Amazon.com Case Study Essay

1-2 Amazon Discussion Questions 1. On a scale of â€Å"1† (Very Poor) to â€Å"5† (Excellent), how would you rate Jeff Bezos as an entrepreneur? How would you rate him as an operating manager? Support your rating from case specifics. I would rate Jeff Bezos 10 as an entrepreneur, and 7 as an operating manager. On one hand, he identified book retailing as an industry segment that could exploit the power of emerging Internet technologies and found the Amazon.com, which enjoyed several years of tremendous growth, from an online bookstore into an online superstore, expanding the online business from retailing to auctions and marketplaces. He propelled the company through the dot com crash by partnering with traditional retailers and on to being a highly profitable online retailer. On the other hand, in order to support its rapidly growing and increasingly complex business, he invested heavily to develop state-of-art digital business infrastructure and operations which could provide the best-in-class retailing, fulfillment, and customer service capabilities, but built with rapid growth in mind, the distribution infrastructure provided roughly 70% to 80% overcapacity in late 1999. In early 2001, the company faced tremendous pressures from Wall Street and the company’s shareholders to achieve profitability. From 1997 to 2000, the Gross margin increased from 29 million to 655 million. However, the operating expenses also increased rapidly, from 61 million to 1519 million! The company simply could not make profit! 2. Trace the evolution of the Amazon.com business from the company’s launch in 1995 to the dot.com collapse in 2000. How did the company’s strategy change over time? How did IT capabilities evolve? What value did it deliver to all stakeholders? From its online bookstore launch in July 1995 till it went public in May 1997, the company located itself as an online retail bookstore, focused on redefining and enhancing the online shopping experience, including browsing, searching, personalized store layout and recommendations, shipping carts, 1-Click shopping, wish lists and greeting cards. Beginning in 1998, the company began aggressively expanding into new product categories and into international markets, becoming an online superstore selling a wide variety of products in over 160 different countries. During 1999, the company began exploring new business models including auctions and marketplaces. For these new businesses, the company provided software and services but did not assume control of inventory. As such, it played the role of an agent, not a retailer. During early 2000, the company expanded its marketplace business model through a series of equity partnerships with leading online retailers. How did the company’s strategy change over time? Within the first six years of its inception, Amazon transformed itself from an online bookstore into an online superstore selling a wide variety of products both nationally and internationally. Amazon set out with the strategy of becoming â€Å"Earth’s Biggest Bookstore† and to support its rapid growth it aligned its business model to â€Å"get big fast.† How did IT capabilities evolve: Capabilities enable a company to execute its current strategy and also provide a platform for future growth. Amazon used its IT capability as a powerful tool to enable operational cost savings, revenue growth opportunities, drive asset efficiencies and to create for itself a sustainable advantage. Stage I: Using IT to drive cost savings: Amazon used IT to control and bring down its raising fulfillment costs by computerizing and interconnecting even the notoriously labor-intensive activities like picking and packaging. Stage II: Using IT to drive revenue growth: Amazon used IT to create business intelligence to get to know its customers, markets and competition better and leveraged this capability to increase its revenues by attracting more customers and also by increasing the per customer purchase value. Stage III: Amazon created for itself a unique asset base comprising of its brand, customer relationships, the technical and fulfillment infrastructure, and leveraged it to create for itself a capability that could not be easily imitated by its competitors (online and traditional) or new entrants. Stage IV: Using IT to create sustainable advantage: Amazon’s digital business infrastructure, which linked its customer facing processes to its backend processes, helped it create a sustainable advantage for itself which served as an entry barriers for competition. The IT enabled commerce platform that Amazon built for itself is the key to its success. The value it delivered to all shareholders is its brand, customer relationships, technology, infrastructure, financial strength, people, and leadership in the dot com industry At the heart of Amazon’s value proposition is the fact that it leveraged its existing IT system and transformed it into a commerce platform, and this allowed Amazon to pursue new IT enabled strategic growth initiatives. In this process Amazon created value for all its stakeholders. Customers: Amazon’s sophisticated browsing experience with enhanced search capabilities, wish list, recommendations, shopping carts, one click shopping, personalized consumers shopping experience. Industry: Amazon’s business concept not only helped Amazon grow, rather it developed a value network for all the industry participants. Amazon’s  adoption of digital business capabilities compelled the retail industry to adopt and grow, or at least consider the new business model. Shareholders: In the early years, since Amazon had fewer physical assets, its asset turnover was extremely high. As Amazon.com began investing in its IT infrastructure and distribution network it increased its asset base and therefore had to look for new avenues to increase its revenues and to fuel its evolving business model. 3. Do you degree with the decision to pursue the Toy’s â€Å"R† Us deal? Support your decision with case specifics. Why did Amazon.com do the deal? Should Amazon.com do more deals like this? What impact does the Toys â€Å"R† Us deal have on the Amazon.com business model in early 2000? I agree with the decision to pursue the Toy’s â€Å"R† Us deal. Amazon.com found that its digital business infrastructure was a proprietary asset that would provide sustainable advantage, while supply chain, inventory management, and order fulfillment processes were difficult to efficiently scale across a diverse range of products. The dot-com stock market crash exacerbated the company’s problems and, by mid-2000, many of its online retail partners had declared, or were heading toward, bankruptcy. This caused Amazon.com executives to reevaluate the company’s business model. Rather than partner with dot-com retailers, attention shifted to traditional retailers that wished to develop online retailing capabilities and to upgrade their traditional distribution and fulfillment capabilities to enable the end-to-end visibility and speed required when doing business online. They should do more deals like this. The Toy’s â€Å"R† Us deal enabled the company to explore a new business model as a logistics services provider (Toy’s â€Å" R† Us would maintain control of product sourcing and marketing, as well as ownership of inventory) as it simultaneously expanded into a new market (traditional retailers) with its existing online retail product. 4. Consider the challenges facing the company. As a member of the Amazon.com board of directors in 2001, what actions would you take? Two of the biggest challenges that Amazon faced in early 2001 were whether it’s new â€Å"infrastructure services† model could develop into a competitive advantage that would be difficult to imitate by the competition and how to guard itself from increasing competition from traditional retailers. One way to deal with competitive threats from traditional retailers is to build an alliance with them. Amazon should continue to expand in the traditional retail market by attracting more retailers to sell to their products using its commerce platform. Teaming up with traditional retailers would require a delicate balance as it is important that this alliance between Amazon and its retail customers represents a win-win scenario. This will help Amazon use its fixed cost distribution network to capacity thereby increasing its benefits of scalability. Further it would allow Amazon to leverage its capabilities, increase revenues and develop its commerce platform into a strategic advantage that would be hard to imitate by new entrants or by traditional retailers.

Michelle Obama Analysis

October 9, 2012 Written Analysis 1) Speech Goal: What is the goal of the speech? What does the speaker want the listener to do? * The overall goal for Michelle Obama’s speech s to inform the audience that her husband, President Barack Obama is for the people. She wants them to realize that he can relate to every class in America. He has struggled with the same problems that America is facing today at some point in his life. The speaker wants the audience to appreciate who they have as a leader and to be confident enough to re-elect him again. 2) Speech Organization: What is the overall organizational structure of the message? Remember Chapters 11, 12, 13, 14) * The overall message was in a motivated sequence with the 5 steps, attention, need, satisfaction, visualization, and action. 3) Speakers Role: What kind of relationship has the speaker established with the audience? Does he or she speak from a position of power? As an equal? How does this role established by the speaker influence the speech’s effectiveness * Mrs. Obama creates a more equal relationship rather than being superior to the audience even though she has a great deal of power on her back.She speaks to them from an eye to eye perspective. The way the speaker shows the audience how much they can actually relate, the audience is prone to find favor in their similar situations and is more likely to gain a liking for him. This speech is very effective because the audience can see that President Obama and his wife feels what they feel and they know what’s it like to have issues. They didn’t grow up rich, without experiencing the downfalls of society; they had to climb that ladder of success as normal American’s. ) Speaker’s Tone: What is the overall tone, or â€Å"feel,† of the message? How does the speaker use supporting material and delivery clues to establish an overall tone of speech? * This speech has a tone of hope and equality. After hearing this speech you can’t help but feel hopeful that things will get better. The first lady helps you see that it’s possible to make it. There is hope for every family that wants to send their children to college just like there is hope for every family who has soldiers serving their country.Not only that, but there is a sense of equality in the speakers tone to help the audience relate to a much further extent. 5) Speakers Techniques: What does the speaker do to establish credibility? Does the speaker use logical arguments, tell effective and interesting stories, use emotional appeals, and use interesting and precise language? * The speaker creates credibility by basically saying she’s been in their footsteps, especially with her father having a disability and with him being a father and sending his children to college even if he did have to take out loans when he fell short.The speaker does use logical arguments, tells effective and interesting stories, use emotional appeals, and use interesting and precise language. The speaker shows her sincerity in everything she says which shows the audience how much passion is behind every word and scenario. 6) Audience: Who is the intended audience? How effectively and appropriate does the speaker connect to the interest, needs and background of the audience? How does the speaker make the connection with the audience? The intended audience is more of the middle class, she states a lot of issues that middle class people go through, even as growing up as a middle class child, and she went through those same issues. She connects with them by being able to say, â€Å"Yes I’ve been there, and Yes I’ve made it through. † 7) What was your favorite aspect of the speech, and why? * My favorite aspect is how she gives the audience that reassurance that even though times may be hard right now that it is not the end.You have to believe in America and hope for the best. No country or President is p erfect. We have to have our President’s back and show we that we have faith in him. 8) Why is this activity relevant? What do you learn from watching speeches? * This activity was very relevant because as young adults, we need to be more in tuned with what’s going on in our society. We see how the speaker comes across to America by noticing several points that we’ve discussed in class. We learn what to do to improve as speakers ourselves.

Critical Discussion of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi Essay

Critical Discussion of Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi - Essay Example There's no way for prayer to be disentangled from belief because when we pray, we raise our hearts and minds to God and during that spiritual and mental immersion, we are able to access the supernatural truth about our belief and only then can we claim that we are true believers (O'Brien 2002, p.169). prayers are expressed in its liturgy, particularly in sermons and hymns, where the faithful also contribute their own personal prayers, the liturgy is the lex orandi. Theology is obviously lexed credendi because its purpose is to encapsulate dogmas that the faithful may believe. The first salvo of dissension was thrown when Prosper of Aquitaine argued that the Church's prayer is the source and thus determines Theology. The implication, therefore, is that what was prayed for by the faithful, must necessarily be taught as Theology (Hohenstein 2008). Contradictory to this is the classicists stand that the law of belief determines the law of prayer (Toon 1992, p.1). This connotes that the whole liturgy and all the sacraments must be prescribed by what was written in theological texts. If this is so, the liturgy is condemned to be rigid, repetitive and boring and thus subject to rejection by a portion of the faithful who would be dazzled by the wide dimension of freedom of worship by some Protestant sects. The Catholic Church realizing such pitfalls repeatedly convened ecumenical councils to thresh out the problems and hammer out meaningful changes to the liturgy. The Council of Trent, thus reformed the Missal and the Breviary. More earthshaking was Pope Paul VI's Novus Ordo Missae. For the first time the concept of "lex orandi, lex credendi" was subjected to a complete overhaul as it is now viewed as "the Church prays as the Church believes".  

