Seven Steps to Project Planning

Seven Steps of Project Planning April Willochell Project Management Every project is an opportunity to produce something new, to make a real difference. You can introduce change, increase productivity, enhance capabilities of your company or of a client or build new relationships. Seven steps are essential to success in organizations that simultaneously manage multiple initiatives. Effectiveness begins with good pre-project planning plus an understanding of what a project is and what can be at stake. Consistently following these seven key steps can directly improve a company’s operations, profitability and sanity.The first step is a setting goals phase. â€Å"During this stage the teams responsible for the project are assigned and a brief is provided containing information on what the project hopes to achieve and what approach will be taken to complete various actions required. Additionally, this stage usually leads to the appointed of a project manager and executive in charg e who with the help of the team start to plan the next step. † (7 Steps, 2013) In this stage all stakeholders should state their needs and how they would like them to be fulfilled.Ultimately, this is the goal setting phase. The next step would be initiating the process. This means that a team would be assembled and the overall project is outlined to detailed specifications. This includes strategic planning, like how long the project will take, how many steps will take place, and what tools will be needed to execute the project. Deciding how the project will be controlled is the third step. This step is also called directing the project. This means that the organization that is controlling the project is defined.Also, all organizations within the company that will be involved are determined. This part of the planning process will determine who receives reports and makes final decisions in the planning process. â€Å"This step is about developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS ) that identifies the low-level tasks and activities required for doing project work and producing the deliverables. The WBS is a critical piece of the project planning process because it defines how tasks will be structured and what dependencies will be created. It is also used for setting up urations, task assignments, resource requirements, and cost estimates. † (The Planning Process, 2013) The control stage is the fourth stage. â€Å"You must develop a project strategy that follows the mission and outlines the high-level actions for implementing the project objectives. You must develop a project strategy that follows the mission and outlines the high-level actions for implementing the project objectives. † (The Planning Process, 2013) This process will let the team know who will need to sign off for what processes in the project.This stage will also let the team know where potential problems may arise and if they do how they should be dealt with. This stage is very important in the planning process. The fifth stage of project planning is setting up boundaries for each stage of the project. This is basically setting up deadlines for each stage of the project. If a stage is not met, there also needs to be backup plan on how the plan will play out in this event. This stage also determines how each stage will close and the steps following that closing. â€Å"The penultimate stage is the management of product delivery.In this step the project manager works with team managers to ensure that a set of formal requirements are created for every piece of work contained in the project. Essentially if this is done correctly all of the work should be delivered on time and to a suitable standard. † (7 Steps, 2013) This sixth stage is to make sure that all paperwork is in order, the project and its product follow all regulations, and all parts are in working order. This is basically, a quality control stage. The seventh and final stage is the closing s tage.This step is the risk management assessment part of the planning process. Project managers and their teams must identify all the risks in their project and discuss the alternatives. The plan will be reviewed, discussed, and any potential changes will be made. Once all seven steps are followed accurately a project plan should be planned perfectly and executed just as well. Resources 7 Steps to Project Planning. Retrieved on January 17, 2013 from http://EzineArticles. com/4767743 The Planning Process. Retrieved on January 18, 2013 from

Coca-Cola Company Essay

Environment is an important aspect in our lives, allover the world, concerns are being raised on how the world can have a sustainable environment. Companies are under pressure to come up with programs that support environment. For the purpose of this paper we are going to examine the Coca-Cola Company environmental programs and polices. Coca-Cola Company is a multinational company that is well known for its production of carbonated soft drinks that are sold in over 200 countries allover the world. Coke soft drinks are sold in stores, vending machines and in restaurants. According to business week, coke is the most recognized brand from the company. This paper is going to analyze the environment issues that impact the company. Many nutritionists argue that soft drinks from Coca-Cola and other companies are harmful when consumed in access especially by the young ones, who may take a lot of soft drinks at the expense of a balanced diet. Studies indicate that those who regularly take soft drinks do have lesser calcium intakes in their body systems. The coca cola company in India has come under a big controversy that concerns pesticides together with other dangerous chemicals that purported to find in the bottled products from the company. In the year 2003, center for Science and Environment (CSE) which is a non governmental organization based in New Delhi, reported that aerated waters that were being produced in India by multinational big companies such as coca-cola, did contain toxins. These toxins included DDT, lindane, Malathion and chlorpyrifors, which can contribute greatly to cancer and also the breakdown of an individual immune system. Among products that were tested was coke which has found to have 30 times the amount of pesticide remains that is allowed by the European Union regulations. This lead to formation of a parliamentary committee that was given mandate to develop pesticide levels for soft drinks; this was first of its kind in the world. The company response was its products are well filtered in order to remove any potential contaminants before being marketed and that the normal have a minimum level of pesticides as required by health standards. In the sate of Kerala in India, sell of Coca-Cola products together with other soft drinks was banned, until the high overruled the decision. Suppliers Coca-Cola Company has a policy with its suppliers to follows all international and national laws that encourage ethical business dealing. The company has built its reputation on trust, respect and integrates. The company promotes the principles of human rights, shun child labor and encourage environmental conservations practices. The Coca-Cola Company has several supplies who supplies various material to the company that are used in production and overall distribution of the company products. (Coca-Cola – Our Brands 2007). To start with the company is supplied with aluminum from different supplies coming from different countries. Aluminum is also supplied to the company’s bottling plants in many parts of the world; it is used for manufacturing of cans and other containers that the company uses in packaging. Other suppliers of the company are farms who grow coco plant, sugar, corn and other plants that are used as raw material by the company. Some companies do enter into dealership with the company of supplying the raw material to the company. Over the years the company has acquired many suppliers as the demand of its products increase. Companies dealing in glass also supply a lot of it to the company as it is used in making of bottles for packaging soft drinks from the company. Effects of demographics Globalization, technology, and population are among key factors that affects the company business. Over a period of three years demographic factors will play an important role on the company sale and overall performance. In line with world growth, it is believed that the world have more aged people than today this is because the birth rate in many countries is falling while at the same time life expectancy is improving. Studies indicate that young people consumer a lot of the company products than the aged ones. In line with this the company may experience slight reduction in consumption of there products. This reduction of consumption may not occur since at the same time the world population is increasing there fore cautioning any decrease that may occur in consumption patterns. Other than aging and population, the company also will have to deal with environmental issues brought about by technology change and global changes. As technology continues to advance, the issue of environment also continues to attract more attention on how viable such technology is. To day people allover the world wants companies which are environmental friendly. Consumers have become more aware of their environment and prefer companies that value the environment and have policies that protect the environment. The company will be affected positively in three years to come if they have embrace technology that sustain environment, if not then the may experience negative effects. Environment and health issues have been a big issue in the company, in 2006 the United States Food and Drug Administration, had to respond to concerns of consumers by carrying out a survey on more 100 soft drinks and also other beverages which established that though, the soft drinks had amount of benzene, it was not a health concern to consumers. The Coca-Cola Company has a vision that seeks to promote sustainable growth and making a positive change in the whole world. In regard to environment the company has made significant and quantifiable progress. The company has integrated environmental issues in its business strategies and decision making methods. As it can be noted the company improved its usage of water ratio by 4%, the energy usage ratio by 5% and the recycling rate went up by 3%. These improvements have a direct benefit to communities where the company operates and to the company stakeholders. However, the company still is undertaking more measures to improve the environment. The company has taken key measures in improving the environment, which focus mainly on environmental performance measures of the company systems. These measures include improving the company operations and improving ways of conducting business which are geared towards minimize environmental effects that the company has. The environment impacts created by the company operations from the company bottling systems are for example sustainable packaging inventiveness, protection of climate and â€Å"eco-freshment†, the company has undertaken alternative refrigeration programs that are more environmental friendly. To further improve the environment, Cocacola Corporation has invested a lot in clean technology that fuels the company innovations; this includes the environment board; the company community and watershed schemes; and making partnerships with charity organization, non governmental agencies and peer companies that targets developing solutions that are innovative towards environmental issues. The Coca-Cola Corporation which is a global corporation has a unique challenge in managing the environmental effects to the company business. The corporation has a challenge because it does not own nor manage many of coca cola bottling companies around the world. Thus, these data will examine the corporation environmental management. Water The most essential need for all life forms is water; however accessing safe and clean water has remained dream to many. It is estimated that around 1. 3 billion people allover the world do not reach to clean and safe water. This has a great impact on the environment as a whole. Allover the world, from United Nations to community organizations are working in order to increase access to water, the company is doing its part by protecting and preserving water resources Water is an important factor in management of environment the corporation in line with undertaking sustainable water methods, it improved it water effectiveness by 4% in the year 2005, over three previous years the company has been improving its water efficiency, and the company projects that water efficiency usage will level off soon. To ensure this, the company has undertaken changes in product mix, meaning the growing of tea and coffee products; this is anticipated to make the company productions ways more water concentrated. The management in 2005 did a comprehensive risk analysis of water dangers that face the company systems and host communities in 811 company bottling plants and has continued in improving efficient water use. Wastewater disposal is an issue that the management is addressing by working with bottling partners in the whole world to improve wastewater treatment. In addition, conservation processes have been undertaken by the company and the company is strict on these processes to achieve and even surpasses applicable laws. The management has put up requirements for their bottling plant to have on site an effluent treatment plants that will be used in attaining the goal of increasing water efficiency. The goal of the company is to be 100% water efficiency by the year 2010 (Coca-Cola – Our Brands 2007). The company is focusing on other projects that will address the issue of water scarcity in world. At the end of 2005, the company had established around 20 watershed joint ventures with local communities and to help in providing access to clean water and also sanitation services in the communities allover the world where the company have their bottling plants. In line with enhancing access to water the management of the company entered into partnerships with Emory Global center for Safe Water, the United Nations Foundations, Millennium Water Alliance and others in establish Global Water Challenge. This all important combination aim at providing safe water for drinking, improving sanitation together with hygienic education in developing countries. The program depends on collaboration of partners, funding, mobilizing additional partners, and sharing of resources, best practices and expertise. Global Water Challenge has a program Water for Schools which focus on supplying water and also sanitation to many schools in Kenya in nyanza province. There is already great prospective of implementing the same project elsewhere. These efforts greatly enhance environment. Packaging Coca-Cola beverage is taken by people allover the world over 1. 3 times in a day, in order for the company to satisfy this consumption rate, the company depends upon packaging its products in containers. These containers are offer protection and enable distribution of the products to the consumer. The management has been working throughout in enhancing environmental along side social value packaging, by improving designs of containers in order to meet the set standards. In the year 2005 the company made a lot of progress towards achieving sustainable packaging distinction (Coca-Cola – Our Brands 2007). The company has pursed environmental friendly way of packing by reducing amount of material used on its can, bottles and polyethylene terephthalate. In 2005 the new technology of the company reduced use of glass by 52, 000 tons annual ii all of its plants in the world. The managed has also managed to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. In line with keeping the environment clean, the management has come up with recycling systems which are more efficient. An example of such recycling plants is CEMPRE in Brazil. These recycling plants have been used to produce recycled containers which the company reuses. This initiative have gone along way in improving the overall environment as broken bottles and cans used to pause a danger to the environment(Coca-Cola – Our Brands 2007). Solid waste and recycling The management of the company is committed in having an efficient lasting waste management that will reduce waste generated in the company’s plants and facilities. Majority of waste products around 98% is created in the bottling process, the waste products includes products like empty containers, plastics wraps secondary packaging and many more. (Pendergrast 2006). The management makes efforts to reuse or recycle such materials have continued to improve the efficient of managing the wastes. In the year 2005 the company achieved a 3% improvement of waste management from the previous year. The view to the environment this is a positive aspect from the company as waste management has always poised a serious challenge to many manufacturing plants. Energy and climate Global climatic changes and global warming have become an issue of create concern to the world. Companies are requested to reduce the amount of carbon emissions that they emit to the environment. Energy saving is another important issue that is being stressed. In terms of saving energy, the management of the company has developed a sustainable technology of refrigeration. The technology â€Å"eKOfreshment† has seen more than 4,000 CO2 refrigerated cooler on the market and a demand for more has already been created. These coolers are much environmental friendly and the company intend to produce more of them slowly by slowly to take over the old ones. In addition the management is introducing new energy management solutions by the year 2010. Today, the company cold drinks apparatus are over 40% more effective than ten years ago. This has reduced the amount of carbon dioxide in the environment by 700,000 tons per year which is same as removing 150,000 vehicles from the roads. In so doing the company has management to improve the environment management (Pendergrast 2000).

