Current international thought and practices on the role of government auditing

Today, no 1 needs to be convinced that trust on IAs can be vitalaˆÂ ¦ The rise in stature of internal hearers therefore comes at the right clip ; Auditing resources are so scarce and dearly-won, and much is demanded of all hearers. † Ward et Al2.1 IntroductionThe aim of this chapter is to research current international idea and patterns on the capable country by placing and reexamining relevant local and foreign literature. This will put the footing for set uping a theoretical apprehension on the function of authorities auditing, both external and internal auditing, with peculiar accent on issues refering the relationship between them.2.2 AUDITING IN THE PUBLIC SECTORâ€Å" In virtually all legal powers, the populace sector plays a major function in society, and effectual administration in the public sector can promote the efficient usage of resources, strengthen answerability for the stewardship of those resources, better direction and service bringing and thereby lend to bettering people ‘s lives. † ( IFAC, 2001, par.004 ) Government auditing is a basis of good public sector administration ( IIA, 2006a ) . Hearers play a important function by helping authorities entities achieve, amongst other of import aims, answerability and unity by supplying indifferent sentiments on the usage of public resources.[ 1 ] The populace sector represents a principal-agent relationship as shown in Figure 2.2 below, with the functionaries moving as the principal ‘s agents that must give history to their principal of the extent to which the populace ‘s aims have been achieved. An effectual audit activity is deemed of import in order to cut down the hazards inherited in such a relationship. Given that public sector entities are complex and diverse, no individual administration theoretical account can function all of such entities ( IIA, 2006a ) . Thus, based on the demands and fortunes, many constructions rely on a combination of audit activities including both external and internal auditing.2.2.1 External AuditingThe range of external audit in the public sector should travel beyond giving an adept sentiment on the truth and equity of the fiscal statements to integrate appraisals on facets of corporate administration and the usage of resources, normally referred to as ‘value for money ‘ ( Bourn, et. Al, 2002 ) . Furthermore, INTOSAI GOV 9150 asserted that â€Å" compared to the IA, the Supreme Audit Institution ( SAI ) has the extra undertaking of analyzing the effectivity of the IA. † Furthermore, in transporting out their work EAs are non to be hindered during the public presentation of the audit but â€Å" aˆÂ ¦shall have the right of entree at all times to the company ‘s accounting recordsaˆÂ ¦ † ( Companies Act, 1995 ) . In this respect NAO ( 2009 ) specified that the Auditor General ‘s work is â€Å" facilitated by statute law which stipulates that any circumstance inhibiting such entree to information is to be reported to Parliament. † It is utile to separate between the cardinal elements of public sector audits. NAO ( 2009 ) sort its audits under the undermentioned classs:[ 2 ] fiscal and conformity audits ; public presentation audits ; particular audits and probes ; IT audits.2.2.2 Internal AuditingINTOSAI GOV 9140 highlighted that the function of internal auditing has â€Å" evolved from an administrative process with a focal point on conformity † to an indispensable constituent of administration in the populace sector. Indeed internal audit activities are seen as supplying confidence on the effectivity of public sector entities ‘ internal control environment by placing chances for public presentation betterment. Asare ( 2008 ) identified three chief elements, sometimes referred to as the ‘three pillars ‘ to explicate the function of internal auditing in the populace sector. As shown in Figure 2.3 below, these include the â€Å" rating and betterment of hazard direction, control and administration procedures. † This suggests that internal audit has continued to travel off from fiscal and conformity audits to a broader value-adding function, encompassing both consultancy and confidence activities, thereby moving as the executive arm of authorities. A brief description on each of these three pillars is summarised in Table 2.1 below:2.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF AUDITING STANDARDS AND INDEPENDENCE OF BOTH EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL AUDITORSDiplock ( 2005 ) argued that the challenge for the audit profession is to regularly reassess whether criterions are being followed and to show its independency. Over the old ages, INTOSAI members agreed that robust and dependable auditing criterions were required, underscoring that public sector scrutinizing must be underpinned by international criterions as good. As a consequence of alone cooperation between public and private sector scrutinizing at that place has been the development of International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions ( ISSAIs )[ 3 ]. With regard to the Maltese scenario, the NAO uses the ISSAIs as guidelines of patterns that are followed when carry oning its fiscal and conformity audits. The Office besides uses International Standards on Auditing ( ISA ) of the IFAC when transporting out the audit of fiscal statements of certain public sector entities ( NAO, 2009 ) . The methodological analysis used by the IAID is based on International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing that ( include Diagram ) is issued by the IIA ( IAID, 2010d ) . The independency of hearers, both EAs and IAs, is critical in guaranting that â€Å" public organic structures are accountable for their public presentation in footings of both stewardship of public money and the bringing of high quality services † ( Bourn, et. Al, 2002 ) . Indeed Bourn, et. Al ( 2002 ) advocate that such independency ensures that they can ‘speak as they find ‘ and ‘without fright or favor ‘ in an nonsubjective manner. This has become progressively of import following the recent fiscal dirts that have brought with them the loss in credibleness in the auditing profession. Furthermore, INTOSAI GOV 9150 stated that, â€Å" IA ‘s independency is cardinal to SAIs in the issue of utilizing IA ‘s work aˆÂ ¦ to be able to organize and collaborate with an IA. †2.4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL AUDITORSâ€Å" If internal audit is judged to be effectual, attempts shall be made aˆÂ ¦ to accomplish the most appropriate division or assignment of undertakings and cooperation between the SAI and Internal Audit. † ( Lima Declaration, ISSAI 1, subdivision 3, par.3 ) Coordination and cooperation between SAIs and IAs is enhanced as both parties can harvest benefits in their uninterrupted thrust to accomplish efficiency and effectivity in public services. For this ground, such a relationship should be seen as an chance to beef up public sector auditing. The IIA and INTOSAI recognise the importance of such a relationship by being ‘natural spouses ‘ . They portion a common linguistic communication such as criterions ; understand several functions, duties and outlooks ( Moser, 2008 ) .2.4.1 Opportunities for Cooperation in PracticeAlthough comparatively small research has examined the countries of coordination and cooperation between I & A ; EAs in the populace sector, the following five facets of cardinal scrutinizing pattern characteristic most conspicuously in the literature: Audit planning ; Internal Controls ; Fraud and Irregularities ; Coverage ; Consultancy. Audited account Planning: INTOSAI GOV 9150 identified five chief phases during an audit procedure where SAIs may utilize the work of IAs amongst which there is the planning phase.[ 4 ]This phase is deemed to be an of import portion of the procedure for pull offing an audit map where the EA should execute a preliminary appraisal of the internal audit map. Such an appraisal will act upon the nature, timing and extent of external audit processs, depending on the SAIs judgement of the relevance of the internal audit. Audit Commission ( 2010 ) sets out the importance for the EA to place what work it will be seeking to put trust upon during the planning phase as this, â€Å" ensures that the proposed work meets the timetable and demands to enable external audit to put trust upon it. † Spencer Pickett ( 2010 ) explained that there are several degrees to which audit planning may be interfaced as shown in Figure 2.4. As can be seen in the below figure, at the extreme, it can ensue in one planning papers being prepared which, harmonizing to Spencer Pickett ( 2010 ) , is more relevant in the populace sector given that EAs tend to presume a function in procuring value for money.Figure 2.4: Interfaced Audit PlanningInternal Controls: Following the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, internal control duties for both I & A ; EAs increased. Harmonizing to Engle and Joseph ( 2008 ) , this â€Å" represents an country where enormous value can be achieved through proper coordination. † The primary intent of internal audit is to measure and better the effectivity of the system of internal control.