The 3 Types of Economic Systems

The 3 Types of Economic Systems – Centrally planned economy – Mixed economy – Market economyCentrally planned economySystem in which a nation’s resources are owned by the government. Came from the ideology that the welfare of the group is more important than individual well being, the idea came from Karl Marx. The decline of Centrally planned economies was in the 1980’s nations began to dismantle communist central planning in favor of market based economy. Mixed economyEconomic system in which resources are more equally divide between private and government ownership. It came from the idea that a successful system must be not only efficient and innovative but should also protect society. Most economies around the world are mixed economies but most mixed economies are trying to convert more of a market economy. This is called â€Å"Privatization† or â€Å"Privatizing†. Market EconomyThe majority of nations resources are privately owned. Economic decisions are determined by supply and demand. Based on the belief that individual concerns should be placed above group concerns. The best features are free choice, free enterprise and price flexibility. The governments role is enforcing antitrust laws, preserving property rights, providing a stable fiscal and monetary environment and preserving political stability. Personally I would prefer to live in a mixed economy. I say this because it is the best kind of economic system in my eyes.A mixed economy lies between a free market economy and a centrally planned economy. A mixed economy combines elements from free market and centrally planned to create a more favorable economy. Most nations operate mixed economies with varying combinations of capitalist and socialist features. Some benefits of a mixed economy are free enterprise, private ownership, a â€Å"safety net† and the ability for the government to step in if needed. This is very appealing because the benefits are unmatched from the other two main economic systems.  I like the idea of private ownership and the government being able to step in during times of need, these two examples are the main reasons I prefer to live in a mixed economy.

A T-shirt Epic Essay

Pietra Rivoli’s delightful narrative, The Travels of A T-Shirt in the Global Economy, goes about a surprising journey around the global village to discover an entangled web of economic and political forces that move this piece of clothing around. The book is split into four parts of a t-shirt’s life.   Part one of the book deals with the cotton industry.   Rivoli’s own surprise at learning that the cotton used for her shirt comes from Texas opens up this chapter on the continuing dominance of the American cotton industry.   The book then continues to explain the reasons for these—aside from government subsidies, the larger part of America’s continuing competitive advantage is its â€Å"virtuous cycle† of governance.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"In the United States, the farms work, the market works, the government works, the science works, and the universities work.† (Rivoli 7). The second part of the book is about the textile industry’s so called â€Å"race to the bottom†.   Industrialization is ushered in by the textile industry, and Rivoli gives examples from 19th century England to the Asian economic powerhouses Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong in the 20th century.   The third part is about the complexity of getting a textile import into the United States, with all the confusing legislation brought about by decades of political control held by textile manufacturers in America.   In the final part of the book, Rivoli examines the global market for used t-shirts, which she concedes is the final place where markets actually determine its origin and destination. Free Trade or Protectionism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author is not making an argument for either protectionism or free trade.   Obviously, as a trained economist, Rivoli favors free trade, as do all her colleagues in an almost unanimous voice.   However, the book does not argue for either side, and instead illustrates that both sides of this policy divide unwittingly spur economic development. Free trade policies encourage more â€Å"races to the bottom† as production shifts to low cost countries; however protectionist policies also contribute to another type of race.   In the battle for quota imports to the United States, for example, investment has flowed into areas where there is less restriction on trade with the world’s largest consumer of textiles and apparel.   In the modern-day case with China, the relatively low quota limits that China has for its exports to the US before the expiration of the Multifiber Agreement (MFA) (Rivoli 121) has encouraged investments in other developing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Sub-Saharan Africa.   As the book notes, the exclusion of one creates opportunities for another, and the humble textile industry is the first step towards industrialization for many developing nations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As Rivoli further notes, when the MFA was scheduled to be taken down, a lot of other developing countries were scared of China eating everyone’s share of the textile pie.   It represents one of the few actually plausible pro-protectionist arguments in the book, which are not really argued for but just explained. The role of politics in international trade It’s a given fact that politicians will listen more often that not to their constituents first instead of to common sense.   Unfortunate as it may be, politics more often than not counter the market forces that power the global race to the bottom.   Rivoli puts it as â€Å"While the market forces powering the race to the bottom are strong, the political forces pushing back against the markets are strong as well, particularly in the United States.† (Rivoli 115) This clash between the two has made importation of textiles a very complicated business in the United States, and changes the face of international trade with it.   If an item cannot be imported from China, it is imported from Mexico instead, giving an artificial advantage to some countries that will not be there if market forces were solely in control.   The decisions that politicians like congressmen and senators in Washington make often influence the very futures of some countries in the world. Rivoli characterizes American industries that are aging as trying to escape market forces by clinging on to their political supports.   Instead of a paradise of no intervention and perfect competition, what happens is that more often politics exert a big unpredictable force that tilts the equation over completely.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another example was 18th century England, where to no avail Parliament tried to pass acts that would protect their domestic wool producers.   Instead of having the intended consequences (i.e. eliminating imported cotton), it just pushed international trade to adapt to the circumstances. The â€Å"race to the bottom† phrase used so much in the book is one of the most intriguing ideas of Rivoli. Basically it says that the textile industry, like all industries is governed by market forces.   On the supply side, producers seek more and more productivity for lower costs—a reaction that sparked the original Industrial Revolution.   However, as wages go up along with production costs, producers are keen on reducing costs and preserving low prices with huge markets.   These trends doom an industrial country’s textile production after it becomes less competitive than another aspiring country who is not the leader in the â€Å"bottom† of production costs. The fire of the Industrial Revolution spread to the United States, and then in the last century to Asia, where during the past twenty or so years China has held the spot as top in this ubiquitous â€Å"race to the bottom†. The other side of the argument—those activists who bring about higher minimum wages and better labor standards, hasten the fall of a country from the â€Å"race to the bottom†, but at the same time also hasten industrialization and the development of other more value-added industries.   It also makes another country leader of the race to the bottom, ready to start the cycle all over again. This â€Å"history repeats itself† phenomenon—from Britain to Taiwan leaves the reader enthusiastic of the future, and of how economics will eventually make all the people of the world feel a little bit better. R E F E R E N C E Rivoli, Pietra. The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. New Jersey :Wiley, 2005.

Anatomy (Reproductive System Study Guide)

Oviduct- passageway from the ovaries to the outside of the body Labia majora-The outer lips that protect the vagina Uterus- the cavity which holds the baby during pregnancy 3) What are the complementary male sex organs that correspond to the following female organs: oviduct, vagina, labia majora, ovary, clitoris Oviduct- epididymis Vagina- passageway from the ovaries to the outside of the body Labia majora- scrotum Ovary-Teste Clitoris-Penis 4) How are ova and sperm similar? How are they different? They both have the same number of chromosomes, but they are produced in different numbers throughout the month. ) Identify the phases of the menstrual cycle, and what events occur in each stage. Menstrual- the lining of the uterus sheds Follicular-the ovary prepares to release the egg Luteal- the ovary releases the egg 6) What are gonadotropins? What gland secretes them? Provide examples. Hormones secreted by the anterior pituitary. LH and FSH 7) After fertilization, where does an embryo i mplant? In to the uterine wall. 8) How is the sex of a child determined? By the DNA pairs. It’s XX for female and XY for male. 9) What can happen to maternal and paternal genes during crossover of meiosis? They can either be handed down or lost. 0) Identify the role that each of these hormones plays in reproduction: LH, FSH, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone LH-triggers ovulation FSH- regulates the development and growth Estrogen-the primary female sex hormones Progesterone-supports gestation Testosterone-the primary male sex hormone 11) What is required for sperm activity? Seminal Fluid 12) What prevents polyspermy? The cortical reaction 13) What does amniotic fluid contain? What are the important functions that it performs? Made of electrolytes and water that protects the fetus in the womb. 14) What are the events of organogenesis, in order? ctoderm, endoderm, and mesoderm 15) What hormonal changes occur in the mother and fetus at the onset of labor? The baby uses estrogen, oxycotin, and other hormones to determine when and how fast the baby is born. 16) What are the male accessory sex structures? Semin al Vesicles 17) What is the biggest cause of cervical cancer? HPV’s 18) When does the first mitotic division of the zygote occur? Morula 19) Name 3 roles of the uterus. Protects the developing baby, gives it nutrients, and is the site for implantation 20) Identify the characteristics and location of the uterine cervix. assage between the vaginal cavity and the uterine cavity and 4 centimeters long 21) What is the pathway of spermatozoa? Gamete 22) What is the role of seminiferous tubules? Creates spermatoza 23) What organ produces mature sperm? Epidymis 24) What percent of sperm comes from accessory glands? 60 percent 25) How many sperm are in one ejaculate? 300 million 26) What are the 4 main organs of the female? Uterus, Fallopian tube, ovaries, and vagina. 27) What is oogenesis? Creation of the ovum 28-30)Complete the Venn Diagram Chart below. How do the male and female reproductive systems compare? Male Differences |Similarities |Female Differences | |Smaller pelvic cavity |Same amount of chromosomes |Larger pelvic cavity | |Penis |Both interact with one another |Vagina | |No Boobs |Organs can do the same as other organs in|Boobs | | |the other | |

Art reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Art reflection - Essay Example I was particularly amazed by the traditional Indian exhibits, which were displayed on the walls of the museum. What amazed me most was a handmade craft of a man, which the Indians refer to as â€Å"Wild Man of the Woods.† The craft was made in 1900 and was in the past known as â€Å"Kwakiutl.† Willie Seaweed, an Indian carver who died in 1967, made the craft. This craft has played a major role in conserving the American Indian culture as well as conserving their natural history and anthropology. The craft has been preserved is an ethnographic pieces, which is an illustration of the culture in which the Indians associate themselves with. This craft amazed me more since it was new to me and I had not seen it before but I had read about it. This event has played a huge role in changing my perception about the traditional Indian lifestyles. I believed that the Indians were more interested in music and had no passion for other forms of art. However, this artwork alongside many other artworks, which I came across, has changed my view on traditional Indian lifestyles. I have developed more interest and an inquest of their

