Curriculum Development Essay

1. What is K-12 curriculum? What is the rationale of K-12 curriculum? K- 12 is a designation for the sum of primary and secondary education. It is used in the United States, Canada, Philippines and Australia. It means kindergarten and the twelve years of elementary and secondary education. The kindergarten refers to the 5-year old unit that takes a standardized kinder curriculum. The elementary education refers to primary schooling that involves six or seven years of education and the secondary education refers to high school. The main purpose of K-12 Program is to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship. The outcome goals of the K-12 Basic Education Program is to make Philippine education standards to be at balance with international standards, to create more emotionally mature graduates equipped with technical and vocational skills who are better prepared for work, middle level skills development and higher education, to make the educational inputs significantly addressed shortages or gaps, to make the improvement of basic education outcomes broadened and strengthened the stakeholder support, to improve internal efficiency, system of governance in the department and quality of teachers. 2. Essentialists’ point of view of curriculum development? The curriculum is a crucial component of any educational process. It addresses questions such as what students should learn and be able to do, why, how, and how well. In the past, the curriculum was designed merely from the perspective of its cultural transmission functions with its structure consequently reflecting discrete areas of knowledge. According to Kern it is possible to use a six-step approach to curriculum development for Medical Education: 1. Problem identification and general needs assessment The most important step is the first one, the general needs assessment (GNA). The goal of step 1 is to focus the curriculum, by defining the deficits in knowledge, attitude, or skills that currently exist in practitioners and the ideal approach to teaching and learning these objectives. When completed, the GNA makes a strong argument for the need for the curriculum and identifies potential educational research questions. 2. Needs assessment of targeted learners The general needs assessment is applied to targeted learners. What kind of doctor do we want to educate it depends mostly on social needs but it can reflect job opportunities, financial rewards and attitudes acquired during process of studding. Sometimes it is very difficult to make balance between these several needs. Needs can be obtained on different ways. It can be done through study of errors in practice. It is very difficult to design curriculum which will fully meet the needs of society and students 3. Goals and objectives Institution should define overall goals and aims for the curriculum. Specific measurable knowledge, skill/ performance, attitude, and process objectives should be stated for the curriculum. 4. Educational strategies It is necessary to make a plan how to maximize the impact of the curriculum, which content should be included, how content should be organized and with which educational methods, how elements of curriculum should communicate, what kind of educational environment and climate should be developed. Content which is included must provide to student critical thinking. It must be selected and organized on the way to initiate critical approach to facts and development skill of information retrieval. 5. Implementation A plan for implementation, including timelines and resources required, should be created. A plan for faculty development is made to assure consistent implementation. 6. Evaluation and feedback Evaluation of curriculum presents the final stage inside cyclic process of improvement and development of curriculum. 3. Why develop a curriculum? Ever since the term curriculum was added to educators’ vocabularies, it has seemed to convey many things to many people. To some, curriculum has denoted a specific course, while to others it has meant the entire educational environment. Whereas perceptions of the term may vary, it must be recognized that curriculum encompasses more than a simple definition. Curriculum is a key element in the educational process; its scope is extremely broad, and it touches virtually everyone who is involved with teaching and learning. In no other area has greater emphasis been placed upon the development of curricula that are relevant in terms of student and community needs and substantive outcomes. The career and technical and technical curriculum focuses not only on the educational process but also on the tangible results of that process. This is only one of many reasons why the career and technical and technical curriculum is distinctive in relation to other curricular areas and why career and technical education curriculum planners must have a sound understanding of the curriculum development process. 4. What to consider in curriculum development? In planning and developing a curriculum, you should consider the following: 1. Convening a Curriculum Development Committee Such a committee, consisting primarily of teachers who represent the various schools and grade levels in a district, administrators, members of the public and perhaps students, becomes the driving force for curriculum change and the long-term process of implementing the curriculum. It is critical that an effective, knowledgeable and respected chairperson lead such a committee and it includes knowledgeable and committed members who gradually become the district’s de facto â€Å"experts† during the development phases of the process as well as the implementation phases. 2. Identifying Key Issues and Trends in the Specific Content Area The first step in any curriculum development process involves research that reviews recent issues and trends of the discipline, both within the district and across the nation. This research allows a curriculum committee to identify key issues and trends that will support the needs assessment that should be conducted and the philosophy that should be developed. 3. Assessing Needs and Issues Curriculum development should be viewed as a process by which meeting student needs leads to improvement of student learning. Regardless of the theory or model followed, curriculum developers should gather as much information as possible. This information should include the desired outcomes or expectations of a high quality program, the role of assessment, the current status of student achievement and actual program content. The information should also consider the concerns and attitudes of teachers, administrators, parents and students. The data should include samples of assessments, lessons from teachers, assignments, scores on state standardized tests, textbooks currently used, student perception and feedback from parents.

