Market Analysis of Fortress

Table of Contents 1) Executive Summary4 2) Company Background4 2. 1) Company Prospect4 2. 2) Market Leading History5 3) Competitors Analysis6 3. 1) Industry Perspective6 3. 2) Market Leader — Broadway (in 4P points of view)6 3. 3) Market Challenger — Gome (in 4P points of view)6 3. 4) Company Review6 4) External Environment Analysis7 4. 1) Geographical view7 4. 2) Demographical7 4. 3) PEST Analysis7 a. Political7 b. Economic Environment8 c. Social Environment8 d. Technological Environment9 5) Consumer Review9 Dissonance-reducing buying behavior10 6) SWOT Analysis10 a. Strengths10 b. Weaknesses11 c. Opportunities12 . Threats13 7) Conclusion and Recommendations13 7. 1) Target Market and Positioning Strategies13 7. 2) Marketing mix programs14 a)Product14 b)Price14 c)Place15 d)Promotions15 1) Executive Summary This marketing report is aimed to analyze the electrical appliance retailer, Fortress, and provide(provides) several recommendations to improve its market positioning that can achieve its targets and objectives. After investigating the current situation and external environment, it is suggested to launch a new promotion campaign that allows Fortress to gain more attention from consumers and succeed in the industry.It is found that the trend of collective purchasing is significant on the internet. Also, the number of marriage increased with the economy rebounded. In the Social Awareness on the environmental friendly penetrate to the public. Therefore, the promotion campaign is designed from these findings so as to enhance its competitiveness in the market. And, other detailed findings will be explicated in later parts. This promotion campaign is to offer a bundle of products labeled with high energy-saving efficiency for the young couples planned to be married.And, the marketing calendar as to the implementation of this promotion campaign will be explicitly shown to execute the proposed marketing mix program. 2) Company Background Fortress was es tablished for thirty six years in Hong Kong, founded in 1975 and acquired by Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) in 1986. It has expanded its business up to around 67 outlets hiring more than one thousand staff in Hong Kong. As for First mover advantages, Fortress is the first Hong Kong retailer to offer one-stop shop convenience and a multi-zone in-store retail concept in this industry.All these contribute to its current market offering, but not market myopia, which allows(allow? ) customers to enjoy excellent time-saving shopping so as to fulfill their needs and wants. In order to publicize its new smart living concept, Fortress publishes online magazine, â€Å"Wave†, and a number of free seminars on different interests including high-definition products, computers, digital cameras, home audio and video studio are held to educate consumers about the technology development and new products arrival in Fortress. . 1) Company Prospect â€Å"Inspiring Smart Living† – I t was introduced in 2004. Of this core aspiration of Fortress, professional services and advices provided by Fortress will be offered to customer in order to inculcate them to start â€Å"smart living†. â€Å"Smart living† means living with the support of the advanced technology. This mainly aims at inducing consumers to alter their life style to the advanced life style through leveraging advanced digital devices and home appliances. Customer-Oriented Services and Products ProvidedTo accompany with its prospect, Fortress allocates much resources in providing excellent customer services and introducing a variety of products. Thus, many external organizations recognized its outstanding services. a. Customer-Oriented Services The frontline staff will base on the different customer’s preferences to provide personalized recommendations on the particular products or other insurance products in After-Sale service. Some of customer services have been firstly introduced in the consumer electronics retail market, which Fortress gained several first-mover advantages.For instance, Fortress was the first one to launch the ‘24-Month Interest Free Installment’ Program, ‘Purchase-to-play’ Service; a ‘PAY THE DIFFERENCE’ policy that guarantees shoppers the lowest prices on every product every day, ‘Ideal Gift List Service’ and an ‘Emergency Replacement Service’ that guarantees ultimate satisfaction through the second year of product life. To ensure the high standard quality of the customer service, â€Å"Fortress Academy† was established to cultivate the continuous learning culture and to provide comprehensive training program to staff, ranging from frontline to management. . Products Offer Fortress has more than 50 suppliers that supply a wide range of electronic appliance and digital products to sell in retail stores. From the supplier list of Fortress, the product differentiation is typically high. It targets on undifferentiated market to satisfy different customers’ needs and wants. Besides, it also manufactures its own products named as â€Å"Fortress† brand to target the consumers with high-price sensitive. 2. 2) Market Leading HistoryTo achieve the large scale of the market shares, many innovative pioneering policies has(have) been created by Fortress, and some of these policies were later also adopted by other competitors. 3) Competitors Analysis 3. 1) Industry Perspective Being a robust market leader in the electronic retailing market, Fortress develops a wide brand network in the local market. Comparing with Fortress, Broadway is the closest market leader in the industry with narrower customer coverage . However, Broadway and Gome are good at different fields. In fact, they have quite different marketing strategies.Fortress aims at developing a wide distribution network and convenient locations for customers in order to create high accessi bility to the target market. 3. 2) Market Leader — Broadway (in 4P points of view) For Broadway, the marketing strategy is more trendy and fashionable. Like the topic of current TV commercials, â€Å"Rock-Happy-Life†, it aims to promote happiness in life with â€Å"rock† style, as â€Å"rock† style is considered as youngster music, so Broadway has given an impression to customers that it is a trendy and young brand, and aims at improving customers’ lifestyle by providing more digital devices.As the closest competitor for Fortress in the industry, it does not only pioneered in using celebrity as spokesman and some policies, but also follows most the pioneering policies made by Fortress, such as the free interest installment payment pioneered by Fortress. However, Fortress has also adapted some of the policies firstly made by Broadway, for example providing gift to customers. It offers products with similar brands and prices as Fortress does. 3. 3) M arket Challenger — Gome (in 4P points of view)Gome is the largest electronic appliance retailer in China. More than 740 outlets are widely-spread in China, including Hong Kong outlets. Gome has seen the potential business opportunity of electronic appliance with Chinese brands in Hong Kong, so Gome invaded in this industry with Market Challenger strategy to offer various the products with Chinese Brand at lower prices, which can attack Fortress’s weaknesses on this kind of products and avoid the leader and challenge in this market. It adopted similar promotion strategy as Fortress. 3. 4) Company ReviewStrength Fortress has won many awards, like Metropolis Daily Print Ad Award 2004, My Best HK Brands 2005, the HKMA and TVB Award for Marketing Excellence, top 10 favorable brands in HK by Guangzhou Daily, etc. The market share is large; hence Fortress is defined as Market Leader. Meanwhile, Broadway also promotes the similar brand campaign. Hence, it is defined as Market Leader. Weakness Fortress does not have much Chinese brand products. Gome provides similar home appliance products as Fortress does, but the brands are mainly China local top brands.Under this review, Gome attempts to attack this Fortress’s weakness, so Gome is defined as Market Challenger. 4) External Environment Analysis 4. 1) Geographical view Hong Kong is the city with large population and high density and its traffic systems also are complete and convenient. When customers want to do shopping here, they can travel to the nearest shop in short time. No matter where the shop it locates, it still have lots of potential customers around the shop place. It means that retailer shops may not need to open plenty of stores within the same areas, which can minimize the overall operating costs.Also, the geographical advantage of the location between Hong Kong and other cities in Mainland China is certainly vital to any business, in terms of logistics and tourism. 4. 2) Demographica l view According to Hong Kong Commercial Daily, Hong Kong’s population consists of approximately 50% of middle class family. This group generally is well-educated, willing to consume and has higher purchase power. In the society, they play a significant role as they have an enormous contribution on consumption. Furthermore, according to Census and Statistics Department, there are about 30% of people aged between 15 and 34.Also, from the latest population census conducted by Census and Statistics Department shown, the number of resident at mid-class increased up to 45 % of the overall working population ( refer to appendix 1). The mid-class is defined as the resident who earn in the range of $10,000 up to $40,000 in their monthly income in the working population. Of these residents at mid-class level, they mostly completed the secondary school certificates and more (than) a half of them completed post-secondary education.It is expected this group of people will continuous to g row for a decade, which is a business opportunity for the companies selling normal goods. In recent year, the number of marriages increased from 43 thousand people in 2005 to 52. 8 thousand people in 2010. The overall trend of the marriages was increase(d) when the economy was better. Also, the number of households was increased by 21 thousands. These two statistics shows the(that) there was an increasing trend of a new marriages forming a new â€Å"love nest†. 4. 3) PEST Analysis a. PoliticalAfter financial budget 2011-2011 released, John Tsang, financial secretary, announced that the government will distribute $6,000 cash to Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above. The overall total cash amount of this policy is estimated to be around 37 billion. Minimum Wage policy is going to implement on the 1st May, 2011. This policy is purposed to set $28 per hour for all full-time and part time workers in Hong Kong. Companies anticipate that this may increase the labor cost for the companies which employ low-skilled workers. b. Economic Environment In 2011, Hong Kong economy is believed to be better than last year.John Tsang, Financial secretary, estimates that the economy will grow about 4% in 2011. With the low unemployment rate and the increased mid-point salary, the purchasing power of consumers will be stronger than ever. The Centa-City Index shows the housing price increased to 87. 52 of 100, compared with that of 2008, which was 55. 