English Film and Literature Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

English Film and Literature Analysis - Essay Example Let us be ignorant to the visual version of the former and instead we are going to examine the key elements of Raymond Chandler’s novel 'The Big Sleep' and John Huston's film 'The Maltese Falcon', and find out, which stands as a single core trait that the American culture holds to be essential in its heroes. The Big sleep, The Maltese Falcon and Humphrey Bogart ‘The Big sleep’ is a crime novel written by detective fiction writer, Raymond Chandler in 1939. The story is known for its intricacy and many secrets being disclosed throughout the narrative. The whole narrative is based upon Los Angles detective, Philip Marlowe’s point of view. ‘The Maltese Falcon’ is a 1941 Warner Bros. film, directed by John Huston. The film was adapted from the novel of the same name written by Dashiell Hammett. The film ‘The Maltese Falcon’ has been named as one of the greatest films of all time by film critics. The screen play is all about a San Franci sco private detective, Sam Spade and his dealings with three corrupt characters all of whom are in pursuit of a jewel encrusted statuette named the Maltese Falcon. Humphrey Bogart, regarded as one of the greatest male star or film hero in the history of American cinema, played the character of Sam Spade. Humphrey Bogart created his own trade mark film persona through his films, which made him, a symbol of the Golden Age of Hollywood and a popular culture icon even after his death. The single core trait Inspection of these two works shows that the multiple core traits that remain as essential in American heroes are being cynical but honest, hardboiled but noble, stoical, wary as well as tough even without a gun. These multiple elements can be combined to form a sort of ‘umbrella’ core trait named idiosyncrasy. This oxymoronic term refers to the peculiarity and individuality in one’s thought and action. Both the main characters in the novel and the film express thi s in enormous amounts. The American culture during the 1940’s was associated with war and the post-war period, which demanded stoical character trait in its heroes. This can be noted in the pre-climax of the movie, when Sam Spade angrily confronts O’Shaughnessy, telling her that he knows that she killed Archer to implicate Thursby. She cannot believe that Spade would turn her over to the police, but he does, despite his feelings for her, thus exhibiting the stoical trait.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"If you are good girl, you will be out in 20 years. I will be waiting for you. If they hang you, I’ll always remember you† (Huston). This also shows Spade’s behavior of accusing or cursing with sweet dialogue. On the other hand, in ‘The Big Sleep’, Marlowe exhibits the stoical trait in a different perspective. That is, he reveals a palpable dread of his own impending death, and struggles to retrace the steps that led him into a life of danger and depravity. Bo th sleuths Marlowe and Spade place a great emphasis on intricate details apart from viewing the larger picture, which also can be linked to the American culture’s perspective of who can be regarded as hero. The below words by Marlow reveal how he exhibits this trait in a effective manner. â€Å"Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree†. (Chandler 1). These words clearly reflect how Marlow being a detective who looks into the details of

Peer review Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Peer review - Coursework Example why the University of Marion introduced the LessThanUThink campaign in order to sensitize students on the importance to focus on their studies rather than engage in irresponsible activities such as excessive alcohol consumption. The author should include the effects of alcohol on student performance and graduation rate. It is significant to note that as discussed in the proposal, the author gathered evidence from University students that they usually consume very large volumes of alcohol mostly during the weekends to get wasted. According to them, they do this for fun and an individual can end up guzzling up to over ten drinks in a night. However, this heavy drinking results in personal tragedy for college students and their families. Yes, the draft proposal persuades in the way the author has answered the problem of the proposal. The author has stated the reasons why the campaign was launched. The campaign in the University was successful since after the campaign was launched, it has assisted educate students when others engage in irresponsible drinking. There is no need for change or reorganization of the paper but the author should state the research design of the study and the methods they used to gather information about binge drinking in the University of Marion. The author was very keen and specific thus they avoided any form of repetitiveness. The most interesting part is the statistics about the past drinking behavior of students at the University of Marion. The statistics were shocking and needed immediate intervention to avoid further damage to the students and the reputation of the University. For example, I learned that about 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades

Eating meat and fish vecessarily involves cruelty to other living Essay

Eating meat and fish vecessarily involves cruelty to other living creatures. Vegetarianism should be made compulsory - Essay Example People that follow such diet are referred as vegetarians, and are found mostly in Asian countries that are dominated by Buddhism and Hinduism religions that assert humans to live on a plant-based diet. (Portmess, 2001) A number of variations have been observed in the abovementioned dietary practice, in terms of exclusion or inclusion of poultry items. It is observed that a minority group of vegetarians, animal lovers, and religious experts has asserted the fact that an omnivorous diet is a symbolic way of showing cruelty to animals. Such a notion has been contradicted by a multitude of observable facts that will be discussed in this paper. It is observed that such a notion has been influenced by a number of ethical, emotional, and religious factors, rather than scientific or rational reasons. In this regard, such statement cannot be scrutinized through rational understanding. Still, it is observed that some animals that produce meat are sacred in some religions, and societies following such religions consider meat-related products as an act against the word of God. (Fox, 1999) Such a statement can be contradicted by the analysis of human body that is created according to the requirements of a meat-based diet. Digestive system of the human body is very effective in terms of digesting meat-based, as well as, vegetable-based diet, and therefore, it would be ridiculous to say that eating meat-based diet is against the word of God. Moreover, natural ecosystem is one of the major examples that oppose the abovementioned statement. It is the rule of nature that stronger ones kill and eat weaker ones, and it is very essential for the continuity of animal kingdom. In this regard, if the vegetarianism will be made compulsory, survival will become one of the problems of human beings, as animal population will multiply and be ten times greater than the human population. (Spencer, 2004) Statement of vegetarians is supported by

Airline Revenue Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Airline Revenue Management - Essay Example The company blames the strike action of cabin crew and planned winter capacity reduction as a major cause of decline in revenues, capacity and traffic.1 The reported loss of British Airways in 2010 was  £531 million as compared to  £401 million loss in 2009 (Table I).2 On the other hand, according to information taken from official website of Ryanair, the low cost airline Ryanair reports increase in its passengers’ traffic by 14% (from 58.6m on March 31, 2009 to 66.5m on March 31, 2010), increase in revenues by 2% (from â‚ ¬2,942m in 2009 to â‚ ¬2,988m in 2010) and increase in Earnings per Share by 204% (from 7.10 in 2009 to 21.59 in 2010). Furthermore, the company started its services on 284 new routes and now it is providing services on 940 total routes.3 Moreover, the number of passengers of Ryanair is also increasing rapidly for example, in June 2009; the number of travellers served by the company was 5,836,355 as compared to 6,713,559 travellers served in 2010 (Table II).4 The price structure of Ryanair is very simple and company only charges ticket price and for using other facilities customers have to pay extra charges. On the other hand, British Airways includes everything such as food, toilet etc in the ticket prices which enhances the cost of ticket. Since the competition among airlines is increasing, therefore, airlines are coming up with distinct strategies for example, Ryanair is seeking to reduce its costs and lower its profit margin to offer lowest possible prices to customers. On the other hand, British Airways has kept her prices high because of the slowing down of global travelling demand, increasing fuel costs, high insurance costs and increasing airport taxes (Ivythesis, 2009). Being a legacy carrier, British Airways is only serving the primary and major airports whereas, being a low cost carrier, Ryanair is serving secondary airports. Ryanair has been given the award of lowest cost airline by Budgies

Short Answers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Short Answers - Essay Example 2009). A marketing audit to evaluate their effectiveness of strategies in accomplishing objectives is essential. The marketing mix components; product, place, promotion and pricing are influenced by environmental factors thus before choosing a strategy, PEST analysis is important. None of these components acts in isolation and therefore a marketer determines the best combination that can lead to marketing success. First, the marketing division establishes the kind of product to sell. Such aspects as; type of product whether it is for consumption or business use, packaging, branding and size, is considered. Political factors such as government regulations on packaging and labelling, environmental regulations and protection are considered to ensure compliance (Stone, 2001). Social factors such as lifestyle, age and income distribution can help in segmenting the market hence provide the right products for the target market. Technological factors determine production methods and new prod uct inventions. For example, advancements in the mobile technology enable use of wide range of services to satisfy the customers. After developing the product, the marketing division determines how well to mix place, price and promotion strategies to achieve success. Depending on where the customers are located, the channel of distribution is selected as the product has to be made available to the customer at the right place and right time (Lamb et al. 2009). The division also promotes the products and sets the right prices depending on the target market. The quality of product, cost of promotion and channel of distribution all play a part in determining price. PEST factors are useful in determining the marketing mix. For example, economic trends such as interest rates, inflation and exchange rates determine the consumption hence pricing of the product. Technology is important in promotion especially use of the internet to promote the organization and brands (Stone, 2001).Social fac tors determine distribution, pricing and promotional activities. Marketing audit is then carried out to assess the effectiveness of the marketing strategies and if not effective, the marketers formulate better strategies (Blythe, 2009). Word Count: 400 References Blythe, Jim (2009) Key Concepts in Marketing. London: Sage. Lamb, C., Hair, J., McDaniel, C (2009). The Essentials of Marketing. 6ed. USA: Cengage Learning. Stone, Phil (2001) Make Marketing Work For You: Boost Your Profits with Proven Marketing Techniques. UK: How to Books Ltd. Marketing Factors The marketing division ensures that effective marketing strategies are in place so as to ensure business success. To achieve this, it needs to carry out market research to determine customer needs and make appropriate decisions. It thus evaluates the internal and external environment by collecting useful information regarding customer satisfaction, quality of products, the behaviour of buyers, the effectiveness of the marketing mix in place (Boone et al. 2010). This information can be obtained from sales reports, published reports, experimentation and marketing information systems. The information is then analysed and used in making marketing decisions. The marketing information systems are more effective as they continuously assess internal and external data and are easy to access. The information gained through market research is useful in segmenting the market and formulating marketing strateg

