Basic Strategies Used To Respond To Uncertainty Management Essay

Basic Strategies Used To Respond To Uncertainty Management Essay Nestle is the worlds leading nutrition, health, wellness company. The headquarter of Nestle company is located in Vevey, Switzerland. That is in 1866, there was a first European condensed milk factory opened in Cham, Switzerland. The name of the company is Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company which established by brothers George Page and Chatles Page. After that year, the founder of Nestlà ©, Henri Nestle, a German pharmacist, developed a combination of cows milk, wheat flour and sugar, which name as Farine Lactee. The launched of Farine Lactee had become the largest competitor of Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. In 1905, Nestlà © merged with Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company after a couple of decades as fierce competitors to form the Nestlà © and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company. In 1929, the chocolate company Peter, Cailler , Kohler Chocolats Suisses S.A. joined Nestlà ©. And in 1947, Nestlà © change its name to Nestlà © Alimentana S.A after merged with Maggi, a well-known manufacturer of seasonings and soups. In 1974, Nestlà © for the first time diversified outside the food industry and they become a major shareholder in LOreal, one of the worlds leading maker of cosmetic products. And then finally, the last name change that the company would endure was in 1977, where it adopted the name Nestlà © S.A. The first product that launched by Nestlà © is Farine Lactee Nestlà ©, a combination of cows milk, wheat flour and sugar. Farine Lactee was launched by Henri Nestle in 1867 and it was supported by the public. After that, Nestlà © also launched Milo in 1934. Milo is a chocolate and malt powder which is mixed with hot or cold water to produce a beverage and it is developed by Thomas Mayne in Sdyney, Australia. After the launched of Milo, another product launched by Nestlà © that famous among the world which is Nescafe. Nescafe is a powdered coffee that was introduced in Switzerland on April 1, 1938 after being developed for seven or eight years by Max Morgenthaler and Vernon Chapman. Another product that pull Nestlà © toward success is Nestlà © Pure Life, a bottled mineral water that launched in 1998. The smart strategy of Nestlà © had bring them toward the road of success. In 2012, Nestlà © has around 8,000 brands on the market included coffee, bottled water, milkshakes and other beverages, breakfast cereals, infant foods, performance and healthcare nutrition, seasonings, soups and sauces, frozen and refrigerated foods, and pet food. Organizational chart Planning and Strategic Management Basic strategies used to respond to uncertainty Nestlà © is a company that mainly act as a prospector while responding to uncertainty. Prospectors focus on developing new products or services and in seeking out new markets, rather than waiting for things to happen. Nestlà © had create many brands and many different types of products to satisfy consumers needs and wants. The table below showed the list of product of Nestlà ©. Types of Products Brand Baby foods Cerelac, Gerber, Gerber Graduates, NaturNes, Nestum Bottled water Nestlà © Pure Life, Perrier, Poland Spring, S.Pellegrino Cereals Chocapic, Cini Minis, Cookie Crisp, Estrelitas, Fitness, Nesquik Cereal Chocolate confectionery Aero, Butterfinger, Cailler, Crunch, Kit Kat, Orion, Smarties, Wonka Coffee Nescafà ©, Nescafà © 3 in 1, Nescafà © Cappuccino, Nescafà © Classic, Nescafà © Decaff, Nescafà © Dolce Gusto, Nescafà © Gold, Nespresso Culinary, chilled and frozen food Buitoni, Herta, Hot Pockets, Lean Cuisine, Maggi, Stouffers, Thomy Dairy Carnation, Coffee-Mate, La Laitià ¨re, Nido Drinks Juicy Juice, Milo, Nesquik, Nestea Food service Chef, Chef-Mate, Maggi, Milo, Minors, Nescafà ©, Nestea, Sjora, Lean Cuisine, Stouffers Healthcare nutrition Boost, Nutren Junior, Peptamen, Resource Ice cream Dreyers, Extrà ªme, Hà ¤agen-Dazs, Mà ¶venpick, Nestlà © Ice Cream Petcare Alpo, Bakers Complete, Beneful, Cat Chow, Chef Michaels Canine Creations, Dog Chow, Fancy Feast, Felix, Friskies, Gourmet, Purina, Purina ONE, Pro Plan Sports Nutrition PowerBar Weight management Jenny Craig In the effort of seeking out new markets, Nestlà © had employed around 330 000 people in over 150 countries and have 461 factories or operations in 83 countries. Nestlà © also becomes one of the sponsors in many events. For example, on 27 January 2012, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) announced that Nestlà © will be the main