United Nations Conventions on Contract Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

United Nations Conventions on Contract - Essay Example In the first case under consideration, SamCo & DeanCo appear to be the parties to the contract, where a deal in respect of buying and selling five dark blue bonnets was to be executed. Similarly, the second case looks for giving legal advice to the above-described Swedish company SamCo in respect of its deal with the Brazilian reseller company CastielCo. However, before embarking upon the topic under consideration, and providing them with a piece of advice in the light of the Vienna Convention on and International Sale of Goods Contracts, it would be advisable to elucidate the terms that create responsibilities and liabilities to the parties to the contract, in order to explore whether or not any contract has been entered into between the parties, could bind them to execute some specific performance, which is as following: The 1980 Vienna Convention1 provides the parties to the contract with a complete and wide-ranging procedure while entering into a legal relationship between one an other during foreign trades and business ventures. The main objective behind the Vienna Convention includes the protection of the rights and privileges of the individuals on the one hand and enforcement of the promises and agreements the individuals and parties have entered into2 at the international scale on the other. ... nce, deceit and misrepresentation.3 In addition, 1980 Vienna Convention also protects the rights of the people who have either not entered into any contract with the persons and organisations outside their countries, but are falsely claimed to be having entered into the same. Consequently, 1980 Vienna Convention also endorses the statutes of Contract Law, which have defined and determined some conditions, fulfilment of which is vehemently necessary for a valid contract. â€Å"An agreement†, according to section 2 (h) of the English Contract, â€Å"creating obligations to the parties, and enforceable at law is a contract†4 Young (2010) has defined contract in these words: â€Å"A contract is an agreement (usually between two persons) giving rise to obligations on the part of both persons which are enforced or recognised by law†.5 Consequently, social contracts do not create legal enforcement due to the very fact that there is no intention of any legal remedies aga inst non-fulfilment of the same. The same is also applied to the international contracts, all of which aim to create legal responsibilities on the parties to the contract. Vienna Convention, according to its statutes, applies to contracts of sale of goods between parties whose places of business are in different States.6 In order to comprehend with the elements of an international contract, it is essential to explore the basics of an agreement. According to English Contract Law, â€Å"Every agreement is a contract if it is made by the free consent of the parties, competent to contract for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and not hereby expressly declared to be void.†7 In other words, a valid contract maintains the following elements in it; accomplishment of all of them is essential for making it an

Unit 5 discussion board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Unit 5 discussion board - Essay Example In 2002, 70% of the notebook PCs sold were offered with a rebate and the concept seems simple enough (McGinn, 2003). Buy a $1000 notebook and save $200 after filling in the required paperwork, sending it into a third party processing center, and waiting the required number of weeks for your check to arrive. This is a great deal for the manufacturer as they have sold you a PC that was on sale for $800 and then asked you to loan them $200 for a couple of months. No interest is offered, and there is a risk that you may never see your money. Manufacturers rely on human nature to misplace the paperwork, send it in incomplete, or forget it ever existed. For the people that do get the rebate, they merely break even. The sellers have increased cash flow and sold a number of their products at $200 above market value. These practices are as deceptive as a carnival shell game and could have a negative effect on a companys reputation Whether a consumer will even apply for the rebate is largely determined by the amount being offered. While cosmetics that offer $1 back may go discarded, more expensive items will naturally get a better response. However, even on high-dollar electronics the rates can be surprisingly low. Timothy Silk, a University of Florida researcher, found, "...redemption rates, even on larger-ticket purchases such as computers and televisions, are well below 50 percent" (Keen, 2004). Networking accessories manufacturer Asante Technologies sees an even lower response rate. Jim Hsia, vice president of marketing says, "the typical redemption rate for his companys products hovers between 2 and 15 percent" (Millard, 2003). Most people will never see a rebate. In new car sales, rebates can work against the automakers intentions. A consumer electronics rebate can be used to attract attention to an item and create store traffic. However, on an expensive purchase such as a new car, the customer sees the rebate as part

Equality Act and Disability Essay Example for Free

Equality Act and Disability Essay The primary purpose of the Act is to codify the complicated and numerous array of Acts and Regulations, which formed the basis of anti-discrimination law in Great Britain. This was, primarily, the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and three major statutory instruments protecting discrimination in employment on grounds of religion or belief, sexual orientation and age. This legislation has the same goals as the four major EU Equal Treatment Directives, whose provisions it mirrors and implements. [1] It requires equal treatment in access to employment as well as private and public services, regardless of the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. In the case of gender, there are special protections for pregnant women. However, the Act allows transsexual people to be barred from gender-specific services if that is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. [2] In the case of disability, employers and service providers are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to their workplaces to overcome barriers experienced by disabled people. In this regard, the Equality Act 2010 did not change the law. Under s.217, with limited exceptions the Act does not apply to Northern Ireland Defining disability under the equalties act – this is the part of the legal aspect of my job as a TA supporting students with individual needs Under the Equality Act 2010 you are disabled if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. What substantial and long term mean:- †¢ ‘substantial’ is more than minor or trivial eg it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed †¢ ‘long-term’ means 12 months or more eg a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection There are special rules about recurring or fluctuating conditions, for example, arthritis. Progressive conditions A progressive condition is a condition that gets worse over time. People with progressive conditions can be classed as disabled. However, you automatically meet the disability definition under the Equality Act 2010 from the day you’re diagnosed with HIV infection, cancer or multiple sclerosis. What isn’t counted as a disability Some conditions aren’t covered by the disability definition. These include addiction to non–prescribed drugs or alcohol. To find out about the conditions which aren’t covered, download the ‘Equality Act Guidance’

