Generally Accepted Accounting Principles Essay

Although dropping slightly the second year they have managed to improve this in their third year increasing their overall profitability Safety Styles has also increased both its Return on Assets and Return on Equity, this demonstrates the ability of the company to efficiently make use of its assets and equity which ultimately reduces requirements for more funding and reduces cost making better use of what they currently have. Efficiency: Safety Styles Pty Ltd appears on average over the last three years to be improving its efficiency to make better use of their assets and turning over their inventory. Safety should also focus on this area and strive to improve their efficiency. Whilst the values may seem quiet higher their total sales amount has raised which may not be taken into account with averages. Safety Styles may need to revisit their inventory strategy as their turn over period is quite high; this would be a benefit for them in the long term by having quicker access to cash for investment in other assets. They should also pay attention to their Accounts Receivable Turnover and aim to reduce this. Liquidity: Whilst Safety Styles Current ratio and Quick asset ratio is declined they are both still very healthy numbers. Safety Styles non-current assets have been increasing annually. They may want to pay attention to reducing their inventory levels and accounts receivable to give them more cash and the opportunity to invest into non-current assets or reduce their liabilities as they currently has a low level of cash compared to inventory and accounts receivable. This will make the company more â€Å"liquid† in the short term. Safety Styles also has a very healthy quick asset ratio compared to the industry standard of 2. It should be noted that Safety Styles currently do not have a high level of liabilities and seem to be maintaining their levels of dent in relation to their assets Capital Structure: Safety Styles currently have a very low gearing ratio and are using retained earnings for most of their financing. External sources of financing will be a benefit to Safety Styles to help them grow and invest in additional non-current assets.

Gender dysphoria in children Essays

Gender dysphoria in children Essays Gender dysphoria in children Paper Gender dysphoria in children Paper He even insisting to urinate in a sitting position as the manner of a girl does. His parents try to understand the condition of their son. But then, when he began schooling Rona hardly refused to go to school for the reason that he dont want to wear the appropriate uniform assigned for boys. He also wants to use the Female Comfort room which is prohibited. He feels that attending to school restrict him from everything he wants. Resulting Rona repeated tantrums in class. Causing recurrent suspended over 30 times for behaving badly at school for throwing chairs and lashing out at his teachers. Ronas mom ask him what does it take to make him change, Rona replied he wants a girl stuffs in his room and he wanted to be a girl and wear girls clothes. Some nights Rona H. Cries and screams out of distress. His mother caught him one night with a knife in his hand, planning to cut off his genitals. He says that it doesnt belong there and he doesnt want it there. Fortunately, this attempt Just leaves a scratched on his pens. Even though Ronas parents are now separated, they decided to support the Psychological needs of their son. They already allowed Rona to dress girls clothing at home. Mrs.. : H. Already oiled out Ronas room Feminine stuffs he likes and even designed his room into Princess inspired. But what Rona really wishes is to be called with a girls name, enable him to feel Just like a real girl. Right now, he uses the name Emma which he chooses, instead of his real name Rona. CASE ANALYSIS As according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder fifth edition (ADSM) all of the proposed signs of Gender Dysphasia in Children show in Rona H. Conditions. Rona exhibit strong belief that he was born with the wrong sex genitals and he fundamentally persons of the opposite sex. Individuals with gender dysphasia eke Rona H. Have a marked incongruence between the gender they have been assigned to and their experienced or expressed gender. Experienced gender may include alternative gender identities beyond binary stereotypes. As what presented in his background, Rona was distress out of this incongruence. School refusal, Development of depression, Anxiety, and Intense Crying when parents tell that he is not really a member of the other gender he desires are signs of distress in Ronas Condition. Indication of having the disorder shows strongly preferred engaging cross dressing and simulating female or woman attire. Desiring for toys, games and activities stereotypically used or engaged by the other gender. Another is Persistent preferences for cross-sex roles in play and in fantasies and also, a strong dislike of ones sexual anatomy. All of these are shown in Ronas Condition, thus, he meet