Debate about Real ID in the New Media

Certainly, the urgency of the debate of anonymity versus real ID is on the current agenda because, on the one hand, introducing real names online makes users more responsible for posting comments and photos. On the other hand, disclosing real names can threaten the privacy of the user, causing problems in a real life.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Debate about Real ID in the New Media specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Therefore, in order to understand the shortcomings of placing real names and define the benefits of anonymous communication online, specific emphasis should be placed on reconsidering the concept of online behavior and responsibility, defining the situation when placing real names are irrelevant, and developing arguments against real ID names during online transactions. Online behavior and responsibility for the information placed online does not actually depends on validity and credibil ity of user’s personal data. There is no guarantee that placing real name enhances the users’ responsibility for the comments, videos, and photos posted online. In fact, most of the users are not confident enough about the security of the private information. Therefore, concealing their real names does not influence the responsibility users take while uploading new information. Besides, there are many other means for detecting the ID of the person, in case cyber crime is committed (Good, 2005). Besides, while surfing various websites and databases, most of the users prefer staying anonymous because it might negatively affect their reputation. Hence, there is no actual connection between online behavior and person’s ID on the Internet. On the one hand, placing real names increases the chances to find friend sall over the world in case a person has lost his/her close friend’s number. Nevertheless, there are many other ways to find the person, especially if this person is the one you really know. Apart from this case, there are no obstacles for user’s intent to communicate online and expand the level of involvement in the social media. As a proof, the studies conducted by Lee (2011) have discovered that anonymity can be regarded â€Å"†¦as a measure to promote the viewpoint diversity in cyberspace† (p. 2). The right of anonymity is available to everyone because it is considered the main mechanism for sustaining online community. Although placing real ID seeks to alleviate such cyber crimes as copyright infringement and defamation, anonymity must still be used for secure purposes.Advertising Looking for critical writing on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More While carrying out online transactions, there is a threat of fraud because clients with concealed IDs could rescue from payment. One the other hand, the information about clients’ r eal IDs can have serious consequences for them. The point is that financial establishment could unveil their clients’ private information to use for their own purposes. Under these circumstances, anonymous communication online can enhance user’s safety, as well as reduce the frequency of illegal invasions to user’s accounts. To support the argument, Papacharissi (2002) states, â€Å"anonymity online assist one to overcome identity boundaries and community more freely and openly, thus promoting a more enlightened exchange of idea† (p. 16). Thus, carrying out transaction does not always involve the presence of real IDs. In conclusion, the benefits of concealing real names are more persuading in the light of the currently increased rates of cyber crimes. Communicating online anonymously provides individuals with stronger confidence in their security and privacy. It also makes their behavior more open and friendly. Besides, anonymity can be used to search for databases and websites where name identification function is presented. References Good, R. (2005). Anonymous Surfing: What the Benefits and Issues of Making Yourself Invisible Online? Web. Lee, J.-Y. (2011). An Old Regime for Viewpoint Diversity of the New Media: Protecting Anonymity for a Functioning ‘Masterplace of Ideas’ in Cyberspace. Performance and Participation. 10(13), 1-20. Web. Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The Virtual Sphere: The Internet as a Public Sphere. New Media and Society. 4(9), 9-27. Web. This critical writing on Debate about Real ID in the New Media was written and submitted by user Jaycob H. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Writing About History

Writing About History Writing About History Writing About History By Maeve Maddox Ever since people started writing history, theyve needed some way to locate events in time. Romans tied events to consular years. Two men were elected every year to serve in the office of consul. Roman historians said that a certain event took place in the year that Marcus Such and Such and Publius So and So were consuls. Historians who lived in monarchies could date events to regnal years, that is, a time tied to the reign of a particular king. This battle was fought in the third year of King So and So. Some Jewish and Christian writers referred to creation years. Various scholars believed they could date the creation of the earth from clues in the Bible. One commonly accepted date was October 7, 3761 BCE. Writers would use that date as a reference point. Roman consular dating prevailed in the West until the year 541 CE when the Emperor Justinian I stopped appointing them. The terms BC and AD were first used by a monk in about 525 CE. Its starting point was the year in which Jesus was thought to have been born. (Modern scholarship places the birth date of Jesus at 4 BCE.) Anything that happened before Year One is referred to as happening BC Before Christ. Anything after that date is said to have occurred AD Anno Domini, literally in the year of the Lord, i.e., after the birth of Jesus. The traditional way of writing BC and AD dates is to put AD in front of the date and BC after it. For example, Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Joan of Arc was executed in AD 1431. Now that the various cultures of the world have become intertwined, a dating system based on a particular religious view is no longer appropriate. Most writers of history have adopted the notations BCE and CE. BCE stands for Before Common Era. CE stands for Common Era. In this notation, Julius Caesar died in 44 BCE; Joan of Arc in CE 1431. The dividing date between BCE and CE is a Year One that coincides with the Consular Year One in which Gaius Caesar and Lucius Aemilius Paulus were consuls. Different dating systems are still being used in various contexts. Muslims use a calendar in which Year One corresponds to CE 622, the year in which Mohammad took his followers from Mecca to Medina. Anything before that date is referred to as BH; anything after, as AH. The H stands for the Arabic word hijra, migration. AH stands for the Latin Anno Hegirae, in the year of the Hijra. The Jewish calendar references its Year One as the year before the Creation, i.e. 3762 BCE. For Buddhists Year One corresponds to 543 BCE, the year Buddha died. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Arrive To vs. Arrive AtFor Sale vs. On Sale3 Types of Essays Are Models for Professional Writing Forms

