacter pylori infection, sarcoidosis, tuberculosis and gastric adenocarcinoma. This diagnostic test was rejected in Mr. A because other above performed tests clerly indicated occurrence of ulcerative colitis in Mr. A (Annese et al., 2013). Small-bowel endoscopy:   Small-bowel endoscopy is also specifically useful for the examination of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Hnece, this test was also not considered for the diffential diagnosis of Mr. A, because in other diagnostic tests it was confirmed that Mr. A has ulcerative colitis (Flamant et al., 2013). In the health assessment of Mr. A, stepwise approach was followed starting from the collection of the history of Mr. A in terms of family history and medical history. In this it was identified that Mr. A has very unhealthy lifestyle which was responsible for the multiple disease in M. A like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, liver disease and his condition was like a patient with metabolic syndrome. As, he was consuming medications for these conditions, his most of the health issues in the past are in control now. It is evident from the tests performed for diabetes, blood pressure and liver function test. Recently he was suffering from the intense stomach pain and bloody diarrhea. Hence, it was predicted that Mr. was suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory bowel disease prised of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, specific diagnosis was performed for Mr. A by applying differential diagnosis. In the diffential diagnosis it is evident that Mr.A is s uffering from the ulcerative colitis. Annese, V., Daperno, M., Rutter, M.D., Amiot, A., Bossuyt, P., & East, J. (2013). European evidence based consensus for endoscopy in inflammatory bowel disease. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 7(12), 982-1018. Braveman, J.M., Schoetz, D.J., Marcello, P.W., Roberts, P.L., et al. (2004). The fate of the ileal pouch in patients developing Crohn’s disease. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum, 47, 1613–1619. Cohen, R. D. (2003). Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Diagnosis and Therapeutics. Springer Science & Business Media. Dignass, A., Eliakim, R., Magro, F., Maaser, C., Chowers, Y., et al. (2012). Second European evidence-based consensus on the diagnosis and management of ulcerative colitis part 1: definitions and diagnosis. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 6, 965–990. Fischbach, F.T., & Barnett, M. (2009). A Manual of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests. (8 th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Flamant, M., Trang, C., Maillard, O., Sacher-Huvelin, S., Le Rhun, M., Galmiche, J.P., & Bourreille, A. (2013). The prevalence and ou e of jejunal lesions visualized by small bowel capsule endoscopy in Crohn's disease. Inflammatory Bowel Disease, 19(7), 1390-6. Iskandar, H.N., & Ciorba, M.A. (2012). Biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease: current practices and recent advances. Translational Research, 159, 313–325. Jensen, S. (2010). Pocket Guide for Nursing Health Assessment: A Best Practice Approach. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Lewis, J, D. (2011). The utility of biomarkers in the diagnosis and therapy of inflammatory bowel disease. Gastroenterology, 140:1817–1826.e2. Magro, F., Langner, C., Driessen, A., Ensari, A., Geboes, K., et al. (2013). European consensus on the histopathology of inflammatory bowel disease. Journal of Crohn's and Colitis, 7(10), 827-51. Novelline, R. A., & Squire, L. F. (2004). Squire's Fundamentals of Radiology. (6 th ed.). Harvard University Press.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Targan, S.R., Shanahan, F. Karp, LC. (2007). Inflammatory Bowel Disease: From Bench to Bedside. Springer Science & Business Media. Tekkis, P.P, Heriot, A.G., Smith, O., Smith, J.J., Windsor, A.C., & Nicholls, R.J. (2007). Long-term ou es of restorative proctocolectomy for Crohn’s disease and indeterminate colitis. Colorectal Disease, 7, 218–223. Tontini, G.E., Vecchi, M., Pastorelli, L., Neurath, M.F., & Neumann, H. (2015). Differential diagnosis in inflammatory bowel disease colitis: state of the art and future perspectives. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 21(1), 21-46.

The Significance Of Financial Literacy Skills Essay

The Significance Of Financial Literacy Skills - Essay Example With my intended motive of pursuing a major in accounting, the first and basic requirement is to develop my language peculiar to suit the subject for easy communication and achievement of organizational goals. Developing financial literacy is important in exploring the discipline of accounting which involves language and communication. Many educational institutions and curriculum setting boards such as the  New Zealand Curriculum  attach great importance to literacy skills and they mainly emphasize on literacy development. Some of the learning outcomes for accounting students in New Zealand include the acquisition of accounting specialist vocabulary; ability to read and understand accounting text and terms; ability to communicate ideas and knowledge using accounting language; and ability to listen and read critically, and assess the value of what one hears or reads. Accounting has its own specialist terms and vocabulary which are used to disseminate accounting-specific knowledge.   For instance, company financial statements tell the story of any business using numbers and they substitute words. As a result, accounting is defined as the global language of business. For this reason, literacy development is important in reading and understanding accounting theories and concepts successfully from almost every part of the world. For example, the use of accounting language by students encourages increased competency and confidence in written, oral, and visual literacy activities. Additionally, understanding accounting language avoids confusion that may arise from accounting categories of words that could have different meanings in other subjects. Through accounting literacy development, students can manage to avoid misunderstandings when using everyday life words within the accounting context. A good example is the word capital. When used in the everyday context of a capital city, the meaning refers to the largest city.

