Coffee and Starbucks Essay Example

Coffee and Starbucks Essay Example Coffee and Starbucks Essay Coffee and Starbucks Essay Essay Topic: A Modest Proposal and Other Stories had enjoyed phenomenal growth and become one of the great retailing stories of recent history by making exceptional coffee drinks and selling dark-roasted coffee beans and coffee-making equipment that would allow customers to brew an exceptional cup of coffee at home. The Starbucks brand was regarded as one of the best known and most potent brand names in America and the company had firmly established itself as the dominant retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee in North America. It already had over 1,500 stores in North America and the Pacific Rim and was opening new ones at a rate of more than one per day. Sales in fiscal year 1997 were a record $967 million and profits reached an all-time high of $57. 4 million. The companys closest competitor had fewer than 300 retail locations. And since going public in 1992, Starbucks has seen its stock price increase nearly ninefold. Exhibit 1 contains a summary of Starbucks key performance statistics for the 1992–97 period. Company Background Starbucks began in 1971 when three academics- English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegel, and writer Gordon Bowker- opened a store called Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice in the touristy Pikes Place Market in Seattle. The three partners shared a love of fine coffees and exotic teas and believed they could build a clientele in Seattle much like that which had already emerged in the San Francisco Bay area. Each invested $1,350 and borrowed another $5,000 from a bank to open the Pikes Place store. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker chose the name Starbucks in honor of Starbuck, the coffee-loving first mate in Herman Melvilles Moby Dick(so company legend has it), and because they thought the name evoked the romance of the high seas and the seafaring tradition of the early coffee traders. The new companys logo, designed by an artist friend, was a two-tailed mermaid encircled by the stores name. The inspiration for the Starbucks enterprise was a Dutch immigrant, Alfred Peet, who had begun importing fine arabica coffees into the United States during the 1950s. Peet viewed coffee as a fine winemaker views grapes, appraising it in terms of country of origin, estates, and harvests. Peet had opened a small store, Peets Coffee and Tea, in Berkeley, California, in 1966 and had cultivated a loyal clientele. Peets store specialized in importing fine coffees and teas, dark-roasting its own beans the European way to bring out their full flavor, and teaching customers how to grind the beans and make freshly brewed coffee at home. Baldwin, Siegel, and Bowker were well acquainted with Peets expertise, having visited his store on numerous occasions and spent many hours listening to Peet expound on quality coffees and the importance of proper bean-roasting techniques. All three were devoted fans of Peet and his dark-roasted coffees, going so far as to order their personal coffee supplies by mail from Peets. The Pikes Place store featured modest, hand-built nautical fixtures. One wall was devoted to whole-bean coffees; another had shelves of coffee products. The store did not offer fresh-brewed coffee by the cup, but samples were sometimes available for tasting. Initially, Siegel was the only paid employee. He wore a grocers apron, scooped out beans for customers, extolled the virtues of fine, dark-roasted coffees, and functioned as the partnerships retail expert. The other two partners kept their day jobs but came by at lunch or after work to help out. During the start-up period, Baldwin kept the books and developed a growing knowledge of coffee; Bowker served as the magic, mystery, and romance man. 1 The store was an immediate success, with sales exceeding expectations, partly because of a favorable article in the Seattle Times. In the early months, each of the founders traveled to Berkeley to learn more about coffee roasting from their mentor, Alfred Peet, who urged them to keep deepening their knowledge of coffees and teas. For most of the first year, Starbucks ordered its coffee beans from Peets, but then the partners purchased a us ed roaster from Holland and set up roasting operations in a nearby ramshackle building. Baldwin and Bowker experimented with Alfred Peets roasting procedures and came up with their own blends and flavors. A second Starbucks store was opened in 1972. By the early 1980s, the company had four Starbucks stores in the Seattle area and could boast of having been profitable every year since opening its doors. But the roles and responsibilities of the cofounders underwent change. Zev Siegel experienced burnout and left the company to pursue other interests. Jerry Baldwin took over day-to-day management of the company and functioned as chief executive officer; Gordon Bowker remained involved as an owner but devoted most of his time to his advertising and design firm, a weekly newspaper he had founded, and a microbrewery he was launching (the Redhook Ale Brewery). Howard Schultz Enters the Picture In 1981, Howard Schultz, vice president and general manager of U. S. operations for Hammarplast- a Swedish maker of stylish kitchen equipment and housewares- noticed that Starbucks was placing larger orders than Macys was for a certain type of drip coffeemaker. Curious to learn what was going on, he decided to pay the company a visit. The morning after his arrival in Seattle, Schultz was escorted to the Pikes Place store by Linda Grossman, the retail merchandising manager for Starbucks. A solo violinist was playing Mozart at the door, with his violin case open for donations. Schultz immediately was taken by the powerful and pleasing aroma of the coffees, the wall displaying coffee beans, and the rows of red, yellow, and black Hammarplast coffeemakers on the shelves. As he talked with the clerk behind the counter, the clerk scooped out some Sumatran coffee beans, ground them, put the grounds in a cone filter, poured hot water over the cone, and shortly handed Schultz a porcelain mug filled with the freshly brewed coffee. After three sips, Schultz was hooked. He began asking the clerk and Grossman questions about the company, about coffees from different parts of the world, and about the different ways of roasting coffee. Next, Schultz met with Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker, whose offices overlooked the companys coffee-roasting operation. The atmosphere was informal. Baldwin, dressed in a sweater and tie, showed Schultz some new beans that had just come in from Java and suggested they try a sample. Baldwin did the brewing himself, using a glass pot called a French press. Bowker, a slender, bearded man with dark hair and intense brown eyes, appeared at the door and the three men sat down to talk about Starbucks. Schultz was struck by their knowledge of coffee, their commitment to providing high-quality products, and their passion for educating customers about the merits of dark-roasted coffees. Baldwin told Schultz, We dont manage the business to maximize anything other than the quality of the coffee. 2 Starbucks purchased only the finest arabica coffees and put them through a meticulous dark-roasting process to bring out their full flavors. Baldwin explained that the cheap robusta coffees used in supermarket blends burn when subjected to dark roasting. He also noted that the makers of supermarket blends prefer lighter roasts because they allow higher yields (the longer a coffee is roasted, the more weight it loses). Schultz was struck by the business philosophy of the two partners. It was clear from their discussions that Starbucks stood not just for good coffee, but rather for the dark-roasted flavor profiles that the founders were passionate about. Top-quality, fresh-roasted, whole-bean coffee was the companys differentiating feature and a bedrock value. It was also clear to Schultz that Starbucks was strongly committed to educating its customers to appreciate the qualities of fine coffees, rather than just kowtowing to mass-market appeal. The company depended mainly on word-of-mouth to get more people into its stores, then relied on the caliber of its product to give patrons a sense of discovery and excitement. It built customer loyalty cup by cup as buyers of its products developed their palates. On his trip back to New York the next day, Howard Schultz could not stop thinking about Starbucks and what it would be like to be a part of the Starbucks enterprise. Schultz recalled, There was something magic about it, a passion and authenticity I had never experienced in business. 3 Living in the Seattle area also had a strong appeal. By the time Schultz landed at Kennedy Airport, he knew he wanted to go to work for Starbucks. Though there was nothing in his background (see Exhibit 2) that prepared him for the experience, Schultz asked Baldwin at the first opportunity whether there was any way he could fit into Starbucks. The two quickly established an easy, comfortable rapport, but it still took a year of numerous meeting s and a lot of convincing to get Baldwin, Bowker, and their silent partner from San Francisco to agree to hire Howard Schultz. Schultz pursued a job at Starbucks far more vigorously than Starbucks pursued him. There was some nervousness at Starbucks about bringing in an outsider, especially a high-powered New Yorker, who had not grown up with the values of the company. Nonetheless, Schultz continued to press his ideas about the tremendous potential of expanding the Starbucks enterprise outside Seattle and exposing people all over America to Starbucks coffee- arguing there had to be more than just a few thousand coffee lovers in Seattle who would like the companys products. Schultz believed that Starbucks had such great promise that he offered to take a salary cut in exchange for a small equity stake in the business. But the owners worried that by offering Schultz a job as head of marketing they would be committing themselves to a new direction for Starbucks. At a spring 1982 meeting with the three owners in San Francisco, Schultz once again presented his vision for opening Starbucks stores across the United States and Canada. He flew back to New York thinking a job offer was in the bag. But the next day Baldwin called Schultz and indicated that the owners had decided against hiring him because geographic expansion was too risky and because they did not share Schultzs vision for Starbucks. Schultz was despondent; still, he believed so deeply in Starbucks potential that he decided to make a last-ditch appeal. He called Baldwin back the next day and made an impassioned, though reasoned, case for why the decision was a mistake. Baldwin agreed to reconsider. The next morning Baldwin called Schultz and told him the job of heading marketing and overseeing the retail stores was his. In September 1982, Howard Schultz took on his new responsibilities at Starbucks. Starbucks and Howard Schultz: The 1982–85 Period In his first few months at Starbucks, Schultz spent most of his waking hours in the four Seattle stores- working behind the counters, tasting different kinds of coffee, talking with customers, getting to know store personnel, and educating himself about the retail aspects of the coffee business. By December, Jerry Baldwin decided that Schultz was ready for the final part of his training- roasting coffee. Schultz spent a week at the roaster examining the color of the beans, listening for the telltale second pop of the beans during the roasting process, learning to taste the subtle differences among Baldwin and Bowkers various roasts, and familiarizing himself with the roasting techniques for different beans. Meanwhile, he made a point of acclimating himself to the informal dress code, blending in with the culture, and gaining credibility and building trust with colleagues. Making the transition from the high-energy, coat-and-tie style of New York to the more casual ambience of the Pacific Northwest required a conscious effort on Schultzs part. One day during the busy Christmas season that first year, Schultz made real headway in gaining the acceptance and respect of company personnel at the Pikes Place store. The store was packed and Schultz was behind the counter ringing up sales when someone shouted that a customer had just headed out the door with some stuff- two expensive coffeemakers it turned out, one in each hand. Without thinking, Schultz leaped over the counter and chased the thief up the cobblestone street outside the store, yelling Drop that stuff! Drop it! The thief was startled enough to drop both pieces and run away. Schultz picked up the merchandise and returned to the store, holding up the coffeemakers like trophies. Everyone applauded. When Schultz returned to his office later that afternoon, his staff had strung up a banner that read Make my day. 4 Schultz was overflowing with ideas for the company. Early on, he noticed that first-time customers sometimes felt uneasy in the stores because of their lack of knowledge about fine coffees and because store employees sometimes came across as a little arrogant. Schultz worked with store employees on developing customer-friendly sales skills and produced brochures that made it easy for customers to learn about fine coffees. Schultzs biggest idea for Starbucks future came during the spring of 1983 when the company sent him to Milan, Italy, to attend an international housewares show. While walking from his hotel to the convention center, Schultz spotted an espresso bar and went inside to look around. The cashier beside the door nodded and smiled. The barista (counter worker) greeted Howard cheerfully, then gracefully pulled a shot of espresso for one customer and handcrafted a foamy cappuccino for another, all the while conversing merrily with those standing at the counter. Schultz judged the baristas performance as great theater. Just down the way on a side street, he entered an even more crowded espresso bar, where the barista, whom he surmised to be the owner, was greeting customers by name; people were laughing and talking in an atmosphere that plainly was comfortable and familiar. In the next few blocks, he saw two more espresso bars. When the trade show concluded for the day, Schultz walked the streets of Milan exploring espresso bars. Some were stylish and upscale; others attracted a blue-collar clientele. What struck Schultz was how popular and vibrant th e Italian coffee bars were. Most had few chairs, and it was common for Italian opera to be playing in the background. Energy levels were typically high, and the bars seemed to function as an integral community gathering place. Each one had its own unique character, but they all had a barista who performed with flair and exhibited a camaraderie with the customers. Schultz was particularly struck by the fact that there were 1,500 coffee bars in Milan, a city about the size of Philadelphia, and a total of 200,000 in all of Italy. His mind started churning. Schultzs first few days in Milan produced a revelation: The Starbucks stores in Seattle completely missed the point. Starbucks, he decided, needed to serve fresh-brewed coffee, espresso, and cappuccino in its stores (in addition to beans and coffee equipment). Going to Starbucks should be an experience, a special treat; the stores should be a place to meet friends and visit. Re-creating the Italian coffee-bar culture in the United States could be Starbucks differentiating factor. Schultz remained in Milan for a week, exploring coffee bars and learning as much as he could about the Italian passion for coffee drinks. In one bar, he heard a customer order a caffe latte and decided to try one himself- the barista made a shot of espresso, steamed a frothy pitcher of milk, poured the two together in a cup, and put a dollop of foam on the top. Schultz concluded that it was the perfect drink, and thought to himself, No one in America knows about this. Ive got to take it back with me. 5 Schultzs Growing Frustration On Schultzs return from Italy, he shared his revelation and ideas for modifying the format of Starbucks stores with Baldwin and Bowker. But instead of winning their approval, Schultz encountered strong resistance. Baldwin and Bowker argued that Starbucks was a retailer, not a restaurant or bar. They feared that serving drinks would put them in the beverage business and dilute the integrity of Starbucks mission as a coffee store. They pointed out that Starbucks was a profitable small, private company and there was no reason to rock the boat. But a more pressing reason for their resistance emerged shortly- Baldwin and Bowker were excited by an opportunity to purchase Peets Coffee and Tea. The acquisition took place in 1984; to fund it, Starbucks had to take on considerable