Philosophy of social science and some problem Essay

Philosophy of social science and some problem - Essay Example Let us now examine Society, which is a sum total of individuals, interacting in finite space in infinite variety of ways. To understand the complex society by using empirically observable objectivity is perhaps the core objective of social science. To rationally explain the complexity of derivatives that individual interactions create in society is the unsaid mandate of Social Science. Therefore Social Science may be defined as " the rational and systematic study of human society in all its forms with the aim of arriving at an enduring understanding, acknowledged as such by a broad consensus of researchers, of social phenomenon" (Meyer.1999). In examining the philosophy of Social Science, we will attempt to probe behind the veil and look at the core of the belief system which governs, regulates and defines the structure of knowledge emanating from this branch of Human inquiry. Rationality forms the primary percept of philosophy of Social Science. The 'rationalistic view of knowledge is based on reason and reflection' (Johannessen & Olaisen.2005), wherein empirically and objectively verifiable observation is articulated and cast in to paradigms and theories. We would now like to refer to the debate between naturalist and anti-naturalists which form the overall competing academic groups (ibid) within the philosophy of social science. ... Systemic approach however seeks to view the social world as system comprising of sub-systems and an 'epistemology combining realism and reason, aiming to understand, predict and control' (Johannessen. 1997, quoted in Johannessen & Olaisen.2005), an attempted blending of objectivity, subjectivity and intersubjectivity. The Naturalist position sharing the 'disregard for subjective experience'; is constructed on the following four pillars: 1. Empiricism 2. Positivism & neo-Positivism (Vienna Circle) 3. Realism 4. Rationalism (Karl Popper) (Bunge.1996 quoted in Johannessen & Olaisen.2005 ) Empiricists base their argument on a presumptive bias, that 'it is only perception which provides the knowledge' (Turner.1991 quoted in Johannessen & Olaisen.2005). They have a dogmatic view that knowledge is experience and subsequent reflection on and about it. The primary concern is observable. The Positivists and neo-Positivist emanated from Vienna School (1926-1936). These 'Logical Empiricists' focused on empirical testability, verifiable data and induction. They don't recognize non-linear causative factors like emotions etc. and term them as unscientific and out of scientific context (Von Wright. 1971quoted in Johannessen & Olaisen.2005). It was an attempt to introduce mathematical precision in the realm of imprecise social knowledge. Neo-Positivists based their epistemology on Instrumental Rationality. Realism 'is an epistemological doctrine that knowledge attempts to represents reality' (Bunge.1981, p. IX ). Realism has further branched off in to Nave Realism, Critical Realism and Scientific Realism (Johannessen & Olaisen.2005). Rationalism's most important sub-doctrine is Methodological Individualism, which states that social

Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 5

Research - Essay Example The position of the WTO is rather, to provide information and dissemination of case studies toward affirmation of private trade relationships, and their voluntary response to ethical practices and law abiding transactions. To this end, the ratification of various treaties since the Uruguay Accord have been subject to furtherance of those legislative interests, and amendment to existing signatory protocol with some volitional agreement to liability and oversight by member states. The perspective of the WTO is predictably one of competitive market assessment. The mere query to into the fairness of anti-dumping is addressed through the stipulations of ratified legislative policy, and in particular the articulation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The foregoing essay examines the changes in the GATT’s articles on anti-dumping, and the aggregated response by national markets in regard to those constraints. In interest of furthering the discussion into the sphere of after-market trade of hazardous waste products, the discussion also contributes to the otherwise standard consideration of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) as ‘goods’ are defined within international trade protocol. In 2009, the WTO Secretariat reported a marked 17% increase from 2007 in the number of anti-dumping investigations between July, 1 and December 31, 2008. According to the WTO, the Members whom reported the highest number of new investigations during the period, were India, reporting 42, followed by Brazil, reporting 16, China (11), Turkey (10), Argentina and the European Communities (9 each), Indonesia (6), Ukraine (4), Pakistan and the United States (3), Australia and Colombia (2 each), and Canada, Korea and Mexico (1 each). China was the most frequent subject of the new investigations. The most frequent products in the investigations

Selling Poor Steven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Selling Poor Steven - Essay Example Many others, however, bought slaves for the same reason that white men did, which was to make a profit. This was done as a form of assimilation in a mistrustful social atmosphere (186). Slavery for freed black men was a different affair from the slavery invoked by white men. Black slaveowners bought family members as slaves to protect them and to free them a few years later. Similarly, black slaveowners would marry a slave, start a family, and then offer to purchase them from the original slaveowner. After the black slaveowner bought his family, he would free them. However, being able to buy and sell family members also had its downsides, being used as more of a threat if a family member were to get out of line or misbehave. All the same, freed black men were able to use their power to own slaves for humanitarian purposes, bringing an end to slavery for many others. Then there were the black slaveowners that treated their slaves no differently than white slaveowners treated their own . Black slaveowners still exploited the people that were lesser than them, regardless of having the same skin color. This caused great mistrust between slaves and freed black men alike. It was assumed that these prior slaves would understand what it felt like to be slaves to cruel and vicious people, which would prompt them to treat their own slaves with kindness and respect. This, however, was not always the case, and not all of the slaves were treated with compassion (192). A journal left by black slaveowner William Johnson revealed a resentment towards white slaveowners, but also revealed the need to fit in among them, which is why slaves were treated as they were by black slaveowners. â€Å"The story of black slaveowners gives powerful evidence that slavery was just as complex an institution for them [...] as it was for whites (192).† When the Civil War approached, life became difficult for slaveowners of all color. When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed and implem ented in 1863, which freed all slaves, every slaveowner had something bad to say about it. Even the black slaveowners who bought their families for protection were unhappy at the thought of losing their servants despite the reason they had boughten them to begin with. Though the concept of black slaveowners was short lived, it still caused a great impact on the institution of slavery while it lasted. The purpose of Philip Burnham’s article is to show the many reasons that black slaveowners kept slaves in comparison to the reasons that white men kept slaves, all of which were previously stated. Burnham uses historical evidence, such as journals kept by black slaveowners and records about which slaveowners bought which slaves, to support his thesis. Also included were snippets from some of the wills of these slaveowners, which often mentioned the freeing of their slaves after the death of the owner. Or, if slaves were to be passed on to family, some of the wills declared that t he slaves must be treated kindly and released after a certain amount of years. Some of the information provided by Burnham may have been simply assumptions, but they were still backed up by the historical facts and documents that were left by others. Burnham proved his theory to my satisfaction, and I agree with his statements as to the conditions and reasons that black slaveowners bought slaves. Newly made black slaveowners

