American Accent Training by Ann Cook

American Accent Training by Ann Cook and published by Barrons provides a self-study course that is sure to improve any advanced level students pronunciation. This course includes a course book and five audio CDs. The book includes all the exercises, quiz material and reference material that are found on the audio CDs. In this way, learners follow their course by reading, listening and repeating materials that are oral in nature, but also provided in print. The course takes what is termed a pure-sound approach to learning standard American pronunciation. To put it simply, this course focuses on learning the music of English as it spoken in the USA. The stress-timed nature of English is put emphasized with correct intonation, stress, and liaison used to develop natural sounding speech patterns. These speech patterns are then combined with a specific vowel and consonant patterns in a connected speech in exercises which lead to improved, natural American sounding, pronunciation. Here is a rough overview of how American Accent Training is developed: Introduction to American IntonationThis section helps the learner become aware of the music of English as it is spoken in America. Students learn about intonation and liaison.Refining your pronunciation - specific pronunciation problems including various vowel and consonant sounds.Nationality Guides - these guides help specific nationalities with particular problems arising from their linguistic background. The nationality guides include:ChineseJapaneseSpanishIndianRussianFrenchGermanKoreanPeriodic diagnostic analysis and continuing review and expansion throughout the package A Nice Extra Feature For those studying American Accent Training on their own, a toll-free telephone tutoring number or the website at http://www.americanaccent.com provides a referral to a qualified telephone analyst. The diagnostic analysis is designed to evaluate your speech patterns to let you know where your accent is standard and nonstandard. American Accent Training is a wonderful package that will surely help those who really want to improve their pronunciation. It is very thorough, and although presented in a light-hearted manner, American Accent Training presents a serious tool for advanced English speakers and ESL students determined to learn to speak with an American accent. I would highly recommend this package only to learners who live, or want to live, in the United States or Canada. Furthermore, learners should also be advanced level readers to be able to truly take advantage of all this package has to offer. If you are a casual English learner, or interested in English for taking holidays or communicating with other non-native speakers, this package is probably too extensive for you. However, if you DO want to sound like an American, then this package is sure to provide you with all the tools you need.

Personal Statement My Personal Philosophy Essay

Introduction In life, we all are on a journey and have some goals. However, how we arrive and achieve goals varies from person to person. From a young age, most of us are taught right from wrong, but it is when we mature and start having more independence that our morals and ethics are put to the test. Everyone has an ethical boundary which will never change regardless of a financial, professional, or career situation. Personally, my personal credo is unique to me because of various situations and events I have gone through in my own journey. Every minute of life defines who you are and who you will be. Because of various events and how I was raised, I have unique characteristics and qualities that I hold onto regardless of where life takes me. For one, I am anxious. Personally, being anxious is not always a bad thing. To me, it means always being on my toes and making sure I am prepared for any situation, maybe even being overly prepared. I am anxious to things as little as receivin g my work schedule, to bigger situations like interviews. Another characteristic that I seem to carry with me is caring. Most of the time, people usually associate the word â€Å"caring† to be positive, but that is not always the case. One of the upsides in caring is that I am always putting my best foot forward and trying to give off a good impression of myself. However, a downside to that is that I care about people’s opinions about me too much regardless of the persons character themselves.Show MoreRelatedPersonal Statement : My Personal Leadership Philosophy1439 Words   |  6 Pages A supervisor once sat with me as we went over my annual performance evaluation and he said to me â€Å"not only do you have the qualities of a leader, but you also have charisma, Donna, and I don’t see that in people too often†. Honestly, at the time, I didn’t even know what that meant. Not only did I not know what charisma meant but I had no idea what that statement meant or should mean to me. Those words stuck with me though and I often wondered what he really meant and sometimes still do. Read MorePersonal Statement : My Personal Philosophy Of Education1193 Words   |  5 PagesMy philosophy of education is that every child should receive high quality education that is inclusive, relevant and meaningful to their life. I am a firm believer of making pedagogy relatable to my students. My vision is driven by my personal experiences with the American school system. I was what is thought of as â€Å"A child at risk†. I am an immigrant, black, Muslim student. My life is complex as I am a part of multiple marginalized groups. Most of my teachers looked at me in a pity way. 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I became a teacher because teaching gives me a chance to help kids grow and develop a love for learning, instead of a loathing for school. I want to be a teacher because I want to make a difference. I will make a positive impact on my student’sRead MorePersonal Statement : My Leadership Philosophy923 Words   |  4 Pages1. My definition of leadership is having someone that is willing to put personal desires aside in order to help a team reach a common goal. No matter how hard and frustrating goals, projects and missions will become, a true leader will do everything in their power to help lift up, challenge and motivate a group to reach the final end product. 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To What Extent Have Uk Prime Ministers to Become ‘Presidential’ Free Essays

In the UK, there is hot debate as to whether the Prime Minister is actually a President. Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq is one of biggest examples in recent history of this theory as he did it because he thought it was right. However, some still say that the Cabinet is where the true power lies. We will write a custom essay sample on To What Extent Have Uk Prime Ministers to Become ‘Presidential’? or any similar topic only for you Order Now One example of the growing tendency of the UK Prime Minister’s to be more ‘Presidential’ is how the growth of spatial leadership has become more prevalent in recent years. Prime Ministers now tend to distance themselves from Cabinet and be their own ruler of government. They also tend to get entire ideologies named after them such as Thatcherism or Blairism (after Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair). Prime Ministers also tend to be more ‘with the people’ than with their party. In conjunction with this, personalised election campaigns are becoming more common during General Elections. More and more focus is heaped upon the party leaders (for example, David Cameron versus Gordon Brown rather than the Conservatives versus Labour) and they become a sort of brand image. Closely related to this is the fact that Prime Ministers are now claiming personal mandates on their own personal election success rather than a party mandate. However, Cabinets still hold an enormous amount of power over their Prime Minister. Prime Ministers require the support of their ministers or they risk a party revolution and replacement. For example, Margaret Thatcher lost the support of her Cabinet in her third term and was eventually replaced by John Major. This shows how much power Cabinet can wield over Prime Ministers. Also, the Prime Minister’s power is linked to the backing of the so-called ‘unsackable’ ministers in Cabinet. These ‘unsackable’ ministers are ‘unsackable’ as they have their own little faction in the party behind them to support them in any issue over their ability. For example, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did not have the best personal relationship but Gordon Brown had a cadre of support behind him and his skills as Chancellor of the Exchequer was respected so he was an ‘unsackable’ minister. This continues to show that the Cabinet has power over the Prime Minister and can sometimes force their hand on certain matters. Overall, Prime Ministers do tend to have more power than before. This does coincide with the theory of Presidentialism but it would be wrong to say that the UK is a Republic and not a Parliamentary Democracy. The Cabinet still wields power over government proceedings and the Prime Minister. Therefore, there is a certain extent of ‘Presidentialism’ but not enough to call it decisive at all. How to cite To What Extent Have Uk Prime Ministers to Become ‘Presidential’?, Essay examples

Religious Influence in Western Civilization Sample Essay Example For Students

Religious Influence in Western Civilization Sample Essay Religion plays a large influential factor in the development of the western civilisation. A major impact to this development is how Christianity transformed the Roman Empire. The church started in Jerusalem with the 12 apostles chiefly making missional work. and Christians like Paul were witnessing to God-fearers. people who admired Judaic monotheism but thought the Judaic jurisprudence was excessively demanding. Paul explained that they could idolize the same God without the Judaic jurisprudence. and during this clip of sharing the Gospel. Christians were being persecuted on and off by emperors such as Roman Emperor Nero. It became a worse concern for Christians as Emperor Diocletian called for the first systematic persecution of Christians during his opinion. These were tough times for Christians. but they stayed faithful to there faith and to God. Soon Christianity was made legal and was made the lone legal faith in the Roman Empire at the clip. This shows how Christians shaped th e Roman Empire from being hated and persecuted to doing Christianity the lone legal faith in the Roman Empire. After the autumn of the Roman Empire in 476 A. D. . spiritual integrity was lost. Many different faiths other than Christianity start to go popular such as Islam. Judaism. Buddhism. and Hinduism. These faiths shaped peoples lives since each of them had there ain set philosophy or certain regulations to populate by. This diverseness of faiths later causes many struggles as many of the faiths defend what they believe. Besides. Christianity starts to acquire twisted around to going more of an important figure to people. The church going an important figure is represented when Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor. This was a milepost in history because he was the first emperor of the West in three hundred old ages. and technically. the eastern emperor can merely do the determination of coronating the western emperor. Besides. when King Edward the Confessor died. he needed person to take over his thrown. The Catholic Church favored William of Normady so he was considered in the mix of who would take over the thrown. These state of affairss show that faith was used for power and authorization after the autumn of Rome. Religion influenced the development of the Western Civilization in what faiths were practiced. how people’s lives revolved around faith. and how faith was being misused as clip went by.

The theme of the wild animal and interaction between women and animals

Great Expectations Essay

Great Expectations Essay Great Expectations Essay Great Expectations Essay Writing Great Expectations essay you should not ignore the importance of keeping the standard academic format.   It means that your Great Expectations should open with an introduction followed by a detailed body and end with a concise and relevant conclusion.   Below is the short sample Great Expectations essay. If you want to have an essay written especially for you, you may order customized essay writing help. Our writers will write your Great Expectations essay in accordance to requirements and instruction provided by you.   No late deliveries and no plagiarism! writers are responsible and educated. Check our writing guide for free sample essays and term papers. Great Expectations Essay Sample The distinctive comedy in Great Expectations is the result of the multitude of collisions. The major collisions shock Pip into realizing that he is an intruder. The pervasiveness of collisionscharacters battering each other with their private languages, objects senselessly asserting themselves against each other, parts of bodies assaulting one anothercreate the real anxiety. The distinctive terror in Great Expectations comes from the discovery that the world in which Pip finds himself an intruder is not homogeneous, that the forces directed against him are infinite and infinitely different. Dickens did not sustain his comic terror to the extent of any of the more modern writers I am discussing, probably because he was much more optimistic about the possibilities for social progress. Yet what makes Great Expectations far more than a piece of social satire is that he so thoroughly interrelated the social and natural orders, showing them both to be parts of the same capricious and heterogeneous process. There is no way of telling whether Pip's nightmare is reality or his response to reality, whether it is the result of an unjust and menacing social system or whether the social system is unjust and menacing because of natural human drives. Miss Havisham, the weird goddess figure who proves not to be a goddess; Magwitch, the figure of natural and social menace who turns out to embody Fortune; Orlick, the figure of irrational evil, brought to life, as it were, by the accident of Pip's continuing good fortune; and Joe, the figure of unreasoning goodnessall collide with Pip as members of society, but they are also projections of Pip's natural desires and possibilities. Some of the most important collisions in the novel externalize conflicting inner drives, and these are related to collisions in the outer reality of Society and Nature. Pip is so entangled in and excluded from such a thoroughly chaotic world that there is no basis for distinguishing between the psychological and the physical, the individual and the social. The two-dimensional point of view is not just the conjunction of youth and age, but of perspectives that are simultaneously rebellious and adjustive. Although the story moves toward the adjustive, a deep sense of the reality he created kept Dickens at first from writing a happy ending. And even in the revised ending, written as a concession to popular taste, there is a strain of ambivalence based on the impossibility of harmony or final adjustment in the world of Great Expectations. Great Expectations Essay: Custom Writing The above sample of Great Expectations essay is written here with the hope to assist you with starting your own essay.   If writing an essay is a real challenge for you, if you do not want to spend hours researching and writing, you may freely order professional essay writing assistance at our site.   Our prices are affordable and our writers are truly experienced.   No other site is able to provide you with fully referenced and 100% plagiarism free essay!

