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The Disadvantages Of Subliminal Advertising

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Due to the complexity of the human mind, it has various levels of consciousness: the state of dreaming, conscious-rational and lastly the subconscious level. This last level is one which is not able to function through logic or reasoning abilities, and cannot differentiate between what is real and what is fictional.

Subliminal messages sent into the subconscious mind gives it the foundation to grow the message into reality. It is a form of thought-controlling, as there is a link of communication between the subconscious and the conscious mind, allowing it to affect each other. Hence, there is much controversy surrounding the use of these subliminal messages, as hidden persuasive messages have been used to influence audiences. Such incidents are commonly found in commercials and advertising, and in rock music. There has been much criticism on the use of insidious subliminal messages to maximize revenue.

Subliminal messages used in advertising or subliminal advertising, are most of the time consisting of brief visual or audio messages that our brain does not consciously register what it has seen or heard. Most of the time, there is less than 25% chance that the message will be picked up by the conscious, and is used to provide stimulus for action.

Subliminal advertising does exist. In actual fact, very little marketing agencies endeavor to input such messages due to the powerful impact that they can place on the audience, which would lead to overwhelming bad press that would be received if the subliminal message was found out. This puts off any potential benefit that the subliminal advertising may bring.

According to an April 2006 issue of the New Scientist, research has proven that subliminal advertising messages do work, under the right conditions. The researchers also found that priming only works when the prime is goal-relevant. In plain English, this means youre potentially going to buy a product that quenches your thirst only if you were already thirsty anyway. Subliminal messages are therefore more effective in priming a target audience to choose one brand over another, rather than in recreating an real need for the product.

While it is has yet to be sufficiently proven that the brief subliminal messages can affect your behavior without you knowing, it is still arguable that subliminal advertising can be more effective than normal means of promotional communications which people are consciously aware of.

Many Problems Are Faced By The Auto Industry Due To Online Counterfeiting And The Gray Market.

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Counterfeiting is such a menace that even the Federal Bureau of Investigation has termed it the crime of the 21st century. If you dont believe this, perhaps some number crunching can shed some light on the kind of hazards that this activity creates for automotive businesses worldwide. For example, the global automotive parts industry suffers losses pegged as high as $12 billion a year, $3 billion of which is in the U.S. The total global counterfeit market is pegged at a whopping $350 billion. The Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), realizing the grave situation of counterfeits affecting its businesses, formed the Brand Protection council to take matters of fake counterfeit products in the automobile sector seriously.

What are fake automotive parts? How does one distinguish them from the originals?

Some counterfeits are simply imitations of real automotive parts and look exactly like the original so as to fool the buyer into believing that they are buying the original. Other times, fake or counterfeit automotive parts are simply packaged to look like the original. Counterfeiters often utilize the same brand image, colors and font sizes to ensure that the packaging looks similar to that of the real product. Some of the most common counterfeit automotive parts are things like fan belts, spark plugs, engine mountings, wheel covers, alloy wheels, air filters, fuel filters and oil filters. Sometimes the products carry the logo of the original. Other times counterfeiters simply use outdated parts that have been thrown out by the original company or dealer, renew them with some work and sell them again in the grey market.

There are many problems associated with fake automotive parts.

Such grey market products affect the brand and the reputation of the original manufacturer. Despite being made to look like the original, these products are not the original product. Even though they may be sold at perhaps 1/4th of the original price, the worth is much less than the real product. The safety of your vehicle could be compromised, and it could have many different kinds of problems, from part failure to higher fuel consumption to higher levels of pollution. The most pressing problem with using fakes is that, while you might feel you have gotten a great deal in terms of price, you will never get the intended effect that the original product can offer. In terms of quality and durability, you will always be at a loss if you opt for counterfeit products.

How To Manage A Catering Business Real Life Skills For Success

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You have a dream of starting and managing your own catering company. You have the drive and a flair for cooking delicious food that is to die for! Now you are doing research about how to run a catering business and you are thinking about if you really have what it takes to manage your own catering business.

As a small business owner, you will have more responsibility and work longer hours than you did as an employee. It’s almost impossible to truly separate your personal life from you business life. Running a small business is a lot of hard work and far more than just a full time job — it’s a lifestyle.

One part of your job will be getting clients and then the second aspect is preparing for and managing the catering job itself. Once the job is booked, there are a lot of details and organizational skills required in order to complete any catered event.

First you will need to get the event basics from your client: What type of event is it? How many people are expected? How formal or casual is the meal? Does the client have a theme in mind and know exactly what type of food they would like to have served? If not, you will be expected provide appropriate menu suggestions based on the event and the client’s budget.

For larger or more formal events, clients usually request a “tasting” to sample the items from the proposed menu. The client is expecting to not only sample the food, but to see the caterer’s presentation skills.

If you and your client are in agreement about the menu, this will be a wonderful experience for both of you. However, some times the food or menu does not match the client’s expectations or perhaps the client has simply changed their mind. Either way, having a few alternative suggestions is always a great idea, plus your client will feel secure in both your abilities as a caterer and the success of her event.

The number of people attending and the formality of an event will help you determine the amount of catering staff will be required for the event. Many catering companies use freelance staff, so it is a good idea to have a list of recommended people you are comfortable working with that you also know are professional and reliable.

For many people, when they think about how to run a catering business, they focus on the food preparation and cooking responsibilities. In fact, many people start catering businesses simply because they love to cook and do not mind doing all the cooking themselves.

As your business grows and you book larger events or multiple events in a short period of time, it is definitely much better to hire additional cooks and also servers who you have trained to make sure the level of serve offered meets your standards.

