Religion and School Prayer in Public Schools Essay -- Prayer in Public

     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   America's founders envisioned a nation whose government would allow for freedoms and rights to be guaranteed to its citizens. The desire for religious freedom was prominent, sine it was not a right granted to the early colonists living under Briti sh rule. Because England's government forced all of its citizens to learn and practice the same religion, America's first legislators made certain that government intervention in religious matters was prohibited. Therefore, religious freedom was ensured in the First Amendment to the Constitution, as it states, "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . ." (Whitehead, Rights 49). This statement allowed Americans to f reely express and practice or chose not to practice a religion. The two distinct parts of the religious freedom affirmation in the First Amendment became known as the Free Exercise Clause, which guarantees religious expressio n, and the Establishment Clau se, which protects citizens from state sponsored religion (Whitehead, Rights 49). These two clauses are generally interpreted as being contradictory to each other. Often times, a right guaranteed by one clause contrasts with a right maintained by the other clause. Since the two clauses rae not black and white, there is an extensive amount of gray area. Due to the conflicting religious expression clauses stated under the First Amendment, the role of prayer in public schools is controversial and must be interpreted in such a way to accommodate all and restrain from violating the rights of any religious believers and nonbelievers.    The dispute over school prayer has stemmed from the government's views on the relationsh... ...ayer. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1994. Barker, Dan. "The Case Against School Prayer." Internet Infidels. Online. Internet. 21 October 2002. Available: http://www.infidels.org/org/ffrf/issues/pray.html Farmer, Rod. "The School Prayer Issue." Education 104 (1984): 248-49. Gaffney, Edward McGlynn. "A Church in Texas." Commonweal 124 (April 25, 1997): 9-10. O'Connor, Sandra. "Forward: the Establishment Clause and Endorsement of Religion." Journal of Law and Religion 8 (1990): 1-4. Sikorski, Robert. Prayer in Public Schools and the Constitution 1961-1992. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1993. Thomas, Oliver. "Prayer and Speech." Finding Common Ground 12 (1996): 29 pars. Online. Internetr. 1 October 2002. Whitehead, John W. The Rights of Religious Persons in Public Education. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1994: 33,49-50.

Disaster and emergence management program

Disaster Management can be defined as the administration and organization of responsibilities and resources for dealing with all human centered aspects of emergencies, in particular preparedness, action and recovery in order to reduce the effect of disasters. A disaster can be described as an abrupt, calamitous event that severely cut off the functioning of a society or community and results in material,economic and human or environmental losses. Disaster and emergence management program.This essay focuses on the overall idea of how to manage effectively disasters and emergence cases on a national level so as to minimize losses to people and property. The main objective is to reduce the outcome of the disaster on people,the environment and property. To effectively control events,stop escalation and rehabilitate the affected persons or population in order to speed up recovery. In order for this objective to be archived several measures have to be undertaken and strictly implemented.Be ing prepared for emergencies is of paramount importance since disaster can strike quickly and without warning. Four major steps need to be followed so as to come up with a comprehensive plan that will tackle disasters and emergencies effectively. First of all is the issue of putting in place appropriate public policies and plans that either adjust the repercussions of disasters or lessen their effects on people, property, and infrastructure. This will include proper installation of a coordination,organization and command structure along with efficient competent and capable personnel.In order to reduce the effects of inescapable disasters measures such as carrying out vulnerability analyses updates, following the laid out building codes and regulations,setting up preventive health care and public education have to be set. All these measures have to be integrated in the national and regional development planning and its proficiency will rely on the accessibility of information on haza rds,sudden risks and countermeasures to be taken. These plans are put in place in anticipation of a disaster .The second step is to set up preparedness plan in order to achieve a reasonable level of readiness to counter any emergency situation through programs that reinforce the technical and managerial capacity of organizations, communities and governments. These measures can be described as logistical preparedness to deal with disasters and can be elevated by having response mechanisms and procedures, practice performances, developing long-term and short-term procedures, public education and installing early warning systems.Preparedness can