Zoo Activity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Zoo Activity - Essay Example Although the other placental mammals had a tendency to live in grasslands, marine and other environments, the adaptive niche for the primates was trees. According to the arboreal hypothesis, this provided numerous challenges and opportunities such as depth perception and binocular vision, climbing by utilising prehensile hands and feet instead of claws, varied diet resulted to omnivorous adaptation and longer life span, increased their intelligence and more elaborate social system which they required to cope with. 1. White-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar) White-handed gibbons are diurnal, natural aerial acrobats and are fairly awkward on the ground. The have long fingers and limbs, special thumbs and strong arms are specialised to the arboreal life in their forest home. Stewart and Harcourt (16-19) noted that as they swing from limb to limb they usually hook their fingers lightly over the branches. When they meet a break in the trees, they have the capability to leap to the next tree up to 25-30 feet away. Their intelligence in locomotion makes them quick and efficient when moving from feeding to escaping from predators. The morphology and behavior of white-handed gibbon With regard to its morphology, the white-handed gibbon lacks a tail and has a throat sac located beneath the chin. The average body mass for an adult is around 5.7 kilograms, and for the female it is around 5.3 kilograms.

AMRICAN Jewish Striggle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

AMRICAN Jewish Striggle - Essay Example At the same time, those from Germany called themselves Ashkenazi Jews (Rosove 50). With the American Independence, the nation granted its citizens freedom which extended to religion. Consequently, Jews had to struggle against members of their community dissenting from their Judaic religion to join among other religious inclinations, Christianity, Atheism and secular ways of life. Jews had to withstand prejudices promoted by the freedom of worship in the United States. Starting from the 1840, American Jews struggled against widespread adoption of American models in their synagogues which threatened their long-held traditions. For example, rabbis began to merge aspects of their religion with Orthodox and Protestant American denominations as others sought to adopt the Reform Judaism (Rosove 52). When the American Civil War began, Jews also found themselves split into Southern pro-slavery and Northern anti-slavery Jews. The ensuing tensions brought anti-Semitic sentiments in America to the fore. In the armies, Jews fought to have their own chaplains until the law was amended to allow this (normally, only Christian ordained ministers occupied this role). In 1872, General Order No.1; an anti-Jewish order called for the expulsion of Jews from General Ulysses Grant’s army regiment. Protests by Jews made President Abraham Lincoln reverse the order (Sarna and Golden). Politics, particularly prior to and after World War II has presented a trying existence for American Jews. The persecution of Jews by the Stalinist regime in Russia, the Nazi regime in Germany and the Holocaust show manifestations of Jewish struggles that account for significant immigration to the U.S (Charters 24). After 1948, American Jews have fought with allegiance and political identity issues around the sense of belonging to the Zionist nation of Israel and the U.S. The Palestinian and Arab World challenge on the

Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Globalization - Essay Example s affected by it; in fact, it can be said that it undermines state sovereignty because decisions that are made have to consider their impact on international affairs (Shimko 192). An example of this is oil-exporting countries that heavily depend on the income from this product to fund their national budgets. If these countries were to act in a way which displeases the international community, then they would be forced to abandon such decisions through the placing of sanctions on their exports. Moreover, because of globalization, many countries have interests in other countries; therefore, to protect these interests, it has become necessary for the powerful to meddle in the political affairs of the weaker ones (Yang170). This has not only made the latter countries lose their sovereignty, but it has also encouraged their overdependence on more developed nations for economic aid. Cultural diversity loosely refers to the variety and differences in race, ethnicity, and class that are present in a society, state, or the world. Different races have diverse cultures or customs; for  example, in a  traditional  Mexican  wedding; there is a  distinct  ceremony  where  a rosary  or  white  rope  is wound around  the  bride  and  groom  to form a number eight.  Languages, cuisine and mode of dressing are also part of cultural diversity notwithstanding the conformity to everyday way of living by people of a certain society (Mueller 71). History profoundly determines these aspects, but they are mostly affected by the environment. This implies the people who develop the cultural resources and control access to the culture itself. While trying to achieve globalization, cultural diversity has developed since the core idea behind it is ‘speaking a common language’. This is because globalization includes transformation of a s patial organization, which in turn means wide-ranging institutional reform institutions formed with a large influence from culture. Many argue that

The No Load Circuit And Short Circuit Characteristics Biology Essay

The No Load Circuit And Short Circuit Characteristics Biology Essay The Ward-Leonard system is a conventional speed control method. It consists of a 3 phase induction machine controlling a separately excited DC generator. The DC generator in turn supplies a variable DC voltage to a DC motor. It is basically a DC variable speed drive [2]. The Ward-Leonard system is shown below in Figure 1. Figure : Ward-Leonard system setup The principle behind the Ward-Leonard system is that the DC generator can actually influence the motor to develop a torque and speed required by the load [3]. Thus the speed of the generator is directly proportional to the armature voltage applied to the DC motor [2]. The output voltage of the DC generator is controlled by adjusting the exciting voltage (field voltage), this then controls the speed of the DC motor [2]. Applications Travelling cranes Lifts Mine hoists Boring machines Table : Ward-Leonard system advantages and disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages Very wide range of speeds High cost Provides step less speed control Low over-all efficiency Experiment Apparatus 2- coupled induction machine and dc motor (as shown below in Figure 2) 4- digital multimeters (DMM) 2- Variac (Excitation field) Tachometer Figure : Coupled induction machine and dc machine Objectives of the experiment Characterise the DC machines and determine the equivalent circuits. Derive the power flow equations between the DC machines in terms of the equivalent circuits. Control the power flow between the DC machines by adjusting the field currents. Then compare the measured results with the expected theoretical power flow. Experiment procedure and setup No-load Test This test was used to determine the armature voltage. Before the experiment began the armature and field resistance were both measured. The Variac (exciter) was then connected to the field port on the DC machine. The Digital multimeter was connected to the armature port on the DC machine in order to measure the armature voltage. The DC machine was coupled to a three phase induction machine which was first turned on to run the DC machine. The setup is shown below in Figure 3. Using the knob on the Variac, increase the field voltage with an increment of 10V ( also increases) and for each case determine the armature voltage. This was done from 0V to the rated field voltage 110V. Now decrease the field voltage to demagnetise the DC machine from 110V to 0V also with an increment of 10V. Note the residual magnetism. Figure : No-Load test setup Short-Circuit Test This test was used to determine the armature current. The same procedure for the No-Load test was followed but in this case the digital multimeter was connected in series in the armature port in order to measure the current. Using the knob on the Variac, increase the field voltage with an increment of 10V and for each case determine the armature current. This was done from 0V to the rated field voltage 110V. The DC machine was demagnetised from 110V to 0V also with an increment of 10V recording the armature current. Ward Leonard experiment This setup was used to determine the power flow between the machines. The two coupled machines were connected together as shown below in Figure 4. A coupled machine is shown in Figure 1. The coupled machines were connected together through the armature. The positive terminals of the armature were connected together and the negative terminals were connected together. A digital multimeter was connected in between the positive terminals of the armature in order to measure the current. Each DC machine was connected to Variac through the field port. Both the Variac machines were turned down to 0V. The two induction machines were switched on both at the same time from the 3 power supply. The Variac knobs were both turned at the same time with an increment of 10V from 0V. This is done up until the multimeter reads 0A. The 0A was obtained at a field voltage of 110V. At this stage the second machine was left constant and the field voltage of the first machine was turned down at an increment of 10V, whilst recording the current and the speed of the machine without exceed the speed of 1502 rpm. A tachometer was used to measure the speed. After that the first machine was calibrated back to 110V, were the multimeter reads 0A. Now the first machine was left constant and the field voltage of the second machine was turned down at an increment of 10V, whilst recording the current and the speed of the machine without exceed the speed of 1502 rpm. A tachometer was used to measure the speed. After this then the practical is complete, the next step is to deduce an equation for the power as a function of excitation (field current) based on the machine characteristics. Then plot the graphs. Figure : Power flow setupC:UsersMashDesktopf.bmp Safety Do not exceed the ratings of the machines and all the other equipment. Switch off the equipment after completing the practical. Results Characterisation of DC machine Table : Armature and field resistance Resistance Before After 7.3 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ 9.8 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ 573 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ 542 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ No-load characteristics G:Machine Pracopennn.bmp Figure : No-load circuit Table : No-load test results Magnetizing Demagnetizing Field volts (V) Armature volts (V) Field volts (V) Armature volts (V) 0 0 1.6 9 10 27.8 10 35 20.8 61.1 20.5 68 30 88.9 30.1 97 40 116.8 38.2 119 50.1 141.1 50.1 148 60.6 165.1 60.1 170 70 181.9 69.5 185 80 196.2 80.4 200 90 209 90.5 211 100.2 218 100.9 220 110.3 227 110.3 227 Figure : No load test results plot The following table shows the calculated field current using the measured field resistance of 573 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦. Table : Amperes in the field coils Magnetizing Demagnetizing Field volts (V) Field Amperes (A) Field volts (V) Field Amperes (A) 0 0.0000 1.6 0.0028 10 0.0175 10 0.0175 20.8 0.0363 20.5 0.0358 30 0.0524 30.1 0.0525 40 0.0698 38.2 0.0667 50.1 0.0874 50.1 0.0874 60.6 0.1058 60.1 0.1049 70 0.1222 69.5 0.1213 80 0.1396 80.4 0.1403 90 0.1571 90.5 0.1579 100.2 0.1749 100.9 0.1761 110.3 0.1925 110.3 0.1925 Figure : DC generator no-load characteristics Comments The graph shows the relationship between the no-load armature voltage and the field current at a constant speed of 1496 rpm. The magnetization curve is a straight line up to a field current of 0.1A, after this point the graph approaches a condition known as saturation, thus any increase in the field current does not result in an increase in the armature voltage. Consequently the demagnetizing plot is above the magnetizing plot, this is due to the residual magnetism and hence the curve begins just above the 0 mark (a little way up). Closed circuit test G:Machine Pracshortt.bmp Figure : Closed circuit diagram Table : Closed circuit results Magnetizing Demagnetizing Field volts (V) Armature current (A) Field volts (V) Armature current (A) 1.7 2.54 1.6 0.21 10.8 3.63 10.7 1.1 20.5 4.52 18.8 1.81 30.8 4.72 29.5 2.64 40 5.54 39.9 3.37 50.9 6.4 50.2 3.93 60.7 5.59 60.8 4.44 70 6.01 70.7 5.05 80 6.1 80.8 5.5 90 6.52 90 5.9 100 6.92 100 6.54 111 7.4 111 7.4 Figure : Short-circuit characteristics Nameplate Information No-load circuit calculations Figure : No-load Fitted-curve This can be written as Using Figure 10 we can use the fitted plot of the no-load saturation curve above to determine the constant. The measured speed is used. From Thus we can calculate: But in practice we can approximate the value of the torque constant Short-circuit calculations Figure : Short circuit fitted plot This can be written as As calculated above Thus by substitution Thus now we can determine the armature resistance Coupled machines (Ward-Leonard system) ) 110.1 110 0.1 1492 1491 0.205224 0.15597 110.1 100 0.15 1492 1492 0.186567 0.212687 110.1 90 0.49 1490 1494 0.16791 0.625299 110 79.9 0.86 1486 1499 0.149067 0.974303 110.1 70 1.22 1490 1498 0.130597 1.210896 110 60 1.59 1480 1499 0.11194 1.352687 110.1 50 2.03 1484 1501 0.093284 1.439179 110.1 40.3 2.45 1484 1503 0.075187 1.399974 Power flow ) 110 110 0.1 1492 1492 0.205224 0.15597 100 110 -0.83 1492 1496 0.186567 -1.17687 90 110 -1.17 1480 1500 0.16791 -1.49306 80 110 -1.56 1470 1500 0.149254 -1.76955 70 110 -2.05 1474 1500 0.130597 -2.0347 60.1 110 -2.25 1483 1502 0.112127 -1.91737 Derivation of power equation Figure : Ward-Leonard system setup Figure : Ward-Leonard system equivalent circuit Now from Figure above we expect that Where (For the generator) (For the motor) (For the generator) (For the motor) Equate equation (1) and (2) Rewrite the equation Now we observe that Let This equation remains the same, it just depends which machine is a generator and which machine is a motor. As mentioned above to determine which machine acts as a generator or motor, we look at the following sign conversion. Conclusion DC machine Characterisation The DC machine characterisation of the generator was successfully done, both the no-load test and the short circuit test were done and all the parameters were calculated. The parameter calculated include the armature resistance which was found to be 6.25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¦ as compared to the measured and the rated armature resistance it is within range ( difference). The characterisation also helps us understand how the dc works; by using the saturation curves we can determine the point where the machine starts saturation and determine the critical resistance. We can also determine information about the machine which would normally be given in the nameplate. Ward-Leonard system and the power flow The power flow equation was successfully derived and found as the equation below The equation was derived from the Ward-Leonard system that was setup in the practical. The practical showed that the power can be controlled between two DC machines using this setup. In the practical the power flowed from the generator to the motor, this was seen through the current having a negative current flowing in one direction and a positive current flowing to the other direction. The practical was successful and it clearly corresponds to the theory. What I leaned The practical was useful in terms of helping us understand the concept of residual magnetism which is the same as in the theory. The practical was also a good representation in terms of how an elevator/lift works.