Ishmael Beah, how he shaped his destiny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ishmael Beah, how he shaped his destiny - Essay Example Fortunately, UNICEF came to his aid at the age of thirteen as they put an end to his involvement in the war. They put him in a reformation centre in the nation’s capital Freetown. He successfully completed his reformation process in 1996 after which he represented his country as a delegate to attend a UN conference on the effects of civil war and unrest. Contrary to the expectation of many, Ishmael went back to his country to speak on his life experience as a child soldier to encourage others not to choose the same path. It is true that we make our own destiny and that what life throws at people can be a stepping stone to successful. This paper will base its focus on this argument by considering his life and times as portrayed in his book, the battles that he faced that made him inspirational to many. Additionally, it will show how he took charge of his life therefore shaping his destiny. It will also examine the fact that individuals are in charge of their destiny and that fa te and Karma are in significant in one’s life. Battle with drug addiction and the choices he made As a boy soldier, Beah witnessed violence first hand by knowing to handle a gun and deplore a human being of his life (Beah 1). His watching of his brother die right before his eyes also made him become ruthless and thirsty for revenge. The number of deaths captured in his head for the two years he was a soldier remained permanently embedded in his mind, which made him emotionally scarred. He saw the plight of the children whom he trained with, the nature of the training curricula was not favorable for the young as it was physically draining. Many children could not endure the suffering therefore lost their lives because they were not productive to the army. Child soldiers at that time were easy to manipulate and therefore were easy to brainwash unlike male adults (Finley 45). They also provided cheap labor to the army, as they did not know their rights. This proved effective, as the only thing they had to learn was how to cock a gun and firing it. Deep down, Ishmael knew that he was destined for greatness as when opportunity to better his life presented itself he took it and ran away with. For him, life is what one makes of it and that one’s experiences do not dictate their future. The life of Ishmael after rehabilitation After rehabilitation, Ishmael lived a positive life. According to his book, personal responsibility is the taking charge of one’s life and spearheading it into a positive direction. This is shown by his willingness to fight the drug abuse vice instilled in him while at the army when he joined the rehabilitation institution. He chose to stay sober and focus not allowing his past death experiences are a reason to stay hooked to drugs. Evidently, his strong will kept him going all through his rehabilitation period (Beah 76). Ideally, he shaped his destiny by choosing the sobriety choice. Had he not chosen to fight his addiction , he would have wasted his life, as UNICEF would have never noticed his potential. In his book, the choices we make are not necessarily determined by our age therefore children should choose their paths wisely, as life is not a rehearsal for a next life. While at the center, he learnt to heal his emotional wounds by forgiving himself and accepting that he could not change the past but was able to plan for his future (Beah 237). He partly blames the adults of his country for not standing up and fighting for what was just for children since they watched helplessly as they joined the child army. The accomplishments he has made in his life Ishmael made a number of accomplishments in his life. His life took a better turn

Health leadership and management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Health leadership and management - Essay Example The management concepts of leadership and identification and establishment of a risk management process are to be applied for the ultimate design of a health care process. Such processes are more required at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)/facilities of any hospital as ICU is one of the most critical services of any hospital and the quality of patients' response is important in determining the success of the entire hospital itself. In the following paragraphs we examine the application of the leadership concepts and risk management processes to the ICU facilities so as to lead to identification and reporting of incidents that are potentially harmful to patients. Nearly half all ICU patients suffer from potentially life-threatening adverse event, including infection.Nosocomial infections in ICU are 3-5 times higher than non ICU; 50% of all nosocomial epidemics occur among the 10% of ICU patients; more than 30% of US hospital costs are allocated for ICU care alone. Several evidence based practices have been identified in case of ICUs which help prevent infections. Low evidence based practices are cleaning insertion site, use of heparin,tunneling,routine catheter change, routine Ab prophylaxis, hand washing compliance and use of Sucralfate; medium level evidence based practices are peri-operative normothermia, continuous oscillation,suprapubic catheters, barrier Precautions and Ab restrictions; high evidence based practices include supplemental perioperative oxygen, semi-recumbent position ,selective decontam- GI tract and silver alloy-coated catheters, to quote a few. While these best practices are indicative of the desirable course of action s in ICU situations ;they perhaps indicate more to the risk perceptions and associated risk bearing events within the ICU environment.. Thus best practices are to be documented and diligently implemented and perhaps linked to performance evaluation. However there are noticeable gaps in prescription of these best practices and their actual practices which leads to occurrence of adverse events in ICU care. A careful identification and documentation of deviations which have resulted in adverse incidents is the much needed innovation for ICU management. However it must be remembered as Kaplan says," An appreciation of the power, productive and seductive, of stories of best practice, may provide some "heedfulness" to work in the strategy field(Kaplan,2003). In some evidence seeking research studies, nurses with higher patient load were linked to higher 30-day risk-adjusted mortality. Similarly studies observed a 7% increase risk of dying within 30 days for each additional patient added t o nurse load. One study on adverse drug events showed that 78 percent of adverse drug events were due to system failures (Leape et al, 1995).Any design of an ICU health care system would require establishment of a system which would adherence to such practices by ICU staff at all levels with adequate motivation. Some authors have emphasized the need for organizational change in health care, calling it "the key to quality improvement". In discussing how such change can be managed, Davies and Nutley assert that cultural change needs to be

Employment Law College Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employment Law College - Case Study Example Mary has the behavioral control wherein the facts are shown because Little Lamb Company has the right to direct and even control Mary for doing the task wherein the instructions were given by Little Lamb to Mary such as requiring her to use the company materials including the equipment while adhering to the schedules of company work. Mary is subject to the instructions of the company such as when, where, and absolutely how to work wherein this is a proof that Mary is really the common law employee rather than independent contractor because Mary is not using her own methods. As the common-law employee, the training with regards to the company, financial control and the extent for Mary has the unreimbursed company expenses and the independent contractors are said to be more likely to be able to reimburse the said business expenses. The fixed costs that are ongoing are said to be incurred not considering whether the said work is performed currently classified as specifically important. In defining the contract of employment, i

