Thursday, October 31, 2019

Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau Research Paper

Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau - Research Paper Example In this case, the society is responsible for choosing the leaders. The leaders have a responsibility to ensure the people are protected at all times. In this case, the government should only engage in activities that are to the interest of the people and not otherwise. In the case, the government is not doing what it ought to do, the society has the right to disobey the government and even oust that particular government and elect leaders they believe would look after their interests. Thoreau is one of the people who were not afraid to do civil disobedience. He refused to pay taxes to the government because it was involved in activities that do not support the principles of a good government. The American government-supported slavery and was also involved in war with Mexico because of Texas. In Thoreau’s view, the American government was on the wrong. He questioned whether governments really do what they ought to do with the taxes they raise. Do they finance the good or the ba d? Supporting oppressing activities like slavery indicated to Thoreau that the American government was probably not doing the right thing and was not using the money well (Thoreau 25). According to him, taxes should not be paid to the national government if they have to be paid. Instead, they should be paid to the local community that would be responsible for the improvement of the infrastructure and amenities in the local region. Thoreau also states that the government should be keen to listen to the people it rules. In the case, issues are raised, the government should communicate back and address the issues raised. Thoreau claimed that there were many people against slavery and Mexican war yet the government did nothing. If the American government was really concerned about Americans and operated as per the philosophy, then it should have listened to the people and stopped slavery and the Mexican War (Thoreau 29). Thoreau was categorical that people should be very careful with th eir perspectives on the government. He argues that supporting government is a good thing but should only be supported if it democratic and just. On the other hand, supporting a government that is not just or good is in fact, committing a crime. According to Thoreau, unjust government is known to commit many criminals’ activities like slavery in the United States and Mexican war or oppressing the minorities. People supporting unjust government are also involved in criminal activities indirectly. This can make a person to have a heavy burden on the wrong doings and injustices the government does. Thoreau stated that he could not recognize his government which he termed as slave government as it perpetrated slavery. He is categorical that supporting a government does not necessary mean proclaiming allegiance to the government. Rather, it involves supporting the government through taxes. Thoreau questioned whether the government really uses the money for a good course using the M exican war as an example. Money was spent in the war and it was from the taxes the good citizens of the country had paid. Not supporting the government would be to stop paying taxes, which would otherwise be used for the wrong reasons. Soldiers and other people, that are the machinery to execute the unjust activities, should refuse to work for the government (Thoreau 57). While this has not happened in many countries, some governments have worked to ensure that the interests of the people are addressed accordingly. On the

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

The Crimean Crisis of 2014 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Crimean Crisis of 2014 - Case Study Example Consequently, under the justification of â€Å"responsibility to protect† the Russian minorities in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in March, 2014 (Yuhas 2014). The Russian annexation of Crimea caused a massive stir on a global level and the action was condemned by majority of global leaders. The Crimean crisis has been considered as a significant global issue which has caused severe impact on relations between western world and Russia and their allies. Also, the crisis caused massive blow to economic stability in Ukraine and Russia. The clashes between the West and Russia through economic sanctions, energy politics, and political pressure have threatened the global stability and brought the world on the verge of Cold War II (Koshkin 2014). The causes of Crimean crisis can be traced in current global politics and contested perceptions of the state identity in Ukrainian society. The purpose of this case study is to investigate the Crimean crisis of 2014. By means of various researches and available reports, the paper will examine the root causes of crisis and its impact on various groups. The paper will also present potential solutions in order to abate the negative effects of the crisis. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea, internationally recognized as a part of Ukraine, is situated on a peninsula which has spread between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea with Russian border to its east (BBC Monitoring 2014). In the late 2013, Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych faced a choice when the country was moving towards economic crisis. He could select a long-term, but initially troublesome deal with the EU to boost trade and integration, or he could secure a $15 billion loan from Russia and join the Eurasian Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus (Woehrel 2014, p. 1-2). After continuous

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Astronaut Performance and Health Risks

Astronaut Performance and Health Risks One of the major NASAs operation is space exploration which is the constant investigation and discovery of celestial patterns in the space by means of developing and increasing space technology. Although the space is studied by astronomers using telescopes, it can be physically explored both by unmanned robotic assistances and human astronauts. As the period of the space mission and the distance of the exploration increases, the importance of systems monitoring astronaut health increases as well. For example, as a result of factors such as gravity fields, space radiation, change in pressure, change in oxygen level, distance and long-term weightlessness, human body may suffer significant hazardous effects including muscle atrophy, spaceflight osteopenia, cardiovascular system malfunctioning, balance disorders, eyesight disorders and immune system weakening. NASAs new policies for space exploration by astronauts mandates significant changes and improvements in astronaut health monitori ng systems. Therefore, health monitoring throughout all phases of space exploration including in-flight and extra-vehicular activity is essential. The real-time monitoring of astronauts physiological situations should be performed, either onboard or from Earth, and the obtained information must be evaluated. To examine the astronauts performance and health risks involved with space missions and develop essential technology and breakthroughs to minimize the risks and provide safer and more effective exploration, the Human Research Program (HRP) has been found at NASA [1]. The research scope of this program falls on four sections of Exploration Medical Capability, Human Factors and Behavioral Performance, Human Health Countermeasure, and Space Radiation. The overall emphasis of Exploration Medical Capability research section is to develop novel technologies to deal with the challenges of extending human space exploration and habitation. It is particularly intended to provide evidence-based techniques to observe and preserve astronaut health. To fulfil this objective, it is necessary to develop methods to detect and avoid any health risks that might happen during space missions [2]. To do so, an integrated research plan is employed by HRP to recognize the methods and research activities int ended to deal with health threats, which are allocated to certain sections within the program and is placing requests for more detailed and accurate data to be recorded relative to astronaut health monitoring. Such efforts are raising awareness for the need to deploy effective and comprehensive physiological monitoring in order to develop accurate documentation of astronaut health during Extra-vehicular activity and event performance. Conventionally, the only physiological factor observed through NASA extra-vehicular activities was the heart rate. Modern spacesuits integrate comprehensive life-support systems and modular components. These spacesuits highly assist space missions mostly throughout maintenance jobs and exploration operations. A variety of spacesuits has been made in the course of time and they have developed into todays modern, modular and self-contained forms [3]. Monitoring the crew members through their spacesuits during the space operations such as extra-vehicular activities provides the information about the performance and health of the members as well as the environmental awareness which is necessary to fulfil mission requirements. However, most of these methods require direct contacts of sensors, either in the form of electrode or garment, to the body which, under certain conditions such as anxiety and perspiration, make the results not to be error-free [4]. Therefore, the need for contact-less sensors able to monitor physiological and health status of the astronauts especially during extra-vehicular activity is essential. Furthermore, these sensors must be non-invasive or minimally invasive and very sensitive and provide real time information. On top of that, the sensors should be durable, gravity-independent, low in power consumption, compact in size while simply repairable or replaceable. To fill the gap for effective monitoring we propose†¦.. The objectives of this proposal are highly aligned with NASAs requirements as follows [1]: EVA 10: Can knowledge and use of real-time physiological and system parameters during EVA operations improve crew health and performance? EVA 8: What are the physiological inputs and outputs associated with EVA operations in exploration environments? Osteo 5: We need an inflight capability to monitor bone turnover and bone mass changes during spaceflight. Sleep Gap 1: We need to identify a set of validated and minimally obtrusive tools to monitor and measure sleep-wake activity and associated performance changes for spaceflight. SM7.1: Determine if there are decrements in performance on functional tasks after long-duration spaceflight. Determine how changes in physiological function, exercise activity, and/or clinical data account for these decrements. Team Gap 2: We need to identify a set of validated measures, based on the key indicators of team function, to effectively monitor and measure team health and performance fluctuations during autonomous, long duration and/or distance exploration missions. References: [1] https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/ [2] https://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/Explore/ [3] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-next-generation-of-suit-technologies [4] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/technology-onepagers/life-guard.html

