Notes on the Battle of El Mozote

In December 1981 soldiers of the Salvadoran Army's select, American-trained Atlacatl Battalion entered the village of El Mozote, where they murdered hundreds of men, women, and children, often by decapitation. Although reports of the massacre — and photographs of its victims — appeared in the United States, the Reagan administration quickly dismissed them as propaganda. In the end, El Mozote was forgotten. The war in El Salvador continued, with American funding. When Mark Danner's reconstruction of these events first appeared in The New Yorker, it sent shock waves through the news media and the American foreign-policy establishment.Now Danner has expanded his report into a brilliant book, adding new material as well as the actual sources. He has produced a masterpiece of scrupulous investigative journalism that is also a testament to the forgotten victims of a neglected theater of the cold war The massacre at El Mozote is a book about all the horrible series of events t hat occurred at El Mozote. When one looks at the massacre, it is obvious the United States aided in these events. The United States government chose turn its eye and pretended as if nothing happened. This book introduces one to the events in El Salvador in 1981.The author gives a reconstruction of the events and shows it importance. The massacre is not to be forgotten. Mark Danner uses many specific examples to link the United States with the massacre. The United States supported a friendly regime at this time during the cold war. Danner mentions large shipments of munitions from the United States arriving at Ilopango Airport. He tells us the United States helped to reform the army so that they would not lose to the rebel cause. One can see the United States help in aiding the military figures. General Fred F.Woerner had been sent from the pentagon to assess the Salvadorian war. One thing he mentions repeatedly is the reluctance of United States aid money. He mentions the elite trai ned Aclactl Battalion, and that their American trainers had perhaps instilled their aggressiveness. He mentions that the Americans loved Monterrosa and that the Americans were desperate to finish the war. As an example Danner says, â€Å"The Americans had stepped forward to fund the war, but were unwilling to fight it† He mentions the aid of a CIA officer who claims that the largest fighting was taking place at ElMozote. This leads us to America actually acknowledging that something might have been happening at El Mozote. Reagan signed a bill called the foreign assistance act of 1961 that was to certify that the government was taking adequate steps to recognize the human rights of the people of their country before aiding them. The U. S State Department urged diplomats to undertake â€Å"a grit your teeth† approach to The Massacre at El Mozote? Mark Danner's book, â€Å"The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War† tells the story of a massacre of men, w omen, and children in El Salvador.The massacre at El Mozote was not discovered until years after it occurred, and the government attempted to play it down until the truth came out. The author is attempting to show that the political cover-up that occurred after what happened at El Mozote became known is a â€Å"parable† or tale of the Cold War, because it indicates the power of large governments to cover up information they did not want the people to know or understand, while â€Å"undermining† Communism around the world. The massacre is also a parable of power, and how power can corrupt and kill.That the troops were trained by Americans is another element of the parable, and it shows how corrupt even the â€Å"best† intentions can be. The author shows that the situation was tragic and could have been avoided, but it was also ignored and played down, something that seems especially repugnant since so many of the victims were innocent women and children, who pose d little real threat to the troops By Danner's account, the next morning the soldiers must have reassembled all of the village's inhabitants and then proceeded to separate men, women and children.Once seperated, the groups were locked into the church, the convent, and some of the houses. Fomr this point forward, the soldiers interrogated, tortured, and began executing the villages men. By noon the the soldiers took the women from the children and commnecnced shooting them with machine-guns. Unbelievably, they then killed the children? â€Å"There was one in particular the soldiers talked about†¦ a girl on La Cruz whom they had raped many times during the course of the afternoon, and through it all, while the other women of El Mozote had screamed and cried as if they had never had a man, this girl had sung hymns, strange evangelical songs, nd she had kept right on singing, too, even after they had done what had to be done, and shot her in the chest. She had lain there on La Cru z with the blood flowing from her chest, and had kept on singing — a bit weaker than before, but still singing. And the soldiers, stupefied, had watched and pointed. Then they had grown tired The Massacre at El Mozote as told by Mark Danner takes place El Salvador. El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. It shares borders with Guatemala and Honduras.El Salvador is divided into 14 departments and El Mozote is a village in one of the Departments called Morazan. According to the author, the Salvadoran Civil War 1979-1992 was a conflict waged by the Military led Government of El Salvador and coalition of left-leaning militias or guerillas called the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). The