Monday, December 30, 2019

The Hippocratic Oath And Euthanasia - 2151 Words

Euthanasia was first introduced in ancient Greece and Rome around the fifth century B.C. Occasionally, abortions and mercy killings were performed. 1 The Hippocratic Oath is an oath taken by physicians, which states that the physician will treat the ill to the best of their ability, to preserve a patient’s privacy and to teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation. 2 Many of the physicians didn’t follow the Hippocratic Oath and if a patient asked to be poisoned, certain physicians would comply with the patient’s request. 1 Euthanasia wasn’t a topic of discussion in the Middle Ages and if someone committed suicide, the law in Europe was that the body had to be â€Å"dragged down the streets or nailed to a barrel and left to drift downriver† (procon.org). 1Euthanasia was a big topic of discussion during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries but people continued to turn down euthanasia and assisted suicide. 1 In 1828, the first American law made assisted suicide illegal. 1 It wasn’t until the 1930’s that people started to support euthanasia in the United States and in England. 1 Americans grew less fond of euthanasia around World War II when Hitler and the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands of people using euthanasia. 1Their tactics included starvation, gassing and administering drugs to their prisoners. 1 In the late twentieth and twenty first century, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia. 1Belgium soon followed theShow MoreRelatedEuthanasia And Assisted Suicide : A Patient s Choice1742 Words   |  7 Pages Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: A patient s choice in their type of death. When a patient is terminally ill or is experiencing extreme pain, often Euthanasia or Assisted Suicide can both be plausible options to end any suffering. Euthanasia is currently legalized in seven countries and parts of the United States (New Health Guide). This number is not likely to increase soon because of the high controversy, which is due to the very serious topic of this matter: a person s life. The generalRead MoreThe Case Against Euthanasia913 Words   |  4 Pages(Kirkey 2). Euthanasia is defined as assisting a terminally ill patient with dying early. In many countries the legalization of this practice is being debated in many countries. All doctors against assisted suicide, including the 44 percent in Canada, are on the right side of the argument. Euthanasia should not be legalized because it is unnatural, it violates the Hippocratic Oath, and laws are to extensive. Protecting life is the ethical view of society today, and legalizing euthanasia offsets thatRead MoreShould Euthanasia be Prohibited? Essay examples1553 Words   |  7 Pagesher to evade pain and enter a realm of eternal sleep. This action is called euthanasia. Euthanasia is defined as â€Å"a deliberate act undertaken by one person with the intention of ending a life of another to relieve that person’s suffering and where the act is the cause of death† (Gupta, Bhatnagar, and Mishra 1). Unfortunately, this type of situation is not far from reality. In fact, the first national survey on euthanasia, conducted in 1990, showed that 8,100 deaths resulted from administration ofRead MoreEuthanasia: The Solution Is a Bad Idea834 Words   |  3 PagesEuthanasia: The â€Å"Solution† is a Bad Idea Protecting life is the ethical view of society today, and legalizing euthanasia offsets that. Religious figures have recently welcomed the idea of getting God back into this debate. Ed Feinstein, senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California states that, â€Å"It [prayer] recognizes God as the one who decides ‘Who will live and who will die’† (Wood 3). Assisted suicide is a peculiar process and not the intended way to die. Similarly, the constitutionRead MoreDeath With Dignity Essay900 Words   |  4 Pagessituation every day. Fortunately, there is an option that they can turn to: euthanasia, also known as physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia is the humane killing of ones self when terminally ill. It has been supported and shown to be moral by many political figures and follows several Democratic ideals. Euthanasia is a humane and moral way to end ones life during a time of unrecoverable suffering. The ways that euthanasia promotes the common good and help grant people their individual rights areRead MoreThe Hidden Potential Of Euthanasia1006 Words   |  5 PagesThe Hidden Potential of Euthanasia When people think of the term â€Å"dying with dignity† they will usually picture themselves living a very fulfilling life where everyone saw them as some sort of hero. Maybe they want to be seen as someone who was strong and kept up with a battle to fight disease. This same image could come to mind with a person who chose to take their own life rather than let a disease or terminal illness be the reason for them dying. There are very few people that imagine dyingRead MoreIs Euthanasia A Mercy Killing Or Assisted Suicide?947 Words   |  4 Pagesof which that is most commonly discussed and debated is euthanasia. Also referred to as mercy killing or assisted suicide, euthanasia is defined as the â€Å"act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy†. (Euthanasia) Though such a basic