Written by Viktoriya von Berg

Sample

Based on extensive research of our target demographic group who in 2012 will turn 18–21, present economical situation, adopted business models, socio-economic issues and present ecological state of our environment, our group recognized the need to develop an innovative business model to reinforce a concept of sustainability as a future of retail business operations.

We look at sustainability at a different perspective that introduces  a shared value both to retailers and consumers.  Since, the requirement of initial capital is the main concern for a businesses to ‘’ go green’’, we developed our store prototype that requires relatively fewer resources and offers consumers more than just a merchandise.

Our portable store, which will be easily assembled and disassembled from standard American shipping containers, will become an interactive center, a comfortable place for our young audience to socialize, to  relax,  to learn and  shop. We visualize it as a social networking site so popular in today’s youth culture, but away from home computers.

We offer our customers to participate in creating such a place by taking their part in our sustainable green business model as consumers of our product and employees at our store.  As our consumers become more aware of the benefits of recycling, sustainable store operations and make a conscious choice toward greener products we offer, our store, that initially will travel, will  grow into stationary centers throughout the USA.…

Excerpt

By Viktoriya von Berg (Cortado)

Product -”Breath Right” nasal strips 

TARGET MARKET

1st Place: Term Project: Placing a Product in International Markets

Based on our research and analysis that involved hybrid segmentation technique, we created psychographic-demographic profile of women ages 18–34 who currently live in the USA.  To better market Breath Right nose strips, we decided to utilize concentrated marketing approach and further narrowed our target demographic. Specifically, we conducted a research on the subset of women who enjoy healthy lifestyles

According to our secondary research, in terms of psychographics/lifestyle segmentation, we identified our target group  as “Inward Alternative Seekers,” who use techniques like massage, aromatherapy and yoga to relax.  Our primary research backed up our findings.  For this project we surveyed thirty woman ages 18–34 -  twenty five  respondents pointed to a high level of stress  and the importance of its management (1)

Data from Mintel Analysis concerning women within the age bracket of 18–34 proves identical consumer characteristics stating that our target demographic is ”  especially concerned with reducing stresses, getting into and maintaining a positive mental state, exercising and having a good night sleep.” (2)

Based on physiographic analysis conducted by Mintel Group, “single women within our target age group  are prone to sleep-disorders, depression and anxiety disorders.  This attributes to stresses in women who are working to pursue higher education, career and ”finding one’s way in life. ‘’As a result, these women are seeking spa services, massage therapy and variety of relaxation or revitalizing techniques to relieve these symptoms.’’ (2)

MARKETING  STRATEGY

Considering the demographic profile of our customers, the growing usage of the Internet, blogging, iPhone and other portable electronic devices that play a significant role in the lives of our target market , we developed a unique marketing strategy that includes Viral Marketing, Product placement, Public Relations and conventional advertising such as Print, Television and Online Commercials.

To generate a social buzz about our newly re-vamped product, we decided to utilize viral marketing as an effective and unconventional method of advertising and promotion.  Since our target customers have a high SNP (social networking potential) we recognized the benefit of reaching them via several social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and variety of other social networking sites.….»We also decided to utilize product placement technique using an increasingly popular online video platform such as YouTube..»

In addition, we would like to spend a portion of our budget on a strong interactive web component. Our website  will include blogs about the product in addition to relaxation tips, information about aromatherapy and functionality of  the product . In addition, customers will be able  share stories, videos and receive coupons via email. In return,  we will build a comprehensive database of our consumers. Our company will utilize the database for further analytical research, direct sales and guide our future product development. In addition, our customers will  be able to make purchases through our web-site via e-store…»

Analysis of Brazilian economy 2009

By Viktoriya von Berg

In order to understand current monetary and fiscal policies of Brazil it is important to look at the dynamics of economical growth of the country in the past two decades. In  1980 Brazil was enduring slow economic development compared to other developing nations. This economic trend was attributed to the large foreign debt that was considered to be the pivotal part of economic difficulties of Brazil. However, by early 1990 it was obvious that this view was unilateral in the sense that it overlooked the public sector of the country   which in itself was heavily indebted to local and foreign creditors.

