Grapes Of Wrath Biblical Allusions Essay -- John Steinbeck Bible Relig

John Steinbeck carefully molded his story The Grapes of Wrath to encompass many themes and ideas. He included several Biblical allusions to enforce his message of the migrating families coming together to form a community. Steinbeck alludes to Biblical characters through Jim Casy and Rose of Sharon, events like the family’s journey to California and the flood at the end of the novel, and teachings throughout the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Biblical allusions represented by the characters in the novel are most obvious in the characters of Jim Casy and Rose of Sharon. However, the Joad family is made up of twelve including Connie, much like the twelve disciples that followed Jesus. Connie represents the traitor, the Judas figure who had betrayed Jesus the night of his arrest when he walks out on his family for selfish reasons.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jim Casy is an allusion to Jesus Christ. They have the same initials and live their lives as examples of their beliefs; Jesus to the world and Casy to Tom. Casy even compares himself to Christ when he says, â€Å"I got tired like Him, an’ I got mixed up like Him, an’ I went into the wilderness like Him, without no campin’ stuff† (105). In the first half of the book Casy is thinking and forming his ideas. He changes from a thinker to a man of action when he sacrifices himself for Tom. When in prison Casy sees the advantage of organizing people to achieve a common goal. When Casy tried to put his ideas into action he, like Christ, aroused the antago...

Johannes Vermeer: the Procuress and Woman Holding a Balance

Johannes Vermeer: The Procuress and Woman Holding a Balance Johannes Vermeer was born in 1632 in the Dutch city of Delft where he lived his whole life. His early childhood has not been documented; however, he was the son of a silk worker. It is suspected that at an early age, Vermeer took apprenticeship under a man named LeonartBramer, a local artist. Vermeer created his first painting in 1656called, The Procuress,Oil on Canvas,which appears hanging on the wall in some of his later paintings(Wheelock).In his twenties, Vermeer was wealthy enough to own a large house with an attached inn, he probably sold paintings here. When his father died in 1952, it is assumed that Vermeer inherited his father’s business (National Gallery of Art). Vermeer was married in 1653 to a woman of the Catholic religion, Catharina Bolenes. It is suggested that Vermeer might have converted to Catholicism in order to marry the young woman. Vermeer was raised as a protestant by his parents as he was bapt ized in 1632 in the Reformed Church of Delft (Konig).It might have also been a possibility that the parents of the maiden convinced Vermeer to become Catholic in order to marry their daughter to him. A particular painting called, The Allegory of Faith. Oil on Canvas, was a very religious painting made by Vermeer in approximately 1670. Having 14 children by his wife, four of them died at birth(Wheelock). Vermeer painted approximately 35 paintings his whole career. Most of his paintings were interior style paintings with people portrayed in them. His first paintings were mainly historical paintings.Later on in his life, he produced mostly interiors with just one or two people contained in them, mostly women. Most of these paintings featured either a woman alone by herself completing some sort of everyday task or a very symbolic painting such as Woman Holding a Balance. c. 1664. Oil on Canvas, which will be discussed later. Often the light enters Vermeer's paintings from a window. He w as quite a well-organized artist when it came to the way light is depicted as bouncing off of the objects contained within his paintings(National Gallery of Art). Vermeer became a member of the local guild in 1653; a guild is a sort of lub or apprenticeship program for painters in the early modern Europe region. Some of Vermeer’s first works were historical or religious in nature when he first joined the local guild (Wadum). It seems that Vermeer’s style changed a few years after joining the guild into what we now know his works as, interior paintings of figures. Vermeer was highly recognized in Delft as a well-established artist, however, he was sparsely known elsewhere while he was still alive(Scottish National Gallery). In the final stages of Vermeer’s life, he was heavily in debt.This was probably attributed to the invasion of the Dutch Republic, in which, Delft was located, by the French. This sent the economy into a downward spiral and many people did not have the money or the need to buy art. The lack of sales of his artwork made Vermeer and his wife become heavily indebted. In 1675, probably induced by the rough economic times, Vermeer died and was buried in Delft, he was 43 years old (National Gallery of Art). Vermeer’s wife auctioned off a couple of his paintings after his death in order to pay for the debts that the family owed. Mrs.Vermeer also filed for bankruptcy so that she could recover from the heavy debt burden which was left from her husband. The ending to Vermeer’s life seems like a sad story, however, centuries later his work went recognized globally(Liedtke). Many of Vermeer’s paintings were