Locke's Criticism on Descartes' Philosophy of Calling Extension the Essay

Locke's Criticism on Descartes' Philosophy of Calling Extension the Essence of Body - Essay Example Our body is not the essence of anything like extension as this concept lessens the significance of human body. Our body is solid while extension is empty space, hence there is no match between these two. Locke’s criticism on Descartes’ philosophy of calling extension the essence of body Rene Descartes, a French philosopher come mathematician of sixteenth century, is unanimously called as 'Father of Modern Philosophy' & the Father of Cartesian Doctrine which describes the relation between body and mind. "I think, therefore I am" is the most famous concept given by Descartes' about mind-body dualism. According to him, human beings are composed of two different things, body & soul or mind. The essence of soul (mind) is thought by which it controls the movements of body & the essence of body is extension. He argued that I can perceive my mind as an independent identity upon which there is no influence of extension (body) & I can distinctively perceive my body as a complete thing without the influence of my thoughts. Thus God has made the two things independent of each other so they behave like distinct objects. Here, the idea of extension is not very clear, i.e., whether it describes our body as a combination of solid parts which are there to move or extend, or is there something else Descartes wanted to explain? The idea was contrary enough as it says that there is no particular connection or relation between body & soul & they are independent of each other. He tried to explain the idea but could not provide enough valid points & arguments to prove this. One of his successors of seventeenth century, John Locke, an English philosopher, who is undoubtedly the philosopher of modern times & the originator of concepts like self & identity, presented his own theory of human understanding which is considered to be more authentic & reliable regarding the concepts of human identity & self. He contradicts Descartes’ Cartesian philosophy by saying that a ll human have innate ideas in their minds by birth & they acquire more knowledge through their vast experience & their individual use of senses & perception. According to him, the essence of body is not extension but consciousness & mind is nothing but a blank slate on which anything can be written by acquiring knowledge & wisdom. Children & babies from their early stages of development & even during their gestation period acquire simple kind of knowledge like color & taste distinction etc. The child is not born with such kind of knowledge but experiences such situations & learns from them, either by sensation or by reflection (perception). Thus every person’s body & mind are not two exclusive identities but they are linked together & body is used to perform according to mind’s instructions (Locke. 1959) In his famous book â€Å"An Essay Concerning Human Understanding†, Locke explained his point of view very deeply. He says that extension and body can never be t he same things & if anyone says like that, he only tries to lessen the significance & importance of human body while the meaning or philosophy behind this still remains unclear & uncertain. Our body is not simply a combination of extended solid blocks of different shapes joined together for different movements; neither the extension only means the space or the area in which the body moves. Anything that simply occupies area or has some mass is termed as matter, not

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development Essay

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development - Essay Example Such has been the case with all local as well as global organizations. Organizations have been increasingly making huge investments in managing their human resource in the form of recruitment, selection, training and retaining talents from across the world. In other words their human resource strategies are more and more aligned with the long term and strategic objectives of the firms. The project brings forth the case of BP Chemicals which has been confronting with difficulty in meeting its staff requirements. The organization faced a human resource crisis when it struggled to find the processing and engineering staff having the requisite skills and qualification for keeping pace with the technological advances and changes. It increasingly faced difficulty in finding the right technical expertise and skills; however, finding the manual and graduates was not a problem. In order to resolve the crisis the company established Quartz, an autonomous body responsible for recruitment and tr aining of candidates as required in BP Chemicals. The project tries to explore and evaluate the learning and development programs adopted by BP Chemicals in terms of the long term objectives of the firm and also the satisfaction of its employees. To what extent does the organisation adopt a structured training process approach in its learning and development provision The training and development process conducted in BP Chemicals would be discussed in the context of the Lewinian Experiential Learning Model. There are two main aspects on this model which need to be emphasized. First is the model’s emphasis on the here and now concrete experience for validating and testing the abstract concepts. The immediate experience is considered as the main aim for giving life, texture, learning and personal meaning to the abstract concepts. It also provides a publicly shared ad referenced point for the testing of validity and implications of the ideas