also take the form of ensuring that strategical reserves of water, food, medicines, equipment, and other fundamentals are maintained in cases of national or local calamity. During the preparedness phase, organizations, individuals and governments,build up plans to save lives, reduce disaster damage, and strengthen disaster response operations. Preparedness measures include preparedness procedures; emergency exercises/training; warning tactics; emergency communications machinery; evacuations procedures and training; resource inventories; emergency personnel/contact lists; collective aid agreements; and public education.The third step is the human centered action and it normally involves the humanitarian agencies which are often called upon to deal with instant response and recovery. To be able to act effectively, these agencies must have well versed leaders, competent personnel, sufficient transport and logistical support, pertinent communications, and guidelines for carrying out emergencies. If the needed preparations have not been made, the humanitarian agencies will not be able to handle the imminent needs of the people.There is also the issue of response which aims at providing instantaneous assistance so as to maintain life,encourage the morale of the affected community and enhance health Such contribution may range f rom providing specific but limited aid, such as helping refugees with transport, impermanent shelter, and food, to establishing temporary settlement in camps and other locations. It also may involve primal repairs to damaged substructure. The main focus of this step is to meet the basic needs of the population until more lasting and sustainable solutions can be established.Ashman, John. (1995. ). The final stage of the disaster management plan is the recovery stage. As the emergency is brought under manageable levels, the affected population is notable of embarking on an increasing number of activities targeted at restoring their lives and the substructure that helps them. There is no particular point at which instant relief changes into recovery and then into long-term bearable development. There will be numerous opportunities during the recovery period to enhance anticipation and increase readiness, thus lessening vulnerability.Ideally, there should be a smooth change over from re covery to on-going development. Recovery activities go on until all systems are back to normalcy or better. Recovery plans, both long and short term, include returning crucial life-support systems to minimal operating standards; semi-permanent housing; public information; adequate health and safety education; rebuilding; counseling programs; and economic effect studies. Information resources and services include data collection and review related to reconstruction, and documentations of lessons acquired. Ashman, John.(1995. )Feinstein, R. (1989/90, 5(1) ).The capacity of human resource involved in a disaster management program especially on a national level can not be quantified. There are numerous stakeholders that are involved and must be integrated for it to be a success such as decision makers,policy makers, professionals ,administrators, (architects, engineers and others at various levels) financial institutions (banks,house financing institutions, insurance,) and NGOs and volu ntary organizations. The same applies to financial and material resources which are vast.In the case of finances professional accountants should be involved so that they can clearly evaluate th possible extent of financial damage resulted by different types of disasters including the verification of estimates and valuation of disaster affected assets. They evaluate the different options of coping with disaster from the financial perspective and advise, devise and evaluate different procedures for assuring that resources would be available for disaster mitigation at the right time and place needed.The accountants should also advise on alternative strategies for post-disaster management and rehabilitation with specific regard to assuring financial security to the affected, availability and proper use of financial resources for bringing forth new economic opportunities etc. Institute of Education, Library and Media Services,(June 1996. )

British Government Essay

Evaluate different methods of estimating the current extinction rate. Do you think that humans will induce a mass extinction on the same scale as the Big Five? Introduction: There is consensus in the scientific community that the current massive degradation of habitat and extinction of many of the Earth’s biota is unprecedented and is taking place on a catastrophically short timescale. Based on extinction rates estimated to be thousands of times the background rate, figures approaching 30% extermination of all species by the mid 21st century are not unrealistic, an event comparable to some of the catastrophic mass extinction events of the past. The current rate of rainforest destruction poses a profound threat to species diversity. Likewise, the degradation of the marine ecosystems is directly evident through the denudation of species that were once dominant and integral to such ecosystems. Indeed, this colloquium is framed by a view that if the current global extinction event is of the magnitude that seems to be well indicated by the data at hand, then its