Children and Play Essay Example for Free

Children and Play Essay In my experience I have witnessed many children challenging themselves to take risks, for example when my target child was playing outside he challenged himself to climb higher on the climbing frame, which he achieved and then after I explained to him how this activity provides risks for him and other children, also I explained to him that there is nothing wrong with taking risks and that they help you learn how to do certain things. Another time when one of the children at my setting was challenging them self was when they were learning how to ride a bike, I saw the child getting frustrated and angry with them self because they kept stumbling and nearly falling off, I then stopped the child and told him how learning to ride a bike is a challenge and a risk for them and explained that it is fun but it comes with a few risks e. g. possibly falling off and injuring themselves. After I told him this he was more careful on the bike and after some encouragement he felt more comfortable when challenging himself and taking risks in the near future. Children benefit from play activities that challenge them in many ways, one way is that it provides them with a learning curve to try new things even if they can’t do them at first, for example climbing high ropes. Everyday life always involves some kind of risk and children need to learn how to cope with this. They need to understand that the world can be a dangerous place and that care needs to be taken when negotiating their way around it. Inevitably the most powerful learning comes from not understanding or misjudging the degree of risk. Similarly the toddler who ignores the warning, for example if the child says â€Å"don’t climb too high, you might fall†, and experiences this then they are not likely to make the same mistake again. Being told about possible dangers is not enough, children need to see or experience the consequences of not taking care. When I observe young children, I have seen that from an early age, they are motivated to take risks; they want to learn to walk, climb, ride a bike and are not put off by the tumbles they experience as they are developing coordination and control. In my setting children find their own physical challenges and, in doing so learn about their own strengths and limitations. Children who are sheltered from risk and challenge when young will not be able to make judgements about their own capabilities and will not be well equipped to resist peer pressure in their later years.

East West Culture Differences Cultural Studies Essay

East West Culture Differences Cultural Studies Essay In todays global business environment, with the increase in international business and in foreign investment, more and more of us are required to understand people coming from countries and cultures different from our own, so the impact of difference between Oriental and Occidental cultures on international trade becomes increasingly exposed. Therefore, this article makes multidimensional analyses of these matters arising out of cultural differences in transnational commerce. International trade is the exchange of goods and services among different countries. Owing to various socio-cultures, enormous differences exist in commercial culture of nations. The East and the West are the two mainstream cultures in the world; meanwhile, the gaps of them are obvious, appearing in values, conventions, languages, consumption patterns, social organizations and structures, etc. This paper aims at discussing the cultural differences that are faced in todays commercial transaction in the world and evolving appropriate measures to deal with those.    Key words: East-West cultural differences; international trade; international communication 1. Introduction This section is an introduction, which gives a general account of the importance of cross-cultural communication, purpose of this thesis, and the significance of the thesis. 1.1 The importance of being aware of the East-West cultural differences In our world of expanding technology and shrinking geography, people of different cultures have increasing frequency of contact and need for effective communication on a daily basis. Speaking a different language is an obvious obstacle to intercultural communication, but a greater and more difficult hurdle is to speak a different culture. Even though we may learn the words, the grammar, and the recognizable pronunciation of a language, we may still not know how to navigate around the greater obstacles to communication that are presented by cultural difference. The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish each other a lot. This is because the culture systems are two separate systems on the whole. Due to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference from the other. There are so many differences in culture between the East and West. However, there is a trend that the culture in both countries has been mixture. There are problems may be caused by our failure to recognize cultural differences. Nowadays the world is becoming much more mobile than ever before. With the powerful modern transportation tools like airplane, people can travel to other counties just in a few hours. Under this circumstance, it is not uncommon to find some problems caused by the ignorance of cultural differences. Apart from different languages (and you will benefit greatly if you can learn to understand, speak or write some of them), each country has its own social systems and laws and ways of implementing them to resolve problems and disputes during international businesses. In addition, the diversity is reflected in management philosophy, operating procedure, marketing methods of merchants and the specific trading activities. In conclusion, to be successful and skillful as an international trader it is important to recognize and accept that there are differences between the East and the West. 1.2 Purpose of the study Entitled On the East-West Cultural Differences and the Influence on the International Trade, this thesis endeavors to probe into the nature and practical method to give a description of various kinds of cultural differences, their impact upon international commerce, and how to deal with the difficulties appearing in the business communication. Eastern people often feel confident that they know quite a bit about western culture. In fact, they may have seen many western films, may eat at KFC regularly, may know more about the National Basketball Association or about current popular music than many Americans, may speak quite fluent English, but that does not necessarily mean that they know western culture the way a Westerner knows it. It doesnt mean they know the cultural grammar or can swim in those cultural waters. It doesnt mean they can avoid miscommunication or even conflict during communicating. Just as Wolfson points out, In interacting with foreigners, native speakers tend to be rather tolerant of errors in pronunciation or syntax. In contrast, violations of rules of speaking are often interpreted as bad manners, since the native speaker is unlikely to be aware of sociolinguistic relating. (Wolfson,1983: 62). The thesis attempts to make out a system and makes comprehensive study of the pervasive culture by means of definitions, classifications to improve the culture awareness. From some researchers perspective, culture is like an iceberg in the ocean, what we see and feel such as artifacts, clothing, was the surface part of iceberg, this part is easily to be recognized, while the hidden part of iceberg such as values and beliefs which are not immediately observable and felt, rather, hidden behind the daily verbal and nonverbal communication, and directs and regulates peoples speech and behavior. The assumption of the identification of this category is that different areas in the world are characterized by different values and features. 