Cigarette Smoking and the Body essays

Cigarette Smoking and the Body essays Tobacco is consumed worldwide everyday by millions of people. Many people cannot prevent themselves from smoking because tobacco contains a drug called nicotine that makes them feel as if they need it in order to function normally. Nicotine is a substance found in tobacco. It is found in all tobacco products such as: cigarettes, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and cigars. When a person smokes a tobacco product, they inhale the smoke, which contains nicotine as well as over 500 chemicals, including formaldehyde (used to preserve dead bodies), cyanide, insecticide, carbon monoxide and tar [1]. I personally think that smoking is detrimental and that it has many fatal side effects, but eventhough many people know of these effects, they still chose to smoke. For what reason? Nicotine has a few positive effects on the body. It stimulates memory and alertness, enhancing cognitive skills that require speed, reaction time, vigilance, and work performance. It acts as a mood-altering agent, it tends to alleviate boredom and reduce stress, and reduces aggressive responses to stressful events. It also tends to be an appetite suppressant, specifically decreasing the appetite for simple carbohydrates (sweets) and inhibiting the efficiency with which food is metabolised. People who use tobacco products frequently depend upon it providing these side effects to help them accomplish certain tasks at specific levels of performance. Many people start smoking for the reasons mentioned before but some also smoke primarily because of peer pressure and advertising. Some also start to smoke because they think it makes them look cool. These 'positive' effects may seem reason enough for you to smoke but the negative effects are much greater and detrimental. The immediate affects of nicotine on the body include: increase in blood pressure, increase in heart rate, thickening of blood, narrowing of arteries, decrease in skin temperature, increase in resp...

Racial Stereotypes and Food Product Marketing

Racial Stereotypes and Food Product Marketing The images of racial minorities have been used to hawk food for more than a century. Bananas, rice, and pancakes are just some of the food items that have historically been marketed with visages of people of color. Because such items have long been criticized for promoting racial stereotypes, however, the link between race and food marketing remains a touchy subject. When President Obama rose to prominence and Obama Waffles and Obama Fried Chicken made their debut soon after, controversy followed. Once again, an African American was being used to push food, critics said. Take a look around your kitchen. Do any of the items in your cupboards promote racial stereotypes? The list of items below may change your mind about what constitutes a racist food product. Frito Bandito In the age of Dora the Explorer, its difficult to imagine a time when a Latino cartoon character wasnt portrayed as caring, adventurous, and inquisitive, but as sinister. When Frito-Lay rolled out Frito Bandito in 1967, though, thats exactly what happened. The Bandito, the cartoonish mascot for Frito-Lay corn chips, had a gold tooth, a pistol and a penchant for stealing chips. To boot, the Bandito, clad in a huge sombrero and boots with spurs, spoke broken English with a thick Mexican accent. A group called The Mexican-American Anti-Defamation Committee objected to this stereotypical image, causing Frito-Lay to change the Banditos appearance so he did not appear as devious. He became kind of friendly and rascally, but still wanted to heist your corn chips, explained David Segal, who wrote about the character for Slate.com in 2007. The committee found these changes didnt go far enough and continued campaigning against Frito-Lay until the company removed him from promotional materials in 1971. Uncle Bens Rice The image of an elderly black man has appeared in ads for Uncle Bens Rice since 1946. So, just who exactly is Ben? According to the book Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben and Rastus: Blacks in Advertising Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, Ben was a Houston rice farmer known for his superior crops. When Texas food broker Gordon L. Harwell launched a brand of commercial rice cooked to preserve nutrients, he decided to name it Uncle Bens Converted Rice, after the respected farmer, and use the image of an African-American maitre d he knew to be the face of the brand. On the packaging, Uncle Ben appeared to be a menial type, as suggested by his Pullman Porter-like attire. Moreover, the title Uncle likely derives from the practice of whites addressing elderly African Americans as uncle and aunt during segregation because the titles Mr. and Mrs. were deemed unsuitable for blacks, who were regarded as inferior. In 2007, however, Uncle Ben received a makeover of sorts. Mars, the owner of the rice brand, debuted a website in which Uncle Ben is portrayed as the chairman of the board in a posh office. This virtual facelift was a way for Mars to bring Ben, an outdated racial stereotype of the black man as sharecropper-servant, into