Strategies for Building Effective Relationships Paper Essay

Strategies for Building Effective Relationships Paper - Essay Example These strategies are developed to increase motivation and work performance of the employees. Strong relationship of company with its organizational members is build by putting many efforts. Good relationship helps to satisfy all the staffs of the company. It facilitates the firm to retain its employees. Strategies in this case are designed by considering employees needs and requirements. In this case study, as a new product development manager I have to implement strategies for improving the condition of my uncle’s business. In my uncle’s business employees play an important role in organizational growth and success. Therefore maintaining a good relationship with them is an important responsibility of the company. Strategies of the company need to be decided according to that. As a product development project leader I have joined my uncle’s business. The company is into mid size manufacturing business. Presently the business condition is very bad. Employees and other organizational members are not satisfying with business functions. I mainly handle operational activities of the company. I have analyzed the company’s situation and have come to the conclusion that revenue of the organization has significantly dropped in past few years. The organizational members of this business did not implement any new ideas in business operation and development process. There is no such project manager present to manage and look after the works of various projects. As a result business functions are not executed properly. Project leaders were there but they left the company because of serious conflict with their supervisors and managers. For all of these reason employees are getting de-motivated in this company and this leads to deterioration of the company . My uncle’s business needs to be organized in an effective way so that the company develops a strong relationship with its

Recruitment and Selection of Talented Staff (Tesco) Dissertation

Recruitment and Selection of Talented Staff (Tesco) - Dissertation Example Tesco, one of the largest retailers and largest private employer in the UK, have lost market share and company reputation in recent times due to high employee turnover. They expect to add 20,000 UK but it is not known to what extent they have a structured recruitment and selection process. With the aim to evaluate if retailers align the recruitment and selection of talent with their corporate strategy, three research objectives were stated. The study concludes that Tesco has not given focus to employee recruitment and retention in their corporate strategy. Their corporate strategy focuses on brand building as they have been suffering from an adverse brand image. While Tesco is proactive in the recruitment process they do not employ informal methods of recruitment. Corporate strategies reflect long-term workforce strategy and direct the recruitment and selection policy but this has not found to be valid in the case of Tesco. SMART recommendations have been made which would help Tesco reduce employee turnover. Employee recruitment has been the focus of research by many scholars and there has been an increase in the variety of recruitment topics (Breaugh, 2008) thereby suggesting that recruitment is a critical function of the HRM. Esbjerg, Buck and Grunert (2010) are of the opinion that human resources management (HRM) practices of retailers has not been the focus of researchers although larger retailers face several challenges in managing the work force. The success of the organizations depends upon their ability to tap into the talent and skills of their employees. This requires a holistic approach to recruitment and the selection process. Human resources are now considered valuable capital, valuable assets that should be motivated and retained in the organization. However, this implies that the recruitment and selection of the right people with the right skills in the right position would make the difference between success and failure of an organization (HRMID 2005). Recruitment is no more based on the traditional approach of personnel management. It has undergone tremendous changes due to globalization,

4G Wireless Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

4G Wireless Systems - Essay Example Data packets are sent wirelessly to the satellites that help to transfer data quickly. This change has brought about much relief for the general public as now communication can be easier and much faster and not to mention it has become a lot less tedious. However, the fast paced changes in the technological world make it a lot harder for various companies and industries to keep up. One day a new product is introduced and the next day the team sits down to chalk out the plans to make the product better. A perfect example would be Apple’s effort to introduce new and improved versions of the iPhone and then there is the competition that makes companies run faster and faster. Using the last example of Apple it is now common knowledge that Google’s Android is becoming the competition to the iPhone. In the same manner, wireless systems have evolved from time to time and continue to do so.The wireless communication systems have been defined by giving then designations with reg ards to generations. The first generation was introduced in the early 1980s and made use of analog frequency modulation and were more or less used for the purpose of voice communication. It was not much later in the late 1980s that the second generation of wireless system technology made its way in the market was once again focused on voice communicationÃ'Ž Later, instead of a third generation technology, there was a midway between the second and third generation know as 2.5 generation.  

Discrimination Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Discrimination - Essay Example It can be called much close to ethnic discriminatory behavior. This Essay is based on one of the many victims of language-based discrimination. The subject is one Mr. Gafur Leka who will elaborate on the hard ships he had to face in his personal and professional life due to the bare fact that he was not well versed with the English language. Though it cannot be said as a serious handicap but people made him believe so. Mr. Gafur Leka believes that Discrimination in any form is bad for the unity and diversity of our society and men couldn’t grow and contribute positively to the society if either they are victims or perpetrators of Discrimination. He is equally critical of the Discrimination based on Language as often it goes un-noticed and seldom comes under the scanner. According to him the maximum cases of language based discrimination happen at the work place and often go un-noticed. According to Mr. Gafur Leka language based discriminatory behavior is equally bad and obnoxious for the social fabric. Mr. Gafur Leka works at Harvard maintenance at a fairly senior position of Maintenance supervisor for projects. But his position and standing in the society doesn’t reflect the prejudices and discrimination he had to face before finally attaining this position and gaining the respect of his peers. In the words of Mr. Gafur leka â€Å" I came here in the year 1970, armed with a mechanical engineering diploma from a reputed institute based in India.† It were tough times then for foreign emigrants who came, Mr. leka came here with stars in his eyes, but the moment he landed here it was a rude awakening for him. He was asked uncomfortable questions at the emigration counter about his ethnicity, his purpose of visit and more than anything he was poked at his inability to converse in English. â€Å" It was such a embarrassing experience for me, though I was able to understand a bit about what they were saying but couldn’t

Leading Strategy Change Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leading Strategy Change - Case Study Example This again proved, most changes are not physical but in the mental state of men and women. 1968 - Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore found Intel. (Intel Corp, 2006). Intel has seen rapid progress from that date till today, nearly four decades later. Intel has been known for its innovation. As a chip maker, they started doing RAM chips. In 1969, they launched 3101 Bipolar RAM. Soon they followed it up with innumerable number of inventions starting from the 4 bit microprocessors, EPROM chips, Microcontrollers, 8 bit microprocessors, chips for supercomputers, DRAMs and many other innovative products. It is the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world. It makes the number one chip that is on more than 85% of the Desktop computers. Intel Corp., has grown from a small start up firm that wanted to innovate to a large mega corporation that was to be emulated. The point of change that is to be looked at today is when Intel launched its all new Pentium Processor with much fanfare. We will take a close look at the sequence of events that headed for a change in the management doctrine in Intel. 1. Year 1993, Intel realized that their processors were predominantly employed, more than 90%, in making of the personal computers. They wanted to have the public know that it is their processor inside. Though most people talk of the Intel chip that goes into the processor and that the processor is the heart of the computer. Intel rolled out what they called as the Intel Inside logo. 1993 saw the launch of the campaign across the world in all countries. In China, they even had the cycle reflectors with Intel Inside logo for awareness. (Andrew S Grove, 1996). 2. Pentium was launched after much research in 1994. During the course of the testing exercise, it was found that Pentium had a floating point problem that occurred once every nine billion divisions. If this has to occur on a spreadsheet, it has to be used for nearly 27000 years. With this in mind, Intel went on to release the processor into the market. 3. Pentium evoked good response from the market. IBM adopted Pentium and so did others. But one response from a professor who did math calculations said that he found that there was a calculation error when multiple divisions were done. This escalated and the problem on the Pentium was blown into the media glare. 4. November, 1994 - media was fully on the Pentium FPU (Function Point Unit) calculation error. Every magazine, techie or otherwise, reported the event. CNN covered the whole episode. The net result was that the people suddenly and over night declined to accept the chips. By December, 1994, IBM stopped shipping PCs with Pentium Chips. 5. In order to restore confidence with the people, Intel corrected the chip and replaced every one of the bad chips already sold to all those who asked for a replacement. This meant replacing millions of chips costing over $475 million. Managing the Change - Loss and Later The change that happened in Intel needs to be closely studied. Intel CEO, Mr Andrew S Grove, calls the change that shook Intel out of its perceived safety as Strategic Inflection Point. This changes the course of a company either takes it to the next level

The mirror has two faces Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The mirror has two faces - Movie Review Example The Mirror Has Two Faces is about different views people hold about love,sex,relationships and marriage.The title represents how different insights are seen on the same topicwith the â€Å"mirror† being the topic of love and relationships and the â€Å"two faces† being the different views held by the characters of the movie,mainly Rose and Gregory. A mirror is supposed to be a reflection of the person standing in front of it, and the title of the movie mentions that it has two faces, most probably the person and its reflection, but these faces are not necessarily one and the same person thinking the same thoughts. Hence, the title makes one curious as to what it truly means. The characters’ ideas about sex, love, and marriage: The characters of the movie hold various perspectives on sex, love and marriage. Alex holds romantic views and showers Claire with affection to the point that it suffocates her. To him, he is like a romantic hero. Claire is so bent on using her beauty to attract men but when she gets them, she easily gets tired of them and is searching for another pursuit to keep her excited and interested. Hannah is kind of self-obsessed that to her, love should center on her own happiness and should boost her self-esteem. Henry is more down to earth and is a sounding board to Gregory’s ideas on love and sex and has a more grounded belief that a balance should be struck in order for a relationship to work, although he himself dates younger women not for their intelligence but mostly for their physical appeal. The central characters of Rose and Gregory provide the conflict in the story. For Rose, a romantic relationship should be fueled by passion and romance to support the deep love that the couple has for each other. They should know each other very well, including seemingly insignificant details and should be able to respond to each other’s needs even if help is not solicited. Gregory, on the other hand, burned severa l times from his previous romantic relationships, believe that sex complicates matters. He believes that relationships based on romantic love and physical attraction are worthless because it creates illusions that eventually end up disappointing people because they cannot keep up to the expectations of each other. Where the chief characters are on their relationship journey. The Whiteheads describe marriage both as an institution and as a journey. In the movie, marriage as an institution was not clearly agreed upon by the characters and was not depicted in such a way that it is a solid, immovable establishment. Instead, it would be more appropriate to describe the main characters’ marriage as a journey of friendship gone backwards. Theirs was founded on a deep friendship without the physical affection most man-woman relationships share even before marriage. Gregory claims that they are lucky to have reached their level of relationship to have skipped sexual tension and have g one straight to a meeting of minds and hearts. On the other hand, Rose thought differently. For her, the journey was just beginning and sexual intimacy is a necessary part of the journey towards the marital union, in the truest sense of the word. After they have cleared things with each other of what to expect from their marriage and are now looking at the same road and destination, they anticipate a smoother journey together with all the necessary ingredients to make their marriage stronger. The styles of communication & conflict used by the couples. It has always been known that communication is a key to successful relationships. In the movie, there were various communication styles that reflected the views of the characters. There were scenes wherein Gregory would voice out his passionate beliefs in his theories about a sexless relationship because it does not complicate matters and elevates the relationship to a higher level of respect, trust, admiration. Rose cannot put one wor d in. Because Rose was in love with Gregory, she tried to accept his beliefs, shunning aside her