not even credited to him until 200 years after his death. A French critic in 1866 declared most of the 35 paintings we know to be created by Vermeer today as his originals. It seems that Vermeer’s paintings never left the small town of Delft until a couple hundred years after his death(Wheelock).Today, one may recognize Vermeer’s paintings all around the world and we celebrate his delicate balance of light and tones to create mostly quiet and peaceful paintings. The Procuress. c. 1656. Oil on Canvas,was one of Vermeer’s first paintings and it is also one of the most controversial because many scholars believe that Vermeer himself is pictured in this painting because of the style in which the smiling young man is inserted into the painting. The figure of a smiling young man seems to be inserted into the left hand side of a sort of provocative scene, this figure is assumed to be Vermeer.The setting seems to be in a dimly lit room with the background having a cave or tavern like appearance to it. The background is gray and sort of blurred with one dimly lit light that radiates out of the background from behind a person. One person is dressed in black with a hood wrapped around his head and appears both between the background and in the foreground adding the feel of dept h to the painting. It is hard to tell what this person’s gender is except that he seems to be gawking at a woman across the painting, therefore, one may assume the person must be male.There are four people that appear in this painting. The people, starting from the left side of the painting are: first, the supposed Vermeer himself, second, the man dressed in black in the background behind everyone else, third, a man who may have been in the military and lastly, a woman upon whom all the men, except Vermer, are gawking. The theme of the painting seems to be a drunken scene in which men are paying a woman to perform provocative things. The man dressed in red appears to be in the military because of his hat and the fact that most people in the military during this time wore red.His long brown hair is covered by a hat which appears either dirty or is colored brown. The hat seems to have a ribbon wrapped around it and a feather sticking from it; it seems to be one of the typical D utch hats of this era. The man’s long flowing red coat has a gold stripe which runs down each sleeve. As one’s eyes follow down this man’s sleeve, which seems to be the natural flow of the painting,one may reach the center or focal point of the painting. The man in the red coat is holding out a golden coin in the kind of hand gesture that indicates that he is about to flip the coin out of his hand.Then, one may follow the view down below the centered coin and see a woman, who is sitting in front of the red coated man, holding out her hand as if she is about to receive the golden coin that the red coated man is about to flip out of his hand. Looking at the woman, she is wearing a bright yellow sweater and a white bonnet. Her right breast is being handled by the man wearing the red coat. The man is either paying the woman to fondle her breast or for some kind of later services. In the woman’s right hand she is holding a glass, probably containing some kind of alcohol, due to the nature of the scene.Immediately next to the woman’s glass, sits a fancy looking vase or pitcher of some sort. In the foreground, is a fancy carpet with painted leaves of gold, flowing red lines and black symbols appear to be draped over a rail which covers all of the figure’s legs. Over this carpet, on the left side, directly in front of Vermeer is someone’s long overcoat draped over the rail and the carpet. As we come back to the supposed figure of Vermeer, appearing on the left side, we notice in his hand a glass filled with alcohol.We can come to the conclusion that the glass contains alcohol because he is holding his glass up as if giving a toast. His smile seems to be like that of happy drunken man. He must be enjoying the company of the woman pictured across the painting and also his alcoholic beverage. He seems to be the narrator of the painting as he is the only figure starring directly at the viewer (Wheelock). All lines and shape s of this colorful, yet dark back grounded painting seem to be flowing outward in all directions from the center point or core of the painting.The core of the painting is the golden coin being transacted into the woman’s hand as all objects seem to flow from it. As Vermeer’s first painting, The Procuress. c 1656. Oil on Canvas, is very flowing and action-packed. The last painting the writer will discuss is also by Johannes Vermeer. Woman Holding a Balance. c. 1664. Oil on Canvas, contained in the text book on p. 65 (Getlein). This quiet, sort of still, painting seems very simple at first glance. A woman in a dark room appearing to play with a scale and the only light coming through a small window makes for a sort of calm, peaceful painting.However, it is not as quiet and peaceful as it appears at first glance. The jeweler’s balance is the core of the painting as it is in the dead center of the painting with a small amount of light reflected off its metal edges f rom the window. The jeweler’s balance is also the object of the theme of the painting which is a question of life’s vanities balanced