Obama Represents Zeitgeist of 2008 Essay Example for Free

Obama Represents Zeitgeist of 2008 Essay Being born in a black-white family, experiencing hardships throughout the child and teen stages, Barack Obama, as the first African American President of the United States, embodied dreams of thousands of people, both black and white. Obama became a symbol of the new U. S. history and personifies the brand new page, which is uncertain for the world, but rather clear for American citizens. What was the turning point in the minds of Americans to choose African American, as a new president? What kind of precondition made them take a man out of former ‘slaves’ and ‘despised’ people? These answers will be followed up by the closer look at Barack Obama, yet, at this moment, it is clear that Americans have felt the spirit that communicates between black and white, suffering and freedom, revolution and stability – the spirit of 2008. Most agree that Barack Obama has already changed the U. S. and is going to change the world. What is so important in this man and why is he important to the United States? He was hurt at 3-year old age for the first time, when his parents divorced. As a result of a single-parent family, he was raised up without self-esteem in a segregated environment. There was no one behind or next to him to give a hand in daily hardships; therefore, he became drug addict and trouble maker during the high school. At that time, one could hardly tell that out of this unmotivated and self-degraded teen would raise a state senator, followed by the U. S. senator, and the U. S. President consequently. Though, Obama had no goal in life, because there was no one to show it, the spirit of revolt and revolution had been showing him the ways out of hopelessness. Being a member of isolated society, he managed to cope with odds and unequal opportunities. ‘Negroes’ were not allowed to attend the same schools, hospitals, institutions, as the ‘whites’ did. It was the page in history, when Obama was born and raised. But, these very restrictions and limitations had paved the way for Obama’s success, making his nature stronger and character unbroken. â€Å"77230472_Obama Represents Zeitgeist of 2008† â€Å"Page #1† As was mentioned by Nick Bryant, â€Å"to become a history-defying candidate he has been something of a history-denying figure. † (BBC News) And it is true. At present, Barack Obama had to solve the civil-right paradox, so that he could appear on the U. S. Capitol steps and show the whole world that skin does not matter, inner spirit – that’s what matters. This is the point that united Barack with America – there is no chance for hopelessness. No matter what the world is saying – let him turn away from you; no matter what society is saying – you may change it. Chance was not on his side, yet he has national identity. Barack Obama, as well as the United States, is focused on freedom, as the utmost human value. This very spirit gave the American colonies fight against oppression and misunderstanding, making the nation #1 in the world. No doubt, America is facing the hard times – shaking economy, unstable oil prices, mortgage crisis and global confrontation, headed by the EU. Yet, we may argue that the United States have already passed more severe tests and can put up with this one, having the right leader and right course. What is the difference in calling Obama inexperienced or naive, his inspiration reminds people that once the nation had ideals and dreams, had convictions and beliefs. Martin Luther King’s dream for America, which was spoken two years after Obama was born in 1963, is fulfilled now. Some things that seemed impossible are embodied now. Barack Obama, just like the United States, has made a leap over the illicit barrier to make something whole out of broken, to build on sinking ground. The American zeitgeist of revolution has been imbuing Obama, and the election 2008 has reflected the American notion of equal opportunity. The President of the United States is given a chance to make his values real and reveal life battle on a larger scale. The life of Barack Obama personifies confidence and victory now, rather than destruction and uncertainty at first. Hope to see the same results in the U. S. economy and its place on the global arena, as we look at American spirit that outpours in Obama’s beliefs. Work cited: Bryant, Nick. â€Å"How Barack Obama defied history†. BBC News. 5 Nov. 2008. 1 Dec. 2008 http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710449. stm.