1.3 Significance of the study Knowledge about cultures, both general and specific, provides insight into the learned behaviors of a group. It helps the learner to gain awareness of what makes a people unique. The factors are its customs and traditions, values and beliefs, attitudes and concepts, hierarchies and roles, time and space relations, and verbal and non-verbal communication processes. Information gained in cross-culture studies will enable businessmen to become more cosmopolitan, to cope more effectively abroad, to reduce stress and resolve conflict more readily in the international area. Now with the Open Policy, many enterprises are involved in international trade. Those engaged in the import-export trade, depending on their understanding and skills in cross-cultural relations, can either advance or hamper their sales and exchanges. Transcultural studies benefit businessmen as follows: Foster interaction, good will and customer relations, as well as business and profits. In a competitive society, the global businessman should function like an intercultural researcher seeking various ways to establish good relationship with his partners whose behaviors are strongly affected by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. But the cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on them. Offer better understanding of both domestic and international markets. To be successful in international business, a good market research project requires as much careful planning as a well-designed product. Market research must allow for cultural differences in a foreign market. For example, orange juice is not a breakfast drink in France; Middle Easterners prefer spicy toothpaste; the Japanese like rice and tuna for breakfast. These cultural differences will help one make a successful marketing decision. Provide insight relative to organizational culture and personal behavior. Intercultural study offers us better understanding of the culture in which one is going to work. For example, one aspect of American culture is that people must work hard to accomplish their objectives. We can see this in the corporate culture of Microsoft, while Chinese tend to work together and accomplish a project step by step with explicit hierarchical relationship. Help one to gain a better sense of self and cultural heritage for more effective intercultural interactions. In order to create cultural synergistic solutions to problems lying in international business, a global businessman must know his culture and business practice to deal with different partners with different cultures. In a word, cross-cultural study offers better international relationships, which are bound to be enhanced when management, sales, and technical personnel can deal with cultural differences within the world market place. 2. The difference between east culture and west culture Success on international business journey depends significantly on understanding culture and appreciating how profoundly values, attitudes and behaviors are shaped by it. Unfortunately, culture is a complex phenomenon, The understanding of which is aided neither by the diffuse use of the term in everyday conversation nor by the wealth of definitions in current use. At the very outset, we face the challenge of developing an understanding of culture that both captures its essence and will serve as a practical guide to the broad spectrum of cultural diversity. 2.1 A brief introduction to culture The word culture often brings up more problems than it involves. So far, culture has been defined in many ways by a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds. Culture, according to Robert Kohls, the former Director  of Training and Development for the United States  Information Agency, is an integrated system of learned  behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members  of any given society, the total way of life of particular  groups of people. It includes everything that a group of  people thinks, says, does, and makes-its customs,  language, material artifacts and shared systems of  attitudes and feelings. Culture is learned and transmitted  from generation to generation. It is not identical with  the genetic heritage that may differentiate one group of  people from another. These differences in shared  systems of attitudes and feelings are one of those more  subtle areas of difference that foreigners experience  when they leave home.  Cul ture affects peoples ways of thinking and their  views of the world. Every culture has its distinct  characteristics that make it different from every other  culture. Some differences are quite evident (e.g.  language, religion, political organization, etc.). However, in a word, culture generally refers to the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws morals, customs, habits, and capabilities acquired by individuals who interact in a specific area of society. Others  can be so subtle that while foreign visitors may be  vaguely aware of them, making adjustments is a  complex process and one may remain uncomfortable  and off balance for quite some time. 2.2 Causes for culture differences The cultures of the East and the West really distinguish  each other by a lot. This is because the culture systems  are two separate systems on the whole.  The origin of the eastern cultures is mainly from two  countries: China and India. Both of the two cultures are  gestated by rivers: the Yellow River in China and the  Hindu River in India. These two cultures were  developed for several thousand years and formed their  own styles. Then in Dang Dynasty of China, the  Chinese culture gradually went overseas to Japan,  mixed into the Japanese society and shaped the  Japanese culture nowadays. Though a bit different from  the Chinese one, it belongs to the same system. When the two mother rivers gave birth to the eastern  culture, another famous culture was brought up on the  Mesopotamian Plain-the Mesopotamian Civilization.  This civilization later on developed into the cultures of  the Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And these two  are well-known as the base of the European culture.  Like the Chinese culture, the European one also crossed  waters. When the colonists of England settled down in  America, their culture went with them over the Atlantic  Ocean. So the American culture is similar to the  European one.  At the same time, the difference of the language  systems adds to the cultural differences. In the East,  most languages belong to the pictographic language  while the Western languages are mostly based on the  Latin system.  Other factors like human race difference counts as  well. But whats more, due to the far distance and the  steep areas between the East and West, the two cultures  seldom commu nicate until recent centuries. So they  grew up totally in their own ways with almost no  interference from the other. 2.3 The Role of Culture in Business With the development of globalization, cross-culture  communication is indispensable to an open society in  which we live today. Therefore, cultural differences are  everywhere. The cultures between the East and the West  are distinguished by a rather large scale. It means not  only the opinions or ways of thinking are different, but  how do people behave in daily life is also not the same,  sometimes may even the opposite. This paper will first  probe into the causes for cultural differences and then  some of the typical examples to illustrate the cultural  difference between east and west, finally, ways to fit in  different cultures. What role does culture play and can it be a positive one? A manager in a Swedish pharmaceutical firm described what happened when a multicultural team was put together. Product design was traditionally carried out at our Stockholm headquarters. Once, by accident or design, we brought in an international team to discuss the design of a new allergy product. Due to extreme differences of opinion on what constitutes good medical practice, the team designed the new product with maximum flexibility to suit the major demands of each country. Later, we discovered this flexibility to be of great advantage in developing and marketing international competitive products. Regarding cultural differences as a challenge rather than a problem may mean a little more investment of time and funds, but it is more likely to produce international workable teams, systems and products. This general approach albeit with variances in each case, has helped Japanese, Germans and Scandinavians adapt successfully to international markets. It has also helped cultivate the deep awareness of quality and consumer-friendliness, which characterizes the products of these successful countries, and pervades business thinking and aspirations. So if international companies are to tackle the challenge of culture where do they start? Let us look in more detail at the areas of business activity, which need to be culture-responsive. Steven Globerman discussed this issue as follows: Culture differences do not as a rule that prohibits doing business internationally, although they often oblige management to modify the way business is done from region to region. While modifications may be required, to a greater or lesser extent, in virtually all of the international firms activities, the particular areas that seem to be affected by cultural differences are the marketing and personnel relations functions. It points in the right direction and its implications are clear: managing and communicating with a culturally different or varied workforce requires new methods and techniques. Success in this first objective is needed so that the company may understand consumers whose behavior and tastes are different from that of the home country. 