against the coming judgment(Getlein). After taking one’s eyes off of the jeweler’s balance,one may follow down to the table beneath and see the light reflected off of golden or pearl necklaces and other types of jewels.On the left side of the painting,one may see a mirror with light reflected from it directly, in front of the woman. If she looked up she would be able to see herself. Than we see the window’s light flow in onto the woman, and also a painting hanging on the wall behind the woman. The painting is very dark looking, but upon further examination, it is the seen to be the Last Judgment and Jesus in the painting is depicted as directly over the woman’s head. The woman is either fat or pregnant. According to Getlein, her form is that of a pregnant woman and the writer agrees. Her face and arms are oo s kinny in proportion to her body, if she were just overweight. She is wearing a black and white garment that looks similar to a winter coat with a hood over her head. She is wearing this coat over her long, flowing dress. The lines of this painting flow from the window to the jeweler’s balance, down to the jewels, up to the woman’s face and beyond to the painting of the Last Judgment. The background of this painting contains a grey wall with the painting of the last judgment contained on it and the light from the window shining across both the wall and the painting.One may barely notice the painting contained within this painting at first glance, except for, the slight glimmer of light upon the right side of the frame. The darkness of this painting may indicate to the viewer that the coming judgment encroaches upon a person quickly and that one may do well to notice the object of the painting, within the painting, which is the coming Savior. The foreground of the painti ng is the pregnant woman; a table and jewelslayingon the table and in front of it, represent the objects of vanity.The idea of the painting is supposed to be birth, death and the balancing of objects of vanity against things that matter like one’s ultimate judgment by Christ. The mirror also reveals a personal evaluation. This mirror is symbolic of one’s self-knowledge, the writer supposes that this self-knowledge is the knowledge of what a person knows is right and wrong and their choice between the two. The writer believesthe ultimate message of this painting to be that one must balance their everyday lives and not get too caught up in the everyday riches of life.Things which are eternal and unseen matter more than the objects one sees glimmering in the sunlight of the window, at any given moment. The way that the room appears totally dark, except for, the small amount of sunlight shining through the window, the way that the light reflects upon the woman and shines o ff of the jewels and the frame of the Last Judgment, the way that the light scatters throughout the painting makes this one of the most interesting and captivating works by Vermeer.The way Vermeer makes the picture appear dark at first glance, but then, gently and with flow, one is able to see all the objects contained within. A delicate balance of light and dark truly brings the theme of this painting to life out of its overall gloominess. In conclusion, the writer has chosen this artist because he was impressed with Vermeer’sWoman Holding a Balance. c. 1664. Oil on Canvas. He was impressed with the symbolism of the painting, the flow of it and the realistic nature it presents.He then chose another interesting work by Vermeer and analyzed it and became impressed with Vermeer’s The Procuress. c. 1656. Oil on Canvas. Upon further study of Vermeer, the writer is glad he has chosen such a talented artist of this era. The writer is amazed with the progression of skill that Vermeer seemed to have accomplished from his first painting, The Procuress. c. 1656. Oil on Canvas to one of his latter day paintings Woman Holding a Balance. c. 1664. Oil on Canvas. The progressions of symbolism as Vermeer’s life had matured are reflected in his paintings.The writer has noticed that in the early stages of Vermeer’s career, he tended to paint more provocative styled works, whereas, as he matured his paintings became gentler, quaint and often had religious themes. It is interesting to note that like Vermeer’s life, one often finds their own life to be progressing into maturity as the years move on. The writer is glad that Vermeer has documented his maturity, unknowingly, through his works of art. Works Cited Getlein, Mark. Living with Art, 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. pp. 64-65 Koning, Hans. 1977. The World of Vermeer.Time-Life Books, New York Liedtke, Walter. â€Å"The Cambridge Companion to Vermeer (Cambridge Companions to the History of Art). † 2001. Essential Vermeer. com. 11 September 2012 ;http://www. essentialvermeer. com/cat_about/christ. html;. National Gallery of Art. Vermeer- Biography. n. d. 04 September 2012 ;http://www. nga. gov/feature/vermeer/bio. shtm;. National Gallery of Scotland. Johannes Vermeer Biography. n. d. 01 September 2012 ;http://www. artbible. info/art/large/169. html;. Scottish National Gallery. â€Å"The Young Vermeer. † n. d. National Galleries. org. 05 September 2012

How Craft Changed Oreo Marketing Strategy in China