the 21st century. Chiquita Bananas Generations of Americans have grown up eating Chiquita bananas. But its not just the bananas they remember fondly, its Miss Chiquita, the comely figure the banana company has used to brand the fruit since 1944. With a sensual swagger and flamboyant Latin American attire, the bilingual Miss Chiquita makes the men swoon, as vintage advertisements of the bombshell demonstrate. Miss Chiquita is widely thought to have been inspired by Brazilian beauty Carmen Miranda who appeared in ads for Chiquita bananas. The actress has been accused of promoting the exotic Latina stereotype because she achieved fame wearing pieces of fruit on her head and revealing tropical clothing. Some critics argue that it’s all the more insulting for a banana company to play into this stereotype because the women, men, and children who worked in banana farms toiled in grueling conditions, often falling gravely ill as a result of pesticide exposure. Land O Lakes Butter Make a trip to the dairy section of your grocery store, and youll find the Native American woman known as the Indian maiden on Land O Lakes butter. How did this woman come to be featured on Land OLakes products? In 1928, officials from the company received a photo of a Native woman with a butter carton in hand as cows grazed and lakes flowed in the background. Because Land O Lakes is based in Minnesota, the home of Hiawatha and Minnehaha, the company reps welcomed the idea of using the maidens image to sell its butter. In recent years, writers such as H. Mathew Barkhausen III, who is of Cherokee and Tuscarora descent, have called the image of the Land O Lakes maiden stereotypical. She wears two braids in her hair, a headdress, and an animal skin frock with beaded embroidery. Also, for some, the maidens serene countenance erases the suffering indigenous peoples have experienced in the United States. Eskimo Pie Eskimo Pie ice cream bars have been around since 1921 when a candy shop owner named Christian Kent Nelson noticed that a little boy couldn’t decide whether to buy a chocolate bar or ice cream. Why not have both available in one confection, Nelson figured. This line of thinking led him to create the frozen treat known then as the â€Å"I-Scream Bar.† When Nelson partnered up with chocolate maker Russell C. Stover, though, the name was changed to Eskimo Pie and the image of an Inuit boy in a parka was featured on the packaging. Today, some indigenous peoples from the arctic regions of North America and Europe object to the name â€Å"Eskimo† in the use of the frozen pies and other sweets, not to mention in society generally. In 2009, for example, Seeka Lee Veevee Parsons, a Canadian Inuit, made newspaper headlines after publicly objecting to references to the Eskimo in the names of popular desserts. She called them â€Å"an insult to her people.† â€Å"When I was a little girl white kids in the community used to tease me about it in a bad way. It’s just not the correct term,† she said of Eskimo. Instead, Inuit should be used, she explained. Cream of Wheat When Emery Mapes of the North Dakota Diamond Milling Company set out in 1893 to find an image to market his breakfast porridge, now called Cream of Wheat, he decided to use the face of a black chef. Still on promotional packaging for Cream of Wheat today, the chef- who was given the name Rastus, has become a cultural icon, according to sociologist David Pilgrim of Ferris State University. â€Å"Rastus is marketed as a symbol of wholeness and stability,† Pilgrim asserts. â€Å"The toothy, well-dressed black chef happily serves breakfast to a nation.† Not only was Rastus portrayed as subservient but also as uneducated, Pilgrim points out. In a 1921 advertisement, a grinning Rastus holds up a chalkboard with these words: â€Å"Maybe Cream of Wheat aint got no vitamins. I dont know what them things is. If they’s bugs they aint none in Cream of Wheat.† Rastus represented the black man as a child-like, unthreatening slave. Such images of blacks perpetuated the notion that African Americans were content with a separate but (un)equal existence while making Southerners of the time feel nostalgic about the Antebellum Era. Aunt Jemima Aunt Jemima is arguably the most well-known minority â€Å"mascot† of a food product, not to mention the longest lasting. Jemima came to be in 1889 when Charles Rutt and Charles G. Underwood created a self-rising flour that the former called Aunt Jemima’s recipe. Why Aunt Jemima? Rutt reportedly got the inspiration for the name after seeing a minstrel show that featured a skit with a Southern mammy named Jemima. In Southern lore, mammies were matronly black female domestics who doted on the white families they served and cherished their role as subordinates. Because the mammy caricature was popular with whites in the late 1800s, Rutt used the name and likeness of the mammy he’d seen in the minstrel show to market his pancake mix. She was smiling, obese, and wore a headscarf fit for a servant. When Rutt and Underwood sold the pancake recipe to the R.T. Davis Mill Co., the organization continued to use Aunt Jemima to help brand the product. Not only did the image of Jemima appear on product packaging, but