Adidas Product Innovation

Adidas Product Innovation Introduction: Adidas is German Company and was named after its founder Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf Dassler in 1948. Adidas is one of the most popular sports manufacturers as Mr Adolf Dassler understands the need of athletes’. He had simple vision for his company to provide athletes best products with three guiding principles: produce the best shoe with sport requirement, protect the athlete from injury and make the product durable. There more than 700 products related with sports and this has created Adidas Kingdom of the sporting goods. A part of Adidas Group is Reebok sportswear. The company also produces eyewear, watches, shirts, bags and clothing related to sports. Adidas’s current official logo consists of three parallel bars. The three stripes become a brand name in 1949 and with the help of Olympics held in 1952 where more sportsperson wore Adidas than another shoe, the company began to grow. Adidas has contributed to the development of the Olympic Games. Adidas main aim is to continuously progress their quality and image of their product in order to exceed consumer expectations and to provide them with the highest value of satisfaction. Hermann Deininger, CMO of Adidas comments on Originals by Originals that â€Å"when we enter into any new partnership for Adidas Originals, It is essential to offer something truly unique and new for our consumer† (www.press.adidas.com) Based on Adidas objectives of innovation and design leader I have been asked to devise a new product for Adidas and develop a marketing strategy. The product which I would like to introduce is called ADIPATCH to be launched and sold in Pakistan after the successful business and environmental analysis. Description of ‘ADIPATCH’: Adipatch is a pain reliever that uses heat therapy for the relief of stiffness and muscular pains. It is been developed for Adidas for players and for the people who uses gym regularly and suffer muscular pains. The warming effect of Adipatch heat penetrates into muscle helping to stimulate blood circulation. This patch last for up to eight hours and can be used for the relief of backache, sprains, and joints stiffness. It is easy and cost-effective way to get back o your active lifestyle. Adipatch is designed to be used on the skin where athlete wants the heat to be applied. Our Adipatch standard size is 3.55 inches. It is easy and cost-effective way to get back o your active lifestyle. Recommended use of ADIPATCH: To relieve joint and back pain To relieve shoulder and neck pain To relieve sore and aching muscles, To relieve knee pain For long hours office work, long haul flights and long driving Marketing Objective for ADIPATCH: Launch a new product and it development Earn the market share and increase in sales Allow Adidas to gain greater recognition Market development Business and Environmental Analysis: Market oriented firms’ looks outward to the environment in which it operates adapting to take advantage of emerging opportunities and to minimize potential threats (Jobber 1995). I decided to launch ADIPATCH in Pakistan and I would like to do two analyses. First to launch our product we need to do Pest analysis to know the political, economical, sociological and technological conditions of Pakistan to know whether it’s feasible to launch Adipatch in Pakistan or not. Pakistan is located in south Asia. Pakistan is sixth most populous country in the world. Pakistan’s approximate population by July 2009 is 174,579,000. Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan in population size and then Lahore. National sport of Pakistan is hockey but cricket is more popular. Pakistan economically and politically is not stable. Fiscal deficit as targeted in 2009 is 5.5 percent of GDP, which was 7.4 percent in 2008 fiscal but still enjoy sports.Pakistan is rapidly developing country. The second deals with the issues analysed in the area were we have to look into market, competitors, customer’s needs and wants, buying behaviour, brand loyalty and segmentation. Michael Porter’s five force model is used to critically analyse this part and results showed that Adidas has opportunity to launch its new product ADIPATCH in Pakistan. An environmental scanning was carried out and results showed that Adidas is more responsive to the customer’s needs and opportunities identified could help Adidas lip frog competitors. Growth Objectives: Guzman (2005) quoted Yogi Berra in his book â€Å"if you don’t know where you are going you will end up somewhere else.† Asnoff provided a framework to identify growth opportunities, determination of scope (Croft 1998). He has identified four generic growth strategies such as market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. Asnoff pointed that diversification strategy stands apart from three strategies. It is a form of growth strategy which helps to increase profitability through new products and markets. In current circumstances, Adidas objective is to develop new product of potential interest to its current market. It is well known that Adidas is an international company with market all over the world including Pakistan. The important issue for success in going down this road is the profitability of the customer group for which the product is being developed. Secondly Adidas has a strong brand that can be comfortably applied to the product. Market segmentation, Target Market, Positioning: Market segmentation provides the basis for the selection of target markets. A target market is chosen segment of market which a company has decided to serve. As customers in the target market segments have similar characteristic, a single marketing mix strategy can developed to match those requirements. Creative segmentation may result in identification of new segments that have not been served adequately. Market segmentation refers to subdividing a market along some commonality, similararity or kinship. Adidas as an international company, we can segment Pakistani market on following basis: Size: Pakistan’s population is approx hundred and seventy four million and 45% are of the age of 25-45 years old and interested in sports. Identification: Through the survey it was identified that the 50% people of the above group age 28-40 are involve in sports activities. This age group have healthy routine. Age 28-40 are involved in some sports such as cricket, hockey and badminton and 40-45 enjoy long walks in the park to keep themselves fit and suffer from muscular pains. Importance: by market research I have found out that Adipatch features are important for the age group 28-40 because this group suffer more from muscular pains and to the doctors for treatment. Adipatch can help them to get relieve of the pain or sore. Accessibility: during my research I found out there are good channel of