Certified Organic, Fair Trade, and Civic Agriculture Essay

Certified Organic, Fair Trade, and Civic Agriculture - Essay Example Fair trade foods have entered the market in response to socially conscious advocates that promote the long-term economic well being of farmers in developing countries or disadvantaged areas. Civic agriculture has responded to the call of local community groups and consumer cooperatives that seek to link food to local production as an alternative to the mass-produced and distributed food chain. Organic foods, fair trade products, and civic agriculture all serve separate demands in the marketplace, each with differing drawbacks and a limited ability to serve the needs of the world's demand for food. Organic foods are a specialty type of farming that has risen in popularity in recent years as a response to the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides that are used in commercial farming. Many of these products have been linked to cancer and a variety of childhood ailments. Controlling weeds and pests in organic farming is accomplished through alternative methods that rely on weed control, instead of killing, and natural pest repellent systems. In addition, under the Federal Organic Food Production Act of 1990 fertilizers are strictly limited and prohibit the use of "fertilizers containing synthetic ingredients or any commercially blended fertilizers containing materials prohibited", such as "phosphorous, lime, potash, or any materials that are inconsistent with the applicable organic certification program" (Federal Organic Food Production Act of 1990). To be labeled as an organic food, it must be grown in accordance with US Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines and certi fied by the Department. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "More than 40 private organizations and state agencies (certifiers) currently certify organic food, but their standards for growing and labeling organic food may differ. For example, some agencies may permit or prohibit different pesticides or fertilizers in growing organic food" (Organic Farming). The rigid guidelines and lack of standards has made organic foods difficult to market, and added complexity and confusion to the consumer wishing to consume organic foods. The organic foods market has been developing for over fifty years in the US, and while it has experienced significant growth, it is limited in its scope as a source of food. The low prices that are paid in the US for food have come about as a result of large scale and high production farming techniques. These agricultural practices are not conducive to organic methods and they rely on the significant applications of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. In addition, much of our agricultural production goes to animal feed. The millions of acres of corn and soybeans that cover the Midwest could not be organically grown. Organic foods are an excellent product for the home gardener that is concerned about the risks of agricultural chemicals, or the small producer that is serving a niche market. The EPA states that "the industry has grown from experimental garden plots to large farms with surplus products sold under a special organic label. Food manufacturers have developed organic pro cessed products and many retail marketing chains specialize in the sale of "organic" products" (Organic Farming). However, these products are located on specialty shelves in the supermarket, are more expensive, and the

Environmental management and quality system Essay

Environmental management and quality system - Essay Example Some such efforts towards environmental protection made by the company are high quality insulation throughout the company premises, de-stratification fans that helps re-circulate high level warm air and aluminum framed double glazed window units. In addition, the company has recycling stations throughout the company premises. This helps them recycle nearly five tonnes of plastic every year. As a result of these steps, the company has reduced the amount of waste it sends to landfill sites by 53% between 2006 and 2007. The recycling projects recycle cardboard, plastic cups, paper, metal, wood and plastics (Press Exposure). The company has its own environmental policy that states that the company will try to meet and exceed the various environmental protection legislations by introducing minimisation, reuse, and recycling. For its excellent environmental management system, the company has won ISO14001:2004 certification. Also, following the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive guidelines, the company makes a contribution to the Product Recycling Fund. Thus, the environmental protection measures by Slingsby include making its manufacturing, warehousing and distributing centers effective through repairs and energy efficient systems, and improving office environment through the installation of ECA approved products. Also, there is waste management system that considerably reduces the disposal of wastes at landfill sites. In order to see that these measures are properly taken, there are meter reading, invoices, and other internal and external measures. A look into the concept of Quality Management proves that the purpose is to consistently meet or exceed customer requirements through management practices which will result in long term success through customer satisfaction. The company has already won ISO9001 that is the result of improvement of indirect operation by standardization. Admittedly, quality

