Graduation Speech On Students Academic Performance

Introduction Although many peoples’ most significant memories of college are those outside of the classroom, a degree is not conferred based upon such things. Rather, students’ academic performance is what determines whether students earn a degree or certificate. Academic issues were a point of concern at many institutions as incoming students often struggled with basic skills. Furthermore, international students who needed remedial English were less likely to persist (Mamiseishvili, 2012). There have been numerous issues, obstacles, and challenges that may inhibit a student’s ability to navigate the rigors of college. Much has been discussed concerning improved educational opportunities for minority and underrepresented students in†¦show more content†¦However, American institutions were only able to use tuition to cover 44% of operating costs in 2012 (Han, 2014). This chapter’s study was performed at a university challenged by an enormous budget cut and one of the lowest tuition rates in the nation. Furthermore, the proportion of international students outpaces the national average by 2% (Institute of International Education, 2016). Yet, administration has not made improved retention and recruitment of international students a priority in fixing the situation. Rather, the university has decided to cut costs and faculty positions to solve the issue. This may also be the case at many other institutions facing budget issues. However, improved retention through addressing academic needs may aid in alleviating some of these financial issues. In previous studies, students cited academic matters like course structure, discussions, and study skills as significant obstacles (Abel, 2002; Fenton-Smith Michael, 2013; Pan Wong, 2011). In fact, 74% of international students and 65% of domestic students shared concerns with their academic pursuits (Grayson, 2008). Furthermore, Yi (2007) found that 45.9% of international students’ need for academic assistance was quite common and sometimes overwhelming. Yet, in most of the studies consulted, academics was a catchall term that did not address specific issues. InShow MoreRelatedGraduation Speech : A Student s Grade Point Average And Academic Performance1062 Words   |  5 PagesINTRODUCTION College students continuously encounter the struggle of time management through out their college experience. Overall a student’s grade point average and academic performance relies on how the student efficiently spends their time. Distractions and various activities intervene in daily academic obligations and tasks for any college student. Research has shown that only 48% of college students believe they effectively use their time wisely. (Britton, Bruce. K., Tesser, Abraham, 1991)Read MoreGraduation Speech : College Admissions1424 Words   |  6 Pagestypical high school graduation, speeches are given by a select few, notable students. These notable students normally include the two students who earned the highest grade point averages out of all the students in their graduating class - the valedictorian and the salutatorian. Imagine a graduation, however, with no valedictorian or salutatorian speech. Imagine if there was no valedictorian or salutatorian. Imagine if there w as no distinction of students academic performance during commencementRead MoreSports and Academic Achievement1494 Words   |  6 PagesStudents that participate in athletics have greater academic success than students who do not participate in athletics. Central Michigan University April 24, 2012 Abstract Many studies have been done regarding the positive impact that athletics has on a student’s life. Studies have looked at the physical impact that athletics has on a student’s life like sportsmanship, healthy lifestyle, discipline, strategy, and time management. We will be looking at studies that have explored the impactRead MoreMental Health And Academic Success1089 Words   |  5 PagesMental health problems among students is an important but highly unexplored topic. The pressures for college level students to succeed while balancing financial, social and academic changes has yet to be studied at a level which directly correlates mental health status with success or failure. A stable or healthy mental health is thought to lead to higher success rates in academia and if so, how to help students achieve a stable mental state is essential in ensuring student reach their highest potentialRead MoreAcademic Advisors : An Essential Component Of Guiding Students Towards A Successful Collegiate Academic Destination1482 Words   |  6 Pages Academic advisors are an essential component in guiding students towards a successful collegiate academic destination. A student’s educational experience is founded with proper advisement and guidance provided to reach their degree completion. Academic advisement is a truly shared responsibility between the student and the advisor. Academic advisors aid students in developing an academic and career plan, monitor students in the major, and discuss how a course of study fits a particular academicRead MoreSchool Uniforms And Its Effects On People And Their Behavior1537 Words   |  7 Pagesconsider. What students choose to wear to school every single day impacts their lives more than most realize for example, in school. What students choose to wear to school can affect how well they are able to participate and focus on their studies. The clothing that students choose to put on their backs affects their self-esteem, what class level their classmates perceive them as, and their behavior. Implementing a school uniforms in public school can benefit the school and the students academicallyRead MoreThe Impact Of Finley School District : A Research Project On Student Achievement1314 Words   |  6 Pagespromote, develop and maintain social and emotional resources needed to ensure student progress and success. These p rograms and services are funded through Title 1, local, state and federal sources, and are geared towards meeting the specific needs of varying student populations. This report will identify and elaborate on specific programs and services utilized within the schools in the District and how they influence student achievement. FSD is committed to providing a universal service of achievementRead MoreHow Clothing Has A Impact On People And Their Behavior1718 Words   |  7 Pagesto consider. For example, school. School, in which students are surrounded by teachers and peers. Peers who will make fun of others if the clothing is not from a specific store or if it does not parallel the â€Å"in† style. These hurtful comments can drag down self-esteem and confidence and affect how well they are able to participate and focus on their studies. Implementing a school uniforms in public school can benefit the school and the students academically in their grades, behavior in the classro omsRead MoreSchool Uniform Policies Around The World905 Words   |  4 Pages High school students are seen walking down their school’s hallways wearing baggy sweat pants, tight revealing clothing, or outrageous piercings and hair colors. Would you feel confident in your student’s principle wore fitted tank tops and joggers whenever he or she pleased? Approximately one in five schools enforce a dress code, becoming common in America in the mid-1990s (â€Å"School Uniforms.†). Regulating what is acceptable for students to wear is a growing issue, because of the new society basedRead MoreHigh School And The Neural And Scholastic Benefits Essay1298 Words   |  6 Pagesand scholastic benefits to students. I will also be discussing how bolstering the Hawaii public schools fine arts programs is essential to bettering education on the islands. Background The main focus of this paper will be on the neural and scholastic benefits that music courses have on high school students. In regards to scholastic benefits, I will be focusing mainly on the grade performance of students partaking in music course during high school versus students who do not take music in high

