Quantitative demand Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Quantitative demand - Research Paper Example If the price of cigarettes increases, not only will the quantity of the cigarettes fall but simultaneously it may also affect other commodities. The aspect of income elasticity will also be incorporated here, which will show us whether income and demand for cigarettes move together or not. Lately the world economy has been more concerned about the harmful effects of smoking. Though, from time immemorial, people are trying to resort to drugs or other narcotics, this gives them a tranquilizing effect in their minds. One of the most common intoxicants is a cigarette, which serves as the escape route from their harsh realities of life. In the recent times, smoking has taken the shape of an epidemic, which is affecting not only people’s minds but also their lives. Many steps have been taken, such as campaigns showing how smoking is injurious to heath or health programs to restrict the usage of cigarettes per day. In spite of this, people are reckless to quit smoking, as they find no perfect substitutes of it. In regard to this the governments of all the countries are starting a new tax regime especially US government. This consists of an increase in the price level of cigarettes by the imposition of proportional tax or a lump sum tax. By proportional tax structure, a particular rate of tax is imposed on price of cigarettes. In respect to the US governments the tax structure usually takes the form of excise or sales tax. Here, a fixed rate of cents is imposed on the price of cigarettes. Let the tax rate‘t’ be imposed on the price of cigarettes, ‘p’, the new price is now ‘p (1+t)’. According to the law of demand, the price and demand of a normal good are negatively related. Here, cigarette is a normal good since with the fall in price, smoking becomes more attractive and popular among the individuals. The following diagram shows the

Customer Service Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Customer Service - Research Paper Example For government agencies, it gets more complex as the customers are the public. Government agencies are now required to account for and minimize expenditure and upgrade services delivered to the citizens. Managements of these agencies are often turning to human resource training and technology to deliver services fast and competently to achieve satisfactions for all queries, complaints or inquiries. Customers have been accustomed to attention from the private sector, and they now want the same from their government agencies. Government agencies have adopted standards of measuring citizens’ satisfaction in responding to their needs through electronic or manual reviews (Newby and McManus, 2002, pg 13). NTPFES is the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services, a government agency providing policing, fire and rescue, and emergency services response across the Northern Territory of Australia (NTPFES, 2010, pg10). Such is an example of an organization that has embodied customer service to improve service delivery to customers. Customer Service in g overnment agencies exists to bridge the gap between governments’ service delivery and their citizens’ satisfaction. There has been a shift in the management systems from an emphasis on product quality to Total Quality Management for customer satisfaction. This change focuses on continual improvement of organization’s output. Quality of outputs in this case very much includes all products and services and the processes that are involved in the production of the products or services. The shift is intended for the sole purpose of meeting, if not surpassing customer expectations. Customer service provision requires the co-operation of all levels of management within the organization. Achievement of excellent customer service is guided by tools and principles. The tools are the so-called ‘hard’ aspects of customer service. They include the

Analysis of Orthopeadic Theatre Time Utilization

Analysis of Orthopeadic Theatre Time Utilization ANALYSIS OF ORTHOPEADIC THEATRE TIME UTILIZATION AT KENYATTA NATIONAL HOSPITAL Trauma is the leading causes of admission in Kenyatta National Hospital and often these patients require surgery. The trauma burden unpredictability usually mismatches demand and supply of the hospital thus posing challenge for systems improvement and streamlining. Utilization is defined as the ratio of time that an asset is used, against its capacity. For uniformity among the OR team, it is extremely important to developing a precise definition of turnaround time. For the purpose of this paper, turnaround time is defined as the time between incision close of patient n and incision open of patient n+1. This definition captures the surgeon’s, anaesthetist and nurse perspective of turnaround time and allows us to see the delay between the most expensive value-added