Retail Business Analysis

Table of Contents Introduction Background Generic marketing strategy Segmentation strategy Recommendation and implementation Conclusion References Introduction A market strategy in allows an organization to focus its resources to the most profitable of opportunities with the objective of maintaining and increasing sales and gain a competitive edge as against other similar or alternative competitor organizations. They are therefore a fundamental tool in every organization in as far as achievement of the market objectives is concerned. (Gupta and Lehmann 2005, p70-77)Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Retail Business Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Background The retail establishment specialized on the sale of electronic products majority of which were computers and communication devices such as cell phones. The retail outlet has a turnover of $50000 and has wide and characteristically differen tiated market. There are numerous similar stores that sell alternative or similar electronic products and therefore the market environment is highly aggressive and competitive. The establishment has a reliable supply source and is therefore able to cut on warehousing costs that are otherwise incurred by other retailers. It also has a resourceful labor force that is employed on a permanent basis hence reducing the unpredictability of casual and on demand labor. It has also managed to cut on its management overheads by implementing an impress system that has increased the level of accountability and reduced wastage. The establishment has also invested heavily in surveillance technology that has ensured that there is little or no loss from theft of products from the shelves. It has also allowed them to stock high value equipment, which is not available in other retail shops. The retail establishment has also partnered with an advertising company that purchases their products at discoun ted prices in return for constant and frequent advertising. This has ensured that the establishment acquires new markets every day and maintains leadership in the current market. Generic marketing strategy The internal and external factors in the establishment have led the manager to implement a cost leadership strategy. The strategy is motivated by the ability to cut down on costs and maintain a profit margin even at these low costs. The retile shop offers low prices on small value products. It also maintains leadership in the high value products by offering them at the same price as all others but with warranties of varying periods. Segmentation strategy Market segmentation is segregating the customer base into groups of similar interests or needs (Goldstein 2007, pp 2-30). The electronics market has a complicated need base and therefore presents a great challenge in as far as segmentation is concerned. The establishment has therefore segmented the customers by the price.Advertisi ng Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This therefore means that there are two main categories of customers, these who buy low value products and those who buy high value products. Low value products are those whose price is below $2000 awhile the high value products are those whose value is above $2000. These customers receive different treatment in as far as price and discounts are concerned. Recommendation and implementation The marketing and market segmentation strategies fall just in line with the position of the establishment in as far as internal and external factors are concerned. The strategy therefore is just convenient for the business as it is in the short run. The organization however has the opportunity to explore more avenues by either altering or improving the current strategy. The market segmentation strategy should include a third category of customers who purcha se products valued between $ 2000 and $10000. The current strategy allows a discount to low vale products since these products require little or no repair after purchase. The high value products on the other hand attract a warranty in the alternative of a discount due to their nature and disposable life. The customer is therefore more likely to go for a product with a warranty as opposed to that with a discount. However the consumers of products whose value is between $ 2000 and $10000 are at the point of indifference and will therefore either go for a product with a warranty or a product with a discount whichever is more beneficial. This means that the establishment looses a considerable number of customers. The alternative approach would be to grant this third category of customers a partial discount and a partial warranty. This ensures that the customers benefit either way. Conclusion The organization ha effectively managed t implement the cost leadership strategy and has a good chance at improving its market segmentation. Implementation of the alterative strategy will increase the consumer base as well as increase the sales revenue. References Gupta, S. and Lehmann, R. (2005). Managing Customers as Investments: The Strategic Value of Customers in the Long Run. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Wharton School Publishing, pages 70-77.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Retail Business Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Goldstein, D. (2007). â€Å"What is Customer Segmentation?† New York, NY. Retrieved from http://www.mindofmarketing.net/2007/05/customer-segmentation-why-exactly-does.html This research paper on Retail Business Analysis was written and submitted by user Geraldine Flynn to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Research Paper on Photography