How Kraft Changed the Oreo and Its Global Marketing Strategy for Success in China Gale Business Insights: Global Case Study Collection Learning Objectives After analyzing this case study, students should be able to do the following: Explain at least three benefits of market research in product development for international and emerging markets Identify traditional and nontraditional strategies for increasing revenue through entering new global markets Appreciate the effect of cultural norms and tastes for firms expanding to new markets Discuss how firms can focus products to local tastes while increasing brand value globally IntroductionOne of the more popular strategies for firms to increase profits in the 21st century has been to expand to new, growing markets. China, India, and other Asian and Pacific countries have received a great deal of attention by North American and European firms attempting to tap growing levels of expendable income from the emerging middle classes in these countries. The strategy seems sound, but its execution is critical to its success or failure. Many examples exist of companies in the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s failing to gain traction in these new markets.Firms often try to attract new customers by offering essentially the same products that have worked in other markets. They support this strategy by adding sales and marketing staff and other resources to convince potential buyers in the new market of the value of their products. Offering a standard product across markets can minimize costs and increase profit margins. However, cultural norms, tastes, and preferences vary greatly between a firm’s home market and the new market it may be attempting to enter.It is often difficult for firms to gauge the right mix of standardization and localization while still making growth profitable rather than being a drag on profits. For example, Campbell Soup Co. saw an opportunity to make big profits in Russia and China wit h its preprepared soup products. According to The Wall Street Journal, Campbell estimated that Russians and Chinese eat soup five times per week on average. As life in China and Russia gets busier and more women enter the workplace, the company forecasted that people would have less time to prepare meals and that the demand for preprepared food would increase.However, Campbell found after years of marketing its products in these countries that its canned soup strategy did not capture the revenue it needed to be profitable. Campbell introduced and then pulled its condensed soups out of China in the 1990s, and the company announced in June 2011 that it would close its Russian operations four years after entering the market. Kraft Foods Inc. is another company that sees opportunities for new and growing profits in Asia. The company’s first attempts to enter Asian markets were as unsuccessful as Campbell’s initial attempts.However, Kraft decided to shift to a new marketing strategy, grounded in a different understanding of how to best expand into new markets. Kraft Foods and the Oreo in 2005: In Need of a Change The first Oreo cookies were produced in New York City in 1912 and registered as a Nabisco trademark one year later. Nearly a century of popular marketing campaigns made Oreos one of the best selling cookies and best-known food brands in the United States. Throughout this period of popularity, very little changed about the physical cookie: Oreos remained a sandwich cookie with chocolate ends and a cream-filled center.The design of the cookie helped initiate an eating ritual that advertisers soon appropriated to make the cookie even more popular: the â€Å"twist, lick, and dunk† method for eating the cookie has been a centerpiece of Oreo advertising for many years. By 2005, the Oreo cookie had been a mainstay in U. S. consumer culture for nearly a century. However, sales in the United States had seemed to peak, and international growth i n emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere was slow if barely noticeable at all. The Oreo was introduced in China in 1996, in he same form that a customer would find it in a grocery store in the United States. Sales had been flat for the first five years of the 2000s and were in decline. â€Å"In 2007, Kraft Foods China was an unprofitable, $100 million business that was not growing,† noted Sanjay Khosla, Kraft Foods’ president of developing markets, in an interview published by the Boston Consulting Group. Kraft was even thinking of pulling the product out of the Chinese market completely, due to poor sales. The company as a whole was performing poorly. This led to a shake-up of executive management in 2006, with Irene B.Rosenfeld installed as chief executive officer (CEO). Rosenfeld had previously worked at Kraft for 22 years before leaving in 2003 to head Frito-Lay North America. In early 2007, Rosenfeld outlined a strategy to turn the company around that included pro duct quality, research and development (R&D), and acquisitions as critical to the future growth of the company. Rosenfeld hired cutting-edge business leaders such as Khosla to help create the strategy that would change the way Kraft Foods Inc. does business. Fewer, but Larger Bets: Growth Through Focus and the 5-10-10 Strategy at Kraft FoodsWhen Sanjay Khosla left Fonterra Group in 2007 to spearhead