effects will fundamentally reset the future evolution of the planet’s biota. Robert Whittaker recognized an additional kingdom for the Fungi. The resulting five-kingdom system, proposed in 1969, has become a popular standard and with some refinement is still used in many works, or forms the basis for newer multi-kingdom systems. It is based mainly on differences in nutrition: his Plantae were mostly multicellular autotrophs, his Animalia multicellular, heterotrophs and his Fungi multicellular saprotrophs. The remaining two kingdoms, Protista and Monera, included unicellular and simple cellular colonies. Extinction rates in the fossil records: The time at which an organism is classified as becoming extinct is when the youngest fossil of its form is found. It is likely that there would have been later examples of the organism present, which were simply not preserved. It is known that some genera have existed for long periods around this time without leaving any known fossil record by the phenomena of Lazarus taxa. It is believed that these organisms were simply not preserved during the time they are missing, or preserved in offshore sediments as yet undiscovered. This may also be the case with many other organisms creating the illusion they are becoming extinct before they are in reality. Ecological Evolutionary Factor affecting the past extinction: Many claim that human activity caused a large scale of plants and animals extinction. The others claim that human caused extinctions are on a similar scale to those that occurred 65 million years ago at the boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary eras when most species perished including the dinosaurs. This causes two distinct worries: (1) The loss of species will harm humans (2) Quite apart from any harm to humans; there is a duty to prevent â€Å"ecocide†. According to Peter Raven (National Academy of Science) â€Å"We are confronting an episode of species extinction greater than anything the world has experienced for the past 65 million years. Of all the global problems that confront us, this is the one that is moving the most rapidly and the one that will have the most serious consequences. And, unlike other global ecological problems, it is completely irreversible. † Different people evaluate this duty differently. Since the purpose of these pages is establish the sustainability of material progress, I’ll take the view that although biodiversity is an important amenity, we are mainly concerned with the extent to which losses of diversity are a threat to human progress. One interesting fact in the article concerns the effect of an increase in temperature on the north-south range of a plant species, especially of trees. It turns out that the northern limit of a species is determined by temperature. As that limit is approached the rate of growth goes to zero. However, the rate of growth of a species does not decline as it approaches the southern limit of its range but remains stable or even increases. What determines a species’ southern boundary is competition from other species that require high temperatures. For this reason the southern boundary of a species is likely to change slowly as its territory is gradually invaded by species liking warm temperature. The invasion is likely to begin in gaps caused by logging and various kinds of die-off. According to Lord Robert May (FRS)-Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government. â€Å"Hardly a day passes without one being told that tropical deforestation is extinguishing roughly one species every hour, or maybe even one every minute. Such guesstimates are based on approximate species-area relations, along with assessments of current rates of deforestation and guesses at the global total number of species (which range from 5 to 80 million or more. ) While such figures arguably have a purpose in capturing public attention, there is a clear and increasing need for better estimates of impending rates of extinction, based on a keener understanding of extinction rates in the recent and far past, and on the underlying ecological and evolutionary causes. † Scientists who worry about extinctions often agree that the world will reach a new equilibrium as temperature increases – assuming it does. However, they worry that the rate of increase of temperature is unprecedented and that species, especially of plants, will migrate northward too slowly and become extinct. Roughly 43 percent of the earth’s terrestrial vegetated surface has diminished capacity to supply benefit to humanity because of the recent, direct impacts of the land use. This represents 10 percent reduction in potential direct instrumental value (PDIV), defined as the potential to yield direct benefits such as agricultural, forestry, industrial and medical products. Capitalizing on the natural recovery mechanisms is urgently needed to prevent further irreversible degradation and to retain the multiple values of productive land. Differences in extinction rates among groups: Estimated Future extinction rates from the species area relations: A better way of studying rates of complete biota extinction levels has been developed with the analysis of isotopic ratios of Carbon. When life is abundant there is almost completely carbon-12 within the geological record. Enzymes within organisms, passing into organic matter