How does Ethnomethodology differ from Symbolic Interactionism Essay

How does Ethnomethodology differ from Symbolic Interactionism - Essay Example The study starts with making sense of any object or activity. The Ethnomethodology has reflective and indexicality features in it. The response of the respondent is interpreted on the basis of his reflexive method. The ability to making sense out of any object or thing depends on the context of the object or thing too. The symbolic interaction explains the changing roles and role perception of an individual in the society. The symbolic interaction has three main things in it. The first is meaning, language and the last is thought. Individual tries to interpret the meaning through his thought process and works accordingly. Ethnomethodology tries to make sense out of things or activities. These study the underlying concepts and assumptions based on which that particular behaviour takes place. Both the studies have contributed in the development of a different thought flow and given food of thought to many researcher and academicians. The complex area of Sociology includes the questions of its beginning. Various societies tried to understand its society structures and social behaviours. In the past the drawbacks of studies or thoughts were analysing life with the help of magic and superstitions. These observations based on superstitions, magic and stars were inadequate. The subject required systematic research based on observations and research and development of theories to support the studies. In the middle of 19th century observers begin to use scientific theories and methods to test their ideas and support them scientifically. This started in Europe due to the Industrial Revolution and rapid change of the societal structure of Europe. It was a transition phase for European culture and society. Industrialisation, modernisation and urbanisation kind of phenomenon were taking place. The life, dependency of life on agriculture shifted. The strong structure of village and cities were getting replaced with Trade or ganisations and

