Ben n Jerry's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ben n Jerry's - Essay Example The decision by Cohen and Greenfield not to always adhere to traditional investor-relations practices such as strategic planning raises concerns on just how committed the company is at giving the best returns to investors. The company’s lack of a strategic plan is demonstrated in the interview with Cohen when he portrayed his ignorance of the company’s future plans with regards to earnings and spending (Schill et al. 4). The basing of Ben and Jerry’s corporate operating decisions on the company’s community welfare interests sends a strong message concerning the importance of the company’s social obligations over the other obligations (5). Moreover, the willingness of the company’s management to make decisions that favor social gains at the expense of profitability also confirms the company’s preference for satisfying its social responsibilities over maximizing returns for shareholders (6). 2. Even though the case of Ben and Jerry’s Homemade demonstrates the difficulty in embracing corporate social responsibility (CSR) while working to maximize share holder value, it is possible to balance the two if the company finds a way of benefiting from its CSR obligations. Given that corporate investors expect profitable returns within a certain period of time for every dollar they invest in a business, organizational leaders need to evaluate every program that they invest in so as to determine the potential value of the investment not only to the shareholders but to the organization as a whole. In order to satisfy social obligations while maximizing shareholder returns, an organization should focus on investing in social programs that have the potential of increasing the overall performance of the company improving its market share and profitability, and therefore increasing investors’ return on investments. For instance, an organization could take advantage of

Media Violence Causing Social Violence Sociology Essay

Media Violence Causing Social Violence Sociology Essay The above statistics alone should immediately indicate that the negative effects of media violence on the minds of young people cannot help but be substantial, and may in fact lead to social violence on the part of those exposed. However, the fact is that even after decades of ongoing research, there remains a debate as to whether media violence substantially contributes to social violence (Haugen Musser, 2008). To provide context to the ongoing debate, it is helpful to first define the two key terms discussed in this essay, namely media violence and social violence. As noted by North, Wallis and Weingast (2009), the term social violence technically refers to violent activities engaged in by people as a group. This would include violence associated with riots, revolutions, and gang warfare. However, for the purposes of this essay, the term is defined far more broadly as behavior that is aggressive and/or abusive and which results in, or has the potential to result in, some form of injury to one or more others. This is the definition used in most of the existing studies of media violence and social violence. Haugen and Musser (2008) note that there are differing views as to what precisely is meant by the term media violence, but that typically it refers to various gradations of violence presented by differing forms of electronic or film media such as television programs, computer games, and movies. The gradations considered to be within the domain of media violence can and do differ from research study to research study. However, the authors inform that a good deal of the decades long debate over media violence and social violence is more political than scientific. Specifically, Haugen and Musser (2008) state that there are two schools of sociopolitical thought as to whether or not media violence actually causes real-life violenceand these are both trying to use research on media violence to advance their particular perspective. One school of thought blames media violence for social violence and wants to censor certain content in order to protect children. The other side views censorship, even if relatively weak in scope, as a slippery slope to increasingly levels of censorship not only of violence but many other types of expressions within society. It is important to keep this in mind when evaluating the existing research. It can be noted here that the central thesis of this paper is that there is sufficient evidence of a substantial relationship between media violence and social violence; however, social violence is multi-causal and media violence is likely to exert maximal effects if additional causal and contributory factors are operative. This thesis is supported in this paper by an extensive review of the existing research on media violence demonstrating exposure to be followed by engagement in antisocial behavior and aggression. The Connection Between Media Violence and Social Violence Effects on Children and Adolescents Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005) compiled a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of media violence on the social violence and aggression of both children and adolescents using the findings of five meta-analytic reviews and one quasi-systematic review, all of which were from North America. The studies covered television violence, film violence, and video and computer game violence. Some of the most important of their findings were: 1. In the average home, childrens television programming exposes a child to 20 to 25 violent actions each hour; moreover, violent offenders in childrens programming sometimes go without punishment and the offenders themselves seldom show any remorse for the violence. 