46. It reveals the housing price is estimated to approach the highest housing price in1997. From the report on rent index in Housing conducted by Rating and Valuation Department, there was also an increasing trend in the housing rent, which increased to around 130, compared with 100 of the index in 1999.It shows the rent was increasing during the past years. Meanwhile, The United States Federal Reserve Board implemented a second round of quantitative easing (QE2) with 600 billion US dollars. It is expected that QE2 will depreciate value of US dollars. Finally, Hong Kong currency will be depreciated due to the linked exchange rate system. Also, Renminbi (RMB) continues to appreciate year by year. If the tourists from other countries, especially mainland china, purchase goods in HK, they will enjoy the currency depreciation.Thus shopping in HK is so attractive to them but, for local resident, the inflation rate is anticipated to become serious in the near future. However, in March 2011, a serious earthquake in Japan has destroyed lots of factories. Japan will spend a long time to recovery all. Yet, most of electronic components are made by Japan corporations. It is expected that these components may be shortage in the future, so the final goods of these components, such as digital cameras and notebook, are also expected to be out of stock.The recent investigation of overall economic situation in Hong Kong, which was conducted by Census and Statistics Department, GDP per capita was 25430 U. S dollar and the number of visitor was 36 millions, around 50% of that was Mainland visitors. It is expected that the Hong Kong economy will grow steadily. Moreover, on 3rd May 2011, Census and Statistics Department announced the over-night visitors spent around $6700 HKD on average, whilst non-over-night visitors spend about $1800 HKD on average.Most of the retailers believe that the number of visitors will still increase continuously, and their consumption will definitely positively affect to their profits. c. Social Environment The â€Å"Collective Purchase† concept has been recently developed on the internet, which a large group of people who have a same interest on the specific product creates a stronger buyer power to the seller so as to force the seller to offer a discount by buying a large amount of the same item. However, this kind of strategy may encourage the consumers to wait until the success of the group formation.According to the report of WenWeiPo daily on 13rd Mar 201 1, 82 billion U. S. dollars worth of retail business is achieved through online transaction, which was about 1/10 of the retail industry’s trade. With the establishment of Taobao. com, the online shopping model of B2B, B2C and C2C has been developed well. The interaction of the business activities between Mainland Cities and Hong Kong is stronger than ever. More Hong Kong consumers are willing to order the goods on Taobao. com, because the products often are at lower prices than the retailer outlets in Hong Kong.And, more Mainland onliners are willing to spend money on Taobao. com to purchase the goods of Hong Kong local brands. This can be seen that the online business does not just only serve the local consumers only, but also the national consumers. The investigation of the number of hours spending on the internet conducted by Synovate, a marketing research company, shows the average minutes spending on the internet rose from 136 minutes to 145 minutes, during past 4 years . On the contrary, the average time spending on TV was less than that on the internet.Therefore, people tend to spend more time on the internet. People start to cultivate a â€Å"Green† environment. Many of them attempt to choose the electronic appliance with low electricity usage to save the environment. Being environmental-friendly, more companies start to implement environmentally sustainable strategies and practices, such as recyclable packaging, better pollution controls, more energy-efficient operations and so on. This can help companies to improve its(their) image and reputation. d. Technological EnvironmentOnline Shopping has become popular to the society, especially the advanced technology of mobile phone and the mobility internet services are widely used in Hong Kong. Hence, many companies have started to setup a website to operate their business on the internet at the same time. The product life of a digital product is expected to be shorter due to the fast develop ment of a new product model and technology . quickly replaced in a short period. The main reason is that the company frequently promotes the new product in order to compete with other rivals.For instance, IPad1 has already been implemented in last year, but now IPad2 is introduced in this year. It is estimated that the competitiveness in digital products will be more and more intensive in the coming future. 5) Consumer Review Consumer involvement of buying home appliances is mainly determined by, a) previous experience, b) interest and c) perceived risk of negative consequences a. Previous experience As the functions of home appliance are developed to be more advanced time by time, consumers may not be always familiar with the new latest functions when a brand-new product is launched to the market.Hence, it requires consumers to spend time on searching its information internally and externally on the brand’s differences of the home appliance products to deliberate its unfamil iar functions in a familiar product category. b. Interest Consumers’ interests can be derived from the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Home appliances aim at assisting the consumer’s daily life. This can be referred to the physiological needs, safety needs and social needs. Of physiological needs, rice cookers and microwaves are typical example(s) of consumers’ need recognition.Other electronic appliances, such as communication devices, can be fulfilled their social needs that interact with others. Safety concern of home appliances is always an importance factor to influence their buying decision, especially for the consumers who are married couples with children at the Family life-cycle stage. c. Potential risk of negative consequences Price is the key factor for the perceived risk of negative consequences, situation and social visibility, and they are directly related to the price; as the price of the product increases, so does the level of involvement.Som e of the large home appliance, such as refrigerator and television, are set to be at higher prices; therefore the tolerance of the risk of negative consequences will be lower. With home appliances at higher prices, consumer often requires longer length of time to make a decision. Thus, the level of consumer involvement can be concluded as relatively high. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior The price of electronic appliance is ranging from few hundred up to several thousands, and consumers purchase them infrequently.Moreover, the products among electronic appliance retailer industry are perceived with few brands differences with the major competitors. For instance, Fortress and other competitors provide the similar electronic appliances and brands. The products and services provided by Fortress and Boardway are similar, so there is few brand difference. Because of this, the consumers behave as Dissonance-reducing buying behavior and mainly response to the after-sale services, discou nt and promotion campaigns to make their purchasing decision. 6) SWOT Analysis . Strengths Selectively distributed retail stores in Hong Kong From the geographical view, the population density is relatively high in Hong Kong; therefore the number of outlets may not need to be widely distributed. Fortress is one of the leading retailers of electronic appliances in Hong Kong with over 67 outlets, which the accessibility for consumers is high. Thus, the channel power is created towards the suppliers, which can enjoy the competitive advantage of this channel partnering, and the setup and operation cost are optimized efficiently.As a result, consumers can enjoy the optimal price. Reliable Services Mix due to Excellent Comprehensive Training For retail market, service is heterogeneous and vital to the retail market. Fortress emphasizes on the personal selling, so it set up a â€Å"Fortress Academy† to provide a thorough and extensive staff training program for frontline salesperson s on â€Å"frontline consumer service†, â€Å"technical knowledge† and â€Å"management skill†. By joining this program, staffs can be inculcated with effective customer service, in-depth products knowledge and appropriate management skills.Accordingly, experienced and enthusiastic staff serves the customers confidently and convince the customers properly, and so they are the most valuable asset to Fortress. Additionally, Fortress developed â€Å"smart living†, therefore the products displayed in outlets are mostly like to be more advanced technology. Referring to the product life cycle, the new launched products should be displayed with an informative promotion strategy, so Fortress staff is(are) always well-prepared from their trainings. Fortress is a customer-orientated company. It provides differentiated after-sales services to customers.They include â€Å"24-month interest free installment† to release consumers’ burden; â€Å"Purchase- to-Play† service to plan and install AV products for consumers; â€Å"10-days Money Back Guarantee† to strengthen consumers’ confidence towards its products. Furthermore, Fortress provides mobile phone insurance to consumers, which can raise consumer’s confidence in purchasing mobile phone in Fortress. Meanwhile, consumers can get the refund or exchange if they were unsatisfied with the products. The outstanding services are highly recognized and awarded, as in â€Å"Best Customer Services Award† and â€Å"Hong Kong Merchant of Integrity†, by media and other xternal associations, which consumers should comfort with its services and integrity. Sole Agency Advantages Fortress has a number of exclusive agents to engage in a line of business without competition. For instance, Fortress gained the exclusive advantage from Stiebel Eltron, which mainly produces water heaters (See Reference), and launched the promotion campaign of limited quantity wit h it. During the past years, Fortress carried out this strategic alliance along with a number of brands, as in HPC and Hissense, to enlarge its market shares and the product category is enhanced more than the other competitors’ one .Since some consumers may have loyalty to some specific brands, Fortress will be the only distribution channel for them to purchase. This certainly brings a stronger bargaining position in Fortress. b. Weaknesses Difficult to differentiate from competitors Variety of products, quality of products and sales service, proficiency of products knowledge, and distribution of stores of Fortress are similar to its competitors, as in Boardway. It is easy for consumers to seek for complements from competitors due to the low switching cost.Moreover, consumers (have difficulty in) are difficult to distinguish between Fortress and its competitors, since Fortress focus on targeting the mass market and all previous unique marketing strategy were quickly adopted b y other market followers. Consequently, consumers may switch to other retailers based on souvenir, ad-hoc promotion or discounted price but it is not merely because of the brand of Fortress. Multifarious Products Offers Qualified products with low selling price are inclined to be more popular when the economy is downturn.Since the manufacturing cost and the delivery fee of products made in China are lower, the listed prices of China’s brand products are lower. For these reasons, Fortress may lose some price sensitive consumers due to narrow range of products from China’s brand. One of its competitors, Gome Electrical Appliances, is offering qualified China’s brand products with low price. Frontline salespeople are educated with basic and general products knowledge, which is not specific enough. Most buyers, especially the beginners and learners, can be satisfied with the sales service.Nonetheless, some professionals may be discouraged by salespeople’s lim ited products knowledge. Also, the professional specific components of a product, such as camera lens, are uncommon to display in Fortress. Consequently, Fortress may potentially lose these digital professionals, who may consume frequently. High Inventory Cost of Bulk Unsold Items For the unsold Electronic Appliance, they occupy large storage space, so it leads to higher inventory costs to store them. Compared with other electronic appliance companies, Fortress targets mass market, so various electronic appliances at bulk size will be offered.However, when these items are unsold, Fortress suffers a significant inventory cost and cannot utilize the cash flow appropriately. Hard to Hold Customer Loyalty Compared with the direct closest competitor- Broadway, Fortress has not launched the membership programme to build up the long term relationship and loyalty with customer in retail outlets, although there is a membership programme for the customer to do online shopping. From this, the customer loyalty may not be solidified strongly due to the weaker Customer Relationship