Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Coffee Bean Essay Example for Free

Coffee Bean Essay The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf was founded by Mona and Herbert Hyman and it is established in Los Angeles, California in the year 1963. The first Coffee Bean Tea Leaf were established here in Malaysia in 1997. The company offers a wide variety of its own signature beverages that ranges from coffee to non-coffee drinks and launched their very own signature drink; â€Å"The Original Ice Blended† in 1989 and has been the main highlight of its company ever since. We will take a look into the possibility of bringing in a new product that could be a mainstay for the Ice Blended range that is already available here in Malaysia. Currently, the range of its Ice Blended drinks is limited to several coffee and non-coffee drinks. Although from time to time Coffee Bean has been introducing promotional and seasonal Ice Blended drinks, none of these drinks will be served in the main menu after that the promotion is over. With this. Although a majority of Malaysians like to drink coffee oriented drinks, With the introduction of the Honeydew Ice Blended to the market, it will help boost the challenge of bringing in new flavors for the market. Situation Analysis The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf is entering its fifteenth year of operation in Malaysia with many of its products ranging from its well known â€Å"The Original Ice Blended† beverages which carries coffee and non-coffee drinks have been well received by the public. However. 2.2 SWOT Analysis The following SWOT analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses for the proposed product and describes the opportunities and threats that it will face. 2.2.1 Strength The Honeydew Ice Blended drink is offered during the summer seasons and it is well known as the refreshing summer drink in United States. With summer all year long in the South East Asia region, this product has also been proven as a main-stay in the Philippines and Singapore’s The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf. This product carries a cool, chilling and refreshing sweet taste which suits the pallets of the South East Asian region. 2.2.2 Weaknesses This product may not be suitable for coffee drinkers as the drink does not offer any coffee taste and it’s a fruit oriented drink. It’s also not suitable for those who are watching their calories and diet as the drink carries a high calorie range due to the sweetness and the cream that the drink offers. As this product targets the youth which comprises of teens and working adults in their twenties, some may be price sensitive to this beverage offer as it may be expensive compared to the local. 2.2.3 Opportunities Younger generations, whom fell under the legal drinking age, are known as one of the fastest-growing segments of the beverages market. These generations prefer fresh and upcoming products rather than stagnant products that they have consumed daily. With a brand new product being introduced, it will trigger the targeted younger generation with the enthusiasm to go. The lifestyle factors converger. 2.2.4 Threats Global coffee and tea market have been increasingly growing and it has since been an extremely competitive sector. Coffee Bean Tea Leaf goes up against its closest rivals such as Starbucks, Dome, Cha Time and Old Town Cafà © here in Malaysia. Competition The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf has been a powerhouse brand in providing its ice blended beverages. However, there are companies that do make similar ice blended beverages such as Starbucks and Cha Time. The Coffee Bean Tea Lead has the upper hand because of the creation of the â€Å"The Original Ice Blended† line which gives the company the extra edge. Although the mentioned competitors have been making ice blended beverages, The Coffee Bean Tea Leaf has its own signature way of making these beverages special and cannot be matched with its competitors.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Essay example --

Jackie Robinson shook Major League Baseball forever by showing the league officials that African Americans could qualify to play in the MLB. He was a strong individual that was able to stand up to intense observation and confrontation. Not to mention he was a tremendous athlete. Did Branch Rickey (Jackie Robinson’s agent) make a good decision in choosing Jackie Robinson? Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson were two very different people. Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in a small town named Cairo, Georgia. He had a mother named Mallie Robinson that single-handedly raised Jackie and his four other siblings1. Jackie Robinson’s father, Jerry Robinson, had abandoned his family when Jackie Robinson was a very young boy. His family had grown up as the only African American family on the block, meaning they encountered prejudiced on a daily basis. This strengthened the family unity and may have been a major reason for Jackie wanting to change segregation laws. At a young age his family moved to Southern California, more specifically to Pasadena, California, a city only about 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Once Jackie was there he began to grow a love for sports. He attended John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College where he excelled in 4 sports, track, football, baseball, and basketball. He was named the regions MVP2 in baseball in 1938. He continued on and attended The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was the first person to win varsity letters in 4 sports. He eventually left UCLA before he graduated and went to go play semi-professional football in Hawaii with the Honolulu Bears. His season was cut short when the United States began fighting in World War II. He served in the United... ...ied, his wife created the Jackie Robinson Foundation that helps to give out scholarships and mentoring programs for kids that need it to get into college. It was dedicated to Jackie Robinson’s life and work. If it had not been for Branch Rickey choosing Jackie Robinson there might have never been African Americans playing in professional sports. There would have never been players like Michael Jordan, or Walter Payton, or Willie Mays, or even Lebron James. I think it’s safe to say that Branch Rickey made a fantastic decision in choosing Jackie Robinson to represent African Americans at that time. He was a calm, young, athletic man that changed the way African Americans are looked at. Let me end with a very inspirational quote made by Jackie Robinson that reflects upon how he lived his life. â€Å"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."4

