Link between Gender Inequality and Economic Growth

The Link between Gender Inequality and Economic Growth It is not generally seen that the economy and gender development are interconnected in terms of each other's influence and their development process. However, this correlation is well-explained by the fact that if women's employment rates were raised to 70 percent, which is closer to that of many developed nations, the annual Gross Domestic Product (GAP) of Asia would increase by up to 2-4 percent (United Nations in China, 2010). Indeed, economic growth has impacts on gender inequality levels both positively and negatively, whereas gender inequality hampers economic growth as a whole.Connell (2009, 1 1) defines the term gender as â€Å"the structure of social relations that centers on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices that bring reproductive distinctions between bodies into social processes. † Gender inequality refers to the unequal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men (ASSAI, 2001). E conomic growth is defined by an increase in the capacity of an economy to produce goods and services, compared to one period to another (Riley, 2012).For example, gender inequality can be a barrier to the process f development by weakening the ability of household members to engage in productive activities. At the same time, structural changes that accompany the development process can significantly weaken/loosen the constraints that women and men face when they work towards new economic approaches. This paper analyses the links between gender inequality and economic growth and the complexity associated with this relationship. In order to examine the link between gender inequality and economic growth, it is important to have a clear understanding of some key concepts.Firstly, social construction is a key concept that is used to understand how people build and organize ideas, actions and thoughts around a perception through cultural and social influence (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 2008). Next, gender relation is the interaction of different masculinity and femininity to shape the power dominance of the society (March et al, 1999). Moreover, globalization â€Å"is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones. It is the notion of a shrinking world including unequal flows of labor, capital and ideas† (Stilling, 2002).It is also crucial to understand gender accountability in analyzing the relationship between economic growth and gender inequality. Gender accountability refers to the process by which members of a society hold others accountable for transgressing or defying traditional social expectations of gender (West and Zimmerman, 1987). Gender performance is creating differences between women and men and their interaction with others which are not natural or biologically based (West and Zimmerman, 1987). Finally, gendered division of labor refers to the ways in which certain Jobs or tasks become ge ndered in a patriarchal society (March et al, 1999).There are positive aspects of economic growth that help to shorten the gender gap, especially in the decision- making power within households despite the certain exceptional cases that function in the reverse order. In most circumstances, economic development reduces the disadvantages faced by women. Firstly, economic development plays a huge role in women education (World Bank, 2011 b). Women work under low-wage conditions partly because of the poverty at their homes. It is not that women prefer to supply labor at a very low wage, but they are forced to do so in order to manage the financial condition at home.Once the economic stability at family level improves, the number of women who go into low-wage Jobs for their poor economic condition at home reduces and the low-wage Jobs would no longer be reserved for women. For example, the workers in garment factories in Bangladesh, a major source of export earnings, are mostly women, an d as the cost of living increases, the cost of women not going to work exceeds the cost of them working in low-wage Jobs (Siberia 1995). Secondly, poor economic condition makes women less aware about hygiene, and they cannot afford to medical expenditures, especially during menstruation period and pregnancy.It creates an environment for the employers to consider women as weakness and less productive (World Bank, 2011 b). Economic growth increases women's health care that result in improved level of women's fitness to any career. Eventually, sexist attitudes of employers about suitable tasks for women change. For example, the enrollment of women in Engineering, which requires field work, has been increasing day by day (Unguent, 2000). Thirdly, economic growth brings up changes in decision-making power of men and women at household level. It challenges the social construction that men are the breadwinners of a household.Rising income levels at household level associated with increased household expenditures challenges the patriarchal system and creates pathways for women to enter into Job market. However, it might affect the gender relations at home that men would not accept their power to be shared. Siberia explains the use of women's earnings in household spending: My husband likes that my income is for luxuries, for the little things that catch my fancy. Although sometimes I pay for household things, during difficult months. He tells me, it is his Job to provide for food, clothing, rent and other necessities. Siberia, 1995:) It portraits the men's perception that they do not want their women to contribute towards the economy of the family due to the social construction of men as breadwinners. In contrast, economic growth as an outcome of globalization creates opportunities for women to become empowered and to report violence against women. Women are mostly exposed to different social contexts that in turn heighten awareness about gender equality and the need for alleviating gender discrimination that they were not aware of and women's dependency on men.My experience at AY-JAW is itself a good example of how an exposure to different social context can hence a person's attitudes towards gender discrimination and violence. Five years back from now, if I were asked if it is fine for men to have the entire power within households, I would say yes'. However, if the same question is asked now, my answer would be ‘no'. Finalization of labor migration, which refers to the trend of growing employment of women which is possible mostly because of the expansion of technological improvement, trade and capital flows (Legal terms, Definitions and Dictionary, n. ). Also gives opportunities for women to get exposed to other countries where women can learn that they should get equal rights. Having experienced the effects of gender accountability in other countries and knowing that women's equality is important, once they get back to their home socie ties, there is a high possibility that they will fight against gender discrimination. Exposure to different social context might lead women to be more aware about the social norms and patriarchy of their own society that favored men (Ridgeway, 1997).They would eventually come forward to make changes in the society that results in reducing gender gap in the society. However, economic development does not always help to narrow down the gender AP; rather, in certain cases, it increases the socio-economic vulnerability of women. Despite the economic development and the increasing women's participation in the labor force, the incidence of sex-selective abortions and the absolute number of ‘missing women', coined by Mammary Seen (2003) refers to the terrible deficit of women in substantial parts of Asian and north Africa, which arises from sex bias in relative care, are growing.The critical condition is further explained by the fact that â€Å"China and India together account for m ore than 85 million of the nearly 100 million missing† women estimated to have died from discriminatory treatment in health care, nutrition and nutrition access or pure neglect, or because they were never born in the first place† (United Nations in China, 2010). In rural areas of Asia, the social construction of femininity that all girls/women should get married is strongly followed. The societies develop a gendered centralization that parents take the responsibility of marrying women off once girl children are born itself (Slakes at el, 2003).Women do not get enough gains from the new paid-employment opportunities. They are given opportunities to paid workforce, at the same time they re employed in insecure environment that does not make any changes in the level of gender inequality. For example, even though women are given permission by their husbands or families to work in garment industries, they are often abused by their employers, not allowed to go to toilets even when they are urgent (Siberia, 1995). Violence against women is high even when they work for longer hours than men do (Ridgeway, 1997).After understanding how economic growth affects gender inequality, it is crucial to understand how gender inequality hampers economic growth. Most importantly, economic growth is hampered by the constraints that keep omen involved in unpaid work, and the unequal opportunities that favor men over women (Beerier et al 2004). Women's Jobs in export industries such as textiles and garments have been important in generating foreign currency earnings. Dependence on women workers in labor-intensive, export-oriented manufacturing has become a common pattern across Asia as women's share of manufacturing employment rose during their export drives.Therefore, gender inequality has negative impacts on economic growth. Furthermore, gender inequality in education and employment hampers economic growth. The low level of access to education for women is linked with h igher rates of fertility and lower savings rates. Rising fertility can reduce investment in children's education and health. (Ridgeway, 1997). Moreover, inequality in education can contribute to women's unequal household bargaining power, affecting the distribution of household resources.The unequal decision-making power at household level might affect the overall household management, and thus prohibits the development process of households given the resources. For instance, a sole member making all the decisions would not be as effective as the incidence here both husband and wife together make decisions, with a mutual understanding of the benefit-cost analysis (Unguent, 2000). However, it is the social construction in Asian societies that a woman in a household being more educated would be considered as a threat to the men's masculinity.Men make sure that the income brought to home by women would not be spent to main household spending, but on luxuries (Siberia, 1995). Indeed, me n preserve the socially constructed norm that men have the control over the income and transgressing would affect the gender relations. Additionally, systematic differences in investments in girls' and boys' education can lead to Job sector inefficiency due to distortion in skill levels (Bosnian, 2003). Investing too much in less-talented men and investing too little in competent women reduces the total productivity in the economy (Bosnian, 2003).In other words, gendered division of labor arises where the labor queues become gender queues because employers rank males as more valuable workers than females (Resin and Ross, 1990). When employers hire workers, they take into consideration about the loss of their institutions' productivity level, especially the maternity leave that women take (Timekeepers, 2012). Employers make an assumption that all women will get pregnant and have children. The assumption is basically developed from the socially constructed idea of femininity that all women will have children.Against the assumption, the enforcement of maternity leave legislation in Taipei, China led to a 2. 5-percentage-point increase in women's employment (Civilize and Rodgers, 2003). In some patriarchal societies, certain Jobs are allocated only for men. For example, in northern part of Sir Lankan, CNN (three wheeler) drivers were usually male, and the government introduced a plan that allows female to be CNN drivers. After some time, an accident occurred in which the fault was found to be on the side of CNN driver who is a female. Based on the incident, there were some controversies regarding whether to allow the women do be CNN drivers further.However, the point to be noted here is that there were so many accidents held earlier to the particular event, and they were committed by male CNN drivers. No inquiries were done to the male drivers, but when the same incidence is caused by women, they held up to scrutiny. It again shows the gender discrimination in soc ieties, and people being more critical when gender norms are transgressed. In addition, sexist unequal expectations of gender performance are other constraints that affect economic growth at the household levels.Men and women are sometimes pressured to perform gender according to what is acceptable in their particular society, rather than thinking about rational choices about family income. For example, Sir Lankan male cleaners go to Middle Eastern countries to financially support their families (Near, 2010). Although they are involved in feminizes Jobs' abroad, when they return to their societies, they do not keep involving in feminizes activities because they think this would be a wreath to their masculinity (Near, 2010).As a result, men, who strongly support the patriarchal system of men as breadwinners of a family, fail minimize the costs within households by not accounting the female labor force participation. In order to address the barriers to the development of economy and g ender, a strong foundation for policy implementations that alleviate the constraints that women face should be considered. These will include remedying heavy time burdens devoted to unpaid work, regulations that favor men, inadequate public infrastructure, insufficient access to agricultural inputs, discriminatory practices in the labor market, and social constructions.Asian governments have also paid relatively limited attention to gendered vulnerabilities in their social protection policies (ILL and ADS, 2011). By decreasing gender inequality, from the household level to major indexes, a country's overall economy can be developed at a faster pace (Ridgeway, 1997) Likewise, as economic development occurs, we have to make sure that it will not lead to a path in which gender inequality grows even more. Works Cited Beerier, G. , Y. Rodgers, and J. Civilize. 004. International Trade and Gender Wage Discrimination: Evidence from East Asia.

