How to Pay for College Complete Guide

How to Pay for College Complete Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You did all the work of getting into your dream schools - researching the colleges, visiting campuses, getting great test scores, putting together a polished application - and still have to deal with one major obstacle: paying for college. Few students canpay for a full year at college without some assistance, but almost 2 million students graduate with a bachelor’s degree each year in the US - they must be paying for school somehow, right? Whether you’re a high school student or a current undergraduate, it’s never too early (or too late) to think about minimizing your college costs to make school more affordable. In this post, I’ll go through everything you need to know about how to pay for college. I’ll start off by talking about what college actually costs before moving into application strategies, figuring out how much money you need, how much aid you can get, and how much you should actually be paying. We'll cover all the major ways to pay for college that families usually use. At the end, I’ll offer some more creative options for closing the gap between your financial need and your actual cost. First, How Much Does College Cost? The first step in understanding how to pay for collegeis having a good understanding of what your expenses will be. For the 2014-2015 academic year, the average cost of tuition and fees for one year was: $31,231 at private colleges $9,139 for state residents at public colleges $22,958 for out-of-state residents at public colleges This is the cost that people typically consider when they think of college expenses. Unfortunately, there’s a lot more to the picture than just tuition costs - there are also hidden or implicit expenses associated with spending a year at college. These other annual expenses include: Room and board - averages $,188 at private colleges, $8,804 at public colleges College textbooks - average cost is about $1,200 Travel costs - these will vary widely based on the student Lab fees and supplies - these will come to about $50 per class if they're not already rolled into fees Personal expenses - most students budget about $2,000/year to cover personal costs like toiletries and entertainment Lumping together all of these expenses (if you can estimate travel and personal expenses) will give you a school’s real sticker price - the Cost of Attendance. It’s pretty easy to get an estimate of a school’s CoA- just google â€Å"[school name] cost of attendance.† While it's important to know a school's CoA, perhaps a more important figure to know is your "net price" -it’s what you pay after all financial aid is taken into account. This is what you actually owe, out of pocket, for a year at school. Want to estimate your net price at a particular school? Just google â€Å"[school name] net price calculator† - many schools have tools that will give you an estimate of how much you’ll pay out of pocket. These calculators take financial need and sometimes merit-based factors into account. Minimizing Costs With Your College Applications Cutting costs can be as simple as applying to the right schools - make paying for college easier from the beginning. If you’re applying to collegeswith price in mind, your strategy should focus on lowest net price, not necessarily lowest sticker price. Apply broadly so that you can consider as many options as possible. You have nothing to lose by applying to a wide range of schools, aside from application fees. If these fees are an issue, ask your guidance counselor about fee waivers. Once you've been accepted to schools,you’ll receive official financial aid packages. You can then determine which packages you’re most comfortable with (I'll go through some example financial aid packages at the end of the post). Once you start looking over different financial aid offers, you might notice that not all types of aid are created equal. Just because a financial aid package will cover all your â€Å"unmet need† doesn’t mean that it will do so in a way that you’ll find helpful (for example, an aid offer might offer large high-interest loans). Look over each package carefully to determine how much money you’ll actually pay, both now and in the future. Example: Aschool that offers you 5k in grants and 40k in high-interest loans (45k total) will have you paying much more in the long run than a school that offers you 25k in grants, 10k in low-interest loans, and 5k in high-interest loans (40k total). In general,grants and scholarships tend to be better aid options than low-interest loans or federal work-study. High-interest loans are the least desirable forms of aid. You don't have to pay back grant or scholarship money, but you do have to pay back your school loans (and high-interest loans cost you more in the long run than low-interest ones). How Do You Figure Out How Much You Need to Pay for College? Now may be a good time to whip out your trusty TI-84. There are a few different steps to figuring out how much aid you’ll need in order to afford college: 1. How Much Will School Cost? Your total expenses will depend on where you decide to go to school, whether you're living in a dorm, and what sort of travel and personal expenses you'll need to account for. Use the info aboveand this guide to get a good estimate of what your sticker price will be. 2. What Can You Afford? Your family’s idea of what you can afford may differ from what schools and the Department of Education think you can afford. To address this discrepancy, I have two strategies to figuring out what your family can contribute to college costs: an "unofficial" (perhaps more realistic) one, and an official one. Theunofficialstrategy will tell you what your family can reasonably contribute, whereas the official strategy tells you what you may beexpected to contribute. The "Unofficial" Strategy Sit down with your parents/guardians and crunch some numbers. Schools often expect families to contribute at least 10% of annual income to college costs, even if schools themselves can’t offer enough aid to cover the difference. What would it mean for your family if they had to contribute 10% to your college expenses for four years? What if they were asked to contribute more than 10%? The "Official" Strategy Use the FAFSA4caster to estimate your federal aid eligibility. The tool will spit out a number called an EFC, or Expected Family Contribution - this is the figure that the FAFSA4caster has determined your family can afford to pay. The more accurate the info you enter into the FAFSA4caster, the more accurate your EFC will be. When you submit the real FAFSA, the federal government will use the application to determine aid eligibility. Many schools also use the FAFSA to award their own need-based aid. 3. What's the Difference Between What You Can Afford and What You Owe? The final step in determining how much aid you need is figuring out the difference between your CoA (cost of attendance) and the amount you can comfortably afford. The difference will be the amount that (ideally) you can get covered with financial aid, including grants, loans, and scholarships. Anything that remains â€Å"uncovered† is your responsibility to pay. For example, if a school’s CoA is 50k and you get 20k in grants and 20k in federal subsidized loans, 10k will be your responsibility. You can pay the amount that year, take out private