the R.T. Davis Mill Co. also enlisted real African-American women to appear as Aunt Jemima at events such as the 1893 World’s Exposition in Chicago. At these events, black actresses told stories about the Old South which painted life there as idyllic for both blacks and whites, according to Pilgrim. America ate up the mythical existence of Aunt Jemima and the Old South. Jemima became so popular that the R.T. Davis Mill Co. changed its name to the Aunt Jemima Mill Co. Moreover, by 1910, more than 120 million Aunt Jemima breakfasts were being served annually, Pilgrim notes. Following the civil rights movement, however, black Americans began voicing their objection to the image of a black woman as a domestic who spoke grammatically incorrect English and never challenged her role as servant. Accordingly, in 1989, Quaker Oats, who’d purchased the Aunt Jemima Mill Co. 63 years earlier, updated Jemima’s image. Her head wrap had vanished, and she wore pearl earrings and a lace collar instead of a servant’s clothing. She also appeared younger and significantly thinner. The matronly domestic Aunt Jemima originally appeared as had been replaced by the image of a modern African-American woman. Wrapping Up Despite the progress that’s occurred in race relations, Aunt Jemima, Miss Chiquita, and similar spokes-characters remain fixtures in American food culture. All came to fruition during a time when it was unthinkable that a black man would become president or a Latina would sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Accordingly, they serve to remind us about the great strides people of color have made over the years. In fact, many consumers likely buy a pancake mix from Aunt Jemima with little idea that the woman on the box was originally a slave prototype. These same consumers likely find it difficult to understand why minority groups object to President Obama’s image on a box of waffles or a recent Duncan Hines cupcake ad that seemed to use blackface imagery. There’s a long tradition in the U.S. of using racial stereotypes in food marketing, but in the 21st century America patience for that kind of advertising has run out.

Responses Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Responses - Assignment Example This makes the essay credible and the information reliable to be used for further research. Furthermore, citing of the sources makes the essay to be reliable. One of the major weaknesses of the essay is that it has generalized the issue. It did not go into details on the problems being discussed. The essay could have been sharper if the student used specific examples of errors that have occurred in the medical setting. The student could have cited books and journals to support the main ideas. A lot of research has been conducted concerning this topic. Therefore, there is an array of credible sources which could have been used to complete the essay. This could have given the author more information on the issue. What I learnt from this paper is that there are a lot of errors that are not being reported because many of the healthcare officials fear losing their jobs. Therefore, more training is required in order to equip the medical personnel with skills to avoid these errors. One of the strength of this essay is the use of statistics and real figures. This makes the essay look more credible and interesting to read. In addition, the ability of the student to compare the inequality in China and US makes the essay to be more credible because it is more expansive. One of the weaknesses of this essay is that it lacks credible sources. Therefore, the information given cannot be verified. In addition, the in-text citation does not follow any accepted standards. As a result, the essay cannot be used as a credible source of information for another research. Use of the first person in the essay is another major weakness in the essay. The student has used â€Å"I think† phrase in different parts of the essay. This is an indication that the student is not sure whether the information being provided is correct or not. In order for the information to be reliable, the student could have

Gear Ratios Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Gear Ratios - Essay Example When we connect different sizes of gears, they will have to act like an axle and a wheel in order to modify the forces. Such force modification is observed clearly in the speed at which the each gear wheels turn. For instance, When a thirty teeth gear wheel is connected to a ten teeth gear wheel, it will be observed that the smaller wheel will spin faster as compared to the larger wheel in the gear system. By considering this, a machine could be slowed down or sped up through the changing of the gear sizes used, or through â€Å"changing gears.