Demand and Supply & Perfect Competition Assignment

Demand and Supply & Perfect Competition - Assignment Example The food vending business in Amsterdam is on the rise and is an example of a perfect competitive industry. Several food vendors are under the same roof selling a variety of products ranging from Mumbai street food to hot dogs that are sold in pretzel buns. The idea of the owner of the food vending stalls was to involve original ideas of Amsterdam locals without including common franchisers such as KFC and McDonalds in the industry. It is reported that the food vending hall had only been open for two weeks and buyers had been flocking into it without restriction. The food vending industry in Amsterdam is an almost perfect competition industry. In the article, food vending industry is vast and has diverse products that are supplied every morning to be produced under cheap and affordable circumstances. One of the factors that make street food vending industry a perfect competitive market is the ease in entry into the field. As explained by Draper (1996), most street food vending businesses require small scale operations, use of traditional food processing methods and low capital costs to start. Secondly, there are no set restrictions in order to start selling in the market. As explained by the owner of the food mall, the only restrain was set for food chains such as MacDonald’s but local food vendors were accepted. This restriction denotes that the food vending industry in the food hall was not purely a perfect competitive market. Thirdly, products sold by food vendors are standardised and homogeneous. The sandwiches, soups, hams, burgers, vegetables and other street foods that are sold in the food hall are foods that are known and standard. Therefore, the food products sold from the fresh produce received every morning are standardized and this makes the food vending industry in Amsterdam perfect competition market. The price of the goods cannot be changed by the seller but depend on the availability of

Indirect Message Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Indirect Message - Essay Example This means that all the managers are currently busy attached to respective working program. It is with these reasons that we wish to inform you that we will not be in a position to participate in the restoration of the historical area of Miramar. By doing so, some of our operations will be paralyzed since we only have the minimal number of the upper-level managers as of now. Notably, restoration of the said historical area would require someone with upper-level management experience who can provide leadership and direct public relationship activities. Considering this, good reputation, and current and former operations of SCORE in relation to rehabilitation programs, they come highly recommended to take over the operation. We, therefore, confidently think that you can contact SCORE for more assistance. However, it is also important that you note that Kellstrom Industries cannot ignore the partnership and association that we have enjoyed in the past, and further, we still look forward for more collaboration in the

Consumer Behaviour Case Study on Hellman's Essay

Consumer Behaviour Case Study on Hellman's - Essay Example In the highly competitive environment of global business, it becomes hugely important for businesses to study the various factors that influence consumer buying decisions. Kotler and Armstrong (2009) state that marketing broadly meets the needs and requirements of the people. The marketing therefore, provides the necessary linkages to facilitate the awareness, needs and access to the products by the consumers. In the current times, the globalization and technology have contributed to a paradigm shift in the consumer behaviour. The consumer has not only become more informed but is also provided with plethora of choices. Thus, consumer psychology has emerged as one of the most pertinent issues within strategic marketing that impacts purchase behaviour and influences business outcome (Foxall et al., 2005).The paper would be discussing the marketing stimuli used by Hellmann’s to influence consumer’s cognitive, affective and behavioural responses.The paper would also highlig ht Hellmann’s market strategy to influence consumers purchase psychology. Hellmann’s has made a niche market position in the area of food and food ancillary products. Mayonnaise with huge range is its key product along with salad dressing, ketchup, salad cream etc. The last hundred years have seen Hellmann’s evolve as iconic brand with food ingredients that constantly redefine cooking.Indeed, the marketing strategies of Hellmann’s rely fundamentally on the belief that food can be creatively cooked to tempt the palate of the connoisseurs. It use of various consumer psychology marketing stimuli, like bold design, jingles and short, crisp messages, become highly effective elements to connect with its consumers. The theoretical underpinning of marketing tools helps explain the success of its advertisements which are designed to address the needs and requirements of food lovers and housewives. 2. Marketing mix and consumer response Marketing mix strategy uses different platforms of communication and media to influence customers’ perception and subsequently their buying decisions. Internet, television, radio, print media, hoarding etc. are major marketing tools that are exploited to gain market leverage. The 4Ps: product, price, place and promotion are important parts of market mix which determine the level of commitment of the customers and influence their behaviour. Indeed, customer’s purchase decision is motivated by multiple factors and delivers satisfaction from myriad front to earn customer’s long term loyalty. The inter-dependency of resources within the defined system is critical imperative which has huge potential to create not only a sustainable market but also one which is mutually satisfying. Thus, factors that impact consumer behaviour have increasingly become vital inputs for marketers to identify, address and exploit in order to gain competitive advantage in the industry (Solomon et al., 2006). Most imp ortantly, success of the product relies heavily on the impact that it makes