Essay on Taming of the Shrew Stand by Your Man - 1402 Words

The Taming of the Shrew: Stand by Your Man - The Psychotherapist Perspective The universal nature of the themes in The Taming of the Shrew, beg analysis and social critique. This comedic farce, by William Shakespeare, creates an elegant depiction of a modern life and romantic love with all of its masks and pretensions. It is easy to assume the perspective of a psychotherapist while witnessing the drama of Katherine and Petruchio’s love affair unfolding. Concepts like â€Å"emotional repression† and â€Å"therapeutic catharsis† neatly fit the â€Å"taming† scenario. In fact, this play offers many new insights into what it takes to create an enduring, viable marriage—if one understands it from a very contemporary, psychotherapeutic or†¦show more content†¦Hadn’t she arrived at a splendid state transcendent of societal concepts like â€Å"patriarchy† and â€Å"matriarchy?† In Act IV, scene 3, there is evidence that Kate knew her â€Å"shrewishness† as a kind of disease: My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, Or else my heart concealing it will break, And rather than it shall I will be free Even to the uttermost as I please in words. (lines, 77-80) She is a â€Å"shrew† because a snarl of anger and perhaps jealousy had twisted itself deep inside her and sought occasional release. We gradually learn that her father had favored his younger and perhaps more attractive daughter, Bianca. Kate had continually been placed second in her father’s affections and perhaps had felt forced to take on this â€Å"shrewish† persona in order to shield her hurt and neglect. So, is â€Å"shrewishness† her character or is it a protective, strategy of survival? If it’s indeed a defense mechanism, we can feel sympathy for her extreme behavior which we sense is only superficial and transitory—masking a truer, more substantial nature in need of healing. In the above lines, Kate is explaining why she has such a shrewish disposition. This scene takes place toward the culmination of her â€Å"taming†Ã¢â‚¬â€after the wild, tempestuous courtship when a headstrong Petruchio pursued Kate’sShow MoreRelatedWilliam Shakespeare s The Taming Of The Shrew And Of Clytemnestra1550 Words   |  7 Pagessociety. This essay seeks to create an understanding of the symbolic characters of Katherina in Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of The Shrew’ and of Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’s ‘Agamemnon’. By exploring both texts in conjunction, it comes to attention that both female characters play masculine roles to be able to achieve their dominance stance. Both women not only revel the real life female, but also depicts to the audience the double bind due to the patriarchal world they live in. This essay will show howRead MoreBenedick’s Change of Heart by the End of Act 2 Scene 3 of William Shakespea res Much Ado About Nothing2295 Words   |  10 Pagesplay would have been acted out by men and it was not until the 19th century that women had a role in theatre. Women were property to be bought by men or used as prostitutes. Women did not speak up; any that did were branded a shrew and needed taming. Virginity was a virtue, therefore it was demanded a bride should be a virgin and once a wife, should be faithful. Shakespeare explores these men’s attitudes to the place of women in society and incorporates his own opinionsRead MoreLiterature and Language10588 Words   |  43 Pagesdaughter the last mistresses Of that black block condemmed to stand, not crash. The sentence in line 2 of this verse that starts with But in the fifth is unusual in that the predicate of the sentence is made up of a sequence of embedded elements, as we can see if we write them out in a full form: â€Å"A chipped sill buttresses mother and daughter who are the last mistresses of that black block which is condemned to stand, not crash.† Furthermore, the main verb in this sentence is buttressRead Morewisdom,humor and faith19596 Words   |  79 PagesFour Believers Who Stressed Humor: Kierkegaard, Chesterton, Niebuhr, and Auden 27 Conclusion 34 Copyright  © 2011 by Walter G. Moss WISDOM, HUMOR, AND FAITH: A HISTORICAL VIEW â€Å"And frame your mind to mirth and merriment, / Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.† Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Scene 2. â€Å"Laughter without a tinge of philosophy is but a sneeze of humor. Genuine humor is replete with wisdom.† Mark Twain, quoted in Opie Percival Read, Mark Twain and I (1940)

Meteotsunamis Massice Tsunamis Caused by Weather

The typical tsunami, in peoples minds, is a wave pushed from below, either by an earthquake or by some sort of landslide. But weather events can cause them too in certain regions. Although local people in these places have their own names for these freak waves, only recently have scientists recognized them as a universal phenomenon with the name meteotsunamis. What Makes Them Tsunamis? The basic physical feature of a tsunami wave is its oversize scale. Unlike ordinary wind-driven waves, with wavelengths of a few meters and periods of a few seconds, tsunami waves have wavelengths of up to hundreds of kilometers and periods as long as an hour. Physicists classify them as shallow-water waves because they always feel the bottom. As these waves approach shore, the rising bottom forces them to grow in height and move closer in succession. The Japanese name tsunami, or harbor wave, refers to the way they wash ashore without warning, moving in and out in slow, damaging surges. Meteotsunamis are the same kind of waves with the same kinds of effects, caused by rapid changes in air pressure. They have the same long periods and the same damaging behavior in harbors. The main difference is that they have less energy. Damage from them is highly selective, limited to harbors and inlets that are well aligned with the waves. In Spains Mediterranean islands, they are called rissaga; they are rissagues in mainland Spain, marubbio in Sicily, seebà ¤r in the Baltic Sea, and abiki in Japan. They have also been documented in many more places, including the Great Lakes. How Meteosunamis Work A meteotsunami starts with a strong atmospheric event marked by a change in air pressure, such as a fast-moving front, a squall line, or a train of gravity waves in the wake of a mountain range. Even extreme weather changes the pressure by small amounts, equivalent to a few centimeters of sea-level height. Everything depends on the speed and timing of the force, along with the shape of the water body. When those are right, waves that start out small can grow through the resonance of the water body and a pressure source whose speed matches the waves speed. Next, those waves are focused as they approach shorelines of the right shape. Otherwise, they simply spread away from their source and fade out. Long, narrow harbors that point toward the incoming waves are affected worst because they offer more of the reinforcing resonance. (In this respect meteotsunamis are similar to seiche events.) So it takes an unlucky set of circumstances to create a notable meteotsunami  and they are pinpoint events rather than regional hazards. But they can kill people—and more important, they can be forecasted in principle. Notable Meteotsunamis A large abiki (net-dragging wave) surged into Nagasaki Bay on March  31, 1979 that reached wave heights of nearly 5 meters and left three people dead. This is Japans most notorious site for meteotsunamis, but several other vulnerable harbors exist. For instance, a 3-meter surge was documented in nearby Urauchi Bay in 2009  that capsized 18 boats and threatened the lucrative fish-farming industry. Spains Balearic Islands are noted meteotsunami sites, particularly Ciutadella Harbor on the island of Menorca. The region has daily tides of about 20 centimeters, so harbors are typically not made for more energetic conditions. The rissaga (drying event) on June 21, 1984 was more than 4 meters high and damaged 300 boats. There is video of a June 2006 rissaga in Ciutadella Harbor showing the slow waves tearing dozens of boats off their moorings and into each other. That event began with a negative wave, drawing the harbor dry before the water rushed back. Losses were tens of million euros. The coast of Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea, recorded damaging meteotsunamis in 1978 and 2003. In some places 6-meter waves were witnessed. The great eastern U.S. derecho of 29 June 2012 raised a meteotsunami in the Chesapeake Bay that reached 40 centimeters in height. A 3-meter freak wave in Lake Michigan killed seven people as it washed over the Chicago shoreline on June 26, 1954. Later reconstructions  show that it was triggered by a storm system over the north end of Lake Michigan that pushed waves down the length of the lake where they bounced off the shore and headed straight for Chicago. Just 10 days later another storm raised a meteotsunami more than a meter high. Models of these events, programmed by researcher Chin Wu and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab, raise the promise of forecasting them when strong weather comes.