Inderstanding Consumer Behaviour Towards Luxury Products Essay

Studying consumer behaviour enables marketing researchers to predict how consumers will react to promotional messages and to understand why they make the purchase decision they do. Marketers realized that if they know more about the consumer decision making criteria, they can design marketing strategies and promotional messages that will influence consumers more effectively. The importance of consumer behaviour made marketers to think of a separate branch in marketing research – Consumer research, to deal exclusively for consumer related issues. The current focus of this report is on study of underlying needs and motives in taking purchase decisions, consumer learning process and attitude formation process. The study has been initiated for Club Mahindra Holidays. The purpose of this study is to analyze consumer perceptions of luxury products and the factors that influence his purchase decisions. The objective is to understand consumer behaviour towards luxury products and the steps followed while purchasing it. To achieve the above objectives, we first look at how luxury goods are different from regular goods and then go on to explore some facets and trends of the luxury goods as well as their market and consumers. We will understand the definition of luxury products through secondary research. Post secondary research we will develop few hypotheses which will give us the direction for our next step ie Qualitative Research. We will use interview method in qualitative research which will give an insight into the mindset of the consumers and their purchase steps involved and then follow it up with quantitative research (survey method). Through this we will quantify our findings for the Indian luxury consumer and their buying behaviour. We will analyze the factors that influence the consumers in buying the luxury products. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 4 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Research Abstract Scope: This project is a part of a job assigned to the planning department. This project is an initiative taken to understand the behaviour of consumers towards luxury products. Purchase of a luxury product involves lot of planning and research before taking any decision. There are number of factors that affect an individual?s decision making process as well as his choice about the product. These factors are different for different types of luxury product. A research into these aspects will give us an insight into the mindset of the consumer and will help to study the consumer better. Method: Primary research was done in two steps. ? Qualitative Research – Depth Interview Method ? Quantitative Research – Survey Method 1) Qualitative Research: For qualitative research, few high income people were asked open ended questions which were formulated based on the secondary research and in line with the hypothesis. Depth interview of 10 people were taken which gave an insight into their purchase behavior and their decision making process for a luxury good. Based on this interviews and a further review of the secondary research reports, a final survey questionnaire was prepared. 2) Quantitative Research: For quantitative research, after making the initial questionnaire it was pretested with 5 participants and was improvised. The final sample was 30 with target group being A and A+ socio-economic class people. In June 2009, the survey was conducted to observe the behavior pattern of consumers in buying luxury products. This allowed us to find out about the behaviour of the consumer towards luxury products across various income groups. Also we asked them about what all factors Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 5 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products influence them to buy such products and which brand of products do they feel are luxurious. We also understood the price range that they feel makes the product luxurious. Thus in future while designing any interactive campaign the output of this survey would be of great use for positioning the product as a luxury product. Also some secondary data was mined regarding what exactly influences an individual? s decision. Conclusion: Luxury products are high involvement products which require high thinking and are defined by their exclusivity and brand. They are mostly bought as a symbol of status. People have high emotional attachment with luxury products and are mostly influenced by their family members in decision making as most of the products are bought for family use. These products are also used as a means to gift their closed ones. Endorsing a film star or sport personality does not affect the image of a luxury product to a great extent. Luxury products give a feeling of pride and most of the purchase decision making is influenced by family members especially spouse. This entire initiative was one of its kinds and will help the INTERFACE COMMUNICATION to design its campaigns for Club Mahindra Holidays in a way to advertise them as a luxury club. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 6. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Acknowledgement I would like to give my sincere thanks to my Industry Project Guide Mr. Nilesh Talreja, Senior Executive, Strategic Planning, Interface Communications and Ms. Nahid Elavia, Account Planner, Strategic Planning for their kind support and guidance during my project and also for providing me with a great opportunity to work with such a valuable organization. I would also like to thank Mrs. Shamla Sathe, Account Planning Head for giving me this great opportunity to work with Account Planning Department. It is her visionary thinking, which has been the guiding force for whole of the division and my report. I would also like to thank Mr. Amit Dhokai, my colleague, who has provided me with the necessary information and his valuable suggestion and comments on bringing out this project in the best possible way. I would also like to thank all the faculties at SIMSR who have helped me directly or indirectly in the completion of this project. I thank Interface Communications (A part of Draft FCB+Ulka) for such a valuable learning experience. Thank you Jitesh A Sanghvi MMS – 137 (2008-2010) K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 7 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Sr. No. 1 2 2. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Company Overview Secondary Research Luxury Products: Getting to know luxury 2. 2 2. 3 Difference between regular & luxury goods Consumer Behavior: What is Consumer Buying Behaviour 2. 4 2. 5 2. 6 Stages of Consumer Buying Behaviour Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour Consumer Involvement: Causes of Consumer Involvement 2. 7 3 4 4. 1 4. 2 5 6 Models of Consumer Involvement Research Method Primary Research Qualitative Analysis Quantitative Analysis Recommendations Appendix 23 26 28 30 35 59 60 17 19 21 15 16 Page No. 9 12 14 Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 8 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products LIST OF FIGURES & CHARTS Sr. No 1. 1 1. 2 1. 3 Particulars Difference between regular and Luxury goods Stages of Consumer Buying Behavior Consumer Involvement Page No. 15 18 20 Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 9 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products COMPANY OVERVIEW. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 10 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products About Interface Communications History Interface Communications is the second agency of the Draft FCB Ulka group. The Draft FCB Ulka group has a 125 year heritage of pioneering concepts which define advertising and a 40 year heritage in India. Interface has grown from a single office to 5 offices in India and is one of the 1st few Indian agencies to boast of a pan Asia network. We are a team of 115 professionals across Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai. Interface is the first Indian agency brand that has gone beyond India. Interface has opened offices in Malaysia, Hong Kong, China. In 2003 we launched operations in Taiwan, Singapore. Work with some of the best known brands in each country. Business Interface is a second agency that is created to handle large scale clients. We work with some of the biggest brands across sectors from FMCG to automobiles, from real estate to finance companies, from consumer durables to holidays and many more. Majority of our clients are industry leaders and we are proud to be their strategic partners. Our clients have stuck by us as we are a process driven company. We have our share of global proprietary tools to provide a strategic edge to the clients we work with. Some of the more often used tools include: ? ? ? Mind and Mood and Moments The Wheel VIP and ICON Inspite of being process driven we are still a very people oriented organization. Our teams work together like a family and there is at all times a casual and jovial Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 11 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products. work environment maintained. We believe in an open door policy where any employee can express himself/ herself freely. As an organization we believe in constant learning and thus stress on training and development at all times. The Draft FCB Ulka group is one of the only advertising agencies in India to run a 2 month long training program for fresh recruits. This program called ‘The Star One training’ is a rigorous training ground for the future advertising biggies. This program is an annual feature and has been going strong for more than a decade. Draft FCB Ulka and Interface are some of the few agencies to have a very low attrition rate and most of the senior level management have been with the company on an average for more than 15 years which is a long time in advertising which sees constant churn. We at Interface live the values we believe in and for us our mantra is : We provide strategic communications partnership to our clients – to help sell their brands today, and build brand value over time Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 12 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Secondary Research on luxury products Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing. Page 13 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Secondary Research: Luxury Products Getting to know luxury Luxury brands have often been associated with the core competences of creativity, exclusivity, craftsmanship, precision, high quality, innovation and premium pricing. These product attributes give the consumers the satisfaction of not only owning expensive items but the extra-added psychological benefits like esteem, prestige and a sense of a high status that reminds them and others that they belong to an exclusive group of only a select few, who can afford these pricey items. The luxury sector targets its products and services at consumers on the top-end of the wealth spectrum. These self-selected elite are more or less price insensitive and choose to spend their time and money on objects that are plainly opulence rather than necessities. For these reasons, luxury and prestige brands have for centuries commanded an unwavering and often illogical customer loyalty. Luxury has never been something easy to define, yet this mystery concept is something highly desired by one and all alike. We look at delving deeper into this mystery and aura of luxury goods by way of comparing them against „regular goods? as well as highlighting the characteristics of the luxury industry. But before beginning with that, lets first attempt to understand some common terms associated in the world of high-end goods : ? Luxury and prestige brands such as Rolex, Louis Vuitton and Cartier represent the highest form of craftsmanship and command a staunch consumer loyalty that is not affected by trends. These brands create and set the seasonal trends and are also capable to pulling all of their consumers with them wherever they go. ? Premium brands are those brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger that aspire to be luxury and prestige brands but their marketing mix strategies are more attuned to a mass market, albeit a luxury mass market. They are also termed as mass-premium brands or mass-luxury brands. ? Fashion brands on the other hand are those that address the masses. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 14 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Difference between regular & luxury goods Fig 1. 1 Differences between Regular and Luxury Goods Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 15. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Consumer Behaviour What is Consumer Behaviour Buying Behaviour is the decision processes and acts of people involved in buying and using products. Consumer Buying Behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of the ultimate consumer. A firm needs to analyze buying behaviour for: ? Buyers reactions to a firms marketing strategy has a great impact on the firms success. ? The marketing concept stresses that a firm should create a Marketing Mix (MM) that satisfies (gives utility to) customers, therefore need to analyze the what, where, when and how consumers buy. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 16 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Stages of Consumer Buying Behaviour Fig 1. 2 Stages of Consumer Buying Behaviour The above figure shows Six Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process (For complex decisions). Actual purchasing is only one stage of the process. Not all decision processes lead to a purchase. All consumer decisions do not always include all 6 stages, determined by the degree of complexity†¦ discussed next. The 6 stages are: 1. Problem Recognition (awareness of need)–difference between the desired state and the actual condition. Deficit in assortment of products. Hunger-Food. Hunger stimulates your need to eat. Can be stimulated by the marketer through product information–did not know you were deficient? i. e. you see a commercial for a new pair of shoes, stimulates your recognition that you need a new pair of shoes. 2. Information search-o Internal search, memory. Page 17 Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products o External search if you need more information. Friends and relatives (word of mouth). Marketer dominated sources; comparison shopping; public sources etc. A successful information search leaves a buyer with possible alternatives, the evoked set. Hungry, want to go out and eat, evoked set is o o o o Chinese food Indian food Burger king Klondike kates etc 3. Evaluation of Alternatives–need to establish criteria for evaluation, features the buyer wants or does not want. Rank/weight alternatives or resume search. May decide that you want to eat something spicy, Indian gets highest rank etc. If not satisfied with your choice then returns to the search phase. Can you think of another restaurant? Look in the yellow pages etc. Information from different sources may be treated differently. Marketers try to influence by â€Å"framing† alternatives. 4. Purchase decision–Choose buying alternative, includes product, package, store, method of purchase etc. 5. Purchase–May differ from decision, time lapse between 4 & 5, product availability. 6. Post-Purchase Evaluation–outcome: Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Cognitive Dissonance, have you made the right decision. This can be reduced by warranties, after sales communication etc. After eating an Indian meal, you may think that you really wanted a Chinese meal instead. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 18 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour There are four types of consumer buying behaviour which are as follows: ? Routine Response/Programmed Behaviour–buying low involvement frequently purchased low cost items; need very little search and decision effort; purchased almost automatically. Examples include soft drinks, snack foods, milk etc. ? Limited Decision Making–buying product occasionally. When you need to obtain information about unfamiliar brand in a familiar product category, perhaps. Requires a moderate amount of time for information gathering. Examples include Clothes–know product class but not the brand. ? Extensive Decision Making/Complex high involvement, unfamiliar, expensive and / or infrequently bought products (Luxury Products). High degree of economic / performance / psychological risk. Examples include cars, homes, computers, education. Spend a lot of time seeking information and deciding. Information from the companies MM; friends and relatives, store personnel etc. Go through all six stages of the buying process. ? Impulse buying, no conscious planning. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing. Page 19 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Consumer Involvement Some consumers are characterized as being more involved in products and shopping than others. A consumer who is highly involved with a product would be interested in knowing a lot about it before purchasing. Hence he reads brochures thoroughly, compares brands and models available at different outlets, asks questions, and looks for recommendations. Thus consumer involvement can be defined as heightened state of awareness that motivates consumers to seek out, attend to, and think about product information prior to purchase. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 20 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Causes of consumer involvement The factors that influences consumer involvement include personal, product and situational. ? Personal Factors Self-concept, needs and values are the three personal factors that influence the extent of consumer involvement in a product or service. The more product image, the value symbolism inherent in it and the needs it serves are fitting together with the consumer self- image, values and needs, the more likely the consumer is to feel involved in it. Celebrities for example share a certain self image, certain values, and certain needs. They tend to use products and services that reflect their life style. They get highly involved in purchasing prestigious products like designer wear, imported cars, health care products etc. ? Product Factors The consumer involvement grows as the level of perceived risk in the purchase of a good or service increases. It is likely that consumers will feel more involved in the purchase of their house than in the purchase of tooth paste, it is a much riskier purchase. Product differentiation affects involvement. The involvement increases as the number of alternatives that they have to choose from increases. This may be due to the fact that consumers feel variety which means greater risk. The pleasure one gets by using a product or service can also influence involvement. Some products are a greater source of pleasure to the consumer than others. Tea and coffee have a high level of hedonic (pleasure) value compared to, say household cleaners. Hence the involvement is high. Involvement increases when a product gains public attention. Any product, that is socially visible or that is consumed in public, demands high involvement. For example, involvement in the purchase of car is more than the purchase of household items. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 21 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products ? Situational Factors The situation in which the product is brought or used can generate emotional involvement. The reason for purchase or purchase occasion affects involvement. For example, buying a pair of socks for yourself is far less involved than buying a gift for a close friend. Social pressure can significantly increase involvement. One is likely to be more self conscious about the products and brands one looks at when shopping with friends than when shopping alone. The need to make a fast decision also influences involvement. A consumer who needs a new refrigerator and sees a „one- day- only sale? at an appliances retailer does not have the time to shop around and compare different brands and prices. The eminence of the decision heightens involvement. The involvement is high when the decision is irrevocable, for example when the retailer does not accept return or exchange on the sale items. Thus involvement may be from outside the individual, as with situational involvement or from within the individual as with enduring involvement. It can be induced by a host of personal-product-and situation related factors, many of which can be controlled by the marketer. It affects the ways in which consumers see, process, and send information to others. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 22 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Models of consumer involvement Learn-Feel-Do Hierarchy Model Buying decisions vary according to the way there are taken. Some decisions are taken with lot of thinking; others are taken with great feelings. Some are made through force of habit and others are made consciously. The learn-feel-do hierarchy is simple matrix that attributes consumer choice to information (learn), attitude (feel), and behaviour (do) issues. The matrix has four quadrants, each specifying a major marketing communication goal to be informative, to be effective, to be habit forming, or promote self-satisfaction. Thinking and feeling are shown as a continuum – some decisions involve one or the other and many involve elements of both. High and low importance is also represented as a continuum. Fig 1. 3 Consumer Involvement ? High Involvement / High Thinking Purchases in first quadrant require more information, both because of the importance of the product to the consumer and thinking issues related to the purchases. Major purchases such as cars, houses and other expensive and infrequently buying items come under this category. The strategy model is learn-feel-do. Marketers have to furnish full information to get consumer acceptance of the product. Luxury products fall in this category. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 23. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products ? High Involvement / High Feeling The purchase decisions in second quadrant involve less of information than feeling. Typical purchases tied to self-esteem- jewellery, apparel, cosmetics and accessories come under this category. The strategy model is feel-learndo. To encourage purchases marketers must approach customers with emotion and appeal. ? Low Involvement / Low Feeling The purchases in this quadrant are motivated primarily by the need to satisfy personal tastes, many of which are influenced by self-image. Products like news paper, soft drinks, Liquor etc., fall under this category. Group influences often lead to the purchase of these items. The strategy model is do-feel-learn. It helps marketers to promote products through reference groups and other social factors. ? Low Involvement / Low Thinking It involves less in thinking and more of habitual buying. Products like stationery, groceries, food etc. , fall under this category. Over a period of time any product can fall in this segment. The role of information is to differentiate any „point of difference? from competitors. Brand loyalty may result simply from the habit. The strategy model is do-learn-feel. It suggests that marketers induce trial through various sales promotion techniques. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 24 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Research Method: The study is classified based on the consumer buying preferences and factors that influence purchase decisions. The research method adopted is exploratory as the research is still in its initial stage and the preliminary information that will be gathered will help in defining the problems and suggest hypotheses. We are set to learn about consumer behaviour across various product categories of luxury. We intend to understand the influence of various factors including family members and friends on purchase decision, emotional attachment with the product, purchase of counterfeit products and endorsing a film or sports personality for luxury product. We also want to understand purchase behaviour for car, planning of holidays and perception of holiday clubs. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 25 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products PRIMARY RESEARCH Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 26 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Primary Research: Methods Primary research was done in two steps. ? Qualitative Research – Depth Interview Method ? Quantitative Research – Survey Method 1) Qualitative Research: For qualitative research, few high income people were asked open ended questions which were formulated based on the secondary research and in line with the hypothesis. Depth interview of 10 people were taken which gave an insight into their purchase behavior and their decision making process for a luxury good. Based on this interviews and a further review of the secondary research reports, a final survey questionnaire was prepared. 2) Quantitative Research: For quantitative research, after making the initial questionnaire it was pretested with 5 participants and was improvised. The final sample was 30 with target group being A and A+ socio-economic class people. In June 2009, the survey was conducted to observe the behavior pattern of consumers in buying luxury products. Purpose Based on the existing data and the findings of the survey, it can be understood what influences a consumer to buy a luxury product and how to reach a consumer. The different perspectives of luxury products from a consumer?s point of view can be understood giving a detailed insight as to how to position a product as luxury product. Consumer? s expectations from a luxury product will help us to understand the modifications needed in a product to be categorized as luxurious product. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 27 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Sampling Sampling procedure: The sample is selected in a random way, but those having a car with nearly worth more than 5lakhs. It was collected through mails and personal visits to the known persons, by formal and informal talks and through filling up the questionnaire prepared. The data has been analyzed by using the graphical method prepared in Microsoft Excel. Sample size: The sample size of my project is limited to 30 only. This is limited due to time constraints. Sample design: Data has been presented with the help of bar graph, pie charts, stacked graphs etc. Limitation: ? Time limitation ? Research has been done only at Mumbai ? Some of the persons were not so responsive ? Possibility of error in data collection ? Possibility of error in analysis of data due to small sample size Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 28. Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Analysis: In qualitative research, a personal interview was conducted of 10 people to understand the perception of luxury products and their purchase decision making process. The layout of the interview was: Warm up General details about the person, his family background, his interests and his lifestyle Luxury Product To understand their perception of luxury products and steps involved in purchasing a luxury product. Car, Holiday & Club To understand his perception of a luxurious holiday and his planning process while going on a holiday. To understand his attitude towards clubs and decision making of a car Factors influencing To understand various factors that influence his decision for buying a particular luxury product. For qualitative questionnaire see appendix 1 For quantitative questionnaire see appendix 2 Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 29 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Qualitative Analysis: The Depth Interviews conducted gave some valuable insights into the mindset of the consumer? s perception about luxury products and their decision making process during purchase. Some of the interesting responses based on which quantitative questionnaire was made are as follows: 1) What is your opinion about luxury products? â€Å"Depends, it may be different for different people. DVD, TV and other stuffs would be luxury for me. † â€Å"They are good for show off† â€Å"Luxury products are created by seller. They are not necessities for a buyer but a need has been created by the seller. The way the products are advertised, branded and presented, a need is created to buy it. † â€Å"First and foremost it gives you a satisfaction in life, satisfaction that you are making use of the dreams that are available in the market. It can also be used as a status symbol. † â€Å"If you can afford it one must consider luxury products. What is the point if you can earn so much money and still don’t spend on luxury products? † Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 30 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Observation: Luxury Products have different perceptions with different people. Some think it is a need created by buyer where as some feel these are products good for show-off. Some consider it as a status symbol. 2) Is luxury a necessity? â€Å"Today a four vehicle has become a necessity. Though a four wheeler is a luxury still it becomes a necessity. Second example is the latest technology mobile phones. We use mobile phones even while travelling, before sleeping, after getting up, checking emails. So whatever you say about these products they have become a necessity. † â€Å"It is all in the minds of the people. If they get attracted to the promotions of the product and offers, it becomes a necessity for them. As said earlier, the need is created by the seller. † 3) Name a few luxury products? Expensive Car/Bike Jewellery Club Membership Branded Perfumes Travel Holidays Expensive Car/Bike Big House Jewellery Trendy Mobile Club Membership Travel Holidays. Club Membership Travel Holidays Electronic Gadgets Branded Perfumes Branded Apparels Club Membership Electronic Gadgets Travel Holidays Branded Perfumes Branded Apparels Observation: Club Membership, Travel Holidays and Expensive Car/Bike are considered Luxury products whereas other products like Jewellery, Electronic Gadgets, Branded Perfumes and Branded Apparels are considered semi-luxury products. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 31 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products 4) Can you take us through the entire process of buying this product right from the wish to buy – actual purchase? â€Å"My process to buy a new house started 10-12 years back. I saw an advertisement in the newspaper and then went and saw the house. Once finalised, I took a loan, sold the old house and bought this new house. † â€Å"My old car was giving me lot of problem. So I decided to buy this new car. I wished to buy this a year back. I didn’t want to take loan, so saved money for a year and finally bought this. In this period, the prices went down, so it helped me. † â€Å"I had a car before I bought this new one. It took me 2 years to buy this. It was the European car of the year. I saw the ad in the newspaper and decided I wanted to buy this. Observation: Purchase of a luxury product requires lot of planning and it takes many months to buy such high value products. Proper research and information needs to be obtained about the product before finalising the product. 5) What is your opinion of holiday clubs? Would you consider them as a luxury holiday club? â€Å"If you travel around a lot, than it is worth. It is not a luxury holiday because they have different offers which are affordable by most of the people. † â€Å"I would consider it as a luxury. Most of these packages are designed in such a manner that you can get discount during weekdays. Weekends are expensive. So those are the times when you have time. † â€Å"They are good and give you the necessary relaxation. I don? t consider them entirely luxury because nowadays most of the people can afford it. † Observation: Opinions about holiday clubs are varied as there is not clear understanding of necessity. There are number of clubs providing cheap holidays and hence clubs seem to be losing on the title of luxury club. Jitesh Sanghvi – MMS -137, Marketing Page 32 Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products 6) Would you buy a counterfeit Rolex watch for a cheaper price? â€Å"I am not a watch person so I would definitely go for a counterfeit. But for.