Hewlett Packard Computers Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Hewlett Packard Computers - Term Paper Example Current market factors as well as projected consumer demand for computer products are assessed in light of industry opportunities and threats. The analysis compares Hewlett Packard’s overall marketing effectiveness with two of its major competitors; Dell and Apple. A number of critical issues are raised for consideration by the President and members of the company’s Board of Directors. Founded in 1939 by Bill Hewitt and Dave Packard, Hewlett Packard had its beginnings in a garage in Palo Alto, California and was later transformed into one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of multi-media technology products and services (hp.com). Today, Hewlett Packard has five global regional offices serving sixty-eight countries and is the second largest technology company in the world behind Samsung. The company’s 2009 net revenues were $114.9 billion with operating profits of $10.1 billion. Sixty-four percent of net revenue was derived from operations located outside of the United States (Annual Report, 2009). The company’s core operations continue to relate to the sale of network and server platforms to businesses and government institutions and personal computers and printers. Recently, the company has attempted to develop and market its technology services division which provides technology systems design and engineering protocols for business. Since 2004, Hewlett Packard has invested in excess of $17 billion in research and product development and an additional $20 billion in the acquisition of technology-related companies such as Compaq and Palm that are intended to enhance the mission of HP (Consolidated Financial Statements, 2009). The company is governed by a twelve member Board of Directors which includes Mark Hurd as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. There are nine Executive Vice-Presidents. The responsibility for corporate marketing falls under Chris Curtin, Vice-President, Digital

Texting While Driving Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Texting While Driving - Research Paper Example The irony in the story notwithstanding the lesson is clear that texting while driving is a dangerous practice and the more one does it the more likely they are to end up in a crash. Taking cognizance of the fact that driving by itself is dangerous, allowing texting, which has been proven to increase ones chances of losing control of a vehicle, is illogical, irresponsible and different from allowing drunk driving. Each day 15 people are killed while over 1200 are injured in car crashes that involve a distracted driver, whereby these distractions involve taking one’s eyes of the road, hands of the wheel or focusing on something else besides driving. What do all this distractions have in common is that any driver driving and texting will have to engage in at least one or all of these distractions at some point during the writing; the more they text, the more likely they are to veer off the road or hit another car, pedestrian or object. In this paper, it will be proven through res earch and statistical data as well as logical reasoning that texting while driving is a dangerous practice that needs to be curbed with all urgency. Due to the increased availability of mobile phones and other hand held devices;  texting and driving has been on the increase in the last few years; studies have attested to the increasing number of accidents related to texting. Statistics reveal that in the year 2009 more than 54,000 people died, as a result of distractions while driving with 240 000 being injured as a result of the same (â€Å"Injury Prevention & Control†¦"). This resulted to AAA launching a campaign to ensure that texting and driving were outlawed in all the American states without exemption in an effort to mitigate the often-dire consequences of texting while driving (AAA). They registered a considerable level of success since after the ban was implemented in California, the percentage of drivers texting went down by approximately 70 percent (AAA). In June 2 012 a Massachusetts teen was sentenced to serve one year in jail for involvement in deadly car while writing a text, under the new state laws that criminalize injuring someone while texting and driving (Conan). In ten American States, talking on hand held devices are not allowed while 32 ban cellphone usage by novice drivers, while 39 have banned texting and driving. It is worth noting that more states have banned texting while driving than taking and receiving calls by both seasoned and novice drivers; this is because with time people are realizing how fatal the simple action of sending a text can be. Ironically, the texts are often inconsequential messages that were not necessarily urgent such as a discussion about what one had for lunch or sharing jokes; thus it begs the question whether such trivial interactions are worth risking life and limb. Texting while driving has been proven seriously impair the drivers reaction speed on road, considering that drivers often have to make s plit second decisions which at time involve life and death, this poses a consummate risk to themselves and other or road user in their way. Consider a study carried out at the Texas Transportation Institute; 42 drivers were asked to drive while texting on an 11 mile test track and they were required to stop when they saw a flashing light, the experiment was also done when they were not texting. The researchers recorded the reaction times in the different cases, and according to this study, drivers

Chartered Portfolio Manager and Investment Management- week 3 Essay

Chartered Portfolio Manager and Investment Management- week 3 responses - Essay Example I agree that it is not suitable to add a hedge fund to such a client’s portfolio who has low capital base, risk averse nature, and willingness for long-term returns. Despite the accessibility of general public to the hedge funds as a result of their inclusion in mutual funds, they are not a viable option because of their cost and subjectivity of information. Participation in returns is not likely to increase considering the current limitations of the hedge funds. You have provided a concise definition of hedge funds. This was a particularly informative post as it introduced some new concepts such as derivatives and the investment technique of leverage. I don’t think it is suitable to add hedge funds that use leverage to a client’s portfolio given the enormity of risk of loss. I agree that institutions’ willingness for diversification drives them toward hedge funds. However, a fair understanding of risk and its comparison to the capital base is fundamental to making informed

USABILITY TESTING AND IMPLEMENTATION SLP 5 Essay

USABILITY TESTING AND IMPLEMENTATION SLP 5 - Essay Example The website’s navigation ease is also very important. This tool deals with the organization of the website, availability of search boxes and links, to assist in finding the appropriate webpages and the speed of accessing the webpages. Additional tools include the site’s accessibility which deals with its semantic HTML composition, choice of color and its cross platform compatibility. Website speed is critical to the process of usability and is measured through analyzing the website’s response time and its file size. The last tool is user experience and it deals with analyzing the website’s usefulness, enjoyment and fulfilment. Usability.gov rates highly in terms of task analysis. For users of the website, it is very informative since it provides information on visual design content, strategy and its simple web page outlay, leaves a lasting impression on the users. Additionally, the information conveyed is easy to read. The site can be used by any person due to the simple language used to convey specific information. It is also very easy to access information due to the presence of the search box at the edge of the website’s screen. In terms of the color choice of the webpage, the use of multiple color combinations gives the website a memorable and upbeat outlay that entices the user to revisit the website. Transparencynow.com also offers varying information ranging from comedies, art and film. It rates considerably high in the readability feature since the words are legible with a sizeable font coupled with pictures that help in conveying the information to the user. However, the organizational outlay of the website is not correctly structured and would benefit from a simpler organization with links to different features. Its choice of color is relatively dull but the application of images considerably improves its presentation. The website

The Role of Peer Feedback in Improving EFL Writing Skills of Saudi Essay

The Role of Peer Feedback in Improving EFL Writing Skills of Saudi English Major Students - Essay Example The essay explains the role of peer feedback in helping them improve their EFL writing competencies. Following this, a section of the paper presents the concept of peer feedback in detail. Finally, the last section looks at the issue of collaborative learning, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the process of peer feedback to help better understand this type of approach. Many researchers have found a positive relation between students’ writing achievements and the provision of feedback. It is seen that feedback improves writing skills since it gives both students and teachers a picture of students' progress and improvement. It is also considered to be â€Å"a key element of the scaffolding provided by the teacher to build learner confidence and the literacy resources to participate in target communities†. This paper makes a conclusion that peer feedback as it was presented in this essay can be a very beneficial collaborative activity in EFL writing sessions. Unfortunately, this kind of feedback is novel in many non-Western teaching contexts such as Saudi Arabia where teacher-feedback based classes are still dominant. The education system in Saudi Arabia is in the traditional style where it is loaded by rules, and is bound by a certain structure. Saudi students are taught writing by structured written exercises and traditional drills. Students’ writing is most often controlled and guided with model writings provided by teachers rather than allowing them to write freely. However, this situation could be changed with proper awareness of the educational problems and with appropriate writing instructions such as applying cooperative learning and peer feedback to make students better writers.