The Importance Of Teaching And Learning Vocabulary English Language Essay

The Importance Of Teaching And Learning Vocabulary English Language Essay Vocabulary represents one of most important skills necessary for teaching and learning a foreign language. It is the basis for the development of all the other skills: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking, writing, spelling and pronunciation. Vocabulary is the main tool for the students in their attempt to use English effectively. When confronted with a native English speaker, when watching a movie without subtitle or when listening to a favorite English song, when reading a text or when writing a letter to a friend, students will always need to operate with words. In what follows, the focus of this introductory chapter will be on why vocabulary is important, on what makes words difficult, on the main reasons for which students often forget the words they learn and on some techniques which help them remember the vocabulary. Why is Vocabulary Important? Talking about the importance of vocabulary, the linguist David Wilkins argued that: without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. Indeed, people need to use words in order to express themselves in any language. Most learners, too, acknowledge the importance of vocabulary acquisition. In my experience as a teacher, I noticed the fact that students usually find it difficult to speak English fluently. They usually consider speaking and writing activities exhausting because they keep on using the same expressions and words and very soon their conversation is abruptly interrupted due to missing words. And the main reason for such communication problems is the lack of vocabulary. Other students are confronted with the problem of forgetting the words immediately after the teacher has elicited their meaning or after they have looked them in the dictionary, and this also a cause of the lack of vocabulary. The more words students learn, the easier they mem orize them. The teacher has an essential role in helping students to improve their vocabulary. Unfortunately, vocabulary teaching has not been enough responsive to such problems, and teachers have not recognized the tremendous importance of helping their students to develop an extensive vocabulary. If we look back in the past, we discover that for a long time, English used teaching approaches such as Direct Method and Audiolingualism which emphasized the primary importance of teaching grammatical structures. Since the accent was on grammar, few words were introduced in such courses and most often, they were limited and related to the grammar structures taught. By the beginning of 1970s, there was a major change in teaching English. The focus turned from the Direct Method and Audiolingualism to the Communicative Approach which emphasized the importance of teaching vocabulary. Students were exposed to diverse vocabulary and speaking activities. Many words began being introduced during such courses and students were encouraged to express themselves as much as possible. Nowadays, there is more freedom in choosing the methods to be used during English classes. The English syllabus is organized around both vocabulary and grammar structures. Since there is a certain number of classes allotted for each item in the syllabus, teachers usually have the necessary time to insist on teaching and practising vocabulary. Vocabulary is no longer treated as an add-on and teachers become more aware of the importance of vocabulary and attention is paid to the grammar of words, to collocations and to word frequency. Nevertheless, students still have difficulties in expressing themselves fluently and still consider speaking tasks exhausting. What Makes English Vocabulary Difficult In English, like in any other foreign language, some words are easier to learn than others. Easiest of all are the words more or less identical to the students native language, like, for instance, the word vocabulary. However, students might be trapped in their confidence with which they memorize such identical words, since English has a list of some problematic words, called false friends. These false friends are words identical in form to certain Romanian words, but completely different in meaning. An example of this would be sensible. While many students might confidently translate this word simply sensibil, they will be astonished to find out that, the Romanian equivalent for sensible is in fact rational, while the English equivalent for sensibil is sensitive. This demonstrates the crucial importance of allotting a special lesson for these false friends and of encouraging students to practise them as often as possible. Another aspect that makes English vocabulary difficult is the pronunciation of certain words. Research shows that words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn. Many learners find that words with clusters of consonants such as health or crisps are problematic. Length or complexity of the words is another characteristic of the difficulty of English vocabulary. A long word will be more difficult to memorize than a short one. Also, variable stress of words such as necessary and necessity can add to their difficulty. The meaning of the words is another controversial feature of the English vocabulary. When two words overlap in meaning, students are likely to confuse them. An example in this case would be the difference between make and do. These words have the same meaning, but are used in different expressions. You make a decision, but you do homework. Students might find the use of these two words confusing. Main Reasons Why Students Forget the Vocabulary Acquired It is important that teachers insist on the practice of vocabulary because with all their best will, students forget the words they learn. Jeremy Harmer identifies two main reasons that cause forgetting: interference from subsequent learning and insufficient recycling. Most teachers are aware of the fact that introducing a new vocabulary may imply forgetting the old one. This happens most frequently when words are taught that are very similar to the ones recently acquired because, according to Harmer, the new words have the effect of overwriting the previously learnt material. This is the reason why teachers should avoid teaching lexical sets containing words that have similar meanings to the previously ones. The second cause that triggers forgetting is insufficient recycling of the vocabulary acquired. Research shows that frequent review of learnt material can dramatically reduce the rate of forgetting. Nevertheless, it is not enough to simply repeat words and to reencounter them in their original context. What really helps is to recycle the words in different ways and at equal levels of depth. Research argues that if learners use or encounter the words in a different way from that in which they first met them, then better learning is likely to be achieved. Another important aspect when recycling certain words is for students to make sure that they really understand the meaning and the use of those words. Students might also try to apply the new words to their real life events or activities. Techniques for Memorizing Vocabulary In order to be able to have a rich vocabulary, not only do students need to learn as many words as possible, but they also need to remember them because, in