Management.Even though Fortress co-operates MoneyBack ( ) to promote different kinds of special offers to the MoneyBack owners, this promotion channel of non-personal communication is simply not wide-spread to the target customer causing the promotion strategy and AIDA model may not be effective as expected. c. Opportunities Extra HKD$6,000 allowance Hong Kong government proposed to distribute 6,000 for each citizen who is aged 18 or above. It can absolutely induce citizens, especially youngsters, to consume more.From Hong Kong China News Agency survey shown, about 40% of respondents aged between 18 and 30 who prefer to spend this money on their favor digital products including iPhone and cameras, therefore it is definitely a significant potential opportunity to retailer companies. Trend of collective buying Youngsters in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong prefer collective buying through the i nternet rather than purchasing in retail shops. According to the Phoenix News, there is a large potential booming trend of collective buying.They can purchase products in a special discount throughout the collective buying. Fortress can take the advantage of the trend to expand the market share in Hong Kong and to promote its products simultaneously. By using the developed and faultless online sales platform, Fortress can implement the idea of collective buying inexpensively. Green concept In recent years, public’s concern on environmental issue has been aroused. Companies like CLP Power Hong Kong Limited and EPS Company have adopted policies to promote their company products and services.For instance, CLP has launched several programs like â€Å"Old Appliances Recycling Program† and â€Å"Energy Saving Proposal† provided from their professionals; besides, EPS has launched the â€Å"EPS iDo† to promote the donation to plant trees in Hong Kong urban distri cts, ever since the program was launched they have already planted more than 2600 trees. By employing green concept, companies can develop a positive image towards public and create a sustainable company income in the future. d. Threats Loss of Japanese suppliers Owing to the disastrous earthquake in Japan, most of the electronic suppliers were suspended.The cost of related complements may increase due to the high demand. In the meantime, the cost of products may be raised and, consequently, Fortress may earn less. Vertical Channel Conflict Online business has been adopted by companies including the direct suppliers. Online retail business can easily be substituted by these mature shopping platforms. Thus, most competitors attempt to prevent from this online business to avoid vertical channel conflict. It is because suppliers may directly distribute their product though the internet channel.All these may affect the online business of Fortress. 7) Conclusion and Recommendations 7. 1) Target Market and Positioning Strategies The purposed promotion campaign aims at targeting those who planned to get married and are going to purchase or renovate their houses aged between 27 and 37 in the coming 6 months. The reasons why this segment is chosen are because the targeted customers are most likely to purchase numerous new home appliances; therefore they have the highest possibility to contribute revenues to Fortress.This target segment is derived from the above analysis with supporting figures and facts, thus it is measurable, accessible and actionable. Unmarried couples can enjoy discounted prices through this promotion campaign. This campaign consists of bundle pricing strategy and niche marketing strategy. To further illustrate, the idea is that the target customers will be acknowledged this package through different promotion channels to motive the collective buying behavior on Fortress online shopping website. This package consists of three product categories.It a llows customers to select one product in each category of A, B and C on a first-come-first-serve basis with limited time and quantity. Goal & Marketing objective This package is purposed to optimize the inventory spaces and the warehouse management efficiency. It generally is for consumers to select the three most favorite products from the product list of washing machine, refrigerator and TV respectively. The product list is suggested to contain clearance items with energy-saving label, since the Green environmental friendly starts to penetrate to the public.This package is suggested to offer special discounts to fiance couples, so as to build up a long term relationship with them. By launching this, it is expected to increase the market share by 6% and significantly increases the revenue by 8% in a short time. 7. 2) Marketing mix programs a) Product This promotion mainly emphasizes on cleansing the warehouse, which is one of the weaknesses of Fortress, so the product list should c ontain high and low brands of home appliances with bulky size, such as air conditioner and washing machine, in each category of the product list promoted.The quantity in each category should be sold based on the number of products left in the warehouse. The selected products in each category will be reserved by customers on first-come-first-serve basis. b) Price The bundle pricing strategy & Promotional Pricing The promotional pricing strategy is applied to the package, this temporarily promotion to offer discounts from normal prices for increasing sales and reducing inventories. The bundle pricing strategy is implemented in this campaign promotion to offer discounted price by purchasing a bundle of home appliances – promoted package.Based on political analysis, a couple will receive HKD$12,000 from HKSAR government. This policy can induce unmarried couple to consume in this campaign. The bundle price of television, washing machine and refrigerator (â€Å"A+B+C†) is se t to be HK$13,140, which means love forever in Cantonese implication. c) Place As for Market factors, the fiance couples would likely own or rent a new house for their new life, so Fortress may promote its campaign through the channels of wedding services as follows. Physical distribution–Strategic Channel AlliancesFortress can use the existing channels to promote this campaign. For instance, Fortress may co-operate with wedding consulting companies, solicitors, interior design companies and property agent to deliver this message, since the target customers may go through these two channels to organize their wedding. All these purposed channels needed to reach an agreement Moreover, according to the investigation of the time spending on the Internet, people spent their time on the Internet more than that of TV.Thus, Fortress may consider the Internet advertisements to draw the target customer attentions, and this is much cheaper than the TV ads. There are some existing famous forums, such as HK Discuss Forum and Uwants, to discuss the plan for wedding issues. Hence, Fortress may advertise its campaign to these forums and support the environmental friendly trend. For other competitors, many of them have not established the online store on the internet and mainly focus on the digital devices rather than home appliances; therefore this promotion campaign is difficult to be imitated due to the barrier of entry.Logistics After the end of campaign, Fortress will consolidate all the ordered products and deliver them in a short time, so it lowers the transportation cost, and it fully utilize the logistics resources. Make use of social network The popularity of the social network, such as Facebook, can be shown by the statistic report of Facebook in year 2010. It was reported that the number of Facebook user in Hong Kong on Dec 31st 2010 has reached 3. 67Millions people. Since the Fan pages of Fortress on Facebook has been established 2 months ago, the number of fans was only around 1650 people who â€Å"Like† this page.The effectiveness is not explosive enough to arouse the attention of the public. Therefore, it is suggested that, in order to grasp the channel effectively, when the pages on Facebook reach a certain amount of fans, Fortress will offer coupons or gifts through their e-mail addresses. With more people â€Å"Like† this page, this channel can raise the awareness of a new product arrival effectively and efficiently with several other promotional channels together. d) Promotions Informative promotion through online channel and strategy alliances Posters with the detail of the program are suggested to be posted on the Facebook communication channel.Fortress can make use of this online instant communication platform in order to convey the most updated information to the customers. Besides, in order to arouse people’s interest on this program, all of the retail shops will display the promotion poster on the eye -catching position. Moreover, leaflets will be distributed to the marketing alliances mentioned in the previous part; these leaflets will be displayed in their information desk or even attached to their promotion documents. Emotional appeals on the promotion campaignIt is recommended to use emotional appeals to move the fiance couple. In the poster, it is suggested to use the emotional slogan emphasizing on the eternity love and the care of husbands towards the wife to touch the target customers. 8) Marketing Calendar 9) Appendix Appendix 1 Extract of 1/2011 Population Report, Census and Statistics Department Appendix 2 Extract of Marriage numbers in Hong Kong from Census and Statistics Department Appendix 3 Poster suggested to be used in the promotional campaign Appendix 4Extract of property price movement between 2002 and 2010 by Centaline Property Appendix 5 Top 30 countries with highest number of Facebook users (31st Dec 2010 – data from Facebook) Rank| Country| Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2008| Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2009| Number of Facebook users Dec 31st 2010| 12 month growth %| 24 month growth %| 1| USA| 42,078,960| 101,303,240| 145,749,580| 43. 90%| 246. 40%| 2| Indonesia| 897,040| 14,681,580| 32,129,460| 118. 80%| 3481. 70%| 3| UK| 14,937,180| 22,625,300| 28,661,600| 26. 70%| 91. 0%| 4| Turkey| 7,934,340| 16,943,780| 24,163,600| 42. 60%| 204. 50%| 5| France| 6,587,240| 14,290,700| 20,469,420| 43. 20%| 210. 70%| 6| Philippines| 390,700| 8,387,560| 18,901,900| 125. 40%| 4738%| †¦|   |   |   |   |   |   | 27| Hong Kong| 1,458,520| 2,727,980| 3,673,580| 34. 70%| 151. 90%| 10) Reference [1] Broadway – Company Background http://www. broadway. com. hk/node/502 [2] Broadway – Shop Locator http://www. broadway. com. hk/shop [3]Centaline Property – Centadata http://www. centadata. com/cci/cci. htm [4]CLP Hong Kong:Old Appliance Recycling Program ttps://www. clponline. com. hk/myHome/EcoLivingIdeas/R ecyclingProgram/Pages/Default. aspx? lang=en [5]CnYes. com: iPad2 5 http://news. cnyes. com/Content/20110418/KDW8J0QVCEX16. shtml [6] Fortress homepage – Company Background http://www. fortress. com. hk/fortress/content/ABOUT_US/en/index. html? hs_ctn_ref=ABOUT_US [7] Fortress – Store Locator http://www. fortress. com. hk/fortress/jsp/sys/Sf_render. jsp? hf_s_id=FT11&hf_srv_id=Nv_fstore_loc&hf_rand=2107567796. [8]Gome – Electrical Appliances Holding Limited Homepage http://www. gome. com. k/ [9]Hong Kong Commercial Daily: http://www. hkcd. com. hk/content/2010-06/07/content_2536481. htm [10] Hong Kong Headline Daily: 49% http://news. hkheadline. com/dailynews/content_hk/2011/01/14/136085. asp [11]Hong Kong Information Services Department: News Release http://www. info. gov. hk/gia/general/201104/13/P201104130221. htm [12]Hotpool: poster of DHE SL http://www. hotpool. com. hk/msg. php? id=234 [13] Nick burcher: Latest Facebook usage figures http://www. nickburc her. com/2011/01/facebook-usage-statistics-dec-31st-2010. tm l [14] SingTao: 610 http://hk. news. yahoo. com/article/110309/3/n4m8. html [15] Wenwei: http://info. wenweipo. com/index. php/? action-viewnews-itemid-43284 [16]Hong Kong China News Agency: http://www. hkcna. hk/content/2011/0331/93831. shtml Group photos Ivan Alen Raine Ting Ting Phoenix Jessica Michael Janet ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://www. broadway. com. hk/shop (Shop location distribution) [ 2 ]. http://finance. ifeng. com/money/wealth/millionaire/20110401/3800251. shtml