APA Style Format Essay Example for Free

APA Style Format Essay Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck Last Edited: 2012-05-30 12:19:58 Please use the example at the bottom of this page to cite the Purdue OWL in APA. To see a side-by-side comparison of the three most widely used citation styles, including a chart of all APA citation guidelines, see the Citation Style Chart. You can also watch our APA vidcast series on the Purdue OWL YouTube Channel. General APA Guidelines Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5 x 11) with 1 margins on all sides. You should use a clear font that is highly readable. APA recommends using 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Include a page header (also known as the running head) at the top of every page. To create a page header/running head, insert page numbers flush right. Then type TITLE OF YOUR PAPER in the header flush left using all capital letters. The running head is a shortened version of your papers title and cannot exceed 50 characters including spacing and punctuation. Major Paper Sections Your essay should include four major sections: the Title Page, Abstract, Main Body, andReferences. Title Page The title page should contain the title of the paper, the authors name, and theinstitutional affiliation. Include the page header (described above) flush left with the page number flush right at the top of the page. Please note that on the title page, your page header/running head should look like this: Running head: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER Pages after the title page should have a running head that looks like this: TITLE OF YOUR PAPER After consulting with publication specialists at the APA, OWL staff learned that the APA 6th edition, first printing sample papers have incorrect examples of Running heads on pages after the title page. This link will take you to the APA site where you can find a complete list of all the errors in the APAs 6th edition style guide. Type your title in upper and lowercase letters centered in the upper half of the page. APA recommends that your title be no more than 12 words in length and that it should not contain abbreviations or words that serve no purpose. Your title may take up one or two lines. All text on the title page, and throughout your paper, should be double-spaced. Beneath the title, type the authors name: first name, middle initial(s), and last name. Do not use titles (Dr.) or degrees (Ph.D.). Beneath the authors name, type the institutional affiliation, which should indicate the location where the author(s) conducted the research. APA Title Page Abstract Begin a new page. Your abstract page should already include the page header (described above). On the first line of the abstract page, center the word â€Å"Abstract† (no bold, formatting, italics, underlining, or quotation marks). Beginning with the next line, write a concise summary of the key points of your research. (Do not indent.) Your abstract should contain at least your research topic, research questions, participants, methods, results, data analysis, and conclusions. You may also include possible implications of your research and future work you see connected with your findings. Your abstract should be a single paragraph double-spaced. Your abstract should be between 150 and 250 words. You may also want to list keywords from your paper in your abstract. To do this, indent as you would if you were starting a new paragraph, type Keywords: (italicized), and then list your keywords. Listing your keywords will help researchers find your work in databases. APA Abstract Page Please see our Sample APA Paper resource to see an example of an APA paper. You may also visit our Additional Resources page for more examples of APA papers. How to Cite the Purdue OWL in APA Individual Resources Contributors names and the last edited date can be found in the orange boxes at the top of every page on the OWL. Contributors names (Last edited date). Title of resource. Retrieved from http://Web address for OWL resource Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ n-Text Citations: The Basics Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck Last Edited: 2012-09-14 09:39:55 Reference citations in text are covered on pages 169-179 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay. Note: APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found APA Citation Basics When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the authors last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. If you are referring to an idea from another work but NOT directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference. All sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper. In-Text Citation Capitalization, Quotes, and Italics/Underlining Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones. If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source: Permanence and Change. Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs: Writing New Media, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. (Note: in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized: Writing new media.) When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word:Natural-Born Cyborgs. Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcocks Vertigo. Italicize or underline the titles of longer works such as books, edited collections, movies, television series, documentaries, or albums: The Closing of the American Mind; The Wizard of Oz; Friends. Put quotation marks around the titles of shorter works such as journal articles, articles from edited collections, television series episodes, and song titles: Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds; The One Where Chandler Cant Cry. Short Quotations If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and the page number for the reference (preceded by p.). Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the authors last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses. According to Jones (1998), Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time (p. 199). Jones (1998) found students often had difficulty using APA style (p. 199); what implications does this have for teachers? If the author is not named in a signal phrase, place the authors last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation. She stated, Students often had difficulty using APA style (Jones, 1998, p. 199), but she did not offer an explanation as to why. Long Quotations Place direct quotations that are 40 words, or longer, in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. Joness (1998) study found the following: Students often had difficulty using APA style, especially when it was their first time citing sources. This difficulty could be attributed to the fact that many students failed to purchase a style manual or to ask their teacher for help. (p. 199) Summary or Paraphrase If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference, but APA guidelines encourage you to also provide the page number (although it is not required.) According to Jones (1998), APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners. APA style is a difficult citation format for first-time learners (Jones, 1998, p. 199). In-Text Citations: Author/Authors Summary: APA (American Psychological Association) is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition, second printing of the APA manual, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the reference page. For more information, please consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition, second printing. Contributors:Joshua M. Paiz, Elizabeth Angeli, Jodi Wagner, Elena Lawrick, Kristen Moore, Michael Anderson, Lars Soderlund, Allen Brizee, Russell Keck Last Edited: 2011-10-28 07:37:33 APA style has a series of important rules on using author names as part of the author-date system. There are additional rules for citing indirect sources, electronic sources, and sources without page numbers. Citing an Author or Authors A Work by Two Authors: Name both authors in the signal phrase or in the parentheses each time you cite the work. Use the word and between the authors names within the text and use the ampersand in the parentheses. Research by Wegener and Petty (1994) supports (Wegener Petty, 1994) A Work by Three to Five Authors: List all the authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the first time you cite the source. (Kernis, Cornell, Sun, Berry, Harlow, 1993) In subsequent citations, only use the first authors last name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses. (Kernis et al., 1993) In et al., et should not be followed by a period. Six or More Authors: Use the first authors name followed by et al. in the signal phrase or in parentheses. Harris et al. (2001) argued (Harris et al., 2001) Unknown Author: If the work does not have an author, cite the source by its title in the signal phrase or use the first word or two in the parentheses. Titles of books and reports are italicized or underlined; titles of articles, chapters, and web pages are in quotation marks. A similar study was done of students learning to format research papers (Using APA, 2001). Note: In the rare case the Anonymous is used for the author, treat it as the authors name (Anonymous, 2001). In the reference list, use the name Anonymous as the author. Organization as an Author: If the author is an organization or a government agency, mention the organization in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical citation the first time you cite the source. According to the American Psychological Association (2000), If the organization has a well-known abbreviation, include the abbreviation in brackets the first time the source is cited and then use only the abbreviation in later citations. First citation: (Mothers Against Drunk Driving [MADD], 2000) Second citation: (MADD, 2000) Two or More Works in the Same Parentheses: When your parenthetical citation includes two or more works, order them the same way they appear in the reference list, separated by a semi-colon. (Berndt, 2002; Harlow, 1983) Authors With the Same Last Name: To prevent confusion, use first initials with the last names. (E. Johnson, 2001; L. Johnson, 1998) Two or More Works by the Same Author in the Same Year: If you have two sources by the same author in the same year, use lower-case letters (a, b, c) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. Use the lower-case letters with the year in the in-text citation. Research by Berndt (1981a) illustrated that Introductions, Prefaces, Forewords, and Afterwords: When citing an Introduction, Preface, Foreword, or Afterwords in-text, cite the appropriate author and year as usual. (Funk Kolln, 1992) Personal Communication: For interviews, letters, e-mails, and other person-to-person communication, cite the communicators name, the fact that it was personal communication, and the date of the communication. Do not include personal communication in the reference list. (E. Robbins, personal communication, January 4, 2001). A. P. Smith also claimed that many of her students had difficulties with APA style (personal communication, November 3, 2002). Citing Indirect Sources If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses. Johnson argued that(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102). Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source. Electronic Sources If possible, cite an electronic document the same as any other document by using the author-date style. Kenneth (2000) explained Unknown Author and Unknown Date: If no author or date is given, use the title in your signal phrase or the first word or two of the title in the parentheses and use the abbreviation n.d. (for no date). Another study of students and research decisions discovered that students succeeded with tutoring (Tutoring and APA, n.d.). Sources Without Page Numbers When an electronic source lacks page numbers, you should try to include information that will help readers find the passage being cited. When an electronic document has numbered paragraphs, use the abbreviation para. followed by the paragraph number (Hall, 2001, para. 5). If the paragraphs are not numbered and the document includes headings, provide the appropriate heading and specify the paragraph under that heading. Note that in some electronic sources, like Web pages, people can use the Find function in their browser to locate any passages you cite. According to Smith (1997), (Mind over Matter section, para. 6). Note: Never use the page numbers of Web pages you print out; different computers print Web pages with different pagination.