† Torque is a tendency measure of force to rotate an object about the axis (Elies and Lemarquand). A torque is known to be relevant only in regard to a given axis. In this case, torque about the motor shaft etc. In order to create a torque, the force is required to act at a certain distance from the pivot point or axis. The torque amount that is applied to a bolt or nut can determine the clamp load. The clamp load is seen to be a determi ning factor in the assembly performance. The applied torque to a fastener with compounds that are ant seize and which are reapplied to the threads will enable uniformity during the whole process but it will raise the clamp load when compared to an unlubricated bolt (Atallah and Howe,2001) In the current experiment the gear wheels were used to discover how force can be modified and transferred in the gear system which was a lifting device. In this case, to create a lifting device, several equipment were used that included battery, circuit,6 gears,2 sprockets In the experiment, a motor and great kit was used to create a lifting device. This was created from several pieces that included battery, circuit, 6 gears, and 2 sprockets. In this case the battery provided power to rotate the gears The gear and sprocket were both used to transmit power within the lifting device, or to move objects through interlocking with them. Despite a gear and a sprocket tends to be similar,

Barriers Faced by Human Service Workers Essay Example for Free

Barriers Faced by Human Service Workers Essay â€Å"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. † – Albert Einstein Human service workers act as a liaison between clients in need and the agencies clients seek to obtain help from, and while human service workers strive to provide services in an adequate and timely manner this is not always possible. Human service workers are human therefore there can be a large margin of error. All human service agencies are subject to barriers that prevent perfect service from being rendered. While certain barriers do exist in the human service field improvements can be made that can lead to greater service. In today’s society technology is dominating the workforce causing former work methods to become obsolete. While technology is constantly changing the changes made are often for the better, allowing companies to thrive and overcome existing barriers once faced. Technology not only benefits â€Å"business† companies, but also greatly improves the barriers faced by human service workers. One potential barrier that human service agencies can face is falsification on company records. Falsification of records can prove fatal, especially in Child or Elder Protection cases. While falsification of records may not be the human service workers intention it can indeed be committed when time restraints prevent case workers from visiting their clients in a given time frame. In August 2006 lack of time and falsification of records proved fatal for 14 year old Danieal Kelley of Philadelphia, Pa. Danieal Kelley a then 14 year old cerebral palsy victim died from neglect at the hands of her own mother. The nightmare of forced starvation and infection that killed Danieal while under the protection of the city’s human service agency is documented in a 258 page grand jury report that charges nine people, her parents, four social workers, and three family friends- in her ghastly death† (CBS3,2008). In the case of Danieal Kelley â€Å"the department of Human Services received at least five reports of Danieal being mistreated between 2003 and 2005†(CBS3, 2008), and while social workers were assigned to Daniela’s case, none appeared to follow through. According to CBS3 news it’s suspected that after Danieal’s death Mickal Kamuvaka the company director of the agency in charge of Daniela’s case held a â€Å"forgery fest† in her office where she had employees â€Å"concoct almost a year’s worth of false progress reports†(CBS3, 2008). The fact that no one took time to protect Danieal sheds light on the terrible fact that â€Å"some† social workers falsify documents to protect themselves. In order to prevent future case like Danieal’s its imperative that a system be in place to prevent social workers from simply doctoring records when it’s convenient for them. A method that could be used to track the whereabouts of said social workers could be a G. P. S. Agencies could provide social workers who are required to make home visits with cell phones implanted with G. P. S. systems. The tracking system could be used while the social workers are on the clock to ensure that home visits are indeed being made within the required time frame. This tracking system could prevent workers from falsifying documentation because their whereabouts would be known ahead of time. An online G. P. S. racking system called World Tracker Web GPS (webgpstrack), which allows devices to be tracked through internet access. According to Mobile GPs online, â€Å"Web GPS Track is a self contained hardware and software package that allows a user to track his assets from anywhere through an internet connected PC† (Mobile GPs, 2008). The Web GPS Tracker works by using the world tracker and a SIM card from a local GSM wireless network carrier. Once the SIM card is inserted into a cell phone, GPS tracking can begin. One’s location can then be accessed by using platforms such as Google maps. This small device can be a very helpful tool in the human service field when it’s necessary to obtain truthful information about a workers true whereabouts. Web GPS Track can become expensive depending on the number of units needed for a given agency. The cost includes a onetime purchase fee of the World Tracker unit which is $350 each. An additional on time subscription fee of 99. 