Darden case study Essay

1. Using the full spectrum of segmentation variables, describe how Darden segments and targets the sit-down dining market. The types of segmentation include geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. For geographic segmentation, Darden has all of its Longhorn Steakhouse restaurants in the eastern half of the United States but they are trying to expand to the west coast. This is a great idea because out west is an untapped market with great potential for lots of earnings. Darden has a chance to redefine the image of steakhouses as is currently being done like the classiness that is being added to the brand. The customer traffic is increasing and Longhorn Steakhouse could potentially even overtake Outback Steakhouse as the premier steakhouse type of restaurant. For demographic segmentation, Red Lobster represents the opportunity Darden has to fill the gap between the young fast food concept and the upscale white-tablecloth restaurants. Red lobster is even making many changes to accommodate for the changing times around America which is causing sales to fall. With innovative concepts such as wood fired grilling resulting in a â€Å"taste of wood-grilled seafood† and investments in equipment and training, Darden is putting itself back in the spotlight to becoming recognized and respected. You can also never go wrong with fried shrimp so Red Lobster will always have that marketing card to play. The Psychographic segmentation is shown by how people want to feel positive emotions when they go out to restaurants such as the concept of a happy family and namely the mythical Italian family. Customers want to feel emotionally satisfied as much as they want to be physically satisfied by the food. Creating an authentic menu hits close to home because people get that warm and happy feeling when they see the authenticity. Even Olive Garden’s commercial â€Å"When you’re here, you’re family† and slogan show the feelings of connection that Americans want to feel and would be willing to come in for. Behavioral segmentation is shown in how less frequently Americans want to sit down at restaurants to eat their meals. With all of our financial constraints we are choosing different and more cost effective ways to eat out and have a good time with the family. Darden needs to use more cost effective ways to lower the meal prices so that family’s will once again be willing to eat out at a sit down restaurant on a regular basis.

Global Statements

THE GLOBAL STATEMENT: What is it and where to use it? Aside from courtesy details, a thesis statement (a more direct statement about the topic/text than the examples below; a simple equation which may help is thesis = topic +opinion) and your road map, an introduction may also offer (usually in the opening sentence) a general or global statement about the nature of texts/ characters/conflicts/ideas/identity/ conventions/responses etc†¦ on all the usual topics you are asked to discuss in essay writing.You should use the global statements as the opening sentence of your introduction. Ensure your global statement stills offer a sense of where your thesis is heading, that is, it makes reference to an aspect of the topic. The global statement should, however, be much broader than your thesis. It may be useful to think of an introduction as sentences which transition from broad to narrow in sequence i. e. ower structures and identity ( position on hierarchy/social status ( age, sex an d occupation affect opportunities and way others behave towards you Here are some examples of global statements to learn/know/experiment with: †¢ Text can often reflect the real world; characters can reflect real people; settings can reflect real places or attempt to predict what the real world might be like in the future (sci-fi or speculative texts).If you need to discuss how ideas in texts can reflect or interpret the real world you might say – â€Å"Any given text can be considered the author’s attempt to reflect their understanding of the world† – â€Å"Narratives can allow readers to consider the nature of the world/the way the world works† – â€Å"Texts can speculate as to the future of our world† – â€Å"Texts can be critical of the nature of the world/human nature/ humanity† – â€Å"A narrative’s purpose is to communicate an understanding/ interpretation of the world† – â€Å"A text can teach us to appreciate aspects of our world we might take for granted† – â€Å"A text can be critical of those things we forget to question† †¢ Any aspects of identity is a locus (position) of power i. e. Gender is a ocus of power; Class is a locus of power; Age is a locus of power etc†¦ if you need to discuss identity in relation to a text/topic offer something like – â€Å"The identity of any given character determines their position in the social hierarchy† – â€Å"The identity ascribed to a character influences our expectations of them as readers† – â€Å"Identity is a social construct which influences the level of power experienced by an individual† †¢ Narrative techniques and conventions follow patterns to guide readers through texts; the reason you know how to read and comprehend a new text is because you have an awareness of textual conventions based on your reading of other texts. An inter textual topic or question might best be approached by a statement like â€Å"Narratives techniques provide a conceptual framework for comparing individual literary works to others, within and across genres† If your essay topic specifies a discussion of techniques, conventions, elements of construction and reader response you could say – â€Å"An authors’ manipulation and control of narrative techniques/ conventions is used to guide readers to an intended response† – â€Å"All texts are constructed to invite a certain response from the reader† – â€Å"Reader’s are positioned to identify with characters which the author presents favourably† – â€Å"The construction of a text is intrinsically linked to the meanings we make of it† †¢ Keep in mind if you are offering a resistant reading you could argue that despite a narrative leading readers to an intended response, sometimes the opposite happens. Texts ma y be constructed to guide readers to an invited response, but the values, attitudes and experiences of any given reader will ultimately determine how they feel about the text† †¢ For a topic about conflict/protagonists: – â€Å"Conflict drives the plot of any given text† – â€Å"Conflict is essential for engaging and sustaining audience interest† – â€Å"The easier it is for the protagonist to triumph, the less value there is in the drama of the narrative† – â€Å"A protagonist should be ennobled by his/her struggles by the narrative’s conclusion† †¢ Others which might help: – â€Å"Texts can encourage readers to reconsider their own values and attitudes† – â€Å"Texts can ask reader’s to take action against an issues of controversy† – â€Å"Texts reflect the context of their production†