FMLN was supported by peasants and indigenous Indian people. The United States supported the El Salvador Military government. The tensions between the classes, the halves and the halve-nots are therefore represented by the two warring factions.The harrowing events i n Mark Danner’s Massacre at El Mozote investigates and questions three central issues; the Massacre, the role of American Policies in the region during the Cold War and the executive cover-up of the events as Propaganda. One of the concerns is what responsibility (if any) did the U. S. government have for the massacre at El Mozote? El Mozote was â€Å"uniquely† different from most villages because it had resisted the Liberation Theology taught by left-leaning Catholic Priests and according to the author was â€Å"as as stronghold of the Protestant evangelical movement† (pg 19) .The villagers of El Mozote had their own chapel and referred themselves as born-again Christians and as Danner states were known for â€Å"their anti-communism† (pg 19). The villagers of El Mozote did not support the guerillas. According to Danner the Massacre at El Mozote takes place when American trained Salvadoran Armed forces called the Atlacatl Batallion arrived at the village and began systematically killing men, women and children by various means such as torturing, hangings, decapitation, and shooting. The U. S government was responsible for the massacre at El Mozote for a plethora of reasons. First, The Reagan

Brand Management

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON MARKETING BRAND MANAGEMENT This proposal is about one particular aspect of marketing, â€Å"Brand Management†. Marketing is a vast discipline so as a part of writing this proposal; I chose one particular aspect of it, which will provide information about several aspects of brands in global scenario. The main objectives of writing this proposal are: 1. Understanding the concept of brand and brand management 2. How brand names get evolved 3. Relationship of brand management and marketing 4. Different issues regarding brands in global scenario 5.Branding challenges This is the age of marketing. Today the success of any organization depends on the level of its marketing ability. Marketing has gained a great deal of importance in modern organizations to achieve its goals. However the concept of marketing continue to change along with the changes in nature of competition and consumer demands. According to Kotler and Armstrong –â€Å" Marketing is a pro cess by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by creating and exchanging products and value with each other†. Marketing is like giving medicine to a patient. You can read also Portfolio Management QuizzesPatient identifies a problem within them and then the health personnel delivers specific medicine to cure the problem. Marketing is also the same. Customer has certain problems or feels some deficiency and marketing delivers them with the right product to deal with. Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers. Marketing might sometimes be interpreted, as the art of selling products, but sales is only one part of marketing. Actually â€Å"selling† is traditional of marketing and â€Å"marketing† is a modern form of selling.As the term â€Å"Marketing† may replace â€Å"Advertising† it is the overall strategy and function of promoting a product or service to the customer. The concept of marketing has changed over time. Previously, people preferred only production and selling as a part of marketing. But as the competition rose, they started valuing product quality, cust omer relationship, societal responsibilities as well as other supply chain participants. From a societal point of view, marketing is the link between a society’s material requirements and its economic patterns of response.Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through exchange processes and building long-term relationships. . Marketing can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, delivering and communicating value to customers, and managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its shareholders Major concepts related with marketing can be outlined as: a. Studying consumer behavior b. Brand management c. Selling and sales management d. Managing market intermediaries e. Service marketing f.Identifying customer needs, wants, market segment and product positioning g. Distribution logistics and supply chain relationships h. Responsibilities towards society and customer In this proposal, we focus on one of the maj or aspect of marketing, Brand management. Branding has been around for centuries. The word â€Å"brand† is derived from the Old Norse brandr meaning â€Å"to burn. † Initially, branding was adopted to differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hot iron stamp, and was subsequently used in business, marketing and advertising.A brand is the most valuable fixed asset of a Corporation. For any organization to make its identity in the market requires a specific domain name. It helps to get recognized in the market. Brand name gives identity and helps it get recognized differently in the market. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola, which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company. Similarly, Harley Davidson, Apple, Samsung, Adidas, Nike, Britannia etc. are other examples of brand. According to American Marketing Association (AMA) –â€Å" A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a ombina tion of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition. † BusinessDictionary. com describes brand management as the process of maintaining, improving, and upholding a brand so that the name is associated with positive results. Brand Management is actually the process of maintaining the value of brand and revising any associated entities as per the need of situation. It plays a crucial role in the success and failure of the organization. Why is brand an important aspect of modern marketing?The reasons are: 1. Means of identification as a unique name in the market 2. Means of legally protecting the unique features 3. Signal of quality level to customers 4. Base for competitive advantage 5. Increases level of awareness of the brand 6. Customers feel safe to negotiate with registered brands 7. Gives idea about product association 8. Brand is a promise made by the company to customer 9. It serv es as a means of advertising 10. It explains what the product is associated with Several companies put their brand names based on different variables.Some name their product on the basis of their owners. Honda motors were named after Soichiro Honda, Harley Davidson motors was found by combined efforts of William S. Harley, Arthur Davidson and Walter Davidson. TATA motors was named after Jamsedji Tata(JRD Tata), Adidas sports wear was named after Adi Dasler and Bajaj auto was named after Jamnalal Bajaj. Some have named the products after the name of places like Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, British Airways, Sanmiguel beer, hamburger named after â€Å"hamburg†, a place in Germany, Hindustan petroleums named after â€Å"Hindustan† meaning India and others.Brand names named after names of animals and birds are Dove soap, Mustang automobiles, Greuhound buses, Panther condoms and others. Brand names has always been an important aspect of marketing strategy. Organizations spend millio ns searching for a valid name for the organization. They make sure that the names suit to the product or service the company is offering. They too ensure that those names do not collide with brand of other organization. Eg: World Wide Fund (WWF) filed World Wrestling Federation (WWF) a legal suit for keeping a similar name. Due to this world wrestling federation had to change its name.Therefore choosing brand name is a very sensitive decision. For choosing a brand name, an organization has to follow given procedures: 1. Define objectives 2. Generate possible names 3. Screen initial candidates 4. Study the candidate names 5. Properly research final candidate 6. Select the final name Therefore to establish a strong brand, it has to take in consideration the following blocks of brand building: Resonance Resonance Imagery Imagery Feelings Feelings Salience Salience Performance Performance Judgements Judgements Fig: Brand Building Blocks Fig: Brand Building BlocksSalience is the level of awareness regarding the brand to the customers. It checks the ability of a customer to recall and recognize a particular brand or its logo, symbol, name. After the customer’s awareness is identified, it checks the performance of the brand regarding how reliable and durable the brand is. It also checks the serviceability i. e. ease of repairing the product if needed. After the performance is identified, it views the imagery aspect i. e. who uses the brand, conditions of use of the product, brand personality, values etc. It is the way the people think about a brand and is more concerned with intangible aspect.Brand judgments are customer’s personal opinions about the evaluations about the brand that consumers form by combining brand performance and imagery blocks. Customers judge the brand on the basis of quality, credibility and superiority. Another building block is feelings with the brand. They are customer’s emotional responses and reactions towards the brand . It checks what type of feeling they get by the use of the brand like feeling of warmth, fun, security, self respect, excitement status etc. Final brand building is resonance. It is the ultimate relationship with the brand.Resonance is measured in terms of intensity of psychological bond with the brand and the degree of loyalty towards the brand. Positioning aspect of brand In marketing, positioning is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. Brand positioning is at the heart of marketing strategy. It is the act of designing the company’s offers and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the minds of target customers. As the name implies, positioning means finding proper location in the minds of customer.Any company cannot formulate its marketing strategy without positioning its brand in certain aspects. Positioning explains what the brand intends to provid e to the customer. It reveals what the product is related to. Brand positioning describes how a brand is different from its competitors and where, or how, it sits in a particular market. The company has to keep in mind that positioning should be clear, distinct and relevant. For example, Apple and Windows both are well known brand. Consumers are aware that they both are computer brands dealing in entertainment, but Apple stands for style, cool quotient, iPod etc. here as Windows stands for world class operating system, quality etc. Consumer can easily identify point of similarities and points of difference between the two brands. This process of creating point of similarities and points of difference in consumer’s mind is called Brand Positioning. Companies position their brands in different ways so as to create a distinct image in the market. They may position it on different bases like low price, high price, size, package, quality, gender, endurance, substitution and many o thers. Positioning of