Research Paper on Photography When I looked at this specific picture many words came into my head, but the first five words that I immediately thought of were rejection, poor, depression, sadness, and helpless. As I examined this photo further I began to ponder about what the story behind this specific picture was. This helped me think of three important questions that were; what happened to these people? How are they feeling? And most importantly, who are they? When I look at this picture there are many things that I have to guess, but there are some things that I know for certain. Looking at this photograph I notice that there is a boy and a girl sitting somewhere, by the looks of it on some type of road or sidewalk. When I focus my attention on the boy I can tell that he’s holding up a sign that reads â€Å"Poverty Owning People†¦Can you spare us some change?† The boy is also wearing a hat with some type of bandana on underneath and his eyes are closed. The girl is sitting beside the boy and she’s squinting in the light, which obviously tells the viewer that this certain picture was taken in the morning or mid afternoon. She looks like she’s wearing a long sleeved sweater or wool shirt. Standing in this picture myself I would see a busy street with a lot of traffic probably somewhere downtown where there are many stores and a lot of people that I could convey this message of mine, about being poor to. Downtown personally is a good choice because there are a lot of homeless and poor people that have to survive there so these people would probably fit in perfectly. Taking a closer glance at the picture I learned that this picture was titled â€Å"The Poverty Owning People,† and was photographed by Anna Moonshrek which was taken in the year 2003. This picture’s actual dimensions were not given, but it was taken in color. As I look at this picture I can see that the main focus of this picture is the boy and girl because of how they are placed and how the photograph was taken, which was close up. This photographer has used many techniques so it’s easy for the viewer to get a better perspective on what this picture could be about like the rule of thirds. This technique has been used well because it places the subjects eyes on 1/3 of the page which clearly makes the viewers attention travel around the picture since it’s not entirely in the centre. These different techniques are a great asset in the outcome of photographs overall because they help the compositions acquire balance. When a picture is appropriately balanced a viewer knows that it is a good picture since there aren’t any blank areas and the viewers eyes travel around the entire picture and not just one part that really sticks out. For example in this picture my eyes travel to the brightest thing which is the piece of board the boy is holding. This piece of board has the message of â€Å"The Poverty Owning People† on it. Since there is a message, and it is a pretty strong one even though it doesn’t seem like it at first the viewers eyes eventually travel around the entire picture. Color is also an important factor in the way a photographer wants the person’s eyes to travel. It’s usually pretty obvious that the brighter the colour the more attractive it is and that is usually what a viewer would focus on at first. Therefore if you have dull colors in your photograph they aren’t going to look as fabulous as you would want them too. Another important technique when taking photographs is texture. Texture is important because usually a lot of people like to know what the picture would feel like. Many people are curious about what they’re looking at, so when the photographer makes the variety of textures seem more realistic usually it’s to the photographers own advantage. For instance texture can be spotted in this photograph on the boys hat which looks like it’s mesh because u can see through it, he’s also wearing a jacket which looks like it has some sort of rivets on it, and his skin also has a texture because when you look at it, it looks as if it was burned by the sun because it’s red. So one comes to the conclusion that he has been outside for a pretty long time. The girl is wearing pants that look like jeans and they look pretty worn out by the marks on them. This just goes to show that texture can also tell a lot about what is going on in a picture. An additional technique a photographer uses is light. Light is also a vital principal in taking good photographs. You can see in this picture that the light is very bright because the subjects are sitting outside in the sun. Even though the light makes this picture look very bright and happy the moods of the people in the picture are the total opposite and they tell a totally different story. Technique is one of the things that help a person understand a photograph. When most people look at a photograph they interpret what they see because most photographs don’t have captions that tell the viewer what’s going on. That is why we have to make an educated guess about what the photograph could be about, but to understand what the photograph could be a bout the viewer (me in this case) has to take a very good look at the specific item which is being viewed and than talk about their observations or what they figured out by doing so. In this picture the boy and girl look like normal people but when you read the sign it tells you a totally different story about poverty and how they would like someone to give them some money so they can survive. It also shows me that since they have no money and they’re asking for it, they are depressed, and sad because of the look on their faces. I can also guess that they are helpless because no one seems to be helping them out which shows rejection. They have obviously been rejected from someone, otherwise why would they be asking for money on the street. These educated guesses are my own opinion, the story about this photograph could be totally different but that is what I thought of when I saw this picture. The photographer could have created this image to portray to the society that we should be thankful for what we have so we don’t end up in a situation like this. She could be a journalist or she could be doing a project on poverty. Also since â€Å"The Poverty Owning People† sounds like an organization she could be trying to raise money for it. This photograph like every photograph has its own uniqueness and that’s what makes it so different from others. The positioning, the content and view make it a really good piece of photography and that’s mainly why I decided to chose it. It also really attracted my attention because the color co-ordination was very bright and crisp. This picture has a lot of potential because whenever you look at you see a different story about what this photograph could be about. I really liked it since it expressed not only one opinion but many variations of different prospects just waiting to be found. It wasn’t spectacular like many other pieces but it was still pretty good.

