Japanese Public Broadcaster-NHK Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Japanese Public Broadcaster-NHK - Research Paper Example NHK is no different. All told, NHK has probably never been in such difficulties at any other point in its history. To begin with, it is useful to examine the recent scandal that so dented the reputation of NHK. In late 2004, NHK employed more than 10,000 people and had revenue from a viewing fee that came to almost $5 billion. But then all hell broke loose. Top executives were accused of embezzling funds, and the popular company chairman was forced to step down. NHK came under increased governmental and legal scrutiny, and competitors revved up their engines. This report neatly summarizes the situation: In Japan, the NHK viewing fee (which is something that akin to BBC’s license fee) is mandatory under the country’s broadcasting law. Although there is no penalty for those who fail to pay, almost 80% of about 46 million Japanese TV households make monthly payments of about US$12. The 2004 scandal, however, triggered waves of consumer discontent, resulting in about 1,280,000 refusals to pay. This translates into a total revenue loss of some US$42 million or 7.4% of NHK’s gross revenue for the fiscal year 2005 which ended in March 2006. The percentage of fee-paying consumers dropped by almost 10%.1 That marked only the beginnings of NHK’s financial woes. Two twin problems were approaching on the horizon that will affect NHK’s bottom line for years to come: the financial crisis and recession of 2008-09 and the huge changes in the media world brought about by the Internet. Like everyone else NHK is finding that serious journalism is in trouble. Laborious and expensive, news stories and investigative reports that reflect a passionate commitment to the public interest are being squeezed out of our media by new economic realities. Faced with decreasing advertising revenue, media companies have been consolidating rapidly in recent years, in part to take advantage of economies of scale.  Ã‚  

Rhetorical strategies Essay Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical strategies Essay Essay All can relate to that one special time of the year, Christmas, when whole families unite and spend hours endlessly sharing stories, making memories, and of course, opening presents! What happens though, when all of the sentimental value of Christmas is replaced solely with physical value, the gifts? What would Christmas be like then? Richard Rodriguez takes the readers through one of his annual Christmases and brings to light, through his thoughts, the disconnect that exists between himself, his siblings, and his parents. Rodriguez’ chronological presentation of events with flashbacks, short, abrupt syntax, light-hearted attention to detail and concerned tone contribute to suggest his worried attitude toward his family. Rodriguez builds a sense of the lacking sentimentality through the syntax, using short, abrupt sentences to show how the family’s Christmas is just another thing done every year and not a special time. These short, abrupt sentences are down to the basics. There is no â€Å"fluff† just like there is no sentiment in Christmas. This style of syntax mirrors the sentimentality of the family. It is nothing but another stop. â€Å"The room grows uncomfortably warm. The talk grows listless.† The family has finished the business of opening gifts and they are ready to move on to their next event. Rodriguez adds little detail at first to create a lighthearted mood associated with the positive parts of Christmas. â€Å"So you’ll have to buy me soft food and put a blue wig on my head.† Later in the prose, Rodriguez’ selection of detail is used to show the physical items that have taken over in place of sentimental things. â€Å"a shiny mink jacket,†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"†¦where expensive foreign cars idle sharply.† Details like these are used throughout the second half of the passage to add to the loss of sentimentality within the family. Rodriguez uses dialogue throughout the passage to add effects and to help  the reader to understand what the author is experiencing. Rodriguez uses interesting punctuation, parenthesis, to represent his personal thoughts as well as background conversation, where he uses both parenthesis and quotations. â€Å"(â€Å"we have to get up early tomorrow†),† â€Å"(sad that we are all going home?).† Rodriguez’ personal thoughts are crucial in helping the reader understand the narrative. Rodriguez’ use of short, abrupt syntax, specific use of details, and interesting punctuation in the dialogue makes the narrative of his annual family Christmas become much deeper with an underlying worrisome, concerned tone and an emphasis of the loss of sentimentality of not only family Christmas but of family as a whole.