Ethical and Legal Issues in Nursing Essay

Throughout a nurse’s professional career, many difficult ethical and legal situations will arise. Since nurses are given the unique privilege of caring for patients and their families, it is important to uphold certain professional standards. The American Nursing Association (ANA) Code of Nursing Ethics provides a foundation on which a nurse should conduct her professional life. In addition to the Code of Ethics, nurses must also balance their personal values along with legal standards to make the best decisions for their patients. A nurse’s first priority is to the patient and providing safe and competent care. According to the ANA (2001), Provision 1 of the Code of Ethics states â€Å"The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.†(p.1) The nurse is bound by duty to respect the wishes of the patient and family in regards to end of life decisions. In the case of Marianne, a committee is forced to help a family make a difficult decision regarding the life of a loved one. Since the patient is unable to express her wishes and had no advance directive, the nurse has an obligation to ensure that the family is informed and knowledgeable on her care. The nurse needs to support the family in the decision-making process and refer the family to other resources to assist in the decision making process. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, such as consulting with an ethics committee, is one resource that is available to the family to assist in the decision-making process. In addition to difficult end of life decisions, the Code of Ethics can be used to guide decisions in cases of malpractice. Provision 3 states, â€Å" The nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to  protect the health, safety, and rights of the patientâ⠂¬  (ANA, 2001). In other words, the Code of Ethics leads the nurse to address practice that is substandard and may jeopardize patient care. The nurse should follow policy and procedures of the facility to report such behavior, but if measures are not taken to ensure the integrity of nursing practice then the nurse may report to outside agencies, such as state departments. The nurse also has an obligation to ensure that the proper assistance or treatment is provided to assist in the impaired nurse’s recovery. While the Code of Ethics provides an important foundation on which to base behavior, any ethical decision involves an evaluation of one’s set of personal and societal values. According to Uustal (1993).â€Å"Nursing is a behavioral manifestation of the nurse’s value system. It is not merely a career, a job, an assignment: it is a ministry† (p.10). Nurses need to be aware of their beliefs so that they can recognize and accept that a patient may have different values and beliefs. The nurse needs to interact with the patient and the family in a nonjudgmental, caring way. The nurse needs to take care not to influence the patient in making choices based on her beliefs or what she believes is right. The nurse’s role is to be supportive to patients and their families in actions that are congruent with the code of ethics. Some conflicts that may compromise the nurse’s personal beliefs may include end of life decisions, abortions or refusal of medical treatment. For example, a nurse may support pro-life decision-making but is bound to respect the patient’s wishes if they seek a legal abortion. Furthermore, a nurse needs to honor a patient’s decision to forego treatment, even if the nurse believes that that treatment represents the best option for the patient. References American Nurses Association. (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/ethics/code/protected_nwcoe303.html. Uustal, D. (1993). Clinical ethics and values:issues and insights in a changing healthcare environment. Educational Resources in Healthcare, 12 (2), 10.