89 per unit is needed to activate the account. Additional fees include a monthly service fee of 19. 98 per unit, a onetime SIM card fee ranging between $25 and $ 50, and any SMS service fee charged by a local service provider. While the cost of GPS tracking can be expensive, it can prove beneficial when proper records are needed, and it may save an agency from facing a large lawsuit because of false documentation, it could also prevent another case of Danieal Kelley. Another potential barrier faced by human service agencies is Intellectual Property Theft. â€Å"Intellectual property is anything from names, images, symbols, and designs used in commerce, intellectual property is considered a valuable asset and most organizations have protected their intellectual property from infringement by others† (Hefter,1995). Intellectual property theft becomes possible when secure information is left unattended and within reach of possible culprits. Some ways that intellectual property may get out is through emails sent to incorrect recipients, when confidential information is left in common areas, or left laying on printers or scanners. Information can also be lost when employees speak on their cell phones in public areas. Intellectual property theft in the human service field can wreak havoc on clients. Personal information can fall into the wrong hands whether it in a domestic violence shelter or and employment shelter. While intellectual property theft is very serious solutions exist that can help combat Intellectual Property Theft. Aside from agencies limiting access to non business related websites to help prevent being hacked, a program called Symantec Data Loss Prevention which is used by leading technological companies can also be used as a safety measure. â€Å"Symantec Data Loss Prevention protects companies from malicious employee behavior, pirating, or accidental leaks that expose confidential information† (Symantec Security, 2008). Symantec Data Loss Prevention works by â€Å"1. Discovery; the software finds confidential data where ever it’s stored, creates an inventory of sensitive, and automatically manages data clean up. 2. Monitor; SDLP helps a company understand how confidential information is being used whether the user is on or off the cooperate network, and gain enterprise visibility. 3. Protect; SDLP helps companies gain visibility into policy violations to proactively secure data and preventing confidential data from leaving an organization.   4.  Manage; SDLP helps companies define universal policies across an enterprise, remediate and report incidents, and detect content accurately within one unified platform† (Symantec Security, 2008). A program offered by Symantec is Norton Internet Security which performs the necessary features above. The cost of the Norton software is fairly inexpensive costing 69. 99. This cost allows a computer to be fully protected for a year before needing to renew the software subscription. Norton is inexpensive software which will help rotect company files and serves as a valuable investment, whether in a corperate office or a human service agency. Another potential barrier faced by human service agencies is the loss of data. As technology becomes more prevalent in the workforce more records are being transferred from paper to computers. As with any form of technology the possibility of records being lost is very real if computers crash or other technological difficulties arise. The best way to protect data is to always backup files. A number of technological software exist that can do this. For agencies using windows, â€Å"The windows server backup software can be used to automatically and continuously backup a number of devices like NAS,CD/DVD, hard drive and tapes† (Computer Customizing, 2008). One form of windows backup software is Acronis True Image which creates a replica of the disk image of the windows server. According to Computer Customizing this backup software helps aid in server disaster recovery by creating backups on a number of media, SAN volumes, and NAS. This software also restores huge databases and all the individual files with instant bare metal restore (Computer Customizing, 2008). This software will help protect all important files preventing valuable files from being lost. Human service workers and human service agencies are bound to face barriers on any given day and while this is an unavoidable truth there are solutions that can allow for a faster paced, safer, and more ethical workplace. While the vast majority of services rendered by human service agencies are completed by hard working human beings, technology is paving the road for a more effective work environment as long as agencies properly utilize the technological tools that are becoming available at a lightning fast rate. Technology is the way of the future and needs to be embraced in order to keep up with the times and not get lost in an overflow of paperwork which distracts from the true purpose of a human service worker which is to be an advocate for those in need.