2. During both childhood and adolescence, the amount of time watching television violence is positively related to several antisocial behaviors such as threatening aggression, assault or physical fights resulting in injury, and to robbery. In general, the review presented by Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005) led the authors to conclude that violent images in the media can substantially affect children and adolescents thoughts and emotions in a manner that makes them both more fearful and more aggressive. Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis also reported that several other factors figure into the commission of social violence which makes the link between social violence and media violence significant but small. However, they point out that the effect sizes observed in meta-analytic studies of media violence and subsequent social violence show that even this small relationship exerts a substantial effect on the general public health in terms of the consequences of social violence to the victim and to the families of both the victim and the perpetrator of the violence. Regarding the point made by Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005), it is helpful to briefly look at the statistics associated with social violence. In this regard, Santamour (2008) reports that acts of violence are associated with heavy human and economic costs. In his study, Santamour examined violence-related hospitalizations in the United States. He observed that hospital costs as a result of social violence totaled $2.3 billion dollars per year and were primarily the result of assaults and/or physical and emotional abuse. A clear gender difference was also noted which Santamour reports as follows: Boys and men accounted for 82.4 percent of hospital stays resulting from assaults; girls and women accounted for 63.9 percent related to maltreatment and 58.5 percent resulting from self-inflicted violence. Young adults, 18 to 44 years old, made up 68.3 percent of assault-related stays and 62 percent associated with self-inflicted violence. (p. 1) When considering that media violence contributes to statistics such as these, it is difficult to think of any connection between it and social violence is weak. In another study of media violence and social violence, Bushman and Huesmann (2006) found that exposure to media violence was positively related to aggressive behavior, anger, and aggressive ideas in children, teens, and adults. It was also found that media violence had a negative effect on the helping behaviors of all groups, making them far less likely to help others in need. However, it was also found that the group most vulnerable to the effects of media violence were young children. This was said to be because young children were more easily impressionable; also, they had a harder time telling the difference between fantasy and reality. In addition, young children learn best by observing and then imitating behavior, making them more apt to engage in violent behavior. Adding to the idea that media violence is directly related to social violence, Haugen and Musser (2008) report that the connection between media violence and social violence has already been accepted as fairly substantial by six major medical groups. These groups are the: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association. Further, the authors also noted that each of these medical organizations hold that media violence leads children to increase their levels of antisocial behavior and to become less sensitive to violence as well as victims of violence. Haugen and Musser (2008) also states that these medical groups warn that children exposed to long-term and frequent media violence are likely to develop a view of the world as violent and mean and to become more fearful of being a victim of the worlds violence than children who are not exposed to frequent/long-term media violence. Even more alarming is that the children who are exposed to frequent media violence over a lengthy period of time often show a desire to see yet more violence in their entertainment as well as in real life, and they come to see violence as a legitimate way to settle conflicts. These desires and attitudes, in turn, make them more likely to engage in social violence both as children and as adolescents and, in some cases, even as adults. The foregoing literature provides fairly strong support for the idea that even a weak causal contribution between media violence and social violence can be viewed as substantial in terms of its costs and its escalating effects on people over time. However, this effect does have to be considered in light of all of the factors that drive people to commit violent acts against others. The next section of this essay considers the effects of media violence in relation to the other contributors of social violence. Multifactorial Nature of Social Violence and Contribution of Media Violence Kirsh (2006) reports that many factors are involved in the commission of