Environmental Pollution Essay Example for Free

Environmental Pollution Essay Environmental pollution is the biggest menace to the human race on this planet today. It means adding impurity to environment. The environment consists of earth, water, air, plants and animals. If we pollute them, then the existence of man and nature will be hampered. It is true that trees are being cut down rapidly. Our earth is becoming warmer. If pollution continues, the day is not far when our earth will be a boiling pan and become a desert. Or it will be covered with sea water causing destruction of mankind. Pure air is always needed for inhaling. If we take pure air, our health improves. On the other hand impure air causes diseases and impairs our health and causes our death. Smoke pollutes the air. It is the root of air pollution. The smoke which is discharged from industries, automobiles and kitchens is the mixture of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane etc. These are all poisonous gases. These cause lung-cancer, tuberculosis etc. which take a heavy toll of life. The glaring incident is the Bhopal gas leak in December 1984. Thousands of the residents of Bhopal died due to lungs problem which was caused by methylamine gas from the Union Carbide Plant. The garbage emitting foul smell, the decaying plants and animals also cause air pollution. Hence the doctors advise the patients having lungs trouble to settle in some rural places because the air of villages is pure and free from population. Then comes sound pollution. The harsh sounds of buses, its, mopeds etc. affect our power of hearing and causes fart trouble. It has been reported that there are two villages named Biraspalli and Devadas Palli near Dum Dum airport m Calcutta where a large number of people have lost their power of hearing. This is because of the frequent sounds of planes coming in and going out of Dum Dum Airport. The evils of sound pollution can be imagined from this example. The water of rivers and seas is being constantly polluted all over the world by various dangerous chemical and biological wastes. Mills and factories discharge very harmful waste waters into many rivers and sea. The water of the Ganges flowing by the side of both Varanashi and Calcutta is extremely polluted and contains all sorts of dangerous bacteria. It is really very strange and laughable that large number of the Indians regard this water as holy. They even drink this water for salvation. There is no doubt that the fish that grow in such waters are poisonous too. Reckless application of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides pollutes the soil. Vegetables and fruits are quite injurious today, because they contain the poison of insecticides and pesticides. If the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil which produces our crops, vegetables and fruits, all become more and more impure, then our chances of good health and longevity will be very less and less. Environment pollution is a serious menace to our existence. Realising the danger, we must plant trees in large number to absorb impure air. Impure water from industries can be sent back for purification and then it can be used for irrigation purpose. Our government is well aware of the fact and is taking steps to save environment from pollution. We have also I minister to look after the environment.

Economic Impacts of Smuggling in Pakistan

Economic Impacts of Smuggling in Pakistan Smuggling basically refers to the transfer of goods illegally from one place to another. It is an activity which consists of the importation or exportation of goods or living beings by wrong or unlawful means with the objective of evading taxes. It is illegal methods of conducting business and is done secretly. The principle causes of smuggling are greed for wealth ignorance and lack of nationalism or patriotism. X-ray of an abdomen piled up with cocaine       The objective of this report is to look at the economic impacts of smuggling in Pakistan. There are various motivations to smuggle in this country. These include the participation in illegal activities, such as, drug trade, illegal weapons trade, exotic wildlife trade, illegal immigration or illegal emigration, tax evasion, providing contraband to a prison inmate, or the theft of the items being smuggled. The main objectives are: What are the national trends on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants in Pakistan? What are the main smuggling routes? What is the impact of Pakistans economic issues on trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants? The scope of the research is how can we get awareness about these types of illegal trade of goods in Pakistan, identify key dynamics and provide policy and program recommendations for that. However it is difficult to determine due to lack of reliable data but we can try our level best through discussing about these types of illegal economy of Pakistan and offer long-term solutions that how can we safe our economy from these illegal trade of goods to support Pakistan. This report attempts to map out the proceeds from: Drugs and Precursors trafficking Kidnapping from ransom Trafficking of arms Human trafficking Migrant Smuggling These crimes are based on their contribution towards global, rational, regional risks. This study focus upon government policies towards illegal economy through group discussion. In past Pakistan faced difficulties because of smuggling. Smuggling demolished our economy so many times in multidimensional way. It undermines the local industries and decreases the volume of earnings and revenue which is collected from duties and service sectors. The volume of informal economy is raised up to 50 to 60% of the formal economy. Revenue loss on account of smuggling as estimated by the World Bank, amounted to US 35$ billion during nine years (2000-2009). Pak-Afghan border is the main problem. People living in Chaman didnt need visas to cross the border. They run the business on both sides as well as marriages. Goods up to 5 to 6 billion dollars were smuggled from Afghanistan to Pakistan through trade route especially dry fruits. Afghanistan also imports goods illegally from Pakistan such as milk, juices and other machinery items etc. Many of Pakhtoons have relatives on both sides. Afghans went to Pakistan for medical checkup, family functions and for business etc.But suddenly the travelling between two countries stopped. Pakistan has announced that for security reasons only Afghans with proper documents will be allowed to cross the border. Up to 25000 people use to cross border every day. One day 1 of the new policy thousands of people were facing problem in travelling from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Pushtoons with families across the border are worry about this situation. Afghan transit trade becomes a biggest source of smuggling. On the period of 2008-2010 the revenue loss is about 2.5 to 3 billion which are estimated annually during this period. The money which is collected illegally by some politicians, businessmen and terrorist are transferred to Swiss Bank. Up to $200 billion has transferred to Swiss Bank. Up to $40 billion alone black money lying in Swiss Bank of the year 2008-2009.On the other hand economy of Pakistan is increasing at the alarming rate of 20% per annum. Pakistanis entered the UK illegally and still continue for earning money. Around 430,000 Pakistanis live in UK. Due to the illegal migration, many Pakistanis were imprisoned in foreign jails. Beside these issues, there was an issue about tobacco control in Pakistan. Taxes on tobacco were increased due to which prices of cigarette were increased by 10%. Therefore, the demand for cigarette has reduced by 11.7%. The volume of smuggling is 18 billion Pakistani Rupees in cigarette and other tobacco products. Similarly, 22 billion Pakistani Rupees in petroleum product, 25 billion in automotive parts and 200 billion Pakistani Rupees in other commodities like cosmetics, cloth, medicines etc. People of Pakistan were using petroleum products smuggled from Iran because it is cheaper than that of Pakistan. The petroleum products up to 2 billion were smuggled from Iran to Pakistan. This situation is getting worse day by day. According to a survey in 2013, the smuggling in electronics has increased drastically. Each day thousands of cellphones and laptops are being shipped or imported in Pakistan alone in electronic markets illegally. Another research in this regard revealed that smuggler crosses Wahga border which has been opened by the president regime which would result in a huge chunk of Indian goods destined for Afghanistan would ultimately land in our domestic market which would destroy the national economy. They uses Pak-Iran border and Pak-Afghan border along with the coastal areas of Baluchistan to smuggle these goods to various parts of the country. This situation is very serious for the economy of Pakistan as these factors have great impact on any economy. The economic growth of Pakistan is already declining; one of the main factors is illegal trading or smuggling. The taxes which are imposed to all the imports are increasing therefore; the smuggling of commodities is at high right now. A local good is twice the price of the same good that has been smuggled. Or if its of same price, then the illegally transferred good is more reliable or more durable. All because of these factors the demand of these smuggled products are also very high. A middle class citizen who cant afford expensive stuff or goods can now buy just about anything because the price of smuggled stuff is half of what its actually worth. Government of Pakistan has introduced policies, rules and regulations to avoid these illegal trades. They have now put extra measures and security to afghan-Pakistan borders where smuggling is mostly done from. Also different check-up points have been made after few miles in highways to check the vehicles in order to avoid terrorism and smuggling in Pakistan. So, Government is taking steps to reduce these illegal trades but their efforts as of now are still in vain. Smuggling is a very serious matter in the entire world but unfortunately its condition in Pakistan is worse than the most of the countries in the word. Most of the smuggling goods in and out Afghanistan are through Pakistan. The Wagha Border is the main route of transportation of these illegal activities. To make the situation even worse, unfortunately out of 30 routes only 6 of these routes are under control of customs department of borders in Pakistan. The legal goods smuggled through Pakistan in different destinations are worth 2.8 Billion Dollars per year alone. In fact according to the latest reports Pakistan is losing 2.62 Billion worth of revenue per year by the smuggling of just 11 goods. The revenue is lost in the form of duties and taxes on smuggled goods that could be far higher than $2.63 billion or Rs276 billion, if the scope of the study is widened or spread to all the smuggled goods. The report took into account the impact of smuggling mobile phones, tea, vehicles, diesel, tires, auto parts, steel sheets, cigarettes, flat screens, plastics, and garments; on revenues, industrial production, investment and employment. In order to reduce the rate of smuggling government has to take some serious steps as it has a very bad impact in our economy. As a developing country, having smuggling rate as high as in Pakistan means bad news for the future. The goods that our country supply in its market is worth way more than the smuggled goods available in black markets. Even the concept of the black market has been fading in Pakistan because one can find smuggled almost anywhere in Pakistan. Steps must be taken to reduce this problem. All the NATO vehicles transporting commodities should be checked and approved by the Pakistani concerned authorities, also other vehicles carrying commodities in and out of Pakistan. Pakistani Borders should also be equipped with latest tech to detect any weapons or other illegal items that could be detected. In this report all the factors regarding smuggling shall be briefly discussed. On the very first section, forms of smuggling and there cautions will defined and apart from that its impacts on the economy of Pakistan shall also be discussed. From the given statistics of the past summaries of smuggling in Pakistan the future outcome and rate can be determined. Analyzing deportation patterns can be the only means of estimating volume of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants. TABLE: GRAPH 1: This precise data shows that Pakistan has been increasing since 2007 with 16% change over the period of 2007-2013.Between the period of 2007- 2008 and 2010-2013 there is increase in volume while a decline was experienced from 2008-2010.There was highest deportees in 2013 and lowest deportees in 2010. GRAPH 2: Assessing the illegal economy is a challenging task.It is estimated that about USD 13,941 (PKR 15 lakhs = PKR 1,500,000) is charged by agents for destinations in Europe and about USD 13,011.43 14,870.21 (PKR 14 16 lakh) being charged for the United Kingdom. For the East it is estimated that USD 5,576.31 4,646.92 (PKR 5-6 lakhs) is charged for destinations like Malaysia and Indonesia. The minimum illegal ecocomy since 2007 can be estimated to be the following: TABLE: Overall it can be observed that numbers are increasing as these are based on deportation numbers. It has been observed that smuggling of migrants involves groups of participant. Each participant involves in an economic exchange.For Pakistan the total sum of services provided are following: It has been observed by the authorities that if detectors detected smuggled migrants then they punished them for 15 days in jail and a fine of between 200 to 1000 USD (PKR 20000 100000). If the detected smuggled migrant shares no specific information about the agent during the legal process he is able to receive 2 more attempts to take the same route without paying any additional fee to the agent. This practice makes the problem to identify the agents supporting the smuggling of migrants. GRAPH 3: On Human Trafficking the male to female ratio was 68% and 32% in 2007.By 2010 this has shown a minor increase in female share to 41%. This indicates that the number of female agents or traffickers is increasing in the region. In Pakistan, it is not possible to see any national trend on this phenomenon. The arrest rate nevertheless can be seen to be increasing for the most wanted traffickers.