At that time many economists came to the unanimous consensus that it was important to see how this particular sector was financed given the fact that it was almost bankrupt. Since in 1982 the foreign credit flow was eliminated, and the cost of domestic capital was extremely costly, the deficit was thought to be financed through infusing monetary supply which in turn skyrocketed inflation rate to 4,000% (four thousand percent) at annual rate.  (1) The adoption of Fiscal Stabilization Program in 1998 positively affected fiscal position of Brazil pushing down country’s debt-to-GDP ratio. (3) Governmental spending increased by 7% during this period of stabilization (2) This resulted in the relative stability of the country until the global crises swayed the world in 2007 (2)

In 2009 Brazil is an emerging-market economy that compared to the other developing counties is less affected by the global economic crises. Nonetheless it delas with the external and internal difficulties that negatively affect its economy. In a context of current global crises Brazil is in a position of dealing with its rapidly diminishing industrial production, especially in the motor sector which is capital intensive. The availability of the foreign credit that was abundant before global economic deterioration was dramatically reduced in 2008–2009 and the cost of domestic borrowing went up.  (2) This period is also marked by the dwindled demand for Brazilian export that adds to precarious economic conditions of the country.  (2)

Fiscal Policy-Rules Based Fiscal Management

To effectively deal with current conditions Brazil is in a process of implementing fiscal policy reforms that are indented to reconsider its indirect tax system that is extremely complex. The  reform intends to lift up  tax burdens on the motor and construction industries as well as on financial sector that includes financial transactions. The goal of fiscal reform is to extend from enterprises to the labor taxes by elimination of Salário-Educação, a federal levy on payrolls and individuals and decreasing the social security contributions of labor force.(5)

In addition ‚the current fiscal policy reform dictates  the extended time period for unemployment benefits, increased minimum wage that will contribute to the higher spending, social housing programs and capital investments in the development of the infrastructure. Since historically public debt was the single most central point of macroeconomic dilemma in Brazil, the new fiscal reforms are noteworthy in a sense that they contributed to the lower public debt. (2) It is projected that the surplus of the primary sector, or in another words debt, will decrease from current 4.6% to 2.3% as of 2009.

In addition, the newly created Sovereign Wealth Fund (Fundo Soberano do Brasil) was established in 2009 to protect the economy. Brazil intends to sell treasury bonds to finance its fund with the ultimate goal of facilitating local firms to extend abroad and engage in international trade. Also, it will facilitate the investment (4) According to Paulo Bernardo, the Minister of Planning and budgeting of Brazil, the government might be well able to increase spending by accumulating $8.6 billion in its Sovereign Wealth Fund within next year while avoiding the increase in its deficit all together. (4)

In addition, Sovereign Wealth Fund might be able to finance the gap in tax losses. Tax breaks were granted this year and many firms choose to postpone tax payments aggressively exploiting the law of extending tax payments till next year.(4) As of beginning of 2009 Brazil is in position of losing 1. 9 % of tax revenue because of slow tax payments, however it claims that it is in a position of reimbursing these losses using fund’s money in 2010(4)

Overall, governmental spending increased from only 7% during the time of macroeconomic stabilization in 1994, to 32. 5 % of GDP in 2008.

Monetary Policy-Inflation Targeting

In order to activate economic environment of Brazil, Central Bank of Brazil    reduced compulsory deposit reserve, or in another words ‘’ requirement for commercial banks to hold cash reserves equal the fraction of their deposits’’ to encourage lending.

Also, the federal government granted loans of 4% of national GDP to BNDES (National Development Bank) and other banks that are owned by the government. (2)  This relatively low percent rate allows these banks to engage into lending as well (2). In addition, the authorities allow large financial institutions to purchase distressed portfolios of smaller banks that have been affected by unfavorable credit environment. (2) The interest rates of real ax ante are at historically low levels. (2)

Besides federal loans and monetary easing, Brazil is advised to let automatic stabilizers to take on its purpose without further governmental intervention that otherwise might carry a negative effect. (2)

”If some unprecedented calamity should come upon this nation, I would be sacrificed to the unreasoning disappointment of people who had expected too much.”(Herbert Hoover)

The Great Depression started in America in 1929 and lasted till 1939– the time of the beginning of World War II. It evoked a lot of debates, speculations and misunderstandings among politicians and economists of all levels. It is common to believe that Herbert Hoover was a careless president who allowed already crumbling economy of 1929 to go down into deep pit hole pulling along the entire nation. Majority of middle class population, who are not well rounded in economics and politics, judge Hoover upon the outcome and they do not seem to be unfair. Paul Johnson, in his book ” A history of the American people ”, reasonably said that ”there is no logic or justice in history-only chronology.”

