To what extent and in what ways are people ?fixed? and ?open to change?

Charles Darwin was not only a pi one(a)er in evolutionary psychology, also todays theories of groundbreaking lifespan ontogenesis draw on and are influenced by Darwins ideas. His functionalist perspective primarily focused on the reason for development of specific human race characteristics over many generations, and therefore an enormously long timescale. However, inspired by the observations in the development his own son, Darwin also acknowledged that an individual is the result of a gradual sequence of prior changes, both in a broad evolutionary sense and within individuals own lifetime and provided development and changes lies ahead (Cooper and Roth, p.50, 2003). This notion provided the basis for other researchers to further explore the development of humans over a lifetime period. The human lifespan development can be explored in many different ways, e.g. in terms of biological maturity of the body from a new-born to a physically in full-grown adult, physical declension in later stages of live and how that effects people psychologically. Individual physiological and psychological characteristics are potential factors that have different impact on each individual, they therefore are considered as internal influences (Cooper and Roth, p.5, 2003). The development of cognitive abilities, specific historical circumstances or the social and cultural environments of each person stupefy external influences (Cooper and Roth, p.5, 2003). It has to be noted that both internal and external factors can influence each other. We therefore we have to look at these transactions quite an than just taking single factors into consideration.Initially, researchers considered the observation of children as a very instructive means in investigating at what point of time indisputable changes in human behaviour evolve. Through identifying a pattern of changes that render place in the development of a new born into a fully grown adult, researches developed the organismic approach. They believed that in order to achieve adulthood, people go through different phases and that a later stage incorporates and expands on the experiences from an earliest stage in life (stage theory). While adulthood was considered as the end-stage, external factors were identified as potential causes for a delay, acceleration or slowing-down in certain stages of development, but it was suggested that the pat... ... we can consciously change, e.g. getting rid of what we sometimes define as bad habits, or unconsciously after powerful, sometimes traumatic life-events. Human development therefore should be seen as the complex construct of interactions between age-related factors, historical factors and random environmental occurrences that only relate to one individual (Cooper and Roth, p.59, 2003). While early experiences in life might predict certain characteristics that define each individual throughout his/her life, life events and experiences are considered to be major factors that can enhance and undoubtedly change these characteristics. Human development over a lifetime can be seen as a continuous journey, with many possible routes, turns, cross-points and sometimes dead-ends. We, as the drivers of the vehicle that takes us through our own individual journey can often chose which road we want to take out of all routes available. Sometimes our choices are limited, but the end point of our journey is the end of our lives, rather then the achievement of adulthood.ReferencesCooper, T. and Roth, I. (eds) (2003) Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, The sensory(a) University.

UFOs Essay -- essays research papers

UFOs     "Little Green Men", "Martians", "Outer Limits" That is what peoplethink about when aliens and UFOs come to mind. Aliens have been around, as off the beaten track(predicate) as we can see, since 1561. The question is straightway asked, How come becausethey UFOs have been sighted, encountered, and taken hostage Why have webeen kept in the dark by our governments? "Since UFOs were considered a tribute risk, the report on these sightings was originally classified assecret (Kadrey 22)." The name flying saucer was coined by a Air Forcepilot in 1947, when he give tongue to that he had saw something that looked like aflying saucer. "The government knew about UFOs and have been tracking themsince 1947, which is to be believed when the Age of UFOs started (Stacey 55).So, through the next pages the theory that UFOs are real because of narratethe government has covered up, the number of sightings, and the uncountablenumber of abductions, will become a reality.     The first reason that is going to be addressed, is the secrecy andGovernment coverup of UFOs.     "National shelter Agency, or NSA, an acronym often assumed by insidersto mean NEVER SAY ANYTHING , (Stacey 40) " has been blamed for millions ofUFO governmental cover-ups around the nation. "Our problem is with governmentsecrecy, because it widens the gap between citizens and the government, reservation it much more difficult to participate in the democratic process(Stacey 40)," says Steven Aftergood while addressing UFO secrecy. The UFOenigma, or as it is formerly know as the "Cosmic Watergate the ongoingcover-up of the governments knowledge about extraterrestrial UFOs and theirterrestrial activities (Stacey 36)" is believed to be started during theNixon administration, which is still under alot of scrutiny. The NixonAdministration also established the Freedom of Information teleph one number FOIA in the1970s, it opened the door to alot of truth and more coverups. " I dontthink they would do a 300-page report on everything they detect," says JoeStefula who is a UFO researcher. The "military would far rather have peopleblame such things on flying saucers than them (Brookesmith 14). "     Several secret UFO Projects ... ...ng taken back aboard the UFO and flown (with her elevator car alsoaboard) back to the site of the abduction. (Brookesmith 108) "     In conclusion, I believe that UFOs, Aliens, EBEs, or whatever you callthem do have the key to our future in the humans of mankind. Although,secret pacts with our governments may not exactly get what we want, we can fightback. Lets jump back for a second and ask ourselves a question now What if wewere in the same predicament, wouldnt we want ourselves to be healthy too, andtake what we need? If we look at the aliens actions from their perspective, what they are doing is exactly what we are doing to ourselves by destroying the o-zone layer. So why cant they do the same to us? I feel that the thesis to provethe existence of UFOs as stated that Government coverups do pose a threat to thetruth and national security of our country, UFO sightings and abductions do posea threat at this time and we must be ready at all odds to expose the Governmentand The aliens.                         The End.

Drug Abuse Among Teens :: Drug Abuse, Substance Abuse

IntroductionDrugs ab expenditure is serious problem in the United States, curiously among teenagers. According to National Drug Intelligence Center (2003) 7.5 million American adolescents aged 12 to 17 used drugs at least once during their lifetime. Teens go bad to experiment with drugs from a young age and do not think about drugs negative consequences. Butler (2010) claims that drug addiction will lead to problems at university or school and loss of alertness, which can cause to injury. likewise it will affect mood, change system of values and lead to depression. As a result, teenagers who use drugs have a risk for felo-de-se. Nowadays, they vilification both legal and illegal drugs. Also drug accessibility is one of the causes of adolescent abuse. The majority of teenagers aged 12-17 wank it easily from friends or relatives. (Office of National Drug Control Policy 2007). Moreover there are other possible factors, such as pressure from friends, upset self-appraisal, stress, relationships with parents. This essay will look at drug abusing problem among teenagers in the United States and analyse in detail possible reasons and solutions for drug addiction.BackgroundTeenagers abuse a variety of drugs. Any of them both legal and illegal can have immediate or long term health consequences. As account by NIDA in 2003 year 40.2 percent of high school students had used marijuana. Majuana is the illegal narcotic. Youths who used it before 17-years-olds indicated smaller brain and they are smaller in height and weight than teens who used marijuana after age 17. In addition, marijuana adversely affect on memory, distorts the perception of sound, time, touch for short term. American teens use inhalant as well. Adolescent find it in spray paint, glue and shoe polish. TeenDrugAbuse.us states, that regular use of inhalants can result in bosom disease, liver and kidney damages. Also the most common drugs among youth in United States are ecstasy, cocaine, crack, sp eed and heroin. Legal drugs such as prescribed medications and alcohol is popular today. Moreover, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 2005 year 2.1 million teenagers abused prescription drugs and these drugs are the most common among 12-13-years-olds. Also American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry claim that drug use is increased risk poor judgment which may lead to accidents, violence, suicide and unplanned, unsafe sex, which may cause HIV.Factors That Influence Teenagers to Drug AbuseFirstly, home and family are major factor.

Physics of the Violin :: physics music musical instrument violin

String instruments have been presented for more than a thousand years. motion on set up instruments has reached a level today that cannot be improved upon, and the quality of instruments make nearly three centuries ago is maintained in the trump instrument make today (Allen, 1).The violin is a woodsen resonance box that amplifies the thinking(a)waves from the vibrations of the hangs stretched across it (Mandy). The most material for the construct the violin is wood maple used for the back, ribs, and neck) and frosty for the top. People usually uses specific types of wood because those has tight grain, which makes strong, provide the richer sound. Since people wanted to imply the violin seriously to make and play, they started to decide from the unsuccessful former(prenominal) to improve it. To play the violin with rich sound is necessary to violinist to have technology with the certain quality of violin. The quality of instruments built nearly thr ee hundred years ago. The quality of violin and performance is improved. The natural scientists have undertaken research into string instruments and some string-instrument builders are now beginning to take advantage of scientific methods of measurement and calculation (Hutchins 1962). The Relation betwixt the Bow-to-string Pressure and the Moment of Fingers This is show the how the momentum allow for occur while people play the violin. When you put great deal the right hand on the yield, each fingers will give a force to down. However, the thumb, which put between the band, does give force up. This will happen at the frog of the bow.x distance from fingers to stringP pressurea distance from fingers to the center of gravity of bow (const.)W the encumbrance of the bow (const.) The bow is moved a long at a particular speed by the right hand. Frictional forces between the bow and the string alternate between sticking and sliding. And the pressur e will occur at the mid-end of bow where it meets the string. As the picture shown, it will be the free-body diagram for bow. The Parts of the fiddle that make its sound possiblePhysics of the Violin physics music musical instrument violin String instruments have been played for more than a thousand years. Performance on string instruments has reached a level today that cannot be improved upon, and the quality of instruments built nearly three centuries ago is maintained in the best instrument made today (Allen, 1).The violin is a wooden resonance box that amplifies the soundwaves from the vibrations of the strings stretched across it (Mandy). The most material for the construct the violin is wood maple used for the back, ribs, and neck) and spruce for the top. People usually uses specific types of wood because those has tight grain, which makes strong, provide the richer sound. Since people wanted to take the violin seriously to make and play, they started to learn from the unsuccessful past to improve it. To play the violin with rich sound is necessary to violinist to have technology with the certain quality of violin. The quality of instruments built nearly 300 years ago. The quality of violin and performance is improved. The natural scientists have undertaken research into string instruments and some string-instrument builders are now beginning to take advantage of scientific methods of measurement and calculation (Hutchins 1962). The Relation between the Bow-to-string Pressure and the Moment of Fingers This is show the how the momentum will occur while people play the violin. When you put down the right hand on the bow, each fingers will give a force to down. However, the thumb, which put between the band, does give force up. This will happen at the frog of the bow.x distance from fingers to stringP pressurea distance from fingers to the center of gravity of bow (const.)W the weight of the bow (const.) The bow is moved a long at a particular speed by the right hand. Frictional forces between the bow and the string alternate between sticking and sliding. And the pressure will occur at the mid-end of bow where it meets the string. As the picture shown, it will be the free-body diagram for bow. The Parts of the Violin that make its sound possible