sponsor for the further development of IAAFs Kids Athletics Program for the consecutive of 5 years starting from January 2012. This is one of the biggest grassroots development programs in the world of sports. In the year 2012, Nestlà © expect that it will be a challenging year as they will face many uncertainties in the global economy and. However, as a prospector, the company had made specific plans to overcome the uncertainties. They believe that they have good fundamentals and will be able to diversify the global uncertainties. Nestlà © aim to continue the innovation and renovation of their products as long as launching further promotion of nutritional diets and healthy lifestyles Nestlà © will remain vigilant and will take all necessary method to soften any impact on their business due to the volatile commodity prices that were expected to continue in 2012. Besides that, Nestlà © Company can also be considering as an analyzer. Analyzers let other organizations take the risks of product development and marketing and then imitate or perhaps slightly improve on what seems to work best. For example, Nestlà © was Gail Bordens most successful imitators in the production of milk. Nestlà © imitate and make changes based on the condensed milk manufactured by Bordens first canned milk factory. Nestlà © invented a powdered milk food that primarily composed of cows milk and then mixed with water. By 1868, this product was being sold in Switzerland, Germany, France and England. After five year, the product was available throughout Europe. Eventually, Pet Milk and Carnation Milk were produced and sold in United States. In the 21th century, humans wants are unlimited. Therefore, Nestlà © create new brands on the products that already exist in the market and are needed for the consumers to widen their choice. Mission and Vision Nestlà ©s mission is to provide consumers with safe and convenient high quality food products so that people can live a better life. They are friendly, caring and efficient organization and they believe that research can help them make better food so that they can provide selections for all individual taste and lifestyle preferences. We should responsible we role, that means we need to responsive to the social, environmental, economic and cultural aspirations of people anytime, whilst ensuring our shareholders a reasonable return on their investment. Our staff can succeed job satisfaction, self-development and their reasonable targets because Nestlà © are seen as a perfect place of employment with good working conditions and benefits, with an internal environment. Nestlà ©s vision is to providing customers with high quality products and services with added value at competitive prices, simultaneously ensuring the long term viability and profitability of the organization. We have to continue to struggle to get the recognition and satisfy the trust our customers and business partners place in us. Our ambition As the leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company we enhance lives by offering tastier and healthier food and beverage choices at all stages of life and at any time of the day, helping consumers care for themselves and their families. This is the foundation of our promise of Good Food, Good Life and puts nutrition at the heart of everything we do.It is our firm belief that, for a company to be successful over time and create value for its shareholders, it must also create value for society. We call this Creating Shared Value. Built on strong foundations of compliance and sustainable business practices, this is our way to do business and to be the trusted leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness. SWOT analysis Grand Strategy Grand strategy is a systematic, comprehensive, long-term plan of all the company use to achieve their goals. Market, product, and organization development is the main element of this strategy. There are three types of strategy such as Growth strategies, Stability Strategy and Defensive Strategy. Growth strategy involves the expansion of a company. Stability strategy is a strategy there are no-change strategy or little change strategy. Defensive strategy is a control to reduce the probability of loss. Nestlà © is a company that apply growth strategy. Nestlà © started the business in the year of 1866 with a first European condensed milk factory and today becomes the worlds biggest food producer. The product of Nestlà © such as Milk, Beverages, Coffee, Ice-cream, Confectionery Chocolate, Junior Food and other, has make a sales of CHF 44.1 billion in 2012 from 74,660 million at 1999. There net profit increase from 