Target Corporation Essay Example for Free

Target Corporation Essay Operator Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Target Corporation’s Fourth Quarter Earnings Release Conference Call. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, February 26, 2014. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Gregg Steinhafel, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Gregg Steinhafel Chairman, President and CEO Good morning, and welcome to our 2013 fourth quarter earnings conference call. On the line with me today are Kathy Tesija, Executive Vice President of Merchandising; and John Mulligan, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. This morning, I will provide a high level summary of our fourth quarter results and strategic priorities for the year ahead, and Kathy will discuss category results, guest insights, and the holiday season. And finally, John will provide more detail on our financial performance, along with our financial outlook for 2014. Following John’s remarks, we’ll open the phone lines for a question-and-answer session. As a reminder, we are joined on this conference call by investors and others who are listening to our comments via webcast. Following this conference call, John Hulbert and John Mulligan will be available throughout the day to answer any follow-up questions you may have. Also as a reminder, any forward-looking statements that we make this morning are subject to risks and uncertainties, the most important of wh ich are described in the 8-K we filed this morning. Finally, in these remarks, we refer to adjusted earnings per share, which is a non-GAAP financial measure. A reconciliation to our GAAP results is included in this morning’s press release posted on our Investor Relations website. Target’s fourth quarter financial results reflect better than expected U.S segments performance in the first three weeks of the holiday season, followed by meaningfully softer results, following our December 19th announcement that criminals had gained access to guest payment card data in our U.S stores. In total, fourth quarter comparable sales decreased 2.5% consistent with our updated guidance in January. Throughout the quarter our  team managed the business extremely well, adjusting both inventory and expenses to match the rapidly changing pace of sales. As a result, our US operations generated fourth quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.30 at the high-end of the updated guidance we provided in January. In Canada, we worked diligently to leverage holiday traffic in an effort to clear excess inventory. Markdowns resulting from this effort drove a very low gross margin rate, but allowed us to reduce average inventory per store in Canada by approximately 30% between the beginning and end of the fourth quarter. Canadian segment EPS dilution was $0.40 in the quarter, $0.05 better than the updated guidance we provided in January. We are pleased that our early cycle Canadian stores have seen the most improvement giving us confidence that we will continue to see continued improvement across all our Canadian stores in 2014. Fourth quarter GAAP EPS of $0.81 reflects U.S and Canadian segment performance along with costs related to our recent restructuring in data breach along with small accounting and tax matters. As we work to address the impact of the mid-December data breach, we have put the welfare of our guests at the center of every decision we’ve made. We have communicated in early and often providing the best information we had about new facts in ongoing on the ongoing investigation. We consistently assured our guests that they would have zero liability for any unauthorized charges on their card accounts resulting from the breach. We increased fraud detection for REDcard holders and extended free credit monitoring and identity theft protection for any guests who has ever shopped one of our U.S stores. We are truly sorry for the impact this breach has had on our guests, team members and other stakeholders and I want to reiterate that we are committed for making things right. We know these initial steps are part of a longer process. We continue to listen to our guests and we know that this incident and recent security breaches at other companies have shaken their confidence in both Target and the U.S payment system more broadly. To rebuild guest confidence, we’re committed to an end-to-end review in cooperation with third-party experts to understand how the breach occurred, the identification and acceleration of solutions to provide enhanced protection in the future and engagement with third-party experts to protect the industry and consumers from future threats. Accordingly, were taking the following steps. We are conducting an end-to-end forensic investigation  of our processes, systems and personnel to make informed decisions on potential security enhancements. We are accelerating the adoption of advanced chip enabled technology, investing more than $100 million to equip our stores and to issue Target branded smart chip credit and debit cards. We have long supported this more secured technology; a broad adoption in the U.S market has been elusive. We believe that recent events will help the industry to reach a tipping point to an accelerated option in the U.S and we are investing to ensure that Target is a clear leader in driving this change. We are working collaboratively with a broad set of stakeholders in the payment card space including banks, retailers, trade associations, payment processors and networks to share in advance best practices and foster future innovation. We helped launch and will be an active leader in retail industry, cyber security and data privacy initiative. In addition, we are investing $5 million in a new coalition with the Better Business Bureau and National Cyber Security Alliance and the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance to advance public education around cyber security and the dangers of consumer scams. While we cant yet assess the full impact of this crime against Target and our guests, we’re pleased that sales have started to recover from the trends we observed following breach related announcements in December and January. Importantly, because we’re in a strong financial position, we expect to absorb any near-term financial impacts while continuing to invest in projects that are key to our long-term success. Our Company has a long history of innovation, disciplined management, and a strong long-term financial performance and we are committed to upholding the principles which has have sustained this Company success for many decades. And while 2013 was a disappointing year financially, we have entered the New Year with the right plans in place to grow profitably and generate meaningfully improved financial performance in 2014 and beyond. In the U.S., we have demonstrated our ability to manage the business with discipline and generate strong financial performance even in a challenging environment. In fact, Kathy will outline in more detail we were very pleased with our holiday season results prior to the announcement of the data breach. In preparation for fourth quarter, we may change this to our holiday promotion and marketing and we were pleased that our in stocks were running at all-time highs. As a result, U.S segment fourth quarter  sales were running ahead of plan prior to December 19th. Looking ahead, we will apply the insights we gained in the holiday season to connect with our guests at delivering merchandize and promotions thoughtfully designed to appeal to them based on whats on their mind at each poi nt in the year, moving Target beyond compelling, to becoming irresistible for our guests. We made enormous progress in our multichannel efforts throughout 2013 as we meaningfully increased conversion both on our website and on our mobile apps. We acquired Chefs Catalog, Cooking.com and Dermstore, extending our online assortment by providing our guests access to additional high-end brands in key home and beauty categories. We launched Cartwheel, our unique mobile savings tool which has far exceeded expectations in both adoption and engagement and we accelerated our investments in flexible fulfillment. As a result, throughout the year, growth in our digital traffic and sales outpaced industry averages. We launched in-store pick up chain-wide at the beginning of November and with very little marketing, this new offering became a meaningful driver of digital traffic and sales. Our store teams did an outstanding job delivering great service when guests arrived to pick up these orders and this is particularly impressive since we launched the service during the busiest time of t he year. We will continue to invest in systems, data and processes to enhance our flexible fulfillment capabilities in 2014 and beyond. In our stores we are committed to enhancing the guest experience by adding dedicated service to key categories like beauty, baby and electronics and by providing training and technology that allows our stores team to go beyond providing basic service to solving problems for our guests. And were continuing to pilot innovations to our store formats. Based on the initial rollout of the CityTarget format and the high single digit comparable sales were seeing in our second year CityTarget stores, were analyzing opportunities to redeem the size and enhance the flexibility of this format opening up a wider universe of potential sites in dense urban areas. While on the work on CityTarget continues, weve also developed a separate smaller format called Target Express at about 15% of the size of one of our general merchandize stores, we believe this design provides us w ith a fantastic opportunity to expand into new trade areas providing a convenient solution to guests who can easily visit one of our other formats. While we expect to offer a carefully curated assortment in frequency  categories like food, health care, beauty and other household essentials, Target Express will also offer discretionary categories including home, electronics and seasonal. Throughout the store we will feature our own brands which offer guests an unbeatable combination of quality and price. We plan to open our first pilot location of this format here in our home market in July so we can carefully study both operational and financial results before we determine our plans to expand this format to other markets. Throughout the organization we continue to find new opportunities to optimize expenses, freeing up resources we can apply to new initiatives. In 2013 our teams saved approximately $200 million by reprioritizing their activities and finding more efficient ways to get things done. Our expense optimization efforts are not a short-term project but a complete overall of the way we work and the team continues to fi nd new opportunities. As a result, we expect the benefit of our expense optimization efforts to reach $1 billion in annualized savings by 2015. Im proud that our entire team has embraced this effort to transform how we work. In Canada the team has moved from a year focused on opening a record number of stores to optimizing the business in run state. As we enter 2014 with a much cleaner inventory position, the teams number one operational focus is on in-stocks, ensuring we have the right quantity of each item in the right place at the right time. In addition, we continue to invest in technology and training to enhance both the tools our team uses and their ability to deploy them most effectively. Were also continuing to implement innovative marketing and merchandizing programs in Canada to raise awareness for our frequency categories like grocery, household essentials, beauty and healthcare. Throughout 2014 we will focus on conveying the depth and breadth of our assortment in those categories and the unbeatable value we provide to our everyday pricing, 5% of the awards, price match and our flier. With enhanced guest awareness of our unbeatable prices combined with the benefit of improved operations, we expect guest shopping frequency to build throughout 2014, driving improvement in sales and profitability. While 2013 will clearly be remembered as the challenging year, I am proud of teams efforts to transform our business and position the company for long-term success. And I want to sincerely thank the Target team for their tireless effort to help our guests recover from the data breach. While there is much more work  to be done, Im inspired by their singular focus on our guests and making things right. As a result, Im confident we will look back on this incident and see that we emerged from it even stronger than before. Now Kathy will provide more detail on our fourth quarter results and key initiatives as we enter 2014. Kathy? Kathy Tesija EVP, Merchandising Thanks, Gregg. In our last conference call, we outlined our plans for the holiday season and mentioned that fourth quarter sales were on track through the first half of November. As we progressed through Black Friday week and the first two weeks of December, guests continued to respond to our promotions and sales ran ahead of our plan. Following the data breach announcement and the rapid change in the pace of our sales, the team reacted quickly making nimble adjustments to minimize our excess inventory. This quick response allowed us to end the year with a clean inventory position. And while our fourth quarter gross margin reflected the addition of clearance activity resulting from the sales slowdown, our team did a great job minimizing the impact. As we built our holiday plans, our goal was to cut through the clutter and reach our guests with compelling offers on exciting merchandize, specifically we aligned our weekly deals and events so guests were receiving a clear message across all channels. And because our guests are budget conscious and love to find deals, we intentionally layered promotions across our circular, cartwheel and our catalog to provide unbeatable value. We used our direct channels to drive urgency at key points of the season and we offered more broad attention-getting promotions like 40% off sweaters. Consistent with past years, we featured hot deals on key items but attracted more attention by offering deeper discounts on fewer items and we were very pleased with the guest response. For the quarter overall, our non-discretionary categories generally saw the strongest sales performance. However, on our more discretionary categories electronics saw an increase in fourth quarter comparable sales led by mobile phones, tablets and video game hardware and software. We also saw relative strength in our sporting goods and housewares categories. Digital channels had a very strong holiday season. Thanksgiving was our biggest digital sales day ever with mobile devices accounting for a full 25% of those sales. We