Gay Marriage Should Be Legal - 1434 Words

Gay marriage has slowly become a significant factor amongst individuals of today’s society. On June 26, 2015, it was ruled out by the U.S. Supreme Court that gay marriage was now legal. The first thing that I thought was that â€Å"Wasn’t it already legal in the United States?† Well, apparently no it has not been legalized in the United States! (Dumb me.) The U.S. is known to be a nation of equality and gives everyone the freedom of the speech, but it is actually a nation full of racism, sexism, and homophobias. Our country gives us the freedom to do many things, but to gay couples they don’t have much freedom as others do. We are violating their freedom because we aren’t letting them marry the one they love, so to say that everyone in the U.S. has the freedom to do anything is wrong. Our civil rights and the Constitution give us many liberties. One of our civil liberties is the pursuit of happiness, which many homosexual people are not allowed to c hase, but thanks to the new ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court homosexual people are allowed to chase it. They are being looked down at and are feeling ashamed of themselves because of all the cruelty that they are receiving. Homosexual people haven’t been able to fully express themselves until it was legalized for them to fully do so. They have been fighting for the right to be married to their same sex for about a decade now, and they have finally met their goal. #Lovewins. In this paper my goal is to help open people minds up aboutShow MoreRelatedGay Marriage Should Be Legal1205 Words   |  5 PagesHoward Sociology 1301-93431 Gay Marriage Getting married is something that most people do when they find love, which it is an important event in their life. The GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) community now get the legal right of same-sex marriage, which they have fought for throughout the years; on the other hand, some opponents of same-sex marriage have called fo r a constitutional change towards it. Although there were some countries that allowed gay marriage before the United StatesRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1159 Words   |  5 PagesAmendment, which puts a ban on gay marriage. This amendment entitles to equal rights to the gay community, ending toleration of discrimination in jobs, rights protecting gays from hate crimes,rights allowing advancement in government. However, the concept of gay marriage is still not considered a right the American people should extend to homosexuals. II. The vast majority of opponents believe marriage should be between one woman and one man, meaning marriage should be between members of the oppositeRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1574 Words   |  7 Pagesequal rights. Gays and lesbians are consistently denied rights that are typically taken for granted by the average American. Specifically, gay and lesbian couples are denied the right to marry even if they are outstanding citizens. They are held at an unfair disadvantage solely because of their sexual orientation. This discrimination must stop, because gay and lesbian couples are law-abiding citizens too, who should be afforded the same rights as heterosexual couples. Marriage is about love andRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1564 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is marriage? Recently, people argue with respect to the definition of marriage. What happened to marriage? To get married is a very important event for almost everyone. Especially for women, marriage and giv ing a birth could be the two biggest events of their lives. Many people believe that getting married to the one whom he or she loves is natural. However, what do you think if you cannot get married to him or her because it is socially unacceptable? 100 years ago different colored peopleRead MoreShould Gay Marriage Be Legal?778 Words   |  3 PagesShould Gay Marriage Be Legal? â€Å"†¦I now pronounce you husband and wife†¦Ã¢â‚¬  One would normally hear this when attending a wedding. In tradition marriage has been between one male and one female who love each other. But how would one feel if they heard â€Å"I now pronounce you groom and groom† or how about â€Å"†¦bride and bride...†? In the last 50 years the number of same-sex couples has increased. The on-going argument between the government and the people is â€Å"Should gay marriage be legal?† Although some sayRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1126 Words   |  5 PagesJune 26, 2015 for gay marriage to be legal in all fifty states, thirty seven out of the fifty and Washington D.C already legalized gay marriage. Many support gay marriage and many do not, with widespread values and reasons for and against it. Due to religion and rights people across the nation have differing views and opinions of it.In a five to four vote in the Supreme Court gay marriage becam e legalized in all fifty states. Shortly after that a few marriage officiators and marriage licenses peopleRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1179 Words   |  5 PagesGAY MARRIAGES Some states such as Iowa legalized gay marriage through the action of judicial interpretation based on the state’s constitutional stipulations while other states such as Vermont legalized gay marriage through legislation initiatives. These cases demonstrate the government is the sole body that can dictate the validity of whatever is to be regarded as a marriage, and in this case gay marriage. The power to validate marriage is still observed among the private citizens, religious institutionsRead MoreThe Gay Marriage Should Be Legal947 Words   |  4 PagesDefending Gay Marriage During the last few years, homosexuality has become an important issue for debate. Moreover, homosexuals have taken their case further by claiming their right to marry. Same-sex marriage, usually known as â€Å"gay marriage†, is the marriage between two people from the same biological sex (Doskow1). Since 2000, eleven countries have approved the legalization of gay marriage worldwide: Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, ArgentinaRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1480 Words   |  6 PagesNew World Dictionary defines the word married as being husband and wife, yet there are millions of gay activists who are fighting for a new meaning. They believe marriage is more than a piece of paper and a set of rings. The hope is that marriage could be defined as a â€Å"public recognition of a private commitment† or â€Å"emotional, financial, and psychological bond† between two people (Sullivan 53). Gay activists belie ve that taking away the ability to have a publicly recognized relationship or an acceptedRead MoreGay Marriage Should Be Legal1351 Words   |  6 Pageshappened for United States, gay marriage became legal in all 50 states. In most states it already was but the remaining 13 became legal this year. There are many concerns regarding gay marriage, and the effects of them involve many legislative, cultural, religious and family issues. Gay marriage is controversial because a lot of people do not approve of it, they think it is immoral, unnatural, and not what the traditional concept of â€Å"marriage† really means. Opponents of gay marriage say it is only meant