[ 5 ]On the other manus EAs are required to obtain an apprehension of the control environment prior to the readying of the fiscal statements in order to be after the audit and develop an effectual audit attack. In her survey, Colbert ( 1993 ) concluded that the IAs ‘ work can help the EA in understanding the design of the control construction by, for case, supplying system and papers flow charts of the accounting system and finding if the set system has been really put in topographic point. Fraud and Irregularities: This has been identified by HM Treasury and NAO ( 2000 ) as another possible country where information can be exchanged, given that both hearers are interested in the bar and sensing of fraud. Internal audit work in relation to fraud can be relevant to EAs when measuring the hazards of stuff misstatements found in the fiscal statements. Since IAs have greater cognition about the entity ‘s operations than EAs, fraud hazard appraisal warrant important trust on internal audit work. Such a statement is supported by surveies done by KPMG, which indicate that IAs are more likely to detect fraud than EAs ( KPMG, 2009 ) . This is illustrated in Figure 2.5 where 47 % of frauds were discovered by internal audit, legal or conformity forces compared to the 9 % of frauds detected by EAs. Coverage: One of the basic types of cooperation between hearers includes the exchange of audit certification. Audit Commission ( 2010 ) recognises that sharing of audit studies and other audit information will â€Å" heighten understanding and effectiveness † . Moeller ( 2005 ) argued that internal audit studies should be circulated to EAs as they constitute an of import agencies of maintaining the EA informed of the internal audit findings and other activities. In set abouting the work necessary to underpin an sentiment on the audited entity ‘s fiscal statements, the EA may seek to trust on the work of the IA. Audit Commission ( 2010 ) indicated that the IAs can supply the EAs with: An audit program ; Entree to scrutinize studies and associated working paper files ; Detailss of any important alterations to the audit program. Spencer Pickett ( 2010 ) further highlighted that the internal audit activity ‘s concluding communications, direction ‘s responses to such communications, together with any subsequent follow-up reappraisals can help EAs in finding and seting the range and timing of their work. Some EAs, on the other manus, may hold concerns about turning over their work documents to IAs due to their professional duties refering confidentiality and independency as highlighted by Moeller ( 2005 ) . Nonetheless their work can be â€Å" used as input to IAs in be aftering the countries to underscore in future internal audit work † Spencer Pickett ( 2010 ) . Consultancy: HM Treasury and NAO ( 2000 ) indicated that audience is cardinal to construct an effectual cooperation channel. The same position is shared by Spencer Pickett ( 2010 ) who affirmed that regular audience is indispensable in order â€Å" to utilize similar techniques, methods and nomenclature † to transport out the work. The two parties may confer with with each other even when they are non working together in a peculiar country such as confer withing on specific audit findings. Committedness, communicating and assurance were identified as three indispensable constituents that need to be present to guarantee effectual audience, as indicated in Table 2.2 below. INTOSAI GOV 9150 acknowledges that coordination and cooperation can be done either officially, where there will be formal understandings or protocols or in an informal manner based on good will such as in the instance of audiences. Other possible countries of coordination and cooperation between SAIs and IAs were identified by HM Treasury and NAO ( 2000 ) and a brief drumhead is provided below: Conformity with Laws and Regulations Since IAs continuously assess the controls over conformity with Torahs and ordinances that are internal to the Government such as Parliamentary blessing for outgo, SAIs can put trust on their work. This is of import given that most SAIs ‘ mission statement underscore the significance of the consideration of properness[ 6 ]and hence internal audit activity is utile to find whether â€Å" activities and concern have been conducted in conformity with Parliament ‘s outlooks † ( HM Treasury and NAO, 2000 ) . Audited account of spread administrations Although non peculiarly applicable to Malta, this has been recognised as another country of cooperation when the audited entity is dispersed geographically. HM Treasury and NAO ( 2000 ) argued that when the two parties are allowed to work in joint squads or one of them undertakes work on behalf of the other, more economical usage of audit resources is made.Reliance on the Internal Audit ‘s WorkISSAI 200 pointed out that, â€Å" When the SAI uses the work of another hearer ( s ) , it must use equal processs to supply confidence that the other hearer ( s ) has exercised due attention and complied with relevant auditing criterions, and may reexamine the work of the other hearer ( s ) to fulfill itself as to the quality of that work. † ( Section 2, par.2.45 ) Reliance by EAs on internal audit ‘s work is governed by ISSAI 1610 that farther highlighted two chief points that SAIs must see after set uping that the internal audit map is relevant to the audit. These include[ 7 ]: Whether and to what extent, to utilize the specific work of the IAs ; If so, whether such work is equal for the intents of the audit. Such standard requires EAs to reexamine IAs work, which normally involves remaking specific trials every bit good as executing a more general reappraisal. The Sharman[ 8 ]Report ( 2001 ) found that the relationship between cardinal authorities internal hearers and NAO â€Å" has non been every bit near as might hold been expected † , in portion because the focal point of internal audit has tended towards non-financial countries, doing its work of less value to those scrutinizing fiscal statements. Three major standards were identified as a common component in the surveies that examined the relationship between I & A ; EAs. These elements influence the EAs ‘ trust on IAs as shown in Figure 2.6 below.2.4.2 Potential Risks of CooperationA figure of benefits were identified from the coordination and cooperation between SAIs and IAs including amongst others, more efficient and effectual audits based on a clearer apprehension of the several audit functions and demands ( HM Treasury and NAO,2000 ) . However, INTOSAI GOV 9150 highlighted some possible hazards that could have in their relationship and that should be managed consequently in order to accomplish the full scope of benefits. The outstanding points include: Possible struggles of involvement ; Any via media of independency and objectiveness, blockading the ability to transport out an audit with an indifferent sentiment ; Premature revelation of audit findings to an external party, possible taking to a breach of confidentiality ; No consideration of restraints or limitations placed on the other hearer when finding the extent of coordination and cooperation ; Developing wrong decisions when utilizing the work of IAs ; Possible difference of decisions or sentiments which could take to a possible hazard of credibleness of either party. To accomplish a healthy relationship both parties need to be efficient and effectual as otherwise a possible menace might be if inefficient operations are in topographic point, particularly if there is trust on each other ‘s work. With mention to the Maltese scenario, the NAO conducted a survey on the ‘Internal Audit Function within Government Ministries ‘ ( NAO Report, 2000 ) .[ 9 ]This survey dates back to 1999 and no farther survey has been carried out since so. It was observed that, although the map did take to some stray benefits, it fell abruptly of the needed degree of effectivity. This was largely due to: Inadequate cardinal coordination ; Restrictions in the map ‘s independency within Ministries ; Lack of direction support ; Lacks in enlisting and preparation patterns ; Restrictions and deficiency of resources ; Other factors act uponing the effectivity of the map including the relationship between the NAO and IAs.2.5 challenges and barriers to effectual coordinationGolen ( 2008 ) highlighted that â€Å" in any on the job relationship, one has to be wholly aware of the human dealingss constituent that can originate, and the internal and external audit relationship is no exclusion. † In fact the first relevant survey sing the relationship between I & A ; EAs, realised by Mautz ( 1984 ) , as cited by Haron et Al ( 2004 ) , showed that from internal audit ‘s point of position the relationship with external audit was merely ‘ostensibly ‘ a good one. Since a working squad relationship is a cardinal constituent for an effectual and efficient independent audit, communicating jobs have a direct impact on the result of an audit. Indeed the undermentioned communicating barriers were recognised by Golen ( 2008 ) , given that, one time identified and addressed, communicating between I & A ; EAs would better.Distortion or Omission of InformationThis occurs when an component of pride influences the information exchanged negatively, as each party perceives his work as critically of import for the decision of an audit. Both parties may non lend in adequate item with regard to the information required from each other. Golen ( 2008 ) highlighted that such a barrier could be managed by â€Å" supplying an environment that encourages unfastened lines of communicating † in order to run into the aim of the audit.Lack of CredibilityThis is particularly of import from the point of view of the EA because if the latter perceives that the IAs d eficiency credibleness, he will be unwilling to put trust on the IA ‘s work. In fact, Golen ( 2008 ) argued that â€Å" some IAs see their interactions with EAs as non one of their favorite parts of the occupation because of the EAs ‘ limited usage of their work. † Such a state of affairs may ensue in tenseness and struggle. The relationship could be improved if IAs possess the cognition, accomplishments and other competences to show their value, in order for EAs to accept their work as dependable.Inclination non to listenHarmonizing to Golen ( 2008 ) , the first measure to heighten communicating is through effectual hearing as negative attitudes towards each other can be damaging to the relationship. He argued that both parties need to be open-minded by set uping a footing of seeking to derive proper information from each other without developing any premature opinions.Resistance to ChangeAnother common barrier highlighted is the EAs ‘ opposition to alter t o new constructs and processs as these may be seen as a menace. When this happens IAs may develop a feeling of bitterness that could farther decline an â€Å" already delicate relationship † Golen ( 2008 ) . Both I & A ; EAs must be willing to give adequate clip to each other to turn out the benefits that could be gained by leting for alteration.2.6 DecisionIn visible radiation of the above, one can reason that although there are some possible hazards ensuing from cooperation, working together as a squad instead than two independent groups can merely better the efficiency and effectivity of the independent audit and finally taking to a better service to the populace. Yet, such cooperation can merely boom in an environment where there is common assurance, connoting that both I & A ; EAs should follow an active function in seeking chances to organize work, where possible, in the involvements of maximizing the benefit of their work and understating duplicate of attempt.

