Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry And Pepsico Strategy Marketing Essay

The Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry And Pepsico Strategy Marketing Essay The chart below shows the dominant players in the carbonated soft drinks (CSD) industry according to Beverage Digest report issued on March 30, 2009. The results of this report are for the year 2008 (Sicher, 2009, p.2). Coca Cola has the largest market share accounting for 43%, followed by PepsiCo with 31% and Dr.Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (formerly Cadbury Schweppes) with 15% of the market. The remaining 11% is distributed amongst other CSD companies such as Cott Corp, National Beverage, Red Bull, Big Red, Rockstar, Private label and others. Moreover, the top 10 CSD brands in the U.S for the year 2008 were ranked by market share as follows (Sicher, 2009, p.2). Brands Company Market Share Coke Coca-Cola 17.3% Pepsi-Cola PepsiCo 10.3% Diet Coke Coca-Cola 10% Mountain Dew PepsiCo 6.8% Dr.Pepper Dr.Pepper Snapple Group(DPS) 6.1% Diet Pepsi PepsiCo 5.7% Sprite Coca-Cola 5.6% Fanta Coca-Cola 1.8% Diet Mountain Dew PepsiCo 1.8% Diet Dr.Pepper Dr.Pepper Snapple Group(DPS) 1.6% With regard to individual brands, Coke was ranked first with 17.3% market share and Pepsi-cola was in second place with a lower market share of 10.3%. Additionally, the total market share of all Coca-cola brands adds up to (34.7%) which still surpasses those of PepsiCo (24.6%). To be able to give an in-depth analysis and evaluation of the Soft Drink industry, the following factors should be considered: The relevant industry trends and the most noticeable changes in the industry. The strategic group map. The industry attractiveness using Michael Porter five forces model. A. Relevant industry trends Industry Growth The graph below shows the performance of the CSD market from 1990 up to 2008. It is observed that the industry faced a sharp decline in growth starting from 2005, where the percent volume change fell below zero. This was followed by a further decline in growth rates: -0.6% in 2006, then -2.3% in 2007 and -3% in 2008 (Sicher, 2009, p.1). Conversely, the energy drink companies were experiencing a positive growth. Hansen Natural, which has both soft drinks and energy drinks in its portfolio of products, witnessed a +3.3% CSD growth. Additionally, Red Bulls volume also increased +5.2%. Although Hansen Natural and Red Bull make up a small portion of the total market share pie, the increase in their growth rates indicates that PepsiCo has to pay attention to them. Political Factors: There are several political factors that influence the soft drinks industry: Obey food, Drug and cosmetic acts: the process of producing and distributing the soft drinks in the market is subjects to many federal laws such as the food, drug and cosmetics acts. It is also subject to American with disabilities acts. The presence of these laws helps create a healthy environment for the consumers. This will limit the potentials of new entrants in this industry. Environmental laws regulations: these laws enforce packaging, recycling, water and energy policies to make sure the CSD industry operates in a healthy environment. This leads to making the soft drink industry more attractive for consumers. Double Taxation: Another political factor is that companies operating in the industry are obligated to tax payments for the products they offer and distribute in each country they operate within. Hence, this leads to making the industry less attractive because operating firms are subject to double taxation policies. Economical Factors: Inflation in diesel prices: it is an important factor affecting the CSD industry. Since, the CSD relies on trucks to distribute its diverse end line products; trucks are subject to inflation in fuel prices. Since the consumption of fuel is the core activity, diesel prices are subject to inflation depending on the market conditions. Yet, the possibility of a market crisis rises. Foreign exchange rates fluctuations: Carbonated soft drinks firms revenues are affected by exchange rates fluctuations as well as profits and the cost of raw materials. Due to the weak economic growth the industry will suffer heavily by changes in exchange rates. Thus, profits and cost are going to be lower and higher respectively. Socio cultural Factors: Obesity: Dr. Gabe Mirkin says: A study from Harvard shows that of soft drinks may be responsible for the doubling of obesity in children over the last 15 years. (Gabe Mirkin, 2004) Recently, as the people are becoming more and more educated, the level of their health awareness is increasing. Obesity is becoming more and more apparent, leading to people taking good care of their health. Soft drinks are full with empty calories which cause obesity. The trend of obesity in children is rising since the soft drinks consumers are young and between the range of 14 and 30. In fact, studies done by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows that Adults who do drink one or more sodas or other sugar-sweetened beverages each day are 27% more likely to be overweight or obese. (16 Facts About Soft Drinks and Obesity, 2009) Change in life style consumer tastes: Nowadays the consumer of the carbonated soft drink industry are shifting their tastes toward drinking more healthier drinks such as water and fresh juices instead of carbonated soft drink full with sugar that will have a negative effect on the consumer health in the long run. People have become more health conscious for instance they are moving toward the consumption