Genetically modified food Essay Example for Free

Genetically modified food Essay The past score of years has witnessed the astonishing revolution in the scope of plant breeding technologies. The biological technologies have regularly been utilized to create new gene combinations for progressing crop diversities. This intentionally modified by the manipulation of the DNA, and transformation of certain genes to create new variations of life, which called genetically modified (GM) food. There is presently some debate about whether to accept GM food. The disadvantages of GM food are labelling issue and transformation of certain genes might lead to environmental issues. Nevertheless, there are also a number of crucial advantages such as farmers could improve their economic benefits and GM food could improve the nutritional quality to prevent disease. Therefore, this essay will argue that GM food has obvious benefits to the society because it can improve economic benefits by trading and decrease allergenic. GM food has some negative consequences for society. The main adverse effect is that GM food may has mandatory labelling scheme issues. Research has shown that some manufacturers realize that implement a mandatory labelling scheme could cost a fortune (Steiner 2000, p. 158; Uzogara 2000, p. 188). Moreover, labelling of GM food could remind consumer these products are biotech, and this could lead to customer losses (Uzogara 2000, p. 188). Then, the concept of mandatory labelling scheme for GM food in some countries is uncertainty (Steiner 2000, p. 158). For example, manufacturers use misleading and confusing labelling to muddle the consumer such as ‘may contain genetically modified material’ (Steiner 2000, p. 158). Indeed, labelling issue for GM food is extremely difficult to implement in some countries, governments may promulgate a series of legislation to implementation. Secondly, transformation of new DNA technology used to create GM food that has environmental risks. This involves monarch butterfly early death and threatens beneficial insects, which would seriously destroy the balance of the ecosystem. Some species are suffering from premature death after insects fed by GM crops, and also this might result in difficulty in reproduction such as monarch butterfly and green lacewing insects (Steiner 2000, p. 153). Furthermore, Lemaux (2009, p. 528) has reported an experiment, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in genetically engineered (GE) corn pollen could lead to colony collapse disorder that  accelerate the bees’ decline. It can be seen then that mandatory labelling scheme issue and environmental threats could give rise to some negative aspects for GM food. If one looks closely at the literature on this topic, nevertheless, there are a number of significant advantage points to GM food. One of these is that GM food could improve farmers’ economic benefits. According to Uzogara (2000, p. 193), GM food could be converted from annuals to perennials that would increase crop yields during the year. Perennial crops would lead to increased labor allocation, reduced labor costs, decreased fertilizer use and cost of production for farmers to make more economic profits (Uzogara 2000, pp. 193-194). For example, according to USDA surveys from 2001 to 2003, 79% of US farmers who choose Bt corn to increase yields (Lemaux 2009, p. 536). He also states that the Zaragoza region is one of the three leading GE corn-growing regions in Spanish and has at least 11.8% yield increase. Indeed, the profitability of farmers’ growth is approximately $69 per acre per year higher than conventional farmers (Lemaux 2009, p. 536). Especially, farmers in developing countries realized the most significant economic benefits from GM rice because large-scale farmers have higher yields and less infestation (Lemaux 2009, p. 536). This evidence shows that GF food farming is a potentially high profit margin business, and profitability often depends on factors relating to crop yield and pest infestation. Thus, GM food could change the status quo to achieve the highest profitability for farmers. Allied to this is the further advantage of GM food which could improve nutritional food quality. This involves nutritional content and health-enhancing properties of particular foods that might solve malnutrition and population health problems in developing countries. Uzogara (2000, p. 194) states that GM crops would help the population to reach their daily based requirements and prevent malnutrition. For example, cassava has been genetically modified to have a higher nutrient value (Anon cited in Uzogara 2000, p. 194). Furthermore, the nutritionally enhanced crops like iron, vitamin A and Beta-carotene dense rice could help alleviate malnutrition (Bouis 2007, pp. 80-83). For instance, according to research, approximately three million preschool children in developing countries are suffering from vitamin A deficiency that could lead to visible eye damage,  however, GM rice can increase vitamin A and iron which could prevent blindness (Bouis 2007, pp. 82-86; Ferber cited in Uzogara 2000, p. 194). It is clear that farmers could gain significant economic benefits through GM food because it would increase the yield and reduce labor costs, and nutritionally enhanced crops could help the population to prevent disease or malnutrition. Consequently, although GM food as one kind of biological technologie can have some negative outcomes for labelling and environment issues, GM food arguably has more positive effects. The effect of global trading that is a significant benefit to improve economy. The USA is the dominant exporter of