Market Analysis of Automobile Industry in India 2013 Essay

1. Introduction Automobile industry is the key driver of any growing economy. Due to its deep forward and backward relation with almost every segment of the economy, the industry has a string and positive multiplier effect and thus propels progress of a nation. With the falling demands for vehicles in most of the mature markets due to the global recession, high fuel costs and urban driving restrictions, the industry is focusing its attention on expanding middle classes in the new powerhouses of China, India, Brazil, and other growing nations. India’s per capita real GDP growth at 8.6% (CAGR) over the six year period 2005-2011 had contributed substantially towards raising the standard of living of households, which in turn had been one of the key drivers of growth for the country’s automobile industry. But over 2011-12 and 2012-13, inflationary conditions, firm interest rates, rising petrol prices as well as weak monsoons adversely impacted disposable incomes causing a consumption squee ze. [1] According to the global automotive executive survey 2013 done by KPMG, 86% of the respondents feel market growth in emerging nations is an important trend- a view shared by auto executives from both the TRIAD market(Japan, Western Europe and North America) and the BRICs. The developing markets along with e-mobility and the changing urban environment had brought about a change in the automobile industry. 56% of the respondents in the BRICs feel innovative urban vehicle design concepts are an important trend compared to 55% from the TRIADs. The Indian automobile market is one of the competitive markets with low costs, which make it an attractive assemble base for foreign automobile manufacturers. India is also the second fastest growing automobile market in the world after China.[2] 2. Market Segmentation The automobile industry has been broadly divided into the two wheelers, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and three wheelers. The various sub divisions of each segment is shown in the following figure 2.1. Figure 2.1. Market Segmentation of Automobile Industry Source http://www.ibef.org/download/Automotives-March-220313.pdf Source Figure 2.1. Market Segmentation of Automobile Industry Source http://www.ibef.org/download/Automotives-March-220313.pdf Source The two wheelers dominate the production volumes in FY 2012, which contributed for more than three quarters of the total automobiles production in the country. India is the world’s 2nd largest two wheeler producer and the 4th largest commercial vehicle producer. Figure 2.2. Market share by volume (FY12) Source http://www.siamindia.com/scripts/market-share.aspx 2. Passenger Vehicle Segments The segments in the passenger vehicle industry are done based on the price, utility and the length of each vehicle. There are different parameters based on which the cars available in the Indian market are categorized. The technically defining parameters are based on the length of the car, engine capacity, features offered, seating capacity and structure of the car etc. SIAM or Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers divides the Indian passenger vehicles in the segments A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, B1, B2 and SUV. The classification is done solely based on the length of the automobiles. The details of the segments are mentioned as in table 2.1. Car Segment| Length of the car/Model type| Car model belonging to the segment| A1| Up to 3400mm| Nano| A2| 3401 to 4000mm| Alto, i10, Zen, Wagon R| A3| 4001 to 4500mm| Manza, Logan, Dzire, City| A4| 4501 to 4700mm| Corolla, Octavia, Optra| A5| 4701 to 5000mm| Accord, Camry, Sonata| A6| More than 5000 mm| Mercedes S class| B1| Vans| Versa, Omni| B2| MUV/MPV| Sumo, Innova| SUV| SUV| Vitara, CRV| Table 2.1. Passenger car segmentation based on length However, though it is simple and easy to divide the passenger cars based on their length, it is not at all practical. The price of a car isn’t determined by length only. A shorter car might be priced higher than a lengthier model. Also the features and configuration of the car models doesn’t depend on the car length. Hence, to avoid all the confusions the Indian passenger cars are popularly divided into the below mentioned segments according to the following properties, as in table 2.2. Car Segment| Distinguishing feature of the cars in this segment| Car model belonging to the segment| A| Cars priced below Rs. 3.5 Lakh| Alto, Spark, Nano, Eon| A1| Hatchback priced lower than Rs. 6 Lakh| Santro, Indica, Beat| A2| Hatchback priced between Rs. 6 to 7.5 Lakh| Ritz, i10, i20, Swift, Figo| B1| Vans| Versa, Omni| B2| MUV/MPV| Sumo, Innova| C1| Sedan models priced below Rs. 8 Lakh| Indigo, Fiesta, Sunny| C2| Sedan models priced between Rs. 8 to 9.5 Lakh| Verna, Manza, Linea| D1| Premium Sedan models priced below Rs. 15 Lakh| Fluence, Corolla| D2| Luxury Sedan models priced below Rs. 25 Lakh| Sonata, Camry, Kizashi| SUV| SUV| Vitara, CRV| Table 2.2. Passenger car segmentation based on price Body type is the other most popular factor for classification of passenger vehicles. This segmentation process is not only limited to the Indian sub-continent, this is a common method that enjoys popularity throughout the world. The segments we suggest according to the car body types and the pricing are mentioned as in table 2.4. Range| Pricing| Entry| Below 5 lakhs| Economy| 5-15 lakhs| Premium| 15-30 lakhs| Luxury| 30-60 lakhs| Super Luxury| 60 lakhs and above| Table 2.3. Segment pricing Car segment| Range| Cars in Indian market| Hatchback| A1| Entry| Maruti Alto 800, Nano, Hyundai Eon, Maruti WagonR| | A2| Economy| Hyundai i20, Maruti Swift, Fiat Punto, Volkswagen Polo| | A3| Premium| BMW MiniCooper, Fiat 500, Volkswagen Beetle| | A4| Luxury| N.A.| | A5| Super Luxury| | MUV/MPV| B1| Entry| Maruti Eeco| | B2| Economy| Maruti Ertiga, Toyota Innova, | | B3| Premium| Mercedes Benz A-class, B-class| | B4| Luxury| N.A.| | B5| Super Luxury| | SUV/Crossover| C1| Entry| Mahindra Thar| | C2| Economy| Ford Ecosport, Renault Duster, Force One| | C3| Premium| Skoda Yeti, Mitsubishi Pajero, Toyota Fortuner, Maruti Grand Vitara| | C4| Luxury| BMW X1, Audi Q3, Landrover Freelander 2| | C5| Super Luxury| Audi Q7, BMW X6, Volkswagen Tourareg| Sedan| D1| Entry| HM Ambassador| | D2| Economy| Maruti Dezire, Nissan Sunny, Toyota Ethios| | D3| Premium| Maruti Kizashi, Skoda Superb, Hyundai Sonata| | D4| Luxury| Volvo S60, Audi A4, BMW 3 series, Audi S4| | D5| Super Luxury| Mercedes Benz S class, Audi S6, Audi A7, Jaguar XJ| Van| E1| Entry| Maruti Omni, Tata Venture| | E2| Economy| Tata Winger, Tata Winger Platinum| | E3| Premium| N.A.| | E4| Luxury| | | E5| Super Luxury| | Table 2.4. Passenger car segments 3. Market Analysis The various aspects involved in the automobile industry, namely the market size, market trends, penetration rate, growth rate, etc. are analyzed in this chapter. The distribution channel involved for the passenger vehicle segment is also discussed here. 3.1. Market Size In the passenger vehicle segment, there has been an increase in sales by 1.20% in the FY 2012-13 compared to that of FY 2011-12 with figures of 20,626,227 units of production of passenger vehicles, as shown in figure 3.1. The cumulative average growth rate (CAGR) for the period from 2008-12 was 14% compared to the estimated CAGR for the period from 20013-21 which is 13%. 3.2. Market Trends One of the major player in the world automotive industry is Indian car market. It is the second in automobile industry after China. Indian car industry is facing a serious problem is present year. Car sales are down by more than 6% in FY 2012-13 compare to last year of FY 2011-12. The main reasons are high interest rates, fuel price, high inflation, low movement in other sectors etc. But irrespective of the sales slump, Utility vehicle segment is having the maximum growth in this segment at 52%. Ertiga has put successful foot print this segment. This vehicle is giving good competition to Innova. SUV segment also grown due to its fuel economy and price combination became top choice for larger families. Kerala now accounts for 10 per cent of India’s luxury car sales. Kochi in particular has emerged as India’s strongest growing market for luxury car brands like BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover. Another major trend in the automobile industry is the age of the potential customers are decreasing with the role of IT and other industries. 3.3.Market Growth rate The growth in passenger vehicle segment is at 2.15% for the FY 2012-13 compared to that of FY 2011-12. Cars have a negative growth of -6.69% when compared to that of utility vehicles which has an increase by 52.20% and vans with a minor growth of 1.08%. Figure 3.3. Passenger Vehicle segment growth rate for FY 2012-13 Source http://autobei.com/blog/passenger-vehicle-analysis-fiscal-year-2012-13/ 3.4. Market Penetration India has shown a great potential in passenger vehicle segments with penetration rate of 13 vehicles per 1000 population compared to the other BRIC countries making it the most attractive market for the industry presently. Figure 3.4. Market penetration for BRIC countries FY2010 per 1000 population Source Worldbank Figure 3.4. Market penetration for BRIC countries FY2010 per 1000 population Source Worldbank 3.5. Market Opportunities Car sales in India may be on a downside at the present but the total automobile market size will triple to 9.3 million units by 2020, according to global marketing information services company JD power. Driven by enhanced demand as the number of people with disposable income increases, the sector will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 16% during the period as per the market research firm. They forecast India to have a consistent and gradual growth such that the automobile market will triple from the present size of about 9.3 million units. 3.6. Competition Intensity 3.7. Pricing Structure 3.8 Market Profitability 4. Distribution Channels * Company has 246 local suppliers and 20 global ones – they all function in a seamless manner. The company strictly receives their supplies ordered the previous night in a two hour slot the next day. A far cry from the initial 30 day supply period. * The company had adopted Just In Time (JIT) to achieve higher operational efficiencies and reduce inventory carrying cost. Maruti Suzuki has adopted the e-Nagare system of electronic flow which has completely transformed its supplier chain. * To achieve JIT material supplies, the company has given preference to locally based suppliers. Over 76% of the company’s 246 suppliers are located within 100 kms of radius. They have strategically located the suppliers of bulky components such as instrument panels, fuel tanks, bumpers, seats, etc. adjacent to the company’s manufacturing facilities in the Suppliers’ Park. * In order to enter new markets, Maruti Suzuki has ventured into contract manufacturing. For example vehicles manufactured in India are sold under the Nissan brand in European market. * Using a combination of Unix Shell programming, Oracle forms, .Net, and Windows FTP technology, the internal team brought transparency to the export supply chain. * Maruti Suzuki has 933 dealerships across 666 towns and cities in India. It has 2,946 service stations in 1,395 towns and cities throughout India. It has 30 Express service stations on 30 National Highways. 5. Competition Maruti Suzuki is India’s largest OEM of passenger cars, netting about 55% of domestic sales. The biggest competitor for Maruti is Hyndai Motors. Quality Product/service| 0 50 100 Maruti / Hyundai| Reputation in eyes of customers| 0 40 50 100 Hyundai Maruti | Prices| 0 40 50 100 Maruti Hyundai | New productslaunch/development| 0 50 100 Maruti / Hyundai| Table 5.1 5.1. Success factors of Hyundai * Refreshing the brand image is one of the key success factor of Hyundai. In the last decade, Hyundai Motor has made significant inroads in building its brand from the â€Å"Worst Car Ever Made† to a 72nd ranking in the 2007 Best Global Brand survey. * Efforts were made from Hyundai in this aspect and as a result, Hyundai Motor has been recognized as a producer of quality cars which are reliable and affordable * Stylish design of the products and tagline â€Å" new thinking new possibilities† made the company to collaborate with its branding. * Global presence for Hyundai is high when compared to Maruti. 5.2. Competitors for Maruti Hyundai, Toyota, Honda and Chevrolet are the main competitors for Maruti, with Hyundai and Chevrolet the main competitors in small car segment and Toyota and Honda joining in the race recently with the launch of Ethios and Brios respectively. 5.3. New competitors * Honda is coming up with new cars which are targeting the same group of Maruti products Ex: Amaze, Dzire * Hyundai is coming up with Grand i10 as a competition for Swift. * Other car makers like Nissan, M&M are also releasing products in hatchback car segment rigorously which has to be faced by Maruti. 6. Reference 1) http://www.kpmg.com/KZ/ru/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesAndPublications/Documents/KPMGs-Global-Automotive-Executive-Survey-2013.pdf 2) http://www.icra.in/Files/ticker/SH-2013-Q2-1-ICRA-Two-Wheeler.pdf 3) http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-5-facts-about-indias-growing-two-wheeler-market-305607 4) http://autobei.com/blog/passenger-vehicle-analysis-fiscal-year-2012-13/ 5) http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00162?gko=8346f 6) http://www.cardekho.com/compare/hyundai-elantra-and-maruti-kizashi.htm 7) http://www.motorbeam.com/cars/maruti-suzuki/maruti-suzuki-ranks-highest-in-customer-satisfaction/ 8) http://cars.pricedekho.com 9) http://www.cardekho.com 10) http://www.prokerala.com/automobile/cars/ 11) http://autoenthu.blogspot.in/2012/08/passenger-car-segments-india.html 12) http://profit.ndtv.com/news/industries/article-indian-auto-market-size-to-triple-to-9-3-million-units-by-2020-jd-power-319349 13)

