Retail Management On Hardware Store Information Technology Essay

Retail Management On Hardware Store Information Technology Essay My term paper is to open up the retail store of the HARDWARE GOODS. The name of my store is COMPLETE HOME. This store to be contains the number of variety and assortment of the hardware goods. My retail store COMPLETE HOME to be contain the Binding wire, Paint, Putty, Cement, Wood Varnish, Door Handle, Lock, Fevicol, Polish, Primer, Needle, Ply wood, Screw, Nut Bolt etc In general description I can choose the type of store which open in the market and also made mission goals and objectives of the retail stores. Hardware stores, sell household hardware including: fasteners, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, house wares, tools, paint, and lawn and garden products directly to consumers for use at home or for business. Home Hardware consists of four separate banners, offering goods such as the following: Home Hardware house wares, tools, paint, garden supplies Home Building Centre lumber, plumbing and electrical supplies, building materials Home Hardware Building Centre full range of Home Hardware and Home Building Centre items Home Furniture furniture and major appliances Business Mission The mission of Complete Homes Hardware is to offer quality  hardware products in a customer-friendly shopping environment. Our customers will get assistance quickly and will leave the store prepared to get the job done right the first time. Complete homes Hardware will also focus on anticipating the seasonal needs of its customers and providing the best products at competitive prices.   Most importantly, Complete homes Hardware will make the additional 15 minute drive to a mega-hardware store, too far to go and too expensive to entertain. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS Market -In Indian retail sector rapid growth in sales from Hardware stores. Sales from Hardware stores are set to expand at growth rates ranging from 37% to 57% during year 2003-2008. Customer- This customer group can have the most frustrating experience in the hardware stores. If they cant make the scheduled demos or trainings, they are left to sort thing out with whoever they can flag down in the store help them. Complete homes Hardware will be set-up to provide resources and assistance as soon as they walk into the store. Technology- Today more technology used in the hardware stores. There are some obvious area and some hidden areas where cost can be pruned and the benefit of this lower cost of retailing can be passed on to the customer as lower prices, which in turned should fuel demand. Competitors- At present time in India market there is more competitor who give competition to each other. Keys to Success Location:   Complete Homes Hardware is located in  Chunchura town near Edwardian Clock Tower.   The foot traffic in the tower is very strong.   The towers primary tenants are the areas successful supermarket, drug store, and appliance store.   Edwardian Clock Tower has easy access points on both of the areas major cross streets and is the biggest shopping center in  tower residential area. The closest hardware store to the clock tower area is a 45 minute drive. Seasonal Products: Each season has it own unique demand on a homeowner.   Complete homes Hardware will focus on this pattern and bring in local customers by marketing these items at competitive prices. Repair/Project Resource Area: The first section customers will find when they enter is a repair/project resource area that they can use to  plan repairs or projects.   There will be a repair/project resource person to answer questions and direct them to the  section of store where the needed products are.   In-Store Expertise: Store employees will be knowledgeable in home repairs/projects.   In addition, the repair/project resource area will be used to conduct short trainings and demonstrations in home repair and home projects. Products And Services of Complete Home Hardware Stores Complete homes Hardware offers the parts, material, and advice to tackle any home repair, as well as lawn care.  The primary focus will be to satisfy the seasonal needs of the areas customers. Fall/Winter: Weatherization projects. Spring: Garden/lawn projects/home improvement projects. Summer: Outdoor building projects. Complete homes Hardware will offer traditional retail hardware.   These products include electrical supplies, automotive, hardware, house wares, lawn and garden, building supplies, paint, plumbing, tools and rental.   There are other small services that will be offered including key cutting, glass cutting, and other small repairs.   C.H Hardware will work with Building Blocks to develop the right product mix.   The initial order of inventory will take into account the fact that this is an urban store and the product mix may contain different items than a suburban store.   Complete homes Hardware will stock traditional retail hardware items.   The product mix will be changed slightly from suburban stores.   Complete Homes Hardware will open the Tool Room Rentals store within the hardware store.   This is a program that will help cash flow as well as increase sales of rental accessories and support items.   Future Products and Services Complete Homes Hardware will listen to its customers to understand what other needs are not being met.   Those needs could include additional store locations in the future and an expansion of products and services offered at the current location.   There may be other businesses that can be offshoots of retail hardware that help service or provide convenience to C.H customers CREDIT SERVICE- We give services to the our customer in which one of the services is to be credit service means a customer can purchase product without pay cash but he/she will pay after some period of time. And this facility depends on the price of the product. DISCOUNTS discounts was also important factor for our store. Because many people want to good quality goods in low price so we also give discount on the product which helps to us in growing. Marketing Plan Now I open my Hardware store in Chunchura town because oldest cultural hubs of west Bengal so I can do survey to check the demand of my Hardware store in that area and we also need to check preference of consumer. Focus on Target Markets The goal is to have our customer base become  reliant on Complete home to  stock items and have solutions  for their needs.   The customers will soon understand the value of the relationship.   Each of the  market segments will have sales initiatives to focus on each group. Complete homes Hardware  cant just market and sell products and services; we must actually deliver as well.   We need to make sure we have the knowledge-intensive business and service-intensive business we claim to have.   This service has to be consistent and deliver what the customer is looking for. Complete homes Hardware will also place ads in the News paper.   The news continues to be a source of a good number of customers. TV9 kannda local  morning TV show goes on location to promote local businesses.   Radio can be used in many different ways,  radio remotes for the opening of the store.   Monthly west Magazine has already identified an issue, a follow up story is very appropriate.   The Monthly west covers new and significant businesses in west Bengal; Complete home feels this store will fit that description. Sales Strategy Complete homes Hardware  will be offering a  convenient solution which  all Chunchura residents need.   Customers will be introduced to C.H through targeted advertising, direct mail,  signage, and word of mouth.   C.H will also take advantage of all the Building Blocks programs that help create loyalty and awareness among the potential customers in the market.    