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay Example for Free

The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Essay The Story of an Hour written by Kate Chopin in 1894 the reader should zone in on the main character Mrs. Mallards thoughts and not so much on the excitement of the story but the ending. The insights of different literary elements such as the point of view and tone make this short story omniscient and subtle yet cruel that all contribute to the multiple themes. According to Journey Into Literature, a theme is an idea, or message, that lies behind a literary work, the theme tells what the story is about: What is the underlying message? What is driving the action? (Clugston, 2014). When answering any of these questions, the main theme deals with a dysfunctional marriage and other minor themes including communication, freedom and confinement, time, and mortality. The reason for the dysfunctional marriage comes from males dominating the women of the 19th century and how they were prisoners to their husbands. Women were expected to stay home to cook, clean, and take care of the children. The woman was only a mean of a mans pleasure and reproduction. She had no rights, no opinions, no sentiments no emotions (Radek, 2001). If they did work and it was not too often and the pay and job was always less compared to a man. There was no mention of true love since marriage was out of convenience, monetary comfort and status during that era. Communication is essential and its delivery because when Mrs. Mallard was told of her husbands untimely  death on a train and then to find out that he was not dead after all, was more deadly than how you tell it versus what actually happened. Be careful with delicacy and preparation when delivering a message to a sick listener with a heart condition or it can cause further damage. Freedom and confinement deals with how she was suppressed in marriage, having a bad heart, confined to home and suddenly given freedom of it all by her husband passing and just as the freedom was given to her it was taken away with seeing her husband alive. It was all about feeling the joy of freedom which was yanked from her upon reaching of the husband healthy and alive (Jamil, 2009). Time in this story happens so fast by changing things drastically and dramatically in under a hour. Mrs. Mallard only had less than a hour to process the news of husband passing. In that time she thought of grief and moved quickly into what life by herself would be like. Once seeing the supposedly dead husband alive, just shattered her new images and dreams of a new life. Last there is the mortality which is powerful and told the wrong way will deliver a lethal dosage. Finding out that a person died can be horrific but discovering that it is not true could be worst. The tables turned so soon on Mrs. Mallards complex, emotional reaction that it caused her death instead. The final thought of her freedom from the marriage being taken away was too much for her to handle. One of the literary elements that contributed to the themes was the point of view. There was the use of omniscient third-person so the reader got to understanding of the story by more than just the main character. This was great since to have different views of what or how things were explained throughout the story. The omniscient third-person narrative voice of understanding, compassionate, freeing made it easier to deal with Mrs. Mallards behavior and thoughts with at least sensible reasoning. For example, There was something coming to her and she was waiting for it, fearfully. What was it? She did not know; it was too subtle and elusive to name. But she felt it, creeping out of the sky, reaching toward her through the sounds, the scents, the color that filled the air. (9) Even though Mrs. Mallard was not forced into her dysfunctional marriage, the way out was not so nice, but the feelings she had were chasing her down. Mrs. Mallard has finally free after her husbands death and freedom was scary along with  being exciting altogether. Because this was written in third person, the thought of her being sort of selfish, uncaring or most of all not in love with her husband would have made the story much different to swallow. The second literary term to contribute with the flow of the themes was through the tone. In this story the description of Mrs. Mallard in a lifetime of emotional torment, dawning comprehension. liberating, that ended in ironic detachment. Mrs. Mallard brushes off the idea of love and marriage for the wonderful and glorious idea of at last freedom. The other characters around her such as her sister Josephine and Richards which is the husbands friend though she was crying her eyes out over the death of her husband and she was actually relieved to be a free woman. At the end, it was understood that she died from sudden shock of seeing her supposedly dead husband alive after all joy that kills (23). The only piece of the puzzle that is left unanswered for sure is what really killed her and the narrator left that up to the reader to decide. In conclusion, in order for a short story to be successful there must be well organized literary elements to support the theme. With a strong point of view and well understood tone the flow of the story with go over well with your audience just as it did for The Story of an Hour. References Chopin, K. (1894). The Story of an Hour. Vogue, pp. 1-3 Clugston, R. W. (2014). Journey into literature (2nd ed.). San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Jamil, S, S. (2009). Emotions in The Story of an Hour' Explicator. pp. 215-220. Retrieved from EBSCO hosting. Radek, K. (2001). Women in the Nineteenth Century. Women in Literature. Retrieved from: http://www2.ivcc.edu/gen2002/women_in_the_nineteenth_century.htm.

Advertising Manipulates And Persuading The Consumers Media Essay

Advertising Manipulates And Persuading The Consumers Media Essay The basic purpose of this paper is to understand the techniques used by advertisers, the propaganda they create and the real dangers they cause in modern society. Our argument is essentially unless people become aware, our society will change direction. A balanced view however cannot ignore the fact that people like to be in control of their thoughts.   Ads also give information about their products.  Some inform against disease risks, others are for humanitarian aid or for the Nations welfare but this kind of ads is not much prevalent. In the following pages, we will first look at what are the methods used by advertisers, how they manipulate dreams and yearnings; then we will turn back to the power and strategies of advertising which attract people with guilt complexes, emotional blockages and false ideas before finally examining the influences on children through various examples of commercial campaigns using transgression and appearance. The main goal of advertising is to demonstrate in every ad that consumers have an important and interesting offer and the reason to buy a product. Advertising helps a product to be sold. If it is well advertised, people will be aware of a product and it will lead to an increase in sales. Moreover, with a well marketed ad, it is easier for consumers to understand the benefits of a product and where to find it. Furthermore, people will save time and money instead of trying every kind of product. Companies use different ways to help sell and identify a product with for example, slogans which are used over and over. Advertising is aimed at people who are loyal customers. For example, make-up and beauty products are targeted at women while razors and brief-boxers are targeted at men. Slogans like Its the real thing. Coke by Coca-Cola (Bovà ©e, Thill, Dovel, and Wood 680), or Because Im worth it by lOreal but also Just do it by Nike help consumers to recognize companies. When people see t he Nike symbol, they know what to expect. Nike introduce of the best athletes in their ads and it feels to the viewers a great satisfaction, that is why they want to buy sportswear to be like Zinedine Zidane, Usain Bolt etc. Advertisers create strong, persuasive and lasting symbols. However, these repetitive slogans lead to a ballyhoo and it gets into everybody, people are no longer interested by the quality of the product but they are only focus on the brand. Sut Jhally, in the film The Ad and the Ego, said that symbolism is never natural, it is tied up with power. Advertising plays a positive key role in many aspects; it also helps health care organizations, charitable organizations and social activist groups encourage people to give money, to do voluntary work, or vote to change laws (Day 34). Agreed, but is it the good way to ask some help by broadcasting or others ads? For example, charitable organizations like Amnesty International reach out to their audience by commercials, m agazine ads. These ads help consumers to become more aware of problems and that each coin is important, as well as all the support they can give. Should not these organizations directly go and see people, be attractive, organize meetings? Another example is ads made by government for road safety but it does not mean that there are less accidents. We can also watch ads to join the army, but is a thirty second clip make people really want to join military services? We could not ignore that advertising has various negative aspects. In this paper we will focus on the methods used by advertisers, we will bring to light propaganda and underline ballyhoo to understand what has changed in consumers behaviours in the contemporary society. We will debate on what are the real goals of advertising and why it leads to a kind of corruption. The number of advertisements, exposed daily to Americans, has soared over the last few decades. Studies reveal that people see three thousands ads per day. Advertising is omnipresent, at the service station, at cinema, in toilet or during sports events, we have now two ads breaks during a film on television. Even space is not sheltered from marketing. The Russian space program has launched a rocket on which was painted a Pizza Hut logo, and some companies have even explored the possibility of putting ads in space that we could see from the earth. People are clearly obsessed by advertising. When we speak about propaganda, people tend to think of Hitlers and Stalines massacres but in this essay we point out the ways of which companies try to encourage people to buy products. They persuade people about the truth of an idea, the quality and the appropriateness (Propaganda and Persuasion: Misuse of Language and Meaning) of a product, why these shoes are better than the other ones. Propaga nda is not a simple form of communication; indeed, it is directional because people buy products to be in vogue, and it is also emotional because advertising directly appeals to human feelings, we will precisely examine it in the second part of this essay. This famous George Orwells statement Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past. show the relations between symbolism and power of advertising. Who choices and controls symbolisms? What are the strategies used by advertisers? Bandwagon is a common technique, it is an appeal to join the crowd because others are doing things which are victorious, that is the winning side. If someone do not that, he will be left out. For example, on TV ads, we see that everyone enjoys playing football because they wear the same tee-shirts, so we jump on the bandwagon and buy this tee-shirt. Another kind of propaganda, named testimonial, is used when a famous person is connected with an item Eight out of ten women artists recommend Chanels perfume. The next type is transfer, when the quality of the product is associated with the user. Then, we study repetition; it isnt just the apparition of the logo which works, it is the repetition of this same logo over and over which hypnotize us and force us to consume things we dont really need. As Chris McLean says, the products that stand out and say buy me, are ones that carry a logo that has been repeated to us time and