the Diagnostic Criteria for Gender Dystrophy Children.. There are various disciplines offer perspectives on the understanding of Gender Dysphasia. Some are Biological theories offers many hereditary, hormonal, and anatomical cause, which merely act as precursors to the numerous environmental stresses to come. On the other hand, most of the contributing explanation are psychological theories identify parental influence, primary needs, and personal cognition as main factors. Based on Sigmund Freud psychosocial theory, he believed that childs gender role is determined during the phallic stage, wherein the focus of its libido was believed moves to the genitals and the development child diverges. Here, Boys enter the Oedipus complex in which the child realize that their father stands in the way of the satisfaction of their desire and this frustration of the ids desires results in aggressive feelings, which are directed towards the father. At the same time, the boy realizes that his father is more powerful than he is and starts to fear that if the father finds out about the boys desire for his mother he will castrate him (castration anxiety). In this phase, the child sexual desire for their mother leads them to acquire some feminine disposition on his mother. Gender Dystrophy child probably had a failure to separate himself with his mother in early boyhood, instead of identifying his father. Social learning theory regards gender identity and role as a set of behaviors that are learned from the environment. Gender identity develops as he result of imprinting and conditioning processes. The main way that gender behaviors are learned is through the process of observational learning and at the core of observational learning is modeling. Learning through modeling involves adding and subtracting from the observed behavior and generalizing from one observation to another. Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways, some of which relate to gender. They pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their behavior. At a later time they may imitate the behavior they have observed. They may do this regardless of whether the behavior is gender appropriate or not but there are a number of processes that make it more likely that a child will reproduce the behavior that its society deems appropriate for its sex. However, Parents respond, verbally and nonverbally, to childs emerging sexuality has an impact on sexual attitudes and feelings that child develops with the father, the boy identifies with the mother. Another theory that might explain Gender Dysphasia is the theory of Cognitive Development Theory of Goldberg. His theory proposes that a child understands gender moves forward in stages. At each successive stage, the child thinks in characteristic ways about gender. As the child moves through the stages its understanding of gender becomes more complex. The first stage is gender identity, which is usually reached by the age of 2 years. At this stage the child is able to correctly label its own sex and this may serves as the core motivation for future gender-related behaviors. So, a child recognizing the fact that he is a boy leads him to seek and perform activities his society defines as boy like. The second stage is gender stability, which is usually reached by the age of 4 years. At this stage the child realizes that gender remains the same across time. However, its understanding of gender is heavily influenced by external features like hair and clothing. A boy at this stage might say that if he put a dress on he would be a girl. It is not until the third stage, gender constancy, where the child starts to understand that gender is independent of external features. This stage is usually reached by the age of 7 years. An alternative view, gender schema theory, suggests that children play a more active role in their own gender development from an earlier age. In cognitive psychology, a schema is a cognitive structure used to organize information bout a particular type of object, person or situation. People make sense of new information by matching it to the schemas they have produced from past experience. Gender schema theory suggests that a childs gender development reflects the increasing complexity of the schemas it develops around maleness and femaleness. By about the age of two the child is able to label himself and others as female or male. This reflects the development of a basic gender schema. The child then starts to seek out information from its environment in order to increase its understanding f maleness and femaleness and thereby to guide its own behavior. The child identifies activities and objects associated with its own gender and start to ignore or reject those that do not fit in with this. At this early stage their understanding of gender is simplistic and quite rigid and this is reflected in their behavior. As their gender schemas increase in complexity, however, the child becomes better at coping with ambiguity and their ideas about what is acceptable or appropriate start to relax somewhat.

Biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, UN Delegate

Biography of Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady, UN Delegate Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884–November 7, 1962) was one of the most respected and beloved women of the 20th century. When her husband became president of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt transformed the role of first lady by taking an active role in the work of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt. After Franklin’s death, Eleanor Roosevelt was appointed as a delegate to the newly formed United Nations, where she helped create the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Fast Facts: Eleanor Roosevelt Known For: First Lady to President Franklin Roosevelt, writer, and diplomatBorn:  October 11, 1884 in New York CityParents: Elliott and Anna Hall RooseveltDied: November 7, 1962 in New York CityEducation: Allenswood SchoolPublished Works: You Learn by Living, The Moral Basis of Democracy, Tomorrow is Now, This I Remember, This is My Story, This Troubled World, many othersSpouse: Franklin Delano Roosevelt (m. 1905–1945)Children: Anna Eleanor (1906–1975), James (1907–1991), Franklin Delano, Jr. (1909), Elliott (1910–1990), Franklin, Jr. (1914–1988) and John (1916–1981).Notable Quote: In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. Eleanor Roosevelt with Father and Brothers. Bettmann/Getty Images Early Life Eleanor Roosevelt, born Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in New York City on October 11, 1884, was the eldest of three children of Elliot Roosevelt, the younger brother of Theodore Roosevelt, and Anna Hall Roosevelt. Despite being born into one of the â€Å"400 Families,† the richest and most influential families in New York, Eleanor Roosevelt’s childhood was not a happy one. Eleanor’s mother Anna was considered a great beauty while Eleanor herself was not, a fact that Eleanor knew greatly disappointed her mother. On the other hand, Eleanor’s father Elliott doted on her and called her â€Å"Little Nell,† after the character in Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop. Unfortunately, Elliott suffered from a growing addiction to alcohol and drugs, which ultimately destroyed his family. In 1890 when Eleanor was about 6 years old, Elliott separated from his family and began receiving treatments in Europe for his alcoholism. At the behest of his brother Theodore Roosevelt (who later became the 26th president of the United States), Elliott was exiled from his family until he could free himself from his addictions. Anna, missing her husband, did her best to take care of Eleanor and her two younger sons, Elliott Jr., and baby Hall. Then tragedy struck. In 1892, Anna went to the hospital for a surgery and afterward contracted diphtheria; she died soon after when Eleanor was 8 years old. Just months later, Eleanor’s two brothers came down with scarlet fever. Baby Hall survived, but 4-year-old Elliott Jr. developed diphtheria and died in 1893. With the deaths of her mother and young brother, Eleanor hoped she would be able to spend more time with her beloved father. Not so. Elliott’s dependency on drugs and alcohol got worse after the deaths of his wife and child, and in 1894 he died. Within 18 months, Eleanor had lost her mother, brother, and father. She was a 10-year-old orphan. Eleanor and her brother Hall went to live with their very strict maternal grandmother Mary Hall in Manhattan. Eleanor spent several miserable years with her grandmother until she was sent abroad in September 1899 to Allenswood School in London. Education Allenswood, a finishing school for girls, provided the environment 15-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt needed to blossom. While she was always disappointed by her own looks, she had a quick mind and was soon picked as a â€Å"favorite† of the headmistress, Marie Souvestre. Although most girls spent four years at Allenswood, Eleanor was called home to New York after her third year for her â€Å"society debut,† which all wealthy young women were expected to make at age 18. Unlike her wealthy peers, however, Eleanor did not look forward to leaving her beloved school for an endless round of parties she found meaningless. Meeting Franklin Roosevelt Despite her misgivings, Eleanor returned to New York for her society debut. The entire process proved tedious and bothersome and made her once again feel self-conscious about her looks. There was, however, a bright side at her coming home from Allenswood. While riding on a train, she had a chance encounter in 1902 with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Franklin was a fifth cousin once removed of Eleanor’s and the only child of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano Roosevelt. Franklin’s mother doted on him- a fact that would later cause strife in Franklin and Eleanor’s marriage. Franklin and Eleanor saw each other frequently at parties and social engagements. Then, in 1903, Franklin asked Eleanor to marry him and she accepted. However, when Sara Roosevelt was told the news, she thought the couple was too young to marry (Eleanor was 19 and Franklin was 21). Sara then asked them to keep their engagement a secret for one year. Franklin and Eleanor agreed to do so. During this time, Eleanor was an active member of the Junior League, an organization for wealthy young ladies to do charitable work. Eleanor taught classes for the