times in the theatre. Previous study from KNH reported high rate of cancellation of elective list on the day of surgeries (20.6%)1. One of the causes attributed to these delays was inefficient utilization of OR time, mainly due to delay in starting time and long turnaround time within the OR. It was noted that 70.9% of non clinical cancellation was due to list overrun/lack of time. It was also the leading cause of cancellation in KNH at (43.8%). Three specialty were identified to have recorded the highest cancellation rate were Cardiothoracic surgeries 38%, Neurosurgeries 37.8% and Orthopedic surgeries 32.6%1. Cancellation generally increases waiting list and the risk of further cancellation, which may cause patient dissatisfaction and compromise patient’s safety2. Poor scheduling of operations can result in cancellation of operation which is costly to both the patient and the hospital3. With the escalating cost of healthcare, quality of care fails to meet expectation of our patients and therefore, the health care organization should look on strategies to improve quality while reducing cost of running hospitals. The efficiency of operating room can be measured in variety of ways4. Efficiency is defined in term of ability to translate available time into earning5–8. Computer simulation and mathematical models, both of which essentially idealizations that the practical capacity for OR to be between 80-90%9. Justification Theatre complex is a high cost department with the hospital and therefore considerable resources are wasted if operating room if not used effectively. Improving the performance of operating room is key to achieving shorter waiting time for surgery, reducing cancellation for operations and more so achieving the implementation of booking of elective surgery in our hospital. Increased utilization of operating room improves patients flow and reduces the waiting list time. Improving theatre utilization would lead to a reduction in cost recovery from each patients10. 4 in their study in South African concluded that private operation theatre utilization rates were higher than public operation theatres due to commercial nature of private healthcare and absent consequent cost drivers in public health sector10. Utilization rate in South Africa was found to be 48% which was significantly lower than the globally bench mark of between 70-80%4. 11 concluded that the delay in starting list, under s chedule, interruption due to emergency surgeries, administrative reasons, induction of anesthesia and recovery police are the main factor that account for inefficient use of operating room facilities in India hospitals Operating room utilization rate is usually an indicator used in measuring efficiency in use of hospital resources. It is argued that high utilization is cost effective and improves quality of care10,12–15. Brief Description of KNH Main Theatre KNH Main theatre is located in the first floor of the tower block adjacent to Critical Care Unit (CCU), Renal and Burns Unit. It has twelve operating rooms out of which two are allocated to Prime Care Center; one is dedicated for emergency surgeries 24 hours a day. The remaining nine are allocated to different specialty in a week. The specialties are General surgery, Urology surgery, Maxillofacial surgery, ENT surgery, Pediatrics surgery, Plastic surgery, Ophthalmology surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Cardiothoracic surgery, Neurosurgical and Obstetrics and Gynecology surgery. Within the OR the following equipments are found, Operating table in the center of the room, Operating lights directly over the table to provide bright light during surgery, Anaesthesia machine is at the head of the operating table equipped with Electronic monitor machine which records the heart rate and respiratory rate by adhesive patches called chest leads placed on patient’s chest, it has also the Pulse oximeter which is attached to the patient’s finger with an elastic band aid. Pulse oximeter measures the amount of oxygen contained in the blood, an automated blood pressure measuring machine that automatically inflates the blood pressure cuff on patient’s arm continuously recording blood pressure, there is the diathermy machine which uses high frequency electrical signals to cauterize blood vessels and cut through tissue with a minimal amount of bleeding. Other specialized machines may be brought in depending on the nature of surgery. In a week there are 45 theatre space slot allocated to different specialty, out of which orthopedic surgeries have 12 slots and the remaining 33 slot are allocated among the remaining 10 specialty. The orthopedic department is located on the sixth floor of the tower block and has four wards namely 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D. Ward 6B serves as a joint admission for all pediatric cases from 6A, 6C and 6D. Each ward has four days in a week to do the elective