Local Partnerships in Community Empowerment Essay

Local Partnerships in Community Empowerment - Essay Example It is actually a fuzzy spectrum of activities. People may engage at different depths, in different parts of the spectrum, at various times in their life. The easier it becomes for people to become involved, and, crucially, to disengage at personal need, the more likely they are to feel able to act. It is this principle which operates behind local partnerships - to enable the person to become engaged and become empowered without having too much burden to bear. Local partnerships have been established particularly in the United Kingdom and in Poland which is the focus of this study. In this paper, I will be determining whether local partnerships are effective in empowering the community. I will be looking at how the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) of the United Kingdom and the Local Initiatives Program (LIP) of Poland have fared in the years of its implementation. In the end, I will be arriving at some conclusions about whether local partnerships deserve a place in public governance. In the UK, community involvement has been integrated in public governance. It finds expression in the so called Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP) which is non-statutory, multi-agency partnerships that match local authority boundaries. LSP's bring together at a local level the different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors allowing different initiatives and services to support one another so that they can work together more effectively. (ODPM, 2004, 2006) Lack of joint working at local level has been one of the key reasons why there has been little progress in delivering sustainable economic, social and physical regeneration, or improved public services, that meet the needs of local communities. Ideally, a combination of organisations and the community working co-operatively as part of an LSP will have a far greater chance of success. To achieve these improvements, the Government, local authorities and other service providers must work co-operatively, change the ways they work, reallocate resources and 'bend' their mainstream programmes to tackle issues that really matter to local people.(Orton, 2004) LSPs have the aim of bringing about widening involvement in governance. LSPs are a long way from uniform institutions. Their history, composition and working arrangements vary enormously. The 'board' of an LSP may include anything from 12 people to more than 60. Board members may be nominated by sub-groups or partner organisations, or invited by the board, or recruited through public appointment processes, or elected by community forums. I LSPs were introduced by the Government as a means of improving inclusion in the development of priorities for service provision on a local level as well as in its continuing governance. In its 2002 report 'We Can Work it Out' the Local Government Association said that LSP's have been established to support localities in their attempts to work together more coherently in the pursuit of community wellbeing and good governance by providing a single strategic focus within a locality. (Local government Association) Hillary Armstrong wrote in the DETR Local Strategic Partnerships Consultation Document of October 2000: We do not want to start

Product Portfolio Analysis of Heinz Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Product Portfolio Analysis of Heinz - Case Study Example The BCG growth-share matrix displays the positions of business units on graph of the market growth rate against their market share relative to competitors. Of all the products launched by Heinz between 2003 and 2006, sauces, dressings and condiments took the largest share, of 25.5%. However, ready meals also took a sizeable share of 20.9%. Other categories that been key to the company's new product developments include canned food (13.1%) and fruit and vegetable products (9.2%). Of all the products launched between 2003 and 2006, 1.5% products were classed as innovative. When looking at innovation within Heinz, the company is most innovative in meat, fish and poultry products with 6.1% of all meat products launched by the company, innovative (Datamonitor Inc., 2007). Additionally, from the information that is available about the business units of the company, it can be stated that the Tinned Pasta and Retail Brown sauce business units were the most profitable with a revenue generation of 78.2 and 74% respectively. From this information, according to the BCG Matrix, these two units can be termed as Stars. Secondly, the Retail Ketchup and Baked Beans divisions were other two divisions which generated considerable revenues. Baby food and drink products are another area in which Heinz is a leading innovator. 3.1% of all baby products launched were classed as innovative. One of the most impo... The company also increased its focus on the consumer with a strong spotlight on health and wellness. Apart from these, the company also increased investment in marketing for future growth, greater R & D and impressive productivity measures (Merrett, 2007). Heinz's international growth strategy of acquiring new companies in the Netherlands, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Costa Rica also have been of great help to the company's growth and improved performance. The company also launched growth and reorganization plans to focus on Meal Enhancers and Meals & Snacks. The historic transaction with Del Monte Foods is designed to make Heinz a more focused company able to invest more effectively in its strongest brands (Heinz). Heinz intends to build growth and value over the long term through a strategy based on certain imperatives like expansion and improved consumer price-value, remove the clutter by reducing the complexity of Heinz's business processes and continuing to focus resources on those products and activities that maximize profitability; Task 1 - C Pricing Strategies & Porter's Five forces Pricing again also played its part in the company's overall performance as changes in pricing and improved volumes, through key brands like weight watchers and Heinz baked beans, were offset by difficulties in Russia for its non-Heinz products and unbranded frozen foods. By maintaining the key initiatives of the yearof pushing both innovation and the number of its brands globally, Heinz believes that it can continue the strong performance into the 2008 fiscal year. The company was also keen in squeezing out costs to deliver the margin improvements necessary to underwrite greater marketing investment. The effective formulation

