Monday, January 27, 2020

Pet Tracking Solution in India

Pet Tracking Solution in India GPS enabled chip in the collar called Pet Tracker, which is designed specifically to track, Identify your pet if it gets lost.[1] Customer Analysis Pets fulfill a larger role than just being a companion they are part of the family, and in some cases, considered as your children. For such owners loss of a pet becomes a traumatic experience as it is difficult to locate and recover a lost pet and the whole exercise becomes a nightmare. Another problem being faced by a large number of pet owners is that, while on vacation, or in their absence at work, there is no way to keep a track on their pets since most of the time the pets are either kept in a local shelter or with their neighbors. Pet industry in India is a multimillion dollar industry and has grown to approx. $900 million with a steady double-digit growth every year (Euro Monitor, 2011).[2] According to an estimate, in 2011, there were around 10 million pets in India and the number is growing by approximately 600000 per year in the Indian pet market. Some of the reasons for this growth can be attributed to the increase in pet adoption, rising incomes coupled with the increased trend for companionship, interest in owning pedigree and growing awareness amongst the owners to take proper care of their pets. Target Pet Owners will be our target market. We also understand that not all pet owners will be buying our product as such; we will target the segment that consciously needs the safety and security of their pets and who are looking for a solution to get a peace of mind in this regard. There is, however, no set age group that we can target, as owners of all ages would need this facility: the following groups of pet owners will be our primary target: Ardent pet lovers like Child-less and working Couples Owners of Pedigree dogs and high-end expensive pets People who already have pet Collar but do not have real time tracking facility Pet Groomers and Premium pet food buyers We will initially target customers in the middle and high-income group living in the four major metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Calcutta in India. The estimated market size for premium pet care product is around 144 Million USD [3] which includes products like daily hygiene, premium pet food, pet sitting, pet parties, spas and other Premium services. We are confident that our product will attract most pet lovers in this segment; however, Even if we get around 1% of the targeted customers, we should be able to make a sizeable entry into the market in the first year and as the customer base grows we will try to increase our market share in the future. We do underhand our product may not succeed or Store owners may not keep our product and we have create a strong brand via delivering quality and amazing customer service.[4](Threats). The main pains or frustrations I see for this segments are; Unable to track their lost Pet. Dont have an easy and accessible one-stop solution to secure all safety and security requirements for the pet. The major gains that customer would be looking for are; Have one solution for identification and tracking of their pets and be able to use the information in user-friendly way. Get a peace of mind while on vacation, or busy at work or having a Pedigree Pet. Value Proposition / Positioning Product: The proposal is for Pet Tracker smart phone App that works with a micro chip which will be sold with a plain collar or can be installed on any existing collar. This chip will be installed in a way that it is not easily identifiable. If required it can also be implanted on to the pet, however, this method may not be acceptable to most pet lovers. The app will store all the information about the owner and the pet. Each pet will be allotted a unique identification number for updating all information in a user-friendly way, and tracking the location of the pet. We hope to please all pet lovers who are looking for a way to keep their pets safe and secure. See Appendix 2 [5] Collaboration: Our App will be based on GPS tracking system; we will collaborate with GPS service providers like Google maps for real- time tracking. Competition: Our product will have a comparative advantage over the others in the market as it will allow users to additionally track their pets. The existing collars in the market do not provide this facility. Real time tracking of pets will be the Unique selling Proposition for our product. [6] Price: Two pricing solutions will be offered; Identification For customers who only want to use the app and the Collar and do not need tracking, the app/Collar will be sold through Apple and Google play stores at a onetime nominal charge of $100. Tracking For customers who want both identification and tracking the app and the collar would be free but the customer would sign a contract for a monthly subscription of $7 or yearly subscription of $50 will be charged for tracking purposes.