Factors Affecting the Choice of Drug Brands by Doctors

Factors Affecting the Choice of Drug Brands by Doctors This research proposal explores the factors affecting the choice of branded drugs in India. Indian pharmaceutical market is unique due the presence of more than 60000 branded generic drugs. The doctors are spoilt for choice of brand. Hence it is important to find out the factors which affect the prescription of drugs to help both doctors and pharmaceutical companies serve patients better. LITERATURE REVIEW INDUSTRY OVERVIEW Pharmaceutical industry in India is now the third largest and 14th largest in the world in terms of volume and value, respectively. The total turnover of Indias pharmaceuticals industry for year ending September 2009 was US$ 21.04 billion with the domestic market contributing US$ 12.26 billion. [1] Due to the expansion of middle and higher middle income groups in the country, a potential US $ 8 billion market of high cost drugs is expected to emerge by 2015. It is also expected that domestic pharmaceutical market will reach US $ 20 billion by 2015. This will make India a lucrative destination for various pharmaceutical giants. Another factor aiding this movement of multinational companies to India is the evolution of low cost drug policy and stagnation of western market. The pharmaceutical industry has grown at the rate of 12 per cent (CAGR) for the past few years, but this will accelerate soon. [1]. India is among the worlds leading five Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients producers. Indian firms produce about 60,000 generic brands servicing 60 therapeutic categories. This is a unique characteristic of Indian pharmaceutical market as compared to the foreign markets where either Researched Brands or generic drugs are prescribed. These different brand names create a dilemma for the medical professionals while writing prescriptions. MARKETING BY PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES The general process of selling involving the following steps is also applicable in case of generating required prescriptions. Unawarenessà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Awarenessà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Interestà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Evaluationà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  Test Prescriptionsà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Repeat Prescriptions The most cost effective ways of generating interest among doctors and consumers for new drugs are advertisements and public relations techniques. [2] While getting repeat prescriptions requires generation of involvement. Hence majority of spending goes towards direct-to-doctor (DTD) promotion. Among advertising, detailing (visits from sales representatives), direct mail, sales promotion, publicity and public relations, detailing contributes the most for doctors as well as a strategy for pharmaceutical companies. It is the only technique which can be used for all drugs according to Indian FDA regulations. Only Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs can be advertised publicly in the Indian market. Key findings of research show a high level of interaction between the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession. 86% receive medical samples frequently 39% receive desk gifts 19% receive invitations to congresses 12% receive free lunches Half of the doctors believe that receiving benefits from the pharmaceutical industry has an influence on medical prescription, but only 27% accept this as influential in their own prescriptions. [3] GIFTS Giving gifts (such as pens to expensive foreign holidays) to doctors is one of the most common techniques used by pharmaceutical companies. These companies are working on relation of reciprocity technique. In country like India, where a lot of importance is given to relationships, doctors on receiving gifts feel obliged to return the favour by prescribing the respective brands. SALES REPRESENTATIVES The main job of Pharmaceutical sales representatives is to convince the doctors to prescribe their products. Along with that they also deal with the channel partners like chemists, wholesalers and even hospitals and other medical service agencies. Hence they have the potential to influence the buying of drugs at every stage. During their visits to the doctors they can customize the product offering based on the doctor profile and the types of patients that consult the doctor. They build relationships with the doctors and leverage it to extract maximum sales from that contact. They use all the selling skills to convince the doctors about the superiority of their products. They also act as the channel for the exchanging information. Many times this involves controlling the information that reaches the doctors as these representatives have become the main source of information about new research and products that hit the market every day. They increase the visibility of their products by continuously reminding and distribution of the gifts related to their products. All these activities influence the prescription habits of the doctors. One of the survey results showed that: 84% of GPs considered pharmaceutical representatives as an efficient source of information 31% said they might change their therapeutic prescribing following visits from representatives [4] ADVERTISING Direct advertisement through mass media is restricted to OTC drugs. These are directed to end consumers i.e. the patients as well as channel partners. These can also be used to impart information without use of particular brand names and to create awareness for public benefit. Many times advertisements become counterproductive by encroaching into the doctors space of providing treatment options creating discontent among doctors. PRICES The concern is that pharmaceutical companies marketing has led to poor people paying for branded products that cost a lot more than the much cheaper generic but have little or no additional medical value. The poor patients cannot afford the original researched brands. Hence the many branded generic drugs fill in the void left by these pharmaceutical companies. The decision is left to the doctors whether the patient can afford the medication or to find out the one which is affordable. Certain patients perceive the effect of costlier drug to be more than the cheaper one. The doctors need to look into the psyche of the patient before deciding which drug to recommend. BRANDING Majority of the doctors use brand names except in hospital setting where the brand is decided by pharmacy. There are various factors that lead to prescription of a branded drug than a generic drug. Brand names are shorter and easier to remember thus get a preference over generic drugs in a prescription. E.g. On given a choice of S-3-aminomethyl-5-methylhexanoic acid (36 letters) or Lyrica (6 letters), it is most likely that doctors will opt for the latter being less complicated. [5] Another common argument for prescribing a brand name is that it avoids patient confusion, as patients are most likely to use brand names for identifying drugs and usually have a poor knowledge of corresponding generic names. [6] Other issues such as the quality and bioequivalence of generic substitutes are often mentioned. Availability, Sampling, Packaging, Continued Medical Education Programme and free disease detection camps are the factors that are to be evaluated upon. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY To study the factors affecting the decision of doctors while prescribing a product To recommend appropriate marketing strategies to Pharmaceutical companies as per customer needs To explore customer (physicians) needs wants from a pharmaceutical company TIME FRAME The research shall be completed in 8 months time frame (Design and Sampling 2 months, Data Collection 4 months, Data Analysis and Reporting 2 months) SCOPE OF THE STUDY Study is limited to doctors in major cities of India SOURCES OF DATA PRIMARY SOURCE The researcher has to collect data through mail or telephonic interview by getting questionnaire filled up from chosen doctors SECONDARY SOURCE The researcher has to refer to various Pharmaceutical and Marketing Journals, Magazines, Reports websites SAMPLE SIZE 1000 Physicians have been chosen from across major cities in India SAMPLING METHOD Random purposeful Sampling Method 20 Cities have been randomly selected 50 Physicians have been randomly selected from each city Cities chosen are: Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, Pune, Chandigarh, Patna, Guwahati, Bhopal, Itanagar, Raipur, Ranchi, Panaji, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar TOOL OF ANALYSIS Data collected from different sources has to be tabulated. Percentage and Average method has been applied to analyze data. LIMITATIONS OF RESEARCH The Sample size chosen may not be enough to give a true representation of the total population. The research only encompasses metros and A-Tier cities.