Analysis of umbrella branding

Analysis of umbrella branding The 1980s witnessed a revolution in the understanding of the working of the brands. Marketers describe brands as a mirror image of customers own personalities, so that customers can relate to their products well. In fact the unique aspect of the modern marketing has been that it has focused upon the creation of differentiated brands and using them as weaponry for initiating multi-level attacks on the opposition. Market research has been used as a marketing tool to help recognize and develop the bases of brand differentiation. A brand not only identifies a product but also its sources. Along came brand extension. At present brand extension strategies and policies are widely engaged because of beliefs that they build and communicate strong brand positioning, amplify profitability and enhance awareness. Brands are often extended beyond their initial categories to incorporate new product categories. Research has proved that the success of brand extension depends on the transfer of parent brand awareness and associations to the extension. The transfer of these quality perceptions is the key in umbrella branding. An umbrella brand is a type of brand that covers various kinds of products which are more or less related. It applies also to any company that is identified only by its brand and the brand history. It is contrasted with individual branding in which each product in a portfolio is given an exclusive brand name and identity. An umbrella brand is an overarching brand used across multiple products which are related to each other. Another name for umbrella branding is family branding. Time and again economies of scope are related with umbrella branding since multiple products can be proficiently promoted with a single advertisement or campaign. This type of branding facilitates new product introductions by providing a familiar brand name, which can lead to product acceptance, trial purchase and other advantages. Umbrella branding may impress on the brand owner a superior burden to sustain constant quality. If the quality of even one of the products in the brand family is compromised, it could have an impact on the reputation of all the others. This is a major reason why umbrella branding is generally limited to product lines that consist of products of similar quality. Umbrella branding is extensively practiced. The umbrella brand and individual brands are compared to an Indian family, where in umbrella brands like the Indian family, the father is the head, looking over the children (individual brands). When they grow up and become independent, they hold the umbrella for the family. On the other hand the individual brands are like a western family, who grow up fast and leave the family behind. EXAMPLES OF UMBRELLA BRANDING: Amuls strategy of using umbrella branding has really paid off. Amuls marketing and advertising spend has never exceeded 1% of its revenues. Most of the other food companies spend 6-7% of their revenues on advertising and marketing. They are not big spenders compared to Nestle or Britannia. Despite a limited budget, Amuls creatives in the form of: 1) Billboards or 2) The Taste of India campaign have always managed to remind a larger-than-life brand feel, reliability and spirit of Indian culture in a modern way. Hindustan Unilevers beverage brands have been combined under two umbrella brands Brooke Bond and Lipton. In the fabric wash category, it has retained only Surf, Rin and Wheel. With time HUL has withdrawn its brands such as Nihar, Dalda, 501 and Sunlight; it plans to extract some more brands and put them under a few umbrella brands. HUL is currently focusing on its 35 power brands. Nivea the cosmetics brand has its presence in a huge number of product categories and countries. Niveas performance impelled a yahoo.com news article to name it the Queen of Mega Brands. This title was appropriate since the brand was present in over 14 product categories and was available in more than 151 countries. Nivea was reportedly believed to be a brand of local origin having been present in them for many decades. This fact went a long way in helping the brand attain the leadership status in many categories and countries. According to analysts, the brand was the single largest factor for the 4.6% increase in the companys revenues and 10.8% increase in after-tax profit. Beiersdorf never tried to change the umbrella branding of Nivea and got prolific results. PROCESS OF BRAND EQUITY BRAND EXTENSIONS A company may use its existing brand name to launch new products in other categories. Honda uses its name to market various products like automobiles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and lawn mowers. This allows Honda to advertise that: It can fit six Hondas in a two car Garage Godrej now features its name on soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, locks, shower gel, raw chicken, almirahs, etc. The latest trend in corporate brand building is that corporation is licensing their names to manufacturer of a wide range of products from bedding to shoes. Brand extensions also involve risk. The new product might disappoint buyers damage their respect for the companys other product. The brand may lose its special positioning in the consumers mind due to dilution. When consumers no longer correlate a brand with highly similar products or a special power Dilution occurs. History of Brand Extension Brand extension is being used since a long time and is not a recent phenomenon. It has been prominent since a long time in the luxury goods sector. India has been fortunate enough to always have big business houses like Godrej, Tatas, and Birla who have always pushed newer and varied products under one Brand Name. Tata From Steel to Cars Godrej -From locks to Farm fresh Chicken Ambanis after decades of distinction in Industrial chemicals have now entered into telecom and power sector. WHY EXTEND THE BRAND? Innovation allows the brand to remain up-to date, allows a company to achieve a competitive advantage over the other and demonstrate a continuous attentiveness to the changes in customer taste. Also a major factor in brand extension is the cost of advertising. BRAND EXTENSION: HOW? There are two preparatory stages, before setting any practical extension. The first is the exploratory stage- It probes all the memories and the associations that the people have in their minds with the brand. This stage helps in assuming as to which products would be compatible with the brands meaning. Second study phase- New products ideas are tested. A decision cannot be made on the basis of this information alone. Strategic decisions lead to brand extensions. It also involves factors linked with marketing, finance, human resources and production. It cannot be over-emphasized that extension cannot be contemplated without the complete knowledge of the brands attributes. Why Brand Extension Fail? The various reasons why the effort of brand extension can fail are that the strategy presupposes one or more assumptions. Assumption one: It will help get trial / sell the new product. This need not be unavoidable, even if it is reasonable. The extension of the brand name will help to get trial only if it is seen to Add Value to the new product. Example, when Nirma introduced toothpaste -many consumers who saw a value in Nirma washing powder, did not find it in the toothpaste. Assumption Two: It will help to reinforce the existing product. A brand extension can easily achieve this, but only if the new product incorporates a truly New Idea. Example, the Apple computers brand was actually enhanced by the introduction of the iPod MP3 Player but this was a result of the iPod being a sensationally new idea. The Apple brand could not have achieved this, if the iPod was just another regular MP3 player. Assumption Three: The brand equity will ensure ready recognition in the new category. A common assumption is that the brand has enough Stretch to carry its strength into a new category. Example, Bournvita was unable to extend its strength to biscuits from a health beverage. One of the most critical weaknesses in many Brand extension initiatives is that they start with the marketer and not the consumer. Brand Extensions will succeed only when they research and have a Consumer Connect. Guidelines for Brand Extension Guideline One: Extend a strong Performance Characteristic Association. This is the simplest level at which to begin. Amul stands for pure milk. Indeed it is likely that to many consumers, Amul is milk. Therefore, it is easy to extend the brand from wet milk, to butter, to cheese, to dairy whitener, and recently, to ice cream. However, with pizza, Amul may now be moving just a bit too far from the core milk association. Does the consumer think Pizza = cheese (=milk) or is Pizza = baked food? Guideline Two: Extend a strong Benefit Association. Fair Lovely owns the skin fairness benefit strongly enough to extend the brand from the original fairness cream to a lotion to a soap to an under-eye cream. Guideline Three: Extend an association with a Consumer Attitude or Belief. Nike and its swoosh stand for pushing oneself beyond the limit and an individualistic attitude so the brand appeals to those who share this view and who wear the brand as a badge: in sports shoes, sports goods, bags, casual wear, even watches. Guideline Four: Extend the brand based on Brand Essence. There are also several watch-outs to note before extending brands. Watch-out One: Is your brand extension sending out contradictory signals? This could be happening in the case of Nivea, where after offering skin-care products for women for years, a range of mens toileteries was introduced under the same name. Bad idea. Watch-out Two: Is there any link to the brand extensions or is it merely a convenient, available name thats being used? Maggi came into India with 2-Minute noodles a hearty, anytime snack. Since then the Maggi brand has been extended to sauces, soup cubes, even pickles. There is nothing that holds this set of products together. Is it surprising that the extensions are not resounding successes? Watch-out Three: Check the interpretation of the link across extensions. Dettol was the ubiquitous antiseptic liquid (and then cream). When the brand was first extended to soaps, the antiseptic property was interpreted to mean care and Dettol was launched as The Love and Care Soap. It did not work. Today, many years later, Dettol soap offers protection a more realistic interpretation of the antiseptic property, and the soap is doing far better. A few umbrella brands or individual brands? According to experts, independent brands only make sense when the product clearly has a different proposition from the company brand; like Lexus from Toyota and Swatch from Omega. In the case of Asian Paints, there were so many sub-brands, there was a reduction of media weights for advertising each entity. Then, the company shifted to a brand-centric portfolio, which involved a change of logo, product names, packaging and advertising. But the response from the trade and consumers has been positive, overall brand synergy and shop presence have increased, and the advertising is more effective. Most probably in near future the media environment will make it impossible to create newer brand names and the conditions at the consumer level, as well as the environment. So unless the product is clearly different in the mind of the consumer, umbrella branding is the way to go. Umbrella brands are going to rule! Nestle SA , the worlds leading food manufacturer and the market leader in both coffee and mineral water, produces a wind range of products including prepared dishes and cooking aids, milk-based products, cereals, instant coffee, pharmaceuticals and baby foods. Nestle SA is a publicly owned company, with subsidiaries across the world. It website addresses in 104 countries. It is also the world largest food and beverage company with $71 billion in annual sales and almost 230,000 employees around the world. It markets some 8000 brands that include instant coffee. Remarkably, its products are sold in every country in the world, including in North Korea. Nestle coat of arms, the birds nest, which refers to his name, has become a symbol for the products being a safe care for their consumer product safety and quality. Research and development based innovation capacity and strong brands are priority for Nestle.