faster, more efficiently accept this isotope, which becomes lithified into rock. At times of lowered biotic activity, such as at an extinction event when a lot of life has been killed, the ratio of carbon-13 within the rocks will be higher as a higher proportion of carbon will be being fixed as carbonates inorganically. Inorganic precipitation of carbon does not differentiate between the different isotopes of carbon as life does. By analyses of carbon isotope ratios it is then possible to see, by peaks in the carbon-13, at what times there has been a reduction of biotic activity. This is independent of whether organisms present are being preserved or not, and shows at what rates the extinction is occurring. Estimated future extinction rates from IUCN red Lists: Recent extinction rates are 100 to 1000 times their pre-human levels well known, but taxonomically diverse groups from widely different environments. If all species currently deemed threatened become extinct in the next century, then the future extinction rates will be 10 times recent rates. Although new technology provides details on habitat losses, estimates of future extinctions are hampered by our limited knowledge of which areas are rich in endemics. The 2004 IUCN Red List contains 15,589 species threatened with extinction. The assessment includes species from a broad range of taxonomic groups including vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and fungi. However, this figure is an underestimate of the total number of threatened species as it is based on an assessment of less than 3% of the world’s 1. 9 million described species. Among major species groups, the percentage of threatened species ranges between 12% and 52%. The IUCN Red List identifies 12% of birds as threatened, 23% of mammals, and 32% of amphibians. Although reptiles have not been completely assessed, the turtles and tortoises are relatively well reviewed with 42% threatened. Fishes are also poorly represented, but roughly a third of sharks, rays and chimaeras have been assessed and 18% of this group is threatened. Regional case studies on freshwater fishes indicate that these species might be more threatened than marine species. For example, 27% of the freshwater species assessed in Eastern Africa were listed as threatened. Of plants, only conifers and cycads have been completely assessed with 25% and 52% threatened respectively. References: Robert M. May, John H. Lawton and Nigel E. Stork. â€Å" Assessing Extinction Rates† â€Å"Extinction Rate Analysis† http://palaeo. gly. bris. ac. uk/Palaeofiles/Permian/rateanalysis. html â€Å"Restoring the value to the worlds degraded Lands† Gretchen C. Daily â€Å"The future of biodiversity â€Å" Stuart L. Pimm, Gareth j. Russell, John L. Gittleman ,Thomas M. Brook â€Å"IUCN Red List of Threatened Species†http://www. iucn. org/themes/ssc/red_list_2004/GSAexecsumm_EN. htm References: IUCN 2001. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3. 1. IUCN Species Survival Commission, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, pp. ii+30. Parr C. S. and Cummings M. P. 2005. Data sharing in ecology and evolution. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20: 362–363. Purvis A. and Rambaut A. 1995. Comparative analysis by independent contrasts (CAIC): an Apple Macintosh application for analysing comparative data. Comput. Appl. Biosci. 11: 247–251. Sherwood, Keith and Craig Idso (2003) â€Å"The Specter of Species Extinction Will Global Warming Decimate Earth’s Biosphere? † 2003 September John Lawton and Robert May â€Å"BIODIVERSITY AND EXTINCTION RATES† 17-May-2004) www-formal. stanford. edu/jmc/progress/biodiversity. html

Family Ties Essay

â€Å"Lispector’s writing can often be interpreted as symbolic, yet it is at the same time highly sophisticated and original. Discuss a particular pattern in her imagery or symbolism and its effect on the reader.† Often authors write with symbolism to communicate a deeper idea then what they what is presented. Symbolism opens doors for readers to have the freedom of going in to find meaning. Most of the time they use objects, actions and characters to offer the readers more meaning for the story. Symbolism helps each reader to connect in their on personal way. Clarice Lispector, author of Family Ties, has a very unique path for usage of symbolism and imagery. It can be proven that Lispector uses animals to show her emotion, however she indirectly places it for the readers to open the door and search for the meaning. In the some of the short stories it can be concluded that the use of animals are to show her emotion but also play the role of presenting the everyday life struggle lesson being taught. Symbols are used almost everyday, even when it is not known to all. They can be used in to give readers a more enjoyable experience. Lispector takes her time to describe the setting and the animal presented, to create a visual picture in the readers mind. In the story The Chicken, it was simply only a chicken, without hopes or dreams, unaware of it’s destiny or capability and Sunday’s lunch main dish. In a rare instinctive spasm, it decides to escape flying over the fence. Now lunch-less the family starts to chase the direction-less bird. When the chicken gets caught there is still hope that it will live due do it laying an egg in the kitchen. Lispector takes such an simple story and turns it into a story with s significant symbol such as the chicken, to carry the emotion and keep it orignal. â€Å"Alone in the world, without father or mother, she ran, out of breath, concentrated, mute. Sometimes in her flight she would stand at bay on the edge of a roof, gasping; while the young man leaped over others with difficulty, she had a moment in which to collect herself. The she looked so free.