3. The basic content of business communication 3.1 Understanding Globalization Although globalization has come to the world ¼Ã…’most of the worlds businesses are not globalized ¼Ã… ½Business globalization is the ability of a corporation to take a product and market in the entire civilized world ¼Ã… ½International firms have subsidiaries or components in other countries ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºhowever, control of the foreign operations is maintained at the home country headquarters. Multinational firms allow their foreign operations to exist as domestic organizations ¼Ã… ½Most firms are international ¼Ã…’either sourcing ¼Ã…’ producing ¼Ã…’or exporting ¼Ã… ½Thus the personnel of an organization must have a global mindset in order for the firm to succeed in the international marketplace. Laurent (1986), in a study of multinational corporations, found that successful multinational corporations do not submerge the individuality of different cultures completely in the corporate culture, that intercultural contact can promote a determination not to adjust to other cultures, and that new management theory and practice can be presented only to individuals who are culturally able and willing to accept it ¼Ã… ½Rhinesmith (l993) states The corporate culture contains the values, norms of behavior, systems, policies ¼Ã…’and procedures through which the organization adapts to the complexity of the global arena ¼Ã… ½Companies with franchises abroad have had to make certain adjustments to accommodate the taste and preferences of individual countries; for example. Tex-Mex cuisine is prepared kosher in Israel. According to Rhinesmith (1993), Diversity-both domestic and international will be the engine that drives the creative energy of the corporation of the twenty ¼Ã… ½first century ¼Ã… ½Successful global managers will be those who are able to manage this diversity for the innovative and competitive edge of their corporations. Since globalization has become an irresistible trend pervading throughout the world, international businessme n should take it into consideration and try their best to better cross-cultural business communication in the course of their international business journeys. 3.2 Understanding Intercultural Communication The term intercultural communication was first used by Edward T. Hall in 1959. Hall was one of the first researchers to differentiate cultures based on how communications are sent and received. Hall defined intercultural communication as communication between persons of different cultures. The subject of intercultural communication is beset by a major problem, since there is really very little agreement on what people mean by the idea of culture in the first place. Intercultural business communication is a relatively new term in the business world and is defined as communication within and between businesses that involves people from more than one culture. Intercultural business communication allows us to work on the procedural issues of country-to-country contacts, diplomacy, and legal contexts; it allows us to become involved with the substantive, cultural level and helps sensitize us to differences. It also allows us to gather information to make decisions when we are in an intercultural environment (Rohrlich, 1998). 3.3 The specific embodiment of business communication Business communication refers to the exchange of information resources and the touch of each other for a set purpose to establish a commercial relationship based on mutual benefit promoting the business activities to succeed. Cross-culture Communication in commerce is either a sort of business proceedings, or procedures for culture dialogue and betting game. To make business communication more effective, honest social relation needs to be created. Business Communication: communication used to promote a product, service, or organization; relay information within the business; or deal with legal and similar issues. It is also a means of relaying between a supply chain, for example the consumer and manufacturer. Business communication is somewhat different and unique rather from other type of communication since the purpose of business is to get profit. Thus to make good way for profit the communicator should develop good communication skills. Everyone knows that in the present day tren ds the knowledge alone wont be a fruitful one to have sustainable development. By knowing the importance of communication many organizations started training their employees in betterment of Communication techniques. Essentially due to globalization the world has become a Global village. Thus here the importance of cross cultural communication plays a vital role. Since each and every nation has their own meaning for each and every non verbal actions. The way we appear speaks a lot about us in business communication. A neat appearance is half done verbal communication. But developing communication is not a day work, it needs constant yearly practice. There are several ways to get trained in excelling business communication such 1. by our own, 2. by practicing from trainers, 3. by internet contents, 4. by books. 4. Cultural differences exhibited in international trade Numerous studies have been done to identify specific  characteristics that distinguish one culture from another.  The cultural difference between east and west is no  exception. Lets sum up some of the typical examples to  illustrate such differences. Greeting How do we Chinese greet each other? Informally, if we  meet a friend in the street, we are used to saying: Hi,  have you had your meal? or Where are you going?  When it is the case of two gentlemen, they tend to shake  hands.   However, in the western countries, the above  questions are just questions, not greeting at all. They  may think youre inviting them to dinner if you ask  about their meals. Usually, theyll just give each other a  smile or greet with a Hi. Theyll shake hands only in  some formal situations. By the way, Westerners can leave a party or meeting halls without a formal conge,  nor should they shake hands with every attendee like  most of us will do here. Showing Gratitude Think of the situations below. Your mother is busy in  the kitchen. She suddenly asks you to fetch a bowl for  her. You do so. Whatll your mothers response be?  Probably shell just continue doing the cooking. After a  while, the dinner is ready. Your mother hands you your  bowl of rice. Whats your response? Probably just begin  to eat. Chinese rarely say Thank you to other family  members for receiving help or service. Neither will we  say so between good friends. Its such an unpopular  response that if you say it, the counterpart will think you  are treating him as a stranger, otherwise you are lacking  of intimacy. But in the West, thank you is one of the most  frequently used sentences. Teachers will thank a student  for answering a question; husbands will thank his wife  for making a coffee. Table Manners The ways people eat-the table manner, really  distinguish a lot. Chinese use chopsticks or sometimes  even grasp rice straightly with hands as Indians do. The  thin and long chopsticks cannot be used to cut food, so  we use teeth as knives. We hold our food, meat or  vegetable, with the chopsticks, send them to the mouths,  bite off a part and remain the other part on the  chopsticks. Thats the usual way we eat. We are also  used to holding up our bowls when having rice or soup.  But all these are considered rude in the Western  countries. The etiquette in the West requests that when eating,  bowls and plates cannot leave the tables. Food should be  cut by knives to fit into the mouths. Your mouth cannot  touch the plates or bowls. So the regular process is cut  your steak on the plate with fork and knife, send the  meat cube into the mouth with fork and nothing will be  returned back but the fork alone. The reason for this is  probably because of the different dining tools and  menus. Symbolization Symbolization is how people imagine or regard  something, which reflects the way of people thinking.   We often  attach different signicance to different colors, because  we feel differently when facing different colors. On the  last day in the APEC summit held in Shanghai several  years ago, the presidents from all over the world wore  the traditional Chinese Dang suits and took a photo  together. The colors of the suits were chosen by  themselves freely. However, its quite interesting to find  that most Easterners chose red while most of the  westerners preferred blue. To explain this, its easy to  realize that what red means is almost opposite in the  East and the West. Red means luck, fortune here.  Chinese often use this color to decorate in festivals,  such as red lanterns, red Chinese nodes, and red bangers.  But red stands for blood, revolutions in the West. So the  presidents avoided wearing the unlucky color. In the East,  dragons are imagined as something like snake and are  flowing in the sky for most of the time. The dragon is  said to have the face of the horse, the horns of the deer,  the ears of the ox, the body of the snake, the claws of the  eagle and squama of the fish. We regard dragon as God  and view ourselves the offspring of the dragon. The God  of Dragons of the four seas can charge the rainfalls. But  in the West, people think dragons as dinosaurs, which  can stand on the ground with feet and fly with huge  wings. They lay eggs just like dinosaurs. The dragons of  the West have the ability to erupt fire, instead of water.  