The Effective Advertising And Misleading Consumer Economics Essay

The Effective Advertising And Misleading Consumer Economics Essay Effective Advertising and Misleading Consumer Over the past few decades advertising has been an important marketing strategy. Advertising is always subjected to change because peoples taste, demographic, cultural and socio economic factors change always. Consumers changing response to advertising is essential to develop more effective and efficient marketing strategies. Chanjin (2000) developed a varying-parameter advertising model specifying advertising parameters as a function of advertising strategies and the market environments to explain the varying nature of the advertising responses. The model is applied to New York City fluid milk market and he concludes his findings that advertising strategies and market environment play important role in determining advertising effectiveness and he further concludes that demographic factors are more important than economic factors(Chanjin, 2000). Companies change their advertising strategies time to time to attract customers as well as keep the existing customers with their products. B ut in some developed countries they have their own self regulatory system in order to stave off the government intervention. Harker(2003) states in his published article that despite claims of social and economic benefits, advertising has always had its critics. However, when dealing with unacceptable advertising, advertisers in developed countries usually choose a self-regulatory approach in order to stave off government intervention. The recent breakdown of one of the worlds longest established advertising self-regulatory programmes in Australia has reopened the 20 years old debate concern with enhancing understanding of such regulatory system(Harker, 2003).Though he states like that , even in some developed countries the advertising misleading consumers significantly sometimes very badly. To face to the race of businesses, companies use varies marketing strategies to attract and retain consumers with their products. Advertising is one of the most efficient marketing tools that most widely used in the world. The issue is it has become a main tool or a media where consumers are misled for products or services. Expressing the finding of the result of his research paper, Howard (2005) says over half of the sample viewed most or all mail and telephone advertising as misleading, and that 38 percent of the respondents regarded most or all television advertising as misleading. Also, findings for the Age groups indicate that two out of three respondents regarded most or all advertising directed at children as seriously misleading (Howard, 2005). Advertising has become a powerful emotional promotion method and now there is a trend of sending advertisements via mobile phones even without prior permission. But Melody(2004) points out those consumers generally have negative attitu des toward mobile advertising unless they have specifically consented to it(Melody, 2004). Generally in most countries attitudes toward the quality and information containing in advertisements are not in a good scale. Richard (1993) explains in his paper that a comprehensive model of attitudes toward advertising includes three personal utility factors (product information, social image information, and hedonic amusement) and four socioeconomic factors (good for economy, fostering materialism, corrupting values and falsity/no-sense). He tested these seven factor model on two independent samples and found most respondents exhibited conflict between an appreciation of the personal uses and economic value of advertising and an apprehension of cultural degradation(Richard, 1993). False information in advertisements significantly decreases the credibility of the product. That is why some standard organizations validate their advertisements before broadcast or expose to general public. Ste phen (1998) conducted a study to investigate whether consumers who are exposed to an advertisement containing a deceptive environmental claim have significantly different attitudes about the advertisements than those consumers exposed to a similar non-deceptive advertisement. He conclude the study mentioning that higher levels of perceived deception were associated with lower level of perceived corporate credibility, less favourable attitudes towards the advertisement, less favourable attitudes toward the advertised brand, and decreased purchase intention toward the product in the advertisement(Stephen, 1998). Marketing Pharmaceuticals-Increasing trend Marketing pharmaceuticals are very dynamic and innovative subject especially in this current business arena. Pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable businesses in all over the world. Kesic(2008) states that the world pharmaceutical industry has been changing profoundly in the last decade. Intensive globalization, increased competitiveness and the fight for global market shares create new challengers for pharmaceutical companies. Not only in pharmaceutical industry, but also in most of the business entities, profit maximization is a core objective. However, Chandra(1999) points out that pharmaceutical product companies are not like most other companies because most other companies do not deal with a product which directly affect human health. Reinhardt(2004) highlights that it is not clear that the current allocation of the pharmaceutical industrys revenue dollars to marketing and research development is efficient for societys point of view(Reinhardt, 2004).Kesic (2008) concludes that basic research and development(RD), together with marketing and sales activities two of the most important operative and even more strategic priorities of the world pharmaceutical industry. Having analysed these figures he has found that the biggest, inventive world pharmaceutical companies invest, on average, approximately 16% of their sales into RD and even more, about 26% or more into marketing and sales activities(Kesic, 2009). Drug companies really spend ample amount of money for marketing especially for direct-to-consumer advertising. Lisa(2008) says according to the IMS health report in 2006 in America, drug companies has spent nearly 5 billion on direct advertisements to consumers, and 80 percent increase over what they were spending in 2002(Lisa, 2008).Likewise Chiu(2005) explains that according to the National Institute for Health Care Management, U.S consumers spent $154.5 billion on prescription drugs in 2001.This amount to 10% of total health spending, wh ich account for 14.9 % of the U.S GDP as of 2002.In a publication Parker(2003) states that there is a little doubt