Marketing Strategy Study Guide Free Essays

MKT 850 Study Guide Chapter 5 * SWOT Analysis: * One of the most useful tools in analyzing marketing data and information * Links company’s situation analysis and development of marketing plan * Uses structured information to uncover competitive advantages and guide selection of the strategic focus of the marketing strategy. * Broken down into: * Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats * Productive SWOT (manager should†¦) : * Use a series of SWOT analyses focusing on specific product/market combinations * Search for competitors both present and future Collaborate with other functional areas by sharing information and perspectives * Examine issues from the customers perspective by asking employees: * What do customers believe about us as a company? * Which of our weaknesses translate into a decreased ability to serve customers? * Looks for causes not characteristics considering the firms resources for each part * Separate internal and external issues using this key t est: * Would this issue exist if the firm did not exist? * If yes, issue classified as external * Strengths Weaknesses: Exist because of resources by the firm, or due to the nature of key relationships between the firm and its customers/employees/outside organizations * May be leveraged into capabilities (strengths) or overcome (weaknesses) * Meaningful only when they assist or hinder the firm in satisfying customer needs * Opportunities Threats: * Not potential marketing actions. Issues/situations that occur in the firm’s external environments. We will write a custom essay sample on Marketing Strategy Study Guide or any similar topic only for you Order Now * Not ignored as the firm gets caught up in developing strengths and capabilities for fear of creating an efficient, but ineffective organization. Stem from changes in the competitive, customer, economic, political/legal, technological, and sociocultural environments. * SWOT Matrix: * Allows marketing manager to visualize the analysis * Serves as a catalyst to guide the creation of marketing strategies that will produce desired results. * Allows manager to see how strengths and opportunities might be connected to create capabilities that are key to meeting customer needs * Assesses the magnitude and importance of each strength/weak/opp/threat. * Competitive Advantage: Capabilities in relations to those held by the competition * Based on both internal and external factors * Based on reality and customer perception * Based on the basic strategies of operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy. * Strategic Focus Establishment * Based on developing an overall conce pt or model that guides the firm as it weaves various marketing elements together into a coherent strategy * Tied to firm’s competitive advantage * Use results of SWOT as firm considers four directions of strategic efforts: * Aggressiveness Diversification * Turnaround * Defensiveness * Ensures the firm does not step beyond core strengths to consider opportunities outside its capabilities * Visualized through the use of a strategy canvas where the goal is to develop a value curve that is distinct from the competition * Downplay traditional industry competitive factors in favor of new approaches * Lays groundwork for development of marketing goals and objective, connects SWOT outcomes to the rest of the marketing plan. * Marketing Goals: Broad, desired accomplishments started in general terms. * Indicate the direction the firm attempts to move in, as well as the set of priorities will use in evaluating alternative and making decisions. * Should be attainable, realistic, intern ally consistent, comprehensive, and clarify the roles of all parties in the organization. * Involves some degree of intangibility * Marketing Objectives: * Specific and quantitative benchmarks that can be used to gauge progress toward the achievement of the marketing goals * Should be attainable with reasonable effort Continuous or discontinuous depending on the degree to which they depart from present objectives * Assigned to specific areas, departments, or individuals who have the responsibility to accomplish them Chapter Six * Buyer Behavior in Consumer Markets: * Often irrational and unpredictable as consumers say one thing and do another * Progress through five stages: * Need Recognition * Information Search * Evaluation of Alternatives * Purchase Decision * Post Purchase Evaluation Don’t always follow these stages in order or may skip stages * May be characterized by loyalty where consumers simply purchase the same product that they bought last time * Involves parallel sequencing of activities with finding the most suitable merchant. * Consider what product they want, and where to buy it * Can occur if a consumer is fiercely loyal to a merchant * Can be affected by: * Complexity of the purchase and decision making process * Demographics, Psychographics, and Sociocultural factors * Social influences: culture, social class, family, opinion leaders, reference groups. Situational influences: physical and spatial influences, social and personal influences, time, purchase task/usage, consumer disposition * Consumers Wants Needs: * Shouldn’t define needs as necessities because everyone has a different perspective on what constitutes a need * Needs occur when a consumers current level of satisfaction doesn’t equal their desired level * Wants are consumers desire for a specific product that will satisfy a specific need * Firm must understand basic needs fulfilled by its products. Allows firm to segment markets and create marketing programs t hat show needs into wants for their product * Most products are marketed on the basis of wants not need fulfillment * Wants are not the same as demand * Demand: occurs when the consumers ability and willingness to pay backs up a want for a specific product * Information Search: * Passive and Active: * Passive- consumer become more attentive and receptive to information * Active- consumer engages more aggressive seeking information search * Depends on several issues: Degree of risk * Level of expertise * Actual cost of search (time and money) * Culminates in an evoked set of suitable buying alternatives * Evaluation of Alternatives: * Translates needs into wants for specific products or brands * Evaluate products as bundles of attributes that have varying abilities to satisfy their needs * Priority of each consumers choice criteria can change * Want the product to be in the evoked set of potential alternatives * Constantly remind them of their company and products * Purchase Stage: I ntent to purchase and the actual act of buying are distinct concepts * Key issues: * product availability: how easy is it to get the product where the consumer is * possession utility: how easy is it to transfer ownership * Postpurchase Evaluation: * Outcome of buying process is linked to the development of long-term customer relationships. Closely follow customers’ responses to monitor performance and ability to meet customers’ expectations * Will experience one potential outcomes: Delight, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, or cognitive dissonance * Business Markets: * Purchase products for their use in their operations, like buying raw materials, buying office supplies, or leasing cars * Consists of four types of buyers: * Commercial markets * Reseller markets * Government markets * Institutional markets * Four unique characteristics not found in consumer markets: * The buyer center: economic buyers, technical buyers, and users * Hard and soft costs are equally importan t Hard- monetary price or purchase costs * Soft- downtime, opportunity costs, HR costs * Reciprocity: business buyers and sellers often buy products from each other * Mutual dependence: sole-source or limited-source buying makes both buying and selling firms mutually dependent * Business Buying Process: * Sequence of Stages: * Problem Recognition * Development of product specifications * Vendor identification and qualification * Solicitation of proposals and bids * Vendor selection Order processing * Vendor performance review * Can be affected by several factors including: environmental conditions, organizational factors, and interpersonal/individual factors * Market Segmentation: process of dividing the total market for a particular product or product category into relatively homogeneous segments or groups * Groups should have similar members, but groups must be dissimilar from each other * Fundamental decision of whether to segment at all Allows firms to be more successful due to the fact that they can tailor products to meet the needs of a particular market segment * Traditional market segmentation approach: * Used successfully for decades, not out of date, and are used by many of today’s most successful firms * Can be used in combination with newer approaches by the firm, depending on the brand/product or market in question * Successful segmentation: Must be identifiable and measureable * Substantial * Accessible * Responsive * Viable and sustainable * Avoid ethical/legally sensitive segments * Avoid viable segments that don’t match firm’s mission * Mass Marketing: no segmentation and is aimed at the total market for a product * Undifferentiated approach assumes all customers have similar needs/wants * Works best when needs are relatively homogeneous Advantage- production efficiency and lower marketing costs * Disadvantage- risky because a standardized product is vulnerable to competitors that offer specialized products that better mat ch customers’ needs * Differentiated Marketing: divides the total market into groups of customers having relatively homogenous needs, attempting to develop a marketing program that appeals to one or more of these groups * Necessary when customer needs are similar within a single group, but the needs differ across groups * Two options: * Multi-segment approach * Market concentration approach Niche Marketing: focusing efforts on one small, well defined market segment or niche that has a unique, specific set of needs * Requires that firms understand and meet needs of target customers. Although small in size, firms substantial share makes the segment highly profitable * Individualized Segmentation Approaches: * Viable due to advances in technology especially in communication and the internet * Organizations can now track customer with a high degree of specificity * Allows firms to combine demographic data with past/current purchasing behavior. Tweak marketing programs in ways tha t allow them to precisely match customers’ needs, wants, and preferences * Become more important in the future because their focus on individual customers makes them critical to the development and maintenance of long-term relationships * Expensive to deliver * Two important considerations: * Automated delivery of the marketing program * Personalization One-to-one Marketing: involves the creation of an entire unique product or marketing program for each customer in the target segment * Common in business markets where unique programs and systems are designed for each customer * Growing rapidly in consumer markets, in luxury or custom made products or services * Mass customization: providing unique products and solutions to individual customers on a mass scale * Cost-effective and practical due to advances in supply-chain management. real time inventory control) * Used frequently in business markets, especially electronic procurement systems * Permission Marketing: different f rom one-to-one marketing because customers choose to become a member of the firm’s target market * Commonly executed via opt in email lists * Advantage: customers already interested in firms offerings * Allows precise target of individuals, eliminating the problem of wasted marketing effort and expense * Identify Market Segments: selecting most relevant variables to identify and define the target market, many of which come from the situation analysis of the marketing plan. Isolation of individual characteristics that distinguish one or more segments from the total market (must have homogeneous needs) * Consumer markets involved examination of factors of one of these categories: * Behavioral segmentation: most powerful approach because it uses actual consumer behavior or product usage helps to make distinctions among market segments Demographic segmentation: divides markets using factors such as gender, age, income, and education * Psychographic segmentation: state-of-mind iss ues such as motives, attitudes, opinions, values, lifestyles, interests, and personality * Geographic segmentation: most useful when combined with other segmentation variables, geodemographic segmentation or geoclustering. * Business markets are based on types of market or on things such as: organization, characteristics, benefits sought/buying process, personal/psych characteristics, or relationship intensity. Top Marketing Strategies: * Based on evaluation of