Getting Rid Of George :: essays research papers

Personal Response to Getting Rid of George Robert Arthur’s story, Getting Rid of George is a good gothic story because of it’s various examples of required gothic elements. These requirements include atmosphere, psychological state of mind, mystery, romance, and melodrama. All of these combined make this story a good gothic example. To begin, the setting, at one point, takes place at a dark secludes cabin in the mountains. Evidence of this is found when Harry describes: "It is absolutely deserted up there at this time of year." As well, the disappearance of George to everyone except Laura and Harry adds to the gloomy atmosphere. Again adding to the gloom and terror of the story is the physical exploitation of cruelty shown by Laura when she repeatedly beats George with a statuette until he lay dead on the floor. Mental exploitation of cruelty is also evident when George returns from the dead and blackmails and once again tries to ruin Laura new found life. We found clear examples of an atmosphere of gloom and terror throughout this story proving that Getting Rid of George is a well written gothic story. Along with a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere, Arthur uses the element of aberrant psychological states of mind to add to his gothic story. An example of irrational behavior is shown when Laura becomes outraged and spontaneously murders George. We thought, as well, that when Laura suffers a fainting spell is also an example of this psychological state of mind. Evidence of this is found when Arthur writes: "Harry held Laura until the nausea within her subsided." Lastly, hallucinations were also prevalent in the story as well. We thought a good example was when Harry and Laura were bringing George to the cabin to dispose of his body, Laura claims that George’s dead eye slowly opened and gave her a knowing wink. Elements of mystery were also used throughout this story. Many things were hidden or unknown. Some examples are when George walked into Laura’s dressing room disguised as part of the press. His real identity, to Laura, was unknown. Also the fact that Laura murdered George and Harry is planning to help her was kept hidden from anyone and everyone. We also found obvious secrecy and obscurity in the story as well. Laura’s past was kept as a deep secret as it would more than likely hurt her new career as an actress.

How to End a Relationship

Breaking up with someone is never easy†¦. , I know from personal experience. I recently broke up with my boyfriend of four and half years. We really just couldn’t be happy with one another fighting all the time. I really had to sit down and make the dissension it was really hard having to explaining to him that we could never be together and that it would take a while before we will be able to be friends once again. But, did you know that is a lot harder to break up with a guy than a girl.Although it has always been said that women are the sensitive ones. Some reasons are men have stronger emotions are unpredictable. Some men get angry and others beg pleading you to take them back they always you that phrase â€Å" I can change just give me another chance†. there are three simple steps to ending a relationship, such as thinking thoroughly, consulting a friend, and the break up itself, doing what you need to do to end it for good. Step one, you need to think truly h ard about how you feel about that person.You need to search yourself and ask, am I truly happy with this person, do they make me feel special. Then you need to decide on the key reason(s) why you are even doing this. Its very important to make sure your head is clear before going into anything you yourself is uncertain of. Another thing is you should never breakup with a person out pure spite or being angry, might make a mistake and regret that dissension in the morning. Step two consulting a friend otherwise known as a break up buddy.Its almost necessary to have a break up buddy, because you must be strong not to go back to your ex. If you don’t have a break up buddy or lots of friends ( things to do) then more than likely to go back to your ex for whatever reasons boredom, sex, lonely, but it is crucial to stay strong and to hold your ground. Step three the break up†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦It is so crucial to keep it simple especially for guys its just easier that way for them. You mu st never leave a hint of maybe, this word is dangerous because you are leaving the signal that there might still be a chance between you two.Look at like this you might just end back up with them asking yourself the same thing as you are doing now. In conclusion on how to end a relationship is thinking thoroughly, consulting your breakup buddy, and being a strong person and following through with the break up itself. But some key tips to remember one is breaking up with a person is only as hard as you make it to be, second if you understand that person and how they work then sometimes it can help make the breakup a little less horrible for the both of you.

Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths

ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Graduate School of Business MARKETING MANAGEMENT 555 ASSIGNMENT 2 Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Actual Count: 3624 (Excluding cover, contents and reference pages) Page 0 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 Neural Correlates †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Ethics of Neuromarketing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 8 Free will & Decision-making †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 9 CONCLUSION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 11 REFERENCES:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 Page 1 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Deb unking the Myths? INTRODUCTION Neuromarketing, argues Lee, Broderick, & Chamberlain (2007) is an emerging interdisciplinary field that combines economics, neuroscience and psychology, with Neuromarketing being term just six years ago says Smidts (2002). The goal of neuromarketing suggests Laybourne & Lewis, (2005) and Smidts (2002) is to study how the brain is physiologically affected by marketing strategies and advertising. Brain activity resulting from viewing an advertisement is monitored and measured using neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as shown in Figure 1, and electroencephalography (EEG) is used in order to evaluate the Figure 1 fMRI Image effectiveness of these strategies (Laybourne & Lewis 2005). McClure et al (2004) says neuromarketing studies usually measure preference between products in terms of brand familiarity or product preference. As a viewer may hold a cognitive bias in traditional marketing studies, measures such as the product preference for a particular advertisement is sometimes difficult to measure argues Schaefer, Berens, Heinze, & Rotte (2006). Walter, Abler, Ciaramidaro, & Erk, (2005) suggest in neuromarketing studies, brand familiarity and product preference have been correlated with neural activity. Further, consumer protection groups and academics view the field of neuromarketing with caution due to the possible ethical implications of designing advertisements to intentionally cause specific neurological effects (Commercial Alert, 2003). Laybourne & Lewis (2005) and Smidts (2002) says functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) are intrinsic neuromarketing are neuroimaging techniques and comprise the neuroscience aspect of the field. fMRI requires a participant to lay on a bed, with their head located inside the ring of a scanner. Researchers can measure the neural activity throughout the brain in terms of blood flow via oxygen usage by monitoring the participant? s brain with fMRI. As a contrast for this technique researchers can also use EEG equipment as it is fairly portable and light. Using numerous electrodes that are placed on the articipant? s scalp in a Figure 2 Brain Cap Page 2 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? net-like fashion, as shown in Figure 2, EEGs can measure brain activity by assessing electrical activity at the scalp. Using both behavioural responses as well as neural activations Fugate (2007) says researchers are able to use neuroimaging to monitor and conduct marketing studies of the participant? s response. Fugate (2007) explains neuromarketing as being the process that involves asking subjects to perform experimental tasks and control tasks whilst being wired to various electronic devices. Researchers are able to compare differences in the images produced during the respective tasks as the devices generate instant, colourful images of a working brain. Researchers are then able to see what parts of the brain have responded to the stimuli used (Fugate 2007). Fugate (2007) describes the mechanics behind neuromarketing, as a revolution in the marketing, however, Fugate (2007) has overlooked some critical scientific concepts, specifically the corollary nature to neuromarketing research. Nneuromarketing as a concept suggests Smidts (2002) emerged prior to the word actually being used in 2002, despite suggestions otherwise. Many studies lacked the spatial resolution to make any useful claims as to the mechanisms behind effective and ineffective advertising techniques due to limitations of neuroimaging techniques conducted in the past few decades (Smidts 2002). An example argues Reeves, Lang, Thorson, and Rothschild (1989), is their claim that in an EEG study television scenes with negative content causes activation of the frontal portion of the right hemisphere while positive messages cause greater left hemisphere activity in the frontal region. It is important to note that as only four electrodes were used (in addition to the two reference electrodes) cortical arousal was only monitored in terms of frontal versus occipital (Reeves, Lang, Thorson, and Rothschild 1989). Now days, EEG systems are much more precise and often have up to 256 electrodes to monitor brain activity. Many other studies from the same time period by Krugman, (1971); Rothschild, Hyun, Reeves, Thorson, & Goldstein (1988); Rothschild & Hyun (1990); Weinstein, Appel, & Weinstein (1980) also employ „hemisphere? activations as key findings. Nonetheless, suggest Weinstein et al (1980) it is not the fact that earlier research in „neuromarketing? has been imprecise that is of greatest importance, but rather how quickly the field has evolved over the last few years. Page 3 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? Conditioning & Marketing Two methods are typically employed in neuromarketing research as means of evaluating an individual? s preference between products: product preference and brand familiarity. Product Preference Product preference comparisons involve two known brands or products, which is unlike brand familiarity. Walter et al. (2005) uses an example of male participants being asked to rate a car? s looks regardless of cost and practical requirements, given the choice between a high performance sports vehicle, a midsized vehicle and a small car. Participants ranked the sports car first, followed by the med-sized car, with the small car ranked last. Walter et al (2005) suggested the sports cars as a primary reinforcer for social dominance, representing independence, power and speed. In this example, the sports car acted as a secondary reward. Money or cultural goods are secondary rewards that reinforce behaviour only after prior learning, through associations with primary rewards (innate reinforcers including food, water, and sexual stimuli). The three main functions of rewards as outlined by Walter et al (2005) can: (a) induce positive effect, (b) induce learning via positive reinforcement, and (c) induce consuming behaviour for acquiring the reward. Sports cars are preferred, as seen from the study conducted by Walter et al (2005), as they correlate with primary rewards that we innately seek. They also represents characteristics that we perceive our culture values. Morgan et al (2002), as cited by Walter et al, (2005) say this study was also adapted from a previous study of dominance and social hierarchy involving prime mates. In short, given two identifiable products, preference will be given towards one over the other, which is due primarily to the preferred product having more reinforcing qualities in terms of secondary reinforcers we identify as being relevant at a personally level, as well as to our cultural heritage. (Walter et al 2005) Brand Familiarity Comparisons between amiliar and unfamiliar products are defined as brand familiarity (Campbell and Keller 2003). When a consumer first sees an advertisement for an unfamiliar brand Campbell and Keller (2003) suggest they feel negative uncertainty towards it as it is unfamiliar. However, repetition of an advertising message, argues Campbell and Keller (2003), Page 4 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the M yths? at low levels, decreases this uncertainty and increases the effectiveness. One way that products can earn the trust of the consumer and become more familiar, suggest Fugate (2007), is through the use of celebrity endorsements. Repeated exposures can decrease the effectiveness of the advertisement by annoying the viewer, argues Campbell & Keller (2003), so therefore advertisers must keep in mind not to advertise too much. Consumers can only store knowledge for the familiar, but not the unfamiliar, so repeated exposures for an already familiar product provides more time for the consumer to process the advertisement and their associated experiences from using the product (Fugate 2007). Consumer can become bored and even annoyed more easily for unfamiliar brands as there is less knowledge to process (Fugate 2007). Therefore, for consumers to recognise a new brand entering into the markets Campbell & Keller (2003) suggest they need to be conservative in their marketing efforts by not overdo it. More identifiable brands, such as Pepsi, are able to advertise more often with less concern of annoying their audience argues Campbell & Keller (2003). Neural Correlates A key principle of neuromarketing, suggest Damasio (1996), is that it is based on finding a neural correlates for buying consumers such as product preference and brand familiarity. As most studies are only able to monitor neural activity observationally it is important to acknowledge that researchers are only able to seek a correlate and do not induce product preference via neural stimulation (Damasio 1996). Interestingly, peer reviewed evidence has been found linking brand familiarity and product preference with the medial prefrontal cortex, says Damasio (1996). The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), suggest Damasio (1996), is a repository of linkages between bioregulatory states and factual knowledge. In the more specific instance of advertising , this translates into experiences and product information being linked to positive effect, via the mPFC (Damasio 1996). IMAGE 1. mPFC Studies by Kable and Glimcher (2007) point to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as the locus of interest for neuromarketing studies are quite notable. As outlined in the sports car study earlier Walter et al (2005) advise product preference has been correlated with the activation of Page 5 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? several brain regions in the reward circuitry of the brain, including the mPFC. Preference has also been correlated with mPFC activity independent of prices argues Knutson, Rick, Wimmer, Prelec, & Loewenstein (2007) and was found to be predictive of subsequent purchasing. Studies by Paulus & Frank (2003) observed when using a visual discrimination task as a control they found coinciding results when a simpler preference judgement study was conducted. McClure et al. (2004) conducted one of the most compelling neuromarketing studies. Researchers conducting a study monitored neural activity when drinking either Coca-Cola or Pepsi (see Figure 3). Using an fMRI for an experiment McClure et al (2004) had two conditions, (a) brand-cued delivery, and (b) blind taste test. When conducting a blind taste test, brain activity between the Coca-Cola and Pepsi was observed as being nearly identical. However, in the brand-cued condition, significant differences were observed in with neural activity, primarily in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (McClure et al 2004). Figure 3 Coke Vs Pepsi The significant observation was no neural activation differences were identified when no brand nformation was provided, but when brands were identified, product preference and brand familiarity came into play with Coca-Cola being generally preferred by the participants, which caused significantly more activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region of the brain says McClure et al (2004). An important aspect of the study is that no choices are made by the participant; the soft drink were given to the participants in the fMRI in small quantities; the manipulation was based when the brand was first announced; the finding was based on the activated regions on the brain as measured by the fMRI. Brand preference and previous conditioning is only demonstrated in brand-cued delivery, and only then is there significant ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation. Koenigs & Tranel (2008) in a follow-up to the McClure et al (2004) study shed more light on the paradox of cola preference. Koenigs and Tranel (2008) explain that subjects tend to prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola, or have no reliable preference, in a blind-taste test, yet Coca-Cola consistently Page 6 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? outsells Pepsi therefore creating a Pepsi paradox. When brand information is available, CocaCola is preferred, however, when brand information is not provided, no reliable preferences can be made, which is creating the paradox (Koenigs and Tranel 2008). Cola preference was counterbalanced in the McClure et al (2004) study. Koenigs and Tranel (2008) tested predictions from previous studies by using participants with damaged prefrontal cortex. Koenigs and Tranel (2008) discovered that when patients are presented with brand information, it makes no difference on their preferences. The conclusion was this finding mirrors effects found in normal individuals participating in blind-taste tests. Gladwell (2005) suggest the strong brand image of Coca-Cola, not taste, is the reason Coca-Cola is preferred over Pepsi. Several studies have connected brand familiarity with mPFC. Schaefer et al (2006) and Schaefer & Rotte (2007) report that when comparing familiar and unfamiliar products with mPFC activity differences in neural activity are detected, which can also be connected