GIS Applications and Data Types

Introduction A Geographic Information System is a combination of hardwares and softwares that enable researchers to envisage, capture, display and analyze data from different geographical positions. It gives the users a great opportunity to interpret data quickly and share it easily.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on GIS Applications and Data Types specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It can be carried to any management information system without any collision. GIS uses either vector or raster methods of capturing information. Application of GIS Migration routes management – this application is used for tracing migration circuits of caribou and polar bears. This in turn assists the researchers in coming up with plans that are geared towards protection of the caribous and the polar bears (USGS). These animals are found in Arctic which poses difficulties for conducting ground surveys due to the geographical t errains, hence the use of GIS which is of two types is very helpful. GIS application to the project The hegira circuits were indicated using different hues for each month for a total of 21 months (USGS 2007). The researchers then used the GIS to superimpose the movement circuits upon maps of oil development plans. This was intended to decide the possibility for interference with the caribous and the polar bears as they migrated (USGS 2007). In addition, the researchers would be able to know the frequency of the migration activities. Software and datasets used Software: Collar transmitters and satellite receivers – these softwares are able to release signals from radios at between 132-174 MHz, and can be heard from about 10 + miles away under ideal conditions (USGS 2007).Advertising Looking for assessment on it? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Data sets: migration routes Results gained: researchers were able to locate th e movement of the caribou and polar bears from several miles away. Over and above, the researchers were able to determine the frequencies of the movement and the actual circuits followed and if at all, a distinct pattern that was at play during the migration. The application was useful in determining the exact position of the caribou and polar bears and what was happening at any given time. It was also significant when checking possible danger that caribou and the polar bears could posed to the oil plans Data in GIS Differences between vector and raster representations of map features Vector representation Raster representation It represents real world features within GIS environment. It is used in a GIS application for displaying a continuous area. Uses points X and Y to locate features on a particular site. The use of a square grid to locate features in a defined location Ground survey and GPS is used to pick vector images Optical scanners mainly used to gather raster dat a. Requires explicit storage of each vertex Data must be converted to a topological features Cannot be used to cover large areas. Hard to represent linear structures Only reflect one feature of a site Fail to adhere to high level cartographic needs. Easy to represent data in its original appearance No data conversion is required Allows exact location to be maintained Easy to analyze data Appropriate for mathematical modeling Compatible with raster based output devices Street or river networks Analysis of land cover References Buckey, D J, Bio Diversity Gis. n.d. Web. GeoVITe, 2010, Website of Geodata Visualization and Interactive Training Environment (GeoVITe). Web. Natural Earth. GIS Data, 2013. Web.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on GIS Applications and Data Types specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More USGS, Geographic Information Systems. Web. This assessment on GIS Applications and Data Types was written and submitted by user Chase Robbins to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Firefighter Politics A Essays - Arbitration, Arbitral Tribunal

Essay/Firefighter Politics A Essays - Arbitration, Arbitral Tribunal Essay/Firefighter Politics A Every election year brings on the same hurdle for the firefighters union. The mayoral candidates approach the union and ask for their support throughout the election. This is a major decision the union (union representatives) has to make. The representatives of the union have to approach the membership with their recommendation for whom to support so that the candidate will have full support from the union. Hopefully, the candidate chosen by the representatives of the union wins the election. If the candidate chosen does not win the election, the elected candidate not supported by the union, understandably, he has little or no respect for the union at that time. In the 1993 election year the union had to make a major decision on whom to support for mayoral position, the one we chose was defeated. Because he did not win, there was a struggle between union and management. This did not come about because the union was looking to control the new administration, but the town wanted benefits given back which were negotiated with the mayor that we were supporting. The unions main goal during this time frame was to get the new administration to have some kind of respect for us when we went down to the town hall to resolve issues that arose. For the first few years, the only way the town would see it our way was when the arbitrators decision was in our favor. This was quite often. Since 1993, I have been either on the executive board or vice president of the union and received experience in grievances, arbitration and negotiations. The town is