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Research and the Sciences Essay

There has long been an ongoing argument: Is social science scientific? Which approach is better in conducting natural sciences and social sciences? It is believed that ‘hypothetico-deductive’ approach may be applicable to the natural sciences while it does not relate well to the social sciences. By analyzing research from different levels, this essay presents a judgment that social sciences are sciences. First of all, the concept of research and science are given. Secondly, by accepting that social sciences are different from natural sciences, the features that identify social sciences from natural sciences are summarized. There are many choices of approaches to conduct research. In the level of philosophy, research approaches could go to inductive approach and deductive approach. Qualitative research and quantitative research distinguish each other methodologically. In this essay, the different approaches are compared and contrasted after a concise interpretation of the se concepts. And finally, the question better approach to research in natural sciences and social sciences is considered. Research is defined by Join and Keith as seeking through methodical process to add one’s knowledge and, hopefully to others by the discovery of nontrivial and insight (Join and Keith, 1996). Williams defined science as the ensemble of knowledge and practices that best reflect and operationalize a critical attitude to the discovery of the world at that moment in time (Williams, 2000 p.26). Basically, sciences can be divided into social sciences and natural sciences. Social sciences study human being and their behavior, while natural sciences study physical world. The presupposition that natural science is the benchmark of research, in some degree, accounts for why most people associate the word ‘research’ with activities that are substantially removed from daily life and which usually take place in a laboratory. And accordingly arises the doubt whether social science is science. A good deal of overlap and unavoidable duplication will be encountered if any attempt is made to review social sciences and natural sciences  systematically (McErlean, 2000). Yet there are still some typical features in which social sciences are different from nature sciences. Historically and perhaps intuitively, the â€Å"natural† and the â€Å"social† sciences have been identified by distinct subject matters: Natural science is a branch of science which deals with the physical world (Pearsall, 1999 P.950), while social science is the scientific study of human society and social relationships (Pearsall, 1999 p.1362). Invariability of observations is different in two kinds of sciences. The difference lies probably in the number of relevant factors that must be taken into account for explaining or predicting events in the real world(McErlean, 2000). It is agreed that verification is not easy to come by in the social sciences, while it is the chief business in the natural sciences. Measurability of phenomena, whereas physics is clearly ahead of all other disciplines. Natural sciences have got constancy of numerical relationship which social sciences has not got. The social sciences deal so close to a man’s own everyday experience that they do not accord the respect as natural sciences. The field of natural sciences needs higher standards of admission and requirements than the social sciences. On this score, the natural sciences are better than the social sciences (McErlean, 2000). Since social sciences differ from natural sciences in many ways, should different approaches be chosen when conducing social science research and natural sciences? This is another baffling question. Now we will turn to the discussion of deduction and induction. Philosophically the approaches are focused on the consideration of induction and deduction, as well as the relationship between approaches and sciences. Deduction entails the development of a conceptual and theoretical structure prior to its testing through empirical research methods. (Carson et al, 2001 p.11). Induction is the action or process of inducing something (Pearsall, 1999). It is learning by reflecting upon particular past experiences and through the formulation of abstract concepts, theories and generalizations that explain past and predict future experience (Gill and Johnson, 2002). Induction and deduction approaches are different in many aspects. They are best used in different stages of Learning Cycle. When learning takes place, the difference between deductive and inductive approach is that one starts  with theory which tested through observation while the other starts with observation and tries to create theory (Gill and Johnson, 2002). Localization of Induction differs from that of deduction (Carson et al, 2001 P12). Induction might prevent the researcher benefiting from existing theory, while deduction might prevent the development of new and useful theory. In contrast to the deductive tradition, theory is the outcome of induction (Carson et al, 2001 P12). The time needed for induction is often prolonged than deduction B Deductive research is normally possible to predict accurately the time schedules, it is quicker to complete, though the time must be devoted to set up the study prior to data collection and analysis. Deduction and induction carry unequal risk. The deductive approach can be a lower-risk strategy, albeit there are risks like the non-return of questionnaires. With induction it is quite possible that no useful data patterns and theory will not emerge. The effect of deduction or induction is relevant to the ability of researcher. The way one thinks about the development of knowledge affects, unwittingly, the way he goes about doing research (Saunders