The Role of Modern Industrial Manager

MNGT352 Advanced Modern Management The role of a modern industrial manager Prashanth Balacumaresan (200679951) Word Count: 1965 A manager is someone in charge of an organisation or subunit. Many would fit the bill of a manager besides a chief executive, including coaches, bishops, foremen even presidents and prime ministers. What is the role of a manager? If you did ask someone in a managerial position what they did they would probably tell you that they plan, organize, coordinate and control. Mangers are persistent individuals and they perform their activities in concise, diverse manners.Study shows that most activities performed by chief executives last less than 9 minutes and only a small fraction of the time do activities last an hour long. The work pace for most chief executives and foremen are relentless, spending their whole day receiving calls and mail with every break interrupted by a subordinate looking for some sort of guidance (Mintzberg 1990). The role of an ideal manage r should be a balance between the roles Mintzberg has described. This is because a manger is the commander in chief of an organisation and through this role he has contact to various interpersonal relationships.This gives his the opportunity to gain access to various sorts of information which would then enable him to put to good use by planning effective strategies, making decisions or implement in action (Waldron. M. W, Vasanthakumar. J & Arulraj. S 1997). Managerial roles accentuates reasoning and control, and it does not matter whichever direction the focus is on, the manager should always look at ways to achieve results that would make positive impact and make people continue contributing to his or her organisation.In 1981 Arnaldo conducted a survey of hotel general managers by adapting Mintzberg approach to managerial behaviour. What he found out from this research was that a large majority of mangers viewed leadership as the most important role among the ten roles as proposed by Mintzberg. From this view leadership is an essential quality required for one who is a manager. (Zaleznik. A, 1978). The trait theory perspective suggests that certain individuals possess the qualities and characteristics that highlight them as natural born leaders and this is what will differentiate them from their subordinates. Northouse, P2010). Although this suggests that leadership is a quality that cannot be learnt but one that is acquired , (Worsfold,1989)it would give a person who is likely to take up a role as a manager an insight of the characteristics and qualities that are essential for a leader. Furthermore one need not necessarily stick to its outline as leadership is a role that allows an individual to show his or her unique abilities to command and influence others. (Hollander,1978).Project leadership is essentially defined as a process that fits into a managerial job that would take into consideration the requirement and perquisite of those people who decide to stand besides you to see the completion of a particular task. (Cleland,1995). Project leaders should not be too rigid and exercise authority over the situation within leadership criteria (Cleland and Ireland, 2007) but rather as Goetsch and Davies(2006, 254-255) say inspire individuals in making entire enthusiastic along with intentional dedication towards achieving company aims.Thus one does not need to be intellectually superior to be a manager but rather one need to be determinant, strong willed, analytical, intelligent and most importantly be tolerant. (Zaleznik. A ,1978). Kanji (2008) states leadership is defined as the conduct related by activities in taking charge signifying the immense difficulties faced by managers and professors. Therefore leadership is a variation of characteristics, principles, behaviour and attitude that acts as the key to long term performance of established organisations. (Lakshman, 2006).Having an action mindset about the work environment is another trait required by a manager. A popular visual metaphor indicates that an organisation is a chariot pulled by wild horses which represent the emotions, anticipation and ambitions and needs of people in the organisation. Keeping onto to the same track requires just as the same skill that is required to set off in an entirely new direction. Having an action mindset in this context would be to understand the nature of the situation and utilising the capabilities of the team helping to stay on and maintain direction. Gosling Mintzberg, 2003) Nearly all managerial decisions and actions are influenced by the assumptions made based on observation about human behaviour. Douglas McGregor published in his book The Human Side of Enterprise, two very unique ways of looking at human nature namely Theory X and Theory Y. McGregor also assumed that a typical manger should operate on the context that his employees are either Theory X or Theory Y. Assumptions uch as these mould the manager’s pe rspective on his employees resulting in either a Theory X manager, who would assume a direct and harsh approach denying employees control over their work ,using an incentive based reward system to monitor performance and constantly supervise his employees or rather a Theory Y manager who would be more lenient towards his employees granting them positions of responsibility and structuring the work environment in a manner which would result in efficient methods to solve problems and increase productivity. McGregor ,1960) The Hawthorne experiments conducted by Elton Mayo from 1924 to 1934 prove this point by clearly illustrating that even when the working conditions were varied the team dynamics of the team remained the same. The women who participated in the experiment formed a cooperative relationship and responded spontaneously to this experiment. As they were not pushed or forced to do work, and every decision they made would influence their work they formed a sense of responsibili ty and worked spontaneously. The productivity increased and the workers remained happy.According to McGregor a manager’s perspective on their employees which could be either Theory X or Theory Y can influence their decisions. What managers need is their employees to perform well and given the right incentive and environment you could achieve excellent results. The ideal Theory Y manager would instead of a directive management approach rather choose an approach which would actually involve giving employees positions of responsibility and forming mutually beneficial relationships. This is what was clearly emphasized by Mc Gregor as a core component of Management.What is lacking is most managers fail to understand this fact (Bobic. M. P & Davis E. W). Human motivation in the workplace cannot be defined of falling into the category of either Theory X or Theory Y. It should be rather viewed as something more complicated which is rather a concoction of the two (Miner, 1980; Schein 1970). It has been observed by many through social interactions with managers over several years that most managers use a blend of theories X, Y and Z rather than sticking to the framework of one particular on (Sharma.S 1998). Self regulation is the process of mastering ones emotions. A person who has mastered their emotions would be adaptable to change and would not panic in a circumstance where change would influence his workplace. Self regulation is a key factor that would be influential in the workplace as due to the modern technological trend and competitiveness businesses and companies exist with a great of ambiguity and uncertainness. Companies merge and break at rapid paces and technology is not constant and it will change. Goleman,1998) currently most companies are adapting to advanced manufacturing technologies that are intended to optimize and improve performance in various aspects of the workplace. These are opportunity to revolutionize the way production processes. Larg e companies are already making the switch towards these innovations in order to enhance the performance and increase the positions in the global markets. (Tidd, 1991) Industries are constantly undergoing revolutionary technological change to transform them abound. Examples include switching from metal engine parts to ceramic and switching from lead acid to lithium ion in batteries.When these situations arise a self regulatory person would possess the dexterity to hold his judgement, seek information and adapt to the changes. Effective team working skills are one that is required of a manager. The ability to coordinate individual actions (Zaccaro, Rittman, and Marks 2001) and having a better communication structure among team members can greatly influence the performance of the effectiveness of the team. Team leaders who are encouraging and involve all members in team problem solving enable collective information processing that maximises the teams effectiveness. Zaccaro et al. ) Goo d managers enable their teams to remain goal oriented, ensure a collaborative setting for the team members, build confidence, demonstrate technical skills, set their priorities, manage performance expectations and bring back excellent results. (LaFasto, Larson 2001). Essentially team leaders, who set high performance goals, demonstrate a clear set of strategies and push their team members to their full potentials will display higher team efficiency and cohesion rather than team leaders who do not involve themselves in such tasks. Zaccaro et al. ) Motivation is also a key role for the manager. He or she must be themselves be motivated to perform the task at hand and meanwhile they should be able to motivate the team by keeping the team morale upHow a manager motivates his employees could be varied according to the approach he or she takes. Firstly there is the KITA approach which literally translates as kick in the pants which can either be a negative or a positive approach depending on the manager.Negative KITA is a direct action approach, and it has its drawbacks of being physically confronting which can build up negativity among the employees and the manager. There is also the softer positive approach which is considered as a seduction technique which is the promise of incentive to the employee which can get them to produce good work. (Hertzberg, 1968) This is supported by the expectancy theory that proposes the idea that people work harder depending on the size of the reward. (Mullins, 2007).According to Fredrick Hertzberg motivation relies on two factors firstly the hygiene factors that deal with factors such as working conditions, job security etc and the motivator factors. An employee would usually expect the hygiene factors to be implemented in the workplace as these are factors that help an individual to settle down in an environment. Taking these away from an employee would automatically make him or her dissatisfied and hence de-motivated to work. The other motivator factors are based on an individual’s desire to be better and rise above others.These include status, recognition and sense of achievement. Let us take the company Innocent Drinks for example. They motivate their staff by providing a working environment which is pleasant i. e. the inclusion of trees inside the offices and having Astroturf floors. They also provide free breakfast, a team weekend every year and also scholarships of ? 1000 to employees to fund personal projects such as taking a course etc. Even in their weekly meetings they make their staff feel valuable and this way Innocent helps to keep its staff happy.This is a good model of How Hertzberg’s hygiene and motivational factors have been taken into account and keep employees motivated. (Caterer research how to motivate staff 2011) Mc Clelland’s achievement motivation theory categorizes the people who want to achieve. These people were motivated by intrinsic factors such as goals and aspirations of the individual rather than extrinsic factors such as salary etc. These sorts of people were identified by their affinity to perform difficult put potentially achievable goals, and their like to take risks.These are the sorts of characteristics expected in a manager. In conclusion what should be stated is that all these qualities may not be present in a manager but in general a good manager would be an ideal blend of some of these characteristics. These would not necessarily be outwardly showed but when the situation arises if one could perform that is what is essential. This is the internal meaning of the quote â€Å"Cometh the hour, cometh the man†. Bibliography Arnaldo, M (1981) ‘Hotel general managers: a profile’, The Cornell H. R. A. Quarterly November, 53-56. Bobic M.P and Davis E. W A Kind Word for Theory X: Or Why many New Fangled Management Techniques quickly fail. Cleland, D. I. (1995). Leadership and the project management body of knowled ge. International Journal of Project Management, 13(2): 83-88. Cleland, D. I. and Ireland, L. R. (2007). Project Management: Strategie Design and Implementation (5th), Boston: McGraw-Hill. Goleman. D (1998) What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review pp. 92-102 Gosling J & Mintzberg H(2003) The Five Minds of a Manager (Cover Story) Harvard Business Review 81(11) ,54-63 Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S. B. (2006). Quality Management: Introduction to Total Quality Management for Production, Processing, and Services (5), New Jersey: Pearson Education International. Hertzberg F. (1987) One More Time: How do you Motivate Employees Harvard Business vol 46 issue 1 Review pp. 53-62 Hollander, E (1978) ‘Leadership Dynamics: A Practical Guide to Effective Relationships’, Free Press: New York. Kanji, GK. (2008). Leadership is prime: How do you measure Leadership Excellence? Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 19(4): 417-427.LaFasto F & Larson C (2001) When Teams Work Best T housand Oaks CA:SAGE Lakshman, C. (2006). A Theory of Leadership for Quality: Lessons from TQM for Leadership Theory. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 17(1): 41-60. Mayo, E. (1933) The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, Macmillan. Mc Gregor. D (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise New York Mc-Graw Hill McClelland, D. (1967) The Achieving Society, The Free Press, Miner J. B (1980). Theory of organisational behaviour.Hinsdale, IL; Dryden Press Mullins J (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour 8th Edition Northouse, P (2010) ‘Leadership: Theory and Practice 5th Edition’, Sage Publications: London. Schien E (1970) Organisational Psychology (2nd ed. ) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Sharma. S (1998) Enlightened Leadership in Indian Ethos: The way of Theory K. Management& Change Vol 2 No 1 ,January- June 1998, pp. 93-104. Tidd. J (1991) Flexible Manufacturing Technologies and International Competitiveness, London: Pinter Waldron M. W, Vasant hakumar J and Arulraj. S. 1997) Improving the organization and management of extension. In Swanson. B. E Improving Agricultural Extension: A reference manual Worsfold, P (1989) ‘Leadership and managerial effectiveness in the hospitality industry’, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 8(2), 145-155. Zaccaro. S J, Rittman A. L & Marks M. A (2001) Team Leadership. Leadership Quarterly 12 451-483 Zalenik,A (1978) Managers and leaders:are they different? Mckinsey Quarterly,(1), p 2-22 http. //www. catererresearch. com/Articles/2006/06/15/307200/how-to-motivate staff. html [Accessed 21/11/11]