Explore the memories of childhood Essay

Explore the memories of childhood presented in â€Å"In Mrs Tilscher’s class† by Carol Ann Duffy and â€Å"Childhood† by John Clare The memories of childhood presented in the two poems â€Å"In Mrs Tilscher’s class† by Carol Ann Duffy and â€Å"Childhood† by John Clare are explored in many different ways. One of the ways Duffy explores the memories of childhood is by remembering the happiness of being a child and creating a happy tone. â€Å"Sugar paper. Coloured shapes. Brady and Hindley faded, like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake. † This quotation shows that Duffy explores her memories of childhood to be happy by describing a horrendous crime to have disappeared in Mrs Tilscher’s classroom. â€Å"Uneasy smudge of a mistake† suggests the horrific incidents to have been rubbed away because it is so happy and peaceful when you are in Mrs Tilscher’s class room. Brady and Hindley’s horrifying antics also suggest the dangers of the adult world. It also gives the impression that the classroom is like a different world, a fantasy world where only happiness exists. The way Duffy mentions the sugar paper and the coloured shapes also give a sense of happiness because it makes the reader think of bright colours and activities which are associated with the pleasure of being a child. Likewise, in â€Å"Childhood† Clare also describes the contentment of childhood. â€Å"On the heaths, in the meadows beside the deep lake, and return’d with torn clothes all covered wi’ burrs. † This quotation shows how happy childhood was for Clare. The idea of nature presented in this quotation gives the impression of blissful children exploring the outside world. It gives this impression by mention â€Å"the meadow by the deep lake,† these words are in connotation to nature and outdoor life. A sense of freedom is also created as Clare uses a care free tone to describe where the children would play. â€Å"and return’d with torn clothes all covered wi’ burrs,† this section of the quotation creates a feeling of freedom and cheerfulness as Clare exclaims his clothes were ripped and torn but the care free tone he uses suggests he didn’t care and that he shed no guilt because of this, he was just having fun, which explores the idea of childhood innocence. Even though a happy sense of youth is produced in â€Å"In Mrs Tilscher’s class,† Duffy makes the happiness seem to diminish throughout the poem. â€Å"You asked how you were born, and Mrs Tilscher smiled, and then turned away. † This shows that the innocence of the children is starting to pass away. The fact that Mrs Tilscher smiles and turns away, when â€Å"asked how you were born,† conveys a sense that she does not want to encourage the children to loose their childhood innocence by telling them such mature things. This is a sign of sexual awareness created by Duffy because the topic of sexual nature is starting to be explored at this stage in a child’s life. Duffy also creates a feeling that the children look towards Mrs Tilscher for comfort but they both feel that it is time to move on in the direction of growing up. Duffy does this by making the child try on last attempt to stay in the safeness and secure, safe womb of the primary school. As Mrs Tilscher turns away is signifies the fact that her time is over teaching this particular class. This conveys a sense that joyfulness is slipping away. â€Å"A rough boy told you how you were born. † This quotation shows the â€Å"rough boy† who reveals how you were conceived is another sign of maturity. For children it is like finding out there is no Father Christmas. It gives the impression that life won’t be the same again. The structure of the two poems, is different. In â€Å"Childhood,† Clare has created a regular rhyme scheme to the poem. â€Å"O dear to us ever the scenes of our childhood The green spots we played in the school where we met The heavy old desk where we thought of the wild-wood Where we poured o’er the sums which the master had set. † This is a fraction of the first stanza of the poem which shows the rhyming pattern. It has a sort of â€Å"sing-song† rhythm to it, which is reminiscent of the nursery rhymes sang when a young child. In contrast to this, in â€Å"In Mrs Tilscher’s classroom,† there is no regular rhyme scheme. â€Å"You could travel up the Blue Nile, With your finger, tracing the route While Mrs Tilscher chanted the scenery†¦ † This quotation is also from the first stanza of the poem, and there is no regular rhyme scheme. But as there are four stanzas in this poem, each stanza can be said to represent a different area of development. For example, the first stanza represents escapism. â€Å"You could travel up the Blue Nile with your finger,† this gives the impression that you can physically escape from your troubles and actually travel up the Blue Nile with your imagination. This conveys a sense that Mrs Tilscher’s classroom is a safe and comforting place to be. The final stanza represents moving on and growing up. â€Å"A rough boy told you how you were born. You kicked him, but stared at your parents, appalled when you got home. † This quotation gives the impression that the safety that Mrs Tilscher provided for you, is now slipping away as you are being introduced to bullies, and people who know more about the world than you do. It conveys a sense that the innocence and virtue of being a child has gone because you are growing older and maturing into adolescence. In â€Å"Childhood,† the final stanza creates a sense of closure. â€Å"There’s nought to compare to the days of our childhood. † This quotation suggests that nothing is as good as childhood and it was obviously an exciting part of life for Clare. It also makes the reader feel as if that is the end, there was no moving on to a different stage of life or growing older into a teenager. Clare creates this feeling by saying nothing compares to his childhood giving the impression that his teenage and younger life was not as exciting and stimulating as his childhood days. It is as if Clare wanted childhood to be everlasting. Likewise in â€Å"In Mrs Tilscher’s class,† there is also a sense of closure. â€Å"Reports were handed out. You ran through the gates, impatient to be grown,† This quotation also gives the impression of the ending of being in Mrs Tilscher’s class, as Duffy mentions reports were handed out, this usually happens at the end of an academic year, which makes the reader think of a new teacher and a new class. It also creates a sense of moving on to another year of school. It suggests that there is more to come of life but not as in childhood, in more of an adult nature. A feeling of finishing is also created. In conclusion, the two poems â€Å"In Mrs Tilscher’s class† and â€Å"Childhood† have many similar and different references.