The fire can destroy everything so the dragons are not  welcomed at all. They even become the symbol of the  Devil. Unfortunately, attempts to categorize cultural  characteristics often end up in cultural stereotypes that  are unfair and misleading. In adjusting to your study  abroad environment, you will therefore have to deal not  only with real cultural differences, and also with  perceived cultural differences. Keep in mind that people  of other cultures are just as adept at stereotyping we  Chinese as we are at stereotyping them-and the results  are not always complimentary. The following are a few  examples of the qualities (some positive, some negative)  that others frequently associate with the typical  Chinese: hard working, being economical, reserved,  and ignorant of other countries, generous, hospitable, and  superstitious. While a stereotype might possess some  grain of truth, it is obvious when we consider individual  differences that not every Chinese fits the above  description. Most Germans, Japanese, Italians, etc.,  have stereotyped perceptions of the American, just as  most Americans have stereotyped images of Germans,  Japanese, Italians, etc. In short, misperceptions may  exist on all sides. Frequently, the stereotype of the  American is far from complimentary: the boorish tourist  who expects everyone to speak English, the arrogant  patriot who thinks every country in the world should  pattern itself after the United States, the drunken reveler  who sees the anonymity of traveling abroad as an  opportunity to drop all civilized inhibitions-all have  contributed to the development of this unfortunate  stereotype. It is up to you to behave in a manner that will  convince your hosts that this is indeed an unjustified  stereotype that cannot be applied arbitrarily, at least to  yourself. 5. Conclusion 5.1 Research findings With the globalization of the world economy, organizations, especially multinational corporations, are culturally diverse in their formation of the workforce and in handling al kinds of business activities. China has seen an increasing number of FIE (Foreign Individual Enterprise) entering the Chinese market, since the country adopted the policy of opening to the outside world more than twenty years ago. The culturally diversified workforce has brought greater vitality to business, but business people today are facing many problems in their cross-cultural communication. More and more business people have become aware of the strong impact from culture, and they have come to realize the importance of understanding cross-cultural communication. As all nations have their own cultures, it is not difficult to find that people bring along with them their cultures wherever they go and tend to cling to them. As more and more Chinese business people are employed by FIEs, they are facing the same problem of learning and respecting foreign cultures as the Western business people do with the Chinese cultures. In many cases, business people find that it is really nor easy to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds. Sometimes, people may mistake someone as a culturally identical person, which often ends in troubles. In order to avoid misunderstandings in our cross-cultural communication, we should pay attention to the ways to decrease or eliminate the cultural conflicts. 5.2 Suggestions Globalization, for better or worse, has changed the way the world does business. Though in its early stage, it is all but unstoppable. At the same time, it also provides for global businessmen a challenge as well as chance. To be triumphant in international business, one should learn how to live with it, manage it and take advantage of the benefit it offers. The globalization of economics has created a confluence of cultures when it comes to business practices. Meshing these cultures has proven difficult even as it has proven necessary. In many cases the quest for a one-size-fits-all set of standards for global business behavior has progressed quite far. Global business is moving toward a world standard. In this sense, it is unpractical to accommodate stereotyping cultural theories to developing relationship in the course of international business that is developing all time along. With time going, more and more new problems and conflicts will occur when doing business internationally whatever in managing, negotiating or cooperating. Cultures will gradually melt with each other, but rooted values and norms will still cause the occurrence of clashes. Thus problems can only be solved in certain circumstance at certain time. Invariable solutions with shaped cultural ideas will only lead to prejudice and more conflicts; while adaptable solutions according to specific situation of intercultural communication is more valuable and worthy of being conserved. Nothing can be unchangeable, thus is the same with the study of cultural differences in the course of international business. Therefore, dynamic research should be furthered and kept so as to keep up with the development of international business.

Collaborative Work in Social Care

Collaborative Work in Social Care Introduction The following essay proposes to consider the question of collaborative working in social care, looking in particular at the impact of collaborative working between agencies and professional disciplines within the context of children and families. This represents an especially complex problem to attempt to tackle with the issues of both collaborative working and working with children families subject to an almost constant process of reform and change in the contemporary era. When, for instance, we pause to consider the way in which collaborative work has become such a central feature of contemporary social policy in western liberal democracies with the promulgation of the partnership approach to government dictating the pattern of a variety of social, cultural, economic and political initiatives, we can see that any discussion relating to multi-agency work must reside in some part within the realms of a constantly changing political ideology that seeks in the first instance to instil new parameters for social work practice (Quinney, 2006:5-21). Likewise, when we consider the changing nature of working with children and families in the contemporary era, we can see that a decidedly pervasive legislative and policy framework increasingly that seeks to infringe upon the practice of social work on both an individual and a collaborative level cannot help but impact upon our understanding of the nature and role of the social worker within the context of children and families (OLoughlin and Bywater, 2008:14-27). Thus, we need to observe from the outset the way in which the following essay constitutes an inherently subjective discussion where any conclusions garnered should be understood as open to further change and reinterpretation. For the purpose of perspective, we intend to adopt a dualistic approach to the problem at hand, looking firstly at the political, ideological and legal context in which social work with children and families currently takes place. In this way, we will be better able to demonstrate an effective understanding of the field of child and family work, the social work role and the multidiscipline system in relation to children in need and children in need of protection. Secondly, we will look at the implications of our own evidence-based research yielded from group dynamics involving a specific case study of children and families. In this way, we will be better able to demonstrate an understanding of the importance of evidence-based practice. Moreover, in this way, we will be better able to consider both the strengths and the weaknesses of the collaborative approach to social service provision at the dawn of the twenty first century. Before we can begin, though, we need to briefly consider the historical context in order to establish a conceptual framework in which the remainder of the discussion can take place. The political, ideological and legal context of working with children and families To understand the significance of the multi-agency, collaborative approaches to child protection we need to first mention some of the most profound cases of child cruelty, which have acted as a launch pad for reforms of social services. When, for instance, we pause to consider the case of Dennis ONeil who was starved and subsequently beaten to death by his foster father in 1945, we can see that instances of extreme abuse of looked after children directly contributed to reform of the child social services system. Maria Colwell was similarly abused and killed at the hands of her stepfather in spite of over fifty official visits to the family