Event Industry Suppliers and Event Organisational Structures

Event Industry Suppliers and Event Organisational Structures Since the beginning of time human beings had the need of having special events. First, they were made for cultural and celebration purposes, but their area increased continuously. Today, the events vary from personal celebrations to mega events, from voluntary events to private musical events, form cultural to sporting events.Shone and parry classify special events by purpose and these are: leisure events (sport, recreation, and leisure), personal events (weddings, anniversaries, and birthdays), cultural events (Sacred, ceremonial, folklore, art, and heritage) and organizational events (commercial, political, charitable, sales). According to their size and scale, events are categorized in the following way, from the smallest to the biggest: local/community events, hallmark events, major events and mega events. Bowdin, 2006, p. 15) As Bowdin (23, 24) says further in his book, because of the complexity and volume of events in dustry today, a large range of event suppliers had been developed, which may work only for this industry, like catering, staging, lightning, fireworks, entertainment, but as Tassiopoulos (2005, p. 46) states, few suppliers are dedicated exclusively to the events, they just interfere with them as transportation, communication and security do.Events are organized by professionals working in a specific organizational structure, according to the size and complexity of the event. This could be simple, functional or a network one or a matrix type if the event is held at various venues. The network type consists in having an event manager or a small team as organizer(s) and hiring suppliers for what the event needs. So even if the organising team is not big enough to produce all the resources for an event, it can hire other organizations that supplies them with what else they need for materializing the event concept.This process is called by Bowdin as creating â€Å"virtual organisationsà ¢â‚¬  that lasts during the event then they disintegrate and each party can find other such organisations to join for future events. This kind of structure has the advantage of quick decision making, because the people who are making decisions are few in numbers, or only the event manager, others just being hired to do specific services. The activities of the events are usually categorised into distribution, production, venues and ancillary services. Shone and Parry (2010, p. 3 ) offer a list of organisations categorised by the type of services they are offering. The organisations who are working in the production area are: event management companies, party planners, production companies, event catering companies, exhibition and theatrical contractors and designers, technical services companies or individuals, professional party/conference oganisers, multimedia support companies voluntary bodies and education and training. ) Distribution organisations could be individual events and venues, event and conference agencies, trade madeia, hotel booking agencies.Visitior and convention bureau, incentive travel agencies, exhibition organisers, ticketing agencies, trade exhibitions and national and local tourist bodies. Some organisations that could supply the events with venues or services for venues are event room/hall/grounds hire, catering and kitchen facilities, accommodation, food and drink suppliers, business support services, medical and creche services, information and customer services, technical support, waste disposal and grounds clearance, toilets washrooms and public facilities, parking security and set designers.Also, still according to shone and parry, the organisations who offer anciliary services are: accommodation providers, photographers and video makers Transport and guiding services, music and entertainment providers, travel companies, costume hire service, marquee hire services, printer, floral contractor, database support service, fireworks di splay operator, professional and trade bodies, national and local government services. Event management companies, according to Bowdin (2006, p. 3), are organisations that are offering to organize events, usually large, for potential clients on contract basis. The gigantic corporations existing nowadays often contact these companies and usually generate long relationships with them, states Bowdin. Production companies are very similar to the event management ones, but they are restricted to the production, while the others may offer additional services without hiring external organisations. Party planners and professional event organisers do the same work as the event production companies, but they are individuals, nstead of teams or functional organisations. PCO, professional conference organisers, can organise conference and meetings for small groups or big conferences such as a political party meeting. Some venues serve their own food and beverage, but when an event is held at a venue without such services or in natural spaces, and the organisers want to provide to the customers, they will need to hire event catering companies, if they don’t have the resources themselves.These companies offer food and beverages from the simplest to very sophisticated types for events. The modern clients of events acquired taste and desire for quality and innovative dishes, so the catering services adapted their needs. These suppliers may have their own kitchen, the venue may provide them with one or the organisers will have to improvise a place where the food will be prepared.The organisers will have to consider other important factors when hiring these companies, such as waste management, asking the guests their preferences if it is a controlled event or researching the potential customers if it is an uncontrolled one, informing the catering company about the theme and the key moments of the event, such as speeches or surprise shows and assuring they will have enoug h food and beverages for the customers.Hotel booking agencies, incentive travel agencies, national, local tourist bodies, travel companies and accommodation companies play an important role in events if the customers are tourists or if they are coming from other localities and have to stay overnight. These organisations could provide some events with customers and offer them additional services such as accommodation and guiding. The event organisers could make contracts with these companies or buy their services for the customers in order to obtain them cheaper, instead of letting the clients buying by themselves.Ticketing agencies could be contacted to advertise the event, if the organisers are not specialised or don’t have time for this. If an event is theme based, then theme designers, costume hire services, floral contractors and other such companies can be hired to set a professional theme, buying the right supplies from retailers or producers of decoration or themed pro ducts for events. Photographers and video makers offer professional recording of events and they should be hired especially at cultural and personal events, because people like to memorise them over the years.Music and entertainment providers supply the events with the main component for the customer for the leisure events or they could just help for the ambiance at events that have other principal purposes. There are many available venues today that can and even ask to be hired for organising events. Many venue owners organise events by themselves, but also allows other professionals to hold events in their venues on a contract basis. The event manager should know how to negotiate with these venue owners and how to establish relationships.Government bodies also play an important role in events, because of the laws for preparation and sale of beverages, food, waste management and removal. External regulatory bodies As noted, contemporary events take place in an increasingly regulate d and complex environment. A series of local government and statutory bodies are responsible for overseeing the conduct and safe staging of events, and these bodies have an integral relationship with the industry.Councils often oversee the application of laws governing the preparation and sale of food, street closures, waste management and removal. In addition, events organizers have a legal responsibiliy to provide a safe workplace and to obey all laws and statutes relating to employment, contracts, taxation and so on. The professional event manager needs to be familiar with the regulations governing events and to maintain contact with the public authorities that have a vested interest in the industry. Bowdin 23 Events are held in many different locations from established venues to open spaces * The nature of your event will help dictate the type of venue you select * The event site or venue should be an effective space that suits the type of event being staged * Ultimately, the ve nue MUST be able to meet the needs of the event and its audience * â€Å"The number of new venues, and types of venues, opening their doors to conference delegates appears to be escalating, and there are increasing signs that demand for these facilities is not increasing at the same rate.Venues are not only changing in quantity but also in their quality. † * Davidson and Rogers (2006, p. 69) Top 5 Most Important Factors When Choosing a Venue as Identified by a Number of American Event Organisers 1. Size of the venue 2. Potential audience draw 3. Location 4. Number of meeting rooms 5. Price 6. Mike Lyon, Director, Write Style Communications, 7. The National Venue Show, (Sept. 2007) The choice of a venue is a crucial decision that will ultimately determine many of the elements of staging. Figure 13. 2 lists the major factors in the choice of a venue.The venue may be an obvious part of the theme of the event. A corporate party that takes place in a zoo is using the venue as part of the event experience. However, many events take place within ‘four walls and a roof’, the venue being chosen for other factors. It can be regarded an empty canvas on which the event is painted. Events can be staged in a range of unusual spaces, from unused factories, parkland, car parks or shopping centres, to floating stages on water or using flat-back trailers from articulated lorries in a supermarket car park.The event manager can exploit the surroundings and characteristics of the venue to enhance the event experience. In these situations, the traditional roles of stage manager and event manager become blurred. When the audience and the performers mix together and where they and the venue become the entertainment package, the delineation between stage and auditorium is no longer appropriate. An event that uses a purpose-built venue, for example, an arena or exhibition centre, will find that much of the infrastructure will be in place.Two documents _ Location _ M atching the venue with the theme of the event _ Matching the size of the venue to the size of the event _ Venue configuration, including sight lines and seating configuration _ History of events at that venue, including the venue’s reputation _ Availability _ What the venue can provide _ Transport to, from and around the venue; parking _ Access for audience, equipment, performers, VIPs, staff and the disabled _ Toilets and other facilities _ Catering equipment and preferred caterers Power (amount available and outlets) and lights _ Communication, including telephone _ Climate, including microclimate and ventilation _ Emergency plans and exits Figure 13. 2 The factors in venue selection 388 Events Management that are a good starting point for making an informed choice about the venue are the venue plan and the list of facilities. However, because there are so many factors in an event that are dependent on the venue or site, an inspection is absolutely necessary.For music event s, HSE (1999) suggest that main considerations for the site visit are available space for the audience, temporary structures, backstage facilities, parking, camping and rendezvous points, together with some idea of proposed capacity, concept for the entertainment and rough calculations of space requirements. For conference events, Shone (1998) identifies that location will be the key consideration, with the venue needing to be close to a main motorway and within an hour’s travelling time of a major city and airport (if international delegates are expected).Further, Owen and Holliday (1993) recommend that the event manager makes a preliminary unannounced visit to the venue to check the ambience and courtesy of staff before making arrangements. Lyon (2004, p. 2) notes that a site inspection or familiarization (Fam) trip provides you with the opportunity to sample the destination or potential venue, with the aim of you being able to sell this back to your organization and recapt ure the experience for your delegates. He provides a useful handbook to assist this process.Rogers (1998) suggests that there are a number of points to consider when shortlisting conference venues. These include: . the type of venue (hotel, conference centre, university, football stadia or stately homes) . the conference rooms and facilities available (including combination of room sizes and style of seating for the requirements of the event) . accommodation and leisure options (depending on residential requirements and opportunities for social activities) . an identifiable point of contact. As with many aspects of supplier selection, the Internet has had a significant effect on venue choice.Using a search engine is often the first action in the investigation of a suitable venue. Some websites display a choice of venues once certain information (such as size of audience, approximate location and type of event) has been entered. The major hotels, conventions and exhibition centres, u niversities and purpose-built venues have websites to enable the matching of event requirements to venue characteristics. However, this method has the same limitations as those of using photos and brochures to assess a venue. The websites are a tool for selling the venue, not a technical description.In addition, many suitable venues may not have an Internet presence. An Internet search will show only venues that expect to host events. If the event is truly special, the event venue may be part of that theme. A car park or a rainforest, for example, will not appear in a search for event venues. The final consideration when choosing an event is whether it requires a physical location at all. With the ongoing development of videoconferencing, and the extensive developments in the Internet, events can take place in ‘cyberspace’. With some events, e. g. usic concerts, the event takes place live in venue in the traditional manner, however, with the introduction of webcasting, a worldwide audience can view or experience the event simultaneously. In this instance, access to technological support and facilities, for example, a large bandwidth telephone line, will be a consideration. In other areas, for example, exhibitions and conferences, technology has been deployed in such a way that it may support the live event experience, through the website hosting supporting materials for visitors to view and in some cases interact with.Relatively recent advances in Internet technology, together with faster telecommunication infrastructure, have enabled conferences to take place solely on Staging events 389 line, with delegates interacting, either visually through videoconferencing or through text with instant messaging. Exhibitions can take place in virtual exhibition venues, which can either be modelled on the live exhibition venue as a means of supporting the event experience or can take place solely in the virtual world without the boundaries of traditional venu es and limited only by imagination and the available technology.The value of such developments is only just beginning to be realized, with some commentators predicting the death of live events, whilst other, more enlightened observers view these developments as a further medium to support or enhance the live event experience. The venue contract will have specialist clauses, including indemnifying the venue against damages, personnel requirements and provision of security staff. The contract can also contain the following elements: Security deposit: an amount, generally a percentage of the hiring fee, to be used for any additional work such as cleaning and repairs that result from the event. . Cancellation: outlining the penalty for cancellation of the event and whether the hirer will receive a refund if the venue is rehired at that time. . Access: including the timing of the opening and closing of the doors, and actual use of the entrances with controls to ensure only access to auth orized areas. . Late conclusion: the penalty for the event going overtime. . House seats: this is the reserved free tickets for the venue management. Additions or alterations: the event may require some changes to the internal structures of the venue. . Signage: this covers the signs of any sponsors and other advertising. Venue management approval may be required for all promotional material. 336 Events Management When hiring a venue, it is important to ascertain exactly what is included in the fee. For example, just because there were chairs and tables in the photo of the venue does not mean that they are included in the hiring cost. Negotiation: 500 words, Strong 4, identifying suppliers, special events 175 Conclusion