The focus will be on property managers and all Chunchura town businesses to create an awareness of the store location and the fact that the store is a potential solution for retail hardware needs. The sale strategy of Complete homes Hardware is simple. First, create a shopping environment that will create confidence in the customer that he or she will get the needed material, part, or instructions to get the job done right the first time. Second, make the store easy to navigate, so customer can get in and out as quickly as possible. Third, know your customers seasonal hardware needs and offer it at competitive prices . Sales Forecast The goal of Complete homes Hardware will be to develop programs that take as much slack out of the sales as possible and get them in line with the rest of the sales year.   There is a 25% growth predicted for the second year of sales driven by awareness, growth in rentals and growth in commercial sales.   The immediate goal is to achieve  robust sales in the first year.   It is thought that double digit percentage total sales increases  can be achieved and maintained throughout the  five years of this  business plan. Sales Programs Building Blocks has loyalty programs like Building Blocks Rewards that Complete homes Hardware  will participate in.   This program has been developed to build a loyal following of customers that use the card for shopping benefits.   This program will allow these customers to shop  and  make it easy for them to pay for items on account Competitive Edge Location is the biggest key to this business.   There are no true competitors in our business in Chunchura town.   Our future customers have had to work harder to get the same or lesser service less conveniently.   We will be in their back yard and be easy to work with and have products they need.   Complete homes Hardware have staff that understand customer service and how to treat customers so that they want to shop in the Complete homes Hardware environment. Operational Plan Management Summary Gurpreet singh is a excellent staff supervisor and will do very well in managing the staff of Complete homes Hardware. Personnel Plan Complete homes Hardware will have the following staff members: Manager. Assistant Manager. Office Manager/Accountant. Checkers (full time and part time). Two Customer Assistants. Stockers (full time and part time). LAYOUT For opening the hardware store (COMPLETE HOME) for the effective and efficient layout must be based on the following consideration:- Selecting a layout while allows for complete presentation of the merchandise to the customer. A good layout encourages customer to move around the complete store and at times, make an unplanned purchase. Keeping this objective in mind, we have different entry and exit points for the store. We also striking the right balance between space used for displays and services areas so that the returns on the investment is maximized. We also designing the store needs of women, the elderly and disabled person who may visit the store, need to be taken into account and provided for. In our Hardware store also has to be designed keeping in mind the merchandise that we sell in the store and it also target audience. LOCATION So location of my department store in Chunchura town because oldest cultural hubs of west Bengal . Location of retail store is important aspect as customer point of view because location is the critical factor in consumer selection of store and whenever we opened a retail store than we have assumed the different factor which showed our retail store features like as: Demographic features(to know about the potential customer in that area, metropolitan statistical area) Competition(to know about the competitors and how they far from my retail store) Strategic fit(to must know about the life style of potential customer) Operating cost(different area have different cost) No. of small shops in that area Economy of scale MULTI CHANNEL DECISIONS COMPLETE HOME use the multi channel, These channel were used for selling the Hardware good. My Hardware retail use all three channels to interact with its customers. These are following STORE CHANNEL It is provide the browsing to the customers before purchasing of products It is also provided touching and feeling products opportunity to the customer Store channel to given advantage for the customer to get the product immediately after they buy it. INTERNET CHANNEL Our hardware retail provides the information to customer about which the hardware good are available in our retail store. These Internet channels also contain the all information about hardware good price. The benefit of Internet channel as compared with the other two channels is the vast number of consumers to purchase the product easily. RETAIL FORMAT In which I have included the different strategies which lead our business and used different competitive promotional planned which make our retail store attractive and effective. And these should be done according to these points; Nature of merchandise and services offered Pricing policy Advertising and promotion programs Store design and visual merchandising Customer services FINIANCIAL PLAN FOR OUR HARDWARE STORE In this project a huge funds is needed for the Building hardware store so then we can project that how much amount will be need, so it organized into six sections; 1) Cost of project-First step is to be estimate the cost of project and represents the total of all items of outlay associated with a project which are supported by long term funds. It is the sum of the outlays on the following: Land and Site development Buildings and civil works Miscellaneous fixed assets Pre-operative expenses 2) Means of Finance-after estimate cost of project the following means of finance are available: Share capital- there are two types of share capital A) Equity capital-represents the contribution made by the owners of the business B) Preference capital- represents the contribution made by preference shareholder Term Loans-In this project a huge funds is needed for the hardware store so in this way I take a secure loan from bank for this hardware store I secure my own property now which present market value is 3cr it is sufficient for the bank security to give me loan for my project. Miscellaneous source- A small portion of project finance also from miscellaneous source like unsecured loans, public deposits, and leasing and hire purchase finance. 3) Cost of production-The cost of production may also worked out. The major components of production are: Material cost Utilities cost Labour cost Factory overhead cost Profitability projections-The project profitability is good as I choose a profitable location in the heart of the city. My target is that to earn good profits in year. For this goal I really to do work hard and do many things like publicityadvertisent in this way people know about the new hardware store is open in the city. And also projected the profit and loss for the four years. Personnel Plan Year 1 Year 2 Manager 36,000 40,000 Assistant Manager 36,000 39,000 Office Manager/Bookkeeper 36,000 39,000 Checkers 32,400 35,500 Customer Assistants 60,000 68,000 Stockers 39,600 44,000 Other 0 0 Total People 9 9 Total Payroll 240,000 265,500 5) Projected cash flow statements- Then after project profit we also shows the movement of cash into and out of the firm and its net impact on the cash balance. So with this better financial planning, project evaluation and fund control. We also projected the cash flow statement Cash Received (RS IN LACS) Cash from Operations Cash Sales 964,000 Subtotal Cash from Operations 964,000 Additional Cash Received Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Received 0 New Current Borrowing 0 New Other Liabilities (interest-free) 0 New Long-term Liabilities 0 Sales of Other Current Assets 0 Sales of Long-term Assets 0 New Investment Received 0 Subtotal Cash Received 964,000 Expenditures Year 