Reaction Paper of Rizal Grand Tour to Europe Essay Example

Reaction Paper of Rizal Grand Tour to Europe Essay -Hounded by powerful enemies, Rizal was forced to leave his country for a second time in February 1888. He was then afull-grown man of 27 years of age, a practicing physician, and a recognized man-of-letters THE TRIP TO HONGKONG February 3, 1888 -Rizal left Manila for Hong Kong on board the Zafiro February 7, 1888 Zafiro made a brief stopover at Amoy Rizal did not get off his ship at Amoy for three reasons: (1) he was not feeling well (2) it was raining hard (3) he heard that the city was dirty February 8, 1888 Rizal arrived in Hong Kong Victoria Hotel Rizal stayed while in Hong Kong. He was welcomed by Filipino residents, including JoseMaria Basa, Balbino Mauricio, and Manuel Yriarte (son of Francisco Yriarte (son of Francisco Yriarte,alcalde mayor of Laguna) Jose Sainz de Varanda a Spaniard, who was a former secretary of Governor General Terrero,shadowed Rizal’s movement in Hong Kong-it is believed that he was commissioned by the Spanish authorities to spy on Rizal  "Hong Kong†, wrote Rizal to Blumentritt on February 16, 1888, â€Å"is a small, but very clean city. † VISIT TO MACAO Macao is a Portuguese colony near Hong Kong. -According to Rizal, the city of Macao is small, low, and gloomy. There are many junks, sampans, but few steamers. It looks sad and is almost dead. February 18, 1888 Rizal, accompanied by Basa, boarded the ferry steamer, Kiu-Kiang for Macao Don Juan Francisco Lecaros A filipino gentleman married to a Portuguese lady-Rizal and Basa stayed at his home while in Macao February 18, 1888 Rizal witnessed a Catholic possession, in which the devotees were dressed in blueand purple dresses and were carrying unlighted candles February 20, 1888 Rizal and Basa returned to Hong Kong, again on board the ferry steamer Kiu Kiang DEPARTURE FROM HONG KONG February 22, 1888 Rizal left Hong Kong on board the Oceanic, an American steamer, his destination was Japan Rizal’s cabin mate was a British Protestant missionary who called Rizal â€Å"a good man† CHAPTER 12 ROMANTIC INTERLUDE IN JAPAN (1888) -One of the happiest interludes in the life of Rizal was his sojourn in the Land of the Cherry Blossoms for one month and ahalf (February 28-April 13, 1888) February 28, 1888 early in the morning of Tuesday, Rizal arrived in Yokohama. We will write a custom essay sample on Reaction Paper of Rizal Grand Tour to Europe specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Reaction Paper of Rizal Grand Tour to Europe specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Reaction Paper of Rizal Grand Tour to Europe specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He registered at theGrand Hotel Tokyo Hotel Rizal stayed here from March 2 to March 7 Rizal wrote to Professor Blumentritt: â€Å"Tokyo is more expensive then Paris. The walls are built incyclopean manner. The streets are large and wide. † Juan Perez Caballero -secretary of the Spanish Legation, who visited Rizal at his hotel who latter invitedhim to live at the Spanish Legation Rizal accepted the invitation for two reasons: (1) He could economize his living expenses by staying at the legation (2) he had nothing to hide from the prying eyes of the Spanish authorities March 7, 1888 Rizal checked out of Tokyo Hotel and lived at the Spanish Legation Rizal was favorably impressed by Japan. The things which favorably impressed Rizal in Japan were: (1)the beauty of the country—its flowers, mountains, streams and scenic panoramas, (2) the cleanliness, politeness, and industry of the Japanese people (3)the picturesque dress and simple charm of the Japanese women (4) there were very few thieves in Japan so that the houses remained open day and night, and in hotel room one could safely leave money on the able (5) beggars were rarely seen in the city, streets, unlike in Manila and other cities Rickshaws -popular mode of transportation drawn by men that Rizal did not like in Japan April 13, 1888 -Rizal left Japan and boarded the Belgic, an English steamer, at Yokohama, bound for theUnited States Tetcho Suehiro a fighting Japanese journalist, novelist and champion of human rights, who was forcedby the Japanese government to leave the country-passenger which Rizal befriended on board the Belgic April 13 to December 1, 1888 eight months of intimate acquaintanceship