definition is provided, mercy killing can be classified into several different categories. V oluntary euthanasia is performed with the permission and consent of the personRead MoreEuthanasia 1044 Words   |  5 Pages Science Paper: Euthanasia An 80-year-old man is rushed to the hospital after complaining of acute pain occurring in his abdomen and back. The patient has a yellow disfigured color suggesting the possibility of jaundice. Doctors discover through premature reports that the 80-year-old man is also suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. After being hospitalized for several days, the family is told that the patient has terminal pancreatic cancer; one of the most painful types of cancer. They are toldRead MoreEuthanasia And Physician Assisted Suicide983 Words   |  4 Pagesviews on Euthanasia or Physician-assisted suicide and how they should or should not be legal. In some cases people feel as if the patient who are suffering from a terminal painful disease should have the right to commit suicide in other cases people feel as if the patient is being selfish to end their life when you have loved ones that are going to suffer because they killed themselves. People feel it should or should not be legal because o f right to die, living wills, and Hippocratic Oath. RightRead MoreEuthanasi A More Humane Option For Suffering And Dying Patients1328 Words   |  6 Pages Euthanasia would be a more humane option for suffering and dying patients. Afterall, death row inmates have the option of lethal injection because it is more humane, so why are competent patients not given the same option? Why do we allow people who committed serious crimes to have a humane death, but force innocent patients with severe illnesses, to suffer through the pain? Giving a suffering patient the option to end their misery in a relatively quick and painless way would not only ease their

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Changes And Changes Of Change Blindness Essay - 1471 Words

Change blindness shows surprising perception phenomenon that is noticed through the visual change of stimulus introduced and observers do not notice the change. When observer fails to observe and notice the change major changes and differences introduced into an image at a flick off and on again. People having poor ability in detecting the changes are argued to have limitation of human attention (Hecht-Nielsen McKenna, 2003). Change blindness has provided a wide range of research that has important and practical implications especially in eyewitness position and distraction while driving among other areas. In early observation of change blindness was made in 19th century when the film was edited and introduced. The editor came to realize that those watching it were not noticing the changed background (Norman, 2006). This made Williams James to become the first person to mention the lack of ability to detect the changes according to principles of psychology. According to research, the earliest experimental change blindness is developed from the phenomena such as eye movements and more on working memory. It depends on the personal attention to the images they perceive (MacWhinney, 2001). Although individual have well informed and good memory on whether or not they have perceived an image, they also have poor recalling ability especially on the smaller details that are presented in that image. This is evidently through presentation of the complex pictures that are stimulatedShow MoreRelatedChange Blindness And Its Effects On Blindness1852 Words   |  8 Pagesto explain why change blindness occurs and in what situations is change blindness more likely to occur. Literature on change blindness is quite extensive, as it is an emerging area in psychology. A number of researchers have conducted experiments into the key areas where change blindness has been found to cause consequential outcomes. These areas include the effects of change blindne ss on eye witness testimonies, driving ability, and effects on autism. Literature on change blindness places an emphasisRead More Change Blindness Essay1563 Words   |  7 PagesChange Blindness After investigating spatial cognition and the construction of cognitive maps in my previous paper, Where Am I Going? Where Have I Been: Spatial Cognition and Navigation, and growing in my comprehension of the more complex elements of the nervous system, the development of an informed discussion of human perception has become possible. The formation of cognitive maps, which serve as internal representations of the world, are dependent upon the human capacities for visionRead MoreChange Blindness: a Literature Review on Attention1664 Words   |  7 PagesChange Blindness: A Literature Review on Attention When going about our daily lives, just how much are we missing of the things around us? Visual attention has fascinated psychologists and now research is being carried out to distinguish to what extent, our attention or the absence of it, can affect our day-to-day lives. Change blindness is something we all experience at some point, some more than others. By definition it refers to the failure a person has to notice a change that would otherwiseRead MoreThe Detection Of Change Blindness1429 Words   |  6 Pages1 – Briefly describe the aim(s) of the study In the abstract the authors Daniel. J. Simmons and