communication that can be use to make the customers aware such as sports magazines, TV, health clubs. After segmenting the market, the next step to move on is positioning in the mind of customers of new product. The objective is to create and maintain a distinctive place in the market for company or for its products (Sampson, 1981). In Pakistan age group 28-40 meet these characteristics. Positioning describes how the target market is selected and evaluation by customers in comparison with competitors such as ‘deep heat’ and nurofen back pain heat patch sold in Pakistan. Adidas chose a positioning strategy that seeks to differentiation from competitors with regards of product characteristics to increase sales. This will facilitate Adidas to maintain market stand and charge premium prices. Product Development Process: Organisations do not operate in static environment but they are constantly facing the consequences of changing technology, changing customer’s taste and preferences and changing competitor’s products. Any organization that is positively managing its product portfolio will recognise that its existing products are in different stages of their lifecycle and can be modified to maximise its potential. It is important part of product strategy new product development can be very risky business. The foundation of for successful new product development is the creation of corporate culture that promotes and rewards innovation. Effective new product development is based upon creating and nurturing an innovation culture, organizing effectively for new product development, and managing the new product development process. Development of Adipatch follow consists of following steps: Idea generation: Any new product has to start from somewhere as a germ of an idea. Adipatch is a new product. The objective is to motivate the search for ideas so that salespeople are aware of this product Screening: having developed new product ideas need to be screened to evaluate their commercial worth. After screening of a range of ideas it was found that Adipatch will be worth if produced with an early pay back. The calculation of the payback is found in the capital investment section of this assignment. Concept testing: once the product idea has been accepted, it can be framed into specific concept for testing with potential. Product testing is focuses on the practical aspect of the product. At this survey was conducted to get the views of the customers. Business analysis: based upon the results of concept test estimate of sales, cost and profit will be made. After budgeting Adipatch has identified the target market, its size and projected product acceptance over number of years. Product development: at this stage the new product concept is developed into a physical product. Adipatch is developed into a physical product through the research and manufacturing unit, Market testing: market testing takes measurement of customer acceptance .The main idea is to launch Adipatch in a limited way so the customer’s responses in the market can be assessed. Commercialization: this stage relies on marketing management making clear choice regarding targeting market and development of marketing strategy. This is final stage of Adipatch where it can be brought to market. Adidas will need to decide when and where to launch Adipatch and its launching plan. Market mix for Adipatch: Based upon understanding of customers, a company develops its marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of four major elements: product, price, promotion and place. These 4Ps are the four key decisions are that company must manage so that they satisfy customers needs better (Kotler, 2005) According to Adidas website their marketing strategy is based on 4Ps which is also called the marketing mix. We can use market mix for Adipatch as follows: Product: Adipatch is a new product introduced in Pakistan for people who are into sports. It alleviates muscular pain and regulates blood circulation using heat therapy. Price: Price is a vital element of the marketing mix as it represents on a unit basis what the company receives for the product which is being marketed (Parry, 2005). The product will be charge at same price compared to Deep heat and Nurofen heat patch. This will help Adidas to maintain standards and to compete in the market with existing products. The price per box of Adipatch will cost 300 Pakistani rupees Promotion: Customers need to be aware of the new product. Means of communication to be use such as to advertise on TV, magazines and in radio. Place: Involves the decision with reference to supply of Adipatch to the target market. This will concentrate on more using retailer and sport shops, Adidas outlets, health clubs, doctor’s clinic. Costing For Adipatch: Investment in Pakistani Rupees Package design 29,000,000 Test Marketing 8,800,000 Product Manufacturing 100,000,000 Distribution Cost 21,000,000 Storage Cost 9,000,000 Press Release 6,800,000 Raw Material 18,000,000 Handling Cost 9,000,000 Total 201,600,800 Adipatch per unit price is 300pkr with the variable cost of 130pkr. The contribution expected to be 280pkr. The number of units of Adipatch expected to be sold each year for next 5 years is as follows: Years Units Year one 200,000 Year two 230,000 Year three 280,000 Year four 300,000 Year five 290,000 The contributions for the next five years are expected to be as follows: Year Revenue Investment Cumulative Profit (Millions) (Millions) (Millions) 0 201,600,800 1 57,000,000 57,000,000 2 65,550,000 122,550,000 3 79,800,000 202,350,000 4 85,500,000 287,850,000 5 82,650,000 350,500,000 According to the analysis Adidas will get their investment back within approximately in three year time.However, Adidas should introduce more features to Adipatch because of changing environment and trends to sports and injuries to sports people References: Barand Strategy (2004), Dasani Withdrawn, Brand Strategy, 6Apr, p.7 Cramb,C (1999), ‘Grolsch Targets Mature Markets’, Financial Times 10Febrary, p.35 Croft, M(1998), Time to Nurture Creativity, Marketing week, pp40-1 Guzman, D(2005), â€Å"Innovative Products Deliver Fresh Growth for Oral Care† Chemical Market Reporter , 9-15 May pp.34-5 Kotler .P (2005), Marketing Management, Prentice Hall. Jobber David (1995), Principles and Practice of Marketing, McGraw-hill. Mitchell, A. (2005), ‘After Some Innovation? Maybe You Just Need to Ask Around’, Marketing Week, 16june, p.28 Parry .(2005), ‘New Production Development: There’s Many Slip’, Marketing Week, 02june,p.24 Sampson. ( 1992), People are People the World Over: The Case for the Psychological Marketing Segmentation, Market and Research Today. Watts. G (1998) Asnoff’s matrix, pain and gain: Growth Strategies and Adaptive, International journal of entrepreneurial behaviour and research, vol4, pp101-111 www.press.adidas.com.

