Unilever International Strategy Analysis

Unilever International Strategy Analysis 1. Introduction 2.2 The main factors influencing the market strategies 2.2.1 The influence from macro environmental factors on strategy selection Environmental factors have influences on strategy selection (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). Such factors refer to the aspects of politics, economy, society and technology. PEST analysis can be used to discover the possible tendency in external environment which may finally determine the strategy a company adopts. A multi-national company may pay special attention to the relationships between governments and the future policies a government may adopt due to the influences of political factors. The MNC may also care about the changes of labor cost and exchange rate influenced by economic factors (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). With PEST analysis a connection is established between the general environment and strategy selection. Therefore, the weak and implicit signals hidden in the general environment become critical factors explaining the changes of strategies (Henry, 2008). 2.2.2 The influence from micro environment factors on strategy selection The macro environment affects all firms while micro environment affects the films only in particular industries. This comprises very loosely the internalities of the organization: that is, the forces over which the organization has some control, or perhaps influence is a better way of describing the level of power the organization possesses (Jon, Peter, Patrick 2004). Micro environment factors include consumers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, media and competitors. One classic model that looks at the structure of an industry is Michael Porters Five Forces model (Malcolm and Dennis 2002). The challenge facing the firm is how to reach market and serve it efficiently and a socially responsible scale (Vincent 2008). 2.2.3 The ways of core competence affecting strategy selection Starting inside an enterprise, core competency or resource-based views mainly concentrate on evaluating what special abilities an enterprise has in adapting to the business environment and acquiring the best market opportunities to exploit (Brain, 2003). Carpenter (2007) proposes that as the center of a company operating its business, core competence concerns the abilities that can be commonly applied by enterprises in their principal businesses and helps them create innovative products and services. Core competence can become the basis of establishing new strategies, and help a company to break down the old rules and create opportunities in new areas (Joyce and Woods, 2001). 2.2.4 International strategy The enormous variety of operations embraces by the term multinational has led some writers to distinguish between for key strategies when competing in the international business environment: a global strategy, a transnational strategy, a multidomestic strategy and an international strategy (Wall and Rees, 2004). A major limitation is its lack of localized strategy. It can be contrasted with the multinational model. Often called a multidomestic model, it is a decentralized federation (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1998:56). National subsidiaries are managed as independent units, able to adapt strategy to local conditions. Co-ordination from the centre is limited, and based on personal relationships between managers from the centre and those in subsidiary units, rather than on formal management systems (Morrison, 2009). 3. Macro and Micro Environment for Unilever According to Stonehouse and al (2004: 142) the macro environment is the part of the environment over which the business can rarely exert any direct influence but to which it must respond. To analyse Unilevers external environment critically, the basic method is PESTEL, which focuses on the change in terms of politics, economy, society, technology, environment and laws. The main factors that influence Unilevers macro environment are economy and society. For economic factor, new emerging market is developing rapidly, such as India which stands for $300 million every year. According to the economic situation, the whole world is undergoing a revolution in the history. The economic power has transferred from developed countries to China and other emerging market. With market reform, the speed of development in new emerging economies is much faster than that of developed countries. And this discrepancy is more easily to be found. Because of such specific market, political aspect also should be taken into account. In some countries where increasing GDP and rate of employment is everything, like South Africa, negotiation and special treatment from government will become good advantages for companies. Obviously, Unilever has done well in capitalizing this advantages into growth. In India, besides retail market in cities, Unilever also shows great interest in rural market, which is often ignored by other enterprises. The company has invested much in rural population who are the biggest potential consumers in the future though rank lowest now in global economy. Unilever has given fully play to opportune time, advantageous terrain an popular support of its subsidiary Hindustan lever ltd, exploiting rural retail market in-depth and finally gained a national vision in India. Whats more, the economic factor in macro environment not only refers to the domestic economy. Global economy situation also influenced its development a lot. The economic crisis in 2008 has affected almost every nation, every industry in the world. So does