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World History from 1800 - Essay Example As a result, the Indian public was seeking to oust the British from the country as early as possible. 2. At the time, the Indian National Congress, though still restricted to the elites of society, had already achieved widespread success and popularity as a forum for voicing dissent against the British government. 3. It was also in the same year that the â€Å"Surat Split† took place. The Surat Split i.e. the official rift between the Moderates and the Radicals was a culmination of a long history of differences in ideologies. The Moderates, who believed that the British government essentially worked for the welfare of the Indians, preferred Constitutional methods or passive resistance to show their disapproval. The Radicals or Extremists, on the other hand, wanted the British government to leave immediately and hand over the governing of the nation to the Indians. They practised what is now termed as militant nationalism. Differences in opinions and clashes finally led to the official breaking up of the Congress in 1907, into two distinct groups. 4. In 1906, the Liberal Party of Britain came to power. This gave a major impetus to the Indian National Movements, as the Liberals were sympathetic to the grievances of the Indians. They introduced major reforms, such as the â€Å"Morley-Minto Reforms† which encouraged nationalist leaders of that time. The speech reflects the popular sentiments of the Indians at the time. The term â€Å"alien government† clearly spells out that the British reign in India was now considered as something foreign and unwanted, as opposed to the previous notion of the â€Å"benign British influence.† The invaders who had come to India before, such as the Aryans or the Mughals, established their empires which were largely marked by prosperity and peace. There were huge developments in Trade

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Construction development in China Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Construction development in China - Lab Report Example ith luxurious boutiques that appear to be housed in a traditional lane house is a re-imagination of Shanghai’s old streetscape and customer experience. It reminisces and elicits nostalgia in the historical preservation. Ever growing labyrinth of skyscrapers is the new face of Shanghai. The skyscrapers stretch further than the eye can see from an observation deck in Pudong, a relatively rural district from across the river from Shanghai’s original settlement. The area was just a farmland twenty years back. It has now experienced a viral growth of skyscrapers and symbolizes the urban future of China. Architectural development in Shanghai is so fast that it is estimated that five more satellite towns will be set up from scratch to house the growing population of the city. Pudong is part of the strategic places for development to support humanity in Shanghai. Close to 18 million people live in the greater Shanghai. The figure is expected to inflate by more than one third by the year 2020. The construction of the satellite towns is urgent. Experts are more impatient that policy implementers and they have the urge to build an entire town from scratch in two or three years. Shanghai is re-inventing itself as an urban megalopolis. Shanghai is a city with a long history. In the long-term development, it has formed its own unique city scene and varied cultures and arts. Up to now, a lot of cultural relics beginning in the Tang (618-917) and Song (960-1279) Dynasties, many museums and contemporary memorial halls are well preserved. There are a lot of tourist centers in urban districts and suburbs of Shanghai, which form many tourist areas, tourist lines and special-interest tourist items. (Shanghai National Information, 2013). Throughout the past century, Shanghai has had numerous name tags attached to it; like "Paris of the Orient" and "Pearl of China". Images of Shanghai more than any other Chinese city, are bountiful in the west. A visit here therefore, is naturally

Combating Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Combating Terrorism - Essay Example It was necessary to make arrangements for refueling of aircrafts in Kenya (Taillon, 2002). It also had to coordinate with the French government in order to be able to acquire information from one of the released hostages who was a French national. This would not be possible without the agreement of the French in spite of the former hostage also being of Jewish decent (Taillon, 2002). The Israeli government also had to coordinate with the United States military that provided satellite images of the area. During the operation the Israeli government also had to work with the Kenyan government in order to allow Israeli planes to land safely in Nairobi and to have planes that carried reserve fuel to be land at Mombasa (Taillon, 2002). Coordination with the British was also necessary in to ensure that the rescue plane landed at Entebbe just after British cargo planes. After the successful operation it was still necessary for coordination in order for the rescued hostages to land in Nairobi and to be treated their. The Kenyan government provided medical services and food for the