What do you think comprises reality Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What do you think comprises reality - Term Paper Example We do not have a direct perception of substances in minds, but only a representation of them. What we know is not what is inherent to the substances, but only the secondary and primary qualities. Thus, according to Locke, the substances are bodies, which are material, and souls, which are immaterial. Then there is God. He explains the existence of God, not from inherent ideas, but from sense-experience. Their basic substance is assumed from the perception of physical qualities, since qualities must have a solid basis. Likewise, a spiritual soul is formed from the observation of mental operations. We perceive bodies through sensation and have a lucid and instant idea of our soul by reflection. The outside world is independent of the mind. The presence of real objects is what causes real sensations in us (Tully 53). Locke further says there are interactions between the body and mind, both of which are real beings, resulting in the actions of our bodies and minds. The changes experience d by the soul are as a result of its being acted on by outside bodies. On Locke’s third substance, God, he provides that we shape an idea of God by expanding or taking to infinity the rules and objects of our sensations and reflections. What we experience are existence, extension, knowledge and power. Taking them to infinity is our idea of God (Tully 67). Descartes described a substance as a particular thing. He argues that there are material or physical substances and thinking substances, the mind. The substances have characteristics called modes. Modes of physical substances include their location in time, space, shape and volume. The mode of thinking substances includes ideas, judgments and desires of the subject. Every substance has an essential property. The essential property of a material substance is occupying space and time. The essential property of a thinking substance is thinking. Therefore, having ideas, believing or desiring are ways of thinking, and having a sh ape and volume are ways of occupying space and time. Descartes further divides material substances into finite and infinite. Examples of finite materials are human bodies, plants and earth. Likewise, human minds are finite thinking substances. Adding a third substance, he says God is an infinite substance. Therefore, according to Descartes, there are three types of substances; modes, finite substances, and infinite substance. Descartes views reality as relative and divides them into formal and objective reality. Formal is the kind of reality something possesses by merit of the type of thing it is. Infinite substances, finite substances, and modes possess formal reality in varying degrees. Modes have the least formal reality, followed by finite substances then infinite substance in ascending order. The amount of formal reality contained in something is determined by its dependence on another for its existence. The higher the dependence something has on another for existence, the less the formal reality it contains. Modes depend on finite substances, and in turn finite substances depend on infinite substances for existence (Tully 41). For example, the shape of a ball would not exist without a ball, but a ball could exist without that shape. On objective reality, Descartes contributes that first it is only possessed by representation. This means that it is possessed by things that stand for other things. Basically, these are ideas. Examples of representations

Beat by Dre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Beat by Dre - Essay Example Beats by Dre is a brand name for speakers and headphones produced by a company called Beats Electronics. Beats by Dre has influenced the headphone market and industry by creating successful premium headphone products. According to Dr. Dre, the brand’s focus on bass was motivated by the need to allow music listeners to listen to all the music. The popularity of Beats by Dre was driven by the firm’s marketing practices. The company focused on branding, endorsement deals and product placement. Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine use celebrities and other famous personalities for brand endorsement. Beats by Dre headphones were conceptualized after Dre. Dre and Iovine identified a problem with the quality of audio products offered to customers. They identified the substandard audio quality of Apple’s headphones. Initially, Beats by Dre entered into a partnership with Monster Cable to develop and manufacture headphones and speakers. In order to promote the products, Beats by Dre relied on advertisements and product promotions by musician and rappers (Steinberg, 2014, p. 1). The headphones were also strategically placed in music videos and movies. Beats by Dre also collaborated with celebrities and musicians in order to develop co-branded products. Beats by Dre is the dominant player in the headphone market for headphones priced above $100 (Meara, 2014 p. 1). In 2014, Apple, Inc acquired Beats by Dre in a deal that was valued at $3 billion. Porter five forces is a business tool that analyzes a business situation. The tool is based on five assumptions that determine the competitive advantages or powers in a business environment. The first assumption is the threat of substitution services and products, and the second assumption is the supplier’s bargaining power. The third assumption is the buyer’s bargaining power and the fourth assumption is the threat of new entrants. The last assumption is

Investigation of the crime or unlawful activity Essay

Investigation of the crime or unlawful activity - Essay Example For private investigators, their own learning and experience is the key. When in police as detectives in local, state, or federal agencies, the minimal educational requirement is high school diploma. Some departments may require 1 or 2 years of the college course or in some cases, a college degree. But most of them learn their skills from the intensive training in their agency’s police academy. They are supposed to comply with the law whether on or off duty. Besides, investigative agencies may hire specialized professionals such as forensic experts in case of the criminal investigation, CPA or other qualified management experts in case of the financial scam, depending upon the services required. Many such services are hired on the freelance basis. Expectations from society are high as they are seen as authority and the reliable figures to provide leadership and take charge of the situation.