Unilever. Take Chinese market for an example, in recent 30 years, particularly in recent ten years, the GDP has grew with an increase never under 10%, but in 2008 after September, the number dropped to 9.5%, lower than that of the second quarter. For political factor, similarly, lets hold Chinese market as the example. When Unilever enter Chinese market at first, it can only establish joint venture on the ground of the restricted policies at that time. The company set up Shanghai Lever Ltd with local enterprises in 1986. However, both party had divergence on development strategies and the joint venture structure leaded to decreased management efficiency. In 1999, Unilever gave up joining investment with local enterprises and turn to co-operate with its headquarter, building up Unilever Ltd, China. This change has greatly enforced the companys control over business in China. Besides economy and politics, social factor also affect Unilever. Since the late 1990s, Unilever has confronted a awkward situation in China. As Unilever pursue the multi brand strategy, only 14% Chinese knew what Unilever is at that time. But its competitor, Nestle and PG has already gained well public awareness. Thus the company started marketing with social responsibility. Unilever Hope Star project is then designed to help 200 impoverished students for their university with financial assistance. The then president of Unilever also flied to Chongqing to meet with the first 25 students. In addition, it invested hundreds of Hope School in many parts of China. All these efficient public-service activities has increased Unilevers reputation and fostered a positive corporate image. Micro environment includes suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors and publics. As to Unilever, among them the most important one is distributors and competitors weigh much as well. Traditionally, Unilever is a multidivisional organization. Its subsidiaries in every nation take in charge of all the products in local market. But after middle 1990s, this form was longer accustomed to the dynamic marketing environment. In 1996, Unilever decided to let many divisional departments of business group focus on certain specific products. For instance, in European business group, some departments stressed on detergent business, while some focus on ice-cream or frozen food. For the competitors, PG, undoubtedly, is Unilevers closest one. There are fierce rivalries between two companies in many fields like hair product. PG has introduced Head-shoulders, REJOICE and PANTENE successively, known as professional anti-scurf, smooth hair and conditioning hair shampoos. Thus, Unilever has launched a new brand CLREAR in order to cover its shortage in anti-handcuff market. This has been not a small impact on PG. 3. Industry globalisation / localisation drivers and Key factors for success 3.1 The globalization / localization of Unilever With the development of interweaved economy, Unilever began to modify its management strategies since 1990s, concentrating on its advantageous products and brands. At the same time, Unilever pays great attention to combining globalisation with localisation. It will develop its new products ingredients, formulas and even advertisement and package according to the diversified habit and expectations of consumers in different regions. For example, if the home office decides to launch a new brand of ice-cream, a united formula, ingredient list, manufacturing technology, package and advertisement will be offered globally. But it also changes the basic product slightly, like adding or reducing ingredients, so that the ice-cream can satisfy the different tastes of consumers. The producer may add more cocoa in southern Asia while reduce sweetness in China. And in different area, the local language will appear on the package, the local star will show on advertisement. However, the manufacturing technology, logo and quality standard is single. Local sales office or research institutions have no right to control or change. They can put forward suggestions but cannot make decisions. If the company wants to introduce cosmetics, a unique local condition is unavoidable to consider. Which type of skin do they belong? Are their skins sensitive? What is the color of their color? Producers should change the formula or ingredients based on these questions. Otherwise the product will find no market and damage the producers reputations. 3.2 The key point for the success of Unilever The key point for the success of Unilever mainly consists of two part: 1, promoting brand value; 2, establishing Competency Model 3.2.1 Not to create but to buy it As analysed, in order to create a new brand, only media investment can reach at least $200 billion. If a company is going to enter a total new market or a foreign market, the cost of expanding brand publicity will be much more expensive, let alone the existed threats from other powers in the original market. In this case, many enterprises will choose to promote brand value through use of capital. Unilever is one of the representatives. Unilever owns more 400 brands around the world but most of them is first purchased from other nations and then popularized to the whole world. Ponds originated from US but were purchased by Unilever, who has developed it as a very famous skin product in the world. Another brand is Zhonghua, which is traditional toothpaste of China. Unilever included it as one of its branches and now Zhonghua has become the top one in Chinese market again. But potential crisis also exist behind success. Since 1996, Unilever has suffered great decline in turnover, while PG still maintains a stable increase on the contrary. In 2004, both Unilever and PG gained a income of nearly $52 billion. The later ones yearly profit reached as much as $6.4 billion, but Unilever only had $2.42 billion. An indispensable reason is just the purchasing strategy although it has pushed Unilever to success. 