Herbert Hoover came to his presidency in 1929 in a very difficult time in American history. The Wall Street crash was significant evoking a four-week panic. Indexes were down to 224 from 452, GM (General Motors) went down from GM 73 to 8; in deed a very deep plunge in a stock market. However, ”the stock values were right in relations to earnings”. Considering the preceding events that took place in American economy from 1920, with its self-adjusted recessions and artificial inflation, the downturn was inevitable and needed. Federal Reserve Bank System was created to maintain prosperity nationally and internationally by deliberately inflating monetary supply. ”Credit was expanded from 45.3 billion on June 30, 1921 to $73 billion in July 1929, a 61.8 percent expansion in eight years,” (Johnson, Paul). This process was managed by two powerful figures in the formation of the US financial policy domestically and internationally: Montage Norman– governor of the bank of England and Benjamin Strong, governor of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The prices steadily were going up creating a demand-supply problem and resulting in recessions that successfully self-adjusted.

Another setback was the problem with tariffs. Although America had a very tolerant economy in 1920, meaning that the workers could demand wages and businessmen could work out different corporate polices, the high tariffs did not allow the healthy competition. Among those who benefited were domestic industries and banks. The working population, on the other hand, was denied the competitive prices produced by cheap imports. Overall, the republican leadership did not stand up for the economic freedom and artificial inflation along with low interest rates led to inevitable economic downturn and Wall Street Crash in 1929.

Herbert Hoover was not responsible for this vast economic plunge. ”The Great Depression was caused by monetary mismanagement at the Federal Reserve, as was thoroughly detailed by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz in their brilliant “A Monetary History of the United States.”(Wall Street Journal).Contrary, Hoover genuinely wanted to help the suffocating economy of America. Orphaned at the age of nine he was a self-made individual who worked his way through the school and Stanford University to obtain engineering degree. He was liberal and never expressed any anti-Semitic remarks. His good will spread over the poor third world countries that he wanted to aid. Many politicians, including Roosevelt, considered him to be a great presidential candidate. ‘He is certainly a wonder and I wish we could make him a president of the United States. There could not be a better one.” (Franklin Roosevelt)

Herbert Hoover understood all the responsibility of being a president in such a hard time in American history. ”The battle to save our economic machine in motion in this emergency takes new forms and requires new tactics from time to time. We used such emergency powers to win the war; we can use them to fight Depression.” ( H.Hoover, May 1932) Nevertheless, with all his candid intentions did Hoover overestimate his own powers? Paul Johnson, the author of ”A history of the American People” compares Hoover to a social engineer. The concept of social engineering is the ability to determine the shape of the society by manipulating human beings with help of some powerful force, perhaps a president. The people, in such case, are compared to earth and concrete, and the great outcomes to such engineering wonders as the Boulder Canyon Dam. The interesting fact is that Lenin and Stalin were two leaders of socialistic regime who became fascinated by the concept of the organizing power over nature. As a result, the switching of vast rivers from Arctic to other outlets proved to be a disaster along with their imposing totalitarian regime over the entire nation that eventually led to the well-known crash of the Soviet Union in 1990.

Herbert Hoover was a dictator in his own way. His intentions to be the first, the inventor, the pioneer resulted in the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Hoover Dam. ” More major works were started in the Hoover’s 4 years than in preceding 30 years of American history.” (Johnson, Paul). H. Hoover took the approach of the great inventor in saving American economy as well. He wrote: ” No president before has ever believed there was a government responsibility on such cases…there we had to pioneer the field.” And he did what he considered to be a new approach of the interventionist government: ”He resumed credit inflation, adding to the Federal Reserve almost $300 million of credit in the last week of October 1929 alone.” Instead of allowing wages naturally drop he decided to keep them high and even held several conferences taking promises from the corporate world to maintain the wages high and even to pay more whenever possible. This did not have a positive impact on those who did not have any wages at all, considering rising unemployment.