U.S. Monetary Policy and International Implications Essay

U.S. Monetary Policy and International Implications - Essay Example e economy is growing seems insufficient to initiate and sustain considerably large up-gradation in the current job market, the FOMC has decided to take measures and modify its financial policies to bring significant changes in the employment levels. The rate of unemployment has been recorded at a high 7.8 percent in 2012, which is much higher than the projections made by analysts as the normal level of unemployment in the long run (Bernanke). There is a large level of slack in resources in the U.S. and it is being persistently maintained with high margins. This supports the restrained rates of inflation in the U.S. although there are short term fluctuations in prices of goods and services in the economy. Consumer price inflation at present shows lower than the expected level that is required to achieve the long run objective of 2 percent as set by the Federal Reserve (Press Release). Federal Reserve's Recent Policy Actions The monetary policy strategies of the Federal Reserve are ste ered by the dual mandate of promoting maximum level of employment and achieving stability in prices (Mayer 184). With the inadequate progress found in the US job markets coupled with subdued inflationary pressures, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has taken certain important actions in 2012 with the aim of providing â€Å"additional policy accommodation† (Bernanke). In September of 2012 information collected from reliable sources continued to let out weak signals regarding labor markets. There were also no sign of noteworthy inflation pressures. This induced the FOMC to take additional steps for making provisions of policy accommodation. The span of time over which the FOMC has kept its expectations â€Å"to maintain exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate† (Bernanke) has... This essay stresses that while the asset purchase program of the FOMC is aimed at increasing employment levels and improve job market conditions along with stabilizing the price of commodities in the U.S. economy, this policy action also has certain significant negative impacts. In my opinion, although the quantitative easing puts a positive influence on the economic performance of the country, the government has to increase subsidy on labor wages and increase demand for labor by the producers. An increase in wages would improve demand conditions in the economy which would increase productivity levels. While improving demand conditions in the economy, this process would take care of the problem of excess liquidity in the economy. This paper makes a conclusion that mixed views have been provided in the debate revolving around the asset purchasing by the FOMC. In terms of efficiency of the quantitative easing program, most of the members of the Committee have agreed that this policy creates a meaningful result by easing financial circumstances thereby accelerating the process of economic growth. According to these observers, less credit constraints and lower rates of interest would increase investment by investors. On the other hand, some members of the Committee consider this policy as having a diminishing impact on the economic condition of the country. This is because quantitative easing lessens the financial stress in the short term, but, no consensus has yet been reached with regard to the long term effects of the assets purchasing policy.

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

Technology Management - Essay Example In current era of technology, an important asset of the organization is technology. Strategy and planning considerations are considered to include the technology. Company objectives have direct links with the technology resources achieved through communication. There is lack of an appropriate framework that supports the technology management in a customer service organization. Organizations do not give importance to strategic significance of technology to deliver the value and competitive advantages. If a firm has adopted the information technology implementation, then at execution and controlling stages communication issues among the project participants are produced. IT project has various challenges for project managers that differ substantially from features of the non-ICT traditional assignments. Continuous advancement in technology where IT project operates has led the organization towards the considerable uncertainty and risk. Changing requirements and scope of the business firm produces the high level risk for the firm’s management (Fenech and Raffaele, 2013). In a firm, collaboration culture is not embedded with the empowerment of employees to use the advanced technology tools including the social networks, participation in a network and knowledge sharing. Employees do not post their ideas and avoid the information sharing due to lack of encouragement for technology use in the organization. Workers in the firm do not have the exclusive rights to their firm’s knowledge. Knowledge is only accumulated at top level in the firms and low level employees or workers are kept away from knowledge accumulation. A class of employees known as clerical workers who support their managers do not access the document management, emails, workflows and related activities through the software. Employees’ performance in the firm is linked associated with the technology change.

Law and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Law and ethics - Essay Example In the business world, the main reason for setting up an enterprise is to make profits and expand further. In this regard, the prime goal in business is maximizing inputs and limiting outputs within the company (Shaw 15). Business competitions are considered setbacks which require companies to implement brilliant strategies to overcome and remain relevant within the business community. According to the excerpt given, Jennifer can use the information to her business advantage but the success would not be just in that it was achieved in an unethical way. Studies reveal that competitive intelligence may not be unethical but Jennifer is faced by two dilemmas; business prosperity or lack of integrity. The process of decision making plays a significant role in the running of an organization. For the betterment of the organization, making decisions must at least be based on accurate statistics, scientific studies or certain principals. Being a leader and a level manager, the decisions made by Jennifer will influence those around her. The resolution of the two issues will affect Jennifer, the company as a separate entity and the competitor whose private data is publicized. Being in Jennifer’s position, her integrity as a businessperson will be affected in whatever choice she chooses to undertake. If she chooses to use the competitor’s information, her lack of integrity will render the enterprise’s success unethical. Consequently, if the business is passed to other business partners, they will lose faith in her management skills. Faith from business partners is important especially during transactions since business partners rely on the history of other business partners for decision-making purposes. The resolution to inform the competitor company of the breach would earn her respect from other partners and likely to have impacts in her business on the long run. The information leak is on the internet which she cannot control but through

You will need to pick a topic for me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

You will need to pick a topic for me - Essay Example These are just some of the questions that plagued the venerated Philosopher David Hume. In section four of A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume states that the majority of people believe that they are the ‘same’ person that they believe they were two, five or even ten years ago. Although many different aspects of themselves will have ‘changed,’ they still feel that their personal identity remains the same.1 So if we do not truly know ourselves, then what is this information that we have about ourselves? What are all these insights that only we have access to that we assume constitutes our identity? In this paper we will examine Hume’s theory that all we observe are our perceptions, not our true self. We will look at what Hume states in his treatise and discuss whether what he says is plausible in any way. Let us begin by examining Hume’s epistemology. Empiricism was a pivotal to Hume’s theories, particularly the work of Locke.2 Empiricism sought to â€Å"discover†¦the original, certainty, and extent of human knowledge.†3 Hume’s treatise was his attempt at â€Å"developing a ‘science of man,’†4 that would show and explain to us â€Å"the extent and force of human understanding†¦which could explain the nature of the ideas we employ, and of the operations we perform in our reasoning.†5 He believed that all human knowledge originates with experience, and that all of our experiences are of our own perceptions.6 It was when Hume applied these ideas to our personal identity and the notion of the ‘self’ that his argument against â€Å"the existence of a substantival mind†7 was born. His argument is a logical one, although worrying (to think that there is a possibility that we cannot know our true ‘self’). Hume believed that because all of our knowledge is derived from our experiences, and that our experiences depend directly upon our perceptions, that these

Contingency Perspectives of Leadership are Better at Motivating Annotated Bibliography

Contingency Perspectives of Leadership are Better at Motivating Employees - Annotated Bibliography Example The study was carried out in a financial service company with 153 participants, all of whom were clerical workers. A questionnaire was circulated around the organization and then immediately collected by the researcher. The questionnaire contained scales that ranged from 1 to 5. Participants had to indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with certain statements. Followers’ personalities were broken down into four categories: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and agreeableness. The scales ranged from â€Å"not at all true† (1) to â€Å"completely true† (5). The four categories for followers’ personalities were each given a Cronbach’s alpha. In order to test for transformational leadership, an adapted version of the MLQ 5 X Short was administered. Because of this, four transformational dimensions were defined: idealized influence, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, and inspirational motivation. The scales for these dimen sions ranged from â€Å"never† (1) to â€Å"almost always† 5). As in the previous test, Cronbach’s alpha was used. Commitment was assessed using two scales—an affective commitment scale and a continuance scale. Once again, Cronbach’s alpha was used. It was discovered that followers’ extraversion and agreeableness were positively correlated to the perception of overall transformational leadership and to affective commitment to the supervisor. Also, followers high in extraversion and agreeableness recognize transformational leadership more than those who are low in these areas. ... Once again, Cronbach’s alpha was used. If literature review/ meta-analysis or critique: Focus of content Key debates Position , if clear - If research article: Findings of research It was discovered that followers’ extraversion and agreeableness were positively correlated to the perception of overall transformational leadership and to affective commitment to the supervisor. Also, followers high in extraversion and agreeableness recognize transformational leadership more than those who are low in these areas. Hypotheses 1.1 and 1.2 were largely supported, whereas Hypotheses 1.3 and 1.4 were only partially supported. In terms of Hypotheses 2.1, the perception of transformational leadership was positively linked with perceived leaders’ extraversion. If literature review/ meta-analysis or critique: Conclusions - Significance of article in relation to: other articles, your topic generally or prior research. There is an increase of research that focuses solely on follo wers and shows they value a better understanding of the role of followers in the leadership process. The results of this research will be helpful to business organizations in the future because it will allow them to set up constructive communication channels for followers to speak to their leaders. Limitations of article Eg location, industry, focus etc Because the data are cross-sectional, it cannot prove that the directions of the arrows in the model presented in Figure 1 are correct. Also, the influence of personality characteristics examined in this study is limited. Other factors influence the perception and acceptance of leadership other than followers’ personalities. Strength/s of article A definite link is found between extraverted followers and transformational leaders. This shows

Art History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Art History - Assignment Example There are 5 characteristics of modern. First is capitalism, which created the modern through creating a new economic system of labor and fixed wages, wherein these wages are used to buy more and cheaper consumer items. The second is urban culture, wherein agriculture was replaced by industrialization. The third is technological advances, which created dramatic changes in the lifestyles of people. The fourth is secularism, wherein the traditional religious authority is not as strong as before. The fifth is the optimism of the people, wherein all changes are deemed positive. These changes definitely affected the art audience, therefore affecting the artists themselves. The artists, having a change in their audience, embraced the innovations of the era, and tried to participate in the changing times by merging the new ideas in their art works. The modern artists thus began to acquire new audience from among the modern people who made their money out of these modern changes such as indus trialization, etc. Slowly, modern art is in, and the traditional art is obsolete. It is possible that artists, more and more, began embracing the modern ideas because it is through that that they will have audience for their art pieces. The connection between the avant-garde and the modern is actually quite interesting. Firstly, during the first half of the modern era, there were still some artists who cannot be considered truly modern because their styles still resemble the traditional and conservative ones. Still, modern artists are called â€Å"avant-garde,† which is a term originally used in the military to describe the front liners or point men, similar to any individual who takes the most risk. A Burial at Ornans Gustave Courbet's â€Å"A Burial at Ornans† is a realist art, and it is antithetical to romantic art. First, the painting shows the realistic life, painted with no sugar-coating --- life as it is. Second, it does not aim to evoke ideal feelings or emotio ns, rather, it just shows things from an objective point of view. Third, it can be seen that the full disclosure of even the smallest details are depicted in the painting, and there is no information denied to or hidden from the audience. Fourth, there is the depiction of the everyday, regular individuals that one encounters on a daily basis. Fifth, the setting of the scene is

Linguistic History And Affiliations Of Southeast Asia Essay

Linguistic History And Affiliations Of Southeast Asia - Essay Example In light of the fact that in this part of the world, languages are known to be used as ‘language cultures’, it is imperative to define the broad area we will be studying. Moving South from North, the countries may be grouped as follows: (Goddard, 2005; p. 53) In this context, let us discuss how many languages there are in this broad geographical area. While most people would not be able to come up a number more than twelve, the fact is that this would hold true if we're to talk only about national languages. These languages being the official medium of communication for spheres concerning governance, education, and media, may be divided into Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, Tetum, and Portuguese in East Timor, Philipino or Tagalog, Burmese, Thai, Lao, Khmer, Vietnamese, Chinese (Modern Standard Chinese), Korean and Japanese. But the truth is that, if we are to delve deeper into the matter, we will find that the total number of languages is a lot greater than most of us can imagine. This is owing to the inclusion of hundreds of minority languages spoken in the hills and jungles, as well as the languages of the same figure spoken in China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and various other countries of this area. From a genetic point of view, the languages of East and Southeast Asia are much more varied than those of Europe or America. To determine how many language families there are in this area, we would have to set aside various complications and say that there are basically six broad families. These are Austronesian, Mon – Khmer, Tai – Kadai, Tibeto – Burman, Sinitic, and Hmong Mein. Apart from these, there are several major languages whose ancestry is unclear like Japanese and Korean. Further, loan words also form an integral part of these languages as linguistic echoes of past cultural contact, where the nature of the loan words can speak volumes of the kind of contact enjoyed.