1 Expenditures from Operations Cash Spending 240,000 Bill Payments 648,662 Subtotal Spent on Operations 888,662 Additional Cash Spent Sales Tax, VAT, HST/GST Paid Out 0 Principal Repayment of Current Borrowing 0 Other Liabilities Principal Repayment 0 Long-term Liabilities Principal Repayment 30,000 Purchase Other Current Assets 0 Purchase Long-term Assets 0 Dividends 0 Subtotal Cash Spent 918,662 Net Cash Flow 45,338 Cash Balance 166,338 Projected balance sheet- we also in the last projected our assets and liabilities of the business. With this we know about our financial strength. Projected balance sheet PARTICULAR OPENING BALANCE CLOSING BALANCE Assets Current Assets Cash 166,338 Inventory 46,200 Other Current Assets 0 Total Current Assets 212,538 Long-term Assets Long-term Assets 30,000 Accumulated Depreciation 4,284 Total Long-term Assets 25,716 Total Assets 238,254 Liabilities and Capital Year 1 Current Liabilities Accounts Payable 61,715 Current Borrowing 0 Other Current Liabilities 0 Subtotal Current Liabilities 61,715 Long-term Liabilities 120,000 Total Liabilities 181,715 Paid-in Capital 80,000 Retained Earnings (79,000) Earnings 55,539 Total Capital 56,539 Total Liabilities and Capital 238,254 Net Worth 56,539 CONCLUSION So after project all the things like market plan, operational plan and also financial plan then we all plan put into the action and control them so the work was going effectively and efficiently. As I select the take a loan from the banks and some fund collect by issue of securities so I have build a good Hardware store which become attractive. So my hardware store name is COMPLETE HOME which means complete your dream home. And we always aim to provide the good product and services to our consumer . REFRENCES www.businessplan.com http://www.bplans.com/hardware_retail_franchise_business_plan/financial_plan_fc.cfm http://www.scribd.com/doc/21040477/Retail-Formats http://www.indiahardwarestores.in/ BOOKS SWAPNA PRADHAN PRASANA CHANDRA

Kfc Pizzahut Supply Chain

KFC/Pizza Hut makes efficiency gains with Zap Business Intelligence Businesses become more agile, responsive and performance-focused Situation There are over 120 KFC and Pizza Hut outlets in Singapore, employing about 5,000 staff. Both brands also offer Singapore-wide delivery services. In the face of rapid business growth, KFC/Pizza Hut found that their business intelligence (BI) system was unable to cope. It fared badly when meeting corporate reporting requirements, benchmarking store performance, and reducing the time and costs spent on day-to-day reporting across multiple business systems. We faced daily challenges in producing timely reports and complex analysis across our many restaurants and product lines to make informed decisions,† said Mr Tan Teng Sern, System Analyst with KFC/ Pizza Hut in Singapore. For example, day-to-day operational reporting is required to calculate the pay to daily-rated workers like delivery staff. Using the old BI system, it could take restaur ant managers hours at the end of each day to tally the number of deliveries that each rider had made, resulting in restaurant managers working overtime, and riders waiting for their payment.The system was also difficult to use and rigid in design. Work which could take up to a few days every month also went into generating reports to meet corporate requirements. The problem in generating timely reports also hindered KFC/ Pizza Hut’s ability to respond quickly to changes in the business environment. What they needed was a solution that would let them set different objectives for different departments, and monitor each department’s performance. Case Study Name: KFC & Pizza Hut Overview: KFC and Pizza Hut are major players in the local food and beverage market.Since establishing the first KFC outlet in Singapore in 1977, the chain has grown to over 120 outlets employing about 5,000 staff. KFC/Pizza Hut faced difficulties when meeting corporate reporting requirements, benc hmarking store performance, and reducing the time and costs spent on reporting across multiple business systems. Products Used: Zap Business Intelligence â€Å"Improving reporting and analysis across our restaurants and head offices offers considerable gains in efficiency and will enable our businesses to become more agile, responsive and performance-focused. Mr Tan Teng Sern System Analyst KFC/Pizza Hut Solution KFC/Pizza Hut embarked on a search for an affordable, high-performance and easy to maintain business intelligence and data warehousing solution. â€Å"We could not afford to have a data warehouse project that would take months or years to implement,† said Mr Tan. â€Å"With the scale of hundreds of users, it would have been very costly for us to adopt most of the available solutions in the market. † These requirements led KFC/Pizza Hut to Zap and its solution, Zap Business Intelligence. We chose Zap Business Intelligence because it offers powerful functionali ty and proven scalability, and yet is easy to install, maintain, and use,† said Mr Tan. The deployment aced its test with KFC/Pizza Hut when Zap was rolled out in the production environment. Here, users wanted to incorporate other data sources to complete the corporate data warehouse, including Pointof-Sale, Marketing, HR/Payroll, and Supply Chain Management. â€Å"With Zap’s help, we built the data warehouse, OLAP cubes and business analytics content for the delivery service business in 10 days.After two months of parallel run and testing, we went live with the Zap Business Intelligence in September 2009,† said Mr Tan. The Zap solution supports close to 400 users, including restaurant managers, operations managers, and back office directors. It brings together key BI capabilities including dashboards, analysis, reporting, KPIs and scorecards, all in a user-friendly web portal. â€Å"We chose Zap Business Intelligence because it offers powerful functionality and proven scalability, and yet is easy to install, maintain, and use,† Mr Tan Teng Sern System Analyst KFC/Pizza HutBenefits Zap’s Business Intelligence has resulted in many significant benefits for KFC/Pizza Hut. â€Å"Improving reporting and analysis across our restaurants and head offices offers considerable gains in efficiency and will enable our businesses to become more agile, responsive and performance-focused,† said Mr Tan. The BI system contributes to greater business agility in several ways: 1) Optimizing marketing spend: The system allows KFC/Pizza Hut to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, enabling immediate adjustment of these campaigns to target them more effectively. ) Enabling strategic restaurant planning: By analyzing sales and demand, KFC/Pizza Hut can conduct more effective strategic planning to open the right restaurant at the right location at the right time. 3) Enhancing customer service: The system analyzes delivery punctualit y, and correlates it with parameters such as restaurant and rider, allowing management to make decisions to fine-tune operations, and improve customer service. 4) Improving sales: The analysis of point-of-sale data enables KFC/Pizza Hut to measure the effectiveness of their package deals in order to improve sales.Cost savings Mr Tan estimated that KFC/Pizza Hut will gain a return on investment from Zap Business Intelligence within 12 months, particularly in reducing the amount of staff time spent on daily reporting. The Zap solution has resulted in cost savings in several areas, including improving labor efficiency. With Zap, the time taken for restaurant managers to check reports has been reduced from 30 minutes to about five minutes, and while operation managers and administrators used to spend about an hour a day retrieving reports, this can now be done almost instantly.This has resulted in significant labor cost savings. Another cost saving measure has been reducing the reliance on IT. â€Å"Improving reporting and analysis across our restaurants and head offices offers considerable gains in efficiency and will enable our businesses to become more agile, responsive and performance-focused,† Mr Tan Teng Sern System Analyst KFC/Pizza Hut www. zaptechnology. com  © 2010 Zap Technology – v0510