Applied research method - topic to be defined out of the assignment Essay

Applied research method - topic to be defined out of the assignment - Essay Example The difference in organizational culture is perceivable and culture has been recognized as a strong determinant of beliefs, attitudes and behavior. The strategic decision of M&A would have to take into account the impact of the differences in culture between two organizations or even between two nations. A high percentage of mergers and acquisitions fail to meet expectations and a very strong argument is that cultures were not integrated. This makes it interesting to know the impact that M&A has on the culture of an organization. To determine the impact of cultural differences when M&A take place, literature review would be conducted. There is a broad stream of literature available but since it is not possible to go through or include the entire database, select academic journals would be used to determine the impact that culture has during mergers. Three academic papers are recent while two papers are decades old. This has been done to understand how the mind set of people has changed over time. Literature review permits quick and easy collection of general information on the issue. The literature review would help to arrive at the research question. Cultural differences have been blamed for high failure rate in M&A but research suggests otherwise (Teerikangas & Very, 2006). Differences in top management styles have been found in top US companies but not in rewards and evaluation system to have a negative performance impact. Functional background had a positive impact on post-acquisition performance. A buying firm’s behavior throughout the buying process is influenced by its national background. According to some authors, differences in national cultures are not an impediment but a potential success factor for M&A. Research suggests that decision-makers give disproportionate attention to strategic fit as compared to integration issues (Olie, 1994). One of these issues is the ‘cultural fit’ where the fundamental differences

Module Title- Online Journalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Module Title- Online Journalism - Essay Example 1996; Al Jazeera Sports, a popular Arabic-language sports channel launched in 2003; Al Jazeera Mobasher, also known as Al Jazeera Live, a live politics and public interest channel which broadcasts conferences in real time without editing or commentary, launched in 2005; Al Jazeera Childrens Channel, also known as JCC, a childrens interest channel launched in 2005; Al Jazeera English, a global English-language 24-hour news channel launched in 2006; and Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, an Arabic language documentary channel launched in 2007 (Wiki-Al Jazeera, 2008). Al Jazeera English is the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel of the Al Jazeera media group. It is the first global English language news channel that is headquartered in the Middle East, which the group believes is a unique position that will shape its destiny of becoming the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events. With reference to Al Jazeera Arabic, its mother company and the historically significant broadcast of Osama bin Laden’s statements after September 11, 2001, Al Jazeera English aims to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions. (Corp Profile, 2008). The internet website of Al Jazeera English is located at http://english.aljazeera.net/. This paper critically reviews the Al Jazeera English website in terms of content, design, functionality and navigation, as well as proposes technical and journalistic improvements to the site and its contents. Like most news websites, Al Jazeera English presents its headline news on its front page. But being an Islam-oriented site, the headline news consists of Islamic country/people-related news items. Also on the front page are quick links to world news; sports; programmes; focus features, analysis and comments; Al Jazeera English TV schedule; and featured videos. The front page also contains quick links to jobs with Al Jazeera, emails related to published articles, a

A increase in income tax Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A increase in income tax - Essay Example As explained above if consumers cut back, the suppliers will reduce production while laying off workers, and then consumers will have even less money to spend in which case the cycle will repeat and thus begins a recession/depression like sequence. Consumers lose the most from this in the long term as explained, purchasing power will continue to drop and some workers will eventually lose their jobs which can send more shockwaves through the economy. Example: In the housing bust, consumers lost their jobs in the recession and were not able to pay for mortgages, thus defaulting. Banks then reduced their lending and consumers continued to reduce spending. Due to this suppliers had to cut their supply and more workers had to be made redundant. This cycle continued and spread throughout not only the United States but the world as banks defaulted on their debt. 3) If the government is attempting to increase government revenue an alternative is to decrease the tax rate to a maximized level where businesses and consumers would want to spend more and thus cause more revenue in the long term and the government would be receiving more revenue than at the previous tax rate. 4) A tax rate increase definitely affects the GDP and GNP due to the loss in production the aforementioned cycles would create. In the short run the tax increase doesn’t affect the GDP and GNP but in the long term Consumers would spend less and thus suppliers would produce less and lay off workers, and consumers would spend even less creating a vicious cycle that causes a

Peace in World Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Peace in World Politics - Essay Example This essay stresses that if all the states in the world were to be democratic and these values and principles shared across the board then instances of armed conflicts would never arise. The universality of such shared principles among nations therefore will prompt peaceful coexistence amongst nations. Theoretically, the plausibility of peaceful relations among countries observing liberal principles is obvious, but the reality on the ground confirms a very different scenario. States are complex and the internal dynamics of countries and their relations to other countries might negate advancement towards peaceful coexistence. In fact, realist point out that such propositions are merely idealistic thinking and that results from the ground paints a very different picture. Currently countries such as the United States, Germany and Brazil are embroiled in disputes over claims that the United States has spied on their highest offices. Since these nations are very democratic and liberal, in stances of armed conflicts can be a far-flung idea. Internationally, fear and distrust is not uncommon and this is the real picture, there is no even a single self-defining state that has the capability of exposing its states secrets to other nations, irrespective of the cordial relationship, which such States enjoy. This paper makes a conclusion that the legality given to liberalist’s view of democracy-by-democracy peace theory liberalism has developed to be a basis of violence and intimidation in the world stage.