loans or PLuS loans, or a combination thereof. How Much Financial Aid Can You Get? Let's figure out how much money you can get your hands on. Unfortunately, just because you have demonstrated financial need doesn’t mean you can get that need covered at any school you wish to go to. Most college students in the US get some help paying for college, but the amount of money you can get will depend on quite a few different factors. In this section, I'll talk about the main variables that affect how much aid you can get and the different ways to pay for college. Financial Need The greater your demonstrated financial need, the more aid you're likely to get. Students with exceptional financial need may beeligiblefor federal programs like the Pell Grant or Perkins loan. Need-based scholarships, like the Gates Millennium Scholarship program, are also viable funding options. Finally, schools that offer need-based aid will award more funds to students with greater need. Your Choice of School Put simply; top-rated schools tend to have more money, which means they can offer more generous financial aid packages. Some schools even claim to cover all unmet financial need. Whether you attend a public or private college will also affect your net costs. Private schools tend to cost more than public in terms of sticker price, but they tend to have better financial aid programs. Public schools are relatively inexpensive for state residents, but can be very pricey for out-of-state applicants. Merit The greater your strengths, the more opportunities you'll have for educational funding. Merit-based institutional aid is often offered in the form of sports scholarships or academic scholarships (for students with high grades or SAT/ACT scores). Not all schools offer merit-based aid, but some do in order to attract high-caliber applicants. Merit-based scholarships are also good funding options for ambitious students. Many private scholarships give out awards based on GPA, test scores, community service, and leadership experience. Being a high performer in any of these areas will help your college applications, but they’ll also help your scholarship applications. Initiative Ultimately, access to many of these financial opportunities comes down to initiative and personal organization. One of the most important ways initiative comes into play is when it comes to keeping track of (and meeting) deadlines - you won't be able to get any forms of financial aid if you don't have an organized timeline. To give you a bit of a head start, I've compiled important deadlines so that you can maximize your aid opportunities: Federal FAFSA deadline -For the 2015-2016 academic year, the federal FAFSA deadline is June 30, 2016. The earlier you apply, the better - you don't want funds for certain programs to run out. For the 2016-2017 academic year, the FAFSA will open January 1, 2016. State FAFSA deadline - These deadlines vary be state. If you're interested in qualifying for state funding (you should be interested), check the FAFSA deadline for your state. CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE deadline - The PROFILE is an aid applications that some schools use in lieu of (or in addition to) the FAFSA. Deadlines vary by school, so check with the colleges you're applying to if you know you'll have to submit a PROFILE. Check this list of participating schools and programs for more info. Scholarship deadlines -Deadlines for different scholarship programs vary widely. If you do plan on applying for scholarships, you may as well go all out and apply to as many as possible. Many scholarships ask for similar things from applicants: a personal statement, transcripts, ACT/SAT scores, letters of rec., etc. Check out our list of top scholarships to get an idea of typical scholarship deadlines. For more information on applying for financial aid, check out our step-by-step guide. How Much Should You Pay for College Out-of-Pocket? How much is too much to pay in cash and loans? So we've gone through strategies for minimizing costs, determining need, and calculating likely aid. What we haven't covered yet is perhaps the most important question you should ask yourself before committing to a particular school: how much should you pay, both in cash up front and in loans after graduation, for your education?If you have the opportunity to attend one of your target schools or even reach schools, but the financial aid package isn’t as great as you expected, what do you do? Is it worth it to pay more than you can afford to attend that college? I can't give you a clear answer to these questions,but I can give you some information that will help you figure them out for yourself: 1. Attending a Better School Leads to Better Networking and Career Opportunities More prestigious or better-ranked schools often have stronger alumni networks andrecruitingevents. A diploma from a better school is also a better "signal" to future employers or graduate schools. Ultimately, you may earnmore money in the long run if you attend a high-ranking college. There are a few caveats to keep in mind, however. First, you may not equate a higher salary with success, especially if you don't plan on pursuing a high-earning career. Second, a college degree on its own (regardless of where you go to school) is correlated with higher earnings. Finally, income is probably more strongly associated with your choice of career than it is with your choice of college. For example, students who graduate in math/science fields tend to earn more than other students. 2. Student Loan Debt Can Limit Your Future Choices Loans often have a grace period (a period of time after graduation where you don’t yet have to make payments), but after this grace period, looming student debt can limit your career options. Things like travel, unpaid internships, or volunteer work may be out of the question if you have to make hefty monthly loan payments. If you have severe financial problems later in life and declare bankruptcy (where all your debts are forgiven - you start with a clean slate, but your credit is destroyed), student loans are essentiallynon-dischargeable. Even if you face extreme financial hardships through no fault of your own, student debt is notoriously sticky, and usually, won’t be canceled by bankruptcy. In sum, student debt is a commitment. The more loans you take out, the more your debt will affect the rest of your life choices. 