Decubitis Ulcers :: essays research papers fc

1.Decubitis Ulcers be also known as bed sores.(Marsh 1) They are mostly seen in Geriatrics patients. They occur in people who are regularize on bed rest, or long periods of wheelchair use. A traumatic decubitis ulcer is precipitated by continuous force per unit area on the throw together and deep tissue with ischemic necrosis (Plewig 369). These particular ulcers are mainly found on bony parts of the body. They develop when the cells die because there is a tremendous amount of pressure put on the skin and it is trapped between a mattress or chair and tiny blood vessels collapse. The parts of the body that are affected by these ulcers are the back of the head, ear, shoulders, elbows, hips, sacrum, knees, ankles, and heels. Decubitis ulcers can be classified into three grades. (1) Area is more reddened, skin is dry. (2) Area is more reddened, epidermal layer of the skin is broken, and blisters form. (3) Deeper layers of the skin are affected, blisters are broken open, and bone may be visible. (Hegner, Caldwell 421)2. Before treating decubitis ulcers, viewing of the nurse or caregivers feelings about the care is important. Heshe should determine whether or not they agree with the patients wishes and is capable of completing that care. When making these decisions, consider the stage of the ulcer and the treatment needed, the benefits and the burdens of the treatment, and the anticipated treatment outcome (Darkovich 47). After these views are looked at, there are many treatments available. If the area is reddened, all that is needed is a gentle massage. If the skin is open, bacteriostatic agents, antiseptic sprays, and antibiotic ointments are used to reduce or stay fresh bacteria. The surgical process called grafting is practiced to treat these ulcers. This is when a patch of skin is removed from one part of the body, and is placed onto the infect area. Sheepskin pads, alternating(a) air pressure mattresses, heel protectors, and egg crate mattresses are also used. (Hegner, Caldwell 427)3. The first lab experiment that I found is a urinalysis. This is a test of the urine to detect alcohol, drugs, sugar, and other abnormal substences. This tells us if there is any bacteria in the body, and if it is located in the decubitis ulcer, so we can know if it is infected or not. The second lab test that is done on these ulcers is CD, this determines the antigens on the white blood cells.

Decubitis Ulcers :: essays research papers fc

1.Decubitis Ulcers are also known as bed sores.(Marsh 1) They are mostly seen in gerontology patients. They occur in people who are put on bed rest, or long periods of wheelchair use. A traumatic decubitis ulcer is precipitated by continuous twitch on the skin and deep tissue with ischemic necrosis (Plewig 369). These particular ulcers are mainly found on bony parts of the body. They develop when the cells buy the farm because there is a tremendous amount of pressure put on the skin and it is trapped between a mattress or chair and tiny declivity vessels collapse. The parts of the body that are affected by these ulcers are the back of the head, ear, shoulders, elbows, hips, sacrum, knees, ankles, and heels. Decubitis ulcers can be classified into three grades. (1) reach is more reddened, skin is dry. (2) Area is more reddened, epidermal layer of the skin is broken, and blisters form. (3) Deeper layers of the skin are affected, blisters are broken open, and b i may be visible. (He gner, Caldwell 421)2. Before treating decubitis ulcers, viewing of the nurse or caregivers feelings about the care is important. Heshe should determine whether or not they agree with the patients wishes and is capable of completing that care. When making these decisions, consider the stage of the ulcer and the manipulation needed, the benefits and the burdens of the treatment, and the anticipated treatment outcome (Darkovich 47). After these views are looked at, there are many treatments available. If the area is reddened, all that is needed is a gentle massage. If the skin is open, bacteriostatic agents, antiseptic sprays, and antibiotic ointments are used to reduce or prevent bacteria. The surgical process called grafting is practiced to treat these ulcers. This is when a patch of skin is removed from one part of the body, and is placed onto the infected area. Sheepskin pads, alternating air pressure mattresses, heel protectors, and egg crate mattresses are also used. (Hegner, Ca ldwell 427)3. The first lab screen that I found is a urinalysis. This is a test of the urine to detect alcohol, drugs, sugar, and other abnormal substences. This tells us if there is any bacteria in the body, and if it is find in the decubitis ulcer, so we can know if it is infected or not. The second lab test that is done on these ulcers is CD, this determines the antigens on the white blood cells.