Historical background of Marks and Spencer

Historical background of Marks and Spencer Marks Spencer Plc started in a stall in 1884 by Michael Marks in a Leeds market after which he was joined by a partner Tom Spencer. They both had a reputation of selling only British made goods in the 20th century, a policy discontinued in 2002.Marks Spencer Plc is seen as the British Retailer that sells clothes, gifts, home furnishing and food formerly under the name of St. Michael but rebranded as Marks Spencer in United Kingdom, Europe, Far East and the Americas. Marks Spencer Plc has made itself widely known in the UK with over 450 stores and its largest store at Marble Arch, London. By 1975 they had moved to Europe and Canada where they are fully established. Marks Spencer Plc which initially functioned under the name St Michaels had an unlimited time period on their return policy as long as the customer could produce a receipt, this policy was later reviewed to 90 days in 2005 and a further review to 35 days in 2009. Marks Spencer Plc returns policy is seen as the most generous on the British High Street. By the end of the 1990s Marks Spencer Plc had a problem as their profit plunged because of the rising cost of using British Suppliers as rival retailers were importing their goods from lower cost countries and also because of the fact that Marks Spencer Plc did not accept other credit cards except their store cash cards amongst a host of other reasons. During their downturn period, Marks Spencer Plc refused to budge in switching to overseas low cost suppliers as it was seen as a n act which undermined a core part of its appeal to the public. All these fac tors constituted to Marks Spencer Plc sudden slump which caught the company, its shareholders, retail stores and the general public by surprise as not only did their share price fall more than two thirds of the original market price so also did their profit. In 2001 with drastic changes in its business focus such as accepting other credit cards, introduction of new range like per una , indigo etc, reengineering of its business model and strategy, restructuring and redesigning their store, providing adequate changing room etc, Marks Spencer Plc fought its way back into the UK market. Source: http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/ourhistory TASK 1 1.1 Importance of external factors [P1] External factor plays a very important role in Marks Spencer Plc. No organisation can escape from the external factors of a business. It is the key that drives helps focus on what is most important to explore the different ways in which the business environment might change. These external factors are Political, Economic, Social Culture, Technological, Environment and Legal. This is known as the PESTLE ANALYSIS. The external factor helps to know and under study the political factor the company is operating in. The external factor helps to know the social life style of my customer. The external factor helps to know the technological situation I find myself inn. The external factor helps the organisation to understand the business environment It also helps the business to understand the business circle, exchange rate, economic growth rate etc. It also helps the business to know more about the legal standard of the economy such as health and safety, legislative constraints etc. It helps the business to understand and know their competitors The external factor also helps the business to understand the social influences such as changing culture and demographics Business that looks on the solution of the external factors will run its business properly. Oxbridge writers on Marks and Spencer corporate objectives: Full text [online] http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/marketing/marks-spencers-corporate-objectives.php [END OF P1] 1.2 The needs and expectation of stakeholders [P2] A stakeholder is any person, group or institution that has an interest in an activity or project. This definition includes intended beneficiaries and intermediaries, winners and losers, and those involved or excluded from decision making processes. (Bryson 1995) The stakeholders who have got an interest in Marks and Spencer are: Their banks, Shareholders, Employees, Customer, Suppliers Stakeholders Needs of stakeholder Expectations Customers To provide good customer services To provide low price To provide good product To provide local source of product Provide community program Customer loyalty Promotion and activities Employee To provide pay raise Job retention Job training To provide a comfortable working environment Give bonus Provide education Rotation of job Shareholders Provide adequate communication Increase in share prices Increase in dividends To keep them informed Good turn over Good return on investment Banks Inflow of cash Loan lending Suppliers Increase in supplies Local sourcing of product Turnover increase Want to sell goods in volume at good prices. Source: By student from lecturer lecture note Managers need to be conscious of the financial impact on various stakeholders of the strategies they are pursing or planning to pursue. They also need to understand how the capability to meet these varied expectations could enable the success of some strategies whilst limiting the ability of an organisation to succeed with other strategies. [END OF P2] 1.3 Major change taking place in the external environment [P3] Political situation: The government plays a very important role within the operation of manufacturing these productions in terms of regulation. There are potential fines set by the government on companies if they do not meet a standard of laws. The changes in laws and regulation, including changes in accounting standards, taxation requirements,(including tax rate, new tax laws and revised tax interpretations) and environment laws in domestic or foreign regulations e.tc. This law has affected Marks and Spencer in different ways especially in the increase in Vat. This will increase the prise of their product and reduce the market sell of their product. Economic situation: The economic plays another important role in the business. However, things changed. Most economists loosely define a recession as two consecutive quarters of contraction, or negative GDP growth. Marks and Spencer s customer don t spend allot anymore instead there save their money. The ongoing recession has brought down their market sale and put them in a stage of looking for a better strategy to fight the recession. Social situation: Many people are practicing new lifestyles in the economy. The social culture of an environment can affect Marks and Spencer in a different ways. The government are cutting down medical budget. In this case, they are trying to educate allot of people to do exercise and those from the age of 37 to 55 will also increasingly concern with nutrition. Majority of the people are now looking after their health and doing much exercise to slim their body down. So this has affected Marks and Spencer because they will need to get better and fitted cloths for their customer to make sure there meets up their customer expectation. Technological situation: This can also affect the business especially now most organisation are introducing the online services, home delivery, virtual sales etc. This will reduce Marks and Spencer sales because it will depend on how fast the organisation will deliver a customer goods that will encourage the customer to be more attracted to them .And even where they have alot aged; most of the worker won t be able to operate this new technology. They will have to go through training process and this will cost the company to spend more. Most of this technology can be misused and might cause problem in the company. Environment situation: Studying the environment is another important way to prevent some environmental problems like, weather, transport problems, competitive problems, customer choices, customer queries etc. Marks and Spencer always make sure they are in the right position to provide for the customer the best services ever. Changes in weather affect seasonal products of Marks and Spencer so they always try to find the best strategies to make sure their goods are been sold out at a particular season. Legal situation: This can also affect Marks and Spencer in term of adjustment of the legislation. But the company try to make those changes in a way that their customer will be retain and their services will be increase. Sources: Morrison, M (2008) Pestle Analysis. CIPD Factsheet.RapidBi Marks and Spencer (2010) investor s Full text [online] http://www.marksandspencer.com/ [END OF P3] TASK 2 2.1 The current position of Marks and Spence [P5] INTERNAL EXTERNAL Product: The company offer stylish, high quality, great value clothing and home product, as well as outstanding quality foods. Political: This is an important factor that drives the strategic of many organizations to change. The change of constitution of politics affects the strategic of an organization. The changes of government affect the strategic of organization to change. The shift of political power from government to global organization affect the organization affects the organization strategy. Many organizations always try to change their strategy to fit the political view of the economic. Staff: The company provide good staffs that help improved the customer services. They also retain their staffs and provide them with training that will increase their services toward their customer. Economic: This concerns the financial structure, objectives and constrains place upon the organisation. This relates to both the external(that is, the levels of profit and turnover generated and the extent to which this is viable and able to sustain current and envisaged levels of activity) Market: MS have a high interest in the market. They always try to provide