Comparing Hitlers Germany and Stalins Russia :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Comparing Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia Why is it that Germany's fascism lasted a relatively short time compared to Russia's communism? The regimes established under Hitler and Stalin were incredibly similar with respect to the rise and control of the state. Both systems were based on entirely different ideology and goals. Hitler's Mein Kampf established the superiority of the German race and the need to expand as wanted by God. Hitler wanted the world. The government in Russia established by Lenin was based on a book called Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, a call to the proletariate to unite and rebel against their selfish employers. It is my belief that Lenin had entirely good reasons for doing as he did, and felt he was helping the world as apposed to Adolf Hitler. Immediately after Lenin's death, a man very much the same in nature as Hitler, Stalin, came to control the Bolsheviks and throw Russia in a civil war in a quest for power. You now have two men of equal aspirations soon to be in control of two very similar governments. In any rise of power, there needs to be a period of careful planning requiring much thought. These two men had very little history with which to work with which to model their revolutions. Times had been changing rapidly, technological improvements in the fields of manufacturing, transportation, and communication made this period of time very different from any other. Hitler spent his time imprison writing his book, Mein Kampf, filling it full of warped ideas of conquest and superiority of one race over another. I think it is strange that such works would go unnoticed with nobody left to watch a man with such dangerous ideas. Lenin planned his revolution while in exile in Switzerland. Then he made a deal with the German government whereby he was hid on a train and passed through enemy Germany to Russia. The conclusions with respect to methods of acquiring power and controlling it when they did get it were very much the same. Both rulers had full run of their respective governments. Stalin was already dictator of Russia with his power and loyalty of the people guaranteed by the secret police, the Cheka. This entity provided Stalin with an easy means of destroying the opposition and weeding out the undesirable to be sent to prison camps in Siberia, a virtual death sentence. For Hitler to ascend to that level of power he rammed the Enabling Act through the German Congress which gave him the power to enact laws.