Besides keeping wages high Hoover did not consider interest rates that were too low. He certainly could allow the interest rates to go up, which would be the right economical decision, but he ignored it. In addition H. Hoover did not veto the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 about tariffs, which had a negative impact nationally and internationally. ”His policies were far from perfect, especially on trade,” wrote Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz in their “A Monetary History of the United States.( Wall Street Journal)

With all economical disaster of the Great Depression–education suffered enormously. Almost 1,500 higher education universities went bankrupt. ”University enrollment fell, for the first time in American history, by a quarter-million. ” Looking at the consequences of the Great Depression on education John Steinbeck said, ”When people are broke the first thing they give up is books.”

Herbert Hoover foreshadowed his future by saying: ”If some unprecedented calamity should come upon this nation, I would be sacrificed to the unreasoning disappointment of people who had expected too much.” The calamity was there, before the Hoover took over his presidency, and it turned into disaster during four years of him being a president of the United States. Was Herbert Hoover ”sacrificed” to the ”unreasoning disappointment ” of people with unreasonable expectations? Were the expectations of an American nation so unreasonable? The speculators are still not sure about the exact answer. Paul Johnson rightly said in his book: ”There is no logic and justice in history-only chronology.”

…

It has no shadow and its feathers’re missing
the gloss of dew and stardust of the night
It turns to Raven –when I read it listens
it turns to glittered quill in moonlight when I write

But interminably it comes when day’s in blossom
it’s missing wings are pitiful regret
Presiding over Salvador’s ”supreme ambition”
it squints at books I start to write but soon forget…

”Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings”
Salvador Dali

You scream I am Witch of darkened ages!
And make the fire with the pages
That praises me! You bare sages!
Me! Who drank old gin with drunken Poe?
Who filled the skull with blood of wine
for Byron playing in his castle?
Invited to soirees and rested on clover
Bed with Stevenson observing ‘’… child, far, far away,
And in another garden, play…’’ ?

I am condemned to burn in flames
Sustained by you with flapping pages
of poems read as shortened prose!
The masterpieces of new ages
Stored in the dusted schools of yours!
The instruments of inquisition to kill me more~!

I am The Rhyme!
I will survive the burning blaze
Of foolest pages yet receding!
The light of old will lit they way
To newest kingdom
Of my reign!
And not sustained thy flames will wane!

Darkened dunes lonely castles
casting saffron on coastline
Ocean–amber indigo
melting last golden rays…

Draped in the Suede of first shadows
Night pulls black sleeve of cloak,
Weaved in diamonds and rubies
lace of mask over face

casting moon shot reflection
in the glistening mirror…..
Split in half glassy kingdom
War on top –peace beneath

playing wondrous drama
Splashed in blue sward of lightning
Thunder cracks abyss open
striking torches of gold

rolling waves ever mighty
Mephistophilus plays Wagner
sweeping moon with the stardust
wind is wailing above
Brigantine harbored under.…

Rags of red silky dresses
Drapes of sails flawing down
Play is over, seats empty
actors fired. Alas!

Salvador’s melting watches
Kings of noontide are broken
Mast—lit stage holds unspoken
Final, short epilogue
of what once was a drama….
Sleepless nights twined in passion!

Paramours’ timeless playwright
Moon– is hiding in shadows
Prima donna lays pastel
Wreath of lilies –white tears

I dreamed of narrow streets of Rome with sunlight brushed against the open windows

I dreamed of iron door– its carving weave of handle too hot on fingers– opened into cooling
shadows of the courtyard

I dreamed of fountain that shed its scarlet paint, striking the strings of icicles—the feverish sparks against my flushing skin, turn golden streaks that melt and slither under décolleté of tawny silk

I dreamed you tore that silk away– the orange flames against your bare feet burning the angels perched on flowers of the tiles’ marble…

I dreamed you twined with shadows and left your light within the classrooms of your wisdom and dusted libraries and,
blaze with me, at holy city of the sin, that used to burn to ashes its dazzling bells up in its lofty cobalt dome—the endless sky of ancient Rome..

2010.