by social services, health visitors, police officers and housing officers before her death in 1973. As a result of the ensuing enquiry into Maria Colwells death, looked after children were assigned a guardian by the state. (Cocker and Allain, 2008:24) Likewise, public outrage, internal inquiries and institutional reform accompanied the murders of J asmine Beckford in 1984 and the uncovering of widespread sexual abuse amongst looked after children in Cleveland in 1987. In addition, the wrongful fostering of children on the Orkney Islands in 1991 after social workers mistakenly assumed that parents were part of a satanic cult triggered a reconfiguration of child protection policy, acting as a timely reminder as to the fallibility of decision making at an individual as well as an organisational level. Yet while it is true that childrens services have been influenced by individual historical cases of neglect, abuse and murder, it is also true that social work and childrens services are inherently tied to the dominant political ideology of the day. As we have already asserted, social work practice in the contemporary era is an inherently political issue with a pervasive neoliberal political ideology dictating the pattern of social policy and welfare reform over the course of the past two decades. Nowhere is this modernising neoliberal impetus more prominent than in the field of social work with children and families (Johns, 2009:39-54). Beginning with the Childrens Act of 1989 and continuing with the amended Childrens Act of 2004, the state has increasingly sought to make provisions for disadvantaged children and failing families in order to reduce the debilitating ill effects of marginalisation and social exclusion. These two Acts, in conjunction with a variety of other related social policies and statutory framework such as the Every Child Matters programme, constitute an ideological watershed with regards to the way in which the state legislatively copes with the numerous issues arising from children and families. Most obviously, these pieces of legislation and the broader emphasis upon social inclusion that they entail telegraph a new way of responding to issues arising from children and families by looking to target the causes (rather than the consequences) of neglect, exclusion, abuse and the ubiquitous problem of failing families. As a result, it is important to observe the way in which the reforms initiated over the closing decades of the twentieth century and the opening decade of the twenty first century represent a move away from the permissive social policies of the post-war years so as to incorporate a discernibly more preventative agenda for working with children and families (Morri s, Barnes and Mason, 2009:43-67). It is within this climate of preventative action that we must consider the genesis and subsequent evolution of collaborative social work practice with multi-agency work being intrinsically tied to the broader imperative of safeguarding children. The statutory framework of the Every Child Matters initiative, underpinned by the Childrens Act (2004) is, for instance, inherently tied to the partnership, collaborative approach to social service provision involving the active participation of professionals across all spectrums who work with children and young adults (Brammer, 2009:166). Understood in this way, the role of the social worker represents one part of a broader network of rights and responsibilities incorporating General Practitioners, psychologists, educational practitioners, housing association officers, National Health Service professionals, law enforcement agencies, government officials, local councillors, parents, family members and any number of related workers and associa tes who are able to help formulate an effective social agenda which places the child at the epicentre of all key decision-making. In this way, the social worker is better able to communicate with children who have suffered or are suffering from cases of neglect and abuse (Davies and Duckett, 2008:164-166). As a consequence, it is clear that partnership and collaboration should be understood as the ideological bedrock of the contemporary legal and political framework for dealing with children, families and young adults, constituting the single most important guiding principle for social workers operating in the highly complex, risk-orientated contemporary social sphere. Fuelled in some part by the high profile cases of internal failings contributing to childrens neglect where, most notably, the untimely death of Victoria Climbie in 2000 highlighted gross failures of the system (Laming, 2003:11-13), collaborative working between agencies and professional disciplines is today understood as the most viable means of positively impacting upon the well being of both children and families (Brammer, 2009:182.) In response to the murder of Victoria Climbie and, more pertinently, as a result of the economic imperative to cut back on public sector spending, the New Labour government, followed by the present coalition government, has increasingly sought to further the multi-agency approach to social services. The Childrens Plan (2007), for example, constitutes an ideological extension of the collaborative methodology championed in the Every Child Matters campaign with the government, agencies and professionals all charged with improving childrens lives. (The Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010:29) Safeguarding the well being of children is therefore no longer considered to be the sole responsibility of the state; rather, it is clear that promoting the welfare of children and families is increasingly dependent upon adopting an integrated approach with a variety of agencies, organisations and individuals sharing the responsibility for welfare while at the same time ensuring that the child remains the focus of proactive, preventative action (The Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010:31-34). It is consequently important to underline the strengths of the multi-agency approach to social care provision, underscoring in particular the way in which focusing upon collaborative working with children and families offers a holistic approach to what is an essentially multi-faceted problem. However, while we are correct to acknowledge the modernising ideology that underpins modern social work practice, we also need to observe the way in which the day to day practice of social work with children and families has revealed a significant underlying chasm between, on the one hand, the preventative legal framework and, on the other hand, the deep-seated flaws in the multi-agency, inter-disciplinary approach to welfare provision in the modern day (Oko, 2008:16-39). In spite of the best efforts of policy makers and in spite of the preventative statutory framework enshrined in the Every Child Matters initiative, there remain deep-rooted structural and logistical problems pertaining to the multi-agency approach. For example, the horrific death of Baby P in 2007 which occurred after social services, National Health Service consultants, and police officers demonstrates that there remains a clear and identifiable problem with regards to communication between agencies, organisations and professions. Moreover, the harrowing case of Baby P serves to demonstrate that, even when extreme levels of abuse are being reported, there remains a problem regarding intervention. The multi-agency approach to social care provision in the contemporary should therefore be understood as being inherently flawed with the collaborative system beset by a variety of structural weaknesses and new ideological complexities (Milner and OByrne, 2009:19-23). Although we should not seek to overlook the strengths of multi-agency, collaborative working we must, as Eileen Munro attests, consider the way in which an exceedingly risk-orientated socio-political culture has created additional problems for social workers in the modern era with an increasingly bureaucratic, administrative understanding of social services hampering the attainment of a critical understanding of the underlying economic, cultural and political factors that create problems in the social sphere (Munro, 2008:58-76). An over-emphasis upon res earch and policy has not yet yielded a significant reduction in the chasm between theory and practice. Working in a Group: The Lessons for Working with Children and Families Hitherto, we have focused upon attempting to understand how the dominant political, ideological and legal framework looks to dictate the pattern of social services at the dawn of the twenty first century. We have also seen that while policies and frameworks seek to instil a fresh, collaborative approach to working with children and young families the practical reality of working in a multi-agency context still leads to significant problems pertaining to communication. This, in the final analysis, is an inevitable consequence of working with the dynamics of