to neurolearning literature of novelty detection in rat lesion studies suggest Dias & Honey (2002). Campbell and Keller (2003) suggest relative to behavioural principles, brand familiarity is of extreme importance to advertisers. Fear the unknown pushed consumers away, and in advertising, this fear creates uncertainty for product that results in consumers selecting a known product. For culturally familiar brands relative to unfamiliar brands Schaefer and Rotte (2007) demonstrate this as superior fr ontal activity and increased mPFC. In short, studies conducted McClure et al (2004), Paulus & Frank (2003), Walter et al (2005) have linked medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activation to preference judgements. Further, Schaefer et al (2006) and Schaefer & Rotte (2007) suggest mPFC can be attributed to the preference for the familiar over the unfamiliar, assuming that the consumer is going to buy a product either way (i. e. a vehicle). Preferences between the available choices in terms of their relative value, suggests Montague (2008), is the next step in the consumer decision making. Consumers can evaluate their choices by weighing the pros and cons of all the available choices (Montague 2008). Research by Sutherland (2004) shows that this process is primarily undertaken by the medial prefrontal cortex, which some have dubbed the „liking centre? f the brain. Several other areas have been implicated as key brain regions relevant to neuromarketing research, suggest Walter et al (2005), other than the medial prefrontal cortex. Some of these Page 7 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? regions include the ventral striatum, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex, (Walter et al 2005). The ventral striatum says Knutson et al (2007), Walter et al (2005), is the reward center of the brain and has been correlated with self-reported self arousal but only as an indicator of the predicted value of the reward. This is used as a mechanism for learning as it is thought of as prediction error. The amygdale says Walter et al (2005) has also been correlated with reward intensity in neuromarketing studies, however, is commonly known for its role in processing emotional information. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), says Walter et al (2005), consists of mainly two regions: the lateral and medial (and is mainly thought of as a measure of preference. The medial OFC is activated by rewarding stimuli, which includes the medial prefrontal cortex. Lateral OFC activity is correlated with punishing stimuli. The use of neuroimaging is not limited to neural activation measures says Fugate (2007). For example, in terms of hormonal secretions such as dopamine neuroimaging quantitatively measure this affect (Fugate, 2007). Though the field is expanding rapidly there is much to discover in terms of neural correlates and interest to neuromarketing, suggests Fugate (2007). Ethics of Neuromarketing In order to enhance a commercial gain a major issue for research in neuromarketing is the ethical concerns of neuroimaging. Neuromarketing is nowhere near ready to allow researchers to design a marketing campaign, so addictive that overrides an individual? free will. Founded or unfounded concerns are being allayed regarding this. A consumer protection group in America, known as Consumer Alert, has filed complaints to the US federal government, as well as a US senate committee, and universities, protesting the ethics of neuromarketing. Consumer Alert believe neuromarketing as â€Å"find[ing] a buy but ton inside the skull† (Commercial Alert 2003, 1). Commercial Alert (2003, 3) claims: â€Å"Our children are suffering from extraordinary levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes, anorexia, bulimia, and pathological gambling, while millions will eventually die from the marketing of tobacco. According to Consumer Alert (2003), the rise of neuromarketing will bring an end to free will. Lee et al (2007, 202) suggest â€Å"Unfortunately, the barely concealed disdain for the idea of „neuromarketing? in the neuroscience literature is clearly based on the opinion that marketing research is a commercial activity purely designed to sell products to the public†¦ † which many Page 8 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? academics are also hesitant to embrace (Thompson, 2003). Neuroscience academics tend to focus on more medically relevant questions, though there are many journals dedicated to economics and marketing (Thompson, 2003). As such, some believe that â€Å"brain imaging will be used in ways that infringe personal privacy to a totally unacceptable degree† (Editorial, 2004b, 71). An anonymous author in Nature Neuroscience, took a similar stance, saying â€Å"Neuromarketing is little more than a new fad exploited by scientists and marketing consultants to blind corporate clients with science. † (Laybourne & Lewis 2005, 29). Neuromarketing research may help reduce the problems raised by Commercial Alert (2003). For example, Montague, Hyman, & Cohen (2004) say, by examining the differences between the brain activity of compulsive overpurchasers may help to understand why these compulsive individuals tend to spend outside of their means. In addition, it can provide useful information for how clinicians treat these disorders by looking at the correlations between buying behaviour and clinical disorders. For example, the reward circuitry of the brain and in value-based decisionmaking and the medial prefrontal cortex are quite important says Montague, Hyman, & Cohen (2004). Two significant ethical issues are present in neuromarketing research argues Murphy, Illes, and Reiner (2008), being: (a) protection of consumer autonomy if neuromarketing reaches critical effectiveness, and (b) protecting vulnerable parties from harm. To mitigate, recommendations for a „code of ethics? to be adopted by the neuromarketing industry are proposed by Murphy et al (2008). Some of the recommendations include (1) accurate representation of scientific methods to businesses and the media, (2) full disclosure of ethical principles used in the study, and (3) protecting research subjects from any coercion. Free will & Decision-making Murphy et al (2008) suggests that if neuromarketing ever does reach critical effectiveness then the concerns of Commercial Alert (2003) may not be unfounded after all as neuromarketing may infringe on an individual? s free will. The importance of neuromarketing is not restricted to neuroimaging, but also includes computational neuroscience, which is the study of quantifying the component steps that underlie a given behavioural process. Value-based decision-making, for example, can be broken down into five steps suggest Rangel, Camerer, & Montague, (2008), Page 9 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? which are: (1) identifying the decision problem; (2) weighing the possible choices; (3) making a decision based upon the evaluation of the choices available; (4) after carrying out the decision, consider the resulting consequences; and (5) learn from the decision-making process in order to make better decisions in the future. Montague (2008, 584) says, â€Å"Viewed this way, it? s easy to see why „free? choice is an unconstructive way to conceptualize the way humans choose†¦ †. Vohs & Schooler (2008) suggests that free will and the ability to manipulate perception of it have also recently become apparent. However, it has been many years, suggests Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl (1983) since neuroimaging studies have suggested that neural activity does precede conscious intention, especially if it can be monitored. The decision of whether or not to buy a product is a result of from balancing the gain of obtaining the product, says Knutson et al (2007), offset by the act of actually having to purchase for the product, which is an interplay of corresponding valuations and choices. Using computational neuroscience, rather than neuroimaging, Walvis (2008), is able to connect neuroscience with common marketing principles. Walvis (2008) suggests three propositions of how the brain organises information and states, â€Å"These three propositions function similarly to the basis of an artificial neural network model, implicating the importance of what other „elements? the brand is associated with, the strength of these associations, and the sheer number of associations that are present between the brand and other „elements? in the network† (Walvis, 2008, 182). These form the basis, say (Walvis, 2008, 186) for the â€Å"Three Branding Laws†, based upon how engaging the branding environment is to the consumer, how repetitive and targeted the branding efforts are, and how personally relevant the brand? s marketing strategy is to the consumer. The stronger these pathways and connections are, the more likely a given product will be selected by a consumer. We can again quantify factors involved in choice behaviour, through the use of an artificial neural network, by using these laws says Walvis (2008). Neuromarketing can greatly improve marketing techniques when using a strong neuroscientific basis for branding, as suggested by Walvis (2008), even without the use of neuroimaging, but rather employing other aspects of neuroscience. Page 10 of 18 ASSIGNMENT 2: Neuromarketing: Debunking the Myths? CONCLUSION Fugate (2007) suggests a revolution will soon overcome current market research as a consequence of several key implications of neuromarketing. Researchers are better able to evaluate an advertisement? s effectiveness much more scientifically, when applying neuromarketing techniques, in terms of how the ad affects the viewer? emotional state (i. e. , excitement or humour) as well as the viewer? s attention to the ad. Product appeal, suggested by Walter et al (2005) and the „sports car? study are also identified with respect to the findings with the reward circuitry of the brain. Neuromarketing was shown to be able to connect and quantify the effects of celebrity endorsements, suggested by Fugate (2007) that links the auditory and visual stimuli of the celebrity as they cause hormonal secretions in consumers that identify with the product endorsement, which can lead to a positive emotional response and feelings of trust. As researched by McClure et al (2004), logo/brand selection and emotional attachment was shown to be significant with consumers, which explained the result that Coca-Cola outperforms Pepsi. Only time will tell how much of an effect these new techniques will have on marketing success as the future implications of neuromarketing show great potential. Neuromarketing, in its current stage, is by no means adequate in determining if an advertisement is effective. Stimulating the medial prefrontal cortex does not mean that an advertisement will be effective as it is only a corollary response. The medial prefrontal cortex region of the brain is also the subject of other research studies, which include those in fear conditioning as suggested by Baratta, Lucero, Amat, Watkins, & Maier (2008), provocation resulting in eating disorders (Uher et al. , 2004), and startle responses (Day-Wilson, Jones, Southam, Cilia, & Totterdell, 2006). The field shows great promise as being the next step in market research despite the current flaws in neuromarketing research. Advertisers are likely to be more successful in making a longer lasting impression on the consumer if they took advantage to the many psychology studies that have been previously conducted as they would be better able to direct their efforts towards a target demographic. It is debatable if improved marketing capabilities are good or bad for the consumer; however, with ethics being enforced through legislation I feel we are seeing the myths of neuromarketing being debunked. 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Albert Einstein3 essays When many people hear the name Albert Einstein, they say, Ooh what did he do, write a bunch of stuff on a chalkboard, prove to some scientists that he was right, and then star in a Pepsi commercial? Well, Im here to tell you that he did much more than that, (even though I really like that Pepsi commercial.) Albert Einstein was born March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Wrttemberg, Germany. Albert began his extensive studies at a school in Munich. At Munich he pursued a career in Electrical Engineering, but failed an exam and was rejected from Eidgenssische Technische Hochschule in Zurich. After failing at his original choice of schools, he went on to a secondary school in Aarau to train himself enough to be admitted into ETH (his original choice). While at Aarau he planned on becoming a teacher in mathematics and physics. As expected he did graduate from ETH in the year 1900 with a degree in teaching for the subjects of Math and Physics. He didnt however get a job right away, he, in fact, went around writing to different universities applying for one. After searching for about a year, he finally landed a job at a high school teaching mathematics. While at this school he wrote in one of his journals, I have given up the ambition to get to a University... After he went through this job, and indeed a couple more, his friend from school, Marcel Grossmann sought him out so his father could help him get a job. After a recommendation to the director of patents, Einstein held a temporary patent post, holding the title, Technical Expert Third Class. He was promoted several times over a span of about 5 years. While working at the patent office, he finished a boatload of theoretical physics publications. He even earned a doctorate on one from the University of Zurich. This paper was entitled, On a new determination of molecular dimensions. After publishing a few more papers, he began to be re...