Machiavelli Essay - 1438 Words

nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Niccolo Machiavelli, one of the great political minds of the 15th century, accomplished what many mathematicians today only dream of, having one’s name used as an adjective. To be Machiavellian is to demonstrate characteristics of expediency, deceit, and cunning and as Machiavelli wrote in, The Prince, these are the qualities of a great leader. The Prince was published in 1531, creating great controversy with other political thinkers of the time. Machiavelli completely ignored the popular religious teachings of the era and erased the moral and ethical considerations from the leadership equation; the actions of a ruler should be governed solely by necessity. â€Å"Since I intend to write something useful to an†¦show more content†¦Machiavelli does not directly condemn those who study and espouse the ideal; he condemns them for failing to study the real as well and claims that this oversight will lead to their ruin. In other words, hope for the best and plan for the worst, a quite depressingly, realistic world view. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;One of the most colorful analogies that Machiavelli makes is when he describes the teacher of Achilles. A brilliant example of man’s inherent paradox, Chiron, the centaur, was significant to Machiavelli because he was half man and half beast making the argument that one without the other has no lasting effect. â€Å"As the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves, you have to be a fox in order to be wary of traps, and a lion to overawe the wolves. Those who try to live by the lion alone are badly mistaken† (228). According to Machiavelli the lion represents the beast, proud and powerful but vulnerable. The fox represents the aspect of man Machiavelli values most, the ability to deceive. This is yet another example of Machiavelli looking down on man, he takes what in his opinion is man’s greatest ability and compares it to an animal that does it better. A great leader has both the strength and charisma of the lion and the cunning of the fox; these are the qualities of a great leader according to Machiavelli. The way MachiavelliShow MoreRelated Machiavelli Essay1597 Words   |  7 Pages quot;The term Machiavellian refers to someone who is unscrupulous, cunning, cynical, and unprincipledquot;(Goods 1998). Many scholars agree that this particular adjective would have dismayed Niccolo Machiavelli, the man from whom the term is derived. In reality he has been attributed as being one of the brightest lights of the Italian Renaissance through his works as not only a writer, but also as an influential philosopher of history and political thought. His most famous work The Prince hasRead MoreThe Machiavelli And Machiavelli s The Prince2348 Words   |  10 PagesI have always found great interest in the infamous Niccolo Machiavelli and his ways of thinking; my eye was drawn to him long before I knew I would be studying at Colorado State and even before I had any interest in politics. It was from young man know as Tupac Shakur, and let me tell you it is great to finally understand who Machiavelli is and the things he has done for the outlook on politics after hearing about how much respect and praise he got from the iconic rapper of the 1990s. In this paperRead MorePrinciples Of Machiavelli1615 Words   |  7 PagesIn the 16th century Niccolo Machiavelli presented Lorenzo de Medici with his most prized possession, â€Å"The Prince†. At this time, it was custom to present the prince with your most prized possession, in order to gain their friendship. Machiavelli spent much time studying past rulers and wrote â€Å"The Prince† in which he describes how one acquires and maintains power. At the time, The Prince was not well accepted as it went perceived to go against the Catholic Church. However, today the prince has beenRead MoreMachiavelli as a Humanist1886 Words   |  8 Pageswho is concerned with the interests and welfare of humans. Niccolo’ Machiavelli can be thought of as a humanist. Although opinions on this differ greatly depending on whom you speak with. Machiavelli’s life consists of so many examples and lessons that he has learned throughout his life. Through my paper, I intend to examine his perception of morality based on his political writings and life experiences. Niccolo’ Machiavelli was born on May 3, 1469 and died in 1527. Although we do not knowRead MoreAnalysis Of Machiavelli774 Words   |  4 PagesChasity L Wireman Dr. Michael A. Lazarus HIS 102-W1: Western Civilization II 10/25/2017 There are many reasons why Machiavelli is widely considered the beginner of modern political thought, one of the many is he studied strictly the politicians, and businessmen. Machiavelli recognized the political playing field as a vile place only for the most dominating and cunning of political giants. One of Machiavelli’s most famous work, On Principalities, or known by the other title, The PrinceRead MoreThe Relationship Between Machiavelli And Machiavelli s The Prince1075 Words   |  5 Pagesand turmoil, philosophers are able to give their critiques on government and human nature as a whole. Socrates and Machiavelli, both philosophers in what it means to be a proper leader and the role of the people within a society, share contrasting views. Machiavelli, alive during the time of great political turmoil in Italy, is immortalized through his writings in The Prince. Machiavelli was able to use what the political shortcomings he witnesses during his time period as a guide to deciphering theRead MoreThe Prince, By Machiavelli1517 Words   |  7 PagesIn The Prince, Machiavelli doesn’t hesitate to recommend that a ruler employ conventionally immoral methods against his own subjects to maintain authority over them, but he does imply that whatever a ruler does should ultimately benefit the community. A Prince’s actions may be cruel, manipulative, or otherwise immoral, but they put him in the position to govern. On occasion, Machiavelli even suggests that gaining power through immoral acts is the best way to improve a community because immoralityRead MoreThe Prince By Niccolo Machiavelli1472 Words   |  6 PagesPrince by: Niccolo Machiavelli really tries and is successful at dividing politics and ethics to decipher the characteristics of a good and bad political/government ruling leader in this novel. In this reading, I seen 5 points that Machiavelli talked about, and those were: Free Will, Being Hated vs Goodwill, Virtue, A Good Military, and finally Human Nature. These are a necessity to the recipe that Machiavelli is making in this book. In the first few chapters of the book, Machiavelli begins to talkRead More Machiavelli And Plato Essay1564 Words   |  7 Pages Niccolio Machiavelli (Born May 3rd, 1469 amp;#8211; 1527 Florence, Italy.) His writings have been the source of dispute amongst scholars due to the ambiguity of his analogy of the amp;#8216;Nature of Politics; and the implication of morality. The Prince, has been criticised due to itamp;#8217;s seemingly amoral political suggestiveness, however after further scrutiny of other works such as The Discourses, one can argue that it was Machiavelliamp;#8217;s intention to infact imply a positiveRead MoreNiccolo Machiavelli Essay1536 Words   |  7 PagesNiccolo Machiavelli Around 1513 Niccolo Machiavelli while writing The Prince would not be considered a theologian. When thinking of Machiavelli many people confuse him together with the names of rulers who have abused his writings. It also seems other people confuse Machiavelli with the rapper who took his name. Either way people confuse Machiavelli it seems they fail to look at his true message, bettering the state and the greater good. Machiavelli may seem evil to some but his political

Be An Anthropologist Free Essays

1. The concept of descent with modification, or evolution, has a great deal of evidence in its support. Indicate the major types of evidence? The concept or idea that species change and evolve into new and different species was described and was an established concept in Darwin’s day this was described as descent with modification. We will write a custom essay sample on Be An Anthropologist or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Concept of descent with modification has major evidence in support, in fact we no longer refer to the this adaption as descent with modification, rather it is now called biological evolution. According to our text species of living things are related in some fashion similar to a branching tree. However the process is not quite that simple adaption relies on several processes and to prove this or the evidence used to confirm this is ecology. Science uses the habitats of living organisms to explain the relationships between the organisms. Secondly scientists uses the concept of niche which is the adaptive response to an environment. In addition to this information science uses geological and fossil records to explain the changes and diversity that have happened between species over time,through the concepts of natural selection. Scientists believe each fossil is a piece of evidence about the way species adapted and the changes that took place over a period of time. â€Å"Humans are Old World primates† Humans however have striking similarities as well as differences from that of the chimp or gorilla. For instance vision human vision is the same as any other diurnal primate meaning we clearly see the same as monkeys and apes. Our sense of smell is the same as that of the anthropoid primate or ape. Similarly our behavior patterns are closely resembled of most old world apes, humans live in societies that -are based on collective conscious responses of a group of individuals. However as I mentioned before humans also have significant differences from that of other primates, for instance human growth, maturity, and reproduction is clearly different humans birth twins one out of every two-hundred and fifty births, human babies are born far more helpless than any other primate species. Also non human primates mature much more rapid than that of a human. The human brain is far more larger that that of any other primate human brains are three-times the size predicted against human body weight thus a larger brain indicates human primates are more