Kraft Foods’ business in developing countries, he was tasked with discovering a way to realize the potential for growth in developing markets that had eluded Kraft and so many other large, successful multinational firms. That different approach eschewed the traditional idea that a company must produce more in order to sell more. In a 2011 feature on Khosla in Chicago Magazine, Khosla noted that â€Å"[c]ompanies were just planting their flags, with a one-size-fits-all attitude that didn’t work.You can’t just force stuff from one country to another. † Instead, Kraft Foods would redesign the way it, and other firms, entered emerging markets. Khosla coauthored an article with Mohanbir Sawhney for Strategy+Business magazine, called â€Å"Growth Through Focus,† in which the authors details the many changes that took place at Kraft Foods to succeed in developing markets. â€Å"A typical ‘growth through more’ strategy,† they write, â€Å"diffuses the organization’s efforts. It increases the complexity of the organization and its operations. Companies should not produce more to drive growth but should instead focus its operations and strategy to achieve growth. â€Å"The engines of growth,† write Khosla and Sawhney, â€Å"are focus (fewer brands, fewer categories, and fewer markets) and simplicity (simple vision, simplified execution, and simpler organizational designs). † Kraft Foods would choose which brands have the best chances of winning in which markets and then supply its management and emp loyees with an abundance of resources to succeed. â€Å"We have found that seemingly mature businesses can be energized by making fewer but larger bets. The executive team at Kraft had a strategy for winning but had to ensure that its employees at all levels understood and executed the strategy, so it came up with a vision statement or â€Å"hook† that would be communicated throughout the ranks, called the â€Å"5-10-10† strategy: five categories, ten brands, and ten markets. â€Å"5-10-10† would help communicate to all employees exactly what the major priorities for the company would be, providing a sense in its culture that executive management was open and committed with its strategies and goals.After conducting several workshops with its managers and employees all over the world, where open and candid feedback was encouraged, Kraft Foods decided that its best chance at winning would be to focus on two categories: biscuits and chocolate. Although it has been successful mostly in the United States, Oreo had recently, in 2006, become the bestselling biscuit in China, due to new marketing and product development tactics implemented by a team led by Shawn Warren, vice president of Marketing at Kraft Foods International.By focusing on China with the Oreo and taking focus away from other successful brands and emerging markets, Kraft Foods Inc. was making a big bet indeed. Breaking the Cookie Mold: Recreating the Oreo for the Chinese Consumer What followed was a focused, open-minded market research project to find out why the traditional Oreo was not working in China and, more importantly, to figure out the kind of biscuit (called cookie in the United States) would appeal to Chinese consumers. The findings uncovered precisely why the Oreo was not catching on with the Chinese.It may seem obvious that different cultures have different tastes and norms, but sometimes it takes a lot of investment in market research to discover exactly what those differences are and to move from anecdotal opinions to actionable empirical evidence. First, the Oreo that had appealed to millions of Americans over the course of a century was simply too sweet for the Chinese palate. Put simply, the Chinese did not particularly like the taste of the traditional Oreo. Research also found that the cookie itself was too big and that the price of 72 cents for 14 Oreos was too high.Product Development and Recasting the Oreo Cookie In response to this new understanding of Chinese consumer opinions, Kraft Foods’ Asia Pacific division went to work to create the kind of product that might be able to catch on in the region. The Wall Street Journal reported that 20 prototypes were developed with reduced sugar content. Kraft tested the prototypes to find a formula that Chinese consumers would find most appetizing. They did the same for packaging and pricing, settling on a package that cost 29 cents and contained fewer Oreos.Other product development in novations, based on market research insights, went further in transforming the Oreo in China. Learning that demand for wafer-type biscuits was on the rise in China, Kraft introduced a wafer version of the Oreo that looked nothing like the one so well known in North America but tasted nearly the same as the cookie form, under its new Chinese balance of sweetness and chocolate. This new Oreo contained four crispy wafer layers filled with vanilla and chocolate cream, all covered in chocolate coating.Innovative product development followed to react to market research and attempt to tailor the marketing of the Oreo brand to the Chinese consumer. New filling flavors aimed specifically at the Chinese consumer were introduced, including green tea, orange, mango, and blueberry. In an interview with Retail in Asia, a web publication that covers Asia retail news, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific Sales vice president Andy Tosney described how Kraft Foods had even invested in new R&D to custom fit its O reo brand products to suit the particular needs of the Asia Pacific consumer: W]e discovered that biscuits and sweets snacking tends to be a ‘cold weather phenomenon,’ meaning that sometimes consumption tends to slow down if the temperature gets very hot. With this insight, we developed Oreo IceCream. The fillings in the biscuits have different ice-cream flavours. The advanced technology we use allows the ice-cream fillings to give out an amazing cooling sensation in the mouth as though you’re eating an ice cream. The product is fantastically successful in China and Indonesia.Tosney added that Kraft had taken a further step of transforming its supply-chain logistics in order to ship the ice-cream-filled cookies from the colder northern China climates to the much hotter south of China. Kraft doubled its China sales force to sell these new products, truly bringing to bear the â€Å"Focus through Growth† model that Khosla and CEO Irene Rosenfeld were now cham pioning for the entire company. It did not take long for these changes to take effect on the marketplace. In 2006, the Oreo became the number one–selling biscuit in China.From 2008 to 2010, according to Khosla in his Boston Consulting Group interview, revenues from the Oreo brand grew by more than 30 percent per year on average, with better-than-average margins. Before Kraft Foods’ big push in China, the biscuit and cookie market was not particularly profitable compared to other countries. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese market for biscuits in 2007 was US$1. 3 billion compared to the US$3. 5 billion U. S. market. Now that Kraft Foods felt it had the products the Chinese wanted, it had to let Chinese consumers know about it.Going â€Å"Glocal† with the Oreo Brand and the Marketing Mix Kraft Foods’ innovative strategies to grow in China did not stop at new product development. To advertise the new, tailored Oreo brand, Kraft Foods had to a pply the same locally focused thinking to advertising its products. Kraft did this through what Khosla has termed a â€Å"glocal† strategy. Glocal is the idea of utilizing a firm’s global financial and organizational muscle while localizing marketing leadership and tactics.The first step was to push larger marketing decision-making out of Kraft Foods’ headquarters just outside of Chicago, Illinois, United States, to the regional managers. The idea is simple but often unutilized by large multinational firms: Managers who live in different markets surely know the markets better than the executives at headquarters. These local managers should be challenged to be entrepreneurial with their segment of the business and thus given control of a great deal of strategy and financial resources, resources that are typically centralized at home office.As Khosla and Sawhney write in â€Å"Growth through Focus,† â€Å"decision making needs to be moved closer to custome rs and consumers so that the people responsible for results have the operating freedom they need. † Supported with corporate resources but free to choose how to utilize those resources, local managers are able to innovate and execute quickly, instead of waiting for corporate approval to undertake initiatives. Given this freedom, local managers in the Chinamarket innovated effective new ways to get the word out about the new Oreo to Chinese consumers.Important to the glocal ethos the company had now initiated, these managers developed marketing campaigns that utilized local means to target Chinese populations, while simultaneously supporting the Oreo brand, increasing its global equity. For example, advertising focused on teaching the Chinese consumer about the â€Å"twist, lick, and dunk† technique that is so popular in the United States. The new Oreo products introduced in China were designed intentionally to share in that same experience, although in slightly differen t ways.Kraft launched a TV campaign where children were shown demonstrating the technique to their parents. Another TV ad featured a twist on this situation, with China-born NBA basketball star Yao Ming showing his son how to twist, lick, and, in particular, dunk an Oreo. In addition to the TV ad strategy, Kraft Foods realized that mobilizing support on the ground was just as important as spreading the word on China’s airwaves. To encourage the pairing of milk with Oreo cookies, Kraft organized a grassroots campaign to get Chinese university students to do its marketing for them.Thirty Chinese universities were chosen to participate in an Oreo Aambassador program, drawing 6,000 applications from students. Three hundred of these students were chosen to become Oreo brand ambassadors, and they undertook a range of activities, including riding their bicycles around Beijing with Oreo-branded wheel covers and organizing basketball games with a marketing angle of comparing dunking a basketball with dunking an Oreo in milk. Oreo samples were handed out to more than 300,000 customers. In a Wall Street Journal article on the Oreo’s success in China, Kraft Foods Inc.CEO Irene Rosenfeld called the Oreo bicycle campaign â€Å"a stroke of genius that only could have come from local managers. The more opportunity our local managers have to deal with local conditions will be a source of competitive advantage for us. † The Oreo Ambassador program was so successful that it has been extended to other markets, such as India and Indonesia, and each Oreo Ambassador iteration is promoted on Facebook and other social media sites, in order to reach active college crowds in these markets. ConclusionIn 2007, the year after Kraft introduced the new Oreo into the Chinese market, sales doubled, and the Oreo became China’s number one cookie. Sales in China helped the Oreo brand to pass the US$1 billion mark in global sales. In 2009, Forbes reported that in the ye ar ending September 2009 Kraft Foods had earned a 22. 