ASDA’s Responses To Changes In Its Business Environment

ASDA Group (ASDA) owned by Wal-Mart group company, is a grocery and general merchandise retailer in the UK. In 2008, ASDA recorded a profit before tax of  £520.4m, down slightly from  £532.7m but exceeding arch rival Sainsbury's. ASDA's sales hit  £18.57bn, up from  £16.7bn, in ranking the chain third in the supermarket hierarchy after ASDA and Sainsbury's.There have been many changes in ASDA's business environment over the last 65 years. ASDA is usually conducting research to identify changes in the business environment and responding to the customer needs its research identifies. One of the research models is PESTE (STEEP). The PESTE model uses the five headings of sociological, technological, economic, environmental and political factors. Factors in the macro-environment such as tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes affect the management decisions at ASDA.Sociological (gender roles, age of consumers, the extent of local mig ration/mobility, patterns of consumption, culture of a population, out of town shopping/car usage, busy people/working more hours)One of the sociological factor is dietary habits. Nowadays, people want to try different and new foods. ASDA has responded by increasing its range of foreign foods such as Mexican, Indian and Chinese. Likewise, the large ethnic populations that have moved to the UK have made ASDA respond by increasing its range of foods. For example, there is a full aisle of Polish food in ASDA in Boston, Lincolnshire. This is not extraordinary, considering that in this little city (30,000 citizens) almost 50% is Polish. Another factor the ageing population also has impact on the demand for non-food products such glasses from optical stores. ASDA have its own ‘ASDA Opticians'. This is example how ASDA responds to changes in sociological environment and the age of customers factor.TechnologicalTechnology is an area where there have been a lot of advances. The example of this is the mass use of microwaves. The Company launched a range of microwaveable foods. Welcomed new technologies, ASDA has implemented online shopping and self service checkouts which make easier shopping for customers. Furthermore, new technologies enable improvements to the way that ASDA does its business. The company uses information technology to support its operations. For example, it can see how individual products are performing store-by-store at a glance through data collection. ASDA appears to have responded well in this area.Political – Legal changes (laws on foods, competition laws, rate of unemployment, tax policies, price regulations etc)Planning permission is heavily regulated in the UK. ASDA is aware of planning permission regulations. Store expansions goes ahead to comply with planning regulations. ASDA identifies relevant planning laws and comply with them to reduce any disruption to its store expansion programme by local people’s dissent or the local authority refusal. This supports the successful opening of a new store in an area. An example is the development of huge out of town ASDA Superstores which have huge car parks. This was made possible by the government allowing them planning permission to build.The UK is a member state of the EU so ASDA has to abide by EU laws e.g. competition laws. ASDA is restricted from growing too large. To overcome this they have started to offer more services such as financial services . There is ‘ASDA money' (ASDA FINANCIAL SERVICES LIMITED) which offers credit cards and insurance. In addition, it provides mobile phone network. The ‘ASDA mobile' is the cheapest supermarket mobile network with a cheaper overall tariff than rival Tesco.Environmental/Ecological (more focus on organic, recyclable, less waste, environmental regulations etc)A global warming is the one of the biggest threat to a natural environment. The cause of global warming is the emission of carbon dioxide. To m eet these challenges, ASDA supports carbon reductions in most of its stores. ASDA’s  stores are eco-friendly, 40% more energy efficient and emitting 50% less carbon dioxide than a standard new build store. Over the past couple of years ASDA has been working with its suppliers to reduce the amount of carbon emitted during manufacture, growing and processing of their products — something that’s known as embedded carbon.Many people now do not want to eat food that has been grown or reared using chemicals, they want natural food. ASDA has responded by introducing a wide range of organic food ranges. For example, ASDA have launched the Organix brand which helps people to find organic food on storefront shelves.Economic (recession, competition, inflation, taxes etc)ASDA like its main competitors Tesco and Sainsbury have been accused of tax avoidance, depriving farmers of a livelihood and functioning as modern-day monopolies that drive local businesses out of communi ties. ASDA has grown enormously and has forced many small retailers out of business; they have received a lot of criticism in this area and appear not to care. They have also been criticised for the low prices they pay UK farmers for their products , which in same cases has forced farms close.In addition, ASDA has been criticised for not responding to the needs of some shareholders, such as UK farmers. As we see this economic factors are where ASDA has problems responding positively to changes in business environment. It could have negative influence for its clients. Some people could change their preferences and to go shopping in a competitor supermarket due to a bad publicity.ConclusionIt is important to respond accurately to factors such as tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes. This evaluation has considered how ASDA has responded to external changes. In evaluating how well they have responded, they have responded well to externa l changes concerning their customers but not so well in areas of economics. Some of these wrong responses has influence for negative public relations, especially force many small retailers out of business and the low prices they pay UK farmers for their products. In other hand, to take  responsibility for natural environment by carbon reductions policy is really impressive.

The Governments Taking of Private Property

The Governments Taking of Private Property The Constitution of the United States is based primarily on the ideas of the 17th Century English philosopher John Locke. Locke thought that everyone had natural rights, which included life, liberty, and property. Locke stated the great and chief end, therefore, of mens uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of property (Locke/ McClaughry 3). He thought that if any of these rights were violated that the violator should make restitution. The Takings Clause in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution states Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. When the government needs a citizens private property to build roads or buildings, they compensate the person with money roughly equal to the value of that persons land. The problem of the government taking or restricting a citizens land arises with regulation of private property. John McClaughry defines regulatory taking as a governmental confiscation or destruction of economic rights by regulation, without the physical occupation which would trigger just compensation to the owner (McClaughry 7). The case of Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council is an example of regulatory taking. In the case of Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council, Lucas bought two adjacent lots on the coast of the Isle of Palms in South Carolina, only to have the land restricted by the state, which prevented his intended use of the lots. Lucas argued that the states restriction of the land constituted taking without just compensation. The South Carolina Court of Common Pleas agreed with Lucas and awarded him $1,232,387.50. The Supreme Court of South Carolina disagreed with the lower court, and saying that the restrictions were designed to prevent serious public harm so no compensation was ...