different brands: 1. Low price brand: Wal-Mart retail store . High price brand: Rolex, Mercedes Benz 3. Quality brand: IBM, Toyota, Motorola 4. Endurance: CEAT tyres, Land rover, Honda 5. Size: Nano car, Slim Motorola mobile 6. Gender: Gillette Razor, Axe perfumes, Fair ; Handsome for men Femine magazine, Avon cosmetics, Fair ; Lovely for women 7. Substitution: Sugar free Natura has placed itself as substitution for sugar and Eveready milk powder for liquid milk Similarly Coca-Cola has positioned as a cold drink useful in summer and there are many feelings associated with it and not only as a mere drink.On the other hand Pepsi has positioned as a cold drink for the young generations and Mountain Dew has presented its image as a drink for adventure loving customers. Sometimes, same positioning does not work out for the company in long run. It has to reposition and revitalize its brand over times either to revive or strengthen its brand. Different marketing strat egies, several research plans has to be worked out and sometimes-even management structure has to be changed in order to revalue the brand. There are several Brand reinforcement strategies that the organization can adopt overtime to cope with the changing situations.Some of them are: 1. Maintaining brand consistency: Brands should be able to provide a consistent image to occupy a shelf in the mind of customers. If not, it may fail in the market situation. For example Gateway computers applied various strategies and themes to extend the brand with mergers and portfolios. Due to this, customers confused with its positioning and its stock price reduced from USD100 to USD 3 in 2005. 2. Protecting sources of brand equity: Any organization should know its strength factor. It should identify its major source of brand equity to sustain in the market.At certain times, brand have to revitalize itself since there many forces acting in the market to rule out other brands. Companies might have t o adapt to following Brand Revitalization strategies to resurrect itself: 1. Expanding brand awareness: Brand awareness can be expanded through: a) Identify new usage opportunities Charles Revlon introduced nail polish not only as a matter of covering nails but as a match for dress, style sense and beauty. b) Identify completely new ways to use the brand Wrigley’s chewing gum introduced itself as not only a gum but as an alternative for smoking. 2. Improving brand image:Different ways of improving brand images are: a) Repositioning the brand Harley Davidson’s motorbikes were previously believed to be used by rowdies. The riders who rode Harley had some rough like character like long hairs, big muscular arms, and tattoos painted on their bodies and moustache and beards. Those made people perceive that only rowdies rode those motors. Later Harley Davidson relaunched itself as a bike for gentlemen leaving apart its previous image. Similarly Harley encouraged lady riders t o take the riders edge by introducing a poster of a lady rider with a tagline –â€Å"I am not a back rest†. b) Changing brand elementsKentucky Fried Chicken changed its name (brand element) to KFC (although, it is only short version of the full name) to perceive a healthier image. Also, Federal Express (a courier company) changed its name to FedEx to sound more professional. c) Entering new markets Brunswick Billiards introduced new strategy to pool market to enforce its sales targeting female customers. Initially wives would not approve the purchase of billiard board in their home as it was called a male type of game. Later it introduced elegant designs targeting design conscious women who would now purchase a pool table on aesthetics ground and a showpiece to room.Lets take an example of a company who adopted Brand revitalization strategy to resurrect its brand position after being at height at its low: Lacoste sportswear, founded in France, 1933 became a style icon by selling polo shirt featuring a crocodile logo in it. In 1980, when it was owned by General Mills (cereal makers), it failed to keep up with fashion trends and sales began to drop. Company cut prices and started to sell it to discounter’s like Kmart and Wal-Mart that further damaged brands image. Then in 2002, Robert Siegel, former Levi’s executive was appointed to oversee the brand in United States.He withdrew Lacoste products from all non-luxury stores and discounters. It regenerated its fashion trends by introducing tight fitting shirts for women that raised revenues of women wear from 7% to 33%. It opened own brand boutiques in fashionable shopping areas. Due to this, Lacoste’s US revenues rose more than 280% between 2003 and 2005. There are several challenges to products today sometimes because of the competition and sometimes due to the implementation of wrong product strategy. An organization has to keep in mind the nature of product and suitable market ing strategy.Marketing campaigns has to be launched depending upon what class of customer it is intending to serve, gender of customer, objectives of campaign whether it is market penetration or improving market share or survival mode. Appropriate strategy at the right time invites fortunes and mistimed marketing strategy might backfire the organization. Therefore right plan for the right brand is always critical. Marketing strategies for effective brand building 1. Selecting brand elements like name, logo, symbols, slogans, and packaging. 