of healthier beverages such as water and fresh juices. Its estimated that the consumption of juices will increase up to 20 % within the coming three years. (Health Conscious Chileans Switching to Non-carbonated Drinks, 2009) Technological Factors: Introducing new technologies in the soft drink industry has helped in developing the process of manufacturing. For example: PDX technology: It is a shockwave technology that helps in mixing the ingredients in an efficient way. Pursuit Dynamics, the supplier, said that this technology is most useful for the soft drinks industry. This technology is believed to help in cutting the cleaning time up to 80%. Also, it will also increase the processing speed and save power. (New technology targets diet soft drinks makers, 2009) Other Noticeable trends: Merger and acquisition: It is very common in the soft drinks industry, it causes many firm to exit and then re-enter the industry. Many leaders in the soft drinks industry use acquisition in order to grow and increase their market share. For example, what PepsiCo did to expand into the energy drink sector, it acquired Quaker Oat, who already bought Gatorade. Hence, the competition on the products diversifications for a firm will increase. Using glass bottles instead of plastic bottles: Many soft drinks companies are moving toward using glass bottles because these bottles are more environmental friendly. According to G Karthikeyan, the manger of sales in Jabal Ali Container Glass, the demand for glass bottles has increased recently because some of the chemicals in the soft drinks can react with the plastic and caused serious diseases. Using glass bottles help that the soft drink bottle taste better and last for long time. (Sathish, 2010) Banning soft drinks in schools: The American beverage association has announced the removal of soft drinks from schools. It asked for the removal of full calorie drinks and the replacement will be the healthy, low calorie beverages. That decision has been made because the child obesity is increasing rapidly. The announcement said that in elementary schools, children can only have 100% fresh juices, low fat milk and water, while in high schools the students can have all types of diet beverages and sport drinks as well as the drinks available for the elementary schools.(FBD,2010) B. Strategic Group Map The strategic group map above shows the competitive positions of different competitors in the CSD industry. It consists of the five largest competitors in the industry. The axes represent two competitive characteristics: the product categories offered by each competitor and geographic coverage in terms of the number of countries. The size of the circles is proportional to the relative market share of the company. PepsiCo has offers the largest variety of product categories amounting to 10 categories, followed by Coca-cola which offers 7 categories. Dr.Pepper Snapple Group, Cott Corp and National beverage all offer 5 product categories, however these categories are differ slightly. Also, their geographic locations vary which explains why they are located on different points on the strategic group map. The strategic group map was constructed using the information in the table below: Geographic coverage Product Categories offered Coca cola 200 + (The coca-cola system, n.d.) 1.Soft drinks 2.Energy drinks 3.Juices / Juice Drinks 4.Sports drinks 5.Tea and coffee 6.water 7.other  [1]   Pepsi 150 (Our history, n.d.) 1.Soft drinks 2.Energy drinks 3.Juices / Juice Drinks 4.Sports drinks 5.Ready to drink tea 6.Ready to drink coffee 7.water 8.Dairy based drinks 9.Fruit flavored beverages 10.Frozen beverages  [2]   Dr.Pepper Snapple Group 81 (The best history on earth, n.d) 1.CSD 2.Juices 3.Ready to drink tea 4.Mixers 5.Other Premium beverages  [3]   Cott Corp 60 (About us, n.d.) 1.CSD 2.Energy Drinks 3.Juice Drinks 4.Tea 5.Water  [4]   National Beverage 13 (Overview, n.d.) 1.CSD 2.Energy Drinks 3.Water 4.Fortified powders and supplements 5.Functionally enhanced juices and waters  [5]   C. Michael Porter five forces model Industry is classified as the Carbonated Soft Drinks Industry Rivalry HIGH Rivalry in this market is very intense due to a number of factors such as the number of competitors, growth of the industry, product differentiation, switching costs and change in consumer tastes. There are a few large competitors that are roughly equal in size. These competitors are Coca-cola with a market share of 43% and Pepsi with 31%. The market shares of Coca-cola and PepsiCo combined makes up more than 70% of the whole market. Thus, it allows these major competitors to watch each other closely. However, there are many other competitors that compete with these two giants and intensify rivalry. These include other soft drink companies (e.g. Dr.Pepper Snapple Group and National Beverage) and energy drink companies (e.g. Red bull and Rockstar). As mentioned earlier, the CSD industry faced a 3% decline in growth in 2008. A declining growth rate indicated that the many competitors in the market will have to share the shrinking pie. Also, in an industry such as CSD, there is little opportunity for differentiation relative to other products (e.g. cars) which lowers switching costs for consumers. The change in lifestyles which caused consumers to shift away from carbonated to non-carbonated soft drinks increased the level of competition. As a result, companies such as PepsiCo and Coco-cola had to adapt to these changes in demand by focusing on marketing and innovation (Human sustainability, n.d.). Bargaining power of Buyers MODERATE to