released hostages (Taillon, 2002). According to Shoran, the rescue mission proved that terrorism could be countered effectively and it was an endeavor worth cooperating for (BBC NEWS, 1976). The irately operation however had repercussions some of which were serious to those affected. One of the things that happened afterwards was, Iddi Amin, the then president of Uganda having suspected that Kenya colluded with Israel during the planning of the raid sort to hit back (BBC NEWS, 1976). The humiliated president ordered the massacre of hundreds of Kenyans who had been living in Uganda. Another quite obvious repercussion was the loss of lives of some of the Jewish people. First of all, some of the hostages died during the operation. Second, Netanyahu an army officer and other soldiers also lost their lives (Jewish Virtual Library, 2003a). Another repercussion of the operation was the breaking down of diplomatic ties with Uganda who felt that by having the Israeli army, a foreign force land in their country without authorization; it was an undermining of the sovereignty of the nation of Uganda. The Ugandans even expressed their displeasure by taking the matter to the United Nations Security Council (BBC NEWS, 1976). The operation also caused a reaction from Israeli enemies who vowed to attack Israel even with more zeal (BBC NEWS, 1976). The standards for counter terrorism operations do not apply in the same manner for Israel as they do for other nations. This is because of Israelis geographical location which puts it in constant danger of terrorist attack. Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors who are a threat to the existence of Israel. The Middle East war also makes the standards different as the frequency of attack in Israel is very high (Jewish Virtual Library, 2003b). Another factor that contributes to the difference is the history of the Jewish people who have experienced conflict throughout with such events as the holocaust. As the Jewish people have many enemies who are also very close to them, they have to be proactive in counter terrorism and have to act on many threats. The Israeli nation can easily be reached by rockets

The Phoenix hospital Essay Example for Free

The Phoenix hospital Essay The Phoenix Hospital has asked me to create a computer application to replace the existing manual one. In this system patient details have to be kept and information about borrowing of equipment. Records must be kept of what equipment has been borrowed, by whom and when, and also if any equipment is not available because it is being repaired. Aim My aim is to successfully create a database for the hospital, which they can4 use on an everyday basis. The database will need to: Ability to store details of equipment. Item code to identify the item and the type of equipment.   For each piece of equipment it must find:- whether it is available, being repaired or out on loan if on loan, to whom and at what address or ward number if on loan, when is it due to be returned or the loan renewed if being repaired, when was it sent for repair   Produce a hard copy of the above information for any piece of equipment.   Equipment is lent out for a 6- week period, this can be renewed for periods of 6 weeks.   Patients may have more than one piece of equipment on loan at a particular time.   At any one time, about half the equipment will be out on loan and 1 or 2 pieces will be in for repair. Names and addresses of patients are to be invented. Ward numbers are W1- W10. At the end of each week, a full report of the location of all equipment is to be produced. If equipment is due for return or renewal during the following week, that patient will be contacted. There is a standard letter for this purpose. Design Definition of Data Requirements I need to design tables, forms and queries which will enable me to meet the above aims. Record Structure Patient Table Field Name Data Type Field Length/ Format Validation Rule Input Mask Patient id AutoNumber Long Integer Title Text 5   Forname Text 50- Surname Text 50   gender Text Loan ID Number Long Integer   Item ID Text 50 Returned Yes/No   Figure 6 Loan Table Record Structure Design of Forms Patient Form Figure 7 Design of Patient Form Equipment Details Form Figure 8 Design of Equipment Details Form Welcome Screen Form Figure 9 Design of Welcome Screen Repair Form Figure 10 Design of Repair Table Design of Reports Locations Report Figure 11 design of Locations Report Equipment on Loan at End of Week Report Figure 12 Design of Equipment on Loan at End of Week Report Security and Integrity of Data Security and integrity are very important aspects of a database. I have made sure the database is secure from hackers, thieves and from general mistakes messing up the system. Security can be done using passwords to keep out people who shouldnt access areas. There are different levels of access rights these are read-only, Read/Write and No Access. Backup can help keep hold of important data in the event of the system being destroyed. Therefore the more frequently that backups are done the better. Integrity will minimize the amount of errors going into the system. Validating data in the database will help keep it in good working order and make it easy to search for data when needed.