the best customer service and provide the best quality product that will enable them to gain competitive advantage. Social culture: This is another important factor that the organizations need to look into properly. The way the people lives, expectations, pattern of work, job, occupation and career patterns, changes in patterns of earnings etc. The social lives of most economy changes every year and organizations need to set up new strategic that will suite the social life of the economy. Promotion: Marks and Spencer introduce a promotion to keep their customer happy and to gain more customers. Technology: This factor affects the social, economic and business activities. Rendering many occupations and sectors obsolete; creating new occupation and sectors, opening up new spheres and location of activity. Organization should make sure there have the right technology to improve the organization works. Price: MS provide the best price to their product to gain competitive advantage. Environment: this is looking at what is happening within the environments where MS operate. Place: MS is located in a nice place where their customer can get a good car parking and quicker way to shop. Legal: this is looking on the changes in the legislation and how it s affecting MS. that is, the employment, access to material, quotas, resources, import/exports axations.etc. People: MS also provide the best people that will serve the best customer service to keep their customer happy. A good customer approach is very important in any business environment. Marks and Spencer (2010). Full text [online] http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/student_info [END OF P5] 2.2 The strength and weakness of MARKS and SPENCER [P6] STRENGHT ? Strong balance sheet ? Increase in turnover and trading profit ? Strong cash flow position ? Good human resources ? Brand awareness ? Leading premium quality food retailer OPPORTUNITIES ? Capability to turn resources into advantages ? Market shift to globalisation ? New product ? Customer demands changes to more value for money ? Diversification ? Develop overseas supply chain WEAKNESS ? Perception on high price ? Customer disinterest ? Environment issues(pollution) THREAT ? New and existing competitors ? Economic recession ? New legislation volatility of raw material ? Takeover bids ? Market shift to globalisation ? Low cost retailers Source: Marks and Spencer http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/home [END OF P6] 2.3 Tools used to analyse the effects of the current business plan [P4] ? Ansoff growth matrix ? Value chain ? BCG matrix ? Core competences ? Porter generic matrix ? Porter 5 forces ? Product life circle ? The gap analysis ? Marketing Mix The Ansoff s product/market matrix Existing Product New Product Market Penetration Product Development Market Development Diversification The Ansoff growth matrix can be used to identify directions of Marks and Spencer strategic development. The Ansoff growth matrix provides direction for strategic option available to MS in terms of product and market coverage. Market penetration is the name given to a growth strategy when a business focuses on selling existing products into existing markets. And these penetrations seek to achieve increasing the market share of current product, i.e. by combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resource dedicated to personal selling. This has help Marks and Spencer to secure dominance of growth markets. It restructures Marks and Spencer market by driving out competitors and it also increase patronage of their existing customer. Market development is the name given to a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell its existing products into new markets. Marks and Spencer has develop their market in so many different ways by providing a new distribution channel, new product dimensions or packaging, new geographical markets (for example exporting the product to new country), different pricing policies to attract different customers or create new market segments. Product development is the name given to a growth strategy where a business aims to introduce new products into existing markets. Marks and Spencer brought up a strategy that may require the development of new competencies and requires the business to develop modified products which can appeal to existing markets. Diversification: Marks and Spencer has diversified alot to introduce new products into new markets. Even as there are more risks in it but they still get the right strategy to win their competitor who was there before them THE FIVE FORCES MODELS Porter explains that there are five forces that determine industry attractiveness and long-run profitability of MS and the food retailing industry Threat of new entrants: The new entrants to an industry can raise the level of competition. The threat of new entrants largely depends on the barriers to entry and the market is also sensitive to reputation. The key barriers to entry include; the economics of scale, capital investment requirement, customer switching cost, access to industry distribution channels. In Marks and Spencer business line, the threat of new entrants is easy and high but the most important issues is to win your competitors and maintain the business. Threat of substitutes: substitute product can lower industry attractiveness and profitability because they limit the price level. The threat of substitute product depends on buyers willingness to substitute, the relative price and performance, the cost of switching to substitute. In Marks and Spencer the threat of substitute s product is low because majority of the customer who have been with them for a very long time enjoy their products and are still enjoying it. Bargaining power of suppliers: suppliers are very important in a business. They supply the company with raw material and other product. The cost of the item bought from supplier can have a significant impact on the organisation profitability. If the supplier has high bargaining power over the organisation, then the theory industry is less attractive. The bargaining power of supplier will be high when there are many buyers and few dominant suppliers, also when there are high valued product, when the supplier threaten to integrate forward into the industry (example brand manufacturing to set up their own retailer outlet), when the buyer does not threaten to integrate backward into supply Bargaining power of buyers: These are people who create demand in the organisation. The bargaining power of buyer is greater when there are few dominant buyers and many sellers, when the product are standardised, when the industry is not a key supplying group for buyer. In Marks and Spencer, the bargaining powers of buyers are not great Intensity of Rivalry: This will depend on the structure of the industry cost, the structure of competition, degree of differentiation, switching cost, strategic object, exist barriers. There are alot of competitor surrounding marks and Spencer but their customer still remain with them because of their old time being. All works above sources: Porter,M.E.(2008) How competitive forces that shape strategy, Harvard business review, p86-104. [END OF P4] Task 3 3.1 The modelling tools to develop strategic option are [P7-8] ? Ansoff growth matrix ? Value chain ? BCG matrix ? Core competences ? Porter generic matrix ? Porter 5 forces ? Product life circle ? The gap analysis ? Marketing Mix POTER GENERIC MATRIX Micheal porter suggested four generic business strategies that could be adopted in order to gain competitive advantage. Differentiation Focus Differentiation Cost focus Cost leadership Narrow Broad Scope of business activities Strategy Differentiation: This strategy involves selecting one or more criteria used by buyer in a market-and then positioning the business uniquely to meet those criteria. This strategy is usually associated with charging a premium price for the product- often to reflect the higher production costs and extra value-added features provided for the consumer. Differentiation is about charging a premium price that more than covers the additional production cost, and giving customer clear reasons to prefer the product over other, less differentiated products. The Price of Marks and Spencer products are cheap compare to Tesco and Asda that have very cheap prices on the product. But yet Marks and Spencer customer still remains because to the quality of their products. Strategy-cost leadership: with this strategy, the objective is to become the lowest-cost producer in the industry. Many (perhaps all) market segments in the industry are supplied with the emphasis placed minimising costs. If the achieved selling price can at least equal (or near) the average for the market, then the lowest-cost producer will (in theory) enjoy the best profits. This strategy is usually associated with large-scale businesses offering standard product with relatively little differentiation that is perfectly acceptable to the majority of customer. MS by cheap product/ clothing line and sell in a cheap price to meet competitors. Strategy- differentiation focus: in the differentiation focus, a business aims to differentiate with just one or a small number of target market segments. The special customer needs of the segment mean that there are opportunities to provide products that are clearly different form competitors who may be targeting a broader group of customer. The important issue for any business adopting this strategy to ensure that customer really do have different needs and wants. Marks and Spencer also deal on the older market (45-65 of age) which makes them different from other retailer shops like Tesco and Asda. They also used their brad to meet the needs of the olds. Strategy-cost focus: Here a business seeks a lower-cost advantage in just on a small number of market segments. The product will be basic- perhaps a similar product to the higher-priced and featured market leader, but acceptable to sufficient consumer. Such products are often called me too The Micheal Porter generic strategies are been used in many organisations including Marks and Spencer, either become the lowest cost retailer or different product and services in such a way that its valued by customer to the extent that they will pay a premium price. By Appling this strength in either a broad or narrow scope, the four generic strategies result: differentiation focus, differentiation, cost focus, cost leadership. Mark and Spencer core products are foods and clothing and it implement a focus generic strategy as it concentrate differentiation from Tesco, Asda, BHS, Top shop etc. Source: Porter,M.E.