Research Paper on Photography

Research Paper on Photography When I looked at this specific picture many words came into my head, but the first five words that I immediately thought of were rejection, poor, depression, sadness, and helpless. As I examined this photo further I began to ponder about what the story behind this specific picture was. This helped me think of three important questions that were; what happened to these people? How are they feeling? And most importantly, who are they? When I look at this picture there are many things that I have to guess, but there are some things that I know for certain. Looking at this photograph I notice that there is a boy and a girl sitting somewhere, by the looks of it on some type of road or sidewalk. When I focus my attention on the boy I can tell that he’s holding up a sign that reads â€Å"Poverty Owning People†¦Can you spare us some change?† The boy is also wearing a hat with some type of bandana on underneath and his eyes are closed. The girl is sitting beside the boy and she’s squinting in the light, which obviously tells the viewer that this certain picture was taken in the morning or mid afternoon. She looks like she’s wearing a long sleeved sweater or wool shirt. Standing in this picture myself I would see a busy street with a lot of traffic probably somewhere downtown where there are many stores and a lot of people that I could convey this message of mine, about being poor to. Downtown personally is a good choice because there are a lot of homeless and poor people that have to survive there so these people would probably fit in perfectly. Taking a closer glance at the picture I learned that this picture was titled â€Å"The Poverty Owning People,† and was photographed by Anna Moonshrek which was taken in the year 2003. This picture’s actual dimensions were not given, but it was taken in color. As I look at this picture I can see that the main focus of this picture is the boy and girl because of how they are placed and how the photograph was taken, which was close up. This photographer has used many techniques so it’s easy for the viewer to get a better perspective on what this picture could be about like the rule of thirds. This technique has been used well because it places the subjects eyes on 1/3 of the page which clearly makes the viewers attention travel around the picture since it’s not entirely in the centre. These different techniques are a great asset in the outcome of photographs overall because they help the compositions acquire balance. When a picture is appropriately balanced a viewer knows that it is a good picture since there aren’t any blank areas and the viewers eyes travel around the entire picture and not just one part that really sticks out. For example in this picture my eyes travel to the brightest thing which is the piece of board the boy is holding. This piece of board has the message of â€Å"The Poverty Owning People† on it. Since there is a message, and it is a pretty strong one even though it doesn’t seem like it at first the viewers eyes eventually travel around the entire picture. Color is also an important factor in the way a photographer wants the person’s eyes to travel. It’s usually pretty obvious that the brighter the colour the more attractive it is and that is usually what a viewer would focus on at first. Therefore if you have dull colors in your photograph they aren’t going to look as fabulous as you would want them too. Another important technique when taking photographs is texture. Texture is important because usually a lot of people like to know what the picture would feel like. Many people are curious about what they’re looking at, so when the photographer makes the variety of textures seem more realistic usually it’s to the photographers own advantage. For instance texture can be spotted in this photograph on the boys hat which looks like it’s mesh because u can see through it, he’s also wearing a jacket which looks like it has some sort of rivets on it, and his skin also has a texture because when you look at it, it looks as if it was burned by the sun because it’s red. So one comes to the conclusion that he has been outside for a pretty long time. The girl is wearing pants that look like jeans and they look pretty worn out by the marks on them. This just goes to show that texture can also tell a lot about what is going on in a picture. An additional technique a photographer uses is light. Light is also a vital principal in taking good photographs. You can see in this picture that the light is very bright because the subjects are sitting outside in the sun. Even though the light makes this picture look very bright and happy the moods of the people in the picture are the total opposite and they tell a totally different story. Technique is one of the things that help a person understand a photograph. When most people look at a photograph they interpret what they see because most photographs don’t have captions that tell the viewer what’s going on. That is why we have to make an educated guess about what the photograph could be about, but to understand what the photograph could be a bout the viewer (me in this case) has to take a very good look at the specific item which is being viewed and than talk about their observations or what they figured out by doing so. In this picture the boy and girl look like normal people but when you read the sign it tells you a totally different story about poverty and how they would like someone to give them some money so they can survive. It also shows me that since they have no money and they’re asking for it, they are depressed, and sad because of the look on their faces. I can also guess that they are helpless because no one seems to be helping them out which shows rejection. They have obviously been rejected from someone, otherwise why would they be asking for money on the street. These educated guesses are my own opinion, the story about this photograph could be totally different but that is what I thought of when I saw this picture. The photographer could have created this image to portray to the society that we should be thankful for what we have so we don’t end up in a situation like this. She could be a journalist or she could be doing a project on poverty. Also since â€Å"The Poverty Owning People† sounds like an organization she could be trying to raise money for it. This photograph like every photograph has its own uniqueness and that’s what makes it so different from others. The positioning, the content and view make it a really good piece of photography and that’s mainly why I decided to chose it. It also really attracted my attention because the color co-ordination was very bright and crisp. This picture has a lot of potential because whenever you look at you see a different story about what this photograph could be about. I really liked it since it expressed not only one opinion but many variations of different prospects just waiting to be found. It wasn’t spectacular like many other pieces but it was still pretty good.