2.Adopting proper product strategy like achieving a satisfactory level of customers perception towards the quality of the product and relationship marketing 3. Adopting pricing strategy like improving consumers price perception towards the brand and relevant price setting 4. Promotion through marketing communication options and integrating marketing communication programs like advertising, direct selling, public relation, and trade promotion etc. 5. Leveraging secondary associations: brands may be linked to other entities that have their own knowledge structures in the mind of customers.When brands are linked to these entities customers assume that those characteristics that they hold about those entities also may be true with the brand. For example when Adidas brand was endorsed by tennis star Roger Federer (then No. 1 rank), then people who knew Federer as best tennis player also developed similar attitude towards the features of Adidas brand. There are certain strategies for building a strong brand. Some of them are: Licensing: Licensing creates contractual arrangements whereby firms can use names, logos, and characters of other brands to market their brands for some fixed fee.People pay fees to use popular names such as Harry potter, Spider-Man, SpongeBob, Angry Birds or any famous celebrity in their products so that they too gain popularity easily. For example, when you buy a copy of Microsoft Office you are not actuall y purchasing Office–you are entering into a license agreement that allows you to use the product under the specified terms and conditions they have outlined in the license agreement. Similarly designer such as Calvin Klein command large royalties for the right to use his name in variety of merchandise. Franchising:A franchise is a license issued to someone to operate a business using a common brand name, a common operating support system and involving the payment of initial and/or ongoing fees. A franchise also offers the franchisee with the ability to capitalize on the know-how and systems that have been proven to be successful. . Small-business owners pay companies for the rights to use their trademarks, services and products in return for support and company guidelines on how to run their particular businesses. Many industries have companies using the franchise model, including food, lodging and business services.For example McDonalds has over 75 percent of its worldwide r estaurants independently owned. Business owners can purchase a new or existing restaurant. An initial down payment is required, and the rest of the cost can be financed for up to seven years. During the terms of the franchise agreement, ongoing fees include rent and service fees. It is one of the world’s famous franchises. Some challenges in Brand Management: 1. Brand switching customers 2. Media fragmentation i. e. introduction of several medias for promotion that may lead to increase cost and cluttering of information 3. Increased competition 4. Growing need for customer concern . Sometimes socio-cultural issues also leads to create problems in brand management. For example nudity in advertising are strictly banned in South Asia. Due to this, advertisements of brands of apparels, innerwear, and lingerie may not produce the desired response. 6. Sometimes the brand name themselves may imply different meanings in several countries. Some of the global branding Mishaps are prese nted below: a. When Braniff translated a slogan touting its upholstery, â€Å"Fly Leather†, it came out in Spanish as â€Å"Fly Naked†. b. Coors put its slogan, â€Å"Turn it Loose†, into Spanish, where it was read as â€Å"Suffer from Diarrhea†. c.Chicken magnate Frank Perdue’s line, â€Å"It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken†, sounds much more interesting in Spanish: â€Å"It takes a sexually stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate†. d. Why Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish-speaking countries: No Va means â€Å"It doesn’t go† in Spanish. e. When Pepsi started marketing its product in China, they translated their slogan, â€Å"Pepsi brings you back to life†, pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese meant â€Å"Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From The Grave†. f. When Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like, â€Å"Coca-Cola†.The only problem was that the characters used meant, â€Å"Bite the wax tadpole†. They later changed to set of characters that mean â€Å"Happiness in the mouth†. g. A hair products company, Clairol introduced the â€Å"Mist Stick†, a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that Mist is slang for manure in German. h. When Gerber first started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the United States, with the cute baby on the label. Later they found out that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what is inside because most people cant read. i.Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors had to rename its Pajero in Spanish-speaking countries because the term related to masturbation. j. Toyota Motor’s MR2 model dropped the number in France because the combination sounded like a French swearword. Here is a list of Top ten Brands in year 2012 1. Coca-Cola : It’s brand value raised by 9% than last year. Last year too it was Ranked as number one. 2. Apple : Despite Steve Jobs passed by, its brand value rose by 129% from last year. Last year it was at number eight. 3. IBM : It’s brand value rose by 8%. Last year it was at number two. 4.Google : It’s brand value rose by 26%. 5. Microsoft : It’s market value went down by 2%. Last year it was No. 3. 6. GE : General Electric’s brand value rose by 2%. last year, it was No. 5. 7. McDonald : It’s brand value rose by 13% than last year. 8. Intel : It’s brand value increased by 12%. 