that the pharmaceutical industry is a major force in todays economy as measured by both over-the-counter(OCT) and prescription drug sales and further more he says that it seems clear that there have been rather dramatic increases in advertising expenditures by pharmaceutical companies in the past few years. It also seems clear that these expenditures have coincided with significant increases in sales of both OTC drugs and prescription drugs(Parker, 2003). Promoting drugs to consumers directly has become a new trend in all over the world and many pharmaceutical companies have experienced it as a very effective way to market their products. Wilkes et al(2000) points out that direct to consumer drug(DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is affecting patients, doctors, and health care organizations in profound but not always predictable ways. Not only have the numbers of drugs advertised increased, but so have the drug companies advertising budgets directed at consumers. Wilkes et al (2000) further state that several news sources had suggested that drug manufactures earnings have directly benefited from this new promotional strategy(Michael, 2000). According to Moynihan et al(2002)theres a lot of money to be made from healthy people they are sick. Some forms of medicalising ordinary life may now be better described as disease mongering: widening the boundaries of treatable illness in order to expand markets for those who sell and deliver treatments(Moynihan, 2002). Director of research and policy at the National Institute for Health Care Management, Findlay(2000) concludes that Advertising works and pharmaceutical companies have successfully promoted their product to doctors for decades. They are now bringing that marketing survey to the consumer market place. The question is whether -over time-the benefits of raising consumers awareness of specific drugs and the conditions the medicines treat will outweigh the danger that consumers will bring to demand and use some medicines inappropriately(Findlay, 2000). Over-The-Counter Drugs and Paracetamol Advertising Over-the-counter drugs can be purchased any amount without a prescription anywhere in the world. But some researchers have pointed out having some sort of mechanism for issuing these drugs to consumers may reduce misuses. Trends towards greater availability are paralleled by increase in its use for both non-fatal overdoses and suicide. Paracetamol related morbidity and mortality seem to be less frequent in France where the quantity of paracetamol in a single purchase is limited. Although non conclusive, these data add to a body of evidence which suggest that restrictions in the quantity of paracetamol available as a single purchase in other countries can reduce suicide and liver failure related to paracetamol(D Gunnell, 1997).Most of these over-the-counter drugs are advertised frequently in mass media to get and keep attention of consumers on those products. Ashish(1999) in his research paper states that manufactures may attempt to familiarize consumers with brand names in hopes that the consumer will purchase product. The consumer may think that he has heard of this product and assume that it is somehow better than competitive product(Ashish, 1999).In his research paper Hawton(2004) clearly states that suicides and hospital admissions due to paracetamol poisoning reduced after change in legislation which is limiting the size of the available pack of the paracetamol for consumers and in his study he concludes that legislation reducing pack size of analgesics in the United Kingdom has been beneficial and further reduction in pack size could prevent more deaths(Hawton, 2004). Over the counter drug usage among children is very common. Allotey(2004) mentions in his recently published paper Research on the medication of preschool-aged children has suggested that the use of OTC medication is substantial. Kogan et al for instant, found that 54% of three year olds in the United States has been given OTC medications in the 30days preceding the study. In a common survey in New York, 22% of children have taken OTC medication in the preceding 3 day period. Studies in United Kingdom also indicated high rate of OTC medication use among children, ie,28% during a 2-week period and 66% during a 4-week period(Allotey, 2004). Wazaify(2005) emphasizes that increasing availability of non prescription medicines may encourage patients to believe that there is a drug treatment for every ailment. Furthermore, he explains the use of such products may delay/mask the diagnosis of serious illness, with increased risks of interactions and adverse reactions and of self treatment being undertaken when medical aid should have been sought. There is also the potential for misuse and abuse of such products(Wazaify, 2005). According to the Sri Lankan context there are many proprietary products under one generic product. Senarathna(2008) in her thesis of master of philosophy points out that there are around forty registered product of paracetamol in Sri Lanka(Senarathna, 2008).Weerasuriya(1993) points out there were 63 registered paracetamol products in the country in 1993 and paracetamol was the commonest drug registered in the OTC category(Weerasuriya, 1993). Ethics of Advertising OTC drugs It is clear there is an increasing trend of usage for OTC drugs in all over the world. Wazaify(2005) states that in recent years there have been an increasing trend in self-medication with non prescription drugs available in pharmacies and retail outlets and in parallel, more product have been deregulated for purchase without a prescription(Wazaify, 2005). At the same time Solhaug(2006) concludes in his recent abstract publication that only half of the information presented in drug advertisements was correct and clinically relevant and relatively few statements were fault, but a considerable proportion of statements gave an excessively positive picture of the product; hence, in general, this kind of information has no value as a source of information(Solhaug, 2006).Among the publications those point out that drug advertisements are not up to the standard especially OTC drug, Ashish(1999)states in his publication that in reality, it has been observed that pharmaceutical product advert isers often promote their products to achieve their own goals at the potential risk of having an adverse effect on the consumers health and this type of advertising is most often seen in OTC drug product advertisements(Ashish, 1999). Wazaify(2005) points out that the deregulation process has been championed by the pharmaceutical industry, the pharmacy profession and government health policy makers and is supported by the view that patients wish to have a greater role in their treatment choices. Almost all countries in the world has not allowed to pharmaceutical companies to advertise their product to consumers directly. Stremersh(2009) states in his research paper that so far only two countries, New Zealand and the United States, allow pharmaceutical marketers to advertise directly to consumers and in the same paper he further explains that due to this reason patient requests are often accommodated by physicians mainly because they affect physician