of Rizal and Tetcho December 1, 1888 after a last warm handshake and bidding each other â€Å"goodbye†, Rizal and Tetchoparted ways—never to meet again CHAPTER 13 RIZAL’S VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES (1888) April 28, 1888 the steamer Belgic, with Rizal on board, docked at San Francisco on Saturday morning May 4, 1888 Friday afternoon, the day Rizal was permitted to go ashore Palace Hotel Rizal registered here which was then considered a first-class hotel in the city Rizal stayed in San Francisco for two days—May 4 to 6, 1888 May 6, 1888 -Sunday, 4:30PM, Rizal left San Francisco for Oakland May 13, 1888 Sunday morning, Rizal reached New York, thus ending his trip across the Americancontinent Rizal stayed three days in this city, which he called the â€Å"big town. † May 16, 1888 Rizal left New York for Liverpool on board the City of Rome. According to Rizal, this steamer was â€Å"the second largest ship in the world, the largest being the Great Eastern† Rizal had good and bad impressions of the United States. The good impressions were (1) the material progress of the country as shown in the great cities , huge farms, flourishing industries and busy factories(2) the drive and energy of the American people (3) the natural eauty of the land (4) the high standard of living (5) the opportunities for better life offered to poor immigrants One bad impression Rizal had of America was the lack of racial equality: â€Å"America is the land par excellence of freedom but only for the whites †RIZAL IN LONDON (1888-1889) -After visiting the United States, Rizal lived in London from May, 1888 to March, 1889 for three reasons: (1) to improve his knowledge of the English language (2) to study and annotate Morga’s Sucesos de

Da - big - Chinese character profile

Da - big - Chinese character profile On a list of the 3000 most common Chinese characters, Ã¥ ¤ § is ranked 13. Its not only a common character in its own right, used to mean big, but it also appears in many common words (remember, words in Chinese often consist of two characters, but not always). In this article, were going to look closer at the character, including how its pronounced and how its used. Basic meaning and pronunciation of Ã¥ ¤ § The basic meaning of this character is big and it is pronounced d (fourth tone). It is a pictograph of a man with outstretched arms. The word is mostly used for physical size, as can be seen in the following sentences: ä »â€"çš„æˆ ¿Ã¥ ­ Ã¤ ¸ Ã¥ ¤ §tÄ  de fngzi bà º dHis house is not big. Ã¥Å" °Ã§ Æ'Ã¥ ¾Ë†Ã¥ ¤ §dà ¬qià º hÄ›n dThe earth is big. Note that simply translating Ã¥ ¤ § into big isnt going to work in all cases. This is why speaking Mandarin accurately can be a challenge. Here are some examples where you can use Ã¥ ¤ § in Chinese, but where we wouldnt use big in English. ä ½  Ã¥ ¤Å¡Ã¥ ¤ §nÇ  duÃ…  d?How old are you? (literally: how big are you?) ä »Å Ã¥ ¤ ©Ã¥ ¤ ªÃ©â„¢ ½Ã¥ ¾Ë†Ã¥ ¤ §jÄ «ntiÄ n tiyang hÄ›n dIts sunny today (literally: the sun is big today) In other words, you need to learn in which cases you can and should use Ã¥ ¤ § to indicate a high degree. Other weather phenomenons are also okay, so the wind is big and rain can be big too in Chinese. Common words with Ã¥ ¤ § (d) big Here are a few common words that contain Ã¥ ¤ §: Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ® ¶ (djiÄ  ) everybody (lit: big home)Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¤ º º (drà ©n) adult; grown up (lit: big person)Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ­ ¦ (dxuà ©) university (lit: big study, compare Ã¥ ° Ã¥ ­ ¦)Ã¥ ¤ §Ã©â„¢â€  (dlà ¹) continent; Mainland (China) (lit: big land) These are good examples of why words are actually not that difficult to learn in Chinese. If you know what the component characters mean, you might not be able to guess the meaning if youve never seen the word before, but its certainly easier to remember! Alternative pronunciation: Ã¥ ¤ § (di) Many Chinese characters have multiple pronunciations and Ã¥ ¤ § is one of them. The pronunciation and meaning given above is by far the most common one, but there is a second reading di, mostly seen in the word Ã¥ ¤ §Ã¥ ¤ « (difu) doctor.   Instead of learning this particular pronunciation for Ã¥ ¤ §, I suggest that you learn this word for doctor; you can safely assume that all other cases of Ã¥ ¤ § are pronounced d!