Angethlor Wimberly

Valerie Young is a marketing manager for Wisson, a fragrance company headquartered in Chicago. While working for Wisson, Valerie discovers information that questions her ethics and places her in compromising dilemmas. The discovery contributes to the stressors she experiences. Her manager, Mr. Lionel Waters, was hired by Wisson for his successful contributions to the female fragrance industry. Mr. Waters is responsible for the stressors experienced by Valerie. While working in the U. S. n a working visa, Valerie provides organizational, marketing and financial skills for Wisson. She continues to produce quality work after the downsizing of her department. As a newly accepted student for the master's of science program at the University of Chicago she is grateful to her company for tuition reimbursement if she receives A's and B's in her classes. She has a type B personality. She sees the big picture of her actions and others and does not react quickly when involved in situations. She has a boyfriend who is neutral to her job and provides advice when she needs it.He is someone who she can rely on for confidentiality. Mr. Waters has over 14 years with Wisson. Upon hiring, Waters hired two close friends and gave them salaries beyond company policy. He has a Type A personality. He is more concerned with the amount of money he is making rather than how he is making it. He spends most of his time spending as much of the company money as he can and as quickly as possible. He shows up to work when he wants to and leaves the team he is suppose to be heading in the dark. They are left alone without a mentor or someone to provide professional guidance.In an effort to make copies, Valerie noticed someone left the copier machine jammed. While trying to remove the jammed papers, she discovers paperwork relating to Waters. The papers were invoices for two fragrance companies owned by Waters. Apparently, Waters stopped working with previous fragrance companies and dealt strict ly with his own to gain money and kickbacks for new products put out by Wisson. After the discovery, Valerie went home to talk it over with her boyfriend. She needed a way to release the anger she felt inside. She knew that it was against company policy for customers to accept bribes and kickbacks.Many questions ran through her mind which contributed to stress. She wondered if other members of the team were aware of the situation, is it common practice for an employee to have a financial interest of such with the company. The knowledge of the paperwork she found placed Valerie in a difficult dilemma which questioned her ethics. If she confronted Wisson with her findings she could risk losing her job. Wisson may have a good relationship with Waters. Waters was hired because of his success rate. Valerie could be replaced. Wisson may know what is taking place at his company.If Valeries loses her job she will have 30 days to be hired with another company or face deportation. If another company were to consider hiring Valerie, they would inquire a lot of paperwork and the U. S. has made it difficult and expensive for them to do so. Deportation could mean losing her chance to attend a Master’s of Science program she was accepted at. Wisson has agreed to reimburse for every â€Å"A† and â€Å"B† grade she receives at the University of Chicago. Valerie has a good relationship with her team mates at work. She will miss the camaraderie and friendships they have built among themselves.Leaving the U. S. would also mean leaving her boyfriend who has supported her and has been her confidant when she needed someone to talk to. Valerie did confront Waters about allowing other fragrance companies an opportunity. An agreement from Waters would alleviate the stress and ease her conscious of not turning in Waters. The fear of a broken relationship with her colleges due to her dropping the ball on the supervisor will no longer linger in her mind. Valerie could choose to keep her mouth shut. A higher degree could mean more opportunities for her career.Even though her boss, Waters, lacks good management skills and leadership principles the formed friendships she experiences with her colleagues will last a life time. Waters would show up late to meetings, overspend on launching events, cancel meetings at the last minute and rarely showed up at work. The other team members were used to it and learned to be more efficient and productive without their team leader, Waters. Good advice for Valerie is to keep mouth shut for now. Keep a log book of everything that goes on. She is single with no kids and she is capable of getting a Master’s degree within 12-15 months.While obtaining degree, look for another job and apply for citizenship. With a Master’s degree, she will have a lot to contribute to the U. S. and this fact may assist her with obtaining citizenship. Before leaving the company and after receiving degree, contact Wisson an d disclose the information. Allow Wisson to make the decision and remind him of your degree. The door may be open for her to replace Water’s. Valerie is eager to learn about perfuming and she has a good working relationship with the employees who did all the work while Water’s wasted company’s money and took vacations.

Germany and Sweden as Cmes

To what extent would you regard Germany and Sweden as coordinated market economies? 1. Introduction In an era where internationalism is contemporary, it has become crucial for countries to liberalize markets and renovate traditional structures. This is particularly important for countries whose social values and economic relationships are based on public coordination. This essay is going to explore the degree to which we consider Germany and Sweden as modern coordinated market economies, and the changes brought about in recent decades.To assess the changes we shall look at trends in trade union and employers’ association participations, collective bargaining reforms, training systems amendments, renewals in corporate governance and fluctuations of wage inequality; first by uncovering the basics in each element and then evaluating their stability in relation to globalization. 1. 1 What is a coordinated market economy (CME)?Being one of the wings of capitalism in which industria l relations and economic conditions are measured, as Bamber, Lansbury and Wailes (2011) state, CMEs can be used as â€Å"an approach for comparing†¦different countries, [with this comparison, it allows us] the understanding of convergence and/or divergence† between different economies. And in each of the key elements we mentioned, companies in CMEs resolve problems through relational, non-market based strategies and the outcome will be strongly dependent upon co-operation with supporting institutions. . 1 Past dominance of trade unions and employers’ associations A key feature of a CME is the dominance of employers’ association and trade unions within the country’s industrial relations; both Germany and Sweden have had a high degree of centralization during the 1980s. Trade unions were a powerful, acting as representative for labour in large corporations and also intermediaries of employment between labour and employers.A common characteristic is tha t the labour unions in the two countries manage institutions for all labour participation; Hancke (1996) states that in Germany, three quarters â€Å"of the members of works councils are union members and they coordinate actions with the labour union sections (Vertrauensleute). In Sweden, local â€Å"shopfloor clubs† (Verkstadsklubben) not only negotiate company agreements with the firm†¦[but also] recruit every newly arrived worker†.On the other hand, employers’ associations were also well-managed in both countries for a long post-war period; German industry federations are able to authorize private firms that are even no longer part of central arrangements on cases involved in collective bargaining, employee training and other social policies. In Sweden, Kurzer (1993) finds, â€Å"large companies in the export sector are part of financial conglomerates holding, which allows for high coordination capacities amongst large firms†. 2. 