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To be successful in sustainable business practices often requires entrepreneurship and innovation. This chapter provides an overview of entrepreneurship and innovation as it relates to sustainable business. The discussion is most relevant to sustainable businesses focused on offering new products and services in response to societal concerns. The importance of entrepreneurship and innovation also applies to companies that change how they produce products and services. The latter companies can use innovative practices and entrepreneurship to establish their brand name and to be market leaders in doing things that create shared value for society and their companies and also, over time, contribute to changes in practices in their industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS • To be successful in sustainable business practices often requires entrepreneurship and innovation. • Entrepreneurship and innovation are relevant in for-profit and nonprofit ventures. • Entrepreneurship can be viewed as recognizing change, pursuing opportunity, taking on risk and responsibility, innovating, making better use of resources, creating new value that is meaningful to customers, and doing it all over again and again. • Being an entrepreneur requires taking on significant responsibility and comes with significant challenges and potential rewards. • Entrepreneurship is a mind-set, an attitude; it is taking a particular approach to doing things. • The motivations for becoming an entrepreneur are diverse and can include the potential for financial reward, the pursuit of personal values and interests, and the interest in social change. • For innovation to be relevant for sustainable businesses, it has to be meaningful and affect a large number of stakeholders. • Successful entrepreneurship often requires creativity and innovation in addressing a new opportunity or concern in a new way. Exercise $1$ Interview an entrepreneur in your city or town. Identify why the individual started their business and what has been most important to their success. Then investigate why Mark Zuckerberg became an entrepreneur and founded Facebook. What motivated him to start a new venture? What keeps him motivated to grow Facebook? What do you attribute his success to? Has he been an agent for social change? Exercise $2$ Assess your likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur. Were your parents entrepreneurs? Are they presently entrepreneurs? Do you have the mind-set, attitude, and way of thinking of an entrepreneur? If not, could you change to pursue a business interest? What passions or interests do you have that could translate to an entrepreneurial pursuit? Do you readily take on new challenges? Are you a risk taker? Are you interested in making a lot of money? Are you interested in social change? Exercise $3$ Identify the role model entrepreneur for you. Is there any entrepreneur that you are familiar with who you think of as a role model or as a model that other entrepreneurs should emulate? Describe the entrepreneur and why you think of them as a role model. Exercise $4$ Using the business media, identify a for-profit enterprise that has a strong social mission. Then using a nonprofit media source, identify a nonprofit organization that has strong similarities to a for-profit entrepreneurial venture. Exercise $5$ Think of three new types of innovations that are needed to help address ecological and social concerns. Have any ventures been started to commercialize these types of innovations? Exercise $6$ Investigate public polices in your state or city (using government websites) that work to promote sustainable business entrepreneurship. And identify new policies that could be established to help support sustainable businesses.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/05%3A_Entrepreneurship_Innovation_and_Sustainable_Business/5.04%3A_Conclusion.txt
Learning Objectives • Describe sustainable marketing and how it differs from traditional marketing. • Define the size of the sustainable product and service market and its growth potential. • Explain the key challenges in sustainable marketing and how they can be overcome. • Identify key growth drivers of sustainable marketing. This chapter was written by Diane Devine with contributions from Lee Mizusawa and Ross Gittell. There is significant and increasing interest and demand by both consumers and companies in being more sustainable. The sustainability market includes an increasingly wide range of companies, products, and services, all in some way intending to address sustainability concerns. Why do companies adopt sustainability principles? Sustainable practices are good business practices. Not only does it help the greater good by improving a company’s ecological footprint, but it can reduce waste, increase consumer engagement and loyalty, and provide a competitive edge, all contributing to the bottom line. Unlike more traditional companies that focus almost solely on the bottom line alone, sustainable companies focus on the triple bottom line, which includes (1) people, (2) planet, and (3) profits. Sustainable marketing involves developing and promoting products and services that meet consumer and business user needs utilizing society’s natural, human, and cultural resources responsibly to ensure a better quality of life now and for future generations to come. The focus of this chapter is to help students better understand what is meant by sustainable marketing and how it differs from traditional marketing. Sustainable marketing is not just about taking steps to appear more environmentally friendly or more socially conscious and advertising that fact to consumers. It is more substantive and meaningful. Sustainable marketing draws on traditional marketing methods and in addition requires the following: • Understanding of consumer’s values, emotions, and buying behavior related to sustainability • Knowledge of the evolving sustainability marketplace • Organizational commitment to sustainability and to positive relationships with their customers, communities, and the planet An increasing number of consumers base their purchases in some way on the environmental and social impact of the product and services they buy and the companies from which they purchase. In an October 2011 study, Cone Communications and Echo Research identified that 81 percent of respondents said that companies had a responsibility to “address key social and environmental issues” and 76 percent of respondents said they had bought a product with “an environmental benefit” in the last twelve months.“2011 Cone/Echo Global CR Report,” Cone Communications, www.coneinc.com/2011globalcrreport. The size of the sustainable market (defined by Mintel, a research company, as “healthy products/healthy planet”) is significant and is expected to grow to \$922 billion by 2014.“Consumers Claim They Are Willing to Pay Extra for Green,” eMarketer Green, last modified April 1, 2010, accessed April 1, 2010, www.emarketergreen.com/blog/index.php/consumers-pay-extra-green; “Definitions of Healthy Products, Healthy Planet (‘HP2’) Sectors,” Nutrition Business Journal, last modified May 15, 2008, newhope360.com/business-directory/definitions-healthy-products-healthy-planet-hp2-sectors. This represents an increasing but still relatively small portion of the US and world economy, with the size of the US economy being approximately \$15 trillion and world economy being about \$60 trillion in 2010. New sustainable product launches are continuing to grow with consumer demand. In the food and beverage category alone, Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) has tracked more than thirteen thousand new sustainable food and drink products since 2005.Mintel, “Sustainable Food and Drink Category,” press release, October 2010, http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/press-releases/614/sustainable-food-and-drink-lovers-attracted-by-perceived-superior-quality. Sidebar Survey of Global Consumers on Environmental Issues of Concern According to Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Environment and Sustainability Survey (www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2011/global-warming-cools-off-as-top-concern.html) of more than 25,000 Internet respondents in fifty-one countries, three out of four global consumers rated air pollution (77 percent) and water pollution (75 percent) as top concerns, both increasing 6 percentage points compared to 2009. The areas where concern is mounting fastest is over the use of pesticides, packaging waste, and water shortages, with reported concern increasing 16, 14, and 13 percentage points, respectively. Top environmental concerns among Asia Pacific consumers include water shortages and air pollution. Water pollution was the main concern for Latin Americans, Middle Easterners, Africans, Europeans, and North Americans. The following are key drivers of sustainable marketing: • Consumers increased demand for socially responsible products and actions, as consumers worldwide are increasingly concerned about what is included in products and their environmental footprint • Large corporations—such as Walmart—demanding sustainability initiatives from their suppliers • The ability to gain a competitive edge and customer loyalty in a growing market for sustainable goods and services • Regulations and public policies requiring and encouraging more sustainable products and practices • The increasing cost and volatile prices of natural resources Sidebar One Company’s Approach to Sustainability: P&G More and more companies are realizing the importance of incorporating sustainability principles into their business model. Keys to success are (1) complete integration and adoption of sustainability into the company’s vision and business strategy; (2) clear transparency and honest communication to the consumers, stakeholders, and community at large; and (3) measureable progress against well-defined sustainability goals. In 2010 one of the largest consumer packaged goods company in the world, Procter & Gamble (P&G), announced a new long-term sustainability vision. P&G’s “Purpose-inspired Growth Strategy” is about “improving the lives of more consumers, in more parts of the world, more completely.” As P&G describes it,“Environmental Sustainability,” Procter & Gamble, www.pg.com/en_US/sustainability/environmental_sustainability/index.shtml. We developed this vision over the course of a year, partnering with external experts and soliciting input from hundreds of P&G employees at all levels and functions. Our complete visionary end-points are outlined below. These end-points are long-term in nature because some of them will take decades to come to fruition. • Using 100 percent renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging • Having zero consumer waste go to landfills • Designing products to delight consumers while maximizing the conservation of resources • Powering our plants with 100 percent renewable energy • Emitting no fossil-based CO2 or toxic emissions • Delivering effluent water quality that is as good as or better than influent water quality with no contribution to water scarcity • Having zero manufacturing waste go to landfills KEY TAKEAWAYS • Sustainable marketing involves developing and promoting products and services that meet consumer needs utilizing resources responsibly to ensure a better quality of life now and for future generations to come. • The sustainability market is of significant size and growing due to increased consumer and customer demand, rising resource costs, and increased governmental regulations. • Sustainable marketing draws on traditional marketing methods and applies them specifically to environmental and social initiatives and products and services. For exercise 1-4: P&G has made a serious commitment to sustainability. Exercise $1$ Do you think this will negatively or positively affect their products and their bottom line? Explain how. Exercise $2$ Which of their goals do you believe will be their biggest challenge and why? Exercise $3$ What sustainable practices might cause P&G product prices to increase, and which ones might cause pricing to decrease? Why? Exercise $4$ Would this make you more favorable or less favorable to buying P&G brands? Why?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/06%3A_Sustainable_Business_Marketing/6.00%3A_What_Is_Sustainable_Marketing.txt
Learning Objectives • Explain green marketing strategy and how to best incorporate a green strategy into a company’s overall vision. • Define how sustainability works in the marketing mix. • Understand consumer market segmentation. • Describe marketing tools to help promote a brand. Kermit the frog may have had it right—“It’s not easy being green.” There is a lot to consider when creating a sustainable marketing strategy. It is not simply adding “green” to your brand platform or announcing that you support a worthy cause. To be most successful, a commitment to sustainability should be part of the company’s overall vision and an integral part of the company’s values and fundamental beliefs. For example, Seventh Generation, a Vermont-based company that makes personal and household cleaning products, adheres to a model of deeper business purpose (see Chapter 8). The company’s founder, Jeffrey Hollender, had a vision to create and nurture a company with sustainability at the core. Everything that the company does focuses on the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit for the greater good. From their products—which are made using only natural, recycled, or renewable materials—to their philanthropic efforts that seek to help create a sustainable community, Seventh Generation employs a well-integrated sustainability vision and strategy. A strong sustainability strategy includes understanding how the company impacts the people and environment in which it operates and consciously applies sustainable practices throughout every element of its business. Companies such as Timberland (see Chapter 11) and Procter & Gamble have adopted sustainability practices and have set specific and measureable goals—both short and longer term—to reduce their company’s carbon footprint. This includes actively examining the carbon lifecycle of their products—from the raw materials used in manufacturing all the way through to the recycling phase to ensure that they are meeting these goals. Inherent in this practice is the concept of radical transparency, whereby everything the company does is transparent and visible to the consumer and community at large, which contributes to the credibility of the sustainable brand. Measureable goals contribute to radical transparency as they provide clear and actionable goals to which the company can commit and progress against. For example, Unilever’s sustainable strategy commits to aggressively reducing their environmental impact and enhancing livelihoods by the year 2020. Unilever has made sustainability the cornerstone of their mission with clear, transparent goals against which they will be measured.“Unilever Sustainable Living Plan,” Unilever, www.unilever.com/images/UnileverSustainableLivingPlan_tcm13-239379.pdf. Note To view Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan, visit www.unilever.com/images/UnileverSustainableLivingPlan_tcm13-239379.pdf and go to page seven. Sidebar Radical Transparency Radical transparency involves everything a company does being completely transparent and visible to the consumer and all stakeholders. A marketing plan is derived from the company’s vision and integrates an organization’s overall goals and marketing objectives (what goals they want to achieve) and strategies (how they are going to achieve them) into a cohesive plan, typically on an annual basis. The green marketing plan focuses on the ideal marketing mix to achieve maximum profit potential while adhering to sustainability principles. The key elements of the marketing plan are as follows: • Corporate goals. These are the overall company goals that should be in line with the company’s vision and long-term strategic plan. • Objectives. Determine marketing objectives. Objectives should be stated clearly and should stem from the overall company’s vision and goals. Objectives should have specificity, such as to grow to 5 percent market share. • Strategies. After objectives are determined, strategies (which are how you are going to achieve the objectives) should be developed. An example is to convert all product ingredients to those that are locally sourced to help meet the objective of minimizing the company’s carbon footprint. • Tactics. Tactics are the specific means or programs to achieve the strategies and this includes the four Ps (see the following). One example is identifying the local suppliers and costs to achieve a buy local strategy. • Market. Determine what market you are participating in and what stage your product or service is in its life cycle: development, introduction, growth, maturity, or decline (see the following sidebar titled “Product Life Cycle”). For green products especially, there may be opportunity to add a new dimension to a mature category with a new product benefit. For example, in the mature category of yogurt, Stonyfield Yogurt (see Chapter 13) was able to breathe new life into the category when they first launched in 1984 with an organic product. Adding credibility to their sustainable brand was their “Profits for the Planet” program tactic, which commits 10 percent of annual profits to individuals and organizations working to restore and protect the environment. • Consumer target audience. Identify who is your potential customer. In a study conducted by OgilvyEarth, there are varying degrees of how “green” consumers are. From die-hard “super greens” to “green rejecters,” marketers need to determine who best to target to achieve their marketing objectives. There are several keys to creating an effective green marketing strategy: • Understand the market and the underlying values and beliefs of your consumers and other key stakeholders, and develop a marketing plan that aligns well with these values and beliefs. • Make sure that the products and services balance the needs of meeting consumer’s desires for quality, convenience, and affordability with sustainability goals. • Be genuine and radically transparent throughout the marketing mix. In marketing communication and promotion efforts, actively engage consumers with issues that are meaningful to them, and listen to them. Give them a voice. • Create alliances. Look for sustainable business partners, such as those from whom you source ingredients or other materials; nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that complement your business; and sustainable industry leaders and other like-minded businesses. • Measure performance against key metrics and communicate progress. Radical transparency includes being able to share progress against sustainability goals with consumers and the community at large. Sidebar Product Life Cycle There are basically five stages of the product life cycle, including the development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stages. Customers will only be able to purchase products in the latter four stages because the product typically has not yet been placed on the market in the development stage. Some companies, however, like computer software companies, do release a limited number of products during the development phase to help with their beta testing. Sustainable Marketing Mix The marketing mix, also known as the four Ps of marketing, is the combination of product, price, place (distribution), and promotion. Marketers develop strategies around these four areas in marketing to enhance branding, sales, and profitability. The marketing mix forms the foundation for creating a sustainable marketing strategy. Sustainability marketing, unlike traditional marketing, needs to adhere well to sustainability principles throughout the marketing mix. This helps to (1) strengthen the brand identity; (2) provide credibility; and (3) ensure honest, truthful communications and radical transparency with stakeholders, one of the cornerstones of good sustainability marketing principles. Product A product is a tangible good or an intangible service that is marketed to a consumer. A tangible good is something that can be seen, heard, tasted, felt, or seen. Products such as coffee, milk, biofuel, laundry detergent, and outdoor apparel are all examples of tangible goods. Intangible products are mostly service based and provided by someone directly in contact with customers, such as mutual fund investment services, health care services, and consulting services. Sometimes the intangible service results in a tangible product, such as a lawyer providing legal advice in filing for a product patent. The intangible product is the lawyer’s services, and the tangible product is the patent itself. When looking at a sustainable-marketed product, consideration should be made for sourcing of materials, ingredients used, and the manufacturing of the product. This includes using all natural and organic materials, sourcing local and through fair trade suppliers, utilizing environmentally friendly materials, and using lean manufacturing and distribution methods that minimize the company’s carbon footprint. For example, Unilever (the corporate owner of Ben & Jerry’s) has committed that all ingredients in Ben & Jerry’s ice cream be sourced through fair trade suppliers and certified as such by 2013. Sidebar Fair Trade Fair trade is a global trade system that ensures producers get a fair price for their goods. It is the cornerstone of a sustainable economy. Starbucks began purchasing Fair Trade Certified coffee in 2000, helping to grow the market for Fair Trade Certified™ coffee in the United States. Fair Trade Certified™ coffee empowers small-scale farmers organized in cooperatives to invest in their farms and communities, protect the environment, and develop the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace.“Responsibly Grown and Fair Trade Coffee,” Starbucks, http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/sourcing/coffee. Companies, both large and small, are undertaking sustainability initiatives. The most successful companies in doing this sincerely embrace sustainability principles at its core; set clear and measurable goals; and clearly, transparently, and truthfully communicate with their stakeholders about the ecological and social impacts of their products and services. These companies use the four Ps to enhance and fulfill their sustainable positioning to be true to the vision throughout their marketing mix. Seventh Generation is a pioneer in sustainability marketing and a leader in natural household cleaning products. Deriving its name from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations,” Seventh Generation has long been practicing sustainability throughout its marketing mix for over twenty years. Their entire product line of household and personal care products—from laundry detergents to baby wipes—are carefully designed and manufactured to minimize their impact on the environment. Using all natural, renewable, and recyclable resources, Seventh Generation is working to “help protect human health and the environment.”“Green Cleaning Products,” Seventh Generation, http://www.seventhgeneration.com. (See Chapter 8 for more information on their approach to sustainable marketing.) Timberland’s Earthkeepers product line is the company’s most visible effort to put their environmental values into their products and market it. Products produced under the Earthkeepers label feature (1) reduced use of harmful chemicals, including no PVC and water-based adhesives; (2) use of recycled materials, including plastic bottles made into linings and laces and recycled rubber sole boots made with up to 30 percent recycled rubber; (3) use of organic materials, including organic cotton; and (4) use of recycled packaging materials, with all boxes made of 100 percent postconsumer recycled packaging cardboard. Timberland has implemented eco-labels to communicate information to consumers about the impacts of their products and has implemented life cycle management to quantify the environmental impacts of the products that it produces. (See Chapter 11 for more information.) Another example is General Electric. The company committed to utilizing clean technologies and reducing their environmental footprint in 2005 with their ecoimagination program. Since then, a hybrid engine train has been put into development, a state-of-the-art wind turbine blade has been manufactured, and a superefficient washing machine and coal-gasification technology have been introduced. General Electric, in particular, is noteworthy for its pledge to double its investments in the research and development of environmentally friendlier technologies. The total budget for research and development went from \$700 million in 2004 to \$1.5 billion in 2010. General Electric has been consistently named in the top ten of Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations.“GE and Unilever Step Forth to Write a New Agenda,” New Economy, http://www.theneweconomy.com/business-and-management/sustainability/ge-and-unilever-step-forth-to-write-agenda. In the garment industry, Earthtec is an emerging sustainability product marketing clothing manufacturer. Using postconsumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastics (such as discarded water bottles), Earthtec converts landfill-bound bottles into high-performance fabrics and clothing. The company is dedicated to using recycled or renewable materials in every single article of clothing they make. Beyond their product line focused on sustainability, the company has incorporated a streamlined manufacturing model that is designed to minimize their carbon footprint.“Earthtec—Clothing with a Conscience,” Earthtec, www.earthtec.com/our_story/conscience. An example of sustainable intangibles is the services provided by the mutual fund company Pax World. Pax World is a recognized leader in the field of sustainable investing—the full integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into investment analysis and decision making—in its mutual fund offerings.“About Pax World,” Pax World, www.paxworld.com/about. Pax World provides the intangible service of investment advice with a strong sustainability conscience. (See Chapter 12 for a more comprehensive discussion of sustainable investing.) Consumer Target Market Segmentation A consumer target market (often referred to as a target audience) is a defined set of consumers who are particularly interested in a product or market, would have access to it, and are able to purchase it. Market segmentation divides these audiences into homogenous groups of customers, each of them reacting differently to promotion, communication, pricing, and other variables of the marketing mix. Market segments should be formed in a way that differences between consumers within each segment are as small as possible. This is especially helpful to optimize marketing budgets, targeting dollars to those most interested in your product to allow a more effective and efficient marketing plan. Segmentation can be further defined using demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation. Demographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on variables, such as age, marital status, household income levels, education, children in household, and occupation. Geographic segmentation divides a market by location and includes such variables as population density (urban, suburban, and rural areas) and climate. Psychographic segmentation classifies consumers based on individual lifestyles, attitudes, and beliefs. Behavioral segmentation divides consumers by such variables as attitude toward the product, user status, or user rate. Within the green market segment, it is important to understand which consumers to target. Once strictly limited to “tree huggers,” the market is growing. According to a 2011 study by OgilvyEarth titled “Mainstream Green,” consumers can be subdivided and segmented behaviorally and psychographically by their level of “green intensity.” Hardcore green consumers who only purchase sustainable products are called “super greens” and represent about 16 percent of the market. On the other extreme are “green rejecters,” those not looking for or interested in green products, which represent 18 percent of the market. Most of America (66 percent) is in the green middle ground—not hardcore green but not completely unaware or unappreciative of issues surrounding sustainability.Graceann Bennett and Freya Williams, Mainstream Green, 2011, assets.ogilvy.com/truffles_email/ogilvyearth/Mainstream_Green.pdf. Companies who market to green consumers look at those on the spectrum as well as determine which consumers will provide the greatest volume potential. But with so many consumers firmly entrenched in the middle green, there exists opportunities to create products with mass appeal. For consumer packaged goods purchases, women are typically the primary target audience as they still do the bulk of today’s household shopping. Seventh Generation, a sustainable personal care and household cleaning products manufacturer, targets the middle green as well as new moms, whom they find to be especially interested in making the world a better place for their newborns.Romy Ribitzky, “Seventh Generation Embarks on First Ever National Ad Campaign,” Portfolio.com, February 11, 2010, http://www.portfolio.com/industry-news/advertising-marketing/2010/02/11/seventh-generation-embarks-on-first-ever-national-ad-campaign. Sidebar Consumer Packaged Goods Consumer packaged goods are a type of good that is consumed every day by the average consumer. The goods that compose this category are ones that need to be replaced frequently, compared to those that are usable for extended periods of time. Examples are laundry detergent, food, shampoo, soap, and beverages. Other companies target the super green. Super green consumers may undertake costly actions in order to signal themselves as such; this has been called conspicuous conservation.Much of this paragraph is drawn from Steven Sexton and Alison Sexton, “Conspicuous Conservation: The Prius Effect and Willingness to Pay for Environmental Bona Fides” (unpublished manuscript, April 2011). Car ownership decisions are one of the most visible consumption decisions households make. Since the introduction of the Toyota Prius in the United States in 2001, a growing number of vehicle models have been introduced with features that reduce environmental impacts. The Prius was the only model that provided a unique exterior shape and a design that stood out and announced that it was different than standard vehicles. The Prius has emerged as the clear leader among twenty-four different hybrid models available in the United States, with 48 percent of the 290,271 hybrid cars sold in the United States in 2009. Prius’s success is particularly pronounced in communities with high percentages of super greens, such as Berkeley (California), Boulder (Colorado), and Portland (Oregon), who want to make public their environmental practices and beliefs. The Prius with its unique product design has successfully provided the vehicle for owner’s to signal their affinity for the environment allowing super greens to make a conspicuous statement about their conservation efforts. Packaging Packaging plays a critical role in the product’s sustainability. Consumers have increasingly been made aware of environmental packaging choices and are changing their behavior as a result. A leading example of this is with water bottles. Many consumers have made the switch from purchasing single-use plastic water bottles to using refillable water containers. In 2008, 2.5 million tons of plastic bottles and jars were thrown away.“Use-and-Toss Bottle Facts,” Reuseit.com, www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bottle-facts. The extremely slow decomposition rate of plastic bottles leaves them to sit in landfills or litter oceans for years. As a result of increased consumer awareness and consumer demand, sales of reusable water bottles from environmentally friendly producers such as Sigg and Kleen Kanteen have come onto the market. Consumers still want clean, filtered water, and companies, such as Brita and PŪR, makers of water filters, have seen a 22.2 percent and 15.2 percent increase in sales during 2009, respectively.GreenerDesign staff, “Green Product Trends: More Launches, More Sales,” GreenBiz.com, April 23, 2009, http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/23/green-product-trends-more-launches-more-sales. Another strong consumer packaging trend is the use of reusable shopping bags at grocery stores. Americans use one hundred billion plastic shopping bags every year and over five hundred billion are consumed globally. Of this, four billion become general litter.“Reusable Shopping Bags…What’s the Buzz?,” Notawaste.com, www.notawaste.com/articles/reusable_shopping_bags.html. Consumers and retailers are recognizing this, encouraging new behavior, and now it is almost fashionable to bring your reusable shopping bags to your local store. As of 2011, more than two-thirds of consumers indicated that they now use reusable shopping bags. Another one of the keys to sustainable packaging is to ensure that the product-to-packaging ratio is “right-sized”—meaning that the product tightly fits in the packaging and there is no wasted use of packaging materials or “air space.” This is not only for the package itself but also for the packing case, which houses multiples of the products for shipping. This is often referred to as “cube optimization.” Cube optimization means right-sizing packages and fitting orders into packaging dimensions that are as small as possible without threatening the integrity of the order. Tight packaging-to-product ratios accomplish two things: (1) they reduce use of packaging materials and (2) they reduce energy costs as the pallet loads are more condensed and the manufacturer is not paying to transport “air.” Additionally, as more and more products are being shipped globally in containers by ocean, air, trucks, and rail, every inch of transport space and fuel usage is significant. This is an example of a win-win situation for the business and the environment, as shipping more in the same volume of space cuts shipping costs, impacting the business bottom line, while reducing the amount of energy (and associated greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions) needed, positively impacting the environmental “bottom line.” Using renewably sourced materials is another way companies can create more sustainable packaging. Renewable materials are those that utilize forest, fiber, and agriculture products. Nonrenewable materials are those like plastic or Styrofoam, which are derived from petroleum and other fossil fuels. Sidebar Walmart’s Packaging Sustainability Initiative Walmart has pledged to eliminate twenty million metric tons of GHG emissions from their global supply chain by the end of 2015. That is 150 percent of the company’s estimated global carbon footprint growth over the next five years.Walmart, “Remarks as Prepared for Mike Duke, President and CEO of Walmart Greenhouse Gas Goal Announcement,” news release, February 25, 2010, http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/9669.aspx. As part of this initiative, Walmart is planning to reduce its packaging globally by 5 percent versus their 2008 baseline. Through a sustainable packaging scorecard that Walmart has developed and put in place to help monitor their suppliers’ efforts, Walmart can track and use their immense weight to push suppliers to help them achieve their goals. The following are some of their notable successes with their suppliers to date:Kevin Hagen, “The Effects of Walmart’s Packaging Scorecard on Environmental Sustainability,” Yahoo!, January 22, 2010, www.associatedcontent.com/article/2614159/the_effects_of_walmarts_packaging_scorecard_pg2.html?cat=3. • The transition of all liquid laundry detergents to concentrated versions has saved more than 125 million pounds of cardboard, 95 million pounds of plastics, and 400 million gallons of water. • Packaging of Apple iPods was changed to 100 percent renewable, recyclable, and more sustainable materials. • By reducing the packaging size of its Kid Connection line of toys, Walmart claims to have saved over \$2.4 million in freight costs. • The apple juice sold under the Member’s Mark label at Sam’s Club now uses 35 percent renewable energy in producing half the corrugated box packaging, and 50 percent of that corrugated packaging is from 100 percent recycled corrugated cardboard. • All of Walmart’s cut fruit and forty-ounce vegetable trays and some of the nine-ounce trays are packaged with NatureWorks PLA, a biodegradable polymer. According to the company, by making that change to PLA in 2005 on just four produce items, they saved about eight hundred thousand gallons of gasoline and avoided more than eleven million pounds of GHG emissions. Source: Walmart. Price Price is the monetary (or bartered) amount a consumer pays for a product or service based on the product or service’s value or worth. For sustainable products, pricing has often been an issue limiting a product’s or service’s mass acceptance and market growth. Green products tend to be more expensive because the ingredients may cost more than their conventional counterparts. For example, organic food grown with natural fertilizers may be more expensive than those foods not utilizing natural fertilizers. Manufacturing and transportation costs can also be higher. For example, if the transport costs use a higher cost but lower polluting renewable energy fuel source, this will contribute to a higher price point. This creates a price gap between conventional products and those that are sustainable, which is often referred to as the “green pricing gap.” The higher price can be a barrier to wide market acceptance for many green products, as some consumers may want to purchase products that are better for the environment but either do not want or are financially unable to pay a higher price. For the large majority of consumers, if they do not receive additional value from a sustainable product, for example, in the form of reduced energy costs or longer product lives, they will not pay a premium for the sustainable product. If a product is competitive in terms of price, as well as product, place, and promotion, with traditional products and services, sustainability can give that product a competitive edge particularly among consumers with some interest in sustainability such as the middle green. Marketers need to minimize the price barrier either by reducing the price point to be closer to its conventional counterparts or through marketing efforts to raise the perceived value to command a premium. Products, such as organic food brands, Earth’s Best, and Starbucks with their fair trade coffee, have done a commendable job in creating greater perceived value, thus commanding premium pricing. Some green product marketers use effective targeting to minimize the green price gap by targeting either people who are better off financially (those who can better afford to take environmental factors into their consumption decisions) or particular market or consumer groups, such as super greens and green regional markets (e.g., Portland, Oregon), with concentrations of potential customers who derive value in conspicuous conservation and demonstrating their environmentalism.Lindsay Kauffman, “Green as a Status Symbol: Why Increased Prices May Increase Sales,” Triplepundit.com, http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/05/green-status-increase-prices-increase-sales. Sidebar When Price and Quality Are the Same, Preferring to Support a Worthy Cause A 2011 Cone/Echo Global Study revealed that when price and quality are about the same, consumers will pick the brand that is supporting a worthy cause like sustainability.“2011 Cone/Echo Global CR Report,” Cone Communications, www.coneinc.com/2011globalcrreport. To view data about switching brands, visit www.echoresearch.com/data/File/pdf/Cone_pdfs/2011%20Cone_Echo%20Global%20CR%20Opportunity%20Study.pdf. To that end, consider the American family of four who spends an average \$115.60 per week on groceries.Food Marketing Institute, U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends (Food Marketing Institute, 2010), 107; “Key Facts,” Food Marketing Institute, accessed April 1, 2010, http://www.fmi.org. If the green products cost 10 percent to 25 percent more, their \$115.60 per week yields significantly less purchasing power. This is even more pronounced in a weak economy. Yet many sustainable business practices, such as using materials with longer life, can save consumers money in the long term. Pricing is key in the marketing mix and marketers of sustainable products and services need to ensure the price and value equation is right for maximum success. Sidebar What Really Motivates Consumers: Green Earth or Green Cash? Marketers take notice. One way to create a so-called win-win for consumers of sustainable products is to capitalize on what can help really motivate consumers to use green products—cost savings from using green products. Some consumers recognize this benefit as some green products save them money in the long run, such as driving a hybrid car saves at the gas pump; energy efficient light bulbs, refrigerators, washers, and dryers save on energy costs; water conservation shower heads save on the water bill; and using refillable water bottles is much cheaper than buying plastic water bottles at the store. Combining a concrete benefit like saving money with a sustainable benefit strengthens the brand messaging and may help to minimize the green pricing gap. Place Place is where the product can be purchased and includes how the product is distributed to the purchase location. Place can be a physical store as well as a virtual store on the Internet, also known as an e-tailer. Amazon is probably one of the best and biggest examples of an e-tailer as it has no “brick and mortar” storefronts. Some sustainability focused retailers with brick and mortar storefronts are moving toward more sustainable practices. Retailers like Kohl’s are implementing solar energy panels in some of their stores. Walmart is building more energy-efficient stores, using more alternative fuels in its trucks, and reducing packaging.Dan Sewell, “Retailers See Green in ‘Green’ Business,” MSNBC.com, April 23, 2010, www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36739333/ns/business-going_green/t/retailers-see-green-green-business. A place-related sustainable marketing area of increased interest is buying locally. According to the 2011 Nielsen global online consumer survey, belief in the positive impact of local products is highest in North America, where 65 percent of consumers reported that local goods have a positive impact on the environment. Consumers are increasingly concerned about the environment and carbon emissions from transporting goods over long distances. Increasing numbers of local retailers are promoting themselves as local with the associated environmental and community economic benefits associated with local residents buying from local businesses compared to national and international companies. Some larger companies are recognizing the interest in buying local by increasing their use of local suppliers. This includes Whole Foods stores buying from local farmers and fisheries. Sidebar Locally Grown: The Whole Foods Market Promise Whole Foods: Buy Local Strategy We are permanently committed to buying from local producers whose fruits and vegetables meet our high quality standards, particularly those who farm organically and are themselves dedicated to environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture. We are greatly increasing our efforts in this regard by further empowering our individual store and regional buyers to seek out locally grown produce. What is local? Local produce is by definition seasonal. In spring in California, that means artichokes; summer in Michigan means blueberries and autumn in Washington means apples. We value this natural diversity, and each of our 11 regions has its own firm guidelines for using the term “local” in our stores. While only products that have traveled less than a day (7 or fewer hours by car or truck) can even be considered for “local” designation, most stores have established even shorter maximum distances. Ask a team member for your store’s definition of “local.” Source: “Locally Grown: The Whole Foods Market Promise,” Whole Foods Markets, http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/locally-grown. Retailers are increasingly scrutinizing their suppliers and demanding that the products that they sell meet higher sustainability standards. Walmart has implemented a sustainability scorecard that scrutinizes their suppliers’ and vendors’ entire product development cycle to ensure that they are implementing sustainable practices and continually looking to improve on these practices. If they are not, Walmart has stated that they will not carry the products. Other retailers are also beginning to demand that their suppliers meet sustainability hurdles including Safeway, Kroger, and Target. The distribution channel is a significant consideration for sustainable marketing practices. Companies that are sustainability-minded are looking at ways to reduce their carbon footprint through a variety of efforts. Transportation with fuel-efficient loads, using alternative energy sources, and optimizing distribution routes are a few of the examples that can favorably impact the distribution channel in a sustainable way. Promotion Promotion is the communication tools and tactics that a company uses to promote and market their product. There are many ways to communicate a company’s products and benefits. Branding is the cornerstone of the communications platform. A brand is an image in the consumer’s mind for a particular product or service. Strong sustainable brands should have a brand image of the product or service having a positive impact on people and the environment. Stonyfield’s brand positioning of “healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet” stems directly from the company’s strategic vision. Advertising, public relations, personal selling, consumer and trade promotion, social media, digital marketing, and mobile marketing are all marketing promotion tools. When determining which mediums to utilize, marketers need to consider (1) marketing objectives, (2) effective reach of mediums among identified target audiences, and (3) budget. It is best to use a mix of promotion vehicles to most effectively and efficiently reach the target market and consistently apply the branding and messaging to maximize awareness. The messaging is best when it elicits a call to action on the consumer’s part—that is, purchase, engagement, and loyalty. • Advertising encompasses communications designed to increase awareness and encourage the purchase of a particular product or service and is a paid medium. Advertising methods are more interruptive versus permission based (see the following description) and include television, print (newspapers and magazines), Internet advertising (such as banner ads), radio, billboards, and cinema advertising. Nike recently made a big splash with its marketing focused on creating a better world through sports. Their efforts included the first 100 percent recycled television advertising, reusing and remixing film from their previous campaigns over the years to create a new spot to introduce their Better World campaign. The digital mash-up showcases the inspiration and history of the brand while bringing attention to the sustainability concept of reuse and reducing resources. This is also a good example whereby utilizing sustainability principles actually benefits the bottom line. By reusing existing film, Nike did not have to spend the thousands of dollars to produce a new television commercial nor expend energy costs for a production shoot. For perspective, an average television commercial cost exceeds \$300,000,Tim O’ Leary, “The Latest on How Much It Costs to Produce a TV Commercial,” Bizzy Life, May 23, 2010, http://bizzylife.com/2010/05/the-latest-on-how-much-it-costs-to-produce-a-television-commercial. and an average television shoot is two to three days depending on how many locations are required. Utility company the Denver Water Company created an advertising campaign that visually highlighted their campaign message of “Use Only What You Need.” This campaign was run on outdoor billboards, print ads, and bus and taxi ads. Sidebar Shipping Giant Befriends a Forest: FedEx Sustainable Solutions (click to see video) FedEx recently launched a charming new ad campaign that highlights their sustainability initiatives. When consumers think of FedEx, sustainability doesn’t usually come first to mind, as it is a shipping and transportation business, which is a large user of fuel, not to mention paper products. But this new commercial highlights FedEx’s environmental efforts that help save forests and fuel and does so with Disney-esque charm. And when you strip away the Hollywood fairy tale dramatics, the spot reveals that FedEx is working hard at sustainable solutions for a better planet. Makes you feel a little bit better when you absolutely have to have it delivered overnight. • Public relations is about influencing, informing, and persuading the consumer and is often not a medium that is directly paid for, such as paying to take out ads in the newspaper, on the radio, or on television. Instead, you earn stories and coverage, which is called “earned media.” There are many tools to use for public relations; among them are press releases, press conferences, fact sheets, letters to the editor, guest columns, radio and television talk show appearances, blogs, white paper publishing, speaker engagements, trade shows, and endorsements. Toyota, when it launched Prius, one of the first hybrid cars, received endorsements from such influential eco-friendly organizations as the United Nations, the Sierra Club, and the National Wildlife Federation. These endorsements helped to establish Toyota’s green brand image and credibility. Utilizing press releases and print ads, Toyota helped to spread the word of their endorsements to maximize awareness. Prius has gone on to be the number one hybrid car in the United States. • Personal selling includes one-on-one selling, word of mouth, cold calls, sales meetings, product presentations, and demonstrations. One of Simply Green’s (a biofuel company based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; see Chapter 7) most successful marketing tools was cold calling (phone calls that are unsolicited and without any prior connection) to music industry performers touring in the region. It was through this personal selling technique that Simply Green landed an account filling famous musicians’ tour buses, which earned Simply Green instant fame and credibility. • Consumer promotions are programs that directly help to influence the consumer to purchase the product and typically include some price incentive. For sustainable marketing they often include an incentive or donation that help people and the planet. Items such as free standing inserts (FSIs: the inserts that are typically in Sunday’s newspaper), coupons, buy one get one free offers (BOGOs), Groupon offers, in-store sampling, couponing, event marketing, sweepstakes, and other contests are key consumer promotion tactics. Sidebar Free Standing Inserts (FSIs) FSIs are used as a consumer promotion tool and are typically inserted into Sunday’s newspapers. FSIs are used primarily to distribute coupons to encourage purchase. Groupon (group + coupon) is an online digital coupon company (www.groupon.com) that provides deal-a-day coupons and price incentives. These deals are activated when a certain number of consumers agree to purchase at a specified discount rate. Video Clip Toms Shoes: “One for One Movement” (click to see video) Blake Mycoskie started Toms Shoes on the premise that for every pair of shoes sold, one pair would be donated to a child in need. Toms Shoes recognized that consumers want to feel good about what they buy and thus directly tied the purchase with the donation. This consumer promotion is a buy one give one. In just four years, Toms Shoes has donated more than four hundred thousand shoes, evidence that consumers have clearly embraced the cause. • Social media involves the use of sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn, and YouTube, among others, to help generate awareness and get consumers engaged in a relationship with a brand and talking to each other about the brand. Social media are permission-based marketing, and consumers have to engage on their own and give “permission” to marketers to engage with them (e.g., when you “Like” a product or service fan page on Facebook or you view a promotional YouTube video or sign up for a blog RSS feed). This is different than interruptive marketing, which consumers usually have little control over (although DVRs are making it possible for consumers to not have to watch television advertising). Using the power of social media, two CEOs created a “rap off” contest utilizing YouTube videos, Facebook, and Twitter. CE-YO Gary Hirshberg, of Stonyfield Yogurt (see Chapter 13), and CEO Seth Goldman, from Coca-Cola’s Honest Tea, became dueling rappers to promote organics for Earth month. Hirshberg and the “Stonyfield Moms” created a rap video about eating organic (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCA6P9lsEfw&feature=pyv&ad=8718280378&kw=organic%). Not to be outdone, Goldman, who is a longtime friend of Hirshberg’s, thought that they at Honest Tea could do a better rap video and responded with the rap, “Rethink What You Drink” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jeF-65eDLc0#!). Consumers voted on Facebook for the best rapper team and could upload their own organic rap video to win cash and a supply of Stonyfield Yogurt and Honest Tea. Both Stonyfield and Honest Tea used social media to engage consumers for a sustainable mission and actively encouraged consumer participation. The campaign went viral, receiving many website hits, likes on Facebook, tweets and retweets, and YouTube visits. Tom’s of Maine, a Kennebunk, Maine–based personal care company owned by Colgate and well known for its sustainable positioning, uses social media to engage their consumers. For example, they introduced their new Wicked Fresh toothpaste and mouthwash with ads running on Facebook’s newsfeed page, a “Wicked Fresh” sweepstakes, a contest, and an online instant win game. The company also used Twitter to promote the contest. • Event marketing is either the use of an existing event or the creation of an event to engage prospective consumers, build awareness, and market a company’s products and services. One of the simplest examples is the use of trade shows and exhibits. Other methods include creating flash mobs, interactive exhibits, pop-up stores, or other means to stage events. Sidebar Flash Mobs Flash mobs are a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place and perform a choreographed demonstration or performance that catches consumers unaware. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications or social media. Pop-up stores are portable store kiosks that are used to catch consumers in high-visibility locations and are only on display for a short period of time. They can be used at sporting events, concerts, or other high-traffic locations. For food and beverage pop-up stores, sampling is often a key marketing tactic used to entice purchase. Volkswagen creates interactive exhibits in key cities globally to help consumers change their habits to reduce their carbon footprint. Titled “The Fun Theory” (http://thefuntheory.com), they have built interactive exhibits, such as glass bottle recycling bank arcades and piano-based steps in subways that play musical notes when stepped on to encourage more walking versus riding the escalator. By making consumer habit changes fun, Volkswagen is making an impact. • Digital marketing is primarily the use of web-based marketing tools. This would include a company’s website, search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click, retargeting, e-mail, RSS, blogging, podcasting, and video streams, to name a few. The Internet can be used with push or pull techniques. Digital marketing can be used to “push” a message to the target market via e-mail, IM, RSS, or voice broadcast, and it can also be used to “pull” content via a banner ad and pay-per-click search terms. Seventh Generation (see Chapter 8), a national manufacturer and distributor of environmentally friendly household and personal care products, recently has been successfully utilizing digital marketing techniques including SEO, retargeting (generating ads that follow consumers by placing cookies on their site based on previous site visits), and pay-per-click. • Mobile marketing is on the rise, especially with the increasing penetration of smartphones. Currently, the Nielsen Company puts smartphone household penetration at 40 percent, but it is growing quickly.Nielsen, “In US, Smartphones Now Majority of New Cellphone Purchases,” Nielsenwire, June 30, 2011, blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/in-us-smartphones-now-majority-of-new-cellphone-purchases; Graceann Bennett and Freya Williams, Mainstream Green, 2011, assets.ogilvy.com/truffles_email/ogilvyearth/Mainstream_Green.pdf; Stephanie Clifford and Andrew Martin, “As Consumers Cut Spending, ‘Green’ Products Lose Allure,” New York Times, April 21, 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/business/energy-environment/22green.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2; [citation redacted per publisher request]; Wikipedia, s.v., “Greenwashing,” http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwashing; Arthur Thompson, A. J. Strickland, and John Gamble, “Five Generic Competitive Strategies,” in Crafting and Executing Strategy, 17th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009); “Seventh Generation’s Mission,” Seventh Generation, www.seventhgeneration.com/seventh-generation-mission; “Seventh Generation,” Behind the Brand, www.gobehindthebrand.com/498341/Behind-the-Brand-br-Seventh-Generation-br-Jeffrey-Hollender#.TitH0s0xYyM; “‘Green’ Household Cleaning Products in the U.S.: Bathroom Cleaners, Laundry Care and Dish Detergents and Household Cleaners,” Packaged Facts, http://www.packagedfacts.com/Green-Household-Cleaning-2554249; Laurie Burkit, “Seventh Generation Protecting Its Turf,” Forbes, January 18, 2010, http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/18/seventh-generation-brand-awareness-cmo-network-chuck-maniscalco.html; Kari Lipshutz, “Once You Go Green, You’ll Probably Go Back,” AdWeek, April 22, 2011, http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/once-you-go-green-you-ll-probably-go-back-130883; “Arm & Hammer’s New Cleaners Not Only Greener, They’re Cheaper,” EnviralMarketing.com, www.enviralmarketing.com/2008/10/22/arm-hammers-new-cleaners-not-only-greener-theyre-cheaper; Stephanie Clifford and Andrew Martin, “As Consumers Cut Spending, ‘Green’ Products Lose Allure,” New York Times, April 21, 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/business/energy-environment/22green.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2; “Seventh Generation Corporate Conscious Report,” Seventh Generation, www.7genreport.com/introduction/performance.php; “Big Changes at Seventh Generation,” 7Gen (blog), June 1, 2009, www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/blog/big-changes-seventh-generation; Marc Gunther, “Seventh Generation Sweeps Out Its Founder,” Marc Gunther, November 1, 2010, www.marcgunther.com/2010/11/01/seventh-generation-sweeps-out-its-founder; Alex Goldmark, “Seventh Generation Snags Burt’s Bees CEO to Replace Founder,” Good Business (blog), February 10, 2011, www.good.is/post/seventh-generation-gets-a-new-ceo-john-replogle-from-burt-s-bees; Priti Ambani, “Jeffrey Hollender & Seventh Generation: Lessons Learned at the End of a Chapter,” Ecoprenuerist, June 27, 2011, http://ecopreneurist.com/2011/06/27/jeffrey-hollender-seventh-generation-lessons-learned-at-the-end-of-a-chapter; Jonathan Bardelline, “Clorox Income Falls as Recession Slows Green Brands,” GreenBiz.com, May 3, 2011, http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/05/03/clorox-income-falls-recession-slows-green-brands. Mobile advertising and the use of QR (quick response) codes is an effective way to engage consumers. QR codes are two-dimensional (2D) matrix barcodes that can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information. When consumers “snap” them on their smartphones, the QR codes can take them to a special mobile-enabled site that provides content and incentives to promote a product. In today’s digital world of immediacy, consumers want instant access to what’s relevant and mobile marketing techniques are being used to make that possible. Sea Bags, a Portland, Maine–based company that makes handmade tote bags from recycled sails, is using a strategic approach with QR codes, incorporating them into its marketing strategy. The QR code directs consumers to a mobile-enabled website that shows a video portraying the company story and commitment to recycling, detailing how they use recycled sails to make their product. Future plans are to include bag tags (also made of recycled sails) with QR codes, which tell consumers their sail’s history and sailing journey around the world. • Grassroots promotion and marketing combines some of the different promotional approaches in a focused, creative, and low-cost way that is often local or community based. It can be particularly useful for start-up ventures. It uses public relations (such as local press and media stories), blogs, social media, and community event planning and participation to drive qualified leads to company websites and physical locations for purchases. Andrew Kellar, the founder of Simply Green, used grassroots marketing with a focus on company participation with a nonprofit organization (the New Hampshire Green Alliance) and high-visibility sales with well-known early adopter customers (touring rock band buses) to build up its customer base to over five hundred in just one year at a very low marketing cost. (See more details in Chapter 7.) Sidebar Honest Tea’s Honest Marketing When Coca-Cola acquired Honest Tea, they began to approach the marketing plan the way the giant marketing behemoth always did—with plenty of national television advertising, deep trade promotion discounts, and slick shelf placement and promotion at retail. The traditional marketing efforts, which normally work well for a more traditional CPG brand, were a flop. Why? Because a big splashy marketing campaign was not in keeping with their “honest” brand image nor did it capitalize on the way that Honest Tea’s following had been built. Honest Tea’s success had been developed through grassroots marketing, which gave the brand an elite following that said, “We are not like everyone else—we require something special.” Their Honest Cities campaign worked particularly well; Honest Tea set up displays with bottles of tea with a one-dollar collection barrel next to the pallets—purchases on the honor system. They promoted Earth Day by handing out reusable shopping bags with each purchase of Honest Tea. The brand built its presence first in a local market then spread out to the region and then moved to the next local market; the brand then positioned itself to grow into the next region. In addition, the brand continued to focus on the health food chain channel like Whole Foods—not a stronghold for the traditional Coke beverages.Denise Harrison, “Honest Tea Teaches Coke a Lesson,” Simplified Strategic Planning (blog), www.cssp.com/strategicplanning/blog/?p=871. So when the big marketing campaign failed, what did Coke do? Coca-Cola went back to basics to effectively develop and implement a marketing plan that personified the brand image and even reprised the Honest Cities campaign, refreshed, of course, using pop-up stores called “The Honest Stand” and social media.Kyana Gordon, “Honest Tea Campaign Stimulates Sales Growth, Brand Awareness, and Honesty,” PSFK, March 9, 2011, www.psfk.com/2011/03/honest-tea-campaign-stimulates-sales-growth-brand-awareness-and-honesty.html. KEY TAKEAWAYS • A sustainable marketing strategy works best when it adapts and complements the overall corporate sustainability vision of the company, personifies the brand image, and is clearly and transparently executed throughout all marketing elements. • For an effective sustainable marketing approach, the four Ps, product, price, place, and promotion, should be based on sustainability principles and should align with overall marketing strategy. • Consumer target market segmentation is effective to better tailor marketing efforts to those consumer’s that align best as potential buyers or customers of a given product or service. • Physical products can be made more sustainable through considering ways to minimize materials use, minimize the negative impact of the production process, and maximize the efficiency of the distribution process. • Packaging changes, such as encouraging reusable bags, a tighter packaging-to-product ratio, or cube optimization, can be effective ways to reduce the environmental impact of a product while increasing profitability. • Sustainable goods can be more expensive to produce than conventional alternatives as a result of potentially higher-cost raw materials, methods of production, and renewable resources. This should be taken into consideration when developing the branding, developing the marketing mix, and focusing on a market segment. • A mix of promotional mediums is best to effectively and efficiently reach the target market with a consistent branded message and call to action. Exercise $1$ Walmart is using their retail power to pressure their suppliers and vendors to help the company achieve its sustainability goals. How do you feel about this approach? Contrast it versus P&G’s approach. Exercise $2$ It has been viewed by some that Walmart’s sustainability efforts are a shallow public relations effort to help create a better corporate image, especially after much negative publicity that it is not substantive and meaningful. What do you think? Exercise $3$ Provide an example of a product or service that adheres to sustainability principles and discuss the four Ps they use in the market. What is working well for them and what would you suggest for them to do to improve?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/06%3A_Sustainable_Business_Marketing/6.01%3A_Green_Marketing_Strategy_and_the_Four_P%27s_of_Marketing.txt
Learning Objectives • Understand the market barriers to sustainable products and how they can be addressed with marketing. • Identify and discuss the three primary barriers to sustainable product sales growth. With all the attention given to sustainability, the question remains, why aren’t more consumers using green products? There are three key barriers that sustainability marketers need to keep in mind to better position their products for growth: 1. Price 2. Performance 3. Behavioral change Sidebar Mainstream America Unmoved by Green Marketing“Mainstream America Unmoved by Green Marketing,” SustainableBusiness.com, http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/22277. Green marketing messages targeting mainstream American consumers are missing the mark, according to a study released in 2011 by consultant group OgilvyEarth. The report included research that showed that many of the environmental messages of marketers were not just failing to close what the study called the Green Gap, but were actually cementing it by making green behavior too difficult and costly from a practical, financial, and social standpoint. “Many of the world’s leading corporations are staking their futures on the bet that sustainability will become a major driver of mainstream consumer purchase behavior. Unless they can figure out how to close the gap, there will never be a business case for green,” added Freya Williams, Co-Founder and Director of Strategy at OgilvyEarth and co-author of the study. The study found that 82% of Americans have good green intentions but only 16% are dedicated to fulfilling these intentions, putting 66% firmly in what the report called the “middle green.” Considering green behavior on a continuum, most of the dialogue and marketing to date according to the report has focused on “super greens” on the one hand and “green rejecters” on the other. There has been limited success in motivating the masses or the middle green. Existing green marketing is either irrelevant or even alienating to most Americans, the study asserts. Half of Americans think green and environmentally friendly products are marketed to “Crunchy Granola Hippies” or “Rich Elitist Snobs” rather than “Everyday Americans.” The report highlighted that cost continues to be the greatest barrier that holds Americans back from more sustainable purchases. “One trip to the grocery store and you would see that green products can have as much as a 100% price premium. It’s as if we’re penalizing virtuous behaviors with a de facto sustainability tax,” says Bennett. But price was far from the only thing preventing consumer behavior change. The super green minority, according to the report, who venture into the green space do so with a relatively high social and emotional cost. They say they feel ostracized from their neighbors, families, and friends. Meanwhile the middle greens say they fear attracting the negative judgment of their peers if they go out on a limb to purchase green products. Until green products and services feel normal and adhere to normative pricing, the middle green are unlikely to embrace them. Nearly half of Americans claim to feel guiltier “the more they know” about how to live a sustainable lifestyle. Super greens feel twice the guilt as the average American. Even among the green middle, guilt plays a role. As it increases, these consumers want to retreat to the comfort of ignorance. “Understanding the prevalent misuse of appeals to a sense of guilt, we can see where sustainability marketing has gone wrong,” says Williams. “People don’t need to know about the state of polar bears in the Arctic to turn off the lights—paradoxically it may be stopping them from doing so.” The barrier to adopting sustainable behaviors is even higher for men. Fully 82% of respondents say going green is “more feminine than masculine.” More men identify as Green Rejecters, and the ranks of the Super Greens are dominated by women. This feminization holds men back from visible green behavior like using reusable grocery bags or carrying around reusable water bottles. Price Price is a well-recognized hurdle for many consumers in purchasing sustainable products and services. Sixty-six percent of US consumers view environmentally friendly products as too expensive. Whether consumers are looking to purchase an energy saving light bulb or environmentally friendly home cleaning products, these products often cost more than the most popular consumer versions. Often the premium price puts these products out of the reach or interest of the majority of consumers. And the price premium as a hurdle is magnified during economic downturns. Sidebar Gap between Concern and the Cash Register Overall, 83 percent of global online consumers reported in Nielsen’s 2011 Global Online Environment and Sustainability Survey (www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/press-room/2011/global-warming-cools-off-as-top-concern.html) say that it is important that companies implement programs to improve the environment, but only 22 percent say they will pay more for an eco-friendly product. Willingness to pay extra for environmentally friendly goods is highest in the Middle East and Africa, where one-third of consumers are willing, and lowest in North America, where only 12 percent of both Canadians and Americans say they will pay extra for eco-friendly products. Many consumers reported a personal preference for eco-friendly goods, but large percentages of respondents report setting aside this preference and buying whichever product is cheapest, including 48 percent in North America, 36 percent in the Middle East and Africa, 35 percent in Europe, 33 percent in Asia Pacific, and 27 percent in Latin America. The price premium compared to the conventional alternative needs to be addressed through the three other parts of the marketing mix (product, place, and promotion). But the most effective way to address the price premium is to address it directly—to find ways to reduce it. Reducing the sustainable price premium is a key factor in having a greater percentage of average consumers purchase more environmentally favorable products. Performance Marketers need to clearly communicate the product’s benefits and sustainable position especially when commanding a premium price. The challenge is that greener products do not have a stellar history of performing well. In the 1970s, green laundry detergents were developed as a result of concerns over phosphates—a chemical that can cause environmental degradation in large quantities—and resulted in gray, dingy clothes. The original organic cereals tasted like cardboard to many consumers and the early versions of energy efficient light bulbs cast a green glow. Many consumers—roughly a third in the United States and around the globe—still question the efficacy of green products versus their regular, nongreen product alternatives despite strides made in product performance. Sidebar Going Green Packaging? Go Softly. In April 2009, Frito Lay introduced a biodegradable bag for Sun Chips with a big marketing effort to play up its environmentally friendly nature as it was made from plants and not plastic and could break down in compost. Sound good? Well, the stiffer material made the packaging give off a loud annoying noise that measured at roughly eighty to eighty-five decibels. Consumers compared this sound to a noisy busy city street or even a jet engine. The criticism grew so much that within six months, the company was forced to switch back to its original bag. It didn’t help that sales dropped 11 percent during that timeframe as well.“SunChips Bag Proves It Not Easy Being ‘Green,’” Washington Post, October 7, 2010, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/06/AR2010100606681.html. Marketers need to stress the traditional benefits of the sustainable good and must demonstrate the product’s effectiveness. This can be more important than highlighting the sustainability benefits to overcome inherent consumer skepticism. A good example of this is Glad Products Company’s 2011 introduction of a version of its Glad tall kitchen drawstring trash bag that is made with less plastic. Glad Products, a joint venture of the Clorox Company and Procter & Gamble, spent over \$30 million on a campaign to introduce the trash bags. The bags were billed in ads and on packages as “strength with less plastic” and “stronger with less plastic waste.” (The bags were made using 6.5 percent less plastic than before, Glad Products executives say, and have what are called reinforcing bands to make the bags stronger.)Stuart Elliot, “Glad Cuts the Hyperbole for Its New Green Trash Bag,” New York Times, October 19, 2011. The company smartly kept the price at parity to more conventional counterparts, thereby eliminating the green pricing gap. They have made it easier for consumers to adopt this more sustainable product. Moreover, they have positioned it correctly by combining an efficacy product benefit, “stronger,” with a sustainable benefit, “with less plastic/less plastic waste.” That’s a win-win-win. Behavioral Change Many sustainable practices require consumers to change their habits and adopt new ones. Recycling, turning off the lights, lowering the thermostat in winter, using recyclable bags for shopping—all require changing behavior. Typically changing a behavior is a slow process as consumers have to be retaught a habit. That is why Generation Y, often referred to as millennials, are quicker to adopt sustainability practices since they are not breaking old habits. Most behavioral changes are more readily adopted when there is a perceived consumer benefit, for example, using a kitchen bag with less plastic that is stronger and driving a fuel-efficient car that saves money at the gas pump. Using a more energy efficient, longer-lasting light bulb and a programmable thermostat can save on energy costs and conserving water using a more efficient toilet saves on the water bill. Marketers can help consumers more quickly adopt new behavior and buy new products when they highlight the benefits and long-term cost savings in promoting the product. Sidebar One Step at a Time How much are marketers of green products scaling back ambitious efforts to sell eco-friendlier brands as life-changers and planet-savers? A line of recycled paper products, introduced by Marcal in 2009, has the brand name “Small Steps” rather than something grander like “Giant Leaps.” Each Marcal product is promoted on packages with the tagline, “A small, easy step to a greener earth.” This provides a much more realistic and manageable tack that diverges from the hyperbole so favored by Madison Avenue and helps consumers feel empowered to make a difference. KEY TAKEAWAYS • The three market barriers to sustainable products are (1) price, (2) performance, and (3) behavior change. • Each of these market barriers must be considered by the marketing professional when developing a marketing strategy. Exercise $1$ Consider a “conventional product,” such as toothpaste. Develop a marketing mix plan (the four Ps) for making this product “sustainable” while considering the three market barriers discussed. Discuss how your marketing mix addresses each of these three potential barriers. Exercise $2$ Find examples of sustainable goods or services that encountered the market barriers discussed in this section. Try to find one unique example per barrier.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/06%3A_Sustainable_Business_Marketing/6.02%3A_Market_Barriers_to_Sustainability_Products.txt
Learning Objectives • Discuss the risks associated with sustainability marketing. Although sustainability continues to grow as an important business concept, focusing on sustainability in marketing entails significant risks that need to be addressed. These risks can cause problems with a company’s marketing plan, short and long term. The sustainable marketing risks can be categorized as follows: 1. Market risks 2. Operating risks 3. Corporate image risks Market Risks Addressing market risks are part of a normal strategy and marketing plan development process, but sustainability adds a dimension of uncertainty due to its relative “newness.” Marketing sustainability is in its high-risk phase since the consumer appeal for sustainability is still not well defined. It is true that consumers, when polled, will espouse sustainability’s benefits and appeal, but a gap currently exists between the consumers’ words and actions. As a result, the following market risks are associated with sustainability initiatives: 1. Weakness in sustainability’s consumer appeal, particularly relative to more basic incentives, such as value, convenience, and efficacy 2. Lack of understanding and personal appreciation of sustainability’s benefits among consumer groups In the abstract, consumers easily agree that the coupling of economic and environmental sustainability is a very positive concept. Who would argue that working to ensure that future generations have the resources to enjoy success is a negative idea? This apparent universal appeal has led more than a few marketers to believe that sustainability as a consumer benefit has mass potential. Consumer purchasing behavior to date, however, has not confirmed sustainability’s appeal for the majority of potential consumers. When marketers pit sustainability’s strength as a benefit against value in a low-price or low-cost provider differentiation strategy, sustainability seems to have only a limited impact. When marketers pit sustainability’s strength as a benefit against convenience and effectiveness in a differentiation strategy, sustainability also seems to have very limited impact. Sustainability marketers need to understand their “pioneer” role in capturing and leveraging sustainability benefits. Consumers still seem to be processing the value of sustainability as a benefit. Most importantly, consumers are still processing how much they would pay for this benefit. In addition, sustainability often addresses externalities or failures of conventional products or services to fully cost the negative impact they have. Therefore the “price” of sustainability, whether it be an additional financial cost or a time or effort cost, is something that may make society collectively better off, while making an individual worst off for absorbing that additional cost. The marketer must find ways to communicate personal benefit as well as societal benefits. “It’s good for the environment” may not be good enough to convince a consumer to justify any personal cost or sacrifice. Initial attempts to use sustainability as a key marketing benefit have demonstrated the nascent appeal. Niche businesses, such as Simply Green and Seventh Generation, as well as larger-scale companies such as Stonyfield seem to be able to define an industry segment using the sustainability platform. When mass marketers, attracted by the high growth rates in the “good-for-you, good-for-the-planet” segment, attempt to duplicate niche marketers’ success on a larger scale, the mass marketers have generated mixed results. Examples include “green” product launches from Clorox, SC Johnson, and Dwight and Church. Although some products, supported by heavy introductory marketing programs, experienced initial success, the premium pricing for the products with no accompanying added benefit except for sustainability eventually led to a reduction in the size of the business. This was the case with Green Works from Clorox. Sales of Green Works reached \$100 million in its introductory year. Clorox spent approximately \$25 million in advertising in 2008 and 2009. Due primarily to the recession, which put pressure on premium-priced products, Green Works sales fell to \$60 million and Clorox dropped advertising support to approximately \$1 million. Sustainability as a key benefit is still developing, and the strength of the benefit versus established benefits of better value, lower price, more convenience, and more effectiveness is still not measurable or clear. Many consumers will purchase green products that make no compromises in other benefits. But most consumers will not buy when the green benefit comes at the expense of higher price or more conventional benefits. The marketing discussion has focused on sustainability as a benefit in a product offered to consumers. When companies apply a sustainability focus as a corporate mandate, such as Timberland, the benefit to the business is also still to be determined. The number of consumers willing to buy a product from a “green” company or an outstanding corporate citizen instead of products from other companies with no such mandate is not definitive at this time. Marketers may believe that the “good” company will reap benefits over the “neutral” or “bad” companies, but unfortunately, this may not always be the case. Nevertheless, current evidence suggests that consumers are finding the sustainability benefit to be appealing and will possibly become more influential for a consumer’s buying decision in the future. Sustainability as a benefit appeals to the logical and emotional sides of the consumer, offering potential for the development of a larger opportunity. Marketers must remember that they are still responsible for developing this opportunity by pioneering information dissemination to consumers and education about sustainability. Sustainability does not yet operate in a clearly defined opportunity space that allows companies to launch new products with no pioneering effort for mass success. Operating Risks Chasing the opportunity presented by the growing awareness of sustainability also can create operating risks that need to be addressed during marketing plan development and execution. Much discussion on this subject has taken place, and the issues are fairly straightforward. The following operating risks are associated with pursuing sustainability initiatives as part of a marketing plan: 1. Loss in profitability 2. Loss of focus Just as sustainability would seem to be a rallying cry for consumers, some companies have jumped on sustainability as a rallying cry for employees. By incorporating sustainability into corporate mission statements and adding green to their products, some companies like Timberland believe that they can drive business improvement via a competitive advantage. All this seems to be a reasonable operating assumption, and a growing number of companies including Timberland have been successful operating under this assumption. Loss of profitability can occur, however, if a company uses more financial and human resources than competitors without gaining a commensurate benefit. As an example, activities designed to protect the environment have costs. If a company cannot price to recover these costs or if the costs do not lead to benefits that make products superior in the minds of the consumer, then the company now operates at a cost disadvantage versus competition. By internalizing these costs and not receiving a real benefit, a company may experience loss of sales, market share, and profitability. In addition, adding sustainability to the marketing mix can lead to a loss of focus on the primary objective: economic profitability and economic sustainability. Driving activity through marketing to results that are not part of the core economic strategy may lead a company to damage its profitability by loss of focus and misallocation of critical resources. Corporate Image Risks The last risk classification deals with the risks to corporate image that can occur when pursuing sustainability marketing activities and goals. Although all marketing activities have implications for corporate image, sustainability marketing activities can create a higher level of positive or negative impact on image. This is probably because sustainability is a more altruistic and noble cause versus other business objectives and also increasingly of interest to the media and general public and therefore a highly visible company activity. The following corporate image risks are associated with sustainability marketing: 1. Negative greenwashing image 2. Magnified negative impact of an inconsistent action Greenwashing is the use of green marketing to give the incorrect impression that the company’s strategy, operations, and products are designed to be beneficial to the environment. The company attempts to market their green credentials to improve their public image to generate greater sales through positive “spin.” Companies embarking on this path are taking a significant risk because exposure of the company’s true activities and footprint could result in a relatively large negative impact on all elements of the marketing and public relations plan and eventually sales and profitability. Even companies that are sincere but are perceived to be insincere by the public can suffer grave consequences. It is imperative for companies employing sustainability marketing to be genuine in their motivation and effective in its execution. The damage done by even a hint of insincerity or with poor execution is potentially irreversible. Sidebar Greenwashing Environmentalist Jay Westerveld coined the phrase in his 1986 essay regarding the hotel industry’s practice of using placards in each room to promote reuse of towels to “save the environment.” He wrote that many hotels made little effort toward energy use reduction. The principal goal of this activity was to increase profits. Since that time, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has put some parameters into effect to help minimize greenwashing with its Green Guide, which was first published in 1998 and revised again in October 2010. The FTC Green Guide mandates that companies provide clear substantiation to any environmental claims and that there is specificity surrounding these claims. In particular, the FTC warns of using more generic terms such as “eco-friendly” and “environmentally friendly” without documented and detailed evidence to these claims. Failure to comply can cost a company up to \$16,000 per false claim.Lee van der Voo, “FTC Takes a Swipe at Greenwashing,” Sustainable Business Oregon, May 8, 2011, www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/articles/2010/10/new_ftc_rules_take_swipe_at_greenwashing.html. To see the "Sins of Greenwashing," visit sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/the-seven-sins/. Even a company that has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability over time is still vulnerable, if not more vulnerable, to a misstep in its sustainability initiatives and action. Some companies may be able to generate goodwill through their past actions, but some consumers may take a “what have you done for me lately?” mind-set that does not provide the opportunity to generate this equity. As a result, marketers who incorporate sustainability marketing as an integral element of their plan must be aware of the importance in maintaining consistency and effective execution in its approach and commitment. As an example, Green Mountain Coffee, a company that has sustainability among its core beliefs, has had some setbacks to its public image due to its biggest business success, Keurig coffee cups. Per its mantra, the company is aggressively researching methods to build a recyclable cup, but its current cups are not biodegradable. Green Mountain’s history has given it some protection from negative publicity, but this protection may wear down if a solution is not found in the short term. Once the company loses that essential part of their corporate image, Green Mountain runs the danger of becoming just another coffee company. (Green Mountain Coffee is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 9.) Although there is some significant disagreement and experience to support that disagreement, there is evidence that marketing that leverages sustainability attributes is relevant and important. Due to the unique and continuously changing positioning of sustainability in consumers’ minds, sustainability marketing comes with its own set of rewards and challenges. To be successful in sustainability marketing, a company must recognize and be ready to deal with the risks associated with this relatively new business concept. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Marketers and strategists must consider the market, operating, and image risks associated with sustainability marketing to capture this relatively new business concept’s power and to minimize its downside. • Sustainability as a consumer benefit alone may not be enough to motivate the mainstream consumer to purchase. There exists an opportunity for better consumer cognitive balancing between “good for the environment” and “good for the pocketbook.” • Greenwashing practices have potential to inflict long-term damage to a brand and company franchise. Exercise $1$ Find an example of a company that undertook a sustainability strategy that was perceived as greenwashing. Do you agree that the company was greenwashing or was its actions sincere? Exercise $2$ BP (British Petroleum) rebranded itself in 2000 as “Beyond Petroleum.” In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig was involved in one of the worst oil spills in history. What is your reaction to their rebranding given this event? Have you changed your purchasing habits as a result of the BP oil spill?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/06%3A_Sustainable_Business_Marketing/6.03%3A_Business_Risks_of_Sustainability_Marketing.txt
Learning Objectives • Discuss why marketing a sustainable brand is different than a mainstream product. • Discuss keys to effectively market a sustainable brand. Marketing to the “green” or sustainability market is different than marketing mainstream products. The products are held to higher standards, judged not only on the product’s effectiveness but also on delivering on societal and environmental responsibilities. When marketing sustainability it is important that dedication be given—from the initial stages of developing the product through to the products end of life—to environmental responsibilities while still delivering financial performance. The following are guidelines on how to market sustainable products effectively: • Make sure your product works. Ensure the product competitively delivers on both traditional and sustainability benefits. If the product doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter how “green” it is. • Be genuine in sustainability efforts. Fulfill the sustainability message throughout the entire product’s lifecycle—from sourcing of ingredients to the recycling process. • Market transparently. Consumers have come to develop a strong relationship with sustainable companies and brands. They demand transparency. Seventh Generation got into trouble with their baby wipes product when they changed the size of the packaging to have less wipes per package and did not effectively communicate the change to their consumers. Consumers felt “cheated” and lost faith in the company, which took some time to rebuild. • Strengthen your core. Corporate social responsibility needs to be at the core of your company’s business philosophy permeating the supply chain all the way through to treating employees fairly. Take, for example, Walmart, who has pledged to reduce their carbon footprint yet is getting sued for employee discrimination.“Plaintiffs in Walmart Suit File New Claim,” Supermarket News, Oct 27, 2011, supermarketnews.com/retail_financial/walmart_plantiffs_1027/?cid=upd. • Manage any sustainable pricing gap. The high price of many of the sustainable products discourages consumers from purchasing and actually can be perceived as a sustainability tax or surcharge. Eliminating or reducing the price barrier helps to dispel the notion that green products are not just for the elite and will encourage more people to consume better-for-the-environment products. • Don’t force the consumer to make big tradeoffs—whether it is price, performance, convenience, or a noisy package. Most consumers have not proven that they are willing to make significant sacrifices. • Have patience. Most environmentally friendly consumer behavior requires behavioral changes, and behavioral change takes time. Generation Y and millennial consumers are more apt to embrace this change faster. As more and more companies are jumping on the green bandwagon and eliminating some of the barriers, change will evolve quicker to help shape this shift toward a more sustainable future. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Sustainable marketing requires additional consideration when compared to marketing traditional products and services. • Marketers must deliver value and performance on their sustainable goods. • Marketers need to be creative in their marketing mix to address areas that may be perceived as deficient, such as a higher price, compared to traditional goods. Exercise $1$ Find an example of a “green” product. Discuss the current value proposition of the product. Based on the lessons learned in this chapter, what is the company doing right in marketing its product? What is it doing wrong? What suggestions would you provide to the company to change the value proposition and why?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/06%3A_Sustainable_Business_Marketing/6.04%3A_Keys_to_Marketing_a_Sustainable_Brand.txt
Figure $1$: Simply Green Source: Simply Green. Learning Objectives • Understand the motivations of the entrepreneur Andrew Kellar in starting the sustainable business Simply Green Biofuels. • Explain the key challenges faced by the entrepreneur and the start-up company and how they were addressed. • Understand how the entrepreneur used personal relations and social networks to inform and support his efforts. • Discuss the ecological and social values of the entrepreneur and how the business he started reflected those values. • Understand the performance of the entrepreneur and the start-up venture from a triple bottom line perspective. • Discuss the role of the entrepreneur’s public relations efforts in informing and educating potential customers about sustainable business products and services. • Explain what an entrepreneur has to do well to have a successful business venture through the start-up phase and into the growth phase. This case provides the example of a start-up sustainable business venture. Its purpose is to provide the student with a detailed look at the challenges of entrepreneurship and of small company management in a sustainable business enterprise. Students should consider this case in the context of the triple bottom line—people, profit, and planet. Simply Green Biofuels (www.simplygreenbiofuels.com) offers green alternatives to home heating, diesel, and marine fueling in the seacoast New Hampshire and southern Maine area. The company’s flagship biofuel blends can be used without any changes to a customer’s heating system or motor vehicle engine. In four years, from 2007 to 2011, the company grew its customer base to more than 1,400 customers and, according to Biofuels Digest, established itself as one of the leading companies in the bioenergy sector nationally. Its founder, Andrew Kellar, was named one the “25 Leaders for the Next 25 Years” by BusinessNH Magazine in 2009. The company’s biofuels are locally sourced from waste vegetable oil (WVO). Typically, WVO is collected as recycled vegetable oils from restaurants and distributors. Once it’s refined into a petroleum-like fuel, it is combined with traditional petroleum products to make biofuel blends. The company offers a bio heating oil product called BioHeat and biodiesel for motor vehicle use in three different blends. The only difference between BioHeat fuel and biodiesel motor engine biofuel is that BioHeat is blended with no. 2 heating oil, and biodiesel is blended with diesel fuel. The blends and their environmental attributes and benefits are as follows: • B5. B5 is a blend of 5 percent biofuel and 95 percent no. 2 heating oil or diesel fuel. By using B5, the typical consumer will reduce their CO2 emissions by 4 percent or the equivalent of planting fifty-two trees. • B20. This blend contains 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent no. 2 heating oil or diesel fuel. By using B20, the typical consumer will reduce their CO2 emissions by 16 percent or the equivalent of planting 192 trees. • B100. This blend contains 100 percent biofuel and no no. 2 heating oil or diesel fuel. In its purest form, biofuel is a highly solvent product that breaks down any petroleum residue (e.g., sludge) that has built up in a system over time. Every heating and motor vehicle manufacturer has endorsed the use of B5. However, Simply Green states that after B5 has been run for a sufficient amount of time (typically after a couple deliveries), customers may be able to “bump up” to a B20 blend. Sidebar Biofuels Contribution to Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Biofuels offer the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because the carbon in the plant matter from which biofuels are produced comes from the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plants from the atmosphere during their lifetime. This is in contrast to the carbon in fossil fuels, which has been sequestered underground for millions of years and is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide when the fuels are burnt. Biofuels can lead to significant GHG emissions savings compared to fossil fuels. Figure $3$: Andrew Kellar Source: Simply Green. One might think that Simply Green started partly out of necessity and partly out of Andrew Kellar’s passion and concern for the environment. Andrew Kellar identified an opportunity—a market niche that was not being filled—and he developed a business to meet that opportunity. But that is not how he or Simply Green got started. In 2003, Simply Green was founded by Andrew as an erosion control and hydro-seeding business. It was a seasonal business that fit well with Andrew’s preferred lifestyle. It enabled him to pursue his passion for outdoor activities, including surfing in Mexico with his wife during the cold winter seasons in New Hampshire. His passion for the environment started when he was young. In addition to surfing as a youth, he was constantly doing activities to help protect the environment, including beach cleanups and recycling. As Simply Green’s hydro-seeding business grew, the company required additional trucks and equipment, which, in turn, required the use of more and more diesel fuel. Andrew, with his love for the outdoors, became increasingly concerned about the negative environmental impact of his company’s use of diesel. This concern led Andrew to investigate alternatives. Were there options for fuel that could still power his business but reduce his negative impact? Andrew had heard of people collecting grease from McDonald’s or other fast food restaurants and then using it to power their motor vehicles. This intrigued him and he started to see if there was a biofuel alternative to power the vehicles and equipment for his business. Starting in 2006, Andrew started looking into the biodiesel market more deeply. At the time, there was limited availability in northern New England. He could only locate two gas stations that provided biodiesel, one that was somewhat close to his operating area and one that was two hours away. Also there was only one home heating fuel provider in the area that offered biodiesel, but it was not their main focus; instead, it was a specialty product that they offered. For Andrew, a personal change was one of the major factors that convinced him to move forward into biofuels. Andrew and his wife, Ginger, received a phone call from the Florida Department of Children and Families. There were three young children that were in need of a home who were relatives of the Kellars. The Kellars took the children in. Andrew’s new parenting role and responsibility got him to think about how he could positively impact society and the earth and also how he was going to help support the three new additions to the family. This convinced him to start the business. As Andrew describes, fate may have had a hand in the situation: “What really kicked me over was that phone call. The phone call that we were going to be parents instantly…And, call it fate, call it whatever you want, but I had just finished doing a hydro seeding job for this one customer and I was researching online where the supply sources were and it said, for more information on our biodiesel, contact Tim Keaveney. And I looked down, this one evening, and there was a check from Tim K for the hydro seeding I just did.”	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.00%3A_Introduction_to_Simply_Green.txt
Figure $1$: Biodiesel Source: Wikimedia, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...JA-SOYBEAM.jpg. Biofuels have been around as long as cars have. At the start of the twentieth century, Henry Ford planned to fuel his Model Ts with ethanol, and the original diesel engine designed by Rudolph Diesel used peanut oil–based fuel. Discoveries of huge petroleum deposits kept gasoline and diesel at a low cost for the twentieth century, and biofuels were largely forgotten. However, with the rise in oil prices, along with growing concern about global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions from conventional fuels, biofuels have been regaining popularity recently. Gasoline and diesel are actually ancient biofuels. They are known as fossil fuels because they are made from decomposed plants and animals that have been buried underground for millions of years. Biofuels are similar except that they are produced from plants grown today.“Biofuels: The Original Car Fuel,” National Geographic, http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/biofuel-profile. Biodiesel is a product that is derived from a renewable energy source, such as soybeans. The renewable energy source could also be other crops, such as corn, although corn is more typically made into ethanol for use by gasoline engines. It could also be recycled grease that comes from commercial fryers. Biodiesel produced from recycled oils and grease is considered a second-generation biofuel, whereas the soybean would be, if it was grown as a virgin product specifically for it, considered a first-generation biofuel. There also are third-generation biofuels based on algae.For more information on BioHeat and related products, see “Alcohol Can Be a Gas,” http://www.permaculture.com. The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction from using biofuels is not 100 percent when compared to fossil fuels. Carbon savings are partially offset by the energy that is needed for cultivation, harvesting, processing, and transportation of biofuels. This can represent a substantial fraction of the total energy released from processed biofuels and varies significantly between crops. In the worst-case scenario, the production process may actually take more energy than can be produced when the biofuels are used, which undermines the potential environmental benefits.“Biofuels—The Net Energy Debate,” SyntecBiofuel, www.syntecbiofuel.com/biofuels_net_energy_debate.php. Second, there may be carbon emissions associated with changing the usage of land to biofuel crop cultivation. For instance, if areas that have not been previously cultivated, such as forest land, are converted to produce biofuels, then there may be significant immediate releases of carbon stored in the existing plant life and in the soil and also damage to biodiversity and the ecosystem. These land use–change effects may prevent biofuel plantations from generating an overall reduction in carbon emissions until many decades of crops have been produced. Public Policy Impact on the Market The biofuel industry is subsidized by the federal government, like most other US energy markets, such as oil and natural gas. There is a \$1 per gallon “blenders’” credit for companies that produce pure 100 percent biofuels and then blend in 0.1 percent heating oil or diesel fuel to produce B99.9 made from either first-, second-, or third-generation sources. This blending triggers the credit and allows the product to be competitive with traditional fossil fuels. The biofuel industry is significantly impacted by changing public policies due to the highly politicized nature of discussions about climate change and the human influence on climate change in the United States. This has made it difficult to develop a business in the industry. For example, the blenders’ credit was repealed in early 2010 and it took almost nine months for it to be reenacted in the US Congress. During this period, many biodiesel factories were either in temporary shut down or in foreclosure, and this resulted in significant job loss in the industry.Brett Clanton, “New Year, New Troubles: Biofuel Plants Idled by Loss of Tax Credit,” Houston Chronicle, December 31, 2009, www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/6794155.html.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.01%3A__Biodiesel.txt
After Andrew’s first meeting with Tim Keaveney, he realized quickly that he was facing several different challenges. The first—entering an established, mature home heating oil industry—was going to be extremely difficult. Tim told Andrew, “Nobody starts a fuel business these days. I mean, the youngest fuel company in this area is 10 or 12 years old.” Fuel distribution to homes was a challenging industry to get into because traditionally they were multigenerational businesses with very loyal customers. There was no easy solution to this challenge. Andrew was simply willing to take a leap of faith and try to help transform the industry by offering a new product into the marketplace. Not only was Andrew entering a mature industry, but he was entering an industry that he had no experience in. While his hydro-seeding business had provided him with experience in a service-based industry and experience running a business, he did not have experience in fuel procurement and delivery. Another challenge was capital. Any new business or business expansion faces this challenge—access to adequate capital. Simply Green was better positioned, in terms of financial position, than many other new businesses. Its new business expansion could be in part self-funded. Andrew Kellar, unlike many other entrepreneurs, was fortunate to have the hydro-seeding business, which, at the time, was one of the largest in the region and was generating positive net revenue of approximately \$100,000 annually. Sidebar Self-Funding a Business Start-Up Self-funding involves funding a venture through savings accumulated on one’s own or in a previous business. It can also include taking on personal debt through bank loans or loans from friends and family and use of personal lines of credit. Simply Green started the biofuel home heating side of the business in April 2007. To most fuel providers, this would have seemed to be the worst time of year to start because it was toward the end of the heating season in the Northeast. But for Simply Green it made sense because the company had the ability to softly test the market through early adopter customers and learn from that experience. Andrew’s plan was to capture some revenue from the heating season market, go into the summer time, quickly reevaluate what was working and what needed improvement, and then move on into the next heating season. This soft market entry approach also helped with another challenge—educating their potential customers about their product and value proposition. Simply Green used different types of marketing and public relations to educate the public about their unique product offering. As Andrew describes it, We were not concerned with going to any type of event. We didn’t care if it was a first graders’ classroom that we were going to, we would go in and talk. We would go to every place we had an opportunity to talk about biofuel and our services. And looking back now, the irony of that is where people remembered seeing us, and hearing us, were in some of those obscure places that you wouldn’t have normally thought from a marketing standpoint that people would remember you and actually make a decision to buy your product or service. Sidebar Early Adopters of Products An early adopter is a person who embraces new technology before most other people do. Early adopters tend to buy new products sooner than most others. According to a theory called diffusion of innovations, formulated by Everett Rogers, early adopters make up 13.5 percent of the population. Early adopters, while eager to explore new products, are not the first to buy a new offering. That role, according to Rogers, is played by a small minority just under 3 percent of people called innovators. Laggards are at the other end of the spectrum. They are reluctant to embrace new technology because of disinterest, financial constraints, or fear. Sidebar Value Proposition for a Business A value proposition is a business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. The statement should be able to convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other offerings. Another challenge was the licensing and the regulatory process of entering the highly regulated fuel industry. While Simply Green was providing biofuel, it was a blended product and it had conventional fuel in it so the company had to be regulated just like any other heating oil or diesel provider. Simply Green had to learn about and undertake many different types of licensing including at the state level, for hazardous material, and from the US Department of Transportation. Simply Green already had experience with the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) licensing as they had just completed a vehicle audit. Andrew was already familiar with the licensing process, and the USDOT official who was involved with the audit made the audit more of an educational audit. During an audit, as Andrew was considering biofuel sales, the USDOT official was so intrigued by the potential Simply Green entry into biofuel provision that he became a customer and also then became an adviser to the company. The lesson for Andrew was the importance of relations, contacts, and broader social networks for developing business opportunities. As Andrew describes it, “It was important not to be afraid to ask people that might know somebody or that might have an in with somebody that might have the information we were looking for.”	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.02%3A_The_Challenges_and_Overcoming_Them.txt
When Simply Green’s biofuel business commenced in April 2007, Andrew started with family and friends as his first customers. Some of the other initial customers came from contacts from the hydro-seeding side of Simply Green’s business, including the USDOT official. In the first six months, Simply Green expanded its customer base to fifty. Building from the first season’s customer base was mostly about education, getting potential customers familiar with Simply Green biofuel products; getting people to understand what biofuels were, its environmental benefits, and how it was easy to use; and convincing them that it was not going to negatively impact their vehicles or their homes. With outreach and education, people started to learn, develop interest, and trust and started to tell their friends. Some took the leap of faith and signed on to try BioHeat. In its second year, Simply Green grew quickly. It started to grow fast, in part, because of the increased concern about the human influence on climate change after the 2006 release of the movie An Inconvenient Truth. As Andrew describes it, “When we were talking to potential customers about the environmental impact of different fuel options, people were seeing it on the big screen. It just helped pave the path a little bit easier for us to get down the education road. And we quickly started to see an increase in our customer base.” Simply Green was entering an established market for fuel that had certain characteristics that the company had to understand and figure how to effectively compete in the context of these characteristics. While most of the competition was based on price, it was also subject to strong customer loyalty to dealers who had been delivering their fuel for a long time. A larger dealer might be making \$0.60 a gallon over wholesale, versus \$0.40 a gallon for a smaller establishment. Simply Green usually came in anywhere in the middle of these, as it was unknown whether customers would pay a premium for a more environmentally friendly product. Simply Green pegged their price to range from \$0.05 to \$0.10 on either side of the conventional competition. And in addition to being able to address their customers’ environmental concerns, a benefit Simply Green’s product had over the conventional competition was that it burned cleaner in furnaces and car engines. It helped the system: either the engine in the vehicle or the heating system in the home or workplace. It allowed engines and furnaces to clean themselves, as the biofuel acted as a natural solvent. And this lowered the customer’s maintenance cost, extended the life of the furnace or engine, and increased the burning efficiency of the furnace or engine by about 5 percent. So any relatively small price premium for Simply Green biofuels could pay for itself. In the first full year, Simply Green grew the customer base to about five hundred customers. In addition, Simply Green continued to engage in creative marketing and outreach. One of the best examples of this was Andrew making cold (unsolicited and without any prior connection) phone calls to music industry performers touring in the region whose fans and the performers themselves were expressing concerns about the environmental footprints of their performance tours. For Andrew this was fun and exciting. He was able to connect with Guster, Dave Matthews, Jack Johnson, and Farm Aid. In May 2007, as Andrew describes it, “I saw that the band Guster was coming to this area. And I knew that they were pretty environmentally concerned with how they set up their concerts. So I put a call into this organization that was managing their concert venues, called Reverb. And the woman who runs it was the wife of one of the band members. Long story short, she and I grew up in the same town, and we didn’t realize, she was friends with my best friend’s older brother.” Again, Andrew was able to make a personal connection and turn social networking into a business benefit. The Reverb representative (http://www.reverb.org/about) was very excited that Simply Green could deliver the biodiesel directly to Guster’s tour entourage. So Andrew brought the truck filled with biodiesel to their location and filled their tour buses and their tractor trailers. Guster’s handlers took a photo of the tour bus being filled from a Simply Green biofuels truck and the photo went viral in many publications and the Internet, the biggest publication being an issue of Rolling Stone. After Guster, Simply Green fueled the tour buses for Dave Mathews, John Mayer, the Beastie Boys, Farm Aid, Kelly Clarkson, the Blue Man Group, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Phish, Coldplay, Maroon 5, and Styx. Sidebar Reverb: Helping the Music Industry “Go Green” Reverb is a nonprofit organization based in Portland, Maine, that was founded in 2004 by environmentalist Lauren Sullivan and her musician husband, Adam Gardner of Guster. Reverb provides comprehensive, custom greening programs for music tours while conducting grassroots outreach and education with fans around the globe. In addition to their “greening” work with bands and artists, Reverb also works to move forward the sustainable practices of music industry leaders, including venues, record labels, and radio stations. Reverb is an example of a social enterprise. This instantly gave Simply Green higher credibility and visibility. The perception of the fuel industry in general was the delivery driver that would come to your home, maybe your parents’ home, and maybe even your grandparents’ home. And that same company came to you every year. But Simply Green was trying to change the standard practice. They wanted it to become something different. They wanted to enable the public to be able to make a purchase motivated by environmental concerns and to have that be “hip and cool.” And once they got the Rolling Stone exposure, that credibility and market buzz carried through into their local press. A lot of local press started picking up on what Simply Green was trying to do. As Andrew describes it, That’s really what impacted our business the most…the amount of public relations that we got from Rolling Stone and some of these really fun events, that may not even been the best business decision because we might have driven to the southern part of Massachusetts to deliver 500 gallons of fuel and we might not have covered the cost of getting there and the driver’s time. But what that and similar efforts did for us was continually got us in the press. If it wasn’t every week, it was probably every other week, or a couple times a month, a few times a month. And then people started to read about us, and that’s where the phone calls started to come in. We started to get up the education curve with our potential customers, the credible component to hearing it or reading it in the newspaper, started to multiply, and we really start to see the business pick up. It was not just the cover of Rolling Stone. Simply Green used community engagement and its commitment to serving the community to reach out to potential customers, to get noticed, and to establish its market presence. In April 2008, the company created a not-for-profit subsidiary, the Green Alliance, in the greater seacoast of New Hampshire area as a public relations and marketing division to educate the community on “being green.” Simply Green also used its commitment to serve the community to build its customer base. In February 2008, the company serviced former Veilleux, Peron Fuel, and Price Rite customers after the companies stopped delivering fuel and went out of business in the middle of winter. For this, Andrew Kellar and the Simply Green team won the Environmental Hero award in Maine. Again in May 2008, Simply Green helped out households in need, offering special pricing for Rye Fuel customers that were unable to get deliveries of their prebuy fuel at the end of the heating season. And in July 2008, when fuel prices were peaking at \$4 a gallon, Simply Green offered discount prices to large groups, such as neighborhoods, town co-ops, and employees of local businesses. Staffing the Business From April 2007 to the end of the year, Andrew operated as a solo entrepreneur and employee. In January 2008, Simply Green added its first employee. Staffing increased steadily along with customers and revenue growing to ten employees in April 2009 and seventeen employees in April 2010. The first hires were fuel truck drivers who became the public face of the company. As Andrew describes it, “We wanted each of our drivers to be the face of the company and be able to educate and handle any onsite customer service concerns. We also wanted them to have a clean and friendly demeanor. We were fortunate to find just the right mix of drivers that supported the brand and our mission.” Simply Green then added to its marketing staff for customer outreach and acquiring new customers. The last area Simply Green added to was operations staff. Operations managed customer relationships after deliveries occurred and also managed the internal relationships of the employees. Simply Green was able to find all their employees, with only two exceptions, through referrals by staff members. Recruited employees wanted to work for a socially and environmentally responsible company that was contributing to the community that they all lived in. Growing the Business In the fall of 2008, Simply Green expanded and diversified, adding a biodiesel division, opening up a gas station, and starting to do research into third-generation biofuels with scientists at the University of New Hampshire. The gas station was a first of its kind. The station located at a busy intersection in Dover, New Hampshire, sold biofuel for automobiles and also included a congreenience store. The concept behind the congreenience store was to be a traditional convenience store with a green twist to it. The store had solar panels on the roof, used bamboo flooring, and sold local food. About 75 percent of all the products in the store came from within a one hundred mile radius, to support the local economy and local vendors. The station had two different types of biodiesel available at the pump, gasoline, which had a 10 percent blend of bio (ethanol), and a fully biofuel product. With the station, Simply Green had the ability to further promote the sustainability mission and commitment of the company. The station became a highly visible showplace for Simply Green to educate more customers. There were more than one hundred people at the station every day and about 50 percent were new to the store, looking to fuel up their vehicles or get a cup of coffee, and thousands of others drove by every day. So that was an opportunity, every day, to educate. With the congreenience store, community outreach, and other efforts, Simply Green’s customer base continued to grow at a steady pace. By April 2009, Simply Green had one thousand customers. And by September 2009, as Andrew describes it, “We were creeping towards profitability.”	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.03%3A_Getting_the_Business_Off_the_Ground.txt
Critical to the company’s success was its filling of a market niche, focus on core products, and effective messaging and education. Customers could simply, with no or minimal extra cost and very little risk, reduce their carbon footprint and feel good about it by buying Simply Green biofuel. An important factor in Simply Green’s success was the highly creative and energetic market outreach led personally by the founding entrepreneur himself. The educational outreach took the approach that all events and opportunities to get the word out about Simply Green and biofuels were worthwhile. Underpinning it all was the consistent and persistent branding. The branding was about being a sustainable business with a triple bottom line that included concern for the planet and people and was focused on helping customers act on their own concerns about the environment. This was sincere and it came off as such, and customers responded positively. As Andrew describes it, “We were really concerned about how we came across to our customers. We wanted to be as authentic and as transparent about our own practices, so that way our customers felt as though they were buying something from somebody, from a company that truly cared about the environment. We practiced what we were preaching. We were out there at events. We were supporting other businesses that were doing the right thing.” 7.05: Why No Profits By September 2011, the company had 1,500 heating oil customers and was delivering about a million gallons a year of biodiesel. Customers were concentrated in the seacoast of New Hampshire into southern Maine and down into northeastern Massachusetts. Simply Green’s market share within the heating oil industry was 10 percent to 12 percent and had grown fast, especially given the traditional customer to dealer relationship and that their product was a new one. Total revenue at the end of 2011 was more than \$4 million. Of the total revenue, 60 percent to 70 percent was BioHeat and 20 percent to 30 percent biodiesel and the balance was the congreenience store (see details as follows). By many measures, Simply Green could be characterized as successful. Then why, after four years, was it still operating in the red—that is, losing money? One factor was volatile oil prices and changing overall economic conditions. For example, in its second year (winter of 2008) the start-up company was negatively impacted by the unanticipated \$4 a gallon oil. As is standard industry practice, Simply Green prebought ahead of the peak heating season from their wholesale fuel suppliers for a select percentage of their customers that wanted to prebuy their fuel. Simply Green was contractually obligated to pick up those gallons at the fixed price. Historically, there would be some fluctuation in those prices versus what the retail spot pricing would be. But never was there such an exaggerated difference where a customer who had prebought would then call another company to get fuel from them because the market price was so much lower than the prebuy price they had locked in. Many Simply Green customers locked the price at \$4.50 a gallon, and then that winter, heating oil plummeted to \$2. Simply Green could not force customers to take the fuel and they had not required their customers to commit to buying a minimum amount of fuel. Some Simply Green customers may have went to another oil dealer to get fuel at its market price, some may have just turned their heat way down and put on a sweater to reduce their oil consumption, and some people may have burned more wood. The loss between what Simply Green had paid for the peak price oil and what it could eventually sell ended up being more than \$300,000. This forced Andrew Kellar to take on two silent business partners. The partners took a 30 percent equity position in the company and contributed \$150,000 to the business. Taking on the partners provided Simply Green with the financial resources that Andrew did not have and did not have access to. The business partners, however, did not have as much of an interest as Andrew in community engagement and the partners shifted the focus more toward the single bottom line of profitability. The partners had a commitment to the environment and were conscientious of how they operated in the community; however, these were not as much in the forefront of their efforts according to Andrew Kellar. As Andrew describes it, “I get that in businesses sometimes you’re forced to get to a place where you really have to focus more on the main bottom line, until you can get to a place where you can have the luxury of expanding that.” Sidebar Equity Interest in a Business An equity interest is an ownership interest in a business entity. Shareholders in a publically traded company have equity interest; their purchase of shares of stock in the corporation gives them a share of the ownership of the business. Private equity is a broad term that refers to any type of equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely tradable on a public stock market. Categories of private equity investment include business partnership investments, leveraged buyouts, venture capital, and angel investing. Source: Simply Green.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.04%3A_The_Keys_to_Success.txt
Andrew Kellar’s priority to always do the right thing for the environment and people had implications. As Andrew describes it, “I think my biggest mistake was I stayed so focused on the environmental and social mission of Simply Green, that I failed to stay focused equally on the fundamentals of the business. And the fundamental are the numbers, the profits and the losses and the working capital to operate the business. I didn’t do my homework. I didn’t have the resources that I needed to effectively sustain the business.” Sidebar Working Capital and Keeping the Business Ongoing Working capital measures how much in liquid (readily available) financial assets an organization has available to fund and build its operation. The number can be positive or negative, depending on how much the organization is growing relative to revenue collection and the debt the organization is carrying. In general, companies that have a lot of working capital will be more successful since they can expand and improve their operations. Companies with negative working capital may lack the funds necessary for growth. In particular Andrew neglected his need for capital and adequate cash resources (cash flow). He did not adequately anticipate the implications of different potential scenarios beyond his control, such as what if oil went to \$4 and then down to \$2 or by growing to one thousand customers, how was he going to manage \$300,000 in accounts receivable over thirty days? He did not think through these potential scenarios, and he did not have the adequate financial resources on hand when these happened. What he needed to have done was in the early stages have a detailed business plan with “what ifs” for different scenarios and identify risks in his operations. For Simply Green and any other company in the energy business, price volatility is one of the biggest risks. This is a particularly significant challenge for start-up and small companies with limited financial resources and little operating reserves. This challenge also has a potential upside for Simply Green and the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. For example, as fuel prices were rising rapidly again in the early spring of 2011, this again raised awareness about alternative energy, which can be a positive factor for the biofuel industry. But the volatility—the up and down of oil prices—as was experienced in 2008 and again in 2011, makes it a challenging operating environment for new energy companies trying to change the industry and customer preferences. The final challenge was personal for the entrepreneur. Life became “too crazy,” as Andrew put it, and it became increasingly difficult to satisfy both his personal and professional lives. They were no longer aligned for Andrew. The craziness of being an entrepreneur for Andrew included being responsible for 1,500 customers who could call at any time and responsible for drivers on the road twenty hours out of the day delivering customers their fuel. He had taken only one vacation during the four years of his business start-up. And even on the very occasional days off, there was always something that had to be taken care of. As Andrew describes it, “Being the owner, you can have amazing people around you, and most time, they can take care of most of it, but there’s always something that comes through that you need to take care of. And that was the craziness, that being pulled in a lot of different directions. At times, when as a young father, you might normally like to be home, going to a baseball game with your son, going to different events with your kids, that wasn’t an option.”	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.06%3A_Limits_of_Always_Focusing_on_Doing_the_Right_Thing.txt