debt, leaving little in the way of financial flexibility to support Schultzs ideas for entering the beverage part of the coffee business or expanding the number of Starbucks stores. For most of 1984, Starbucks managers were dividing their time between their operations in Seattle and the Peets enterprise in San Francisco. Schultz found himself in San Francisco every other week supervising the marketing and operations of the five Peets stores. Starbucks employees began to feel neglected and, in one quarter, did not receive their usual bonus due to tight financial conditions. Employee discontent escalated to the point where a union election was called, and the union won by three votes. Baldwin was shocked at the results, concluding that employees no longer trusted him. In the months that followed, he began to spend more of his energy on the Peets operation in San Francisco. It took Howard Schultz nearly a year to convince Jerry Baldwin to let him test an espresso bar. After Baldwin relented, Starbucks sixth store, which opened in April 1984, became the first one designed to sell beverages and the first one in downtown Seattle. Schultz asked for a 1,500-square-foot space to set up a full-scale Italian-style espresso bar, but Jerry agreed to allocating only 300 square feet in a corner of the new store. There was no pre-opening marketing blitz and no sign announcing Now Serving Espresso- the lack of fanfare was part of a deliberate experiment to see what would happen. By closing time on the first day, some 400 customers had been served, well above the 250-customer average of Starbucks best-performing stores. Within two months the store was serving 800 customers per day. The two baristas could not keep up with orders during the early morning hours, resulting in lines outside the door onto the sidewalk. Most of the business was at the espresso counter; sales at the regular retail counter were only adequate. Schultz was elated by the test results; his visits to the store indicated that it was becoming a gathering place and that customers were pleased with the beverages being served. Schultz expected that Baldwins doubts about entering the beverage side of the business would be dispelled and that he would gain approval to take Starbucks to a new level. Every day he went into Baldwins office to show him the sales figures and customer counts at the new downtown store. But Baldwin was not comfortable with the success of the new store; he believed that espresso drinks were a distraction from the core business of selling fine arabica coffees at retail and rebelled at the thought that people would see Starbucks as a place to get a quick cup of coffee to go. He adamantly told Schultz, Were coffee roasters. I dont want to be in the restaurant business . . . Besides, were too deeply in debt to consider pursuing this idea. 6 While he didnt deny that the experiment was succeeding, he didnt want to go forward with introducing beverages in other Starbucks stores. Schultzs efforts to persuade Baldwin to change his mind continued to meet strong resistance, although to avoid a total impasse Baldwin finally did agree to let Schultz put espresso machines in the back of two other Starbucks stores. Over the next several months, Schultz- at the age of 33- made up his mind to leave Starbucks and start his own company. His plan was to open espresso bars in high-traffic downtown locations that would emulate the friendly, energetic atmosphere he had encountered in Italian espresso bars. Schultz had become friends with a corporate lawyer, Scott Greenberg, who helped companies raise venture capital and go public. Greenberg told Schultz he believed investors would be interested in providing venture capital for the kind of company Schultz had in mind. Baldwin and Bowker, knowing how frustrated Schultz had become, supported his efforts to go out on his own and agreed to let him stay in his current job and office until definitive plans were in place. Schultz left Starbucks in late 1985. Schultzs Il Giornale Venture Ironically, as Schultz was finalizing the documents for his new company, Jerry Baldwin announced he would invest $150,000 of Starbucks money in Schultzs coffee-bar enterprise, thus becoming Schultzs first investor. Baldwin accepted Schultzs invitation to be a director of the new company, and Gordon Bowker agreed to be a part-time consultant for six months. Bowker urged Schultz to make sure that everything about the new stores- the name, the presentation, the care taken in preparing the coffee- was calculated to lead customers to expect something better than competitors offered. Bowker proposed that the new company be named Il Giornale (pronounced ill jor-nahl-ee ) Coffee Company, a suggestion that Schultz accepted. In December 1985, Bowker and Schultz made a trip to Italy during which they visited some 500 espresso bars in Milan and Verona, observing local habits, taking notes about decor and menus, snapping photographs, and videotaping baristas in action. Greenberg and Schultz then drew up plans to raise an initial $400,000 in seed capital and another $1. 25 million in equity- enough to launch at least eight espresso bars and prove the concept would work in Seattle and elsewhere. The seed capital was raised by the end of January 1986, primarily from Starbucks and two other investors who believed in Schultz and his ideas, but it took Schultz until the end of the year to raise the remaining $1. 25 million. He made presentations to 242 potential investors, 217 of whom said no. Many who heard Schultzs hour-long presentation saw coffee as a commodity business and thought that Schultzs espresso-bar concept lacked any basis for sustainable competitive advantage (no patent on dark roast, no advantage in purchasing coffee beans, no way to bar the entry of imitative competitors). Some noted that consumption of coffee had been declining since the mid-1960s, others were skeptical that people would pay $1. 50 or more for a cup of coffee, and still others were turned off by the companys hard-to-pronounce name. Being rejected by so many potential investors was disheartening (some who listened to Schultzs presentation ? didnt even bother to call him back; others refused to take his calls). Nonetheless, Schultz continued to display passion and enthusiasm in making his pitch and never doubted that his plan would work. He ended up raising $1. 65 million from about 30 investors; most of this money came from nine people, five of whom became directors of the new company. One of Howard Schultzs earliest moves during the start-up process was to hire Dave Olsen, who in 1974 had opened a coffee bar, Cafe Allegro, near the busiest entrance to the University of Washington campus. Olsen was a long-standing Starbucks customer, having discovered the quality of Starbucks coffee beans, gotten to know the owners, and worked with them to develop a custom espresso roast for use in his cafe. Olsens successful Cafe Allegro had become known for cafe au lait, a concoction equivalent to the Italian caffe latte. When Olsen heard of Schultzs plans for Il Giornale, he called Schultz and expressed an interest in being part of the new company- he was intrigued by the Italian coffee-bar concept and was looking for a more expansive career opportunity. Olsen not only had coffee expertise but also had spent 10 years in an apron behind the counter at Cafe Allegro. Schultz immediately picked up on the synergy between him and Olsen. His own strengths were in forming and communicating a vision, raising money, finding good store locations, building a brand name, and planning for growth. Olsen understood the nuts and bolts of operating a retail cafe, hiring and training baristas, and making and serving good drinks. Plus, Olsen was fun to work with. Schultz put Olsen in charge of store operations, made him the coffee conscience of the company, and gave him the authority to make sure that Il Giornale served the best coffee and espresso possible. The first Il Giornale store opened in April 1986. It had a mere 700 square feet and was located near the entrance of Seattles tallest building. The decor was Italian, the menu contained Italian words, and Italian opera music played in the background. The baristas wore white shirts and bow ties. All service was stand-up- there were no chairs. National and international papers hung from rods on the wall. By closing time on the first day, 300 customers had been served, mostly in the morning hours. Schultz and Olsen worked hard to make sure that all the details were executed perfectly. For the first few weeks, Olsen worked behind the counter during the morning rush. But while the core idea worked well, it soon became apparent that several aspects of Il Giornales format werent appropriate for Seattle. Some customers objected to the incessant opera music, others wanted a place to sit down, and many didnt understand the Italian words on the menu. These mistakes were quickly fixed, without compromising the style and elegance of the store. Within six months, Il Giornale was serving more than 1,000 customers a day and regulars had learned how to pronounce the companys name. Because most customers were in a hurry, it became apparent that speedy service was a competitive advantage. Six months after opening the first store, Il Giornale opened a second store in another downtown building. A third store was opened in Vancouver, British Columbia, in April 1987. Vancouver was chosen to test the transferability of the companys business concept outside Seattle. To reach his goal of opening 50 stores in five years, Schultz needed to dispel his investors doubts about geographic expansion. By mid-1987 sales at the three stores were equal to $1. 5 million annually. Il Giornale Acquires Starbucks In March 1987 Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker decided to sell the whole Starbucks operation in Seattle- the stores, the roasting plant, and the Starbucks name. Bowker wanted to cash out his coffee-business investment to concentrate on his other enterprises; Baldwin, who was tired of commuting between Seattle and San Francisco and wrestling with the troubles created by the two parts of the company, elected to concentrate on the Peets operation. As he recalls, My wife and I had a 30-second conversation and decided to keep Peets. It was the original and it was better. 7 Schultz knew immediately that he had to buy Starbucks; his board of directors agreed. Schultz and his newly hired finance and accounting manager drew up a set of financial projections for the combined operations and a inancing package that included a stock offering to Il Giornales original investors and a line of credit with local banks. While a rival plan to acquire Starbucks was put together by another Il Giornale investor, Schultzs proposal prevailed and within weeks Schultz had raised the $3. 8 million needed to buy Starbucks. The acquisition was completed in August 1987. A fter the papers were signed, Schultz and Scott Greenberg walked across the street to the first Il Giornale store, ordered themselves espresso drinks, and sat at a table near the window. Greenberg placed the hundred-page business plan that had been used to raise the $3. 8 million between them and lifted his cup in a toast- We did it, they said together. 8 The new name of the combined companies was Starbucks Starbucks as a Private Company: 1987–92 The following Monday morning, Schultz returned to the Starbucks offices at the roasting plant, greeted all the familiar faces and accepted their congratulations, then called the staff together for a meeting on the roasting-plant floor. He began: All my life I have wanted to be part of a company and a group of people who share a common vision . . . I’m here today because I love this company. I love what it represents . . . I know you’re concerned . . . I promise you I will not let you down. I promise you I will not leave anyone behind . . . In five years, I want you to look back at this day and say I was there when it started. I helped build this company into something great. 9 Schultz told the group that his vision was for Starbucks to become a national company with values and guiding principles that employees could be proud of. He indicated that he wanted to include people in the decision-making process and that he would be open and honest with them. Schultz said he believed it was essential, not just an intriguing option, for a company to respect its people, to inspire them, and to share the fruits of its success with those who contributed to its long-term value. His aspiration was for Starbucks to become the most respected brand name in coffee and for the company to be admired for its corporate responsibility. In the next few days and weeks, however, Schultz came to see that the unity and morale at Starbucks had deteriorated badly in the 20 months he had been at Il Giornale. Some employees were cynical and felt unappreciated. There was a feeling that prior management had abandoned them and a wariness about what the new regime would bring. Schultz determined that he would have to make it a priority to build a new relationship of mutual respect between employees and management. The new Starbucks had a total of nine stores. The business plan Schultz had presented investors called for the new company to open 125 stores in the next five years- 15 the first year, 20 the second, 25 the third, 30 the fourth, and 35 the fifth. Revenues were projected to reach $60 million in 1992. But the company lacked experienced management. Schultz had never led a growth effort of such magnitude and was just learning what the job of CEO was all about, having been the president of a small company for barely two years. Dave Olsen had run a single cafe for 11 years and was just learning to manage a multistore operation. Ron Lawrence, the company’s controller, had worked as a controller for several organizations. Other Starbucks employees had only the experience of managing or being a part of a six-store organization. When Starbucks’ key roaster and coffee buyer resigned, Schultz put Dave Olsen in charge of buying and roasting coffee. Lawrence Maltz, who had 20 years of experience in business and eight years of experience as president of a profitable public beverage company, was hired as executive vice president and charged with heading operations, finance, and human resources. In the next several months, a number of changes were instituted. To symbolize the merging of the two companies and the two cultures, a new logo was created that melded the Starbucks and Il Giornale logos. The Starbucks stores were equipped with espresso machines and remodeled to look more Italian than Old World nautical. The traditional Starbucks brown was replaced by Il Giornale green. The result was a new type of store- a cross between a retail coffee-bean store and an espresso bar/cafe- that became Starbucks’ signature format in the 1990s. By December 1987, employees at Starbucks had begun buying into the changes Schultz was making and trust had begun to build between management and employees. New stores were on the verge of opening in Vancouver and Chicago. One Starbucks store employee, Daryl Moore, who had voted against unionization in 1985, began to question his fellow employees about the need for a union. Over the next few weeks, Moore began a move to decertify the union. He carried a decertification letter around to Starbucks stores and secured the signatures of employees who no longer wished to be represented by the union. After getting a majority of store employees to sign the letter, he presented it to the National Labor Relations Board and the union representing store employees was decertified. Later, in 1992, the union representing Starbucks’ roasting plant and warehouse employees was also decertified. Expansion into Markets Outside the Pacific Northwest Starbucks’ entry into Chicago proved far more troublesome than management anticipated. The first Chicago store opened October 27, 1987, the same day the stock market crashed. Three more stores were opened in Chicago over the next six months, but customer counts were substantially below expectations- Chicagoans didn’t take to dark-roasted coffee as fast as Schultz had anticipated. At the first downtown store, for example, which opened onto the street rather than into the lobby of the building where it was located, customers were hesitant to go out in the wind and cold to get a cup of coffee in the winter months. Store margins were squeezed for a number of reasons: It was expensive to supply fresh coffee to the Chicago stores out of the Seattle warehouse, and both rents and wage rates were higher in Chicago than in Seattle. Gradually, customer counts improved, but Starbucks lost money on its Chicago stores until 1990, when prices were raised to reflect higher rents and labor costs, more experienced store managers were hired, and a critical mass of customers caught on to the taste of Starbucks products. Portland, Oregon, was the next market entered, and Portland coffee drinkers took to Starbucks products quickly. By 1991, the Chicago stores had become profitable and the company was ready for its next big market entry. Management decided on California because of its host of neighborhood centers and the receptiveness of Californians to innovative, high-quality food. Los Angeles was chosen as the first California market to enter, principally because of its status as a trendsetter and its cultural ties to the rest of the country. L. A. onsumers embraced Starbucks quickly- the Los Angeles Times named Starbucks as the best coffee in America before the first L. A. store opened. The entry into San Francisco proved more troublesome because of an ordinance there against converting stores to restaurant-related uses in certain prime urban neighborhoods; Starbucks could sell beverages and pastries to customers at stand-up counters but could not offer seating in stores that had formerly been used for general retailing. However, the city council was soon convinced by cafe owners and real estate brokers to change the code. Still, Starbucks faced strong competition from Peet’s and local espresso bars in the San Francisco market. When Starbucks’ store expansion targets proved easier to meet than Schultz had originally anticipated, he upped the numbers to keep challenging the organization. Starting from a base of 11 stores, Starbucks opened 15 new stores in fiscal 1988, 20 in 1989, 30 in 1990, 32 in 1991, and 53 in 1992- producing a total of 161 stores. The opening of 150 new stores in five years significantly exceeded the 1987 business plan’s objective of 125. From the outset, the strategy was to open only company-owned stores; franchising was avoided so as to keep the company in full control of the quality of its products and the character and location of its stores. But company ownership of all stores required Starbucks to raise new venture capital, principally by selling shares to new or existing investors, to cover the cost of expansion. In 1988 the company raised $3. 