HIGH The buyers in this industry can be classified into two categories: Those that buy in large quantities (Matthews Knaus, 2006, p.2): Supermarkets (31%) Fountain outlets: e.g. restaurants (23%) Vending machines (14%) Mass merchandisers (6%) Convenience stores/ Gas stations (5%) Small grocers (4%) Other: gas stations, drug chains, gas stations/minimarts, airlines and other channels of distribution (17%) Those that buy in small quantities: Final consumer The first category of buyers has high bargaining power. Generally, in industries characterized with many suppliers and a few large buyers, the buyers capture a greater share of the profits. This is because they buy in bulk and they can easily switch between suppliers since the product is standard, lacks differentiation and is easily available in the market. Additionally, these buyers have the power to demand higher quality or more service because they buy in large quantities. An example of a buyer that buys in bulk is the large retail store, Walmart. The second category of buyers is the end consumers. The fragmented nature of the buyer group and the low quantities purchased by them lowers their bargaining power. However, the bargaining power is increased due to the presence of substitutes, low switching costs. Thus, the bargaining power of end consumers is considered to be moderate overall. Bargaining power of Suppliers- MODEATE to LOW Before looking at the supplier group, it is important to first consider the types of input or raw materials that are used in this industry. These are: sugar, bottles, cans, water, ink and plastic. The inputs used are homogeneous and not differentiated which makes them readily available in the market. The supplier group in this industry is not powerful and does not possess a high bargaining power. There are many suppliers which make the supplier group more fragmented than the industry it sells to. Also, the product or input is neither unique nor differentiated and the suppliers do not represent a high percentage of total costs in the industry. One factor that may increase the bargaining power of suppliers is that consumers are more becoming more health conscious. This gives suppliers that offer healthier ingredients more bargaining power since they are smaller in number. Nevertheless, this bargaining power can be mitigated by having a long term agreement with the suppliers. Threat of Substitutes: HIGH Again, substitutes are classified into two categories: (1) Substitutes that come from distant industries, and (2) substitutes that come from within the industry- internal substitution. Since we classified the industry as that of carbonated soft drinks, then the substitutes from distant industries will be non-carbonated soft drinks. These include juice, water, milk, tea, coffee and the like. On the other hand, substitutes from within the industry include CSD such as sodas and energy drinks. Both types of substitutes pose a high threat because consumers switching costs between substitutes are low. Additionally, since people are more health conscious, they are more willing to substitute CSD with healthier alternatives. Threat of New Entrants: Moderate to LOW The entry barriers in the CSD industry are of different types, each having a significant effect on the threat of potential new entrants, these include: Technical barriers: For instance, PepsiCo has an absolute cost advantage enabling it to achieve lower average costs. That is, even if an individual or company was able to discover Pepsis recipe, they will not be able to achieve the low costs of PepsiCo. This is because PepsiCo is a large company that has economies of scale. Commercial Barriers: these barriers include brand name, reputation, access to distribution etc. In an industry like CSD, it is very difficult for a new entrant to compete effectively with the existing competitors that already have a large and loyal customer base. New entrants will have to put in a lot of marketing efforts and resources in order to convince customers to switch to their products. This will be time consuming and will also require a large amount of capital. Additionally, it is very difficult for new entrant to gain access to extensive distribution channels like those of Coca cola and PepsiCo. Financial Barriers: these barriers include capital requirement, access to financing etc. The bottling process requires a higher amount of capital than concentrate manufacturing since it is associated with higher fixed assets. For concentrate manufacturing, one plant which has the potential to serve a country as large as the United States costs $25 million. On the other hand, the bottling process needs 80 to 85 plants, each costing $30-50 million, to provide efficient distribution for a country the size of the US. Moreover, the bottling process is highly specific to both the type packaging and the bottling process. This, in return, makes it difficult to exit the market. (Cola wars, n.d., p.3) Retaliation: the more retaliation new entrants expect from existing competitors, the higher the entry barrier. In this industry, new entrants should expect sharp retaliation. The aforementioned barriers to entry lower the threat of new entrants. However, there is another factor that should be taken into consideration: private label brands. Cott Corp. holds the majority of private label brands in addition to few other smaller companies. Since private label brands are cheaper, retailers would find it more attractive to sell them, instead of Coca-cola or Pepsi, taking into consideration the higher profit associated with them. Thus, the threat of these private brands slightly increase the threat posed by new entrants. This makes the overall threat of new entrants moderate to low. (Pepsi, n.d., p.6) Conclusion The spider web below summarized the five forces (the 6th force is excluded). The more intense the forces are, the less attractive the market is. Most of the forces in the CSD industry are moderate to high which indicates that this industry is not attractive for new entrants. However, for those companies that are already in the industry, it is attractive. 