which are generated during the proces s of learning (Cliffs, 2006, p.4). The following figure would depict the ideas in the model. Figure 1: Lewinian Experiential Learning Model (Source: Thorpe & Edwards, 1993, p.139) Secondly the laboratory training and action research are primarily based on the process of feedback. The information feedback is considered to be the basis on which continuous process of goal oriented actions and their evaluations are generated. In the case of BP Chemicals, it is seen that the concrete experience is felt when the organization failed to avail of the human resource with the needed skills and expertise to keep in pace with the technological advances and changes. The firm realised that as technology continued to change, it would have to recruit people having knowledge of the new technologies and skills or would have to provide training to the existing people in the new technologies. It was felt that the above two aspects were completely necessary for the firm to survive and compete in the mark et. The second stage in the model which is the actions research and the laboratory training are said to be based on the process of feedback. As per the case study it is seen that BP Chemicals established a body called Quartz which had the responsibility of recruiting personnel for the organization and also providing the requisite training and learning for them. As per the feedback on the implementation of the new training and deve

Aldis Marketing Strategy

Aldis Marketing Strategy Aldi have made great strides in entering the UK grocery market. Please analyse Aldis current marketing strategy and provide recommendations for how Aldi can enhance their marketing strategy to gain a greater share of the UK Grocery Market. Introduction Marketing in simple terms can be described as offering a right product at a right place at the right time and with a right price. The Management Gurus emphasise on the four Ps of marketing which are often called the marketing mix. These four Ps are Product, Place, Price and Promotion. Marketing mix is an important tool to make an efficient marketing plan for a successful product offering. These four Ps of marketing mix can help achieving the business targets of sales, profit and consumer satisfaction. The essay examines marketing strategies of a German supermarket chain named Aldi, in the UK. The paper is divided in to four sections. The first section gives a brief history about Aldi. The second section talks about its position in the UK market. The third section analyses the marketing strategy of Aldi on the basis of the four Ps. The last section gives recommendations on marketing strategies for the future growth of the company in UK market. A brief history of Aldi Aldi, one of the worlds largest privately owned companies, is a grocery supermarket chain with a base in Germany. The name Aldi has come from the abbreviation of Albrecht (family name) Discount. The business started in 1913 with a food store in the town called Essen in Germany. By 1960s this family business was expanded to 300 stores in Germany and that is when the business was separated into two groups Aldi Nord (North) with a headquarter in Essen and Aldi Sà ¼d (South) with a headquarter in Mà ¼lheim an der Ruhr (Emsell, 2011). The business was separated over a disagreement on whether to sell cigarettes in the stores or not (Ruddick, 2012). These two organisations now operate independent to each other. On international levels, Aldi Nord operates in Portugal, Denmark, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, Spain, and Poland. Aldi Sà ¼d is functional in Ireland, United Kingdom, Hungary, Switzerland, Australia, Austria and Slovenia and United States of America with over 8000 stor es in total (Aldi UK website, 2015). Aldi in the United Kingdom Taylor and Lee (2007) have stressed the adverse effects on the international buyer behaviour due to cultural disparities. KPMG (2014) states that the shopping culture in UK is associated with the quality and not necessarily with price. It further mentions that higher level of customer services is one of the main attributes of this culture. That is the reason why in spite of the dominance of the big four -Tesco, Sainsburys, ASDA and Morrisons MS and Waitrose have done huge investments in the grocery industry. However Aldi has not only managed to attract the customers in the UK by overcoming the hurdles but also has acquired a significant market share. Table 1- Market share of Supermarkets in the UK in March, 2015 Supermarket Market Share (In %) Tesco 28.4 ASDA 17.1 Sainsburys 16.4 Morrisons 10.9 The Co-operative 6.0 Aldi 5.3 Waitrose 5.1 Lidl 3.7 Iceland 2.1 Source: BBC, 2015 According to Wallop (2008), Aldi pledged to open one store every week in the UK with a target of opening 1500 stores in the country. Currently there are 500 Aldi stores in the UK (Aldi UK Website, 2015). Aldi has made its position in the top nine superstores of the country among Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, ASDA, Waitrose, Lidl and Iceland. Aldi is now UKs sixth biggest grocery chain taking over Waitroses market share (BBC, 2015). The Marketing Strategies of Aldi Aldi is a discount supermarket chain and so cost control is in the culture of the business. The model of Aldis grocery retailing has remained unchanged since its initiation in Germany (Emsell, 2011). Price, Place and Product strategies The business philosophy of Aldi is to focus on indispensable investments and avoid the superfluous in order to give the customers maximum possible savings. According to Rudolph et al (2012, p-142), Aldis cost only add 13% to the procurement price, 