Friday, October 25, 2019

Empowerment of Women in Sylvia Plaths Lady Lazarus and Eavan Bolands

Empowerment of Women in Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus and Eavan Boland's Anorexic Although the title foreshadows an extrinsic approach, this essay mostly features intrinsic analysis. Eavan Boland's "Anorexic" seems descendent from Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus": the two share common elements, yet have significant differences. An examination of the poems' themes reveals that self-destructiveness can serve as empowerment for women. Plath explores Lady Lazarus' nontraditional view of suicide in her poem; (since Plath does not give the speaker of the poem a name, I will refer to her as Lady Lazarus). Lady Lazarus reveals her first suicide was accidental, but she reveals that her two subsequent deaths have been deliberate. This is significant as she is not speaking of attempts, but actual suicides; also, she establishes her intention. In describing the woman's attitude, Plath varies between using metaphors, such as "It's the theatrical/Comeback in broad day" (51-52), and similes: "my skin/Bright as Nazi lampshade" (4-5); "I rocked shut/As a seashell" (38-39). Plath's indifferent and almost positive connotations suggest Lady Lazarus embraces death as indicative of her ability to survive. Also, the poem's structure of three-line stanzas is symbolic of this being Lady Lazarus' third suicide. After her suicide, Lady Lazarus declares she is only "Ash," "Flesh, bone,"(75) "A cake of soap/A wedding ring,/A gold filling" (76-78): she does not reminisce about who she was, but rather, literally what she now is. Plath's repetition of "ash" indicates Lady Lazarus' preoccupation: "I turn and burn" (71); Lady Lazarus does not express resentment towards this death, likely symbolic, as she does not articulate the exact method. Furthermore, Lady... ...logy with negative self-image to create an extreme view that women fell from grace when they needed to eat, making this poem, like anorexia, evocative of sympathy: women should not feel as though they need to deprive their human needs to improve their humanity. These poems should not be considered negative examples of female rationale, but rather, allegories of empowerment: by their own choices, Lady Lazarus rises like the phoenix, and the anorexic woman matures spiritually, each through her own death. Furthermore, each woman acts as the source of morality, as Lady Lazarus transcends heaven and hell, and the anorexic woman judges herself. Though the cause of the anorexic woman's desire is not clear, her reaction, like Lady Lazarus', is a choice free from God, as Nietzsche explains. Thus by destroying themselves, these women are actually asserting their autonomy. Empowerment of Women in Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus and Eavan Boland's Empowerment of Women in Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus and Eavan Boland's Anorexic Although the title foreshadows an extrinsic approach, this essay mostly features intrinsic analysis. Eavan Boland's "Anorexic" seems descendent from Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus": the two share common elements, yet have significant differences. An examination of the poems' themes reveals that self-destructiveness can serve as empowerment for women. Plath explores Lady Lazarus' nontraditional view of suicide in her poem; (since Plath does not give the speaker of the poem a name, I will refer to her as Lady Lazarus). Lady Lazarus reveals her first suicide was accidental, but she reveals that her two subsequent deaths have been deliberate. This is significant as she is not speaking of attempts, but actual suicides; also, she establishes her intention. In describing the woman's attitude, Plath varies between using metaphors, such as "It's the theatrical/Comeback in broad day" (51-52), and similes: "my skin/Bright as Nazi lampshade" (4-5); "I rocked shut/As a seashell" (38-39). Plath's indifferent and almost positive connotations suggest Lady Lazarus embraces death as indicative of her ability to survive. Also, the poem's structure of three-line stanzas is symbolic of this being Lady Lazarus' third suicide. After her suicide, Lady Lazarus declares she is only "Ash," "Flesh, bone,"(75) "A cake of soap/A wedding ring,/A gold filling" (76-78): she does not reminisce about who she was, but rather, literally what she now is. Plath's repetition of "ash" indicates Lady Lazarus' preoccupation: "I turn and burn" (71); Lady Lazarus does not express resentment towards this death, likely symbolic, as she does not articulate the exact method. Furthermore, Lady... ...logy with negative self-image to create an extreme view that women fell from grace when they needed to eat, making this poem, like anorexia, evocative of sympathy: women should not feel as though they need to deprive their human needs to improve their humanity. These poems should not be considered negative examples of female rationale, but rather, allegories of empowerment: by their own choices, Lady Lazarus rises like the phoenix, and the anorexic woman matures spiritually, each through her own death. Furthermore, each woman acts as the source of morality, as Lady Lazarus transcends heaven and hell, and the anorexic woman judges herself. Though the cause of the anorexic woman's desire is not clear, her reaction, like Lady Lazarus', is a choice free from God, as Nietzsche explains. Thus by destroying themselves, these women are actually asserting their autonomy.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Preschool Music Education Essay

Introduction Teaching music to preschoolers contributes to brain development.   â€Å"The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling—training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression† (Ratey, 2001).   A group of researchers at the University of California (Irvine) conducted a study that showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning (Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, 2001). Music Education Module   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The curriculum for teaching preschool music education should contain three parts: 1) Singing; 2) Active listening; and 3) Movement.   All three of these subsections should work together and build off of the skills learned during the other subsections.   The music education curriculum must be fun and engaging for the preschool children, otherwise the children will not give the music activities their full attention and will not retain the cognitive abilities that can be taught through music education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The preschool music education curriculum needs to be focused around teaching the children songs, preferably nursery rhymes and other educational songs, which will teach the children a skill.   Incorporating movement and hand motions into each song that is taught will enhance the skills learned.   Learning to sing songs will improve the development of language acquisition, listening skills, and fine motor skills.    Songs that tell a story with hand motions such as â€Å"I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee† will improve language skills as well as fine motor skills and self expression.   Songs that specifically address a certain skill such as counting songs (1,2 Buckle My Shoe) and spelling songs (B-I-N-G-O) should be incorporated into the music curriculum as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The preschool music education curriculum must also include active listening to music.   Listening to music, particularly classical music, will improve listening skills, auditory discrimination, abstract reasoning, and spatial intelligence.   After the children have listened to a musical piece, the experience needs to be reinforced by a series of questions and answers.   Asking the children what kind of instruments they heard and what emotions they felt during the song will improve the abstract reasoning skills and teach the children how to evaluate and comprehend what they have heard.   Clapping through a rhythm that was in the song they just heard will teach the children about tempo and improve counting and mathematical skills. Conclusion The preschool music education curriculum needs to include all three of the subsections discussed.   If the curriculum neglects one of the subsections, important skills will be neglected.   Singing and dancing teaches preschool children language skills, fine motor skills, and self expression.   Actively listening to music, particularly classical music, improves listening skills, abstract reasoning skills, and spatial intelligence. When developing a preschool music education curriculum, the most important thing is to ensure that the curriculum is fun and engaging for the preschool children.   If the curriculum is rigid and boring, the children will lose interest and the teacher will not have their full attention.   In order for the preschool children to acquire the skills taught during music education, the children must be engaged in the curriculum.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚      References Musically Yours, Inc.   (2007, November) Music Preludes.   Retrieved January 23, 2008 from http://www.musicpreludes.com/index.html Ratey John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001. Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, â€Å"Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Causal Relationship,† University of California, Irvine, 1994