4 percent market share in the US$1. 6 billion cookie market. According to Kraft’s website, China is now the second-largest market for the Oreo, after the United States. Kraft Foods’ glocal marketing strategy shows a new way for firms to branch out into new markets and reach the new customers that the market research promises.Kraft’s strategy works because it is founded on the assumption that growing in a new, developing market is not necessarily an easy proposition and requires a deep level of understanding of the consumers in that market and a willingness to dedicate substantial resources to create products and marketing campaigns that truly serve actual consumers. This may sound like Marketing 101, but the many examples of firms that have failed to grab hold of Asia-Pacific consumers shows that Kraft Foods’ execution of this strategy played a large role in the company’s success in this market. In an interview with Marketing-interactive. com, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific vice president of marketing Shawn Warren nicely states the difference between those firms that succeed and those who do not: â€Å"The importance of shifting from the ‘I think’ culture to the ‘I know’ culture, that’s a vital lesson we learnt in China. † Questions What did Kraft Foods Inc. learn about the Chinese consumer through market research that it did not know before? Do you believe that the company reacted properly to the market research? How might they have reacted differently?What did Kraft do differently from other firms that try to grow through entering new markets? Do you think Kraft’s methods would work for all multinational firms trying to grow in new markets or regions? Do you think that the Oreo brand has been strengthened, or weakened, due to Kraft Foods’ actions of changing the Oreo cookie itself in other markets? Can you think of other bra nds that it would benefit to undergo a similar transformation? Which brands could lose value if a drastic product change were made? Think of another developing market a firm may want to enter.How do you think this market’s consumers might be different from Chinese consumers? How might they be similar? Could Sanjay Khosla and Mohanbir Sawhney’s â€Å"Growth Through Focus† strategy can be applied to all companies? Which companies may not benefit from this growth framework? Further Readings References/Bibliography Chowdhry, Seema. â€Å"Sanjay Khosla: Khosla and the Chocolate Factory. † Livemint. com, November 19, 2011. Accessed March 7, 2012. http://www. livemint. com/2011/11/18201634/Sanjay-Khosla Khosla-and-the. html. â€Å"Finding the Right Blend Is Crucial: Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld. The Economic Times, November 23, 2011. Accessed March 7, 2012. http://articles. economictimes. indiatimes. com/2011-11-23/news/30433514_1_kraft-ceo-irene-rosenfeld-oreo-kr aft-executives. Jacobson, Robert R. , and David E. Salamie. â€Å"Kraft Foods Inc. † International Directory of Company Histories. Ed. Jay P. Pederson. Vol. 91. Detroit: St. James Press, 2008. 291-306. Jargon, Julie. â€Å"Campbell Soup To Exit Russia† Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), June 19, 2001: B9. ———. â€Å"Kraft Reformulates Oreo, Scores in China. † Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2008: B1. Khosla, Sanjay, and Mohanbir Sawhney. Growth through Focus: A Blueprint for Driving Profitable Expansion. † Strategy+Business 60. August 24, 2010. Accessed March 7, 2012. http://www. strategy-business. com/article/00034? gko=63292. Lautman, Victoria. â€Å"Kraft Foods’s Brand New World. † Chicagomag. com, June 2011. Accessed March 7, 2012. http://www. chicagomag. com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2011/Kraft-Foodss-Brand-New-World. Ng, Erica. â€Å"Profile: Shawn Warren, VP Marketing Kraft APAC. † Marketing-interactive. com, Oc tober 27, 2010. Accessed March 7, 2012. http://www. marketing-interactive. com/news/22808. Silverstein, Michael J. Sanjay Khosla on the Power of Focus: An Interview with the President of Kraft’s Developing Markets Business. † Bgc. perspectives by The Boston Consulting Group, December 5, 2011. Accessed March 7, 2012. https://www. bcgperspectives. com/content/interviews/consumer_products_globalization_khosla_sanjay_president_krafts_developing_markets_business. â€Å"Talking Shop: Kraft Foods—Conquering the Asian Market with Global Thinking. † Retail in Asia, February 8, 2011. Accessed March 7, 2012. http://www. retailinasia. com/article/sectors/food-beverage/2011/02/talking-shop-kraft-foods-%E2%80%93-conquering-asian-market-global-thin.