2% each for logistics, rental, overheads and marketing plus about 5% for staff. Instead of extending its opening hours like other competitors in the UK, all Aldi stores function limited opening hours, which recently extended to 12 hours ( from 8am to 8pm). In contrast, many other competitor stores are available for shopping for 24 hours, 7 days and 365 days which seems an apparent strategic intention. One cannot see the add on services at any Aldi store, for example lottery terminals, childrens play area, photo booths, lavatory, dry cleaning services, currency exchanges, news agent, tobacco counters on entry and exit, a separate customer service counter or a coffee shop. The simple reason being that these facilities have its cost which wou ld add up to the end cost to the customer (Emsell, 2011). In a typical Aldi store, one can also observe three to seven employees to run the entire functioning of the store which is a different strategy to other supermarkets which have a high staffing level to provide high standards of customer service. The firm can achieve a low payroll to sales turnover ratio with such staffing level which can help the lower the prices. According to The Times 100 Business case studies (2010), the key idea that makes Aldis approach work is the concept of limited assortment. The Aldi store size is relatively small in comparison to the rival grocers with an average floor space of between 650 square meters to 1000 square meters. The usual Aldi store has a common layout with only four shopping aisles also the packaging and displaying products strategy at Aldi is cost effective. However the stores generally have a free parking space which attracts customers significantly. The case study further mentions that while selecting a location for store, Aldi takes in to consideration the population of the area which should be more then 30,000. Also the stores are always at the very good visibility from a main road and with good public transport connectivity. The sales philosophy of Aldi is very different to other leading grocers in the UK. As the branded products have less operating profit, Aldi has taken an approach to sell products which are equivalent to brands (Wood, 2011). A typical large Tesco or Sainsburys store stocks around 50,000 product lines, of which 50 per cent are their own brands (Voberda et al., 2011). The success key for any business is to attract the buyer which certainly depends largely on a competitive pricing. Being a discount retail chain, competitive pricing is at the core of Aldis philosophy. Aldi works on economies of scale. In simpler terms it means, buying products in large quantities so it gives leverage for bargaining for the best possible price which allows Aldi to sell at the most competitive prices. Currently every week Aldi comes with a different range of products on a Thursday for example bathroom accessories, garden furniture, kitchen and other household equipment. These products are different to the usual grocery items in the stores in terms of its availability. These products are limited in stock and not permanently available in the store. One can observe a great deal of excitement in the customers in the stores due to the scarcity and affordability of the products. To promote these product ranges, posters of the items are found in the stores for the upcoming week. Promotion Strategies According to the Times 100 Business Case studies (2010), one of the unique marketing strategies Aldi has adopted is the advertisements with brand comparisons. These adverts demonstrate that Aldi brands are of equal quality to well-established brands for example, Pampers diapers, Heinz tomato ketch up and Fairy Liquid. To prove this Aldi ran blind taste experiments amongst a section of shoppers. This experiment suggested that the majority of consumers that preferred the well-known brands also liked Aldi brands. These findings created the basis to Aldis most popular Like Brands campaign. The advertisements of the Like Brands provided the business with a stand to speak about its quality and most importantly its value for money. This campaign was effective in showing the customers how much more their money can fetch by shopping from Aldi with a slogan, Like brands. Only cheaper. The campaign provided a character to the Aldi products because the advertisements use humours which help to bu ild confidence and an emotional connection with target audiences. In addition, according to Times 100 Business Case studies (2010), Aldi prints around 1 million copies of brochures per week to distribute in the store as well as to customers living in surrounding areas. These brochures promote products with limited availability and seasonal and weekly offers available in stores. Another campaign of Aldi is swap and save. The newspaper adverts of Aldi promote the Aldi brands by showcasing the saving customers can have by swapping from the leading grocers to Aldi. This promotion is in the similar lines of Tescos big price drop campaign or Sainsburys brand match campaign. In this era of social media, it has become easy at the same time unavoidable to communicate directly with the targeted audience. One such online campaign of Aldi is Aldi Advocates. This particular promotion is for consumers who recommend Aldi to others because of its low prices compared to other brands. For example, the I Love Aldi campaign asked fans of the Aldi Facebook page, to send a virtual Aldi Valentines card to a Facebook friend, completing the sentence I love Aldi because This was encouraged by providing rewards of  £10 vouchers and a box of Aldi chocolates for their Valentine (Aldi UK Facebook Page, 2015). Recommendations