Craven Books Issues

The decision of this paper is to give and provide detailed knowledge about the reason why renegade Books was having supplys on the slaying of the spic-and-span information engine room strategy which should help to improve the act of the commerce. some some other than that, the implementation of this refreshing information technology corpse n archaean makes poltroon Books face bankruptcy and lost m any(prenominal) a nonher(prenominal) customers.In this paper, 3 issues that feed ratter Books faced failure in the implementation of the spic-and-span information technology corpse go out be chosen to discuss in detailed. Each issue will be discuss in detailed to pickher with any related case studies that finish bump off as reference and recommendations to eliminate and cope each issue.Companys Background poltroon Books is a distri stillor of comics and magazines and books. The confederacy was founded and evolves in the market place in the late 1960 as it founder , Peter Craven started to distri only ife sci-fi and horror books through direct mail. In 1970s, the argumentation began to be cognise in the market place by buying comics in bulk from both the American publishers and the mho hand comic market and sell this on their customers in the United Kingdom by using a mail dictate catalogue. This had helped the troupe to grow in the market place and be know by umpteen other customers. Because of this the companionship had been able to encounter growth both in profit and in the number of their regular customers.In this regard, the fraternity contumacious to use a forward-looking-fashioned information trunk as part of their business strategy. In 1990s, this plan has been initiated as Craven Books invest in young integrated information dusts that will include all business operations of the go with, from ordering, to carry outing, accounting and warehousing. any in one information remains which aims to look into that they will p rovide quality service to their customers and to make their logistics be much dependable. However, upon implementation of such enter, the companys expectation has not been achieved and worst, it weakens the warringness of the company and the competitive advantagethat it builds had been destabilized.Reasons That Cause Unsuccessful Of Information Technology System According to the video that was showed in class which is titled The Great IT Horror Story, at that place were many reasons that lead the implementation of this sassy information technology system into catastrophe and chaos to the business. In addition, people who were relevant to the cause of this incident were beingness interviewed in like manner and they alike gave out their own opinion on why this disaster can happened and what preventions or actions should be make to cope and prevent the issues on the implementation of the new information technology system.As mentioned, due to the objective to pitch and effici ent distribution system, the way of Craven Books has decided to create an IT system. At freshman, the new system was expected to and should provide great m, effort and savings for the company to achieved the companys objective but upon implementation of the new systems, the companys expectation has not been achieve and even worst, it weakens the competitiveness of the company and the competitive advantages that the Craven Bookstore built had been not stable. In the video, it shows the common or perfect mistake that make by the small business which withal make by Craven Books that lead to this failure. Through this report, the take oning are the reasons why the new system in Craven Books was a failure.1.) Unable to get hold the suitable IT system One of the first reasons for the failure of the system is the over-ambitious of Craven Books management that ineffectual to determine the best IT system to use, to prepare a strategic plan earlier the implementation which lead to the result in choosing the IT system that is unfit to the company. callable to the reason that the company wants to be to a greater extent competitive immediately, they pick the system without even trying to identify whether the system really works or not. Furthermore, thither wasnt anyone is in charge of the systems to teach the employees to use the new system.2.) Rely too much on bundle advisers Another mistake was that Craven is relying too much on its software consultants, did not try to review or assess the given system to test its efficiency and effectiveness before it implemented. The consultants suggested Craven to go for an existing system because the implementation of customized system was a bad choice to achieve Cravens intend or objective its like putting a third wing on a jumbo jet as the thing was going so fast that the desire result wouldnt be achieved. Besides that, the encounter will not employ a staff to monitor, so that when the system went molest there was no one has to take responsibility on it.The company was giving choice on the standard package that provide the advantages of the low toll and the another one is tailored solution which give the advantage to use the tailored solution that can modified the system that suit to the business but on the other side this method is more expensive than the standard package.3.) Disaster strikes After the implementation of the new system, Craven faced some disaster strikes, they lost most of their major or main customers and almost more than 60% of the staffs were being dismissed. Because of the failure in the new system, it brings many negative feedbacks to the company. This leads many issues that reduce the companys performance such as the conflict that happen in the actual situation with the result shown in the computer system.Despite that, the outside of the weight device that was implant in the computer system always give slander mea newments and this problem had lost customers and creat ed many angry customers due to the wrong orders were being deliver to the customers. In order to manage this disaster, the company had to fire most of the staff and transmits back the system to old system. The computer disaster court Craven about $1 million dollar.4.) No one to blame or responsible for the failure of system Another reason of this failure of new system that there wasnt anyone is responsible or managed to the project and the absent of a project team leaders that should be accountable to the system and lead the project into success. In the end, the suppliers and Cravens diabolical each other for the result that it should be the responsibility of the companys management because they didnt do any planning or strategic planning before the implementation of the project.In this report, we deem picked 3 reasons that cause the unsuccessful of the new information system which was implemented by Craven Books to discuss1. Unable to determine the suitable system for business 2. Rely too much on software consultants 3. No one to blame or responsible for the failure of systemIssue 1 The first reasons which cause the unsuccessful of the new system that we would like to discuss is the failure of Craven Books management level to determine the suitable system that can help the company to achieve objective and improve performance. The management level of Craven Books cannot decide and determine the appropriate system to the company because they were over-ambitious to improve their companys performance and competitiveness quickly.In the end, they didnt develop a strategic plan before the implementation of the new system. Other than that, they also didnt conduct any testing on the new system to identify whether the system really can help the company to take a shit their objectives. Furthermore, there wasnt anyone is appointed to handle and in charge the systems to teach the exploiter or employee the proper method to conduct the new system.Example case As for example, a similar case study has been chosen in order to compare and discuss with this issue. This shows that Craven Books wasnt the only victim of the information technology disaster. The similar case that happened under the same reason as Craven Books is FoxMeyer Corp. during 90s.Due to the intense competition among competitors, FoxMeyer was in a great need of a solution that would have helped the company to achieve a complex supply chain decisions and improve the companys performance. During the early 90s, the company management level decide to focus on a business strategy of transferring the company into low cost distributer to increase competitive advantage and also provide differentiated services to different target customers.Based on the supply chain analysis that had been developed by the company, it was decided that an ERP system would provide a perfect solution for FoxMeyer to achieve the companys objectives and goals. In1992, the company had decided to claim Arthur And ersen consulting company to implement the SAP (R/3).The implementation of SAP In September 1993, FoxMeyer had becomeed with SAP, Anderson Consulting and Arthur Andersen & Co. to implement the R/3 software. This multi-million dollar project had covered the entire supply chain and was the first information system launched in the pharmaceutical industry that utilized extensive technology coupled with automation of warehouse functions. In the end, the system didnt provide expected result and the performance was unacceptable. It was completed late, failed to deliver expected benefits and went over budget due to huge expenditures for new computers, software and new warehouse. In 1996, FoxMeyer was forced to file for bankruptcy and was interpreted over by its enormousst competitor McKesson Corp for only US$80m.In 1998, the bankruptcy trustee of FoxMeyer launched 2 lawsuits against SAP and Andersen Consulting. FoxMeyer charged SAP with fraud, negligence and breach of get for convince th em to invest in a system that failed to achieve the companys objective which leads to the bankruptcy of FoxMeyer while Anderson Consulting was charged with negligence and breach of contract for failing to properly manage the implementation but both defendants denied the allegations and blamed FoxMeyer for mismanagement.Reasons why FoxMeyer faced failure of ERP system there are many reasons why FoxMeyer faced failure in the ERP system which should assist the company to achieve goal and some of the reasons are same with the issues which were the reasons that lead to Craven Books information system disaster too.The reasons that lead to FoxMeyers ERP failure are 1. Poor selection of the software SAP R/3 was originally developed and designed for the purpose to business such as manufacturing companies and not for business such as wholesaler, especially those doing large number of transactions.This software has never been used for wholesale distributor before because this software lacked many requirements needed for successfulwholesale distribution. SAP R/3 was inflexible software, it required many time and a large amount of financial investment if it require any modification and this software was unable to handle large number of orders. These weaknesses were the reason why this software was not suitable to FoxMeyer because this company handled orders from thousands of pharmacies and each of pharmacy had hundreds of items.2. Lack of contingency planning FoxMeyer didnt prepare any contingency planning to deal with the changes in the business operations. For example, one of FoxMeyers major client which was accounted for more than 15% of FoxMeyers business, declared bankruptcy shortly after FoxMeyers launched the ERP system.3. No end user involvement The implementation of this ERP system was done using a top-down approach. The planning was performed by FoxMeyers upper management, Andersen Consulting and few technical people. Only a few end users were participated in the planning, analysis and design process. In the end, there was a communication gap between the end users and the system planners.4. No restructuring the business process was done SAP was not fully integrated and worked effective because FoxMeyer was incapable to reengineering their business processes in order to make the software to work more efficient.5. Lack of system testing Due to the reason of rushed schedule, some modules testing was skipped. Other than that, the system was not properly tested to detect any problems when the system handling large amount of orders. There wasnt enough testing and lack of time to modify or debug the system to ensure its functionality.6. Over-ambitious project scope FoxMeyers project team sections and information system staff were unfamiliar with the system hardware, system software and application software. In the end, the project scope was enlarged with simultaneous implementation of computerized warehouse project.Other than that, some te chnical issues on complication were not managed properly by the staff and this incurred spear carrier expenditures and time.7. Poor management support At first, the management level were supportive and committed to the implementation of ERP system but once the implementation started, management were unvoluntary to acknowledge any system problems. Furthermore, management failed to identify the timeliness and resources needed in the implementation process.Recommendations According to the case of FoxMeyer, the case is very similar with Craven Books case especially in the reasons that both company cant identify suitable software for company and insufficient of preparations or pre-activities before the implementation new system. In order to eliminate and cope the issues, Craven Books should follow these recommendations before the implementation of new system.1. Software selection A project focusing committee should be created and should involve high level of expertise, both technical and operational in the software selection process. They should do some research in different software, compare and assess their pros and cons to identify the suitable software which best fit the business needs.2. Contingency plan A contingency plan should be develop to handle the situation when the system failure. Stipulate clearly the roll back procedures or develop new contingency plans to prepare for the breakdown of any system modules and for the total new system.3. Stakeholders involvement Any new project implementation should get the involvement of all stakeholders which also include end users and customers of the company. All related parties should understand the purpose of the project and voice out their opinion especially in the earlier stage when any critical issues are righteous evolving.4. Thorough testing An organized comprehensive testing plan should be develop, encourage user participation in the testing process and make sure proper testing situations are done to the new system.5. Realistic project scope Project scope should not be over-ambitious, it should be clearly identify with realistic targets.6. End user support All employees and end users should be well trained to handle the new system. Response and address to the end users engage to reduce any negative feelings to the new systems. Identify the need of any changes on agents and create a high and positive morale to meet the new challenges.7. Post implementation review Quality assurance and control programs should be develop to ensure the system shapes are done. Develop business metrics to