3.2.2 Set up Competency Model In Unilever, the values of company will tell employees what to do and how to do it. If the employee agrees with the values, he is naturally tended to behave by following it, or to restrict himself with the guidance of the values. If he does not agree, he needs to change himself by acquired learning. And here, a comparatively clear standard or instructions is necessary. Thus, Unilever established the Competency Model, which aids employees to know themselves correctly, to march on improving themselves. If employees quality is increased, so does the working efficiency and achievement. This has brought more profit to Unilever in turn. 4. International Strategy for Unilever and the comparisons between Unilever and PG 4.1 International Strategy for Unilever Unilever was once a typical MNC, but now it has transferred to operate with multinational strategies. In the 1980s, just in Europe, Unilever had altogether 17 major brands of washing products all over the worlds, which is not only a waste of asset, but also causes market overlapping. Moreover, since subsidiaries of Unilever are widely distributed all over the world, it often takes as many as four years for them to promote a new product. Unilever is now trying to integrate its European operations into a single entity, and to the manufacture of detergents emphasizing cost-effectiveness of several plants. Unilever uses standardized packaging and advertising approaches all over Europe. According to the estimation of the company, an annual cost can be saved more than $200 million. But at the same time, because of distribution channels and brand awareness of the country-specific differences, Unilever company recognizes that it still maintains regional adaptation, and even tries to possess the best location in production and marketing to achieve its economic objective. 4.2 To evaluate Unilevers international strategies by comparing it with PG in Chinese market. 4.2.1The brand competition between Unilever and PG What are the reasons that lead to Unilever, the owner of many Chinese native brands, inferior to PG, who only has its own brands, in Chinese market? The strategic reason is acceptable, but more important is reflection on Unilevers marketing mix. In this section, the author will analyse Unilevers strategies by comparing CLEAR and Head Shoulders. Brand strategy In terminal promotion, all related hair products has involved in it. It seems that PG takes more finesse in this competition, no matter for the influence of single brand or the brand fitness. Market basis CLEAR can date back to 1973. The product has been sold in many places such as Europe, Southeast Asia and gained more 100 billion consumers in the world. However, 80% market share is occupied by Head Shoulders in anti-handcuff market. Product mix For the first time CLEAR segments the anti-handcuff market further. It aims at the blind point in market and introduces a new hair product specially for men. Terminal construction CLEAR is a new brand in Chinese market. Though it has a background of Unilever, the public awareness has not been established yet. Contrarily, Head Shoulders has been the leader in this field with many years of cultivation. On the other hand, as Unilever lacks in terminal resources and market basis, CLEARs coverage rate in all kinds of retail terminal is still far behind Head Shoulders. For the reasons, we may find that CLEAR depends two much on marketing segments and advertisement, but ignores the efficiency and performance problem in sales practice. Unilevers awkward position in China mainly results from: Mistaken idea of co-operation In early years, Unilever operates the management strategy as: to co-operate with some native enterprises by using their distribution network and salesmen. This strategy is ok, but Unilever hasnt done well in coordination and management. Among the 12 joint ventures, each of them has its own production line, distribution system and salesmen. Many parts overlap together, thus increase the total cost. Product management defect Chinese market is very broad and complicated. Consumers needs varied from place to place because of the different customs and habits. In order to meet this trend, the producer has to invent some products with some unique features and right market position. But certainly Unilever is inadequate in this part. Compared Unilevers product list with that of PG, we can see that, for the hair product alone, every brand has fulfilled different consumers requirements. These products possess clear market position that attracts large number of consumers. Relatively, Unilever hasnt done enough in this point. 4.3 Unilevers advantageous strategies Yet, the failure in one part doesnt mean the total failure. Unilever also has some distinctive strategies that stimulate the company to advance. 4.3.1 Global brands is important as well as local brands Among Unilevers 400 global brands, most of them is purchased from original countries first and then popularized to the whole world. Unilevers success greatly depends on its deep root in local market and the first-hand data of regional culture. The company will change dynamically to adapt to the local conditions. Global and native brands develop together so that the company will gain maximum benefit. 