Bill Cosby :: essays research papers

Bill Cosby was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 12, 1937. He was the oldest of four boys. He had three brothers, and their names were: James, Russell, and Robert. His father ran away near Christmas time when he was very young and he had to get a job to help support the family. In school he was the class clown and was sent to a special school for rowdy boys. In his new school his teacher was Mary Forchic. She saw that he was a great comedian and she put that into her lessons to make them more understandable for Bill. She made the lessons fun for him and made it easier to learn. He said that she made him what he is today. After a couple years he went back to his old school and even though his grades were dropping he still kept it together. Bill was starting to look up to comedians on the radio and the TV. They were comedians like Sam Levenson, Sid Caesar, and Carl Reiner. Even though his grades were poor in junior high, when he took the standardized tests he was accepted to Central High School, which was a school for all the gifted children in Pennsylvania. Now being six feet, he was on the high school football team. But in the first week of football he broke his arm. Since there were few blacks in the school and he was slightly a target of biggotous remarks he went back to getting attention by clowning around in class again. He was later sent to Germantown Highschool where all his neighborhood friends went. He was back with his friends but his grades started to drop. He was left back twice. He was also too old to participate in the city track meets (which he could easily win). Bill dropped out of high school. He went to be a shoemaker=s helper, but the shoemaker didn=t like it when he nailed the ladies heels onto the mens shoes!Then Bill decided to join the Navy. There he found discipline and no room to joke around. He spent four long years in the Navy but he says that it made him more mature and able to control himself better. He was trained as a physical therapist. Helping men who lost their legs and arms, he finally realized how lucky he was. While in the Navy