Functionalist And Marxist Perspective On Religion Essay

Also known as the social conflict approach, critique of capitalism. According to Marx, in a capitalist society, religion plays a critical role in maintaining an unequal society, in which certain groups of people have more resources and power than other groups of people. For Marx, Ideology is a belief system that changes people’s perception of reality in ways that serves the interest of the ruling class. He argues that the class that control economic production also controls the production and distribution of ideas in society, through institutions such as churches, education system etc. In Marx’s view religion operates as an ideological weapon used by the ruling class to justify the suffering of the poor as something inevitable and God-given. The Marxist perspective, persist that religion operate as a drug to dull the pain of exploitation, because religion is a distorted view of the world, it can offer no solution to earthly misery. Instead, it promises rewards in the afterlife that creates an illusion of happiness which distracts attention from the true source of suffering, namely capitalism. Marx argued that the ruling class used religion as a tool to keep the less powerful proletariat pacified. He argued that religion was able to do this by promising rewards in the afterlife, instead of in this life. Marx was calling for the proletariat to  discard religion and its deceit about other worldly events, only then would this class of people be able to rise up against the ruling class and gain control of the means of production and only then would they achieve real rewards. Here we can see the social-conflict approach to religious highlights how religion, as a phenomenon of human behaviour functions to maintain social inequality by providing a worldview that justifies oppression. Because Marx was committed to criticizing the prevailing organization of society during his time, he took a particular stance towards religion. He believed that this was a tool of social control used to maintain an unequal society and that it should be abolished. Functionalist perspective on religion (Emile Durkheim) Durkheim outline that all religion share three elements: 1. Beliefs are held by a follower. 2. Practices and Rituals. 3. Moral community. The functionalist perspective states that religion is universal, there are functions that it fulfils for society. It satisfies individual needs and religion give people a sense of identity. These functions are: 1. It provide social unity to help maintain social solidarity through shared rituals and believes. 2. Social control to enforce religious-based morals and norms to help maintain conformity and control in society. 3. Religion offers meaning and purpose to answer question of existence. Durkheim argued that religion acted as a source of solidarity and identification for the individuals within a society. Religion provided a meaning for life, it provided authority figures, and most importantly for Durkheim, it reinforced the morals and social norms held collectively by all within a society. Functionalist saw it as a critical part of the social system, as it provides social control, cohesion, and purpose for people, as well as another means of communication and gathering for individuals to interact and reaffirm social norms. Secondly, Functionalist approach identifies certain elements of religious beliefs that are common across different cultures. A belief in a supernatural realm is not necessary or common among religions, but the separation of different aspects of life, physical things, and certain  behaviors into two categories: 1. Sacred – Objects and behaviors that are considered part of the spiritual or religious world. Knowable through extraordinary experiences. 2. Profane – Everything else in the world that do not have a religious function or hold religious meaning. Knowable through normal empirical observation. Functionalists believe that religion is an agency of socialization, and the role of socialization religion plays is that of cultural learning. It believes that society represents an external limitation as norms and values regulate and limit our behaviour. Both Marxism and Functionalism theories take the macro world view and that elements of human culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger structure. It studies the frameworks of society and how society shaped our behaviour. Marx’s theory of religion needs to be seen in the context of his general view of society, capitalism dominates the working class. Whereas functionalism sees religion as a unifying force and a feature all societies. Marxism sees religion as a feature only of class – divided society.