9. Samsung : It’s brand value rose to 40% from last year. 10. Toyota : It’s brand value rose to 9% from last year. Source: International Business Times. Conclusion In the above-mentioned information, we have seen that brand management is really an essential element in marketing.No company can thrive towards success if it is not able to choose the right branding strategy according to the market situation. Global compet ition has made it even more complex. Brand name is the one that identifies the company in the market and if not careful, brand name may be solely responsible for causing downfall of the company. I chose this topic, â€Å"Brand Management†, because in my Bachelors Degree, I studied Marketing as my course of specialization in last two semesters. I am very interested in studying marketing because it a dynamic subject and I like studying more about Companies, their Branding Strategies and the easons why they succeded or failed. I am very much interested to do the marketing course in my Masters Degree. This will give me more exposure to the complex business structure and as well as help me guide my career in this field. References Websites www. wikipedia. com www. google. com www. BusinessDictionary. com www. managementstudyguide. com www. whatis. com www. slideshare. com www. entreprenuer. com www. bigkerbang. com www. internationalbusinesstimes. com Books Strategic Brand Managem ent, Keller, Kevin Lane Fundamentals of Marketing, Agrawal, Dr. Govind Ram

Fort Myers

Has Dana done a good job researching his options? While Dana did not consider the site potential of other property types, he did a good job researching his options for eldercare facilities. His analysis included regional analysis (comparing other cities and counties to Fort Myers), population trends, Fort Myers healthcare statistics, industry and competitor analysis (by viewing a consultant report), financing alternatives and financial analysis.Together, the information provided a thorough overview of his options within eldercare. 2. How do congregate care and assisted living facilities differ? They differ in client profiles, ownership, elder decision to join, services, physical environment, pricing and financing needs. Client Profile: Congregate care facilities typically targeted younger elders (average age 78) that were independent and more upscale. Assisted living facilities typically targeted older populations (average age 83) that were frail and needed assistance with two to fou r activities of daily living.Ownership: Congregate care facilities have high entrance fees, which are sometimes refundable upon move-out or death, and are similar to buying a unit in a condominium. Owners also pay monthly fees that cover certain supportive services. Elder Decision: While the decision to move to a congregate care facility is often a life-style choice, moving to assisted living facilities is often more often a â€Å"need driven† option for elders. Services: Congregate care facilities typically have fewer services such as 24-hour supervision, one meal/day and concierge services.Assisted living facilities typically have more services, such as more meals, housekeeping, laundry and personal care services. Physical Environment: Congregate care facilities are typically more like large residential condominiums, offering full size apartments with kitchens. Assisted living facilities are smaller residents with modifications, typically a smaller apartment with a kitchene tte. Furthermore, congregate care units have a much higher level of finish in the units and in the common areas.Pricing: While congregate care facilities are cheaper because they offered fewer services (price range $1,500 to $2,500/month), assisted living facilities are more expensive ($2,400 to $4,000/month). Financing Needs: Since it would take close to a year to build after getting through the permitting and perhaps another year to sell out, congregate care facilities required short-term conventional construction financing. However, assisted living projects required longer term financing since they were more like rental properties than condominiums for sale. 3.What are the advantages and disadvantages of each of Dana’s options: selling the land, congregate housing or assisted living? Land: If Dana were to sell the land, he would have to find another living arrangement for his parents and he would miss out on a lucrative business opportunity. However, the advantage would be cashing out relatively quickly with $850,000 after all commissions. Congregate Housing: (Delays) If Dana pursued the congregate housing option, it would take longer to get any returns since he would need an additional year to sell the units. Costly) Furthermore, the hard costs for congregate care facilities typically ran 20% more per square foot than those of assisted living facilities because of the more expensive materials, higher level of finish, more casework, larger kitchens and bathrooms and better appliances, plumbing and vanities and more elaborate common areas. (Feasibility) Additionally, it would be difficult to sell the units at the estimated prices and within the projected time frame since Fort Myers did not seem to have a strong upscale market.Hence, it was not clear that the Fort Myers market could support the required prices for congregate housing units. As a result, Dana would have high unit costs with congregate housing and a limited market. However, the advantage to a congregate housing option would be building fewer units (50 versus 80) and services, and more returns in a shorter timeframe after selling the units. Assisted Living Facility: While a longer term investment with rental income and no