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Veet Promotion Campaign

To better understand the market and shape the key marketing problem, we conducted primary research to find out the general trends of hair removal among women in Singapore. From this we found a significant result of women in Singapore favouring razors over cream due to the main reason convenience. As such, the report seeks to explore different promotional methods that would allow us to help these heavy razor users to overcome their misconceptions of cream being inconvenient and subsequently to trial Veet ® hair removal cream.The promotional campaign incorporates intergrated marketing communications and features efforts including sampling, couponing, talks, and point-of-purchase displays, featured articles on blogs, mobile advertising, trade promotions and tie-in promotions. All in all, we hope that the campaign will successfully expose more consumers to Veet ® hair removal cream samples, convert them into Veet ® users and ultimately increase sales for Veet ® .Our overall ROMI sees a negative figure due to costs incurred from our sampling program but CLV is strong at 107 percent. Section Two: Situation Analysis 2A. Depilatory Industry The depilatories industry in Singapore is a steadily growing one, experiencing a 4% growth in 2009 to reach almost $4 million in total sales. Razors and blades for women are the fastest growing depilatories followed by hair removal creams. Depilatories (or hair removal products that remove hair to the level of the skin) include razors, shavers, creams, bleaches and pre-shaves.Currently, international manufacturers Procter & Gamble (S) Pte Ltd and Reckitt Benckiser (S) Pte Ltd have found dominance in the Singapore depilatories market with their popular brands Gillette and Veet ®  ®. However, with the increasing awareness of epilators (or hair removal products that remove the entire hair from the root), many women in Singapore are also turning to these methods, including the use of wax strips, epilators and lasers. 2B. Com pany & Brand History Company background Veet ® was first launched under the brand name, Neet, in Canada in 1901.It was later bought by Reckitt Benckiser Pte Ltd in 1960 and has since been sold in nearly 200 countries worldwide. Reckitt Benckiser is a British global consumer goods company, making and marketing household, personal and healthcare products. The company’s strategy is to have a highly-focused portfolio concentrating on its 17 Powerbrands which contributes to 62% of its net revenues in 2008. Veet ®  ®, one of its 17 most profitable and recognised brands, has two major products, namely hair removal creams and wax strips. Target marketVeet ®  ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s current target market consists of young female professionals and students aged 16 – 35 who are cost-conscious and seek convenience. Some may even be apprehensive of pain. This includes both first-timers who are seeking but have not yet tried hair removal products and also existing users of alternative hair removal products such as shavers and epilators. 2C. Marketing Mix Adopted by Veet ®  ® Veet ® has used the following marketing mix to develop a strong brand recognition, as well as competing for leadership position in the depilatory industry. Product Veet ® promises smooth, glowing skin in just 3 minutes.The hair removal cream/gel works by using an active ingredient to dissolve the hair and the specially designed Perfect Touch spatula enables quick removal of the cream for a smooth and long-lasting finish. The wax strips removes the hair shaft from the root by the mechanical action of removing the strip from the skin, comes in a 20s box. Place Veet ® is mass-marketed to Health & Beauty stores (Watsons, Guardian and Unity) and supermarket chains (NTUC Fairprice, Cold Storage, Shop N Save, Carrefour and Giant). It is also available online via the supermarket chain’s online shopping service. PricePrices of Veet ® ranges from $8. 45 for a 100gram hair remover cre am to $17. 20 for a 150ml hair remover gel. The Veet  ® wax strips (20s) are priced at $12. 90. Promotion In 2007 and 2008, Veet ® organized the Miss Veet ® Standout Challenge which selected 10 finalists to compete for the crowning through their catwalk and Q&A skills where notable personalities including local bloggers were guest judges. Brand Characteristics * Brand image: The product with its use of soothing colours and graphics of nature communicates an image of natural well being which appeals to the brand’s core customers – women. Brand personality: Veet ® relates to the personality of elegant, sensual, graceful and beauty. * Brand equity: The 3 green leaves on the Veet ® logo and the use of floral graphics on the product elude a natural feel to users. 2D. Internal Analysis for Veet ®  ® Veet ® Strengths Strong brand presence in Singapore market Procter & Gamble (S) Pte Ltd that manufacture Gillette series of razor brands and Reckitt Benckiser (S) Pte Ltd that manufacture Veet ® are the dominance brands in the market. Consumers trusted the brands as they provided relative good hair removing results.Strong brand equity allows Veet ® s to use sales promotion to build competition barriers that deter consumers from using private labels. Veet ® removing cream has smoother result as compared to other razors and shavers Clearly, we know the numerous side effects of using razors and shavers. Firstly, cuts happen when blade movement is perpendicular to the blade’s cutting axis. Following on, shaving of hair has been know for causing Hirsutism, a condition in which shaving certain parts of the body hair will result in hair stubbles and accelerates process of hair growth, causing a greater density of hair.Razors and shavers manufacturers through the years have been innovating new razor design to mitigate the problems but are unable to eradicate the shaving aftermath. By using Veet ® remover cream, consumers avoid the ris k of razor cuts, while growth hairs become finer. Veet ® remover cream contains moisturizing content that allows users to remove and moisture their skin at the same time. Veet ® dominates market share for hair removal cream Referring to appendix 456, the depilatories environment in Singapore is mainly dominated by razors and shavers brand (portions highlighted in orange).Following 53. 3% of the market share dominated by razors and shavers brands, Veet ® covers the next prominent portion of the market share (33. 6%). This proves that the next preferred depilatories after shaving is removal cream and/or waxing strips; and this market is primarily dominated by Veet ® . In terms of intratype competition, Veet ® faces weak competition from its rivalry brands, namely Nair removal cream, Marzena wax strip and other smaller brands that are currently sold in supermarkets and personal hygiene stores.Veet ® ’s high market shares also correspond to the net worth of the brand viewed by retailers. This implies that Veet ® distribution network, more specifically retailers, are more willing to cooperate with Veet ® in its upcoming sale promotion – since Veet ® ’s promotion will increase stock turnovers for the retailers. Veet ® Weaknesses Potential target market low expectation about Veet ® performance As highlighted in pointer three (3), consumers are more incline to use razors and shavers as they place focus on convenience when choosing depilatories.Consumers associate Veet ® with inconvenience as they have to apply the removal cream on intended areas and wait for six (6) minutes before washing the chemical away. This lengthy process as compared to shaving tends to discourage consumers from buying them. However, Veet ® ’s previous advertising campaign attempted to change consumer’s belief about Veet ® being an inconvenient product. The advertising campaign also aimed to change consumer’s focus on convenie nce to place heavier importance on the results of hair removing. Wide deviation in user’s review about Veet ® performanceRaise of social media importance will affect potential consumer’s expectation towards a brand and ultimately, affecting the consumer’s decision to purchase the brand. As a consumer engages in information search, it demonstrates her engagement with the brand in the HEM model. A search through users’ reviews in social media review centre explain that there is a huge different between the users’ rating. Some users rated Veet ® one (1) star as the brand did not remove their body hair effectively and it causes red chemical burns.Fortunately the bad ratings are neutralized as other users rate Veet ® five (5) stars as they love the product for being simple and easy to use. More importantly they love the brand because it produces better hair removing result than razors and shavers while not leaving chemical irritation on their skin . The two vast differences in users rating thus imply that potential customers still have to rely on other forms of peripheral cues to evaluate their product choices. Sales promotion will help to attract a portion of this market where consumers eventually have to purchase and experience hair removal results by themselves. E. External Analysis for Veet ® Consumer Evaluation Primary Research Method A primary research was conducted through an online questionnaire (Appendix 1) with one hundred women aging between 16 year and 35 year old. Through the survey, it will help us to gain understanding about target market’s depilatory products usage behavior and motivation. Veet ® Opportunity Veet  ® has relatively high brand awareness (Appendix 2A) According to survey results, Veet  ® products have high brand awareness. Consumers are able to recognize the product category that Veet ® belongs.With the high brand awareness, this shows that advertising efforts are showing positiv e results in the market. Market Share between Razor Market and Veet  ® Market – On Par (Appendix 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E) Majority of Veet ® target market have already performed some form of hair removal procedure as they are image conscious and are concern about how others view them if they appear to be untidy. Currently 18% of our respondents have not engaged in hair removal procedure and a significant portion of this group would either consider or may not do hair removal in the next three to six months period.This highlights that our promotional campaign should not direct at this group of consumers, as sale promotion is unlikely to change a consumer’s behavior. More advertising instead of sale promotion should be engaged to encourage this group of consumer to start removing hair through Veet  ® products. With the remaining 82% of the market that has started removing body hair, we learnt that that is an equal market share between Razor products and hair removal cream pr oducts. As covered previously, Veet  ® is the leader in the hair removal cream industry; therefore we can assume that Veet ® has a market share of 34%.More than half of our respondents who are using razors mainly are very likely to try Veet ® given that there is an attractive sale promotion campaign. With a higher perceive value, there is high potential to convert a portion of the razor users instead of non-hair removal users, to start using / trying Veet ® products. Veet ® Threats Key Performance Factor: Convenience (Appendix 2F) Consumers today are leading increasingly hectic lifestyles and these cause them to regard convenience as the key factor when choosing depilatory products.Consequently razors and blades continued to remain popular among consumers commanding a combine market share of around 40 percent in 2009 with Gillette Venus leading the pack taking 75 percent of the razor market. In addition, as consumers become more sophisticated, they are turning to products that promised a cleaner shave and even opted for products with enhanced functions like moisturizing effect or catered to sensitive skin. This explains why consumers are trading up other depilatories for Veet ® air removal cream which sees it clinching the top position with nearly 34 percent of the depilatory market share. However, there is still a large part of consumers who are still unaware of the convenience in using Veet ® which is well reflected in our primary research. We saw that 70 percent of the surveyed razor users have never use Veet ® before and hence have no knowledge about its convenience. Strong Price Competition from other Razor Brands The relatively low price of the Bic Soleil Shimmer Clic compared to other brands saw the fastest growth in 2009.We attributed this trend to the slowing down of the economy last year. The treat is not high since the sophistication and affluence of consumers would invest in a more functional depilatory with the recovery of the econ omy. Summarized SWOT Analysis Below is a SWOT diagram summarizing Veet ®  ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s internal and external analysis: Section Three: Targeting, Positioning, Objectives Setting, Budgeting 3A. Key Marketing Problem From our situation analysis, it is clear that while there is high awareness level for Veet ® hair removal cream.Being a market leader in the depilatories, Veet ® has generated adequate awareness for its hair removing products. However, Veet ® must compete mainly with razor product brands such as Gillette. The main threat that is stopping Veet ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s growth is that target market do not perceive Veet ® as convenience as razors. There is a need for our campaign to address this misconception about Veet ®  ®, and to further strengthen Veet ® positioning with the product benefit that razor product cannot achieve- benefit such bladeless solution to stubble free skin.Overall, the management team of Veet ® wants to find out: â€Å"What should be changed abo ut the current marketing efforts to increase the sales of Veet ® hair removal cream? † In our research to help Veet ® in this management decision issue, we will be looking into the following marketing research problem: â€Å"How can Veet ® promote trial of its hair removal cream in the hair removing market through a promotional campaign? † 3B. Segmentation of the Women’s Depilatories market in Singapore This research segments the women’s depilatories market in Singapore using a behavioural segmentation base.We have divided the market into several segments according to the frequency of using razors and the frequency of using Veet ® hair removal cream, as seen in the perceptual map in Appendix 3. The different segments as follows: 1) The Bladers: Heavy razor users who have never used Veet ® hair removal cream before. 2) The Biased: Relatively heavy razor users who use Veet ® only on special occasions such as parties. 