time before. This sort of advertising just doesnt randomly occur. Finally, we insist on the glittering generalities which are positive meanings highly valued, which make us believe that if we buy a product our life will change. Advertisers try to gather all of theses types of propaganda to make successful ads. The challenge is not to create works of literary merit, but to meet advertising objectives. This does not mean that copywriting is not an art, however, it is simply art in pursuit of a business goal (Bovà ©e, Thill, Dove l, and Wood, 676). Unfortunately, business goal makes sense with money, and the different methods used by advertisers lead to a societys perversion in order to make profit. We can call that a brainwashing, all mankind are bewitched in a wave of advertising and it has changed consumers behavior. They linger over some headlines, some slogans or labels that serve as the come-on to get them to stop turning the page and check out ads (Bovà ©e, Thill, Dovel, and Wood, 677). The TV world becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: the mass mind takes shape, its participants acting according to media-derived impulses and believing them to be their own personal volition arising out of their own desires and needs. In such a situation, whoever (advertisers) controls the screen controls the future, the past, and the present (Nelson 82). We have seen that advertisers use various strategies to persuade people buying products, we will now outline that people are  attracted by false  ideas and   hav e  guilt complexes and  emotional blockages, advertising influences  peoples behavior by manipulating dreams and yearnings. To support our argument, we will refer to a quotation of Northrop Frye who said that advertising is a judicious mixture of flattery and threats. Herbert Krugman noted, in a research based on the brains survey, that viewers are in an hypnotic state and mostly in trance, they were getting their beta-endorphine fix. Advertisers take hold on consumers minds, they tug at their psycho ­logical shirtsleeves and slow them down long enough for a word or two about whatever is being sold (Fowles 658). They try to draw attention to a picture, a slogan, a song by giving form to peoples deep-lying desires, and picturing states of being that individuals privately yearn for (Fowles 658). explained that the function of a display in the store is to recall the consumers experience of the product in the commercial. You dont ask for a product, the product asks for you! That is, a persons recall of a commercial is evoked by the product itself, visible on a shelf or island display, interacting with the s tored data in his brain. People in modern society no longer takes time to think about a product, its usefulness, interest that it will bring. They are enrolled in the consumer society, they go in search of having the most possible clothing, perfumes or cars. Society became too materialistic, does happiness happen with the possession of more goods? Before, people preferred having a simple life, spending weekend in the countryside, fishing, without luxurious cars and a bling-bling lifestyle but advertising pushes them into enjoying the material pleasures of a modern, technological society (Bovà ©e and Arens 687). It can be argued that there is a relationship between the Marshall McLuhans continuous pressure and the belief in the power of advertising to control customers against their will, an attitude that consumers simply have no freedom of choice when confronted with advertising persuasion (Bovà ©e and Arens 687). Emotional appeals add up to the manipulation of consumers. The use of subconscious appeals is designed to stimulate subrational impulses and desires, even if they are unacknowledged by their possessor (Fowles 659). Fowles demonstrated that ads can be classified in fifteen groups according to the appeals they communicate and he explained that his idea was inspired by Murrays list which grouped a full taxonomy of needs. In every ads we watched, we are brought face to face with appeals, there are many needs that appeal to our psychology. For example, the need to nurture corresponds to maternal instincts, each time we see something cute, precious (Fowles 664) like a child or a kitten. Advertisers use affiliation to win affection of another (Fowles 662). When someone has the feeling to be protected by an image, that is need for guidance. The need for prominence and attention can be brought together because people want to be respected, to be highly esteemed by everyone. Beauty is attractive and gives us aesthetic sensations, we call it the beauty myth; W e will tell you what is beautiful and what isnt. Our products are what make people beautiful. To be happy you must be beautiful, and to be beautiful you must buy our clothing and cosmetics. Most people are not consciously aware they are commanded to buy some products. Stuart Ewen declared that it became the assumption that the way people are persuaded is to appeal to them on unconscious levels (The Ad and the Ego). He considered that the ultimate psychology is pavlovian because ads use communication strategies that create stimuli which make people respond in a manner similar to how Pavlovs dogs were trained to salivate at the mere ringing of a bell. Advertisers make ads in order to represent everyday life, to recall customers feelings, in that way people recognize themselves; they dont see this like advertising, but just like something that is done. We have been concentrated on the psychological approach through appeals and needs which surround us in various ads, through false ideas and dreams that are conveying and again this obsession of buying with the promise of greater status, greater social acceptance and greater sex appeal (Bovà ©e and Arens 686). Our discussion of the debate leads us to the next point, childrens manipulation. Each brand has strategies and, particularly, according to the audience targeted. Currently, pocket money of young people is a significant sum to investors. Moreover, young peoplehave a strong influence on parents. They are the consumers of tomorrow, that explains the investment of major brands for customer loyalty and make them become good consumers. So, that is why brands have to adhere to their valuesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹, use their tools and languages. As a result, children and adolescents are targeted aggressively by food advertisers, and are exposed to a growing and unprecedented amount of advertising, marketing, and commercialism through a wide range of channels. The principal goal of food advertising and marketing aimed at children is to influence brand awareness, brand preference, brand loyalty, and food purchases among youth (Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). Teenagers need to look like group members and if not the y are cast out. The youth do not see themselves survive without the favourite sneakers wore by the group they belong. Young people need to identify with themselves and brands know that. The best example is with De Von Dutch brand. There was no advertising and it has immediately been successful. The simple fact, that celebrities wear clothing, made its name. The brand had clinched a deal with Thierry Henry and Michael Young who were systematically wearing these clothes during meetings. It can be argued that brands make use of young people to sell their products. Advertising puts the sweet flavor forward in various products they offer to young people. It is not only found in food products but also in cigarettes, cosmetics, and especially in alcoholic beverages. This abundance of sugar has resulted in a consumption more and more important and it leads to obesity problem. To be among the few messages that do manage to gain access to minds, advertisers must be strategic, perhaps even a l ittle under ­handed at times (Fowles 658). During parties students, open bars, or ferias, brands are present in order to promote or to update new products. Internet is a very attractive medium for advertisers wishing to target children. It is in the youth culture because they are growing up in a world where the Internet plays a big part in everyday life. Parents do not understand the scope of the solicitation to which their children are exposed on the Internet. At each new tab opened, an advertisement is displayed on the screen, young people are forced to pay attention. Children are often alone without parental supervision. Unlike other broadcast media, Internet advertising is not controlled. It facilitates the collection of personal information about young people and it allows to target individually children through personalized messages. It is difficult for adolescents to develop healthy attitudes about sexuality and body image when many of advertisements are filled with thin, fit, beautiful and very sexually attractive people. It can be seen that there is a link between sex appeal, physical attractiveness, popularity, success and happiness. Fashion designers like Calvin Klein, Guess resort to aggressive campaigns involving young people. These ads sell more than clothes, they also sell adult sexuality. The tobacco and alcohol industries target young people in advertisements giving an impression of being cool, independent. The Marlboro Man (696 Marlboro), with his image of independence and autonomy, struck a responsive chord among adolescent males (Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). Marketers publish advertisements in magazines mostly read mostly by teenagers and place advertisements near schools, on billboards, in bus shelters. They make smoking favourite of young people. They sponsor concerts and sporting events and broadcast their ads during programs listened by young people. Because marketing to children and adolescents has become so pervasive, many child advocates and media experts believe that such marketing constitutes an escalating public health problem. The intense marketing of high fat, high sugar foods, tobacco, alcohol, to young children can be considered as exploitation because they do not understand that adverts are designed to sell products and can not comprehend or evaluate advertising (Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). The purpose of advertising is to persuade, and young children have few defenses against such advertising. Older children and teens can be manipulated by the strong emotive messages in advertisements. (Strasburger 186). To conclude, it is necessary to remind Carrie Snows quote, who said, Advertising degrades the people it appeals to; it deprives them of their will to choose. The present study was designed to show that advertising made change peoples behaviors because it is manipulative. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this paper is that advertisers use strategies in order to take control of consumers minds to increase sales. It is a matter of money. Advertisers are conscious of peoples emotionalism and trifle with them. We have seen that marketers have various tactics to make believe that consumers need a product. Unfortunately, people are ignorant toward the control. That is why advertisers take advantage of it since the earliest years; children are under a persisting pressure and are influenced to eat more sugar, smoke more cigarettes and buy more shoes. Generally, people want to have a great social status, to be fashionable, they want to feel respected. An obvious solution to the problem highlighted in this paper would be to protect from commercial influences that may adversely impact people health, and that as a society that values man, there should be greater social responsibility for their present and future health (Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US). The limitations of this study are clear, advertising has also benefits. However exploratory, this study may offer some insight into the current society in which we are living. Despite his limitations, this study does suggest that people ought to stand back from ads they see every day and understand that it is a trap to make them consume again and again.