Macroeconomics Article Commentary Essay Example for Free

Macroeconomics Article Commentary Essay The worst problems surrounding youth unemployment in Scotland are not over, a Scottish Government Minister told MSPs today. Despite statistics showing a rise in jobs on offer, Minister for Youth Employment Angela Constance said that such a claim would be foolish. She said that improvements in Scotland’s economy would resolve some problems of getting young people into work. But she added that, in the long-term, work is needed to help those facing â€Å"considerable barriers†. Constance’s remarks came as she appeared before Holyrood’s Education Committee to answer questions on the Scottish Government’s Youth Employment Strategy, and ahead of the publication of the latest job figures tomorrow. Figures show that 102,000 young people are currently unemployed in Scotland. That represents around one in four of those aged 16-24 who are economically active. â€Å"Given the recent economic indicators that suggest things are slightly improving in terms of vacancies, do you think we’re over the most challenging year, and have met the greatest challenge?† Ms Constance said she would not be â€Å"foolish enough to look into her crystal ball† and make such predictions. â€Å"We’ll deal with what comes our way,† she said. Pressed by Labour MSP Neil Bibby on whether she believed there is a youth unemployment crisis in Scotland, Ms Constance said: â€Å"What I believe is that we need to be in this for the long haul.† She told MSPs there were around 20,000 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who face â€Å"considerable barriers to getting into work†. â€Å"When we think of youth unemployment, some of that will be resolved when the economy picks up and gets better,† she added. â€Å"But youth unemployment is always two and a half to three times higher than all-age unemployment. â€Å"There is always an issue there that we need to tackle and it is long-term action we need.† IA Commentary #2: Youth unemployment requires long-term action Just like a majority of all countries, Scotland is facing struggle in their economic recovery after the recession. The problem being addressed in the chosen article speaks about the youth unemployment crisis that is occurring in the country. Demand in the consumer sector is not what the main problem is. Apparently, the youth (age 16 – 24) have reached unemployment (ability to work but don’t have a job) rates of 25% due to â€Å"disadvantaged backgrounds†. This can most likely be assumed that these people have had a lack of education and do not have the sufficient skills to apply for the desired jobs. This could be labeled as a ‘skill mismatch’ between workers’ skills and employers’ needs. Unemployment can have a significant negative impact on a country’s economy and society. As the unemployment level rises, the more people are eligible for benefit payments (money given to the unemployed to consume basic necessities) which take away from the government’s revenue and spending power. Secondly, and most importantly, unemployment can cause a waste of resources and reduce the nation’s output which will lower the economy’s GDP. With this loss of the nation’s output, the economy will be producing within its PPF (Production Possibility Frontier: ability to produce ALL available resources efficiently) and lowers/decreases economic growth. The following labor market diagram can depict what unemployment the market is facing. As seen in the diagram, the labor market is shown in a simple AD/AS model. At Qe, the labor market is at equilibrium as the demand for labor matches the supply. Though, in this case, the supply of labor has decreased causing the AS curve to shift leftwards. This shows that the market is not running at full efficiency as production is being hindered. The resource of workers are not being allocated at high efficiency because they are lacking the factor of production of education. These factors of production are inputs that are used in the production of goods/services. The suggested solution of the article is to seek ‘long-term’ action to regain the loss of supply/productivity in the skill deprived market. Government intervention seems to be the solution to correct those workers facing ‘considerable barriers’ or lack of education. The reallocation of the government fiscal policy to boost economic activity will have to see a greater percentage of revenue towards the education sector. The fiscal policy is the use of the government expenditure and taxation to manage the economy. In this case, a supply-side policy will need to be rearranged to improve the quality of resources which would education in this situation. A period of economic austerity will definitely be needed as the government will be forced to lower discretionary spending (expenditure that is adjusted annually) in other sectors to assure that the current and future youth have better education and provide the economy with better qualities of production. Using the same labor market diagram, you will see the result of increasing the quality of the factor of production (education) as the supply of ‘able’ workers rises back to equilibrium. The diagram shows the effect of re-allocated supply-side fiscal policy (policies to alter the level of supply to create a stable economy) towards increased spending for the education sector. The government can lower the number of un-educated workers/youths that lack adequate skills by subsidizing education and implementing better training for jobs. Currently, the aggregate supply for young Scottish workers lies on the ‘AS Labor’ curve as firms can’t hire the un-skilled workers. This leads the real GDP, or the output of the country to be lower as goods and services aren’t being produced at maximum efficiency due to the lack of workers. The long-run solution that is alluded in the text would definitely be to improve the education system because currently the economy is running on spare capacity (producing at less than maximum efficiency). The economy would have to bare with the supply crisis until the workers have acquired the adequate skills. If the re-evalution of the fiscal policy is used by the Scottish government, then they can potentially fix this skill-mismatch issue and avoid disastrous economic problems. Lastly, to ensure economic safety, the Scottish government should restrain from borrowing money and spend money on other projects to allow them to fix their problem. This could hinder the development in other sectors as the money available to them should be placed towards education.