the attractiveness of each segment and whether each offers opportunities that match firms capabilities and resources * Single segment targeting, selective targeting, mass market targeting, product specialization, and market specialization. * Also consider issues related to noncustomers, like why they do not buy and finding ways to remove obstacles to purchase. Chapter 7 Product Strategy: at the heart of every organization and it defines what the organization does and why it exists * Creating a productive offering that is a bu ndle of physical (tangible), service (intangible), and symbolic (perceptual) attributes designed to satisfy customer wants/needs. * Strives to overcome commoditization by differentiating product offerings via the service and symbolic elements of the offering * Product Portfolio: * Used in both consumer (convenience, shopping, specialty, etc. and business markets (raw materials, process materials, installations, etc. ) * Used in most firms due to the advantages of selling a variety of products * Consists of a group of closely related product items (product lines) and the total group of products offered by a firm (product mix) * Involves strategic decisions such as variety and assortment of offerings * Can create benefits including: economies of scale, package uniformity, standardization, sales and distribution efficiency, etc. Service Products Challenges: stem from the intangibility of services. Other characteristics include simultaneous production/consumption, and perish ability/cli ent based relationships * Other issues: * Experience problems in balancing supply and demand * Time and place dependent because customers must be present for delivery * Customers have a difficult time evaluating quality of service before it is purchased * Quality of service is often inconsistent and hard to standardize * Need for some services are not always apparent to customers. Service marketers often have trouble tying offerings to needs * New Product Development: vital part of a firm’s efforts to sustain growth and profits * Six strategic options related to newness of products: * New-to-world products (discontinuous innovations)- which involve a pioneering effort by a firm that leads to the creation of an entirely new market * New product lines- represent new offerings by the firm, but they become introduced into established markets * Product line extensions- supplement an existing product line with new styles, models, features, or flavors * Improvements/Revisions of existing products- offer customers improved performance or greater perceived value * Repositioning- targeting existing products at new markets or segments * Cost reductions- modifying products to offer performance similar to competing products at a lower price * Depends on firms ability to create differential advantage for the new product * Proceeds through five stages: * Idea generati on * Screening and evaluation * Development * Test marketing * Commercialization * Branding Strategy: selecting the right combination of name, symbol, term, and design that identifies a specific product * Two parts: * Brand name: words, letters, and numbers * Brand mark: symbols, figures, or a design * Critical to product identification and factor used by marketers to differentiate a product from its competition * Successful- capture product offering in a way that answers a question in consumers mind * Involves many attributes that make up the way customers think about brands: * People (employees and endorsers) * Places (country of origin) * Things (events, causes, third party endorsements) * Other brands (alliances, the company, extensions) * Advantage- make it easier for customers to find and buy products * Four key issues: * Manufacturer vs. private-label brands- private label brands are more profitable than manufacturer brands for the retailers that carry them. Manufactured brands have built-in demand, recognition, and product loyalty. * Brand loyalty- positive attitude toward a brand that causes customers to have a consistent preference for that brand over all competing brands in a product category. Three levels: brand recognition, brand preference, and brand insistence * Brand equity- the value of a brand or the marketing and financial value associated with a brand’s position in the marketplace. * Brand alliances- branding strategies, such as co branding that involve d eveloping close relationships with other firms. * Packaging and labeling: * Part of developing a product, its benefits, its differentiation, and its image * Issues such as color, shape, size, convenience of the package or container * Are often used in product modifications/co branding to reposition the product or give it new features. * Vital in helping customers make proper product selections * Important environmental and legal consequences * Differentiation and Positioning: Creating differences in the firm’s product offering that set it apart from competing offerings (product differentiation) and the development and maintenance of a relative position for a product in the minds of the target market (product positioning) * Can be monitored through perceptual mapping- a visual, spatial display of customer perceptions on two or more key dimensions * Based on the brand, but also product descriptors, customer support services and image * Includes positioning strategies to strengt hen current position, reposition, or reposition the competition * Managing Products and Brands over time: * Traditional product life cycle five stages: Development: a time of no sale revenue, negative cash flow and high risk * Introduction: time of rising customer awareness, extensive marketing expenditures, and rapidly increasing sales revenue * Growth: time of rapidly increasing sales revenue, rising profits, market expansion, and increasing numbers of competitors * Maturity: time of sales and profit plateaus, a shift from customer acquisition to customer retention, and strategies aimed at holding or stealing market share * Decline: time of persistent sales and profit decreases, attempts to postpone the decline, or strategies aimed at harvesting or divesting the product * Influence by shifts in the market, or actions of the firms within the industry as they constantly reinvent themselves. Chapter 8 * Pricing: * Key factor in producing revenue for a firm * Easiest of all marketing variables to change * Important consideration in competitive intelligence * Only real means of differentiation in mature markets that are commoditized * Among most complex decisions to be made in developing a marketing plan * Sellers Actions regarding Price: Tend to inflate prices to receive as much as possible in exchange * Consider four issues in pricing strategy: * Costs * Demand * Customer value * Competitors’ prices * Have increased power over buyers when products are in short supply, high demand, or good economic times. * Buyers Actions regarding Price: * See prices as being lower than the market reality dictates * Two issues: * perceived value * price sensitivity * Considered value to be the ratio of benefits to costs. â€Å"More bang for the buck† * Increased power over sellers when large number of sellers, economy is weak, product information easy to obtain, or price comparisons are easy to make * Cutting prices: Viable means of increasing sales, moving excess inventory, or generating short-term cash flow * Based on two general pricing myths: * When business is good, a price cut will capture greater market share * When business is bad, a price cute will stimulate sales * Risky because a price cut must be offset by an increase in sales volume to maintain the same level of gross margin * Not always best strategy, maybe build value into the product instead. * Pricing strategy issues: * Pricing objectives * Nature of supply and demand in the market * Firms cost structure * Nature of competition and the structure of the industry * Stage of the product life cycle * Firms cost structure: Typically associated with pricing through breakeven analysis or cost-plus pricing * Not be the driving force behind pricing strategy because different firms have different structures * Used to establish a floor below which prices cannot be set for an extended period of time * Pricing Strategy in Services: * Critical as price may be the only cue to quality in ad vance of the purchase experience * Becomes important and more difficult when: * Service quality hard to detect prior to purchase * Costs associated with providing the service are difficult to determine * Customers are unfamiliar with the service process * Brand names are not well established * Customers can perform the service themselves * Service has poorly defined units of consumption Advertising within a service category is limited * Total price of the service experience is difficult to state beforehand * Often based on yield management systems allowing a firm to both control capacity and demand in order to maximize revenue and capacity utilization * Yield management: knowing when and where to raise prices to increase revenue or to lower prices to increase sales volume. * Implemented by limiting the available capacity at certain prices, controlling demand through price changes, and overbooking capacity * Common in services characterized by high fixed costs and low variable costs, like airlines, hotels, rental cars, cruises, etc. Allows firm to offer same basic product to different market segments at different prices * Price elasticity of demand: * Customers’ responsiveness or sensitivity to changes in price * Inelastic: quantity demanded does not respond to price changes * Elastic: quantity demanded is sensitive to price changes * Unitary: changes in price and demand offset, keeping total revenue the same * Not uniform over time and place because demand is not uniform * Price Sensitivity Increases: * Substitute products are widely available * Total expenditure is high * Changes in price are noticeable to customers * Price comparison among competing products is easy Price Sensitivity Decreases: * Substitute products are not available * Products are highly differentiated from the competition * Customers perceive products as being necessities * Prices of complementary products go down * Customers believe the product is worth the price * Time pressures o r purchase risk are involved for consumers * Major base pricing strategies include: * Market introduction pricing: used of price skimming or penetration pricing when products are first launched into the market * Prestige pricing: intentionally setting prices at the top end of all competing products in order to promote an image of exclusivity and superior quality Value-based pricing (EDLP)- setting reasonably low prices, but still offering high quality products and adequate customer service * Competitive matching- charging what is considered to be the â€Å"going rate† for the industry * Nonprice strategies- building a marketing program around factors other than price * Strategies for adjusting prices in consumer markets: * Promotional discounting: putting products on sale * Reference pricing: comparing the actual selling price to an internal or external reference price * Odd-even pricing: setting prices in odd numbers, rather than in whole, round numbers * Price bundling: bri nging together two or more complementary products for a single price * Strategies for adjusting prices in business markets: Trade discounts: reducing prices for certain intermediaries in the supply chain based on the functions that they perform * Discounts and allowances: giving buyers price breaks, including discounts for cash, quantity or bulk discounts, seasonal discounts, or trade allowances for participation in advertising or sales support programs * Geographic pricing: quotes prices based on transportation costs (distance) * Transfer pricing: pricing when one unit in an organization sells products to another unit * Barter and countertrade: full or partial payments in goods/services/buying agreements rather than in cash * Price discrimination: charging different prices to different customers * Dynamic Pricing: * Started to replace fixed pricing in many product categories * Growing in importance and popularity due to the growth of online auction firms * Three pricing levels: * O pening position * Aspiration price Price limit * Long process, but is most logical and systematic way for two parties that don’t initially agree to reach agreement * Legal Ethical Issues of Pricing: * Price discrimination: different prices to different customers. Illegal unless its basis is the actual cost differences in selling products to one customer relative to another. * Price fixing: when two or more competitors collaborate to set prices at an artificial level * Predatory pricing: firm sets prices for a product below the variable cost to drive out competitors or out of the market * Deceptive pricing: firm intentionally mislead customers with price promotions. How to cite Marketing Strategy Study Guide, Essay examples