What’s Next for Simply Green? Focusing on the core business that drives the bottom line, which for Simply Green is getting the most amount of renewable fuel out onto the market, continues to be an exciting opportunity for Simply Green. The company's focus in 2011 is on developing a marketing plan that gets Simply Green out to the next group of customers beyond the early adopters to the early and late majority customers. Coming up with a strong marketing plan can allow Simply Green to attract that next ring of customers. The growth potential is significant, particularly since more than two-thirds of the population in Simply Green’s service territory use heating oil to heat their homes, and a large percentage of commercial vehicles use conventional diesel fuel. The Entrepreneur’s Life Takes a Different Turn Figure $1$: Andrew Kellar Surfing Source: Simply Green. In mid-2010, Andrew Kellar began to realize that, as an entrepreneur, his key strengths were in the creative development end, and he left Simply Green to pursue other opportunities. As Andrew describes it, There are some people that are meant to be operators of business long term, and there are people that are meant to be in startups, in the craziness of everything that has to do with starting up a business…I realized that that was where my strength was. While there wasn’t a lot of challenge left for me, there was still plenty of challenges for Simply Green in the long term, managing a business with 1,500 customers, and trucks on the road 20 hours out of the day. That skill set was not where I saw my strengths. So it was time for me to make a change. It was time for me to look to my business partners to take over the business. I felt that Simply Green had helped me to define a new industry in this small community and helped me to do something really special and something unique. While I thought Simply Green was bringing me closer to being that person I wanted to be, and that businessman I wanted to be, it wasn’t allowing me to have a balance between being an entrepreneur and other things. I wanted to move on to a different working environment, where I could leverage all the experience that I had gained over those four years. Between the highs and the lows, and all of the excitement and challenges that we had, I felt that was something that needed to be shared with other entrepreneurs. And I really, really enjoyed being in this kind of green, or now called clean-tech sector, that I wanted to reach out to other younger entrepreneurs that were in that same market, and try to give back to them. After leaving Simply Green, Andrew became an entrepreneur in residence at the University of New Hampshire’s Green Launching Pad (GLP) program (http://greenlaunchingpad.org). The GLP is a business accelerator program focused on assisting new and growing business in renewable energy and energy efficiency. In that role, Andrew is assisting sustainability-focused businesses in their start-up and early growth phases. He also became an advisor and engaged in development efforts for Revolution Energy (www.rev-en.com/company/about-us). Revolution Energy was a company that the GLP helped launch in 2010. The company assists in the financing of renewable energy projects with a focus on municipalities, schools, and colleges. Based on this work and his experience with Simply Green, Andrew was selected as a Mel King Community Fellow at MIT in 2012 (http://web.mit.edu/colab/people-mel-king-community-fellows.html). All of these allow Andrew to help others learn from his experience with Simply Green and enable him to continue to act on his commitment to sustainability. Postscript: What Would Andrew Kellar Want Students to Know? For Andrew, the next generation has the opportunity to focus on learning from his successes and mistakes and those of others in the first generation of sustainability entrepreneurs. What he suggests to students interested in being sustainable business entrepreneurs is to • take advantage of the resources available to learn all you can about sustainability science, engineering, and business; • try to get an internship with a local sustainable business; • on your own or with a friend, try out a small sustainability project idea at your school and in communities. As Andrew describes it, “There are a lot of great opportunities for young students, at the undergrad level up to the MBA level, to get involved in different way in sustainable businesses…(a)nd they’re not just stuffing envelopes. They’re actually getting involved with these businesses. We used to bring in interns, and we had our interns do a lot of in-depth work. It wasn’t mindless work, it was actually in-depth market analysis.” KEY TAKEAWAYS • Success in sustainable business entrepreneurship requires commitment to sustainability and problem solving, creativity, innovation, and “day-to-day” business management skills. • The entrepreneur, Andrew Kellar, started the company out of concern for the environment and for future generations. • The entrepreneur entered a mature industry with no experience but with a new product. • The entrepreneur used personal contacts, relations, and social networks to gather useful information and resources. • The start-up successfully employed creative marketing and low cost public relations to grow the company, appealing to the public’s concern for the environment. • The company was environmentally and socially focused but had to also focus on core business fundamentals, such as effective management of liquid, or cash, resources and strong customer service to be successful. • Simply Green focused on the people and planet side of the triple bottom line and had to learn over time how to more effectively manage to achieve the profit side of the triple bottom line. • The sustainable business founder lacked business training and skills that could have helped him to maintain ownership of the business. Commitment to and passion for sustainability are important and so are financial and other management skills. Exercise $1$ What factors contributed to Andrew Kellar starting the biodiesel business? Were you surprised at the reasons that he gave for starting this business? Do you think his decision to start the business was wise? Why or why not? Exercise $2$ Discuss how Andrew Kellar is a social entrepreneur. What do you think were his strengths in running the company? What do you see as his main weaknesses? Discuss how an action that Andrew undertook was good for both sustainability and the business. Discuss how an action that Andrew undertook may have been good for sustainability but not good for the business. Exercise $3$ Do you think that Andrew Kellar is well suited to be a successful entrepreneur? Why or why not? Exercise $4$ What similarities do you think a sustainable business start-up shares with a “normal business” start-up? What differences do you think there are? Give an example of a business challenge that both Simply Green and a conventional fuel dealer share. Give an example of a business challenge that was unique to Simply Green and would not have affected a conventional fuel dealer from the chapter. Exercise $5$ Discuss the charitable actions that Simply Green took in regards to customer accounts from failed fuel businesses in a triple bottom line context. Was this a smart business move? Why or why not? Exercise $6$ Explain how Andrew Kellar used low-cost public relations to educate potential customers and promote Simply Green. Exercise $7$ Describe how you might use personal contacts to start a business venture. What would that involve? How would you start? What type of people would be most useful to draw on for information and resources when starting a sustainable business? Exercise $8$ Assess your skills and ability to manage a business start-up effectively. Do you have course work, training, or experience in financial and operations management? How are you at leading and motivating others, communicating and getting a message out, and organizing efforts and people at a workplace? Are you task oriented? Are you good with details?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.07%3A_Conclusion.txt
• April 12, 2007. First delivery of BioHeat and biodiesel by Simply Green. • May 2007. First delivery to Guster and Reverb, spurring a flood of fueling services for musicians, which included Dave Mathews, John Mayer, the Beastie Boys, Farm Aid, Kelly Clarkson, the Blue Man Group, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson, Phish, Coldplay, Maroon 5, and Styx. • June and July 2007. Simply Green finds its way into Rolling Stone and Billboard. • December 2007. Simply Green is featured in Sundance Film Channel’s “Big Ideas for a Small Planet” with Guster and Reverb. • January 2008. Simply Green hires its first employee. • February 2008. Simply Green bails out former Veilleux, Peron Fuel, and Price Rite customers when the companies leave customers out in the cold after they allegedly stopped delivering fuel and went out of business. • March 2008. Simply Green moves out of Andrew’s house into an actual office in Portsmouth and hires its second employee. • April 2008. Simply Green creates the Green Alliance as a public relations and marketing division to educate the community on “being green” and hires Sarah Brown as the project director. • May 2008. Simply Green is back to its old ways and starts to offer special pricing for Rye Fuel customers that were unable to get deliveries of their prebuy fuel at the end of the heating season. • June 2008. Andrew Kellar and the Simply Green Team win the Environmental Hero award in Maine along with Governor Baldacci for their rescue mission for the residents of Maine left out in the cold by the Veilleux, Peron Fuel, and Price Rite scandal. • June 2008. Andrew Kellar is invited to give the commencement speech at Berwick Academy. • July 2008. Simply Green starts to offer discount prices to large groups, such as neighborhoods, town co-ops, and employees of local businesses, during a time when oil was on its way to \$4 a gallon. • October 2008. Simply Green opens the first biofuels and congreenience store in New England, offering gas and biodiesel at the pump and local products in the store. • November 2008. Simply Green receives the Innovation Rock award by the New Hampshire Department of Resources and Economic Development and is given the first of many commendations by Governor Lynch. • November 2008. Simply Green begins its research and development into third-generation biofuels in conjunction with the University of New Hampshire and starts to apply for grants to study algae as a feedstock to make biofuels. • December 2008. Simply Green is named one of the top fifty hottest companies in the bioenergy sector worldwide. • January 2009. Andrew Kellar is named one of the “25 Leaders for the Next 25 Years” by BusinessNH Magazine. • April 2009. Simply Green marks a huge milestone by delivering BioHeat to more than one thousand customers around the seacoast of New Hampshire and Maine, signs on Coca-Cola and Public Service of New Hampshire for onsite fueling services, and hires its fifteenth employee. • December 2009. Simply Green is named one of the top fifty hottest companies in the bioenergy sector worldwide for the second year in a row. • January 2010. Simply Green is back at it again. Flynn’s Oil goes out of business on Christmas night and leaves customers without fuel, so another bailout plan is in place to help thousands of customers heat their homes at Christmas. • April 2010. Simply Green announces the purchase of their new office, Regeneration Park in Portsmouth. Once construction is completed, Regeneration Park will be the “greenest” building on the seacoast. • June 2010. Simply Green’s customers complete the 2,000,000 lb. “Carbon Challenge,” which results in planting the equivalent of 153,000 trees. • August 2010. Simply Green is honored to have Congresswoman Shea-Porter and US Secretary of Labor Solis visit Regeneration Park and hold a press conference praising Simply Green for their efforts in the green movement. • September 2010. Simply Green marks another milestone by delivering BioHeat to more than 1,500 customers around the seacoast of New Hampshire and Maine. • November 2010. Andrew Kellar leaves Simply Green. • February 2011. Andrew Kellar starts work with Revolution Energy, helping with blended (private, public, and tax incentivized) financing of large scale solar projects. • May 2011. Andrew becomes entrepreneur in residence with the University of New Hampshire’s Green Launching Pad program. • January 2012. Andrew Kellar begins yearlong activities as Mel King Community Fellow at MIT.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/07%3A_Case-_Sustainable_Business_Entrepreneurship-_Simply_Green_Biofuels/7.08%3A_Simply_Green_Timeline.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Understand how a coherent and consistent commitment to sustainability in the company’s marketing mix—product, promotion, place, and price—enabled Seventh Generation to differentiate itself in a highly competitive industry. 2. Explain how sustainable marketing differs from traditional marketing as reflected in Seventh Generation’s experience. 3. Describe the difficulties that large incumbent firms in traditional industries have in selling sustainable (“green”) products. 4. Understand the key challenges and opportunities in sustainable marketing for small and large firms. 08: Case- Marketing Sustainability- Seventh Generation Creating a Green Household Consumer Product This chapter was written by Diane Devine. Sustainable marketing involves developing and promoting products and services that meet consumer and business user needs utilizing society’s natural, human, and cultural resources responsibly to ensure a better quality of life now and for future generations to come. Sustainable products and services as they are commonly defined are more sustainable than traditional products and services, without necessarily being environmentally neutral or sustainable in a scientifically valid way. The size of the sustainable market is significant and is expected to grow to \$922 billion by 2014.“Consumers Claim They Are Willing to Pay Extra for Green,” eMarketer Green, April 1, 2010, www.emarketergreen.com/blog/index.php/consumers-pay-extra-green; newhope360.com/business-directory/definitions-healthy-products-healthy-planet-hp2-sectors. This represents an increasing but still relatively small portion of the US and world economies, with the size of the US economy being approximately \$15 trillion and world economy being about \$60 trillion in 2010. What are some of the marketing strategies that have helped to create this market niche and have helped it to grow? How much can the market grow in the future? This chapter focuses on one company that is a leader in sustainability, Seventh Generation, to address these questions and to gain detailed insight and perspective about sustainable marketing. Seventh Generation (http://www.seventhgeneration.com/about) is one of the first companies founded on sustainability principles and mission in the United States. It is a Burlington, Vermont–based privately held manufacturer and distributor of environmentally friendly household and personal care products. The company’s marketing vision and marketing mix known as the four Ps—product, price, promotion, and place—emanated from its founding principles and the ideals and aspirations of its founder, Jeffrey Hollender. Seventh Generation’s products are made using only natural, recycled, or renewable materials that use nontoxic ingredients and the company focuses all its operations to minimize its impact on the environment. Initially Seventh Generation started out as a small mail-order company. As of 2011, Seventh Generation was a \$150 million brand selling products at eco-focused stores, such as Whole Foods, and also in the broader consumer market at outlets, such as Target and Walmart. At its core and driving its marketing plans is the company’s mission to enable consumers to make a positive difference for the planet and people’s health through everyday consumer choices. For Seventh Generation, this means providing consumers the opportunity to make a positive difference through their purchases of laundry detergent, paper towels, and other household products. Figure $1$: Jeffrey Hollender—Sustainable Visionary, Entrepreneur, Business Leader, Author, and Activist Source: Flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/busines...ry/2981552844/. Jeffrey Hollender was born in 1954 and raised in New York City. In many respects his social values and activism grew out of discontent growing up in a wealthy family on Park Avenue in the early 1960s. According to Hollender, “I grew up in ‘Mad Men.’ Everyone was smoking. Everyone was drinking, and I was encouraged to watch TV.” His parents had a beach house on Long Island, in Westhampton, New York, near which he would surf, a welcome escape. “I turned on all that in a pretty rebellious way,” he said.Laura Holsen, “An Environmentalist’s Latest Laundry List,” New York Times, February 23, 2011. At age seventeen, Hollender left home and headed to Santa Barbara, California, where for a short time, he lived in his car. He protested the Vietnam War. He returned to New York City after about nine months, finished high school, and headed to Hampshire College, a nontraditional college in Massachusetts, in 1974. Hollender’s discontent first motivated him to break the rules and expectations of him in his own life and over time to try to change business and consumer practices. His marketing instincts and savvy might have come from his father, Alfred, an advertising executive with a prestigious New York City advertising firm. And his inclination toward the dramatic might have been from his mother, Lucille, a former actress. Hollender dropped out of college and began his business career in 1977 by developing a not-for-profit skills exchange program based in Toronto. The program was successful but had to be shut down as a result of Hollender’s personal failing to get a work permit. After spending time on his cousin’s ginseng farm in Vermont, he decided to go back and continue his entrepreneurial career in the education industry, but this time as a for-profit business in New York City. He created Network for Learning, with nontraditional classes such as “The Art of Flirting,” which quickly grew, attracting sixty thousand students and turned a profit by its second year. Mr. Hollender sold the business to a Warner Communications unit for more than \$2 million in 1985.“Three Who Thrived after Early Gaffes,” Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703648304575212151578380586.html. As a result, he became president of Warner Audio Publishing, a division of Warner Communications, a position he held through 1987. Following his tenure at Warner Audio Publishing, Hollender partnered with Vermont “eco-preneur” Alan Newman and acquired a small mail-order catalogue centered on energy conservation products known as Renew America.Jess McCuan, “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” Inc. Magazine, November 1, 2004, www.inc.com/magazine/20041101/seventh-generation.html. This business provided him with the opportunity to change the society he was discontented with and it eventually became Seventh Generation in 1988. The company’s beginning was not easy, and the partners soon split. But Jeffrey Hollender had passion and kept the company. His values and unique personality moved upfront in the company and dominated its marketing and branding. This helped to differentiate the company and its products in a very competitive market. “Many of us who have businesses run them within our cultural restraints,” said Yoram Samets, an early investor in Seventh Generation who has known Hollender for two decades. “We compromise ourselves. Jeffrey has done the opposite.” Fast forward to 2010 and Hollender has served as the president, CEO, and “Chief Inspired Protagonist” of Seventh Generation, building the company to a \$150 million brand and a leading authority on making a positive difference in the health of the people and planet through everyday choices. This included Seventh Generation being named the seventh most responsible brand in America in 2004 based on a study performed by Alloy Media + Marketing.Seventh Generation, 2007 Corporate Consciousness Report, www.seventhgeneration.com/files/assets/pdf/2007_SevGen_Corporate-Consciousness.pdf. The commitment to sustainability was what their products were about and throughout the company—from founding CEO to product ingredient sourcing through marketing and to the end of the product’s lifecycle. For Seventh Generation as a sustainable brand, the company seeks to have positive impact in the world and do it all transparently.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/08%3A_Case-_Marketing_Sustainability-_Seventh_Generation_Creating_a_Green_Household_Consumer_Product/8.00%3A_Introduction.txt
Seventh Generation’s marketing has focused on offering consumers the opportunity to act on their idealism, passion, and commitment to causes larger than themselves at the supermarket each week. Consumers could get this when they purchased a Seventh Generation product. Sidebar Seventh Generation’s Global ImperativesSeventh Generation, 2007 Corporate Consciousness Report, www.seventhgeneration.com/files/assets/pdf/2007_SevGen_Corporate-Consciousness.pdf. 1. As a business we are committed to being educators and to encourage those we educate to create with us a world of equity and Justice, health and wellbeing. 2. To achieve that we must create a world of more conscious workers, citizens and consumers. 3. We are committed to creating a world that is rich in value as contrasted to a world that is rich in artifacts. 4. We will work to create Governance and social systems that increase the capacity for understanding differing perspectives and points of view. 5. We believe that our business and all businesses should engage in the personal development of everyone who works for them. 6. We are committed to approaching everything we do from a systems perspective, a perspective that allows us to see the larger whole, not a fragmented, compartmentalized world, not just what we want to see, our own point of view, our own reality, but a world that is endlessly interconnected, in which everything we do effects everything else. 7. We must ensure that globally, natural resources are used and renewed at a rate that is always below their rate depletion. 8. And lastly we are committed to creating a business where all our products, raw materials, byproducts, and the processes by which they are made are not just sustainable but restorative, and enhancing the potential of all of life’s systems. Seventh Generation Name and Brand Positioning Seventh Generation derived its name from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” Seventh Generation strives to live up to that brand promise with a full line of household cleaning and personal care products—from laundry detergents to baby wipes that are safer for people and safer for the environment. This positioning is prevalent within the company and is at the very core of their business model and marketing approach. Sidebar Brand A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these intended to identify the goods and services of one seller and to differentiate the seller from those of other sellers. Branding is about getting potential consumers to view a seller as the only one that provides a solution to their problem. A brand is an image in the consumer’s mind and one that must be constantly fulfilled to remain positive. Seventh Generation’s Target Market According to Seventh Generation, somewhere between 40 percent and 60 percent of all people in the United States have an interest in or are already purchasing some green products. Their market research studies also concluded that new moms, in particular, were more likely than others to purchase sustainable products for their new family to create a healthier home and planet.Romy Ribitzky, “Seventh Generation Embarks on First Ever National Ad Campaign,” Portfolio.com, February 11, 2010, http://bit.ly/NTEMPN. The company’s marketing mix reflected a focus on the “middle green” consumers and moms, particularly newer moms. Sidebar Survey of Consumers’ Green Intentions A 2011 study by the consultant group OgilvyEarth“Mainstream America Unmoved by Green Marketing,” SustainableBusiness.com, http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/22277. found that 82 percent of Americans have good green intentions but only 16 percent are dedicated to fulfilling these intentions, putting 66 percent firmly in what the report called the middle green. The other two groups the report labeled were the super greens who are the 16 percent who are dedicated to green intentions and on other end of the green consumer spectrum, the 14 percent who were green rejecters who do not have any green intentions. The marketing mix, also known as the four Ps of marketing, is the combination of product, price, place (distribution), and promotion. Marketers develop strategies around these four areas in marketing to enhance a company’s branding, sales, and profitability. The marketing mix forms the foundation for creating a sustainable marketing strategy. The four Ps can contribute to a company’s positioning as focused on sustainability. If a product or service is competitive in terms of price, then a sustainability focus on product attributes, place, or promotion can give that product or service an advantage particularly among those consumers most interested in sustainability, such as super or middle green consumers. Sustainable marketing often requires creativity in marketing different than for traditional products, but at its core is truthfulness about the ecological and social impacts of products and services. The consumers that will be most attracted to sustainable products and services will also tend to be the most scrutinizing about ecological and social impacts and most interested in the truth and transparency. Seventh Generation and the Four Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion Product There is significant competition in the household cleaning product industry. The industry is dominated by large brands, such as Procter & Gamble. In this highly competitive market, Seventh Generation’s point of differentiation is that all their products are environmentally friendly, and sustainability is at the very core of the business, not an add-on. Seventh Generation products include 100 percent recycled fiber paper towels, napkins, bathroom, and facial tissues; natural cleaning and laundry products; natural lotion baby wipes; diapers; training pants; organic cotton feminine hygiene products; and trash bags made from 55 percent to 80 percent recycled plastic. The company is committed to making products that are environmentally sustainable—from seed to shelf. In 2009, Seventh Generation developed a product scorecard to give consumers (and their product designers) an objective scoring system for comparing different materials and product formulations to foster sustainable decision making. This tool can help consumers balance concerns relating to human health, the environment, product performance, and cost. In terms of manufacturing, Seventh Generation does not own the facilities that produce their products. They partner with manufacturers across the United States, Canada, and Germany to produce their products for them. Through an extensive auditing process Seventh Generation monitors the manufacturers’ facilities’ electrical use, fuel use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and discharge, hazardous and nonhazardous waste, and recycling to ensure they are meeting Seventh Generation’s sustainability expectations.Seventh Generation, 2009 Corporate Consciousness Report, http://www.7genreport.com. The company’s business model relies on partnerships with suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and retailers over which they do not have full control, which creates both challenges and opportunities, especially for a company that is committed to practicing sustainability and radical transparency. To compete effectively and to grow, however, Seventh Generation must be an innovator in the sustainability category and deliver on quality and product performance. The “green” consumer, particularly the middle green consumer, is not just looking for how well a company performs on sustainability criteria but desires a product that meets all their needs. Packaging Part of the product is packaging. Seventh Generation strives to create packaging that has a minimal impact on the environment. This includes reducing the amount of material used by concentrating liquid laundry products, offering refills (so far just for baby wipes, but they are working on expanding this), and redesigning the packaging to use less material. Seventh Generation favors recycled over virgin materials and prefers materials that can be composted or recycled back into the materials stream. In 2010, Seventh Generation undertook a major packaging initiative to reduce their postconsumer recycled (PCR) content. Previously at a 25 percent PCR content rate, they changed to have the majority of their plastic bottles contain at least 80 percent PCR content, a significant improvement. And in 2011, Seventh Generation sought to “update its tired packaging,” according to new CEO John Replogle (see more details as follows).Marc Gunther, “Seventh Generation’s New CEO,” Marc Gunther, February 13, 2011, www.marcgunther.com/2011/02/13/seventh-generations-new-ceo-john-replogle. This included revitalizing its branding look and feel and modernizing its graphics. It started with laundry detergent packaging incorporating the new branding style with more recyclable, compostable, and biodegradable packaging materials (see as follows). The new laundry detergent is a cardboard package with a plastic lining. The new bottle is made from cardboard on the outside and on the inside a plastic like film holds the laundry detergent. Once the bottle is finished, consumers can toss the whole thing out and it’s 100 percent recyclable. The new packaging uses 66 percent less plastic than the traditional format. While the new packaging is much eco-friendlier, it is being met with mixed reviews. One reviewer observed, “I’m a deeply green inclined person, but there was something about the design that missed the mark, on a psychological level. The lack of a handle made it feel strange to hold. It was only then that I realized how crucial a handle is to my laundry detergent paradigm. The package utilizes pressed recycled paper, which makes the inclusion of a handle quite a challenge.”Paul Smith, “Seventh Generation’s New Packaging Misses Mark,” TriplePundit, April 22, 2011, http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/04/seventh-generations-new-packaging-misses-mark-be. Seventh Generation needs to remember when it makes product and packaging changes that consumers do not like making tradeoffs. For more universal adoption of green products, manufacturers need to deliver fully on the same, if not better, consumer experience. This includes how well the products perform in their main purpose. For most of Seventh Generation’s products this means how well they clean and how easy they are to use and at what cost. Price For consumers to purchase a product or service, the price of the product or service has to be lower than the value consumers derive from the product. For sustainable products with costs higher than traditional products, the additional cost and price for sustainability has to derive benefits commensurate with the additional cost for the consumer to purchase the product. Some of that value can be in the form of reduced energy use and its associated cost savings—for example, with the purchase of a hybrid car or more efficient laundry detergent—and some of the value can be psychological and emotional, such as knowing you are reducing your environmental footprint and contributing to sustainability. Recognizing this, Seventh Generation decreased their prices during the slow recovery from the 2008–9 recession to try to help close the green pricing gap. According to Seventh Generation’s Corporate Conscience Report, they were focusing on “right pricing” and experienced improvements. “Reducing our spray cleaner price from \$3.69 to \$2.99 at Target lifted sales 80 percent. Our Lavender Dish Liquid, priced at \$2.69, was the top-selling hand dish washing liquid at Target for 52 straight weeks. When we dropped the price on two sizes of our dish liquid from \$3.99 to \$3.49 and from \$3.29 to \$2.99 at Whole Foods Market, our sales increased 30 percent.” “Seventh Generation Corporate Consciousness Report,” Seventh Generation, www.7genreport.com/introduction/performance.php. According to Hollender, “Most consumers are not willing to pay a premium, sales are highest when pricing is very competitive.”Jeffrey Hollender, in interview with author, August 14, 2011. Place Seventh Generation distributes their products in natural food and grocery stores, through the Internet, and at mass merchandisers, such as Target and Walmart. Consumers who purchase eco-friendly products shop at these retailers, according to a study by Ryan Partnership Chicago / Mambo Sprouts Marketing.Ryan Partnership Chicago and Mambo Sprouts Marketing, One Green Score for One Earth, sustainableindustries.com/resources/one-green-score-one-earth. In an interview, Hollender revealed that to succeed at retail, their strategy was to make the financial case that the retailer’s profit would be more profitable per foot of space with Seventh Generation than the products on the shelf that they were replacing. Additionally, Seventh Generation presented statistics that they brought higher value and more loyal consumers who spent more money per trip than the average consumer to the store.Jeffrey Hollender, in interview with author, August 14, 2011. Promotion In the early years of Seventh Generation, Hollender and his team relied on word of mouth and grassroots/bootstrap marketing to increase consumer awareness and encourage consumers to try their products. They did this with educational programs and events where they could encourage trial and help raise consumer consciousness and awareness of their product. Jeffrey Hollender, through his high visibility at events and in charitable and advocacy activities, was personally associated with the brand and his activities were a significant part of the early marketing efforts. Sidebar Grassroots Promotion and Marketing Grassroots promotion and marketing combines some of the different promotional approaches in a focused, creative, and low-cost way that is often local or community based. It can be particularly useful for start-up ventures. It uses public relations (such as media stories), blogs, social media, and event planning and participation to drive qualified leads to company websites and physical locations for purchases. As of 2011, Seventh Generation’s promotion was still focused on events, advocacy by Hollender, consumer outreach, and educational programs as well as corporate giving. The company donated more than 10 percent of their profits to charitable programs. According to Hollender, the company donated to “the programs and practices that best exemplified Seventh Generation’s innovative approach to solving the problems represented in its global imperatives. This included Change-It, Tampontification, and WAGES.”Jeffrey Hollender, in interview with author, August 14, 2011. • Change-It. A joint initiative between Greenpeace USA and Seventh Generation designed to train and sustain the next generation of “change agents” through comprehensive and active education in social and environmental justice. • Tampontification. A program designed to educate about the taboo subject of menstruation and discuss through blogs why it’s essential for women’s health to use chlorine- and pesticide-free feminine care products. There is also an online program that encourages donations of feminine care projects to local woman’s shelters funded completely by Seventh Generation and online educational information about the problem of homelessness in the United States that is designed to motivate people to volunteer at their local homeless shelters and get involved with the issue of homelessness. • WAGES (Women’s Action to Gain Economic Security). This organization creates jobs and empowers low-income women by organizing and incubating cooperative businesses. In addition to these programs, Seventh Generation used social media and had an extensive website designed to educate consumers while promoting their products. The joint education and promotion efforts included the use of blogs, Facebook Fan pages, Twitter, and YouTube channels. In addition, the company’s promotional efforts include downloadable coupons from their website site and a loyalty rewards program. Other marketing initiatives included a joint promotion with noncompetitive but like-minded companies (such as Stonyfield Yogurt and Earth’s Best) with a coupon booklet distributed in stores on packages via neckties. In 2010, Seventh Generation briefly ran their first ever television advertising and print campaign, “Protecting Planet Home,” focused on the super and middle green consumers and new moms.“Seventh Generation Kicks Off Protect Planet Home Campaign,” Causecast, January 13, 2010. causecast.org/blog/green-cleaning/seventh-generation-kicks-protect- planet-home-campaign. The advertising efforts were very short lived and pulled from the air and their website after the departure of Hollender. The household cleaning product market was hard to penetrate. With all the marketing efforts, Seventh Generation still had a reported low level of brand awareness with only 10 percent to 20 percent of the population aware of their products.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/08%3A_Case-_Marketing_Sustainability-_Seventh_Generation_Creating_a_Green_Household_Consumer_Product/8.01%3A_People_Planet_and_Profit.txt
Jeffrey Hollender desired to grow Seventh Generation from a \$150 million brand to \$1 billion. How realistic was this? According to the “‘Green’ Household Cleaning Products in the US: Bathroom Cleaners, Laundry Care and Dish Detergents and Household Cleaners” report published by Packaged Facts, retail sales of green cleaners in 2009 totaled \$557 million—split between \$339 million from green household cleaning products and \$218 million from green laundry products—to account for 3 percent of the total household and laundry cleaner retail market. Packaged Facts estimated retail sales of green cleaners grew 229 percent between 2005 and 2009, more than doubling in dollar terms and more than tripling in its share of the total household cleaner market.“‘Green’ Household Cleaning Products in the U.S.: Bathroom Cleaners, Laundry Care and Dish Detergents and Household Cleaners,” Packaged Facts, http://www.packagedfacts.com/Green-Household-Cleaning-2554249. In 2009, Seventh Generation’s sales were \$150 million with about a 27 percent share of the green household cleaning market.Laurie Burkit, “Seventh Generation Protecting Its Turf,” Forbes, January 18, 2010, http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/18/seventh-generation-brand-awareness-cmo-network-chuck-maniscalco.html. Competition As Seventh Generation’s sales first began to grow, larger traditional brands began to notice. And several powerful mainstream marketers launched green household products, including the following: • The Clorox Company introduced Green Works household cleaners, dish, and laundry products in 2008, spending \$25 million in advertising in both 2008 and 2009 behind the introduction according to Kantar Media, which tracks advertising spending. Green Works, once a \$100 million brand, fell to \$60 million in 2010.Kari Lipshutz, “Once You Go Green, You’ll Probably Go Back,” AdWeek, April 22, 2011, http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/once-you-go-green-you-ll-probably-go-back-130883. • Church & Dwight launched Arm & Hammer Essentials household cleaners in 2008, putting a decidedly different twist on the concept with a mix-it-yourself line. The cleaning products only include the active ingredients and the consumer adds the water at home to the bottle. This unique delivery system provides a 25 percent lower cost and 80 percent reduction in packaging than conventional cleaners.“Arm & Hammer’s New Cleaners Not Only Greener, They’re Cheaper,” EnviralMarketing.com, www.enviralmarketing.com/2008/10/22/arm-hammers-new-cleaners-not-only-greener-theyre-cheaper. • SC Johnson & Son introduced Nature’s Source household cleaners in 2009, spending \$15.4 million in advertising according to Kantar Media, which tracks advertising spending.Stephanie Clifford and Andrew Martin, “As Consumers Cut Spending, ‘Green’ Products Lose Allure,” New York Times, April 21, 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/04/22/business/energy-environment/22green.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2. Jeffrey Hollender, commenting about the competition, said, “Competition is definitely a sign of our success especially in the face of categories that simply weren’t growing for our competition.” Over time, both SC Johnson’s Nature’s Source and Clorox’s Green Works failed to meet the sales goals set by the parent companies,Jeffrey Hollender, in interview with author, August 14, 2011. and Seventh Generation was able to maintain its market share while competitors were experiencing a flattening out in performance since their introductory years. According to an analysis by Stephen Powers from Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, “You see disproportionately negative impact from products like Green Works, out of the big blue-chip companies that have tried to layer a green offering on top of their conventional offering, and a relatively better performance from the niche players who remain independent.” Using data from the Nielsen Company, Bernstein looked at sales for nearly 4,300 items in twenty-two categories, such as cleaning spray, liquid soap, bathroom cleaners, and detergents. It studied monthly sales from March 2006 to March 2011, the most recent data available. (Nielsen’s data include mass market, grocery stores, and drugstores but exclude Walmart.) Bernstein found that the market shares of green products generally were down from their peak—especially those offered by the big consumer-products companies. But the market share of the independent brands, like Method and Seventh Generation, were starting to increase relative to the shares of traditional brands’ green products in categories where they compete.Jeffrey Hollender, in interview with author, August 14, 2011. There were several factors at play. The mainstream companies venturing into green territory approached it much like a traditional consumer packaged goods company. They spent big money on advertising and promotion to generate awareness and trial but after the second or third year pulled back to almost zero spending. In contrast, Seventh Generation had over two decades to build its brand. But there has to be more to it than that. Consumers may not be looking to buy just a green-looking brand from a large consumer packaged goods company but instead want to purchase green products from companies who are more substantively committed to sustainability and adhere to its principles with all their brands, not just one or two product lines. Again, this is Seventh Generation’s primary competitive advantage and it was working for them but not enough to grow as large as their founder desired. Seventh Generation Growing Pains Seventh Generation declined in gross sales for the first time in a decade in 2009. The economic recession was a significant challenge for Seventh Generation as consumers tightened their budget and were more reluctant to pay a price premium for sustainable products. After averaging double-digit annual growth for ten years, the company’s gross sales declined by 2.8 percent. The company also lost consumer loyalty with a packaging change in 2009, which created less value for the consumer and did not adhere to their strict sustainability standards. Seventh Generation reduced the number of baby wipes in their packages without reducing the size of the package, decreasing the sustainability of the product (by increasing the packaging-to-product ratio 12 percent). When they did not adequately inform consumers of this change, consumers felt cheated and it weakened the authenticity of the brand and their trusted consumer relationship. In the midst of the 2009 problems, Jeffrey Hollender self-selected his succession heir and hired a consumer packaged goods veteran, Chuck Maniscalco, as CEO to help position the company for greater scale and long-term growth.“Big Changes at Seventh Generation,” 7Gen (blog), June 1, 2009, www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/blog/big-changes-seventh-generation. But in September 2009, Chuck Maniscalco resigned after a very short but difficult period in which it was hard for Hollender to reduce his influence on the company. Then in October 2010, the board of directors voted to terminate Jeffrey Hollender’s employment relationship and began a new search for CEO.Marc Gunther, “Seventh Generation Sweeps Out Its Founder,” Marc Gunther, November 1, 2010, www.marcgunther.com/2010/11/01/seventh-generation-sweeps-out-its-founder. In February 2011, Seventh Generation hired a new CEO, John Replogle, who was previously president and CEO of Burt’s Bees.Alex Goldmark, “Seventh Generation Snags Burt’s Bees CEO to Replace Founder,” Good Business (blog), February 10, 2011, www.good.is/post/seventh-generation-gets-a-new-ceo-john-replogle-from-burt-s-bees. It has been stated that the problem at Seventh Generation was that the growth plans and Hollender’s founding values did not converge. At the Sustainable Brands 2011 trade event, Jeffrey Hollender, in his own words, said, How did I fail? How did I get myself fired? Changes at Seventh Generation and for Its Founder During his time at Seventh Generation, Jeffrey Hollender made the decision to bring on investors to help financially sustain the business. Hollender sold shares and created a board of directors, including his long time childhood friend, Peter Graham, the board chairman. It was an important move to help the company grow long term but resulted in him becoming a minority stakeholder. It’s not clear whether his childhood friend Graham backed Hollender in the power struggle at Seventh Generation or turned against him. Unfortunately, Hollender, after twenty-two years with Seventh Generation, found himself out from the very company that he began. Hollender was shocked to say the least. He reflected on this change recently: “Seventh Generation was my identity, and getting fired was like having my identity stolen away from me. Most people couldn’t understand how I got thrown out of my own company. They didn’t know that as we raised more equity, I became a minority owner. After that, there were always tensions between social mission and making money.”Issie Lapowsky, “What to Do When You’re Fired from the Company You Started,” Inc. Magazine, July/August 2011, www.inc.com/magazine/201107/how-i-did-it-jeffrey-hollender-seventh-generation.html. In Graham’s letter to shareholders and employees, he said, As the leader of the company since its very earliest days and its philosophical guiding light for over two decades, Jeffrey has been an integral part of our brand and an obvious lynch pin of our success, our unique corporate spirit, and our much acclaimed emphasis on equity and justice in the way we conduct our business. It is no overstatement to say that without his unwavering dedication to our cause and his tireless efforts on our company’s behalf, we would not be the company we are today, and indeed might not be here at all. His is a legacy worthy of the highest respect and admiration, and nothing in our recent decision should dim that in any way. Nevertheless, recent events have forced us to choose between divergent paths. We have elected to set the company on the one we strongly feel has the very best chance of fulfilling the commitment we’ve made to all our stakeholders to achieve the greatest possible lasting success, financially but especially in terms of making our world a better, safer place for our children and the following seven generations.Marc Gunther, “Seventh Generation Sweeps Out Its Founder,” Marc Gunther, November 1, 2010, www.marcgunther.com/2010/11/01/seventh-generation-sweeps-out-its-founder. Peter Graham, Seventh Generation’s chairman, said that the Seventh Generation board unanimously selected Replogle based on his track record leading a complex organization, his demonstrated commitment to corporate responsibility, as well as his strong executive and personal qualities.Seventh Generation, “Seventh Generation Names John Replogle to Serve as CEO and President,” news release, February 9, 2011, http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/31571-Seventh-Generation-Names-John-Replogle-to-Serve-as-CEO-and-President. Hollender continues his leadership role in sustainability and is writing a new book. He is also the cofounder of the American Sustainable Business Council and a member of the board of directors of Greenpeace USA, Verite, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, and the Environmental Health Fund. He speaks frequently at national venues and has advised companies on sustainability. He has published six books, including Naturally Clean, The Responsibility Revolution, and Planet Home. Seventh Generation: The Road Ahead The new Seventh Generation CEO faced many challenges. The company needed to ramp up its marketing efforts to break through and get noticed in the middle green market and to increase the company’s brand awareness, which remained low. Also, among some of their super green customers, effective marketing would be essential to reestablish consumer trust and interest in Seventh Generation after a difficult couple of years. All of this would likely require use of marketing mediums, such as television and the print media, with broader reach than special events, educational programs, and charitable programs. To help marketing, Replogle created a new position of chief marketing officer (CMO) and hired Joey Bergstein, who hailed from Diageo, the world’s leading premium spirits company. Bergstein started his career with consumer packaged goods giant Procter & Gamble and was senior vice president of global rum at Diageo where in five years he helped to double sales while growing Captain Morgan from a US product into a global brand with a strong international presence.Steve Ratti, “Seventh Generation Adds New Chief Marketing Officer,” The Ratti Report, August 18, 2011, ratti-report.com/news-new-cmo/seventh-generation-adds-new-chief-marketing-officer. In marketing and other areas, it will not be easy to follow Seventh Generation’s founder Jeffrey Hollender. Replogle’s strengths are his leadership skills, demonstrated commitment to corporate responsibility, and a proven track record in his business career. Prior to being CEO of Burt’s Bees, Replogle spent three years at Unilever, where he managed the skin care division and helped to launch the Real Beauty campaign for Dove and establish the Dove Self-Esteem Fund for young girls. Prior to Unilever, he spent eight years with Diageo as president of Guinness Bass Import Company and managing director of Guinness Great Britain. He started his career at Boston Consulting Group after he earned an MBA from Harvard, from which he graduated with distinction. He received his undergraduate degree, a BA in government, from Dartmouth College where he currently serves as a trustee.“About John,” John Replogle for Dartmouth Trustee, www.john4dartmouth.com/p/about-john-replogle.html. According to Seventh Generation’s board chairman, Peter Graham, Replogle had been charged with “ensuring Seventh Generation’s untapped business potential is fully realized in the years ahead, both financially and in our continued efforts to make our world a safer place for our children and the next seven generations.”Marc Gunther, “Seventh Generation’s New CEO,” Marc Gunther, February 13, 2011, www.marcgunther.com/2011/02/13/seventh-generations-new-ceo-john-replogle. This would include how to grow Seventh Generation from a \$150 million business. In order to do this, Replogle believed the company must innovate and refresh the tired worn out brand look making it more relevant to consumers. In a recent interview, Replogle said, “We are going to out-innovate the competition in terms of meeting consumers’ needs in an environmentally-friendly way.”Marc Gunther, “Seventh Generation’s New CEO,” Marc Gunther, February 13, 2011, www.marcgunther.com/2011/02/13/seventh-generations-new-ceo-john-replogle. With innovation, the company must ensure that its products fully deliver on consumers’ needs and provide a fair price and strong value proposition that neutralizes any green pricing gap. What is not going to change according to company spokesperson, Dave Rappaport, senior director of corporate consciousness, is the company’s deep commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Rappaport, who was hired by Hollender after working in the nongovernmental organization world, stated, “Although the company was launched by Jeff’s vision, it is embraced by everyone here. It has been a part of everybody’s perception of his or her roles. Down to the innovations we’ve created on sustainability and corporate responsibility, you will find the work of employees who took the vision to heart.” He continued by stating that since letting Hollender go, the board of directors had approved the creation of a new committee on corporate social responsibility and sustainability. “With Jeffrey’s departure [they] know [they] have to institutionalize all of the things” he advocated for, making sure there is management oversight and “continued direct board oversight which there was through him when he was on the board.”Alex Goldmark, “Hollender Speaks on What’s Next for Seventh Generation,” Good Business (blog), January 18, 2011, www.good.is/post/jeffrey-hollender-on-how-to-hold-seventh-generation-accountable. Inherent in the culture that Hollender built is radical transparency. So consumers will be watching. With the foundation that Hollender and his team created, the company could continue to be part of a trend, even a near revolution, to nurture the planet and the health of the next seven generations, or it could lose its market presence and relevance. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Sustainable markets, while growing, are relatively small compared to total (mainstream) markets. • It will be challenging to grow sustainable consumer market companies beyond relatively small (niche) markets, especially during periods of economic restraint. • Sustainable marketing means coherence and consistency in the marketing mix—product, place, promotion, and price. • Seventh Generation and all sustainable businesses must deliver value and performance on their sustainable goods. Price matters for all brands and consumer markets. • Sustainable marketers need to be creative in their marketing mix to address areas that may be perceived as deficient, such as price, compared to traditional goods. • Sustainable marketing can require commitment to sustainability throughout the organization. Exercise $1$ What is Seventh Generation’s brand positioning, and how does the company fulfill its brand promise? Is the founder, Jeffrey Hollender, the brand or is the brand larger than the founder? Exercise $2$ How can Seventh Generation grow their awareness levels? How can they best employ broader reach vehicles, such as print, television, mobile, and digital marketing? Which outlets and promotions would you suggest? Exercise $3$ What marketing advice would you give to mainstream companies looking to compete in the green market? Exercise $4$ In what ways were Seventh Generation’s marketing plans successful and in what ways did they fail? Exercise $5$ Analyze Jeffrey Hollender’s four reasons explaining why he was fired. What other reasons can explain why the board fired him? Exercise $6$ What are the strengths and weaknesses of new CEO John Replogle and the new CMO given their backgrounds in leading marketing efforts at Seventh Generation? Do they have a better chance than Jeffrey Hollender in growing Seventh Generation’s revenue? Exercise $7$ What marketing advice would you give to the new Seventh Generation CMO? What would you suggest he change, and what would you suggest he keep the same in the company’s marketing mix? Exercise $8$ What should Seventh Generation do with regards to pricing to generate increased market share, revenue growth, and profits?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/08%3A_Case-_Marketing_Sustainability-_Seventh_Generation_Creating_a_Green_Household_Consumer_Product/8.02%3A_The_Challenge_Ahead.txt
Learning Objectives • Describe how sustainable supply chain management can be a source of competitive advantage. • Understand how one company conducts business in economically and socially disadvantaged regions of the world based on the values of its founder and senior management. • Explain how success in business sustainability and success in overall business performance can be related. Getting coffee to the supermarket or the local coffee shop involves many different supply channels and business decisions with significant economic, environmental, and social implications. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (GMCR) has informed coffee drinkers about the environmental and social impacts of their consumption and helped to change coffee consumption and industry practices. Bob Stiller, Green Mountain’s founder and chairman, is a strong advocate that Green Mountain and all businesses can help make the world a better place by committing to sustainability values and practices. Acting with concern for sustainability in a highly competitive industry that had historically focused primarily on low cost has provided opportunities for GMCR. Green Mountain management has used achieving sustainability in its products and practices to their competitive advantage. As the company founder declares, “Our success continues to be rooted in our inclusive business model of creating an exceptional beverage experience for customers and consumers, in a socially and environmentally responsible way, leading to sustainable financial success.”Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Annual Report 2009, accessed April 16, 2010, www.gmcr.com/Investors/AnnualReport.aspx. Figure $1$: GMCR founder Bob Stiller. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, blog.greenmountaincoffee.com/...k-great-coffee. The focus of this case is on how Green Mountain Coffee established a strong competitive position in the specialty coffee industry by using sustainable business practices. The company helped to transform the value proposition in the coffee industry from low cost to shared value creation, meeting consumer consumption desires while addressing social and environmental impacts of the industry. In 2010, GMCR was recognized as the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world, a reflection of the company’s commitment to high-quality coffee as well as social and environmental sustainability in coffee-farming communities globally. In its 2009 corporate social responsibility report, “Brewing a Better World,” the company noted, “All companies have sustainability challenges, a tension between where they are today and where they want to be with respect to sustainability issues—we’re no different in that respect. What we believe makes us different is how we address that challenge—by embracing it, by running towards it, and using that tension to drive us toward new solutions.”Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. Exercise $1$ Take a friend for a cup of coffee at Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and one local coffee shop selling Green Mountain Coffee. 1. What are the different types of coffee sold? 2. At what selling prices? 3. From what countries? 4. What information is available to help educate customers about where the coffee comes from and how it is produced? Exercise $2$ Go to YouTube and find videos on coffee growing around the world. 1. How is coffee growing portrayed in the videos? 2. What are your impressions of how coffee growing is portrayed in the videos? Exercise $3$ Go to Green Mountain’s homepage at http://www.gmcr.com/ and download the 2009 corporate social responsibility report, “Brewing a Better World.” 1. How does GMCR define sustainability? 2. What notable sustainable business practices has GMCR undertaken for 2009? 3. How does GMCR distinguish between sustainability and corporate social responsibility?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/09%3A_Case-_Brewing_a_Better_World-_Sustainable_Supply_Chain_Management_at_Green_Mountain_Coffee_Roasters_Inc./9.00%3A_Introduction.txt
Learning Objectives • Describe both a local and a global sustainable business practice. Explain how they are related. • Understand how company performance and sustainable practices can be related. • Describe how fair trade practice can be a source of competitive advantage in the coffee industry. Chairman Stiller and Larry Blandford, president and CEO, in the letter accompanying the company’s corporate social report, “Brewing a Better World: VOICES,” declared their commitment to a sustainable business approach by • reducing energy use, • continuing development and marketing of Fair Trade Certified coffees, • giving grants to coffee-growing communities, • installing a solar power array on the roof of its Vermont distribution center.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. The challenge for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) management was trying to incorporate sustainable business practice in a market that traditionally did not take account of external costs, such as environmental and social impacts, and was focused on low costs to consumers. Green Mountain was able to develop a core competence in its ability to apply its sustainable business model across the supply chain, and the company has been able to use its sustainable business practices to differentiate itself in the highly competitive coffee industry in ways that have been difficult for rivals to copy. How Is GMCR Doing? Green Mountain’s success is best reflected in the rise of its stock price. From 2007 to 2010, GMCR’s stock rose by more than 2,700 percent, while the S&P 500 declined by 8 percent. From Green Mountain’s initial IPO in September 1993, its stock had increased by 15,400 percent, significantly better than the S&P 500’s 165 percent gain.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Annual Report 2009, accessed April 16, 2010, www.gmcr.com/Investors/AnnualReport.aspx. Java Man Is Newest Billionaire Bob Stiller Profile Sometimes entrepreneurs really do become billionaires overnight. That’s what happened to Robert Stiller, the founder of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR). The value of his 12% holding in Green Mountain perked up 42% last Thursday and is now worth just over \$1 billion. The jump came just after his Vermont coffee company announced a strategic relationship with Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX). Green Mountain, also the owner of Keurig Single-Cup brewing system, will now make, market and sell Starbucks and Tazo tea K-Cups. I profiled Stiller as Entrepreneur of the Year nearly a decade ago in a 2001 Forbes cover story. At the time, his stake in the company was worth \$89 million. I tried to reach him again this week, to no avail, but I recall his story well. Stiller, who is probably now 67, was a born entrepreneur. His first big hit was selling rolling paper on the drug-sodden campus of Columbia University in the early 1970s. His brand, E-Z Wider, had double the width of competing brands. The paper wouldn’t feed into the machine properly, causing tearing. Stiller figured out a way to prevent ripping and eventually made a small fortune. “People expected to see potheads, but we were more efficient at paper conversion than any manufacturer at the time,” he told me back then. He and a partner sold out in 1980, each pocketing \$3.1 million. After cashing out, Stiller found himself at his ski condo in Sugarbush, Vermont, looking for his next opportunity. Enjoying a rare cup of good coffee at a restaurant one night, he started roasting his own beans, using a hot-air popcorn popper at one point, a cookie sheet at another, brewing batches of coffee for friends. Stiller ended up buying the store that had sold him that memorable cup of coffee in 1981 and after some twists and turns built it into Green Mountain. One of his smartest bets was investing in, and eventually, buying the Keurig single-cup system, created by three entrepreneurs. That business is now driving much of Green Mountain’s growth these days. Fiscal 2010 sales were up 73% to \$1.36 billion, with majority of revenues coming from Keurig. Stiller stepped down as chief executive in 2007 but is still chairman. In addition to his holding in his coffee business, he apparently has a stake in Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and owns a small private air charter, Heritage Flight, according to a story in a Vermontbiz. Source: Luisa Knoll, “Java Man Is Newest Billionaire,” Forbes, March 16, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2011/03/16/java-man-is-newest-billionaire. Along with continued outstanding growth in sales, profits, and earnings per share, Green Mountain has received numerous industry, social, and humanitarian awards. The company reported that 2011 “was another step on our path to creating a more sustainable future. Along the way, we were pleased to be recognized for our efforts to create both profit and positive change.” (See the following sidebar.)Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. GMCR 2011 Awards and Recognition • Readers’ Choice Award for New Products of the Year (Best Cold Beverage) on Automatic Merchandiser Magazine for the Green Mountain Coffee Brew over Ice K-Cup Pack • Ranked number 2 on Fortune Magazine’s “Global 100 Fastest-Growing Companies List” • Humanitarian of the Year Award from Medicines for Humanity (MFH) • Largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world for 2010 • Leader of Change Award from the Foundation for Social Change and United Nations Office for Partnerships • Business of the Year Award from Northeastern Economic Developers Association (NEDA) • One of the Boston Globe’s top places to work in Massachusetts, Keurig, Inc. To view Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Information from its Annual Report, 2011, visit files.shareholder.com/downloads/GMCR/1903981470x0x540307/c799e76f-7e06-418d-9bb2-b105a85ee3ea/GMCR_AnnualReport_2011.pdf GMCR keeps track of its social and sustainability efforts in three areas: the amount of fair trade coffee (organic and nonorganic) purchased as a percentage of total coffee purchased (with a goal of at least 30 percent of all coffee purchased to be Fair Trade Certified coffee); the price it pays to farmers for premium coffee over the prevailing market price; and the dollars contributed in grants to aid its numerous supply chain partners, especially to its farmers and community partners (with a goal of at least 5 percent of profits going to aid supply chain partners and other community partners). Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party certifier of fair trade products, named GMCR the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world for 2010. GMCR purchased more than twenty-six million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee in 2010. With its purchase of Fair Trade Certified (FTC) coffee, GMCR was able to identify early on and exploit market opportunities in the United States for the growing consumer interest in Fair Trade Certified organic and nonorganic coffee. With FTC coffee purchases, GMCR was able to help address the well-being of farmers in coffee exporting countries. The company did this by providing farmers and their workers a fair (also known as “living”) wage and grants to help them with medical, educational, and other economic and social needs. With the purchase of Fair Trade Certified organic coffee, GMCR also attempted to reduce the environmental devastation that occurred in coffee producing countries brought on by mass clearing and mass production of coffee crops. Management used these innovative supply chain practices and associated social investments as a source of a competitive advantage in the highly competitive specialty coffee industry. GMCR senior managers believed that once consumers understood the company’s sustainability goals and practices—protecting scarce resources, strengthening communities, reducing poverty, and ensuring equity in commercial relationships—they would be more likely to purchase the company’s products and thereby “partner” with the company to help build a better world.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. GMCR’s Fair Trade Coffee Goals and Statistics Management believed that its fair trade approach also created a “win-win” situation for the company and supply chain partners. By improving the quality of life for farmers, their families, and workers, Green Mountain sought to foster trust and closer working relationships in its supply chain. And management viewed this as investments that could help GMCR more effectively monitor quality and lower costs by assisting and negotiating directly with farm cooperatives. By lowering dependency on other supply chain intermediates in procuring its coffee, the company could lower supply chain logistical and procurements costs, improve turnaround time, and respond more quickly to customer preferences. By 2009, Green Mountain was one of the largest purveyors of fair trade coffee in the United States. Fair Trade Certified coffee represented about 30 percent of Green Mountain’s overall coffee pounds sold in 2009, which was a 36 percent increase over 2008. Partnerships and Outreach in the Supply Chain In 2008, GMCR began sharing and measuring vendor compliance to a set of guidelines. These guidelines outlined what Green Mountain expected from its vendors regarding environmental, health, and safety standards. These standards included vendor legal compliance, labor conditions, and environmental responsibility. For measuring compliance, GMCR created a set of tools, including self-assessments, surveys, on-site assessments by GMCR staff, and commissioned audits of vendor facilities. Management tested these tools by auditing its Waterbury, Vermont, facility.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. GMCR’s goal for its coffee supply chain was ambitious: to help the people in coffee-growing communities lead healthier and more prosperous lives. To facilitate the accomplishment of this goal, GMCR’s used two outreach initiatives. First, the company provided on-the-ground assistance by helping suppliers improve their ability to deliver high-quality specialty coffee to the marketplace. Areas of assistance included advice on cultivation techniques, training on cupping skills, and connecting suppliers with industry resources to help farmers strengthen and grow their business. Second, GMCR provided financial grants to nonprofits that both provided technical skills and helped communities achieve a more sustainable future.John M. Talbot, Grounds for Agreement: The Political Economy of the Coffee Commodity Chain (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), 44. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Sustainability practices in the supply chain can result in lower costs, shorter cycle times, and improved opportunities for product and process innovations. • Sustainable business practices can help differentiate a company from rivals in profitable and meaningful ways. Exercise $1$ Visit your college cafeteria or food service area and poll students on what they know about coffee, and especially about the role fair trade coffee plays in the lives of farm workers, in their families, and in protecting the environment. What are some of the key points or lessons that you would like these students to know about GMCR and fair trade coffee? Exercise $2$ Go to Green Mountain (http://www.greenmountaincoffee.com) and Starbucks (http://www.starbucks.com). How does each company demonstrate its commitment to buying and selling fair trade sustainable coffee? Exercise $3$ Go to the International Coffee Organization homepage at http://www.ico.org and download its annual review for 2010 and 2011. What is the International Coffee Organization’s (ICO) mission? What programs has the ICO recently adopted in support of coffee farmers in destitute coffee-growing countries? What has driven coffee prices to all-time highs? How have coffee farmers and their families’ benefited, if at all, from the higher coffee prices?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/09%3A_Case-_Brewing_a_Better_World-_Sustainable_Supply_Chain_Management_at_Green_Mountain_Coffee_Roasters_Inc./9.01%3A_Green_Mountains_Sustainable_Business_Model.txt
Learning Objectives • Define global supply chain. • Understand what it means to have a supply chain that is sustainable. • Explain the market drivers behind the growth in Fair Trade Certified (FTC) coffee and FTC organic coffee. The Coffee Bean Coffee has been consumed for centuries ever since the coffee bean was first cultivated and used by Arabs as a beverage in the fifteenth century.“Ethiopia: Coffee History, Production, Economy Facts,” Tree Crops, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. First discovered and cultivated in Ethiopia, the Arabica bean found its way to coffee houses in the Middle East and spread throughout Europe in the sixteenth century. Aided by Western colonialism, religious missionaries, and explorers to other tropical and subtropical regions of the world, the Arabica bean and the less valuable Robusta bean eventually became global crops. Coffee trees only grow in tropical and subtropical climates, primarily in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. One coffee tree produces one pound of green coffee per year. There are two types of coffee: specialty and conventional (basic). Specialty coffee is made from the Arabica bean and basic from the Robusta bean. Often times these beans are blended together in the roasting process to lower costs or offer greater variety. Coffee Industry Competitive Dynamics The International Coffee Organization (ICO) estimated that approximately 1.4 billion cups of coffee were poured each day worldwide in 2008.Robert S. Lazich, ed., Market Share Reporter: An Annual Complication of Reported Market Share, Data on Companies, Products, and Services (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2009), 1:191–92. The United States is the single largest consumer of coffee worldwide and is the largest importer of green (before roasting) coffee, approximately 2.5 million bags per month. In 2009 Germany was the second largest importer of coffee, followed by Italy, Japan, and France. Combined, the European Union countries imported approximately 5.4 million bags a month in 2009. The largest green coffee producing countries (2007–8) were Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia. (See Figure 9.1.) More than 50 percent of Americans older than eighteen years of age drink coffee every day. This represents more than 150 million daily drinkers. Thirty million American adults drink specialty coffee beverages daily, which include mocha, latte, espresso, café mocha, cappuccino, and frozen or iced coffee beverages. The United States imports in excess of \$4 billion worth of coffee per year. Americans consume four hundred million cups of coffee per day, making the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the world. (See the following sidebar.) Coffee Statistics Report—2012 Edition Did You Know? • Coffee statistics show that coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide, with over four hundred billion cups consumed each year. • Coffee industry statistics show that only 20 percent of harvested coffee beans are considered to be a premium bean of the highest quality. • Coffee market statistics show that coffee is grown commercially in more than forty-five countries around the world. • Coffee trade statistics show that over five million people in Brazil are employed by the coffee trade. • Those employed in the coffee industry are involved mostly with the cultivation and harvesting of more than three billion coffee plants. • Coffee consumption statistics show that coffee represents 75 percent of all the caffeine consumed in the United States. • The average price for an espresso-based drink is \$2.45. • The average price for brewed coffee is \$1.38. • Men drink as much coffee as women, each consuming an average of 1.6 cups per day. • Women seem to be more concerned about the price than men. • Among coffee drinkers, the average consumption in the United States is 3.2 cups of coffee per day. Source: “Coffee Statistics Report—2012 Edition,” Top 100 Espresso, www.top100espresso.com. Roasters compete primarily on price, brand, and differentiation. The price of green coffee is based on basic supply and demand economic factors. Supply is dependent on several factors including weather, pest damage, politics, and economics in the coffee-producing countries. Demand for coffee depends on several factors, including consumer preferences; changes in consumer lifestyles; national, regional, and local economic conditions; demographic trends; and health benefits or risks. Key Players in the Coffee Supply Chain An industry supply chain describes the processes (steps) by which a product is produced and ends up with (final) consumers. The green (unroasted) coffee bean travels through many steps in the supply chain (also known as the value chain) from harvest to final customer. A summary of some of the key players found in the value chain is presented in Figure 9.1. Coffee roasters or manufacturers are the key or focal player in the coffee supply chain. Figure $1$: Coffee Global Supply Chain Source: Image courtesy of the authors. Rivals: Branding and Market and Product Segmentation The largest US domestic coffee brands in 2007 were Folgers, Maxwell House, and Starbucks followed by several regional brands. Market segmentation is based on brands, price, cost, quality, and other variables that are based on customer (a) behavioral, (b) demographic, (c) psychographic, and (d) geographical differences. These brands either carry the coffee roaster’s corporate name, such as Starbucks (an international brand) and Peet’s (a regional brand), or are multimillion-dollar divisions of large multinational companies, such as Procter & Gamble, Kraft Foods (Gevalia), J. M. Smucker (Folgers, Millstone, Brothers), or Nestlé (Nespresso). Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods dominated the coffee market with 40 percent and 30 percent market share, respectively, in 2007.Robert S. Lazich, ed., Market Share Reporter: An Annual Complication of Reported Market Share, Data on Companies, Products, and Services (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2009), 1:191. Starbucks was one of the largest coffee roasters with more than eight thousand stores, or 32 percent market share in the retail store category in 2007.Robert S. Lazich, ed., Market Share Reporter: An Annual Complication of Reported Market Share, Data on Companies, Products, and Services (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2009), 2:677. The Specialty Coffee Retailer Association estimated that at least two-thirds of the US adult population drinks coffee at least once a week. The association estimated that there were 25,000 coffee shops in 2010, up from 9,470 shops in 2002. The coffee shops generated \$14 billion in sales or approximately one-third of the \$40 billion US coffee industry.“Top Ten Trends: Overview,” Specialty Coffee Retailer Association, accessed April 16, 2010, www.specialtycoffee.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Blog&mod=View+Topic&mid. In addition to larger roasters, such as Starbucks, Green Mountain, and Dunkin’ Donuts, small roasters included (the number in parentheses indicate the number of stores) Caribou Coffee (322), Tim Horton’s (292), Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (213), Coffee Beanery (200), Peet’s Coffee (166), Seattle’s Best (160), and Tully’s (100). Dunkin’ Donuts was by far the largest worldwide coffee and baked goods chain with more than three million customers per day in 2008. At the end of 2008, Dunkin’ Donuts was close to Starbucks in number of retail stores with 8,835 stores worldwide, including 6,395 franchised restaurants in thirty-four US states and 2,240 international shops in thirty-one countries.“About Us,” Dunkin’ Donuts, accessed April 30, 2010, http://www.dunkindonuts.com/content/dunkindonuts/en/company.html. The specialty coffee retailers competed with larger food processing companies in the supermarket segment of the industry. This category included Procter & Gamble, Nestlé, J. M. Smucker Company, Sara Lee, General Foods, and Philip Morris. Specialty coffee sales increased by 20 percent per year from 2007 to 2011 and, by 2011, accounted for nearly 8 percent of the \$18 billion US coffee industry. The ICO in 2011 reported that the simplification of methods for brewing roasted coffee at home along with rising coffee prices was encouraging at home coffee consumption. Even with the growth of coffee shops, the home continued to be the preferred brewing and consumption location in all countries. The ICO reported that one of the reasons could be the development of coffee pods and capsule machines, which made it easier for consumers to make good coffee at home.John M. Talbot, Grounds for Agreement: The Political Economy of the Coffee Commodity Chain (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), 33. Sustainable Coffee Market The Fair Trade Certified (FTC) coffee market was established in 1988 when world coffee prices declined sharply. In 1997, the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) was formed as an umbrella organization to expand the scope and monitor fair trade with universal standards and labels.Kathleen E. McKone-Sweet, “Lessons from a Coffee Supply Chain,” Supply Chain Management Review (2009), accessed May 6, 2010, www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14185976_ITM. The Fair Trade Certified organic coffee movement attempted to reduce the environmental devastation that occurred in coffee producing countries. Fair trade was meant to counteract the practice pursued by large multinational corporations that used mass production methods for coffee farming. These methods conflicted with traditional, more environmentally friendly methods of coffee farming. The mass production techniques included clearing of large tracks of forested farmland, machine harvesting, mechanized warehouse operations, and heavy use of chemicals and pesticides to increase crop yield. Mass production farming caused severe environmental degradation and forced many small farms to close causing economic hardships in many coffee producing areas.John M. Talbot, Grounds for Agreement: The Political Economy of the Coffee Commodity Chain (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004), 197–203. In addition, the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides resulted in significant nitrate runoff into ground water and streams. Farmers and workers and others were exposed to highly toxic chemicals, including some banned in the United States. Concern about the adverse impacts of the change in coffee farming played an important role in the emerging Fair Trade Certified coffee market.Carl Obermiller, Chauncey Burke, Erin Talbott, and Gwereth P. Green, “Taste Great or More Fulfilling: The Effect of Brand Reputation on Consumer Social Responsibility Advertising for Fair Trade Coffee,” Corporate Reputation Review 12, no. 2 (2009): 160–61. From 1998 to 2009, 629 million pounds of fair trade products came into the United States. This included 448 million pounds of coffee or 71 percent of all fair trade products imported. Fair trade coffee imports grew 25 percent over 2008. This growth was driven primarily by increased demand for fair trade coffee in large retail outlets and restaurants, such as Whole Foods Market, Walmart, McDonald’s, and Starbucks. In 2008, North American “sustainable” coffee sales were a record \$1.3 billion, a 13 percent increase over 2007.John M. Talbot, Grounds for Agreement: The Political Economy of the Coffee Commodity Chain (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). KEY TAKEAWAYS • Supply chains are complex open and dynamic systems. • A supply chain is composed of multiple players of various sizes who compete on brand, price, and market segmentation. • Fair trade and sustainable coffee is an emerging and growing market. Exercise $1$ Go to the Institute for Supply Management home page (www.ism.ws/index.cfm) and click the link to their “Ethics and Social Responsibility” page. Review their “Principles and Standards of Ethical Supply Management Conduct.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/09%3A_Case-_Brewing_a_Better_World-_Sustainable_Supply_Chain_Management_at_Green_Mountain_Coffee_Roasters_Inc./9.02%3A_The_Coffee_Industrys_Supply_Chain.txt
Learning Objectives • Explain supply chain management (SCM). • Describe how SCM can contribute to sustainable business practice. • Explain the economic value added of supply chain management. Getting Started: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Sustainable Business Model Bob Stiller opened his first coffee shop in 1981 in Waterbury, Vermont, selling high-quality coffee. His concept was simple; sell only high-quality coffee to ordinary people every day. When demand for his coffee outstripped his small store, he started bagging his coffee and sold it to wholesalers, supermarkets, and by mail order. A strong following for his coffee soon developed in New England and in the Northeast. Stiller’s entrepreneurial drive and passion for selling quality coffee eventually became the cornerstone of the company’s purpose and guiding principles, “to create the ultimate coffee experience in every life we touch from tree to cup—transforming the way the world understands business.”John M. Talbot, Grounds for Agreement: The Political Economy of the Coffee Commodity Chain (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). Stiller focused his company’s purpose around supply chain management (SCM). In 2005, Green Mountain was the first company in the coffee industry to support the United Nation’s Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) mission to develop globally accepted sustainability reporting guidelines. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ (GMCR) management adopted the GRI’s guidelines because the company’s senior managers believed that their organization could benefit from sustainability measurement and comparison and GRI’s guidelines served this purpose. The following year, GMCR published its first corporate social responsibility report. Stiller noted at the time that the report would give employees a better way to understand corporate values and the way the company conducted business. It would also challenge them to do better.TransFair USA, TransFair USA: Almanac 2009, accessed June 8, 2010, www.fairtradeusa.org/resource-library/downloads. The report made public for the first time the company’s triple bottom line (TBL) goals and progress in meeting them. In 2008, a “social and environmental responsibility” committee was added for the board of directors. The committee is responsible for overseeing the company’s social and environmental responsibilities. In addition, the company established the positions of vice president for corporate social responsibility and vice president for environmental affairs reporting directly to the CEO. And a corporate social responsibility team was established consisting of six individuals focused specifically on supply chain outreach, domestic community outreach, social compliance, environmental management systems, and communication.Kathleen E. McKone-Sweet, “Lessons from a Coffee Supply Chain,” Supply Chain Management Review (2009), accessed May 6, 2010, www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-14185976_ITM. Brewing a Better World Green Mountain’s corporate social responsibility programs are organized into six practice areas that span the company’s supply chain and are communicated under the banner of “brewing a better world.” The six practice areas are partnering with supply chain communities, supporting local communities, protecting the environment, building demand for sustainable products, working together for change, and creating a great place to work. The company’s overall corporate governance structure is available at www.gmcr.com/investors. In GMCR’s 2011 annual report, Stiller stated, “We are particularly proud that our earnings growth has enabled us to increase the resources we direct to societal and environmental initiatives under our banner of ‘Brewing a Better World.’ In fiscal year 2011, the total resources we allocated to sustainability programs totaled \$15.2 million. A key corporate value proposition of GMCR is ongoing support and partnership with the communities in which we operate through volunteerism, philanthropy, and other socially and environmentally responsible initiatives.”“Home Page,” Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., accessed April 10, 2010, www.gmcr.com/Investors/Company-Profile.aspx. Building Demand for Sustainable Products Green Mountain successfully shifted some of the coffee industry away from a focus on price (cost to consumers) to shared value creation providing benefits to the company and consumers in an environmentally and socially sustainable way by stimulating greater demand for Fair Trade Certified coffee. In “Brewing a Better World,” management maintained that “as the economic rewards of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee grew, more smallholder farmers would work towards Fair Trade status. And more people would be lifted out of poverty and hunger. More hectares of land under cultivation would be cultivated with care. And so on in a reinforcing circle. It could work the same in many businesses and industries—maybe all.”Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. In fiscal year 2011, GMCR delivered 95 percent revenue growth with net sales of \$2,650,900,000. Approximately 84 percent of those net sales were attributable to the combination of Keurig brewing systems and related accessories and single K-Cup packs. The company sold 5.9 million Keurig brewers in fiscal year 2011. Net sales from K-Cup packs totaled \$1,704,000,000 in 2011, up 104 percent, or \$869,600,000 from 2010.CSRwire, “Green Mountain Coffee Releases First Corporate Social Responsibility Report,” news release, October 3, 2006, www.csrwire.com/press/press_release/13663-Green-Mountain-Coffee-Roasters-Releases-First-Corporate-Social-Responsibility -Report. Green Mountain’s product concept was fashioned after Gillette’s high-margin razor / razor blade strategy. Green Mountain sold its retail Keurig brewers at cost or licensed the technology to other roasters to enable high volume sales of its K-Cups. The goal was to place as many brewers as possible into homes, offices, hotels, and supermarkets to boost its Fair Trade Certified (FTC) model through brewer and K-Cup sales growth. Keurig brewers were sold at Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, Walmart, Sears, and other well-known retailers, giving the company’s fair trade business model greater exposure to a wider base of customers. By 2011, Keurig was the best-selling single-serve coffee maker brand in the United States with just over 71 percent market share. Starbucks has been GMCR’s largest rival in the specialty coffee market segment. In an attempt to stall declining retail store sales in the United States, Starbuck’s launched a national campaign for its Pike’s Place Roast coffee at a \$1.50 per cup. Blandford saw Green Mountain’s home brewing technology as a very affordable customer alternative to its competitors’ retail store coffee. In contrast to Starbucks’s \$3 per cup for a tall latte, at-home K-Cup brewing costs consumers about 50 to 60 cents a cup.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. Green Mountain saw its K-Cup products as a way for consumers to cut cost. Money magazine estimated that it would cost consumers \$1,246 annually for a daily latte at Starbucks (Figure 9.2). How GMCR Built Demand for Fair Trade Coffee In 2002, GMCR started selling Newman’s Own Organics coffee in K-Cups. This collaboration gave GMCR access to Costco, BJ’s, and Sam’s Club. Just as important, the collaboration with Newman’s Own Organics allowed GMCR to make Fair Trade Certified organic coffee available to all consumers. After the collaboration was started in 2002, Green Mountain became a leader in the organic coffee category and Newman’s Own Organics became one of the fastest-growing national coffee brands in the United States. In 2007, GMCR entered into a licensing agreement to sell Caribou Coffee that gave it access to midwestern markets. In 2009, Green Mountain acquired the brand and wholesale business of Tully’s Coffee, a respected specialty coffee roaster with roots in the Pacific Northwest. In 2009, Green Mountain acquired the Timothy’s World Coffee brand and its wholesale coffee business located in Toronto, Canada. This acquisition included Timothy’s World Coffee, Emeril’s, and Kahlúa Original brands. Timothy’s gave Green Mountain entry into international markets for the first time. Timothy’s sold only high-quality Arabica coffee, which was sourced globally. Through its new product development and marketing programs, Green Mountain sought to nationally expand its supermarket and college and university food service accounts. At year-end 2009, Green Mountain had more than 8,500 supermarket and 240 college and university accounts. GMCR’s Tanzanian Gombe Reserve coffee was the first coffee to receive Jane Goodall’s “Good for All” seal, signifying that GMCR not only promotes better pay for farmers but is committed to protect the environment and the planet’s wildlife. The coffee grown near the boundaries of Tanzania’s Gombe National Park is one of the few places worldwide where coffee farmers and chimpanzees live side-by-side. GMCR’s outreach program provides farmers with an incentive to preserve the forest and a chance at economic stability while giving Green Mountain access to one of the best climates for growing high-quality Arabica coffee.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. Figure $2$: Annual Single-Cup Coffee Cost at Selected Roasters (Prices in Cents) Sources: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Corporate Social Responsibility Report: Brewing a Better World, accessed May 30, 2012, www.gmcr.com/csr.aspx; ICO,"Indicator Prices Annual And Monthly Averages: 1998 To 2010," accessed June 6, 2010, dev.ico.org/prices/p2.htm. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Excellence in business sustainability and excellence in overall business performance can be mutually supportive and interdependent. • Sustainability principles and practices can promote collaborative partnerships that are mutually beneficial to supply chain communities and stakeholders. • Being good at sustainable business management requires a systematic approach that integrates and governs all functions and elements of the company’s operation and throughout its supply chain. • Sustainable business management can be a critically important management competency, one that can help differentiate a company from rivals in profitable and meaningful ways. • Founder and senior management commitment to sustainable business practice is important. • Sustainability business models need to be supported and championed by senior managers. • Sustainable business models can provide several sources of competitive advantage through branding, market segmentation, and pricing. Exercise $1$ Take a virtual Internet tour of a coffee farm in Tanzania, Africa. What type of coffee farming is carried out in this country? What is the quality of life like for the country’s farmers? What unique environmental, social, and economic issues face the coffee farmer in this country? Exercise $2$ Go to TransFair USA’s website (http://www.transfairusa.org). What are TransFair USA’s mission, values, and philosophy? Why is it important for a roaster’s coffee to be Fair Trade Certified? Exercise $3$ You have been asked to join a group of students at school or college to join a protest against Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. They are concerned about the rapid growth of the company’s plastic K-Cups and the disposal of these cups into your local landfall. How would you respond to their invitation to join them? Exercise $4$ What NGOs are in the country and what type of assistance do they offer coffee farmers? If you were to go on an eco-tour to a coffee-producing region of the country, what would you expect to see? How visible is GMCR’s involvement in Tanzania? Are they involved? If so, how?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/09%3A_Case-_Brewing_a_Better_World-_Sustainable_Supply_Chain_Management_at_Green_Mountain_Coffee_Roasters_Inc./9.03%3A_Sustainability_and_Corporate_Social_Respon.txt
Marketplace Challenges Competition in the specialty segment of the coffee industry intensified as companies attempted to gain market share in this profitable and rapidly growing segment through acquisitions and by other means. This was particularly true in the single-serve coffee segment of the market. Several companies were taking greater interest in this segment and moved to acquire other companies or introduce their own brewer and K-Cup technologies. In October 2008, Green Mountain settled a lawsuit against Kraft Foods Global for patent infringement that violated its intellectual property rights, with Green Mountain asserting that Kraft infringed on Keurig’s brewing and K-Cup technologies. Kraft paid Green Mountain \$17 million to settle the suit. As part of the settlement Green Mountain licensed its brewer and cartridge technologies to Kraft.Elizabeth Fuhrman, “Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Gives a One-Two Punch,” Beverage Industry, March 2009, 32. In September 2012, two patents on Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ (GMCR) K-Cups and Keurig brewer expire. These key patents are related to technology that maintained a precise amount of coffee in each pod and the means to extract its liquid. Copying the technology will not be difficult as the patents protect relatively simple inventions. In anticipation of the patent expirations, GMCR launched new products (see more in the discussion that follows) and also aggressively pursued licensing of its K-Cup technology. Notable licensing agreements were made with Caribou, Folgers, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Starbucks. However, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ stock price plunged 16 percent after Starbucks said it would soon start selling the single-cup coffee machines. Market investors believed that this move by GMCR’s main competitor would deflate demand for Green Mountain’s Keurig machines. Shares of Starbucks on the same day rose by 3 percent. Environmental Challenges In the company’s 2008 corporate social responsibility report, GMCR management stated that their top challenge was the environmental impact of their coffee packaging materials and brewing systems. To address this challenge management engaged in an in-depth life cycle assessment to understand and compare single-cup brewing versus drip brewing from a systems standpoint. Mike Dupee, Green Mountain’s vice president of corporate social responsibility, in his letter in the 2008 Corporate Social Report, wrote, Growth, as with any change in the status quo, generally triggers some amount of self-examination. How did we get here? Where are we going and how are we going to get there? As a values-based business, we ask these same questions—and our commitment to social and environmental responsibility adds another layer to the process. How do we address the management of our ecological footprint while growing at these rates? How do we manifest our commitments across a growing family of brands? How do we maintain the best aspects of our corporate culture and welcome new ideas as we spread out across new geographies and welcome more and more people into our enterprise? It is more apparent than ever that we must continue to prioritize key sustainability opportunities and challenges alongside the demands of a fast-growing business.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended September 26, 2009. In the 2009 CSR report, management reported on the results of their life cycle analysis. The life cycle assessment showed that the disposal of a K-Cup’s packaging represented a relatively small fraction of the total environmental impact of GMCR products—the most significant environmental impacts occurred in the cultivation of coffee beans, the use of brewing systems, and the material used in the products’ packaging. One area of concern with the single-serve coffee was the manufacturing requirements of the K-Cup pack, which made recycling difficult. The K-Cup pack was made up of three main elements: the cup itself, a filter, and an aluminum foil top. The pack’s components were deemed as required to prevent oxygen, light, and moisture from degrading the coffee. To offset the environmental impact of the K-Cup brewing system, GMCR introduced a new line of more environmentally friendly brewers under the Vue brand name. The plastic used in Vue pack cups can be recycled wherever polypropylene / number five plastic is accepted. The Vue brewing system was viewed as another step on GMCR’s long journey to reduce the environmental impact of their products.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended September 26, 2009. Sidebar Can Disposable Single-Cup Coffee Be Sustainable? Green Mountain Coffee made the popular Keurig Single-Cup brewing system in which a bit of coffee is sealed in plastic and can be popped cleanly into a single-serve coffee maker. Does it make sense to put fair-trade coffee in a disposable petroleum-based package? Of the coffee shipped around the world by Green Mountain Coffee (GMC), 27 percent is currently fair trade certified and that number is increasing. They have partnered with Newman’s Own Organics to widen the market for fair trade coffees and by putting fair trade coffees in their popular K-Cups they say they are popularizing fair trade and helping coffee growing communities. In some of their other products 19 percent of the bags are made from PLA (the corn-based bioplastic) and last year they cut their solid waste 19 percent by composting the organic waste from their production processes. Part of their fleet runs on biodiesel. GMC offsets 100 percent of their direct greenhouse gas emissions. They partner with nonprofits such as Heifer International and provide grants focused on poverty reduction. K-Cups however, are petroleum based plastic, with a layer of polyethylene coating an interior filter paper and an aluminum foil top. It keeps the coffee fresh, but makes recycling impossible. Small though the cups may be they are big business, with GMC reporting that 2.5 million K-Cups® are brewed every day. K-Cups® were about ½ of their net sales last year. On the sustainability of their operation GMC states, “we understand that the impact of the K-Cup® waste stream is one of our most significant environmental challenges.” They have commissioned a lifecycle analysis to compare drip brew to K-Cups®, but if they already know it is a significant challenge, in a product line representing half of their sales, it is notable that no other information on alternatives or reasonable goals are available except a statement that they “are working to identify the right definition of environmentally friendly.” People have the choice to buy the reusable filter model (although it got bad reviews for durability), but assuming that their convenience-loving customers like the no fuss product, but also care about issues like fair trade, why is such a connected company not moving faster on this high impact issue? Source: Lillian Laurence, “Can Disposable Single-Cup Coffee Be Sustainable?,” Sustainable Life Media, accessed June 25, 2010, http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/articles/can-disposable-single-cup-coffee-be-sustainable-green-mountain-coffee. Green Mountain management has taken many other steps in design, packaging, and energy use to reduce the environmental impact of the Keurig brewing systems, including the following: • Introducing nested packaging for our K-Cup® packs, which was expected to reduce distribution-related greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20%, and decrease volume of packaging by 30%. • Launching two pilot programs in its Away From Home channel that divert brewed K-Cup® packs from landfills. • Offering the My K-Cup® product, a reusable filter assembly that can be refilled by the consumer. My K-Piloting a K-Cup® pack for tea made with paper, a renewable resource, in 2010. • Including recycling codes in its brewers to facilitate responsible disposal of the recyclable parts of its home brewing systems and to ensure compliance with the RoHS Directive, a set of European regulations designed to reduce the effect of electronic equipment on the waste stream. • Providing considerable energy savings through Auto-Off features for its At Home brewing systems.Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Brewing a Better World: VOICES, accessed May 30, 2010, www.gmcr.com/PDF/gmcr_csr_2008.pdf. Valuation and Stock Market Performance Challenges In October 2011, David Einhorn and his hedge fund, Greenlight Capital, publically criticized Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, attacking the company’s patents and arrangement with Starbucks.David Benoit, “Here’s the Einhorn Presentation That Killed Green Mountain Shares,” Deal Journal (blog), October 19, 2011, http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/10/19/heres-the-einhorn-presentation-that-killed-green-mountain-shares. Green Mountain’s stock promptly fell 10 percent. Sidebar Einhorn’s concerns included the following: 1. Patent expiration: GMCR’s patent on K-Cups expires in September 2012, and it could allow competitors to make pods for GMCR’s Keurig machines, undercutting profit margins. 2. Starbucks, Dunkin (DNKN) and Smucker’s (SJM) deals are less profitable than expected: GMCR earns around \$0.15 per K-Cup it sells on its own, but filings show that K-Cups licensed to Smucker’s earn around \$0.06 per K-Cup. GMCR has said many times that the Starbucks and Dunkin deals would be the same, so investors should expect falling profit margins. 3. Valuation: At a P/E of 80, investors may begin to question that multiple as Einhorn attacks the stock. The following points were made in favor of GMCR: 1. Starbucks, Dunkin, and Smucker’s waited to strike a deal this year. If GMCR was about to collapse due to its patent expirations, why would Starbucks and Smucker’s strike a deal? Obviously they are assuming GMCR will be around to fulfill its end of their contract. 2. Growth: Net sales soared 127% in the most recent quarter. Few, if any companies have that kind of growth. Not even Apple (AAPL) can match that kind of sales increase. 3. Expanding market share: GMCR estimates that 25% of all coffee machines sold in the quarter were K-Cup brewers. Given that this 25% is growing far above the other 75%, we think that Green Mountain will increase its market share. 4. Forward P/E: Though the P/E ratio is 80, the forward P/E is under 32, a huge fall, implying huge growth for the company. Given that the company is expected to grow earnings and revenue by 60%, is it that expensive? 5. Patent expirations are a positive: The patent expirations occurring in 2012 are a net positive for GMCR, because a lack of license fees means cheaper K-Cups, expanding demand for brewers that ARE patent-protected. Furthermore, focusing on brewers will turn them into a profit center for GMCR if it cannot earn enough from K-Cups. 6. Acquisitions have all been done to prepare for patent expirations: GMCR has been criticized for questionable acquisitions, such as Van Houtte and Diedrich. But, the net result of these acquisitions is that Green Mountain now owns its top selling K-Cup providers, which means that ironically Green Mountain is the prime beneficiary of its own expiring patents. 7. New products: GMCR is developing new products, including an espresso machine, and a new Keurig filtering system, which will come with their own patent protections. Source: Helix Investment Management, “Who’s Right about Green Mountain Coffee Roasters? Einhorn or the Street?,” October 19, 2011, accessed March 3, 2012, seekingalpha.com/article/300640-who-s-right-about-green-mountain-coffee-roasters-einhorn-or-the-street. Challenges Take a Toll On May 2, 2012, GMCR shares declined 48 percent after the company reported it had sold fewer brewers and K-cups than it had anticipated in the quarter ending in March, causing the company to lower its profit expectations for the year. The fallout came as Green Mountain faces increased competition in the fall when Starbucks plans to launch a high-end espresso brewer and two of Green Mountain's patents on K-cup technology expire. KEY TAKEAWAYS • GMCR was able to use excellence in business sustainability as a source of competitive advantage and to help increase its profitability and market value. • The company faces many challenges. These include continuing the following: its leadership in sustainable business practices, its strong position in the coffee industry, and its stock market performance prior to 2012. Exercise $1$ Describe how GMCR was able to grow and increase profitability by selling single-cup coffee. Then discuss the significance of single-cup coffee packaging and how it relates to sustainability. Is single-cup brewing compatible with sustainability? Why or why not? Can GMCR maintain its leadership in sustainable business practice and continue to grow its single-cup coffee business? Exercise $2$ Go to www.vuerecycling.com. How does the Vue support, if at all, GMCR’s claims that its new brewer technology and its packs of plastic cup are more environmentally friendly? Is GMCR doing enough to address its environmental critiques? Exercise $3$ What happens to GMCR now that its main competitor, Starbucks, is selling single-cup brewers in their stores and after its K-Cup patent expires? Will this increase the company’s reliance on sustainable business practices with Vue and other similarly focused initiatives? Within the single-cup segment of the coffee market will GMCR be able to continue to distinguish itself by its sustainability effort and can sustainability efforts contribute to future profitability and stock price appreciation?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/09%3A_Case-_Brewing_a_Better_World-_Sustainable_Supply_Chain_Management_at_Green_Mountain_Coffee_Roasters_Inc./9.04%3A_Going_Forward.txt
Figure $1$: Oakhurst Logo Source: Wreaths Across America, http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/logo/. Oakhurst Dairy is setting the standard for business and organizations in our state and throughout the country. - Maine US Senator Olympia Snow, quoted regarding Oakhurst Dairy’s commitment to improving the environment. 10: Case: Oakhurst Dairy: Operations Management and Sustainability Learning Objectives • Understand how operations management that incorporates sustainability principles can reduce costs and improve profits. • Describe how sustainable operations management practice can contribute to cost reduction and enhance a company’s competitive position. • Highlight best practices for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an industry. • Show how lean manufacturing principles can contribute to sustainable, effective, and efficient management of a company’s carbon footprint. Oakhurst Dairy’s profitability has benefitted from the company taking a leadership role in addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the US dairy industry.The authors wish to thank Clean Air Cool Planet (CA–CP) and Bob Sheppard, chief financial officer and vice president of the corporate program, for assistance and permission to use the Oakhurst Dairy Case Study, “Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint,” as partial source material for this case. Oakhurst Dairy is a featured CA–CP Co-op Planet Corporate Partner. See www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/about/partners.php. In the process of its carbon footprint mapping the company identified how to reduce its GHG emissions and also identified innovative ways to improve operational efficiencies, reduce operational costs (mostly energy costs), and enhance profits. Oakhurst Dairy has changed over time. The long established northern New England dairy company no longer owns any dairy farms. It makes its money by processing milk bought from dairy farms. It owns no cows. It buys its raw milk from local dairy farmers and sells its processed milk to grocery stores and retailers such as Walmart and 7-Eleven. The company, under the Bennett family ownership, has become one of northern New England’s largest independent milk processors. Oakhurst’s approach is to build brand equity and increase profits over time. This has been supported by investing in operation management practices that reduce costs and increase brand awareness and loyalty with the dissemination of information about the company’s practices that reduce its carbon footprint. Oakhurst’s sustainable business approach includes (a) senior management commitment to sustainable business practices in its operations and its supply chain, (b) integration of sustainable goals and practices in the company’s business systems, (c) use of operating and financial reports and communications, and (d) monitoring of environmental results and implementation of continuous improvements. This case will highlight how the company, by adopting sustainable business practices throughout its operations, saved more than \$620,000 in annual fuel costs. These are savings that have contributed directly to Oakhurst’s financial bottom line. This includes savings from a \$343,000 investment in solar panels at two of its facilities, resulting in annual savings of \$52,500 (at a fuel cost of \$3.50 per gallon) and representing a 6.5 year payback period on their investment. With an estimated life of thirty years, the solar panel investment alone will save Oakhurst \$1.2 million over the life of the solar panels and lower its carbon emissions by 176 metric tons annually.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/10%3A_Case%3A_Oakhurst_Dairy%3A_Operations_Management_and_Sustainability/10.00%3A_Overview.txt
Learning Objectives • Describe how the company was founded and how it operates as a family-operated enterprise. • Define how the dairy industry is organized and its larger context. • Understand that sustainability efforts have to be considered in the context of company organization and ownership and industry dynamics and conditions. The founding family of Oakhurst, the Bennett family, has managed a successful dairy business based out of Portland, Maine, for ninety years. This is not a simple accomplishment. The dairy industry is dynamic and fiercely competitive, and Oakhurst has become the largest independent dairy processor in northern New England. The company is privately owned and as such its financial information is not publically available. Much of the information from this case is garnered from company interviews and a study of the company by Clean Air–Cool Planet (CA–CP).“Outreach and Education/Resources,” Clean Air–Cool Planet, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/climate_preparedness/outreach_ed.php. Instead of succumbing to the external economic and political forces that have reduced many family businesses to nostalgic memories of bucolic America, the Bennett family found ways to keep the dairy industry a part of the Maine economy. Oakhurst’s success can be attributed in part to the company’s strategy, built on the following: • Lean manufacturing and operational efficiency • Creation of business value through environmental stewardship • Psychographic-centered marketing and brand equity According to Oakhurst President William “Bill” Bennett, “We have been able to stave off being bought by maintaining a strong brand identity. People know what we do and what we stand for.”J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html; the story was revised on January 10, 2011, to correct a reference to milk prices. According to the Maine Milk Commission, dairy farmers were paid a minimum of roughly \$18 per 100 pounds of milk in November. Co-owner of Oakhurst with his brother Stanley, Bill Bennett took on the role of president when Stanley was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the summer of 2010. Stanley had led Oakhurst Dairy since 1983 when he was named president after his father’s retirement.John Richardson, “Oakhurst CEO Stanley Bennett Dies,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, February 25, 2011, accessed March 5, 2011, www.pressherald.com/news/oakhurst-ceo-stanley-bennett-dies_2011-02-25.html. The Bennett family firmly believed that the well-being of their company and the US dairy industry were dependent on environmental stewardship. Oakhurst’s proactive and interactive approach to reducing emissions has set the standard for best practices in the dairy industry. They have collaborated with interest groups, government agencies, industry competitors, and others in their sustainability efforts.See Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. For the Oakhurst case and more information about Clean Air–Cool Planet (CA–CP), see www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/about and Innovation Center for US Dairy, U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report: Sustaining the Dairy Industry for Future Generations, accessed January 9, 2011, www.usdairy.com/Sustainability/Pages/Home.aspx. Stanley T. Bennett II was one of five third-generation Bennett siblings who were keeping their great grandfather Stanley Bennett’s business alive by being a preferred supplier of natural, healthy dairy products. Before his passing, Stanley T. Bennett II noted, “The cows that supply us with our product literally eat and drink and breathe the Maine environment. We have a natural self-interest in keeping that environment pure. It’s something we can market that our competitors can’t.”Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. For the Oakhurst case and more information about Clean Air–Cool Planet (CA–CP), see www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/about. Under Bill’s leadership, Oakhurst has focused on ways to boost operational efficiency in the highly competitive dairy industry. With price pressure intense in the industry, success at reducing costs without sacrificing product quality and integrity could contribute to increased profitability. Finding ways to reduce energy, electricity, water, and sewage costs could enhance company profits at the same time it reduced the company’s environmental impact and could enhance its favorable reputation with significant numbers of consumers. On his brother’s passing, Bill stated in the company’s news release, “Oakhurst is where it is today because of Stan’s leadership and foresight; he always kept an eye on the future. For a number of years, we’ve put a lot of thought into making sure we have a caring, experienced, and committed team in place; and this team will continue to lead us well into the future.”Front Burner PR, “Oakhurst’s Bill and John Bennett Well Prepared to Lead Respected New England Dairy,” news release, February 25, 2011, www.frontburnerpr.com/uploads/oak_transition_feb2011_final.pdf. Bill’s brother John joined the company in 2004 as vice president of sales and marketing after owning and operating a successful wholesale seafood business on Portland’s waterfront. Other members of the senior management team with years of service included their sister Althea Bennett-McGirr, director of customer service and consumer affairs (thirty years); Tom Brigham, executive vice president and chief financial officer (fifteen years); Paul Connolly, vice president of logistics and chief information officer (ten years); and Joe Hyatt, vice president of human resources and administration (thirteen years).Front Burner PR, “Oakhurst’s Bill and John Bennett Well Prepared to Lead Respected New England Dairy,” news release, February 25, 2011, www.frontburnerpr.com/uploads/oak_transition_feb2011_final.pdf. Bill Bennett, reflecting on his brother’s life and contribution to Oakhurst, stated, “The main reason we’ve been so successful over the years is because of him.” Bill added that many of the recent steps the company had taken to decrease its carbon footprint, including purchasing biofuels from a local company that turns restaurant fry oil into biofuel and installing solar panels on the roofs of the company’s various buildings, were because of Stanley Bennett II’s leadership.“Stanley T. Bennett II, Oakhurst Dairy President, Dedicated to Community,” Forecaster (Falmouth, ME), March 1, 2011, www.theforecaster.net/content/pn-obitbennett-030211. The challenge for Oakhurst management was to buck the industry trend toward large-scale dairy farming, processing, and distribution through consolidation of dairies while maintaining profitability. According to Bill Bennett II, “Twenty-five or thirty years ago, we were a big dairy in a sea of little dairies. Now we are a small dairy [processor].”J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. Like its counterparts across the country, Maine dairy farmers were finding it difficult to make a profit let alone stay in business. However, compared to its northern New England neighbors, Maine was losing its dairy farms at a lower rate as a result of Maine’s innovative dairy stabilization program (see sidebar “The State of Maine’s Dairy Industry”). The State of Maine’s Dairy Industry In 2009, Maine’s dairy industry generated more than \$570 million annually for the state’s economy, paid \$25 million in state and municipal local taxes, and provided more than four thousand jobs. In the 1950s, Maine had 51,000 herds of dairy cattle. By 2009 it was down to 32,000 cows making 590 million pounds of milk per year (69 million gallons). By 2009 there were 315 dairy farms in Maine ranging in size from 10 to 1,700 cows. In the period from 2000 to 2004, Maine lost 106 farms. Maine has more than sixty milk processors. Six processors package fluid milk for drinking: Oakhurst Dairy, H. P. Hood, Houlton Farms Dairy, Garelick Farms of Maine, Kate’s Butter, and Smiling Hill Farm Dairy. By far the largest was H. P. Hood with \$2.4 billion in revenue and 3,000 employees in 2010. Dean’s Foods, a National food and beverage company had revenues of \$12.9 billion and lost \$1.5 billion (2010). Oakhurst Dairy was the largest privately owned Maine dairy processor with 2010 revenues of \$110 million and 250 employees. Since 2004 the US dairy industry has been marked by two significant factors. The western United States has seen unimagined and unprecedented growth in total milk and average size of each dairy operation. This shift was the result of state and federal government policies that offer financial incentives in the form of tax breaks and subsidies to take unproductive land and convert it to animal agriculture, or convert land from one type of production to dairy production. Secondly, the cyclical “boom-and-bust” dynamic of dairy pricing has continued on a national scale and has become more erratic and extreme. Maine has continued to lose farms, but at a much slower rate than the rest of the Northeast. Some farms have gone out of business because of the age of the farmer or the fact there was no one to take over the farm. Most importantly, the economic impact of the remaining farms has not lost its influence on the state’s economy. Many states have looked to Maine as an innovative leader in the dairy industry, first with the Northeast Dairy Compact and now with the Maine Dairy Stabilization “Tier” Program. Established in 2004, the “Tier” program provides a safety net during periods of historically low national milk prices. In contrast to the overall picture of New England dairy farming, Maine stands out and is considered a success story because of the 2004 dairy stabilization program. Since the start of the program, Maine lost 75 dairy farms, or 19 percent of the industry, in contrast to extreme losses in Vermont (52 percent) and New Hampshire (46 percent). The dairy stabilization program provides a payment from the Maine’s General Fund directly to farmers when the amount that they receive from the marketplace for their milk falls below their cost of production. In Maine, the cost of production is estimated at \$25 per hundred weight of milk, while the farmer can receive between \$11 and \$23 per hundred weight from the marketplace. If the price of milk is high, no payments are made. When it drops, the program assists the farmers. Since 2007, \$30 million has been paid to Maine’s dairy farmers through the tier program. According to Julie Marie Bickford of the Maine Dairy Industry Association compared to states without a milk commission, Maine is a relatively healthy dairy state. Galen Larrabee, a dairy farmer from Knox, Maine noted that even with the tier program it hasn’t been easy for Maine farmers. He noted, feed costs have gone through the barn roof—up by a third over last year at this time. Fuel costs could be doubled by the end of the year. Energy bills—mostly electricity—have been running \$6,000 a month. “We spent \$730,000 on grain last year. This year it will be close to a million. Fuel for the first 10 months of 2011 has been \$103,000. Last year it was \$72,000. We’re paying our bills but there is not a lot left over.” Larrabee with 490 cows is considered one of Maine’s larger dairymen, but he certainly isn’t unique. “Most dairy farms, about 50 percent I think, are just about breaking even,” he said. “The other 50 percent are behind the eight ball.” With the cost of equipment, taxes, feed, veterinary services and infrastructure all jumping higher and higher, Larrabee said, it isn’t right to use the word “profit” when discussing Maine farms. “Most are just holding on.” Bickford said dairy-pricing policy is a hot topic these days in the congressional halls in Washington, DC. “Maine is finally getting some traction and the USDA is listening to the idea that milk should be priced at market value. It should reflect the going rate in competitive regions,” Bickford said. But as long as Maine’s tier program remains in place, there is a future for dairy farming in Maine. Larrabee was encouraged by the support received from Maine consumers. “People in Maine have always spent more on dairy than other parts of the country,” he said. “They want farms. They want the countryside to remain intact. They actively support us.” Source: Sharon Kiley Mack, “Maine’s Innovative Dairy Program Keeping Industry Alive,” Bangor Daily News, October 29, 2011. KEY TAKEAWAYS • A strong commitment to sustainability requires visionary leadership, organization-wide action and commitment, and alignment of sustainability efforts to profitability and competitive advantage. • Sustainable business practices can improve operational efficiencies and company performance. • Sustainability efforts have to be considered in the context of market conditions and, in the case of Oakhurst, in the context of highly competitive and challenging diary industry conditions. Exercise $1$ Go to YouTube and find videos on Oakhurst Dairy. 1. What market segment(s) are targeted in the videos? 2. What message(s) is Oakhurst delivering in their advertisements? 3. Why do customers buy Oakhurst Dairy products? 4. Does Oakhurst use endorsement in their advertising? If so, who is featured? Exercise $2$ In one hundred words or less, describe the Oakhurst sustainable business model and perceived competitive advantage for doing business in the dairy industry.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/10%3A_Case%3A_Oakhurst_Dairy%3A_Operations_Management_and_Sustainability/10.01%3A_Introduction.txt
Learning Objectives • Understand the social, political, and economic impact of climate change and global warming on the US dairy industry, specifically in Maine. • Understand the role of industry associations and collaborative networks in addressing industry and company environmental challenges. • Learn about carbon footprint mapping and life cycle analysis (LCA). Industrial growth, deforestation, and increased consumption has exacerbated global warming and changes to the climate and will continue to do so. Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are often called greenhouse gases (GHG). Of the total GHG emitted annually in the United States, two areas in which Oakhurst have an impact—transportation fuels and agricultural byproducts—emit 14 percent and 12.5 percent of the total, respectively.“Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector,” accessed January 31, 2011, greenlifestyleideas.com/270/the-forgotten-greenhouse-gas-emissions. There is mounting evidence, as reviewed in Chapter 2, that heavy concentrations of GHGs have raised the earth’s temperatures from 1.2 to 1.4 degrees in the last hundred years. Also of concern is the fact that eight of the warmest years on record occurred between 1998 and 2010.“Climate Change,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed January 31, 2011, http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basicinfo.html. Rising temperatures have already had adverse effects on climate, agriculture, and people. People and animals are affected by climate change through extreme periods of heat and cold, storms, climate sensitive diseases, and prolonged and increased levels of smog. Scientists considering the potential impacts of climate change in the northeastern United States have identified heat waves and prolonged drought as two significant threats to the dairy industry, as heat-stressed cows generally produce less milk.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. The previously stated factors provided strong incentive for Oakhurst to try to reduce its GHG emissions, or carbon footprint. Acting on this concern would be in the interest of the dairy industry in Maine and beyond and society more broadly and was also consistent with the company’s values in caring about the communities it served and operated in. GHG Emissions Challenge in the US Dairy Industry In December 2010, the Innovation Center for US Dairy published its first US Dairy Industry Sustainability Commitment Report. The report was a collaborative effort of leaders and experts in and outside the industry who joined together to “identify and deploy sustainability innovations that make good business sense.” The report documented that the United States was the largest dairy producer in the world, producing annually 189.9 billion pounds of milk and that milk was the fourth highest dollar value agricultural product in the United States (at 8 percent of total receipts). It also identified that the dairy industry contributed 2 percent of the total US GHG emissions. Working with the Sustainability Center at the University of Arkansas, the Innovation Center conducted the dairy industry’s first national GHG life cycle analysis (LCA), or carbon footprint study, of fluid milk.Innovation Center for US Dairy, U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report: Sustaining the Dairy Industry for Future Generations, accessed January 9, 2011, http://www.usdairy.com/Sustainability/Pages/Home.aspx. Formed in 2007, the Innovation Center represented an industry-wide commitment to identify best practices for lowering carbon emissions throughout the supply chain. More than five hundred dairy stakeholders including environmentalists, academics, and scientists worked on the report. The study found that “the carbon footprint of a gallon of milk, from farm to table, is 17.6 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) per gallon of milk consumed.”Innovation Center for US Dairy, U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report: Sustaining the Dairy Industry for Future Generations, accessed January 9, 2011, http://www.usdairy.com/Sustainability/Pages/Home.aspx. Carbon emissions by supply chain participant are depicted in Figure 10.3 and Figure 10.4. Figure 10.5 summarizes GHG emissions by participants and some of the opportunities for carbon reduction. By far, the largest single source of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming from milk production are farm emissions, which contribute roughly ten pounds of CO2e per gallon of milk. And 85 percent of those emissions come from one source—cows. Figure $1$: From Farm to Table: Percentage of GHG Emissions from One Gallon of Milk Source: Innovation Center for US Dairy, U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report: Sustaining the Dairy Industry for Future Generations, accessed January 9, 2011, www.usdairy.com/Public%20Comm...2010%20(4).pdf. Figure $3$: GHG Emissions Sources and Opportunities Source: Innovation Center for US Dairy, U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report: Sustaining the Dairy Industry for Future Generations, accessed January 9, 2011, www.usdairy.com/Public%20Comm...2010%20(4).pdf. Dairy Industry Competitive Dynamics The global demand for food is expected to double by 2050. Innovation Center for US Dairy, U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report: Sustaining the Dairy Industry for Future Generations, accessed January 9, 2011, http://www.usdairy.com/Sustainability/Pages/Home.aspx. This growth will provide opportunities and challenges for the US dairy industry. The challenges for the industry include bringing milk to the consumer at competitive prices in a sustainable way when dairy prices are subject to economic cycles, changing weather patterns, and changing industry competitive dynamics. Although the minimum wholesale price paid to farmers by milk processors is set by a complicated, government formula, milk prices constantly change across the full value chain from raw milk to processed milk to milk at the grocery store. Among the factors affecting the cost to produce a pound of milk are feed cost, cow productivity (pounds produced per cow, per day), animal nutrition, genetics, and proper farm maintenance and housing of animals. For example, an increase in feed cost without a corresponding increase in cow milk productivity will squeeze farmer profits. It is not unusual to have milk production costs above the farmer’s selling price. According to Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin, when total milk production costs are above the wholesale price, farmers are forced to take one of a few actions.Sara Schoenborn, “Stephenson Hopeful, Realistic about 2011 Dairy Outlook,” AG Weekly, January 27, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.agriview.com/news/dairy/stephenson-hopeful-realistic-about-dairy-outlook/article_fc01890d-cfda-5b25-a196-50ab45dbdaa1.html. These actions include the use of genetic engineering (putting human growth hormones in cow feed), investments in better cow management, culling out inferior cows, or going out of business. Stephenson noted that weather and temperature abnormalities across the globe have dramatically affected not only the quality of feed but also the feed prices. In an industry presentation, he noted that recent changes in the La Niña pattern in the Pacific Ocean had affected weather around the globe and consequently feed prices and milk production. These changing weather patterns had raised feed prices, especially corn prices, in Australia, Indonesia, and New Zealand. Stephenson concluded that businesses in the US dairy industry are going to have to rethink their business models in an increasingly volatile industry.Sara Schoenborn, “Stephenson Hopeful, Realistic about 2011 Dairy Outlook,” AG Weekly, January 27, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.agriview.com/news/dairy/stephenson-hopeful-realistic-about-dairy-outlook/article_fc01890d-cfda-5b25-a196-50ab45dbdaa1.html. While a very small overall global contributor to GHG emissions worldwide, Oakhurst has successfully addressed its emissions in ways that have been beneficial to the company’s profitability and reputation. This has been accomplished by installing solar panels, retrofitting the company’s truck fleet, and using advanced rerouting software for its delivery trucks. With these efforts and others, Oakhurst has lowered its annual carbon emissions by more than one thousand metric tons and lowered its operating costs, primarily fuel costs, significantly. In periods of rising and highly volatile oil prices, fuel cost savings have been significant for Oakhurst. At the same time, its actions have reaffirmed the company’s commitment to the environment and to consumers in Maine and beyond, which has been beneficial to its standing among consumers, particularly those who cared about the environment. The large majority of milk consumers are most concerned about price, not carbon footprints. Reflective of this, Walmart and other large milk retailers are increasingly demanding lower pricing for the milk they get from Oakhurst and other milk processors. According to the Wall Street Journal, cutthroat tactics “are making a mess of the dairy aisle.”John Jannarone, “Heard on the Street: Grocers Still Milking Dean Foods,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703445904576118502653780560.html?KEYWORDS=jannarone. The article reported that “grocery stores continue to use deep discounts to attract cash-strapped shoppers, sometimes selling milk at a loss.”John Jannarone, “Heard on the Street: Grocers Still Milking Dean Foods,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703445904576118502653780560.html?KEYWORDS=jannarone. These practices and pressure from the retailers have forced milk processors to take drastic action in lowering the cost they pay for their supplies. Even Dean Foods, the largest milk processor in the United States, has struggled to pass on price cuts to their raw products suppliers, and this has resulted in significant financial pressure on the milk processors. The recent sharp increase in milk costs has caused dramatic drops in Dean’s profits and stock price. Analysts were predicting further drops in Dean’s earning in 2011, which could violate the company’s leverage covenant with its banks and force the company into bankruptcy.John Jannarone, “Heard on the Street: Grocers Still Milking Dean Foods,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703445904576118502653780560.html?KEYWORDS=jannarone. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Even if milk prices stabilize, however, grocers are unlikely to relax their aggressive pricing strategy. With unemployment elevated, consumers are highly sensitive to price. That has crushed profits at grocer SuperValu, which charges higher prices for a basket of goods than rivals Kroger and Safeway. SuperValu’s shares have performed even worse than Dean’s since the market trough in 2009.”John Jannarone, “Heard on the Street: Grocers Still Milking Dean Foods,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703445904576118502653780560.html?KEYWORDS=jannarone. One controversial strategy to increase productivity and cut costs per gallon of milk is the use of the human growth hormone rBST in cow feed. While the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of rBST in cow feed in 1993, the controversy was far from resolved. Some scientific studies have shown that milk produced this way is safe and has the same amount of proteins, fats, and nutrients as non-hormone-fed cows.Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST) is a synthetic version of the bovine somatotropin (BST) hormone found in cattle. The use of rBST has met with some controversy from a variety of fronts, including the animal rights movement and some commercial dairy farmers. As a result, dairies that produce milk products without the use of rBST have begun indicating this on their labels. Though rBST has been banned in several countries, the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States has determined it to be safe to consume. See “What Does rBST Free Mean?,” wiseGEEK, accessed March 3, 2011, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-rbst-free-mean. Other studies contradict these findings. Oakhurst took a firm stand against the use of the hormone rBST in cow feed. In 1997, Stanley Bennett asked its farmers to sign an affidavit pledging not to use human growth hormone. In return they received financial incentives, and shortly after, Oakhurst began marketing its milk as free of the human hormone rBST. In 2003, Monsanto, the largest manufacturer of rBST, sued Oakhurst claiming that Oakhurst’s labels deceived consumers by marketing a perception that one milk product is safer or of higher quality than other milk. At the time of the suit, Monsanto’s worldwide sales revenue from rBST was \$4.7 billion. Stanley Bennett countered that Oakhurst made no claim on the science involved with growth hormones.Drew Kaplan, “Monsanto Sues Oakhurst Dairy over Advertising,” Health Freedom Alliance, June 18, 2010, accessed February 11, 2011, healthfreedoms.org/2010/06/18/monsanto-sues-oakhurst-dairy-over-advertising. He stated, “We’re in the business of marketing milk, not Monsanto’s drugs.” After an intense legal battle, Oakhurst settled the suit. Bill Bennett recalled, “Although the fight with Monsanto was expensive, Stanley Bennett didn’t waver. Stanley was very proud of our stand with Monsanto. We thought it was very important to be able to tell our consumers what was not in our milk.”John Jannarone, “Heard on the Street: Grocers Still Milking Dean Foods,” Wall Street Journal, February 2, 2011, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703445904576118502653780560.html?KEYWORDS=jannarone. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Climate change and global warming can have significant impact on industry economics, including factor costs, prices, and profitability. • Reducing an industry’s carbon footprint requires action by a host of stakeholders, including industry associations, companies, government agencies, nonprofits, educators, scientists, activists, and individuals. • The nature of competition in the dairy industry, and all industries, is constantly changing and driven by social, economic, technical, and environmental factors. • Addressing an industry’s environmental and economic challenges often requires cooperation by industry players, governmental agencies, researchers, and community agencies. Exercise $1$ Go to the US Dairy Industry’s website, www.usdairy.com/Pages/Home.aspx, and read the 2010 Dairy Industry Sustainability Commitment Report. Why is the industry so committed to lowering greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially given that only 2 percent of total US GHG emissions are due to dairy industry participants? Exercise $2$ Is Oakhurst justified in paying farmers for not feeding their cows with human growth hormones? Exercise $3$ Do you know your own carbon footprint? Go to the Nature Conservatory website at www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator and calculate your carbon footprint. Why is it important to know your carbon footprint? Exercise $4$ See the sidebar “The State of Maine Dairy Industry.” How would you characterize the economic health of Maine’s Dairy Industry? Why have other states looked to Maine as an innovative leader in the dairy industry? What else might be done to help save Maine’s dairy farms?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/10%3A_Case%3A_Oakhurst_Dairy%3A_Operations_Management_and_Sustainability/10.02%3A_Greenhouse_Gases_%28GHGs%29_and_the_US_Dairy_Industry.txt