4.3.2 Marketing channel of distribution strategy Unilevers marketing channel covers almost parts of countries, and its management and insensitive level is high. In this way, the home office can transfer its purpose clearly from level to level. 4.3.3 Market promotion Unilevers advertising designs embody each products characteristics and form an interactive effect. Conveying promotional messages through advertisement has presented the companys positive image. This made Unilever as one of the most successful supplier of everyday use. 5. Core Competences of Unilever Core Competency is a special ability of a company that competitors find extremely difficult or impossible to equal (Wild, Wild, and Han, 2010). As an important component of the companys core competitiveness, brand is closely related to such categories of competitiveness as enterprises culture, core technology, and human resources, etc. Market competition comes from the previous product quality, price, variety and service. Unilever takes the brand strategy as its core competitiveness. Unilever has a rich, mature, multi-brand management experience for a global perspective, it focuses on brand strategy, decreases the number of brands from 2000 to 400, so as to ensure the first-line brand growth. As for localization, Unilever has meanwhile sought in the development of global brands, as well as protection and development of domestic brands. Large international brands integrated into the development process of Unilever have always been of a high priority. 75% of Unilevers sales volume comes from 400 brands in these 2000 ones. 4.6% growth over last year. These brands have a high profit. If they focus on the development of these 400 brands, their business is bound to generate a greater benefit. Compressing the size of Unilever brand is based on the 80/20 rule, that is, the golden rule under which 80% of the companys sales is created from 20% of the merchandises, i.e. 400 brands selected from 2000 ones (Christopher, 2003). 6. Effectiveness of Unilevers strategy and operation Unilever has been the leader in everyday use market. This is undoubtedly successful. Being a multinational company, Unilever has fostered a positive image in new emerging market. Through purchasing native brands, Unilever has enlarged the popularity of its products and the market share. But compared to PG, Unilever leaves much to be desired in recent years. In 2004, the income of Unilever dropped 6% than last year, and the profit dropped as much as 9%. In September of the same year, Unilever issued a profit warning without precedent, saying that the company may not reach the promised profit growth. Companys multinational strategy sounds very attractive as it hold cost and differentiation advantages at the same time. But operating this strategy is quite difficult. The press from local adjusting collides with lower cost to Unilever. Competing with other low-cost enterprises forces Unilever to improve cost reduction. Meanwhile, the different government regulations in the world require Unilever keep changing in response to the local needs. When entering a new market, Unilever prefers to seeking recourses from local environment, which reduce the cost a lot. While for the local adjusting, Unilever tries to close the gap by purchasing native brands. Moreover, localisation is the key strategy, including human resource localisation, capital running localisation, procurement localisation etc. But in the authors opinion, the most significant aspect of localisation is decision-making localisation. The Unilever system is slow in reacting and leads to an inefficient decision-making. This is the key problem that influences Unilevers performance. 7. Conclusion Unilever has developed as one of the leaders in the worlds consumer product brands. The company has carried out many strategies according to factors that influence business strategies. The factors refer to both macro and micro environment. For a multinational company, glolisation and localisation play a vital role in opening new market. Unilever is good at popularizing products by purchasing them from original countries. It is skilled in adjust its strategies to different local conditions. The paper has analysed the international strategies of Unilever and put forward critical advices for its further development. For example, to focus on combination of globalisation and localisation, to insist on its successful brand strategy, etc. It is argued to say that a strategy is absolutely good or not. A suitable strategy is more important. Any company must choose the strategies that best fit its pratical situation. Unilevers adjustment strategies based on local market information can best explain this. 8. Further Recommendations The development for a company cannot be smooth all the time. Even a multinational company like Unilever may face every kind of problems through the process. For example, as we have mentioned above, mistaken idea of co-operation, product operating defect, etc which lead Unilever to a awkward position in the competition. With these painful lessons, the author suggested that Unilever should sum up experiences and change its management strategies, like insisting on successful brand strategy, brands creativity strategy as well as focusing on combination of globalisation and localisation. Whats more, it should persist in training qualified employees and carrying out well-rounded localisation strategy. High qualified employees will bring unexpected profit to Unilever. And only having a thorough knowledge of market and consumers can Unilever remain unconquerable. Besides, Unilever also must know well the dynamic environment change and response it with adjustment measures. These measures should be suitable for the environmental requirements.