Final Op-Ed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final Op-Ed - Essay Example However, states can force all public schoolchildren to be vaccinated for disease. Though most think mandatory vaccinations is a matter of public safety therefore a good idea, others, at least in some circumstances, think it an example of government overreach. The latest controversy involving forced vaccinations was during the Republican primary election earlier this year when the subject of HPV became part of the political discussion. The virus is spread by sexual contact and can cause cancer. While some parents were in favor of mandating the vaccine, other objected on moral grounds reasoning that making sex a little safer would encourage students to engage in sex. The larger question is should the government mandate vaccinations at all? Yes say the vast majority and for sound reasoning as opposed to the â€Å"reasoning† offered by those opposed to the HPV vaccine. While some oppose forced immunizations due to religious and personal reasons it is the responsibility of society to protect its children by mandating students receives vaccinations. The government is the vehicle that society uses to enforce necessary protections. Society draws a legal distinction between adult and minors. Children are shielded from harms as much as possible. Mandatory vaccinations have been required for public school attendance since anyone can remember because parents do not want their children to be ill, whether stricken with a common cold or polio. It is a socially responsible act. Immunizing all children does not sacrifice their civil liberties. Some parents object but simply because some people do not bother to research the consequences of not allowing their child to have vaccinations should not condemn all other kids at school to being exposed to crippling illnesses. The issue of government intrusion into people’s private affairs is a valid one but is a different discussion when

Make Prejudice and Discrimination a Subject in School Essay Example for Free

Make Prejudice and Discrimination a Subject in School Essay Because of the immigration in the world and the great assimilation that are in progress prejudices and discrimination are more important than never before. People need to learn from young ages that it doesnt matter where you come from or what color your skin is, the only thing that matters is your personality and how you respond to other people. Yesterday, in Stockholm, I was talking to my cousin and she told me that I never should live in Tensta because, according to her, its a very dangerous place because it only lives criminals there. Personally Im sure that the majority of the people in Tensta are normal, nice people that never have done anything criminal its only her prejudices that say something different. I see every day how common prejudices are, my friends have prejudices, my family has prejudices and I, that see myself as a very prejudices free person, find sometimes that even I have some prejudices. Discrimination is unfortunately also common in our society. A while ago I read a study that professors at the Linnà © university in Kalmar had written and it showed that the majority of the companies in Sweden discriminated people with Arabic names. If there were two persons with exactly the same qualities and experience in the study, and one of them was named Martin Johansson and the other Abd al Hakim only the first would be called to an interview while the second would be sorted away immediately. But I think that it is easy to forget and that we have to remember that discrimination can work in every way white against black, black against white, men against women, women against men, and so on. Therefore I believe that we have to work for a society that is equal on every scale. I think that a way to solve the problem with prejudices and discrimination is to make it a main subject in school. In that way every kid in Sweden would get information about and be able to discus prejudices and discrimination every week from the age of 6 to 16. I believe that information and knowledge are the key to everything, and in this case the key to an equal society without prejudices and discrimination.

Murakami Harukis Norwegian Wood

Murakami Harukis Norwegian Wood Sex and Existence: A Third Choice of Human Existence in Murakami Harukis Norwegian Wood In Norwegian Wood, Murakami Haruki experiments to challenge the mainstream conceptions of sex, love and human existence, that he believes these three elements do not always coordinate with each other; and part of the reason why this novel is so celebrated even today is because it breaks what the media, the society, and the human instinct of being normal. Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life (25) is a famous quote from Norwegian Wood, and it provides a third perception of understanding life and death; similarly, a significant part of the novel discusses the relationship between love and sex, which Murakami sets different characters to perform a third way of human existence with different perspectives. To begin with, the best way to understand Norwegian Wood, is to not consider it as a romantic or teen novel, which normally conveys the idea that love conquers all (Hall Mar.16th); instead, treat it as an analytical novel which discusses the relationship among love, sex and human existence. The biggest reason that Murakami sets the main characters at young ages, such as sets Kizuki at his seventeen (and forever remains seventeen), Naoko at her twenty (and forever remains twenty), and Toru together with Midori at their twenties, is because that for post-pubertal young people, their bodies are mature enough to explore sexual world, but their minds are still not fully corrupted by the harshness outside school life, so that they have the ability to learn how to love by their bodies, yet appreciate love by their pure hearts. Naoko and Midori are two intriguing female characters in Norwegian Wood. Both characters are somehow abnormal, such as Naokos psychological anxiety towards sex, and Midoris unusual behaviour of standing naked in front of her fathers portrait. These behaviours are certainly not seen as standard code of conduct. In order to understand Naoko and Midoris abnormalities, it is important to analyze these two girls contrary views towards sex, life and human existence. In traditional romantic literature, the common plot is that the hero and heroine together overcome many obstacles, and live happily ever after. Since after so many difficulties they have been through, the ending usually ends with them having a blessed life to death for sure, and it is assumed that their sex life will be harmonious as well. However, it is not the case in Norwegian Wood. Naoko has difficulties to have a penetrative sex with her lover Kizuki, but she succeeds in doing it with Toru, though it is the first and the o nly time she gets sexually aroused. Moreover, the reason for Naokos suicide also needs to be noticed, although the reason is made implicit in the novel. However, it is certain that Naoko does not die for love. During the twenty years of Naokos life, she encounters two deaths of her loved ones. The first one is her sisters death. Naokos sister commits suicide at the age of seventeen, and Naoko as an eleven years old child witnesses her sisters dead body. Then six years later, Naokos beloved Kizuki ends his life in the same way, by committing suicide. These two deaths strike Naoko drastically, but not fatally. She manages to get into the college, although avoiding talking about the past when she meets Toru a year after Kizukis death, it is too assertive to conclude Naokos suicide as to either follow her true love, or merely disappointed with the world. There are not many evidences of which event triggers Naoko to commit suicide, but it is for sure that her only climax gives her both t he hope to carry on life, yet in the same time destructs this hope to live. The biggest fear of Naoko is her inability to perform sex with her lover as normal people do. Naoko constantly talks about that night on her twentieth birthday, and keeps question her inability to sex. This once in life sexual experience to Naoko is not only a natural physiological behaviour, but also contains the meaning of life, and this meaning is not merely limited to physiological needs, but being elevated to the meaning of continuing life. The first time Toru visits Naoko at the sanatorium, she speaks of her version of viewing the sexual intercourse with Toru: I [Naoko] was wet from the minute you [Toru] walked into my apartment the night of my twentieth birthday. I wanted you to hold me. I wanted you to take my clothes off and touch me all over and to get inside me. I had never felt like that before. Why is that? Why do things happen that way? I mean, I really loved him [Kizuki]. (112) It makes Naoko so confused that why she and Kizuki never succeed in having a penetrative sex, but why she can have one with Toru; if she loves Kizuki, why her body does not let him in; or is that if she loves Toru, why is she unable to let Toru in for a second time? Naoko keeps pondering over these questions, and the second time Toru visits her, she was less talkative than she had been in the fall (237). When Toru tries to have sex with her again, he discovers that Naoko is still unable to get aroused, and she once again questions her inability to have sex: Why dont I get wet? Naoko murmured. That one time was the only time it ever happened. The day of my twentieth birthday, that April. The night you [Toru] held me in your arms. What is wrong with me? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ What if I never get better? What if I can never have sex for the rest of my life? Can you keep loving me just the same? (239) By shaping a character like Naoko, Murakami raises a hypothesis that what if sexual impulse does not occur coincidentally with love, does it prove that there is a third choice of performing sexless affection or affectionless sex? Whether or not this hypothesis works, Murakami offers a possibility that there could be a third kind of human existence in life, other than having impulsive sex, romantic sex, or no sex life at all. Midori is in the contrary of Naoko. She is described both by herself and by Toru as a real, live girl with blood in her veins (267), and she always seems to be happy and relaxed; however, she is not born to be this optimistic, but rather she chooses to be this way. Similar to Naoko, Midori has a tragic life of losing her loved ones: her grandfather, grandmother, mother and father. Midoris mother dies of cancer, and before her death, she lives in the hospital for almost two years while Midori takes care of her everyday therefore has to delay school. Midoris father loves his wife so deeply, that he says to Midori and her sister, I [Midoris father] would much rather have lost the two of you [Midori and her sister] than her [Midoris mother] (71). Then two years later, her father dies of the same cancer as her mother. Unlike Naoko, Midori is not defeated by so many deaths, instead, she manages to live her life bravely. Every time Midori appears in the story, her activities are not limited to talking: she and Toru often eat together, drink together, she cooks, smokes, and does all kinds of things; whereas for Naoko and Toru, what they mostly do is writing letters and walking. These vigorous activities save Toru from drowning himself with Naokos pain, and Midoris strong vitality symblizes the only oasis in this novel of boundless depressed desert. Midoris vitality puts her in a somewhat awkward position in society, considering the novels setting is in the 1960s Japan; she does not cry at her fathers funeral, she unreservedly discusses sexual fantasies with Toru: asking him to think of her while masturbating, she invites Toru to watch pornography at an adult theatre, and she is never shy of telling Toru her true feelings, of how much she desires him. Midoris independent, modernized characteristics and her value of existence of careless to the normalcy contradicts to Naokos belief of perfect union of sex and love. To conclude these two girls, Naoko stands for the possib ility of a third way of existence between sex and love, and Midori exhibits the possibility of a third existence of living without confinements. Naoko and Midori are like the two opposites of a scale, and Toru is the one to decide which side weighs more. In the first chapter, Toru already makes it clear that what happens in the book are all memories: I [Toru] was thirty-seven then, strapped in my seat as the huge 747 plunged through dense cloud cover on approach to the Hamburg airport (3), and this chapter ends with the monologue of Naoko never loved me (10). By reading this monologue, it is obvious that even twenty years pass by, Toru is still stuck in the memory of Naokos suicide. Toru tries to save Naoko, by having sex with her, by loving her, but both the efforts of love and sex can not solve Naokos psychological problems, and Toru never gets to understand the world of Naokos. On the other hand, Toru is drawn to Midoris vitality, and Midori always saves him, even at the end of the novel, Toru still seeks help from Midori: again and again, I [Toru] called out for Midori from the dead center of this place that was no place (293). There are four stages of Torus sexual development: to desire sex, to understand sex, to control sex, and to enjoy sex. The first stage of desiring sex, is reflected by the first half of the novel, when Toru starts to have sexual relationships with his first girlfriend in high school, with Naoko, and with other strange girls. Toru starts this relationship without envisaging it because of Kizukis death, since he was unable to find a place for myself [Toru] in the world around me (24), and immediately after graduation, he is devoted to leave Kobe without considering this girls feeling. The desiring of sex happens after Toru having sex with Naoko. As Toru recalls in his letter to Naoko, he honestly writes that the warmth and closeness I [Toru] felt for you [Naoko] at the moment was something I had never experienced before (41). To Toru, this is an extraordinary experience, because the other girls he has sex with are not the ones he has feelings with. Previously, when Toru has sex with st range girls, he always feels empty the next morning after; however, after his sexual intercourse with Naoko, he gets to taste the glamour of reaching climax both physically and mentally, he thereby feels hunger for women bodies: My [Toru] body was hungering for women. All the time I was sleeping with those girls, I though about Naoko, about the white shape of her naked body in the darkness, her sighs, the sound of the rain. The more I thought about these things, the hungrier my body grew (43). The first time when Toru goes to visit Naoko at the sanatorium, Naoko shows him her naked body at night, and it triggers Toru to recall their first night: A sense of imperfection had been what Naokos body had give me [Toru] that night as I tenderly undressed her [Naoko] while she cried à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I [Toru] am having intercourse with you [Naoko] now. I am inside you. But really this is nothing. It doesnt matter. It is nothing but the joining of two bodies. All we are doing is telling each other things that can only be told by the rubbing together of two imperfect lumps of flesh. By doing this, we are sharing our imperfection. (131) This whole passage of imperfection that Toru speaks forms a contrast to Naokos perfection theory, Naoko insists that if she is going to see Toru again, she wants her body to be clean of all this when I [Naoko] meet him [Toru] (246), and this hints Torus incomprehension of Naokos world. The second stage of Torus sexual development is to understand sex. Since Toru experiences several sexual activities with strange girls, he tastes the loneliness and emptiness that come after climax; at the same time, he knows that Naoko is getting further away from him after them having sex. Toru gets hurt by sex, and therefore, he chooses to not to have sex with Midori, because he realizes that youre [Midori] the best friend Ive [Toru] got now à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I dont want to lose you (250). The third stage of Torus sexual development is to control sex. Toru passes the first two stages, he becomes more familiar with sex, just like tobacco, and he does not want to be controlled by it. As he says to Midori, I [Toru] dont like having something [smoke] control me that way (70), and same for sex, he does not wish to let sexual impulses to overtake his love towards both Naoko and Midori; instead, he wants to remember that momentary experience he has with Naoko, and his commitment to Midori, so he does not let him have sex with other girls.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   The second time Toru and Midori lie down in the same bed, he still suppresses his thought of having sex with Midori, because he finds out that he falls in love with Midori: I [Toru] loved Midori, and I was happy that she had come back to me. The two of us could make it [having sex], that was certain à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It had been all I could do to suppress the intense desire I had to strip her [Midori] naked, throw open her body, and sink myself in her warmth à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I loved Midori. And I had probably known as much for a while. I had just been avoiding the conclusion for a very long time. (267) The fourth stage of Torus sexual development is to enjoy sex. In the last chapter of Norwegian Wood, Toru has sex with Reiko. This time, their sex is relaxed, enjoyable, and meaningful. As Murakamis hypothesis of sex could be based on love, and it could also be independent without love, the sex between Toru and Reiko is the best proof to make this hypothesis established. To conclude Torus character as a whole, he represents Murakamis perception that sex is the basic element that exists in life, and it can be independent without love. Only with this view implanted to Torus character, he can love Naoko and Midori without the disturbance of sexual desire, and gives both Reiko and himself a new start with sex. The traditional treatment of sex in literature is to either blur or eliminate its description, in order to weaken its influence on love; whereas in Murakami Harukis Norwegian Wood, his descriptions of sex is simple but explicit, which declares his perception to sex as modernized and positive. Norwegian Wood starts with an end, and ends with a start, this paradoxical beginning and ending fits the life death opposite theory proposed in the book perfectly. By offering these paradoxes, Murakami offers a third choice of human existence, that his ideal lifestyle is never a two-point and one-line dynamic; instead, by examining and combining the extreme commonness and abnormality, a third choice of living is formed. No matter what this third existence is, it is a lifestyle that is unique, as Reiko says What makes us most normal, is knowing that were not normal (148). Word count: 2599 Works Cited Hall, Nick. ASIA 364 Modern Japanese Literature 1868 the Present. University of British Columbia. 16 March 2017. Class notes. Murakami, Haruki. Norwegian Wood. Trans. Jay Rubin. New York: Vintage International, 2000. Print.