8% to 9.5billion Swiss francs ($10.35 billion) that show at9 August 2012. In 2003,Nestlà © got around 328,000 people that are Nestlà ©s staff in 70 countries and have many operations or factories in the world compare to the old figure of employee in 1998 299,800 people. Besides that, Nestlà © is increasing the size of their company year by year. One of the strategies is give different promotion on day. They give a discount for customer by using coupons. For example, Nestlà © Toll House Birthday Sugar Cookies can save 55$ if we print out the coupons to buy. In addition, Nestlà © also provide the samples food for customer in a promotion time, for instance, Maggi MeeGorengget the FREE Samples of the Delicious in 2nd  July 2012 to 2nd  August 2012. These was the successful strategy of Nestlà © in now a day. Nestlà © begin the business at 1866 with the combination of cows milk, wheat flour and sugar. After 1 year, infant cereal developed for a whole new world to babies. Next, the launch of Milo, Nescafe, Nestea, Nestlà © Pure Life, and Power Bar are launches at the years after 1929. Although these are many product launches, they merger with another company as an example Maggi and Ursina-Franck. Nestlà © did the high risky of investment in the follow year such as joint venture with LOreal, General Mills, Coca-Cola and Fonterra. In conclusion, Nestlà © was trying their best at the sales of product. It has a smart plan for the uncertainly. Growth strategy will give the increasing of cash, bank payment and other to the Nestlà © company and Nestlà © will improve in new product or new market in the future. Competitive Strategies Nestlà © mainly focused on differentiation strategy. Nestlà © is a quality focused company. They differentiate their products with their competitors by giving them better customer satisfaction and quality with in an acceptable price limit. All their market is based on quality products and customer satisfaction. The main factor that motivates a customer is to buy their goods is the nutritional content in their products. They also focused on creating a strong brand by creating brand equity. For have a better quality on their products, Nestlà © had created Nestlà © Nutrition, which is a global business organization designed to strengthen the focus on their core nutrition business. They believe that strengthening their leadership in this market is the key element of their corporate strategy. In order to reinforce their competitive advantage in this area, Nestlà © created Nestlà © Nutrition as an autonomous global business unit within the organization, and charged it with the operational and profit and loss responsibility for the claim-based business of Infant Nutrition, HealthCare Nutrition, and Performance Nutrition. This unit aims to deliver superior business performance by offering consumers trusted, science based nutrition products and services. In order to produce a better quality product, Nestlà © had made an effort on research and development. Research and development is a key of competitive advantage for Nestlà ©. Without research and development, Nestlà © could not have become the leader in food and beverage industries. With 29 research, development and technology facilities worldwide, Nestlà © has the largest research and development network of any food company. Based on the research and development done by Nestlà ©, they are able to produce many products that have a high quality in nutrition, wellness, taste, health, texture or convenience. Besides that, Nestlà © also use cost-leadership strategy for minor products. Nestlà © had used a new strategy called Nestlà ©s Popularly Positioned Products (PPPs) strategy that provide consumers with high-quality, nutritious products, regardless of where they sell them and the price point at which they sell them. PPPs focuses on the specific needs of 3 billion lower-income consumers worldwide. PPPs offer these consumers the opportunity to consume high-quality food products that provide nutritional value at an affordable cost and appropriate format. With a range of locally adapted distribution methods, including street markets, mobile street vendors and door to door distributors, PPPs are a source of income for street traders and individual distributors and contribute to the creation of local jobs. Recommendation Utilizing the identified strengths and opportunities Overcome the identified strengths and opportunities Conclusion Overall achievement Firstly, on 21 May 2012, Nestlà © was in the rank of No. 18 in The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25. The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 