2. Key Success Factors of Carbonated Soft Drinks industry 1. Size of Company (distribution and market share) The companies size is an important factor in such an industry. E.g. PepsiCo is the second leader in the industry as well as one with the largest market share. 2. Location (Convenience and Availability) Convenience for customers is also essential in a soft drink industry. Such that a company must make sure the soft drink is readily available everywhere in supermarket, grocery stores, vending machines, and restaurants. Brand Loyalty Due to the diverse soft drinks and the intense competition in the industry, brand loyalty plays an important success factor for a company. E.g. PepsiCos regular customers are devoted to Pepsi and they rarely switch to other brands. Loyalty creates inelastic price change. PepsiCo successfully adapts to customer taste. International market International presence is essential for the success of Soft Drinks industry. Going global is important for it helps the company enhance growth. E.g. the majority of PepsiCos profits come from US yet population growth in markets like India and china could lead to potential market growth. SWOT Analysis Strengths: Strong Brand Reputation Strong market Position PepsiCo is an early entrant which helped build market share. Its market share accounts for 31% of the market share of the carbonated soft drinks industry. Availability of large Free Cash Flow ( and Strong Revenue Growth) Solid revenue results in the second quarter of 2009 reflecting PepsiCos Product innovation, strong effective net pricing, and cost discipline showing a 5.5 percent increase in net revenue and an 8 percent increase in core EPS. PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Indra Nooyi said Our results this quarter reinforce the advantages of our balanced portfolio, as our food and international businesses delivered solid performance while we continued the transformation of our North American beverage business.(Nooyi, 2009) PepsiCo has large amount of free cash flow and lack of capital constraint creating strength for the company to improve its innovative capabilities, and create a strong distribution thus further strengthening its brand. Strong and creative advertisement Besides PepsiCos strong advertisement, it uses creative techniques. Such that PepsiCo created an add through a football field with most well known players (Kaka-Brazilian, Henry-France, Drogba-Godivoi, Messi-Argentine, Lumoard-England) . Extensive product list Pepsi offers various products besides the Pepsi cola. It offers beverages and snacks. Its also the number one maker of snacks (potato chips and corn chips). Weaknesses: Many Large existing Competitors Large existing competitors in the market create significant weakness for PepsiCo and thus create a need for stronger advertising, consequently requiring higher capital. Following are the strong competitors sharing a high market share in comparison to PepsiCo with 31% market share: Coca Cola has a market share of Æ’Â   43% Dr.Pepper Snapple Group Inc. Æ’Â  15% of the market Concentration PepsiCo is concentrated in North America (US, Canada, Mexico), where almost 70% of its revenues comes from. Opportunities: Acquisitions and Alliances: Due to the increased threat of rivalry and competition in the carbonated soft drink industry, acquisitions and alliances create an opportunity that reduces such threats. Through acquisition the market share rises and the revenue rises, though the high cost of doing it is a drawback to such a strategy. Acquisitions of rivals (e.g. RedBull) Increase Market Share Increase Advertisements Advertisements play a major role in Carbonated Industries. For example, for one to see Pepsis add on road while very thirsty would likely to stop by a petrol station or any convenient store who offers Pepsi to purchase it. Strengthen Brand names of N.A portfolio: Since coke dominates Western Europe and Latin America, PEPSI dominates Middle East and Southeast Asia. Threats: Change in customers taste: weakening demand in USA Æ’Â  new federal nutrition guidelines identified regular CSD as largest source of obesity-causing sugars in American diet (Pinto, 2006) Health care awareness Increased awareness of health campaigns cut down revenues of soft drink industries. Customers move to substitutes such as water, non-carbonated drinks and juices. These challenges are PepsiCos target to overcome, such as the figure below shows the peoples negative perception of PepsiCo. High Rivalry As Explained earlier, threat of rivalry is very intense due to the following factors: Large number of competitors, Decline in growth of the industry, Lack of differentiation in products, and low switching costs. Therefore there exists an intense competition for shelf space due to expanding array of products and packaging options Large company size, will demand a varied marketing program; Social, cultural, economic, political and governmental constrains. As a result, the company will incur more expenses and resources. Threat of substitutes is very high. People can