visit satisfaction and show patients that the physician cares(Stremersch, 2009). Drugs are categorized into few groups and essentially there are two categories which are OTC drugs and prescription drugs. What is categorized as OTC varies from country to country and is dependent on the local legislative framework according to (Buckley, 2004). Many researchers have pointed out over-the-counter drugs has become a public health problem due to misuse, disease mongering and drug abuse and wrong, in appropriate or inadequate information given in the promotional program may have an impact of this health issue(Ashish, 1999, Allotey, 2004, Fernando, 2008, Buckley, n.d.). While there are government agencies charged with monitoring the marketing of medicines, typically this is one of many briefs for these agencies and is often only in a reactive fashion. In other words such monitoring as does occur, occurs only in response to complaints, and even then is often very slow and cumbersome'(Buckley, n.d.). Buckley(n.d.) urges that two things should be happen to put this issue in a correct track which are establishing independent monitoring bodies to police marketing codes of practice with real penalties and paying increased attention to the education of the consumers of pharmaceutical advertising, in particular those with prescribing pow ers(Buckley, n.d.).In Sri Lanka also the situation is almost same like most of the countries in the world. The government has imposed rules and regulations for promoting and advertising pharmaceuticals within the country. In a paper published by the Sri Lanka medical associations ethics committee recently says that Advertisement to the general public should help people to make rational decision on the use of drugs which are legally available without a prescription. They should take account of peoples legitimate desire for information regarding their health, but should not take undue advantage of their concern for their health. Drug advertisement should neither portray nor be directed at children. Advertisement may claim that a drug can cure, prevent or relieve an ailment only if this can be substantial. They should also indicate, where applicable, limitations to the use of the drug When lay language is used, the information should be consistent with the scientific data sheet or other legally determined scientific basis for approval. Language, pictures or sounds, which bring about undue fear or distress, should not be used. The following list illustrates the type of information that advertisement to the general public should contain The name of the active ingredient, using either international non-proprietary names or the approved generic name of the drug The brand name Major indication(s) for use Major precautions, contraindications for warning Name and the address of the manufacturer or the distributor Information to the consumer on price should be accurately and honestly portrayed(Committee(SLMAEC), 2003). Though the guidelines are clear, there is a doubt of implementing and practicing the guidelines in many countries including Sri Lanka. There is a big challenge and responsibility for the government authorities and regulatory bodies in terms of providing correct information to the consumers. Techniques, methods and effective advertising Pharmaceutical industry is in a pressure and Kesic(2008) states that fast globalization definitively reinforces the consolidation of the world pharmaceutical industry. There are so many challengers in pharmaceutical industry and drug companies running after many strategic moves to have sustainable competitive advantage. Direct marketing products to consumer have become one of the innovative methods to win the market comparatively. Buckley(n.d.) states that in United States all drugs may be promoted to consumer, but in practice direct to consumer advertising focuses on OTC and common ailment targeted prescription drugs(Buckley, n.d.). But some authors support to this argument and they mention direct to consumer advertising makes consumer better understanding and make more informative for drugs available to them(Leonard, 1999, Weissman, 2003). On the other hand some researchers like Maguire(1999) points out that American physicians are being asked to rubber stamp self diagnoses and sel f-prescriptions by patients. That is how some advertisements have been influenced on consumers. Kesic(2009) reveals in his paper that it is no surprise that the biggest world multinational pharmaceutical companies invest more than 25% of their sales into marketing activities in a goal to get considerable global market shares. Supporting to the argument of Kesic, Michael adds that not only have the number of drugs advertised increased, but so have the drug companies advertising budgets directed at consumers; the advertisements have also become far more sophisticated(Michael, 2000). A paper published in Thailand in 2005 on Radio drug advertisement situation and regulation in Thailand says advertising has a strong influence on the sale volume of any goods. Drug advertising covers media such as television, radio, newspaper, magazines, internet and printed materials. It further says that radio advertisements can easily mislead people in rural areas because of socioeconomic and educational status(Kittisopee, 2005). Allotey(2004) mentions that OTC medications promoted through televisi on, radio and print advertising directly targeted at women, housewives or working mothers, encourage them not only to self medication but also to dispense OTC medications to their children, because it is important to establish a lifelong pattern of sensible (drug)use'(Allotey, 2004), Ashish(1999) explains that all pharmaceutical advertising is not bad but advertisements should be considered what they are promotions. Drug marketers should always try to follow the unwritten rules of marketing ethics and consider what is best for their consumers before developing a particular advertising strategy. Nowadays the issue is consumer can purchase any kind of drug online. Buckley(2004) highlights in his paper that consumers can purchase all kind of prescription drugs online often without need for a proper prescription and he further points out that most internet pharmacies provide poor quality information(Buckley, 2004). Moynihan(2002) expresses that inappropriate medication carries the dangers of unnecessary labelling, poor treatment decisions, iatrogenic illness, and economic waste, as well as the opportunity cost that result when resources are diverted away from treating or preventing more serious disease(Moynihan, 2002). How consumers are misled -Reliability, Relevance and adequacy of Advertisements Many research papers point out that drug advertisements mislead consumers in many ways directly or indirectly (Sidney, 2002, Michael, 2000, Ashish, 1999, Findlay, 2000). Though it is a common phenomena in all over the world, a practical guide on understanding and responding to pharmaceutical promotion published by the world health organization recently explains clearly how information is given to consumers in advertisements in developed and developing countries. It says while advertisements from developed countries typically contain nearly all of the