Learning Objectives • Understand how the success of carbon reduction strategies depends on the commitment of a corporation’s management and the ability of management to effectively align company efforts to corporate values, strategy, and profitability. • Explain why it is important for a company’s commitment to sustainability to be reflected in a company’s core values, strategy, and operations. • Describe how sustainable business practices can facilitate and enhance operational efficiencies and effectiveness. Keep it “CLEAN,” Keep it “COLD,” Keep it “MOVING.”“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, www.oakhurstdairy.com. - The Oakhurst motto Stanley T. Bennett purchased a dairy from the Leadbetter family in Portland, Maine, in 1921.J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. The grove, or hurst, of oak trees near the original dairy gave Stanley the idea for the name, Oakhurst Dairy. Sixty years later, about twenty-five dairies were operating in Portland. Today, only a few dairies remain in Portland and in New England, and the few that remain are the survivors of consolidation that has swept the dairy industry nationwide. The Bennetts have differentiated their company by making caring for the environment a core value and defining component of the Oakhurst brand. With a strategy of Maine-centric branding, operating efficiencies, and a deep commitment to the environment the company has carved out a market niche that has helped the small dairy processor survive against dairy processors and retailers many times larger. As a member of the US Dairy Industry’s Sustainability Council, Bill Bennett was a contributor to two of the industry’s Innovation Center reports: (1) US Dairy Sustainability Initiative: A Roadmap to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Increase Business Value (December 2008) and (2) The Sustainability Commitment Report (December 2010). Bennett joined the Dairy Industry’s Sustainability Council as part that organization’s efforts to map, study, and recommend programs for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction in the industry. Oakhurst Dairy was featured in two case studies illustrating carbon reduction best practices by the Innovation Center’s reports: (1) Case Study—Solar Thermal Systems: Dairy Processor Carbon Reduction through Energy Efficiency (D-CREE) and (2) Oakhurst: Sustainability in Practice. Products and Marketing Oakhurst sells a full line of dairy products to customers in northern New England and eastern Massachusetts. Approximately 90 percent of Oakhurst’s sales come from milk. Customers include large chains, such as Walmart and Market Basket, and small- to medium-sized independent grocery and convenience stores, foodservice outlets, schools, restaurants, and independent distributors. In addition to milk, Oakhurst sells branded cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, ice cream, Portland mixes, juices, drinks, and water. Oakhurst spends more than \$2 million annually on its advertising and promotion, featuring in its branding strategy “the natural goodness of Maine.”Elaine Pofeldt, “Oakhurst Dairy,” Center for Small Business and the Environment, www.aboutcsbe.org/docs/oakhurstdairy.pdf. According to dairy farmer Eddie Benson, “Oakhurst has helped to build a market for Maine milk.” He noted, “They have done a really good job of promoting Maine-grown products and marketing milk to people in Maine.”J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. According to Julie-Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association, “Oakhurst in its markets emphasizes the local factor, more than the larger dairies. They use the Maine cachet, linking to the idea that milk comes from local farms.”J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. Cheryl Beyeler, executive director of the Maine Dairy and Nutrition Council, when asked about Stanley’s knowledge of the Maine consumers, “Maine consumers don’t always follow national trends, and I think Stan was acutely aware of that.”John Richardson, “Oakhurst CEO Stanley Bennett Dies,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, February 25, 2011, accessed March 5, 2011, www.pressherald.com/news/oakhurst-ceo-stanley-bennett-dies_2011-02-25.html. Facilities and Operations Oakhurst’s sole manufacturing facility and primary warehouse are located at its headquarters in Portland. It owns three additional distribution facilities in Maine, one in New Hampshire, and one in Massachusetts. Every day approximately ten 7,500-gallon tanker trucks deliver raw milk to Oakhurst’s 65,000-square-foot processing plant in Portland, Maine. And every day between 130,000 and 150,000 gallons of milk are processed. The milk comes from eighty farms throughout Maine and northern New England. Many of these farms are family owned and operated and sell their milk exclusively to Oakhurst.J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. Oakhurst has been buying its milk from some of these farms for more than seventy-five years. In 2010, Oakhurst processed approximately twenty-two million gallons of fluid milk per year in addition to other dairy products and beverages.Elaine Pofeldt, “Oakhurst Dairy,” Center for Small Business and the Environment, http://www.aboutcsbe.org/docs/oakhurstdairy.pdf. At twenty-two million gallons of fluid milk per year, Oakhurst emits approximately a little under sixty-six million pounds, or thirty thousand metric tons, of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) annually. A metric ton is equivalent to 1,000 kilograms or about 2,200 pounds. Oakhurst used an estimated 27,500 million BTUs in milk production, packaging, and transporting. Oakhurst samples the milk from each farm, each tanker is tested for antibiotics, and upon completion of the testing, the milk is off-loaded into raw milk storage silos. From the silos, the milk is piped to the processing area where it is separated to the proper level of butterfat. Fluid milk products are then homogenized, pasteurized, and fortified with vitamins. The product is piped into pasteurized tanks from which it is sent to filling machines in the packaging area. Cultured products like buttermilk or sour cream are standardized to the proper fat level and then sent to a cultured tank, where they are held until the culturing process is complete. After completion of the culturing process, the product is sent to another filler in the packaging area. Eight packaging machines controlled by a computer system direct the products through a network of valves and stainless steel pipes so that each product gets to the proper filler at the right time. Each packaging machine fills a different size or style package. Quality testing is conducted every step of the way through the processing and packaging areas. Oakhurst was one of the first dairy processors to voluntarily adopt the most modern and rigorous set of federal quality standards known as HACCP (Hazardous Analysis Critical Control Points) and is one of only twelve dairies in the country currently implementing these exacting quality standards. After filling, each product is cased and moved to refrigerated warehouses where it is put away for storage until shipped to customers. In warehouse locations and on trucks, the temperature is constantly monitored to ensure the product’s quality.“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, www.oakhurstdairy.com; J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, http://www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. According to Bill Bennett, “The whole process, from cow to supermarket can be as short as 3 days.” Crafting and Executing a Carbon Reduction Strategy Stan and Bill Bennett’s quest for improving their company’s carbon footprint and the quality of life in the communities in which it operates have guided the company’sJ. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, http://www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. decisions for nearly three decades. Oakhurst has focused on significantly reducing its carbon footprint primarily by lowering its use of fossil fuels and improving its operations by implementing lean manufacturing principles. Oakhurst’s GHG emission factors include the use of electricity, natural gas, diesel fuel, heating oil, and refrigerant in the transporting, processing, packaging, and distributing of its milk to customers. Maine’s Governor’s Carbon Challenge (GCC) When Governor John Baldacci of Maine put into place a first-in-the-nation Governor’s Carbon Challenge (GCC), a voluntary carbon dioxide emission reduction program, in 2004, Oakhurst was one of the first companies to sign on to the program. The goal of the GCC program was to encourage organizations to develop strategies to reduce direct emissions from on-site fuel combustion and company-owned vehicles as well as from indirect sources, such as purchased electricity.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Oakhurst set a goal of a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2010 (15 percent direct GHG emissions and 5 percent indirect) using Oakhurst’s 1998 carbon footprint as the baseline. With the help and encouragement of a nonprofit, Clean Air–Cool Planet (CA–CP), an inventory of Oakhurst energy consumption by operations was completed. It was determined that the company’s 1998 carbon footprint was 12,594 metric tons of CO2e. Oakhurst’s carbon footprint began with raw product entering the processing plant and ended with the delivery of packaged milk to the store via truck.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Operational and Logistical Efficiencies Plant Expansion and Operational Improvements In 2005, Oakhurst brought online a new, state-of-the-art, \$10 million plant at its headquarters in Portland.“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, www.oakhurstdairy.com. Working with an energy consultant and CA–CP, the facility integrated a number of energy efficient technologies, systems, and procedures. These included installing insulated cold tanks and a hot water recovery system. The hot water recovery system lowered cost and significantly reduced water use. The processing of milk uses large quantities of hot water for pasteurization and for cleaning cases and equipment. The hot water recovery system saved 2,500 gallons of heating oil per year and reduced carbon emissions by twenty-five metric tons (There are 22.384 pounds of CO2e per gallon of diesel fuel).Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. National Geographic estimated that fifty-three gallons of water are used from the farm to the table for every glass of milk consumed.“Hidden Water,” National Geographic, April 2010, ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/last-drop/royte-text. Switch to Biofuel Also in 2005, Oakhurst, working with CA–CP, calculated that by switching their truck fleet from diesel to B20 (a 20 percent soy and 80 percent petroleum blend), it could lower carbon emissions. As a result of this estimate, management converted more than one hundred trucks and tractors to biodiesel fuel without any modifications. By 2006, Oakhurst Dairy operated the largest private fleet of its kind in New England to run on soy-based biodiesel. The switch reduced Oakhurst carbon emissions by 1,332 tons.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Bill Bennett noted, “Maine bio-fuels take the oil from the restaurants, converts it to biofuel, then we put it in the trucks that are delivering (milk products) to those same restaurants.”“Stanley T. Bennett II, Oakhurst Dairy President, Dedicated to Community,” Forecaster (Falmouth, ME), March 1, 2011, www.theforecaster.net/content/pn-obitbennett-030211. Rerouting Software In an additional effort in 2005 to lower its carbon emissions, Oakhurst invested in “rerouting” software for its delivery trucks. With the new software the company was able to reduce the number of its delivery routes from ninety-two to sixty-seven. By doing this, Oakhurst saved 88,000 gallons of diesel fuel and lowered its carbon emissions another 894 metric tons.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Computerized Vehicle Routing and Scheduling (CVRS) for Efficient Logistics: Example Project Costs and Savings Estimated typical costs and savings for a single-site CVRS project implemented to reduce transport costs by improving efficiency. Note that clearly, as each project is different, the costs and savings shown are only indicative, although they are representative of those experienced in practice. Table 10.1 Example CVRS Project Costs and Savings Organization details Current annual transport spend £1,500,000 Fleet size 25 vehicles Depreciation period for CVRS project 3 years Project costs setup Hardware (PCs, printers, interface) £3,000 Software £30,000 Implementation Training £2,000 Data verification and cleansing (3 man weeks @ £1,500) £4,500 Project management (10 days @ £500) £5,000 Total project costs £44,500 (A) Annual costs Depreciation (1st, 2nd and 3rd years) £11,000 (B) System updates and maintenance (2nd and 3rd years) £3,000 (C) Retraining (2nd and 3rd years) £2,000 (D) Total year 1 costs (implementation plus depreciation) £55,500 (A+B) = G Total year 2 and 3 costs (recurring costs only) £16,000 (B+C+D) = H Cost saving year 1 (8% of transport spend, equivalent to two vehicles) @ 50% (assuming six months to implement project, followed by six months in operation) £60,000 (E) Annual cost savings year 2 onwards (8% of transport spend, equivalent to two vehicles) £120,000 (F) Net financial benefit in year 1* £4,500 (E–G) (\$7088.85, where 1 British pound sterling is equal to 1.5753 US dollars on January 31, 2012) Net financial benefit in year 2 £104,000 (F–H) (\$163,831.20) Net financial benefit in year 3 £104,000 (F–H) Payback period Less than year 2 *Note: This example assumes a relatively modest cost saving of 8% (10–12% savings are common) and ignores the effect of increasing transport unit costs, such as the cost of fuel. Source: “Freight Best Practice,” Llywodraeth Cymru (Welsh Government), accessed January 31, 2012, www.freightbestpractice.org.uk. Solar Panels, Portland Facility In the spring of 2008, Oakhurst, with the help of CA–CP and Ascendant Energy, installed seventy-two solar hot water panels, approximately 2,500 square feet, on the roof of its Portland facility, making it one of the largest installations of its kind in the northeast. By preheating water, the hot water panels reduced heating oil use at the facility by more than five thousand gallons per year, lowering carbon emissions by fifty-one metric tons.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. The payback period for the \$220,000 investment in the Portland facility was estimated at eight years using 2008 fuel costs of \$2.40 per gallon.Innovation Center for US Dairy, Case Study—Solar Thermal Systems: Dairy Processor Carbon Reduction through Energy Efficiency (D-CREE): New England Dairy Taps Solar Energy and Hot Water Recovery to Reduce Energy Costs and Carbon Footprint, accessed January 9, 2011, www.usdairy.com/Sustainability/OurCommitment/Documents/CaseStudy-SolarThermalSystems.pdf. Solar Panels, Waterville Facility In 2009, Oakhurst installed a solar photovoltaic (PV) energy system on the roof of its Waterville facility. The 216 solar PV panels generated approximately forty-five thousand kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity annually, or approximately 15 percent of the building’s electricity use. The installation saved another five thousand gallons of fuel oil annually, or fifty-one metric tons. Other benefits accruing to the installations were the extension of the life of the company’s boilers.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Hybrid Delivery Trucks In 2009, Oakhurst purchased a hybrid delivery truck, the first of its kind in use in the dairy industry. Oakhurst estimated saving nine gallons of fuel per day with the hybrid truck and lowering CO2 emissions by fifty-two thousand pounds annually.“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, www.oakhurstdairy.com. Aerodynamic Truck Side Skirts and Fleet Management In 2009, Oakhurst started installing aerodynamic side skirts to twenty-five of its large semitrailer delivery trucks. The skirts lowered annual diesel fuel cost by 6 percent to 8 percent. Each semitrailer truck traveled an average of thirty thousand miles per year. When completely equipped, the twenty-five-truck fleet would produce approximately 7.6 million fewer pounds of CO2e annually, or 154 metric tons.“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, www.oakhurstdairy.com. Figure $2$: Oakhurst Delivery Truck Source: Oakhurst Dairy, www.oakhurstdairy.com/about/history.php. Other cost-saving, waste-reduction, and carbon-lowering steps adopted by Oakhurst in the management of its truck fleet included recycling of oil filters, antifreeze, and waste oil; installing equipment in refrigeration units to improve efficiency; purchasing retreads, which often record better gas mileage and require less oil to manufacture; installing idle regulators to reduce emissions; and installing truck speed governors.“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, http://www.oakhurstdairy.com. Figure $3$: Dairy Industry Carbon Reduction Efforts Source: Innovation Center for US Dairy, Case Study—Solar Thermal Systems: Dairy Processor Carbon Reduction through Energy Efficiency (D-CREE): New England Dairy Taps Solar Energy and Hot Water Recovery to Reduce Energy Costs and Carbon Footprint, www.usdairy.com/Sustainabilit...malSystems.pdf. Oakhurst’s carbon and waste reduction actions were not isolated events or one-time investments. The company’s culture fosters continuous learning and improvement. For example, Oakhurst had followed traditional industry practice of leaving truck refrigeration units running at the end of the day to keep product inventory from spoiling. Under new operational guidelines, Oakhurst now removes product from refrigeration trucks at the end of the day, and the refrigeration units are shut down, reducing annual CO2 emissions by 120 metric tons.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Measuring Results In October 2007, CA–CP awarded Oakhurst its Climate Champion Award for corporate action on global warming. The company was selected for demonstrating an enterprise-wide commitment to reducing heat-trapping gases, for willing to be transparent in its efforts, and for helping support effective policy in the region. Also that month, Oakhurst became the first recipient of the Environmental Hero Award presented by Heart of New Hampshire Magazine.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. In September 2007, as part of an effort to begin tracking GHG emissions in a select portion of its supply chain, Walmart singled out Oakhurst Dairy as one of a small percentage of the retailer’s sixty thousand suppliers that were taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint.Elaine Pofeldt, “Oakhurst Dairy,” Center for Small Business and the Environment, http://www.aboutcsbe.org/docs/oakhurstdairy.pdf. In 2008, CA–CP, Oakhurst’s nonprofit environmental partner (see www.cleanair-coolplanet.org), published a case study on Oakhurst’s environmental initiatives. CA–CP reported in the case study that by implementing a variety of initiatives since 2002, Oakhurst was able to reduce its CO2e emissions by 1,630 metric tons annually, which is equivalent to taking 262 cars off the road for a year.Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. Also in 2008, Oakhurst was recognized by Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection and the governor’s administration for meeting part of its GCC goal ahead of schedule (see Figure 10.12). Governor Baldacci stated at the time, “Whether it’s solar, wind, tidal or innovative wood products, we must be aggressive in our pursuit of energy alternatives. Oakhurst is showing great leadership with its solar project, which further underscores the company’s commitment to a cleaner planet and a stronger Maine.”Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/information/pdf/Oakhurst%20Dairy%20Case%20Study%2001272009.pdf. 0 Figure $4$: Reducing Oakhurst’s Carbon Footprint 2008 Source: Clean Air–Cool Planet, Taking All the Right Steps: A Maine Dairy Reduces Its Carbon Footprint, www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/i...2001272009.pdf. By the end of 2010, Oakhurst had met the GCC. Also in 2010, Oakhurst’s Sustainability Committee set new carbon reduction and other resource conservation and efficiency goals for energy, water, solid waste, and transportation. The carbon reduction goals set for 2014 using 2008 as the baseline year are as follows: • Water—20 percent • Plant energy—20 percent • GHG emissions—20 percent • Transportation—20 percent • Solid waste—5 percent“Home Page,” Oakhurst Dairy, http://www.oakhurstdairy.com. Culture and Code of Ethics and Respect Oakhurst’s senior management team strives to build an organizational culture that supports its sustainability strategies and practices in the long term. In addition to partnering with CA–CP, Oakhurst hired a sustainability consultant to work with the senior managers to examine Oakhurst’s social and environmental practices and to design organization change tactics to improve those practices. The consultant worked with the Bennett family to help transform and inspire employees to adopt and integrate sustainability practices into Oakhurst’s operational culture. As part of this effort, internal teams were established to help bring sustainability to the forefront of Oakhurst Dairy’s culture. These teams helped to establish and manage sustainability efforts including calculating carbon footprint, setting and tracking reductions, reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project and Maine’s governor’s challenge. As part of the continuing training program, Oakhurst hired another consultant to help them draft a code of ethics and respect in the workplace. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Passionately communicating and reinforcing a clear vision and policy from the top down for a carbon reduction strategy and aligning efforts with efficiency improvements and cost savings can lead to company-wide results. • A beneficial very first step to sustainability efforts is to measure a company’s carbon footprint. • It is important to establish systems to regularly review carbon reduction performance indicators and to constantly track, assess, and monitor progress toward carbon reduction goals and their impact on costs and profits. • Building core competencies in sustainability can enhance business operations and profitability. Exercise $1$ How did Oakhurst survive as the only family dairy in northern New England? What was the role of the company’s sustainable business practices? Exercise $2$ How did Oakhurst benefit from its relationship with the NGO Clean Air–Cool Planet (CA–CP)? In addition to earning a number of community awards for its sustainable business practices and initiatives, what other benefits did Oakhurst receive? Is its brand name more highly respected? Exercise $3$ How can detailed targets, calculations, and monitoring of sustainability efforts contribute to effective management? Exercise $4$ What are the company’s main challenges in 2012 and beyond? Exercise $5$ Do you expect Oakhurst to continue to be an independent dairy in 2020?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/10%3A_Case%3A_Oakhurst_Dairy%3A_Operations_Management_and_Sustainability/10.03%3A_Improving_Business_Value_through_Sustainable_Practice.txt
Learning Objectives • Show how to set up a successful carbon reduction strategy in a capital intense, mature industry. • Show how one company created business value through a carbon reduction strategy. While meeting its 2010 carbon reduction goals and still growing in sales and profits, 2011 looked to be another challenging year for the Bennett family. The death of Stanley Bennett, the rising cost of energy, and the sluggish US economy were presenting challenges for Oakhurst. According to Bill Bennett, competition is tough, and margins are thin; with fuel prices rising rapidly, 2011 will be a difficult year.J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, http://www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. Government-set milk prices had been less than the cost of milk production for a couple of years. Many farmers had to make ends meet by selling hay, crops, or livestock for beef and blamed producers, including Oakhurst, for low prices. While Bill Bennett reflected that the “gripes against Oakhurst aren’t fair…the company pays at least market rates and even pays incentives to farmers who keep clean operations and take extra steps to minimize livestock overcrowding and milk contamination.”J. Hemmerdinger, “Maine in a Bottle: Oakhurst Dairy Homogenizes Its Marketing Message,” Portland (ME) Press Herald, January 9, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011, http://www.pressherald.com/business/maine-in-a-bottle_2011-01-09.html. Oakhurst believed that its energy reduction and other sustainability programs had been successful, having an impact on reducing its carbon footprint while improving overall company profits. But the company wanted to do more. Bill Bennett highlighted how “the biggest single impact of dairy on the environment is not the energy we use at the plant but methane gas, over 75 percent released from the cows,”Elaine Pofeldt, “Oakhurst Dairy,” Center for Small Business and the Environment, http://www.aboutcsbe.org/docs/oakhurstdairy.pdf. Bennett and his team were encouraging their suppliers to start using methane digesters that harvest the energy in cow manure, but none have been able to invest in the technology yet. Bennett was also investigating feed additives designed to improve cows’ digestion, noting that “doing the right thing environmentally is always the right thing for your bottom line.”Elaine Pofeldt, “Oakhurst Dairy,” Center for Small Business and the Environment, http://www.aboutcsbe.org/docs/oakhurstdairy.pdf. Case Study Jer-Lindy Dairy Jerry and Linda Jennissen’s 140-cow herd in Minnesota is industrious, pumping out around 1,100 gallons of milk per day. But that’s not the only thing they’re producing. The 3,500 gallons of manure Jennissen’s animals leave behind turns out to be an asset of comparable value when it is converted into power through an anaerobic digester. The technology first came to the Jennissen’s farm through a grant from the Minnesota Project, a program that encourages sustainable and profitable farming. The project hoped to partner with a mid- to small-sized farm to find the technology to make a digester work financially. Digesters have proven effective on farms with more than 300 cows, but approximately 96 percent of Minnesota dairies have between 50 and 200 cows. “Digester technology is evolving fairly rapidly, and it needs to,” Jerry Jennissen says. “We viewed it as an opportunity, and we believe that we can make it work.” By partnering with a nearby processor to add whey to the mix, the Jennissens hope to double gas production. The digester extracts methane gas from the manure and converts it into power, which is used to run a generator. The electricity is sold on a grid. The remaining solids are separated out and used as bedding, and remaining liquids are used for fertilizer. Jennissen believes it is only a matter of time before technology like this comes to farms of all sizes. “Things are changing so rapidly. Our digester was the third one in the state of Minnesota,” Jennissen says. “There are five now, one year later. I know of several more that are currently operating or in the planning stages.” Source: Innovation Center for Dairy U.S. Dairy, Sustainability in Practice, http://usercontent.s3.amazonaws.com/companydocs/docs/company_docs_1295995594.pdf. In announcing plans to celebrate the company’s ninetieth year in business, Bill Bennett stated, “Our story is of one of growth, innovation, service and success. We have been able to remain family-owned and independent while competing against dairies significantly larger than we are because we have a strong brand identity and people know what we stand for and that they can count on us to deliver a high-quality product.” By striving to protect and enhance “the natural goodness of Maine” through its sustainability strategies and community practices, Oakhurst has enhanced its profitability and gained a competitive advantage, a competitive advantage built on creating customer value that competitors find difficult to match. Still Bill Bennett faced many challenges as he planned for the future. While Oakhurst’s opportunities and challenges with its upstream partners (milk suppliers or farmers) align with Oakhurst’s previous strategic commitment to sustainability, can Oakhurst make this happen in the future? What are the possible tradeoffs in doing this with Oakhurst’s suppliers and partners? Can Oakhurst continue to capitalize on its brand of promoting “the natural goodness of Maine” when milk prices are squeezing farmer profits and forcing some out of business? KEY TAKEAWAYS • Commitment to sustainability requires continuous innovation with constant attention to alignment of sustainability efforts with corporate values, strategy, and profitability. • Environmental initiatives often come with an up-front investment presenting internal hurdles that, when overcome, can be worth the effort and expense. • Investing in sustainable operations can help to make a business more efficient and profitable and can generate brand loyalty. Exercise $1$ What challenges face Oakhurst in 2011 and beyond? How do Oakhurst’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions through operation changes help address the challenges? Exercise $2$ How can your college or university lower its operating costs through sustainability efforts? If your school or college does not know their carbon footprint, suggest the Clean Air–Cool Planet (CA–CP) webpage (www.cleanair-coolplanet.org/toolkit/inv-calculator.php) to an administrator and consider downloading their carbon footprint calculator. Exercise $3$ The Natural Resources Defense Council’s November 2007 Report (see http://www.nrdc.org/policy) stated, “Although there are some exceptions, in most cases, locally produced food proves the best choice for minimizing global warming and other pollutants. In fact, another study showed that when you combined all locally grown food, it still produced less carbon dioxide emissions in transport than any one imported product. The effects all this pollution can have on our health may be reflected in high rates of asthma and other respiratory symptoms, as well as increased school absence days for children.” How does Oakhurst’s sustainable business model help to support the Natural Resources Defense Council’s findings that buying local not only helps Maine farmers but also helps the environment? Exercise $4$ What can you do to reduce your own carbon emissions? Could this reduce your costs and help you save money?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/10%3A_Case%3A_Oakhurst_Dairy%3A_Operations_Management_and_Sustainability/10.04%3A_Opportunities_and_Challenges.txt
Sustainability reporting is about being radically transparent. That means talking about the bad just as much as the good…we want to be transparent and get feedback from others on how we’re doing, or how we could be doing better. And our hope is to have a dialogue on how we can scale good solutions for our industry and then even broader beyond that. - Betsy Blaisdell, Timberland manager of environmental stewardship Learning Objectives • Discuss Timberland’s approach to sustainability. • Understand how corporate social responsibility relates to sustainability. • Discuss what it means to be a leader in sustainability and sustainability reporting and what the challenges and benefits of leadership can involve. The purpose of this case is to introduce students to the current state of sustainability reporting in business. Timberland provides a leading example of the different ways that sustainability reporting can be performed. The case also discusses what sustainability means to Timberland and how sustainability reporting supports its environmental and social goals and progress. 11: Case: Accounting for Sustainability: How Does Timberland Do It and Why Learning Objectives • Understand the motivations for sustainability reporting. • Explain the role of different stakeholders in sustainability reporting efforts. • Discuss different sustainability reporting methods and reports. How Did Timberland Get Started on Sustainability Reporting? As a publically traded company, Timberland was required to report on its financial performance and make disclosures about the business regularly to shareholders and the general public. However, this type of reporting traditionally does little to communicate to stakeholders the sustainability actions that the company undertakes. Through its efforts in support of employee service and on other areas related to the social responsibility, Timberland developed a strong reputation and following in the national and global corporate social responsibility (CSR) leadership communities. This attracted the attention of the NGO Ceres, which was leading a national coalition of investors, environmental organizations, and other public interest groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges. Ceres’s mission is to “integrate sustainability into business practices for the health of the planet and its people.” Ceres was one of the first organizations to formally introduce and advocate for the concept of sustainability reporting. Ceres believed that Timberland was a good candidate for publicly disclosing sustainability-related information specifically because of their unique employee service program. In addition to reporting metrics on employee service, the “beyond the traditional reporting” for Ceres also included the compliance area. This included reporting on the Timberland workplace and at the factories of their suppliers around the world, including issues such as child labor and unfair working conditions. In 2001, Timberland released its first annual corporate social responsibility report. The nineteen-page report focused heavily on service related activities of the organization, including City Year. The following year, a second annual corporate social responsibility report was released. This was a more comprehensive thirty-eight-page report that included a more detailed discussion on environmental and social activities. Starting in 2004, the annual CSR reports from Timberland began to feature the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) sustainability reporting guidelines and featured sustainable performance indicators (SPIs). (See details on GRI and sustainability reporting in Chapter 5.) Sustainability reporting helped the company become a recognized industry leader on sustainability efforts, and this helped to strengthen the brand’s name, recognition, and value. Beginning in 2008, Timberland started reporting on key CSR performance indicators on a quarterly basis. The main report is presented in a dashboard format, which contains SPIs in each of the four CSR strategy categories. Sidebar Sustainability Reporting Sustainability reporting is a statement to stakeholders and the general public about an organization’s environmental and social impact and what the organization is doing to improve its impact. It is about being accountable for the ecological and social impacts that an entity has and also the solutions the entity develops around sustainability. What Does Timberland’s Sustainability Reporting Include? Timberland’s reporting and communications for sustainability includes the following: • Full CSR reports released every other year that summarize their efforts in sustainability for the previous twenty-four months; their CSR reports are reported on their website responsibility.timberland.com • Quarterly key CSR performance indicator reports and quarterly CSR dialogues • Stakeholder engagement forums called Voices of Challenge on community.timberland.com, a web 2.0 platform that allows all types of stakeholders to interact with Timberland Timberland also shares its social and environmental values and product attributes with consumers through retail messaging and product information. Their Green Index rating is intended to give consumers clear and easy to understand information about the impact their footwear choices have on the environment. Timberland Quarterly Sustainable Performance Indicators The quarterly dashboard is organized around the four Timberland CSR pillar areas: energy, product, workplace, and service. For example, average grams of volatile organic compounds per pair of footwear is a sustainable performance indicator in their product category. In each pillar area, there are three category measures and three to six total indicators reported. All together there are fifteen indicators measured between 2007 through the present. The dashboard provides a consistent and cohesive way to engage internal and external stakeholders on CSR. It enables Timberland to be accountable for progress against stated goals. Internally, it also allows for prioritization of resource allocation against key sustainability initiatives. Green Index In 2006, Timberland introduced an industry-first “nutrition label” on all of its footwear boxes in an effort to provide consumers with greater transparency about the company’s environmental and community footprint and the environmental impact of the specific Timberland products consumers are purchasing. The Green Index program is the company’s primary mechanism for pursuing “cradle to cradle” product design. This index measures and communicates critical aspects of environmental performance in a format that allows Timberland to guide product design and help consumer choice. The Green Index measures three areas of product impact: • Climate impact—greenhouse gases produced in making raw materials and during footwear production that contribute to climate change. Timberland’s climate impact rating measures the emissions of greenhouse gases from the production of each material through the manufacturing of the final product. • Chemical used—chemicals used in material and footwear production. • Resource consumption—the score decreases as Timberland uses materials that require less land and water and fewer chemicals to produce. The data are compiled to give a product an index score from ten to zero, with ten being a high impact and zero being no impact at all. The Timberland CSR Team Timberland has a team of employees dedicated to CSR in the company. It consists of a vice president of CSR, four managers, a team of fourteen code-of-conduct employees, and two community service employees. The CSR team works closely with senior management, including the CEO. In December 2006, the company created a formal CSR committee within its board of directors. This group consists of four board members who are responsible for guiding all CSR strategy development. To accomplish this task, the committee meets regularly with the CSR leadership team to help set the strategic agenda and hold the team accountable for their actions. Two members of the current CSR team are Beth Holzman, the company’s CSR strategy and reporting manager, and Betsy Blaisdell, the manager of environmental stewardship. Beth Holzman was a manager at Ceres before joining Timberland and interacted with Timberland in that capacity. Betsy Blaisdell had previous experience working in the New Hampshire state government and performing environmental research at the University of New Hampshire. The CSR team’s responsibilities include developing the metrics to report and standardizing the reporting. It also includes collecting information, preparing reports, communicating information to senior management, and interacting with stakeholders. A key objective is to ensure that the sustainability reports are used and integrated into the other departments at Timberland. As Betsy Blaisdell describes it, “Everybody wants to do the right thing at Timberland. And so for us, it’s taking something that can be a really complex environmental metric, like kilograms of CO2 for a pair of shoelaces, and translating it into: this is the best choice, this is a good choice, and we really discourage you from using this approach.” Another key objective is to standardize the reporting method and information in order to make reporting easier and more cost effective within Timberland but also within the industry. The goal is to create standardized sustainability metrics and standardized measures of environmental performance for Timberland’s products. The goal of standardization being that instead of Timberland collecting the information through their own business systems, suppliers would provide the information into a registry that Timberland and other companies could access. Driving Forces behind Sustainability Reporting In many respects, former CEO Jeffrey Swartz was the leader on CSR reporting efforts and a driving principle of the company’s sustainability reporting efforts has been radical transparency. For Timberland, radical transparency is about talking about the bad as much as the good. It is about being provocative, sharing information with the intent of receiving a reaction and response from stakeholders. It includes communicating things that are material and important to the company. For example, Jeffrey Swartz was the champion of Timberland’s “nutrition” labeling for shoes. His view was that if consumers could go into a supermarket and look at a couple different boxes of cereal and know what’s good or bad for them, why couldn’t they do that going into a footwear store or going into a large retailer and see similar information reported? On their website “Voices of Challenge,” Timberland managers share very difficult challenges and concerns related to sustainability and ask for candid feedback through blogs and social media. And consumers and NGO organizations have asked challenging questions to Timberland through this resource. As Betsy Blaisdell describes it, “I think we’re always pushed further ahead by external stakeholders. And I’d say we’re largely influenced by requests that we get externally for improving or shifting our reporting. We had a major issue with Greenpeace a couple years ago. It had to do with transparency in our leather supply chain in Brazil and it really pushed us to have an industry dialogue about how can we take our protocol for assessing the environmental performance of our tanneries, and push that further back down the supply chain. That led to more transparency. And that was purely an external push from Greenpeace that led to that.” For Timberland consumers are always the most important stakeholder group to reach, but the reality, at least for now, is that very few consumers actually read, understand, and act on the sustainability reports. According to Betsy Blaisdell, “There is evidence that significant numbers of consumers do read the nutrition label on the footwear. But very few probably fully understand what it means…it’s hard for them to really use it because it’s not relative to anything. It’s not like they can compare a Timberland product with a Nike product right now and say, OK, price, performance, and aesthetics alike, I’ll take this shoe over this shoe. So I think it’s nice to do for consumers, but it’s not necessarily impacting their purchasing decisions, which is where we would love to take it.” Other stakeholder groups that are leading Timberland to expand its sustainability reporting are the investor community, peer businesses, and other companies, including stores and retail outlets that Timberland sells its product to. Outside the United States, there is more governmental involvement around sustainability reporting. For example, in France the government is moving to pass legislation that would require the nation’s companies to begin measuring the environmental life cycle impacts of their products. France is leveraging what some industry groups in Europe have already developed. The French government recognizes that businesses have been ahead of government on sustainability reporting, and this is the case of Timberland in the United States. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Unlike financial reporting for publically traded companies, there are limited experience and standards for sustainability reporting. • The key drivers of sustainability reporting are company values and desire to engage proactively with external groups, senior management personal priorities, and environmental action leadership groups, such as Ceres and Greenspace. • Timberland’s sustainability reporting includes biannual reports, quarterly performance dashboards, and eco-labels. • Timberland provides for stakeholder involvement in its sustainability efforts through its “Voices of Challenge” site providing the opportunity for 360-degree feedback. • Timberland has a separate CSR department of approximately twenty employees with leadership from the board of directors and the CEO. • Radical transparency and stakeholder engagement are the driving forces for sustainability reporting at Timberland. Exercise $1$ Discuss Timberland’s interpretation of radical transparency. Is radical transparency a requirement of sustainability reporting? Exercise $2$ What do you think of the company using the “Voices of Challenge” as part of its sustainability reporting process? Do you think it is wise to provide the opportunities for stakeholders to have a voice in the direction of the company’s efforts? Exercise $3$ Discuss Timberland’s sustainability reporting choices. Review their most recent biannual report and quarterly performance dashboard at responsibility.timberland.com/reporting/report-archive. What recommendations would you make to Timberland about their reporting efforts?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/11%3A_Case%3A_Accounting_for_Sustainability%3A_How_Does_Timberland_Do_It_and_Why/11.01%3A_Sustainability_Reporting_at_Timberland.txt
Learning Objectives • Understand the key benefits of sustainability reporting. • Explain the difficulty of quantifying the benefits of sustainability reporting. • Discuss the key challenges in sustainability reporting and how they might be overcome. • Describe the different dimensions or perspectives of sustainability materiality and why they are important. • Explain the importance of materiality in determining what to report on in sustainability efforts. Benefits Timberland has a goal of being the reference brand for sustainability and sustainability reporting, and they do not limit that to within their own industry. The company wants to be a leader, the brand that’s pushing the edge on transparency and reporting. There is evidence that the efforts on sustainability and branding around sustainability reporting are affecting Timberland profitability, market share, and customer loyalty. Timberland’s highest-margin products—contributing the most on a dollar of sales basis to profitability—are the company’s Earthkeepers products and this is suggestive that consumers are willing to pay a premium for a low environmental impact product. There is also anecdotal evidence of sustainability reporting contributing to Timberland’s market performance; however, the company has struggled to put a hard dollar value on this. Timberland’s marketing managers and public relations professional report that sustainability efforts and the various sustainability reports Timberland have released over the last several years has resulted in an increased number of positive media impressions. Timberland receives other kinds of anecdotal evidence in market research and focus groups with consumers that sustainability initiatives generate brand heat. Brand heat is a marketing term to describe the positive feelings when exposed to a brand name. There is even less evidence that brand heat actually leads to a purchase. A challenge for Timberland is quantifying and linking sustainability to the financial bottom line. Challenges One of the hardest challenges for Timberland was determining the right metrics to report on. Timberland, in part, used the indicators from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as a starting point. However, the GRI has many performance indicators and many were not relevant to Timberland’s stakeholders or material to Timberland. For Timberland the most important areas to report on, measure, and act on are those that are material to the company. Timberland’s areas of focus for materiality are the environment, consumers, and other stakeholders, including government. Timberland prioritizes measurement and action on the areas that are at the intersection of these three dimensions of materiality. For example, Leather and rubber use is highly material to Timberland’s business operations. These two inputs have significantly more impact on the environment than any other inputs because of the volume of leather and rubber used in the manufacturing process and by the very nature of the materials. These manufacturing inputs are material to the environment, to customers, and to stakeholders and as a result are areas of focus and reporting for Timberland. This strategy helps the company focus on the areas that have the greatest impact. For example, customers might think Timberland should focus on packaging, such as footwear boxes, because it is one of the aspects of the product that they most interact with. The environmental impact of their use of leather and rubber is much more material (significant) to the company’s ecological and social impact than its use of cardboard for shoeboxes, as the boxes come from recycled sources and also can be easily recycled. Another major challenge for Timberland is the constant tension between measuring more metrics due to demands from different stakeholder groups and the resources required by Timberland to provide those metrics. This was a lesson learned by Timberland as the company started its sustainability reporting efforts. At the beginning, Timberland struggled with trying to provide more and more sustainable performance indicators due to stakeholder requests. The company expended significant resources to collect and report on the different disclosure requests that they received, which distracted the company from undertaking the activities necessary to lead to substantive improvements in its environmental and social impact. Efforts at Standardization and Integration Initiating sustainability reporting and developing the appropriate communication methods has been a significant undertaking for the company over the past decade. Sustainability reporting had to be done largely outside of Timberland’s regular business units and systems. A separate reporting software system was developed for storing sustainability performance indicators (SPIs), but, at the time, it was too complex for the corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting system to be integrated with the company’s accounting and finance system tools or product design systems. They were all developed on different software platforms and did not communicate. The other reporting and management systems were not designed to include sustainability measures, as it was not part of standard business practice. For example, in designing a new product, there was limited product design reporting system ability to take into consideration the sustainability impacts of different designs, as they were not developed for environmental reporting. Just recently (2011), business decision software systems companies, such as SAP, and the designers of product life cycle management systems are developing systems software that have environmental modules. This means that what were two or three separate systems before can now become more of one integrated system to include environmental and, eventually, social impact along with product design and financial analysis. Timberland is moving toward being able to upload CSR metrics into their financial information and product design systems. Their environmental and financial information systems are starting to “talk” to one another. Timberland can take into consideration reductions in energy or material usage reductions from both an environmental and financial perspective. The benefits include not only being able to better tie environmental efforts with bottom line considerations but also enabling the CSR team to reach and impact key decision makers in finance and product design who were outside the Timberland CSR reporting system. The sharing of information and reporting systems integration allows different business units and functional areas to begin to speak a more common language and take a more systems and full-cost and benefit perspective in their decision making about financial, product design, and sustainability actions. Timberland is focusing its sustainability reporting efforts increasingly on this integrated systems perspective, using a core set of metrics to help identify problems and then identifying root causes and finding the best solutions. The company can then link the problem and solution to the financial performance of the firm. As Betsy Blaisdell describes it, The environment will be embedded in the financial statement. I think we are experiencing the merging of the two right now. I think 20 years from now, the business value will have been demonstrated and that environmental metrics will become a part of the financial statement, the links will have been created, in that CSR will be a part of everybody’s role, versus a distinct stand-alone department. My hope is that in 20 years, this is just a part of the business—the normal business school program. It’s a part of the normal business acumen. And that folks are educated and have a carve-out, or have distinct responsibilities within their regular business job to make sure that the commerce and the justice piece go hand in hand, versus living in different parts. KEY TAKEAWAYS • What is most important to track and report out in sustainability reporting are activities with material impact on the environment, consumers, communities at large, and business profits. • What is not tracked and reported on will be difficult for business managers to act on. • It is difficult to quantify the benefits of sustainability in general and sustainability reporting in particular. • Sustainability reporting can enhance business reputation and branding. Exercise $1$ Discuss some of the challenges faced by Timberland in relation to its sustainability reporting. What are some of the benefits they have experienced? Exercise $2$ Do you think sustainability can generate “brand heat”? Why or why not? Go on Facebook and look for an example of a “green” product that is generating positive discussion. Do you see any ways that the company is commercially capturing the value of that discussion (such as a link or app that would lead to a sale of the product)?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/11%3A_Case%3A_Accounting_for_Sustainability%3A_How_Does_Timberland_Do_It_and_Why/11.02%3A_Business_Value_of_Sustainability_Reporting.txt
On June 13, 2011, V. F. Corporation (www.vfc.com/about) announced the purchase of Timberland for over \$2.2 billion. V. F. already owned and operated several well-known apparel brands such as the North Face, Wrangler, and Lee. In announcing the purchase V. F. CEO Eric Wiseman commented, “The Timberland brand is synonymous with high-quality outdoor footwear and apparel. We believe the unique rugged outdoor positioning of Timberland will perfectly complement the premium, technical positioning of The North Face brand. This acquisition will continue the transformation of VF’s portfolio, propelling VF’s outdoor and action sports businesses to 50% of total revenue.” V. F. offered \$43 for each Timberland share, a premium of 43 percent to Timberland’s closing price the day before the offer. On the announcement day, Timberland shares climbed \$13.21, or 44 percent, to \$43.20. Timberland stock had traded between \$15.07 and \$45.72 from June 10, 2010, to June 10, 2011, and was at \$30 before the offer. The owners of about three quarters of Timberland’s stock, including Chairman Sidney Swartz and CEO Jeffrey Swartz, entered into a voting agreement and gave written consent for the deal on July 26. V. F.’s shares rose by 10 percent after the deal was announced, which added about \$1 billion to the V. F.’s market capitalization. This was atypical as shares in the buying company usually fall due to stockholders expectations that most acquisitions end up destroying value. V. F. says it intends to both grow Timberland’s sales and increase Timberland’s sales efficiency. In 2010, Timberland’s operating margin was 9 percent, which was considerably lower than V. F.’s operating margin of 20 percent.Marc Gunther, “Timberland’s Jeff Swartz: ‘This Is Hard,’” Marc Gunther (blog), June 14, 2011, www.marcgunther.com/2011/06/14/timberlands-jeff-swartz-this-is-hard. V. F. has not been a recognized leader on corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sustainability. The company is at an early stage of addressing climate change and other issues related to climate change. According to the Climate Counts Company Scorecard on V. F. (http://www.climatecounts.org/scorecard_score.php?co=58), the corporation has started to measure its company-wide impact it has on global warming (i.e., its greenhouse gas emissions or climate footprint) and has made some efforts to reduce its impact on global warming (i.e., its greenhouse gas emissions or climate footprint) through the North Face. It has, however, shown minimal public information that it supports public policy that addresses climate change and provides limited information on its company-wide efforts to address climate change. On June 28, 2011, after the announcement of V. F.’s purchase of Timberland, the company hired a new vice president for corporate social responsibility, former Dell executive Mark Newton. Newton is joining Timberland following eight years with Dell, most recently as executive director of global sustainability, where he was responsible for balancing the company’s growth strategy to minimize impacts on natural and human resources across the value chain. During his tenure with Dell, he directed global policy development, stakeholder engagements, and corporate strategies on environmental and social issues. Prior to joining Dell, Newton led environmental technology programs at Apple and Motorola. He sits on the advisory boards of Clean Production Action and Carbonfund.org. Newton will lead the CSR global team.“Timberland Hires CSR Vice President,” Environmental Leader, www.environmentalleader.com/2011/06/28/timberland-creates-role-of-csr-vice-president. He will report to Timberland’s CFO Carrie Teffner and be responsible for the following: • Overseeing Timberland’s effort to demonstrate environmental leadership and reduce the company’s environmental impact as a global brand • Ensuring that the human rights standards set forth by the company’s code of conduct are adhered to and enforced by all Timberland vendors and suppliers worldwide • Creating a global standard for community service through innovation, regional relevance, and employee engagement • Executing against Timberland’s commitment to transparency and reporting by engaging a diverse set of stakeholders Jeff Swartz’s last day as CEO of Timberland was September 13, 2011. In his final blog post he wrote the following: Recently, I listened to the acquirer’s CEO addressing Timberland employees, in an open air town hall meeting (we take the 10 minutes of New England summer time seriously here, and so when we can meet outdoors, we do). It tore my guts out, to sit in the community gathering as a listener, watching my colleagues watching the new boss, wondering what changes are in store for our brand, our business, our community…an environmental activist in our ranks rose, way in the back, to ask the new guy, the Boss to Be, about sustainability. “Tell us, please, why sustainability is important to you.” And the man with whom I negotiated hard and long for the best possible deal for shareholders stood his ground, and answered, authentically and naturally. “The answer is simple—we believe that sustainability is good for the business and good for the world environmentally.” He went on; the answer got more detailed and more concrete. But I had stopped listening. For 30 years, we’ve been trying, fighting, struggling, to choreograph the intricate interaction between shareholder value, consumer demand, and social accountability. I have the scars, and the long list of failed efforts, incomplete outcomes, unrealized dreams and frustrated ambitions before my eyes all the time that reflect this passionate effort. And yet in this poignant moment of transition, from a business run by my family for three generations to a business to be run by relative strangers—here is the CEO of a 10B\$ powerhouse, talking about sustainability simply and easily—good for business, good for the earth. And he means what he says. And it strikes me, hard, as I sit there—30 years later, a vitally important conversation has shifted. Maybe, there comes a time to say, “my job here is finished.”Jeff Swartz, “Endings and Beginnings,” The Bootmakers Blog, September 13, 2011, blog.timberland.com/jeff-swartz/endings-and-beginnings. KEY TAKEAWAYS • V.F. Corporation has had limited efforts in sustainability, but the acquisition of Timberland provides it with the opportunity to be a global leader in business sustainability. • The stock acquisition of Timberland provided great value to the stockholders of V. F. Corporation. Exercise $1$ Prepare a memo for V. F. that summarizes Timberland’s experience with CSR and sustainability reporting. What are the benefits and difficulties of the different activities within reporting? What are the main lessons that have been learned? Exercise $2$ Review V. F.’s corporate website. Prepare a two-page memo to the company’s CEO outlining whether V. F. should more broadly adopt Timberland’s CSR reporting, identifying which of its brands would most likely benefit the most from sustainability reporting. Exercise $3$ Upon reviewing former CEO Jeff Swartz’s final blog post, do you agree or disagree with his finding that the business world has shifted to sustainability? Exercise $4$ Review Timberland’s timeline included at the end of this chapter. Do you think including environmental and social indicators in the timeline paints a fuller picture of the history and actions of the company? Why or why not? Table 11.1 Timberland Timeline Year Key Events Sustainable Performance Indicators Economic Ecological Social Revenue / Net Income (in Millions of Dollars) Stock Price (First of Year and Adjusted for Splits) GHG Emissions Inventory (Metric Tons) Employees Community Service Hours 1955 Nathan Swartz bought the remaining interest in Abington Shoe Company and welcomed his sons into the company, manufacturing private label shoes for leading brand manufacturers for almost 10 years. 1973 The Swartz family developed the “Timberland” brand name. Timberland created its first guaranteed waterproof boot under the Timberland name. 1975 Company produces 25,000 Timberland brand boots and approaches the \$1 million mark in sales. 1978 The Swartz family changed the name of the company to the Timberland Company. 1980 Timberland footwear introduced into first international market—Italy. 1987 Timberland went public on the American Stock Exchange. \$1.80 (June 30, 1987) 1989 Timberland partnered with City Year, Inc., the Boston-based youth “urban peace corps,” to support community service. Since then, Timberland has provided over \$10 million to City Year helping them to expand their service program to 13 cities across the United States. \$156/\$6 \$1.84 1992 To sustain the communities in which its employees live and work, Timberland developed what later became the Path of Service program, a progressive corporate policy offering employees 16 hours paid leave to perform community service. Timberland launched its “Give Racism the Boot” awareness campaign supporting diversity and standing up against oppression internationally. \$291/\$13 \$1.14 1997 Timberland increased the benefit of paid employee volunteer time to 40 hours. Timberland introduced apparel for kids. \$796/\$47 \$4.72 5,100 17,500 2000 The company was listed as one of the “100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Business Ethics Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Timberland issues its first annual corporate social responsibility report. \$1,091/\$124 \$12.47 5,400 34,200 2006 The company set a new standard for product transparency and increased its efforts to minimize environmental impact by introducing new, more eco-conscious packaging for its footwear products and a “nutritional label”—product information label that details aspects of the company’s environmental and community footprint. The company unveiled a solar panel installation at its distribution center in Ontario, California. At the time, the system was one of the 50 largest in the world, generated 60% of the power for the distribution facility, and reduced the facility’s greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 218 metric tons per year. \$1,568/\$106 \$32.92 25,599 6,300 80,600 2009 Shrinks the carbon footprint of its US stores by an additional 11% by switching 70% of its North American stores to LED lighting. Timberland and Soles4Souls launch nationwide in-store shoe donation program. \$1,286/\$57 \$11.68 16,273 5,700 82,300 2010 Timberland ranks #2 on Climate Counts’ list of companies making aggressive strides in fighting climate change. \$1,429/\$97 \$18.19 15,889 5,600 75,900 2011 Timberland stock reaches highest price ever at \$45.72 on April 28. VF Corporation announces purchases of Timberland for \$2.2 billion on June 13. \$24.79 Sources: “Our History,” Timberland, www.timberlandonline.co.uk/timberland-corporate-timeline/about_timberland_corporate_timeline%2Cdefault%2Cpg.html; “Home Page,” Timberland, www.timberland.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=4089424; “About Timberland,” Timberland, www.timberlandonline.co.uk/timberland-corporate-timeline/about_timberland_corporate_timeline%2Cdefault%2Cpg.html; “About Us: Timeline,” Timberland, www.timberland.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=4089424.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/11%3A_Case%3A_Accounting_for_Sustainability%3A_How_Does_Timberland_Do_It_and_Why/11.03%3A_New_Corporate_Parent_and_New_Corporate_Social_Responsibility_Leader.txt
We at Pax World understand that investing is rooted in one’s aspirations for a better, more secure future—it’s really all about tomorrow. Moreover, we believe that Sustainable Investing is an investment approach that is particularly focused on the future—a methodology that searches for better-managed companies that are better positioned for long-term business success. We think our Sustainable Investing approach is right for the times, and is right for our investors. Pax World (www.paxworld.com/about-pax-world/why-invest-pax) Learning Objectives 1. Understand socially responsible investing (SRI) and its relationship to sustainability. 2. Describe how SRI compares with traditional investment approaches. 3. Explain the key elements of SRI. 4. Understand the size of the market for SRI, both absolute size and relative size to total investment market. 5. Discuss SRI market growth prospects. 6. Explain the key challenges of implementing a socially responsible approach to investments. In a speech to the Boston Economic Club on June 15, 2010, Joseph Keefe, president and CEO of Pax World Management, LLC, stated, We need a new design. We need to take this moment in time to imagine what the Next Economy might look like—an economy that is both post-Sustainability Crisis and post-Financial Crisis. It seems clear to me, first of all, that over the next few decades, market capitalism will need to undergo a Sustainability Revolution equal in significance to the Industrial Revolution that ushered in the modern period. In order for this to happen, corporate behavior, market behavior and investor behavior will need to change. In each case, they will need to become more sustainable—which means, among other things, to behave in a way that focuses more on the long term. Investors can play an important role in this great transformation, as well they should: the transition from an industrial age economy powered by coal and oil to a sustainable economy powered by clean energy and new technologies will unleash a new era of economic and investment opportunities. Sustainable Investing, as I am using the term, is not only a strategy to hasten this historic transformation, but also to harvest the potential investment returns associated with it.Joseph F. Keefe, “Sustainable Investing and the Next Economy” (speech, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, June 15, 2010), www.paxworld.com/about-pax-world/viewpoint. 12.01: Introduction to Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) Learning Objectives • Describe what is meant by socially responsible investing (SRI). • Explain what a mutual fund is and what can be of interest to individual investors. • Understand why many investors were reluctant to invest in SRI funds. • Describe how Pax World helped to convince individuals to invest in SRI funds. Socially responsible investing (SRI)—also known as sustainable investing—refers to investment strategies that seek to not only provide financial return but also be consistent with moral values and have positive societal impact. SRI can be as straightforward as an investor who avoids investing in any industry they find morally questionable—such as a tobacco manufacturer—to as complex as a billion-dollar fund that screens in or out many different types of investment opportunities based on key performance indicators in environmental and social areas. SRI recognizes that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid and important criteria for investment decisions. While SRI refers to a spectrum of investing activities, in general, SRI will be referred to as a broad-based approach that invests in companies that manage themselves in ways related to sustainability, including environmental protection and human rights. However, as mentioned previously, SRI can also be morally based and avoid so-called sin industries, such as those involved in alcohol, tobacco, gambling, animal testing, or weapons. SRI roots back to biblical times, as Jewish law provided specific guidance on ethical investment. In colonial times, Quaker and Methodist immigrants to the United States brought with them the concept of values-based investing exercised by their refusal to invest in slavery or war. In the 1700s, Methodist reverend John Wesley (1703–91) outlined his basic tenets of social investing—including not to harm your neighbor through your business practices and to avoid industries, such as tanning, because of their potential to harm the health of workers. Modern SRI can trace its roots to the 1960s and 1970s in the United States as concerns over civil rights, the Vietnam War, gender equality, the environment, and nuclear power all emerged.“History of SRI,” SRI Conference, www.sriintherockies.com/about/historyOfSRI.jsp. Pax World Funds was created in 1971 as the first SRI mutual fund by Luther Tyson and Jack Corbett, both of whom worked for the United Methodist Church, for investors who did not want to invest in companies involved in the Vietnam War. SRI investment grew dramatically in the 1980s as significant societal events—for example, apartheid in South Africa, the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, and the oil spill in Alaska by the Exxon Valdez—led millions of people and organizations to invest in companies that were more socially and environmentally responsible. Other social phenomenon in the 1990s, such as Nike’s use of sweatshops, increased respect for indigenous populations, and tropical deforestation, further supported investment in SRI. By 1995, SRI had grown to fifty-five mutual funds with \$12 billion in assets under management. Most recently, climate change has motivated new waves of SRI investment by both institutional investors and individual investors. SRI mutual funds now span a wide range of investments opportunities, including domestic and international securities. In addition to mutual funds, a growing number of financial products are becoming available that target SRI, including hedge funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs). The performance of SRI funds has slowly convinced investors that there is not a significant trade-off—and there even may be some positive correlation—between social and financial performance. At the end of 2009, a review of 160 socially responsible mutual funds found that 65 percent of the funds had outperformed their benchmarks—funds with similar investment objectives.Jason M. Ribando and George Bonne, A New Quality Factor: Finding Alpha with Asset4 ESG Data (New York: Thomson Reuters, 2010). Between 1995 and 2010, SRI had grown significantly. As of 2010, there were 250 mutual funds using SRI criteria in the United States, with assets of \$316.1 billion.“Sustainable and Responsible Investing Facts,” USSIF, ussif.org/resources/sriguide/srifacts.cfm. These funds increasingly compete with traditional mutual funds and SRI-focused funds, such as Pax World Funds, and increasingly compete with the mutual funds industry giants, such as Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, and T. Rowe Price, who have started SRI funds as part of their family of funds. Investors in the traditional funds are increasingly likely to move at least some of their assets to an SRI investment approach. How fast they do this and how much of their investments they direct to SRI funds and to mutual fund companies that only engage in SRI, such as Pax World, will depend on how important a sustainability- and moral values–based approach to personal financial investing becomes for households in the United States and in other nations and also on SRI fund performance and marketing. Mutual Fund Industry At the end of 2010, there were 7,581 mutual funds in the United States with combined assets of \$11.8 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), a national trade association of investment companies in the United States. This is about 80 percent of the size of total US annual economic activity (gross domestic product) of \$15 trillion. Worldwide assets invested in mutual funds totaled \$24.7 trillion. Mutual funds are investment vehicles that are made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities, such as stocks and bonds. Anyone who invests in a mutual fund receives shares of the fund. Each share represents an interest in the fund’s total investments, often times called its investment portfolio. Portfolios include equity (ownership) shares in a large number of publically traded companies and bond holdings. Bonds are similar to loans and are issued by companies and public entities, such as cities and states, and purchased by mutual funds and other investors. The value of mutual fund shares rise and fall depending on the performance of the underlying securities (stocks and bonds) in the portfolio. Similar to a shareholder in a corporation, an investor receives a proportional share of income and interest generated by the portfolio mutual fund units, or shares. Shares can typically be purchased or redeemed (sold) directly from the mutual fund company at the fund’s current net asset value (NAV) per share. In 2010, more than fifty-one million US households invested in mutual funds, or about 44 percent of all households. The median number of mutual funds owned by households was four and the median amount that fund-owning households invested in mutual funds was \$100,000. Mutual funds have advantages compared to direct investing in individual securities, including increased diversification, daily liquidity, professional investment management, service and convenience, and ease of comparison. One of the main advantages of mutual funds is that they give diversification to investors with relatively modest amounts to invest. Disadvantages of mutual funds include management fees and less control over timing of recognition of capital gains or capital losses. In the United States, all mutual funds are registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC was formed after the stock market crash of 1929 in response to abuses in the widely unregulated financial securities markets. Its mission is “to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.”“The Investor’s Advocate: How the SEC Protects Investors, Maintains Market Integrity, and Facilitates Capital Formation,” US Securities and Exchange Commission, http://www.sec.gov/about/whatwedo.shtml. Under the 1940 Investment Company Act, which governs the mutual fund industry, a mutual fund consists of the shareholders and a board of directors (if organized as a corporation) or board of trustees (if organized as a trust) who are fiduciaries charged with acting in the best interests of the shareholders. A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care. A fiduciary is expected to be extremely loyal to the persons to whom it owes some responsibility; the fiduciary must not put its personal interests before its duty and must not profit from his position as a fiduciary, unless the principal explicitly consents. The board of directors or trustees is charged with hiring a professional money manager or investment adviser to manage the assets of mutual fund. The fund manager, also known as the fund sponsor or fund management company, invests the mutual fund’s assets in accordance with the fund’s investment objectives. A fund manager must be a registered investment adviser. The fund manager’s responsibilities include portfolio management, legal compliance, operations, and marketing. Mutual fund managers generate revenue by charging investors fees, usually as a percentage of funds managed. These fees are called management fees. The fees normally vary from .3 percent to 1 percent of funds under management.“Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Charts: Financial Performance,” USSIF, ussif.org/resources/mfpc. Multiple mutual funds that are managed by the same fund manager and that have the same brand name are known as a “fund family” or “fund complex.” The two largest mutual fund companies have total assets well above \$1 trillion (see Table 12.1). Table 12.1 Five Largest Mutual Fund Companies by Assets under Management, November 30, 2009 Top Five Fund Families Assets under Management (in Billions of Dollars) Vanguard 1,313.39 Fidelity Investments 1,215.41 American Funds 926.68 JPMorgan 449.41 iShares 360.07 The largest single mutual fund, American Fund’s Income Fund of America, had net assets of just under \$69 billion in 2011. The largest SRI mutual funds’ single funds are small in comparison, Parnassus’ Equity Income Fund has \$3.7 billion and the Pax World Balanced Fund has \$1.8 billion. The traditional mutual fund companies have also started SRI funds, which are included in their total but these funds are a small portion of their family of funds. Types of Mutual Funds The types of mutual funds vary according to a fund’s investment objective. A fund’s investment objective will usually seek capital gains (gains from the sale of portfolio securities), income (interest and dividends earned on the portfolio securities), or a combination of both. A mutual fund’s portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus. The following is a list of common categories of mutual funds: • Money market. A money market fund seeks the safety of principal by investing in high-quality, short-term securities. This type of fund is designed with the aim that an investor’s principal should not decrease in value. • Growth. A growth fund invests primarily in the common stock of well-established companies. This type of fund may invest for long-term capital gains. • Income. An income fund invests in debt securities. Hence this type of fund is designed for investors who desire periodic income payments. There are, however, substantial differences and varying degrees of risk among income funds depending on the credit quality of the debt issuer, the maturity of the debt instrument, and the prevailing interest rates. • Balanced. A balanced fund, as the name implies, invests for both growth and income. The fund will invest in both equity and debt securities. A balanced fund seeks to provide long-term growth through its equity component as well as income to be generated by the portfolio’s debt securities. SRI Industry As of 2011, the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, SIF (formerly the Social Investment Forum), identified \$3.07 trillion in total assets under management using one or more of what SIF defined as the three core SRI strategies—screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing.“Sustainable and Responsible Investing Facts,” USSIF, ussif.org/resources/sriguide/srifacts.cfm. This includes mutual fund investing. Between 2007 and 2010, SRI experienced a 13 percent growth rate from \$2.71 trillion in 2007. About one out of every \$8 under professional management in the United State—or 12.2 percent of the \$25.2 trillion in total assets under management tracked by Thomson Reuters Nelson—was involved in SRI. Three Core Approaches in SRI This is taken from “Sustainable and Responsible Investing Facts,” USSIF, ussif.org/resources/sriguide/srifacts.cfm. There are three core approaches in SRI. First, screening is the practice of evaluating investment portfolios or mutual funds based on social, environmental, and good corporate governance criteria. This includes both positive and negative screens. Positive screening, or “buy” indicators, involves including strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) performers, avoiding poor CSR performers, or otherwise incorporating CSR factors into the process of investment analysis and management. Generally, social investors seek to own profitable companies that make positive contributions to society. “Buy” lists may include enterprises with, for example, strong environmental practices, products that are safe and useful, and operations that respect human rights around the world. Conversely, many social investors avoid investing in companies whose products and business practices are harmful to individuals, communities, or the environment. This is a negative screen, or “don’t buy or sell” indicator. It is a common mistake to assume that SRI “screening” is simply exclusionary, or only involves negative screens. Positive SRI screens are being used more and more frequently to invest in companies that are leaders in adopting clean technologies and exceptional social and governance practices. Second, shareholder advocacy involves socially responsible investors who take an active role to encourage corporations to improve their social and environmental practices. These efforts include talking (or “dialoguing”) with companies on issues related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Shareholder advocacy also frequently involves filing shareholder resolutions on such topics as corporate governance, climate change, political contributions, gender or racial discrimination, pollution, and labor practices. Shareholder resolutions are then presented for a vote to all owners of a corporation. The process of dialogue and filing shareholder resolutions generates investor pressure on company management; often garners media attention; and educates the public on social, environmental, and labor issues. Such resolutions filed by SRI investors are aimed at improving company policies and practices, encouraging management to exercise good corporate citizenship, and promoting long-term shareholder value and financial performance. Third, community investing directs capital from investors and lenders to communities that are underserved by traditional financial services institutions, such as banks. Community investing provides access to credit, equity, capital, and basic banking products that these communities would otherwise lack. In the United States and around the world, community investing makes it possible for local organizations to provide financial services to low-income individuals and to supply capital for small businesses and vital community services, such as affordable housing, child care, and health care. Community investing is the fastest growing area of SRI. From 2007 to 2010, community investing grew more than 60 percent, from \$25 billion to \$41.7 billion in assets. Among the mutual fund companies that use an SRI-type approach, Pax World is commonly recognized as the third largest (ussif.org/resources/mfpc).Because of the broad definition of socially responsible investing (SRI), it is difficult to do a standard accounting of all the funds that engage in SRI and SRI-like investing. Parnassus Investments (http://www.parnassus.com), based in San Francisco, has about \$6 billion in assets under management. Calvert, which includes both SRI and more traditional investing, has sustainability-focused funds of approximately \$5 billion (www.calvert.com/sri.html). All the SRI funds, as with other investment funds, were larger in assets before the financial crisis of 2008–9. Pax World experienced nearly a 40 percent decline in assets under management during the sharp stock market decline. Smaller SRI funds have been consolidating over time. For example, Sentinel Funds (http://www.sentinelinvestments.com) bought Citizens Funds in 2008. And further consolidation is expected as some of the big, traditional mutual fund firms enter the market and try to buy SRI mutual fund firms or consider launching their own suite of SRI-like products to compete with Pax World Investments and other SRI funds in response to increasing numbers of institutional and private investors asking for funds with social objectives. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Socially responsible investing (SRI) refers to investment strategies that seek moral values and social impact and provide financial return. • Mutual funds are investment vehicles that allow investors to receive professional management, diversification, and liquidity for a relatively small investment. • Pax World helped start SRI and the sustainable investing industry by forming the first SRI mutual fund in 1971. • In starting the industry, investors had to be convinced that attention to social and environmental concerns had positive influence on company financial performance. • There is evidence to suggest a positive link between social and environmental performance and company financial performance. • Three core SRI strategies are screening (both positive and negative), shareholder advocacy, and community investing. Exercise $1$ Discuss the spectrum of investing that is classified as socially responsible investing (SRI). Go to a company’s website and see what actions they take related to sustainability, such as environmental practices or water usage. After reviewing, does that change your view of the company? Are you more or less likely to invest in the company now? Exercise $2$ In 2006, Parnassus Investments (http://www.parnassus.com) added an exclusionary screen to exclude investing in businesses involved with Sudan when the international community recognized the Darfur region conflict as genocide. Do you agree or disagree with these criteria for a SRI investment? What might be unintended consequences of a screen like this?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/12%3A_Case%3A_Sustainable_Investing%3A_Pax_World_Helping_Investors_Change_the_World/12.00%3A_For_Tomorrow.txt
Learning Objectives • See what external factors influenced the creation of Pax World. • Define the structure of Pax World. • Understand what challenges Pax World has faced. Background Pax World Investments, Inc., helped to start the socially responsible investing (SRI) industry that exists today. Pax World was founded in 1971 as the first socially responsible mutual fund in the United States. Two United Methodist ministers, Luther Tyson and Jack Corbett, based in Boston and Maryland, wanted to start an investment fund for their church assets that did not support the Vietnam War. They were antiwar clergy, and they specifically did not want to use church funds to invest in weapons and weapons manufacture. The ministers still cared about the financial return of the investment of the churches’ funds to help fund the operations of the churches and did not have the expertise to invest the churches’ funds themselves. They needed an investment manager who would invest their churches’ funds based on the churches’ financial and social objectives. The ministers ended up finding Tony Brown, an investment adviser based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which is an hour north of Boston, who was willing to work with them. Mr. Brown was, at that time, with the financial firm Fahnestock, which later became Oppenheimer Funds, and he started managing the churches’ money. It was the first social responsibility directed investment fund and later it grew to become Pax World Funds. Pax World Funds was named to represent the social objectives of its investment fund, Pax being the name of the Roman goddess of peace and world to represent the broad global perspective of the ministers and the investment fund. The initial investors in the Pax World Fund were the two churches, private investors identified by Tony Brown, and Tony Brown himself. The total initial funds invested totaled \$101,000 (about \$600,000 in 2011). The first fund later became the Pax World Balanced Fund, which is still in existence today. It is Pax World’s largest mutual fund accounting for more than 90 percent of its total assets under management and one of the largest SRI mutual funds in the world. Very soon after the first Pax World mutual fund was started, the ministers got the idea that if they could screen out weapons manufacturers they could and should also screen out other things that they did not think were appropriate for church fund investment. They choose to add tobacco industry companies and firms that had a record of pollution to the list not to invest in. Social screens were new for the investment industry at the time, including for Tony Brown. Mr. Brown had to figure out a way to do the screens for the first SRI fund. He hired a recent college graduate to do the screens for the initial fund. The staffer started doing the screening as best they could from public information on companies’ products and services and business practices. There was no experience in this and very little research out about how to do this effectively, and there was only a small amount of publically available data about company social impacts. So the Pax World and the industry first social screener sorted through the industry and company data that was publically available and screened out of investments in defense and tobacco industry companies and well-known polluters. Pax World’s Organization Pax World is organized as required by federal law as a mutual fund trust company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund is required to have a registered investment adviser and uses Pax World Management, LLC, as its investment adviser (the management company) for the funds. The two entities are independent but related. Pax World Funds has eight board members with the chair of the board and five of the other board members independent of Pax World Management, LLC. Since 2005, Joe Keefe has served as president and CEO of both Pax World Funds and Pax World Management, LLC. The 75 percent owner of Pax World Management, LLC, is a holding company for the Shadek family (of New Jersey) with Larry Shadek, the lead family member and chair of the board. The family bought their ownership share of Pax World in 1996. Since 2008, Pax World Management, LLC, employees have purchased 25 percent of the company from the owners. There are four members of the board of Pax World Management, LLC, Joe Keefe, Larry Shadek, another member of the Shadek family, and Chris Brown, the Pax World, LLC, chief investment officer. Every year Pax World Management has to have their investment management contracts renewed with Pax World Funds. In order to get their contract renewed, the company has to show the fund’s board that the funds are performing well, that costs are reasonable, and that the funds are being well managed. As of 2011, Pax World Management had forty-eight employees organized in six departments (see as follows). This included a portfolio management group headed by a chief investment officer with five (Women’s Equity, Balanced & Growth, High Yield, International, and Small Cap) fund managers, five analysts, and two traders. The sustainability research is in another department with five researchers. In addition to the portfolio management and sustainability research, the other major functional areas are compliance, finance and administration, shareholder services, and marketing and sales. Compliance involves being in accordance with established guidelines, specifications, and agreements with customers and shareholders. Pax World’s Portfolio As of 2011, Pax World Funds had eleven mutual funds and two exchange traded funds (ETFs) with assets under management totaling \$2.4 billion. The Balanced Fund was started in 1971. The Growth Fund and the High Yield Bond Fund were started in late 1990s. The newest funds were the ESG Managers Portfolios, ESG Shares (ETFs), Pax World Small Cap Fund, Pax World International Fund, Pax World Global Women’s Equality Fund, and Pax World Global Green Fund. Figure $1$: Pax World Assets under Management (in Millions of Dollars) *As of September 30, 2011. Source: Image courtesy of the authors. Overall Pax World offers four different investment products areas: 1. Pax World Funds—a family of actively managed mutual funds across a range of asset classes. • Pax World Balanced Fund • Pax World Growth Fund • Pax World Small Cap Fund • Pax World International Fund • Pax World High Yield Bond Fund • Pax World Global Women’s Equality Fund • Pax World Global Green Fund 2. ESG Managers Portfolios—a series of multimanager asset allocation funds with asset allocation, manager selection, and portfolio construction by Morningstar Associates. 3. ESG Shares—the first family of ETFs devoted exclusively to a sustainable investing approach. 4. Separately managed accounts for institutional investors. Pax World’s Balanced Fund Pax World’s largest fund, their Balanced Fund, is the oldest SRI fund in the industry. It is the second-largest single SRI fund (at \$1.8 billion) after the Parnmassus Equity Income Fund (\$3.7 billion) as of September 30, 2011.“Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Charts: Financial Performance,” USSIF, ussif.org/resources/mfpc. Pax World’s Balanced Fund has a \$250 minimum investment requirement and an expense ratio of 0.96 percent. As of September 30, 2011, compared to the overall market (S&P 500), Pax World’s largest fund has tended to underperform in the short term but outperform over the longer term. When compared to just other balanced funds (the Lipper Balanced Funds Index), the fund has tended to underperform financially at times. Table 12.2.1 Comparison of Pax World Balanced Fund to Comparable Investment Benchmarks Total Returns » Month Ended September 30, 2011 » Quarter Ended September 30, 2011 Cumulative Returns (%) Average Annual Returns (%) 1-Month Quarter Year-to-Date 1 Year 3-Year 5-Year 10-Year Since Inception Balanced Fund—Individual Investor Class –7.92 –13.77 –8.90 –1.04 0.98 –0.34 3.24 8.14 Balanced Fund—Institutional Class 1 –7.89 –13.69 –8.71 –0.74 1.23 –0.11 3.36 8.17 Balanced Fund—R Class 2 –7.93 –13.78 –9.04 –1.23 0.73 –0.53 3.14 8.11 60% S&P 500 Index / 40% Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond Index –3.93 –7.04 –2.65 3.05 4.44 2.25 4.29 S&P 500 Index –7.03 –13.87 –8.68 1.14 1.23 –1.18 2.82 Lipper Balanced Funds Index –5.36 –9.62 –5.41 0.30 3.94 1.53 4.13 Pax World Balanced Fund—Individual Investor Class –7.92 –13.77 –8.90 –1.04 0.98 –0.34 3.24 8.14 60% S&P 500 Index / 40% Barclays Capital US Aggregate Bond Index –3.93 –7.04 –2.65 3.05 4.44 2.25 4.29 S&P 500 Index –7.03 –13.87 –8.68 1.14 1.23 –1.18 2.82 Lipper Balanced Funds Index –5.36 –9.62 –5.41 0.30 3.94 1.53 4.13 According to Morningstar, one of the leading providers of independent investment research in the world, in the eleven years from 2000 to 2011 Pax World’s Balanced Fund performed in the top quartile among all (not just SRI) funds in its category five of the year, in the bottom quartile five of the years, and in the second lowest quartile in one year. Pax World’s Challenges Marketplace Acceptance A significant challenge for Pax World has been to attract investors to their fund. Wall Street and the traditional investment marketplace were at first skeptical of social screens and SRI in general. The Wall Street perspective was that social screens “shrink” the investment universe by screening out investment opportunities based on values—such as not investing in companies with poor environmental records—rather than on financial performance. It was believed that it was far more difficult for SRI funds to achieve strong market performance in terms of returns on investments, capital gains, and investment income. This pervasive perception was the biggest early barrier SRI. The performance over time of the SRI funds compared to the universe of funds has convinced increasing numbers of investors. At the end of 2009, a review of 160 socially responsible mutual funds found that 65 percent of the funds outperformed their benchmarks—funds with similar investment objectives—and a United Nations Report concluded, “There is mounting empirical evidence that companies with better corporate governance practices carry less risk and outperform poorly governed companies over time; that companies with strong environmental performance carry less risk and outperform environmental laggards over time; that companies with good workplace practices enjoy higher productivity, higher morale, lower turnover and increased profitability.”UNEP Finance Initiative, Show Me the Money: Linking Environmental, Social and Governance Issues to Company Value (Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Environment Programme, 2006). Walking the Talk Pax World experienced its own internal challenge in regards to ethics and social responsibility. On July 30, 2008, the SEC fined Pax World Mutual Funds \$500,000 because it failed to follow its own SRI criteria from 2000 to 2005. The settlement between Pax World and the SEC concluded an investigation that had commenced in December 2004, prior to CEO Joe Keefe’s arrival at the company. Pax World’s funds had invested in some of the kinds of companies they were supposed to avoid. For example, the Pax Growth Fund owned shares of a major oil and gas exploration company, even though it had failed three of Pax’s social screens. And the Pax High Yield Fund owned bonds issued by a company that had major revenue from gambling and liquor. The SEC found Pax had violated its own restrictions by purchasing at least ten securities that screening criteria prohibited; in addition, Pax failed to screen 8 percent of its new security purchases between 2001 and 2005. Continuously from 2001 through early 2006, the Pax Growth Fund and the Pax High Yield Fund held at least one security that violated criteria. All told, the fund company held forty-one securities that either weren’t screened or didn’t pass its screens.Mark Jewell, “Pax Fined for Failure to Screen Investment Funds,” USA Today, July 30, 2008, www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-07-30-1549841276_x.htm. The following comments were made by some of the people involved in the incident: “Mutual fund companies marketing socially responsible funds need to be responsible themselves,” said David Bergers, regional director of the SEC’s Boston office. “Advisers simply cannot tell investors they are going to do one thing with their funds and then not follow through on those promises,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC Division of Enforcement, in a statement. Pax World Management Corporation, the then investment adviser to Pax World Funds and predecessor to Pax World Management, LLC, the reorganized management company, entered into a settlement order with the SEC dated July 30, 2008. Under the terms of the settlement, Pax World agreed to a cease and desist order and a civil penalty of \$500,000 under Section 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act, which is a section involving negligent conduct, not intentional wrongdoing. Pax World, under the leadership of Joe Keefe, undertook a vigorous response, and the SEC chose to recognize Pax World’s substantial remediation efforts and cooperation in its order. In addition, the Pax World Balanced Fund, which held approximately 95 percent of Pax World assets during this time period, did not purchase any unscreened securities and was not cited in the order. The portfolio managers of the two funds involved—the Growth Fund and the High Yield Fund—as well as the head of the social research department and Pax World’s outside counsel and chief compliance officer all left the firm. Pax World completely overhauled its compliance procedures to ensure that its portfolio managers can only buy securities that have passed their social and environmental criteria. As part of a top-to-bottom reorganization and modernization of their business operations, Pax World put in place new sustainability screening and other compliance procedures, controls, and technology. In a 2011 interview, CEO Joe Keefe said of the mistakes made, “I can tell you that today Pax endeavors to meet best practices in all aspects of our business and operations. And we have a compliance culture that I would match up against any in the industry. Like all companies (and all individuals) we are not perfect, but we learn from our mistakes, are proud of the progress we have made and are constantly striving for improvement.” KEY TAKEAWAYS • Pax World was started in 1971 to address a gap between a group’s interest in taking into account social considerations into investing and what was available in the marketplace. • The Pax World Balanced Fund is the oldest socially responsible investing (SRI) mutual fund and the second largest (in terms of assets) in the United States. • Pax World is organized in accordance with federal law and has two parts: (1) Pax World Funds—the mutual fund company—and (2) Pax World Management, LLC—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registered investment adviser that oversees the operations and marketing of the Pax World Funds. • Pax World Funds currently has eleven mutual funds and \$2.4 billion in assets under management. • Challenges for Pax World have been marketplace acceptance of SRI as an investment strategy and compliance issues in following their own SRI criteria. Exercise $1$ How have investors’ views of social and environmental activism changed from 1971 to 2011? Exercise $2$ How has Pax World’s largest fund, the Balanced Fund, performed compared to the universe of funds, other balanced funds, and compared to other socially responsible investing (SRI) funds? What might explain the differences in performance?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/12%3A_Case%3A_Sustainable_Investing%3A_Pax_World_Helping_Investors_Change_the_World/12.02%3A_Pax_World.txt
Learning Objectives • Describe Pax World’s approach to sustainable investing. • Discuss the investment process at Pax World. • Describe how and why Pax World changed its investment criteria from screening out to defining what to invest in. Pax World had primarily relied on exclusion, for example, negative screens, for avoidance of undesired companies to invest in. However, the resistance to the screening out of some companies among traditional investors led Pax World, in 2006, to change their approach from socially responsible investing (SRI) to “sustainable investing.” To Pax World, sustainable investing is similar to and has its origins in SRI, but it is fundamentally different. For Pax World, sustainable investing involves fully integrating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into investment analysis. So where SRI had tended to define itself by what not to invest in, sustainable investing defines what to invest in. Table 12.3.1 Differences between Sustainable Investing and SRI Sustainable Investing SRI Performance-based orientation Values-based orientation Inclusionary approach—seeks to identify leaders in sustainability Exclusionary approach—negative “screens” for avoidance of “sin stocks” Striving for broad market acceptance Niche (“alternative”) investment style Pax World’s new methodology allows it to invest in companies that have superior sustainability or ESG performance. By investing in “sustainable” companies, Pax World seeks to reduce risk and deliver competitive long-term investment performance. By combining rigorous financial analysis with equally rigorous ESG analysis, there is an increased level of scrutiny that helps them construct portfolios made up of companies that • are leaders in their industries, • are better managed and more forward-thinking, • are better at anticipating and mitigating risk, • meet positive standards of corporate responsibility, • focus on the long term. The goal is for all the funds to beat the performance of group peer funds, not just other SRI funds. For each of Pax’s funds, this means outperforming on an average return on investment basis funds with similar investment objectives. Pax World’s view is that rigorous financial and ESG analysis will lead to superior fund performance over time. This emanates from the Pax World perspective that companies that do well on both analyses and that execute well on both financial and ESG measures will be the best performers in terms of return for mutual fund investors. Pax World’s Investment Process Investment analysis is very detailed and difficult work. Pax World’s investment process is a well-defined, systematic, four-step process: (1) top-down analysis, (2) financial analysis, (3) ESG analysis, and (4) portfolio construction. This process takes Pax World from assessing the broad universe of investment opportunities to assessing a selection of investments for its funds. The ESG analysis of the four is the least established and most qualitative. Top-Down Analysis Deciding how to invest funds starts with a top-down analysis of domestic and international economies. This involves analysts identifying long-term economic, social, and political trends and their investment implications. This global economic analysis can include the interest rate environment, consumer sentiment, and unemployment. The top-down analysis helps to determine the broad sectors of the economy for Pax World funds to invest in and, more specifically, to overinvest or underinvest in relative to benchmarks by fund type average. The major themes in 2011, for example, included aging population demographics in developing nations (including the United States, Japan, and many European nations), the growth of emerging markets (such as China, India, and Brazil), and strong demand for and limited supply of natural resources (which puts price pressure on many commodities). The top-down analysis also includes identification of some shorter-term factors. In 2011, this included the economic recession and low consumer confidence. The 2011 themes suggested that Pax World funds invest in industries that benefit from (e.g., sell in or to) aging demographics, commodities, and emerging markets over and above the percentages in the benchmark fund. Specific industries to invest in the 2011 market, for example, would include construction, mining and utility equipment companies with a majority of their sales in emerging nations, and consumer product companies with more than 50 percent of sales in emerging markets. Fundamental Financial Analysis The next step involves fundamental financial analysis. This is in-depth financial analysis on an individual company basis to identify companies that appear to offer above-average relative growth rates, sound business models, strong competitive positioning, and attractive valuations. Pax World financial analysts target individual companies or stocks in their specified industry sectors. Each financial analyst is responsible for three sectors. Company financial fundamentals are reviewed mostly using financial information that is available for all publically traded companies and required by governmental regulatory bodies including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States. Companies within industries are compared based on their profitability, growth, valuation, and quality. Income statement and balance sheet information for companies, including returns on equity and assets, long- and short-term growth in earnings, price-to-earnings ratio, and debt-to-capital ratio are considered along with other financial information. Pax financial analysts determine overall rankings of companies in targeted industries by using a weighted composite measure. In most cases, the top twenty-fifth percentile of performers in the targeted industries are identified for potential investment. In addition, financial analysts review the financial performance of all the holdings regularly. ESG Analysis If a company passes the financial test and is among the top twenty-fifth percentile in a targeted industry it will go to the sustainability research team, and they will do an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analysis. ESG analysis involves an evaluation based on ESG criteria. The ESG analysis includes review of company ESG performance with three views—past performance, current policy, and future trajectory. A company with poor prior performance, improved current policy, and positive future trajectory would be more favorably rated than a company with static moderate performance. The review by ESG analysts results in companies passing, failing, or passing but requiring monitoring. For example, Pax World was monitoring BP just prior to the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. Environmental considerations include whether there has been company violations of environmental laws (such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act in the United States), the company’s record of management of emissions, climate change–related policies and actions, and renewable energy use or development. On social issues, consideration is given to human rights issues in countries in which companies operate, for example, treatment and rights of women and workforce issues, such as worker safety, child labor laws, and minimum wages. On governance, the key issues assessed include board independence (e.g., the percentage of outside directors), diversity of board (including percentage of females on the board), and executive compensation practices and policies. The sources of information used for the ESG analysis include company reporting in annual reports and in separate sustainability reports. The latter are increasing in numbers as companies, particularly larger companies and companies in Europe, are providing sustainability reports (see Chapter 4). Other key sources of information include government data (e.g., from the US government’s Food and Drug Administration [FDA], Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA], and Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]); news coverage and composite reporting of news coverage from Dow Jones Factiva (http://www.dowjones.com/factiva/index.asp); other third-party sources, such as MSCI ESG Research (http://www.msci.com/products/esg/about_msci_esg_research.html), Goldman Sachs, and the Corporate Library (http://www2.gmiratings.com); and nongovernmental organizations (NGO), such as Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (svtc.org/resources/reports). Smaller companies are harder to get information on, as are many companies in the developing markets. Some countries require a lot of disclosure and some don’t; it varies greatly. In general, publically traded companies in the United States and Western Europe are required to disclose information on financial, environmental, and social factors that will affect their market value but there is significant discretion in doing this. Big companies, such as General Electric, Exxon-Mobil, Starbucks, and Walmart, have a lot of ESG information available through media attention, NGOs, and other watchdog groups. They’re pretty transparent and increasingly so. But as you go down the capitalization scale, smaller companies are not as transparent, so it can be harder to research a smaller company or a company in an emerging market. These are some of the factors Pax World Management ESG analysts have to deal with. It gets more or less complicated depending on what company they are researching. The ESG analysis team’s long-term goal is to be able to assess a larger number of companies on ESG performance (not just those provided to them in the top twenty-fifth percentile according to traditional financial criteria) and, over time, to be able identify companies that are strongest in ESG performance and based on that identifying if the company should be considered for Pax fund investment by the financial analysts. This would enable a more interactive and dynamic investment selection process with more active ESG consideration. In order to get to this, and to be able to identify companies in percentiles of ESG performance, ESG analysts have to be able to more formally and fully quantify their analysis. While the ESG analysis has made substantial progress in being more quantitative, structured, and rigorous from its start in 1971, the ESG analysis remains limited to quantitative final assessment of pass or fail, without precise definition or measurement of ESG performance. Part of this is a result of the limited data available and the difficulty of collecting the data that might be available, but it might more strongly reflect the relative newness of ESG analytics compared to traditional financial investment analysis, which has been developing for more than one hundred years. This is true at Pax World and with SRI funds in general. An example of a company that made it through Pax’s financial review process, but not the ESG process, is Suez Environment. Suez is a utility company based in France that operates largely in the water treatment and waste management sectors (www.suez-environnement.com/en/homepage), providing drinking water to seventy-six million people worldwide. Suez was identified as being in a growing industry and emerging as an industry leader with strong financials in that industry. The company failed the ESG review based on a number of negative factors, including employee tampering with water supply testing, high incidence of worker injury, and antitrust investigation by the European Union. Portfolio Construction Portfolio construction involves choosing a select number of companies that emerge from the combination of financial and ESG analysis and that meet both the financial and sustainability criteria and, as a portfolio, the overall investment guidelines of individual funds (e.g., targeted percentages for bonds and stocks). This entire process is repeated as new insights are developed or economic conditions change. Every company in the Pax World mutual fund portfolio is reviewed from a financial and ESG perspective on a periodic basis, mostly annually. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Pax World follows an investment approach called sustainable investing—the full integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into investment analysis and decision making. • To Pax World, sustainable investing means what to invest in as opposed to socially responsible investing (SRI), which means what not to invest in. • The Pax World investment process includes (1) top-down analysis, (2) financial analysis, (3) ESG analysis, and (4) portfolio construction. Exercise $1$ How has Pax World’s investment approach changed and what were the driving forces? Exercise $2$ Do you feel that Pax World’s sustainable investing approach is a better approach than their interpretation of socially responsible investing (SRI)? Why or why not? Exercise $3$ Will sustainable investing enable Pax World to differentiate their funds?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/12%3A_Case%3A_Sustainable_Investing%3A_Pax_World_Helping_Investors_Change_the_World/12.03%3A_Pax_Worlds_Approach_to_Investing.txt
The increasing investments in socially responsible investing (SRI) mutual funds reflect enhanced awareness of the potential positive influence of sustainability in businesses financial performance. This is in contrast to when Pax World first started in 1971, when most investors and investment managers believed that companies would incur costs with social- and environmental-minded efforts. Now more and more investors believe that over the long term, sustainable business practices can help to lower costs and risks, can open up market opportunities, and can have a net positive financial impact on business performance and returns on investment. And for Pax World, its approach to SRI is increasingly well recognized and respected. According to Morningstar, the Pax World Balanced Fund “has terrific socially responsible investing bona fide. It is the flagship offering of fine all-SRI shop. Manager Chris Brown has been at the helm for 13 years, so he’s more seasoned than a healthy majority of SRI skippers (and a healthy majority of allocation managers). And Brown steadfastly applies a rigorous set of environmental, and social, and governance factors while running the portfolio.”“Pax World Balanced Individual Investor,” Morningstar, September 2011, quote.morningstar.com/fund/f.aspx?t=PAXWX. Still, critical to the success of Pax World and its growth—as with any mutual fund company—is financial performance. As Joe Keefe, Pax World Investments CEO and president, commented, For Pax World, because we’re a mutual fund company…I would say the number one component critical to our success is the financial performance of our funds. We have a fiduciary obligation to our shareholders to try to get them market or above-market returns and to manage their risk. So that’s fundamental to what we do.…If we grow, we do two things. First of all, we are successful as a business. And we are a business, so we’re trying to make money and make a profit. But we also are a mission-driven business, and as we grow assets, not only will we become more profitable and successful from a business perspective, but we will have more impact. And that’s what, ultimately, this has to be about. We want to change corporate behavior. We want markets to produce better outcomes, not just financially, but from a social and environmental perspective. And the larger we get, the more leverage we have, the more we can change investor behavior, and the more we can change corporate behavior. For Pax World, increasing the funds under management is not just for their own profitability, and it’s not growth for its own sake; it’s toward Pax World’s mission, which is changing corporate America. Pax World’s growth and changing corporate America are tied together because the more successful Pax World Funds and Management are from a business perspective, the more leverage they will have to be more successful from a social and environmental perspective. They reinforce each other. They’re integrated, which is what triple bottom line (TBL) and sustainable companies try to achieve—the successful integration of environmental and social factors into their business models. Investment in SRI mutual funds and public awareness of the importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in financial performance accelerated from 1990 to 2010, as there were increasing numbers of examples of companies that suffered significant financial losses by not being attentive environmentally, such as was the case with BP and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. Individuals are at the same time personally experiencing the financial benefits of their environmental practices, such as reducing energy and materials use. Increasing numbers of people are beginning to see environmental stewardship as a financial positive rather than a cost, and this influences their investment decisions over time. A similar dynamic could be suggested about concern about treatment of workers and good corporate governance. Most individuals had doubts about the financial relevance of the treatment of workers and good governance. Now there is increasing evidence that companies that treat their workers well have higher productivity and lower absenteeism (as stated in a McGill University study published by Harvard Business Review, http://www.portfolio.com/business-news/2010/05/19/harvard-publishes-study-that-shows-treating-workers-well-boosts-bottom-line), and on the governance side, many investors have personally experienced the fallout from the 2008–9 financial crises that resulted from unethical business practices that could have been avoided with stronger governance. Pax World’s shareholders, like most mutual fund investors, are not interested in short-term performance. This is compatible with Pax World’s approach and use of ESG factors that can tend to play out over the long term to affect company financial performance and to help minimize risk. That does mean that in every year Pax’s funds do better than or as well as a non-ESG funds. But as Joe Keefe says, “We believe over time we can outperform other funds because environmental, and social, and governance factors have what they call materiality. In the financial world, all that really means is relevance. They are relevant to how companies perform. So we think focusing on them is really important.” Pax World has traditionally been primarily a retail mutual fund, with a majority of its funds under management for individual and household investors. However, Pax’s institutional presence is increasingly important. Many of the so-called individual or household investors are coming to Pax through institutional investment platforms, such as through an option for pension funds, through personal financial planners and investment adviser recommendations, and through platforms provided for investors through larger financial players, such as Schwab, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, and UBS. Increasing Pax World’s institutional presence is not a question of retail or institutional because the two are integrated. An increasing number of large institutional investors and the major consultants that work with them are incorporating SRI into their portfolio as evidenced by the significant increase in SRI recently. Individuals tend to either invest directly or, now more often than not, they invest through a broker, financial adviser, or a financial planner. And individual brokers and financial planners tend to be individuals who have to do a lot of research on their own, and they don’t necessarily have all the most recent findings on SRI performance. Thus on the individual and household investment side, Pax World growth is being driven a lot by the investment advisers as the intermediary to the end customer. Pax World’s task then becomes to convince a financial planner to include Pax World in what they recommend to their client. On the “pure” institutional side, Pax World continues to have religious institutional investors and pension funds. Looking forward Pax World plans to attract more and more investment from institutional investors because the institutional investment world is ahead of the individual investment world in embracing sustainable investing in many respects. There are reasons for this, including having the track record of performance being similar to traditional funds. As Keefe commented, “Eventually, individual investors will catch up, but institutional investors in general are ahead of the curve right now in embracing our investment approach. Institutional investors study market trends. They have a lot of research and data at their disposal, and they’re seeing a lot of the research, a lot of the data, that underscores the materiality of ESG, or the financial relevance of environmental, social, and governance factors.” Even with all the positives for Pax World and the more general acceptance of SRI-like funds, many believe that it will still require the next generation of investors to have Pax World and SRI get closer to 50 percent of mutual fund holdings. Personal investments are “sticky”—they don’t change that easily. And the SRI approach to investing, incorporating the ESG into the analysis, is very different from the traditional approach. But the data show high growth recently, suggesting the hockey stick model of growth might be at work. There are two things going on. The first is that the generation of baby boomers is inheriting wealth from its parents. And that generation is more likely to want to have some alignment between its values and its investments because they are the ones who grew up during the Vietnam era. Second, you go to the generation behind the baby boomers, and according to Keefe, “they are even more inclined toward concern about the environment and SRI-type-investment, because the notion to them that your investments can be somehow out of whack with the rest of your values and the rest of your lifestyle does not make sense. They want to have that alignment. When we were growing up, certainly our parents’ generation, but to some extent ours, would say something like, well, great, but your investments should just be making money. Then, if you want to change the world, give it to charity. Get involved in your community, protest. Now investing and values needing to be integrated into their investment decisions by boomers and others, and this is the hockey stick—SRI is ramping up fast.” As the SRI industry grows and its prospects look more promising, the traditional mutual fund companies are moving aggressively into SRI. This is happening through traditional families of funds starting new funds on their own or acquiring existing SRI funds. With this trend, Pax World could get purchased or lose market share within the SRI industry to the larger mutual fund company participants. It is increasingly important for Pax to differentiate what they do. This was accomplished with the adoption of the sustainable investing approach in 2006. And Pax World has added new funds that are innovative, including the Global Women’s Equality Fund, which is the only mutual fund in America that focuses on investing in companies that treat women better, that invest in women, and that recruit and promote them. Pax World added the Global Women’s Equality Fund because of their belief that there are connections between having more women in management and more women on your board and financial performance. On the issue of women’s equity and other issues, Pax World also differentiates themselves from traditional mutual fund companies by its many investor initiatives. With regards to women’s equity, this includes collaboration with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and the Calvert funds to encourage greater gender equality on boards of directors and in senior management and to promote improved disclosure. (As of 2011, only 13 percent of Fortune 500 board chairs are held by women.) Pax World launched a campaign to promote greater gender diversity on corporate boards by encouraging investors to vote no on proxies for board membership that did not contain a sufficient number of women. During the 2011 proxy season, Pax World withheld votes from, or voted against, 264 director slates for insufficient gender diversity, sending notification letters to those companies explaining why and offering guidelines to improve diversity. Pax World is an increasingly active shareholder representing investors with proxy voting. During the 2011 proxy season, Pax World also signed on to eighteen environmental initiatives, many of which focused on the oil and gas industry. For example, Pax World joined other investors in writing to oil and gas companies engaged in offshore oil drilling, requesting information regarding the companies’ policies and programs to manage operational risks and steps taken to improve them. Pax World has participated in multiple initiatives led by Ceres (a national coalition of investors, environmental organizations, and other public interest groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges), encouraging Congress and state legislators to take action on environmental standards. These included decreasing emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gasses, passing comprehensive clean energy legislation, and urging the EPA to raise fuel economy standards for motor vehicle fleets. Pax World also joined with other investors in the Investor Network on Climate Risk urging California voters to oppose Proposition 23, a statewide ballot initiative that would have stopped implementation of the state’s landmark clean energy bill. The proposition was rejected in the fall 2010 election. In addition, Pax World signed on to an initiative led by the organization As You Sow, urging companies to take responsibility for recycling postconsumer product packaging. The companies receiving the letter included General Mills (whose share holdings represented 1.8 percent of the Pax World holdings in the Growth Fund), Procter & Gamble (1.4 percent of the Growth Fund and 0.9 percent of the Balanced Fund), and Unilever (1.6 percent of the Global Women’s Equality Fund and 1.9 percent of the International Fund). Pax World also cofiled a shareholder resolution led by Domini Social Investments with Southwestern Energy (1.4 percent of the Growth Fund) requesting that the company publish a report on the risk of hydraulic fracturing as a means of obtaining natural gas. The company agreed to improve its disclosures and work with stakeholders to develop a model disclosure format for other natural gas firms; the resolution was successfully withdrawn. Pax World’s focus looking forward is not as much on their SRI industry competitors, like Parnassus, but on growing the overall SRI market and changing corporate America. Their main competitors looking forward are Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, and others of the large traditional mutual fund families whose investors are increasingly likely to move at least some of their assets to an ESG-like investment approach. In many respects, Pax World’s main challenge is to try to win those people over who are not familiar or were previously not comfortable with sustainable investing and to try to convince people that their values do not have to be compromised when it comes to their financial investments. And this will require strong financial and ESG performance at Pax World, particularly with evidence that companies with better ESG performance have better financial performance. As Keefe commented, “There are studies suggesting that, over time, funds and investors that use the ESG approach do better than the market. And I believe, over time that will clearly be the case.…I think once you start measuring up 10-year track records versus 10-year track records, I think you’re going to see that this investment approach holds up very well.…there’s all kinds of research now suggesting that environmental, social, governance factors are relevant.…over time, we’re going to be able to convince more and more people of that.” And for Pax World, if they grow, they can have greater societal impact—with the company’s business success and societal impact being intimately tied together. For Pax World, there are opportunities to change corporate behavior on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, on gender issues, and on all kinds of social and environmental issues that will help markets produce better outcomes. But to do that, Pax needs to grow its asset base. Europe certainly is ahead of the United States right now in embracing sustainable investing. In fact, most of the governments in Europe, for their own government pension funds, have a mandate for it. But Pax World would have to get licensed in Europe and it’s a complicated and costly process. The company would have to launch new entities and they are not like Fidelity and some of the larger mutual fund companies that are large enough to establish themselves outside the United States. According to Keefe, “The main opportunities for us right now are, one, opening up conversations that were hard to open up before in the US, with investment advisers, the intermediary platforms, and institutional investors. Those conversations are starting to happen now. In fact, we have a hard time keeping up with it all.” To open up these opportunities, Pax has newsletters and their own marketing and sales teams to e-mail and visit the financial planners and financial advisers. The company also does webinars and podcasts. There are also opportunities with particular demographic groups, such as female investors. With research showing that women are more likely to want to align their investments with their values than men (www.northerntrust.com/wealth/11-summer/women-in-wealth.html). Research shows that women are controlling a larger share of investment dollars. On the institutional side, there are opportunities with private foundations and their endowments and pension funds. The strategy is to launch the products that the investment community wants, to attract investors, and to communicate with those investors, which often is through their advisers and intermediaries. The biggest challenge for Pax World continues to be overcoming the conventional wisdom in the financial industry that if you base investments on moral values, you’re going to have to significantly sacrifice financial performance in order to do the right thing. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Pax World differentiated their socially responsible investing (SRI) by adopting a new approach, which includes selecting companies to invest in by positive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance as compared to using screens to limit investments. • Pax World and other SRI-focused funds will have to continue to differentiate and distinguish their SRI products to compete in the industry as SRI is increasing and now larger traditional investment funds are starting to compete in the industry. Exercise $1$ What lessons from Pax World’s experience are there for the socially responsible investing (SRI) industry and for sustainable businesses more generally? Exercise $2$ How can Pax World continue to grow and be an SRI industry leader? What are its current strengths and weaknesses in the industry? Exercise $3$ How can Pax World be a mutual fund industry leader, not just SRI industry leader? What will it have to do well? What are the emerging market opportunities? What will it have to avoid? Exercise $4$ SRI market analysis. Table 12.4.1 All Balanced Funds Morningstar Category 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Equity (%) Bond (%) Cash (%) Median −0.16 3.85 1.46 4.20 56.48 33.10 6.39 Average −0.23 3.87 1.49 4.30 52.22 33.87 10.01 Number of funds 506 458 403 257 531 531 531 Table 12.4.2 All SRI Balanced Funds Morningstar Category 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year 10 Year Equity (%) Bond (%) Cash (%) Median −0.16 3.18 0.83 3.35 56.99 33.55 5.14 Average −0.35 3.21 1.06 3.47 55.99 34.40 7.70 Number of funds 30 23 23 14 30 30 30 The previous charts show the financial performance of all balanced mutual funds versus only SRI-balanced mutual funds (including Pax World) for the period ending September 30, 2011. Compare the one-year, three-year, five-year, and ten-year financial performance of the two different categories. Does this evidence support or refute assertions that SRI funds outperform the overall market? What might be some reasons for the difference in performance? How does this example compare with other examples of SRI performance in the chapter? What conclusions can you draw on the comparison? What are the implications for the future growth potential of SRI funds and Pax World funds specifically?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/12%3A_Case%3A_Sustainable_Investing%3A_Pax_World_Helping_Investors_Change_the_World/12.04%3A_Pax_World_Looking_Forward.txt