The UK grocery industry is one of the most established and competitive globally, however dynamics of such industry change rapidly (KPMG, 2014). In spite of Aldis great stride in entering the UK grocery market and taking over a significant market share, one cannot deny the fact that the dynamics of ever changing business world can hurdle this growth. One can also not deny the fact that the competitors are also working towards increasing their market share and exploiting the resources. Though Aldi has managed to reach in to the competition with Waitrose, Cooperative and Morrisons, the market share of Tesco, ASDA and Sainsburys is comparatively very high (Table -1). Also Lidl and Poundland have a similar market strategy of discounted products as Aldi. In such cut throat competition it is challenging to not only enhance the market share but also merely maintaining it. Morgan et al., (2004) in their study have emphasised on product quality as one of the most important determinants of mark et share. Thirkell and Dau, (1998) revealed that quality and add on services have positive and high correlation with business performance. Thinking on the similar lines, one can recommend the quality enhancement to give a tougher competition to the leading supermarkets. However there is a risk associated with that approach as frequent changes in the business strategy can lead to loss of grip on the monitoring and controlling of the business. Businesses with a lack of clear strategy often face difficulties in customer targeting (Lancaster et al, 2002). However Aldi has a great scope in providing value added services. Facility of online shopping is one such value added service. Home delivery of the shopping items as well as click and collect services can be easily implemented in todays internet era as the other leading supermarkets are also offering such services. With plenty of options available, even with good quality and low prices, loyalty can be great issue of concern for a grocery firm. Various loyalty cards and point based reward system can be introduced to ensure the market share to be somewhat stable. UK being a culturally diverse country, a wide range of products such as Indian, Chinese, Caribbean grocery items should be added to attract more customers. The campaign of swap and save can be taken a step further by upgrading the software system. Currently it is showing the price difference on the newspapers and advertisements which should be reflected on the receipt after the shopping to inform the customers personally how much they have saved by shopping in Aldi. References Aldi UK Website (2015)  https://www.aldi.co.uk/ Aldi UK Facebook page (2015). Available at  https://www.facebook.com/AldiUK BBC (2015) Aldi overtakes Waitroses market share. BBC News dated 8th April, 2015. . [Online] Available at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32218170 Emsell, P. (2011) Aldi The No Frills Retailer. University of Huddersfield. [Online] Available at  http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/12404/1/Microsoft_Word_Aldi_case_study_for_Bus_Strategy.pdf KPMG (2014) The Future of the Grocery Sector in the UK. [Online] Available at  http://www.kpmg.com/uk/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/newsreleases/pages/the-future-of-the-grocery-sector-in-the-uk.aspx Lancaster, G., Massingham, L. and Ashford, R. (2002) Essentials of Marketing. Fourth edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Morgan, N., Kaleka, A., and Katsikeas, C. (2004). Antecedents of export venture performance: a theoretical model and empirical assessment. Journal of Marketing 68(1): 90- 108. Ruddick, G. (2012) Billionaire Aldi heir Berthold Albrecht dies at 58. The Telegraph, dated 7th December, 2012. [Online] Available at  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9729434/Billionaire-Aldi-heir-Berthold-Albrecht-dies-at-58.html Rudolph, T., Schlegelmilch, B., Bauer, A., Franch, J. and Meise, J. (eds.) (2012) Diversity in European Marketing: Text and Cases. Germany: Springer Gabler. Voberda, H., Morgan, R., Reinmoeller, P., Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D., Hoskisson, R. (2011) Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalisation, South Western: Cengage Learning. Taylor, C.R. and Lee, D. (2007) Cross-cultural Buyer Behavior. Amsterdam: Elsevier. The Times 100 Business Case Studies (2010). Creating Value through the Market Mix. [Online] Available at  http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/aldi/creating-value-through-the-marketing-mix/introduction.html#axzz3gTvS06RA Thirkell, P. C., and Dau, R. (1998). Export performance: Success Determinants for New Zealand Manufacturing Exporters. European Journal of Marketing, 32(9/10): 813- 829. Wallop, H. (2008) Aldi pledges to open a new store every week. The Telegraph , dated 30th June, 2008. [Online] Available at  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/2792467/Aldi-pledges-to-open-a-new-store-every-week.html Wood, Z (2011) Aldi effect is back: spending squeeze lifts discounter into profit. The Guardian , [Online] Available at  http://www.theguardian.com/business/2011/oct/04/aldi-effect-back-discounter-profit

Creatine Monohydrate Essay -- Supplements Chemistry Creatine Essays