9 million; in 1990, venture capitalists provided an additional $13. 5 million; and in 1991 another round of venture capital financing generated $15 million. Starbucks was able to raise the needed funds despite posting losses of $330,000 in 1987, $764,000 in 1988, and $1. 2 million in 1989. While the losses were troubling to Starbucks’ board of directors and investors, Schultz’s business plan had forecast losses during the early years of expansion. At a particularly tense board meeting where directors sharply questioned him about the lack of profitability, Schultz said: Look, we’re going to keep losing money until we can do three things. We have to attract a management team well beyond our expansion needs. We have to build a world-class roasting facility. And we need a computer information system sophisticated enough to keep track of sales in hundreds and hundreds of stores. 10 Schultz argued for patience as the company invested in the infrastructure to support continued growth well into the 1990s. He contended that hiring experienced executives ahead of the growth curve, building facilities far beyond current needs, and installing support systems laid a strong foundation for rapid, profitable growth on down the road. His arguments carried the day with the board and with investors, especially ince revenues were growing approximately 80 percent annually and customer traffic at the stores was meeting or exceeding expectations. Starbucks became profitable in 1990 and profits had increased every year thereafter. Getting into the Mail-Order Business The original Starbucks had begun a small mail order operation in the 1970s to serve travelers who had visited a Seattle store or former store c ustomers who had moved away from Seattle. Sales were solicited by mailing out a simple brochure. In 1988, Starbucks developed its first catalog and began expanding its mail-order base to targeted demographic groups. In 1990 a toll-free telephone number was set up. Sales grew steadily as the company’s name and reputation began to build. The company’s market research indicated that its average mail-order customer was a well-educated, relatively affluent, well-traveled connoisseur interested in the arts and cultural events, and usually a loyal buyer of the company’s products. As time went on, the cities and neighborhoods in which the company’s mail-order customers were located became one of the beacons used to decide where to open new stores. Schultz’s Strategy to Make Starbucks a Great Place to Work Howard Schultz strongly believed that Starbucks’ success was heavily dependent on customers having a very positive experience in its stores. This meant having store employees who were knowledgeable about the company’s products, who paid attention to detail, who eagerly communicated the company’s passion for coffee, and who had the skills and personality to deliver consistently pleasing customer service. Many of the baristas were in their 20s and worked part-time, going to college or pursuing other career activities on the side. The challenge to Starbucks, in Schultz’s view, was how to attract, motivate, and reward store employees in a manner that would make Starbucks a company that people would want to work for and that would result in higher levels of performance. Moreover, Schultz wanted to cement the trust that had been building between management and the company’s workforce. One of the requests that employees had made to the prior owners of Starbucks was to extend health care benefits to part-time workers. Their request had been turned down, but Schultz believed that expanding health care coverage to include part-timers was the right thing to do. His father had recently died of cancer, and he knew from having grown up in a family that struggled to make ends meet how difficult it was to cope with rising medical costs. In 1988 Schultz went to the board of directors with his plan to expand the company’s health care coverage to include part-timers who worked at least 20 hours per week. He saw the proposal not as a generous gesture but as a core strategy to win employee loyalty and commitment to the company’s mission. Board members resisted because the company was unprofitable and the added costs of the extended coverage would only worsen the company’s bottom line. But Schultz argued passionately, pointing out that if the new benefit reduced turnover, which he believed was likely, then it would reduce the costs of hiring and training- which equaled about $3,000 per new hire. He further pointed out that it cost $1,500 a year to provide an employee with full benefits. Part-timers, he argued, were vital to Starbucks, constituting two-thirds of the company’s workforce. Many were baristas who knew the favorite drinks of regular customers; if the barista left, that connection with the customer was broken. Moreover, many part-time employees were called upon to open the stores early, sometimes at 5:30 or 6 am; others had to work until closing- 9 pm or later. Providing these employees with health care benefits, he argued, would signal that the company honored their value and contribution. The board came round and approved Schultz’s plan. Starting in late 1988, part-timers working 20 or more hours were offered the same health coverage as full-time employees. Starbucks paid 75 percent of an employee’s health insurance premium and, over the years, extended its coverage to include preventive care, crisis counseling, dental care, eye care, mental health care, and treatment for chemical dependency. Coverage was also offered for unmarried partners in a committed relationship. Since most Starbucks employees are young and comparatively healthy, the company has been able to provide broader coverage while keeping monthly payments relatively low. The value of Starbucks’ health care program struck home when one of the company’s store managers and a former barista walked into Schultz’s office and told him he had AIDS. Schultz said later: I had known [Jim] was gay but had no idea he was sick. His disease had entered a new phase, he explained, and he wouldn’t be able to work any longer. We sat together and cried, for I could not find meaningful words to console him. I couldn’t compose myself. I hugged him. At that point, Starbucks had no provision for employees with AIDS. We had a policy decision. Because of Jim, e decided to offer health-care coverage to all employees who have terminal illnesses, paying medical costs in full from the time they are not able to work until they are covered by government programs, usually twenty-nine months. After his visit to me, I spoke with Jim often and visited him at the hospice. Within a year he was gone. I received a letter from his family afterward, telling me how much they appreciated our benefit plan. 11 In 1994 Howard Schultz was invited to the White House for a one-on-one meeting with President Clinton to brief him on the Starbucks health care program. By 1991 the company’s profitability had improved to the point where Schultz could pursue another employee program he believed would have a positive long-term effect on the success of Starbucks- a stock option plan for all employees. 12 Schultz wanted to turn all Starbucks employees into partners, give them a chance to share in the success of the company, and make clear the connection between their contributions and the company’s market value. Even though Starbucks was still a private company, the plan that emerged called for granting every employee companywide stock options in proportion to base pay. In May 1991, the plan, dubbed Bean Stock, was presented to the board. Though board members were concerned that increasing the number of shares might unduly dilute the value of the shares of investors who had put up hard cash, the plan received unanimous approval. The first grant was made in October 1991, just after the end of the company’s fiscal year in September; each partner was granted stock options worth 12 percent of base pay; the value of these first shares was pegged at $6 per share. Each October since then, Starbucks has granted employees options equal to 14 percent of base pay, awarded at the stock price at the start of the fiscal year (October 1). Employees, if they wish, can cash in one-fifth of the shares granted each succeeding year, paying the initial year’s price and receiving the current year’s price. It took five years for the shares to fully vest. Each of the shares granted in 1991 was worth $132 in October 1996; thus, an employee making $20,000 in 1991 could have cashed in the options granted in 1991 for more than $50,000 in October 1996. In 1991 when the Bean Stock program was presented to employees, Starbucks dropped the term employee and began referring to all its people as partners because everyone, including part-timers working at least 20 hours per week, was eligible for stock options after six months. At the end of fiscal year 1997, there were 8. 7 million shares in outstanding options at an average exercisable price of $19. 72 (which compared very favorably to the current stock price of $43. 50). In 1995, Starbucks implemented an employee stock purchase plan. Eligible employees could contribute up to 10 percent of their base earnings to quarterly purchases of the company’s common stock at 85 percent of the going stock price. The total number of shares that could be issued under the plan was 4 million. After the plan’s creation, nearly 200,000 shares were issued; just over 2,500 of the 14,600 eligible employees participated. Exhibit 3 shows the performance of Starbucks’ stock since 1992. Starbucks was able to attract motivated people with above-average skills and good work habits not only because of its fringe benefit program but also because of its pay scale. Store employees were paid $6 to $8 per hour, well above the minimum wage. Starbucks believed that its efforts to make the company an attractive, caring place to work were responsible for its relatively low turnover rates. Whereas most national retailers and fast-food chains had turnover rates for store employees ranging from 150 to 400 percent a year, the turnover rates for Starbucks’ baristas ran about 65 percent. Starbucks’ turnover for store managers was about 25 percent compared to about 50 percent for other chain retailers. There was evidence that Schultz’s approaches, values, and principles were affecting company performance in the intended manner. One Starbucks store manager commented, Morale is very high in my store among the staff. I’ve worked for a lot of companies, but I’ve never seen this level of respect. It’s a company that’s very true to its workers, and it shows. Our customers always comment that we’re happy and having fun. In fact, a lot of people ask if they can work here. 13 Exhibit 4 contains a summary of Starbucks’ fringe benefit program. In 1996, the projected cost of benefits was $2,200 for each of the company’s 19,900 employees. Starbucks’ Mission Statement In early 1990, the senior executive team at Starbucks went to an off-site retreat to debate the company’s values and beliefs and draft a mission statement. Schultz wanted the mission statement to convey a strong sense of organizational purpose and to articulate the company’s fundamental beliefs and guiding principles. The draft was submitted to all employees for review. Changes were made based on employees’ comments. The resulting mission statement appears in Exhibit 5. To make sure the company lived up to the elements of the mission statement, a Mission Review system was formed. Employees were urged to report their concerns to the company’s Mission Review team if they thought particular management decisions were not supportive of the company’s mission statement. Comment cards were given to each newly hired employee and were kept available in common areas with other employee forms. Employees had the option of signing the comment cards or not. Hundreds of cards were submitted to the Mission Review team each year. The company promised that a relevant manager would respond to all signed cards within two weeks. Howard Schultz reviewed all the comments, signed and unsigned, every month. As the company continued to grow, resulting in a large and geographically scattered workforce, Starbucks assembled a team of people from different regions to go over employee concerns, seek solutions, and provide a report at the company’s Open Forums. At these Open Forums, held quarterly in every geographic region where the company did business, senior managers met with all interested employees to present updates on Starbucks’ performance, answer questions, and give employees an opportunity to air grievances. Values and Principles During these early building years, Howard Schultz and other Starbucks senior executives worked to instill some key values and guiding principles into the Starbucks culture. The keystone value in the effort to build a company with soul was that the company would never stop pursuing the perfect cup of coffee. Schultz remained steadfastly opposed to franchising, so that the company could control the quality of its products and build a culture common to all stores. He was adamant about not selling artificially flavored coffee beans- We will not pollute our high-quality beans with chemicals; if a customer wanted hazelnut-flavored coffee, Starbucks would provide it by adding hazelnut syrup to the drink rather than by adding hazelnut flavoring to the beans during roasting. Running flavored beans through the grinders would leave chemical residues that would alter the flavor of beans ground afterward; plus, the chemical smell given off by artificially flavored beans would be absorbed by other beans in the store. Furthermore, Schultz didn’t want the company to pursue supermarket sales because pouring Starbucks’ beans into clear plastic bins, where they could get stale, would compromise the company’s distinctive product: fresh, dark-roasted, full- ? flavored coffee. Starbucks’ management was also emphatic about the importance of pleasing customers. Employees were trained to go out of their way, taking heroic measures if necessary, to make sure customers were fully satisfied- the theme was just say yes to customer requests. Employees were also encouraged to speak their minds without fear of retribution from upper management- senior executives wanted employees to be vocal about what Starbucks was doing right, what it was doing wrong, and what changes were needed. Management wanted employees to contribute to the process of making Starbucks a better company. A values and principles crisis arose at Starbucks in 1989 when customers started requesting nonfat milk in cappuccinos and lattes. Howard Schultz, who read all customer comment cards, and Dave Olsen, head of coffee quality, conducted taste tests of lattes and cappuccinos made with nonfat and skim milk and concluded they were not as good as those made with whole milk. Howard Behar, recently hired as head of retail store operations, indicated that management’s opinions didn’t matter; what mattered was giving customers what they wanted. Schultz responded, We will never offer nonfat milk. It’s not who we are. Behar stuck to his guns, maintaining that use of nonfat milk should at least be tested- otherwise, all the statements management had made about the importance of really and truly pleasing customers were a sham. A fierce internal debate ensued. One dogmatic defender of the quality and taste of Starbucks’ coffee products buttonholed Behar outside his office and told him that using nonfat milk amounted to bastardizing the company’s products. Numerous store managers maintained that offering two kinds of milk was operationally impractical. Schultz found himself torn between the company’s commitment to quality and its goal of pleasing customers. One day after visiting one of the stores in a residential neighborhood and watching a customer leave and go to a competitor’s store because Starbucks did not make lattes with nonfat milk, Schultz authorized Behar to begin testing. 