forever taking us to arbitration and seldom winning. We have a contract that protects us. Our contract was negotiated collectively by the union and management. When a new administration controls the finances of the town, their first goal is usually to attack the benefits in our contract. The administration now, which is running the town of Johnston, took over in 1994. They thought that the firefighter contract was a lucrative one. The town leaders thought that they would win many benefits back by just taking us to arbitration. Along with this attitude, the town leaders had little respect for the union and the leaders of the union because of the reasons mentioned before. The town of Johnstons first task with the firefighters union was to negotiate a contract. They came after our Blue Cross insurance, pension, pay, and our promotional exam. They would soon find out that the firefighters union was in no position to just give benefits back to the town. They were in for a fight. These negotiations went on for an extensive amount of time. Being part of negotiations in the past, I knew that most concessions the town was asking for were part of negotiations and immaterial to them. After weeding out the non-essential proposals we were down to the bottom line. The raise was the last item left that would make or break the agreement. The negotiation team, which I was a part of, came up with a unique way to receive a raise. We were to receive no raise for eighteen months then go from a bimonthly payment schedule to biweekly a payment schedule, which gave the union a eight percent raise that year and a total of thirteen percent over a three year period. The town agreed and the contract was signed. The union and town ended the negotiations, with the union not conceding to any issues we felt were significant to us. This would be our first major victory. The towns next fight was not to pay the union members their longevity the way it was calculated in the contract. We went to the town leaders to rectify the situation but the administrators would not negotiate anything but what they thought the contract said. Since the town and the union could not reach an agreement, the union filed a grievance with the American Arbitration Association (this association will schedule a date and an arbitrator to hear the case) so that the two parties could resolve the issue. This was another major mistake the town made, in not having any respect for the unions advice in

Reflective practice journal of Mental health Article

Reflective practice journal of Mental health - Article Example But what was disturbing to me was that any child should have to have coping strategies – the parents were either ill with bi-polar, schizophrenia or even alcoholism. Reading the comments like â€Å"Sometimes my mom’s up, sometimes my mom’s down, sometimes she’s normal. I’m always nervous† (1140) are really disturbing. But comments like this in Mordoch and Hall’s study are just a tiny representation of what children have to go through as a result of the government’s initiatives to move caring for the mentally ill in the community rather than in an institution. The lecture notes show the process of how the government went from providing full care for people diagnosed as having a mental health issue, to the now virtually non-existent level of services available. If we combine that with an overworked GP service, the cost and lack of accessibility so many people face with even trying to get some form of help, and the shambles as government decided to try and get most mentally ill patients into some form of work by denying them any financial help and it would seem that the government has totally forgotten that there are more people involved than just those diagnosed with an illness – there are family considerations that should be taken into account as well. Sawyer has completed an extensive literature review on the topic of mental health practices and the challenges of finding a system that works for everyone. Through a review of published articles she isolated what I think is the most important thing that has been ignored by government to date – â€Å"Methods too come under scrutiny here to critique the assumptions behind service evaluation and the way that statistics might blinker our view of the broad social causes of mental illness† (116). Some of those broader social issues could include the number of children who are going to need treatment themselves as adults because of the coping mechanisms they have had to adapt while

Accounting Research Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Accounting Research Project - Essay Example In simple terms, start up costs can be defined as the costs that a business organization incurs when starting up a new operation and in preparation for the operation. â€Å"The definition of start-up activities is based on the nature of the activities and not the time period in which they occur. Start-up activities include activities related to organizing a new entity (commonly referred to as organization costs)† (FASB, 2014a). Once a business has been set up, it can be able to generate revenue to sustain its own expenses. However, prior to this, there has to be expenses which are incurred. Start up costs can be divided into two categories namely revenue expenditure and capital expenditure. There has been debate regarding how which each of the costs should be treated. Revenue expenditure is the kind of expenses that do not contribute to additional of the business stock. It also does not have any contribution towards the acquisition of assets that can be used by the business for a long period of time (FASB, 2014a). On the other hand, capital expenditure refers to the expenses that the business incurs in acquiring an asset that can be used to generate income for a long period of time. The expenses of capital assets is therefore spread over many time periods as the assets acquired are used for many years. The costs that Costanza and Son has incurred so far as per the case are revenue expenditure. The company has included legal fees and advertising costs as capital start up costs. These costs do not contribute to the acquisition of any long term asset for the organization. Therefore, these costs should be categorized as revenue costs. They should be accounted for as expenses for the period which they have been incurred. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) requires that start up costs be expensed as they are incurred. This means that the costs should be accounted for during the period in which they have been incurred. This is

Impact Of Globalization And Deregulation On Air Lines Tourism Essay

Impact Of Globalization And Deregulation On Air Lines Tourism Essay Air transport is a major industry by its own right and it is a source of very important inputs into wider political, economic and social processes. The demand for air transport has created global effects which in return have affected its supply both locally and internationally. This paper will provide an insight to the effects of globalization, the results of deregulation and privatization on the airlines and airport sector. It will also provide information concerning the main revenue sources within airports and techniques used to measure performance. In addition it will address issues concerned with safety in airports and measures for dealing with the security issues. Summary Globalization has an adverse effect on the demand and supply of services in the air transport sector which in return leads to adjustment of both the local and international prices, air trade policies and the consumption rate. Consequently the increased geographical coverage leads to increased concentration of traffic in the international hub airport. There is an argument that globalization results to increase in income and consumption on monthly basis as a result of overall increase in economic activities. In addition the profits achieved by air lines are highly affected by globalization since the competing airlines have to vary their prices in order to compete in the international markets, this could lead to some competitors to lower their prices or even increase according to the demand and supply in a given periods of the year. Deregulation resulted to both short and long term effects in the air industry. It made some airlines to cancel their services to some places since after deregulation the companies were running on losses. It also allowed new airline companies to enter into the market without following the already established rules by the bigger and already exiting companies. Privatization has led to increased charges in the airports as a result of lack of enough economic regulations and failure to apply the principles of ICAO in calculating tariffs and fees. The airport has two main revenue streams which are the aeronautical stream and the non-aeronautical stream. Both of these streams act as revenue sources with the latter doing better than the former. There are a number of safety and security problems that need to be addressed in most airport and they include the population of people living near the airports, wind, vortex constraints and the increased number of buildings in the airports. Airport Management From a general perspective, globalization can be referred to as the process through which people from all corners of the world are brought together to be members of a common society and work together. This process entails a combination of technological, socio-cultural, economic and political forces. Barret states that there are many implications manifested as a result of globalization which are very significant for the international air transport industry (229). Globalization therefore affects the demand and supply for air services leading to adjustments to air trade policies which in return have greatly changed the air trade: For instance the open sky police have affected the demand for air lines so much as result of allowing more efficient feed to the long-haul stage of transatlantic operations (Barret 235).Consequently the increased geographical market coverage has led to increased concentration of the traffic in the international hub airports. Large physical market demand coupled with increased integrated services such as common lounge, code sharing and excellent baggage checking have led to increased demand for international air services (Barret 235). Ashford, argues that globalization results to increased income and consumption in every month due to increase in overall economic activity, though the affluence is not evenly spread (67) .Several consumptions are facilitated by air transport, in larger nations a rise in income leads to many people spending more in internal vacations and having increased visits to friends and family. It is therefore evident that the competition for domestic services is affected by change in international demand. Globalization affects the profits gained by airlines, for example the early 1990s international financial crisis led to downturns in the market. Similarly other factors such as the New York and Washington terrorist attacks have demonstrated to have resulted to very bad moments in the industry. In contrast the returns achieved during the good times always fail to compensate for the bad times. Alderighi also argues that the key players in international