Andrew Savignano's Portfolio

Global Marketing Teams

2009-02-12T20:23:00.001-08:00

Today being a global marketer is a challenging job. The only way to effectively understand how to market to a culture, one must spend a lot of time studying the aspects of the culture. It would be hard to sell forks in China, or sell History channel tapes. Certain background information is needed if one even dares to try market products in other countries. Companies have been so caught up in cultural differences that teams of executive markers are hired to fix the problems and effectively increase product efficiency. Being able to effectively communicate and work with members from all over the globe and solve problems seems like and incredibly challenging job, but all it really requires are impeccable social and managerial skills. Check out: http://www.globalnegotiator.com/

MNC forcing Americans to Learn New Languages

2009-02-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

In today's age, and as an aggressive act of globalism, Multi-National Corporation's are making many worker adapt to the growing need of ethnocentrism. People need to learn many languages to be able to succeed in the global marketplace. Employees need to learn up to two or three languages to be able to even exist in certain companies. The need to know Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, and many European Languages is more than ever. People that pick up languages and can communicate fluently will succeed very well in the global market place. In order not to offend anybody the customs of other cultures must be learned before going overseas. The easiest way to learn culture is to learn the language, really unless one is fluent in languages of 4 countries they really wont excel and meet up to the standards that global competition has set today. Wile Roseta Stone is incredibly useful it costs a lot of money, for many languages there are useful speaking references on-line. I recommend speak-7, if you are trying to utilize money. Free lessons online at: http://speak7.com/

Rhode Island College Unemployment

2009-02-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

A college student finding a Job in Providence RI is nearly imposable. Every job downtown is taken because of a need for work. There are no jobs available in providence, not even though craigslist.com. Primarily Johnson & Wales students have a problem getting a job for the school unless they are on financial aid. According to Boston.com RI is being ranked high on the unemployment charts with numbers staggering over 11% As a student in Johnson & Wales I recommend going to Atterborugh MA, on rt. 1 and try to find a job anywhere along that strip. The only way to get to work is a half hour drive, but it seemingly better than being about 40 minutes to an twice a day. I think the schools need to facade issues of student unemployment. There are many hard working American family's loosing a lot of money because of this issue. Basied on information from: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm

Gonzo Journalism

2009-02-12T10:55:00.000-08:00

Made famous by Hunter S. Thompson in the 70s this style of writing shows the story often including the reporter, via first person narrative. Gonzo journalism tends to favor style over accuracy and often uses personal experiences and emotions to provide context for the topic or event being covered. It disregards the 'polished' edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for the gritty facts. Recently in 2008 a move called Gonzo was published on the life and works of Hunter S. Thompson. Wile the style of writing has met much criticism due to mass references to drugs, violence, and sexual nature portrayed in the novels. The most popular example of Gonzo journalism is Thompson's masterpiece Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which later yielded a movie starring Johnny Depp. Gonzo journalism has a huge impact on American culture, it sparked an American movement like no other. Wile Hunter passed away in 2002 due to suicide, his works live on and continue to influence people everyday, wielding an effective sword against the political injustice going on today. In memory of Hunter I recomend checking out what he left behind at http://www.gonzo.org or check out his wikipedia bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson

South Park

2009-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Since its Debut in 1997 Comedy Central has aired 181 episodes of the cunning political cartoon South Park. The origins of the cartoon come from Matt Stone and Trey Parker who invented South Park in a cartooning class at the University of Colorodo, Boulder. The project developed into a variety of little clips they made with primitive construction paper and drawings. The duo went on to create a season of South Park for Comedy Central, and its success was big. The cartoon is now on season 11 and the cartoon has an impact on out culture. With evolved computer generated graphics, and a wide variety of issues to topple, South Park has carried Comedy Central into the network it has become today. Check the comedy central website at http://www.comedycentral.com

The Holy Land

2009-02-11T13:58:00.000-08:00

Right now small music shops are a dying breed. Musician's Friend has the greatest selection of musical equipment at extremely reasonable prices. Musician's Friend can also be visited at their locations called Guitar Center. These are music super stores which is pretty much the holy land to any serious musician. Imagine a huge building with thousand dollar guitars hanging all over the wall and that's just the beginning of the madness. Every person that enters the store can play on any piece of equipment in there. The average Joe can play on the equipment that Jimi Hendrix played on at Woodstock. I feel like this is almost a monopoly because they supply the world with mass product. Somehow everything will work its way out, I feel like Guitar Center and Musician's Friend are needed aspects in society. Check out the hottest website around for musicans: http://www.musicansfriend.com

Amazon Streams Up The Heat

2009-02-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

With the recent announcement that Amazon was now streaming digital movies online it has brought Amazon back into play of the general American visited website. Streaming videos online is conveniently a lot easier for people than downloading movies. This will make Amazon a lot more simpler, and more user friendly with the new internet browsers out today. Amazon is demonstrating a specific target market by trying to build their relationship marketing skills. They are targeting people that use Amazon frequently and towards a large market of general movie watchers. Streaming videos online is extremely convenient to the customer. Computer users generally flock to websites that stream videos like “you tube” or “Google” which are major websites that influence the general publics focus on the internet. The general American visit user friendly sites, it builds strong connection with the customer because anything is just a click away.
Check out this review: http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/17/amazon-video-on-demand-store-streams-video-launches-today/