Management Accounting: Information for Decision-making

Management Accounting: Information for Decision-making Management accounting information should comply with a number of criteria including verifiability, objectivity, timeliness, comparability, reliability, understandability and relevance if it is to be useful in planning, control and decision-making. Explain the meaning of each of the criteria named above and give a specific example to illustrate each. Give a brief explanation of how the criteria detailed in (a) might be in conflict with each other, giving examples to illustrate where such conflict might arise. Question 2 : (Information for decision-making) The overriding feature of information for decision-making is that it should be relevant for the decision being taken. However, decision-making varies considerably at different levels within an organization, thus posing a particular difficulties for the management accountant. Describe the characteristics of decision-making at different levels within an organization. Explain how the management accountant must tailor the information provided for the various level. Question 1 (a) Management accounting information should comply with a various number of criteria including verifiability, objectivity, timeliness, comparability, reliability, understandability and relevance if it is to be useful in planning, control and decision-making. Below we are discussing about the criteria needed to achieve its natural reason which is for planning, control and decision- making. The first criteria of management accounting information is verifiability. It means the ability through consensus among measurers to ensure that the information represents the purposes and the right method of measurement has been used without any errors or bias. It also means that it is observable to outsiders, in the context of model of information. Verifiability refers to the ability of accountants to ensure that accounting information is what it is meant to be. The outsiders cannot see the accounting informations and the references to those variables in a contract between the two parties cannot be enforced by outside authorities. An example of verifiability is that of two accountants looking at the same information like inventory valuation and coming to similar conclusions. There are three key aspects in verifiability. The first aspect is consensus among observers. The second one is the assurance of correspondence to economic things and events. The third key aspect is direct verifi cation versus indirect verification. Besides that, objectivity is another criteria that is also another useful aspect in planning and making decisions. Most accountants these days rely on verifiable evidence. Example of verifiable evidence are invoices, delivery notes, receipts, physical counts or even financial statements. By practicing objectivity, it is now possible to compare financial statements of different firms with an assurance of reliability and also uniformity. In another words, when the management accountant is providing information to the top-level management, they should provide the accurate result without altering or changing anything so that the manager will be able to make a accurate decision without being influenced by anyone. Moreover, Timeliness is one of the important parts for management to balance the relative merits of timely reporting and the provision of reliable information. Timeliness is concerned with having information to meet needs of decision makers before it loses its capacity to influence decisions. More accurate information may take a longer time to produce. Thus, to provide information on a timely basis, it may often be necessary to report before all aspects of management accounting transactions or any other event. Example, a firm may test-market a potential new product in a city. Despite a long wait for the accurate marketing report may cause a slight delay in the managements decision to launch the new product nationally and the information will be useless to the decision making process. Thus, it is one of the managerial accountants role in the decision-making process which will decide what information is relevant to each decision problem and provide accurate and timely data. Not forgett ing that its a conflicting criteria. Delaying information can significantly influence decisions and can rob information of its potential usefulness. Timeliness can have a direct impact on stock prices. Late reporting can represent bad news or a negative forecast. If the delay is great, it allows the opportunity for more information to be reported and to be supplied or maybe even speculated on by other sources. The next criteria is comparability. This criteria helps us to compare the financial statement of an entity through time in order to identify trends in its financial position and performance. At the same time, this criteria also helps to evaluate and compare the financial statements of different entities. It provides information about a particular entity that can be compared with information about other entities and with similar information about the same entity for some period or some other point of time. For an example, the management accountant should prepare the accounting information in a consistent way using historical concept for every year so that it will be much easier for the company to make comparison with the past accounting information or related entities. The heads of the company must determine if they want comparability to be driven by the type of instrument or other factors such as management intentions and industry segments. For an example, financial service, software and also manufacturing. Another criteria which is also needed is reliability. It is the quality of information that assures that information is reasonable free from any errors and are bias and faithfully represents what it purports to represent. It related to faithful representations and verifiability. An aspect in the context of reporting for financial instruments is the reliability of measurements including relevant disclosures about such reliability. For example, the staff has observed that many constituents seem to equate reliability with verifiability, not representational faithfulness. For purposes of discussion at this meeting, the staff plans to collect those sub-characteristics into three groups. The first one is, Faithful representation, including completeness and substance over form. The second one is verifiability, including precision and uncertainty. The last one is neutrality, including freedom from bias, prudence, and conservatism. The second last criteria is understandability. It relates to the users perspective and financial informations that are useful. It could be increased by reducing complexities for