14 Within six months all 30 stores were offering drinks made with nonfat milk. In 1997, about half the lattes and cappuccinos Starbucks sold were made with nonfat milk. Schultz’s approach to offering employees good compensation and a comprehensive benefits package was driven by his belief that sharing the company’s success ith the people who made it happen helped everyone think and act like an owner, build positive long-term relationships with customers, and do things efficiently. He had a vivid recollection of his father’s employment experience- bouncing from one low-paying job to another, working for employers who offered few or no benefits and who conducted their business with no respect for the contributions of the workforce- and he vowed that he would never let Starbucks employees suffer a similar fate, saying: My father worked hard all his life and he had little to show for it. He was a beaten man. This is not the American dream. The worker on our plant floor is contributing great value to the company; if he or she has low self-worth, that will have an effect on the company. 15 The company’s employee benefits program was predicated on the belief that better benefits attract good people and keep them longer. Schultz’s rationale was that if you treat your employees well, they will treat your customers well. Starbucks Becomes a Public Company Starbucks initial public offering (IPO) of common stock in June 1992 turned into one of the most successful IPOs of the year (see Exhibit 3 for the performance of the companys stock price since the IPO). With the capital afforded it by being a public company, Starbucks accelerated the expansion of its store network (see Exhibit 1). Starbucks success helped specialty coffee products begin to catch on across the United States. Competitors, some imitating the Starbucks model, began to spring up in many locations. The Specialty Coffee Association of America predicted that the number of coffee cafes in the United States would rise from 500 in 1992 to 10,000 by 1999. The Store Expansion Strategy In 1992 and 1993 Starbucks developed a three-year geographic expansion strategy that targeted areas which not only had favorable demographic profiles but which also could be serviced and supported by the companys operations infrastructure. For each targeted region, Starbucks selected a large city to serve as a hub; teams of professionals were located in hub cities to support the goal of opening 20 or more stores in the hub in the first two years. Once stores blanketed the hub, then additional stores were opened in smaller, surrounding spoke areas in the region. To oversee the expansion process, Starbucks created zone vice presidents to direct the development of each region and to implant the Starbucks culture in the newly opened stores. All of the new zone vice presidents Starbucks recruited came with extensive operating and marketing experience in chain-store retailing. Starbucks store launches grew steadily more successful. In 1995, new stores generated an average of $700,000 in revenue in their first year, far more than the average of $427,000 in 1990. This was partly due to the growing reputation of the Starbucks brand. In more and more instances, Starbucks reputation reached new markets even before stores opened. Moreover, existing stores continued to post year-to-year gains in sales (see Exhibit 1). Starbucks had notable success in identifying top retailing sites for its stores. The company had the best real estate team in the coffee-bar industry and a sophisticated system that enabled it to identify not only the most attractive individual city blocks but also the exact store location that was best. The companys site location track record was so good that as of 1997 it had closed only 2 of the 1,500 sites it had opened. Real Estate, Store Design, Store Planning, and Construction Schultz formed a headquarters group to create a store development process based on a six-month opening schedule. Starting in 1991, the company began to create its own in-house team of architects and designers to ensure that each store would convey the right image and character. Stores had to be custom-designed because the company didnt buy real estate and build its own freestanding structures like McDonalds or Wal-Mart did; rather, each space was leased in an existing structure and thus each store differed in size and shape. Most stores ranged in size from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet and were located in office buildings, downtown and suburban retail centers, airport terminals, university campus areas, or busy neighborhood shopping areas convenient to pedestrian foot traffic. Only a select few were in suburban malls. While similar materials and furnishings were used to keep the look consistent and expenses reasonable, no two stores ended up being exactly alike. In 1994, Starbucks began to experiment with a broader range of store formats. Special seating areas were added to help make Starbucks a place where customers could meet and chat or simply enjoy a peaceful interlude in their day. Grand Cafes with fireplaces, leather chairs, newspapers, couches, and lots of ambience were created to serve as flagship stores in high-traffic, high-visibility locations. The company also experimented with drive-through windows in locations where speed and convenience were important to customers and with kiosks in supermarkets, building lobbies, and other public places. To better reduce average store-opening costs, which had reached an undesirably high $350,000 in 1995, the company centralized buying, developed standard contracts and fixed fees for certain items, and consolidated work under those contractors who displayed good cost-control practices. The retail operations group outlined exactly the minimum amount of equipment each core store needed, so that standard items could be ordered in volume from vendors at 20 to 30 percent discounts, then delivered just in time to the store site either from company warehouses or the vendor. Modular designs for display cases were developed. And the whole store layout was developed on a computer, with software that allowed the costs to be estimated as the design evolved. All this cut store-opening costs significantly and reduced store development time from 24 to 18 weeks. A stores of the future project team was formed in 1995 to raise Starbucks store design to a still higher level and come up with the next generation of Starbucks stores. Schultz and Olsen met with the team early on to present their vision for what a Starbucks store should be like- an authentic coffee experience that conveyed the artistry of espresso making, a place to think and imagine, a spot where people could gather and talk over a great cup of coffee, a comforting refuge that provided a sense of community, a third place for people to congregate beyond work or the home, a place that welcomed people and rewarded them for coming, and a layout that could accommodate both fast service and quiet moments. The team researched the art and literature of coffee throughout the ages, studied coffee-growing and coffee-making techniques, and looked at how Starbucks stores had already evolved in terms of design, logos, colors, and mood. The team came up with four store designs- one for each of the four stages of coffee making: growing, roasting, brewing, and aroma- each with its own color combinations, lighting scheme, and component materials. Within each of the four basic store templates, Starbucks could vary the materials and details to adapt to different store sizes and settings (downtown buildings, college campuses, eighborhood shopping areas). In late 1996, Starbucks began opening new stores based on one of the four templates. The company also introduced two ministore formats using the same styles and finishes: the brevebar, a store-within-a-store for supermarkets or office-building lobbies, and the doppio, a self-contained 8-square-foot space that could be moved from spot to spot. Management believed the project accomplished three objectives: better store designs, lower store-opening costs (about $315,000 per store on average), and formats that allowed sales in locations Starbucks could otherwise not consider. For a number of years, Starbucks avoided debt and financed new stores entirely with equity capital. But as the companys profitability improved and its balance sheet strengthened, Schultzs opposition to debt as a legitimate financing vehicle softened. In 1996 the company completed its second debt offering, netting $161 million from the sale of convertible debentures for use in its capital construction program. Exhibit 6, Exhibit 7, and Exhibit 8 present Starbucks income statement and balance sheet data for recent years. Product Line Starbucks stores offered a choice of regular or decaffeinated coffee beverages, a special coffee of the day, and a broad selection of Italian-style espresso drinks. In addition, customers could choose from a wide selection of fresh-roasted whole-bean coffees (which could be ground on the premises and carried home in distinctive packages), a selection of fresh pastries and other food items, sodas, juices, teas, and coffee-related hardware and equipment. In 1997, the company introduced its Starbucks Barista home espresso machine featuring a new portafilter system that accommodated both ground coffee and Starbucks new ready-to-use espresso pods. Power Frappuccino- a version of the companys popular Frappuccino blended beverage, packed with protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins- was tested in several markets during 1997; another promising new product being tested for possible rollout in 1998 was Chai Tea Latte, a combination of black tea, exotic spices, honey, and milk. The companys retail sales mix was roughly 61 percent coffee beverages, 15 percent whole-bean coffees, 16 percent food items, and 8 percent coffee-related products and equipment. The product mix in each store varied, depending on the size and location of each outlet. Larger stores carried a greater variety of whole coffee beans, gourmet food items, teas, coffee mugs, coffee grinders, coffee-making equipment, filters, storage containers, and other accessories. Smaller stores and kiosks typically sold a full line of coffee beverages, a limited selection of whole-bean coffees, and a few hardware items. In recent years, the company began selling special jazz and blues CDs, which in some cases were special compilations that had been put together for Starbucks to use as store background music. The idea for selling the CDs originated with a Starbucks store manager who had worked in the music industry and selected the new tape of the month Starbucks played as background in its stores. He had gotten compliments from customers wanting to buy the music they heard and suggested to senior executives that there was a market for the companys music tapes. Research that involved looking through two years of comment cards turned up hundreds asking Starbucks to sell the music it played in its stores. The Starbucks CDs, created from the Capitol Records library, proved a significant addition to the companys product line. Some of the CDs were specifically collections designed to tie in with new blends of coffee that the company was promoting. Starbucks also sold Oprahs Book Club selections, the profits of which were donated to a literacy fund supported by the Starbucks Foundation. The company was constantly engaged in efforts to develop new ideas, new products, and new experiences for customers that belonged exclusively to Starbucks. Schultz and other senior executives drummed in the importance of always being open to re-inventing the Starbucks experience. Store Ambience Starbucks management looked upon each store as a billboard for the company and as a contributor to building the companys brand and image. Each detail was scrutinized to enhance the mood and ambience of the store, to make sure everything signaled best of class and that it reflected the personality of the community and the neighborhood. The thesis was Everything matters. The company went to great lengths to make sure the store fixtures, the merchandise displays, the colors, the artwork, the banners, the music, and the aromas all blended to create a consistent, inviting, stimulating environment that evoked the romance of coffee, that signaled the companys passion for coffee, and that re

Case 6.11 whitewater west industries limited Study

6.11 whitewater west industries limited - Case Study Example In order to meet their demand, relatively larger area of at least 6,040 to 6,970 square meters is required. Upon the analysis of WhiteWater West Industries Limited, three production sites are investigated. Further analysis is required as to which production site needs to be acquired which must fulfill the company’s strategic objectives. Due to increase in the demand in volumes for the fiber water slides, WhiteWater West Industries Limited needs a production facility of around 6,040 to 6,970 square meters. In order to acquire that much place, three different site locations namely Hiram-Walker, Build Option and Abbotsford Site were narrowed down by the management of WhiteWater West Industries Limited. In the following paragraphs, each site will be analyzed briefly. This site is not too far from the existing production site. In nine months time, this location can be prepared for the commercial production of the fiber water slides. This site benefits that in future if expansion is required, this site can provide more area to expand the production plants and facilities. Cost totaling around $1,571,875 will be required to avail this production facility. This option requires WhiteWater West Industries Limited to build a manufacturing factory, which is perfect in every sense. However, in order to find such site which is so perfect, is a hectic matter which could cause substantial time of around one year and a total cost of $,4464,425. This site has its own benefit of being near Vancouver, Seattle and Portland markets, so the customers from those areas can be catered easily if this site is selected. However, some drawbacks also pertain to this site such that hardships in mobilizing the labor from the existing place to this place. For those workers who do not want to work on this place, need other financial assistance causing more cost to WhiteWater West Industries Limited. Along with this, this site will not provide any

Gardasil a new vaccine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gardasil a new vaccine - Essay Example al Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) president Barbara Loe Fisher, pre-licensure trials of gardasil have not been disclosed neither by the FDA nor Merck. They did not reveal the truth and made it appear that the whole procedure has been safety. Far from the knowledge of the consumers, gardasil contains aluminum adjuvant that has potential health risk. Merck neither the FDA revealed that the aluminum content of Gardasil is 225 mcg. Researches show the unfavorable effects of aluminum with respect to health (Redhead K. et al. 1992). It has been determined that aluminum adjuvant produces the high risk of aluminum to enter the brain. Other than that there were serious adverse reactions such as headache, gastroenteritis, arthritis, appendicitis etc. that also manifested to gardasil recipients during the clinical trials. Loe Fisher told that, â€Å"Merck and the FDA have not been completely honest with the people,† which is the right impression. Health-wise, it is still very doubtful for gardasil to be considered a complete vaccine. Though Merck promises that gardasil can prevent four strain of HPV, it only works to about 70 percent of humanpapillomavirus. Those who will be vaccinated by gardasil will just be protected to that 70 percent of HPV and remain unprotected to that 30 percent more. Gardasil will not work to patient who already has HPV which implies that it can not be used as a treatment to the presence of HPV, too early to say that it is already a complete and effective vaccine. Another is that the said immunization has been tested to women with ages ranging from 9-26 years old. We should not be ignorant that based on the current researches, according to experts (Main Cancer Registry, 2006), data shows that incident rates of HPV related cervical cancer is lower during the bracket ages lower than 30. Cervical cancer is at higher risk at the age of thirty above. The period by which the research has been conducted and the number of respondents used is not