intelligent than that of other primates like monkeys, or apes. 3. Distinguish between members of genus Australopithecus and Paranthropus in terms of time, location, and physical features The earliest known and accepted fossils are categorized as Australopithecus or the southern ape. A well known and famous fossil known as Lucy belongs to this fossil group, fossils of Australopithecus’s have been found in areas such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Chad, and South Africa and are dated as far back as 4.2 – 2.3 MYA. These primates are known as bipedal apes meaning they walked upright, members of this primate group also had facial features that were apelike, had brains half the size of chimpanzees, and weighed on average of one-hundred and five pounds. It is thought these primates adapted to arboreal and terrestrial environments because dental exams of their teeth indicate a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and leaves. On the contrary members of the Paranthropus primates have fossils that have also been recognized these fossils have been found in places like: Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa which are dated as far back as 2.8 – 1MYA. This species was thought to have been robust in terms of features relating to eating/chewing. It was discovered this species has a skull features that indicate important chewing muscles, broad dished out faces, and large cheek bones. All traits point to diets that consist largely of vegetables, fruits, and any other foods thought to be found in open areas. 4. Explain why variation in skin color is of no use in defining human races. In trying to use information that I have learned over the course of the last few days, it would be no use in trying to define the human race based on skin color because all humans have essentially come from the same place meaning we have all developed through evolution. Basically my understanding was that people/ humans ultimately developed stronger or weaker pigment depending on where there lived after the evolved for instance darker people may have come from hotter places where a deeper or darker pigment was needed to protect a person from the sun. Or on the other hand a lighter person assumed lighter pigment because they did not live on a place so hot so their skin or pigment adapted to the area in which they lived. How to cite Be An Anthropologist, Papers

Strategic Management and Marketing Segmentation †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management and Marketing Segmentation. Answer: Introduction Marketing is one of the vital and necessary aspect of the business. To ensure the profitability in the m market through the successful selling of the products to the consumers the marketing is considered to be the key tool. Marketing can be defined as the management process which conceptualizes the transfers of the products and services to the customers. The marketing of any product is necessary for sustaining the products in the market in terms of acceptancy of the same by the consumers. In addition, the marketing helps the company to understand the target market along with the demand trends of the consumers. Therefore, marketing activities are considered to be the primary tools of the business. On the other hand, the marketing includes various activities from the market research to the promotion of the products. It needs to be mentioned that the marketing of the products and service is based on the strategies which enables the company to ensure the effective establishment of the pr oducts as well as the brand for successful business activities. The following report is concerned with the marketing plan of Adidas in the target as well as global market. Along with this, the following report also discusses the market research of the sportswear industry in terms of identifying the position of Adidas in the international market. Therefore, the structure of the report includes the complete company information with the necessary information for the marketing activities of the same in the competitive market. The marketing objective of Adidas is that it is a global brand in the industry of sports good wherein the strategic objective is to increase the share of market as to be the leader of the market. On the other hand, the financial objective of Adidas is to decrease the cost by 10% and improving the sustainability of the performance of the entire company as this will increase the net income annually by 15% (Guo et al., 2013). The basic objectives of Adidas are: To ensure cost competitiveness To-provide industry leading availability To enable late ordering To moderate the company infrastructure To increase the brand awards within the women for sports accessories To expand athletic identity of Adidas The goal of Adidas Company is to create a supply chain that will be flexible in nature and this will help them in maximizing the operational as well as financial performance of the company. Proper identification of the marketing goals of Adidas along with the set of objectives of marketing of Adidas is as follows: Sales objective is to deliver proper profitable growth of share of the market and become the leading sales companies in the industry of sports goods. The strategy is to properly establish proper relationships with the retailers who are leading in nature by offering the target customers by offering tailored and best services (Floh et al., 2014). In the retail market this will become the top retailers in the competitive market and this will help in delivering healthy as well as growth that are sustainable in nature as well. In the e commerce section, Adidas will establish properly sales that will be based on internet and the strategy is relating to the attracting, retaining the different customers by building proper capabilities of the e-commerce (Han et al., 2014). Profit objective is the second objective of Adidas wherein they will help in delivering best services to the customers that will be help them in decreasing the cost of the products by 10% and this will help them in expanding the business and targeting the customers in order to properly secure the long term success and growth that is sustainable in nature. Proper competitive advantage has to be gained by Adidas as this will help them in maintaining proper sustainability in the entire market. The profit is the main motive of all the companies in the competitive market wherein Adidas is the one company wherein they have gained proper customer base with proper implementation of different strategies as well as proper effectiveness and efficiency in the usage of the different technologies that are used by them. Pricing objective is the other objective as this will help in ensuring proper competitiveness in the cost of the various sport goods. This will help in providing and enabling modernization of the infrastructure. The strategies that will be used by Adidas are to allow the customers in reducing the supply and product chain costs. Adidas has to allow the customers to order different kinds of product closer at the time of sale by building proper infrastructure along with different systems as well as processes as this will support the growth of the organization. Adidas company has kept the pricing in such a way that it will help the company along with the customers in providing proper services to the customers (Kormann et al., 2016). Product objective is essential in nature for Adidas as this will help in maintaining proper sustainable growth as this will help them in providing the target customers the different kinds of brands that are desired by them. The products that will be delivered by Adidas have to be different from the competitor and this will help them in providing good image of their products in the competitive market. Proper evaluation of the competitors in the market is essential to be done by Adidas as this will help in maintaining proper sustainability along with being aware about the goals of the competitors (Perreault Jr, Cannon McCarthy, 2013). Market Research The market size of Adidas is the largest manufacturer of sportswear in Europe as well as the second largest in the entire world. The employment level of Adidas is approximately 60000 employees worldwide in the year 2016. The net sales of the entire Adidas group are amounted to 20 billion Euros in the year 2016 as well. The size of the market of Adidas is more than 25 billion Euros whereas the total market size of the sports industry is 90.9 billion Euros and the rate of growth in the market of Adidas is 15% (Mahdi et al., 2015). The market growth for sports and fitness industry is expected to reach US$231.7 billion by the end of 2024 as estimated by Global Industry Analysts. This growth can be attributed to the change of perception of a large segment of the population. The people are now living a healthier life style with increased participation in sports and fitness activities. It is assumed in the report that the Asia-Pacific region will reflect the fastest growth in the international market with a CAGR of 6.9% over the above stated period. The 2016 report reflects a registered growth of 10% and 6% respectively in the sports inspired footwear and apparel. However, the performance sportswear holds the top position in the industry in terms of market size with a market value of US$78 billion in 2016 (businessinsider.com (2017). In the year 2016, Adidas has improved the desirability of the brands as well as different products around the globe. As a result of this, Adidas has been able to increase the revenues strongly and this helped them in achieving net income that is more than I billion Euro for the first time in the entire history. The developments and the sales performance in the financial year of 2016 are as follows: The sales amount has reached 198 billion Euro wherein up to 18% on the neutral basis of the currency (Sackner Inman, 2016) The operating margin improves from 1.3pp to 7% The net income from the operations continuing climbs and hikes from 41% to 1.019 billion (Cross, Belich Rudelius, 2015) Management will help in proposing dividend of 2.00 per share Euro Considering the fact of performance of the sportswear industry in the global market it is found that the Adidas is leading in the second position in the fiscal year 2017. The total brad