The Economic Aspects of Required Textbooks

The Economic Aspects of Required Textbooks Hashtag: #BudgetBooks The process of determining which books are to be used in a school classroom is historically controversial. The study shows that textbooks in elementary and high school are often acquired based on economic and political reasons rather than educational considerations. Moreover, major textbook publishers often influence school decision about required or supplementary text. If the school adopted the new book as required text then students have to buy it. This, in reality, is helping publisher make money out of school adoption. However, not all students can buy required books and many actually result to borrowing books from libraries, friends, photocopying text, or buying used second-hand books. In some developing countries, for instance, the teacher has the only textbook in the class. In particular, most public school systems  are underfunded and cannot provide new books. The lack of reading materials is further complicated by the fact that these students are relying on outdated materials. For instance, findings of study conducted in developing Asian countries suggests that lack of textbooks and adequate teaching and learning materials result in low student achievement. In contrast, students’ achievement was higher in schools with more textbooks. Teachers are â€Å"gatekeepers† of academic books or the people who have the knowledge and power to recommend the most appropriate textbook for their class. Teachers are powerful actors shaping the content that students are likely to use in their studies. They influence students’ decisions on the kind of books to read and prevent them from wasting time and money on buying books that are not essential to specific classroom tasks. Benefits of Second Hand and Used Books Books required in higher education are often expensive but bookstores nowadays are selling new and used books. Some student government operated bookstores are also selling used books at a much cheaper price than those offered in regular bookstores. Most of these books were collected from â€Å"book drives†, a campaign where discarded books are deposited in a donation bin at school. College students’ organizations are also selling and buying used books. Book exchange provides opportunities for people to sell back their used books at a reasonable price. Students can also buy from online bookstores and wait for shipping. Books, regardless of age are reliable and accurate sources of information. Most teachers depend on books for factual, scholarly, and in-depth inquiry. Old but gently used books are a good source of reading materials and facilitate extensive reading at home. Inequities in students’ access to books outside the classroom can be resolved by soliciting used books. In fact, many persevering and diligent teachers built their classroom libraries from used books purchased by parent-teacher organizations from garage sales. This library of used books contains easily accessible multicultural literature that can help students see themselves, appreciate their own and others culture and language. Book Fairs are not only great way to collect, sell, and raise funds but influential in motivating people to read. Book Swap, on the other hand, enhances social networks of literary enthusiast. Similarly, book hunting through garage sales encouraged students to read some or all the books they find during school break.

The History of Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The History of Advertising - Essay Example This essay "The history of advertising" outlines the changes in the advertisement in course of times and its future. Advertising today is totally integrated with the term marketing, that it has become an activity similar to mass selling. In this respect it has to be distinguished from other activities intended to persuade the public, like propaganda, publicity and public relations. The techniques of advertising range in complexity from the publishing of simple notices in the classified-advertising columns of newspapers to the integrated marketing communications, involving the concerned use of advertising in newspapers, magazines, television and radio and on the internet as well as direct response, sales promotion and other communications vehicles in the course of a single campaign. From its humble beginnings in the ancient times, advertising had grown into a worldwide industry, with billions of dollars spent every year to influence the purchase of products and services. New age advertising Advertising has also changed not only in spending but by its nature, scope and components over the years. The channels (media), research, techniques of persuasion, industry structure, economic and social effects and regulation are the factors that have contributed to its change over the years. Today advertising messages are disseminated through numerous channels. The television, newspapers, direct mail, radio, yellow pages, magazines, business publications, outdoor advertising and farm publications were the traditional channels. But miscellaneous media such as window displays, free shopping news publications, calendars, blimps, sky writing by airplanes, sandwich boards carried by people walking the streets, delivery trucks painted with product messages, wrapping paper and shopping bags etc are employed to reach the advertisements to the potential buyers. The new information age has contributed the advertising industry with its new channels like the internet, gleaming with pop-up messages and e-mail alerts; the mobile phones with the SMS messages and the net savvy gadgets that download the entertainment along with the ad promos. Research is another factor that has contributed to the growth of the sector. It was only possible to approximate the effectiveness of various advertising a century ago. Today prospective advertisers were guided almost solely by estimates of magazine and newspaper readership. Advertising and market research has become so much sophisticated that advertisers and agencies frequently conduct extensive and expensive surveys to determine the potential acceptance of products or services before they are advertised nationally at costs that may amount to millions of dollars. Techniques of persuasion has also changed, most of them circumscribed only by the ingenuity of the creative mind, the limits of various channels of communication, by certain legal restrictions and by the standards self imposed by the industry. Modern advertising employs an astonishing variety of persuaders. Among these are humorous and entertaining television and radio commercials, appeals to the sense of smell by use of perfumed ink on paper, endorsements of products by celebrities, appeals to parents to give their children a better life and future, appeals to children to 'ask mommy' to buy certain break fast cereals and the controversial use of 'scare copy'. The advertising industry has also changed. Today we see a great transition from the old space brokerage to the new age big-budget