surgeries. Theatre procedure Each ward is expected to submit its operation list to main theatre reception before 15:00 hours on the day before its as ­signed operation day. In the evening before the surgery, anaesthetists visit the wards to do a pre-anesthetic assessment on patients who had been scheduled for surgery. They are expected to re-assure these patients, assess their fitness for surgery, and also confirm the necessary investigation are done which they document in the pre-anesthetic check list. On the day of surgery porters are sent to the ward to bring the patients who are then received by a designated theatre nurse at the receiving area, the Receiving Area nurse check to confirm the identity of the patient, see that consent for the surgery had been given and all necessary investigation have been done. Thereafter, the patient is wheeled to waiting bay where he/she is kept on-hold until the theatre room is ready. All other procedures like intravenous access and induction of anaesthesia are done in theatre. After surgery, the patient is taken to Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) while the oper ­ating room is cleaned in preparation for the next patient. Economic considerations also suggest that it is desirable to keep operat ­ing rooms fully used. Thus, it is imperative that areas of time wastage in the theatre time flow be recognized and their causes identified. This will assist theatre managers take necessary steps to correct the problem14. Objective To identify areas of, and causes of operating room time delay, and suggest solution based on the identified deficiencies. Operating theatre represents an area of considerable expenditure in a hospital budget. Consequently, hospital administrators are so concerned with maximizing utilization of OR. This can only be made possible by knowing how much time is spent on which activity and there by identify the factors resulting in under utilization of OR16. Staffing KNH theatre complex is being managed by Assistant Chief Nurse (ACN) with the help of Administrative Officer. The two are answerable to the Head of Department (HOD) Theatre, TSSU and CSSD. The staff within each OR includes Surgeons, Anesthetist, 1- circulating nurse , 1- scrub nurse and 1- theatre sterile assistant (TSA). The general theatre activities are overseen by a Theatre Users Committee (TUC), with HOD as the chairperson. Other members are from Nursing, Surgery, Anaesthesia, Administration and Technical departments. Data Collection I will survey the timing of events in the Orthopedic OR using their elective operating lists available from Monday to Friday at theatre front office desk for a period of one month. I will use a designed proforma based on established oper ­ating theatre process steps to record the following; Patient sent-for (PS): Time when porter leave R/A to the ward for the patient Patient available (PA): Time the patient arrives at theatre R/A Patient in room (PIR): time when patient enters OR Anesthesia/Induction start time (AIT): time induction of anesthesia starts Surgery start time (ST): time cleaning of surgical area Surgery finish (SF): time dressing is put on the incision site Patient out OR (POR): Time at which patient leaves the OR From the above times, I will derive the following: Ward to theatre transfer interval: the interval between PS and PA (b-a). This interval is prolonged when it is greater than 20 minutes. R/A waiting time: It is the interval be ­tween patient available (PA) and when patient is transferred to OR (c-b). It is prolonged if it is greater than 10 minutes. Pre-anesthetic waiting time: the difference between patient’s in room (PIR) and anesthesia/induction start time (AIT) (d-c). It is prolonged when it is greater than 20 minutes. Anaesthesia admission time (AAT): the interval between AIT and ST (e-d) and it is prolonged when it is greater than 20 minutes. Surgery duration: the interval between ST and SF (f-e). Anesthesia reversal time (ART): the interval between SF and POR (g-f) Turnaround time (TAT): the interval between incision close of patient n and incision open of patient n+1. There will be a one week pilot study to set the cut-off point for the intervals between normal and delayed time. This will be based on the mean time observed in the pilot study and for convenience it will be rounded-up to the nearest number divisible by five. In case of delay outside theatre the officer involved will be interviewed to determine the cause of the delay. However, delays that occures in the theatre will be observed directly by the research assistant filling the proforma. The data was entered into SPSS 11.5 which was used to calculate the time intervals and for statistical analysis Efficiency means the management of theatre time, costs resources and staff to undertake as many procedures as possible within given levels of resources, or doing the same number of procedures using a lesser amount of resources .