2 Recent trends i n membershipsHowever, both countries have become less concentrated in the recent decades as both have experienced less union and association densities for the massive individualization of enterprises and the falling popularity of collective agreements – now with the society seeing less value of group negotiations, which makes the industrial relations less compact compared to before. In Germany, both employers’ associations and trade unions have been experiencing a slump in the number of members since late 1990s.This is particularly evident in industries from Eastern Germany, where many organisations have resigned or become reluctant to join associations and took preference in company level negotiations. Shroeder and Silvia (2007) use the Metals Industry Employers’ Association to exemplify that employment density in Eastern Germany has fallen more severely than Western Germany. We can notice from the diagram below that since 1992, the percentage of Eastern associ ation density has decreased dramatically from over 65%, down to less than 25% in a decade.After the German unification, union members have clearly declined, Eurofound (2009) shows that â€Å"from 1991 to 1998, German Trade Unions lost almost 3. 5 million members†. The majority of these resignations were found to be eastern German labour, Eurofound states, â€Å"leaving the unions because of unemployment and disillusion with the western-type unionism†. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013) further shows the downward sloping of German Trade Unionists density since 1999; from 25. 3% it has dismounted to 18. 8% in 2009.The main cause for this trend is due to the loss of traditional dominant union memberships in manufacturing industries and public sectors, worsened by issues in persuading younger generation in the expanding service industries within private sector. Hence, the value of collective agreements has been called into que stion as it is becoming extremely difficult to positively coordinate the relations between employers’ associations and trade unions. This is predominant in â€Å"a growing number of private services industries†, Eurofound informs, where â€Å"concluding collective agreements at all has shown to be increasingly difficult or not realizable†.Unlike Germany, Sweden on the other hand has dealt with much higher historical density in trade union members which suffered recent decline but continuously concentrated employers’ associations; the decrease in trade unionists is spread evenly between white-collar and blue-collar workers, men and women, and more problematic amongst the younger working generation who have less regard for unions – a drop in the private sector from 78% in 1993 to 65% in 2009 as shown in the table above; â€Å"the decrease in membership is mainly due to the government’s amendments of the fees to the unemployment benefits in Ja nuary 2007†, presented by Kjellberg (2007); the main objective to significantly amending the funds was to â€Å"to persuade unions with high fund fees to be more moderate in wage negotiations†. As for employers’ associations, unlike trade unions, its density has been rather stable over the years, with only 2% drop from 1995, private sector labour in 2009 has still got over 75% density in employers’ associations.Therefore, when compared to Germany, Sweden has a higher degree of coordination in balancing the density of the two sides of its industrial relations over the years, and has remained rather stable; if not long-term then this rather forecasts the near future of these two economies – the summary being Germany becoming more market-oriented with less collective participation of its social partners, whereas the Swedish economy is more likely to maintain a coordinated market in this sense. 2. 3 Decentralization of collective bargaining In this sect ion we will discover that the industrial relations within both countries are becoming more decentralized in the second half of 21st century as the level of collective bargaining decreases, and therefore moving further away from a coordinated market system;The initiation of Germany’s decentralization has actually long been observed by researchers since early post-war periods. Many have argued that the main outcome of this renewal was to avoid the rise of another â€Å"centralized super-state†, says Johnson (1973). In hope this will bring separated powers of legislation, politics and administration between the government, the federated states and the local authorities, to produce the ideal, ‘good government’. Following such perception, the German economy has been made key amendments in its industrial relations policies – extending its collective bargaining with opening clauses into agreements within sectoral level, making terms more flexible and less controversial.This has been seen as an improvement to prevent organisations from completely abandoning the usage of collective conditions. Such clauses were put into four categories listed by Schnabel (1998): 1) Hardship Clauses; enabling companies to be exempted from certain industry-level bargaining when facing bankruptcy and show signs of making viable strategies for future. 2) Clauses with Veto Rights; these give social partners such as managers and works council to negotiate particular agreements related to individual firms. 3) Clauses without Veto Rights; unlike the previous category, these clauses empower plant-level social partners to terminate collective terms that show signs of irrelevance with industry-level agreements. ) Small Enterprise Clauses; giving special treatment to small companies facing economic downturn by allowing them to set wages below the minimum level which was collectively agreed upon. In terms of the distribution of such opening clauses, the IAB Institu te for Employment Research (2005) shows that more than  Ã¢â‚¬Å"13% of the companies surveyed in both eastern and western Germany that are covered by collective bargaining confirmed that opening clauses exist in their collective agreements. Of these establishments, 52% made use of opening clauses in 2005†. However, even with such adjustments in the system, the use of opening clauses will rely heavily on the economic situation of the specific organisation. When the figures are favorable, then such clauses will be implemented less often.Compared to its neighbouring countries, Sweden has showed early signs of decentralization beginning late 1980s with government sharing more responsibilities with local administration; the most symbolic being the release of ‘free communes’, as mentioned by De Vries (2000), a system â€Å"in which a limited number of communes and counties were allowed to apply for dispensation of state laws, rules and regulations†. Together wit h the downsized central government, closer attention was then paid to market forces and began the establishment of â€Å"hollow states†. One of the nationwide movements was the erosion of collective bargaining within the past two decades, as social partners have become more willing to pass on the negotiation on wages and working hours to local level. For instance, certain terms on wages are left intentionally ambiguous to let the local level authority take charge and decide on the specific figures on final rates and figures.However, there still remains a high degree of controversy as employers harshly pursue a improvements in the bargaining system while attempting to take payment agreements to local levels – making to extremes in manual industries such as negotiating wages individually; the state is facing difficulties to respond to these demands, because from the perspective of economists, it is most ideal to be either highly centralized or as it was before, greatly d ecentralized, not somewhere in between. When making decisions, as debated by Eurofound (2009), parties at national level will consider the economy as a whole and correspond with a collective responsibility, whereas with enterprise leveled agreements, only individual firms’ stakes are considered – but when placed in the middle, parties often lose the acuteness in authority.The national coverage of collective terms remains a high figure in recent period; reported by Eurofound (2009), as much as 92% in 2001 and 91% in 2007 – however, such coverage figures is extremely misleading in this case with the decreasing rate of unionists and employers associations in Swenden – that is, although remaining high above EU average and constantly used as an indicator to measure the strength of bargaining powers and the extent of benefits received by social partners, less of them are actually being bounded by collective agreements in recent years, making the coverage less e ffective. 2. 