Research Paper on Photography

Research Paper on Photography When I looked at this specific picture many words came into my head, but the first five words that I immediately thought of were rejection, poor, depression, sadness, and helpless. As I examined this photo further I began to ponder about what the story behind this specific picture was. This helped me think of three important questions that were; what happened to these people? How are they feeling? And most importantly, who are they? When I look at this picture there are many things that I have to guess, but there are some things that I know for certain. Looking at this photograph I notice that there is a boy and a girl sitting somewhere, by the looks of it on some type of road or sidewalk. When I focus my attention on the boy I can tell that he’s holding up a sign that reads â€Å"Poverty Owning People†¦Can you spare us some change?† The boy is also wearing a hat with some type of bandana on underneath and his eyes are closed. The girl is sitting beside the boy and she’s squinting in the light, which obviously tells the viewer that this certain picture was taken in the morning or mid afternoon. She looks like she’s wearing a long sleeved sweater or wool shirt. Standing in this picture myself I would see a busy street with a lot of traffic probably somewhere downtown where there are many stores and a lot of people that I could convey this message of mine, about being poor to. Downtown personally is a good choice because there are a lot of homeless and poor people that have to survive there so these people would probably fit in perfectly. Taking a closer glance at the picture I learned that this picture was titled â€Å"The Poverty Owning People,† and was photographed by Anna Moonshrek which was taken in the year 2003. This picture’s actual dimensions were not given, but it was taken in color. As I look at this picture I can see that the main focus of this picture is the boy and girl because of how they are placed and how the photograph was taken, which was close up. This photographer has used many techniques so it’s easy for the viewer to get a better perspective on what this picture could be about like the rule of thirds. This technique has been used well because it places the subjects eyes on 1/3 of the page which clearly makes the viewers attention travel around the picture since it’s not entirely in the centre. These different techniques are a great asset in the outcome of photographs overall because they help the compositions acquire balance. When a picture is appropriately balanced a viewer knows that it is a good picture since there aren’t any blank areas and the viewers eyes travel around the entire picture and not just one part that really sticks out. For example in this picture my eyes travel to the brightest thing which is the piece of board the boy is holding. This piece of board has the message of â€Å"The Poverty Owning People† on it. Since there is a message, and it is a pretty strong one even though it doesn’t seem like it at first the viewers eyes eventually travel around the entire picture. Color is also an important factor in the way a photographer wants the person’s eyes to travel. It’s usually pretty obvious that the brighter the colour the more attractive it is and that is usually what a viewer would focus on at first. Therefore if you have dull colors in your photograph they aren’t going to look as fabulous as you would want them too. Another important technique when taking photographs is texture. Texture is important because usually a lot of people like to know what the picture would feel like. Many people are curious about what they’re looking at, so when the photographer makes the variety of textures seem more realistic usually it’s to the photographers own advantage. For instance texture can be spotted in this photograph on the boys hat which looks like it’s mesh because u can see through it, he’s also wearing a jacket which looks like it has some sort of rivets on it, and his skin also has a texture because when you look at it, it looks as if it was burned by the sun because it’s red. So one comes to the conclusion that he has been outside for a pretty long time. The girl is wearing pants that look like jeans and they look pretty worn out by the marks on them. This just goes to show that texture can also tell a lot about what is going on in a picture. An additional technique a photographer uses is light. Light is also a vital principal in taking good photographs. You can see in this picture that the light is very bright because the subjects are sitting outside in the sun. Even though the light makes this picture look very bright and happy the moods of the people in the picture are the total opposite and they tell a totally different story. Technique is one of the things that help a person understand a photograph. When most people look at a photograph they interpret what they see because most photographs don’t have captions that tell the viewer what’s going on. That is why we have to make an educated guess about what the photograph could be about, but to understand what the photograph could be a bout the viewer (me in this case) has to take a very good look at the specific item which is being viewed and than talk about their observations or what they figured out by doing so. In this picture the boy and girl look like normal people but when you read the sign it tells you a totally different story about poverty and how they would like someone to give them some money so they can survive. It also shows me that since they have no money and they’re asking for it, they are depressed, and sad because of the look on their faces. I can also guess that they are helpless because no one seems to be helping them out which shows rejection. They have obviously been rejected from someone, otherwise why would they be asking for money on the street. These educated guesses are my own opinion, the story about this photograph could be totally different but that is what I thought of when I saw this picture. The photographer could have created this image to portray to the society that we should be thankful for what we have so we don’t end up in a situation like this. She could be a journalist or she could be doing a project on poverty. Also since â€Å"The Poverty Owning People† sounds like an organization she could be trying to raise money for it. This photograph like every photograph has its own uniqueness and that’s what makes it so different from others. The positioning, the content and view make it a really good piece of photography and that’s mainly why I decided to chose it. It also really attracted my attention because the color co-ordination was very bright and crisp. This picture has a lot of potential because whenever you look at you see a different story about what this photograph could be about. I really liked it since it expressed not only one opinion but many variations of different prospects just waiting to be found. It wasn’t spectacular like many other pieces but it was still pretty good.