Even In Her Earlier Poems, Sylvia Plath Displays An Unhealthy Preoccup Essay Example For Students

Even In Her Earlier Poems, Sylvia Plath Displays An Unhealthy Preoccup Essay ation with sex, madness, morbidity and obscurity. Discuss. There seem to be a number of common themes running through all of Plaths poems, which encapsulate her personal attitudes and feelings of life at the time she wrote them. Of these themes, the most prevalent are: sex, madness, morbidity and obscurity. The whole concept of sex to Plath appears to be a very disturbed and resentful one. This is conveyed strongly through the poem Maudlin (a poem about self-pity) in which Plath evokes her bitterness toward masculinity with the aid of the two characters, the Virgin and Jack. Jack is described as having a crackless egg and being navel-knit (ie: cold hearted and impregnable). He is given an arrogant, macho image too: With a claret hogshead to swig, he kings it. Plaths sourness becomes apparent when Jacks lifestyle of luxury is compared to the repressed and disturbed life of suffering which the sleep-talking virgin leads. The idea of sleep-talking evokes her pain and suffering, leaking from her subconscious. Her torment does not end on the inside however, according to Plath who describes further physical and mental torture endured by women who painfully beautify themselves for the pleasure of men like Jack: at the price of a pin-stitched skin fish-tailed girls purchase each white leg. Furt hermore, Plath justifies the virgins choice to endure the pain: The sign of the hag (the virgins fear of aging). Another poem which is strongly sexually orientated, but in a more mechanical and lustful sense, is Night Shift. The brute physicality conveyed through onomatopoeia in the poem impregnates the feeling of primeval sexuality in which violence is interlaced. This overall effect arises as a result of the images conjured up by words and phrases such as, heart, beating, drumming up, sound, ground, pounding, thudding source, vertical tonnage of metal and wood; stunned the marrow, greased machines. Her feelings toward this kind of intensely physical experience appears to be one of oppression arising from the males pleasure and females pain. It is this bitterness toward males, which has been re-echoed here as in Maudlin. Plaths second obsession is with madness. The clearest example of this is found in Miss Drake Proceeds to Supper. The paranoia, constant delusions and obscure perceptions described in the poem convey a deranged fear, which has arisen as a result of her insanity. The tortuous and enigmatic adjectives used to describe furniture (knotted table and crooked chair) illustrates the obscurely twisted perception of Miss Drake as she clumsily lifts one webbed foot after the other, pretending she is a duck, her bird-quick eye cocked askew. The paranoia conveyed as she edges with wary edge through the perilous needles which grain the floorboards and outwit their brambled plan, clearly shows her fear which is exacerbated from the impression given that she is small and vulnerable, footing sallow as a mouse. This and her detailed observation of the furred petals almost incites sympathy for her as this mad woman is ambushed and panic stricken by the bright shards of broken glass. Another disillusioned idea that Miss Drake has is that she is important. This is first noticed in the title, which grandly encapsulates a mad woman stumbling to tea in a mental institution but is reverberated through, No novice in those elaborate rituals and the fact that she is wearing purple (a royal colour). The question that needs to be asked is whether Plath is sympathetic or mocking Miss Drake. By depicting her as a feeble woman being ambushed by splinters in the floor, one might be tempted to assume that Plath is sympathetic toward Miss Drake, but having considered the banal diction and lack of emotion and lyrical phrasing, it seems that Plath is more scornful than compassionate. The concept of morbidity is another commonly found subject found in Plaths poetry. In Suicide off Egg Rock, Plath draws us into the mind of a man as he jumps off a cliff into the sea. All of the scenes that this man sees as he falls are pictured as incredibly ugly and painful, reflecting his state of mind and his perceptions. Images such as the hotdogs split and drizzled, children were squealing, he smoldered, as if stone-deaf and everything shrank in the suns corrosive ray are offensive and agonizing, thus helping the reader appreciate and relate to his pain and punishment, which is described as a machine to breathe and beat forever. Ochreous salt flats, gas tanks, factory stacks, his blood beating the old tattoo, a mongrel working his legs to a gallop hustled a gull flock to flap off the sandpitt, his body beached with the seas garbage and flies filing in through a dead skates eyehole are all ugly and unnatural images with an intensely negative undertone and a feeling of self-loathing. .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 , .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .postImageUrl , .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 , .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:hover , .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:visited , .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:active { border:0!important; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:active , .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0 .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uab59e5cea706f03bd4f754fc2e9a87f0:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Italian Renaissance (511 words) EssayWith this view of life, it is quite possible to understand why this man wants to kill himself. Yet at the end, just before he hits the sea, Plath suddenly twists the whole poem on its head by saying, the forgetful surf creaming on those ledges. By adding this beautiful phrase at the end, Plath includes a cruel irony: after searching for so long for something positive and being unable to find it, he finally sees something possibly worth living for. All of Plaths poems contain some kind of obscurity but Resolve is the most interesting as it centres around making common images appear obscure. When two water drops poise on the arched green stem of my neighbors rose bush as a milk-film blurs the empty bottles on the windowsill, it is unclear how these two things are connected until one realises that they arent meant to be related. It is this random obscurity that Plath seems to be obsessed with in Suicide off Egg Rock, where the man sees many obscure images as he falls and is rippled and pulsed in the glassy updraught.