social violence and as just demonstrated in the above review, one of these factors is media violence. However, its effects can vary depending upon the manner in which the violence is presented. If the violence presented in the media lacks consequences and/or is justified, and/or is associated with reward, it can have a very negative effect on children and teens, making them more likely to engage in such behavior. However, if the presented media violence shows that the offender is punished for the violence, then it can lessen childrens tendencies toward aggressive behavior. In addition, the type of character or personality that engages in the presented violence can also have an effect. According to Kirsh (2006), if the violence is undertaken by an attractive person or by a charismatic heroand the child or adolescent identifies with the perpetratorthen it is likely that the negative effect of the violence will be stronger, making the viewer more likely to engage in similar behavior. Furthermore, Kirsh reports that if the childs full attention is focused on the screen presenting the violence with minimal or no distractions breaking this focus, the impact will be greater. Finally, if the child views the show and its violence as realistic and reflective of real life, then the effects will be stronger. In what is now considered a seminal study of media violence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Surgeon General (2001) concluded that there is a relationship between media violence and some social violence including homicide, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. However, it was also noted that there is a problem with the research that makes knowing whether there is a causal connection between media violence and social violence difficult to scientifically report. Regarding the nature of the problem, it is stated that: Although there is clear scientific evidence of a correlation between exposure to media violence and some violent behaviors, randomized experiments-the research methodology best suited to determining causality-cannot ethically be used in studies of violent behavior. (p. 1) It was stated that the best that could be done is to study the effects of media violence and how it affects certain aggressive behaviors in children and adolescence. These studies were said to provide at least indirect evidence of causality. For example, the Surgeon General (2001) reports that longitudinal studies reliably show that if children are exposed to media violence, as they grow older they become more likely to exhibit aggressiveness due to the increase in the amount of media violence exposure. This connection makes it seem very reasonable to believe that there is also some causal contribution of media violence to social violence in various forms of violent antisocial behavior and crime. But if there is a causal connection, how strong is it and what other factors also contribute to social violence? According to the Surgeon Generals (2001) early study of youth violence, as well as a more recent study by Coyne (2007), what makes media violence likely to impact on any given child is its relationship to a host of several social violence risk factors. These risk factors include: individual risk factors; family risk factors; school risk factors; peer group risk factors; and neighborhood and community risk factors. Specifically, to the extent that one or more of these factors is present in a childs life, they are likely to make the child more prone to both violent behavior as well as the negative effects of media violence. The social violence risk factors discussed by both the Surgeon General (2001) and Coyne (2007) can be delineated as follows: 1. Individual factors A child and/or adolescent is most likely to be at risk for the negative effects of media violence and social violence if the child is male, if there is substance use, if the childs personality or temperament is already somewhat aggressive possibly as a result of a health condition such as hyperactivity, if the IQ is low, and if the child is generally antisocial in attitudes and beliefs. One point that can be noted here is that the Council on Communications and Media (2009) states that individual factors can also protect a child from the negative effects of media violence. These protective factors include the child having a high IQ, and a positive social orientation. Further, if the child shows a low tolerance for deviance and views transgressions as usually punished, this also would reduce or even eradicate any negative effects of media violence. 2. Neighborhood and Community Factors Living in a deteriorating community or neighborhood can put a child or adolescent more at risk for the negative effects of media violence. For example, poor neighborhoods where drugs and gangs are present increase the risk. High crime areas also place a child at risk for social violence that is exacerbated by exposure to media violence. 