Positioning and Differentiation Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Positioning and Differentiation - Research Paper Example They also need to differentiate themselves from the competitors in order to be attractive to the customers. Failure to position and differentiate from competitors will make it highly difficult for business to survive and sustain growth in today’s highly competitive business world. This paper analyses and compares the positioning and differentiation strategy adopted by two health insurance companies in the US. The two companies chosen are: UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint, Inc. Positioning Positioning is a marketing process used to position a product or a service in the mind of the customer in the best way that the company believes that the product or service must be perceived by the customer. There is very little change that is made to the product unlike the name product positioning suggests. Positioning is all about changing how the product is perceived by the customer (Ries & Trout, 2001). Therefore, positioning is the essence of a marketing mix. It throws light on how the c ompany defines its market segments, its competition and target markets (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007). It does not induce any new features into a product or service but uses the existing features in order to project the product or service in an effective way to the target market. ... By highlighting the differences between its competitors, businesses try to make its products and services more attractive to the target customer group (Hoskisson et al., 2008). Differentiation is vital for any product or service as it will create a niche for the product or service within a well defined closed target market group. Therefore, a well differentiated product or service will have a competitive advantage over its competitors. Successful differentiation will also give a business the freedom in pricing the products and services as the differentiating features will make for the extra cost from a customer’s perspective (Hoskisson et al., 2009). UnitedHealth Group With headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota UnitedHealth Group is one of the leading health care companies in the world. Across the globe, the company serves more than 75 million people. It offers a range of products and services to its customers. UnitedHealth Group was created in 1977 but its origin can be dated back to 1974 when a group of physicians and healthcare professionals founded the Charter Med Incorporated. The company was incorporated with the main purpose of increasing or expanding consumer’s health coverage options (UnitedHealth Group, 2012). Today the company has grown on to become the biggest health carrier in the United States. Positioning UnitedHealth Group which primarily started as an insurance company has diversified its products and services to cater to the needs of the entire health care industry. The company positions itself as leading health care companies which not only address the needs of consumers with heal benefit products and services but also the service sector of the health care industry. It

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 22

Ethics - Essay Example The users of computers need to be aware of the ethical issues that are likely to arise from their use of the computers. The main ethical concerns from the use of computers include effects on privacy, effects of computer on the society and the issues concerning property rights. The privacy issue has increasingly become a major concern from the fact that sharing of information has been made easy by the availability of many options of sharing information over the internet. This raises concern because individuals or organizations might take advantage of this and might start sharing other people’s information without their concern. The ability of the computer information systems to hold huge amounts of information has also resulted to a situation where the privacy of the stored information is at risk of other people’s access. The effects caused by computers to the society may include health problems whereby use of the emerging computer information systems has resulted to man y health problems such as the Computer Vision Syndrome and many others, which arise as a result of using computers over a long time period (Olumoye 155). Computer information systems have also resulted to ethical issues concerning employment. Implementation of these systems require redesigning of the existing processes of the business and at the end render many people unemployed. This is because the systems perform much of the work, which requires laying off some employees. Other ethical impacts that result from using the information systems include the effects on school. The impact caused on school going is that use of the computer information systems result to dishonesty in undertaking the academic work. The systems have impacted heavily on school going in that the school going students have acquired new ways of cheat in their class work, assignments and in their exams. Some students take advantage that their teachers and instructors have little knowledge concerning the