Learning Objectives • Look at the role a sustainability-focused mission and strategy can play in identifying organizational purpose and guiding a business. • Understand the complexity of managing what can be at times competing and conflicting environmental, social, and business demands and values. • Describe how sustainability-focused strategy can contribute to competitive advantage in local and global markets. 13: Case: Strategic Mission-Driven Sustainable Business: Stonyfield Yogurt Learning Objectives • Define the meaning of corporate strategy. • Explain how strategy relates to competitive advantage. • Understand the indicators or metrics to measure and assess competitive advantage. Stonyfield Farm, Inc., or Stonyfield, is an organic yogurt manufacturer located in Londonderry, New Hampshire. The company was founded in 1983 at Stonyfield Farm and got its start using its herd of seven jersey cows to produce organic milk. The milk was then manufactured on-site into organic yogurt using founder Samuel Kaymen’s family recipe. During the first year, Stonyfield sold \$56,000 worth of product. By 2010, Stonyfield had grown to be the number one selling organic yogurt brand in the United States and the third-largest selling yogurt brand in the world with more than \$375 million in revenue and with profits exceeding the industry average. This case describes and examines Stonyfield’s sustainability strategy and its execution. This includes description of the key elements in the implementation of Stonyfield’s sustainability strategy and practices and discussion of how a well-executed sustainability-focused strategy can benefit a business, giving it a competitive advantage. The case concludes with consideration of Stonyfield’s future direction; the CEO’s rationale for selling the company to Groupe Danone, a \$17 billion food and beverage conglomerate; and exploration of how the relationship between Stonyfield and Danone resulted in an improvement in sustainability efforts for both organizations. Figure $1$: Twenty-Year Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR): 23 Percent (in Millions) Source: Image courtesy of the authors. Sidebar What Is Strategy? Strategy, according to Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, is identifying and making clear cut choices about how to compete. For management scholar Michael Porter at Harvard Business School, strategy requires answering the following questions: • How are we going to be unique? • How are we going to use this unique position to create a competitive advantage? • How are we going to sustain this competitive advantage over time? Strategy can be thought of as the actions chosen that direct an organization to a future goal. Its purpose is to position an organization to achieve its objectives through a planned allocation of resources that take into account the state of the external environment and internal resources and accountability to stakeholders. Competitive advantage provides a company an advantage over its competitors. There are two primary types of competitive advantage—comparative advantage and differential advantage. Comparative advantage, or cost advantage, is a firm’s ability to produce a good or service at a lower cost than its competitors. A differential advantage is created when a firm’s products or services differ from its competitors’ products or services and are seen as providing new or greater value than a competitor’s products by customers, for example, introducing organic yogurt that contributes to the health of people and the planet. Strategic management is the process by which an organization selects its strategy, the tools that are used to promote the strategy, and the manner by which management leads the organization, and it is specifically how leadership is aligned with strategy. As part of strategy development, organizations will develop a mission statement. Mission statements are a short statement of the purpose of a company or organization. They provide the framework or context within which the company’s strategies are crafted and executed. Mission statements commit an organization to what its key stakeholders and leaders want it to achieve. The mission statement articulates the company’s purpose, for those in the organization, for consumers, and for all stakeholders. Mission statements will broadly describe an organization’s capabilities, customer focus, and core value proposition. This case highlights the decisions that Stonyfield has had to make that balance business reality with sustainability ideals and how the company’s focus on strategy and mission, especially a sustainability-focused mission, has helped the company achieve an effective balance without sacrificing the values of its founders. Throughout the case, connections are made between the concepts of strategy, discussed in the previous sidebar, and the actions of Stonyfield to plan, develop, and execute its strategy. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Strategy consists of the actions chosen that direct an organization to a future goal. • Competitive advantage can be achieved with strategies that help company’s differentiate their products or services and contribute to profitability. • Compounded growth rates compared to competitors is one measure of competitive success. Exercise $1$ Go to the website of a company and try to identify the company’s main strategy. Exercise $2$ For the same company, try to identify indicators of the company’s competitive position. Does the company appear to have a competitive advantage? Use company data and figures to answer the question.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/13%3A_Case%3A_Strategic_Mission-Driven_Sustainable_Business%3A_Stonyfield_Yogurt/13.00%3A_Introduction.txt
Learning Objectives • Understand how the founders and their values shaped the development of Stonyfield. • Understand the demands on the entrepreneurs when starting the business. • Provide examples of how Stonyfield executed its business strategy. Background From its inception, Stonyfield was founded with a sustainability mission. This mission has persisted throughout the company’s history. It commits the company to healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet, and healthy business. In 1979, Samuel Kaymen, a former engineer and self-declared “back-to-the land” hippie, and his wife Louise started the Rural Education Center (TREC) in Wilton, New Hampshire. TREC was a nonprofit organization devoted to teaching homesteading skills with an emphasis on organic food production. The Kaymen’s founded TREC to help turn around the struggling New England dairy industry and halt the decline of family farms and as a response to the rising industrialization of the food system. Samuel, one of the country’s early authorities on organic agriculture, had perfected a recipe for an organic yogurt the previous year. His organic yogurt tasted better than other yogurts available on the market and would form the basis for the Stonyfield brand. In 1982, Gary Hirshberg was recruited by Samuel for the TREC’s board of trustees to help generate financial support. Gary had previously served as a water-pumping windmill specialist and also worked for the Massachusetts-based nonprofit ecological advocacy group known as the New Alchemy Institute, which focused on organic agriculture and renewable energy systems. When Gary joined, the center and farm were deep in debt and close to bankruptcy. Under Gary’s leadership, TREC decided to expand farming at the center and to produce organic yogurt to sell to support the operations of the center. Gary said of the decision to choose to enter the yogurt business, “Samuel made this really incredible yogurt. It was really the best yogurt I had ever eaten. So we were all sitting around talking about how we were going to make some money and somebody said ‘why don’t we sell the yogurt?’ We all kind of laughed. He also made wonderful beer and pickles, but eventually we decided to go with the yogurt.”David Phillips, “Bringing the Cultural Revolution,” Business Library, December 2003, findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3301/is_12_104/ai_111508193/pg_2/?tag=content;col1. In 1983, the company Stonyfield Farm was born in an old barn at the center. Samuel was appointed chairman and Gary was named CE-Yo (chief executive of yogurt). The company was started with a \$35,000 loan from the Institute for Community Economics with \$25,000 coming from the Sisters of Mercy. On April 9, 1983, Stonyfield produced their first fifty-gallon batch of yogurt. Sidebar A Trip to Disney WorldGary Hirshberg, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (New York: Hyperion, 2008), 2–4. In 1982, Gary Hirshberg, while serving as the executive director for the nonprofit the New Alchemy Institute, went to visit the recently opened Disney World’s Epcot Center. This experience changed how Gary viewed influencing the general public on environmental issues. At Epcot Center, he observed twenty-five thousand people walking through the Kraft artificial cheese exhibit, which featured a technologically driven view of farming including test tube–based plants (a stark contrast to the ecologically driven agriculture solutions taught at the New Alchemy Institute). Gary was struck that the daily attendance at the Kraft exhibit was equal to the annual visits at the New Alchemy Institute. This experience led Hirshberg to change his view on environmental education and ultimately, he concluded that, for him personally, he would be more effective in spreading environmental awareness in a business context. The incorporation of Stonyfield Farm would provide him the opportunity to test this in the real world. Sidebar Profile of a Social Entrepreneur: Gary Hirshberg Gary Hirshberg serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards including Applegate Farms, Honest Tea, Climate Counts, Stonyfield Europe, Glenisk, and the Danone Communities Fund. He also is the chairman and cofounder of Stonyfield Café, a natural fast food restaurant company. He has received eight honorary doctorates and was named a Gordon Grand Fellow at Yale University in 2009 and was named one of “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs” by BusinessWeek. Gary was also featured in the 2009 documentary Food, Inc.“CSR Heroes: Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm,” Just Means (blog), April 5, 2010, accessed August 2, 2011, www.justmeans.com/CSR-Heroes-Gary-Hirshberg-of-Stonyfield-Farm/12086.html. Also see Will Marre, “Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg Is a True Pioneer of Sustainability and Giving Is Winning,” Giving Is Winning (blog), December 30, 2010, accessed August 2, 2011, http://willmarre.com/blog/stoneyfield-farms-gary-hirshberg-is-a-true-pioneer-of-sustai nability-and-giving-is-winning. Within the first year, Gary and Samuel decided to close TREC, which ironically the business was originally meant to support, and focus their energies on building a socially driven business—selling healthy food that was healthfully produced. For the first seven years, Samuel and Gary’s families lived on-site in adjacent apartments in the 1852 Wilton farmhouse. The house and barn provided office space and the “Yogurt Works” (the manufacturing facility). Making their social mission a reality while building a profitable business proved to be extremely challenging for the two social entrepreneurs and their families. But with the deep and passionate commitments of the two founders working long hours, family support, and extensive grassroots marketing, the fledging company was able to survive. Like many entrepreneurial start-ups, the business was built with a lot of family equity, the two families did most of the work themselves—milking cows, making yogurt, calling customers, and delivering the yogurt. Louise Kaymen noted, “Without the Kaymen kids doing cow chores, making yogurt, shrink-wrapping orders and getting up at all hours of the night, we would not have been able to ‘hang in there’ in those first years.”“Our Story in a Nutshell / Milestones,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., www.stonyfield.com/about-us/our-story-nutshell/milestones. By the end of 1983, Stonyfield sales were \$56,000 and the company was selling at a rate of 150 cases of yogurt per week. Sidebar Early Marketing: Yogurt or Camel Manure?Gary Hirshberg, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (New York: Hyperion, 2008), 89–90. Gary found creative and low-cost ways to market Stonyfield’s yogurt. For example, when Andy Moes, radio cohost of Boston’s well-known “Joe and Andy Show,” told his audience he’d rather eat camel manure than yogurt (which at that time was not as popular a food as it is today), Gary saw this as an opportunity and stopped by nearby Benson’s Animal Farm in New Hampshire to collect some camel manure. Gary and his wife Meg drove down to the radio station with a packed quart of yogurt and a packed quart of camel manure and demanded that Andy choose to eat one. Andy eventually ate the yogurt and conceded, “I admit it. This yogurt does taste better than camel manure.” Stonyfield received instant airplay and had found a creative way to not only sell yogurt but also get their message of the health benefits of yogurt across to a wide audience. Later Marketing Stonyfield thrived on innovation. It constantly looked for innovative products that would drive sales and bottom line profit. It was one of the first companies to exploit market segmentation for its yogurt product line. Stonyfield segmented its markets by age, gender, demographics, and psychographic factors. It educated customers on the impact of its products and company actions on people’s health and the environment. For example, Stonyfield product categories have included yogurts formulated specifically for women, infants (YoBaby), and kids (Planet Protectors low-fat yogurt). The company has introduced new yogurt recipes and limited edition yogurts, such as low-fat eggnog yogurt, breakfast and desert yogurts, and frozen yogurts. Through its innovative marketing and product development, Stonyfield has been able to be an industry leader in taking yogurt from a side dish, consumed by a small number of health food “junkies,” to an everyday food for the American diet.“Our Story in a Nutshell / Milestones,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., www.stonyfield.com/about-us/our-story-nutshell/milestones. In response to growing production, the company decided in 1984 to stop on-site production of milk, sold its herd (now up to nineteen cows), and switched to purchasing milk from local farmers. The company ended 1985 with ten employees, new yogurt flavors, \$317,200 in sales, and production of 1,100 cases per week. Demand for the company’s organic yogurt was growing faster than the company’s ability to supply it, so in 1986, the company relocated from the farm and contracted with a copacker in Massachusetts. Shortly thereafter, the copacker went bankrupt and the bank seized the packer’s and Stonyfield’s assets, including equipment, raw materials, and finished product. This event almost ruined the company, but by accessing some additional family funds, Samuel and Gary restarted yogurt production back in the old barn in Wilton. The company managed to maintain their customer relationships but Stonyfield ended the year with a loss of \$400,000 and was essentially bankrupt. However, Gary was able to secure a Small Business Association–backed bank loan and convinced private investors (family, friends, and others) to further invest in Stonyfield. Meg Hirshberg recalled that “during the nine painful years it took us to reach profitability, we endured countless disasters, mishaps, and near-death experiences. That meant there were countless times we could have rid ourselves of the misery we called a business.” With the infusion of capital in 1988, Stonyfield production and operations moved into a twenty-one-thousand-square-foot facility in Londonderry, New Hampshire. This proved to be a very good business decision and a turning point for the company. Stonyfield ended 1989 with forty-two employees, \$2.5 million in sales, and production of 8,050 cases of yogurt per week. By 1990, Stonyfield had made number 113 on Inc.’s list of the five hundred fastest growing companies in the United States, and the following year, Stonyfield’s annual sales had grown to \$56 million. In 2001, Samuel retired from Stonyfield (but still remained on the board of the company) as the company took a new strategic direction by forming a partnership with Paris-based Groupe Danone (Danone), the largest fresh dairy company in the world. This meant that Gary Hirshberg was in charge of the company. Danone, a \$17 billion multinational company in 2001, whose brands included Evian bottled water and Danone/Dannon yogurt, initially purchased 40 percent of Stonyfield shares. This was followed with share purchases in late 2003 and again in 2006, with the additional share purchases bringing Groupe Danone ownership to an 85 percent interest in Stonyfield. This was a strategic purchase that benefited both companies and was a unique partnership. Gary Hirshberg still remained chairman, president, and CEO with relatively few restrictions on his ability to lead the company and Danone eventually ended up with near full ownership of a profitable and growing subsidiary. Hirshberg, in a unique strategic arrangement to maintain his status as Stonyfield’s leader and main decision maker, retained 60 percent of voting shares in the company. Gary discussed that the relationship with Danone involved three things: “I set agreed-upon growth and profit targets that we both agree to; I agreed that I wouldn’t expand into any other segments other than yogurt without their approval. And also, any capital improvements over \$1 million, I needed their approval. But otherwise, I’m free to do whatever I want.” Frank Riboud, Groupe Danone’s chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We want Stonyfield to leverage Groupe Danone’s strengths while retaining its own unique culture and management. We believe it is important for Stonyfield to continue to grow its market share while maintaining its commitment to social responsibility.” Sidebar Stonyfield’s Shareholders By 2006, Stonyfield had grown into a \$263 million business with 297 private investors. A large number of the company’s private investors—many of whom were friends, family, and employees—were eager to realize a return on their investments after many years of investment. The Danone purchase provided a desired exit strategy for Stonyfield’s investors. Gary Hirshberg had previously considered an initial public offering (IPO) for Stonyfield or selling shares directly, but neither of these financing options provided him the ability to meet financial obligations to investors without giving up control of the company. He courted twenty different companies until he finally found the right fit with Danone. Under the agreement with Danone, he could sell a majority stake while simultaneously maintaining control of the company. This was a breakthrough agreement—one that critics thought would never be possible—and is referred to in merger and acquisition circles as the “Stonyfield deal.” At the time, Gary’s wife, Meg, expressed a sense of relief regarding Danone’s investment. Meg’s mother had invested considerably over time to help her son-in-law’s business survive and then grow. Meg said, “My mother is now at ease in her retirement. Her risky investment in Stonyfield secured college educations for all her grandchildren. Our family is as close as ever and feels great collective satisfaction at having been part of building a successful business.” Gary noted that “Danone’s investment provided Stonyfield investors a healthy return on their investments. It also gave Stonyfield the knowledge to make its business more efficient, to launch in other countries, to continue to grow its mission-driven initiatives and to participate in the rapidly growing organic and natural dairy industry segment.”Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Family Money Can Be a Lifeline: At the Very Same Time, It Can Be the Most Expensive Money in the World,” Inc. Magazine, November 2009. The initial buyout of Stonyfield by Groupe Danone did not include direct investment in the company, it only was a purchase of selling investor’s shares in the company and therefore resulted in no real additional financial resources for Stonyfield. The purchase and partnership did allow Danone to share knowledge about increasing production and market share with Stonyfield. It was not until 2006 that the synergistic relationship between Danone and Stonyfield became more readily apparent. Danone began to invest considerable resources in the company and approved \$66 million to expand Stonyfield’s plant in Londonderry to keep up with growing product demand. Stonyfield Goes Global Danone had a significant role in Stonyfield entering the global marketplace in 2006. The European organic food market was growing rapidly, from €10 billion in 2005 to €18.4 billion in 2009.“BioFach Session ‘The European Market for Organic Food,’” Organic World, www.organic-world.net/news-organic-world.html?&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news %5D=463&cHash=706047cd74d37a75b3535c3f8396655d; David Phillips, “An American in Paris: Stonyfield France Launches ‘Les Deux Vaches’ Brand with Grassroots Environmental Messages,” Business Library, October 2006, findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3301/is_10_107/ai_n16808775. Danone and Stonyfield worked together to create a subsidiary, Stonyfield Europe as an independent entity within Groupe Danone’s Fresh Dairy Products division. Franck Riboud, the chairman and chief executive officer of Danone, stated that “the European market for organic dairy products is growing, but it remains a fairly discreet presence. With Stonyfield Europe, we hope to capitalize on the success and unique expertise of Stonyfield Farm to speed up its development.” Upon its creation, Stonyfield Europe immediately announced the acquisition of more than a third of family-owned Irish firm Glenisk, a recognized leader in organic dairy in Europe. Glenisk was established in 1987 and was owned by its founding family. The firm’s organic milk and yogurts had sales growth of more than 10 percent when Stonyfield Europe acquired a portion of it in 2005.Lorraine Heller, “Danone and Stonyfield Create European Organic Dairy Firm,” Food Navigator, June 20, 2006, www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/Danone-and-Stonyfield-create-European-organic-dairy-firm. Danone and Stonyfield also created Stonyfield France. Stonyfield France’s goal was to create a brand suited to French tastes consistent with Stonyfield’s successful “healthy people, healthy planet” messaging. The French market had tremendous potential as French consumers eat four times as much yogurt as American consumers; however, organic yogurt was viewed as appealing to only a small niche market of more socially minded French consumers. The result was “Les Deux Vaches des Fermiers du Bio” (the two cows of organic farmers); the website is www.les2vaches.com.David Phillips, “An American in Paris: Stonyfield France Launches ‘Les Deux Vaches’ Brand with Grassroots Environmental Messages,” Business Library, October 2006, findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3301/is_10_107/ai_n16808775. Danone not only helped Stonyfield expand overseas but also helped in North America with the creation of Stonyfield Canada. In 2006, Stonyfield Canada opened a head office and a manufacturing plant in Boucherville, Quebec. All the organic milk for Stonyfield Canada comes from organic farms in Canada and their products are distributed through a wide array of retailers throughout Canada, including Walmart, Loblaws (the largest food retailer in Canada), and Sobeys (the second-largest food retailer in Canada). Continued growth in the US market and the expansion of Stonyfield globally helped Stonyfield grow significantly—from a \$73 million company in 2001 to a \$366 million company in 2010. Throughout this period of high growth the company kept to its sustainability mission of offering healthy food to enhance the health of people while promoting a healthy planet. There was strong synergy, as the high growth was a result of the sustainability focus, and the sustainability mission benefited from the growth. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Stonyfield was founded on and has kept to its sustainability mission. • The company was founded to support environmental education and outreach through organic yogurt sales. • Danone’s arrangement (deal) with Stonyfield was an unusual partnership that benefited both organizations and was based on both companies’ interests in sustainability and market and profitability growth. Exercise $1$ Entrepreneurs must demonstrate a strong, genuine, continuous, and personal commitment to a cause-related mission and action plan. Why was Stonyfield started as a company? What roles did the two entrepreneurs play in taking Stonyfield to the company that it is today? Exercise $2$ Were Gary and Samuel presiding over something really innovative or unique in the business world or were they just adding a few novel twists to business as usual Exercise $3$ How did Stonyfield use alternative marketing tactics to grow its business	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/13%3A_Case%3A_Strategic_Mission-Driven_Sustainable_Business%3A_Stonyfield_Yogurt/13.01%3A_A_Sustainability-Focused_Start-Up.txt
Learning Objectives • Discuss Stonyfield’s mission and how it guided organizational strategy, operations, and marketing. • Understand the different types of initiatives Stonyfield undertakes to support its sustainability strategy. • Understand the role that profitability plays in a social mission–oriented organization’s ability to achieve its mission and operational excellence. As social entrepreneurs, Gary and Samuel deeply cared about the environment and family farms long before they founded Stonyfield. Gary knew from the start that he needed more than a vague aspiration that Stonyfield could make money and save the world. He developed a mission statement to help guide the company. This mission has evolved over the years for Stonyfield but has been consistently focused on sustainability and has remained a foundation that guides company strategy and all decisions and practices. On mission statements, Gary stated, “Every world-saving (and money-making) business needs a stated mission—a rallying cry that focuses efforts, helps set priorities, and gives all hands a meaning and a purpose. So one night I sat down with a bottle of cabernet and wrote a mission statement that has barely changed since.”Gary Hirshberg, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (New York: Hyperion, 2008), 23. Table 13.1.1 Stonyfield’s Mission Statement Gary’s Draft Mission (1983)Gary Hirshberg, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (New York: Hyperion, 2008), 23–24. Stonyfield’s Current Mission Statement (2011)“Our Mission,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., accessed August 2, 2011, www.stonyfield.com/about-us/our-mission. To provide the very highest-quality, best tasting, all natural, and certified organic products. To educate consumers and producers about the value of protecting the environment and supporting family farmers and sustainable farming methods. To serve as a model that environmentally and socially responsible businesses can also be profitable. To provide a healthful, productive, and enjoyable workplace for all employees, with opportunities to gain new skills and advance personal career goals. To recognize our obligation to stockholders and lenders by providing an excellent return on their investments. Yogurt on a mission We’re no greenhorns when it comes to green business. We were on a mission to make the planet healthier even before we were making yogurt. Today, we make it our mission to work towards all sorts of healthy. Our mission: We’re committed to healthy food, healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy business. Healthy food. We will craft and offer the most delicious and nourishing organic yogurts and dairy products. Healthy people. We will enhance the health and well-being of our consumers and colleagues. Healthy planet. We will help protect and restore the planet and promote the viability of family farms. Healthy business. We will prove that healthy profits and a healthy planet are not in conflict and that, in fact, dedication to health and sustainability enhances shareholder value. We believe that business must lead the way to a more sustainable future. In the beginning, as the company struggled to sustain itself financially, Stonyfield fulfilled its mission primarily directly through its product. Organic yogurt was a product that was produced without pesticides and other harmful chemicals and was therefore better for the environment and healthier for consumers. While Stonyfield had a much broader vision of its social purpose, it simply did not have the financial resources to devote to any other actions to express its social values other than through its product. From the beginning, the company had to balance business realities with sustainability aspirations. Stonyfield started as all organic but soon had to switch to “natural” milk due to lack of sufficient organic milk supply as its production needs grew. By the mid-1990s, the company was back up to 85 percent organic, with some fluctuations afterward depending on the supply of organic milk. By 2007, the company had returned to its former 100 percent organic (for a significantly larger production base) and has remained there ever since. A more in-depth discussion of natural and organic takes place later on in the case. Also very early on, Stonyfield learned that they had to match up the business realities of producing a good that consumers wanted to buy while still holding true to their values. For example, at one point, a garden salad–flavored yogurt was introduced, and while the company had high hopes for the flavor and it being a healthful option, it was not popular with consumers and had to be discontinued. The next generation of sustainability (beyond the organic yogurt product) effort did not occur at Stonyfield until 1990 with the launch of the company’s Adopt-a-Cow program (later renamed Have-a-Cow). The program was formed to educate consumers on the link between food and the environment and the value of supporting family farmers and sustainable farming methods. It had taken seven years, but the company was finally arriving at a place where it could start fulfilling its original broader social mission and the key was having had some financial success.“Meet the Cows,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., www.stonyfield.com/healthy-planet/organic-farming/have-cow/meet-cows. Stonyfield achieved profitability in 1991 and that allowed for new sustainability initiatives for the company. In 1991, the company opened a farm visitors’ center to help further promote awareness of the family farm and also produced the first Stonyfield Yogurt Cookbook. The cookbook combined marketing with education on the nutritional benefits of organic yogurt. In 1993, with sales of \$12.5 million and strong profitability, Stonyfield was in a position to actively engage in significant environmental initiatives. This included a comprehensive recycling program, an energy retrofit of their facility, and work with the nonprofit Oxfam America to promote sustainable agriculture worldwide. Also in 1993, the company launched a Profits for the Planet program that contributed 10 percent of profits to efforts that helped protect and restore the earth. As Stonyfield expanded its sustainability programs, it also held true to its values for its products. For example, one new product, the “Frookwich”—vanilla frozen yogurt sandwiched between two whole-wheat, fruit juice–sweetened cookies—was popular with consumers but had quality problems. The cookies become soggy relatively quickly. Stonyfield discontinued the product rather than compromise their values by adding an artificial ingredient that would have prevented the product degradation. Stonyfield also was the first dairy processor to secure agreements with its milk suppliers to ensure that milk did not come from cows treated with the controversial synthetic bovine growth hormone rBST (or rBGH) after the FDA approved its use. In 2005, Stonyfield became a certified organic producer and all of its products were certified and labeled under the USDA organic seal. Other examples of product stewardship tied to Stonyfield’s mission included the switch from plastic pint containers to more environmentally friendly unbleached paper pint containers for the company’s frozen yogurt and ice cream. Stonyfield also assumed a leadership position in addressing climate change. In 1997, Stonyfield became the first US manufacturer to offset 100 percent of the CO2 from its facilities’ energy use. Stonyfield also partnered with the Union of Concerned Scientists in 1997 to raise awareness of global climate change and developed a guide called Reversing Global Warming: Offsetting Carbon Dioxide Emissions to help other businesses take steps to reduce their carbon footprint. In 2001, Stonyfield entered, in a significant way, the political arena to give the company a voice in setting national policy on environmental issues. This involved using a public relations and Internet campaign to educate consumers about the negative effects of the White House’s proposed energy bill. Stonyfield used this opportunity to teach consumers and the general public about energy efficiency and other positive steps they could take to reduce their environmental impact. In 2002, Stonyfield, after the release of the US Department of Agriculture National Organic Standards, published a guide to help consumers understand organic products and the positive impact that supporting organic agriculture could have on the environment. To improve the eating habits of children, the company sponsored organic and all-natural snack vending machines in schools from California to Connecticut. Also in 2002, the company provided free smoothies to commuters stepping off Boston subways to thank them for choosing public transportation. This was part of Stonyfield’s marketing efforts tied to the company’s social mission. Another “subway marketing” example was in Chicago. In order to keep a new account for a large Chicago supermarket chain, Stonyfield needed to increase its market share from 0.08 percent to 3 percent in three months. Gary Hirshberg himself crafted Stonyfield’s “hand-to-mouth” marketing strategy and distributed free cups of yogurt to Chicago Metro transit riders. Eighty-five thousand containers of yogurt were handed out with a coupon that read, “We salute your commuter ridership and thanks for doing your part to help save the planet.” The coupons reminded transit riders that traveling by train instead of car kept forty-five pounds of particulates per year from spewing into the atmosphere. The strategy worked. Stonyfield received media coverage in every local newspaper and NBC’s Today show Chicago affiliate. Market share jumped to 2.5 percent, enough to keep the account and build a stable market position in Chicago. An added bonus was the hand-to-mouth offensive only cost \$100,000, or just 1 percent of the \$10,000,000 an advertising agency wanted to charge in order to try to achieve the same share.Gary Hirshberg, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World (New York: Hyperion, 2008). In 2006, Stonyfield formally put into place its Mission Action Plan (MAP) program under the direction of Gary’s sister and vice president of natural resources, Nancy Hirshberg. MAP set detailed plans and goals for the company’s environmental strategies and programs. It was designed as a company-wide initiative to engage all employees in achieving Stonyfield’s environmental mission and the company’s philosophies and culture. The management saw MAP as part of a transformative change for the company and employees on both a professional and personal level. Under Nancy’s leadership, high-level teams in each of Stonyfield’s high areas of environmental burden were formed. These areas included sustainable packaging, zero waste, facility GHG emissions, and transportation. Each environmental team was required to complete an annual action plan that set long-term and near-term goals and outlined the steps to achieve the goals. The plans needed to be approved by Gary, Nancy, and Stonyfield’s chief operating officer (COO). A portion of management compensation was directly tied to meeting plan objectives. MAP turned what was once an ad hoc and sporadic process into a company-wide management system lead by senior leaders across the organization. MAP required a team charter and specifics on required behavioral and other changes. For example, training was provided, which included measuring the number of computer users using energy savings software settings. Figure $1$: Stonyfield Brand Campaign Source: “Stonyfield Farm,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., www.stonyfield.com/?utm_sourc...s&buf=99999999. Stonyfield managers were responsible for developing “green leaders”—their employees. Employees received training on environmental issues and ethics. Teams used specific criteria and assessment tools to measure outcome performance. Outcome measures had to be SMART—specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and tangible (see Chapter 4 for a more in-depth discussion of sustainability performance indicators). MAP included a resource assessment and a plan homepage aimed at identifying and correcting any gaps between current human resource skills and what was needed to accomplish the plan (training and team building). MAP required teams to identify obstacles and issues to plan achievement and recommendations to address them. MAP was a management system and process that helped managers and employees rally around Stonyfield’s sustainability-focused mission. Stonyfield’s overarching mission was driven by five “sub-missions” that paved the way for making sustainability an everyday reality for the company. The five sub-missions built on one another in a continuous flow of interactions throughout the organization. Stonyfield’s sub-missions constituted essential elements of Stonyfield’s mission, organizational culture, values, and way of doing business. The following were the five sub-missions: 1. Superior products for market leadership 2. Education through products and services 3. Cause-related marketing for success 4. Delivering the mission publically and privately 5. Providing the best possible returns to stockholders Sub-Mission 1 The Company will sell only superior products, the prerequisites for becoming a market contender and a rallying point for employees to maintain top quality. By 2010, Stonyfield was the number one selling US yogurt brand and number three worldwide. Stonyfield used a differentiation strategy that separated it from much larger rivals and was highly valued by its customers. It sold only superior, high quality, 100 percent certified organic yogurts and dairy products. No artificial ingredients, colors, flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives were used in its products. All ingredients were sourced from suppliers who did not use toxic, persistent pesticides, chemical fertilizers, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, or genetically modified organisms (GMO). Stonyfield’s sourcing strategies differentiated the company from competitors. It paid farmers a premium for not treating their soils with chemicals that killed microbial soil life on nonorganic farms and helped to keep more than 180,000 agricultural acres free of toxic pesticides and chemicals known to contaminate food, soil, water, and air.Siel Ju, “Interview with Stonyfield CEO Gary Hirshberg: ‘Everybody Can Win,’” Mother Nature Network (blog), June 16, 2010, accessed August 2, 2011, http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/blogs/interview-with-stonyfield-ceo-gary-hirshberg-everybody-can-win. Sub-Mission 2 The Company will use its products and services to educate people about a cause they care about. Gary felt that a lot of people didn’t trust companies, but by Stonyfield having a worthy mission statement and following it, the company could be different and could be trusted. Trust needed to be earned and built on making good on Stonyfield’s mission. This required not only delivering on its pledge of selling superior products but also educating people about a cause they cared about and what Stonyfield was doing to help them address the cause. One of the main ways Stonyfield got its educational message out was on its yogurt lids and product packaging. Stonyfield printed its messages on millions of yogurt lids each month. The lids told customers about nonprofit environmental efforts, farming and health issues, and other causes. Stonyfield put its messages on more than three hundred million lids annually. In addition to lids, Stonyfield delivered its messages through its web page; visitors center; community-sponsored events; product and naming contests; publications; management and employee presentations; and participation in governmental, environmental, educational, and business conferences and events. Sidebar Family Farms A founding premise of Stonyfield Farm holds that the small family farm in comparison to the large, concentrated animal farming operation (CAFO) is generally a better farming system…Large numbers of animals in a confined area concentrate the animal waste products posing an environmental and health risk. On smaller farms, animals generally receive more personal attention and live longer lives under less stress…Family farmers live on the land that they steward. Thus, we believe, they are generally inclined to care about what goes into the soil, water and air where they live and raise their children. Family farms provide open spaces, which preserve rural character and provide fields and forests for wildlife. They also provide jobs and support rural economic vitality, as well as opportunities for business ownership and independence. Source: “Stonyfield Mission Statement,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., http://www.stonyfield.com. For Stonyfield, while it supports a wide range of social causes, a driving principle is the importance of family farms. The Have-a-Cow program discussed previously is a tangible example of the company using its resources to help educate the public on family farms and the vital role they play in linking food to person. Sub-Mission 3 The Company will prove that a cause-driven enterprise can also succeed as a business. From many perspectives, Stonyfield’s approach to business was different. The company paid a minimum of 50 percent above the going rate for conventionally grown raw materials, and in some instances, it paid up to two and half times the price. Because of the higher price for ingredients and supplies, its gross margin was lower than its industry rivals’ gross margin. Gary Hirshberg compared Stonyfield’s business model and gross margins to Danone’s: “They [Danone] don’t really understand our business model. They don’t really know anything about organics. They know about yogurt, but we have a much more expensive product than them. And while we charge more than them, I can tell you my gross margin is much, much poorer than theirs. Organic milk costs 70 percent more than conventional milk. I can’t charge 70 percent more for a cup of yogurt. Organic sugar can be at times 100 times more than conventional.…But yet my net margins are actually the same as or better than theirs.”“Stonyfield Farm & Groupe DANONE Announce Partnership Organics, Health and Nutrition Brings Yogurt Makers Together for Unique Combination of Cultures,” Dannon, last modified October 4, 2001, accessed August 2, 2011, www.dannon.com/pages/rt_aboutdannon_pressrelease_Archive_StonyfieldFarmGroupeDANONE.html. Partly offsetting the higher cost of raw materials and supplies, Stonyfield’s sold its organic yogurt at a 20 percent price premium over nonorganics. But this was not enough to make up for higher material and supplies costs. To address the impact on bottom line profitability Stonyfield also ran a leaner and more efficient operation than rivals. Many of the cost savings and productivity improvements were achieved through the company’s sustainability initiatives and methods. Gary wrote that organic is “quite simply, the best way to do business.…It’s true for anyone who wants to run a truly cost-efficient business the only kind that can survive long-term—and still leave behind a habitable planet for our children.”Diane Brady, “The Organic Myth Pastoral Ideals Are Getting Trampled as Organic Food Goes Mass Market,” Bloomberg Businessweek, October 16, 2006, accessed August 2, 2011, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005001.htm. Stonyfield used several sustainability strategies and practices to lower its transaction cost or cost of doing business and its impact on the environment: • Efficient transportation. Package improvements and software that limited maximum truck speed resulted in a 46 percent absolute reduction in transportation GHG emissions from 2006 to 2010 and saved the company \$7.6 million. Package improvements, including package redesign, resulted in eighteen fewer tractor-trailer loads of plastic per year. Whenever possible, the company shipped its packages by train to reduce GHG emissions. • Zero waste initiative. The company practiced the four Rs of waste reduction: redesign, reduce, reuse, and recycle, which resulted in solid waste being reduced by 39 percent from 2007 to 2010 and \$450,000 in annual savings. Package redesign, including packaging made from plants and environmentally friendly material resulted in annual savings of \$3.2 million. • Operations extensively planned. By adding solar panels to facilities, investing in more energy-efficient and waste reduction equipment and processes, and implementing better scheduling and operational processes, facility energy and GHG emissions were reduced by 11 percent from 2007 to 2010 saving \$2 million annually. Sub-Mission 4 The Company will deliver on its mission privately and publicly. By exploiting market opportunities based on crafting and applying sustainability principles and practices, Stonyfield delivered on its mission privately and publicly. It built core managerial and organizational capabilities and distinctive competencies that advanced Stonyfield while benefiting the community. Its success was partially based on building trusting, collaborative relationships and partnerships across its entire supply chain. In addition to selling superior products and finding innovative ways to lower its cost of doing business, Stonyfield focused on the health of cattle, the employees, and the environment. It supported small-scale dairy operations localized in New Hampshire and taught sustainable farming techniques through its educational efforts. Farmers were offered educational programs in how to preserve their soil, how to minimize runoff, and how to grow vegetables and fruits without the use of chemicals. Stonyfield’s mission statement and practices stressed the importance of providing meaningful work and jobs that had a higher purpose than money. A mission focused on sustainability and other important causes helped to attract and retain high-quality employees who shared this mission and vision for the company. Figure $2$: Stonyfield Mission-Driven Organization Source: Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/stonyfield/4939427382/. Stonyfield’s MAP teams and employees “walked the talk” regarding their environmental goals and programs and actions. Employees conducted all Stonyfield events, activities, and purchases in a manner that were consistent with the company’s mission and values, including environmental sustainability, employee health, sustainable agriculture, and social responsibility. Because the MAP teams had several working groups, there were numerous goals, such as the following: • By 2011, eliminate 70 percent of junk mail (from 2008 levels). • By 2012, all onsite events will be zero waste. • By 2013, all food served at Stonyfield will be organic and healthy.“Our Story in a Nutshell / Milestones,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., www.stonyfield.com/about-us/our-story-nutshell/milestones. Stonyfield’s sustainability accomplishments and business achievements extended well beyond the operational boundaries of the company. In March 2011, Stonyfield funded Preserve Gimme 5, a nationwide contest to find avid recyclers. The contest identified “local heroes” of recycling nationwide and accomplished its goal “to inspire recycling efforts across the country and to showcase and acknowledge individuals who were avid recyclers.” Sub-Mission 5 The Company is fully committed to providing stockholders with the best possible return on their investments. Stonyfield believed that commitment to sustainability principles enhanced profits and contributed to society in many different ways. Profits were neither wrong nor immoral, and doing business in a sustainable way would pay financial and social dividends to investors. Video Clip 13.1. Can a “Green” Business Also Be a Profitable One? (click to see video) Gary Hirshberg on YouTube. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Effective sustainability strategies are based on operational and functional core capabilities and distinctive competencies. • Organizations can achieve business excellence by crafting and implementing sustainability-focused missions. • Competitive advantage can be achieved by being good at being a sustainability-focused business with core and distinctive competencies built on sound sustainability principles and practices. • Stonyfield’s sub-missions supported operational excellence in the organization. Exercise $1$ What is Stonyfield’s mission? Why is it important for companies to have a clearly articulated mission statement? Exercise $2$ Describe Stonyfield’s environmental performance in terms of management of resources and waste, including energy use, application of materials science, clean technology, emissions control, and recycling. Cite specific examples of added value or cost reduction from the company’s management of resources and waste.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/13%3A_Case%3A_Strategic_Mission-Driven_Sustainable_Business%3A_Stonyfield_Yogurt/13.02%3A_Stonyfields_Social_Mission.txt
Learning Objectives • Define organic and what is meant by natural foods and how they compose an industry and market. • Describe yogurt’s position in the organics and natural foods industry. • Explain Stonyfield’s positioning in the industry. Organic food and beverages are produced without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and are different from “natural” foods. Food labeled “natural” cannot be labeled organic unless they meet US Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards. The USDA organic certification system includes various levels of organic. The highest level is 100 percent organic; the next highest level is “organic” if 95 percent of ingredients are organic.“Organic Foods: Are They Safer? More Nutritious?,” Mayo Clinic Staff, accessed August 31, 2011, www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255/METHOD=print. Natural foods, and yogurt in particular, have moved from being requested by a small group of committed individuals and only available in specialized health food stores to broad appeal available in virtually all supermarkets and grocery food stores. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s several social, economic, and technological trends impacted sales growth and industry dynamics in the organic and natural food segment of the food and beverage industry. Some of these trends include the following: • Increased consumer awareness of nutritional benefits of eating a healthy diet • Aging population and changing consumer tastes and preferences for organic food, especially yogurt • Increased recognition by large companies with substantial market power that being in organics and natural foods was not only good for profits but also good for their public image and relations and that it should be a part of their sustainability initiatives Sidebar USDA Organic Labeling Standards In 2002 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established an organic certification program that required all organic foods to meet strict government standards. These standards regulate how such foods are grown, handled and processed. Any product labeled as organic must be USDA certified. Only producers who sell less than \$5,000 a year in organic foods are exempt from this certification; however, they’re still required to follow the USDA’s standards for organic foods. If a food bears a USDA Organic label, it means it’s produced and processed according to the USDA standards. The seal is voluntary, but many organic producers use it. Products that are completely organic—such as fruits, vegetables, eggs or other single-ingredient foods—are labeled 100 percent organic and can carry the USDA seal. Foods that have more than one ingredient, such as breakfast cereal, can use the USDA organic seal plus the following wording, depending on the number of organic ingredients: 100 percent organic. To use this phrase, products must be either completely organic or made of all organic ingredients. Organic. Products must be at least 95 percent organic to use this term. Products that contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients may say “made with organic ingredients” on the label, but may not use the seal. Foods containing less than 70 percent organic ingredients can’t use the seal or the word “organic” on their product labels. They can include the organic items in their ingredient list, however. Source: “Organic Foods: Are They Safer? More Nutritious?,” Mayo Clinic Staff, last modified August 31, 2011, www.mayoclinic.com/health/organic-food/NU00255/METHOD=print. In 2010, the US organic food market was a \$26.7 billion industry, up 8 percent from the previous year and rising from \$1 billion in 1990. Organic foods represented a 4 percent share of the \$673 billion US food industry.“Industry Statistics and Projected Growth,” Organic Trade Association, http://www.ota.com/organic/mt/business.html. Organics had significantly outpaced the 0.6 percent growth rate for the total food industry. Organic fruits and vegetables were \$10.6 billion or 40 percent of the total organic food industry and nearly 12 percent of all US fruit and vegetable sales. Organic dairy was the second-largest organic category with \$3.9 billion or 6 percent of the total US dairy market.\ Figure $1$: US Organic Food vs. Total Food Sales Growth and Penetration, 2000–2010 Source: Organic Trade Association's 2011 Organic Industry Survey. Since 2002, the North American organic food and beverage industry had experienced major industry consolidation causing significant change to its market structure. When the USDA passed the US National Organic Labeling Standard in 2002 large food companies were quick to react. The standard allowed food companies to voluntarily label products as “USDA-Organic” if they met the USDA standard. Although labeling was voluntary, it became a major marketing tool for the large conventional food companies, such as General Mills, Kraft, Dean, Pepsi, Kellogg, and Cargill, among several others. Labeling helped to validate the organic movement. To enter the market quickly, the majors began acquiring the better-known and more successful organic and natural food start-ups. Industry analysts reported that the major food companies could quickly add to their bottom-line profits by acquisition, despite the organic industry’s origins as a form of resistance to the mass production and mass marketing methods employed by the majors. Major food companies paid a significant premium for the smaller organic companies. Premiums were based on the higher sales growth. The acquisitions provided majors with insights on how to achieve customer loyalty and find new growth opportunities—two areas in which the smaller organic food manufacturers were outperforming the larger major food companies.Christine MacDonald, “Big/Green: Eco-Conscious Brands Are Increasingly Being Bought Out by Giant Corporations. Can We Trust Them?,” Sacramento News and Review, July 21, 2011, accessed August 2, 2011, www.newsreview.com/sacramento/big-green/content?oid=2838435. Notable acquisitions were (acquiring company in parenthesis) Honest Tea (Coke), Ben & Jerry’s (Unilever), Cascadian Farms (General Mills), Kashi (Kellogg), Tom’s of Maine (Colgate-Palmolive), and Naked Juice (PepsiCo).Philip H. Howard, “Consolidation in the North American Organic Food Processing Sector, 1997 to 2007,” International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 16, no. 1: 13–30, accessed April 3, 2009, https://philhoward.net/. Thus the rapid entry by major companies into organics segment of the industry caused a shakeout where several of the smaller organic and natural food companies were acquired or forced out of business. (See Figure 13.7). Figure $2$: Organic Processing Industry Source: Philip H. Howard, “Organic Processing Industry Structure,” Michigan State University, accessed August 2, 2011, https://philhoward.net/2017/05/08/organic-industry/. The organic food industry has continued to grow. Two companies who are standouts in organic food markets are Whole Foods Market and Walmart. Founded in 1980, Whole Foods Market reported \$9 billion in sales for 2010. Whole Foods was the leading US retailer for organic and natural foods with 304 stores in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Walmart has made a major investment in organic foods in its retail and club stores in what is viewed by many as a tipping point for the organic industry and a favorable signal for continued long-term industry growth. Walmart’s entry into organic and natural foods threatened the organics supply chain, as it lowered prices paid to family farms. Another issue is climate-change impacts on water and crops, which are expected to continue to drive organic ingredients prices up. Another trend impacting the organics market is the aging US population, with its growing concern about health. Yogurt Industry Overall demand for yogurt has been growing and new yogurt categories have been rapidly emerging, especially products aimed exclusively for women, kids, and the elderly.Ted Reinsteon, “It’s Crazy Out There,” Thebostonchannel.com, April 23, 2011, accessed August 17, 2011, www.thebostonchannel.com/index.html. For example, since 2002, product introductions targeted to children included Breyers’ YoCrunch, Stonyfield’s YoBaby and YoKids, and Yoplait’s Scooby Doo–inspired “Ro-gurt.” By 2011, Greek yogurt emerged as the single most competitive battlefield in the \$6.8 billion yogurt industry. Euromonitor International projected Greek yogurt sales to nearly double to \$1.5 billion in 2011, up from \$60 million in 2006.Stuart Elliott, “Chobani, Greek Yogurt Leader, Lets Its Fans Tell the Story,” New York Times, February 16, 2011, accessed August 17, 2011, www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/business/media/17adco.html. Analysts reported that sales of Greek yogurt were increasing faster than for regular yogurt because many consumers perceive Greek yogurt—thicker, creamier, less sweet, and with more protein—to be healthier than regular yogurt. Two companies drove most of this growth, Chobani, owned by privately held Agro Farma, Inc., and Fage, S.A., a Greek dairy company. The trend toward Greek yogurt started in early 2000s when Fage entered the US market, but Chobani is the market leader going from nonexistence four years ago to 2010 sales of approximately \$500 million. Kraft Foods discontinued its yogurt business in 2007 only to reenter the industry in 2010 with its Greek yogurt Athenos. Rapid Greek yogurt growth caught General Mills (owner to the US Yoplait rights) and Danone by surprise. Danone and General Mills were fierce rivals with number one and two in US yogurt sales, respectively. Consumers not only found Greek yogurt to be a healthy alternative to regular yogurt, but they were willing to pay a premium price for it. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Organic food and beverages are produced without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. • Sales of organics in the United States have significantly outpaced the growth rate for the total food industry. • Major food companies trying to benefit from the growth in the organic market have paid a significant premium for smaller organic companies. Exercise $1$ Go to Professor Philip H. Howard’s web page at https://philhoward.net/2017/05/08/organic-industry/ and look at all of Howard’s five diagrams. How has the structure of the organic food industry changed over the time frame covered by the five partial network diagrams (from the earliest network diagram to the latest)? If you were the owner of a small, privately owned organic food company what lesson can you learn by studying all five diagrams?	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/13%3A_Case%3A_Strategic_Mission-Driven_Sustainable_Business%3A_Stonyfield_Yogurt/13.03%3A_Organics_and_Natural_Foods_Industry.txt
Learning Objectives • Understand the importance of an organizational commitment to and focus on strategy in sustainable business. • Describe how sustainability strategy can guide business decisions and help sustainable businesses achieve environmental and profitability goals. • Explain how successful implementation of sustainability strategy requires strong execution that includes finding the right balance between achieving environmental goals and economic and business realities. • Understand that a sustainability-focused strategy is about constant innovation and change and doing things significantly different from traditional ways of doing business. Stonyfield provides an example of a company that embodies many of the best practices in sustainability and business. The company’s partnership with Danone illustrates how a business can focus on sustainability as a business model and meet planet, people, and profit objectives and that it can do this not only locally but also globally. Globalization and sustainability may often be considered as contradictory, specifically in the context of buy-local movements and the energy required to transport products across the globe, but Stonyfield’s experience suggests otherwise. The Stonyfield “story” is not one of straight line success. There have been a lot of bumps in the road and there are challenges that will have to be addressed in the future. Throughout its history, Stonyfield has had to carefully analyze and consider business decisions that have sustainability implications. They have constantly had to make choices and consider tradeoffs that may not be the “sustainable ideal” but reflect the operational practicalities of doing business in the world as it exists today. To accomplish this, Stonyfield has created and used emerging tools and techniques of sustainable business (discussed throughout this textbook), including carbon foot printing, life cycle assessment, and supply chain analysis. Stonyfield has always stuck to its sustainability compass as embodied in its mission statement but has sometimes had to take different paths than its founders may have idealized. This is seen right from the beginning when Stonyfield switched from organic milk to “natural” milk as their production needs in New England outweighed the ability of the local market to supply it. What is noteworthy is that Stonyfield never accepted this alternative as the way things are and invested considerable resources in strengthening supplies of organic milk so that in 2007, almost two decades later, the company was back to 100 percent of what it believes to be the most healthful option for people and the planet—organic milk. Supply chain dynamics will always be an area of challenge and opportunity for Stonyfield. While Stonyfield has the desire to combine organic with local family farms, it is not always possible for them to source organic from local sources. Stonyfield currently sources from multiple locations as part of its business strategy to avoid supplier failures in any one area. Although all organic milk for its US operations currently comes from family farms in the United States, Stonyfield must source from elsewhere also. Some ingredients—such as cocoa, banana, and vanilla—simply do not grow in the United States, so those must be sourced from other countries. An example of a more recent action the company took that again showed its constant balancing of business reality and sustainability ideals was in 2010. Stonyfield switched their multipack cups to PLA (a plant-based plastic). While this may seem like a “no-brainer” win for the environment, as the cups previously had been made from a petroleum-based plastic, it actually was not that simple. In the United States, the only current manufacturer of PLA, NatureWorks (a division of Cargill), uses corn, which has many other sustainability issues to consider. Table 13.2 illustrates some of the potential issues and Stonyfield’s considerations in choosing the product. Table 13.4.1 Plant-Based Plastics Use Considerations Issue Stonyfield’s Consideration of the Issue Corn is a food, and by using corn to make containers instead, it can make food less affordable. NatureWorks only uses a small fraction of the overall US corn supply and does not change demand significantly enough to alter the price of corn. Corn can be genetically modified and grown using pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. In other words, it’s a nonorganic cup that embodies all the industrial practices that Stonyfield stands against. Stonyfield considers the corn only as a stepping stone as PLA can be made from other plant sources. They plan on switching as more environmentally sustainable products appear in the market place. In addition, to help address some of the harm from the agricultural practices used to produce the corn, they purchase offsets called Working Landscape Certificates (WLC). The money from these offsets go to farmers who agree to follow strict sustainable production standards so that non–genetically modified organism (GMO) corn is produced equal to the amount of GMO corn used to make Stonyfield’s packaging. Is the PLA packaging recyclable or compostable? PLA can be composted, but in the form used by Stonyfield, it is not. PLA can be recycled, but currently, the infrastructure is not in place to do so. Stonyfield considered this but through using Life Cycle Analysis, found that the disposal of the product is a very small contributor to its impact; the materials going into producing the product have much bigger impact. Stonyfield has pledged to make their use of PLA a closed-loop system. Is PLA safe? PLA is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Stonyfield has contractually obligated its supplier for the PLA not to contain any harmful additives (including carcinogens and reproductive toxins), and it routinely tests for compliance. Source: “Multipack Cups Made from Plants,” Stonyfield Farm, Inc., www.stonyfield.com/healthy-planet/our-practices-farm-table/sustainable-packaging/multipack-cups-made-plants. While PLA is not a perfect “sustainable” packaging, Stonyfield carefully considered a broad array of issues and decided that the environmental benefits from switching to PLA outweighed the negatives. The benefits being that it reduced the carbon footprint of their multipack packaging by almost 50 percent, which will save 1,875 metric tons of CO2 per year and reduced their overall packaging carbon footprint by 9 percent. To help further mitigate some of the drawbacks of PLA, Stonyfield has committed to not only offsetting the current impact but also learning from the use of the packaging to make it a more sustainable in the future. Sidebar Considerations in Using Plant-Based Plastics Watch the video at vimeo.com/15674301 to learn more about the process that Stonyfield undertook in considering PLA as a packaging material. The business relationship between Danone and Stonyfield provides an example of a strategic alliance focused on sustainable business objectives and capabilities. It provides one model for how a large and small business can strategically interact to achieve singular and collective sustainability and profitability objectives. It also suggests how business sustainability efforts can involve large multinational corporations seeking to enhance their sustainability efforts with acquisitions and, in this instance, a particularly creative and collaborative acquisition. It is interesting to note that this was not an example of an “unsustainable” company purchasing a sustainable one to transform its entire business model but an example of a good fit between two companies that had congruence on social mission. Danone was not a stranger to the concepts of corporate social responsibility. In 1972, founder and CEO Antoine Riboud stated, “Corporate responsibility does not stop at the threshold of the company’s factories or offices. The enterprise creates and provides jobs that shape people’s entire lives. It consumes energy and raw materials, and in so doing alters the face of our planet. The public is charged with reminding us of our responsibilities in this industrial society.” This statement formed the basis of the Danone model: economic performance, attention to people, and respect for the environment go hand in hand. In fact, Danone had a history of social and environmental initiatives long before it acquired Stonyfield. The Danone-Stonyfield relationship is an example of a win-win partnership. As discussed previously, Gary Hirshberg needed to provide a buyout, a return for his many investors, but did not want to “sell out” and have the company acquired by an organization that would use Stonyfield as a brand to be exploited and have its values compromised. The Danone deal allowed Hirshberg and Kaymen to pay off their original investors and gave Stonyfield access to a strong distribution network, financial capital, marketing muscle, and the global market. The partnership was of benefit to Stonyfield in that it not only provided financial resources but also provided strategic resources and knowledge to allow Stonyfield to expand its operations globally and, in the process, further spread the mission of healthy food, people, planet, and business. For Danone, it was a “win” as well; the company was committed to sustainable agriculture but did not have expertise in the organics market. The Stonyfield partnership allowed Danone to acquire a valuable business asset with its growing revenue and profits. But more importantly it gave them access to knowledge about the organics market and Stonyfield’s sustainability-focused manufacturing expertise. As a result of the Stonyfield acquisition, Danone is now the world leader in organic yogurts with a 7.4 percent market share. It is important to note that organics are only one part of Danone’s sustainable agriculture portfolio as its other business lines promote integrated farm management (which limits the use of pesticides and fertilizers) and other programs that integrate nature with agriculture (such as the Bleu-Blanc-Coeur program). At the time of the acquisition, Gary noted, “Anyone with enough money can buy a company, but it takes a real commitment to our core principles of organic farming to nurture it and make it work.” His statement was in response to some who believed that Stonyfield’s mission and way of doing business was threatened by Danone’s ownership. Gary disagreed with his critics, many of whom were former friends and business associates. Bloomberg News reported that it was not coincidental that Kaymen decided to retire in 2001 when Danone first invested in Stonyfield. According to the report, Samuel was against any large conglomerate owning Stonyfield.Meg Cadoux Hirshberg, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Family Money Can Be a Lifeline: At the Very Same Time, It Can Be the Most Expensive Money in the World,” Inc. Magazine, November 2009. Critics questioned whether “big businesses” could be trusted in buyouts of “eco-conscious” brands. Can a new corporate parent be trusted to continue the ethical and environmentally sustainable practices that earned its new subsidiary a loyal following? Especially while these large corporations generally preserved the brand names and folksy advertising styles, how do we know that “the stuff inside the box, bag or carton hasn’t changed”?Christine MacDonald, “Big/Green: Eco-Conscious Brands Are Increasingly Being Bought Out by Giant Corporations. Can We Trust Them?,” Sacramento News and Review, July 21, 2011, accessed August 2, 2011, www.newsreview.com/sacramento/big-green/content?oid=2838435. In contrast to critics, Gary Hirshberg believed that working with big companies was an imperative for all sustainability-focused companies. To combat global warming, pollution, and other environmental concerns, large business involvement is essential. He stated, “The happy news is that we’ve got a \$23.5 (\$26.7) billion industry. The sad news is that we’re 2.6 percent of total U.S. food. If we’re going to make the change that we need to make in the time we need to make it…then we need to work with companies like Groupe Danone because they’re not going to go away.” Furthermore, Gary noted that being part of a large conglomerate had only advanced his career-long effort to support family farmers and challenge giant agribusiness. In many ways only big business could achieve the economies of scale and harness needed resources to address society’s most pressing environmental and social problems. Still others felt that the entry of large companies into organic-focused markets brought other problems, such as trying to feed the masses in an industry where supplies were vulnerable. Even Walmart and Costco were having difficulty finding adequate suppliers of organic ingredients, especially given their low-priced business model. Critics saw it as an “organic ethical paradox.” That is, the organics movement succeeded beyond the proponents wildest dreams, but success had imperiled their ideals. To the organic traditionalists it “simply wasn’t clear that organic food production could be replicated on a mass scale.” One of the most transformational ways that Danone and Stonyfield are contributing to sustainability may also be one of the least apparent. It is their investments in sustainable agriculture and local organic farming. The two companies are providing programs and resources to help farmers through the difficult and costly transition from conventional to organic and sustainable farming practices. This can be seen in the Danone Ecosystem Fund, particularly with its Molay-Littry plant in France (Reine Mathilde project), which is working to transition local farmers to organic in the region. It is also seen in Gary’s decision to open a 3,800-square-foot Stonyfield Café at Chelsea Piers, New York City’s major amateur sports and entertainment complex. In addition to the café’s dairy bar, parfaits, and frozen yogurts, the menu featured macaroni and cheese, salads, and flatbread pizzas with ingredients purchased from farms in New York State. This was not Gary’s first effort to expand Stonyfield’s mission into restaurants. In 2001, Gary cofounded O’Naturals restaurant in Falmouth, Maine, to further support local farms and to promote healthy foods and healthy living. His restaurant vision was to free people from the world of junk food by providing families with quick, natural, and organic meals served by staff passionate about the food they served. While on the face of it this could seem benevolent, it is also strategic. Stonyfield has consistently run into challenges with regards to the limited supply of organic ingredients. By developing a stable supply chain that can keep up with their growth, this can be addressed over time. When viewed from a sustainability perspective, it is beneficial for the environment (a less harmful means of agriculture), beneficial for society (local farmers can generate higher income from organic), and beneficial for business (stable supplies reduce costs and enhance profitability). Sidebar Gary Hirshberg’s Advice on the Role of Business in Society Gary shared his journey and the lessons he learned in his 2008 book in what he called his “hard-headed” conclusions: • It’s going to take a lot more than moral rectitude and virtuous principles to set us on a truly sustainable path. • Business is the most powerful force on the planet; it got us into this mess and is the only force strong enough to get us out. • Most environmental problems exist because business has not made solving them a priority. • Only when the solutions to our environmental problems are accompanied by profitable, commercial (business) strategies for enhancing them will the business world get on board.Siel Ju, “Interview with Stonyfield CEO Gary Hirshberg: ‘Everybody Can Win,’” Mother Nature Network (blog), June 16, 2010, accessed August 2, 2011, http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/responsible-living/blogs/interview-with-stonyfield-ceo-gary-hirshberg-everybody-can-win. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Managing a successful business based on a sustainability-focused mission and business model requires the deep and passionate commitment of founders and leaders. • Sustainability-based business ventures need to be creative enterprises that balance competing business, social, and environmental demands. Exercise $1$ Discuss the relationship between Stonyfield and Danone. Are the guiding principles of what is important to Stonyfield’s sustainability mission and strategies at risk under Groupe Danone’s ownership? Exercise $2$ List three to five main contributing factors in Stonyfield’s success. Discuss how these factors led to Stonyfield’s success. What, if any, specific aspects of Stonyfield’s contributing factors, sustainability mission, strategies, and approaches have the greatest potential for transferability to other businesses? Exercise $3$ Throughout the case there are several examples where a sustainability action has positive and negative implications. Discuss the powdered milk and PLA cup decisions in terms of features and benefits. Exercise $4$ Are Gary Hirshberg’s “hard-headed” conclusions little more than moral platitudes or are they really hard-earned, practical, positive (e.g., what is), and normative (e.g., what should be) lessons on how to globally scale sustainable products benefit of the plant, people, and profits? Find two or three examples of how other companies have applied Hirshberg’s conclusions on a global scale to benefit the planet. Exercise $5$ Corporations are important elements of the communities in which they operate. As a corporate citizen, an organization should be moved to interact with and contribute to its local, regional, national, and global communities, especially as related to environmental, health, and business issues. Describe Stonyfield’s resulting corporate partnerships. Note operational strategies, tools, or methods used to foster corporate citizenship within the local and extended corporate community. Explain how sustainability principles are demonstrated by management and encouraged throughout the organization. 13.05: Moving On On January 12, 2012, Gary Hirshberg announced he was stepping down as CEO but will stay on as chairman of Stonyfield. Walt Freese, former CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, was named to replace him. In making the announcement, Gary Hirshberg said, “The company is in great shape and the change leaves him time to focus on U.S. food and agriculture policy, especially food labeling.” Freese was chief marketing officer for Ben & Jerry’s before he became CEO. Before that, he served as president of Celestial Seasonings in Boulder, Colorado, and held senior management roles with Kraft General Foods and Nestle. Freese said, “This is what I want my life to be about…working for businesses that both can be strong and vibrant financial enterprises and contribute in a meaningful way to the world. This just seems to me to be the perfect fit.” 13.06: Conclusion This case study provides insight into the challenges and complexities of producing a sustainable product in a sustainable way and highlights the benefits from taking a strategic approach to sustainability. The story of Stonyfield includes tensions between sustainability vision and business realities. Through innovation and a strategic approach, Stonyfield effectively narrowed the gap between vision and reality by making thoughtful decisions while constantly adhering to its organizational mission. Stonyfield has always been strongly committed to its mission and has always aspired to improve on its sustainability practices. If the company could not, for whatever reasons, get things “right” with regards to its sustainability objectives the first time, it continuously strived to improve and get it right or better over time, constantly working for people, planet, and profits. Exercise $1$ Write a memorandum to the new CEO of Stonyfield about the importance of focusing on the sustainability mission of the company. The memo should include detailed discussion with specifics of how Stonyfield has benefited from a focus on sustainability at the strategic company level and how it can continue to benefit from a focus on sustainability. Exercise $2$ In a separate memorandum to the CEO of Stonyfield’s parent Danone, discuss the risks and opportunities of having Gary Hirshberg step down as CE-YO of Stonyfield. The memo should include discussion of how much of the company’s success has been based on the leadership and commitment of Mr. Hirshberg to sustainability and how an effective leadership transition can be achieved with Mr. Freese. Exercise $3$ Discuss the likelihood of Stonyfield having a strong influence on Danone’s sustainability practices over the long term. Describe the challenges for Danone in adopting Stonyfield’s mission-driven approach to sustainability. Describe the main opportunities for Danone in adopting Stonyfield’s sustainability practices throughout the international company.	textbooks/biz/Business/Advanced_Business/The_Sustainable_Business_Case_Book/13%3A_Case%3A_Strategic_Mission-Driven_Sustainable_Business%3A_Stonyfield_Yogurt/13.04%3A_Stonyfields_Strategy_and_Execution.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/handshake...rship-3298455/ 01: Icebreakers and wrap-ups Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Both upper and lower level undergraduate courses Activity purpose • Students will identify important information in the course syllabus. Materials required • Scavenger hunt handout • Small prizes Activity instructions 1. Go through your course presentation and identify 7 – 10 things that you want to highlight (how to contact you, late assignment policy, etc). 2. Turn these into questions and put them on a handout. (Example: What’s my late policy? What should I do if I’m going to miss a class?) I make sure to have at least one question about mental health resources or resources for students who are food/housing insecure in order to reduce the stigma around these topics. 3. Then, break students into groups of 5, give each one a handout and send them on a “scavenger hunt” through the course presentation to find the answers to the questions. You can also have them use the course learning management system to answer a question. (I like to hide an “Easter egg” on the front page of our class’ Moodle site). 4. The winning team will win a small prize. The first team to get all questions right is the winner, but make sure to carry the activity on until all groups have finished. 5. I like to suggest that teams who are finished should help those who haven’t found the answers yet. After the activity is over, go through the answers and then discuss the rest of the course presentation. Debrief questions / activities • Ask me 5 questions about the course presentation. • Based on the course presentation, let’s identify the top 5 things students can do to be successful in the course. Activity variations • After the scavenger hunt is over, have students stay in their groups and go through the rest of the course presentation to come up with 3 unanswered questions. Tags: first day of class, ice breaker, scavenger hunt, course presentation, syllabus 01.2: Dear Future Me Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Both upper and lower level undergraduate courses Activity purpose • Students will reflect on their work over the course of the semester and set writing goals for the remainder of the semester. Materials required • Pen • Paper Activity instructions 1. On the last day of class, ask students to write a letter to themselves that begins Dear Future Me. 2. In this letter, they will list some points about writing/ their own writing that they want to remember in the future, since they will need to use the skills we learned in this class throughout their school life and careers. They could choose to remember specific lessons (analyzing an audience, using plain language) or something they’ve learned about their writing process. I often ask students to list the thing that they’re most proud of accomplishing this semester. 3. During the final exam, I give them back their letter, along with a note of encouragement. Activity variations 1. Instead of having students write a letter to themselves, have them write a letter to next semester’s students. Ask students to specify if they want to share their letter with next year’s students, then compile a document of all of the letters that you’ve received permission to share. I ask students on the first day of class to find one piece of advice from previous students that resonated with them and (if they feel comfortable) share why they liked that advice. Tags: semester wrap-up, reflection, individual, self-reflection, study help, year-end reflection	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/01%3A_Icebreakers_and_wrap-ups/01.1%3A_Course_syllabus_scavenger_hunt.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/audience-crowd-people-persons-828584/ 02: Audience analysis Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Both lower-level and upper-level undergraduate courses. Activity purpose • Students will reflect on the university as a context and begin to think critically about all of the spoken and unspoken assumptions surrounding the university. • Students will also practice their research/ analysis skills. Materials required • Handout • Chalkboard / whiteboard Activity instructions 1. Come up with a list of questions about the university. You could also have students generate these. A good question is one that students can find some answers to in 10-15 minutes. The ones I use are: • Whose land are we on? Can you find examples of Indigenous knowledge around campus? • Take a short walk around campus and see how many technologies you can list. How many were you specifically taught to use when you came to the university? • How is a teacher expected to act? • How is a student expected to act? • What kind of nature do you see on campus? Why is it there? Who maintains it? • Does the university have “school spirit?” What are people who are part of the university community expected to be proud of? If you take a short walk around campus, are there any signs/posters celebrating something? • What is the history of the university? • Who is included at the university? Who is left out? • Look at the university’s policies. How can you get into trouble here? What are you not supposed to do? 2. Write one question on the top of a page and leave the rest of the page for student notes. 3. Break students into groups of 2 or 3. Give them each a question and ask them to spend 10 minutes trying to answer it. 4. On half of the whiteboard/ chalkboard write “Unspoken,” then on the other half write “Spoken.” 5. When students return, ask them to sort their findings into “spoken” (things about the university that someone specifically told us) and “unspoken” (things that no one talks about or that we had to figure out for ourselves) and write them on the chalkboard. 6. Use the debrief questions to reflect on the context of the university. How much is unspoken? What values/beliefs/assumptions does the university have? How do students learn about the context? What misunderstandings did you have about the context of this particular university? Debrief questions / activities • What was your most surprising finding? • How much of what you found was spoken vs. unspoken? • What sort of things are spoken? • What sort of things are unspoken? • What does this say about what the university values? • How do new students learn the context of the university? How did you learn? Tags: audience analysis / context analysis, research and documentation, critical thinking, discussion, hands-on, small group, self-reflection 02.2: Guess the audience Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate. Activity purpose • Students will analyze how an audience influences a communicator’s choices. • Students will realize how many audience analysis skills they already have. • Students will analyze how unconscious bias and assumptions shape our messages and sometimes cause misunderstandings. • Students will reflect on how their decisions as communicators change based on how much knowledge they have about their audience. Materials required • Sheet A and B • Envelopes Activity instructions 1. Cut up Sheet A, fold up slips of paper, and place them into a cup or hat. This sheet contains different audiences. Do the same to Sheet B and place in a different cup or hat. This sheet contains different messages. 2. Get students into groups of 4 or 5. Each group will select a slip of paper from both the ‘audiences’ cup and the ‘messages’ cup. 3. Ask the groups to craft one or two sentences that deliver the message to the audience. Tell the group that they are not allowed to state the audience in their response. 4. After the groups are done, ask the groups to select a new audience by selecting a new slip of paper from the audience cup. Groups must repeat the challenge for the new audience. Note that if they had to choose a movie/product/song, they must keep it the same in both messages. For example, if they explained the plot of Finding Nemo to kindergarten kids, they must explain the same movie to a CEO. 5. Groups will read their messages out loud. The rest of the class will try to guess the audience. 6. Debrief the activity using some of the questions below. Debrief questions / activities • How did you craft your messages? Where did you start? How did you select words and details? • Did each group member interpret the audience in the same way? What disagreements did your group have? How did you resolve them? (Often, students will disagree about the ‘grandparents’ question because they come from different cultures or have grandparents of very different ages/lifestyles). • How were you able to guess the audience? What context clues did you look for? • What was the hardest audience to write for? Why? What assumptions did you make about your audience? (Every time I’ve done this activity, the group has made the CEO male, for example). • If you didn’t know much about your audience, what did you do? • Ask the class if anyone knows construction workers/ tech bros etc. If someone has experience with these groups, ask how successful the message would be to that audience? (Often, the group that gets ‘construction workers’ will assume they are low-tech meatheads, but people who know construction workers will say that this is a myth). Activity variations • Give all groups the same message. • Allow groups to use visuals. • Give all groups the same message but have groups select both an ‘audience’ and a ‘medium/genre.’ I have included genres like ‘comic strip,’ ‘interpretive dance,’ ‘poem,’ ‘memo’ and ‘charades.’ This shifts the focus to how the constraints of a genre and audience shape a message. While it may seem silly, it really exaggerates what decisions communicators have to make, which makes them easier to discuss (and it ends up being a good icebreaker). • Have students come up with the audiences and messages. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: audience analysis / context analysis, persuasive messages, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, communication models, discussion, hands-on, small group, creating a product or document, persuasion, Rogerian analysis, reflection 02.3: Audience-centred messages discussion Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will discuss what elements contribute to making an email message audience-centred. Materials required Activity instructions 1. Project the email message on the screen. 2. Read the message aloud to students. 3. Ask students to discuss in pairs what works well in the message and why and how the message keeps the audience in the forefront. 4. Debrief the activity with students. Debrief questions / activities • What works well in the email and why? • How does this message keep the audience in the forefront? (Things to highlight/note: use of you attitude, warm and friendly tone, inclusive language, validates the emotions/feelings/needs of the audience, etc) Tags: audience analysis / context analysis, audience-centred messages, emails, think-pair-share, discussion, small group, whole class	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/02%3A_Audience_analysis/02.1%3A_Context_hunt.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/hand-unit...unity-1917895/ 03: Intercultural communication Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will be able to define commonly used (and often-confused) terms in intercultural communication. Materials required • Chalk board • White board • Projector and screen Activity instructions 1. Divide students into pairs. 2. Display the following terms on screen or write them on the board: multicultural, intercultural, culture, and diversity. 3. Ask students to discuss these terms with their partner. What do these terms mean? How are they similar? How are they different? What is an example of each? 4. After a few minutes, ask each pair to join another group to compare/contrast their responses and ideas. 5. After a few more minutes, debrief the activity with the class. Debrief questions / activities • Go through each term in turn. Solicit as many responses from groups as possible. • What is your definition? • What is an example of this term? • How were your conclusions with your partner the same or different from the group you joined? • (NOTE: Many students realize they don’t know the differences between these terms and cannot provide examples. After reviewing the class responses to these terms, define each term and provide an example.) Tags: discussion, small group, diversity, intercultural, multicultural, culture, think-pair-square-share 04.1: What would the teacher say Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/laptop-co...earch-2562325/ 04: Writing skills and process Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Upper and lower level undergraduate courses Activity purpose • Students will help each other ensure that their assignment meets the criteria in the rubric and learn how to read a rubric. • Students will also practice giving constructive criticism that is concrete and specific. Materials required • Drafts of student assignments • Copies of the assignment rubric Activity instructions 1. This assignment is designed to help students become more concrete and specific in their peer workshopping and develop a better understanding of how to read an assignment prompt. Often, students feel tempted to say “this assignment is great!” instead of offering feedback during a workshop, or they don’t feel confident enough in their own writing to give their thoughts. Many students are also from cultures where saving face is important and they do not want to offend their partner. Instead, this activity positions the student workshopper as a partner who’s speaking on behalf of the teacher. 2. To begin, have students work in small groups to look at the rubric and come up with the 3 most important features of the assignment based on the rubric. (“When I am grading your assignment, what are the 3 most important things that I’m looking for?”) 3. Write each group’s answers on the board and, as a class, come up with 3 outcomes to focus on during the workshop. 4. Turn these outcomes into questions and see if the class can make them even more specific. For example, if they’ve identified source use as important, the question might become “How has the writer used sources? Underline every time they’ve used a source, and put a star around places where the writer hasn’t cited yet.” 5. Then, break students into partners or groups of 3 and have them exchange drafts. 6. Each student will read their partner’s draft and answer the 3 questions the class came up with. 7. They will then write a short paragraph on topic “What would the teacher say about this draft?” and share that with the writer. I always add the question “What would the teacher admire about this draft?” 8. After students have shared their findings with each other, they will do a short freewrite on the topic “What changes do I want to make to my draft and why?” Debrief questions / activities • What was the experience of giving feedback like for you? • What was the experience of receiving feedback like for you? • What remaining questions do you have about the assignment? Tags: oral presentations, oral communication, audience analysis / context analysis, negative news messages, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, research and documentation, critical thinking, discussion, hands-on, small group, self-reflection, peer workshop, revision 04.2: Paragraph sort Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will learn to identify different paragraph types. Materials required • Paragraph handout • Paragraph activity sheet cut into strips (one for each group) Activity instructions 1. This activity can either follow a lesson about different types of paragraphs, or it can be used reflect on readings students did about paragraphs. 2. Print off one copy of the paragraph activity sheet for each group, then cut it along the lines. 3. Put the cut-up pieces into an envelope. 4. Give each student a handout about the paragraph types. 5. Then, break them into groups of 4 – 5. 6. Give each group an envelope and ask them to match the paragraph to the paragraph type. Debrief questions / activities • After the activity, I ask students what the hardest paragraphs to figure out were, then go over these again. • Next, students examine their own writing to find different paragraph types or identify places where they could use a paragraph type to fix a disorganized paragraph. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: document formatting, hands-on, small group, paragraphs, organization	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/03%3A_Intercultural_communication/03.1%3A_Intercultural_communication_terminology_discussion.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will move from general observations to more specific, nuanced ones. • Students will see the power of details in persuasion. Materials required • Pen and paper Activity instructions 1. Set a timer for 1 minute. 2. Ask students to list as many things as possible around the room. 3. Then, have each student read out their list. If someone else has said an item on their list, they should cross it off their list and not read it. By the end, many students will have nothing on their list. 4. Ask students now to do this again for another minute (I sometimes give them 2 minutes), but this time try to see something that no one else sees. 5. Repeat the process of having students read out their lists, again leaving out anything that’s already been said. 6. Use the debrief questions to highlight how, in the second round, students become much more specific (seeing that the hem of someone’s pants are salt-stained, versus noticing a chair). You can connect this to their analysis of their research (how can you look at your research again? What small details are you missing? What new insights can you find by looking again?). Debrief questions / activities • What differences do you see between the first and second round? • What strategy did you use to come up with something that no one else would see? • This activity is about the importance of looking at data again. How could you apply this to your research report? Tags: writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, critical thinking, analysis, discussion, hands-on, whole class, details 04.4: Bulwer Lytton Competition Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will explore common style and tone or grammar mistakes in a fun, low-stakes manner. • Students will also give themselves permission to write badly. Materials required • Small prizes • Pen and paper Activity instructions 1. The Bulwer Lytton competition, (named after the author who wrote the line “It was a dark and stormy night..”), asks participants to intentionally write the worst first line of a novel. 2. First, design a lesson that showcases common style and tone issues, such as wordiness, passive voice, weak verbs, negative emphasis, slang, clichés, etc. 3. Ask students to make a list of the style and tone issues you discussed (or create a handout with these listed). 4. Then, explain that we are going to have a Bulwer Lytton competition and there will be a prize for the person who can write the worst possible sentence. Go to https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/ to find past winners to show students an example. 5. Give students 5 – 8 minutes to write their sentence. Encourage them to edit their sentence to make it even worse and see if they can include all of the issues we discussed. To encourage students to share, you should write a sentence as well. 6. Offer a prize to the first student who volunteers to read their sentence. I sometimes bring small chocolates to give everyone who shares something. 7. You can vote in a couple of ways. Either, you can tape the submissions up on the wall/board and give students a sticker and ask them to put the sticker on the sentence they want to vote for, or you can ask students to write down the name of the person they want to vote for on a piece of paper and hand it in to you. Debrief questions / activities • How did it feel to write badly? • How did you compose your sentence? • Did you edit it? • What was the hardest part of this activity? Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, individual, whole class, self-reflection, game 04.5: Word Connotation Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Either lower level or upper level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will learn how connotations can be context or audience-dependent and sometimes lead to miscommunication. • Students will get to know each other and see how the experience/values impact how they interpret words. Materials required • Handout • Scissors • Envelopes Activity instructions 1. Print off the handout and cut the table into columns, then cut up each word. This will create five piles of 12 different words. 2. Put each pile into an envelope. 3. Break the class into five groups. 4. Ask them to take the words out of the envelope then sort them from most to least casual. 5. Do not give them any further instructions. You can decide whether students are allowed to use their phones to look up words they don’t know. 6. When each group has agreed on the order of the words, get one student from each group to write the order of their words on the board. 7. Ask students to identify trends: what words groups agreed on and what words have wildly different orders. Usually, every group will come up with a different ranking: often because they interpreted the word “casual” differently (a casual relationship versus a casual word). Debrief questions / activities • How did your group decide how to rank the words? • Was there any disagreement in the group? • Did the words mean the same to everyone? • Why do you think different groups came up with different answers? • If you didn’t understand a word, what did you do? • How did you interpret the meaning of the word casual? • What do you think this exercise tells us about miscommunication? Activity variations • Instead of using a word that relates to relationships, pick a job that has many different titles and ask students to sort them by which are the highest paying to lowest paying. For example, students often say that a secretary is lower-paid than an administrative assistant, which leads to some interesting discussions about the impact of gendered language. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: negative news messages, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, hands-on, small group, self-reflection, connotations, ice breaker, getting to know you, positive emphasis	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/04%3A_Writing_skills_and_process/04.3%3A_The_Writers_Eye.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate course Activity purpose • Students will become familiar with their own writing process and will recognize stumbling blocks in their own writing process. • By examining the writing process of famous writers, students will see that writing processes are unique, varied and complex. Materials required • Handout • Quotes from famous writers • Paper • Markers Activity instructions 1. Find quotes from 4-5 famous writers about their writing process. This website contains many of them: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-daily-routines-of-12_b_8510996 . 2. Add the quotes into the attached handout. 3. Ask students to read the quotes and identify the different parts of the writing process, then estimate how much time was spent on each. 4. Then, ask students to use this information to create a map of the writer’s process. Students can use different marker colours to represent different parts of the writing process. 5. Put the completed maps up on the wall, then have students observe the differences. 6. Ask each group to briefly discuss their author’s writing process. 7. For the next stage, ask students to think of the last major writing project they created, then draw a map of their writing process. 8. Ask students to label major events, including how they felt (a sample image is attached). Debrief questions / activities • What surprised you about the author’s writing process? • What did your author spend the majority of their time on? • What conditions did the author need to write successfully? • What can you apply from your author’s writing process to your own writing process? • What did you learn from drawing your writing process? • Is the writing process you drew typical, or do you vary it? • If you identified a barrier or a negative emotion, what part of the writing process was it in? • How do you think you can remove that stumbling block? • Is there anything you would like to try to change about your writing process? Activity variations • Just do the first part of the activity or just have students draw their writing process. • If you have time, ask students to “edit” their writing process or write a new writing process that they’d like to try. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: writing process, individual, small group, creating a product or document, self-reflection 04.7: Style and tone field trip Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower or upper level undergraduate course Activity purpose • Students will explore how specific style, tone and emphasis choices can dramatically change the reaction in the reader. Materials required • Pen • Paper Activity instructions 1. Print off the list of moods and cut them up into pieces so that a single mood is written on each scrap of paper. 2. Begin by asking students what they would notice in the room if they were bored (example: beige walls, annoying fluorescent lights, ticking clock etc). 3. Then, ask them what they would notice if they were happy (example: brightly coloured clothing, eager students, coffee). 4. Tell students that they will be going on a “field trip.” They will each choose a slip of paper with a mood on it. 5. Then, they will go outside and stand in the same location. (At KPU Surrey, for example, I use the courtyard.) 6. They will make a list of 10 details that convey their mood. 7. Then, they will come back to class and write a paragraph that conveys the mood without saying it. 8. Tell students that they can use details, their sentence rhythm, word choices, etc. 9. I use the details we came up with in the classroom to orally compose a short example. (“OMG! Everyone is here ready to learn, drinking delicious coffee. I love Harmanjot’s bright shirt and the Powerpoint slide has such a funny cartoon on it” vs “The clock is ticking out the seconds as I slowly slide into my desk. Even coffee can’t wake me up. It’s all beige walls, beige desks, and they can’t even fix the buzzing fluorescent light.”) 10. I always write my own paragraph and then read it first to encourage students to read their own. Each student will read their paragraph, then the class will try to guess the mood. Debrief questions / activities • How were we able to guess the mood without the author telling us? • How did you choose details? • What strategies did you use to help us guess the mood? • What was the hardest part of this activity? • What was the most surprising part of this activity? • How can we connect this activity to what we just learned about positive emphasis/tone/connotation? Activity variations • Allow students to select their own mood. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: negative news messages, persuasive messages, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, hands-on, individual, creating a product or document, creative writing, positive emphasis, connotation, sentences	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/04%3A_Writing_skills_and_process/04.6%3A_Writing_Process.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Upper and lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will develop their writing skills and writing voice through low-stakes writing practice. Materials required • Learning management system Activity instructions 1. Question of the Day is part activity, part assignment and part classroom culture strategy. It’s designed to encourage students to play with language and connect with each other through low-stakes writing. 2. Every day from Monday to Friday, post a question on the Learning Management System. I do this by creating a forum called ‘Question of the Day’ each week, then setting up posts to be released at midnight from Monday to Friday. 3. Students respond to the questions by Sunday night. 4. If they respond to a question, they get 1 point. To get 100%, they must answer 40 questions per semester. In a 13-week semester, this works out to just over 3 a week. Here are some sample questions: • Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not? • What’s something that’s happened to you that you believe hasn’t happened to anyone else in the class? • Take a walk through your neighbourhood and write about something interesting that you saw. • Tell me about a time you overcame something difficult. 5. I answer every question, which tends to increase the response rate. 6. I make Question of the Day worth 5% of their grade, which means that students can choose not to do it without too much penalty. 7. The key to Question of the Day is to allow students to talk about their own lives in a safe way. The questions do not require any research or prior knowledge. They should also be fun. Because they don’t have to answer every question, students can avoid answering questions that make them uncomfortable. At the end of the week, I reply to a few responses on each thread. Activity variations • If Question of the Day is too much, you can have a Question of the Week. Tags: routine messages, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, writing process, discussion, individual, small group, creating a product or document, self-reflection, low-stakes writing, classroom building, online communication 04.9: Writing audience-centred messages Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will practice editing and revising a letter. Materials required • Enough copies of the letter for the entire class (multiple copies per page, cut apart) • A document camera Activity instructions 1. Distribute the copies of the letter to students. 2. Ask them to revise/edit the letter/message to make it more concise, less repetitive, to use the you attitude, and to use an appropriate style and tone for the context. 3. Tell students this will be an anonymous activity and they should not write their name on the paper. They can write their revised letter on the same page or on another sheet of paper. 4. Tell students you will collect their writing and will sort through them and select a couple of examples to review with the class. 5. As students finish writing the letter, collect them and begin sorting through them to select 2-3 to review with the class using the document camera. 6. Take each example and put it under the document camera. As the class to provide feedback on what works well and what could be improved. (Always starts with what works well and always highlight what works well in each and every example.) 7. Repeat with as many examples as necessary. Debrief questions / activities • When placing the examples under the document camera, ask the class what works well and what could be improved for each one. • Volunteer an initial response, if students are reluctant to draw attention to what could be improved. Activity variations • Students could discuss each example under the document camera for a minute with the person beside them before contributing to the class discussion. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, you attitude, hands-on, individual, creating a product or document	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/04%3A_Writing_skills_and_process/04.8%3A_Question_of_the_day.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/man-readi...n-blog-791049/ 05: Document formatting Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will explore Gestalt Theory by finding real-world examples of Gestalt Theory principles in action. Materials required • Scavenger hunt handout • Pens • Small prizes • Cell phones Activity instructions 1. Either deliver a lecture on Gestalt Theory or have students do a reading on it. 2. Then, explain the rules of the Great Gestalt Scavenger Hunt. 3. Break students into groups of 4 or 5 and give them one handout per group. 4. Students will be given 15 minutes to go around campus and find good and bad examples of Gestalt Theory principles. Most students will use posters/signs, but architecture also counts. 5. When they find an example, they must take a photo with a cellphone. 6. Tell students that they should use the scavenger hunt sheet to note what example represents what principle, since it’s easy to forget. For example, if they wanted to use a poster advertising an English class on Shakespeare to represent a good example of Figure-Ground Segregation, they would write “Shakespeare English poster” under that category on the sheet. 7. They must find a unique example for each principle. (For example, you couldn’t use the same poster to represent both Figure-Ground Segregation and Closure.) 8. Students will get a bonus for finding something that showcases all of the principles we discussed. 9. Make sure to remind students to be respectful of other classrooms going on when they are moving through the hallways. 10. When a group is done, they will return to the class and you will look at their examples and score them. 11. The first team to find all good and bad examples of Gestalt Theory principles gets a small prize. 12. You may also choose to have an additional prize for the team that finds something that represents all principles. Debrief questions / activities • What was the hardest principle to find? • How can you apply what you just learned to your resume/report/other upcoming assignment? • How did your group work together? Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: document formatting, visual communication, communication models, small group, game, Gestalt Theory, scavenger hunt, communication theory 06.1: Information literacy hunt Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/concept-man-papers-person-plan-1868728/ 06: Research information literacy and documentation Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will learn to evaluate the trustworthiness of sources. Materials required • Internet connection Activity instructions 1. Put students in groups of 4 or 5. 2. Ask students to look on their social media feeds or websites they routinely visit for content that they think might not be trustworthy. This could be a meme, an ad or an article. Those who don’t use social media can work with a partner. 3. Ask students to share their piece of untrustworthy content within their groups and reflect on what made them think the piece of content might not be trustworthy. 4. Each group will then choose one piece of content to research. (This activity works for the CRAAP test, but it also works for other information literacy frameworks). 5. You have two options for how to arrange the activity from here: • Ask the group to try to prove that the piece of content they’ve selected is untrustworthy. • Give them a bit more structure by giving each group member a different question such as, “Why was this piece of content put online?” “How does the author of this content make money?” “How is the author trying to convince you of their point? Are their claims accurate?” “How does the author use visuals?” 6. At the end of the activity, each group will present their findings and/or write a short memo explaining what they discovered. If you have extra time, you can also have the groups exchange memos, then double-check each others’ work. Debrief questions / activities • Why do you think this piece of content was not believable? Why do you think someone wanted to believe it? • What surprised you the most about this activity? • What research strategy was most helpful in proving/disproving your piece of content? Activity variations • Find your own pieces of false information. I often do this activity with health memes (such as David Avocado Wolfe) and explicitly tell students that the information is false. Tags: persuasive messages, research and documentation, information literacy, discussion, small group, self-reflection, social media 06.2: Practicing paraphrasing and direct Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will practice reading a source document and then writing an appropriate paraphrase and an appropriate direct quote with correct APA formatting. Materials required • Enough photocopies of a page from a source document (such as a textbook) for everyone in the class, along with information on the source of the material Activity instructions 1. Distribute the photocopy of the source document to all students. 2. Partner students (or they can work individually). 3. Ask each pair to read the source material and then write down a paraphrase of an idea of their choosing from that page, including the APA in-text citation. 4. Circulate around the room to review student work and provide feedback. (This activity often takes a while for students to complete because of having to read the material, synthesize it, and then discuss/reach agreement with their partner about how to paraphrase and cite.) 5. Ask each pair to read the source material and then write down a direct quote of their choosing from that page, including the APA in-text citation. 6. Circulate around the room again to review student work and provide feedback. 7. Note the common errors that are seen. During the debrief, list/show these errors and explain the corrections. Debrief questions / activities • What information do we include in the in-text citation for a paraphrase? For a direct quote? • What are some differences between a direct quote and a paraphrase? • Debrief the common errors and list/show the corrections. Activity variations • Students can work individually or in partners. Tags: research and documentation, hands-on, individual, small group, creating a product or document, reading, paraphrasing, direct quoting, APA format, reference list, in-text citations	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/05%3A_Document_formatting/05.1%3A_Gestalt_Theory_scavenger_hunt.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will apply their citation knowledge to their own writing and see the balance between their own voice and the voices of their sources. Materials required • Highlighters • Markers or coloured pens • Student draft Activity instructions 1. Ask students to bring a draft of an assignment that requires source use. 2. Give them each 3 markers (you can also put students in groups of 3, give them each a marker, and tell them to pass their marker to their left after each round). 3. In the first round, ask students to use one coloured pen to underline or highlight sections of their work that contain direct quotes from their sources. 4. In the second round, ask students to use a different colour to underline or highlight sections of their work that contain paraphrasing or summarizing from a source. (The ideas of the source, not the words.) 5. In the third round, ask students to underline or highlight sections of the work that contain their own ideas or analysis. 6. Then, ask the debrief questions. As you do, tell students to put a star around any place where they’ve realized they need to make a change (add a citation, turn a quotation into paraphrasing, adding some analysis etc). You might also give students time to revise in class so that you can help them. Debrief questions / activities • In your work, who’s voice is most important right now: the sources or yours? • What percentage of the work contains citation? Paraphrasing? Summary? Your own ideas? Does this balance feel right to you? • We’ve learned that you should quote because the words of the author is important, and that you should usually do some kind of analysis to the quote. Can you find a quote in your piece that doesn’t have any analysis or that could be paraphrased or summarized instead? • We’ve learned that when you paraphrase, you should not look directly at the source material and instead explain the quote as if you were talking to a friend. Can you find any paraphrasing in your piece that is too similar to the original quote? • Have you noticed any place where your voice disappears from the piece? How could you make your voice more present in that section? • Have you found a section where you’re not sure if you’ve paraphrased, cited or used your own ideas? • Are all of your paraphrased or summarized sections properly cited? • Based on this activity, can you think of 3 changes you’d like to make to this draft? • What questions do you have about citation after doing this exercise? Activity variations • Have students discuss their results with a partner and come up with a revision plan. • Have students work on revision for the remainder of the class. • Hand out note cards so that students can write down their remaining questions and ask them anonymously. Tags: research and documentation, individual, self-reflection, citation, paraphrasing, source use, research, peer review, revision 06.4: Dear Abby Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will pick research topics. • Students will see how looking “sideways” at something can produce a more interesting set of questions than approaching something from the most obvious point of view. • Note: I did this activity more often when I taught composition, but it can definitely be used when students have some leeway in what to write their research reports on and often reach for the most obvious topics. Materials required • Class set of advice columns. (I like Dear Prudence, but any advice column will do. I often print 5 copies of 5 different columns for a class of 25.) Activity instructions 1. Have students read the advice column then write for 5 minutes in the voice of someone other than the letter writer or the columnist. They can write in first or third person. For example, if the letter involves a father asking for advice on dealing with his teenage daughter who’s using drugs, a student might write from the perspective of the daughter, the mother, or even someone outside of the disagreement like the neighbour or the daughter’s boyfriend. 2. After 5 minutes, have students pick a new perspective then write for another 5 minutes. 3. Have a class discussion about how the new perspective changed the way they looked at the conflict. What questions did each new perspective bring up? What questions did each perspective ignore? 4. Link the activity to research topics by putting a common topic such as “Parking at Kwantlen” on the board. Using a word map, ask students to come up with different perspectives you could approach this topic from. Students will usually start with the obvious (students) but as you ask them to shift perspectives, they begin asking more interesting questions such as “Why is it so difficult to get students to use public transit?” “What are the challenges with KPU being a ‘commuter campus?’” “Why was KPU Surrey built here?” Debrief questions / activities • What questions did each new perspective bring up? • What questions did each perspective ignore? • How did your understanding of the conflict shift with each new perspective? • How can we tie this back to choosing our report topics? Tags: research and documentation, individual, creating a product or document, self-reflection, choosing report topics, perspectives, identifying research gaps	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/06%3A_Research_information_literacy_and_documentation/06.3%3A_Citation_highlighting.txt
Thumbnail: www.pexels.com/photo/man-bes...ground-716276/ 07: Persuasive messages Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Upper level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will explore how advertisements both use and subvert storytelling techniques. • Students will apply these techniques into their own persuasive messages. Materials required • Handout • Projector with video • Small prizes Activity instructions 1. I use this activity when teaching storytelling as part of a unit on oral presentations. I first discuss different narrative structures and talk about the Walter Fischer Narrative Paradigm. 2. To begin the activity, choose 5 advertisements that contain strong or interesting storytelling. Ones that I have used successfully are: the “Thanks Mom” Olympic commercials, the Coleman Sweeney “Even an Asshole Can Save a Life” ad, the “Ghost Chips” drinking and driving ad, the Google ad about Partition in India etc. I’ve also asked students to submit ads with interesting storytelling. 3. Watch the ads in class, then break students into groups of 4 or 5 and assign them one of the ads. 4. Have them analyze the storytelling elements (conflict, desire, change, etc) and draw a diagram of the ad’s narrative. (See attached handout) Each group will share their responses with the class. 5. Then, ask students to take what they’ve learned and create the script for a short ad that uses storytelling to persuade the audience of a message. You can either assign students a message, or you can base it on an assignment they’re working on. For example, if students are writing recommendation reports, they can create ads that persuade an audience to accept one of the recommendations. 6. Encourage students to use music and props. I sometimes bring small prizes to be the CMNS 3000 Oscars and give awards for best use of stories, etc. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: oral presentations, oral communications, audience analysis / context analysis, persuasive messages, discussion, hands-on, small group, creating a product or document, corporate storytelling, advertising, narrative paradigm 07.2: Deductive reasoning murder mystery Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Upper level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will understand deductive reasoning and how to build a syllogism. • Students will use this to analyze their research data to come up with recommendations for a recommendation report. Materials required • Murder mystery game. There are lots of free 30-minute murder mystery games online. Though the price has gone up dramatically since I bought the game, I used the website Playing With Murder to buy a murder mystery tailored to classroom use. You can also find these very cheaply at thrift stores. • I also bring a small prize for each of the “actors” and sometimes given a CMNS 3000 Academy Award to the student who gets into their role the most (the class decides). Activity instructions 1. Print off the murder mystery game. 2. Begin the lesson by discussing inductive and deductive reasoning, and identifying when you would use each type. 3. Ask for volunteers to play the different roles in the murder mystery. The one that I use is played in 3 short rounds. I encourage students to get into the roles by giving a CMNS 3000 Academy Award to the actor who gave their all to the role (students vote). 4. Sit students in a circle and ask them to take notes on what the characters reveal. 5. Explain the rules of the murder mystery. Audience members can ask questions after each round. 6. At the end of the activity, ask students to write a deductive reasoning syllogism identifying the murderer. For example, a student might write “If the murderer had a key to the house and only family members had house keys and Bob is the only family member without an alibi, then Bob is the murderer.” 7. Students can hand in their proof for participation marks. Stress that it’s not just about identifying the murderer, but laying out the syllogism. 8. After the game is over, ask students to create a syllogism using their research data. Debrief questions / activities • How did the syllogism help you solve the murder? • What was the hardest part of the activity? • How did the syllogism help you test your theory? • How can you use a syllogism in analyzing your research? Tags: research and documentation, analysis, hands-on, whole class, game, deductive reasoning, logic, syllogism, ice breaker	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/07%3A_Persuasive_messages/07.1%3A_Storytelling.txt