In addition to meeting with clients, food preparation and staffing, there are a few other details ever caterer must take into consideration. For example, how will you transport the food and equipment to event? Is you current vehicle large enough to handle the job or will you need to consider alternatives?

Prior to the event, you will need to order the ingredients, cooking and serving utensils. The amount of time required to shop for and prepare the food needs to be taken into consideration and you will need to create a schedule to properly manage all of these details. Most caterers are also responsible for at least minimal cleaning after an event, so keep this in mind when deciding upon your staffing requirements.

Now you have a better idea about how to run a catering business. Running a catering business is not difficult, but it does excellent organizational skills and a realistic time line for each event. Creating and managing your own catering business will give you amply opportunity to be both creative and a strong entrepreneurial manager.

Knowledge Management Strategy Beyond Change Management

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Knowledge Management (KM) is a relatively young concept, having been introduced less than 30 years ago. For many business management practitioners, KM is evolving into a proven strategy for their organizational success. But there are still many leaders out there that are struggling to understand the power of KM.

In order to clarify this ongoing struggle, it’s important to define what KM means in today’s business setting. An extremely important question is: What is Knowledge Management and how can it help my organization?

There are many definitions for knowledge management, including Wikipedia’s that states KM comprises of a range of practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences. I’m partial to a definition I found in a thesis paper written by Dr. Michael Kull that simply defines KM as a business model for which companies can move from an industrial age of running a business into the information age. I don’t know which one of Dr Kull’s interviewees stated this definition, but for me, it sums up my feelings on how KM is changing the way businesses ought to be run today and into the future.

KM is a relatively new model and has only been around since the mid 1980s. There have been may pioneers who have written and spoken about KM, and Peter Drucker,a business management expert and author, has been on of the most influential and prolific thinkers about the KM movement.

The pioneers describe KM as having three phases from its inception. The approximate phase dates reflect the first phase occurring from 1985 to 1994. This phase was centered on collaboration and information sharing. The second phase, from 1994 to 2002, centered on information management and software advancements. The third phase, from 2002 to the present, centers knowledge innovation and the management of intellectual capital and intellectual assets as the primary business strategy.

Phase three will continue to impact how leaders conduct business processes such as customer management, marketing management, information management and performance management. For example, with the advancement of Web 2.0 technologies, workers are able to communicate and share in multiple formats like the popular social media sites or in company blogs, wikis or private web portals known as intranets.

The KM movement is shifting from the old school process of team meetings and water cooler discussions to the online world of instant messaging, emails, twitter (a micro blogging platform), Facebook and online virtual meetings. It is a larger model than just implementing change management initiatives seen during the total quality movement and six sigma days.

As workers and business processes continue to evolve with these technology enablers,leaders are being challenged to re-tool how they lead knowledge workers. The old management process of building organization charts in a hierarchy fashion is being enveloped by empowered workers who don’t want to be controlled, but rather allowed to be innovative and creative to build customer value. The 20th century business leadership curriculum is in conflict with how 21st century workers expect to be lead. KM is at the heart of this leadership evolution being witnessed today. KM as a management strategy is definitely gaining traction and is here to stay.

Career Opportunities with a Food and Nutrition Management Diploma

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What was earlier referred to as home science is now a well designed food and nutrition management program. With this, the scope of the course has also increased multiple folds. It’s no longer restricted to studying how to ensure good health of your family or how to cook food in order to retain all its essential nutrients or how to effectively run a food establishment of your own.

The program opens doors to numerous attractive career options for graduates in forever growing healthcare and food service industry. Food and nutrition management graduates can work with hospitals, nursing homes, extended care facilities, senior residences, high volume catering services, airline food services, industrial cafeterias, food manufacturers, community agencies, public health nutrition and international food organizations.

Nowadays even schools, colleges and other childcare organizations have requirements for food and nutrition experts. Employers are keen in hiring graduates with well rounded knowledge and strong interpersonal skills, who could apply their knowledge of normal and clinical nutrition and business skills in a variety of settings.

About Food Service Program

You need to have a diploma in food and nutrition, in order to begin with a career in food service or manufacturing industry. A food service program prepares you to pursue challenging careers as managers in healthcare, fitness and food industry. You gain knowledge and skills related to
Sanitation, safety and hygiene
Kitchen production
Food services
Nutrition
Food properties analysis
Food service management
Aging and society
Purchasing for food services industry
Medical nutrition therapy
Supervision practices
HRM in food services
Recipe development and costing
Labour cost control
Healthcare menu planning

The course also familiarizes you with financial management and marketing and merchandising for food services operations. You also learn about practical aspects of quantity food preparation and service.

In addition to attending theory classes, you are also required to conduct various experiments from time to time to learn the physical properties of food.

Once you complete this two-year diploma course, you can either begin with private practice or choose to work with food manufacturing and service companies. You are expected to operate in accordance with the code of ethics set by the Canadian Society of Nutrition Management.

You will be equipped to pursue challenging careers in the fields of
Food and nutrition counselling for weight management, healthy eating, diabetics management, eating disorders
Food service
Food and nutrition management at spas, hotels, schools, culinary schools, etc
Food and nutrition consultancy for cookbooks, newspapers, magazines and other educational programs
Sales and marketing
Public relations for hospitals, food businesses, fitness centers, etc
Research and development
Community service
Healthcare reforms with NGOs or government organizations
Menu planning at hotels, restaurants, nursing homes, seniors’ residences
Procurement of goods and services with food businesses
Food production procedures standardization
Food distribution

Of late, fitness has become the buzz word. Food and nutrition planning cannot be separated from physical fitness and mental well being. You are what you eat. Besides, the career options associated with nutrition planning have made it one of the most sought after areas.