Daniel. T. Levin, document that the aim of the study was to determine the detection of change blindness for objects in still images and motion pictures, but their focus was to use people in the real world. In the abstract it is pointed out that the research was divided into two similar experiments only changing specific details in which the surrounding objects, such as; clothing, accessories and theirRead MoreChange Blindness Essay1362 Words   |  6 Pagestraffic accidents. The goal of this paper is to look at research and explain how change blindness can possibly effect driving. One failure of awareness that seems to have a connection with traffic accidents is change blindness. Rensink (2002) proposed that change blindness occurs when a change within the scene goes unnoticed, due to the inability or difficulty to detect it. Resink (2002) also explained that change blindness can take place during a disruption in vision, such as an eye- movement or aRead MoreChange Blindness: a Literature Review on Attention1674 Words   |  7 PagesChange Blindness: A Literature Review on Attention When going about our daily lives, just how much are we missing of the things around us? Visual attention has fascinated psychologists and now research is being carried out to distinguish to what extent, our attention or the absence of it, can affect our day-to-day lives. Change blindness is something we all experience at some point, some more than others. By definition it refers to the failure a person has to notice a change that would otherwiseRead MoreChange Blindness And The Field Of Human Sensation And Perception1926 Words   |  8 Pages Change blindness is a phenomenon in attention where drastic changes to a scene can go unnoticed. This is important to the field of Human Sensation and Perception because it helps illustrate how a visual scene is processed. Specifically it shows how even if there is direct attention to a scene, there are times when drastic changes can occur without perception of the change occurring. With extensive research already conducted illustrating thi s effect, new research has recently been conducted studyingRead MoreThe Effects Of Change Blindness On Adults : How Did We Miss That?1525 Words   |  7 PagesThe Effects of Change Blindness in Adults: How did we miss that? In the article review, â€Å"Failure to Detect Changes in People During a Real-World Interaction,† Daniel T. Levin of Kent University and Daniel J. Simpson of Harvard university sought to research change blindness, but through a different perspective than previous research. In many previous studies, change blindness was tested through moving images, two-dimensional images on television or computer screens, or even through in-lab tests.Read MoreNative America Hypothesis1226 Words   |  5 Pagesdetermine a change between pictures. Data were analyzed using a linear regression model where the average time taken to notice a change was used as a dependent variable, and the age was used as an independent variable. This analysis revealed that there is not a significant difference between age and the amount of time that it took any individual to notice a change, F (1, 224) = 3.52, p = .06. Results show that there was an insignificant increase of .27 seconds in time taken to notice t he change betweenRead MoreThe Reoccurring Blues Music And The Blindness Of The Book The Song 1453 Words   |  6 PagesThe reoccurring blues music plays a significant role in the blindness of the book. In the song â€Å"Nobody Knows the Trouble I ve Seen† by Louis Armstrong, Louis sings â€Å"Sometimes I m up, sometimes I m down, ohh, yes Lord Sometimes I m almost to the ground, oh yes, Lord Nobody knows the trouble I ve seen†. The narrator claims â€Å"Perhaps I like Louis Armstrong because he s made poetry out of being invisible† (Ellison, 10). This statement by the narrator is ironic because the narrator is literally being

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The Effects of Standardized Tests on Education Free Essays

Standardized tests have been debated and argued for as many years as they have existed. It is worthwhile to look at some of the arguments for both sides and find out if there can be some middle ground. Two important factors of standardized tests are the way the tests are administered and how the results are handled. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effects of Standardized Tests on Education or any similar topic only for you Order Now These two issues may be more important than the tests themselves. There must be ways to have accountability in most areas of society. In schools, we need to know if teachers are teaching and if students are learning. There has to be some way to judge whether the system is working. Standardized tests can show students’ strengths and weaknesses. Ideally, teachers then develop strategies to address the needs of the student that the test has outlined. These tests can help predict selection at college, justification for scholarships, and selection for employment. They can document achievement, both for the student and the teacher. â€Å"The fundamental ideas behind the construction and use of tests are not beyond our understanding†. Says Andrew J. Strenio Jr.  