Creatine Monohydrate Creatine monohydrate is a body building supplement. Many athletes and trainers use it to enhance athletic performance. College athletics are an advocate for creatine when it comes to exercising and strength conditioning, But what is creatine? Creatine is a naturally occurring metabolite found in red muscle tissue. It is a powerful ergogenic aid that plays an important role in energizing muscle. Creatine increases the body's ability to do work. It is high powered and generates the muscles ultimate energy source - ATP (adenosine triphosphate)- ATP produces the contractions of a muscle's proteins. When muscles are performing work ATP is being broken down into ADP (adenosine diphosphate) and energy is given off. The ATP being used usually lasts 10 - 15 seconds. After that the muscle depends on creatine phosphate to restock the ATP. Creatine acts as a reserve for the ATP. Therefore increased amounts of creatine will allow the body to supply ATP at a faster rate. Which, in turn allows an individual to workout longer and maintain a high level of strength. With creatine as a supple)-nent the body is exposed 4 grams of creatine per kilogram. Red meats give 1 gram of creatine per large serving. These increased amounts of creatine slow the possibility of fatigue. Creatine promotes the synthesis of protein, which promotes muscle growth. The loading phase consists of 5 grams 4 - 6 times a day for the first 5 to 7 days. 'f his should be accompanied by at least I hour of exercise. The load should then be reduced after a week to no more than IO grams per day. This is what most of the stores that sell the creatine will tell vou because there aim is to sell the product. Since the product has been... ...ur best bet because it has been proved that loading is not necessary. While creatine is being taken it is necessary that the individual remains hydrated during the early cycles extra water is taken into the cells when creatine enters and this causes minor water retention- This water retention has been related to cramps and heat intolerance. The majority of the advocates for creatine didn't report any side effects. In most instances when the question was raised, the articles said, "Yes, it's safe. No negative side effects noted in research with recommended levels of supplement." All of these people were involved with sales and advertisement of the product also. An article on a review of creatine was the most effective in providing insight on creatine because it didn't have anything to do with promotions of it. Creatine is safe, it is pure and it works!

Strategy and Serendipity: A Billion †Dollar Bonanza management case study

Mini Case 2: Strategy and Serendipity: A Billion – Dollar Bonanza Key Issue / Problem – Serendipity on how two modern drugs were discovered. – Realising a strategy turnout from a serendipity.Analysis – Researcher develop a new drug for the heart disease, as the drug were a cure for MED, the manager in Pfizer strategise this and make a this unintended results to into a blockbuster drug.Alternatives – Smart planning of changing a failure of a research into an alternative of curing another disease.Key decision to make – Although a drug discovered to treat drug disease became a failure, and turn out to solve MED problem, thus a new strategy to utilise it have to be made Capabilities – An unintended strategy, which were to cure the heart disease, turn out as s serendipity of curing a another dysfunction, and able to generate income of $3 billion dollar per year. Decision Criteria– The strategy of the unintended plan turn out to be a huge sum of turnover. Stakeholders – The investors, researchers, patients.Resources – The managers of Pfizer, reseachers, Implementation plan – To always have a alternative for a strategy which is still under testing. Vision / Mission / Objectives – To create a drug to overcome heart disease – To overcome a mistake, and make a seredipity out of it.Assumption – The smart team on how they able to strategise the need to the new drug for the MED and generate cash flow stream out of it. Discussion QuestionQuestion 1Serendipity is random from my point of view. Occurrence of this is not predicted or there might be not any proven statistic of the occurrence figure. Serendipity means a â€Å"happy accident† or â€Å"pleasant surprise†; a fortunate mistake. Specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.Question 2Strategic initiative is any activity a pursues to explore and develop a new product and process into new markets. In this case, it has been said to be an unrealised strategy for both Viagra and Cialis. The management initiated their new venture into a drug to overcome a heart disease, and it turn to be a cure for ME, where they have the same market, which is the medical drug supply, but for a different purpose. With its huge demand around the globe, these occurrences have become a serendipity for them.Question 3The model that explains Viagra/Cialis story is scenario planning. In this model, the managers envisions different what if scenario. In the analysis stage, they will be able to brainstorm and identify the possible future scenarios to anticipate plausible futures. This is what shows in the case study above, as the turnout from a strategy of marketing a heart disease drug was a failure, they turned it into a alternative for MED cure disease. The serendipity there is because the drug was able to use for MED. IF, the drug was a failure, then they ha ve must have already planned or strategize something to overcome the losses.Question 4No, the story of Viagra/Cialis will not inspire me to design a strategic management process. I will not be hoping for serendipity happens if my strategy fails, and the utilising the failure as an alternative. I will only plan for a strategy which is practical on that moment and prepare for possible future scenario using different simulations. If something happens as this case, then I would use this opportunity to make use of it and cover the loss for my failure, in a simple way saying it to hedge my position.