both GM soybeans and GM maize, which are account for 76% of GM maize and 50% of GM soybeans exports (Nielsen et al. 2003, p. 780). He also claims that high-income Asia is the main importer of GM maize and GM soybeans that are 41% and 30% respectively. Moreover, Nabradi Popp (2011, p. 8) report that GM crops account for a great proportion from global trading that providing significant export profits for many countries. For example, The United States, Argentina and Brazil are the world’s three largest GM soybean and GM maize exporters with above 90% and 80% share of world soybean and maize trade (Nabradi Popp 2011, pp. 9-10). Similarly, the volume of global soybean trade increased from 85.4 to 87.9 million tonnes from 2009 to 2011, and the volume of global maize trade increased from 86 to 88.5 million tonnes in three years (Nabradi Popp 2011, p. 10). They also indicate that China has significant soybean importing volume that from 46 to 49 million tonnes during three years. Further to this, eliminating allergens as a result of GM food has been one of the prominent concerns among food quality and human health. Allergenic foods usually contain multiple allergens, such as milk, soy, peanut, crustaceans, fish, egg and tree nuts. According to Herman (2003, p. 1318), using GM to remove intrinsic allergens from soybeans that present in thousands of processed and prepared foods in developed and developing countries. He also claims that eliminate allergens from GM soybeans that has high relationship to the development of GM crops, and transgenic soybeans is a first step in solving food allergies (Herman 2003, p. 1 319). Otherwise, the alternative GM method to remove the allergen from food, for instance, some experiments to use gene suppression technology  attempts to reduce and/or eliminate allergens in rye and rice seed, and even use this measure to suppress an allergen in shrimp that is potentially dangerous to sensitive people (Herman 2003, p. 1319). Plausibly, GM food may eliminate allergen from all of food that would help people to stay away from food allergies. Although some argue that GM food may has some negative impacts to mandatory labelling scheme, there is considerable labelling of GM food still has positive impacts on consumer and manufacturers. Uzogara (2000, p. 188) claims that labelling for GM food would enable the consumer to avoid ethical, cultural, or religious reasons by certain foods. For example, Jews and Muslims usually insist on Kosher and Halal foods because the purity of this food can be guaranteed, which not contain pig genes (Uzogara 2000, p. 187). He further maintains that product quality can be improved by labelling, for instance, improved favour, longer shelf-life, and build brand identity. Similarly, according to General Labelling Directive, labelling for GM food that means this can be guaranteed by European regulation, and consumer can trust the information on the products (Andersen 2010, p. 139). Furthermore, while some authors claim that GM food has negative impacts on environment, Uzogara (2000, p. 195) indicates that GM food has still environmental benefits include protection against plant diseases, improvement of saline soil, and herbicide tolerance. GM food like tomatoes, squash and corn become virus resistant that against GM food destroying viruses or viral diseases (Uzogara 2000, p. 195). According to Bouis (2007, p. 80), GM crops can improve soil conditioning that is changing highly saline soils. Then, herbicides are effective against several target weeds also cuts conventional herbicide use significantly (Uzogara 2000, p. 195). While discussing GM food may has some negative impacts to mandatory labelling scheme and environment issues, the considerable positive consequences to improve global trading and remove intrinsic allergens can never be neglected. In conclusion, GM food clearly has advantages on economy and human health. While GM food lead to the mandatory labelling scheme hard to implement and has threats to the environment, success in the labelled GM food let some consumer more easier to choose food and make the crops stronger to against different threats. Furthermore, GM food References: Andersen, LB 2010, The EU rules on labelling of genetically modified foods: mission accomplished?, European Food Feed Law Review, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 136-143, viewed 8 November 2014. Bouis, HE 2007, The potential of genetically modified food crops to improve human nutrition in developing countries, Journal of Development Studies, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 79-96, viewed 28 October 2014. Herman, EM 2003, Genetically modified soybeans and food allergies, Journal Of Experimental Botany, vol. 54, no. 386, pp. 1317-1319, viewed 12 November 2014. Lemaux, PG 2009, Genetically engineered plants and foods: a scientists analysis of the issues (Part II), Annual Review Of Plant Biology, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 511-559, viewed 11 November 2014. Nabradi, A Popp, J 2011, Economics of GM crop cultivation, APSTRACT: Applied Studies in Agribusiness and Commerce, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 07-19, viewed 10 November 2014. Steiner, MP 2000, Food flight the changing landscape of genetically modified foods and the law, Review Of European Community International Environmental Law, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 152-160, viewed 11 November 2014. Uzogara, SG 2000, ‘The impact of genetic modification of human foods in the 21st century: A review’, Biotechnology Advances, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 179-206, viewed 3 November 2014.