Didion’s on Morality Essay

What is it that forms and drives our â€Å"moral behaviors†? Are we born with a basic sense of morality or do we develop a set of moral â€Å"social codes† to keep society from falling into chaos and anarchy? In her essay â€Å"On Morality,† Joan Didion dissects what lies beneath the surface of humanity’s morality. By recounting several stories and historical events, she shows that morality at its basic â€Å"most primitive level† is nothing more than â€Å"our loyalties to the ones we love,† everything else is subjective. Didion’s first story points out our loyalty to family. She is in Death Valley writing an article about â€Å"morality,† â€Å"a word [she] distrust more every day.† She relates a story about a young man who was drunk, had a car accident, and died while driving to Death Valley. â€Å"His girl was found alive but bleeding internally, deep in shock,† Didion states. She talked to the nurse who had driven his girl 185 miles to the nearest doctor. The nurse’s husband had stayed with the body until the coroner could get there. The nurse said, â€Å"You just can’t leave a body on the highway, it’s immoral.† According to Didion this â€Å"was one instance in which [she] did not distrust the word, because [the nurse] meant something quite specific.† She argues we don’t desert a body for even a few minutes lest it be desecrated. Didion claims this is more than â€Å"only a sentimental consideration.† She claims that we promise each other to try and retrieve our casualties and not abandon our dead; it is more than a sentimental consideration. She stresses this point by saying that â€Å"if, in the simplest terms, our upbringing is good enough – we stay with the body, or have bad dreams.† Her point is that morality at its most â€Å"primary† level is a sense of â€Å"loyalty† to one another that we learned from our loved ones. She is saying that we stick with our loved ones no matter what, in sickness, in health, in bad times and good times; we don’t abandon our dead because we don’t want someone to abandon us. She is professing that morality is to do what we think is right; whatever is necessary to meet our â€Å"primary loyalties† to care for our loved ones, even if it means sacrificing ourselves. Didion emphatically states she is talking about a â€Å"wagon-train morality,† and â€Å"For better or for worse, we are what we learned as children.† She talks about her childhood and hearing â€Å"graphic litanies about the Donner-Reed party and the Jayhawkers. She maintains they â€Å"failed in their loyalties to each other,† and â€Å"deserted one another.† She says they â€Å"breached their primary loyalties,† or they would not have been in those situations. If we go against our â€Å"primary loyalties† we have failed, we regret it, and thus â€Å"have bad dreams.† Didion insist that â€Å"we have no way of knowing†¦what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong,’ what is ‘good and what is ‘evil’.† She sees politics, and public policy falsely assigned â€Å"aspects of morality.† She warns us not to delude ourselves into thinking that because we want or need something â€Å"that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen.† She is saying this will be our demise, and she may well be correct. Hitler’s idea that he had â€Å"a moral imperative† to â€Å"purify the Aryan race† serves as a poignant reminder of such a delusion. In 1939 Hitler’s Nazi army invaded Poland and started World War II. World War II came to an end in large part due to the United States dropping two atomic bombs. If the war had continued and escalated to the point of Hitler’s Nazis and the United States dropping more atomic bombs we could have destroyed most, if not all, of humanity, the ultimate act of â€Å"fashionable madmen.† We may believe our behaviors are just and righteous, but Didion’s essay makes us closely examine our motives and morals. She contends that madmen, murders, war criminals and religious icons throughout history have said â€Å"I followed my own conscience.† â€Å"I did what I thought was right.† â€Å"Maybe we have all said it and maybe we have been wrong.† She shows us that our â€Å"moral codes† are often subjective and fallacious, that we rationalize and justify our actions to suit our ulterior motives, and our only true morality is â€Å"our loyalty to those we love.† It is this â€Å"loyalty to those we love† that forms our families, then our cities, our states, our countries and ultimately our global community. Without these â€Å"moral codes,† social order would break down into chaos and anarchy.

Is the US government acting ethically towards detainees with regards Essay

Is the US government acting ethically towards detainees with regards to confinement, access to legal representation, torture methods - Essay Example But the ethical consideration in acting towards detainees with regards to confinement, access to legal representation, torture methods etc remain the most pertinent issues of the contemporary times in America. The widespread cases of in-house torture and in-human treatment of wartime prisoners and civilian detainees have brought to the fore the need for more effective measures of ethical paradigms and human rights. The Guantanamo torture of detainees and Abu Ghraib, unlawful detention of civilians and other such cases expose the human rights violations of American forces and homeland security. The aftermath of 9/11 has brought out ‘war on terrorism’ where torture of innocent has become a by-word for preemptive and preventive actions against future terrorist acts. The post 9/11 scenario has seen a marked paradigm shift in the outlook of the racial and religious background of the people and has especially been traumatic for persons of Moslem origin and Asians. The general motives of the terrorists in this country and abroad involve coercive tactics and unlawful intimidation of the government bodies to force the government to accede to their vested interest regarding political, ideological or religious demands. To safeguard people’s interests, new strategies and plans were required to be developed and enforced. US Patriotic Act was amended and renamed ‘USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act’ (USPA). It was made more stringent and extra statutes included with wide ranging terrorists relating offences like deliberate and destructive activity against the state or its people resulting in loss of life or property, money laundering, surveillance and detention of people under suspect of terrorist activities etc. with capital punishment introduced. Jane Mayer asserts that ‘United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the

Comparison of todays sport with the characteristics of sport in past Essay

Comparison of todays sport with the characteristics of sport in past times suggests why sport is such a major cultural force both then and now - Essay Example The time period of 1890 till 1920 is marked as progressive era in the history of USA. This was the period when industrialization flourished in the country. However because of industrialization the workload of factories as well as industries also increased which affected the social life of workers of USA. They did not find much time for their extra curricular activities. Owners of industries put their pressures on employees to increase their productivity at any cost (Quandt iii). There were many sports which were played during progressive era. However boxing was one of the most popular games played during that period. There were many people who were interested in this sport. USA’s Black Afro-Americans in particular were very fond of boxing. Jack Johnson the first Black American who achieved heavy weight title also belonged from progressive era of American History. Politics of reach also came into play when White Americans observed that Black people were going to rule on boxing in future. Since Blacks were not recognized as first class citizens in progressive era that is the reason why majority of the conflicts in the sports also arrive because white people often hesitate to play against the people of color. Progressive era is also among one such period where Black American came in positive news in American Press. In USA boxing was mostly played by working class of that time which was sponsored by upper class of the society (Hartmann-Tews and Pfister i ii). Besides boxing baseball was also one of the games which were introduced in progressive era. The introduction of baseball was facilitated by Young Women Christian Association. Football was also among one of the popular sports of that time. It was considered as a college sport, however during this era, football also made its way to schools as well. Soccer, hockey, baseball and boxing all have had their best players in that era. Women also had a major contribution in the development of sports. There

SLP 4 HR Training, Development, and Career Management Essay

SLP 4 HR Training, Development, and Career Management - Essay Example Perhaps the time management is one of the most important topics that every employee ought to be trained on (Kaushik, 2012). Obviously, every training and development program must be in accordance with the organizations policies although the methods used could have some strengths and shortcomings. Essentially, training and development can take different approaches in various organizations, particularly when it comes to the topic of time management (Saks, Haccoun, Belcourt, & Belcourt, 2010). It means that the method of training used plays an important role in determining the effectiveness of the training program (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2008). The best training method for the SLP organization would be conferences and seminars, especially if it is to be conducted on a group of eighteen employees. In this respect, the conferences work best when the number of staff involved is considerably high and the program is general to all (Fee, 2011). Before any training and development program commences, Human Resource Departments that offer the training, have to consider certain factors. The factors include planning for the training program, identifying the best methods of the training, working on the logistics of the training program, and providing and evaluation framework (Kaushik, 2012). The three concepts will feature in the training namely, training, education, and development with all of them geared towards the growth of the employees and the organization (Fee, 2011). Since most organizations conduct a performance appraisal regularly, it is important to mention that such organizations realize that poor time management is their worst enemy as far as overall productivity is concerned (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2008). Therefore, the employees have to undergo regular and robust training, especially on time management. Unlike other

Conceptual framework for financial reporting Essay

Conceptual framework for financial reporting - Essay Example This made accounting standards haphazard, and many scandals could be witnessed (Alexander et al. 2007, p.150). This saw the introduction of ‘a conceptual framework for financial reporting.’ The aim of this paper is to examine what a conceptual framework for financial reporting is, and discuss the usefulness of such a framework. In addition, the paper will assess whether conceptual frameworks such as the International Accounting Standards Board for the preparation and presentation of financial reports has succeeded in achieving the stated objectives. What is a conceptual framework for financial reporting? The conceptual framework for financial reporting refers to a set of standards that public sector entities use to guide them in preparing financial statements. The standards in a conceptual framework establish the guidelines to be used in developing International Public Sector Accounting Standards, as well as other concepts that give guidelines about information that will be contained in financial reports (IASB, 2010). The conceptual framework focuses on the financial statements that business enterprises, including state owned corporations, should prepare and present annually in order to meet the information needs of users of financial statements (Zeff 2000, p.8). The IASC Board approved the Conceptual Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements in April 1989; the framework was later published in July the same year. In April 2001, the IASB adopted the framework (Bragg 2010, p.16). Why the Conceptual Framework for financial Reporting may be considered useful The conceptual framework for financial reporting can be considered useful based on the benefits derived from the use of such a system. First, use of the conceptual framework decreases the risk of inconsistency in financial standards. As such, the framework ensures that there is an objective that guides the preparation of financial statements by organizations (Barth et al. 2001, p.81). The conceptual framework is also useful as it incorporates a statement of the functions and roles played by financial statements. This helps to improve the process of setting standards, enhances consistency in financial reporting, and facilitates the development of future standards in the field of accounting (Barth 2008, p.1161). The framework can also be considered useful since it assists users of financial statements to interpret the information in financial statements. This is because it enhances understanding of the princ iples upon which the statements are prepared (Deegan, 2009). The conceptual framework of financial reporting can also be considered useful since it helps accounting bodies to review the International Accounting Standards already in existence. Moreover, the framework plays an essential role in assisting the IASC Board to promote the harmonization of accounting standards, regulations, as well as procedures that relate to the presentation of financial statements (Ellwood & Newbury, 2006). Another role played by the conceptual framework includes assisting national bodies that set standards to develop national accounting standards. The framework may also be considered useful as it helps auditors to form opinions on whether an organization’s financial statements conform to the International Accounting Standards (Greuning 2009, p.2). The conceptual framework also assists users of financial statements to interpret the information contained in financial statements, which conform to In ternational Accounting Standards (Macve, 1997). Critical Assessment whether conceptual frameworks have succeeded in achieving their objectives A look at the conceptual fr

Advise Rodney on course of action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Advise Rodney on course of action - Essay Example Rodney can go to a court ÃŽ ¿f law against Derek. An example ÃŽ ¿f a case concerning a true offer is that ÃŽ ¿f Carlill v Carbolic Ball Co (1893). The company was so sure ÃŽ ¿f its smoke balls that they placed advertisements in newspapers stating that it would pay anyone who caught flu  £100 after using its smoke balls as directed. Mrs Carlill bought one ÃŽ ¿f the smoke balls, used it as directed but still caught flu. She claimed the  £100 reward but was refused, so she sued the company in contract. The court held that in this kind ÃŽ ¿f contract, which is known as a unilateral contract, acceptance consists ÃŽ ¿f performing the requested act and notification ÃŽ ¿f acceptance is not necessary. The court concluded that Mrs Carlill was entitled to recover the  £100 reward. An invitation to treat this is were a person holds himself out as ready to receive offers, which he may then either accept or reject, an invitation to treat is not legally binding where as an offer is. For example if a shop displays goods with a price tag attached, this is not an offer to sell but an invitation for customers to make an offer to buy. The Fisher v Bell (1960) case were a shop keeper displayed a flick knife in his shop window. He was charged with offering for sale an offensive weapon contrary to the provisions ÃŽ ¿f the Restriction ÃŽ ¿f Offensive Weapons Act 1959. His conviction was quashed on appeal. The Divisional Court ÃŽ ¿f the Queens Bench Division held that the display ÃŽ ¿f goods with a price ticket attached in a shop window is an invitation to treat and not an offer to sell. This case outlines the difference between an offer and an invitation to treat. In the case ÃŽ ¿f business and commercial agreements, it is automatically presumed that the parties intended to make a legally enforceable contract. It is possible, however, to remove the intention by the inclusion ÃŽ ¿f an express statement to that effect in the agreement. An example ÃŽ ¿f this can be seen in the