(2008) How competitive forces that shape strategy, Harvard business review MARKETING MIX The marketing mix is very important in an organisation. This is the elements that are associated with the product(s) that affect whether the consumer decide to buy or not. They are four main factors that will decide if a consumer wants to buy or not. Prices: Marks and Spencer charges premium prices through its differentiation strategy. Product: Marks and Spencer markets its product based on superior quality and reliability. Place: Mark and Spencer products are sold through its large numbers of stores in city and town centres. MS has also expanded in sales and distribution channels through internet via it website (online shopping) Promotion: MS integrated marketing communication is delivered through media in various form, advertising, TV, national newspaper and magazines as well as website [END OF P7-8] 3.2 Option to form the basis of future organisation strategy [P9] Having analyse this models one which I believe would be able to help the company will be The Ansoff s product/market matrix Existing Product New Product Marks and Spencer Market Penetration Marks and Spencer Product Development Marks and Spencer Market Development Marks and Spencer Diversification The Ansoff growth matrix can be used to identify directions of Marks and Spencer strategic development. The Ansoff growth matrix provides direction for strategic option available to MS in terms of product and market coverage. Under the market penetration, MS provide a good and quality service that has driven the organisation into a large market penetration. Marks and Spencer now introduce a product development by increasing the quality of their products and developing their product to enable them to develop their market. The market developments have also encouraged marks and Spence to employ the right staff with the right skills that will help reach the company objectives and achieve the organisation goals. Marks and Spencer diversification has also help the organisation in different ways. They started with cloths, and move to foods and drinks. The diversification has also enabled the organisation to stand up to their feet again and push forward to gain their goals. I will fully recommend the Ansoff matrix for marks and Spencer as they have been using it already in gaining in market penetration and development. [END OF P9] 3.3 Stakeholder mapping [P10] A stakeholder is any person or institution that has an interest in an activity or project. This definition includes intended beneficiaries and intermediaries, winners and losers, and those involved or excluded from decision making processes. There are different ways in which stakeholder mapping can be used to gain an understanding of stakeholder influence. The approach to stakeholder mapping here identifies stakeholder expectations and powers and helps in understanding political rarities. The stakeholders who have got an interest in Marks and Spencer are: Their banks, Shareholders, Employees, Customer, Suppliers Level of interest (A)Meet their needs Increase their effort Increase their level of interest (B)Key players Educate them on the company Engage and update the regularly Involve them in decision making (D)Least important Keep informed Try to communicate Let them know of any change (C)Participation Show consideration. Keep informed Participate in the company Try to increase the level of interest. Source: computed by student from lecture note Stakeholder mapping might help in understanding better some of the following issues: In determining purpose and strategy, which stakeholder expectations need to be most considered? Whether the actual levels of interest and power of stakeholders properly reflect the corporate governance framework within which the organization is operating. Who the key blockers and facilitators of a strategy are likely to be and how this could be responded to- for example, in term of education. Whether repositioning of certain stakeholder is desirable and/or feasible. This could be to lessen the influence of a key player or, in certain instances, to ensure that the key players who will champion the strategy. Source: Bryson,J.M (2004) Stakeholder Identification and Analysis techniques. Minnesota. Rouledge [END OF P10] TASK 4A 4.1 Criteria for reviewing a strategy are: [P11] ? Feasibility ? Suitability ? Acceptability ? Cost effectiveness ? Interest of other stakeholder ? Customer ? Competitors ? Nature of the product and services Customers: The customers of Marks and Spencer are very important to the organisation. MS customers find it hard to shop at another retail shop because of the old time relationship with the organisation. Customer satisfaction is very important to the organisation and MS always make sure that they provide the best customer services to their customer especially the aged. Interest of other stakeholder: the stakeholder is another important strategy MS love to use. The interest of their stake holders is how to develop and plan for the organisation growth. They love to stay close the stake holders, give them the right information there need to know and provides them with updated about the running of the organisation. Competitors: Marks and Spencer love to look at their competitor so as to get the strategy they are using and try to provide a better strategy to over shadow their competitor strategy. Competitors have been a big issue for Marks and Spencer and the always try to make their products as cheap like their competitor to attract more customer and to keep the own customer happy with no complains. Nature of the product and services: The nature of the product and services is always at a high level because they provide good quality products to their customer to show a differentiation between them and other competitors. They services they provide to the customer are very much enjoyable because they are always there to help u out and show u the best product u needs to have. The strategy plan for MARKS and SPENCER ARE [continuation of P11] PRESS RELEASE EXTRACT: 29 MARCH 2001 Source: From Marks and Spencer s Website 15/04/2002 PLAN 1, TOTAL FOCUS ON UK RETAIL 100% OWN BRAND: The company will return to selling only own brand products and brands exclusive to marks and Spencer so it can guarantee customers the quality, value and service they have come to expect. Central to the recovery plan is the delivery of significant improvement in product appeal, availability and value thereby rebuilding the relationship with core marks and Spencer customer. IMPROVED SEGMENTATION OF CLOTHING: Marks and Spencer will concentrate first on regaining the loyalty of core customer, who prefers classically stylish clothes. This is the priority. The company has plans to regain the confidence of its customer in the quality and fit of its clothing. It will sharpen price by rebalancing the price architecture, extending the range of entry-price merchandise and communicating this clearly to customers. BUILD ON SUCCESS IN FOOD: Marks and Spencer a food continues to perform well and has earned customers trust for providing quality, innovation and convenience. The business is a key platform for future growth and the company is considering opportunities to expand its reach through new locations and selling channels. DEVELOP HIGH-GROWTH AREAS OF HOME AND BEAUTY: the home business is growing strongly, with home furnishings and gifts the fastest growing product areas. Beauty, albeit relatively small, is also growing rapidly. Both of these areas offer promising opportunities for development and will be expected. ACCELERATE STORE RENEWAL PROGRAMME: Mark and Spencer will accelerate the rollout of the successful elements of its new concept format under a plan to refurbish more stores faster and at lower cost. Two thirds of its retail space (120 stores) will be completed by the end of the coming financial year, benefiting the majority of Marks and Spencer s customers. MORE INTENSIVE USE OF SPACE: Selling space will be reallocated to higher growth product areas to maximise returns per square foot. In total, 600,000 sq ft will be reallocated within the year to areas such as the new clothing range supplied by George Davies, Home, 50 new Beauty shops, and 30 new coffee shops. IMPROVE THE SUPPLY CHAIN: The Company continues to see substantial benefits from the reconfiguration of the supply base, being shown in a clothing primary margin that is rising strongly. The priorities now are to eliminate duplication and increase transparency. By re-establishing closer working relationships with its supply partners, historically and unique strength, marks and Spencer will achieve further improvements in quality, value, product appeal, and availability. Financial Services: Plans for the future include developing the Marks and Spencer store card as an essential partner to the growth of retail sales; a stronger presence for financial services in stores; continued growth of the credit business; and faster rates of growth of non-credit areas, which may involve bringing in external partners. PLAN 2 VALUE REALI