Bless Me Ultima :: essays research papers

â€Å"Bless Me Ultima† In the book â€Å"Bless Me Ultima†, by Rudolpho Anaya, there were two families represented, the Marez family and the Lunas family. These two families were very different, but were brought together by the marriage of Gabriel Marez and Maria Lunas. Through the eyes of their son Antonio one may see the comparison of the two. The differentiation of these two families is very clearly noticeable, such as in their personalities, the expression of their religion, and their everyday ways of life. One can easily see the difference in their personality even down to the most basic things. The Marez’s are very free spirited, they do not like to have to worry about things. They can be seen mainly riding their horses around the llano. An example of this is shown in the book where Gabriel Marez speaks of his move to Guadeloupe at the birth of his son, Antonio. In this he says, "The move lowered my father in esteem of his compadres, the other vaqueros who clung tenaciously to their way of life and freedom." On the other hand the Lunas are more down to earth. They are farmers, so they stay in one place to grow their crops, and are very land oriented. They concentrate more on work and less on the free will that can be seen in the Marez family. As far as religion goes the Lunas are far more religious than the Marez family. Religion plays a very important part in the life of the Lunas. They believe highly in God and everything else that is involved in the Roman Catholic religion. Maria Lunas is shown to be praying to the Virgin Mary on many different occasions in the book. The Lunas family has been encouraging Antonio to become a priest throughout his life, to the point that he believes he is obligated too. This is clearly shown in the book where Antonio states, â€Å"My mother was a devout Catholic, and so she saw the salvation of the soul rooted in the Holy Mother Church, and she said the world would be saved if the people turned to the earth.† On the other hand the Marez family is not very religious at all. They don’t believe that God plays a very important part in their lives. One can even see the differences through there everyday lives. The Marez family are very restless people.

Behavioral and Side Effects of Caffeine :: Coffee Caffeine Science Chemistry Research Papers