Pat Lyon At The Forge Essay -- John Neagle Artist Painter

Pat Lyon at The Forge John Neagle painted the portrait "Pat Lyon at the Forge" between 1826 and 1827. Just 50 years after the beginning of the American Revolution, this painting shows how much America had evolved. Neagle's portrait is a powerful "celebration of productive labor" (p 281) and the, "entrepreneurial and commercial energies that 'transformed' the country" (p 8). It conveys the notion of 'republican equality' (p 241) that Wood discusses and how was important it was to the leaders of the Revolution. While portraits had earlier been an 'exclusive luxury of the aristocracy' (p 354), Neagle's portrait is a break from that tradition. The painting depicts a blacksmith working in his forge with a young boy, possibly an apprentice, looking on behind him. Pay Lyon looks nothing like an aristocrat. He is a laborer, hard at work with his shirt unbuttoned and sleeves rolled up. In traditional European society, gentlemen didn?t work, only common people did. ?The liberality for which gentlemen were known connoted freedom ? freedom from material want?and freedom from having ...

The Relationship Between Punk and Dada

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DADA AND PUNK It is difficult to estimate when people began to create different theories, movements and ideologies with regards to what is positive and negative in the world that we live in. A part and parcel of human nature has always been an individual desire to be a part of the perfect world which unfortunately is mainly stimulated by individuals in power. Therefore this bore a disagreement and critique among minorities and has been exploding over the centuries in different forms of cultural movements. One of the greatest cultural trends began in Zurich and it is known as Dadaism.During World War I a group of individuals created Dada in reaction to what they perceived to be negative and opposite of the values that they believed in. They showed their protest against nationalist, colonialist interest and bourgeois in various forms of controversial art. The new style definitely found its followers in suffocated by war society and even etched in history. Never theless, 1970s showed us that Dadaism was not forgotten as it inspired a new generation of people to express their feelings with regards to what is against their vision of perfection.This created a new cultural movement known as ‘Punk’ which is characterised by a critique to a political system and society that was framed in a specific pattern. This essay is an effort to present relations between ‘Dada’ and ‘Punk’ by analysing and comparing various art forms of ideology they believed in. Therefore the part of this work is focused on the backgrounds and origins of both movements it order to explain motives and ideas of their existence.Moreover, it will show very important relationship which strongly connects both trends in a form of spiritual protest by using and comparing artworks from both epochs; Hannah Hoch’s ‘’Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’’1919 compa red to ‘’The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’’1968, by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth. Also, the controversial CD cover created by Jamie Reid’s ‘’God Save the Queen’’ 1977 compared to ‘’The Art Critic’’ 1919 by Raoul Hausemann. The analysis of both comparisons will be a detailed explanation of those matters.First of all, Dada was not just a series of art-historical related events which took place between 1916 and 1923. Dada definitely was an emotional, social and political reaction created against the horror of World War I. With the collapse of pre 1914 social values the Dadaists acted in response with a strong ‘weapon’ as it involved a disagreement, defiance with ironic, anarchistic and frequently nihilistic gestures. However, they also evolved attitudes and techniques that have become a priority to our artistic sensibility.The discovery of automatism in the arts, the use of random elements, and the new definition of art which is not limited by any specific content or material is a great concept introduced by the Dadaists. Moreover, the art is situational as there is a result of confrontation between spectator and object which is frequently associated with controversy and chaos. Therefore it can be said that Dada as a novelty bore a historical responsibility for correcting the world problems for all time and a movement to an honourable place in the history of unrealised humanistic visions.From the aesthetic point of view Punk has its origins in Dadaism. However, this was a cultural mutiny which was mainly associated with a verbal protest through the music. This involved strong offensive expression of disagreement with the whole system and alienation. Nevertheless apart from