4 Transforming education and training One of the most noticeable features of a CME is its highly proficient education and training system; the purpose is to have an extremely skilled labour force with skills specific to the industry or enterprise in which they are employed in. Culpepper (2001) states that in order for companies to coordinate employee capabilities and for workers to receive beneficial employment, there are various ways how a CME manages its training systems;In Germany, the responsibility of training and education is shared amongst firms and public authorities, â€Å"organized on a co-operative, tripartite basis†, referred by Hoffmann (2004); the German â€Å"Dual-system†, is acknowledged as world’s leading model for high-quality training, business practices and theoretical learning. The foundation of the dual-system is built by altering training in vocational schools and private firms, â€Å"while in-firm training is regulated natio nally, the vocational school instruction programs are the responsibility of the Lander (states)†, Trembaly and Le Bot (2003) mention. However, the durability of this system has been at the centre of debate ever since the elimination of the nation’s Training and Apprenticeship Law back in 1969.The model faces numerous challenges in meeting demand from rapid changes brought about by modern production systems; it is essential to keep a large working population to sustain its framework, but becoming problematic as currently Germany is having an ageing population, thus harder to recruit as many apprentices as forty years ago. As the occupational structure is dependent on collective agreement, when lacking skillful labour, Masden (1990) worries that if in such â€Å" difficult labour market situation, some firms [do not comply to regulations by] increasing wages to attract apprentices or, alternatively, poaching apprentices trained in other firms, then the whole system may p rogressively be brought into question†.The focus of this system also faces a huge dilemma between the increasing demand for theoretical learning amongst younger workers and the higher standard of skills wanted within productive systems, Gehin and Mehaut (1994) discuss it is potentially challenging the logics of the whole system while creating stocks of unskilled workers out of the job market. Additionally, issue is raised for the outpaced training speed against technical changes in the modern production system, especially for key requirements in multi-tasked occupations and practical de-compartmentalization. Kern and Schumann (1989) suggest that this trend of demand for â€Å"theoretical, general and vocational training are increasing and will continue to do so†. Therefore, if the dual-system were to be sustained, serious adjustments would have to be made to comply with modern requirements.Since the 1940s, new forms of vocational training have taken shape in Swedish org anizations, where the majority was still conducted by public institutes. This has started to shift, however, in the final quarter of the century, where responsibility began to move to local authorities from the central government. Following this trend of decentralization, the manufacturing industry in particular, has taken chance to put large investments into different training programmes to enhance productivity. But serious questions has been raised as trainees in the manufacturing sector face challenges â€Å"with the increased amount of theoretical education†¦as firms’ demand for workers with better theoretical knowledge† began to soar at the same time, Lundahl and Sander (1998) mention.With this given circumstance in Sweden, four models of education and training are used to demonstrate the degree to which coordination is deteriorating and decentralization has taken place; firstly, we have to acknowledge that the demand for labour competence has changed vastly with the increasing demand of formal education amongst new workforce and the general rise of demand for new products and practices in organisations. Within the industrial programme, the most controversial of all models, as Lundalh and Sander (1998) describe, a system in which inhibits a distinctive characteristic of â€Å"education in workshops† (arbetsforlagd utbildning); although very intensive and effective, it requires a large amount of time in workshops and includes theory as well as practical exercises. Many firms are reluctant to take initiatives as they argue that not enough human capital or time can be allocated to give proper training to each group of trainees.Continuously debated by researchers, such as Olofsson (1997), is the relevant application of the apprenticeship system onto modern organisations as its value has been rethought alongside secondary education, now deserted in most large cities, remaining exclusive to areas such as Svedala. The third model, Firmà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Schooling, is a highly demanding system that require 50% more time input and only submits students with outstanding performance, applied only in large enterprises such as Volvo or Scania where intensive training is seen as obligatory to match international competition. Lastly, Technical Programmes is widely accepted by municipalities with provisions of extra vocational studies, and also organizations can be more involved in supervision. It is a co-operation between groups of firms in terms of common facilities and cost-sharing, and has become more popular after producing impressive recruitment effects.According to Trembaly and Le Bot (2003), several amendments were proposed to reform the German system following the listed principles; â€Å"1) modernization of regulation, 2) inclusion of new occupational fields, 3) mutual recognition of the various parts of the system and 4) differentiation of training†. Hence, in order to adapt to evolving market demands, the German training system still is, and needs to be coordinated by public authority to a great extent to aid the private sector in improving employability, incorporating occupations and general training. As for Sweden, the transition of training responsibility onto individual organizations from local authority is due to its failure to provide emerging labour with desired competence.At the present, different methods are implemented by firms that deliver contrasting quality levels in training programmes; this is hugely differentiated from traditional forms of Swedish vocational training. The four models all demonstrate a degree of success but act more as a forecast of future vocational practices in Sweden – the extinction of conventional industrial programmes, further proving the liberation of Swedish economy from central coordination. 2. 5 New models for Corporate Governance In terms of corporate governance, a CME is established through the solid relationships between its financial inst itutions and private organizations. In this section we shall look specifically at the role of public financial institutions and other external stakeholders on the corporate operations of organizationsIn Germany, there was definitely a strong coordination of economic exchanges between industrial companies and institutions by means of cross-shareholding, supported by many scholars and again proves Hall’s relational view of CMEs; such â€Å"close relationships and interlocking between board members of different companies† and financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies, Hopt and Prigge (1998) also support, which composite the country’s main characteristics of corporate governance, together with heavy reliance on personal connections. It is essential to discover the features of the German model before discussing the reforms in recent years; there is a universal banking system that permits banks to possess equity shares in industrial organisations â €“ allowing banks to alter company’s decisions. Porter (1992) refers this as the â€Å"shareholder direction† situation since more the equity share, the larger the influence. This relationship between banks and firms is long-term and fairly stable because as well as equity, the banks also provide a large share of debt and carries operational management in the firms’ finance, this strongly protects companies from being taken over.To get further involved with company decisions banks are able to release proxy votes, as clarified by Onetti and Pisoni (2009), â€Å"this is done in relation to votes related to direct equity shares, [for instance by exercising] the voting rights for the shares that