A Thankful Wedding Speech by the Bride :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

A Thankful Wedding Speech by the Bride Anyone who knows me well enough will know that it is hard to keep me quiet and today is no exception - I thought it only appropriate that the bride speaks, although I promise to keep it short! The main reason I wanted to make a speech was to personally say thank you to some very special people who have contributed to today: (To the groom) Firstly, and most importantly, you've made me so happy since we met two years ago and today is the happiest day of my life. Thank you for making my life complete. Knowing your track record at either missing weddings or forgetting (or losing) your suit, I should also thank you for turning up at the wedding (eventually!) where we me, and, more importantly, thank you for getting to the church on time today and in your suit. I would also like to say a big thank you to my bridesmaids. Firstly, my sister, for looking after me today and also on my hen weekend! Thanks very much for arranging our weekend in London, I’m sure everyone will agree we had an excellent time and I have a little something for you as a small token of my appreciation. And of course my other gorgeous bridesmaids who've been little angels today. I have a little something here for you both too. Thank you very much. (Presents gifts) I would like to thank my mom for all her help and support not just today but over the years and for giving me my â€Å"something old† which I'm wearing for luck today. I have a small gift from us for you. I couldn't have been luckier to have such wonderful in-laws, thank you for making me feel so welcome in your family and for all your support with the wedding arrangements. A special thank you to my mother-in-law for sorting out the bridesmaids outfits and for making all of the invitations and order of service cards which were beautiful. And to my father-in-law, thank you for your lovely reading in church today.

Rci Master Distributors

RCI Master Distributor Evolution of Supplier Relationships 9/16/2012 Group 3 PHILIP CORRADINI (IE/15/009) KAMALIKA GANGOLY (PGP/15/019) S. SIDDHARTH (PGP/15/048) DEVINA BHASKAR (PGP/15/082) APOORVA GOYAL (PGP/15/130) MADHURI MUKHERJEE (PGP/15/155) AMARENDRA (PGP/15/202) DHANANJAY JANARTHANAN (PGP/15/216) GAUTAM S (PGP/15/277) S. HARIPRASAD (PGP/15/314) HISTORY OF RCI 1946 – Mark Schwartz founded a motor repair business and secured a GE franchise for component parts. He was instrumental in bringing about a service innovation by exchanging fully working motors with customers who came in for repairs of their broken down motors.He then repaired them and replenished his motor inventory. 1962- GE’s General Purpose Control operation developed a new contactor for its air-conditioning and refrigeration business. Mark Schwartz attained the rights to exclusively distribute these contactors to the aftermarket through air-conditioning and refrigeration wholesalers. 1963 – RCI had demonstrated to GE that they could get GE’s products to market, with the parts moving from master distributors to wholesalers and ultimately service repair persons. RCI also worked in the direction of providing new innovations in terms of packing and product innovations as well.Mark Swartz worked with GE engineers and through this inputs in developing innovations, RCI continued to distribute these models exclusively. 1974 – Danny Swartz takes more responsibility and starts taking all the day-to-day business decisions. Some of the key values which RCI followed were * Working by developing a relationship of trust and faith with suppliers. They did not have any formally drawn contracts. * Demonstrating to the suppliers how difficult distribution was and how RCI’s competencies could not be replicated. CURRENT SYSTEM The current position of RCI was as follows:RCI distributed over 6000 electrical and related products earning revenue of $ 35. 8 million and with op erating profits of $ 3 million. RCI plays the role of a master distributor i. e. it sells to air-conditioning and refrigeration wholesalers who in turn sell to air conditioning and refrigeration contractors and repair houses. Their role is essentially restricted to the aftermarket channel for repair parts. RCI’S SALES PROCESS RCI uses a network of independent manufacturer’s reps. who were 45 in numbers and from 14 companies. The average commission received by them was 3. % and usually do not carry competing lines. RCI operated five warehouses which were electronically linked and operated on real-time inventory basis. RCI’s strength was in commercial refrigeration and air-conditioning business where price was secondary in some cases and reliability was more revered. Manufacturers of Electronic Components Ex: GE, Texas Instrument, Honeywell, Emerson W. W. Grainger Wholesale/ Distributor 330 Outlets Master Distributors e. g. , RCI, Steveco, Brownell, GEM Appliance Equipment Manufacturers e. g. , GE, Amana, Trane Air-conditioning, Refrigeration and Appliance Wholesalers approx 1250 with 4000 branches) Repair and Service Houses (approx. 