Washington Square Essay -- Argumentative Henry James Essays

Washington Square In Putt's book Henry James: A Readers Guide, he speaks in a chapter about Washington Square. Within this chapter he goes over the role that Catherine plays in the story. She ultimately chooses spinsterhood, and not to defy her father, and to be the good daughter. The theme of avoidance o f marriage, spinsterhood, is something that is focused on by James in much of his work (Putt 46). Putt dwells on the fact that the father was a cruel man, and gives extraneously long quotes from James's original text to make a small point. I think that this author would have been much more effective if he would have narrowed down his thought in this chapter. Putt touches on a lot of things concerning Washington Square, such as the intrusion of the narrator, in the second person no less, and the analysis of the novel by some Doctors out in the field. It seemed to me that Putt could have been more successful by keeping it short and sweet, and not giving brief synopsis of the entire novel. The novel, Wa shington Square, Putt says in this chapter, is not even long enough to be considered a novel. Please tell me why. Putt offers no explanation as to why he believes this is so, and really should not have put in his own two cents anyway. Once again this jump in topic indicates a real strain to try to keep up with the subject that the author wishes to discus. He asks more questions than he answers and to me that was very frustrating. If Putt was really trying to be objective, he could at least have gotten the answers he sought so that the rest of us would not have to ponder the answer for him. Putt seemed to me to be very critical of this work of James, although he does not deny that this is definitely one of James's best pieces. ... ... speaking of Morris Townsend's selfishness, both the doctor and Mrs. Montgomery admit that everyone is selfish. But the doctor proceeds to admit that he does not hide it well (one assumes the doctor does a much better job hiding his selfishness), and Dr. Sloper then admits to looking past Morris as a person: "You see I am helped by a habit I have of dividing people into classes, into types. I may easily be mistaken about your brother as an individual, but his type is written on his whole person" (James 87). This admission shows that Dr. Sloper's sense of Morris Townsend's character is biased and prejudice. Therefore there is no dichotomy in Dr. Sloper, and the novel does prove to be morally simple. Works Cited Hall, Donald. Afterword. Washington Square. By Henry James. New York: Penguin, 1979. James, Henry. Washington Square. New York: Penguin, 1979.

Good Earth :: essays research papers

In the book The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, the fall of the House of Hwang and the rise of the Wang family was shown. The story completed a â€Å"circle of life†, with Wang being the center of the circle. While Wang at first was intimidated, he also looked down on the House of Hwang, he soon found that when his family became rich, his house fell onto some of the same â€Å"curses†. In both houses, a lack of love for the land was highly noticeable (except for Wang Lung), opium was used, slaves were bought and sold even though Wang first opposed slaves, and the future heirs wished to sell the land for money but at the same time lose their support for if the house should fall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the House of Hwang was in power, Wang noticed how they had a complete lack of love for the earth. They had to constantly sell pieces of land to pay their immediate debts, but by doing this they gave away their support if a dark time should fall upon the house. Wang knew that this would be the downfall of the house, so he bought the land from the house. After the House of Hwang fell, the House of Wang came to power. Wang kept in mind his whole life that without the good earth, he was nothing. Wang worried when he noticed that his sons lacked his love for the land. Wang was disturbed to think that when he passed away his sons would sell the land, and his family would succumb to the same fate of the Hwang house; as shown on page 37 when Wang said, â€Å"Sell their land!...Then indeed are they growing poor. Land is one’s flesh and blood†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Opium usage was a major role in the downfall of the Hwang house. The Old Mistress was heavily addicted to the drug, and in her desire for the drug, she drove her house â€Å"into the ground†. On page 39, Wang was paying the Gate Keeper for the land he was purchasing and the Gate Keeper said â€Å"Here is enough for a few days of opium for the old lady, at any rate†. For the House of Wang, opium became almost a relief for Wang when he devised his plan to rid his family of his Uncle and his wife. He could not cast out his Uncle because he was providing protection from marauders. Keeping this in mind, Wang then gave his Uncle and the Uncle’s wife some opium hoping that they would Good Earth :: essays research papers In the book The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, the fall of the House of Hwang and the rise of the Wang family was shown. The story completed a â€Å"circle of life†, with Wang being the center of the circle. While Wang at first was intimidated, he also looked down on the House of Hwang, he soon found that when his family became rich, his house fell onto some of the same â€Å"curses†. In both houses, a lack of love for the land was highly noticeable (except for Wang Lung), opium was used, slaves were bought and sold even though Wang first opposed slaves, and the future heirs wished to sell the land for money but at the same time lose their support for if the house should fall.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When the House of Hwang was in power, Wang noticed how they had a complete lack of love for the earth. They had to constantly sell pieces of land to pay their immediate debts, but by doing this they gave away their support if a dark time should fall upon the house. Wang knew that this would be the downfall of the house, so he bought the land from the house. After the House of Hwang fell, the House of Wang came to power. Wang kept in mind his whole life that without the good earth, he was nothing. Wang worried when he noticed that his sons lacked his love for the land. Wang was disturbed to think that when he passed away his sons would sell the land, and his family would succumb to the same fate of the Hwang house; as shown on page 37 when Wang said, â€Å"Sell their land!...Then indeed are they growing poor. Land is one’s flesh and blood†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Opium usage was a major role in the downfall of the Hwang house. The Old Mistress was heavily addicted to the drug, and in her desire for the drug, she drove her house â€Å"into the ground†. On page 39, Wang was paying the Gate Keeper for the land he was purchasing and the Gate Keeper said â€Å"Here is enough for a few days of opium for the old lady, at any rate†. For the House of Wang, opium became almost a relief for Wang when he devised his plan to rid his family of his Uncle and his wife. He could not cast out his Uncle because he was providing protection from marauders. Keeping this in mind, Wang then gave his Uncle and the Uncle’s wife some opium hoping that they would

The War On Drugs Essay -- Drugs, argumentative, persuasive

The â€Å"War on Drugs† is the name given to the battle of prohibition that the United States has been fighting for over forty years. And it has been America’s longest war. The â€Å"war† was officially declared by President Richard Nixon in the 1970’s due to the abuse of illegitimate drugs. Nixon claimed it as â€Å"public enemy number one† and enacted laws to fight the importation of narcotics. The United States’ War on Drugs began in response to cocaine trafficking in the late 1980’s. As the war continues to go on, winning it hardly seems feasible. As stated by NewsHour, the National Office of Drug Control Policy spends approximately nineteen billion dollars a year trying to stop the drug trade. The expenses shoot up, indirectly, through crime, hospital stays and such. However, people spend approximately three times as much money buying drugs as the government spends fighting against them. How can this war be won when the government has to spend so much money combating in opposition to it On top of the ridiculous cost of all the factors of the war, the availability of the illegal drugs comp...