et al, 2000). So it is more appropriate to adopt the inductive approach if the researcher is particularly interested in understanding why something is happening rather than describe what is happening, Inductive designs begin with specific observations and build toward general patterns. This is different to the hypothetical-deductive approach of experimental designs that require the specification of main variables and the statement of specific research hypotheses before data collection begins (Pattern, 1987). Saunders et al (2000) has shown the main differences between deductive and inductive approaches as can be seen in diagram 1. The blending of Induction and Deduction are preferable in conducting a research. In deductive argument, conclusion follows logically from the premises, while inductive argument, in which the premises support the conclusion but do not guarantee it (Rosenberg, 2000). It seems that deductive is more impressive than inductive. Not only because it is more highly structured and more appropriate for people who are inexperienced in research matters but also because it is the basis of much knowledge that  they do have of the subject (Walley, 2002), But the two approaches are not mutually exclusive. They are â€Å"better† at doing different things. So the balance of both approaches in the same research project is preferable. Not only is it perfectly possible to combine approaches with the same piece of research, but also in human being’s experience it is often advantageous to do so (Saunders et al, 2000). For example: Sadie decided to conduct a research project on violence at work and its effects on the stress levels of staff. She considered the different ways she would approach the work were she to adopt, the deductive approach and the inductive approach. If she decided to adopt a deductive approach, She should standardize the stress responses of the staff. On the other hand, if she decided to adopt an inductive approach she may have decided to interview some staffs who had been subjected to violence at work. She may have been interested in their feelings about the events that they had experienced, how they coped with the problems they experienced and their views about the possible causes of the violence (Saunders et al, 2000). In order to gain more comprehensive results, it is better to combine both approaches. Diagram 1 Emphasizes of Deduction and Induction Deduction emphasizesInduction emphasizes Scientific principlesGaining an understanding of the meanings humans attach to events From theory to dataFrom observation to theory The collection of quantitative dataThe collection of qualitative data The application of controls to ensure validity of dataResearcher is part of the research process Ensure clarity of definitionLess need generalize Highly structured approachMore flexible structure to permit changes of research emphasis Researcher independence of what is being researchedDependent researcher Select samples of sufficient size Saunders et al (2000 p.91) Researcher may use a variety of methodology to conduct research. It is said that the concept of induction often is applied to qualitative research (Strauss and Corbin, 1998 p.136) while deduction is applied to quantitative research. Qualitative research is so called because its emphasis lies in producing data which is rich in insight, understanding, explanation and depth of information, but which cannot be justified statistically (Crouch, 1985). Qualitative research usually produces descriptions, explanations and reasons (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). It seeks to answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ type questions (Walley, 1995). The strengths of qualitative research derive from its inductive approach, its focus on specific situations or people, and its emphasis on words rather than numbers (Maxwell, 1996). It may involve statistics but it is not based on statistical significance. It is characterized by the use of group discussions, personal interviews, projective techniques and non-probability sampling (Walley, 1995) .The usefulness of qualitative research depends very much on the skills of the researcher (Gill and Johnson, 2002). Qualitative methods are particularly oriented toward exploration, discovery, and inductive logic. Walley (2002) cited Proctor (1997) as Quantitative research that primarily research concerned with eliciting information which has statistical significance. Its focus is on quantification of phenomena sampling and large scales postal questionnaires. The quantitative data identify areas of focus whist the qualitative data give substance to those areas of focus. Whereas qualitative data can put flesh on the bones of quantitative results, brining the results to life through in-depth case elaborations (Patton, 1987). The patterns displayed in quantitative research can be enriched with the addition of qualitative information (Gill and Johnson, 2002). The  qualitative should direct the quantitative feedback into the qualitative in a circular (Strauss and Corbin, 1998). Thus, recent developments in the evaluation profession have led to multiple methods including combinations of qualitative and quantitative data. Some evaluation questions are determined deductively while others are left sufficiently open to permit inductive analyses based on direct observations. Indeed, there is often a flow from inductive approaches to find out what the important questions and variables are, to deductive hypotheses-testing aimed at confirming exploratory findings, then back again to inductive analysis to look for rival hypotheses and unanticipated or unmeasured factors (Patton, 1987). Sayre believed that: qualitative methods are chosed because of its emphasis on progresses and meanings while quantitative methods are utilized because they substantiate. Actually both methodologies are combined to provide a comprehensive approach to problem solving (Sayre, 2001). The relation between qualitative research and quantitative research are clearly showed below in the diagram 2. Diagram 2 qualitative research and quantitative research Qualitative researchQuantitative research Type of questions ProbingNon-probing Sample sizeSmallLarge Information per respondentMuchVaries AdministrationRequires