10,000) Appliance Retail Dealers Consumers Overview of Industry Channel Structure Conflicts with GE GE Appliance and control: Loss of exclusivity In 1976, RCI first lost its exclusivity for cold controls to GEM which started selling 10 times the volume of cold controls as compared to RCI. GE Appliance and control was not very confident with Mark Schwartz who had only 3 years of distribution business experience. GEM’s success led to gradual loss of exclusivity of PCI over other products.GE appliance and control used ‘Coercive power’ against RCI because the latter was not able to increase the sales volume as desired by the former. Listed below are the outcomes of GE Motors’s distribution channel study:- a. Master distributors were gradually becoming inefficient and ineffective in managin g inventories, product knowledge and providing merchandising support. b. Master distributors were being bypassed by suppliers who were selling products directly to wholesalers. c. The wholesalers were getting products at prices 5-17% lower than GE’s master distributors from GE’s competitors selling directly to them. . Master distributors started losing share of sales to manufacturers selling directly to wholesalers. GE Motors hence decided to keep master distributors but proposed to sell directly to top 10 wholesalers, a proposal that would have given RCI a very serious blow. But RCI threatened GE motors to take back existing inventories with them, billing them for catalogue printing and distribution cost and refused any kind of repair service which meant end of the relationship. RCI had been in this business for a very long time and its innovative ideas were not being imitated by competitors as effectively as they could.The threat resulted in GE scrapping the proposal . This showcases the use of ‘Expert power’ by RCI owing to its expertise in distribution channel. This time around GE wanted to bypass RCI and remove its exclusivity by selling its products to WW Grainger who was a distributer/wholesaler (that too, a large one). This was esp. in the case of ‘design and control relay’ which had been mastered by Mark Schwartz for GE under the RCI banner. We could say this was GE’s display of ‘Legitimate Power’ as it was looking out for options which could have brought in more sales volume to GE.RCI established itself as a standard in low cost ‘lower end two pole devices’ – a #2 seller only next to Honeywell in retaliation to GE not reducing its price or developing a low cost product for the low end device by tying up with Component Manufacturing Seeing this GE approaches RCI to distribute its low cost private label for the lower end of the business. This behavior or GE was due to RCI es tablishing itself as a reference in Lower end two pole device which can be seen as RCI’s ‘Referent Power’. Post the death of Mark Schwartz GE wanted to eliminate the Master Distributers completely.Danny threatened to drop the GE Line completely and add in competitors’ line. GE yielded to this seeing the revenue from RCI as a bird in hand better than two in the bush where it had to develop newer channel partners. Thus in this case we can say that RCI exhibited ‘Reward Power’ RCI – GEM Difficult period in 1986: The demise of Mark Swartz left Danny Schwartz in charge of RCI for the first time. There was decline in sales for the first time in 1986 since 1971. There was also a major drop in the profits. Danny feared of making a loss due to these reasons.This led to questions whether RCI be able to handle this transition. The following were the threats faced by Danny Schwartz: GE acquiring GEM: GE bought GEM products in the year 1986, who is a competitor distributor to RCI. Implications of GE takeover of GEM: GE could internally lower price to GEM as it was only an internal transfer price. If this happens then GEM could sell at a lower price than RCI. And if GEM turns out to be profitable, GE could eliminate RCI as its distributor. Danny Schwartz remarked that this was the worst time of his life. GE’s relations with Grainger:Grainger was an integrated distributor/wholesaler franchise with 330 wholesale outlets that were served by its own captive distributor. It had significant buying power at the manufacturer. Grainger though was not a direct competitor to RCI. But it was competitor to the customers of RCI, the other wholesalers. Because of its strong influence on the consumers, the customers who went to Grainger to make a purchase would continue to buy in Grainger thereby pulling away business from the other wholesalers who are RCI customers. This way Grainger causes a serious threat to RCI.Pricing policy for OE Ms: OEMs were also reselling parts of the products. Due to their huge volume of buying, the OEMs were able to purchase GE motors components at discount about 25%. This would imply that price of a component purchased by RCI at 25$ would cost only 20$ to OEMs. Response by RCI: Danny struck a deal with A. O. Smith to make top 25 models of products under RCI Label. GE cautioned by Danny’s attempt of distributing a â€Å"fighting brand† by reducing its price from 25$ to 21$. It then distributed the A. O. Smith models to the areas where GE sales were weak.THE CRITICAL ARMS OF THE RCI BUSINESS Customers For RCI, the customers are the wholesalers. Their biggest asset is the strong relationships they have built with their customers, which is primarily a result of their performance, and is also somewhat based on their social interactions and experiences with each other. RCI tries to re-educate customers in a way that is