Gillette Essay Example for Free

Gillette Essay 1. Statement of issues/problems/opportunities (10%): Very briefly describe the organisation‟s situation. Be sure to focus on the underlying issues / problems / opportunities and not symptoms. Do not just reiterate organisational facts. 2. Recommendations (40%): What should the organisation do? Provide a detailed description of the actions necessary for the organisation to deal with the identified problems and opportunities. Be specific enough that a organisation could pick up your recommendations and act on them. 3. Justifications and analysis (50-60%): Provide a set of carefully considered arguments for why your recommendations are likely to be effective. Perform any type of analysis you like on facts obtained in developing your justifications. You can also draw on logic and experiences from materials in other sessions or courses. The bottom line, however, is you must be logical, convincing, and exhaustively thorough. Case Study One: Gillette Gillette stock price is falling from $64 in early 1999 to $24 in 2001. Market share for the profitable disposable razor sector declined about 5 percent while its competitor picked up. The sales declined three percent in 2000. The new CEO James Kilts joined Gillette in February 2001 and realized that the market share of this high profit margin brand is dropping while debt increasing. There are underutilized production capacity which can help the company to save $350 million; management looking at short-term success where they â€Å"stuff† products to distribution channels where the supply is higher than demand and caused aged stocks; to further reduce the relevant cost and solve â€Å"stuck stocks† – he is considering brand advertising and promotions – (something that Gillette seldom do to maintain leadership status). He felt that support for the brand globally got sidelined in the rush for short term results. Better forecast should be impleted to control the budget and costing better based on the market size and targeted market to penetrate. Lower down debt. Assignment questions: 1. To what extent does Gillette rely on incremental innovation or leaps in technology with each product introduction? Gillette may goes after innovation too heavily where the product is technical and sophisticated. Consumers may not understand the complexity and value the high technical functions of the product that sells at a very premium price – X% even more expensive than its preceeders. While it has ignored the value perceived of customers on shavers. The company should consider both factors – internally and externally for strategic marketing. Including political factors, economic factors (rising inflation), company financial situation, as part of the pricing strategy. 2. How successful has Gillette been with its trade-up pricing strategy and its ability to charge premium prices? Very successful. As the number of trade up is high.  However, cost of advertising to existing customers should be much lower than new customers. Priority advertising should be targeted to new market to increase market share, aside from maintaining brand position reinforce the brand in consumers. Message of advertisement is often simple and sharp. However, focus of the ads is very much on product with arg umentative wording, such as â€Å"the best†, â€Å"the only†. The brand may need to focus on brand advertisement for reinforcement purpose and stabilize the market share over the long run. 3. Should Gillette be concerned about the possible cannibalisation of the healthy sales of existing products by each new product launched? Yes. New products should target different market but should not cannibalise existing sales in long run. Different target market, e.g. more premium group where they are early adopters and enjoy premium brands As the company still sells old versions of shavers, it has even more reasons to target different products to different arget group to increase market share. 4. How global and integrated is Gillette‟s global marketing communications? Localised message should be applied to synergy better with other countries as different countries have different cultural background, norms and etc Gillette has a broad coverage strategy in place today and its â€Å"The best a man can get† theme supports this broad coverage strategy. It serves consumers ranging from disposables to high end cartridge systems. Gillette has struggled in the past when it has made attempts to add complementary goods to its offerings. Past attempts at this strategy were subsequently divested. We propose an alternative for phase 3 of the strategy. Rather than adding products that might not carry the value of a strong brand and image we propose that Gillette focus on areas of the world where they don’t have strong market share. Japan is an area specifically mentioned in the case. It is mentioned that Shick has a first mover advantage in Japan. Gillette has a very strong share of the market in the North Atlantic area. It has invested heavily in RD and is getting ready to invest more in advertising and adding plant capacity. Gillette should work to maintain its advantage in the North Atlantic through patent enforcement, new product innovation, and building on customers perceived benefits through advertising and delivery of superior products. Solidifying its leadership position in the North Atlantic, Gillette can then focus on other areas of the world. Rather than allowing Shick to imitate its new Sensor, Gillette can aggressively go after market share in other areas of the world. The marketing campaign will be critical to capturing market share in other areas of the world. Gillette has the opportunity for a first mover play in Japan with Sensor. Marketing campaigns should be tailored to position Gillette uniquely in different parts of the world market. Rather than going for a consistency approach, Gillette should customize the marketing campaigns to either strengthen its leadership position or establish itself as an innovator. The consistency approach to the marketing campaign as outlined in the case does not support this direction. Gillette might even consider launching Sensor in Japan or other parts of the world, followed quickly by a North Atlantic launch. A marketing campaign in Japan promoting first mover status with new technology could help capture increased market share. Gillette has made investments in developing the Sensor system. It now needs to ensure it is capturing appropriate levels of value based on what it can build in the way of perceived benefits to consumers through advertising and superior product. Building this benefit advantage in new and existing markets will allow Gillette to price at a point where it can capture more economic profit than it does today. The investment in plant, equipment, and inventory is a bet that needs to be made for this new product. It will be important for Gillette to be able to deliver enough product to the market and let its competition know that it is dedicated to this production and to protecting its patents. 5. Assess Gillettte‟s approach to women‟s shaving needs? Very manly design as the female designs looks very similar to the male wet shavers. Focuses on technical heavily where it may ignores the demand of consumers – females are different from males during purchase decision and process. Company should penetrate female market, new and large market for the company to yield further profit from the same technology. Focus should be on female buying process and demand, e.g. color, demand, preference, etc. in order to maintain the position of leader in wet shaver market. Both male and female markets can be equally important. However, the company can leverage on the brand equity and value of its success on male wet shaver and hence reduce the cost of advertising – advantage over other products. Penetration of female market should be easier, fast, to enjoy economies of scale at high profit margin ahead of other competitors. Should enhance on product packaging. Overall value to targeted consumers. Psychographic segmentation is concerned with identifying personality traits and distinguishing characteristics in groups of the population. Examples are young and outgoing (for the sale of new forms of music) or grey and conservative (for classical and 60s music). Pyschographic segmentation is clearly relevant to shaving patterns and behaviours. For example, busy well groomed people are likely to go for an upmarket shaving system. In order to fully penetrate market, older versions of the wet shavers – on promotions. To capture middle market and mass market. At an affordable price. Commodity and mass market products. Should achieve both cost advantage differentiation. Didn’t achieve cost advantage because there is underutilized production which may save $350 million According to the product lifecycle, it should allow higher quality at lower price Unit operation cost should go down during growth stage The case points out that Gillette’s competitors were quick to copy new products. Trac II was copied by the competition within five months and other product imitations appeared in 18 and seven months. Historically Gillette did not pursue patent enforcement because of antitrust challenges. This tactic needs to be re-thought. The RD spend needs to be protected to help Gillette retain its competitive advantage and its position as a technology leader. Gillette aggressively patented ideas during the Sensor development. Twenty-two different patents were applied for and obtained by end of 1988. Gillette has access to the patents as an isolating mechanism for building competitive advantage in the market. To protect the investment Gillette has made in the development of the Sensor system, it must leverage the isolating mechanism of the patents. By not pursuing the patents, Gillette maintains market share but does not increase market share. It is allowing consumers of the competitions’ products to stay with that brand versus switching to Gillette’s products. Why would they switch if their brand will be coming with an imitation soon? Image, reputation, and credibility all are important to protecting the superior benefits of an experience good. By not protecting the patents, Gillette is not building the consumer view that it is providing superior products. Protecting the patents will also allow Gillette to further immobilize the resource it has in technology. The equipment and plants are certainly not very mobile, but the people that developed the ideas and technology are very mobile. The patents may offer an advertising or marketing advantage; the 22 patents help Gillette illustrate the innovations they have achieved with Sensor. Though being at the top, Gillette now deals with the problem of product innovation in a somewhat stagnant and mature shaving market and needs to find other ways to remain on top. The possible solutions relate to acquiring its competitors’ business, developing and expanding the women’s market and further reducing the prices to reach more customers.