Greek Mythology and Heracles Family Essay

The Greek heroes Heracles, Jason, Perseus and Theseus are all intriguing characters of Greek mythology. They each portray many different qualities and compare and contrast each other. For example the fact that Heracles was constantly a target of Hera and Theseus a target of Medea links them as characters. Also, Heracles frees Theseus from the chair of forgetfulness which also makes them similar. Even further, Perseus is from the city of Argos which happens to be where Heracles’ family is from as well. Another similarity between Heracles and Theseus is that they attack the Amazons together and both tend to rid the lands of certain monsters. Heracles also worked together in the Argonaut crew with Jason. All these heroes also tend to share great physical strengths and capabilities to defeat their enemies. These four heroes also differ from each other. Jason seemed to be portrayed as somewhat of a weaker character and Perseus seemed to receive much more help from gods and goddesses, even by Heracles, more than the other heroes did. It may have been because they favored him more. Another distinguishing feature is that Heracles was an average human being before he became immortal. As far as how each hero handles their quests, all four of them seem to mentally be prepared for each quest. They tend to each focus on the task at hand. For example, Heracles labors to catch a deer that is lightning fast; he perseveres for a year before he catches it. They all seem to show dedication and patience to each mission. However unlike Theseus who picks more dangerous routes, maybe for more of a mental challenge, Perseus does not seem to be as mentally focused but more on the physical side of things. Perseus is more physical and does not have to use as much intellectual thinking because he is gifted by nymphs and gods that give him the right tools to succeed on his quest. Heracles stands out as a physical hero since the day he was born by having to fight off the snakes that Hera sent his way and the fact that most of the twelve labors were aimed for his failure yet he succeeds. Another impressive success was the cleaning of the Augean stables by means of diverting 2 rivers. Each of these four heroes has honorable qualities that drives them in their quests and make them compare and contrast to each other.

Everyman-a Medieval Play Review

Everyman is a play which was written to express the importance of morality, to whoever read it or experienced it being performed on stage. Some scholars say that it was written sometime in the late 1400’s, while others insist that it is a translation of a Flemish work called â€Å"Elckerlijc†, which was written by Peter van Diest in 1495. Everyman is an allegory play which is heavily based upon Christian religious perspectives; also it is resoundingly similar to the Christian belief of the resurrection of Christ, and his ascension into Heaven, after the crucifixion.The first act of Everyman, opens with a prologue which takes on the form of a messenger, telling the audience about the fate which is to come to Everyman. The messenger goes on to tell the audience that eventually God will call upon all of humanity to stand before him, and give account of their works which they had wrought in life. The next part of the play is God calling upon Death, to go and bring Everyman to stand before him. God commands Death to go and bring Everyman before him, so that he may give account of his own misdeeds that he has wrought in life. So Death goes and finds Everyman, and tells him that his time has come.Everyman then attempts to bribe Death with a thousand pounds, but Death refuses. However, he states that he will allow Everyman to bring someone with him, so that he does not have to face his judgment alone. Everyman first goes to Fellowship, whom represents friends and companions; and asks him to accompany him to go and stand before the judgment God. Fellowship, whom had promised to stand besides Everyman through whatever may come; tells Everyman that he will not go with him to the grave, because he fears Death and the judgment of God. Everyman is heartbroken, but then goes on to the next in line.Everyman then goes to Kindred and Cousin, which are supposed to represent family and kin; but they too tell him that they will not accompany him on his way to the grav e. Thirdly, Everyman turns to Goods, which represents material possessions; nonetheless she also states that she will not go with Everyman to his final judgment. Everyman is very concerned by this point, and so he turns to Good Deeds for companionship. Good Deeds states that she will go with Everyman to face his judgment with him; but unfortunately she lacks the strength for such a journey, because Everyman as neglected her throughout his life. Good Deeds tells Everyman that he must then go before her sister, Knowledge; for she will know the way in which Good Deeds may regain strength. Upon meeting Knowledge, she tells Everyman that he must go before Confession; and there Everyman confesses his sins. Afterward, Confession gives Everyman a â€Å"jewel† called Penance; which cleanses Everyman of his sins, so that he may stand before God and not be in jeopardy of damnation. With his confession behind him, Good Deeds regains his strength, and is ready to accompany Everyman to the grave.Knowledge then tells Everyman to gather together his attributes of life: Beauty, Strength, Discretion, and Five Wits; so that they too may accompany him to his reckoning with God. But when Everyman gathers them together, they tell him that they will not go with him to the grave; essentially because they are all characteristics of youth, which are all now fleeting from him, as he has the end of life. With that, Knowledge, and Good Deeds accompany Everyman to his final reckoning with God.There enters the character Angel; Knowledge then attests to Angel that Everyman was a good and just person, and in the end, he confessed his sins before God. Then Everyman and Good Deeds go down into the grave, and thus make their way to stand before God in the final judgment of Everyman. Fundamentally, this play ends with the character, Doctor, stating that all accept Good Deeds and Knowledge will all flee from a person, when they go before God for their final judgment. *** Issues in Raised in Key Resources There are several key issues which were raised by the scholars that wrote the major resources which I used to write this report.This play has received a moderate amount of popularity over the past near 500 years; and now today there are some scholars and researchers whom are exceptionally critical, both positively and negatively, of the details as to how it was written. One criticism of note would have to be one which was voiced by Thomas F van Laan. In referring to the general premise of Everyman, he contends of the writer that â€Å"His speech is essentially negative; he focuses solely on the inevitability of death and the destructiveness of sin†.Simply put, Mr. van Laan is stating that at first, the sole purpose of this work appears to emphasize specifically on death and how mankind should feel only sorrow for anything that they do, which goes against the teachings of Christianity. Another criticism of this work which Mr. van Laan refers to is the point in t he beginning when God first speaks. Mr. Van Laan states: â€Å"Gods words are wholly negative in force, implying only the difficulty to come, omitting any indication of hope for mankind†. Mr. an Laan is voicing this criticism on the opening section of the play, fundamentally about how he considers Gods words to be too negative in their approach. In expressing this condemnation, Mr. van Laan is adamant about his beliefs that God would probably not be so disconcerting in his approach to dealing with mankind. However not all that Mr. van Laan has to say about Everyman is negative in nature. He goes on to shed light on the allegory nature of the play, and how this lends credence to its being a unique, legitimate work of theater. He contends that â€Å"The first movement, is a falling action, which traces Everyman’s’ decline in fortune.This shatters the apparent serenity of his life, to the depth of his despair†¦fallowed by the second movement, a rising action, which carries him from this nadir unto his final salvation†¦which is symbolized by the words of the welcoming Angel†. It is my belief, that essentially what Mr. van Laan is stating, is that by using actual characters to personify the specific aspects of human nature; the persona of the play becomes a two-fold endeavor. Firstly, by the characters being literal representations of human qualities; they achieve a form of realism, which is normally only conveyed through the use of spoken dialog.Secondly, the movement’s themselves-transpiring from a state of utter despair, to a state of harmonious bliss; is not only characteristic of all great works of drama, but also of life itself. Throughout Mr. van Laan’s review of Everyman, he states his opinion that by the author using characters to represent the individual aspects of human identity; the play conveys a form of realism, which is distinctly unique. Next brings us to the arguments made by the researcher Roger A. Ladd. His belief is that this play was not written for the everyday person, but was in fact written to be a work which would have been performed for the â€Å"bourgeoisie†.His reasoning stems from research which had been done by scholar Dorothy Wertz; the same scholar who also believes that Everyman was probably written strictly to be performed for the elite rich. In her research, Mrs. Wertz points to the fact that â€Å"by simply examining the vocabulary and phrases used in the original piece, one can determine whom the play had been written for†. In that, she states that â€Å"the wording itself would have been too formal for ordinary citizens of the time period to ascertain†. However, unlike Mrs.Wertz, who believes that Everyman is specifically nothing more than a direct translation of Elckerlijc; Mr. Ladd assumes that it is an amalgamation of Elckerlijc and other English literary customs of the era. Mr. Ladd’s purported theory was reached in part, by investigating the traits of the character â€Å"Goods†, and comparing them with the English anti-mercantile satire traditions which were popular in the late-medieval period. An example of which being, that in the Germanic-Dutch based Elckerlijc, Goods is described as appearing as â€Å"Neglected, rusty . . heaped up, filthy†. However in Everyman as Mr. Ladd purports, Goods appears in a more English anti-mercantile manner as being â€Å"trussed and piled so high, and in chest I am locked so fast, also sacked in bags†. The Everyman description, falls in line with the late-medieval literary tradition of anti-mercantilism; which according to Mr. Ladd, comes as proof that Everyman could not have been strictly just an English translation of Elckerlijc. Another scholar whom is acquiescent in his research of Everyman is Lawrence V. Ryan. Mr.Ryan takes an approach, which seems to be more about discerning the religious implications of the play Everyman. The first point that Mr. Ryan makes is that †Without theology, the artistic merit may not be fully appreciated†¦that the theology involved is indispensable, not indefensible, and furthermore, that it gives the play its characters, structure, significance, and even its dramatic impressiveness†. One of the main points which all three scholars agree upon is that by being deserted by all those whom Everyman turns to for help; the audience develops a strong sense of pathos, for the plight of Everyman. Mr.Ryan suggests that the emergence of these false-friend characters â€Å"all appear in a climactic order, according to the increased danger of each as a distraction from one’s Maker†. Finally, Mr. Ryan gives his opinion about the reason why all the characters that abandon Everyman, as well as Everyman himself, are all men; and why the only characters that accompany him are women. In essence, the logic behind this as Mr. Ryan contends is that â€Å"All men are born into a state of sin†¦and that for dramatic suspense; the author chose to have the only redeeming characters be women†¦to show that women can counteract this dogma†.Personal Reaction to â€Å"Everyman† My personal opinion of this particular play is one of high appreciation. Unlike some of the reviews of scholars which I have read, which did not display too much positive reception for this work; I personally enjoyed reading it, and doing my report on this play. When I first tried to read the Old-English original version of this play, I found it incredibly hard to ascertain what exactly the meaning was behind what the author had written. Understandably it was difficult for me when trying to use the un-translated Everyman, as Old-English is a version of our language, which has been out-of-date for centuries.When I found the translated version of Everyman on the Fordham University website and began reading it, I almost instantly thought that it had been a work which had b een written by either someone whom was a priest, or had been another member of the Christian church in some capacity. Another notion which I had was that if the play had not been written by someone who was a church member, then it obviously had to have been written by someone whom had some form of agenda for getting people involved with the Christian church in some form or another.Perhaps the author had a legitimate reason for wanting people to become more involved with the church or to become closer to god in some fashion. On the other hand, perhaps there was a more sinister motive; like getting more people into the flock of the church, in order to acquire more money flowing into their coffers. Personally, I think that it was a combination of both motives, and that whoever had wrote this play, also had a genuine interest in using a popular mode of expression.Or perhaps the author wanted to show that by turning away from the sins of the flesh; that a person could attain a state of c onsciousness, which could bring them closer to a higher form of enlightenment. No matter what the personal objectives were for its creation, one thing remains clear; this was that the author of this particular piece was incredibly ahead of his time. From what I have examined in doing research for this report project; in reading other plays that date from the late medieval age, I can honestly say with a certainty, that I have not read anything that dates from this period, which is as unique as this.The usage of human emotions and possessions being personified into literal characters is uniquely a modern notion; and from what I have found, does not appear to have been done in a theatrical piece until sometime around 18th or 19th century. This plot construction is something which I have seen in movies and television shows; which are much more recent, than something that dates from the late medieval period. One example that immediately comes to mind is Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol; although not entirely the same in primary foundation, the underlying principle is similar.Some of the scholars that I read about, that reviewed this work; were quick to dismiss it as being either frivolity, or simply nothing more than an act of religious propaganda. I have to disagree with both sides; I feel that this is a excellent illustration of late medieval/early modern era theatrical work, which will more than likely see its relevance come again. Summary of  key scholarship on this play The first article which I used to review for this report on the play Everyman was a modern-English translation, of the late medieval original version of the play.This particular article didn’t offer any insight into it, as in scholar reviews; but it was extremely helpful in writing my summary of the play. Without this article, I am not sure if I would have been able to do this research project on this particular play, as I would not have been able to even ascertain what it was a bout. The next article which I used to write this report was written by Roger Ladd. Mr. Ladd took a definitively scholarly approach to conducting his research.Some of the main issues which he decided to confront were how the play Everyman deals with the religious implications of how material wealth corrupts the good intentions of mankind. Ladd went into detail, comparing the details of Everyman, to other plays of similar genera that date from the period. He explains about how most everyday citizens of the late medieval period, looked at the assemblage of material wealth, as the path to avarice, which puts their immortal souls in jeopardy.Like many other scholars whom have written journals about the â€Å"morality plays†, Ladd believes that in order to find out whom the plays written for, one has to look into the wording of the work; by doing this, he states that it becomes apparent who the target was. For example Everyman, when the main character is forced to give up his worl dly possessions; it is written to appear as if this could have been the most dastardly thing which could have occurred in his life. Other key scholarship reviews of this play, comes from the scholarly works of Lawrence V. Ryan.Ryan takes an approach to his research, which is concerned with how organized religion is suspect in this play. One of his main thesis’ is about how in the play, Everyman attains salvation through his own works, and not by the salvation which comes from God. He talks about how many religious figures were quick to label Everyman as a work of unholy declarations; and that how many of these religious leaders informed members of their churches that they would be in danger of hell by going to watch a performance of Everyman. Ryan is perhaps the most non-forgiving of the three scholars that I chose to use.Mostly, he tries to make it known that he is of the opinion that Everyman was only an English translation of the Dutch work Elckerlijc. He does not make use of very much authentic information to make this claim, he simply relies on paraphrasing works which had been written by other scholars. Next, I used the research from the scholar Thomas F. vanLaan. VanLaan goes into detail describing the individual characters of Everyman. Noteworthy, is how he explains the nature of these characters, and how they relate to the human experience. Differing from the other scholars whom I referenced in this report, Mr. anLaan gives a very logical accounting of why the author chose to incorporate inanimate human natures, as the title characters for this play. The choices for the human failings and material wealth, was carefully used to make the play appeal to nearly everyone whom would have watched its production. An example being, of how Everyman had acquired material goods in his life, which would have appealed to the rich; while on the other hand, Everyman losing his material possessions would have gained the approval of the poor which might have bee n in the audience.However, I never found one scholarly review, which did not offer at least one compliment about this great play.Endnotes *** Paul Halsall, Internet Medieval Sourcebook, â€Å"Medieval Handbook: Everyman, 15th Century†, Fordham University (August 1998) (Accessed on October 20th, 2010) http://www. fordham. edu/halsall/basis/everyman. html —The entire summary which I wrote was based upon the modern-English translation of Everyman, which was available online at the Fordham University site.