measuring stick and compare the projects estimated results with projects actual result that have been achieved. Prepare an evaluation report and pass to stakeholders to review the results.Issue 2 The second issues are that the company relied too much on their consultants and suppliers who provide the system. This could be issues for Craven because they did not review the system, all the proced ure fairish follows the consultants suggestion, they did not test the efficiency and the effectiveness of the system before it implemented.The consultants suggested Craven to go for an existing system, the suggestion for Cravens purpose was a bad choice, and its like putting a third wing on a jumbo jet. The things were going fast but at the end it does not work. Craven is too much reliance to the outside consultant. Craven did not do any reference check to the consultant they just hired the consultant and just rely on the consultant to do the implementation of the new system for the company.Consultant is playing an big role when a company wants to implement a new system. The consultant responsible for the whole systems, to provide the software solutions and other recommendations based on the assessment. Consultant do give advice, but they frequently also perform tasks thatresult from that advice. Those tasks can range from running a public relations campaign to building a customiz ed order fulfillment system. The consultant may integrate customized software into a business or organizations processes in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the systems and to play down manpower or the costs.For example, a fitness centre could benefit from the integration of proprietary software that tracks the progress of the gyms members, in the form of measurements and other personalized data. A consultant, might specialize in the creation of such software for the fitness centre, and pitch the software to various business and organizations within the fitness industry. As software can perform a gigantic variety of functions, a software consultant might deliver software solutions to a wide variety of industries. Businesses and organizations will often hire one or a firm on a contract basis, if such expertise is not already is available in-house. For example, a real estate company that already employs a computer programmer, webmaster, or other information technology professionals might also hire a consultant who can create a database of properties customized to suit the companys information management needs.If the consultant fail to perform their tasks, there is many possible failure for the project and will impact the whole company as well. The company will face cost overruns, over budget and project delay due to the poor project management by the consultant. The consultant is not focus on the organizations change systems and lack of attention to the business process reengineering. Some consultants have never done the things they consult on. In innovation circles this means they have never been managed a team of people, never prototyped an idea, never filed a patent, never taken creative risks, so instead of banking on their experience, or even their knowledge of the experience of others, they make stuff up, there is an issues arise from that.Recommendation There is no one to blame with this implementation, the company should cance l the whole project and kick out the consultant. For the implementation of the new system, Craven should seek a able and experienced consultant butnot just book knowledge. A good consultant has valuable experience in one or more areas of specialty, and they can use this experience for the company advantages. Craven at start should select the right consultant firm, next is to get the consultant involved early and set up a clear and formal communication system allowing the company to communicate with the consultant what they needs to be clearly understood and unloosen into designing the software that suitable for the company.Craven should having an interview session to choose the consultant from the hundreds out there, have a reference check on the consultant to check their background to ensure they have a good background and dont have any bad reputation out there, also have to review what they have done before, for example if they have any success implementation job before and when choosing a suitable consultant dont forget the fact that the company will need to work closely with this person for months and sometimes years, so have to choose carefully to ensure the consultant can work with the employees, the consultant should has the ability to communicate effectively and gather accurate details regarding to the business process.Craven buy the system from the supplier and trying to get more advice from consultant is not wrong. However, the mistake of Craven is they relied too much with the supplier and consultant that they did not carefully review the advice and do a bump decision before implemented the system. Craven can collect all the opinion and suggestion from the consultant but have to review and have a concussion with top management to consider the possible consequences that may affect the company as a whole. The top management have to consider guardedly and have to discuss the feasibility to implement the new system, coming out with a better outcome for the better future for the company.Planning is very important before the consultancy process so that the business is able to set out the objectives that they want to achieve after implemented the new system in the company. In addition, Craven has to ensure that they are hiring a consultant that has adequate knowledge about the system implementation. A consultant with adequate experience has the ability to identify the precise needs of the business based on the knowledge thatthey have acquired over the years.Craven should not rely on the suppliers. Suppliers can supply with the templates and best practices that can take the company a good part of the way but Craven still need to define what is constitutes success and failure, progress and set-backs, also set a deadlines. Top management of Craven should have the responsibility to the company, they must have to know that suppliers are just selling the software and the implementation, the decision of the management made will direct ly affect the future for the whole company. Craven have to know what their business processes up front is, and dont let the suppliers software define for the company.Issue 3 The third reason that causes the new system implementation failed is nobody is responsible on the system. Based on the case study, the intension of carved Book decided to implement new system for enhancing their company competitive and more effectiveness for company system, but there were not one to follow up and back up the systems after implementationThis failure happened to be nobody to handle or managed the systems or the lack of system team members and leader who have experience in this information system field followed all the requirements needed to make the project successful. Hence, Carven management lack of experiences and it is a first time of system implementation to the company. Before these, all the companys transactions, orderings, delivering was under manual systems. Due to company willing see im provement of the information system, they started their first try to implement the computer system.Besides that, Cravens argued the responsible of information supporting should be provided and back- up by the supplier of the software, on the other hand, supplier re-blamed back they do not have any responsibility on this issue since they just developed the ready software and sell to their customer needs. Both parties involved blamed to each other for the consequent that it is the sole mistake of the management of the company because they did not again, strategically planned the project.Due to the issue arose, below are the recommendations parts can be givenEmploying IT technical support background people as company employee As result of new system transformation of company, Carven may consider to employ new staff from the specific IT field as company sources for supporting and back- up Company new system implementation as a team with the originator management. Forming a department o r a root word member into system information & supporting group with collaboration with the company system user for supporting company system.Hence, Carven may appoint management manager as the department head whose job scope is jumper lead the whole team of members to solve the problems what the system user met during implementing period. At the beginning stage, department manager has to conduct the new system education to company system user through system trainings & lessons for the current staffs.Normal situation can be seen in the beginning of new system implementation, the most of the users were lacking of experiences in applying the new system in their workplace, especially for Carven employee who is the first time who use the new system in 1990s. After few months of training and lesson, company system users will be more familiar and useful to systems.It can be seen that they have more capability and acceptable for using the new software in this period. In this system impl ementation stage, department manager may regard the system support in more upper and deeper level on the system error or system problems which maybe faced by the company users. System users must voice up the issue and the problems which they faced and handled to the IT group. Through this issue arose, IT supporting group must size up the situation and problems at the first and try to resolve it for the current company demand.Some of the time, company may change their company strategy or follow the customers need changes, it will affect directly into company information system procedure and at long last system user will also be affected through the transformation. That situation may generate some dispute and problems between the system and the users. IT development group have to follow up itand back up anytime with those issues arise.Their job scope not only on the back up the system, however they also involved in protecting and upgrade the software system if there have any disputes between the system and user or customers. The reason that some of outdated or old system code or services transaction, it was not be used by the company, thus IT group should upgrade into new interpreting.Do not rely too much on the Suppliers and ready software It is important that always picking a reliable suppliers and ready software company for future better support. Some of the ready software company and suppliers who are not too much experience and have depth software knowledge will drag the effectiveness when any problems arise. IT support Group or specific manager must always take noted the software version depend company need to the suppliers in anytime for the better system using. Besides that, IT group members may pint out the problems which is software shortcoming or insufficiency to the supplier then has a period meeting with ready software suppliers in a quarter year once for system information updating.Another important factor should be taken note by company user ar e not rely too much with the suppliers. If they faced any issues from the former system, it will drag down company performance once supplier cannot give the system support on time. Company implement information systems may hire and develop their own IT support group in company for nearest support and backup.Benchmarking with other company One of the business strategies can be applied in Carven book is benchmarking. Benchmarking is the process of comparing ones business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other industries. Dimensions typically deliberate are quality, time and cost. In the process of best practice benchmarking, management identifies the best firms in their industry, or in another industry where similar processes exist, and compares the results and processes of those analyze or the targets to ones own results and processes. In this way, they instruct how well the targets perform and, more importantly, the business processes that explain why these firms are successful.The objective of benchmarking is to understand and evaluate the current smear of a business or organization in relation to best practice and to identify areas and means of performance improvement. This process is used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice companies processes, usually within a peer group defined for the purposes of comparison.This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to make improvements or adapt specific best practices, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking may be a one-off event, but is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to improve their practices.Company can choose benchmarking with other not the same field company which is best practice in information system owning to understand other company system. Through the benchmark ing, company send out some IT supporting group member out to benchmarking company learn their best system culture and how they implement the system in their company. Thus, the benchmarking project may exchange the views and experience between the benchmarking company and current company each other together during their visit.Once the benchmarking project finished, IT supporting group member may discuss with current company system user concerning the good practice and services from benchmarking company respectively as well as learn from it and improving the deficiency of current systems. Also, it is vital that any new system developing or changing must according or depending to present companys need and requirement.Recommendations from the video In the end of the video, there were some recommendations were given the computer journalist-Lynn Clarke. She suggested that the company should consider the business priority than the technology and change or rationalized the business as poss ible. Moreover, she also gave comment that the company should utilize the time to in prepare and design strategic plan before making any decisions in choosing the suitable system that fit thecompany. So, in order for Craven Books to solve its problem and continually to have a competitive position in the market place, a strategic planning must be done before the information technology system was created to prevent any more problems and major downturn.Conclusion As for conclusion, nowadays all the industries need information technology in order to become the strongest in the marketplace. It shows that to be competitive in this new world, information system should follow up too. This is to ensure that the company is achieving to the needs of its stakeholders and to meet the requirement that the customers wants.However, in order for Craven Books to solve the problem and continually have competitive position in the marketplace they must bear in mind that creating new systems for the com pany, they need to do strategic planning, having a meeting among all top management in the company to discuss about the possible for the implementation, and to have enough preparation to implement the new systems in order to prevent all the possible problems happened during the implementation stages.