poor who lived in tenement houses and investigated the horrible working conditions many young women experienced. Her work with poor and needy families taught her a great deal about the hardships many Americans faced, leading to a life-long passion for trying to solve society’s ills. New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. Historical/Getty Images Married Life With their year of secrecy behind them, Franklin and Eleanor publicly announced their engagement and then married on March 17, 1905. As a Christmas present that year, Sara Roosevelt decided to build adjoining townhouses for herself and Franklin’s family. Unfortunately, Eleanor left all the planning up to her mother-in-law and Franklin and thus was very unhappy with her new home. Plus, Sara would frequently stop by unannounced since she could easily enter by going through a sliding door that joined the two townhouses’ dining rooms. While being somewhat dominated by her mother-in-law, Eleanor spent between 1906 and 1916 having babies. In total, the couple had six children; however, the third, Franklin Jr., died in infancy. In the meantime, Franklin had entered politics. He had dreams of following his cousin Theodore Roosevelt’s path to the White House. In 1910, Franklin Roosevelt ran for and won a State Senate seat in New York. Just three years later, Franklin was appointed assistant secretary of the navy in 1913. Although Eleanor was disinterested in politics, her husband’s new positions moved her out of the adjoined townhouse and thus out of the shadow of her mother-in-law. With an increasingly busy social schedule due to Franklin’s new political responsibilities, Eleanor hired a personal secretary named Lucy Mercy to help her stay organized. Eleanor was shocked when, in 1918, she discovered that Franklin was having an affair with Lucy. Although Franklin swore he would end the affair, the discovery left Eleanor depressed and dejected for many years. Eleanor never truly forgave Franklin for his indiscretion and although their marriage continued, it was never the same. From that point forward, their marriage lacked intimacy and began to be more of a partnership. Polio and the White House In 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt was chosen as the Democratic vice presidential nominee, running with James Cox. Although they lost the election, the experience had given Franklin a taste for politics at the top level of government and he continued to aim high- until 1921 when polio struck. Polio, a common disease in the early 20th century, could kill its victims or leave them permanently disabled. Franklin Roosevelt’s bout with polio left him without the use of his legs. Although Franklin’s mother Sara insisted that his disability was the end of his public life, Eleanor disagreed. It was the first time Eleanor had openly defied her mother-in-law and it was a turning point in her relationship with both Sara and Franklin. Instead, Eleanor Roosevelt took an active role in helping her husband, becoming his â€Å"eyes and ears† in politics and assisting with his attempts to recover. (Although he tried for seven years to regain the use of his legs, Franklin finally accepted that he would not walk again.) Franklin reentered the political spotlight in 1928 when he ran for governor of New York, a position he won. In 1932, he ran for president against incumbent Herbert Hoover. Public opinion of Hoover had been decimated by the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression that followed, leading to a presidential victory for Franklin in the 1932 election. Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt moved into the White House in 1933. Eleanor Roosevelt gets Worlds Greatest Volunteer citation from Jacques Coe, Treasurer of the National Cancer Foundation. Bettmann/Getty Images A Life of Public Service Eleanor Roosevelt was not overjoyed to become the first lady. In many ways, she had created an independent life for herself in New York and dreaded leaving it behind. Most especially, Eleanor was going to miss teaching at the Todhunter School, a finishing school for girls she had helped purchase in 1926. Becoming first lady took her away from such projects. Nevertheless, Eleanor saw in her new position the opportunity to benefit disadvantaged people nationwide and she seized it, transforming the role of the first lady in the process. Before Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office, the first lady generally played an ornamental role, mainly one of a gracious hostess. Eleanor, on the other hand, not only became a champion of many causes but continued to be an active participant in her husband’s political plans. Since Franklin could not walk and did not want the public to know it, Eleanor did much of the traveling he could not do. She would send back regular memos about the people she talked to and the sorts of help they needed as the Great Depression worsened. Eleanor also made many trips, speeches, and other acts to support disadvantaged groups, including women, racial minorities, the homeless, tenant farmers, and others. She hosted regular Sunday â€Å"egg scrambles,† in which she invited people from all walks of life to the White House for a scrambled-egg brunch and a talk about the problems they faced and what support they needed to overcome them. In 1936, Eleanor Roosevelt began writing a newspaper column called â€Å"My Day,† on the recommendation of her friend, newspaper reporter