interviewer with special skillsFewer special skills required Type of analysisSubjective, interpretativeStatistical Hardware requiredTape recorders, projection devices, discussion guides replicationDifficultEasy Researcher training necessaryPsychology, sociology, social psychology, consumer behaviour, marketing, marketing research Statistics, decision models. decision-support systems, computer programming, marketing, marketing research Type of researchexploratoryDescriptive or causal Proctor (2000) In conclusion, the differences between social sciences and natural sciences have been discussed, and the approaches and methods used in conducting both sciences have been compared and contrasted. Social sciences and natural sciences are fundamentally different in many ways, yet social sciences are, beyond all doubt, scientific too. From the view of philosophy, there are inductive research and deductive research. The deductive approach is probably more impressive. Methodologically quantitative research differs from qualitative research. Each approach has its unique advantages and disadvantages. It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that one research approach is â€Å"better† than another. Actually they are better in different situations, depending on where the research emphasis lies. It is encouraged to think in a more flexible way about the research approaches and methods adopted. Yet the best policy in conducting research is to blend approaches. So, it is clear that social sciences are sciences likewise as natural sciences. Adopted appropriately, the methodological approach of natural science can be used to study the social world (Williams, 2000). One approach cannot therefore be considered to be better than another in conducting  research in both natural sciences and social sciences. So it is high time to stop arguing about whether social sciences are science or not. Alternatively, to consider which approach is preferable or how to blend them together is what deserves thinking when a research is conducted. Reference Bancroft, G and O’sullivan, G.(1993)Quantitative Methods For Accounting and Business Studies .3rded.Berkshire:McGRAW-HILL Book Company Europe. Carson, D.; Gilmore, A.; Perry, C.; Gronhang, K(2001)Qualitative Marketing Research. London: Sage publications. Gill, J. and Johnson, P.(2002)Research methods for managers .3rd.ed.London:Sage Publications Ltd Greenfield, T.(2002).Research Methods For Postgraduates. 2nded. London: Arnold. Sharp, J. A. and Howard, K (1996). The Management of a Student Research Project 2nd.ed Aldershot:Gower Publishing Limited. Maxwell, J.A. (1996)Qualitative Research Design-an interactive approach. London: Sage Publications Mcerlean, J.(2000).Philosophy of Science-From Foundations to Contemporary Issues. London: Routledge. Papineau, D.eds.(1996).The Philosophy of Science Oxford: Oxford University Press. Patton, M .Q (1987). How To Use Qualitative Methods In Evaluation. London: Sage Publications Pearsall, J. eds.(1999).Oxford dictionary. Oxford :Oxford university press. Proctor, T. (2000)Essentials of Marketing Research.2nd.ed.London:Financial Times prentice Hall Robson, S. and Foster, A. (1989) Qualitative Research in Action London: Great Britain. Rosenberg, A.(2000).Philosophy of Science:Acontemporary Introduction.London:Routledge. Saunders, M; Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2000). Research Methods for Business Students. 2nd.ed Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Sayre, S. (2001) Qualitative methods for Marketplace Research. London: Sage publications. Strauss, A and Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research. London: Sage Publications, Inc. Walley, K. (1995) Qualitative Research-Discussion Paper. Newport: Harper Adams Agricultural College. Walley, K. (2002) Research Methods For The Agrifood Industry. Newport: Harper Adams University College. Williams, M. (2000).Science and social science-An introduction. London: Routledge.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Macbeth, By William Shakespeare - 1443 Words

Background Macbeth is a dark play, both literally and symbolically, the tone of the play is sinister and its central characters are evil. Wicked witches and the supernatural influence the action which is characterised by multiple bloody deaths. When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1606 James I had been King of England for three years. The king had previously been James VI of Scotland. King James symbolised the union of the Scottish and English crowns, a union to which Shakespeare refers in the play. It was well known that the new king was fascinated by witchcraft; Shakespeare might have been trying to win his approval by introducing the figures of the three weird sisters into the play. Macbeth was first performed at Hampton Court Palace†¦show more content†¦He was defeated in battle near Aberdeen by Malcolm III, the son of Duncan I, who had invaded Scotland with the help of Edward the Confessor, King of England. Malcolm slaughtered Macbeth s family so that his own kingship would be stabilised. This marked the end of the purely Celtic, exclusively barbaric Scottish people as it led to the gradual breaking down of barriers between England and Scotland and to the introduction of English ways and customs. Shakespeare never let historical fact get in the way of a good story. He changed several key aspects of the original story, either to intensify his drama or to ensure political correctness. As an example of the latter, Shakespeare s Macbeth, who commits the greatest of all crimes by murdering his king, finds he cannot live with himself and the consequences of his actions. He has rebelled against God and the order of creation; he becomes stricken with guilt and can’t live with himself. Banquo Banquo s role in the original source for Macbeth was as Macbeth s co-conspirator. In Shakespeare s play, he is depicted instead as Macbeth s rival; the role of fellow plotter passed to Lady Macbeth. Like Macbeth, Banquo is open to human yearnings and desires: He is, for example, just as keen to hear what the Witches have in store for him in Act I, Scene 3. He is kept from sleep by his dreams of the Witches. Nevertheless, Banquo is a sympathetic figure for several reasons. First, he is ignorant of