3. Student Loan Debt Can Be Flexible, and Even Forgivable There are different repayment plan options for recent grads who aren’t making much money, including income-based and graduated repayment plans. You pay more in the long run, but monthly payments are smaller when you’re younger and aren’t making as much money. This affords you a degree of flexibility. Additionally,you usually don’t have to make payments on your loans if you are in graduate school. Finally,some student loans can be forgiven or canceled if you work in certain public service careers. This means you can pursue a (relatively) low-paying career option without worrying about paying back student debt. How Do You Determine Your Willingness to Pay? The right amount to pay out-of-pocket for college will depend on what you’re ultimately comfortable with. Some questions to consider before deciding what you’re okay paying for school, both now (in cash) and in the future (with student loan payments) include: Will this school offer you unparalleled networking/professional opportunities, or can you get similar opportunities somewhere less expensive? Does this school offer an especially strong program in a field I want to pursue? How much do you (realistically) anticipate earning in the 5-10 years after you graduate? Based on your career path, what will you be able to afford in terms of monthly student loan payments? Are there ways to cut down personal costs/expenses to lower your cost of attendance? What sacrifices are you willing to make, and what sacrifices are out of the question? Can you get a student job to mitigate some of your costs? Would getting a student job negatively impact your studies? Last, but not least: how does this amount of debt or expense make you feel? If you anticipate burdened or overwhelmed to the extent that your quality of life is negatively affected, is the expense worth it? Only you know the answers to these questions. I encourage you to be thoughtful and honest with yourself - the costs and benefits of attending a particular school are long-lasting and far-reaching. Paying for college is an investment in yourself and in your future, but you want the investment to be premeditated and purposeful. If you’re dead-set on attending a particular school that’s a little pricier than you’d like, read on for tips on making college a bit more affordable. Creative Ways to Pay for School Let's get the creative juices flowing. There are other ways to get money for college besides federal and institutional financial aid. If you have a bit of time on your hands, these next options could help you make college more affordable. Scholarships You can start applying for scholarships any time - you don’t even have to be in high school! Many of the bigger scholarships, though, are targeted towards graduating high school seniors. Before you even apply to colleges, start checking out scholarship options, ideally sometime during your junior year. There are so many scholarship options out there - big and small - that could make a world of a difference. To start your scholarship search, check out our guides to the top awards for high school juniors and high school seniors. Student Jobs This won’t be right for everyone, but a student job can be a practical (and sometimes even fun) way to cover some of your expenses. Students with federal work study awards, in particular, will have plenty of on-campus job options. Ideally, you can get both professional career experience AND some extra cash. Paying for College: Reals Now that we've gone through everything you need to know about paying for college, from cost-minimization strategies to creative cost solutions, we can put everything together to see examples in action. I'll present two different examples to reflect two different, but realistic, situations. For each example, I'll walk through different payment options for each (hypothetical) student. Example 1 In this example, a high-achieving Arizona student from a relatively wealthy family has received a financial aid offer from Arizona State University. Remember when we went over factors that affect aid? We know that she's applied to an in-state public school, she's high-merit, and she has relatively low financial need. The first two factors will positively affect the amount of aid she receives, whereas the last factor will negatively impact her aid. Here's an idea of what her aid offer would look like: Her net price - what her family would have to pay out-of-pocket for all expenses - comes to $14,260 for the year. She's responsible for paying this entire amount if she wants to register for classes at ASU. She has a few options when it comes to tackling this expense: If her family can afford to do so, they could pay the entire $14,260 for the year. This would be less expensive than taking out loans in the long run because the student wouldn't be responsible for accruing interest charges. The student could take out the entire amount in loans. If she did this for all 4 years of college, her debt would come to about $60,000 - more than twice the average amount of US student debt. She may be able to take out some low-interest federal loans to mitigate these costs. The student's family could pay some amount in cash, and the student could take out the remaining balance in loans. The student could apply for merit-based scholarships, and get part or all of her net price covered. If a balance remains after winning scholarships, the student could pay with cash; she could take out loans, or she could cover the balance with some combination of cash and loans. The student could get a student job and pay down some of her net balance while she's in school. It would be very difficult, however, to earn almost 15k/year while shes's also a full-time student - 2-3k would be a reasonable goal. Keep in mind that if this student were not high-achieving, she likely wouldn't have earned the ASU scholarship. Her net price would have been $27,260 instead of $14,260 - her good grades and ACT/SAT scores saved her $13,000 in her first year of college. Example 2 In this example, a high-achieving California student from a relatively low-income family has received a financial aid offer from Stanford University. We know that he's applied to a top private school with a high sticker price but a generous financial aid program, he's high-merit, and he has high financial need. All three factors will positively impact the amount of aid he receives. Here's an idea of what his aid offer would look like: His net price comes to $5,000 a year, even though the total cost of attendance is a staggering $64,900. He has a few options when it comes to paying this annual expense: His family may pay part or all of his net cost. Given that he comes from a lower-income family, however, they may not be able to afford this. He could apply for need-based or merit-based scholarships. Even if he got several smaller scholarships, he could cover a significant part (or even all) of this annual cost. He could get a student job to cover these expenses. If he got paid work during the summer and the school year, it wouldn't be unmanageable to pay 5k per year. He could take out student loans to cover part or all of his expenses. Given that his family is low-income, he would likely qualify for low-interest federal loans. Even if he took out 5k loans for 4 years of college, his student debt at graduation would be lower than that of the average US graduate. What's Next? Excited to start budgeting for college? Of course, you're not - it's like the least fun part. Even though it's not exactly thrilling, it doesn't have to be painful. Your first stop should be our clear guide to what college actually costs. Your next stop should be prepping for financial aid applications. Read our guides to applying for financial aid and submitting a FAFSA. Ready for something a little more fun? Check out our guides to the top scholarship programs for high school juniors and seniors. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Financial Analysis of a Publicly-Traded Company Research Paper