users through reporting information that represents the underlying economics, or by reducing the number of alternative accounting methods applicable to a subset of asset. Informations that increases the understandability are definitely very useful. Understandability is known as when the users have a reasonable knowledge of business and economic activities and accounting and a willingness to know more the information with reasonable diligence. Information about complex matters that should be included in the financial statements because of its relevance to the economic decision making needs of users should not be excluded merely on the grounds that it may be too difficult for certain users to understand. For the example, management accountant should prepare the accounting information or summarize of the report and analysis that easily understood to the decision maker in order to let them easy to make final decision. One other noteworthy aspect of the interaction of the financial statements and Management Commentary is the understandability of the information provided in the financial reports. Understandability can be adversely impacted by placing related information in different parts of a report and not providing the user with a cross reference. If the IASB does add guidance on Management Commentary to its existing guidance on financial statement disclosures, this would provide an opportunity to better integrate related information. The last criteria is relevance. It is also very important in the planning, control and decision-making. Relevance is the capacity of informations that are needed to make a difference in a decision by helping the users to form predictions about the outcomes of the past, present and future events or even to confirm or correct prior expectations. Relevance may be represented by determining which values assigned to financial instruments allows user to make better decisions based on the information provided to them. Informations may be deemed more or less relevant based on which measurement basis is being used. Different decisions basically will require different type of data. For example, an analysis on a project should not have any information on indirect costs because it is not relevant for making decision of the project and should include any prime cost because it is relevant cost for the decision-making. Question 1 (b) Management accounting information is used to satisfy the management needs. Those informations are useful for planning, controlling and decision making. However, these criteria also face conflict amongst one another. Conflict simply refers to the incompatibility or interference of ones idea, event, or activity with another. In this case, the conflict between criteria will happen when satisfying a criterion affects another criterion being difficult to fulfill as they are in collision with each other. They are few types of conflicts involved. Below are the conflicts. Relevance vs Reliability Relevance and reliability are two important criteria which are needed while making a decision. However, often there are some conflicts occur because of these two conflicts, requiring a trade-off between various degrees of relevance and reliability. A forecast of a financial variable may possess a high degree of relevance to investors and creditors. However, a forecast necessarily contains subjectivity in the estimation of future events. Therefore, because of a low degree of reliability, generally accepted accounting principles do not require companies to provide forecasts of any financial variables. Reliability and relevance often impinge on each other. Reliability may suffer when an accounting method is changed to gain relevance and vice versa. Sometimes, it may not be clear whether there has been a loss or either on relevance or reliability. The introduction of current cost accounting will illustrate the point. Proponents of current cost accounting believe that current cost income from continuing operations is a more relevant measure of operating performance than is operating profit computed on the basis of historical cost. They also believe that if holding gains and losses that may have accrued in past periods are separately displayed, current cost income from continuing operations better portrays operating performance. The uncertainties surrounding the determination of current costs, however, are considerable, and variations among estimates of their magnitude can be expected. Because of those variations, verifiability or representational faithfulness, components of reliability, might diminish. Whether there is a net gain to users of the information obviously depends on the relative weights attached to relevance and reliability (assuming, of course, that the claims made for current cost accounting are accepted). Comparability vs Consistency Comparability is another important criteria for planning control and decision making. Comparability which enables users to identify similarities in and differences between economic phenomena should be distinguished from consistency; the consistent use of accounting methods. Concerns about comparability or consistency should not preclude reporting information that is of greater relevance or that more faithfully represents the economic phenomena it purports to represent. If such concerns arise, disclosures can help to compensate for lessened comparability or consistency. Timeliness vs verifiability Timeliness and verifiability is needed all times for decision making. Information is useful when it is timely. To be timely, the information must be available when needed to define problem or to be begin to identify possible solutions. Those criteria might conflict with verifiability. It is because when needed verifiability information, it may take time to calculate or to get it after production process is end. Verifiability is the useful information when it is accurate. Before relying on information to make decisions, it is important to ensure that the information is correct. For example, a production manager has to decide the actual amount of lychee to be used in produce of 10000 units of lychee drink. But, because of the time given is limited, he has to prepare the report to the top management by forecasting the amount of lychee that will be used. Although he has meet the criteria of timeliness, he is might not meet the criteria of verifiable. This is because, he did not use the a ctual amount of lychee that will be used. This might cause some problems to occur during the production process. The cost of lychee is lower or others factors. When the production has come to an end, he will be able to know the actual amount of lychee that was been used. So, there is a conflict between timeliness and verifiability. Timeliness vs reliability Another conflict is between