Thumbnail: www.pexels.com/photo/man-holding-microphone-while-talking-to-another-man-2872418/ 08: Routine and negative news messages Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will discuss a scenario where a negative news message would need to be delivered. • Students will select and justify an approach (direct or indirect). • Students will select and justify a channel to deliver the message. • Students will develop/write a negative news message. • Students will analyze and provide feedback on messages prepared by peers. Materials required • Activity instruction sheet • Negative news scenarios • Justification document • Message document • Blank pages (for peer feedback) • Markers • Tape Activity instructions 1. Divide class into 5 groups. 2. Distribute materials to students. 3. State that each group will read and discuss the scenario they’ve been provided. As a group, they must decide on an approach to use to delivery their negative news message and a channel. They must write down their decisions on the “justification” page, along with their reasons for why they chose that channel and approach. 4. They must then write their message on the “message” page. 5. They will then tape their scenario, message, justification page, and a blank sheet of paper (11” x 17” paper works best) to the wall. 6. Students will then move around the room on their own or with their group to discuss the other scenarios, messages, and justifications, with an eye to provide feedback on what works well, what could be improved, or questions they might have. 7. After providing feedback on all the scenarios, students then reconvene back at their original station and review the feedback they’ve received. 8. Debrief this activity with each group one-on-one or as a class. Debrief questions / activities • You can debrief this activity one-on-one with each group, reviewing the feedback they’ve received and the work they’ve completed. • You can debrief this activity with the entire class. • You can debrief one or two messages only with the entire class. • The approach to take and the questions to ask will depend on the messages developed and the feedback each student has received. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: negative news messages, discussion, hands-on, small group, creating a product or document, giving and receiving feedback 08.2: Good and bad news pre-activity Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will become aware of how their own background influences how they break good and bad news. Materials required • None Activity instructions 1. Begin by asking students to stand up (if they are comfortable doing so). 2. Their task is to speak to 5 people and break one piece of good news and one piece of bad news to each person. 3. Tell students to make up the bad news, which should be something low-stakes (example: we’re having a pop quiz). The good news can be a compliment or a made-up piece of good news (example: everyone got an A on the test). 4. Ask students to pay attention to how they delivered each message and what it felt like to deliver each message. 5. It often helps to acknowledge that this exercise is awkward and somewhat artificial, but it’s going to help us see how we naturally give good and bad news. It also helps if you participate in the activity and work with students who are shyer or hesitant to get involved. I never force anyone to participate in this activity. Debrief questions / activities • What was harder to give: good news or bad news? (Some students will express feeling nervous about giving compliments.) What was harder to receive: good or bad news? (Some students struggle accepting compliments.) • How did you deliver the good news? • How did you deliver the bad news? • What happened to your body language as you broke the good and bad news? • How did your audience react? • Did everyone deliver the news in the same way? • Which ways did you prefer? • How do you give bad news in your culture or family? Activity variations • You can write down different low-stakes bad news or good news scenarios and have students pick them out of a cup/hat. Tags: oral presentations, oral communications, routine messages, negative news messages, whole class, self-reflection, good news, bad news, intercultural communication, ice breaker 08.3: Customer complaint response rewrites Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will identify issues with a real-life customer complaint response and rewrite the message using effective negative news writing strategies for online audiences. Materials required • Example of an online written customer complaint response that needs improvement Activity instructions 1. Find an online negative customer review that has an accompanying problematic corporate response. (There are articles linked below with several examples or you can find your own.) 2. Provide each student with a copy of this exchange. 3. Once they have read through the situation, ask the class: What do you think is problematic with this complaint response? (Consider: tone, audience, impact on future customers). 4. Using negative news writing strategies, have each student rewrite a more appropriate response and/or apology. Debrief questions / activities • Ask a few students to share their rewrites with the class. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: oral presentations, oral communications, audience analysis / context analysis, negative news messages, writing online, discussion, individual, creating a product or document, customer complaints, apologies, social media	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/08%3A_Routine_and_negative_news_messages/08.1%3A_Negative_news_messages.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/office-bu...ument-3295556/ 09: Reports Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate courses Activity purpose • Students will practice asking open-ended questions, as a way to ask useful primary research questions. • Students will practice their interpersonal communication skills and networking skills. Materials required • Bingo sheets • Pens • Blank paper/ cue cards • Stickers (depending on the variation) Activity instructions 1. Before the activity starts, get students to come up with one interesting thing about themselves that they think no other student in the class shares. (This could be “I have a twin” or “I’ve been skydiving” or as mundane as “I hate peanut butter.”) I usually have students generate these in an earlier class. If my class has a long break, I’ve also done this at the beginning of class, then printed the Bingo cards off during the break. 2. Insert the interesting facts into the Bingo template and print it off. 3. Give each student a Bingo sheet. Tell them that their goal is to talk to students in the class to find out who owns each interesting fact. 4. In their conversation, they must only use open-ended questions. For example, if one Bingo square said “Is afraid of kittens,” students could ask “What are you afraid of?” but not “Are you afraid of kittens?” They also can’t ask “What’s your interesting fact?” 5. Every time they find out someone’s interesting fact, they can cross off that box. 6. The first one to get a line is the winner. Debrief questions / activities • What was your strategy for the game? • What was it like avoiding closed questions? Activity variations • Give students a few stickers. Every time they catch a classmate asking a closed question, they put a sticker on that person’s paper. If the student gets 3 stickers, they have to sit out of the game for 2 minutes. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: oral presentations, oral communication, research and documentation, whole class, self-reflection, game, asking questions, interpersonal communication, networking, getting to know you, ice breaker 09.2: Primary or secondary Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will think through a research question, identify sub-questions, and explore whether these are primary or secondary sources. Materials required • Laptop • Google Doc (or another shared editable document) Activity instructions 1. Come up with a research question or have students work together to come up with one. 2. Create a Google Doc and set the shareable link to “can edit.” Post a link to the Google Doc on the learning management system. 3. Students can choose to work individually, in pairs or in small groups. 4. Ask them to open the Google Doc and list as many questions as possible that they’ll need to answer in order to fully answer the research question. For example, if the research question was “How can KPU better support international students?” a sub-question might be “What does KPU currently do for international students?” or “What challenges do international students at KPU currently face?” 5. Challenge the class to come up with 50 original questions. 6. After students have come up with their questions, go through the questions and identify any that are not neutrally phrased. For example, a question like “Are KPU students angry about textbook costs?” isn’t neutrally phrased, so you would change it to “How do KPU students feel about textbook costs?” 7. Next, ask students to again work alone, in pairs, or in groups to identify whether the questions can be answered by primary sources or secondary sources. 8. If the question can be answered by primary sources, turn it pink. 9. If it can be answered by secondary sources, turn it blue. 10. If it can be answered by both (or the student isn’t sure) keep it black. 11. From here, you can help students to create a source plan for their research either alone or in groups. Debrief questions / activities • Which of these questions will be the hardest to answer? Why? • Pick out a few questions and ask what sources the students would use to answer this question. • What sources would you try to find first? • Who can help you find sources? Tags: research and documentation, discussion, hands-on, whole class, creating a product or document, narrowing research questions, primary sources, secondary sources, brainstorming	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/09%3A_Reports/09.1%3A_Open-ended_question_bingo.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will learn how to develop and organize ideas with structured outlines. • The basic premise is that a structured outline is an effective idea management tool that is used to group information into logical organizational patterns. The key skills required to develop an effective outline are pattern and hierarchy identification. Skilled and experienced writers can plan as they write, but most of us need to develop an outline when we wish to convey complex information. • Because this is a small group activity, students will also learn basics of brainstorming and consensus building. Materials required • One sheet of paper or a personal device to record the group solution Activity instructions THE SET-UP 1. Divide class into small groups of 3-5 students. 2. Students pretend that they are working for the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education. 3. They have been assigned the task of writing a brochure to help students in British Columbia choose the right college or university. The working title for the for a brochure is Choosing the Right Post-Secondary Institution In B.C. 4. Their primary audience consists of high-school students in Grade 12 who are trying to choose between different post-secondary institutions. STAGE ONE: BRAINSTORMING 1. Generate words and phrases that come to mind when you think of criteria for choosing a college. What kinds of factors should high-school students consider? Avoid single-word concepts, such as cost; rather, use phrases such as cost of education. 2. Brainstorm at least 18 potential factors. Note that brainstorming implies random order. STAGE TWO: CLASSIFYING 1. Scan through your brainstormed list and identify common elements/clusters/categories. 2. Identify four-five categories (headings) under which the rest of the brainstormed ideas will logically fit. These will be level-one main headings. STAGE THREE: SORTING 1. Review the two sets of data that you generated in stage one and stage two, and using the principle of subordination, sort the phrases from stage one under the appropriate categories that you defined in stage two. STAGE FOUR: REVISING FOR PARALLEL STRUCTURE 1. Revise all of your level-one main headings so that they are parallel with each other. 2. Revise each cluster of level-two sub-headings under each of the level-one main headings so that each level-two sub-heading cluster has parallel structure. Debrief questions / activities • How did you approach brainstorming? Did you have difficulty hitting at least 18 factors in stage one? • How much difficulty did you have on getting consensus on the 4-5 level-one headings. How did you resolve the difficulties? • How did you deal with “outlier” factors from your stage one brainstorming that didn’t fit into any headings, or that could fit under multiple main headings? • How did you choose which grammatical constructions to use in order to achieve parallel structure? Activity variations • If there are time limits, stage four can be given as an “individual” homework assignment and debriefed the next class as a primer/review for balanced and primary headings within structured outlines. Tags: oral presentations, oral communications, audience analysis / context analysis, creating multi-level outlines, discussion, small group, creating a product or document, outlining, brainstorming, pattern identification, classification, parallelism	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/09%3A_Reports/09.3%3A_Creation_of_multi-level_outlines.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will be become familiar with and be able to identify the required components and design formatting of a formal business report. Materials required • Printed copies of a formal report (1 per pair) • Treasure Hunt Worksheet (1 per pair) Activity instructions 1. Have students get into pairs and give each team a copy of a formal report and a treasure hunt worksheet. 2. Together, students must answer the questions on the worksheet by finding the answers within the formal report. 3. The first team to finish with all the answers correct is the “winner.” I use a copy of our annual university accountability report that is published online, but there are many corporations and government agencies that also post their annual reports to the public. Debrief questions / activities • Review the worksheet answers with the class and provide further explanations about components and formatting as you go along. For example: What did you notice about the page numbering? How were graphs and tables labeled and introduced in the text? How is the table of contents formatted? Activity variations • You could adapt this to an online course by using digital versions of a formal report and having students complete an online quiz. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: document formatting, hands-on, small group, game, formal report 09.5: Report sort Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate course Activity purpose • Students understand how each part of a recommendation report stands on its own. • Students will be better prepared to write their own reports. Materials required • Several copies of the handout • Scissors • Envelopes • Prizes (optional) Activity instructions 1. Print off enough copies of the handout single-spaced so that you can put students in groups of 4-5. (Note: this report is a simple recommendation report, but depending on the level of the class and your assignment focus you could easily adapt it by adding an executive summary, abstract, etc). 2. Cut the reports up so that each paragraph/bullet point/heading is on a separate strip of paper. 3. Put each cut-up report in a large envelope and shake up the pieces. You should have one cut-up report per group. 4. After explaining the parts of the report, tell students that they will be tasked with reassembling the report. I usually allow students to use any handouts/ textbook/ slides/ notes that they want. 5. When a group is done, check their work. I usually tell them which parts are correct and which aren’t. (You may want to print of an intact copy of the report to make it easy to check their work). Debrief questions / activities • What was the hardest part of this activity? • How did you decide how to arrange the report? • Did you encounter the same information twice? • Why do you think the author chose to repeat that information? • I also often get students to debrief by copying the headings into a notebook and then listing one piece of information they’d include in that part in their own report. Activity variations • Give prizes to the first team to finish. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: routine messages, document formatting, report writing, hands-on, small group, game, recommendation report, report parts, sorting, headings 09.6: Report remix Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower or upper level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will analyze an audience and a context to try to come up with a message that could go viral. Materials required • Laptops • Markers • Paper Activity instructions 1. This activity works well towards the end of the semester in a discussion of online communication, remixing or meme culture. 2. Begin by looking at some recent pieces of viral content. Ask students who the audience is and why they think the piece went viral. 3. You can also have students share viral content they’ve seen, which helps to illustrate different algorithm bubbles. (Students will often show content that’s been seen by millions of people that you’ll never come across in your own newsfeed.) 4. Next, students will be asked to work in groups of 4 – 5 to create a piece of viral content. You can do this one of two ways: • If students are working on a research project or report, ask them to try to remix their research report into an image macro or meme. The challenge here is to find something in the report that would be interesting to an audience, then find an engaging way to share that information. For example, a student writing a report on how universities can reduce failure rates might come up with an image macro that offers “one weird trick to passing your classes.” • Challenge students to create a piece of content that would go viral among students at the university. The challenge here is to think about the audience and come up with a creative way to reach this audience with the message. 5. Depending on the time allocated for this activity, you can have groups/students share their memes. For bonus points, I challenge students to share their content on social media and report back about what happened (as long as the content is ethical/truthful). Debrief questions / activities • What was the hardest part of this activity? • How did you come up with your viral content? • Why do you think your audience would share/like your content? • How did you use humour? • What piece of content has the greatest chance of going viral? Why? • How did you edit your piece? • How did you use visuals? Tags: audience analysis / context analysis, routine messages, persuasive messages, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, remix, discussion, individual, small group, creating a product or document, online communication, social media, memes, visual communication, remix culture	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/09%3A_Reports/09.4%3A_Report_treasure_hunt.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/workplace-team-business-meeting-1245776/ 10: Oral Communication Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will practice some vocal exercises they can use prior to giving an oral presentation. Materials required • Instructions on screen Activity instructions 1. Project each instruction on screen one-by-one. 2. Ask students to stand up if they are able and comfortable. Reiterate that they are all doing this together and looking at the front of the room and no one is watching them. (I tell them I have 25 people looking at me, whereas they have one person looking at them.) 3. Demonstrate each vocal exercise and then invite the class to do it with you. • Here are the vocal exercises: • Deep breaths/sighs, sing AY-EE-I-OH-OO a few times while exhaling (one vowel sound per breath and then all of them in a row) • Purse your lips and then exhale loudly while relaxing your lips (make a horse-like noise) • Practice saying a tongue twister (any tongue twister) • Shrug your shoulders up and then relax them down. Debrief questions / activities • How did you feel while doing these exercises? • Do you notice any difference in how your body or your mouth feels from before or after? Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: oral presentations, oral communications, hands-on, whole class, vocal exercises 10.2: The lying game Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Upper level undergraduate courses Activity purpose • Students will become comfortable with oral presentations • Students will practice their oral presentation skills. • I use it to show that if students can use their oral presentation skills to help them when they know nothing about the topic, think how well they will be able to do when they have prepared or know the topic well. Materials required • Handout, cut into individual strips • Cup or envelope • Timer Activity instructions 1. After demonstrating oral presentation techniques/strategies, introduce the game. 2. Students will be asked to speak for 1 or 2 minutes about a topic they know nothing about. 3. To begin, I always put myself in the hot seat by asking students to come up with a topic I know nothing about, then speaking for 2 minutes on the topic in front of everyone. 4. Students will pair up and choose someone to go first. 5. The first set of students will draw a slip of paper with a topic written on it from a cup/envelope. 6. Remind students that since everyone will be talking, only their partner can hear them. 7. Give students a few seconds to read their topic, invite everyone to take a deep breath, then set the timer for 1 minute (or 2 minutes) and tell students to start. 8. After, switch partners and repeat the exercise. Debrief questions / activities • What was that experience like? • How did you get through it? • What techniques did you use? Activity variations • Have everyone go at the same time so no one can hear each other. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: oral presentations, oral communications, hands-on, individual, small group, whole class, confidence	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/10%3A_Oral_Communication/10.1%3A_Vocal_exercises.txt
Thumbnail: pixabay.com/photos/analyzing...rming-3441040/ 11: Employment communications Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will practice reading and interpreting a job advertisement. • Students will analyze which skills would be required (or essential), “nice-to-have,” and transferrable. Materials required • Copies of a fictional resume • Copies of a sample job advertisement (to match the fictional resume, it’s best to find an advertisement for a position in office management or administrative support) Activity instructions 1. With the class, discuss and define “required” or “essential” qualifications, nice-to-have qualifications, and transferable skills. 2. Distribute handouts. 3. Place students in small groups. 4. Ask students to work with their group to discuss and decide what qualifications would be considered essential, nice-to-have, and transferable and why. Remind students to be prepared to share during the debrief. 5. Debrief the activity. Debrief questions / activities • What qualifications do you think are essential and why? • What qualifications do you think are nice-to-have and why? • What qualifications might be transferable and why? • What did this review, discussion, and analysis reveal to you about job advertisements and interpreting them? (Highlight that job advertisements often list every single qualification the company would ideally like to have, but there is often opportunity to highlight what skills you have that are transferable and might be substitutable and/or equally valuable. This then often segues into a good discussion about and lesson on writing persuasively in employment documents.) Activity variations • This activity can be a precursor to a follow-up activity for students to write a cover letter for the fictional person in application for the provided job advertisement. Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: employment communications, discussion, hands-on, small group, reading, job advertisement, resume, skills analysis, transferable skills 11.2: Writing a cover letter Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Lower level undergraduate Activity purpose • Students will practice writing a cover letter using a real job advertisement and a fictional resume. Materials required • Copies of a fictional resume • Copies of a job advertisement (to match the provided fictional resume, it’s best to find a job advertisement relating to office management or administrative support) Activity instructions 1. Review the parts of a cover letter with the class. 2. Distribute sample job advertisements and resumes to students. 3. Place students in small groups. (Steps 2 and 3 can be skipped if this activity is following the employment skills analysis activity.) 4. Ask students to work with their group to write a cover letter for the person in the resume in application for the job in the advertisement. (NOTE: Try to pair students who have experience writing cover letters with those who do not.) 5. Provide feedback as you circulate around the room. 6. Debrief the parts of the cover letter, such as the salutation, introduction, skills/qualifications to highlight in the body of the letter, the conclusion, etc. Debrief questions / activities • How did you open your letter? Why? • What did you say in your first paragraph? Why? • What did you say in your middle paragraphs? Why? • What qualifications did you highlight? Why? • What did you say in your conclusion? Why? • What are you taking away from this activity? Activity variations • This activity can be done individually instead. If few students in the class have prior experience writing a cover letter, this activity can be done with the entire class (using the instructor as a scribe in a blank document). Additional resources / supplementary resources Tags: employment communications, writing mechanics, grammar, style, tone, concision, hands-on, small group, creating a product or document, writing practice, cover letter	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/11%3A_Employment_communications/11.1%3A_Employment_skills_analysis.txt
Activity Guidelines Suggested course level Upper level undergraduate courses Activity purpose • Students will understand the context of how LinkedIn profiles are used and analyze profiles to determine what persuasive strategies are effective. • Students will also understand how their own values/assumptions/biases influence how they evaluate people in the workplace. Materials required • Printed LinkedIn profiles • Stickers in two colours (stars or pricing stickers for garage sales work well) • Whiteboard/chalkboard • Whiteboard markers or chalk • Tape Activity instructions 1. Go on LinkedIn and look for 12 – 15 LinkedIn profiles that have summaries filled out. Print them single-sided, ideally in colour. You may choose to blur the candidates’ names and photos. Depending on your class size, you may have to print duplicates so that everyone has one. 2. Sit the class in a circle and give each student a LinkedIn summary (face down), 10 red stickers and 10 yellow stickers (or whatever colours you have. Avoid red/green to accommodate students with colour blindness). 3. Tell students that the average recruiter spends 3 – 5 seconds looking at a LinkedIn profile before moving on and that we will be looking at these profiles under the same conditions that recruiters do. 4. Tell students that when you say “go,” they will flip over their paper and make a quick decision about the profile. If they like it, put a yellow sticker on it. If they don’t, put a red sticker on it. 5. Every 5 seconds, you will say “pass” and the student will have to pass the paper to their right. 6. When the activity starts, set a timer and yell “pass” every 5 seconds. 7. After the activity, ask the first set of debrief questions. 8. Then, sort the profiles by “greatest percentage of yellow stickers” to “greatest percentage of red stickers.” 9. Tape the profiles horizontally on a whiteboard or chalkboard so that they form a continuum of yellow to red. 10. If you printed duplicates, arrange the duplicates above each other so that students can see how the same profile was judged by two different audiences. 11. Then, ask students to walk along the line of LinkedIn profiles and look for trends. What do the most popular profiles have in common? What do the least popular profiles have in common? Why do you think the profiles in the middle sparked different reactions among students? 12. When a student notices a trend, they will write a note above/around the profile in whiteboard marker. For example, someone might note that the well-ranked summaries have professional photos. Someone might draw an arrow from a part of a profile that’s off-topic and write “irrelevant.” You will likely have to model this. 13. By the end of the exercise, the whiteboard should be filled with comments. Then, move along the line of profiles, linking student observations to persuasive strategies discussed in class. For example, you will likely find examples where writers have differentiated themselves by clearly showing why they’re unique, but you’ll also find examples of people trying too hard to be different and ending up being off-putting. 14. This activity often reveals assumptions/biases. For example, I’ve done this activity where all female profiles were ranked lower than male profiles, or where profiles of white people were ranked higher than profiles of BIPOC people. This has led to some interesting discussions about whether our snap judgments are trustworthy and what biases may underline our snap judgements. I also ask students whether they think LinkedIn is ethical, given that in many places it’s illegal to ask candidates to submit a photo with a job application. 15. You can also use the second set of questions to draw out any trends that students didn’t identify. 16. To finish the exercise, ask students to freewrite for 5 minutes on the topic “How will you apply what you learned in this activity when you write your own LinkedIn profile?” Debrief questions / activities • First questions • How did you make a decision about the LinkedIn profiles when you had so little time? • What did you look at first? • What made you like a profile? • What made you pass on a profile? • What was the most memorable profile? (Was it memorable in a good way?) • What was the most surprising part of this activity? • What was the hardest part of this activity? • How did you use your own experience when judging these profiles? • Second set of questions • What’s your biggest takeaway from this activity? • What do you think the writers of the profiles we liked least were trying to accomplish? • What are the top 5 things you can do to make your profile effective? • What assumptions do you think we’re making about the candidates? • Are all of these assumptions fair? • What makes a candidate “unprofessional?” • Given that it’s illegal in many places to ask candidates to submit a photo with a job application, do you think LinkedIn is ethical? Activity variations • You can leave out the second and third steps. If students aren’t writing a LinkedIn profile, you can focus the questions more towards what persuasive strategies you’re discussing in class. • You can also do this activity with cover letters or resumes, since recruiters also spend 3-5 seconds looking at those. The benefit of LinkedIn profiles, however, is that they have a visual component. • If you don’t have a whiteboard, you can have students annotate the profiles using Post-It notes. Tags: persuasive messages, employment communications, hands-on, whole class, LinkedIn profile, employment, job application, persuasion	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Book%3A_Student_Engagement_Activities_for_Business_Communications_(Ashman_et_al.)/11%3A_Employment_communications/11.3%3A_LinkedIn_lightning_round.txt
• 1.1: Sentence Writing Writing in complete sentences is one way to ensure that you communicate well. This section covers how to recognize and write basic sentence structures and how to avoid some common writing errors. • 1.2: Subject-Verb Agreement Grammatical mistakes in your writing or even in speaking make a negative impression on coworkers, clients, and potential employers. Subject-verb agreement is one of the most common errors that people make. Having a solid understanding of this concept is critical when making a good impression, and it will help ensure that your ideas are communicated clearly. • 1.3: Verb Tense It is important to use the proper verb tense. Otherwise, your listener might judge you harshly. Mistakes in tense often leave a listener or reader with a negative impression. • 1.4: Capitalization Knowing the basic rules of capitalization and using capitalization correctly gives the reader the impression that you choose your words carefully and care about the ideas you are conveying. • 1.5: Adjectives and Adverbs Pronouns help a writer avoid constant repetition. Knowing just how pronouns work is an important aspect of clear and concise writing. • 1.6: Adjectives and Adverbs Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that bring your writing to life. • 1.7: Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers A writer’s goal must always be to communicate clearly and to avoid distracting the reader with strange sentences or awkward sentence constructions. The good news is that these errors can be easily overcome by mastering modifiers. • 1.8: Writing Basics- End-of-Chapter Exercises 01: Writing Basics - What Makes a Good Sentence Learning Objectives 1. Identify the components of a basic sentence. 2. Identify the four most serious writing errors. Imagine you are reading a book for school. You need to find important details that you can use for an assignment. However, when you begin to read, you notice that the book has very little punctuation. Sentences fail to form complete paragraphs and instead form one block of text without clear organization. Most likely, this book would frustrate and confuse you. Without clear and concise sentences, it is difficult to find the information you need. For both students and professionals, clear communication is important. Whether you are typing an e-mail or writing a report, it is your responsibility to present your thoughts and ideas clearly and precisely. Writing in complete sentences is one way to ensure that you communicate well. This section covers how to recognize and write basic sentence structures and how to avoid some common writing errors. Components of a Sentence Clearly written, complete sentences require key information: a subject, a verb, and a complete idea. A sentence needs to make sense on its own. Sometimes, complete sentences are also called independent clauses. A clause is a group of words that may make up a sentence. An independent clause is a group of words that may stand alone as a complete, grammatically correct thought. The following sentences show independent clauses. All complete sentences have at least one independent clause. You can identify an independent clause by reading it on its own and looking for the subject and the verb. Subjects When you read a sentence, you may first look for the subject, or what the sentence is about. The subject usually appears at the beginning of a sentence as a noun or a pronoun. A noun is a word that identifies a person, place, thing, or idea. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. Common pronouns are I, he, she, it, you, they, and we. In the following sentences, the subject is underlined once. In these sentences, the subject is a person: Malik. The pronoun He replaces and refers back to Malik. In the first sentence, the subject is a place: computer lab. In the second sentence, the pronoun It substitutes for computer lab as the subject. In the first sentence, the subject is a thing: project. In the second sentence, the pronoun It stands in for the project. Tip In this chapter, please refer to the following grammar key: Compound Subjects A sentence may have more than one person, place, or thing as the subject. These subjects are called compound subjects. Compound subjects are useful when you want to discuss several subjects at once. Prepositional Phrases You will often read a sentence that has more than one noun or pronoun in it. You may encounter a group of words that includes a preposition with a noun or a pronoun. Prepositions connect a noun, pronoun, or verb to another word that describes or modifies that noun, pronoun, or verb. Common prepositions include in, on, under, near, by, with, and about. A group of words that begin with a preposition is called a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and modifies or describes a word. It cannot act as the subject of a sentence. The following circled phrases are examples of prepositional phrases. Exercise $1$ Read the following sentences. Underline the subjects, and circle the prepositional phrases. 1. The gym is open until nine o’clock tonight. 2. We went to the store to get some ice. 3. The student with the most extra credit will win a homework pass. 4. Maya and Tia found an abandoned cat by the side of the road. 5. The driver of that pickup truck skidded on the ice. 6. Anita won the race with time to spare. 7. The people who work for that company were surprised about the merger. 8. Working in haste means that you are more likely to make mistakes. 9. The soundtrack has over sixty songs in languages from around the world. 10. His latest invention does not work, but it has inspired the rest of us. Verbs Once you locate the subject of a sentence, you can move on to the next part of a complete sentence: the verb. A verb is often an action word that shows what the subject is doing. A verb can also link the subject to a describing word. There are three types of verbs that you can use in a sentence: action verbs, linking verbs, or helping verbs. Action Verbs A verb that connects the subject to an action is called an action verb. An action verb answers the question what is the subject doing? In the following sentences, the words underlined twice are action verbs. Linking Verbs A verb can often connect the subject of the sentence to a describing word. This type of verb is called a linking verb because it links the subject to a describing word. In the following sentences, the words underlined twice are linking verbs. If you have trouble telling the difference between action verbs and linking verbs, remember that an action verb shows that the subject is doing something, whereas a linking verb simply connects the subject to another word that describes or modifies the subject. A few verbs can be used as either action verbs or linking verbs. Although both sentences use the same verb, the two sentences have completely different meanings. In the first sentence, the verb describes the boy’s action. In the second sentence, the verb describes the boy’s appearance. Helping Verbs A third type of verb you may use as you write is a helping verb. Helping verbs are verbs that are used with the main verb to describe a mood or tense. Helping verbs are usually a form of be, do, or have. The word can is also used as a helping verb. Tip Whenever you write or edit sentences, keep the subject and verb in mind. As you write, ask yourself these questions to keep yourself on track: Subject: Who or what is the sentence about? Verb: Which word shows an action or links the subject to a description? Exercise $2$ Copy each sentence onto your own sheet of paper and underline the verb(s) twice. Name the type of verb(s) used in the sentence in the space provided (LV, HV, or V). 1. The cat sounds ready to come back inside. ________ 2. We have not eaten dinner yet. ________ 3. It took four people to move the broken-down car. ________ 4. The book was filled with notes from class. ________ 5. We walked from room to room, inspecting for damages. ________ 6. Harold was expecting a package in the mail. ________ 7. The clothes still felt damp even though they had been through the dryer twice. ________ 8. The teacher who runs the studio is often praised for his restoration work on old masterpieces. ________ Sentence Structure, Including Fragments and Run-ons Now that you know what makes a complete sentence—a subject and a verb—you can use other parts of speech to build on this basic structure. Good writers use a variety of sentence structures to make their work more interesting. This section covers different sentence structures that you can use to make longer, more complex sentences. Sentence Patterns Six basic subject-verb patterns can enhance your writing. A sample sentence is provided for each pattern. As you read each sentence, take note of where each part of the sentence falls. Notice that some sentence patterns use action verbs and others use linking verbs. Subject–Verb–Direct Object When you write a sentence with a direct object (DO), make sure that the DO receives the action of the verb. Subject–Verb–Indirect Object–Direct Object In this sentence structure, an indirect object explains to whom or to what the action is being done. The indirect object is a noun or pronoun, and it comes before the direct object in a sentence. Exercise $3$ Use what you have learned so far to bring variety in your writing. Use the following lines or your own sheet of paper to write six sentences that practice each basic sentence pattern. When you have finished, label each part of the sentence (S, V, LV, N, Adj, Adv, DO, IO). 1. ________________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________________ 3. ________________________________________________________________ 4. ________________________________________________________________ 5. ________________________________________________________________ 6. ________________________________________________________________ Collaboration Find an article in a newspaper, a magazine, or online that interests you. Bring it to class or post it online. Then, looking at a classmate’s article, identify one example of each part of a sentence (S, V, LV, N, Adj, Adv, DO, IO). Please share or post your results. Fragments The sentences you have encountered so far have been independent clauses. As you look more closely at your past writing assignments, you may notice that some of your sentences are not complete. A sentence that is missing a subject or a verb is called a fragment. A fragment may include a description or may express part of an idea, but it does not express a complete thought. Fragment: Children helping in the kitchen. Complete sentence: Children helping in the kitchen often make a mess. You can easily fix a fragment by adding the missing subject or verb. In the example, the sentence was missing a verb. Adding often make a mess creates an S-V-N sentence structure. See whether you can identify what is missing in the following fragments. Fragment: Told her about the broken vase. Complete sentence: I told her about the broken vase. Fragment: The store down on Main Street. Complete sentence: The store down on Main Street sells music. Common Sentence Errors Fragments often occur because of some common error, such as starting a sentence with a preposition, a dependent word, an infinitive, or a gerund. If you use the six basic sentence patterns when you write, you should be able to avoid these errors and thus avoid writing fragments. When you see a preposition, check to see that it is part of a sentence containing a subject and a verb. If it is not connected to a complete sentence, it is a fragment, and you will need to fix this type of fragment by combining it with another sentence. You can add the prepositional phrase to the end of the sentence. If you add it to the beginning of the other sentence, insert a comma after the prepositional phrase. Example A Example B Clauses that start with a dependent word—such as since, because, without, or unless—are similar to prepositional phrases. Like prepositional phrases, these clauses can be fragments if they are not connected to an independent clause containing a subject and a verb. To fix the problem, you can add such a fragment to the beginning or end of a sentence. If the fragment is added at the beginning of a sentence, add a comma. When you encounter a word ending in -ing in a sentence, identify whether or not this word is used as a verb in the sentence. You may also look for a helping verb. If the word is not used as a verb or if no helping verb is used with the -ing verb form, the verb is being used as a noun. An -ing verb form used as a noun is called a gerund. Once you know whether the -ing word is acting as a noun or a verb, look at the rest of the sentence. Does the entire sentence make sense on its own? If not, what you are looking at is a fragment. You will need to either add the parts of speech that are missing or combine the fragment with a nearby sentence. Incorrect: Taking deep breaths. Saul prepared for his presentation. Correct: Taking deep breaths, Saul prepared for his presentation. Correct: Saul prepared for his presentation. He was taking deep breaths. Incorrect: Congratulating the entire team. Sarah raised her glass to toast their success. Correct: She was congratulating the entire team. Sarah raised her glass to toast their success. Correct: Congratulating the entire team, Sarah raised her glass to toast their success. Another error in sentence construction is a fragment that begins with an infinitive. An infinitive is a verb paired with the word to; for example, to run, to write, or to reach. Although infinitives are verbs, they can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. You can correct a fragment that begins with an infinitive by either combining it with another sentence or adding the parts of speech that are missing. Incorrect: We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes. To reach the one thousand mark. Correct: We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes to reach the one thousand mark. Correct: We needed to make three hundred more paper cranes. We wanted to reach the one thousand mark. Exercise $4$ Copy the following sentences onto your own sheet of paper and circle the fragments. Then combine the fragment with the independent clause to create a complete sentence. 1. Working without taking a break. We try to get as much work done as we can in an hour. 2. I needed to bring work home. In order to meet the deadline. 3. Unless the ground thaws before spring break. We won’t be planting any tulips this year. 4. Turning the lights off after he was done in the kitchen. Robert tries to conserve energy whenever possible. 5. You’ll find what you need if you look. On the shelf next to the potted plant. 6. To find the perfect apartment. Deidre scoured the classifieds each day. Run-on Sentences Just as short, incomplete sentences can be problematic, lengthy sentences can be problematic too. Sentences with two or more independent clauses that have been incorrectly combined are known as run-on sentences. A run-on sentence may be either a fused sentence or a comma splice. Fused sentence: A family of foxes lived under our shed young foxes played all over the yard. Comma splice: We looked outside, the kids were hopping on the trampoline. When two complete sentences are combined into one without any punctuation, the result is a fused sentence. When two complete sentences are joined by a comma, the result is a comma splice. Both errors can easily be fixed. Punctuation One way to correct run-on sentences is to correct the punctuation. For example, adding a period will correct the run-on by creating two separate sentences. Using a semicolon between the two complete sentences will also correct the error. A semicolon allows you to keep the two closely related ideas together in one sentence. When you punctuate with a semicolon, make sure that both parts of the sentence are independent clauses. For more information on semicolons, see Section 1.4.2 "Capitalize Proper Nouns". Run-on: The accident closed both lanes of traffic we waited an hour for the wreckage to be cleared. Complete sentence: The accident closed both lanes of traffic; we waited an hour for the wreckage to be cleared. When you use a semicolon to separate two independent clauses, you may wish to add a transition word to show the connection between the two thoughts. After the semicolon, add the transition word and follow it with a comma. For more information on transition words, see Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Run-on: The project was put on hold we didn’t have time to slow down, so we kept working. Complete sentence: The project was put on hold; however, we didn’t have time to slow down, so we kept working. Coordinating Conjunctions You can also fix run-on sentences by adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction. A coordinating conjunction acts as a link between two independent clauses. Tip These are the seven coordinating conjunctions that you can use: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Use these words appropriately when you want to link the two independent clauses. The acronym FANBOYS will help you remember this group of coordinating conjunctions. Run-on: The new printer was installed, no one knew how to use it. Complete sentence: The new printer was installed, but no one knew how to use it. Dependent Words Adding dependent words is another way to link independent clauses. Like the coordinating conjunctions, dependent words show a relationship between two independent clauses. Run-on: We took the elevator, the others still got there before us. Complete sentence: Although we took the elevator, the others got there before us. Run-on: Cobwebs covered the furniture, the room hadn’t been used in years. Complete sentence: Cobwebs covered the furniture because the room hadn’t been used in years. Writing at Work Isabelle’s e-mail opens with two fragments and two run-on sentences containing comma splices. The e-mail ends with another fragment. What effect would this e-mail have on Mr. Blankenship or other readers? Mr. Blankenship or other readers may not think highly of Isaebelle’s communication skills or—worse—may not understand the message at all! Communications written in precise, complete sentences are not only more professional but also easier to understand. Before you hit the “send” button, read your e-mail carefully to make sure that the sentences are complete, are not run together, and are correctly punctuated. Exercise $5$ A reader can get lost or lose interest in material that is too dense and rambling. Use what you have learned about run-on sentences to correct the following passages: 1. The report is due on Wednesday but we’re flying back from Miami that morning. I told the project manager that we would be able to get the report to her later that day she suggested that we come back a day early to get the report done and I told her we had meetings until our flight took off. We e-mailed our contact who said that they would check with his boss, she said that the project could afford a delay as long as they wouldn’t have to make any edits or changes to the file our new deadline is next Friday. 2. Anna tried getting a reservation at the restaurant, but when she called they said that there was a waiting list so she put our names down on the list when the day of our reservation arrived we only had to wait thirty minutes because a table opened up unexpectedly which was good because we were able to catch a movie after dinner in the time we’d expected to wait to be seated. 3. Without a doubt, my favorite artist is Leonardo da Vinci, not because of his paintings but because of his fascinating designs, models, and sketches, including plans for scuba gear, a flying machine, and a life-size mechanical lion that actually walked and moved its head. His paintings are beautiful too, especially when you see the computer-enhanced versions researchers use a variety of methods to discover and enhance the paintings’ original colors, the result of which are stunningly vibrant and yet delicate displays of the man’s genius. KEY TAKEAWAYS • A sentence is complete when it contains both a subject and verb. A complete sentence makes sense on its own. • Every sentence must have a subject, which usually appears at the beginning of the sentence. A subject may be a noun (a person, place, or thing) or a pronoun. • A compound subject contains more than one noun. • A prepositional phrase describes, or modifies, another word in the sentence but cannot be the subject of a sentence. • A verb is often an action word that indicates what the subject is doing. Verbs may be action verbs, linking verbs, or helping verbs. • Variety in sentence structure and length improves writing by making it more interesting and more complex. • Focusing on the six basic sentence patterns will enhance your writing. • Fragments and run-on sentences are two common errors in sentence construction. • Fragments can be corrected by adding a missing subject or verb. Fragments that begin with a preposition or a dependent word can be corrected by combining the fragment with another sentence. • Run-on sentences can be corrected by adding appropriate punctuation or adding a coordinating conjunction. Writing Application Using the six basic sentence structures, write one of the following: 1. A work e-mail to a coworker about a presentation. 2. A business letter to a potential employer. 3. A status report about your current project. 4. A job description for your résumé.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.01%3A_Sentence_Writing.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Define the subject-verb agreement. 2. Identify common errors in subject-verb agreement. In the workplace, you want to present a professional image. Your outfit or suit says something about you when meeting face-to-face, and your writing represents you in your absence. Grammatical mistakes in your writing or even in speaking make a negative impression on coworkers, clients, and potential employers. Subject-verb agreement is one of the most common errors that people make. Having a solid understanding of this concept is critical when making a good impression, and it will help ensure that your ideas are communicated clearly. Agreement Agreement in speech and in writing refers to the proper grammatical match between words and phrases. Parts of sentences must agree, or correspond with other parts, in number, person, case, and gender. • Number. All parts must match in singular or plural forms. • Person. All parts must match in first person (I), second person (you), or third person (he, she, it, they) forms. • Case. All parts must match in subjective (I, you, he, she, it, they, we), objective (me, her, him, them, us), or possessive (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, their, theirs, our, ours) forms. For more information on pronoun case agreement, see Section 1.5.1 "Pronoun Agreement". • Gender. All parts must match in male or female forms. Subject-verb agreement describes the proper match between subjects and verbs. Because subjects and verbs are either singular or plural, the subject of a sentence and the verb of a sentence must agree with each other in number. That is, a singular subject belongs with a singular verb form, and a plural subject belongs with a plural verb form. For more information on subjects and verbs, see Section 1.1 "Sentence Writing". Regular Verbs Regular verbs follow a predictable pattern. For example, in the third person singular, regular verbs always end in -s. Other forms of regular verbs do not end in -s. Study the following regular verb forms in the present tense. Singular Form Plural Form First Person I live. We live. Second Person You live. You live. Third Person He/She/It lives. They live. Tip Add an -es to the third person singular form of regular verbs that end in -sh, -x, -ch, and -s. (I wish/He wishes, I fix/She fixes, I watch/It watches, I kiss/He kisses.) In these sentences, the verb form stays the same for the first person singular and the first person plural. In these sentences, the verb form stays the same for the second person singular and the second person plural. In the singular form, the pronoun you refers to one person. In the plural form, the pronoun you refers to a group of people, such as a team. In this sentence, the subject is mother. Because the sentence only refers to one mother, the subject is singular. The verb in this sentence must be in the third person singular form. In this sentence, the subject is friends. Because this subject refers to more than one person, the subject is plural. The verb in this sentence must be in the third person plural form. Tip Many singular subjects can be made plural by adding an -s. Most regular verbs in the present tense end with an -s in the third person singular. This does not make the verbs plural. Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, write the correct verb form for each of the following sentences. 1. I (brush/brushes) my teeth twice a day. 2. You (wear/wears) the same shoes every time we go out. 3. He (kick/kicks) the soccer ball into the goal. 4. She (watch/watches) foreign films. 5. Catherine (hide/hides) behind the door. 6. We (want/wants) to have dinner with you. 7. You (work/works) together to finish the project. 8. They (need/needs) to score another point to win the game. 9. It (eat/eats) four times a day. 10. David (fix/fixes) his own motorcycle. Irregular Verbs Not all verbs follow a predictable pattern. These verbs are called irregular verbs. Some of the most common irregular verbs are be, have, and do. Learn the forms of these verbs in the present tense to avoid errors in subject-verb agreement. Be Study the different forms of the verb to be in the present tense. Singular Form Plural Form First Person I am. We are. Second Person You are. You are. Third Person He/She/It is. They are. Have Study the different forms of the verb to have in the present tense. Singular Form Plural Form First Person I have. We have. Second Person You have. You have. Third Person He/She/It has. They have. Do Study the different forms of the verb to do in the present tense. Singular Form Plural Form First Person I do. We do. Second Person You do. You do. Third person He/She/It does. They do. Exercise $2$ Complete the following sentences by writing the correct present tense form of be, have, or do. Use your own sheet of paper to complete this exercise. 1. I ________ sure that you will succeed. 2. They ________ front-row tickets to the show. 3. He ________ a great Elvis impersonation. 4. We ________ so excited to meet you in person! 5. She ________ a fever and a sore throat. 6. You ________ not know what you are talking about. 7. You ________ all going to pass this class. 8. She ________ not going to like that. 9. It ________ appear to be the right size. 10. They ________ ready to take this job seriously. Errors in Subject-Verb Agreement Errors in subject-verb agreement may occur when • a sentence contains a compound subject; • the subject of the sentence is separate from the verb; • the subject of the sentence is an indefinite pronoun, such as anyone or everyone; • the subject of the sentence is a collective noun, such as team or organization; • the subject appears after the verb. Recognizing the sources of common errors in subject-verb agreement will help you avoid these errors in your writing. This section covers the subject-verb agreement errors in more detail. Compound Subjects A compound subject is formed by two or more nouns and the coordinating conjunctions and, or, or nor. A compound subject can be made of singular subjects, plural subjects, or a combination of singular and plural subjects. Compound subjects combined with and take a plural verb form. Compound subjects combined with or and nor are treated separately. The verb must agree with the subject that is nearest to the verb. Tip If you can substitute the word they for the compound subject, then the sentence takes the third person plural verb form. Separation of Subjects and Verbs As you read or write, you may come across a sentence that contains a phrase or clause that separates the subject from the verb. Often, prepositional phrases or dependent clauses add more information to the sentence and appear between the subject and the verb. However, the subject and the verb must still agree. If you have trouble finding the subject and verb, cross out or ignore the phrases and clauses that begin with prepositions or dependent words. The subject of a sentence will never be in a prepositional phrase or dependent clause. The following is an example of a subject and verb separated by a prepositional phrase: The following is an example of a subject and verb separated by a dependent clause: Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns refer to an unspecified person, thing, or number. When an indefinite pronoun serves as the subject of a sentence, you will often use a singular verb form. However, keep in mind that exceptions arise. Some indefinite pronouns may require a plural verb form. To determine whether to use a singular or plural verb with an indefinite pronoun, consider the noun that the pronoun would refer to. If the noun is plural, then use a plural verb with the indefinite pronoun. View the chart to see a list of common indefinite pronouns and the verb forms they agree with. Indefinite Pronouns That Always Take a Singular Verb Indefinite Pronouns That Can Take a Singular or Plural Verb anybody, anyone, anything All each Any everybody, everyone, everything None much Some many nobody, no one, nothing somebody, someone, something The indefinite pronoun everybody takes a singular verb form because everybody refers to a group performing the same action as a single unit. The indefinite pronoun all takes a plural verb form because all refers to the plural noun people. Because people is plural, all is plural. In this sentence, the indefinite pronoun all takes a singular verb form because all refers to the singular noun cake. Because cake is singular, all is singular. Collective Nouns A collective noun is a noun that identifies more than one person, place, or thing and considers those people, places, or things one singular unit. Because collective nouns are counted as one, they are singular and require a singular verb. Some commonly used collective nouns are group, team, army, flock, family, and class. In this sentence, class is a collective noun. Although the class consists of many students, the class is treated as a singular unit and requires a singular verb form. The Subject Follows the Verb You may encounter sentences in which the subject comes after the verb instead of before the verb. In other words, the subject of the sentence may not appear where you expect it to appear. To ensure proper subject-verb agreement, you must correctly identify the subject and the verb. Here or There In sentences that begin with here or there, the subject follows the verb. If you have trouble identifying the subject and the verb in sentences that start with here or there; it may help to reverse the order of the sentence so the subject comes first. Questions When you ask questions, a question word (who, what, where, when, why, or how) appears first. The verb and then the subject follow. Tip If you have trouble finding the subject and the verb in questions, try answering the question being asked. Exercise $3$ Correct the errors in subject-verb agreement in the following sentences. If there are no errors in subject-verb agreement, write OK. Copy the corrected sentence or the word OK on your own sheet of notebook paper. 1. My dog and cats chases each other all the time. ________________________________________________________________ 2. The books that are in my library is the best I have ever read. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Everyone are going to the concert except me. ________________________________________________________________ 4. My family are moving to California. ________________________________________________________________ 5. Here is the lake I told you about. ________________________________________________________________ 6. There is the newspapers I was supposed to deliver. ________________________________________________________________ 7. Which room is bigger? ________________________________________________________________ 8. When are the movie going to start? ________________________________________________________________ 9. My sister and brother cleans up after themselves. ________________________________________________________________ 10. Some of the clothes is packed away in the attic. ________________________________________________________________ Exercise $4$ Correct the errors in subject-verb agreement in the following paragraph. Copy the paragraph on a piece of notebook paper and make corrections. Dear Hiring Manager, I feels that I am the ideal candidate for the receptionist position at your company. I has three years of experience as a receptionist in a company that is similar to yours. My phone skills and written communication is excellent. These skills, and others that I have learned on the job, helps me understand that every person in a company helps make the business a success. At my current job, the team always say that I am very helpful. Everyone appreciate when I go the extra mile to get the job done right. My current employer and coworkers feels that I am an asset to the team. I is efficient and organized. Is there any other details about me that you would like to know? If so, please contact me. Here are my résumé. You can reach me by e-mail or phone. I looks forward to speaking with you in person. Thanks, Felicia Fellini Writing at Work Imagine that you are a prospective client and that you saw this ad online. Would you call Terra Services to handle your next project? Probably not! Mistakes in subject-verb agreement can cost a company business. Paying careful attention to grammatical details ensures professionalism that clients will recognize and respect. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Parts of sentences must agree in number, person, case, and gender. • A verb must always agree with its subject in number. A singular subject requires a singular verb; a plural subject requires a plural verb. • Irregular verbs do not follow a predictable pattern in their singular and plural forms. Common irregular verbs are to be, to have, and to do. • A compound subject is formed when two or more nouns are joined by the words and, or, or nor. • In some sentences, the subject and verb may be separated by a phrase or clause, but the verb must still agree with the subject. • Indefinite pronouns, such as anyone, each, everyone, many, no one, and something, refer to unspecified people or objects. Most indefinite pronouns are singular. • A collective noun is a noun that identifies more than one person, place, or thing and treats those people, places, or things one singular unit. Collective nouns require singular verbs. • In sentences that begin with here and there, the subject follows the verb. • In questions, the subject follows the verb. Writing Application Use your knowledge of subject-verb agreement to write one of the following: 1. An advertisement for a potential company 2. A memo to all employees of a particular company 3. A cover letter describing your qualifications to a potential employer Be sure to include at least the following: • One collective noun • One irregular verb • One question	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.02%3A_Subject-Verb_Agreement.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Use the correct regular verb tense in basic sentences. 2. Use the correct irregular verb tense in basic sentences. Suppose you must give an oral presentation about what you did last summer. How do you make it clear that you are talking about the past and not about the present or the future? Using the correct verb tense can help you do this. It is important to use the proper verb tense. Otherwise, your listener might judge you harshly. Mistakes in tense often leave a listener or reader with a negative impression. Regular Verbs Verbs indicate actions or states of being in the past, present, or future using tenses. Regular verbs follow regular patterns when shifting from the present to the past tense. For example, to form a past-tense or past-participle verb form, add -ed or -d to the end of a verb. You can avoid mistakes by understanding this basic pattern. Verb tense identifies the time of action described in a sentence. Verbs take different forms to indicate different tenses. Verb tenses indicate • an action or state of being in the present, • an action or state of being in the past, • an action or state of being in the future. Helping verbs, such as be and have, also work to create verb tenses, such as the future tense. Exercise $1$ Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct form of the verb in simple present, simple past, or simple future tenses. Write the corrected sentence on your own sheet of paper. 1. The Dust Bowl (is, was, will be) a name given to a period of very destructive dust storms that occurred in the United States during the 1930s. 2. Historians today (consider, considered, will consider) The Dust Bowl to be one of the worst weather of events in American history. 3. The Dust Bowl mostly (affects, affected, will affect) the states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. 4. Dust storms (continue, continued, will continue) to occur in these dry regions, but not to the devastating degree of the 1930s. 5. The dust storms during The Dust Bowl (cause, caused, will cause) irreparable damage to farms and the environment for a period of several years. 6. When early settlers (move, moved, will move) into this area, they (remove, removed, will remove) the natural prairie grasses in order to plant crops and graze their cattle. 7. They did not (realize, realized, will realize) that the grasses kept the soil in place. 8. There (is, was, will be) also a severe drought that (affects, affected, will affect) the region. 9. The worst dust storm (happens, happened, will happen) on April 14, 1935, a day called Black Sunday. 10. The Dust Bowl era finally came to end in 1939 when the rains (arrive, arrived, will arrive). 11. Dust storms (continue, continued, will continue) to affect the region, but hopefully they will not be as destructive as the storms of the 1930s. Irregular Verbs The past tense of irregular verbs is not formed using the patterns that regular verbs follow. Study Table $1$: "Irregular Verbs", which lists the most common irregular verbs. Tip The best way to learn irregular verbs is to memorize them. With the help of a classmate, create flashcards of irregular verbs and test yourselves until you master them. Table $1$: Irregular Verbs Simple Present Past Simple Present Past be was, were lose lost become became make made begin began mean meant blow blew meet met break broke pay paid bring brought put put build built quit quit burst burst read read buy bought ride rode catch caught ring rang choose chose rise rose come came run ran cut cut say said dive dove (dived) see saw do did seek sought draw drew sell sold drink drank send sent drive drove set set eat ate shake shook fall fell shine shone (shined) feed fed shrink shrank (shrunk) feel felt sing sang fight fought sit sat find found sleep slept fly flew speak spoke forget forgot spend spent forgive forgave spring sprang freeze froze stand stood get got steal stole give gave strike struck go went swim swam grow grew swing swung have had take took hear heard teach taught hide hid tear tore hold held tell told hurt hurt think thought keep kept throw threw know knew understand understood lay laid wake woke lead led wear wore leave left win won let let wind wound Here we consider using irregular verbs. Exercise $2$ Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct form of the irregular verb in simple present, simple past, or simple future tense. Copy the corrected sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. Marina finally (forgived, forgave, will forgive) her sister for snooping around her room. 2. The house (shook, shaked, shakes) as the airplane rumbled overhead. 3. I (buyed, bought, buy) several items of clothing at the thrift store on Wednesday. 4. She (put, putted, puts) the lotion in her shopping basket and proceeded to the checkout line. 5. The prized goose (layed, laid, lay) several golden eggs last night. 6. Mr. Batista (teached, taught, taughted) the class how to use correct punctuation. 7. I (drink, drank, will drink) several glasses of sparkling cider instead of champagne on New Year’s Eve next year. 8. Although Hector (growed, grew, grows) three inches in one year, we still called him “Little Hector.” 9. Yesterday our tour guide (lead, led, will lead) us through the maze of people in Times Square. 10. The rock band (burst, bursted, bursts) onto the music scene with their catchy songs. Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, write a sentence using the correct form of the verb tense shown below. 1. Throw (past) 2. Paint (simple present) 3. Smile (future) 4. Tell (past) 5. Share (simple present) Maintaining Consistent Verb Tense Consistent verb tense means the same verb tense is used throughout a sentence or a paragraph. As you write and revise, it is important to use the same verb tense consistently and to avoid shifting from one tense to another unless there is a good reason for the tense shift. In the following box, see whether you notice the difference between a sentence with consistent tense and one with inconsistent tense. Tip In some cases, clear communication will call for different tenses. Look at the following example: If the time frame for each action or state is different, a tense shift is appropriate. Exercise $4$ Edit the following paragraph by correcting the inconsistent verb tense. Copy the corrected paragraph onto your own sheet of paper. In the Middle Ages, most people lived in villages and work as agricultural laborers, or peasants. Every village has a “lord,” and the peasants worked on his land. Much of what they produce go to the lord and his family. What little food was leftover goes to support the peasants’ families. In return for their labor, the lord offers them protection. A peasant’s day usually began before sunrise and involves long hours of backbreaking work, which includes plowing the land, planting seeds, and cutting crops for harvesting. The working life of a peasant in the Middle Ages is usually demanding and exhausting. Writing at Work Read the following excerpt from a work e-mail: The inconsistent tense in the e-mail will very likely distract the reader from its overall point. Most likely, your coworkers will not correct your verb tenses or call attention to grammatical errors, but it is important to keep in mind that errors such as these do have a subtle negative impact in the workplace. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Verb tense helps you express when an event takes place. • Regular verbs follow regular patterns when shifting from present to past tense. • Irregular verbs do not follow regular, predictable patterns when shifting from present to past tense. • Using consistent verb tense is a key element to effective writing. Writing Application Tell a family story. You likely have several family stories to choose from, but pick the one that you find most interesting to write about. Use as many details as you can in the telling. As you write and proofread, make sure your all your verbs are correct and the tenses are consistent.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.03%3A_Verb_Tense.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Learn the basic rules of capitalization. 2. Identify common capitalization errors. Text messages, casual e-mails, and instant messages often ignore the rules of capitalization. In fact, it can seem unnecessary to capitalize in these contexts. In other, more formal forms of communication, however, knowing the basic rules of capitalization and using capitalization correctly gives the reader the impression that you choose your words carefully and care about the ideas you are conveying. Capitalize Proper Nouns Proper nouns—the names of specific people, places, objects, streets, buildings, events, or titles of individuals—are always capitalized. Tip Always capitalize nationalities, races, languages, and religions. For example, American, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and so on. Do not capitalize nouns for people, places, things, streets, buildings, events, and titles when the noun is used in general or common way. See the following chart for the difference between proper nouns and common nouns. Common Noun Proper Noun museum The Art Institute of Chicago theater Apollo Theater country Malaysia uncle Uncle Javier doctor Dr. Jackson book Pride and Prejudice college Smith College war the Spanish-American War historical event The Renaissance Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, write five proper nouns for each common noun that is listed. The first one has been done for you. Common noun: river 1. Nile River Common noun: musician Common noun: magazine Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Capitalize Titles Tip Computer-related words such as “Internet” and “World Wide Web” are usually capitalized; however, “e-mail” and “online” are never capitalized. Exercise $2$ Edit the following sentences by correcting the capitalization of the titles or names. 1. The prince of england enjoys playing polo. 2. “Ode to a nightingale” is a sad poem. 3. My sister loves to read magazines such as the new yorker. 4. The house on Mango street is an excellent novel written by Sandra Cisneros. 5. My physician, dr. alvarez, always makes me feel comfortable in her office. Exercise $3$ Edit the following paragraphs by correcting the capitalization. david grann’s the lost City of Z mimics the snake-like winding of the amazon River. The three distinct Stories that are introduced are like twists in the River. First, the Author describes his own journey to the amazon in the present day, which is contrasted by an account of percy fawcett’s voyage in 1925 and a depiction of James Lynch’s expedition in 1996. Where does the river lead these explorers? the answer is one that both the Author and the reader are hungry to discover. The first lines of the preface pull the reader in immediately because we know the author, david grann, is lost in the amazon. It is a compelling beginning not only because it’s thrilling but also because this is a true account of grann’s experience. grann has dropped the reader smack in the middle of his conflict by admitting the recklessness of his decision to come to this place. the suspense is further perpetuated by his unnerving observation that he always considered himself A Neutral Witness, never getting personally involved in his stories, a notion that is swiftly contradicted in the opening pages, as the reader can clearly perceive that he is in a dire predicament—and frighteningly involved. Writing at Work Did you know that, if you use all capital letters to convey a message, the capital letters come across like shouting? In addition, all capital letters are actually more difficult to read and may annoy the reader. To avoid “shouting” at or annoying your reader, follow the rules of capitalization and find other ways to emphasize your point. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Learning and applying the basic rules of capitalization is a fundamental aspect of good writing. • Identifying and correcting errors in capitalization is an important writing skill. Writing Application Write a one-page biography. Make sure to identify people, places, and dates and use capitalization correctly.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.04%3A_Capitalization.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the components of a basic sentence. 2. Identify the four most serious writing errors. If there were no pronouns, all types of writing would be quite tedious to read. We would soon be frustrated by reading sentences like Bob said that Bob was tired or Christina told the class that Christina received an A. Pronouns help a writer avoid constant repetition. Knowing just how pronouns work is an important aspect of clear and concise writing. Pronoun Agreement A pronoun is a word that takes the place of (or refers back to) a noun or another pronoun. The word or words a pronoun refers to is called the antecedent of the pronoun. 1. Lani complained that she was exhausted. • She refers to Lani. • Lani is the antecedent of she. 2. Jeremy left the party early, so I did not see him until Monday at work. • Him refers to Jeremy. • Jeremy is the antecedent of him. 3. Crina and Rosalie have been best friends ever since they were freshman in high school. • They refers to Crina and Rosalie. • Crina and Rosalie is the antecedent of they. Pronoun agreement errors occur when the pronoun and the antecedent do not match or agree with each other. There are several types of pronoun agreement. Agreement in Number If the pronoun takes the place of or refers to a singular noun, the pronoun must also be singular. Agreement in Person Singular Pronouns Plural Pronouns First Person I me my (mine) we us our (ours) Second Person you you your (yours) you you your (your) Third Person he, she, it him, her, it his, her, its they them their (theirs) If you use a consistent person, your reader is less likely to be confused. Exercise $1$ Edit the following paragraph by correcting pronoun agreement errors in number and person. Over spring break I visited my older cousin, Diana, and they took me to a butterfly exhibit at a museum. Diana and I have been close ever since she was young. Our mothers are twin sisters, and she is inseparable! Diana knows how much I love butterflies, so it was their special present to me. I have a soft spot for caterpillars too. I love them because something about the way it transforms is so interesting to me. One summer my grandmother gave me a butterfly growing kit, and you got to see the entire life cycle of five Painted Lady butterflies. I even got to set it free. So when my cousin said they wanted to take me to the butterfly exhibit, I was really excited! Indefinite Pronouns and Agreement Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a specific person or thing and are usually singular. Note that a pronoun that refers to an indefinite singular pronoun should also be singular. The following are some common indefinite pronouns. Common Indefinite Pronouns all each one few nothing several any each other many one some anybody either neither one another somebody anything everybody nobody oneself someone both everyone none other something each everything no one others anyone Collective Nouns Collective nouns suggest more than one person but are usually considered singular. Look over the following examples of collective nouns. Common Collective Nouns audience faculty public band family school class government society committee group team company jury tribe Exercise $2$ Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct pronoun. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper. Then circle the noun the pronoun replaces. 1. In the current economy, nobody wants to waste ________ money on frivolous things. 2. If anybody chooses to go to medical school, ________ must be prepared to work long hours. 3. The plumbing crew did ________ best to repair the broken pipes before the next ice storm. 4. If someone is rude to you, try giving ________ a smile in return. 5. My family has ________ faults, but I still love them no matter what. 6. The school of education plans to train ________ students to be literacy tutors. 7. The commencement speaker said that each student has a responsibility toward ________. 8. My mother’s singing group has ________ rehearsals on Thursday evenings. 9. No one should suffer ________ pains alone. 10. I thought the flock of birds lost ________ way in the storm. Subject and Object Pronouns Subject pronouns function as subjects in a sentence. Object pronouns function as the object of a verb or of a preposition. Singular Pronouns Plural Pronouns Subject Object Subject Object I me we us you you you you he, she, it him, her, it they them The following sentences show pronouns as subjects: 1. She loves the Blue Ridge Mountains in the fall. 2. Every summer, they picked up litter from national parks. The following sentences show pronouns as objects: 1. Marie leaned over and kissed him. 2. Jane moved it to the corner. Tip Note that a pronoun can also be the object of a preposition. Near them, the children played. My mother stood between us. The pronouns us and them are objects of the prepositions near and between. They answer the questions near whom? And between whom? Compound subject pronouns are two or more pronouns joined by a conjunction or a preposition that function as the subject of the sentence. The following sentences show pronouns with compound subjects: Incorrect:Me and Harriet visited the Grand Canyon last summer. Correct:Harriet and I visited the Grand Canyon last summer. Correct: Jenna accompanied Harriet and me on our trip. Tip Note that object pronouns are never used in the subject position. One way to remember this rule is to remove the other subject in a compound subject, leave only the pronoun, and see whether the sentence makes sense. For example, Me visited the Grand Canyon last summer sounds immediately incorrect. Compound object pronouns are two or more pronouns joined by a conjunction or a preposition that function as the object of the sentence. Incorrect: I have a good feeling about Janice and I. Correct: I have a good feeling about Janice and me. Tip It is correct to write Janice and me, as opposed to me and Janice. Just remember it is more polite to refer to yourself last. Writing at Work In casual conversation, people sometimes mix up subject and object pronouns. For instance, you might say, “Me and Donnie went to a movie last night.” However, when you are writing or speaking at work or in any other formal situation, you need to remember the distinctions between subject and object pronouns and be able to correct yourself. These subtle grammar corrections will enhance your professional image and reputation. Exercise $3$ Revise the following sentences in which the subject and object pronouns are used incorrectly. Copy the revised sentence onto your own sheet of paper. Write a C for each sentence that is correct. 1. Meera and me enjoy doing yoga together on Sundays. ________________________________________________________________ 2. She and him have decided to sell their house. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Between you and I, I do not think Jeffrey will win the election. ________________________________________________________________ 4. Us and our friends have game night the first Thursday of every month. ________________________________________________________________ 5. They and I met while on vacation in Mexico. ________________________________________________________________ 6. Napping on the beach never gets boring for Alice and I. ________________________________________________________________ 7. New Year’s Eve is not a good time for she and I to have a serious talk. ________________________________________________________________ 8. You exercise much more often than me. ________________________________________________________________ 9. I am going to the comedy club with Yolanda and she. ________________________________________________________________ 10. The cooking instructor taught her and me a lot. ________________________________________________________________ Who versus Whom Who or whoever is always the subject of a verb. Use who or whoever when the pronoun performs the action indicated by the verb. Who won the marathon last Tuesday? I wonder who came up with that terrible idea! On the other hand, whom and whomever serve as objects. They are used when the pronoun does not perform an action. Use whom or whomever when the pronoun is the direct object of a verb or the object of a preposition. Whom did Frank marry the third time? (direct object of verb) From whom did you buy that old record player? (object of preposition) Tip If you are having trouble deciding when to use who and whom, try this trick. Take the following sentence: Who/Whom do I consider my best friend? Reorder the sentence in your head, using either he or him in place of who or whom. I consider him my best friend. I consider he my best friend. Which sentence sounds better? The first one, of course. So the trick is, if you can use him, you should use whom. Exercise $4$ Complete the following sentences by adding who or whom. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. ________ hit the home run? 2. I remember ________ won the Academy Award for Best Actor last year. 3. To ________ is the letter addressed? 4. I have no idea ________ left the iron on, but I am going to find out. 5. ________ are you going to recommend for the internship? 6. With ________ are you going to Hawaii? 7. No one knew ________ the famous actor was. 8. ________ in the office knows how to fix the copy machine? 9. From ________ did you get the concert tickets? 10. No one knew ________ ate the cake mom was saving. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Pronouns and their antecedents need to agree in number and person. • Most indefinite pronouns are singular. • Collective nouns are usually singular. • Pronouns can function as subjects or objects. • Subject pronouns are never used as objects, and object pronouns are never used as subjects. • Who serves as a subject of a verb. • Whom serves as an object of a sentence or the object of a preposition. Writing Application Write about what makes an ideal marriage or long-term relationship. Provide specific details to back up your assertions. After you have written a few paragraphs, go back and proofread your paper for correct pronoun usage.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.05%3A_Adjectives_and_Adverbs.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify adjectives and adverbs. 2. Use adjectives and adverbs correctly. Adjectives and adverbs are descriptive words that bring your writing to life. Adjectives and Adverbs An adjective is a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It often answers questions such as which one, what kind, or how many? 1. The green sweater belongs to Iris. 2. She looks beautiful. • In sentence 1, the adjective green describes the noun sweater. • In sentence 2, the adjective beautiful describes the pronoun she. An adverb is a word that describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs frequently end in -ly. They answer questions such as how, to what extent, why, when, and where. 3. Bertrand sings horribly. 4. My sociology instructor is extremely wise. 5. He threw the ball very accurately. • In sentence 3, horribly describes the verb sings. How does Bertrand sing? He sings horribly. • In sentence 4, extremely describes the adjective wise. How wise is the instructor? Extremely wise. • In sentence 5, very describes the adverb accurately. How accurately did he throw the ball? Very accurately. Exercise $1$ Complete the following sentences by adding the correct adjective or adverb from the list in the previous section. Identify the word as an adjective or an adverb (Adj, Adv). 1. Frederick ________ choked on the piece of chicken when he saw Margaret walk through the door. 2. His ________ eyes looked at everyone and everything as if they were specimens in a biology lab. 3. Despite her pessimistic views on life, Lauren believes that most people have ________ hearts. 4. Although Stefan took the criticism ________, he remained calm. 5. The child developed a ________ imagination because he read a lot of books. 6. Madeleine spoke ________ while she was visiting her grandmother in the hospital. 7. Hector’s most ________ possession was his father’s bass guitar from the 1970s. 8. My definition of a ________ afternoon is walking to the park on a beautiful day, spreading out my blanket, and losing myself in a good book. 9. She ________ eyed her new coworker and wondered if he was single. 10. At the party, Denise ________ devoured two pieces of pepperoni pizza and a several slices of ripe watermelon. Comparative versus Superlative Comparative adjectives and adverbs are used to compare two people or things. 1. Jorge is thin. 2. Steven is thinner than Jorge. • Sentence 1 describes Jorge with the adjective thin. • Sentence 2 compares Jorge to Steven, stating that Steven is thinner. So thinner is the comparative form of thin. Form comparatives in one of the following two ways: 1. If the adjective or adverb is a one syllable word, add -er to it to form the comparative. For example, big, fast, and short would become bigger, faster, and shorter in the comparative form. 2. If the adjective or adverb is a word of two or more syllables, place the word more in front of it to form the comparative. For example, happily, comfortable, and jealous would become more happily, more comfortable, and more jealous in the comparative. Superlative adjectives and adverbs are used to compare more than two people or two things. 1. Jackie is the loudest cheerleader on the squad. 2. Kenyatta was voted the most confident student by her graduating class. • Sentence 1 shows that Jackie is not just louder than one other person, but she is the loudest of all the cheerleaders on the squad. • Sentence 2 shows that Kenyatta was voted the most confident student of all the students in her class. Form superlatives in one of the following two ways: 1. If the adjective or adverb is a one-syllable word, add -est to form the superlative. For example, big, fast, and short would become biggest, fastest, and shortest in the superlative form. 2. If the adjective or adverb is a word of two or more syllables, place the word most in front of it. For example, happily, comfortable, and jealous would become most happily, most comfortable, and most jealous in the superlative form. Tip Remember the following exception: If the word has two syllables and ends in -y, change the -y to an -i and add -est. For example, happy would change to happiest in the superlative form; healthy would change to healthiest. Exercise $2$ Edit the following paragraph by correcting the errors in comparative and superlative adjectives. Our argument started on the most sunny afternoon that I have ever experienced. Max and I were sitting on my front stoop when I started it. I told him that my dog, Jacko, was more smart than his dog, Merlin. I could not help myself. Merlin never came when he was called, and he chased his tail and barked at rocks. I told Max that Merlin was the most dumbest dog on the block. I guess I was angrier about a bad grade that I received, so I decided to pick on poor little Merlin. Even though Max insulted Jacko too, I felt I had been more mean. The next day I apologized to Max and brought Merlin some of Jacko’s treats. When Merlin placed his paw on my knee and licked my hand, I was the most sorry person on the block. Collaboration Share and compare your answers with a classmate. Irregular Words: Good, Well, Bad, and Badly Good, well, bad, and badly are often used incorrectly. Study the following chart to learn the correct usage of these words and their comparative and superlative forms. Comparative Superlative Adjective good better best Adverb well better best Adjective bad worse worst Adverb badly worse worst Good versus Well Good is always an adjective—that is, a word that describes a noun or a pronoun. The second sentence is correct because well is an adverb that tells how something is done. Incorrect: Cecilia felt that she had never done so good on a test. Correct: Cecilia felt that she had never done so well on a test. Well is always an adverb that describes a verb, adverb, or adjective. The second sentence is correct because good is an adjective that describes the noun score. Incorrect: Cecilia’s team received a well score. Correct: Cecilia’s team received a good score. Bad versus Badly Bad is always an adjective. The second sentence is correct because badly is an adverb that tells how the speaker did on the test. Incorrect: I did bad on my accounting test because I didn’t study. Correct: I did badly on my accounting test because I didn’t study. Badly is always an adverb. The second sentence is correct because bad is an adjective that describes the noun thunderstorm. Incorrect: The coming thunderstorm looked badly. Correct: The coming thunderstorm looked bad. Better and Worse The following are examples of the use of better and worse: Tyra likes sprinting better than long distance running. The traffic is worse in Chicago than in Atlanta. Best and Worst The following are examples of the use of best and worst: Tyra sprints best of all the other competitors. Peter finished worst of all the runners in the race. Tip Remember better and worse compare two persons or things. Best and worst compare three or more persons or things. Exercise $3$ Write good, well, bad, or badly to complete each sentence. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. Donna always felt ________ if she did not see the sun in the morning. 2. The school board president gave a ________ speech for once. 3. Although my dog, Comet, is mischievous, he always behaves ________ at the dog park. 4. I thought my back injury was ________ at first, but it turned out to be minor. 5. Steve was shaking ________ from the extreme cold. 6. Apple crisp is a very ________ dessert that can be made using whole grains instead of white flour. 7. The meeting with my son’s math teacher went very ________. 8. Juan has a ________ appetite, especially when it comes to dessert. 9. Magritte thought the guests had a ________ time at the party because most people left early. 10. She ________ wanted to win the writing contest prize, which included a trip to New York. Exercise $4$ Write the correct comparative or superlative form of the word in parentheses. Copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. This research paper is ________ (good) than my last one. 2. Tanaya likes country music ________ (well) of all. 3. My motorcycle rides ________ (bad) than it did last summer. 4. That is the ________ (bad) joke my father ever told. 5. The hockey team played ________ (badly) than it did last season. 6. Tracey plays guitar ________ (well) than she plays the piano. 7. It will go down as one of the ________ (bad) movies I have ever seen. 8. The deforestation in the Amazon is ________ (bad) than it was last year. 9. Movie ticket sales are ________ (good) this year than last. 10. My husband says mystery novels are the ________ (good) types of books. Writing at Work The irregular words good, well, bad, and badly are often misused along with their comparative and superlative forms better, best, worse, and worst. You may not hear the difference between worse and worst, and therefore type it incorrectly. In a formal or business-like tone, use each of these words to write eight separate sentences. Assume these sentences will be seen and judged by your current or future employer. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Adjectives describe a noun or a pronoun. • Adverbs describe a verb, adjective, or another adverb. • Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective. • Comparative adjectives and adverbs compare two persons or things. • Superlative adjectives or adverbs compare more than two persons or things. • The adjectives good and bad and the adverbs well and badly are unique in their comparative and superlative forms and require special attention. Writing Application Using the exercises as a guide, write your own ten-sentence quiz for your classmate(s) using the concepts covered in this section. Try to include two questions from each subsection in your quiz. Exchange papers and see whether you can get a perfect score.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.06%3A_Adjectives_and_Adverbs.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify modifiers. 2. Learn how to correct misplaced and dangling modifiers. A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that clarifies or describes another word, phrase, or clause. Sometimes writers use modifiers incorrectly, leading to strange and unintentionally humorous sentences. The two common types of modifier errors are called misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers. If either of these errors occurs, readers can no longer read smoothly. Instead, they become stumped trying to figure out what the writer meant to say. A writer’s goal must always be to communicate clearly and to avoid distracting the reader with strange sentences or awkward sentence constructions. The good news is that these errors can be easily overcome. Misplaced Modifiers A misplaced modifier is a modifier that is placed too far from the word or words it modifies. Misplaced modifiers make the sentence awkward and sometimes unintentionally humorous. Incorrect: She wore a bicycle helmet on her head that was too large. Correct: She wore a bicycle helmet that was too large on her head. • Notice in the incorrect sentence it sounds as if her head was too large! Of course, the writer is referring to the helmet, not to the person’s head. The corrected version of the sentence clarifies the writer’s meaning. Look at the following two examples: Incorrect: They bought a kitten for my brother they call Shadow. Correct: They bought a kitten they call Shadow for my brother. • In the incorrect sentence, it seems that the brother’s name is Shadow. That’s because the modifier is too far from the word it modifies, which is kitten. Incorrect: The patient was referred to the physician with stomach pains. Correct: The patient with stomach pains was referred to the physician. • The incorrect sentence reads as if it is the physician who has stomach pains! What the writer means is that the patient has stomach pains. Tip Simple modifiers like only, almost, just, nearly, and barely often get used incorrectly because writers often stick them in the wrong place. Confusing: Tyler almost found fifty cents under the sofa cushions. Repaired: Tyler found almost fifty cents under the sofa cushions. • How do you almost find something? Either you find it or you do not. The repaired sentence is much clearer. Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the following sentences to correct the misplaced modifiers. 1. The young lady was walking the dog on the telephone. 2. I heard that there was a robbery on the evening news. 3. Uncle Louie bought a running stroller for the baby that he called “Speed Racer.” 4. Rolling down the mountain, the explorer stopped the boulder with his powerful foot. 5. We are looking for a babysitter for our precious six-year-old who doesn’t drink or smoke and owns a car. 6. The teacher served cookies to the children wrapped in aluminum foil. 7. The mysterious woman walked toward the car holding an umbrella. 8. We returned the wine to the waiter that was sour. 9. Charlie spotted a stray puppy driving home from work. 10. I ate nothing but a cold bowl of noodles for dinner. Dangling Modifiers A dangling modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes something that has been left out of the sentence. When there is nothing that the word, phrase, or clause can modify, the modifier is said to dangle. Incorrect:Riding in the sports car, the world whizzed by rapidly. Correct: As Jane was riding in the sports car, the world whizzed by rapidly. • In the incorrect sentence, riding in the sports car is dangling. The reader is left wondering who is riding in the sports car. The writer must tell the reader! Incorrect:Walking home at night, the trees looked like spooky aliens. Correct: As Jonas was walking home at night, the trees looked like spooky aliens. Correct: The trees looked like spooky aliens as Jonas was walking home at night. • In the incorrect sentence walking home at night is dangling. Who is walking home at night? Jonas. Note that there are two different ways the dangling modifier can be corrected. Incorrect: To win the spelling bee, Luis and Gerard should join our team. Correct: If we want to win the spelling bee this year, Luis and Gerard should join our team. • In the incorrect sentence, to win the spelling bee is dangling. Who wants to win the spelling bee? We do! Tip The following three steps will help you quickly spot a dangling modifier: 1. Look for an -ing modifier at the beginning of your sentence or another modifying phrase: Painting for three hours at night, the kitchen was finally finished by Maggie. (Painting is the -ing modifier.) 2. Underline the first noun that follows it: Painting for three hours at night, the kitchen was finally finished by Maggie. 3. Make sure the modifier and noun go together logically. If they do not, it is very likely you have a dangling modifier. After identifying the dangling modifier, rewrite the sentence. Painting for three hours at night, Maggie finally finished the kitchen. Exercise $2$ Rewrite the following the sentences onto your own sheet of paper to correct the dangling modifiers. 1. Bent over backward, the posture was very challenging. 2. Making discoveries about new creatures, this is an interesting time to be a biologist. 3. Walking in the dark, the picture fell off the wall. 4. Playing a guitar in the bedroom, the cat was seen under the bed. 5. Packing for a trip, a cockroach scurried down the hallway. 6. While looking in the mirror, the towel swayed in the breeze. 7. While driving to the veterinarian’s office, the dog nervously whined. 8. The priceless painting drew large crowds when walking into the museum. 9. Piled up next to the bookshelf, I chose a romance novel. 10. Chewing furiously, the gum fell out of my mouth. Exercise $3$ Rewrite the following paragraph correcting all the misplaced and dangling modifiers. I bought a fresh loaf of bread for my sandwich shopping in the grocery store. Wanting to make a delicious sandwich, the mayonnaise was thickly spread. Placing the cold cuts on the bread, the lettuce was placed on top. I cut the sandwich in half with a knife turning on the radio. Biting into the sandwich, my favorite song blared loudly in my ears. Humming and chewing, my sandwich went down smoothly. Smiling, my sandwich will be made again, but next time I will add cheese. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Misplaced and dangling modifiers make sentences difficult to understand. • Misplaced and dangling modifiers distract the reader. • There are several effective ways to identify and correct misplaced and dangling modifiers. Writing Application See how creative and humorous you can get by writing ten sentences with misplaced and dangling modifiers. This is a deceptively simple task, but rise to the challenge. Your writing will be stronger for it. Exchange papers with a classmate, and rewrite your classmate’s sentences to correct any misplaced modifiers.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.07%3A_Misplaced_and_Dangling_Modifiers.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Use the skills you have learned in the chapter. 2. Work collaboratively with other students. Exercises 1. On your own sheet of paper, identify each sentence as a fragment, a run-on, or correct (no error). Then rewrite the paragraph by correcting the sentence fragments and run-ons. My favorite book is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, he was born in 1894 and died in 1963 ________. Written in 1931 ________. A futuristic society where humans are born out of test tubes and kept in rigid social classes ________. This may not seem like a humorous premise for a novel, but Huxley uses satire, which is a type of humor that is used to make a serious point ________. The humans in Brave New World learn through sleep teaching, Huxley calls this “hypnopedia” ________. Everyone is kept “happy” in the brave new world by taking a pill called soma, there is one character named John the Savage who does not take soma ________. because he comes from a different part of the world where there is no technology, and he believes in natural ways of living ________. It turns out that John has a big problem with the brave new world and how people live there ________. Will he be able to survive living there, well you will have to read the novel to find out ________. Brave New World is considered a classic in English literature, it is one of the best novels I have ever read ________. 2. Each sentence contains an error in subject-verb agreement, irregular verb form, or consistent verb tense. Identify the type of error. Then, on your own sheet of paper, rewrite the sentence correctly. 1. Maria and Ty meets me at the community center for cooking classes on Tuesdays. ________________________________________________________________ 2. John’s ability to laugh at almost anything amaze me. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Samantha and I were walking near the lake when the large, colorful bird appears. ________________________________________________________________ 4. I builded my own telescope using materials I bought at the hardware store. ________________________________________________________________ 5. My mother freezed the remaining tomatoes from her garden so that she could use them during the winter. ________________________________________________________________ 6. Bernard asked the stranger sitting next to him for the time, and she says it was past midnight. ________________________________________________________________ 7. My mother and brother wears glasses, but my father and sister do not. ________________________________________________________________ 8. We held our noses as the skunk runs away. ________________________________________________________________ 9. Neither Soren nor Andrew are excited about the early morning swim meet. ________________________________________________________________ 10. My hands hurted at the thought of transcribing all those notes. ________________________________________________________________ 11. The police questioned the suspect for hours but she gives them no useful information. ________________________________________________________________ 12. Terry takes short weekend trips because her job as a therapist was very emotionally draining. ________________________________________________________________ 13. She criticize delicately, making sure not to hurt anyone’s feelings. ________________________________________________________________ 14. Davis winded the old clock and set it atop his nightstand. ________________________________________________________________ 15. Cherie losed four poker hands in a row before realizing that she was playing against professionals. ________________________________________________________________ 16. Janis and Joan describes their trip to the Amazon in vivid detail. ________________________________________________________________ 17. You should decides for yourself whether or not to reduce the amount of processed foods in your diet. ________________________________________________________________ 18. The oil rig exploded and spills millions of gallons of oil into the ocean. ________________________________________________________________ 19. The handsome vampire appeared out of nowhere and smiles at the smitten woman. ________________________________________________________________ 20. The batter swinged at the ball several times but never hit it. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Correct the capitalization errors in the following fictional story. Copy the corrected paragraph onto your own sheet of paper. lance worthington signed a Recording Contract with Capitol records on june 15, 2007. Despite selling two million copies of his Debut Album, nothing to lose, lance lost quite a bit as his tax returns from the irs revealed. lance did not think it was fair that the Record Company kept so much of his earnings, so he decided to hire robert bergman, a prominent music Attorney with a Shark-like reputation. bergman represented lance all the way to the supreme court, where lance won the case against capitol records. Lance worthington was instrumental in changing intellectual property rights and long standing Record Company practices. All artists and musicians can thank him for his brave stance against record companies. Lance subsequently formed his own independent record label called worthy records. worthy is now a successful Label based out of chicago, illinois, and its Artists have appeared on well known shows such as The tonight show and Saturday night live. Lance worthington is a model for success in the do-it-yourself World that has become the Music Industry. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 4. Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct comparative or superlative adjective or adverb. Then copy the completed sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. Denise has a (cheerful) ________ outlook on life than her husband. 2. I don’t mean to brag, but I think I am the (good) ________ cook in my family. 3. Lydia is the (thoughtful) ________ person I know. 4. Italy experienced the (bad) ________ heat wave in its history last year. 5. My teacher, Ms. Beckett, is the (strange) ________ person I know, and I like that. 6. Dorian’s drawing skills are (good) ________ this semester than last. 7. My handwriting is the (sloppy) ________ of all my classmates. 8. Melvin’s soccer team played (badly) ________ than it did last season. 9. Josie’s pen writes (smooth) ________ than mine. 10. I felt (lucky) ________ than my sister because I got in to the college of my choice.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/01%3A_Writing_Basics_-_What_Makes_a_Good_Sentence/1.08%3A_Writing_Basics-_End-of-Chapter_Exercises.txt
• 2.1: Commas One of the punctuation clues to reading you may encounter is the comma. The comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or a separation of things in a list. Commas can be used in a variety of ways. • 2.2: Semicolons The semicolon indicates a break in the flow of a sentence, but functions differently than a period or a comma. When you encounter a semicolon while reading aloud, this represents a good place to pause and take a breath. • 2.3: Colons Use a colon to introduce lists, quotes, examples, and explanations. You can also use a colon after the greeting in business letters and memos. • 2.4: Quotes Quotation marks set off a group of words from the rest of the text. Use quotation marks to indicate direct quotations of another person’s words or to indicate a title. Quotation marks always appear in pairs. • 2.5: Apostrophes An apostrophe is a punctuation mark that is used with a noun to show possession or to indicate where a letter has been left out to form a contraction. • 2.6: Parentheses Parentheses ( ) are punctuation marks that are always used in pairs and contain material that is secondary to the meaning of a sentence. • 2.7: Dashes A dash is a punctuation mark used to set off information in a sentence for emphasis. • 2.8: Hyphens A hyphen looks similar to a dash but is shorter and used in different ways. • 2.9: Punctuation- End-of-Chapter Exercises Thumbnail: (Pixabay License; PDPics via Pixabay) 02: Punctuation Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of commas. 2. Correctly use commas in sentences. One of the punctuation clues to reading you may encounter is the comma. The comma is a punctuation mark that indicates a pause in a sentence or a separation of things in a list. Commas can be used in a variety of ways. Look at some of the following sentences to see how you might use a comma when writing a sentence. • Introductory word: Personally, I think the practice is helpful. • Lists: The barn, the tool shed, and the back porch were destroyed by the wind. • Coordinating adjectives: He was tired, hungry, and late. • Conjunctions in compound sentences: The bedroom door was closed, so the children knew their mother was asleep. • Interrupting words: I knew where it was hidden, of course, but I wanted them to find it themselves. • Dates, addresses, greetings, and letters: The letter was postmarked December 8, 1945. Commas after an Introductory Word or Phrase You may notice a comma that appears near the beginning of the sentence, usually after a word or phrase. This comma lets the reader know where the introductory word or phrase ends and the main sentence begins. Without spoiling the surprise, we need to tell her to save the date. In this sentence, without spoiling the surprise is an introductory phrase, while we need to tell her to save the date is the main sentence. Notice how they are separated by a comma. When only an introductory word appears in the sentence, a comma also follows the introductory word. Ironically, she already had plans for that day. Exercise $1$ Look for the introductory word or phrase. On your own sheet of paper, copy the sentence and add a comma to correct the sentence. 1. Suddenly the dog ran into the house. 2. In the blink of an eye the kids were ready to go to the movies. 3. Confused he tried opening the box from the other end. 4. Every year we go camping in the woods. 5. Without a doubt green is my favorite color. 6. Hesitating she looked back at the directions before proceeding. 7. Fortunately the sleeping baby did not stir when the doorbell rang. 8. Believe it or not the criminal was able to rob the same bank three times. Commas in a List of Items When you want to list several nouns in a sentence, you separate each word with a comma. This allows the reader to pause after each item and identify which words are included in the grouping. When you list items in a sentence, put a comma after each noun, then add the word and before the last item. However, you do not need to include a comma after the last item. We’ll need to get flour, tomatoes, and cheese at the store. The pizza will be topped with olives, peppers, and pineapple chunks. Commas and Coordinating Adjectives You can use commas to list both adjectives and nouns. A string of adjectives that describe a noun are called coordinating adjectives. These adjectives come before the noun they modify and are separated by commas. One important thing to note, however, is that unlike listing nouns, the word and does not always need to be before the last adjective. It was a bright, windy, clear day. Our kite glowed red, yellow, and blue in the morning sunlight. Exercise $2$ On your own sheet of paper, use what you have learned so far about comma use to add commas to the following sentences. 1. Monday Tuesday and Wednesday are all booked with meetings. 2. It was a quiet uneventful unproductive day. 3. We’ll need to prepare statements for the Franks Todds and Smiths before their portfolio reviews next week. 4. Michael Nita and Desmond finished their report last Tuesday. 5. With cold wet aching fingers he was able to secure the sails before the storm. 6. He wrote his name on the board in clear precise delicate letters. Commas before Conjunctions in Compound Sentences Commas are sometimes used to separate two independent clauses. The comma comes after the first independent clause and is followed by a conjunction, such as for, and, or but. For a full list of conjunctions, see Chapter 1 "Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?". He missed class today, and he thinks he will be out tomorrow, too. He says his fever is gone, but he is still very tired. Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, create a compound sentence by combining the two independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction. 1. The presentation was scheduled for Monday. The weather delayed the presentation for four days. ________________________________________________________________ 2. He wanted a snack before bedtime. He ate some fruit. ________________________________________________________________ 3. The patient is in the next room. I can hardly hear anything. ________________________________________________________________ 4. We could go camping for vacation. We could go to the beach for vacation. ________________________________________________________________ 5. I want to get a better job. I am taking courses at night. ________________________________________________________________ 6. I cannot move forward on this project. I cannot afford to stop on this project. ________________________________________________________________ 7. Patrice wants to stop for lunch. We will take the next exit to look for a restaurant. ________________________________________________________________ 8. I’ve got to get this paper done. I have class in ten minutes. ________________________________________________________________ 9. The weather was clear yesterday. We decided to go on a picnic. ________________________________________________________________ 10. I have never dealt with this client before. I know Leonardo has worked with them. Let’s ask Leonardo for his help. ________________________________________________________________ Commas before and after Interrupting Words In conversations, you might interrupt your train of thought by giving more details about what you are talking about. In a sentence, you might interrupt your train of thought with a word or phrase called interrupting words. Interrupting words can come at the beginning or middle of a sentence. When the interrupting words appear at the beginning of the sentence, a comma appears after the word or phrase. If you can believe it, people once thought the sun and planets orbited around Earth. Luckily, some people questioned that theory. When interrupting words come in the middle of a sentence, they are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. You can determine where the commas should go by looking for the part of the sentence that is not essential for the sentence to make sense. An Italian astronomer, Galileo, proved that Earth orbited the sun. We have known, for hundreds of years now, that the Earth and other planets exist in a solar system. Exercise $4$ On your own sheet of paper, copy the sentence and insert commas to separate the interrupting words from the rest of the sentence. 1. I asked my neighbors the retired couple from Florida to bring in my mail. 2. Without a doubt his work has improved over the last few weeks. 3. Our professor Mr. Alamut drilled the lessons into our heads. 4. The meeting is at noon unfortunately which means I will be late for lunch. 5. We came in time for the last part of dinner but most importantly we came in time for dessert. 6. All of a sudden our network crashed and we lost our files. 7. Alex hand the wrench to me before the pipe comes loose again. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Commas in Dates, Addresses, and the Greetings and Closings of Letters You also use commas when you write the date, such as in cover letters and e-mails. Commas are used when you write the date, when you include an address, and when you greet someone. If you are writing out the full date, add a comma after the day and before the year. You do not need to add a comma when you write the month and day or when you write the month and the year. If you need to continue the sentence after you add a date that includes the day and year, add a comma after the end of the date. The letter is postmarked May 4, 2001. Her birthday is May 5. He visited the country in July 2009. I registered for the conference on March 7, 2010, so we should get our tickets soon. You also use commas when you include addresses and locations. When you include an address in a sentence, be sure to place a comma after the street and after the city. Do not place a comma between the state and the zip code. Like a date, if you need to continue the sentence after adding the address, simply add a comma after the address. We moved to 4542 Boxcutter Lane, Hope, Missouri 70832. After moving to Boston, Massachusetts, Eric used public transportation to get to work. Greetings are also separated by commas. When you write an e-mail or a letter, you add a comma after the greeting word or the person’s name. You also need to include a comma after the closing, which is the word or phrase you put before your signature. Hello, I would like more information about your job posting. Thank you, Anita Al-Sayf Dear Mrs. Al-Sayf, Thank you for your letter. Please read the attached document for details. Sincerely, Jack Fromont Exercise $5$ On your own sheet of paper, use what you have learned about using commas to edit the following letter. March 27 2010 Alexa Marché 14 Taylor Drive Apt. 6 New Castle Maine 90342 Dear Mr. Timmons Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I am available on Monday the fifth. I can stop by your office at any time. Is your address still 7309 Marcourt Circle #501? Please get back to me at your earliest convenience. Thank you Alexa Exercise $6$ On your own sheet of paper, use what you have learned about comma usage to edit the following paragraphs. 1. My brother Nathaniel is a collector of many rare unusual things. He has collected lunch boxes limited edition books and hatpins at various points of his life. His current collection of unusual bottles has over fifty pieces. Usually he sells one collection before starting another. 2. Our meeting is scheduled for Thursday March 20. In that time we need to gather all our documents together. Alice is in charge of the timetables and schedules. Tom is in charge of updating the guidelines. I am in charge of the presentation. To prepare for this meeting please print out any e-mails faxes or documents you have referred to when writing your sample. 3. It was a cool crisp autumn day when the group set out. They needed to cover several miles before they made camp so they walked at a brisk pace. The leader of the group Garth kept checking his watch and their GPS location. Isabelle Raoul and Maggie took turns carrying the equipment while Carrie took notes about the wildlife they saw. As a result no one noticed the darkening sky until the first drops of rain splattered on their faces. 4. Please have your report complete and filed by April 15 2010. In your submission letter please include your contact information the position you are applying for and two people we can contact as references. We will not be available for consultation after April 10 but you may contact the office if you have any questions. Thank you HR Department. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Punctuation marks provide visual cues to readers to tell them how to read a sentence. Punctuation marks convey meaning. • Commas indicate a pause or a list in a sentence. • A comma should be used after an introductory word to separate this word from the main sentence. • A comma comes after each noun in a list. The word and is added before the last noun, which is not followed by a comma. • A comma comes after every coordinating adjective except for the last adjective. • Commas can be used to separate the two independent clauses in compound sentences as long as a conjunction follows the comma. • Commas are used to separate interrupting words from the rest of the sentence. • When you write the date, you add a comma between the day and the year. You also add a comma after the year if the sentence continues after the date. • When they are used in a sentence, addresses have commas after the street address, and the city. If a sentence continues after the address, a comma comes after the zip code. • When you write a letter, you use commas in your greeting at the beginning and in your closing at the end of your letter.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/02%3A_Punctuation/2.01%3A_Commas.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of semicolons. 2. Properly use semicolons in sentences. Another punctuation mark that you will encounter is the semicolon (;). Like most punctuation marks, the semicolon can be used in a variety of ways. The semicolon indicates a break in the flow of a sentence, but functions differently than a period or a comma. When you encounter a semicolon while reading aloud, this represents a good place to pause and take a breath. Semicolons to Join Two Independent Clauses Use a semicolon to combine two closely related independent clauses. Relying on a period to separate the related clauses into two shorter sentences could lead to choppy writing. Using a comma would create an awkward run-on sentence. Correct: Be sure to wear clean, well-pressed clothes to the interview; appearances are important. Choppy: Be sure to wear clean, well-pressed clothes to the interview. Appearances are important. Incorrect: Be sure to wear clean, well-pressed clothes to the interview, appearances are important. In this case, writing the independent clauses as two sentences separated by a period is correct. However, using a semicolon to combine the clauses can make your writing more interesting by creating a variety of sentence lengths and structures while preserving the flow of ideas. Semicolons to Join Items in a List You can also use a semicolon to join items in a list when the items in the list already require commas. Semicolons help the reader distinguish between items in the list. Correct: The color combinations we can choose from are black, white, and grey; green, brown, and black; or red, green, and brown. Incorrect: The color combinations we can choose from are black, white, and grey, green, brown, and black, or red, green, and brown. By using semicolons in this sentence, the reader can easily distinguish between the three sets of colors. Tip Use semicolons to join two main clauses. Do not use semicolons with coordinating conjunctions such as and, or, and but. Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, correct the following sentences by adding semicolons. If the sentence is correct as it is, write OK. 1. I did not notice that you were in the office I was behind the front desk all day. 2. Do you want turkey, spinach, and cheese roast beef, lettuce, and cheese or ham, tomato, and cheese? 3. Please close the blinds there is a glare on the screen. 4. Unbelievably, no one was hurt in the accident. 5. I cannot decide if I want my room to be green, brown, and purple green, black, and brown or green, brown, and dark red. 6. Let’s go for a walk the air is so refreshing. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Use a semicolon to join two independent clauses. • Use a semicolon to separate items in a list when those items already require a comma. 2.03: Colons Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of colons. 2. Properly use colons in sentences. The colon (:) is another punctuation mark used to indicate a full stop. Use a colon to introduce lists, quotes, examples, and explanations. You can also use a colon after the greeting in business letters and memos. Dear Hiring Manager: To: Human Resources From: Deanna Dean Colons to Introduce a List Use a colon to introduce a list of items. Introduce the list with an independent clause. The team will tour three states: New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. I have to take four classes this semester: Composition, Statistics, Ethics, and Italian. Colons to Introduce a Quote You can use a colon to introduce a quote. Mark Twain said it best: “When in doubt, tell the truth.” If a quote is longer than forty words, skip a line after the colon and indent the left margin of the quote five spaces. Because quotations longer than forty words use line spacing and indentation to indicate a quote, quotation marks are not necessary. My father always loved Mark Twain’s words: There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded. Tip Long quotations, which are forty words or more, are called block quotations. Block quotations frequently appear in longer essays and research papers. For more information about block quotations, see Chapter 10 "Writing Preparation". Colons to Introduce Examples or Explanations Use a colon to introduce an example or to further explain an idea presented in the first part of a sentence. The first part of the sentence must always be an independent clause; that is, it must stand alone as a complete thought with a subject and verb. Do not use a colon after phrases like such as or for example. Correct: Our company offers many publishing services: writing, editing, and reviewing. Incorrect: Our company offers many publishing services, such as: writing, editing, and reviewing. Tip Capitalize the first letter following a colon for a proper noun, the beginning of a quote, or the first letter of another independent clause. Do NOT capitalize if the information following the colon is not a complete sentence. Proper noun: We visited three countries: Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. Beginning of a quote: My mother loved this line from Hamlet: “To thine own self be true.” Two independent clauses: There are drawbacks to modern technology: My brother’s cell phone died and he lost a lot of phone numbers. Incorrect: The recipe is simple: Tomato, basil, and avocado. Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, correct the following sentences by adding semicolons or colons where needed. If the sentence does not need a semicolon or colon, write OK. 1. Don’t give up you never know what tomorrow brings. ________________________________________________________________ 2. Our records show that the patient was admitted on March 9, 2010 January 13, 2010 and November 16, 2009. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Allow me to introduce myself I am the greatest ice-carver in the world. ________________________________________________________________ 4. Where I come from there are three ways to get to the grocery store by car, by bus, and by foot. ________________________________________________________________ 5. Listen closely you will want to remember this speech. ________________________________________________________________ 6. I have lived in Sedona, Arizona Baltimore, Maryland and Knoxville, Tennessee. ________________________________________________________________ 7. The boss’s message was clear Lateness would not be tolerated. ________________________________________________________________ 8. Next semester, we will read some more contemporary authors, such as Vonnegut, Miller, and Orwell. ________________________________________________________________ 9. My little sister said what we were all thinking “We should have stayed home.” ________________________________________________________________ 10. Trust me I have done this before. ________________________________________________________________ KEY TAKEAWAYS • Use a colon to introduce a list, quote, or example. • Use a colon after a greeting in business letters and memos.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/02%3A_Punctuation/2.02%3A_Semicolons.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of quotes. 2. Correctly use quotes in sentences. Quotation marks (“ ”) set off a group of words from the rest of the text. Use quotation marks to indicate direct quotations of another person’s words or to indicate a title. Quotation marks always appear in pairs. Direct Quotations A direct quotation is an exact account of what someone said or wrote. To include a direct quotation in your writing, enclose the words in quotation marks. An indirect quotation is a restatement of what someone said or wrote. An indirect quotation does not use a person’s exact words. You do not need to use quotation marks for indirect quotations. Direct quotation: Carly said, I’m not ever going back there again. Indirect quotation: Carly said that she would never go back there. Writing at Work Most word processsing software is designed to catch errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. While this can be a useful tool, it is better to be well acquainted with the rules of punctuation than to leave the thinking to the computer. Properly punctuated writing will convey your meaning clearly. Consider the subtle shifts in meaning in the following sentences: • The client said he thought our manuscript was garbage. • The client said, “He thought our manuscript was garbage.” The first sentence reads as an indirect quote in which the client does not like the manuscript. But did he actually use the word “garbage”? (This would be alarming!) Or has the speaker paraphrased (and exaggerated) the client’s words? The second sentence reads as a direct quote from the client. But who is “he” in this sentence? Is it a third party? Word processing software would not catch this because the sentences are not grammatically incorrect. However, the meanings of the sentences are not the same. Understanding punctuation will help you write what you mean, and in this case, could save a lot of confusion around the office! Punctuating Direct Quotations Quotation marks show readers another person’s exact words. Often, you will want to identify who is speaking. You can do this at the beginning, middle, or end of the quote. Notice the use of commas and capitalized words. Beginning: Madison said, “Let’s stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner. Middle: “Let’s stop at the farmers market,” Madison said, “to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner. End: “Let’s stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner,” Madison said. Speaker not identified: “Let’s stop at the farmers market to buy some fresh vegetables for dinner. Always capitalize the first letter of a quote even if it is not the beginning of the sentence. When using identifying words in the middle of the quote, the beginning of the second part of the quote does not need to be capitalized. Use commas between identifying words and quotes. Quotation marks must be placed after commas and periods. Place quotation marks after question marks and exclamation points only if the question or exclamation is part of the quoted text. Question is part of quoted text: The new employee asked, “When is lunch?” Question is not part of quoted text: Did you hear her say you were the next Picasso”? Exclamation is part of quoted text: My supervisor beamed, “Thanks for all of your hard work!” Exclamation is not part of quoted text: He said I single-handedly saved the company thousands of dollars”! Quotations within Quotations Use single quotation marks (‘ ’) to show a quotation within in a quotation. Theresa said, I wanted to take my dog to the festival, but the man at the gate said, No dogs allowed.’” When you say, I can’t help it, what exactly does that mean? The instructions say, Tighten the screws one at a time.’” Titles Use quotation marks around titles of short works of writing, such as essays, songs, poems, short stories, and chapters in books. Usually, titles of longer works, such as books, magazines, albums, newspapers, and novels, are italicized. Annabelle Lee is one of my favorite romantic poems. The New York Times has been in publication since 1851. Writing at Work In many businesses, the difference between exact wording and a paraphrase is extremely important. For legal purposes, or for the purposes of doing a job correctly, it can be important to know exactly what the client, customer, or supervisor said. Sometimes, important details can be lost when instructions are paraphrased. Use quotes to indicate exact words where needed, and let your coworkers know the source of the quotation (client, customer, peer, etc.). Exercise $1$ Copy the following sentences onto your own sheet of paper, and correct them by adding quotation marks where necessary. If the sentence does not need any quotation marks, write OK. 1. Yasmin said, I don’t feel like cooking. Let’s go out to eat. ________________________________________________________________ 2. Where should we go? said Russell. ________________________________________________________________ 3. Yasmin said it didn’t matter to her. ________________________________________________________________ 4. I know, said Russell, let’s go to the Two Roads Juice Bar. ________________________________________________________________ 5. Perfect! said Yasmin. ________________________________________________________________ 6. Did you know that the name of the Juice Bar is a reference to a poem? asked Russell. ________________________________________________________________ 7. I didn’t! exclaimed Yasmin. Which poem? ________________________________________________________________ 8. The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost Russell explained. ________________________________________________________________ 9. Oh! said Yasmin, Is that the one that starts with the line, Two roads diverged in a yellow wood? ________________________________________________________________ 10. That’s the one said Russell. ________________________________________________________________ KEY TAKEAWAYS • Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotes and titles of short works. • Use single quotation marks to enclose a quote within a quote. • Do not use any quotation marks for indirect quotations.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/02%3A_Punctuation/2.04%3A_Quotes.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of apostrophes. 2. Correctly use apostrophes in sentences. An apostrophe (’) is a punctuation mark that is used with a noun to show possession or to indicate where a letter has been left out to form a contraction. Possession An apostrophe and the letter s indicate who or what owns something. To show possession with a singular noun, add ’s. Jen’s dance routine mesmerized everyone in the room. The dog’s leash is hanging on the hook beside the door. Jess’s sister is also coming to the party. Notice that singular nouns that end in s still take the apostrophe s (’s) ending to show possession. To show possession with a plural noun that ends in s, just add an apostrophe (’). If the plural noun does not end in s, add an apostrophe and an s (’s). Plural noun that ends ins: The drummers sticks all moved in the same rhythm, like a machine. Plural noun that does not end ins: The people’s votes clearly showed that no one supported the management decision. Contractions A contraction is a word that is formed by combining two words. In a contraction, an apostrophe shows where one or more letters have been left out. Contractions are commonly used in informal writing but not in formal writing. I do not like ice cream. I don’t like ice cream. Notice how the words do and not have been combined to form the contraction don’t. The apostrophe shows where the o in not has been left out. We will see you later. We’ll see you later. Look at the chart for some examples of commonly used contractions. aren’t are not can’t cannot doesn’t does not don’t do not isn’t is not he’ll he will I’ll I will she’ll she will they’ll they will you’ll you will it’s it is, it has let’s let us she’s she is, she has there’s there is, there has who’s who is, who has Tip Be careful not to confuse it’s with its. It’s is a contraction of the words it and is. Its is a possessive pronoun. It’s cold and rainy outside. (It is cold and rainy outside.) The cat was chasing its tail. (Shows that the tail belongs to the cat.) When in doubt, substitute the words it is in a sentence. If sentence still makes sense, use the contraction it’s. Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, correct the following sentences by adding apostrophes. If the sentence is correct as it is, write OK. 1. “What a beautiful child! She has her mothers eyes.” 2. My brothers wife is one of my best friends. 3. I couldnt believe it when I found out that I got the job! 4. My supervisors informed me that I wouldnt be able to take the days off. 5. Each of the students responses were unique. 6. Wont you please join me for dinner tonight? KEY TAKEAWAYS • Use apostrophes to show possession. Add ’s to singular nouns and plural nouns that do not end in s. Add to plural nouns that end in s. • Use apostrophes in contractions to show where a letter or letters have been left out.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/02%3A_Punctuation/2.05%3A_Apostrophes.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of parentheses. 2. Properly use parentheses in sentences. Parentheses ( ) are punctuation marks that are always used in pairs and contain material that is secondary to the meaning of a sentence. Parentheses must never contain the subject or verb of a sentence. A sentence should make sense if you delete any text within parentheses and the parentheses. Attack of the Killer Potatoes has to be the worst movie I have seen (so far). Your spinach and garlic salad is one of the most delicious (and nutritious) foods I have ever tasted! Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, clarify the following sentences by adding parentheses. If the sentence is clear as it is, write OK. 1. Are you going to the seminar this weekend I am? 2. I recommend that you try the sushi bar unless you don’t like sushi. 3. I was able to solve the puzzle after taking a few moments to think about it. 4. Please complete the questionnaire at the end of this letter. 5. Has anyone besides me read the assignment? 6. Please be sure to circle not underline the correct answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Parentheses enclose information that is secondary to the meaning of a sentence. • Parentheses are always used in pairs. 2.07: Dashes Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of dashes. 2. Correctly use dashes in sentences. A dash (—) is a punctuation mark used to set off information in a sentence for emphasis. You can enclose text between two dashes, or use just one dash. To create a dash in Microsoft Word, type two hyphens together. Do not put a space between dashes and text. Arrive to the interview earlybut not too early. Any of the suitsexcept for the purple oneshould be fine to wear. Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, clarify the following sentences by adding dashes. If the sentence is clear as it is, write OK. 1. Which hairstyle do you prefer short or long? 2. I don’t know I hadn’t even thought about that. 3. Guess what I got the job! 4. I will be happy to work over the weekend if I can have Monday off. 5. You have all the qualities that we are looking for in a candidate intelligence, dedication, and a strong work ethic. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Dashes indicate a pause in text. • Dashes set off information in a sentence to show emphasis. 2.08: Hyphens Learning Objectives 1. Identify the uses of hyphens. 2. Properly use hyphens in sentences. A hyphen (-) looks similar to a dash but is shorter and used in different ways. Hyphens between Two Adjectives That Work as One Use a hyphen to combine words that work together to form a single description. The fifty-five-year-old athlete was just as qualified for the marathon as his younger opponents. My doctor recommended against taking the medication, since it can be habit-forming. My study group focused on preparing for the midyear review. Hyphens When a Word Breaks at the End of a Line Use a hyphen to divide a word across two lines of text. You may notice that most word-processing programs will do this for you. If you have to manually insert a hyphen, place the hyphen between two syllables. If you are unsure of where to place the hyphen, consult a dictionary or move the entire word to the next line. My supervisor was concerned that the team meet- ing would conflict with the client meeting. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Hyphens join words that work as one adjective. • Hyphens break words across two lines of text.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/02%3A_Punctuation/2.06%3A_Parentheses.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Use the skills you have learned in this chapter. 2. Work collaboratively with other students. Exercises 1. Each sentence contains a punctuation error. On your own sheet of paper, correct each sentence by adding the correct punctuation. The headings will let you know which type of punctuation mistakes to look for. If the sentence does not need corrections, write OK. Commas 1. The wedding will be July 13 2012. 2. The date by the way is the anniversary of the day that they met. 3. The groom the bride and their parents are all planning the event. 4. Actually all of their friends and relatives are involved in the planning. 5. The bride is a baker so she will be making the wedding cake herself. 6. The photography the catering and the music will all be friends. Semicolons 1. Some people spend a lot of money hiring people for wedding services they are lucky to have such talented friends. 2. The flowers will be either roses, daisies, and snapdragons orchids, tulips, and irises or peonies and lilies. Colons 1. There will be three colors for the wedding: white, black, and gold. 2. They’ve finally narrowed down the dinner choices salmon, steak, and a vegan stew. 3. Their wedding invitations contained the following quote from the Roman poet Ovid If you want to be loved, be lovable. Quotes 1. The invitations said that the wedding would be “outdoor casual.” 2. “What exactly does ‘outdoor casual’ mean?” I asked the bride. 3. She told me to dress comfortably and wear shoes that do not sink into the ground. Apostrophes 1. On the day of the wedding, were going to rent a limo. 2. My brothers wife will make the arrangements. 3. Shes a great party organizer. Parentheses 1. On the day of the wedding, the bride looked more beautiful than ever and I’ve known her for fifteen years. 2. All the details were perfect in my opinion. Dashes 1. Everyone danced at the wedding except my mother. 2. It was to be expected she just had hip surgery. Hyphens 1. The groom danced with his new mother in law. 2. It was a spectacular, fun filled day for everyone. 2. Each sentence contains a punctuation error. On your own sheet of paper, correct each sentence by adding commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, parentheses, hyphens, and dashes as needed. 1. My mothers garden is full of beautiful flowers. 2. She has carefully planted several species of roses peonies and irises. 3. She is especially proud of her thirty year old Japanese maple tree. 4. I am especially proud of the sunflowers I planted them! 5. You should see the birds that are attracted to the garden hummingbirds, finches, robins, and sparrows. 6. I like to watch the hummingbirds they are my favorite. 7. We spend a lot of time in the garden planting weeding and just enjoying the view. 8. Each flower has its own personality some seem shy and others seem bold. 9. Arent gardens wonderful? 10. You should come visit sometime Do you like to garden? 3. The following paragraph contains errors in punctuation. On your own sheet of paper, correct the paragraph by adding commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, parentheses, hyphens, and dashes as needed. There may be more than one way to correct the paragraph. May 18 2011 Dear Hiring Manager Allow me to introduce myself in my previous position I was known as the King of Sales. I hope to earn the same title within your company. My name is Frances Fortune. I have thirteen years experience in corporate sales and account management. I have been the top rated seller for two years in a row in my previous position. Clients recognize me as dependable honest and resourceful. I have a strong work ethic and great interpersonal skills. I excel at goal setting and time management. However you don’t have to take my word for it I will be happy to provide personal and professional references upon request. Youre welcome to contact my previous employer to inquire about my work performance. I look forward to speaking with you in person in the near future. Sincerely Frances Fortune 4. Read the following paragraph. Edit by adding apostrophes, parentheses, dashes, and hyphens where needed. There may be more than one correct way to edit some sentences. Consider how the punctuation you choose affects the meaning of the sentence. I was a little nervous about the interview it was my first in years. I had to borrow my roommates suit, but it fit me well. A few days ago, I started to research the companys history and mission. I felt like I was well qualified for the job. When I arrived, I shook hands with the interviewer she had a strong grip! It nearly caught me off guard, but I did my best to smile and relax. I was a little distracted by all the books in the womans office she must have had a hundred books in that tiny room. However, I think my responses to her questions were good. Ill send her an e-mail to thank her for her time. Hopefully shell call me soon about the position. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing Application Review some of the recent or current assignments you have completed for school or work. Look through recent business and personal e-mails. Does your work contain any errors in punctuation? Correct the errors and compile a list of the types of errors you are correcting (commas, semicolons, colons, apostrophes, quotation marks, parentheses, dashes, hyphens, etc.). Use this list as a reference for the types of punctuation marks that you should review and practice. If you do not find many errors—great! You can still look for ways to add interest to your writing by using dashes, semicolons, colons, and parentheses to create a variety of sentence lengths and structures.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/02%3A_Punctuation/2.09%3A_Punctuation-_End-of-Chapter_Exercises.txt