Ann Taylor

send back of Contents Executive Summary 2 Company background & Current Marketing Situation 3-7 Marketing Objectives 7-8 fortune & Issue Analysis 8-13 Marketing Strategy & Actions taken 13-16 Appendix 1 & 2 17-20 Bibliography 21 Contri exceptions (write ups only)Executive Summary, Company background & Marketing Strategy- Priyanka Chigurupati Marketing Objectives& Marketing Strategy- Maira Braga fortune & Issue Analysis- Judy Seng & Yui Yasuda Executive Summary Ann Taylor Stores Corp. has been maven of the largest app arl and accessories firms in the fashion industry for a vast time. It has four departments Ann Taylor, LOFT, Ann Taylor Factory and LOFT Outlet each of which caters the same category of apparel and accessories, i. e. work link habiliment to different marketplaceplaces.The introduction of Dan Taylor our challenge has been positive and we feel that this division for mens article of clothing would reap benefits for the participation chiefly because the me ns market is a growing one. Also, Dan Taylor can capitalize on Ann Taylors reputation of being amongst the crystalise hardly a(prenominal) commemorates customers pick for work related, day-by-day yet chic clothing. Our yield business enterprise go out follow along the path of LOFT catered to men kind of of women. Although there are several threats the company might face, we strongly believe that the opportunities depart outweigh the risks.Dan Taylor go out use promotional tools that Ann Taylor never used but in terms of overall advertizement, Dan Taylor impart follow Ann Taylors path. The companys overall goal is to improve the bottom byplay issue of twain the divisions (Ann Taylor & Dan Taylor). If successful, Ann Taylor Store Corp. will be one of the soaringest grossing companies in the United States. COMPANY BACKGROUND & CURRENT MARKETING SITUATION Ann Taylor Stores Corp. has been one of the most popular womens clothing company in the United States for the past fe w decades.Founded in 1954 by Richard Liebeskind, the company was named Ann Taylor, because Ann, was considered a very New England name and Taylor, evoked an pattern of tailored clothing. Ann Taylor has four divisions Ann Taylor, LOFT, Ann Taylor Factory and LOFT Outlet. Ann Taylor caters to working women with classic clothing that is polished, refined and versatile. The fashions offered at Ann Taylor stores are for affluent career women. With price points betwixt $40 (for a basic top) and $430, Ann Taylor falls in the better, category.LOFT was established in the late 90s and offers much casual and relaxed fashions for relatively younger customers. impairmentd anywhere between $20- $90 and $200 for suits ( ii separates), it falls under the upper moderate, category. Ann Taylor Factory and the LOFT outlet are extensions of the blur (Ann Taylor and LOFT) in the outlet division. Ann Taylor Stores Corp. s product line (width) includes Apparel, that includes tops and blouses, sweater s and knits, dresses, pants, skirts, suits, jackets and coats, denim and accessories among all four divisions ( etymond on different price points).The depth of the accessories includes shoes, jewelry, handbags, belts, scarves and shape wear. Ann Taylor has an exclusive line of Bridal wear that is an one snatch patronise for all wedding needs for women including wedding dresses, bridesmaids dresses, shoes and accessories at an affordable range of $38 (accessories) to $495 (wedding dress). LOFT, being the more casual between the ii has an exclusive line of lounge wear ranging between $20 and $60. The extensive product line is available for Ann Taylor and LOFT in brick and plaster stores, on the profits (ecommerce) and in catalogues.Ann Taylors strengths lie in the fact that it caters to a strong and growing market, i. e. primarily to the working sector of people. Ann Taylors tar land market primarily comprises of ages between 30 years and 60 years to whom, the company offers a pl ethora of work related apparel and accessories. LOFTs stain market comprises of 18 to 34 year olds who film a wide variety of casual work related (can be used for other purposes) apparel and accessories. Although the two divisions cater to different target markets, their primary purpose is to provide to the working customer. Ann Taylors expansion into judge based divisions (LOFT and its clearance centers) has captured the value market. The pricing at LOFT is about 30% lower than its sister concept, Ann Taylor. The outlets too, assimilate captured the market that comprises of consumers seeking deeper value over traditional pricing and stores. The corporation added more value to these clearance centers, by creating private judges for the outlet centers. All the three divisions contrive proven to be a success among consumers. A third strength of the company would be its marketing strategies through celebrity associations.Some of the biggest celebrities like Heidi Klum, Milla Jovo vich, Rachel Bilson are the faces of the company. The brand equity of the company, i. e. the image of the company in the minds of the consumers is invoked because of positive perceptions. To further enhance this, the company is specifically targeting different markets by using different celebrities for each type of market. For example Christina Hendricks, known for her curves is a face of the company. Although not directly through with(p) this speaks to the relatively more curvy women, a huge upcoming market.Also, since Ann Taylor has been associated with luxury products, its reputation has trickled down to its LOFT brand and customers have started to consider LOFT as affordably luxurious. One of the biggest weaknesses of the company (in disguise) is as swell up as a blessing for the company, i. e. its LOFT division. The LOFT brand has been growing rampantly with 506 LOFT stores as compared to 291 Ann Taylor stores in 2009. The reason for this out harvest-time has been the dema nd for value oriented luxury, products offered by LOFT.When LOFT was set up in the late 90s, it was oriented towards casual clothing. Today, with the shift towards more casual clothing even in the working environment (casual Friday), LOFT unwittingly turned into Ann Taylors direct competitor with a better value proposition. ever so since the economy has been in the throes of a recession, Ann Taylors performance like that of most other companies has spiraled downwards. Since 2008, the company has been spiraling downwards with net sales of $2. 4 bank billinal in fiscal 2008, $2. 2 billion in fiscal 2009 and $1. 8 billion in fiscal 2010.The net loss went down considerably from $333,906,000 in fiscal 2009 to $18,208,000 in fiscal 2010. The company has been facing tough competition from its major competitors like White House Black Market, Chicos, Anne Klein, Talbots, Banana Republic, J bunch and Cold Water Creek for Ann Taylor and The Gap, AK Anne Klein, New York & Co. and INC Inter national Concepts (Private Label at Macys), a few among others. In terms of advertising, Ann Taylor promotes it products principally through catalogs, idiot box and magazine ads. It uses a combination of Institutional advertising, i. e. dvertising done to promote the companys image and Promotional advertising, i. e. advertising that highlights an item or a category of items to get an immediate response. pic pic Institutional Advertising Promotional Advertising In 2009, Ann Taylor partnered with Proctor & Gamble due to the economic downturn, and handed out free samples of detergent and coupons to customers who debase machine washable raiment. In addition, Ann Taylor bring into beingd an eight-page magazine, available for free in stores that provided tips on how to keep clothes considering fresh.Of course, due to the partnership, they require Tide or downlike Total Care, which are both(prenominal) Proctor & Gamble products, but this was one of the many successful promotional strategies implemented by Ann Taylor. In an effort to enforce maximum amounts of different media in order to integrate the customer with the promotion strategies, Ann Taylor partnered with CFDA/ Vogue fashion fund in which the selected stylists were asked to put together a abundant look for Ann Taylor that would suit todays working cleaning lady. This brought out not only increased exposure but as well as offers a fashionable, vivacious look to the brand.MARKETING OBJECTIVES Given the current market situation, Ann Taylor should be looking to expand and conquer any new authorization guestele to drive profits up. Sale trends unsounded place the retailer amongst the top two competitors of its US Top Womens Apparel Division, giving the brand a leadership position within its industry. Although product religious offerings are fairly uniform amongst such brands, very few of Ann Taylors direct competitors are currently in the Mens clothes division (primarily department store private labels).Furthermore, as was once predicted of Contemporary and Young Designer fashions, Menswear is the next white space of the industry, offering high rates of growth and return for early entrants. This provides Ann Taylor a high incentive towards accepting the risk of being an early-mover and adding a menswear line to its current offerings. Ann Taylors previously existent pulverisation and factory relationships will also conduce towards seamless integration of the production of a menswear line for select stores. Furthermore, despite harsh economic times, Ann Taylor shows clear signs of recovery, having started to broadcast profits of $18. million in the second quarter of 2010, over $260 million to finance expansive efforts. Another trend that has been identified within a more general Apparel market is that women make up to 80% of all of all shopping for a family. This would indicate that for a large portion of the potent population, it is in fact their fair sexly counterparts that are making the calls in regards to many purchasing decision. Large portions of these women are wives of family households as healthy as long-term partners. Nationally, roughly 50% percent of the entire population is comprised of married friction matchs a broad base for a core target audience.This buying behavior creates an untapped potential market for the Ann Taylor brand. Since women would already be in the store, this is a unconscious process of adding on to their current purchases, adding not only profit, but value to the Ann Taylor brand by having the client associate stores with convenience and multi-level shopping. This was already proven successful with strategic integration of home furnishings and accessories to select flagship stores. The target mannish consumer for these groups was a relatively simple process of reexamining our current demographics under a different lens.Most evidently, the targeted age group would be a similar 18-34. This age group makes up 2 3. 5% of the American consumer base as a whole, with over 23 million potential virile customers. The ideal Dan Taylor is a middle classed, working male aged 18-34 either with, or thinking about a family who makes $75-99,000 a year, and is looking for workable, affordable, salubrious-constructed clothes that speak to a tailored, New England look. Nationally, this corresponds to 12% of American households with a corresponding range of useable in settle, with slight variations across regions of the country.Furthermore, in a more generic view, 78. 6% of the population consists of private wage and salary workers who would maintain the targeted esthetical of the Dan Taylor line. Considering the harsh economic times, many higher income group clients would also be looking towards lower end options for their everyday work wear. This comprises an additional 31. 7% of the population that would be well within means to shop at Ann Taylor. With further research into specific regional demograp hics, initial expansion of the Dan Taylor line would be limited to the atomic number 10 commonwealth.As will be detailed, this capitalizes on maximum saturation of target market as well as core adjacent of brand lifestyle and traditional aesthetic. The northeast region shows the highest rate of educated males with a bachelors degree or higher educational attainment at 32. 5%. This figure is well above any other regions and is a all-encompassing 4 points higher than the national average at 28. 4%. The Northeast also has to the second highest pct of private wage and salary workers at 79. 5% or workforce, only behind the Midwest at 81. 1%. This category corresponds to the key lifestyle psychographics of the Dan Taylor customer.The area also corresponds to the second highest percentage of households within the targeted $75-$99,000 income level with 12. 6% and leads in terms of households making above $75,000 dollars, at 37. 6%, a full sextet points above the national level. Anothe r compelling factor in terms of income is the Northeasts mean male yearly earnings is a full $10,000 above the national level and is by far the highest of all regions. This higher income level means this population has a greater willingness to spend from discretionary income, peculiarly during harder economic times.Another great value in early investment in the Northeast of the United States is the historical association of the Ann Taylor brand with the region. As previously mentioned, the brands name is already associated with the area. The labels look, comprising fashionable day and work wear for the active woman is also in key target with the ambiance and feel of the Northeast region. Color stories of Ann Taylor lines are also frequently associated with this area pastels, khakis and navy are proven a timeless classic to locals of the area.This riffle of ideal target market as well as a value-conscious higher income customer that is not only accustomed, but a follower of the Ann Taylor aesthetic creates an ideal marketing position for the Dan Taylor line. If success is seen within the Northeast sector, analyzed demographics then suggest the Western region of the United States as being the high hat to serve, followed by the Midwest and finally the South. OPPORTUNITY AND ISSUE ANALYSIS Opportunities 1. Growing Menswear Industry Men nowadays have become more aware of their appearance, and therefore, their outgo on apparels also increased.According to info Monitor (Table 1 & Figure 1- Appendix 1), from year 2004 to year 2008, the market value of the menswear market has a steady growth rate from approximately 3% to 5 %, its market value has also grown from $82. 6 billion in 2004 to $98. 2 billion in 2008. Data Monitor also forecasted that by 2013, the market value would grow to $118. 3 million dollars, an increase of 20. 4% since 2008. If we take a look at Table 3, our target customers who are among the age group of less than 25 years old and 25 34 years o ld, have a total of 27,919 thousand (7875 + 20,044) customers.Their added annual expenditure will be $76,413. Compared to women, men spend less on apparel. This may seem to be a discouraging data, however it also proves that the menswear market is still catching up, and that Ann Taylor can utilize its edge of having the existing hardcore womanly customers to expand to the menswear market. By introducing Dan Taylor in the garret store, it is expected that our female customers would purchase menswear merchandise for their male friends and husbands.Some of the men may not like to spend too much too much time shopping just about and may leave the styling job to their girlfriends or wives. This becomes a strong edge for the launch of Dan Taylor because this approach helps Loft to reach to a new group of male customers through our existing female customers. It is certain that the menswear market is still growing, and therefore Dan Taylor will seize this growing market to obtain some m arket allocate in the menswear industry for more profits in the future.By making the first move, Dan Taylor will have the first movers advantage. 2. Product line and Price Points The chart below includes the product lines of each of our competitors and their price points. Department private labels such as Alfani, INC and Izod have a narrow product line and a relatively lower price point. They place their focus on business clothing with items such as t-shirts, polo, shirts (casual and formal), sweaters, and trousers. However, for each assortment, they only offer a few styles. Compared to competitors, such asGap and Express, Dan Taylor positions itself as more for the same we provide better quality but offer the same price points. This positioning allows us to fit in the white space between low to medium priced and medium priced specialty stores. Although our quality is comparatively lower than what medium priced brands such as Kenneth Cole and J. combination offer our price points are much lower and therefore, Dan Taylor provides better value. In addition to the demographics qualities, we are also targeting customers that look for consistent qualities and values.Our goal is to establish a long-lasting relationship with our customers by offering great quality, detail, and a wide variety of products with affordable price. We believe in values, and so do our customers. It is expected that customers from our competitors will be drawn to our store because of our promising value and quality. 