A Comparison of The Aeneid and Metamorphoses :: comparison compare contrast essays

A Comparison of The Aeneid and Metamorphoses      Ã‚   Both Vergil and Ovid imbedded underlying meanings in their epics The Aeneid and Metamorphoses.   In this paper I will focus on the underlying meaning in the Underworld scene in Vergil's The Aeneid (lines 356 through 1199).   I will also focus on three scenes in Ovid's Metamorphoses.   Both epics contain a larger message about the importance of the Roman past for its present and future under Augustus.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The story of Aeneas in the Underworld can be interpreted as a brilliant rendition of the story of Rome's past, present, and future.   When Aeneas descends into the Underworld, he is escorted by the Sibyl (lines 347 - 349). This gives the readers a clue that what is to happen in the upcoming text is a foretelling of Roman future because the Sibyl was a prophetess (Course Packet, p16).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As Aeneas enters the Underworld, he sees numerous horrible sights: Grief, Disease, Old Age, Fear, Hunger, and several others. (Lines 356 - 379)   These unsettling and dark words bring difficult images to the reader's mind.   These lines foretell that there will be difficulties while Rome is in its infancy through phrases like "lonely night" and "phantom kingdom".   Rome did indeed have difficulties in its infancy; in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE it was ruled by Etruscan kings and was only "... a little hill town." (Short Histories, p20)      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lines 390 through 549 in The Aeneid deal with the crossing of the River Styx.   This represents a great transition period in Rome.   It symbolizes the founding of the Republic.   The multitude of rushing and swarming people (Line 402) represents those that suffered the "internal turmoil" in the early stages of the Republic.   (Short Histories, p21)   When Aeneas mentions, "... and by what rule must some keep off the bank ..." (Lines 419 - 421) he may symbolically be referring to the "Struggle of the Orders" that the early Republic experienced. (Short Histories, p22)      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As Aeneas wanders through the Underworld, he notices Dido wandering about.   (Lines 593 - 626)   He tries to talk to her, but his words serve no purpose; she flees from him.   He then sees the souls of those who died in battle.

The Left and Right Brain Hemispheres: Independent Centers of Consciousness? :: Biology Health Term Papers

The Left and Right Brain Hemispheres: Independent Centers of Consciousness? "I'm of two minds on the matter." "I can't make up my mind." "I'm having an internal argument." Our language is full of idioms that make it sound as if there were two disagreeing voices inside our heads. Often, that is indeed how it feels. But is that sensation physiologically supported? Can a brain fight with itself? Can there be multiple independent centers of consciousness in a single head? Until the 1960s, there was no way for us to test this feeling of internal disagreement. But when a surgery aimed at alleviating epileptic seizures also isolated the two hemispheres of the patient's brain, science was surprisingly afforded that opportunity. Background The left and right hemispheres of the brain are connected by a dense bundle of neurons called the corpus callosum. This bundle is primarily responsible for communication of information between the two hemispheres, connecting them with approximately 200 million callosal axons (in humans.) (1) In some cases of multifocal epilepsy, the electrical discharges that cause seizures can start in one hemisphere and spread to the other by way of the corpus callosum, greatly increasing the severity of the fit. Sometimes this condition is unresponsive to medication, at which point the spasms can only be controlled with more drastic measures.(2) In 1961, Dr. Michael Gazzaniga performed an operation which had been pioneered on animals by Drs. Ronald Meyers and Roger Sperry, but which had never before been tested on human patients. In this procedure, called a commissurotomy, the surgeon opens the skull, lays back the brain coverings with a cerebral retractor, and cuts through the corpus callosum. While this prevents a seizure from spreading, it also prevents information from being passed between hemispheres. Thanks to Dr. P. J. Vogel, we now know that severing the anterior  ¾ of the corpus callosum can effectively stop the spread of a seizure, while allowing full communication between the hemispheres to remain. (3) However, the behavior of full-commissurotomy patients has been extensively documented, and provides fascinating insight into the specialization of the hemispheres, the nature of the brain, and the nature of consciousness itself. Results To understand these behaviors, one must first remember that neurological wiring of the body is, for the most part, contralateral. Signals travel from the left side of the body to the right hemisphere of the brain and back, and vice versa.

The New Slave Trade Essay -- Essays Papers

The New Slave Trade When I arrived at the brothel, a girl asked me, â€Å"What are you doing here?† I responded, â€Å"I come here to work.† â€Å"Don’t you know this is where people sell their body?† I couldn’t sleep at night; I kept thinking about what she had said. Selling my body? I didn’t know what selling my body means. I thought†¦ it means cutting off parts of my body and sell them; if it was only that†¦ (Sacrifice) Here is another innocent voice out of countless others who have been sexually exploited by faceless offenders night and day. According to the Southeast Asian Women Organization, 30 million women and children have been the victim of sexual trafficking since 1970. The exact statistics are difficult to obtain because by its very nature, commercial sexual exploitation involves underground activities that remove the victims from public view, making them seemingly â€Å"invisible.† Bound behind the doors of brothels or secret rooms, the women and children are hidden away so that they can be exploited at leisure while protecting the perpetrators’ exposure. The gathering of data can only be conducted when the children â€Å"surface† so the data always underestimate the actual scope of the problem. The children â€Å"surfaced† when they run away to local homeless shelters, seek hospital treatments for STDs or other maladies, are caught by immigration service or thrown out of their brothel as ‘useless’, or engage in such activities that cause them to be identified and recorded. Adding to this difficulty is the fact that there is little consensus in national law, across disciplines or in data gathering protocols on what constitutes a child or sexual trafficking. Even the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child a... ... food for me to serve?† - they beat me up if I didn’t sleep with the men - 30 million sexual trafficking victims since 1970 according to Southeast Asia Women Organization - Global Fund for Women provides money for programs - ABC Nepal tires to increase women status - 75% of the population in Nepal is illiterate - Night clubs and brothels grew up like mushroom. 100,000 GI flocking to Bangkok to vent their hedonistic desire is like bringing in mass rape to the country. - Many sex tours and pagkages in Thailand. In some villages, 70% of the girls work as prostitutes - My only day off is when I’m menstruating - Of the 30,000 Burmese women who were trafficked to work as prostitutes in Thailand, 50-70% is tested HIV positive by the end of the year. (Women Project of Asia Watch)

Eugene Achike- a Man Who Did Horrible Things Essay

Papa’s role in the community is vital in its functioning: he the prime contributor to its people by donating money to the church and church related organisations. He uses his newspaper, The Standard as a form of rebellion against the corrupt military government which proves that he is trying to better the country. His relationship with Ade Coker and the effect that his death had on him proves that he has compassion and is soft-hearted ,but chooses to mask it- not wanting to show any sort weakness. He helps the Coker family get back on their feet after Ade’s death, helping the baby regain her voice thus proves that he has good qualities. At home he is depicted as a tyrannical leader and is constantly enforcing his position in the family by means of instilling fear and in turn he receives blind obedience, discipline and most importantly the ‘perfect family’. His methods of enforcing his position ranges from extreme physical abuse which is vividly portrayed when he beat Mama to the point of her having a miscarriage and when he beat Kambili and Jaja for â€Å"walking into sin† in Nsukka ,to emotional abuse when he intimidated Kambili in front of her peers for ‘choosing’ to come second in class. Actions such as these or ensuring that his children follow a strict schedule designed by him could easily change the reader’s perception of Papa into a negative one, but it is is justification and his his role in the community that sways the reader’s perception of him. His justification for his actions is portrayed through his fanatical belief. He feels that it is his moral obligation to punish those that have sinned which in turn redeems them their place in heaven. This is continually represented by his emotional state whilst punishing a family member, crying while pouring water over Kambili’s feet, his swollen eyes after finding out about the miscarriage and the remorse that he felt after Mama left for Nsukka. It would be a fairly accurate deduction that Papa does monstrous things, but he also does good throughout the novel which proves that he is not a monster nor is he a saint.

Induction of Employees Essay

Starting a new job is stressful for most employees because of the initial feeling of being out of place and under pressure to make a positive impression to fellow co-workers and managers. It is therefore important that all new employees are made to feel welcome and valued and are also made aware of what is expected of them during their employment (Macdonald 2004, p. 104). Induction is regarded as the final stage of recruitment and selection but the first phase in the training and development of new employees. Induction is the process of familiarizing new employees to the company and their jobs with the aim of giving the employees a proper understanding of how things are done. Induction also known as orientation serves the purpose of providing a transition for the employee from college to work life. Since most employees start their work with a desire to succeed, induction programs offer the opportunity for them to achieve this (Compton and Nankervis 2009). Ideally an induction program involves a tour of the building showing the fire exit points, toilets, meeting and break rooms, important offices like the CEO’s office, supplies office and the Human Resources Department. The induction program will be determined by the type of job, cultural practices and structure of the organization. Induction for smaller companies might even involve a conversation with the Human Resources Manager while that for large organizations might involve several weeks of training and supervision (Compton and Nankervis, 2009). During the recruiting process, new recruits always have high expectations about their new jobs and the company. They might also have unrealistic expectations which might not be met leading the recruits to have feelings of dissatisfaction and anxiety. In general, unmet expectations lead to employee dissatisfaction which in turn leads to high employee turnover (Werner and DeSimone 2009). Some companies do not view the orientation of employees into an organization as important. Some take it as a waste of time and they therefore conduct the programs in a haphazard way. Others might not have the programs at all which will result in the employee going straight into the job without any idea on what to do. The induction of employees has benefits such as reduced employee turnover, lower recruitment and selection costs, increase in employee morale. It also reduces the anxiety levels of employees. Overly anxious employees might increase costs in the area of education and development, turnover and absenteeism (Compton and Nankervis 2009). In today’s competitive working environment, orientation programs are not meeting the goals they were designed for. The reason these programs fall short is due to lack of planning, lack of expectations and the feeling of disillusionment by most employees. Attracting qualified workers includes offering higher salaries, better benefits and career advancement opportunities. With such increased costs, retention of employees becomes the main focus of a company instead of production (Squidoo 2010). Mistakes that are made during the induction process include activities such as bombarding new recruits with a lot of information on the first day and expecting them to memorize it, showing boring or outdated orientation videos, giving lengthy lectures about irrelevant information and failing to provide the new worker with a work station that has necessary facilities such as a computer, phone, printer and internet connection. Some employers also fail to give out any work leading the recruits to sit idle for most of the day (Squidoo 2010). The most frequent complaints about employee orientation programs is that they are overwhelming to the new employee thereby not providing the smooth transition that is needed to begin working. It becomes overwhelming especially if there is a test or quiz at the end of the program which requires the new recruits to remember all the information they have just been presented with. This adds on more pressure to the already anxious worker. Most Human Resource Managers involve a lot of paperwork on the first day especially if the information required has a deadline. They might require the employee to fill in forms with regards to their pay, compensation and benefits. There might also be contractual paperwork which the employee has to go through and sign. This process might take a lot of time and there might be some issues which the employee does not understand and there is no one around to clarify (Werner and DeSimone 2006). Other shortfalls of induction programs are the fact that there is a lot of one way communication instead of two way communication. The program coordinator usually fails to involve the recruits in the exercise which explains why it ends up being boring. Encouraging participation will ensure the program is lively and runs smoothly. The programs also fail to evaluate the recruits properly. Most induction coordinators use tests or quizzes as methods of evaluating the employees which are not the best. This puts on more pressure and anxiety to the employee who is already too anxious. Induction programs also lack follow-up in some companies meaning once they are done the employees are all on their own. This is especially the case if the program runs for only one day. Assigning mentors ensures that they have someone to turn to in the event they face a problem while carrying out their jobs (Werner and DeSimone 2006). Swinton (2005) provides examples of induction plans that fail in their intended purpose. Such an example is the pitiful induction plan where there is basically no induction program that has been prepared. According to her the new recruit will be lucky to have his own workspace or have co-workers introduce themselves to him or her. Since there is no effort for orientation, the recruit finds it hard to put in effort in their work especially when they do not know what to do and how to do it. Another example of a failed plan is the mediocre induction plan where the coordinator uses past orientation material that is outdated and irrelevant to conduct the program. This plan also uses very detailed information which proves to be overwhelming, cumbersome and boring to the new recruits. Some also use financial reports, health records and company reports as a way of informing the employees about the new company (Swinton 2005). Having other workers conduct the orientation program has its benefits as well as disadvantages. While the worker gets the actual feel of how the job is done, they are more prone to bad influence from the workers inducting them. Bad influence comes in the form of misuse of office supplies, taking extended breaks, coming late to work and leaving early before the recommended time. Those employees who do not undergo proper induction learn by observing what their fellow co-workers do. This might be to their detriment as they are more likely to pick up bad habits from co-workers who come to work late and spent a small amount of time in a day doing actual work. Induction programs that are not conducted properly end up being a waste of time and resources for both the employer and the employee. The quality of the staff induction program says a lot about a company and how important it views its employees. Employees will work harder for a company that shows it values them by providing quality induction programs. Companies should put in the same effort they do to induction programs when they create programs for attracting and retaining customers.