fact, learning is remembering. Unlike grammar learning which is based on a system of rules, vocabulary knowledge implies accumulating individual items. It is a learning process that relies primarily on memory. Learners are different in terms of how easily they memorize vocabulary. According to Jeremy Harmer, researchers into the domain of memory distinguish three types of memory: short-term store, working memory, and long-term memory. The short-term store is the brains capacity to hold a limited number of information items for periods of time up to a few seconds (Harmer 23). Thus, it is the kind of memory that does not help students too much in their attempt to learn vocabulary items, because successful vocabulary learning involves something more than just holding words in your memory for some seconds. The working memory focuses on holding words long enough in your memory so that to be able to operate with them. It is the kind of memory that relies on reasoning and logic. Thus, if a student comes across a new word such as to acknowledge which means a recunoaste meritul cuiva, he will be able to easily memorize it by comparing it with another word from his long-term memory, for example, kno wledge meaning cunoastere. Using such an association will certainly help students keeping words in their memory for longer periods of time. Finally, the long-term store is the most trustworthy kind of memory. Unlike the working memory which has a limited capacity of holding words in the brain, the long-term memory has a tremendous capacity and its contents are durable over time. However, the fact that students forget vocabulary from one lesson to another, demonstrates the fact that it is not enough to have a long-term memory. It implies students efforts and teachers witty techniques when learning and teaching vocabulary. The great challenge for language learners and teachers is to transform the material from quickly forgotten to the never forgotten. It has been designed a number of techniques meant to help learners efficiently memorize words and to help teachers make the process of learning easier for their students. Repetition is an important technique in learning vocabulary. In order for the words to be kept as long as possible in the memory, it is necessary that they be repeated at frequent periods of time. However, repetition alone will not be effective. It must be accompanied by the understanding of the meaning of those particular words and by correlation with other similar already learnt words. Another important technique is using the newly learn words. In this case, the teachers role is also valuable. In the classroom, teachers should insist on pracising the news vocabulary by encouraging students to speak as much as possible and by designing vocabulary-centered activities and games. At home, students need to be motivated to individually keep on using the new words until they are stored in the long-term memory. Practising vocabulary is strongly connected to applying vocabulary to students real life events. Learners will acquire vocabulary easily if they practise it by associating words with events from their daily life. Considering that students are presented a new word list related to the topic entitled travelling. Learners will successfully memorize the word list by creating a real life event, for instance going to Italy and then performing a situation in which all the words can be included. This can be done in classroom as well as at home and will certainly entertain students and have positive results. Another witty technique to be taken into consideration when both learning and teaching vocabulary is imaging. Students will easily learn new words if they are taught to associate them with their picture. If, for example, students associate travel agency with the image of the particular building where we go to ask information about travelling, they are likely to keep that word in their mind for longer time. Thus, it is extremely important for the students to visualize the words they must learn. This will help the learning process and will keep the words in the long-term memory. In conclusion, vocabulary is the most required skill when learning a foreign language. It is on vocabulary that all the other skills, reading, writing, speaking, and listening are based and developed. This chapter has shown why it is important to learn new words and why English vocabulary is difficult to memorize. Moreover, it dealt with two main reasons for which most of the students permanently forget the words acquired. And finally, it has suggested methods and techniques that help to understand the new vocabulary by using the working memory and to transfer it in the long-term memory.

Allston Corners Hidden Drama Essay -- Journalism Essays

Allston Corner's Hidden Drama Site of '60s homeowners rebellion may become the next Harvard Square Except for the occasional group of teenagers furtively smoking in front of the 7-Eleven, no one spends much time in Allston’s Barry’s Corner. Bordered by gas stations, loading docks, and an uninviting concrete apartment complex, the intersection of North Harvard Street and Western Avenue is a place to speed through before the light changes. Chris Fazio, an Allston resident and employee at the nearby Harvard Business School, always tries to walk through Barry’s Corner as quickly as possible. He describes it as a â€Å"soul-crushing urban wasteland† that â€Å"always looks dirtier than it is. You get the impression that it was just thrown together and abandoned,† he said. â€Å"It’s depressing.† But it wasn’t always this way. It used to be a place that people fought to save. In 1961, the owners of the 52 houses that once made up Barry’s Corner were shocked to learn on the news that their neighborhood would be sacrificed to urban renewal, according to Thomas O’Connor’s book â€Å"Building a New Boston.† Calling the area â€Å"blighted,† the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) planned to demolish it to make way for a luxury apartment complex, O’Connor wrote. Residents rebelled against the plans – at one point even arming themselves with brooms and shovels to chase away a BRA appraisal team – but they only delayed the inevitable for a few years. The city agreed to switch the new development to moderate income housing, but the character of Barry’s Corner was irrevocably changed. Now, after nearly 40 years, Barry’s Corner is once again being eyed for a makeover. Located between Harvard Business School and the university’s recently purchas... ...e police department is better prepared to serve the residents of the neighborhoods,† he said in an e-mail. Across the highway in North Allston, the nightlife is much quieter. Few undergraduates live in the neighborhood and the Harvard Business School graduate students have little time for raucous keg parties. Will it be different fifty years from now? As BU students flock to the bars and restaurants on Harvard and Brighton Avenues in South Allston, the sidewalks are empty in Barry’s Corner. Soon the number 66 bus pulls up, dislodging a handful of commuters. They step gingerly over the puddles flanking the wide streets. The kids are back in front of the 7-Eleven, but they don’t linger long. It’s hard to picture this corner changing. Will future Allstonians ever care enough again about Barry’s Corner to fight for its survival? Only time will tell.