Marketing plan for indian bottled water company

Marketing plan for indian bottled water company This marketing plan is a part of a larger business plan that the team thought of during preliminary discussions. The idea of introducing flavored water in the market emerged from the Indias urban residents are becoming increasingly health conscious. In fact, Off-trade constant value sales of bottled water are predicted to grow by an 18% CAGR over the forecast period 2009 and 2014(source Euromonitor).FMCG players have responded by re-examining their ingredient strategies and formulations to ensure that they suit new healthy habits. Urban consumers are increasingly on the hunt for substitute for carbonated drink creating new market opportunities for an array of suppliers. The current flavored water market is highly unorganized with major manufactures being in-house chefs and roadside vendor. They supply to local hotels, sweet shops and are now slowly moving into supplying to organized retailers. We recommend the Indian Parle a FMCG giant to venture in the untapped flavored market to get first mover advantage in India. The established AquaFina brand can be used to launch the product. The end consumer is from 0 80 years as water is meant from infant to everyone. There is an opportunity to position and offer premium and differentiated water in India today. Water has to be scaled higher in terms of positioning both from functionality perspective, as well as from a lifestyle perspective. Key statistics of the Indian bottle water market: Situational Analysis The flavored market in India is small, only about Rs 11 crore out of the total bottled water market of about Rs 1,100 crore. But many small market segments have been known to explode with the entry of good products. For example, enhanced and flavored waters were just $ 234 million in the US in 2000. By 2010, the category is projected to grow to $ 8.6 billion and is the fastest growing beverage category The 2009 India Soft Drinks Report indicates that carbonated beverages consumption is declining in India for consecutive years since 2007. Packaged water growth projections, however, are in excess of 40 per cent, with still drinks (Frooti, Maaza and others) growing at under 10 per cent. Parles Bisleri, PepsiCos Aquafina and Cokes Kinley at present rule the lower end of the Indian packaged water category, priced as they are between Rs 10 and Rs 14 for a 1 litre bottle. The top end is dominated by imported brands like GroupeDanones mountain water brand Evian and Nestles sparkling water brand Perrier, priced between Rs 80 and Rs 110 a litre. Himalayan costs Rs 25 a bottle. Flavored water falls in the mid-priced segment of the bottled water category. Competition Coca-Cola is expected to launch Bonaqua. Globally, Bonaqua sells sparkling flavored water in ranging from strawberry, litchi, apple and mint to lemon and lime. Coca-Cola already sells in India the bottled water brand Kinley. Tata Tea is also looking to extend Himalayan into flavored water. PepsiCo too is believed to be planning to extend its bottled water brand, Aquafina, into flavored water. Nestle executives refused to comment. Aqua Montana India recently launched a carbonated niche drink, Slim and energy drink, Explode and is also looking to make a foray in the flavored water space. Customer In terms of the socio-economic factors, Indian lifestyle is undergoing a massive socioeconomic change, which is also being reflected in food habits. People want value for time, money in terms of quality and variety. The scenario in India is alarming with respect to increasing cases of obesity. According to a research conducted by NHFS (National Health and Family Survey), obesity has already affected 12.1 percent males and 16 percent females of the country ¡Ã‚ ¯s total population, and the percentage is growing rapidly.. The need to shift to healthy drinks from high-sugar containing beverages that can be achieved through consuming flavored water is really important to control obesity. Collaboration Parle can collaborate with the restraunts and wedding houses for placing it in their complimentary drink menu It can collaborate with IRCTC to provide bottled water in railways It can collaborate with airlines to place it in airports and provide it during travel Parle can work with the health care awareness committee like NHFS to highlight the importance of shifting from high calorie drinks to low calories drinks Channel No matter how strong the top of the mind is, brands in this category are consumed depending on shelf space availability and chill space availability. Thus it has to flood all possible channel Marketing Objectives As suggested by the Ansoff Growth Matrix, our strategy would be one of Product development and to some extent that of Diversification. This would entail the following: Increase the market share This can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to key account selling Target increased usage by potential customers, e.g. Introducing frequent buyer schemes, loyalty schemes To drive sales, we could also consider the following: Innovative product dimensions or packaging: e.g. offering combo packs, family packs, increasing pack size. Proper mix of distribution channels, e.g. making it available in up market supermarkets, kirana stores, confectionaries, canteens and railways and airlines Different pricing policies to attract different customers or create new market segments, e.g. large size packs could be sold at prices the consumers deem economical. Introduction of niche segment variant like flavored water for infant -This may require the development of new competencies and communications mix accordingly. The plan deals with the changes that can be brought about to introduce the new product, packaging, distribution, pricing and communications mix to ensure better awareness as well as capture a significant amount of the target Since we are positioning the Sheetal as a healthy substitute for other beverages, the following excerpt from Euromonitor report on packaged foods strengthens the future prospects of this product. Health-based drinks have increased in favor in 2009. Capitalizing on the social acceptance of conspicuous consumption, so long as health was not compromised, companies launched a wide array of products across categories. Products highlighting health, such as energy bars and drinks, digestive biscuits, and healthier edible oils, all found ready takers, even as brands jostled for differentiation Financial Objectives To achieve a crore plus sales in all of the 7 metros where the launch happens in the first quarter of launch. The metros where the product will be launched are Bangalore, NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. To break even within 3 quarters and make profits by the end of first year of operation The detailed calculations can be seen in the action program and execution section. Marketing Objectives To create an upbeat market for flavored market in Indian metros Become the market leader with 80% market share of organized market in the flavored segment by leveraging the first mover advantage The rationale behind the strategy and objectives set is driven by the following factors: To achieve higher market penetration in bottled water segments. Selling to markets and/or target segments not previously identified. To accelerate growth in accordance with the forecasted growth rate of the bottled water category. To nurture the brand identity and promote brand awareness through increased advertising and sales promotions. The objectives outlined above are in conformance with the company mission We are in the business of refreshing India with our products, refreshing the market with new categories and refreshing ourselves through innovation. Market Segmentation The dietary habits of busy city dwellers are gradually changing, with many giving in to convenient packaged beverages meals. There is a rising incidence of double-income nuclear families and growing numbers of single working men and women professionals with fast-paced lifestyles means. These increasingly lack the leisure or skills to prepare elaborate Indian beverages like Jaljeera/Mint Water / Mango Water . Thus, while beverages may not be able to match the taste of home food, consumers are still attracted by its convenience, hygiene and with these generally proving major draws rather than just taste. City 95 00 03 04 05 Mumbai 10,743 11,713 12,289 12,503 12,709 Delhi 8,198 9,542 10,336 10,616 10,881 Bangalore 3,690 4,186 4,483 4,589 4,696 Kolkata 4500 4568 4581 46060 4628 Chennai 4013 4184 4260 4310 4340 Hyderabad 3285 3418 3485 3526 3565 Pune 1930 2423 2735 2839 2935 Source: National statistical offices, Euromonitor International From the above data depicting the population rise in the target cities, it can be seen that the number of urban households in the major cities is about 1.72 million. If we consider the top 50 major cities in India this figure grows much higher. Double-Income nuclear families This is an increasing urban phenomenon and is buoyed by the trend of more and more couples choosing to have children much later in the marriage. With more women entering the workforce with increased focus on work life in urban areas, this trend is expected to continue. This segment is characterized by a fast paced life with little consideration for saving money. Singles Sustained economic growth and an increasing number of young professionals entering the workforce have seen a rise in the number of single member families in urban areas. Young adults are finding BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) jobs an early introduction to earning money. This segment is characterized by people with a high disposable income, busy lifestyles and relatively lower culinary skills (in particular single working men). The early adopters seem to be the singles segment, where homemade preparation for one is not considered worth the time, Supermarkets see high sales value growth Middle class Indians, with a credit card, or food coupons provided as part of their salary package have adopted organized food shopping. These shoppers are keen to take up special bulk purchase offers and deals. They also have the advantage of browsing in shops and choosing, without the intervention of the shopkeeper or salesperson. Increasingly, urban Indians are using both the local grocer and the supermarket. The groceries the preferred choice for basic food supplies and the supermarket for a wider choice of processed foods such as jams, pickles, sauces, juices and ready mixes. This is giving organized food retail high sales value growth, as these stores are selling higher volumes of value-added foods. Among the upper middle and wealthier classes, the modern retail outlets are used for basic commodities as well, as there is a feeling that the private labels offer cleaner well-picked produce than the local grocer does. As a result, there is some amount of store loyalty, as customer s prefer a particular chain. Marketing Implementation Action Programs The entire marketing program and the action plan execution is elaborated with respect to the 4 Ps in the section. We have done a consumer survey to better understand the marketing mix Product Sheetal is a forward integrated product extension to the superbly successful Bisleri which has a market share of 16% in India presently. The concept is not new. We have historical evidences that Indian Maharajas drank water with Indian Herbs to stay healthy and fit.Adding herbs to drinking water has been in vogue in many parts of our country In Kerala, in most of the hotels jeera water is being served even today Our country has a rich herbal treasure like vettiver, athimathuram, vallarai, ginger, seeragam, brahmi, tulasi, nimbu, pudina, orange, amla, narangi, hibiscus, samandhi, jasmine, etc.Thus consumers get a variety of flavours to choose from.So there would be many flavours but initial one would be Pudina Jeera Strawberry Raw Mango Medicinal herbs Tal Mishri (for infants) The product will be marketed in 4 sizes 300ml small pack , 1 litre medium packs and 25 liter large packs.The shelf life will be of 90 days without refrigeration Size Quantity Retail Price Small 300ml Rs 6 Medium 1 lit Rs. 18 Large 25 lit Rs. 400 Price One can sell their products as raw goods; value added goods, goods bundled with services or goods dramatized with experiences. Given below is the value addition that can be brought about in wheat by various levels of value add and the multiplication factor in price applicable with each value add. Value addition Flow Price of 1 litre of water = 10rs Price of flavors available in market (Rasna) = Rs. 4 Other material used like salt, sugar etc = Rs 4 Price of preparing one liter flavored drink at house = Rs 18 Our product priced at = Rs 18 Place Sheetal will only be sold in metros initially i.e. Mumbai, NCR comprising of Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune. This is primarily because the target audience of this product is concentrated in these cities. The distribution channels employed for Sheetal has to be multi-dimensional as it tries to focus on a wide class of people from young working singles to mothers. Hence the distribution channels will come under 3 categories Super market chains like Big bazaar, Star bazaar etc For distributing to these chains, the proven sales and distribution channels of Parle will be leveraged. Local stores selling food items The stores selected will vary depending on the markets. In case of south India, the focus will be selling in the following category of outlets Retail outlets selling perishable food items like vegetables, milk etc These upcoming outlets are the initial form of organic stores in India. People who are looking for fresh perishable items target these stores. Confectionaries selling packaged food and snacks Bakeries are the coveted place for south Indians especially the metro class in south to grab a quick snack or a convenient packaged food. Kirana stores As both these kinds of outlets are non-existent in North, the selling will be through the neighboring kirana stores which form the ubiquitous neighborhood shopping point for the target audience. Collaboration with roadside ice cream vendors: People eating ice-cream some time to quench their thirst. If flavoured water is available they may drink it and enjoy ice cream for its taste Key Accounts Railways The IRCTC sever Rail NEER on the railways and along with those other drinks. Often the govt policy lead to ban of carbonated products. IRCTC can bank on this as a politically safe product promoting indianization Hotel Chains: The hotel chains provide chef prepared welcome drinks most often than not these are not seen as very hygienic and not taken by consumer. The flavoured drinks would be readily acceptable by the consumer Smaller restraunts : They will have thirst quencher extra apart from the usual carbonated drinks Marriage halls: The concept of Jaljeera and Pudina drink is very popular in marriages in India. They are generally prepared handmade and the stall gets overcrowded due to large preparation time. This packaged flavored water is both convenient and healthy Caterers : They get a ready to serve menu on their hand Promotion Flavored water is being introduced in India for the first time. That is why Sheetal definitely has the first mover advantage in this new niche of the market. As the positioning of the product is such that it promises to deliver the thirst quenching qualities of water, with an essence of fruit and mint flavor, it will appeal to a wide variety of consumers from age group 10 to 60. Also its medicinal benefits will make it most suitable for school going children (age 8-16) and also elderly people (age 55-70). As in this equatorial part of the world the summers are generally very long and hot, the demand for a thirst quenching medicinal beverage will definitely drive most of the sales for the year in that concentrated period in the year. As the concept of the product itself is very new, the product will require an extensive promotional program through multi channel, multi vehicle techniques. There is a need of aggressive promotional activity so as to create awareness among the consumers about the new product and communicate the values which the product offers. We have come up with following four key promotion vehicles which would be most effective in the current scenario Advertisement Sales promotion Personal selling Sponsorship Advertisement This is the most important mode of communication we would use. Following are the various tools we plan to use Television We will advertise on different primetime channel like Zee, sony, star etc. The programs will be mainly family and children programs and the timing will be family viewing timing Radio Various FM Channels like radio One, Radio City Red FM etc will be used to broadcast innovative ads in the morning and evening hours News print Newspaper dailies like TOI, Hindu, ET etc will be used to carry out ad campaign in sizes varying from 200200 ads to full page ads on weekends Magazine Magazines like India today business week etc will be targeted to convey the values to the targeted audience. Bill Board Major city crossroads will be covered under this promotional scheme to carry Posters of the products, and snapshots of the television ads to generate recall Mobile and internet These are very new channel in advertising are found to be pretty effective among the young generation of the country. Social networking sites like face book, orkut, twitter, etc can be used to carry out promotions. Sales Promotion This is just a backup for the failure of advertisement strategy. In this case several small retailers in small towns will be provided certain margin which they can utilize to push customer to try out the new product on the need basis. Well set some targets for the retailers to achieve at the end of each month and would reward the successful retailers. Personal Selling Will be putting up stalls and counters in colleges universities, malls and shopping centers. Will distribute free samples and conduct taste drives in cities to make people aware of the product. Will carry out online contest and get feedback from the customers. Sponsorship Sheetal will be promoted by sponsorships of various national and international events, both in the sporting and cultural light this will create visibility of the brand and will expose the brand to a wide audience. Well put up stalls in the event areas and distribute free sample to the consumers. We also plan to get the brand endorsed by celebrities and famous personalities to build brand image among the consumers. Annexure 1 PROFIT CALCULATION The 1st quarter sales target and the 1st year sales target from different metros are given below City Quarterly sales revenues Annual sales revenue Bangalore 5,00,00,00 2,00,00,000 NCR 5,00,00,00 2,00,00,000 Mumbai 5,00,00,00 2,00,00,000 Chennai 25,00,00 1,00,00,000 Hyderabad 25,00,00 1,00,00,000 Pune 125,00,00 5,00,00,00 Kolkata 125,00,00 5,00,00,00 Projected Revenue Projected quarterly revenue Rs. 2 crore Projected annual revenue Rs. 8 crore Project annual sales volume 44 lakhs litre Production Cost Cost of goods sold/kg Rs. 12 Annual cost of goods sold Rs. 4,80,00,000 Packaging expenses/kg Rs. 0.50 Annual packaging expenses Rs. 20,00,000 Yearly fixed cost component Rs. 50,00,000 Total production expenditure Rs. 5.5 crores Selling Expenditure Annual advertisements and promotions Rs. 1 crores Annual Salesmen commissions (2% of sales) Rs. 48 lakhs Slotting fees in first year Rs. 52 lakhs Total selling expenditure Rs. 2 crores Total Expenditure = Production cost + selling cost Gross Annual Profits = Revenues Expenditure Total Expenditure Rs 7.5 crores Gross Annual Profits Rs. 50 Lakhs Annexure 2 Questionnaire 1 .Do you drink Tap water or mineral Water for daily use? Tap 100 % Mineral 0% 2. How often do you drink mineral Water? Daily 0 % Outings 70 % Occasions 100% 3. How many glasses of water you drink daily Less than 6 30 % 6- 8 50 % More than 8 30 % 4. You drink Mineral Water Because Hygiene 50 % Taste 10 % Brand conscious 20 % 5. You dont drink mineral water because: Costly 50 % Dont feel any difference 10 % Has Water purifier at home 40 % 6. You drink which mineral water brand? Aquafina 20 % Kinley 50 % Bisleri 20 % Others 10 % 7. Have you ever tasted flavored mineral water? Yes 10 % No 90 % 8. If flavored mineral water is introduce in market do your buy it? Yes 70% No 30 % 9. Will you prefer flavored mineral water over ordinary? Yes 30 % No 20 % They are different 50 % 10. Flavors you like Pudina 30 % Jeera 50 % Strawberry 10 % Other 10 % 11. What price you are willing to pay for 1 litre 12 -15 20 % 15 -18 60 % 18 -20 20 % 12. You see flavored water as alternative of 1 Carbonated Soft Drink 30 % 2. Lassi 10 % 3. Fruit Juice 20 % 4. Homemade jaljeera 40 %