Understanding Different Interest Rates

Understanding Different Interest Rates There are a variety of different types of interest rates, but in order to understand these, one must first understand that an interest rate  is a yearly price charged by a lender to a borrower in order for the borrower to obtain a loan, usually expressed as a percentage of the total amount loaned. Interest rates can either be nominal or real, though certain terms exist to define specific rates such as the Federal Funds Rate. The  difference between nominal and real interest rates  is that real interest rates are ones that are adjusted for inflation, whereas nominal interest rates are not; the interest rates one typically finds in the paper are nominal interest rates. The federal government of any given country can affect the interest rate, known in the United States as the Federal Funds Rate and in England as the Prime Rate. Understanding the Federal Funds Rate The Federal Funds Rate is defined as the interest rate at which U.S. banks lend to one another their excess reserves held on deposit at the United States Treasury Department, or the interest rate that banks charge each other for the use of Federal funds in general. Investopedia describes the Federal Funds Rate as the rate of interest banks charge other banks for lending them money from their reserve balances on an overnight basis. By law, banks must maintain a reserve equal to a certain percentage of their deposits in an account at a Federal Reserve bank. Any money in their reserve that exceeds the required level is available for lending to other banks that might have a shortfall. ï » ¿Essentially what this means for the average American is that when you hear that the Federal Treasury Chairman has raised interest rates, theyre talking about the Federal Funds Rate.  In Canada, the counterpart to the Federal Funds rate is known as  the overnight rate; the  Bank of England  refers to these rates as the base rate or the repo rate. Prime Rates and Short Rates The Prime Rate is defined as a rate of interest that serves as a benchmark for most other loans in a country. The precise definition of prime rate differs from country to country. In the United States, the prime rate is the interest rate banks charge to large corporations for short-term loans.​​ The prime rate is typically 2 to 3 percentage points higher than the Federal Funds rate. If the Federal Funds rate is at around 2.5%, then expect the prime rate to be around 5%. The short rate is an abbreviation for short-term interest rate; that is, the interest rate charged (usually in some particular market) for short-term loans. Those are the major interest rates you will see discussed in the newspaper. Most of the other interest rates you see will usually refer to an interest-bearing financial asset, such as a bond.