Why the Play is Called The Crucible :: Essay on The Crucible

Why is the play called the Crucible? Webster and his book the dictionary defines a 'crucible' as, 'A container in which metals are heated, involving a change. A severe test or trial.'; Author Miller in his play, uses the title 'The Crucible' as an analogy for the situation. The actual container- the crucible, is the town of Salem Massachusetts. The contents of the container are the people of Salem, the emotions and feelings of these people are what change. The events that take place in the town are what fuel and heat the people's emotions and are what affects their actions. Miller also puns on the other meaning of 'a crucible' which is: 'a severe test or trial'; to tie in with the events that take pace in the play- the trials of the accused witches and the extent of the consequences (death by hanging.) The 'severe test or trial ' referred to above is an inquiry carried out to see whether people's souls are still with God. This shows the extremity and extent of the trials. It shows how important a part religion plays in the community. Seeing as people's life styles revolved around working and praying. If people were not working or farming their lands, they are praying. On holidays they pray, there are hardly any moments of recreation or 'fun.' The people of Salem are deeply religious and to drift on to the side of the devil is the most serious 'sin' or 'crime' imaginable in the community. Just as it was a sin drift on to the side of the devil in the time of the crucible, it was the same to drift on to the side of communism in the 1950's, when Arthur Miller wrote this play. In the 1950's Senator Joe Macarthy set up a campaign to rid the United States of all communist supporters. These communist trials would be broadcast on national television. It would involve the accused to admit their guilt even though they were completely innocent, and give the names of 10 other would-be communists or face exile, torture, invasion of family privacy etc. Arthur Miller uses the events of the Salem witch-hunts to represent and show what the communist trials of the 1950's were. They were both based on false premises and paranoia, and as more people got involved, more people suffered, this can be summarised by calling it the 'Snowball effect.

The Purpose of Education Essay -- Philosophy of Education Teaching Tea

The Purpose of Education In attempting to define the true purpose for education, people tend to focus on goals, which differ from one person to another. Most Americans approach education as a means to end. Many focus on the possible social, economic, and political benefits that can come from furthering education. While education certainly is capable of producing amazing results in these specific physical realms, perhaps we shouldn’t focus on its material goals, but rather on its mental impact, which is where reason is derived from. Through the use of reason in the form of education, we will be better able to come to terms with ourselves and our environment, which will bring us closer to reaching our full potentials as human beings. It is our advanced intelligence which makes us unique in this world, and perhaps it is the use of reason which will eventually reveal our true purpose of being. The first step toward reaching our full potential deals with gaining a better understanding of ourselves. Simply by being honest with ourselves and using our given ability to reason, we will be better able to come to terms with what is truly our purpose of living. By concerning ourselves with the absolutes of human nature we will be much closer to reality, opposed to an approach that is simply based on already established ideals. Armed with reason and a good understanding of our own human nature we will be more prepared to understand and react to our ... The Purpose of Education Essay -- Philosophy of Education Teaching Tea The Purpose of Education In attempting to define the true purpose for education, people tend to focus on goals, which differ from one person to another. Most Americans approach education as a means to end. Many focus on the possible social, economic, and political benefits that can come from furthering education. While education certainly is capable of producing amazing results in these specific physical realms, perhaps we shouldn’t focus on its material goals, but rather on its mental impact, which is where reason is derived from. Through the use of reason in the form of education, we will be better able to come to terms with ourselves and our environment, which will bring us closer to reaching our full potentials as human beings. It is our advanced intelligence which makes us unique in this world, and perhaps it is the use of reason which will eventually reveal our true purpose of being. The first step toward reaching our full potential deals with gaining a better understanding of ourselves. Simply by being honest with ourselves and using our given ability to reason, we will be better able to come to terms with what is truly our purpose of living. By concerning ourselves with the absolutes of human nature we will be much closer to reality, opposed to an approach that is simply based on already established ideals. Armed with reason and a good understanding of our own human nature we will be more prepared to understand and react to our ...