Do price cautious consumers benefit from supermarket expansion - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 18 Words: 5345 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Finance Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Title: Write a literary review: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Do price cautious consumers benefit from supermarket expansion?à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ 4000 words. This paper focuses on the question of whether expansion in the supermarket sector has produced real benefits for the retail consumer in terms of cost. It sets out to examine this issue through a collective review of the associated literature, and especially media reports, official sources, and academic publications. It will focus predominantly on the UK market as an empirical model: however, where appropriate, it will also consider the implications of globalization for British supermarkets and consumers. This topic, it may be argued, has been rendered highly topical by contemporary events. An environment of economic uncertainty has had the effect of focusing consumer and media attention squarely on retail price reductions à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and rises. Background and Conceptual Issues. There is no question that there has been a huge expansion in the UK supermarket sector over the last twenty years. Furthermore, this expansion has been multi-faceted. Not only has the number and variety of supermarket retailers grown dramatically, but the latter have been actively re-defining the nature of the business in a manner which far exceeds its former model. This diversification has seen the range of products and services available to consumers expand beyond all recognition, and one feature above all characterizes the strategy and accomplishment of this: competition on price. It is arguably a generally held principle that the supermarket business as a whole has sought, gained and maintained its competitive advantage predominantly on price. As the Office of Fair Trading observes, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦We have received no firm evidence to show that below-cost selling and price flexing are affecting competition adversely. The opinion has been expressed to us that price-flexing has decreased since 2000 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (OFT 2005: p.9) This is not to say that the sector has not also attempted to increase market share à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and access new markets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" through innovation. Online shopping and e.commerce provides a key example of this. However, the latter arguably still augments any convenience derived from internet purchases with the assurance that the customer is receiving the best available price for their merchandise. It is also important to differentiate between the principle supermarket businesses, which cannot be seen as a homogeneous block: their pricing policies are intrinsically connected to the vagaries of their own business fortunes. Asda continues to leverage on the buying power of its US parent company Wal-mart, to pressurize its rivals. The current sector leader, Tesco, with a market share fluctuating around 30%, continues to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in price cuts, to retain its self-proclaimed à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"drivi ng forceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ status in what it terms à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"bargain Britain.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ As former CEO Tim Mason put, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"I believe (the) Tesco Value range has been a driving force in bringing prices down for shoppers. That is what today we sell a Value iron for under a fiver, a pair of jeans for three pounds and a kilo of potatoes for forty penceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Rigby 2005). In an age of savvy Category Management however, where planograms may attract footfall business in carefully constructed ways, this foregrounding of deeply discounted lines may mask the overall cost of essential shopping for consumers. The question which must be asked here is therefore, how true are such claims? In other words, is the case that consumers can rely totally on supermarket claims of truly competitive pricing in favour of the consumer, or is this idea a misleading one? The basic contention of this paper is that, although supermarket expansion does confer certain benefits on the consumer in terms of price, it is not necessarily the case that continued expansion will automatically do so. As Seth and Randall suggest, there are several ways in which the cost-effectiveness of supermarket shopping for UK consumers could be measured. As they put it, two comparisons should be made: specifically, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦what shoppers could buy the same or similar goods for in Britain, and the price levels in other countries compared with Britain.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. As they themselves concede however, the results are by no means incontrovertible or clear. (Seth and Randall 1999: p.259). There is also a sense in which such data would, in any case, be inadequate to address the question under discussion here. Seth and Randallà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s argument is, in a sense, a totalizing critique, applicable to the supermarket sector as a whole. For a number of reasons, it is a generally held truism that UK consumers get a relatively poor deal compared to their continental or North American counterparts: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"..one view is that the British grocers have managed to persuade their shoppers to accept higher price levels in return for the range and quality of goods, and the ambience of their more attractive stores.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Seth and Randall 1999: p.259). There are arguably a number of social, economic and cultural factors which could be brought to bear here. However, in absolute terms, a rather different type of enquiry needs to be pursued in this context. Specifically, the fact UK consumers on aggregate pay a higher price, may apply in spite of supermarket expansion, or because of it. In other words, the only way to identify the precise role of expansion within this equation is to isolate it, a process only practicable over a very long term analysis. This might be achieved, for example, by comparing price levels in the earlier, pre-expansion manifestation of the UK supermarket sector, with more contemporary figures. The oth er conceptual question which needs to be asked is, whether major supermarket price wars can actually have a benefit to consumers beyond the confines of the supermarkets themselves. In other words, does supermarket discount policy force other, non-supermarket high street retailers to reduce their profit margins by reducing costs to the end user? Circumstantially, the answer would seem to be yes. When struggling to explain a drop of almost 46 per cent in its pre-tax profits, previously buoyant high street player JJB Sports attributed the loss to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦competition from rival chains, department stores, supermarkets and the internet.