Narration Types of Narration Essay Sample free essay sample

Narrative is the manner writers relate events to readers. Novelists use different manner of stating their narratives: they use different characters to state the narratives ( storytellers ) and present the events from different ‘angles’ ( different points of position ) . First – individual storyteller ( the narrative is told by an ‘I’ ) . who may be the chief character in the novel or a minor character in the novel. an perceiver of events that happen to others. Third – individual storyteller In the novels written in the 3rd individual. two chief points of position are usually used: the all-knowing point of position andthe limited point of position. The all-knowing point of position means that the storyteller knows everything about the events and the characters and knows all their ideas and motivations. an intrusive storyteller – explicitly tells the reader things. noticing ob the characters. an nonsubjective storyteller – merely shows things. without noticing or explicating: he is more like the camera. We will write a custom essay sample on Narration: Types of Narration Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The limited point of position means that. although the storyteller tells the narrative in the 3rd. he confines himself to the feelings and feelings of one character in the novel: he presents merely one point of position of events. The consequence of this can be similar to that created by the 1st individual storyteller. Multiple storytellers and multiple points of position Very frequently writers ( particularly modern 1s ) experiment with the assorted effects produced by different storytellers and point of position. This reflects typically the 20th century concerns: the complex nature of world the diminution of belief an obstruction truthintriguing with psychological analysisa belief in the importance of single experience and sentiment. Narrator engagement in what is narrated. Either the storyteller has experienced that which he is narrating. in this instance he is homodiegetic. or he has non in the instance he is heterodiegetic. If his experience is personal. the grade of his engagement may change. Possibly. he has merely seen things from afar. or possibly he played the cardinal engagement. one can put the traditional differentiation between informant and chief character. If the homodiegetic storyteller is the supporter of the narrative he tells – he ( storyteller ) is called autodiegetic ( e. g. Pip in The Great Expectations by Dickens ) . The paradigm here is autobiographical storyteller. The storyteller who deals with things he has witnessed is called allodiegetic Narrator visibleness a covert storyteller quotes a batch. does non show himself in the 1st individual. and tries to avoid evaluate descriptions every bit much as possible. a open storyteller resorts to rephrase alternatively of citation ; he will decidedly speak about himself and hence use the 1st individual ; and he will frequently showcase his ain sentiments. Fictional characters. Method of word picture. Character – an agent in a work of art. including literature. play. film. opera. etc. Types of characters Round characters are complex and undergo development. sometimes sufficiently to surprise the reader. The supporter is the chief character in the narrative. novel. play or other literary work. the character that the reader or audience empathizes with. The adversary is the antagonist of the hero. he opposes the supporter. The well-written supporters are circular characters. They should be the most interesting. complex characters in the novel. Minor characters are level characters. They are planar in that they are comparatively simple andmake non alter throughout the class of work. |Major or cardinal characters are critical to the development and |Minor characters serve to complement the major characters and assist | |resolution of the struggle. In other words. the secret plan and declaration of|move the secret plan events frontward. | |conflict revolves around these characters. | | |Dynamic – a dynamic character is a individual who changes over clip. |Static – a inactive character is person who does non alter over clip ; | |usually as a consequence of deciding a cardinal struggle or confronting a major |his or her personality does non transform or germinate. | |crisis. Most dynamic characters tend to be cardinal instead than | | |peripheral characters. because deciding the struggle is the major | | |role of cardinal characters. | | |Round – a rounded character is anyone who has a complex personality ; |Flat – a level character is the antonym of a unit of ammunition character. This | |he or she is frequently portrayed as a conflicted and contradictory individual. |literary personality is noteworthy for one sort of personality trait or | | |characteristic | |Direct presentation ( or word picture ) – This refers to what the |Indirect presentation ( or word picture ) – This refers to what | |speaker or storyteller straight says or thinks about a character. The |the character says or does. The reader is the 1 who is obliged to | |reader is told what the character is like. |figure out what the character is like. And sometimes the reader will | |When Dickens describes Scrooge like this: â€Å"I present him to you: |get it incorrect. | |Ebenezer Scrooge†¦ . the most closefisted manus at the grindstone. | | |Scrooge! A squeeze. twisting. hold oning. grating. seizing. | | |covetous. old evildoer! † – this is really direct word picture! | | 1 Tone and Mood Tone is a literary technique that is a portion of composing. which encompasses the attitudes toward the topic and toward the audience implied in a literary work. Tone may be formal. informal. confidant. solemn. somber. playful. serious. dry. guilty. condescending. or many other possible attitudes. Tone and temper are non the same. although fluctuations of the two words may on occasions be interchangeable footings. The tone of a piece of literature is the speaker’s or narrator’s attitude towards the topic. instead than what the reader feels. as in temper. Mood is the general feeling or atmosphere that a piece of composing creates within the reader. Mood is produced most efficaciously through the usage of puting. subject. voice and tone. Basically. tone is the narrator’s feelings toward the narrative. and temper is the reader’s.

Converting Cubic Centimeters to Liters Example Problem

Converting Cubic Centimeters to Liters Example Problem This example problem demonstrates how to convert cubic centimeters to liters (cm3 to l). Cubic centimeters and liters are two metric units of volume. Cubic Centimeters To Liters Problem What is the volume in liters of a cube with sides of 25 centimeters? Solution First, find the volume of the cube.**Note** Volume of a cube (length of side)3Volume in cm3 (25 cm)3Volume in cm3 15625 cm3 Second, convert cm3 to ml1 cm3 1 mlVolume in ml Volume in cm3Volume in ml 15625 ml Third, convert ml to L1 L 1000 ml Set up the conversion to cancel out the desired unit. In this case, we want L to be the remaining unit. volume in L (volume in ml) x (1 L/1000 ml)volume in L (15625/1000) Lvolume in L 15.625 L Answer ï » ¿A cube with 25 cm sides contains 15.625 L of volume. Simple cm3 to L Conversion Example If youre lucky enough to have the original value already in cubic centimeters, conversion to liters is easy. Convert 442.5 cubic centimeters into liters. From the previous example, you should realize a cubic centimeter is the same volume as a milliliter, so: 442.5 cm3 442.5 ml From there, you just need to convert cm3 to liters. 1000 ml 1 L Finally, convert the units. The trick is to check the set-up of the conversion to make sure the ml units cancel out, leaving you with liters for the answer: volume in L (volume in ml) x (1 L/1000 ml)volume in L 442.5 ml x (1 L/1000 ml)volume in L 0.4425 L Note: Whenever a volume (or any reported value) is less than 1, always add the leading zero before the decimal point to make the answer easier to read.

General Marx's Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

General Marx's Theories - Essay Example Marx gives reasons as for the need for such assessment. Value is social because it is determined by the total result of the fluctuating efforts of each individual producer; objective because it is given, upon the completion of the production of a given commodity, and becomes independent from personal or collective valuations of customers on the marketplace; it is historically relative because it is linked to each important change, progress or otherwise, of the average productivity of labor in a given segment of output, including transportation and agriculture.   This does not, however, mean that Marx’s concept of value is detached from consumption. He only distinguishes between the living labor and dead labor, like tools and raw materials. But he says values determine prices only basically and in the medium-term sense of the word. Marx respects the operation of market laws, also of a law of supply and demand, in determining the short-term fluctuations. The Communist Manifesto declares, â€Å"The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Communist Manifesto) Marx does treat labor as a commodity but one can not say that his value theory is unscientific and wrong. His observation should not be read in isolation. Karl Korsch points out, â€Å"It was never the intention of Marx to descend from the general idea of value as expounded in the first volume of Capital, by means of ever closer determinants to a direct determination of the price of commodities.

Contemporary international problems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary international problems - Essay Example These individuals that became entrenched in slavery provided the second source of slaves, namely their children. Children born in slavery were the property of their parents masters. This was especially prevalent in Americas experience with slavery in the Deep South prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. In modern times, many people that end up in slavery are not forcibly taken from their homelands. They are lured by the prospect of increased financial opportunity. Only after contracting with individuals for transportation, housing and other expenses necessary for relocation does the slave realize they have entered into servitude. A major difficulty in defining modern day slavery and in developing strategies to combat is the institutions that create the market for slaves so not see themselves as contributing to the phenomena. For example, legislators in Florida that have the ability to champion legislation that would define and combat modern day slavery are also owners or have interest in agricultural entities such as orange groves or tomato farms that directly benefit from the modern day slave trade. Other institutions not linked to the legislature claim that it is the contractors that are to blame for the slavery, not the farmers or the food processors. Internationally, the United Nations passed a resolution on trafficking in humans, especially women and children, in 2003. This is the first international law dealing with modern day slavery. The resolution passed but questions still remain about enforcement. I believe that formulating domestic and foreign policy through a gendered lens is not just helpful, but necessary. What seems most damaging is developing these policies according to an ideology that tries to explain why men present the traits and attributes that seem to be more prevalent in their populations and why women present attributes generalized to their population. Working with an