easily substitute Pepsi with other drinks. Strategic recommendations to the firm based on your SWOT analysis Since PepsiCo has availability of high free cash flow (strength), I would recommend that PepsiCo opts for Acquisition and Alliance (Opportunity) to increase its market share thus to take over its rivalry (threat) Due to the threat of health campaigns (threat), PepsiCo should increase its product line (opportunity) I would recommend that PepsiCo increases its EPS and increase PepsiCos stock price, by: Increasing Income Decrease amount of outstanding stock B. Company strategy analysis 1. Mission Statement/Strategic intent/Vision Mission statement: Our mission is to be the worlds premier consumer products company focused on convenient foods and beverages. We seek to produce financial rewards to investors as we provide opportunities for growth and enrichment to our employees, our business partners and the communities in which we operate. And in everything we do, we strive for honesty, fairness and integrity (PepsiCo Inc., 2009) Reproduced Mission statement: PepsiCo aims to be the worlds number one foods and beverages producer. It mainly focuses on providing money for its investors as well as enhancing the market with jobs and opportunities for growth. PepsiCo try their best to be honest, fair and truthful in all of their operations. Critique: The mission statement relatively reflects the core values of PepsiCo. It specifically describes its goals and objectives. It also sets guidelines for the activities and operations that need to be accomplished in order to meet the company prospects aims. Vision: PepsiCos responsibility is to continually improve all aspects of the world in which we operate environment, social, economic creating a better tomorrow than today. Our vision is put into action through programs and a focus on environmental stewardship, activities to benefit society, and a commitment to build shareholder value by making PepsiCo a truly sustainable company. (PepsiCo Inc., 2009) Reproduced Vision: Operate by creating a better future sustainable environment. Critique: A vision is a statement that states what the firm will be in the future. Pepsis vision aims toward creating a future healthier, sustainable friendly environment. PepsiCo vision should be more specific to its goals and objectives in order for PepsiCo to be more productive in the future. It should be more creative and easy to adapt to new trends. The vision can help PepsiCo in controlling the future market. PepsiCo Generic Strategy: According to Michael Porter, there are two types of competitive advantages a firm an posses: A firm can either make the same products that its competitors do, but with a lower cost. Æ’Â   Cost Strategy OR A firm can differentiate its products from those offered by its competitors, either by offering better and more expensive products or by offering lower quality cheaper products Æ’Â   Differentiation Strategy. To gain a competitive advantage in the market, PepsiCo looked in its position in the industry. It engaged in cost leadership competitive strategy: Since PepsiCo is a large corporation, it can keep the prices of its products low through the massive production and economies of scale. They also can buy from suppliers in bulk at a discount and make use of the technology to lower the prices of the final products. Not to forget that the extensive distribution channels and the global existence of the firm are considered as important factors to reduce the price. Allocating the cost among the brands carried by PepsiCo, the proficiency in the development and production help PepsiCo achieving its cost leadership strategy. PepsiCo also vertically integrated. It has merged with Pepsi bottling group in order to reduce the cost of distribution. Additionally, the types of input or raw materials that are used in this industry are: sugar, bottles, cans, water, ink and plastic. Since these raw materials are not differentiated and are easily available in the market, PepsiCo can achieve economies of scale. By looking at the graph above we can learn that by achieving economies of scale the firm will reduce its costs which will lead to lower prices of the final products. Although lower prices will result in having price war, which had already existed between PepsiCo and Coca-Cola and other firms in the CSD industry, it will still help the company in increasing its market share and to compete in the industry. Adapting the Cost leadership strategy had raised strong barriers for any new entrants to enter the market since it will be very hard to compete with a well-known brand that offers low prices. PepsiCos key resources that could lead to long term competitive: In order to stay ahead of the future and present competition, Pepsi has developed many attributes. It has constructed a business strategy that will allow it to outperform its competitors. Therefore PepsiCo has concentrated on few main resources that it believes will turn out as competitive advantages for the firm which will help it to goal superior performance in its industry. These competitive advantages are believed to be: Strong Brand Name Advertising: PepsiCo has the luxury to spend around 200 million dollars in this field, which allows it to reinforce the products. The strong advertising helps PepsiCo to introduce new products very quickly because it helps in improving the awareness level on the consumers about launching new products. PepsiCo logo/ being the 2nd leader of the market: PepsiCo is a very well-known brand not only because of products taste but also because of its logo