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Callan 2006). Research of this depth is, however, beyond the scope, and tangential to the purpose of this particular discussion. The point being made here is arguably a highly relevant one: how, precisely, can the real benefits to consumers from supermarket expansion be measured and assessed in terms of price? In te rms of a literature review, how has this question been treated in the different genres of scholarship devoted to supermarket retailing? There is much circumstantial evidence to show that the proliferation of supermarket chains can and in some instances has led to an overall price reduction. For example, in 2006 the Office of National Statistics reported a 0.4 percent reduction in food and alcoholic beverages across the sector, instrumental in achieving the Bank of Englandà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s annual 2 per cent target. (Chisholm and Scheherazade, 2006). As will be discussed below however, these general statistics can mask the important details of pricing structure in non-discretionary spending: when viewed more closely à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" and critically -, a far more complex picture emerges. In essence, it is not the scale of the expansion but the element of true competition which exists within it, which is the most useful indication of benefit to the consumer. In other words, it i s perfectly possible for expansion in retailing to militate against the interests of the consumer, if certain conditions prevail. For example, as Braithwaite reports of contemporary conditions, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"The price of non-discretionary items, such as fuel and food has been rising sharply, a trend that affects retail in different ways.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Braithewaite, 2008). As this indicates, supermarkets have been passing on the higher supply chain costs of raw materials to consumers quite happily, a situation which can only prevail when all the major supermarket chains maintain pricing policies which are more or less aligned. Literature Review: Methodology. A key problem in deciding how to approach this topic, is that of integrating several different, but overlapping forms of literature devoted the supermarket business. In real terms this means that texts on business, performance management, corporate responsibility, business ethics, sustainability, technical and marketi ng specialisms, consumer affairs, politics and economics, must all be taken into account. The issue here is that whilst all of this disciplines produce research on the supermarket sector, they do so from quite different perspectives, and for radically different purposes. This situation arises basically out of their respective authorship and intended audience: for example, a supermarket groupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s report to shareholders is likely to maintain a completely different perspective and argument from a report from a consumer association document, even though they might have the same business as their core subject. However, from the researcherà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s point of view, the existence of these parallel positions is arguably a distinct advantage, since it means that the claims and counter-claims of each party may be extensively cross-referenced, and their argument objectively assessed. What, specifically, are the most useful sources for this kind of discussion? It may b e helpful here to visualize the different types of texts available in terms of their likely objectivity, in relation to the specific question under discussion here. Where are we likely to find the most objective and reliable assessment of whether consumers benefit from supermarket expansion, in terms of retail pricing? On the industry side there are Company Reports, Corporate Responsibility Reports and Financial Statements. Government and official sources include the Retail Price Index, which offers an aggregate assessment of the pressure on consumer expenditure, Office of Fair Trading reports and proceedings, as well as the output of various standing and specially appointed parliamentary bodies. Moving on from this there are a plethora of specialist industry and marketing analyses to incorporate, followed by parties with vested interests such as investor and consumer groups, then academic and vocational literature and journals. There is also a vast amount of commentary on this topi c in the UK media, which, it may be argued, fuels the public preoccupation with retail price movements. It can also be argued that the depth and quality of analyses in terms of contemporary events is likely to improve with the passage of time: the longer the period which elapses between events and research, the greater the increase the amount of genuinely valuable material available. Company reports and Corporate Responsibility Reports are as good as any place to start the process of research. The latter in particular are a relatively new genre in the associated literature, and their format has rapidly evolved into a recognizable format. CSR reports are not as yet a statutory requirement, in the UK, however, increasing numbers of companies are joining the ranks of those who choose to publish them. It could be argued that membership of this group represents an article of faith with consumer sentiment: as Brewster points out, the number of FTSE 100 companies who participate in this movement stood at 69 in 2007. (Brewster 2007). It therefore can reasonably be argued that these documents have become a space where corporations can acknowledge public concerns, and the extent of corporate responsibility can be informally agreed with the readership. As such, it is often what CSR reports omit, rather than what they include, which is of interest to the researcher. Collectively, and perhaps understandably, they say very little about the issue of price and competitiveness. Media Reporting. In this context, we are chiefly concerned with hard copy publications in the mainstream press, and in particular long established and respected organs such as the Financial Times, the Economist, and occasional specialist articles from the glossy and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"lifestyleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ genre. It is argued here that, compared to other research topics, press reports on retailing have a significant import: this situation may be illustrated through comparison with another sub ject. Take politics as an example. If we were engaged in a literature review of a political career, party, or movement, the conclusions which could be drawn from media reporting would be superficial at best. Although such articles might be useful for foregrounding issues and identifying key factors, little or nothing of true significance could be positively decided purely from their content. Such conclusions would have to await the inevitable memoirs, publication of official papers and diaries, accounts assembled through scrutiny of Hansard, and subsequent in-depth academic studies. The competing interpretations could then be drawn up, and the usually inconclusive debate over blame and responsibility could begin in earnest. The reverse is true of contemporary economic journalism, a situation based in its content and purpose, and perceptible in the example of the Financial Times. Although it is perfectly possible for that product to be consumed for interest and entertainment, t he bulk of its reporting is functional in nature, and relies for its success on the accurate and objective reporting of events as they happen. This is because a good proportion of its private and corporate readership rely on FT reporting to help form business and investment decisions. Therefore, although its reports are, like any other journalism, subject to scrutiny and interpretation, they are unquestionably influential in forming business community perceptions and opinion. Not only will they report accurately on issues such as price, but also link such issues with those of supermarket share prices, the trust indicator of their business performance. Bearing this in mind, it is important to note the research of observers such as Braithwaite, who reports that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for all the talk of supermarket price wars, there is little evidence of stark margin attrition, and food retail stocks remain far more resilient than their non-food sector counterparts, most of wh ich are selling wholly discretionary items.