A new product launch in a 1 higher income country and 1 lower or Essay

A new product launch in a 1 higher income country and 1 lower or middle income country-business - Essay Example An explanation of how each country was eliminated will be given in the report. Throughout the report many different sources have been used to collate the different types of data and external reading surrounding the different types of vehicles which are required for this report. Introduction 1.1 Product Description Montar Vehicles is a fleet of vehicles that will range from 2 door coupes to 4 door saloons, in terms of the vehicles itself it will be fitted with the latest technology to ensure both the driver and the passengers have a luxury traveling experience. Such technology for the driver would include rear and front camera, automatic aid reversing whilst the passenger are able to watch movies in surround sound whilst drinking their preferred beverage ‘ice cold’ from the drinks cooler provided. Executive options can be added for chauffeur driven styles like the hand stitched leather upholstery, wooden oak glazed interior, making it a direct competitor to the existing h igh end luxury car vehicles that are well established. The price range for these vehicles will be between ?100,000- ?350,000 depending on the car chosen, with the lower boundary competing with car brands Mercedes-Benz, BMW & Audi whilst the upper price boundaries will compete with the likes of Bentley, Maybach and Rolls Royce. 1.2 Target Group To appreciate the high-price, high-end range of Montar vehicles, the customer must have a certain sensibility and regard for finer things. The customer will typically belong to the affluent class of society and will have a taste for exclusive, expensive things. He will also understand that driving a certain vehicle bespeaks a lot about a person’s individuality, preferences and personality. The Montar 2 door coupe and the 4 door saloon is a vehicle that would be aimed at the high net worth individuals that have the purchasing power to enjoy such vehicle. The coupe is aimed at the younger members of the affluent class, aged between 18 and 35, who are looking for the classier driving experience. They have great-looking possessions, successful and happening lives and similar social circles to move in. On the other hand, the more prudent saloon is seen more as a chauffeur driven vehicle for the extremely wealthy, senior level professionals and businessmen. The classy exterior would appease their aesthetic sensibilities and the comfortable, first-class interior would allow the passengers to travel in comfort. The target audience comprises of individuals who already own chauffeur driven vehicles like the Rolls Royce Phantom. The positioning will be such that owning a Montar will display the individual’s financial standing and robustness. Along the same lines, industrialists, media moguls and celebrities would be another important target audience of the Montar due to the fact that many people would become aware of the vehicle through the publicity. Domestic and Global Market for Luxury Vehicles UK Market for Luxury Vehicles. With the onset of the global recession in 2007, almost every industry was faced with tighter cash flows and faltering sales figures. The auto industry saw very similar circumstances with key consumers having tighter finances and reluctance to put large amounts of money into buying luxury vehicles. This trend continued well through the next two years. There was a staggering 59% fall in sales from the previous year, which stressed the direness of the recession. Fig:

Ethical issues-drop box-12 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethical issues-drop box-12 - Essay Example If a prisoner who is a drug offender confessed that he still has been using drugs, there are different violations that must be noted and reported, as required: (1) the kind of drugs being used and the frequency by which they are used; (2) the manner by which the drug offender accessed the drugs; (3) if the drugs are used to manage his mental illness, as presumed; this must be validated with other medical practitioners within the prison setting; and (4) an impending escape plan must at all cost be duly reported to increase vigilance on his case; but with appropriate interventions to be provided in the form of intensified counseling with other collaborative rehabilitation techniques, as needed. As stipulated in â€Å"Ethical concerns in correctional psychology†, the psychologists’ primary mission is to â€Å"assist in offender rehabilitation and reintegration†¦Their primary focus is their application of direct psychological services with inmates, evaluation of the prison population, inmate management, and release evaluation and recommendations† (Decaire, n.d., par. 2). According to deontological theory, â€Å"people should adhere to their obligations and duties when analyzing an ethical dilemma. This means that a person will follow his or her obligations to another individual or society because upholding ones duty is what is considered ethically correct† (Rainbow, 2002, par. 10). In this regard, as a prison psychologist, one’s duty is to assist the drug offender to be rehabilitated and to be reintegrated in society in the future. One would therefore report his noted violations for the purpose of imposition of corrective interventions , as needed. The drug offender must be comprehensively assessed in his mental capacity to perform tasks that are consistent with a rehabilitated individual to prepare him for reintegration to society in the future. Rainbow, C. (2002). Descriptions of

Conference Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Conference Assessment - Essay Example The objective scheme for assessing a speaker at a conference will include a number of criteria. Based on the response, assessment can be made as has been explained in the table at end of this section. Some of the issues which can be considered are level of preparation of the speaker. Was he aware of the agenda for the conference Was he aware of the main issues which were being discussed during the conference Did he have background knowledge of the subject being presented Did he know the key areas of concern and points of discussion Was he aware of the main participants, their portfolios and the departments they were representing Did he prepare slides for the presentation Were they effective in communicating the point Did the speaker give the structure of the talk in advance and did it provide the participants a clear view of his goals, main points being covered and the key arguments set forth1 These issues will carry substantial weight in the assessment. Then is the aspect on goal se tting. Every conference has a goal and the speaker has to conform to the same. Assessment can be done on whether the speaker had set appropriate goals and if these were adhered to.2 An important ability of a speaker is effective communication. ... There is also a need to ensure that innovative techniques are employed for engaging people during the presentation.4 For this preparation of good slides to convey the point is important.5 Conferences are multi channel communication processes. Thus inter personal communication ability of the speaker to make a positive impact, convey point effectively and accepting another point of view once the logic had been explained are important for good speakers. Every speaker has to also be a good listener who can analyze a point quickly and understand the nuances without allowing the discussion to waver. The ability of the speaker to make an impact, to be taken seriously and make people listen and engage in dialogue needs to be assessed. Conflict resolution during the meeting deliberations is also an important attribute which needs consideration.6 Provision of handouts and notes which are take away for analysis and study by the participants would be an important facet which earns additional poi nts. Summarization of the presentation to include the rationalization of all points of views that emerged during the discussion will also be assessed. Finally the overall contribution of the speaker to the conference agenda has to be assessed which will be determined by a review of whether the speaker achieved the aims set for the conference. ASSESSMENT SCHEME Ser No Assessment Criteria Outstanding 5 Good 4 Satisfactory 3 Fair 2 Poor 1 1. Setting of goals and achievement 2. Preparation including in depth study of subject. 3. Presentation skills 4. Presentation material including slides, charts etc. 5. Hand outs and notes provided. 6. Communication skills. 7. Interpersonal

The Yoruba Rites of Passage Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Yoruba Rites of Passage - Term Paper Example The Yoruba is considered as one of the largest ethnic communities in Africa having a population of approximately 30 million people (Johnson 16). The community is mostly found in countries such as Nigeria, Benin and Togo, though it is possible to find that there are some who have migrated to other countries such as the US and other destinations for immigrants. These subgroups are 20 in number and are as a result of the fact that the community had 20 kingdoms, each led by an independent king and when the kingdoms were dissolved, the communities continued to recognize themselves in that scope. Much of the economic activities conducted by this community mainly involve farming (Akintoye 29). However, due to industrialization and subsequent rapid urbanization, some of the members have migrated to urban areas in search of formal employment, but it is observed that even in these areas, the Yoruba people still engage in crop production though in a minimal scale. As with any other community in Africa and the world in general, the Yoruba’s have their own unique culture which is greatly respected and strictly followed by the members. This is despite the fact that the community is surrounded by diversity, especially in religious dimension, which has the capacity to influence and assimilate these people thereby resulting to abandonment of traditional practices (Ambibola 22). This paper will examine the Yoruba’s culture in the context of rites of passage, i.e. traditional practices conducted in defining moments such as birth, marriage and eventually, death. Birth The birth of a child is an event that is received with great joy and happiness as it involves the introduction of a new life to the world. It facilitates the continuation of a family lineage and the existence of a community, which may otherwise become extinct in the absence of new births to compensate lost lives. The Yoruba people are no different from other communities in recognizing the importance of new births. This may be the reason why every newborn child must undergo two major processes that include welcoming and naming which are celebrated in two different occasions. In these occasions, tradition demands that parties be held and in this case, Iko Omo and Isomo Loruko are the two words that are used to refer to the welcoming and the naming parties respectively (Akintoye 41). In both Iko Omo and Isomo Loruko, the family must ensure that proper planning is done as these are considered to be the most important and probably defining moments for the child’s future. Depending on the financial capability of the family, it is a requirement that food be in plenty and to achieve this, most of the people opt to slaughter a cow or a goat. Buying of new clothes is also a component of these celebrations as family members must look smart and presentable in an effort to signify their status and also to symbolize their joy for the arrival of the new born (Lawal and Sadiku 22). It may be observable that buying of new clothes during important occasions such as Christmas. It is a common practice in most of the societies and this may be interpreted to signify their celebratory mood. It is also common for parents and the family of the newborn to hire celebrities such as musicians to entertain the crowd with music. Also, when these celebrations are in progress, traffic along the streets near the venue of the celebrations may be disrupted as a result of people blocking the roads while singing and dancing such that anyone familiar with the Yoruba culture would definitely tell what is