Are humans becoming too dependent on technology

What happen if any of your devices crashed? Nowadays people becoming too dependent of technologic they cannot imagine their live without technology. We losing the ability or willingness to thing and memorize, we cannot work or do something if we have not internet or study, calculate or solve problem without computer or other devices. With the rapid growth of technology, there has been a debate on how we are using technology in our life. Many people think that we are now abusing modern devices to support for our own life; while others reckon that using technology brings us just good things and make our life easier. According to what I have observed and experienced, I believe that people, nowadays, have been overly dependent on technology What about if you lost any of your devices? If just thinking about these scenarios give you anxiety, you’re not alone. Most of us rely so much on technology these days that losing it, even for a day, would be extremely inconvenient, and for some, life-altering. As a society, we have become much more dependent on the technology at our disposal. For instance, many people no longer memorize phone numbers because their cell phones have a wonderful contact list which makes that memorization unnecessary. If these people didn’t have their cell phones in an emergency, they would not be able to contact the people they would need. It’s very possible that you have your husband’s number memorized. It’s also very possible that he’s listed by name on your phone and you haven’t the faintest idea what his number is. If you lost your cellphone and all of your contacts, it’s very possible you’d have no idea how to get in contact with anyone, let alone someone important to you. And you can’t even look it up since cellphone numbers are unlisted. If the internet is down we cannot work because many job in our days depend of internet. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been at jobs where if the Internet isn’t working, then work comes to a standstill. How can you work if you can’t send an email, right? Seriously, I was sent home one day at my last job because the Internet was down. Sure, I stopped to chat with a co-worker on the way out. And during that conversation, we came up with a way to effectively tackle a work-related problem. But otherwise, work was over for the day. The dependence on the technology is too much that people are losing their ability to think and even read as people have all the  information they need on the internet. Their ability to think has been lost due to the use of computers as they always give us all the information we need and also our spelling mistakes can be corrected by the computers. We also don’t produce our own foods as productions of packaged foods have been mechanized People are slowly losing those abilities and letting machines or computers do the work for them. People are no longer required to think. If posed with a difficult or even simple problem people will simply Google it on an iPhone and the answer is found within seconds. Students are also becoming too dependent on calculators. Instead of using a graphing calculator to solve complex mathematical formulas, students turn to calculators for even simple calculations. Though calculators are important in an evolving world, it is still important for teachers to teach students how to do mental math and reasoning (Metz). While it is true that technology can largely dominate our lives and it is not uncommon to walk into the average family’s house and see each sitting in front of a blaring television but on separate electronic devices it cannot be said that we would not survive without it. The technology we supposedly depend on today is all relatively new. Technology is definitely useful, and without it the world would probably not be what it is today. From computers the size of a fingernail to medical advancements, cancer deaths for example have decreased by 20% in the last 20 years due to developments in technology. Technology in general progressed at an accelerated rate in the twentieth century, an era that began with the invention of airplanes and cars and ended with space shuttles, mobile phones and wireless internet. Saying that we are overly dependent on technology is too vague a statement. It does not specify whether it refers to humans as a whole or specifically to western culture. Regardless of this, a mere 4-5% of the world’s population owns a computer. Taken out of context this figure seems pathetically small and it is important to note that only 30% of the world’s population are wealthy enough to have a bank account however it still means that about 95% of people get by just fine with no kind of computers whatsoever. Many of us regularly express a wish to escape from all of the technology we encounter on a daily basis, wealthy celebrities like Johnny Deep going so far as to buy an island with no phones or internet. Surely this is not the mark of a race that depends completely on this same technology for life? It is true that we depend on it, how many of us are ever without some sort of electronic device in our pocket, the fact that I’ve typed this on a computer is testament to that fact, but I don’t think we will ever reach a point where we cannot survive without