Analysis of previously gathered individual presentation data Statistics Project

Analysis of previously gathered individual presentation data - Statistics Project Example Part of the test statistics were to compare the performance of females versus males, the correlations amongst different types of presentation. Another test of interest was to ascertain whether the score in body language and voice of presenters displayed a difference in their mean. Generally, with regard to the performance of presenters in scope and Research of presentation, there was no much difference as displayed in Figure 2. However, female presenters registered poor performance (below a score of 2) in the scope presentation. From Table 1 and Figure 3, mean scores for presentation with regard to body language, visual aids and timing parameters were 6.8, 7.1 and 7.1 respectively across gender. There were little deviations from the mean performance across the board with the highest deviation from the mean being 1.62 for the â€Å"timing† parameter. As an assessor, I registered a mean score of 6.22 on body language and 6.45, my highest mean score, on the scope of presentation. My minimum score and maximum score, as reveled in table 2 and Figure 4, on scope and research were 4 and 8 respectively. Looking at Figure 5, my performance as a presenter was not that good compared to my performance as an assessor. This because I only scored 8 points, a presenter, on the scope of presentation compared to as an assessor where I scored 8 points on several occasions: both in scope and research. With regard to the different presentations, representation on technical literature review was on the lead with 58%. It was followed closely by presentation on international business at 41%. The least presentation was on any other test presentation that come a distance at 1%. Borrowing from Boslaugh (2012), we needed to test whether there was mean difference between body language (coded as sample b) and voice (coded as sample v) across gender. As such, we needed to formulate our

Comments on Movies Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Comments on Movies - Article Example This is realized when he requests Kermit to create and advertisement which promotes fried frog legs. Thus, this remains a challenge for Kermit and his friends because every time they preferred resisting the request. Kermit, at the same time have to cope with the passionate feelings for Miss Foggy. There is a lot of homage done to classical films through this appealing children’s adventure. It features casts of Hollywood greats such as Edgar Bergen and Orson Welles. This movie was a great box office success. The song ‘The Rainbow Connection’ of the movie was nominated for the Oscar. Oscar Nominated Shorts-Live-Action Live-action, documentary shorts and animated are three categories during the Oscar program that people knew nothing about. Pentecost (Ireland) is about a dream of an Irish- Peter McDonald, who wants to become a footballer. The sport soccer is a part of everyday life in Ireland. In the starting of the movie, Damien (Scott Graham) is on a suspension at c hurch and grounded at home because he had hit the priest of the church with an incense burner. He is pardoned by the parish when they get to know that the bishop will be visiting. In addition, his father allows him to watch football on TV. Hence, the young lead performs really well throughout the movie. Raju, on the other hand is about a German couple who adopts an Indian boy. The movie is shot in Calcutta. The movie revolves around the quest to find Raju, when he disappears on an outing. Time Freak is a groove of movies on time-travel. A time machine is used by Stillman to travel back to recent events. The Shore (Northern Island) is a story of reconciliation, which is set against past historical events. Tuba, is a clever dark comedy. The star of which is ‘death angel’. It revolves around the track of events of the ‘death angel’, which are lined up when he learns that he has six days to live. We need to talk about Kevin Lynne Ramsay is a British Film maker who has featured this suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller. This movie explores the factious relationship between a mother and her son. Tilta Swindon plays the role of the mother, Eva, in a revitalizing, tour-de-force performance. The mother struggles against her first sons increasing malevolence for 15 years. Ezra Miller plays the role of the first-born child, Kevin. Kevin’s innate evilness is measured against Eva’s own culpability. Hence, exploring the nature vs. nurture debate. It is a thought provoking, fearless and confident movie. The experimental story of the movie is novel based. It is good to see Ramsay back with a bang after such a long time. The kid with a Bike This movie is about a boy who is left in a state run youth farm, abandoned by his father. The kid- Cyril, obsessively searches for his bicycle. The movie is very deep. Cyril places his last bit of hope in the symbol of his relationship with that of his fathers. The town hairdresser agrees t o foster him on weekends, in a random act of kindness. This act surprises the hairdresser to find herself so determined to help Cyril. In this film, the Dardenne brothers explore the emotional life of an 11 year old, who searches for father figures, with his wild and unpredictable behavior. The film’s concern is raised by the behavior of the man, with fathers and sons above the education and poverty issues, compelling to a universal moral plane, which is more interesting. Finally, the Dardenne bro