and unique way of packaging. These all created what is called brand recognition. The unique blue and red symbol made PepsiCo very recognizable among people. Pepsi has spent 637 million dollar over the five past years on its marketing plan just to introduce the new rich deep blue packaging. This color represents the eternity of youthfulness and openness. Celebrity endorsement: Pepsi had used famous faces such as Britney Spears and Beyoncà © in advertising its products, which lead to attract more customers and increase the level of costumers preference. Although celebrity endorsement was a success but PepsiCo wont be using celebrities anymore as a step forward reducing its future cost. Extensive Distribution Channels / Location In Feb. 26, 2010 PepsiCo had merged with Pepsi Bottling group and PepsiAmerican which strengthening its distribution. It has local and global locations. PepsiCo has locations in 150 countries all around the world. Physical locations: PepsiCo soft drinks can be found in vending machines which are located in high traffic locations, schools, universities. PepsiCo reaches more consumers by also distributing its products to restaurants, department stores and grocery markets.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Free Antigone Essays: The Human Condition :: Antigone essays

Exposing the Human Condition in Antigone  Ã‚   Heroism entails several things; a selfless act, courage, or the accomplishments of bold and daring expeditions. A hero can also mean courage in the face of death. Others may view this type of hero as stupid, or a martyr. Every hero has faults and these faults along with heroic deeds make the man or woman; a hero, heroine. "Antigone" would be considered a hero in the sense of being a martyr. Because of her love for her family Antigone wanted to give her brother a proper burial, and even though he did evil deeds, she respected him. She believed that all of the dead were in a state of equality. When faced with the decision to obey the King or obey her heart, she says on page 23, in lines 86-90: â€Å"I will bury him myself./If I die for doing that, good:/I will stay with him, brother;/and my crime will be devotion.† This decision, to bury her brother, was very heroic in that even though she knew death was at stake, she knew where her loyalties lied. On page 39, lines 560-575, Antigone stands up to her uncle and tells him to his face that he has disobeyed the Gods decrees. In line 562, 563, and 564 she says: â€Å"I did not intend to pay, before the gods,/for breaking these laws/because of my fear of one man and his principles.† Antigone accuses Kreon of overstepping the laws of the gods, by relying on his own thinking. As is brought out later, Kreon never listened to other peoples advice until it was too late. In the above passage Antigone heroically faces up to the most powerful man, the King, knowing he could kill her in an instance, but still she tells him he is wrong. Being strongly tied to a family, where you would risk death is one thing, but as in any family a person usually takes their anger and frustrations out on individual family members, as in this passage on page 24, lines 100-103: â€Å"Then weakness will be your plea./I am different. I love my brother/and I’m going to bury him, now.† Antigone, non-heroically, accuses Ismene of not loving her brother, but of course Ismene loved her brother, Ismene was just afraid of the king. Antigone, in the heat of the moment, took Ismene’s frightened state as a sign of the lack of love on Ismene’s part.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

National V State Curriculum Essay

The issue of state vs. National curriculum has been raging for many years now with the Australian national government trying to force a national curriculum on all states and territories. However for this work all states and territories must agree on the curriculum and with so many different ways of teaching and how students have been taught in the past it was always going to be a difficult assignment. New South Wales, the leaders is assessments and with what they believe is a superior curriculum, have been the main fighters of the curriculum. New South Wales believe a national curriculum could work based around parts of their own curriculum as well as improvements in teaching development, management and mentoring. The implementation of an Australian national curriculum will mean huge changes to not only the New South Wales educational system but the educational systems of all states and territories. This will also mean a change in the New South Wales syllabus in order to make it fit with the national curriculum. As well as this it will not only will this impact on the education systems within Australia but will also mean a new requirement for teachers to teach at the level required to allow a national curriculum to work. New South Wales believe that the federal government is trying to lower the standard of education across the state in order to fit with the national curriculum. The New South Wales has long fought for the curriculum to be upgraded to fit with their syllabus so that when the nation does get brought to a certain level that level it is brought to is a high level of education giving everyone an opportunity at a better future as a whole. Not all the education departments agree or want the changes that will be brought in by a national curriculum. The New South Wales educational department are the main fighters of the implementation of the national curriculum. New South Wales believe the state curriculum they have in place alongside the HSC