it. Homo sapiens have been around with in or around 250,000 years and we’ve had the internet since the late twentieth century. If there was a massive solar flare in the morning and you lost everything in your life that ran on a microchip how you would survive? Pretty easily I expect. People use technology for performing their household chores as well as for solving even the simplest mathematics. The traditional way of writing and sending letters is now being replaced with communication by the mobiles, emails, SMS, etc. Not too long ago, our previous generations got the latest news of their time through newspapers. Nowadays, we watch television or browse the Internet for the latest news. We also cannot travel on foot for only 50 meters. We need to travel on cars because technology makes us too lazy to walk for even a short distance. With every new invention, people become more dependent on technology to think for them. It would be impossible to view the world without the ubiquitous cell phone, laptop, and mp3 player. And, it would be impossible completely do away with these gadgets. The problem is people are letting their gadgets take over their lives and they are not giving an effort anymore. Maybe John Lennons lyrics should read strive for fewer possessions, its easier than you think†. How we use technology that is the key Technology was created to improve our lives. Today everything is possible just because of technology. Today we are modern people and we know more about technology. The point is that we, as a society, must be able to operate on a basic level without technology. Yes, technology makes our lives easier and quicker, but this needs to be taken with a grain of salt. We should live our lives with the aid of technology because we want to, not because we have to.

How public opinion and the media influence health care policy Essay

How public opinion and the media influence health care policy - Essay Example Any one or all of these processes can prompt or even hinder political action thereby advancing an issue to an elevated level of consideration and has the ability to instigate substitute solutions or hammer it down absolutely. On the contrary, need of community approval and dominant resistance has the ability to keep an issue low on the public's agenda and subsequently on the policy agenda as well. While it is usually the government officials who eventually make a decision about which issues will be acted upon, interest groups, researchers, academics, consultants, the media, political parties and the public does have the dominant capability of influencing and determining the ultimate course of action. An excellent example is Andrea Baker's analysis of AIDS coverage suggests that the media may have encouraged policy-makers to respond to the AIDS crisis by helping to educate them about the potential threat to mainstream constituents. (Andrea J. Baker, The Portrayal of AIDS in the Media: An Analysis of Articles in the New York Times in The Social Dimensions of AIDS: Method and Theory, D.A. Feldman and T.M. Johnson, eds. New York: Praeger, 1986, pp. 163-178.) Public interest groups, now with the amplification of tec... Media attention to a problem influences decision-making since policymakers appreciate the role of mass media in shaping public opinion and they want public opinion to constantly be on their side.We live in a fast-paced world and because sometimes the public's attention span is limited, the media may cover a story prominently but only for a short period of time. The media has to constantly and unwaveringly press on significant issues by keeping them alive and discussed as this has a direct affect on public policy. The media may help to educate policy-makers, who often cite mainstream news media as important sources of information about policy issues, including health care (Carol H. Weiss, What America's Leaders Read. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1974, pp. 1-21) The media only covers an issue when it is interesting and issues related to the general and specific health of the people are gaining more and more importance with each passing day. These are sometimes complex issues that necessitating a great deal of sustained media attention, and education, background information, solid scientific study and impeccable experts on health issues are invaluable to the overall success of the efforts of the press, the public and policymakers. The media acts as a communiqu device within the policy community welcoming people scattered both inside and outside the government dealing with similar problems each day, to communicate in indirect ways. The interaction of government officials may not be on a daily basis, but they along with most of the public read newspapers or receive some form of news via the media. Communicate with the public and policymakers can be thus achieved by effectively