groups where there is little by way of direction and where, more importantly, different group members harbour different perspectives and different ambitions with regards to the nature, role and purpose of the project at hand. In the group that I worked in, there were six participants. Two were two white women one a young woman in her early twenties; the other a woman in her thirties who is the mother of two young children. There were also two black women in the group; both of these women were in their thirties and both had children. In addition, there were two black men present in the group. As soon as the group began to convene, it was immediately apparent that there was a significant problem with regards to when the group could meet. Family commitments, coupled with work placements, conspired to make agreeing on a time to meet extremely difficult. Furthermore, when work was assigned to particular individuals it was not completed on time. A lack of structure was therefore prevalent from the start. As time went by and the problems with communication within the group continued to grow, it became apparent that the two white women took it upon themselves to act as the leaders of the group, delegating work as if they had been assigned the role of the managers. The younger woman in her early twenties was observed to be especially aggressive and domineering. When confronted she failed to act in a professional manner, which placed further strain upon the dynamics of the group. Furthermore, as the two white women exerted increasing levels of managerial control, it became apparent that they were withholding important information from the rest of the group. This was either because they did not trust the other members of the group to work to their standards or because they wished to take sole responsibility for the project upon completion. Regardless of their true intentions, the lack of co-ordination and communication resulted in a disappointing final presentation that had been undermine d on account of a wholesale lack of rehearsal. The lack of cohesive, coordinated action within the group revealed a great deal about the inherent problems of inter-agency work with children and families. Most obviously, there was a clear and identifiable problem relating to a lack of leadership and direction in the group. Although there were only six members, every participant appeared to have their own specific agenda, which meant that the overall goal became lost in the resulting confusion of responsibilities. This, according to Michael Gasper, is a key problem in multi-agency working with children and young people where a convergence of interests creates fertile grounds for problems relating to management and leadership (Gasper, 2009:92-110). In such circumstances, it is often the agency or partner that adopts the most rigorously aggressive attitude which ends up assuming a leadership-type role largely against the best interests of the project in hand. This was certainly the case in the group we observed where the two white w omen assumed leadership roles although no such premise had been discussed and in spite of the fact that no such policy had been agreed. In this instance, of course, it is impossible to ignore the spectre of underlying race issues that may have consciously or subconsciously influenced the behaviour of the two white women within the group. Race issues are intrinsically tied to power issues; thus, the white women might have felt the need to assume control of a group dominated by black people. Again, the issue of power and the impact that this has upon inter-personal relationships within a multi-agency setting is an important factor for us to consider. As Damien Fitzgerald and Janet Kay underscore, power is an inexorably important factor that needs to be legislated for when teams come together in an interdisciplinary, multi-professional context. This is especially true during the early consultative stages of group work the storming stage where there may be fighting, power struggles, disputes and destructive criticism, which need to be managed effectively so as to minimise the impact upon the setting or the service. (Fi tzgerald and Kay, 2007:92) The relationships that emerge from the storming stage are subsequently normalised during the ensuing norming stage where the team starts to adopt its own identity. If, however, the relationships between the various agencies have not settled down into an egalitarian pattern by the norming stage of development, the power struggles and internal disputes will inevitably affect the performing stage of task management. Most notably, the creative process will be stifled and the focus that should be dedicated towards the completion of the task will be diverted towards the power struggles within the group (Cheminais, 2009:38-40). This was certainly the case in the group I worked in where problems in the storming stage were translated into more serious structural problems in the norming stage, both of which ultimately affected the final performing stage of the task. Thus, once more, we need to acknowledge the significant divide between theory and practice in collaborative working with children and families where, as Jayat suggests, policies can be well intentioned, yet are often poorly co-ordinated and, in practice, under-resourced. (Jayat, 2009:92) Furthermore, while acknowledging the problems that multi-agency, collaborative work entails, we also need to consider the way in which the infusion of children into the scenario creates further avenues for a lack of cohesive, co-ordinated action. If, as the evidence suggests, information sharing is negatively influenced by multi-agency, collaborative working with adults, then it stands to reason that there is bound to be much greater scope for withholding information when children and families are integrated into the procedure. If relationships at an agency level are strained then it stands to reason that, as Butler and Roberts attest, that social workers will find it even harder to maintain open and honest relationships with children and their parents in a social work context (Butler and Roberts, 2004:129-130). More importantly, it is clear that there is little time for power struggles and disputes when a childs welfare is at stake. In the final analysis, this kind of internal wrang ling runs contrary to the central tenet of the Every Child Matters and the Working to Safeguard Children campaigns, which look to make sure that the child remains the centre of task-centred, multi-agency focus (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010:32). We should, of course, be careful not to assume that all group dynamics follow the pattern of the group we observed. While evidence suggests that there remains a significant scope for problems of power, communication, authority and direction within multi-agency settings it is also true that, if handled in the appropriate manner, collaborative practice allows differences in values to surface and, if effectively minded, to be aired and resolved over time (Glenny and Roaf, 2008:111) In such circumstances, multi-agency work with children and families can serve to positively influence the health and well being of service users. As a consequence, it is important not to assume that the structural weaknesses of collaboration mean that there are no strengths to the multi-agency process. Conclusion Understanding the strengths and the weaknesses of collaborative working between agencies and professional disciplines is dependent upon first understanding the distance to be travelled between the theory of prevention and the practice of collaboration at a grass roots level. Looking to reduce the divide between theory and practice, between the political and ideological framework and the multi-agency, collaborative approach, consequently represents the most critical challenge facing social workers and social policy makers alike. This is especially true as far as childrens services are concerned. Ultimately, though, when looking to pass a judgement on the relative strengths and weakness of multi-agency working with children and families we need to recall that agencies involve individuals responding to crises in the social sphere. As Beckett attests, every individual participant in the child protection process, and every profession or agency, necessarily sees things from his, her or its own particular standpoint and has his, her or its own particular axes to grind. It is important to bear in mind that no one participant possesses the pure and unadulterated truth.' (Beckett, 2009:29) Social work is an inherently complex and subjective discipline where there is no right or wrong answer to the multitude of questions arising from the breakdown of interpersonal relationships. Collaborative work should consequently be understood as being inherently fallible. Only by concentrating upon improving the internal group dynamics of multi-agency functioning can the chasm between theory and practice begin to be reduced.