Dicrimination of diabetics in the work field Essay

Dicrimination of diabetics in the work field - Essay Example There are two major types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 diabetic, also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes, is comparatively high among diabetes and caused because of insulin resistance, primarily owing to obesity, with insufficient production of insulin by the body. That means, the pancreas does not produce the required amount of insulin or the cells in the body do not respond to the insulin, or both. Type 1 diabetic, also called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes, is caused by autoimmune damage of the beta cells of the pancreas which produce insulin. The food a person eats is broken down through the digestive process into glucose which then passes into the bloodstream and the hormone called insulin allows the glucose to enter in the cell for the normal metabolism the body. In normal person, the pancreas produces the right amount of insulin required for the body. But, if the person has diabetes, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond normally to the insulin. Glucose builds up in the blood, not able to enter in the cell because of insufficient or no insulin, flows into the urine and passes from the body unused. Therefore those patients need insulin from an out side source for the metabolism of the cell and in turn for survival (Health Encyclopedia, 2007). The cause of Juvenile Diabetes is basically one’s immune system that it not only protects from the attacks from an external virus but some time goes on to attack particular cells in the pancreas called beta cells which is responsible for the production of insulin. The function of the beta cells is to metabolize carbohydrate. Once this process is hampered, glucose begins to build up in the body leading to the process called acidosis and the body turns on its self yet again and starts eating its own cells. Since the beta cells in the pancreas are damaged due to immune system of the body, production of insulin is stopped,

Recruit, select and induct staff Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Recruit, select and induct staff - Essay Example The immediate task of the receptionist would be to answer phone calls, deposit and receive checks. The receptionist will be responsible for handling all the immediate task related to the day to day meetings and would also require to disseminate information to an entire department. Interview Rounds The interviewing questions would be categorized into two types; job related and non job related. There would be two interviewing rounds; Human Resource (HR) and technical round. The HR round would be conducted by the Human Resource manager that would focus on non job related questions and the technical rounds would be conducted by the senior managers of the organization, who are proficient in the knowledge of the subject related to the post being offered to the candidate (Ashton and Morton, 2005). (2) Interviewing Questions: Job & Non Job Related Job Related Non Job Related Why have you applied for this position? What is your age? What is your qualification and how it is related to the job? What is your religion, nationality, marital status? Why would you want to leave your previous organization? Do you have a physical disability? What interests you most about this position? Do you have any membership any organization or political membership? Why do you consider yourself suitable for this job position? (3) Interview Guide Basic Education Graduate in Business Administration Work history Minimum experience of 2 years Communication Skills Must have a soothing voice along with fluency in English Leadership Skills Any kind of leadership activity would be an added advantage Activity 4: Recruitment Schedule (1) Recruitment Process The curriculum vitae (CV) would be gathered from the internet portal of the recruiting agency, official website of the company and referral of employees The CV would be sorted after tallying the requirements of the job post with the qualification and experience After sorting out the curriculum vitae, the selected candidates would be called for a te lephonic round and written round The written round will constitute of aptitude test, which will be divided into numerical and non numerical segment (Bennett, 2002). The selective candidates performing well in these rounds would be proceeded for the human resource and technical round The candidates passing these rounds would be selected for the job position The selected candidates would be provided the required training and an induction program prior would be conducted before assigning them any task. (2) Timetable for Recruitment Process Task Handling Manager Time Frame Collection & sorting of CV HR manager 01/09/2013 to 7/09/2013 Telephonic interview & written round Assistant Manager of HR department 07/09/2013 to 08/09/2013 Invigilating the written round HR manager 09/09/2013 Human Resource round HR manager 09/09/2013 Technical Round Senior managers of the HR departments 10/09/2013 to 12/09/2013 Training, Development & Induction HR manager and respected managers of the department 1 5/09/2013 to 23/092013 Activity 5: Letter of Offer

Biometrics Essay Example for Free

Biometrics Essay Biometric Recognition or Biometrics refers to the automatic identification of a person based on intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. It requires physically present at the point of identification. Identification based on biometric techniques lessen the need to remember a password or carry a token like a physical ID. Various biometric traits are being used for real-time recognition, the most popular being face, iris and fingerprint. However, there are biometric systems that are based on retinal scan, voice, signature and hand geometry. First, a user must be enrolled in the system so that his biometric template or reference can be captured. This template is securely stored in a central database. The template is used for matching when an individual needs to be identified. Depending on the context, a biometric system can operate either in a verification (authentication) or an identification mode. The biometric recognition system is a technology design to monitor the students’ official entry inside the campus. It will also serve as the Internet and Tool room access pass. With the issues concern on the monitoring of students, the researchers delve on the propose project study entitled â€Å"TUPT using Biometric Technology.† It will also be used to identify students who will use University facilities like Internet Center and Tool Room. This study will help the security system by adopting the biometric recognition to identify the bona fide students of TUP- Taguig. It will also track and manage the end user of Internet Center same with the borrower in Tool Room. Statement of the Problem This study would utilize the security systems in the campus. Several problems incurred in the campus wherein the security guards encountered difficulties in dealing with student’s admission. To a large extent, borrowing, monitoring and tracking of equipments by the students are also considered in this study. In view, the researchers prompted to conduct this study by enhancing the ID system in which the Biometric Recognition should be adopted. Objectives General Objective: This study aims to enhance the University ID system by adopting Biometric Technology. Specific objectives: 1.To create a system that will enhance the security of the campus using Biometric technology. 2.To develop a more efficient management and operation in ID system. 3.To gather information regarding the development of ID system in TUP- Taguig using Biometric. 4.To test and implement the effectiveness of said system in the campus.