Body Language Communication In Nursing Essay

You are approached by a Grandparent who is hearing impaired how do you facilitate the best environment and through your body language and how you speak with him to ensure you communicate with him in a way which meets his needs and is respectful of his impairment I was approached by a child’s Grandparent with an hearing impairment who wanted to speak to me I instructing the Grandparent to follow me to somewhere quite, has this allowed us to speak and there to be no interruptions or other notices to distract him or myself, I looked at him and make eye contact when I spoke this allowed him to lip read if he needed to and continue eye contract when he spoke back to me to let him know that I paying attraction, I spoke clearly in a steady pace but not too slowly so that this made him feel that I was talking to him like he was incapable of understanding, he told me at one point that he did not hear me I did not get frustrated with him I just repeated what I had said a little louder a nd tried to make my speak more clearly and tried to steady my pace a little more, I tried to always make him feel comfortable in my company and that his impairment was not an issue and that he could approach me at any point he needed to and that I would listen and do my best to communicate in a way that he was comfortable. (Case Study) You have children in your setting whose parents do not come to the setting as they walk there or are dropped off by day nursery staff or childminders. How do you ensure parents get the information they need. At the school that I work we send regular letters home to all parents and carers and on a weekly basis we send a newsletter home with every child, when in placement I hand each child the letters in their hand and they I instruct them to put the letters into their reading folders for parents and carers to read, I then walk around the classroom to ensure that each child has placed the letters into their reading folders, if there is a letter of great importance then there is a text message sent to all parents or carers informing them of the letter and its importance and that they must check their child’s reading folder. If there is a matter that is very important or urgent for example a possible stranger danger then a text message would be sent immediately to the parents or carers followed by a letter sent home. If a child minder or  day nursery staff collect the child I myself of which ever teacher spoke to them they would also inform them of any important letters in the child’s reading folder and inform them to let the child’s parent or carer know when they collected their child.

Addressing Employee Motivation Essay

Executive Summary Tom was seen to have a loss of motivation at work which was investigated. An analysis showed the main cause to be a lack of communication from his manager, a need for role definition, and a lack of publicity for the success of his project initiative. Recommendation is for Tom’s manager to be informed so they are hopefully able to address these issues and retain and develop Tom’s skills. A problematic work situation relating to a HRM concept in Book 2 1.1 A description of the work problem Tom has a well paid job as a project manager. He created an idea and initiated a project to design and implement a website. After setting up the design and defining the stakeholders, without discussion, another person was brought in to chair the project meetings and keep track of actions for the software team. He felt a lack of clarity in his role and without clear guidance and credit did not feel motivated to push the project as hard as before. Weekly work hours fell back to a normal 40 hours from 50 or 60, and his other ideas were not pushed to management with the same enthusiasm. Motivation was clearly falling. This example relates to motivation and Session 1 of Book 2 can be used to analyse what motivates Tom to go to work. See more:  First Poem for You Essay 1.2 Analysis of my experience using my chosen concepts To understand Tom’s motivation level’s I have analysed his situation using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs (1954) from session 1 (The Open University, B120 Book 2). According to Maslow, â€Å"a satisfied need is not a motivator†. Matching which needs are met on the pyramid of five categories will give an indication of which unmet need should be a motivator. Figure [ 1 ] Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs pyramid, and summary of Tom’s status within it. Figure 1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs pyramid, and summary of Tom’s status within it. According to Maslow’s theory, Tom has reached the 3rd level, but the lack of communication and feedback has stopped him achieving ‘Esteem’. Maslow states that â€Å"Not meeting these needs has a negative effect on our mental health† and this could explain the low motivation that Tom’s behaviour indicates. Tom was also under the impression that his idea and the quick success of the project would be publicised by his manager and would open up opportunities to be involved in other senior projects within the business. This did not materialise, and the senior management was not made aware of any plans to utilise Tom’s skills. In fact Tom’s manager was based in another country and was often not reachable for consultation either by phone or email. This expectation and its failure to materialise also causes low motivation, as explained in the concept of a ‘psychological contract’ from The Open University (2012). By applying this concept, we can understand that Tom had reason to believe that a successful project would lead to acknowledgement and higher esteem within the company, and even though this was not part of a formal employment contract. When this did not occur Tom felt his psychological contract had been violated, and that his hard work was inconsequential, leading to his low motivation to keep working hard. 1.3 Proposed solutions to the problem The analysis above has identified possible causes of Tom’s low motivation. With this understanding of these reasons, each can be addressed with the right actions. . * Problem : Low motivation, * caused by : Perceived low likelihood of achieving Esteem (on Maslow’s hierarchy) * caused by : lack of communication about tasks. * Classified as : Broken psychological contract If we can determine the cause for the broken contract, we may be able to restore Tom’s motivation to work hard. Also relevant is the Job Characteristic Model from Hackman and Oldham cited by The Open University (2012) which lists five core job characteristics that contribute to satisfying work. If Tom’s work is missing any of the core characteristics his attitude to his job could be affected. Figure [ 2 ]. Hackman & Oldham JCM The lack of regular communication between Tom and his manager suggests that there is insufficient â€Å"Feedback from the Job†. B120, Book 2, Study session 4, highlights the importance of â€Å"Constructive feedback†, which â€Å"involves praising strengths and achievements†. Arranging another person to chair project meetings could also mean that â€Å"Task Identity† was not clear. To solve these items, Tom’s manager should take the following actions: * clarify Tom’s role and tasks within the project * Provide regular opportunities for feedback and communication, including praise of achievements when applicable. * Publicise Tom’s contributions to raise his profile in the senior management team and allow development of his career. Relevant Web sites http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tesco/motivational-theory-in-practice-at-tesco/maslow-and-herzberg.html (accessed 28-Nov-2012) This shows how a successful company has used Maslow’s hierarchy and Herzbergs two factor theory to try to keep employee motivation high. Herzberg could be summarised as â€Å"If you want people to do a good job for you, then you must give them a good job to do.† The Times is a reputable publisher which lends credence to this site, but this is a case study utilising the theories in this report, and not and original source. http://gmx.xmu.edu.cn/ews/business/management/chapter16.htm#what (accessed 28-Nov-2012) This site was chosen because it contains some interesting definitions of motivation factors, and summarises a collection of different theories on analysing motivation in employees. The information is not verified but some theories corroborate with other sources. References The Open University (2012) B120 An introduction to business studies, Book 2 ‘An introduction to human resource management in business’, Milton Keynes. Web source 1: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tesco/motivational-theory-in-practice-at-tesco/maslow-and-herzberg.html dated unknown (accessed 28-Nov-2012) Web source 2: http://gmx.xmu.edu.cn/ews/business/management/chapter16.htm#what dated unknown (accessed 28-Nov-2012)

A Comparison of Japan and the Culture of the United States Research Paper

A Comparison of Japan and the Culture of the United States - Research Paper Example Work and business practices that are culturally relevant provide for the development of economic success for a nation. In comparing the Japanese culture with the American culture, it is clear that the Japanese exist in a collective state where as Americans not only are individualistic but aspire towards individualism as a respected state. In comparing the cultures of Japan and the United States, it is clear that the differences provide for very different outcomes in relationship to economy and success. Japan Education and Family The central government is involved in the success of their school systems. School systems are the same throughout the nation with moves from one region to another meaning that a child will not be in a different state of educational advancement in one place compared to another. Equity is achieved through the centralized control of the education system. Communities are not responsible for defining their own education system, but rather there is a high quality o f standardization that exists though out the country (Berger, 2009). Children spend longer days, longer weeks which include Saturdays, and a longer period of the year in school. School systems are only shut down for one month out of the year. Three fourths of the children attend supplemental public school which is called juko (Berger, 2009). Japanese children routinely score higher on science and mathematics tests. One criticism, however, is that so much time is spent on rote learning that concept of meta-cognitive skills are not as well developed. Learning discipline through memorization is emphasized while thinking skills are not fully developed to the capacity that could be achieved. In 2002, the Japanese government made changes in order to create more relaxed learning in order to maximize controlled curriculum at 30% with the rest of the curriculum being devoted to teaching children how to think (Berger, 2009). Family life in Japan, therefore, is based upon the importance of the group dynamic. Georges (2009) shows that the ideal family relationship is one in which â€Å"a feeling of oneness† exists to the point that the members of the family understand one another without having to discuss anything. Contrasting to American ideas of teenage life, when polled on how much teenagers believed that their family understood them, Japanese teens indicated that their mother understood them by 72%, their father by 65%, and their siblings by 63%, while believing by 77% that they understood the other members of their families. It is possible that Japanese generally gain self-esteem by their membership in their family, rather than through direct self- enhancement (Georges, 2009). The family is structured with the male as the head of the family, but the mother taking responsibility for the emotional security and welfare of the family. She takes the responsibility of the children, holding them to her in a method through which she prepares them for the external soci ety through creating meaning in the connection to the family group. Children are responsible to each member of the family and it is through the shame of failure that their success is born. They owe their success not to themselves, but towards the continuation of the family through their efforts. Work and Business Work and business are a continuation of the nature of the Japanese culture through which the needs of the collective are more important than the needs of the individual. A class system has evolved in which a family is ranked socially by the reputation of the company for which he works. The work culture