These tests â€Å"certify that the examinee does have the requisite skills and competencies needed to graduate from high school programs, practice in an occupation or profession, or receive elevated status within a profession†. (Defending Standardized Testing; Phelps, Richard. We could not function in society without some basic standards and these standards need to be uniform throughout our society. Chauncey and Dobbin write in their book Testing: It’s Place in Education Today:â€Å"Every school and almost every teacher uses a test at some point in the process of planning instruction that will fit the student and his capacities†. Standardized testing is just a larger scale for comparison. It offers feedback to the student and the school system about where achievement is in certain areas. But it should not be the only criteria for what we consider success. There is a great deal of criticism of standardized tests. Making test scores public is a way to see them as indicators of school quality. This has increased their value 100% but not in a particularly good way. Officials use an assortment of bribes and threats to coerce everyone into concentrating on test results. If the scores are high, the bribes may include bonuses for teachers and schools. Students may receive food, tickets to theme parks or sporting events, exemptions from in-class final exams, and even scholarships. The threats include loss of funding or accreditation for schools, while students may be held back a year or denied a high school diploma if they don’t test well, regardless of their over-all academic record. All together, these tactics are known as ‘high stakes’ testing. There may not be data on this, but Alfie Kohn states â€Å"the people who work most closely with kids are the most likely to understand the limits of standardized tests. † He says that â€Å"support for testing seems to grow as you move away from the students, going from teacher to principal to central office administrator to school board member to state board member, state legislator, and governor. † 3 Standardized Minds by Peter Sacks talks about the unquestioned position of standardized testing which he terms â€Å"an unhealthy and enduring obsession†. He also writes about the cost of all this testing. â€Å"The amount Americans spend taking tests, preparing for tests, scoring tests, and running magnificently elaborate testing programs in schools, colleges and the workplace is stunning, probably running in the billions of dollars each year. It is possible that Americans may be taking as many as 600 million standardized tests annually, or more than two tests per year for every man, woman, and child in the United States. Unreasonable demands of ‘higher scores’ from schools has many negative results. Alfie Kohn says â€Å"Teachers are beginning to tire of the pressure, the skewed priorities, and the disrespectful treatment as they are forced to implement a curriculum largely determined by test manufacturers or state legislators. † A hostile environment develops as teachers feel the need to prove that low scores were not their fault. An unhealthy competition is set up between teachers. High-stakes testing has led to widespread cheating. Recently, Atlanta schools cheating scandal has been front page news. An article in Substance News by George N. Schmidt on Dec. 26, 2010 details the depth and breadth of the CRCT scandal. The article is part of series that has examined the statistically improbable gains in test scores in Atlanta schools and how school district officials responded to them. The money spent on this investigation could probably build a new school. The expectation of higher scores means teachers are more likely to â€Å"teach to the test’ and become drill sergeants. Other things like fine arts fall to the wayside as math and science are emphasized. From the book Standardized Minds: â€Å"Researchers have found consistently that one of the most damaging effects of large-scale, big-stakes standardized testing in schools has been to: (1) oversimplify what’s taught in school; and (2) to severely constrict what is taught to only those items most likely to appear on an upcoming standardized test. There is blame and consequence to cheating, whether it is outright erasures on tests or days of teaching the test. But it should help us to rethink the pressures on ‘high-stakes’ testing. Maybe the Atlanta cheating scandal can show us that our response to the test score is way out of line. School districts, schools, teachers, and students should not have to be tested under such extreme pressure. This threatening atmosphere makes cheating a likelihood. Grades and test scores don’t tell us what we really want to know about somebody. The Case Against Standardized Testing includes a list offered by educator Bill Ayers: â€Å"Standardized tests can’t measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of other valuable dispositions and attributes. What they can measure and count are isolated skills, specific facts and functions, the least interesting and least significant aspects of learning†. Maybe it is not a ‘bad test’ but how the results are handled. Daniel Koretz in Measuring Up talks about the limits of test scores. He says â€Å"What education leaders want is a fair, straight-forward measure of school performance, to be able to monitor schools and hold them accountable. The problem is that we tend to overestimate what tests can do. Tests are not designed to summarize all that students and schools can do†. By the same token Andrew Strenio states