Iconography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Iconography - Essay Example There have been divisions within the Christians over the use of icons, such as the Iconoclasts vs. the Iconodules (787 a.d.). The iconodules won their argument, over time, that icons were an integral part of the Christian tradition. Adoration of icons was not taken literally as love for the icons themselves but the meaning of them. It is said that St. Luke, the Evangelist, was the first iconographer when he painted an image of the virgin Mary on a panel, a woman he is thought to have actually known. The Byzantine Empire is known for its abundance of iconographs. The symbols used in iconography must relate to that which is apparent to people of the culture or time in which they are created. For instance, the color gold, in Eastern Orthodoxy, means the radiance of Heaven, while red is the color of martyrs (wikipedia.com 2006). Dragons are a symbol for sin and temptation. The wheel that St. Catherine was tortured on is an example of overt symbolism. In more recent times, submerged iconography was incorporated into works of art. Two examples are Jan Van Eyck's iconographic painting and Hieronymus Bosch's painting, The Garden of Earthly Delights. The differences in their iconography are striking. In Van Eyck's work, The Adoration

Outsourced Delivery Services Of Ikea

Outsourced Delivery Services Of Ikea The purpose of our thesis is to find out the factors that affecting the customers satisfaction on outsourcing. The importance of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is being a vital part of a company; however, a well SCM is not as mature as some old function like Human Relation Management, Accounting, etc. Thus, companies may outsource SCM or particular function among SCM to the 3rd party services provider. Meanwhile, the quality and effect on outsourcing would be a concern to companies. Customers make the sales, profit of a company. If the part which being outsourced may contact customers directly, is there any precaution and measurement to ensure the services provide will not be affecting during outsourcing, or how to minimize the influence to companies. Todays Supply Chain Management Many companies today are strengthening their connections with partners all along the supply chain. They no longer just treat suppliers as vendors and distributors as customers. They treat both as partners in delivering customers value. Most business nowadays are customer-oriented, e.g., Sales, CS Business, Insurance, Banking/Finance, Beauty Care/Health, etc. Background of Outsourcing In a global marketplace an increasingly huge competition forces companies striving to find strategies that give them competitive advantage over the competitors (Christopher, M., 1998). Outsourcing has been treated as one of the most important business and economic concepts for achieving competitive advantages. Outsourcing can be defined as the transfer of the production of goods or services that had been performed internally to an external party (Van Weele, A., 2005). Company can focus on their core business if the companies transfer its operations to another company to produce goods or services some 3rd party services provider. The basic reason for outsourcing is the increased trend of globalization (Enarsson, L., 2008, p.33). The reasons behind outsourcing may lower the cost on delivery, utilize local firms resources thus avoid capital investment on fixed asset for developing non core products, and to gain access technology, performance through effective partnership. Problems discussion Outsourcing, regardless a powerful economic and business strategy, does not always ensure success to the outsourcesr involved in the entire process. There are many drawbacks in outsourcing operations. It might help a company on cost saving, focus on core business; enhance capacity for innovation, wider experience and knowledge, etc. However, there are some arguments on guaranteeing quality of service, qualifications of outsourcee, standpoint of labor. Once a company determined which projects will be outsourced, they have to know why outsource and when to be carry out, how to prevent from mistakes while outsourcing. CONCEPTUAL STUDIES In this part we will explain the concept of supply chain management and outsourcing as well as their relationship from the point of view of different available and established theories and literatures. In this section our goal is to elaborate more about outsourcing in a theoretical frame. Supply Chain Management (SCM) A customer focused definition is given by Hines Supply chain strategies require a total systems view of the linkages in the chain that work together efficiently to create customer satisfaction at the end point of delivery to the consumer. As a consequence costs must be lowered throughout the chain by driving out unnecessary costs and focusing attention on adding value. Throughput efficiency must be increased, bottlenecks removed and performance measurement must focus on total systems efficiency and equitable reward distribution to those in the supply chain adding value. The supply chain system must be responsive to customer requirements. SCM describles a longer channel, stretching from raw materials to components to final products to final buyers. To implement an efficiency and effective supply chain systems take lots of time to design and manage, and so many companies nowadays decided to outsource parts of logistic function to a 3rd party services provider. Then they can allocate more resource and pay more effort on their core business. The Trend of Outsourcing There are no constrains to any functions which can be outsourced or not to be outsourced. To enhance the levels of competition, many organizations have started to consider in developing and maintaining the range of expertise and skills needed to compete effectively. This need has led many companies to engage with various kinds of sourcing; like outsourcing (Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., Willcocks, L.P., 2009) Definition of Outsourcing Different authors have defined the outsourcing that covers a wide scope of the concept of outsourcing. The word of outsourcing can be split as out and source which means sourcing externally. Some simple definitions of outsourcing are given as follows contracting with a third service provider for the management and completion of a certain amount of work, for a specified length of time, cost, and level of service (Oshri, I., Kotlarsky, J., Willcocks, L.P., 2009, p 4) A contract is the means by which the planning, responsibility, knowledge, and administration of processes is transferred to an external party (McCarthy Anagnostou, 2004, Blumberg, 1998) According to Franceschini, F. et al., 2003, Outsourcing is a managerial approach usually taken for delegating the responsibility to an external source for carrying out the operation of production process or services of an enterprise. In these contexts, it can be summarized that, outsourcing is an agreement between buyer and supplier(s) to avail processes or services that the buyer is providing internally at present; with an intention to reduce cost, increase focus on core business, improve quality of products and services and to ensure more flexibility. Evaluation Process for Outsourcing An organization needs to maintain an operational cycle to conduct the outsourcing operation. There are the outsourcing life cycle brought up by M.J., Desouza, K.C., Bonifazi, C. (Source: Power, M.J., Desouza, K.C., Bonifazi, C., 2006) Strategic assessment As the first stage of the outsourcing process, strategic assessment is the crucial activity in the whole life cycle of outsourcing. The organization should identifie a certain business case and assesses the potential benefit of adopting the outsourcing as a strategy. Needs analysis After completion of the strategic assessment, the next step for the organization is to define the needs and more specifically areas of the needs that are needed to be focused on. Vendor assessment Organization goes for soliciting, evaluating and choosing the vendor for its outsourcing needs. Contract and negotiation management To be engaged in negotiations (and renegotiations) until an agreement is reached about the details of outsourcing work. Project initiation and transition This is the most influential stages of the outsourcing relationship. The client organization slowly starts to hand over the control of the work to the outsourcee. Outsourcer should always pay attention to deal with emergent issues and smooth out any problems that occur. This stage marks the foundation of the continued relationship. Relationship management To keep up to date with the outsourcing relationship Continuance modification or exit strategy Organization must evaluate its current outsourcing contract to see if its best interest lies in continuing, modifying or exiting the relationship. Motives for Outsourcing Cost Efficiencies: Cost reduction has been the prime motive for outsourcing (Ford, D., et al., 1993). To develop a complete product is always expensive for a company as it needs huge investment to improve products and production process through continuous research and technology development. Outsourcing reduces the cost of the client company in this area as the service providers invest in this area to meet up the demand of the buyers in a large scale. In this way, a company can achieve the competitive advantages in the market reducing the cost through outsourcing process. Focus on Core Business: Every company has some activities that are not as essential as compared to its core business functions. By sourcing non-core business activities a company can focus on its core business in a better way. So, the efficiency of a company is likely to increase as more time and