value of the company is 7.9 billion U.S Dollars whereas Nike is leading the industry with 29.6 billion U.S Dollar brand value in the global market (Appendix 4). The awareness within the people regarding the sportswear is increasing gradually, which is leading the sportswear industry to expand the market in the global context. For example, the brand Nike has been showing remarkable growth in its sales and business as the leading company of the sportswear industry. On the other hand, Adidas is lacking the strategic growth unlike Nike. Trend of sales of Adidas The trend of sales of Adidas has increased in the last few years specially in the year 2014 and the sales has reached a limit of more than 19 billion Euro that is a huge hike in the year 2015 and 2016 wherein in comparison to the other brands, Adidas has stood first and in regards with the category of the different products namely apparel, footwear as well as hardware, Adidas has scored the highest as well (Venter, Wright Dibb, 2015). There has been huge increase in the number of employees as well in Adidas as the employees in the year 2012 was 46,306 but in the year 2016 there has been huge rise in the number of employees to 60,617 employees (Turner, 2015). Adidas has been able to create proper competitive advantage in the competitive market and they have been able to create a proper brand image in the minds of the target customers as well. The social trend that has been created by Adidas has gained lot more publicity than other brands such as Nike and Puma. Adidas basically focuses on the trends of the customers that is followed by them as this helps them in creating proper value of their brand. The segmentation of the demographics helps in dividing the entire market into the basis of the group that is based on different variables like age as well as sex. Adidas has branded male range along with the clothing of female, shoes, body care along with eye care as well. The originals, performance and style help in providing different products for the particular segment. The psychographic segmentation helped Adidas into dividing the entire market into different groups that are based on social life as well as the characteristics of personality. Adidas generally focuses on the social class of individuals as the people within the social class have same kind of pattern of behavior. Adidas uses the strategies of user as well as benefit based strategies that will help in creating distinctive image in the minds of the customers. By properly providing value to the product quality Adidas is being able to maintain proper essence of the brand over the customers who are the target customer of Adidas (Baker Saren, 2016). Analysis of target customers and Competitors The main audiences who are the target audiences of Adidas is of the age of around 15-30 years old who are involved in any kind of discipline of sports. Adidas is one of the leading brands who prepare high quality and high end products for different sports and this will help in making the audiences interest about the different sports products at an affordable rate (Rudolph, 2016). Along with the audiences, there is smaller audience those who are not into sports but they shop in Adidas due to the logo and the brand name of Adidas and they purchase such shoes for the fashion statement as well. These are the individuals who are between the age group of 17-25 years of age both males and females of the middle class families. The target audiences of Adidas is more than Nike as the varieties of clothing along with accessories are more than in Nike and this attracts large group of individuals as well (Murti Sugiarto, 2014). The targeted group of Adidas come from upper middle class, middle class as well as the upper class family wherein the monthly income of the individuals should be more than 20,000 at least and the target audiences are the youngsters as well as the middle aged individuals who wear such Adidas shoes or other clothes for brand image and the big logo of Adidas as well. Ps of marketing of Adidas A proper mixture of the different plans as well as ideas that is followed by the representative of marketing as this will help Adidas in promoting proper brand or product that is defined as the marketing mix. The proper analysis of the marketing mix of Adidas helps in elaborating the different pricing, distribution as well as the advertising strategies of the products and services that has been used by the respective company (Robusti, 2017). Adidas has to properly analyze the different issues or the threats along with opportunities of the company as this will help the respective company in satisfying the demands of the customers along with providing them proper services in the future as well (Cordn, Leleux Lennox, 2017). There are different elements of the marketing mix of Adidas that are described as follows: Product wherein the core benefit is to satisfy the wants as well as needs of the customers and this will help in catering the different needs of the consumers as well. Adidas will uphold the brand name by constantly improving as well as upgrading the innovative features along with the quality to satisfy the wants of the customers. At present the women sportswear are trending in the global market. From the market research of the sportswear it is found that the trends of the women sportswear are increasing. Women around the globe are increasingly demanding the sportswear. Therefore, the marketing plan of the chosen company needs to focus on the trending active wear of women (Appendix 2) However, in the present scenario, Adidas has established itself as the strong sports apparel brand in comparison with other brands (Sundar Suresh, 2015). Price is the other criteria wherein Adidas is the brand of shopping and the target audiences of Adidas is the upper middle class along with high end consumers as well. Due to the proper style of Adidas along with design as well a promotions uses the prices that are skimming along with the pricing that is competitive in nature. For proper run of the mill products, Adidas has used the competitive pricing strategies while keeping in mind that the competitors of Adidas are Nike, Puma as well as Reebok (Aubert et al., 2016). However, there are products that are recently introduced in the competitive market and they are the ones that are designed uniquely as well. Adidas is the company that uses the strategy of proper skimming. Price skimming is the proper strategy wherein the marketer properly sets high price relatively for the different products and services and then lowering the price over time as well. The apparel department of Adidas uses the price skimming strategy and they are high priced as well that is due to the brand equity in the apparel market of Adidas as well. Place is the marketing mix of Adidas wherein Adidas has the own exclusive stores and there are many other stores in the competitive market that will be keeping and selling the Adidas apparels along with footwear on display. There is other online medium via fashion stores like the Myntra.com along with other official online website of Adidas as well (Reinhardt et al., 2014). On the other hand, there are various supermarkets where the company has the retail outlet. The company has its outlets and shops across the world which adds advantages for the company. At the same time the global competitor companies of the company are also having almost similar number of shops and retail stores around the world. However, Adidas is the second leading sportswear company in the esteemed industry. The place that had to be targeted by the Adidas Company has to be properly utilized as this will help them in understanding the weaknesses and understanding the strengths of the competitor companies as well . The channel of distribution of Adidas is shown as follows: Manufacturing Outlets of Adidas The end customers Manufacturing Proper Distributor Multi Brand Showroom Manufacturing Online as well as offline websites of fashion Website of Adidas The end customers Promotion is other marketing mix of Adidas wherein the promotion objective of Adidas is to become the top priority of sporting brands in the entire world. The promoting mix is wherein the top players who are the brand ambassadors of Adidas are Sachin Tendulkar, Lionel Messi, and Ronaldinho along with other players as well and Adidas is the brand that sponsors the different teams along with some top players of the top teams as well. The football teams that are sponsored by Adidas are France, Real Madrid as well as Great Britain. On the other hand, there are cricket teams as well that are sponsored by Adidas such as England and South Africa as well. The proper advertisements are done with the help of the social media and through mass media as well with the proper usage of internet as nothing is impossible without proper campaigning as well. People is the other marketing mix that is used by Adidas wherein the proper targeting of the different audiences is essential and important in nature as this will help them run the business smoothly in the present as well as future. Proper employees are essential in nature for Adidas to be the top leading sportswear companies in the entire world. Adidas has to properly target and segment different kind of customers as this will help them in managing the entire customer base which is an essential part to run the business smoothly in the near future. The front line staffs who are in the core sales department to the top and higher officials in the organization are the ones who should be provided with proper importance as they are the ones who are desirable in nature for the different offerings of the business along with the business that will be offered to the customers are important part as well. Process is the other marketing mix of Adidas wherein the proper delivery of the different products and services to the customers is essential and it is important to understand the payment that is provided by the customers for the different goods and services. It has to be properly checked by the respective company whether the service or the product that is delivered by Adidas is again the part of the payment that is made by the customers in the future. Physical Evidence is the last marketing mix of Adidas that includes different physical elements that