Case Write-Up for Sunshine Foods Marketing

Case Write-up Sunshine Foods Problem Sunshine Foods biggest problem is their declining profits. They also have had minimal growth and have high overhead costs, which are a large part of their declining profits. Causes Sunshine Foods has three major areas that need to be address in order to increase their profits. First, their motto: â€Å"As long as new products look like they will increase the company’s sales volume, they are introduced. † This is causing the company to take on too many products that don’t increase their revenues. It spreads them to thin and makes them too generic. Second, adding more products to use the unused areas of production. They need to do a cost analysis to see if using that unused production time has any cost/revenue benefit. Just because it is unused doesn’t mean that it will generate more money if it is used. Third, their contract states a grocer needs to carry at least 65 Sunshine Food items. This forces only large grocers to carry their items, which limits their market area. By limiting their market area to only large grocers they are unable to have price control and they are always competing against all of the other brands that the store carries. Sunshine’s lack of growth is primarily caused by their lack of specialization. If they can and freeze everything and anything then a consumer doesn’t see them as being â€Å"the best† in any product. Their lack of expansion into smaller stores is also holding back their growth. High overhead costs are created by Sunshine’s need to use every second of factory time. This is causing them to spend too much to create a product that returns very little. If their factories have that much unused time they should just close a few factories and focus on what is really important. Recommendations I would recommend that they first do a cost analysis on the products that they are producing. This will allow them to see which products sell the most and create the highest return. Once they know this information they need to produce more of those items and stop producing the items that aren’t helping their bottom line. Along with this, they will be able to identify which factories are the most efficient at producing those items. They can then close the slower factories and use the money to make the remaining factories more efficient. I would then have them change their contract to a much smaller number of items for stores to carry. If they lower their number to 25 items then they could sell items in more boutique shops that will have lower competition and higher prices. To really increase their profits they should pick a few â€Å"specialty† items and market themselves as having the best in those items. This will help them create more of a brand name, especially if they sell those items in the boutique shops.