Intelligence Reform Essay Example for Free

Intelligence Reform Essay Brief Background The aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy has caused the US Federal Government to re-assess the setback and possible flaws of their homeland security defense. To primarily focus on investigating the tragedy, in November 27th 2002, the US Congress and President Bush commissioned a ten-man panel that comprised the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, which is known as the 9/11 Commission.   The 9/11 Commission expedited the investigation process and came up with a two-pronged framework based on the assessment. This two-pronged framework consists of the framing of action at a global perspective and the formulation of action at the domestic domain. The homeland security aspect has been emphasized and related by the 9/11 Commission with strong urgency for implementation and recommended it to Congress and the President. In addition, the commission also suggested the enactment of immediate measures that deal with the intelligence and enforcement agencies and the military organizations. Moreover, the US government has enacted several inter-agency programs that are highly supported by Congress and President Bush. Thus, the nationalization of homeland strategic programs has formally resulted in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) on January 20th 2004. In this regard, this paper will discuss the intelligence components of the IRTPA and measure its performance throughout the intelligence community while comparing it with the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. On these bases, a conclusive evaluation will discuss the impact of IRTPA to reform the national intelligence community. An Update Briefer This update briefer is used to keep abreast with the situation of the intelligence reform in retrospect of the discussion throughout this paper. The paper will also form relevance to the background of concerns affecting the IRTPA. Basically, according to critics, â€Å"the Bush administration is in its seven years of intelligence fiasco which controls more than 80% of America’s $60 billion intelligence budget—reflective of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ streamlining the Pentagon’s trail on national security policy and intelligence as he work hand in hand with Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Michael McConnell—he gradually assert civilian control over the key spy agencies funded by the defense budget and held Pentagon’s effort to create its own intelligence machinery independent of the CIA† . This criticism could somehow be founded on the discretion of the President and put into perspective the 9/11 Commission Recommendation No.13.2 which states that: â€Å"the current position of Director of Central Intelligence (DNI) should be replaced by a National Intelligence Director (NID) with two main areas of responsibility; (1) to oversee national intelligence centers on specific subjects of interest across the U.S. government and (2) to manage the national intelligence program and oversee the agencies that contribute to it† . At hindsight, the intelligence fund may have lead to criticism because the teaming up of Pentagon with the CIA requires substantial budget allocation primarily due to the realignment of budget appropriation to intelligence activities. The Framing of Global Strategy This section of the paper will discuss the 9/11 Commission’s framing of global strategy that defines the action of security measures at international perspective, as follows: Reflection on Generational Challenge The 9/11 Commission has determined and defined the conceptual framework of knowing their enemies by familiarizing the historical origin and doctrines that instilled in their adversaries desires to wage war against America. Basically, familiarizing with the enemy is also familiarizing with the combative measures used in defining or assessing the formidable threat. It was found that terrorism is not only an act of vengeance to kill and destroy but is also based on the doctrines of Islamist secessionism which means that the allied forces and not only America is at risk of terrorist attacks. In this regard, familiarizing with enemy requires the use of all elements of national power: diplomacy, intelligence, covert action, law enforcement, economic policy, foreign aid, public diplomacy, and homeland defense. By reflecting on the situation and knowing the enemies, the challenge lies on the achievable tactical and strategically managed plan of action for short and long term implementation. Attacking terrorists and their organizations The collaborative diplomatic ties with allied governments focuses on a campaign to thwart the terrorist attacks by means of information exchange and expanding the open-source of intelligence information, intensifying military operations and sharing of financial resources to allied government’s counter-terrorism programs.   The conduct of war on terrorism has been installed at all frontiers of defense ranging from domestic and international boundaries. The strategy being employed is to know better the enemies but more on identifying the perpetrators of terrorism. The coercive action in condemning the so-called â€Å"cowardice attack to US soil† has been proven in the fall of Baghdad and the capturing of Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein, a close ally of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. The war on terrorism is treated with broadened understanding by the 9/11 Commission. Preventing the Continued Growth of Islamist Terrorism According to former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld , the battle of ideas is between the question of enforcing law to prevent terrorist attacks and the question of just merely killing them the moment they commit the crime. Capturing terrorists, whether they are suspected or proven otherwise, would strategically achieve security defense. In addition, isolating the enemy and putting them into peripheries is another tactical form of beating them.   In contrast to Rumsfeld’s claim, the 9/11 Commission has tackled the importance of the UN’s declaration of human rights and some principles on Articles of War of the Geneva Convention. It briefly explains the humane treatment of the enemy of the state even when they are captured in combat zones—as mostly terrorist prefer to hide in strife-torn areas—or at the actual scene of the crime which are non-combat zones and urban population areas. In a way, the act of capturing an enemy is employed with strategic treatment and debriefing on the circumstance of indoctrination, specifically to familiarize with the Islamic doctrines in a tactical aspect. At a glance, it is a minimal gain to extract information from a captured terrorist because most of them are suicidal and would rather bring with them to their grave the classified information they know or possess. In relation to adopt more sustainable strategies at the global perspective, a 6-point framework is as follows: 1. Turning a national strategy into a coalition strategy refers to fostering a broader alliance in various governmental representation from its domestic or homeland relations to international cooperation; 2. Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction refers to supporting the call of the UN Security Council to all members and all allied states to disarmament of lethal weaponry that may result a genocide of the human race; 3. Strengthen counter proliferation efforts refers to act on counter-measures for countries that condone the exchange of lethal weaponry or weapons of mass destruction; 4. Expand the proliferation security initiative refers to expanding the open-source information in aid of intelligence access and exchange; 5. Support the cooperative threat reduction program refers to the retrieval of potentially useable weaponry or armaments that has been stockpiled during the war—which may be availably used by terrorists; 6. Targeting terrorist money refers to acting on financial embargo or halting the financial flow on the nature of funds that is being used by terrorists in funding their terrorist activities. Protection and preparation for terrorist attacks The continuing assessment and monitoring of potential threats of terrorist attacks to US homeland in particular and international communities of allied governments in general are being put into heightened configuration of security measures. The stabilization of preparedness programs and protective laws on immigration would minimize the burdens of terrorist threats. The crossing of borders is employed with modernized technological facilities and physical security system that would limit the terrorist’s mobilization or in-and out-country deployment. Likewise, travel advisory reduces the vulnerability of citizens to plunge into hotspots or terrorist bailiwicks. Defending the Homeland The 9/11 Commission has formulated recommendations with encompassing urgent actions for the US government to consolidate and mobilize troops and agencies. The key functional agenda is patterned after the global strategy that tackled the US homeland defense system. The following are the recommendations based on â€Å"How to do it? A different Way of Organizing the Government† : Unity of Effort Across the Foreign-Domestic Divide The recommendation called for jointly undertaking action in the sourcing of integrated intelligence through the establishment of a National Counter-Terrorism Center which has a mandate that resembles the Terrorist Threat Integration Center. The NCTC manages the joint operational and intelligence activities. Unity of Effort in the Intelligence Community Streamlining the flow of intelligence by organizing the key positions of authority, in which a National Intelligence Director manages the joint operational and intelligence centers, replacing the CIA’s Director of Central Intelligence. Unity of effort in Sharing Information The President’s mandate is called for unifying the functions of the government through mobilizing all governmental agencies to engage in information gathering and international cooperation with allied governments for information sharing. Unity of Effort in the Congress This calls for the establishment of a fully functional Congressional body that creates strong security policies and strengthens the homeland security. The unity of effort in Congress creates a policy structure that addresses the judicial and legal processes of security measures that manifests the sovereign interest of the people. Organizing America’s Defenses in the United States Institutionalizing the framework of intelligence—aside from the existing intelligence agencies—through a unified and managed specialty agency that is mandated to specifically organize the homeland defense basically results in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Transforming the Intelligence Work and Issues on Reforms In January 20th 2004, the US Congress enacted the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA). The primary purpose of IRTPA is to reform the intelligence community and the intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government . The transformation of intelligence work has found relevance in the enactment of IRTPA, in which the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has worked closely in the framing of the IRTPA as a law. According to ODNI, â€Å"a great structural change has occurred in the passing of IRTPA† . Stressing on the structural change, the ODNI has reformed its capabilities in managing the flow of human intelligence (HUMINT) as their open-source of information. Reforming the capabilities also enabled the optimization of both human and financial resources in managing the operations. The reform in the ODNI has substantially addressed the key operational issues affecting the intelligence community and is abl e to put into perspective the intelligence work on counter-terrorism, in order to fully manage the homeland defense system. In a Senate inquiry on the progress of intelligence reform in January 23rd 2007, the ODNI was inquired with several issues. First, they were asked about the agency performance in which Sen. John Warner pointed out â€Å"the progress thus far achieved by ODNI is ten percent† . Second, they were questioned on the effectiveness of managing the clandestine operation of the CIA using the HUMINT (human intelligence) in information sharing from open-sources, which apparently still need more refinements from the point of view of organizational management. Furthermore, the performance of the ODNI, as it reported its achievements, has shown defects in its organizational aspect. Due to these defects, the Senate inquiry hinted on an organizational review and suggested the recall of the clandestine operation as further inquired on the assurance of the best intelligence from the Iraq Study Group (ISG), which have achieved tactical and strategic intelligence. The conclusion of the Senate inquiry presumed on the issue of reform, which does not manifest in the ODNI’s organizational capability to benchmark the achievements of goals and the CIA’s clandestine work. A brief review of the literature shows that the ODNI may have been in the stage of adaptability to the structural change embodied in its organizational mandate by virtue of the IRTPA. Another consideration is the underlying performance of the ODNI in streamlining its goals which has affected the benchmarking of short and long term operational plans in the field and which has merely given due management by the CIA in its clandestine operation in using the HUMINT. At this point, the reform in intelligence community work was supposed to be measured by the expected assertiveness of the ODNI—as the 9/11 Commission recommended that the ODNI be designated as the agency that implements joint operational and joint intelligence work and replace some aspect of intelligence work of the CIA. Retrieval of Operation to Manifest Reform In an effort to fully address the key issues to manifest reform in the structural change brought about by IRTPA and legislative pressures, the retrieval of operation in the organizational function of ODNI has been resolved by the US Senate through the approval of the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Act which â€Å"would emanate a more aggressive role to the ODNI in coordinating with the intelligence community† . The Senate Bill has surpassed the ODNI’s will of authority and retrieval of its operation that is being realigned to fully act on its function as a frontline agency in executing its mandate given by IRTPA. The degree and scope of authority of the ODNI is then expected to ventilate the reform in the intelligence community so as to re-examine the burdens and defects of work ranging from ministerial execution to field implementation. Moreover, an added feature that empowers the ODNI is the streamlining of bureaucracy in the formulation and execution of operating plans. Basically, reducing the involved authorities may expedite and resolutely implement the overall function and coverage of intelligence work. Likewise, the ODNI has been given the authority to appropriate budget thereby earmarking the fund for its National Intelligence Program. It would then be up to the ODNI to utilize and mobilize the resources that would be used to reform in the intelligence community. Conclusion The determination and identification of the 9/11 Commission for a global strategy has basically created the framework for the US homeland defense system. On the other hand, the recommendations have strongly moved the US government’s Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches which have enacted the IRTPA of 2004. In addition, the ODNI, as the body acting on intelligence mobilization, would require substantial budget allocation. Analyzing the enactment of IRTPA may be likened to a sword and an armor in which the bearer is the ODNI. In this regard, it can then be said that the US government has created an executioner of war on terrorism. Moreover, the degree and scope of authority vested upon the ODNI may be perceived as an ultimate implementer of capturing the world’s update. However, in some degrees, the reform in intelligence community may be burdened by domestic resistance from figures belonging to allied governments that oppose US foreign policy. Generally, the reform that was achieved by the US homeland defense system is the consolidation of its intelligence enforcement agencies and mobilization of its resources and strategies towards global perspective. The re-structuring of intelligence framework may be described as an art of war or a one-step backward, two-step forward move, which pursues the enemy outside its homeland while minimizing casualties. With this perception, the war on terrorism has been brought to the backyard of allied governments. It may be additionally perceived at the militarist point of view that the reform in intelligence community could reduce the expense of war in order to achieve the socio-economic-political gains from the war zones. Bibliography Donald Rumsfeld Interview on Jan. 30, 2004. Bremer-Sonnenberg Commission on Terrorism; in 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 12, Page 374. (2004) ISBN 0-16- 072304-3. IRTPA of 2004. â€Å"Introductory Page†. 108th Congress of US, Second Session, 20 January 2004. http://www.asksam.com/ebooks/intelReformAct/. (accessed 01 March 2008). Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) 2007. â€Å"Progress on Intelligence Reform to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence†. Transcript: Progress on Intelligence Reform. http://www.dni.gov/testimonies/20070123_transcript.pdf. (accessed 01 March 2008). Richard A. Best Jr. and Alfred Cumming, 2007. â€Å"Director of National Intelligence Statutory Authorities: Status and Proposals,† CRS Report to Congress, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/RL34231.pdf. (accessed 01 March 2008). Tim Shorrock. â€Å"Revisiting Intelligence Reform†, Foreign Policy in Focus, 6 December 2007. http://www.fpif.org (accessed 01 March 2008). US Senate Inquiry, 2007. â€Å"Statement for the Record by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence†. http://www.dni.gov/testimonies/20070123_testimony.pdf. (accessed 01 March 2008). 9/11 Commission Report. â€Å"How to do it? A different Way of Organizing the Government†. Chapter 13, Page 399-428. (2004) ISBN 0-16-072304-3. 9/11 Commission Report. â€Å"Unity of Effort in the Intelligence Community†. Recommendation No. 13.2. Chapter 13, Page 407-415. (2004) ISBN 0-16-072304-3. 9/11 Commission Report. â€Å"What To Do? A Global Strategy†. Chapter 12, Page 361- 383. (2004) ISBN 0-16-072304-3.