Lorena Hickok. Her columns touched on a wide range of often-controversial topics, including the rights of women and minorities and the creation of the United Nations. She wrote a column six days a week until 1962, missing only four days when her husband died in 1945. Reg Speller  / Getty Images The Country Goes to War Franklin Roosevelt won reelection in 1936 and again in 1940, becoming the first- and only- U.S. president to serve more than two terms. In 1940, Eleanor Roosevelt became the first woman ever to address a national presidential convention when she gave a speech to the Democratic National Convention on July 17, 1940. On December 7, 1941, Japanese bomber planes attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Within the next few days, the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, officially bringing the U.S. into World War II. Franklin Roosevelt’s administration immediately began enlisting private companies to make tanks, guns, and other necessary equipment. In 1942, 80,000 U.S. troops were sent to Europe, the first of many waves of soldiers that would go overseas in the coming years. With so many men fighting the war, women were pulled out of their homes and into factories, where they made war materials, ranging from fighter planes and parachutes to canned food and bandages. Eleanor Roosevelt saw in this mobilization the opportunity to fight for the rights of working women. She argued that every American should have the right to employment if they wanted it. She also fought against racial discrimination in the workforce, the armed forces, and at home, arguing that African-Americans and other racial minorities should be given equal pay, equal work, and equal rights. Although she vehemently opposed putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps during the war, her husband’s administration did so anyway. During World War II, Eleanor also traveled all over the world, visiting soldiers stationed in Europe, the South Pacific, and other far-flung places. The Secret Service gave her the code name â€Å"Rover,† but the public called her â€Å"Everywhere Eleanor† because they never knew where she might turn up. She was also called â€Å"Public Energy Number One† due to her intense commitment to human rights and the war effort. First Lady of the World Franklin Roosevelt ran for and won a fourth term in office in 1944, but his remaining time in the White House was limited. On April 12, 1945, he passed away at his home in Warm Springs, Georgia. At the time of Franklin’s death, Eleanor announced she would withdraw from public life and when a reporter asked about her career, she said it had ended. However, when President Harry Truman asked Eleanor to become Americas first delegate to the United Nations in December 1945, she accepted. As an American and a woman, Eleanor Roosevelt felt that being the U.N. delegate was a huge responsibility. She spent her days before the U.N. meetings researching issues of world politics. She was particularly concerned with failing as a U.N. delegate, not only for herself but because her failure might reflect badly on all women. Rather than being seen as a failure, most regarded Eleanor’s work with the United Nations as a resounding success. Her crowning achievement was when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which she had helped draft, was ratified by 48 nations in 1948. Back in the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt continued to champion civil rights. She joined the board of the NAACP in 1945, and in 1959 she became a lecturer on politics and human rights at Brandeis University. Death and Legacy Eleanor Roosevelt was getting older but she didn’t slow down; if anything, she was busier than ever. While always making time for her friends and family, she also spent a lot of time traveling around the world for one important cause or another. She flew to India, Israel, Russia, Japan, Turkey, the Philippines, Switzerland, Poland, Thailand, and many other countries. Eleanor Roosevelt had become a goodwill ambassador around the world; a woman people respected, admired, and loved. She had truly become the â€Å"First Lady of the World,† as U.S. President Harry Truman once called her. And then one day her body told her she needed to slow down. After visiting a hospital and undergoing lots of tests, it was discovered in 1962 that Eleanor Roosevelt was suffering from aplastic anemia and tuberculosis. On November 7, 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt died at age 78. She was buried next to her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in Hyde Park. Sources Eleanor Roosevelt Biography. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. National Archives 2016. Web.Cook, Blanche Wiesen. Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 1: The Early Years, 1884–1933. New York: Random House, 1993.Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 2: The Defining Years, 1933–1938. New York: Random House, 2000.Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: The War Years And After, 1939–1962. New York: Random House, 2016.Harris, Cynthia M. Eleanor Roosevelt: A Biography. Greenwood Biographies. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007.Roosevelt, Eleanor. The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. HarperCollins.Winfield, Betty Houchin. The Legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt. Presidential Studies Quarterly 20.4 (1990): 699-706.