Health Care Policy, Law and Ethic Essay

As a Chief Nursing Officer, I’m responsible for one of the state’s largest Obstetric Health Care Centers. I just received word of some fraudulent behaviors in the center. To mitigate this type of behaviors I must evaluate how the healthcare Qui Tam affects health care organizations, provide four examples of Qui Tam cases that exist in a variety of health care organizations, Devise a procedure for admission into a health care facility that upholds the law about the required number of Medicare and Medicaid referrals, Recommend a corporate integrity program that will mitigate incidents of fraud and assess how the recommendation will impact issues of reproduction and birth, and Devise a plan to protect patient information that complies with all necessary laws. After completing my evaluation on Qui Tam I will be able to provide a proper protocol to handle or prevent future issue and grow awareness on how fraudulent behavior affects the health care center. Qui Tam is Latin for â€Å"he who brings a case on behalf of our lord King, as well as for himself†. Qui Tam allows a private citizen (relator, whistleblower) to bring a lawsuit on behalf of the government, as well as himself, against a defendant who may has knowingly committed fraud or criminal act in which the government was victimized (Showalter, 2012). The private citizen need not have been personally harmed by the defendant’s conduct (Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General, 2010). The government can choose to take over the prosecution, but if the government declines the private citizen can proceed alone. How Healthcare Qui Tam affects health care organizations. Healthcare is a multi-billion dollar industry and has attracted those who want to defraud health insurance companies and the government (Showalter, 2012). Based on the healthcare industry monetary value it has become the fertile soil for white –collar crimes that end in criminal convictions and financial penalties (Showalter, 2012). The punishment for payment fraud and abuse is shared with the abuser and the organization. When an employee is involved in act of fraud and abuse management, officers as well as the organization is held accountable. They share in the punishment even if management, officers or the organization is aware of the abusers actions. . One way to minimize exposure to fraud and abuse is to have a strong corporate compliance program in place. Developing a strong compliance  programs will ensure an organization’s adherence to federal and state regulations such as false claim act, anti-kickback statues, the Starks self-referral laws and HIPAA. Using go vernment regulation as the bases of an organizations compliance program will help significantly in the effort to prevent fraud, abuse and waste within the organization (Showalter, 2012). Healthcare Qui Tam along with state and government regulations has pushed organizations to develop new or stronger compliance programs in the hopes to prevent fraud, promote integrity and improve billing accuracy. Not only has it push health care organization to create compliance program to protect the company these policy also include process for an employee to anonymously report and undesirable conduct they may see. Companies have also created their own fraud and abuse compliance departments that are responsible for educating the staff of any federal and state regulations and created requirement for and standards each depart must to abide by. This department will also be responsible for the investigation of any reported behavior. These measures are put in place to prevent any possible fraud and abuse acts with in the organization. Examples of Qui Tam cases that exist in a variety of health care organizations. To remedy abuse associated with ghost billing, up coding, unbundling, and billing for inadequate or unnecessary care the government put in place the false claims act. During January 2009 through 2012 the justice department used the false claim act to recover more than 9.5 billion dollars in health care fraud cases. Below is an example of a False Claim Act Case. Example of FCA Nelson v. Alcon Laboratories, No. 3:12-cv-03738-M (N.D. Tex.) †¢Complaint filed : September 14, 2012 †¢Complaint unsealed : July 16, 2013 †¢Intervention status : Declined †¢Claims: False claims to Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and the federal defense procurement programs in violation of the Civil False Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C.  § 3729 et seq. †¢Name of Relator: Michael Nelson and Steve Gonzales †¢ Defendant’s Business: Pharmaceutical manufacturer †¢Relators’ Relationship to Defendant: Former employee †¢Relators’ Counsel: Bell, Nunnally & Martin, LLP †¢Summary of case: Alcon Laboratories allegedly failed to adhere to FDA regulations in manufacturing, packaging and delivering nonprescription and prescription eye care products sold to the U.S. government under Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and other insurance programs held by a variety of military and federal employees and their dependents. Alcon even provide the eye care product to the U.S. Department of Defense †¢Current status: The U.S. declined to intervene in the case: relator may proceed on their own †¢Reason to Watch: This case was viewed similar to United States ex rel. Eckard v. GlaxoSmithKline and SB Pharmco Puerto Rico, which was settled in 2010. This case involved both civil and criminal allegation, but the focus was on failing to comply with the FDA’s regulations regarding manufacturing practices and product quality. This case resulted in a guilty from the defendant, a civil settlement of $600 million, and a criminal fine of $150 million. Anti-Kickback Statue is a criminal statute that prohibits the exchange or offer of an exchange, of any value or form, in the efforts to induce or reward the referral of federal health care program business. This statue was creates to establish penalties for individual and entities on both sides of the prohibited exchange. If convicted the violator can be fined up to 25,000 and sentenced up to five years. In lieu of the fine and the jail time the violator(s) can be excluded from participating in federal health care programs. Listed below is an example of an anti-kickback statue case. Example of AKS United States ex rel. Nevyas v. Allergan, Inc., No. 2:09cv432 (E.D. Pa). †¢Complaint Filed: January 30, 2009 ( Second Amendment Complaint Filed September 27, 2010) †¢ Complaint Unsealed: December 16, 2013 †¢Intervention Status: Unclear from docket †¢ Claims: The relators assert that the defendant caused the submission of claims for payment for prescription drugs induced by illegal kickbacks in violation of the FCA, as well as analogous false claims statutes of 19 states and the District of Columbia †¢Relators’ Names: Herbert J. Nevyas.; Anita Nevyas-Wallace, M.D. †¢ Defendant’s Business: The defendant is an international biopharmaceutical company †¢Relators’ Counsel: Pietragallo, Gordon, Alfano,Bosick& Raspanti LLP (Philadelphia, Pa) †¢Relators’ Relationship to Defendant: The relators are third party physicians who claim they were offered the alleged inducements by the defendant. †¢ Current Status: Ongoing †¢Summary of Case: The relators allege the defendant violated the Anti-Kickback Statues buy offering ophthalmologists and optometrists to prescribe the defendant’s exclusive chronic dry-eye prescription drug Retasis ®. According to the defendant Allergan offer free consulting services, free acesss to a restricted website, invitation to and payment of expenses related to advisory board meetings and offers to fund independent research. †¢Reason to Watch: The defendant entered into a five year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General in connection with a settlement of an unrelated criminal investigation and Qui Tam action. Some of the conducted listed in this case may have occurred while the defendant CIA was in place. Also point out possible compliance issues for pharmaceutical companies seeking to grow their business through relationship with physicians (Abhar, Grammel, McGinty, & Willis, 2014) Example of billing for unnecessary services and ghost billing United States ex rel. Fife v. Lymphedema and Wound Institute, Inc., Civ. No. 04:11-CV-271 (S.D. Tex.). †¢Complaint Filed: September 22, 2011 †¢Complaint Unsealed: November 25, 2013 †¢Intervention Status: The United States intervened. †¢Claims: Defendants allegedly submitted false claims for treatment of lymphedema †¢Name of Relator: Dr. Caroline Fife †¢Defendants’ Businesses: The individual defendants are the executives and owners of the defendant company and its affiliates, whose employees provide physical therapy and treatment for lymphatic disease. The individual defendants also managed and operated a network of sleep-study clinics. †¢Relator’s Relationship to Defendants: Relator is a competing physician and professor at the University of Texas who often treated patients who had  stopped receiving treatments from defendants’ facilities. †¢Relator’s Counsel: Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C. (Houston, TX) †¢Summary of Case: The Relator alleged that the defendant provider used unqualified massage therapist to provide services to their lymphedema patients. Also according to the relator the defendant bill for unnecessary services as well as services and supplies that were never rendered. Lastly, the relator alleged the defendant used similar scheme to inflate billing services that were rendered at their sleep clinic. †¢Current Status: The parties settled the claims related to lymphedema treatments for $4.3 million. Additionally, the defendant company’s founder and CEO voluntarily submitted to a 10-year exclusion from federal health benefit programs and the defendant company entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) as of June 25, 2013 (Abhar, Grammel, McGinty, & Willis, 2014). †¢Reasons to Watch: Although the amount of the settlement — $4.3 million — is relatively modest when compared with the $165 million in fraudulent Medicare billings alleged in the complaint, the voluntary exclusion of the defendant company’s CEO from participation in federal health care programs is severe, as an excluded individual will likely find it difficult to continue working in the health care industry (Abhar, Grammel, McGinty, & Willis, 2014). Example of up-coding United States ex rel. Oughatiyan v. IPC The Hospitalist Company Inc., Civ. No. 09-C-5418 (N.D. Ill.). †¢Complaint Filed: September 1, 2009 †¢Complaint Unsealed: December 5, 2013 †¢Intervention Status: The United States intervened, but Illinois and the other 12 plaintiff states declined to intervene †¢Claims: Defendants allegedly encouraged the filling of up-coded claims for services in inpatient and long-term care facilities to federal care programs †¢Name of Relator: Dr. Bijan Ouhatiyan †¢Defendants’ Businesses: National hospitalist independent contractor company and its local subsidiaries â€Å"employing physicians and other health care providers who work in more than 1,300 facilities in 28 states.†1 Hospitalists are physicians who assist in directing and coordinating inpatient care from admission to discharge, and only work in hospitals or  long-term care facilities (Abhar, Grammel, McGinty, & Willis, 2014). †¢Relator’s Relationship to Defendants: Relator is a former employee/independent contractor of dependent. †¢Relator’s Counsel: Goldberg Kohn Ltd. (Chicago, IL) †¢Summary of Case: Relator alleges that IPC The Hospitalist Company (IPC) engaged in the following schemes to cause its employed hospitalists to bill for the services they rendered at the highest reimbursement levels even though such codes were inappropriate, a practice called â€Å"upcoding.† The lawsuit contends that IPC trained its physicians to bill at the highest levels without regard to the actual complexity of the services provided. Additionally, IPC allegedly tracked the coding statistics of its hospitalists and used the results to pressure hospitalists to upcode their services to achieve productivity and profit goals. As a result of these practices, according to the relator, the medical documentation of the actual work done did not support the billing records submitted by the hospitalists (Abhar, Grammel, McGinty, & Willis, 2014). †¢Current Status: Ongoing †¢Reasons to Watch: The defendant has another case (United States ex rel. Ziaei v. IPC The Hospitalist Company Inc., et al., Civ. No. 2:12-cv-01918 (D. Nev.)) with similar allegation, but was dismissed. Our Facility admission Policy, which is in accordance with Medicare and Medicaid referral guidelines. Medicare and Medicare Referral guidelines are based on the Stark law. To prevent any issues or conduct that violates the Stark law our facility will participate in CMS Provider Enrollment, Chain and Ownership System (PECOS). We will require all qualifying providers to register their NPI with Medicare and Medicare by the deadline date. This system will allow us to submit claims, referral, and review for admittance. This program will catch any potential violations of abuse and fraud. The Physician Self -Referral law is listed below. â€Å"The Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) (42 U.S.C. Section 1395nn) prohibits a physician from making a referral for certain designated healt h services to an entity in which the physician (or an immediate member of his or her family) has an ownership/investment interest or with which he or she has a compensation arrangement, unless an exception applies. Penalties for physicians who  violate the Physician Self-Referral Law (Stark Law) include fines as well as exclusion from participation in all Federal health care programs† Corporate integrity program that will reduce fraud and impact issues of reproduction and birth. A Corporate Integrity program is put in place to ensure the organization and the employees would not knowingly violate any laws that control the conduct of the organization operations. Staff will receive training regarding the health care center’s Corporate Integrity Program and all law associated with the program. †¢Code of Conduct Promote and Preserve the organization values Protect the privacy of the Health care centers patients Protect the confidentiality of the patient and the employee information o Avoid all forms of discrimination Act in accordance of all policies and procedures Comply will all law that apply to the health center operations and practices o Disclose all potential conflicts of interest No accepting of gift, goods and services Adhere to all professional standard Ensure consent for service is received and documented Refusal for services are document Patient is informed/education of risk and requires treat for their condition †¢Submission of claims only for services That are actually for service renders For services that the patient or patient represented consented to oFor services that are medical necessary for the patient condition That have appropriate documentation to support the claim All services will be reviewed before billing All billing staff will be trained and certified No claim will be submitted that fall under the Physician Self-Referral law or Anti- Kickback statues Plan to protect patient information that complies with all necessary laws As one of the state’s largest Obstetric Health Care Centers in the area we have an extensive staff. The first policy is to provide excess to patient information that is in the scope of your job. For example the registration staff will not have access  to the patient’s lab results and the lab technician will not have access to member complete medical history. When a staff member signs on to any system that houses patient information they will only be able to view or update information that is within the scope of the job responsibility. This way the patient private medical records are kept private. Education, training and yearly certification of Health Insurance Portability Act and the organization privacy policy will be required fall all staff members. Certification will only be provided to those that achieve at least an 80% on any test that is provided in training. Failure to comply will result in suspicion until certified or termination. For existing employees yearly certification will be done throughout web base training portal. For our new employees training and certification will be part of their new hire orientation and any future required Training will be done through our train portal. The staff can access the training portal at home. This way our staff and complete the certification at the leisure (with in the due date). Also we have the proper process in place to such as authorization and de-identifying Protection Health Information when share and medical or any sensitive information with others. For example there maybe reason why a department must share the type of patient seen or the treatment provided. There should be not reason that patient’s name, address, or any information that may identify the patient be included in the report. We also require the patient to sign an authorization for every year, which will allow us to submit information to insurance companies for payment, medical necessity review, and appeals. We will also have the patient to sign an authorization form allowing us to spe ak with a specific individual, leave voice mail massages and or email the member about appointment and care. Any unauthorized disclosure of private health information the patient will be notified right away. Various federal and state laws, regulations, rules and guidelines govern the use, Disclosure and protection of health information. These include certain provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), certain provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA), and any other patient privacy-related laws, regulations, rules and guidelines will be used as the bases of our privacy policies Bibliography Department of Health and Human Services. (November, 27 2013). Physician sefl Referral: CMS. Retrieved 15 2014, March, from Center of Medicare & Medicaid Services: Abhar, S., Grammel, S., McGinty, K., & Willis, S. (2014, February). Qui Tam Defense: MintzLevin. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from MintzLevin: http://www.mintz.com/newsletter/2014/Newsletters/3691-0214-NAT-HL/ Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General. (2010, October 6). False claim Act: office of Inspector General. Retrieved March 15, 2014, from Department of The Interior Office of Inspector General: https://www.doioig.gov/docs/falseclaimsact.pdf. Abhar, S., Grammel, S., McGinty, K., & Willis, S. (2014, February). Qui Tam Defense: MintzLevin. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from MintzLevin: http://www.mintz.com/newsletter/2014/Newsletters/3691-0214-NAT-HL/ Department of the Interior Office of Inspector General. (2010, October 6). False claim Act: office of Inspector General. Retrieved March 15, 2014, from Department of The Interior Office of Inspector General: https://www.doioig.gov/docs/falseclaimsact.pdf. Dunphy, B. P., Kingsbury, S. P., Miner, T. A., Foster, H. S., & Willis, S. D. (2012). Health Care enforcement : 2012 Trends . MintzLevin. Gumbert, J. G. (2003). Qui TamActions Under the False Claims Act. Medical Journal – Houston. Levine, R. H. (2005). Internal Investigations By Healthcare Organizations: Practical considerations. American Health Lawyers association. Showalter, J. S. (2012). The Law of Healthcare Adminstration (6th ed.). Chicago: Health Adminstration Press. Staman, J. (2013). Health Care fraud and Buse Laws affecting Medicare and Medicaid: An Overview. Congressional research Services report for Congress.