3) The Balancers/Switchers: U sers of both razors and Veet ® . These consumers have no loyalty to either method and switch easily. ) The Professionals: High frequency Veet ® users who use razors occasionally to ensure better hair removal effect 5) The Cavemen: Non-users of hair removal products. These are hairy ‘monsters’ who have never shaved and also includes those who are ‘hairless’ and do not need to shave. 6) The Un-conventional: Non-users of razors and Veet ® but who are users of other hair removal methods such as waxing and lasers. 7) The No Bleeders: Our Veet ® lovers. 3C. Our Target Market Out of the different segments, we have decided to select ‘The Bladers’ as our target market for Veet ® hair removal cream.This is primarily due to the relative ease of conversions of ‘The Bladers’ into users of Veet ® hair removal cream, as compared to ‘The Cavemen’ who are non-users of hair removal products. ‘The Bladers’ alread y have a desire to remove hair, whereas â€Å"The Cavemen† do not even see a need to remove hair. This was based on our survey results, where we found out that there is quite a low percentage, 18%, of non-users who are willing to use hair removal products in the first place (Appendix 2D).However, there is a much more optimistic percentage, 58%, of current users of shavers who are likely or very likely to try hair removal creams since they already have a desire to remove body hair (Appendix 2E). Moreover, the market size for current users of razors is 32. 8% (Appendix 2C) while that of current non-users of hair removal products is only 18% (Appendix 2B). With a larger market, there is a greater potential to tap upon in the current market for users of razors. In addition, we did a targeting specified by personification for ‘The Bladers’.This person would represent the typical non-Veet ® user whom we hope to convert into a Veet ® user. Her profile is seen below: * Name: Rachel Quek * Age: 27 * Occupation: Marketing Executive * Hobby: Loves shopping, online shopping, going to the beach, clubbing, social networking * Personality: Fun, image-conscious, highly regards others’ opinions on her appearance, has a fear for pain * Shopping behavior for personal product: Loves trying products before deciding to buy * Current hair removal method: Uses Gillette Venus because of convenience * Monthly expenses on personal grooming: $300 Time spent on personal grooming daily: 2 hours on weekdays, 3 hours on weekends * Dressing habits: Frequently in dresses and above-knee skirts 3D. Positioning Statement Our positioning statement is: For women in Singapore who currently shave, who now seek a painless, smoother & longer-lasting hair removing effect; Veet ® is a bladeless hair removal product that moisturizes your skin – a total beauty experience that no woman should miss out on. 3E. Objective SettingThere is already high awareness of Veet ® hair removal cream in the women’s depilatories market in Singapore, with 95% of the market being aware of it (Appendix 2A). Yet, only 27. 9% of the market uses it (Appendix 2C). Through the implementation of our one-year campaign, we hope to be able to see an increase in this market share as we move ‘The Bladers’ up the Hierarchy of Marketing Communication Effects (HEM) from the ‘Awareness’ to ‘Trial’ stage (Appendix 4). However, ‘The Bladers’ currently either have no expectations or have a bad expectation of Veet ® where they think that it is inconvenient to use (Appendix 2F).For those who have no expectations, we want to push them to try our product through samples, creating expectations of convenience and pushing them to eventually buy since they have the assurance from trying the product first hand. For those who have poor expectations of the product being inconvenient, we need to give them samples to change this att itude and also further push them to buy our product. We have thus established our campaign objectives below: 1) To see 40 percent of ‘The Bladers’ being exposed to our campaign 2)To have 40 percent coupon redemption among all who received our sample and coupon 3) To achieve 20 percent of our target segment purchasing our tie-in promotion 4) To see 30 percent of the ‘The Bladers’ joining our contest 5) To collect a consumer database from our couponing system for Veet ® ’s future promotional campaigns 3F. Budgeting We will be employing the objective and task method of budgeting so that we can clearly specific what role each component of the marcom campaign satisfy for the brand and set the budget accordingly.The overall campaign budget will comprise fully of promotional dollars. The rationale of this decision links back to our objective of moving ‘The Bladers’ up the HEM from awareness to trial and therefore a heavy focus on promotion wi ll be a better plan. We did not specifically allocated portion of the budget for media and public relation (PR) spending since they consist of only a small percentage of the budget. They are still present in the campaign but act as a support for the main promotional campaign. Therefore they will be accounted under the under the promotion budget instead.That explains a 100 percent allocation of the S$400,000 budget to promotion. Promotion Budget Breakdown We strongly believe that it is crucial for our target segment to test our product before they can move from being ‘aware’ to eventually product ‘trial’. To accomplish this objective, the majority of the promotion budget will be devoted to heavy sampling (50 percent of promotion budget or S$200,000). A self created event will constitute one of the channels for distributing our samples and it will cost us S$10,000. We would like to incentivize our consumers as well and therefore 7. percent or S$30,000 will be allocated to a couponing exercise which will overlay sampling. A tie-in promotion with a complementary product will follow so as to induce purchase and further incentivize our consumers. This component will be given S$50,000 of the promotion budget. An online contest will also be running throughout the campaign but due to the relatively low investment involved, it will be weighted at 1. 25 percent only. S$80,000 will also be budgeting for trade allowances for our partner retailer’s involvement in our full campaign as well as slotting allowances given for erecting our point-of-purchase (POP).Our POP will be given S$15,000 in the budget. The remainder of the promotion budget will be assigned to media and PR efforts to drive the promotional campaign. (Please refer to Appendix 5 for full budget allocation) Section Four: Our Promotional Campaign 4A: Allocation of efforts in the overall Integrated Marketing Communication Campaign Advertising – (1% effort) Through our situat ion analysis, we learnt that Veet ® has very high level of brand awareness, and this is mainly pushed by Veet ® advertising efforts.In addition, the target market has relatively little target consumers who have not started doing hair removing procedure, advertising investment will not be effective as the market coverage is significantly lower as compared to putting the investment in converting current razor users. Lastly, given our campaign objective of moving ‘The Bladders’ from brand awareness level to trial level, advertising will not be effective to move the target consumers into actions – by getting them to start trying Veet ® product.However, we will engage trade promotion tools by getting our partner retailer to advertise Veet ® sale promotion to its customers. Personal Selling and Public Relations – (1% effort) As Veet ® belongs to the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) product category, it would unwise for our campaign to invest in sales people to encourage consumers to purchase Veet ® products. Moreover, hair removal procedure is considered a private personal grooming process. Therefore it is difficult to involve ‘The Bladders’ in an open environment for a hair removal demonstration.Little investment will be put into public relations as majority of the target market are aware of Veet ® usage. Direct Marketing – (5% effort) In our campaign, we will be adopting mobile advertising. The customer database will be collected through consumer’s opt in option when they send a SMS (Short Message Service) to obtain a SMS coupon. With the customer details collected, we will direct advertising messages via mobile services in the subsequent promotion campaign. Sales Promotion – (90%) Majority of our investment and efforts will be invested on Sale Promotion.Sale promotion will be the center of our campaign with the remaining IMC tools acting as a supporting role to communicate about the sales promotion to ‘The Bladders’. As consumers have the perception that Veet ® product is not as convenience as razors, the campaign will focus on changing this misperception by allowing ‘The Bladders’ to personally experience Veet ® product. In addition, ‘The Bladders’ will experience the smoother hair removal effects (stubble free), this will help to strengthen Veet ® ’s positioning. Shaping user experiences will be done primarily through sampling.With user experience appropriately shaped, couponing exercise and attractive contest incentives will be used to spur ‘The bladders’ to start trying Veet ® product. With the understanding of how investment will be made in this campaign, following is our proposed promotional campaign for Veet ® . 4B: Our promotional campaign for Veet ® Overview of campaign Our promotional campaign will be primarily revolving around bringing across the mindset of Veet ® hair removal cream as one that is convenient coupled with a plus point of better hair removal results to our target group ‘The Bladers’.The entire promotional campaign duration will be 12 months, and staged in three phases: (i) Feeling the stubbles, (ii) Long-lasting smoothness and (iii) The Veet ® Contest. Phase 1: Feeling the Stubbles Objective: Expose ‘The Bladers’ to our campaign and drive word-of-mouth As we are targeting ‘The Bladers’ who are already experienced customers in the hair removing market, they will be less likely to take notice of the convenience and added benefits of Veet ® if it is done through the mass media channels like commercials, ads or any other imagery that is forced upon them.Thus in ‘Feeling the Stubbles’, we will seek to first roll out the promotional campaign in a subtle manner with heavy sampling also known as tryvertising, by conveying the intended messages based on their experience with our product and also conc urrently incorporate mobile couponing as a piggyback to that to have a best reach to our target group. Diagram 2: Sample & Couponing Sketch The sample we will be giving out is a 30ml Veet ® hair removal cream tube that comes with the brand’s signature perfect touch spatula and tied together with the tube is a double sided information card.On the front side of the information card, it is a surface full of protruded patterns that resemble the stubbles after shaving with a razor following a tagline of ‘Feeling the Stubbles? ’ And on the flipside, it will feature our tagline of ‘Stubbles-Free in 3 minutes’ following our couponing exercise. Diagram 3: Mobile Couponing Process The recipients of the sample will be required to text in to our number with their name and identification number for a mobile coupon.The mobile coupon will then entitle them to a 10 percent discount on a full sized Veet ® hair removal cream at any of the stores of our partner ret ailer and also a contest entry chance. Each mobile coupon will come with a uniquely coded two-dimensional Quick Response (QR) code for tracking the redemption levels and from the codes to track which the efficiency of the sampling mediums deployed. The retailer will be incentivized with every mobile coupon redeemed. Sampling MediumsIn this heavy sampling exercise, we will be distributing our samples through three sampling mediums namely digital media platform, collaborative events and through our partnering retailer. The three mediums are The Sample Store, Corporate Luncheon and in the stores of Watsons. The Sample Store (www. thesamplestore. sg) is a local platform that distributes product samples online. Since its launch in 2008 it has since built a huge database of members both on its website and facebook fansite and still growing its popularity as many recognize it as one that operates on unbiased reviews that are given by members.Members who redeem any samples will receive them via mail. Other than having our samples be placed on the site, we will also want to minimize or prevent any possible clutter of the many different brands and products on The Sample Store. We will be working with the team over there with three additional features. First, we will have our product featured in The Sample Store’s blog as a new sample which members will be able to access directly to this page or link through the main site.Currently the site’s blog maintenance team has an updates indicator of how recent is the blog updated for the ease of members to track new entries. On the blog entry, there will be a link for the readers to direct them to page to grab our sample. Hello Rachel Veet ® Hair Removal Cream Sponsored Link The Sample Store Blog The Sample Store product placement Secondly on the actual product placement page, we will also be having our product be featured in the section of ‘Sponsored Link’ to further minimize the brand and product c lutter in our sampling exercise.Be it on the main page of ‘Samples’ or when members scroll through the pages of samples, the ‘Sponsored Link’ function will come in handy as it is a permanent display on the top of every page that effectively maximizes the chance of reach and redemption. Thirdly, we will also put up a special request to have our product placement be strategically located beside Gillette or any other razor products so as to have a better chance in reaching our target group ‘The Bladers’.Veet ® Corporate Luncheon is a series of collaborative events with the National Skin Centre’s Health Talk aiming at bringing these talks to the premises of 48 companies. These series of lunch talks will be done in a form of registered events in which employees register with the human resources department and there will be a seat limit capped at 50 for each session. During each hourly session, there will be a 40 minutes skin talk by the Nat ional Skin Centre’s dermatologists.Following up will be a 20 minutes product talk and interactive demonstration session by Veet ® whereby the models for demonstration will be picked from the audience. Thereafter, the dermatologists will wrap up the entire talk by testing the skin hydration levels of the models after using Veet ® hair removal cream product. Lunch will also be catered to encourage participants of the talk to clear any doubts regarding Veet ® ’s products while handling out Veet ® ’s samples. Sampling @ Watsons is the main highlight of the three sampling exercises as it is a highly targeted sampling exercise in conjunction with the ones mentioned above.From our primary research it shows that when ‘The Bladers’ want to make any purchase regarding personal care products, Watsons will be their first choice. Thus, to be in line with that, we will be making Watsons our exclusive partner for distributing Veet ® ’s samples acr oss Watsons’ good scalability of 101 outlets islandwide. Also derived from our primary research, we found that there are some complementary products that the razor-users are most likely to use before, during or after shaving. Diagram 6: Determinants of scanner-delivered samplingWith this information, we have designed a scanner-delivered sampling exercise whereby once any of these 6 items (body lotion, tights, sunblock, deodorant, razors and shaving aids) is purchased, a Veet ® sample will be automatically be presented to the customer. To gain retailer’s agreement and cooperation, a heads-on competition with other razors and shaving aids companies will be eliminated by having these two items as an exception. Only with purchase of other items on top of razors and shaving aids, will the customer be entitled the Veet ® sample.In addition to the scanner-delivered sampling conducted, we will be purchasing retail spaces at Watsons to have a point-of-purchase display at th e storefront of Watsons’ outlets. This will allow us to cast a bigger net to reach and expose our target group ‘The Bladers’ to our campaign should they coincidentally fall out of the sampling determinants during our campaign period. Diagram 7: Point-of-Purchase Display The display will be in line with the sampling exercise, seeking to convey the message of convenience being ‘Stubbles-free in 3 minutes’.Wobblers will be attached to the fixture indicating information including the mobile couponing exercise and contest entry chance. The entire Phase 1 sampling exercise will be held in a 4 months period, with the exception of the featured article on The Sample Store’s blog which can be posted up for the entire campaign. Couponing and redemption exercises will be conducted for a 5 months period. Diagram 8: Phase 1‘Feeling the Stubbles’ timeline 4B. Phase 2: Long-lasting Smoothness Objective: Build brand associations of better hair rem oving effect and experience After exposing our target group to the campaign in Phase 1, Phase ‘Long-lasting Smoothness’ will seek to build brand associations of Veet ® as one that provides a the total hair removing effect and experience. To be in line with that, we will be partnering with Vaseline a brand that is known for its long heritage of body lotions and the effectiveness of hydrating skin, bringing a great boost to both brands when seen as complementary products. Together, we will be offering a tie-in promotion bundle which includes a 400ml Vaseline body lotion and 100ml Veet ® Hair Removal Cream.Diagram 9: Vaseline and Veet ® bundle Pricing of the bundle will be at $15. 90, strategically seeking it to be lower than a separate purchase of either items and also importantly be lower than that of a combined purchase of razors or razor refills and Vaseline body lotion altogether. Based on the respondents of Phase 1, we will be deploying a closed-loop marketing tactic whereby we will be sending text messages to the people who redeemed our coupon in Phase 1 to inform them of the tie-in promotion.Similar to the point-of purchase display in Phase 1, we will be purchasing retail spaces at Watsons to have a point-of-purchase display at the storefront of Watsons’ outlets in addition to the closed-loop marketing text messaging. This will allow us to cast a bigger net to build brand associations of a total hair removing effect and experience to our target group ‘The Bladers’ should they not be in time to redeem our coupons during our couponing period. The same point-of-purchase fixture will be used from the previous occasion to lower costs.Wobblers will be attached to the fixture will be changed now to indicating information Diagram 10:Bundle Point-of-Purchase Display including the 15 percent savings with the special bundle pricing drawing comparison with its usual price, reinforcement of a total experience of long-lasting smoo thness and a contest entry chance. Bundle packages will also be concurrently placed on Vaseline’s shelves. Cards regarding contest information will be slotted in the bundles. The entire Phase 2 tie-in promotion will be held in a 4 months period after the sampling and couponing exercise of Phase 1.Diagram 11: Phase 2‘Long-lasting Smoothness’ timeline 4C. Phase 3: The Veet ® Contest Objective: Drive trial and traffic to Veet ® Singapore Facebook page. Build brand excitement and buzz Phase 3 of the campaign will act as a overlay campaign to both Phase 1 and Phase 2. To effectively drive product trial and building brand excitement, a Veet ® Singapore Facebook fanpage will be set up as currently Veet ® do not have any adoption of social media locally. Diagram 12: Contest Card SketchWhen the recipients of the samples make a purchase using the mobile coupon in Phase 1, purchase a bundle in Phase 2 or making a regular purchase after the 2 phases, the retailer wil l be handing out contest cards for every purchase. On the flipside of the contest card, it will visibly tell recipients that they have won one chance to ‘The Veet ® Contest’ by entering the scratch code on the contest card on Veet ® Singapore’s Facebook fanpage. Every additional purchase will entitle them an additional chance in becoming the grand winners of the contest.Diagram 13: Veet ® Singapore Facebook fanpage In addition, by liking Veet ® ’s page will entitle the contest participants 5 more winning chances to the contest. The top 3 winners of the contest will walk away with a $500 Watsons Gift Vouchers each and there will also be 5 winners who will walk away with a year’s supply of Veet ® hair removal cream as consolation prizes. Such information will also be detailed on the Facebook fanpage. At the end of the entire contest, announcement of contest winners will also be conducted via the Facebook fanpage.Phase 3 will be held as a sup porting role in the entire 12 months period, concurrently with Phase 1 and 2. Diagram 14: Phase 3‘The Veet ® Contest’ timeline Section Five: Conclusion 5A. ROMI and CLV (Appendix 6) Retail price of Veet ® hair removal cream is at S$10. Our profit margin for the product is at 40 percent or S$4. We will take annual discount rate to be at 12 percent and this will translate to 1 percent monthly discount rate. We are looking at a three tiers conversion model with light users purchasing once in two months, medium users once a month and heavy users twice a month. 1. Phase 1The sampling exercise overlay with couponing will see an estimated 40 percent conversion rate in total out of the sample/coupon given out over the four months. Of the 12,500 potential converts per month, we will be looking at 4 percent becoming heavy users, 16 percent medium users and 80 percent light users. This will transit to a monthly profit of S$32,000 but a negative return of marketing investment ( ROMI) of 56 percent. However, we are projecting a relatively high constant retention rate of the converts at 90 percent for heavy users, 85 percent for medium users and 80 percent for light users.Therefore this will give us a positive customer lifetime value (CLV) of 106 percent. 2. Phase 2 Our tie-in promotion with a moisturizer brand will see a conversion rate of 20 percent. However we foresee that three-quarter of them will be those who used the coupon in Phase 1 and are returning customers. Therefore we are looking at 1,560 new converts per month from the tie-in promotion. Although we will have a negative ROMI of 53 percent in this phase, we will be looking at the same retention rate for all three conversion segment hence getting a positive CLV of 124 percent. . Phase 3 The Veet ® contest will run from the start to the end of the one year campaign and we are expecting purely new converts (not from Phase 1 and 2) only from those who picked up a contest form from our POP at our partner retailers. Since we foresee that a percentage of them would be purchasing for the contest, we lowered their retention rate to 80 percent, 60 percent and 40 percent for the heavy, medium and light converts respectively.Given that our main intention of the contest is to create hype for the campaign and rewarding the real converts who purchase through Phase 1 and 2, we are expecting to see only 310 converts per month which will transit to a slightly positive ROMI of 5. 3 percent and only 25 percent in CLV. 4. Overall The overall campaign will see a conversion of 14,730 users per month and a total of close to 60,000 converts throughout the full one year campaign. Although we will be getting a negative overall ROMI of 55 percent and a slightly high average acquisition cost of S$5. 74 we will be achieving a strong CLV of 107 percent. . Best and Worst Case The best case scenario will see us having 25 percent more conversions from Phase 1, 50 percent more from Phase 2 and Phase 3 an d this will increase the ROMI to -44 percent and CLV to 162 percent.As for the worst case scenario, it will be the reverse having 25 percent lesser in conversions for Phase 1 and 50 percent lesser for Phase 2 and 3 will see us having a negative CLV for both Phase 2 and 3 but an overall CLV of 66 percent. ROMI will stand at negative 64 percent. 5B. Evaluation of Campaign The success of our campaign will depend on meeting our pre-set objectives. To have 40 percent coupon redemption among all who received our sample and coupon * To collect a consumer database from our couponing system for Veet ® ’s future promotional campaigns We can easily track this by tabulating the number of request for the mobile coupons. As the distribution of the samples with the coupons are highly targeted at ‘The Bladers’, we can foresee near to 100 percent of the mobile coupon being redeemed by our target segment. As for the database, when our consumer sends in a message requesting for t he mobile coupon, we would locked in their numbers and consolidate it into a database.This database will be straightaway put to use in Phase 2 of our campaign where we will send them a message informing about the tie-in promotion being offered in our partner retailers. * To achieve 20 percent of our target segment purchasing our tie-in promotion * To see 30 percent of the ‘The Bladers’ joining our contest The numbers for these two objectives can be tracked when our target segment sign up for the contest. When entering the contest on Facebook, they will be asked a simple question regarding when they were first exposed to the product.If they choose either through the tie-in promotion or through the sample with coupon distributed, we would know that they are our target segment ‘The Bladders’. As the contest card comes with a unique code for entering into the contest, a consolidation of the unique codes keyed in for each Phase of the campaign will indicate to u s the number of our target segment who participated in the online contest. * To see 40 percent of ‘The Bladers’ being exposed to our campaign The number of samples given out, coupons redeem and contest details will give us a rough estimate to how many of our targeted segment was in face exposed to our campaign.Appendix Appendix 1: Questionnaire Done Through Online Medium S/N| | Options| 1| Have you heard about the brand Veet ®? | Yes No| 2| Veet ® is product that| ShampooBody WashHair Removal CreamHand LotionNail Protection CreamFeminine Wash | 3| In the last 12 months, have you done any hair removing procedures? | Yes (Go to Qns 5)No (Go to Qns 4)| 4| Will you consider starting removing body hair in the next 3 to 6 months time? | Yes NoMaybe| 5| Which of the following hair removing method do you use dominantly? Razor blade (Go to Qns 6)Hair removal cream Wax Strips (Go to Qns 6)Saloon (Go to Qns 6)Others (Pls Specify: ______________)| 6| What is your reason for usi ng the particular hair removing method? | (Open ended answer)| 7| Given an attractive promotion, would you consider using Veet ® to remove body hair in the next 3 to 12 months? | YesNo (Go to Qns 8)Maybe(Go to Qns 8)|8| What is your reason for not considering using Veet ® to remove body hair? | (Open ended answer)| About Yourselves| | Age| 11 – 1515- 2021 – 2526 – 3031 – 3536 – 4041 – 4546 – 5051 – 55| | Occupation| (Open ended answer)| Amount of time spent on personal grooming daily (Weekday)| | | Amount of time spent on personal grooming daily (Weekend)| | | Amount of money spent on personal grooming monthly| | | Where do you usually purchase personal grooming products? | NTUCGuidanceWatsonVenusProvision ShopsGiantShop and SaveThe Market PlaceOthers (Pls Specify:________________)| | What are some products that you would usually purchase with hair removal product? | (open ended answers)| Appendix 2: Descriptive Survey Resu lts (Important insights) – Total Number of Respondents: 30 Appendix 2A: Graph Showing Awareness Level of Veet Hair Removal Cream 1.Have you heard of Veet Hair Removal Cream? Appendix 2B: Graph Showing market doing hair removal 2. Have you done hair removal before? Appendix 2C: Graph Showing Type of Hair Removal Method Used by Women 3. (For the 82% of women who have removed hair before) which type of hair removal method do you use? Appendix 2D: Graph Showing Percentage of Non-Users on Whether They Will Ever Do Hair Removal 4. Do you think you will ever do hair removal in the next three to six months period? Appendix 2E: Graph Showing Percentage of Razor Users on Whether They Will Use Veet 5. For current razor users) Will you use try using Veet hair removal cream? Appendix 2F: Summary of Reasons of Current Razor Users for Not Wanting to Try Veet 6. (For those who are unlikely to try Veet hair removal cream in Q5) Why not? * Inconvenient (Most responses) * I am unsure of the eff ects of using cream * May not remove all the hair as effectively as razors * Using cream makes my skin dry * More expensive * I am used to using razors already Appendix 3: Segmentation Map of the Women’s Depilatories Market in SingaporeAppendix 4: Graph Showing How ‘The Bladers’ Will Move Up the Hierarchy of Marketing Communication Effects (HEM) Appendix 5: Budget Allocation Appendix 6: ROMI and CLV Bibliography Veet Hair Removal Cream Review, retrieved on 19 October 2010, retrieved from http://www. reviewcentre. com/reviews74276. html Veet Bladeless Razor Review, retrieved on 19 October 2010, retrieved from http://www. viewpoints. com/Veet-Rasera-Bladeless-Razor-reviews Depilatory Industry Overview in Singapore, Euromonitor International: Country Sector Briefting, June 2010, retrieved on 22 October 2010