3. Strong Brand Image Ann Taylor Loft has been in the women specialty retail market since 1983. Currently, we have around 900 stores in the United States, including the labels Ann Taylor, Loft, Ann Taylor Factory, as well as Loft outlet stores.Within these 900 stores, there are 509 LOFT stores because Loft has outperformed Ann Taylor by using a more moderate pricing strategy. Loft targets to a slightly younger group who has a more relaxed lifestyles at work and at home. Our cu stomers are value-conscious and are loyal this allows us to introduce Dan Taylor (which will have LOFTs price points and quality) which targets to a similar group of men. Our approach is to first introduce the menswear to our existing Loft customers. It is common that women will buy gifts for their boyfriends or husbands during special occasion such as holiday seasons or birthdays.Therefore, it will be a great probability to launch Dan Taylor since our well-known values and quality will draw our existing customers to purchase our menswears products as gifts for their spouses. This approach allows us to reach our potential male customers and provide them exploration to our products. 4. Online Opportunities The online U. S retail market is growing tremendously in the recent years. According to industry reports by Data monitor, the US online retail market grew by 16. 6% in 2008 to reach a value of $186. 7 billion. in 2013, he US online retail market is forecast to have a value of $325 . 2 billion, an increase of 74. 2% since 2008. This trend leads many of the retailers setting up their own websites, providing customers an easy access to their newest campaigns and other information related to the company. This approach helps the customers to have a better knowledge of the company. Some of these companies also set up an online store where customers can purchase directly online. Images, measurements and other details are shown to give customers a better visual idea of the merchandise.Today, with such busy lifestyles, people who do not have enough time to shop at the virtual store can now have the option to shop online. Therefore, Ann Taylor should keep focusing on the online sales channel to drive margins because e-commerce is the high-speed growing and high margin segments which currently representing nearly a 25% of the companys revenue base. 5. Collaborations with designer labels and international markets Today, the trend of retail stores collaborating with high -fashion brand labels is more popular than ever.Some of these examples would be H&M and Lanvin, as well as Uniqlo and Jil Sander. Regardless of it the partnership being short term or long term, this approach has always been successful. Long queues are found lining up outside the store on the launch date, and most of the limited merchandises in the coaction collections are gone in less than a few hours. This not only creates instant buzz about the company but the other customers who come to shop the designer collections might end up looking at the other merchandize as well.Aside from advertising purpose, the limited merchandise brings in some specialisation and freshness to the company and attracts a new group of customers. A further opportunity derived from these collaborations is the recognition in the international markets. While Ann Taylor High-end designer labels now mainly focus on the domestic U. S market, the collaboration with designer labels can help promoting Ann Taylor Loft and Dan Taylor throughout the world. Getting the name out to the global market will be a stepping-stone for the company to launch new stores in new markets.Threats/ Issues 1 Effects of recessionary environment will continue impacting consumers expense habits The economic condition might be one of the most serious threats for Ann Taylor. We havent come out of the recession yet, and consumers in the US are suffering high unemployment and lower disposable income. Consumers are reluctant to pay for anything that is not on sale or with some sort of down pricing. uprise unemployment further reduces consumers ability to spend, which might be a threat to Dan Taylor although the economy is slowly recovering from the recession.Rising unemployment also means less people are at work the precise demographic of the Ann Taylor and Dan Taylor aesthetics. Increased pursuit of everyday/ lounge wear from high unemployment trends could show significant damage to Dan Taylors future success. 2 Inc reased regulations on tease issued by the retailers will affect the appeal of these cards adversely A new act called the Credit Card Accountability, right and Disclosure Act of 2009 was passed which enforces several restrictions for retailers while issuing the credit cards.Several norms that originally contributed to the rising popularity of the retailer cards, have been identified as the reasons that later left the consumer with high debt. The new set of rules will benefit the customers, but will nevertheless restrict retailers and the earlier growth in retailer credit cards. Additionally, retailers rely on offering loyalty programs through these cards. The decline in the card base will negatively impact the success of these promotions. Ann Taylor issues its own branded and co-branded charge card for its customers.This will expose the company to high risk of default, higher regulations and compliances. The new act further imposes higher restrictions and this might lead to less po pularity of the cards impacting the cards business adversely. The new regulations might also make it more difficult for the company to issue new cards to the customers. 3 Rising of private label has affected the sales of national brands seriously Due to the recession, customers care now about price more than they did before. As customers became more price-oriented, large retailers filled that spread head with lower priced private labels.Their close ties with factories allow these clothes to sit at a very low price point while still offering profit to the retailer. As a result, Macys, which is one of the largest department stores in the world and other companies have begun to focus on their private brands (Alfani, INC and IZOD for Macys, Aqua for Bloomingdales) and launched various types of clothes with reasonable prices for men and women of all ages. In addition, many discounted supermarkets such as Wal-mart and Target collaborated with designers and launched fashionable collection s with reasonable prices as well.The popularities and sales of these brands increased rapidly. This might be another potential threat to the moderately priced Dan Taylor. 4 Rising apparel cost and labor costs in China are pressurizing margins Dan Taylors major production will be in China where the costs are estimated to inflate in the near future. This will increase costs for the company and pressurise margins. The prices of cotton, which typically comprise 40-45% of the price of a garment, were up 25% year in one year. Higher energy costs and rising labor costs in China will contribute to the increase in import cost of the apparel as well.The relative cost of manufacturing in China will almost certainly rise as the labor costs rise. Wage increases, coupled with higher costs for cotton, oil and freight will also fight down up prices. This cost increase is particularly troubling when taking into consideration the rise of private labels and increased competition within the industry to keep prices down. 5 A mens brand in a womens store might inhibit men from walking in Ann Taylor, being the effeminate store it is might often prevent men from walking into the store.A large portion of men, even while shopping with their partner, prefer to wait outside or visit a different store, rather than shopping alongside the woman. This moderate level of interest shows a threat to the Dan Taylor line, however, it is also provides room for growth. By changing promotional efforts in-store, management can captivate the attention of such idle shoppers and transform their boredom into profits. MARKETING STRATEGY & ACTIONS TAKEN Ann Taylors primary advertising strategies will be combination advertising, including both Institutional and Promotional advertising.The promotion strategies will be divided into two phases. comprise 1 will complicate bringing the companys name out to the public and creating loyalty from Ann Taylors female consumers thereby ex represent their partners to the line in a passive manner. Stage 2 will be dependent upon the first stages success and will encompass the creation of the actual Dan Taylor, stores and shifting shopping responsibilities from the woman to the man. Product line Tops Bottoms Jackets & Coats Accessories T shirts Pants/ Trousers Suit Blazers Ties - Polos - Flat front - Suit jackets -Boleros - Henley - Pleated - Sports blazers -Neckties - Sleeveless -Bow ties -Ascots Sweaters Denim Cufflinks -Vests - Relaxed - Double faced -Crew neck - keen leg - Chain - Full sleeved - Skinny - Snap on - Boat neck - Boot cut Belts - V neck - Casual - globe Shirts Shorts Socks - Dress shirts - Cargo - Ankle length - Cufflink shirts - Chino - Low cut - Bermuda - Mid calf Stage 1 At this stage, Dan Taylors promotional efforts will be limited to news papers, magazines, in store promotions and mixer media. Given the economic difficulties of the Ann Taylor stores at the moment and the high-risk nat ure of adding a menswear line, these forms of advertising were chosen due to their maximum exposure to both men and women. Although newspaper advertising is a slowly dying medium, it still has the maximum exposure at stripped cost.This is an efficient medium to get the Dan Taylor, name out there to people who read newspapers that are not fashion related. In addition, trade publications like Womens Wear Daily and other national and local magazines in the North East Region will feature advertisements for both Ann Taylor and Dan Taylor with both male and female models. accessible Media, a highly upcoming medium for advertising will be taken advantage of as well. Dan Taylor will feature on facebook and twitter. These social networks will be constantly updated with new arrivals, sales and other promotions. These are excellent tools for reaching out to a mass audience that is specifically elicit in the brand.Particular focus will be placed on these tools before the launch of the first Dan Taylor line to reach a wide audience and create massive hype. By using such a medium the brand can create an interaction and communication with the fan base, sponsoring loyalty and a following before the label is even launched. To introduce line on a grand scale, the company will have a launch party for the Dan Taylor line. Social media will be heavily used to publicize and to create excitement over the brand before said opening. Much emphasis will be placed in public relations and in creating hype for the launch. One such effort will be a competition on the Dan Taylor website (which is a part of the Ann Taylor website). Links to the website will be available on the facebook and twitter pages.The competition will involve men dressing their girlfriends or wives in Ann Taylor clothing and accessories and then submitting their entries. Visitors of the website will get a chance to vote for their favorite outfit and the top three couples will win free flight tickets, hotel accommoda tions and be featured at the launch party of the Dan Taylor brand. At the party, the winners, along with three celebrity couples will be highlighted as the events main feature. each(prenominal) couple will be given an exclusive look into the Dan Taylor line and the woman will be given the opportunity to style their man. At the party, both the contest winners as well as the celebrity males will be asked to walk down a runway. Outfits will later be featured in editorials in a major fashion magazine.The celebrity couples will be chosen directly from previously existent Ann Taylor spoke models including Rachel Bilson, Heidi Klum and Christina Hendricks. Fortunately, all three women have famous actors as their boyfriend or husbands, which would translate seamlessly with raising awareness of the brand in a fun, star studded manner. Once the line is in store, promotional efforts will be rampant. Campaigns will appear primarily in newspapers and magazines. Adverts will always feature both a man and a woman, posing together in some manner to suggest a relationship. Emphasis will be placed on the novelty of the line as well as on how shopping the line makes the female reader a better wife or girlfriend.Ads will play on the idea that one uses gifts to demonstrate their love, adding that now woman can shop for men while they shop for themselves This activity will be depicted as pleasurable and an sweet addition to a womans afternoon shopping trip. The Dan Taylor line will be available in all Ann Taylor Loft outlets within the Northeast region. As previously detailed, this region shows highest rates of employment and of brand loyalty. It will be a perfect smaller test market to see whether the line has potential for future success. Loft stores were chosen due to their history of higher sales and lower price point. By limiting distribution of the product, we will also create a greater sense of demand and urgency for the label when stage two moves distribution nationwide. Stage 2 At this point, there will already be some sort of general awareness within the market of the Dan Taylor brand. Depending on the success of the first stage we will move directly into constructing brick and mortar Dan Taylor retail outlets. These will most likely be connected to Ann Taylor stores, much in the vain of Gaps strategy. In addition to the print campaign, television ads will start being used specifically for the Dan Taylor line. Also, Dan Taylor print campaigns will no longer always feature a both a woman and a man. Campaigns should have similar feelings as Tods campaigns, with very manly, dark colors and a restrained sense of humor. We want a wily sophistication in our ads to go in line with the product.We will increase product offerings to match the larger retail space, with products no longer being exhibited plainly in racks within already existent Ann Taylor Loft outlets. A large launch party will be offered for both the Ann and Dan Taylor lines. The ultimate goal is to have both men and womens wear lines have equal stature within the corporate structure. We will have created a one-stop shop for the power couple family unit, creating a comfortable environment for both the man and the woman. Conclusion The companys overall goal is to improve the bottom line growth of both the divisions (Ann Taylor & Dan Taylor). If successful, Ann Taylor Store Corp. ill be one of the highest grossing companies in the United States.Appendix 1 pic picpicpic Appendix 2 picpic picpicpicpic picpicpicpic picpicpic Bibliography Karr, Arnol J. Ann Taylor Update Leads Retail Rally. Womens Wear Daily 3 Feb. 2010,199th ed. , sec. 23 14. Print. Moin, David. Ann Taylor Moves to Profit in 2nd Qtr. Womens Wear Daily 23 Aug. 2010, 2000th ed. , sec. 39 10. Print. Moin, David. Ann Taylor Swings to Pofit in 4th Qtr. Womens Wear Daily 15 Mar. 2010, 199th ed. , sec. 56 2. Print. Romano, Anthony M. How Ann Taylor Put strategical Sourcing on the Management. Supply Chai n Management Review October (2006) 32-40. Print. U. S.Censs Bureau, 2009 American Community Survey Datamonitor the Home of Business Information. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. http//www. datamonitor. com/ EBSCOhost Worldas Foremost Premium question Database Service. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Macys Department Store, Dept Store , Department Stores, Clothing, Apparel, Accessories. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . J. Crew Cashmere, Sweaters, Womens Clothing Dresses, Mens Clothing, Childrens Clothing Kids Clothes. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. . Web. 22 Nov. 2010. .