• 3.1: Commonly Confused Words Experienced writers know that deliberate, careful word selection and usage can lead to more polished, more meaningful work. This chapter covers word choice and vocabulary-building strategies that will improve your writing. • 3.2: Spelling One essential aspect of good writing is accurate spelling. Computer spell checkers are useful editing tools, but they can never replace human knowledge of spelling rules, homonyms, and commonly misspelled words. • 3.3: Word Choice Effective writing involves making conscious choices with words. When it is time to write your first draft, start to consider which words to use to best convey your ideas to the reader. • 3.4: Prefixes and Suffixes Mastering common prefixes and suffixes is like learning a code. Once you crack the code, you can not only spell words more correctly but also recognize and perhaps even define unfamiliar words. • 3.5: Synonyms and Antonyms As you work with your draft, you will want to pay particular attention to the words you have chosen. Do they express exactly what you are trying to convey? Can you choose better, more effective words? Familiarity with synonyms and antonyms can be helpful in answering these questions. • 3.6: Using Context Clues Context clues are bits of information within a text that will assist you in deciphering the meaning of unknown words. By becoming more aware of particular words and phrases surrounding a difficult word, you can make logical guesses about its meaning. • 3.7: Working with Words- End-of-Chapter Exercises Thumbnail:pixabay.com/photos/font-lead...inting-705667/ 03: Which Word Is Right Learning Objectives 1. Identify commonly confused words. 2. Use strategies to avoid commonly confused words. Just as a mason uses bricks to build sturdy homes, writers use words to build successful documents. Consider the construction of a building. Builders need to use tough, reliable materials to build a solid and structurally sound skyscraper. From the foundation to the roof and every floor in between, every part is necessary. Writers need to use strong, meaningful words from the first sentence to the last and in every sentence in between. You already know many words that you use everyday as part of your writing and speaking vocabulary. You probably also know that certain words fit better in certain situations. Letters, e-mails, and even quickly jotted grocery lists require the proper selection of vocabulary. Imagine you are writing a grocery list to purchase the ingredients for a recipe but accidentally write down cilantro when the recipe calls for parsley. Even though cilantro and parsley look remarkably alike, each produces a very different effect in food. This seemingly small error could radically alter the flavor of your dish! Having a solid everyday vocabulary will help you while writing, but learning new words and avoiding common word errors will make a real impression on your readers. Experienced writers know that deliberate, careful word selection and usage can lead to more polished, more meaningful work. This chapter covers word choice and vocabulary-building strategies that will improve your writing. Commonly Confused Words Some words in English cause trouble for speakers and writers because these words share a similar pronunciation, meaning, or spelling with another word. These words are called commonly confused words. For example, read aloud the following sentences containing the commonly confused words new and knew: I liked her new sweater. I knew she would wear that sweater today. These words may sound alike when spoken, but they carry entirely different usages and meanings. New is an adjective that describes the sweater, and knew is the past tense of the verb to know. To read more about adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech see Chapter 1 "Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?". Recognizing Commonly Confused Words New and knew are just two of the words that can be confusing because of their similarities. Familiarize yourself with the following list of commonly confused words. Recognizing these words in your own writing and in other pieces of writing can help you choose the correct word. Commonly Confused Words A, An, And • A (article). Used before a word that begins with a consonant. a key, a mouse, a screen • An (article). Used before a word that begins with a vowel. an airplane, an ocean, an igloo • And (conjunction). Connects two or more words together. peanut butter and jelly, pen and pencil, jump and shout Accept, Except • Accept (verb). Means to take or agree to something offered. They accepted our proposal for the conference. • Except (conjunction). Means only or but. We could fly there except the tickets cost too much. Affect, Effect • Affect (verb). Means to create a change. Hurricane winds affect the amount of rainfall. • Effect (noun). Means an outcome or result. The heavy rains will have an effect on the crop growth. Are, Our • Are (verb). A conjugated form of the verb to be. My cousins are all tall and blonde. • Our (pronoun). Indicates possession, usually follows the pronoun we. We will bring our cameras to take pictures. By, Buy • By (preposition). Means next to. My glasses are by the bed. • Buy (verb). Means to purchase. I will buy new glasses after the doctor’s appointment. Its, It’s • Its (pronoun). A form of it that shows possession. The butterfly flapped its wings. • It’s (contraction). Joins the words it and is. It’s the most beautiful butterfly I have ever seen. Know, No • Know (verb). Means to understand or possess knowledge. I know the male peacock sports the brilliant feathers. • No. Used to make a negative. I have no time to visit the zoo this weekend. Loose, Lose • Loose (adjective). Describes something that is not tight or is detached. Without a belt, her pants are loose on her waist. • Lose (verb). Means to forget, to give up, or to fail to earn something. She will lose even more weight after finishing the marathon training. Of, Have • Of (preposition). Means from or about. I studied maps of the city to know where to rent a new apartment. • Have (verb). Means to possess something. I have many friends to help me move. • Have (linking verb). Used to connect verbs. I should have helped her with that heavy box. Quite, Quiet, Quit • Quite (adverb). Means really or truly. My work will require quite a lot of concentration. • Quiet (adjective). Means not loud. I need a quiet room to complete the assignments. • Quit (verb). Means to stop or to end. I will quit when I am hungry for dinner. Right, Write • Right (adjective). Means proper or correct. When bowling, she practices the right form. • Right (adjective). Also means the opposite of left. The ball curved to the right and hit the last pin. • Write (verb). Means to communicate on paper. After the team members bowl, I will write down their scores. Set, Sit • Set (verb). Means to put an item down. She set the mug on the saucer. • Set (noun). Means a group of similar objects. All the mugs and saucers belonged in a set. • Sit (verb). Means to lower oneself down on a chair or another place I’ll sit on the sofa while she brews the tea. Suppose, Supposed • Suppose (verb). Means to think or to consider I suppose I will bake the bread, because no one else has the recipe. • Suppose (verb). Means to suggest. Suppose we all split the cost of the dinner. • Supposed (verb). The past tense form of the verb suppose, meaning required or allowed. She was supposed to create the menu. Than, Then • Than (conjunction). Used to connect two or more items when comparing Registered nurses require less schooling than doctors. • Then (adverb). Means next or at a specific time. Doctors first complete medical school and then obtain a residency. Their, They’re, There • Their (pronoun). A form of they that shows possession. The dog walker feeds their dogs everyday at two o’clock. • They’re the sweetest dogs in the neighborhood. • There (adverb). Indicates a particular place. The dogs’ bowls are over there, next to the pantry. • There (pronoun). Indicates the presence of something There are more treats if the dogs behave. To, Two, Too • To (preposition). Indicates movement. Let’s go to the circus. • To. A word that completes an infinitive verb. to play, to ride, to watch. • Two. The number after one. It describes how many. Two clowns squirted the elephants with water. • Too (adverb). Means also or very. The tents were too loud, and we left. Use, Used • Use (verb). Means to apply for some purpose. We use a weed whacker to trim the hedges. • He used the lawnmower last night before it rained. • Used to. Indicates something done in the past but not in the present He used to hire a team to landscape, but now he landscapes alone. Who’s, Whose • Who’s the new student? Who’s met him? • Whose (pronoun). A form of who that shows possession. Whose schedule allows them to take the new student on a campus tour? Your, You’re • Your (pronoun). A form of you that shows possession. Your book bag is unzipped. • You’re the girl with the unzipped book bag. The English language contains so many words; no one can say for certain how many words exist. In fact, many words in English are borrowed from other languages. Many words have multiple meanings and forms, further expanding the immeasurable number of English words. Although the list of commonly confused words serves as a helpful guide, even these words may have more meanings than shown here. When in doubt, consult an expert: the dictionary! Exercise $1$ Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct word. 1. My little cousin turns ________(to, too, two) years old tomorrow. 2. The next-door neighbor’s dog is ________(quite, quiet, quit) loud. He barks constantly throughout the night. 3. ________(Your, You’re) mother called this morning to talk about the party. 4. I would rather eat a slice of chocolate cake ________(than, then) eat a chocolate muffin. 5. Before the meeting, he drank a cup of coffee and ________(than, then) brushed his teeth. 6. Do you have any ________(loose, lose) change to pay the parking meter? 7. Father must ________(have, of) left his briefcase at the office. 8. Before playing ice hockey, I was ________(suppose, supposed) to read the contract, but I only skimmed it and signed my name quickly, which may ________(affect, effect) my understanding of the rules. 9. Tonight she will ________(set, sit) down and ________(right, write) a cover letter to accompany her résumé and job application. 10. It must be fall, because the leaves ________(are, our) changing, and ________(it’s, its) getting darker earlier. Strategies to Avoid Commonly Confused Words When writing, you need to choose the correct word according to its spelling and meaning in the context. Not only does selecting the correct word improve your vocabulary and your writing, but it also makes a good impression on your readers. It also helps reduce confusion and improve clarity. The following strategies can help you avoid misusing confusing words. 1. Use a dictionary. Keep a dictionary at your desk while you write. Look up words when you are uncertain of their meanings or spellings. Many dictionaries are also available online, and the Internet’s easy access will not slow you down. Check out your cell phone or smartphone to see if a dictionary app is available. 2. Keep a list of words you commonly confuse. Be aware of the words that often confuse you. When you notice a pattern of confusing words, keep a list nearby, and consult the list as you write. Check the list again before you submit an assignment to your instructor. 3. Study the list of commonly confused words. You may not yet know which words confuse you, but before you sit down to write, study the words on the list. Prepare your mind for working with words by reviewing the commonly confused words identified in this chapter. Tip Commonly confused words appear in many locations, not just at work or at school. Be on the lookout for misused words wherever you find yourself throughout the day. Make a mental note of the error and remember its correction for your own pieces of writing. Writing at Work All employers value effective communication. From an application to an interview to the first month on the job, employers pay attention to your vocabulary. You do not need a large vocabulary to succeed, but you do need to be able to express yourself clearly and avoid commonly misused words. When giving an important presentation on the effect of inflation on profit margins, you must know the difference between effect and affect and choose the correct word. When writing an e-mail to confirm deliveries, you must know if the shipment will arrive in to days, too days, or two days. Confusion may arise if you choose the wrong word. Consistently using the proper words will improve your communication and make a positive impression on your boss and colleagues. Exercise $2$ The following paragraph contains eleven errors. Find each misused word and correct it by adding the proper word. The original United States Declaration of Independence sets in a case at the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom as part of the National Archives in Washington, DC. Since 1952, over one million visitors each year of passed through the Rotunda too snap a photograph to capture they’re experience. Although signs state, “No Flash Photography,” forgetful tourists leave the flash on, an a bright light flickers for just a millisecond. This millisecond of light may not seem like enough to effect the precious document, but supposed how much light could be generated when all those milliseconds are added up. According to the National Archives administrators, its enough to significantly damage the historic document. So, now, the signs display quit a different message: “No Photography.” Visitors continue to travel to see the Declaration that began are country, but know longer can personal pictures serve as mementos. The administrators’ compromise, they say, is a visit to the gift shop for a preprinted photograph. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS • In order to write accurately, it is important for writers to be aware of commonly confused words. • Although commonly confused words may look alike or sound alike, their meanings are very different. • Consulting the dictionary is one way to make sure you are using the correct word in your writing. You may also keep a list of commonly confused words nearby when you write or study the chart in this book. • Choosing the proper words leaves a positive impression on your readers. Writing Application Review the latest assignment you completed for school or for work. Does it contain any commonly confused words? Circle each example and use the circled words to begin your own checklist of commonly confused words. Continue to add to your checklist each time you complete an assignment and find a misused word.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.01%3A_Commonly_Confused_Words.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify common spelling rules. 2. Identify commonly misused homonyms. 3. Identify commonly misspelled words. One essential aspect of good writing is accurate spelling. With computer spell checkers, spelling may seem simple, but these programs fail to catch every error. Spell checkers identify some errors, but writers still have to consider the flagged words and suggested replacements. Writers are still responsible for the errors that remain. For example, if the spell checker highlights a word that is misspelled and gives you a list of alternative words, you may choose a word that you never intended even though it is spelled correctly. This can change the meaning of your sentence. It can also confuse readers, making them lose interest. Computer spell checkers are useful editing tools, but they can never replace human knowledge of spelling rules, homonyms, and commonly misspelled words. Common Spelling Rules The best way to master new words is to understand the key spelling rules. Keep in mind, however, that some spelling rules carry exceptions. A spell checker may catch these exceptions, but knowing them yourself will prepare you to spell accurately on the first try. You may want to try memorizing each rule and its exception like you would memorize a rhyme or lyrics to a song. Write i before e except after c, or when pronounced ay like “neighbor” or “weigh.” • achieve, niece, alien • receive, deceive When words end in a consonant plus y, drop the y and add an i before adding another ending. • happy + er = happier • cry + ed = cried When words end in a vowel plus y, keep the y and add the ending. • delay + ed = delayed Memorize the following exceptions to this rule: day, lay, say, pay = daily, laid, said, paid When adding an ending that begins with a vowel, such as -able, -ence, -ing, or -ity, drop the last e in a word. • write + ing = writing • pure + ity = purity When adding an ending that begins with a consonant, such as -less, -ment, or -ly, keep the last e in a word. • hope + less = hopeless • advertise + ment = advertisement For many words ending in a consonant and an o, add -s when using the plural form. • photo + s = photos • soprano + s = sopranos Add -es to words that end in s, ch, sh, and x. • church + es = churches • fax + es = faxes Exercise $1$ Identify and correct the nine misspelled words in the following paragraph. Sherman J. Alexie Jr. was born in October 1966. He is a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian and an American writer, poet, and filmmaker. Alexie was born with hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. This condition led doctors to predict that he would likly suffer long-term brain damage and possibly mental retardation. Although Alexie survived with no mental disabilitys, he did suffer other serious side effects from his condition that plagud him throughout his childhood. Amazingly, Alexie learned to read by the age of three, and by age five he had read novels such as John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Raised on an Indian reservation, Alexie often felt aleinated from his peers due to his avid love for reading and also from the long-term effects of his illness, which often kept him from socializeing with his peers on the reservation. The reading skills he displaid at such a young age foreshadowed what he would later become. Today Alexie is a prolific and successful writer with several story anthologeis to his credit, noteably The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Toughest Indian in the World. Most of his fiction is about contemporary Native Americans who are influenced by pop culture and pow wows and everything in between. His work is sometimes funny but always thoughtful and full of richness and depth. Alexie also writes poetry, novels, and screenplays. His latest collection of storys is called War Dances, which came out in 2009. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Tip Eight Tips to Improve Spelling Skills 1. Read the words in your assignment carefully, and avoid skimming over the page. Focusing on your written assignment word by word will help you pay close attention to each word’s spelling. Skimming quickly, you may overlook misspelled words. 2. Use mnemonic devices to remember the correct spelling of words. Mnemonic devices, or memory techniques and learning aids, include inventive sayings or practices that help you remember. For example, the saying “It is important to be a beautiful person inside and out” may help you remember that beautiful begins with “be a.” The practice of pronouncing the word Wednesday Wed-nes-day may help you remember how to spell the word correctly. 3. Use a dictionary. Many professional writers rely on the dictionary—either in print or online. If you find it difficult to use a regular dictionary, ask your instructor to help you find a “poor speller’s dictionary.” 4. Use your computer’s spell checker. The spell checker will not solve all your spelling problems, but it is a useful tool. See the introduction to this section for cautions about spell checkers. 5. Keep a list of frequently misspelled words. You will often misspell the same words again and again, but do not let this discourage you. All writers struggle with the spellings of certain words; they become aware of their spelling weaknesses and work to improve. Be aware of which words you commonly misspell, and you can add them to a list to learn to spell them correctly. 6. Look over corrected papers for misspelled words. Add these words to your list and practice writing each word four to five times each. Writing teachers will especially notice which words you frequently misspell, and it will help you excel in your classes if they see your spelling improve. 7. Test yourself with flashcards. Sometimes the old-fashioned methods are best, and for spelling, this tried and true technique has worked for many students. You can work with a peer or alone. 8. Review the common spelling rules explained in this chapter. Take the necessary time to master the material; you may return to the rules in this chapter again and again, as needed. Tip Remember to focus on spelling during the editing and revising step of the writing process. Start with the big ideas such as organizing your piece of writing and developing effective paragraphs, and then work your way down toward the smaller—but equally important—details like spelling and punctuation. To read more about the writing process and editing and revising, see Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Homonyms Homonyms are words that sound like one another but have different meanings. Commonly Misused Homonyms Principle, Principal • Principle (noun). A fundamental concept that is accepted as true. The principle of human equality is an important foundation for all nations. • Principal (noun). The original amount of debt on which interest is calculated. The payment plan allows me to pay back only the principal amount, not any compounded interest. • Principal (noun). A person who is the main authority of a school. The principal held a conference for both parents and teachers. Where, Wear, Ware • Where (adverb). The place in which something happens. Where is the restaurant? • Wear (verb). To carry or have on the body. I will wear my hiking shoes when go on a climb tomorrow morning. • Ware (noun). Articles of merchandise or manufacture (usually, wares). When I return from shopping, I will show you my wares. Lead, Led • Lead (noun). A type of metal used in pipes and batteries. The lead pipes in my homes are old and need to be replaced. • Led (verb). The past tense of the verb lead. After the garden, she led the patrons through the museum. Which, Witch • Which (pronoun). Replaces one out of a group. Which apartment is yours? • Witch (noun). A person who practices sorcery or who has supernatural powers. She thinks she is a witch, but she does not seem to have any powers. Peace, Piece • Peace (noun). A state of tranquility or quiet. For once, there was peace between the argumentative brothers. • Piece (noun). A part of a whole. I would like a large piece of cake, thank you. Passed, Past • Passed (verb). To go away or move. He passed the slower cars on the road using the left lane. • Past (noun). Having existed or taken place in a period before the present. The argument happened in the past, so there is no use in dwelling on it. Lessen, Lesson • Lessen (verb). To reduce in number, size, or degree. My dentist gave me medicine to lessen the pain of my aching tooth. • Lesson (noun). A reading or exercise to be studied by a student. Today’s lesson was about mortgage interest rates. Patience, Patients • Patience (noun). The capacity of being patient (waiting for a period of time or enduring pains and trials calmly). The novice teacher’s patience with the unruly class was astounding. • Patients (plural noun). Individuals under medical care. The patients were tired of eating the hospital food, and they could not wait for a home-cooked meal. Sees, Seas, Seize • Sees (verb). To perceive with the eye. He sees a whale through his binoculars. • Seas (plural noun). The plural of sea, a great body of salt water. The tidal fluctuation of the oceans and seas are influenced by the moon. • Seize (verb). To possess or take by force. The king plans to seize all the peasants’ land. Threw, Through • Threw (verb). The past tense of throw. She threw the football with perfect form. • Through (preposition). A word that indicates movement. She walked through the door and out of his life. Exercise $2$ Complete the following sentences by selecting the correct homonym. 1. Do you agree with the underlying ________(principle, principal) that ensures copyrights are protected in the digital age? 2. I like to ________(where, wear, ware) unique clothing from thrift stores that do not have company logos on them. 3. Marjorie felt like she was being ________(led, lead) on a wild goose chase, and she did not like it one bit. 4. Serina described ________(witch, which) house was hers, but now that I am here, they all look the same. 5. Seeing his friend without a lunch, Miguel gave her a ________(peace, piece) of his apple. 6. Do you think that it is healthy for mother to talk about the ________(passed, past) all the time? 7. Eating healthier foods will ________(lessen, lesson) the risk of heart disease. 8. I know it sounds cliché, but my father had the ________(patients, patience) of a saint. 9. Daniela ________(sees, seas, seize) possibilities in the bleakest situations, and that it is why she is successful. 10. Everyone goes ________(through, threw) hardships in life regardless of who they are. Commonly Misspelled Words Below is a list of commonly misspelled words. You probably use these words every day in either speaking or writing. Each word has a segment in bold type, which indicates the problem area of the word that is often spelled incorrectly. If you can, use this list as a guide before, during, and after you write. Tip Use the following two tricks to help you master these troublesome words: 1. Copy each word a few times and underline the problem area. 2. Copy the words onto flash cards and have a friend test you. Table $1$: Commonly Misspelled Words across disappoint integration particular separate address disapprove intelligent perform similar answer doesn’t interest perhaps since argument eighth interfere personnel speech athlete embarrass jewelry possess strength beginning environment judgment possible success behavior exaggerate knowledge prefer surprise calendar familiar maintain prejudice taught career finally mathematics privilege temperature conscience government meant probably thorough crowded grammar necessary psychology thought definite height nervous pursue tired describe illegal occasion reference until desperate immediately opinion rhythm weight different important optimist ridiculous written Exercise $3$ Identify and correct the ten commonly misspelled words in the following paragraph. Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs that make up New York City. It is located on the eastern shore of Long Island directly accross the East River from the island of Manhattan. Its beginings stretch back to the sixteenth century when it was founded by the Dutch who originally called it “Breuckelen.” Immedietely after the Dutch settled Brooklyn, it came under British rule. However, neither the Dutch nor the British were Brooklyn’s first inhabitants. When European settlers first arrived, Brooklyn was largely inhabited by the Lenapi, a collective name for several organized bands of Native American people who settled a large area of land that extended from upstate New York through the entire state of New Jersey. They are sometimes referred to as the Delaware Indians. Over time, the Lenapi succumbed to European diseases or conflicts between European settlers or other Native American enemies. Finalley they were pushed out of Brooklyn completely by the British. In 1776, Brooklyn was the site of the first importent battle of the American Revolution known as the Battle of Brooklyn. The colonists lost this battle, which was led by George Washington, but over the next two years they would win the war, kicking the British out of the colonies once and for all. By the end of the nineteenth century, Brooklyn grew to be a city in its own right. The completion of the Brooklyn Bridge was an ocasion for celebration; transportation and commerce between Brooklyn and Manhattan now became much easier. Eventually, in 1898, Brooklyn lost its seperate identity as an independent city and became one of five boroughs of New York City. However, in some people’s opinien, the intagration into New York City should have never happened; they though Brooklyn should have remained an independent city. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing at Work In today’s job market, writing e-mails has become a means by which many people find employment. E-mails to prospective employers require thoughtful word choice, accurate spelling, and perfect punctuation. Employers’ inboxes are inundated with countless e-mails daily. If even the subject line of an e-mail contains a spelling error, it will likely be overlooked and someone else’s e-mail will take priority. The best thing to do after you proofread an e-mail to an employer and run the spell checker is to have an additional set of eyes go over it with you; one of your teachers may be able to read the e-mail and give you suggestions for improvement. Most colleges and universities have writing centers, which may also be able to assist you. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Accurate, error-free spelling enhances your credibility with the reader. • Mastering the rules of spelling may help you become a better speller. • Knowing the commonly misused homonyms may prevent spelling errors. • Studying the list of commonly misspelled words in this chapter, or studying a list of your own, is one way to improve your spelling skills. Writing Application What is your definition of a successful person? Is it based on a person’s profession or is it based on his or her character? Perhaps success means a combination of both. In one paragraph, describe in detail what you think makes a person successful. When you are finished, proofread your work for spelling errors. Exchange papers with a partner and read each other’s work. See if you catch any spelling errors that your partner missed.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.02%3A_Spelling.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the reasons why using a dictionary and thesaurus is important when writing. 2. Identify how to use proper connotations. 3. Identify how to avoid using slang, clichés, and overly general words in your writing. Effective writing involves making conscious choices with words. When you prepare to sit down to write your first draft, you likely have already completed some freewriting exercises, chosen your topic, developed your thesis statement, written an outline, and even selected your sources. When it is time to write your first draft, start to consider which words to use to best convey your ideas to the reader. Some writers are picky about word choice as they start drafting. They may practice some specific strategies, such as using a dictionary and thesaurus, using words and phrases with proper connotations, and avoiding slang, clichés, and overly general words. Once you understand these tricks of the trade, you can move ahead confidently in writing your assignment. Remember, the skill and accuracy of your word choice is a major factor in developing your writing style. Precise selection of your words will help you be more clearly understood—in both writing and speaking. Using a Dictionary and Thesaurus Even professional writers need help with the meanings, spellings, pronunciations, and uses of particular words. In fact, they rely on dictionaries to help them write better. No one knows every word in the English language and their multiple uses and meanings, so all writers, from novices to professionals, can benefit from the use of dictionaries. Most dictionaries provide the following information: • Spelling. How the word and its different forms are spelled. • Pronunciation. How to say the word. • Part of speech. The function of the word. • Definition. The meaning of the word. • Synonyms. Words that have similar meanings. • Etymology. The history of the word. Look at the following sample dictionary entry and see which of the preceeding information you can identify: myth, mith, n. [Gr. mythos, a word, a fable, a legend.] A fable or legend embodying the convictions of a people as to their gods or other divine beings, their own beginnings and early history and the heroes connected with it, or the origin of the world; any invented story; something or someone having no existence in fact.—myth • ic, myth • i • cal Like a dictionary, a thesaurus is another indispensable writing tool. A thesaurus gives you a list of synonyms, words that have the same (or very close to the same) meaning as another word. It also lists antonyms, words with the opposite meaning of the word. A thesaurus will help you when you are looking for the perfect word with just the right meaning to convey your ideas. It will also help you learn more words and use the ones you already know more correctly. precociousadj, She’s such a precocious little girl!: uncommonly smart, mature, advanced, smart, bright, brilliant, gifted, quick, clever, apt. Ant. slow, backward, stupid. Using Proper Connotations A denotation is the dictionary definition of a word. A connotation, on the other hand, is the emotional or cultural meaning attached to a word. The connotation of a word can be positive, negative, or neutral. Keep in mind the connotative meaning when choosing a word. Scrawny • Denotation: Exceptionally thin and slight or meager in body or size. • Word used in a sentence: Although he was a premature baby and a scrawny child, Martin has developed into a strong man. • Connotation: (Negative) In this sentence the word scrawny may have a negative connotation in the readers’ minds. They might find it to mean a weakness or a personal flaw; however, the word fits into the sentence appropriately. Skinny • Denotation: Lacking sufficient flesh, very thin. • Word used in a sentence: Skinny jeans have become very fashionable in the past couple of years. • Connotation: (Positive) Based on cultural and personal impressions of what it means to be skinny, the reader may have positive connotations of the word skinny. Lean • Denotation: Lacking or deficient in flesh; containing little or no fat. • Word used in a sentence: My brother has a lean figure, whereas I have a more muscular build. • Connotation: (Neutral) In this sentence, lean has a neutral connotation. It does not call to mind an overly skinny person like the word scrawny, nor does imply the positive cultural impressions of the word skinny. It is merely a neutral descriptive word. Notice that all the words have a very similar denotation; however, the connotations of each word differ. Exercise $1$ In each of the following items, you will find words with similar denotations. Identify the words’ connotations as positive, negative, or neutral by writing the word in the appropriate box. Copy the chart onto your own piece of paper. 1. curious, nosy, interested 2. lazy, relaxed, slow 3. courageous, foolhardy, assured 4. new, newfangled, modern 5. mansion, shack, residence 6. spinster, unmarried woman, career woman 7. giggle, laugh, cackle 8. boring, routine, prosaic 9. noted, notorious, famous 10. assertive, confident, pushy Positive Negative Neutral Avoiding Slang Slang describes informal words that are considered nonstandard English. Slang often changes with passing fads and may be used by or familiar to only a specific group of people. Most people use slang when they speak and in personal correspondences, such as e-mails, text messages, and instant messages. Slang is appropriate between friends in an informal context but should be avoided in formal academic writing. Writing at Work Frequent exposure to media and popular culture has desensitized many of us to slang. In certain situations, using slang at work may not be problematic, but keep in mind that words can have a powerful effect. Slang in professional e-mails or during meetings may convey the wrong message or even mistakenly offend someone. Exercise $2$ Edit the following paragraph by replacing the slang words and phrases with more formal language. Rewrite the paragraph on your own sheet of paper. I felt like such an airhead when I got up to give my speech. As I walked toward the podium, I banged my knee on a chair. Man, I felt like such a klutz. On top of that, I kept saying “like” and “um,” and I could not stop fidgeting. I was so stressed out about being up there. I feel like I’ve been practicing this speech 24/7, and I still bombed. It was ten minutes of me going off about how we sometimes have to do things we don’t enjoy doing. Wow, did I ever prove my point. My speech was so bad I’m surprised that people didn’t boo. My teacher said not to sweat it, though. Everyone gets nervous his or her first time speaking in public, and she said, with time, I would become a whiz at this speech giving stuff. I wonder if I have the guts to do it again. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Avoiding Clichés Clichés are descriptive expressions that have lost their effectiveness because they are overused. Writing that uses clichés often suffers from a lack of originality and insight. Avoiding clichés in formal writing will help you write in original and fresh ways. • Clichéd: Whenever my brother and I get into an argument, he always says something that makes my blood boil. • Plain: Whenever my brother and I get into an argument, he always says something that makes me really angry. • Original: Whenever my brother and I get into an argument, he always says something that makes me want to go to the gym and punch the bag for a few hours. Tip Think about all the cliché phrases that you hear in popular music or in everyday conversation. What would happen if these clichés were transformed into something unique? Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, revise the following sentences by replacing the clichés with fresh, original descriptions. 1. She is writing a memoir in which she will air her family’s dirty laundry. 2. Fran had an ax to grind with Benny, and she planned to confront him that night at the party. 3. Mr. Muller was at his wit’s end with the rowdy class of seventh graders. 4. The bottom line is that Greg was fired because he missed too many days of work. 5. Sometimes it is hard to make ends meet with just one paycheck. 6. My brain is fried from pulling an all-nighter. 7. Maria left the dishes in the sink all week to give Jeff a taste of his own medicine. 8. While they were at the carnival Janice exclaimed, “Time sure does fly when you are having fun!” 9. Jeremy became tongue-tied after the interviewer asked him where he saw himself in five years. 10. Jordan was dressed to the nines that night. Avoiding Overly General Words Specific words and images make your writing more interesting to read. Whenever possible, avoid overly general words in your writing; instead, try to replace general language with particular nouns, verbs, and modifiers that convey details and that bring yours words to life. Add words that provide color, texture, sound, and even smell to your writing. • General: My new puppy is cute. • Specific: My new puppy is a ball of white fuzz with the biggest black eyes I have ever seen. • General: My teacher told us that plagiarism is bad. • Specific: My teacher, Ms. Atwater, created a presentation detailing exactly how plagiarism is illegal and unethical. Exercise $4$ Revise the following sentences by replacing the overly general words with more precise and attractive language. Write the new sentences on your own sheet of paper. 1. Reilly got into her car and drove off. 2. I would like to travel to outer space because it would be amazing. 3. Jane came home after a bad day at the office. 4. I thought Milo’s essay was fascinating. 5. The dog walked up the street. 6. The coal miners were tired after a long day. 7. The tropical fish are pretty. 8. I sweat a lot after running. 9. The goalie blocked the shot. 10. I enjoyed my Mexican meal. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Using a dictionary and thesaurus as you write will improve your writing by improving your word choice. • Connotations of words may be positive, neutral, or negative. • Slang, clichés, and overly general words should be avoided in academic writing. Writing Application Review a piece of writing that you have completed for school. Circle any sentences with slang, clichés, or overly general words and rewrite them using stronger language.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.03%3A_Word_Choice.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the meanings of common prefixes. 2. Become familiar with common suffix rules. The English language contains an enormous and ever-growing number of words. Enhancing your vocabulary by learning new words can seem overwhelming, but if you know the common prefixes and suffixes of English, you will understand many more words. Mastering common prefixes and suffixes is like learning a code. Once you crack the code, you can not only spell words more correctly but also recognize and perhaps even define unfamiliar words. Prefixes A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word to create a new meaning. Study the common prefixes in Table $1$: "Common Prefixes". Tip The main rule to remember when adding a prefix to a word is not to add letters or leave out any letters. See Table $1$: "Common Prefixes" for examples of this rule. Table $1$: Common Prefixes Prefix Meaning Example dis not, opposite of dis + satisfied = dissatisfied mis wrongly mis + spell = misspell un not un + acceptable = unacceptable re again re + election = reelection inter between inter + related = interrelated pre before pre + pay = prepay non not non + sense = nonsense super above super + script = superscript sub under sub + merge = submerge anti against, opposing anti + bacterial = antibacterial Exercise $1$ Identify the five words with prefixes in the following paragraph, and write their meanings on a separate sheet of paper. At first, I thought one of my fuzzy, orange socks disappeared in the dryer, but I could not find it in there. Because it was my favorite pair, nothing was going to prevent me from finding that sock. I looked all around my bedroom, under the bed, on top of the bed, and in my closet, but I still could not find it. I did not know that I would discover the answer just as I gave up my search. As I sat down on the couch in the family room, my Dad was reclining on his chair. I laughed when I saw that one of his feet was orange and the other blue! I forgot that he was color-blind. Next time he does laundry I will have to supervise him while he folds the socks so that he does not accidentally take one of mine! Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Exercise $2$ Add the correct prefix to the word to complete each sentence. Write the word on your own sheet of paper. 1. I wanted to ease my stomach ________comfort, so I drank some ginger root tea. 2. Lenny looked funny in his ________matched shirt and pants. 3. Penelope felt ________glamorous at the party because she was the only one not wearing a dress. 4. My mother said those ________aging creams do not work, so I should not waste my money on them. 5. The child’s ________standard performance on the test alarmed his parents. 6. When my sister first saw the meteor, she thought it was a ________natural phenomenon. 7. Even though she got an excellent job offer, Cherie did not want to ________locate to a different country. 8. With a small class size, the students get to ________act with the teacher more frequently. 9. I slipped on the ice because I did not heed the ________cautions about watching my step. 10. A ________combatant is another word for civilian. Suffixes A suffix is a word part added to the end of a word to create a new meaning. Study the suffix rules in the following boxes. Rule 1 When adding the suffixes -ness and -ly to a word, the spelling of the word does not change. Examples: • dark + ness = darkness • scholar + ly = scholarly Exceptions to Rule 1 When the word ends in y, change the y to i before adding -ness and -ly. Examples: • ready + ly = readily • happy + ness = happiness Rule 2 When the suffix begins with a vowel, drop the silent e in the root word. Examples: • care + ing = caring • use + able = usable Exceptions to Rule 2 When the word ends in ce or ge, keep the silent e if the suffix begins with a or o. Examples: • replace + able = replaceable • courage + ous = courageous Rule 3 When the suffix begins with a consonant, keep the silent e in the original word. Examples: • care + ful = careful • care + less = careless Exceptions to Rule 3 Examples: • true + ly = truly • argue + ment = argument Rule 4 When the word ends in a consonant plus y, change the y to i before any suffix not beginning with i. Examples: • sunny + er = sunnier • hurry + ing = hurrying Rule 5 When the suffix begins with a vowel, double the final consonant only if (1) the word has only one syllable or is accented on the last syllable and (2) the word ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant. Examples: • tan + ing = tanning (one syllable word) • regret + ing = regretting (The accent is on the last syllable; the word ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant.) • cancel + ed = canceled (The accent is not on the last syllable.) • prefer + ed = preferred Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, write correctly the forms of the words with their suffixes. 1. refer + ed 2. refer + ence 3. mope + ing 4. approve + al 5. green + ness 6. benefit + ed 7. resubmit + ing 8. use + age 9. greedy + ly 10. excite + ment KEY TAKEAWAYS • A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word that changes the word’s meaning. • A suffix is a word part added to the end of a word that changes the word’s meaning. • Learning the meanings of prefixes and suffixes will help expand your vocabulary, which will help improve your writing. Writing Application Write a paragraph describing one of your life goals. Include five words with prefixes and five words with suffixes. Exchange papers with a classmate and circle the prefixes and suffixes in your classmate’s paper. Correct each prefix or suffix that is spelled incorrectly.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.04%3A_Prefixes_and_Suffixes.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Recognize how synonyms improve writing. 2. Identify common antonyms to increase your vocabulary. As you work with your draft, you will want to pay particular attention to the words you have chosen. Do they express exactly what you are trying to convey? Can you choose better, more effective words? Familiarity with synonyms and antonyms can be helpful in answering these questions. Synonyms Synonyms are words that have the same, or almost the same, meaning as another word. You can say an “easy task” or a “simple task” because easy and simple are synonyms. You can say Hong Kong is a “large city” or a “metropolis” because city and metropolis are synonyms. However, it is important to remember that not all pairs of words in the English language are so easily interchangeable. The slight but important differences in meaning between synonyms can make a big difference in your writing. For example, the words boring and insipid may have similar meanings, but the subtle differences between the two will affect the message your writing conveys. The word insipid evokes a scholarly and perhaps more pretentious message than boring. The English language is full of pairs of words that have subtle distinctions between them. All writers, professionals and beginners alike, face the challenge of choosing the most appropriate synonym to best convey their ideas. When you pay particular attention to synonyms in your writing, it comes across to your reader. The sentences become much more clear and rich in meaning. Writing at Work Any writing you do at work involves a careful choice of words. For example, if you are writing an e-mail to your employer regarding your earnings, you can use the word pay, salary, or hourly wage. There are also other synonyms to choose from. Just keep in mind that the word you choose will have an effect on the reader, so you want to choose wisely to get the desired effect. Exercise $1$ Replace the underlined words in the paragraph with appropriate synonyms. Write the new paragraph on your own sheet of paper. When most people think of the Renaissance, they might think of artists like Michelangelo, Raphael, or Leonardo da Vinci, but they often overlook one of the very important figures of the Renaissance: Filippo Brunelleschi. Brunelleschi was born in Florence, Italy in 1377. He is considered the very best architect and engineer of the Renaissance. His impressive accomplishments are a testament to following one’s dreams, persevering in the face of obstacles, and realizing one’s vision. The most difficult undertaking of Brunelleschi’s career was the dome of Florence Cathedral, which took sixteen years to construct. A major blow to the progress of the construction happened in 1428. Brunelleschi had designed a special ship to carry the one hundred tons of marble needed for the dome. He felt this would be the most inexpensive way to transport the marble, but the unthinkable happened. The ship went down to the bottom of the water, taking all the marble with it to the bottom of the river. Brunelleschi was really sad. Nevertheless, he did not give up. He held true to his vision of the completed dome. Filippo Brunelleschi completed construction of the dome of Florence Cathedral in 1446. His influence on artists and architects alike was felt strongly during his lifetime and can still be felt in this day and age. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Exercise $2$ On your own sheet of paper, write a sentence with each of the following words that illustrates the specific meaning of each synonym. 1. leave, abandon 2. mad, insane 3. outside, exterior 4. poor, destitute 5. quiet, peaceful 6. riot, revolt 7. rude, impolite 8. talk, conversation 9. hug, embrace 10. home, residence Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Antonyms Antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning of a given word. The study of antonyms will not only help you choose the most appropriate word as you write; it will also sharpen your overall sense of language. Table $1$ lists common words and their antonyms. Table $1$: Common Antonyms Word Antonym Word Antonym absence presence frequent seldom accept refuse harmful harmless accurate inaccurate horizontal vertical advantage disadvantage imitation genuine ancient modern inhabited uninhabited abundant scarce inferior superior artificial natural intentional accidental attractive repulsive justice injustice borrow lend knowledge ignorance bravery cowardice landlord tenant create destroy, demolish likely unlikely bold timid, meek minority majority capable incapable miser spendthrift combine separate obedient disobedient conceal reveal optimist pessimist common rare permanent temporary decrease increase plentiful scarce definite indefinite private public despair hope prudent imprudent discourage encourage qualified unqualified employer employee satisfactory unsatisfactory expand contract tame wild forget remember vacant occupied Tip Learning antonyms is an effective way to increase your vocabulary. Memorizing words in combination with or in relation to other words often helps us retain them. Exercise $3$ Correct the following sentences by replacing the underlined words with an antonym. Write the antonym on your own sheet of paper. 1. The pilot who landed the plane was a coward because no one was injured. 2. Even though the botany lecture was two hours long, Gerard found it incredibly dull. 3. My mother says it is impolite to say thank you like you really mean it. 4. Although I have learned a lot of information through textbooks, it is life experience that has given me ignorance. 5. When our instructor said the final paper was compulsory, it was music to my ears! 6. My only virtues are coffee, video games, and really loud music. 7. Elvin was so bold when he walked in the classroom that he sat in the back row and did not participate. 8. Maria thinks elephants who live in freedom have a sad look in their eyes. 9. The teacher filled her students’ minds with gloomy thoughts about their futures. 10. The guest attended to every one of our needs. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Synonyms are words that have the same, or almost the same, meaning as another word. • Antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning of another word. • Choosing the right synonym refines your writing. • Learning common antonyms sharpens your sense of language and expands your vocabulary. Writing Application Write a paragraph that describes your favorite dish or food. Use as many synonyms as you can in the description, even if it seems too many. Be creative. Consult a thesaurus, and take this opportunity to use words you have never used before. Be prepared to share your paragraph.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.05%3A_Synonyms_and_Antonyms.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the different types of context clues. 2. Practice using context clues while reading. Context clues are bits of information within a text that will assist you in deciphering the meaning of unknown words. Since most of your knowledge of vocabulary comes from reading, it is important that you recognize context clues. By becoming more aware of particular words and phrases surrounding a difficult word, you can make logical guesses about its meaning. The following are the different types of context clues: • Brief definition or restatement • Synonyms and antonyms • Examples Brief Definition or Restatement Sometimes a text directly states the definition or a restatement of the unknown word. The brief definition or restatement is signaled by a word or a punctuation mark. Consider the following example: If you visit Alaska, you will likely see many glaciers, or slow moving masses of ice. In this sentence, the word glaciers is defined by the phrase that follows the signal word or, which is slow moving masses of ice. In other instances, the text may restate the meaning of the word in a different way, by using punctuation as a signal. Look at the following example: Marina was indignant—fuming mad—when she discovered her brother had left for the party without her. Although fuming mad is not a formal definition of the word indignant, it does serve to define it. These two examples use signals—the word or and the punctuation dashes—to indicate the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Other signals to look for are the words is, as, means, known as, and refers to. Synonyms and Antonyms Sometimes a text gives a synonym of the unknown word to signal the meaning of the unfamiliar word: When you interpret an image, you actively question and examine what the image connotes and suggests. In this sentence the word suggests is a synonym of the word connotes. The word and sometimes signals synonyms. Likewise, the word but may signal a contrast, which can help you define a word by its antonym. I abhor clothes shopping, but I adore grocery shopping. The word abhor is contrasted with its opposite: adore. From this context, the reader can guess that abhor means to dislike greatly. Examples Sometimes a text will give you an example of the word that sheds light on its meaning: I knew Mark’s ailurophobia was in full force because he began trembling and stuttering when he saw my cat, Ludwig, slink out from under the bed. Although ailurophobia is an unknown word, the sentence gives an example of its effects. Based on this example, a reader could confidently surmise that the word means a fear of cats. Tip Look for signal words like such as, for instance, and for example. These words signal that a word’s meaning may be revealed through an example. Exercise $1$ Identify the context clue that helps define the underlined words in each of the following sentences. Write the context clue on your own sheet of paper. 1. Lucinda is very adroit on the balance beam, but Constance is rather clumsy. 2. I saw the entomologist, a scientist who studies insects, cradle the giant dung beetle in her palm. 3. Lance’s comments about politics were irrelevant and meaningless to the botanist’s lecture on plant reproduction. 4. Before I left for my trip to the Czech Republic, I listened to my mother’s sage advice and made a copy of my passport. 5. His rancor, or hatred, for socializing resulted in a life of loneliness and boredom. 6. Martin was mortified, way beyond embarrassment, when his friends teamed up to shove him into the pool. 7. The petulant four-year-old had a baby sister who was, on the contrary, not grouchy at all. 8. The philosophy teacher presented the students with several conundrums, or riddles, to solve. 9. Most Americans are omnivores, people that eat both plants and animals. 10. Elena is effervescent, as excited as a cheerleader, for example, when she meets someone for the first time. Exercise $2$ On your own sheet of paper, write the name of the context clue that helps to define the underlined words. Maggie was a precocious child to say the least. She produced brilliant watercolor paintings by the age of three. At first, her parents were flabbergasted—utterly blown away—by their daughter’s ability, but soon they got used to their little painter. Her preschool teacher said that Maggie’s dexterity, or ease with which she used her hands, was something she had never before seen in such a young child. Little Maggie never gloated or took pride in her paintings; she just smiled contentedly when she finished one and requested her parents give it to someone as a gift. Whenever people met Maggie for the first time they often watched her paint with their mouths agape, but her parents always kept their mouths closed and simply smiled over their “little Monet.” Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Tip In addition to context clues to help you figure out the meaning of a word, examine the following word parts: prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Writing at Work Jargon a type of shorthand communication often used in the workplace. It is the technical language of a special field. Imagine it is your first time working as a server in a restaurant and your manager tells you he is going to “eighty-six” the roasted chicken. If you do not realize that “eighty-six” means to remove an item from the menu, you could be confused. When you first start a job, no matter where it may be, you will encounter jargon that will likely be foreign to you. Perhaps after working the job for a short time, you too will feel comfortable enough to use it. When you are first hired, however, jargon can be baffling and make you feel like an outsider. If you cannot decipher the jargon based on the context, it is always a good policy to ask. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Context clues are words or phrases within a text that help clarify vocabulary that is unknown to you. • There are several types of context clues including brief definition and restatement, synonyms and antonyms, and example. Writing Application Write a paragraph describing your first job. In the paragraph, use five words previously unknown to you. These words could be jargon words or you may consult a dictionary or thesaurus to find a new word. Make sure to provide a specific context clue for understanding each word. Exchange papers with a classmate and try to decipher the meaning of the words in each other’s paragraphs based on the context clues.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.06%3A_Using_Context_Clues.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Use the skills you have learned in the chapter. 2. Work collaboratively with other students. Exercises 1. Proofread the paragraph and correct any commonly confused words and misspelled words. Grunge, or the Seattle sound, is a type of rock music that became quiet popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It began in Seattle, Washington. Grunge musicians rejected the dramatic an expensive stage productions that were trendy at the time. There music was striped down with an emphasis on distorted electric guitars. Grunge musicians did not ware makeup or sport extravagent hairstyles like many of the day’s rock musicians and bands. Many grunge musicians would by they’re clothes from secondhand stores. The lyrics too grunge songs were also quit different compared two what was populer at the time. Grunge lyrics are charecterized by dark or socially conscience themes. Grunge music is still admired today buy music lovers of all ages. 2. Complete the following sentences by filling in the blank line with the correct homonym or frequently misspelled word. 1. Kevin asked me a serious question and ________(then, than) interrupted me when I attempted to answer. 2. A hot compress will ________(lessen, lesson) the pain of muscle cramps. 3. Jason was not a graceful ________(looser, loser) because he knocked his chair over and stormed off the basketball court. 4. Please consider the ________(effects, affects) of not getting enough green vegetables in your diet. 5. ________(Except, Accept) for Ajay, we all had our tickets to the play. 6. I am ________(threw, through) with this magazine, so you can read it if you like. 7. I don’t care ________(whose, who’s) coming to the party and ________(whose, who’s) not. 8. Crystal could ________(sea, see) the soaring hawk through her binoculars. 9. The ________(principal, principle) gave the students a very long lecture about peer pressure. 10. Dr. Frankl nearly lost his ________(patience, patients) with one of his ________(patience, patients). 3. Rewrite the following personal essay by replacing the slang, clichés, and overly general language with stronger, more precise language. My biggest regret happened in high school. I had always felt like a fish out of water, so during my sophomore year I was determined to fit in with the cool people. Man, was that an uphill battle. I don’t even know why I tried, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess. The first thing I did was change the way I dressed. I went from wearing clothes I was comfortable in to wearing stuff that was so not me. Then I started wearing a ton of makeup, and my brother was all like, “What happened to your face?” Not only did my looks change, my personality changed a lot too. I started to act all stuck up and bossy with my friends, and they didn’t know how to respond to this person that used to be me. Luckily, this phase didn’t last more than a couple of months. I decided it was more fun to be me than to try to be someone else. I guess you can’t fit a square peg in a round hole after all. 4. Write the correct synonym for each word. 1. lenient ________(relaxed, callous) 2. abandon ________(vacate, deceive) 3. berate ________(criticize, encourage) 4. experienced ________(callow, matured) 5. spiteful ________(malevolent, mellow) 6. tame ________(subdued, wild) 7. tasty ________(savory, bland) 8. banal ________(common, interesting) 9. contradict ________(deny, revolt) 10. vain ________(boastful, simple)	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/03%3A_Which_Word_Is_Right/3.07%3A_Working_with_Words-_End-of-Chapter_Exercises.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the basic structures of sentences. 2. Determine ways to turn sentences into questions. 3. Define adjectives and how they are used. If your first language is not English, you will most likely need some extra help when writing in Standard, or formal, English. New students of Standard English often make similar kinds of errors. Even if you have been speaking English for a long time, you may not feel as confident in your written English skills. This chapter covers the most common errors made by English language learners and helps you avoid similar mistakes in your writing. Basic Sentence Structures The most basic sentence structure in English is a subject plus a verb. A subject performs the action in the sentence, and the verb identifies the action. Keep in mind that in some languages, such as Spanish and Italian, an obvious subject does not always perform the action in a sentence; the subject is often implied by the verb. However, every sentence in English must have a subject and a verb to express a complete thought. Not all sentences are as simple as a subject plus a verb. To form more complex sentences, writers build upon this basic structure. Adding a prepositional phrase to the basic sentence creates a more complex sentence. A preposition is a part of speech that relates a noun or a pronoun to another word in a sentence. It also introduces a prepositional phrase. If you can identify a preposition, you will be able to identify a prepositional phrase. On is the preposition. On the couch is the prepositional phrase. Common Prepositions about beside off above between on across by over after during through against except to along for toward among from under around in until at into up before like with behind of without Exercise $1$ Copy the following sentences onto your own sheet of paper and underline the prepositional phrases. 1. Linda and Javier danced under the stars. 2. Each person has an opinion about the topic. 3. The fans walked through the gates. 4. Jamyra ran around the track. 5. Maria celebrated her birthday in January. Another sentence structure that is important to understand is subject + verb + object. There are two types of objects: direct objects and indirect objects. A direct object receives the action of the verb. The letter directly receives the action of the verb writes. Tip A quick way to find the direct object is to ask what? or who? Sentence: Maurice kicked the ball. What did Maurice kick? The direct object, ball. Sentence: Maurice kicked Tom by accident. Who did Maurice kick? The direct object, Tom. An indirect object does not receive the action of the verb. The action (writes) is performed for or to the indirect object (me). Tip Even though the indirect object is not found after a preposition in English, it can be discovered by asking to whom? or for whom? after the verb. Sentence: Dad baked the children some cookies. For whom did Dad bake the cookies? The indirect object, children. Exercise $2$ On a separate sheet of paper, identify the subject, verb, direct object, and indirect object in the following sentences. 1. Captain Kirk told the crew a story. 2. Jermaine gave his girlfriend a dozen yellow tulips. 3. That hospital offers nurses better pay. 4. Dad served Grandma a delicious dinner. 5. Mom bought herself a new car. Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the sentences in the correct order. If the sentence is correct as it is, write OK. 1. The pizza Jeannine burnt. 2. To the Mexican restaurant we had to go for dinner. 3. Jeannine loved the food. 4. So full were we during the walk home. 5. I will make the pizza next time. Questions English speakers rely on the following two common ways to turn sentences into questions: 1. Move the helping verb and add a question mark. 2. Add the verb do, does, or did and add a question mark. Move the helping verb and add a question mark. Sentence: Sierra can pack these boxes. Question: Can Sierra pack these boxes? Add the verb do, does, or did, and add a question mark: Sentence: Jolene skated across the pond. Question: Did Jolene skate across the pond? Exercise $4$ On a separate sheet of paper, create questions from the following sentences. 1. Slumdog Millionaire is a film directed by Danny Boyle. 2. The story centers on a character named Jamal Malik. 3. He and his older brother find different ways to escape the slums. 4. His brother, Salim, pursues a life of crime. 5. Jamal ends up on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Adjectives An adjective is a kind of descriptive word that describes a noun or a pronoun. It tells which one, what kind, and how many. Adjectives make your writing more lively and interesting. Keep in mind, a common error that English language learners make is misplacing the adjectives in a sentence. It is important to know where to place the adjective in a sentence so that readers are not confused. If you are using more than one adjective to describe a noun, place the adjectives in the following order before the noun: 1. Opinion: an interesting book, a boring movie, a fun ride 2. Size: a large box, a tiny turtle, a tall woman 3. Shape: a round ball, a long hose, a square field 4. Age: a new day, an old horse, a modern building 5. Color: an orange sunset, a green jacket, a red bug 6. Ethnicity: Italian cheese, French wine, Chinese tea 7. Material: silk shirt, wool socks, a cotton dress Tip Adjectives can also be placed at the end of a sentence if they describe the subject of a sentence and appear after the verb. Sentence: My English teacher is excellent. Exercise $5$ On a separate sheet of paper, place the following sets of adjectives in the correct order before the noun. The first one has been done for you. 1. book: old, small, Spanish a small old Spanish book (age, size, ethnicity) 2. photograph: new, strange 3. suit: wool, green, funny 4. opinion: refreshing, new 5. dress: fashionable, purple KEY TAKEAWAYS • The most basic sentence structure is a subject plus a verb that expresses a complete thought. • Adding a prepositional phrase or a direct or indirect object to a sentence makes it more complex. • English speakers change a sentence into a question in one of the following two ways: moving the helping verb and adding a question mark or adding the verb do, does, or did and adding a question mark. • Adjectives follow a particular order before the noun they describe. The order is opinion, size, shape, age, color, ethnicity, and material. Writing Application Write a paragraph about a memorable family trip. Use at least two adjectives to describe each noun in your paragraph. Proofread your paragraph, and then exchange papers with a classmate. Check your classmate’s use of adjectives to make sure they are correct.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.01%3A_Word_Order.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify a negative statement. 2. Write negative statements. Negative statements are the opposite of positive statements and are necessary to express an opposing idea. The following charts list negative words and helping verbs that can be combined to form a negative statement. Negative Words never no hardly nobody none scarcely no one not barely nowhere rarely Common Helping Verbs am is are was were be being been have has had do does did can could may might must will should would ought to used to The following examples show several ways to make a sentence negative in the present tense. 1. A helping verb used with the negative word not. Sentence: My guests are arriving now. Negative: My guests are not arriving now. 2. Sentence: Jennie has money. Negative: Jennie has no money. 3. Sentence: Janetta does miss her mom. Negative: Janetta doesn’t miss her mom. 4. Sentence: I always go to the gym after work. Negative: I rarely go to the gym after work. 5. Sentence: Everybody gets the day off. Negative: Nobody gets the day off. Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the positive sentences as negative sentences. Be sure to keep the sentences in the present tense. 1. Everybody is happy about the mandatory lunch. 2. Deborah likes to visit online dating sites. 3. Jordan donates blood every six months. 4. Our writing instructor is very effective. 5. That beautiful papaya is cheap. The following sentences show you the ways to make a sentence negative in the past tense. Sentence: Paul called me yesterday. Negative: Paul did not call me yesterday. Sentence: Jamilee went to the grocery store. Negative: Jamilee never went to the grocery store. Sentence: Gina laughed when she saw the huge pile of laundry. Negative: Gina did not laugh when she saw the huge pile of laundry. Notice that when forming a negative in the past tense, the helping verb did is what signals the past tense, and the main verb laugh does not have an -ed ending. Exercise $2$ Rewrite the following paragraph by correcting the errors in the past-tense negative sentences. Celeste no did call me when she reached North Carolina. I was worried because she not drove alone before. She was going to meet her friend, Terry, who lived in a town called Asheville, North Carolina. I did never want to worry, but she said she was going to call when she reached there. Finally, four hours later, she called and said, “Mom, I’m sorry I did not call. I lost track of time because I was so happy to see Terry!” I was relieved. Collaboration Once you have found all the errors you can, please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Did your partner find an error you missed? Did you find an error your partner missed? Compare with your instructor’s answers. Double negatives are two negatives used in the same phrase or sentence. They are considered incorrect in Standard English. You should avoid using double negatives in all formal writing. If you want to say something negative, use only one negative word in the sentence. Return to the beginning of this section for a list of negative words, and then study the following examples. Tip Ain’t is considered a contraction of am not. Although some may use it in everyday speech, it is considered incorrect in Standard English. Avoid using it when speaking and writing in formal contexts. Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, correct the double negatives and rewrite the following sentences. 1. Jose didn’t like none of the choices on the menu. 2. Brittany can’t make no friends with nobody. 3. The Southwest hardly had no rain last summer. 4. My kids never get into no trouble. 5. I could not do nothing about the past. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Negatives are usually formed using a negative word plus a helping verb. • Double negatives are considered incorrect in Standard English. • Only one negative word is used to express a negative statement. Writing Application Write a paragraph describing your favorite meal. Use rich, colorful language to describe the meal. Exchange papers with a classmate and read his or her paragraph. Then rewrite each sentence of your classmate’s paragraph using negatives. Be sure to avoid double negatives. Share your negative paragraphs with each other.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.02%3A_Negative_Statements.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Define and use count and noncount nouns. 2. Recognize and use definite and indefinite articles. Nouns are words that name things, places, people, and ideas. Right now, you may be surrounded by desks, computers, and notebooks. These are called count nouns because you can count the exact number of desks, computers, and notebooks—three desks, one computer, and six notebooks, for example. On the other hand, you may be carrying a small amount of money in your wallet and sitting on a piece of furniture. These are called noncount nouns. Although you can count the pieces of furniture or the amount of money, you cannot add a number in front of money or furniture and simply add -s to the end of the noun. Instead, you must use other words and phrases to indicate the quantity of money and furniture. Incorrect: five moneys, two furnitures Correct: some money, two pieces of furniture By the end of Section $1$-1: "Count and Noncount Nouns", you will grasp the difference between the two types of nouns and be able to use them confidently in speaking and writing. Count and Noncount Nouns A count noun refers to people, places, and things that are separate units. You make count nouns plural by adding -s. Table $1$: Count Nouns Count Noun Sentence Quarter It takes six quarters to do my laundry. Chair Make sure to push in your chairs before leaving class. Candidate The two candidates debated the issue. Adult The three adults in the room acted like children. Comedian The two comedians made the audience laugh. A noncount noun identifies a whole object that cannot separate and count individually. Noncount nouns may refer to concrete objects or abstract objects. A concrete noun identifies an object you can see, taste, touch, or count. An abstract noun identifies an object that you cannot see, touch, or count. There are some exceptions, but most abstract nouns cannot be made plural, so they are noncount nouns. Examples of abstract nouns include anger, education, melancholy, softness, violence, and conduct. Table $2$: Types of Noncount Nouns Type of Noncount Noun Examples Sentence Food sugar, salt, pepper, lettuce, rice Add more sugar to my coffee, please. Solids concrete, chocolate, silver, soap The ice cream was covered in creamy chocolate. Abstract Nouns peace, warmth, hospitality, information I need more information about the insurance policy. Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, label each of the following nouns as count or noncount. 1. Electricity ________ 2. Water ________ 3. Book ________ 4. Sculpture ________ 5. Advice ________ Exercise $2$ On a separate sheet of paper, identify whether the italicized noun in the sentence is a count or noncount noun by writing C or NC above the noun. 1. The amount of traffic on the way home was terrible. 2. Forgiveness is an important part of growing up. 3. I made caramel sauce for the organic apples I bought. 4. I prefer film cameras instead of digital ones. 5. My favorite subject is history. Definite and Indefinite Articles The word the is a definite article. It refers to one or more specific things. For example, the woman refers to not any woman but a particular woman. The definite article the is used before singular and plural count nouns. The words a and an are indefinite articles. They refer to one nonspecific thing. For example, a woman refers to any woman, not a specific, particular woman. The indefinite article a or an is used before a singular count noun. Definite Articles (The) and Indefinite Articles (A/An) with Count Nouns I saw the concert. (singular, refers to a specific concert) I saw the concerts. (plural, refers to more than one specific concert) I saw the U2 concert last night. (singular, refers to a specific concert) I saw a concert. (singular, refers to any nonspecific concert) Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of paper, write the correct article in the blank for each of the following sentences. Write OK if the sentence is correct. 1. (A/An/The) camel can live for days without water. ________ 2. I enjoyed (a/an/the) pastries at the Bar Mitzvah. ________ 3. (A/An/The) politician spoke of many important issues. ________ 4. I really enjoyed (a/an/the) actor’s performance in the play. ________ 5. (A/An/The) goal I have is to run a marathon this year. ________ Exercise $4$ Correct the misused or missing articles and rewrite the paragraph. Stars are large balls of spinning hot gas like our sun. The stars look tiny because they are far away. Many of them are much larger than sun. Did you know that a Milky Way galaxy has between two hundred billion and four hundred billion stars in it? Scientists estimate that there may be as many as five hundred billion galaxies in an entire universe! Just like a human being, the star has a life cycle from birth to death, but its lifespan is billions of years long. The star is born in a cloud of cosmic gas and dust called a nebula. Our sun was born in the nebula nearly five billion years ago. Photographs of the star-forming nebulas are astonishing. Collaboration Once you have found all the errors you can, share with a classmate and compare your answers. Did your partner find an error you missed? Did you find an error your partner missed? Compare with your instructor’s answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS • You can make count nouns plural by adding -s. • Count nouns are individual people, places, or things that can be counted, such as politicians, deserts, or candles. • Noncount nouns refer to whole things that cannot be made plural, such as salt, peace, or happiness. • The is a definite article and is used to refer to a specific person, place, or thing, such as the Queen of England. • A and an are indefinite articles, and they refer to nonspecific people, places, or things, such as an apple or a bicycle. Writing Application Write five sentences using the definite article the. Write five sentences using the indefinite article a or an. Exchange papers with a classmate and check each other’s work.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.03%3A_Count_and_Noncount_Nouns_and_Articles.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Recognize subject and object pronouns. 2. Identify possessive pronouns. 3. Determine common pronoun errors. A pronoun is a word that can be used in place of the noun. We use pronouns so we do not have to repeat words. For example, imagine writing the following sentence: Afrah put her scarf on because Afrah was cold. The sentence sounds a bit strange because Afrah is named twice; however, if you use a pronoun, the sentence will be shorter and less repetitive. You might rewrite the sentence to something similar to the following: Afrah put her scarf on because she was cold. She refers to Afrah, so you do not have to write the name twice. Types of Pronouns Subject pronouns are often the subject of a sentence—“who” and “what” the sentence is about. Sentence: She loves the desserts in France. She is the subject. Sentence: By lunch time, they were hungry. They is the subject. Object pronouns are often the object of the verb— “who” or “what” was acted upon. Sentence: Melanie’s thoughtfulness touched him. Him is the object of the verb touched. Sentence: We lifted it. It is the object of the verb lifted. Tip 1. Recognize subject and object pronouns. 2. Identify possessive pronouns. 3. Determine common pronoun errors. A pronoun that shows possession or ownership is called a possessive pronoun. Sentence: The teacher took her apple and left. The pronoun her shows the teacher owns the apple. Sentence: The hikers spotted their guide on the trail. The pronoun their shows the hikers follow the guide who was assigned to the hikers. Table $1$: Pronouns Subject Pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we, they Object Pronouns me, you, him, her, it, us, them Possessive Pronouns my (mine), your(s), his, hers, its, our(s), their(s) Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by circling the correct pronoun. 1. Unfortunately, the house was too expensive for (we, us, they). 2. I completed (mine, my, your) research paper, and she completed (his, hers, theirs). 3. My dog Buster is old, but (he, it, them) is very playful. 4. That ring belongs to my father, so it is (hers, his, theirs). 5. I cannot find my textbook, so I think (they, it, he) is lost. Common Pronoun Errors English language learners often make the same errors when using pronouns. The following examples illustrate common errors. Incorrect: Me and Daniela went to the restaurant for lunch. This sentence is incorrect because an object pronoun (me) is used instead of a subject pronoun. Correct: Daniela and I went to the restaurant for lunch. This sentence is now correct because a subject pronoun (I) is used. Incorrect: Mark put her grocery bag on the counter. This sentence is incorrect because the pronoun her refers to a female, and Mark is a male. Correct: Mark put his grocery bag on the counter. This sentence is now correct because the male pronoun his refers to the male person, Mark. Incorrect: The woman she went to work earlier than usual. This sentence is incorrect because the subject the woman is repeated by the pronoun she. Correct: The woman went to work earlier than usual. Correct: She went to work earlier than usual. These sentences are now correct because the unnecessary repeated subject has been removed. Exercise $2$ On a separate sheet of paper, correct the following sentences that have pronoun errors. If the sentence is correct as it is, write OK. 1. Us are going to the county fair this weekend. 2. Steven did not want to see a movie because she had a headache. 3. The teacher congratulated Maria and me. 4. The eighth grade students they were all behaving mysteriously well. 5. Derrick and he received the best grade on the grammar test. Relative Pronouns A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun that helps connect details to the subject of the sentence and may often combine two shorter sentences. The relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which or that. Sentence: A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun. The subject of this sentence is a relative pronoun. The clause is a type of pronoun gives some information about the subject. The relative pronoun that may be added to give more details to the subject. Sentence using a relative pronoun: A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun that helps connect details to the subject of the sentence. Tip Remember the following uses of relative pronouns: • Who, whom, and whose refer only to people. • Which refers to things. • That refers to people or things. The following examples show how a relative pronoun may be used to connect two sentences and to connect details to the subject. Sentence 1: Gossip is a form of communication. Sentence 2: It is a waste of time and energy. Combination of 1 and 2: Gossip is a form of communication that is a waste of time and energy. Notice how the relative pronoun that replaces the subject it in sentence 2. That is called a relative pronoun because it connects the details (is a waste of time and energy) to the subject (Gossip). Sentence 1: My grandmother is eighty years old. Sentence 2: She collects seashells. Combination of 1 and 2: My grandmother, who is eighty years old, collects seashells. Notice how the relative pronoun who replaces the subject she in sentence 2. Who is called a relative pronoun because it connects the details (is eighty years old) to the subject (My grandmother). Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by selecting the correct relative pronoun. 1. He showed me a photo (who, that) upset me. 2. Soccer is a fast moving game (who, that) has many fans worldwide. 3. Juan is a man (which, who) has high standards for everything. 4. Jamaica is a beautiful country (that, who) I would like to visit next year. 5. My mother only eats bananas (who, that) are green. Exercise $4$ On a separate sheet of paper, combine the two sentences into one sentence using a relative pronoun. 1. Jeff is a dependable person. He will never let you down. 2. I rode a roller coaster. It was scary. 3. At the beach, I always dig my feet into the sand. It protects them from the hot sun. 4. Jackie is trying not to use so many plastic products. They are not good for the environment. 5. My Aunt Sherry is teaching me how to drive. She has never been in accident or gotten a ticket. KEY TAKEAWAYS • A pronoun is used in place of a noun. • There are several types of pronouns, including subject and object pronouns, possessive pronouns, and relative pronouns. • Subject pronouns are the “who” and “what” the sentence is about. • Object pronouns are the “who” and “what” that receives the action. • A possessive pronoun is a pronoun showing ownership. • Common pronoun errors include mixing up subject, object, and gender pronouns, and repeating the subject of a sentence with a pronoun. • Relative pronouns help combine two separate sentences. Writing Application Proofread a piece of your writing for the types of pronoun errors discussed in this section. Correct any errors you come across.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.04%3A_Pronouns.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify simple verb tenses. 2. Recognize to be, to have, and to do verbs. 3. Use perfect verb tenses. 4. Apply progressive verb tenses. 5. Define gerunds and infinitives. You must always use a verb in every sentence you write. Verbs are parts of speech that indicate actions or states of being. The most basic sentence structure is a subject followed by a verb. Simple Verb Tenses Verb tenses tell the reader when the action takes place. The action could be in the past, present, or future. Past ← Present → Future Yesterday I jumped. Today I jump. Tomorrow I will jump. Simple present verbs are used in the following situations: 1. When the action takes place now I drink the water greedily. 2. When the action is something that happens regularly I always cross my fingers for good luck. 3. When describing things that are generally true College tuition is very costly. Table $1$: Regular Simple Present Tense Verbs Verb I He/She/It You We They ask ask asks ask ask ask bake bake bakes bake bake bake cook cook cooks cook cook cook cough cough coughs cough cough cough clap clap claps clap clap clap dance dance dances dance dance dance erase erase erases erase erase erase kiss kiss kisses kiss kiss kiss push push pushes push push push wash wash washes wash wash wash When it is he, she, or it doing the present tense action, remember to add -s, or -es to the end of the verb or to change the y to -ies. Simple past verbs are used when the action has already taken place and is now finished: • I washed my uniform last night. • I asked for more pie. • I coughed loudly last night. Table $2$: Regular Simple Past Tense Verbs Verb I He/She/It You We They ask asked asked asked asked asked bake baked baked baked baked baked cook cooked cooked cooked cooked cooked cough coughed coughed coughed coughed coughed clap clapped clapped clapped clapped clapped dance danced danced danced danced danced erase erased erased erased erased erased kiss kissed kissed kissed kissed kissed push pushed pushed pushed pushed pushed wash washed washed washed washed washed When he, she, or it is doing the action in the past tense, remember to add -d or -ed to the end of regular verbs. Simple future verbs are used when the action has not yet taken place: • I will work late tomorrow. • I will kiss my boyfriend when I see him. • I will erase the board after class. Table $3$: Regular Simple Future Tense Verbs Verb I He/She/It You We They ask will ask will ask will ask will ask will ask bake will bake will bake will bake will bake will bake cook will cook will cook will cook will cook will cook cough will cough will cough will cough will cough will cough clap will clap will clap will clap will clap will clap dance will dance will dance will dance will dance will dance erase will erase will erase will erase will erase will erase kiss will kiss will kiss will kiss will kiss will kiss push will push will push will push will push will push wash will wash will wash will wash will wash will wash Going to can also be added to the main verb to make it future tense: • I am going to go to work tomorrow. Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by adding the verb in the correct simple tense. 1. Please do not (erase, erased, will erase) what I have written on the board. 2. They (dance, danced, will dance) for hours after the party was over. 3. Harrison (wash, washed, will wash) his laundry after several weeks had passed. 4. Yesterday Mom (ask, asked, will ask) me about my plans for college. 5. I (bake, baked, will bake) several dozen cookies for tomorrow’s bake sale. Exercise $2$ Correct the verb tense mistakes in the following paragraph. Last summer, I walk around Walden Pond. Walden Pond is in Concord, Massachusetts. It is where the philosopher Henry David Thoreau will live during the mid-nineteenth century. During his time there, he wrote a book called Walden. Walden is a book of Thoreau’s reflections on the natural environment. It will be consider a classic in American literature. I did not know that Walden Pond is consider the birthplace of the environmental movement. It was very relaxing there. I will listen to birds, frogs, and crickets, not to mention the peaceful sound of the pond itself. Collaboration Once you have found all the errors you can, please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Did your partner find an error you missed? Did you find an error your partner missed? Compare with your instructor’s answers. To Be, To Do, and To Have There are some irregular verbs in English that are formed in special ways. The most common of these are the verbs to be, to have, and to do. Table $4$: Verb Forms of To Be, To Do, and To Have Base Form Present Tense Form Past Tense Form Future Tense Form be am/is/are was/were will be do do/does did will do have have/has had will have Tip Memorize the present tense forms of to be, to do, and to have. A song or rhythmic pattern will make them easier to memorize. Review these examples of to be, to do, and to have used in sentences. Past ← Present → Future To Be Yesterday I was angry. Today I am not angry. Tomorrow I will be angry. To Do I did my best yesterday. I do my best every day. Tomorrow I will do my best. To Have Yesterday I had ten dollars. Today I have ten dollars. Tomorrow I will have ten dollars. Remember the following uses of to be, to have and to do: To Be • I → am/was/will be • you/we/they → are/were/will be • he/she/it → is/was/will be To Have • I/you/we/they → have/had/will have • he/she/it → has/had/will have To Do • I/you/we/they → do/did/will do • he/she/it → does/did/will do Tip Remember, if you have a compound subject like Marie and Jennifer, think of the subject as they to determine the correct verb form. • Marie and Jennifer (they) have a house on Bainbridge Island. Similarly, single names can be thought of as he, she, or it. • LeBron (he) has scored thirty points so far. Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by circling the correct form of the verbs to be, to have, and to do in the three simple tenses. 1. Stefan always (do, does, will do) his taxes the day before they are due. 2. We (are, is, was) planning a surprise birthday party for my mother. 3. Turtles (have, had, has) the most beautiful patterns on their shells. 4. I always (do, did, will do) my homework before dinner, so I can eat in peace. 5. You (is, are, was) so much smarter than you think! Perfect Verb Tenses Up to this point, we have studied the three simple verb tenses—simple present, simple past, and simple future. Now we will add three more tenses, which are called perfect tenses. They are present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. These are the three basic tenses of English. A past participle is often called the -ed form of a verb because it is formed by adding -d or -ed to the base form of regular verbs. Past participles can also end in -t or -en. Keep in mind, however, the past participle is also formed in various other ways for irregular verbs. The past participle can be used to form the present perfect tense. Review the following basic formula for the present perfect tense: Subject + has or have + past participle I have helped The present perfect tense has a connection with the past and the present. Use the present perfect tense to describe a continuing situation and to describe an action that has just happened. • I have worked as a caretaker since June. This sentence tells us that the subject has worked as a caretaker in the past and is still working as a caretaker in the present. • Dmitri has just received an award from the Dean of Students. This sentence tells us that Dmitri has very recently received the award. The word just emphasizes that the action happened very recently. Study the following basic formula for the past perfect tense: Subject + had or have + past participle I had listened • The bus had left by the time Theo arrived at the station. Notice that both actions occurred entirely in the past, but one action occurred before the other. At some time in the past, Theo arrived (simple past tense) at the station, but at some time before that, the bus had left (past perfect). Look at the following basic formula for the future perfect tense: Subject + will have + past participle I will have graduated The future perfect tense describes an action from the past in the future, as if the past event has already occurred. Use the future perfect tense when you anticipate completing an event in the future, but you have not completed it yet. • You will have forgotten me after you move to London. Notice that both actions occur in the future, but one action will occur before the other. At some time in the future, the subject (you) will move (future tense) to London, and at some time after that, the subject will have forgotten (future perfect tense) the speaker, me. Exercise $4$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by using the correct perfect verb tense for the verb in parentheses. 1. I plan to start a compost bin because I ________ (to want) one for a long time now. 2. My brother told me he ________ (to argue) with his friend about politics. 3. By the time we reach the mountain top the sun ________ (to set). 4. Denise ________ (to walk) several miles in the past three hours. 5. His mother ________ (to offer) to pay him to work in her office. Progressive Verb Tenses Progressive verb tenses describe a continuing or unfinished action, such as I am going, I was going, or I will be going. The present progressive tense describes an action or state of being that takes place in the present and that continues to take place. To make verbs in the present progressive tense, combine these two parts: Present tense form of to be + -ing (present participle) am/is/are help helping You should use the present progressive tense to describe a planned activity, to describe an activity that is recurring right now, and to describe an activity that is in progress, although not actually occurring at the time of speaking: • Preeti is starting school on Tuesday. This sentence describes a planned activity. • Janetta is getting her teeth cleaned right now. This sentence describes an activity that is occurring right now. • I am studying ballet at school. This sentence describes an activity that is in progress but not actually occurring at the time of speaking. The past progressive tense describes an action or state of being that took place in the past and that continues to take place. To make verbs in the past progressive tense, combine these two parts: Past tense form of to be + -ing (present participle) was/were helping You should use the past progressive tense to describe a continuous action in the past, to describe a past activity in progress while another activity occurred, or to describe two past activities in progress at the same time: • Ella and I were planning a vacation. This sentence describes a continuous action in the past. • I was helping a customer when I smelled delicious fried chicken. This sentence describes a past activity in progress while another activity occurred. • While I was finishing my homework, my wife was talking on the phone. This sentence describes two past activities in progress at the same time. The future progressive tense describes an action or state of being that will take place in the future and that will continue to take place. The action will have started at that future moment, but it will not have finished at that moment. To make verbs in the future progressive tense, combine these parts: Future tense form of to be + -ing (present participle) will be helping Use the future progressive tense to describe an activity that will be in progress in the future: • Samantha and I will be dancing in the school play next week. • Tomorrow Agnes will be reading two of her poems. Exercise $5$ On a separate sheet of paper, revise the following sentences, written in simple tenses, using the progressive tenses indicated in parentheses. 1. He prepared the food while I watched. (past progressive tense) 2. Jonathan will speak at the conference. (future progressive) 3. Josie traveled to Egypt last July. (past progressive tense) 4. My foot aches, so I know it will rain. (present progressive tense) 5. Micah will talk a lot when I see him. (future progressive) 6. I yawn a lot because I feel tired. (present progressive tense) Similar to the present perfect tense, the present perfect progressive tense is used to indicate an action that was begun in the past and continues into the present. However, the present perfect progressive is used when you want to stress that the action is ongoing. To make verbs in the present perfect progressive tense, combine the following parts: Present tense form of to have + Been + -ing (present participle) has or have been helping • She has been talking for the last hour. This sentence indicates that she started talking in the past and is continuing to talk in the present. • I have been feeling tired lately. This sentence indicates that I started feeling tired in the past, and I continue to feel tired in the present. Instead of indicating time, as in the first sentence, the second sentence uses the adverb lately. You can also use the adverb recently when using the present perfect progressive tense. Similar to the past perfect tense, the past perfect progressive tense is used to indicate an action that was begun in the past and continued until another time in the past. The past perfect progressive does not continue into the present but stops at a designated moment in the past. To make verbs in the past perfect progressive tense, combine the following parts: Past tense form of to have + been + -ing (present participle) had been helping • The employees had been talking until their boss arrived. This sentence indicates that the employees were talking in the past and they stopped talking when their boss arrived, which also happened in the past. • I had been working all day. This sentence implies that I was working in the past. The action does not continue into the future, and the sentence implies that the subject stopped working for unstated reasons. The future perfect progressive tense is rarely used. It is used to indicate an action that will begin in the future and will continue until another time in the future. To make verbs in the future perfect progressive tense, combine the following parts: Future tense form of to have + been + -ing (present participle) will have Been helping • By the end of the meeting, I will have been hearing about mortgages and taxes for eight hours. This sentence indicates that in the future I will hear about mortgages and taxes for eight hours, but it has not happened yet. It also indicates the action of hearing will continue until the end of the meeting, something that is also in the future. Gerunds A gerund is a form of a verb that is used as a noun. All gerunds end in -ing. Since gerunds function as nouns, they occupy places in a sentence that a noun would, such as the subject, direct object, and object of a preposition. You can use a gerund in the following ways: 1. Traveling is Cynthia’s favorite pastime. 2. I enjoy jogging. 3. The librarian scolded me for laughing. Often verbs are followed by gerunds. Study Table $5$: "Gerunds and Verbs" for examples. Table $5$: Gerunds and Verbs Gerund Verb Followed by a Gerund moving Denise considered moving to Paris. cleaning I hate cleaning the bathroom. winning Nate imagines winning an Oscar one day. worrying Mom says she has stopped worrying. taking She admitted taking the pumpkin. Infinitives An infinitive is a form of a verb that comes after the word to and acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb. to + verb = infinitive Examples of infinitives include to move, to sleep, to look, to throw, to read, and to sneeze. Often verbs are followed by infinitives. Study Table $6$: "Infinitives and Verbs" for examples. Table $6$: Infinitives and Verbs Infinitive Verb Followed by Infinitive to help Jessica offered to help her move. to arrive Mick expects to arrive early. to win Sunita wants to win the writing contest. to close He forgot to close the curtains. to eat She likes to eat late. You may wonder which verbs can be followed by gerunds and which verbs can be followed by infinitives. With the following verbs, you can use either a gerund or an infinitive. Table $7$: Infinitives and Gerunds Verbs Base Form of Verb Sentences with Verbs Followed by Gerunds and Infinitives begin 1. John began crying. 2. John began to cry. hate 1. Marie hated talking on the phone. 2. Marie hated to talk on the phone. forget 1. Wendell forgot paying the bills. 2. Wendell forgot to pay the bills. like 1. I liked leaving messages. 2. I liked to leave messages. continue 1. He continued listening to the news. 2. He continued to listen to the news. start 1. I will start recycling immediately. 2. I will start to recycle immediately. try 1. Mikhail will try climbing the tree. 2. Mikhail will try to climb the tree. prefer 1. I prefer baking. 2. I prefer to bake. love 1. Josh loves diving. 2. Josh loves to dive. Exercise $6$ On your own sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by choosing the correct infinitive or gerund. 1. I meant ________ (to kiss, kissing) my kids before they left for school. 2. The children hoped (to go, going) to a restaurant for dinner. 3. Do you intend ________ (to eat, eating) the entire pie? 4. Crystal postponed ________ (to get dressed, getting dressed) for the party. 5. When we finish ________ (to play, playing) this game, we will go home. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Verb tenses tell the reader when the action takes place. • Actions could be in the past, present, or future. • There are some irregular verbs in English that are formed in special ways. The most common of these irregular verbs are the verbs to be, to have, and to do. • There are six main verb tenses in English: simple present, simple past, simple future, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. • Verbs can be followed by either gerunds or infinitives. Writing Application Write about a lively event that is either remembered or imagined. Ask yourself the following three questions: What happened during the event? What happened after the event? Looking back, what do you think of the event now? Answer each question in a separate paragraph to keep the present, past, and future tense verbs separate.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.05%3A_Verb_Tenses.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Define and identify modal auxiliaries. 2. Learn how and when to use modal auxiliaries. We all need to express our moods and emotions, both in writing and in our everyday life. We do this by using modal auxiliaries. Modal Auxiliaries Modal auxiliaries are a type of helping verb that are used only with a main verb to help express its mood. The following is the basic formula for using a modal auxiliary: Subject + modal auxiliary + main verb James may call There are ten main modal auxiliaries in English. Table $1$: Modal Auxiliaries Modal Auxiliary Use Modal Auxiliary + Main Verb can Expresses an ability or possibility I can lift this forty-pound box. (ability) We can embrace green sources of energy. (possibility) could Expresses an ability in the past; a present possibility; a past or future permission I could beat you at chess when we were kids. (past ability) We could bake a pie! (present possibility) Could we pick some flowers from the garden? (future permission) may Expresses uncertain future action; permission; ask a yes-no question I may attend the concert. (uncertain future action) You may begin the exam. (permission) May I attend the concert? (yes-no questions) might Expresses uncertain future action I might attend the concert (uncertain future action—same as may) shall Expresses intended future action I shall go to the opera. (intended future action) should Expresses obligation; ask if an obligation exists I should mail my RSVP. (obligation, same as ought to) Should I call my mother? (asking if an obligation exists) will Expresses intended future action; ask a favor; ask for information I will get an A in this class. (intended future action) Will you buy me some chocolate? (favor) Will you be finished soon? (information) would States a preference; request a choice politely; explain an action; introduce habitual past actions I would like the steak, please. (preference) Would you like to have breakfast in bed? (request a choice politely) I would go with you if I didn’t have to babysit tonight. (explain an action) He would write to me every week when we were dating. (habitual past action) must Expresses obligation We must be on time for class. ought to Expresses obligation I ought to mail my RSVP. (obligation, same as may) Tip Use the following format to form a yes-no question with a modal auxiliary: Modal auxiliary + subject + main verb Should I drive? Be aware of these four common errors when using modal auxiliaries: 1. Using an infinitive instead of a base verb after a modal Incorrect: I can to move this heavy table. Correct: I can move this heavy table. 2. Using a gerund instead of an infinitive or a base verb after a modal Incorrect: I could moving to the United States. Correct: I could move to the United States. 3. Using two modals in a row Incorrect: I should must renew my passport. Correct: I must renew my passport. Correct: I should renew my passport. 4. Leaving out a modal Incorrect: I renew my passport. Correct: I must renew my passport. Exercise $1$ Edit the following paragraph by correcting the common modal auxiliary errors. I may to go to France on vacation next summer. I shall might visit the Palace of Versailles. I would to drive around the countryside. I could imagining myself living there; however, I will not move to France because my family should miss me very much. Modals and Present Perfect Verbs In the previous section, we defined present perfect verb tense as describing a continuing situation or something that has just happened. Remember, when a sentence contains a modal auxiliary before the verb, the helping verb is always have. Be aware of the following common errors when using modal auxiliaries in the present perfect tense: 1. Incorrect: Jamie would had attended the party, but he was sick. Correct: Jamie would have attended the party, but he was sick. 2. Incorrect: Jamie would attended the party, but he was sick. Correct: Jamie would have attended the party, but he was sick. Exercise $2$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by changing the given verb form to a modal auxiliary in present perfect tense. 1. The man ________ (laugh). 2. The frogs ________ (croak). 3. My writing teacher ________ (smile). 4. The audience ________ (cheer) all night. 5. My best friend ________ (giggled). KEY TAKEAWAYS • The basic formula for using a modal auxiliary is subject + modal auxiliary + main verb • There are ten main modal auxiliaries in English: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, and ought to. • The four common types of errors when using modals include the following: using an infinitive instead of a base verb after a modal, using a gerund instead of an infinitive or a base verb after a modal, using two modals in a row, and leaving out a modal. • In the present perfect tense, when a sentence has a modal auxiliary before the verb, the helping verb is always have. • The two common errors when using modals in the present perfect tense include using had instead of have and leaving out have. Writing Application On a separate sheet of paper, write ten original sentences using modal auxiliaries.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.06%3A_Modal_Auxiliaries.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify prepositions. 2. Learn how and when to use prepositions. A preposition is a word that connects a noun or a pronoun to another word in a sentence. Most prepositions such as above, below, and behind usually indicate a location in the physical world, but some prepositions such as during, after, and until show location in time. In, At, and On The prepositions in, at, and on are used to indicate both location and time, but they are used in specific ways. Study the following tables to learn when to use each one. Table $1$: In Preposition Time Example Place Example in year in 1942 country in Zimbabwe month in August state in California season in the summer city in Chicago time of day (not with night) in the afternoon Table $2$: On Preposition Time Example Place Example on day on Monday surfaces on the table date on May 23 streets on 124th Street specific days/dates on Monday modes of transportation on the bus Table $3$: At Preposition Time Example Place Example at time at five o’clock addresses at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with night at night location at Rooney’s Grill Exercise $1$ Edit the following letter from a resident to her landlord by correcting errors with in, at, and on. Dear Mrs. Salazar, I am writing this letter to inform you that I will be vacating apartment 2A in 356 Maple Street at Wednesday, June 30, 2010. I will be cleaning the apartment at the Monday before I leave. I will return the keys to you on 5 p.m., sharp, at June 30. If you have any questions or specific instructions for me, please contact me in my office. I have enjoyed living at Austin, Texas, but I want to explore other parts of the country now. Sincerely, Milani Davis Prepositions after Verbs Prepositions often follow verbs to create expressions with distinct meanings. These expressions are sometimes called prepositional verbs. It is important to remember that these expressions cannot be separated. Table $4$: Verbs + Prepositions Verb + Preposition Meaning Example agree with to agree with something or someone My husband always agrees with me. apologize for to express regret for something, to say sorry about something I apologize for being late. apply for to ask for something formally I will apply for that job. believe in to have a firm conviction in something; to believe in the existence of something I believe in educating the world’s women. care about to think that someone or something is important I care about the health of our oceans. hear about to be told about something or someone I heard about the teachers’ strike. look after to watch or to protect someone or something Will you look after my dog while I am on vacation? talk about to discuss something We will talk about the importance of recycling. speak to, with to talk to/with someone I will speak to his teacher tomorrow. wait for to await the arrival of someone or something I will wait for my package to arrive. Tip It is a good idea to memorize these combinations of verbs plus prepositions. Write them down in a notebook along with the definition and practice using them when you speak. Exercise $2$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by writing the correct preposition after the verb. 1. Charlotte does not ________ (apologize for, believe in) aliens or ghosts. 2. It is impolite to ________ (hear about, talk about) people when they are not here. 3. Herman said he was going to ________ (believe in, apply for) the internship. 4. Jonas would not ________ (talk about, apologize for) eating the last piece of cake. 5. I ________ (care about, agree with) the environment very much. Prepositions after Adjectives Similar to prepositions after verbs, prepositions after adjectives create expressions with distinct meanings unique to English. Remember, like prepositional verbs, these expressions also cannot be separated. Table $5$: Adjectives + Prepositions Adjective + Preposition Meaning Example angry at, about to feel or show anger toward (or about) someone or something I am angry about the oil spill in the ocean. confused about to be unable to think with clarity about someone or something. Shawn was confused about the concepts presented at the meeting. disappointed in, with to feel dissatisfaction with someone or something I was disappointed in my husband because he voted for that candidate. dressed in to clothe the body He was dressed in a pin-striped suit. happy for to show happiness for someone or something I was happy for my sister who graduated from college. interested in giving attention to something, expressing interest I am interested in musical theater. jealous of to feel resentful or bitter toward someone or something (because of their status, possessions, or ability) I was jealous of her because she always went on vacation. thankful for to express thanks for something I am thankful for my wonderful friends. tired of to be disgusted with, have a distaste for I was tired of driving for hours without end. worried about to express anxiety or worry about something I am worried about my father’s health. Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by writing the correct preposition after the verb. 1. Meera was deeply ________ (interested in, thankful for) marine biology. 2. I was ________ (jealous of, disappointed in) the season finale of my favorite show. 3. Jordan won the race, and I am ________ (happy for, interested in) him. 4. The lawyer was ________ (thankful for, confused about) the details of the case. 5. Chloe was ________ (dressed in, tired of) a comfortable blue tunic. Tip The following adjectives are always followed by the preposition at: • Good She is really good at chess. • Excellent Henry is excellent at drawing. • Brilliant Mary Anne is brilliant at playing the violin. KEY TAKEAWAYS • The prepositions in, at, and on are used to indicate both location and time, but they are used in specific ways. • The preposition in is used when expressing the following: year, month, season, time of day (not with night), country, state, and city. • The preposition on is used to express day, date, and specific days or dates and surfaces, streets, and transportation modes. • The preposition at is used for expressions of time, with night, and with addresses and locations. • Prepositions often follow verbs to create expressions with distinct meanings that are unique to English. • Prepositions also follow adjectives to create expressions with distinct meanings that are unique to English. Writing Application Write about a happy childhood memory using as many prepositions followed by verbs and adjectives as you can. Use at least ten. When you are finished, exchange papers with a classmate and correct any preposition errors you find.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.07%3A_Prepositions.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Recognize slang and idioms. 2. Learn to avoid using slang and idioms in formal writing. Words are the basis of how a reader or listener judges you, the writer and speaker. When you write an academic paper or speak in a business interview, you want to be sure to choose your words carefully. In our casual, everyday talk, we often use a lot of “ums,” “likes,” “yeahs,” and so on. This everyday language is not appropriate for formal contexts, such as academic papers and business interviews. You should switch between different ways of speaking and writing depending on whether the context is formal or informal. Slang Hey guys, let’s learn about slang and other cool stuff like that! It will be awesome, trust me. This section is off the hook! What do you notice about the previous paragraph? You might notice that the language sounds informal, or casual, like someone might talk with a friend or family member. The paragraph also uses a lot of slang. Slang is a type of language that is informal and playful. It often changes over time. The slang of the past is different than the slang of today, but some slang has carried over into the present. Slang also varies by region and culture. The important thing to understand is that slang is casual talk, and you should avoid using it in formal contexts. There are literally thousands of slang words and expressions. Table $1$: "Slang Expressions" explains just a few of the more common terms. Table $1$: Slang Expressions Slang Word or Phrase Meaning check it out, check this out v. look at, watch, examine chocoholic, workaholic, shopaholic n. a person who loves, is addicted to chocolate/work/shopping stuff n. things (used as a singular, noncount noun) taking care of business doing things that need to be done pro n. a person who is a professional crack up v. to laugh uncontrollably veg (sounds like the veg in vegetable) v. relax and do nothing dude, man n. person, man all-nighter n. studying all night cool adj. good, fashionable gross, nasty adj. disgusting pig out v. eat a lot, overeat screw up v. make a mistake awesome adj. great Exercise $1$ Edit the business e-mail by replacing any slang words and phrases with more formal language. Dear Ms. O’Connor: I am writing to follow up on my interview from last week. First of all, it was awesome to meet you. You are a really cool lady. I believe I would be a pro at all the stuff you mentioned that would be required of me in this job. I am not a workaholic, but I do work hard and “take care of business.” Haha. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. Sincerely, M. Ernest Anderson Idioms Idioms are expressions that have a meaning different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words in the expression. Because English contains many idioms, nonnative English speakers have difficulties making logical sense of idioms and idiomatic expressions. The more you are exposed to English, however, the more idioms you will come to understand. Until then, memorizing the more common idioms may be of some help. Table $2$: Idioms Idiom Definition a blessing in disguise a good thing you do not recognize at first a piece of cake easy to do better late than never it is better to do something late than not at all get over it recover from something (like a perceived insult) I have no idea I don’t know not a chance it will definitely not happen on pins and needles very nervous about something that is happening on top of the world feeling great pulling your leg making a joke by tricking another person the sky is the limit the possibilities are endless What if you come across an idiom that you do not understand? There are clues that can help you. They are called context clues. Context clues are words or phrases around the unknown word or phrase that may help you decipher its meaning. 1. Definition or explanation clue. An idiom may be explained immediately after its use. Sentence: I felt like I was sitting on pins and needles I was so nervous. 2. Restatement or synonym clues. An idiom may be simplified or restated. Sentence: The young girl felt as though she had been sent to the dog house when her mother punished her for fighting in school. 3. Contrast or Antonym clues. An idiom may be clarified by a contrasting phrase or antonym that is near it. Sentence: Chynna thought the 5k marathon would be a piece of cake, but it turned out to be very difficult. Pay attention to the signal word but, which tells the reader that an opposite thought or concept is occurring. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Informal language is not appropriate in formal writing or speaking contexts. • Slang and idioms might not make logical sense to nonnative speakers of English. • It is good to be aware of slang and idioms so they do not appear in your formal writing. Writing Application Write a short paragraph about yourself to a friend. Write another paragraph about yourself to an employer. Examine and discuss the differences in language between the two paragraphs. 4.09: Help for English Language Learners- End-of-Chapter Exercises Learning Objectives 1. Use the skills you have learned in the chapter. 2. Work collaboratively with other students. Exercises 1. On a separate sheet of paper, create questions from the following sentences. 1. My daughter will have to think about her college options. 2. Otto is waiting in the car for his girlfriend. 3. The article talks about conserving energy. 4. We need to reduce our needs. 5. Rusha is always complaining about her work. 2. Underline the prepositional phrase in each of the following sentences. 1. Monica told us about her trip. 2. I hope we have sunshine throughout the summer. 3. The panther climbed up the tree. 4. The little boy was standing behind his mother’s legs. 5. We stayed awake until dawn. 3. Place the following sets of adjectives in the correct order before the noun. 1. eyes: black, mesmerizing 2. jacket: vintage, orange, suede 3. pineapple: ripe, yellow, sweet 4. vacation: fun, skiing 5. movie: hilarious, independent 4. On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the positive sentences as negative sentences. Be sure to keep the sentences in the present tense. 1. Sometimes I work on Saturdays. 2. The garden attracts butterflies and bees. 3. He breathes loudly at night. 4. I chew on blades of grass in the summer time. 5. I communicate well with my husband. 5. On a separate sheet of paper, rewrite the following paragraph by correcting the double negatives. That morning it was so hot Forrest felt like he couldn’t hardly breathe. Ain’t nothing would get him out the door into that scorching heat. Then he remembered his dog, Zeus, who started whining right then. Zeus was whining and barking so much that Forrest didn’t have no choice but to get off the couch and face the day. That dog didn’t do nothing but sniff around the bushes and try to stay in the shade while Forrest was sweating in the sun holding the leash. He couldn’t not wait for winter to come. Collaboration Once you have found all the errors you can, please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Did your partner find an error you missed? Did you find an error your partner missed? Compare with your instructor’s answers.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/04%3A_Help_for_English_Language_Learners/4.08%3A_Slang_and_Idioms.txt