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

This was an essay for a Work and Society class. Basically, it analyzes literature and work. Specifically poetry and how it can expess core issues surrounding work in North American society.

This was an essay for a Work and Society class. Basically, it analyzes literature and work. Specifically poetry and how it can expess core issues surrounding work in North American society. Work in LiteratureOf all the forms of literature that exist, poetry is possibly the most difficult to compose. Novelists, playwrights, and essayists have the luxury of space in which to develop their plots, themes and characters. Whole pages and chapters can be dedicated to expressing a singular idea. The poet however, must express the theme, mood, and characters of a poem within a very limited structure. Being the shortest and least verbose of any form of literature, the poem is sometimes underestimated by some to be the simplest form of writing. Yet this is not so. Each word within a poem has been chosen for a specific purpose, whether it be to convey a specific feeling or to maintain a theme. When examining the poems presented in the "Work and Literature" module of the class, the reader will see that the poets represented in the readings, were especially conscientious of language.English: Image of "Easter Wings", a "pattern poem"...No word or writing technique was included for aes thetic purposes only, but to enhance the reader's ability to understand what the poet intended to say. Alliteration, metaphor, and onomatopoeia are three such techniques that can be identified within the poems introduced in the readings. Before examining specific poems that contain these three techniques, it is important to consider why a poet would choose to use these techniques when writing about work and work-related issues and how they aid in communicating theses themes.During the first lecture the class was called upon to discuss popular themes in poetry; love, death, and nature were among the responses given. This begged the question of why there were no poems about work, especially when work is a very influential aspect of ones life. However, upon further discussion many reasons for the omission of work as a central theme in literature, specifically...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Gladiaotrs essays

Gladiaotrs essays The Gladiators of ancient Rome are interesting and important in many ways. This paper will touch on four subjects that have to do with the Gladiators. The first subject is the history of first and earliest gladiators and how Gladiatorial fights came to be a part of Roman civilization. The second area is the type of gladiator, which includes the type of armor, weapons, and a little history of each type. The third is the way the gladiator lived and participated in the Roman civilization. The fourth and final is the arenas they fought in, and what types of enemies they had to face. The very first recorded gladiatorial fight was at a burial of Junius Brutus in 264 B.C. His two sons Marcus and Decimus brought back an ancient custom of having slaves fight at the funeral. In which this sacrifice would please the Gods. Three slaves were ordered to fig to the death as many spectators watched. This led to become a large spectator event. As the years rolled on more and more slave fights at the funerals of Romes great leaders appeared. The number of fighters also increased, as well as the number of viewers. This was thought to be a family name inhancer when large fights were held at the mans funeral. By the time of the Great Julius Caesar, all the direct ties to funerals and or religion were gone. These gladiators as they were now called fought to entertain. This was the idea of Caesar to keep the Roman citizens pleased. With much entertainment and suspense the people were living happily, brining the hole family to watch such gruesome events. This was the start of the great gladiatorial battles that Ancient Rome was so popular for. Caesar knew this and took control of all such events held for the public. This made him very powerful and wealthy. The ancient ritual that was for the gods was now for the entertainment of thousands of excited Romans who...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Antebellum Reform Movements

During the years of 1825-1850, the United States went through many changes that impacted the United States’ economy, government, and social life style of many people especially due to the start of the Industrial Revolution. As the United States found conflict with the West as they continue to expand more further to West, the United States also found conflict within their nation with so many reform movements that were occurring in their nation. These reform movements lead many leaders to democratic ideals in the United States. Although not every reform movement was efficient, some reform movements that occur in the United States were more convenient to many citizens and immigrants. Some of the reform movements that sought to expand democratic ideals. For example, the political reform movement specifically the women’s rights reform, which gave more legal and political rights for women, after the Seneca Falls Convention was very convenient to the gender female. Also, another reform movement that impacted the social lives of many was the reform for Abolition, which like many leaders like Frederick Douglass opposed slavery and wanted it to end. In the result, the slaves would find themselves with freedom. Lastly, other reform movements that influenced the social lives of many were Utopian Communities and Education. The Utopian Communities was to create places where it freed many from poverty and greed which many people equal from each other. Also, a reform movement took a step in the United States was Education by stating that public education was available for to everyone under the leadership of Horace Mann, which gave the right for women and children to attend to school for an education.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Reflection on Key Issues in Doing Business in China from a Cross Essay

Reflection on Key Issues in Doing Business in China from a Cross Cultural Perspective. (Russia) - Essay Example Nevertheless, since the collapse of the USSR the two nations significantly improved their relations because they managed to settle the issues of land border by creating cross-border cooperation, controlling illegal migration and setting up vital mechanisms. Background information China and Russia share various similarities but they also have marked differences; for instance, the two countries are large nations because China has a huge population and Russia has the largest territory in the world. The two nations are multi-ethnic and heterogeneous but they are dominated by one group like in China the Han and Russia the ethnic Russians. Currently, the two nations are essential in terms of their economic potential as well as military power; moreover, the two nations are taking pathways toward capitalism. The two nations lack sufficient regulatory environment and have been for many years under the rule of a communist party and in the case of china, the party considers itself above the law . In the two nations, the existing rules and regulations can easily be violated because some written contracts have little value since personal connection along with dyad-based reciprocity prove to be substitutes for reliable institutions. Besides there are differences between China and Russia because China is considered to be a rising superpower while Russia is believed to be struggling to capture the lost glory after being a superpower for more than 50 years. Moreover, the two nations follow different paths toward capitalism with china adopting incremental approach to market reforms while the Russians rapidly replaced central planning system with market-based mechanisms with the aim of developing new market institutions (Buck, Filatotchev, Nolan and Wright, 2000). China has been a renowned success story in implementing reforms and consistent growth because the nation’s annual growth rate in the past two decades exceed 10% and is among the highest in the world. In contrast, Russia changed its position as the second largest economy during the Soviet era to 12 position currently and the country’s GDP growth rate is among the lowest partly because of its stagnated private sector (Wilson, 2004). Over the years, China has come to be recognized as a moderately low risk nation that offers high rates of returns, while Russia risk throughout 1990s was the highest and offered low returns because of privatization of manufacturing firms. Cultural similarities between China and Russia In the Chinese society, family remains the cornerstone with reciprocal obligations being which are not limited to the family and kinship but rather extended to non-kin ties where individuals are expected to help one another fulfil their obligation to family members. In China, individuals tend to prioritize group interests than their own and make decisions that can be detrimental to an individual if the decision is collectively beneficial. However, through my experience collecti vism in china has been misrepresented to be a negotiation for individual interests or well-being, which goes against the assumption that group interests are the best guarantees for an individual. Nevertheless, the Chinese society cultivates strong relations where everyone is responsible for other members within the group. As well, the Russian culture is considered