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 15

Marketing - Essay Example In the food segment the Marks and Spencer’s company employs the following competitive moves so that it cab have an advantage over its rivals. First and foremost it changes its prices to suit the consumer’s purchasing power and this enables the company to have a temporary advantage over the other rivalry firms. Similarly the company makes further improvements in its food products differentiation and it also maintains good relationships with the suppliers. (Baryon 2006) In the industry this is a very strong force since the Marks and Spencer’s company’s food industry has strong brand images and this makes it very hard for the new entrants. The initial capital expenditures are very huge and the exiting companies are achieving their economies of scale by being global. Another threatening factor to the potential new entrants is the trade tariffs as well as the international regulations whereby they have to prove themselves to the foreign companies, customers and also suppliers. In the food industry the substitute food products belong to the other firms in the industry. The Marks and Spencer’s foods segment is highly affected by the price changes in the substitute food products. Since the more the substitute food products become available to the consumers then the demand of the food products from the Marks and Spencer’s company become more elastic. This further allows the consumers to have more alternatives in the market. However this is a moderate but weak force in the industry since the businesses and also individuals wish to use other cheaper food products. A close substitute food product in the industry further constraints the company’s ability to raise its prices. On the other hand there is a lot of price competition in the industry especially in the food substitutes. Most of the consumers in Marks and Spencer’s foods consider the suitability as well as the nutritive value

Case Study 3 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

3 - Case Study Example This paper will focus on two major technologies i.e. cloud computing and virtualization that can be adopted by BP to support its current strategy in its quest of transforming its business operations and ensuring it is no longer a serial underperformer. Virtualization refers to a way of creating virtual version of devices or network resources e.g. storage devices, servers, network or operating system. (Lans, 2012). In this case, the framework divides the resource being virtualized into one or more execution environments. In this case of BP, virtualization can be applied by combining its resources i.e. serves so as to serve as one. This is advantageous in a way that having a central server will lead to increased processing power hence faster data processing. Having one central server means BP will incur less costs in buying less hardware and also reduced energy costs since less hardware means less power consumption. (Roebuck, 2011) Fewer personnel will also be required to manage and maintain the equipment hence Dana Deasy’s dream of centralizing and cutting down costs of BP will come true with the adoption of virtualization. With virtualization, BP can create a strategic business environment in terms of resource use and operation with business partners and suppliers. This can be done through the firms intranets and also via external networks i.e. extranets and the internet. This will present BP with a collaboration opportunity of sharing information, resources and ideas with other people and the company hence helping the company respond in timely manner toward situations. (Rainer & Cegielski, 2012). Cloud computing refers to sharing of computing resources over the internet instead of using local servers to support applications. (Marks & Lozano, 2010) For the case of BP, the company through the advice of the CIO can choose to software-as-a-service where they will subscribe to an application but access over the internet. BP can also use

Quality Management and Continuous Improvement Uni 2 DB SA Third Week Essay

Quality Management and Continuous Improvement Uni 2 DB SA Third Week - Essay Example changing business environment and fluctuating costs involved in product development, it may be difficult for them to charge full-rate prices in future, which eventually may affect its profitability and productivity growth. Secondly, low-price strategy carries a risk that the cost leader, in its single-minded desire to reduce costs may lose sight of changes in customer’s tastes, eventually, the company might make decisions that reduce costs but drastically affect product demand. Furthermore, competitors’ ability to imitate cost leader by lowering their cost structure is another threats posed to Aldi, they might be beaten at their own game causing them to struggle to compete in future (Hill & Gareth 2011). Aldi stores focuses on low-cost leadership strategy to win its market share and encourage customer loyalty. The company focuses on low-income customers and offers limited amounts of product assortment, which has made them a more competitive store. The low-price strategy together with discounts offered on products by Aldi has forced other organizations to lower their prices in an effort to survive in the market. Yes, this strategy affects the amount allocated on adverting because these companies tend to keep their costs low by minimizing advertising expenses on television and the internet. These organizations tend to achieve the lowest costs possible; adverts on television and the internet are associated with high costs, which these firms seek to