3. Family Risk Factors If the childs family is poor, he or she is more at risk for the negative effects of media violence. If his/her parents are antisocial and/or have a poor relationship with the child, these factors can also increase the risk. Other family factors that place children at risk for the negative effects of media violence include: parental separation (broken home), abusive parents, neglect, harsh discipline and/or a lack of discipline, poor mental health of parents, and the presence of a good deal of conflict in the home. As with individual factors, there are some familial/parental factors that can give the child some protection from the negative effects of media violence (as well as other forms of violence). According to Ferguson, San Miguel and Hartley (2009), these protective family factors include having good relationships with parents, and positive evaluations from peers. Steady and consistent, but not overly harsh, parental monitoring and discipline can also be protective. 4. School Factors How a child feels about school can also affect the impact of media violence on the child. If his or her attitude is positive, the child will be less likely to be impacted; but if the attitude is negative, the risk is increased. Academic performance operates in a similar manner. School failure and low grades make a child more vulnerable to the negative effects of media violence, while good school performance has the opposite effects. Lee and Kim (2004) points out that one of the strongest school risk factors is bullying. If a child is bullied, he becomes very vulnerable to seeing some form of retributive violence as the answer to his problem and this tendency can be strongly exacerbated by media violence. 5. Peer Risk Factors The nature of a child or adolescents peers can have a significant impact on the effects of media violence. If the child has strong ties to antisocial peers, then the impact is more negative. However, if most of the childs friends behave in prosocial ways, then this will act as a protective factor. Media Violence and Crime The foregoing section of the review indicated that media violence operates conjointly with other factors to elevate a childs risk for social violence. However, there are many forms of social violence, one of which is violent crime. This section of the essay examines the question: Is media violence directly related to the commission of violent crime? According to Coyne (2007), while many studies of media violence and violent crime do show at least a weak connection, they suffer from the fact that they are, in large part, laboratory-based investigations. Furthermore, such studies primarily rest on studies of aggressive urges or tendencies rather than examining real criminal behavior to see if those engaging in it have a history of watching violence in the media. Coyne (2007) attempted to remedy the forgoing problem by examining longitudinal research with offender populations. It was stated that, When integrated with other long-term studies on the development of crime, it is concluded that the link between media violence and crime is weak after other environmental factors are taken into account. However, the fact remains that until there can be some good control for other contributors to criminal violence, it will remain difficult to know the extent to which there is a direct causal relationship between media violence and criminal violence. Failure to definitively establish a causal link is due to the fact that in studies which are significant statistically, these other factors often act as confounding variables. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to state that the ongoing, now decades long, findings of elevations in aggressiveness in relation to media violence strongly suggest that there may be more than a weak connection. Conclusions The central thesis of this essay was that media violence substantially contributes to social violence where social violence was defined in the broad sense of aggressive and/or antisocial behavior that results in or can result in injury to one or more others. The key question that must be asked is whether the reviewed literature on media violence supported this thesis? The answer to the above question is somewhat complex. The literature clearly indicated that media violence can lead to children and adolescents engaging in aggression and violent behavior. Moreover, it also showed that the degree to which said behavior is engaged in can differ depending on length of media violence exposure. The reviewed literature also demonstrated that the nature of the violence presentation and the strength of distracted focus can both operate to make it more likely that social violence will be engaged in by children and/or adolescents. This indicates that there is a real effect being exerted by media violence on children. However this conclusion needs some modification. Social violence, as defined in this essay, is multi-determined which means that there are many contributors which, taken together or in part, operate to make a child and/or adolescent engage in social violence. Media violence is one of these and indications are that it can substantially contribute to social violence in the sense that it exacerbates the effects on social violence caused by other factors such as having conflict in the family, living in a gang ridden and poor neighborhood, doing poorly in school, and so forth. Media violence not only exerts a substantial contribution to social violence in this manner, it also exerts an effect in terms of the negative outcomes of social violence on the lives of the people who are involved in it. Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that based on all of the reviewed findings, media violence does exert a substantial effect on social violence even though it is not the only contributor.