Thumbnail: (Unsplash license; Amin Hasani via Unsplash) 05: Writing Paragraphs - Separating Ideas and Shaping Content Learning Objectives 1. Identify the four common academic purposes. 2. Identify audience, tone, and content. 3. Apply purpose, audience, tone, and content to a specific assignment. Imagine reading one long block of text, with each idea blurring into the next. Even if you are reading a thrilling novel or an interesting news article, you will likely lose interest in what the author has to say very quickly. During the writing process, it is helpful to position yourself as a reader. Ask yourself whether you can focus easily on each point you make. One technique that effective writers use is to begin a fresh paragraph for each new idea they introduce. Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks. One paragraph focuses on only one main idea and presents coherent sentences to support that one point. Because all the sentences in one paragraph support the same point, a paragraph may stand on its own. To create longer assignments and to discuss more than one point, writers group together paragraphs. Three elements shape the content of each paragraph: 1. Purpose. The reason the writer composes the paragraph. 2. Tone. The attitude the writer conveys about the paragraph’s subject. 3. Audience. The individual or group whom the writer intends to address. The assignment’s purpose, audience, and tone dictate what the paragraph covers and how it will support one main point. This section covers how purpose, audience, and tone affect reading and writing paragraphs. Identifying Common Academic Purposes The purpose for a piece of writing identifies the reason you write a particular document. Basically, the purpose of a piece of writing answers the question “Why?” For example, why write a play? To entertain a packed theater. Why write instructions to the babysitter? To inform him or her of your schedule and rules. Why write a letter to your congressman? To persuade him to address your community’s needs. In academic settings, the reasons for writing fulfill four main purposes: to summarize, to analyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate. You will encounter these four purposes not only as you read for your classes but also as you read for work or pleasure. Because reading and writing work together, your writing skills will improve as you read. To learn more about reading in the writing process, see Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Eventually, your instructors will ask you to complete assignments specifically designed to meet one of the four purposes. As you will see, the purpose for writing will guide you through each part of the paper, helping you make decisions about content and style. For now, identifying these purposes by reading paragraphs will prepare you to write individual paragraphs and to build longer assignments. Summary Paragraphs A summary shrinks a large amount of information into only the essentials. You probably summarize events, books, and movies daily. Think about the last blockbuster movie you saw or the last novel you read. Chances are, at some point in a casual conversation with a friend, coworker, or classmate, you compressed all the action in a two-hour film or in a two-hundred-page book into a brief description of the major plot movements. While in conversation, you probably described the major highlights, or the main points in just a few sentences, using your own vocabulary and manner of speaking. Similarly, a summary paragraph condenses a long piece of writing into a smaller paragraph by extracting only the vital information. A summary uses only the writer’s own words. Like the summary’s purpose in daily conversation, the purpose of an academic summary paragraph is to maintain all the essential information from a longer document. Although shorter than the original piece of writing, a summary should still communicate all the key points and key support. In other words, summary paragraphs should be succinct and to the point. A summary of the report should present all the main points and supporting details in brief. Read the following summary of the report written by a student: Notice how the summary retains the key points made by the writers of the original report but omits most of the statistical data. Summaries need not contain all the specific facts and figures in the original document; they provide only an overview of the essential information. Analysis Paragraphs An analysis separates complex materials in their different parts and studies how the parts relate to one another. The analysis of simple table salt, for example, would require a deconstruction of its parts—the elements sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl). Then, scientists would study how the two elements interact to create the compound NaCl, or sodium chloride, which is also called simple table salt. Analysis is not limited to the sciences, of course. An analysis paragraph in academic writing fulfills the same purpose. Instead of deconstructing compounds, academic analysis paragraphs typically deconstruct documents. An analysis takes apart a primary source (an essay, a book, an article, etc.) point by point. It communicates the main points of the document by examining individual points and identifying how the points relate to one another. Take a look at a student’s analysis of the journal report. Notice how the analysis does not simply repeat information from the original report, but considers how the points within the report relate to one another. By doing this, the student uncovers a discrepancy between the points that are backed up by statistics and those that require additional information. Analyzing a document involves a close examination of each of the individual parts and how they work together. Synthesis Paragraphs A synthesis combines two or more items to create an entirely new item. Consider the electronic musical instrument aptly named the synthesizer. It looks like a simple keyboard but displays a dashboard of switches, buttons, and levers. With the flip of a few switches, a musician may combine the distinct sounds of a piano, a flute, or a guitar—or any other combination of instruments—to create a new sound. The purpose of the synthesizer is to blend together the notes from individual instruments to form new, unique notes. The purpose of an academic synthesis is to blend individual documents into a new document. An academic synthesis paragraph considers the main points from one or more pieces of writing and links the main points together to create a new point, one not replicated in either document. Take a look at a student’s synthesis of several sources about underage drinking. Notice how the synthesis paragraphs consider each source and use information from each to create a new thesis. A good synthesis does not repeat information; the writer uses a variety of sources to create a new idea. Evaluation Paragraphs An evaluation judges the value of something and determines its worth. Evaluations in everyday experiences are often not only dictated by set standards but also influenced by opinion and prior knowledge. For example, at work, a supervisor may complete an employee evaluation by judging his subordinate’s performance based on the company’s goals. If the company focuses on improving communication, the supervisor will rate the employee’s customer service according to a standard scale. However, the evaluation still depends on the supervisor’s opinion and prior experience with the employee. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine how well the employee performs at his or her job. An academic evaluation communicates your opinion, and its justifications, about a document or a topic of discussion. Evaluations are influenced by your reading of the document, your prior knowledge, and your prior experience with the topic or issue. Because an evaluation incorporates your point of view and reasons for your point of view, it typically requires more critical thinking and a combination of summary, analysis, and synthesis skills. Thus evaluation paragraphs often follow summary, analysis, and synthesis paragraphs. Read a student’s evaluation paragraph. Notice how the paragraph incorporates the student’s personal judgment within the evaluation. Evaluating a document requires prior knowledge that is often based on additional research. Tip When reviewing directions for assignments, look for the verbs summarize, analyze, synthesize, or evaluate. Instructors often use these words to clearly indicate the assignment’s purpose. These words will cue you on how to complete the assignment because you will know its exact purpose. Exercise $1$ Read the following paragraphs about four films and then identify the purpose of each paragraph. 1. This film could easily have been cut down to less than two hours. By the final scene, I noticed that most of my fellow moviegoers were snoozing in their seats and were barely paying attention to what was happening on screen. Although the director sticks diligently to the book, he tries too hard to cram in all the action, which is just too ambitious for such a detail-oriented story. If you want my advice, read the book and give the movie a miss. 2. During the opening scene, we learn that the character Laura is adopted and that she has spent the past three years desperately trying to track down her real parents. Having exhausted all the usual options—adoption agencies, online searches, family trees, and so on—she is on the verge of giving up when she meets a stranger on a bus. The chance encounter leads to a complicated chain of events that ultimately result in Laura getting her lifelong wish. But is it really what she wants? Throughout the rest of the film, Laura discovers that sometimes the past is best left where it belongs. 3. To create the feeling of being gripped in a vice, the director, May Lee, uses a variety of elements to gradually increase the tension. The creepy, haunting melody that subtly enhances the earlier scenes becomes ever more insistent, rising to a disturbing crescendo toward the end of the movie. The desperation of the actors, combined with the claustrophobic atmosphere and tight camera angles create a realistic firestorm, from which there is little hope of escape. Walking out of the theater at the end feels like staggering out of a Roman dungeon. 4. The scene in which Campbell and his fellow prisoners assist the guards in shutting down the riot immediately strikes the viewer as unrealistic. Based on the recent reports on prison riots in both Detroit and California, it seems highly unlikely that a posse of hardened criminals will intentionally help their captors at the risk of inciting future revenge from other inmates. Instead, both news reports and psychological studies indicate that prisoners who do not actively participate in a riot will go back to their cells and avoid conflict altogether. Examples of this lack of attention to detail occur throughout the film, making it almost unbearable to watch. Collaboration Share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing at Work Thinking about the purpose of writing a report in the workplace can help focus and structure the document. A summary should provide colleagues with a factual overview of your findings without going into too much specific detail. In contrast, an evaluation should include your personal opinion, along with supporting evidence, research, or examples to back it up. Listen for words such as summarize, analyze, synthesize, or evaluate when your boss asks you to complete a report to help determine a purpose for writing. Exercise $2$ Consider the essay most recently assigned to you. Identify the most effective academic purpose for the assignment. My assignment: ____________________________________________ My purpose: ____________________________________________ Identifying the Audience Imagine you must give a presentation to a group of executives in an office. Weeks before the big day, you spend time creating and rehearsing the presentation. You must make important, careful decisions not only about the content but also about your delivery. Will the presentation require technology to project figures and charts? Should the presentation define important words, or will the executives already know the terms? Should you wear your suit and dress shirt? The answers to these questions will help you develop an appropriate relationship with your audience, making them more receptive to your message. Now imagine you must explain the same business concepts from your presentation to a group of high school students. Those important questions you previously answered may now require different answers. The figures and charts may be too sophisticated, and the terms will certainly require definitions. You may even reconsider your outfit and sport a more casual look. Because the audience has shifted, your presentation and delivery will shift as well to create a new relationship with the new audience. In these two situations, the audience—the individuals who will watch and listen to the presentation—plays a role in the development of presentation. As you prepare the presentation, you visualize the audience to anticipate their expectations and reactions. What you imagine affects the information you choose to present and how you will present it. Then, during the presentation, you meet the audience in person and discover immediately how well you perform. Although the audience for writing assignments—your readers—may not appear in person, they play an equally vital role. Even in everyday writing activities, you identify your readers’ characteristics, interests, and expectations before making decisions about what you write. In fact, thinking about audience has become so common that you may not even detect the audience-driven decisions. For example, you update your status on a social networking site with the awareness of who will digitally follow the post. If you want to brag about a good grade, you may write the post to please family members. If you want to describe a funny moment, you may write with your friends’ senses of humor in mind. Even at work, you send e-mails with an awareness of an unintended receiver who could intercept the message. In other words, being aware of “invisible” readers is a skill you most likely already possess and one you rely on every day. Consider the following paragraphs. Which one would the author send to her parents? Which one would she send to her best friend? Example A Last Saturday, I volunteered at a local hospital. The visit was fun and rewarding. I even learned how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR. Unfortunately, I think caught a cold from one of the patients. This week, I will rest in bed and drink plenty of clear fluids. I hope I am well by next Saturday to volunteer again. Example B OMG! You won’t believe this! My advisor forced me to do my community service hours at this hospital all weekend! We learned CPR but we did it on dummies, not even real peeps. And some kid sneezed on me and got me sick! I was so bored and sniffling all weekend; I hope I don’t have to go back next week. I def do NOT want to miss the basketball tournament! Most likely, you matched each paragraph to its intended audience with little hesitation. Because each paragraph reveals the author’s relationship with her intended readers, you can identify the audience fairly quickly. When writing your own paragraphs, you must engage with your audience to build an appropriate relationship given your subject. Imagining your readers during each stage of the writing process will help you make decisions about your writing. Ultimately, the people you visualize will affect what and how you write. Tip While giving a speech, you may articulate an inspiring or critical message, but if you left your hair a mess and laced up mismatched shoes, your audience would not take you seriously. They may be too distracted by your appearance to listen to your words. Similarly, grammar and sentence structure serve as the appearance of a piece of writing. Polishing your work using correct grammar will impress your readers and allow them to focus on what you have to say. Because focusing on audience will enhance your writing, your process, and your finished product, you must consider the specific traits of your audience members. Use your imagination to anticipate the readers’ demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations. • Demographics. These measure important data about a group of people, such as their age range, their ethnicity, their religious beliefs, or their gender. Certain topics and assignments will require these kinds of considerations about your audience. For other topics and assignments, these measurements may not influence your writing in the end. Regardless, it is important to consider demographics when you begin to think about your purpose for writing. • Education. Education considers the audience’s level of schooling. If audience members have earned a doctorate degree, for example, you may need to elevate your style and use more formal language. Or, if audience members are still in college, you could write in a more relaxed style. An audience member’s major or emphasis may also dictate your writing. • Prior knowledge. This refers to what the audience already knows about your topic. If your readers have studied certain topics, they may already know some terms and concepts related to the topic. You may decide whether to define terms and explain concepts based on your audience’s prior knowledge. Although you cannot peer inside the brains of your readers to discover their knowledge, you can make reasonable assumptions. For instance, a nursing major would presumably know more about health-related topics than a business major would. • Expectations. These indicate what readers will look for while reading your assignment. Readers may expect consistencies in the assignment’s appearance, such as correct grammar and traditional formatting like double-spaced lines and legible font. Readers may also have content-based expectations given the assignment’s purpose and organization. In an essay titled “The Economics of Enlightenment: The Effects of Rising Tuition,” for example, audience members may expect to read about the economic repercussions of college tuition costs. Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, generate a list of characteristics under each category for each audience. This list will help you later when you read about tone and content. 1. Your classmates • Demographics ____________________________________________ • Education ____________________________________________ • Prior knowledge ____________________________________________ • Expectations ____________________________________________ 2. Your instructor • Demographics ____________________________________________ • Education ____________________________________________ • Prior knowledge ____________________________________________ • Expectations ____________________________________________ 3. The head of your academic department • Demographics ____________________________________________ • Education ____________________________________________ • Prior knowledge ____________________________________________ • Expectations ____________________________________________ 4. Now think about your next writing assignment. Identify the purpose (you may use the same purpose listed in "Exercise $2$", and then identify the audience. Create a list of characteristics under each category. My assignment: ____________________________________________ My purpose: ____________________________________________ My audience: ____________________________________________ • Demographics ____________________________________________ • Education ____________________________________________ • Prior knowledge ____________________________________________ • Expectations ____________________________________________ Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Keep in mind that as your topic shifts in the writing process, your audience may also shift. For more information about the writing process, see Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Also, remember that decisions about style depend on audience, purpose, and content. Identifying your audience’s demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations will affect how you write, but purpose and content play an equally important role. The next subsection covers how to select an appropriate tone to match the audience and purpose. Selecting an Appropriate Tone Tone identifies a speaker’s attitude toward a subject or another person. You may pick up a person’s tone of voice fairly easily in conversation. A friend who tells you about her weekend may speak excitedly about a fun skiing trip. An instructor who means business may speak in a low, slow voice to emphasize her serious mood. Or, a coworker who needs to let off some steam after a long meeting may crack a sarcastic joke. Just as speakers transmit emotion through voice, writers can transmit through writing a range of attitudes, from excited and humorous to somber and critical. These emotions create connections among the audience, the author, and the subject, ultimately building a relationship between the audience and the text. To stimulate these connections, writers intimate their attitudes and feelings with useful devices, such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language. Keep in mind that the writer’s attitude should always appropriately match the audience and the purpose. Read the following paragraph and consider the writer’s tone. How would you describe the writer’s attitude toward wildlife conservation? Many species of plants and animals are disappearing right before our eyes. If we don’t act fast, it might be too late to save them. Human activities, including pollution,deforestation, hunting, and overpopulation, are devastating the natural environment. Without our help, many species will not survive long enough for our children to see them in the wild. Take the tiger, for example. Today, tigers occupy just 7 percent of their historical range, and many local populations are already extinct. Hunted for their beautiful pelt and other body parts, the tiger population has plummeted from one hundred thousand in 1920 to just a few thousand. Contact your local wildlife conservation society today to find out how you can stop this terrible destruction. Exercise $4$ Think about the assignment and purpose you selected in Exercise $2$, and the audience you selected in Exercise $3$. Now, identify the tone you would use in the assignment. My assignment: ____________________________________________ My purpose: ____________________________________________ My audience: ____________________________________________ My tone: ____________________________________________ Choosing Appropriate, Interesting Content Content refers to all the written substance in a document. After selecting an audience and a purpose, you must choose what information will make it to the page. Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations, but no matter the type, the information must be appropriate and interesting for the audience and purpose. An essay written for third graders that summarizes the legislative process, for example, would have to contain succinct and simple content. Content is also shaped by tone. When the tone matches the content, the audience will be more engaged, and you will build a stronger relationship with your readers. Consider that audience of third graders. You would choose simple content that the audience will easily understand, and you would express that content through an enthusiastic tone. The same considerations apply to all audiences and purposes. Exercise $5$ Match the content in the box to the appropriate audience and purpose. On your own sheet of paper, write the correct letter next to the number. 1. Whereas economist Holmes contends that the financial crisis is far from over, the presidential advisor Jones points out that it is vital to catch the first wave of opportunity to increase market share. We can use elements of both experts’ visions. Let me explain how. 2. In 2000, foreign money flowed into the United States, contributing to easy credit conditions. People bought larger houses than they could afford, eventually defaulting on their loans as interest rates rose. 3. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, known by most of us as the humungous government bailout, caused mixed reactions. Although supported by many political leaders, the statute provoked outrage among grassroots groups. In their opinion, the government was actually rewarding banks for their appalling behavior. 1. Audience: An instructor Purpose: To analyze the reasons behind the 2007 financial crisis Content: ____________________________________________ 2. Audience: Classmates Purpose: To summarize the effects of the \$700 billion government bailout Content: ____________________________________________ 3. Audience: An employer Purpose: To synthesize two articles on preparing businesses for economic recovery Content: ____________________________________________ Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Exercise $6$ Using the assignment, purpose, audience, and tone from Exercise $4$, generate a list of content ideas. Remember that content consists of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations. My assignment: ____________________________________________ My purpose: ____________________________________________ My audience: ____________________________________________ My tone: ____________________________________________ My content ideas: ____________________________________________ KEY TAKEAWAYS • Paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks of information. • The content of each paragraph and document is shaped by purpose, audience, and tone. • The four common academic purposes are to summarize, to analyze, to synthesize, and to evaluate. • Identifying the audience’s demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations will affect how and what you write. • Devices such as sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, and formal or informal language communicate tone and create a relationship between the writer and his or her audience. • Content may consist of examples, statistics, facts, anecdotes, testimonies, and observations. All content must be appropriate and interesting for the audience, purpose and tone.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/05%3A_Writing_Paragraphs_-_Separating_Ideas_and_Shaping_Content/5.01%3A_Purpose_Audience_Tone_and_Content.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify characteristics of a good topic sentence. 2. Identify the three parts of a developed paragraph. 3. Apply knowledge of topic sentences and parts of a developed paragraph in an assignment. Now that you have identified common purposes for writing and learned how to select appropriate content for a particular audience, you can think about the structure of a paragraph in greater detail. Composing an effective paragraph requires a method similar to building a house. You may have the finest content, or materials, but if you do not arrange them in the correct order, then the final product will not hold together very well. A strong paragraph contains three distinct components: 1. Topic sentence. The topic sentence is the main idea of the paragraph. 2. Body. The body is composed of the supporting sentences that develop the main point. 3. Conclusion. The conclusion is the final sentence that summarizes the main point. The foundation of a good paragraph is the topic sentence, which expresses the main idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence relates to the thesis, or main point, of the essay (see Chapter 8 "Writing Essays: From Start to Finish" for more information about thesis statements) and guides the reader by signposting what the paragraph is about. All the sentences in the rest of the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence. This section covers the major components of a paragraph and examines how to develop an effective topic sentence. Developing a Topic Sentence Pick up any newspaper or magazine and read the first sentence of an article. Are you fairly confident that you know what the rest of the article is about? If so, you have likely read the topic sentence. An effective topic sentence combines a main idea with the writer’s personal attitude or opinion. It serves to orient the reader and provides an indication of what will follow in the rest of the paragraph. Read the following example. Creating a national set of standards for math and English education will improve student learning in many states. This topic sentence declares a favorable position for standardizing math and English education. After reading this sentence, a reader might reasonably expect the writer to provide supporting details and facts as to why standardizing math and English education might improve student learning in many states. If the purpose of the essay is actually to evaluate education in only one particular state, or to discuss math or English education specifically, then the topic sentence is misleading. Tip When writing a draft of an essay, allow a friend or colleague to read the opening line of your first paragraph. Ask your reader to predict what your paper will be about. If he or she is unable to guess your topic accurately, you should consider revising your topic sentence so that it clearly defines your purpose in writing. Main Idea versus Controlling Idea Topic sentences contain both a main idea (the subject, or topic that the writer is discussing) and a controlling idea (the writer’s specific stance on that subject). Just as a thesis statement includes an idea that controls a document’s focus (as you will read about in Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?"), a topic sentence must also contain a controlling idea to direct the paragraph. Different writers may use the same main idea but can steer their paragraph in a number of different directions according to their stance on the subject. Read the following examples. • Marijuana is a destructive influence on teens and causes long-term brain damage. • The antinausea properties in marijuana are a lifeline for many cancer patients. • Legalizing marijuana would create a higher demand for Class A and Class B drugs. Although the main idea—marijuana—is the same in all three topic sentences, the controlling idea differs depending on the writer’s viewpoint. Exercise $1$ Circle the main idea and underline the controlling idea in each of the following topic sentences. 1. Exercising three times a week is the only way to maintain good physical health. 2. Sexism and racism are still rampant in today’s workplace. 3. Raising the legal driving age to twenty-one would decrease road traffic accidents. 4. Owning a business is the only way to achieve financial success. 5. Dog owners should be prohibited from taking their pets on public beaches. Characteristics of a Good Topic Sentence Five characteristics define a good topic sentence: 1. A good topic sentence provides an accurate indication of what will follow in the rest of the paragraph. Weak example. People rarely give firefighters the credit they deserve for such a physically and emotionally demanding job. (The paragraph is about a specific incident that involved firefighters; therefore, this topic sentence is too general.) Stronger example. During the October riots, Unit 3B went beyond the call of duty. (This topic sentence is more specific and indicates that the paragraph will contain information about a particular incident involving Unit 3B.) 2. A good topic sentence contains both a topic and a controlling idea or opinion. Weak example. In this paper, I am going to discuss the rising suicide rate among young professionals. (This topic sentence provides a main idea, but it does not present a controlling idea, or thesis.) Stronger example. The rising suicide rate among young professionals is a cause for immediate concern. (This topic sentence presents the writer’s opinion on the subject of rising suicide rates among young professionals.) 3. A good topic sentence is clear and easy to follow. Weak example. In general, writing an essay, thesis, or other academic or nonacademic document is considerably easier and of much higher quality if you first construct an outline, of which there are many different types. (This topic sentence includes a main idea and a controlling thesis, but both are buried beneath the confusing sentence structure and unnecessary vocabulary. These obstacles make it difficult for the reader to follow.) Stronger example. Most forms of writing can be improved by first creating an outline. (This topic sentence cuts out unnecessary verbiage and simplifies the previous statement, making it easier for the reader to follow.) 4. A good topic sentence does not include supporting details. Weak example. Salaries should be capped in baseball for many reasons, most importantly so we don’t allow the same team to win year after year. (This topic sentence includes a supporting detail that should be included later in the paragraph to back up the main point.) Stronger example. Introducing a salary cap would improve the game of baseball for many reasons. (This topic sentence omits the additional supporting detail so that it can be expanded upon later in the paragraph.) 5. A good topic sentence engages the reader by using interesting vocabulary. Weak example. The military deserves better equipment. (This topic sentence includes a main idea and a controlling thesis, but the language is bland and unexciting.) Stronger example. The appalling lack of resources provided to the military is outrageous and requires our immediate attention. (This topic sentence reiterates the same idea and controlling thesis, but adjectives such as appalling and immediate better engage the reader. These words also indicate the writer’s tone.) Exercise $2$ Choose the most effective topic sentence from the following sentence pairs. 1. a. This paper will discuss the likelihood of the Democrats winning the next election. b. To boost their chances of winning the next election, the Democrats need to listen to public opinion. 2. a. The unrealistic demands of union workers are crippling the economy for three main reasons. b. Union workers are crippling the economy because companies are unable to remain competitive as a result of added financial pressure. 3. a. Authors are losing money as a result of technological advances. b. The introduction of new technology will devastate the literary world. 4. a. Rap music is produced by untalented individuals with oversized egos. b. This essay will consider whether talent is required in the rap music industry. Exercise $3$ Using the tips on developing effective topic sentences in this section, create a topic sentence on each of the following subjects. Remember to include a controlling idea as well as a main idea. Write your responses on your own sheet of paper. 1. An endangered species ____________________________________________ 2. The cost of fuel ____________________________________________ 3. The legal drinking age ____________________________________________ 4. A controversial film or novel ____________________________________________ Writing at Work When creating a workplace document, use the “top-down” approach—keep the topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph so that readers immediately understand the gist of the message. This method saves busy colleagues precious time and effort trying to figure out the main points and relevant details. Headings are another helpful tool. In a text-heavy document, break up each paragraph with individual headings. These serve as useful navigation aids, enabling colleagues to skim through the document and locate paragraphs that are relevant to them. Developing Paragraphs That Use Topic Sentences, Supporting Ideas, and Transitions Effectively Learning how to develop a good topic sentence is the first step toward writing a solid paragraph. Once you have composed your topic sentence, you have a guideline for the rest of the paragraph. To complete the paragraph, a writer must support the topic sentence with additional information and summarize the main point with a concluding sentence. This section identifies the three major structural parts of a paragraph and covers how to develop a paragraph using transitional words and phrases. Identifying Parts of a Paragraph An effective paragraph contains three main parts: a topic sentence, the body, and the concluding sentence. A topic sentence is often the first sentence of a paragraph. This chapter has already discussed its purpose—to express a main idea combined with the writer’s attitude about the subject. The body of the paragraph usually follows, containing supporting details. Supporting sentences help explain, prove, or enhance the topic sentence. The concluding sentence is the last sentence in the paragraph. It reminds the reader of the main point by restating it in different words. Read the following paragraph. The topic sentence is underlined for you. After reading the new TV guide this week I had just one thought—why are we still being bombarded with reality shows? This season, the plague of reality television continues to darken our airwaves. Along with the return of viewer favorites, we are to be cursed with yet another mindless creation. Prisoner follows the daily lives of eight suburban housewives who have chosen to be put in jail for the purposes of this fake psychological experiment. A preview for the first episode shows the usual tears and tantrums associated with reality television. I dread to think what producers will come up with next season, but if any of them are reading this blog—stop it! We’ve had enough reality television to last us a lifetime! The first sentence of this paragraph is the topic sentence. It tells the reader that the paragraph will be about reality television shows, and it expresses the writer’s distaste for these shows through the use of the word bombarded. Each of the following sentences in the paragraph supports the topic sentence by providing further information about a specific reality television show. The final sentence is the concluding sentence. It reiterates the main point that viewers are bored with reality television shows by using different words from the topic sentence. Paragraphs that begin with the topic sentence move from the general to the specific. They open with a general statement about a subject (reality shows) and then discuss specific examples (the reality show Prisoner). Most academic essays contain the topic sentence at the beginning of the first paragraph. Now take a look at the following paragraph. The topic sentence is underlined for you. Last year, a cat traveled 130 miles to reach its family, who had moved to another state and had left their pet behind. Even though it had never been to their new home, the cat was able to track down its former owners. A dog in my neighborhood can predict when its master is about to have a seizure. It makes sure that he does not hurt himself during an epileptic fit. Compared to many animals, our own senses are almost dull. The last sentence of this paragraph is the topic sentence. It draws on specific examples (a cat that tracked down its owners and a dog that can predict seizures) and then makes a general statement that draws a conclusion from these examples (animals’ senses are better than humans’). In this case, the supporting sentences are placed before the topic sentence and the concluding sentence is the same as the topic sentence. This technique is frequently used in persuasive writing. The writer produces detailed examples as evidence to back up his or her point, preparing the reader to accept the concluding topic sentence as the truth. Sometimes, the topic sentence appears in the middle of a paragraph. Read the following example. The topic sentence is underlined for you. For many years, I suffered from severe anxiety every time I took an exam. Hours before the exam, my heart would begin pounding, my legs would shake, and sometimes I would become physically unable to move. Last year, I was referred to a specialist and finally found a way to control my anxiety—breathing exercises. It seems so simple, but by doing just a few breathing exercises a couple of hours before an exam, I gradually got my anxiety under control. The exercises help slow my heart rate and make me feel less anxious. Better yet, they require no pills, no equipment, and very little time. It’s amazing how just breathing correctly has helped me learn to manage my anxiety symptoms. In this paragraph, the underlined sentence is the topic sentence. It expresses the main idea—that breathing exercises can help control anxiety. The preceding sentences enable the writer to build up to his main point (breathing exercises can help control anxiety) by using a personal anecdote (how he used to suffer from anxiety). The supporting sentences then expand on how breathing exercises help the writer by providing additional information. The last sentence is the concluding sentence and restates how breathing can help manage anxiety. Placing a topic sentence in the middle of a paragraph is often used in creative writing. If you notice that you have used a topic sentence in the middle of a paragraph in an academic essay, read through the paragraph carefully to make sure that it contains only one major topic. To read more about topic sentences and where they appear in paragraphs, see Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Implied Topic Sentences Some well-organized paragraphs do not contain a topic sentence at all. Instead of being directly stated, the main idea is implied in the content of the paragraph. Read the following example: Heaving herself up the stairs, Luella had to pause for breath several times. She let out a wheeze as she sat down heavily in the wooden rocking chair. Tao approached her cautiously, as if she might crumble at the slightest touch. He studied her face, like parchment; stretched across the bones so finely he could almost see right through the skin to the decaying muscle underneath. Luella smiled a toothless grin. Although no single sentence in this paragraph states the main idea, the entire paragraph focuses on one concept—that Luella is extremely old. The topic sentence is thus implied rather than stated. This technique is often used in descriptive or narrative writing. Implied topic sentences work well if the writer has a firm idea of what he or she intends to say in the paragraph and sticks to it. However, a paragraph loses its effectiveness if an implied topic sentence is too subtle or the writer loses focus. Tip Avoid using implied topic sentences in an informational document. Readers often lose patience if they are unable to quickly grasp what the writer is trying to say. The clearest and most efficient way to communicate in an informational document is to position the topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph. Exercise $4$ Identify the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence in the following paragraph. The desert provides a harsh environment in which few mammals are able to adapt. Of these hardy creatures, the kangaroo rat is possibly the most fascinating. Able to live in some of the most arid parts of the southwest, the kangaroo rat neither sweats nor pants to keep cool. Its specialized kidneys enable it to survive on a miniscule amount of water. Unlike other desert creatures, the kangaroo rat does not store water in its body but instead is able to convert the dry seeds it eats into moisture. Its ability to adapt to such a hostile environment makes the kangaroo rat a truly amazing creature. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Supporting Sentences If you think of a paragraph as a hamburger, the supporting sentences are the meat inside the bun. They make up the body of the paragraph by explaining, proving, or enhancing the controlling idea in the topic sentence. Most paragraphs contain three to six supporting sentences depending on the audience and purpose for writing. A supporting sentence usually offers one of the following: • Sentence: The refusal of the baby boom generation to retire is contributing to the current lack of available jobs. • Sentence: Many families now rely on older relatives to support them financially. • Sentence: Nearly 10 percent of adults are currently unemployed in the United States. • Sentence: “We will not allow this situation to continue,” stated Senator Johns. • Sentence: Last year, Bill was asked to retire at the age of fifty-five. The type of supporting sentence you choose will depend on what you are writing and why you are writing. For example, if you are attempting to persuade your audience to take a particular position you should rely on facts, statistics, and concrete examples, rather than personal opinions. Read the following example: There are numerous advantages to owning a hybrid car. (Topic sentence) First, they get 20 percent to 35 percent more miles to the gallon than a fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicle. (Supporting sentence 1: statistic) Second, they produce very few emissions during low speed city driving. (Supporting sentence 2: fact) Because they do not require gas, hybrid cars reduce dependency on fossil fuels, which helps lower prices at the pump. (Supporting sentence 3: reason) Alex bought a hybrid car two years ago and has been extremely impressed with its performance. (Supporting sentence 4: example) “It’s the cheapest car I’ve ever had,” she said. “The running costs are far lower than previous gas powered vehicles I’ve owned.” (Supporting sentence 5: quotation) Given the low running costs and environmental benefits of owning a hybrid car, it is likely that many more people will follow Alex’s example in the near future. (Concluding sentence) To find information for your supporting sentences, you might consider using one of the following sources: • Reference book • Encyclopedia • Website • Biography/autobiography • Map • Dictionary • Newspaper/magazine • Interview • Previous experience • Personal research To read more about sources and research, see Chapter 10 "Writing Preparation". Tip When searching for information on the Internet, remember that some websites are more reliable than others. websites ending in .gov or .edu are generally more reliable than websites ending in .com or .org. Wikis and blogs are not reliable sources of information because they are subject to inaccuracies. Concluding Sentences An effective concluding sentence draws together all the ideas you have raised in your paragraph. It reminds readers of the main point—the topic sentence—without restating it in exactly the same words. Using the hamburger example, the top bun (the topic sentence) and the bottom bun (the concluding sentence) are very similar. They frame the “meat” or body of the paragraph. Compare the topic sentence and concluding sentence from the previous example: Topic sentence: There are numerous advantages to owning a hybrid car. Concluding sentence: Given the low running costs and environmental benefits of owning a hybrid car, it is likely that many more people will follow Alex’s example in the near future. Notice the use of the synonyms advantages and benefits. The concluding sentence reiterates the idea that owning a hybrid is advantageous without using the exact same words. It also summarizes two examples of the advantages covered in the supporting sentences: low running costs and environmental benefits. You should avoid introducing any new ideas into your concluding sentence. A conclusion is intended to provide the reader with a sense of completion. Introducing a subject that is not covered in the paragraph will confuse the reader and weaken your writing. A concluding sentence may do any of the following: • Restate the main idea. Example: Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States. • Summarize the key points in the paragraph. Example: A lack of healthy choices, poor parenting, and an addiction to video games are among the many factors contributing to childhood obesity. • Draw a conclusion based on the information in the paragraph. Example: These statistics indicate that unless we take action, childhood obesity rates will continue to rise. • Make a prediction, suggestion, or recommendation about the information in the paragraph. Example: Based on this research, more than 60 percent of children in the United States will be morbidly obese by the year 2030 unless we take evasive action. • Offer an additional observation about the controlling idea. Example: Childhood obesity is an entirely preventable tragedy. Exercise $5$ On your own paper, write one example of each type of concluding sentence based on a topic of your choice. Transitions A strong paragraph moves seamlessly from the topic sentence into the supporting sentences and on to the concluding sentence. To help organize a paragraph and ensure that ideas logically connect to one another, writers use transitional words and phrases. A transition is a connecting word that describes a relationship between ideas. Take another look at the earlier example: There are numerous advantages to owning a hybrid car. First, they get 20 percent to 35 percent more miles to the gallon than a fuel-efficient gas-powered vehicle. Second, they produce very few emissions during low speed city driving. Because they do not require gas, hybrid cars reduce dependency on fossil fuels, which helps lower prices at the pump. Alex bought a hybrid car two years ago and has been extremely impressed with its performance. “It’s the cheapest car I’ve ever had,” she said. “The running costs are far lower than previous gas-powered vehicles I’ve owned.” Given the low running costs and environmental benefits of owning a hybrid car, it is likely that many more people will follow Alex’s example in the near future. Each of the underlined words is a transition word. Words such as first and second are transition words that show sequence or clarify order. They help organize the writer’s ideas by showing that he or she has another point to make in support of the topic sentence. Other transition words that show order include third, also, and furthermore. The transition word because is a transition word of consequence that continues a line of thought. It indicates that the writer will provide an explanation of a result. In this sentence, the writer explains why hybrid cars will reduce dependency on fossil fuels (because they do not require gas). Other transition words of consequence include as a result, so that, since, or for this reason. To include a summarizing transition in her concluding sentence, the writer could rewrite the final sentence as follows: In conclusion, given the low running costs and environmental benefits of owning a hybrid car, it is likely that many more people will follow Alex’s example in the near future. The following chart provides some useful transition words to connect supporting sentences and concluding sentences. See Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" for a more comprehensive look at transitional words and phrases. Table $1$: Useful Transitional Words and Phrases For Supporting Sentences above all but for instance in particular moreover subsequently also conversely furthermore later on nevertheless therefore aside from correspondingly however likewise on one hand to begin with at the same time for example in addition meanwhile on the contrary For Concluding Sentences after all all things considered in brief in summary on the whole to sum up all in all finally in conclusion on balance thus Exercise $6$ Using your own paper, write a paragraph on a topic of your choice. Be sure to include a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence and to use transitional words and phrases to link your ideas together. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing at Work Transitional words and phrases are useful tools to incorporate into workplace documents. They guide the reader through the document, clarifying relationships between sentences and paragraphs so that the reader understands why they have been written in that particular order. For example, when writing an instructional memo, it may be helpful to consider the following transitional words and phrases: before you begin, first, next, then, finally, after you have completed. Using these transitions as a template to write your memo will provide readers with clear, logical instructions about a particular process and the order in which steps are supposed to be completed. KEY TAKEAWAYS • A good paragraph contains three distinct components: a topic sentence, body, and concluding sentence. • The topic sentence expresses the main idea of the paragraph combined with the writer’s attitude or opinion about the topic. • Good topic sentences contain both a main idea and a controlling idea, are clear and easy to follow, use engaging vocabulary, and provide an accurate indication of what will follow in the rest of the paragraph. • Topic sentences may be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a paragraph. In most academic essays, the topic sentence is placed at the beginning of a paragraph. • Supporting sentences help explain, prove, or enhance the topic sentence by offering facts, reasons, statistics, quotations, or examples. • Concluding sentences summarize the key points in a paragraph and reiterate the main idea without repeating it word for word. • Transitional words and phrases help organize ideas in a paragraph and show how these ideas relate to one another. 5.03: Writing Paragraphs- End-of-Chapter Exercises Exercises 1. Select one of the following topics or choose a topic of your choice: • Drilling for oil in Alaska • Health care reform • Introducing a four-day work week • Bringing pets to work • Charging airline passengers to use the in-flight bathroom Create a topic sentence based on the topic you chose, remembering to include both a main idea and a controlling idea. Next, write an alternative topic sentence using the same main idea but a different controlling idea. Explain how each fully developed paragraph might differ in tone and content. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 2. At some point during your career, you may be asked to write a report or complete a presentation. Imagine that you have been asked to report on the issue of health and safety in the workplace. Using the information in "Identifying the Audience", complete an analysis of your intended audience—your fellow office workers. Consider how demographics, education, prior knowledge, and expectations will influence your report and explain how you will tailor it to your audience accordingly. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 3. Group activity. Working in a group of four or five, assign each group member the task of collecting one document each. These documents might include magazine or newspaper articles, workplace documents, academic essays, chapters from a reference book, film or book reviews, or any other type of writing. As a group, read through each document and discuss the author’s purpose for writing. Use the information you have learned in this chapter to decide whether the main purpose is to summarize, analyze, synthesize, or evaluate. Write a brief report on the purpose of each document, using supporting evidence from the text. 4. Group activity. Working in a small group, select a workplace document or academic essay that has a clear thesis. Examine each paragraph and identify the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. Then, choose one particular paragraph and discuss the following questions: • Is the topic sentence clearly identifiable or is it implied? • Do all the supporting sentences relate to the topic sentence? • Does the writer use effective transitions to link his or her ideas? • Does the concluding sentence accurately summarize the main point of the paragraph? As a group, identify the weakest areas of the paragraph and rewrite them. Focus on the relationship among the topic sentence, supporting sentences, and concluding sentence. Use transitions to illustrate the connection between each sentence in the paragraph. 5. Peer activity. Using the information you have learned in this chapter, write a paragraph about a current event. Underline the topic sentence in your paragraph. Now, rewrite the paragraph, placing the topic sentence in a different part of the paragraph. Read the two paragraphs aloud to a peer and have him or her identify the topic sentence. Discuss which paragraph is more effective and why. Collaboration Please share with a classmate, compare your answers, and discuss the contrasting results.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/05%3A_Writing_Paragraphs_-_Separating_Ideas_and_Shaping_Content/5.02%3A_Effective_Means_for_Writing_a_Paragraph.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify ways to vary sentence structure. 2. Write and revise sentence structure at the beginning of sentences. 3. Write and revise sentence structure by connecting ideas. Have you ever ordered a dish in a restaurant and been not happy with its taste, even though it contained most of your favorite ingredients? Just as a meal might lack the finishing touches needed to spice it up, so too might a paragraph contain all the basic components but still lack the stylistic finesse required to engage a reader. Sometimes writers have a tendency to reuse the same sentence pattern throughout their writing. Like any repetitive task, reading text that contains too many sentences with the same length and structure can become monotonous and boring. Experienced writers mix it up by using an assortment of sentence patterns, rhythms, and lengths. In this chapter, you will follow a student named Naomi who has written a draft of an essay but needs to refine her writing. This section discusses how to introduce sentence variety into writing, how to open sentences using a variety of techniques, and how to use different types of sentence structure when connecting ideas. You can use these techniques when revising a paper to bring life and rhythm to your work. They will also make reading your work more enjoyable. Incorporating Sentence Variety Experienced writers incorporate sentence variety into their writing by varying sentence style and structure. Using a mixture of different sentence structures reduces repetition and adds emphasis to important points in the text. Read the following example: During my time in office I have achieved several goals. I have helped increase funding for local schools. I have reduced crime rates in the neighborhood. I have encouraged young people to get involved in their community. My competitor argues that she is the better choice in the upcoming election. I argue that it is ridiculous to fix something that isn’t broken. If you reelect me this year, I promise to continue to serve this community. In this extract from an election campaign, the writer uses short, simple sentences of a similar length and style. Writers often mistakenly believe that this technique makes the text more clear for the reader, but the result is a choppy, unsophisticated paragraph that does not grab the audience’s attention. Now read the revised paragraph with sentence variety: During my time in office, I have helped increase funding for local schools, reduced crime rates in the neighborhood, and encouraged young people to get involved in their community. Why fix what isn’t broken? If you reelect me this year, I will continue to achieve great things for this community. Don’t take a chance on an unknown contender; vote for the proven success. Notice how introducing a short rhetorical question among the longer sentences in the paragraph is an effective means of keeping the reader’s attention. In the revised version, the writer combines the choppy sentences at the beginning into one longer sentence, which adds rhythm and interest to the paragraph. Tip Effective writers often implement the “rule of three,” which is basically the thought that things that contain three elements are more memorable and more satisfying to readers than any other number. Try to use a series of three when providing examples, grouping adjectives, or generating a list. Exercise $1$ Combine each set of simple sentences into a compound or a complex sentence. Write the combined sentence on your own sheet of paper. 1. Heroin is an extremely addictive drug. Thousands of heroin addicts die each year. 2. Shakespeare’s writing is still relevant today. He wrote about timeless themes. These themes include love, hate, jealousy, death, and destiny. 3. Gay marriage is now legal in six states. Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine all permit same-sex marriage. Other states are likely to follow their example. 4. Prewriting is a vital stage of the writing process. Prewriting helps you organize your ideas. Types of prewriting include outlining, brainstorming, and idea mapping. 5. Mitch Bancroft is a famous writer. He also serves as a governor on the local school board. Mitch’s two children attend the school. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Using Sentence Variety at the Beginning of Sentences Read the following sentences and consider what they all have in common: John and Amanda will be analyzing this week’s financial report. The car screeched to a halt just a few inches away from the young boy. Students rarely come to the exam adequately prepared. If you are having trouble figuring out why these sentences are similar, try underlining the subject in each. You will notice that the subject is positioned at the beginning of each sentence—John and Amanda, the car, students. Since the subject-verb-object pattern is the simplest sentence structure, many writers tend to overuse this technique, which can result in repetitive paragraphs with little sentence variety. Naomi wrote an essay about the 2008 government bailout. Read this excerpt from Naomi’s essay: This section examines several ways to introduce sentence variety at the beginning of sentences, using Naomi’s essay as an example. Starting a Sentence with an Adverb One technique you can use so as to avoid beginning a sentence with the subject is to use an adverb. An adverb is a word that describes a verb, adjective, or other adverb and often ends in -ly. Examples of adverbs include quickly, softly, quietly, angrily, and timidly. Read the following sentences: She slowly turned the corner and peered into the murky basement. Slowly, she turned the corner and peered into the murky basement. In the second sentence, the adverb slowly is placed at the beginning of the sentence. If you read the two sentences aloud, you will notice that moving the adverb changes the rhythm of the sentence and slightly alters its meaning. The second sentence emphasizes how the subject moves—slowly—creating a buildup of tension. This technique is effective in fictional writing. Note that an adverb used at the beginning of a sentence is usually followed by a comma. A comma indicates that the reader should pause briefly, which creates a useful rhetorical device. Read the following sentences aloud and consider the effect of pausing after the adverb: Cautiously, he unlocked the kennel and waited for the dog’s reaction. Solemnly, the policeman approached the mayor and placed him under arrest. Suddenly, he slammed the door shut and sprinted across the street. In an academic essay, moving an adverb to the beginning of a sentence serves to vary the rhythm of a paragraph and increase sentence variety. Naomi has used two adverbs in her essay that could be moved to the beginning of their respective sentences. Notice how the following revised version creates a more varied paragraph: Tip Adverbs of time—adverbs that indicate when an action takes place—do not always require a comma when used at the beginning of a sentence. Adverbs of time include words such as yesterday, today, later, sometimes, often, and now. Exercise $2$ On your own sheet of paper, rewrite the following sentences by moving the adverbs to the beginning. 1. The red truck sped furiously past the camper van, blaring its horn. 2. Jeff snatched at the bread hungrily, polishing off three slices in under a minute. 3. Underage drinking typically results from peer pressure and lack of parental attention. 4. The firefighters bravely tackled the blaze, but they were beaten back by flames. 5. Mayor Johnson privately acknowledged that the budget was excessive and that further discussion was needed. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Starting a Sentence with a Prepositional Phrase A prepositional phrase is a group of words that behaves as an adjective or an adverb, modifying a noun or a verb. Prepositional phrases contain a preposition (a word that specifies place, direction, or time) and an object of the preposition (a noun phrase or pronoun that follows the preposition). Table $1$: Common Prepositions above beneath into till across beside like toward against between near under after beyond off underneath among by on until around despite over up at except past with before for since without behind from through below inside throughout Read the following sentence: The terrified child hid underneath the table. In this sentence, the prepositional phrase is underneath the table. The preposition underneath relates to the object that follows the preposition—the table. Adjectives may be placed between the preposition and the object in a prepositional phrase. The terrified child hid underneath the heavy wooden table. Some prepositional phrases can be moved to the beginning of a sentence in order to create variety in a piece of writing. Look at the following revised sentence: Underneath the heavy wooden table, the terrified child hid. Notice that when the prepositional phrase is moved to the beginning of the sentence, the emphasis shifts from the subject—the terrified child—to the location in which the child is hiding. Words that are placed at the beginning or end of a sentence generally receive the greatest emphasis. Take a look at the following examples. The prepositional phrase is underlined in each: The bandaged man waited in the doctor’s office. In the doctor’s office, the bandaged man waited. My train leaves the station at 6:45 a.m. At 6:45 a.m., my train leaves the station. Teenagers exchange drugs and money under the railway bridge. Under the railway bridge, teenagers exchange drugs and money. Prepositional phrases are useful in any type of writing. Take another look at Naomi’s essay on the government bailout. Now read the revised version. The underlined words are all prepositional phrases. Notice how they add additional information to the text and provide a sense of flow to the essay, making it less choppy and more pleasurable to read. Unmovable Prepositional Phrases Not all prepositional phrases can be placed at the beginning of a sentence. Read the following sentence: I would like a chocolate sundae without whipped cream. In this sentence, without whipped cream is the prepositional phrase. Because it describes the chocolate sundae, it cannot be moved to the beginning of the sentence. “Without whipped cream I would like a chocolate sundae” does not make as much (if any) sense. To determine whether a prepositional phrase can be moved, we must determine the meaning of the sentence. Overuse of Prepositional Phrases Experienced writers often include more than one prepositional phrase in a sentence; however, it is important not to overload your writing. Using too many modifiers in a paragraph may create an unintentionally comical effect as the following example shows: The treasure lay buried under the old oak tree, behind the crumbling fifteenth-century wall, near the schoolyard, where children played merrily during their lunch hour, unaware of the riches that remained hidden beneath their feet. A sentence is not necessarily effective just because it is long and complex. If your sentence appears cluttered with prepositional phrases, divide it into two shorter sentences. The previous sentence is far more effective when written as two simpler sentences: The treasure lay buried under the old oak tree, behind the crumbling fifteenth-century wall. In the nearby schoolyard, children played merrily during their lunch hour, unaware of the riches that remained hidden beneath their feet. Writing at Work The overuse of prepositional phrases often occurs when our thoughts are jumbled and we are unsure how concepts or ideas relate to one another. If you are preparing a report or a proposal, take the time to organize your thoughts in an outline before writing a rough draft. Read the draft aloud, either to yourself or to a colleague, and identify areas that are rambling or unclear. If you notice that a particular part of your report contains several sentences over twenty words, you should double check that particular section to make certain that it is coherent and does not contain unnecessary prepositional phrases. Reading aloud sometimes helps detect unclear and wordy sentences. You can also ask a colleague to paraphrase your main points to ensure that the meaning is clear. Starting a Sentence by Inverting Subject and Verb As we noted earlier, most writers follow the subject-verb-object sentence structure. In an inverted sentence, the order is reversed so that the subject follows the verb. Read the following sentence pairs: 1. A truck was parked in the driveway. 2. Parked in the driveway was a truck. 1. A copy of the file is attached. 2. Attached is a copy of the file. Notice how the second sentence in each pair places more emphasis on the subject—a truck in the first example and the file in the second. This technique is useful for drawing the reader’s attention to your primary area of focus. We can apply this method to an academic essay. Take another look at Naomi’s paragraph. To emphasize the subject in certain sentences, Naomi can invert the traditional sentence structure. Read her revised paragraph: Notice that in the first underlined sentence, the subject (some economists) is placed after the verb (argued). In the second underlined sentence, the subject (the government) is placed after the verb (expects). Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, rewrite the following sentences as inverted sentences. 1. Teresa will never attempt to run another marathon. 2. A detailed job description is enclosed with this letter. 3. Bathroom facilities are across the hall to the left of the water cooler. 4. The well-dressed stranger stumbled through the doorway. 5. My colleagues remain unconvinced about the proposed merger. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Connecting Ideas to Increase Sentence Variety Reviewing and rewriting the beginning of sentences is a good way of introducing sentence variety into your writing. Another useful technique is to connect two sentences using a modifier, a relative clause, or an appositive. This section examines how to connect ideas across several sentences in order to increase sentence variety and improve writing. Joining Ideas Using an -ing Modifier Sometimes it is possible to combine two sentences by converting one of them into a modifier using the -ing verb form—singing, dancing, swimming. A modifier is a word or phrase that qualifies the meaning of another element in the sentence. Read the following example: Original sentences: Steve checked the computer system. He discovered a virus. Revised sentence: Checking the computer system, Steve discovered a virus. To connect two sentences using an -ing modifier, add -ing to one of the verbs in the sentences (checking) and delete the subject (Steve). Use a comma to separate the modifier from the subject of the sentence. It is important to make sure that the main idea in your revised sentence is contained in the main clause, not in the modifier. In this example, the main idea is that Steve discovered a virus, not that he checked the computer system. In the following example, an -ing modifier indicates that two actions are occurring at the same time: 1. Noticing the police car, she shifted gears and slowed down. This means that she slowed down at the same time she noticed the police car. 2. Barking loudly, the dog ran across the driveway. This means that the dog barked as it ran across the driveway. You can add an -ing modifier to the beginning or the end of a sentence, depending on which fits best. Beginning: Conducting a survey among her friends, Amanda found that few were happy in their jobs. End: Maria filed the final report, meeting her deadline. Dangling Modifiers A common mistake when combining sentences using the -ing verb form is to misplace the modifier so that it is not logically connected to the rest of the sentence. This creates a dangling modifier. Look at the following example: Jogging across the parking lot, my breath grew ragged and shallow. In this sentence, jogging across the parking lot seems to modify my breath. Since breath cannot jog, the sentence should be rewritten so that the subject is placed immediately after the modifier or added to the dangling phrase. Jogging across the parking lot, I felt my breath grow ragged and shallow. For more information on dangling modifiers, see Chapter 1 "Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?". Joining Ideas Using an -ed Modifier Some sentences can be combined using an -ed verb form—stopped, finished, played. To use this method, one of the sentences must contain a form of be as a helping verb in addition to the -ed verb form. Take a look at the following example: Original sentences: The Jones family was delayed by a traffic jam. They arrived several hours after the party started. Revised sentence: Delayed by a traffic jam, the Jones family arrived several hours after the party started. In the original version, was acts as a helping verb—it has no meaning by itself, but it serves a grammatical function by placing the main verb (delayed) in the perfect tense. To connect two sentences using an -ed modifier, drop the helping verb (was) and the subject (the Jones family) from the sentence with an -ed verb form. This forms a modifying phrase (delayed by a traffic jam) that can be added to the beginning or end of the other sentence according to which fits best. As with the -ing modifier, be careful to place the word that the phrase modifies immediately after the phrase in order to avoid a dangling modifier. Using -ing or -ed modifiers can help streamline your writing by drawing obvious connections between two sentences. Take a look at how Naomi might use modifiers in her paragraph. The revised version of the essay uses the -ing modifier opting to draw a connection between the government’s decision to bail out the banks and the result of that decision—the acquisition of the mortgage-backed securities. Joining Ideas Using a Relative Clause Another technique that writers use to combine sentences is to join them using a relative clause. A relative clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and describes a noun. Relative clauses function as adjectives by answering questions such as which one? or what kind? Relative clauses begin with a relative pronoun, such as who, which, where, why, or when. Read the following examples: Original sentences: The managing director is visiting the company next week. He lives in Seattle. Revised sentence: The managing director, who lives in Seattle, is visiting the company next week. To connect two sentences using a relative clause, substitute the subject of one of the sentences (he) for a relative pronoun (who). This gives you a relative clause (who lives in Seattle) that can be placed next to the noun it describes (the managing director). Make sure to keep the sentence you want to emphasize as the main clause. For example, reversing the main clause and subordinate clause in the preceding sentence emphasizes where the managing director lives, not the fact that he is visiting the company. Revised sentence: The managing director, who is visiting the company next week, lives in Seattle. Relative clauses are a useful way of providing additional, nonessential information in a sentence. Take a look at how Naomi might incorporate relative clauses into her essay. Notice how the underlined relative clauses can be removed from Naomi’s essay without changing the meaning of the sentence. Tip To check the punctuation of relative clauses, assess whether or not the clause can be taken out of the sentence without changing its meaning. If the relative clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, it should be placed in commas. If the relative clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence, it does not require commas around it. Joining Ideas Using an Appositive An appositive is a word or group of words that describes or renames a noun or pronoun. Incorporating appositives into your writing is a useful way of combining sentences that are too short and choppy. Take a look at the following example: Original sentences: Harland Sanders began serving food for hungry travelers in 1930. He is Colonel Sanders or “the Colonel.” Revised sentence: Harland Sanders, “the Colonel,” began serving food for hungry travelers in 1930. In the revised sentence, “the Colonel” is an appositive because it renames Harland Sanders. To combine two sentences using an appositive, drop the subject and verb from the sentence that renames the noun and turn it into a phrase. Note that in the previous example, the appositive is positioned immediately after the noun it describes. An appositive may be placed anywhere in a sentence, but it must come directly before or after the noun to which it refers: Appositive after noun: Scott, a poorly trained athlete, was not expected to win the race. Appositive before noun: A poorly trained athlete, Scott was not expected to win the race. Unlike relative clauses, appositives are always punctuated by a comma or a set commas. Take a look at the way Naomi uses appositives to include additional facts in her essay. Exercise $4$ On your own sheet of paper, rewrite the following sentence pairs as one sentence using the techniques you have learned in this section. 1. Baby sharks are called pups. Pups can be born in one of three ways. 2. The Pacific Ocean is the world’s largest ocean. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south. 3. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in the 2008 Olympics. He is a champion swimmer. 4. Ashley introduced her colleague Dan to her husband, Jim. She speculated that the two of them would have a lot in common. 5. Cacao is harvested by hand. It is then sold to chocolate-processing companies at the Coffee, Sugar, and Cocoa Exchange. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing at Work In addition to varying sentence structure, consider varying the types of sentences you are using in a report or other workplace document. Most sentences are declarative, but a carefully placed question, exclamation, or command can pique colleagues’ interest, even if the subject material is fairly dry. Imagine that you are writing a budget analysis. Beginning your report with a rhetorical question, such as “Where is our money going?” or “How can we increase sales?” encourages people to continue reading to find out the answers. Although they should be used sparingly in academic and professional writing, questions or commands are effective rhetorical devices. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Sentence variety reduces repetition in a piece of writing and adds emphasis to important points in the text. • Sentence variety can be introduced to the beginning of sentences by starting a sentence with an adverb, starting a sentence with a prepositional phrase, or by inverting the subject and verb. • Combine ideas, using modifiers, relative clauses, or appositives, to achieve sentence variety.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/06%3A_Refining_Your_Writing_-_How_Do_I_Improve_My_Writing_Technique/6.01%3A_Sentence_Variety.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify coordination and subordination in writing. 2. Combine sentences and ideas using coordination. 3. Combine sentences and ideas using subordination. In the previous section, we learned how to use different patterns to create sentence variety and to add emphasis to important points in our writing. Next, we will examine two ways in which we can join sentences with related ideas: • Coordination. Joining two related ideas of equal importance. • Subordination. Joining two related ideas of unequal importance. Connecting sentences with coordinate or subordinate clauses creates more coherent paragraphs, and in turn, produces more effective writing. In this section, you will read excerpts from Naomi’s classmate named Joshua, who drafted an essay about wine production. Read this excerpt from Joshua’s essay. This section examines several ways to combine sentences with coordination and subordination, using Joshua’s essay as an example. Coordination Coordination joins two independent clauses that contain related ideas of equal importance. Original sentences: I spent my entire paycheck last week. I am staying home this weekend. In their current form, these sentences contain two separate ideas that may or may not be related. Am I staying home this week because I spent my paycheck, or is there another reason for my lack of enthusiasm to leave the house? To indicate a relationship between the two ideas, we can use the coordinating conjunction so: Revised sentence: I spent my entire paycheck last week, so I am staying home this weekend. The revised sentence illustrates that the two ideas are connected. Notice that the sentence retains two independent clauses (I spent my entire paycheck; I am staying home this weekend) because each can stand alone as a complete idea. Coordinating Conjunctions A coordinating conjunction is a word that joins two independent clauses. The most common coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Note that a comma precedes the coordinating conjunction when joining two clauses. Independent Clause Coordinating Conjunction Independent Clause Revised Sentence I will not be attending the dance. for (indicates a reason or cause) I have no one to go with. I will not be attending the dance, for I have no one to go with. I plan to stay home. and (joins two ideas) I will complete an essay for class. I plan to stay home, and I will complete an essay for class. Jessie isn’t going to be at the dance. nor (indicates a negative) Tom won’t be there either. Jessie isn’t going to be at the dance, nor will Tom be there. The fundraisers are hoping for a record-breaking attendance. but (indicates a contrast) I don’t think many people are going. The fundraisers are hoping for a record-breaking attendance, but I don’t think many people are going. I might go to the next fundraising event. or (offers an alternative) I might donate some money to the cause. I might go to the next fundraising event, or I might donate some money to the cause. My parents are worried that I am antisocial. yet (indicates a reason) I have many friends at school. My parents are worried that I am antisocial, yet I have many friends at school. Buying a new dress is expensive. so (indicates a result) By staying home I will save money. Buying a new dress is expensive, so by staying home I will save money. Tip To help you remember the seven coordinating conjunctions, think of the acronym FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Remember that when you use a coordinating conjunction in a sentence, a comma should precede it. Conjunctive Adverbs Another method of joining two independent clauses with related and equal ideas is to use a conjunctive adverb and a semicolon (see Chapter 1 "Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?" for information on semicolon usage). A conjunctive adverb is a linking word that demonstrates a relationship between two clauses. Read the following sentences: Original sentences: Bridget wants to take part in the next Olympics. She trains every day. Since these sentences contain two equal and related ideas, they may be joined using a conjunctive adverb. Now, read the revised sentence: Revised sentence: Bridget wants to take part in the next Olympics; therefore, she trains every day. The revised sentence explains the relationship between Bridget’s desire to take part in the next Olympics and her daily training. Notice that the conjunctive adverb comes after a semicolon that separates the two clauses and is followed by a comma. Review the following chart of some common conjunctive adverbs with examples of how they are used: Function Conjunctive Adverb Example Addition also, furthermore, moreover, besides Alicia was late for class and stuck in traffic; furthermore, her shoe heel had broken and she had forgotten her lunch. Comparison similarly, likewise Recycling aluminum cans is beneficial to the environment; similarly, reusing plastic bags and switching off lights reduces waste. Contrast instead, however, conversely Most people do not walk to work; instead, they drive or take the train. Emphasis namely, certainly, indeed The Siberian tiger is a rare creature; indeed, there are fewer than five hundred left in the wild. Cause and Effect accordingly, consequently, hence, thus I missed my train this morning; consequently, I was late for my meeting. Time finally, next, subsequently, then Tim crossed the barrier, jumped over the wall, and pushed through the hole in the fence; finally, he made it to the station. Take a look at Joshua’s essay on wine production and identify some areas in which he might use coordination. Now look at Joshua’s revised essay. Did you coordinate the same sentences? You may find that your answers are different because there are usually several ways to join two independent clauses. Exercise $1$ Combine each sentence pair into a single sentence using either a coordinating conjunction or a conjunctive adverb. Then copy the combined sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. Pets are not allowed in Mr. Taylor’s building. He owns several cats and a parrot. 2. New legislation prevents drivers from sending or reading text messages while driving. Many people continue to use their phones illegally. 3. The coroner concluded that the young man had taken a lethal concoction of drugs. By the time his relatives found him, nothing could be done. 4. Amphibians are vertebrates that live on land and in the water. Flatworms are invertebrates that live only in water. 5. Ashley carefully fed and watered her tomato plants all summer. The tomatoes grew juicy and ripe. 6. When he lost his car key, Simon attempted to open the door with a wire hanger, a credit card, and a paper clip. He called the manufacturer for advice. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing at Work When writing an essay or a report, it is important that you do not use excessive coordination. Workplace documents should be clear and concise, so only join two clauses that are logically connected and can work together to make one main point. If you repeat the same coordinating conjunction several times in a sentence, you are probably including more than one idea. This may make it difficult for readers to pick out the most important information in each sentence. Subordination Subordination joins two sentences with related ideas by merging them into a main clause (a complete sentence) and a dependent clause (a construction that relies on the main clause to complete its meaning). Coordination allows a writer to give equal weight to the two ideas that are being combined, and subordination enables a writer to emphasize one idea over the other. Take a look at the following sentences: Original sentences: Tracy stopped to help the injured man. She would be late for work. To illustrate that these two ideas are related, we can rewrite them as a single sentence using the subordinating conjunction even though. Revised sentence: Even though Tracy would be late for work, she stopped to help the injured man. In the revised version, we now have an independent clause (she stopped to help the injured man) that stands as a complete sentence and a dependent clause (even though Tracy would be late for work) that is subordinate to the main clause. Notice that the revised sentence emphasizes the fact that Tracy stopped to help the injured man, rather than the fact she would be late for work. We could also write the sentence this way: Revised sentence: Tracy stopped to help the injured man even though she would be late for work. The meaning remains the same in both sentences, with the subordinating conjunction even though introducing the dependent clause. Tip To punctuate sentences correctly, look at the position of the main clause and the subordinate clause. If a subordinate clause precedes the main clause, use a comma. If the subordinate clause follows the main cause, no punctuation is required. Subordinating Conjunctions A subordinating conjunction is a word that joins a subordinate (dependent) clause to a main (independent) clause. Review the following chart of some common subordinating conjunctions and examples of how they are used: Function Subordinating Conjunction Example Concession although, while, though, whereas, even though Sarah completed her report even though she had to stay late to get it done. Condition if, unless, until Until we know what is causing the problem, we will not be able to fix it. Manner as if, as, though Everyone in the conference room stopped talking at once, as though they had been stunned into silence. Place where, wherever Rita is in San Jose where she has several important client meetings. Reason because, since, so that, in order that Because the air conditioning was turned up so high, everyone in the office wore sweaters. Time after, before, while, once, when After the meeting had finished, we all went to lunch. Take a look at the excerpt from Joshua’s essay and identify some areas in which he might use subordination. Now look at Joshua’s revised essay and compare your answers. You will probably notice that there are many different ways to subordinate sentences. Exercise $2$ Combine each sentence pair into a single sentence using a subordinating conjunction and then copy the combined sentence onto your own sheet of paper. 1. Jake is going to Mexico. There are beautiful beaches in Mexico. 2. A snowstorm disrupted traffic all over the east coast. There will be long delivery delays this week. 3. My neighbor had his television volume turned up too high. I banged on his door and asked him to keep the noise down. 4. Jessica prepared the potato salad and the sautéed vegetables. Ashley marinated the chicken. 5. Romeo poisons himself. Juliet awakes to find Romeo dead and stabs herself with a dagger. Exercise $3$ Copy the paragraph from Joshua’s essay onto your own sheet of paper. Then edit using the techniques you have learned in this section. Join the underlined sentences using coordination or subordination. Check your revised sentences for punctuation. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Coordination and subordination join two sentences with related ideas. • Coordination joins sentences with related and equal ideas, whereas subordination joins sentences with related but unequal ideas. • Sentences can be coordinated using either a coordinating conjunction and a comma or a conjunctive adverb and a semicolon. • Subordinate sentences are characterized by the use of a subordinate conjunction. • In a subordinate sentence, a comma is used to separate the main clause from the dependent clause if the dependent clause is placed at the beginning of the sentence.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/06%3A_Refining_Your_Writing_-_How_Do_I_Improve_My_Writing_Technique/6.02%3A_Coordination_and_Subordination.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify sentences that are parallel and not parallel. 2. Identify ways to create parallelism in writing. 3. Write and revise sentences using parallelism. Earlier in this chapter, we learned that increasing sentence variety adds interest to a piece of writing and makes the reading process more enjoyable for others. Using a mixture of sentence lengths and patterns throughout an essay is an important writing technique. However, it is equally important to avoid introducing variation within individual sentences. A strong sentence is composed of balanced parts that all have the same structure. In this section, we will examine how to create a balanced sentence structure by using parallelism. Using Parallelism Parallelism is the use of similar structure in related words, clauses, or phrases. It creates a sense of rhythm and balance within a sentence. As readers, we often correct faulty parallelism—a lack of parallel structure—intuitively because an unbalanced sentence sounds awkward and poorly constructed. Read the following sentences aloud: Faulty parallelism: Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived. Faulty parallelism: Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight. Faulty parallelism: Ali prefers jeans to wearing a suit. All of these sentences contain faulty parallelism. Although they are factually correct, the construction is clunky and confusing. In the first example, three different verb forms are used. In the second and third examples, the writer begins each sentence by using a noun (coordination, jeans), but ends with a phrase (to have good eyesight, wearing a suit). Now read the same three sentences that have correct parallelism. Correct parallelism: Kelly had to do the ironing, washing, and shopping before her parents arrived. Correct parallelism: Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and good eyesight. Correct parallelism: Ali prefers wearing jeans to wearing a suit. When these sentences are written using a parallel structure, they sound more aesthetically pleasing because they are balanced. Repetition of grammatical construction also minimizes the amount of work the reader has to do to decode the sentence. This enables the reader to focus on the main idea in the sentence and not on how the sentence is put together. Tip A simple way to check for parallelism in your writing is to make sure you have paired nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, and so on. Underline each element in a sentence and check that the corresponding element uses the same grammatical form. Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions When you connect two clauses using a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), make sure that the same grammatical structure is used on each side of the conjunction. Take a look at the following example: Faulty parallelism: When I walk the dog, I like to listen to music and talking to friends on the phone. Correct parallelism: When I walk the dog, I like listening to music and talking to friends on the phone. The first sentence uses two different verb forms (to listen, talking). In the second sentence, the grammatical construction on each side of the coordinating conjunction (and) is the same, creating a parallel sentence. The same technique should be used for joining items or lists in a series: Faulty parallelism: This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lowering workers’ wages. Correct parallelism: This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lower workers’ wages. The first sentence contains two items that use the same verb construction (reduce, cut) and a third item that uses a different verb form (lowering). The second sentence uses the same verb construction in all three items, creating a parallel structure. Exercise $1$ On your own sheet of paper, revise each of the following sentences to create parallel structure using coordinating conjunctions. 1. Mr. Holloway enjoys reading and to play his guitar at weekends. 2. The doctor told Mrs. Franklin that she should either eat less or should exercise more. 3. Breaking out of the prison compound, the escapees moved carefully, quietly, and were quick on their feet. 4. I have read the book, but I have not watched the movie version. 5. Deal with a full inbox first thing in the morning, or by setting aside short periods of time in which to answer e-mail queries. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Creating Parallelism Using Than or As When you are making a comparison, the two items being compared should have a parallel structure. Comparing two items without using parallel structure can lead to confusion about what is being compared. Comparisons frequently use the words than or as, and the items on each side of these comparison words should be parallel. Take a look at the following example: Faulty parallelism: Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than a pool. Correct parallelism: Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than swimming in a pool. In the first sentence, the elements before the comparison word (than) are not equal to the elements after the comparison word. It appears that the writer is comparing an action (swimming) with a noun (a pool). In the second sentence, the writer uses the same grammatical construction to create a parallel structure. This clarifies that an action is being compared with another action. To correct some instances of faulty parallelism, it may be necessary to add or delete words in a sentence. Faulty parallelism: A brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run. Correct parallelism: Going for a brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run. In this example, it is necessary to add the verb phrase going for to the sentence in order to clarify that the act of walking is being compared to the act of running. Exercise $2$ On your own sheet of paper, revise each of the following sentences to create parallel structure using than or as. 1. I would rather work at a second job to pay for a new car than a loan. 2. How you look in the workplace is just as important as your behavior. 3. The firefighter spoke more of his childhood than he talked about his job. 4. Indian cuisine is far tastier than the food of Great Britain. 5. Jim’s opponent was as tall as Jim and he carried far more weight. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Creating Parallelism Using Correlative Conjunctions A correlative conjunction is a paired conjunction that connects two equal parts of a sentence and shows the relationship between them. Common correlative conjunctions include the following: • either…or • not only…but also • neither…nor • whether…or • rather…than • both…and Correlative conjunctions should follow the same grammatical structure to create a parallel sentence. Take a look at the following example: Faulty parallelism: We can neither wait for something to happen nor can we take evasive action. Correct parallelism: We can neither wait for something to happen nor take evasive action. When using a correlative conjunction, the words, phrases, or clauses following each part should be parallel. In the first sentence, the construction of the second part of the sentence does not match the construction of the first part. In the second sentence, omitting needless words and matching verb constructions create a parallel structure. Sometimes, rearranging a sentence corrects faulty parallelism. Faulty parallelism: It was both a long movie and poorly written. Correct parallelism: The movie was both long and poorly written. Tip To see examples of parallelism in use, read some of the great historical speeches by rhetoricians such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. Notice how they use parallel structures to emphasize important points and to create a smooth, easily understandable oration. Here is a link to text, audio, video, and the music of Martin Luther King’s speech “I Have a Dream”: http://www.mlkonline.net/dream.html. Writing at Work Speechwriters use parallelism not only within sentences but also throughout paragraphs and beyond. Repeating particular key phrases throughout a speech is an effective way of tying a paragraph together as a cohesive whole and creating a sense of importance. This technique can be adapted to any piece of writing, but it may be especially useful for creating a proposal or other type of persuasive workplace document. Note that the spelling and grammar checker on most word processors will not draw attention to faulty parallelism. When proofreading a document, read it aloud and listen for sentences that sound awkward or poorly phrased. Exercise $3$ On your own sheet of paper, revise each of the following sentences to create parallel structure using correlative conjunctions. 1. The cyclist owns both a mountain bike and has a racing bike. 2. The movie not only contained lots of action, but also it offered an important lesson. 3. My current job is neither exciting nor is it meaningful. 4. Jason would rather listen to his father than be taking advice from me. 5. We are neither interested in buying a vacuum cleaner nor do we want to utilize your carpet cleaning service. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Exercise $4$ Read through the following excerpt from Alex’s essay and revise any instances of faulty parallelism. Rewrite the sentences to create a parallel structure. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Parallelism creates a sense of rhythm and balance in writing by using the same grammatical structure to express equal ideas. • Faulty parallelism occurs when elements of a sentence are not balanced, causing the sentence to sound clunky and awkward. • Parallelism may be created by connecting two clauses or making a list using coordinating conjunctions; by comparing two items using than or as; or by connecting two parts of a sentence using correlative conjunctions. 6.04: Refining Your Writing- End-of-Chapter Exercises Learning Objectives 1. Use the skills you have learned in the chapter. 2. Work collaboratively with other students. 3. Work with a variety of academic and on-the-job, real-world examples. Exercises 1. Children’s stories are deliberately written in short, simple sentences to avoid confusion. Most sentences are constructed using the standard subject-verb-object format. Choose a children’s story that is suitable for eight- to ten-year-olds. Rewrite a chapter of the story so that it appeals to a slightly older age group, by editing for sentence variety. Experiment with the techniques you learned in "Sentence Variety", including the three different ways to vary sentence structure at the beginning of a sentence and the three different ways to connect ideas between sentences. Compare the revised chapter with the original version and consider how sentence variety can be used to target a particular audience. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 2. Compile a selection of real-life writing samples from the workplace or around the home. You might like to choose one of the following: e-mail, junk mail, personal letter, company report, social networking page, local newspaper, bulletin-board posting, or public notice. Choose two samples that lack sentence variety. Highlight areas of each writing sample that you would edit for sentence variety and explain why. Replace any recognizable name with a pseudonym, or a fictitious name. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 3. Group activity. Choose a well-known speech, such as Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Winston Churchill’s “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat” speech, or Barack Obama’s inaugural address. Make a copy of the speech and, as a group, underline examples of parallelism. Discuss the effects of using parallelism and consider whether it is always used to achieve the same result or whether the writer manipulates parallelism to create a variety of responses among his or her audience. 4. Group activity. Working in a small group, select a workplace document or academic essay. Examine each paragraph and identify examples of sentence variety, coordination and subordination, and parallelism. Then, choose one particular paragraph and discuss the following questions: • Does the writer use sentence variety effectively? • Does the writer connect his or her ideas effectively? • Does the writer use subordination and coordination correctly? • Does the writer use parallelism to emphasize his or her points? As a group, identify the weaker areas of the paragraph and rewrite them. Focus on sentence structure and sentence variation. Use coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions to join sentences. 5. Choose a college essay or a recent piece of writing from your work or everyday life. Use the techniques you have learned throughout this chapter to edit your writing for sentence variety, appropriate coordination and subordination, and parallelism. When you have finished, compare the two versions and write a brief analysis of how sentence variety, coordination and subordination, and parallelism help refine a piece of writing. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/06%3A_Refining_Your_Writing_-_How_Do_I_Improve_My_Writing_Technique/6.03%3A_Parallelism.txt
• 7.1: Apply Prewriting Models Many writers, students, and employees find that beginning to write can be intimidating. When faced with a blank page, however, experienced writers remind themselves that writing is a process. • 7.2: Outlining Patterns and gaps may begin to stand out. But only when you start to organize your ideas will you be able to translate your raw insights into a form that will communicate meaning to your audience. • 7.3: Drafting Drafting is the stage of the writing process in which you develop a complete first version of a piece of writing. • 7.4: Revising and Editing Revising and editing are the two tasks you undertake to significantly improve your essay. Both are very important elements of the writing process. • 7.5: The Writing Process- End-of-Chapter Exercises 07: The Writing Process - How Do I Begin Learning Objectives 1. Use prewriting strategies to choose a topic and narrow the focus. If you think that a blank sheet of paper or a blinking cursor on the computer screen is a scary sight, you are not alone. Many writers, students, and employees find that beginning to write can be intimidating. When faced with a blank page, however, experienced writers remind themselves that writing, like other everyday activities, is a process. Every process, from writing to cooking, bike riding, and learning to use a new cell phone, will get significantly easier with practice. Just as you need a recipe, ingredients, and proper tools to cook a delicious meal, you also need a plan, resources, and adequate time to create a good written composition. In other words, writing is a process that requires following steps and using strategies to accomplish your goals. These are the five steps in the writing process: 1. Prewriting 2. Outlining the structure of ideas 3. Writing a rough draft 4. Revising 5. Editing Effective writing can be simply described as good ideas that are expressed well and arranged in the proper order. This chapter will give you the chance to work on all these important aspects of writing. Although many more prewriting strategies exist, this chapter covers six: using experience and observations, freewriting, asking questions, brainstorming, mapping, and searching the Internet. Using the strategies in this chapter can help you overcome the fear of the blank page and confidently begin the writing process. Prewriting Prewriting is the stage of the writing process during which you transfer your abstract thoughts into more concrete ideas in ink on paper (or in type on a computer screen). Although prewriting techniques can be helpful in all stages of the writing process, the following four strategies are best used when initially deciding on a topic: 1. Using experience and observations 2. Reading 3. Freewriting 4. Asking questions At this stage in the writing process, it is OK if you choose a general topic. Later you will learn more prewriting strategies that will narrow the focus of the topic. Choosing a Topic In addition to understanding that writing is a process, writers also understand that choosing a good general topic for an assignment is an essential step. Sometimes your instructor will give you an idea to begin an assignment, and other times your instructor will ask you to come up with a topic on your own. A good topic not only covers what an assignment will be about but also fits the assignment’s purpose and its audience. In this chapter, you will follow a writer named Mariah as she prepares a piece of writing. You will also be planning one of your own. The first important step is for you to tell yourself why you are writing (to inform, to explain, or some other purpose) and for whom you are writing. Write your purpose and your audience on your own sheet of paper, and keep the paper close by as you read and complete exercises in this chapter. My purpose: ____________________________________________ My audience: ____________________________________________ Using Experience and Observations When selecting a topic, you may also want to consider something that interests you or something based on your own life and personal experiences. Even everyday observations can lead to interesting topics. After writers think about their experiences and observations, they often take notes on paper to better develop their thoughts. These notes help writers discover what they have to say about their topic. Tip Have you seen an attention-grabbing story on your local news channel? Many current issues appear on television, in magazines, and on the Internet. These can all provide inspiration for your writing. Reading Reading plays a vital role in all the stages of the writing process, but it first figures in the development of ideas and topics. Different kinds of documents can help you choose a topic and also develop that topic. For example, a magazine advertising the latest research on the threat of global warming may catch your eye in the supermarket. This cover may interest you, and you may consider global warming as a topic. Or maybe a novel’s courtroom drama sparks your curiosity of a particular lawsuit or legal controversy. After you choose a topic, critical reading is essential to the development of a topic. While reading almost any document, you evaluate the author’s point of view by thinking about his main idea and his support. When you judge the author’s argument, you discover more about not only the author’s opinion but also your own. If this step already seems daunting, remember that even the best writers need to use prewriting strategies to generate ideas. Tip The steps in the writing process may seem time consuming at first, but following these steps will save you time in the future. The more you plan in the beginning by reading and using prewriting strategies, the less time you may spend writing and editing later because your ideas will develop more swiftly. Prewriting strategies depend on your critical reading skills. Reading prewriting exercises (and outlines and drafts later in the writing process) will further develop your topic and ideas. As you continue to follow the writing process, you will see how Mariah uses critical reading skills to assess her own prewriting exercises. Freewriting Freewriting is an exercise in which you write freely about any topic for a set amount of time (usually three to five minutes). During the time limit, you may jot down any thoughts that come to your mind. Try not to worry about grammar, spelling, or punctuation. Instead, write as quickly as you can without stopping. If you get stuck, just copy the same word or phrase over and over until you come up with a new thought. Writing often comes easier when you have a personal connection with the topic you have chosen. Remember, to generate ideas in your freewriting, you may also think about readings that you have enjoyed or that have challenged your thinking. Doing this may lead your thoughts in interesting directions. Quickly recording your thoughts on paper will help you discover what you have to say about a topic. When writing quickly, try not to doubt or question your ideas. Allow yourself to write freely and unselfconsciously. Once you start writing with few limitations, you may find you have more to say than you first realized. Your flow of thoughts can lead you to discover even more ideas about the topic. Freewriting may even lead you to discover another topic that excites you even more. Look at Mariah’s example. The instructor allowed the members of the class to choose their own topics, and Mariah thought about her experiences as a communications major. She used this freewriting exercise to help her generate more concrete ideas from her own experience. Tip Some prewriting strategies can be used together. For example, you could use experience and observations to come up with a topic related to your course studies. Then you could use freewriting to describe your topic in more detail and figure out what you have to say about it. Exercise $1$ Freewrite about one event you have recently experienced. With this event in mind, write without stopping for five minutes. After you finish, read over what you wrote. Does anything stand out to you as a good general topic to write about? Asking Questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? In everyday situations, you pose these kinds of questions to get more information. Who will be my partner for the project? When is the next meeting? Why is my car making that odd noise? Even the title of this chapter begins with the question “How do I begin?” You seek the answers to these questions to gain knowledge, to better understand your daily experiences, and to plan for the future. Asking these types of questions will also help you with the writing process. As you choose your topic, answering these questions can help you revisit the ideas you already have and generate new ways to think about your topic. You may also discover aspects of the topic that are unfamiliar to you and that you would like to learn more about. All these idea-gathering techniques will help you plan for future work on your assignment. When Mariah reread her freewriting notes, she found she had rambled and her thoughts were disjointed. She realized that the topic that interested her most was the one she started with, the media. She then decided to explore that topic by asking herself questions about it. Her purpose was to refine media into a topic she felt comfortable writing about. To see how asking questions can help you choose a topic, take a look at the following chart that Mariah completed to record her questions and answers. She asked herself the questions that reporters and journalists use to gather information for their stories. The questions are often called the 5WH questions, after their initial letters. Tip Prewriting is very purpose driven; it does not follow a set of hard-and-fast rules. The purpose of prewriting is to find and explore ideas so that you will be prepared to write. A prewriting technique like asking questions can help you both find a topic and explore it. The key to effective prewriting is to use the techniques that work best for your thinking process. Freewriting may not seem to fit your thinking process, but keep an open mind. It may work better than you think. Perhaps brainstorming a list of topics might better fit your personal style. Mariah found freewriting and asking questions to be fruitful strategies to use. In your own prewriting, use the 5WH questions in any way that benefits your planning. Exercise $2$ Choose a general topic idea from the prewriting you completed in Exercise $1$. Then read each question and use your own paper to answer the 5WH questions. As with Mariah when she explored her writing topic for more detail, it is OK if you do not know all the answers. If you do not know an answer, use your own opinion to speculate, or guess. You may also use factual information from books or articles you previously read on your topic. Later in the chapter, you will read about additional ways (like searching the Internet) to answer your questions and explore your guesses. 5WH Questions 1. Who? _____________________________________________________ 2. What? _____________________________________________________ 3. Where? _____________________________________________________ 4. When? _____________________________________________________ 5. Why? _____________________________________________________ 6. How? _____________________________________________________ Now that you have completed some of the prewriting exercises, you may feel less anxious about starting a paper from scratch. With some ideas down on paper (or saved on a computer), writers are often more comfortable continuing the writing process. After identifying a good general topic, you, too, are ready to continue the process. Exercise Write your general topic on your own sheet of paper, under where you recorded your purpose and audience. Choose it from among the topics you listed or explored during the prewriting you have done so far. Make sure it is one you feel comfortable with and feel capable of writing about. My general topic: ____________________________________________ Tip You may find that you need to adjust your topic as you move through the writing stages (and as you complete the exercises in this chapter). If the topic you have chosen is not working, you can repeat the prewriting activities until you find a better one. More Prewriting Techniques The prewriting techniques of freewriting and asking questions helped Mariah think more about her topic, but the following prewriting strategies can help her (and you) narrow the focus of the topic: • Brainstorming • Idea mapping • Searching the Internet Narrowing the Focus Narrowing the focus means breaking up the topic into subtopics, or more specific points. Generating lots of subtopics will help you eventually select the ones that fit the assignment and appeal to you and your audience. After rereading her syllabus, Mariah realized her general topic, mass media, is too broad for her class’s short paper requirement. Three pages are not enough to cover all the concerns in mass media today. Mariah also realized that although her readers are other communications majors who are interested in the topic, they may want to read a paper about a particular issue in mass media. Brainstorming Brainstorming is similar to list making. You can make a list on your own or in a group with your classmates. Start with a blank sheet of paper (or a blank computer document) and write your general topic across the top. Underneath your topic, make a list of more specific ideas. Think of your general topic as a broad category and the list items as things that fit in that category. Often you will find that one item can lead to the next, creating a flow of ideas that can help you narrow your focus to a more specific paper topic. The following is Mariah’s brainstorming list: From this list, Mariah could narrow her focus to a particular technology under the broad category of mass media. Writing at Work Imagine you have to write an e-mail to your current boss explaining your prior work experience, but you do not know where to start. Before you begin the e-mail, you can use the brainstorming technique to generate a list of employers, duties, and responsibilities that fall under the general topic “work experience.” Idea Mapping Idea mapping allows you to visualize your ideas on paper using circles, lines, and arrows. This technique is also known as clustering because ideas are broken down and clustered, or grouped together. Many writers like this method because the shapes show how the ideas relate or connect, and writers can find a focused topic from the connections mapped. Using idea mapping, you might discover interesting connections between topics that you had not thought of before. To create an idea map, start with your general topic in a circle in the center of a blank sheet of paper. Then write specific ideas around it and use lines or arrows to connect them together. Add and cluster as many ideas as you can think of. In addition to brainstorming, Mariah tried idea mapping. Review the following idea map that Mariah created: Notice Mariah’s largest circle contains her general topic, mass media. Then, the general topic branches into two subtopics written in two smaller circles: television and radio. The subtopic television branches into even more specific topics: cable and DVDs. From there, Mariah drew more circles and wrote more specific ideas: high definition and digital recording from cable and Blu-ray from DVDs. The radio topic led Mariah to draw connections between music, downloads versus CDs, and, finally, piracy. From this idea map, Mariah saw she could consider narrowing the focus of her mass media topic to the more specific topic of music piracy. Searching the Internet Using search engines on the Internet is a good way to see what kinds of websites are available on your topic. Writers use search engines not only to understand more about the topic’s specific issues but also to get better acquainted with their audience. Tip Look back at the chart you completed in Exercise $2$. Did you guess at any of the answers? Searching the Internet may help you find answers to your questions and confirm your guesses. Be choosy about the websites you use. Make sure they are reliable sources for the kind of information you seek. When you search the Internet, type some key words from your broad topic or words from your narrowed focus into your browser’s search engine (many good general and specialized search engines are available for you to try). Then look over the results for relevant and interesting articles. Results from an Internet search show writers the following information: • Who is talking about the topic • How the topic is being discussed • What specific points are currently being discussed about the topic Tip If the search engine results are not what you are looking for, revise your key words and search again. Some search engines also offer suggestions for related searches that may give you better results. Mariah typed the words music piracy from her idea map into the search engine Google. The results from Mariah’s search included websites from university publications, personal blogs, online news sources, and lots of legal cases sponsored by the recording industry. Reading legal jargon made Mariah uncomfortable with the results, so she decided to look further. Reviewing her map, she realized that she was more interested in consumer aspects of mass media, so she refocused her search to media technology and the sometimes confusing array of expensive products that fill electronics stores. Now, Mariah considers a paper topic on the products that have fed the mass media boom in everyday lives. Exercise $3$ In Exercise $2$, you chose a possible topic and explored it by answering questions about it using the 5WH questions. However, this topic may still be too broad. Here, in Exercise $3$, choose and complete one of the prewriting strategies to narrow the focus. Use either brainstorming, idea mapping, or searching the Internet. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Share what you found and what interests you about the possible topic(s). Prewriting strategies are a vital first step in the writing process. First, they help you first choose a broad topic and then they help you narrow the focus of the topic to a more specific idea. An effective topic ensures that you are ready for the next step. Topic Checklist Developing a Good Topic The following checklist can help you decide if your narrowed topic is a good topic for your assignment. • Am I interested in this topic? • Would my audience be interested? • Do I have prior knowledge or experience with this topic? If so, would I be comfortable exploring this topic and sharing my experiences? • Do I want to learn more about this topic? • Is this topic specific? • Does it fit the length of the assignment? With your narrowed focus in mind, answer the bulleted questions in the checklist for developing a good topic. If you can answer “yes” to all the questions, write your topic on the line. If you answer “no” to any of the questions, think about another topic or adjust the one you have and try the prewriting strategies again. My narrowed topic: ____________________________________________ KEY TAKEAWAYS • All writers rely on steps and strategies to begin the writing process. • The steps in the writing process are prewriting, outlining, writing a rough draft, revising, and editing. • Prewriting is the transfer of ideas from abstract thoughts into words, phrases, and sentences on paper. • A good topic interests the writer, appeals to the audience, and fits the purpose of the assignment. • Writers often choose a general topic first and then narrow the focus to a more specific topic.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/07%3A_The_Writing_Process_-_How_Do_I_Begin/7.01%3A_Apply_Prewriting_Models.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify the steps in constructing an outline. 2. Construct a topic outline and a sentence outline. Your prewriting activities and readings have helped you gather information for your assignment. The more you sort through the pieces of information you found, the more you will begin to see the connections between them. Patterns and gaps may begin to stand out. But only when you start to organize your ideas will you be able to translate your raw insights into a form that will communicate meaning to your audience. Tip Longer papers require more reading and planning than shorter papers do. Most writers discover that the more they know about a topic, the more they can write about it with intelligence and interest. Organizing Ideas When you write, you need to organize your ideas in an order that makes sense. The writing you complete in all your courses exposes how analytically and critically your mind works. In some courses, the only direct contact you may have with your instructor is through the assignments you write for the course. You can make a good impression by spending time ordering your ideas. Order refers to your choice of what to present first, second, third, and so on in your writing. The order you pick closely relates to your purpose for writing that particular assignment. For example, when telling a story, it may be important to first describe the background for the action. Or you may need to first describe a 3-D movie projector or a television studio to help readers visualize the setting and scene. You may want to group your support effectively to convince readers that your point of view on an issue is well reasoned and worthy of belief. In longer pieces of writing, you may organize different parts in different ways so that your purpose stands out clearly and all parts of the paper work together to consistently develop your main point. Methods of Organizing Writing The three common methods of organizing writing are chronological order, spatial order, and order of importance. You will learn more about these in Chapter 8 "Writing Essays: From Start to Finish"; however, you need to keep these methods of organization in mind as you plan how to arrange the information you have gathered in an outline. An outline is a written plan that serves as a skeleton for the paragraphs you write. Later, when you draft paragraphs in the next stage of the writing process, you will add support to create “flesh” and “muscle” for your assignment. When you write, your goal is not only to complete an assignment but also to write for a specific purpose—perhaps to inform, to explain, to persuade, or for a combination of these purposes. Your purpose for writing should always be in the back of your mind, because it will help you decide which pieces of information belong together and how you will order them. In other words, choose the order that will most effectively fit your purpose and support your main point. Table $1$: "Order versus Purpose" shows the connection between order and purpose. Table $1$: Order versus Purpose Order Purpose Chronological Order To explain the history of an event or a topic To tell a story or relate an experience To explain how to do or make something To explain the steps in a process Spatial Order To help readers visualize something as you want them to see it To create a main impression using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound) Order of Importance To persuade or convince To rank items by their importance, benefit, or significance Writing a Thesis Statement One legitimate question readers always ask about a piece of writing is “What is the big idea?” (You may even ask this question when you are the reader, critically reading an assignment or another document.) Every nonfiction writing task—from the short essay to the ten-page term paper to the lengthy senior thesis—needs a big idea, or a controlling idea, as the spine for the work. The controlling idea is the main idea that you want to present and develop. Tip For a longer piece of writing, the main idea should be broader than the main idea for a shorter piece of writing. Be sure to frame a main idea that is appropriate for the length of the assignment. Ask yourself, “How many pages will it take for me to explain and explore this main idea in detail?” Be reasonable with your estimate. Then expand or trim it to fit the required length. The big idea, or controlling idea, you want to present in an essay is expressed in a thesis statement. A thesis statement is often one sentence long, and it states your point of view. The thesis statement is not the topic of the piece of writing but rather what you have to say about that topic and what is important to tell readers. Table $2$: "Topics and Thesis Statements" compares topics and thesis statements. Table $2$: Topics and Thesis Statements Topic Thesis Statement Music piracy The recording industry fears that so-called music piracy will diminish profits and destroy markets, but it cannot be more wrong. The number of consumer choices available in media gear Everyone wants the newest and the best digital technology, but the choices are extensive, and the specifications are often confusing. E-books and online newspapers increasing their share of the market E-books and online newspapers will bring an end to print media as we know it. Online education and the new media Someday, students and teachers will send avatars to their online classrooms. The first thesis statement you write will be a preliminary thesis statement, or a working thesis statement. You will need it when you begin to outline your assignment as a way to organize it. As you continue to develop the arrangement, you can limit your working thesis statement if it is too broad or expand it if it proves too narrow for what you want to say. Exercise $1$ Using the topic you selected in Section 7.1 "Apply Prewriting Models", develop a working thesis statement that states your controlling idea for the piece of writing you are doing. On a sheet of paper, write your working thesis statement. Tip You will make several attempts before you devise a working thesis statement that you think is effective. Each draft of the thesis statement will bring you closer to the wording that expresses your meaning exactly. Writing an Outline For an essay question on a test or a brief oral presentation in class, all you may need to prepare is a short, informal outline in which you jot down key ideas in the order you will present them. This kind of outline reminds you to stay focused in a stressful situation and to include all the good ideas that help you explain or prove your point. For a longer assignment, like an essay or a research paper, many college instructors require students to submit a formal outline before writing a major paper as a way to be sure you are on the right track and are working in an organized manner. A formal outline is a detailed guide that shows how all your supporting ideas relate to each other. It helps you distinguish between ideas that are of equal importance and ones that are of lesser importance. You build your paper based on the framework created by the outline. Tip Instructors may also require you to submit an outline with your final draft to check the direction of the assignment and the logic of your final draft. If you are required to submit an outline with the final draft of a paper, remember to revise the outline to reflect any changes you made while writing the paper. There are two types of formal outlines: the topic outline and the sentence outline. You format both types of formal outlines in the same way. • Place your introduction and thesis statement at the beginning, under roman numeral I. • Use roman numerals (II, III, IV, V, etc.) to identify main points that develop the thesis statement. • Use capital letters (A, B, C, D, etc.) to divide your main points into parts. • Use arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) if you need to subdivide any As, Bs, or Cs into smaller parts. • End with the final roman numeral expressing your idea for your conclusion. Here is what the skeleton of a traditional formal outline looks like. The indention helps clarify how the ideas are related. 1. Introduction Thesis statement 2. Main point 1 → becomes the topic sentence of body paragraph 1 1. Supporting detail → becomes a support sentence of body paragraph 1 1. Subpoint 2. Subpoint 2. Supporting detail 1. Subpoint 2. Subpoint 3. Supporting detail 1. Subpoint 2. Subpoint 3. Main point 2 → becomes the topic sentence of body paragraph 2 1. Supporting detail 2. Supporting detail 3. Supporting detail 4. Main point 3 → becomes the topic sentence of body paragraph 3 1. Supporting detail 2. Supporting detail 3. Supporting detail 5. Conclusion Tip In an outline, any supporting detail can be developed with subpoints. For simplicity, the model shows them only under the first main point. Tip Formal outlines are often quite rigid in their organization. As many instructors will specify, you cannot subdivide one point if it is only one part. For example, for every roman numeral I, there must be a For every A, there must be a B. For every arabic numeral 1, there must be a 2. See for yourself on the sample outlines that follow. Constructing Topic Outlines A topic outline is the same as a sentence outline except you use words or phrases instead of complete sentences. Words and phrases keep the outline short and easier to comprehend. All the headings, however, must be written in parallel structure. (For more information on parallel structure, see Chapter 6 "Refining Your Writing: How Do I Improve My Writing Technique?".) Here is the topic outline that Mariah constructed for the essay she is developing. Her purpose is to inform, and her audience is a general audience of her fellow college students. Notice how Mariah begins with her thesis statement. She then arranges her main points and supporting details in outline form using short phrases in parallel grammatical structure. Checklist Writing an Effective Topic Outline This checklist can help you write an effective topic outline for your assignment. It will also help you discover where you may need to do additional reading or prewriting. • Do I have a controlling idea that guides the development of the entire piece of writing? • Do I have three or more main points that I want to make in this piece of writing? Does each main point connect to my controlling idea? • Is my outline in the best order—chronological order, spatial order, or order of importance—for me to present my main points? Will this order help me get my main point across? • Do I have supporting details that will help me inform, explain, or prove my main points? • Do I need to add more support? If so, where? • Do I need to make any adjustments in my working thesis statement before I consider it the final version? Writing at Work Word processing programs generally have an automatic numbering feature that can be used to prepare outlines. This feature automatically sets indents and lets you use the tab key to arrange information just as you would in an outline. Although in business this style might be acceptable, in college your instructor might have different requirements. Teach yourself how to customize the levels of outline numbering in your word-processing program to fit your instructor’s preferences. Exercise $2$ Using the working thesis statement you wrote in Exercise $1$ and the reading you did in Section 7.1 "Apply Prewriting Models", construct a topic outline for your essay. Be sure to observe correct outline form, including correct indentions and the use of Roman and arabic numerals and capital letters. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your outline. Point out areas of interest from their outline and what you would like to learn more about. Constructing Sentence Outlines A sentence outline is the same as a topic outline except you use complete sentences instead of words or phrases. Complete sentences create clarity and can advance you one step closer to a draft in the writing process. Here is the sentence outline that Mariah constructed for the essay she is developing. Tip The information compiled under each roman numeral will become a paragraph in your final paper. In the previous example, the outline follows the standard five-paragraph essay arrangement, but longer essays will require more paragraphs and thus more roman numerals. If you think that a paragraph might become too long or stringy, add an additional paragraph to your outline, renumbering the main points appropriately. Writing at Work PowerPoint presentations, used both in schools and in the workplace, are organized in a way very similar to formal outlines. PowerPoint presentations often contain information in the form of talking points that the presenter develops with more details and examples than are contained on the PowerPoint slide. Exercise $3$ Expand the topic outline you prepared in Exercise $2$ to make it a sentence outline. In this outline, be sure to include multiple supporting points for your main topic even if your topic outline does not contain them. Be sure to observe correct outline form, including correct indentions and the use of Roman and arabic numerals and capital letters. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Writers must put their ideas in order so the assignment makes sense. The most common orders are chronological order, spatial order, and order of importance. • After gathering and evaluating the information you found for your essay, the next step is to write a working, or preliminary, thesis statement. • The working thesis statement expresses the main idea that you want to develop in the entire piece of writing. It can be modified as you continue the writing process. • Effective writers prepare a formal outline to organize their main ideas and supporting details in the order they will be presented. • A topic outline uses words and phrases to express the ideas. • A sentence outline uses complete sentences to express the ideas. • The writer’s thesis statement begins the outline, and the outline ends with suggestions for the concluding paragraph.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/07%3A_The_Writing_Process_-_How_Do_I_Begin/7.02%3A_Outlining.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify drafting strategies that improve writing. 2. Use drafting strategies to prepare the first draft of an essay. Drafting is the stage of the writing process in which you develop a complete first version of a piece of writing. Even professional writers admit that an empty page scares them because they feel they need to come up with something fresh and original every time they open a blank document on their computers. Because you have completed the first two steps in the writing process, you have already recovered from empty page syndrome. You have hours of prewriting and planning already done. You know what will go on that blank page: what you wrote in your outline. Getting Started: Strategies For Drafting Your objective for this portion of Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" is to draft the body paragraphs of a standard five-paragraph essay. A five-paragraph essay contains an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. If you are more comfortable starting on paper than on the computer, you can start on paper and then type it before you revise. You can also use a voice recorder to get yourself started, dictating a paragraph or two to get you thinking. In this lesson, Mariah does all her work on the computer, but you may use pen and paper or the computer to write a rough draft. Making the Writing Process Work for You What makes the writing process so beneficial to writers is that it encourages alternatives to standard practices while motivating you to develop your best ideas. For instance, the following approaches, done alone or in combination with others, may improve your writing and help you move forward in the writing process: • Begin writing with the part you know the most about. You can start with the third paragraph in your outline if ideas come easily to mind. You can start with the second paragraph or the first paragraph, too. Although paragraphs may vary in length, keep in mind that short paragraphs may contain insufficient support. Readers may also think the writing is abrupt. Long paragraphs may be wordy and may lose your reader’s interest. As a guideline, try to write paragraphs longer than one sentence but shorter than the length of an entire double-spaced page. • Write one paragraph at a time and then stop. As long as you complete the assignment on time, you may choose how many paragraphs you complete in one sitting. Pace yourself. On the other hand, try not to procrastinate. Writers should always meet their deadlines. • Take short breaks to refresh your mind. This tip might be most useful if you are writing a multipage report or essay. Still, if you are antsy or cannot concentrate, take a break to let your mind rest. But do not let breaks extend too long. If you spend too much time away from your essay, you may have trouble starting again. You may forget key points or lose momentum. Try setting an alarm to limit your break, and when the time is up, return to your desk to write. • Be reasonable with your goals. If you decide to take ten-minute breaks, try to stick to that goal. If you told yourself that you need more facts, then commit to finding them. Holding yourself to your own goals will create successful writing assignments. • Keep your audience and purpose in mind as you write. These aspects of writing are just as important when you are writing a single paragraph for your essay as when you are considering the direction of the entire essay. Of all of these considerations, keeping your purpose and your audience at the front of your mind is the most important key to writing success. If your purpose is to persuade, for example, you will present your facts and details in the most logical and convincing way you can. Your purpose will guide your mind as you compose your sentences. Your audience will guide word choice. Are you writing for experts, for a general audience, for other college students, or for people who know very little about your topic? Keep asking yourself what your readers, with their background and experience, need to be told in order to understand your ideas. How can you best express your ideas so they are totally clear and your communication is effective? Tip You may want to identify your purpose and audience on an index card that you clip to your paper (or keep next to your computer). On that card, you may want to write notes to yourself—perhaps about what that audience might not know or what it needs to know—so that you will be sure to address those issues when you write. It may be a good idea to also state exactly what you want to explain to that audience, or to inform them of, or to persuade them about. Writing at Work Many of the documents you produce at work target a particular audience for a particular purpose. You may find that it is highly advantageous to know as much as you can about your target audience and to prepare your message to reach that audience, even if the audience is a coworker or your boss. Menu language is a common example. Descriptions like “organic romaine” and “free-range chicken” are intended to appeal to a certain type of customer though perhaps not to the same customer who craves a thick steak. Similarly, mail-order companies research the demographics of the people who buy their merchandise. Successful vendors customize product descriptions in catalogs to appeal to their buyers’ tastes. For example, the product descriptions in a skateboarder catalog will differ from the descriptions in a clothing catalog for mature adults. Exercise $1$ Using the topic for the essay that you outlined in "Outlining", describe your purpose and your audience as specifically as you can. Use your own sheet of paper to record your responses. Then keep these responses near you during future stages of the writing process. My purpose: ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ My audience: ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Setting Goals for Your First Draft A draft is a complete version of a piece of writing, but it is not the final version. The step in the writing process after drafting, as you may remember, is revising. During revising, you will have the opportunity to make changes to your first draft before you put the finishing touches on it during the editing and proofreading stage. A first draft gives you a working version that you can later improve. Writing at Work Workplace writing in certain environments is done by teams of writers who collaborate on the planning, writing, and revising of documents, such as long reports, technical manuals, and the results of scientific research. Collaborators do not need to be in the same room, the same building, or even the same city. Many collaborations are conducted over the Internet. In a perfect collaboration, each contributor has the right to add, edit, and delete text. Strong communication skills, in addition to strong writing skills, are important in this kind of writing situation because disagreements over style, content, process, emphasis, and other issues may arise. The collaborative software, or document management systems, that groups use to work on common projects is sometimes called groupware or workgroup support systems. The reviewing tool on some word-processing programs also gives you access to a collaborative tool that many smaller workgroups use when they exchange documents. You can also use it to leave comments to yourself. Tip If you invest some time now to investigate how the reviewing tool in your word processor works, you will be able to use it with confidence during the revision stage of the writing process. Then, when you start to revise, set your reviewing tool to track any changes you make, so you will be able to tinker with text and commit only those final changes you want to keep. Discovering the Basic Elements of a First Draft If you have been using the information in this chapter step by step to help you develop an assignment, you already have both a formal topic outline and a formal sentence outline to direct your writing. Knowing what a first draft looks like will help you make the creative leap from the outline to the first draft. A first draft should include the following elements: • An introduction that piques the audience’s interest, tells what the essay is about, and motivates readers to keep reading. • A thesis statement that presents the main point, or controlling idea, of the entire piece of writing. • A topic sentence in each paragraph that states the main idea of the paragraph and implies how that main idea connects to the thesis statement. • Supporting sentences in each paragraph that develop or explain the topic sentence. These can be specific facts, examples, anecdotes, or other details that elaborate on the topic sentence. • A conclusion that reinforces the thesis statement and leaves the audience with a feeling of completion. These elements follow the standard five-paragraph essay format, which you probably first encountered in high school. This basic format is valid for most essays you will write in college, even much longer ones. For now, however, Mariah focuses on writing the three body paragraphs from her outline. Chapter 8 "Writing Essays: From Start to Finish" covers writing introductions and conclusions, and you will read Mariah’s introduction and conclusion in Chapter 8 "Writing Essays: From Start to Finish". The Role of Topic Sentences Topic sentences make the structure of a text and the writer’s basic arguments easy to locate and comprehend. In college writing, using a topic sentence in each paragraph of the essay is the standard rule. However, the topic sentence does not always have to be the first sentence in your paragraph even if it the first item in your formal outline. Tip When you begin to draft your paragraphs, you should follow your outline fairly closely. After all, you spent valuable time developing those ideas. However, as you begin to express your ideas in complete sentences, it might strike you that the topic sentence might work better at the end of the paragraph or in the middle. Try it. Writing a draft, by its nature, is a good time for experimentation. The topic sentence can be the first, middle, or final sentence in a paragraph. The assignment’s audience and purpose will often determine where a topic sentence belongs. When the purpose of the assignment is to persuade, for example, the topic sentence should be the first sentence in a paragraph. In a persuasive essay, the writer’s point of view should be clearly expressed at the beginning of each paragraph. Choosing where to position the topic sentence depends not only on your audience and purpose but also on the essay’s arrangement, or order. When you organize information according to order of importance, the topic sentence may be the final sentence in a paragraph. All the supporting sentences build up to the topic sentence. Chronological order may also position the topic sentence as the final sentence because the controlling idea of the paragraph may make the most sense at the end of a sequence. When you organize information according to spatial order, a topic sentence may appear as the middle sentence in a paragraph. An essay arranged by spatial order often contains paragraphs that begin with descriptions. A reader may first need a visual in his or her mind before understanding the development of the paragraph. When the topic sentence is in the middle, it unites the details that come before it with the ones that come after it. Tip As you read critically throughout the writing process, keep topic sentences in mind. You may discover topic sentences that are not always located at the beginning of a paragraph. For example, fiction writers customarily use topic ideas, either expressed or implied, to move readers through their texts. In nonfiction writing, such as popular magazines, topic sentences are often used when the author thinks it is appropriate (based on the audience and the purpose, of course). A single topic sentence might even control the development of a number of paragraphs. For more information on topic sentences, please see Chapter 5 "Writing Paragraphs: Separating Ideas and Shaping Content". Developing topic sentences and thinking about their placement in a paragraph will prepare you to write the rest of the paragraph. Paragraphs The paragraph is the main structural component of an essay as well as other forms of writing. Each paragraph of an essay adds another related main idea to support the writer’s thesis, or controlling idea. Each related main idea is supported and developed with facts, examples, and other details that explain it. By exploring and refining one main idea at a time, writers build a strong case for their thesis. Paragraph Length How long should a paragraph be? One answer to this important question may be “long enough”—long enough for you to address your points and explain your main idea. To grab attention or to present succinct supporting ideas, a paragraph can be fairly short and consist of two to three sentences. A paragraph in a complex essay about some abstract point in philosophy or archaeology can be three-quarters of a page or more in length. As long as the writer maintains close focus on the topic and does not ramble, a long paragraph is acceptable in college-level writing. In general, try to keep the paragraphs longer than one sentence but shorter than one full page of double-spaced text. Tip Journalistic style often calls for brief two- or three-sentence paragraphs because of how people read the news, both online and in print. Blogs and other online information sources often adopt this paragraphing style, too. Readers often skim the first paragraphs of a great many articles before settling on the handful of stories they want to read in detail. You may find that a particular paragraph you write may be longer than one that will hold your audience’s interest. In such cases, you should divide the paragraph into two or more shorter paragraphs, adding a topic statement or some kind of transitional word or phrase at the start of the new paragraph. Transition words or phrases show the connection between the two ideas. In all cases, however, be guided by what you instructor wants and expects to find in your draft. Many instructors will expect you to develop a mature college-level style as you progress through the semester’s assignments. Exercise $2$ To build your sense of appropriate paragraph length, use the Internet to find examples of the following items. Copy them into a file, identify your sources, and present them to your instructor with your annotations, or notes. • A news article written in short paragraphs. Take notes on, or annotate, your selection with your observations about the effect of combining paragraphs that develop the same topic idea. Explain how effective those paragraphs would be. • A long paragraph from a scholarly work that you identify through an academic search engine. Annotate it with your observations about the author’s paragraphing style. Starting Your First Draft Now we are finally ready to look over Mariah’s shoulder as she begins to write her essay about digital technology and the confusing choices that consumers face. As she does, you should have in front of you your outline, with its thesis statement and topic sentences, and the notes you wrote earlier in this lesson on your purpose and audience. Reviewing these will put both you and Mariah in the proper mind-set to start. The following is Mariah’s thesis statement. Here are the notes that Mariah wrote to herself to characterize her purpose and audience. Mariah chose to begin by writing a quick introduction based on her thesis statement. She knew that she would want to improve her introduction significantly when she revised. Right now, she just wanted to give herself a starting point. You will read her introduction again in Section 7.4 "Revising and Editing" when she revises it. Tip Remember Mariah’s other options. She could have started directly with any of the body paragraphs. You will learn more about writing attention-getting introductions and effective conclusions in Chapter 8 "Writing Essays: From Start to Finish". With her thesis statement and her purpose and audience notes in front of her, Mariah then looked at her sentence outline. She chose to use that outline because it includes the topic sentences. The following is the portion of her outline for the first body paragraph. The roman numeral II identifies the topic sentence for the paragraph, capital letters indicate supporting details, and arabic numerals label subpoints. Mariah then began to expand the ideas in her outline into a paragraph. Notice how the outline helped her guarantee that all her sentences in the body of the paragraph develop the topic sentence. Tip If you write your first draft on the computer, consider creating a new file folder for each course with a set of subfolders inside the course folders for each assignment you are given. Label the folders clearly with the course names, and label each assignment folder and word processing document with a title that you will easily recognize. The assignment name is a good choice for the document. Then use that subfolder to store all the drafts you create. When you start each new draft, do not just write over the last one. Instead, save the draft with a new tag after the title—draft 1, draft 2, and so on—so that you will have a complete history of drafts in case your instructor wishes you to submit them. In your documents, observe any formatting requirements—for margins, headers, placement of page numbers, and other layout matters—that your instructor requires. Exercise $3$ Study how Mariah made the transition from her sentence outline to her first draft. First, copy her outline onto your own sheet of paper. Leave a few spaces between each part of the outline. Then copy sentences from Mariah’s paragraph to align each sentence with its corresponding entry in her outline. Continuing the First Draft Mariah continued writing her essay, moving to the second and third body paragraphs. She had supporting details but no numbered subpoints in her outline, so she had to consult her prewriting notes for specific information to include. Tip If you decide to take a break between finishing your first body paragraph and starting the next one, do not start writing immediately when you return to your work. Put yourself back in context and in the mood by rereading what you have already written. This is what Mariah did. If she had stopped writing in the middle of writing the paragraph, she could have jotted down some quick notes to herself about what she would write next. Preceding each body paragraph that Mariah wrote is the appropriate section of her sentence outline. Notice how she expanded roman numeral III from her outline into a first draft of the second body paragraph. As you read, ask yourself how closely she stayed on purpose and how well she paid attention to the needs of her audience. Mariah then began her third and final body paragraph using roman numeral IV from her outline. Exercise $4$ Reread body paragraphs two and three of the essay that Mariah is writing. Then answer the questions on your own sheet of paper. 1. In body paragraph two, Mariah decided to develop her paragraph as a nonfiction narrative. Do you agree with her decision? Explain. How else could she have chosen to develop the paragraph? Why is that better? 2. Compare the writing styles of paragraphs two and three. What evidence do you have that Mariah was getting tired or running out of steam? What advice would you give her? Why? 3. Choose one of these two body paragraphs. Write a version of your own that you think better fits Mariah’s audience and purpose. Writing a Title A writer’s best choice for a title is one that alludes to the main point of the entire essay. Like the headline in a newspaper or the big, bold title in a magazine, an essay’s title gives the audience a first peek at the content. If readers like the title, they are likely to keep reading. Following her outline carefully, Mariah crafted each paragraph of her essay. Moving step by step in the writing process, Mariah finished the draft and even included a brief concluding paragraph (you will read her conclusion in Chapter 8 "Writing Essays: From Start to Finish"). She then decided, as the final touch for her writing session, to add an engaging title. Writing Your Own First Draft Now you may begin your own first draft, if you have not already done so. Follow the suggestions and the guidelines presented in this section. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Make the writing process work for you. Use any and all of the strategies that help you move forward in the writing process. • Always be aware of your purpose for writing and the needs of your audience. Cater to those needs in every sensible way. • Remember to include all the key structural parts of an essay: a thesis statement that is part of your introductory paragraph, three or more body paragraphs as described in your outline, and a concluding paragraph. Then add an engaging title to draw in readers. • Write paragraphs of an appropriate length for your writing assignment. Paragraphs in college-level writing can be a page long, as long as they cover the main topics in your outline. • Use your topic outline or your sentence outline to guide the development of your paragraphs and the elaboration of your ideas. Each main idea, indicated by a roman numeral in your outline, becomes the topic of a new paragraph. Develop it with the supporting details and the subpoints of those details that you included in your outline. • Generally speaking, write your introduction and conclusion last, after you have fleshed out the body paragraphs.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/07%3A_The_Writing_Process_-_How_Do_I_Begin/7.03%3A_Drafting.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify major areas of concern in the draft essay during revising and editing. 2. Use peer reviews and editing checklists to assist revising and editing. 3. Revise and edit the first draft of your essay and produce a final draft. Revising and editing are the two tasks you undertake to significantly improve your essay. Both are very important elements of the writing process. You may think that a completed first draft means little improvement is needed. However, even experienced writers need to improve their drafts and rely on peers during revising and editing. You may know that athletes miss catches, fumble balls, or overshoot goals. Dancers forget steps, turn too slowly, or miss beats. For both athletes and dancers, the more they practice, the stronger their performance will become. Web designers seek better images, a more clever design, or a more appealing background for their web pages. Writing has the same capacity to profit from improvement and revision. Understanding the Purpose of Revising and Editing Revising and editing allow you to examine two important aspects of your writing separately, so that you can give each task your undivided attention. • When you revise, you take a second look at your ideas. You might add, cut, move, or change information in order to make your ideas clearer, more accurate, more interesting, or more convincing. • When you edit, you take a second look at how you expressed your ideas. You add or change words. You fix any problems in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. You improve your writing style. You make your essay into a polished, mature piece of writing, the end product of your best efforts. Tip How do you get the best out of your revisions and editing? Here are some strategies that writers have developed to look at their first drafts from a fresh perspective. Try them over the course of this semester; then keep using the ones that bring results. • Take a break. You are proud of what you wrote, but you might be too close to it to make changes. Set aside your writing for a few hours or even a day until you can look at it objectively. • Ask someone you trust for feedback and constructive criticism. • Pretend you are one of your readers. Are you satisfied or dissatisfied? Why? • Use the resources that your college provides. Find out where your school’s writing lab is located and ask about the assistance they provide online and in person. Many people hear the words critic, critical, and criticism and pick up only negative vibes that provoke feelings that make them blush, grumble, or shout. However, as a writer and a thinker, you need to learn to be critical of yourself in a positive way and have high expectations for your work. You also need to train your eye and trust your ability to fix what needs fixing. For this, you need to teach yourself where to look. Creating Unity and Coherence Following your outline closely offers you a reasonable guarantee that your writing will stay on purpose and not drift away from the controlling idea. However, when writers are rushed, are tired, or cannot find the right words, their writing may become less than they want it to be. Their writing may no longer be clear and concise, and they may be adding information that is not needed to develop the main idea. When a piece of writing has unity, all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay clearly belong and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense. When the writing has coherence, the ideas flow smoothly. The wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and from paragraph to paragraph. Tip Reading your writing aloud will often help you find problems with unity and coherence. Listen for the clarity and flow of your ideas. Identify places where you find yourself confused, and write a note to yourself about possible fixes. Creating Unity Sometimes writers get caught up in the moment and cannot resist a good digression. Even though you might enjoy such detours when you chat with friends, unplanned digressions usually harm a piece of writing. Mariah stayed close to her outline when she drafted the three body paragraphs of her essay she tentatively titled “Digital Technology: The Newest and the Best at What Price?” But a recent shopping trip for an HDTV upset her enough that she digressed from the main topic of her third paragraph and included comments about the sales staff at the electronics store she visited. When she revised her essay, she deleted the off-topic sentences that affected the unity of the paragraph. Read the following paragraph twice, the first time without Mariah’s changes, and the second time with them. Exercise $1$ 1. Answer the following two questions about Mariah’s paragraph: 1. Do you agree with Mariah’s decision to make the deletions she made? Did she cut too much, too little, or just enough? Explain. 2. Is the explanation of what screen resolution means a digression? Or is it audience friendly and essential to understanding the paragraph? Explain. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 2. Now start to revise the first draft of the essay you wrote in Section 7 "Writing Your Own First Draft". Reread it to find any statements that affect the unity of your writing. Decide how best to revise. Tip When you reread your writing to find revisions to make, look for each type of problem in a separate sweep. Read it straight through once to locate any problems with unity. Read it straight through a second time to find problems with coherence. You may follow this same practice during many stages of the writing process. Writing at Work Many companies hire copyeditors and proofreaders to help them produce the cleanest possible final drafts of large writing projects. Copyeditors are responsible for suggesting revisions and style changes; proofreaders check documents for any errors in capitalization, spelling, and punctuation that have crept in. Many times, these tasks are done on a freelance basis, with one freelancer working for a variety of clients. Creating Coherence Careful writers use transitions to clarify how the ideas in their sentences and paragraphs are related. These words and phrases help the writing flow smoothly. Adding transitions is not the only way to improve coherence, but they are often useful and give a mature feel to your essays. Table $1$: "Common Transitional Words and Phrases" groups many common transitions according to their purpose. Table $1$: Common Transitional Words and Phrases Transitions That Show Sequence or Time after before later afterward before long meanwhile as soon as finally next at first first, second, third soon at last in the first place then Transitions That Show Position above across at the bottom at the top behind below beside beyond inside near next to opposite to the left, to the right, to the side under where Transitions That Show a Conclusion indeed hence in conclusion in the final analysis therefore thus Transitions That Continue a Line of Thought consequently furthermore additionally because besides the fact following this idea further in addition in the same way moreover looking further considering…, it is clear that Transitions That Change a Line of Thought but yet however nevertheless on the contrary on the other hand Transitions That Show Importance above all best especially in fact more important most important most worst Transitions That Introduce the Final Thoughts in a Paragraph or Essay finally last in conclusion most of all least of all last of all All-Purpose Transitions to Open Paragraphs or to Connect Ideas Inside Paragraphs admittedly at this point certainly granted it is true generally speaking in general in this situation no doubt no one denies obviously of course to be sure undoubtedly unquestionably Transitions that Introduce Examples for instance for example Transitions That Clarify the Order of Events or Steps first, second, third generally, furthermore, finally in the first place, also, last in the first place, furthermore, finally in the first place, likewise, lastly After Maria revised for unity, she next examined her paragraph about televisions to check for coherence. She looked for places where she needed to add a transition or perhaps reword the text to make the flow of ideas clear. In the version that follows, she has already deleted the sentences that were off topic. Tip Many writers make their revisions on a printed copy and then transfer them to the version on-screen. They conventionally use a small arrow called a caret (^) to show where to insert an addition or correction. Exercise $2$ 1. Answer the following questions about Mariah’s revised paragraph. 1. Do you agree with the transitions and other changes that Mariah made to her paragraph? Which would you keep and which were unnecessary? Explain. 2. What transition words or phrases did Mariah add to her paragraph? Why did she choose each one? 3. What effect does adding additional sentences have on the coherence of the paragraph? Explain. When you read both versions aloud, which version has a more logical flow of ideas? Explain. 2. Now return to the first draft of the essay you wrote in Section 7 "Writing Your Own First Draft" and revise it for coherence. Add transition words and phrases where they are needed, and make any other changes that are needed to improve the flow and connection between ideas. Being Clear and Concise Some writers are very methodical and painstaking when they write a first draft. Other writers unleash a lot of words in order to get out all that they feel they need to say. Do either of these composing styles match your style? Or is your composing style somewhere in between? No matter which description best fits you, the first draft of almost every piece of writing, no matter its author, can be made clearer and more concise. If you have a tendency to write too much, you will need to look for unnecessary words. If you have a tendency to be vague or imprecise in your wording, you will need to find specific words to replace any overly general language. Identifying Wordiness Sometimes writers use too many words when fewer words will appeal more to their audience and better fit their purpose. Here are some common examples of wordiness to look for in your draft. Eliminating wordiness helps all readers, because it makes your ideas clear, direct, and straightforward. • Wordy: There are two major experiments that the Biology Department sponsors. Revised: The Biology Department sponsors two major experiments. • Wordy: Two extremely famous and well-known consumer advocates spoke eloquently in favor of the proposed important legislation. Revised: Two well-known consumer advocates spoke in favor of the proposed legislation. • Sentences with deadwood phrases that add little to the meaning. Be judicious when you use phrases such as in terms of, with a mind to, on the subject of, as to whether or not, more or less, as far as…is concerned, and similar expressions. You can usually find a more straightforward way to state your point. Wordy: As a world leader in the field of green technology, the company plans to focus its efforts in the area of geothermal energy. A report as to whether or not to use geysers as an energy source is in the process of preparation. Revised: As a world leader in green technology, the company plans to focus on geothermal energy. A report about using geysers as an energy source is in preparation. • Sentences in the passive voice or with forms of the verbto be. Sentences with passive-voice verbs often create confusion, because the subject of the sentence does not perform an action. Sentences are clearer when the subject of the sentence performs the action and is followed by a strong verb. Use strong active-voice verbs in place of forms of to be, which can lead to wordiness. Avoid passive voice when you can. Wordy: It might perhaps be said that using a GPS device is something that is a benefit to drivers who have a poor sense of direction. Revised: Using a GPS device benefits drivers who have a poor sense of direction. • Wordy: The e-book reader, which is a recent invention, may become as commonplace as the cell phone. My over-sixty uncle bought an e-book reader, and his wife bought an e-book reader, too. Revised: The e-book reader, a recent invention, may become as commonplace as the cell phone. My over-sixty uncle and his wife both bought e-book readers. Exercise $3$ Now return once more to the first draft of the essay you have been revising. Check it for unnecessary words. Try making your sentences as concise as they can be. Choosing Specific, Appropriate Words Most college essays should be written in formal English suitable for an academic situation. Follow these principles to be sure that your word choice is appropriate. For more information about word choice, see Chapter 3 "Working with Words: Which Word Is Right?". • Avoid slang. Find alternatives to bummer, kewl, and rad. • Avoid language that is overly casual. Write about “men and women” rather than “girls and guys” unless you are trying to create a specific effect. A formal tone calls for formal language. • Avoid contractions. Use do not in place of don’t, I am in place of I’m, have not in place of haven’t, and so on. Contractions are considered casual speech. • Avoid clichés. Overused expressions such as green with envy, face the music, better late than never, and similar expressions are empty of meaning and may not appeal to your audience. • Be careful when you use words that sound alike but have different meanings. Some examples are allusion/illusion, complement/compliment, council/counsel, concurrent/consecutive, founder/flounder, and historic/historical. When in doubt, check a dictionary. • Choose words with the connotations you want. Choosing a word for its connotations is as important in formal essay writing as it is in all kinds of writing. Compare the positive connotations of the word proud and the negative connotations of arrogant and conceited. • Use specific words rather than overly general words. Find synonyms for thing, people, nice, good, bad, interesting, and other vague words. Or use specific details to make your exact meaning clear. Now read the revisions Mariah made to make her third paragraph clearer and more concise. She has already incorporated the changes she made to improve unity and coherence. Exercise $4$ 1. Answer the following questions about Mariah’s revised paragraph: 1. Read the unrevised and the revised paragraphs aloud. Explain in your own words how changes in word choice have affected Mariah’s writing. 2. Do you agree with the changes that Mariah made to her paragraph? Which changes would you keep and which were unnecessary? Explain. What other changes would you have made? 3. What effect does removing contractions and the pronoun you have on the tone of the paragraph? How would you characterize the tone now? Why? 2. Now return once more to your essay in progress. Read carefully for problems with word choice. Be sure that your draft is written in formal language and that your word choice is specific and appropriate. Completing a Peer Review After working so closely with a piece of writing, writers often need to step back and ask for a more objective reader. What writers most need is feedback from readers who can respond only to the words on the page. When they are ready, writers show their drafts to someone they respect and who can give an honest response about its strengths and weaknesses. You, too, can ask a peer to read your draft when it is ready. After evaluating the feedback and assessing what is most helpful, the reader’s feedback will help you when you revise your draft. This process is called peer review. You can work with a partner in your class and identify specific ways to strengthen each other’s essays. Although you may be uncomfortable sharing your writing at first, remember that each writer is working toward the same goal: a final draft that fits the audience and the purpose. Maintaining a positive attitude when providing feedback will put you and your partner at ease. The box that follows provides a useful framework for the peer review session. Questions for Peer Review Title of essay: ____________________________________________ Date: ____________________________________________ Writer’s name: ____________________________________________ Peer reviewer’s name: _________________________________________ 1. This essay is about____________________________________________. 2. Your main points in this essay are____________________________________________. 3. What I most liked about this essay is____________________________________________. 4. These three points struck me as your strongest: 1. Point: ____________________________________________ Why: ____________________________________________ 2. Point: ____________________________________________ Why: ____________________________________________ 3. Point: ____________________________________________ Why: ____________________________________________ 5. These places in your essay are not clear to me: 1. Where: ____________________________________________ Needs improvement because__________________________________________ 2. Where: ____________________________________________ Needs improvement because ____________________________________________ 3. Where: ____________________________________________ Needs improvement because ____________________________________________ 6. The one additional change you could make that would improve this essay significantly is ____________________________________________. Writing at Work One of the reasons why word-processing programs build in a reviewing feature is that workgroups have become a common feature in many businesses. Writing is often collaborative, and the members of a workgroup and their supervisors often critique group members’ work and offer feedback that will lead to a better final product. Exercise $5$ Exchange essays with a classmate and complete a peer review of each other’s draft in progress. Remember to give positive feedback and to be courteous and polite in your responses. Focus on providing one positive comment and one question for more information to the author. Using Feedback Objectively The purpose of peer feedback is to receive constructive criticism of your essay. Your peer reviewer is your first real audience, and you have the opportunity to learn what confuses and delights a reader so that you can improve your work before sharing the final draft with a wider audience (or your intended audience). It may not be necessary to incorporate every recommendation your peer reviewer makes. However, if you start to observe a pattern in the responses you receive from peer reviewers, you might want to take that feedback into consideration in future assignments. For example, if you read consistent comments about a need for more research, then you may want to consider including more research in future assignments. Using Feedback from Multiple Sources You might get feedback from more than one reader as you share different stages of your revised draft. In this situation, you may receive feedback from readers who do not understand the assignment or who lack your involvement with and enthusiasm for it. You need to evaluate the responses you receive according to two important criteria: 1. Determine if the feedback supports the purpose of the assignment. 2. Determine if the suggested revisions are appropriate to the audience. Then, using these standards, accept or reject revision feedback. Exercise $6$ Work with two partners. Go back to Exercise $4$ in this lesson and compare your responses to Activity A, about Mariah’s paragraph, with your partners’. Recall Mariah’s purpose for writing and her audience. Then, working individually, list where you agree and where you disagree about revision needs. Editing Your Draft If you have been incorporating each set of revisions as Mariah has, you have produced multiple drafts of your writing. So far, all your changes have been content changes. Perhaps with the help of peer feedback, you have made sure that you sufficiently supported your ideas. You have checked for problems with unity and coherence. You have examined your essay for word choice, revising to cut unnecessary words and to replace weak wording with specific and appropriate wording. The next step after revising the content is editing. When you edit, you examine the surface features of your text. You examine your spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation. You also make sure you use the proper format when creating your finished assignment. Tip Editing often takes time. Budgeting time into the writing process allows you to complete additional edits after revising. Editing and proofreading your writing helps you create a finished work that represents your best efforts. Here are a few more tips to remember about your readers: • Readers do not notice correct spelling, but they do notice misspellings. • Readers look past your sentences to get to your ideas—unless the sentences are awkward, poorly constructed, and frustrating to read. • Readers notice when every sentence has the same rhythm as every other sentence, with no variety. • Readers do not cheer when you use there, their, and they’re correctly, but they notice when you do not. • Readers will notice the care with which you handled your assignment and your attention to detail in the delivery of an error-free document. The first section of this book offers a useful review of grammar, mechanics, and usage. Use it to help you eliminate major errors in your writing and refine your understanding of the conventions of language. Do not hesitate to ask for help, too, from peer tutors in your academic department or in the college’s writing lab. In the meantime, use the checklist to help you edit your writing. Checklist Editing Your Writing Grammar • Are some sentences actually sentence fragments? • Are some sentences run-on sentences? How can I correct them? • Do some sentences need conjunctions between independent clauses? • Does every verb agree with its subject? • Is every verb in the correct tense? • Are tense forms, especially for irregular verbs, written correctly? • Have I used subject, object, and possessive personal pronouns correctly? • Have I used who and whom correctly? • Is the antecedent of every pronoun clear? • Do all personal pronouns agree with their antecedents? • Have I used the correct comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs? • Is it clear which word a participial phrase modifies, or is it a dangling modifier? Sentence Structure • Are all my sentences simple sentences, or do I vary my sentence structure? • Have I chosen the best coordinating or subordinating conjunctions to join clauses? • Have I created long, overpacked sentences that should be shortened for clarity? • Do I see any mistakes in parallel structure? Punctuation • Does every sentence end with the correct end punctuation? • Can I justify the use of every exclamation point? • Have I used apostrophes correctly to write all singular and plural possessive forms? • Have I used quotation marks correctly? Mechanics and Usage • Can I find any spelling errors? How can I correct them? • Have I used capital letters where they are needed? • Have I written abbreviations, where allowed, correctly? • Can I find any errors in the use of commonly confused words, such as to/too/two? Tip Be careful about relying too much on spelling checkers and grammar checkers. A spelling checker cannot recognize that you meant to write principle but wrote principal instead. A grammar checker often queries constructions that are perfectly correct. The program does not understand your meaning; it makes its check against a general set of formulas that might not apply in each instance. If you use a grammar checker, accept the suggestions that make sense, but consider why the suggestions came up. Tip Proofreading requires patience; it is very easy to read past a mistake. Set your paper aside for at least a few hours, if not a day or more, so your mind will rest. Some professional proofreaders read a text backward so they can concentrate on spelling and punctuation. Another helpful technique is to slowly read a paper aloud, paying attention to every word, letter, and punctuation mark. If you need additional proofreading help, ask a reliable friend, a classmate, or a peer tutor to make a final pass on your paper to look for anything you missed. Formatting Remember to use proper format when creating your finished assignment. Sometimes an instructor, a department, or a college will require students to follow specific instructions on titles, margins, page numbers, or the location of the writer’s name. These requirements may be more detailed and rigid for research projects and term papers, which often observe the American Psychological Association (APA) or Modern Language Association (MLA) style guides, especially when citations of sources are included. To ensure the format is correct and follows any specific instructions, make a final check before you submit an assignment. Exercise $7$ With the help of the checklist, edit and proofread your essay. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Revising and editing are the stages of the writing process in which you improve your work before producing a final draft. • During revising, you add, cut, move, or change information in order to improve content. • During editing, you take a second look at the words and sentences you used to express your ideas and fix any problems in grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. • Unity in writing means that all the ideas in each paragraph and in the entire essay clearly belong together and are arranged in an order that makes logical sense. • Coherence in writing means that the writer’s wording clearly indicates how one idea leads to another within a paragraph and between paragraphs. • Transitional words and phrases effectively make writing more coherent. • Writing should be clear and concise, with no unnecessary words. • Effective formal writing uses specific, appropriate words and avoids slang, contractions, clichés, and overly general words. • Peer reviews, done properly, can give writers objective feedback about their writing. It is the writer’s responsibility to evaluate the results of peer reviews and incorporate only useful feedback. • Remember to budget time for careful editing and proofreading. Use all available resources, including editing checklists, peer editing, and your institution’s writing lab, to improve your editing skills. 7.05: The Writing Process- End-of-Chapter Exercises Learning Objectives 1. Use the skills you have learned in the chapter. 2. Work collaboratively with other students. 3. Work with a variety of academic and on-the-job, real-world examples. Exercises 1. In this chapter, you have thought and read about the topic of mass media. Starting with the title “The Future of Information: How It Will Be Created, Transmitted, and Consumed,” narrow the focus of the topic until it is suitable for a two- to three-page paper. Then narrow your topic with the help of brainstorming, idea mapping, and searching the Internet until you select a final topic to explore. Keep a journal or diary in which you record and comment on everything you did to choose a final topic. Then record what you will do next to explore the idea and create a thesis statement. 2. Write a thesis statement and a formal sentence outline for an essay about the writing process. Include separate paragraphs for prewriting, drafting, and revising and editing. Your audience will be a general audience of educated adults who are unfamiliar with how writing is taught at the college level. Your purpose is to explain the stages of the writing process so that readers will understand its benefits. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. 3. Pieces of writing in a variety of real-life and work-related situations would benefit from revising and editing. Consider the following list of real-life and work-related pieces of writing: e-mails, greeting card messages, junk mail, late-night television commercials, social networking pages, local newspapers, bulletin-board postings, and public notices. Find and submit at least two examples of writing that needs revision. Explain what changes you would make. Replace any recognizable names with pseudonyms. 4. Group activity. At work, an employer might someday ask you to contribute to the research base for an essay such as the one Mariah wrote or the one you wrote while working through this chapter. Choosing either her topic or your own, compile a list of at least five sources. Then, working in a group of four students, bring in printouts or PDF files of Internet sources or paper copies of non-Internet sources for the other group members to examine. In a group report, rate the reliability of each other’s sources. 5. Group activity. Working in a peer-review group of four, go to "Drafting" and reread the draft of the first two body paragraphs of Mariah’s essay, “Digital Technology: The Newest and the Best at What Price?” Review those two paragraphs using the same level of inspection given to the essay’s third paragraph in "Revising and Editing". Suggest and agree on changes to improve unity and coherence, eliminate unneeded words, and refine word choice. Your purpose is to help Mariah produce two effective paragraphs for a formal college-level essay about her topic.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/07%3A_The_Writing_Process_-_How_Do_I_Begin/7.04%3A_Revising_and_Editing.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Develop a strong, clear thesis statement with the proper elements. 2. Revise your thesis statement. Have you ever known a person who was not very good at telling stories? You probably had trouble following his train of thought as he jumped around from point to point, either being too brief in places that needed further explanation or providing too many details on a meaningless element. Maybe he told the end of the story first, then moved to the beginning and later added details to the middle. His ideas were probably scattered, and the story did not flow very well. When the story was over, you probably had many questions. Just as a personal anecdote can be a disorganized mess, an essay can fall into the same trap of being out of order and confusing. That is why writers need a thesis statement to provide a specific focus for their essay and to organize what they are about to discuss in the body. Just like a topic sentence summarizes a single paragraph, the thesis statement summarizes an entire essay. It tells the reader the point you want to make in your essay, while the essay itself supports that point. It is like a signpost that signals the essay’s destination. You should form your thesis before you begin to organize an essay, but you may find that it needs revision as the essay develops. Elements of a Thesis Statement For every essay you write, you must focus on a central idea. This idea stems from a topic you have chosen or been assigned or from a question your teacher has asked. It is not enough merely to discuss a general topic or simply answer a question with a yes or no. You have to form a specific opinion, and then articulate that into a controlling idea—the main idea upon which you build your thesis. Remember that a thesis is not the topic itself, but rather your interpretation of the question or subject. For whatever topic your professor gives you, you must ask yourself, “What do I want to say about it?” Asking and then answering this question is vital to forming a thesis that is precise, forceful and confident. A thesis is one sentence long and appears toward the end of your introduction. It is specific and focuses on one to three points of a single idea—points that are able to be demonstrated in the body. It forecasts the content of the essay and suggests how you will organize your information. Remember that a thesis statement does not summarize an issue but rather dissects it. A Strong Thesis Statement A strong thesis statement contains the following qualities. Specificity. A thesis statement must concentrate on a specific area of a general topic. As you may recall, the creation of a thesis statement begins when you choose a broad subject and then narrow down its parts until you pinpoint a specific aspect of that topic. For example, health care is a broad topic, but a proper thesis statement would focus on a specific area of that topic, such as options for individuals without health care coverage. Precision. A strong thesis statement must be precise enough to allow for a coherent argument and to remain focused on the topic. If the specific topic is options for individuals without health care coverage, then your precise thesis statement must make an exact claim about it, such as that limited options exist for those who are uninsured by their employers. You must further pinpoint what you are going to discuss regarding these limited effects, such as whom they affect and what the cause is. Ability to be argued. A thesis statement must present a relevant and specific argument. A factual statement often is not considered arguable. Be sure your thesis statement contains a point of view that can be supported with evidence. Ability to be demonstrated. For any claim you make in your thesis, you must be able to provide reasons and examples for your opinion. You can rely on personal observations in order to do this, or you can consult outside sources to demonstrate that what you assert is valid. A worthy argument is backed by examples and details. Forcefulness. A thesis statement that is forceful shows readers that you are, in fact, making an argument. The tone is assertive and takes a stance that others might oppose. Confidence. In addition to using force in your thesis statement, you must also use confidence in your claim. Phrases such as I feel or I believe actually weaken the readers’ sense of your confidence because these phrases imply that you are the only person who feels the way you do. In other words, your stance has insufficient backing. Taking an authoritative stance on the matter persuades your readers to have faith in your argument and open their minds to what you have to say. Tip Even in a personal essay that allows the use of first person, your thesis should not contain phrases such as in my opinion or I believe. These statements reduce your credibility and weaken your argument. Your opinion is more convincing when you use a firm attitude. Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, write a thesis statement for each of the following topics. Remember to make each statement specific, precise, demonstrable, forceful and confident. Topics • Texting while driving • The legal drinking age in the United States • Steroid use among professional athletes • Abortion • Racism Examples of Appropriate Thesis Statements Each of the following thesis statements meets several of the following requirements: • Specificity • Precision • Ability to be argued • Ability to be demonstrated • Forcefulness • Confidence 1. The societal and personal struggles of Troy Maxon in the play Fences symbolize the challenge of black males who lived through segregation and integration in the United States. 2. Closing all American borders for a period of five years is one solution that will tackle illegal immigration. 3. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic irony in Romeo and Juliet spoils the outcome for the audience and weakens the plot. 4. J. D. Salinger’s character in Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, is a confused rebel who voices his disgust with phonies, yet in an effort to protect himself, he acts like a phony on many occasions. 5. Compared to an absolute divorce, no-fault divorce is less expensive, promotes fairer settlements, and reflects a more realistic view of the causes for marital breakdown. 6. Exposing children from an early age to the dangers of drug abuse is a sure method of preventing future drug addicts. 7. In today’s crumbling job market, a high school diploma is not significant enough education to land a stable, lucrative job. Tip You can find thesis statements in many places, such as in the news; in the opinions of friends, coworkers or teachers; and even in songs you hear on the radio. Become aware of thesis statements in everyday life by paying attention to people’s opinions and their reasons for those opinions. Pay attention to your own everyday thesis statements as well, as these can become material for future essays. Now that you have read about the contents of a good thesis statement and have seen examples, take a look at the pitfalls to avoid when composing your own thesis: • A thesis is weak when it is simply a declaration of your subject or a description of what you will discuss in your essay. Weak thesis statement: My paper will explain why imagination is more important than knowledge. • A thesis is weak when it makes an unreasonable or outrageous claim or insults the opposing side. Weak thesis statement: Religious radicals across America are trying to legislate their Puritanical beliefs by banning required high school books. • A thesis is weak when it contains an obvious fact or something that no one can disagree with or provides a dead end. Weak thesis statement: Advertising companies use sex to sell their products. • A thesis is weak when the statement is too broad. Weak thesis statement: The life of Abraham Lincoln was long and challenging. Exercise $2$ Read the following thesis statements. On a separate piece of paper, identify each as weak or strong. For those that are weak, list the reasons why. Then revise the weak statements so that they conform to the requirements of a strong thesis. 1. The subject of this paper is my experience with ferrets as pets. 2. The government must expand its funding for research on renewable energy resources in order to prepare for the impending end of oil. 3. Edgar Allan Poe was a poet who lived in Baltimore during the nineteenth century. 4. In this essay, I will give you lots of reasons why slot machines should not be legalized in Baltimore. 5. Despite his promises during his campaign, President Kennedy took few executive measures to support civil rights legislation. 6. Because many children’s toys have potential safety hazards that could lead to injury, it is clear that not all children’s toys are safe. 7. My experience with young children has taught me that I want to be a disciplinary parent because I believe that a child without discipline can be a parent’s worst nightmare. Writing at Work Often in your career, you will need to ask your boss for something through an e-mail. Just as a thesis statement organizes an essay, it can also organize your e-mail request. While your e-mail will be shorter than an essay, using a thesis statement in your first paragraph quickly lets your boss know what you are asking for, why it is necessary, and what the benefits are. In short body paragraphs, you can provide the essential information needed to expand upon your request. Thesis Statement Revision Your thesis will probably change as you write, so you will need to modify it to reflect exactly what you have discussed in your essay. Remember from Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" that your thesis statement begins as a working thesis statement, an indefinite statement that you make about your topic early in the writing process for the purpose of planning and guiding your writing. Working thesis statements often become stronger as you gather information and form new opinions and reasons for those opinions. Revision helps you strengthen your thesis so that it matches what you have expressed in the body of the paper. Tip The best way to revise your thesis statement is to ask questions about it and then examine the answers to those questions. By challenging your own ideas and forming definite reasons for those ideas, you grow closer to a more precise point of view, which you can then incorporate into your thesis statement. Ways to Revise Your Thesis You can cut down on irrelevant aspects and revise your thesis by taking the following steps: 1. Pinpoint and replace all nonspecific words, such as people, everything, society, or life, with more precise words in order to reduce any vagueness. Working thesis: Young people have to work hard to succeed in life. Revised thesis: Recent college graduates must have discipline and persistence in order to find and maintain a stable job in which they can use and be appreciated for their talents. The revised thesis makes a more specific statement about success and what it means to work hard. The original includes too broad a range of people and does not define exactly what success entails. By replacing those general words like people and work hard, the writer can better focus his or her research and gain more direction in his or her writing. 2. Clarify ideas that need explanation by asking yourself questions that narrow your thesis. Working thesis: The welfare system is a joke. Revised thesis: The welfare system keeps a socioeconomic class from gaining employment by alluring members of that class with unearned income, instead of programs to improve their education and skill sets. A joke means many things to many people. Readers bring all sorts of backgrounds and perspectives to the reading process and would need clarification for a word so vague. This expression may also be too informal for the selected audience. By asking questions, the writer can devise a more precise and appropriate explanation for joke. The writer should ask himself or herself questions similar to the 5WH questions. (See Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" for more information on the 5WH questions.) By incorporating the answers to these questions into a thesis statement, the writer more accurately defines his or her stance, which will better guide the writing of the essay. 3. Replace any linking verbs with action verbs. Linking verbs are forms of the verb to be, a verb that simply states that a situation exists. Working thesis: Kansas City schoolteachers are not paid enough. Revised thesis: The Kansas City legislature cannot afford to pay its educators, resulting in job cuts and resignations in a district that sorely needs highly qualified and dedicated teachers. The linking verb in this working thesis statement is the word are. Linking verbs often make thesis statements weak because they do not express action. Rather, they connect words and phrases to the second half of the sentence. Readers might wonder, “Why are they not paid enough?” But this statement does not compel them to ask many more questions. The writer should ask himself or herself questions in order to replace the linking verb with an action verb, thus forming a stronger thesis statement, one that takes a more definitive stance on the issue: • Who is not paying the teachers enough? • What is considered “enough”? • What is the problem? • What are the results 4. Omit any general claims that are hard to support. Working thesis: Today’s teenage girls are too sexualized. Revised thesis: Teenage girls who are captivated by the sexual images on MTV are conditioned to believe that a woman’s worth depends on her sensuality, a feeling that harms their self-esteem and behavior. It is true that some young women in today’s society are more sexualized than in the past, but that is not true for all girls. Many girls have strict parents, dress appropriately, and do not engage in sexual activity while in middle school and high school. The writer of this thesis should ask the following questions: • Which teenage girls? • What constitutes “too” sexualized? • Why are they behaving that way? • Where does this behavior show up? • What are the repercussions? Exercise $3$ In the first section of Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?", you determined your purpose for writing and your audience. You then completed a freewriting exercise about an event you recently experienced and chose a general topic to write about. Using that general topic, you then narrowed it down by answering the 5WH questions. After you answered these questions, you chose one of the three methods of prewriting and gathered possible supporting points for your working thesis statement. Now, on a separate sheet of paper, write down your working thesis statement. Identify any weaknesses in this sentence and revise the statement to reflect the elements of a strong thesis statement. Make sure it is specific, precise, arguable, demonstrable, forceful, and confident. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Writing at Work In your career you may have to write a project proposal that focuses on a particular problem in your company, such as reinforcing the tardiness policy. The proposal would aim to fix the problem; using a thesis statement would clearly state the boundaries of the problem and tell the goals of the project. After writing the proposal, you may find that the thesis needs revision to reflect exactly what is expressed in the body. Using the techniques from this chapter would apply to revising that thesis. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Proper essays require a thesis statement to provide a specific focus and suggest how the essay will be organized. • A thesis statement is your interpretation of the subject, not the topic itself. • A strong thesis is specific, precise, forceful, confident, and is able to be demonstrated. • A strong thesis challenges readers with a point of view that can be debated and can be supported with evidence. • A weak thesis is simply a declaration of your topic or contains an obvious fact that cannot be argued. • Depending on your topic, it may or may not be appropriate to use first person point of view. • Revise your thesis by ensuring all words are specific, all ideas are exact, and all verbs express action.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/08%3A_Writing_Essays_-_From_Start_to_Finish/8.01%3A_Developing_a_Strong_Clear_Thesis_Statement.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Select primary support related to your thesis. 2. Support your topic sentences. If your thesis gives the reader a roadmap to your essay, then body paragraphs should closely follow that map. The reader should be able to predict what follows your introductory paragraph by simply reading the thesis statement. The body paragraphs present the evidence you have gathered to confirm your thesis. Before you begin to support your thesis in the body, you must find information from a variety of sources that support and give credit to what you are trying to prove. Select Primary Support for Your Thesis Without primary support, your argument is not likely to be convincing. Primary support can be described as the major points you choose to expand on your thesis. It is the most important information you select to argue for your point of view. Each point you choose will be incorporated into the topic sentence for each body paragraph you write. Your primary supporting points are further supported by supporting details within the paragraphs. Tip Remember that a worthy argument is backed by examples. In order to construct a valid argument, good writers conduct lots of background research and take careful notes. They also talk to people knowledgeable about a topic in order to understand its implications before writing about it. Identify the Characteristics of Good Primary Support In order to fulfill the requirements of good primary support, the information you choose must meet the following standards: • Be specific. The main points you make about your thesis and the examples you use to expand on those points need to be specific. Use specific examples to provide the evidence and to build upon your general ideas. These types of examples give your reader something narrow to focus on, and if used properly, they leave little doubt about your claim. General examples, while they convey the necessary information, are not nearly as compelling or useful in writing because they are too obvious and typical. • Be relevant to the thesis. Primary support is considered strong when it relates directly to the thesis. Primary support should show, explain, or prove your main argument without delving into irrelevant details. When faced with lots of information that could be used to prove your thesis, you may think you need to include it all in your body paragraphs. But effective writers resist the temptation to lose focus. Choose your examples wisely by making sure they directly connect to your thesis. • Be detailed. Remember that your thesis, while specific, should not be very detailed. The body paragraphs are where you develop the discussion that a thorough essay requires. Using detailed support shows readers that you have considered all the facts and chosen only the most precise details to enhance your point of view. Prewrite to Identify Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement Recall that when you prewrite you essentially make a list of examples or reasons why you support your stance. Stemming from each point, you further provide details to support those reasons. After prewriting, you are then able to look back at the information and choose the most compelling pieces you will use in your body paragraphs. Exercise $1$ Choose one of the following working thesis statements. On a separate sheet of paper, write for at least five minutes using one of the prewriting techniques you learned in Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". 1. Unleashed dogs on city streets are a dangerous nuisance. 2. Students cheat for many different reasons. 3. Drug use among teens and young adults is a problem. 4. The most important change that should occur at my college or university is ____________________________________________. Select the Most Effective Primary Supporting Points for a Thesis Statement After you have prewritten about your working thesis statement, you may have generated a lot of information, which may be edited out later. Remember that your primary support must be relevant to your thesis. Remind yourself of your main argument, and delete any ideas that do not directly relate to it. Omitting unrelated ideas ensures that you will use only the most convincing information in your body paragraphs. Choose at least three of only the most compelling points. These will serve as the topic sentences for your body paragraphs. Exercise $2$ Refer to the previous exercise and select three of your most compelling reasons to support the thesis statement. Remember that the points you choose must be specific and relevant to the thesis. The statements you choose will be your primary support points, and you will later incorporate them into the topic sentences for the body paragraphs. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. When you support your thesis, you are revealing evidence. Evidence includes anything that can help support your stance. The following are the kinds of evidence you will encounter as you conduct your research: 1. Facts. Facts are the best kind of evidence to use because they often cannot be disputed. They can support your stance by providing background information on or a solid foundation for your point of view. However, some facts may still need explanation. For example, the sentence “The most populated state in the United States is California” is a pure fact, but it may require some explanation to make it relevant to your specific argument. 2. Judgments.Judgments are conclusions drawn from the given facts. Judgments are more credible than opinions because they are founded upon careful reasoning and examination of a topic. 3. Testimony.Testimony consists of direct quotations from either an eyewitness or an expert witness. An eyewitness is someone who has direct experience with a subject; he adds authenticity to an argument based on facts. An expert witness is a person who has extensive experience with a topic. This person studies the facts and provides commentary based on either facts or judgments, or both. An expert witness adds authority and credibility to an argument. 4. Personal observation. Personal observation is similar to testimony, but personal observation consists of your testimony. It reflects what you know to be true because you have experiences and have formed either opinions or judgments about them. For instance, if you are one of five children and your thesis states that being part of a large family is beneficial to a child’s social development, you could use your own experience to support your thesis. Writing at Work In any job where you devise a plan, you will need to support the steps that you lay out. This is an area in which you would incorporate primary support into your writing. Choosing only the most specific and relevant information to expand upon the steps will ensure that your plan appears well-thought-out and precise. Tip You can consult a vast pool of resources to gather support for your stance. Citing relevant information from reliable sources ensures that your reader will take you seriously and consider your assertions. Use any of the following sources for your essay: newspapers or news organization websites, magazines, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals, which are periodicals that address topics in a specialized field. Choose Supporting Topic Sentences Each body paragraph contains a topic sentence that states one aspect of your thesis and then expands upon it. Like the thesis statement, each topic sentence should be specific and supported by concrete details, facts, or explanations. Each body paragraph should comprise the following elements. topic sentence + supporting details (examples, reasons, or arguments) As you read in Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?", topic sentences indicate the location and main points of the basic arguments of your essay. These sentences are vital to writing your body paragraphs because they always refer back to and support your thesis statement. Topic sentences are linked to the ideas you have introduced in your thesis, thus reminding readers what your essay is about. A paragraph without a clearly identified topic sentence may be unclear and scattered, just like an essay without a thesis statement. Tip Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, you should include at least three body paragraphs in your essay. A five-paragraph essay, including the introduction and conclusion, is commonly the standard for exams and essay assignments. Consider the following the thesis statement: The following topic sentence is a primary support point for the thesis. The topic sentence states exactly what the controlling idea of the paragraph is. Later, you will see the writer immediately provide support for the sentence. Exercise $3$ In Exercise $2$, you chose three of your most convincing points to support the thesis statement you selected from the list. Take each point and incorporate it into a topic sentence for each body paragraph. Supporting point 1: ____________________________________________ Topic sentence: ____________________________________________ Supporting point 2: ____________________________________________ Topic sentence: ____________________________________________ Supporting point 3: ____________________________________________ Topic sentence: ____________________________________________ Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Draft Supporting Detail Sentences for Each Primary Support Sentence After deciding which primary support points you will use as your topic sentences, you must add details to clarify and demonstrate each of those points. These supporting details provide examples, facts, or evidence that support the topic sentence. The writer drafts possible supporting detail sentences for each primary support sentence based on the thesis statement: The following paragraph contains supporting detail sentences for the primary support sentence (the topic sentence), which is underlined. Exercise $4$ Using the three topic sentences you composed for the thesis statement in Exercise $1$, draft at least three supporting details for each point. Thesis statement: ____________________________________________ Primary supporting point 1: ____________________________________________ Supporting details: ____________________________________________ Primary supporting point 2: ____________________________________________ Supporting details: ____________________________________________ Primary supporting point 3: ____________________________________________ Supporting details: ____________________________________________ Tip You have the option of writing your topic sentences in one of three ways. You can state it at the beginning of the body paragraph, or at the end of the paragraph, or you do not have to write it at all. This is called an implied topic sentence. An implied topic sentence lets readers form the main idea for themselves. For beginning writers, it is best to not use implied topic sentences because it makes it harder to focus your writing. Your instructor may also want to clearly identify the sentences that support your thesis. For more information on the placement of thesis statements and implied topic statements, see Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Tip Print out the first draft of your essay and use a highlighter to mark your topic sentences in the body paragraphs. Make sure they are clearly stated and accurately present your paragraphs, as well as accurately reflect your thesis. If your topic sentence contains information that does not exist in the rest of the paragraph, rewrite it to more accurately match the rest of the paragraph. KEY TAKEAWAYS • Your body paragraphs should closely follow the path set forth by your thesis statement. • Strong body paragraphs contain evidence that supports your thesis. • Primary support comprises the most important points you use to support your thesis. • Strong primary support is specific, detailed, and relevant to the thesis. • Prewriting helps you determine your most compelling primary support. • Evidence includes facts, judgments, testimony, and personal observation. • Reliable sources may include newspapers, magazines, academic journals, books, encyclopedias, and firsthand testimony. • A topic sentence presents one point of your thesis statement while the information in the rest of the paragraph supports that point. • A body paragraph comprises a topic sentence plus supporting details.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/08%3A_Writing_Essays_-_From_Start_to_Finish/8.02%3A_Writing_Body_Paragraphs.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Understand how and why organizational techniques help writers and readers stay focused. 2. Assess how and when to use chronological order to organize an essay. 3. Recognize how and when to use order of importance to organize an essay. 4. Determine how and when to use spatial order to organize an essay. The method of organization you choose for your essay is just as important as its content. Without a clear organizational pattern, your reader could become confused and lose interest. The way you structure your essay helps your readers draw connections between the body and the thesis, and the structure also keeps you focused as you plan and write the essay. Choosing your organizational pattern before you outline ensures that each body paragraph works to support and develop your thesis. This section covers three ways to organize body paragraphs: 1. Chronological order 2. Order of importance 3. Spatial order When you begin to draft your essay, your ideas may seem to flow from your mind in a seemingly random manner. Your readers, who bring to the table different backgrounds, viewpoints, and ideas, need you to clearly organize these ideas in order to help process and accept them. A solid organizational pattern gives your ideas a path that you can follow as you develop your draft. Knowing how you will organize your paragraphs allows you to better express and analyze your thoughts. Planning the structure of your essay before you choose supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and targeted research. Chronological Order In Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?", you learned that chronological arrangement has the following purposes: • To explain the history of an event or a topic • To tell a story or relate an experience • To explain how to do or to make something • To explain the steps in a process Chronological order is mostly used in expository writing, which is a form of writing that narrates, describes, informs, or explains a process. When using chronological order, arrange the events in the order that they actually happened, or will happen if you are giving instructions. This method requires you to use words such as first, second, then, after that, later, and finally. These transition words guide you and your reader through the paper as you expand your thesis. For example, if you are writing an essay about the history of the airline industry, you would begin with its conception and detail the essential timeline events up until present day. You would follow the chain of events using words such as first, then, next, and so on. Writing at Work At some point in your career you may have to file a complaint with your human resources department. Using chronological order is a useful tool in describing the events that led up to your filing the grievance. You would logically lay out the events in the order that they occurred using the key transition words. The more logical your complaint, the more likely you will be well received and helped. Exercise $1$ Choose an accomplishment you have achieved in your life. The important moment could be in sports, schooling, or extracurricular activities. On your own sheet of paper, list the steps you took to reach your goal. Try to be as specific as possible with the steps you took. Pay attention to using transition words to focus your writing. Keep in mind that chronological order is most appropriate for the following purposes: • Writing essays containing heavy research • Writing essays with the aim of listing, explaining, or narrating • Writing essays that analyze literary works such as poems, plays, or books Tip When using chronological order, your introduction should indicate the information you will cover and in what order, and the introduction should also establish the relevance of the information. Your body paragraphs should then provide clear divisions or steps in chronology. You can divide your paragraphs by time (such as decades, wars, or other historical events) or by the same structure of the work you are examining (such as a line-by-line explication of a poem). Exercise $2$ On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that describes a process you are familiar with and can do well. Assume that your reader is unfamiliar with the procedure. Remember to use the chronological key words, such as first, second, then, and finally. Order of Importance Recall from Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?" that order of importance is best used for the following purposes: • Persuading and convincing • Ranking items by their importance, benefit, or significance • Illustrating a situation, problem, or solution Most essays move from the least to the most important point, and the paragraphs are arranged in an effort to build the essay’s strength. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to begin with your most important supporting point, such as in an essay that contains a thesis that is highly debatable. When writing a persuasive essay, it is best to begin with the most important point because it immediately captivates your readers and compels them to continue reading. For example, if you were supporting your thesis that homework is detrimental to the education of high school students, you would want to present your most convincing argument first, and then move on to the less important points for your case. Some key transitional words you should use with this method of organization are most importantly, almost as importantly, just as importantly, and finally. Writing at Work During your career, you may be required to work on a team that devises a strategy for a specific goal of your company, such as increasing profits. When planning your strategy you should organize your steps in order of importance. This demonstrates the ability to prioritize and plan. Using the order of importance technique also shows that you can create a resolution with logical steps for accomplishing a common goal. Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that discusses a passion of yours. Your passion could be music, a particular sport, filmmaking, and so on. Your paragraph should be built upon the reasons why you feel so strongly. Briefly discuss your reasons in the order of least to greatest importance. Spatial Order As stated in Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?", spatial order is best used for the following purposes: • Helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it • Evoking a scene using the senses (sight, touch, taste, smell, and sound) • Writing a descriptive essay Spatial order means that you explain or describe objects as they are arranged around you in your space, for example in a bedroom. As the writer, you create a picture for your reader, and their perspective is the viewpoint from which you describe what is around you. The view must move in an orderly, logical progression, giving the reader clear directional signals to follow from place to place. The key to using this method is to choose a specific starting point and then guide the reader to follow your eye as it moves in an orderly trajectory from your starting point. Pay attention to the following student’s description of her bedroom and how she guides the reader through the viewing process, foot by foot. The paragraph incorporates two objectives you have learned in this chapter: using an implied topic sentence and applying spatial order. Often in a descriptive essay, the two work together. The following are possible transition words to include when using spatial order: • Just to the left or just to the right • Behind • Between • On the left or on the right • Across from • A little further down • To the south, to the east, and so on • A few yards away • Turning left or turning right Exercise $4$ On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph using spatial order that describes your commute to work, school, or another location you visit often. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers. KEY TAKEAWAYS • The way you organize your body paragraphs ensures you and your readers stay focused on and draw connections to, your thesis statement. • A strong organizational pattern allows you to articulate, analyze, and clarify your thoughts. • Planning the organizational structure for your essay before you begin to search for supporting evidence helps you conduct more effective and directed research. • Chronological order is most commonly used in expository writing. It is useful for explaining the history of your subject, for telling a story, or for explaining a process. • Order of importance is most appropriate in a persuasion paper as well as for essays in which you rank things, people, or events by their significance. • Spatial order describes things as they are arranged in space and is best for helping readers visualize something as you want them to see it; it creates a dominant impression.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/08%3A_Writing_Essays_-_From_Start_to_Finish/8.03%3A_Organizing_Your_Writing.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Recognize the importance of strong introductory and concluding paragraphs. 2. Learn to engage the reader immediately with the introductory paragraph. 3. Practice concluding your essays in a more memorable way. Picture your introduction as a storefront window: You have a certain amount of space to attract your customers (readers) to your goods (subject) and bring them inside your store (discussion). Once you have enticed them with something intriguing, you then point them in a specific direction and try to make the sale (convince them to accept your thesis). Your introduction is an invitation to your readers to consider what you have to say and then to follow your train of thought as you expand upon your thesis statement. An introduction serves the following purposes: 1. Establishes your voice and tone, or your attitude, toward the subject 2. Introduces the general topic of the essay 3. States the thesis that will be supported in the body paragraphs First impressions are crucial and can leave lasting effects in your reader’s mind, which is why the introduction is so important to your essay. If your introductory paragraph is dull or disjointed, your reader probably will not have much interest in continuing with the essay. Attracting Interest in Your Introductory Paragraph Your introduction should begin with an engaging statement devised to provoke your readers’ interest. In the next few sentences, introduce them to your topic by stating general facts or ideas about the subject. As you move deeper into your introduction, you gradually narrow the focus, moving closer to your thesis. Moving smoothly and logically from your introductory remarks to your thesis statement can be achieved using a funnel technique, as illustrated in the diagram in Figure $1$: "Funnel Technique". Exercise $1$ On a separate sheet of paper, jot down a few general remarks that you can make about the topic for which you formed a thesis in "Developing a Strong, Clear Thesis Statement". Immediately capturing your readers’ interest increases the chances of having them read what you are about to discuss. You can garner curiosity for your essay in a number of ways. Try to get your readers personally involved by doing any of the following: • Appealing to their emotions • Using logic • Beginning with a provocative question or opinion • Opening with a startling statistic or surprising fact • Raising a question or series of questions • Presenting an explanation or rationalization for your essay • Opening with a relevant quotation or incident • Opening with a striking image • Including a personal anecdote Tip Remember that your diction, or word choice, while always important, is most crucial in your introductory paragraph. Boring diction could extinguish any desire a person might have to read through your discussion. Choose words that create images or express action. For more information on diction, see Chapter 3 "Working with Words: Which Word Is Right?". In Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?", you followed Mariah as she moved through the writing process. In this chapter, Mariah writes her introduction and conclusion for the same essay. Mariah incorporates some of the introductory elements into her introductory paragraph, which she previously outlined in Chapter 7 "The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?". Her thesis statement is underlined. Tip If you have trouble coming up with a provocative statement for your opening, it is a good idea to use a relevant, attention-grabbing quote about your topic. Use a search engine to find statements made by historical or significant figures about your subject. Writing at Work In your job field, you may be required to write a speech for an event, such as an awards banquet or a dedication ceremony. The introduction of a speech is similar to an essay because you have a limited amount of space to attract your audience’s attention. Using the same techniques, such as a provocative quote or an interesting statistic, is an effective way to engage your listeners. Using the funnel approach also introduces your audience to your topic and then presents your main idea in a logical manner. Exercise $2$ Reread each sentence in Mariah’s introductory paragraph. Indicate which techniques she used and comment on how each sentence is designed to attract her readers’ interest. Writing a Conclusion It is not unusual to want to rush when you approach your conclusion, and even experienced writers may fade. But what good writers remember is that it is vital to put just as much attention into the conclusion as in the rest of the essay. After all, a hasty ending can undermine an otherwise strong essay. A conclusion that does not correspond to the rest of your essay, has loose ends, or is unorganized can unsettle your readers and raise doubts about the entire essay. However, if you have worked hard to write the introduction and body, your conclusion can often be the most logical part to compose. The Anatomy of a Strong Conclusion Keep in mind that the ideas in your conclusion must conform to the rest of your essay. In order to tie these components together, restate your thesis at the beginning of your conclusion. This helps you assemble, in an orderly fashion, all the information you have explained in the body. Repeating your thesis reminds your readers of the major arguments you have been trying to prove and also indicates that your essay is drawing to a close. A strong conclusion also reviews your main points and emphasizes the importance of the topic. The construction of the conclusion is similar to the introduction, in which you make general introductory statements and then present your thesis. The difference is that in the conclusion you first paraphrase, or state in different words, your thesis and then follow up with general concluding remarks. These sentences should progressively broaden the focus of your thesis and maneuver your readers out of the essay. Many writers like to end their essays with a final emphatic statement. This strong closing statement will cause your readers to continue thinking about the implications of your essay; it will make your conclusion, and thus your essay, more memorable. Another powerful technique is to challenge your readers to make a change in either their thoughts or their actions. Challenging your readers to see the subject through new eyes is a powerful way to ease yourself and your readers out of the essay. Tip When closing your essay, do not expressly state that you are drawing to a close. Relying on statements such as in conclusion, it is clear that, as you can see, or in summation is unnecessary and can be considered trite. Tip It is wise to avoid doing any of the following in your conclusion: • Introducing new material • Contradicting your thesis • Changing your thesis • Using apologies or disclaimers Introducing new material in your conclusion has an unsettling effect on your reader. When you raise new points, you make your reader want more information, which you could not possibly provide in the limited space of your final paragraph. Contradicting or changing your thesis statement causes your readers to think that you do not actually have a conviction about your topic. After all, you have spent several paragraphs adhering to a singular point of view. When you change sides or open up your point of view in the conclusion, your reader becomes less inclined to believe your original argument. By apologizing for your opinion or stating that you know it is tough to digest, you are in fact admitting that even you know what you have discussed is irrelevant or unconvincing. You do not want your readers to feel this way. Effective writers stand by their thesis statement and do not stray from it. Exercise $3$ On a separate sheet of a paper, restate your thesis from Exercise $2$ of this section and then make some general concluding remarks. Next, compose a final emphatic statement. Finally, incorporate what you have written into a strong conclusion paragraph for your essay. Collaboration Please share with a classmate and compare your answers Mariah incorporates some of these pointers into her conclusion. She has paraphrased her thesis statement in the first sentence. Tip Make sure your essay is balanced by not having an excessively long or short introduction or conclusion. Check that they match each other in length as closely as possible, and try to mirror the formula you used in each. Parallelism strengthens the message of your essay. Writing at Work On the job you will sometimes give oral presentations based on research you have conducted. A concluding statement to an oral report contains the same elements as a written conclusion. You should wrap up your presentation by restating the purpose of the presentation, reviewing its main points, and emphasizing the importance of the material you presented. A strong conclusion will leave a lasting impression on your audience. KEY TAKEAWAYS • A strong opening captures your readers’ interest and introduces them to your topic before you present your thesis statement. • An introduction should restate your thesis, review your main points, and emphasize the importance of the topic. • The funnel technique to writing the introduction begins with generalities and gradually narrows your focus until you present your thesis. • A good introduction engages people’s emotions or logic, questions or explains the subject, or provides a striking image or quotation. • Carefully chosen diction in both the introduction and conclusion prevents any confusing or boring ideas. • A conclusion that does not connect to the rest of the essay can diminish the effect of your paper. • The conclusion should remain true to your thesis statement. It is best to avoid changing your tone or your main idea and avoid introducing any new material. • Closing with a final emphatic statement provides closure for your readers and makes your essay more memorable. 8.05: Writing Essays- End-of-Chapter Exercises Exercises 1. On a separate sheet of paper, choose one of the examples of a proper thesis statement from this chapter (one that interests you) and form three supporting points for that statement. After you have formed your three points, write a topic sentence for each body paragraph. Make sure that your topic sentences can be backed up with examples and details. 2. Group activity. Choose one of the topics from Exercise 1 in "Developing a Strong, Clear Thesis Statement" and form a yes-or-no question about that topic. Then, take a survey of the people in your class to find out how they feel about the subject. Using the majority vote, ask those people to write on slips of paper the reasons for their opinion. Using the data you collect, form a thesis statement based on your classmates’ perspectives on the topic and their reasons. 3. On a separate sheet of a paper, write an introduction for an essay based on the thesis statement from the group activity using the techniques for introductory paragraphs that you learned in this chapter. 4. Start a journal in which you record “spoken” thesis statements. Start listening closely to the opinions expressed by your teachers, classmates, friends, and family members. Ask them to provide at least three reasons for their opinion and record them in the journal. Use this as material for future essays. 5. Open a magazine and read a lengthy article. See if you can pinpoint the thesis statement as well as the topic sentence for each paragraph and its supporting details.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/08%3A_Writing_Essays_-_From_Start_to_Finish/8.04%3A_Writing_Introductory_and_Concluding_Paragraphs.txt
• 9.1: Oral versus Written Communication Written communication involves the same eight basic elements as oral communication, but it is often asynchronous. • 9.2: How Is Writing Learned? Success in writing comes from good habits: reading, writing (especially targeted practice), and critical thinking. • 9.3: Good Writing Good writing is characterized by correctness, ease of reading, and attractiveness; it also meets reader expectations and is clear, concise, efficient, and effective. Rhetorical elements (logos, ethos, and pathos) and cognate strategies (clarity, conciseness, arrangement, credibility, expectation, reference, tone, emphasis, and engagement) are goals that are achieved in good business writing. • 9.4: Style in Written Communication One way to examine written communication is from a goals perspective, where specific documents address stated (or unstated) goals and have rules, customs, and formats that are anticipated and expected. Violations of these rules, customs, or formats—whether intentional or unintentional—can also have a negative impact on the way your document is received. Colloquial, casual, and formal writing are three common styles that carry their own particular sets of expectations. • 9.5: Principles of Written Communication Words are governed by rules and shape our reality. Writers have a legal responsibility to avoid plagiarism and libel. • 9.6: Overcoming Barriers to Effective Written Communication To overcome barriers to communication, pay attention to details; strive to understand the target meaning; consider your nonverbal expressions; and review, reflect, and revise. • 9.7: Additional Resources pixabay.com/photos/write-plan-desk-notes-pen-writing-593333/ 09: Effective Business Writing Learning Objectives 1. Explain how written communication is similar to oral communication, and how it is different. The written word often stands in place of the spoken word. People often say “it was good to hear from you” when they receive an e-mail or a letter, when in fact they didn’t hear the message, they read it. Still, if they know you well, they may mentally “hear” your voice in your written words. Writing a message to friends or colleagues can be as natural as talking to them. Yet when we are asked to write something, we often feel anxious and view writing as a more effortful, exacting process than talking would be. Oral and written forms of communication are similar in many ways. They both rely on the basic communication process, which consists of eight essential elements: source, receiver, message, channel, receiver, feedback, environment, context, and interference. Table $1$ summarizes these elements and provides examples of how each element might be applied in oral and written communication. Table $1$: Eight Essential Elements of Communication Element of Communication Definition Oral Application Written Application 1. Source A source creates and communicates a message. Jay makes a telephone call to Heather. Jay writes an e-mail to Heather. 2. Receiver A receiver receives the message from the source. Heather listens to Jay. Heather reads Jay’s e-mail. 3. Message The message is the stimulus or meaning produced by the source for the receiver. Jay asks Heather to participate in a conference call at 3:15. Jay’s e-mail asks Heather to participate in a conference call at 3:15. 4. Channel A channel is the way a message travels between source and receiver. The channel is the telephone. The channel is e-mail. 5. Feedback Feedback is the message the receiver sends in response to the source. Heather says yes. Heather replies with an e-mail saying yes. 6. Environment The environment is the physical atmosphere where the communication occurs. Heather is traveling by train on a business trip when she receives Jay’s phone call. Heather is at her desk when she receives Jay’s e-mail. 7. Context The context involves the psychological expectations of the source and receiver. Heather expects Jay to send an e-mail with the call-in information for the call. Jay expects to do so, and does. Heather expects Jay to dial and connect the call. Jay expects Heather to check her e-mail for the call-in information so that she can join the call. 8. Interference Also known as noise, interference is anything that blocks or distorts the communication process. Heather calls in at 3:15, but she has missed the call because she forgot that she is in a different time zone from Jay. Heather waits for a phone call from Jay at 3:15, but he doesn’t call. As you can see from the applications in this example, at least two different kinds of interference have the potential to ruin a conference call, and the interference can exist regardless of whether the communication to plan the call is oral or written. Try switching the “Context” and “Interference” examples from Oral to Written, and you will see that mismatched expectations and time zone confusion can happen by phone or by e-mail. While this example has an unfavorable outcome, it points out a way in which oral and written communication processes are similar. Another way in which oral and written forms of communication are similar is that they can be divided into verbal and nonverbal categories. Verbal communication involves the words you say, and nonverbal communication involves how you say them—your tone of voice, your facial expression, body language, and so forth. Written communication also involves verbal and nonverbal dimensions. The words you choose are the verbal dimension. How you portray or display them is the nonverbal dimension, which can include the medium (e-mail or a printed document), the typeface or font, or the appearance of your signature on a letter. In this sense, oral and written communication are similar in their approach even as they are quite different in their application. The written word allows for a dynamic communication process between source and receiver, but is often asynchronous, meaning that it occurs at different times. When we communicate face-to-face, we get immediate feedback, but our written words stand in place of that interpersonal interaction and we lack that immediate response. Since we are often not physically present when someone reads what we have written, it is important that we anticipate the reader’s needs, interpretation, and likely response to our written messages. Suppose you are asked to write a message telling clients about a new product or service your company is about to offer. If you were speaking to one of them in a relaxed setting over coffee, what would you say? What words would you choose to describe the product or service, and how it may fulfill the client’s needs? As the business communicator, you must focus on the words you use and how you use them. Short, simple sentences, in themselves composed of words, also communicate a business style. In your previous English classes you may have learned to write eloquently, but in a business context, your goal is clear, direct communication. One strategy to achieve this goal is to write with the same words and phrases you use when you talk. However, since written communication lacks the immediate feedback that is present in an oral conversation, you need to choose words and phrases even more carefully to promote accuracy, clarity, and understanding. Key Takeaway Written communication involves the same eight basic elements as oral communication, but it is often asynchronous. Exercises 1. Review the oral and written applications in Table $1$ and construct a different scenario for each. What could Jay and Heather do differently to make the conference call a success? 2. Visit a business Web site that has an “About Us” page. Read the “About Us” message and write a summary in your own words of what it tells you about the company. Compare your results with those of your classmates. 3. You are your own company. What words describe you? Design a logo, create a name, and present your descriptive words in a way that gets attention. Share and compare with classmates.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/09%3A_Effective_Business_Writing/9.01%3A_Oral_versus_Written_Communication.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Explain how reading, writing, and critical thinking contribute to becoming a good writer. You may think that some people are simply born better writers than others, but in fact writing is a reflection of experience and effort. If you think about your successes as a writer, you may come up with a couple of favorite books, authors, or teachers that inspired you to express yourself. You may also recall a sense of frustration with your previous writing experiences. It is normal and natural to experience a sense of frustration at the perceived inability to express oneself. The emphasis here is on your perception of yourself as a writer as one aspect of how you communicate. Most people use oral communication for much of their self-expression, from daily interactions to formal business meetings. You have a lifetime of experience in that arena that you can leverage to your benefit in your writing. Reading out loud what you have written is a positive technique we’ll address later in more depth. Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement, “Violence is the language of the unheard” emphasizes the importance of finding one’s voice, of being able to express one’s ideas. Violence comes in many forms, but is often associated with frustration born of the lack of opportunity to communicate. You may read King’s words and think of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, or perhaps of the violence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or of wars happening in the world today. Public demonstrations and fighting are expressions of voice, from individual to collective. Finding your voice, and learning to listen to others, is part of learning to communicate. You are your own best ally when it comes to your writing. Keeping a positive frame of mind about your journey as a writer is not a cliché or simple, hollow advice. Your attitude toward writing can and does influence your written products. Even if writing has been a challenge for you, the fact that you are reading this sentence means you perceive the importance of this essential skill. This text and our discussions will help you improve your writing, and your positive attitude is part of your success strategy. There is no underestimating the power of effort when combined with inspiration and motivation. The catch then is to get inspired and motivated. That’s not all it takes, but it is a great place to start. You were not born with a key pad in front of you, but when you want to share something with friends and text them, the words (or abbreviations) come almost naturally. So you recognize you have the skills necessary to begin the process of improving and harnessing your writing abilities for business success. It will take time and effort, and the proverbial journey starts with a single step, but don’t lose sight of the fact that your skillful ability to craft words will make a significant difference in your career. Reading Reading is one step many writers point to as an integral step in learning to write effectively. You may like Harry Potter books or be a Twilight fan, but if you want to write effectively in business, you need to read business-related documents. These can include letters, reports, business proposals, and business plans. You may find these where you work or in your school’s writing center, business department, or library; there are also many Web sites that provide sample business documents of all kinds. Your reading should also include publications in the industry where you work or plan to work, such as Aviation Week, InfoWorld, Journal of Hospitality, International Real Estate Digest, or Women’s Wear Daily, to name just a few. You can also gain an advantage by reading publications in fields other than your chosen one; often reading outside your niche can enhance your versatility and help you learn how other people express similar concepts. Finally, don’t neglect general media like the business section of your local newspaper, and national publications like the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and the Harvard Business Review. Reading is one of the most useful lifelong habits you can practice to boost your business communication skills. In the “real world” when you are under a deadline and production is paramount, you’ll be rushed and may lack the time to do adequate background reading for a particular assignment. For now, take advantage of your business communication course by exploring common business documents you may be called on to write, contribute to, or play a role in drafting. Some documents have a degree of formula to them, and your familiarity with them will reduce your preparation and production time while increasing your effectiveness. As you read similar documents, take notes on what you observe. As you read several sales letters, you may observe several patterns that can serve you well later on when it’s your turn. These patterns are often called conventions, or conventional language patterns for a specific genre. Writing Never lose sight of one key measure of the effectiveness of your writing: the degree to which it fulfills readers’ expectations. If you are in a law office, you know the purpose of a court brief is to convince the judge that certain points of law apply to the given case. If you are at a newspaper, you know that an editorial opinion article is supposed to convince readers of the merits of a certain viewpoint, whereas a news article is supposed to report facts without bias. If you are writing ad copy, the goal is to motivate consumers to make a purchase decision. In each case, you are writing to a specific purpose, and a great place to start when considering what to write is to answer the following question: what are the readers’ expectations? When you are a junior member of the team, you may be given clerical tasks like filling in forms, populating a database, or coordinating appointments. Or you may be assigned to do research that involves reading, interviewing, and note taking. Don’t underestimate these facets of the writing process; instead, embrace the fact that writing for business often involves tasks that a novelist might not even recognize as “writing.” Your contribution is quite important and in itself is an on-the-job learning opportunity that shouldn’t be taken for granted. When given a writing assignment, it is important to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. You may read the directions and try to put them in your own words to make sense of the assignment. Be careful, however, not to lose sight of what the directions say versus what you think they say. Just as an audience’s expectations should be part of your consideration of how, what, and why to write, the instructions given by your instructor, or in a work situation by your supervisor, establish expectations. Just as you might ask a mentor more about a business writing assignment at work, you need to use the resources available to you to maximize your learning opportunity. Ask the professor to clarify any points you find confusing, or perceive more than one way to interpret, in order to better meet the expectations. Before you write an opening paragraph, or even the first sentence, it is important to consider the overall goal of the assignment. The word assignment can apply equally to a written product for class or for your employer. You might make a list of the main points and see how those points may become the topic sentences in a series of paragraphs. You may also give considerable thought to whether your word choice, your tone, your language, and what you want to say is in line with your understanding of your audience. We briefly introduced the writing process previously, and will visit it in depth later in our discussion, but for now writing should about exploring your options. Authors rarely have a finished product in mind when they start, but once you know what your goal is and how to reach it, you writing process will become easier and more effective. Constructive Criticism and Targeted Practice Mentors can also be important in your growth as a writer. Your instructor can serve as a mentor, offering constructive criticism, insights on what he or she has written, and life lessons about writing for a purpose. Never underestimate the mentors that surround you in the workplace, even if you are currently working in a position unrelated to your desired career. They can read your rough draft and spot errors, as well as provide useful insights. Friends and family can also be helpful mentors—if your document’s meaning is clear to someone not working in your business, it will likely also be clear to your audience. The key is to be open to criticism, keeping in mind that no one ever improved by repeating bad habits over and over. Only when you know what your errors are—errors of grammar or sentence structure, logic, format, and so on—can you correct your document and do a better job next time. Writing can be a solitary activity, but more often in business settings it is a collective, group, or team effort. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to seek outside assistance before you finalize your document. Learning to be a successful business writer comes with practice. Targeted practice, which involves identifying your weak areas and specifically working to improve them, is especially valuable. In addition to reading, make it a habit to write, even if it is not a specific assignment. The more you practice writing the kinds of materials that are used in your line of work, the more writing will come naturally and become an easier task—even on occasions when you need to work under pressure. Critical Thinking Critical thinking means becoming aware of your thinking process. It’s a human trait that allows us to step outside what we read or write and ask ourselves, “Does this really make sense?” “Are there other, perhaps better, ways to explain this idea?” Sometimes our thinking is very abstract and becomes clear only through the process of getting thoughts down in words. As a character in E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel said, “How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?” (Forster, 1976) Did you really write what you meant to, and will it be easily understood by the reader? Successful writing forms a relationship with the audience, reaching the reader on a deep level that can be dynamic and motivating. In contrast, when writing fails to meet the audience’s expectations, you already know the consequences: they’ll move on. Learning to write effectively involves reading, writing, critical thinking, and hard work. You may have seen The Wizard of Oz and recall the scene when Dorothy discovers what is behind the curtain. Up until that moment, she believed the Wizard’s powers were needed to change her situation, but now she discovers that the power is her own. Like Dorothy, you can discover that the power to write successfully rests in your hands. Excellent business writing can be inspiring, and it is important to not lose that sense of inspiration as we deconstruct the process of writing to its elemental components. You may be amazed by the performance of Tony Hawk on a skateboard ramp, Mia Hamm on the soccer field, or Michael Phelps in the water. Those who demonstrate excellence often make it look easy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Effort, targeted practice, and persistence will win the day every time. When it comes to writing, you need to learn to recognize clear and concise writing while looking behind the curtain at how it is created. This is not to say we are going to lose the magic associated with the best writers in the field. Instead, we’ll appreciate what we are reading as we examine how it was written and how the writer achieved success. Key Takeaway Success in writing comes from good habits: reading, writing (especially targeted practice), and critical thinking. Exercises 1. Interview one person whose job involves writing. This can include writing e-mails, reports, proposals, invoices, or any other form of business document. Where did this person learn to write? What would they include as essential steps to learning to write for success in business? Share your results with a classmate. 2. For five consecutive days, read the business section of your local newspaper or another daily paper. Write a one-page summary of the news that makes the most impression on you. Review your summaries and compare them with those of your classmates. 3. Practice filling out an online form that requires writing sentences, such as a job application for a company that receives applications online. How does this kind of writing compare with the writing you have done for other courses in the past? Discuss your thoughts with your classmates.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/09%3A_Effective_Business_Writing/9.02%3A_How_Is_Writing_Learned.txt
Learning Objectives 1. Identify six basic qualities that characterize good business writing. 2. Identify and explain the rhetorical elements and cognate strategies that contribute to good writing. One common concern is to simply address the question, what is good writing? As we progress through our study of written business communication we’ll try to answer it. But recognize that while the question may be simple, the answer is complex. Edward P. Bailey offers several key points to remember. Good business writing • follows the rules, • is easy to read, and • attracts the reader. Let’s examine these qualities in more depth. Bailey’s first point is one that generates a fair amount of debate. What are the rules? Do “the rules” depend on audience expectations or industry standards, what your English teacher taught you, or are they reflected in the amazing writing of authors you might point to as positive examples? The answer is “all of the above,” with a point of clarification. You may find it necessary to balance audience expectations with industry standards for a document, and may need to find a balance or compromise. Bailey points to common sense as one basic criterion of good writing, but common sense is a product of experience. When searching for balance, reader understanding is the deciding factor. The correct use of a semicolon may not be what is needed to make a sentence work. Your reading audience should carry extra attention in everything you write because, without them, you won’t have many more writing assignments. When we say that good writing follows the rules, we don’t mean that a writer cannot be creative. Just as an art student needs to know how to draw a scene in correct perspective before he can “break the rules” by “bending” perspective, so a writer needs to know the rules of language. Being well versed in how to use words correctly, form sentences with proper grammar, and build logical paragraphs are skills the writer can use no matter what the assignment. Even though some business settings may call for conservative writing, there are other areas where creativity is not only allowed but mandated. Imagine working for an advertising agency or a software development firm; in such situations success comes from expressing new, untried ideas. By following the rules of language and correct writing, a writer can express those creative ideas in a form that comes through clearly and promotes understanding. Similarly, writing that is easy to read is not the same as “dumbed down” or simplistic writing. What is easy to read? For a young audience, you may need to use straightforward, simple terms, but to ignore their use of the language is to create an artificial and unnecessary barrier. An example referring to Miley Cyrus may work with one reading audience and fall flat with another. Profession-specific terms can serve a valuable purpose as we write about precise concepts. Not everyone will understand all the terms in a profession, but if your audience is largely literate in the terms of the field, using industry terms will help you establish a relationship with your readers. The truly excellent writer is one who can explain complex ideas in a way that the reader can understand. Sometimes ease of reading can come from the writer’s choice of a brilliant illustrative example to get a point across. In other situations, it can be the writer’s incorporation of definitions into the text so that the meaning of unfamiliar words is clear. It may also be a matter of choosing dynamic, specific verbs that make it clear what is happening and who is carrying out the action. Bailey’s third point concerns the interest of the reader. Will they want to read it? This question should guide much of what you write. We increasingly gain information from our environment through visual, auditory, and multimedia channels, from YouTube to streaming audio, and to watching the news online. Some argue that this has led to a decreased attention span for reading, meaning that writers need to appeal to readers with short, punchy sentences and catchy phrases. However, there are still plenty of people who love to immerse themselves in reading an interesting article, proposal, or marketing piece. Perhaps the most universally useful strategy in capturing your reader’s attention is to state how your writing can meet the reader’s needs. If your document provides information to answer a question, solve a problem, or explain how to increase profits or cut costs, you may want to state this in the beginning. By opening with a “what’s in it for me” strategy, you give your audience a reason to be interested in what you’ve written. More Qualities of Good Writing To the above list from Bailey, let’s add some additional qualities that define good writing. Good writing • meets the reader’s expectations, • is clear and concise, • is efficient and effective. To meet the reader’s expectations, the writer needs to understand who the intended reader is. In some business situations, you are writing just to one person: your boss, a coworker in another department, or an individual customer or vendor. If you know the person well, it may be as easy for you to write to him or her as it is to write a note to your parent or roommate. If you don’t know the person, you can at least make some reasonable assumptions about his or her expectations, based on the position he or she holds and its relation to your job. In other situations, you may be writing a document to be read by a group or team, an entire department, or even a large number of total strangers. How can you anticipate their expectations and tailor your writing accordingly? Naturally you want to learn as much as you can about your likely audience. How much you can learn and what kinds of information will vary with the situation. If you are writing Web site content, for example, you may never meet the people who will visit the site, but you can predict why they would be drawn to the site and what they would expect to read there. Beyond learning about your audience, your clear understanding of the writing assignment and its purpose will help you to meet reader expectations. Our addition of the fifth point concerning clear and concise writing reflects the increasing tendency in business writing to eliminate error. Errors can include those associated with production, from writing to editing, and reader response. Your twin goals of clear and concise writing point to a central goal across communication: fidelity. This concept involves our goal of accurately communicating all the intended information with a minimum of signal or message breakdown or misinterpretation. Designing your documents, including writing and presentation, to reduce message breakdown is an important part of effective business communication. This leads our discussion to efficiency. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and we are increasingly asked to do more with less, with shorter deadlines almost guaranteed. As a writer, how do you meet ever-increasing expectations? Each writing assignment requires a clear understanding of the goals and desired results, and when either of these two aspects is unclear, the efficiency of your writing can be compromised. Rewrites require time that you may not have, but will have to make if the assignment was not done correctly the first time. As we have discussed previously, making a habit of reading similar documents prior to beginning your process of writing can help establish a mental template of your desired product. If you can see in your mind’s eye what you want to write, and have the perspective of similar documents combined with audience’s needs, you can write more efficiently. Your written documents are products and will be required on a schedule that impacts your coworkers and business. Your ability to produce effective documents efficiently is a skill set that will contribute to your success. Our sixth point reinforces this idea with an emphasis on effectiveness. What is effective writing? It is writing that succeeds in accomplishing its purpose. Understanding the purpose, goals, and desired results of your writing assignment will help you achieve this success. Your employer may want an introductory sales letter to result in an increase in sales leads, or potential contacts for follow-up leading to sales. Your audience may not see the document from that perspective, but will instead read with the mindset of, “How does this help me solve X problem?” If you meet both goals, your writing is approaching effectiveness. Here, effectiveness is qualified with the word “approaching” to point out that writing is both a process and a product, and your writing will continually require effort and attention to revision and improvement. Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies Another approach to defining good writing is to look at how it fulfills the goals of two well-known systems in communication. One of these systems comprises the three classical elements of rhetoric, or the art of presenting an argument. These elements are logos (logic), ethos (ethics and credibility), and pathos (emotional appeal), first proposed by the ancient Greek teacher Aristotle. Although rhetoric is often applied to oral communication, especially public speaking, it is also fundamental to good writing. A second set of goals involves what are called cognate strategies, or ways of promoting understanding (Kostelnick & Roberts, 1998), developed in recent decades by Charles Kostelnick and David Rogers. Like rhetorical elements, cognate strategies can be applied to public speaking, but they are also useful in developing good writing. Table $1$ describes these goals, their purposes, and examples of how they may be carried out in business writing. Table $1$: Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies Aristotle’s Rhetorical Elements Cognate Strategies Focus Example in Business Writing Logos Clarity Clear understanding An announcement will be made to the company later in the week, but I wanted to tell you personally that as of the first of next month, I will be leaving my position to accept a three-year assignment in our Singapore office. As soon as further details about the management of your account are available, I will share them with you. Conciseness Key points In tomorrow’s conference call Sean wants to introduce the new team members, outline the schedule and budget for the project, and clarify each person’s responsibilities in meeting our goals. Arrangement Order, hierarchy, placement Our department has matrix structure. We have three product development groups, one for each category of product. We also have a manufacturing group, a finance group, and a sales group; different group members are assigned to each of the three product categories. Within the matrix, our structure is flat, meaning that we have no group leaders. Everyone reports to Beth, the department manager. Ethos Credibility Character, trust Having known and worked with Jesse for more than five years, I can highly recommend him to take my place as your advisor. In addition to having superb qualifications, Jesse is known for his dedication, honesty, and caring attitude. He will always go the extra mile for his clients. Expectation Norms and anticipated outcomes As is typical in our industry, we ship all merchandise FOB our warehouse. Prices are exclusive of any federal, state, or local taxes. Payment terms are net 30 days from date of invoice. Reference Sources and frames of reference According to an article in Business Week dated October 15, 2009, Doosan is one of the largest business conglomerates in South Korea. Pathos Tone Expression I really don’t have words to express how grateful I am for all the support you’ve extended to me and my family in this hour of need. You guys are the best. Emphasis Relevance It was unconscionable for a member of our organization to shout an interruption while the president was speaking. What needs to happen now—and let me be clear about this—is an immediate apology. Engagement Relationship Faithful soldiers pledge never to leave a fallen comrade on the battlefield. Key Takeaway Good writing is characterized by correctness, ease of reading, and attractiveness; it also meets reader expectations and is clear, concise, efficient, and effective. Rhetorical elements (logos, ethos, and pathos) and cognate strategies (clarity, conciseness, arrangement, credibility, expectation, reference, tone, emphasis, and engagement) are goals that are achieved in good business writing. Exercises 1. Choose a piece of business writing that attracts your interest. What made you want to read it? Share your thoughts with your classmates. 2. Choose a piece of business writing and evaluate it according to the qualities of good writing presented in this section. Do you think the writing qualifies as “good”? Why or why not? Discuss your opinion with your classmates. 3. Identify the ethos, pathos, and logos in a document. Share and compare with classmates.	textbooks/biz/Business/Business_English_and_Communication/Business_English_for_Success/09%3A_Effective_Business_Writing/9.03%3A_Good_Writing.txt

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