sales in the short-term, the assisted living option provided a profitable opportunity given Fort Myers demographics.It would be cheaper and most likely faster to build compared to congregate housing and had a large market in Fort Myers. While it is probably not feasible to capture the full potential gross income from a congregate care facility given the higher price and time to sell, tables 1 and 2 below attempt to compare the PGI in the first year of rent/sale from a congregate care and assisted living facility. If all units were sold within the first year (which is highly unlikely), a congregate care facility would provide more cash upfront with a smaller amount of monthly income moving forward.However, the assisted living facility has a higher an nual PGI after the first year. Ideally, assuming a market was available for congregate care, it would take roughly 20 years for the income from assisted living to reach the income received from congregate care. Table 1: Annual PGI – Congregate Care Facility Table 2: Annual PGI – Assisted Living Facility 4. Given the assisted living option, what does the development budget look like? What is the operating income statement using conventional and tax-exempt debt? What are the initial returns on cost and equity for each option?Assuming that the budget for conventional and tax-exempt debt is the same, the development budget would be roughly $8. 85 million for the assisted living option. Table 3 below provides more details on the development budget. Table 3: Assuming the potential gross income outlined in Tables 4 and 5 and the financing costs outlined in Table 6, the operating income statement using conventional and tax-exempt debt is summarized in Table 7. Table 4: Annual Rent PGI – Conventional Financing Table 5: Annual Rent PGI – Tax Free Financing Table 6: Financing Alternatives Table 7: Income StatementThe initial returns on cost for the conventional debt option is 11. 22% while the initial returns on cost for the tax free debt option is 10. 25%. The initial returns on equity for the conventional debt option is 17. 86% while the initial returns on equity for the tax free debt option is 43. 99%. Table 8 below provides more details on the initial returns. Table 8: 5. Which option should you choose and why? If you choose an equity partner, who would you choose and why? I would choose the tax free dept option because it would require a smaller equity commitment, hence providing a larger return on equity.If I were to choose an equity partner, a friend or family member with experience in the assisted living option would be ideal since they would bring industry experience to help operate and manage the facility, and I would trust that the partnership would be a long term investment on both ends. Together, we would have industry experience in development and assisted living, and already have a collegial relationship. 6. Should Dana place his parents in his project? If you have had experiences in this area with your own parents or grandparents, you may include these experiences in your discussion.How do other societies handle the issues of the elderly? Since Dana could be surer of the quality of service offered, he should place his parents in the project. This would help to fill the typical five percent vacancy rate and he would avoid paying fees for their care elsewhere. Many other societies provide home care for their elderly since they have more of a collective approach to family responsibility and often have care takers in the home. This is especially true in developing countries, such as Liberia and Nigeria, where I am from originally.

Sacramento Valley Resort Tourism Resources

SECTION II TOURISM RESOURCES | Tanay lies at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountain with bearings 14o  30†² latitude and 121o  17†² longitude. it is | |bounded on the north by the towns of Antipolo, Baras, Teresa and Montalban; on the east by Quezon Province; on the south by Pililla and the| |Province of Laguna; and on the west by Laguna de Bay. Tanay   is divided into two areas: the urban and ruralbarangays. The largest urban | |barangay is Plaza Aldea (2,530 ha. ), and the smallest is Mag-Ampon (27 ha. ). The largest of the rural barangays is Sampaloc (8,899 ha. ), | |and the smallest is Cayabu (679 ha. ). | | Sacramento Valley Resort is a place where everyone can relax and unwind. It has a campsite if you want to experience a | | |different king of activities. It also has a pool and a native type of accommodation which is also one of our plans to improve. The planners| | |focus more on soft activities especially in team building activities that families and teenagers will surely enjoy. The planners are | | |planning to establish more sports activities like basketball, horseback riding , zip lining, hiking, table tennis, rappelling and other | | |more . there is no facilities in the area like spa. Of course, there are people who wants to relax that’s why this plan will establish a | | |spa that will surely make the visitors satisfied and come back for more. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Natural resources |Human Resources | |Daranak Falls |Population (2007) Total: 94, 460 | |Kalinawan Cave |Census | |Daong |Pop. |Daraitan River | | |Masungi Rock |Rate | |Tinipak River | | |Batlag Falls |1995 | | |69,181 | | | | | |— | | | | | |2000 | | |78,223 | | | | | |2. 7% | | | | | |2007 | | |94,460 | | | | | |2. 64% | | | | | Population Census of Tanay | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Cultural Resources |Capital Resources | |Parola |Featured Restaurants | |Tanay Park | | |Church of Tanay | | |Bukal Chapel | | |Grotto | | |Dulaang Tanahis | |