is about leadership. Nestlà © has created a successful supply chain segment for its popular Nespresso line. Nestlà © is also highly advanced and integrated in its raw material sourcing strategies, and has invested significantly in supply development and innovation. Moreover, on 12 April 2012, Nestlà © becomes the first food and beverage company that receives A+ rating, which is the highest standard in Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for Creating Shared Value report. This shows that Nestlà © do take seriously their responsibility to create shared value and conduct their business in a sustainable way. Next, Nestlà © won the ACCA Malaysia Sustainability Reporting Award 2011. This was because Nestlà © use Sustainability Reporting to communicate to stakeholders regarding the progress of their Creating Shared Value strategy, which is to create value simultaneously for society and their shareholders while carrying out our business activities. On 19 May 2011, Nestlà © receives top environment award which is the 27th World Environment Center (WEC) Gold Medal award for its commitment to environmental sustainability. This shows that Nestlà © was recognized as a global company that has demonstrated an example of sustainability in business practice. Furthermore, on 7 June 2011, Nestlà © became winner of the Stockholm Industry Water Award for its leadership and performance to improve water management in its internal operations and throughout its supply chain. Nestle also has a leading role in the 2030 Water Resources Group. In July 2010, Nestlà © Malaysia was crowned as a winner of the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards 2010 (AREA). This awards show that Nestlà © was recognized as an organization that have shown a lot of efforts, perseverance and courage in corporate social responsibility initiatives. Besides that, a Global Food Industry Award was given to Nestlà © by The International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) .in 2010. Nestlà ©s dedication to food science and technology has been acknowledged by the IUFoST as long as Nestlà ©s efforts to advance global food science and technology for the benefit of everyone had been recognized by them. Last but not least, Nestlà © won the StarBiz-ICR Malaysia CR Awards in the year 2009. Nestlà © was one of the seven public-listed companies which were recognized and honoured for their outstanding Corporate Responsibility practices at the StarBiz-ICR Malaysia CR Awards 2009 presentation ceremony.

Related To Malnutrition And Obesity Health And Social Care Essay

A literature reappraisal is a digest of resources that provide the land work for farther survey. It is often found as a subdivision of a published research survey. Literature reappraisal refers to the activities involves in seeking for information on a subject and developing a comprehensive image of the province of the cognition on the subject. Reappraisal of literature is a written sum-up of the survey conducted antecedently related to the present survey subject. ( Polit and Hungler, 1999 ) The research worker did an broad reappraisal of literature on the research subject in order to derive deeper penetration into the job and to roll up maximal relevant information for constructing the foundations of the survey.In the present survey the reappraisal of literature is organized under the undermentioned headers ;Section-I: Surveies related to malnutrition and fleshiness at school degree. Section-II: Surveies related to consequence of planned nursing intercession. Section-III: Surveies related to knowledge and pattern on Healthy Food Habits among kids. Section-IV: Surveies related to Pender ‘s Health Promotion Model Theory Section-V: Surveies related to Conceptual model based on Pender ‘s wellness publicity theoretical account ( 2002 )SECTION-I: STUDIES RELATED TO MALNUTRITION AND OBESITYMalnutrition in early childhood causes irreparable harm to the development of kid and consequences in wastage of human resources. Hence decrease in the high rate of kid mortality and morbidity due to malnutrition becomes an of import undertaking of policy shapers and societal development contrivers study conducted in rural countries of India revealed that abut 90 % of the kids suffer from different classs of malnutrion and about 15 % of them are in utmost grades of malnutrition. Shetty, P.S. , ( 2000 ) concluded that in an person a series of physiology & A ; behavior response can happen. as a consequence of low energy consumption that is below the acceptable degree of demands. If they individual seek to follow the lower energy consumption so it is