Soap industry in India

Soap industry in India The product that I have been given by the faculty is beauty soap. I have named it as Shine. Executive Summary The soap industry in India is at the high growth rate and many new entrants are planning to launch their product in this category. The overall soap industry is worth at 60000 crores. Shine is a multinational company. It is a new entrant in the market and targets at unisex genders. I segmented Shines market according to geographical locations. It further differentiates these segments into Socio Economic Cluster (SEC) which takes into account the criteria of education and profession which ultimately measures the financial ability of consumers. The cluster is divided into five parts starting from A to E. Shine targets the urban and sub urban upper middle class and middle class segment of the population, who falls under A to C of SEC. Tactical marketing tools, 4P‘s, are extensively used by the company to market Shine. Though Shine is produced in India, Unilever India maintains the same standard all around the globe. The product is available in six different fragrances under three different sizes. Since the demand for beauty soap market is to a great extent oligopolistic, variations in price lead to price war which can eventually break down the company‘s market share. Thus Unilever cannot provide a better price than its competitors. But the price is affordable by most of the people. Shine will outsource its distribution channel to third party distributors which allow them to distribute Shine in massive bulks amounting to around ten million pieces. It undertakes the largest promotional activities in the beauty soap industry. The beauty soap industry has a few major producers of which Unilever holds market share of slightly less than 50%. Other competing brands like Tibbet, Aromatic and Keya have started to have a strong consumer base, but Shines product features distribution and promotional activities will create high brand loyalty for which it will be the market leader soon after developing its IMC plan. Shine, with the aid of its heavy promotional activities, has been able to penetrate the market. But the other producers in the industry are posing a threat towards Shine‘s market share as they have moved towards the rural masses of the population. Therefore, I have undertaken many further steps such as moving towards the rural and/or poorer segment; attract children (by making a special product for kids) and other innovative promotional activities to retain its command in the industry. Industry analysis The toilet soaps market is estimated at 530,000 tpa including small imports. The market is littered over with several, leading national and global brands and a large number of small brands, which have limited markets. The popular and premium brands include Lifebuoy, Lux, Cinthol, Liril, Rexona, and Nirma. Toilet soaps, despite their divergent brands, are not well differentiated by the consumers. It is, therefore, not clear if it is the brand loyalty or experimentation lured by high volume media campaign, which sustain them. A consequence is that the market is fragmented. It is obvious that this must lead to a highly competitive market. Toilet soap, once only an urban phenomenon, has now penetrated practically all areas including remote rural areas. The incremental demand flows from population increase and rise in usage norm impacted as it is by a greater concern for hygiene. Increased sales revenues would also expand from up gradation of quality or per unit value. As the market is constituted now, it can be divided into four price segments: premium, popular, discount and economy soaps. Premium soaps are estimated to have a market volume of about 80,000 tonnes. This translates into a share of about 14 to 15%. Soaps form the largest pie of the FMCG Market with bathing toilet soaps accounting for around 30% of the soap market, by value. Currently, the soap industry is divided into three segments namely Premium, Popular and Economy/ Sub popular. To fight competition, major players Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) and Wipro Consumer Care Lighting are now drawing up fresh game plans. And the accent is clearly on innovation to gain mind share as well as market share in this overcrowded category. Major Players Hindustan Unilever Ltd. With over seven brands — LUX, LIFEBUOY, HAMAM, REXONA, BREEZE, DOVE and PEARS — has 54.3% share of the overall soap market. HUL is Indias largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company; its journey began 75 years ago, in 1933, when the company was first incorporated. The company stirring the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home Personal Care Products and Foods Beverages and also one of the countrys largest exporters. HULs brands includes Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair Lovely, Ponds, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality Walls are household names across the country. They are manufactured in over 40 factories across India. In the Rs7,000 crore by sales soap market, HUL‘s market share has dropped to 54.3% in March 2008 from 55.9% in March 2006. Godrej Consumer Products GCPL, India‘s second largest soap maker after Hindustan Unilever Ltd, has nearly 9.2% market share. With 11% market share in value terms, it is the second largest soap maker after Hindustan Unilever. Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is a major player in the Indian FMCG market with leadership in personal, hair, household and fabric care segments. The company is one among the largest marketer of toilet soaps in the country with leading brands such as CINTHOL, FAIRGLOW, NIKHAR, ALLCARE. Fairglow brand, Indias first Fairness soap, has created marketing history as one of the most successful innovations. It is also the preferred supplier for contract manufacturing of toilet soaps, some of which are the most well-known brands in the country. Wipro In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India. Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of infrastructure engineering, and consumer products lighting.Wipro has made a large acquisition in the Consumer Care business. The presence of Wipro in the toilet soap industry can be seen through their brands such as SANTOOR and CHANDRIKA. With industry leading organic growth rates and the acquisition, Consumer care business has reached a Revenue run rate in excess of $100 million per quarter. Procter Gamble India Procter Gamble India (PGHHCL) was incorporated in 1964 after Procter Gamble, US, acquired Richardson Vicks, US. Formerly known as Richardson Hindustan (the Indian Subsidiary), it was later named as PG. It changed its name again in 1998 to Procter Gamble Hygiene and Health Care in order to reflect the nature and character of the business of the company. During 2004-05 the company has increased its installed capacity of Soaps Detergents and Toilet Preparations etc by 36500 Tonnes and 263 Tonnes respectively. With this expansion the total installed capacity of Soaps Detergents and Toilet Preparations etc has increased to 108500 Tonnes and 5875 Tonnes respectively. Nirma Incorporated as a private limited company, Nirma was converted into a deemed public company and then to a public limited one in Nov.93. Nirma has a leadership presence in Detergents, Soaps and Personal Care Products. To have a greater control on the quality and price of its raw materials, Nirma undertook backward integration into manufacture of Industrial Products like Soda Ash, Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB), Alfa Olefin Sulphonates (AOS), Fatty Acid, Glycerine and Sulphuric Acid. During 1996-97, Nilnita Chemicals, Nirma Detergents, Nirma Soaps and Detergents, and Shiva Soaps and Detergents were amalgamated with the company. The company created Nirma Consumer Care Ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary on 22nd Aug.97, which is the sole licensee of the brand name Nirma within India. Nirma enjoys a share of 6.74% in soaps. ITC ITC, the country‘s largest cigarette maker, entered the segment last year and has made a strong headway in a short time. According to AC Nielsen, its share has grown to 1.75% in just five months despite the fact that many of its brands such as Superia, Fiama Di Wills and Vivel are currently sold in only six states. Competitor analysis Santoor: Santoor is the flagship brand in the Wipro Consumer Care Lighting stable and the 2nd largest brand of soap in India in the popular segment of the category. The brand enjoys two decades of trust since its launch in 1986 and has grown to be counted amongst the top brands in the Country in an intensively competitive market. Millions of women across the country have discovered the secret of younger looking skin with Santoor. It is a truly unique soap that combines the goodness of natural ingredients Sandal, Turmeric and natural Skin Softeners. Sandal provides a cooling and soothing effect that softens skin, while turmeric controls formation of skin darkening pigments like melanin, to give skin a radiant glow. Natural Skin Softeners make skin soft and supple. The end result, skin that is so healthy and beautiful, it lies about your actual age. Amongst the first brands in the Country to launch an offering with the twin ingredient benefits of Sandal and Turmeric, Santoor has over the years moved from a purely natural ingredient based appeal, to one of the most preferred beauty soaps of the day. Today, Santoor is one of the fastest growing soap brands in India. Santoor is available in three variants Santoor (Sandal Turmeric), Santoor White (Sandal Almond milk) and Santoor Chandan which is a premium soap manufactured with extracts of Sandalwood oil a favourite of discerning consumers. Cinthol Cinthol the popular and much-loved brand of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) have been a favourite of people for many years. All different soaps in its range are having feel-fresh fragrance and high TFM index. Cinthol‘s range covers an economic Lime-fresh, the medium deo-soaps (spice, lime,cologne and the new ‘sport‘) and a slightly expensive ―Cinthol-Original. For decades, Cinthol-Original is one of the best soaps made in India. It had a simple red-cover which attracts none! But was still able to sustain itself in the market . Godrej has now launched the improved Cinthol range. Cinthol now offers a deo-range of soaps, talc and deo-sprays in three exciting fragrances Classic, Cologne and Sport in a trendy new packaging. It also offers Cinthol fresh soap and Cinthol Regular soap with new exciting packaging. The eye-catching and vibrant packaging symbolizes a sense of adventure, zest and action. The new Cinthol range brings 24-Hour Confidence through Ac tive Deo Formula, which controls body odour, Powerful DryShield that absorbs sweat, UltraScent Technology for long lasting fragrance and Freshness that revitalises you 247.The new range will be available across the country at modern retail and other outlets and will be supported by high-impact advertising on television, print, out-door, on-line and radio. Vivel and Superia The Vivel Di Wills range is available in two variants. Its unique carton pack has been developed by ITCs design team to provide a novel consumer experience. Vivel Di Wills Sheer Radiance is enriched with Olive Oil, to provide skin lustre to make it radiant. Vivel Di Wills Sheer Crà ¨me is enriched with Shea Butter, to moisturize skin to make it soft and supple. The Vivel range of soaps is available in four variants:- 1) Vivel Young Glow is enriched with Vitamin E and Fruit Infusions which help in providing youthful glow to the skin. 2) Satin Soft is enriched with Vitamin E and Aloe Vera which help the skin feel Vivel beautifully soft. 3) Vivel Sandal Sparkle is enriched with Sandalwood Oil and Active Clay which helps in providing clear skin. IMC PLANNING Mission Shines mission is to add Vitality to life. They meet everyday needs for nutrition; hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Their deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world give them strong relationship with consumers and are the foundation for their future growth. A key requirement is building in the quality expectations of their consumers into their products. PRODUCT PROFILE Shine soap is introduced as bathroom soap. Shine in step with the changing trends and evolving beauty needs of the consumers, offers an exciting range of soaps and Body Washes with unique elements to make bathing time more pleasurable. One can choose from a range of skincare benefits like firming, fairness and moisturising. Shine stands for the promise of beauty and glamour as one of Indias most trusted personal care brands. Shine offers a range of soaps in different colours and world class fragrances. Shine is a beauty soap of film stars. Shine recognized the need for a compelling message about beauty that would resonate with women of today. Product Category, Market Segmentation, Target Marketing and Positioning This section describes the category of the selected product. The chapter is organized into four sections. Section 1 states under which category the product falls. Section 2 describes how Shine differentiates the population and categorizes them into different segments. Section 3 analyzes which segment the company targets and why they target that specific segment. Finally section 4 describes the process through which the company tries to capture a place in the buyers mind i.e. the product positioning method. Product Category Shine falls under the category