Family-run Business Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Family-run Business - Case Study Example The management primary involves family members though there may be hiring of external labor on special cases or when the business has expended and the family members cannot meet the labor demand of the business. Therefore in this case the business may hire the work of other experts to assist in running the business more so in areas where it feels that it cannot raise enough labor to meet the demands of the business. For example the business may hire experts on the areas like accounting where it cannot have the expertise in the family. But generally a small family business will use the labor force from the family. (Bork 2003, p. 76) Many of the family business that had started off as small business usually grow over the years and acquire an international standard. Most of them however are usually acquired by other people or they enter into partnership with other multinational companies in order to enhance their management. Therefore at some time, in their lifeline a family business may enter into partnership or get acquired by another businesses altogether in order to enhance their growth. Family businesses do not only reflect the source of income for the family but they also represent important values for the family as well. They communicate an important message about the values and believe of the family and they also show the aspirations of the family. Therefore the way in which these businesses are managed is very important as it determines the way in which they are going to serve and continues. Therefore the management of family business is one of the most important factors in running the business. However management of family business is more complex compared to management of other business due to the fact that there are some emotional bonds that area attached to the running of the business. Therefore one of the challenge that family business faces is the way in which decisions are made as far as the involvement of all the family members is concerned. The management becomes more complicated easily when it comes to the issue of making succession in the business from one generation to the other and the way in which these successions are to be hanged and management. Shirley Plantation Shirley Plantation is one of the oldest family run businesses in the USA. Shirly Plantation first plantation was in 1613 and was recorded as one of the economic engine of the new world. This was after 6 years when the founder John Smith had settled in the town of Jamestown. After that the crown granted carving of Shirley Plantation out of virginer farmers. The business was well established between the period where the settlement in Jamestown was happening and the period between the American independences from Britain in 1776. For all that time it was under the leadership of one family and has been able to survive the Indian uprising, Bacons rebellion, the revolutionary war, The Civil Wars and the Great depression all which has been enabled by efficient management of the company and its resources and the way in which it has been adopting to the changing technology in the world. (Shirley Plantation, 2008a) The company is recorded as the oldest family owned business in North America which dates back to 1638. The construction of its present mansions began in 1724 when Elizabeth Hill who as the great grandfathers of the first

Health Promotion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Promotion - Assignment Example Despite the fact that these health complications are preventable, they are still a major challenge in the modern world. By looking at some of the fixed and variable costs likely to be incurred by individuals with these complications, this paper has been able to come up with a rough estimate of the average costs likely to be incurred by individuals. Despite the availability of information both online and locally, diabetes and obesity are still a major threat in the twenty-first century. These are just some of the common lifestyle diseases. Healthcare provides often overcharge treatment services of these diseases especially those in the private sector. By looking at the average cost of treatment in the average society, we can be able to come up with a budget of the average cost of treatment. The budget may seem a bit inclined to the high class of people and disadvantage the middle and low-class people in the society. The main reason why this may be the case is that some of the equipment used to treat these diseases are rather expensive and rare. Additionally, these diseases are associated with the wealthy members of the society. Cost benefit analysis Despite the fact that promotion of health services is not meant to be a business venture, it ought to be conducted in an economically sustainable way. In this case, the total benefits may not be quantifiable in monetary terms. All in all, the promotion process is fruitful since it helps the country save a lot and maintain health standards within its territories. Worthiness of implementing health promotion activity based on the cost-benefit analysis The issue of whether or not to implement promotion activities remains to be a controversial matter. Health providers are torn between whether to conduct health promotion activities or not to (Tones and Tilford 2001). While these activities may be resource