Ocimum Basilicum Laboratory Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Ocimum Basilicum Laboratory Report - Essay Example Introduction Basil is a small plant and can be grown in the pot. It is treasured for its many purposes such as, ornaments, fragrance and its medicinal value. It is very simple to grow in the optimum conditions of its growth. It germinates from a seed and takes a period of one year to mature. It is mostly used in cuisines, such as Italian, dental and oral products. It is believed to originate from the Asian content. It is grown in Morocco, Indonesia, California, Egypt, and southern Europe. It takes one year to fully mature. It has green stems and it is leafy. A mature Basil plant has a height of 2-3 ft. It is popularly used as a flavour. It has a spicy and peppery flavour compounded by mint and cover. The flavour is best before flowering .Basil is used in laboratory experiments to investigate many variables such as soil nutrients, soil acidity water, phototropism, gravitropism, and allelopathy (Pay Lucy and Mark 2004). The objective of research was to determine whether, the nutrients in different soils had an effect on the growth of Basil plant. In this experiment, three samples of soil were used. These samples of soils comprised of sand soil (pH 7.5), Black soil (pH 6.0), and Potting soil (6.5). The period of the study was fourteen days. The experiment used ocimum basilicum, which was fourteen inch in height. These plants were purchased at a Home Depot. The researched used three terra cotta pots. Ocimum basilicum was placed in each pot. The plants were watered each day with the same amount of distilled water (118.29Ml). The three pots were exposed to the same amount of light in the balcony. This ensured that they had the same amount of sunlight. The height of the plants was measured after every seventh day of the fourteen experiment period. A control set of experiment was also set, exposed to the same environmental condition but of water. Their heights were also measured and compared with originals. The purpose of the study was to determine whether different so ils minerals contributed to growth of basil plants. The experiment hypothesized that typical potting soil will outperform black soil and sand soil by increasing the growth speed of the Ocimum basilicum by at least 20%. Materials and Methods Acquirement and Management Ocimum basilicum takes one year to mature. It has about 2-3 ft. Basil has two colors of flowers. They are either purple or white flowers. Ocimum bacilicum is leafy and with free branches. It is mostly preferred for fragrances and color. This plant has an optimum growth in a soil with good drainage and sufficient amounts of water. Frost affects Ocimum basicum. It is easy to propagate and can be grown in pots and containers. Terra cotta pots These are special pots that are frost free. They are mostly used in laboratory experiments to grow plants fro experiments. Distilled water. It is water that is purified through a distillation process. It is used in the laboratories for experiments. It has almost pH7.0. Samples of sand , Miracle Grow Potting, and Black soil Miracle Grow potting soil is a combination of different soils. The principle ingredients include peat moss, decayed plant materials, sand, and partite. Black soils are very nutrient rich soils while sand have poor drainage and low water retention capacity. This experiment used three basil plants. The three plants were 14 inch tall each. They were purchased fro a Home Depot. They were then kept in different terra cotta pots. The

Parents Pay For Crimes :: essays research papers

Where Will I End Up? Where will I end up? That was the question that ran through my head as a high school student athlete at least a hundred times a day. I knew and was told that I had the natural talent and the work ethic to get to the college level, to play football. It all started my freshmen year, my first year organized football at my high school Grosse Pointe North. Where I was just messing around one day before practice kicking the football around. The kicking coach had taken notice and told me that I had the natural talent and leg strength to become a solid and well-developed place kicker. I had then earned the starting job by my first ever career football game, and have made a great career out of it so far, and hope to keep it going. I never thought that I would become a kicker I thought that was the pretty boy position on the football team, little did I know that was my ticket to a college football career. I had an average freshmen season, but what do you expect from a freshmen kicker? Most teams at the freshmen level don’t even have a guy that can kick at all. I thought that I was the â€Å"man.† By the time that my sophomore football season rolled around I was a much-improved kicker, I worked out mostly everyday all summer long with my cousin who was a pro recruit at the time, he was the one who really taught me what you really needed to know about kicking. All summer we worked on my technique and accuracy. The first week of my sophomore football season the coaches took immediate notice to my improvement, I was then offered the opportunity to try out for the varsity by the head coach. I was very excited but also nervous at the same time, this was like a dream come true. My high school has a very rich tradition for football, and for a sophomore to play at the varsity level is rare. So the following week I worked out with the varsity and made the team. I was pumped I was looked at differently by everyone some in a good way but also a lot in a bad way, the bad way was that a lot of my friends were jealous of the opportunity that I had and this brought me down a little.