Financial Analysis of a Publicly-Traded Company - Research Paper Example However, after conversion of preferred stock held by the US government into a common stock, US government is the largest stakeholder of the company to the tune of over $25 billion (Stempel, 2009). Q.2 Identify the five (5) forces of competition and how it impacts the company. Porter's five forces of competition describe Citigroup’s relative standing in the financial market and the impact these forces may crate on the company can be elaborated under the following heads (Porter, 2008). Threat of Entry from Other organizations Banking business requires huge resources and credibility to begin with and that will surely create an entry barrier for a new entrant. The economies of scale go in favor of the Citi as that helps Citi to provide the services to the consumers at affordable cost. There is always a moderate threat from overseas players to enter in the niche area of Citi. Supplier Power Citi is in the business of financial services. Deposit holders provide huge chunk of capital to the Citi. In most of the cases, they do not have any bargaining power as they are in millions scattered all around and individually too small to dictate any terms. Currently, money flows globally and forward and backward integration of the companies in financial service business can create some turbulent times to the Citigroup but that applies to all firms within the financial market. Buyer Power Being in the financial services business, retail buyers do not have any bargaining power as such and they need to buy as per the market offerings. It is true that business moves in favor of the market-driven company but buyers bargaining power in the financial sector is not substantial to tilt the scale against the companies in this sector. Institutional buyers are the informed buyers and they do possess bargaining power to a certain extent because they buy in bulk; however, that bargaining power is not always one-sided. Financial products are inherently complex in nature and buyers hav e limited capacity to understand them though they do get substitutes in the market. This factor is not likely to affect much to the company like Citigroup. Rivalry Factor There are numerous competitors in the financial services business in retail and the institutional sectors; however, brand equity is superb in case of Citi. Mergers and acquisition is a common phenomenon in the financial sector. Size of the corporation does matter and Citigroup is one of the giant in the financial sector business so that is always a plus point for the company. Usually, companies change the hands but do no prefer to exit completely as sector offers lucrative business opportunities in the long run. Product differentiation is always possible to carve a suitable niche for the company and Citi has been doing the same for several decades. Substitution Threats Due to numerous players in the financial service sector business, substitute products are always available and the consumers weigh them with all pro s and cons. Citi also faces the issue of

Conference Diplomacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Conference Diplomacy - Essay Example In layman's term, diplomacy can be defined as the friendly way of kissing and making up whenever two countries have disputes in order to avoid the perils of war. The following paragraphs explains the nuances of conference diplomacy and its relations to negotiators' values or perceptions (Hughes,2002 : p.173) Conference diplomacy is a necessary action for international peace to prosper(Richardson, 1995: p. 205). War lives in the hearts of traditional paradigms. No one can forget the horrors of Hitler's German Army that had murdered many Jews in its concentration camp(Kaplan, 1998: p. 145). No one can also forget the long Great Britain war against the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Had Diplomacy been used, there would have been peace pervading the air in these European Countries. Many well known figures were recognized for their diplomacy to use peace actions in the pursuit of their individual and community goals while others specifically wage war to impose their beliefs and traditions. Some of these peace diplomats are the charismatic and personalities like Gautam Buddha, Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi. All these three renounced the use of war or force and instead preached that diplomacy was the best way to win an argument or misunderstanding. Also, the North Korean - United States nuclear diplomatic talks prove that conference diplomacy may facilitate negotiation for it did not change negotiators' values or perceptions. North Korea used its nuclear reactor facilities in Yongbyon as one of its ace cards to force the United States to provide security assurances and political and economic ties to North Korea. But for three years, the U.S. did now WANT to engage itself in an on-going diplomatic give and take with North Korea. The U.S. wanted North Korea to comply with It first insisted I.A.E.A conditions as before talks could begin. During the U.S. -North Korea Talks, the U.S. did not want to state what it would give in return for North Korea's dismantling its nuclear weapons. Furthermore, when the U.S. and North Korea talks concluded with conditions imposed on the U.S. and North Korea, the U.S. did not comply with their diplomatic agreements. The U.S. stated that its compliance was dependent on other nations to fulfill them . Furthermore, North Korea's volatile and ever- changing government leadership was one of the causes of their failed diplomatic agreements. To help, Seoul, South Korea supplied the lubricant needed to keep the U.S. North Korea nuclear talks open(Sigal, 1998: p.168).Furthermore, many diplomacy- inclined persons think that with a world that cannot be changed, many reasonable persons adapt and accommodate these unavoidable changes(Watson, 1991: p. 40). These people decided to group together in diplomacy to make peace a reality. After many years of war against each other such as World War I and World War II. The first steering committee met to agree on a global action to prevent war, This is an international coalition to abolish armed conflict and genocide. They predicted that diplomacy among nations can result to gradual dismantling of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. Their diplomacy centers on removing all capacity to attack another country(De-Magalhes, 1988, p. 101). In fact, global

Marketing Mix Of Nestle Organization

Marketing Mix Of Nestle Organization (Armstrong and Kotler, 2001) â€Å"The Marketing mix is a set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market†. This is mainly used by organizations to increase the demand of their products in the market by understanding the customer wants (Jobber, 2001). Most of the marketing practitioners regard marketing mix as a tool for transaction marketing and the archetype for operational marketing planning. (Gronroos, 1994:347) Elements of Marketing Mix (Armstrong and Kotler, 2001). MANAGING THE MARKETING MIX Customer Wants Marketing Mix Variables Managing the Marketing Mix (Baker, 1999:302) The above figure describes how a company could by research and successful adaptation can understand and develop products to match the customers requirements. According to Baker (1999: 303), by understanding and matching the needs of the customers efficient management of marketing mix is possible. COMPONENTS OF MARKETING MIX-Impact -Positive and Negative PRODUCT Kotler and Armstrong (2001) define a product as any entity that can be offered to a market by a company for attention, acquisition, consumption or use that might satisfy the needs of their customers. Product Mix Product mix is the total range of products