of toiletry product as a beauty soap. Market Segmentation Shine segments their market according to geographical areas. The population of the country is segmented into three parts which are urban, sub urban and rural area consumers. Though Shine is the highest selling beauty soap in Bangladesh, it does not go for traditional mass marketing. Moreover as a beauty soap LUX does not even segment its market according to gender. Target Market Shine is not a highly expensive but an affordable product. That is why the company targets urban and sub urban upper middle and middle class people who are the second highest population of segment of the country. From the segmentation of customer according to SEC they target category A, B and C, because they are assumed to be financially well-off and can afford to buy Shine. Product Positioning Shine obtained a good position in the buyers‘mind through better product attributes, price and quality, offering the product in a different way than the competitors do. The company offers improved quality of products in the industry at an affordable price with high branding, which ultimately helps to position the product in the buyers‘mind as the best quality beauty soap. The market share of the company in the beauty soap industry is somewhere around 43%.Since in the beauty soap industry all products are of same price Unilever cannot provide its consumers with better price but it is in a great position in reference with its packaging, fragrances and product designing. Tactical Marketing Tools This chapter describes the Way Company will use the tactical marketing tools for marketing Shine in India. The chapter comprises of four sections. This section includes a table that shows the location of the company‘s warehouses all around the country. Finally a section discusses the promotional activities that the company undertakes for Shine. Product: Shine is an internationally renowned beauty soap brand. Though manufactured in India for the local market by Unilever India ltd, as an international brand, it maintains an international quality for the product. Formula given by Research and Development departments in foreign countries, Shine is produced in India from imported raw materials like sodium soap, glycerol and different extracts according to flavours, coming from Unilever plants situated abroad. Shine is offered in India in six different flavours which are: Shine Energizing Honey, Shine Golden Glow, Shine Nature Pure, Shine Orchid Touch, Shine Almond Delight and Shine Aqua Sparkle. Taking into account the convenience of its customers, the company manufactures all variants of Shine in three different sizes, 40gm, 80gm and 120gm. Price: Though Shine gives its customers a lot in terms of the product itself, it cannot provide a better pricing. This is due to some constraints in the beauty soap industry. Beauty soap is a product with a vulnerable demand in India. A change in price has a high risk of creating price war among the rivals which will eventually cause a loss of profit. Its prices are almost equal to its competitor. Shine price with its major competitor. Company carries out research on competitors‘price and brand loyalty when it feels extreme necessity of changing price. The brand loyalty test is an exploratory research which is known as Brand Health Check- Up (BHCU). Place: Shine has a huge distribution channel all over the country as its sales reach more than 10 million pieces a year. The company has six huge warehouses, one in each division of India, where the product goes after they are manufactured at Uttaranchal factory. The company will not use its own fleet of transport for distributing its product. However, it will outsource its distribution process to various third party distributors. These distributors will then supply the product all over India to a huge number of retailers. Even though Shine targets the urban and sub urban middle and upper middle class people they are distributing their products all over India because of a recent increase in demand of its product to all segments of the population. Promotion: Shine will undertake a huge promotional activity to promote itself. I will spend almost 20% to 25% of its Net Proceeds from Sales (NPC) of Shine for promotional activities. It will include certain annual promotional campaigns like Shine Channel i Superstar and Shine Channel i Annual Cinema Awards, which will made the product a part of the glamour world. Since our Indian audiences are emotionally attached to its root culture and gets easily attached or relate themselves to celebrities, so I will promote Shine by endorsing famous bollywood celebrities like Hema Malini, Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachan etc. I will not promote Shine in India for the beauty conscious females only, but it will also be promoted as the brand for males by including world famous male celebrity Shahrukh Khan for the advertising campaign. Shine will spend a huge amount of money for promotion through TV commercials, newspaper advertisements and billboards. Moreover I will also undertake small promotional campaigns at different colleges, universities and recreational parks with winners of its Zonal Beauty Contests. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION A) Sales Promotion Sales promotion, a key ingredient in marketing campaigns, consists of a collection of incentive tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers or the trade. Whereas advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers an incentive to buy. Prominent Promotional schemes that will be used by Shine 1. Sales Promotion to Consumers: Consumers are extremely complex human beings, motivated by several factors. Hence it is important to understand a consumers motivation given a certain product and product category. Consumer promotions are those that are directed to the consumer. The objective of consumer promotions is to offer the consumer some added benefit to entice him to buy the product. There are several possible tools that I will use to promote Shine: Sampling: As my product is new to the market, so this promotional tool is generally used when one is introducing a product for the first time. In this case, a small quantity of the product will be given as a sample. These samples will be distributed either at the residence of the consumer or even at the retail outlet provided by a condition. Quantity Deals: Here the company will offer more quantity of the same product for the same price or a marginally increased price. For example, most of the FMCG companies bundle 3 or 4 soaps in a pack priced at the cost of 3 soaps. The purpose is to induce the consumer to buy more and more products at less cost. This will benefit both the customers and company. Customers can have 4 soaps at the cost of 3 whereas company can slightly decrease their profit but after selling their products at large quantity their profit will rise (Economies of Sales). In-Product gift: In this case the gift item is attached to the product from outside. E.g.: once Lux presented 30 gm gold each to the first three winners of the Lux Gold Star offer from Delhi. According to the promotional offer that Lux unveiled in October 2000, a consumer finding a 22-carat gold coin in his or her soap bar got an opportunity to win an additional 30 gm gold. The first 10 callers every week got a 30 gm gold each. This offer helped lux to increase its sales rapidly. I will also use this type of tool to promote my product and hence increase the sales of SHINE. 2. Sales promotion to Traders: Trade promotions are those that a company runs to elicit a better and quicker response from the trade. Some of the trade promotional tools that I will be using are: On-Consignment Sales: This tool is normally used by companies that are new entrants and are not known in the marketplace. Here companies encourage traders to stock their products on an â€Å"on-consignment† basis and pay only when the product moves off the shelves. My company will use this tool to encourage the new retailers to sell my product and pay after the product moves off the shelves. Dealer gifts: Personal motivation is very necessary in order to boost the sales because if the retailer is happy that the company cares for him, so the retailer will work hard to sell the product of the company by telling the customers that it is the best product that will benefit them. I will use this tool by giving dealers/retailers gifts on the occasions of EID, Diwali, New Year so that they get more loyal to our product and maintain good relations with them. Point-of-sale Material: Traders will be given attractive point-of-sale material for displaying Shine. We will provide shelf stickers, streamers, attractive stands to hold the soap etc. Online contests: Example: Shine Please enter your name and email to play the game. Play the supercharged version of the hit puzzle game, Bejeweled. Create rows of 3 or more identical stones and you could win a trip for two to a five-star Resort in Goa. B) Advertisements: There are number of sources available for passing the product message. These are as follows: 1) Television 2) Outdoor (Billboards) 3) Magazines 4) Newspapers 5) Internet My company will use various advertising appeal to attract customers. These will include affective emotional, seductive, comparative appeals in the videos, newspapers and on the internet. The advertisements will be endorsed by famous bollywood celebrities like Priyanka chopra, Aishwarya rai, Asin etc. to target the youth and mid age group. However there will be also a male advertisement where Shahrukh khan may endorse the Shine. Advertising Campaign: The advertisements will run in a campaign where a complete program of advertisements will be aired by parts from time to time. The first base of the advertising campaign will be advertising strategy, where a plan will be devised to maintain a viable fit between my organizations objectives and resources and changing market opportunities. Advertising strategy is the ‘message that a company gives to solve a communication-related problem. My companys advertising strategy is to create awareness and brand equity of the shine. The next step is to create a ‘Big idea where an advertiser selects an idea for communicating the strategic message in a creative way. It is a link between strategy and creative execution. It may be also called a central theme. The central theme of my advertising campaign will be how men are magnetically attracted towards women using Shine soap. Once the big idea is finalized, then it follows its creative execution. Creative execution deals with the physica l form of an advertisement- story, script, copy, art, music, overall production. The creative execution of Shines ad will include creative tagline, elements of wit and humour, role of glamorous actress and models using shine soap while bathing and then the media will be asking them what is their beautys secret and like that. Choice of Strategic Approaches: Unique Selling Proposition: A brand may have a true and distinctive competitive advantage called the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The USP is a distinctive advantage that is both valuable to the brands customers and is unexploited by its competitors. The USP of Shine will be a guaranteed effect of fairness of the skin, and its ingredients that are made of no chemicals. C) Creative Execution on Radio: The most creative advertisement can be made on Radio, if its script is written creatively. The power of radio in country like India is much more than TV. We always notice that during cricket matches, a number of companies promote their products on radio, like sound of the whistle which a person might think of Hawkins Pressure Cooker. It is because Hawkins advertisement on radio has been created well that is why people still remember the sound of Hawkins. Another example is of jingle of titan, which can be easily recalled by a person who have heard it on radio. In the same way, I will promote my product on radio by writing a creative script and then executing it on radio with the help of sounds, voices and jingles. D) Communication through Internet: Internet is the most advanced medium that a company can use effectively to boost its sales and create a distinctive image or brand equity. Many companies have started to give online advertisements. It can be on e-mails ( yahoo, Gmail etc.), networking sites ( orkut, facebook, hi5 etc.) or may be any form possible on the Internet. The message in these types of ads will be same as the company have made to produce an integrated marketing communication. The advertisement of Shine on Internet will take these forms: a) Translucent Float banner advertisements: These types of advertisement are displayed mostly on the opening up of e-mail ids. Like in the above picture, Shine will also use translucent float banner advertisement because this type of advertisement will have a good impact on the audience that they remember the product when they use their e-mails. In this advertisement, a screen would appear before a person prompting him/her to fill a form of feedback or to enrol in an online contest. b) Virals: Like traditional viral marketing, Internet virals also rely on spreading the buzz online. Viral advertising refers to people passing on interesting and entertaining promotional content, generally sponsored by a brand to create awareness, build equity or get publicity. Shine will use the viral advertisement by using advergames ( using video games to advertise a product), flash games, messenger messages ( on yahoo).