were recently recognized as having the most browsed app by a smartphone and tablet in 2013  and Mobile Commerce Daily just named T arget Mobile Retailer and Commerce Website of the Year. This is the second time weve been named Mobile Retailer of the Year and were pleased to be the only retailer to be honored with the award twice. An important factor in our digital success was the fourth quarter rollout of the opportunity to buy online and pick up in-store. In-store pick up requests represented about 10% of fourth quarter digital orders but they peaked at a much higher rate before Christmas as guests relied on the service as a great solution for last-minute gift shopping. About 30% of store visits to pick up an online order resulted in store shopping on that same trip and the size of that store transaction was much larger than an average store trip. While weve rolled out the capabilities with an external commitment to have orders ready in four hours or less, our team quickly attained our internal goal to have most orders ready in one hour or better. Our survey showed consistently high levels of guest satisfaction with this service and this capability has accelerated our mobile conversion rates. Were also pleased with the continued growth of Cartwheel, our digital savings app, which ended 2013 with over 5 million users who have already saved more than $43 million. Younger guests are particularly engaged by Cartwheel as more than half of its users are Millennials, a much higher percentage than they represent in our overall guest base. Redemption rates on Cartwheel are more than 10 times higher than DC and other direct channels like receipt marketing and email and our analysis indicate that its driving incremental trips and sales. Our pre-Black Friday deals resulted in one of the biggest days ever for Cartwheel as they drove one-third of our active users into Target stores on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We continue to work to enhance the Cartwheel experience. We recently added the ability to scan bar codes to find out if theres a Cartwheel deal on an item and added the capability to sign up for Cartwheel directly through a Target account and email while continuing to provide access to the App through Facebook. As Gregg mentioned, we continue to listen to our guests to understand how we can help them move beyond the data breach and feel confident in shopping at Target. While sales have started to recover in recent weeks and sentiment metrics have begun to improve most notably among our best guests. We continu e to invest to ensure this recovery continues. Beyond our efforts in data  security and chip enabled technology were applying insights from the holiday season to make our merchandise stores and digital channels even more irresistible to our guests. We continue to innovate in ways that differentiate both our product assortments and the guest experience, and we’re investing in pricing and promotions to make our value proposition even stronger. We’re very pleased with the response to Peter Pilotto for Target our most recent designer partnership which launched earlier this month. This collection which features a limited edition assortment of women’s apparel, accessories and swimwear is available at most of our U.S. and Canadian stores and on target.com. We have also partnered with Net-a-Porter.com to offer a curated assortment of the collection to fans across the globe. With lots of social media buzz we a saw long lines outside many of our urban stores on the morning of the launch, and the collection quickly became Net-a-Porter’s fastest selling collaboration in history. Based on last years results Target and Sports Illustrated are once again partnering in support of the magazines annual swimsuit issue w hich is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Target is the exclusive mass retail advertiser and official marketing partner for the issue. This years partnership includes the new 20 page flip cover that celebrates swimsuit style over the past 50 years and features Target’s limited edition swimwear collection. The collection launched at Target stores and on target.com February 17, in advance of the issues on stand date and includes 10 black, gold and ivory swimsuits priced from $15 to $30. Earlier this month, Target began offering AMBAR a new apparel collection designed with the Latina guest in mind. AMBAR is set in 50 U.S. stores this month and is also available on target.com. The line of apparel and accessories features vibrant prints and flattering cuts and silhouettes. This stylish and affordable collection has items ranging from $17 to $40. This spring Target will introduce an assortment of premium skincare featuring seven notable brands, four of which will be exclusively sold at Target. 29 by Lydia Mondavi, Borghese, Laneige and MD Complete by Dr. Zelickson along side industry favorite Vichy, La Roche Posay and Own Skin Health. These brands will be merchandised in two distinct sections, dermatological skincare and specialty skincare, and they have already launched on target.com. We’ll begin rolling out the assortment to 749 U.S. Target stores beginning in March. So whats likely to be the biggest Blu-ray  and DVD release of the year Target will offer an exclusive addition of Catching Fire the second film in The Hunger Games trilogy in stores and on target.com next month. The Target exclusive Blu-ray addition includes 45 minutes of exclusive content from never before seen footage and cast interviews to a behind the scenes looks at the making of the film. This spring award winning singer Shakira is teaming up with Target for her 10th studio album and our exclusive deluxe edition featuring three bonus tracks hit stores on March 25. We announced the partnership and kicked off album preordering with a special spot during the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in January. Last month we became the exclusive retailer to feature Beats music playlists. Beats music is curated digital music streaming services that allows its users to peep into the personal music librarie s of their favorite artists and brands and have them create playlists just for them. By subscribing to Target’s playlist guest can expect a very mix of songs inspired by Target’s rich heritage of music and the taste of the millions who shop for albums at Target each year. In December we launched The Awesome Shop, a beta site that features the top target products recently pinned on Pinterest. The site lets guests explore, get inspired and see what other guests love just like they do in stores. Awesome Shop highlighted the best of the best by only featuring items at the target.com review of four stars or better. We’re also leveraging Pinterest in another unique way to collaborate with three of the sites most influential pinners on a series of party planning collections that will make it easy to throw a Pinterest worthy event. Joy Cho of Oh Joy, Jan Halvarson of Poppytalk and Kate Arends of Wit Delight will each create limited time only collections launched over the course of 2014 including party decor, paper products and serving pieces designed in their signature esthetic. Beyond differentiated merchandise, we continue to provide enhanced service in key areas of the store. Based on guest response to last years launch we have expanded the Target Beauty Concierge’s program to more than 300 stores across the country with new markets including New York, New Jersey, San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth. These beauty consultants are brand agnostic and provide guests with detailed, unbiased information and a friendly face in what can often be an intermediating category. We also continue to see great results from the pilot of our new baby layout, a completely redesigned shopping  experience that offers guests inspiring insightful solutions combined with the great value they’ve come to expect from Target. This new layout features a dedicated service desk with a knowledgeable baby advisor to help guests navigate the area and provide unbiased product information. Digital screens and iPads feature inspiration and interactive comparison tools and Bab yCenter content such as buying guides and product reviews We have also incorporated an in department registry kiosk for expecting mom’s or guests looking to give a gift. Merchandised displays have been lowered so guests can more easily interact with large products by travel systems in stores. We have removed barriers to enhance navigation between apparel, gear and baby essentials and we have highlighted the availability of additional online only items in key categories. This summer we plan to grow from 30 stores to more than 200 locations featuring this enhanced baby experience. And based on encouraging initial results in 2014 we’ll expand our test of using mannequins in apparel in our largest format U.S. stores to elevate the store experience, create an enhanced sense of discovery and bring our unique deigns to life. We also continued to augment our digital capabilities driving traffic and sales to all of our channels. Online our top priority in 2014 is continuing to improve the guest experience. All of our efforts will be designed to make things simple, seamless and enjoyable for our guests. To support this priority we continue to hire external talent with deep functional expertise in online merchandising, site merchandising, mobile and analytics. We have recently made enhancements focused on search, product information and checkout making it easier for guests to browse and purchase. In addition now nearly all store products are viable online making this the only place that guests can use Target’s full assortment. Importantly we’re making enhancements while continuing to focus on stability and speed, as a result target.com consistently ranks in the top 10 for retailer site availability and performance. Given the profile of our guests, mobile is more important at Target than for many of our peers. For example, Target’s guest traffic from tablets and mobile phones is greater than our traffic from traditional computers and the shift towards mobile shows no signs of slowing down. In fact usage of the Target App doubled in the short period between last su mmer and the end of the year. To maintain our strong momentum in mobile we’re testing and learning from new features including List  Building, Mapping and Cartwheel capabilities launched during the holiday season. We’re improving conversion by streamlining checkouts and enhancing product information and dynamic content and we are investing to amplify the in-store mobile experience by rolling out guided maps, in-store search and expanded assortment chain wide later this year. We also continue to invest in our flexible fulfillment capabilities which combine the strengths of our digital, store and distribution aspects to provide speed and convenience for our guests. These capabilities allow our stores to add value in new ways, serve our guests as both showroom and fulfillment centers. Following the holiday seasons success of in-store pick up we are moving quickly to roll out the capabilities to shift online orders from our stores this fall. This new capability will create multiple benefits for both T arget as our guests, including shorter shipping times, reduced expenses, lower markdown rates and improved in-stocks. And because our investments in flexible fulfillment drive greater utilization of our existing stores and distribution center assets, we expect to earn an outstanding return on these investments over time. Finally, were pleased with initial performance of Target Ticket, our streaming video service and we continue to invest in features to better serve guest changing needs and behaviors both inside and outside their home. In 2014 we will coordinate our promotions across channels to provide irresistible video offers across our stores, Target.com and Target Ticket. While our fourth quarter results softened following the December 19 announcement of the data breach, we are pleased with the guest response to our holiday season merchandizing and marketing efforts and were confident in our plans for 2014. As always our focus remains on our guests helping them regain their confidence in their Target while delivering irresistible content and experiences in every channel. We believe that our efforts will drive a continued recovery in the pace of our sales and position Target for profitable growth in 2014 and beyond. Now, John will share his insights on our fourth quarter financial performance and our plans for the coming year. John? John Mulligan EVP and CFO Thanks, Kathy. Our fourth quarter financial results reflect strong efforts by our team to handle separate challenges in both our U.S. and Canadian segments. In the U.S. comparable sales declined 2.5% consistent with the  updated guidance we provided in our January press release. This sales performance reflects a 5.5% decline in transactions partially offset by an increase in average ticket. Prior to the announcement of the data breach, fourth quarter comparable sales were running positive reflecting the success of our holiday merchandizing marketing plan. Immediately following news of the breach, sales turned meaningfully negative but began to recover in January. And while its impossible to measure precisely, we believe we would have seen even more improvement had there not been extreme weather across much of the country. Fourth quarter sales penetration on our REDcards was 20.9%, up 5.4 percentage points from a year ago. While the rate of increase slowed down following the breach, year-over-year penetration continued to grow hundreds of basis points through the end of the quarter. Fourth quarter U.S. EBITDA and EBIT margin rates were down more than a percentage point from last years rates, which we were advised to reflect combined results from our former U.S. retail and credit card segments. These profit margins were below our expectations going into the quarter, driven almost entirely by gross margin rate which declined about 20 basis points from the year ago. This performance reflects about 20 basis points of benefit from this years change in vendor payments offset by higher than expected markdowns related to the 10% off we offered prior to Christmas as well as the impact of clearance markdowns at the end of the holiday season. Margin mix was somewhat less favorable than the recent quarters, driven by strong sales in electronics. While below our expectations, fourth quarter U.S. segment gross margin rate was remarkably strong considering the team had to rapidly manage excess inventory in the middle of the quarter when we experienced a sudden change in the pa ce of sales following the data breach announcement. Our fourth quarter U.S. segment SGA rate was 18.4%, about 110 basis points above last years revised rate. About 