The Cycle of Fashion Essay -- Fashion Style Mode Essays

The Cycle of Fashion Fashion is fuelled by conversion. Designers continually persuade the public that their new ideas, however shocking they may seem, are in fact everything that a stylish wardrobe requires. Next season, the same designers convince everyone to give up their allegiance to such out-modish designs and embrace instead the innovative visual trends of the latest collections. The same garments are successively dubbed 'outlandish', 'in fashion' and 'out-dated' according to the apparent vagaries of prevailing fashionable sensibilities. Are we really duped by such duplicity? Or are we willing participants in the cycle of fashion? And perhaps more significantly, what relevance does the cycle have today in Western society's culture of mass consumerism? The idea that fashion in dress follows a cyclical phase structure is not new. The sociologist, Quentin Bell made such an observation over fifty years ago in his book, On Human Finery. Moreover, his observation was based on accumulated evidence of an uninterrupted cyclical flow in dress change in Western society since at least the thirteenth century. The sociologist, Ingrid Brenninkmeyer describes this flow by comparing it to the rolling of waves in the sea. As one fashion gains popularity, crests and dissipates, another stylistic wave is already forming behind it. Further extensions of this metaphor liken different stylistic features to variations in the waves themselves. For example, just as different wave patterns form on the basis of their force, size or length, so also different overlapping patterns can be traced in changes of fashionable hem length, silhouette, fabric, dà ©colletage and colour. Mere descriptions of the fashion cycle however do little to explain exactly why successful designers? ideas typically rise and fall in popularity. What is the motivating force behind such changes in fashion? What causes the cycle to move from one phase to the next? These questions cannot be answered simply. Perhaps sheer boredom inspires the continual search for something new. Or can novelty be related to ideas of sexual allure and attraction? Do competing market interests in the fashion industry play a role in animating the cycle? Or could changes in dress function as markers of class differentiation? These factors and more have been variously proposed and analysed by researchers into the socio... ...n's clothing? To look at the men's side of underwear is different." One page of the calendar (April) does depict men's undershirts from the 18th and 19th centuries. Even the English language has been influenced by undergarments. Several popular expressions make reference to underwear: "Loose woman" comes from the connotations associated with uncorseted or loosely corseted women, Queen says. A similar case is "shiftless"; a shift was an 18th century support-providing undergarment, and Queen says the term was meant to characterize someone "without support." Many people believe that underwear for women has changed as it has because of feminism and changing social attitudes. To a large degree, that's true, Queen says, but there are other factors as well. In the past, undergarments were often designed for their "body-shaping" features. But these days, thanks to the increase in exercise and athleticism among women, "the body has become its own foundation" and women no longer need to rely on cloth and whalebone for this purpose, she says. "The choice," says Queen, "is do we want to spend three hours a day in the gym to sculpt the body, or do we want to put on a piece of cloth?"

Victor Frankenstein’s Obsession in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Essay

The most prevalent theme in Mary Shelley’s â€Å"Frankenstein† is that of obsession. Throughout the novel there are constant reminders of the struggles that Victor Frankenstein and his monster have endured. Many of their problems are brought upon by themselves by an obsessive drive for knowledge, secrecy, fear, and ultimately revenge. From the onset of Victor’s youth, his earliest memories are those of â€Å"Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember† (ch. 4) This is the first example of obsession that we see in the novel. This drive to learn the ‘hidden’ laws of nature is the original driving force that sets the plot in motion. Without this, Victor would have never embarked on his unholy quest to overcome mortality, thus leading to his creation of his monster. â€Å"Dr. Victor Frankenstein feels uncontrollably compelled to create animation in the lifeless body† (Storment) this obsession with the creation of life alienated him from his loved ones. His impending marriage to Elizabeth was one aspect of his life that he sacrificed. In chapter 22, Elizabeth writes to him â€Å"Tell me, dearest Victor. Answer me, I conjure you by our mutual happiness, with simple truth-- Do you not love another?† Elizabeth’s concern about his faithfulness is based on his neglect of their relationship. He simply did not allow any other aspect of his life to impede his goal. Victor Frankenstein is ultimately successful in his endeavor to create life. This, however, does not stop the underlying theme of obsession. Shelley’s shift from Victor’s never-ending quest for knowledge is replaced with an obsession of secrecy. â€Å"I had worked har... ...his mental strength, taking its toll, leaving him incapacitated for months on end. The final compulsion to destroy his daemon takes him to the end of existence. Exhausted from his relentless pursuit, he dies without ever obtaining the closure that he was searching for. â€Å"Victor Frankenstein’s life was destroyed because of an obsession with the power to create life where none had been before† (Moring) Shelley leaves us pondering the question, when does obsession cross the line into insanity? Works Cited Moring, Patrick. Who is the Monster? California State University, Northridge. n.d.Web. 31 Oct. 2014. Storment, Suzanna. Frankenstein Commentary. Washington State University. n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2014. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Page By Page Books. Read Classic Books Online, Free. n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.

Education: Its Aims And Objectives Essay

â€Å"Education†, says Aristotle,† is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body†. It encompasses in itself the all round development of an individual. The success of spreading education to the widest possible area lies in the way it is imparted. With the ever changing technology scenario, the methods of imparting education too have been undergoing changes. But education itself is an age old process, rather as old as the human race itself. It was man’s education through Nature, our greatest teacher, that he learned how to make fire by rubbing stones or invented the wheal to make tasks easier. Education in real earnest helps us in restraining the objectionable predisposition in ourselves. The aims of education have been categorized variously by different scholars. While Herbert Spencer believed in the ‘complete-living aim’, Herbart advocated the moral aim. The complete living aim signifies that education should prepare us for life. This view had also been supported by Rousseau and Mahatma Gandhi. They believed in the complete development or perfection of nature. All round development has been considered as the first and foremost aim of education. At the same time education ensures that there is a progressive development of innate abilities. Pestalozzi is of the view â€Å"Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate powers. † Education enables us to control, give the right direction and the final sublimation of instincts. It creates good citizens. It helps to prepare the kids for their future life. Education inculcates certain values and principles and also prepares a human being for social life. It civilizes the man. The moral aim of Herbart states that education should ingrain moral values in children. He is of the view that education should assist us in curbing our inferior whims and supplant them with superior ideas. This moral aim has also been stressed upon by Gandhiji in the sense of formation of character. The preachers of this aim do not undermine the significance of knowledge, vocational training or muscular strength. But simultaneously they have also laid stress on their view that the undisclosed aim of education is to assist development of moral habits. Then there is the social aim which means that education should produce effective individuals in the sense that they realize their responsibilities towards the society. And we all know that man is a social being. The interactive ability is a must as it is through interaction that we come to know of our responsibilities. Edmund Burke asks and he himself answers: â€Å"What is education? A parcel of books? Not at all, but an intercourse with the world, with men and with affairs. † Only bookish knowledge takes a child nowhere. It should be further perfected by practical usage with experience. â€Å"Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man† is a pithy and precise statement in which the essayist Francis Bacon sums up the advantages of studies. Even Wordsworth in his poem ‘The Tables Turned’ advocated against bookish knowledge. Books! ’tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There’s more of wisdom in it. Wordsworth was a die-hard