can be tangible in nature along with products that are intangible in nature as well. The Adidas company provides proper services that are tangible as well as intangible in nature wherein the services that are provided to the clients along with the physical presence of the different products that are sold by Adidas to their customers. The customers will become the target customers when there will be proper delivery of the goods and services and when the customers will be satisfied about the brand as well (Atwal Williams, 2017). There are different competitors of Adidas that are Nike, Puma, Fila, Umbro wherein Adidas is the first largest competitor in the sporting brands companies and this will help them in maintaining proper establishment of the strong brand for the different apparels for the sports. The brand ambassadors of Adidas are ore in comparison with the other brands in the competitive market and this helps in becoming the leading companies in the whole world. Financial Information of Adidas The financial plan as per Adidas annual report 2015 seeks to increase the sales development at a stable rate between 10% - 12%. The expected capital expenditure for the year 2016 is to be around 750 million. The figure 5 reflects the complete finance plan for 2016 (adidas-group.com, 2017b). The 2015 annual report in the figure 6 reflects successful outcome of the implementation of financial plan. Their gross capital expenditure was below the expected margin. Moreover, they successfully decreased their gross bowworing by 12%. The success in finance plan for the year 2016 can be attributed various implementation process that was previously introduced in 2015. They continued the already implemented strategies along with some of the new ones. Implementation of the modified corporate governance regulations of the code helped them better monitoring the organizational performance. The second attribute can be given to the executive board for successful implementation of the management, determining groups strategic orientation and agree with the supervisory board. They further implemented the law of equality for the participation of women and men in leadership that potentially increased the employee performance by motivating the female employees in the organization. They sold their Mitchell Ness brand and are planning to sell the golf brands TaylorMade, Adams Golf and Ashworth. These two were major strategic decision made by Adidas allowed the company to center its focus even more strongly on the core competenci es in the areas of footwear and apparel. This helped them in achieving their target ofr the year 016. Moreover, Kasper Rorsted was assigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Adidas, which ensured the transition at the helm of the company to be as smooth as possible. It further ensured the position of the company for the financial year of 2016 and many more years to come. The success of the financial success for 2016 can also be attributed to the partners of Adidas in the world of sports and the consistent customers (adidas-group.com, 2017a). Conclusion Therefore, it can be inferred that Adidas is one of the leading markets in the entire competitive market wherein there are major players such as Nike, Fila, Puma and Umbro. The share of the market of Adidas is the highest in the entire market and the sales has increased to a great extent of about 9% and the revenues has increased to 17% in the first quarter for a record of 4.1 billion Euro. There has been a different kind of innovations that has been made by Adidas wherein the other competitors do not have such innovative strategies and this has created a huge impact on the entire customers base as well as the competitors. From the market analysis along with the market goals as well as strategies, it can be concluded that Adidas is tailored for the trendy, comfortable as well as active lifestyle of the adults as well as teenagers that are conclusive in nature. Lastly, it can concluded that Adidas can strengthen the presence in the entire target group through social networking sites as well as through other online mediums as this will help them in gaining strong customer base in the near future. References adidas-group.com (2017a). Annual Report 2016 Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://www.adidas-group.com/media/filer_public/a3/fb/a3fb7068-c556-4a24-8eea-cc00951a1061/2016_eng_gb.pdf adidas-group.com (2017b). Annual Report 2015 Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://www.adidas-group.com/media/filer_public/e9/73/e973acf3-f889-43e5-b3c0-bc870d53b964/2015_gb_en.pdf Atwal, G., Williams, A. (2017). Luxury brand marketingthe experience is everything!. InAdvances in Luxury Brand Management(pp. 43-57). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Aubert, B. A., Saunders, C., Wiener, M., Denk, R., Wolfermann, T. (2016). How adidas Realized Benefits from a Contrary IT Multisourcing Strategy.MIS Quarterly Executive,15(3). Baker, M. J., Saren, M. (Eds.). (2016).Marketing theory: a student text. Sage. Cordn, C., Leleux, B., Lennox, B. (2017, September). Adidas Russia/CIS and the Russian crisis: retrench or double down (Abridged case series). InSupply Chain Forum: An International Journal(pp. 1-9). Taylor Francis. Cross, J. C., Belich, T. J., Rudelius, W. (2015). How marketing managers use market segmentation: An exploratory study. InProceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham. Dolnicar, S., Ring, A. (2014). Tourism marketing research: Past, present and future.Annals of Tourism Research,47, 31-47. Dolnicar, S., Grn, B., Leisch, F., Schmidt, K. (2014). Required sample sizes for data-driven market segmentation analyses in tourism.Journal of Travel Research,53(3), 296-306. Floh, A., Zauner, A., Koller, M., Rusch, T. (2014). Customer segmentation using unobserved heterogeneity in the perceived-valueloyaltyintentions link.Journal of Business Research,67(5), 974-982. Guo, X., Ling, L., Yang, C., Li, Z., Liang, L. (2013). Optimal pricing strategy based on market segmentation for service products using online reservation systems: An application to hotel rooms.International Journal of Hospitality Management,35, 274-281. Han, S., Ye, Y., Fu, X., Chen, Z. (2014). Category role aided market segmentation approach to convenience store chain category management.Decision Support Systems,57, 296-308. Kormann, M., Arnese, C., Goussev, S., Steeds, J. T. (2016).U.S. Patent Application No. 15/195,694. Kormann, M., Holmes, C. E., Hoying, B., Brundage, A. M. (2016).U.S. Patent Application No. 15/130,012. Li, X. R., Meng, F., Uysal, M., Mihalik, B. (2013). Understanding China's long-haul outbound travel market: An overlapped segmentation approach.Journal of Business Research,66(6), 786-793. Mahdi, A., Abbas, M., Mazar, T. I., George, S. A. (2015). A comparative analysis of strategies and business models of Nike, Inc. and Adidas Group with special reference to competitive advantage in the context of a dynamic and competitive environment.International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research,6(3), 167-177. Murti, B. N., Sugiarto, Y. (2014).ANALISIS PENGARUH IKLAN DAN CELEBRITY ENDORSER TERHADAP CITRA MEREK DALAM MENINGKATKAN MINAT BELI PADA PRODUK SEPATU OLAH RAGA ADIDAS(Doctoral dissertation, Fakultas Ekonomika dan Bisnis). Perreault Jr, W., Cannon, J., McCarthy, E. J. (2013).Basic marketing. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Reinhardt, S. D., Wood, D. M., Wardlaw, A., Robinson, T. K., Whiteman, J. (2014).U.S. Patent Application No. 14/473,274. Robusti, G. A. (2017).U.S. Patent No. D794,293. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Rudolph, M. (2016). A Financial Analysis of the Sportswear Company Adidas AG. Sackner, M. A., Inman, D. M. (2016).U.S. Patent No. 9,462,975. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. shop.adidas.co.in. (2017). adidas Official Shop | adidas. [online] Available at: https://shop.adidas.co.in/#category- [Accessed 1 Nov. 2017]. Sundar, R., Suresh, N. (2015). Parameters Considered by Consumers Shopping and Issues at Adidas Online Store: A Case Study. Turner, T. (2015). German Sports Shoes, Basketball, and Hip Hop: The Consumption and Cultural Significance of the adidas Superstar, 19661988.Sport in History,35(1), 127-155. Venter, P., Wright, A., Dibb, S. (2015). Performing market segmentation: a performative perspective.Journal of Marketing Management,31(1-2), 62-83. Wilkinson, F. (Ed.). (2013).The dynamics of labour market segmentation. Elsevier. Zwick, C., Kirk, R. F., Dibenedetto, C., Dorschky, E. A., Eskofier, B. M., Schuldhaus, D., ... Sabberton, I. J. (2017).U.S. Patent No. 9,609,904. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. businessinsider.com (2017).The Growth of Sales in Sportswear.markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 25 November 2017, from https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/The-Growth-of-Sales-in-Sportswear-1002249734