50 basis points of this headwind was related to the credit card portfolio reflecting a smaller asset base, last years reserve release and this years profit sharing arrangement with TD Bank. Another 20 basis points of headwind was driven by this years change in member payments. The remaining unfavorability reflects the deleveraging effort of negative comp sales. The fact that we experienced only 40 basis points of deleverage reflects strong control of variable expenses, given the magnitude of our comparable sales decline. In the Canadian segment, sales  came in just below expectations. Importantly, as Gregg mentioned, we took advantage of holiday traffic to clear through a significant amount of excess inventory in the quarter. And while we expect some small lingering issues with long lean receipts this year, the Canadian segment ended 2013 in a much cleaner inventory position, paving the way for smoother operations in 2014. In all, the segment drove $0.40 of EPS dilution in th e fourth quarter better than the expectations we provided in our January press release. Turning now to our consolidated metrics, fourth quarter interest expense was 21% lower than last year reflecting the continued benefit of debt retirement funded by the proceeds from the sale of the credit card portfolio. We paid dividends of $0.43 per share in the quarter, an increase of more than 19% from fourth quarter 2012. This was our 185th consecutive quarter in which our company has paid a dividend and 2013 marked the 42nd year of annual dividend increases, a track record of few companies to match. Consistent with last quarter, we didnt purchase any shares in the fourth quarter reflecting current performance and our desire to maintain our debt rating in the middle A range. This approach aligns with our longstanding point of view on capital deployment. First, we invest what we believe is appropriate in our core business. Second, we support the dividend which weve grown annually for more than four decades. And third, we use share repurchase to return cash within the limits of our middle A debt rating. We believe a middle A rating is strategically important as it supports our ability to reliably deliver on our unbeatable pricing strategy over time. In addition, our balance sheet provides the flexibility to maintain our long-term focus in the face of unexpected events like the data breach enabling inves tment and strategic initiatives like flexible fulfillment while we deal with a temporary setback in traffic to sales along with other costs related to the breach. In addition to operating results in the U.S. and Canada, our fourth quarter GAAP earnings reflects several items that reduced EPS by approximately $0.09. These items include charges related to our January restructuring, data breach related costs net of an insurance receivable and continued reduction in a beneficial interest asset partially offset by a small benefit from a resolution of income tax matters. Combining fourth quarter results with performance in the first nine months of 2013 yields full year results that reflect the impact of clear successes and certain challenges. In our  U.S. segment, full year comparable sales declined 0.4% well below our expectations going into the year. This reflects the tougher than expected consumer environment including the impact on the payroll tax increase which just annualized last month, the fourth quarter impact of the data breach and recent headwinds from unfavorable weather, as youve heard from many other retailers. On our U.S. sales, we earned a gross margin rate of 29.8% in 2013, up about 10 basis points from 2012. This rate reflects about 20 basis points of benefit from this years change in vendor payments combined with very strong underlying margin performance in the face of softer than expected sales. Throughout the year, Kathys team did a great job managing inventory resulting in outstanding in-stock levels while avoiding unnecessary clearance markdowns. Our full year SGA expense rate in the U.S. was 20%, up about 90 basis points from last years revised rate. Contrary to what you might initially think, this reflects outstanding performance in light of softer than expected sales and some notable challenges representing more than $600 million of incremental pressure. Including credit card portfolio income, which as you know reduces our SGA rate, about $400 million lower than 2012 reflecting profit sharing with TD, prior year reserve reductions and a smaller asset base this year. And more than $200 million of expense pressure from incremental investments in technology and supply chain to support our multichannel efforts. Without these impacts, our SGA expense rate would have been slightly higher than 2012 but would have been neutral without this years change in vendor payments. This is better expense performance than wed expect on a decline in comparable sales and was driven primarily by two factors; outstanding performance by our stores organization which continued to provide outstanding guest service while delivering productivity increases and our company-wide expense optimization efforts through which our teams are finding better ways to work while deprioritizing less productive activities. As Gregg mentioned, the team continues to find new opportunities to optimize expenses and we expect to reach $1 billion in annualized savings by 2015 helping to fund our efforts to drive profitable growth over the next several years. For full year 2013, U.S. REDcard penetration grew nearly 6 percentage points to 19.3% of sales as more and more guests increased their level of engagement and their spending with Target. Penetration in Kansas City where we began offering  REDcard awards a year ahead of the rest of the country continued to run well ahead of the U.S. overall. Importantly, as part of our broader effort to rebuild traffic and sales in 2014 we will work to reaccelerate REDcard growth in light of the recent slowdown in growth weve seen following the data breach. In Canada in 2013 we generated just over $1.3 billion in sales on 124 stores which were opened on average for a little more than half the year. These sales were well below our plan going into the year leading to grea ter than expected markdowns on a meaningful amount of excess inventory Expense rate were unusually high as well as a result of opening early cycle stores with too many payroll hours, incurring incremental expense relating to clearing inventory and experiencing less leverage on fixed expenses. In the face of these challenges, the team worked tirelessly to improve operations and work through excess inventory throughout the year, clearing the way for an acceleration of sales and profitability beginning this year. Our early cycle store continued to outperform later cycle stores giving is confidence that our operations will continue to become more efficient as our business matures. And having dramatically reduced the congestion in our Canadian supply chain, we will increase the intensity of our marketing message in 2014 regarding value and assortment in our frequency categories. Over time we expect this will lead our Canadian guests to choose Target more often in these categories, driving meaningful increases in traffic and sales. Turning to capital deployment, our total capital investment was about $3.5 billion in 2013, somewhat lower than expected as U.S CapEx of about $1.9 billion was approximately $300 million lower than anticipated. This outcome doesnt reflect a change in strategy, but is simply the result of a lower than expected cost for certain projects and retiming of suspending into 2014. Having sold our credit card portfolio, for about $5.7 billion in March, we significantly reduced our net debt position in 2013, including the early retirement of Haikupon debt. And importantly even in a year of peak CapEx and dilution relating to the Canadian segment combined with the impact of softer than expected U.S sales, we still have the capacity to return about $2.5 billion to our shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchase. With that as context, lets turn now to our outlook for 2014. But before we get to the numbers, I want to discuss a change in our reporting and guidance practices in 2014. Given that our Canadian segment is  now fully operating, beginning with the first quarter of 2014 we will no longer exclude Canadian segment performance from adjusted EPS. To allow for appropriate comparison, l ast years adjusted EPS will also reflect Canadian segment performance as well. With that, lets turn to our full-year outlook beginning with sales. While trends have improved in recent weeks, severe winter weather has been a headwind and we continue to see the impact of the data breach on guest sentiment and traffic. We believe that we will continue to see muted trends in the next few months, but the breach impact will diminish throughout the year as we engage in a vigorous effort to address our guests’ concerns and provide irresistible content offers driving business to our stores and digital channels. In addition, while economic trends are improving, we continue to expect our lower and middle income guests to shop very cautiously in 2014. With that backdrop, our current view is that U.S comparable sales will grow in the range of 0% to 2% in 2014. On those sales we expect a U.S segment EBITDA rate of 10.1% to 10.3%, meaning EBITDA dollar should grow between 5% and 8% this year. Among the drivers of EBITDA margin, we expect gross margin will improve 30 or 40 basis points from our 2013 rate of 29.8%, reflecting improved cl earance markdown rates and more significantly the gross margin benefit of our expense optimization efforts. These benefits will be partially offset by the impact of additional promotional activities and continued investment in 5% REDcard rewards. We expect the U.S segment SGA expense rate slightly better than last year’s 20% rate, reflecting continued discipline expense control and the benefit of our expense optimization efforts offset by our continued investments in distribution and technology in support of our multi-channel efforts. We expect these (indiscernible) investments to be worth $0.05 to $0.10 of incremental EPS pressure in 2014. In Canada, we expect total sales will be approximately double our 2013 experience. As we annualize last year’s124 openings and begin generating comparable sales growth in mature stores. On those sales we expect to earn a much higher gross margin rate in a range approaching 30%. But clearly we continue to see some near-term volatility until the Until the Canadian business matures. While we expect to see better fixed expense leverage in 2014 , the SGA rate will likely remain well above our long-term outlook in a range approaching 40%. Altogether, this will lead to a Canadian segment EBITDA margin rate of minus 8% to minus 10%,  representing more than $400 million of expected EBITDA improvement from 2013. We expect U.S capital expenditures of $2.1 billion $2.3 billion, up slightly from actual 2013 spending. The mix of U.S CapEx will continue to tilt from investments in new stores towards supply chain and technology as we accelerate our multi-channel efforts and continue to find a limited number of new store sites that meet our strategic and financial criteria. I should also note that U.S CapEx reflects incremental investments related to our recent decision to accelerate deployment of chip enabled card readers to all of our U.S stores before the end of the year. In Canada we expect 2014 capital expenditures in the $300 million to $400 million range, down more than $1 billion from peak spending in 2013. We expect once again to raise our annual dividend in the neighborhood of 20% this year, which will mark our 43rd consecutive annual increase. And even with a temperate outlook for near-term traffic and sales and understanding there will be further costs relating to the data breach, our current outlook envision share repurchase capacity of $1 billion to $2 billion in 2014, beginning later in the year as our business stabilizes and we have more clarity on potential breach related costs. Altogether, these expectations would lead to full-year adjusted EPS representing results from operations in the U.S and Canada of $3.85 to $4.15. This estimate excludes approximately $0.07 of dilution related to the continued reduction in the beneficial interest asset. These 2014 expectations represent an improvement of more than 20% from combined U.S and Canadian segment results in 2013. Please note that our full-year outlook does not include potential additional costs relating to the data breach beyond what we already recorded in the fourth quarter, as they’re not estimable at this time. While I realize this may result in a wide range of speculation on the magnitude of these costs, given that our investigation of breach is ongoing it would not be appropriate to say anything more about it than we already have this morning. Regardless of the ultimate dollar amounts, as Greg mentioned, we have the financial strength to move beyond these near-term impacts while we continue to in vest in the future. And as always, we are focused on whats most important, addressing the concerns of our guests and helping them to feel confident shopping with us. Now lets briefly turn to our first quarter outlook. In the U.S we expect first quarter comparable sales in the range of flat to down 2%. So far in February  comparable sales have been running within that range, ahead of our forecast and nearly flat to last year. And I should note while growth isn’t running where it had been earlier in 2013, REDcard penetration so far in February has been running 100s of basis points ahead of last year. On our first quarter U.S sales, we expect an EBITDA margin rate of 9.7% to 9.9%. In Canada, we expect to generate first quarter sales in a range of $400 million to $450 million with EBITDA of minus $150 million to minus $170 million. In light of this near-term operating outlook, we dont expect to have the capacity to repurchase shares in the first quarter, but we expect to resume this activity later in the year. Altogether, our expectations would lead to first quarter adjusted EPS reflecting operating results in the U.S and Canada in the range of $0.60 to $0.75, excluding $0.02 relating to the reduction in the beneficial interest asset and any potential costs related to the data breach. While this has been a challenging year, we are proud of the work of our team and we believe we have the right plans in place to generate meaningfully improved performance in 2014. As we focus on making Target irresistible for our guests, both today and over time, we believe we will go profitably for many years to come. With that, well conclude todays prepared remarks. Now Greg, Kathy and I will be happy to respond to your questions. uestion-and-Answer Session