that â€Å"Standardized tests convey an illusion of much greater precision than they are actually capable of achieving†. Learning is a process and process is defined as movement, a series of actions or changes. That is what makes it hard to precisely measure. So maybe we should not pin so much on standardized tests. Instead, make them a component of the over-all measurement of quality achievement. Valerie Janesick states in The Assessment Debate that â€Å"Learning does not take place by sheer dumb chance or luck . It takes place by design†. She makes reference to Grant Wiggins saying â€Å"the goal is not instant reform or instant knowing but rather a continuous process that results in understanding†. Priscilla Vail states â€Å"Above all, parents, students, and educators must remember that a test only shows what one person did on one exercise on one day. A standardized test score is not a license to live or a measure of deserving oxygen and space on our planet. † The opportunity to demonstrate what you know can also be done with portfolio assessment, group or individual projects, and take-home exams. We should strive to create schools that help students flourish. We should also strive to hire administrators who can develop and implement new criteria for measuring achievement that could go along with the standardized tests. How to cite The Effects of Standardized Tests on Education, Essay examples

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Channel Integration free essay sample

In the world of Sales and Distribution Management, it is imperative to have upstream partners like logistics , distributor , retailers , transporter and whole sellers to effectively sell the products manufactured by a company . Channel integration is a collaborative effort to bring together all these partners into the system and integrate the efforts so that all the partners are benefited out of it. By using the concepts of Channel Integration, rather than the traditional methods of distribution the organisations save on transaction costs and have better control over the partners. This concept also closely relates to the Supply Chain Management and better management of downstream partners. Importance of Channel Integration As has been suggested in the previous paragraphs , the concept of Channel Integration helps us reduce the transaction cost and enjoy better control over the channel members . SCM concepts of Collaborative Planning ,Replenishment and Forecasting (CPFR) apply to the Channel integration. Experts suggest that there is a cost saving to the tune of 10-15% by using channel integration. Channel integration provides sustainable competitive advantage by using the following concepts: †¢ It bridges gaps between the consumption and production . The gaps that can be bridged include but are not limited to quantity gap , space gap time gap and variety gaps †¢ Since the manufacturer can have real time information of the consumption on distributor and retailer front , it helps him plan the inventory and production levels , thus preventing the stock pile at the retailer , distributor or the manufacturer level. Channel integration is useful in the international and the exports markets as well †¢ Channel Integration helps build a strong relationship between the channel members and helps each exploit the advantage the other holds in the market . This concept is built along the lines of exploiting horizontal as well as vertical integration in the channel †¢ Channel Integration by virtue of controlling the inventory levels at all stages of integration , prevents and avoids the issues of stock outs . Issues like over stocking and Bull whip effect can also be effectively dealt with the using this. Channel integration helps in reduction of transaction cost and have great control over entire process by elimination of individual vested interests and working towards common goals. †¢ As different channel members have different degree of experience and expertise. If all of them work together for common purpose then it can lead to becoming a very efficient distribution system. †¢ Successful integration work as barrier to entry in market as it provides competitive advantage to the company and helps in reduction of sales due to stock out situations. Integrated channel also helps in doing sales promotion and campaigns for increasing sales. Manufacture and channel can forge a relationship and strike a good balance on need and timings of promotion. †¢ An integrated channel strategy also works a successful marketing strategy against its co mpetitors and helps to win competition. Vertical Marketing System In Vertical Marketing system, channel is controlled by one of the channel members and the manufacturer, distributor and retailers vertically integrate to form a marketing system. The member join together for the mutual benefit and helps the companies to control the changing market conditions. Vertical Marketing systems or VMS allows better cooperation between the channel members and reduces conflicts . Good examples of companies successfully completing VMS are Mc Donalds and Wendy. Vertical Marketing System can be further subdivided into Corporate VMS, Adminstered VMS and contractual VMS. Corporate VMS In a corporate VMS , the VMS is owned and controlled by the manufacturer. Since control is in the hands of the company , it develops the key strategies to properly coordinate the VMS. When the company runs the VMS at the retailer or distributor level , this is known as the forward integrated VMS. Certain factors help the company decide if the company should develop Corporate VMS . Following are the factors which decide the same †¢ The cost involved †¢ Price competition †¢ Manufacturing capacity †¢ Value addition †¢ Product sustainability †¢ Environmental uncertainty †¢ Coordination and team selling †¢ Transaction size Administered VMS In this type of VMS , no member exercises complete over the channel . This type of the VMS is used by companies who are into traditional distribution system. In administered VMS, level of control is more than traditional system but less than corporate VMS. This type of system is mainly popular in retail sector as lately importance of retailers has increased in trade. Retailers in this system work closely with manufacturer and helps in development of new products designs, quality control and delivery schedule. Retailers have got greater bargaining power in this system. The foundation of this system is longevity and stability of relation between manufacturer and retailer. Relations are usually long term. These types of systems are prevalent in grocery, apparel and finished goods sector. The need for administered VMS arises due to following factors: 1. Good product quality 2. Very agile delivery schedules 3. Joint product development 4. Need based delivery system 5. Strong company brand and image Contractual VMS In this type of VMS, companies enter in to contact with channel members for performing channel functions. In this type of systems all entities are independent yet they work together towards common goal. This type of arrangement can be utilized either to exploit marketing capabilities or to exploit resources available with partners. One primary need for such arrangement is to have sound knowledge of legal and contractual clauses so that all situations can be mentioned in contract. This requires thorough understanding of business and repercussions in case of non-delivery. Contract requires mentioning all deliverables, SLA and also penalty clause in case of non-performance. Most of organization works through this type of system by outsourcing their activities. Horizontal Marketing Systems In this system, channels at same level work together to harness opportunity available in market by pooling in their joint resources and skills. This arrangement helps to complement each other by skills which everyone may not have so by being together a consortium is having all required skills and knowledge to become successful in market. It may be technology, money or marketing knowledge. Such arrangements usually take form of JV or strategic alliances. For successful integration it is likely to have four mix ups which are operational, intellectual, social and emotional. Operational integration means standardization of manufacturing and marketing processes. Intellectual integration includes sharing of information at all levels so that gaps can be minimized and knowledge can be used. Social and emotional integration means that employees at same level in all organizations work together and collaborate to achieve a single goal. This type of system is quite successful in pharma, research development and retailing segments. As advance research requires lot of knowledge and skill such arrangement helps to share the same across board and achieve objective with lesser cost and higher speed. Hybrid Channel Systems Hybrid channels systems is merger of two or more type of systems like Vertical and horizontal system. Many companies to beat competition resort to multiple channel system like direct selling, channel selling, internet selling and telemarketing. Main purpose for implementing such system is to overcome difficulties faced due to different and large boundaries, different behaviour shown by customers and difficult territories. Also target of achieving higher sales continuously push to go for new means of achieving the same. Different steps in developing hybrid channel involve identification of determinants, identification of channel mix and selection of channel. After this comparing the outcome of channel with that of planned one and then analyse results. Distributor Advisory Council It is necessary to motivate channel so that best performance can be achieved. To motivate them, it is important to understand their issues and needs to that same can be taken care of. It is work of Distributor advisory council to determine needs and problems of channel and apprise the same to manufacturer for appropriate action. Advisory council encourage sharing of information between channel and manufacturer. It also motivates channel to provide inputs in planning process and improve overall working. Personal relation and strong relationship also helps to engage in channel members. Company should also try to provide enough incentive to channel so that they can improve sales by putting in extra efforts and lowering costs. Modifying Channel Arrangement Most of the companies think that Once the Channel setup is in place, then there is no need to do any changes in the channel setup. As same channel setup can be used in all the time and all situations. But this thought process is not right, different situations required different channel arrangement. We