market operate regular flier programs that honor frequent clients with bonuses and free flights, the bonuses include higher classes of services, up-grades and permission to have access to airport lounge (567). Many airlines have turned to reducing the cost in order to have an advantage over other stake holders. In case the competing carriers fail to match the reduced prices, then both fares maintain the competitive level of expensive-cost airlines, allowing the cheap-cost carrier to receive a margin toward fixed costs, alternatively the expensive-cost airline might quit the market. This strategy has been highly applied by the low-cost international airlines such as Ryanair in Europe, it helps the low-cost airlines to undercut their rivals and then obtain the market power. The market has been highly dominated by the low-cost carriers but as they expand they have shifted to more thinner and less suitable markets that fit their operation styles. Deregulation had both long and short term effects; first a bigger number of airlines stopped using routes with fewer profits that were used by passengers to travel to small cities. For instance, until 1978, the united airlines which previously had flown to Bakersfield, a thriving oil town in California with a population of 225,000 people stopped flight to the town, hence depriving the city dwellers flights to developed cities like Las Vegas .Secondly deregulation led to development of hub- and-spoke routes. The leading airlines centered their operations in the key cities which acted as the stops for many flights, even in cases where the flights were not in direct routes. Deregulations allowed the up-coming airlines to enter the market without agreeing with the demands of the bigger and well established airlines .A good example was the peoples Express, an airlines company which came up with unconventional management methods like fewer managers, low salaries and multiple job performance by employees. The company applied exceedingly tight operations in which passengers were responsible with paying for meals on plane and paid for baggage that they had checked- in. The company used very low fares that could be compared with the electricity bus lines. The revenues for peoples express increased dramatically all through 1980s, increasing up to a billion dollars in a day. Later in 1986 the company was sold after reaching its peak due to increased losses and complains of dissatisfaction by the passengers. Generally after deregulation of the CAB rules the result was that airlines competed within un-restricted ground for passengers hence a rise in revenue for th e bigger international and national airlines. Consequently it led to low fares. In a broad view privatization can be referred to as the process of reducing the involvement of the government in service provision. The result product of privatization of airlines and airports has been increased charges of services offered in airports, with some places recording drastic increases. This increase in charges is due to lack of sufficient economic regulations and failure to apply the ICAO principles in calculating tariffs and fees. The investors are also to be blamed for the increased charges due to their thirst to gain excess profits. In this effect some organizations have moved forward to control the entire process of privatization, for instance the AITAL which is a Latin American Transport Association states that it is not against privatization although it has fears that privatization will result to increase in tariff and fees which in turn will lead to increased airlines operating cost. The AITAL bases its argument on the view that the airports remain to be pure monop olies which inflict unilateral criteria. Another possible reason for increase in the operating cost is due to the fact that in current market fees and tariffs highly depend on competitive situation of the concerned markets, direct relation with operating cost is also lacking. It is therefore obvious that increased airport charges will lead to increases in costs of airlines, which cannot be indemnified by increase in fares. Question 2. The main revenue streams in an airport can be divided into two categories: The aeronautical and the non-aeronautical. Generally the aeronautical source is composed of fees towards the traditional basis of airport-related ventures like the provisions of runways, facilitation, aircraft stands, security and more importantly the staff undertaking such activities (342). On the other hand the non-aeronautical revenues are gained by undertaking activities such as offering parking, retail businesses, operating restaurants, advertising and provision of accommodation facilities. Interestingly the non-aeronautical income is growing so rapidly compared to the aeronautical revenues hence providing greater profit margins. In order to ensure that all the activities within an airport occur following the prescribed time and with low cost one needs to come up with good performance evaluation techniques. Therefore using an airport scorecard helps so much in ensuring that all activities in an airstrip are done correctly. To have excellent performance the crew members should receive good care and total attention so that they can perform to achieve excellent performance. In addition of more importance is security issues within the airport, this should be handled with utmost power and interest. One way of ensuring that an airport has good security network is by installing the relevant technological gadgets in order to keep away all the intruders (Barrett 535) The major performance indicators can be used as key factors to show the performance of a business