Friday, October 18, 2019

Too Busy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Too Busy - Coursework Example Quality control evaluation of the new product line is the task of product manager. Attending local trade show featuring new technology products is up to the specialists in technology or/and some of our salespersons who might also establish new contacts there. I would delegate returning phone calls to my secretary or PA asking them to find out all information I should know and report it to me. The reason why I picked up the listed 4 tasks are as follows: doing new employee evaluation is strategically important because I need the right people in my team, so whereas my HR manager will do initial recruiting and selection, the final stage of evaluation before he or she starts working with us would be my responsibility. Reviewing strategic goals for the next two months is certainly something I have to do being a manager. I would also try to make time for meeting my business partner for afternoon golf game because business relationships need to be maintained same as personal ones, and we’re always doing business with people – so have to build relationships with them. And of course I would attend the regular weekly meeting I have been scheduling, although of course this would depend on what exactly the topic of the meeting is. If I skip it, this would give a bad impression to the people present at it, but I can make it shorter if I need to do lots of other

Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Cognitive Functions in Children Research Paper

Obesity, Sleep Apnea and Cognitive Functions in Children - Research Paper Example Obstructive sleep apnea is caused when the airways are significantly narrowed, and again increased neck weight can contribute to this narrowing and the subsequent breathing problems (Chan et al, 2004). Although the links between sleep apnea and obesity are well-researched, the links between impaired cognitive function, obesity and sleep disruption are minimal, although studies have been done comparing two of the above. The article in question (Clark, 2005) illustrates the possible links found between all three of the conditions. The purpose of this paper is to examine the biology behind the research and investigate the possible reasons for the connection. The structure of the pharynx is illustrated in figure 1. From this diagram, it is evident that the windpipe is a narrow structure and any further narrowing could cause a lowered ability to receive sufficient air into the lungs. Obstructive sleep apnea is categorized by a cyclic closing and opening of the pharynx during sleep, which can lead to disrupted gas exchange and disturbed sleep (Strohl, 1996). Evidently, any disruption in sleep is going to cause excessive fatigue/sleepiness, but research suggests that the effects of sleep apnea go beyond this and cause behavioural problems (such as impulse control and hyperactivity) and cognitive deficits. It has been suggested that these are caused by intermittent states of hypoxemia as well as reductions in brain metabolism (Clark, 2005). Figure 1 – Diagram of the neck illustrating the pharynx (Clark, 2005) There are also suggestions that obesity is linked to cognitive deficits. Learning, memory and abstract reasoning were all shown to be lower in people suffering from obesity and hypertension, although the effects were seen in men only (Elias et al, 2003). Despite this evidence, it is unclear whether obesity is a result of or a cause of these impaired cognitive facilities. People who have taken part in cognitive skill building exercises as younger children ar e shown to have less chance of developing obesity as adults (Hill et al, 2003), but this could be partly due to socioeconomic factors. Other suggestions have been made that show that impaired cognitive function is a result of obesity. The glucocorticoids (GC), for example, are implicated. Figure 2 shows the chemical structure of cortisol, an important example in this group of steroid hormones. GCs are found in almost every vertebrate cell, and bind to the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). GCs are important in several areas of the brain, including the hippocampus, the amygdala and the frontal lobes (Clark, 2005). In obesity, individuals may be exposed to an abnormally high amount of glucocorticoids (Masuzaki et al, 2001), and evidently if they play an important role in brain function, obesity could well be a cause of impaired cognitive function. Image 2 – The Chemical Structure of Cortisol (Clark, 2005) Obesity has also been linked to a number of neurological conditions, primarily stroke. A stroke is characterized by a swift loss of brain function because of a blockage or other disturbance of the blood supply to the brain (Clark, 2005). Thrombotic stroke is the most common type of stroke in obese individuals (Clark, 2005). Blood supply in

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Mouth care to reduce ventilator-Associated pneumonia Essay

Mouth care to reduce ventilator-Associated pneumonia - Essay Example However, in most of the patients, the VAP is caused by a combination of organisms. The diagnosis of VAP is difficult, making it difficult to account for VAP incidences. The endotracheal tube increases the risks of VAP by prevention of cough, prevention of upper airways filtering and inhibition of epiglottis and upper ways reflex actions. The most risk patients are patients over the age of 65, with underlying chronic illness. This condition is also prevalent in patients with immunosuppressant and previous pneumonia infection. Oral hygiene The significance of a patient’s oral and nasal hygiene is overlooked in most cases, even though it is the most basic of all the nursing interventions. The use of closed suction system (CSS) contributes significantly to the reduction of these cases (Rello et al., 2010). The mouth is a host of both the normal flora and the pathogenic organisms. Most of the studies advocate the use of chlorohexidine. However, it is important to understand that ov eruse of this oral rinse could result in the reduction of the oral bacterial load. This could lead to the development of chlorohexidine resistant organisms. The common suction program can be used to reduce colonization. The installation of the endotracheal tube prevents the glottis closure. ... Oral hygiene is significant in prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) due to the oral factors, encouraging the colonization of the bacteria (Hutchins et al., 2009). For example, mechanically ventilated patients in neurological and intensive care units are at a higher risk of development of VAP due to factors such as decreased levels of consciousness, dry open mouth and the increased levels of micro aspiration of secretions. Several interventions could be adopted for the prevention of VAP. However, oral hygiene is one of the most important and significant intervention. The oral care includes timed tooth brushing, in combination with the other measures can be effective in the control of this condition. Some of the best practices include education of the staff on the effectiveness of oral hygiene in reduction of VAP incidences. The study should surround the factors surrounding the reduction of colonization and aspiration. In addition, avoidance of unnecessary antibiotics an d nasal intubation in addition to oral hygiene can contribute significantly to the reduction of colonization. Maintenance of a clean healthy mouth through the prevention of plaque buildup biofilm on the teeth helps in reducing the risks associated with the development t of VAP. Oral hygiene care involves the use of mouth rinses, gel or toothbrush in combination to the aspiration of different mouth secretions can increase reduces the risk of infection with VAP. Previous studies revealed that the use of chlorohexidine mouthwash or gelled contributes to approximately 40% reduction in the chances of development of VAP (Reagan, 2011). Some of the best practices include education of the staff on effectiveness of oral hygiene in reduction of VAP

Frederic Chopin's Contribution to Music Research Paper

Frederic Chopin's Contribution to Music - Research Paper Example Although he got tuition from numerous famous teachers, Chopin was fundamentally a self-taught pianist whose heretical and highly individual technique contributed to the manner in which he composed. Because of his unique talent, Frederic Chopin is recognized as a great improviser and one of the main figures in nineteenth-century classical music and the Romantic period even if he transcribed his extempore inventions-often with some difficulty (Chen 2). In addition to a pianist, his talents were beyond emulation and had an effect on other musicians exclusively as compared to the number of his performance, for instance, he performed only 30 public performances in his 30 years as a performing artist. As a result, no artist has come before, and after him has had several important works of the piano’s repertoire, or captured its soul. Therefore, in order to understand the logic behind his life, one should learn Frederic Chopin's contribution to music as compared to other artists of h is time. Chopin's musical production was entirely dedicated to his preferred instrument, the piano; therefore, at his dearth at the age of 39, Chopin’s influence on music and his effect on later authors were massive. For example, pianists currently play their music under the influence of Chopin as a great pianist, hence, a pianist without Chopin’s music is not nor recognized as a pianist, and is absurd. This is compared to English literature without Shakespeare or the Italian renaissance without Michelangelo. Thus, if Chopin had not live, there would be no Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, or even Debussy; moreover, Brahms' piano music would not be what it is currently (GagneÃŒ  76). ? 76). There are several motives that make pianists love Chopin's music, which include Chopin’s music satisfies and rewards, also the payoffs are big; in addition to that, studying it as well as breaking it down has its own recompenses as well. Moreover, Chopin’s music pleases a wide range of listeners because it is easily available and beautiful at all levels. Several pianists like Liszt’s works though advanced cannot compare their work with that of Chopin because he was the poet of piano and no artist has ever existed like him because their work lack the beauty of Chopin. Another benefit definite to Chopin’s own music is that Eigeldinger has been capable of using Chopin’s handwritten notations to verify that the tempo signs on the engraver’s manuscripts of his two books of Etudes were undeniably in his own hand. This matter of massive significance to pianists, and one had been under some discussions (Bellman 622). Generally, Chopin produced various diverse types of piano pieces, which were often used by other composers despite the fact that he created his own form of music that were original and of high standard. some artist have tried to copy Chopin’s work, for example, Beethoven’s greatest work lies on the manner in which rewrote the piano sonata in which he did only the sonata for solo piano. On the other hand, Schubert wrote something close to Chopin because he typically stuck to sonatas but also had impromptus and moments musicals, shorter and freer works whereby he at times took a musical form that already existed and reworked