Strategic Management and Marketing Segmentation †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Management and Marketing Segmentation. Answer: Introduction Marketing is one of the vital and necessary aspect of the business. To ensure the profitability in the m market through the successful selling of the products to the consumers the marketing is considered to be the key tool. Marketing can be defined as the management process which conceptualizes the transfers of the products and services to the customers. The marketing of any product is necessary for sustaining the products in the market in terms of acceptancy of the same by the consumers. In addition, the marketing helps the company to understand the target market along with the demand trends of the consumers. Therefore, marketing activities are considered to be the primary tools of the business. On the other hand, the marketing includes various activities from the market research to the promotion of the products. It needs to be mentioned that the marketing of the products and service is based on the strategies which enables the company to ensure the effective establishment of the pr oducts as well as the brand for successful business activities. The following report is concerned with the marketing plan of Adidas in the target as well as global market. Along with this, the following report also discusses the market research of the sportswear industry in terms of identifying the position of Adidas in the international market. Therefore, the structure of the report includes the complete company information with the necessary information for the marketing activities of the same in the competitive market. The marketing objective of Adidas is that it is a global brand in the industry of sports good wherein the strategic objective is to increase the share of market as to be the leader of the market. On the other hand, the financial objective of Adidas is to decrease the cost by 10% and improving the sustainability of the performance of the entire company as this will increase the net income annually by 15% (Guo et al., 2013). The basic objectives of Adidas are: To ensure cost competitiveness To-provide industry leading availability To enable late ordering To moderate the company infrastructure To increase the brand awards within the women for sports accessories To expand athletic identity of Adidas The goal of Adidas Company is to create a supply chain that will be flexible in nature and this will help them in maximizing the operational as well as financial performance of the company. Proper identification of the marketing goals of Adidas along with the set of objectives of marketing of Adidas is as follows: Sales objective is to deliver proper profitable growth of share of the market and become the leading sales companies in the industry of sports goods. The strategy is to properly establish proper relationships with the retailers who are leading in nature by offering the target customers by offering tailored and best services (Floh et al., 2014). In the retail market this will become the top retailers in the competitive market and this will help in delivering healthy as well as growth that are sustainable in nature as well. In the e commerce section, Adidas will establish properly sales that will be based on internet and the strategy is relating to the attracting, retaining the different customers by building proper capabilities of the e-commerce (Han et al., 2014). Profit objective is the second objective of Adidas wherein they will help in delivering best services to the customers that will be help them in decreasing the cost of the products by 10% and this will help them in expanding the business and targeting the customers in order to properly secure the long term success and growth that is sustainable in nature. Proper competitive advantage has to be gained by Adidas as this will help them in maintaining proper sustainability in the entire market. The profit is the main motive of all the companies in the competitive market wherein Adidas is the one company wherein they have gained proper customer base with proper implementation of different strategies as well as proper effectiveness and efficiency in the usage of the different technologies that are used by them. Pricing objective is the other objective as this will help in ensuring proper competitiveness in the cost of the various sport goods. This will help in providing and enabling modernization of the infrastructure. The strategies that will be used by Adidas are to allow the customers in reducing the supply and product chain costs. Adidas has to allow the customers to order different kinds of product closer at the time of sale by building proper infrastructure along with different systems as well as processes as this will support the growth of the organization. Adidas company has kept the pricing in such a way that it will help the company along with the customers in providing proper services to the customers (Kormann et al., 2016). Product objective is essential in nature for Adidas as this will help in maintaining proper sustainable growth as this will help them in providing the target customers the different kinds of brands that are desired by them. The products that will be delivered by Adidas have to be different from the competitor and this will help them in providing good image of their products in the competitive market. Proper evaluation of the competitors in the market is essential to be done by Adidas as this will help in maintaining proper sustainability along with being aware about the goals of the competitors (Perreault Jr, Cannon McCarthy, 2013). Market Research The market size of Adidas is the largest manufacturer of sportswear in Europe as well as the second largest in the entire world. The employment level of Adidas is approximately 60000 employees worldwide in the year 2016. The net sales of the entire Adidas group are amounted to 20 billion Euros in the year 2016 as well. The size of the market of Adidas is more than 25 billion Euros whereas the total market size of the sports industry is 90.9 billion Euros and the rate of growth in the market of Adidas is 15% (Mahdi et al., 2015). The market growth for sports and fitness industry is expected to reach US$231.7 billion by the end of 2024 as estimated by Global Industry Analysts. This growth can be attributed to the change of perception of a large segment of the population. The people are now living a healthier life style with increased participation in sports and fitness activities. It is assumed in the report that the Asia-Pacific region will reflect the fastest growth in the international market with a CAGR of 6.9% over the above stated period. The 2016 report reflects a registered growth of 10% and 6% respectively in the sports inspired footwear and apparel. However, the performance sportswear holds the top position in the industry in terms of market size with a market value of US$78 billion in 2016 (businessinsider.com (2017). In the year 2016, Adidas has improved the desirability of the brands as well as different products around the globe. As a result of this, Adidas has been able to increase the revenues strongly and this helped them in achieving net income that is more than I billion Euro for the first time in the entire history. The developments and the sales performance in the financial year of 2016 are as follows: The sales amount has reached 198 billion Euro wherein up to 18% on the neutral basis of the currency (Sackner Inman, 2016) The operating margin improves from 1.3pp to 7% The net income from the operations continuing climbs and hikes from 41% to 1.019 billion (Cross, Belich Rudelius, 2015) Management will help in proposing dividend of 2.00 per share Euro Considering the fact of performance of the sportswear industry in the global market it is found that the Adidas is leading in the second position in the fiscal year 2017. The total brad value of the company is 7.9 billion U.S Dollars whereas Nike is leading the industry with 29.6 billion U.S Dollar brand value in the global market (Appendix 4). The awareness within the people regarding the sportswear is increasing gradually, which is leading the sportswear industry to expand the market in the global context. For example, the brand Nike has been showing remarkable growth in its sales and business as the leading company of the sportswear industry. On the other hand, Adidas is lacking the strategic growth unlike Nike. Trend of sales of Adidas The trend of sales of Adidas has increased in the last few years specially in the year 2014 and the sales has reached a limit of more than 19 billion Euro that is a huge hike in the year 2015 and 2016 wherein in comparison to the other brands, Adidas has stood first and in regards with the category of the different products namely apparel, footwear as well as hardware, Adidas has scored the highest as well (Venter, Wright Dibb, 2015). There has been huge increase in the number of employees as well in Adidas as the employees in the year 2012 was 46,306 but in the year 2016 there has been huge rise in the number of employees to 60,617 employees (Turner, 2015). Adidas has been able to create proper competitive advantage in the competitive market and they have been able to create a proper brand image in the minds of the target customers as well. The social trend that has been created by Adidas has gained lot more publicity than other brands such as Nike and Puma. Adidas basically focuses on the trends of the customers that is followed by them as this helps them in creating proper value of their brand. The segmentation of the demographics helps in dividing the entire market into the basis of the group that is based on different variables like age as well as sex. Adidas has branded male range along with the clothing of female, shoes, body care along with eye care as well. The originals, performance and style help in providing different products for the particular segment. The psychographic segmentation helped Adidas into dividing the entire market into different groups that are based on social life as well as the characteristics of personality. Adidas generally focuses on the social class of individuals as the people within the social class have same kind of pattern of behavior. Adidas uses the strategies of user as well as benefit based strategies that will help in creating distinctive image in the minds of the customers. By properly providing value to the product quality Adidas is being able to maintain proper essence of the brand over the customers who are the target customer of Adidas (Baker Saren, 2016). Analysis of target customers and Competitors The main audiences who are the target audiences of Adidas is of the age of around 15-30 years old who are involved in any kind of discipline of sports. Adidas is one of the leading brands who prepare high quality and high end products for different sports and this will help in making the audiences interest about the different sports products at an affordable rate (Rudolph, 2016). Along with the audiences, there is smaller audience those who are not into sports but they shop in Adidas due to the logo and the brand name of Adidas and they purchase such shoes for the fashion statement as well. These are the individuals who are between the age group of 17-25 years of age both males and females of the middle class families. The target audiences of Adidas is more than Nike as the varieties of clothing along with accessories are more than in Nike and this attracts large group of individuals as well (Murti Sugiarto, 2014). The targeted group of Adidas come from upper middle class, middle class as well as the upper class family wherein the monthly