that are manufactured by a company. The major aspects to be considered in product mix are explained below. Variety: Nestle offers a wide product mix that comprises of food, health and nutrition products to meet the customer needs. Nestle offers its products in the following categories: Bottled water, Baby foods, Breakfast cereals, Chocolate and confectionery, Coffee, Dairy products, Drinks, Ice cream, In the Kitchen, Nestle Professional, Nutrition and Health, Pet care. Quality: Nestle is well known for the quality and taste of its products. Nestle Believes that â€Å"Success is built on Quality†. Design: As its variety range, Nestle also has a greater range of design. Nestle make sure all their new products look different and attractive. Features: Nestle have made sure that all their products have special features to make it more attractive to the customers. For example: In case of their ice creams, they have tried to include the special feature that is the low fat and sugar content. Brand name: A strong brand name is important for both the company and the consumers as it adds to the value of the company, differentiates the products from those of its competitors and affects the consumer discernment of the company (Jobber 2007:328). A strong brand name also acts as a source of quality certification and can influence consumer preferences of products. Nestle, through its strong brand name and market presence has captured the heart of the customers worldwide. In the present health- conscious society, Nestle has captivated a loyal customer base through its focus on nutrition and health requirements and consumer preferences at a competitive price and it has enhanced the reputation of the company. â€Å"A Nestle brand name on a product is a promise to the customer that it is safe to consume, that it complies with all regulations and that it meets high standards of quality† Packaging: Packaging involves designing and developing a cover for a product in order to make it attractive to the consumers. Packaging was just a means for protecting the product in the past, but today increase in competition has resulted in the need to differentiate the product from those of its competitors to attract the customers and to describe the features of the product in order to gain consumer recognition. Poor designs can be one of the reasons for reduction in sales of a product due to less customer satisfaction. Nestle uses very attractive packaging as one of their main marketing strategies. For its efforts, Nestle has won several accolades such as the Silver Star and â€Å"Best in category† as â€Å"Best Packaging Innovation leading to a significant reduction in household waste† by the British Institute of Packaging for the Dairy Box biodegradable tray which is manufactured by using renewable resources. PROMOTION Stanton and Futrell (1987:418), describe promotion as an important element of marketing mix which aims in informing and persuading the market about the products and services of the company. According to Baker (1999, 310) the method of communicating the product offer which is made by a company to match the needs of the customers and to persuade them to try the product is Promotion. They feel that the significance of promotion increases when the distance between the producers and customers increase and as the number of customers increase. Promotion activity does not depend on the demand; even if the demand is high promotional activities should go on in order to keep the manufacturers name before the customers. Nestle uses promotion as one of the major source to reach their customers to make them aware of the value of different products introduced in the market. Nestle adopts a promotion mix with a perfect blend of several different promotion tools to promote the value of its product and make the customers aware of their products. Promotion Tools PERSONAL SELLING: According to Stanton and Futrell (1987: 418), personal selling is mainly used when the market is geographically concentrated (Few customers) and when the products are custom made. It is defined as a face to face communication with buyers in the aim of pursuing the customers to purchase by Simon(). Its a one to one marketing. Tele marketing, door drops inserts, Door to door selling are all techniques used in personal selling. Nestle uses personal selling for specialized and sophisticated products. ADVERTISING: Advertising according to Groucutt (2005:215) is to communicate to a specific audience to stimulate action and its success is in the way the right information reaches the right person at the right time. Majaro (1993) says that advertising is any paid form non-personal communication of products, services or ideas through a commercial media. (Stanton and Futrell, 1987) Promotion through advertising is mainly done when the market is geographically dispersed or when the product is standardized. Nestlà ©s advertisements are well known in the market and they have made sure that the advertisements are attractive through all the possible media. Nestle also uses internet to promote their products, where they have different websites hosted for different products. Different strategies for each product like online competitions and distributions. HOW ADVERTISING WORKS Tim Ambler and Demetrios Vakratsas have formulated a framework for studying how advertising works for a company. How Advertising Works (Ambler, Vakratsas 1999:26) They have considered the input to be advertising own and competitive brands. Scheduling the media and message contents are the motivation factors or triggers the consumers response. â€Å"Cognition, the ‘thinking dimension of a persons response, and affect, the ‘feeling dimension, are portrayed as two major intermediate advertising effects† (Ambler, Vakratsas, 1999:26) SALES PROMOTION: Sales promotion represents non- media campaigns such as sampling displays, shows, exhibitions and contests (Majaro, 1993:35). Stanton and Futrell (1987:418) believes that sales promotions one of the fastest growing promotional methods these days. Free samples, Money off coupons, extra value offers buy one get one free, bundling, privilege points are all different methods used in sales promotion. Nestle also uses sales promotion as one of their promotion tools by offering programmes like every day eating coupon codes and discounts and offers for online shopping on nestle products. PUBLICITY: Publicity is a promotional method where the organization is not paying for the communication about its products and is benefiting from it (Stanton and Futrell 1987:419). This occurs either through a non-personal news story appearing in a mass medium or is delivered by a person in an interview or a speech. Publicity is achieved mainly through public relations activities. According to Jobber (2007) sponsorship provides more opportunities for publicity in the media. Nestle is a well known brand in the market and its fame describes its publicity and the further publicity occurs during various interviews of officials of Nestle. Publicity for Nestle also occurs during the launch of every new product and when the annual sale reports are published. This publicity obtained by Nestle is not by paying any of the media. Nestle, public relation activities is evident from how they try to communicate with government organizations as well as the customers about the different issues that they face. Through public relations Nestle