Inclusive education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Inclusive education - Essay Example The issue of the ethnic group also has got a great relevance as a serious topic for research. Therefore, the research relating to Inclusive Education will cover the general area of disabled students with the various issues related to their inclusion in the social programs like special education. Within this general framework, there is ample opportunity to relate include the issues of the children from ethnic community which maximises the scope of the research undertaken. However, the possible failure of this broad area will need to be particularly maintained in equilibrium to keep the research socially relevant and universally significant. In the identification of the area of research, the most relevant consideration has been the issues of the inclusive education for children with disabilities and this research area has a universal appeal. When the issues as reflected in the cases of disabled children from the ethnic groups in inclusive education, for specific treatment, the research paper ultimately attains social relevance. The research in the field of Inclusive Education needs to gain universal recognition as the most pertinent issues such as the issues of the children with disabilities. It is noteworthy that these issues are many often vaguely addressed in analyses and studies. As the statement of the World Bank on disability and education points out, these are matters which determine the universal nature of education. The issues of the ethnic boys’ inclusion in universal education process has a scope just as the issues of the disabled children have.

The Common Perception of Juvenile Offenders Essay

The Common Perception of Juvenile Offenders - Essay Example The Certain reason for it cannot be distinguished strictly. Presumably such behavior is encouraged with the stereotypes, common for police and jurors and is rooted in the past where the slavery and beliefs of blacks being not as clever as whites and much more aggressive were wide-spread. Mass-media is also likely to influence such point of view, describing the evil nature of Black juvenile offenders and the misguided yet still innocent nature of White juvenile offenders ». Thus shooting at school committed by a white adolescent would most likely be described as shocking, while same act committed by a black one - as expectable. There are no special explorations of for reasons of juvenile legal discrimination, but similar tests were conducted with adults and resulted in the theory of similarity-leniency, where people tend to show more empathy with ones whom they consider alike to their person. That was not the first experiment of a kind, still it was the first one conducted in order to prove the existence of racial prejudice directed onto coloured juveniles. The confinement of African American juveniles throughout the United States is abnormal. The rate of juvenile confinements for several years has decreased, and thus the predominance of arrests of coloured juveniles has become even more obvious. According to researches, coloured youth commits more crimes and is arrested twice as often as white juveniles. Still, the other reason for such misbalance was also caused by the difference in attitude to black or latin juveniles in comparison to white ones. It is bound not only with the biased attitude but also with the difference in the life circumstances of juveniles that result in stricter sentences. For example under the law of Minnesota, a punishment for trying crack cocaine is four years of confinement, while trying powdered cocaine leads only to probation period.

Homework Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Homework - Assignment Example Cadenas sales force is likely to be unenthusiastic about the value-in-use pricing strategy. This is because, by using the cost plus pricing strategy, they would sell more since the PESA would be provided for free. This would encourage more customers to buy the servers since they will be provided the extra application for free. Nevertheless, they would also be encouraged to sell using the value-in-use pricing strategy since it will it offers a higher price thus a chance to a bigger commission (Bharadwaj and Gordon 4-6). Therefore, Jowers would recommend that the sales force should undergo training in order to comprehend and sell the value of PESA effectively. This will be achieved by convincing consumers that the represents higher productivity and greater savings. In the beginning, consumers will likely question the company’s reasoning in deviating from their tradition approach of providing such performance enhancing tools like PESA for free. This is one of the most difficult tasks that are associated â€Å"Atlantic Bundle† pricing. Therefore Atlantic Computers should strive to demonstrate to their consumers that PESA fundamentally quadruples the number of usual and basic TRONN servers. Additionally, they will need to emphasize that the tool will provide a saving aspect depending on the number of servers being purchased as well as saving on other costs. It is also imperative to ensure that they continue to providing excellent after sale service to encourage loyalty (Bharadwaj and Gordon 5-7). It is projected that the â€Å"Atlantic Bundle† will take approximately 4% market share. Therefore, it is improbable that Ontario will have any concerns at that particular time and would likely not take any counteracting measures at the new product entry in the market. However, Ontario is likely to take two to three years before