The Sorrow of War Essay -- Literary Analysis, Bao Ninh

It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting. Bao Ninh’s novel The Sorrow of War tells a very realistic and explicit story of Kien, a North Vietnamese soldier and writer, during the Vietnam War. Kien manages to survive, usually by luck, through battles and situations in which survival seems futile. When Kien’s entire platoon is killed in battle, he is one of the few to survive. This seems to be a blessing and a curse as Kien had â€Å"perhaps watched more killings and seen more corpses than any other contemporary writer† (Ninh, 89). As one can imagine, Kien is haunted daily by gruesome hallucinations and memories from the battlefield. Kien begins to write about his war experiences, which turns into an obsession. He claims it is obligated as his duty to write about the war, and yet â€Å"seems to write only to rid himself of his devils† (Ninh, 49). His motivation is to â€Å"expose the realities of war and the tear aside conventional images† (Ninh, 50). It is not just Kien whose life is destroyed by the war. Kien tells of a driver Vuong who, before the war, drank very little and was kind a timid. Vuong disappears for many months and when he returns his life has collapsed. â€Å"I’ve given up driving, fellas. Now alcohol drives me,† Voung states (Ninh, 152). Kien tou... ...hard times together and we reunited multiple times. Cross and Martha, however, were distant apart for the duration of the war. Cross’s deep love for Martha stemmed from his obsessive longing to be with her and to be loved back by her. Cross eventually concedes that Martha belongs to another world and would never love him (Obrien, 17). The two novels use love as a strong metaphor for the losses of war. Ninh often explicitly states that both Kien and every other solider would be forever warped due to the senseless cruelties witness in the long conflict. Kien’s deep love for Phuong is destroyed by the war, as is Lieutenant Cross’s love for Martha. This paralleled metaphor speaks for both sides of the war and the suffering endured by all involved. The tragic loss of love and innocence illustrates the destruction the Vietnam War had on both veterans and society.

The Musical World of Aaron Copland Essay -- Biography Music

Aaron Copland was born on November 14th, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York, United States (3). His parents, Harris Morris Copland and Sarah Mittenthal Copland, were Jewish immigrants from Russia (6). Copland had four older siblings who grew up together. When he was eleven years old, one of his sisters, Laurine, taught him how to play a piano (3). Laurine also influenced to his musical world by introducing him to ragtime and opera (6). From 1913 to 1917, he took his first formal piano lessons from Leopold Wolfsohn (3, 6). Wolfsohn introduced him to the pieces of the great musicians such as Beethoven and Mozart. When he was fifteen, he attended a concert by composer Ignacy Paderewski. The dream of becoming a composer sprouted inside him after attending the concert (3). While he is attending Boys’ High School in 1917, he began to study composition and music theory through taking corresponding courses taught by Rubin Goldmark (2). Rubin Goldmark was a very conservative American composer, who discouraged modern music. After his graduation from Boy’s High School in 1918, he chose to study composition with Goldmark instead of attending to a university (6). He also received piano lessons from Victor Wittgenstein and Clarence Alder. He was exposed to various genres of music by attending to operas and concerts. The Cat and the Mouse (1920) was his first published composition that was not shown to Goldmark. The Cat and the Mouse is a literal composition which fast tempo depicts the mouse while slow tempo depicts the cat (1). In 1921, he wrote the Piano Sonata for Goldmark (6) Copland did not like the conservative musical world of United States (1). After he completed the Piano Sonata, he left United States and continued his studying in American... ...siconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e2406>. Web. 3. Copland, Aaron, and Vivian, Perlis. Copland: 1900 through 1942. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987. Print. 4. Copland, Aaron, and Vivian, Perlis. Copland: Since 1943. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. Print. 5. Griffiths, Paul. "Copland, Aaron." The Oxford Companion to Music. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 16 Jan. 2011 . Web. 6. Howard Pollack. "Copland, Aaron." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 16 Jan. 2011 . Web. 7. Pollack, Howard. Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1999. Print. 8. Kamien, Roger. Music: An Appreciation. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2010. Print.