Behavioral and Side Effects of Caffeine Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive drug in the world (Solinas et al, 2002). Caffeine has been known to have many side effects on hour external behavior and our internal physiological behavior. We use caffeine in our lives to sometimes stay awake to study or just get through the day. Caffeine decreases the blood flow to the brain by constricting the blood vessels but can also increase blood flow after continuous intake that may cause headaches (Kalat, 2004). Caffeine has a tendency to block adenosine (A1-, A2A-, A2B-, A3), which increases throughout the day to allow us to sleep and then decreases as we sleep which allows us to wake. Thus, if caffeine blocks adenosine we are unable to sleep when feeling the urge or wanting to sleep, which may cause us to decrease our caffeine intake. Caffeine acts to antagonize adenosine receptors, which then affects cell populations because it counteracts many adenosine effects. The caffeine mainly has an effect on the A2a adenosine receptors which then elevates the energy metabolism in the brain and also causes a decrease in cerebral blood flow (Cameron,et.al, 1990; Ghelardini, et.al, 1997; Nehliget.al,1992; Neuhauser-Berthold et.al, 1997). Along with caffeine affecting the adenosine it also has an effect on GABA receptors and the release of dopamine (Nehlig et.al, 1992). Caffeine not only blockades adenosine it also releases intracellular calcium, inhibits phosphodiesterases and blockade or regulatory sites of GABAa-receptors (Gupta and Gupta, 1999). Withdrawal symptoms of caffeine are headache, drowsiness, fatigue and lethargy (Gupta and Gupta, 1999). Dopamine and glutamate neurotransmission is modulated by adenosine in the striatum. Adenosine A1 in the nerve terminals inhibits dopamine and glutamate from being released. Caffeine has an effect in this system by antagonizing of adenosine, which can then stimulate neurotransmitters to release dopamine and stimulate dopamine receptors (Solinas et al, 2002). A study done on rats showed that caffeine increased extracelluar concentrations of dopamine and glutamate in the shell of the nucleus accumbens (Solinas et al, 2002). These results of dopamine and glutamate in the shell of the nucleus accumbens might be related to the psycho stimulant effects of caffeine (Solinas et al, 2002). Studies show that Dopamine2 receptors are needed for caffeine activation in the brain (Zahniseret al, 2000). Adenosine receptors, dopamine receptors and GABA have been shown in studies to be involved in