State Tax on Cigarettes

2009-02-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

According to the FTA New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts rank among the highest charging over two dollars in tax, and South Carolina being seven cents per pack it is evident that certain states take various stances on this issue. NYC charges an additional $1.50 for a pack of cigarettes just for being in the city. Business owners do not benefit at all from tax on their products. So in turn customers are charged an extra $2-3 dollars per pack which for the average smoker adds up to $10 dollars per week. If people are forced to pay a fine just for the luxury of being able to purchase the item is questionable. If states keep the tax under a dollar per pack, people will feel more comfortable purchasing a pack. Lynn Patrick a writer for the Deseret News states “I really depend on my neighborhood convenience store. But if they force me to pay $10,$15,$20 or more just in taxes for a carton on cigarettes, I’ll quit smoking. I wont pay taxes that high.” This shows that customers would stop smoking because of the taxes on cigarettes, the extra money seems more important. All infromation baised from chart on taxadimin: http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/cigarett.html

Candy Tax

2009-02-11T13:45:00.000-08:00

According to an article published in the Boston Globe by Stephen Smith on January 31,2009,
The Governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick has proposed a 5% tax on “Sugary-Treats.” It remains unclear weather “sugary treats” refers to chocolate and candy if it includes soda and chips too. The range of what “sweets” refers to is quite broad. It can include pastries, cakes, ice-cream, soda, and even gum. Imagine a three dollar butter-finger, and a four dollar Pepsi. (Boston Globe). Massachusetts expects to collect 43.5 million dollars off of junk food! On December 16th, 1773 the sons of liberty destroyed which is estimated to be 1.87 million dollars worth of tea in an act of protest against an unfair tax This was a brave act of our founding father to help enjoy a luxury good at a cheaper price. God forbid modern day Americans man hit the streets and start blowing up Marlboro trucks, or burring down liquor stores. There is nothing anybody can do about the stat tax on cigarettes. The sin-tax that state governments impose on certain substances primarily cigarettes, have a negative impact on a large portion of small business owners in America today. Check out this article from the boston globe http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/31/surcharge_on_sweets_may_not_trim_many_waists/

Private Retirement

2009-02-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

Imagine a world in which one could be on their own with no money, at the age of Seventy. There is no way to get a job because of an inability to work, and there is no way to pay bills because of the lack of income.Since then retired persons have been able to collect a check from the government every month to help with paying bills, and money needed to survive. Lately however the government has gotten itself into a pickle with the idea of social security. There are many problems facing social security that need to be addressed, because if this problem is not taking care of the whole system will crumble from the base. One major problem facing social security is that as of 2008 social security owes 6.5 trillion more than it will receive in taxes. There are many other demographic factors contributing to the distress on social security, such as the rise of human life expectancy. people are living longer, and the senior citizen ratio is rising to a point previously thought impossible. So there are a lot more people looking to collect money, and there isn’t enough funds to hand out. From this one can make the assumption that social security must be reformed. There are many ways the government can reform social security, one of the biggest arguments about social security is the decision to privatize social security. This would allow people to keep their money and not pay into social security. This could pose potential problems if everybody pools their retirement into a mutual fund and loose it in times of economic recession. The result of this conflicting debate could be one of the most important decisions this generation takes in keeping economic prosperity in America. Check out this opinioned piece at http://www.socialsecurity.org

Set for Life

2009-02-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

There are always those ideas that people have, that they never implement into a plan. The ability to turn an idea into reality is what humans need to achieve greatness. Sitting around his dorm room in Cambridge Massachusetts, on February 4, 2004; Mark Zuckerberg launched a social networking site that changed the web world as we know it. Its name is Facebook, and it took this young undergrad to a net worth of 1.5 billion in four years. Mark Zuckerberg is a child prodigy and he has done what very few have done before him. Innovation is rare now a days, there are no more "great minds" like Einstein popping up in today's age. Zuckerberg is the closest thing to Einstein to surface next to Bill Gates. Through turning his ideas into reality in college he is set for life. Check out the bios of all key players of the facebook team at: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?execbios

The Beginning of The End

2009-02-09T05:14:00.000-08:00

Seeing that this is my first post I guess I should keep it short and sweet. In a time of Economic recession, political chaos, and global confusion, it would be nice to have somebody rise from the ashes and steer the world in the right direction. Wile this is all find and dandy the country we live in today is looking for a leader to cling on to, that could easily abuse power as long the US Dollar becomes worth more than the Euro. Closing the end to the age of Aquarius could somebody come along to fulfill the prophecy stated in the book of revelations? Is the human race close to an inevitable doom? or is this still the beginning of human prosperity? As a civilization have already reached the peak of the mountain? It's time to pick up the pieces and try to live the best we can with each other. The state of the world is less divided, people need to stop thinking of each other as different countries and consider each other as one human race. Cultural boarders are crumbling under the awesomeness of democracy. The call for globalization is howling now more than ever, and to succeed economically a response is needed.