Enterprise and Entrepreneurial Management Essay - 4

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Art and Fashion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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Old Testament and New Testament Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Old Testament and New Testament - Assignment Example Throughout the next few chapters, there were many stories of Jesus healing those who were sick and even dead in some cases. Before Jesus was crucified, He predicted that those who hated Him would want to kill Him. In the final chapter after Jesus rose from the dead, Jesus commanded his followers to go out into the world and preach the Gospel. Then Jesus ascended up to heaven. John The book of John was unlike the first three gospels; it was not a synoptic gospel. The difference was that Matthew, Mark, and Luke told the story of Jesus chronologically. On the other hand, the book of John was more about preaching what Jesus taught. This book was the last of the Gospels to be written. John wrote this book at the end of his life in approxiamately 90 A.D. This would have allowed John enough time to process what he had seen and heard and then gave him a great opportunity to dictate the story properly. Just as in the book of the previous Gospels, John described some of the signs and wonders t hat Jesus performed. In addition to this, the book of John used many direct quotes from Jesus himself, thus proclaiming why Jesus did the things He did. There are a number of lessons that a reader can get from becoming familier with the Gospel of John. Jesus often answered questions that were posed by different people. He always had a parable to relate a teaching principle to. Acts The book of Acts was a narrative story because it detailed the happenings of the early church. This book was written by the Apostle Luke, who was also the author of the book of Luke. The key character of this book was Paul, or Saul as he was previously known as. At the beginning of the book of Acts, the revival at Pentecost is described. This was where Jesus sent the Holy Spirit down to be available to anyone who would trust in God. Throughout the next few chapters, many of the early Christians performed miracles to those who needed it the most. However, the rulers at the time, the Romans, persecuted many Christians and even killed people such as Stephen by stoning him to death. In spite of this, the numbers of Christians increased rapidly. In the key event of the book, Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute some new believers. But, before he was able to reach his destination, Saul was met by the spirit of the Lord and had a conversion experience. After this, Saul changed his name to Paul and became the first well-known missionary to go out into the world. Hebrews The book of Hebrews was written by an anonymous author. Many historians think that Paul may have been the author, but this cannot be proven beyond doubt. This book is known as one of the epistles because it was written as a letter to the Hebrews. The main theme of Hebrews is a continuation of the teachings of Jesus that were previously found in preceding books of the New Testament. In the first chapter of the book, it was taught that Jesus was not an angel, but a servant from God. Throughout the middle chapters, a le sson was shown. Jesus is God, but became a man and is now our priest. In the Old Testament, priests killed animals so the people could be forgiven. Yet, Jesus chose to die Himself so God would accept His sacrifice and thus forgive us of our sins. In the penultimate chapter, the heroes of the faith are described along with the deeds that they did. Revelation The final book of the New Testam

The importance of intergovernmental agreements on the environment and Essay

The importance of intergovernmental agreements on the environment and what is the role of the EU related with these agreements - Essay Example In fact most of the environmental problems created by the industrialized countries, affect badly the poor countries as well. The most critical issues related to environment are the climate changes and global warming. The emission of greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide have adverse effect on environment. So in order to protect the environment a combined effort by the whole world is required. Kyoto Protocol and Montreal Protocol are two international agreements designed for the protection of environment. â€Å"Over a decade ago, most countries joined an international treaty -- the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) -- to begin to consider what can be done to reduce global warming and to cope with whatever temperature increases are inevitable. More recently, a number of nations approved an addition to the treaty: the Kyoto Protocol, which has more powerful (and legally binding) measures. The UNFCCC secretariat supports all institutions involved in the climate change process, particularly the COP, the subsidiary bodies and their Bureau† (The Convention and the Protocol) Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. It is a legal agreement signed on 16 February 2005. This protocol is designed based on the instructions from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This environmental treaty made at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) informally known as the Earth summit which held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 1992. This treaty is mainly intended to stabilize the green house gases (Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Sulfur hexafluoride etc.) emission to the atmosphere by the industrialized countries. â€Å"The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an