[7] Distribution We will offer our app and chip through the following channels; Pet supplies stores Pet grooming boutiques Vets and animal shelters Online through our website Media Based sales,, e.g. Facebook, twitter (for wide coverage) We will use various methods to determine demand through a survey of buyers intentions, past sales analysis and market-test method. Promotion Since we are providing a new product in this market we will aggressively promote our product through, print and other media, physical display at vantage points, and live demonstrations at pet stores etc. Appendix -1 Customer Motivation (Jobs Pains and Gains) Job to be done 1: Provide safety and security for Pets 2: Provides Tracking Facility and identification 3: Storage of all information about the pet and owner. Pains Have to spend lot of time and money to look for lost pet Difficult to prove the identity when pet is recovered at Kennel Cant keep a track of my pet when left with a pet sitter. Gains Gives pet owners a peace of mind that their pet is safe and secure Helps one focus on other things rather the pet during vacations or when at work Easy to track and identify the pet when it found at the local kennel or animal shelter. Proposal We plan to introduce a GPS enabled collar called Pet Tracker which is designed specifically to track and protect a pet from getting lost. Pet Tracker is an innovative creation keeping the specific requirements of the pet owners in India and will be very useful for this class of pet owners. Pet Tracker will cater to all breeds of pets and will be available in multiple collar sizes and designs. Appendix -2 Customer Behavior Motivation Safety and security of the Pet and an assurance that the pet can be tracked real time, is the main motivation for a pet owner to go in for this product. The pet owners can concentrate on other important issues without worrying about the safety of their pets. Consideration -Threats In India there are Apps that provide a collar for the identification part of our product, but do not provide for the Tracking. If our Tracking Maps are not precise and efficient, we may not be able to get customers to sign up for longer periods. We will also have to constantly up grade and fine tune our product to compete with the new entrants in the market. New and innovative schemes will be implemented to keep our loyal customer base. Our product will have to have an edge always over the other similar products in the market. The market threats will have to be timely identified and intelligently overcome. Our main focus would be on delivering quality and customer service so that we are able to make a brand image in the market. We have to convince the Pet Store owners via the word of mouth effect where customers start demanding our product and then the pet stores will be eager to put our Collar in their Shelves. Evaluation As there are no products currently in the market which provide tracking of pets, the challenge therefore, will be to position our product ably on the attributes which show how it can provide value addition over the existing products. The key Attribute and emphasis will be on the tracking information. Appendix -3 Actions Controls Action The decision to purchase our product would be entirely based on the individual pet owners. Not all pet owners would be interested in our product. Some may just by the Collar and the Chip for identification purposes and others may buy a collar with tracking facility. Controls We will measure marketing performance to increase efficiency of our resource allocations. As marketing costs account for a large portion of the total operating budget, setting up methods to evaluate and measure these marketing efforts will be a proper use of the businesss budget. The outcome of these measures will benefit us in the long run by becoming more profitable with increased sales and decrease in expenses and costs. The goal will be to sell enough units by projecting sales targets (monthly, quarterly and annually) to achieve a break-even point during the first year. A large portion of the budget for advertising will be allocated during the first year of business, to ensure product survival and prepare for the possible increased competition in the following years. Continued product improvement and RD will be another important factor kept in mind. Appendix 4 Break Even: analysis Manufacturing Cost The cost of producing a pet tracker collar (includes the chip) is anticipated to be $35 ($1= INR70) taking into account all expenses on material, research, administrative costs. Variable Costs (VC) $15 (Promotion, Distribution etc.) Cost of production (FC) 5000* 35 = $175, 0000 Overhead (staff, server, rent) = $40,000 a year Sales Price for the Collar and Chip (P) = $100 Estimated breakeven= FC / (P-VC) = $215000/ ($100-$15) = 2550 Customers approx. This shows that we will break even if we have at least 2550 customers against the estimated 5000. Revenue GPS Tracking = 1000*$50 = $50000 a year The revenue is based on our ability to get 1000 customer to sign up for tracking service in the first year. This number will grow in the following years. Appendix -5 Penetration = Market size 1: Its going to a small market = around 1% of the total customer base. 2: There is no age group that we can specifically target. Pet owners of multiple age groups would use our product. 