and help in filling in the gaps between the real performance and standard performance. Another technique used in airports to establish their performance entails use of airport management KPIS which is divided into four perspectives-passenger relation perspective, financial perspective, social consideration and flight related services. The financial perspective gives an explanation concerning the sources of revenues and expenditures within an airport. These include the operating expenses, aircraft parking fees and passenger charges. The passenger related operations point at the operations in the airport that directly affect passengers. These operations include baggage, number of security checks, check-in time, number of available trolleys for the clients and the immigration time. The flight related operations include checking delays in the National airspace system, delays caused by weather and Air carrier delays (Barrett, 458). This is indicators are very important in analyzing different flight delay factors. The social consideration is concerned with ensuring that the social responsibility and accountability within a business are achieved. Question 3. Cooper, states that the safety and security issues in and around the airports need to be addressed in a very serious matter (712). The safety problems arise as a result of interaction of various factors like traffic, environment and technology. Another reason why the safety issues in most airports needs to be addressed lies in the available evidence, basically provided by the 747 crash in 1992 in Amsterdam. The 1992 crash showed that people living around the airports are exposed to high risks which are comparable to the strictly regulated risks found around chemical plants. Therefore with traffic volumes rapidly increasing there is a prediction that continued growth in the coming years will put a strain on airport capacity. For example the airbus industries predict that there will be an average yearly passenger traffic increase of 5.0 per cent before the next 20 years, which will have an impact of increasing the traffic to 168 per cent. Another safety concern is presented through a dimension concerned with third party risk as seen in increasing number of countries in Europe. Way states that the air transport system relies on airports as hubs hence their presence leads to a convergence of air traffic around the airports (72-73). In addition many accidents occur at the times of take-off and when landing and hence this happens near airports. The critical issues that need to be addressed in order to prevent an increase in safety problems related to the airport include having control over turbulence environments and wind at airports; these are area of great concern. Airports are a major attraction for corporate real estates and therefore buildings are increasingly being erected next to the runways (Wells 459). In return this buildings cause wind turbulence that in some cases make the aircrew to temporarily loss control over the aircraft immediately before the touchdown or immediately after lift-off hence resulting to very serious accidents. As a result of the great monetary value gained from the building spaces in the airports, the pressure to authorize the building activities to continue will definitely grow. A current ICAO criterion on obstacle clearance does not provide enough protection. The wake vortex constraints is another issue that needs to be addressed since it governs the distance that should be maintained between aircraft lined in sequence while making an approach to the runway. The distance determines the capacity at the runways during peak moments and therefore the general airport capacity. Another aspect that is increasingly becoming a limiting factor to airport capacity is environmental constraints and in particular noise pollution. To solve this issue the ATC organizations have developed advanced departure and arrival procedures like Continuous Descent. In conclusion, the airport department has been seen to face certain challenges such as deregulation, globalization and privatization. Despite this, this department has been a key contribution to the economic growth throughout the world. The management has set certain measures to fight these challenges and improve the airport sector. Due to the increased air transport system, the sector is also expected to gain more profits and improvements hence fighting to increase the growth of the economy. The management should hence be made tough and competent enough to achieve the set goals. Work Cited Alderighi, Moses. Network competitionthe coexistence of hub-and-spoke and point- to- point systems, Journal of Air Transport Management 11, 5 (2005): 328-334. Print. Ale, Sjareen. The assessment and management of third party risk around a major airport. Journal of Hazardous Materials 2.3 (2000):71-80. Print. Ashford, Stanton. Airport Operations, New York: McGraw-Hill .1997. Print. Barrett, Moon. How do the demands for airport services differ between full-service carriers and low-cost carriers? Journal of Air Transport Management, 10 (2004): 33-39. Print. Cooper, Etal. Tourism Principles and Practice. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2006. Print. Hollo, Barrett, Airport competition in the deregulated European aviation market. Journal of Air Transport Management, 6 (2000):13-27. Print. Page, Joseph. Transport Tourism: Global Perspectives. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005. Print. Way, Taylor. The Business of Tourism. Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2006. Print. Wells, Alexander. Airport Planning and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. Print.