† (Lispector, 50) In the above quotation it proves to readers that the chicken is in a life of loneliness and sadness. â€Å"Alone in the world† phrase catches the readers attention to feel sympathic but quickly changes to â€Å"free† where they feel happy and joy for the chicken. Lispector does this to keep it interesting and effective for the reader to follow along. In the last sentence of The chicken, Lispector says; â€Å" Until one day they killed her and ate her, and the years rolled on.† (52). The readers are then defeated in making an effort to solve a myth, because Lispector suggests that there is, after all, no meaning to this chicken’s life, and hence no meaning to our own. The buffalo is appreiated for its main character and her complex feelings, an undistinguished women who is regretting her past because of a preivous break up. Lispector choses a springtime afternoon in a zoo to settle her resentment. Nowhere in the search at the zoo of life among the lions, giraffe, hippopotamus, monkeys, ape, elephant, camel, and coati could she find hatred or anger. In fact, she finds it easier to love and to be compassionate than to hate. This roller coster of emotions in the story starts with a women who has a struggle but overcomes it with the happy emotion of each animal. â€Å"I love you, she said, out of hatred then for the men whose great and unpunishable rime was not loving, â€Å"I hate you, she said imploring love from the buffalo.† (156) Lispector in this quotation shows the overcoming of hatred of men as she see’s that men can be innocent. The women soon becomes eye locked with the buffalo as she learns to love again. She has felt a lot o f sentiments but never hatred of man until she meets the huge, black, hairy buffalo, whose eyes reflect back â€Å"mutual assassination.† How she responds to this recognition is quite interesting. The buffalo has the effect on the reader that emotions can be changed based on trust and that being jugdemental and grouping something together isnt going to help anything. Once again she proves a lesson with the use of animals and emotion. In conclusion, Lispector does use the method of animal imagery and emotion to help build her stories with meaning and excitment. Rather than the author just clearly stating thoughts, it is much more effiecent and allows the author to draw more attention by adding symbolic meaning, however Lispector’s stories are still orignal with complications. Each short story including the use of animals to convery thoughts has an effect on the reader.

Review of Carson’s Gagging of God

In The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism, author D. A. Carson describes three categories of pluralism: empirical, cherished, and philosophical or hermeneutical. [i] The first deals with diversity in America and the multiplicity of beliefs. The second, cherished pluralism, describes the approval of diversity as an unquestioned virtue. Finally, philosophical pluralism, under which religious pluralism falls, posits that no religion has the right to pronounce itself true and right. In other words, no religion can advance â€Å"truth claims† that are superior to any other.Carson states that postmodernism is the outlook that birthed philosophical pluralism. [ii] While I agree that pluralism is an important subject that benefits from the kind of attention given to it in the book, I believe the length of the book and the comprehensive nature of the material presented can make it difficult to follow at times. Furthermore, on several occasions the author seemed to move to the wider margins of the topic. However, as the implications of pluralism are pertinent and its integration with postmodernism significant, the information was extremely beneficial.The Christian must recognize empirical pluralism, tolerate cherished pluralism, but reject philosophical pluralism. We must recognize the diversity that exists in modern culture as Christians have throughout history. While pluralism poses new challenges in the current day, Christians have always had to stand up for the truth of Christian believe against other religions. Scripture was both inspired and written in a pluralistic context. However, even in the Old Testament God insisted that his people turn from the worship of other gods and other religions.For example, in Joshua 24:15, Joshua gave the children of Israel a choice to either serve God or Baal. The prophet Elijah would later give Israel the same choice in 1 Kings 18:21. Throughout history, God’s people have been reminded to be faithful to God as they were constantly surrounded by foreign gods and other religions. The same phenomenon applied during New Testament times. Christians resided in cities like Rome, Corinth and Antioch, Corinth, which were centers of diversity and multicultural exchange.They were surrounded by other world views, yet were constantly reminded that Jesus was the only way. This created a clash between Christians