Catcher in The Rye by J. D. Salinger

In the novel Catcher in The Rye, Salinger has employed a very realistic portrayal of teenagers and how they act. There are plenty of characteristic on how he properly conveyed this to the audience and he also spread these characteristics through-out all of the characters that are used within the novel.Firstly, you have Holden; a teenager who is not always the brightest bulb in the cabinet, but he has a clear understanding on how the world works and yet he ironically does not have the brains to execute this knowledge directly into the world. Secondly, you have Stradlater; a teenager who just spends all his time going out with girls and partying. Some might say he is a ‘party animal’. Lastly, you have Ackley; a mostly grotesque teenager who does not listen to social cues, acts profoundly around people actions and his practically obnoxious about everything (not knowing, that is how he is acting though). So, Salinger’s opinion (when it comes to characteristics of a te enager) is that all teenagers are blatantly ignorant everything, that all teenagers think they can just coast their way through life and do not have any respect for the people around us.Holden does not really think about what he is going to say, he just kind of spits everything out. Maybe he is an intelligent boy and all, but how he speaks and what he says proves otherwise. Holden states â€Å"I practically got T.B†¦ I’m pretty healthy, though.† (J.D Salinger, 5) In this sentence he talks about basically having a life threatening disease and then tries to reassure to the reader that he is ‘pretty healthy’, I personally think that in a logical statement he would have said something on the lines of â€Å"I practically got T.B†¦ [I should get that checked out].† (J.D Salinger, 5)While Holden is having a conversation with Mr. Spencer he even acknowledges his own stupidity to himself/the reader through the idea of immaturity. â€Å"I was sixte en then, and I’m seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I’m about thirteen.† (Salinger, 9) It is kind of ironic if you think about it, he does not want to be known as dumb or stupid or an idiot, yet he has the  occasional time when he acts like a thirteen year old. Holden, he understands where his faults are, but he cannot come to a conclusion on how to actually fix them he just carries on with his day as if it does not matter.Holden’s roommate Stradlater thoroughly enjoys going out on Friday night, Saturday night, well every night. To do so, he has to find ways to be able to still do well in school while 0slacking off and shrugging all his work aside and his solution; anyone he can find. At one point Stradlater and Holden (because they are roommates) meet up in their room and Stradlater asks Holden is he can do a big favour for him and if he was planning on going out. Holden replies asking what the favour is and that he did not have plans of any sorts. Afterwards Stradlater asks ‘the big question’, â€Å"I got about a hundred pages to read for history†¦ How ‘bout writing a composition for me†¦?† (Salinger, 28)In this instance he had just initiated a vital opening for Holden to be a friend or to just blow him off, and Holden accepts the offer and says he will do the paper for him. Stradlater had just avoided doing his work for one reason; he wanted to go out that night with a girl.Stradlater is also a guy who knows how to be flattering enough that he can convince people to do things for him, you could look at it as he has it better than everyone else because he is ‘prettier’ than other people. He compliments Holden’s new hat with the term â€Å"sharp† and then almost instantaneously afterwards asks â€Å"Listen. Are ya gonna write that composition for me? I have to know.† (Salinger, 29) Why did he need to know you might ask? Well, if Holden has explicitly said à ¢â‚¬Å"no.† to him then Stradlater would have stayed in that night to do it, although Holden says â€Å"If I get the time, I will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Salinger, 29) Stradlater, using Holden like a boat in the river of life, just expects Holden to float on his way through life, carrying Stradlater along while he is having a party in the boat.Finally, there is Ackley. Now, Ackley has a knack for hanging out in the wrong place for too long. In chapter three, Holden is laying down in his room reading a book and enjoying the feeling of his new hat on the top of his head when, let it be hold that his neighbour Ackley comes strolling over into his room without any true intent on why he is there.Ackley moves  friskily around the room, touching everything he can multiple times while trying to hold a conversation with Holden (who clearly does not want one). â€Å"I’ve read this same sentence about twenty times since you came in.† (Salinger, 20) After stating that Ackley was a disturbance to him, he still did not get the hint and clearly not picking up on the cue to get out of Holden’s room. Later on while Ackley is still occupying the room, Holden says to his self â€Å"I sometimes horse around to keep myself from getting bored.† (Salinger, 21) Once Holden starts to annoy Ackley, trying to make him vacate the room he STILL does not leave. So, clearly Ackley has a problem with following what people are trying to put out to him because he is just plain ignorant about other people and quite frankly himself if you were to take a look at how he manages his outer image.In conclusion, J.D Salinger has made the novel Catcher in The Rye a story that really shows how teenagers act/acted. Salinger also adds his own input on how he thinks teenagers act and/or acted in our time period and the time period at which this novel was written and/or published in through the characters he had created. Three of the main characters; Holden, Stradlater and Ackley are all extremely different which expresses a wide variety of teenager characteristic.Holden symbolizes blatant ignorance for the world around him, Stradlater shows us how un-caring and un-motivated teenagers are when it comes to working on anything and lastly, Ackley describes the lack of respect that we as teenagers have for the people around us. Salinger has made it pretty clear that he believes that teenagers need to change and used this novel to get his point across the world.