How P&G Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate

SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION Spotlight ARTWORK Josef Schulz, Form #1, 2001 C-print, 120 x 160 cm How P&G Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate Inside the company’s new-growth factory by Bruce Brown and Scott D. Anthony 64 Harvard Business Review June 2011 HBR. ORG Bruce Brown is the chief technology o? cer of Procter & Gamble. Scott D. Anthony is the managing director of Innosight. June 2011 Harvard Business Review 65 B SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION 66 Harvard Business Review June 2011 BACK IN 2000 the prospects for Procter & Gamble’s Tide, the biggest brand in the company’s fabric and household care division, seemed limited.The laundry detergent had been around for more than 50 years and still dominated its core markets, but it was no longer growing fast enough to support P&G’s needs. A decade later Tide’s revenues have nearly doubled, helping push annual division revenues from $12 billion to almost $24 billion. The brand is surging in emerging markets, and its iconic bull’seye logo is turning up on an array of new products and even new businesses, from instant clothes fresheners to neighborhood dry cleaners. This isn’t accidental. It’s the result of a strategic effort by P&G over the past decade to systematize innovation and growth.To understand P&G’s strategy, we need to go back more than a century to the sources of its inspiration— Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. In the 1870s Edison created the world’s first industrial research lab, Menlo Park, which gave rise to the technologies behind the modern electric-power and motion-picture industries. Under his inspired direction, the lab churned out ideas; Edison himself ultimately held more than 1,000 patents. Edison of course understood the importance of mass production, but it was his friend Henry Ford who, decades later, perfected it.In 1910 the Ford Motor Company shifted the production of its famous Model T from the Piquette Avenue P lant, in Detroit, to its new Highland Park complex nearby. Although the assembly line wasn’t a novel concept, Highland Park showed what it was capable of: In four years Ford slashed the time required to build a car from more than 12 hours to just 93 minutes. How could P&G marry the creativity of Edison’s lab with the speed and reliability of Ford’s factory? The answer its leaders devised, a â€Å"new-growth factory,† is still ramping up.But already it has helped the company strengthen both its core businesses and its ability to capture innovative new-growth opportunities. P&G’s efforts to systematize the serendipity that so often sparks new-business creation carry important lessons for leaders faced with shrinking product life cycles and increasing global competition. Laying the Foundation Innovation has long been the backbone of P&G’s growth. As chairman, president, and CEO Bob McDonald notes, â€Å"We know from our history that while prom otions may win quarters, innovation wins decades. The company spends nearly $2 billion annually on R&D—roughly 50% more than its closest competitor, and more than most other competitors combined. Each year it invests at least another $400 million in foundational consumer research to discover opportunities for innovation, conducting some 20,000 studies involving more than 5 million consumers in nearly 100 countries. Odds are that as you’re reading this, P&G researchers are in a store somewhere observing shoppers, or even in a consumer’s home.These investments are necessary but not sufficient to achieve P&G’s innovation goals. â€Å"People will innovate for financial gain or for competitive advantage, but this can be self-limiting,† McDonald says. â€Å"There needs to be an emotional component as well—a source of inspiration that motivates people. † At P&G that inspiration lies in a sense of purpose driven from the top down—the m essage that each innovation improves people’s lives. At the start of the 2000s only about 15% of P&G’s innovations were meeting revenue and profit targets.So the company launched its now well-known Connect + Develop program to bring in outside innovations and built a robust stage-gate process to help manage ideas from inception to launch. (For more on C+D, see Larry Huston and Nabil Sakkab, â€Å"Connect and Develop: Inside Procter & Gamble’s New Model for Innovation,† HBR March 2006. ) These actions showed early signs of raising innovation success rates, but it was clear that P&G needed more breakthrough innovations. And it had to come up with them as reliably as Ford’s factory had rolled out Model Ts.HOW P&G TRIPLED ITS INNOVATION SUCCESS RATE? HBR. ORG Idea in Brief Procter & Gamble is a famous innovator. Nonetheless, in the early 2000s only 15% of its innovations were meeting their revenue and pro? t targets. To address this, the company set ab out building organizational structures to systematize innovation. The resulting new-growth factory includes large newbusiness creation groups, focused project teams, and entrepreneurial guides who help teams rapidly prototype and test new products and business models in the market.The teams follow a step-by-step business development manual and use specialized project and portfolio management tools. Innovation and strategy assessments, once separate, are now combined in revamped executive reviews. P&G’s experience suggests six lessons for leaders looking to build new-growth factories: Coordinate the factory with the company’s core businesses, be a vigilant portfolio manager, start small and grow carefully, create tools for gauging new businesses, make sure the right people are doing the right work, and nurture cross-pollination. ithout a further boost to its organic growth capabilities, the company would still have trouble hitting its targets. P&G’s leaders recog nized that the kind of growth the company was after couldn’t come from simply doing more of the same. It needed to come up with more breakthrough innovations—ones that could create completely new markets. And it needed to do this as reliably as Henry Ford’s Highland Park factory had rolled out Model Ts. In 2004 Gil Cloyd, then the chief technology officer, and A. G.Lafley, then the CEO, tasked two 30-year P&G veterans, John Leikhim and David Goulait, with designing a new-growth factory whose intellectual underpinnings would derive from the Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen’s disruptive-innovation theory. The basic concept of disruption—driving growth through new offerings that are simpler, more convenient, easier to access, or more affordable—was hardly foreign to P&G. Many of the company’s powerhouse brands, including Tide, Crest, Pampers, and Swiffer, had followed disruptive paths.Leikhim and Goulait, with suppor t from other managers, began by holding a two-day workshop for seven new-product-development teams, guided by facilitators from Innosight (a firm Christensen cofounded). The attendees explored how to shake up embedded ways of thinking that can inhibit disruptive approaches. They formulated creative ways to address critical commercial questions—for example, whether demand would be sufficient to warrant a new-product launch. Learning from the workshop helped spur the development of new products, such as the probiotic supplement Align, and also bolstered existing ones, such as Pampers.In the years that followed, Leikhim and Goulait shored up the factory’s foundation, working with Cloyd and other P&G leaders to: Teach senior management and project team members the mind-sets and behaviors that foster disruptive growth. The training, which has changed over time, initially ranged from short modules on topics such as assessing the demand for an early-stage idea to multiday cou rses in entrepreneurial thinking. Form a group of new-growth-business guides to help teams working on disruptive projects.These experts might, for instance, advise teams to remain small until their project’s key commercial questions, such as whether consumers would habitually use the new product, have been answered. The guides include several entrepreneurs who have succeeded—and, even more important, failed—in starting businesses. Develop organizational structures to drive new growth. For example, in a handful of business About the units the company created small groups focused Spotlight Artist Each month we illustrate primarily on new-growth initiatives.The groups our Spotlight package with (which, like the training, have evolved significantly) a series of works from an acaugmented an existing entity, FutureWorks, whose complished artist. We hope charter is to create new brands and business mod- that the lively and cerebral creations of these photograels. Dedic ated teams within the groups conducted phers, painters, and instalmarket research, developed technology, created lation artists will infuse our pages with additional energy business plans, and tested assumptions for specific and intelligence and amplify projects. hat are often complex and Produce a process manual—a step-by-step abstract concepts. This month’s artist is guide to creating new-growth businesses. The Josef Schulz, a German manual includes overarching principles as well as photographer who often detailed procedures and templates to help teams turns his lens on modern industrial constructs and describe opportunities, identify requirements for digitally strips away de? ning success, monitor progress, make go/no-go decisions, details to render moreand more. abstract, universally relRun demonstration projects to showcase the evant images. In the ? rst step I’m a photographer emerging factory’s work. One of these was a line of with his limitations, † he pocket-size products called Swash, which quickly once told an interviewer, refresh clothes: For example, someone who’s in a â€Å"and then an artist with his freedom of decisions. † hurry can give a not-quite-clean shirt a spray rather View more of the artist’s than putting it through the wash. work at josefschulz. de. June 2011 Harvard Business Review 67 SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION Sustaining CommercialCommercial innovations use creative marketing, packaging, and promotional approaches to grow existing o? erings. During the 2010 Winter Olympics, P&G ran a series of ads celebrating mothers. The campaign covered 18 brands, was viewed repeatedly by hundreds of millions of consumers, and drove $100 million in revenues. P&G’s Four Types of Innovation Sustaining innovations bring incremental improvements to existing products: a little more cleaning power to a laundry detergent, a better ? avor to a toothpaste. These provide what P&G calls  "er† bene? s—better, easier, cheaper—that are important to sustaining share among current customers and getting new people to try a product. Sharpening the Focus By 2008 P&G had a working prototype of the factory, but the company’s innovation portfolio was weighed down by a proliferation of small projects. A. G. Lafley charged Bob McDonald (then the COO) and CTO Bruce Brown (a coauthor of this article) to dramatically increase innovation output by focusing the factory on fewer but bigger initiatives. McDonald and Brown’s team drove three critical improvements.First, rather than strictly separating innovations designed to bolster existing product lines from efforts to create new product lines or business models, P&G increased its emphasis on an intermediate category: transformational-sustaining innovations, which deliver major new benefits in existing product categories. Consider the Crest brand, the market leader until the late 1990s, when it was us urped by Colgate. Looking for a comeback, in 2000 P&G launched a disruptive innovation, Crest Whitestrips, that made teeth whitening at home affordable and easy.In 2006 it introduced Crest Pro-Health, which squeezes half a dozen benefits into one tube—the toothpaste fights cavities, plaque, tartar, stains, gingivitis, and bad breath. In 2010 it rolled out Crest 3D White, a line of advanced oral care products, including one that whitens teeth in two hours. Such efforts helped Crest retake the lead in many markets. Pro-Health and 3D White were both transformational-sustaining innovations, meant to appeal to current consumers while attracting new ones. These sorts of innovations share an mportant trait with market-creating disruptive innovations: They have a high degree of uncertainty—something the factory is specifically designed to manage. Second, P&G strengthened organizational supports for the formation of transformationalsustaining and disruptive businesses. It estab lished several new-business-creation groups, larger in size 68 Harvard Business Review June 2011 and scope than any previous growth-factory team, whose resources and management are kept carefully separate from the core business.These groups— dedicated teams led by a general manager—develop ideas that cut across multiple businesses, and also pursue entirely new business opportunities. One group covers all of P&G’s beauty and personal care businesses; another covers its household care business (the parent unit of the fabric-and-household and the family-and-baby-care divisions); a third, FutureWorks, focuses largely on enabling different business models (it helped guide P&G’s recent partnership with the Indian business Healthpoint Services).The new groups supplement (rather than replace) existing supports such as the Corporate Innovation Fund, which provides seed capital to ideas that might otherwise slip through the cracks. P&G also created a specialized te am called LearningWorks, which helps plan and execute in-market experiments to learn about purchase decisions and postpurchase use. Third, P&G revamped its strategy development and review process. Innovation and strategy assessments had historically been handled separately. Now the CEO, CTO, and CFO explicitly link company, business, and innovation strategies.This integration, coupled with new analyses of such issues as competitive factors that could threaten a given business, has surfaced more opportunities for innovation. The process has also prompted examinations of each unit’s â€Å"production schedule,† or pipeline of growth opportunities, to ensure that it’s robust enough to deliver against growth goals for the next seven to 10 years. Evaluations are made of individual business units (feminine care, for example) as well as broad sectors (household care).This revised approach calls for each business unit to determine the mix of innovation types it needs to deliver the required growth. HOW P&G TRIPLED ITS INNOVATION SUCCESS RATE? HBR. ORG Transformational-Sustaining Transformational-sustaining innovations reframe existing categories. They typically bring order-of-magnitude improvements and fundamental changes to a business and often lead to breakthroughs in market share, pro? t levels, and consumer acceptance. In 2009 P&G introduced the wrinkle-reducing cream Olay Pro-X.Launching a $40-a-bottle product in the depths of a recession might seem a questionable strategy. But P&G went ahead because it considered the product a transformational-sustaining innovation—clinically proven to be as e? ective as its much more expensive prescription counterparts, and superior to the company’s other antiaging o? erings. The cream and related products generated ? rst-year sales of $50 million in U. S. food retailers and drugstores alone. Disruptive Disruptive innovations represent newto-the-world business opportunities.A company enters ent irely new businesses with radically new o? erings, as P&G did with Swi? er and Febreze. Running the Factory Let’s return now to Tide, whose dramatic growth highlights the potential of P&G’s approach. Over the past decade the brand has launched numerous products and product-line extensions, carved new paths in emerging markets, and tested a promising new business model. If you had looked for Tide in a U. S. supermarket 10 years ago, you would have found, for the most part, ordinary bottles and boxes of detergent.Now you’ll see the Tide name on dozens of products, all with different scents and capabilities. For example, in 2009 P&G introduced a line of laundry additives called Tide Stain Release. Within a year, building on 26 patents, it incorporated these additives into a sible to 70% of Indian consumers and has helped to significantly increase Tide’s share in India. More radically, Swash moved the Tide brand out of the laundry room. The line has clear dis ruptive characteristics: Swash products don’t clean as thoroughly as laundry detergents or remove wrinkles as effectively as professional pressing.But because they’re quick and easy to use, they offer â€Å"good enough† occasional alternatives between washes. Swash took