Ramon Magsaysay Essay

Last Thursday, November 29, 2012, this is the day that were waiting for. I was so excited to have our last field trip as a high school. This field trip is very memorable for me because Clare, Alaica, Kim, Ray, and I are first time to be late in our last field trip. We arrive at south supermarket at 5:25am, and almost 5 minutes when the bus left us. There’s no extra bus for the late comers like us. I feel nervous at this time because we don’t know what were going to do. No one knows how to go to our first destination. Ray suggested that it’s better for us to go home and ask help to our parents to bring us to Pasay. Clare, Alaica, and I, didn’t agree to his suggestion, because we know that it will only takes a lot to time before we arrive at our first destination. Alaica decided to ask for help in the guard inside the south supermarket. The guard teach us how to go to MOA in Pasay. We ride at the LRT, from Santolan to Cubao. After that we ask the taxi driver to bring us in Mall of Asia, where Nido Fortified Science Discovery Center are found. We finally reached our first destination. We felt happy because we didn’t expect that we did it. Our friends hug us tight like we’ve never seen for a long years. My heart is jumping because of happiness. We roam around and we saw several stuff that are related to science like, earth science, biology, chemistry, and physics. We also had a short film viewing on how the celestial bodies are being formed. We are all amazed on what we’ve seen. It’s like you were in the outer space when you start to watch that video. We are all entertained and at the same time we are learning. Before we leave this place, our mind are filled with the new knowledge and new experience. Our next destination is in Tzu Chi Foundation in Sta Mesa, Manila, whare you can found a good hearted persons. The people here are working hard not for themselves, but for the people who are disabled. They do it without waiting for any return. When you go inside, you will found their low price shop, where recycled bottles are turned into useful once. All of the items inside are very affordable and useful. The money that are being entered to them, will add to their fund that supports to their charity. Our last destination is in Galilee Mansion Garden Resort in Bulacan. Here, we enjoy our last tour even in the middle of the hottest of the sun. We don’t care on what will happened to our skin texture, because all we want is to  grab this opportunity to feel relax, enjoy, and have bonding with my fellow students and friends. After this adventurous field trip, we ended our day with the smile in our faces. This is our last field trip as 4th yr. student, that’s why this field trip is very memorable for us. I.Hindi pinayagan ng gobyerno ang pag-alis ni former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at ang asawa nito na si Jose Miguel â€Å"Mike† Arroyo.Papuntang HongKong para mag pagaling sa hinarap na sakit ng dating pangulo na hypoparathyroidism.Pinigilan sila ng mga opisyales ng â€Å"immigration† sa pag-sakay nila sa anumang eroplano o sa pag alis ng Bansa. Ngayon ay nagpapagaling siya sa Saint Luke’s Hospital.Madaming napahayag kung ano na ang kalagayan ng dating pangulo,Kaya ipapatawag ang mga doktor na nag-aalaga ngayon sa dating pangulo. II.Para sa akin ay tama lang ang hindi pag-payag ng ating pamahalaan na makaalis ng bansa para mag-pagamot si Gng.Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.Dahil pwede naman siyang pag-gamot dito sa Pilipinas at mag-pagaling,Madaming magagaling na doktor ang Pilipinas.At saka baka siya lamang ay tumakas sa isasampang kaso sa kanya. III. Panghuli at pinakamahalaga sa akin bilang isang batang Pilipino ay ang pag-titiwala ni Gng.Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sa mga doktor ng Pilipinas na magagamot siya kahit mas maunlad ang mga kagamitan ng ibang bansa sa pag-gamot kaysa dito sa Pilipinas Ito na ang ating huling sandali Di na tayo magkaka mali Kasi wala ng bukas Sulitin natin ito na ang wakas Kailangan na yata nating umuwi Hawakan mo aking kamay Bago tayo maghiwalay lahat lahat ibibigay lahat lahat Paalam sa ating huling sayaw Mag dulo pala ang langit Kaya’t sabay tayong bibitaw Sa ating huling sayaw Di na malayan na malalim na ang gabi (malalim na ang gabi) Pero ayoko sanang magmadali (wag kang magmadali) Kay tamis kay sarap Ngunit ito na ang huli Kailangan na yata natin umuwi Hawakan mo aking kamay Bago tayo maghiwalay lahat lahat ibibigay lahat lahat Paalam sating huling sayaw Mag dulo pala ang langit Kaya’t sabay tayong bibitaw Sa ating huling sayaw Paalam sa ating huling sayaw May dulo pa la ang langit Kaya’t sabay tayong bibitaw Sa ating huling sayaw Paalam sating huling sayaw May dulo pala ang langit Kaya’t sabay tayong bibitaw Sa ating huling sayawa

Essay Electoral College system to elect the President of the USAEssay Writing Service

Essay Electoral College system to elect the President of the USAEssay Writing Service Essay Electoral College system to elect the President of the USA Essay Electoral College system to elect the President of the USAThere are two main reasons why we should continue to use the Electoral College system to elect the President of the USA:First, the Electoral College system ensures broader public support of the candidate elected to become the U.S. President. Without this system, candidates could win the elections based on the votes of the heavily populated areas, such as large cities.Second, the Electoral College can be viewed as an important tool to promote an maintain federalism in the United States because this system is based on the principle of equality. In other words, each state has equal rights, no matter what size the state has. The system of federalism guarantees distinct rights which play an important role in the development of the states.There are two main reasons why the Electoral College should be abolished:First, the Electoral College system should be abolished because this system does not promote democracy. Its flaws incl ude the â€Å"faithless elector, the winner take all system, the constant two electoral votes, the uncertainty of the winner winning and the contingency procedure† (Rose, 2004, p. 199).Second, the Electoral College does not support the worth of votes of minority groups, intensifying the racial imbalance in the country. The Electoral College system privileges the lightly populated areas, inhabited by white people.I agree with the Electoral College because this system promotes the use of the two party system, which guarantees political stability and supports the U.S. Constitution. The Electoral College is part of the system of checks and balances, promoted by the U.S. Constitution. Besides, I believe that the Electoral College guarantees fair elections due to the truly national appeal to the President.