retail customers deposit with them†. Consequently, this gives more authority to banks in public firms. Since the German model is heavily influenced by banks, the stock market has therefore a small role to bear in corporate governance, proved by the IMF World Econo mic Outlook (2007) the fact that during 1990 to 2005, the capitalization as a percentage of GDP in Germany was only 38%, compared to 132% in UK, a much more liberal market economy.Since the shareholding in Germany is usually long-term with companies, there is a reciprocal of equity connections between firms themselves and firms and banks, creating a system of cross-sharing. Despite its robust features mentioned, the Germany corporate governance system is bending due to socio-economic changes brought about internally and externally; the globalization of Germany markets, enabling the listing of top companies on international stock exchanges, such as Daimler being traded on the New York Stock Exchange. There is a substantial increase in the amount of foreign investment in domestic industries, referred to by Jurgens et al. (2000) as the â€Å"turning point in the transformation of the German system of corporate governance.Due to recent economic recessions that caused a wave of bankrupt cies in German markets, banks have started to reduce the amount of their corporate equity in shareholding as more value is discovered in freer financial markets, stated by Jurgens and Rupp (2002), and began to focus more on economic performance; this in turn gave more freedom to the financial market legalizing numerous new financial choices for companies. On the other side, Swedish corporate governance consists of a great division of ownership from control by means of â€Å"pyramids, dual class shares, and cross-holding [that] increases the potential for private benefits of control†, cited by Holmen and Knopf (2004).The basic structures are formed by two types of partnerships; first, it is between entrepreneurs and rich families, then there is the alliance between engineers and technology innovators. Sometimes Sweden is described as an extreme version of â€Å"Rhineland model†, as Habbard (2008) stresses, it contains corporations that are owned by big industrial groups , â€Å"privileging organic growth† and features of a typical CME. Taking a closer look at the Swedish model of ownership we notice that the power is usually held by one to two owners, who are most of the time wealthy families. Henrekson and Jakobsson (2003) conclude that â€Å"regarding controlling ownership, the Swedish ownership model thus resembles the predominant corporate governance model on the European continent†.The rigidity and concentration of this structure has been based on a few important Swedish families and banks, Habbarb (2008) continues; Wallenberg, Lundberg, Stenbeck, Klingspor, Von Horn families and Svenska Handelsbanken SHB, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken SEB banks. There are two main fundamental differences when Sweden is compared to other European corporate models; the whole ownership of shares on the stock exchange is controlled by just a few holders. Secondly, the capital base that this ownership is constructed on, is usually much smaller compar ed to other EU countries. Nevertheless, even the most stable models have their weaknesses. During the last two decades, there had been some drastic transformations in the corporate models within Swedish organizations.The most challenging is the rise of foreign investment and ownership in domestic firms. This has been more dramatic than any other industrialized countries in Europe, shifting the power of control and operation from foreign owners. Hence, as Henrekson and Jakobsson (2003) propose, new models are likely to form under the inadequacy of the traditional one; first and the least likely it is the complete ownership by foreign investors – where domestic firms transform into subsidiaries to companies such as multinationals. â€Å"Dispersed ownership†, as in shared ownership between foreign investors and Swedish owners where no one supersede the other in terms of control.Having an external institution such as the state pension or corporatist as owners; more probabl e as currently joined with the central government they are already biggest shareholders of stock exchange. Lastly and most likely to surface is the ownership by entrepreneurs supported by public authorities; especially during crisis where governments put more faith in worthy investors to The observed changes in the financial exchanges within German economy forecasts a certain extent of convergence towards a market-oriented financial model. However, due to the deep roots of German customs in its bank-firm relation, certain aspects of its corporate governance will remain nchanged in the near future due to the emphasis placed on â€Å"Mitbestimmung, or co-decision and co-responsibility† culture quoted by Hacketal et al. (2003) and other scholars in defense of the German persistency in relational structure. On the other side, the predictions for corporate governance amendments are various in shape and none will be take over completely in the future. Some conceive of more coordina tion from the government and other less so. But it is for certain that the old model will lose its dominance over time and the Swedish overall corporate structure will become more market-oriented for economic wellbeing. 2. 6 Wage distribution and inequalityA CME should not only have a highly skilled workforce but when compared to liberal market economies, it should also high wage levels with low dispersion across different deciles of its population. It is essential to look at our two countries starting from the 1990s to have a deeper insight of the impact of the great recession upon its income distributions over the following years, and to verify whether the advancement in modern socio-economic models have weakened their coordination powers. From the study conducted by Bach, Corneo and Steiner (2007), there proved to be a general rise in the dispersion of German market incomes between 1992 and 2003.Using the Gini coefficient, as a â€Å"standard summary indicator† to measure the equality of income levels we can observe that dispersion of market income from the average earners has increased substantially since the 1990s; from 0. 6155 it has gone up to 0. 6522 in 2003. As detailed by the following table, the median income has dropped by more than 30%, being â‚ ¬12. 496 per individual in 1992, compared to â‚ ¬8,173 in 2003. An obvious trend is the accumulation of market income on the top percentile of income earners. Back in 2003, around 41% of total market income was composited within the higher percentile earners. Bach, Corneo and Steiner further point out that â€Å"this group was formed by about 640 individuals, with an average income of 16 million euro, excluding capital gains†.The sources of rising inequality in German income levels are as follow; the unemployed numbers have steeply gone up in the past two decades, Biewen and Juhasz (2010) note that in 2005, there were an estimated peak of five million people registered out of work, with â€Å"more unemployment growth concentrated in the lower part of the income distribution†. This creates a larger income inequality as a huge segment of the low-income population is unemployed, losing their potential income. The different changes in taxation schemes; although it was reduced overall, it has favored top income earners than the rest, distorting the original distribution of income levels.Moreover, the transition in domestic structure such as more single parents and smaller family sizes that have drastically differed from past family average income patterns, as studies by Peichl et al. (2010). Lastly, with the ageing population; Germany now has a much narrower age segment of young adults, and a greater demand for qualification in addition to other factors in demographics that contribute to the wider dispersion of income levels. Although at a very low level, Sweden has also experienced an increasing inequality of income distribution in its income market. The trend has began since the early 1990s, caused if not worsened by the economic crisis, noted by Palme et al. 2003), as the Gross Domestic Product had been consecutively negative for three years 1990-1993, together with the declining employment rate that is more than 10 percent during the period. Then there was an increased number of workers involved in labour market policies, Palme (2006) mentions that† triggered a crisis for the public finances which was then responded by a combination of tax increases and benefits cut†. This had further burdened households’ income levels. We can see from the table that there was a decrease in annual average disposable income from 1992 (1991 as the base year) with â‚ ¬138,000 to â‚ ¬126,000 in 1995, that only managed to pick up again in 1997.However, the figures provided by Fritzell (2001) showed an upward trend of average disposable income levels after the crisis; first, it was due to the rapid rise in capital gains hat helped th e top income percentile with higher earnings, secondly, the wage per hour was increased in all registered occupations. , this was however, slowed down by the growing unemployment in the same period. To measure the inequality of income dispersion, we will again use the Gini coefficient and the poverty rate. The inequality has risen since the beginning of 1990s, Palme (2006) proves, from 0. 