try to bring to the attention of all the customers and organizations concerned about various issues and the current approach they are taking towards these issues. PRICE Price is defined as the value of a product that we get in return for all the effort that was taken for its production and also for marketing of the same product. Price is the revenue earner so it is considered as the odd one in the marketing mix. It is also considered as an important market tool which is visible to both customers and competitors (Baker 1985). The price of a product depends on a number of factors like, changes in technology, effect of suppliers, competitive pressure and the increasing price sensitivity of the customers. Price is also directly dependent on the demand of the product. If the demands increase the price will also increase and vice versa. Consumers generally show a keen interest in tracking the prices of the products which they usually purchase. This enables them to analyze the attractiveness of the product and be vigilant about the changes in price of the product, thus enabling them to compare the prices of the product in various stores (Vanhuele and Dreze 2002:72). Pricing of the Product â€Å"Companies usually do not set a single price, but rather develop a pricing structure that reflects variations in geographical demand and costs, market-segment requirements, purchasing timing, order levels, delivery frequency, guarantees, service contract, and other factors† (Kotler, Keller, Brady, Goodman and Hansen: 2009). According to David Jobber, pricing of a product mainly depends on 3 factors: cost, competitor and the market. COST ORIENTED PRICING The most common method of pricing of a product is cost oriented pricing, in which it is divided into full cost pricing which involves the calculating of cost of all labour and materials and direct cost pricing which involves the calculation of only those costs that are likely to rise as output increases. COMPETITOR ORIENTED PRICING The approach to pricing which only depends on the competitor rather than costs when framing a business is called competitor oriented pricing. Every consumer will judge the price of a product by comparing it with a similar product in the same range which is produced by their competitor (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders and Wong 2001). MARKET ORIENTED PRICING Market oriented pricing is one of the important area which depends on competiveness of a product in the market. For a new product the positioning strategy controls the pricing and for an existing product price will depend on the strategic objectives. Price-Quality Relationships Price is directly dependent on the quality of the product. As the quality of a product increases the price also goes up. Nestle is a quality focused company and hence to compete with current market it need to carry out the pricing process of the product very carefully. Nestle is a very successful company and all its products are at affordable prices. PRODUCT LINE PRICING Most of the companies usually develop product lines rather than single products. In product line pricing the management must decide on the pricing steps to set between various products in a line (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders and Wong 2001). In product line pricing, cost difference between the product in the line, evaluation of customers and also the competitors products with small price difference is also taken into account. EXPLICABILITY Explicability is defined as the capability of sales people to explain a high price to customer. In market customer demands the economic justification of product prices. If the sales people fail to give a clear idea of the product development stages, it will reduce the value of product. As Nestle is very innovative it needs a high financial support for its RD and it is not easy to give idea about the product development costs to an ordinary customer. COMPETITION Competition plays an important role in the cost consideration of a product in a business. The main competitors of Nestle are Heinz, Kraft, ConAgra, Mars Incorporated, Hershey, Cadbury, General mills etc. Since all their main competitors are also well branded, they cannot price a product without analyzing the competitors pricing. But the main advantages behind their successful pricing are that they are very superior in its market position. NEGOTIATING MARGINS In certain market customer expects a price reduction in some products. Competitive discounts, fast payment discounts an annual volume bonus and other promotional allowances come under this category. Nestle and its negotiations with its suppliers made them to gain a good reasonable margin in all its goods. EFFECT OF DISTRIBUTORS/RETAILERS Well qualified suppliers and efficient retailers is also a factor which affects the price of a product. If a distributor supplies a product with high price or a retailer sells a product in high margin it will cause the variations in price of the products. Nestle itself agreed that their distributors are well developed and hence the company can control the price of its products. POLITICAL FACTORS Nestle sometimes blames the policies of governments for its poor reflection on the exports. Some of the government policies which results in increase in packaging cost makes the product less competitive in the global exporting market. PLACE Armstrong and Kotler (2001) describes place as the activity of a company to make the products available to the customers. Place Strategies The major factors to be considered while formulating a place strategy are Channels, Coverage, Assortments, Locations, Inventory, Transportation, and Logistics. Channel distribution strategies deal with the decisions on making the products available to the target customers in usable condition. â€Å"A channel of distribution is the combination of institutions through which a seller markets the products to the user or ultimate consumer† (Peter, Donnelly 2004:145). As the time and finances required for setting up a channel of distribution are comparatively high, the place strategies are often critical for the success of a firm. The channels of distribution can be of two different types on the basis of the targeted consumer. It may differ when the end user of the product is a consumer or an organization, the Consumer Marketing Channel and the Business Marketing Channel. Consumer Marketing Channel: Armstrong and Kotler (2001) Nestle adopts the consumer marketing channel where the products from the producer reaches the consumer through the wholesalers or retailers. Nestle has e-marketing for some of its products where the products reach the consumers directly from the producer. Business Marketing Channel (Armstrong and Kotler, 2001) According to Donnelly (2004:150),the channel of distribution strategic decisions are determined on the basis of the following factors: Distribution coverage required Degree of control desired Total distribution cost Channel flexibility Distribution coverage may vary based on the features of the product, the market and the target customers. The company may opt for intensive distribution, selective distribution or exclusive distribution. In the case of intensive distribution, the company tries to sell the product through the maximum number of retailers and wholesalers. In selective distribution, the company may limit the number of wholesalers and retailers which