Development of a Quality Management System and implementation of a Essay

Development of a Quality Management System and implementation of a Quality Management Plan in your organisation, according to the ISO 9000-2000+ Quality Management Standard series - Essay Example As we know that today’s business world is rapidly changing, it has become extremely important and crucial for any company or business to implement ISO 9000 in the business. Quality means to provide product satisfaction to the customers. Any organization or a company can satisfy the stakeholders and the customers only if it provides them with quality in the products that they use. Quality is the key to organizational success as it leads the organization towards market domination through delivering quality products and services to the public. Quality also means to seek continuous improvement in the products and services provided by any organization. It is essential for any organization to implement a well developed quality management system because it not only helps an organization attracting and retaining customers but also helps gain competitive advantage in the market. The two most important tasks of a quality management system include quality control and quality assurance. If we talk about quality control, we can say that quality control is a process which is employed in order to ensure a required level of excellence, superiority, and quality in a product or service delivered by a company. Quality control is a process within an organization designed to ensure a set level of quality for the products or services offered by a company. Quality assurance is a process in which products and services provided by a company are checked in order to know whether those products and services meet customers’ expectations or not. All aspects of a product are examined and tested, and if it some part or whole of a product is not found able to meet the quality standards properly; appropriate steps are taken by the quality assurance department to improve the quality of the product. Quality management system is implemented in a company or an organization in order to ensure the quality of the products and services that it manufactures and delivers

Ethical behavior in business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical behavior in business - Essay Example This incident is a serious matter that should not be treated lightly. To clean up the mess the company has to invest millions of dollars, but the damage caused by the spillage hurt the ecosystem and killed thousands of animals. Big Dirty Oil faces an ethical dilemma in regard to how the firm should approach the problem. This essay includes the view and perspective of three stakeholders: CEO, local fisherman, and the shareholders of the company. The CEO of a company is the person that has the most power within an organization. When a firm faces any controversial situations the CEO must act as the spokesman of the organization. The oil spillage that occurred off the coast of British Columbia and Alaska was a major crisis that had to be attended to immediately. The CEO of the company must find a balance between doing the right thing and maximizing shareholders’ wealth. Maximizing shareholders’ wealth is the goal of all publicly traded companies. In light of the sensitive situation the CEO should have reacted in a different manner. The current position of the CEO is that the incident was a tragedy and he offered two million dollars to aid in the clean up. The proposal of the CEO was outrageous due to the fact that it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to properly clean up the area. The CEO acted in an unethical manner. Instead of facing up to the problem he dismissed the protests against the company by ca lling the protesters â€Å"the outpourings of Greenies and other fanatics.† The reality was that the company had polluted thousands of square meters of water and killed thousands of fish and wildlife in the region. These creatures no longer had a habitat to live. The stance taken by the CEO was wrong. He cared more about the quarterly profits of the company than about the well being of thousands of animals and hundreds of fishermen that depended on fishing in the region everyday to support their families. The fishermen in

The relationship between per capita gross domestic product and both Assignment

The relationship between per capita gross domestic product and both secondary school enrolment rate and bank rates - Assignment Example The paper tells that gross domestic product is the measure of a country’s total productivity level. It refers to the total cost of output in commodities. Elements of gross domestic product include ‘consumption, investment, government purchase, and net export’. Both consumption and net export of an economy are factors of the territory’s available economic resources and its level of disposable income. With high levels of disposable income, people are able to purchase into consumptions as well as invest into export dealings. Investments, on the other hand, refer to monetary value of resources that are used for production processes. Whether through private or public sector, investment rates and levels depend on the availability of resources and the capacity to acquire such resources through savings or borrowings. The last component of gross domestic product is government expenditure through central government, local governments, and governmental institutions in public utilities such as education. Per capita gross domestic product measures the net output per person. It therefore depends on a country’s population size and may have a different trend from the real gross domestic product. One of the fundamental contributors to economic growth is the availability of resources for injection into the economy. Since financial institutions are a source of monetary resource through provision of loans, they are of prime importance to economic growth. Provision of loans to investors and private consumers for instance has direct effects on consumption, investments, and net export... It refers to the total cost of output in commodities. Elements of gross domestic product include ‘consumption, investment, government purchase, and net export’ (Mankiw, 2008, p. 496). Both consumption and net export of an economy are factors of the territory’s available economic resources and its level of disposable income. With high levels of disposable income, people are able to purchase into consumptions as well as invest into export dealings. Investments, on the other hand, refer to monetary value of resources that are used for production processes. Whether through private or public sector, investment rates and levels depend on the availability of resources and the capacity to acquire such resources through savings or borrowings. The last component of gross domestic product is government expenditure through central government, local governments, and governmental institutions in public utilities such as education (Mankiw, 2011, p. 198). Per capita gross domesti c product measures the net output per person. It therefore depends on a country’s population size and may have a different trend from the real gross domestic product (Boyes and Melvin, 2007, p. 389, 390). One of the fundamental contributors to economic growth is the availability of resources for injection into the economy. Since financial institutions are a source of monetary resource through provision of loans, they are of prime importance to economic growth. Provision of loans to investors and private consumers for instance has direct effects on consumption, investments, and net export (Brooks, 2008, p. 502; Yartey et al, 2008, p. 22). Credit rates of banks, which is a factor to their lending capacity determines availability of loans to investors and consumers. Similarly, lower