good for the endurance of single. Hensrud, DD. , ( 2000 ) reviewed a journal nutrition showing and appraisal which revealed the both under nutrition and over nutrition which leads to increased morbidity and mortality rate. Rio-Grande Dosul. , ( 2004 ) conducted that because of the excess helping of sugar sweetened bevarage, there is an increased opportunity of acquiring fleshiness in most of the in-between school kids. that is approximately 60 % due to the alterations in the feeding wonts, the individuals who are populating in the developed states are more prone to acquire fleshiness. Depending on the composing & A ; the quality of the diet the nutrient consumption has to be related with the fleshiness. Rodriguez, NR. , ( 2005 ) concluded that the kids assorted nutritionary demands in relation to the growing. For the normal growing of the immature kids they should take equal sum of energy & A ; indispensable aminoacids.A broad scope of protein consumption of about.6 to2.9gm/kg should be given for the immature kids. Charles. , ( 2005 ) concluded that since 1960 ‘s the prevalence rate of fleshiness has increased more among the kids in U.S.One of the of import factor that is lending to the paediatric fleshiness is ingestion of sugar sweetened drinks. Veteri, F.E. , ( 2010 ) concluded a series of inquiry associated with the equal energy & A ; protein intake. that is necessary for the growing & A ; proper operation of the children.Inorder to fulfill the protein demands big sum of protein must be ingested along with energy consumption. The present survey shows that there is an associated between the eating wonts and fleshiness.SECTION-II: STUDIES RELATED TO EFFECT OF PLANNED NURSING INTERVENTIONPiffer.S, Kaisermann.D. , ( 2003 ) presented paper reports the consequences of a study on dietetic wonts of 1,398 kids go toing first category of primary school in Trento state ( Northern Italy ) the undermentioned points were investigated. Frequency of interruption fast and nutrient intake.frequency of nutrients at school the construct of tracer nutrients as veggies, fruits, and Sweet was besides investigated. The consequences were analysed harmonizing gender, country of abode, learning method and educational degree of parents. The information about nutritionary manner are satisfactory even if they are strongly associated to education degree of parents, above all of the female parent. The adequateness of nutritionary manner is increasing with the increasing of educational degree. School repast, offering selected nutrients t o all kids go toing fulltime learning subdivision, can re-equilibrate nutritionary manner, diminishing the differences associated to education degree of the parents. Delisle, H. , ( 2010 ) conducted a survey sing the importance of placing the healthy and culturally relevant dietetic forms. which helps in advancing wellness & A ; forestalling diet related chronic disease. The surveies shows that a limited no of nutrients determines the quality of diet & A ; result of wellness. The traditional diets are more fitter & A ; utile when comparison to untraditional dietetic forms. Apart from this healthy feeding wonts are more executable if the attack to the nutrient consumption is equal. Present informations can be used for implementing and bettering wellness publicity action on right dietetic wonts in kid goon, maintaining count of the function of instruction degree of the parents. During the development of kids they need equal proportion of healthy nutrients as like the grownup eat.SECTION-III: STUDIES RELATED TO KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE ON HEALTHY FOOD HABITS AMONG CHILDREN:This article shows the dietetic pattern that is following by the kids.Who are go toing the farm school. The findings shows that proper dietetic patterns determines the nutritionary position it besides influence the societal economical & A ; psychological development of the kids. Gil, A. , ( 2009 ) They identified that the consumption of traditional nutrient has no relation the normal dietetic pattern.They were considered as giving small protection from diseases.The survey findings showed that the organic structure mass index exercisings and the assorted diseases status has no important association with the dietetic form.SECTION-IV: STUDIES RELATED TO PENDER ‘S HEALTH PROMOTION MODELAustin David, R. , ( 2000 ) it describes that assorted elements are involved in the Pender ‘s wellness publicity model.It shows the advantages every bit good as the disadvantage of the theoretical account. For the support of the theoretical account assorted literature surveies has taken. Calderon, ( 2002 ) The determination showed the belief and patterns of breastcancer among aged adult females & A ; their perceptual experience towards this.It consist of both educational & A ; environmental support which areconductive to wellness behavior.For the wellness publicity in the older population co-ordination of assorted services adapted.