a very controversial song lyrics Punk rock created different trends than others and innovated a new style in art known as ‘Punk visual art’. This new movemen t did not involve ordinary and predictable paintings.It is known as intentional infringement, such as the application of letters cut out from magazines and newspapers and the use of black and white in early Punk rock art work. The reason for that was the cost of productions punk zins in colour, however, in more expensive production there was a use of yellow and fluorescent pink contrasted with black. The message that Dada and Punk tried to achieve through their work in the context of desired reality is very similar as both of them bore from a social outburst.Punk was a form of artistic anarchy against system control and specific pattern of society, whereas Dada was an ‘Anti-War movement’. However, very interesting is the fact that they were relatively unrelated and occurred around 50 years apart. Although the vocalist of a very controversial punk rock band â€Å"Sex Pistols†, Johnny Rotten said he had never heard about ‘Dada’ there can be found the s ame themes of inspirations as in Dadaism. Therefore assuming that the group ‘Sex Pistols’ did not model on Dadaism and any other movements or trends, this might be associated with a human nature. The nature, that does not like o be manipulated, controlled or skipped as a microscopic minority. Fig. 1: ‘The Fountain’ 1917, Marcel Duchamp According to Griel Marcus, the author of ‘Lipstick Traces’ book, both movements are completely nihilistic and propagating belief in nothing and the wish to become nothing. Punk was against everything and at the same time finding its equilibrium in nihilism. This was clearly exposed by ‘Sex Pistols’ in song ‘Pretty Vacant’ which involves the Dada cry of â€Å"nothing is true; everything is permitted†. Moreover, freedom and fighting against the stereotypical art were the keys in Dada and Punk.Dadaists often asked ‘What is art’ and in response to their rules breaking use d anything they could think of for inspiration. Marcel Duchamp is a great example in this point, because his ironic piece ‘The Fountain’ 1917(Fig. 1) which he signed ‘R. Mutt’, was a controversial and provocative way of using a urinal in response to that question. Duchamp’s work not only showed groundbreaking, but it opened people’s eyes that art is not only classic and traditional. It is an awareness of what art is and could be. Dadaism influenced Punk in reflection to their absurdity.Punk artists designed cd covers that reflected the idea of breaking the traditional rules by being experimental with images and text to express political and social views. Photomontage was highly used by both, Dada and Punk. However, it was first used by a German group called ‘Dada’, and later became an inspiration for Punk artists. This involved the practice of cutting and pasting technique for their designs, using materials taken from cardboard, n ewspapers, magazines, rubbish and anything else that could be inspirational to create a collage. Fig. 3: ’The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’’1968, Peter Blake and Jann Haworth Fig. : ‘’Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’’1919, Hannah Hoch The most famous work done by Hannah Hoch is ‘’Cut with the Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany’’1919 (Fig. 2). It shows a mixture of modernism by including a lot of machinery and high-tech items of the Weimar period which engage with a modern world. These items were the pasted photographic images called from the press and taken from printed and product catalogues, magazines, newspapers and journals which she clipped together preading across the page to form this artwork. In this chaotic artwork, Hoch also shows the figures of women, as she was strongly towards f ighting for their rights. A new role of women was a message in this design thus metaphorical kitchen knife in her title referred to stereotypical pattern of both; women in the society and to her own artistic process. Because of uniqueness of this artwork the later artists continued controversial reforms in design and we witnessed a creation of ‘’The Beatles-Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’’ by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth made in 1968 (Fig3. . Originally it was for the cd cover purposes however it was frequently associated with Dada design as it involved a group of people that the members of the band would like to see as their imaginary audience. This shows that there is a reference to the amount of components that Hoch’s used in her design and controversy which also characterised the Beatle’s cover, as Jesus and Hitler were intended to appear in John Lennon’s vision. Another great example of Dadaism in Punk was created by Jamie Reid’s ‘’God Save the