Case study 2 negotiation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case study 2 negotiation - Essay Example In this case, the supervisor is fast to dismiss Danya’s application. According to Dwyer (2011), â€Å"Power is a useful tool in the negotiation process; however, if you misuse it or refuse to use it appropriately, the likely result is tension and conflict† (p. 154). The tension between the supervisor and Tanya came about as the supervisor used the power that he had over her to dismiss her application, and made comments that were not pleasing at all. If the supervisor had listened to Danya’s positions and interests, he would have approached her in a calm manner that would not have threatened the relationship between them. This case study looks into the cause of the problem and how it impacted on the main participants. It also suggests and evaluates some solutions, recommends the best solution and explains how to implement it by using the â€Å"negotiation theory ". Analysis of the problem The problem can be analyzed by examining the negotiation approaches of Dany a and her supervisor. The problem occurs because both parties have interests to meet and the two are not keen to consider the other party’s point view. Danya’s interest are visiting her grandchild and wants to do so by taking advantage of the flight promotion so as to pay less for the flight. Danya’s optimism of getting the leave and an addition of two weeks leave get thwarted and she gets devastated because of the rejection. The supervisor on the other hand has a contract that has a limited deadline and needs Danya’s support because she happens to be one of the best worker. The problem ensued as the two parties could not agree on what should happen. The supervisor is stern on his decision and rejects her application without giving Danya a chance of explaining herself as to why she needed to have her break at that time. Furthermore, he acts out of the stress of the contract and allows the stress to overcome his thoughts and emotions and is quick to make n egative comments about Danya. According to Leimbach (2011), â€Å"Paying attention to interests helps uncover the "why" behind a position.† (p. 36). If Danya had listened to why the supervisor was not willing to grant her the leave, she would have understood him and there would not have been any problem. Danya also assumes that her being the best of the employees would definitely make the supervisor grant her, her wants. She was not ready for any outcome and was not flexible to allow herself take in any outcome of the application. She is quick to judge the supervisor’s actions and believes the company does not recognize her excellent performance, which makes her to burst out. She is also frustrated that she will lose the money of the ticket she’d already paid for. She feels disappointed when her request is turned down by the supervisor who tells her that she is not showing any commitment to the company. According to Jenkins (1997), â€Å"with a principled negot iation approach, the salesperson focuses on the problem and how to solve it† (p. 30). In this case, instead of getting frustrated by the way the supervisor acted, she ought to have thought of how the misunderstanding of the supervisor thinking she has no commitment to the company would get settled. Range of solution The problem can be solved by number of ways. First of all, the supervisor should give Danya an offer of paying for her flight if she cooperates with them to meet the deadline. The other solution would be that Danya gets a

School Organizational Health Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

School Organizational Health - Assignment Example Curriculum, as Freiberg says, are academic standards that are adhered to by the teachers, this ensures that they meet their target at the end of the term. The Leader teacher must concentrate on this area in order to see that their institutions move to greater heights in the education graph, hence increasing the number of students joining in the institution. For example, a good institution will always have more students enrolling every year (Freiberg, 1999). The task is what we engage in our day to day activities to win our daily bread, the Leader teacher influences this difficult duty by ensuring that everything that is needed for the job is in position at the right moment, teachers are motivated to carry out their duty well and in time. For example, a head teacher who ensures that learning materials are in place at the right time and teachers are in class in time, his/her institution has a greater chance to improve amicably (Freiberg, 1999). Freiberg has put across that good relationship at work matters a lot in every organization set up, this is how people relate to an organization which is a key factor for the organization to succeed. The good relationship at work creates an excellent working environment. As a leader one should enhance good relationship at work in order to achieve the set objectives. For example, an institution with the bad teacher to student relationship always fails at the end (Freiberg, 1999). Every person has a gift that should be proud of. These are gifts that need to be natured otherwise one may never realize them at all. A teacher has a mandate to encourage the students to diversify their talents by buying the equipment needed by the institution and involve themselves in co-curriculum activities such as footballs, netballs etc. For example, students cannot appreciate the facility if their talents are not enhanced at all (Freiberg, 1999).