Israel and the Palestinians (CASE) Module 4 Essay

Israel and the Palestinians (CASE) Module 4 - Essay Example The situation between Israel and Palestine involves the USA and therefore, the USA risks her acquisition of oil and other resources from the Islam nations (Palestine Facts, 2009). In order to deal with the threat of terror that Israel seem to use as an excuse to intimidate Palestine, the USA should make use of her Foreign Policy to negotiate or intervene the conflict without political or economic bias. It has been reported that the USA’s taxpayers’ money has been funding Israel military operations within the Middle East. Without a clear indication of which nation is instigating or escalating the conflict, the USA has chosen to support Israel in both military and financial resources (Palestine Facts, 2009). The USA has several options on how to approach the conflict between Israel and Palestine conflict. From historical background, the USA has been in record for getting involved in various conflicts between other nations. With regards to these interventions, the USA’s Foreign policy, which is supported by other nations such as the UK, has been a doctrine for maintaining peace among nations. In this case, as a recommendation, the USA should consider the merits of the Foreign Policy before providing support to Israel. The US Foreign Policy is a doctrine supported by the US Constitution and merited by various other bodies such as the UN. Thus, while the USA may not be directly involved in providing military supports to Israel, there are various levels of conflicts that the USA overlooks. Israel has been openly endorsed by the USA in terms of military to carry out anti-terror operations in Gaza Strip and West Bank. As a ally to the USA, Israel has boasted superpower status within th e Middle East due to her military prowess. However, if the humanitarian clause of maintaining peace around the world in the US Foreign Policy holds, then the USA should withdraw support for Israel in order to apply diplomacy in approaching the