How to Make a Turkey Sandwich

Anyone can make a turkey sandwich and, truth be told, anyone could make The Best Turkey Sandwich Ever. Really, the only thing standing in anyone's way is that they probably don't yet know how. This is where this guide comes in. I will try to provide thorough instructions for making The Best Turkey Sandwich Ever.I discovered The Best Turkey Sandwich Ever by accident one night while living in New York City. For you see, I was unemployed at the time and didn't have too much money to throw around on food. As fate would have it, on that night, much like on a myriad of countless other nights that had preceded it (and subsequently on many nights thereafter), I happened to be very hungry. In a sad, strung-out, state of desperation, I languidly scavenged my apartment for something to hold me over until breakfast. I found some deli meat, cheese and half a loaf of unwanted challah bread that my sister gave to me last time I bothered to go uptown to visit her. Confronted with such limited suppli es, the solution seemed rather obvious; cobble these culinary elements together and make a sandwich. Although, looking back upon it, I can only attribute this particular chance arrangement of sandwich materials to the benevolent hand of some archaic pantheon of gods; perhaps viking. I like vikings.Anyhow, I crafted the sandwich to my preference and took a bite. By some happy accident of the cosmos, I, in my pathetic desperation not to scrounge together some pocket change and walk a block and a half for a slice of sicilian pizza, had chanced upon The Best Turkey Sandwich Ever.I've kept this to myself for too long. For the greater good of humanity, I am going to share my process with you today. If you follow these directions carefully, you too can live the rich prosperous life that can only come with The Best Turkey Sandwich Ever.

9 Things I Learned From Rewriting My First Childrens Books Series

9 Things I Learned From Rewriting My First Childrens Books Series 9 Things I Learned From Rewriting My First Children's Book Series As a primary school teacher, Heather B. Moon always knew she eventually wanted to write books for children. She also felt that she had a leg up in terms of knowing her market. In this article, she discusses what she learned from rewriting her first series of children's books with the help of a professional developmental editor.   Lessons learned? You can see how I made changes that addressed the problems that we talked about earlier:Introducing secondary characters: I brought other characters into the story in a more entertaining way. But more importantly, I have introduced them through Lottie’s eyes! She is still the main focus of the story, and the people around her have been woven into the action instead of taking the main stage.Show, don’t tell: I must admit it took me a while to get the hang of this - but once I did, my brain fizzed and frothed with ideas. See what I did there? Don’t say: â€Å"I thought of an idea† - that is boring adult speech. If your character is feeling frightened, write something like: â€Å"I felt a giant chunk of ice plop into my tummy.† This is much more appealing to a child and gets the feeling across that the character is scared.Make current, relatable references: Kids might not know what a DVD is - but I’ll bet they can all identify with hoping for WiFi to continue their interrupted iPad games!The young readers I have shared Lottie’s story with have responded well - and a lot of it is thanks to the changes that Rachel and I made to my dialogue and prose. 9 tips for writing books that children will want to read again and again. That’s the best tip I have for other writers looking to publish children’s books: understand how your little readers see the world and talk to them on their level. It might not be as easy as 1-2-3, but with supportive people in your corner, you’ll be on your way to sparking the imaginations of a new generation of readers.Please share your thoughts, experiences, or any questions for Heather B. Moon  in the comments below!Lottie Saves the Dolphins is available on Amazon and on Amazon Kindle!