Juvenile Deliquency Essay

How does juvenile delinquenct affects an individual education The investigator has discovered that juvenile delinquency effects on individual education in many ways majority of the respondents said that criminal record viewed possessed by a juvenile delinquent is viewed negatively when applying for a job or trying to go overseas because of delinquent activities the juvenile the juvenile caught doing by the law. Failure to achieve set goal is cause by juvenile hiding away from school to do delinquent activities. Another factor is that juvenile could be expel from school because of getting into fights, stealing and having arguments with teacher. When applying for a job is also another factor which juvenile delinquency may affects an individual’s education due to the fact that the juvenile as expel from school and didn’t get subject needed to qualify for the job. Common causese of juvenile delinquency Having concluded on the deemed roots of juvenile delinquency the resident believed that poverty mostly causes juvenile delinquency in community x. This is because most parents in this community are unemployed and cannot feed their children, so out of hunger these children will go of the out way to do delinquent things just to have a meal. Neglect also causes juvenile delinquency reason being is that every juvenile needs love and attention. If a child is not getting attention they needs due to the fact that he/she is living in a single parent family, the child will seeks the easiest and quickest way to get attention. Thus this child might get attention from someone who is delinquent and this person might motivate the juvenile to do negative act, this was stated by the resident. Peer pressure was also indicated as a cause by the resident this is because every child do what they are motivated to do or what they see their peer is doing and things its good. A small amount of the responden ts agrees that physical and mental is a cause. They said that every juvenile who is being abuse tend to react negatively to person in the society and have an hatred in their heart who tries to be nice to them. Effective ways to reduce juvenile delinquency There are many effective ways which could be used to reduce juvenile  delinquency. A large percentage of the stated that juvenile needs more access to information because if they get more information the juvenile will know the penalties which they have to face after committing the delinquent act. Introducing more guidance is also another way to reduce juvenile delinquency because if the juvenile is guided in the right path they will not stray from it. Having seminar will help delinquent persons to learn certain values and attitude, and that if being delinquent they will only be poor contributors to the society. Parenting skill seminars will also help reduce juvenile delinquency because parent attends the seminars would be thought certain things like they must not be neglect full to their children which may leads to juvenile seeking attention and find it at the wrong place.

Jared Diamond. the Worst Mistake in the History Essay

Jared Diamond. â€Å"The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race† Jared Diamond writes about the consequences of agriculture on the human race. He suggests that the earliest farming societies did not have an easier more productive lifestyle than hunter-gatherer societies, contrary to popular belief. For example, the Kalahari Bushmen spend a mere average of 12 to 19 hours a week to getting food, and on average sleep a lot, work less hard, and have more free time than people in hunter- gatherer societies. Another consequence agriculture had on humans is their diets. Hunter-gatherers eat many various wild plants and animals; therefore, they have better nutrition than farmers who generally only eat the limited variety of crops they produce. For example, the Kalahari Bushmen’s daily intake was 2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein, whereas farmers gave up good nutritional crops for cheap calories found in their starchy crops. In my own opinion, I believe that Diamond’s paper is for the most part skewed for the reason that he has a great anti-progressivist bias. Whenever Diamond makes a direct comparison between farming and hunter- gatherer societies, he shows all the positives for hunter-gatherer and the negatives for farmer societies. For example, when Diamond is comparing the nutrition of the two societies, he talks about the balance of nutrients and diet, he mentions that the Kalahari Bushmen eat a variety of over 75 different wild plants and receive more calories than needed. On the other hand, he mentions the fact that thousands of Irish farmers died during the potato famine during the 1840’s. Another example of how Diamond’s bias towards the gatherer side affects the paper is when he tries to compare the Bushmen to the Ethiopian farmers. The comparison is trying to show that being a gatherer is a better choice by comparing Kalahari Bushmen to the Ethiopian farmers. This is not an equal comparison because he uses the Kalahari Bushmen who are apparently above average on nutrition and one of the most successful Hunter-gatherer societies to one of the lower, undernourished farming societies in Ethiopia.

I Heard The Owl Call My Name-Parallelism essays

I Heard The Owl Call My Name-Parallelism essays Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man had turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life, contemplation, meditation... (Jean Arp. Internet). Since the beginning of time, we have tried to make our lives effortlessly by inventing contraptions to make this world an easier place. Inventions such as the television, computer, phone, and car have made our world a lot easier- making us lazier at the same time. While we think this progress is so vital, we sometimes forget that to gain progress we have to let go of things we are fond of. The tribe described in I Heard the Owl Call My Name has learnt to live without the place they love- their home. Seeing evolutions take its course can be a scary revelation- if youre not prepared. The people of Kingcome could sense their culture depleting and they could cope with the realization that their lives were changing. When all the factors started to pile up, the Kwatkuitl tribe had to face the fact that some day their village would be just a memory in the back of their minds. The earliest hint to the changing culture was that T.P. was the only one alive now whose broad brow showed... it had been tightly bound with cedar bands. (Craven 22.) This quote shows that traditions and culture of the tribe were slowly changing just like the seasons changed. Craven writes that a strange little wind of dissent (51) arose when the native children come home from school. Although the relatives are glad to see their family, the visit also brings up the feeling of resentment to the village because the young no longer know their native language or their tribes history and culture. As Peter the c arver stated: When the young leave, the world takes them, and damages them... [t]hey go, and soon the village will go also. (52). When the time comes, t...