Belgian Neutrality in the mid 1800s Essay -- essays research papers f

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A bond between two nations is like a serious relationship between two people who are soul mates there is nothing that can be done to break up their passion or alliance. This is the best way to describe the selected cartoon from Punch Magazine that will be analyzed in this essay, â€Å"Trust Me!† August 13th, 1870. This essay will discuss England’s support of Belgium independence and neutrality from a political and diplomatic viewpoint from the mid to late Nineteenth Century. Accordingly this essay will predominantly focus on the build up to the Franco-Prussian War, English diplomatic actions during the Franco-Prussian War in defense of Belgian independence and neutrality. Also, to understand England and Belgium’s relationship, the Treaty of London signed in 1839 will be analyzed and discussed. Thus, this essay will cover or touch on events from 1830 to approximately 1872 and explain why England had to get involved between the belligerents of the time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To accurately describe the situation at hand during the late nineteenth century in England that is depicted in the selected cartoon one must go a bit further back to understand decisions and actions that have happened in the past which would be effecting England and its decisions in the time period being discussed. To do this one must consider the Belgian Revolution of 1830. The cause of the revolution was brought upon the nation in La Monnaie opera house in Brussels on August 25th, 1830 . A previously banned play about Neapolitan insurrection against Spanish Rule managed to work the crowd into revolution through a song lyric, â€Å"My country gave me life, I shall give it liberty!† The revolt was a huge success for the Belgian people as they took the royal authorities by surprise with their intensity and rapid spread of rebellious activity that pushed Dutch troops out of Belgium. By September 27th, 1830 the Belgians had managed to set up a provisional gove rnment, proclaim Belgian independence, ordered an early election of a national congress, and finally drafted and proclaimed the proclamation of independence for Belgium by October 4th, 1830. Given the short time frame in which the Revolution of 1830 occurred, it didn’t give England and the other super powers much time to make a decision on what had to be done. The situation was best describe by the British P... ...cessful in her efforts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bibliography Barker, Nancy and Brown, Marvin L. JR., ed. Diplomacy in an Age of Nationalism: Essays in Honor of Lynn Marshall Case. Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1971. Beck, James M. The Evidence in the Case as to The Moral Responsibility for the War. New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1915. Howard, Michael. The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870-1871. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1962. Millman, Richard. British Foreign Policy and the Coming of the Franco-Prussian War. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1965. Raymond, Dora Neill. British Foreign Policy and Opinion during the Franco-Prussian War. New York: AMS Press Incorporated, 1967. Thomas, Daniel H. The Guarantee of Belgian Independence and Neutrality in European Diplomacy, 1830’s-1930’s. Rhode Island: D.H. Thomas Publishing, 1983.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Political Science Final Essay

Mushrooms have been part of religious rituals for thousands of years ago in the early tribes of Central America and Mexico (Health Education, 2008). Psilocybin is extracted from psilocybin mexicana mushrooms and other genus related mushroom species or artificially prepared in the drug laboratory (Health Education, 2008). Chemically, it is related with lysergic acid diethylamide and commonly known as â€Å"shrooms†, â€Å"psychedelic mushrooms†, or â€Å"magic mushrooms† (Health Education, 2008). Historically, for Indians in the Southern and Central America, psilocybin-containing mushrooms were sacred mushrooms and regarded as a means to the world of the spirits. At present time, Psilocybe mushrooms are widely available in fresh and dried forms that are usually ingested, chopped or brewed in tea (Health Education, 2008). Generally, psilocybin users experience tingling physical sensations, mild euphoria and increased music visual sensations and music sensitivity (Health Education, 2008). Literature Review Brief History Sculptures and human-like mushroom arts were prevalent during 1000-500 BC (Freeman, 2004). It was inferred that these artifacts have religious implications. As direct evidence, thirteenth century manuscript of Codex Vienna Mixtec proved the utilization of sacred mushroom in religious rituals (Freeman, 2004). The â€Å"Seven Flowers† was known as Mixtec God of hallucinatory plants represented through an image with a pair of mushrooms in hands (Freeman, 2004). Also, Aztec believed that moving from earthly to super natural realms back and forth was possible under the power of entheogen, the Prince of Flowers. This was called â€Å"the flowery dreams† by the Aztec and ascribed to hallucinatory effects of the sacred mushrooms (Freeman, 2004). In relation to this, Gordon Wasson personally witnessed the â€Å"velada† session led by curandera Maria Sabina at the Mazatec village in Huatla de Jimenez. This â€Å"velada† session is a religious ceremony involving the magic mushroom (Freeman, 2004). Pharmacological Properties Mushrooms with hallucinatory effects are naturally cultivated in the cow pastures and fields of the southeastern and northwestern parts of the United States (Freeman, 2004). The most common of all these mushrooms is Psilocybe mushroom containing psychoactive substances. The stems of psilocybin-containing mushrooms are slender and long with caps having underside dark gills. While the caps of fresh mushroom are dark brown along the edges, white or light brown central part topped in whitish-gray or white stems, dried mushrooms are rusty brown with scattered whitish parts (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2006). In 1958 Dr. Albert Hoffman, the lysergic acid diethylamide discoverer, identified psilocybin and psilocin as the active components of Psilocybe mushroom (Freeman, 2004). About four to ten milligrams per gram of this mushroom is its average psilocybin constituent (Freeman, 2004). In addition, psilocybin is classified as hallucinogenic drugs typically found in the United States, South American regions, and Mexico (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2006). This mushroom contains trace amount of psilocin and 0. 2% to 0. 4% of psilocybin (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2006). Further, psilocybin was reported as a very stable substance that can last even for 150 years in a sample mushroom (Freeman, 2004).