Hershey Company Essay

Abstract The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey’s, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey’s Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. Hershey’s products are sold in about sixty countries worldwide. In addition, Hershey is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation. The company has been topped to 384, compared with the previous rank 404, in 2013 (CNN, 2013). This paper is going to show the company’s international environment, exams the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats. After analyzing the strategic management for going abroad and competitive advantages, the author concluded that how the Hershey Company successes to offer the whole world’s happiness and what else can be down to move forward. Introduction to the Hershey Company The Hershey Company is the largest chocolate and confectionary product manufacturer in the North America Region. The Hershey Company Headquarters is located in Hershey, Pennsylvania founded by Milton Hershey. Milton S. Hershey in the late 1800s and the company has been a huge stimulation of growth for Hershey, Derry Township (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). As the new millennium begins, The Hershey Company continues to introduce new products frequently and take advantage of growth opportunities through acquisitions. HERSHEY’S products are known and enjoyed the world over. In fact, the company market, sell and distribute our products in approximately 70 countries. The Hershey Company’s key market includes United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and China. As of year-end 2011, Hershey employed 13,800 people and had consolidated net sales of $6.08 billion (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). Hershey’s slogan is bringing sweet moments of Hershey happiness to the world every day. Below are some of the Hershey Company’s popular brands: Hershey’s Chocolate Bar Almond Joy Kit Kat Hershey’s Kisses Reese’s Milk Duds Mr. Good bar Whoppers Hershey’s Mission â€Å"Our mission is to be a focused food company in North America and selected international markets and a leader in every aspect of our business. Our goal is to enhance our First position in the North American confectionery market, be the leader in U.S. chocolate-related grocery products, and to build leadership positions in selected international markets† (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). Hershey’s Slogan is: Bringing sweet moments of Hershey happiness to the world every day. To the stakeholders, this means: delivering quality consumer-driven confectionery experiences for all occasions to customers; winning with an aligned and empowered organization while having fun to employees; building collaborative relationships for profitable growth with customers, suppliers and partners; creating sustainable value for shareholders; honoring our heritage through continued commitment to making a positive difference on communities (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). Customers Full-time sales representatives and food brokers sell our products to our customers. Hershey’s customers are mainly wholesale distributors, chain grocery stores, and mass merchandisers, chain drug stores, vending companies, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, dollar stores, concessionaires, department stores and natural food stores (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). International Business Environment Analysis – SWOT Analysis 1. Strengths History and market share. The Hershey company exports to 60 different countries include Largest Distribution Network across North American  territory. According to market research firm Euromonitor International, the global confectionery market sits at $160 billion, and has grown at 5% annually the past five years. Meanwhile, the chocolate market in the United States is largely a two-horse race between Hershey (43%) and private company Mars, Inc. (31%). The next-largest competitor, Nestle, holds only a 6% U.S. market share (Markman, 2012). Various Products and Attractions. The Hershey has 120 years history of chocolate business. The Hershey Company develop various products such chocolate bars and bags, licorice and sugar candy, boxed chocolate, mints and gum, and specialized nutritional products. The Hershey Company has a number of Hershey’s Chocolate World attractions that provide consumers with the Hershey experience through interactive retail entertainment and merchandise. Key store locations include Hershey, Pennsylvania; Times Square in New York City; The Magnificent Mile, Chicago; Niagara Falls, Canada; Shanghai, China; Singapore; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). Professional Training for Employees. Hershey provides a variety of training and development opportunities that encourage their employees’ personal and professional development. Hershey University is an educational program that tailors its curriculum to Hershey’s evolving business environment, offering both classroom instruction and online courses. In addition, when specifically relevant to their jobs, employees may be entitled to tuition reimbursement for associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees at accredited institutions. Also, in July 2011 we launched CocoaLinkâ„ ¢, a first-of-its kind program that uses mobile technology to deliver practical—and critical—agricultural and social training to rural cocoa farmer s (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). Charity and social responsibility. Hershey is an exemplary organization in terms of business ethics and socialresponsibility; a significant part of Hershey Food’s profits go toward operatingthe Milton Hershey School for Orphaned Children. 