BMW i Marketing Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

BMW i Marketing Analysis - Essay Example It tends to focus upon zero emission and is presently working on a hydrogen hybrid drivetrain. It can be noted that most of the success of the BMW is derived from the entrepreneurial culture. BMW follows informal organisational culture which assists the employees in freely articulating the ideas and thereby assisting in innovation (BMW, 2012). The main objective of the company is to remain as one of the world’s primary providers of premium products as well as services for mobility of an individual. Collaborators BMW has been capable of maintaining good relation with its suppliers so that the goods can be delivered on time to the customers. The company mandates its suppliers to maintain the enhanced environmental as well as social standards that have been set by the BMW Group (BMW Education, 2010). It is because of this reason that the company makes use of the sustainability criteria in the optimum selection of its vendors and exaggerated supervision of its prevailing suppliers . It tends to train its suppliers in advance so that the company can guarantee accurate quality requirements as well as standards that have been set by the company right from the initiation of the production (The Economist, 2011). It has been found that in 2011, the UK car market was high by approximately 30% on a year-to-year basis which exceeded the expectation of the companies. In January, 2011, it was found that the car market rose by almost 29.8% thereby reaching 145479 units. It has been found that in the year 2011, an increase occurred of 8.78 percent in sales that rose from 153312 to 166780 vehicles in comparison to the year 2010, and against the market that sought decline in the sales by four percent (Boeriu, 2012). It has been evident that BMW makes use of three steps for the purpose of targeting such as market segmentation, target choices and product positioning. The company looks at behavioural, geographic, socioeconomic, beneficial and demographic features of the societ y that assist them in targeting the market effectively (Pearson, 2012). The company derives 65% of its sales from Europe as well as North America. These regions are industrialised locations with residents having sound financial position to purchase upper market cars since their per capita income is high. The demographics of the people capable of purchasing BMW are men and women who are aged 30-50 years old. Prior to purchasing BMW, people possess favourable image in their mind. They prefer cars that look sporty and modern. The benefits sought by these people are reliability, superiority, quality and performance (Slideshare, 2012). Competitor Analysis It has been found that the company faces direct competition for its each series ranges. The main competitors of the company are Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Ford, Range Rover and Porsche among others. Among them, Ford Motor Company is found to be the main competitor of BMW, taking away high share of the automotive market. It has been obs erved that the overall balance sheet value of Ford Motor Company tends to surpass 7 times ‘correspondent value’ of BMW Group (BMW Limited, 2011). Climate In the present times, the political

Love is a Bitch in Amores Perros Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Love is a Bitch in Amores Perros - Term Paper Example The film is not a simplistic critique of the Mexican society. Rather it is a revelation of the human nature with all its frailties, speedily accentuated by the rapid social changes and a continual dilution of social values. Amores Perros depicts the darker side of the contemporary Mexican society and nudges the viewers to reflect on its disturbing and unjust dynamics. The film is set in the modern day Mexico City. The universal appeal of the film could be attributed to its illustrative depiction of the concepts of broken families and betrayal, the themes which tend to be common to most of the modern day cultures, societies and civilizations (Flynn 35). The selfish and callous tendencies of the characters in the movie give something to relate to almost all its contemporary viewers, irrespective of the place or country which they live in. The pain of Mexico City as shown in the film is the inevitable plight of modern societies. Story Amores Perros is a film woven around the stories of three characters that are Octavio, Daniel and El Chivo, which in a way represent a microcosm of the contemporary, middle class, Mexican domestic scene. The family life of all the three characters is shown to have a common thread of deception running through them. Octavio loves his sister-in-law Susana. He earns money by dabbling in illegal dog fighting. Daniel jilts his wife and daughter, to get into a relationship with a famous model Valeria. El Chivo fails to share a normal family life with his daughter Maru because of being behind bars. In the entire three stories one comes across disruption of family relationships, betrayal of intimacy and trust and flaunting of long cherished social and domestic values. The central characters in the story are depicted as trying to eke out a better life for themselves, but albeit through questionable and unconventional means. The story raises many questions as to whether the unscrupulousness of the three central characters is the strictly person al marrow of their bones or are their lives helplessly simmering in the larger boiling pot of an age and times where achievement is about money only, beauty is simply about looks and family life is about convenience, opportunism and shallowness? The characters in the movie discernibly evince a stark disassociation and variance between feeling and thought, success and honesty, intimacy and fidelity and end and means, which strikingly seem alright and normal in the surrounding social landscape (Podalsky, 148). This seeming normalcy of the things is what is abnormal and pervert. Class Depictions and Related Social Themes In the film, the lower middle class is depicted as being limited and constrained by self adopted and socially reinforced stereotypes, which glorify acquisition, street smartness and unscrupulousness. In such a socio-economic scenario, all the roads seem to lead to an idea of success that is also a dead end in itself. It endows its adherents with all the promised goodie s, yet mercilessly snatches much that is simple, accessible and harmless. The ghetto life in the contemporary Mexico is shown as being marred by preexisting perceptions, where the individuals brazenly feel justified and alright to act out the roles that are valued and encouraged by their social ambience. It is a male dominated society where the young women are both the subject and object of raw lust, deserving a high monetary,