Professional Rounds in Education (Resources 7-12) Essay

Professional Rounds in Education (Resources 7-12) - Essay Example After the assessment, effective strategies observed can be borrowed and applied in bettering the education sector. The book describes the emergence of rounds as having been inspired by reflection. It is revealed that from the early 90s, educators used to come together and share issues which concerned their education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. These educators began visiting different schools, then sharing unique experiences collected by other schools. This idea was derived from medical schools in which apprenticeship was used to educate students. The learners would follow the doctors to patient wards and learn from seeing them execute their duties. Similarly, educators took to sharing their own experiences in rounds, and from which they would share and earn new ideas from fellow educators. It is the application of these new experiences which led to the realization that rounds were effective means of improving educational issues, or better still, solving problems related to the same. In a nutshell, Lyons sought to extend the knowledge regarding the power of reflection beyond professions such as medicine and law, and introduce it to the general teaching or learning. Apart from the history of rounds, the author brings out the application of reflection as applies across all professions as a means of bettering them. This source highlights the actual steps which an instructor (teacher) can apply in providing effective education. It provides three main applicable strategies and these are setting and communicating the goals of learning, analyzing students’ progress, and finally enjoying the success. It defines the issue of setting and communicating the goals of learning as the first step which has to be implemented. These steps are applicable both within and beyond the classroom for the establishment of effective learning. The author states that setting goals can be used to track

MKTG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MKTG - Essay Example The first stage in the market study was interviewing potential consumers in the areas in China like Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. In the first stage of study the aim was to understand the packaging and pricing elements of the product. In the process also 30 retailers were interviewed exclusively to understand the way to penetrate in to the Chinese markets and to understand the way to approach the right customers in an appropriate way. The second phase of the marketing study was the analysis of the extensive information or data collected from the customers and reviewing them. The main aim of this phase was to decide whether it is right for the company to enter the Chinese market to widen their market area. It is very essential for a company in a research process to look in to the nature of their targeted market, the customer buying behavior and product demand .Finally, results of the interview would allow the company to decide whether they should enter Chinese market or not to boo st up their sales. Please refer to this site to find the web page with information on marketing study. http://www.cmrconsulting.com.cn/services/casestudies/cosmeticscase.html

Why kids attract towards animation and 3d animated films Essay

Why kids attract towards animation and 3d animated films - Essay Example Bentrancourt and Chassot (2008, p. 3) highlight that the fundamental reason why kids are attracted towards animated films is due to the visualizations they create, which helps in overall understanding of situations. Further, it is claimed that animations are very helpful for kids because they enhance memory of the animated information which later aids to advance comprehension of various situations depicted by the animations. Therefore, it is observed that animations are attractive to children because they create memorization and comprehension of whatever subject they illustrate. Moreover, kids are attracted to animations and 3d animated films because they are funny and entertaining to watch. Therefore, they are very appealing, humorous, motivating and most often capture children’s attention. In their tender age and little comprehension abilities, kids get bored when watching television, hence, they are usually inclined to watch more fun and entertaining programs than TV programs, which are mostly in the form of animations (Shanghai Jianghong Gifts, 2008). For example, if children were doing their homework at home and an adult was watching news, they are likely not to develop any interest in the TV. However, if the channel is changed to a cartoon program, the kids will lose interest in the homework and will be motivated to watch TV. This proves that kids are attracted towards animated films because they are fun and entertaining to watch. In addition, kids are attracted to animation films because animations use space in representing elements in their relations. In this case, animations create characters that kids are able to relate to and themes which make character differences and this attracts them to watch animated films. Therefore, when kids watch animated films, they also develop favourite characters who might be good in the film. Hence, this will give the

Louis Vuitton Expansion Strategy