resources are focused only on the core business functions (Davis, J., 2002). In addition, there are some other driving factors that encourage the buyer company to adopt the outsourcing strategy. Such as operational expertise, enhance the capacity for innovation, capacity management where the risk in providing the excess capacity is borne by the supplier. EMPIRICAL STUDIES IKEA Hong Kongs Concept and History They offers a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. This is the idea at the core of everything IKEA does, from product development and purchases to how they sell their products in retail stores. IKEA can make a good-quality product for a high price, or a poor-quality product for a low price. But to make good products at low prices, they need to develop methods that are both cost-effective and innovative. This has been the focus of IKEA since its beginnings in Smà ¥land, Sweden. Maximizing the use of raw materials and production adaptation to meet peoples needs and preferences has meant that their costs are low. The IKEA way of doing things is to pass these cost savings on to customers. Importance of Select Reliable Outsourcee Under our investigation, IKEA Hong Kong has outsourced the home delivery and assembly services to an independent contractor. Basically, with return or exchange, home delivery and assembly services would be the final stage for company to provide services to customers. From ordering to delivery, IKEA takes at least three workings, even the staff give excellent customer services at retails store, the experience in store almost fade out after placing order. As the period from waiting order delivery to complete can replace the experience in store, services provide during these period of time is essential to decide will this customer return or not. No customers, no business, no sales. Those satisfied ones turns to be a loyal customers, otherwise, unsatisfied customers will bad month our company. Word of mouth is a reference to the passing of information from person to person. The influence of word of mouth is not measurable and difficult to rebuild company image. The dimensions of reliability; responsiveness; assurance; empathy; tangibility and cost in the service quality approach can be used in identifying critical factors that may suggest some ideas on selection of logistic services provider (LSP) (Kong Mayo, 1993; Bienstock, et al., 1997). Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Transit time Service Consistency Document Accuracy Responsiveness Variety of Services Express Delivery Global coverage Updated rates Track and Trace Containerization Consolidation Reputation No Goods Damages Empathy Tangibility Cost CRM Employee Courtesy Location Modern Equipments Own CFS E-services EDI Price Discount Credit term Case Study I: Apple Computer and TNT Express (See Appendix I) Apple Computer has been outsourced its delivery services to TNT Express. There would be a list of complaint about the services of TNT Express. The complaints are regarding to package missing, long delivery time, with recomfirm to package receiver. FINDINGS Apple Computer outsourcing its delivery services to TNT, every one who place the order from Apple store knew this. Once the order is placed, there are an implication of customers are agreed to let TNT Express to take over the duty of product delivery. Unlike IKEA Hong Kong, the delivery materials of contractors like trucks, boxes are printed in IKEA logo. It is difficult for customer to identify they are not the staff of IKEA. In order to protect the image or reputation, IKEA should ensure the contractor can perform like an IKEA staff, i.e., the delivery worker should have basic product knowledge, especially for solving the enquiries during the process of services delivery. That is unreasonable to say we are contractor rather than direct staff of IKEA. Customer service is any contact between a customer and a company, which can cause a negative or positive perception by a customer during services delivery. As an outsourcer, they may state clear of relationship between outsourcer and outsourcee may reduce complaints caused by misunderstanding. The case of Apple, sometimes online checking system of TNT Express does not show the actual product delivery status. Those complainers about product delivery did focus on the services provider TNT Express instead of complaining the Apples decision making on contractor selection. Case Study II: Survey on Outsourcing of Government Activities on 2002 and 2004 (See Appendix II) The Efficiency Unit of HKSAR has been conducted a survey about outsourcing of governemt activities as at 2002 and 2004 since 2000. In this two reports, it showed, over 80% of bureaux and departments have beed outsourced at least one function to an indepentend contractor. FINDINGS According to the report on 2004, those functions which occupied the most expenditure were capital works constraction, building property management and environmental hygiene are the top three outsourced functions. By analyzing the pattern of annual expenditure, the fluctuation of transport services is the most serious among the listed functions. The ratio of reducing expenditure is the most significant as well. In 2000, the expenditure was around $1 billion and then it dropped to $0.1 billion in 2002. Unlike other services categories, transport services were doubling up the expenditure on 2004. The focus of outsourced function of IKEA Hong Kong is the delivery services, it may categorize as transport services among the government functions. Reference to the expenditure on different services categories, transport services it is did not donminated the propular function of being outsourced. Reference to the page 6 of survey on 2004, there are current satisfaction of outsourcees performance. Around half of the outsourcee full met the requirement of outsourcer. Yet there is also another half that only partially fulfill. CONCLUSION IKEA is now the worlds largest furniture retailer; they have a fixed group of partners on manufacturing, purchasing and supply functions, design and development of products in the IKEA range. For distribution they have their own logistics center Europe is located in Dortmund, Germany and Asian logistic center is located in Singapore along with its IT base. To retaining customers, they have the customer relation system of IKEA Family. IKEA perform well in Europe no matter for SCM, marketing and customer retention. In Hong Kong region, they also have a good SCM, even they outsourced parts of service to an independent services provide. Yet the seldom to hear so negative comment to those outsourced services. Furthermore, under our investigation, we found that only one contractor took over the job of delivery, assembly services. The part that would appreciate is even the delivery services are being outsourced, IKEA Hong Kong still having a backup delivery term in-house. Once there are any conflicts or under peak seasons of ordering, IKEA can take over part of the order themselves. However, it is difficult to understand why they have not launch the loyalty card in Hong Kong. To strength the loyalty of customer, which is important to understand the purchase pattern of customers, in order to give related promotion and information to encourage them repeating purchase. There are no absolute anwser for good to be outsoure or not to be.Companies should adopt a planned approach towards outsourcing taking into account the interests of employees and customers alike and come up with a balanced advance. The cycle of evaluation process for outsourcing is a good model for a company which would interest in outsourcing a/some particular function to a 3rd party services provider. For those companies which have been outsourced, a regular evaluation on before and after outsourcing is important. In todays dynamic marketplace, there are no rules can last till the end. The one who wants to be dominant of the market, they should keep track on of market trend, find out the competitive advantage and having a periodical review companys performance from time to time. APPENDICE http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2537721start=0tstart=0 APPENDICE http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/tnt-shipping-c41785.html APPENDICE Some links of complaint about TNT Express when taking over the order from Apple Computer. http://www.uwants.com/archiver/?tid-10549683.html (a brief survey hold by some forum members) http://www1.17t17p.com/viewthread.php?tid=452427 http://boardreader.com/thread/Apple_HK_TNT_FRUSTRATION_9udfX1jc6j.html http://discussions.info.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1messageID=12054701

High Definition Television (HDTV) Essay example -- Expository Essays

High Definition Television (HDTV) High Definition Television, also known as HDTV, is a technological advancement compared to the analog television most Americans have now. High definition was a marvel that was bound to come. It seems that every time a new technology emerges, it is a must have, but is high-definition television worth buying? This is the question I have posed to myself and will try to answer. High definition started in Tokyo, Japan in 1964. It was a simple experimental research project that did not hold much weight. Once the Federal Communications Commission heard of the news, the proposed a competition to see who could come up with a higher quality television. There was no real winner for the contest, but because of the efforts of developers and the technology being pushed, high-definition television had been developed. There are three main reasons that high-definition television is not worth buying in the year 2004. 1) The Technology is Young Infancy is one word to describe the technology of high-definition and is still being worked on a deve...