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK BASED ON PENDER ‘S HEALTH PROMOTION MODEL ( 2002 )Conceptual model is interrelated constructs on abstractions that are assembled together in some rationale strategy by virtuousness relevancy to a common subject ( Polit and Beck, 2004 ) . It is a device which to excite research and the extension of cognition by supplying both way and drift. A model may function as a spring board for scientific findings meaningful and generalizable. The present survey is aimed at developing and measuring the effectivity of planned nursing intercession in footings of cognition and pattern on wellness nutrient wonts among primary scho ol kids in selected school at Salem. The conceptual model of this survey is based on Pender, Murdaugh, C and Parson. , ( 2002 ) Health Promotion Model. Pender, ( 2002 ) defines wellness as the realization of built-in and acquired human potency through end directed behavior, competent ego attention and fulfilling relationships with others, while accommodations are made as needed to keep structural unity and harmoniousness with relevant environment. Health Promotion Model is based chiefly on three theories of human behavior the theory of sound action, the theory of planned behaviour and societal cognitive theory. Theory of reasoned action explains that the major determiner of behaviour is the individual ‘s purpose for that behaviour, when she believes that she has control over the state of affairs.Prior Related Behavior:It highlights the experience with the advancing behaviour. In this survey prior related behaviour of cognition and pattern of primary school kids on 1st twenty-four hours. It includes equal -inadequate cognition and pattern towards wellness nutrient wonts, conveying / non conveying healthy nutrients will be assessed by pre-test on 1st twenty-four hours.Personal Factors:Factors about the individual, that influences wellness advancing behavior. This includes biological and socio-cultural factors in this survey.Biological Factors:Includes age of the sample, gender, type of the household.Socio-cultural factors: Education of the female parent, business of the female parent, faith.Health Promoting Behavior:Behaviours ( or ) actions that people carry out with the purposes of better their wellness. In this survey is specified, wellness advancing cognition and pattern of healthy nutrients to kids pamphlet distributed to the kids giving information sing healthy nutrient wonts to the female parents of kids. Regular practicing of wellness nutrient wonts.Perceived Control of Health:Childs can understand about the in effects of taking debris nutrients.Perceived Health Status:The research worker perceived that there is little betterment in the nutrient wonts of kids of conveying wellness bites.Perceived Benefits of Action:Belief about the positive or reenforcing effects of a wellness advancing behavior. Here it includes kids will comprehend benefits of good balanced diet, sample develops the wellness nutrient wonts and betterment in cognition sing wellness nutrient wonts, stay wellness and energetic. Sensed Barriers of Health Promoting Behavior:Belief about kids reduced attending span, more attracted to advertizements, working female parents.Interpersonal Influences:Belief about learning programme on wellness nutrient wonts and advancing pattern of conveying wellness nutrients on 3, 6, 10th twenty-four hours of pattern appraisal by this research worker.Situational Influences:Peer group.Immediate Competing Preferences:Distracting thought about other attractive activities to make instantly before prosecuting in a wellness promotes behaviour. In this survey, it includes kid ‘s wellness, taking healthy nutrients.Committedness to a Plan of Action:Committedness to transport out a wellness promotes bahaviour. The program should be specific to clip and topographic point, and stipulate whether it will be with identified individual or entirely. Practice healthy nutrient wonts at school scene after learning, this survey describe about the preparation of a realistic program to pattern healthy nutrient wonts by conveying healthy nutrient wonts by conveying healthy bites, and healthy tiffin daily ( forenoon and afternoon ) to the school with the supervising of research worker in alternate yearss.