Buddhism Essay -- essays research papers fc

High in the mountains of the Himalayas chants ring out from the Tibetan monastery. For most this is a dream-like vacation to a far away land. For some of the people who live in Tibet and India this is everyday life as a Buddhist. Buddhism revolves around a strict code of daily rituals and meditations. To an outsider they can seem mystical or even odd, but these are the paths to enlightenment and spiritual salvation. Throughout the centuries, Buddhism has evolved into a major religion in Asia and other parts of the world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The mystical roots of Buddhism can be traced back to the first century BCE. Buddhism began with the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. When Siddhartha was born he was noticed as having â€Å"the 32 auspicious signs of an enlightened one† (Clark and Brown 3). His father, fearing Siddhartha would shun his inheritance, confined him to the walls of the palace, never allowing his son to experience want or suffering. However, Siddhartha on several occasions ventured outside the confines of the palace. On one of his visits into the city â€Å"he saw an ascetic begging for alms in the city square. It was then that he realized that there was meaning beyond physical existence† (Clark and Brown 3). Siddhartha then gave up his possessions to search for enlightenment. He discovers that by following the path of moderation, one can become enlightened (Clark and Brown 3). And so, he attained Buddhahood. Afterwards Buddha, the name given to an enlightened one, travels thro ugh India â€Å"preaching and educating others about the middle path† (Clark and Brown 3). From this, Buddhism was born.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The religion of Buddhism is not entirely in a sphere of its own. In fact, it combines several influences born in and around the Asian continent. The first religious influence is Taoism. Taoism embraces the belief in the fluid like spirit that flows throughout everyone and everything. The primary belief of Taoists is that the universe is in constant change.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Taoists believe that nature and the earth is constantly in flux. Simply, the only constant in the world is change. When individuals learn that growth and movement are natural and necessary, they can become balanced (Clark and Brown 7). Taoism teaches self-control and the importance of meditation in searching for enlightenment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  &nbs... ...ver which the imperial family presided, had been largely eclipsed by Buddhism† (Ralph et al 34). Aspects of the religion have also moved into the U.S., Growing interest in Asian culture and spiritual values in the West has led to the development of a number of societies devoted to the study and practice of Buddhism. Zen has grown in the United States to encompass more than a dozen meditation centers and a number of actual monasteries (McDermott 2). The Buddhist religion encompasses a large spectrum of people all diverse but united under the words and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Works Cited Clark, Laura, and Suzanne Brown. Vietnamese Buddhism. 18 Jan. 2000. . Dharma Haven. Healing, Relaxing and Awakening: Tibetan Buddhist Methods. 16 Jan. 2000. . 18 May 1999. Hansen, Jytte. Mandala. 17 Jan 2000. . 1 March 1997 McDermott, James Paul. Buddhism Today. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. Ralph, Phillip Lee, et al. World Civilizations: Their History and Culture. 9th edition. New York: Norton, 1997.

Commerce: Ethics and Social Responsibility Essay

In order to maintain social order and stability, people create a lot of rules to conduct the people’s behavior. A part of these rules of conduct is included in the scope of the law, which needs the coercive power of the country to protect its implementation. The other part belongs to the moral category, and it needs to rely on self-reflection and intervention of public opinion which can assurance its implementation. The business ethics is a part of commerce responsibility, and it is also a part of moral rules. Commercial activity is one of the most important activities in human society, and whether the commercial activity can run orderly have a tremendous impact on a society. A responsible commerce should fully consider the moral responsibility. Abramov (2007) said that The enterprise is closely related to the profits, in order to establish the basic responsibility of the enterprise, it should strengthen the full range of responsibility and cultivate culture which concentrates on responsibility. This essay will firstly give a brief description on the responsible commerce. Following this, it will discuss on the utilitarianism theory and its relation to the responsible commerce. After that, it will use the utilitarianism theory to analyze a case. Finally, it will give a reflection about the study. A brief introduction of the responsible commerce As a part of the social system, the responsibility of commerce attracts more and more attention. This concern not only comes from the theoretical areas, but also comes from the groups related to the enterprise and the stakeholders. How to ensure the implementation of the responsibility of the enterprise, and make it give a greater contribution to the society when it gets benefit from the society are the hot spots. An enterprise is rooted in the society, it is impossible to be an isolated body, and it must have a broad contact with the society, then it is necessary to undertake the corresponding responsibilities. In general, according to Jeremy (1789), the responsibility of commerce should include three aspects: economic responsibility, social responsibility and ethical responsibility. The economic responsibility refers to the economic interests that the enterprise pursuit and want to make the benefits of investors maximize. Through the process of accumulation: investment, profitability, reinvestment and re-profitability, the enterprise will grow and have a healthy development. The social responsibility should include internal and external aspects. The internal aspect refers to establish an effective monitoring mechanism, which is both responsible for the staff, but also responsible for the society. The external aspect includes three elements, first is to provide tax for the government, this is the important social responsibility for the enterprise. The second is to make efforts for the social harmony. It means that the commerce should provide employment opportunities for the community, should protect the ecological environment, and safeguard the interests of shareholders. The