Louis Vuitton Expansion Strategy Operating in 59 countries, Louis Vuitton is the largest global luxury brand in the world. It is a member of the Louis Vuitton Moà «t Hennessy Group and the main business unit of the conglomerate s fashion and leather goods segment. Louis Vuitton has been very successful in selling its famous handbags, shoes, suitcases and other luxury goods and generated revenues of about $ 4 billion in 2004. Louis Vuitton opened the first store in India in 2003 and one year later the second one in Mumbai, both located in luxury hotels. 2. Problem Statement One main goal for Louis Vuitton is to acquire a customer base of one million Indians by 2010. In order to achieve that it is not only important to serve high-net-worth consumers, but it is also crucial to target the so called cocooners. It is therefore a necessary objective to make the new elite aware of the brand and increase their perception of Louis Vuittons exclusivity. Furthermore, super rich are only willing to pay premium prices for those luxury products which clearly distinguish them from lower tiers of the population. In order to reach these the company can choose among three distinct strategies. 3. Alternatives 3.1. Louis Vuitton in Bollywood In this alternative, Louis Vuitton would have Indian movie actors endorsing its products and a product placement in Bollywood movies. The target segment would not only be the Indian super rich society who is already familiar with the brand, but as well the so called cocooners. Since the Bollywood movies are very popular in India, this strategy would result in general brand awareness in the society. For the celebrity endorsement LV could chose Aishwarya Rai and Shahrukh Khan to be the face of Louis Vuitton India. The campaign would comprise posters, billboards and TV commercials with both actors advertising LV products (Exhibit 1). Since Bollywood actors are perceived as role models and have a great influence in Indian society, it is expected that brand awareness will increase while reinforcing the image of Louis Vuitton as a luxury and lifestyle brand. In addition, Louis Vuitton will have its products placed in Indian movies, which depict wealthy and influential characters. This would include as well the characters shopping at the LV store in the new Emporio luxury mall in order to advertise the store itself. Another positive effect would be increasing LVs market share in the long run. Advertising through Bollywood could help develop the taste of luxury and lifestyle in the so called cocooner segment. 3.2. LV Exclusive Another alternative Louis Vuitton could approach would be to offer a special club card with mould-breaking exclusivity. This special club card would be divided into 3 different levels, the LV Exclusive Silver Card (Exhibit 2), LV Exclusive Gold Card (Exhibit 3) and LV Exclusive Platinum Card (Exhibit 4), based on the amount of money the customer spent. The LV Exclusive Club Card provides the customer with exclusive, high-end services and luxury rewards. After the first purchase of a Louis Vuitton item in one of its Indian stores, customers will receive a basic customer card in order to keep track of the sum of money they spent. The targeted segment for this strategy would be the super rich, who seek exclusivity and are already familiar with the brand. This strategy would certainly increase the brand loyalty of the high-class society because of the unique offers provided by the LV Exclusive Club Card. Additionally, Louis Vuitton will be able to track customer buying patterns and obtain key information about buying behavior through this special club card, which allows them to tailor their products to their customers needs. 3.3. Successful Indian Women Another alternative for the company could be that it focuses on a certain segment in particular the women, who represent a vital part of LV s customers. They are becoming more emancipated and as a powerful group have to be taken into consideration. Indian women need a role model to inspire them, so if Louis Vuitton shows them a successful woman wearing one of its products, the outcome would be inspired women, desiring to possess a LV item. Using such an approach they will target not only a segment consisting of individuals divided by their net income, but strong women that need to give utterance to their achievements. In order to increase the brand awareness among this certain segment, the company should invest in advertising its products. The best place would be an elite specified magazine, dealing with business and social issues, for example India Today, Entrepreneurs, The Business Enterprise and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ Reading Hour . The emphasis should be laid on the one side on a picture of a well-known woman like Indira Nooyi (Exhibit 5), CFO and president of PepsiCo, depicting a typical role model. She will represent the thousands of women in the Indian society who have silently overcome the limitations and stood out for better terms. Billboards and ads in online issues of established feminine magazines would support the idea of women power and that in a world ruled by men, women still can be successful and exclusive. As a result, this strategy will help Louis Vuitton to increase brand awareness among all the Indian women and extend its customer database. 