3: There are some Apps already available in the market, however, these are only for identification and none of them offers a solution for tracking. 4: We will continue to update our product and bring in new features to achieve and retain a number one position in the market. [1] Please See Appendix 1 for Proposal [2]http://www.euromonitor.com/pet-care-in-india/report [3] http://www.iiptf.com/aboutus.php?page=About_Fair http://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/3180-indian-pet-care-market-to-reach-us-144-8-million-by-2015 [4] Please see threats to our product in appendix 2 [5] Please see Appendix 2 for Customer MotivationÂÂ   and Threats to our Product [6] Please see Appendix 3 for Controls [7] Please see Break Even analysis

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Peacekeeper, Shepherd, Saviour Essay

Paul Rusesabagina is credited with housing and protecting twelve-hundred, sixty-eight refugees (both Hutu and Tutsi) during the Rwandan genocide, but he did not begin as an ordinary man. He was merely a hotel manager who saw something going terribly wrong and decided to do everything in his power to protect anyone he could. We know that all those refugees were saved solely by Paul Rusesabagina during the peak of the massacre in Rwanda, but how many lives did he save indirectly by his actions? Was the conflict in Rwanda (and the peace that followed) directly affected by the actions that Paul Rusesabagina took to ensure the safety of his family, friends, and the people in general? What role did Paul Rusesabagina play in the conflict and subsequent settlement of the Hutu/Tutsi conflict in Rwanda? I believe that he played three very separate and yet equally important roles: that if the peacekeeper, the shepherd, and the saviour. Paul Rusesabagina has titled his autobiography â€Å"An Ordinary Man,† but he was truly anything but. He was born to a Hutu father and a Tutsi mother on July 15, 1954, and was a middle child in the midst of eight other children. Not only was he a well-educated boy, but he also was fluently bilingual in English and French by the age of 13. He adopted the role of a protector early in life when his family sheltered refugees during the initial stages of the conflict in the late 1950s and 1960s. He originally married a woman named Esther whom he fathered three children, and he aspired to become a minister of the Seventh Day Adventist church, but his seminary plans fell through in favour of entering the hospitality business and his marriage shortly followed. Six years after Paul’s divorce from Esther, he met Tatiana and although she was Tutsi he was no stranger to mixed-race marriage having been raised in one himself. In 1992 Paul Rusesabagina was given the title of assistant general manager at the Diplomats Hotel owned by the Belgian Sabena conglomerate (Rusesabagina). In order to understand what role Paul Rusesabagina truly plays in the Rwandan conflict, we first need to get a better understanding of the conflict itself. Rwanda was acquired by the Belgium after World War I and due mainly to the already skewed balance of power and other aesthetic considerations (Tutsi people had lighter skin, slimmer noses, and generally more Caucasian features which were desirable by the Belgians) the Tutsis were able to maintain the upper hand in the balance of power. The Tutsi ruled while the Hutu were considered the peasant or working-class. In 1959 the Hutu revolution overthrew the Tutsi rule and in the early 1960s the Tutsi fled Rwanda for outlying areas. Many Tutsi fled to Uganda where in 1985 the Rwandan Patriotic Front (a Tutsi rights movement) was formed. All throughout the 80s and 90s, massacres continued with little press in the western world due mostly to the false opinion that the Tutsi/Hutu conflict was essentially a â€Å"cold† war with few or no casualties. In 1993 the Arusha Accords were signed between the RPF and the Rwandan authorities, bringing a promise of peace between the few tribes as UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) was formed. However, shortly after came the assassination of Melchior Ndadaye, the first Hutu president elected in Burundi, which led the Hutus to believe that the Tutsis were trying to regain control of the region. The Hutus lashed out with more violence against the Tutsis. Rwandan Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down in retaliation on April 6, 1994 with several other Hutu government officials on board. Several other government figures were systematically assassinated that day marking the official beginning of this era’s Rwandan genocide. (Fujii) So where did Paul Rusesabagina, his family, and his hotel fit in to all this senseless violence? When the body count began to rise, Paul hid his family and neighbors inside the Hotel des Mille Collines and disguised them as quests and staff. He began his journey from ordinary to extraordinary as a shepherd; leading his flock to safety (the Tutsi/Hutu refugees staying in the hotel) and protecting them from the