are the best in that market while in the case of exclusive distribution; the manufacturing company may provide exclusive rights for distributing the product to only one or a few distributors. Nestle has adopted intensive distribution strategy in order to make its products available to a large customer base. Nestle products are available through a large number of retail outlets. Besides this, Nestle has also launched an e-shop for promoting its confectionary in Japan which allows the consumers to buy Kit Kat chocolates online. CONCLUSION The coverage of Nestle is world-wide as it has a wide distribution channel and several manufacturing units at different places around the world using marketing mix strategies. â€Å"Marketing logistics involves the planning, implementing and controlling of physical flow of goods, services and related information from points of origin to points of consumption to meet customer requirements at a profit† (Armstrong and Kotler 2001:342). Nestle underwent a complete re-engineering of its supply chain which was aided by Total Logistics which has benefitted both Nestle and its consumers. â€Å"Nestle has been able to operate composite pallet loads for entire UK, combining beverages and confectionery through two vehicle fleets and two distribution hubs† (http://www.total-logistics.eu.com/logistics-clients/logistics-consultants-case-studies/nestle.html). Through this, Nestle has been able to decrease its fleet size and satisfy smaller delivery volumes without any increase in the costs.

NET framework and common language runtime Essay

The . NET framework is a component of Windows that enables the running of more advanced applications and XML Web services (DePetrillo, 2002). One of the main aim of coming up with this framework is to enable applications to have a consistent object-oriented programming methodology. It is also useful in that it eliminate software deployment and the execution of code safely without problems of scripting and interpreted environments. Microsoft. NET is also referred to as Windows DNA, it was a Microsoft’s previous platform used for developing all enterprise applications. It includes a variety of proven technologies which are in the production they include Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) and COM+, Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ), the Microsoft SQL Server database. Common Language Runtime provides the . NET framework applications an environment to execute. These language runtime includes common type system Just-in-time compiler, manages memory and gives compiler the security required. Design of . NET and Common Language Runtime (CLR) The design of . NE framework gives of room for interoperability. .NET frameworks have a way of allowing applications which were developed in the framework to still operate in environments outside of . NET environment. The ability to access COM components is made possible by . NET developers which are in the SRIS and the System Services namespace. With this platform, communication between old and new applications is increasing and is becoming a reality. The design of . NET and CLR also allows for security implementation for applications. .NET has two features for security for their mechanisms for security. These two features include validation and verification, and Code Access Security. The latter feature uses the association with specific assembly (DePetrillo, 2002). Normally, the assembly source acts as the evidence regardless of whether they are installed on the local machine or has been downloaded from the Internet. This mechanism uses evidence to determine permissions that are given to the code. With other code, they can demand that calling code be given a specific permission. This demand normally enables CLR to countercheck the permissions; called call stack walk. This is a situation whereby for every assembly of each method in the stack is scrutinized for the required permissions. An exception is thrown if an assembly does not have the right permissions. When an assembly is launched, the CLR performs very many tests. Two of the tests include validation and verification. The verification purpose is to check if the code will do anything which is not safe. Also, . NET framework uses appdomains to isolate code running in a process (DePetrillo, 2002). The appdomains help when there is a crash in a system. In case one application crushes in a system, the other applications within that system will not be affected. An example of security problem is the buffer overflows. This is taken care of with the use of . NET framework. The stability of . NET is assured because it brings with it the end of manual memory management. The . NET framework does memory management by itself thus freeing the user the burden of doing this. The memory that was allocated for instantiations of objects meant for . NET is done contiguously from memory heap. This heap is normally managed by CLR. The . NET also manages garbage collection. This is done by the garbage collector which is compacting and non-deterministic. Memory leakage is an example of stability issue that is solved with the use of . NET framework. The last design feature added to . NET and CLR is the addition of class libraries. These libraries help in maintenance of the applications because one does not have to create applications afresh. Someone seeking to add some more functionality to their applications or do some maintenance will just use the class libraries available at their disposal to achieve all these. The class libraries is a collection of thousands of interfaces, classes, structures and enumerations that are aimed at adding functionality of core system and application services in order to ease programming. There are various classes that someone can use to manipulate the file system. For example there are classes to manipulate XML files, classes to manipulate databases, and serialize objects. In addition to the availability of vast collection of libraries in . NET, the user also has the capability of creating their own classes which they can use in many applications (DePetrillo, 2002). Advantages and disadvantages of . NET Framework Microsoft. NET offers a variety of features such as the time-to-market which are not found in others like the J2EE. It gives a fairly complete solution from the single vendor-Microsoft which may lack some higher end features. With the Microsoft. NET there is one place to get similar information since there is no question of what is the shared context repository. There is an established passport which is an active system. Microsoft. NET gives one the language neutrality when coming up with their new eBusiness applications thus allowing one to view other languages as one application. The cons It does not support a true web services since it lacks the support for ebXML. Microsoft. NET does not give tactics for improving the performance thus not allowing the developers to introduce errors into their systems. It requires qualified developers who are well educated and can handle more hand-holding. It is difficult to maintain since the . NET supports Win32 only in which a large number of machines are required. Microsoft. NET web services are not interoperable with the present industry standards since their BizTalk framework has proprietary SOAP extensions which do not support ebXML. References DePetrillo, B. A. (2002). Think Microsoft. NET. Que.