advantageous for them, mainly by convincing them that small shipments are better, which increases their reliance on RCI. They offer two pre season specials in which they give extended terms and rebates based on the quantities purchased.This is contradictory to their philosophy of encouraging small shipments; however, it keeps the customers’ warehouses loaded, leaving lesser space for competitor’s products. Suppliers Managing suppliers is a major task for RCI. This is achieved, firstly, by purchasing in volumes, and secondly, by maintaining strong social relationships. Social relationships are maintained at a personal level with individuals by making suppliers comfortable in visiting them or having RCI people visit them, socialising, and working together.However, the downside of maintaining personal relationships is seen when the advocate at the supplier’s end moves to a new job. At that juncture it becomes difficult because a new relationship needs to be developed with his successor or boss or other people in the concer ned department. Operations RCI has faced problems at various ends, many a times by losing exclusivity or their suppliers’ share to competitors. However their competitors have mostly failed with the products they were given. RCI has been able to maintain a significant share in all products except the cold controls which was the first product they lost exclusivity on to GEM.RCI tries to accommodate the needs of each major customer by structuring different deals for them. The RCI business is a relatively small part of their customers’ overall business and they make large gross margins on their products. RCI represents not more than 5-10% of their customers’ business even if they have about 80% market share in the products they supply. As a result, their reliance on RCI is low. However, they want their customers to get hooked on to them by regularly placing small orders. Manufacturer’s Reps The reps cultivate and maintain personal relationships with customers .They are the first point of contact for the customer due to the relationships that they build. In addition they provide ‘One stop shopping’ for the customers by allowing them to choose from a broad line of products from various manufacturers. The master distributor lacks the manpower or the capability to deal with individual customers and negotiate with them on price or quantity. This factor prevents manufacturers from entering the distribution business directly as he would face the same challenges. While dealing with individual reps the master distributor has significant power as RCI for instance accounts for 50-70% of its rep’s income.This allows them to be demanding in their expectations from the reps. However at the same time RCI ensures that it makes its payments on time and that it does not cheat its reps out of their commissions. The reps situation appears to be fragile as it can be seen from the case that 75% of the rep companies have come on in the last ten years. In case a particular rep does not perform up to expectations or if he is outsourcing the work to other reps RCI is prompt in getting rid of him. This ensures that only competent salesmen remain. Threats The primary threat faced is the consolidation of customers.This results in a loss of income in the following ways. The manufacturers decide to deal with the consolidated customers directly through their captive distribution divisions leaving out the master distributor entirely. This process also forces existing wholesalers to consolidate or quit the business entirely thereby severing the relationship they have with the master distributor. Upon consolidating customers start centralized distribution warehouses and thereby eliminate the need for specialized services that RCI provides such as rapid delivery.Although margins have remained constant prices have dropped throughout the industry. Acting upon the lower base prices the gross margin dollars of RCI has decreased over t ime. Other problems faced include a growing increase in expenses on account of inflation, increased wages and other costs. At a time of constant margins this ends up affecting the bottom line. OEMs’ have a different relationship with manufactures due to the large volumes they provide. These volumes enable them to purchase parts at a significantly lower rate than independent replacement part distributors.This lowers the value of the assets that these replacement part distributors provide but enables them to capture a greater share of the OEM aftermarket share. OEM’s are also starting in-house aftermarket distributors by using the price discounts that they receive from manufacturers. This could be a major threat in the long run as the only thing preventing the growth of these firms is the belief that manufacturers would not allow the same product to be sold to two different customers performing the same function at two different prices.RCI competes with such firms on the basis of its credibility and service that it provides. It provides a broad product line and better packaging with instructions and labels at a cost effective rate. Manufacturers prefer selling to companies like RCI as their margins would be higher. The long term attractiveness of RCI’s business is also decreasing due to the fact that prices are margins are being eroded in the long run.