Enterprises success Essay Example for Free

Enterprises success Essay

Brand equity Essay Example for Free

Brand equity Essay How much a product can earn over its identical competitor by virtue of its brand, determines its brand equity. It can be a neat result of many factors like years of experience, proven track record of quality, legacy, emotional bondage and company outlook, where it adds more value to the product and thereby helps the product to score over its identical competitors. Without brand equity a product loses its competitive advantage, and for that matter some companies measure brand equity relying on financial measures of brand performance (Dobney, 2007). Thus Brand India should be able to score over its Asian counterpart. Figure – 3 The brand management chain (Based on Wood, 2000; Kapferer, 2004) Integration of the theoretical constructs brand equity (Aaker, 1996) and brand orientation could be instrumental in the understanding of brand value, where brand equity commands more attention as it aims for generating long-term values for the company by understanding the conceptual basis for the value of brand and its implications (Keller, 1993). Brand loyalty. Brand loyalty refers to the customers consistent preference to buy a selected brand in a particular product category, irrespective of other provocative options presented by the competitor of that brand. This situation occurs after the customers make a trial run of the brand and get convinced about the efficacy of that brand towards fulfilling certain needs of theirs and decide to buy that brand again and again. That practice forms the habit and thus customers continue purchasing the same brand because the product is safe and familiar (Giddens, 2002). This situation speaks of the dual responsibility of branding too, where on one hand it should influence the rationality of its prospective customers, while invoking the emotional response among them on the other. As for example, a particular meal in a restaurant might declare about a possible health benefit with the inclusion of tomato in it by saying, lycopene in tomato lowers the risk of cancer, thereby influencing the rationality of the customers, and at the same time it can evoke the nostalgia in customers by labelling the meal as grandmas special recipe. In this strategy lies the clue of embedding medical/healthcare tourism with general tourism and Incredible India should utilize it. Figure – 4 Brand Awareness: Brand awareness is a gauge of marketing effectiveness measured by the ability of a customer to recognize and/or recall a name, image or other mark associated with a particular brand (Waters, 2008). Though brand awareness cannot measure the customers approach towards the brand, yet it is very helpful in forming a positive attitude among the target audience about the brand. Incredible India Campaign should take care of that. Figure 5 The above diagram shows that recollection or identification ability first created aided awareness in the prospective customers, which might convert into a top-of mind awareness, if the brand convinces customers either with its logistics or direct service. Thus, brand awareness can work on two folds, primarily making its way into the mind of the customer and then working on its way to achieve the recognition, where the brand first generates strategic awareness in customers, where the customers understands the distinctive qualities of the product and associates them with their need. Current campaign strategy of Incredible India lacks that finesse. Brand Value While brand loyalty proves to be a cost-saving yet effective tool to garner higher sales, brand value reflects how a products name, or company name is perceived by the marketplace (Free, 2004), which involves both target audience and the general audience. Brand value can be tangible too, in the event of a brand being sold, where extracting the value of the brand from the value provided by other, tangible, resources becomes possible (Simon, C. J. Sullivan, M. J. , 1993, Conchar, et al, 2005). From this perspective, even the title of the campaign in discussion, Incredible India needs to be reviewed and if needed may be replaced. The name should denote the power and strength of a brand. As for example, if Coca-Colas facilities Atlanta were to burn overnight, the company would still be able to start up the next day due to its brand value (What, 1998). Therefore it is the success story of a company that earns its brand value. However, to gauge the impact of brand value, the company needs to take help of empirical research. The process might then looks like below (Persson): Figure 6 Brand value is the outcome of consistent and successful brand building, where the action of the company would speak louder than words, besides proving its ethical standings in the marketplace. IV. 7. Brand personality Much like a human being, a brand too serves as the ambassador of the company personality, depicting its outlook and aspirations, besides its services and promises. Thus much depends on the carriage of the brand, because it is the coveted message of the company to the outer world about its activities, aims, aspirations and promises – in short, a package of total company outlook. From this angle too, the campaign in discussion needs to be reviewed. Figure 7 A strong brand does more than it meets the eye, however, its activity should be powered towards achieving the targeted benefit out of it. For that matter, the first step towards creating a strong brand is to identify the benefits (Saarte, 2008). Target benefit would surely help to determine the nature of the branding, which would help the company to identify the necessary elements into branding, such as company image, the USP of its product, type of promises, and desired platforms of bonding and more. Incredible India is yet to create a clear USP to position itself. V. Conclusion/Recommendation The detailed discussion and analysis above clearly shows that Incredible India Campaign falls far too short in achieving its desired outcome and thus needs to be thoroughly reviewed and modified to meet the demand of the time and position India as a strong brand in the global tourism market. Thus this study recommends following steps towards achieving the target of building a strong Brand India in the global market: 1. Incredible India needs to review its name, packaging, price and its history and modify it concerning the current demand. 2. Ensuring that it becomes capable of Delivering the message clearly. Â  Confirming the credibility of the company. Connectingthe target prospects emotionally. Motivating the buyers. Â  Concretizing the user loyalty 3. Incredible India has to focus more on emphasizing emotional bond with UK through exploiting the earlier history of close communication. 4. It must study and research other Asian countries pros and cons in this sector to ensure that Brand India should be able to score over them. 5. It should embed medical/healthcare tourism with general tourism to generate brand loyalty. 6. Through constant, consistent, cohesive and cogent campaign, it should create the brand awareness (UK still have a poor awareness, around 30%) 7. Periodic assessment of the campaign is a must to check the brand value. 8. Campaign should get facelift periodically with a central theme of personality. Ends. References Aaker, D. A. (1996) Building Strong Brands. The Free Press, New York. ISBN 0-02- 900151-X Atithi Debo Bhava. (2004) Incredible India [online] available from http://www. incredibleindia. org/newsite/atithidevobhava. htm [accessed 4 September 2008] Bizhelp. (2008) What is Branding? [online] available from http://www. bizhelp24. com/marketing/what-is-branding-. html [accessed 4 September 2008] Brand Definition. (2008) [online] available from http://www. investorwords. com/568/brand. html [accessed 3 September 2008] Brand. (2008) [online] available from http://whatis. techtarget. com/definition/0,,sid9_gci211703,00. html [accessed 4 September 2008] Brandguru Inc. What IS Branding? Viewed 24 March 2008, http://www. brandidentityguru. com/popUps/whatisBranding. html Conchar, M. P. , Crask, M. R. Zinkhan, G. M. (2005) Market Valuation Models of the Effect of Advertising and Promotional Spending: A Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 33, No. 4, 445-460. Dobney. com. (2007) Brand equity and brand value [online] available from http://www. dobney. com/Research/Brand_equity_research. htm [accessed 4 September 2008] Dolak, D. (2001) Building A Strong Brand: Brands and Branding Basics [online] available from http://www. davedolak. com/articles/dolak4. htm [accessed 5 September 2008] Dunn, S. (2008) What is Branding and Why Do You Want It? [online] available form http://www. ecomhelp. com/KB/Branding/kb_what-is-branding. htm [accessed 5 September 2008] Free Definitions: Define Brand. What is Brand? (2004) [online] available from http://www. learnthat. com/define/view. asp? id=279 [accessed 4 September 2008] Giddens, N. (2002) Brand Loyalty [online] available from http://www. extension. iastate. edu/AgDM/wholefarm/html/c5-54. html [accessed 4 September 2008] Incredible India campaign woos more Americans (2008) The Press Trust of India Ltd [online] available from http://www. accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286- 34809894_ITM [accessed on 4 September 2008] Indian Tourism’s ‘Incredible India’ Campaign (2005) Research paper [online] available from http://www. icmrindia. org/casestudies/catalogue/marketing%20communications/C LMC010. htm ] Indias rise in medical tourism (2007) News [online] available from http://www. timesonline. co. uk/tol/travel/destinations/india/article2257994. ece [accessed 4 September 2008] Kapferer. (1994) Strategic brand management: new approaches to creating and evaluating brand equity. Free Press, New York. Keller, K. L. (1993) Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing,Vol. 57, No. 1, pp. 1-23. King, T. E. (2007) Incredible India? Campaign has Incredible Budget [online] available from http://www. travelmole. com/stories/1118243. php [accessed 5 September 2008] Lake, L. (2008) What is Branding and How Important is it to Your Marketing Strategy? [online] available from http://marketing. about. com/cs/brandmktg/a/whatisbranding. htm [accessed 4 September 2008] McCall, K. (2003) Marketing Angel [online] available from http://business. mainetoday.com/smallbusiness/mmm/030601. shtml [accessed 5 September 2008] O M (2003). Incredible India [online] available from http://www. ogilvyindia. com/work/incredibleindia. asp [accessed 5 September 2008] Persson, N. Understanding of the nature and relevance of brand orientation and brand equity in B2B brand management – implications for future research. Ph. D. Thesis [online] available from http://www. nhh. no/Admin/Public/DWSDownload. aspx? File=%2FFiles%2FFiler %2Finstitutter%2Ffor%2Fconferences%2Fnff%2Fpapers%2Fpersson. pdf [accessed 1 September 2008] Saarte, L. A. (2008) Fitting It All Together. EzineArticles. [online] available from http://ezinearticles. com/? BrandingFitting-It-All-Togetherid=1043858 [accessed 1 September 2008] Simon, C. J. Sullivan, M. J. (1993) The Measurement and determinants of Brand Equity: A Financial Approach. Marketing Science, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 28-52. UK Indian doctor sets shop in Goa for medical tourists (2007) News [online] available from http://www. newkerala. com/topstory-fullnews-14322. html [accessed 4 September 2008] Waters, S. (2008) Brand Awareness [online] available from http://retail. about.com/od/glossary/g/brand_awareness. htm [accessed 1 September 2008] What is the Value of a Brand? [online] available from http://www. csom. umn. edu/Assets/3478. pdf [accessed 31 August 2008] Why Brand Loyalty is Important? [online] available from http://www. brandloyalty- int. com/site. asp? pagina=8 [accessed 1 September 2008] Why India? (2007) Government report [online] available from http://www. medical-tourism-india. com/medical_tourism_india. htm [accessed 5 September 2008] Wood, L. (2000) Brand and brand equity: Definition and management. Management Decision, Vol. 38, No. 9, pp. 662-669.