is more than adequate enough to suffice as a national curriculum for all states and territories. The development of the new national curriculum will mean changes to the New South Wales syllabus. This includes the introduction of mechanics back into the syllabus as well as the introduction of plants into the reproductive part of the syllabus. The latest version of the national curriculum from the Australian curriculum website shows step by step how the national curriculum looks to improve the standard of scientific knowledge taught across the country. It goes in depth to show how from year 1 right through to year 10 they will be building on skills learnt from previous years of science education. The latest version of the curriculum then goes on to tell of the more in depth science will be taught from years 7-10. This curriculum is able to show how the nation will be brought to the same standard of science knowledge through primary and secondary education. As well as this the Department of Education in the draft national curriculum for science (ACARA 2009) argue that although there will be new areas of study the curriculum will be more flexible for teachers allowing them to better teach the science curriculum. The draft curriculum also outlines 8 forms of considerations that will hopefully close the gap between indigenous, foreign and disadvantaged students. These considerations include Equity and Opportunity, Connections to other learning areas, Clarity of the curriculum, Breadth and depth of study, The role of digital technologies, The nature of the leaner (K-12), General capabilities and Cross-curriculum perspectives. The Department of Education are hoping that this will bring all students, schools and teachers up to a certain standard that this national curriculum will hopefully bring in. Bringing the students, schools and teachers up to a national standard will also hopefully make it easier for teachers to educate the students on topics and allow a bit more flexibility for the teachers in the classroom. The Australian national curriculum will also impact on the science pedagogy. Aubusson (Australian Journal of Education, 2011) believes that the curriculum will force one of two pedagogical situations. Aubusson believes the pedagogy will change to a standardising pedagogy or a pedagogy that will allow teachers to interpret the curriculum and teach it to their students in a way they will understand best. The standardising pedagogy could potentially lead to teachers being unable to form a connection with their students which could in turn cause students to become uninterested in the topics. This could potentially lead to a large amount of students failing the course. However a pedagogy which allows teachers to interpret the curriculum so they know which way will be the best to teach their students will allow connections to be formed, students to remain interested and engaged in their education and will lead to an increase in examination marks. This brings me to the teacher development issue with the national curriculum. Many teachers and education professionals in New South Wales oppose the change is due to the drastic development teachers will need to go through to allow the national changes to work. As sourced from the article ‘Mentors Reporting on Their Own Mentoring Practices’ (P. Hudson 2010) Hudson refers to his own personal experience of the failure of the last national curriculum. Hudson was a New South Wales school principal at the time tells of how he believes the failure can be partly blamed on the lack of development training offered to the teachers to allow them to teach the nation curriculum. New South Wales teachers and other teaching professionals believe that all Australian teachers need to go through development so that they are able to recognise the ways in which their students learn the best, this will enhance the students learning environment and allow them to work better as individuals and as a group. Teachers across Australia need to be able to understand and recognise the VARK learning system. The VARK learning system basically just asks the question of how students learn best. Whether they are, V – visual learners, A – auditory learners, R – reading and writing learners, or K – kinaesthetic learners. As well as being able to recognise this VARK concept and implement it in the classroom teachers will also need to be able to recognise when things aren’t going to plan so they can improve their own teaching skills and the learning environment of the student. This will require constant reflection on the teachers on behalf, they must regularly reflect on how the lessons have gone. Doing this will not only help the teacher improve of their work and how they teach the curriculum but it will also help their students better understand the knowledge put before them. This means that teacher development is a must for the national curriculum to succeed for a long period of time. New South Wales are leading the way with teacher development, understanding and practices for the national curriculum rollout. The Minister for Education Mr Piccoli has stated in the past the NSW government is allowing their schools time to adjust to the changes the new curriculum will bring is. The government for NSW is delaying the implementation of the curriculum to give NSW schools and teachers time to prepare for these changes as well as time to implement the preparations. On August 9, 2011 Mr Piccoli stated that the national curriculum will not be rolled out across NSW schools until 2014 with the preparation and planning for the national