Create a Steller Creative Strategy with These 10 Real-Life Examples

Create a Steller Creative Strategy with These 10 Reals As marketers, we constantly feel the pressure from our stakeholders, bosses, maybe even managers, to be creative. Not too creative to the point that your idea will get shut down, but creative enough that you are different (and better) than your competition. It sometimes can feel like they are asking you to mix oil and water. Ya feel me? Oh and don’t forget, your creative strategy has to work. To the point that you are confident in what you’re doing, you can prove the ROI, and figure out how to plan and execute the entire strategy. Take a deep breath because after reading this, instead of feeling like this†¦ You’ll feel like this. In this post you’ll learn everything you need to know about creative strategies, from how-to-write one, to successful, real-life examples that you can implement in your own workplace. Let’s get started! The Importance of a Creative Strategy You know creative strategies are important, probably because you were asked to make one, but you might not understand why  they are important. Creative strategies assist the company in reaching marketing goals, prove their ROI, and support business growth through a strategic and well-executed approach. Basically, your creative strategy is what, how, and why, you’re going to reach your marketing goals and business objectives. Without one, you risk losing sight of your projects, going over budget, and ticking off your stakeholders. 😠¨ How To Write The Best #Creative Strategy with @.How to Write the Best Creative Strategy Writing an entire creative strategy can be pretty intimidating, but don’t worry. I’ve broken it down step-by-step so it seems a little less daunting (hopefully). 1. Marketing Goals Before you come up with your creative strategy, you need to know what you’re trying to achieve by setting a marketing goal. Don’t worry about the how, that comes later... You’ll want your marketing goal to be S.M.A.R.T.😉 S.M.A.R.T. stands for specific, measurable, aspirational, realistic, and time-bound. Here’s an example of a S.M.A.R.T. goal: â€Å"I want to increase my conversion rate by 2% during Q4 2019.† 2. Marketing Key Performance Indicators It’s important that you know which metrics to measure when assessing your goal. In reality, you can’t prioritize every metric, because that would mean that all of your metrics have the same importance (and they shouldn’t be). KPIs are metrics that indicate progress towards a particular goal. Some examples of KPIs that you may be measuring are: Leads generated. Conversions. Revenue. Email list subscribers. Pageviews. Tying KPIs into our other example, the main metric that you would want to focus on is conversions. Make sense? Recommended Reading How to Select Marketing Metrics and KPIs to Monitor Pick a KPI or two that goes hand in hand with your goal and then focus on them. You’ll be surprised how much focusing in on a specific metric can help you reach your goal! Now that you’ve set your marketing goals, it’s time to find out who you’re marketing to. 3. Target Audience Define the ideal person that you want to buy your product or service. The better you know your target audience, the better you can market to them. Understand their needs and wants helps you get inside their minds to create a creative strategy that connects to them.Now you’re probably thinking, how can I apply what I know about my target audience to my creative strategy? Well†¦ Here’s a quick example. Let’s say your target audience are purchasers at hospitals and medical centers. To reach them, blasting out a commercial on TV showing your product line of highly niche medical equipment probably won’t help you reach your goal†¦ But, if you write content that can help your target audience solve real-life problems†¦ well, you get the point. There’s your creative strategy. It’s one and it’s based on attracting your target audience through content that helps them solve their problems. 4. Benefit This step is as simple as it sounds. Answer this: What benefit(s) does my target audience get from my product or service? If you don’t know the direct benefits, there’s no way your audience will understand the benefits. Make sense? Ask yourself these three things to make sure that you are hitting the nail on the head: How to Find the Direct Benefits of Your Product or Service What does my target audience gain from it? What problem does it solve? What is my competitive advantage? Let’s go back to our previous example. The medical equipment company would answer these questions to understand the benefit they provide to their customer: What does my target audience gain from my product or service? What problem does my product solve? What is my competitive advantage? 5. Support All the benefits you just listed are awesome, but they aren’t going to believe you unless they are backed up with some facts. Support your benefits so that people actually believe you. There are a number of different ways you can support your benefit in your creative strategy. Customer testimonials  are a great way to show that real people have used your product or service and prove it works! To get customer testimonials, you can directly ask customers or even use reviews that you get. Statistics are a quick and easy way to prove yourself. It can be as simple as stating â€Å"95% of customers said they would never go back to their old laundry detergent.† The stat deems you credible and persuades your audience to believe you. Using facts  in a creative strategy is very similar to adding a statistic. You see facts in creative strategies all of the time. â€Å"Recommended number one whitening toothpaste among dentists.† It’s a fact and it makes people trust the product. Lastly, demonstrating  how your product works can back up your benefits. Just make sure it actually works. 😉 We’ve all seen those OxiClean commercials†¦ Must I say anymore? 6. Positioning Brand positioning strategy  is a large project in itself. When you consider positioning in your creative strategy, make sure it aligns with your brand. The worst thing is when companies aren’t true to themselves. 7. Deliverables The deliverables of your project are going to be any tangible or intangible actions or tasks that direct the promotion of your product or service. Your deliverables are going to be based solely on the type of creative strategy that you are implementing. For example, a creative content strategy is going to look a lot different than a creative social media strategy. To prepare deliverables for your creative strategy, ask yourself: Who needs to be involved in this project? What tactics need to be implemented to reach our goal? What does the timeline look like to complete this project? You can save a ton of time on your project by using a template that has your entire project laid out with the click of a button. ’s task templates  are a simple way to create a workflow one time and apply it to all future projects. The tasks, due dates, and delegations are automatically assigned, so there won’t be any confusion in your project. This is how they work: First, you’ll want to create a task for every item that needs to be created before the project goes live. Next you’ll want to add the due dates of your project. Maybe you want to give it two months, or two weeks, either way you’ll be able to schedule the appropriate days in the task template. All you have to do is select the number of days before publish that each task should get done. Finally, assign the tasks and set approvals to make sure everyone knows what their role is within the project. ’s task template will save you a ton of time on implementing your creative strategies throughout the entire year. Now to the fun part, budgeting. 😉 8. Budget One thing that ticks off stakeholders more than a bad creative strategy is when that creative strategy goes over budget. But don’t worry, here’s all you need to know so that you don’t go over budget to fulfill your tactics! Steps to Keep Your Creative Strategy on Budget Choose your deliverables Accurately estimate how much each deliverable is going to cost Keep track of where your money is going at all times Drop strategies that aren’t performing well The biggest thing with budgeting  is to make sure you keep an eye on the money and the tactics so that going over budget never becomes an issue. Recommended Reading How To Create A Marketing Budget Plan 9. Executional Guidelines When being creative and doing this â€Å"out of the box,† sometimes we can forget about certain guidelines that our companies have. This step won’t apply to every marketing team. Most likely, if you are part of a larger corporation you will need to include it. This step ensures that your strategy follows any necessary guidelines so that your stakeholders don’t have to hand it right back to you. Pat yourself on the back because you officially know how to write a creative strategy. ðŸ™Å' You’re probably thinking okay great, I know how to write one, but that doesn’t help me think of creative concepts. Well, you’re in luck. If you want to see some successful IRL examples of creative strategies, keep on scrollin’. Types of Creative Strategies with Real Life Examples Getting asked to be creative is worse than the dawn of the blinking cursor. But good news, you wouldn’t be asked to come up with a creative strategy if you weren’t capable of it. So hold your head up high and go into this with an â€Å"I can do it† attitude. 💠ª It would take days to cover every type of creative strategy, so this blog post will cover the most prevalent topics with some killer examples. Content Nowadays everyone is doing content marketing. Well not everyone, but 53%  of businesses use content marketing and that is a lot of companies to compete against. 53% of businesses use content marketing. Use a creative strategy to make yours stand out!If you want to stand out from the rest of the companies, it’s your job to be more creative than them. Instead of using the traditional blogging method, here are a few out-of-the-box ideas to take your content marketing to the next level. Make your content useful. You’re probably thinking, I already do this. Chances are that you don’t as much as you could. Just because your content is educational, doesn’t mean it’s useful to your consumers. A few tips to make your content useful is to: Add helpful templates Make it actionable Use it as a discussion platform for your consumers to engage Use emotion. There’s nothing worse than reading a bone dry article. If it’s boring to write, chances are it’s just as boring to read. Make your consumers feel something when they read your content. Whether it’s humor, excitement, or happiness, adding some type of emotion will help your audience remember you. If you aren’t promoting the content that you are writing, people aren’t going to see it. In fact, you can use this little method to boost your social media traffic to your content by 192%. Be the expert. Before you write content for your next campaign, I challenge you to do double the research that you normally do. Make it your goal to have the most educational article that you possibly can. If you do this, people will be more likely to use your content as a reference than the other leading competitors. Them using you as a reference is a great way to get your foot in the door. 🚠ª Make Your Headlines Stand Out. â€Å"5x as many people read the headline as read the body copy.† - David Ogilvy Your headline is just as important as the copy underneath it. Make sure you are spending the time on your headline that it deserves. Make it catchy, enticing, and creative. If you need some help judging whether your headline will do the trick, try using the Headline Analyzer. Creative Content Strategy A company that slays the content marketing game is Sephora. Instead of a traditional blog, they created a content hub  for their customers to share beauty tips and product knowledge. It’s genius. Not only is it a useful resource for customers to go, but it drives them to their ultimate goal of selling product.