Competitive advantage of IKEA Essay

INTRODUCTION In this modern hypercompetitive marketplace, a company must be a powerful competitor to survive. A company must possess a powerful strategy in order to become a powerful competitor. But what makes a good strategy for the company? A good business strategy would be that to attain a competitive advantage over other competitors. So what is a competitive advantage? And how company can be able to have a competitive advantage over other competitors? This essay would now discuss what a competitive advantage is and how a company can build a competitive advantage over other competitors in the same industry by using two furnishing stores, Ikea and Courts as examples. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE Definition A company is said have competitive advantage over its competitors when the company earns profits that are above the normal average in the industry where it competes. Types of competitive advantages According to Michael Porter, there are two basic types of competitive advantage, namely: Cost Advantage- A cost advantage is the ability of the firm to deliver the same product or services at lower cost than competitors. This can be achieved through using economies of scale, production efficiencies, low labor cost or better access to raw material and etc. Differentiation advantage- A differentiation advantage is the ability of the firm to deliver products or services that are different from the product mix of competitors. Due to the added costs in achieving differentiation for the  product or services, differentiated products or services are often marketed at premium prices. Model of Competitive Advantage Source: www.quickmba.com Competitive advantage derives out of value a firm is able to create for its buyers that exceeds the firm’s cost of creating it. Value is what buyers are willing to pay, and superior value stems from offering lower prices than competitors for equivalent benefits or providing unique benefits that reduce the price sensitivity of the buyer. Value can be achieved though utilizing the firm resources and capabilities that would then become core competencies of the particular firm. The core competencies created will allow the firm to position either as a cost leader or differentiation leader in the industry and this will in turn create value for the buyers which will become the firm competitive advantage in the industry. Resources and capabilities A firm needs to possess resources and capabilities that are better than its competitors in order to develop a competitive advantage over them. Any competitive advantage will disappear if the competitors can easily imitate what the firm was doing. Resources are assets of the company that its competitors cannot easily acquire. Some examples of a firm resource include the firm’s reputation, loyal customer base, patent and trademarks and strong branding. Capabilities refer to the ability of the firm to make the most of its resources. One good example of the capabilities of a firm is the ability to carry out a successful marketing campaign. The combination of both capabilities and resource will become the distinctive competencies of the firm. The competencies will allow the firm to achieve  innovation, efficiency, quality and customer responsiveness. The core competencies created will allowed the firm to position either as a cost leader or differentiation leader in the industry Cost advantage and differentiation advantage A firm will position itself as a cost leader or differentiation leader in the industry based on the distinctive competencies formed using its resources and capabilities which become the firm competitive advantage against other competitors. Value creation Value is created by firm through performing a series of value creating activities that Porter identified as the value chain. The value chain comprises 4 supporting activities (procurement, technology development, human resource and firm infrastructure) and 5 primary activities (inbound logistics, operation, outbound logistics, marketing as well as sales and service). On top of the firm own value creating activities, the firm operates in a value system of vertical activities including those of upstream suppliers and downstream channel members. In order to achieve competitive advantage, a firm must perform one or more value-creating activity that is more superior compared to other competitors. Superior value is created through lower costs or superior benefits to the buyers. IKEA Profile Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant was founded in 1943. It is the world’s largest furniture retailer that sells stylish but inexpensive Scandinavian designed furniture. It has outlets in 35 countries, including Singapore. The company is, perhaps, one of the World’s most successful multinational retailing firms operating as a global organization based on its unique concept that the furniture is sold in knock down form that are to be  assembled by the customer at home. Ikea mission statement Ikea’s mission is to offer a wide range of home furnishing items of good design and function, excellent quality and durability, at prices so low that as many people as possible can afford to