information listed in the box, this is not always the case in developing countries(WHO, n.d.). The table below published by Hawkins(1993)in his research paper support to the above argument strongly and in the discussion he states that indications were mentioned more often than the negative effects of medicines. Important warnings and precautions were missing in half of the advertisements while side effects and contraindications in about forty percent. Price tended to be given only in countries where a social security system pays for the medicines(Herxheimer, 1993). Nowadays there is a trend of promoting drugs through internet. Buckley(n.d.)mentions on his research paper that most of the internet advertisements provide less information or poor quality information. Many pharmaceutical companies mislead consumers in many ways. A United States Food and Drug Administration(FDA) has issued 88 letters accusing drug companies of advertising violations from August 1997 to Aug 2002(Buckley, n.d.). Most of the time drug companies overstated the effectiveness of the promoting drug and they always keep attention not to highlight its risk. Some companies disseminate advertisements misleading advertisements even after they were warned or cited for violations(Gottlieb, 2002). Some drug companies stimulate consumers to buy expensive or new drugs which has high profit margin and it raises the health care cost of consumers as well as of the country ultimately. Some drugs promoted by pharmaceutical companies have limited Medical beneficiaries but those are heavily advertised because of the high profit margin. Rebecca(2010) says its almost impossible for the public to actually parse the ads and come to their own independent conclusions(Rebecca, 2010). But Weissman(2003)states in his research paper that industrys argument is that patients are highly motivated to seek the best available treatment for their condition and they need and deserve more and better information on which to base their judgement(Weissman, 2003). It is true if the pharmaceutical advertisements provide proper, balance and correct information to their consumers. A research done in Thailand, sharing the findings says that 22% radio advertisements have misled consumers and only 7% of the advertisements have recommended an appropriate dose among studied advertisements. Further more a warning message was found in only 3% of the advertisements and name of the manufacturers were present only 20% of the advertisements collected(Kittisopee, 2005).Weil(2009) is really against the trend of this drug advertisements. He says many adv ised drugs are not only ineffective, but have serious side effects that are frequently played down (and occasionally cancelled) by manufactures. Because advertised drugs have such vast profit potentials, political and financial interests collude to speed them to market before they have received sufficient scientific scrutiny(Weil, 2009). Now there is a trend of using popular characters for marketing advertisements of drugs and sometimes they are neither reliable nor relevance. In a paper published by Michael(2000) says that Now advertisements enlist well-known personalities to endorse pharmaceutical products (Michael, 2000). Lot of people imitate and follow famous personalities and it help pharmaceuticals to reach consumer quickly and in a familiar manner. Criticizing this promotional tactics Weil(2009) says in his report that Sally Field is a talented actor, But what qualifies her to promote Boniva, an osteoporosis drug that is of limited benefit, has worrisome side effects, and for which there are natural alternatives that merit careful consideration?.(Weil, 2009) Drug companies are in the process of promoting their product to consumers in many ways. Sometimes they may use health care professionals to reach consumers because they know that consumer believe professionals who have background knowledge about treatments. Wazaify(2005) points out in his recent published paper that The main factor found to influence the publics choice of OTC medicines was pharmacist recommendation. This is reassuring especially with increasing availability of potent medications without prescription and the increased potential for interactions(Wazaify, 2005). It is one of the indirect marketing methods that the pharmaceutical industry uses. On the other hand people have a belief that over the counter drugs like paracetamol do not have serious side effects. Some over the counter drugs have serious side effects when consumer uses it with some other medications. A very good example is Viagra used for erectile dysfunction. If consumer use it while using nitrate as a treatment of blood pressure, it cause severe drop of blood pressure which is difficult to treat. Buckley(n.d.)says it has mentioned on advertisements but in a much smaller font, it is You must not take Viagra if you are using any nitrate medication including amyl(poppers). It may lead to a severe drop of your blood pressure that may be difficulty to treat. As sexual activity may be a strain on your heart your doctor will need to check whether you are fit enough to use Viagra(Buckley, n.d.). Buckley points out the ordinary people do not know what is nitrate medications and they cannot recognize from this statement that the combination of these two drugs will enou gh to kill them more often. Supporting to this argument Wazaify(2005) mentions that consumers generally believe that only safe medicines are permitted to be sold without prescription and OTC medicines do not usually have serious side-effects(Wazaify, 2005). Some giant pharmaceutical companies have their own physicians, independent monitoring committees and analytical groups etc. They make aware public some new drugs which are effective treatment for some diseases which are common among current generation and they suggest through advertisements, that it may be effective to use their drugs or supplementary product to prevent from those diseases. This is another current trend in the world and basically what they do is label healthy people that they are sick. Supporting to this arguments Moynihan(2002) express his view in this paper stating that Within any disease categories informal alliances have emerged, comprising drug company staff, doctors and consumer groups. Ostensibly engaged in raising public awareness about undiagnosed and under treated problem, these alliances tend to promote a view of their particular condition as widespread, serious, and treatable. Because these disease awareness campaigns are commonly linked to companies mark eting strategies , they operate to expand market for new pharmaceutical products(Moynihan, 2002). Extensive advertising and promotion has put on higher price on pharmaceuticals. Consumer has become the victim of those expensive pharmaceuticals. Dave(2010)says Promotion may affect price through two difference processes. First, promotion may increase demand and/or reduce the absolute magnitude of the demand price elasticity (that is, reduce the price responsiveness of purchasers), which may raise price. Second, the increasing operation cost due to high promotional spending may be shifted to purchasers in the form of higher price. Concluding his findings he states