Queen’’ 1977 (Fig. 4), the cd cover for Sex Pistols shocked the nation.In the result, this controversial, shocking design together with the lyrics led the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority to not play the song. Reid has offended the image of the Queen Elizabeth II by playing with her portrait and national anthem during Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. This censorship did not stop Great Britain from listening to it and made the song to be number one of playlist. In addition, ‘’God Save the Queen’’ played a massive role in a punk rock movement. Reid’s work can be compared to ‘’The Art Critic’’ 1919 by Raoul Hausemann (Fig. ) because of the similarities that can be seen in their designs. They both depict defaced images in the highness of the Queen and the oversized figure with oversized head which is often said to be Housemannâ€⠄¢s friend George Grosz. There is a use of reachable resources which are sliding strong, wild and free personal messages. The irony behind this collage shows the character holding outsized Venus pencil, a shoe glued to his forehead and a German banknote situated near his neck. On the right hand site Fig. 4: ‘’God Save the Queen’’ 1977, Jamie Reid we can see his business card –showing his silhouette filled with a newspaper print.In addition, the background contains Raul’s poem which was randomly chosen informing public performances. Those components show self references as many Dada artists included in their photomontages and the use of materials surrounding them. ‘’The Art Critic’’ is also a provocative and controversial design as the eyes and mouth are full of irony because we don’t know whose are the eyes he sees or whose words he speaks. Knowing that Dada worked before Punk, it can be seen that type and im age juxtapositions influenced Reid to follow this direction.Rick Poynor in his ‘‘No More Rules Graphic Design and Postmodernism’’ book describes Reid’s design by Fig. 5: ‘’The Art Critic’’1919, Raol Hausemann saying that rough, torn stripes across Queen’s face and mouth form voids by a cut-up lettering to show the title and the band name on a cover which he called ‘’archetype of a punk rock band’’. In addition, those are also examples of a Dada photomontage and a Punk photomontage which both used words and images to express verbal and visual meanings. In conclusion, the aim of this essay was to prove the relationship between Dada and Punk through various forms of artwork.They both were fighting against either the War or the rules of the system. In addition, Dada and Punk were characterised by similar ideology which was very controversial in terms of stereotypical vision of art. The violatio n of traditional rules and twisting the popular image of art had an impact on future subcultures, in this case Punk. Also, the creation of photomontage technique is shown through the comparisons of work from Dada period and then in Punk, which was born further in the 20th century. They were the evidence of controversy and provocation addressed by personal messages behind them.Although, there is 50 years of difference in between the movements, it is fair to say that both of them greatly affected our culture and inspired the future generations. References: Raoul Hausmann,The Art Critic. 2010. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://iheartartblog. blogspot. co. uk/2010/05/raoul-hausmann-art-critic. html Audio Raoul Hausmann The Art Critic 1919-1920. 2011. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://www. moma. org/explore/multimedia/audios/29/707 Chapter 12 Words and Images. 2009. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://wiki. igital-foundations. net/index. php? title=Ch apter_12. _Words_and_Images Liam. 2009. [online]. Last accessed 19 May 2012 at: http://poptonesmusings. blogspot. co. uk/2009/02/dadaism-and-punk-meaning-less. html BERRYMAN,Ashleigh. 2010. [online]. Last accessed 19 May 2012 at: http://ashleighberryman. wordpress. com/2010/11/04/punk-is-dadaism/ KALOGERAKIS,Stelios,2011. [online]. Last accessed 19 May 2012 at: http://www. kalogerakis. org/? p=1171 Punk visual art. 2012. [online]. Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Punk_visual_art Dada. 2012. [online].Last accessed 20 May 2012 at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Dada POYNTON,Rick (2003). No More Rules Graphic Design and Postomodernism. London: Laurencce King Publishing. p39-40. GALE,Matthew (1997). Dada& Surrealism. London: Phaidon Press Limited. p103. ADES,Dawn (1986). Photomontage . 2nd ed. London: Thames and Hudson. p19-21. BIGSBY,C. W. E. (1972). Dada& Surrealism. London: Methuen & Co Ltd. p10-11. HERBERT,David (ed. ) (1970). Dada. London: Studio Vista L imited. p9-11 p28-35. GREIL,Micheal(1989). Lipstick Traces: a secret of the twentieth century. London: Secker & Warburg.