Client Profile Assignment Nurse s Care Essay - 1673 Words

Client Profile Assignment Nurse’s care for several patients in a day and it is important to understand the patient as a whole person to treat them effectively. The purpose of this assignment is to explore a patient’s disease to understand the nursing judgments and interventions involved, the medications for this diagnosis, and to understand the disease. The patient described in this paper will be referred to as Jonathan to ensure patient confidentiality. Patient Demographics Jonathan is a 63-year-old man, born on August 23rd, 1956 and lives with his eldest son. He was married two times and has three children, two children from his first marriage and one from his second. He lives in northern Ontario but originally was from southern Ontario, he moved here shortly following his second divorce. He is of Italian decent and is a practicing Catholic. The patient’s weight is 95 kilograms; he is 178 centimeters tall and has a body mass index (BMI) of 28.3. Jonathan says he smokes around one pack of cigarettes a day, does not exercise enough and eats fast food a few times a week. The patient now has congestive heart failure as a consequence of his myocardial infarction (MI) or heart attack. He was transferred from another hospital in the beginning of November and was waiting for more tests to be completed before he could be discharged. Jonathan has some known comorbidities that can exacerbate his CHF, this includes smoking, obesity, and noncompliance with m edications. CongestiveShow MoreRelatedCodes of Ethics in Nursing3690 Words   |  15 PagesCODE OF ETHICS IN NURSING * The fundamental responsibility of the nurse is fourfold: to promote health, to prevent illness, to restore health and to alleviate suffering. * The need for nursing is universal. Inherent in nursing is respect for life, dignity and the rights of man. 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Aicpa Statements On Auditing Standards - 1351 Words

AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards The government and accounting professionals have been focusing on accounting policy and procedures since the Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco financial scandals occurred. These financial scandals occurred by company executives and public accounting companies who failed to disclose and account for the known fraud (Casabona Grego, 2003, p. 16). Due to these financial accounting scandals the Auditing Standards Board (ASB) of the AICPA established Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS), in addition to the requirements made by SOX and the PCAOB, to hold companies and auditors accountable for financial statement reporting (p. 16). According to Casabona and Grego (2003), in 1997, the ABS established SAS No. 82, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit (p. 16). SAS No. 82 provided companies with policies and procedures on the review of material fraud in a financial statement audit (p. 16). 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The Agricultural Facets Of Appalachia Essay - 1676 Words

Appalachian Agriculture The agricultural facets of Appalachia have been influenced over time due to the introduction of various types of foreign farming practices, government enforced regulations, foreign animals and plants, and westward expansion. â€Å"Rapidly evolving technologies and fluctuating costs influence the nuances of sustainability, but the essence of the concept is protection of both the land and the people who occupy it† (400). Beginning simply with subsistence farming and hunting and evolving into modern large-scale industrial agriculture Appalachian agriculture has negatively influenced the natural landscape of the mountains and its forest which resulted in a poor economy that was only advanced after more productive farming methods were invented and practiced. Native American agriculture was largely subsistence farming and hunter-gatherer ontogeny, based on the idea the hunters and the animals shared a mutual understanding and respect and not taking more than absolutely necessary. â€Å"By the Mississippian period (A.D. 900-1550), the largest group of indigenous people within southern Appalachia, the Cherokee, had become proficient in growing crops† (428). It wasn’t until the Spanish settler’s introduction of foreign flora and fauna in the region that the subsistence farming and hunting began to shift to marketable and large scale agriculture in order incorporate new foods into their diets such as peaches, watermelons, and sweet potatoes, as well as domesticatedShow MoreRelatedThe Progressive Montessori School System1748 Words   |  7 Pagesonce produced thirty of the populous little brown bats now produced one on a good night. I applied for the master’s program at Portland State University with two objectives, to experience life in an urban environment outside of Appalachia, and to advance my geographic scholarship and research . As a master’s student at Portland State University, I have had the opportunity for inter- and intra-disciplinary exploration, professional development, and scholarly growth. My thesis, Who’s