and other world views that would come to a head with the persecution of Christians. The Apostle Paul argued in the book of Acts that the true and living God superseded all other gods and preached Christianity against the backdrop of pluralism. There has been a need for Christians to do so ever since. Yet, while we reject philosophical and religious pluralism, in some cases, Christians are willing to cherish pluralism. In todays society, we cherish ethnic diversity.We welcome new members into our churches that come from various backgrounds even as God welcomes worshippers from every natio n, tribe, people and language. Carson states his purpose for writing, to equip Christians for fidelity to the gospel and encouraging unbelievers to find Jesus as Lord: â€Å"If anything in the following pages equips some Christians to intelligent, culturally sensitive, and passionate fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ, or if it encourages some thoughtful unbelievers to examine the foundations again and so to find that Jesus is Lord, I shall be profoundly grateful. [iii] In the book, Carson gives a comprehensive examination of pluralism. He takes the time to communicate with great detail on his positions and provides details that demonstrate his understanding of the subject. Throughout, Carson intimates the tension between the opposing perspectives of the pluralist and the Christian. From the perspective of the pluralist, the Christian appears to be a religious bigot unless they are willing to redefine Christianity without connecting it with Scripture.Likewise, from the perspect ive of the Christian, The pluralist is a misguided idolater no matter how sincere they may be. [iv] The book is divided into four sections, which tackle the major issues affected by the three types of pluralism. In the first section, the author describes the influence of hermeneutics and how texts are invariably interpreted against the backdrop of the interpreter's social â€Å"home† and the historical conditioning of the language itself. During this process, the interpreter takes bits of the text and â€Å"deconstructs† it to fit them into their own framework, which generates fresh insight.While this section also critiques postmodernism, Carson warns against giving the impression that modernism was a correct way of analyzing either the text or the world we live in. The second section deals with the philosophies of Derrida and Foucault that form the basis for postmodern thought, which is at odds with the Christian faith. While Carson opposes the idea of postmodernism, and criticizes the work of Foucault and Derrida, theologians such as James K. A. Smith, say thatCarson has misinterpreted their ideas and posits that they actually have an affinity with the central claims of Christianity. [v] The late German theologian, Karl Rahner recommended in his writings that dialogue should be used as the method by means of which plural theologies should strive for an understanding of each other. [vi] However, Carson intimates that the Christian needs to affirm that all interpretations are not equally valid because: God has revealed Himself and spoken clearly; and God has unfolded His plan of salvation and recorded it in Scripture.The third section of the book attempts to assist Christians living in a pluralistic culture by giving an understanding of assumptions made in the public sphere and replacing those assumptions with biblical truth. As we live in a world where public morality has seemingly collapsed, religion seems to be based on feeling and not on trut h. Carson says that ethical divisions are made pragmatically, making proper Christian thought necessary in making sense of the pluralistic world that we live in. vii] The final section of the book says that the answer to philosophical tolerance is the reiteration of Christian doctrine concerning the Second Coming and the nature of heaven and hell. Christians must have confidence in spreading this message in a compassionate way. However, it must be done with a sense of urgency, as the evangelism of our communities is paramount. Christians must have a deep conviction of the infallibility of Scripture and hold that it is inerrant and sufficient in order to both live a victorious life in a pluralistic society and to increase confidence in Christian doctrine. ———————- [i] Carson, D. A. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002, 13 [ii] Ibid, 19 [iii] Ibid, 10 [iv] Ibid, 238 [v] Smith, James, K. A. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? : Taking Derrida, L yotard, and Foucault to Church (The Church and Postmodern Culture). Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic. 2006, 28 [vi] Fay, William Vendley. Pluralism and the theological methods of Karl Rahner: A critical assessment. January 1, 1983. ETD Collection for Fordham University. Paper AAI8802369 [vii] Carson, D. A. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002, 404

Case The Coffee Shop Market Starbucks Marketing Essay