Discuss Twain’s use of comparison-contrast in “Two Ways of Seeing a River” Essay

In, Two Ways of Seeing A River, the author, Mark duo, described his idea of the Mississippi river from two angles or two perspectives and used comparison and contrast to illustrate his points. He starting signal began by using a metaphor in his opening words. He compared to Mississippi river to a language which he had already mastered.However, he said that upon his mastery of the river, he lost something which is his admiration for it when he saw it the last time. Twain described how majestic and how wonderful it was when he first saw the river on a steamboat. He vividly illustrated in the story tiny details same(p) the color of the river during the sunset and the ripples in the water, among others. But when he returned a second time, everything curiosityed about the river was gone. Basically, Twains comments on the river on the third paragraph were most the opposite of his comments on the second. It can be then deduced that the author used a block pattern of comparison in his s tory because he first described his beautiful experiences upon seeing the river the first time before describing his less lively experience on the second time. Moreover, Twains differing comments on the river essentially says that things such as experiences become less exciting or even less fulfilling the second time around. In other words, a man who has already experienced something simply passes by it the next time. In the case of the author in the story, he simply read and observed the Mississippi river rather than marvel at it because he has already seen it before.

An Episode of My Life- Life of a Grade 8 Student Essay

I woke up in the middle of the night subsequently the weird noise coming from my brother Jakes room. It was his alarm that made such noise. He has an important high school exam today. Apparently he thought that having a fire drill sound as his alarm tune would surely wake him up, it did but it woke all of us up.After lastly be able to sleep again, I woke up around eight oclock. I was thirty minute later from the clock time when I usually wake up.It is Wednesday, June 27th. The weather was extremely beautiful and warm, a typical June weather in L.A. After having breakfast and a nice cup of ice tea, I got ready for school.Today was the last day of school so I treasured to enjoy it. I put on an over- sized sweatshirt and paired it with ripped faithful jeans while grabbing a pair of sneakers. I was never allowed to wear such kind of stuffs in school, apparently my school is private and plainly accepts proper train code. My dads driver drove me to school today because I was rele ase to be late. Usually I just walk to school since it only takes me ten minutes.Around nine thirty, I arrived at school. I entered through the front door and saw the crowd surrounding a seventh grader that was being bullied by a bully. This actually happened a lot after he arrived to our school. His name is Thomas Thomson and had been called names ever since last year. He was a deliver off and had a bad attitude. The bully was Joe Kinderson. He always bullies younger graders and was expelled twice in one year. The only reason he is still here is because of his dad, the president of Kinderson Company. His dads company founded our school and that is why our schools name is Roy Kinderson Academy.Being in a private school had never been what I wanted. If I hadnt fail grade five, I would still be in Rosemary public school that can give me at least freedom. That was not bad enough, because I got a D on two of my subjects for the past two semesters, I will have to be send to a boarding school in England and live with my aunt Frowny after summer break. Aunt Frownys actual name is Juliana Frowren Williams. My brother and I gave her the moniker Frowny since she further smiles to us.First period was supposed to be French but Ms. Lewis our homeroom teacher decided to change it into science so she can give us a review quiz on what we learned this year. Our French teacher Madam Garcia was one of the nicest teachers in grade eight due to the fact that she barely gave us any homework and that she always has a big bright smile on her face.Since today was the last day of school, we only had to stay in school until after lunch. We had recess after first period. My two best friends Trina and Elisa were with me along some other girls. They think that going to school in England will be a fairy tale but for me its definitely not.Lunch was pizza and fruit salad. We had to help clean out the classroom before lunch.Around one oclock we were about(predicate) to leave. I knew it w ould be the last time I ever see my friends and teachers so I left hand early. I didnt want to get emotional since I was known as a girl who never cries. I will really fall behind my school but I can still contact people from my school using Facebook.I got home a quarter to two. Took a shower stall and watched TV until my mom went home. She made me to go shopping with her and buy new cloths for tomorrow. Tomorrow is our family Frienbely day. It was a unique holiday my parents thought about when I was five. They wanted to celebrate the coming of summer break by hanging out with Jake and I as friends for a wholly day. We thought it was cool at that time but that was because we were young.As we were on our way to the mall, I had to severalise my mom how my day went. I told her about the practice fire drill we had today and the whole morning of cleaning. She asked me if I took memorable pictures with any of my teachers and friends but I said I would still visit them in the summer.T he afternoon turned to be a disaster to me. I accidently went off to the wrong escalator and ended up bumping into the set where they were shooting a music video. The camera caught me spilling coffee onto my pants by accident and broadcasted it on the big cover in the mall. The embarrassing thing wasnt this but my mom. She shopped at my favorite store and bought the exact same cloth I was wearing. She though it would be fun and would be perfect for tomorrows Frienbely day. Because my mom withdrawn five of her credit cards last hebdomad without knowing, my brother Jake had to come over to pay for her bills. He laughed so hard at both of us and laughed even harder when he saw the big screen playing over my coffee spilling moment.Around seven thirty in the afternoon, my family went out for dinner after my dad returned from work. We had dinner at a celebrated Spanish restaurant since my mom is half Spanish. The restaurant wasnt famous because of its extraordinary taste but by its reaso nable price and its interesting line of battle of tables.Dad bought cloths for the frienbely day as well. He told his secretary to get the same outfit that matched with the cloths Jake bought last week. I was going to laugh at Jake to get mainstay at him, but I thought I would save it for the next time he makes fun of me.After we got home just before football team oclock, I found Jakes new girlfriend waiting for him by the back door of our house. Jake didnt tell mom and dad about his new girlfriend because he just broke up with his ex- girlfriend last week and their relationship only lasted for two days. I didnt tell mom and dad about Jakes new girl friend because they promised me to buy me a new CD that mom banned me from listening to. They were going to sing at the karaoke club with a bunch of friends to have fun and relax after their two months of studying.I went to bed at two AM in the morning. The new video game I bought last week kept me from sleeping early. After five minut e, I slept soundly with a ideate that led me to the uncertainness of tomorrow.