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Visionary Mr Mineka Wickramasingh Essay Brief background on CBL (Munchee) It was the visionary Mr Mineka Wickramasingha in 1960 who wanted to expand his family business from the chocolate market. It was at the same time that CARE looked at sources of nourishment for the poverty stricken. It was a substitute of a biscuit that Mr Wickramasinghe proposed looking to expand on those lines. At that time the market leaders were Maliban. They were the ones who were awarded the contract. Due to lack of space, CBL was first launched at Dehiwela in his own premises to produce a high protein biscuits for schools. From this footing Munchee, has marched forward to capture 80% of the market of the local market. For over 40 years the brand has developed a certain nostalgia that is irreplaceable by any other brand. The taste is enjoyed young and old alike. There vision is to become the number one biscuit in Asia. Product portfolio CBL now produces various food items which have become house hold names in Sri Lanka. CBL expansion is not only with biscuits to which consumers are more familiar, they also have chocolates under brand name ‘Ritzbury’ since 1990s. The other brands are Tiara and Lanka Soy. There are numerous subcategories under each product. There are jellies, soya base products, cereal products, herbal porridges, soups and much more. Sub Categories under the Munchee brand Sweet biscuitsCrackers Puffs Savory Biscuits Cream Biscuits Marie Cookies Assorted HerbalWafers These are premium and hand-moulded chocolates. They come in boxes and slabs. Can be as a coated biscuits or wafers or beans or candy bars. It is in different flavours, type, and size. Sub Categories Chocolate Coated Biscuits Chocolate Slabs Miniature Caterers RangeChocolate Coated Beans Chocolate Coated Balls Chocolate Coated Candy Bars Specialty ChocolatesChocolate Coated Wafers Soft sponge cake made to perfect texture and taste Layer Cake Portion Cake Butter Sponge Cake Swiss Roll Company performance Ceylon Biscuits is of undisputable quality. CBL has shown a growth both in sales and profit for the last 5 years. Revenue had doubled from Rs.1.9 to Rs 5,2 Billion by 2005. Group turnover grew by 48% that same year. Net profit that year was Rs.533 Mio. This was the highest recorded profit for this company. CBL profit gradually grew, as it caught on to an international market. By 2011 sales revenue has grown by 25% in comparison to 2010. The overall profit margin was around 9% for the recently past five years. If ever the company saw a small decline it was due to industrial unrest. This biscuit is spread over 95,000 retail outlets all around Sri Lanka. CBL exports to 36 international destinations. It has been able to spread it’s fame in South Asia as well. Some of the countries of export are USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Hong Kong, China, India, Maldives and even the Middle East countries. The annual export revenue is about US $ 4 to 5 million. CBL has many awards for its entrepr eneurship. These awards are Exports in the Gold Category, Product Brand of the Year for four consecutive years, Anugu International Food Fair award. The daily production is around 150 tons. The annual production is around 45,000 tons. The company’s labor force is about 3,500. Company sustainability relies on strict norms on quality, texture and taste. For this it uses the latest technology, innovative marketing, research and development. The three C analysis There are three phases that need to be carefully scrutinized in order get a total overview of the product. Customer analysis Of the main brand Munchee, the customer analysis will be done on a sub category -Marie widely known as â€Å"Tikiri Marie –or Munchee Tikiri Marie. It is a small sized biscuit. The market segment chosen were children. Presently it is packed in a ‘keep fresh pack’ sold at a economical price. The advertisement that was done on a range of media was presented in the most attractive way, backed by lyrics that set a smile on the lips of any child. It was later that Maliban put a Marie range into the market. But by then Munchee Tikiri Marie had taken the market by storm. Competitor analysis There has been great potential for a children’s biscuit in the market. CBL had limited resources, especially in production technology which restricted revenue. It was the consumer preference that motivated CBL to keep producing the Marie Biscuit. At one point in time 50% of the production was Marie. Yet, the company was unable to raise profits. Maliban held strong to its position. No advertising, trade promotions or merchandising was able take over the market share that Maliban held. Maliban Marie has an unique flavor that was unmatchable. Volume market share (Total Biscuit Market-February 2005) Communication analysis This is a (B2C) nature of business. The company has used campaigns such as Tikiri Marie scholarship program.-Munchee Tikiri Shishyadara. Expansion programs worth Rs. 500 million Rs. 300 million for state of the art plant. It was known as Plant 6 from Italy. CBL went to war using all types of media from TV, newspaper, radio, magazines, even websites to introduce a new Marie. There was a series of advertisement for Tikiri Marie- from ‘Kohomada Tikiri Mole’ to the first day in school. All campaigns had been embarked under their corporate moto-‘A crowning success’. This was CBL communication approach of tacking Maliban. Target market for Munchee Tikiri Marie The brand â€Å"Munchee† has not only spread over domestic market but also the export market. Munchee is now exported to over 36 countries. Munchee can be seen in Gourmet Shops in Australia, supermarket like Wal-Mart, K-mart worldwide in countries like UK, Germany , Italy , Middle-East , Canada and Japan. South East Asian region is spread over 11 countries. When Munchee is target marketed in this area, it must be the same target market as of the other South Asian countries. It is the high quality, texture and taste that captivate any child in any country. Because of this CBL must ensure that they do not loose the perception of ‘a biscuit for children.’ As it is not being partnered by any company as it was in UK the brand name can prevail. Here CBL needs to position its product, thus no private label will be needed either like NTUC of Singapore and Supreme brand in China. Segment for Marie Geographical segmentation-South Asia, Europe, America, UK Demographical Segmentation Age, taste, texture, income Behavioral segment- instant, nutritious Product positioning of Marie Brand Identity vs. Competition (Source- AC Neilson) Premium quality, Innovative and value for money brand available at arms length of desire. Scope of this Integrated Marketing Communications Plan It looks in to objectives, strategies, and tools in communication used to successfully bring about integrated marketing. The plan will discuss ways to launch a program to communicate product. Marketing objective Increase the sale of Munchee Buiscuits. CBL is looking to increase sales by 5% within the next two years. With this to increase the market share by 5% at the end of the second year. Increase the company profile while enhancing the product among the target market. Munchee also wishes to strengthen Brand image among South East Asian countries as a healthy, nutritious biscuit. Communication Objective Awareness program to reach 20% of target market through television, newspaper advertising and web promotions. At least 5% the target market must purchase the product. Issues and Challenges The target market may have other preferences in biscuits. This entirely depends on texture, flavor, taste, shape and size. Thus the promotions/advertising will have to be attractive, creative and innovative in order to reach the hearts and minds of South East Asian Children. Situational analysis Current problem facing product * The target audience may not be reached. * They may prefer other biscuits. * Difficult to build brand loyalty in the food industry. Identifying target * The target market is chosen taking taste and nutrition in to consideration. * Targeting people who looks for low price but has to be of quality. Selecting a Market to Target South East Asia Geographic segmentation Children of the age 1-16 , Middle class Demographic segmentation Target market Instant, nutritious Behavioral segmentation The target market that has been chosen is of the geographical location of South East Asia region among a demographic target of children between the ages of 1-16. In modern South East Asia food in freely available for purchases for people who are one the move. This biscuit provides nutrients that are good for children and is an easy snack in a keep fresh pack. It is instant food for hungry youngsters. Positioning through Marketing Strategies * Introductory price * Chance to taste Competition Product Comparison There are companies like DIMOs that offer discounts to Government servants but no company has offered it to Bankers. AMW is the first to get into this program. Barriers to Entry * The awareness in low. * Banks have tied with other automobile companies, on a separate basis for their leasing requirements and the staff gets their vehicles also leased through those companies. * Buyers may go for second hand as the economic situations are tough. Competitor Differentiation | Chery QQ| Micro Panda| Features | Small hatch back with comfortable interior, Three Cylinder DOHCMPI 12V Petrol 812 CC engine Chery is imported from China and marketed in Sri Lanka by David Peiris Motor Company| Micro car, Volvo tech, 1300 cc engine. Made in Sri Lanka. Comes with and without air bag.| Target Market| Working professionals| Working professionals| Strengths | Low price, Brand backing | Made in Sri Lanka| Weakness | Small range of customers, No discount| Small range of customersNo discount| Consumer Behaviour – problems faced in addressing communication message There is nothing extraordinarily attractive about the AMW Maruti. But the interior is appealing. It is economical on the fuel. There is a one year warranty on the car. These are some of the aspects in regards to the car that a consumer will look at. Then the consumer is going to look at the company that selling the car. Associated Motor Ways Ltd is one of the oldest automobile conglomerates in Sri Lanka. They are the sole distributors of Suzuki vehicles in Sri Lanka and are affiliated with several brand names in the motor industry such as Nissan, Yamaha, and Goodyear. Addressing the problems with the vehicle such as no extra ordinary beauty about the vehicle or that there is fume emission from the vehicles which is hazardous to the external environment, what AMW concentrates on is the interior of the car and how economical it is. The Maruti is good on fuel. The size makes it easy to handle. This car is val ue for money. Branding Bankers are likely for a discount program where the vehicles are leased giving a bank loan. Maruti is likely to stay in the minds of the buyer due to features of the vehicle, the interior and the engine capacity in relation to the other brands of this same model which where given under competitor analysis. The Maruti is a more durable and dependable brand. Position statement This promotion is available only for bankers that are permanent in their jobs and the loan facilities are available. Any other financing will not be permitted. The discount is available for all colours of Maruti. Promotion The promotion is done within Colombo and its near suburbs. For this promotion 50% of the budgeted funds are allocated. This was first circulated to family and friends, for the word of mouth is the cheapest and the best way of promoting a discount program. Gradually as the awareness starts to increase it will be circulated among banks, first on a personal basis to call whose contacts can be acquired. Then the leasing managers or the staff managers in charge of staff leasing will be approached. Depending on the geographical location, banks will be approached in regards to the promotion. Once the approval has been obtained by the management, posters will distribute to main branches. These are known as power position advertising. The dealership logo will be indicated in the poster. A list of the eligible staff members will be collected and a web based mailer will be sent out to them. Permission will be acquired to post the promotion on an intranet facility that is accessible only to the relevant bankers of the targeted bank. A car may be sent out to the main branch for display. Once the initial promotions have been done in and around the main branches where web may not be the best promotional attribute a news paper advertisement will be posted. The news paper will carry a pictureous depictation of the car with a Brand Ambassador. The Brand Ambassador can be a cricketer or any other sportsman who is working in a bank indicating that this is the best leasing offer ever. These adds will have to run every often and it must be made sure that the adds are not too small to see. It may be preferable to advertise in a Sinhalese paper when thinking of promoting the discount program among the suburbs. There has to be creativity, innovation and an even flow for an advertisement to catch the eyes of the reader. A Saturday or Sunday paper is preferable as people have more time than on a weekday to read the paper. Television can be used as last resort. This is expensive but can be the most influential method of advertising. This is a sure a way of information gathering for viewers. The television adds usually have a lasting impression on the viewer. This is a sure way of assuring results for IMC. There are many highly watched channels of those the cheapest but the most effective can be used. The TV add can play between programs. The programs after which the add will be aired will have to be carefully chosen. It will need to depend on viewer’s discretion. The advertisement can go on for a period of 6 months at least. The web based marketing is another method by which advisement can be done. This is the most modern method. Some of the websites frequently visited by banke rs are Facebook, ESPN, Google, YouTube, Digg.com, Myspace, and Perezhilton.com. The most popular of them all is Facebook, Google, and Youtube. All these websites focus on online advertisements. Websites like Facebook taps a large audience. This not only enables promoting to bankers but also lets others know the car sale. This is a good way to get other companies to tie up with the dealership of AMW. Communication Tactical Calendar | Jan| Feb| Mar| Apr| May| Jun| Jul| Aug| Sep| Oct| Nov| Dec| Poster| | | | | | | | | | | | | News paper| | | | | | | | | | | | | TV| | | | | | | | | | | | | Web| | | | | | | | | | | | | Display| | | | | | | | | | | | | Budget The largest potion that is 50% of the budget is for promotion. Of the 50% promotional budget 30% will be allocated for television commercials, the remainder 20% for news paper, posters, display and web. The remainder 50% will be allocated for Brand Ambassador and miscellaneous expenses. The total allocation for the budget is Rs. 2,000,000/- Measurement system Implementation Controls Monitoring, review and control will be done by the dealership company with the collaboration with the bank that is leasing the vehicle. The review to be done on a monthly basis. Progress against targets to be analyzed. For this a marketing plan has to be drawn out. A target market needs to be chosen and a pilot project done before, the discount program is advertised. Once the dealership feels that this can be a successfully implemented then monitoring has to be undertaken. This has to be done carefully. Gap analysis done on a regular basis. Correction actions need to be taken if there is no progress within the first three months of advertising. Dealership may go back to the drawing board and redo the marketing plan again. Quality Assurance Around this time the company was receiving a number of complaints regarding its biscuits breakages, poor taste, quality etc. Rather than ignore the issue, CBL decided to place an emphasis on investigating the cause of the complaints, and took corrective action, including formula changes, to reduce the high number of returns at the time. Setting up better procedures for packing, product handling and transportation, the company prepared for its future growth. It conducted daily taste tests of its own products and organized regular taste panels to compare its products with those of its competitors. It also methodically documented the specifications of all products being manufactured knowledge that had previously been passed on through practice and word of mouth. As the demands on the Quality Assurance department began to rise, the company decided in 1996 to seek ISO certification Today, quality assurance remains an area of particular pride for Munchee. The department plays a critical role in product testing and development of production process controls and systems. High hygiene standards for toilet habits and hair, together with regular swab tests of employees are strictly enforced. Every shipment of incoming materials is tested for quality and those that fail are rejected. Following a complaint, products are collected from customers and subject to laboratory analysis. In 2004, CBL received HACCP certification for food safety together with SLS certification for its biscuits23.. With these in hand CBL became the only confectionary company in Sri Lanka to acquire all relevant quality certifications for its line of business i.e. SLS, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 1400124 and HACCP. Product Development Product development also became an area of increased focus. While CBL had begun operations with a line of distinctive biscuits, along with some generics. However, in the recent years the push for higher turnover had resulted in innovation playing a secondary role. Some of the biscuits that had made Munchee distinctive, were neglected in favor of more mass consumer products. CBL began formulations and potential improvements to flavor and quality. The company also began to actively investigate and keep up with new technologies and machinery by participating regularly at trade exhibitions and through membership in industry associations. Distribution Around this time CBL took the decision to rethink its methods of distribution and undertook to overhaul its sales and distribution efforts in favor of a much bolder plan. Up to this point the company had depended almost completely on wholesalers to sell its products as a hassle free means of managing its distribution efforts. As a result, while CBL had the logistic and cost advantages of maintaining a lean sales team, the company suffered due to its dependence on the enthusiasm of its wholesalers to push its products. CBL decided to bite the bullet and invest heavily in its sales force. It expanded its distribution reach, increasing its number of distributors, changed the demarcation of sales regions into much smaller areas for more intensive sales efforts and recruited the regional and senior sales personnel required to cope with this new direction. 