that in addition to potential misuse, the cost of direct to consumer advertising result from increased drug price and increased use of expensive drugs in place of equally effective lower-price drugs(Dave, 2010). Effect of Misleading Many researchers have pointed out that misleading consumer due to unprofessional advertisement of the pharmaceutical industry has created considerable issue to the society in many countries(Herxheimer, 1993, Dave, 2010, Leonard, 1999, Ashish, 1999). There is a reasonable doubt whether consumers spend money for their real requirements of treatments. Moynihan(2002) says drug companies earn lot of money form healthy people and it is better to describe as disease mongering. He further says whereas some aspects of medicalisation are the subject of ongoing debate, the mechanics of corporate backed disease mongering, and its impact on public consciousness, medical practice, human health, and national budgets, have attracted limited critical scrutiny(Moynihan, 2002). There are people who count this criticism and say Direct To Consumer Advertisements (DTCA) fosters rapid detection of disease and promote grater compliance with treatment regimes. Further more they suggest that DTCA is simply pa rt of a wider social trend whereby consumers take greater responsibility for their health care(Hoek, 2002). Pharmaceutical industry may grab ample amount of money from consumers through unprofessional promotions and advertising drugs. Most of the time heavily promoted drugs may has less clinically importance considering the price as the generic drug provide almost similar clinical effect at a cheap price. Parker(2003),supporting to this argument says Prescription drugs such as Celebrex and Vioxx are heavily promoted and cost the consumer just over $2per pill, while generic ibuprofen, which cost the consumer pennies per pill, often work just as well(Parker, 2003). Effective and attractive advertisement can attract consumer towards the product some times without considering the quality or the value of the product. Ashish(1999) states in his publication that Advertising is thought to contribute to the economy as well. By effective promoting increase in promotion of goods and services may occur, which in turn can result in increase in sales and the flow of money within society(Ashish, 1999).B ut some researchers expresses a different idea about the relationship between drug price and drug advertisements. They point out when drugs are advertised, the market is more competitive and due to that the price of the particular drug reduces. Research has generally found that advertising tend to reduce price, rather than increase them, primarily because advertising makes markets more competitive(Calfee, 2002). Sometimes drug advertisement give wrong information due to many reasons for consumers and it is affected for less dose or overdose usage of drugs. A general problem associated with drug advertisements is that it is a powerful influence which may motivate consumers to select overly expensive, overrated, or less than optimum medications for their particular needs. More specifically, it is possible to identify numerous individual problems associated with the promotional practice(Ashish, 1999). Our culture very much believes in the More in Better principle and consumers sometimes even hospitalized or suffer from serious long term complications due to this misleading information. Galapatti says it is important that media try and make people aware of the side effects and danger of excessive usage of these

Everyday Use :: essays research papers

"Everyday Use" is a short story written by Alice Walker. Walker did a wonderful job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Her use of simple symbolism prompts the reader to take a deeper look into the story. Walker’s humble way of conveying the theme makes the reader take a second look at him or herself. Walker did an excellent job in writing this story, so she could warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Every possible type of character is displayed in this short story. Dee starts out the story as a stereotypical light-skinned black person. Feeling as though she was better than everyone else was because her: waist was small, skin was light, a nice grade of hair, and she was somewhat educated. Dee was in a hurry to get out of the country and never come back. She wrote to her mother saying "no matter where we choose to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends" (Walker 63), letting everyone know that she thought she was too good to continue to take part in her heritage. Maggie was portrayed as a flat character. The reader is not told much about her, and she never changes throughout the whole story. The mother would be the static character. She is seen as an older women set in her ways from life experiences, and from what she had been taught growing up black in the south. She made up her mind that the two family quilts would go to Maggie and sh e did not give it a second thought. Dee is also the dynamic character round. She is dynamic when she returns home to the country. She had previously said she would not bring any of her friends home, but when she gets there she is accompanied by a gentleman. Other aspects of her dynamics are displayed when she changes her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo". She went from dyeing and hating her upbringing to wanting to take a piece of it with her back to the city. To show off where and what she comes from. Dee is truly a round character. Walker did an excellent job with these characters especially Dee. Walker’s use of lucid symbolism prompts the reader to take a deeper look into the story and into him or herself.

Analysis of Beloved Essay examples -- essays papers

Analysis of Beloved Beloved is actually a quintessentially American story. Its topic slavery however may not seem to be a traditional one in American literature. The novel written by Toni Morrison is an American survivor’s tale, which depicts the collective experience of slavery defined by the identity of the black community in America for years. The topic of slavery continues to be a vital part of the American consciousness today,in addition, slavery as an institution was a part of American culture as a whole until the Civil War, and its repercussions on race relations are still being felt today. The genre of the survivor's tale is one way that contemporary authors can depict and discuss this formative American experience. ‘Beloved’ is the tale of Sethe, a survivor of slavery, and her family. Sethe is an escaped slave who made the split second decision to kill her daughter, rather than have her return to a life of enslavement. The entire novel revolves around this horrific act; the entire story is slowly unraveled through the remembrances of Sethe and others. These memories and "re-memories" do not follow chronological order. However, when they are all pieced together, the whole picture of slavery, Sethe's act, and its aftermath emerges. A universal characteristic of the survivor's tale is the subjectivity and incompleteness of the survivor's knowledge. The author works to provide a more objective view of events by including several storytellers. ...