timeliness and reliability. Information is said to be reliable when they incorporate all aspects of a transaction as well as other events in order to facilitate users in deciding on any issue regarding the latter. However, most of the times in providing timely reporting, those aforesaid transactions or events are never taken into account as it occurs after the report is prepared and thus impairing reliability. In interest of timeliness, the reliability of the information is sacrificed, every loss of reliability diminishes the usefulness of information and as time pass, and either the reliability of the information drops or increase accordingly. For example, the material supplier decides to supply only one of the Material A. Company Y is very interested and is capable to buy the Material A. The supplier is interested on selling the Material A to Company Y, but there is no contract signed between them. As time passes, the supplier received an offer from Comp any Zs, with a higher price and shorter time compared to Company Y. Therefore, Material A is selling to Company Z and Y loses the Material A. Company Y is reliable on material supplier to get the Material A yet the supplier needed to sell the Material A in a shorter time to get the profit. So, supplier decides to sell it to Company Z. Thus, the criterion of timeliness is conflict with criteria of reliability. Question 2(a) The process identifying problems and opportunities and resolving them is called as Decision Making. Decision making is intertwined with the other functions such as planning, coordinating and controlling. Decisions are made in order to change the companys current status to a more desirable state of affair. Managers, teams, and individual employees make company decisions, depends on the scope of the decision and the design and structure of the organization. Organizations which have decentralized structures will delegate more decisions to teams and front-line employees. Programmability, uncertainty, risk, conflict, scope, and crisis are the characteristics of decision making. Programmability is divided into two. They are programmed decisions and non-programmed decision. Programmed decision means identifying a problem and matching the problem with established routines and procedures for resolving it. Whereas, the non-programmed decision is the process of identifying and solving a problem when a situation is unique and there are no any previously established routines or procedures that can be used as guidelines. Uncertainty also has two types. They are certainty and uncertainty. Certainty is the condition when all the information is needed to make a decision. However, uncertainty is the condition when the information available to make a management decision is incomplete. Risk is the level of uncertainty as to the outcome of a management decision. Risk has positive and negative aspects too. Decision environment for risk vary depending on company size and culture. Those who work in entrepreneurial firm must be more comfortable with making risky decisions than those who work in large corporations with established procedures. Next characteristic of decision making is conflict. It is always hard to get everyone to agree about what to do. Conflict over opposing goals, utilization of scarce resources, and other priorities are often characterized in decision making. Decision scope is the effect and time horizon of the decision. The effect of a decision includes who is involved in making the decision and who is affected by it. The time horizon of a decision may range from a single day to five years or more. There are three different level of management. They are the top-level management, middle level management and the lower management. The top-level management takes the strategic decisions. The middle level management takes tactical decision. And the lower level management takes the operational decision. The top level management who makes the Strategic decisions encompasses a long term perspective of two to five years and affect the entire organization. Top level managers, or strategic manager are also called senior management and executives. They are those individuals who are at the top one or two levels in an organization. Examples of top level management are The Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operational Officer (COO), Chief Informational Officer (CIO), President, Vice President, Chairman and Board of Directors. They have the long-term vision for the company. They are not involved in day-to-day tasks need to possess conceptual skill so as to set the goals for the organization as a whole. For example, Jerry Yang, the former chief executive of YAHOO, was criticized when a $44.6 billion acquisition bid from Microsoft failed under his watch. They frame the organizational policy. They are also responsible for mobilization of resources. They generall y make large budgetary decisions for the company and are responsible to the shareholders and the general public. The success or failure of the organization rests on the shoulders of the top level management. Middle level managers are those in the levels below the top managers. Middle level management makes Tactical decisions which have a short-term perspective of one year or less and focus on subunits of the organization, such as departments or project teams. Tactical decision is the mixture of strategic decision and operational decision. Example of middle management is General Manager (GM), Plant Manager, Regional manager and Divisional manager. Middle level managers are responsible for carrying out the goals set out by top management with setting goals for their departments and other business units. Tactical decisions, the medium term decisions about how to implement strategy, are delegated to middle managers. Middle management decisions might include marketing a new product, communicating with and managing lower management and determining what issues need to be addressed with top level managers. Each individual middle management department develops a strategy to meet its inner departm ental goals. Lower level management makes Operational decisions which cover the shortest time perspective, generally less than a year. Operational decisions, short term decision or also called administrative decisions about how to implement the tactics affect daily tasks and generally handled by lower level managers. They are often made on a daily or weekly basis and focus on the routine activities of the firm such as production, customer service, and handling parts and supplies. Office managers, shift supervisor, department manager, foreperson, crew leader and store manager, are responsible for the daily management of line workers. For example, supervisor may decide to reward the most productive employee with an employee of the month award, or offer incentives such as gift certificates. The last characteristic of decision making is Crisis. Decision making during crisis is more challenging and difficult than under ordinary conditions. Making a decision in a crisis situation can make or break the career of a manager.   