5.4.4 Customer Intimacy With the changes to its sales force, CBL was forced to face up to the fact that it was very removed from its consumers. The company recognized that it had been paralleling the moves and decisions made by Maliban rather than acting on real consumer insights. CBLs focus had been very much product centric concentrated on improvement of its formulation and production technology. It developed its products in isolation and once developed attempted to market them. Little attention had been paid to market research, even on an informal basis. Moreover, CBL began to understand that its customer was a new, youthful generation whose tastes and style were very different from the consumer of the previous ten years. Beginning in 1996, the Board itself acknowledged this changed attitude by beginning to go to the field on a regular basis to a top down attempt to gauge market perceptions and trends. The newly developed sales force provided feedback from consumers and distributors and the company took the further step of setting up a separate subsidiary to plan its marketing activities and to become more responsive to market needs an gaps. The holding company became primarily responsible for improving product quality and procedures. 5.4.5 Image Building CBL also recognized that in order to grow it had to become a better known name as a company. Partly as a result of its multiple brand names, CBL itself was relatively unknown as a corporate entity. Embarking on a campaign to raise the profile of the company, CBL engaged the services of a consultant, and set out to gain greater corporate recognition for itself among both consumers and the business community. The publics lack of knowledge of the breadth of the companys activities was hindering its activities as a holding company, particularly for purposes such as tapping the capital market. With the help of its consultant, CBL set about establishing a public image for itself. This was done primarily through the print media. Every week or so, an article regarding the company and its various corporate activities and Latest initiatives, including its export plans and CSR, appeared in the newspapers. Competitiveness Behaviour The Biscuit Wars Around 1995, CBL had hit a wall in terms of increasing its turnover. Limited by its existing production technology and consumer tastes, t its highest growth opportunity lay in the Marie biscuit market. While CBLs Marie25 biscuits now made up 50% of total production, the company was unable to meaningfully increase its sales and market share of the Marie category. It had attempted a variety of marketing activities including extensive advertising, merchandising and trade promotions, but was still not able to take sufficient market share away from Maliban. The Munchee Marie biscuit was at this time essentially a knockoff of Malibans Marie and used very similar packaging. However, despite much effort and testing, eBL was not able to exactly reproduce the Maliban Marie flavor. Although market share was a (then) respectable 10% and despite fervent urgings from its own sales team to the contrary to be more like Maliban, CBL decided that the time had come to change tactics and be different in order to try to break through the turnover barrier. The Tikiri Marie Campaign Munchee hit on the winning concept of launching its own Marie as Tikiri Marie – a petit sized Marie biscuit using an aggressive campaign entitled Tikiri Mole†, to bring the little biscuit to the attention of consumers. The campaign targeted children with the use of attractive advertising and proved a real turning point in Munchees growth and image. The biscuit was so successful that the smaller sized Tikiri Marie became the number one Marie biscuit in the Sri Lankan market, with a phenomenal 50 per cent of Marie market share and eventually forced the giant Maliban to acknowledge Munchee as a significant market player by playing copy cat and resizing its own Marie. 7 Part of Munchees success with Tikiri Marie stemmed from Malibans complacency and its failure to react to this attack on the Marie category. The Tikiri Marie campaign brought into effect other changes at CBL such as the introduction of Munchees keep fresh pack, which ensured better product freshness. Followin g its success with Tikiri Marie CBL expanded the use of the fresh pack to the entire Munchee biscuit range. The company also commenced a Tikiri Marie scholarship program for school children in 1997 entitled Munchee Tikiri Shishyadara which it continues to this day. Now in its eighth year, the program provides 120 deserving children with scholarships of Rs. 1000 per month for one year with fresh applicants being selected annually. By 1998, the cumulative effect of the changes made through the 1990s, resulted in CBL achieving a 30% market share of the biscuit market (up from 20% at the start of the 1990s) and topping the Rs. 1 billion turnover mark. This was a major milestone for CBL, both internally and externally. The company was becoming better known, both to consumers for its brands and quality products and to the industry for its investments in good technology. CBL reinforced this reputation by committing to a Rs. 500 million expansion program Rs. 300 million of which was spent on a large state of the art plant from Italy. Plant 6 as it was known, was CBLs largest capacity plant thus far with five lines that could handle both hard and fermented dough. This action by CBL sent a strong message, to its staff and associates, about CBLs optimism and confidence in the companys future growth commercialization of this new plant, CBL planned to introduce a new range of biscuits to tackle Maliban head-on. 6.1.2 The Lemon Puff Battle CBLs next strategic attack on Maliban came in 2001 with its Lemon Puff. The Munchee Lemon Puff had a solid 30% market share but as was the case with Marie, failed at growing sales further as a me too product. CBL decided to re-Launch Lemon Puff, by promoting it as a sandwich biscuit with a higher quantity of lemon cream. The campaign was heralded by an intensive television campaign directed at capturing the attention of a new market. What the company did not reveal in its advertising was that the cracker itself had been vastly improved, through a new formula and upgraded technology. It was in fact a noticeably better overall sandwich biscuit than Malibans Lemon Puff rather than just being a look alike with more cream. Going against the advice of its advertising company, Munchee replaced the traditional yellow packaging, synonymous with the Lemon Puff category, with a white wrapper. The superior moisture and odour barriers of the new metalized wrapper combined with the new pillow pack technology, which used only two seals to achieve increased air-tightness, better preserved the crispness and freshness of the sandwich biscuit. This had been a problem that had plagued both companies puffs for decades. Consumers who tasted the Munchee Lemon Puff for its extra cream (not enough cream was a complaint associated with both Lemon Puffs for years) were pleasantly surprised and rapidly switched loyalty to the Munchee Lemon Puffs. Thus Munchee demonstrated that it was in touch with tastes of its consumers and used their feedback to improve its biscuits. The impact of the product changes were felt immediately. Munchees market share in puffs went up from 30% to over 50% within a mere four months following this relaunch, and grew the entire puff category from 12 to 16%. As a result, Malibans share of Lemon Puff which had been a staggering 70% plummeted to 29%. By now Munchee had 45% of the local biscuit market and was vying with Maliban for market leadership. CBLs next big ch allenge was clear take on Maliban in the cream cracker market. Despite Munchees success at growing its sales, Maliban still had nearly 75% of the lucrative cracker market while Munchee was at a meager 23%. The Maliban cream cracker was well accepted and entrenched in the market. CBL had to find a way of breaking through with an innovative cream cracker to take on this market. 6.1.3 The Cream Cracker Assault The following year, in 2002, CBL re-Iaunched its cracker as a Super Cream Cracker, enriched with vitamins in a bold campaign, with live broadcast of two music shows held simultaneously in Colombo and Anuradhapura before massive crowds As they had done with the Lemon Puff, CBL used a new metalized pillow-pack with a contemporary look to break away from the traditional solid red Maliban packaging synonymous s with cream cracker and re-formulated the cracker to deliver a crisper and tastier product. The Munchee strategy of delivering a superior quality product that convinced consumers to switch brands proved a success and the results were phenomenal. Cracker sales grew, expanding its own market not merely taking over competitor share. Growth in sales nearly tripled and Munchees market share in cream cracker immediately doubled to 40%, reaching 50% the foHowing year. Today, of the total cream cracker category, which makes up 20% of the total domestic biscuit market, Munchee owns a 60% sh are. Super Cream Cracker accounts for 30% of the companys turnover, with a profit margin of over 25%. Munchee continues to fight aggressively for market share. Its most recent marketing campaign entitled Podi Badaginne† targets the large 500 gm pack market, previously serviced by loose crackers. The focus is to use the cracker as a substitute for a full meal for chummary factory workers who are already provided with two meals from their work place. The company has again demonstrated its knowledge of customer needs and changing trends and lifestyles in Sri Lanka as the record 128% growth of this heavy use pack from 2004 to 2005 shows. Business Expansion Beginning from the 1990s, CBL began looking at other areas in the food and confectionary industry to expand its businesses activities. 6.2.1 Ritzbury One of the first areas CBL explored was one naturally complementary to its existing line of business: chocolate. At one time, the company had produced chocolate for Nestle and had some exposure to Nestles chocolate operations. Launched in 1991, Ritzbury chocolates began with chocolate coated (enrobed) biscuits. The company went through much teething pain in developing the right quality chocolate for its use. It struggled to develop a workable formulation one that tasted good while withstanding the melting and rancidity caused by the tropical Sri Lankan weather. Ritzbury gradually developed its market by first growing its range of coated biscuits, then expanding to chocolate candies and hand made chocolates, and only recently moving into the traditional slabs the largest market category. The companys strategy is to provide innovative eye-catching products to its consumers and thus differentiate from its competition. Ritzburys first entry was Chunky Choc (chocolate covered biscuits sandwich with butterscotch cream filling), followed by Chit Chat (chocolate coated wafer with hazelnut cream) and Chocolate Fingers (chocolate coated finger biscuit). Another innovation for Sri Lanka was Pebbles (brightly colore d, sugar coated chocolate candies). The Ritzbury range includes Nik Nak, (chocolate coated vanilla cream wafer), Go Nuts (colored chocolate coated peanuts), Choosy (liquid chocolate stick) and Choco-La individual nuggets. Although it started out originally as a poor number four, Ritzbury recently beat Kandos (Ceylon Chocolates) to the number two spot in the chocolate market. However, at 21 % vs. 42% Ritzbury has only half the market share of market leader Edna and a long way to go to become number one. Further, Edna has itself shown to be very aggressive and quick in bringing out innovative products to the chocolate market. Ritzbury for its part, offers over 60 differentiated items, at the full range of price points and with a dedicated sales force certainly provides its consumers affordability and access. Despite being a small local brand, it offers consumers a complete range of chocolates and chocolate coated products and for other products frequently provides comparable alternati ves to more expensive imported products. Examples are Pebbles as an alternative to Smarties, Chit Chat to Kit Kat and Go Nuts to MMs. Yet, apart from the hand molded specialty chocolates and coated biscuits products, the company has yet to fully convince local consumers that the quality of its slab range is on par with that of imports or Kandos. By 1997, following its first biscuit war and having grown its market share in the biscuit market to a respectable 30%, CBL began to focus on sales of Ritzbury. One hindrance to improving growth CBL realized was the then single chain of distribution it used for both biscuits and chocolates. In practical terms what this implied was that once a retailer had gone through purchases of the more established Munchee list of biscuits they would have little money left for Ritzbury chocolates. Ritzbury sales were materially affected and it became evident that an alternative would have to be sought out. One option was to increase the breadth of the CBL range in order to afford to maintain a second line of distribution. 6.2.2 Pancho Snacks With this in mind, CBL decided to enter the snack food market in 1998 under Ritzbury. Named Pancho, this snack range was made up primarily of extruded snacks. However, despite the companys sustained efforts with Pancho and the separate sales force, the impulse buy snack market proved a disappointing arena for CBL. Despite the introduction of two products under a new line named Catch Me together with a re-Launch of Pancho in 2000, the company found that it could only succeed in this market with a near continuous stream of promotions. Although CBL persevered in snack foods for nearly five years, it was eventually forced to close up this operation and admit failure. With the aim of an expansion of its range still in mind, CBL next entered a completely unfamiliar food market. In 2000 due to its own financial difficulties, Yanik Incorporated, an investment bank, was selling its 79% stake in Soy Foods (Lanka) Limited, a public listed company manufacturing textured vegetable protein (TVP) n uggets. Soy Foods was a loss making number four player in the market but had pioneered a number of soy products under the brand Lanka Soy. CBL seized this opportunity to expand its range, encouraged by its present Managing Director who had experience in the soya area. CBL purchased the stake in Soy Foods at Rs.9/share and took over operations in September 2000; by 2002 the company had been successfully turned around and had become a viable entity. This was the success story that CBL had been searching for. The Soy Foods line allowed CBL to maintain a dual distribution network, one for its biscuits and another for chocolates and soy. The effects of this isolation of chocolate sales from biscuits were immediate and notable. By 2002 Ritzbury had made impressive inroads into its competition and grown market share to over 15%. 6.2.3 Lanka Soy In 2000 when CBL bought over management of Soy Foods (Lanka) Ltd. from Yanik it was a loss making company. Despite being the pioneer in the local soy market, Lanka Soy was at the time selling only 50% of the volumes of the market leader Raigam, with a 15% market share. The companys growth was stagnating in a rapidly growing market, and many smaller competitors were cashing on its market with lookalike products. The ambitious strategy set out for a turnaround of the company was to aim to make it not merely profitable but the market leader. CBL decided that not only was it necessary to grow Lanka Soys market share, through a fresh look and product, it was going to grow the total product market through a change in positioning. Thinking very innovatively, the company decided what was needed was to position soya not just as a vegetarian food, but as a more economical substitute for the protein content of a main meal. Touting advantages such as convenience, price and the lack of freezer requirements together with newly introduced catchy features such as interesting shapes and flavors, a whole range of new branded soy products were launched under the Lanka Soy umbrella. Given that at the time, chicken flavored soya was the most popular soya product the company decided it would introduce interesting flavors to accompany new presentation efforts. In order to take the competition head on, it improved the taste of its traditional range, while also increasing its product range. It developed not one but a range of chicken flavors, under the brand Chikosoy, consisting of tandoori, masala, roast and chilli chicken flavors. For the traditional vegetarian market, it introduced the Vegesoy range a further four flavors of mushroom, hot and spicy, Chinese chop suey and Indian rasam. But its piece de resistance was a completely new entrant Malusoy. This range of not merely fish but also seafood flavors truly tapped into a very strong local preference for seafood. Malusoy comprised spratts, devilled prawns, cuttlefish and ambul thiyal flavors. Packaging for the four new sub brands was done using a range of appealing eye-catching colors, with a unique logo designed for each. Advertising again interestingly was carried out individually on a sub brand basis. For example, Malusoy used a two column poster conveying the advantages over canned fish. The company also took the extra step of providing a sauce sachet to provide a one step cooking process. Emphasis was placed to introduce the cooked product to consumers by way of cookery demonstrations and street promotions. In particular, Malusoy was aimed at areas with little coastal access. Sales efforts were overhauled, re-demarcating a network to reach 35,000 outlets with designated representatives for supermarkets, catering and restaurant sectors. The results were strong. By early 2002 Lanka Soys market share had jumped to 25% hitting 30% and market leadership a year later. Malusoy to eBLs surprise turned out to be Lanka Soys front runner in sales. The strategy to offer consumers, as a household, their daily main dish at a price less than half the price of canned or fresh sea food was highly successful. Within 24 months Malusoy sales exceeded 500,000 packets a month, making up over 14% of the total soy market. Due to the sudden launch of many interesting products at the same time Lankasoy established itself as trend setter and frontrunner of the soya product market. 