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Braithwaite 2008). It may fairly be assumed that stock prices retain their value through the maintenance of margins, itself at least partly due to a commensurate pricing ratio. Some of the clearest evidence of this comes from the rigorous analyses offered by market observers and investment fund managers, as the Financial Times reports. Contemporary supermarket group share prices appear to be based on extremely optimistic valuation multiples of price/earnings ratio, indicating a belief that earnings are recession-resistant, and the stocks consequently asset backed. As one leading analyst revealed, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"We have doubts on both countsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. (Hume 2008). In terms of prices charged to consumers, this suggests that supermarkets will not be reducing their margins through heavy discounting, but will instead expect shoppers to accept pre-recession prices for their non-discretionary purchases. In any case, as John reports, intensifying competition based on price often indicates other factors in the market, such as take-overs and forthcoming expansion, as in the case of the Morrisons bid for Safeway: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Morrisonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s gambit of 1.32 shares for each Safeway share was seen as high priced and the identification of  £250 million of compensatory cost savings was viewed as the precursor to a round of internecine cost-cutting.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (John 2003). In other words, resulting price concessions to consumers were seen as distraction and a means of maintaining short term share price and liquidity. Little attention was given to the affect on those shoppers when such tactical reductions were arbitrarily withdrawn. However, as mentioned earlier, the overall effect of supermarket price competition is not restricted purely to those retailers themselves, but may impact more generally on the prices consumers pay in the high street. As Rigby reported of supermarke t discounting in 2005, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"The latest round is indicative of the wider trend of price discounting. Retailers such as Boots, WH Smith and Marks and Spencer have been reducing prices for months to fight off competition from supermarkets.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Rigby 2005). Similarly, the slump experienced by JJB Sports in 2006 was only addressed by matching the discounts of supermarket rivals. (Callan: 2006). Official Sources. We are here considering documents such as the Office of Fair Tradingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, (Supermarkets: The code of practice and other competition issues. Conclusions. (2005), ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Annual Report and Resource Accounts 2007-08, (2008), and the Competition Commission, Market investigation into the supply of groceries in the UK, (2008). Official literature features some of the most comprehensive, extensively researched and detailed texts available on the issue of supermarket behaviour. This is arguably attributable to two factors. Firs tly, agencies such as the Competition Commission and Office of Fair Trading are the platforms on which statutory responsibility for the healthy operation of markets is built. They are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" nominally at least responsible to the appropriate government ministries, and also have significant resources of manpower, time, and public funds to expend. This means they are by no means ineffective: as the OFTà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s own report indicates, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"We estimate that our efforts into preventing anti-competitive mergers saved the consumers on average around  £115 million annually over the period 2005-06 to 2007-08.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Office of Fair Trading, 2008: p.43) However, these very strengths also imply certain limitations on their operation however. In the first instance, it is by no means straightforward to insulate the governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s officiating agencies from the editorial pressures implicit in both parliamentary and extra-parliamentary lobbying. Royal Commissions, composed of M.P.s, members of the House of Lords, and invited à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"expertsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, and Select Committees of M.P.s, are notoriously capable of stage-managing official enquiries, to produce certain outcomes. By implication, the OFT is obliged to assume what it terms a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"balancedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ approach, or, as it puts it, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦focus on outcomes which support productivity, growth and the prosperity of the UK economy as we believe this is in the best interests of businesses and consumers.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Office of Fair Trading 2008: p.22) To the objective observer then, the extent to which government action would militate against entrenched corporate positions is a debatable point. Nevertheless, if only because of their use of conventional economic taxonomies and analyses, official sources contain some of the most closely argued cases for and against the supposed effectiveness of supermarke t price competition. Take for example the Competition Commissionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s latest analysis of loss-leader behaviour via the mechanism of below-cost selling. As the latter observes, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Opinion varies as to the conditions necessary for predation to occur. We believe that for below-cost selling by large grocery retailers to be a predatory strategy aimed at operators of independent non-affiliated or symbol group convenience stores or specialist grocery storesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Competition Commission 2008: p.95 para.5.57) The corollary to this, as the Commission observes, is a conventional economic elasticity in such strategies: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for a large grocery retailer to recoup losses incurred during any predation period, it would need to eliminate all grocery retailers capable of constraining its prices so that it could subsequently increase prices and recover the profits forgone. This would need to include other large grocery reta ilers. Alternatively, it would have to collude with the grocery retailers that were not eliminated in the predatory phase to increase prices.