A Definition of Collaborative vs Cooperative Learning Essay

I have been searching for many years for the Holy Grail of interactive learning, a distinction between collaborative and cooperative learning definitions. I am getting closer to my elusive goal all the time but I am still not completely satisfied with my perception of the two concepts. I believe my confusion arises when I look at processes associated with each concept and see some overlap or inter-concept usage. I will make a humble attempt to clarify this question by presenting my definitions and reviewing those of other authors who have helped clarify my thinking. Collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and personal lifestyle whereas cooperation is a structure of interaction designed to facilitate the accomplishment of an end product or goal. Collaborative learning (CL) is a personal philosophy, not just a classroom technique. In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people which respects and highlights individual group members’ abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups actions. The underlying premise of collaborative learning is based upon consensus building through cooperation by group members, in contrast to competition in which individuals best other group members. CL practitioners apply this philosophy in the classroom, at committee meetings, with community groups, within their families and generally as a way of living with and dealing with other people. Cooperative learning is defined by a set of processes which help people interact together in order to accomplish a specific goal or develop an end product which is usually content specific. It is more directive than a collaboratve system of governance and closely controlled by the teacher. While there are many mechanisms for group analysis and introspection the fundamental approach is teacher centered whereas collaborative learning is more student centered. Spencer Kagan in an article in Educational Leadership (Dec/Jan 1989/1990) provides an excellent definition of cooperative learning by looking at general structures which can be applied to any situation. His definition provides an unbrella for the work cooperative learning specialists including he Johnsons, Slavin, Cooper, Graves and Graves, Millis, etc. It follows below: â€Å"The structural approach to cooperative learning is based on the creation, analysis and systematic application of structures, or content-free ways of organizing social interaction in the classroom. Structures usually involve a series of steps, with proscribed behavior at each step. An important cornerstone of the approach is the distinction bet ween â€Å"structures† and â€Å"activities†. â€Å"To illustrate, teachers can design many excellent cooperative activities, such as making a team mural or a quilt. Such activities almost always have a specific content-bound objective and thus cannot be used to deliver a range of academic content. Structures may be used repeatedly with almost any subject matter, at a wide range of grade levels and at various points in a lesson plan. † John Myers (Cooperative Learning vol 11 #4 July 1991) points out that the dictionary definitions of â€Å"collaboration†, derived from its Latin root, focus on the process of working together; the root word for â€Å"cooperation† stresses the product of such work. Co-operative learning has largely American roots from the philosophical writings of John Dewey stressing the social nature of learning and the work on group dynamics by Kurt Lewin. Collaborative learning has British roots, based on the work of English teachers exploring ways to help students respond to literature by taking a more active role in their own learning. The cooperative learning tradition tends to use quantitative methods which look at achievement: i. e. , the product of learning. The collaborative tradition takes a more qualitative approach, analyzing student talk in response to a piece of literature or a primary source in history. Myers points out some differences between the two concepts: â€Å"Supporters of co-operative learning tend to be more teacher-centered, for example when forming heterogeneous groups, structuring positive inter- dependence, and teaching co-operative skills. Collaborative learning advocates distrust structure and allow students more say if forming friendhip and interest groups. Student talk is stressed as a means for working things out. Discovery and contextural approaches are used to teach interpersonal skills. † â€Å"Such differences can lead to disagreements†¦. I contend the dispute is not about research, but more about the morality of what should happen in the schools. Beliefs as to whast should happen in the schools can be viewed as a continuum of orientations toward curriculum from â€Å"transmission† to â€Å"transaction† to â€Å"transmission†. At one end is the transmission position. As the name suggests, the aim of this orientation is to transmit knowledge