Keeping Peace With a Roommate Mission Possible

College life is an exceptional part of your existence. Here you get all the necessary knowledge, make friends for the lifetime, party all night and have a possibility to try how it feels to be an adult. Anyways, there are some things that can spoil your unique experience of a college life. And one of them is your roommate. He (or she) has all the necessary means to actually turn your existence into a living hell. What can trigger the local war between you two and how to avoid it? Professional Opinion Larry Marks, PhD and psychologist at the University of Central Florida Counseling Center, says: Usually conflicts seem to arise around the classic issues — cleaning, sleep schedules, study habits, friends, personal habits, and communication. For most students, this is the first time they have lived with unknown roommates for an extended period, and it requires them to draw on skills of compromise, negotiation, and thoughtfulness in new ways Usually, if you talk things through and plan the situation with a friend, as students should do with a random roommate, living with a friend will work out well and can be an enjoyable and supportive experience. It seems the horror stories are usually about roommates who did not know each other. The Best Way to Win the War is to Prevent It Rule number one: not all roommates are as scary as they are described. You can make co-living with another student super comfortable, if you: simply talk to your roommate about yourself and your needs – and about his needs as well. Try to solve all the problems since the very beginning. Make an agreement on the aspects of cleaning, buying food, define quiet hours and create the conditions for privacy; create a schedule of chores; check up your plans with each other. Show concern for your roommates needs – and if he/she is a normal person, he/she will pay you back with the same concern. What if the War Is Waged Already So, you have talked everything through, but your roommate ignores the schedule of chores, breaks every deal you have made up with him and talks rudely. How can you deal with it? Do not be like him. Try to speak politely. Okay, if your temper fails you – at least keep your fists away from his face. Talk the situation through with your friend first – that will help you decrease your emotions and to calm down. Do not discuss the problem in public. There is no need to let everyone know about your private issues. When talking with your roommate, try to listen whatever he has got to say and accept your responsibility for wrong actions if you are responsible for them. Remember, you want peace and therefore you two should work on the solution of your problems together.

Definition of Lecompton Constitution

The Lecompton Constitution was a controversial and disputed legal document of the Kansas Territory that became the focus of a great national crisis as the United States split over the issue of slavery in the decade before the Civil War. Though it is not widely remembered today, just the mention of Lecompton stirred deep emotions among Americans in the late 1850s. The controversy arose because a proposed state constitution, which had been drafted in the territorial capital of Lecompton, would have made slavery legal in the new state of Kansas. And, in the decades before the Civil War, the issue of whether slavery would be legal in new states was perhaps the most intensely debated issue in America. The controversy over the Lecompton Constitution eventually reached the White House of James Buchanan and was also heatedly debated on Capitol Hill. The issue of Lecompton, which came to define whether Kansas would be a free state or a slave state, also influenced the political careers of Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. The Lecompton crisis played a role in the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858. And the political fallout over Lecompton split the Democratic Party in ways that made Lincolns victory in the election of 1860 possible. It became a significant event on the nations path toward Civil War. And so that national controversy over Lecompton, though generally forgotten today, came to be a major issue on the nations road toward Civil War. Background of the Lecompton Constitution States entering the Union must draw up a constitution, and the Kansas territory had particular problems doing so when it moved to become a state in the late 1850s. A constitutional convention held at Topeka came up with an constitution that did not allow for slavery. However, pro-slavery Kansans held a convention in the territorial capital of Lecompton and created a state constitution that made slavery legal. It fell to the federal government to determine which state constitution would go into effect. President James Buchanan, who was known as a dough face, a northern politician with southern sympathies, endorsed the Lecompton Constitution. Significance of the Dispute Over Lecompton As it was generally assumed that the pro-slavery constitution had been voted upon in an election in which many Kansans refused to vote, Buchanans decision was controversial. And the Lecompton Constitution split the Democratic party, putting the powerful Illinois senator Stephen Douglas in opposition to many other Democrats. The Lecompton Constitution, although a seemingly obscure issue, actually became a subject of intense national debate. For example, in 1858 stories about the Lecompton issue appeared regularly on the front page of the New York Times. And the split within the Democratic Party persisted through the election of 1860, which would be won by the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln. The U.S. House of Representatives refused to honor the Lecompton Constitution, and the voters in Kansas also rejected it. When Kansas eventually entered the Union in early 1861 it was as a free state.