Cognitive Development of an Infant and Toddler Essay Example for Free

Cognitive Development of an Infant and Toddler Essay Piaget based the sensorimotor stage on his observations of his own children The Circular Reaction: a. Circular reactions are the means by which infants explore the environment and build schemes by trying to repeat chance events caused by their own motor activity. b. These reactions are first centered on the infants own body. Subsequently, they change to manipulating objects and then to producing novel effects in the environment. Substage 1: Reflexive Schemes a. Piaget regarded newborn reflexes as the building blocks of sensorimotor intelligence. b. At first, babies suck, grasp, and look in much the same way, no matter what the circumstances. Substage 2: Primary Circular Reactions-The First Learned Adaptations a. Infants develop simple motor skills and change their behavior in response to environmental demands. b. The first circular reactions are primary in that they are oriented towards the infants own bodies and motivated by basic needs. Substage 3: Secondary Circular Reactions-Making Interesting Sights Last a. Circular reactions of this substage are secondary in that the infants repeat actions that affect the environment. b. Infants can imitate actions that they have practiced many times. Substage 4: Coordination of Secondary Circular Reaction a. Intentional, or goal directed, behavior is the combination of schemes to solve problems. b. Piaget regarded meansend action sequences as the first sign that babies appreciate physical causality. c. Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight; it is not yet complete in this substage. d. AB search errors are committed by infants in this substage. Infants 8- to 12-months-old only look for an object in hiding place A after the object is moved from A to hiding place B. Substage 5: Tertiary Circular Reactions-Discovering New Means through Active Experimentation a. Circular reactions in this substage are tertiary in that the infant repeats actions with variation-exploring the environment and bringing about new outcomes. b. Experimentation leads to a more advanced understanding of object permanence. Toddlers no longer make the AB search error. Substage 6: Mental Representation-Inventing New Means Through Mental Combinations a. mental representations are internal images of absent objects and past events. b. The toddler can now solve problems through symbolic means instead of trial-and-error. c. Representation allows deferred imitation-the ability to copy the behavior of models that are not immediately present. d. Functional play is motor activity with or without objects during the first year and a half in which sensorimotor schemes are practiced. e. At the end of the second year, representation permits toddlers to engage in make-believe play.

Cochlear Implants :: Hearing Deafness Auditory Essays

Cochlear Implants As the life expectancy of the general population continues to increase, so has the number of people experiencing varying types of perceptual loss. One area of perceptual loss that is gaining more and more recognition is auditory functioning. The number of individuals experiencing a post-lingual hearing loss, or hearing loss after the acquisition of language, is increasing among the older adults in our society. This increase has facilitated a need for a means of managing such a loss of functioning. The group of people affected by hearing loss is by no means strictly limited to older adults. Pre-lingually deaf children and adults, as well as, postlingually deafened individuals can benefit from the technology that is currently being developed and refined for the management of hearing loss. The conventional hearing aid is probably the most common device pictured when thinking in terms of managing hearing loss. However, another option that may not be as well known is the cochlear implant. The cochlear implant is a relatively new option in the management of hearing loss. Cochlear implants amplify sound, code sound into an electrical signal, and send those signals into the auditory nerve. The signal then travels to the auditory brainstem and onward to the temporal lobe of the brain for interpretation. The cochlear implant system consists of internal and external components. The internal components include a receiver, an internal magnet, and an electrode array. During a surgical procedure, a space is made in the mastoid bone behind the ear. This space holds the internal magnet and receiver. The electrode array is then placed in contact with the nerve endings in the cochlea. After implantation surgery, the skin and hair around the incision are allowed to heal for about five weeks. Then the patient is fitted with the external components of the implant. These components include a microphone, an external transmitter coil, cords, and a speech processor. The microphone is attached to the ear by means of an earhook. The microphone picks up sound waves and sends them to the transmitter for convertion into an electrical signal. The transmitter coil is held in place against the patient's head by means of an external magnet that is attracted to the internal magnet. A cord connects the microphone to the transmitter coil. Another cord then connects the microphone to the speech processor. The speech processor contains a software program that determines how sound waves will be coded and transformed into electrical impulses.

Development from Conception to 16 Years

Development from conception to 16 years New-born babies are born with many different reflexes. ‘The presence of some of the new-borns primitive reflexes is essential to survival’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 12. Some of the automatic reflexes include ‘swallowing and sucking, when anything is put in the mouth, babies at once suck and swallow’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 12.At birth in their gross motor development babies will lie on their back ‘lie supine (on their backs), with the head to one side’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 8. In their fine motor development babies will hold their hands closed, ‘Usually hold their hands tightly closed, but the hands may open spontaneously during feeding or when the back of the hand is stroked’ and tuck their thumbs under their fingers, ‘often hold their thumbs tucked in under their fingers’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, P age 8.Babies’ communication and language development, they need to share language experiences and talk to others, ‘need to share language experiences and co-operate with others’, also make eye contact and cry when they need help, ‘make eye contact and cry to indicate need’, babies also move their limbs when they hear high pitched tones, ‘respond to high-pitched tones by moving their limbs’, babies may also move their eyes towards the sound, ‘may move their eyes towards the direction of sound’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 15.At three months babies gross motor development, may be able to keep their head in a central position when lying on their back, ‘keep their head in a central position when lying supine’ and have almost no head lag when moving into the sitting position, ‘have almost no head lag in moving into the sitting position’, Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 28.In their fine motor development, three month old babies may be able to watch their hands and play with their fingers, ‘Move their hands and play with their fingers’. Also may be able to hold onto a rattle for a short amount of time, ‘can hold a rattle for a brief time before dropping it’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 29. With three month old babies, communication and language development, they may take a lot more interest in their surroundings, ‘take an increasing interest in their surroundings’.Also show more interest in playthings, ‘Show an increasing interest in playthings’. At six months, babies in their gross motor development, may be able to use their shoulders to pull themselves into the sitting position ‘can use their shoulders to pull themselves into a sitting position’, also they may be able to bear their own weight, ‘can bear almost all their own weight’, Child Development An Illus trated Guide, Page 36.With six month olds fine motor development they may be able to reach out and grab a small toy when its offered, ‘reach and grab when a small toy is offered’, also explore objects by putting them in their mouth, ‘explore objects by putting them in their mouth’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 37. With communication and language development at six months, they may be able to babble spontaneously, ‘babble spontaneously, first using monosyllables, such as ‘ga-ga’, and then double syllables, such as goo-ga’, and later combining more syllables’.Also talk to themselves in a tuneful song voice, ‘talk to themselves in a tuneful, sing-song voice’ Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 39. At nine months, babies in their gross motor development, may be able to maintain a sitting position independently for up to 15 minutes ‘can maintain a sitting position with a straight backâ €™ and ‘can sit unsupported for up to 15 minutes’, they may also be able to find ways of moving around the floor ‘may find ways of moving about the floor – for example, by rolling, wriggling, or crawling on their stomach’, Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 44.With six month old fine motor development they may be able to grasp objects between fingers and thumb in a pincer grasp ‘can grasp objects between finger and thumb in a pincer grasp’ also can pass toys from one hand to the other ‘manipulate toys by passing them from one hand to the other’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 45.With their communication and language they may be able to imitate adult sounds ‘imitate adult sounds, like a cough or a ‘brr’ noise’ also can understand the word ‘no’ ‘understand and obey the command ‘no’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 46. At twelve mon ths, babies in their gross motor development may be able to rise in a sitting position from lying down ‘can rise in a sitting position from lying down’ also they may be able to cruise along using furniture as a support ‘can cruise along using furniture as a support’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 50.Where twelve month old babies fine motor development is concerned they may be able to hold a crayon in a palmer grasp and turn several pages of a book ‘can hold a crayon in a palmer grasp and turn several pages of a book at once’ also can build a few bricks and arrange toys on the floor ‘build with a few bricks and arrange the toys on the floor’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 51.With their communication and language 12 month olds may be able to speak two to six or more recognisable words ‘speak to or more recognisable words and show that they understand many more – babbling has developed into muc h more speech – like form, with increased intonation’ also may be able to hand objects to adults when asked and use them in an appropriate way ‘hand objects to adults when asked and begin to treat objects in an appropriate way, for example, cuddle a teddy but use a hairbrush’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 52.At eighteen months children with their gross motor development may be able to walk steadily and stop safely ‘can walk steadily and stop safely, without sitting down suddenly’ also they may be able to climb onto an adult chair and sit down ‘can climb forward into an adult chair and then turn around and sit’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 58.With their fine motor development eighteen month olds may be able to point to known objects ‘can point to known objects’ also they may hold a pencil in their whole hand or between the thumb and first to fingers, called the primitive tripod grasp â₠¬Ëœcan hold a pencil in their whole hand or between the thumb and first two fingers (this is called the primitive tripod grasp) Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 59.Where their communication and language is they may use gestures alongside words ‘use gestures alongside words’ also obey simple instructions and answer questions ‘obey simple instructions such as ‘shut the door’ and respond to simple questions such as ‘where’s the pussy-cat? ’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 60.At two years children with their gross motor development may be able to run safely avoiding obstacles ‘Can run safely, avoiding obstacles and are very mobile’, also walk up and down stairs usually putting both feet on each step ‘walk up and down stairs, usually putting both feet on each step’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 66.With their fine motor development two year olds may draw circles, lines and dots using preferred hand ‘draw circles, lines and dots using their preferred hand’ also may drink from a cup and manage to scoop with a spoon at mealtimes ‘can drink from a cup with fewer spills, and manage scooping with a spoon at mealtimes’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 67.With their communication and language they may talk to themselves often ‘talk to themselves often, but may not always be understood by others’ and may use phrases as telegraphic speech for example ‘daddy-car’, might mean a number of different things, ‘use phrases as telegraphic speech (or telegraphese) – for example, ‘daddy-car’ might mean a number of different things, including ‘daddy in his car’, ‘I want to go in daddy’s car’ or ‘daddy’s car is outside’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 68.At two and a half years children with their gross motor developm ent can stand on tiptoe when shown ‘stand on tiptoe when shown’, also jump with both feet together from a low step ‘jump with both feet together from a low step’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 66. With their fine motor development they may be able to eat skilfully with a spoon and maybe a fork ‘eat skilfully with a spoon and may use a fork’, also may build a tower of seven or more cubes using preferred hand, ‘can build a tower of seven or more cubes, using their preferred hand’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 67.Where two and a half year olds communication and language is concerned they may be able to know their full name ‘know their full name’, also continually ask questions ‘continually ask questions beginning ‘what†¦? ’ or ‘who†¦.? ’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 69. When children are three years, with their gross motor developmen t they may be able to walk backwards and sideways ‘can walk backwards and sideways’ also may ride a tricycle using pedals ‘can ride a tricycle using pedals’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 76.With their fine motor development they may be able to control a pencil using their thumb and the first two fingers (dynamic tripod grasp) ‘can control a pencil using their thumb and the first two fingers (the dynamic tripod grasp), also may copy a building pattern ‘can copy a building pattern of three or more cubes, including a bridge’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 77.Communication and language, they may be able to learn to speak more than one language ‘learn to speak more than one language if they hear more than one language spoken around them as they grow’, also carry on simple conversations ‘carry on simple conversations, often missing link words such as ‘the’ and ‘is’, Chi ld Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 79.At four years of age children in their gross motor development may be able to walk along a line with good balance ‘have developed a good sense of balance and may be able to walk along a line’ also they may be able to run up and down stairs, one foot per step ‘run up and down stairs, one foot per step’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 86.With their fine motor development four