Balance Score card (BSC), Beyond Budgeting and Economic value added Essay

Balance Score card (BSC), Beyond Budgeting and Economic value added (EVA) - Essay Example Hence, balanced scorecard provides a clear picture of the tangible and intangible assets, human resource, available equipments, customers range and quality, and the plans necessary for the financial growth of the organization. The under-analysis Coors’ case manifestly states that the scorecard can be applied for multiple purposes particularly in the following dimensions: Articulation of vision and mission statements on the basis of the business plans the management maintains in its mind for the successful implementation of the blueprint drawn out before the commencement of the corporate ventures Assessment of the activities and performances of the managers, employees and workers, and conferring of awards and prizes upon the workforce on showing outstanding performance as well as meeting with the targets determined by the management of the organization. Evaluation of success factors on the concrete foundations of the successes made by the company in past as well as the assessment of improvement plans in the projects met with failure or ended in fiasco in past Precise, complete and accurate presentation of all plans, performances, ambitions and targets to the management in few lines, so that they can evaluate the standing of their company without delaying their meetings with clients as well as other high scale corporate adventures (Answer A): Though budgeting is considered to be the blueprint of all financial matters involved into running the affairs of a company or an organization, yet Star Savers appears to be trying to stop the same. There are few specific reasons behind adopting the policy of surrendering from making and implementation of budget from all levels and scales. The company is of the opinion that budgeting serves as the great hurdle on the way to progress due to the very reality that it does not meet with the changing market scenario on the one hand, and is unable to

Computer Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Computer Networking - Essay Example Hence, the document improves market benefits for the company, as well as reducing costs. It is anticipated that periodic evaluations of the IT policy will reveal that the majority of staff will find IT systems supporting improved management, control, and/or organizational planning, which provide staff with a consistent work environment, and encourage the company's culture of collaboration, inclusiveness and continual improvement. Other benefits to be expected form the Policy are enhanced team-spirit; consistency in work performance; staff confidence in the reliability and dependability of co-workers; increased employee satisfaction and decreased perceptions of stress; and improved employee moral and training programs; as well as improved customer satisfaction. Logging and accounting will serve important purposes within the Policy, in that they will aid in the management, tracking, accountability of use and misuse detection. The logging will especially assist with user monitoring and debugging of the IT systems. Logs can also help to identify and track the intruder if one does get through and provide additional data for other research processes. The Policy will also state the regular frequency of log review and evaluation. The company will use a single firewall program on all its workstations as well as the same version of anti-virus software. The firewall limit exposure to threats from the Internet and to mitigate the client's risk as it inhibits network traffic that does not meet the security policy (e.g. hackers). The anti-virus software and the frequency of mandatory definition updates will be outline in the Policy. Viruses are able to destroy critical client data and other company files. The system at Harder and Harder is currently compromised by a worm virus (warez) that has been giving the hackers access and privileges of an authorised network user. The anti-virus software can attack the future viruses and so minimize the risk. However, updated virus definitions are essential to ensure that the software is not rendered useless. And so the Policy clearly addresses these issues. The Policy will aim to discourage employees to use the network in ad-hoc communications, such as with wireless networks . A hacker is able to attack this system due to the lack of authentication. Ad-hoc networks can allow a hacker to execute man in the middle attacks, denial of service, and/or compromise systems.Further, the Policy will emphasise education, awareness and continual improvement among staff. Perception surveys of employee satisfaction, as well as outcome evaluations will be reviewed to determine degree of IT security consciousness and knowledge and compliance with IT policy. The Policy will stipulate ways that security awareness will be increased and maintained, for example through workshops, posters, or in newsletters. Studies show that staffs are more likely to comply with Policy and to make more of an effort to secure or at least limit behaviours that will put the network at risk.The Policy will introduce inclusive decision making staff meetings to come up with IT security solutions. In a collaborative forum staffs can suggest ways to limit

Main differences between perfect competition and monopoly market Essay - 1

Main differences between perfect competition and monopoly market structures - Essay Example The sellers have the aim to provide the products and services as per the highest quality standards and at a minimum price as compared to the competitors. Since all the sellers have the same objective, it creates the scenario of perfect competition where the buyers have the highest bargaining power (McNulty, 1967). In a perfectly competitive market, it is very difficult to choose between the products and services sold in the market. The firms tend to maximize profits under the strict conditions of a perfectly competitive market where the buyers and the sellers are aware of all the information of the market. The barriers to entry and exit from the market is very less. The returns to the investments do not have large scope of enhancement in future (Marshall, 2006). The monopoly market structure resembles the form of market where a certain product or services is manufactured or supplied by a single firm. The monopoly market signifies minimal competition among the firms operating in the market. The buyers also have practically no options to avail substitute products and services. In a monopoly market structure, the business is the price setter and has the ability to charge high prices (Mankiw, 2011). The customers in a monopoly market has the lowest bargaining power as there is no availability of substitute products and services.The government encourage monopoly in certain sectors in order to provide economic benefits to the people by reduction of the market risk. The barriers to entry into the monopoly market is very high. In a monopoly market, it is observed that only one firm tends to dominate the market supply. The price discrimination is observed as characteristics of the monopoly market as the sellers vary the price of the products in comp arison to the quantity of the products (Hall and  Lieberman, 2009). In several jurisdiction, the monopoly form of market structure is prohibited in

The Role of Business in Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Role of Business in Society - Essay Example Thus, the individuals that approach decisions in this perspective feel that ethics in business is vital for maximum profits. In addition, decisions can be overlooked from the stakeholders’ point of view. In corporate social responsibility many firms make decisions and consider the interests and needs of the company’s stakeholders. This does not just base on the financial stake of the organization’s losses and profits. The various organizations which approach to vital issues in a firm from the perspectives of the stakeholders consider how the decisions have an impact to the people outside and inside the organization. The stakeholders can either affect or be affected by the decisions and actions of a particular firm. Though the shareholders are stakeholders, they are not the only ones. Furthermore, other stakeholders include customers, suppliers, employees and competitors. In decision making, the stake holders make decisions that favor the affected parties. The managers are very vital in the decisions of the firm as they establish the ethical tone. The managers control the view of the employees on profits. They set the recommended by the employees in ethical operation of the company. In the perspectives of the managers they set the business environment that encourages the other employees. For the company to operate in an ethical manner, the managers come up with decisions that encourage the employees to behave ethically. Therefore, the manager lead well to serve as an example to the employees. Business firms are supposed to assess their weaknesses and strengths in responding to the opportunities and threats in the environment. The marketing objectives of most businesses aim at improving and increasing the satisfaction of the customer or increasing the sales. In contrary there are several constrains that can hinder the business from proceeding. This

Christian Stewardship and Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Christian Stewardship and Sustainability - Essay Example Christian Stewardship and Sustainability The concepts of stewardship require such a living approach that persuades desirable qualities of an individual and enjoys the harmony of living with unity. For instance, in stewardship the use of excessive resources like water, forests soil, wildlife and etc is prohibited or at least most likely to be avoided at its best. The word stewardship is mostly understood as a type of responsible and answerable management pattern and practice where the points of sustainability and quality of the environment are considered as the key area to focus on (Worrell, and Michael 263). Our notion of stewardship comes from biblical creation theology, distributed throughout the Bible but most visible in Genesis, the Psalms, and the Wisdom literature of ancient Israel (Butkus 19) It can be said that stewardship is just not a way of living; in fact it is better to be taken as a good way of living or an approach to better way of life. The starting and ending idea of stewardship lies in belongings to God. And on the other hand the theory of keeping everything in a moderate situation prevails in the ecological concepts of sustainability without damaging the productive rate of the society. Few of the best examples of sustainability are the forests that have been there from a long time with no harm. Sustainability is not only a matter of self interest for the communal societies of human being but they also consist of questions against the fundamental values of earth and other species besides humans.

Personal statement, identify your filed of interest Essay

Personal statement, identify your filed of interest - Essay Example One can become civil engineer, however it’s connected with many challenges. All constructions grown by people exist only due to the painstaking labor and the most accurate calculations. It requires strong understanding of one fact that even slight mistake can bring many problems or even casualties, every day, thousands of people use structures constructed by civil engineers and they should serve them good. There is no place to mistakes, misconducts or half-precise calculations. It’s the greatest challenge I will have working in civil engineering. People can make mistakes and there is, of course, human factor, to avoid this I should understand my responsibility and ask for help if I am not sure about something. Working in the big team, all members should work like single body. It requires strong communicative skills and ability to team work. Failing to make good relationships with team can result in bad blueprints, or even passed mistakes, It is unacceptable and I should adapt to the needs and characters of other people to work with them in cohesive team. Project implementation also requires great skills, because structure on blueprints can be stable and good developed, however since construction is started I, as civil engineer, should control the construction during each stage to ensure that plan is carrying out

Argument by Authority Essay Example for Free

Argument by Authority Essay The first part which presents an argument by authority is the opening – â€Å"According to repeated nationwide surveys, more Doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette! † Though it does not directly relate the authority of the doctors in cigarette smoking, it is suggesting that even doctors, who are supposed to be health conscious, are smoking, thus creating an illusion that cigarette smoking is not bad for the health. The second part is the expression â€Å"The doctor’s choice is America’s choice! † The first point may be less reliable than the second because it is just a survey and does not require much expertise as doctors. The second is more reliable although it suffers from the fallacy of argument by authority. The first statement is an appeal to anonymous authority type of argument (claiming that an argument is valid based on an opinion of an anonymous and not necessarily an expert) while the second suggests that it is a general argument from authority fallacy (claiming that the argument is valid because the opinion presented is from an expert). By stating that the doctor’s choice is America’s choice, the speaker is claiming that whatever the doctors smoke is what America smokes. It may also be categorized as hasty generalization, but what it actually does is persuade Americans to smoke Camel because doctors, as it were, are smoking Camels. References Alouette. (2007, July 26). Amusing old fashioned advertisements, cigarette ads [image]. Unsought Input. Retrieved March 3, 2009 from http://www. unsoughtinput. com/index. php/2007/06/26/amusing-old-fashioned-advertisements-cigarette-ads/ Lindsay, D. (Ed. ). (2009, January 5). A List of Fallacious Arguments. Retrieved March 3, 2009 from http://www. don-lindsay-archive. org/skeptic/arguments. html#expert

Crime and Social Issues Essay Example for Free

Crime and Social Issues Essay Many crime problems in my area which are creating difficulties for peoples day by day. I have seen many crimes have been done in my area. * Snatching * Drugs dealing * Shop lifting * Stabbing * Gang fighting * Theft and robbed * The area where I live is ok; I have been robbed for my money a couple of times – nothing too bad. But my friends live in a really bad estate. Theres always stuff going on there. People are shot and stabbed all the time. * It all starts with people getting rude with each other. One person is rude to someone else, and then the victim goes and gets their gang for revenge. Sometimes its just two gangs fighting and punching each other. But on this estate, its nearly always killing. Guns and knives are everywhere. * Its always worse when the gang hires someone else to do the killing. They only give a description of the person they want taken care of. So the hit man hasnt even seen the guy hes going to shoot before. Sometimes they shoot the wrong person. Then, if the person who was killed by mistake was in a gang, their gang goes and gets revenge. So it never ends. * Im most worried about knife crime, because you can get knives anywhere – from the kitchen, shops and people from round the estates. My friend’s big brother was stabbed in the chest with a knife, because he was involved in some bad stuff. * In my school its not so bad because they check us for weapons. The only weapons were allowed are compasses. * Im not so afraid of gangs, because they dont have a reason to go after me. But my friends Dad got involved in drugs. Now hes got some gangs after him because of some trouble that happened. * When I visit my mates on the estate, I feel more protected than afraid, because I know my friends and their brothers are looking out for me. People there recognise me now, so I know even the drug dealers would look after me on their patches. They know Im not causing any trouble. But Id be very; very afraid for my life there if no-one was looking out for me. Snatching: About 10 houses in front of me was this young lady walking by a car parked along the grass patch outside one of the terrace houses. As she was reaching the rear end of this clean decent looking Silver Proton Waja, I noticed the engine started and the left rear passenger doors window was being wound down. Suddenly a man emerged out of the rear passenger doors window his entire torso! And making a grab of this ladies handbag!!!! As this man emerged from the cars window, the Silver Proton Waja was pulling out of its parking position slowly not in a hurry with the man from within just dragging the lady and her handbag along until she gave it up!! Then they drove off slowly no hurry!!! Conclusion: My report about crime problem in my area which I have describe in my report, we should do safety every time and inform to police about any crime or suspicious activities in area or any surrounding area.