MAC Brand Analysis Essay Example for Free

MAC Brand Analysis Essay 1.0 Introduction The cosmetic industry is very competitive industry where product benefits and brand image are keys to success. The purpose of this report is to present an analysis of the brand M.A.C and its product lipstick with focus on T-C-B and I-D-U analysis, a clear positioning statement and target audience (s) including brand loyalty categories. The purpose at the end of this assignment is to have an understanding of what objective M.A.C needs to focus on for a creative strategy in the second part of this assignment. 2.0 Brand Product Description The type of product selected for the positioning exercise is lipstick; the specific brand selected is M.A.C cosmetics owned by Estlee Lauder Corporation. It is noted that â€Å"lipstick† is a product description and is not owed but the company thus demonstrating M.A.C is one brand corporation. To determine if M.A.C has a strong market positioning within the women’s cosmetic industry particularly with their lipstick product both secondary research (trade publications) and individual â€Å"depth† interviews were conduct (see Appendix A ), and will be used for evaluation and conclusion. 3.0 Analysis The tools/models used for determining M.A.C’s market position were T.C.B IDU models. The T-C-B model was used as a baseline for a serious of questions to guide a particular set of respondents that M.A.C caters for and is aiming to achieve a strong market position in this select category. 3.1 T-C-B 3.1.1 The Target Customer (T) Positioning The primary target demographic for any brand of lipstick is female. The types of consumers that are interested in bold colour selection, wanting to feel sexy and fashionable and want a lipstick that fit into their own personal style are M.A.C’s target audience. Thus the respondents used for this analysis are young fashionable conscious individual who seeking a look without compromising on the fashion trends. 3.1.2 The Category need (C) Positioning There are many needs that the product lipstick needs to satisfy to the consumer. The general needs that all lipstick must fill are coverage or â€Å"staying power† and hydration (lips not drying out) this was concluded form appendix A. The needs that M.A.C lipstick specifically fills can be divided into physical needs and the emotional needs. The most important physical needs as identify by â€Å"in-depth interviews† were a good range of colours and appealing packaging. The most important emotional needs stated through in depth interviews were the social and individual needs. 3.1.3 Benefits (B) Positioning To conclude that the following Key benefits were important to M.A.C target audience and the company and fill the category needs were drawn from the various responses from the in-depth interviews. These benefits are a â€Å"way in† to increase and maintain the target market (T). M.A.C fills the physical need being the large range of colours of lipstick by having the largest range of lipstick colours with 136 shades in their permanent collection not including the releases of new limited every few week. Compare to Bobbi Brown have only 36 shades in their permanent collection and Chanel which has 67 shades this was discovered through secondary research and by confirming this with in-depth interviews.When comparing the pictures of various packaging of different brands of lipstick in the in-depth interviews stimuli used to help identify benefits of the lipstick category to understand the various competing it was concluded that M.A.C packaging as describe by the respondents as simple , plastic/glass, eye-catching, chic, stylish and high product. Social needs is satisfied by belonging to a group. M.A.C associates itself with fashion, prestige beauty and youth culture and markets their product through testimonials and word of mouth via fashion shows and celebrities. Consumers who use M.A.C lipstick are â€Å"automatically† introduced to the M.A.C culture and their social need is satisfied. The need of individual is the biggest focus of M.A.C lipstick. An individual may have a need for self-expression and this is expressed by fashion and style. M.A.C realised that it could satisfy this need by simple product packaging made of plastic or glass; products have straight forward names and trend setting colours. 3.2 I-D-U Analysis 3.2.1 Central versus differentiated benefit positioning M.A.C lipstick adopts differentiated positioning on at least one important benefit. For instance M.A.C is functionally different bright range of colours and its target user is â€Å"individualists who express through fashion†. Rather than central positioning as the women’s industry is so competitive and to be successful M.A.C lipstick positioning will deliver better results for the corporation. As M.A.C lipstick is not seen as the consumer as â€Å"best of its kind† through in-depth interviews. 3.2.2 Emphasized benefit: Instinctual, archetypal, emotional or rational The benefit to be emphasized as the key benefit of M.A.C lipstick is the large range of colours to select from. This is emphasized as an both a functional benefit and emotional benefit proposition and uses type 2 of emotion. As M.A.C lipstick uses the strong appeal of being fashionable and sexy with a large range of colours to choose from as a transformational positive ending motivating emotion as evidence by the in-depth interviews. 3.2.3 Entry-tickets benefits The benefits what the consumer expects for M.A.C is to have a large range of colour for being a lipstick product category. However the consumers of M.A.C lipstick are told that M.A.C lipstick have the biggest range of colours through the professional make-up artist as employees through the M.A.C social network (twitter, Facebook) It was concluded that M.A.C lip colour range is the key benefit that make M.A.C should focus on promoting to the target consumer as it is the closes to the â€Å"ideal brand in that benefit when comparing 5 other brands. M.A.C clear delivery of the range of lip colours and their uniqueness set them apart from other brand. 4.0 Positioning Statement Target audience 4.1 Positioning statement Determine the positioning statement for M.A.C from the TCB and IDU analysis the findings from the brand analysis are the following; The competitors of M.A.C are not just the leaders in women’s cosmetics lipstick but range from all companies that have a stake in the cosmetics industry. A perceptual map was devised from the in-depth interviews for an easy diagram showed all the competitors. (Appendix) These are all the competitors that must be taken into consideration when developing the positioning statement. Using the Rossiter-Percy-Bellman Grid it is establish that the product is acceptable in the low involvement, transformational sector this was further confirmed with the in-depth interviews. The attribute that were important to the consumers when evaluating the product of women’s lipstick these were discovered as; fashionable, sexy, range of colours, smoothness, staying power and hydration these where then rank or delivery and uniqueness by the top 5 main competitors and no-brand as all the other competitors see appendix B and C. Based on the IDU analysis and consumer research see appendix A, B C it was determined how each competitor is positioned in the vision of the consumer. The top two main competitors of M.A.C were to be considered as Chanel and Bobbi Brown based on both higher end pricing and a large colour option pallet and are to be consider the leaders in the women’s cosmetics:- lipstick industry. So M.A.C needs to offer the consumer something very unique in the positioning statement to have brand differentiation to increase and maintain the target market. The various factors that distinguish the M.A.C consumer and their lifestyle, their purchase motivations and their different attributes that are important to them were concluded from the research (Appendix A). The positioning statement:- M.A.C is the women’s cosmetic brand that provides consumers lipstick to women who are 18-30 and belongs to the socioeconomic class of middle-high (T), M.A.C lipstick satisfies the need of self-expression in every women to be fashion forward and be accepted in the M.A.C culture (C) M.A.C’s benefit intention is to have the largest selection of lip colours, the most fashion forward of its kind in the industry and be artistic and creative for all women. (B) M.A.C needs to constantly work on their positioning statement to increase their brand market share via T-C-B I-D-U brand analysis by doing this the company can always increase the perceived delivery of the M.A.C lipstick. 4.2 Target audience The target audience should be broadly described as 18-35 female in the middle-high social economic class. These are the follow segments that M.A.C is enter in with their differentiation marketing. M.A.C divides the market of their lipstick product into demographic segmentation being female and a specific age group because over 90% of their users belong in this specific category. However the product is not limited to this demographic segmentation. M.A.C furthermore divides the market on the basis of personality being fashion forward, artistic and creative which is a form of psychographic segmentation. The buying situations in which target market purchase M.A.C lipstick (that were discovered form in-depth interviews) where; outlets both direct through online shopping and in-store department store (David Jones), benefits sought as in the large colour range M.A.C product provides.. The consumers of M.A.C lipstick are brand loyals, however they can be routinized favourable brand switchers as well this is due to the positioning of M.A.C lipstick in the Rossiter-Percy-Bellman grid.