third is to provide the quality products and goods to the market. This responsibility relates to people’s lives and health, and also relates to the normal operation of the society. Peter (1981) said that the ethical responsibility is moral responsibility, unlike social responsibility, it is the voluntary acts. The enterprise should undertake these three responsibilities, and play its role for the rapid and stable development of the society and economic. The utilitarianism theory The utilitarianism can be said as an ethical theory, which believes that the proper action is the one which can maximize the happiness of all the people. It can be also regarded as a form of the consequentialism, it means that every action has a moral worth, and it is determined only by the outcome of the resulting, people can only know all the consequences of the action, and then can weigh the morality. The core of utilitarianism is principle of the greatest happiness of most people. The personal interests can not be separated from the interests of others. Frederick (2003) said that the utilitarianism can be accepted by human beings because of the profit nature of human. Therefore, the principle of utility is necessary to consider the personal interests and the interests of others, and also consider the interests of the stakeholders. Mill (2004) inherited Bentham’s idea of the greatest happiness principle, and pointed out that it should develop ethics according to the utilitarian purpose, in compliance with these codes of ethics, it will get the best interests of the overwhelming majority of people. Mill’s idea makes utilitarianism which only stresses the effect of utilitarian change into the principle which not only stresses the effect, but also pays attention on the guidelines of the ethics. Kelly (1990) said that the essence of the utilitarianism is that it affirms the necessity of achieving personal interests, and also provides that realizing the overall interests is premise and precondition of personal interests. The one-sided pursuit of personal interests is a narrow utilitarian concept, which can be extended to the utilitarian concept of the modern commerce. It can be concluded that some commercial operators with narrow utilitarian view will have one-sided pursue the commercial interests, the utilitarian view of modern commercial operators should maintain and achieve the overall interests of stakeholders and collective. Application of utilitarianism theory to analysis the company of Sanlu It has been reported that in China, the incident of Sanlu milk is a typical manmade disaster. From last year, the company of Sanlu began to receive the consumer complaints. To August 1 when the experts make the conclusion on the milk, then to September 8, the municipal government of Shi Jiazhuang gave a report to the government of Hebei Province. During the half year, the unspoken rule which is known by every one is not timely broken, and the company of Sanlu did not take measures to reduce the damage and the losses. The incident of Sanlu reflects the corporate ethics and social responsibility, which are concerned by many people. In order to pursue the profit and gain the ill-gotten wealth, a small number of enterprises ignore people’s health and even people’ life, the corporate moral is decay. The unscrupulous milk traders seek profits, so they devoid of conscience, and mix the milk with melamine. The management of the company lack of responsibility, and neglect lives and safety of people. The relevant department has also developed a number of systems to deal with the incident. But these systems are not specific. The incident of Sanlu milk lacks the system of third party testing. And the regulatory powers is own by the company, the profit make the system fail, and which lead to the fail regulation. George (2005) said that the reason why the company should fulfill the responsibility is neither because the company faces many ethical dilemmas and moral hazard, nor because the ethics can be regarded as the effective tools which can help company achieve the economic purpose. The most fundamental is that the responsibility is the core values of the modern enterprises, which has a special meaning and civilized significance. There are many reasons which can lead to the unethical behaviors and the shady transactions, but the most main reason which can induce unethical behavior is too much emphasis on the performance. So the company should correct the idea of too much emphasis on the performance and also qualify the performance. When it seeks to the purpose of self-interest, it should also establish a business concept of altruism. The company of Sanlu should have the responsibility, it should aware that the development of the company is not only for profit, but also for the fulfillment of a moral. It can use the scientific management to combine the interests of the company and the social responsibility. The company should use the greatest happiness principle as a guidance, which can make our society more harmonious. The greatest happiness principle is an abstract concept, when using this idea to make the commercial decisions, it will often encounter the problem that the interests of all parties can not easy to achieve the largest. So the company should fully balance the interests and realize the greatest happiness of most people. Conclusion The modern commercial operators use the greatest happiness principle as its core of utilitarian, which break the western traditional idea of utilitarian, which pursues the maximize the self-interests and the interests of the stakeholders. The principle affirms both the interests of the main groups which include the merchants and the staff, and the interests of consumers. It also affirms the interests of the society. It means that it combines the interests of individuals and others, the interests of organizations and nation, society. From the sources of the theory, it reflects the unity of the commerce and moral, and also reflects the combination of benefits and fair. It is more suitable for the modern society. In short, to make a business decision with ethical aspects, it should let the decision have the support of ethical standards. Bernard (1973) said that from the view of utilitarian, it is necessary to meet the requirements of the stakeholders who pursue maximize of the benefits. Walters (2008) believed that if the business decision has the support of ethical standards, it can be said that it have the ethics, and then the company can avoid the risk of commercial ethics, and can also bear the ethical responsibility which the commercial operators should undertake, and this company can be regarded as a responsible commerce.