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Competition Commission p.96, para 5.59). In other words, cutting prices may not benefit the consumer in the long term. Certain categories of price cuts are made purely to undercut competition: once this object is achieved, the consumer has nowhere else to go but the victorious supermarket outlet for their essential grocery or produce purchases, so they must pay whatever is being asked. The strength of official literature lays in its capacity to reveal these strategies, a fact emphasized by the recent testimony of John Fingleton, director of the Office of Fair Trading, who asserted that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦for markets to work well for consumers, it is a fundamental principle that pricing decisions should be made independentlyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. He added that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if evidence of anti-compe titive activity was found, the OFT was prepared to use the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“appropriate powersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  to punish the companies involved, and to deter other businesses from taking part in such behaviour.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Peel, Braithwaite and Murphy, 2008). Such official sources do not come without their own inherent problems however, a fact which may be illustrated by cross referencing with related media reports. As Urry relates, the Competition Commission was recently forced to apologized to Morrisons, and pay  £100,000 in damages, after its allegations of price fixing of tobacco products were proved to be groundless. This is not to say that the supermarkets are not regularly caught with their hands in the till, or, metaphorically speaking, picking their customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pockets through collusion on price. In December 2007, a group of leading supermarkets and dairies were collectively fined a total of  £116 million for the price-fixing of milk and a ssociated products: Tesco alone continues to contest this case. (Urry 2008). Academic Commentary. Compared to the literature of marketing the range of academic studies devoted purely to supermarket retailing is relatively small, perhaps because of the difficulty of empirical research in an atmosphere of company confidentiality. Perhaps for the same reasons, much of this literature tends to be retrospective in nature, assembling a long overview of the supermarket sectorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s trajectory into modernity. Typical of this sub-genre is Seth and Randallà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s The Grocers, (1999), as well as Randallà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s own Marketing in the Retail Trade, (1997), Jeffreyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Retail Trading in Britain 1850-1950, (1954), and Murcottà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s The Nationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Diet: The Social Science of Food Choice, (1998). Another sub-genre lays in the academic and semi-academic sphere of organizational history, biography and autobiography. Typical examples of this lay in publications such as Emersonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Sainsburyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s: The Record Years, (2006), Powellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Counter-Revolution: The Tesco Story (1991), and Bookbinderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Simon Marks, Retail Revolutionary, (1993). What, precisely, do these genres contribute to the debate about consumer benefit from supermarket expansion? From the critical perspective, the answer is that the benefits to the UK consumer are not only relative, and minimal., but also highly contradictory. For example, Seth and Randall observe that, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"It is well known that British food retailers make margins that are significantly higher than those of their European and American rivals à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" around 5-7 per cent compared with around 2-4 per centà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, although they concede that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦there is considerable argument about which exact figures to quote and what they mean.à ¢Ã¢ ‚ ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Seth and Randall 1999: p.259). This is directly contradicted in the views of the Sainsburyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s boardroom, as reported by Emerson, which assert that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦contrary to some reports, UK food prices are generally lower than in other European countries. This is in part a tribute to our food industry as a whole, and in part due to the stronger place that retailersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ brands have in the UK food trade, compared to other countries.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Emerson 2006: p.230). Elsewhere, a predictably corporate line is maintained, to the extent that the whole is issue of value to consumers is subsumed beneath other considerations. As Emerson relates, the official line at Sainsburyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s, when confronted with official pressure to curb prices, was that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the word à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“profità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  had been turned à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“an emotive term of abuseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  and that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Å“the true nature and need for profit is not widely understoodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ .à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Emerson 2006: p.132.). Again, this needs to be balanced against media reports which perceive the problem in another way. As Hall reports, other perspectives hold that inflated prices are the consequence of too much market liberalism, and see the need for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a public policy, a means of intervention and stabilization.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Hall 2008). Crucially, organs such as the FT also provide a platform for perspectives which argue that supermarket pricing will, eventually, militate against the UK consumerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s best interest. Take for example the plight of small producers who, cumulatively, represent a key factor in food security of supply, but may not be able to withstand the short-terms pressures on margins which supermarkets demand. As Henley reports, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"The supermarkets are well aware of this but their view is, let the market work. Yes, it will work eventually, but only after many farmers have gone out of business and supply falls dramatically. Farming is long term. I must look a year in advance and decide what to do but accept what is offered every Friday. In my view, with size comes responsibility. In order to ensure future supplies, sometimes and now is definitely one of those times à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the market must be ignored. We must never forget that food is needed every day, by everyone.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ (Henley, 2008: n.p.). This, in a sense, is another form of loss leadership, albeit distributed along the supply chain. As the commentator points out, the gradual elimination of small producers is one means by which supermarkets preserve their margins. Ultimately, it is debatable whether this is in the consumerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s best interests in terms of the variety and quality of food available. Bibliography. Arnold, M., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Private equity chief in warning on code.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ , Financial Times, : November 18 2007 https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/067ae5a2-9605-11dc-b7ec-0000779fd2ac.html , [viewed 22.10.08], n.p. 