Review And Study On Commercial Pressures Media Essay

Review And Study On Commercial Pressures Media Essay The national press has long been the backbone of national pride. Seemingly news was one of the only sources of information about all the on going activities and current affairs stories around the world. Newspapers and television news plays a huge role in everybodys lives, to be in the know we either read the paper or watch the news. However now some may argue commercial pressure from the early 1990s have changed the outlook of news production. The primary principal of any form of commercialisation is for financial gain. Society today can seem to be more focussed on economic profitability then the quality they present. Commercialization can connote excessive advertising, ‘corruption, meaning to emphasize the profitable aspects of, especially by scarifying quality or debasing inherent mature. (Jorgensen. W. K and Hanitzsch, 2009) Authors Jorgensen and Hanitzsch also argue that commercialisation of news interferes with the publics understanding of issues as mediated by the news me dia. ‘Commercialization of news as any action intended to boost profit that interferes with a journalists or news organizations best effort to maximize public understanding of those issues and events that shape the community they claim to serve (Jorgensen. W. K and Hanitzsch, 2009). In this essay I will attempt to evaluate if and how news production changed after the 1990s, and if it was changing why was it changing. Had news surrendered to the commercial pressures? Was commercialising news beneficial for audiences or merely new production companies? Looking briefly into the history of broadcasting will help assist me into determining how news production was before the 1990s and how commercial pressures influenced the way news is being produced today. The ‘Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century. The Industrial Revolution bought the emergence of the rise in technology; industrial competition was now becoming fierce. Things were slowly beginning to change in society, aspects such as newspapers were facing rising manufacture costs and people now spending their disposable income on things of a more entertaining nature i.e. magazines. Commercializing news was the way forward in making more profit. The Industrial Revolution created news production companies now to be able to print quantities in thousands; many believe this was the point in the century when commercial aspects such as ‘Journalism as entertainment and ‘Yellow Journalism began. Thussu (2007) argues: ‘As the taxes and duties on the press were progressively reduced during the late nineteenth century, newspapers became an increasingly important commercial enterprise, thriving on sensationalist stories. ‘(Thussu, K, D.2007) The United States of America influenced news production in Britain significantly with firstly Penny Press to news shows such as ABC and Fox News. As Thussu (2007) notes: ‘The US, the home of the idea of a mass society and mass communication, could also be said to be the inventor of the infotainment industry, starting with the ‘Penny Press in the 1830s. (Thussu, K, D.2007) The ‘Penny Press, these were newspapers that were produced in the mid 19th century, it first arrived in 1833, one of the first newspapers was Benjamin Days Sun. The ‘Penny Press were newspapers that were being sold for one penny compared to other papers that were being sold for six cents. The papers appealed to a larger audience firstly because they were cheap but the articles were more about crime, murder and human based interest stories. Could we attempt to say that newspapers in early 1990s and present decided to go back to a similar style of producing news? This maybe what Gitlin (2005:51) is arguing about: ‘For a constituency being conditioned by trashy crime pamphlets, gory novels and overweight melodramas, news was simply the most exciting, most entertaining content a paper could offer, especially when it was skewed, as it invariably was in the penny press, to the most sensational stories. In fact, one might even say that the matters of the penny press invented the concept of news because it was the best way to sell their papers in an entrainment environment. (Cited in Gitlin, 2005:51) (Who has been cited in Gitlin) The 19th century saw the British newspaper take a dramatic turn, the media alongside news production become increasingly commercialised. News was now seen as a commodity, something that could turn commercial, and bring profitable advantage. Before the commercial change news production had editors focused on arguing about politics and power. However by the centurys end editors looked at writing stories for profit. Which story would bring in the most money? As Baldasty (1992: 139) notes: ‘The newspaper had emerged as a business dedicated to presenting information within the parameters of profitability. Baldasty further contends that: ‘The commercialization of news in the nineteenth century was the result of changes in three important areas of the newspaper: its finances, the vision of what the press could and should do, and the exigencies of doing to day- operations. (Baldasty, 1992:04) Looking into more closely the production of news in the UK we will begin with the British Broadcasting Company. The BBC began the broadcasting monopoly, in 1922. The BBC was primarily funded by the licensing fee. The BBC wasnt concerned with any advertisers which made it distinctively stand out as a non commercial channel. Lord Reith developed the BBC; he promoted the ‘philosophy of public service broadcasting both with television and radio. The BBC was awarded the first Royal Charter in 1927 and they began broadcasting in 1936, however in 1955 they lost its monopoly with the launch of ITV. ITV being an independent television channel, it was solely funded by advertisement, which gave the aspect of ITV being a more commercialised channel. However ITV also had to meet public-service obligations. Channel 4 was created by an Act of Parliament; it began regular broadcasts on 2 November 1982. Like the nations long-established public-service broadcaster the BBC, it had gifted broadcasting frequencies, but like ITV it doesnt receive funding from the television licence income. It is publicity owned not profit broadcaster, today all programming is financed through its commercial activities, which include the sale of on-air advertising. Although the channel was funded through advertisement the channel ‘retained and even widened the public- service ethos, particularly in relation to the provision of news and current affairs. (Thussu, K, D.2007) For this section of the essay I will be investigating why newspapers essentially became commercialised. Firstly I will look at the rise of advertising. As Thussu (2007) argues: ‘The growth of advertising- one result of industrialisation provided a major source of revenue for newspapers for newspapers in the late ninetieth century. (Thussu, K, D.2007) Advertising in the late nineteenth century had become a powerful element. Newspapers were facing financial panic and turned to advertiser for financial support. Advertisers needed publicity so they would pay newspapers to publicize their products or services in the newspaper which newspapers would charge for. The rise of advertising came into action as advertiser looked upon newspapers as the source that would bring them circulation all over the country. Newspapers were cheap however they were one of few resources that could communicate something on such a large scale. Thussu notes: ‘The global expansion of television and other media could not have been possible without the support of advertising revenue. (Thussu, K, D.2007) Advertisers wanted to use newspapers as their tool for reaching the consumers, and newspapers needed their financial input. As Baldasty observed: ‘Advertising emerged as the chief financial supporter and shaper of the press. (Baldasty, 1992:139) The rise of popular culture increasingly became a reason why newspapers had to conform to the rules of commercialisation. Popular culture can be seen as commercial culture, culture of the masses. Culture that has been severely influenced by the mass media, popular culture has seen a downgrade in aspects of literacy, reading, television, film and so much more. Newspapers needed to accept and acknowledge their new audience and the demographics. So many can argue popular culture aroused the formation of popular press. Newspapers were formed primarily for the two aspects of informing the world of important events, issues and crimes. Secondly making profit from this. Newspapers in the 1990s saw a change in the trend, a percentage of readers now wanted newspapers to be more entertaining. Baldasty noticed this as: ‘Many came to see the newspapers as a business rather than a political tool. (Baldasty.1992.p139) The readers required articles about celebrities, sport and wanted images to look at. If newspapers wanted to survive they had to give in, it would have been inevitable for them to play the game and accept the needs of their readers. Working class newspapers were now being replaced by popular newspapers such as the ‘The Daily Telegraph with ‘The Sun. Lord Northcliffe an infamous press baron took the newspaper industry by storm. He invested in declining newspapers and then turned them into more entertaining and profitable press; he detected the gap in market and knew how to gain from this. The United State saw television become as important part of their American life after World War 11, the evening news now became a regular feature in many households during the late 1940s and 1950s. As Bernhard argues: ‘The US government used television networks to sell the ideological war against communism to the American public, persuading networks to broadcast news and current affairs programmes approved by the government agencies and thus making them act as unofficial state propagandist. (Bernhard 1999) The predominant change in the nature of newspapers began will their need for financial gain, the papers began to support political parties; this was one small step towards gaining more financial help. The newspapers would write passively about the party and influence their readership. An example of this was when press baron Rupert Murdoch shared his liberal views with the readers of newspapers ‘The Sun and ‘Daily Times. Murdoch identifies himself as a libertarian, he used the newspapers to promote and highlight the left wing politics. Murdoch was also rumoured to have a close alliance with Margret Thatcher. ‘The Sun was also said to be responsible to for unexpected victory of John Mayer, in the elections 1992. Another reason why newspapers had the increase pressure to commercialise was caused due to the rise of technology. Technology has affected everything we know, news production suffered as we welcomed the internet. The internet changed the way we consumed news, we now had news 24 hours a day worldwide. There was no longer the need to walk to the corner shop to buy the paper. Technology and the internet not only changed the way news was being produced it was changing the way news was now being gathered. Mid 1990s saw news production turn to the World Wide Web, the World Wide Web was operational in the 1990s and become a phenomenon. The web was now another source used to illustrate the news stories. Things such as magazines, newspapers and television news programs all faced the dilemma to join the ever developing internet. Lasica argues: ‘News organizations and television networks built virtual newsstands carrying up-to-the-minute headlines (Lasica, 1996) Modern technology allows people to be just like a real news presenters. Mobile phones and the video function create instant coverage of news taking place anywhere around the world. News reporters are no longer efficient or accurate with the production of the latest news. In 2006 the ‘balance of power in Senate was affected in the recording from a cell phone. It was a recording on a cell phone that recorded ‘George Allens infamous ‘Maccaca comment in the mid term elections. People always are now using social networking sights to blog entries, this can seem to be very appealing to the new generation as they can just log onto the internet and read a blog. Commercial pressures such as the rise of technology created the news to no longer be quick enough on news coverage. This can be seen as one of the influential decision on why news had to change and become more commercial, to gain their audience back. Information I gathered on the 20th century informed me that we saw gradual change in the popularization of television, radio and the persuasion industry such as advertising and propaganda. This bought me to the conclusion of television news being the subject of commercialisation also being a reason for commercialisation. 1955 saw boom in television news with the arrival of ITN, Independent Television news. The growth of television is one of the vital reasons of news production i.e. newspapers becoming more commercialized. Television saw dramatic change when we switched over to digital television. This bought with it numerous channels dedicated to news. On June 1st 1980 Ted Turner introduced CNN (Cable News Network) this was a channel that produced news 24hours a day from just one click of a button. Digital television became an overnight success everybody wanted the countless number of channels however this put a major strain on newspapers. Original news shows such as the BBC news seemed to be changing aspects of it to become more appealing, Thussu argues: ‘The BBCs flagship current affairs series Panorama, broadcast since 1953 had set the standards for current affairs reporting for half a century, with a dedicated audience of up to 10million in its heyday in the late 150s. It too was shifted to a late weekend slot and its content diluted to retain steadily declining viewership. (Thussu, K, D.2007) News now contents now could be argued to be infotainment, news being a information based program that now seems o include entertainment contents to enhance viewership. Thussu notes: ‘Infotainment was deemed a necessary mechanism to connect with the rapidly fragmenting news audiences. (Thussu, K, D.2007) An example of infotainment in new was the O.J Simpson case. This case was said to be one of the most published criminal trails in American history, this trial was published all over newspapers. Time magazine published a cover of O.J Simpson; it was a mug shot of him where he appeared much darker than he actually is. This caused lots of media controversy, was he made darker in the picture to appear more threatening? However many argue this was only done to influence readers that this man was guilty and a menace, newspapers now seemed to be appearing biased, was this to gain more readership? Thaler 1992 described the ‘Simpson saga as a mega spectacle, a key in the decline of journalism (Thussu, K, D.2007) Douglas Keller distinguished: ‘For TV news, 1995 was the year of Simpson spectacle, thus making clear that the priorities of corporate journalism are infotainment and profits, merging news into entertainment and journalism into business. (Thussu, K, D.2007) All these commercial pressures combined gave me the impression that news now had become more entertainment based and had ‘dumbed down. TV news was a product of commercialization newspapers now decided to follow, by quality papers becoming more like tabloid trash. Thussu argues that newspapers now had multiple ‘storylines involving murder, sex, celebrity and race.'(Thussu, K, D.2007) I gathered quantitative content analysis from the book ‘Tabloid Tales (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Information was carried out on newspapers Times, Guardian and the Mirror. This was to examine the indications of how tabloidization was occurring over time. Broadsheet papers such as the Times, Guardian were compared to the Mirror a tabloid newspapers. Things that were tested were aspects such as how many fewer international news stories were present, the usage of more images and less text and lastly the increased amount of human/entertainment stories. ‘A continual decrease in the numbers, from a high of 3.7 stories per page in 1957 to a low of 0.4 per page in 1997. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) The Times: ‘increase in the number of photographs per page in the newspaper with a low of 0.4 in 1952 to a high of 2.1 in 1982. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) The Guardian: ‘Results show a steady increase from 0.5 photographs per page in 1962 to approximately 1.5 in the 1970s and early 1980s. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Over the last fifteen years the Mirror has had steady increase in photographs per page. Research shows that the Times and Mirror both show: ‘1.5 pictures per page in the 1990s. ‘If we take an increase in photographs as being a reliable indication of tabloidization, then maybe this could suggest that this particular broadsheet newspaper is becoming more tabloid- like in form. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Sparks and Tulloch also examined the amount of entertainment and human based stories in the newspapers. ‘The percentage of entertaining news stories has increased dramatically over this time period, from just over 6 percent 1952 to 17 percent in 1997. This can indicate to me that readers are now more interested in pubic interest stories than actual news. (Sparks. C, Tulloch, J. 2000) Competition early 1990s was increasing with new digital media and 24hours news coverage available online. News production appeared to now have the attitude of ‘give the readers/viewer what they want at any cost, even if this meant losing journalistic range of hard news stories. The early 1990s saw a new form of culture forming celebrity culture. New generations are now seemingly more obsessed with glossy magazines or newspapers that feature human biased stories or have a celebrity spread. Sothard argues: ‘Many of these young people do not read if they can avoid it, they are not interested in politics or current affairs; they do not go to opera or the theatre†¦ They are post-modern, post serious, post-literate,- and post-broadsheet, which means that the audience for serious journalism is disappearing. (Sothard, 1997) When society decided to change, news production had to conform or lose business. News can be argued to be losing its value and no longer having hard news stories that once a public loved to read. Sadly however news like everything else in this world is a profitable business where the main concern is financial gain. The news is only giving you what you want. Commercial pressures such as technology, popular celebrity culture and a new dumbed down market created a new outlook for news production. News can be looked at as less informative, tasteless and more focussed on entertainment than political concerns. However were we the public and the readership not to blame for this? Bibliography: 1. Baldasty, j. G. (1992), The commercialization of news in the nineteenth century. London: The university of Wisconsin Press. 2. Dahlgren, P and Sparks, C. (1992) Journalism and the popular culture. London: SAGE publications. 3. Jorgensen. W. K and Hanitzsch, T. (2009), The handbook of journalism studies. Oxon: Routledge. 4. Sparks, C and Tulloch, J. (2000) Tabloid Tales. Boston Way: Rowman Littlefield Publishers 5. Thussu, K, D. (2007) News as entertainment. London: SAGE publications. 6. Www.questia.com/googlescholar.qst?docld=5000599873 7. www.philiphodgett.com/2009/07/31/how-has-technology-changed-news-reporting. 8. http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_4654.shtml