Strategic Market At Coca Cola Company

Strategic Market At Coca Cola Company 1.0 Introduction and Background: Coca Cola Company is one of the leading manufacturers of sort drink in the whole World. Coca Cola was launched in May 1986 by Dr. John S. Pemberton in Atlanta Georgia. The name Coca Cola was suggested by Dr. Pembertons bookkeeper, frank Robinson. He reserved the name Coca Cola in the flowing script that is well-known today. The Coca Cola is most important manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, company in the World, which are used to produce nearly 500 beverage brands that make up for its wide portfolio. The market which I shall be investigating is the soft drink market in the UK, although I think its important that I consider the whole market including soft drinks and energy drinks. This is because soft drinks and Energy drinks are competing with other alcoholic mixer, (2008). This report will focus on a product part of this market and I have chosen the market leader for stimulant drinks, Coca Cola. I shall be examining marketing planning process, and its activities and justifications. Also, marketing environment is included, Internal audit, External audit, macro environment, and looking at the product with PESTLE, SWOT Analysis (Internal strengths and weaknesses). Furthermore, It Includes Porters five forces and Ansoffs Matrix, BCG Matrix and other tools and techniques. At the end, I have given three marketing options and recommended approach after these bibliography. 2.0 Strategic Marketing Planning Process: Strategic marketing is a process in which to develop a strategy to cope with competitors, identify market opportunities, develop and commercialize new products and services, allocate resources among marketing activities and design an appropriate organisational structure to ensure the performance desired is achieved. Corporate strategy is a process in which approach to future that involves examination of the current and anticipated factors associated with customers and competitors and the firm itself, aligning policies, practices, and resources to realize that vision, (2010). Planning and plans are two very different concepts. Planning refers to the process of developing a coherent plan, while the plan is the output from the process. A successful marketing campaign must incorporate strategic marketing planning. Strategic marketing planning is the process of researching a market and its environment to determine the target market. It involves determining what the target market wants and the types of messages that resonate with that audience. Marketing is one of the key elements in addition to other functions without which the company cannot get success. Therefore, marketing planning is a set of document in which details of action is given to achieve the objects set by the management for a period of one or up to five year. It could be based on selling of any kind of product. Its very important to have a very aggressive plan if you are not an introducer of new product and still you want to grab the market, (2010). 2.1 Marketing Planning Benefits: Marketing plan comes through a long process, it starts from a single department and ends up to management decision, plan must be always like easy to understand for management to approved it and realize the facts of market strategies for what they want from customer. Coca Cola always makes a attractive marketing plan which always looks different from others, for now this marketing plan which is very supportive for the organisation is just because it meets the need of customer in a very smart way like they introduced a new Cherry Coke flavour which is they want to be market the product by new style which a customer attract and also get some benefited for an organisation. If the plan is according to organisation and customer then it is easy to take decision for management. Plan should be compressed and productive for organization. Plan should be not so long time process and not to be very costly. Plan should be as per new techniques and 3D type as per new generation like Plan should be process after research Plan should be shows new market prices, long life and skill full. If the plan is according to companies favour so there is no any chance that it could be rejected. Always approach will be positive to make the plan competitive and advance. Coca Cola always looks in those matter which are highly skilled, attractive and sincere with the organisation, to gain the agreement for strategic plan for organization is a very important role for marketing department to extent their plans which are still are in favour of organisation and as before management like the approach to get always new marketing styles, the best approach for management is that to produced their best efforts to capture the market because now a days there are so many competitors in the market if they lack in the advertisement or promotion or introducing in new products then it could be easy for other competitors to overcome, (2010). Marketing Planning Process: There are ten stages of the Strategic Marketing Planning Process which are given bellow in tables. Table 1: The Marketing Planning Process Stages Description Stage 1 Mission Statement At this stage the board establish a long-term vision for the company. This entails communicating a memorable statement easily understood by employees and other key stakeholders. Stage 2 Corporate Objectives At Corporate Objectives the organisation setup the desired level of profitability, business boundaries, such as products/markets, facilities and size of labour force and other corporate objectives, such as social responsibility, corporate image, stock market image, employer image, etc. Stage 3 Marketing Audit Marketing Audit is a structured review of your current marketing activities. It is a systematic review of all the external and internal factors that have affected a companys commercial performance over a defined period. Stage 4 SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a tool for auditing an organisation and its environment. It is the first stage of planning and helps marketers to focus on key issues. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Opportunities and threats are external factors. Stage 5 Assumptions At this stage assumptions are made on the basis of marketing audit and swot analysis. Marketing manager must keep in mind it should not too broad. Stage 6 Marketing Objectives and Strategies In this stage the objectives and strategies relate to the companies products/services and brands and to the markets you currently/ propose to operate in. Objectives are about deciding what you are offering (selling) and to whom. Strategies are about how you are going to achieve these things. Stage 7 Estimate Expected Results At this stage to employ judgement, analogous experience, field tests and so on. Also, to test out the feasibility of the objectives and strategies in terms of market share, costs, profits and so on. Stage 8 Identify Alternative Plans and Mixes In a strategic marketing plan, It is normally at this stage board identifies alternative plans and mixes are considered. Stage 9 Budget The budget is the process of documenting the expected costs of the proposed marketing plan. To justify all marketing expenditures from a zero base each year against the task that you wish to accomplish. In reality budgets are often incremental, that is, they are based on what was spent in the previous year. Stage 10 First Year Detailed Implementation Programme This may involve spending money on advertising, launching new products, interacting with potential new customers, opening new retail outlets etc. Its major function is to determine where the company is, where its wanted to go and how it can get there. It should be used as an aid to effective management, (McDonald 2006, p. 379-393). I have described all activities and justification in the Marketing Planning Process which are given bellow in table. Table 2: Activities and Justification in the Marketing Planning Process: Stage Activities Justification Stage 1 Mission Statement Board meetings Objectives discussion Target of the company Motivate employees and customers Lack of motivation and output It gives the direction to the company Stage 2 Corporate Objectives Financial forecast Provide long-term stability Profitability of the products Predict financial forecasting Overall company operations It gives review policies and desired level of profitability Stage 3 Marketing Audit Marketing environment objectives Perform STEEPLE Analysis Competition and Market share Competitive advantages Examine internal and external information and procedures Life cycles for major products and for market segments Policies and competitive advantages of other organisation Stage 4 SWOT Analysis Trend in the market Knowledge of the business Value added by competitors Setting objectives and strategies Data Collection Focusing internal and external key factors such as, internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. A summary of reasons for good and bad performance Stage 5 Assumptions Government policies Economic data Major competitors Price competition It is made on planning environment Pick the right market and sell the right products It emphasises on success factors Stage 6 Marketing Objectives and Strategies Sales promotion objectives Marketing objectives Pricing objectives Advertising objectives Social responsibility Marketing objectives and Strategies are made on marketing plan Advertising, pricing and promotion service levels Highlight sales value, sales volume, percentage penetration of outlets Stage 7 Estimate Expected Results Employ judgment Analogous experience Field test Gap analysis on actual and desired results To test out the viability of market share At this level managers set the expected results Stage 8 Identify Alternative Plans and Mixes Motivate alternative strategies Promote mixes Manage the business Choose the best tactics Understand what market works and what doesnt work From alternative plans managers select best suitable plan Stage 9 Budget Advertising cost and expensive Zero base Emphasis on yearly marketing budget Spend their budget more efficiently and effectively Get smart about market every year they are in business Budget prepare by board of director and marketing managers. Stage 10 First Year Detailed Implementation Programme Customer plans Sales promotion plans Goals are divided into sub goals. Market plans (McDonald 2006, p. 379-393) Target their primary customer Focus on achieving specific objectives In sub goals include pricing plans product plans, promotional plans and market plans with objectives The External Market Audit and External Environment (Macro) Analysis: In this section of the report, I have used some data, of tools and techniques that are relevant to Coca Colas current situation relevant examples. External environment is important to marketing decision making. Initially, I have shown data on market share and growth of UKs soft drink markets. 3.1 External Audit: For scanning external audit and external (macro) environment of Coca Cola I have used Porters five forces. In this part of report to scanning soft drink position in the UKs soft drink market two tables are given. From the above table of UK soft drink market share in 2010, it is clear that Coca Cola is the market leader among competitors. Coca Cola hold 44% of soft drink market share whereas Pepsi is in the second position by holding only 23% (2010). From the above table we can see Coca Cola and Cadbury have the most significant growth rate by 1% in the last year and Pepsi and other drinks lose their share by -1%. Fruit Juice has only 0.04% growth in last year. For analysing external market in this part, I have given Porters (1985) five forces model which is given below: Barriers to Entry: It involves; Importance of economy of scale, for example, a new Coca Cola drinks. Challenging with established brands, for example, Coca Cola, Diet Coke. High upfront capital costs or legal requirements, for example, intellectual property protection, factories etc. UKs soft drink market is established by some well known brands, such as, Pepsi, Cadbury, Fruit juice etc. It is very difficult to enter in this market by other competitors. Coca Cola has a long history of heavy advertising and this has made it enormous amount of brand equity and loyal customers entire over the world. Substitutes: It contains; Large numbers of substitutes, for example, coffee, beer, juices, water etc are available in the market for customers but it is countered by brand equity, huge advertising, and making their product easily available for customers. Coca Cola expand its business in the UK by offering substitutes it selves to protect Coca Cola from competition. Its products and services can be easily substituted with another type of product and service such as public transport being used instead of private transport. Buyer Power: It consists of; Large amount of buyers, for example, Wal-Mart or Tesco. Undifferentiated brands and low switching costs. As there are many soft drinks in the UK, so the bargaining power of buyer is extremely very high. Buyers ability to walk away or get an alternative, if buyer does not satisfied with our products or services he can get an alternative products or services. Supplier Power: It includes; Supplier does not depend on one or a small amount of buyers. Supplier product is necessary to buyer. In the UK, soft drinks bargaining power of supplier is low, as the market size is large so suppliers always want to keep contracts by providing low price. A large number of buyers but a small number of suppliers. Most of the times raw materials needed to create concentrate are basic commodities, for example, colour, flavour, additives, sugar etc. Basically, these are the main commodities. Existing Competitors: It computes the degree of competition between existing competitors. Rivalry will be higher if; In the UK, there are a huge amount of similar sized companies, for example, Pepsi, Robina, Red bull etc. Competitors can lead to a dynamic periods of aggressive pricing and promotion in war for customers. Products and services are supposed as a commodity by consumers and resulting in low switching cost for consumers. 