Fate in Tess of the D’Ubervilles Essay

In Tess of the D’Ubervilles Thomas Hardy creates a sense that fate is guiding each of the characters, often for the worst, to an inevitable end. From the beginning of the novel Tess shows a thorough understanding of her shortcomings and an acceptance that she is destined to lead a difficult life. Hardy uses societal circumstance and fate to create the powerfully tragic story of Tess, her family and her relationships, and how she chooses to play to the hand that she is dealt. From the beginning of the story we understand that Tess is fully aware of her shortcomings in life and that she is destined to walk a path of hardship. When speaking with her brother in the fourth chapter of the book she speaks of this awareness, â€Å"Did you say the stars were worlds, Tess?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"All like ours?† â€Å"I don’t know, but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound – a few blighted.† â€Å"Which do we live on – a splendid one or a blighted one?† â€Å"A blighted one† (33). Tess’s early understanding of the tragic life she is meant to lead foreshadows the situations waiting for her. For the remainder of the novel, almost every single time something good happens to Tess it is snatched away from her on the next page. In more than one way it seems that fate is conspiring against Tess throughout the novel. Hardy almost completely takes away the characters’ abilities to change their circumstances, imprisoning them by the harsh Victorian societal structure. From the beginning Hardy uses recurring themes to illustrate that Tess’s death has been pre-determined, giving us the notion that whatever path she chooses she will end up where Hardy wants her to. While it could be argued that her choices are the only influence in her life, I feel that from the moment her character was developed her end was virtually decided. Or, at least, this is what Hardy wants us to feel. While she could be considered responsible for her actions, she manages to co me out with the worst in nearly every situation. Her character is destined to drag her down even though she constantly endeavors to be the best she can be, a few examples include: going to the market when her father is too drunk to do so, consequently killing their horse; telling the truth to Angel Clare, despite her mother’s warning not to do so; and many further situations. This is undeniably the reason why, despite the indignation of people who held more conventional views at the time, Hardy called it the story of â€Å"a pure woman.† Tess’s highly developed sense of responsibility, strong conscience, and duty to her family further promotes the idea of a malevolent fate: someone this conscientious should surely have someone or something working against her to come into so much ill fortune. In fact, her conscience and honesty seem to add on to the tragedy of her life. But over and over again Tess is fated to almost supernaturally tragic coincidences. A pivotal example of fate getting in the way of Tess’s happiness occurs when she tries to explain her past to Angel, in particular the incident that happened with Alec before they met at the dairy. She is very sincere and quite adamant in her attempt to tell Alec of the devastating event during which her virginity was taken away from her. But as fate decides, the letter detailing Tess’s past when slipped under the door of Angel’s room also slipped under the rug on his floor. Angel never gets to read the letter and therefore does not know about Tess’s past. Angel and Tess go ahead with their marriage with both of them unaware each other’s pasts, eventually ruining their marriage and leading to Tess’s death. Hardy is very good at dropping hints throughout the novel, which helps to link preceding events with the final outcome. This, in particular, adds to the sense that the character’s fate is predetermined, teasing the reader along the way with often-exaggerated images, symbols or phrases from unsuspecting characters, including Tess herself when she states, â€Å"all this good fortune may be scourged out of me afterwards by a lot of ill. That’s how heaven mostly does† (252). Here Hardy uses Tess to convey a sense of fate with her being painfully aware that good and bad usually go together in some form. She is still blissful, though, and can hardly believe that things could turn as bad as they do in the end, but it is an example of Hardy creating the theme of pre-determined fate in this story. Overall, I feel that Tess’s actions and those of the characters surrounding her constantly affect her, but that Hardy wants us to feel that they are all part of an imminent fate. It is undeniable that this story hinges on many unfortunate coincidences. Throughout the novel there is an overriding presence that imprisons Tess and takes away every opportunity she gets to be truly happy and that disregards the pure nature of her being. Despite constantly striving to do the right thing she never seems to get â€Å"what she deserves but a great deal worse† (211).

Effective Branding: Starbucks Essay

When thinking of a brand that I am loyal to the first brand that comes to mind is Starbucks. The Starbucks organization has done an amazing job of branding itself as the premiere coffee retailer worldwide. The Starbucks logo is widely recognized and is distinguishable even to non-coffee drinkers. The company has the advantage of commanding premium prices for their products that consumers are happy to pay on a daily, or even more frequent, basis. The ability to charge these premium prices resulted in 13.3 billion dollars in revenue in 2012 (The Wall Street Journal, 2013). Branding Oftentimes a successful marketing brand strategy involves consumer education (Grewal and Levy, 2012, p. 303). Starbucks did a great job of educating Americans on the coffee culture and the difference between the drip coffee made in our kitchens and latte’s or Americanos. Starbucks leveraged the consumer’s need to feel like a connoisseur and introduced them to different coffee products from around the globe (Stealing Share, 2013). Starbucks also did a very good job of making the product very visible. Starbucks stores started popping up all over Seattle first; the rest of the country was not far behind. Currently the company has 17,003 stores worldwide, with 10,787 of those stores in the United States (Statistics Brain, 2013). You cannot walk down the street in a major U.S. city without seeing a Starbucks store or a used Starbucks cup in a waste receptacle. This brand recognition happened very quickly and Starbucks didn’t have a whole lot of competition in these early days. The consumer coffee experience that Starbucks helped create could eventually lead to a need for a company brand redesign. Because coffee connoisseurs are now very knowledgeable about coffee products they expect continuous evolution. Starbucks has expanded their product line to include in-home coffee brewing products and stores located in supermarkets. This could lead to the consumer not valuing the Starbucks â€Å"experience† and turning to a lower cost competitor (Stealing Share, 2013). Packaging The most valuable asset that Starbucks has that relates to its packaging is the widely recognized Starbucks logo. The logo has evolved over the years, and was recently changed in 2011 (Corporate Eye, 2011). The logo that was used prior to 2011 included the words â€Å"Starbucks Coffee.† The redesign removes the company name entirely, and prominently features the picture that was in the center of the previous logo. Starbucks understands that their logo and brand are now recognizable without the company name similar to companies like Nike and Apple. The Starbucks cup is recognizable due to the Starbucks logo, but it also stands out for other reasons. The company was one of the first in the food and beverage industry to use recycled product in their packaging. This started with napkins and beverage sleeves, and continued with the actual cups that beverages were served in. Starbucks was one of the first companies to receive FDA approval to serve beverages in recycled paper (Food P roduction Daily, 2004). Comparison to Competitors While there a number of smaller specialty coffee retailers in the U.S., Starbucks’ most prominent competitors are Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonalds. These competitors started out as restaurants but quickly noticed the opportunities that the specialty coffee business presented. McDonalds is arguably the most recognized brand in the world and has worldwide brand recognition. The problem that McDonalds will have is educating its customers to the fact that they sell coffee. Also, McDonalds and Dunkin’ Donuts are both seen as budget-friendly companies, and this could also be a turnoff to customers seeking specialty coffee. References Grewal, D., & Levy, M. (2012). Marketing (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Food Production Daily. (2004). Starbucks corporation joins recycled packaging reviolution. Retrieved from http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Packaging/Starbucks-joins-recycled-packaging-revolution Statistics Brain. (2013). Company statistics: Starbucks. Retrieved from http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ Stealing Share. (2013). Lessons we can learn from starbucks. Retrieved from http://www.stealingshare.com/pages/Lessons We Can Learn From Starbucks Failures.htm The Wall Street Journal. (2013). Starbucks Corporation.