2. Weaknesses Unhealthy Nutritional Content. Compare with Nestle and Mars’ chocolate bars, Hershey’s chocolate high in sugar. And Hershey’s chocolate contain more than twice as much as some of the others (ACALORIECOUNTER, 2013). Unhealthy nutritional content will affect customers’ choices of Hershey. Price inflation. Since 2008, Hershey Co. announced that it was raising its wholesale candy prices by 11%. This is the second price jump for them this year, in January they raised prices by 13% for select products in their line as well (ACALORIECOUNTER, 2013). In 2011, The Hershey Company says it is raising wholesale prices by 9.7% on most of its candy products. Due to price inflation of milk and sugar, the price of Hershey’s chocolate keeps rising which lower Hershey’s chocolates’ competitive ability among its competitors. Low international market share of chocolate confectionary industry. Hershey’s global market share in the chocolate confectionary industry in only 10 percent, lowest among its competitors 3. Opportunities Huge Consume Market. 81% of households consume chocolate candy. China and India are huge untapped markets. Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand also are untapped, So, Hershey has the opportunity to gain a foothold in those Countries (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). Environmentally Safety Products. There is another opportunity for Hershey to develop environmentally safe products and packages, reducing industrial waste, recycling, and establishing an environmental audit process are strategies that could benefit Hershey. Non-chocolate candies Market. Another opportunity is that Hershey diversifies more into non-chocolate candies because that segment is growing most rapidly in foreign countries like U.S &U.K. Anniversary and Festivals. The Hershey’s Company should take advantage of the holidays such as Valentine’s Day and anniversary. For example, this years’ Valentine’s Day, MM let customers customized their chocolate online. Customers can add their pictures on MM chocolates. And they can pick up the color of chocolates their like to combine a gift box. This innovation attracted a lot of customers. Charity & Foundations. As we all know, charity and foundations will bring great reputations to corporations. They can help corporations build positive brand images which will increase brand’s sales. 4. Threats Emerging competitors. The main competitors of Hershey Foods are Mars and Nestle. Mars is already a threat for Hershey, because Mars has a stronger presence than Hershey in Europe, Asia, Mexico, and Japan. At the same time, there are also many new competitors are entering chocolate market such as Whole food’s chocolate. Compare with Hershey, Mars, and Nestle, Whole Food’s chocolate aim at healthy chocolates. They provide choice to the customer wants low fast and organic chocolate. 25 percent of Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s revenues and profits come from coffee, and adverse economic occurrences in South America, particularly Brazil, affect the company. Nestle plans to continue to play to its strengths, international markets outside the United States, to combat Hershey. Social Changes about Healthy Foods. With the development of Society and Technology, people more and more focus their health and nutrition. We can find more and more organic chocolate manufacture appearing. Doctors and Researchers also have studies prove that chocolates are helpful to prevent heart diseases. Thus, more and more customers choose healthy chocolates such as dark chocolates and organic chocolates. Steady price increase of milk and sugar. The escalation of prices of the main ingredients such as cocoa, milk and sugar has forced companies to increase prices. Strategic Management Factors for Going Global Near the end of 2010, Hershey’s entered into a deal with Wal-Mart (known as Asda in the UK) to sell Hershey’s products in Europe. Hershey’s has never been sold in the U.K. However, Hershey’s will have to modify their products in order to do so. Hershey’s uses genetically modified ingredients in the U.S. and Asda does not sell products that include GM ingredients (Glaberson, 2010). Obviously, Hershey want to enter global market needs to adjust their ingredients at first. The ingredients use for North America doesn’t mean it fit European or Asian Market. These improvements have been based on understanding local culture. What’s more, Hershey should pay more attentions on their chocolate packages. They develop different series packages of chocolate in different countries. Hershey’s white and brown can be market as classic series. They can add more colorful packages to attract children’s attentions. For example, in China, Red is a strong color which means wealth and happiness. Hershey can make red packages chocolates in China. In a shot, Hershey want to expand internationally, they must integrate into each country’s culture. As a global brand, Hershey’s try to cover all people in different ages and status. However, from its advertisements, its’ major customers are children, teenagers and young generations. Actually, most of these groups of customers haven’t economic capability to buy chocolate themselves. Adults and parents usually pay money for them. Thus, healthy ingredients are very important factors may affect parents’ willingness to pay chocolates to their children. Especially in European and Asian, parents are very focus on children’s nutrition. Hershey’s products are mainly focus on young generations. However, if Hershey wants to expand international, Hershey needs more products are focus on household and adults. For example, Hershey can develop chocolate flavor coffee drinks, chocolate sauces, and chocolate gums. Now, the major of Hershey employees are from North United. To entering foreign market, Hershey has to hire more foreign employees and build international team. Hershey’s designers should know more about foreign culture. They can not only insistent of their American style. Even executives of Hershey’s should have some international backgrounds and experiences. Hershey can hire some executives who have international background and experiences. At the same time, Hershey can send their design team to the county they want entering. Having better understanding of local culture, Hershey can have better design and marketing methods to meet local customers’ needs. Hershey should has its’ online shop. As far as now, Hershey only have official website of 8 countries. As show on the picture below, they are the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Korea, and Japan. In today’s business world, online shopping is becoming a tendency. A large amount of households shop online daily. Hershey should build their official online store like its competitor Mar’s. Hershey can sell both regular and customized chocolates online (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). . Competitive Advantages Analysis The chocolate market share is increasing globally. Customer loyalty is competitively lower than other industry. Websites are increasing in quality and ease for all users. HERSHEY’S offers many unique products and services to many different kinds of customers by using their official websites. What’s more, Hershey has great partnership with North America wholesalers and retailers such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s club, and Walgreen. Hershey has advantages on high domestic market shares. 