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Norwegian Cruise Lines Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Norwegian Cruise Lines - Case Study Example In case of NCL, multifactor productivity measure is used. Yes, productivity measurement is extremely essential for NCL in order to judge the efficiency and effectiveness of the renowned brand in the market. Along with this, it also helps to determine the cost effectiveness and return on investment of the organization of a specific financial year that might be used for the planning the level of investments for the next financial year. Other than this, with the help of multifactor productivity measure, we might also judge the requirements of innovative technology and equipments to cope up with the changing trends of the market. By doing so, it might prove effective for NCL to enhance its financial position and brand image in the market among other rivals of the market. In order to make the customers fully satisfied, NCL tries to offer varied types of service packages. It helps in improving the reliability and trust of the customers over the brand resulting in amplification of the entire portfolio and revenue as well. Keeping these dreams in mind, NCL tries to offer fleet-wide services, cabin service, room service, dining service and bar services to its customers. It is done to enhance its image and position within the minds of its customers so that they might return again and again in long run. Other than this, the charge of fleet-wide tipping is very low and affordable for all and so it is highly preferred. Apart from this, varied other services are also offered by NCL like, guest services, hotel services, technical support services along with shopping services for the customers as well. Moreover, extremely beautiful casino services are also offered by NCL to its customers to retain its image within the minds of the customers. Hence, due to the presence of such wonderful service package facilities, NCL is highly preferred by maximum extent of the customers in the entire market. The competitive priority of NCL is to remain reputation

Frederic Chopin's Contribution to Music Research Paper

Frederic Chopin's Contribution to Music - Research Paper Example Although he got tuition from numerous famous teachers, Chopin was fundamentally a self-taught pianist whose heretical and highly individual technique contributed to the manner in which he composed. Because of his unique talent, Frederic Chopin is recognized as a great improviser and one of the main figures in nineteenth-century classical music and the Romantic period even if he transcribed his extempore inventions-often with some difficulty (Chen 2). In addition to a pianist, his talents were beyond emulation and had an effect on other musicians exclusively as compared to the number of his performance, for instance, he performed only 30 public performances in his 30 years as a performing artist. As a result, no artist has come before, and after him has had several important works of the piano’s repertoire, or captured its soul. Therefore, in order to understand the logic behind his life, one should learn Frederic Chopin's contribution to music as compared to other artists of h is time. Chopin's musical production was entirely dedicated to his preferred instrument, the piano; therefore, at his dearth at the age of 39, Chopin’s influence on music and his effect on later authors were massive. For example, pianists currently play their music under the influence of Chopin as a great pianist, hence, a pianist without Chopin’s music is not nor recognized as a pianist, and is absurd. This is compared to English literature without Shakespeare or the Italian renaissance without Michelangelo. Thus, if Chopin had not live, there would be no Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, or even Debussy; moreover, Brahms' piano music would not be what it is currently (GagneÃŒ  76). ? 76). There are several motives that make pianists love Chopin's music, which include Chopin’s music satisfies and rewards, also the payoffs are big; in addition to that, studying it as well as breaking it down has its own recompenses as well. Moreover, Chopin’s music pleases a wide range of listeners because it is easily available and beautiful at all levels. Several pianists like Liszt’s works though advanced cannot compare their work with that of Chopin because he was the poet of piano and no artist has ever existed like him because their work lack the beauty of Chopin. Another benefit definite to Chopin’s own music is that Eigeldinger has been capable of using Chopin’s handwritten notations to verify that the tempo signs on the engraver’s manuscripts of his two books of Etudes were undeniably in his own hand. This matter of massive significance to pianists, and one had been under some discussions (Bellman 622). Generally, Chopin produced various diverse types of piano pieces, which were often used by other composers despite the fact that he created his own form of music that were original and of high standard. some artist have tried to copy Chopin’s work, for example, Beethoven’s greatest work lies on the manner in which rewrote the piano sonata in which he did only the sonata for solo piano. On the other hand, Schubert wrote something close to Chopin because he typically stuck to sonatas but also had impromptus and moments musicals, shorter and freer works whereby he at times took a musical form that already existed and reworked

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 was due to an aggressive German foreign policy which had been waged since c.1900 Essay Example for Free

The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 was due to an aggressive German foreign policy which had been waged since c.1900 Essay How far do you agree with this opinion? Explain your answer using the evidence in Sources V, W and X and your own knowledge of the issues relating to the controversy. It’s debatable whether Germany’s foreign policy created long term tension which led to the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914. The argument commonly raised is whether this movement was aggressive or defensive and how this stemmed from c.1900. Berghahn’s representation argues that it was both domestic and foreign policies which led to war however not from as early as c. 1900. Blackburn’s representation counters this and states it was in fact international tensions prior to c.1900 which created the war; despite the fact it states their actions were defensive. Lastly Moses’ representation suggests it was not just Germany to blame and Austria were also partly responsible. Berghahn’s argument is the strongest as it has a clear argument and both supports and challenges the claim. Overall it’s clear the outbreak of the war was caused by Germany’s aggressive foreign policy in the long term since c.1900. The strongest representation agrees with the given statement in that the aggressive foreign policy was responsible. Blackbourn states that long term aggression since the 1890s did lead to the war, and that the admiral Tirpitz built the battle fleet, purposely ‘aimed at the British’ suggesting an aggressive attitude. In 1898 a new naval law proceeded through Flottenpolitik by Tirpitz suggesting a larger navy is necessary to defend and prevent war with opposing fleets. This competition with Britain continued and in 1906 the naval race reached a new level when the British created the HMS Dreadnaught, a new battleship which carried 10, 12 inch guns. This suggests long term international tension created through the naval race which stemmed prior to 1900, agreeing with the statement. Secondly Berghahn states that the Army Bill of 1913, had ‘unleashed yet another major conflict’, another aggressive move imposed by the Germans. The Army Bill was created from the Balkans War of 1912 when the Germans aimed to increase troops by 170,000 and although the French and Russians also improved their troops by increasing the length of compulsory service; the entente powers were also rapidly developing. This supports Blackbourn’s representation through the long term aggression methods originally developed to protect themselves, which could be seen either aggressively or defensively. However by 1913 it was apparent a war was near which indicates an aggressive plan to defend. Lastly Moses’ representation suggests that Germany planned to ‘unleash a war’ only a month previous to the Sarajevo murder. This overall indicates only to a short term planned aggression which both agrees and challenges the claim. The Schlieffen plan supports this idea, acting as the first aggressive move played by the Germans in 1914. This attempted to remove France before Russia mobilises to further help Germany when the war proceeded. Moses representation supports the idea of an aggressive German foreign policy however only from a much shorter time scale. To summarise Blackbourn’s idea of long term aggression is the strongest representation out of the three, due to support from other sources as well as further evidence. Another viewpoint is that of Berghahns, which suggests that Germany used the ‘escape forwards’ plan as a way of solving all domestic issues and thus being able to resolve foreign issues too. ‘The diplomatic isolation of Germany which started in 1904 had worsened the generals could only think of further rearmaments expenditure as a remedy’. Germany had many domestic problems which led to them being divided both politically and socially. Unemployment was high in Germany at this point and the industrial revolution also meant that strikes were occurring often. And in 1912 election the SPD challenged the Elites, which led to further division within society. These domestic issues involved over time which suggests that Germany were looking for a way out of their isolation, however it challenges the claim as this result wasn’t intentionally violent. Moses’ representation counters this as he states it was more so international tensions which caused the controversy , the shorter time period mentioned of summer 1914 also suggests that the domestic reasons had little or no involvement behind the planning as they had stemmed prior to this. The weakening of the Triple Alliance supports this and shows the tension between Austria /Hungary and Germany. Blackbourn’s representation agrees with Berghahns and states that ‘they would have preferred to get what they wanted without war’ and also that Tirpitz ‘professed peaceful intentions’ regarding the battle fleet. This suggests all aggressive actions were completed in a defensive manner in order to protect and maintain Germany. Blackbourn agrees that all Germany wanted was peace however the only way they managed this was through war. Overall it’s clear that part of Germany’s intentions were for resolving domestic problems; however it’s debatable that this wasn’t the primary reason for Germany’s outbreak of war in 1914. The final viewpoint of Moses suggests that it was the role of other powers and primarily Austria and Hungary. The friction between the two allies persisted during the entire war and ‘flared up every time there was a military crisis’ Immediately before the war the heir to the Austrian throne Franz Ferdinand was shot by a member of the Serbian Black Hand gang, this conflict between Austria and Serbia increased when several ultimatums issued by Austria were declined. This assassination in Sarajevo was the breaking point and the last stage before war broke out. Berghahn agrees and suggests that Germany felt isolated and encircled and that ‘the weakening of the position of the Dual Alliance’ caused another major conflict. The friction initiated from the feud in the Balkans which challenges the claim as this occurred only in 1912. However the alliance between Germany and Austria was created in 1879. The Balkans war caused a lot of new conflict and increased old friction, emphasising the time for war was near. This suggests that it was Germany’s aggressive foreign policy which led to the war, but also the role of international aggression too. Blackbourn’s representation strongly agrees with Moses and states that ‘German actions going back to the 1890s had done much to create international tension’. This agrees with the claim that not only was it a long term aggression but also that it was mainly international. Although a few years later, this is supported by the Moroccan Crisis which saw tensions rise between France and Germany who fought for half a dozen years over the possession of Morocco. Germany failed numerous times at claiming the country despite many aggressive attempts. Overall its clear many viewpoints believe that Germany wasn’t singly responsible for the aggressive outbreak of war in 1914 and much evidence prior to c.1900 supports this. To conclude it’s clear that Blackbourns main argument of an aggressive outbreak due to Germans foreign policy is the most supported response. Both Moses’ and Berghahn’s representations support this claim and argue that although Germany had many domestic problems these weren’t the factor which led to the outbreak of war in 1914.