to students in the form of facts, skills and values. The transformation position at the other end of the continuum stresses personal and social change in which the person is said to be interrelated with the environment rather than having control over it. The aim of this orientation is self-actualization, personal or organizational change. † Rocky Rockwood (National Teaching and Learning Forum vol 4 #6, 1995 part 1) describes the differences by acknowledging the parallels they both have in that they both use groups, both assign specific tasks, and both have the groups share and compare their procedures and conclusions in plenary class sessions. The major difference lies in the fact that cooperative deals exclusively with traditional (canonical) knowledge while collaborative ties into the social constructivist movement, asserting that both knowledge and authority of knowledge have changed dramatically in the last century. â€Å"The result has been a transition from â€Å"foundational (cognitive) understanding of knowledge†, to a nonfoundational ground where â€Å"we understand knowledge to be a social construct and learning a social process† (Brufee, Collaborative learning: Higher Education, Interdependence, and the Authority of Knowledge, 1993). Rockwood states: â€Å"In the ideal collaborative environment, the authority for testing and determining the appropriateness of the group product rests with, first, the small group, second, the plenary group (the whole class) and finally (but always understood to be subject to challenge and revision) the requisite knowledge community (i. e. the discipline: geography, history, biology etc. ) The concept of non- foundational knowledge challenges not only the product acquired, but also the process employed in the acquisition of foundational knowledge. â€Å"Most importantly, in cooperative, the authority remains with the instructor, who retains ownership of the task, which involves either a closed or a closable (that is to say foundational) problem ( the instructor knows or can predict the answer). In collaborative, the instructor–once the task is set– transfers all authority to the group. In the ideal, the group’s task is always open ended. † â€Å"Seen fr om this perspective, cooperative does not empower students. It employs them to serve the instructor’s ends and produces a â€Å"right† or acceptable answer. Collaborative does truly empower and braves all the risks of empowerment (for example, having the group or class agree to an embarrassingly simplistic or unconvincing position or produce a solution in conflict with the instructor’s). † â€Å"Every person, Brufee holds, belongs to several â€Å"interpretative or knowledge communities† that share vocabularies, points of view, histories, values, conventions and interests. The job of the instructor id to help students learn to negotiate the boundaries between the communities they already belong to and the community represented by the teacher’s academic discipline, which the students want to join. Every knowledge community has a core of foundational knowledge that its members consider as given (but not necessarily absolute). To function independently within a knowledge community, the fledgling scholar must master enough material to become conversant with the community. † Rockwood concludes: In my teaching experience, cooperative represents the best means to approach mastery of foundational knowledge. Once students become reasonably conversant, they are ready for collaborative, ready to discuss and assess,†¦. † Myers suggests use of the â€Å"transaction† orientation as a compromise between taking hard positions advocating either methodology. â€Å"This orientation views education as a dialogue between the student and the curriculum. Students are viewed as problem solvers. Problem solving and inquiry approaches stressing cognitive skills and the ideas of Vygotsky, Piaget, Kohlberg and Bruner are linked to transaction. This perspective views teaching as a â€Å"conversation† in which teachers and students learn together through a process of negotiation with the curriculum to develop a shared view of the world. † It is clear to me that in undertaking the exercize of defining differences between the two ideas we run the risk of polarizing the educational community into a we versus them mentality. There are so many benefits which acrue from both ideas that it would be a shame to lose any advantage gained from the student-student-teacher interactions created by both methods. We must be careful to avoid a one-size-fits-all mentality when it comes to education paradigms. As a final thought, I think it behooves teachers to educate themselves about the myriad of techniques and philosophies which create interactive environments where students take more responsibility for their own learning and that of their peers. Then it will become possible to pick and chose those methods which best fit a particular educational goal or community of learners.