219 it has increased to its peak – 0. 279 in 2000. The reason is the adjustments in the taxation systems that strongly affected households in making serious financial decisions. Despite the economic slump during the 1990s, poverty rate in Sweden has not changed largely which is phenomenal considering the extent of the recession all European countries faced.It is not until 1999 where poverty started to pick up but is again astonishing as Swedish employment figures were still healthy even when compared internationally. Conclusively, German central coordination is losing its battle to market po wers, becoming less effective in moderating wage equality in recent decade, as the intention of keeping a low dispersion of income levels has began to give way modern socio-economic developments. Sweden, however, when compared to the rest of European countries, is doubtless a strongly CME in terms of moderating its equality of market income levels and keeping its poverty rate to the lowest and most stable within the union. 3. ConclusionChanging demographics, socio-economic and technological patterns have created mass distortion in traditional market structures in both Germany and Sweden. After looking at them in five different aspects, we learn that there is decreasing participation of social partners in collective terms in both countries but much less in Sweden, thus a decreasing value for collective bargaining; wage inequality is more dispersed in Germany than in Sweden; while corporate structure in both countries have become more market-oriented in time but still retains usage of old models; and German still contains a mixture of public training whereas Sweden is moving quicker towards privatized programmes.Conclusively, although both countries have become less coordinated than few decades ago, Germany has got a greater degree of decentralization compared to Sweden, taking higher level of reforms in its economic structures while Sweden tends to cling more onto traditional coordination values. It is proper to claim that both economies are still considered as CMEs to a fair extent, however, moving towards a more market-oriented style since the late 1980s, becoming societies prioritizing economic benefits rather than traditional structures and personal relationships at very dissimilar speeds. Word Count: 4,813 Bibliography Bach, S. , & Corneo, G. and Steiner, V. (2007).From bottom to top: the entire distribution of market income in Germany, 1992-2001. London: Centre for Economic Policy Research. Bamber, G. , Lansbury, R. D. , & Wailes, N. (2011). International and comparative employment relations: globalisation and change  (5th ed. ). Los Angeles: SAGE. Biewen, M. , & Juhasz, A. (2010). Understanding Rising Income Inequality in Germany. Bonn: IZA. Culpepper, P. (2001)â€Å"Employers’ Associations, Public Policy, and the Politics of Decentralized Cooperation in Germany and France. † In Peter A. Hall and David Soskice, eds. , Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 275-306. De Vries, M. S. 2000), The rise and fall of decentralization: A comparative analysis of arguments and practices in European countries, Kluwer Academic Publishers, European Journal of Political Research 38: 193–224, Euofound, (2009), Industrial Relations Profile, available at: http://www. eurofound. europa. eu/eiro/country/sweden. htm, accessed on 10/02/2013 Fritzell, J. 2001. ‘Inkomstfordelningens trender under 1990-talet' (Income distributions trends in th e 1990s), in J. Fritzell and J. Palme (eds. ), Valfardens finansiering och fordelning (The Financing and Distribution of Welfare. ). Swedish Government Official Report (SOU) 2000:57. Anthology from the Welfare Commission Stockholm: Fritzes. Gehin,J. P. and Mehaut, P. 1995), The German Dual System: A Model for Europe? available at : http://www. hampp-verlag. de/ArchivIndB/1_95_Gehin_Mehaut. pdf accessed on 13/02/2013 Hackethal A. Schmidt R. and Tyrell M. (2003),Corporate Governance in Germany: Transition to a Modern Capital Market-Based System? , Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 149, pp. 664-674. Hall, P. , & Soskice, D. W. (2001). An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism:. Harvard : Harvard Press. Hancke, B (1996) European Works Councils and Industrial Restructuring in the European Motor Industry, European Journal of Industrial Relations, London, Thousand Oaks, Volume 6 Number 1 pp 35–59 Hoffmann J. 2004)  Co-ordinated continental European market econom ies under pressure from globalisation: case study ; Germany's â€Å"Rhineland capitalism†. Brussel Holmen, M. and Knopf, J. D (2004), Minority Shareholder Protections and the Private Benefits of Control for Swedish Mergers, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, University of Washington, Seattle, Vol. 39 No. 1 Hopt K. J. , Kanda H. , Roe M. J. Wymeersch E. and Prigge S. (1998), Comparative Corporate governance, The State of the Art and Emerging Research, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Johnson, N. (1973). Government in the Federal Republic of Germany: The executive at work. Oxford/New York: Pergamon Press. Jurgens U. and Rupp J. 2002), The German System of Corporate Governance, Characteristics and Changes, Veroffentlichungserihe der Abteilung Regulierung von Arbeit des Forschungsschwerpunkts Technick-Arbei-Umwelt des Wissenschafts-zentru Berlin fur Sozialforschung, FS II 02-203 Kangas, O. , ; Palme, J. (2005). Social policy and economic development in the Nordic cou ntries. Houndmills, Basingestoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Kern, H. Schumann, M. (1989). New concepts of production in West German plants. In P. Katzenstain (Ed. ). The Third West German Republic. Ithica, New York: Cornell University Press. Kjellberg, A. (1983). Facklig Organisering I Tolv Lander. (Lund, Archiv) Kurzer, P. (1993). Business and Banking. Political Change and Economic Integration in Western Europe (Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press) Lundahl, L. Sander, T. (1998).Vocational education and training in Germany and Sweden: strategies of control and movements of resistance and opposition : report from a symposium. Umea? : Thematic Network Teacher Education in Europe. Marsden, Peter V. 1990. â€Å"Network Data and Measurement. † Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 16 (1990), pp. 435-463. Olofsson, J. (1997), Arbetsmarknadens yrkesrad. Parterna och yrkesutbildningen 1930-1970, Lund Papers in Economic History, no 59. Palme, J. , A. Bergmark, O. Backman, F. Estrada, The Japanese Journal of Social Security Policy, Vol. 5, No. 1 (June 2006) 25 J. Fritzell, O. Lundberg, O. Sjoberg, L. Sommestad andM. Szebehely. 2003. ‘AWelfare balance Sheet for the 1990s'. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health Supplement 60, August.Peichl, A. , N. Pestel, H. Schneider (2010): Does Size Matter? The Impact of Changes in Household Structure on Income Distribution in Germany, IZA Discussion Paper No. 4770, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn. Schnabel, R. (1998). Rates of return of the German pay-as-you-go pension system. Mannheim: University of Mannheim. Shroeder and Silvia (2007), Why are German employers associations declining? Arguments and evidence, Comparative Political Journal, SAGE Publications, Vol. 20, Issue 20 Tremblay, D. , ; Bot, I. (2003). The german dual apprenticeship system: analysis of its evolution and present challenges. Montre? al: Te? le? -Universite?.