wolves that were waiting outside with rifles and machetes. Every civil rights movement is started by a â€Å"shepherd. † Moses parted the sea for the Jews when his people were being oppressed, Martin Luther King Jr. led the African-Americans to freedom from racial discrimination. Millicent Fawcett marched women everywhere towards the right vote. Paul Rusesabagina makes a phone call to Sabena and secures a letter appointing him acting general manager of Hotel des Mille Collines making it possible for him to use his position to shelter more refugees, and also to use the hotel’s local resources to bribe Rwandan soldiers with money and alcohol in exchange for the lives of the refugees. Paul Rusesabagina guided all the refugees he could into the hotel so they could feel hope and find strength in each other. But guiding the flock to safety was a challenge. At several junctures during the movie where he (being Hutu himself) must face the choice whether or not speak out against an injustice, or to carefully go along with the wishes of his oppressors for the greater, later good of his cause. At this point he is starting to take on the role of a peacekeeper. The blue berets sent by the UN to war-torn parts of the world are unfortunately ineffective at subduing many civil conflicts because of the nature of politics. When the United Nations’ peacekeepers failed, Rusesabagina took matters into his own hands and not only bargained for the lives of his people, but inspired in his people a will to live. He encourages his guests to phone anyone they know â€Å"of influence† that they can tell of the horrors they are enduring†¦that those horrors are real, and that no one is intervening. He asks his people to send out the word that becomes their SOS signal and starts to allow for the return of the peacekeeping forces and the (unfortunately slow) evacuation of refugees from the affected area. Ronald Reagan is quoted as saying, â€Å"peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means† and this ability to handle conflict without majour aggravation or injury is exactly the skill that Rusesabagina possesses and utilizes well throughout the entire movie. Without his ability to diffuse stressful situations, the death toll of the Rwanda genocides would more than certainly be higher. In several points during Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina takes on the role of the Saviour, by not only housing the Hutu/Tutsi refugees, but also by inspiring them to fight for their lives by any peaceful means necessary. He puts himself aside, overwhelmed by emotion and empathy, to save several other people from death. Paul Rusesabagina spared the lives of nearly thirteen-hundred people from the reality of an unspeakable massacre that no one would pay attention to. He consistently puts his peers before himself and sees them as just that: people. Scared people who need someone to help them, to show them courage, and motivate them towards hope for a better tomorrow. Paul Rusesabagina did not draw a line between his Tutsi refugees and his Hutu refugees, he only asked that they do their part, respect him and each other, and not compromise the security of others in the hotel (George). Because Paul Rusesabagina helped his people by doing everything he could, including risking his own life, he can be seen as a saviour. As a final thought, I would like you, the reader, to sit in silence for a moment and think of the millions of bodies that were scattered across the roads and riverbanks in Africa on that day not even two decades ago. Think about all those corpses and realize that those charred and bloodied bodies might have family somewhere still wondering if their loved one might have escaped the carnage. There are still families out there missing their sons and daughters, their aunts and uncles, their mothers and fathers. The family members of those bland statistics you cannot bear to read for the dryness could be a thousand miles away, or they could be the new Canadian standing beside you in the grocery store. Sit and think about how much love you were given, be thankful for the things and the people that you have around you. Be thankful that you live in a peaceful country where your life is not endangered by simply stepping out the door to make a grocery run. Show to the world that you are grateful for what you have, but stand up and be willing to lose it all in the interest of doing the right thing. Be ready at any moment to protect your rights and those around you who cannot protect themselves. Sometimes all it takes is one person. For the Hutu/Tutsi refugees in Rwanda on those days, they had Paul Rusesabagina there being the peacemaker, the shepherd, and the saviour.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Comparison of Matilda Cook in Fever 1793 Essay