Case The Coffee Shop Market Starbucks Marketing Essay Starbucks Corporation is an international coffeehouse chain, founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks serves a variety of beverages including brewed coffee, tea, hot chocolate, espresso and a selection of bottled drinks. Starbucks also sells whole bean coffee and a variety of ready-to-eat snacks. The first Starbucks location to open outside of North America was in Tokyo in 1996; and from then on Starbucks became an international brand, expanding both nationally and globally. This report will attempt to examine the situation of Starbucks in Japan. It will bring out the marketing strategy to be adopted for a rise in profitability of Starbucks Japan in the next two years. In addition, it will attempt to explain the use of marketing mix to aid the chosen strategy. SWOT ANALYSIS: 1.1 STRENGTHS: 1.1.1 Strong brand image: Starbucks brand name, quality customer service and store ambience are its key strengths. It has maintained its international operations to ensure consumer recogn ition. Starbucks is renowned for its high quality products and has maintained a consistently positive consumer experience that has helped Starbucks build a strong brand image. Starbucks spends less than 1% of revenue on advertising and promotion each year which indicates they rely on an established company image (P. Ghauri, International marketing case study: Starbucks-Going Global Fast). Starbuck’s key competitor in Japan-Doutor coffee, had taken advantage of Starbuck’s brand image and copied its logo, while replicating the experience rendered to customers in its retail outlets. (Ono, 2003). This shows that the Starbucks image is a strength worth mimicking. With a well-established brand image in America, it was sure to expect recognition in the Japanese market, because the consumers there have a fondness for everything western. (http://azjatycka.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/international-marketing-strategy-of-starbucks-in-japan-success-or-a-failure/) 1.1.2 Commitment to c ommunity: Starbucks contributes a considerable amount of its resources to corporate social responsibility programs (Kotabe & Helsen, 2004). According to Butler (2006)-â€Å"CSR programs influence 70% of all consumer purchasing decisions, with many investors and employees also being swayed in their choice of companies†. As a result, Starbucks involvement in the CSR programs helps its competitiveness in the business world. 1.1.3 Widespread Presence in International Markets: Starbucks has ventured into foreign markets with astonishing pace opening its outlets in 40 countries with 2068 stores worldwide. This widespread expansion has allowed its presence to be felt across the globe. 1.1.4 Retail outlets present at convenient and accessible locations: Starbucks has opened a number of coffee shops at convenient locations like shopping malls, libraries, university campuses, office buildings etc. They are typically located in high traffic, high visibility locations.(Starbucks annual r eport, 2008) 1.1.5 Presence of a variety of food items & Beverages in addition to Coffee: Starbucks stores offer a choice of regular and decaffeinated coffee beverages, a broad selection of Italian-style espresso beverages, cold blended beverages, iced shaken refreshment beverages and a selection of premium teas. Starbucks stores also offer a variety of fresh food items, including healthier choice selections focussing on high-quality ingredients, nutritional value and great flavour. 1.1.6 Well Developed Corporate Strategy and Good Marketing skills. Weaknesses: 1.2.1 Lack of internal focus: Starbucks focuses too much on over-expansion, at times tending to ignore the problems arising within–consistent employer dissatisfaction.

Cyberschools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cyberschools - Essay Example The first area where cyber education poses difficulties is with isolation with restricted face-to-face peer interactions. A study by Lee & Chan (2007) found negative effects of distance learning at universities, as distance learners had a significantly higher rate of dropping out. The article mentions that a lack of belonging to a community through social ties is a distinct disadvantage. In addition, the inability to interact face-to-face with students can hinder motivation and enthusiasm (Lee & Chan, 2007). Social isolation can also be a problem if the student wastes time by pursuing material that is not of relevant importance to the instructor. Such proper direction could be clarified better in face-to-face interaction (Lee & Chan, 2007). Additionally, non-verbal cues to learning are not available with cyber schooling. This includes the teacher’s ability to pick up on subtle signals of student interest, student understanding, or student confusion. The subtle ways that face-to-face interaction can reveal emotions related to learning are more present in the traditional classroom (Lee & Chan, 2007). The second way that cyber schooling is at a perceived disadvantage is through uncertainty in the quality of cyber education. Rosendale (2009) points out how problems result from cyber schooling programs that have either low quality assurance or no quality assurance guidelines in place. Also, there is disagreement on what learning quality entails (Rosendale, 2009). The article goes on to show that test scores show how cyber school students are lagging behind traditional schools in test results (Rosendale, 2009). An example is with the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test results. They found â€Å"of the 11 cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, only 3 are meeting or exceeding the â€Å"No Child Left Behind†