an unconventional path to commercialization. When the products were first sold, in a store near P&G’s headquarters in Ohio, they carried a different brand name and had no apparent connection to Tide. After that experiment, P&G opened a â€Å"pop up† Swash store at The Ohio State University. Both Tide Dry Cleaners is a factory innovation that represents an entirely new business model. new detergent, Tide with Acti-Lift—the first major redesign of Tide’s liquid laundry detergent in a decade.The product’s launch drove immediate marketshare growth of the Tide brand in the United States. P&G has also customized formulations for emerging markets. Ethnographic research showed that about 80% of consumers in India wash their clothes by hand. They had to choose between detergents that were relatively gentle on the skin but not very good at actually cleaning clothes, and more-potent but harsher agents. With the problem clearly identified, in 2009 a team came up with Tide Naturals, which cleaned well without causing irritation.Mindful of the need in emerging markets to provide greater benefit at lower cost—â€Å"more for less†Ã¢â‚¬â€P&G priced Tide Naturals 30% below comparably effective but harsher products. This made the Tide brand accestests helped the company understand how consumers would buy and use the products, which P&G then began selling exclusively through Amazon and other online channels. In early 2011 the company ramped down its promotion of Swash, although learning from the effort will inform its work on other disruptive ideas in the clothes-refreshing space.Whereas Swash was a new product line, Tide Dry Cleaners represent s an entirely new business model. It started when a team began exploring ways to disrupt the dry-cleaning market, using proprietary technologies and a unique store design grounded in insights about consumers’ frustrations with existing options. Many cleaning establishments are dingy, unfriendly places. Customers have to park, walk, and wait. Often the cleaners’ hours are inconvenient. P&G’s alternative: bright, boldly colored cleaners June 2011 Harvard Business Review 69 SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATIONThe Factory’s Consumer Research at Work In October 2010 P&G launched the Gillette Guard razor in India, a transformational-sustaining innovation whose strategic intent was simple: to provide a cheaper and e? ective alternative for the hundreds of millions of Indians who use double-edged razors. The company’s researchers spent thousands of hours in the market to understand these consumers’ needs. They gained important insights by observing men i n rural areas who, lacking indoor plumbing, typically shave outdoors using little or no water—and don’t shave every day.The single-blade Gillette Guard was thus designed to clean easily, with minimal water, and to manage longer stubble. The initial retail price was 15 rupees (33 cents), with re? ll cartridges for ? ve rupees (11 cents). Early tests showed that consumers preferred the new product to double-edged razors by a six-to-one margin. Its breakthrough performance and a? ordability position it for rapid growth. featuring specialized treatments, drive-through windows, and 24-hour storage lockers to facilitate after-hours drop-off and pickup.Using the new-growth factory’s process manual, the development team identified key assumptions about the proposed dry cleaners. For example, could the business model generate enough returns to attract store owners willing to pay up to $1 million for franchise rights? In 2009 P&G’s guides helped the team open three pilots in Kansas City to try to find out. That year P&G also formed Agile Pursuits Franchising, a subsidiary to oversee such efforts, and transferred ownership of the dry-cleaning venture to FutureWorks, whose main mission is to pursue new business models that lie outside P&G’s established systems.It remains to be seen how Tide Dry Cleaners will fare, but one promising sign came in 2010, when Andrew Cherng, the founder of the Panda Restaurant Group, announced plans to open 150 franchises in four years. He told BusinessWeek, â€Å"I wasn’t around when McDonald’s was taking franchisees, [but] I’m not going to miss this one. † To ensure strategic cohesion and smart resource allocation, Tide’s innovation efforts have been closely coordinated through regular dialogues among several leaders—CEO McDonald, CTO Brown, the vice-chair of the household business unit, and the president of the fabric care division.They’ve also been the focu s of discussions at Corporate Innovation Fund meetings and similar reviews. This isn’t just the methodical pursuit of a single innovation. It’s part of a steady stream of ideas in development—a factory humming with work. and learning, and personally engage. Our journey at P&G suggests six lessons for leaders looking to create new-growth factories. 1. Closely coordinate the factory and the core business. Leaders sometimes see efforts to foster new growth as completely distinct from efforts to bolster the core; indeed, many in the innovation community have argued as much for years.Our experience indicates the opposite. First, new-growth efforts depend on a healthy core business. A healthy core produces a cash flow that can be invested in new growth. And we’ve all known times when an ailing core has demanded management’s full attention; a healthy core frees leaders to think about more-expansive growth initiatives. Second, a core business is rich with capabilities that can support new-growth efforts. Consider P&G’s excellent relationships with major retailers. Those relationships are a powerful, hard-to-replicate asset that helps the factory expedite new-growth initiatives. Swiffer wouldn’t be Swiffer without them.Third, some of the tools for managing core efforts—particularly those that track a project’s progress—are also useful for managing new-growth efforts. And finally, the factory’s rapid-learning approach often yields insights that can strengthen existing product lines. One of the project teams at the 2004 workshop was seeking to spur conversion in emerging markets from cloth to disposable diapers. Subsequent in-market tests yielded a critical discovery: Babies who wore disposable diapers fell asleep 30% faster and slept 30 minutes longer than babies wearing cloth diapers—an obvious benefit for infants (and their parents).Advertising campaigns touting this advantage helped m ake Pampers the number one brand in several emerging markets. 2. Promote a portfolio mind-set. P&G communicates to both internal and external stakeholders that it is building a varied portfolio of innovation Lessons for Leaders Efforts to build a new-growth factory in any company will fail unless senior managers create the right organizational structures, provide the proper resources, allow sufficient time for experimentation 70 Harvard Business Review June 2011 HOW P&G TRIPLED ITS INNOVATION SUCCESS RATE? HBR. ORG approaches, ranging from sustaining to disruptive ones. See the sidebar â€Å"P&G’s Four Types of Innovation. †) It uses a set of master-planning tools to match the pace of innovation to the overall needs of the business. It also deploys portfolio-optimization tools that help managers identify and kill the least-promising programs and nurture the best bets. These tools create projections for every active idea, including estimates of the financial potential a nd the human and capital investments that will be required. Some ideas are evaluated with classic net-present-value calculations, others with a risk-adjusted real-option approach, and still others with more-qualitative criteria.Although the tools assemble a rank-ordered list of projects, P&G’s portfolio management isn’t, at its core, a mechanical exercise; it’s a dialogue about resource allocation and business-growth building blocks. Numerical input informs but doesn’t dictate decisions. A portfolio approach has several benefits. First, it sets up the expectation that different projects will be managed, resourced, and measured in different ways, just as an investor would use different criteria to evaluate an equity investment and a real estate one.Second, because the portfolio consists largely of sustaining and transformational-sustaining efforts, seeing it as a whole highlights the critical importance of these activities, which protect and extend legitim ate disagreement about the best way to organize for new growth. Whereas we believe in a factory with relatively strong ties to the core, some advocate a â€Å"skunkworks† organization. Others argue for â€Å"distinct but linked† organizations under an â€Å"ambidextrous† leader; still others recommend mirroring the structure of a venture capital firm. (P&G’s factory uses several organizational approaches. Treating capability development itself as a new-growth innovation lets companies try different approaches and learn what works best for them. A staged approach serves another important purpose: It’s a built-in reminder that a new-growth factory is not a quick fix. The factory won’t provide a sudden boost to next quarter’s results, nor can it instantly rein in an out-of-control core business that’s veering from crisis to crisis. GILLETTE GUARD After thousands of hours of research in the ? eld, P&G learned that a single-blade ra zor was a cheaper and e? ective alternative to double-edged razors for many consumers in India. CREST 3D WHITEUsurped by Colgate in the late 1990s, Crest has regained the lead in many markets owing to its introduction of several innovative oral care products, including ones that make teeth whitening at home a? ordable and easy. 4. Create new tools for gauging new businesses. Anticipated and nascent markets are notoriously hard to analyze. Detailed follow-up with one of the project teams that attended the pilot workshop showed P&G that it needed new tools for this purpose. P&G now conducts â€Å"transaction learning experiments,† or TLEs, in which a team â€Å"makes a little and sells a little,† thus letting consumers vote with their wallets.Teams have sold small amounts of products online, at mall kiosks, in pop-up stores, and at amusement parks—even in the company store P&G now conducts â€Å"transaction learning experiments,† which let consumers vote wi th their wallets. core businesses. Finally, a portfolio approach helps reinforce the message that any project, particularly a disruptive one, may carry substantial risk and might not deliver commercial results—and that’s fine, as long as the portfolio accounts for the risk. 3. Start small and grow carefully. Remember how the new-growth factory began: with a simple two-day workshop.It then expanded to small-scale pilots in several business units before becoming a companywide initiative. Staged investment allows for early, rapid revision—before lines scribbled on a hypothetical organizational chart are engraved in stone. It also provides for targeted experimentation. For example, there is and outside company cafeterias. P&G devised a venture capital approach to testing the market for Align, its probiotic supplement, providing seed capital for a controlled pilot. The company has also tested entire business models—recall the Kansas City pilots of Tide Dry Cle aners. 5.Make sure you have the right people doing the right work. Building the factory forced P&G to change the way it staffed certain teams. At any given time the company has hundreds of teams working on various innovation efforts. In the past, most teams consisted mainly of part-time members—employees who had other responsibilities pulling at them. But disruptive and transformational-sustaining efforts June 2011 Harvard Business Review 71 SPOTLIGHT ON PRODUCT INNOVATION HBR. ORG CONNECT WITH THE AUTHORS Do you have questions or comments about this article? The authors will respond to reader feedback at hbr. org. TIDE DRY CLEANERSStill in an early stage, this innovation arose in part from insights about consumers’ frustrations with the dinginess and inconvenience of most existing drycleaning establishments. require undivided attention. (As the old saying goes, nine women can’t make a baby in a month. ) There need to be people who wake up each day and go to sle ep each night obsessing about the new business. New-growth teams also need to be small and nimble, and they should include seasoned members. P&G found that big teams often bog down because they pursue too many ideas at once, whereas small teams are better able to quickly focus on the mostpromising initiatives.Having several members with substantial innovation experience helps teams confidently make sound judgment calls when data are inconclusive or absent. Finally, building a factory requires a substantial investment in widespread, ongoing training. Changing mind-sets begins, literally, with teaching a new language. Key terms such as â€Å"disruptive innovation,† â€Å"job to be done,† â€Å"business model,† and â€Å"critical assumptions† must be clearly and consistently defined. P&G reinforces key innovation concepts both at large meetings and at smaller, focused workshops, and in 2007 it established a â€Å"disruptive innovation college. People workin g on new-growth projects can choose from more than a dozen courses, ranging from basic innovation language to designing and executing a TLE, sketching out a business model, staffing a new-growth team, and identifying a job to be done. 6. Encourage intersections. Successful innovation requires rich cross-pollination both inside and outside the organization. P&G’s Connect + Develop program is part of a larger effort to intersect with other disciplines and gain new perspectives.Over the past few years P&G has: †¢ Shared people with noncompeting companies. In 2008 P&G and Google swapped two dozen employees for a few weeks. P&G wanted greater exposure to online models; Google was interested in learning more about how to build brands. †¢ Engaged even more outside innovators. In 2010 P&G refreshed its C+D goals. It aims to become the partner of choice for innovation collaboration, and to triple C+D’s contribution to P&G’s innovation development (which would m ean deriving $3 billion of the company’s annual sales growth from outside innovators).It has expanded the program to forge additional connections with government labs, universities, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, consortia, and venture capital firms. †¢ Brought in outside talent. P&G has traditionally promoted from within. But it recognized that total reliance on this approach could stunt its ability to create new-growth businesses. So it began bringing in high-level people to address needs beyond its core capabilities, as when it hired an outsider to run Agile Pursuits Franchising. In that one stroke, it acquired expertise in franchise-based business models that would have taken years to build organically.SOME THINK it’s foolish for large companies to even attempt to create innovative-growth businesses. They maintain that organizations should just outsource innovation, by acquiring promising start-ups. But P&G’s efforts appear to be working. Recall that in 2000 only 15% of its innovation efforts met profit and revenue targets. Today the figure is 50%. The past fiscal year was one of the most productive innovation years in the company’s history, and the company’s three- and five-year innovation portfolios are sufficient to deliver against their growth objectives.Projections suggest that the typical initiative in 2014 and 2015 will have nearly twice the revenue of today’s initiatives. That’s a sixfold increase in output without any significant increase in inputs. Our experience tells us that although individual creativity can be unpredictable and uncontrollable, collective creativity can be managed. Although the next Tide or Crest innovation might stumble, the factory’s methodical approach should bring many more innovations successfully to market. The factory process can create sustainable sources of revenue growth—no matter how big a company becomes.HBR Reprint R1106C At P&G’s â €Å"disruptive innovation college,† people working on new-growth projects can choose from more than a dozen courses. 72 Harvard Business Review June 2011 Harvard Business Review Notice of Use Restrictions, May 2009 Harvard Business Review and Harvard Business Publishing Newsletter content on EBSCOhost is licensed for the private individual use of authorized EBSCOhost users. It is not intended for use as assigned course material in academic institutions nor as corporate learning or training materials in businesses.Academic licensees may not use this content in electronic reserves, electronic course packs, persistent linking from syllabi or by any other means of incorporating the content into course resources. 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