The Fashion Channel Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

The Fashion Channel - Case Study Example The essay "The Fashion Channel Case" concerns The Channel and Fashion. Encouraged from the success of TFC, networks like Lifetime and CNN have begun to add fashion-related programs to their line-ups. Some recent market surveys indicate that Lifetime and CNN perform better than TFC in terms of customer satisfaction, awareness, and perceived value. According to a recently published Alpha research on customer satisfaction with cable networks, TFC achieved a rating of 3.8 (on a scale of 1 to 5) on customer satisfaction whereas CNN scored 4.3 and Lifetime gained 4.5. In terms of awareness, CNN achieved 4.6 and Lifetime a 4.5 while the TFC’s rating was 4.1. In case of perceived value, the scores of TFC, CNN, and Lifetime were respectively 3.7, 4.1, and 4.4. Evidently, TFC’s declining performance adversely affected their two major sources of revenues- advertising revenues and cable affiliate fees. In order to strengthen the TFC’s market position and to improve its compe titiveness, the organization is currently planning some strategy changes. TFC is mainly thinking of increasing the price for a unit of advertising so as to improve its financial stability. In order to increase or hold the advertisement price, it is essential for the organization to make its network’s content appealing to a critical mass of viewers who in turn would attract advertisers. In order to address this market condition, Dana Wheeler, senior vice president of marketing, has framed three alternative solutions.

African-American Muslims in Philadelphia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

African-American Muslims in Philadelphia - Essay Example Though the roles of men and women are clearly spelt out in the Quran, the bone of contention is: How are African-American women perceived or treated in this religion? While these women put themselves on the same equal ground as their male counterparts, the media and Americans in general see them as a subjugated group. Sunni African American women believe that Muslim is the first and only religion that is centered on feminism. They recognize this religion as their source of redemption in a male dominated world. Even though their opinions and views may seem absurd to most Americans, the religion keeps growing in popularity among the Blacks. It is worth noting that men were attracted to Islam as it put a lot of emphasis on male leadership1. Elijah Muhammad used this opportunity to affirm the role of both men and women in religion, leadership being the primary role of men. In African-American churches, leadership positions were mostly taken by women with one overall male leader- the pastor. Black women were also attracted to Islam despite being reduced to housewives and child bearers by the sect. This was due to how they viewed Muslim men and the respect that the religion accorded women and children. Unlike their irreligious or Christian counterparts, Muslim men were responsible, focused, loved their women and were always smart in suits. This attracted the women to the sect. Many came from abusive and dysfunctional families; Islam offered a source of reprieve and comfort for them. Elijah called for the men to protect and provide for their black women to preserve the purity of black skin and to discourage interracial relations with the whites. It was not for the benefit of the black women. In fact, men were in control of their spouses bodies. The only time men were not allowed to copulate with their wives was during menstruation and when they were sick. Regardless of whether she was in the mood or not, a Muslim woman was mandated by her religion to meet her