Mattie’s Life and Changes In Fever 1793, by Laurie Halse Anderson, sixteen year old Matilda (or Mattie) Cook changes dramatically over the course of the book. In the beginning, she is portrayed to be a young selfish girl who was always too lazy to work. By the end of the book, she is shown to be a strong young woman. Her family of three consisting of her grandfather, mother, and herself runs a small coffee shop. Her family usually works relentlessly before, during, and after the shop’s hours. Their kind slave, Eliza, works just as relentlessly around the kitchens. Mattie herself has the easy job as a waitress and usually works much less than her family and slave. Even so, she never puts her heart into her work. This demonstrates how foolish and selfish she is; but just in a few weeks her world will change epically for herself and everyone around her. The yellow fever hits Philadelphia with venom and mercilessly takes away numerous lives. Unfortunately, the disease finds its way to Lucille Cook, Mattie’s mother. Mattie is forced to run away with her grandfather in order to prevent herself and her grandfather from catching it. They try to find their way to a friend’s farm, but her grandfather catches the fever along the way. In desperation, Mattie picks berries and fetches water so that she and her weak grandfather can survive until help comes. In this chapter of her life, Mattie is slowly improving on her attitude and personality. She soon gets help for her grandfather from a hospital nearby. He starts feeling better, but then she herself catches the fever. Mattie is fed and cared for the same way as her grandfather. He soon recovers and takes care of Mattie. She in time gets better and decides with her grandfather that it is time to head home. When the travelling pair reaches Philadelphia, they find objects carelessly strewn across the paths. Houses are desolate and empty; bodies pile up in the graveyard. Their own coffee house is in ruins and Mattie’s mother is not to be found. Mattie and her grandfather try to strive as long as they can. During that time, Mattie hauls in water from the well, picks and chooses in their rotten garden, and uses what is not stolen in the kitchen  for the rest of their meals. They are doing alright for the first few nights, but a few nights later, a robbery occurs that takes Mattie’s grandfather’s life away. In grief, she allows the cart for the dead to take him to the graveyard and follows it to the graveyard. There she mourns for the dead who were taken by the fever, or less commonly from robberies that took Mattie’s grandfather away. In desperation, Mattie proceeds to find Eliza. Along the way, she comes across a young orphan named Nell and brings her along. Mattie soon finds herself living with Eliza, a pair of twins, Nell, and Joseph. She works in the day and late into the night feeding the needy; until the fever takes a toll on Nell and the twins. The house is too crowded for sick individuals, so Eliza and Mattie move the children along with themselves to the coffee shop for recovery. They care for the children as best to their abilities and hope that that the ill children will last until winter when the frost could chase the fever away. Fever 1793 is a wonderful book about a young foolish girl turning into a mature and hardworking young lady. Through the course of this book, Mattie demonstrates how she can change from a selfish immature girl into a selfless, hardworking, and mature lady.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The First Crusade And The Crusade - 1192 Words

The first crusade started in autumn of 1095. Pope Urban II initiated the first crusade by calling upon his Christians to reclaim the city of Jerusalem. The Crusade was also meant to seek revenge on the followers of Islam. The followers were accused of committing crimes against â€Å"Christendom†. Pope Urbans crusade was made possible by the work of St. Augustine on Christian Violence in the past. Many Christians joined the crusade because the Pope promised rewards for the afterlife. After the fourth century, Christianity underwent a transformation when it fused with the Roman state for which warfare was essential. St. Augustine and Pope Urban enabled violence to be an option for Christians and it can be described in this quote, â€Å"For the first time in Christian history, violence was defined as a religious act, a source of grace.† After the Pope’s Christian tour, many Christians were ready to destroy everything that stood in their way. After the Pope called the Christians to battle, the First Crusade started in the spring of 1096 in Northwestern Europe. The first attack was not against the Muslims, but against the Jews. Anti-Semitism had existed in Europe already, but the First Crusade was considered the first mass violence against the Jews. The Crusaders were convinced that the Jews were partaking in the murdering of Jesus in Jerusalem. Pope Urban called for the lords and knights who formed society’s military elites. Pope Urban was a good communicator, but what he said was aShow MoreRelatedThe First Crusade And The Crusade1582 Words   |  7 Pagesdeciding the course of history in medieval Europe, one of the most influential events was the First Crusade. The events that occurred set in motion a fundamental change in European society, religion, and politics, and the ramifications have been thoroughly examined. 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