curriculum to commence around 2013. Management is a key actor in the success of the national curriculum. For the curriculum to work steps must be put in place to manage the introduction of the curriculum as well as the up keep of the curriculum changes. Early teacher or Preservice teachers will be benefitted by the fact that most of them will be starting their full time jobs around the same time the curriculum is rolled out allowing them to focus on the new curriculum and what needs to be done. However the older teachers might struggle at times to recognise where change is needed from the old curriculum to new, this is where the management side of things comes into play. As cited from the mentors report (Hudson, 2010) teachers must help and mentor each other. There will be this area of overlap where the preservice teachers will be able to help the older teachers understand the changes from the old to new curriculum whilst the older teachers are able to help the preservice teachers in understanding the way in which the classroom works and how to better understand how their students work. This management and mentoring role comes from within the staffroom of the school and head teachers and principals must work together to achieve this mentoring and management role. Another key way for this mentoring idea to work is for teachers to give feedback on each other to help them improve. Hudson believes a method of understanding personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge and modelling are all helpful in giving and/or receiving feedback. If colleagues are able to give and receive positive and critical feedback well the standard of teaching will only improve. With the standard of teaching improving the curriculum will get taught better to students which will in turn mean an increase in examination marks causing the national curriculum to work and to stick. With a new curriculum coming into place new resources will be needed for teachers to educate their students whilst still keeping them engaged in the lesson. Not only will some new resources be needed but some of the older teacher’s resources could be irrelevant. This is where that teacher development will come into play again; teachers will need to recognise where new resources are needed, where older resources aren’t needed and where some are still relevant. Again this will require all the teachers to come together and help one and other with this dilemma and help share resources in order to give each student the same learning experience. However new sources will be readily available to teachers with many websites out there having new up to date information to show the children. There are also many sites out there with activities the teacher can do online with the class to keep them engage, there are also videos out there that contain the information required for the national curriculum to show the students as well. So although new resources will be needed there are still many places teachers can find resources to keep their students engaged. As a first year university student studying teaching in the New South Wales education system I believe a national curriculum is vital for the future education of our next generation. However I do believe New South Wales were right to fight for the curriculum to be brought up to their standard because if we are going to have every student at the same level of education it should be at the highest level possible to give every student the best opportunity possible to have a successful life after school. The national curriculum will work throughout the country as long as teacher development is put in place as well. Teachers need time to develop and adjust their own teaching techniques so they can best teach this new curriculum to their students. Teachers in all schools will need to work together for this national curriculum to succeed in our schools to give the next generation of young Australians the best chance at success.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Biography Of Tricia Monet, 23, From An Illinois City Near...

Synopsis: Tricia Monet, 23, from an Illinois city near St. Louis, Missouri has a fiancà © and a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finds herself and her fiancà © relocating their jobs to Sioux City, Iowa. Tricia, being from a very close-knit family has determined that, while she has worked for an accounting firm since obtaining her degree; less than one year, her current firm has structure, organization, and â€Å"neatness† but lacks her need for people interaction. It is this desire that draws her to apply for an assistant director position for a company called Personal Reflections, which is a national chain of personal care and household products. Personal Reflections district manager hires Tricia just hours after her interview; company’s policy prohibits store directors involvement during this process. Tricia received two weeks of training and assigned under Heather Munson, director of the store. Unfortunately, her training does not follow on or prepare her for a store’s: director’s resentfulness and interrogation like interactions, shortfalls in assistant directors, unorganized and not meeting sales goals. However, with very little managerial experience Tricia would initially find herself in an incumbent position where the store’s director, Heather Munson required disability leave and eventually does not return. The possibilities and challenges were endless as Tricia showed immediate change within the store’s appearance and storage. From 30 plus part-time employees during the