4. Issues 4.1. To what extent will Louis Vuittons marketing activities affect customer awareness in India? Louis Vuitton s targeted Indian customer segment requires a different strategy then the ones used by the company throughout the world. The three proposed alternatives provide different approaches as to how Louis Vuitton can service its new generation of customers. Louis Vuitton in Bollywood targets both high-net-worth individuals and the rising cocooners because of the popularity of the Bollywood industry in India. This strategy, however, implies high advertising resources in order to be able to reach the desired segment through product placement and celebrity endorsement. The LV Exclusive club card targets mainly the high net-worth individuals by offering high-end services which increase the shopping-experiences of the customers. While the number of high-net-worth individuals increases by 19.3% a year, according to the World Wealth Report, it is questionable if this customer segment only will be sufficient for Louis Vuitton to reach the target of a one-million customer base by 2010. The third alternative is about targeting successful women. Concentrating on this segment would target both women from the high-net-worth individuals and the cocooners segment. The main disadvantage is to define how many Indian women are ready to break the cultura l boundaries of the paternalistic family structures that still rule in this country. What is the impact of of Louis Vuittons marketing activities on their brand image in India? According to the purchasing behavior of India s high class, consumers are expecting a brand that stands for exclusivity and provides the owner of a Louis Vuitton product with a powerful status symbol. Working closely with the Bollywood industry through product placement and celebrity endorsement will have a high magnitude on increasing customer awareness. While Bollywood celebrities are seen as part of the high class, Louis Vuitton may need to maintain a close look in what movies they will place their products in order to minimize the risk of a brand association with a common product. The LV Exclusive club card system could increase loyalty among already existing customers, offering the brand image a crà ¨me de la crà ¨me status thus underlining the exclusivity of Louis Vuitton items. Last but not least, by tailoring their advertising on women only will associate the brand with a women s product, so Louis Vuitton products for men (i.e. dress shoes, suits, shirts) may suffer. Since India is a collectivist country, women usually buy clothes for the entire family, so the effect of the brand image being associated with a women s brand will be minimal. 4.3. Will LV face a social-status conflict (conflict of interest) by targeting two different customer segments (i.e. HNW individuals and cocooners)? Through the means of LV Exclusive Cards Louis Vuitton is trying to gain loyalty among super rich Indian customers. However, LV must consider the growing product awareness of the cocooners who are not the target group of the Exclusive Cards but will be of fast growing importance as customers. As positive as new customers are in general this also bears the risk of a conflict between the super rich and the cocooners who are much greater in numbers. HNW consumers may start to perceive LV as a rather common brand and switch to different luxury products as cocooners step up the social hierarchy. Furthermore, the second alternative Louis Vuitton in Bollywood could also result in a conflict between those two segments. If the products popularity increases this may have a negative impact on the buying behavior of the HNW consumers. This would go along with the above-mentioned decrease in exclusivity. Finally, women may be an interesting target group as stated in third alternative but conflict s may also occur between the HNW women who may be coming from rich families and the self-made emancipated cocooner woman. These very different types of women will require different endorsing role models which may are perceived negatively by each other group. How long will Louis Vuitton maintain a competitive advantage considering the proposed alternatives? Louis Vuittons advance on the Indian market will not remain unseen by the competition. Other luxury goods producers could benchmark Louis Vuittons approaches. Companies such as Gucci, Prada and Giorgio Armani could easily copy LVs Bollywood strategy as well as the alternative for attracting Indian women. It might be more challenging though to imitate LVs Exclusive Cards approach successfully because Indian high-net-worth costumers will already be loyal to Louis Vuitton in the ideal case and will not be looking for substitutes or additional luxury products in the same segment. 5. Conclusion All in all, while it may require more advertising resources than for example targeting emancipated women via print media, Louis Vuitton in Bollywood proves to reach the highest number of consumers, underlines the brand s exclusivity, and the company will be able to increase its market share in the long run. First, with the Bollywood industry booming in India, Louis Vuitton can reach a wide array of consumers and thus increase the overall customer awareness of Indians. Second, by using celebrity endorsement and selective product placement in movies, the company will be able to clearly communicate a brand image that advocates its exclusivity thus offering its potential customers a means to showcase their success. Last but not least, Louis Vuitton can educate the nouveau riche towards choosing their brand, which will considerably increase their market share in the long run. It is therefore highly recommended that Louis Vuitton in Bollywood is the most appropriate and effective promotion campaign to reach and nurture the emerging new generation of customers in India.