naturalist. He wanted man to consider Nature his teacher. Naturalists believe that instincts of the child should be taken as the basis of education. The child should have freedom. Rabindra Nath Tagore was of the opinion that child should be left free in order to gather experience and to understand his own mistakes and shortcomings. The twentieth century saw the emergence of the concept of Pragmatism. Charles Pierce was the first man to introduce the concept of pragmatism in his philosophy. Later on it was popularized by John Dewey, William James, Kilpatrick and Schiller. They believed that the external world is real and the reality is being constantly created and is always changing. Knowledge and truth is one and the same thing according to them. Whatever the approach towards education, one thing we all agree: Education is for the betterment of the individual and in the long run for the society. Education helps us prepare ourselves for the life ahead. Darwin gave the theory of the ‘survival of the fittest’; we can say in a way that education prepares the individual for the struggle of life for his own survival. Knowledge combined with proper guidance can spell success. A dose of proper guidance should be commenced right from the base itself, that is, in school days. Here comes the role of the teacher in moulding a child’s mind. Educating a child, especially in the beginning years of schooling, is a very tricky job. That is probably because the child’s mind is like the unmoulded clay at that time. Therefore to get the best results and prepare well-informed and erudite adults, proper guidance is a must. For a proper system of education the teacher should encourage a student both in terms of mental encouragement and in lending a helping hand as and when needed. A student needs help for training his mind in such a way that it develops a tendency to gather knowledge from all possible sources. While on the other hand too much help if lent to him will make him dependant and used to spoon feeding. Self-study is the most sought after quality in a student. It helps them at the later stages. But because the ‘child is the father of man’ (Wordsworth) all the qualities have to be inculcated right in childhood. And teacher along with parents plays a very significant role. The aims of education should be kept in mind, although a thorough study of these aims may not be imperative. A teacher should make a child ready to face the society, inculcate moral habits in him and thus, assist him in his all round development. Education should not be considered synonymous with all that we learn. It does not signify the things we mug up before appearing for an examination. Education is what remains behind, when we fail to remember the mugged up portion. After we have left school, we realize that although we have forgotten quite a few things we learnt but still retain a very large part of it. The latter part is education. Education formally begins in school but actually it begins the day we are born and the process goes on for the whole of our life. This is where the aims of education come in. Education is not only the formal part we gain in schools, colleges or universities. It also includes the lessons life teaches us in various forms. For instance, when a child gets his finger pricked by a needle accidentally he learns that a needle is sharp and can hurt a person, so he will learn to avoid hurting himself in the future. This is only one example from thousands of other instances. We can even learn a lesson of a lifetime from a beggar. The birds inspire us to rise high. An ant motivates us for hard work. We learn some things just by doing them on our own, they are never taught in a school. A child’s first teacher is his mother, then his home and then come the formal agencies of education. Nature too is a great teacher. English poetry too gives us quite a few guidelines for leading a better life. It was not for nothing that Wordsworth went on to remark: â€Å"One impulse from the vernal wood May teach you more of a man Of moral evil and of good Than all the sages can. † As long as there is life, we require education; we need ways to modify our views about life, to face it, to live it in a better way. And education teaches us all this. Even when you read a comic strip, it educates you in some way. They improve our language and make us realize that life isn’t so bad after all that it can’t get worse, as states Bill Watterson in ‘Calvin and Hobbes’. The witty humour of ‘Dennis the Menace’ enriches us no end. â€Å"The aim of education,† says Walter Grophices, â€Å"is not the specialist but the man of vision who can humanize our life by integrating emotional demands with our new knowledge. † In another way too, the insects and animals also teach you a lot. The easiest example is that of an ant. It inspires you to work hard. Therefore we can say there are innumerable modes of education, all that one needs is to have a discerning eye. Education enriches a person in terms of accepting a defeat. A student should first of all be taught so that he is encouraged to study. Side by side he should be readied to face a failure. As Charles F. Kettering rightly says,† The chief job of the education is to teach people how to fail intelligently. † This will help the child coping with the other adversities of life. Education, thus, makes a person an improved version of himself and the world a much better place to live in.

Pricing Strategy Essay

To set a pricing strategy, there are number of steps taken into consideration as follows: Step 1: Our pricing objectives are to maximize market share and increase sales volume. This strategy will be used when TrackR is being launched into the market. We charge a reasonable price in order for TrackR to be accessible in the market as quickly as possible and also to encourage the interest and excitement of a product. Because of the low price, we are able to raise the sales volume easily, maximize the market share and reach the economic of scale as soon as possible. In order to boost the sales even more, we will offer promotion followed by the product launch, which will later be discussed in the later section. Eventually, we can penetrate the market and create brand awareness. Step 2: Being a monopoly of TrackR, we have a sole power of controlling price and quantity, but before we set a final price, we must observe the demand. TrackRcan be classified as normal goods for specific groups of people. While the price remains unchanged, people tend to buy more normal goods when their income increases and they less likely to buy normal goods when their income falls. TrackR is price elastic meaning consumers are responsive/ sensitive to a change in price. If we decide to elevate the price of TrackR, the quantity demand will be declined. Step 3: We also need to estimate the costs associated with TrackR. All costs can be broken down into 2 categories; fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs include salary, rent, PR and promotion and sales promotion, which come down to 3 million baht per month while the variable costs comprise of unit cost, shipping fee and exchange rate which are 375 baht per unit. Step 4: Analyzing competitors’ costs, prices, and offerings. Our competitors can potentially be online retailers, for example, eBay or Find my iPhone. TrackR eBay Find my iPhone Price ? $25 ~ 800 baht Free Cost No additional cost Shipping fee + duty – Offering Warranty, Service No after sales service Apple products only Step 5: We divide our consumers into 2 segments; B2B and B2C so we will use different strategies to different potential buyers. For B2B buyers, we will sign a contract and sell them over a large volume at a reasonable price range regarding the numbers of unit purchased. By having cost advantages over competitors as you can see on the previous slide, we are able to build up a barrier protecting us from new entrants entering the market. On the other hand, as we aim to achieve our objective of increasing the sales volume, we set an affordable price making it accessible to B2C consumers so we can increase the sales volume and eventually achieve economic of scale. We begin using value based pricing approach for both buyers, which sets prices primarily upon the value perceived/estimated by the consumers rather than the costs of the product. In other words, value based pricing is a valuation of good or service according to how much consumers are willing to pay. We have done a market survey to see at what price consumers would like to spend. It could be somewhat arbitrary but it greatly assistances in an effective marketing of product in understanding impact of good or service has on consumers. We then use break-even analysis, which represents a point at which total cost and total revenue are equal: there is no loss or gain at this point. It purposely uses to determine the minimum output that must be reached in order to make a profit. It is a rough indicator of a marketing activity and also provides a dynamic view of relationships between costs, sales and profits. We also use quantity discount for B2B purchaser, which is an incentive offered to our potential purchasers resulting in a reduced cost per unit of goods when acquired in a greater volume. A quantity discount will be proposed to tempt our buyers to purchase in larger quantities. Step 6: Now, we have come down to a conclusion of TrackR’s final price. Here are the base prices for both B2B and B2C buyers.