year olds may be able to thread small beads on a lace ‘are able to thread small beads on a lace’, also may draw a figure that resembles a person ‘can draw on request a figure that resembles a person, showing head, legs and body’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 87. With their communication and language they may be able to repeat rhymes and songs with few mistakes ‘can repeat nursery rhymes and songs, with very few errors’.Also may state their full name and address ‘can sta te their full name and address almost correctly’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 89. At five years children in their gross motor development may be able to use a variety of play equipment ‘use a variety of play equipment, including slides, swings and climbing frames’ also may have good coordination playing ball games and dancing ‘show good co-ordination, playing ball games and dancing rhythmically to music’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 94.In their fine motor they may be able to use a knife and fork competently ‘can use a knife and fork competently, but may still need to have meat cut up for them’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 94. With four year olds, communication and language they may be able to talk about the past, present and future ‘talk about the past, present and future, with good sense of time’. Also enjoy jokes and riddles ‘enjoy jokes and riddles’, Child Dev elopment An Illustrated Guide, Page 96.At six years of age, in their gross motor development, children are gaining both strength and agility, they may be able to jump off apparatus with confidence ‘are gaining in both strength and agility; they can jump off apparatus at school with confidence’ also may be able to ride a two-wheeled bike, maybe without stabilisers ‘can ride a two-wheeled bike, possibly without stabilisers’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 102.With their fine motor development they may be able to write their first and last name ‘can write their last name as well as their first name’, also may write simple stories ‘may begin to write simple stories’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 103. Six year olds, in their communication and language, may be able to talk fluently with confidence ‘talk fluently and with confidence’, also are developing literacy skills ‘are steadily develo ping literacy skills (reading and writing), although the ability to read independently with confidence usually begins between 7 and 9 years of age’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 105.At seven years, in their gross motor development, children may be able to control their speed when running and avoid obstacles ‘are able to control their speed when running and can swerve to avoid collision’, also are skilful in catching and throwing a ball, using one hand only ‘are skilful in catching and throwing a ball, using one hand only’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 110.With their fine motor development they may be able to use a large needle to sew and thread ‘can use a large needle to sew and thread’, may also use colour in a naturalistic way ‘begin to use colour in a naturalistic way, for example using a band of green colour at the bottom of the page to represent grass and a band of blue across the top to represe nt sky’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 111.They may be able to, in the communication and language, understand book language ‘begin to understand book language and that stories have characters and a plot (the narrative)’, and may express and communicate their thoughts ‘like to express and communicate their thoughts – about a book they have read or a TV programme they have seen’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 112. Two theoretical perspectives relevant to physical development and language and communication development are Noam Chomsky, he was American professor of linguistics, and he developed a theory, based on the idea of language development as an innate process.He believed that humans are born with the knowledge already for language; he suggested that babies have a language acquisition device (LAD). He considered that this LAD enables children to absorb the language they hear and break it up, then work out what i t is and develop an understanding of its rules and grammatical structure. To support Chomskys theory it has been shown that children of all cultures develop language at more a less the same time. Another is Arnold Gessel (1880- 1961), he was an American paediatrician; he identified three principles of physical development.The first he stated was that ‘Development follows a definite sequence’, this means that when children are growing and progressing there is a pattern in that they need to do certain movements e. g. walk, in order to do other more challenging ones e. g. skipping. The second was that ‘Development begins with the control of head movements and proceeds downwards’, this is because babies need to be able to move their head around in order to search for food, they gain control of their head and top of the spine before other parts of their body, this is thought to be a survival mechanism.The third principle is ‘Development begins with uncontr olled gross motor movements before becoming precise and refined’, this simply means that when babies are first born they have no control over their legs and arms but control is quickly gained, first of the arms and then of the wrists. I have attached three observations as appendices; these are on a child aged 3 years 1 month. I have observed my target child’s physical development, whilst looking at her gross motor skills, I used a checklist observation. For her fine motor skills I used, written narrative and for her balance and coordination I used a photographic observation.A checklist observation is when you draw a table with the columns, ‘developmental milestones’, this is where you write the milestones from the EYFS or a book and look for their age group and write what they should be able to achieve. You may have milestones for different ages for example six months before and six months after the child’s actual age. In the next column tick Ã¢â‚¬Ë œyes’, if they did completed the milestone, if not tick ‘no’ in the column after. Then the last column says ‘comments’ which is where you put additional information about how or where the child completed or didn’t complete the milestones and if she needed assistance.The photographic observation is when you look through the EYFS at your TCs age group for the chosen subject, for e. g. ‘physical development’ and see what they should be doing, then when you see your TC doing these things while observing, take a series pictures of them in a sequence so it tells a story, then write next to the picture a little caption about what the child is doing and how/ where she is doing it. A written narrative is an observation where you write down exactly what you see, including what hand the child is using, the expressions on their face etc. it’s a running commentary of what is happening.The observer sits away from the child and does not g et involved during the observation and makes notes. The observer should write the observation up ASAP whilst they still remember the information. First of all we must ask permission from the parent before we do any type of observation, if we did not do this then the practioner and the parents trust is jeopardised immediately. This is part of the settings policies and procedures which provides consistent practise, trust and high standards and if they are not followed it could lead to different standards bad reputation and inconsistent practise.It is against the law to give out children’s details to anyone, if the child is not in danger; this is stated in the legislation, The Data Protection Act 1998, ‘To protect individuals rights from breaching of information’ all of the nursery settings are aware and follow this, if they didn’t follow this then children will be put in harm and may be taken advantage of, it will not only put the child in harm but also the child’s family as well.We can maintain confidentiality throughout the observation by using TC meaning target child in all the observations rather than their name, this will help keep the child safe as it will not give any personal information away, we can also use TA meaning target adult and OC meaning other children, this will help keep the staff and other children from risk.Also we can make sure we do not give away the settings name and just write, for example, ‘day nursery’ and all the observations are objective, meaning that you are not assuming anything e. g. how the child is feeling, this is needed so you are not labelling children, jumping to conclusions or being bias. Different observation techniques are used as it improves accuracy, e. g. you wouldn’t use a photographic to look at the language development.In photographic observations you must make sure that you take the images on the settings camera not your own and print them off in the setting n ot take them on a memory stick, if you print off more photographs than needed you must destroy them using a shredder, also when taking the images make sure you do not get any other children in the background as they may not have the permission from the parents to do so, if we did not do this then the parent would then not feel comfortable in leaving their child in that setting, also the images may get into the wrong hands and be used inappropriately meaning the child could be at risk.The only type of information that should be shared is safety: medical issues, allergies, Support learning: likes, dislikes, what stage they're up to, and Background info: if anything is happening at home that could affect child: e. g. separation or family death, information is only shared on a need to know basis. All the information should be kept in a locked filing cabinet. Also make sure that the observations are only shared with the parents of the hild and other professionals. With my three observati ons on my target child I looked at three different developmental areas, such as, gross motor, fine motor and balance and co-ordination. In the gross motor observation using quotes from the ‘EYFS’ and ‘Child Development An Illustrated Guide’, my TC is currently achieving the majority of these milestones and some of the things stated she couldn’t of accomplished in the garden, e. g. ‘using a pencil’.My TC seems to be very confident in peddling, jumping, balancing etc and kicking a ball with great control; however, she needed assistance with walking on tiptoes, this is due to possibly not having the opportunity to try it. My TC also seems very sociable as she was playing a lot with her friends whether it was by pushing them round in the car or throwing a ball to them, this is perhaps because she is with adult company a lot of the time, this checklist information therefore shows me that there are no areas to be concerned about and my TC prac tises these skills every day.When observing her balance and co-ordination, I have realised that she is very confident and in control of her balance and co-ordination, also that she is developing at the right stage for her age and is capable balancing by herself without assistance, showing that she is becoming more independent. My TC persisted with the activities even when challenges occurred which shows she is persistent and also she was finding new ways to do things which shows she is very inquisitive, this is stated in the ‘EYFS, Characteristics of effective learning’, showing she is on track and at the right place.With the fine motor observation, my TC is meeting and exceeding the developmental milestones that she should be applying with the EYFS, this observation shows me that she engages in an activity and doesn’t give up until she has accomplished it, this shows great determination. My TC is turning out to be very independent, clever and determined, all of these things show that she is developing at the right pace for her age and is currently meeting and exceeding the developmental milestones.This is possibly due to spending a lot of one to one time with mum and dad and being at nursery all day for three days; she always joins in with games and includes her friends improving vital skills such a socialising and physical development. My TC is always using her initiative when things go wrong and quickly amends them, e. g. when ‘she dropped all the beads, she quickly picked them up and rebuilt it’. My TCs needs are that she needs the equipment, space and time to develop these skills, improving her developmental areas.She needs extra help with balancing; walking on tiptoes etc. so in the short term setting out obstacle courses or beams to walk along would benefit her massively as it would require her to use her balance and concentration. ‘Blocks and block play is very important for childrens learning and development. Bec ause there is no right or wrong way to play with them, they are the perfect open-ended resource and they are so versatile that they support learning across all areas of the curriculam’.Through my observations and discussions with my mentor, I am aware that my TC really enjoys playing outside and with her friends, and she feels lost without them; this is mainly because she spends a lot of time outside with her parents, one to one, this is massively beneficial also for her health. To support her future planning I would provide more activities that includes being outside and being active and try giving her the one on one attention, when possible.The implications of observations are that observations need to be valid and reliable otherwise there will be biasness and different interpretations of how the child is feeling and the observations won’t be accurate. We can do this by objective observations, which are by looking at the child with fresh eyes, meaning we don’t jump to conclusions and make judgements and we so not have stereotypical views of the child. We can also make it reliable by writing it up ASAP so the observation is still in your head and you don’t forget or make-up key information.We must use different techniques to observe the child this is because there are many aspects to look at and you can’t look at them all from one type, e. g. looking at a child’s language, you couldn’t do this using a photographic observation, if you didn’t do this then you would miss out information that might be necessary to detect any issues. Observations are needed to reflect on for future planning, if you didn’t the child will lose interest and not progress in development.Observations are also good to give to the parent as they can see how their child is getting on and gives them reassurance as to how their child is progressing, it will hopefully highlight if there are any problems as well, which they can pas s onto other professionals. If you did not do all of these things it will let your reputation down and show you cannot be reliable to look after children in a professional manner. John Bowlby (1907-1990), stated that a Child’s emotional bond to their familiar caregiver i. e. a family member or riend is a biological response that ensured survival, he called this the ‘theory of attachment’, and he said that the quality of attachment is to blame for the child’s capacity to form trusting relationships. His theory stated that children show a preference for closeness to a small number of adults and these attachments are a normal part of human development. When babies are born they are adapted to seek out attachments not just for the aim of being fed and protected but for the feelings of safety the attachment brings.Also he said that when an infant feels safe and secure they won’t be as attached to you as when they feel scared or anxious, this is known as ‘attachment behaviour’. Also as infants mature into adulthood, the need for attachment lessens, however when we feel stress or anxiety we may find ourselves seeking comfort from loved ones. The main positive outcomes of good attachment experiences in the early years seemed to be social ones, things such as self-confidence, efficiency, self-esteem and the capacity to care for others and to be cared for.Many practioners worry about the children becoming too attached to them and fear that it may undermine relationships at home. They don’t want to give children the feeling of loss when they have to leave them and move on to school or the next stage. However, children can cope with several close attachments, so now at most nurseries children are given a key person, but practioners must maintain professional boundaries too, favouritism is not an outcome of closeness to a child so practioners must work alongside the parent. Burrhus Skinner (1904-1990), was probably one of the best known behaviourist theorists.Skinner applied ideas taken from his work with rodents to children, this approach is called