The True Meaning of Transfer College Essay Samples Stem Major

The True Meaning of Transfer College Essay Samples Stem Major Despite exceptional grades, a poorly written essay provides you with a poor name. College admissions essays frequently have an extremely limited word count, so take advantage of every word. Just because you've already written a college essay for a single university doesn't mean that it may also apply on your next applications. Writing the college application essay can be among the most daunting components of applying to college. Finding the Best Transfer College Essay Samples Stem Major Now, it's merely a matter of writing the proper things to convince admission officials which you're worth their pick. In the event you're not sure it's much better to ask again or talk to a person who got similar undertaking. So for those who have a great outline, you can lower the period of time you've got to spend on your paper. A thesis statement functions as a guide, on which the remainder of the paper is hinged on. The Secr et to Transfer College Essay Samples Stem Major Individual schools sometimes need supplemental essays. When choosing the correct college essay topics, students ought to be keen to focus on the principal ideas they're attempting to pass in their essay. Bridget's essay is quite strong, but there continue to be a couple little things that could be made better. The conclusion must have a review of the important characteristics of your essay, and you need to also restate your thesis. The point is quite crucial in writing college application essays, you can also learn about writing a thriving college application essay to find out more. Get your creative juices flowing by brainstorming all the potential ideas you can imagine to tackle your essay question. It's true, you might highlight key points which have been mentioned in your essay but you want to refrain from repeating what has already been stated. Reviewing some narrative essay examples can enable you to organize your information and help you decide how to compose each paragraph to acquire the best outcomes. Two new essay options are added, and a number of the previous questions are revised. Introduction Body paragraphs Conclusion It is essential that students utilize academ ic sources to enhance their credibility. Applying to college isn't the simplest task on the planet, to say the least. Colleges want a feeling of maturity and introspectionpinpoint the transformation and demonstrate your private growth. Regardless, college essays aren't something that you want to finish the evening before they're due. One of the absolute most troublesome things in writing essays is inventing an excellent title. Sit down, consider the story you would like to write. Your stories aren't debatable. By employing various compare and contrast essay examples, you can secure a better idea about what format you need to compose your essay. The duration of your essay is not what universities search for. The essay is easily the most significant part your scholarship program, so you should make certain you give the very best impression you can. The college essays need to be organized in the particular format and design based on the instructions given. Transfer College Essay Samples Stem Major at a Glance If you wish to create a college essay which works, you will need to provide importance on the content you will supply the admissions officer of your intended university with. An excellent college essay isn't just persuasive, it's a piece which highlights the appropriate attitude to the college, the personal aspirations and the vision the student has once they get in the school. College application essay, is a significant aspect as it aids the panel, pick the best students that show the right type of motivation, for placement into a few of their programs. A college application essay is a considerable means of letting the panel learn more regarding the student. Colleges are not searching for perfect folks. Some institutions request an essay about a student's choice of a university or career. The MLA rule book claims that the paragraphs should start with leaving a half-inch space at the start. A brief sentence is utilised to produce the emotional resolution of the admission essay. The previous portion of the paragraph functions as the transition in the next paragraph. The very first paragraph is the introduction and it provides a succinct background on the subject. The Hidden Gem of Transfer College Essay Samples Stem Major The best regions to find the sources are from institutional sites. When in doubt, you may always check your references on the web, or you may do it manually. Paper Writing Services There is a significant great number of paper writing services sprouting on the web. Usually, searching over the world wide web for free essays are often quite challenging.

James Joyces Dubliners - Adolescent Initiation Portrayed...

Adolescent Initiation Portrayed in Araby Araby tells the story of an adolescent boys initiation into adulthood. The story is narrated by a mature man reflecting upon his adolescence and the events that forced him to face the disillusioning realities of adulthood. The minor charac ­ters play a pivotal role in this initiation process. The boy observes the hypocrisy of adults in the priest and Mrs. Mercer; and his vain, self-centered uncle introduces him to another disillusioning aspect of adulthood. The boys infatuation with the girl ultimately ends in disillusion ­ment, and Joyce uses the specific example of the boys disillusionment with love as a metaphor for disillusionment with life itself. From the beginning, the boy†¦show more content†¦He idolizes her as if she were the Virgin Mary: her figure defined by the half- opened door . . . The light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there, and falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. Yet even this ima ge is sensual with the halo of light accentuating the white curve of her neck. The language makes obvious that his attraction is physical rather than spiritual: Her dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side. His desire for her is strong and undeniable: her name was like a summons to all my foolish blood; my body was like a harp and her words and ges ­tures were like fingers running upon the wires. But in order to justify his love, to make it socially acceptable, he deludes himself into thinking that his love is pure. He is being hypocritical, although at this point he does not know it. Hypocrisy is characteristic of the adults in this story. The priest is by far the most obvious offender. What is a man of the cloth doing with books like The Abbott (a romantic novel) and The Memoirs of Vidocq (a collection of sexually suggestive tales)? These books imply that he led a double life. Moreover, the fact that he had money to give away when he died suggests that he was far from saintly. Similarly, at first glance Mrs. Mercer appears to be religious, but a closer look