Influence Of Foreign Films Media Essay

Influence Of Foreign Films Media Essay Media plays an important role in our lives. Swindler claims that the accumulated experience of media exposure contributes to the cultivation of a childs values, beliefs, dreams, and expectations. He further explains that these will in-turn shape the adult identity a child will carry and modify through his or her life. These influences can be negative or positive. (Santosh K, 2009) It also confines peoples thinking capability although it generates lot of ideas and thoughts. This contaminates the audiences who are lack in experience and sometimes believe in what they are being exposed to, in another word the passive audience. This research investigates on the influence of the media specifically; film, on its audience. The films in this study refer to the foreign films with LGBT elements and the audience are Malaysian youths. Background The Malaysian community is generally conservative and to talk about matters regarding sexuality is thought to be shameful (Sears, 2005). Malaysia is one of the countries that are actively persecuting people from the LGBT community. This is due to the British colonial-era sodomy law that lasts till today. The law, though theoretically also applies to heterosexual couples, has been used unequally to persecute the LGBT community or those suspected of being part of the community and has been repeatedly used as a political tool. This was seen in the case of then finance minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim. The legal persecutions on the LGBT community have seeped into the minds Malaysians and this has affected their perceptions of the community and their behaviour towards them and in general it is one that is negative. Social, cultural and legal factors play a role in moulding their perceptions and behaviour but so does the media. In the regards of this research, film specifically. Gomillion and Giuliano (2011) stated that films these days have much more depictions of gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) characters. Gommillion and Giuliano added that as the standing of GLB figures in the media has risen, it seems likely that the medias impact on the lives of GLB individuals has also grown. For example, with more LGBT-themed films like Brokeback Mountain, Milk and Victor Victoria. Though in Malaysia these films are blocked, they are accessible via the internet. This study hopes to understand the effects of LGBT films on the lifestyles of Malaysian youths, specifically their perceptions and behaviour about the LGBT community. Literature Review Generally, discussion on sexuality in Malaysia is viewed as inappropriate. This cultural value is governed by perception of religious teaching (Wong et al.2010). Malaysians do not discuss sexual development in detail and most of the parents will not discuss sex topics with their children (Low et al. 2007; Mohammadi et al. 2006). Culturally, gayness and lesbianism is considered by many Malaysians as a product of the Western world (Baba, 1995; Junet, 1991; Rahim, 1991). One of the most important sources in sex related knowledge for youths is mass media (Davis et al. 1998; Nonoyama et al. 2005). A one year old child can replicate materials based on their observation (Mumme 2003). By 18 years old, the child will have seen 20,000 acts of violence and 40,000 murders on television, based on average viewing time (Huston 1992). Obviously, media portrayals can influence childrens developing beliefs and values. Research shows that many stereotypes based on gender, race, age, and sexual orientation are portrayed in the media (Towbin et al. 2004). Portrayals of gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in mainstream media moulds the mentality of viewers on how the gays and lesbian community live their lifestyle which inevitably arrays the general population to think that gay people are soft and sensitive with no trace of masculinity. Gays and lesbians comprised 2% of characters in the 1999-2000 television season, and most were cast in minor roles (GLAAD 1999). Ellen DeGeneres, the lead actress on her popular primetime sitcom Ellen, made television history by coming out of the closet as a lesbian. Since then, gay and lesbian characters have become increasingly prominent in the media (Gross 1994). After Ellens bold move, television shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Will and Grace, and The L Word, movies like Brokeback Mountain and Milk, and musical artists such as The Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge have appeared, appealing to both homosexual and heterosexual audiences. The medias influence on the lives of LGBT individuals has also increased as the prominence of GLB figures in the media rise. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the impact of the media on LGBT identity (Gomillion Giuliano 2011). Role models in media can affect individuals personality, characteristics, and values through the process of identification. Feilitzen and Linne (1975) proposed two primary types of identification: similarity identification and wishful identification. Similarity identification is defined as finding similarities with or idealising a media figure and living vicariously through his or her activities. Where wishful identification is when an individual desires to be like a media figure due to the media figures appealing qualities such as attractiveness and fame. Matthews (2003), in an exploration of the role of the media in children and adolescents identity development, discovered that preschoolers identified intensely with television and movie characters and mimic them while playing. Adolescents peers become more influential in high school to their media-viewing choices and the media becomes an important component of their social lives. Matthews also discovered that the media provides positive role models for both children and adolescents and can be of beneficial influence on their social lives. The opposite is also true where the media can exert negative influence on children and adolescents by providing negative role models and by exposing children to traumatic material. Matthews concluded that media experiences contribute to individuals development of their sense of self and that these experiences remain significant into young adulthood and possibly beyond. Research Hypothesis This research proposes that foreign film regarding LGBT lifestyles do influence Malaysian youths lifestyles (perception and behaviour) and the type of influence is to be ascertained. Research Questions Do foreign films regarding LGBT lifestyles influence Malaysian youths? What are the influences of foreign films about the LGBT community on Malaysian youth? Does the presence of LGBT in the media encourage the Malaysian LGBT community publicly their homosexuality? How do foreign films influence the LGBT movement in Malaysia? Methodology In this research, qualitative research will be used in order to achieve the researchs objective which is to study in depth of the foreign films influence on LBGT lifestyles in Malaysia. Content analysis is a family of procedures for studying content and theme of written or transcribed text (Insch, Moore, Murphy, 1997). Content analysis will be conducted to study the foreign films, books, newspapers, laws and any form of text that relevant to the topic. Interviews will be conducted to obtain information that cannot be gain through observation and questionnaire. In this research, Bergers semi structured interview will be used in the focus group to maintain the casual and less tense environment for the interviewees. Based on Mark (2005), group dynamic in a focus group can stimulates conversation and reactions. Since LGBT issue is a taboo subject in Malaysia, focus group will be the best tool for this research. In addition, through focus group, group norms can be easily identified. As this research is limited in resources and time, focus group will be the most suitable tool to get relevant information in a short period of time. After the focus group, one to one interview will be conducted to follow up on the missing answers. Sample used will be Malaysian aged 15 to 24 as define by United Nation the age group of youth. The sample will be asked a few basic LGBT related questions to avoid the wrong sample. Summary As Malaysia develops, the support for LGBT rights among the citizen is increasing. This can be seen in an annual sexuality rights festival Seksualiti Merdeka (Sexuality Independence) since 2008. By the end of this research, besides finding the relation between foreign films and Malaysian youths lifestyle, we hope to uncover the influence source of the movement. In Malaysia, there are numbers of researches done on youth and sexuality but not specifically on LGBT, youth and the media. At the end of this research, we hope to determine the influence of foreign films regarding LGBT on the Malaysian youths lifestyles. To prospective researchers, this research can also provide a starting point in terms of the recent status of LGBT communities on Malaysian youths.