Gender Inequality And Sexism Are Common Social Issues...

Gender inequality and sexism are common social issues within today’s society. I believe for a while now, men were thought of as the stronger sex, thus they were the ones who â€Å"brought home the bacon† while the women stayed at home, taking care of the children and keeping the house neat. Within the workforce as well, I believe men were always thought to be superior; they were the ones getting more frequent promotions and higher salaries, all catering to the idea of â€Å"bringing home the bacon.† In education, I think males are taken more seriously as well. Male professors are thought to be more laid-back in terms of teaching while women are more strict because they have something to prove. The male students in colleges and universities, are known to major in things such as engineering or finance, partaking in various math and science courses, whereas the women are steered more towards the liberal arts such as English or history. Jerry A. Jacobs (1996) m entions in his article, Gender Inequality and Higher Education, that â€Å"one of the striking features of education in the United States is the prominence of women among college students† (p. 155). He asks the question of whether or not women are â€Å"equally represented at top-tier institutions† and refers to the â€Å"Hearn (1990) and Persell et al (1992) report, based on an analysis of data on 1980 high school seniors, that women were disadvantaged in access to elite schools† (p. 155). Jacobs goes on to mention that â€Å"in recentShow MoreRelatedLiberal Feminists Vs Liberal Feminism992 Words   |  4 Pagesdominated society for acceptance as an equal, they do not believe that everyone possesses equal ability or an equal right to societal resources (Freidman et al., 20111, p. 5), ergo ‘justice’. 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Nickel and Dimed Argumentative Essay - 632 Words

Essay In Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, Ehrenreich goes undercover as a low-wage worker, when she is really a reporter for New York Times. In Barbara’s journey, it explains all of the hardships workers have with low-wage jobs and makes your think: Does the accumulation of money and power inevitably lead to a loss of spirituality? Ehrenreich states that workers work long and stressful hours for almost no pay whatsoever but many people believe that these certain jobs are too easy and SHOULD receive the low wages that they’re currently receiving. Do companies that give their workers low wages for the accumulation of money and power inevitably lead to a loss of their ethics and do it also lead to a loss of workers? I believe this†¦show more content†¦Others also state that these jobs are not hard and can easily be done without getting drained of all your energy, without working hard, or even without breaking a sweat, and that all they do is sit around and flip b urgers while taking people’s orders. More importantly, however, being able to go to college and get a good degree in a descent field is very difficult if not impossible. The cost of living and studying at a typical private college can add up to close to $45,000, multiply that by four to get your Bachelor’s degree, and that’s a whopping $180,000, an incredible sum of money for the average American. So in the end, working low-wage job may be someone’s only option due to the cost of college and being able to get a better paying job. As for the argument where these jobs aren’t tiring, try cleaning for 8-10 hours a day, it wouldn’t be easy. Most making the claim that these jobs are â€Å"easy†, are sitting down typing on the computer all day, not knowing what the low-wage workers do all day. Low-wage workers are working long and hard hours for almost no pay, which is absolutely ridiculous. These workers dedicate everything in their lives, for $7.25 an hour. I believe their lives are worth more than that. By saying all of this, I hope you understand that these workers are getting ripped off and no one can or will do ANYTHING about