Change: Discovering the Leader

Introduction:This paper seeks to prepare a book report for Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within by Robert E. Quinn. The paper will discuss the perceived purpose of the author in writing the books and how he tried to support his claims. The paper hopes to either confirm or deny what the author tries to impart on the basis of the relevance of the author’s claims to reality and the personal experience of writer of this paper.The purpose of the authorThe purpose of the author (Quinn) in writing the book is to challenge the reader to recognize that everyone is a potential change agent. The author believes that people are capable of deep changes if they willing to take the difficult but essential steps to experience the same.   He built his thesis on a strong foundation by first contrasting   between deep change and incremental change. He argues that in general, most change that takes place in the life of an individual is incremental due to the fact that people are uncomfo rtable with major changes.   Incremental changes just involved movement in small steps that most people would like to take.The authors provided possible exception to the choice of incremental change and that this occurs when a person is faced with a major crisis.   To explain the author’s position, the case of a person who experienced a heart attack may be used as an example of major crises. It is common knowledge that people would like to survive and would do everything to prevent another attack after the first one. Under this scenario the person who suffered attack would be motivated to make deep lifestyle changes in habits.These changes could include changes such as stopping smoking and become choosy about dietary requirements.   The same major crises may also be observed when a family marriage is on the brink of divorce. Under said situation, marriage partners will be forced to make comprehensive changes in these communicate or handle conflict. But, when there are n o major crises in the life of during periodic times many people will agree that people typically make changes in a slow and incremental manner instead of making needed deep change.The observable fact that was illustrated above on a personal level can also be could also be observed in the life of organizations. The tendency towards small incremental change rather deep change happens because people are normally resistant of change of big changes in their personal lives.   It could be argued that such is observation is a natural phenomenon since people in their individual capacities are still the same people when they find themselves in organizations.   It could also be argued that leadership needs to be mindful of bringing people along in the midst of change, but in the life of organizations there are really times that organizations need to experience deep change to survive.This could be observed in the case of joint ventures and mergers.   These business combinations are someti me reactions to economic changes in the environment.  Ã‚   Managers need to have better returns and they find the expected synergy that would be created from mergers and joint ventures. If companies would stay as they are, there are possibilities that the they have reached their points of stagnancy. This could be observed in the case of cell phone companies.Sony are Ericsson are separate companies until they see the need to compete with other mobile companies there companies that dominate the market. Seeing the profitability of the industry, Sony and Ericsson combined in a joint venture (Steinbock, 2002) to product to produce Sony Ericsson cell phones. If one analyses however what happened, one could see that the cause was external to the organizations.   Without the mergers, the separate companies might be just earning much to sustain operations and before they know it, they would have forgone the great opportunities that they are now enjoying after the merger.   In this cont ext, author Quinn is correct in stating that without deep change, habitual patterns may just make organizations to move continuously toward decay and stagnation (Quinn, 1996).While it may be argued that organizations must react to changes in the  environment, there seems to be more wisdom in the belief that organizations must anticipate changes by doing strategies that would help the company make use of is internal strengths to taking advantage of its opportunities.   In other words organizations must have its plans for the future implemented by considering what it has internally and not just reacting to external events. The latter makes the company responsible and control of its purposes while in the first the companies by analogy just get swayed by waves of external changes.The logic of task pursuitWhat could be keeping organization to seek their chances for deep changes for growth without the external factors?   In answer to this question, Quinn has discussion of the logic of task pursuit.   A good number of people, when under pressure for task completion, simply manifest lack of chance to consider routine maintenance. This could be illustrated by the fact that if a person does not take time to experience physical regeneration by resting and exercising, his or her body will experience exhaustion.This is applicable with the spiritual life of such person. People need to spend some time to detach themselves from the pursuit of tasks to spend time alone. Solitude could generate strength in character. If applied to an organization, it would appear that each person in management needs to set aside time to revisit its company’s mission and to ensure that the work of the company is in alignment with that mission. The failure to set aside the logic of pursuit to visit the company’s mission and vision provided the grounds for Quinn's observation that organizational change doesn't take place. He posits that that the leading coalition in an organi zation is rarely interested in considering deep changes of this logic of task pursuit.   He supported his theory by the fact of pressures within most organizations to conform to the prevailing structure (Quinn, 1996).Based on this, the author could be credited for a wonderful job of identifying the barriers of bureaucratic culture, ingrained conflict, and personal time restrictions. The author is therefore very much meaningful to suggest to management of companies to give time for managers to develop deeper relationships within themselves to prepare to be ready and willing to that deep change.   Ã‚  In opting for the need to reflect, it could be argued that in most cases people do not need new skills and competencies.   What these people really need is a new perspective that permits them to act as empowered leaders in a changing organization. This new perspective must come from within the personal reflections of the organizational leaders who have renewed their commitment to t he company.There is therefore basis to agree with the author that that personal deep change must come before deep change within a system or organization. He argues while normally if not most of the time organizational change must come from the top as it flows down below, he strongly the author believes that it can also happen to start from the bottom towards the top.   In subscribing to the fact that deep change requires a personal evaluation of the ideologies that under bind the organizational culture, the author saw that in the final analysis it is still the people who will make the decision. Thus Quinn believed that as people desire to see change in the lives of others, from many areas like in parenting, marriage or work relationships, these same people must examine first what changes need to happen in themselves.   He observed that it is true that people do not easily recognize the part that they play in the problem; this it is really very hard to realize that one is part of the problem (Quinn, 1996). It is easier for people to blame others that to accept the responsibility for the error. If is easier to judge people by looking at the speck in one’s eye than to not one plank in is his or her own eye.ConclusionThe author believes in deep changes that people experience when under major crisis in their lives. His observation that people normally choose incremental change   over deep is very much validated in the lives of people The   fact that he also has observed deep changes in cases of   major crises among people has helped him to discover that deep changes do happen the same way in organizations in case of external events. Such external events are normally challenges for survival for these organizations.In explaining the reason why changes could not happen with out the external changes to organizations, the author found the logic of task pursuit with out routine maintenance.   In arguing therefore that the organizations need to go back to its mission and vision to redirect its efforts toward the proper direction, the author appears convincing in his position that personal deep change must precede deep change within a system or organization. Based on authors claims and supporting examples this paper humbly confirms the validity of the claims made as discussed in the text.Reference:Quinn, R. (1996) Deep Change: Discovering the leader within, Jossey-BassSteinbock, Dan (2002) Wireless Horizon: Strategy and Competition in the Worldwide Mobile Marketplace, AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn