Twentieth century Drama Essay Example for Free

Twentieth century Drama Essay When I wrote my additional scenes I wanted to portray an image of two different families, one wealthy, the other quite poor. I chose to do the twins birthday because I felt that this would be a perfect example of showing the differences and introducing the class division issues. When writing my additional scenes I had to consider many aspects of the play. For example The plot; characters and action; setting; themes; language; dramatic devices and stagecraft also, the writers intended effect on the audience. The plot of my additional scenes looks at Mickey and Eddies two, very different birthday celebrations. It comes into the play some years after they decided to become blood brothers. I intend my scene to make the audience stop and think about the way people are treated in our generation because of their class. When reading the play written by Willy Russell I noticed that Mrs Lyons is seen who is a character with severe mental issues. She can break down very easily and can get extremely paranoid at the slightest thing. I decided to use her character in my scene because I feel that she is the best character for acting out. If I was to act out my scene I would enjoy playing Mrs Lyons as she can be very dramatic and I think that is a good quality in a character. Adults would play the part of the children in my play because I dont feel that Children under the age of thirteen can fully understand these types of issues let alone be able to freely act them out in front of a wide audience. I think that if I were to make my scenes into part of a theatre production, I would not want any props, backdrops or extravagant scenery. I feel that when acting with only yourself and the other characters, the audience will be focusing more on the ideas of the play rather than the sparkly props or fancy scenery. For Mickeys party I would use happy type of music all the way through, but for the parts in Eddies Party where it is dramatic, I would use eerie sounding music for when Mrs Lyons is having a mental stage. I think the difference between the boys lifestyle is immense and I think it would be appropriate to show this and display those differences clearly because of the two mothers ways of bringing up the twins. I think that because Mickey had such a poor lifestyle compared to Eddie and not as many opportunities he is not as well experienced. Although, I do think that Mickey would be a lot more streetwise than Eddie and therefore knows what life is like on the rough side of things. Eddie and Mrs Lyons use Standard English in this play, whereas Mickey and Mrs Lyons use non-standard English. This is another form of class division, showing that wealthy people generally speak more proper and poorer people speak with a more common language. I havent used any dance or song in my scenes, because I wanted to focus on the less happy side of the play and feeling that the boys are split up and should be together on their special day, celebrating together, but they are forced to be apart because of their mothers deadly secret. I think the song at the beginning of the play is very well written and I think that the dancing a singing is symbolic and represent hope and the struggle people make to rise above the restrictions of their daily circumstances. I think that the scenes I have written are symbolic in showing the differences in classes and how different one life can be from leaving one family and moving into another, but the way each of the siblings stand up for each other as if its life or death. Not even knowing that they are truly blood brothers.

System Thinking In Healthcare Nursing Essay

System Thinking In Healthcare Nursing Essay The health care system can be defined as a set of interrelated parts or agents, which include caregivers and patients, bound by a common purpose and acting on their knowledge. This great number of interconnections within and among makes the healthcare organisation complex (IOM, 2009). Such complexity brings problems and opportunities and requires organisations to adjust to the changes. The ability to understand and respond to both the external and internal environments might require a holistic thinking approach of the system (Lebcir, 2006). Systems consist of interrelated, interacting and interdependent parts configured in a manner that produces a unified whole. System thinking studies these components parts, their interrelationship and the way they function as a whole. According to Senge (1993), system thinking is a conceptual framework, a body of knowledge and tools that has been developed to make the full patterns of systems clearer, and to help see how they can be changed effectively. There are various system thinking approaches and the essay will review some methodologies that were used in managing the case study of Ashford hospital. 1.1 Case Study- Ashford Hospital Earlier in the year, Ashford hospital which serves quite a large population experienced severe pressure on service. The hospital had 67 ward beds. Patients had to wait for long in chairs or trolleys at accident and emergency unit (A E) before they could be admitted into the wards. This led to overcrowding of AE unit. Patients were asked to stay away from the hospitals AE unless absolutely necessary. The healthcare providers were put under pressure and resulted in trading of blames amongst them. Patients were no longer satisfied with the quality of care. The management of the hospital was disturbed and wanted a way out of the messy situation. 2 Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) SSM is an action oriented approach for tackling perceived real world problematic (social) situations ( Checkland and Poulter, 2006). Appendix A shows the SSM process steps that were followed in the course of investigation. 2.1 Finding out An investigation team was invited by Chief Executive (CE) and introduced to some health workers. Using the SSM the first stage was to identify and provide a brief description of the situation. Due to the workload the clinicians were encountering, getting them round a discussion table wasnt easy. However, the investigation team moved around asking questions and observing proceedings. A rich picture was developed to help capture the main entities, structures and view points in the problem situation of Ashton hospital (Figure1, Appendix B). As part of the finding out, the team had to identify key roles that were affected in this situation (Analysis 1). The team already knew who the client was because it was the CE who requested for intervention. The nurses and doctors (some with specialisation) in A E provided treatment to patients with various illnesses and injuries.. Where necessary, patients were moved to the ward. The bed manger allocated beds to patient, while the ward manager supervised the ward. Table1 shows the outcome of Analysis 1 while table 2 shows the worldviews of the issue owners. Having known the key issue owners, the social texture (Analysis 2) of the issue owners in term of their role in the hospital, the norms (expected behaviour associated with such role) and the values (standard by which behaviours are judged) were identified. This is illustrated in table 1 of Appendix B. A political analysis (analysis 3) which enriched the cultural appreciation previously obtained through Analyses 1and II was done. The essence was to find out the disposition of power associated with the roles within the hospital thereby buttressing our cultural understanding of the situation. The CE, being the head of the hospital, had positioned power over other roles while the doctors enjoyed expert power across the hospital. The details of the analysis 3 are shown in figure 2 of Appendix B. The culture analysis provided a basic for identifying the relevant issues, actors and conflict in the hospital. The Client- person(s) who caused the intervention to happen The Chief Executive of Ashford hospital The Practitioner- people performing the investigation The Investigation team (Us) The issue owners-people who are concerned about or affected by the situation. Doctors, Bed managers, nurses, patients, ward managers, Chief Executive Table 1: Analysis 1 (the Intervention Itself) in Ashford hospital case study Issue owners World views Chief Executive Targets must be met with the available budget Doctors Patients need to be given effective treatment before they are discharged Bed manager Doctors do not discharge patients on time and are always bed blocking Patients We need better healthcare service; we Need to get well before we are discharged Ward managers High standards must be maintained in the ward Nurse To many patients to cope with Table 2: Worldviews of the issue owners in Ashford hospital case study. 2.2 Making Purposeful Activity Models. According to Checkland and Poulter (2006), every human situation reveals people trying to act purposefully. The models of purposeful activity system viewed through the world view of the doctors and the bed manager were considered very relevant. This was because the doctors made decisions on patients that needed admission while the bed manager was involved in allocation of beds. In order to model the purposeful activities, root definitions describing the primary activity processes and functions were developed using a mnemonic CATWOE analysis. Appropriate root definitions for the primary functions performed by doctors and bed manager were formulated as follows: A doctor system to provide quality and effective treatment care, through the use of appropriate acquired knowledge and hospital resources in, order to improve patients condition. A bed manager system that provides timely placement of patients in wards, by optimizing the use of available hospital beds, in order to contribute to quality and effective patient care. Tables 3 and 4 show the purposeful activity models for the Bed Manager and Doctor respectively. The conceptual purposeful activity models are illustrated in figure 2 and 3 of Appendix B. Purposeful Activity model 1 Root definition A bed manager system that provides timely placement of patients in wards, by optimizing the use of available hospital beds, in order to contribute to quality and effective of patient care. Activity name Admission of patients Task Primary task Customer Patients, doctors Actors Bed manager Transformation process Patients are admitted in hospital ward beds Worldview Doctors do not discharge patients on time and they contribute to bed blocking Owners Bed managers, doctors, ward managers, nurses Environment Number of beds, bed management and ward policies Efficacy Are beds available for patients? Are beds data correct? Efficiency How long do patient wait before being admitted? Do patients over stay on ward bed? Optimal bed usage, waiting time Effectiveness Have all patients been admitted on time? Table 3: Purposeful Activity model of Bed Manager. Purposeful Activity Model 2 Root definition A doctor system to provide quality and effective treatment care, through the use of appropriate acquired knowledge and hospital resources in order to improve patients condition. Activity name Treatment and admission of patients Task Primary task Customer Patients Actors Doctors Transformation process Patients are admitted and treated in the hospital Worldview Patients need to be given effective treatment before they are discharged Owners Nurses, doctors, bed managers, ward managers Environment Bed management and ward policies, availability of beds Efficacy Have patients been treated and admitted Efficiency Are patients getting better?, cost of drugs, time Effectiveness Have all patients been treated and admitted on time? Table 4: Purposeful Activity model of Doctors 2.3 Discussion and Outcomes. Activities in conceptual models developed were used for the discussion. The most significant finding that resulted from the investigation was in the area of discharge. The actual problem which was assumed to be limited to the AE was actually as a result of failure to adequately plan discharge in the wards. When the rate of patients needing admission increased, there was a need to change discharge plans. However, it was realised that the doctors did not change discharge behaviour and created waiting lists for patients that needed admission. Facilitated brainstorming sessions resulted in identifying number of contributing causes of delayed discharge. Discharge was done after ward round which took place in morning during week days alone. Insignificant numbers of discharge were done over the weekend because there was no major ward round. This meant that most patients needing admission in A E over weekend had to wait till following week before beds could be arranged for them. This also compounded the bed crises. A discharge project team was immediately set up. The main function of the discharge team was to carry out additional ward rounds in the evenings and on weekends so as to discharge patients and free up more beds. They were able to indentify other causes of delayed discharge and resolved them. This ensured timely discharge fashion which then freed up beds for patients in AE. 2.4 Strength and weakness of SSM The methodology provided guidelines that were flexible to apply. The use of models provoked debate and learning among the issue owners. Through discussion and debates, the hospital was able to realise that there was a need to amend patient discharge policy. However, this methodology could not satisfy everybody. Some of the discharge decisions were not favourable to the ward patients. Also members of the discharge team had extra work to do and ways of compensating them were not discussed. This could be seen from Jackson (2000) arguments that SSM tends to favour the more powerful people in the system while genuine participative debate could be severely constrained. 3.0 Thinking Differently Most of the inventions in our society today, such as electricity, telephone, automated teller machine and many more, are the results of some people who decided to think differently. Thinking differently involves using innovative and creative approaches to transform healthcare delivery service (NHS, 2007) The first stage was to stop and think of the whole situation and identify areas where creative thinking could improve matters. It was observed that there was poor co-ordination of patients and beds management while poor communication existed between the bed manager and other clinicians, in the wards and A E, about bed availability. A tool called Others Point of View (OPV) was then selected to describe the issue from others peoples perspective. The aim was to generate some alternative ways of framing the problem and to think about what other people might say about bed management of the hospital. Hotel manager Despite their poor hospitality, they still have more clients.poor service in hotel industry will make you to be out of business Service Consultant Poor customer service in the hospitalno regards for patientscustomers are kings ..so are the patients Journalist Taking the sick to a sick hospital. Patient -This is disgustingwhere else do they want us to go to? The second phase allowed clinicians to brainstorm and come up with ideas. At this stage no idea was good or bad. It allowed for people to speaking out their imaginations. The Fresh eyes tool was picked to see how similar issues were managed in other industries and the possibility of adopting the solutions into the hospital. Hotels- Hotels manage rooms, checks customers in and out using software systems designed to help administrator to track all rooms availability. University- students can book their accommodation online while a system assists in organising and allocating rooms to students Airline Airline Reservations Systems that manages airline schedules, fare tariffs, passenger reservations and ticket records. This gave us insight to how clients and resources were being managed in other industries. The stake holders then agreed to try out a bed management information system. The hospital implemented bed management information system on a small scale and some of the benefits were highlighted (Table 5). Real time online monitoring of bed position, bed manager did not have to go round wards again It improved communication between units for patient admissions Saved time searching for available beds in the hospital It provided an overview of bed occupancy rate in hospital It was user friendly and easy to use. Enabled more accurate allocation of beds for emergency patients Table 5: Realised benefits of Bed management information system after implementation. 3.1 Strength and weakness The thinking differently methodology was a powerful tool in stimulating thinking and lots of ideas were suggested. However, this took time and caused arguments as feasibility, advantages disadvantages and risk of each idea were all argued out. Also, traces of people trying to impose their ideas on others were noticed while others brought up ideas that would satisfy their own interest. 4 System dynamics System dynamics is an approach and simulation technique for studying and managing complex feedback systems, that are seen in business and other social systems (SDS, 2009). According to Jun el at (1999), there has been increased use of simulation in healthcare. This could be attributed to numerous success reports of using simulation to address health care system problems and availability of simulation software packages. The methodology was used to estimate and manage the aggregate flow of patient through the hospital and its environment. As the number of people visiting AE increased, it in turn increased the number of people who needed hospital admission. Also, as patients waiting for bed increased, it caused an increase in number of patients that were discharged home early. This is illustrated in Figure 1. There was the need to control the number of patients coming through A E. The availability and use of other healthcare facilities such as GP practice, community care and nearby hospitals would have a negative feedback on the inflow of patients into aE. This would directly affect the number of patients needing admission. Most of the patients that were discharged home might not have to return to AE as community care could assist carter. This methodology helped the hospital to forecast inflow of patients and ways that could be adopted to control it. Community care services around were informed about the situation of things in the hospital. In addition, ambulance bringing patients were informed ahead to make use of other hospitals or GP practices if condition of patient was not too severe. Figure 1: A model to show the flow of patients through the hospital 5. Conclusion The complex nature of healthcare system makes system thinking well-suited to tackle problems in this sector. The various methodology approaches used assisted in better understanding of the relationship between the various units in Ashford hospital and its environment. This showed that like any other system, no unit in the hospital is an island. The different methodologies applied in Ashford hospital situation yielded various positive outcomes that helped improved the problematic situation. While some of the methodologies used have their roots in action research, further participatory research will be carried out to investigate occupational work stress among the clinicians. This may help identify majors causes of stress associated with their workflow, how it affects their relationships with others and with the patients in particular. Word count -2034

Edgar Allan Poe Essay -- essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe Ralph Waldo Emerson called him the jingle man, Mark Twain said that his prose was unreadable, and Henry James felt that a taste for his work was the mark of a second-rate sensibility. According to T. S. Eliot, "the forms which his lively curiosity takes are those in which a preadolescent mentality delights." After notices like those, most reputations would be sunk without a trace, and yet Edgar Allan Poe shows no sign whatsoever of loosening his extraordinary hold on our imaginations. In 1959, Richard Wilbur, an elegant poet and a critic of refined taste, inaugurated the Dell Laurel Poetry Series (mass-market paperback selections from classic British and American poets) with an edition of Poe's complete poems, for which he provided a long and thoughtful introduction. In 1973, Daniel Hoffman, also a distinguished poet and critic, published a highly regarded study of Poe's writings. In 1984, two massive volumes of Poe's collected works, together comprising some three tho usand pages, were published in the Library of America. In the 1990s, Poe has been the subject of a children's book and a substantial new biography, and a Halloween episode of the Baltimore-based television series Homicide: Life on the Street made very effective use of his legend and his writings, especially the poem "Dream-Land" and the stories "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Cask of Amontillado." A century and a half after his death, he is the one American author whose name is known to virtually everyone. Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the second of the three children of David Poe and Elizabeth (Arnold) Poe, both of whom were professional actors and members of a touring theatrical company. Eclipsed by his more famous wife, his own promising career ruined by alcoholism, Poe's father deserted the family when Edgar was still an infant; nothing conclusive is known of his life thereafter. While appearing professionally in Richmond, Virginia, Poe's mother became ill and died on December 8, 1811, at the age of twenty-four. Her three children, who would maintain contact with one another throughout their lives, were sent to live with different foster families. Edgar became the ward of John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, and his wife ... ... eye as the cause of unexplainable illnesses and misfortunes of any kind. To protect oneself from the power of the eye, certain measures can be taken. In Muslim areas, the color blue is painted on the shutters of the houses, and found on beads worn by both children and animals. There is also a specific hand gesture named the "Hand of Fatima," named after the daughter of Mohammed. This name is also given to an amulet in the shape of hand that is worn around the neck for protection. In some locations, certain phrases, such as " as God will" or "God bless it" are uttered to protect the individual from harm. In extreme cases, the eye, whether voluntarily or not, must be destroyed. One Slavic folktale relates the story of the father who blinded himself for fear of harming his own children with his evil eye. Would Poe have had knowledge of this rather strange belief? It is altogether possible that he would have, which creates another interesting twist to this story. Maybe the narrator who tries to convince us that madness is not really the issue, is telling the truth. Maybe this vile act is necessary in order to destroy the power of the old man's evil eye!

The Effects of September 11 on US Economy :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

The Effects of September 11 on US Economy Since the horrific attacks on the United States on Sept 11th, the nation’s economy has greatly dropped into a recession, although the economy was already in trouble before Sept. 11th. Due to this incident and all the effects it has caused, it is right to blame this recession on the terrorist attacks of Sept 11th. Almost half of the states faced budget shortfalls for 2001 or 2002, which caused most peoples lives to change after the attacks. Even the U.S. economy effectively took a vacation for the rest of September. It fell greatly and caused multibillion dollar losses to many companies and industries around the nation. Some of these companies and industry were a great part in the turning wheel of the U.S. economy. (Sivy, n.pg.) Prior to Sept 11th, the slowed US economy still however showed good signs of growth. Some signs were that companies were producing products for stores at a higher rate to provide the customers with more and more choices to choose from. This undoubtedly helped the economy grow for a while. The nations production of American made products were on the move before the attacks but have still slowly bounced back as more and more people buy American made products. For North American Natural Gas, "prices weakness, and growth in domestic and import gas supply, and a strong position combined with the potential weakness in the US economy are likely to dampen US natural gas demand even further." (Khan, n.pg.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It’s unclear how the attacks will affect the economic picture in most states, but in some places it’s already obvious. New York faces a very painful situation, and will need more federal help, even though federal spending has passed the $40 billion mark just in aid for these cities. States that depended on tourism for their income have greatly felt the impact of the recession. Places like Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, and California, are hurting as more and more people cancel vacations and stay close to home. Many people are still scared and skeptical to fly. That is also why many Airplane fares have risen since the staggering number of people purchase tickets to fly away. Many companies have filed bankruptcy and are stuck in the recession with billion dollar debts. (Theophanous, n.pg.) California’s economy also depends on tourism, the energy crisis cost the state $6 billion. And manufacturing states, like Ohio and Michigan, already hurt by the slowdown, are unsure when things will get better.

student :: essays research papers

Organizations have long sought to provide employees with consolidated desktop access to the various applications, business processes, and sources (both technology and human) required to perform knowledge-based work. But as recently as five years ago, the desktop environment was still woefully inadequate to this task. The ability to access aggregated enterprise information on-demand required a more reflective, process-centric model of desktop computing-that is, if someone were to look over your shoulder as you work, would their view of your desktop reflect the nature of the work (i.e., the business processes) in which you're engaged? The classic desktop computing interface did not allow this kind of on-demand access-much of the integration between information, enterprise apps, and business process still occurred in the "gray matter" between the ears of knowledge workers. The enterprise information portal (EIP) addresses this need.. At their core functional level, EIPs are all about access-a single point of personalized, on-line access to business information and knowledge sources, as well as, increasingly, real-time access to core applications and processes. Key enabling technologies here include advances in security (including sophisticated directory/authentication services), the proliferation of "portlets" or "gadgets" (API-like chunks of code for plugging enterprise apps into the portal), as well as the maturation and widespread adoption of XML (for "active" or "intelligent" content). As the technology behind portals evolves, so do the ways in which enterprises are using enterprise portals to achieve their business goals. Originally adopted by small departments and subsets of employees, the portal concept has expanded to encompass virtually all employees as well as the extended organization's partners and su ppliers. Enterprise portals are reaching all the way out to individual customers, providing them with a personalized view of the organization or enterprise.

DOTA Addiction Essay

Playing games is a natural part of growing. It’s one way that kids learn to socialize, compete, to fulfil their craving ego, to entertain, to have fun and sometimes to escape from depression. Computer and online games, in most instances, are no more dangerous than other games, which kids play outdoors. But sometimes, computer and online games with the touch of modern technology, it become more than just play. They become an addiction. And when they become an addiction, it will be hard for the parents and to them to end what has been started. Computer games are slowly arousing and it is one of the things that bring the negative effect. Many people are playing and having so much fun with this that can be a form of entertainment. One of those addicting games is Defense of the Ancients (commonly known as DOTA) is a real-time online or LAN strategy computer game composing of two to ten or twelve players where you can choose from over ninety unique characters you can play on. It requires focus, strategy, quick hands and quick thinking when you are in difficult situations. The objective of the scenario is to destroy the opponent’s â€Å"Ancient†. The two ancient teams are heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. The game is very popular in the world; in the Philippines and Thailand. It is also one of the most well-known computer games being played in Sweden and other Northern European countries. By these reasons, the popularity of this game has increase over time not only with these countries being mentioned  but it has been getting more popular all over the world. As DOTA arises, many issues also arise. It may be about on relationships, peers, foes, and most especially, education. Many critics worldwide are arguing about the real effects of playing DOTA considering that many people especially teenagers are getting addicted on this computer game. They said, this is a mind numbing entertainment for everyone and produces a socially isolated people and promotes violent behaviours. Some of these criticisms may or may not be true. In the Philippines, DOTA is being played not only by teenager but also by the kids that made this as a big concern for parents. At their young age they are more prone on getting addicted on playing this game and might get out of focus to their studies and would lost their interests in playing physical and traditional games like â€Å"tumbang preso†, â€Å"luksang baka†, â€Å"patintero†, and many more. There are many students and even some young professionals that are addicted to DOTA. When time spent on the computer, playing DOTA games it reaches a point that it harms a child’s or adult’s family and social relationships. Neither can disrupt school nor work life. Chapter II : Background of the Problem This action research is intended to prevent the addiction of the minors in playing computer games specifically DOTA. We have included negative and positive effects of the game, its advantage and disadvantages and some professional advices. Online games like DOTA can be a good social platform of the minors if it was directed in a good way. The positive effects of playing DOTA are for the youth to communicate teenagers who initially don’t know each other can easily be friends, they will also learn to strategize and boost their reflexes for DOTA is for smart ones. Gaming Addiction a Mental Disorder? The American Psychiatric Association (APA) adds Internet Gaming Addiction as  one of the potential disorders that needs to be treated. And they are hoping for more clinical research to formally include it on the list. Should it be considered as such? Here are some arguments and counter-arguments regarding gaming addiction.

Economic Analysis Of An Oligopoly Market Structure

NEW YORK – Feeling bad about the economy? Indulge a little, have a soda. Marketers at Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. are counting on that sentiment to appeal to consumers overwhelmed with a drumbeat of bad economic news. â€Å"What people want to do is pause and refresh,† said Coca-Cola chief marketing officer Joe Tripodi. Pepsi, the world's second-largest soft drink maker, launched a new marketing campaign at the beginning of the year, while No. 1 Coke launched its campaign three weeks later.Soda makers, who have seen their highest-profile products lose ground to energy drinks and pricey bottled water in recent years, are turning away from the lifestyle marketing that has dominated the soda wars. Now, they hope to draw customers back to the old favorites with a simple lure: they're cheaper — or at least a better value. Coke's campaign includes 16-ounce plastic bottles of Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta for 99 cents. The new size could draw people lo oking for a bargain, in that a 20-ounce bottle costs $1. 25 to $1. 50.An ad campaign called â€Å"Open Happiness† and tied to the â€Å"Coke Side of Life† ads launched on â€Å"American Idol† last week. One spot features two students sitting across from each other in a library and flirting by drawing competing images of Coke bottles and on their arms. â€Å"A lot of people have left the category,† Beverage Digest editor John Sicher said last week. â€Å"Also, a lot of young people have not entered the category, so these ads may help Coke both recruit new young consumers and re-recruit some lapsed ones. † Coke plans to run three ads during Sunday's broadcast of the Super Bowl football championship on NBC.PepsiCo spokeswoman Nicole Bradley said PepsiCo would air five to six minutes of commercials for bottled drinks during the Super Bowl, making it the biggest advertiser for the game. The ads will feature Pepsi, Gatorade, PepsiMax and SoBe Life Water. With the launch of its new logo, the company also has increased its number of drink ads on billboards and in other public places such as subway stations, bus stops and on tops of taxis. In recent years, as U. S. soda sales fell steadily — including 2. 5 percent in the third quarter last year at PepsiCo,  while Coke doesn't break out soft drink performance — the two turned to other bottled drinks for growth. PepsiCo refocused its drinks portfolio around bottled Lipton teas and Starbucks coffees, its Aquafina bottled water, Izze sparkling juice drinks and others.Coke made the biggest drinks acquisition in industry history in June 2007 when it bought Glaceau's VitaminWater for $4. 1 billion. Though its products contain plenty of sugar, the brand had attracted health-conscious consumers with drink names such as Power-C, Defense, Endurance, Rescue and Multi-V.But CEO Muhtar Kent said last fall that soft drinks are the â€Å"oxygen of our industry. † The chief exec utives of both soda makers indicated they were refocusing on soft drinks last fall as consumers felt the weight of a recession but it had not yet been officially declared. PepsiCo's push is â€Å"complementary† with the trend of shoppers trading down, the company's North American beverages chief Massimo D'Amore said Tuesday. He declined to say the company was appealing to consumers' pocketbooks. â€Å"We will not communicate on price,† he said in an interview. â€Å"Value to consumers is much broader than price.It's not the primary focus of our marketing. â€Å"D'Amore told reporters gathered Tuesday to hear details of the company's Super Bowl plans that Pepsi's drink portfolio is the â€Å"exact ammunition† it needs to win in the current climate. Chief Executive Indra Nooyi has said the company — which also owns the Frito-Lay, Tropicana, Gatorade and Quaker brands — aims to slow the decline of U. S. soda sales. Both companies are grappling with how to hold on to consumers that have grown wary of the high-fructose corn syrup that is used in a wide variety of bottled drinks, from soft drinks to bottled teas and energy drinks.David Schardt, senior nutritionist at the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, said â€Å"the companies' latest campaigns are not going to improve public health if sales of sugar-based sodas do rebound†. â€Å"We already drink too many of our calories† he said. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF AN OLIGOPOLY MARKET STRUCTURE 1. INTRODUCTION 1a. ARTICLE SUMMARY Not many corporations can boast of a 100 Year rivalry. The beverages industry witnessed such intense competition between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.One can say that the competition between the corporations was and still is  so intense that it could be likened to sibling rivalry. The product offerings of both companies are so similar, if Pepsi were to offer a new product it wouldn’t be surprising to see Coca-Cola follow suit. Pep si has always taken the lead in developing new products, but Coke soon learned their lesson and started to do the same. The companies not only compete in soft drinks, but also have branched out to other beverages including coffee, juice drinks and even water. As the companies lose their market share in energy drinks and pricy bottled water in recent years; now they refocus on soda pop to draw customers back.PepsiCo is innovative with launching a marketing campaign of new logos while Coke’s campaign is price strategy with a range of cheaper products. The fact is each company is coming up with new products and ideas in order to increase their market share. The creativity and effectiveness of each company's marketing strategy will ultimately determine the winner with respect to sales, profits, and customer loyalty. 1b. JUSTIFICATION OF THE TOPIC Pepsi and coke control over 75. 3% of market (as shown in the figure 1).These two companies have significant control over the direction of the market in terms of price, quality and taste. This clearly indicates that the industry has a duopolistic structure. It is not easy to enter into the market as it needs a large investment and can expect the big players to crush into the competition. The presence of barriers to entry protects the present players from competition from new firms. The companies compete on product differentiation either through product itself or through heavy advertising to reduce the elastic of demand for their product.Clearly the industry is oligopolistic with the market shared between these two firms, and the oligopoly characteristics of high concentration ratio, fewness, high barriers entry, product differentiation and mutual interdependence apply. Figure 1 Source: Beverage Marketing Corporation, New York. Retrieved from www. beverageworld. com > â€Å"data and statistics† on 4/10/2008 2. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS A firm under oligopoly faces a kinked demand curve (see figure 2). The point of th e kink is the point of the established market price.The kink of the demand curve suggests that a competitor would react asymmetrically to price increases and price decreases by the firm. Suppose the price is established at $1. 99 for a six-pack of either Pepsi or Coke. Let's consider the demand curve for Pepsi. If Pepsi increases its price to $2. 49 per six-pack, it will lose some of its market to Coke along the AB component of the demand curve. Pepsi will be able to sell 500 six-packs a day instead of the original sales level of 1000.Coke is likely to stay at $1.99 and enjoy the additional sale, as some people who were originally buying Pepsi will be switching to Coke. If Pepsi lowers its price to $1. 49 to gain an advantage over Coke and increase it sales to 1500 six-packs, it may not succeed. The increase in sales by Pepsi to 1500 can only happen if Coke did not react to Pepsi's price cut. However, Coke is likely to match the price reduction by Pepsi to protect itself against los s of market share. As the result of price cuts by both Pepsi and Coke, there will be an increase in sales by both — at least partially at the expense of smaller competitors.The sales of Pepsi increase to 1300 six-packs per day from the original 1000. This is along the BC segment of the demand curve. Therefore, there are two demand curves facing Pepsi—AB relatively elastic for price increases and no reaction by Coke, and BC relatively inelastic for price decreases and price matching reaction by Coke. This explains the kinked demand curve for Pepsi and similarly for Coke. Notice that the kink in the demand curve is at the established market price. It is also important to realize that the established price tends to be maintained.Neither Pepsi nor Coke will be inclined to raise their price since it would cause loss of sales and market share to the rival. Also neither of them is particularly interested in lowering the price and starting a price war since the outcome is loss of profit for both in favor of consumers. The profit maximization level of output can be determined by adding to the demand-MR model the cost curves for a firm under oligopoly. The profit maximizing level of output is 1000 six-packs of Pepsi, where MC = MR. Pepsi can sell this quantity at $1. 99 according to the demand curve.The average total cost of production at 1000 level of output is $0. 99 per six-pack. Therefore the company is making $1000 a day of economic (or excess) profit as illustrated in Figure 3. An interesting observation is that the profit maximization of oligopolies, generally, occurs at the kink of the demand curve, which in-turn represents the established market price and market shares of the oligopolies. Another observation is that moderate changes in the cost conditions of oligopolies do not cause a change in their profit maximization quantity and price as long as they are in the vertical range of the MR curve.This implies that technological improvements that lo wer the cost of production or change in the price of inputs encountered by an oligopoly would not lead to a quantity or price change. We therefore suggest that under an oligopoly market prices are rigid. Firms especially avoid lowering their price from fear of igniting a price war. Instead oligopolies resort to non-price competition such as advertising. Price wars can and occasionally do occur when one of the dominant firms in the oligopoly market experiences a significant decrease in its production cost and attempt to increase its market share.Coke and Pepsi know that they are spending millions of dollars on advertising just to counter each other’s ads. Advertising game will provide us with a modeling framework within which to show the choice that the managers of oligopolistic firms face. ( see figure 4) Although it would increase both firms’ payoffs if both play â€Å"Less Advertising†, this cannot be easily achieved. According to the above payoff matrix, play ing â€Å"Intensive Advertising† yields a higher payoff for Coke no matter what Pepsi does. In other words, â€Å"Intensive Advertising† is Coke’s dominant strategy.Similarly, â€Å"Intensive Advertising† is also Pepsi’s dominant strategy. Given that there is no guarantee the other player plays â€Å"Less Advertising†, each player will play â€Å"Intensive Advertising†, which is the unique Nash equilibrium of this game. 3. CONCLUSION Sales of carbonated soft drinks have been declining in US for several years, as consumers turn to a growing number of new beverages like enhanced waters, sports drinks and energy drinks. But the problems have accelerated in a volatile economy, with consumers eating at restaurants less and buying fewer grab-and-go beverages.In addition, consumers are increasingly choosing tap water over other beverages at restaurants and at home to help save money and the environment. Both companies have also relied on fin ding new markets, especially in foreign countries. Although the goal of both companies are exactly the same, the two companies rely on somewhat different marketing strategies. The companies must be willing to accommodate their â€Å"target markets†. They have to always be creating and updating their marketing plans and products. Gaining market share occurs when a company stays one-step ahead of the competition by knowing what the consumer wants.