Minx Marketing Solutions Essay

A London museum in partnership with department of culture and tourism in Syria wants to prepare for an exhibition to showcase selection of artifacts, relics, sculptures and art – originating from the city of Palmyra, in Syria for a limited time period, over summer 2009. The museum reached out for our company to help launch and manage a campaign that is meant to promote the exhibition, pull customers, raise the museums profile thus reminding the consumers of the museum, differentiate the museum from other museums, raise revenue and attract future partnerships with international departments of culture. Therefore our marketing company, Minx Marketing Solutions (MMS), set out working for a marketing plan and strategies to make the promotion and campaigning of the exhibition a success. The responsibility of MMS is the total management of the exhibition: from choosing of venue, advertisements and general day to day logistics for the period the exhibition runs. The London museum provides a budget of ? 1million which MMS will use in preparation and running of the exhibition. MMS however should give a proposal on how it intends to use the money provided to the London museum. Situational Analysis Palmyra boasts a fascinating and ancient history of significance to many civilizations and cultures. No any other museum has ever showcased Pieces from Palmyra in the recent past. Since the artifacts and art is such significant, we expect attention from a wide audience, youth and adults alike. Therefore this exhibition is fit for all family viewing. It should be understood that there are 1,848 museums in the UK. These are the museums altogether that have attracted up to and over 42 million visitors per year. This is about 22,700 visitors per museum per year. For major museums, the number is twice as much. ( Travers, 2006). Another rather interesting concept is the fact that about 43% of the population in the UK visits museums at least once a year and thus a survey done by London School of Economics showed that museums and galleries were major attractors of visitors and that the type of people visiting the museums had changed significantly in the period spanning 2002-2004. The number of people from the low social economic class and that of the blacks and minority groups had increased by 15. % and 60% respectively in that period (London School of Economics, 2007) The current market is shared by major museums and galleries across the UK but this depends entirely on whether or not it is a major museum (major museums have a larger market stake) and what the museum is showcasing. Therefore, to command a lions share in the market now that the museum is already a major museum, we need to showcase a major attraction such as the Palmyra pieces beautifully displayed to attest the significance of Palmyra works of art and artifacts to other cultures and civilization world over. Market competition is based on what you have to offer. A variety of activities even outside the museum are likely to give one museum an edge over the other. Opportunities and Threats The opportunities for the exhibition to become successful depends on the positioning of the exhibition, the charges, age bracket of the attendants (are children allowed? ) and other related or unrelated events happening around the set date that are likely to draw the crowds. In the 2009 summer, there shall be the Darwin commemoration, the new Jewish museum in Camden grand opening, the London Canal museum is set to host theatrics and other activities for families and many other activities in other museums all over the country. This is a great threat because there are a number of activities being conducted by a number of museums and this may affect the turn out at the exhibition. The only opportunity we have is based on the pricing and other activities outside the exhibition. Another opportunity is based on a fierce marketing campaign to sell the exhibition to the general public.