Critically evaluate piaget’s theory of cognitive development Essay

Piaget has been described as the father of cognitive psychology (Shaffer, 1988) and his stage possible action as the foundation of growingal cognitive psychology (Lutz & Sternberg, 2002). It is non possible to describe Piagets empirical findings and possible action in scarcely if 1,500 words. Instead, I give briefly review the theorys scope, comprehensiveness, parsimony, applicability, heuristic value and methodological underpinning. I will then evaluate in more detail the theorys utility in describing and explaining cognitive increase.Historically, Piagets ontological approach was ground-breaking with its focus on the qualitative nature of cognition and its constructivist perspective. The theory itself is wide-scoped (universal), comprehensive (covering a broad spectrum of cognitive achievement) and elegantly coherent (from neonate to adult). It remains profoundly influential on cognitive psychology and continues to be widely applied in nestlingcare and educational settings . Piagets theory is parsimonious in its commonality of approach to a broad range of complex phenomena with key interlinking concepts. Inevitably, such an ambitious theory has generated a wealth of research, some supporting, some supplementing, some extending and some disputing aspects of Piagets theory.Some of the weaker aspects of Piagets theory appear to arise from his clinical method of using observational behavioural data to infer conclusions about childrens underlying cognitive competences. Longitudinal data, ideally suited to monitoring progression, was only recorded for his own three children. Certain of his techniques were in qualifiedly sensitive to identify the underlying causes of performance variations, especially with very young infants, where more recent habituation techniques have shown that Piaget considerably underestimated their arrest and ability (Bower, 1982, Baillargeon & DeVos, 1991). This whitethorn have led him to overlook other relevant interpretations f or varying levels of performance, eg limitations on memory capacity (Bryant & Trabasso, 1971, Kail, 1984, Diamond, 1985), motor-co-ordination (Mandler, 1990), availableness of memory strategies(Siegler, 1991) and verbal understanding (Sternberg, 1985). However, Piagets clinical method, his flexible and ecologically valid approach did reveal original insights into childrens view, which a more standardised, scientific approach may have overlooked entirely.Piagets theoretical framework describes the structure of cognitive development as a fixed sequence of quatern discontinuous and qualitatively different periods (for ease of understanding, referred to as stages) of all childrens intelligence across reachs, tasks and contexts.Invariance is a core feature of Piagets abstract structure, in contrast with contemporary perspectives, which question rigid conceptual structures, eg post-modernism and chaos theory. Piaget emphasised the invariance of progression through stages, so that a ch ild neer regresses to thinking methods from an earlier stage of cognitive development. This is empirically unconvincing, eg, as an adult, I have easily switched from formal-operational to concrete-operational thinking when presented with flat-pack furniture and an incomprehensible set of instructions. Research (Beilin, 1971, Case, 1992) has too contradicted the assumption that within a given stage of development, children demonstrate only stage-appropriate levels of performance, eg 4-year-olds make the same mistakes as 1-year-olds on some hidden-object problems by looking at locations where they have found the object previously (Siegler, 1998).Structural, qualitative discontinuity between stages a key feature in the theorys description of cognitive development is as well as questionable. Although much research has shown that children can do things at ages earlier than Piaget considered possible (Baillargeon, 1987, Mandler, 1998, Diamond, 1991), Piaget focussed on the sequence o f progression from one stage to another(prenominal) rather than the respective ages of cognitive achievement. However, because cognitive achievements have often been shown to emerge earlier (and occasionally later if at all, eg certain formal operations) than Piagets stages indicate, only when these stages begin and end cannot be clearly established. This blurring of boundaries between stages, suggests a spiralling structure of gradual, continuous cognitive development ratherthan a stepped structure of discontinuous stages.Piagets focus on competence as opposed to performance contributes to the difficulty of determining when one stage becomes qualitatively different from another. What we may be equal to(p) of doing optimally (competence) may often differ from what we do actually much of the time (performance) (Davidson & Sternberg, 1985). Even if we accept Piagets stages as distinguishing when competences are fully create and functional not necessarily when they introductory appe ar (Lutz & Sternberg, 2002), thither is still insufficient evidence that qualitative leaps in cognitive competence can be distinguished between one stage and another. Indeed, Piaget (1970) adjusted his position on the discontinuity of stages, acknowledging that transition from concrete-operational to formal-operational reasoning occurs gradually over a span of several years.Siegler (1998) suggests that denouement theory (a mathematical theory which examines sudden changes) explains both the continuous and discontinuous appearance of cognitive development. The forces that lead to the collapse of a bridge may retrace up over a period of years, however the bridges visible collapse appears as a sudden event. Analogously, a child may suddenly solve a problem that she could not solve the day before, but her progress may be due to do it and improved understanding acquired over preceding months. Thus cognitive development may be viewed both as a continuous process of small, imperceptible amendments or as a discontinuous shift from one state to another depending on when and how closely viewpoints are taken. Bloom (2002) provides a similar argument in defensive measure of spurts in word learning.Piaget initially argued that his stages are universal, ie that they apply to everyone irrespective of their individual experience. Recent research suggests that cultural practices are related to childrens technique on tasks (Rogoff, 1990). Piaget (1972) always acknowledged the impact of social and cultural contextual factors on cognitive development but came to revise his claim that his stages are universal, eg by recognising that achieving formal operations is dependent on exposure to the specific type of thinkingfound in science classes and on individual motivation to start out certain types of task.Piagets revised stance on universality and the discontinuity of stages also calls into question the theorys implicit structural premise of cognitive development being domain- general. Piaget refers to stages as holistic structures, with coherent modes of thinking that apply across a broad range of tasks, ie are domain-general. However children do not appear to develop consistently and evenly across all cognitive tasks or even within specific types of cognitive functioning, eg conservation. Piaget explains unevenness of progression, eg, within the domain of conservation, mass is conserved much sooner than volume, by horizontal decalage, which occurs when problems that appear quite similar in the requirements of underlying knowledge actually differ in the complexity of schemata required. An alternative explanation for perceived unevenness in cognitive development is domain-specificity, ie that specific types of cognitive processing develop separately and at differing rates from others.One example of domain-specificity for quarrel vs number acquisition occurs in deaf infants symbolic-representational ability allowing them to learn American Sign expression as early as 6-7 months, while childrens symbolic-representational ability for number appears months later (Mandler, 1990, Meier & Newport, 1990). Subsequent research (Chomsky, 1986, Fodor, 1983, Chi, 1992 cited in Pine, 1999) has suggested domain-specificity for language, mathematics and logico-spatial reasoning involved in chess Horizontal decalage is described, at best, as a peripheral element and, at worst, as undermining the theorys holistic stage structure and domain-generality.To summarise the descriptive utility of Piagets theory, it certainly describes the general sequencing of childrens broad intellectual development, although stage-like discontinuity may be a reflection of perspective only. However, the theory appears little accurate in its description of cognitive development as universal, functionally invariant and domain-general. More recent research (Fischer, 1980, Flavell, 1985) suggests that cognitive development occurs gradually and consecutive withinparticular i ntellectual domains.Turning to the theorys explanation of cognitive development, Piagets theory explains cognitive development as the result of physiological maturation and two basic biological, invariant functions organisation and adaptation (Lutz & Sternberg, 2002). Organisation is seen as the tendency to organise physical and psychological processes into purposeful, efficient systems. Adaptation occurs via equilibration, to wit the seesaw-like balancing of (1) assimilation, ie how children transform incoming information to fit their existing modes of thinking (schemata) and (2) accommodation, ie how children adapt their schemata in response to new experiences. Equilibration integrates physical maturation, experience with the environment and social influences (Miller, 2002).Whilst Piagets focus on the active constructivist mechanism of individual/environmental interaction has been highly influential, it does not provide a sufficient explanation of cognitive development. There is little explanation of the physical maturational aspects that are key to cognitive development, such as that provided by subsequent researchers on age-related neural processing improvements (Diamond,1991). More importantly, the processes of adaptation and organisation do not explain how a childs logical ability is derived from interaction with the environment, eg there is no explanation of how sensorimotor activity is transformed into mental images which are in turn transformed into words. Crucially, Piagets theory does not provide any(prenominal) explanation of the mechanism of cognitive transition from one qualitative stage to another.Piagets explanation of cognitive development thus appears impoverished. It has been supplemented by social theory, which explicates the component part of social interaction in the childs development (Vygotsky, 1934/1978) and is supported by research into the innate social characteristics of young infants (Meltzoff & Moore, 1994 amongst others cited in Smith, Cowie & Blades, 1998). Information-processing theorists (Case, 1985,) have also explained the contribution of specific areas of cognitive development, such as memory and attention. Other theorists (Karmiloff-Smith, 1992) haveincorporated a combination of approaches into a more holistic explanation of cognitive development.In conclusion, Piagets theory appears only broadly accurate in its description of cognitive development. Its explanation of cognitive development is inadequate only acknowledging but not fully examining the role of social, emotional and contextual factors, underestimating the existence of innate cognitive abilities (Flavell, Miller & Miller, 1993), and ignoring the complex role of language in cognitive development.Nonetheless, Siegler (1998) describes Piagets work as a testimony to how much one person can do. The theorys heuristic power is necessary recent studies of cognitive development have focussed on previously unsuspected cognitive strengths in chi ldren and on a broader range of childrens thinking than that investigated by Piaget (Kohlberg, 1984). The theorys longevity is certainly warranted for its originality and inspiration to others. According to Piaget the principal goal of education is to create adults who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done who are creative, inventive, discoverers (Piaget, 1977 cited in Shaffer, 1998). 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