income of the individuals should be more than 20,000 at least and the target audiences are the youngsters as well as the middle aged individuals who wear such Adidas shoes or other clothes for brand image and the big logo of Adidas as well. Ps of marketing of Adidas A proper mixture of the different plans as well as ideas that is followed by the representative of marketing as this will help Adidas in promoting proper brand or product that is defined as the marketing mix. The proper analysis of the marketing mix of Adidas helps in elaborating the different pricing, distribution as well as the advertising strategies of the products and services that has been used by the respective company (Robusti, 2017). Adidas has to properly analyze the different issues or the threats along with opportunities of the company as this will help the respective company in satisfying the demands of the customers along with providing them proper services in the future as well (Cordn, Leleux Lennox, 2017). There are different elements of the marketing mix of Adidas that are described as follows: Product wherein the core benefit is to satisfy the wants as well as needs of the customers and this will help in catering the different needs of the consumers as well. Adidas will uphold the brand name by constantly improving as well as upgrading the innovative features along with the quality to satisfy the wants of the customers. At present the women sportswear are trending in the global market. From the market research of the sportswear it is found that the trends of the women sportswear are increasing. Women around the globe are increasingly demanding the sportswear. Therefore, the marketing plan of the chosen company needs to focus on the trending active wear of women (Appendix 2) However, in the present scenario, Adidas has established itself as the strong sports apparel brand in comparison with other brands (Sundar Suresh, 2015). Price is the other criteria wherein Adidas is the brand of shopping and the target audiences of Adidas is the upper middle class along with high end consumers as well. Due to the proper style of Adidas along with design as well a promotions uses the prices that are skimming along with the pricing that is competitive in nature. For proper run of the mill products, Adidas has used the competitive pricing strategies while keeping in mind that the competitors of Adidas are Nike, Puma as well as Reebok (Aubert et al., 2016). However, there are products that are recently introduced in the competitive market and they are the ones that are designed uniquely as well. Adidas is the company that uses the strategy of proper skimming. Price skimming is the proper strategy wherein the marketer properly sets high price relatively for the different products and services and then lowering the price over time as well. The apparel department of Adidas uses the price skimming strategy and they are high priced as well that is due to the brand equity in the apparel market of Adidas as well. Place is the marketing mix of Adidas wherein Adidas has the own exclusive stores and there are many other stores in the competitive market that will be keeping and selling the Adidas apparels along with footwear on display. There is other online medium via fashion stores like the Myntra.com along with other official online website of Adidas as well (Reinhardt et al., 2014). On the other hand, there are various supermarkets where the company has the retail outlet. The company has its outlets and shops across the world which adds advantages for the company. At the same time the global competitor companies of the company are also having almost similar number of shops and retail stores around the world. However, Adidas is the second leading sportswear company in the esteemed industry. The place that had to be targeted by the Adidas Company has to be properly utilized as this will help them in understanding the weaknesses and understanding the strengths of the competitor companies as well . The channel of distribution of Adidas is shown as follows: Manufacturing Outlets of Adidas The end customers Manufacturing Proper Distributor Multi Brand Showroom Manufacturing Online as well as offline websites of fashion Website of Adidas The end customers Promotion is other marketing mix of Adidas wherein the promotion objective of Adidas is to become the top priority of sporting brands in the entire world. The promoting mix is wherein the top players who are the brand ambassadors of Adidas are Sachin Tendulkar, Lionel Messi, and Ronaldinho along with other players as well and Adidas is the brand that sponsors the different teams along with some top players of the top teams as well. The football teams that are sponsored by Adidas are France, Real Madrid as well as Great Britain. On the other hand, there are cricket teams as well that are sponsored by Adidas such as England and South Africa as well. The proper advertisements are done with the help of the social media and through mass media as well with the proper usage of internet as nothing is impossible without proper campaigning as well. People is the other marketing mix that is used by Adidas wherein the proper targeting of the different audiences is essential and important in nature as this will help them run the business smoothly in the present as well as future. Proper employees are essential in nature for Adidas to be the top leading sportswear companies in the entire world. Adidas has to properly target and segment different kind of customers as this will help them in managing the entire customer base which is an essential part to run the business smoothly in the near future. The front line staffs who are in the core sales department to the top and higher officials in the organization are the ones who should be provided with proper importance as they are the ones who are desirable in nature for the different offerings of the business along with the business that will be offered to the customers are important part as well. Process is the other marketing mix of Adidas wherein the proper delivery of the different products and services to the customers is essential and it is important to understand the payment that is provided by the customers for the different goods and services. It has to be properly checked by the respective company whether the service or the product that is delivered by Adidas is again the part of the payment that is made by the customers in the future. Physical Evidence is the last marketing mix of Adidas that includes different physical elements that can be tangible in nature along with products that are intangible in nature as well. The Adidas company provides proper services that are tangible as well as intangible in nature wherein the services that are provided to the clients along with the physical presence of the different products that are sold by Adidas to their customers. The customers will become the target customers when there will be proper delivery of the goods and services and when the customers will be satisfied about the brand as well (Atwal Williams, 2017). There are different competitors of Adidas that are Nike, Puma, Fila, Umbro wherein Adidas is the first largest competitor in the sporting brands companies and this will help them in maintaining proper establishment of the strong brand for the different apparels for the sports. The brand ambassadors of Adidas are ore in comparison with the other brands in the competitive market and this helps in becoming the leading companies in the whole world. Financial Information of Adidas The financial plan as per Adidas annual report 2015 seeks to increase the sales development at a stable rate between 10% - 12%. The expected capital expenditure for the year 2016 is to be around 750 million. The figure 5 reflects the complete finance plan for 2016 (adidas-group.com, 2017b). The 2015 annual report in the figure 6 reflects successful outcome of the implementation of financial plan. Their gross capital expenditure was below the expected margin. Moreover, they successfully decreased their gross bowworing by 12%. The success in finance plan for the year 2016 can be attributed various implementation process that was previously introduced in 2015. They continued the already implemented strategies along with some of the new ones. Implementation of the modified corporate governance regulations of the code helped them better monitoring the organizational performance. The second attribute can be given to the executive board for successful implementation of the management, determining groups strategic orientation and agree with the supervisory board. They further implemented the law of equality for the participation of women and men in leadership that potentially increased the employee performance by motivating the female employees in the organization. They sold their Mitchell Ness brand and are planning to sell the golf brands TaylorMade, Adams Golf and Ashworth. These two were major strategic decision made by Adidas allowed the company to center its focus even more strongly on the core competenci es in the areas of footwear and apparel. This helped them in achieving their target ofr the year 016. Moreover, Kasper Rorsted was assigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Adidas, which ensured the transition at the helm of the company to be as smooth as possible. It further ensured the position of the company for the financial year of 2016 and many more years to come. The success of the financial success for 2016 can also be attributed to the partners of Adidas in the world of sports and the consistent customers (adidas-group.com, 2017a). Conclusion Therefore, it can be inferred that Adidas is one of the leading markets in the entire competitive market wherein there are major players such as Nike, Fila, Puma and Umbro. The share of the market of Adidas is the highest in the entire market and the sales has increased to a great extent of about 9% and the revenues has increased to 17% in the first quarter for a record of 4.1 billion Euro. There has been a different kind of innovations that has been made by Adidas wherein the other competitors do not have such innovative strategies and this has created a huge impact on the entire customers base as well as the competitors. 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