Microsoft Marketing Plan

Microsoft Corporation 1. 1 Executive Summary The purpose of this article is to highlight the current marketing strategies of Microsoft Corporation and also to identify the lacking areas where Microsoft should develop new strategies to with stand with the throat cutting market challenges. 1. 2 Mission Statement Empower people through great software anytime, anyplace, and on any device. 1. 3 Our Values As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect.We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality. (Microsoft Corporation, 2010) 1. 4 Company Profile At Microsoft, everyone one is motivated and insp ired every day, by how their customers use their software to find creative, solutions to business problems, develop breakthrough ideas, and stay connected to what's most important to them.Microsoft run business, in much the same way, and believe in their five different business divisions, which offers the greatest potential to serve customers. They are: a. Windows ; Windows Live Division: Includes the Windows product family, and is responsible for our relationships with personal computer manufacturers, as well as online software and services through Windows Live. b. Server and Tools:Software server products, services and solutions, include: Windows Server operating system, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, Silverlight, System Centre products, Forefront security products, Biz Talk Server, and Microsoft Consulting Services. c. Online Services Division: Consists of an online advertising platform with offerings for publishers and advertisers, and online information; offerings such as Bing and the MSN portals and channels. d. Microsoft Business Division: Includes the Microsoft Office suites, desktop programs, servers, and services and solutions; Microsoft Dynamics; and Unified Communications business solutions. . Entertainment and Devices Division: Consists of the Xbox video game system, including consoles and accessories, Xbox Live operations, Zune digital music and entertainment device; Mediaroom, mobile and embedded device platforms, Surface computing platform, and Windows Automotive. We are committed long term to the mission of helping our customers realize their full potential. Just as we constantly update and improve our products, we want to continually evolve our company to be in the best position to accelerate new technologies as they emerge and to better serve our customers. (Microsoft Corporation, 2009) 1. 5 SWOT Analysis . 5. 1 STRENGTHS: i. Microsoft is one of the huge reputable global brands currently in the market. It is recognizable for couple of reasons, it was known to be one of the largest software developers and it’s developed a customer base of near about thirty million people all around the world. ii. It has built its brand image on the successful development of its computer software namely the Windows series of products. iii. Brand is everything, Microsoft is one of the best established, highly visible and healthy IT brands in the World, and holds a very loyal set of passionate customers that advocates and uses the brand.By loyal customers, it means that Microsoft retains old customers as well as recruits new ones too. iv. The corporation is alienated in several central offices inside the United States and all around the globe making the distribution channel and development of its products easily approachable to every consumer. It helps the company to launch new products and services across the globe at the same time. 1. 5. 2 WEAKNESSES: i. Microsoft lacks a solid client age and service support centre on the in ternet.This issue has to be rectified in order to overcome since problems and bugs with regards to their products must be fixed rapidly to attain efficiency. The lack of a customer service centre would erode the integrity and quality perceived by costumers on Microsoft products. ii. Generally Microsoft products have compatibility issues with different hardwares and softwares platforms manufactured by other companies, hence this sort of compatibility issue would then limit the ability of the customer to buy all products made by Microsoft since it would affect the stability and performance of a computer. ii. Microsoft does not share the programming codes of its softwares making modification difficult if bugs and other malfunctions are detected by programmers not affiliated to the company. 1. 5. 3 OPPORTUNITIES: i. Microsoft has expanded its market share by entering into the Chinese market by producing computer programs based on the Chinese language and giving discretionary authority t o the Chinese government to censure and to eaves drop on emails, documents and webpage. ii. Microsoft has also diversified its products.During the past years the company has ventured into fields such as game design, game developing and publishing and the production of game consoles such as the Xbox. iii. The company has also branched out to provide free email and news services to its customers. It has also developed softwares and computer programs that are vital in organizing business spreadsheets and data. 1. 5. 4 THREATS: i. Microsoft has created a set of example for all existing and forthcoming software developing houses to follow the same footsteps for such a drastic success. ii.Early competitor of Microsoft in the operating systems industry is the Linux program which was developed by independent programmers. this program gave very though time to Microsoft due to of its user friendly and can be obtain free of charge. iii. Because the company is diversifying in various fields it started to compete with the products being produced by such companies who have been experts in their parent industry. The company might eventually lost its battles in making its products competitive when put side by side with products made by corporations which has established heir name and reputation to the customers. iv. Microsoft is losing its market share steadily, due to increase in competition and diversified products offered by their competitors. A recent publication (Thinking Made Easy: SWOT Analysis of Microsoft) 1. 6 PESTEL ANALYSIS APESTEL analysisis a set of tools or an investigation of the important factors that are chronologically changing which influences on a businessexternally. PESTEL is abbreviated as Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Environmental ; Legal impacts.Politically influences on organisation like abrupt changes in government, inconsistency in their policies. Economic changes relate to changes in the macro economical conditions such as unstabl e economical conditions, rise in people standards or fluctuations in interest rates, etc. Social changes relate to changes in society (either globally or locally) such as changes in lifestyles e. g. more women going out to work, changes in customers buying behaviours. Technological changes relate to the entrance of new high tech inventions and ideas such as the development of the robotics and internet as business tools.Environmental changes means the impact on production oriented organisation with the environmental policies like all textile manufacturing units were transferred to Asian markets from Manchester UK due to its adverse