The Oval Portrait Essay Example for Free

The Oval Portrait Essay As one of the shortest of Poes stories, The Oval Portrait consists of a brief one-paragraph story framed within a larger vignette whose main purpose is to establish the romantic Gothic mood in which the story occurs. The setting and basis of the plot are shrouded in mystery; the narrator does not explain how or where he is wounded, and with his servant, he enters an abandoned, decaying chateau that offers no more answers than the narrator. The dark gloom of a deserted house is a classic background for a Gothic story, and the tapestries and strange architecture of the building give the narrators choice of apartment a feeling of removal from the contemporary world. Nothing of consequence occurs during the night, but the details provide a romantic feeling of loss that serves as an introduction to the story of the oval portrait. The oval portrait indicates the tension between the impermanence of life and the intransience of art. The portraits subject is full of life when she marries the painter, but the as the guide book says, The tints which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside him. With his artistic powers, he has created a double of his wife, but as in William Wilson, both cannot simultaneously subsist for long without one defeating the other. The history of the painting suggests that although the metamorphosis from life to eternal art may create a masterful work of beauty that simulates life, the narrator is only deceived by his dreamy stupor and by the sudden reveal of the painting from the dark. A second, more intense look at the painting reveals the illusion, and similarly, the painter of the story ends by giving up his wife for a mere image. The destruction of loved ones is a common theme in many of Poes short stories, but unlike in Poes other stories, the painter does not cause his wifes death because of hate or any negative emotions. Instead, his passion for his art simply overwhelms him to the point where he can no longer see his wife except though the lens of his painting. Thus, the story associates art and creativity with decay, not only within the story of the painting but in the juxtaposition of spirited modern paintings with rich, yet tattered and antique decorations within the narrators room. In the stories of C. Auguste Dupin, Poe praises the power of creativity tempered by the ability to maintain emotional removal, but the passion of the painter in The Oval Portrait is unrestricted and hence ultimately  harmful in his search to immortalize his wifes image. The association of beautiful women with death is prevalent in Poes works, and is especially prominent in The Oval Portrait. The painters wife is a beautiful woman even before she agrees to model for her husbands portrait, but as she begins to fade away under the influence of the tower, she becomes pale and wan and as a result could easily fit the Romantic and Gothic ideal of the ethereal woman. Finally, as she dies, the process of transfer between life and art completes, and her portrait captures her immortal beauty before it can fade away in old age and memory. Art and aesthetics are intrinsically connected, and the relationship between art and death places the painters wife next to other Poe characters such as Ligeia from the eponymous story, who also become beautiful as they approach death. Although The Oval Portrait centers on the painting of a woman, the painters wife is essentially a passive figure within the story. Docile and loving, she is akin to the canvas of the portrait in that both are manipulated by the male painter, whose passion and drive make him the active figure in the history of the painting. Furthermore, the wife is never the active, observing character. She is only observed, both by her husband, who in the throes of his art sees her only as a model, and by the narrator, who peers at her image in order to while away the night (we know that the narrator is male because his servant is described as a valet, a term commonly used for the male servant of a man). The wifes fate acts as a criticism of the male domination of art, but her compliance and submissiveness prevent her from serving as more than a silent warning.

Adolescence as a stage of life course

Adolescence as a stage of life course This essay will discuss about adolescence as a stage of life course. It will first of all give the definition of adolescent. Utilising the lenses of Psychological, biological and sociological l theories, the essay will examine adolescent in its different facets and the impact on the adolescent. The essay will also demonstrate why adolescence is socially constructed. It will then explore how identities are formed in the process. The essay will look at the confusion in role that adolescents are facing in society. The essay will also discuss about the dynamic of the adolescents relationship with their family members, with their peers and with society as a whole. The essay will underline the importance of having the knowledge and insight of adolescence and the implication for social work practice. Adolescence or in Latin adolescere means to grow into maturity. The Evidences that marque this period are a considerable physiological as well as psychological changes. It is also defined as a time of significant changes; biologically, psychologically and social. These changes have consequently a massive impact on the adolescent`s social insertion. Considering adolescence as a process of growing up, it covers a life span between puberty and maturity. These two adjectives are what determinate the legal age of majority. According to universal definition, the beginning of adolescence is clearly defined by the appearance of the signs of puberty. These signs are triggered by hormones stimulation in the brain. These signs are internal as well as external. This transitional stage is the bridge that connects childhood and adulthood. Therefore teenagers are neither children nor adults. These changes have an impact on their relationships with both parents and peers. It also influences adolescents roles in society. The difficulties that are experienced by adolescents are also the confusion of identity.by definition, identity is a sense of self that develops as the child differentiates from parents and family and takes a place in society. This refers to the sense that adolescents have of who they are and also of what is most important about them. According to Erickson (1963) psychosocial theory, the adolescence life stage covers the period to 13 to 19 years old. He described this stage as fidelity where about the adolescent is experiencing psychosocial crisis. He described the crisis that characterise adolescence as identity versus role confusion. The psychosocial crisis is ` being the identity crisis versus the role confusion. The adolescent will raise concern about his appearance, his position and his role within society. During The transition from childhood to adulthood, the adolescent will also evaluate the role he will be playing in the grown-ups world. The combination of identity and roles for the adolescent is considered according to Hall (1904), as a time of storm and stress. The signs that forecast the storm and stress are mental disorder and challenging behaviour such as delinquency, mood swinging, withdrawalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ These changes within the adolescent`s life can also be voice breaking, experience sex arousal, gender-role identity increasing autonomy and responsibilities. Erickson (1963) was in favour that it is natural for human being to pass through a genetically determined sequence of psychosocial stages. Surely the adolescent will experience role confusion, confused ideas and feelings regarding specific ways in which he will fit into society. This experience will be underpinned by a spectrum of behaviour associated with certain activities such as getting closer to particular individual or enjoying doing specific things. The adolescent is hungry for more freedom; consequently parents have to reconsider their attitudes regarding their relationship with the adolescent. Erickson (1963) insisted that only when the adolescent is secured and confident in his own identity, he then can take risks involved in genuine social and sexual intimacy of a lasting kind. He stressed that during the adolescence life stage, the individual will eventually achieve a sense of identity regarding whom he is and where his life is heading to. A successful negotiation of the adolescence passage could prepare the adolescent for adult life by providing him with a sense of identity or in other words the adolescent will gain a sense of ego identity. Also the other facet of adolescent`s life is in later stages of adolescence the individual develops a sense of sexual identity. Erickson stressed that during adolescence, the blending of rapid growth, hormonal changes and a increasing awareness of adult tasks ahead pauses the question of the sameness and continuity. However, the problem in adolescence is the difficulty to establish a meaningful sense of personal identity. Evidence showed that emotional arousals are very intense and volatile during adolescence. The only possible escape route from this trap is risk-taking behaviour. Consequently the adolescent will be confronted by life-determined important question? Who am I and who will I be? The emergence of adult personality, is linked to the ability to choose and being faithful to commitments in role playing within society. He went on by stressing that the adolescent who fails to link identity and role will experience hardship and confusion in his lifespan. He insisted that life stages are punctuated by hardship and crisis. Life will always press demands upon individual, but the adolescent must be able to solve problem in order to successfully make transition between life stages. Hendry and Kloep (1999) were in favour to Erickson`s Psychosocial theory as they stressed that young people, as they grow up, find themselves in the trap of having to respond more and more to society`s demand in a responsible and adult way while being treated as immature and not capable of holding clear opinions on a wide range of social matters. This view demonstrates the difficulty for adolescent to behave like one. He is wanted to respond like an adult, but in the adult`s world he is considered as a child, therefore he is not able to get involve into serious discussions about society`s matters. But it is important to stress that adolescence is determined by an interconnection between physical and psychological development. During this period, new cognitive skills occur. The adolescent is able to reflect upon hypothetical event such as the concept of self and others. This would reshape the relationship between the adolescent and his family member and also with his peers. It important to stress that the quest for identity and the changing nature of relationship are considered as the specific traits of this period. James Marcia (1993), a writer who worked on Erickson`s life stage found four distinct kinds of identity status within adolescence. First of all he mentioned the identity diffusion which is characterised by the lack of commitment and indecision about serious life matters. The second identity status is the identity foreclosure. This one is the status of preliminary commitment and value commitment. It is characterised by the acceptance of other values. In other words, the adolescent is does not question or rebel against adults authorities. The third element that James Marcia (1993) found is the moratorium. He argued that the moratorium is a state of intense identity crisis. This crisis is defined by active interest to great decisions and exploration of opportunities for the future, but not yet concludes in a hard engagement. He went on by concluding that the moratorium status is and uncomfortable situation, because the adolescent may be tempted to avoid by going for the foreclosure. The last observation he made was the discovery of the identity achievement. The individual have overcome the crisis that he was experiencing and has finally decided engage in a concrete commitment. As Erickson would claim, this individual has successfully negotiated the challenge of this stage of life. Piaget`s (1952) work helps understanding the quantitative changes in how the adolescents think about their world. He claimed that adolescence is when children reach the stage of formal operation. He argued that at this stage, children are capable of solving problem as adults. According to his theory; Adolescence is the period when young people gain considerable new changes in their thinking abilities. We all agree that greater maturity emerges in capacities of reasoning and problem-solving. In the case of adolescence, it seems to be a qualitative move in thinking toward the ability to maintain different views simultaneously, considering knowledge and values as more linked than during childhood, and exploring more options and possibilities in their decision-making. On the other hand, these capacities of seeing situation from different perspective enable the adolescent to reflect upon the quality of his relationship with others and how he is treated. However, the probability of the good use of these new capacities depends on the experience, expertise and environmental demands. For Freud psychosexual theory, adolescence is regarded as the final stage of psychosexual development. Adolescence is directly linked to a considerable change in a sexual attitude. The adolescent seems to be directed toward the opposite sex in order to find a partner. Bowlby regarded adolescence as a stage which attachments to parents-figures are loosened. The adolescent will form new adult attachement. Bandura`s social learning stressed that most of human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an ideas of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. This theory demonstrates that human behaviour is a continuous reciprocal intervention between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influence. In respect of the adolescent`s identity and role, the social learning theory explains that adolescent copies his behaviour from what he has been taught. Also the quality of this relationship with others will depend on the codes received from them and from the environment. Maslow (1970) Humanistic approach in terms of the adolescence stage tends toward the self-actualisation aspect. As the adolescent is preparing to get into adult world, it is important to understand certain prerequisites attached to his status. Self-actualisation is the fact that one make full use of one`s talent and capacities. But in order to understand the full meaning of what constitutes full use, one must have a conception of the goal of growth and development. But yet like Rogers, Maslow believed that healthy people would start to show certain traits of self-actualisation characteristics. Aristotle (4th century B.C/1941 translation) comes in support of the social learning approach. He regarded that human being is an organic whole. His biological development has an impact on his psychological development. He stresses that young people that experience adolescence are emotionally unstable. Furthermore, Plato and Aristotle argued that those adolescents are impulsive. They are predisposed to excess. This attitude can be explained by the biological and psychological changes that they are going through. But, they marked that the end of this seismic period is punctuates by the development of a sense of self-control. Aristotle recognised that the most important trait of adolescence was the ability to choose. But this ability to choose is conditioned by various humanistic stages. Baker (1990) insists that although adolescence is a time of major change, many adolescents will experience it without major difficulty. Giving that adolescence spreads over a number of years, it involves important aspects such as social, emotional, cognitive and physical changes. In order to develop better understanding of this life stage, adolescence is divided into three sub-stages. The early adolescence (12-14) is the year where most of the physical changes appear. These changes are also followed by changes in relationships with peers and parents. The middle adolescence (14-16): at this stage, again variations occur. The most noticeable change is the increasing hunger for independence. But also some the adolescent are preparing for adult occupation and/or going into further education. Again, some of them experience late physical changes such as the appearance of spurts, voice breakingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Some of them exceptionally enter adult roles directly from middle adolescence. Late adolescence (17-19) is the time of progressive preparation for adulthood. As one would notice that the key features for adolescent are most of the time seen to be establishing a secure sense of who they are as they prepare for adult roles. It`s also about weaving more interdependent relationships with families. It is reaching physical adult maturity. And finally, it is constructing relationships with peers. Berger (1966) society not only controls our movements, but shapes our identity, our thought and our emotions. The structures of society become the structures of our own consciousness. Society does not stop at the surface of our skins. Society penetrates us as much as it envelops us. Human being is a sociable individual. His development and his identity are shaped by his ability of building up a relationship with others and with his environment. Talcott (1954), a functionalist argued that age differences are the forces that drive the overall functioning of the social system. He insisted that differences in social roles are associated with age groups in order to ensure the smooth running of the society itself. According to Talcott Parsons (1954) a functionalist, differences in the roles associated with age groups were very important for the good functioning of society. Talcott (1954) stressed that adolescence is a time when children start to express independence from their parents. Concerning the adolescence, Talcott (1954) believed that it the time when children start to develop independence from their parents. In the industrial society it is important that adolescents detached themselves from their parents in order to allow party, parents and adolescents to freely move to where work can be found. This independence from their parents shifts the loyalty that adolescents have for their parents to their peers and / or partners. Talcott (1954) went on by stressing that adolescents in their quest for independence are most of the time involve in a sort of rebellion. Also adolescents in their quest of who they are, put lot of accents on their image and on their independence. Though, it understood that the transition towards adult roles may not always be a smooth one, it helps the emergence of independent individuals within families units who well adapt to respond to the needs of industrial societies. Other authors would support that adolescence is by definition partly biology but also psychological transition, which is differently seen in different societies, at a different epoch. As far as they were concerned, in non-industrial countries where children were involved in the same activity as their parents, adolescence was a brief transition from childhood to adulthood. This brief transition was however marked by a cultural ceremony. For example, The Bar Mitzvah in the Jewish culture celebrates the transition for boys. However one understood that in western society, there is not a precise date to mark adolescence but it does mention a relatively prolong period in which young people are biologically adult but legally children. Nevertheless it is clear that the biological change is chares by every society. The explanation of the rebellious attitude of adolescents toward their parents could be due to the fact that the individual would like to resemble to the parents. They want to have the same authority and freedom as their parents. On the other hand, conformity in rule biding in Order, deviance and control are some of the basic realities in society. Order in society is the fact that individual can act and interact without major interruption. The definition of social order is the conformity to social norms and rules. Deviance occurs generally when rules are broken. Adolescents anti-social behaviour can be seen as a form of deviance. The main formal way to control adolescents deviance includes the police, the court, the prison, probation system and also the social worker. Durkheim ( ) a functionalist, insisted that order is important for the simple reason that it maintains the social equilibrium .Surely order is important for social life. However no-one have said that it is morally good of bad. It is how order is given which constitutes the major issues. Most authors recognised that adolescence is a transition stage which involves establishing a new identity. However, as individual experience things differently, one can stress that adolescence is not necessary a time of stress and bad behaviour. Other people have experienced a smooth transition from childhood to adolescence. Merton Marxist conclusion Ref: jann gumbiner (2003),Adolescent assessment Ref : Kate Wilson, Gillian Ruch ,Mark Lymbery, Andrew Cooper (2008), Social work (an introduction to contemporary practice), Pearson Education Limited. Ref : Richard Gross (2009) psychology the science of mind and behaviour, Hodder Arnold, 5th edition Ref: William E. Glassman(1995), approaches to psychology, open university press, 2nd edition. Ref : Haralambros and Holborn (2008), Sociology, Themes and Perspectives, Collins, seven edition Ref : Chris Beckett (2002), Human Growth and Development, Sage Publication Ltd, first edition. Mike O`Donnell (1997), Introduction to sociology, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, Fourth edition