6.2.4 Tiara Cakes eBLs next expansion was within the local confectionary business -the lucrative Rs. 4 billion plus local cake market. eBLs main biscuit and chocolate operations had traditionally taken place at its home factory located along with its head office in Pannipitiya. However in 2002, the company invested Rs. 1.5 billion to set up eBL Foods International (eBL Foods), a Board of Investment (BOI) approved company in Rannala, about one hour away. Awarded a 10 year tax holiday, eBL Foods has a mandate to manufacture bakery products and chocolates the former includes a new line of cakes under the brand name Tiara. The new venture commenced operations in September 2004 with a new line of portion cakes individually wrapped sponge layer cakes, marketed under the Tiara sub brand Okay, The product line also includes swiss rolls. CBL Foods boasts a state of the art plant intended primarily for cakes and a Clean Room,,33 to guarantee freshness for a shelf life of up to eight months. Due to production constraints faced elsewhere however the 110,000 square foot modern facility also includes manufacturing and packing for chocolates, wafers and biscuits the latter including both hard and soft dough. CBL expects that its group tax slab will come down to 32.5% as a result of CBL Foods tax advantaged status and the shifting of these manufacturing of chocolates, wafers and biscuits, which previously came under Ceylon Biscuits tax slab. The company uses a formula to determine profit and is taxed at the preferential rate of 15% on its export. 6.2.5 Other Snacks In 2004, CBL invested Rs. 50 million to acquire a 60% stake in Cecil Food (Pvt) Limited (Cecil Food) an organic manufacturer of dehydrated fruit products, fruit juices, desiccated coconut and cashews primarily for the export market. Though the company had been in existence for 10 years and exported to 20 countries, it was facing financial difficulties. CBL brought to Cecil Foods the financial strength and management experience that it needed, while the founder retained a 25% stake. CBLs main interest in Cecil Food was its exposure to rural agriculture and its export and local market potential. The company presently exports to countries including the US, UK, Germany, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Armed with CBLs financial backing the company has overcome its working capital needs. CBLs infusion of capital has enabled the purchase of new equipment and is now looking at expanding sales to tap the local market. Cecil Foods also has a 100% o wned subsidiary Cecil Fruit Canneries which concentrates on natural fruit juices for both the domestic and export markets. CBL intends to launch this range to the domestic market by introducing a line of fruit juices in novelty pouches. Export Markets CBL has also set its sights on growing its revenues through tapping sales in overseas markets. Although CBL had been exporting biscuits from inception, around 1997, the company began to export regular container loads to the United States, Canada, Australia and India, while also investigating at lucrative export markets such as the Middle East. India became a particular focus, with the company beginning its own marketing effort there. By 2000 CBL was also exporting to the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Sweden, the Middle East, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Fiji Islands and the Maldives. Although the export sector took a long time to stabilize, export orders now go out to 36 countries, exceeding Rs. 110 million in value (USD$ 1 million) in 2004/5. Exports to the UK, Middle East and Canada are mainly to the so called ethnic markets catering to the Sri Lankan diaspora, but in other countries demand is slowly establishing into in the established biscuit market through chain distributors. While most e xports are under private labels that it, outsourcing for foreign biscuit companies CBL has managed in some instances to establish its own brand. This is particularly the case in Australia where the company has taken the additional step, as it did in India, of setting up its own marketing effort by establishing a company representative as market manager. Australia is now the main export market for CBL, having overtaken the United States. CBL also enjoyed some recent success making inroads into western Africa. 6.3.1 Entry into India There are four accepted methods for a company to enter a foreign market: exports, licensing, joint ventures and direct investment, which often represent an evolution in the degree of interest the company develops once it is present in the market. Beginning with straightforward exports from the mid 1990s and early exports of containers to India in 1999 CBL took the next step in developing the Indian market by investing Indian Rupees 3.6 crores (36 million) to purchase Parrys Confectionary based in Pondicherry, about an hour from Chennai. Setting up a 100% owned subsidiary Ritzbury India, CBL began manufacturing operations for the first time outside Sri Lanka. The acquisition provided CBL with a six line 350 ton a month manufacturing plant. The company entered the Indian market with the Munchee and Ritzbury brands, for distribution in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. While the chocolates were manufactured in Sri Lanka, most of the Munchee range was baked in India. CBL produced nine varieties of biscuits including Marie, Glucose biscuits and several creams at the Pondicherry plant. This manufacturing base in India proved to be both a blessing and a distress to CBL. On the one hand, it became a strong negotiating tool for CBL at a time of labour unrest. CBL was able to take a tough stance, threatening closure and the moving of its entire manufacturing operations to its base in India. However, on the other hand, distribution arrangements provided by Parrys proved to be less than satisfactory. The company began a losing battle in trying to distribute its products. Revenues were far below expectations and Ritzbury India further faced a number of detrimental tariffs in South India. Despite a Free Trade Agreement with India, and a reduction of duty to 3%, the state sales tax in Tamil Nadu was increased by 8% for imported goods effectively nullifying any duty concessions. Following a second acquisition in India, CBL decided to completely dispose of its Chennai operations at a loss , dissolving Ritzbury India. In 2003 CBL heard about the sale through court auction of Bakemans, once the third largest biscuit manufacturer in India with a market share high of 13% of the total Indian market. Outbidding its Indian competition in July 2004 CBL successfully acquired the assets of Bake mans at a cost ofRs .. 300 million. Along with the premises the company also gained six biscuit lines from the acquisition, two of which it chose to bring to Sri Lanka for installation at CBL foods to allay its present capacity constraints. Based in Patiala in the state of Punjab, CBL set up CBL India with plans to commence commercial production in the near future, using one biscuit line. Having recruited Bakemans former CEO, who had been directly involved in the companys rise to its one time number three position, CBL has ambitious plans for India and its manufacturing operations there in the future. Tentatively speaking of a Munchee-Bakemans brand name, CBL aspires to become number three in India within two years of operations and have the same type of success at retail that Dilmah has achieved in India CBLs challenge in India is to find a mass consume r line of biscuits similar to Marie and Cream Cracker in Sri Lanka. Glucose biscuits are an area that the company will have to examine, given their present popularity in India, but to compete with established players such as Parle-G and Britannia, CBL will need both a reliable distribution network and an attractive proposition for the Indian consumers to give it a try. The use of the Bakeman name, which would certainly aid the latter, is presently an issue. If CBL is able to use the Bakeman brand name in some form it will cut down market establishment time considerably. CBLs strength is that it has the innovation to develop a product to suit this market and it has proved in Sri Lanka that it has the quality and taste to convince consumers to switch to its brand. What remains to be seen is whether it will have sufficient insight into the Indian market to correctly select what that winning product and distribution strategy should be. Other Indian Ventures In 2004 CBL entered into an agreement with Ferrero of Italy to distribute and undertake manufacturing on Ferreros behalf. Ferrero is the world renowned producer of Nutella, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher and Mon Cherie brands of chocolate and another family owned business. Presently the agreement entails the manufacture of boxes for Tic Tac, Ferreros signature mini mint, intended to be extended to the manufacture or finishing of the mint pill also. CBL distributes Ferrero Rochers foil wrapped boxed chocolates, Nutella and Tic Tac for Ferrero in Sri Lanka and India. Manufacturing commenced in August 2005, packing pills imported from Australia into the boxes. Distribution is intended for Sri Lanka, Africa, India and Pakistan. The linkup with Ferrero is another example of CBLs chairmans dynamic personality and relationship building skills. Following initial contact in India, CBLs directors visited Ferreros head quarters in Alba, Italy, which Ferrero reciprocated with a visit to Sri Lanka. The company has expressed an interest in using Sri Lanka as a base for South Asian activities, moving its present activities from India, convinced of CBLsabilities as a business partner. CBL in turn hopes the association will expand its knowledge base through contact with the 60 year old Italian family business. Business Unit Contribution Biscuits Turnover from Munchee biscuits, the biggest contributor to group turnover, grew 30% in the financial year 2004/5 and early results for 2005 show this trend continuing. Past years sales have grown at a similar overall pace, although specific products have shown even higher growth rates at times of changes and innovation. Profit margins on biscuits range from 20-25% with products such as Super Cream Cracker, Tiffin and Chocolate Puff being the most profitable. Biscuit sales are presently constrained primarily by production capability, with demand strong and the company intending to increase its production lines in 2005/6. To try to keep up with demand, CBL has brought down two lines already from its recent acquisition in India and plans to import a new 2 ton per hour machine from Italy, expected to be installed in early 2006. Group Performance While CBLs overall growth has been strong over the past five years with revenues more than doubling from Rs. 1.9 to Rs. 5.2 billion over the period, profit increases have been even higher due to various tax benefits. In 2005 CBLs group turnover grew 48% to Rs. 5.2 billion and net profit after tax grew 63% to Rs. 533 million, the highest ever in the companys 36 year history. Sales surpassed the previous year across all areas of biscuits, chocolates, Soya and exports. The tremendous bottom line growth clearly indicates the contribution accrued from CBL Foods tax advantaged status. In comparison the 2004 figures were 11% top line and 23% bottom line growth. On average, overall profit margin has been near 9% over the five year period. This is taking into account FlY 200112 which differs due to both the industrial unrest that CBL faced for two months of that financial year as well as the exhaustion of the tax benefits afforded by the 1988 Investment Tax Allowance. The companys latest earning per share figure (EPS) is an astonishing Rs. 53.12 and more impressively has grown from Rs. 36.75 in 2003. This EPS figure reflects the extraordinary growth that CBL has experienced over the last 10 years. EPS in the late 1990s was actually in the Rs. 3000 range on the companys original ordinary share capital of Rs. 390,000 (made up of 39,000 Rs. 10 shares). Path Forward Ceylon Biscuits faced with production capacity constraints for its biscuits, as demand has grown well beyond forecasts. It has adopted the following three pronged approach to increase capacity: a) bringing down two biscuit lines from India from its Bakemans operation for immediate capacity expansion, b) importing a brand new large capacity plant from Italy and c) future capacity expansion of its Indian manufacturing operations. CBLs future growth will come from increasing exports of its established products and diversifying by leveraging its domestic logistics and distribution capabilities to market its other products. The company is also increasingly open to looking at new opportunities, an example being manufacturing for Italian chocolate maker Ferrero. The companys core competencies for the future will be investment in technology, financial strength, sales and marketing competency and focused management. Key challenges will be dealing with its production restrictions and becoming able to compete on a global basis by 2007. CBLs greatest test will be when the Indo Lanka FTA final phase permits Indian biscuits to be imported duty free beginning 2007. CBL intends to examine becoming listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange over the next few years. Since the desire for listing does not seem to be driven by financial needs only, it is still unclear what CBL will gain from this step. The company wishes to formalize its procedures in order to firm up its financial transparency and professionalize its organization structure and operations to ensure future continuity and success. There is a sentiment that going public will enforce the discipline required to ensure this. CBL is well poised with a business model to ensure ongoing value creation. It has spent time building strong brands that have future earnings potential. The brands have proven their competencies in that they have been replicated across new markets with success. However there are some concerns that need to be explored. Managing export markets Export marketing could be more aggressive the model adopted by Munchee for Australia of establishing a marketing office seems the proven route to establish and develop key markets. We see some amazing possibilities for synergies for CBL in inviting someone of the caliber of Merrill 1. Fernando Chairman Dilmah to its board, perhaps even offering Dilmah some equity in an export division or forming a separate export company, who could help with establishing relationships with some of Dilmahs retailers and distributors in Australia. One way or another, the use of a different model to fast track export market expansion is advisable. 5. Managing Indian market entry This is the second greatest challenge facing the company. India is an amazingly dissimilar market to Sri Lanka despite certain cultural similarities. It is fragmented with over 15 million retail entities, the largest number in the world. The organized retail sector in India is only 3%. However, over 51 % of its population is under 25 years of age and the fastest growing sector is the retail high-end supermarkets -expected to grow over three fold in the next five years (from US$8 billion to US$25 billion). Beginning with three malls in 2003, India had 25 by 2005 and is building 200 more. The pace of change is phenomenal. It makes sense to enter this high-end retail Focus on core competencieslRefocus on Sales and Marketing CBLs passion for quality, capacity to build brands and technological and production innovativeness are great competencies to be retained. Skills like marketing and sales are always unstable. Such skills are in demand, pressures are great and often new challenges are looked for in different cycles of growth. No proper product management system or category management is in place. It is important to have some depth to the marketing department. And while CBLs success speaks volumes for the capabilities of its current Director of marketing there is a need for a diversity of approaches and opinions so that marketing efforts do not grow stale. Key mid level appointments need to be made. Customer intimacy! Product leadership / Managing brand TOM In spite of CBL making all the right moves, and succeeding in achieving higher scores than Maliban in most of the consumer research categories (see chart below), Munchee is still behind in brand Top-Of-Mind (TOM) recall. This is despite Munchee having strong market noise levels in share of voice and especially with the competition making so many mistakes. Part of the gap between Munchee and Maliban in top of mind recall can be explained by the long history of Maliban as a market leader, and that it was the dominant player for a very long time. Part of the gap between Munchee and Maliban in top of mind recall can be explained by the long history of Maliban as a market leader, and that it was the dominant player for a very long time.