Gunns Case Study

The PESTEL framework below analyses the environment in which Gunns Ltd. operates by identifying the forces that have the most impact on Gunns performance: Political factors: The Commonwealth and state government environmental support for the pulp mill project had been achieved in 2007, despite bitter public opposition.This is a very strong support from the Government in order to utilize Australia’s expanded forest resource, as there is a significant increase in hardwood pulpwood availability projected and Australia’s hardwood pulpwood currently processed onshore less than 7%. â€Å"Plantation 2020†, a partnership between the Governments of Australia, was established in 1997, although its Vision 2020 had been established as part of the National Forest Policy Statement in 1992.Vision 2020 aimed to treble the area of tree crops by 2020. The Government also expected continued economic growth, especially in Asia-Pacific region. It is also recommended that Vision 2020 might maximize potential economic and environmental benefits of plantations through market development that would attract more private investment The Australian Government recognized that its proposed Emissions Trading Scheme could lead to a loss of competitiveness for trade-exposed firms.In response, in late 2009, the Australian Government committed $19 million to address four areas of importance to the industry (Creation of ForestWorks as the Forest Industry Skills Council, Development of a forest industry database, addressing climate change impacts on forestry, Assisting industry value-adding) Economic factors: Since ANZ had withdrawn funding in May 2008, under public pressure, and the Global Financial Crisis had made investment funds even more difficult to access. In 2008 and 2009, many projects for new capacity were either cancelled or put on hold due to financing difficulties.Since 1997 more than 0. 5 million hectares of new MIS plantations had been established. Plantations ha d largely been established with private capital through managed investment schemes (MIS) encouraged by favorable tax treatment. Whereby investors paid tax on returns when timber was sold and the MIS paid tax on scheme profits. This allows deductions for investments upfront while deferring tax. Australia had developed an Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) to provide consumers with an independent assessment of claims about the sustainability of forest management in Australia.However, there was a strong pressure to adopt AFS as it was more relaxed about the logging of native forests, which was generally not permitted under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Social factors: The Australian industry had employed over 19000 people in predominantly rural and regional communities, mainly working for seven major domestic and international companies. It was an important customer for the domestic forestry industry. Environmental factors:While the Australian industry had historically been char acterized by ageing equipment and lower than world average capacities, capital investment and product development had enabled productivity gains that supported ongoing competitiveness and a reduction in the industry’s environmental footprint such as: * Greenhouse gas emissions and energy intensity had improved by 22% and 28% respectively since 1990, just under 30% of energy consumption derived from renewable sources * Environmental regulation and market demand for chlorine-free products had driven the industry to find alternatives to chlorine as a bleaching agent such as elemental chlorine-free and totally chlorine-free pulp. The quantity of water used per unit of output in the worldwide pulp and paper industry had nearly halved from that used in 1990, but the Australian industry savings were even greater * The maximum speed of most paper machines was estimated at 2000 meters per minute in 2005, compared with only 1600 meters per minute in 1995 Legal factors: Plantation fores try was one of the most highly regulated rural industries in Australia. All states and territory governments had codes of practice and/or guidelines for plantation management that conformed to the principles of sustainable development and took into account key regional characteristics such as cultural heritage and specific environmental impacts. ( 8 Federal Acts).These factors will create a safe protection and assistance for Gunns Ltd with its projects * Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conversation Act 1999 * Export Control Act 1982 * Native Title Act 1993 * Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 * Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987 (for Victoria_ * Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1999 (for Victoria) Competitors’ analysis It is suggested that Gunns includes very high pulp and paper production and processing costs relative to other international countries such as Brazil and China, which means that the company is unable to compete effectively and sustainably in t hese markets (Samuel, 2010).China and Brazil are two emerging countries that are low cost production company. They are heavily subsidized, with access to much better and innovative technologies. In addition, their pulp and paper industries are heavily subsidized, they have different approaches to taxation and are subject to less onerous environmental regulations (Samuel, 2010). Especially, China has recently been rapidly becoming the largest global tissue manufacturer and consumer. They also had plans to install over 20 million tonnes of highly modern, efficient processing capacity to around 60 million tonnes per year and become the lowest cost producer which putting much more pressure on Gunns Ltd. Samuel, D. (2010).Case 1: Gunns and the Australian Pulp and Paper Manufacturing Industry. Final Recommendation After considering all alternatives, it is recommended that Gunns Ltd should undertake a joint venture with a company specializing in low-cost pulp and paper production. Although this is the most costly and time-consuming alternative since it requires intense negotiations between both parties as well as the divestment of Gunns’ non-core assets in order to become attractive, it will greatly assist the company in growing, funding its Bell Bay pulpwood mill and ensuring the successful operation of this project (Business Link, 2011; Gale, 2011; Morningstar, 2011g).In addition, the joint venture recommendation will provide Gunns with the significantly great benefits and synergies as it will allow the company to gain sustainable competitive advantage by growing faster, generating greater earnings and having greater access to the other company’s resources and established markets and distribution channels (Business Link, 2011). Extra notes on Internal Analysis part: Gunns’ core competencies are in forestry establishment and management, plantation management and downstream timber processing and sale (Gunns, 2011b; Lonsec, 2009). After conducting a SWOT analysis of Gunns, it was found that their main strength was having a highly diversified and vertically integrated corporate structure (Gunns, 2011b; Lonsec, 2009). This corporate structure is very robust and allows the company to have greater capacity in controlling access to inputs along with controlling the cost, quality and delivery time of those inputs (The Economist, 2011).As a result of its highly diversified and robust corporate structure, Gunns is able to earn much greater revenue from their diverse business activities in comparison to their competitors (Lonsec, 2009). Extra notes on Strategic Alternatives: Alternatively, Gunns should demerge their non-core businesses of providing finance, road maintenance and construction, winery management and marketing services (Yahoo Finance, 2011). The proceeds from the demerger should help reduce the company’s debt levels and allow the company to better focus on strengthening their core competencies and pursuing growth opportunities in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage (Investopedia, 2010).The demerger is also likely to have a positive impact on Gunns’ low share price (Chappell, 2011; Investopedia, 2010). References Business Link (2011). Benefits of Joint Ventures. Retrieved October 11, 2011 from http://www. businesslink. gov. uk/bdotg/action/layer? r. i=1075411648&r. l1 =1074404796&r. l2=1074404799&r. l3=1073864682&r. s=sc&r. t=RESOURCES&topicId=1073864682 Chappell, T. (2011). Foster’s Demerger Lifts Takeover Chance. Retrieved October 10, 2011 from http://news. smh. com. au/breaking-news-business/fosters-demerger-lifts-takeover-chance-20110317-1byf1. html Gale, F. (2011). Gunns Heading for its Tasmanian Endgame. Retrieved October 11, 2011 from http://theconversation. edu. u/gunns-heading-for-its-tasmanian-endgame-3241 Gunns (2011b). Our Businesses. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://www. gunns. com. au/ Investopedia (2011). Debt-to-Equity Ratio. Retrieved September 30, 2011 from http://www. investopedia. com/terms/d/debtequityratio. asp#axzz1ZPjpPQif Morningstar (2011g). Stock Research: Gunns Ltd. Retrieved October 11, 2011 from http://www. morningstar. com. au/Stocks/Research/20110601/GNS The Economist (2011). Vertical Integration. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www. economist. com/node/13396061 Yahoo Finance (2011). Gunns Ltd Profile. Retrieved October 10, 2011 from http://au. finance. yahoo. com/q/pr? s=GNS. AX