operant conditioning, and he wrote most of his books about people. To him both animals and people are organisms – differing only to the degree of learning. Behaviourism is sometimes known as the learning theory, learning and development are often seen in terms of nature verses nurture. Behaviourism is at the extreme nurture end, Behaviourists generally believe that all behaviour is learned and can be shaped. The most common view is that behaviour is shaped by punishment and rewards, and that humans act to avoid punishment and to gain reward.Skinner emphasised reward. He believed that punishment was counter-productive, having the opposite of the desired effect. He broke tasks down into small steps, and with each step reinforced and rewarded as it was learned. Although skinners experiments were generally carried out on animals, his work became wid ely applied to child development and to work with parents. Skinner proposed that a child’s language is shaped by the responses given to them by carers or parents. Skinners theory would indicate that children have to go through a trial and error aspect; however children can pick up things that are not learnt through regular reinforcement.His work was put into practise by teaching methods which focus on the repletion of words and completion of rows of sums. Behaviourism is most often seen in the teaching of special needs children and behavioural management. Breaking down tasks into small steps, such as star charts, stamps, stickers, rewarding children for keeping to instructions and rules, and taking away of their luxury’s when they don’t keep to rules, praise and encouragement. This was introduced in the 1950s known as ‘programmed instruction’. Development from Conception to 16 Years Development from conception to 16 years New-born babies are born with many different reflexes. ‘The presence of some of the new-borns primitive reflexes is essential to survival’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 12. Some of the automatic reflexes include ‘swallowing and sucking, when anything is put in the mouth, babies at once suck and swallow’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 12.At birth in their gross motor development babies will lie on their back ‘lie supine (on their backs), with the head to one side’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 8. In their fine motor development babies will hold their hands closed, ‘Usually hold their hands tightly closed, but the hands may open spontaneously during feeding or when the back of the hand is stroked’ and tuck their thumbs under their fingers, ‘often hold their thumbs tucked in under their fingers’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, P age 8.Babies’ communication and language development, they need to share language experiences and talk to others, ‘need to share language experiences and co-operate with others’, also make eye contact and cry when they need help, ‘make eye contact and cry to indicate need’, babies also move their limbs when they hear high pitched tones, ‘respond to high-pitched tones by moving their limbs’, babies may also move their eyes towards the sound, ‘may move their eyes towards the direction of sound’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 15.At three months babies gross motor development, may be able to keep their head in a central position when lying on their back, ‘keep their head in a central position when lying supine’ and have almost no head lag when moving into the sitting position, ‘have almost no head lag in moving into the sitting position’, Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 28.In their fine motor development, three month old babies may be able to watch their hands and play with their fingers, ‘Move their hands and play with their fingers’. Also may be able to hold onto a rattle for a short amount of time, ‘can hold a rattle for a brief time before dropping it’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 29. With three month old babies, communication and language development, they may take a lot more interest in their surroundings, ‘take an increasing interest in their surroundings’.Also show more interest in playthings, ‘Show an increasing interest in playthings’. At six months, babies in their gross motor development, may be able to use their shoulders to pull themselves into the sitting position ‘can use their shoulders to pull themselves into a sitting position’, also they may be able to bear their own weight, ‘can bear almost all their own weight’, Child Development An Illus trated Guide, Page 36.With six month olds fine motor development they may be able to reach out and grab a small toy when its offered, ‘reach and grab when a small toy is offered’, also explore objects by putting them in their mouth, ‘explore objects by putting them in their mouth’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 37. With communication and language development at six months, they may be able to babble spontaneously, ‘babble spontaneously, first using monosyllables, such as ‘ga-ga’, and then double syllables, such as goo-ga’, and later combining more syllables’.Also talk to themselves in a tuneful song voice, ‘talk to themselves in a tuneful, sing-song voice’ Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 39. At nine months, babies in their gross motor development, may be able to maintain a sitting position independently for up to 15 minutes ‘can maintain a sitting position with a straight backâ €™ and ‘can sit unsupported for up to 15 minutes’, they may also be able to find ways of moving around the floor ‘may find ways of moving about the floor – for example, by rolling, wriggling, or crawling on their stomach’, Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 44.With six month old fine motor development they may be able to grasp objects between fingers and thumb in a pincer grasp ‘can grasp objects between finger and thumb in a pincer grasp’ also can pass toys from one hand to the other ‘manipulate toys by passing them from one hand to the other’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 45.With their communication and language they may be able to imitate adult sounds ‘imitate adult sounds, like a cough or a ‘brr’ noise’ also can understand the word ‘no’ ‘understand and obey the command ‘no’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 46. At twelve mon ths, babies in their gross motor development may be able to rise in a sitting position from lying down ‘can rise in a sitting position from lying down’ also they may be able to cruise along using furniture as a support ‘can cruise along using furniture as a support’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 50.Where twelve month old babies fine motor development is concerned they may be able to hold a crayon in a palmer grasp and turn several pages of a book ‘can hold a crayon in a palmer grasp and turn several pages of a book at once’ also can build a few bricks and arrange toys on the floor ‘build with a few bricks and arrange the toys on the floor’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 51.With their communication and language 12 month olds may be able to speak two to six or more recognisable words ‘speak to or more recognisable words and show that they understand many more – babbling has developed into muc h more speech – like form, with increased intonation’ also may be able to hand objects to adults when asked and use them in an appropriate way ‘hand objects to adults when asked and begin to treat objects in an appropriate way, for example, cuddle a teddy but use a hairbrush’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 52.At eighteen months children with their gross motor development may be able to walk steadily and stop safely ‘can walk steadily and stop safely, without sitting down suddenly’ also they may be able to climb onto an adult chair and sit down ‘can climb forward into an adult chair and then turn around and sit’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 58.With their fine motor development eighteen month olds may be able to point to known objects ‘can point to known objects’ also they may hold a pencil in their whole hand or between the thumb and first to fingers, called the primitive tripod grasp â₠¬Ëœcan hold a pencil in their whole hand or between the thumb and first two fingers (this is called the primitive tripod grasp) Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 59.Where their communication and language is they may use gestures alongside words ‘use gestures alongside words’ also obey simple instructions and answer questions ‘obey simple instructions such as ‘shut the door’ and respond to simple questions such as ‘where’s the pussy-cat? ’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 60.At two years children with their gross motor development may be able to run safely avoiding obstacles ‘Can run safely, avoiding obstacles and are very mobile’, also walk up and down stairs usually putting both feet on each step ‘walk up and down stairs, usually putting both feet on each step’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 66.With their fine motor development two year olds may draw circles, lines and dots using preferred hand ‘draw circles, lines and dots using their preferred hand’ also may drink from a cup and manage to scoop with a spoon at mealtimes ‘can drink from a cup with fewer spills, and manage scooping with a spoon at mealtimes’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 67.With their communication and language they may talk to themselves often ‘talk to themselves often, but may not always be understood by others’ and may use phrases as telegraphic speech for example ‘daddy-car’, might mean a number of different things, ‘use phrases as telegraphic speech (or telegraphese) – for example, ‘daddy-car’ might mean a number of different things, including ‘daddy in his car’, ‘I want to go in daddy’s car’ or ‘daddy’s car is outside’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 68.At two and a half years children with their gross motor developm ent can stand on tiptoe when shown ‘stand on tiptoe when shown’, also jump with both feet together from a low step ‘jump with both feet together from a low step’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 66. With their fine motor development they may be able to eat skilfully with a spoon and maybe a fork ‘eat skilfully with a spoon and may use a fork’, also may build a tower of seven or more cubes using preferred hand, ‘can build a tower of seven or more cubes, using their preferred hand’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 67.Where two and a half year olds communication and language is concerned they may be able to know their full name ‘know their full name’, also continually ask questions ‘continually ask questions beginning ‘what†¦? ’ or ‘who†¦.? ’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 69. When children are three years, with their gross motor developmen t they may be able to walk backwards and sideways ‘can walk backwards and sideways’ also may ride a tricycle using pedals ‘can ride a tricycle using pedals’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 76.With their fine motor development they may be able to control a pencil using their thumb and the first two fingers (dynamic tripod grasp) ‘can control a pencil using their thumb and the first two fingers (the dynamic tripod grasp), also may copy a building pattern ‘can copy a building pattern of three or more cubes, including a bridge’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 77.Communication and language, they may be able to learn to speak more than one language ‘learn to speak more than one language if they hear more than one language spoken around them as they grow’, also carry on simple conversations ‘carry on simple conversations, often missing link words such as ‘the’ and ‘is’, Chi ld Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 79.At four years of age children in their gross motor development may be able to walk along a line with good balance ‘have developed a good sense of balance and may be able to walk along a line’ also they may be able to run up and down stairs, one foot per step ‘run up and down stairs, one foot per step’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 86.With their fine motor development four year olds may be able to thread small beads on a lace ‘are able to thread small beads on a lace’, also may draw a figure that resembles a person ‘can draw on request a figure that resembles a person, showing head, legs and body’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 87. With their communication and language they may be able to repeat rhymes and songs with few mistakes ‘can repeat nursery rhymes and songs, with very few errors’.Also may state their full name and address ‘can sta te their full name and address almost correctly’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 89. At five years children in their gross motor development may be able to use a variety of play equipment ‘use a variety of play equipment, including slides, swings and climbing frames’ also may have good coordination playing ball games and dancing ‘show good co-ordination, playing ball games and dancing rhythmically to music’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 94.In their fine motor they may be able to use a knife and fork competently ‘can use a knife and fork competently, but may still need to have meat cut up for them’ Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 94. With four year olds, communication and language they may be able to talk about the past, present and future ‘talk about the past, present and future, with good sense of time’. Also enjoy jokes and riddles ‘enjoy jokes and riddles’, Child Dev elopment An Illustrated Guide, Page 96.At six years of age, in their gross motor development, children are gaining both strength and agility, they may be able to jump off apparatus with confidence ‘are gaining in both strength and agility; they can jump off apparatus at school with confidence’ also may be able to ride a two-wheeled bike, maybe without stabilisers ‘can ride a two-wheeled bike, possibly without stabilisers’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 102.With their fine motor development they may be able to write their first and last name ‘can write their last name as well as their first name’, also may write simple stories ‘may begin to write simple stories’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 103. Six year olds, in their communication and language, may be able to talk fluently with confidence ‘talk fluently and with confidence’, also are developing literacy skills ‘are steadily develo ping literacy skills (reading and writing), although the ability to read independently with confidence usually begins between 7 and 9 years of age’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 105.At seven years, in their gross motor development, children may be able to control their speed when running and avoid obstacles ‘are able to control their speed when running and can swerve to avoid collision’, also are skilful in catching and throwing a ball, using one hand only ‘are skilful in catching and throwing a ball, using one hand only’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 110.With their fine motor development they may be able to use a large needle to sew and thread ‘can use a large needle to sew and thread’, may also use colour in a naturalistic way ‘begin to use colour in a naturalistic way, for example using a band of green colour at the bottom of the page to represent grass and a band of blue across the top to represe nt sky’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 111.They may be able to, in the communication and language, understand book language ‘begin to understand book language and that stories have characters and a plot (the narrative)’, and may express and communicate their thoughts ‘like to express and communicate their thoughts – about a book they have read or a TV programme they have seen’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 112. Two theoretical perspectives relevant to physical development and language and communication development are Noam Chomsky, he was American professor of linguistics, and he developed a theory, based on the idea of language development as an innate process.He believed that humans are born with the knowledge already for language; he suggested that babies have a language acquisition device (LAD). He considered that this LAD enables children to absorb the language they hear and break it up, then work out what i t is and develop an understanding of its rules and grammatical structure. To support Chomskys theory it has been shown that children of all cultures develop language at more a less the same time. Another is Arnold Gessel (1880- 1961), he was an American paediatrician; he identified three principles