Ethics and brand Essay

Branding is defined in various ways. In the case of engineering, technological and high value products the brand name plays an important role. Customers are ready to pay premium for a brand due to the intrinsic value and trustworthiness attached to it. They trust particular brand that’s the reason they buy it. In business-to-business buying consumers or professional buyers rely on the strong and positive image of the brand. The products or services these consumers buy have impact on their business and operations. Ethical branding enhances corporate reputation over a period of time, it helps them retaining their consumers and creating long term and strong relationship with consumers in the present competitive market place. There are several ways companies are operating in the global market. Company like Toyota has different strategies for developed countries and developing countries depending upon consumer group and market. Consumers in country like Europe are more concerned about environmental friendly and fuel efficient products whereas consumers in developing countries are concerned about mileage and affordability. Toyota is one of the most reputed global brands for its ethical practices in every area from recruitment to branding. Consumers pay premium for the preferred brands. Positive brand image like ethical branding will definitely encourage consumers to buy the product over competitors. It depends on the target consumers and market place where a company is operating whether or not, consumer will be ready to pay more for ethical brands. Different technological products and services like software, Operating Systems and E-commerce activities like banking and finance, high Technology products like pharmacy, biotechnology products consumers rely on the reputation and brand image for their buying decisions. The products where the consumer has low level of knowledge and high level of requirements consumer will probably take decision in favor of ethical and more reputed brand over the other. A strong and positive brand image helps organisations to not only be on the top of the mind of consumers but also contribute to the long-term success of the product. This is the reason companies like Cola and Pepsi use advertising strategies to gain maximum of market share. Some companies adopt practice like they communicate themselves to be an ethical brand rather than adopting ethical practices. This limits realty of ethical branding. However, regulatory bodies, active consumer groups and other organizations keep an eye on such companies and their practices and investigate the matters. Active consumer groups put pressure on the corporate to adopt ethical practices. Companies become more accountable for their acts with their ethical branding efforts. Consumers worldwide are being more sensitive about ethical practices adopted by companies and the numbers of consumers ready to pay premium for the ethical brands are growing. This phenomenon is encouraging professionals and engineers to adopt ethical practices and comply with the ethical branding campaign of their companies. Ethical branding is more acceptable in the social groups where price sensitivity of the consumers is low. Professional engineers have many opportunities with ethical branding. The intellectual property rights will help them protecting their copyrights and patients, trade marks and trade secrets. They will have better protection for their innovations and will be encouraged to adopt ethical practices that can add value to the branding efforts.

If You Had a Magic Wand Ice Breaker for Adults

If You Had a Magic Wand Ice Breaker for Adults If you had a magic wand and could change anything, what would you change? This is an icebreaker that opens minds, considers possibilities, and energizes your group when the discussion is dead. Its perfect for a classroom full of adults, a corporate meeting or seminar, or any group of adults gathered to learn. Ideal Size: Up to 20, divided into larger groups. Time Needed: 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the group. Materials Needed A flip chart or whiteboard, and markers if you want to record the results, but this will depend on your topic and reason for playing. It isnt necessary. A fun wand of some kind to pass around would add to the fun. You can usually find one at a hobby shop or toy store. Look for Harry Potter or fairy princess merchandise. Instructions for Use During Introductions Give the magic wand to the first student with instructions to give his or her name, say a little something about why they chose your class, and what they would wish for regarding the topic if they had a magic wand. Example introduction: Hi, my name is Deb. I wanted to take this class because I really struggle with math. My calculator is my best friend. If I had a magic wand, Id have a calculator in my head so I could do math instantly. Instructions for Use When Discussion Dries Up When youre having trouble getting your class to participate in discussion, get the magic wand out and pass it around. Ask students to share what they would do with a magic wand. If you think your topic should be eliciting creative responses from your students, but isnt, keep the magic on the topic. If youre open to a little fun and craziness to liven things up, open the magic to anything at all. You might produce some laughter, and laughter heals almost everything. It definitely energizes. Debriefing Debrief after introductions, especially if you have a whiteboard or flip chart to refer to, by reviewing which magic wishes will be touched on in your agenda. If used as an energizer, debrief by asking the group to discuss how their magic wishes can be applied to your topic. Encourage wide open thinking. The sky is the limit. Sometimes two seemingly different ideas can be combined to create a great new thought.