Bio Fertilizer Industry In India

Bio Fertilizer Industry In India Bio-fertilizers are contain live such beneficial microorganisms which on application to seed, root or soil mobilize the availability of nutrients by their biological activity in particular, and help build up the micro-flora and in turn the soil health in general. An increasing number of farmers and agriculturists are turning to the use of bio-fertilizers as these are gentler on the soil as against chemical fertilizers. It is easier to fully appreciate the importance of bio-fertilizers when we know how harmful the chemical fertilizers for the soil and the crops are. Chemical fertilizers are meant to boost the growth of plants and increase the fertility of the soil; however they cause significant damage to the environment and also human health by increasing the day by day concentration of toxic chemical in food. These chemical based fertilizers also make use of nitrogenous fertilizers or chemicals, are expensive and not as conveniently available. Unlike other environmentally harmful chemical fertilizers, bio-fertilizers work on naturally building up the resistance and enhance the nutritional value of the soil and the host plant by adding primary nutrients. Application of high input technologies has resulted in significant increase in agricultural productivity. There is, however, a growing concern about the adverse effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers on soil productivity and environmental quality. For those looking at organic farming, bio-fertilizers make the perfect choice. A large number of people are realizing the value and benefit of living an eco-friendly life, and therefore the demand for organic products is ever increasing. Using bio-fertilizers is a great way to produce organic products and promote good health. The current research study is based on using the secondary data for the analysis or market of bio-fertilizer in India. Market analysis includes the annual requirement and production of different bio-fertilizers state wise in India and to find the root cause behind tremendous gap between requirement and production. This study will analyse the major bio-fertilizer producing states and identify major government and non government manufacturers. In this report we also analysis the market revenue of bio-agri (bio-fertilizer) and constant increasing demand and growth rate of this industry in India. And also analysis the strategies used by the industry to increase the market of bio-fertilizer. Also, this study will contribute in building a trend analysis for the production of bio-fertilizers in India over the last 10 years. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In the current scenario one of the major concerns faced by the agriculture industry is the contamination and pollution of soil. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has caused tremendous harm to the environment. There seems to be a growing concern about the adverse effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers on soil productivity and environmental quality. An answer to this is the bio-fertilizer, an environmentally friendly fertilizer now used in most countries. Bio-fertilizers contain micro-organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of soil. These micro-organisms supply in addition to nitrogen, considerable amount of organic matter enriching quality of soil. Inoculants of these micro-organisms have proved their technical feasibility, economic viability and social acceptability. They are therefore called as `bio-fertilizer. Hence the term `bio-fertilizer may be defined as those fertilizer which containing living or latent cells of efficient strains of the nitrogen fixing, phosphorous solubilising or cellulolytice micro-organism. For those looking at organic farming, bio-fertilizers make. The perfect choice a large number of people are realizing the value and benefit of living an eco-friendly life, and therefore the demand for organic products is ever increasing. Using bio-fertilizers is a great way to produce organic products and promote good health. This research study based on analysing the annual requirement and production of different bio-fertilizers state wise in India identified Tamil Nadu as the major biofertilizer producing state of India. Other regions of production of biofertilizers are Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chennai karnataka. The root cause behind tremendous gap between requirement and production is existence of very few Biofertilizer producing organizations and less awareness of benefits of using biofertilizers over chemical fertilizers. This research study also identified the major government and non government organizations producing biofertilizers. Data enlisted in this report contributes in building a trend analysis for the production of biofertilizers in India over the last 10 years. CHAPTER 01 INTRODUCTION SALES MARKETING OF BIOFERTLIZERS IN INDIA INTRODUCTION One of the major concerns in todays world is the pollution and contamination of soil. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has caused tremendous harm to the environment. An answer to this is the biofertilizer, an environmentally friendly fertilizer now used in most countries. Biofertilizers are organisms that enrich the nutrient quality of soil. The main sources of biofertilizers are bacteria, fungi, and Cynobacteria (blue-green algae). The most striking relationship that these have with plants is symbiosis, in which the partners derive benefits from each other.Plants have a number of relationships with fungi, bacteria, and algae, the most common of which are with Mycorrhiza, Rhizobium, and Cyanophyceae. These are known to deliver a number of benefits including plant nutrition, disease resistance, and tolerance to adverse soil and climatic conditions. These techniques have proved to be successful biofertilizers that form a health relationship with the roots. Biofertilizers will help to solve such problems as increased salinity of the soil and chemical run-offs from the agricultural fields. Thus, biofertilizers are important if we are to ensure a healthy future for the generations to come. These micro-organisms supply in addition to nitrogen, considerable amount of organic matter enriching structure of soil. Inoculants of these micro-organisms have proved their technical feasibility, economic viability and social acceptability. They are therefore called as `biofertilizer. Hence the term `biofertilizer or microbial inoculants may be defined as preparations containing living or latent cells of efficient strains of nitrogen fixing, phosphorous solubilising or cellulolytice micro-organism. There is, however, a growing concern about the adverse effects of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers on soil productivity and environmental quality. For those looking at organic farming, biofertilizers make the perfect choice. A large number of people are realizing the value and benefit of living an eco-friendly life, and therefore the demand for organic products is ever increasing. Using biofertilizers is a great way to produce organic products and promote good health. Therefore, the current research study is based on analysing the annual requirement and production of different bio-fertilizers state wise in India to find the root cause behind tremendous gap between requirement and production. This study will analyse state wise production of various biofertilizers and identify major government and non government manufacturers meeting the requirements. Results from this research study would draw inference on major government and non government manufacturers as well as find out the major state in India producing biofertilizers. Also, this study will contribute in building a trend analysis for the production of biofertilizers in India over the last 10 years. 1.1 OBJECTIVES: To analyse the annual production and sale of Biofertilizers in India Estimate state wise production and consumption of Biofertilizers Analyse Marketing conditions in the Biofertilizers market of India To predict the future production and consumption by Trend analysis 1.2 RESEARCH PLAN : The study will begin with collecting raw data of all the material available on the internet, published articles, and various journals and thereafter tabulate the data collected to perform an ordered analysis of major biofertilizer producing states of India, check the prevalent trend in the production and sales during the last ten years. Time consideration to collect extensive amount of data would be three months and the research results shall be demonstrated statistically in the form of graphs and charts so as to ease the understanding of the gap between production and availability of biofertilizers in the Indian market. 1.3 METHODOLOGY : This research study is primarily based on extensive secondary research data available in the various published research reports and annual reports of various government and non-government organizations. The study begins with collecting raw data out of all the material available on the internet, published articles, and various journals and thereafter tabulating the data to construct graphs and charts to bring about various analysis of state wise production and sales of the major biofertilizers. 1.4 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH Since the data collected is secondary data, no primary research results could be utilized deciphering that certain amount of data could be outdated or obsolete. No research study or survey has been conducted till date to rate the top 10 or top 5 Biofertilizer producing companies on India although top 20 companies producing chemical fertilizers can be enlisted. No research study has been conducted to analyze the contribution of sales of biofertilizers to the economy of India. There exist various research gaps to statistically estimate the trend of biofertilizer production since the first year of its commercial production in India. CHAPTER 02 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. ROLE OF BIOFERTILIZERS Biofertilizers have definite advantage over chemical fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers supply not only nitrogen whereas biofertilizers provide in addition to nitrogen certain growth promoting substances like hormones, vitamins, amino acids, etc., crops have to be provided with chemical fertilizers repeatedly to replenish the loss of nitrogen utilized for crop growth. On the other hand biofertilizers supply the nitrogen continuously throughout the entire period of crop growth in the field under favorable conditions. Continuous use of chemical fertilizers adversely affects the soil structure whereas biofertilizers when applied to soil improve the soil structure. The deleterious effects of chemical fertilizers are that they are toxic at higher doses. Biofertilizers, however, have no toxic effects.It may be borne in mind that biofertilizers are no substitute for chemical fertilizers. At present, the use of chemical fertilizers is far below the recommended level. Therefore, the aim and ob ject of spread of biofertilizers technology as a Industry has to build up efficiency in use of chemical fertilizers supplemented by low cost inoculants to the extent possible.Main constraints in spread of biofertilizers as an Industry are production and supply of efficient cultures of microorganisms to farmers well before sowing. Secondly, Quality control aspect and lack of publicity, etc. Besides, whatever biofertilizers are prepared are not reached to farmers prior to sowing. At many places they are given free of cost, which lowers down the importance of product and farmers dont use them carefully. Sometimes, biofertilizers are supplied after expiry date and hence expected results are not obtained. A quality control aspect is the most important in biofertilizers. Now a day most of the products sold in the market are below standard. A few entrepreneurs possess ISI mark for their products. The government has no control over manufacturers of biofertilizers in any of the states of Ind ia. Hence farmers are confused about rates, quality and expiry dates of biofertilizers. Similar is the case of prices; they are varied from place to place. (Panlada Tittabutra, et. Al., 2006) Organic farming has emerged as an important priority area globally in view of the growing demand for safe and healthy food and long term sustainability and concerns on environmental pollution associated with indiscriminate use of agrochemicals. Though the use of chemical inputs in agriculture is inevitable to meet the growing demand for food in world, there are opportunities in selected crops and niche areas where organic production can be encouraged to tape the domestic export market. Bio-fertilizers are being essential component of organic farming are the preparations containing live or latent cells of efficient strains of nitrogen fixing, phosphate solubilizing or cellulolytic micro-organisms used for application to seed, soil or composting areas with the objective of increasing number of such micro-organisms and accelerate those microbial processes which augment the availability of nutrients that can be easily assimilated by plants. Biofertilizers play a very significant role in improving soil fertility by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, both, in association with plant roots and without it, solubilise insoluble soil phosphates and produces plant growth substances in the soil. They are in fact being promoted to harvest the naturally available, biological system of nutrient mobilization (Venkatashwarlu, 2008a). The role and importance of biofertilizers in sustainable crop production has been reviewed by several authors (Biswas et al. 1985; Wani and Lee, 1995; Katyal et al. 1994). But the progress in the field of BF production technology remained always below satisfaction in Asia because of various constraints. It may be noted, only 30 % of Indias total cultivable area is covered with fertilizers where irrigation facilities are available and the remaining 70 % of the arable land, which is mainly rain fed, very negligible amount of fertilizers are being used. Farmers in these areas often use organic manures as a source of nutrients that are readily available either in their own farm or in their locality. The North- Eastern (NE) region of India provides consi derable opportunity for organic farming due to least utilization of chemical inputs. It is estimated that 18 million hectare of such land is available in the NE that can be exploited for organic production. With the sizable acreage under naturally organic/default organic cultivation, India has tremendous potential to grow crops organically and emerge as a major supplier of organic products in worlds organic market (Venkatashwarlu. 2008a) The report of Task Force on Organic Farming appointed by the Government of India also observed that in vast areas of the country, where limited amount of chemicals are used and have low productivity could be exploited as potential areas to develop into organic agriculture. Arresting the decline of soil organic matter is the most potent weapon in fighting against unabated soil degradation and imperiled sustainability of agriculture in tropical regions of India, particularly those under the influence of arid, semiarid and sub-humid climate. Applicatio n of organic manures particularly bio-fertilizers is the only option to improve the soil organic carbon for sustenance of soil quality and future agricultural productivity (Ramesh,2008). 