of physical development.The first he stated was that ‘Development follows a definite sequence’, this means that when children are growing and progressing there is a pattern in that they need to do certain movements e. g. walk, in order to do other more challenging ones e. g. skipping. The second was that ‘Development begins with the control of head movements and proceeds downwards’, this is because babies need to be able to move their head around in order to search for food, they gain control of their head and top of the spine before other parts of their body, this is thought to be a survival mechanism.The third principle is ‘Development begins with uncontr olled gross motor movements before becoming precise and refined’, this simply means that when babies are first born they have no control over their legs and arms but control is quickly gained, first of the arms and then of the wrists. I have attached three observations as appendices; these are on a child aged 3 years 1 month. I have observed my target child’s physical development, whilst looking at her gross motor skills, I used a checklist observation. For her fine motor skills I used, written narrative and for her balance and coordination I used a photographic observation.A checklist observation is when you draw a table with the columns, ‘developmental milestones’, this is where you write the milestones from the EYFS or a book and look for their age group and write what they should be able to achieve. You may have milestones for different ages for example six months before and six months after the child’s actual age. In the next column tick Ã¢â‚¬Ë œyes’, if they did completed the milestone, if not tick ‘no’ in the column after. Then the last column says ‘comments’ which is where you put additional information about how or where the child completed or didn’t complete the milestones and if she needed assistance.The photographic observation is when you look through the EYFS at your TCs age group for the chosen subject, for e. g. ‘physical development’ and see what they should be doing, then when you see your TC doing these things while observing, take a series pictures of them in a sequence so it tells a story, then write next to the picture a little caption about what the child is doing and how/ where she is doing it. A written narrative is an observation where you write down exactly what you see, including what hand the child is using, the expressions on their face etc. it’s a running commentary of what is happening.The observer sits away from the child and does not g et involved during the observation and makes notes. The observer should write the observation up ASAP whilst they still remember the information. First of all we must ask permission from the parent before we do any type of observation, if we did not do this then the practioner and the parents trust is jeopardised immediately. This is part of the settings policies and procedures which provides consistent practise, trust and high standards and if they are not followed it could lead to different standards bad reputation and inconsistent practise.It is against the law to give out children’s details to anyone, if the child is not in danger; this is stated in the legislation, The Data Protection Act 1998, ‘To protect individuals rights from breaching of information’ all of the nursery settings are aware and follow this, if they didn’t follow this then children will be put in harm and may be taken advantage of, it will not only put the child in harm but also the child’s family as well.We can maintain confidentiality throughout the observation by using TC meaning target child in all the observations rather than their name, this will help keep the child safe as it will not give any personal information away, we can also use TA meaning target adult and OC meaning other children, this will help keep the staff and other children from risk.Also we can make sure we do not give away the settings name and just write, for example, ‘day nursery’ and all the observations are objective, meaning that you are not assuming anything e. g. how the child is feeling, this is needed so you are not labelling children, jumping to conclusions or being bias. Different observation techniques are used as it improves accuracy, e. g. you wouldn’t use a photographic to look at the language development.In photographic observations you must make sure that you take the images on the settings camera not your own and print them off in the setting n ot take them on a memory stick, if you print off more photographs than needed you must destroy them using a shredder, also when taking the images make sure you do not get any other children in the background as they may not have the permission from the parents to do so, if we did not do this then the parent would then not feel comfortable in leaving their child in that setting, also the images may get into the wrong hands and be used inappropriately meaning the child could be at risk.The only type of information that should be shared is safety: medical issues, allergies, Support learning: likes, dislikes, what stage they're up to, and Background info: if anything is happening at home that could affect child: e. g. separation or family death, information is only shared on a need to know basis. All the information should be kept in a locked filing cabinet. Also make sure that the observations are only shared with the parents of the hild and other professionals. With my three observati ons on my target child I looked at three different developmental areas, such as, gross motor, fine motor and balance and co-ordination. In the gross motor observation using quotes from the ‘EYFS’ and ‘Child Development An Illustrated Guide’, my TC is currently achieving the majority of these milestones and some of the things stated she couldn’t of accomplished in the garden, e. g. ‘using a pencil’.My TC seems to be very confident in peddling, jumping, balancing etc and kicking a ball with great control; however, she needed assistance with walking on tiptoes, this is due to possibly not having the opportunity to try it. My TC also seems very sociable as she was playing a lot with her friends whether it was by pushing them round in the car or throwing a ball to them, this is perhaps because she is with adult company a lot of the time, this checklist information therefore shows me that there are no areas to be concerned about and my TC prac tises these skills every day.When observing her balance and co-ordination, I have realised that she is very confident and in control of her balance and co-ordination, also that she is developing at the right stage for her age and is capable balancing by herself without assistance, showing that she is becoming more independent. My TC persisted with the activities even when challenges occurred which shows she is persistent and also she was finding new ways to do things which shows she is very inquisitive, this is stated in the ‘EYFS, Characteristics of effective learning’, showing she is on track and at the right place.With the fine motor observation, my TC is meeting and exceeding the developmental milestones that she should be applying with the EYFS, this observation shows me that she engages in an activity and doesn’t give up until she has accomplished it, this shows great determination. My TC is turning out to be very independent, clever and determined, all of these things show that she is developing at the right pace for her age and is currently meeting and exceeding the developmental milestones.This is possibly due to spending a lot of one to one time with mum and dad and being at nursery all day for three days; she always joins in with games and includes her friends improving vital skills such a socialising and physical development. My TC is always using her initiative when things go wrong and quickly amends them, e. g. when ‘she dropped all the beads, she quickly picked them up and rebuilt it’. My TCs needs are that she needs the equipment, space and time to develop these skills, improving her developmental areas.She needs extra help with balancing; walking on tiptoes etc. so in the short term setting out obstacle courses or beams to walk along would benefit her massively as it would require her to use her balance and concentration. ‘Blocks and block play is very important for childrens learning and development. Bec ause there is no right or wrong way to play with them, they are the perfect open-ended resource and they are so versatile that they support learning across all areas of the curriculam’.Through my observations and discussions with my mentor, I am aware that my TC really enjoys playing outside and with her friends, and she feels lost without them; this is mainly because she spends a lot of time outside with her parents, one to one, this is massively beneficial also for her health. To support her future planning I would provide more activities that includes being outside and being active and try giving her the one on one attention, when possible.The implications of observations are that observations need to be valid and reliable otherwise there will be biasness and different interpretations of how the child is feeling and the observations won’t be accurate. We can do this by objective observations, which are by looking at the child with fresh eyes, meaning we don’t jump to conclusions and make judgements and we so not have stereotypical views of the child. We can also make it reliable by writing it up ASAP so the observation is still in your head and you don’t forget or make-up key information.We must use different techniques to observe the child this is because there are many aspects to look at and you can’t look at them all from one type, e. g. looking at a child’s language, you couldn’t do this using a photographic observation, if you didn’t do this then you would miss out information that might be necessary to detect any issues. Observations are needed to reflect on for future planning, if you didn’t the child will lose interest and not progress in development.Observations are also good to give to the parent as they can see how their child is getting on and gives them reassurance as to how their child is progressing, it will hopefully highlight if there are any problems as well, which they can pas s onto other professionals. If you did not do all of these things it will let your reputation down and show you cannot be reliable to look after children in a professional manner. John Bowlby (1907-1990), stated that a Child’s emotional bond to their familiar caregiver i. e. a family member or riend is a biological response that ensured survival, he called this the ‘theory of attachment’, and he said that the quality of attachment is to blame for the child’s capacity to form trusting relationships. His theory stated that children show a preference for closeness to a small number of adults and these attachments are a normal part of human development. When babies are born they are adapted to seek out attachments not just for the aim of being fed and protected but for the feelings of safety the attachment brings.Also he said that when an infant feels safe and secure they won’t be as attached to you as when they feel scared or anxious, this is known as ‘attachment behaviour’. Also as infants mature into adulthood, the need for attachment lessens, however when we feel stress or anxiety we may find ourselves seeking comfort from loved ones. The main positive outcomes of good attachment experiences in the early years seemed to be social ones, things such as self-confidence, efficiency, self-esteem and the capacity to care for others and to be cared for.Many practioners worry about the children becoming too attached to them and fear that it may undermine relationships at home. They don’t want to give children the feeling of loss when they have to leave them and move on to school or the next stage. However, children can cope with several close attachments, so now at most nurseries children are given a key person, but practioners must maintain professional boundaries too, favouritism is not an outcome of closeness to a child so practioners must work alongside the parent. Burrhus Skinner (1904-1990), was probably one of the best known behaviourist theorists.Skinner applied ideas taken from his work with rodents to children, this approach is called operant conditioning, and he wrote most of his books about people. To him both animals and people are organisms – differing only to the degree of learning. Behaviourism is sometimes known as the learning theory, learning and development are often seen in terms of nature verses nurture. Behaviourism is at the extreme nurture end, Behaviourists generally believe that all behaviour is learned and can be shaped. The most common view is that behaviour is shaped by punishment and rewards, and that humans act to avoid punishment and to gain reward.Skinner emphasised reward. He believed that punishment was counter-productive, having the opposite of the desired effect. He broke tasks down into small steps, and with each step reinforced and rewarded as it was learned. Although skinners experiments were generally carried out on animals, his work became wid ely applied to child development and to work with parents. Skinner proposed that a child’s language is shaped by the responses given to them by carers or parents. Skinners theory would indicate that children have to go through a trial and error aspect; however children can pick up things that are not learnt through regular reinforcement.His work was put into practise by teaching methods which focus on the repletion of words and completion of rows of sums. Behaviourism is most often seen in the teaching of special needs children and behavioural management. Breaking down tasks into small steps, such as star charts, stamps, stickers, rewarding children for keeping to instructions and rules, and taking away of their luxury’s when they don’t keep to rules, praise and encouragement. This was introduced in the 1950s known as ‘programmed instruction’.

Essay on The Fashion Industry Zara - 1467 Words

Introduction The fashion industry has changed over a period of time due to the growth of boundaries. This is attributed to the varying dynamics of the industry; declining mass production, altered structural aspects in the supply chain, need for more affordable cost and quality. This shows that fashion retailers are able to acquire a competitive power in the market through making sure through which they get their products to the market for the consumers (McAfee, Dessain, Sjoman, 2007). Consumers are hence able to get product easy and of high quality. Fast fashion has been able to meet the needs of consumers while trying to acquire major merchandize turnover to retailers than local rivals. The Zara case study reported sales $8.15 billion†¦show more content†¦From its creation to the time it reaches the stores followed by advertising, consumers are well informed and are able to get new products. So as to be able to appeal to most consumers, Zara makes use of low cost strategy in combinatio n with reduced stock for all the stores where consumers are available. Consumer’s perception of urgency is influenced through not restocking. This shield from any losses on the part of the retailer, while any product that is not successful in the local market is moved to other countries. Zara makes use of point-of-sale that send details to its headquarters in Spain, displaying real-time information for consumers (Delagarde, and Baykal, 2011). Up-to-date information regard the consumers are left to the local managers of the company for them to be able to get new garments. Information moves from the local company to global stores as the digital assistant use it daily. They are able to acquire new designs and order new materials. This local influence assists Zara regarding consumer’s details to act locally and be up to date with local cultural variation. Zara’s marketing and advertising techniques to consumers are outstanding. The company uses about 0.3% of promotional products to the consumers. Additionally, the retailer uses location methods, looking for hot spots in malls with many customers (Thomas, 2006). Accordingly, traffic is created through mall location while store traffic is managed through merchandize presentation.Show MoreRelatedFast Fashion Industry: Growth of Zara and Inditex Essay1532 Words   |  7 PagesFast fashion Fast fashion is merely more than a one hit wonder. The fast fashion industry has grown and has ultimately proven itself to be profitable industry in the clothing market. The retailer most distinguished for a fast fashion approach is Zara (Hayes Jones, 2006). Zara is a child company of the parent company Inditex. Zara stores have established the stride for merchants around the globe in creating and shipping fashionable clothing (â€Å"Case 3-4. 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