43% of US domestic chocolate market share provide Hershey’s stable sales. Thus, Hershey should make its’ development base on steady their US market (CNN, 2011). Community We make donations of cash and products in countries across the globe where we have a presence. For example, last week I shopped at Walgreen, the cashier asked me if I want to donate Hershey chocolate to help US army. I choose yes, and most customers donate a Hershey chocolate bar which cost them 50cent. Hershey is willing to help community and does their social responsibility. What’s more, Hershey encourages and supports the involvement of our employees in a wide range of community-improvement activities. Workplace As a global corporation, Hershey ensures a safe workplace. Safety performance is a company priority, and Hershey’s overarching safety goal is to consistently achieve best-in-class safety performance (THEHERSHEYCOMPANY, 2011). The Hershey Company has a long history of promoting health and wellness for its employees, their families and the community. Hershey offers personal training and massage and fitness room at office locations. Hershey engages employees to get fit and stay well. Environment Hershey increase use of sustainable packaging since 2009. Now they are working on a process to define opportunities to reduce the amount of materials they use by for example, optimizing seal sizes and implementing new technologies, and to identify and test sustainable packaging alternatives (Glaberson, 2010). All of these factors help Hershey build a great reputation in North America. Hershey has already get success at North America market. Thus, it’s time for Hershey focus on expanding its’ foreign market. Conclusion Culture today is heavily focused on personnel health. In the past few decades, people have become much more aware of the various factors that negatively affect their health and work hard to avoid them. As a general rule, chocolate and other candy are viewed as an unhealthy snack. Therefore, Hershey needs to continue to expand and market healthy products in order to gain a greater market share for example, low calories, low fat chocolates bars. Moreover, Hershey can put focus on dark chocolate which is popular among ladies (Jones, 2010). Second, Hershey should pay more attentions on its’ gums and chocolate flavor coffee drinks. For example, In Asia, chocolate market is competitively mature. There are already many local brands. Thus, to better entering Asian Market, Hershey only focus on its’ chocolate products is not enough. To expand global market, Hershey has to invest in advertisement. What’s more, Hershey can keep working on their charity activities, and foundations. To help people from all over the world, Hershey can set up foundations in different countries. Price and quality are two keys determine the success of entering foreign markets. Hershey should still keep its’ affordable price with best quality. Hershey can corporate with local chocolate maker with manufacture and packaging to reduce their cost. The hierarchy of Hershey Company should be more international. Hershey needs to hire more designers, executives, and employees with international background or experiences. The commercialization of many holidays is continuing to expand and the popularity of gifts for these holidays is also increasing. Hershey can provide holiday products in outlets also their website (i.e., Hallmark, Barnes and Noble). These Traditional holidays (i.e., Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Halloween) allows Hershey to optimize the importance of their specialty gift products. By providing specialized gift products,  Hershey can increase their sales and expand quickly in foreign market. Finally, Hershey can design different product lines. For example, Hershey can use its source entering organic chocolate market. Hershey’s organic chocolate faces to European, developed countries which their cultures are more focus organic food. The premium product line can help improve Hershey’s brand images. Also, it can meet more customers’ needs. References ACALORIECOUNTER. (2013, October 16). Candy & Chocolate Bars Compared Hershey’s, Nestle and Mars Nutrition Facts. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://www.acaloriecounter.com/candy-chocolate.php Glaberson, H. (2010). Hershey to launch confectionery brands in UK and Europe. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://www.confectionerynews.com/Manufacturers/Hershey-to-launch-confectionery-brands-in-UK-and-Europe CNN. (2013). Global 500: Hershey. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/snapshots/2190.html THEHERSHEYCOMPANY. (2011, December 31). Hershey Corporate Social responsibility progress report 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://www.thehersheycompany.com/assets/pdfs/hersheycompany/Hershey2011CSRReport.pdf CNN. (2011, April 1). Hershey’s raises prices nearly 10%. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/03/31/hershey.prices/index.html Jones, D. (2010, January 26). Nestle waits for market pressures to soften Hershey. REUTERS. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/26/us-nestle-analysis-idUSTRE60P31A20100126 Markman, J. (2012, September 4). Hershey Starting to Suga r-Coat the World. Investor Place. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://investorplace.com/2012/09/hershey-is-sugar-coating-the-world-hsy/