can discuss the how different situations can have impact on Channel arrangement. Product Lifecycle Changes: Different distribution strategy is required for product Based on the Product life cycle stage of the product. Even for the same product, different distribution strategy is required at the different stages of PLC. As in the early stage, the motivation of the distributor to sell a product will be low as compared to the product in growth stage. Also in the early stage the Distribution should be selective in the early stage of PLC and later when the products enter the growth stage then extensive distribution stragety is to be used. There will be one point of influx when distribution strategy is to be changed from selective to extensive. Customer driven refinement of existing channels Based on the consumer behaviour study, it is found that with time there are changes in the customer expectation from same product. For example, the products and services which used to be luxury 10 years back are now commodities. So earlier companies if were able to perform even missing on some particular distribution channel, but because of change in expectation, it becomes necessary to be available on those channels.. Companies need to take into consideration for these changes and modify their distribution strategy. If companies will not modify their distribution strategy with time, then it will become difficult to survive in the competing environment. For example now Online retail has been so popular, if any company is not concentrating on this channel, then it will be difficult to survive in near future. Growth of multi-channel marketing systems Earlier, companies used to rely on one distribution channel for reaching to the customer, but because of changing environment and consumer behaviour, no company can rely on only one kind of distribution channel. Companies are trying to use different distribution channel to reach the customer. Earlier companies were using only tradition distribution system(Distributor -gt; Wholesaler -gt; Retailer -gt; Customer) , but with Modern Trade into picture, companies have started putting emphasis on this distribution channel also. Looking at the exmples of Developed economies where Modern Trade constitutes of more than 80% of the Sales, it is evident that in Future, Modern Trade will take a major share of the overall sales. Managing Channel Relationship Once the distribution system is in place and different channels are established, then organization needs to maintain the channel relationships. It is an important part of the Sales and Distribution because good relationship will not be maintained with channel members, and then it can impact the company’s objective. Cooperation and Coordination AS each channel member have a different role in the overall strategy of the company. So It is the companies responsibility that all channel members should work in-sync with each other. Different channel members should co-operate and co-ordinate with other channel members, so that overall objective of growth for the company can be achieved. Conflict As the organization goal is to achieve higher customer reach and growth for all the channel members. But it is possible that some channel members work in way which help them grow at the expense of other channel members. This can have a negative impact on the overall company strategy. In such scenario companies have to intervene and resolve the conflict. There are two stages of the conflict Perceptual Stage: When it is perceived that there is some conflict on-going between different channel members. Manifest Stage: Once it is know that conflict exist then, company will take some corrective action to resolve the conflict. This stage is called as manifest stage of the conflict. Power A channel member’s capability of changing the behaviour of other channel members can be termed as the channel power. If one channel members have some resource which is required by other channel members, then the channel member having resource can exert power on other. This is not a good situation for the company. There are basically five types of power viz. Coercive power, Expert Power, Legitimate power, Referent power and Reward power. Coercive power is exercised by one channel partner, when he has ability to get the things done from other. It can be exercised either by decreasing profit margins or by withdrawing the rights given earlier. Expert power is enjoyed by channel when he has expertise or special knowledge about product or market. He may have gained it by attending special trainings or by having long period of experience in industry. Legitimate power can be granted by way of exclusive contract which one channel member may have. This contract gives him extra power and rights over the other channel members. Referent power is derived by channel based on his relationship with other channel members or manufacturer based on previous history. Channel may be well known in market for its reputation etc. Reward power is enjoyed by channel when he gets appreciated for his work by industry or manufacturer. As powers can be misutilised as well, Company should always try to balance the power between different distribution channel members. Channel Integration- Sales and Distribution Management Prepared by: Pankaj Jain- 31 Vishal Babuta-63 Rohit Khanna-72 October 2010 PTPGPM Batch