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INTERNET, available at ttp://www.questia.com/read/5005930204?title=New Frontiers in International Strategy, [viewed 24.4.08] Rigby, E., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Tesco and Asda restart UK price warà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times, April 13 2005, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/95a2c866-a464-11d9-9778-00000e2511c8.html [viewed 23.1.0.08] Rigby, E., and Braithwaite, T., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Sour note for Tesco over Fresh and easy resultsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Published: April 1 2008, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/407e6e28-0021-11dd-825a-000077b07658.html [viewed 22.10.08] Rigby, E., and Braithwaite, T., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Tesco shrugs off downturnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Published: April 15 2008, INTERNET, available at 200https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b34b4302-0ab9-11dd-a44f-0000779fd2ac.html [viewed 22.10.08] J.Sainsbury Plc, Annual Report and Financial Statement 2005. Tesco PLC Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2007. Tesco PLC Annual Review and Summary Financial Statement 2008. Tilson, W., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Activist shareholders are here to stay and investors should be glad.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times, Oct 12, 2007, INTERNET available at https://www..ft.com/ [viewed 22.10.08] n.p. Thal Larsen, P., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"FT REPORT CORPORATE FINANCE 2007: Sub-prime crisis claims sacrifices.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times, Oct 31, 2007, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com, [viewed 22.10.08], n.p. Whyte, J., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"There is too much social mobility in Britainà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times, Nov 08, 2007 INTERNET, available at https ://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=giddensy=6aje=falsex=14id=071108000545ct=0nclick_check=1, [viewed 22.10.08], n.p. Unattributed, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Food or fuel? The policy choice becomes agonisingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times Published: April 25 2008, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ff37a96e-12dd-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.html [viewed 22.10.08] Unattributed, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Lex Column: Marks and Spencerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¨Financial Times, Published: Jul 11, 2007, INTERNET, available at https://search.ft.com/ftArticle?queryText=marks+and+spencerpage=2y=5aje=falsex=15id=070711000860ct=0 [viewed 22.10.08] Urry, M., à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Morrison gets OFT apologyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times Published: April 23 2008, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2704400c-1102-11dd-a93b-0000779fd2ac.html [viewed 22.10.08] Varley, R., (2001), Retail Product Management, Routledge, London. Whittington, R., (2002), What is Strategy and Does it Matter? Sage, London. Unattributed, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Consensus on crops turns into acrimonyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times, Published: April 26 2008, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a76f7c4c-131a-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.html [viewed 22.10.08] Unattributed, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"Food or fuel? The policy choice becomes agonisingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Financial Times Published: April 25 2008, INTERNET, available at https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ff37a96e-12dd-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.html [viewed 22.10.08] Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Do price cautious consumers benefit from supermarket expansion?" essay for you Create order

A Brief Biography of Jane Austen - 930 Words

Jane Austen was truly a woman of her time. Not only did her level of education soar over most women of her time, she truly cared about the people around her. Austen’s passion for her family was just as strong as her passion for reading and writing. Austen strived to learn more everyday. She was one of the â€Å"most widely read writers in English Literature.†(Biography of Jane Austen 1) Jane Austen was born December 16, 1775 in Steventon, Village in Hampshire. â€Å"Austen received a better education then most women of her time.†(Collins, K.K. 1) Jane Austen was taught mostly by her father and her five brothers whom expected Austen to have a stellar education. Austen also learned from the impressive library her father had in their home. Fortunately, Austen had a better education than most women. The earliest writing recovered was when she only eleven years old. Her family always strived for her to have the best education. Austen and her sister Cassandra were always going to different boarding schools. After Austen caught typhus and almost died, she mostly was educated at home. Austen’s parents decided to send her and her sister Cassandra to boarding school again after she recovered from her illness. After a year in boarding school both sisters returned to home because the family could not afford it any longer. Austen continued her education by reading books. Her father George and her brothers James and Henry guided her in he r education to keep her on track. â€Å"George AustenShow MoreRelatedThe Life and Writings of Jane Austen Essay1494 Words   |  6 Pagesthat of Jane Austen. Her literary works surpassed greatness. Jane Austen captured the hearts of writers around the world through her English derived stories, comical and witty writing style, and her ability to draw inferences from her personal life into her novels. Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 to George and Cassandra Austen. 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You would then search for secondary information from a variety of mediums such as analyses of Bradstreet s works by other critics, historical information about the conventions of poetry during Puritan times, Bradstreet biographies, etc. Primary Sources are original words of a writer (novel, speech, eyewitness account, letter, autobiography, interview). Secondary Sources are works about somebody and about his/her work. These include books and articles about a novel,Read MoreMetamorphoses Within Frankenstein14861 Words   |  60 PagesEndurance of Frankenstein, pp. 143-171 (pp. 166 ff.) and Chris Baldick, In Frankenstein’s Shadow: Myth, Monstrosity, and Nineteenth- Cen tury Writing (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987), passim. 22 William St Clair, Th e God wins and the Shelleys: The Biography of a Family (London: Faber and Faber, 1989), p. 437. 23 Shelley: Prose or th e Trump et of a Prophecy, ed. D avid Lee Clark (London: Fourth Estate, 1988), pp. 306-7. 24 Fred Botting, ‘Frankenstein and the Language of Monstrosity’, ReviewingRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesis agreed that the signal comes from an intelligent source and contains the message which says, when translated into English, Can you hear us? Describe yourself and where you are located. The continuously repeating message also includes a very brief description of the other civilization, indicating that they are a hydrocarbon-based life form that lives on two planets around a central star. Their signal gave no indication they know we exist. You, a leading government official, have been asked