2.1 WHY TO EXPLORE BIO-FERTILIZERS Indiscriminate use of synthetic fertilizers has led to the pollution and contamination of the soil, polluted water basins, destroyed micro-organisms and friendly insects, making the crop more prone to diseases and reduced soil fertility. Demand is much higher than the availability. It is estimated that by 2020, to achieve the targeted production of 321 million tonnes of food grain, the requirement of nutrient will be 28.8 million tonnes, while their availability will be only 21.6 million tones being a deficit of about 7.2 million tones. Depleting feedstock/fossil fuels (energy crisis) and increasing cost of fertilizers. This is becoming unaffordable by small and marginal farmers. Soil fertility depletes due to widening gap between nutrient removal and supplies. There is a huge concern about such environmental hazards which increases threat to sustainable agriculture. Besides the above facts, the long term use of bio-fertilizers is economical, eco-friendly, more efficient, productive and accessible to marginal and small farmers over chemical fertilizers (Venkataraman and Shanmugasundaram, 1992) . 2.2 Balanced use of Chemical Bio-fertilizers The annual requirement and production of different bio-fertilizers has clearly demonstrated tremendous gap in this area. Thus, a strategy for judicious combination of chemical fertilizers and biofertilizers will be economically viable and ecological useful. It should be recommended that biofertilizers are not a substitute, but a supplement to chemical fertilizers for maximizing not only the yield but also agro system stability. 2.3 Characteristic features of some Bio-fertilizers Rhizobium:- Belongs to family Rhizobiaceae, symbiotic in nature, fix nitrogen 50-100 kg/ha. With legumes only. It is useful for pulse legumes like chickpea, red-gram, pea, lentil,black gram, etc., oil-seed legumes like soybean and groundnut and forage legumes like berseem and lucerne. It colonizes the roots of specific legumes to form tumour like growths called root nodules, which acts as factories of ammonia production. Rhizobium has ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiotic association with legumes and certain nonlegumes like Parasponia. Rhizobium population in the soil depends on the presence of legume crops in the field. Azospirillum:- Belongs to family Spirilaceae, heterotrophic and associative in nature. In addition to their nitrogen fixing ability of about 20-40 kg/ha, they also produce growth regulating substances. The Azospirillum form associative symbiosis with many plants particularly with those having the C4-dicarboxyliac path way of photosynthesis (Hatch and Slack pathway), because they grow and fix nitrogen on salts of organic acids such as malic, aspartic acid (Arun, 2007a). Thus it is mainly recommended for maize, sugarcane, sorghum, pearl millet etc. They do not, however, produce any visible nodules or out growth on root tissue. Azotobacter-: Belongs to family Azotobacteriaceae, aerobic, free living, and heterotrophic in nature. Azotobacters are present in neutral or alkaline soils and A. chroococcum is the most commonly occurring. species in arable soils.. The number of Azotobacter rarely exceeds of 104 to 105 g-1 of soil due to lack of organic matter and presence of antagonistic microorganisms in soil. The bacterium produces anti-fungal antibiotics which inhibits the growth of several pathogenic fungi in the root region thereby preventing seedling mortality to a certain extent. The isolated culture of Azotobacter fixes about 10 mg nitrogen g-1 of carbon source under in vitro conditions. The occurrence of this organism has been reported from the rhizosphere of a number of crop plants such as rice, maize, sugarcane, bajra, vegetables and plantation crops, (Arun, 2007a). Blue Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) and Azolla -These belongs to eight different families, phototrophic in nature and produce Auxin, Indole acetic acid and Gibberllic acid, fix 20-30 kg N/ha in submerged rice fields as they are abundant in paddy, so also referred as paddy organisms. Most N fixing BGA are filamentous, consisting of chain of vegetative cells including specialized cells called heterocyst which function as micro nodule for synthesis and N fixing machinery. BGA forms symbiotic association capable of fixing nitrogen with fungi, liverworts, ferns and flowering plants, but the most common symbiotic association has been found between a free floating aquatic fern, the Azolla and Anabaena azollae (BGA). Besides N-fixation, these biofertilizers or biomanures also contribute significant amounts of P, K, S, Zn, Fe, Mb and other micronutrient. India has recently introduced some species of Azolla for their large biomass production, which are A.caroliniana, A. microphylla, A. filiculoid es and A. mexicana. Phosphate solubilizers -Several reports have examined the ability of different bacterial species to solubilize insoluble inorganic phosphate compounds, such as tricalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, hydroxyapatite, and rock phosphate. Among the bacterial genera with this capacity are pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhizobium, Burkholderia, Achromobacter, Agrobacterium, Microccocus, Aereobacter, Flavobacterium and Erwinia. There are considerable populations of phosphatesolubilizing bacteria in soil and in plant rhizospheres. These include both aerobic and anaerobic strains, with a prevalence of aerobic strains in submerged soils. A considerably higher concentration of phosphate solubilizing bacteria is commonly found in the rhizosphere in comparison with non rhizosphere soil (Raghu and Macrae, 2000). The soil bacteria belonging to the genera Pseudomonas and Bacillus and Fungi are more common. The major microbiological means by which insoluble-P compounds are mobilized is by the production of organic acids, accompanied by acidification of the medium. Phosphate absorbers Mycorrhiza (an ancient symbiosis in organic agriculture)- The term Mycorrhiza denotes fungus roots. It is a symbiotic association between host plants and certain group of fungi at the root system, in which the fungal partner is benefited by obtaining its carbon requirements from the photosynthates of the host and the host in turn is benefited by obtaining the much needed nutrients especially phosphorus, calcium, copper, zinc etc., Zinc solubilizers The nitrogen fixers like Rhizobium, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, BGA and Phosphate solubilizing bacteria like B. magaterium, Pseudomonas striata, and phosphate mobilizing Mycorrhiza have been widely accepted as bio-fertilizers (Subba Roa, 2001a). However these supply only major nutrients like zinc, iron, copper etc., zinc being tmost important is found in the earths crust to the tune of 0.008 per cent but more than 50 per cent of Indian soils exhibit deficiency of zinc with content must below the critical level of 1.5 ppm of available zinc (Katyal and Rattan, 1993). There appears to be two main mechanisms of zinc fixation, one operates in acidic soils and is closely related with cat ion exchange and other operates in alkaline conditions where fixation takes by means of chemisorptions, ( chemisorptions of zinc on calcium carbonate formed a solid-solution of ZnCaCO3), and by complexation of organic ligands (Alloway, 2008). The zinc can be solubilized by microorganisms viz., B. subtilis, Thiobacillus thioxidans and Saccharomyces sp. These microorganisms can be used as bio-fertilizers for solubilization of fixed micronutrients like zinc (Raj, 2007). The results have shown that a Bacillus sp. (Zn solubilizing bacteria) can be used as bio-fertilizer for zinc or in soils where native zinc is higher or in conjunction with insoluble cheaper zinc compounds like zinc oxide (ZnO), zinc carbonate (ZnCO3) and zinc sulphide (ZnS) instead of costly zinc sulphate (Mahdi et al. 2010). Potential role of bio-fertilizers in agriculture Nitrogen-fixers (NFs) Phosphate solubilizers (PSBs) The incorporation of bio-fertilizers (Nfixers) plays major role in improving soil fertility, yield attributing characters and thereby final yield has been reported by many workers (Subashini et al. 2007a; Kachroo and Razdan, 2006; Son et al. 2007). In addition, their application in soil improves soil biota and minimizes the sole use of chemical fertilizers (Subashini et al. 2007a). Under temperate conditions, inoculation of Rhizobium improved number of pods plant-1, number of seed pod-1 and 1000-seed weight (g) and thereby yield over the control. The number of pods plant-1, number of seed pod-1 and 1000-seed weight (g) recorded were 25.5, 17.1 and 4.7 per cent more over the control, respectively which was statistically significant Bhat et al. (2009). In rice under low land conditions, the application of BGA+ Azospirillum proved significantly beneficial in improving LAI and all yield attributing aspects. Grain yield and harvest index also exhibit a discernable increase with use of bio fertilizers (Dar and Bali, 2007). Afzal, (2006) found that seed and straw yield of green gram increased significantly up to single inoculation with Rhizobium under 20 kg N + 45 kg P2O5 ha-1 fertility level. Field trials carried out in different locations have demonstrated that under certain environmental and soil conditions inoculation with azotobacteria has beneficial effects on plant yields. The effect of Azotobacter chroococcum on vegetative growth and yields of maize has been studied by numerous authors (Hussain et al., 1987; Martinez Toledo et al., 1988; Nieto and Frankenberger, 1991; Mishra et al., 1995; Pandey et al., 1998; Radwan, 1998), as well as the effect of inoculation with this bacterium on wheat (Emam et al., 1986; Rai and Gaur, 1988; Tippanavar and Reddy, 1993, Elshanshoury, 1995; Pati et al., 1995; Fares, 1997a). Alkaline phosphatase activity in the peach roots was highest with Azotobacter chroococcum + P fertilizer (Godara et al., 1995). Results of a greenhouse pot experiments with onion showed that application of G. fasciculatum + A. chrooccocum + 50% of the recommended P rate resulted in the greatest root length, plant height, bulb girth, bulb fresh weight, root colonization and P uptake (Mandhare et al. 1998). Inoculation with Azotobacter + Rhizobium + VAM gave the highest increase in straw and grain yield of wheat plants with rock phosphate as a Pfertilizer (Fares, 1997a). Elgala et al. (1995) concluded that with microbial inoculation rock phosphate could be used as cheap source of P in alkaline soils and that combined inoculation could reduce the rate of fertilizer required to maintain high productivity. It is an established fact that the efficiency of phosphatic fertilizers is very low (15-20%) due to its fixation in acidic and alkaline soils and unfortunately both soil types are predominating in India accounting more than 34% acidity affected and more than seven million hectares of productive land salinity/alkaline affected (Yawalkar e t al., 2000). Therefore, the inoculations with PSB and other useful microbial inoculants in these soils become mandatory to restore and maintain the effective microbial populations for solubilization of chemically fixed phosphorus and availability of other macro and micronutrients to harvest good sustainable yield of various crops. Commercial exploitation of phosphatic microbial inoculants can play an important role particularly in making the direct use of abundantly available low grade phosphate possible. Among the bacterial genera with this capacity are pseudomonas, Bacillus, Rhizobium, Burkholderia, Achromobacter, Agrobacterium, Microccocus, Aereobacter, Flavobacterium and Erwinia. Beside N-fixation and P-solubilization, the incorporation of nitrogen fixing bacteria (Azotobacter spp.) under the commercial name cerealien and phosphate dissolving bacteria (Bacillus megaterium) phosphorien has shown the highest degree in inducing the degree of the physiological tolerance to salinity which enables the stressed plants of the Seets cultivar of wheat to be adapted and keep better performance against all applied levels of salinity (3000, 6000 and 9000 ppm). This performance was reflected by the increase in growth, dry matter accumulation, yield as well as chemical constituents. All chemicals constituents including N, P, K+, sugars, proline and were increased as compared to their control treatments in the cultivar Seets. Mohmoud and Mohamad, 2008. Mycorrhizae The fungi that are probably most abundant in agricultural soils are arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. They account for 5- 50% of the biomass of soil microbes (Olsson et al., 1999). Biomass of hyphae of AM fungi may amount to 54-900 kg ha-1 (Zhu and Miller, 2003), and some products formed by them may account for another 3000 kg (Lovelock et al., 2004). Pools of organic carbon such as glomalin produced by AM fungi may even exceed soil microbial biomass by a factor of 10-20 (Rillig et al., 2001). The external mycelium attains as much as 3% of root weight (Jakobsen and Rosendahl, 1990). Approximately 10-100 m mycorrhizal mycelium can be found per cm root (McGonigle and Miller, 1999). The mineral acquisition from soil is considered to be the primary role of mycorrhizae, but they play various other roles as well which are of utmost important. CHAPTER 03 BIOFERTILIZER SECTORS IN INDIA: OVERVIEW Bio-fertilizers sector in India: An Overview Indian Biotechnology industry is considered as one of the sunrise sectors in India. The industry can be classified into five different segments. Biopharma,Agri-biotech, Bioinformatics, Bio-industrial and Bio services with each concentrating on a particular area. Bio pharma deals with the production of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, while the end products of the biotech industry find two different kinds of buyers. Agri-biotech comprises of hybrid seeds and transgenic crops, biopesticides and biofertilizers. Bio informatics creates and maintains the extensive electronic databases on various biological systems. Bioservices market usually deals with clinical trial, contract research and manufacturing activities. Bio Industrial industry comprises of enzyme manufacturing and marketing companies and these enzymes are used in detergent, textile, food, leather, paper and pharmaceutical industry. Agri-biotech comprises of hybrid seeds and transgenic crops, biopesticides and biofertilizers. Agri-biotech comprises of hybrid seeds and transgenic crops, biopesticides and biofertilizers. t4ind15_fig2.jpg Bio-Agri is deals with the hybrid seeds and transgenic crops, biopesticides and one most important biofertilizer. Biofertilizer market in India growing with the rate of 12% by 2011-12. The first documented production of bio-fertilizers in the form of Rhizobium in India was in 1934 by M.R. Madhok (Yadav Raychaudhuri, 2004), but the first commercial production was initiated only in 1956 at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore. Growth in production remained very slow till the mid sixties (Tewatia, Kalwe and Chaudhuri, 2007). Introduction of Soybean along with Nitragin Soybean inoculant imported from USA in 1964 was the first major event in bio-fertilizers history of India. Encouraged by the success of Rhizobium inoculation in Soybean, efforts were made to replace the requirement of imported inoculant with locally produced inoculants for soybean in the first phase. This was the extended to other pulses and legu me oilseeds in the second phase. During 1965-1990 around 30 bio-fertilizers production laboratories were set up in the country to meet the demand (Venkataraman Tilak, 1990) and lot of schemes were formulated to popularize their use in different legume crops. Starting from few tonnes, production and consumption increased gradually and reached a moderate figure of 1000MT by 1988-89. During this period Rhizobium inoculants was dominating with other bio-fertilizers also starting to make their presence felt such as Azotobacter. Nineties saw a dramatic surge in bio-fertilizers industry with adding of new bio-fertilizers such as Azotobacter, Azospirillum, PSBs added to the list and total production jump from 1000MT(1989) to 10,000MT (2000) (Dwivedi and Motsara, 2001; Bhattacharya Dwivedi, 2004). The growth of bio-fertilizer started with the initiation of National Project on Development and use of Bio-fertilizers during 1983-84 which continued up