effect on the environment. PESTEL Analysis a. Political Microsoft is highly affected by the political scenario there in USA. Microsoft is becoming one of the giant companies globally. It has created huge monopoly across the globe. US government is now trying to break up Microsoft into several different companies so that to maintain equal competition throug hout the market.One of the other reasons in splitting up Microsoft Corporation that it is becoming so much stronger that it could be a threat for even US government in near future. b. Economical Being such a versatile company and the market share they have, Microsoft plays major role in bringing up the country economies they have set-upped their businesses. According to an independent studies that the economies of the country shoots up three times when Microsoft starts businesses in that country. c. SocialMicrosoft has an edge on all of its competitors that socially more people are inclined towards Pentium platforms so naturally it helped a lot to have more market share rather than others. Market segment of Pentium users is considerably very huge but it would be threat for Microsoft that they are losing its share with an average pace, due to their unsatisfied customers. d. Technological It was a decade earlier that Microsoft was the leader in producing high tech softwares and gadget s, but now they are getting tough competition from global phenomenon brand ‘Apple’.No doubt Microsoft adopts and market new technology as soon as it could be but still i e. Environmental Microsoft follows very strict policies to make sure that the company remains in full compliance with international environmental regulations and the specifically environmental requirements of each country/region where they are doing their business. Microsoft reduces waste disposal, where possible through source reduction and recycling at company facilities. All waste safely and responsibly handled and disposed of properly. f. LegalMicrosoft is playing vital role in legal aspect of their pirated products like Windows and other softwares. They are trying their level best to reduce the usage of their pirated softwares. They are introducing different security features which may reduce the usage of pirated products. 1. 7 Porter’s Generic Strategies Michael Porter has proposed three ge neric strategies that provide a good starting point for strategic thinking; overall cost leadership, differentiation, focus and combination of all these three strategies is known as stuck in the middle.Microsoft is a versatile company it produces series of products and services which caters different market segments, and according to every particular segments they developed their specific strategy for different product segments. a. Overall cost leadership Microsoft’s has out scoured its major software houses towards Asian markets, that help them to develop efficient and yet low cost softwares with low overhead or manufacturing cost.The added benefit of companies going globally is that they get access to their local market, and one of the reasons Microsoft has established software house in India is to expand their Indian market share. b. Differentiation The other strategy which Microsoft is keep following since very early stages, is of their differentiated products and softwar es. With the launch of Windows the most user friendly and c. Focus Microsoft has narrow down its market segments, they identified the need of their customers and created segments within the segments.For example at first there was only one segment of computer games lovers but now Microsoft has narrow down this segment and created a separate gaming console for gamers called Microsoft Xbox 360. 1. 8 Implementation Plans As a marketing adviser, I would redefine the marketing structure by improving their segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies. Last year Microsoft launched Xbox 360 gaming console, it was segmented for kids to teens gaming needs and it was positioned as a complete home entertainment solutions which merges video gaming, internet and DVD playback.The Xbox 360 is the most robust and high tech gaming console in current market. Sony Playstation 2 is currently the market leader with almost more than 50% of the gaming console market share. The Xbox was launched the pr evious year and positioned as the complete home entertainment solution combine video gaming, the Internet and DVD playback. The Xbox is the most robust gaming console on the market, but faces stiff competition in its product category. Microsoft is trying its level best to become the market leader in this category by dethroning Sony.To accomplish this goal, Microsoft has to restructure its targeting strategy; specifically they should stick to a specific age group people so that they could focus their efforts on them. They should more focus on people aged between 16 to 24, due to the high tech device and this age group are very high gamers. This age group people are substantial knowledge how to use high tech equipment and themselves fascinated by the entire features Microsoft is offering. Secondly, these age group people are good source of marketers by influencing their friends and family circles by introducing them and flavouring them its joy.Considering various opportunities and cha llenges ahead, Microsoft must continue to narrow down their campaign specifically on the heavy male gamers, since this demographic category are usually trendsetters in the society and they are even very early innovators too. Microsoft should work out on the differentiation strategy, in the current market scenario Microsoft is the only one who is offering online and network gaming on their gaming consoles where as Sony and Nintendo are not offering such features, so Microsoft should invest more capital for marketing in such area which make them set ahead among their competitors.In the software development side, Microsoft is facing huge customers losses by one of its competitors namely OpenOffice, they are offering complete range of office softwares free of cost, thus giving very tough time to Microsoft Office software, in such critical situation my opinion would be going towards differentiated strategy.Technically Microsoft should develop such uniqueness in their Office software so t hat customers (majority of them are students) can’t think to adopt free softwares rather than paid one, customers should have high perception in their mind that paid must have great value rather than free one. This can be achieved if Microsoft creates a monopoly by creating incompatible extensions of Office which can only be viewed and edited on exclusively Microsoft Office. Bibliography Hollensen, S. (2004). Marketing Management.Illinois: Pearson Education Limited. Kotler, P. (2002). Marketing Management (Eleventh ed. ). California: Prentice. Microsoft Corporation. (2010). About Microsoft: Your Potential. Our Passion. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from Microsoft Website: http://www. microsoft. com/About/default. mspx Microsoft Corporation. (2009, December 4). Our Commitment to Our Customers. Retrieved March 12, 2010, from Microsoft Corporation Website: http://www. microsoft. com/about/companyinformation/ourbusinesses/business. mspx