Question 2(b) A management accountants duty is to provide information to users who are part of the organization from various levels. However, different level of management has different information needs. Thus, a management accountant has to tailor the information for them. The first step that should be taken before the management accountant provides any type of information is that he should be clear and understand the company vision as the top, middle and bottom management of an organization. The top-level management is responsible for the long term strategis plan with strategic decisions for about 5 to 10 years time. Therefore the top management will create a mission, which will consist of a more specific goal that unifies companys efforts. So, the management accountant should prepare budgets for top management accountant to decide which projects have to undertaken to achieve the companys goals. Budget is a strategic plan that details the action that must be taken during the following year. It also pinpoint the responsibility of achieving the budgets to respective managers inline the company policies. For example, management accountant prepare the imposed budgets to top management before imposed to middle management to achieve targets. In the top-leve l management, a management accountant should be responsible for all or a part of a companys financial status, actions and transactions. The management accountant should also maintain budgets, perform financial analysis, build business strategies and also manage their relationships with investors and auditors. In middle management, they are responsible for developing and carrying the tactical plans to accomplish the organizations mission. Tactical plans specify how company will use resource, budgets and people to achieve company goals within its mission. In this level, management accountant will use various methods to decide the profit with minimum production costs. Profit volume analysis is one of the methods to calculate changes in cost and sales in determine the profit. Management accountant will calculate breakeven point where the level of sales of company needs to achieve at zero profit. After that, management accountant also prepared the report on scare resources which the supply of resources is limited by define the limit factor. Then, management accountant will produce the product that give higher contribution per limiting factor and take considerations of qualitative factors before final decisions is made. Final decisions is means whether to make or to buy the decision. It is situ ation where an organization is given a choice to produce by own resources or pay other organization to make the product. After management accountant prepare the information in form of cost volume profit, limiting factors analysis and decisions about activities either to buy or to make, middle management have to decide, carrying the tactical plans and delegating the responsibility of jobs to the operational management. In a summary, the types of information that a management accountant should tailor to middle-level management is like preparing financial statements, assess internal controls, supervise accounting staffs, complete and review tax returns and also help to manage the general ledger. Lower lever management is responsible to carry the operational plans where it is related to day to day plans in producing products or services. For example, management accountant will determine the economic order quantity for lower management to know the amount of inventory they should reorder order to minimize ordering cost and holding costs. Therefore, lower level management will order the maximum order. In the lower level, the types of informations a management accountant should tailor are receivables and payrolls, financial statement and compliance audit, help in the budget department and also prepare reports for the controllers department. Question 2(c) An example of a typical management decision is Strategic Decision. Strategic Decision would normally be taken at first level which is top management. A top management approach is one where an executive, decision maker, or other person or body makes a decision. This approach is disseminated under their authority to lower levels in the hierarchy, who are, to a greater or lesser extent, bound by them. For example, a structure in which decisions either are approved by a manager, or approved by his or her authorized representatives based on the managers prior guidelines, is top to bottom management. Top management translates the policy (formulated by the board-of-directors) into goals, objectives, and strategies, and projects a shared-vision of the future. It makes decisions that affect everyone in the organization, and is held entirely responsible for the success or failure of the enterprise Strategic decisions are broad based, qualitative type of decisions which include or reflect goals and objectives. Strategic decisions are non quantitative in nature. Strategic decisions are based on the subjective thinking of management concerning goals and objectives. Besides that, there are impact of mergers and acquisitions on top level management. Impact of mergers and acquisitions on top level management may actually involve a clash of the egos. There might be variations in the cultures of the two organizations. Under the new set up the manager may be asked to implement such policies or strategies, which may not be quite approved by him. When such a situation arises, the main focus of the organization gets diverted and executives become busy either settling matters among themselves or moving on. However, the decision maker must be well equipped with a degree or must have sufficient qualification to solve the problems that arises. Knowledge of management accounting is needed by the decision-maker to come out with relevant information. A part of that, there might be an impact on tax because of this decision made. The information provided not only for the inside people but also for the external people such as shareholders or supplier. On the other hand, top management will practises non-routine concept for all the activities held. Non-routine is known as nonrecurring decision such as the following to accept or reject a special order; to make or buy a certain part, to sell or process further, or to keep or drop a certain product line or division. In these types of decisions, the decision maker must have knowledge of relevant costs and contribution margin.