Introduction
Society has ways of measuring its development to ensure its plans for the present and future needs of its members. Organizations and nations have development indexes used to determine whether they are developing or not. A development index is a system used to determine the performance of society regarding the economy, politics, and social aspects. They are compared to standard measures, and when their results are higher than this it means the society is developed; however, a lower or negative outcome shows that there is no progress. This essay analyses the human development and political indexes.
Human Development Index
This is a combination of factors that affect developments in countries, and they are used to rank nations into four groups of human development. This concept was developed by Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen to try to explain why there is inequality in society. They believed that development should not be measured in terms of national income but by examining people-centered policies. The Human Development Index (HDI) was published in November 2010, and it combines the following three aspects. First, it emphasized life expectancy and observed that when people live longer they develop their society. In addition, they identified education as a key component of human development because of the role it plays in preparing people for the future. Lastly, they examined the importance of improved health standards as a measure of evaluating a country’s development.
Criticism
This index has been criticized because it presents ideological biases towards egalitarianism systems. It portrays support for inequalities in society because it uses variables used in western nations. In addition, it does not explore ecological considerations when comparing developed and developing nations. Critics argue that this model does not consider the contributions of technology to development and civilization. Moreover, its perspective is limited to nations, and it does not view development from a global standpoint. Lastly, there are high possibilities of miscalculations because of the UNDP’s changes in the formula used to rank nations. The following formula is used to calculate the Human Development Index to determine the position of a country.
Brand Development Index
Brand Development Index is a measure used to determine the performance of a product within groups of consumers. This paper uses a case study of how the Coca-cola brand sells in countries A and B. The table below shows the sale of this brand among people aged below 30 years.
The Brand Development Index for this product can be calculated by dividing the number of brand sales by that of households in countries A and B. The figure obtained is then divided by the totals of brand sales and households.
Brand sales to group ÷ Households in groups (121÷200) = 0.605
Total households ÷ Total Brand sales (301÷400) = 0.7525
Brand Development Index= 0.605 ÷0.7525 = 0.80
This data shows that this brand has a good market penetration in both countries even though there is a need to improve marketing strategies to ensure it improves. The company should evaluate its marketing strategies in country A to ensure this product attracts consumers. This means that it can reduce the price of this product or offer promotions to boost its sales.