Janies Voice -Their Eyes Were Watching God

Janies Voice -Their Eyes Were Watching God Free Online Research Papers Janie’s dream has always been to travel to the horizon. For her, the horizon is a never-ending journey, her eternal quest for happiness. As her psyche and personality grow due to the hardships she has endured, her voice also develops. In a way, her voice also reflects her own independence. The story is mainly broken up into three parts of her development. These three parts chronicle her change from childhood and her childish misconception of a true love until her eventual peace and self-understanding. The beginning of her development is her first marriage to Logan Killicks, and her eventual desertion of him to what she thinks of as a better life. During the exposition, we see her being used by her grandmother as another chance at raising a child. After the rape of Janie’s mother, Nanny had to have another chance to raise a child correctly. This is where Janie’s search for independence started. As a child, she knew nothing other than to do what her grandmother told her, as she had no idea of independence, and the thought never crossed her mind that Nanny did not know what was best for her. This continued in her marriage with Logan Killicks. When their relationship starts Janie thinks that she has found the kind of life she has always wanted. Her childish mind thought that marriage meant love, and that Logan would take good care of her. But soon Logan reveals his expectations of her, and that he wants her to be basically an unpaid worker. This is the first time when we see Janie’s independence flare. She does not want this kind of life for herself, and she immediately looks for a way out. The first opportunity that comes is a man called Joe Starks that seems like a good match for Janie. He promises her love and a comfortable life. She did not want to be married to a man who wanted her to â€Å"grab that ax and sling chips lak uh man†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. help me move this pile of manure† page 26. As soon as she contemplates this, she decides that her life with Logan would be a melancholy and downtrodden experience. This is the first time that she voices her opinions and develops a little bit of that personality that pervades through the story. She talks back to Logan, suggesting, â€Å"S’posin’ Ah waz to run off and leave yuh sometime† page 30. â€Å" Mah mamma didn’t tell me Ah wuz born in no hurry. So whut business Ah got rushin’ now? Anyhow dat ain’t whut youse mad about. You ain’t done me no favor by marrying me† page 31. She leaves that day for Joe. The second part is her marriage to the ambitious entrepreneur, Joe. She is one of the most beautiful women that Joe has ever met, and he recognizes that. But instead of the love that Janie wants, he treats her like as a possession, a thing that he can show off and parade about. Nobody ever asks Janie what she wants. They all assume they know what’s best for her, and what she wants is what they want. So, Janie is always yearning for something. This strengthens her, and her voice and way of talking reflects that. She learns patience throughout her years with Joe. â€Å"She had learned how to talk some and leave some.† She learns that some things are better left alone, and might change with time. But she finally realizes some things, no matter how she wants them to change, will not change unless she makes them. She also realizes it is all right to talk back is she is being abused or being antagonized. â€Å"Naw, Ah ain’t no young gal no mo’ but Ah ainâ€℠¢t no old woman neither. Ah recon Ah looks mah age too. But Ah’m uh woman every inch of me, and Ah know it. Dat’s uh whole lot more’n you kin say.† page 79. After years of abuse and duress under Joe, she finally breaks and realizes that sometimes harsh things need to be said to achieve what is right. The last part of Janie’s development comes after Joe dies. Janie is rich and carefree. Tea Cake Woods is a tall enigmatic stranger that comes and transforms Janie’s life. He, unlike the others, recognizes a class in Janie that the others did not see present. He, unlike the others, has nothing to offer her but his love and promise to stay with her and take care of her. It is enough for Janie. Tea Cake opens a new door, where she does not need to be anything but herself. In this marriage, Janie finds the love she sought in other relationships. Tea Cake is a man who respects Janie as an intelligent, exciting companion. By the end of her time with Tea Cake, Janie has become a woman who has experienced much and suffered much. Her words now hold power and influence. Pheoby says after listening to Janie’s story, â€Å"Lawd!. Ah done growed ten feet higher jus’ listenin’ tuh you, Janie. Ah ain’t satisfied wid mahself no mo’ † page 192. Janie is a character that has always been used by everyone around her for their own ends. Throughout her life, her voice changes with her personalities and her added wisdom. She is completely defined by her actions, and her voice reflects that. Research Papers on Janie's Voice -Their Eyes Were Watching GodMind TravelComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionThe Fifth HorsemanQuebec and CanadaTrailblazing by Eric AndersonBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyThe Spring and AutumnHip-Hop is Art