Payroll Accounting Project

CHAPTER 7 Note to Instructors Depending upon the availability of time and your goals in teaching the payroll accounting course, you may use the Payroll Project in one of several ways: 1. Assign only the preparation of payroll registers and posting to employees’ earnings records. 2. Assign (1) plus recording the entries in the general journal and posting to the general ledger. 3. Assign (1) and (2) plus completion of the quarterly tax reports. 4. Assign the complete project. . Appendix A uses the same practice set with the computer-assisted approach. If students are completing the project using Appendix A, it would be helpful to have them complete one of the payrolls manually. This would provide a better understanding of the operations that are being performed by the computer. Chapter 7 consists of a simulation, or practice set, for payroll accounting. Students will apply the knowledge acquired in this course to practical payroll situations.This simulation is a culmination of t he information presented in the textbook. Learning Objectives After completing the simulation, students should be able to: 1. Prepare payroll registers. 2. Maintain employees’ earnings records. 3. Journalize and post payroll and payroll tax entries. 4. Complete federal, state, and city tax deposit forms and journalize the transactions. 5. Prepare various quarter-end and year-end payroll tax forms. 6.Make the accrual entries for the payroll at the end of a year. Payroll Project Solution (p. 7–24) JOURNAL 20– Oct. 9 Payroll Cash 12 11,058. 80 Cash 11 11,058. 80 Oct. 9 Administrative Salaries 51 2,307. 69 Office Salaries 52 3,353. 08 Sales Salaries 53 3,600. 00 Plant Wages 54 4,902. 00 FICA Taxes Payable—OASDI 20. 1 878. 09 FICA Taxes Payable—HI 20. 2 205. 37 Employees FIT Payable 24 1,012. 00 Employees SIT Payable 25 434. 82 Employees SUTA Payable 25. 1 11. 33†¦ [continues]

Evolution of Building Forms and Construction Essay

Evolution of Building Forms and Construction - Essay Example Thus, the evolution determines whether it is feasible to introduce the underlying element of building materials into the prevailing architectural appraisal. Professional engineers have an enormous role in the process of designing buildings, and this has led to a great revolution in the last 100 years or so. Development of technology and science has resulted in the rise in usage of more advanced materials, innovative processes and the technical designs that were unknown in the 1900. Due to the improved technology, specialization has taken place, and the engineers can take full advantage of it. The architects or the contractors nowadays find civil engineers present in any construction sites as opposed in the past where their functions would have been performed. Engineering for building has evolved to become a more complex, reliable and more specialized in the past three decades. Engineers still use the uttermost care in discharging their professionalism regardless of the improved machines and gadgets that have been availed to help them in saving time and the provision of more economical designs. Halls of residence in South Wales University are intentionally recognized as one of the best student’s residential buildings since it houses students from over 122 countries across the world. The building is beautiful and possesses famous facilities (Bisharat, 2004, pp. 156-189). The construction of the installation involved a lot of events. Large size tunnels were built for easy access to employees. Water supply lines were also connected with other sources that served the city of Wales. The project was estimated to have consumed a whole 2,308 of concrete foundation, 6000 barrels of cement was involved while the roof destroyed of about 2,000,000 shingles and three thousand window frames and doors were all used up. Wood was the principal construction material and was used in large quantities

Football speech Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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The utility of strategic plans in effecting strategic change for Essay

The utility of strategic plans in effecting strategic change for Randstad Holdings NV - Essay Example The researcher states that Randstad Holding NV (or â€Å"Randstad†) has its base in the Netherlands. It is the global company engaged human resource (HR) services industry by providing temporary and contract to staff to various clients. It functions under its five divisions including Staffing, Professionals, Resources (HR) solutions, Search & Selection and In-House Services.   Under its Staffing division, the company can provide temporary staffing, permanent placement. Under Professionals division, the company recruits of middle and senior management position and employees who must have professional qualifications, either for permanent positions or project basis. Human Resources (HR) Solutions division offers HR management and HR consultancy services. In-House Services guides clients to improve labor flexibility, retention, efficiency, and productivity. Its global operations beyond the Netherlands extends those in Chile, France, Canada, Greece, Mexico, India, Germany, Belgiu m, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Portugal, the United States and the United Kingdom. Randstad falls under HR Services industry which can be described to still a growing industry. Having not yet reached its maturity stage based on the recorded growths in the industry and the flexibility being experienced in the world of work and as demanded by players of the globalized economy, the company is thus facing a very favorable environment. The significant macro trends in for the past five years cannot escape the financial crisis of 2008 to 2009 which has reached its global effects. The crisis could actually be considered a global one as biggest economies in the world were severely affected. Until this time, the unemployment level in the US and the UK are still at very high levels and it would appear that the stimulus packages implemented by their governments as a result of the crisis have not yet restored the lost trust from in the capital markets and the banking system . A number of good companies, however, have reflected positive growths in their revenues and profitability starting in 2010 and onwards.