3.2 External (macro) Environment Analysis: PESTEL Analysis for external (macro) environment of Coca Cola. PESTEL Analysis undertaken to understand local, global factors influencing business and potential opportunity and threats. Here PESTEL analysis given bellow in a table: Table 1: PESTEL Analysis: Political Economical National Government Regulatory bodies Trade Associates Government Stability Newly Industrialised Employment Law Critical Global Market Important Political Events Market Structure Government Policy Taxation Interest Rates Personal Saving Rates Money Supply Inflation Disposal Income Social-Cultural Technological Population Demographics Culture Attitudes to Work and Leisure Current Issues Income Distribution Social Mobility Lifestyle Changes Level of Education Products Materials / Components Processes Distribution / Spending on Research Marketing/Administration Rates of Obsolescence New Discoveries / Developments / Product Innovations Legal Environmental Competition Law Health and Safety Employment Law National and World Legislation Trading Policies Regulatory Bodies Global Warming Environmental Issues Local and National Issues Current and Future Environmental Legislative Changes Recycling Considerations Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Jackieken/the-marketing-audit-download-ppt Political Factors: Coca Cola operates globally and their performance is influenced by the political stability and instability of these countries. There is currently political stability in the UK and Coca Cola business is flourishing, (2010). Economical Factors: High inflation in any of the counties will cause the price of Coca Cola to rise and consumption of Coca Cola may fall. The UK economy is recovering from recession and employment level is rising people will consume more Coca Cola products, (2010). Social Factors: Consumers in the different counties will have different taste and perception about Coca Cola. In the UK the brand is known for quality products and marketing it will be easier, (2010). Technological Factors: The present environment is technological driven and the need for dynamic development. Coca Cola has got experienced research and development (RD) team who find out new technologies to improve productivity, (2010). Legal Factors: The Coca Cola Company gets all the rights applicable in the nature of their business and every invention and product developments are always going into the copyright process, (2010). Environmental Factors: According to the data of the Coca Cola Company, all the services are strictly approved according to the environmental laws inflicted by the government, (2010). 3.3 Changes in the External (Macro) Environment: The Coca Cola Company has faced many changes in the external environment that have changed the management of the company. During the World War II, the Coca Cola was able to continue the position of the company, at the same time. The Coca Cola was able to enter fresh markets despite of the environment. The company turned out to be more aggressive through supplying free drinks for the GIs in the World War II. During this the corporation was able to hit two birds at one stone. First, because the carbonated drinks sent by the company, it became a loyal symbol by the United States soldiers in which guided to consumer loyalty. Second, the Coca Cola was able to get benefit of the situation and determined the product in newly occupied countries by the Helper forces and due to the company created plants in different locations in the whole World paving the method for its post war expansion. Another thing is that, the external environment is the change of flavour and believes of the consumers. In the mid-1980s where the Americans favoured the sweet flavour of the competitor product, the company made its complement but it turned into a commercial failure. Coca Cola changed its management strategy and restored the old formula, and just changed its name, such as, Coca Cola Classic. After that Coca Cola got its position again and it released latest versions of Coke that address the needs of these kinds of customers, These products are included by Diet Coke and Coca Cola Zero. According to Bool, (2008) companies, for example, Coca Cola is necessary to change due to trends that have a huge impact on its business; another trend is health and fitness. Many people are spending extra money on their health; In addition, Coca Cola launched its new products which are a calorie burning soft drinks, such as, Enviga, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, and Coke. Furthermore, Coca Cola is working together with the Swiss company Nestle. Coca Cola is contracting with innovation and change. For the duration of the Asian Financial Crisis, Coca Cola was also prompted to change its courses of management in that specific region. The responses and reactions of Coca Cola with the external environment are its internal changes. Organisational Change Management: This theory presents a general process for managing the change in the side of the people at an organisational level (Kotter, 1996). According to Hiatt and Creasey, the organisational change management is contains three stages, which are, preparing for change, managing change and reinforcing change. The theory of organisational change management was efficiently used by Coca Cola. Various managers in different branches of the World have operated organisational change management in order to address the matters that the Coca Cola faced. According to the current stage, the main emphasis of the Coca-Cola is to get the needs of their consumers with outstanding product developing and product distribution. Coca Colas change management is very weak since Coca Cola forecasted that there are a number of marketing challenges in the near future that they have to face. 3.4 Internal Audit (SWOT Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis of Coca Cola): This part of report provides information about current and previous years profit and loss account data, market share data, performance graph which have indicated internal or operational strengths and weaknesses of current marketing strategy and BCG Matrix. Profit and loss account indicates operational excellence of current marketing strengths. We see a consistent growth in the profit margin. In 2009 profit after tax was 4,318 and in 2010 it became 7,415. It is increased by 3,097 million pounds in a year. Market share of UKs soft drinks: Analysing market share of UK soft drinks, it is clear that Coca Cola is the market leader by getting 44% of total market. The comparative positioning of Coca Colas market share with respect to other leading players in the market has been illustrated as follows, (2010). Performance Graph: Performance graph of Coca Cola and Pepsi over the last five years can be summarised with the help of growth in following key indicators, (2010). This graph clearly shows that Coca Cola in 2006, it was slight increase in profit margin but in 2007 it was slightly decrease. From 2008 to 2010 market growth of Coca Cola was increase year by year. Internal Strengths of Current Marketing Strategy: Coca-Cola has been an intricate part of American culture for over a century. The products image is laden with sentimentality, and this is an image many people have taken deeply to heart. Coca Cola is a very recognizable firm. Its products/brands are available everywhere in the World. Its popularity is one of greater strength is virtually incomparable. Coca Cola deals with huge amounts of money every year. Similarly, whole businesses they have had their ups and downs monetarily, but Coca Cola has done very well in this section and Coca Cola will go on to do well and make better than its competitors (Pepsi). The money they are earning, it is significantly better than most beverage companies (competitors), they use into their own company so that they can get well, (2010). Everybody is known very well Coca Cola in the World. Its image is displayed on hats, collectible memorabilia and t-shirts. There is no doubt, no beverage firm (competitor) compares to Coca Colas social popularity status. And this extremely recognizable branding is one of Coca-Colas greatest strengths, (2010). Even though, Coca Cola controls almost 44% of the whole drinks market, the changing health-consciousness attitude of the market could have a serious effect on Coca Cola. In addition, according to Bettman (1998), Coca-Colas bottling system is one of their greatest strengths. It allows them to conduct business on a global scale while at the same time maintain a local approach. The bottling companies are locally owned and managed by independent business people who are authorized to sell products of the Coca-Cola Company. Because, Coke does not have outright ownership of its bottling network, its main source of revenue is the sale of concentrate to its bottlers, (2010). Internal Weaknesses of Current Marketing Strategy: Coca Cola has many weaknesses; they need to be finished these weaknesses, if they want to increase the next level. Now a days, constant shift to health products, some products could probably lose customers. This fresh focus on weight and health might be a problem for the item that is labelled detrimental to your health, (2010). Coca-Cola has recently reported some declines in unit case volumes in Indonesia and Thailand due to reduced consumer purchasing power. According to an article in (Fortune magazine), in Japan, unit case sales fell 3% in the second quarter scary because of Japan produces around 5% of worldwide volume, it contributes three times as much to profits. Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Japan account for about 35% of Cokes volume and none of these markets are performing to expectation (Mclean, 1998). Word of mouth unluckily is something that is very difficult to control. Although, people would have their views, Coca Cola has to try to control their negative views. If bad views are extinguish to people who have yet to try Coca Cola products, after that could create lost of customers which shows why word of mouth is a weakness, (2010). Coca Cola produces many drinks, some are very popular such as, Coke, Diet Coke and Sprite but Coca Cola has approximately made 500 different types of brands, such as, carbonates, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit juices, water etc. Most of them unknown and rarely seen for available purchase. These drinks do not mostly taste bad, but are rather a result of low profile or nonexistent advertising, (2010). As we know, health is a significant matter in 21st century. Coke have high level of sugar and caffeine content. Boston Consulting Group Matrix (BCG Matrix): The BCG matrix method is the theory to determine list of priorities that should be given in the product portfolio of a business unit. There are two dimensions should be analyzed in the implementation of this method; market share and market growth. There are four characters in this diagram represent four categories of products in companys portfolio, which are given bellow. Stars: It represents the products that have a high market growth and high market share. Products in this class usually need a fairly high cost in the process of development. For example, Coca Colas bottled water (Dasani). Question Marks: It represents the products that have a high market growth and low market share. In this category, products have the worst cash characteristics because they have high level of the demand but low returns because of their low market share. For example, Coca Colas energy drink brand (Full Throttle). Cash Cows: Cash cows represent the products that have low market growth and high market share. In this class products should have huge level of profits and cash generation. In order to achieve that result, company should keep their level of investment low because the market growth for these products also low. Such as, namesakes soft drink (Coca-Cola). Dogs: Dogs represent the products that have low market growth as well as market share. Products in this category will absorb a lot of cash but low level of returns because low provided market share and weak market growth. For example, sweetened juice drinks (Hi-C), (2010). Coca Cola would use income from Coke to invest their primarily in Dasani and Full Throttle, whereas, looking to sell off Hi-C to some private equity fund with huge amount of cash on its hands. It is able to standard product life cycle tends to have five stages which are given bellow. Development Introduction Growth Maturity Decline As a result, Coca-Cola is presently in the maturity stage, which is evidenced mainly by the fact that they have a large, loyal group of stable consumers. In addition, cost management, product differentiation and marketing contain more important as growth slows and market share becomes the key determinant of profitability. In international markets the product life cycle is in more of a growth trend Cokes advantage in this section is primarily due to its establishment strong branding and it is now able to use this part of stable profitability to support financially the domestic Cola Wars, (2010). 4.0 Ansoffs Matrix: This Matrix was developed by Igor Ansoff; it is one of the most well known frameworks for deciding upon strategies for growth. It is a tool that helps the company to decide their product and market growth strategy. It is determined by two scopes of option which are products and markets. It consists of market penetration, product development, market development and diversification. Market Penetration: Selling more of an existing product to an existing market. It is going deeper into a market, such as, coke and diet coke. Coca Cola in UK is doing market penetration through the selling its products to the business buyers and retailers who are huge multinational organizations like Tesco, Asda, McDonalds, Subway, KFC and many more. Market Development: Selling an existing product in a new market, for example, taking out various bottle sizes to attract different buyers. It is called market development. Many flavours of Coca Cola are not being sold in every shop, retailer market and other business buyers. Coca Cola can develop a new market if they introduce those flavours in their market. Product Development: Selling a new product to an existing market. It is called product development, such as, creating changes to a product, for example, a new flavour like Coca Cola Vanilla. Coca Cola Company can do product development by introducing the new flavours in UK which are not sold anywhere in the World by the Coca Cola company. Diversification: Selling a new product to a new market. This is called diversification. Coca Cola recognized the need for a new sports drink and introduced PowerAde. Coca Cola can produce new products, which are not manufactured by it before. Coca Cola is only dealing in beverages but it can also produce its own snacks item as the Pepsi is manufacturing Lays which are eaten with the beverages, (2010). New Marketing Strategy: In this section of report, I have discussed three marketing strategy options that the organisation ca