Essay --

There has always been rich and poor in Spain but never like in recent years, the distance between them is very significant, as well as the difference in relation of incomes. The unemployment rate has taken a toll on the family income. More than 1.7 million households, according to the latest Labor Force Survey, have all members unemployed, and only 67% of those registered in employment offices receive any assistance or provision of the state. As a result, Spain is one of the most troubled positioned countries in statistics that measures social inequality and has the biggest distance between high and low incomes. In Spain the economic gap has always exceeded the average of the euro partners, at least from the start of Eurostat statistical series in 1995. It was stable, until the crisis aggressively attacked the economy and the gap began to grow five years ago. The GINI coefficient, which measures the difference in income of a country, is a clear example of that change. If the statistics shows a zero means that in that country there exists perfect equality, if it shows a 100 would mean an absolute inequality. Spain pulled out in 2011 34, the highest level since records. Latvia is the only country that exceeded Spain with 35.2. In the opposite side is Germany, with 29 and Norway with 22.5. The Spanish families have until mid-2012 a loss of wealth of 18.4 % over the previous year, representing the sharpest decline recorded between the economies of the euro zone, especially harmed by adverse economic conditions resulting from the crisis sovereign debt and the appreciation of the dollar against the euro, as reflected in a report on global wealth produced by Credit Suisse. In absolute terms, the aggregate amount of the impoverishment of... ...jobs due to reduced capital inflow, as it is riskier to invest in Spain's market. Since investing is so risky, the interest rate that investors have to pay for loans and investment projects in Spain are higher in comparison with other countries from Europe. Because of the increase of the public debt and economic deterioration, Spain has no option than to ask for help. Spain calls on members of the Eurozone for a rescue plan of up to 100,000 million for banking. In July of 2012 it reaches the 7% with a premium of about 650 basis points in respect to Germany. As well, the ECB announces a bond program plan for countries with problems, to generate a positive effect and calm the markets. In the third quarter of 2013, the GDP growth shows the end of the longest recession in decades. From 2013 the country risk premium starts decreasing reaching 186 basis points in 2014.

Difference Between General Perspectives :: essays research papers

What is the difference between the general perspectives? How does the work of Ritzer attempt to overcome this problem? Micro theories examine the processes of face-to-face contact among individuals and personal points-of-view in society; whereas, the macro theories deal with large-scale social events of society - meaning things that have public concern. The theories that are apart of the micro-level are symbolic interactionism, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, and exchange theory. Symbolic interaction is an individual-based theory that uses constructed symbols, such as language and gestures, to which people give meaning in their everyday interactions. Dramaturgy, best stated by Goffman (1959), is what actors portray on a the theatrical stage is similar to the way people act in society. Ethnomethodology is basic common-sense used in for general situations in everyday life (Ritzer, 77). Exchange theory is a given relationship is found to be attractive whereas the rewards tend to outweigh punishment (Blau, 1964). Structural functionalism and conflict theory are two types of macro-theories. Structural functionalism (Perrucci, 1983) has three main ideas: 1) society is a system containing interdependent and interacting parts bound together in time and space, 2) shared values among members of the system are social â€Å"glue† that helps hold it together, 3) and systems have a need for stability and therefor attempt the parts working together harmoniously. Conflict theory is the belief that society contains basic inequalities in wealth, power, and prestige (Coser, 1967; Dahrendorf, 1959). Ritzer, like many other sociologists, wants to disintegrate the split between the micro and macro sociology. Ritzer attempts to do this by â€Å"adding on† to Gurvitch’s insights . Ritzer views the micro-macro issue, not by subjective-objective continuum, but the phenomena as subjective or objective; therefore, concluding that there are four major levels of analysis (See Table I) that are a product of dialectical interrelationships (Ritzer, 1996). Table I - Ritzer’s Major Levels of Social Analysis MACROSCOPIC I. Macro-objective Examples - society, law, bureaucracy, architecture, technology, and language  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   II. Macro-subjective Examples- culture, norms, and values III. Micro-objective Examples - patterns of behavior, action, and interaction  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   IV. Micro-subjective Examples - perceptions, beliefs; the various facets of the social construction of reality MICROSCOPIC In row 1, the macro-objective, involves the large-scale basic standards and â€Å"material realities† (Ritzer, 359) by which the general populous abides by; whereas as the macro-subjective is the large-scale intangible ideals such as norms and values which shape our everyday lives. In row 2, the micro theories also have the objective and subjective consistencies but on a smaller scale.

Private Education vs Public Education Essay -- essays papers

Private Education vs Public Education Public Education v/s Private Education A person’s education is one of the most important factors in determining whether or not they will become a productive member of society. That is why when considering an education the quality of the education is almost as important as the education itself. So when private schools came into the picture the debate then began between public and private schools. Facing the technological revolution that we are going through without a good quality education a person will be left behind. Even though public and private schools are separate institutions they have to follow certain guidelines so there are a lot of similarities between the two. Such as, both school systems have the intentions of giving their students the best education within their means. Both have educated professionals that have decided to devote the rest of their careers to furthering the education of our youth. They each have set up rules hoping to keep it a positive learning environment. They both use standardized testing as a tool to evaluate the progress of their students. They can also access the weaknesses from these tests to improve the curriculum that they have composed. They also have clubs like volunteer groups that help out people in their surrounding community. There are also student governments where students elect students to improve upon the learning environment in which they are. Schools also have...

Analysis of Down the River by Edward Abbey Essay

In this colorful and passionate essay, â€Å"Down the River†, Edward Abbey depicts nature as a mysterious and majestic place in order to encourage his open-minded readers to embrace all that it has to offer. He also expresses how both nature and our everyday lives are very similar in that they are mysterious and only understandable in small fractions. His tone of admiration leads the reader to recognize that we as humans tend to not see the reflection of mankind in nature; therefore we stunt our ability to fully appreciate and experience its mystery and beauty. His use of parallel structure and imagery provide the reader with a multitude of reasons to appreciate and adore nature. Abbey uses romanticism to show how very important all the little aspects of nature are. He notices small details that ordinary people wouldn’t recognize or appreciate, such as â€Å"the little heart-shaped tracks of the former apparent in the sand†. This suggests that he has a close and intimate connection with nature. For example, when he has his first encounter with a mountain lion, he describes it as a â€Å"mutual curiosity†, that they felt more wonder than fear and in that moment he shares a bond with nature and shows us that we as humans can relate to nature in more than one way. He then rejects the quote by Fuller by saying that the world is â€Å"comprehensible only in part†, as he is observing only Aravaipa Canyon, and it is â€Å"infinitely rich in detail.† The beauty and mystery of nature and of life is what makes it interesting and since they are both so intact with each other, it makes it easier to become connected to nature and be feel the romanticism that he described in the beginning of the essay. In his essay, he shows the reflections of mankind in nature and praises the beauties and wonders of nature and expresses that our world is too magnificent to comprehend. He is mesmerized by all of nature’s unknowns and how we can be so closely related to something and at the same time not understand anything about it.