A Survey On Eating Habits And How Often A Person Exercises...

Introduction In America today only one in three children are physically active every day. Lack of exercise is a major problem we face in society. The government has provided many statistics on physical activity, like how 80.2 million people above the age of six are physically inactive. I was really interested to see the exercise levels in busy college student’s lives. Research Objectives I decided to conduct a survey on eating habits and how often a person exercises. I wanted to see an average of how many days a week people workout or exercise. I was also curious to see how many people drink soda or pop regularly. There was so many ways I could have gone with my survey, so it was very important to think about the right questions to ask in my survey. Another thing my exercise survey had was some tough questions. One question was: If there was a table with a fruit of your choice or a fast food item of your choice which one would you choose? For that hard question I hypothesized that more than 50% would choose the fast food item. Another tough question I asked in the survey was: do you think Americas obesity problem is due to lack of exercise? I hypothesized people would most likely say yes or 75% total. For my survey I also only interviewed Wright State University students. With that being said I wanted to see out of twenty people how many have actu ally use the Wright State gym. I have heard from a lot of people that the gym is intimidating, most don’t work out there. IShow MoreRelatedA Good And Healthy Nutrition Is Essential For Your Health1442 Words   |  6 PagesRecommendations for Future Action 3 6.0 Conclusion 4 7.0 Appendices 5 7.1 Appendix 5 7.2 Appendix 6 7.3 Appendix 7 7.4 Appendix 8 8.0 Works Cited 9 1.0 Introduction A good and healthy nutrition is essential for your health. However, a survey that was conducted in 2007 proves that the Australian adolescents consume less fruit and the intake of the saturated fat and the sugars have increased in consumption (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015). Some of the studies have shown that adolescentsRead MoreArgumentative Research Paper: Parents Responsible for Childhood Obesity947 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Parental behavioral patterns concerning shopping, cooking, eating and exercise have an important influence on a child’s energy, balance and ultimately their weight† said diet specialist, Anne Collins (â€Å"Childhood Obesity Facts†). Childhood obesity has more than tripled since the 1980’s (â€Å"Childhood Obesity Facts†). Childhood obesity often leads to obesity as an adult which can put a person at greater risks dealing with the heart, diabetes, and many other obese related diseases. People want to blameRead More How Diet And A Healthy Diet Essay1499 Words   |  6 Pages Name : Nyle Foreman 11EV Type 2 Diabetes - An issue for our community My report is about: How can exercise and a healthy diet help in the management of Type-2 Diabetes? In New Zealand, Type-2 Diabetes is a growing issue. For many years now, it has been a severe problem and is only getting worse. According to NZ Ministry of Health Survey, the obesity rates are climbing in NZ, and as obesity is directly linked with Type 2 Diabetes.There are incredible numbers of people in NZ being diagnosed withRead MoreStress And Eating Disorder Among University Students Essay1334 Words   |  6 PagesSTRESS AND EATING DISORDER Abstract Eating habits are closely associated with our perception of eating. There can be also exogenous factors that affects our eating habits such as getting low mark from the exam or ending of a romantic relationship. Some people tend to be eat more or less depends on these triggering situations. This study will examine the relationship between stressRead MoreEating Disorders And Its Impact On Society1646 Words   |  7 Pages Eating Disorders and Its Impact on Society Brett White Tallahassee Community College Psychology 1101 Michelle Peruche November 06, 2015 Abstract Eating disorders are very common in today’s society and can cause death if an intervention isn’t performed. While working in the hospital and being part of the wrestling team in high school I’ve witness several people with this disorder. Anorexia and bulimia are the most prevalent and generally are accompanied by another psychological disorderRead MoreEating Disorders Are An Abnormal Approach Towards Food1315 Words   |  6 PagesEating disorders are an abnormal approach towards food, causing severe changes to eating habits and behavior. (NHS, 2015). A person suffering from an eating disorder compulsively focuses on their weight and body shape. Eating disorders involve range of conditions that have an impact on individual’s personal life as well as affecting an individual physically and socially. The most commonly known eating disorders are: †¢ anorexia nervosa †¢ bulimia nervosa †¢ overeating – binge eating disorder AnorexiaRead MoreThe Effects Of Media On Body Image1424 Words   |  6 Pagesdirectly affecting the eating disorder epidemic. What exactly is an eating disorder? There are multiple different types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating-disorder-not-otherwise-specified, and binge eating disorder. These are just some of the more common eating disorders people can suffer from. Anorexia nervosa according to National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), is â€Å"characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.† In other words a person who suffers fromRead MoreThe Effect Of Stress And Eating Habits On College Student Academic Performance2020 Words   |  9 Pagesproject is to see how stress and eating habits can affect college student academic performance, to determine the correlation between stress and eating habits,how it influence or affect college student academic performance. 25 participants were selected from Spring 2015 Kean University,Participants age ranges from 18-25. The majority of the participants were female, 16 female, 7 male, 16 female, and 1 particip ants did not disclosed their gender. participants answered 20 question survey with questionsRead MoreCounseling Adults With Eating Disorder1643 Words   |  7 Pages Counseling Adults with Eating disorder Merlene Lewis THE College of New Rochelle Professor Martinez Theory and counselling Introduction Objective: To describe eating patterns, eating behaviors, to highlight some of the problem people face when dealing with an illness or a disorder, adult struggle more from eating disorder. Some reason why it is more difficult is because of work, taking care of their house whole and family; this illness is a relentless pursuit of thinness, a misrepresentationRead MoreEating Disorders Among Female Athletes958 Words   |  4 PagesEating Disorders Among Collegiate Female Student-Athletes Eating disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia) are not rare in today’s society. They have become increasingly common among young women. Research indicates that there is a link between the media’s representation of â€Å"the perfect body† as well as ideals of attractiveness with dissatisfaction of body image and eating disorders (Ferguson, Munoz, Garza, Galindo, 2013). In this current literature review, I will focus on the impact of eating