buy them (www.ikea.com) Ikea competitive advantage Ikea’s success in the retail furniture industry can be attributed to its vast experience in the retail market and its ability to integrate both product differentiation and cost leadership strategies successfully. As pointed out in Ikea’s mission statement, the company is in business to produce high quality products at a low cost. This would support a cost leadership strategy. However, the company is also applying differentiation strategy due to its unique way of incorporating the customer in the value chain and unique marketing strategies Cost advantage Ikea cost leadership strategy allowed it to have a competitive edge over other competitors in term of pricing. Ikea achieved this through tight cost control and production efficiencies. Under Ikea’s global strategy, suppliers are usually located in low-cost nations, with close proximity to raw material and reliable access to distribution channels. These suppliers produce highly standardized products intended for the global market, including Ikea. This allows Ikea to take advantage of economies of scale. Ikea also practice tight cost control in order to keeps its product price low and affordable. Some key cost control measures undertaken by Ikea includes: * Locating their outlet outside the city area on places where the lease or the cost of the land is cheaper * Flat packaging of its product allows Ikea to transport its goods from suppliers to its outlet at low cost as it efficiently maximizes the space during transportation. Flat packaging also means lower warehousing costs for them. * â€Å"No waste† policy when Ikea develops product. For example, the remnants of fabrics that are left over the heart shaped FAMNIG cushion, one of Ikea product, are used to make smaller FAMNIG cushion. Door manufacturer are used by Ikea to make their table-top with the leftover raw material thus reducing production cost. In addition to tight cost control and production efficiencies, Ikea also incorporate customer into the value chain approach as a mean of reducing costs. Customers are to use the information on the product price tag to collect from the racks in the store self-service area, transport the items themselves back home and to assemble by themselves. The costs saved are passed back to the consumer in term of charging lower price for their product rather then including the labor costs and delivery costs into the selling price, a usual practice of other furniture stores. Differentiation advantage Ikea had also successfully integrated its cost leadership strategy with differentiation strategy that allowed it to further distinguish itself from other furniture stores and develop a strong branding for the firm. Ikea differentiate itself from other competitors by performing the following: * As mentioned earlier in page 6, Ikea incorporate customer into the value chain approach to reduce cost. Customers are to use the information on the product price tag to collect from the racks in the store self-service area, transport the items themselves back home and to do assembling of the  furniture. Ikea is the only furniture store that adopts this practice in Singapore and it is accepted by all Ikea customers as they understood it as a cost saving method through education by Ikea to the customer on their catalogues. * Ikea adopted different marketing communication strategy from the rest of its competitors. Instead of choosing to advertise every weekend in the newspaper to reach out to consumer, which is the norm of most of the popular furniture stores in Singapore, Ikea main communication strategy lies in the complimentary catalogue mail to every household in Singapore annually. This allowed customer to read the catalogue at the comfort of their home. Furthermore, the dimensions of the furnitures are indicates in the catalogue that allowed the customer to measure up their place for the furniture and come up with a systematic shopping list. Thus, the catalogue is the best way to prepare the customer for a visit to Ikea compare to newspaper advertisement used by other competitors. * Ikea provides child care services and supervised play area in their outlets to ensure parents can focus on their shopping in Ikea store without having any worries for their children. * In-store restaurant (Rare among furniture stores), Burger King as in the case of Singapore, offer a chance for shoppers to take meal breaks without the hassle of leaving the store. Summary The cost leadership strategy adopted by Ikea allows it to set attractive price for their product compare to other competitors in the same industry. By setting attractive price, it also reduces the price sensitivity of the consumer. The cost advantage is achieved by Ikea through tight cost control and production efficiencies. The differentiation strategy approach such as the Ikea catalogue, in-store restaurant, the incorporation of customer in the value chain and providing of child care services undertaken by Ikea helps to create a highly differentiated picture of Ikea in the target  market’s mind. Ikea through successfully integrating cost leadership and differentiation strategy had become one of the most successful international furniture retailers.